The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine) articles from December 2006

The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine) archives from December 2006

Don't count on Obama.(COMMENTARY)
December 5, 2006... He may seem like the answer to the Democrats' woes, but as the Reverend Irene Monroe warns. Barack Obama is too aligned with conservative Christian view-points to be a solid ally on issues such as marriage equality. Reflecting on Obama's new...

Member of the wedding.(FIRST PERSON)
December 5, 2006... When Advocate arts and entertainment editor Corey Scholibo goes home to Houston to take part in a friend's wedding, he discovers that his role in the ceremony befits his status---not best man, not bridesmaid but an honored gay place of his own....

Iraqi ingrates.(COMMENTARY)
December 5, 2006... Iraqi prime minister Nouri At-Maliki Js telling the world he's not the Americans' man in Iraq. What---he's not grateful to us for all we've done? Exclusively on Advocate.com. Charles Karel Bouley wonders why our leaders still expect to be...

Still kicking in New York: on World AIDS Day, December 1, the executive director of New York City's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center celebrates 20 years at the helm, from the devastating early years of the epidemic to the vibrant tableau of gay life today.(LGBT-CENTER HEAD)(interview)(Interview)
December 5, 2006... How would you describe the center's mission? The center, first and foremost, is an engine of queer liberation. It is also a place to celebrate queer culture, a place to have wedding receptions and art openings, a place to connect and find a...

Snap judgment: gay-porn king Nicholas T. Boyias is no friend to the Democrats--but that doesn't mean he's an enemy of the gays.(Editorial)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... We don't often find ourselves in alignment with fervent Republicans, and we're surprised that a gay-porn distributor would, politically speaking, climb into bed with them. But we feel compelled to defend the rights of Nicholas T. Boyias. During...

Out on the street: we asked a sampling of LGBT people in San Francisco: "will you spend the holidays with relatives or with your gay 'family'?".
December 5, 2006... THOMAS WILLIAMS, 38 SALES CLERK "I'll be spending the holidays with my wonderful mother, the Widow Williams." BRENDAN NEFF-HALL 24 TEACHER "With my family in New York, but I'm excited about my boyfriend coming too." RACHAEL SCHWARZ, 22...

LGBT PDA.(Letter to the editor)
December 5, 2006... Kenji Yoshino is profoundly correct: "It is not gay behavior but antigay attitudes that need to be modified" ["Gays on a Plane," November 7]. Why is it that Human Rights Campaign and American Airlines gay employees can't embrace this elegant...

Age-appropriate.(Letter to the editor)
December 5, 2006... I was upset to see that Christie Ayotte, in her article "Thanks a Lot, Foley" [November 7], made no distinction between pedophilia and ephebophilia and that you apparently did not try to correct her. Strictly speaking, a pedophile has...

Gore values.(Letter to the editor)
December 5, 2006... Thank you for the interview with Gore Vidal ["Gore Vidal Is (Still) Smarter Than You," November 7]. During the '60s he was one of my idols, and now that I'll be turning 60 in November, I think be is still an amazing, brilliant, and beautiful...

Correction.(Correction notice)
December 5, 2006... In our November 7 election story "A Very Gay November," we listed incumbent George Pataki as Democrat Eliot Spitzer's opponent in the New York gubernatorial race when in fact John Faso was the Republican candidate.

The Advocate poll.(FROM THE READERS)
December 5, 2006... Q. Do you "cover"--refrain from showing affection for your partner--when you're traveling or out in public together? yes 65% no 30% unsure 5% How readers responded to the Advocate.com poll question featured in the November 7...

It takes an island: Biology teacher Michael Migliori was worried that the conservative Catholics of the tiny Micronesian island of Rota wouldn't accept that he is gay.(BIOLOGY TEACHER / Michael Migliori)
December 5, 2006... What was I thinking? Moving to a remote Micronesian island only months after coming out seemed like lunacy. But I needed to do it to advance my nascent career as a marine biologist and educator. Rota is a small island in the commonwealth of...

