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Lesbian Appointed as U.S. Marshall

Via the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

Minnesota’s next U.S. Marshal will be Minneapolis’ openly gay Assistant Police Chief Sharon Lubinski. Her confirmation by the U.S. Senate was announced Monday morning by Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar, who recommended her.

Lubinski was formally nominated for the post in October by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate in a flurry of pre-holiday legislative activity last week.

U.S. Marshals oversee federal courthouse security, protect witnesses, transport prisoners, and catch federal fugitives.

Already one of the nation's highest-ranked female law-enforcement officers, Lubinski now becomes the state's first female U.S. marshal and one of only two women in the nation currently serving in the post.

Lubinski has risen through the Minneapolis police ranks since joining the force in 1987. She was a finalist for the Minneapolis police chief job in 2004.

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Argentine Gay Couple Marries in Tierra del Fuego

In an historic first, Alex Freyre and Jose Marie di Bello became Latin America's first same-sex married couple on Monday. The couple had hoped to marry in Buenos Aires on December 1st, World AIDS day, under the recently expanded civil unions statute, but the ceremony had been blocked by a court order. Both men are HIV positive.

The couple wed in a civil ceremony in the seaside resort town of Ushuaia in the Tierra del Fuego province because Governor Fabiana Rios, an advocate for same-sex marriage, over-ruled the court order that blocked the couple's previous attempt to marry in Buenos Aires.

Freyre said in a statement to Todos Noticias, "It is a dream come true for us. We are completely moved, and so happy for what this means for all gays and lesbians in Argentina."

Viking Zombie Boyfriend, by Jeremy Rizza 12-29-09

Occasionally, Jeremy will provide some commentary or explanation about the characters appearing in the strip. When available, I'll include them here.

"It’s Kagami! Hooray! Kagami started out as a one-joke character, but I always liked her positivity.  That’s probably because I’m a reformed pessimist, and I see a lot of myself in her.  I think she has a lot of potential, and so I’ll be developing her quite a bit this year.  Her upbeat nature makes her a good foil for my grumpy daddy-bear, Rorik.  This strip also serves as my official attempt at rehabilitating Cinnamon.  Formerly a joke character who appeared as the punchline of the 11/17/08 strip, Cinnamon’s resemblance to Dill now has a darned good excuse: she’s family! She’s not dating Kagami anymore, but she can still show up in the strip now and then.  The bar is inspired by one I’ve been going to with my kick-ass boyfriend, Chris.  We went there on our first date, last July 4th! Although semi-officially a lesbian bar, there are usually a handful of gay dudes there as well.  It’s laid-back and a lot of fun! (“Cookie”, you know who you are.)" -- Jeremy Rizza


Vistit vikingzombieboyfriend.com for more.

British Drama Features Controversial Gay "Pioneer" Quentin Crisp

The UK television network ITV will be airing the drama, "An Englishman in New York", starring John Hurt, Cynthia Nixon and Swoosie Kurtz tonight, based on the life of the late Quentin Crisp, author of the semi-auotbiographical, book "The Naked Civil Servant", much to the consternation of  British LGBT rights activists.

In the decades before and early years following Stonewall and the modern gay rights movement, there were few, if any, positive depictions of gays and lesbians in the media. "The Naked Civil Servant" was later made into a film, starring John Hurt in his first portrayal of Crisp in 1975, making Crisp an international celebrity.

During the 60's and 70's the only openly gay man any of us had as a role model was Quentin Crisp, who was a frequent guest on TV talk shows like the "Dick Cavett Show" and "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson". It was a mixed blessing. While Crisp was defiantly out in a very public way, he was very old school in his self-loathing as a gay man. His flamboyant style, which included wearing makeup and nail polish as a boy, made him the frequent target of abuse in school, which would shape his self-perception for the rest of his 90-year life.

British LGBT rights activist Peter Tatchell of OutRage! accuses the ITV bio-drama of sanitizing Crisps controversial life in tonight's airing of "An Englishman in New York". In a press release sent out Monday morning, Tatchell says, "Quentin Crisp was a contradictory, infuriating figure. Although astonishingly brave and defiant as an out gay man in the 1930s and 40s, he was later defiantly self-obsessed, homophobic and reactionary. Quentin denounced the gay rights movement and slammed homosexuality as 'a terrible disease'; adding that 'the world would be better without homosexuals."

Tatchell's press release goes on to say:

"This is a good film, with another stunning performance by John Hurt, but it sanitises Crisp's ignorant, pompous homophobia. Quentin disparaged homosexuality as an illness, affliction, burden, curse and abnormality. He regarded himself as 'disfigured' by his gayness. He never spoke out for gay rights or supported any gay equality cause," added Mr Tatchell.

"An Englishman in New York invites us to admire Crisp as a hero and pioneer. By the time he moved to the United States he had ceased to be either heroic or pioneering. He turned into an ever-more bitter, self-obsessed person who resented that they way millions of gay people had come out and stolen his limelight.

