Mug Shot Monday

How horrible of a person must you be to have won the genetic and privilege lottery like this guy did and still choose to THROW IT ALL AWAY?

White With Rage

Gee. I wonder why the editor in chief of Esquire has been having to defend this since it came out!

Mug Shot Monday

He's pretty cute -- just hope you don't mind him cheating on you WITH  PONIES.

Page 1 Roundup (03/11)

The Daily News: Parkland fights guns as country focuses on porn stars

As if Fox News host Jesse Watters couldn't be any more of an embarrassment

New York Post: Top mortician school embroiled in widespread cheating scandal

Scott Baio’s wife reveals brain disease diagnosis

Page Six: Bill Cosby paid Andrea Constand $3.5M in 2006 settlement

The Sun: Sharon Stone celebrates 60 in a bikini with PDA-loving boytoy

The New York Times: I'm not sure if these 25 songs tell us where 'music is going' or not -- but I like that the best track from Tracey Thorn's new album is included

The Washington Post: After once predicting quick end to Mueller probe, White House now looking to expand legal team

Mueller obtains personal letter from Trump to Putin

The Wall Street Journal: Can’t stop, won’t stop: eating a whole pint of ice cream at once is OK now

White With 'Rage'

Not sure what's more disgusting: how the cops -- who seem to shoot people of color with impunity -- bent over backward to be kind to this entitled brat , or that she in turn cried sexual assault and police brutality. 

It's almost as if this old Eddie Murphy sketch from "Saturday Night Live" were a documentary. 

Rage Against the Gay Machine

Photo from HERE.

After publicly criticizing some of my peers for being so dismissive of LGBTQ people of color's desire to add brown and black stripes to the Pride flag, I've been making an extra effort to listen -- as I suggested others do -- to what concerns are being raised.

But after reading a handful of essays and countless social-media exchanges -- all of which sounded something like the one below -- I finally felt the need to weigh in.

MR wrote on a friend's Facebook page:

I'm not saying I 100% agree with Getequal and nojustice no pride [which has protested Gay Pride parades around the country] but I would like to point out it was born in some ways out of response to a lack of an inclusive movement. That if we had truly built a big tent focused on ending oppression for everyone or at least limiting the harms we might not be in this situation. Yes we've come a long way and had some major gains but those gains haven't been equal. And both groups need to own their part. The young ppl we need to know the history and appreciate some of the sacrifice that was made. But the under older crowd needs to acknowledge who they left behind on the margins in their march toward equality. That wasn't truly equal. It's going to take an intergenerational response to really move the needle. 

To which I replied:

I am very open to what you and others have to say about lack of inclusiveness (and inequality) within the LGBTQ community. So far, though, I have heard little in the way of evidence or examples of what you mean save for some overheard racist comments from a bartender that have little to do with the real issues here. 

The gains the "older generation" fought and died for are in fact extraordinarily inclusive as they apply to ALL of us -- marriage equality; hate-crimes legislation; the right to serve openly in the military; greater visibility in the media; workplace and housing protections, legal-document equality and Medicaid coverage for trans people (where we've been successful), as well as the cocktail to stop HIV from killing people in no time at all, just to name a few. (Not to mention the life-altering drug PrEP, which allows people to have sex without the constant fear of death, something every gay of a certain age never experienced during his 20s, 30s and 40s. Many still can't even today because of PTSD.) 

Where inequality and discrimination still exists -- and there's no shortage of it -- is overwhelmingly a societal issue that continues to see a gross disparity in wages, quality of education, access to health care and housing, police treatment as well as voter disenfranchisement. But very little of this is the LGBTQ community working against its own, brown or otherwise. We do not hold the levers of power to inflict this pain on anyone -- nor would we want to -- much less on members of our own tribe. 

It almost feels like these new activists are angry for the right reasons. (I'm pissed, too.) But they have chosen to attack so-called establishment gays -- who are so "privileged" to have come out at a time when it frequently cost us our family or livelihood, as well as giving us the "honor" to watch thousands of our best friends and lovers be wiped out by the plague (if we were so "lucky" to have survived) -- because we are low-hanging fruit that can be easily attacked and are more likely to be receptive to criticism, even if it's not entirely warranted. (For example, use your critical-thinking skills for a minute to try to figure out why having the police and corporations want to be part of Pride celebrations is a GOOD thing. A little hint: they used to shun us or physically assault us, and now they're courting us and giving their employees/officers LGBTQ sensitivity training. This is called progress, not a reason to protest OUR OWN parades.) 

