Michelangelo Signorile2013-05-18T18:46:05-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=michelangelo-signorileCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Michelangelo SignorileGood old fashioned elbow grease.Harvey Fierstein On 'Kinky Boots,' Working With Cyndi Lauper And His Show's Big Surprisetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2013-05-17T10:11:04-04:002013-05-18T02:34:05-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/garnered 13 Tony Award nominations, including one for him for Best Book. He’s referring to one of the lead characters, Lola (played by Billy Porter), a drag performer who partners with a shoemaker, whose business is in trouble, to make fabulous shoes for drag queens and thereby save the shoe factory. Fierstein says he wrote and clearly portrays Lola as heterosexual, yet not one critic or reviewer has picked up on it, assuming that the character must be gay because he’s doing drag. (Scroll down to listen to the interview)
“I mean, he’s not gay,” Fierstein said in an interview on my SiriusXM radio program about the character based on a true story which was made into a 2005 British film of the same name. “I wrote this character as a heterosexual transvestite. He’s very clear that that is what he is. I thought this was a really interesting character to put up on the stage...rather than arguing the same arguments I’ve argued in 'La Cage,' to do something different. The really interesting thing to me is that not one critic -- not the gay critics, not the straight critics -- not one critic picked up on him being straight. Not one. They all talked about ‘Harvey’s gay liberation message or whatever.’ There’s no gay liberation message in this! No one’s gay in this! It’s so interesting to me that our prejudices are so strong that we hear what we think we hear.” (Towleroad critic Naveen Kumar did in fact point to the character being straight, though downplayed)
Check out photos from "Kinky Boots," then scroll down to keep reading:
Fierstein said he could tell early on that the show was going to be a smash, but noted that it was a long slog since he and Cyndi Lauper, who wrote the music and lyrics, were both up to their necks in projects, as was director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell.
“You write the show and you tell the story as best you can,” he said. “We kind of knew, Jerry Mitchell, the director/choreographer and I, started knowing, very early on. I had written the script and I liked the story. I said, ‘It could find an audience.’ But it’s not until you put it up on its feet that you know. And Cyndi’s music I liked from the very beginning. But Cyndi had never written a show before. So, it was slowly coming along, slowly coming along. And during this period, Cyndi did a world tour. She put out a blues album. She did a reality show. She had her autobiography. I did a year on tour with 'Fiddler on the Roof.' I wrote 'Newsies.' I wrote this other play. Jerry Mitchell at the same time was doing 'Legally Blonde' all over the world and 'Broadway Bares.' So, you’re working on several projects and it’s not until you sit down and say, 'OK, now we’re going to focus on this.' And then we put it in front of an audience in Chicago. And the audience went insane. It’s like a fun factory. A joy factory.”
Some of the joy has come from critics with whom Fierstein has had a past as well. He said he received an apology from the long-time gossip columnist Liz Smith, who reigned at the New York Daily News with her syndicated column for decades. Smith, who came out as bisexual in her 2000 autobiography, Natural Blonde, was in the closet back when she expressed disdain when Fierstein thanked his male “lover” while accepting a Tony Award in 1984, a criticism that angered Fierstein at the time.
“She actually apologized to me just recently,” he said of Smith, who gave "Kinky Boots" a rave review. “And I told her, ‘I’ve always thought of you as my family, as my sister.’”
Listen to the full interview with Harvey Fierstein:
]]>Gay Marriage in Minnesota: Another Milestone Is Reachedtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.32704502013-05-14T08:30:26-04:002013-05-17T18:19:12-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/sign the bill into law today, let's sit back for a minute and assess the history you've made.
Almost one-quarter of the states will now have marriage equality, with Minnesota becoming state number 12, following on Rhode Island and Delaware just within the past two weeks.The claims by anti-equality leaders and their followers that same-sex marriage states are an aberration and do not represent the true America -- or, as Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage recently said, are "not indicative of the rest of the country"-- is an example of mass denial bordering on sheer lunacy.
Minnesota is the first state in the nation's heartland, the Midwest, to pass marriage equality legislatively. Political strategists thought it was going to be bigger and bluer Illinois. But no, a marriage equality bill has been stalled in the the Illinois legislature for months, with advocates still hoping to get more votes, while Minnesota boldly surged into the bright future.
Minnesota is the first marriage equality state in which just a few short months ago analysts were still predicting gay marriage would be banned in the state's constitution in a ballot measure. And that dramatic turnaround underscores how rapidly public opinion is changing everywhere. Just two years ago Minnesota's then-Republican-led legislature voted to put a gay marriage ban on the ballot in 2012. Of the four states voting on gay marriage in the fall of 2012, Minnesota was viewed by political analysts and many gay activists as the long shot for a win by gays. But, in addition to beating back that measure, just six months later the Land of 10,000 Lakes has shown us what equality is all about.
Minnesota's marriage equality win also represents a stinging blow to the anti-gay evangelical right. This is the state that brought us Michele Bachmann, a GOP member of Congress who was running for president just a year ago, and an evangelical Christian who made her political career by pushing boilerplate religious bigotry about gays, including comparing them to Satan. With a husband, Marcus, who runs "pray away the gay" clinics in Minnesota, she's been a leader in the religious right across the country, even often taking credit for organizing anti-gay activists in Minnesota to get the marriage amendment on the ballot last fall. It was the hope of anti-gay forces nationwide that Michele Bachmann would keep the tide of gay marriage back. But the floodgates have opened.
