Bo Young, Community, Culture, Current Affairs, History, Religion

Asylum….NOW!

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Iran_gays The Netherlands’ highest court on Tuesday rejected a Gay Iranian’s last-ditch appeal to avoid deportation to Britain, where he fears authorities will send him back to Tehran and possible execution.

Mehdi Kazemi, 19, traveled to Britain to study in 2005 and applied there for asylum after learning that his male lover in Iran had been executed for sodomy. After British authorities rejected Kazemi’s application, he fled and applied for asylum in the Netherlands.

Upholding a ruling by the Dutch government, the Council of State said Britain is responsible for Kazemi’s case because he applied for asylum there first. European Union rules say the member state where an asylum seeker first enters the bloc is responsible for processing that person’s claim.

"There should be some political leadership," he said in an interview. "I hope in Britain they will do it, and otherwise we should take the boy."

Because of Iran’s persecution of Gays, the Netherlands typically relaxes its tough asylum rules when considering applications by Gay Iranians — virtually guaranteeing asylum to any who apply here. However, because Kazemi had already applied for asylum in Britain and been rejected, the Dutch government refused to consider his case, insisting he return to Britain.

Britain’s Home Office has declined comment, saying it does not discuss individual asylum applications.

However, Britain’s Border and Immigration Agency has issued a statement that could give Kazemi hope: "We examine with great care each individual case before removal and we will not remove anyone who we believe is at risk on their return."

Arts, Bo Young, Culture, Current Affairs, Entertainment, Friends, History, Literature

Beebo Is Back!

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Beebo_brinker BEEBO BRINKER!…in the form of the Beebo Brinker Chronicles, a wonderfully realized play by Kate Moira Ryan and Linda Chapman based on the estimable Ann Bannon‘s series of books (who. by the by, will be honored along with Malcolm Boyd and Mark Thompson at the Lammies this May in Los Angeles) …IS BACK!

That’s the good news. The bad news is it’s only around for ten weeks and this time it is live on stage at the 37 Arts Theater, 450 West 37th Street. Tickets are available here. Or you can call 212-307-4100 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

This is a delicious evening of theater and LGBT history all rolled into fantastic performances and beautiful bodies. 01big_2 It’s sexy smart and fun. You may recall we wrote about this when we first saw it last October. Since then it’s been nominated for a GLAAD award.

All I can say is…nothing’s changed…it’s just gotten better!

Dan Vera, Gay Wisdom, Religion

James Alison on Gay Catholicism

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Jamesalison James Alison has a very well written meditation on being a Gay Catholic on his site (link).

Two fine excerpts:

You may have tried to talk informally about being a gay Catholic to a priest, or even a Bishop, whom your gaydar has picked up as likely to be “family”, and you will have noticed how, with all their desire to be friendly, a hidden check comes into their voice. A kind of internal restraining order means that when they say “you”, you can pick up that the “I” that is speaking has moved into a mode of masking, has become somehow official, and the “you” who is being spoken to is not being breathed into being, but somehow designated as ‘to be handled with extreme caution’. There is a “but” hovering in the background of the voice which speaks as loud as anything they say, because the “but” says “you, but not as you are”.

I don’t want to pretend that being an openly gay Catholic is something easy or obvious. It isn’t. For a start, merely the fact of your wanting to read a letter like this at all is a sign of how many obstacles you must have overcome already. You may have faced hatred and discrimination in your own country, from family members, at school, at the hands of legislators eager for cheap votes, through shrieking newspaper headlines that sear your soul, and in the glare of which you are speechless in your own defence. And you’ve probably noticed that at the very best, the Church which calls itself, and is, your Holy Mother has kept silent about the hatred and the fear. While all too often its spokesmen will have lowered themselves to the level of second-rate politicians, lending voice to hate while claiming that they are standing up for love. The very fact that, through and in the midst of, and despite, all these hateful voices, you should have heard the voice of the Shepherd calling you into being of his flock is already a miracle far greater than you know, preparing you for a work more subtle and delicate than those voices could conceive.

