Liberal Serving

Heterosexual Sex

About a million years ago I made a terrible documentary video about a drag queen-Orgasmatron-who was a lot more interested in performing than passing. So I'm not surprised to find him on the youtube and the myspace - still performing all this time later. Kendall Kelly's a sweet guy, so it's great to see him finding all kinds of success out there. If you like "Heterosexual Sex" (the song, not the...ick...), check out Hip Hop Dykes. Best song title ever. Good Luck Kendall!

Extra Homo Tax Bitching.

The LA times has a calm and detailed piece on the expletive deleted domestic partner benefits "screw you" tax today:

What's more, the premiums paid by the company are added to the employee's gross wages as taxable income, so the employee must pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on the phantom wages.

That latter payment is particularly disturbing to Pizer, who notes that if she dies, her partner would not be eligible for Social Security survivor benefits.

Domestic partner benefits can easily add $1,000 or more to the tax bill of an employee who signs up for the coverage, said Bill Massey, an editor at RIA, a New York-based provider of information and technology for tax professionals.

For example, if the additional coverage costs the company $300 a month and the employee has taxable income of $50,000, the employee would pay more than $1,500 in additional federal, California and Social Security taxes.

It's great to see so many companies recognizing gay relationships - even if their motive is a selfish PR grab or even just keeping up with the joneses they are doing the right thing. But taxing those benefits is such a slap in the face. It's a symbolic smudge on the respect extended by those benefits and it cuts into the actual "benefit" to the employee, which is the point, isn't it? Info on a bill to kill the tax on HRC's site.

Mom & Dad Are Off the Hook: My Birth Order Made Me Gay

The origin of my sexuality has never really kept me up at night, but I think it bothered the parents quite a bit when I came out. Great news folks: a recent study written up in the LA Times says it's not your "fault" [sic] after all:

Having one or more older brothers boosts the likelihood of a boy growing up to be gay — an effect due not to social factors, but biological events that occur in their mother's womb, according to a study published today.

In an analysis of 905 men and their siblings, Canadian psychologist Anthony Bogaert found no evidence that social interactions among family members played a role in determining whether a man was gay or straight.

The only significant factor was the number of times a mother had previously given birth to boys, according to the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The so-called fraternal birth order effect is small: Each older brother increases the chances by 33%. Assuming the base rate of homosexuality among men is 2%, it would take 11 older brothers to give the next son about a 50-50 chance of being gay.

I have three older brothers, but I'm bad at math, so that leaves me at about an "eh, probably gayer than the rest" chance of gayness, but at least I fit the model.  

Kevin Aviance @ Pride

Here's Kevin Aviance looking healthy (and sparkely) at pride this past weekend. Best of health to him after his recent attack. Photo from Towleroad.

Happy Double Father's Day to all the Gay Daddies

P6170002, originally uploaded by TerranceDC.

 

Gay Pride Commodified

London Soho Gay Pride Summer 2005, originally uploaded by Su-May Plays With Us.

From a spontaneous riot of trans women and other sundry queers who were fed up with police harassment evolves this - a corporate branding opportunity? Certainly a url painted on a model's chest is not what Silvia Rivera had in mind when she snapped that day a lifetime ago and stood up for herself.

I should pause. Surely Sylvia - and all the other massively oppressed queers that don't enjoy the assimilated (in a good way) lifestyle we do today - would be dumbstruck to see corporations embracing queer culture. I know targeting marketing has done a lot to raise our visibility - it got Will & Grace on TV - but right this minute it just doesn't sit right.

How can they crap all over us in legal discrimination after constitutional amendment but throw products and advertising at us like we're Jane Q American? The cognitive dissonance is giving me vertigo - it just doesn't feel respectful to the history of gay pride. I want to reread my copy of Martin Duberman's Stonewall and research adoption with my partner. I want to use my domestic partner registration for more than just extending my benefits to him. I want to feel my anger at every anti marriage article I read and every roadblock I stumble on in my life and my relationship.