For sure, the much harder work for the cause of marriage equality lies ahead. Barring a Supreme Court ruling in June in the Prop 8 case that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry, we'll have to get bans on gay marriage overturned in over 30 states before moving on to actually passing marriage equality in those states. Still, every milestone should be celebrated, and Minnesota's win on equality is surely one of them.]]>Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island Governor, Talks GOP's Stance On Gay Marriage, Immigrationtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2013-05-12T10:39:24-04:002013-05-13T00:08:36-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/signed a bill into law making Rhode Island the 10th state to legalize same-sex marriage. He said that moderate Republicans who’ve supported gay rights, like Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, haven’t come out for marriage equality because they’re worried about being challenged from the right in a primary.
“From the old days, of when in the '50s and Eisenhower, and '60s and Rockefeller, the Republican Party stood for, ‘Take care of the finances and stay away from my life -- keep the books in black ink and leave me alone,’” he said in an interview on SiriusXM OutQ. “And that changed to where we were doing the opposite. We were getting fiscally irresponsible, giving tax breaks to the wealthy and at the same time getting more involved in people’s lives, whether on Roe vs. Wade or gay marriage.That was just a change in the party and I kept to the old values that the old Eisenhower and Rockefeller Republicans cared about: ‘We want black ink and we want the government to leave us alone.’” (Listen to the full interview below)
Chafee said the GOP will have to change on the issues of immigration and gay marriage if it wants to win elections.
“States are just waking up,” he said. “If you’re going to grow your base, you’ve got to be inclusive. It’s immigrants, and now gay rights. It’s good, good for our country. It’s good to see the electorate responding in these states on various issues. [On gay marriage] It’s a younger generation issue. They just don’t understand why we’re not more welcoming of gays. It’s going to spread as younger people become a bigger and bigger voting block.”
Regarding his former moderate Republican colleagues in the Senate, such as Susan Collins of Maine, Chafee said they’re worried about being challenged in primaries by Tea Party and social conservative candidates.
“I think that in these states you have to worry about a primary,” he said. “That’s just a reality. You saw [Sen.] Bob Bennett in Utah lose a primary. [Sen.] Richard Lugar [in Indiana] lose a primary. [Congressman] Mike Castle in Delaware lost a [Senate] primary. That’s what you worry about as a Republican. They’re going to come at you from the far right. I’m sure that’s what Susan Collins is worried about [on gay marriage]."
Listen to the full interview with Chafee:
]]>Chris Kluwe, Former Minnesota Vikings Punter, On Jason Collins, Gay Advocacy And Being Cut From Teamtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2013-05-10T12:11:27-04:002013-05-10T12:58:05-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/possibly becoming the 12th state to offer marriage equality, former Minnesota Vikings punter and outspoken marriage equality supporter Chris Kluwe discussed being cut from the team and Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton’s suggestion that Kluwe’s advocacy on gay rights played a factor in his being let go. Dayton, responding to the news of Kluwe's release, said on Wednesday that he doesn’t “doesn’t feel good” about the team's decision and that “public officials should be honest about what’s going on.”
“That was cool to hear from the governor, because generally governors don’t speak out about football players very often,” Kluwe said with a chuckle, appearing on my SiriusXM radio program. “It’s just one of those things where, right now, I’m just hoping to latch on with another team, and hopefully continue my football career. I feel that I have at least four, possibly five years left of playing at a very high level.” (Listen to the full interview below)
“I honestly don’t know because I’m not in those meetings,” Kluwe continued, discussing the possibility that his speaking out cost him. “I don’t know what’s said between managers, between coaches. All I can do is go out and punt to the bet of my ability and trust in the body of work that I’ve put together over the years, which has been pretty consistent.”
But using his platform to advocate for marriage equality, Kluwe said, was worth any ramifications.
“To me it’s something that, if I’m going to remembered for something, I’d rather be remembered for something that helps people's lives, that keeps children from wanting to kill themselves as opposed to playing football,” he said. “As much as I love playing football, and I really do enjoy playing football, there are serious societal issues that plague our civilization. And there are things that we need to address. And if no one ever speaks out, nothing ever gets changed.”
Kluwe is optimistic about the Minnesota House passage of marriage equality this week and the possibility that the senate will pass the same bill next week, which the governor said he will sign.
“Hopefully, it goes the right way,” he said, “because it’s something that as a society, we have to realize that if we try to limit people’s freedoms we’re sowing the seeds of our own destruction because that gives rise to conflict and gives rise to discord."
Kluwe also expressed support for the coming out of Jason Collins in the NBA, saying that he’s “really happy for him.” And Kluwe, now a free agent, said he will continue to speak out.
"There’s a very rich tradition of athletes in America standing up for societal issues,” he said. “Whether it’s Jackie Robinson, whether it’s Muhammad Ali or others. This thought that your job defines you, that you can only do your job, that you can’t talk about anything else, it really goes against the spirit of what this country is about, that every citizen should be vested in where it’s headed.”