The escort who spoke out.(RELIGION)(Mike Jones )(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... Mike Jones says it's been two years since he worked as an escort--except for one client. Jones, 49, continued his "sexual business relationship" with evangelical leader Ted Haggard. "Haggard was like my leftover," Jones told The Advocate. "I...

Short answers: Rick Casey.(THE ADVOCATE REPORT)(interview)(Interview)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... When Houston landscapers Sabrina and Todd Farber, owners of Garden Guy Inc., recently refused to work with a gay couple because they "choose not to work for homosexuals," Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey called them out in decidedly...

Time remaining until full equality.(THE ADVOCATE REPORT)(same-sex marriage)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... When the New Jersey supreme court rifled on October 25 that gay couples must be granted rights equal to marriage, The Advocate's equality clock ticked forward-though much less than if marriage itself had been won.

Nation's final beat.(Nation party the biggest gay party)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... Asia's biggest gay party is hanging up its thong. The annual Nation party--which peaked in 2004 with 8,000-plus revelers on the island of Sentosa in conservative Singapore--was held for the sixth and final time October 20-22 on the Thai island...

J.P. Sasser.(on his sexual preferences)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... CAME OUT J.P. SASSER, 51, the mayor of Pahokee, Fla., in western Palm Beach County, in an interview with the county's Sun-Sentinel newspaper, October 22. The three-term incumbent, who has a partner of 15 years, said his sexual orientation has...

Died.(Kim Garfield)(Obituary)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... KIM GARFIELD, 72, the Hollywood publicist and former Advocate contributor, of complications from major surgery, in Los Angeles, October 31. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native got her start at MGM and went on to helm her own P.R. company. She once...

Helena Stone.(usage of women bathroom)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... HELENA STONE, 70, a transgender telephone technician, the right to use women's restrooms in the New York City transit system, October 23. After being arrested three times for using a women's bathroom at Grand Central Terminal, where she worked,...

Dignity USA.(RESIGNED)(Debra Weill)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... DEBRA WEILL, as executive director of Dignity USA, the national organization for LGBT Catholics, in Washington, D.C., October 8. The group announced it was reconsidering its strategic priorities and staffing options and will go forward without...

Away from abstinence.(George W. Bush on sex education)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... As the Bush administration continues to push an abstinence-only sex education agenda that largely isolates gays, 40,000 new cases of HIV infection are reported annually in the United States, with an increasing number occurring among men who...

Friend or Foe.(THE ADVOCATE REPORT)
December 5, 2006... FOE JIM VALENTINE, Post Falls, Idaho, business owner, who posted a message in bold letters on his outdoor reader board: PEDS QUEERS FAGS YOUR IN IDAHO NOW. Well, we're here, we're queer, and we'd like to buy an E! FRIEND THE NEW YORK...

Rants & raves.(Quotation)
December 5, 2006... "Well, that's the only thing I put my foot down [about]. I don't want anything too fruity or too out-there. I've got to keep it masculine, got to represent Chula Vista [Calif.] still." --MARIO LOPEZ of Dancing With the Stars, after being...

MySpace with taste.(Lisa Schultz's TheWhole9.com)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... At a certain age, does having a MySpace page become a little sad? For some sophisticated gays, the answer is yes, and they are graduating to TheWhole9.com, a hybrid of MySpace and Citysearch.com with fewer ads and no porn-industry friend...

Michelle & Kristanna in love! Kristanna Loken doesn't want to keep quiet about her relationship with sexy star Michelle Rodriguez. Who would?(Interview)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... As we sat downstairs in her Los Angeles home, upcoming Advocate cover girl Kristanna Loken--the smoldering star of Terminator 3--found an adorable way of letting us know that she's involved with her equally sexy BloodRayne costar Michelle...