None of this is to dismiss out of hand legitimate concerns that I am sure exist and would love to learn more about. But I think this new breed would be better served by fighting back against voter-suppression efforts, income inequality (corporations have been logging record profits since the Great Recession yet wages for the 99% have remained completely stagnant), police brutality and serious attempts to further cut access to health care instead of trying to pick a fight with those of us who have spent a lifetime trying to lift everyone up.

MR responded to me:

I mean let's look at the HIV the movement in general. The fact that black gay men have always been one of the most at risk and most hardest hit piece of unequal access to medications to insurance to access to basic services is a prime example. The money has never gotten too these men. Yet we try to claim progress in mass. And the fact that the most deaths in the trans community happen to trans ppl of color. The list goes on. It's hard to say we are building an inclusive movement when the outcomes are not equal across the board. If we truly care about moving a more progressive agenda for it then we have to realize that our community the LGBT population across all racial groups and ethnic minorities which means we have to care about the issues and treatment of other people. Justice can't be just us. And one more time I will say that I don't necessarily think what they're doing is the right strategy but I do think it calls into question some problems that do exist. It doesn't snow good to imagine a world that's better when it is only better for a select few in those select you end up being white. Have a really created better or we just the same representation of the problematic system that put us here in the first place

Me:

Horrifying statistics. But again, these are societal issues, not ones unique to or being perpetrated by the LGBTQ community. 

Read HERE.

Read HERE.

So much of the rhetoric I'm hearing from queer Gen Y activists -- of all backgrounds -- sounds hauntingly familiar to the 2016 presidential campaign, when so many wouldn't take yes for an answer. Now might be the right moment for some of you -- and some of you geezers, too -- to take responsibility for your decision to hand the White House to Donald Trump when you knew perfectly well that the Democratic nominee was committed to expanding access to health care -- that includes HIV medications and coverage for queer people of color -- and to appointing judges who would lock in President Obama's LGBTQ legacy because you were so busy feeling self-righteous, railing against her for giving speeches to Goldman Sachs (with the money often going to charity!) and having once sat on the board at Wal-Mart, the backstory of which you probably know nothing.

To reiterate what I said about the flag: If queer POC think there's a problem, then I accept that. Period. And if changing the flag in Philadelphia will help make people there feel more included -- and help start a dialogue -- I'm for that. I'm truly heartened that so many young people are angry. But ACT UP didn't accomplish what it did by being angry and sloppy. (The phrase "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" frequently comes to mind when I hear budding activists illogically blurt out "transwomen of color" and "white privilege" any time they're challenged with facts or asked to elaborate.) It's high time for all of us to be angry -- but let's be angry at the right people for the right reasons.

UPDATE: A Facebook friend addressed something I was hesitant to include, but I think is at play for some here:

Regarding no-fems, no-Asians[/blacks] profiles on hookup apps… it's stupid and immature. But it's also way past time that we tell people who they should or shouldn't be sexually attracted to. We aren't talking about housing or jobs. There is no "right" to have EVERYONE willing to hook up with you.

I agree, but I can also see why this kind of racist language would create a hostile environment for the people being singled out. I'm writing to the owners of the various hookup/dating apps to call on them to ban this type of behavior, if they haven't already. Now if only we could create a less hostile environment for non-hung, non-ripped, non-masc guys ...

Mug Shot Thursday

Wow. This one takes white privilege to the next level.

Mug Shot Tuesday

Shocker -- when you look like this and were a star athlete, you can get bail ... even if you're accused of first-degree murder, aggravated stalking, tampering with evidence and employing a firearm during a dangerous felony.

The Daily News reports:

The former Maryville college football player who allegedly stalked then murdered a teenage Central High cheerleader has been released from jail on $1 million bond.

William Riley Gaul, 18, was discharged from the Knox County Detention Facility Monday after posting the bail, according to the Know County Sheriff’s Office.

Gaul was arrested on Nov. 22, a day after police allege he stole his grandfather’s gun to shoot and kill his ex-girflriend Emma Walker, 16, while she was asleep in her bedroom.

“She had chosen to move on. He refused to accept it. He chose not to accept her wishes.” 

The suspect was indicted on several charges last week, including first-degree murder, aggravated stalking, tampering with evidence and employing a firearm during a dangerous felony. Gaul has not entered a plea to his charges.

The girl's poor family. How soon before the hot cannibal walks away scot-free?