Listen to the full interview with Chris Kluwe here:
]]>The First AIDS Generation: Grappling With Why We're Alive and What It Meanstag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.32454612013-05-09T10:33:13-04:002013-05-09T18:26:12-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/
Michael was getting me back, I thought to myself, letting out a chuckle -- because, if you knew Michael, this was in line with the direct way he let you know what he was thinking. I'd neglected him, running away as he wasted away, his body ravaged in the horrific way that AIDS takes its course. Pia and Jay had nursed him, bathed him, there until the end. But I was too busy with the work of AIDS activism, or at least that's what I told myself, to be there as he faced death at the age of 32.
We'd been inseparable friends as college roommates at Syracuse and later as roommates in Manhattan. He turned me on to Nina Hagen and Lene Lovich and taught me much about music, art and fashion. As I was a publicist-turned-nightlife-columnist at the time, I took him to the hippest parties at Area and Danceteria and the other New York clubs, both of us dressed in the hip downtown black outfits that we often threw together from nothing.
In 1987, as the AIDS epidemic reached down deeper into younger gay men, we went together to be tested for HIV. Michael tested positive, and we both cried for an entire day. He responded to it by immersing himself deeper in clubbing and partying. I immersed myself in AIDS activism, as did thousands of others, positive and negative. I joined ACT UP in New York and used my media and publicity skills, eventually chairing the group's media committee, helping publicize protests and expose government neglect in the media.
My life, such as it was -- my career, many of my relationships -- fell apart. My family ties frayed, as everything became about AIDS and ACT UP. I believed our lives were over, no matter our individual HIV statuses. Our community was under siege. Right-wingers in Reagan-Bush America were talking about quarantine and tattoos. It was a go-for-broke moment. I co-founded OutWeek magazine, where I loudly criticized public figures who were gay and powerful but closeted, calling them out for hiding when so many of us needed them. I came under a lot of withering attack in the media, but none of it deterred me. As far as I was concerned, it was the end the world -- our world -- and I was going to go down kicking and screaming.
But looking back, it was also escapism itself, and in one sense it was similar to Michael's clubbing and partying. I was escaping the epidemic by immersing myself in the politics and urgency of it, which seems paradoxical but really does make a lot of sense. I didn't have time for sickbeds or funerals, I told myself, because I had a government scandal to expose or a protest to publicize or a powerful closet case to rail against. I gave myself a special dispensation on grief and heartbreak. There was no time for grief, especially when anger and indignation was so much more empowering. Of course, what I'm painfully learning 25 years later is that you can put grief off, but you can't ever escape it. Unless you process it, unless you deal with it, it haunts you for the rest of your life.
* * * * *
In the mid-'90s everything changed. The world wasn't ending after all. The AIDS epidemic transformed as the new drugs -- the drugs that my friends and comrades had fought so hard to get developed -- came on the market. The people around me, people close to me, weren't dying, and soon they were thriving. By then I had shifted focus from AIDS itself to the larger issue of the homophobia that fueled the negligence when it came to AIDS. I covered anti-gay violence, focusing my journalism on brutal, homophobic murders and the hate that inspired them. I'd begun covering the injustice of "don't ask, don't tell" and zeroed in on the burgeoning marriage equality movement.
I was very lucky. I'd seamlessly transitioned my life into another passion, or, rather, I'd expanded on the passion that AIDS activism had inspired, continuing to do the kind of work I'd done that connected deeply with who I am and the community of which I'm a part. But for so many AIDS activists of my generation who were on the front lines, particularly for those who were HIV-positive and dealing with the physical and emotional toll of AIDS, that was not the case. Late last year the death of Spencer Cox, an ACT UP comrade who was critical in getting the drugs to market that saved so many around the world, underscored the plight of "wounded AIDS warriors." So many had seen their lives transformed by AIDS activism, fighting on the front lines and changing the world, only to see the world move on once the most horrible part of the epidemic had passed, as they tried to put their lives back together.
For gay men over 40, it's as if we've come back from a war that was far away and distant to most Americans even as it was happening -- not unlike the actual wars we've experienced in this country in the past decade. All of us who were in the trenches of the AIDS war are today dealing with the grief and the survivor guilt, even as the war itself goes on. Many are grappling with deeper scars and something akin to post-traumatic stress. A lot of it is enmeshed in all the other issues people face, such as mid-life crises and aging. But as John Voelcker pointed out, unlike for other veterans of other wars, there isn't a Veterans Administration or any built-in support system for the survivors of the AIDS war, nor is there any outlet for mass grieving of the thousands who've died from AIDS similar to the memorials for war dead or terrorism victims.
The response to a forum being held in New York tonight -- "Is This My Beautiful Life?" -- is an indication of the depth of this experience, as organizers have been inundated with people planning to attend and requests from people in other cities wanting to organize something similar. On my radio program this week, Voelcker, one of the organizers, spoke about how this is only just the beginning of looking back on the first AIDS generation and talking about where we go from here. For me personally, seeing people coming together to grapple with these issues makes it that much easier to finally take those first steps in processing the past, including the grief and guilt surrounding Michael's death and so many others.]]>Matt Moore, Christian Blogger Caught On Grindr: I Was Looking To Meet Men, But Not For Sextag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2013-05-01T10:45:47-04:002013-05-02T13:57:42-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/exposed for being on the gay-dating app Grindr in February, says in a new interview that he wasn’t looking for sex on Grindr: He was looking to meet men in New Orleans to take him to gay bars. Moore has since sold his computer and locked his phone so that he can’t “give in to temptation” again. (Listen to the full interview below)
“Basically I just wanted to see who was on it and who was around me,” Moore, a 24-year-old a blogger for the Christian Post who has called homosexuality sinful and an abomination, said on my SiriusXM radio program. “I can honestly say that I didn’t have any kind of sexual conversations with anyone. Anyone who sent me any kind of explicit photos or conversations, I blocked immediately. The first time I got on it, I wanted to go out and I wanted to go to the gay bars in New Orleans. So I was trying to meet someone on there to basically tag along with. That was the reason I was originally on it.”