Neil Patrick Harris comes out!(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... Neil Patrick Harris is singing a new tune. Harris told People in early November that he was "a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love." That business...

I can!(HIV patients)
December 5, 2006... How does an activist make a difference in this world a quarter century after HIV was discovered? With passion--and without apology for a thriving existence, of course. Whether they're running their own organizations, crisscrossing the nation on...

Glad my boss is gay; despite potential complications, young gays say they are much happier and more comfortable with openly gay bosses.(THE ADVOCATE GENQ)
December 5, 2006... When gay man Josh Blye, now 22, got a job at ages 16 with the Gap, he found himself working for a straight man who largely ignored him. For a year and a half "we never spoke to each other," says Blye. Whether because of discomfort, latent...

Hate has left the building.(CAMPUS WATCH / University of Missouri-Columbia)(Thomas A. Brady)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... In the late 1940s, Thomas A. Brady, then a vice president at the University of Missouri-Columbia, led a campaign to purge gays from campus. Today, the school keeps his legacy alive with a student commons building named in his honor. Now UM...

Outspoken: David Idol.(Sean Patrick Maloney)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... From September 2005 through the end of this year's primary season, I worked on Sean Patrick Maloney's unsuccessful campaign to win the Democratic nomination for New York attorney general. I started as an intern and finished as a political...

Staying alive 101: the latest book by transsexual writer Kate Bornstein offers youths creative alternatives to suicide, including sex and drugs.(GENQ)(interview)(Interview)
December 5, 2006... Get laid, please. Bake a cake. Come out, come out, wherever you are. Be your own hero/ine. Transsexual author Kate Bornstein wants you to do all of these things, or none of them--whatever you need to do to stay alive. These ideas are included...

The Advocate GENQ poll.
December 5, 2006... Q: Have you ever felt suicidal? In the November 7 issue we asked: Who's your favorite gay character on television? Results: South of Nowhere's Spencer: 14% Desperate Housewives Andrew: 54% South of Nowhere's Ashley:...

Rachel Weisz.(BIG GAY FOLLOWING)(interview)(Interview)
December 5, 2006... Rachel Weisz has a brilliant boyfriend, a brand-new baby, and an Oscar for her role in The Constant Gardener. We should hate her, right? But we can't. She's too delightful. She tells The Advocate her dyke dreams and how she met her b.f., Darren...

Demanding healthy love: isolated and ashamed no more: gays and lesbians abused by their partners are finally speaking up and getting help.(HEALTH)(Legislation)
December 5, 2006... "If you two girls don't get along, you should just stay away from each other." That's what a male judge told Emely Ortiz in 2001 when she petitioned the court for a restraining order against her ex-girlfriend. Over the course of their...

Will New Jersey stop at civil unions? The state supreme court says gay couples deserve equality in marriage, but it gave the legislature 180 days to define what that means. If lawmakers offer civil unions, don't expect much of a celebration.(MARRIAGE)(Legislation)
December 5, 2006... If the 1999 court ruling that led to civil unions for gays in Vermont was an occasion for champagne, New Jersey's late-October decision granting same-sex couples rights equal to marriage--but not the name marriage--called for a bottle of beer....

Special Jersey edition: we asked a sampling of LGBT and straight people in the Garden State what they thought about October's court ruling in favor of marriage rights but not marriage itself.(OUT ON THE STREET)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... MICHAEL REYNA, 24 STUDENT "I don't think I'll be satisfied until gay marriage is reached. I think we deserve equality." MELANIE RICCARDI, 25 STUDENT (STRAIGHT) "I figured New York would have done it first because there's more...

John Stamos pops our cork! John Stamos is having a hell of a second act: the former sitcom babe has sparkled up his nipples in Cabaret and pumped life into ER. Now, in the A&E movie Wedding Wars, he goes on strike for our right to marry.(Interview)(Cover story)
December 5, 2006... John Stamos and I have a mutual friend who does penis tricks. By "penis tricks," I am referring to this particular acquaintance's habit of dropping his pants at parties and forming his privates into various unexpected and admittedly impressive...

