The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine) articles from December 2008

The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine) archives from December 2008

The moment of truth.(FROM THE EDITOR)(Editorial)
December 2, 2008... THERE'S SOMETHING SURPRISINGLY COMFORTABLE about the truth, even though hearing it can sometimes feel like you've ripped a Band-Aid off an old scab. Perhaps that's why we Americans gravitate toward the sting of "just the facts, ma'am"...

Legal marriage.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Thank you for your article "Love Stories" [November 4]. It's easy to be cynical these days; however, I found it touching that you put a human face on gay and lesbian marriage. I wish everyone in "Love Stories" (and...

Foleygate.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 2, 2008... Your thoughtful and encouraging commentary about former representative Mark Foley was both timely and sensitive ["The Foley Follies," November 4]. As a friend of Mr. Foley's, I would like to clarify some points made in your commentary and the...

Do you think the next U.S. president will champion LGBT rights on the international stage?(THE ADVOCATE POLL)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... "Neither Obama nor McCain are in any way committed to LGBT rights." "I think if Obama is elected, he will, but McCain will not." "He needs to champion LGBT rights in our own nation first. Sadly, America lags far behind many countries...

Campaign rhetoric.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 2, 2008... I was pleased to read Michael Joseph Gross's article "Think You're Smarter Than McCain-Palin? Prove It" in the November 4 issue. The overall tone was great; however, I was more excited by the references to MassEquality and Equality Ohio. The...

Staying alive.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 2, 2008... Ryan Richard Thoreson's article "Back to the Bully Pulpit" [November 4], about how gay issues might fit in with the next president's foreign policy, was little more than fluff. In reality our country has little influence on gay issues in...

Out on the street.(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] We asked a sampling of LGBT people in Taipei, Taiwan: "Have you felt the effects of the American financial meltdown?" Mini Liao, 36 bartender "Yes. Our banks are closely related or have relationships...

Smart money: in a time of economic calamity, one voice rises above the panic.(Forward)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] HAS THERE EVER BEEN A TIME WE'VE NEEDED SUZE ORMAN MORE? With marriage changing the financial equation for thousands of gay couples and the world economy teetering on collapse, the money guru's sage counsel has...

The gay Cobain: eighteen years after his death, the music world honors "Upchuck," the man who set Seattle on fire.(Forward)(Charles Gerra)(Kurt Cobain)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... IT'S A RECENT SATURDAY night in the Emerald City and Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard is doing what he does best. There's one twist: While grinding out the music, he's dolled up in heels, lipstick, and a spaghetti-strap dress. He slipped into...

Sex and the sovereign: gay Brits have spoken: Prince Harry's their man.(Forward)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] More than one third of gay men in the United Kingdom prefer the prospect of a royal romp with the ginger-locked, mischievous prince Harry (left) over the same with his older brother, William (right), who received...

A night at the museum: a new gallery preserves history in a changing landscape.(Forward)(One Archives Gallery and Museum)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The late afternoon of October 11 was gloriously sunny, though the crowd gathered for the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the One Archives Gallery and Museum in West Hollywood was distinctly gray. With his jet-black hair...

Rants & raves.
December 2, 2008... "No, Leb-an-ese." --Salma Hayek, after Eamonn Holmes, host of the U.K. talk show This Morning, thought the heavily accented star said she was lesbian, October 3 "I'm convinced that Magic faked AIDS." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Datebook 11.18-12.02.(Forward)(Calendar)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] NOVEMBER 23 The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's OUTAuction fund-raiser in New York will feature 100 works of art going up for bid in silent auction. A separate public auction will include pieces by...

Fowl behavior: PETA's untamed gay ringleader discusses Thanksgiving, baby fur, and saving the world.(Forward)(People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)(Interview)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... CONTROVERSY IS A CONSTANT when you're a honcho at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Dan Mathews, the organization's senior vice president, has been arrested, led half-naked protests, and even lauded Andrew Cunanan for getting Gianni...

