Santorum

It's been awhile since the topic of Dan Savage vs former Senator Rick (the Dick) Santorum (R‑Pa.) came up, but I think it's time to resurrect it.

The links here will tell you the complete story, but I'm just gonna give you the good part. My favorite sex advice columnist, Dan Savage, created a neologism for the word "Santorum" and came up with this incredible definition: "The frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex." He created a (now dormant) website devoted to the topic, and it's well worth a read.

Savage's website, a section in The Stranger, the paper he writes for, is filled with excellent sex advice and his writing is both humorous and cogent. Again, I highly recommend you take a look - in fact, you will notice that I have a permanent link to his website in my Links I like box in the sidebar. The Wikipedia articles (here, here and here) about him give more insight into the santorum story.

In a response to a reader, Savage recently said: "...while you fingered O'Donnelled his girlfriend...". He denies trying to create another neologism, but I dunno - I like the idea!

Talk about ignorance!

I was doing some research for a friend concerning GLSEN, a gay advocacy group. They are selling a kit for schools that includes posters and bumper stickers which, in essence, tell schoolkids that they're in a "safe space." (No such thing, but we won't go there today.)

Here's the bit that got me. There is a page of testimonials about the kit, where one of the teachers says, "I will put up the safe zone sticker on my door to do something...most of my coworkers will not know what this means.....but those kids who need me to keep them safe will." (Boldface emphasis mine.)

The other teachers won't know what the stickers mean?!?! Well, if they don't know, then how in hell are the kids supposed to figure it out?

Perhaps there's a deeper problem here, one that is going to take a lot more than a kit of posters and stickers...

Quickies

Some good items in the Huffington Post today - worth linking to. Here goes:

• Carl Paladino fell apart in a gubernatorial debate with Andrew Cuomo.
• There's a dustup between Sarah Palin and NYTimes columnist Maureen Dowd.
• Larry Magid talks about how Facebook Groups can jeopardize privacy.
• And, on DADT, it appears that the judge is likely to defy the government.

There's gotta be a morning after!

The Turf Club certainly got lucky with the weather. Saturday night was beautiful - typical Bay Area weather. Sunday saw our first real rain of the season - here's what the patio looked like then!

Pictures of Turf Club's 25th anniversary

As I mentioned in my prior post, yesterday was the Turf Club's 25th anniversary, and a blast was had by all. I snapped some pictures, but not nearly enough to do justice to the event. Nonetheless, here's a sampling.

Great hors d'œuvre and amuse bouche got us going, prepared and served by Steve D'Assis. Then we were served a dinner of juicy, tender prime rib, new potatoes slathered in butter, and a delicious marinated bean side (a nod to my need for veg!). I wasn't able to manage dessert, but was reliably informed that the selection was, again, delicious. And, of course, champagne. All the staff were parading around in tuxes (or some variant thereof), all looking wonderful. A big thank you goes out, in kinda-sorta alphabetical order, to Larry, Doug, Danny, Dave, Eric, Frank, Gary, Hazel, Jay, Jennifer, Michael, Randy, Shawn, both Steves, and others I'm just not remembering right now (apologies)!

Some people pics first, then some more general pics.

My friend Bryan and bartender Shawn

Bartender Jennifer

My friend Carrie (aka Dinklesquat!!!)

Doug - da mob boss!
(And, of course, the ever-present whiskey sour in Bryan's hand!)

Bartender and good friend Dave

My friend John, who owes me a drink!
(Bet he can't remember why...)

Dave, suitably attired!

And some more general views of the party:

Turf Club's 25th anniversary

Today marks the 25th anniversary of my "home away from home," the World Famous Turf Club. It's in downtown Hayward, CA, and is the only "gay bar" left in town. I use the term "gay bar" in quotes because, while people use the term familiarly, that really isn't the main focus these days - and that's as it should be. I'm always fascinated by the dichotomy of gay people wanting to be in the mainstream, yet when it comes to revered institutions like "their" bars, then they want exactly the opposite: a sense of exclusivity. C'mon, guys - it's one or the other, otherwise you're just being hypocritical.

The Turf is a wonderfully supportive community of like-minded people - gay, straight, ambisexual, whatever, who cares. LGBTQQWTF! From charity events to just plain having fun, you can find it all here. So, if you ever wander off the beaten path into Hayward, give it a whirl. (Tonight promises to be a blast because of the celebration - they're going all out to make this a night to remember.)

I could point out all of its attributes, but ya gotta see it for yourself to really appreciate it. The huge patio is being upgraded, and they are about to install a permanent outdoor bar on the top deck, in the Tiki Hut. This nighttime picture of the bottom section is a few months old, but it gives you some idea of the atmosphere. (And no, I'm not a shill for the place ... I just happen to really like it!)