Ok, so I'm angry. Better yet, I'd like to figure out a way to pound some anger into all the numb hedonists at "pride" parties across the country. Sure that dancing is a part of what was fought for - but it wasn't the end goal. Now that we're an out and visible community we have so much more power and influence than they did 37 years ago. This pride, won't you join me in being angry for what we're denied? Just to one person who questions the right to marriage - or is blissfully ignorant of the limited adoption rights - or doesn't know that we pay taxes on domestic partner benefits. Don't be rude, but show your anger.

 

Famous Drag Artist Kevin Aviance Queer-Bashed. Attackers Behind Bars

Gregory Archie, Akino George, Jarell Sears and an unidentified 16 year-old are in custody for first-degree assault-as-a-hate crime charges after beating famed signer and drag artist Kevin Aviance this weekend:

Aviance was walking home about 1 a.m. Saturday after leaving a bar on East 13th Street when he was attacked. In an interview in his hospital room yesterday, Mr. Aviance, who has recorded several chart-topping hits, said he might have been attacked by only four people.

If you don't know NYC well, East 13th street is an extremely safe, queer-friendly area. Aviance was not in drag at the time (the Times took pains to describe his plain, non-homosexual clothing) so the photos above might be a bit misleading (however fabulous they are - I'm not about to post the photo of Aviance in a hospital bed looking fucked up). Every queerbashing is shocking - Dwan Prince struck particularly close to home for me - but bashings in queer friendly neighborhoods is hard to believe.

It's a sick sad world - even here in NYC. Photo via queenmothertv.

The Weekly Twisty Quote I Fawn Over: "Is ‘porn fantasy cliché’ the new ‘unique’?"

It's getting to be like clockwork, this star-struck fawning I do every week or so in regards to a particularly quality serving of blame on I Blame the Patriarchy. Today it's spot-on mockery of the new dyke batwoman (supposedly lipstick lesbian, but as the title of this post quotes, the reality is hardly the "diverse" image of sexual identity that Marvel purports to be selling). You'll have to click over to see the pic - and as always, you'll need to read the post in it's entirety (if you haven't already). A tease:

Batwoman is clearly just one of those straight chicks who gets drunk at parties and wants to make out with the real dykes. Which only enhances her whack-off appeal, I suppose, since cultivating an addiction to looking at pictures of hot straight women pretending to get it on is a man-law. Pardon my French.

The Littlest Trans Girl: "There's no book called How to Raise Your Gender Variant Preschooler"

Ohio is like the movies... in a bad way:

Nine years ago, a Belgian film, Ma Vie en Rose, explored the most common reaction to a young boy's decision to live as a girl. In other words, the parents panicked. So did the rest of the neighborhood, who shunned and ridiculed the boy's family until they felt compelled to move away. In real life, meanwhile, another famous case in 2000 ended even worse. When Zachary Lipscomb's parents attempted to enroll him as a girl named Aurora in an Ohio school at age six, a state child protection agency took the child away.

Best article ever in the Village Voice about a trans preschooler - yeah they throw in the expected transphobic voice for "balance," but it's a great read - and lovely to read about what have to be among the most supportive parents ever. (the photo at right is of "Nicole" in what I'm guessing are the Little Mermaid flip flops!).

"Dear Jay Leno...fags...I think you can do better"

I don't know, but the internets claim this is indeed real:

From: "Jeff Whitty"
Date: April 21, 2006
To: (Tonight Show email address)
Subject: For Mr. Leno

Dear Mr. Leno,
My name is Jeff Whitty. I live in New York City. I'm a playwright and the author of "Avenue Q", which is a musical currently running on Broadway.

I've been watching your show a bit, and I'd like to make an observation:

When you think of gay people, it's funny. They're funny folks. They wear leather. They like Judy Garland. They like disco music. They're sort of like Stepin Fetchit as channeled by Richard Simmons.

Gay people, to you, are great material.