The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine) articles from June 2007

The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine) archives from June 2007

So who needs pride? Has the celebration lost its luster? Can't we skip it this year? Wouldn't it be better to at least tone down the outrageousness? No, no, and absolutely no. Here's why.(FROM THE EDITORS)(Editorial)(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... "We live in two Americas," John Edwards famously observed. True enough, especially when we're talking about LGBT America. Gays in the big cities put a premium on our freedom to live openly--we'd never put up with the indignities small-town gays...

We asked a sampling of LGBT people in Provincetown, Mass: "who would be your personal pride marshal?".(OUT ON THE STREET)(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... JAMES LYMAN, 49 GALLERY OWNER "Salvador Dali. Look at the man. The mustache. The flair. The clothes. The lifestyle... When he was young he was hot." THERESA CANCELLIERE, 51 RETAIL CLERK "Buddha. For appreciating and...

The lost language of kickball.(COMMENTARY)
June 19, 2007... For some gay and lesbian adults, being chosen last in P.E. class is a wound they still feel today, keeping them from enjoying sports and wreaking havoc on their self-esteem. Judy Kamilhor examines the "chosen-last syndrome" and other traumatic...

ACT UP's new act.(ACTIVISM)(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... Dormant for years, the legendary AIDS activist group ACT UP sprung back into the spotlight earlier this year with a march on New York City's Times Square in opposition to the war in Iraq and "don't ask don't tell" and a separate rally downtown...

Uganda rising.(AIDS)(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... During its short existence the Maybach Foundation has been successfully setting up young people with globally prominent mentors. Now the group is taking on AIDS in Uganda with the help of two young African doctors and their mentor, a San...

In love with Rebecca.(Letter to the editor)
June 19, 2007... I [know people get upset when nongay celebs are covers. I know people get upset when celebrities use phrases like "I am not a spokesperson." I feel that when people are obviously such a positive participant with the gay community, we should...

Fortuitous meeting.(Letter to the editor)
June 19, 2007... Thank you for the First Person column "In Sickness and in Health" [May 8] by Gary Crawford. Crawford's true story is the tale of two men, both gay and both living with severe mental illness, who find deep and abiding love. Written with...

Bill of goods.(Letter to the editor)
June 19, 2007... In your May 8 interview with Bill Richardson ["Courting the Gay Vote"], I was disappointed to see him stand by his vote for the Defense of Marriage Act--legislation that John Kerry rightly called "gay bashing on the floor of the Senate" when he...

Legal problems.(Letter to the editor)
June 19, 2007... While I applaud The Advocate for publishing the special report "Gay Law for Beginners" [May 8], I was distressed to note the absence of any discussion of family law, children, and adoption. Given that somewhere between 6 and 10 million children...

Virginia is for partners.(Letter to the editor)
June 19, 2007... In your article "Courtroom Wrangler" [May 8], William Henderson writes that 'Virginia-based employers are barred from contracting with insurers for domestic-partner benefits, although they can serf-insure to provide benefits." Fortunately,...

T time.(Letter to the editor)
June 19, 2007... As a recent past president of the Transgender Education Association of Washington, D.C., I thank you for the inclusion of transgender issues in a forthright and positive way in the May 8 issue of The Advocate ["Times of Transition"]. I did not...

Fixing the inside.(Letter to the editor)
June 19, 2007... Author Patrick Moore hit a strong note with his comment "Fixing the outside does nothing to address the self-hatred that continues to bubble beneath the surface" ["My Sisters," March 27]. I couldn't embrace my own gender identity for many...

Corrections.(Correction notice)
June 19, 2007... In our May 8 story "Courtroom Wrangler," the law firm at which Jill Jacobson is a partner was referred to by two names. The correct name is Bowman and Brooke. And in our story "Black Is Back" from the same issue, two quotes were incorrectly...

The advocate poll.(FROM THE READERS)(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... Q: Is the concept of the down low inherently racist? Unsure 6% No 48% Yes 6% Note: Table made from bar graph. How readers responded to the Advocate.com poll question featured in the May 8...

We love New York.(The Advocate REPORT)(legalization of same sex marriage )(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... On April 27 brand-new New York governor Eliot Spitzer kept a campaign promise and introduced a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in his state--the first time a governor has done so. For days later more than 1.000 supporters swarmed the...