But before Moore could meet anyone, he says, screenshots were posted on the web by blogger Zinnia Jones, soon labeling him across the blogosphere as the “ex-gay” on Grindr, a label he refutes. He said he came forward now, seeking out an interview two months later, to clarify that he does not believe that he is “ex-gay” and that he doesn’t believe reparative therapy makes people heterosexual if they are homosexual.
“I want to clarify some things,” he said. “I think the way the articles were written, they’re based on the assumption that when I became a Christian, I became straight and that I did not have homosexual feelings anymore and that my presence on Grindr was pointing out that I basically lied. I had never, ever said any of those things.”
Moore, who said he once was an “out” gay man and had boyfriends until he turned to evangelical Christianity in 2010, explained that he still is sexually attracted to men and is not sexually attracted to women -- that ‘it’s impossible to change yourself” -- but that he is trying to refrain from acting on his sexual desires because of his religious beliefs.
“I do believe it’s the truth, so, honestly, yes,” he said, when asked if he’s urging all gay people to follow his path. “I stopped going out to gay bars and stuff like that. Most of the relationships that I did have did cease. And I had not been on Grindr or any kind of gay social network until January of this year.”
Listen to the full interview below:
]]>Jason Collins Says 'I'm Gay' in the NBA: Why This Is Hugetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.31792242013-04-29T13:25:01-04:002013-04-29T14:18:59-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/coming out today cannot be overestimated. He breaks a barrier that we've been waiting for someone to plunge through: a major league sports player saying "I'm gay" while still playing and at the height of his career. We've seen former major league football players and others come out after retirement, but until now, no one has dared say it while still playing major league sports.
There's been enormous progress on LGBT rights in the courts and in the public opinion polls, yet for all that progress it's still true that no leading man or woman in Hollywood, the kind of people who, like it or not, are idolized by young people in our culture, has dared come out of the closet. And that was true of the world of professional sports until today.
It's important for young people when anyone comes out, be it an educator, a parent, a brother or sister, a community leader or a politician. It creates enormous visibility and tells them that it's safe to come out if they are gay, lesbian or bisexual themselves. And if they're heterosexual, it tells them that gay people deserve respect. But it's especially powerful for someone to come out in the macho world of professional sports, where homophobia has been allowed to flourish over the years. (Only very recently have the leagues and the teams begun to speak out against homophobia.) The message to young Americans, even in the midst of the strides of the gay marriage movement, has been clear: Gays may be out on television, in schools and even in our families, but if they know what's best for them, they'd better stay cowering in the closet in the world of sports.
The locker room, we've been told, couldn't handle it. Straight players wouldn't be able to accept knowing of a gay player in their midst. Just this past January, NFL player Chris Culliver drove that ugly message home when he said in a radio interview that gay players shouldn't even think about coming out. Asked whether there are any gay players on the 49ers, Culliver said, "Nah. We don't got no gay people on the team. You know, they gotta get up out of here if they do. Can't be with that sweet stuff. ... Can't be... can't... uh... be in the locker room." Asked if gay players should stay closeted while playing professionally, Culliver responded, "Yeah, you gotta, you gotta come out 10 years later after that."
But now, here comes Jason Collins, telling Sports Illustrated, "I'm a 34-year-old center. I'm black. And I'm gay." More than that, Collins says he's delighted to rise to the occasion, seeing the enormous importance of doing so. "I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport," he explained. "But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, 'I'm different.' If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand."
That took a lot courage, and it will no doubt inspire many others, making it easier not only for the next player but for so many young people across America.]]>Jeff Merkley, Oregon Senator, Says He's Optimistic For GOP Support For ENDAtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2013-04-26T10:37:55-04:002013-04-26T18:57:05-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/reintroduced in the Senate on Thursday. Those conversations have included GOP Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio), who came out for marriage equality in March, announcing that he'd reversed his position two years after his son came out as gay. (Listen to the full interview below)
“I’ve had an initial conversation with him and told him I’d be following up as we filed the bill,” Merkley said of Portman, who has still not indicated how he would vote on ENDA, which was introduced with bipartisan support, including co-sponsorship with Republican Sens. Mark Kirk (Ill.) and Susan Collins (Maine). “But I can tell you I’ve sat down with a number of Republicans who have not come out publicly yet. They’re still mulling over what they’re going to do, but I think there’s a very good chance they’re going to be supporting this bill. Whether that comes in a co-sponsorship or an affirmative vote when we are on the floor is yet to be seen. But I think that our numbers will be increasing both in sponsorship and in a floor vote than where we would have been had we had a floor vote even two years ago or four years ago.”
“In 1996, we came within one vote of getting employment non-discrimination passed,” Merkley continued, referring to the last Senate vote on the issue, in which ENDA was voted down, 49-50. “That was 17 years ago and the world’s changed quite a bit since then. This bill is way overdue.This is about equality under the law. This is about fundamental fairness. How can you possibly be a full member of society if you’re discriminated against in getting a job?”
