Toilet Tramp

"Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue." -
Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig, the latest Repervlican outed quite a while ago on AmericaBlog, and as far back as May, was caught looking for a quickie in an airport toilet. Why this little story broke now like a gas balloon? Who can say. Let the torrent of lies gush over the nation like a stopped up toilet.

Larry Craig, who in May told the Idaho Statesman he had never engaged in homosexual acts, was arrested less than a month later by an undercover police officer who said Craig made a sexual advance toward him in an airport men's room.

The arrest at a Minnesota airport prompted Craig to plead guilty to disorderly conduct earlier this month. His June 11 encounter with the officer was similar to an incident in a men's room in a Washington, D.C., rail station described by a Washington-area man to the Idaho Statesman. In that case, the man said he and Craig had sexual contact.

The Minnesota arrest was first reported Monday by Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper.

In an interview on May 14, Craig told the Idaho Statesman he'd never engaged in sex with a man or solicited sex with a man. The Craig interview was the culmination of a Statesman investigation that began after a blogger accused Craig of homosexual sex in October. Over five months, the Statesman examined rumors about Craig dating to his college days and his 1982 pre-emptive denial that he had sex with underage congressional pages.

Craig gets Flushed on The Smoking Gun

The Idaho Statesman is pissed off.

Craig's panic mode!

Statesman: you got some esplainin' to do.

Here the lies in audio MP3. Wheee whee whee.

A day-after, more balanced reaction on Craig's past, and closet cases.

Craig sure reminds me of someone... Now who can it be...?

Sign of the Times

Wheels on Fired

This is rather unpleasant to hear. Even the former organizers of the AIDS Ride, Pallotta TeamWorks, Inc., wouldn't have been this stupid, would they?

Straight Man Says He Was Fired For Not Being Gay

(CBS) LOS ANGELES The former executive director of a cycling event that raises money for AIDS research sued two predominantly gay groups claiming he was fired because he is straight, according to court papers obtained Friday.

Jeffrey Shapiro filed his lawsuit Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging sexual orientation discrimination and intentional infliction of emotional distress by the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center
and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

The two organizations co-produce AIDS/LifeCycle, a 545-mile cycling event to fund research in the fight against AIDS.

Shapiro alleges he was fired because he is heterosexual and that officials there wanted someone who "better fit into the culture."

According to the lawsuit, Shapiro was hired in March and received praise for his work, which generated a record $11 million compared to $8 million the previous year.

But he claims LAGLC and SFAF leaders held a meeting with Shapiro in June and fired him, telling him that "everybody liked him as a person, but they needed somebody who better fit into the culture."

He said that when he asked for a clarification, a LAGLC director told him "things like this happen and that they made a mistake to think this could work."

Shapiro said he was given two weeks pay and money for unused vacation.

He is asking for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, and a permanent injunction preventing the two groups from engaging in further such alleged discrimination.

The AIDS Life/Cycle website has a new job opening! Better be gay, apparently. Maybe you ought to add your membership in the Liza Minnelli Fan Club to your resume.

Crossing, Guarded

SFGate/SF Chronicle reports on the most dangerous street crossings in our otherwise fair city. Pedestrian fatalities are up to nearly 32. Anti-cycling cranks should note that a small minority of these involved cyclists. It's mostly cars hitting pedestrians.

The most dangerous intersection? Octavia and Oak Street (see a 360 degree view).

Not only is that intersection a mere few blocks from my home; it's also where I shot the cover for my book, Cyclizen (the back cover was shot at the nearby Orpheum Theatre).

Manhattan's Fifth Ave. and the Empire State Building were Photoshopped in from an old ACT UP march photo I took.

Fortunately, Patricio and I had a safe photo shoot (for the lower half of the image). But damn, it is an awful intersection. I usually try to avoid it by walking along Hayes St. or Haight instead.

A recent survey was done about the effect of the "Boulevard" in Hayes Valley. Among the questions were if the multi-lane "improvement" segregated one half of the neighborhood from the other. Duh. Nothing like having a highway in the middle of your 'hood to change things.

Ye Gods

Gen. Petreus give his "report," which is just White House propaganda, yada, yada...

Two thirds of Americans admit to being "in the dark" about politics...

Police infiltrate protests, stir up violence, as usual...

Roving gang of pitbulls breaks into house, attacks elderly woman...

Dipwad Ft. Lauderdale mayor still a dipwad...

Does Chimpoleon want to be Dictator for Life, or just quit?

Hot cycling ad cribbed from OhLaLaParis.com...


...and another lap later.

Garden State

New Jersey and you ... perfect together?