The name game: California says gays are "suspect." Connecticut calls us "quasi-suspect." Huh?(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... IN THE CONNECTICUT supreme court ruling in October legalizing same-sex marriage, gay people were declared a "quasi-suspect" class. California took it a step further in deciding last May to strike down a ban on same-sex marriage, calling gay...

Richard Blackwell.(DIED)(Obituary)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Richard Blackwell, better known as "Mr. Blackwell," 86, of complications from an intestinal infection, October 19 in Los Angeles. After a brief acting career Blackwell turned to clothing design before segueing into...

John Montana.(DIED)(Obituary)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... John Montana, MD, 61, of acute myelogenous leukemia, September 29 in New York City. Montana was one of the first New York physicians to identify and treat people with AIDS at the epidemic's start in 1981; many of the cases he saw in his...

Allan Spear.(DIED)(Obituary)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... Allan Spear, 71, of complications from heart surgery, October 11 in a Robbinsdale, Minn., hospital. Spear, a University of Minnesota history professor, was elected to the Minnesota senate in 1972. After coming out in 1974, he became one of the...

Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network.(PROMOTED)(Eliza Byard promoted to executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... Eliza Byard, to executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, November 1. Byard previously served as GLSEN's deputy executive director. In 1996, Byard co-produced Out of the Past, a Sundance Film Festival award winner...

A holiday guide to political disaster: the key to staying sane no matter what happens? Ask, what would Yoko do?(Yoko Ono)
December 2, 2008... BECAUSE YOU'RE READING this column in the middle of November, you already know how it all turned out. You're in the future. Me? I'm way back here in October, a world away, writing this thing. So between the yesterday when I wrote this and the...

Sex. Gender. Employment discrimination: one woman's successful lawsuit against the Library of Congress could spell more legal victories for transgender employees across the country.(LAW)(Diane Schroer)
December 2, 2008... DIANE SCHROER WAS OFFERED a job as a terrorism research analyst by the Library of Congress in December 2004--but she was known as David Schroer at the time. Yet when the decorated Army veteran told her would-be boss that she was about to...

Renaissance faire: a new book claims that America's on the verge of a renaissance in culture and business--and, no surprise, gay people are ahead of the trend.(CULTURE)(The Rise of the Cultural Consumer - and What It Means to Your Business )(Interview)
December 2, 2008... IN HER BOOK RenGen: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer--and What It Means to Your Business (Platinum Press/Adams Media), Chicago marketing maven Patricia Martin, president ofLitLamp Communications Group, argues that America is entering a...

Rece$$ionary tremors: forgive us for stating the obvious, but the economy is tanking. Meet eight gay people caught in the debris.
December 2, 2008... HOW'S THIS AS A RECIPE FOR RECESSION? Start with a handful of Wall Street titans falling (requiring a $700 billion bailout by the government) and U.S. companies slashing jobs and downgrading financial forecasts. Add rising house foreclosures,...

The new American classic: Rachel Maddow's not only bringing thinking back to TV news, she's assuring herself a spot on the Mount Rushmore of broadcasting, right next to Murrow, Cronkite, and Brokaw.(Interview)(Cover story)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IT'S DECEPTIVELY QUIET at 9 o'clock on a weeknight in the MSNBC studio at New York City's Rockefeller Center. Shoulder-to-shoulder workstations rest on a rat maze of tables, and a smiling jack-o'-lantern sits atop...

Pipe dreams: bedazzled in Swarovski crystals and playing an instrument of his own design, 27-year-old organ virtuoso Cameron Carpenter could very well be the brightest star since Liberace.(MUSIC)(Interview)
December 2, 2008... THE MIDDLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH, across the street from a Jewish bakery on Second Avenue in New York City's East Village, was built in 1872 and features stunning Tiffany stained-glass windows that depict both abstract images and Christian scenes....

American lesbian: with a career retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum, Catherine Opie takes her place among the greatest artists of her generation.(ART)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CATHERINE OPIE'S DAD wanted her to get a real estate license. He hoped she'd settle down in San Diego, where the family lived. Cathy, as friends and colleagues refer to her, had other ideas, though they did include a...