Political silly season

With the mid-term elections coming up in a few weeks, the loonies are most definitely out there, making - as usual - complete idiots of themselves. Let's start the season with a "light" one:

House representative Larry Brown (R-NC) appears to not be too enamored with gay people. In an email string (for context see here), he said, and I quote: "I hope all the queers are thrilled to see him. I'm sure there will be a couple of legislative fruitloops there in the audience."

Queers. Fruitloops. Hmm.

Now, clearly, this doesn't rise to the level of anything extraordinary - after all, by now we all should be accustomed to seeing this sort of garbage. It just blows me away that there still are politicians up on the hill, supposedly representing us, "the people," who maintain this kind of outdated, ill-informed bigotry. And, sadly (and more importantly), this fool is running unopposed in November.

(Thanks, John, for alerting me to this one!)

Prop. 8: Newsweek article worth reading, plus a fun video

Ted Olson and David Boies

Yes, I'm back on Proposition 8, the "law" that denies equal rights to same-sex couples who wish to marry. Prop. 8 is clearly unconstitutional, and one of the two lawyers who fought to overturn it wrote an excellent article in Newsweek.

The two lawyers are liberal David Boies, and conservative Ted Olson (appointed by Bush). Who do you think wrote the article? Wrong! It was the conservative one - Ted Olson! He explains why this so-called law should be a concern for everybody, not just gay people. Please read it!

On a lighter note, here is an excellent video about Prop. 8. The music in the video is Adam Lambert singing Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come." The wonderful underlying video of Adam's performance was created by Jack "Angel" Montana.

Polari

No Smoking in Polari

[Maybe I should have used polari as a word-of-the-day on my bafflegab me page, since I notice I've been somewhat remiss about keeping my other pages up to date. Oh well...]

WTF? I hear you say. Yesterday, I wrote this sentence: And, my dear, just varda her ugly eek! and, at the time, thought that may have needed elucidation. But I was just so pissed at the topic in question (Qur'an burning) that I didn't go there. So I will today.

Polari is slang (or, more appropriately, cant or argot) that was popular about 50 or so years ago in the gay community, particularly in the U.K. The BBC made good use of it in a number of their popular radio comedy programs, which no doubt was responsible for its growth. Usually, it was used by campy gay guys, possibly because they felt they had a need to communicate with each other using terminology that only they would understand. Remember, this was still in the days when "gay" was bad, and there was a desire, nay, a need, for secrecy. And when you're a stereotypically effeminate queen, I would imagine that was a really tough thing to accomplish!

So what did I say in that sentence? Well, "varda" means to look, or see. And "eek" is a face. You can take it from there!

If you're interested in learning more about this, here are some good places to look: First, commentary by one of my favorite language pundits, Michael Quinion, in his World Wide Words website, where there is a brief lexicon. For more, check out the Wikipedia entry, which has a more comprehensive list, as well as a bunch of good links. And here's a good, no-nonsense article about it. Enjoy!

Prop. 8 stay lifted

Arnold Schwarzenegger

The stay on the Proposition 8 decision has been lifted, effective 5pm on August 18th. This means that same-sex marriage can resume in California, unless the appeals court acts before 5pm on the 18th. I doubt that will happen.

It's interesting to note that Arnold Schwarzenegger (CA Governor) and Jerry Brown (CA Attorney General) urged the judge, Vaughn Walker, to lift the stay immediately.

See my earlier posts about this here and here.

YES!!!

Say no more!

Ad for double-sided tape!

Sodomy - America vs Africa

If you're observant, you will see that I have a gadget way down on the left that highlights news based on keywords I specify. This week one of my keywords is "sodomy" (along with "BBC TV" and "Palin" - it's fun to see what you get day by day). Today, there are two reports next to each other that bear mention.

That elephant trunk is, erm, phallic!

The juxtaposition is very interesting, because this article talks about how the Texas Republican Party is trying to re-criminalize sodomy (oral as well as anal sex) in that state. They also want to jail anyone who issues a same-sex marriage license, and ban strip clubs. (This report also links to an article about a same-sex "crime" in Malawi, with a sentence of 14 years of hard labor.)

The other report comes out of Ghana. This African country was recently in the news because it has decided that gay people should be killed (no joke). The article here talks about a specific case of sodomy with a teenager; it will be interesting to see what punishment the alleged perp faces. The report, understandably, is in somewhat tortured English which, on the surface, is amusing - but the jarring reference to lesbianism is more than amusing, it's confounding!

So why are these two reports interesting? Well, it's kinda obvious - it strikes me that many Texans would be very much at home in Ghana and Malawi. I'm just sayin'...