Merkley acknowledged, however, that today, in a Senate in which the Republican minority uses the filibuster rule to try to stop just about every Democratic bill, 60 votes would be needed to pass ENDA.
“I feel with the bipartisan sponsorship out of the gate, I think we can get the 60 votes that will probably be required,” he sad in an interview on my SiriusXM radio program. “We have a good chance of getting it done. I think if we can put out a bipartisan bill out of the Senate, we have a chance in the House to move forward. I think that many of my Republican House colleagues who’ve stood in the way of this type of fight for fairness have realized they’re wrong, on the wrong side of history, on the wrong side of connecting with our younger folks.”
Merkley also continued to press President Obama to sign an executive order banning workplace discrimination against gay and transgender people among federal contractors. In February Merkley spearheaded a letter to the president, signed by 37 senators, calling on him to sign the order.
“This is something that can be done tomorrow,” Merkley said. “It would be a huge step forward. I’ve been encouraging the president and his team for several years to take such an action. And I haven’t persuaded them yet. I think at this point, I don’t see an indication the White House is moving on this issue. And should we pass ENDA, maybe the next action the president will take on this will be signing the law in the oval office to enormous celebration.”
Listen to the full interview with Merkley below:
]]>'Please Help Me: I Have Not Come Out, and I'm Not Sure I Want To'tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.31466062013-04-24T10:11:28-04:002013-04-24T11:56:28-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/
Jimmy is a 47-year-old man who lives in a rural area of a conservative state that has no legal protections for LGBT people, including employment protections. He wrote me recently to tell me about the nightmare he experiences in his workplace, harassed by co-workers and fearing that he may be fired by his company at any moment simply because he is gay:
I work at a business driving a bus. I have not come out and I'm not sure I want to. I used to get along with my co-workers but there are some who have made it clear they don't like me in the least. They started to ignore me and there are rumors going around that I'm gay. Since this rumor, some of the drivers have totally ignored me or just shut up when I'm around. Two drivers went out of their way to tell customers and try to get me fired. They have asked customers to make false complaints against me, saying I hit on them and even had sex on my bus. I have not done anything of the sort... What can I do?... Please help me.
Jimmy has few people to turn to, and he says his isolation over the years drove him to attempt suicide "several times." He told his mother he's gay a few years ago.
"She said she supported me but has not spoken to me in over three years now," he says. "My three sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins all have stopped speaking to me also."
At work Jimmy has been ostracized by his co-workers even though the people he drives around think he's a great guy who does a terrific job. He says:
The drivers just think I'm gay. None of them know for sure. A couple of them have asked but I reply that I refuse to answer that ignorant question. My customers seem to like me and they have nothing but positive things to say about me. They tell me always I am the nicest driver we have and they know they are safe when they ride with me. I have numerous people and other employees tell me I am the most liked bus driver we have.
Jimmy believes his employer is doing little to protect him, even though he's valued by riders, and he fears that his employer may end up firing him because he's gay, which, as shocking as it may sound, is legal in his state. He's made complaints, but he doesn't get the support from the company that he believes he should receive. One driver, a woman, "talks about gay people, and calls them faggots," Jimmy says. "We were friends for a long time but now she is trying to get me fired."
Some people would say that Jimmy needs to get the hell out of that place, but for many LGBT people in rural America in the years following the worst recession in decades, and with the economy still faltering, that's surely not easy. And why should they move, some of them will ask you, and let the bigots win?
Jimmy's story is why the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), being introduced in the Senate again this week, must be passed. Twenty-nine states have no protections based on sexual orientation (and 34 states have no protections based on gender identity), and Jimmy is in one of them. The political climate on LGBT rights, along with the polls, has changed dramatically in recent months. All but a few Democratic U.S. senators now support marriage equality, as do two Republican senators. There's a belief among LGBT advocates that ENDA could pass the Senate, and, with many Republicans on the defensive on the gay issue, yet still not willing to commit to gay marriage, that it could even get a vote in the Republican-controlled House.
Though the White House promised to be a force propelling the passage of ENDA, activists say that the president has done little in the past year on that front. He also hasn't signed an executive order that would ban workplace discrimination against gay and transgender people among federal contractors, though LGBT activists and prominent Democratic lawmakers have urged him to do so.
For people like Jimmy, the idea of marriage equality is amazing, and it's pretty wonderful that the president supports it. But right now that's not what's going to help them pay the rent and continue to put food on the table, or protect them from being harassed and tormented at work, or simply allow them to just be who they are without fear of losing their jobs.]]>The Boy Scouts: Still Anti-Gay and Sending a Dangerous Message to Youthtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.31185692013-04-19T16:30:04-04:002013-04-19T17:28:14-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/proposing to end its ban on gay scouts but not its ban on gay and lesbian scoutmasters and den mothers, is at once ridiculous and blatantly anti-gay. Sorry, but there's just no middle ground on bigotry. The idea that you can end discrimination against some -- and actually admit that it is discrimination -- but not against others is truly breathless in its illogic. The BSA actually says in its new proposal that "no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone," but that the organization "will maintain the current membership policy for all adult leaders."
So a boy can come out as gay, be a great scout and be accepted by the organization but not even think about being a scoutmaster as an adult? And how can a boy who comes out as gay, or is simply known to be gay because of his other associations and friendships, feel that he is not stigmatized by the BSA when the organization is still discriminating against gay adults?
