Sword Says

We’re sorry we missed this in all the pre-Pride madness last week, and we’re willing to give old Al the benefit of the doubt, but it seems Al Sharpton, appearing on Anderson Cooper 360 last week, made a statement about his own liberal religious beliefs that could be interpreted as him trying to out Anderson on the air.  He said, and we quote, “I may have some very conservative personal feelings, but I feel you have the right to live your life differently. I may think that what you do Anderson is gonna put you in Hell, but I’m gonna defend your right to get there.”  Everyone laughed and someone else on the show said something about wanting to keep Anderson from going to hell, but then the gay webs were abuzz! over the incident.  We personally think it was just Al throwing in an extra “Anderson” into a sentence that was making a more rhetorical statement to a general “you,” meaning that he defends the rights of any individual to be a sinner. But sure, you could read it however you like, and Al’s old, and Anderson’s gay, and maybe Al didn’t realize that it’s like this whole open secret thing that Anderson likes dick and he wasn’t supposed to be mentioning it.  Anyway, the full clip, after the jump.

We’ve had our fill of swell and swilling Pride, but for some global gays it’s still about fighting for, like, civil rights! This weekend not only marked the anniversary of Stonewall in the U.S., it marked Queer Pride in India, with a parade in Calcutta and the first celebrations of their kind in Delhi and Bangalore. The freedom to be out in the open about one’s gayness hasn’t really existed in India due to a colonial area penal code known as Section 377 that punishes for sex acts “against the order of nature.” The law has been repealed in other former British colonies and a high court in Delhi is set to hear arguments against the law this week.

Sorry to ruin your Thursday weekend kickoff buzz, but the CDC (via Queerty) reports that across 33 states, new HIV diagnoses rose as high as 15 percent per year between 2001 and 2006 among gay and bi men aged 13 to 24. Despite the lack of clarity surrounding some figures released earlier this year in regard to new diagnoses, these new figures do indicate that a) the Bush Administration’s abstinence-only policy toward sex education is doing a fuck lot of good, especially for Black and Latino teens, and that b) the whole bareback fetish/idiocy is not helping matters either.

Organizers of a Cuban Gay Pride March that was scheduled to happen today in Havana were allegedly arrested and beaten by Cuban police before the march could begin, according to Ambiente Magazine. The march, the first of its kind in Cuba, was planned to begin this morning at 10 AM at Don Quixote park and proceed to the Ministry of Justice, more as a formal protest for mistreatment of sexual minorities under the rule of Fidel Castro than as a celebration. Raul Castro’s daughter, Mariela Castro, has recently been influential in heading the nation’s Center for Sex Education and in leading a public rally against homophobia.

Have you heard of the Gill Action Fund? Neither had we. But this month’s Advocate has a cover story about this semi-secretive, pro-gay political action committee founded by self-made millionaire Tim Gill, creator of Quark design software. The fund is directed by Patrick Guerriero and Bill Smith and seems to be modeled on Newt Gingrich’s GOPAC which was used in the 1994 mid-term elections to win Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Guerriero and Smith both have Republican backgrounds, working with the Log Cabin Republicans and Karl Rove himself, and now they’re using the dirty tactics of the GOP to bring down anti-gay candidates for state offices of both parties.

Don’t go writing us any letters. We have nothing to prove that Kate Moss flies in airplanes or goes through customs with cocaine.  But it does seem highly unfair that U.S. Customs should deny Boy George a visa just as he was attempting to return to the States for an upcoming tour and to give a free concert to the NY Department of Sanitation (with whom he performed his community service for his 2006 bust for cocaine possession). Poor fella! Just as he trying to pull his shit together and writing a cheesy dance ballad in support of Barack Obama!

Wishful thinking on our part, but anyway, we know it’s a huge legal landmark and blah blah. For lack of any other notable news on the gay front, here’s another not-so-breathless gay marriage news roundup from around the blogosphere.

We begin with the announcement that perpetually tedious AfterElton vloggers “Two Gay Guys,” Brent Hartinger and Michael Jensen, are coming to Cali to get married in July. And guess what?! They promise to bring their camcorder! We can’t fucking wait. (Editor’s Note: The Sword exists to offer sweet relief from such mind-melting mediocrity to all those of you with a sense of humor, a penis, and teaspoon of taste. No offense. And what the fuck are they drinking in that video, Midori sours? Christ.)

In honor of Pride week in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette put up this non-story about how country gays still face homophobia and discrimination, but this thing called the Internet has made them feel a little less isolated.  The story focuses on several gays in rural Washington County, Pennsylvania, in particular one Patrick who’s 57 years old, and another Patrick who’s 22.  Both seem to acknowledge that there isn’t much for the gays out where they are, but the younger Patrick seems to believe that his virtual life makes up for his lack of an actual one.

The Kampang School in northeastern Thailand-which according to a recent student survey is home to 200 kids who identify as transvestites, constituting 8% of the student population-is going to provide tranny-specific restrooms for students. The restrooms are technically unisex, but symbols on them show a figure that is half man/half woman are specifically labeled “transvestite toilets.”  The MSNBC story, and possibly the Thai kids themselves, seem to conflate the terms ‘transgender’ and ‘transvestite,’ but it would seem that the culture of Thailand has been pioneering in its recognition of its trans population.

It may not be our cause celebre, but we know big news when we see it-and we love a good media circus! In case you’ve been on a silent meditation retreat for the last month, today’s the day that county clerks across California are issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Last night two elder lesbians were married here, and elder lesbians statewide went to receive licenses in offices open late to mark the official moment the law took effect, at 5PM.  Update: We were out in front of San Francisco City Hall, and there were no Phelpses!

So, the Phelpses are already out in front of City Hall in San Francisco and SFist has already posted an interview (“Tim Russert  promoted the fag agenda…”).  Looks like they’re going to be here tomorrow when the clerk’s office opens at 9AM, and not making it to Contra Costa until later, or perhaps they’re splitting their time, with their poor brainwashed spawn and crazy Shirley in tow and those downright HILARIOUS signs.  We’re looking forward both to greeting them, and to greeting the throngs of gays and lezzies happy to finally be getting legally hitched tomorrow. Look here to The Sword for some live-blogging of events in the streets, photos and some exclusive video footage of the great circus that will be San Francisco City Hall tomorrow.

In the meantime, please appreciate our mixtape.

The New York Times published a piece this weekend about legally married gays in Massachusetts–sort of a follow-on to their magazine piece about young gay marrieds that we mercilessly mocked last month–with the kinda funny title “Gays Find Marriage Is a Mixed Bag.” No shit, huh! We’re not marriage-phobic so much as we are pragmatic about all this breathless brouhaha surrounding the marriage issue: Not everyone’s dying to be married, or dying for gays to fall into all the same boring traps that our hetero counterparts have in re: picket fences, suburban malaise, oppressive monogamy and crying, pooping babies.  The article was, on a whole, a snooze flash (two thirds of those who’ve gotten gay-married in MA are lesbians! Who knew!) but they did cite a few interesting facts.

In a turn of events that will quite possibly ruin a man’s life and encourage suicidal thoughts, a plea deal has been reached in the case of a former Kentucky county chair for the Republican party who was accused by a male colleague of performing oral sex on him, without consent, while he was sleeping. The events took place last July, when after some late-night partying at a friend’s house, a group of people crashed there and a certain twenty-two-year-old man (whose identity has been somewhat protected in the coverage) woke up around 6AM to find Glenn Murphy sucking his dick.  The man shooed him away and left the premises, and later took a tape recorder along to a meeting in which Murphy pleaded with him not to report the incident.