Amusing sidenote: See this article about the gay McDonalds ad ... the French, as well as the rest of Europe, and many many other countries have a rather more sophisticated view of life. When will the U.S. grow up? For example, see this report about our friend Bill O'Reilly from Fox "News" discussing the ad, wherein he speculates "Do they have an Al-Qaida ad?" (the 'they' he refers to is Mickey D's).

Fabulous frock, my dear!

I just couldn't resist posting this picture of bartender Eric (left), which I snapped during the event mentioned in the post above. Don't you think he looks just gorgeous?!?!

Eric was pouring drinks at my favorite watering hole, the World Famous Turf Club. That frock! That 'do! Those tits! Très chic, mon chéri! But, to be fair, I give you the real Eric on the right!

Gay teenager featured in McDonald's commercial

Get this. In France, McDonald's is showing a commercial where a gay teenager eats lunch with his father. Gay boy, clueless dad - the storyline is both funny and clever. But you just know it would cause an outrage if they tried to air it in this country. Fred Phelps, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck or some other right-wing, anti-gay, closet-case idiot would be screaming from the rooftops. (Mind you, I wouldn't be surprised if they start some nonsense to cause harm to Mickey D's anyway, because, well, just because they can.)

You can view the ad on YouTube. Note the English subtitles, no doubt a clever ploy by McDonald's - if it goes viral it will get a shitload of views on  the 'net, and they won't have to formally air it in the U.S.! (As I write this, the link has already racked up 555K views! There are, of course, many other copies of it out there.)

Viagra: the modern day Erector set!

Time for a fun one. As a result of an automated Google search, I came across the following article, dating back to 2003:
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LONDON (Reuters) - Six schoolboys have been rushed to hospital after taking the erection-enhancing drug Viagra at lunchtime for a dare, the school says.

Forest School in Winnersh, southern England said paramedics were called after a fellow student told teachers about the 13-year-olds' prank.

"It is believed that a pupil brought the tablets in from home into the all-boys school and shared them with five friends," the local education authority said in a statement.

The Sun newspaper quoted a source at the school as saying: "By the time the afternoon lessons began, there was no hiding what they had done."

Paramedics took the six squirming boys to the nearby Royal Berkshire Hospital, where they were monitored until the effects wore off.

"The school has a strict no drugs policy and a pupil will be temporarily excluded for actions which placed other pupils at risk," the education authority added.
----------------
If you click the heading on this post, you will see a Google search with many links to comments about this story, as well as different versions of the item's copy.

What I love are some of the headlines: "Stiff Discipline For Schoolboys..." and "Schoolboys Get The Shaft" and more!

Reality check: I believe that the kid who brought his dad's Viagra to school in the first place was trying to seduce his classmates, perhaps hoping for a circle jerk, or at least a peek at his friends' members! After all, this is an all-boy British public school, where rampant homosexuality is considered a normal tradition. Personally, I think the Brits have the right idea - they accept it, are open about it, even laugh about it. Truth is, pretty much all teenage boys are curious about the growth of their wee-wees as they go through puberty, and sexual experimentation at this age is pretty standard everywhere in the world. Hormones rage! Hormones rule!

Two gay-related items

Shh... Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Did you know that the U.S. is the only defense force in the Western world with a policy, dubbed DADT, that bans gay people? [Yeah, right. No gay folks there, I'm sure...!] Now that Obama has been given permission (!) to repeal this ban, one has to wonder why right-wing Republicans in congress are resisting - after all, 80% of the country wants the repeal, including most conservative voters out there. What's up with that? Talk about self-destruction; I guess they are just clueless. Well, OK, we already knew that.

Yes, there has been a generational change with regard to the acceptance and inclusion of gays in society. For young people, who sleeps with whom is simply something they don't sweat. And that's how it should be. As someone said, "These days, being gay is about as significant as being left-handed."

I'm left-handed.

Blood donation

Another hopeful sign of the times: The U.S. is finally considering repeal of the ban on gay people donating blood. This policy has been in place ever since the scary days of HIV in the early '80s. And, of course, it's always been a ridiculous policy. There is a tremendous shortage of blood in the U.S. There are simple tests these days that can screen blood for HIV. The virus is not restricted to gays - in fact, the rate of infection among straight people and those who use infected needles to satisfy their drug habit is way higher than the rate among gay men. It is especially a problem for women because of sheer denial as well as lack of education on the topic. It would seem prudent, even with the gay ban in place, to test blood for HIV as a matter of routine.

So. Here's the trade-off, bearing the shortage in mind: Do not test blood for HIV, and deprive ourselves of donations by 10% of the population (10% being the generally accepted estimate of the gay portion). Or test all blood and increase the supply by 10%. What would you do? It truly is a no-brainer.

On a related note, the U.S. also bans blood donations from people who come from or have visited sub-Saharan Africa.

I'm South African.