The BSA's twisted reasoning is that gay adults can't be trusted around boys, because they may be sexually attracted to them and may make sexual advances on them. It's never explained why, using that logic, a lesbian can't be a den mother, and of course it feeds into the nastiest lies and stereotypes about gays, equating them with pedophiles. That continued stigmatization will fuel homophobia and bullying against gay scouts regardless of the fact that the organization now says that they won't be banned. That the BSA used its recent survey of members as a cover, claiming that a majority of its members wanted it this way, only heightens the ugliness of the message.
What I wrote last July, when the BSA decided to keep the ban on both gay scouts and gay scoutmasters, still holds: The BSA is sending a dangerous message to young people across America, telling them to keep gays away because they are not like the rest of us.
The Boy Scouts had a chance, again, to redeem itself, but it has blown it big-time. As I also noted last July, the BSA must be considered an enemy of civil rights. Any parents in good conscience must continue to realize what they are a party to by enrolling their kids in an organization whose policies would help drive hostility against a minority group. And any corporation or organization that associates with the Boy Scouts must be made to realize the ugliness that it is party to, as well.]]>Patti Davis, Daughter Of Nancy Reagan, Says Her Mother Supports Gay Marriagetag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2013-04-17T10:07:19-04:002013-04-25T10:54:42-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/made headlines two weeks ago when she said her father would have backed same-sex marriage. Now, in a new interview, she says that her mother, who rarely speaks on public policy issues, supports marriage equality.
“She does,” Davis said when asked if the former first lady supports gay marriage, adding that her mother “is not comfortable going out in the public eye and getting in the firing line of anything,” and also noting with a chuckle that “if she had disagreed with what I said publicly about my father, she would have said something publicly.” (Scroll down to listen to the full interview)
Davis also addressed comments by her adopted half-brother, radio talk talk show host Michael Reagan, who’d written an op-ed piece a day before her comments about President Reagan and gay marriage in which he attacked same-sex marriage and said it could lead to acceptance of bestiality, polygamy and even murder. Michael Reagan later also sharply disagreed with Davis’ contention that their father would have supported gay marriage.
“In his rant, in that op-ed, he didn’t talk about our father once, and I thought that was very telling, because he always talks about our father,” Davis said in an interview on my SiriusXM OutQ radio program, which she appeared on to discuss her new novel, which is centered around a lesbian romance, Till Human Voices Wake Us. “That op-ed, that written thing equating gay people with murderers and people who engage in bestiality or whatever, it’s all such ugly stuff and if Michael were the only person saying that, you can say, ‘OK, whatever.’ But there are other people who feel this way and who lump gay people in with people who have sex with donkeys and farm animals. This is just horrific. Our father would in no way tolerate that kind of ugly talk and that kind of hateful speech.”
Davis noted that Michael Reagan lived with her and her parents while gay friends and family members were present and were accepted by the former president and first lady, and thus she believes her brother knows that her father privately supported gay people.
“Michael came to live with us for a while when he was a young teenager and he knew the same people that I knew,” she explained. “And he knew the tolerance. And he knew the two aunts that babysat us. He knew they were around. They were around at holidays and it was completely accepted that they were a couple.”
Nonetheless, Ronald Reagan has been sharply criticized by LGBT and AIDS activists for bowing to religious conservatives in the Republican Party, holding back gay rights, and catastrophically failing in responding to the AIDS epidemic early on, not mentioning the word AIDS until the late 80s, well after thousands had been infected with HIV and died.
“Part of the reason I thought it was important to say that about my father,” Davis said regarding her belief that he would support gay marriage, “is that he was late in addressing the AIDS issue. I wished I’d asked him that before the Alzheimer’s, if he’d regretted that he was late in addressing the epidemic. I’m quite certain he would have said that yes he was. You know, my father’s flaw was not that he was intolerant. His flaw was that he trusted the people around him. And I’m not excusing him. I’m just saying this as a fact. He trusted people around him to tell him what was going on in the country that he needed to address. There were people around him that did not want him to deal with any issue that had to deal with gay people.”
Regarding her mother’s position on gay marriage, Davis, who was estranged from her mother for many years but reconciled with her shortly after President Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in 1994, said Nancy Reagan supports marriage equality but is reluctant to say so publicly.
“She does,” Davis said in response to the question. “I’m hesitant to speak for anyone else, and she’s not comfortable going out in the public eye and getting in the firing line of anything. So, you know, I want to be cautious about speaking on someone else’s behalf. But let me put it this way: I think if she had disagreed with what I said publicly about my father she would have said something publicly.” Davis chuckled and added, “Let’s just put it that way. That’s the most sort of politically correct way I can answer that question.”
Listen to the interview with Patti Davis here:
]]>Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck: Champions of Gay Rights?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.30605052013-04-11T09:11:32-04:002013-04-11T14:08:43-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/said that gays are winning the battle over marriage because they have "the compelling argument," and that those opposed to gay marriage need to come up with an actual argument rather than just "thump the Bible." This erupted into in a made-for-YouTube shouting match with Laura Ingraham, which O'Reilly happily hosted on his Fox show, and sent the American Family Association radio host Bryan Fischer into spasms. O'Reilly is "a pompous, arrogant windbag," Fischer said, which was kind of like Lindsay Lohan calling Judy Garland a boozer and a pill popper.