If you're a gay or lesbian couple, you betcha!

America Blog reports on a Zogby poll with these nice results:

A new Zogby poll shows that most New Jersey voters are sure that heterosexual marriage will survive if the civil institution is opened to gay and lesbian couples -- and they are ready for that change. From Garden State Equality:

* By 63% to 31%, New Jersey voters say they'd be fine with the state legislature upgrading civil unions to marriage equality.

* By 72% to 21%, New Jersey voters say state legislators would be in no electoral danger if they enacted marriage equality.

* By 61% to 29%, New Jersey voters say they expect the state to enact marriage equality within just a couple of years.

Zogby asked the baseline question - do you favor marriage equality versus civil unions - in two ways. Results are 48% to 45% for marriage equality in one question, 48% to 30% in another.

And a significant 35% of respondents said they would be less likely to do business with a company that denies equal benefits to gay employees. 20% said "much less likely."

While Republicans presidential candidates are of course, scowling at the possibility, and Democratic presidential candidates -except Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel, both long long longshots- are waffling even on civil unions, in the great state of New Jersey, things are progressing nicely.

Sen. Clinton did equivocate about "states' rights" regarding gay marriage. Well, New Jersey is one state that's right.

Full disclosure: I lived in Jersey City for a few years, got some generous funding in 1988 for a performing arts project, set my first novel, PINS, in New Jersey, and therefore have a special affection for the state.

Oh, and tomorrow night, I'm going to see the cast of Jersey Boys perform with the puppets from Avenue Q in One Night Only at the Post St. Theatre!

The casts of the hit musicals perform songs of their choice in a unique entertaining fundraiser for the The Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. This is a rare chance to see these talented performers cut loose and have fun for a cause. $35, $50, $75. 7:30pm. 450 Post St. 273-1620. www.richmondermet.org

Not "If" but "When"

Religious fundies will be the army of Bush come the impending fascistic takeover of our once-great nation.

Oh, joy. Oh, rapture.

Read The Handmaid's Tale to prep.

Homeland Security Enlists Clergy to Quell Public Unrest if Martial Law Ever Declared


Could martial law ever become a reality in America? Some fear any nuclear, biological or chemical attack on U.S. soil might trigger just that. KSLA News 12 has discovered that the clergy would help the government with potentially their biggest problem: Us.
Charleton Heston's now-famous speech before the National Rifle Association at a convention back in 2000 will forever be remembered as a stirring moment for all 2nd Amendment advocates. At the end of his remarks, Heston held up his antique rifle and told the crowd in his Moses-like voice, "over my cold, dead hands."
While Heston, then serving as the NRA President, made those remarks in response to calls for more gun control laws at the time, those words live on. Heston's declaration captured a truly American value: An over-arching desire to protect our freedoms.
But gun confiscation is exactly what happened during the state of emergency following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, along with forced relocation. U.S. Troops also arrived, something far easier to do now, thanks to last year's elimination of the 1878 Posse Comitatus act, which had forbid regular U.S. Army troops from policing on American soil.
If martial law were enacted here at home, like depicted in the movie "The Siege", easing public fears and quelling dissent would be critical. And that's exactly what the 'Clergy Response Team' helped accomplish in the wake of Katrina.
Dr. Durell Tuberville serves as chaplain for the Shreveport Fire Department and the Caddo Sheriff's Office. Tuberville said of the clergy team's mission, "the primary thing that we say to anybody is, 'let's cooperate and get this thing over with and then we'll settle the differences once the crisis is over.'"
Such clergy response teams would walk a tight-rope during martial law between the demands of the government on the one side, versus the wishes of the public on the other. "In a lot of cases, these clergy would already be known in the neighborhoods in which they're helping to diffuse that situation," assured Sandy Davis. He serves as the director of the Caddo-Bossier Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
For the clergy team, one of the biggest tools that they will have in helping calm the public down or to obey the law is the bible itself, specifically Romans 13. Dr. Tuberville elaborated, "because the government's established by the Lord, you know. And, that's what we believe in the Christian faith. That's what's stated in the scripture."
Civil rights advocates believe the amount of public cooperation during such a time of unrest may ultimately depend on how long they expect a suspension of rights might last.

So, basically, a bunch of pederast priests and Baptist bigots are going aid and abet in the shutting up of the people as our rights are completely stripped away under the butt of a gun.

How nice for them. How nice for everyone.

Expect a sudden change in programming right about the time that Chimpoleon is supposed to hand over power to the Democratic elected president-to-be.

Think it's tin foil hat land? It's already been approved by the Pretzeldent.