Girl, interrupted no more: Los Angeles Times sportswriter Christine Daniels (nee Mike Penner) announced in an April column that she is transitioning to life as a woman. Her story set a readership record--but it's only just beginning.(PERSON TO KNOW: CHRISTINE DANIELS)(Column)
June 19, 2007... Sitting poolside at a Beverly Hills hotel's restaurant, sportswriter Christine Daniels catalogs a few moments in her childhood--as Mike Penner--when her inner female rose to the fore. There was the day her boy cousins encouraged her to...

Coming home: at the nation's first affordable-housing complex for LGBT seniors, created with public and private support, L.A.-area elders have a place to call their own.(THE ADVOCATE REPORT)
June 19, 2007... At first glance, Triangle Square is just the latest apartment complex opening in rapidly gentrifying Hollywood, the fabled Los Angeles neighborhood that is emerging from decades of malaise to become a thriving urban center. The lobby looks like...

Rosie O'Donnell.(LEAVING)(American Broadcasting Companies Inc. )(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... ROSIE O'DONNELL, as moderator of ABCs morning chat show The View, she announced April 25, in New York City. After failing to reach a new deal with the network, the star will depart The View when her contract expires in June. O'Donnell is...

Brian Paddick.(RETIRED)(appointed at Metropolitan Police Office )(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... BRIAN PADDICK, as deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, in London, as reported by The [London] Times April 26. Paddick was the highest-ranking out police officer at Scotland Yard, where he served for over 30 years. As former...

Beau Clarke.(DIED)(ICON Capital Corp.)(Obituary)(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... BEAU CLARKE, chairman and CEO of ICON Capital Corp., an equipment-leasing and finance company, of unknown causes, on April 30, in New York City. He and his former partner, DJ Tony Moran, hosted a popular fundraiser for Dancers Responding to...

Marisa Elana James.(ADMITTED)
June 19, 2007... MARISA ELANA JAMES, as the first openly gay cantorial student to the Jewish Theological Seminary, in New York City, it was announced May 1.

Meet the bloggers: Erin Davies.(THE ADVOCATE REPORT)(www.fagbug.com)(Interview)
June 19, 2007... Age: 29 Location: Albany, N.Y. Blog: www.fagbug.com When launched: April 18, the day I was a victim of a hate crime. Visitors per month: 35,000 Why you started: On the 11th annual National Day of Silence--April 18,...

The LGBT Wikipedians behind the mammoth online encyclopedia.(WIKI WORLD)(lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people)(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... Google "same-sex marriage in Spain," and the first result is an entry from Wikipedia, the online user-generated encyclopedia that comScore, an Internet information tracker, ranks among the most-visited Web sites worldwide. The article on...

May 22-June 19.(THE ADVOCATE CALENDAR)(Calendar)
June 19, 2007... INTERNATIONAL MR. LEATHER, CHICAGO May 24-28 Chi-town hosts this celebration of bovine hides and the men who love them. Maybe it's payback for Mrs. O'Leary's cow? IMRL.com GAY SQUARE DANCING CONVENTION, DENVER May 25-27 See, all those...

Rants & raves.(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... "I, nor my management, have ever had any kind of problem with creating a gay character. To me, acting is about being prepared to play all kinds of roles, and it is an honor and a challenge to portray anything that comes my way." --Actor...

FYI: you're inappropriate.(BUZZ)(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... A New Zealand woman e-mailed her country's largest public company, Telecom, to see if she could get broadband from its Internet provider, Xtra. Instead of faster Internet access, what she got was an automated reply stating that her e-mail was...

Gay, Arab, American: singer-songwriter Dave Hall is proud of his Arab heritage. You know, the tradition that includes inventions like algebra, sherbet--and Kathy Najimy.(FIRST PERSON)
June 19, 2007... Recently a friend and I compared childhoods as we ate in an Arab restaurant. "Dave," she asked, "remember when we were just regular Americans?" I laughed a little at the question but took it seriously, because after entire lives spent as...

Better seen and not heard? High school students across the country are running into the same roadblocks, no matter where their beliefs fall: must they leave their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate?(GENQ)
June 19, 2007... For two months Amy Sorrell's job as an English and journalism teacher at Woodlan High School in Woodburn, Ind., was on the line. She didn't have an affair with a student, nor was she slipping brandy into her coffee. Sorrell, 30, simply OK'd a...