Since then, O'Reilly, who spent years railing against gay activists and belittling gay marriage, has gotten cover from none other than Glenn Beck, who only last year accused gays of trying to "destroy" marriage. Beck, who converted to Mormonism years ago, has spent the past 12 months sort of being all over the place on the issue, but he now says the "principle" of gay marriage is right.
Even a sulking Rush Limbaugh was forced to admit that gay marriage "is going to happen" and that "the genie is not getting put back in the bottle." And when O'Reilly's fellow Fox commentator Sean Hannity recently attempted to make his and the right's position against gay marriage clear, it blew up in his face. Just a day before O'Reilly railed against the Bible thumpers, Hannity egged on Dr. Ben Carson to say the words that have plunged the Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon and conservative rising star into boiling hot water, comparing homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia while he came out against same-sex marriage. Carson's now been forced to back out of giving the commencement speech at Johns Hopkins University.
O'Reilly continues to come under attack from "pro-family" groups and moralizing conservative bloggers, but he's been getting a lot of support for his position from Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, who has promoted marriage equality and has taken on anti-gay advocates such as Maggie Gallagher, founder of the National Organization for Marriage. Suddenly, there's actually discussion and debate about gay marriage on Fox News -- with real live conservatives supporting it -- and it looks like these two will be leading that debate.
None of this is to let O'Reilly off the hook for his idiotic and ugly positions of the past on the issue (and surely he'll be attacking gay activists for one thing or another in short order), nor is it to negate the fact that O'Reilly is quite cognizant of keeping his ratings high as he sees support for gay marriage rise rapidly in the polls. But if the debate over marriage equality now needs to move into the heart of the Fox News audience, it's certainly not a bad thing to have O'Reilly as the guy taking on the anti-equality crowd.]]>Is Congressman Matt Salmon Really Loving His Gay Son While Working Against His Son's Rights?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.30202772013-04-05T11:39:27-04:002013-04-25T11:55:35-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/
The discussion was sparked by an "It Gets Better" video by Matt R. Salmon, a young gay man who expressed deep pain and sadness over the fact that his father, Rep. Matt J. Salmon (R-Ariz.), a devout Mormon, does not support marriage equality despite telling an Arizona TV interviewer that he loves his son "more than I can say." The congressman not only said that he doesn't support "the gay marriage" but has voted anti-gay, including voting for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which he still supports. Meanwhile, in 2006, his wife, Nancy Salmon, actually headed a group that spearheaded the hateful campaign in Arizona to pass a ballot measure that would have banned gay marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships. (That campaign failed, but a narrower amendment to the Arizona constitution defining marriage as "a union of one man and one woman" passed two years later.)
One woman from Georgia called my program to say that the son was being a "drama queen" and should get over it, that it is fine for them to disagree. Another caller, a gay man with parents who do not accept that he is gay, said that there is clearly "a lot of love" between the father and son and slammed me for being too hard on the father.
I can only imagine what it would be like if my parents weren't just upset, concerned and confused upon learning of my homosexuality but were actually working in the political world to attack gay people and restrict their rights. Fortunately, my own parents, like millions across the country and around the world, including, most recently, Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), came around after their initial shock and reconciled their support for me with their faith. How do such parents do it? Often by actually drawing on that faith itself. They realize that their children's well-being is paramount. Raising children is a life-changing, transformational experience in which people are challenged in so many areas to rethink deep-seated beliefs. And this is one of them.
Those parents who do not move on the issue, who reject their children, either by literally throwing them out of their homes or by saying, "I love you, but I don't accept your 'lifestyle,'" are putting themselves above their children. For young people in that situation, living as second-class citizens in their own families and fooling themselves into thinking that their parents love them (because they so much want that love from their parents) while allowing their parents to quietly condemn them each and every day, even as they grow into adulthood, the rejection eats away at their self-esteem.
Another caller said that his family has never accepted the fact that he's gay but still professes to love him, but now that he's getting married to his partner in New York, the family has said that they just cannot attend the wedding. He's now contemplating cutting them off completely, and, as painful as that may be, it is something that he absolutely must do. His parents have been enabled in their bigotry and coddled in their bias, not challenged to grow. His parents may never change, and they may stew in their selfishness for the rest of their lives, sadly. But he realizes that the only way that they're going to change now is if he makes the issue much more uncomfortable for them. And he knows that if they don't change, he just can't continue to live in that humiliating way.
Matt R. Salmon is nowhere near that point right now. In an interview with Michael Lavers in the Washington Blade, Salmon, who headed the Arizona chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans, defended his father against what he called an "incredibly intolerant" response from the LGBT community. "My father loves me very much and he supports me and he respects me," he said, almost seeming to be trying to convince himself.