"Quentin hated the fact that he was no longer unique - no longer the only visible queer on the block. For this reason, he loathed the gay liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s. It had encouraged and empowered the mass coming out of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. He disliked being over-taken and over-shadowed by others; dismissing the new generations of out and proud gay people as johnny-come-latelys.

"He never backed any campaign against homophobic discrimination or violence, and he declined to condemn anti-gay politicians and preachers.

"Quentin Crisp is no gay icon. The true icons and pioneers of the modern British gay community are heroes like Allan Horsfall and Antony Grey. They were the driving forces of the first gay rights organisations in Britain - the North West Homosexual Law Reform Committee set up in 1964 and the Homosexual Law Reform Society, established earlier in 1958. These two men, who are still alive and have never received the public recognition they deserve, have done far more for gay dignity and advancement than Quentin Crisp.

"Crisp is a pale shadow of US gay rights trailblazers like Harry Hay, Frank Kameny, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon.

"The film acknowledges that Crisp disgracefully dismissed Aids as a 'fad', at a time when thousands of gay men were dying and the US government was largely ignoring the epidemic. Sadly, it ignores his ridiculing of the gay liberation movement and his dismissal of the struggle for lesbian and gay equal rights.

"Echoing the worst homophobes, Crisp said that gay men were incapable of love and incapable of caring about other people. The supposed lack of altruism among gay men was, according to Quentin, because they had 'feminine minds.' He was a misogynist, as well as a homophobe.

"In 1997, he told The Times that he would advise parents to abort a foetus if could be shown to be genetically predetermined to be gay: 'If it (homosexuality) can be avoided, I think it should be.'

"Compared to The Naked Civil Servant, this is a much less satisfying film, partly because it portrays Quentin true to life, as a much less sympathetic warts-and-all character, which is what he became in the latter part of his life," said Mr Tatchell.

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Christmas Ice Storm Leaves Rev. in the Dark... AGAIN!!

You might be wondering why the blog hasn't been updated in a few days. Well, mother nature is one twisted sister! An ice storm that started late on Christmas Eve culminated in downed power lines once again. We lost electric service at 10:00 am on Friday, Christmas morning and didn't get it back until 7:30 pm Sunday night.

This latest winter crap-fest came on the heels of last week's 14-inch snowfall, most of which is still with us. As usual we cranked up the generator, which kept the fridge going and allowed us to catch a little TV on a small digital set with digital rabbit ears.

Paul and I -- and the three cats -- made it through unscathed, except for a severe case of cabin fever. After three housebound days, it was getting kind of tense here, mostly between the cats. Now it's time to do laundry and clean up inside and outside the house. Lots of tree limbs down all over the yard. The ducks are the only ones who don't seen to mind so much. The snow from last week has melted enough for them to get to the pond and splash around a bit in the small area that's not frozen over.

Will resume regular updates in the morning. Waiting for the water heater to do it's job so I can enjoy a much-needed shower. Sponge baths aren't as much fun when you have to give them to yourself.

Hope you all had a great Christmas, or whatever you celebrate at this time of year.

Cool Site of the Week: "Sketchy Santas"

In keeping with today's Christmas theme, my choice for this week's Cool Site is SketchySantas.com. If you're like me and have a twisted sense of humor, than there's nothing better to take the edge off your holiday stress, than seeing department store Santas having even more stress.

At Sketchy Santas, you'll find reader-submitted photos of Santas through the generations posed with screaming brats, terrified toddlers and creeped-out kids. In some cases the kiddies are cool, it's the Santas that need some adult supervision.

What's not to love about a mom dressing up her kid in some ridiculous red and green outfit, dragging him/her across town to a crowded shopping mall, waiting for hours in line, then shoving that tired, cranky kid into the lap of a scary old man to pose for a picture?

Check it out at www.sketchysantas.com.

Merry Chistmas!

Merry Christmas, 

From Rev. Steve

What better way to celebrate peace on Earth and good will toward men, than with our community's poster child for bad behavior, George Michael. From 1984, here's Wham! with "Last Christmas".

"God hates Gaga"

Image via Wikipedia

What better way to celebrate the birth of your lord and savior than to point out yet another person that he hates? Those wacky folks at Westboro Baptist are at it again. This time they've decided they need to save the world from Lady Gaga. Yes, that's right. The Phelps klan is taking aim at the pop diva because of her support for LGBT equality and have promised to picket her concerts.

PinkNews reports:

The Kansas-based church, best known for its slogan of God Hates Fags, said in a press release it would protest outside a St Louis concert on January 7th.

Calling her a "sleazy God-hater", the church said: "'Art' and 'fashion' are the euphemisms, the guise under which proud whore Lady Gaga teaches rebellion against God."

Gaga has frequently spoken of her love for her gay fans and thanked them for their support.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of church leader Fred Phelps, told Radar Online: "We will be going to her concert with placards reading 'God Hates Lady Gaga' – to inform people that they will be going to hell too if they listen to her messages.

“According to the Bible homosexuality is an abomination and she has to shut her filthy mouth and stop promoting it.”

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"Christmas Don't be Late", Alvin and the Chipmunks (video)

Screw a bunch of CGI bullsh*t! Give me the original old school Chipmunks from the 60's.