Twin Falls, Montana: Mark and Alex were identical twins who did everything together, including attempting suicide. But when Alex decided to become Clair their whole world splintered. The new documentary Red Without Blue gets it on film.(GENQ)
June 19, 2007... Early in the documentary Red Without Blue, Jenny, the mother of identical twins Mark and Clair, tells the camera, "I don't think of them as my children. They're just young people I know." After decades of shock filmmaking, only honesty like...

GenQ poll.(GENQ)(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... Q: Should free speech include antigay speech? Sign on to The Advocate's Web site before June 12 to cast your vote and leave your comments. Results will appear in the July 17 issue. Powered by Socratic Technologies...

Katherine Heigl.(BGF: BIG GAY FOLLOWING)(Interview)
June 19, 2007... If the Hollywood buzz is sawing right, Katherine Heigl is about to slice off a chunk of movie stardom. This month she's starring in the new Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) comedy, Knocked Up. But the Connecticut-bred charmer cut her way...

The smartest man in the world is gay: Daniel Tammet, a 28-year-old autistic savant from the U.K., is teaching researchers worldwide about the complexity of our brain. But this gay man also has a thing or two to teach us about love.(SCIENCE)(Interview)
June 19, 2007... For months the New York Times best-seller list pegged Daniel Tammet's Born on a Blue Day this way: "a memoir by autistic savant who can perform extraordinary mathematical calculations." It's a correct description, though it misses much of what...

On board the peace train: the national nonprofit group Peace Games teaches students how to stop name-calling and resolve conflicts peacefully--and respect for gays and lesbians is an equal part of the curriculum.(ACTIVISM)
June 19, 2007... "It's comical at first when you see a third-grader yank a ball out of someone's hand and another kid comes along and says, 'Hey, let's de-escalate that,'" says Richard Cardillo, New York regional director of Peace Games. But thanks to his...

World wide pride: tired of the neighborhood block party? Hop a plane to these foreign locales to experience some global gay action.(PRIDE 2007: geo guide to pride)(Calendar)
June 19, 2007... SAO PAULO JUNE 10 www.paradasp.org.br (in Portuguese) It makes sense that Brazil, which brings us Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, would also put on the worlds largest gay party. Sao Paulo's pride parade is one of the biggest in the...

Pride across the U.S.: where to go, whom to see, and what to know for pride this season.(PRIDE 2007: geo guide to pride)(Calendar)
June 19, 2007... BOSTON JUNE 1-10 www.bostonpride.org Entertainers: Billie Myers, Lisa Jackson, Jason and deMarco Grand Marshals: Massachusetts state representative Liz Malia, who all but shakes pompons in support of LGBT rights, helped...

Say it loud: black and proud: for LGBT people of color, there's a whole other party going on.(PRIDE 2007: geo guide to pride)(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... Los Angeles's Black Out! At the Beach is celebrating its 19th anniversary this year, making it one of the longest-running black gay pride events in the nation. While some participants would love a march they'll have to do with 20,000 gorgeous...

Determined to be proud.(PRIDE 2007: geo guide to pride)(Seattle's Out and Proud)(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... In April, Seattle's Out and Proud announced it wouldn't hold its annual gay pride festival this year, so most of the scheduled entertainment was shuffled to other venues. The cancelation elicited a local and national shudder. After all, last...

Putting their best foot forward: led by Starbucks, a group of nearly 20 major corporations aims to turn equality into an industrywide standard.(PRIDE 2007: pride in the workplace)
June 19, 2007... In 2006, for the first time ever, a majority of Fortune 500 companies offered domestic-partner benefits to their employees--and according to the national gay rights group Human Rights Campaign, 86% explicitly included sexual orientation in...

Big (gay) business: for many Fortune 500 companies corporate pride is a year-round enterprise.(PRIDE 2007: pride in the workplace)
June 19, 2007... The Disneyland Main Street fire engine has left the Anaheim, Calif., theme park only twice in the last 50 years--both times to transport LGBT Disney employees in nearby Long Beach's pride parade. This June marks the seventh time that Kaiser...

