Lt. Choi - Media Magnet
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that “the Obama administration must stop enforcing the ban that prevents gay men and women from serving openly in the U.S. military.” Is this the end of DADT? Read the Reuters story here. Poster-vet Lt. Choi, pictured here, was among 13,000 members of the military discharged under the ban.
Mumbai Gay Rights Parade - Photograph: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images
We hear this over and over and over again from our gay friends in and from countries and regions that were once under colonial occupation. Homosexuality is cast as a disease brought in by European conquerers, foisted upon an unsuspecting population that had never know of such evils before. Sort of like smallpox-infected blankets.
As a Ugandan pal (not named here – for his protection) pointed out, in the case of sub-Saharan Africa, this nefarious discourse has the effect of making being gay not only a crime, not only a sin, but worse, a sort of Pan-African treason, a wholesale capitulation to the white man and his evil ways. In Uganda, the Anglican Church (which IS a Western import!) is the main vehicle for this evil propaganda.
This thinking is in full effect in India, too. Ghulam Nabi Azad, India’s minister of Health, addressed a conference on HIV/AIDS in New Delhi on Monday, saying: “Unfortunately this disease has come to our country too … where a man has sex with another man, which is completely unnatural and should not happen but does.” For the article published by The Guardian UK, click here.
It is the middle of the SF LGBT Film Festival, high holy days are underway in the City by the Bay, Pride is coming, and outside the festival’s host venues, gay film buffs are rubbing their bleary eyes after marathon sessions in the dark. The cinematic apparatus, not that other dark! There is something for everyone at this annual festival, now in its 35th year. The shorts programs are some of the best, and for those with short attention spans, are just the ticket. One film is not doing it for you? Wait 5 minutes. The next one could be all that.
“All that glitters is indeed gold in this wonderful collection of shorts featuring several gems from our very own Bay Area filmmakers… Take a look at disgusting alien bodies and eavesdrop on the deaf relay system. Follow a camera off a bridge in a memorial for lives lost. A dispute on the high seas can only be settled by a dance off (of course), and we’ll see just how campy an AIDS camp can be. Rounding out the program is a silent comedy set to Tchaikovsky and starring Peggy the Peg-leg Ballerina.” via festival director Jennifer Morris
“Glitter Emergency” shows at the Victoria Theatre, 9:30 pm on Tuesday, June 21st, 2011. The Victoria is located at 2961 16th Street in the Mission district. Built in 1908 as a Vaudeville House, it is the oldest operating theatre in San Francisco.
Posted in Activism, AIDS, DIY and Maker Culture, Film, History, San Francisco, Subcultures, Video
Tagged Art, Culture, Experimental, Film, Frameline, Gay, Glitter Emergency, LGBT, Mission district, Music, Queer, San Francisco, SF LGBT Film Festival, Shorts, Victoria Theatre, Video
Eric Robinson and "Leathermen" at Las Manos Gallery in Chicago
Eric Robinson’s wet-plate ambrotypes will be showing as part of QIY: Queer It Yourself, which opens Saturday at SOMArts. The exhibit presents alternative, queer, do-it-yourself processes and projects, collaborations, zines, posters, green architecture, activist interventions and recuperations of low-tech media. Robinson took his 19th century kit (big awkard camera, portable darkroom, an array of chemicals, beakers and trays…) to the Dore “Up Your Alley” Fair in 2010, supplementing a series of portraits of Leathermen that he began the previous year. Images from that series will be on exhibit. More on Robinson here, here, here and here.
Robinson at work making wet-plate ambrotypes. These one-of-a-kind photographs on glass were common during the mid 19th century. As it disappears into the digital realm, this work reminds us of the physical, chemical and optical origins of photography. At the same time, generic conventions suggest that “fetish” photography should be slick and polished, suitable for publication in magazines, and “straight” in the photographic sense. These images kick that cliche, their hand-hewn aesthetic underscoring the sense that we are looking into not only the history of photography, but that of Leather. Old Guard all around…QIY is part of the National Queer Arts Festival. This year’s theme is A Sustainable Queer Planet. More on the festival here and more soon. QIY opens Saturday, June 4th with a reception from 1pm until 4pm. SOMArts is located at 934 Brannan at 8th St. in San Francisco. The gallery is tucked under the freeway, just to the east of the Trader Joe’s complex.
Posted in Art and Artists, Beards, Collecting, DIY and Maker Culture, Eric Robinson, Facial hair, Leather, Men, Photography, San Francisco, Southern Illinois, Subcultures
Tagged 19th century, Ambrotype, Art, BDSM, Culture, Dore Alley, Eric Robinson, Gay, Kink, Leather, Leathermen, LGBT, Old Guard, Photography, QIY, Queer Arts Festival, Queer It Yourself, San Francisco, Sexy, SOMA, Somarts, Up Your Alley Fair
The World Champion San Francisco Giants have made an “It Gets Better” video. For more videos and more information on the project, founded by columnist Dan Savage to give gay kids a vision of life beyond high school, visit the website here. For more Giant charitable work, click here. If you’ve ever wondered about Brian Wilson’s edgy style, here. For sadly broken Buster, here, and for Timmy the Kid, here.
Philip Huang performs June 9 & 10 at Eros
We have made it this far. What next? How can we keep what we have created and protect it for the generations coming up? The theme of this year’s National Queer Arts Festival is A Sustainable Queer Planet. Presented by The Queer Cultural Center, the festival includes 22 venues and runs for a month. An array of performers, poets, writers, visual artists, musicians, comedians and dancers work through diverse notions of sustainability. Organizations, collaborations, friendships, political movements, publications, networks, connectivity, intentional communities, Queer families, and various ecological and economic interventions are all well represented in this month-long festival. High Holy Homo Days are upon us!