The couple that directs together ... With a television show in development, a documentary nearly wrapped, and their feature film Lake City--starring Sissy Spacek--released this November, Hunter Hill and Perry Moore are building a media empire.(FILM)(Interview)
December 2, 2008... HUNTER HILL AND PERRY MOORE are proof that opposites attract. The executive director of Paper magazine, Hill is lean and angular, dressed in a crisp black dress shirt, jeans, and a gray blazer. Sitting at a table at Bar Pitti in Manhattan, he...

High School Musical: with charm and imagination to spare, the magic of Were the World Mine is worth singing about.(Movie review)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WERE THE WORLD MINE DIRECTED BY Tom Gustafson STARRING Tanner Cohen, Nathaniel David Becker, and Wendy Robie LOGO QUEER CULTURE MAY BE "FABULOUS," but the world of gay independent film hasn't lived...

Dog Tags.(DVD PICKS)(Plot summary)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] TLA RELEASING When newly engaged marine Nate meets a free-spirited gay man while on leave in Palm Springs, Calif., their relationship soon enters "don't ask, don't tell" territory.

Butch Jamie.(DVD PICKS)(Plot summary)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WOLFE In this Tootsie-inspired comedy, lesbian actress Jamie is a little too butch for typical female roles, but once she restyles herself as a male actor, she hits new career highs.

Teenage Angst.(DVD PICKS)(Plot summary)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] PICTURE THIS! Four louche boarding school boys form a homoerotic clique and start playing dangerous games that quickly devolve into "survival of the fittest" contests.

Pretty, unpretentious: Dido's first album in five years delivers more feel-good lyrics and laid-back style without sounding stale.(Safe Trip Home)(Sound recording review)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DIDO Safe Trip Home RCA LET'S BE HONEST: Plastic butter knives are edgier than Dido's music. Were it not for her affiliation with Eminem--the rapper sampled her song "Thank You" in his hit single...

Moby: Last Night Remixed.(MUSIC PICKS)(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MOBY Last Night Remixed MUTE Moby handpicked a slew of underground DJs--including Drop the Lime, Freemasons, and Holy Ghost!--to put a fresh, funky spin on one of the year's best club albums.

Edie Sedgwick: Things Are Getting Sinister and Sinisterer.(MUSIC PICKS)(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] EDIE SEDGWICK Things Are Getting Sinister and Sinisterer DISCHORD With a name borrowed from the Warhol superstar, cross-dressing performance artist Justin Moyer drops funky ditties like "Mary-Kate...

Mt. Sims: Happily Ever After.(MUSIC PICKS)(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] MT. SIMS Happily Ever After HUNGRY EYE Gay artist Matt Sims moves beyond the electroclash cliches of his past with this set of goth dance cuts. Think Prince meets Joy Division.

Kid Sister: Dream Date.(MUSIC PICKS)(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... KID SISTER Dream Date DOWNTOWN The long-awaited debut disc from this witty Windy City rapper, who's already worked with hip-hop heavyweights Kanye West and David Banner.

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan: Sunday at Devil Dirt.(MUSIC PICKS)(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
December 2, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ISOBEL CAMPBELL & MARK LANEGAN Sunday at Devil Dirt FONTANA He was Screaming Trees' gruff baritone; she crooned sweetly in Belle and Sebastian. These moody original duets rival Nancy Sinatra and...

Aussie bums: Summer Heights High--a faux-reality series that HBO imported from Australia--gives Little Britain USA a run for its money.
December 2, 2008... THOUGH HE'S THE STAR, writer, and coproducer of Summer Heights High, one of Australia's most popular TV series, comedian Chris Lilley isn't all that comfortable being a celebrity. In fact, he's more likely to appear at awards ceremonies and...

No shrinking violet: killers front man Brandon Flowers kinda likes the gay rumors but has yet to seal the deal with Rufus.(BGF: BIG GAY FOLLOWING)(Interview)
December 2, 2008... SMILE LIKE YOU MEAN IT, because the Killers are on the attack with their third proper album, Day & Age, which drops November 25. Singer Brandon Flowers has been a gay-fan favorite since the 2004 release of his Las Vegas-based band's...