Go see Eric Himan

He keeps getting small club gigs all over the country, building a devoted fan base one by one, even though I wish he'd get a big theatre like the Great American Music Hall, but my fave singer -straight or gay- the adorable Eric Himan, is doing a gig this Thursday at Martuni's, 4 Valencia at Market in SF. See you there!

Oh, and visit his website and buy his CDs!!

Update: Eric's show was fun, of course. I could listen to him sing all night. Martuni's was a bit too dark, "like someone's living room," Eric said. But he even played the piano for a few songs. He also indulged my shouted out request for his last song to be "Love Doesn't Have To Hide," which he sang at the Gay Games VII closing Ceremonies. He's great.

On Holiday

Karl Rove, the criminal mastermind behind the Chimpoleon empire, announced today he's quitting his job. I think this calls for some serious contemplation.

And here it is:



In other happy news, Cyclizen reached #79 among the Top 100 Gay Fiction books on Amazon.com - for today, at least. Rankings fluctuate a lot there.

When in Rome...

My two trips to Italy - in 1995 and 2000- were made even more special by timing them to concide with Gay Pride marches in different cities. I ended up befriending politically active gay and lesbian people, and really getting a picture of the problems LGBT Italians face. Since then, even more progress and conflict have continued.

Things are really reached a fever pitch in Rome among the LGBT community. Here are some recent events.

Italians protest at politician's anti-gay outburst

Aug. 11: ROME (Reuters) - Hundreds of Italians protested in the northern Italian city of Treviso on Saturday after the city's deputy mayor called for the "ethnic cleansing" of homosexuals from the area.

The protesters gathered outside city hall to demand Giancarlo Gentilini's resignation, some wearing pink triangles like the ones homosexual men had to wear in Nazi concentration camps.

Prosecutors were also looking into the deputy mayor's comments to see whether they might warrant a criminal investigation, Italian media reported on Saturday.

"Today's protest, which is joined by hundreds of people, will not be the last. It will be the first in a long series," said Aurelio Mancuso, the head of gay rights group Arcigay.

A member of the right-wing Northern League party, Gentilini said on Wednesday he was so fed up with gays having sex in a car park that he was going to order police to carry out "ethnic cleansing" of homosexuals.

"I will immediately give orders to my forces so that they can carry out an ethnic cleansing of f (the fricking Yahoo article has an error deleting some of the text here)," Gentilini told a local television station.

"(They) must go to other (cities) where they are welcome. Here in Treviso there is no chance for faggots or the like."

His comments were roundly condemned, with some members of his own far-right party siding with angry ministers in centre-left government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

Some lawmakers accused Gentilini of breaking Italian law by inciting hatred and violence against gay people.

Rex Wockner reports that last week, about 1,000 people staged a kiss-in at Rome's famed Colosseum Aug. 2 after police arrested two gay men there on July 27.

Backed by the national gay group Arcigay,
 the twentysomething gay couple maintains
they were arrested merely for kissing in
the romantic 2 a.m.moonlight.
But seven members of Rome's Carabinieri paramilitary police filed a report
claiming one of the men was fellating the other.

The couple was accused of "lewd conduct," taken to a police station, then released.
A police spokesman said the men had engaged in "an obvious violation of
the norms that govern a place visited by thousands of people."

Gay marriage has become a big argument between government officials and Catholic bigwigs.

Back in March, Italy's interior minister has accused Roman Catholic bishops of trying to weaken the government by opposing new rights for unmarried and gay couples.

Giuliano Amato said the Church was meddling when it issued a directive at a bishops' conference calling a new bill "unacceptable and dangerous".

Recent polls show most of Italy's Catholics are in favour of changes to the law, despite Church opposition. About 500,000 unmarried Italian couples are without shared rights or benefits.

Back in February '07, a gay civil union bill was introduced, and got the Catholic heirarchy in a tither, of course.

In January, the debate got going, and politicans on both sides got into it in the media.

In Dec. '06, the city of Padua became the first in Italy to allow unmarried heterosexuals and homosexuals to register formally as "families based on ties of affection." The move provoked the wrath of the Vatican and the political right, both of which have challenged its constitutionality.

So, don't think that Italy's LGBT community is not politically active. They are undergoing a revolution, and you should support them however you can.

Be Kind, Rewind

So, the Logo Democratic infomericals, i.e. "debates" were aired. You can play them online. See the Democrats relax in comfy chairs, not standing at podiums. How 21st Century. Thanks to Human Rights Campaign and its multiple millions for herding the candidates.

The candidates didn't actually debate so much as make isolated statements with which we are by now quite familiar.


