The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine) articles from January 2005

The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine) archives from January 2005

Brave new world.(reader forum)(Letter to the Editor)
January 18, 2005... Bravo for your "Now What?" issue [December 7]. It saddens me to know that people are actually considering leaving the country. That seems to be the easy way out--and just what many of the far right would like to see happen. There's a lot of...

American splendor.(reader forum)(Letter to the Editor)
January 18, 2005... I read the article on Europe and how easy it is to be gay in Europe, suggesting that some will, and have, packed their bags to move ["Is Gay Life Better in Europe?" December 7]. I happen to be a Jewish gay American. It may be safer to be...

Religious profiling.(reader forum)(Letter to the Editor)
January 18, 2005... I am disappointed that The Advocate would publish an article that so roundly condemns my religion, Islam. In the column "A Minority Within a Minority" [My Perspective, December 7], Mohammed Itani ends his story by saying that in the greater...

It's all in the timing.(reader forum)(Letter to the Editor)
January 18, 2005... As a lesbian former Army officer, I have to say that Christopher Lisotta's November 23 piece "Republicans vs. the Military" [At Issue] made very little sense. Lisotta quotes expert Tobias Barrington Wolff in suggesting that it's not the right...

Lifting us up.(reader forum)(Letter to the Editor)
January 18, 2005... Thanks for featuring openly gay power lifter Chris Morgan ["Weight of the World," November 23]. Fed up with British insurance companies discriminating against gay men by raising premiums and issuing lifestyle questionnaires, Chris put evidence...

Correction.(reader forum)(Correction Notice)
January 18, 2005... Photographer Alisa Pengue's name was misspelled in the photo credit on page 40 of our December 7 issue.

Banned for being inclusive.(Q&A)
January 18, 2005... Out actor Myles Herman was happy to appear in a TV ad for the United Church of Christ because of its upbeat, gay-friendly message. Then NBC and CBS banned it as "too controversial." Read John Caldwell's interview with Herman, only on...

Lesbian survivors.(Reality Television)
January 18, 2005... Not only did Survivor: Vanuatu include the show's first two out lesbians--sly, sexy Ami (pictured) and tough rancher Scout--it turned into dyke drama: By the time Ami was ousted in December, the two were sworn enemies. Find our exclusive Q&A's...

Singing for an Oscar?(Arts & Entertainment)
January 18, 2005... Can a little movie musical about real estate agents (including out actor Anthony Rapp, pictured) get into the Oscar race? Filmmaker Dan Mirvish thinks his movie Open House could help revive--and win--the Song Score category.

Making gay Asians visible.(films premier)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... Two new films making the rounds of film festivals focus on often overlooked communities: gay Indonesians in Arisan! and gay Asian-Americans in Quentin Lee's latest, Ethan Mao (pictured). Read Kevin Kumala's reviews, only at Advocate.com.

Anger and laughter.(letter from the editor in chief)(Editorial)
January 18, 2005... In the first two days of December, this was the news: Michigan erased all domestic-partner benefits for state employees. An Alabama legislator proposed banning from state libraries all books with positive gay characters--books he said ought to...

Big gay year: 2004 produced more powerful gay images and dramatic developments than ever before. Here's a look back at what will likely be remembered as a watershed year.(Time Line 2004)(Calendar)
January 18, 2005... JANUARY 1--The Canadian edition of Time magazine picks Michael Stark and Michael Leshner, the first gay couple to be married in Ontario, as the top newsmakers of 2003. 12--New Jersey governor James E. McGreevey signs a bill creating a...

The wit and wisdom of Sir Elton.(rants & raves)
January 18, 2005... "Rude vile pigs! Do you know what that means? Rude vile pigs--that's what all of you are." --To the Taiwanese paparazzi who ambushed him as he arrived in Taipei, September 23 "Anyone who lip-synchs in public onstage when you pay 75...

Boston legal eagle: the country's most powerful lawyer in the marriage equality fight is taking her case to other states--and trying to avoid the spotlight.(Marriage)(Mary Bonauto)(Biography)
January 18, 2005... As the debate over same-sex unions engulfed the country this summer, Mary Bonauto stood before reporters and cameras to announce that her group--Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders--would continue the fight for marriage equality in...