A day without a gay? In Wedding Wars one gay wedding planner's inspired activism prompts a nationwide walkout. But could it happen in real life? We rang up a handful of high-profile out gay wedding and events planners to find out.(CULTURE)
December 5, 2006... DAVID TUTERA David Tutera Inc.; Discovery Home Channel's Party Planner With David Tutera; author of The Party Planner and America Entertains: A Year of Imaginative Parties, among other titles Credits: He's the man behind Jennifer...

Great escapes: our list of holiday movies to see when you absolutely have to get away from your family.(FILM)
December 5, 2006... Casino Royale (MGM/Columbia, Nov. 17) Pierce Brosnan, we still love ya, but we're starry-eyed over the new Bond, Daniel Craig (it doesn't hurt that he canoodled with Truman Capote in Infamous). This franchise reboot, based on creator Ian...

Katharine Hepburn: leading man: how do we know Kate Hepburn was one of the greatest actors ever? Because inside her soul, she was a boy named Jimmy. Biographer Bill Mann explains.(BOOKS)
December 5, 2006... We all know Katharine Hepburn was the woman who wore the pants. But was her iconic embodiment of the independent-spirited American woman really a carefully cultivated image that masked something else? "I would consider 'transgender' a...

Red scare: years after his arrest for spreading "propaganda of sexual perversions," out photographer Slava Mogutin returns to his native Russia to shoot Lost Boys, a voyeuristic tour of young men on the margins of Russian society.(BOOKS)
December 5, 2006... Slava Mogutin is surrounded by contradictions. Known mainly as a writer in his native Russia--as a pop culture journalist, poet, and respected translator of Baldwin and Burroughs--he has gained acclaim in the United States as a photographer...

The bitch is back.(THEATER)(interview with Joan Collins )(Interview)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... From the moment Joan Collins walked into a courtroom in the opening moments of Dynasty's second season, she sent gay hearts fluttering with her over-the-top portrayal of Alexis Carrington, a 40-something bitch on wheels. Now Collins is touring...

In a material world: famed Beverly Hills hairdresser Cervando Maldonado shows us a few of his favorite toys.(TOYS)(Interview)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... You've seen Cervando's work even if you haven't seen Cervando--he's the man behind the hair of stars like Gina Gershon, Sofia Coppola, Jon Bon Jovi, and Reese Witherspoon. Working out of the Neil George salon in Beverly Hills, Maldonado has...

Looking to the sky: Saturn's new roadster proves that American car companies can deliver exciting, dynamically designed vehicles.(AUTOS)(Product/service evaluation)
December 5, 2006... Imagine closing your eyes, freeing your mind of all distraction, and breathing a steady rhythm. It's quiet around you. Then you open your eyes toward the clear blue sky. You soar. Your heart begins to pound. Adrenaline rushes as you downshift...

Wanting answers.(Come Early Morning)(The History Boys)(Movie review)
December 5, 2006... In the well-observed new film Come Early Morning, Ashley Judd plays an Arkansas woman who confronts her family baggage the only way she knows how: by getting drunk and giving in to it. So sure is she that she could never have a happy...

DVD: A Love to Hide.(Video recording review)
December 5, 2006... Directed by Christian Faure Starring Jeremie Renier and Bruno Todeschini * Picture This! The Nazi persecution of gays during the Holocaust gets the TV-movie treatment in this French im port starring up-and-coming thesp Jeremie Renier who...

Short answers: Rebekah Kochan.(interview)(Interview)(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... In the sequel Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds, breakout actress Rebekah Kochan spreads her legs for American Idol vet Jim Verraros in the film's jaw-dropping climax. After seeing that--and the film's unforgettable Porta Potti coitus scene--The...

