The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine) articles from January 2009

The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine) archives from January 2009

Time for change.(FROM THE EDITOR)(Editorial)
January 13, 2009... YEAR-END ISSUES OF THE ADVOCATE HAVE TRADITIONALLY BEEN CALLED "THE YEAR IN REVIEW." But this country is ending 2008 in such a state of flux that this edition of the magazine turned out, by default, to be a year in preview as much as review....

Rachel, Rachel.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
January 13, 2009... Rachel Maddow's success has been incredibly great to watch-and I have been watching, or should I say listening, for years now ["The New American Classic," December 2]. That her journalism is "the story" and not her being an out lesbian is...

Are you afraid of losing your job?(THE ADVOCATE POLL)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... "I'm afraid I'm not going to find a job. I had my own business for over 20 years and decided to close it and take some time off. Now, at age 52, no one wants me." "I just did, on Halloween! And yes, it was frightening." "Being one of...

She's so money.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
January 13, 2009... I was pleased to read Neal Broverman's article "Smart Money" in the December 2 issue. As a longtime admirer of Suze Orman, I found it refreshing to read about such an amazing role model for the gay community to whom now I can better relate....

Hands on.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
January 13, 2009... Thank you so much for featuring an article on the young organ virtuoso Cameron Carpenter ["Pipe Dreams," December 2]. Surely this young man is a maverick among the up-and-coming organists of today, and I am more than thrilled he has emerged...

One bad apple.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
January 13, 2009... It's important to put the comment by independent David Popescu in context [Rants & Raves, November 18]. After he made his statement that "homosexuals should be executed," all five other candidates issued a joint statement that they would refuse...

No cop-out.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
January 13, 2009... Especially after the passage of Proposition 8 here in California, it's frustrating and disappointing to find discrimination rearing its ugly head in The Advocate. In an otherwise interesting interview with Denis Leary [Big Gay Following,...

Over the line.(FEEDBACK)(Letter to the editor)
January 13, 2009... Unfortunately, unlike Alec Mapa I feel I must beware of the forces of political correctness and preface this letter by stating that I've never voted for a Republican in my life. Mr. Mapa's "joke" about Sarah Palin's baby would never have...

He'll be back--and forth: will California's governor get past his schizophrenia over same-sex marriage and become a reliable ally?(FORWARD)(Arnold Schwarzenegger )
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FOR SUCH A DECISIVE FIGURE, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger can sure seem wimpy when it comes to same-sex marriage. How does a politician who's married to Maria Shriver and advised by lesbian chief of staff...

The year in covers.(Forward)(magazine cover of the Advocate)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... It's the subject of much debate whether The Advocate should exclusively feature gay people on its covers, so we've made a tradition of tabulating our issues' gay/straight ratio. Sixty gay people were featured on the face of 12 of this year's 22...

Rants & raves: favorite quotes of 2008.(Forward)(List)
January 13, 2009... "The gays... started protesting against what the police did to me, the gays was, like, it was almost like they flipped their side around and said, 'No justice, no peace!' And you know how gay people are--they fucking go off.... The cops got...

In memoriam: notable passings of 2008.(Forward)(Obituary)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Heath Ledger, 28, star of the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain. His role as Ennis Del Mar in the groundbreaking cowboy romance earned him an Academy Award nomination. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Mildred Loving, 68,...

The year in queer.(Forward)(Chronology)
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] JANUARY 5 Threats to attack Paris's Eiffel Tower and the city's gay mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, are posted on a website catering to Islamic fundamentalists. The mayor--who was stabbed in a 2002 antigay attack--later...

Segregation high--and lows: the age-old question of assimilation vs. separation hits the Chicago public schools, leaving a proposed high school for gag students lost in the shuffle.(CULTURE)
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ANYONE WHO SAYS they loved high school is either lying, deluded, or just really, really lucky. But for gay kids who are teased, bullied, abused, and isolated on a daily basis, those four years are more like hell on...

The long arm of the new laws: California's Proposition 8 got all the attention, but successful antigay measures in Arkansas, Arizona, and Florida could have further reaching implications for those states' residents--gay or straight.(ELECTION 2008)
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ON THE SURFACE, the recently passed constitutional amendments to ban marriage equality in Florida and Arizona and the measure to outlaw adoption by unmarried couples in Arkansas promise obvious harmful effects for...

Prop. 8: which way now? Will the courts or the ballot box be the best way to overturn California's anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment? Legal scholar Kenji Yoshino examines both approaches.(NEWS)
January 13, 2009... On November 4, to the consternation of many progay people, California voters passed Proposition 8, which amended that state's constitution to maintain that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." Prop. 8...

Your handy activist to-do list.(NEWS)
January 13, 2009... Because you don't want to wait idly for a court decision or congressional vote to decide on your rights, we asked five leading LGBT activists for their suggestions on what you can do personally to end your second-class status Talk to 10...

A wedding album.(same-sex marriage )(Photograph)
January 13, 2009... When the supreme courts of California and Connecticut lifted their states' bans on same-sex marriage this year, we rejoiced (and lamented after one of those bans was reinstated by voters). Here are the couples who sacrificed their privacy by...

Tina Fey: comedian, reluctant actress, and the woman who helped bring down Sarah Palin.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IF YOU ASKED TINA FEY if her depiction of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live helped sway November's presidential election, she'd give you an unequivocal no. In fact, if you tried to credit her with just about...

Hilary Rosen: a recording industry lobbyist-turned-political commentator who brought a gay sensibility to CNN's wall-to-wall coverage of the 2008 election.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Interview)
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] OVER THREE DECADES AS LOBBYIST, strategist, and, most recently, political analyst, Hilary Rosen has worn some high-profile hats in Washington, D.C. "I'm a public policy wonk," says the 50-year-old, whose mother was...