Photographer of life: as a staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times, Ginny Dixon covered the O.J. Simpson case, the 1992 L.A. riots, and the Northridge earthquake, winning two Pulitzers in the process. Her latest daring project? Portraits that show the beauty of women with disabilities.(PRIDE 2007: adventures in pride)
June 19, 2007... Suddenly on the afternoon of February 8, photographer Ginny Dixon got a call from the Associated Press: The news agency could not get its photographers out of Miami fast enough to cover, a few miles north, Anna Nicole Smith's death in...

Inspired to help: for as long as he can remember, Eddie Marquis wanted to make a difference. So he joined the Peace Corps and stepped back into the closet.(PRIDE 2007: adventures in pride)
June 19, 2007... Other young gay boys dream of growing up to be first mate, firefighter, or Olympic gymnast. Lifelong do-gooder and child of the 1960s Eddie Marquis fantasized about the Peace Corps. "I guess it sounds a little odd," laughs the Boston native,...

Hit squad: on the straight-friendly L.A. Rebellion gay rugby team, men of all sexual stripes come together to butt heads--but in a good way.(PRIDE 2007: adventures in pride)
June 19, 2007... One a recent Tuesday evening at Los Angeles's Poinsettia Park near West Hollywood, about a dozen men a grass field were running head on into a practice tackle, grunting loudly as they shoved the hapless dummy around. It was all just part...

Where's our Sharpton? When gays are insulted in the media, we don't have that one eloquent defender who can mow down our opponents on the national airwaves. Why don't we have a spokesperson of our own?(PRIDE 2007: activism)
June 19, 2007... Don Imus forfeited his job a week after making a breathtaking racial and sexual slur about the female basketball squad at Rutgers. The nation's collective conscience was soothed. Justice had prevailed. Gen. Peter Pace, who called...

T.R. Knight is just a regular guy: shy, disarming, charming to a fault, sharp as a tack, and anything but a victim--emerging from the center of the storm, T.R. Knight lays down his armor.(Interview)(Cover story)
June 19, 2007... "I'm not going to keep my mouth closed anymore," says T.R. Knight. After more than a week of conversations--in person, by phone, by e-mail--that's the defining statement from the actor who's at the center of the storm of controversy that for...

Starting out in Hollywood: Hollywood can be a tough town, but it's not such a bad place to be gay.
June 19, 2007... BILL SHEPARD AGE: 23 OCCUPATION: Assistant to the director of international servicing at PorchLight Entertainment STATUS: Single OUT SINCE: 18 ON BEING OUT IN THE BUSINESS: Shepard moved to Los Angeles the day after graduating from film...

SAAD all over.(COASTAL DISTURBANCES)(Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)
June 19, 2007... I'm still trying to wrap my head around the hard fact that the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation is steadfastly refusing to even consider giving its Media Awards to programming from gay media outlets. Even more distressing than...

Second opinions.(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... "My research suggests that gay gamers don't want games that are made for a 'gay audience.' They simply want to be able to play games that everyone else is playing, but they want to have inclusion; they want the option to have gay characters....

Gear guide to gay pride: stage your own parade with these accessories.(LIFE/STYLE)(Buyers guide)(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... Maybe retirement homes in Florida do have it right, because shorts this summer are all about retro-vacation classics. Modern Amusement even takes on seersucker with its Kennedy Bermuda shorts ($78). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Pack it all...

You say you want a revolution? Music critic Ernest Hardy looks at the world of gay hip-hop and spies a golden moment for mainstream domination.(MUSIC)
June 19, 2007... "If y'all love hip-hop, make some muthafuckin' noise!" barks 27-year-old Shorty Roc (his mama named him Devalle Boone) as he takes the stage at El Cid Mexican restaurant. The L.A. crowd, sparse and tentative, rewards him with a few tepid nods....

Troy Perry's pride: June 1970 saw the nation's first gay pride parades. Metropolitan Community Church founder Troy Perry recalls L.A.'s maiden march.
June 19, 2007... It all started in late May 1970 when Morris Kight called my home and asked me if I'd read The Advocate's article about the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City. He wanted us to meet up with the Reverend Bob Humphries to see if we could find a...

Time capsule 1970.(Chronology)(Brief article)
June 19, 2007... Apollo 13 returns safely back to Earth after six days in space, April 17. The U.S. Army charges 14 officers in the cover-up of the My Lai massacre, March 17. Paul McCartney announces that the Beatles are breaking up, April 10. ...