Caffeinated courting.(Jason Stuart )(Brief article)
December 5, 2006... Actor-comic Jason Stuart is jazzed about his latest film, Coffee Date, a gay indie that's about more than just hooking up. "Yeah, there is sex," Stuart asserts, "but it's more about relationships, friendship, more about what's on people's...

Here's what we'll say.
December 5, 2006... History is always written by the victors, but now you can hear the other side of the story. In A Fictional History of the United States: With Huge Chunks Missing (Akashic), T Cooper and Adam Mansbach have edited a collection of groundbreaking...

Across the gay divide.(COASTAL DISTURBANCES)
December 5, 2006... If you're a young gay man who finds your dating life in a shambles, my advice is, go out and find a gay man over 40 for whom your attraction is not primarily sexual. After you tell him your story, shut your mouth and listen to the sound of your...

Second opinions.
December 5, 2006... "No, not necessarily. This description is a lie, I will stand on that." --Second lady Lynne Cheney, disputing that there were lesbian characters in her 1981 novel Sisters, in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer on The Situation Room,...

Why I outed Foley: the blogger who posted Rep. Mark Foley's nasty e-mails helped to sweep change into Washington. Still, this was a case of one gay man outing another. Does Lane Hudson have any brotherly regrets? Um, not really.(WHISTLE-BLOWER)
December 19, 2006... I was sitting on the train to Baltimore/ Washington International Airport when my cell phone and BlackBerry simultaneously started buzzing. The text message confirmed the e-mail. Mark Foley had resigned from Congress. My heart nearly stopped....

It's our turn, Democrats: gays put you over the top. Now go represent us with pride.
December 19, 2006... We understand that fighting for our rights poses a difficult challenge for the Democratic Party. Bill Clinton demonstrated that in 1993 with his failed attempt to end the ban on gays in the military. We know they must work with an opposition...

Out on the street.(public opinion)(Brief article)
December 19, 2006... We asked a sampling of LGBT people in Denver: 'Would you consider moving to a state more friendly to same-sex couples?" CHARLES STILLWAGON, 36, EVENTS MANAGER "No, hopefully my presence here with my partner can change...

Funny lady.(FROM THE READERS)(Letter to the editor)
December 19, 2006... Thanks for your great cover story on the lovely and hilarious Jane Lynch ["The Truth About Jane Lynch," November 21]. I have long been a fan of her work in Christopher Guest's films, and I can't wait to see her turn in For Your Consideration....

Defending Studds.(FROM THE READERS)(Letter to the editor)
December 19, 2006... House Republicans claim the Defense of Marriage Act prevents them from providing late congressman Gerry Studds's pension benefits to his spouse ["Remembering Studds," November 21]. When Oliver North was convicted of lying to Congress over...

Just Justin.(Letter to the editor)
December 19, 2006... With disappointment and a bit of disgust I read your article about the Justin Suarez character on Ugly Betty ["Betty's Family Secret?" November 21]. As your magazine has become somewhat fixated on "straight-acting" gay men, it's bizarre that...

Private lives.(FROM THE READERS)(Letter to the editor)
December 19, 2006... I was dismayed to see the article about Annie Leibovitz and Susan Sontag by Carl Rollyson in your November 21 issue ["What's in a Word?"]. Rellyson's previous biography, Susan Sontag: The Making of an Icon, manages to take one of the top...

Global bashing.(Letter to the editor)
December 19, 2006... Regarding Richard Goldstein's "Earth to American Queers: Wake Up" [November 21], I'm awake, I'm awake. Now what? I appreciate your taking the time to inform an ignorant public of some of the more specific ways our gay brothers and sisters are...

A fool's errand?(FROM THE READERS)(Letter to the editor)
December 19, 2006... Having been mentioned in Mike Signorile's story as yet another GLBT organization "duped" by Andrew Marin ["The Preacher Lied," October 24], Dignity/Chicago would like to set the record straight about our involvement with the Marin Foundation....