The age of ignorance.(FROM THE EDITOR)(Editorial)
December 16, 2008... AS MY FELLOW EDITORS AND I WERE IN PRODUCTION on this issue of the magazine, hundreds of demonstrators marched past our offices on Wilshire Boulevard on their way to the Mormon Temple about a mile to the south of us. It was the second day of...

Honoring Harvey.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 16, 2008... Your November 18 issue honors the memory of a gay rights martyr and lauds the legality ["Connecticut Rings In"] of marriage equality. Furthermore, you remind us of a California election, one that favored gay public school teachers (the defeat...

Missionaries at the door?(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 16, 2008... Regarding your November 18 story "Connecticut Rings In," hopefully, they can keep the Mormon Church's nose out of Connecticut if this ever comes to a vote of the people. H.K. LLEWELLYN, Salt Lake City, Utah

Lost boys.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 16, 2008... The Boys in the Band was only a part of the story ["Where the Boys Were," November 18]. While the "boys" were bitching, the rest of us were beginning to define our liberation and our self-respect. Yes, there was self-hate; there still is. But...

Word basher.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 16, 2008... I am a longtime fan of Denis Leary's and believe he is a friend of the gay community, but I disagree with his belief that words are not powerful [Big Gay Following, November 18]. Words can hurt people; they diminish, humiliate, marginalize, and...

Has there been a gay leader comparable to Harvey Milk since Milk's death?(THE ADVOCATE POLL)(Brief article)
December 16, 2008... Yes 25% No 59% Unsure 16% How readers responded to the Advocate.com poll question featured in the November 18 issue of The Advocate Note: Table made from bar graph. "No one has been as inspiring or...

Economic crisis.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 16, 2008... When I read the "The Poor Woman's Financial Crisis" [November 18], it really shocked and scared me. I'm 22, working on getting my master's degree in counseling, and plan to open my own practice specializing in treating LGBT clients and the...

Pow! Zowie!(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 16, 2008... How disappointing to read a brief article ["Don't Mask, Do Tell"] in the November 18 issue stressing that comics have matured by including GLBT characters, yet you still feel the need to open the article with the diminutive gadzooks!--a term...

The wedding's off.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
December 16, 2008... Regarding the Gay Marriage section of your "Candidates Face Off" story [November 4], you neglected to put in quotes that Barack Obama believes marriage is between a man and a woman and has publicly said so. While Obama is certainly more...

Out on the street.(Brief article)
December 16, 2008... We asked a sampling of LGBT people in Chicago: "What do you want President-elect Obama to accomplish in his first 100 days in office?" [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mik Bauer, 29 cafe manager "Stabilize the economy, number 1. And I...

Projection runway: fashion designer Tom Ford segues into celluloid with a daring film project.(Forward)
December 16, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AFTER STEPPING DOWN from a decade-long reign as creative director of Gucci in 2004, Tom Ford raised eyebrows higher than his hemlines when he joined Creative Artists Agency with aspirations of becoming a film...

Same-sex social studies: the publishers of a new book want all kids to know about gay history.(Forward)(Brief article)
December 16, 2008... WHEN LINAS ALSENAS'S Gay America: Struggle for Equality launched in late October at a Manhattan children's bookstore, Books of Wonder, one might have expected drama--mad-eyed fanatics protesting outside or scandalized parents shepherding their...

Voices carry: a new tour tests the market for gays with guitars.(Forward)(Brief article)
December 16, 2008... NEW YORK-BASED singer-songwriter Stewart Lewis is hoping "there are more Rufus Wain-wrights in the world." The folk artist is frustrated with the notion that "gay music" is solely the stuff of DJs and pop stars. "A lot of out musicians have a...

The glass half full: looking at the positive side of the 2008 election.(Forward)(Brief article)
December 16, 2008... YOU'D THINK THAT GAY CONSTITUENTS had very little to celebrate if you didn't look past the antigay measures that passed in four states on Election Day. Yes, voters in Florida, Arizona, and California put gay marriage bans into their state...