Dan Vera, Right Wingers

Hate in Oklahoma

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Interesting to see the poisonous bile that spews forth from elected officials — especially when they think they’re not being recorded. What follows are the opinions of Sally Kern, an Oklahoma State Representative. If you’re disgusted by this elected official’s hatefilled attack against members of her constituency please feel free to send her a message to that effect at sallykern@okhouse.gov

What is especially choice about this clip is the insistence that she doesn’t actually hate Gay people. According to her Oklahoma House webpage she’s married to a Southern Baptist minister. So I shouldn’t be too surprised. Disgusted yes. Surprised not really.

Arts, Bo Young, Books, Community, Culture, Gay Wisdom Events, Literature, Poetry, White Crane Books

ALL: A James Broughton Reading…

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Broughton_all_cover For readers in the Bay Area, KPFA radio host, Jack Foley, and his wife, Adelle, will be giving a reading of  ALL: A James Broughton Reader, a White Crane Book, along with poet Katherine Hastings, at A Different Light in San Francisco, this Wednesday, March 5 at 7:30pm.

Hastings recently wrote of the book: ALL: A James Broughton Reader is an important book and offers us a unique experience, for it is, as Foley claims, “the very first book to allow the various aspects of Broughton’s complex personality to ‘sing’ to one another.” James Broughton was so vastly talented and led such an extraordinarily interesting life that one comes away from this gorgeous and excellently structured book wondering how we did without it. If you are familiar with James Broughton’s work, you already know you must have this book. If you have not experienced Broughton’s poetry, film or journals, treat yourself—you’re in for  “Big Joy.”

Jesse Monteagudo

Jesse’s Journal – Choosing a President: The Beat Goes On & On

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The best reality show on television today is not American Idol, Survivor, or the Amazing Race.  Rather, the Primary_map biggest reality show on TV (or elsewhere) is the race for President of the United States.  As a spectator sport, the race for the White House goes back to the days of George Washington (before there was a White House). Every four years a group of ambitious politicians decide to compete for the coveted title of President of the United States and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces. They are joined in their endeavor by their families, supporters, political parties, campaign contributors, special interest groups, blogs and the media. Occasionally, the people of the United States also get into the act.  What make the current presidential race unique are the length of the race and the people who are running in it.
It has been a year since I last wrote about this seemingly endless presidential campaign. Twelve months later, the field of candidates is smaller but the race is still as hectic and the method of choosing a president is as crazy as ever. Though I would never suggest that we return to the old smoke-filled rooms, it seems to me that our current system of primaries and caucuses benefits noone but a few well-financed candidates and the economies of Iowa and New Hampshire (and Nevada and South Carolina). States that defied the system by holding early primaries, like Florida and Michigan, were punished by the major parties to no avail. Meanwhile, the beat goes and on and on, seemingly forever. To quote Will and Ariel Durant: “Who would want to live forever, and go through an endless series of American presidential campaigns?”
One thing I neglected to write about last year was the role the media play in choosing a president.  Televised curmudgeons, political pundits, talk show hosts, and presidential historians take it upon themselves to decide which candidates are “unelectable” (and thus not worth talking about) and which candidates have the all-important “momentum.” Professional chatterboxes like Tim Russert and Chris Matthews anointed Rudolph Giuliani the Hero of 9/11, declared John McCain to be a Maverick, and elevated Barack Obama to the status of Messiah. They are also responsible for making Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, Sam Brownback and Duncan Hunter (not to mention the minor party candidates) “unelectable” and thus not worthy of serious discussion. Even Ron Paul, the sweetheart of the Internet, is ignored by the pundits and the pollsters.
Hillary_clinton
In certain ways, the presidential campaign of 2008 has defied all predictions. A year ago, we all thought that Giuliani and Hillary Rodham Clinton would be the respective Republican and Democratic candidates, and that we would be treated to an all-New York World Series of politics. But Clinton reckoned without the charismatic Barack Obama (and Oprah Winfrey); while Giuliani bet the house on the Florida primary and lost. In fact, it seems that after all is said and done, the two major parties might end up true to form, with the GOP “falling in line” behind McCain and the Democrats “falling in love” with Obama. Meanwhile, the media have had a field day reporting the apparent cat fight between Clinton and Obama, and debating whether electing a (white) woman is more important than electing an African-American (man). (Black women never entered into the equation.) Meanwhile, the equally contentious feud between McCain and Mitt Romney was largely ignored, mainly because both McCain and Romney are white men. (According to conventional wisdom, only women, Jews, racial minorities and queer people are thought to be “emotional,” and thus likely to indulge in cat fights.)
Obama
Where is the Gay, Lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in all of this? As in previous election, the Republicans are using the public’s fear of Gay marriage to bring out the social conservatives, trusting that a “Florida Marriage Protection” amendment would keep the Sunshine State red in November. Log Cabin Republicans, repeatedly rebuked by their party and desperate to find a candidate who would give them the time of day, first endorsed Giuliani and then, after the New Yorker dropped out of the race, McCain. 
Meanwhile, all the Democratic candidates paid lip service to the needs of the GLBT community, even though none of them (except Kucinich and Gravel) went so far as to endorse equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. Most of the Democratic candidates took part in a candidates’ forum sponsored by the GLBT cable channel LOGO, where they answered questions from the likes of rocker Melissa Etheridge, journalist Jonathan Capehart and Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. Since then the candidates have largely avoided the “Gay issue,” except when Republicans pontificate about “family values” and Democrats include us in their vision of a new society. (“Gays and straights united!”)
If there is one good thing about the presidential campaign of 2008, is that Americans are voting in great numbers, particularly young Americans, a good sign of things to come. These new voters made themselves heard on “Super Tuesday” (February 5), when the charismatic Obama continuing his momentum within the Democratic ranks and the established McCain going a long way towards winning the GOP nomination. Meanwhile, the great reality show that is the American Presidential Race of 2008 continues, only to end in November when one contestant gets the privilege to live in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the next four years. And the beat goes on and on and on. . .
Jesse Monteagudo is a freelance writer and gay American who lives and votes in South Florida.  Write him at jessemonteagudo@aol.com.
Arts, Bo Young, Dogs

