(Gay) Straight Squawk

"Mr. McCain, who with his wife, Cindy, has an adopted daughter, said flatly that he opposed allowing gay couples to adopt. “I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no, I don’t believe in gay adoption,” he said." - New York Times

Nope, he prefers his gay parents to be adulterous hypocrites, like Alabama Attorney General Troy King, his AL. campign head, who was just caught screwing his boy toy by his wife. Although the McCain camign said nothing about King's scandal, they eliminated all referenes to King on his website the day it hit the news. Here's an old quote:

"Troy is an outstanding public servant and passionate advocate for the rule of law. Both of these men are dedicated to the principles of limited government and traditional values that we share. I'm proud to have Republican leaders and dedicated public servants like Spencer Bachus and Troy King leading my campaign to victory in Alabama."

And McCain used to adore Bob Allen, his former Florida campign manager, who was arrested for soliciting sex in a toilet.


McCain is an admitted internet "illiterate" despite his reps claiming he "surfs the net."

McCain said he doesn’t “expect to set up my own blog.” He appears to be unaware that his own campaign has a couple of blogs. McCain may want to check those out on “a google.”

Well, Google adultery and McCain and you'll discover that he "agressively courted" and applied for marriage to Cindy while he was still married to his first wife.

I'm (not) Lovin' It

So now that rightwing fundies are against processed meat sandwich conglomo McDonald's, we gaybos are supposed to support the largest producer of fat nonnutritious junk food to ever induce heart disease by mere proximity?

So sayeth the witty (and, hey lookit the byline pic, he's cute, too!) Mark Morford of SF Chronicle.

Did you know the AFA recently boycotted McDonald's? That's right, this once semi-powerful tub of right-wing brain-caulk recently declared a comestible fatwa against America's foremost purveyor of toxic foodstuffs because, apparently, some high-ranking McD's VP just joined the board of directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, which, to the AFA, somehow translates directly into free pink condoms and mind-controlling rainbow flags in every toxic God-fearing Happy Meal.

Did you read about that? No? Of course you didn't. Here is why: No one cared. Well, that's not quite true. McDonald's sort of cared, just enough to write up a nice letter of response to Wildmon stating, in essence, that the AFA is a bunch of troglodytic knuckle-draggers with the sociosexual awareness of a fungal spore, and they should crawl away right now before God spanks them even harder with the 2x4 of total irrelevance.

I might be exaggerating. What they actually said was: Thank you, AFA, for your hateful consideration, but we support our employees' right to join whichever socially responsible and positive groups they like. And thusly did McD's flick the AFA away like a tick from a dog. Isn't that amazing?

Morfy's point is that the AFA and other shrieking fundy bunglers are now irrelevant in the boycott realm.

That's fine, but don't expect me to bike up to the drive-thru and order a dozen Big Macs. Didn't that other cute straight dude and social critic Morgan Spurlock prove that it's a nasty, fatty, kill-ya diet?

Okay, maybe one Big Mac. Maybe just a cheeseburger, as a symbolic show of support. Or, okay, fries, too.

King of Queens

"I often hear the argument that homosexuals who live together create a loving, caring family environment, perhaps an environment which is even superior to that which can be provided by a heterosexual couple. In this day of rampant decadence, many homosexuals would mislead society into believing that three men, an armadillo and a house plant create a functional family."

-- Alabama Attorney General Troy King, before being freshly outed in a gay sex scandal. He just resigned abruptly.

more, much more:

Sex Toys for Roy King

Rumorsphere on closet case King

Repub. Gay Sex Scandal Looming

Larry Craig Has Competition


Last year, King led Alabama's National Day of Prayer. Praise Jeebus.

Instigators

In which we explore the difference between public performance as political act, civil disobedience, horrendous prank, or banal hypocritical ritual:

Marion Librarian
At a July 7th town hall meeting in Denver, 61-year-old Carol Kreck brought a "McCain=Bush" sign with her to the event, an attempt to point out the many perceived similarities between McCain and current President George W. Bush.

She was promptly ejected at the 'request of the secret service.' She was also ticketed for trespassing. The astute Kreck points out, "Why would Republicans who voted for Bush find it offensive that a sign says 'Bush equals McCain' or 'McCain equals Bush?' Why is that offensive?"

Wrap It Up
Peter Staley recounts the historic 1991 TAG demo/art/propaganda event of covering Jesse Helms' house with a giant condom. Those were the days!

Flagging Behind
North Carolina employee refuses to fly a U.S. flag at half-mast for dead pig bigot Jesse Helms; quits.

Cagey Mismatch
Sasha Baron Cohen stages a fake cage match that becomes a homoerotic smoochfest, with hundreds of hicks hurling insults and beer cups.

Now, which of these events are/were political theatre, justified actions, or just plain pranks?

Pride and (Buda)pests

Neo-Nazis disrupted the Budapest Pride parade this weekend, pelting marchers with stones and eggs and hurling fire bombs at police. Police were forced to use water cannons and tear gas to disperse the protesters.