Mormons gone wild: after one man undresses missionaries for his calendar, BYU strips him of his degree.(DOSSIER)(Chad Hardy)(Brief article)
December 16, 2008... When they weren't promoting the passage of California's Proposition 8 in recent months, Mormon leaders were making Chad Hardy's life hell. Riled by his "Men on a Mission" calendar of shirtless missionaries, elders of the Church of Jesus Christ...

Datebook 12.02-12.16.(Forward)(Brief article)(Calendar)
December 16, 2008... DECEMBER 2 Britney Spears celebrates her 27th birthday today--the same day she releases Circus, her sixth studio album. DECEMBER 4-7 Gay power players--like NBC News correspondent John Yang--will gather in D.C. for the 2008...

Rants & raves.(Forward)(Brief article)
December 16, 2008... "ABC didn't want to air it, but that was me and Tom's show. We're like, 'We're doing it!' I knew it was shattering all kinds of middle-class things that should be shattered. To me, it was like a big sociological victory." --Roseanne Barr,...

Anatomy of a failed campaign: in two short months, the battle over California's Proposition 8 went from double-digit opposition to passing with 52% of the vote on Election Day. Could the heartbreaking loss have been avoided? Depends on who you ask.
December 16, 2008... AT THE NO ON 8 FIELD OFFICE in Los Angeles's Silver Lake neighborhood on the eve of Election Day, it was hard to imagine defeat. The two large, brightly lit rooms reserved for training volunteers were packed; the hallways were almost...

Dear President-elect Obama, we gave you our vote (at least most of us did). Will you now fight for our full equality? Open letters from 17 gay men and lesbians.
December 16, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Dear Mr. President, Congratulations on your election. You take office in a time of great uncertainty both nationally and internationally. Your words and actions now will have serious consequences for this and...

Be the best.(Buyers guide)
December 16, 2008... Holiday gifts guaranteed to make you shine. Guest 01 Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur ($35, WallyWine.com) 02 Corzo Silver tequila ($50, WallyWine.com) 03 Small charcoal ball natural deodorizer ($30, Fitzsu.com) 04 Grail & Lantz duo...

Fairy tales: the director and stars of the new Broadway production of Shrek talk about playing gay, fighting off fans, and the best coming-out gift for Clay Aiken.(THEATER)(Interview)
December 16, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE GAY GOLDEN BOYS of the Great White Way have gone green for Shrek the Musical. Broadway's new adaptation of William Steig's 1990 book and DreamWorks' Academy Award-winning animated film series about a...

Playing gay: Fable II for Xbox 360--featuring gay marriage and visible gaydar--is the most inclusive video game ever created.(VIDEO GAMES)
December 16, 2008... When asked to picture a video game hero, few would imagine a pregnant, cross-dressing lesbian. But Fable II, the long-anticipated sequel to the 2004 role-playing game, gives players a wealth of options to customize their protagonist. And in...

Partners in romance: what's the secret behind Judith Gould, best-selling author of sweeping romance novels? She's actually a couple of gay men.(BOOKS)(Nick Bienes and Rhea Gallaher)
December 16, 2008... TRUE DEVOTEES OF ROMANCE NOVELS know Judith Gould. They know her oeuvre-best sellers like Sins (1982), Never Too Rich (1990), and The Best Is Yet to Come (2002). They know her heroines--brassy dames who defy the odds and find adventure and...

Hip hymns: ask anyone who has ever hailed a cab in the snow with an armload of presents: multitasking is essential at Christmastime. That goes for holiday music too. Here are some albums doing double duty as really good music.(MUSIC)(Sound recording review)
December 16, 2008... * Melissa Etheridge's A New Thought for Christmas radiates harmony and goodwill yet never tips over into treacle. The raspy-voiced icon composed several new tunes, including two ("Glorious" and "O Night Divine") that incorporate elements from...

Straight man: Adrien Brody does his best to let loose for his gay fans.(BIG GAY FOLLOWING)(Interview)
December 16, 2008... ADRIEN BRODY IS A SERIOUS ACTOR. After all, he won an Academy Award for his portrayal in The Pianist of a Polish Jewish musician struggling to survive in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. And after lending gravitas to the Beyonce vehicle...