My dog Butters…

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Captain_chaos OK…nothing particularly Gay, wise or cultured about this (ok…maybe a little), but I did a quick watercolor sketch of my beautiful dog Butters this weekend, and I wanted to share it. He’s an Anatolian shepherd…mostly. Butters_watercolor_2_3

(Perry…when he’s not restfully yearning towards his dog self, his secret identity is Captain Chaos and he wears this very cool aluminum foil mask…but mostly he rests.)

Arts, Bo Young, Community, Culture, Current Affairs, Friends, Gay Wisdom, Literature, Perry Brass

The Restless Yearning Towards My Self

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SUNDAY MARCH 16, 2008 @ 3PM
Announcing the World Premiere of

The restless yearning

towards my Self

A Musical Collaboration
and a Transformative Work in Healing the Heart


“I see it as I am rowing on the dark waters

towards a rock, large and bright—like a moon,

rigged, distant, rising at the end.
It is that marker, moorage, beckoning;
I dreamed of it in the cold, my body rolled,

amphibian-soft, primitive as defense….”

from The Restless Yearning Towards My Self, Perry Brass.

Most people take many detours in the course of their lives, as they follow their goals and ambitions, often finding themselves detracted by a confusion of byways and misleading directions.

But at the center of their actions (and themselves), lies a psychic/emotional core, that they often lose sight of but the loss of which leaves them with an almost indelible sense of its absence. So, instead of re-discovering this core, they erect “impostors,” stand-ins for their real selves: bright, glowing public figures, of significance, certainly, to them and much of the outside world—while the real “Self,” that almost physical realization of the inner soul, still waits, until some moment of starkest Self recognition, which brings with it an almost uncontainable feeling of contentment and a much longed for, blessed unity.
   