The Advocate poll.(FROM THE READERS)
December 19, 2006... Q: Have you ever stuck with a partner because reentering the dating scene was just too scary? no 56% yes 39% unsure 5% Note: table made from pie chart. ...

Stinging like a bee.(SPORTS)(Ann-Marie Saccurato)(Brief article)
December 19, 2006... There's no thinking before a fight, says Ann-Marie Saccurato. There's only seeing your opponent--and remembering that the best bouts are those you win. With coaching help from her life partner (three-time national champion Angel Bovee), the...

Sen. Mel Martinez.(APPOINTED)(joins Republican National Committee)
December 19, 2006... SEN. MEL MARTINEZ, as general chairman of the Republican National Committee, in Washington, D.C., November 14. The Republican first-term senator from Florida, elected in 2004 after a divisive campaign that notably relied on antigay tactics,...

Same-sex marriage legislation.(PASSED)(Brief article)
December 19, 2006... SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LEGISLATION, in South Africa, November 14 The country became the fifth in the world to approve marriage equality.

Kim Coco Iwamoto.(ELECTED)(jpins Hawaii state board of education)(Brief article)
December 19, 2006... KIM COCO IWAMOTO, to the Hawaii state board of education, in Honolulu, November 7. A male-to-female transsexual, she became the first openly transgender individual to be elected to a state-level office in the United States. She represents the...

Robert Fennell.(DIED)(Obituary)(Brief article)
December 19, 2006... ROBERT FENNELL, 48, a veteran Broadway publicist, of liver cancer, at home in Yonkers, N.Y., November 12. Over two decades, Fennell handled publicity for more than 100 stage productions, including Angels in America and Wicked, first for the...

Ed Bradley, 1941-2006.(AN APPRECIATION)(Brief article)
December 19, 2006... Growing up on Chicago's south side, there were plenty of strikes against me: black skin, rough neighborhood, family on welfare, a burgeoning attraction to other boys. Ed Bradley, although straight, inspired hope in me. There were not many...

A trans man's evolution.(FIRST PERSON)
December 19, 2006... "A funny thing happened to me on my way to becoming a man... I began to want one," writes award-winning FTM photographer and writer Loren Rex Cameron (above, left, with his MTF transgender sister). Nearly 20 years after beginning to...

Poor Jim West? Yeesh.(COMMENTARY)
December 19, 2006... PBS's Frontline was all "Don't cry for me, Spokane" in a doc about that city's closeted--and famously antigay--ex-mayor Jim West. The program faulted Spokane's Spokesman-Review for outing West. Writer David Ehrenstein wonders, Where was...

No crime to be gay!(ACTIVISM)(regulation for discrimination against gays)(Brief article)
December 19, 2006... It's hard to fathom that in 75 countries, being gay is still a crime. French activist Louis-Georges Tin, founder of the International Day Against Homophobia, hopes to change that by having the United Nations adopt a resolution calling for the...

Just another dharma bum: Buddhist teacher Caitriona Reed.
December 19, 2006... When you think of meditation, a few things might come to mind: peace, tranquility, struggling to sit cross-legged--but queer politics? For Buddhist teacher and male-to-female trans woman Caitriona Reed, it's all part of the dharma. And at...

Crossing over with Twist.(Sony Music Entertainment Inc. Sony Music's new record label)(Brief article)
December 19, 2006... The goal is not to have a rainbow flag implanted into their brain," says Matt Farber of the artists at Music With a Twist, the new LGBT-oriented record label recently launched by Sony Music. "Our executives are like-minded and embrace [the...

Holiday shopping.(BY THE NUMBERS)(Survey)(Brief article)
December 19, 2006... 69% of LGBT shoppers would likely or very likely be influenced by knowing whether a company treats its gay employees equally Holiday shoppers who say they are more likely this year than last to patronize a store because of its positive...