Watch this space for notices and commentaries on select individual programs. Philip Huang, pictured above, performs in Formerly Known As: Performances by Male and Trans Sex Workers. This two-day program, hosted by Kirk Read, takes place at The Center for Sex and Culture, and features a different line-up each night. It includes writers, performance artists, comedians and a slideshow of visual work. For a complete listing of festival offerings, visit The Queer Cultural Center’s site here.
Posted in Activism, Art and Artists, DIY and Maker Culture, Film, Gardening, Internet, Music, San Francisco, Street Art, Grafitti, etc., Subcultures, Video
Tagged A Sustainable Queer Planet, Art, Culture, Ecology, Festival, Gay, Hustler, Kirk Read, LGBT, Music, Philip Huang, Photography, QCC, QIY, Queer, Queer Cultural Center, Queer It Yourself, Rentboy, San Francisco, Satire, Sex Worker, Sexy, Sustainability, Video
According to an SF Weekly article: “the team will make an iconic ‘It Gets Better’ video to encourage LGBT youth across the nation. The Giants will be the first professional sports team to join the spirited campaign aimed at curbing LGBT bullying and teen suicides.” Good for the Giants! Way to set the bar, boys. For more about the ‘It Gets Better’ anti-bullying media campaign, click here. For a bizarre promo for the Giants May 25th “Dynamite: A Fundraiser for Keenan Cahill” click here. For Brian “The Beard” Wilson at home with his Leathery pal “The Machine” here. And for the real action – ATT Park!
Posted in Activism, Baseball, San Francisco, Video
Tagged Activism, Bullies, Culture, Gay, It Gets Better, Keenan Cahill, LGBT, Media, Queer, San Francisco, SF Giants, Video
What else do we do in Leather bars other than wear leather, socialize and drink? We make out, grope, slap face and ass, suck cock, drink piss, eat cigar ashes, trade gut punches, whip and get whipped, talk trash, fuck in corners, lick boots, tap sacs, work on nips, use the slaves, and so forth. In short, we have Leathersex, or at the very least our rough version of foreplay.
In the tradition of Queer Nation Kiss Ins and the club activist Guerrilla Gay Bar scene, the San Francisco-based ad hoc Save the Eagle gang is organizing a takeover of the straight Mission district hipster bar The Skylark. Its owner is purportedly involved with underhanded machinations to acquire the lease and license on the Eagle space – and turn it into a straight bar. See more here and here.
So tonight, the Skylark goes “Leather” for the night. Well, sort of. The idea is to wear Leather, use pink highlighters to encode paper money as “gay” and spend money at the bar. If everyone “respects the space that we are borrowing tonight” as the organizers suggest, then everyone may mix just fine. This begs the question: why even have our own spaces? WE know why. But – how do we show them why…while still respecting their space? That’s a hard one!
From organizers Kyle DeVries and Anna Glendon Conda Hyde: “Tonight at 8 dress in leather and head to the Skylark bar on 16th. Mark your money with a pink pen or marker so that it is seen as coming from our community. This is not about harming the Skylark but rather showing what would be lost if the Eagle went away and showing how queer space is not always the same as “just any bar”. We as a community should be vocal and visible while respecting the space that we are borrowing tonight.
So far the Skylark has not signed a lease due to public pressure. We are the first step closer to saving the Eagle. The Board of Supervisors issued a Commendation Certificate in recognition of the Eagles efforts in raising over 3 million dollars during its 30 year run for the queer community and are working to have the space land marked. They are also hoping to work with the concerned parties to negotiate a way to keep the Eagle as a space for our community.
Thanks for showing up and especially to the 15 people who stayed till 730 to make public comment at the Board of Supervisors meeting after 6 hours of waiting.
The people united can not be divided. Deep respect Anna and Kyle”
Posted in History, Leather, San Francisco, Subcultures
Tagged Activist, Bar, BDSM, Culture, Direct Action, Gay, History, Kink, Leather, LGBT, Mission district, San Francisco, Save the Eagle, SF Eagle, Skylark, SOMA
Last year, Chile. Last month, New Zealand. Last week, Japan and now its aftermath, ongoing. What next? Who knows. What now? Do what we each can. In that spirit, a loose group of kinky artists in San Francisco are presenting Shibari Relief: “We know what it’s like to live on a fault line.”
From their website: “Mark I Chester and Patti Beadles are organizing Shibari Relief. There will be a silent auction/sale and raffle of BDSM art, sexual art and other related items. There is no door fee, but a suggested $20+ donation can be given at the door. No one will be turned away for lack of funds. 100% of the proceeds will go to the American Red Cross earmarked for disaster relief in Japan.
As a special added bonus, anyone making a donation at the door will get a ticket to get two free digital pix taken by San Francisco gay radical sex photographer, Mark I Chester at his studio at 1229 Folsom St., just 1/2 block from Wicked Grounds, from 3-5pm during the fundraiser.”
Shibari Relief takes place in San Francisco at the kink-oriented Wicked Grounds Cafe at 289 8th St. on Sunday, March 27, 2011 from 2 – 5 pm.This is an all orientations and genders event. Artists who may be of particular interest to readers of this site include Mark I. Chester, Charles Gatewood and Michael Rosen.
Artists interested in contributing to the relief effort can contact Mark I. Chester through his website.
Posted in Collecting, Japan, Leather, San Francisco
Tagged Art, BDSM, Culture, Earthquake, Fundraiser, Gay, Kink, Leather, LGBT, Mark I. Chester, Photography, San Francisco, Sexy, Shibari Relief, Tsunami, Wicked Grounds
The Gay Highwaymen 