Monthly Archives: August 2009

Open Thread Thursday

Four months ago I asked if you were considering attending the National Equality March. Since then we’ve seen the plans become more concrete, with some significant figures and groups emerging to endorse the event. What’s your plan as of today?

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Ellie Greenwich, 68

Classic girl group songwriter Ellie Greenwich died of a heart attack in Manhattan today at the age of 68. Greenwich and her husband Jeff Barry worked in Time Square’s Brill Building, home to an astounding number of hit songwriters of the era. You’ll know every one of Greenwich’s songs below.

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Dominick Dunne Dead at 83

Noted Vanity Fair writer, TV host, and chronicler of the rich and sleazy, Dominick Dunne, died today of bladder cancer at age 83. Like Truman Capote, another social chronicler, Dunne often bit the well-manicured hands that fed him. A friend of Alfred and Betsy Bloomingdale of the department store fortune, he turned Alfred’s relationship with his mistress, Vicki Morgan, into …

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Gotham Boots Chinatown Buses

Long the salvation of penny-pinching hipsters, NYC’s Chinatown bus lines provide cut-rate (and often, terrifying) service to DC, Philly, and Boston. But Gothamist reports that the city has begun cracking down on unpaid tickets and has towed away many of the buses for non-payment. One company in particular, New Century Travel, takes the cake owing a whopping $136,387.35. Most of …

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FL Adoption Ban Goes To Appeals Court

The Florida Third District Court of Appeals heard arguments today from the ACLU that urged the Court to uphold a lower court’s ruling that a ban on adoption by gay parents was unconstitutional. The attorney representing the state blathered the usual nonsense. Timothy Osterhaus, the deputy solicitor general representing the state Department of Children & Families, urged the judges to …

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80’s Flashback

Man Parrish, Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don’t Stop), 1982. What many consider to be the single most influential hip-hop/electro track ever was created created by an openly gay guy. (I’d also put Soulsonic Force’s Planet Rock and Hashim’s Al-Naafiysh on that short list.) This clip is very, very silly and one might guess shared a make-up artist with the folks …

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Clown Hall: Man In Obama Mask Whips Elderly Outside Howard Dean’s Speech

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Live Nation Promoting Murder Music

Buju Banton, the dancehall/reggae artist whose work has been characterized as “murder music” for lyrics that call for the brutal murders of gay men, is launching a national U.S. tour via American music label and concert promoter Live Nation. A sample of Banton’s lyrics: Anytime Buju Banton comes, faggots get up and run. Boom (gun shot) bye bye (Goodbye, as …

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Ted Kennedy: LGBT Activists React

I’ve reached out to noted LGBT leaders and activists, requesting their reactions to the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy. Below are some of the responses so far, presented in no particular order. Please return to this post later in the day as more messages come in. John Aravosis, activist and AmericaBlog founder: “I pretty much came out, politically, thanks to …

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Kennedy At 2008 DNC Convention

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El Paso Grants Domestic Partners Benefits

Yesterday the El Paso, Texas City Council voted 7-1 to grant health benefits to the partners of the city’s LGBT employees. The vote, which was spurred by bad publicity after a gay couple was kicked out of a local restaurant for kissing, came after weeks of protest and criticism from local religious leaders. A huge crowd attended the City Council …

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Possible 90,000 U.S Swine Flu Deaths Forecast For Coming Season

A new report forecasts that up to 90,000 Americans could die of H1N1 virus during the coming flu season. But keep in mind that 36,000 die of the regular flu every year.

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South Africa: Trial Begins In Murder, Gang-Rape Of Lesbian Soccer Star

The trial of three men accused of the murder and gang-rape of lesbian South African soccer star Eudy Simelane has begun. Eudy Simelane loved football. In other countries the 29-year-old who rose through the ranks to become captain of the women’s national football team would have been feted as a star. In South Africa it cost her her life. The …

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VA: Teabaggers Booted From Howard Dean’s Town Hall Appearance

Rep. Tim Moran (D-VA) booted out protesters who were drowning out DNC Chairman Howard Dean’s speech. Good for him. Anti-abortion nutcase Randall Terry was among those kicked to the curb.

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UK: Gay Youth Get Lottery Windfall

The UK’s Big Lottery Fund has awarded more than $600K to a Bristol-based gay youth charity to fight homophobic bullying. A variety of initiatives are planned for the coming years by Bristol-based Educational Action Challenging Homophobia (EACH) following a cash award of £391,668 from the Big Lottery Fund. “EACH’s lottery win, in the year we celebrate the 20th anniversary of …

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$199,550

That’s the bare bones budget for the National Equality March. No circuit parties. No big name entertainment. No lavish VIP dinners. Just a stage, a sound system, a flotilla of porta-potties, and the labor to install and remove same. Right on. You can help wipe out the cost in advance and let this march, unlike the last one, end with …

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Castro Bar Owner Dies Of Swine Flu

Doug Murphy, 41, the owner of the venerable Castro gay bar Moby Dick, died of the H1N1 (swine flu) virus while visiting Palm Springs on Friday. Last month Murphy and his business partner opened another Castro bar, the Blackbird, to positive reviews.

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Morning View – Red Hook Street Meat

Famed as some of the best Latin food in NYC, a fleet of food trucks line one side of Red Hook Park in Brooklyn, where each vendor flies the flag of a different Central American country. So far, I can only vouch for the pictured Salvadoran truck, where whatever is in a #9 was very, very, very good. Sadly, I’ve …

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Sen. Ted Kennedy Dead At 77

Ted Kennedy, friend and hero to LGBT folks, people with HIV/AIDS, minorities, the disabled, liberals, and progressives over his decades in the U.S. Senate, succumbed to brain cancer late Tuesday night at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. This is a tremendous loss for the nation, losing what many Americans, including myself, consider to have been the greatest elected official …

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GOP Eating Their Own

Today when Sen. John McCain cautioned the crowd at his town hall meeting to be respectful of the president, saying that he believes Obama respects the Constitution, McCain’s audience booed him. In the second clip, the crowd gives a standing ovation to a woman who demands that illegal immigrants not receive any health care.

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