Bruce Bastian: the philanthropist (and former Mormon) who got out front on California's Proposition 8.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)
January 13, 2009... THIS SUMMER, WHEN CALIFORNIANS were still agog at their newfound right to marry, few knew the role Mormons would play in the gathering storm of opposition. Bruce Bastian was one of them: On July 28, the WordPerfect cofounder and former...

The Obamas: the next first family inspires the marginalized to say "Yes, we can".(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Barack Obama's family)
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN AN OPEN LETTER to Barack Obama this past January, the Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison (endorsing a presidential candidate for the first time) wrote, "Our future is ripe, outrageously rich in its...

Suze Orman: financial guru.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... ORMAN MEMORABLY CAME OUT in a 2007 issue of The New York Times Magazine ("K.T. is my life partner... I have never been with a man in my whole life. I'm still a 55-year-old virgin"), but it was in 2008 that the financial expert came into her...

Steve Hildebrand: Obama adviser.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... STEVE HILDEBRAND, out deputy campaign manager for Barack Obama, made an impassioned appeal to LGBT delegates at the Democratic National Convention in August. "What we need is for all of you to be our voices in our communities and to work...

Clay Aiken: performer.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AFTER ENDURING YEARS of speculation about his sexuality, Clay Aiken announced in September on the cover of People magazine, "Yes, I'm gay." While the quote was oddly similar to last year's declaration by Lance...

Lawrence King: slain student.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] LAWRENCE KING WAS A FORCE OF NATURE. As an eighth-grader at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, Calif., King elicited awe because of his extravagant look (high-heeled boots, occasional eye shadow and lipstick),...

Amy Balliett: activist.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(JoinTheImpact. com)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... BY NOVEMBER 7, Amy Balliett had had enough. On Election Night, the 26-year-old Seattle resident went to sleep happy that Barack Obama had been elected 44th president of the United States. She awoke, however, to find that her marriage to her...

Matthew Mitcham: Olympic gold medal diver.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WE AT THE ADVOCATE had the highest of hopes for Australian Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham when we chose to feature him on the magazine's cover in August. But our expectations seemed for naught when the attractive...

Sunil Babu Pant: Nepalese politico.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SUNIL BABU PANT FIRST HEARD the word "homosexual" in 1992 while on scholarship to study computer science in Belarus. It took another five years, during a three-month trek through Japan, for him to first experience...

Chad Griffin: strategist.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... CHAD GRIFFIN GOT HIS FIRST TASTE of politics in 1992 working at Bill Clinton's campaign headquarters in Little Rock, Ark., under the tutelage of Dee Dee Myers. When Myers set off for Washington, D.C.--she'd eventually become Clinton's press...

Al Gore: former vice-president and environmentalist.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... OF ALL THE POLITICAL SURPRISES IN 2008, perhaps none was sweeter than Al Gore's January announcement--in a Current.com video-that he supports marriage equality. In the casual one-minute clip, part of the site's "Make Your Point" series, the...

Thomas Beatie: pregnant man.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... IN LATE MARCH, when The Advocate published a first-person article written by Thomas Beatie, a transgender man who was five months' pregnant, the magazine received a handful of letters applauding the Oregon husband for telling his story. But...

Jason Rae: superdelegate.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AS HILLARY CLINTON and Barack Obama were battling to win the Democratic presidential nomination this spring, Jason Rae was quietly stealing the show. In a year when "superdelegate" entered the American vernacular,...

Wanda Sykes: comedian.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... "WE TOOK A HUGE leap forward and then got dragged about 12 steps back," said Wanda Sykes, describing the election of Barack Obama on the same day that four states passed antigay legislation. With that "we," Sykes took a huge leap forward...

Gus Van Sant and Dustin Lance Black: filmmakers.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] NO GAY FILM PROJECT, with the notable exception of Patricia Neil Warren's The Front Runner, has languished in development as long as the story of Harvey Milk. In the past 15 years the tale of the first openly gay man...

Keith Olbermann: political pundit.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... KEITH OLBERMANN has long been a reliable ally of LGBT people, but the host of MSNBC's Countdown became a full-fledged hero with his November 10 Special Comment passionately denouncing California voters' passage of Proposition 8, intended to...

Luc Montagnier and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi: Nobel prize winners.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... In 1983 two French virologists from the Pasteur Institute in Paris published an article in the journal Science describing a new infectious agent the duo called "lymphadenopathy-associated virus." The mysterious pathogen would later come to be...

Jared Polis and Linda Ketner: politicians.(PEOPLE of the YEAR)(Brief article)
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] THE DELEGATION OF GAY AND LESBIAN CONGRESS members increases by 50% in 2009, when Jared Polis of Colorado's second district joins representatives Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin on the Hill. Voters in South Carolina...

The Sissy Awards: among many gays, "Sissy" is a distinction worthy of honor, sort of like the red badge of courage. But among closed-minded straights, it's a devastating insult, which is why The Advocate bestows the word on the following irritants of 2008.
January 13, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] GO TO BED, OLD SISSY: JOHN McCAIN In a year dominated by news of the presidential campaign, John McCain demonstrated time and again that he wasn't particularly mavericky about gay rights. Here are just a few...

Blond bombshell: comedian Chelsea Handler is a fan of the gays--but she's no Tori Spelling.(BIG GAY FOLLOWING)(Interview)
January 13, 2009... HER SECOND BOOK, Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea, may have topped the New York Times best-seller list, but when it comes to gay men, Chelsea Handler prefers bottoms. The brassy star of E!'s late-night chat show Chelsea Lately certainly...