“The restless yearning towards my Self” is about realizing this search, and finally achieving its goal, when the Self after years of denial recognizes and claims you; when the deepest part of you speaks to you, and offers you that genuine feeling of achievement and unity most of us seek. It is this great recognition that in many ways powers the most lasting of the Arts, and we have brought to life once more this recognition of the Self by merging the text of a starkly moving poem by poet/novelist Perry Brass (“The restless yearning towards my Self”) to music by opera composer Paula M. Kimper, scored for counter-tenor and string quartet.


This premiere will be part of

THE DISTAFF SIDE: WOMEN AT WORK:

DOWNTOWN MUSIC PRODUCTIONS
mimi stern-wolfe, artistic director
EAST VILLAGE CONCERT SERIES
St Marks in the Bowery  10th street and 2nd avenue
SUNDAY MARCH 16 @ 3PM
Restless Yearning will feature counter tenor Marshall Coid, and a string quartet. This piece lasts approximately 26 minutes.
Also on this program will be MADELEINE DRING (Trio for oboe, flute & piano); MARY CAROL WARWICK (premiere) (Viola Sonata); (Song: (Imagination) (Ilsa Gilbert ) Dan Strba (vla);  & Mimi Stern-Wolfe, piano.
MEIRA WARSHAUER (Aecha)  with Downtown Chamber Trio  A. Bolotowsky, fl;; Jeffrey  Hale, oboe; LAURA WOLFE, vocals and guitar with DAVE EGGAR:, cello; (Original songs); MIRA SPEKTOR, (Turn Around) ;Songs:  Maeve Hoglund, soprano.
Suggested donation: $10, 15;  information: dmpmimi@msn.com;; www.downtownmusicproductions.org; 212 477 1594
Bo Young, Community, Culture, Current Affairs, Gay Health

Equal Treatment

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Michigan Interesting the lengths to which institutions that don’t want to discriminate have to go to provide the same coverage to same-sex couples. This circuitous (to avoid actually saying they’re providing this to Gay couples), and admirable language, from the University of Michigan’s personnel policy, was sent to me by my brother who is on the medical faculty there.

I have to say, what’s even more admirable is his note that accompanied it:

"I wondered whether you’d be intrigued by how the U of M is maintaining its commitment to provide employee benefits to same sex domestic partners while remaining "legal" under the recently adopted Michigan law prohibiting this. Mind you, I’m not proud of Michigan’s law governing this issue, but I am pleased that my employer has come up with a way around it.  Screw the evangelicals if they don’t like this.  I’d like to see their faces when they find that their attempt to create a sexual-orientation-apartheid failed."

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

“Other Qualified Adult”

All of the following eligibility criteria must be met:

1. Employee and Other Qualified Adult currently share a primary residence and have

shared a residence for at least 6 months.

2. Other Qualified Adult is not eligible to inherit from the employee under the laws of

intestate succession in the state of Michigan*;

3. Neither Employee nor Other Qualified Adult is legally married in Michigan.

4. At least one of the following is true:

– Employee and Other Qualified Adult have a joint checking account; or

– Employee and Other Qualified Adult have a joint savings account; or

– Employee and Other Qualified Adult have a joint credit account.

5. At least one of the following is true:

– Employee and Other Qualified Adult have durable power of attorney for

health care for the other; or

– Employee and Other Qualified Adult have durable power of attorney for

financial management for the other.

6. The Other Qualified Adult has been designated as the primary beneficiary for at least

one of the following:

– A life insurance contract held by Employee; or

– The Employee’s will; or

– A retirement contract (including IRA, 401 (k), 403(b), or pension plan)

held by the Employee.

7. Other Qualified Adult and Employee cannot legally marry each other in Michigan.

*The following individuals do not fall within the eligibility criteria for Other Qualified

Adult:

· Spouse

· Children and their descendents (i.e. children, grandchildren)

· Parents

· Parents’ descendents (i.e. siblings, nieces, nephew)

· Grandparents and their descendents (i.e. aunts, uncles, cousins)

Building Connections & Community for Gay Men since 1989