They're against the war, sort of, but refuse, for the most part, to publicly state how conniving and evil the Chimpoleon empire is. They want to lift the ban on gays in the military, for what? So gays can die and be injured in a lie of a war?

And what of gay marriage?

John Edwards is still "struggling" with his own personal ick factor. His wife Elizabeth is cool with it, as she stated in SF over last Gay Pride weekend. Like that will have any effect. We're subsequently going to "struggle" with the concept of voting for Edwards, despite his wonderful wife.

Despite appearing at an upcoming $250 and up fundraiser August 12 at Trader Vic's hosted by LGBT political wonks (with no press allowed), Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has remained evasive on her stance over gay marriage - make that civil unions. Boy, we're still a wedge issue. How we've evolved.

Not to blame one's spouse, but guest questioner-singer Melissa Etheridge recalled the 1993 March on Washington, when she came out, and we all supported Bill Clinton, only to be "thrown under the bus." Mrs. Clinton said "those days are over." How nice for her. How nice for everyone.

Barack Obama speaks strongly. But how often does he bring up the gay peeps when speaking to other communities? Will the (basically racist) United States of America, and its voters, and the corrupt corporate machine behind the elections and antiquated Electoral College allow an African-American president, in a country that (sort of) elected Chimpoleon twice?

Bill Richardson's still clueless regarding the "maricones."

The other guys?

As I did in the last election, I'll vote for Dennis Kucinich in the primaries, and apparently, so will 26% of Logo viewers. Then, I'll vote for whichever Democratic candidate the back room-dealing corporations pay for, which will be Hillary Clinton.

Kucinich remains exactly on par with my idealistic leftwing hopes and dreams. He's the only candidate who has for years advocated for gay marriage. He's the only candidate brave enough to call for impeachment of Bush and Cheney. He's green, and in favor of so many smart yet probably undoable policies, he's worth a token vote.

He also kicked corrupt lying fired ex-Defense Secretary Donnie Rumsfeld's ass in the Pat Tillman investigation.

And unlike Mrs. Clinton's expensive Bay Area appearance, Mr. Kucinich will be at the Commonwealth Club August 10, and you can hear him speak for only $15.

And what of the Log Cabin Republicans, whose plethora of adulterous, dog-killing, "Bomb Iran"-spewing candidates ALL cowardly backed out of the gay debates?

How will they find the spine to actually endorse any candidate, since all of them refused to acknowledge them by weaseling out of the "debates?" What will their alleged many members - and not the fake multicultural stock images on their website- do?

Frankly, my dears, I don't give a damn.

Happy Anniversary, Chimp

Six years ago today:

The confidential President's Daily Brief (PDB) for August 6, 2001 contained a two-page section entitled "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US," and referred to possible hijacking attempts by Osama bin Laden disciples and the existence of about 70 FBI investigations into alleged al-Qaeda cells operating within the United States.

What did Chimpoleon do?

.



.





Yard work.

Home-Baked Terror

Your Black Muslim Bakery is cooked.

The bakery is suspected of having direct ties to the murder of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey and was raided today. A cache of weapons was found at the bakery, and seven employees have been arrested.

On her way to work yesterday, my editor saw the police surrounding the street in Oakland where Bailey was shot. This is a particularly creepy incident. Bailey was shot execution-style by a man at 7:30 in the morning. While editors like us who work for gay newspapers certainly don't have the sort of enemies that Bailey did, it's still rather upsetting.

I remember seeing loaves of Your Black Muslim Bakery bread for sale at Rainbow Grocery a while ago. I bought some once. It wasn't very good. Just think; Rainbow and everyone who bought their products funded terrorists.


Rainbow Grocery isn't the oasis of peace love and understanding they'd like you to believe. A while back, Bay Area Reporter freelancer David Alexander Nahmod made an innocuous comment to a cashier wearing a pro-Palestine T-shirt. Nahmod, who is Jewish, said, "Wouldn't it be great if we could all get along?" The cashier allegedly said she hoped more Israelis would be killed. Nahmod complained and was banned from Rainbow's premises permanently.

Coverage in SF Weekly, Jewish News Weekly, and on several blogs, including Cinnamon Stillwell.

A few years back, Rainbow attempted a boycott of Israeli goods. I wonder if they'll stop carrying Your Black Muslim Bakery goods. Oh, that's right. It's closed down.

I used to shop at Rainbow, but before I knew any of this, didn't very often, because everything is so expensive there, even with the 10% discount they offer to members of the SF Bike Coalition.

I guess that's the extra you pay for groceries that are organic, antisemitic, and tied to alleged murderers.