Right-wing extremists hurled stones and eggs at a Gay Pride procession in the Hungarian capital on Saturday before clashing with police called in to protect the marchers. Police arrested more than 40 of the assailants, who threw firebombs at the officers and set alight a police minibus. At least five persons were injured, two of them policemen.

A jazz concert due to be held at the end of the rally was cancelled for security reasons. Politician Gabor Horn, a leading member of the liberal Association of Free Democrats (SZDSZ), said he was spat upon, slapped and doused with beer by neo-Nazis.

It was the worst violence during the 12 years the Gay Pride parade has taken place in Budapest.

Hundreds of of extremists gathered along the route taken by the 1,500 marchers to give vent to their anger at gays and lesbians. In the days leading up to the parade, calls were made on Neo-Nazi internet forums for violence to be used against the "unnatural perverts."

The police used tear gas and a water cannon to clear the route for the marchers to leave. The police escorted the marchers to a metro station at Hősök tere, simultaneously dispersing the mob there.

Last week, two gay venues were attacked with petrol bombs. Four petrol bombs were thrown into sauna called Magnum.

Last year, Hungarian police were criticised by Amnesty International for an apparent lack of action when similar violence occurred.

Last week 60 far-right extremists were arrested in Sofia following Bulgaria's first gay rights parade. Brno in the Czech Republic also saw violence at their gay rights celebrations last week.

Next year will see civil partnerships being introduced in 2009.

More at Pink News.

Dead, ya know

Fireworks and fog, a perfect combination for me. July 4 obscured the patriotic jingoistic pyrotechnical ritual in favor of a cool chilly evening of bursts and flares.

Oh, and pig bigot Gollum lookalike Jess Helms died.

Here's a Guardian UK obit, which gets a bit snide, but exposes Helms posthumously as the devious and monotonously obdurate bigot he truly was.

In domestic politics he denounced the 1964 Civil Rights Act as "the single most dangerous piece of legislation ever introduced in the Congress", voted against a supreme court justice because she was "likely to uphold the homosexual agenda", acted for years as spokesman for the large tobacco companies, was reprimanded by the justice department and the federal election commission for electoral malpractice, and compiled a dismal personal record as a slum landlord.

But this obit didn't mention his bilious hatred towards gays, and how it effected artists and AIDS activism.

Unlike US media, rightwing and "mainstream" (i.e. more rightwing) media took a brief part of the day to lionize the pig. Thankfully, it wasn't the obscene orgiastic martyrdom of Tim Russert (WTF was up with that?).

Here's a nice comment:

The Jesse Helms that I gave money to see defeated in 1984 was an all powerful titan of Washington who could single handedly defeat gay rights. By the time I got here he was out of office and his state had several areas with gay rights laws and others where gays were protected by other means. The state that when he gave his commentaries in the 1960's had segregated schools, offices, lunch counters, hotels, and voting booths has integrated schools, offices, and every other public accomodation. His state has openly gay teachers working at integrated schools with integrated administrations. Jesse Helms' ideas died way before he did.

The Senate seat he held for 3 decades is up again this year. One of the candidates in the primary on the Democratic side was an openly gay man. Sadly, he didn't make it to the general. But the very fact an openly gay man could and did run for his seat is testimony that Jesse Helms' ideas are dead. The Democratic nominee for President is an African American who won our primary going away, that is testimony to the fact taht Jesse Helms' ideas are dead.

The AP "official" obit used by hundreds of papers and websites worldwide, soft-pedals Helms' homophobia: "And he softened his views on AIDS after years of clashes with gay activists, advocating greater federal funding to fight the disease in Africa and elsewhere overseas."

What it fails to mention is that a group of ACT UPers covered his house with a gargantuan condom.



This little website collects a few of Helms' best quotes:

"The New York Times and The Washington Post are both infested
with homosexuals themselves."
The Post, he charged, "caters to homosexual groups.
Just about every person down there is homosexual or lesbian,"

"There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that
cannot be traced in origin to sodomy."

"If homosexuals would only stop doing what they're doing,
There wouldn't be any more AIDS."

Doodys love Faggots

Family of Faggot Fans Fly Flag

A West Midlands family is playing a central role in the quest to raise the profile of a forgotten British dish - faggots.

The Doody family from Wolverhampton has been crowned The Faggot Family in a national competition, and to kick off their reign they will launch National Faggot Week.

The family will be touring the country extolling the virtues of the dish, which is best-known for its links with the Black Country.

The Doody family were chosen to front the campaign after impressing judges at the Savoy Hotel in London in November.

(more at the headline link. You do know that in the UK "faggots" are sausages.

Faggot facts
Faggots were called "savoury ducks" in the Middle Ages
Faggots were named after the Latin word for bundle
Faggots were originally made with pig's liver and offal
Faggots are now made from pork liver and pork
Fans have published the Good Faggot Guide