Tour of duty: as an openly gay marine, Jeff Key fought in Iraq only to be kicked out due to his sexuality. He says coming out is the best decision he ever made.(Military)
January 18, 2005... Badrah, Iraq, May 20, 2003 I stand atop my vehicle with my weapon at the ready, balancing friendly with guarded. We want the people to know we are here to help, but looking passive is an invitation to trouble. A man in his early 20s passes on...

Red state bar mitzvah.(notes from a blond)
January 18, 2005... The only bright spot on election night was noticing that the Queer Eye guys had apparently infiltrated the network news divisions. Everywhere you looked, there was a sea of red and a depressingly smaller sea of blue. NBC even commandeered the...

A day in the year of Ellen: she's been through the fire of coming out. Now Ellen DeGeneres is hotter than ever. In this exclusive interview and photo essay, the star and her photographer partner, Alexandra Hedison, give us a private glimpse of the superstar, who happens to be gay.(Best of the year)(Interview)(Cover Story)
January 18, 2005... We're 15 minutes out from the start of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and the studio audience is already on its feet and dancing. Practically speaking, we don't have a choice: Nobody could resist the beat of the vintage funk music pounding through...

O pioneers! The original standard-bearers of the U.S. gay rights movement get their due in a new documentary.(Film)
January 18, 2005... On July 4, 1965, a small group of neatly dressed men and women staged a protest in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, carrying signs protesting discrimination against "homosexuals." Four years later, the Stonewall uprising in New York...

Top 10: TV moments.(Best of the year)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... (1) Kinsey Out writer-director Bill Condon's fascinating tribute to the sex researcher who forever changed American culture also reminds us that we've returned to '50s-era repression. (2) Bed Education Dark secrets, drag queens, and very...

America's next top role models: the courageous and outrageous queens of America's Next Top Model are more than ready for prime time.(Television)
January 18, 2005... It wasn't when Queer Eye's Fab 5 made over a gay guy or even when Graham Norton debuted on Comedy Central. Nope, the gayest moment on prime-time TV in 2004 (not counting Showtime) happened October 13 on, of all places, UPN. We're talking, of...

Whoopi's tough love: has been a friend of gays since she first hit Broadway. Now she's back onstage, speaking her mind.(Performance)(interview of Whoopi Goldberg)(Interview)
January 18, 2005... "Every time the world gets in this shape, I do another show," quips Whoopi Goldberg. We're talking about her current Broadway gig, Whoopi: The 20th Anniversary, an updated version of the one-woman show that made Goldberg a star two decades ago....

Top 10: albums.(Best of the year)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... (1) Caroline, or Change (pictured) and Only We Who Guard the Mystery Shall Be Unhappy by Tony Kushner. America's resident theater genius and leftist town crier returns with a brave, unsparing Broadway musical (written with composer Jeanine...

Cutting edge: with one of the year's hottest albums--and a brand-new live DVD--Scissor Sisters couldn't be sharper.(Music)
January 18, 2005... Dry your eyes, Erasure, Village People, and Pansy Division fans, and fork over that crown. It's official: The biggest, gayest band in the world is Scissor Sisters. The New York quintet, featuring three openly gay men--bassist-keyboard player...

Maggie, George, and Alan: out British novelist Alan Hollinghurst won a top prize writing about Thatcher's England--which, he tells Charles Kaiser, is not such a far cry from Bush's America.(Books)(interview of Alan Hollinghurst )(Interview)
January 18, 2005... Alan Hollinghurst is the author of four novels, beginning with The Swimming-Pool Library in 1988. His latest, The Line of Beauty, won the Man Booker Prize, the most important U.K. fiction award, in 2004. Compared favorably by many critics to...

Top 10: books.(Best of the year)(Brief Article)
January 18, 2005... (1) The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst. Called "almost perfectly written" by Publishers Weekly, We'd leave out "almost" and tag on the adjectives "rich" and "erotic." (2) Blue Days, Black Nights by Ron Nyswaner. This brutally honest...

Voyage of discovery.(r family)
January 18, 2005... I knew it had to be a big boat. It had to have a strong engine to take us where we wanted to go, into new territory. It had to have an engine that thrummed, a handsome prow, and dark wood decking. It had to have a swimming pool with water...