The sappy media stories paint the Salmons as a loving family where even "differences" over gay marriage can't come between them. The congressman is being enabled, allowed to comfortably advocate against equal rights for his child and everyone like him while claiming to love him. Young Matt can't allow that to stand, for his own well-being. And the rest of us, too, can't allow it to stand if we're truly intent on attaining full civil rights for LGBT people.]]>John Kavanagh, Arizona State Representative, Defends Transgender Bathroom Billtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//2013-04-03T10:29:56-04:002013-04-03T10:31:13-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/prosecuting transgender people for using a public restroom if their gender appearance didn't match the gender on their identification said yesterday that his effort is indeed “targeting” transgender people, but “only with respect to public accommodations where there is an expectation of privacy” and is about “a balancing of rights.” (Listen to the full interview below)
After an uproar over what one TV news station dubbed the "Show Me Your Papers Before You Go Potty" bill, Rep. John Kavanagh softened the bill somewhat. It now seeks to protect businesses from civil or criminal liability if they ban transgender people from restrooms if their identification doesn’t match their gender appearance. But Kavanagh admitted in an interview on my SiriusXM OutQ radio program that the new version of the bill, which passed a Arizona House committee last week, still partly rescinds the newly enacted ordinance by the city of Phoenix banning discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. He also admitted that transgender people will still be subject to possible arrest.
“What the business could do is, they could have sex-specific bathrooms, locker rooms and public -- and showers and if it’s specific to one gender they could restrict somebody from going in there,” Kavanagh said. “And if the person refused, I guess [the business] could always call the police. But if they wanted to allow transgender people in they could just to do that.”
Kavanagh said his concern is less about public rest rooms and more about locker rooms and gyms with shower facilities.
“First of all, the bathroom wasn’t the major issue,” he explained. “The real purpose of my bill was for showers. What Phoenix did was allow someone who is biologically male who thinks they’re female to go into a gym or a swimming pool shower or a locker room where people undress completely and this could be a woman or a girl or a young girl. I’ve had a number of parents say that they would be outraged if a man, a person who is biologically male, is in the locker room.”
Kavanagh could not point to cases in which pedophiles posed as transgender women -- what he called the “transgender ruse” -- in order to get access to women’s public facilities, but said the issue was more about discomfort. Asked if discomfort, and anger by parents, is a reason to discriminate against a group, Kavanagh said yes, because of “trauma,” and called it using “the race card” to make a comparison to those whites who expressed discomfort or disgust at being in the same public rest room as blacks before laws were enacted banning discrimination.
“Anybody who is concerned about a black person in a restaurant is sick, but a parent who is concerned about a young child in a locker room in this situation is a good parent in my opinion,” he said. “What we have here essentially is a balancing of rights. The right not to be exposed. I think there’s psychological harm to a young girl exposed to the genitalia of the opposite sex. I think there’s some trauma there for some young girls. I don’t think it’s appropriate in that environment.”
When pressed again about actual physical harm and cases of sexual assault by men who posed as transgender women, Kavanagh oddly referred to New York’s Times Square in years past.
“Well, I was a cop for 20 years, most of the time in Times Square when Times Square was not the Disneyland they created now,” he said. “And believe me, there were many bizarre things that people would do. I wouldn’t put it past a very small minority of deviant people to use the transgender ruse.”
What about the civil rights of a group discriminated against?
I don’t believe there’s a civil right in a place where you have an expectation of privacy,” Kavanagh answered.
Listen to the full interview below:
]]>Excuse Me, Justice Alito, But We've Been Around Since Long Before Cellphones, Thank Youtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.29710952013-03-28T10:28:03-04:002013-04-25T11:55:24-04:00Michelangelo Signorilehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelangelo-signorile/
Traditional marriage has been around for thousands of years. Same-sex marriage is very new. There isn't a lot of data about its effect. And it may turn out to be a good thing; it may turn out not to be a good thing, as the supporters of Proposition 8 apparently believe. But you want us to step in and render a decision based on an assessment of the effects of this institution which is newer than cellphones or the Internet? I mean we... we are not... we do not have the ability to see the future.
I'm not sure what Alito means by "traditional marriage," because what was going on, and considered totally acceptable, "thousands of years" ago, even according to the very Bible that Alito-cons often cite, was polygamy, concubines and ownership of wives, as well as selling children into slavery and men marrying their sisters and their daughters. Thankfully, we have transformed marriage over the centuries, and certainly in this country over the past hundred years or so, much for the better for all those involved. Nonetheless, if the standard for giving gays the right to marry is, according to Alito, whether it will "turn out to be a good thing" or a "not a good thing," well, then, we had better ban heterosexual marriage now, because, considering the high divorce rate, many would say it's turned out not only to be a "not a good thing," but actually an unmitigated disaster.
Of course, it's not the Supreme Court justices' job to be Sociologist in Chief and decide whether there's enough "data" about the "effect" of giving a group civil rights. If Alito said that about any other group, it would be uniformly condemned as blatant bigotry.
And the claim that same-sex marriage is newer than cellphones is perhaps one of the most ignorant things we've heard from this Supreme Court, even including Justice Scalia's most slanderous rants. Any reading of the history shows that same-sex unions, many officially sanctioned, go back "thousands of years" to the earliest civilizations in China and Africa, and up through ancient Greece and Roman cultures, and Europe in the Middle Ages. It may be new in this country to actually give gay couples a license and a certificate, and have the state confer rights, but there's been "data" of the "effect" of gay relationships for as long as there have been gay people, and that data says that gays and their relationships hurt no one. It is actually the children of gay couples who are harmed, as Justice Kennedy rightly noted during the Prop 8 arguments, when their parents are not able to get married, something that the American Pediatrics Association recently offered as the reason that it now backs marriage equality.
Whatever the outcome of the Prop 8 and DOMA cases, the arguments have shed light on the fact that not only are some of the justices still living in a world before cellphones existed; they're from an era in which cave drawings were the preferred mode of communication.]]>