Rants & raves.(Quotation)
December 19, 2006... "I don't have time for this, sweetheart." --U.S. senator JOE LIEBERMAN of Connecticut, responding to lesbian Carolyn Gabel-Brett at a West Hartford, Conn., polling place after she asked about his position on same-sex marriage, November 7...

CNN snips Maher.(Cable News Network, Larry King, Bill Maher)(Interview)(Brief article)
December 19, 2006... After the GOP took a beating at the polls last month, the Republican National Committee canned chairman Ken Mehlman. But even though he's out of a job, it seems the mysterious Mehlman can still make a media titan shake in its boots. After Bill...

Cameron Diaz: we loved her more serious turns in Being John Malkovich and Vanilla Sky, but there's just something about a girl with semen in her hair. Soon to be seen in The Holiday, one of Hollywood's highest-paid angels--and Justin Timberlake's girlfriend--proves that sexy never left.(BIG GAY FOLLOWING)(interview)(Interview)(Brief article)
December 19, 2006... How does it feel to be featured on our BGF page? When I heard the news I was ecstatic! I've always wanted to be in The Advocate. I was trying to figure out how I could get into it, actually. How do your gay fans differ from your...

The Advocate calendar.(Calendar)
December 19, 2006... DRESS UP AGAINST AIDS: CONDOM COUTURE BY ADRIANA BERTINI. Fourteen frocks designed by Brazilian artist Adriana Bertini, made entirely of condoms to inspire their use in the fight against AIDS. Through March 11. Fowler Museum at UCLA...

Rehab high: Nashville's Community High School is a gay-friendly safe zone for teenage addicts.(ADVOCATE GENQ)
December 19, 2006... Biology tests and English literature are interspersed with alcoholism-recovery meetings and impromptu yoga sessions at Nashville's Community High School. It's definitely not your parents' high school experience. Since its inception in 1997...

GenQ poll.
December 19, 2006... Q: Have you or your LGBT friends ever had a problem with drug addiction? In the November 21 issue we asked: Would you listen to the music of a homophobic artist? Results: Sure: 25% If he/she apologized for old homophobic...

Pelosi and the gays: she's been attacked as a "radical San Francisco liberal." But Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says she's sticking with her gay constituents as she takes control of the nation's political agenda.(ELECTION)(Nancy Pelosi )
December 19, 2006... When Nancy Pelosi first arrived in Washington, D.C., as a newly elected congresswoman in 1987 her fellow Democratic lawmakers warned her about identifying as a San Francisco liberal. After all, she represents California's eighth congressional...

Young, gay, and powerful.(SHORT ANSWERS)(interview with Evan Low )(Interview)(Brief article)
December 19, 2006... Evan Low didn't let the fact that he is a gay Asian-American stand in his way of winning a seat on the Campbell, Calif., city council on November 7. He didn't let his age stop him either--at 23, he was making was his second bid for the council....

A call to arms in Congress: heads up, President Bush: the new Democratic Congress is gay-friendly and prepared to put your antigay mettle to the test.(ELECTION)(Legislation)
December 19, 2006... For the past six years LGBT issues have been sitting on the back burner of Washington politics--that is, unless the issue was about limiting our rights. But the Democrats now control both houses of Congress, and their gay members and...

A "wild lesbian" in Missouri.(SHORT ANSWERS)(interview with Jolie Justus )(Interview)(Brief article)
December 19, 2006... "A wild lesbian from the inner city." That's how one anonymous flier in Missouri's 10th state senate district, much of which covers Kansas City, referred to Democrat Jolie Justus before she won her election on November 7. Such character swipes...

Straight talk wins in Arizona: want to get straight people to vote against an antigay ballot initiative? Make it all about them.(ELECTION)(anti-same-sex marriage )
December 19, 2006... Margaret Cramer couldn't stay up late enough to watch her political efforts pay off. The Arizona election results were due in way past her bedtime. Cramer, 7, wanted to know. She had spent Election Day at the polls, standing alongside her...