Interlude

Just recovering from a busy and amazing weekend featuring a visit from those San Fran best friends, showing them the best we have to offer and educating them about the rest. Obviously it was exhausting.

I wanted to take a moment to point out that if you have been as worked up as I have about the trouble the automotive industry has been having getting 1/70 the assistance Wall Street is getting no-questions-asked, then you should read what Sweet Juniper has to say. Some really great perspective, first here, then even better here.

And while I'm prepping for Doggy Style at the Park Bar tonight, you can get a perspective other than my own unbiased one from D-Tales. And I have no idea whom she is talking about in that post, I swear.
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OutWeek

As we continue our celebration of Gay Outrage Month, I thought it would be nice to take a look back at some of the other gay outrage we have enjoyed over the years.

Let's go back in time to Gay New York, late 1980's. The AIDS crisis is reaching its pinnacle. ACT UP and Queer Nation have both come on the scene. One member of ACT UP decides that the "mainstream" (well, as mainstream as it was) gay press was not representing this new, more radical approach to activism. He teams up with a guy who wants to advertise his gay phone sex businesses and voila, OutWeek was formed.

Started on the 20th anniversary of Stonewall. Are you almost ready for Stonewall 40?

OutWeek only published for two years but it was incredibly influential. It is most famous for starting the "outing" movement, which began in Michelangelo Signorile's "Gossip Watch" column, but it also routinely broke major news stories. It really achieved national notoriety when it outed Malcolm Forbes in a cover story just after his death.

No context was given for this list, but everyone knew what they were talking about. They may have
been somewhat indiscriminate in casting their net, but they called some of those pretty early.

We will out you after you die, if not before.

OutWeek only lasted two years, but it changed gay journalism. After its publication the Advocate officially became a magazine for lesbians and gay men, for example. And gay activism, which previously could have a hard time getting media coverage, gained a permanent place in the public image of the gay community.

Because Jesus loves us, the entire run of OutWeek magazine is available online in PDF format. Take a look through them - they are ALL great reading! And a little bit of a cultural time capsule too, as you can see in these ads.

One upon a time most gays met in person, but even back then you could
still dial up on your 2400 baud modem and chat on the BBS!
It turns out it really was the new frontier in gay communications. Who knew?

There's always room for the fabulous in gay journalism. Then? A fabulous store.
Now? We know her better as the woman who created the looks on Sex and the City.

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Gay Day at Detroitist

The Detroitist blog has your round-up of gay activities for today. Well, in addition to what I'm posting next.

Don't ask, don't smell.

Take your mind off all the "Detroit on the precipice" anxiety with a workday full of serious-minded gay diversions. It will benefit you more in the long run!

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More Lafayette Parkness

As if being home to three of Detroit's top blogs (formerly four, detroitist is a quitter) weren't enough, Lafayette Park also enjoys a significant love from the print media. A great piece in Detroit Home last year featured a young family (who could that be?) and the Wall Street Journal did a great piece in their "Masterpiece" column last December.

The latest is a cover story in this month's Dwell magazine, featuring Friends of Supergay Keira Alexandra and Toby Barlow and their fab townhouse!


Actually Toby blogs for the Huffington Post, so I guess that makes LP home to four top bloggers. Maybe there are more I don't even know about - fess up!

Anyway - long story short, love LP. Sometimes I feel like living here is the happiest thing about my life in Detroit.
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The Return of Doggy Style

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Oh you.

It'll be so nice to see you again. I just know you'll look great.

I've missed you.

Besos,

SG

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Mr. T Supports Gay Marriage

Sweet Juniper, another blog that originates from the amazing and wondrous neighborhood of Lafayette Park, is super excellent. I've actually been meaning to post about it for a while but I wanted to do it in a thoughtful and caring way, certainly moreso than my brief encounter last November, and I've been so busy feeling political and ramping up Doggy Style I just plum forgot.

Well now I've got a way to introduce you without all the rigamarole. Sweet Juniper is a blog written by a straight couple raising two young kids in Detroit. It's smart and arty and really popular all around the country and, in fact, the entire world. I'm assuming.

As part of a continuing series, "Dutch" took an old Mr. T coloring book and by only changing the captions, turned it into an affirmation of the power of love, no matter what genders are involved. It is so funny you will LOL, and I am not kidding! Click here (or on the image) to see the blog post, which includes a link to the PDF of the entire coloring book.

"I pity the fool who doesn't support marriage equality!"

Too bad we didn't have this in Cali before the election, it might have changed the outcome!
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Gays Right Now!

Leave it to Californians to decide we need to have nation-wide protests about gay marriage in November!

Despite sub-40-degree weather and near-freezing rain, there was a reasonably good turnout for the National Protest Against Prop 8 down at the CAY. I'm no crowd guesstimator, but I'd say there were probably 100+ people there, bundled up, intermittently chanting and listening to rally speakers.

Only a handful of us get that pleasure.

I didn't get signed release forms, so let's just say it
really was Paul Lynde and Rock Hudson, ok?

It was a good mix of people, a good showing by both gays and lesbians, and lots of supportive straight friends. For quite a few people I talked to it was their first protest ever, which was great to hear!

It seems like we may have had a little jump-start in the gay rights movement with this Prop 8 thingie. While our turnout wasn't huge (although I think not too bad given the weather, plus the amount of "activism doesn't go with this outfit" in this region), I heard from friends in NYC, Chicago and SF that protests were off-the-hook and incredibly life-affirming there.

*sigh* I guess for our metro area's size we should have been able to do better. I mean, *I* wanted life-affirming! If we had a REAL gay hub we'd be able to rally more people to action, but we don't so I'll shut up about that for now.

I am glad we had this, at the very least for the purposes of raising gay visibility in the area. Tonight I can fall asleep thinking that there might be a chance for the gay community here.
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Think Globally, Act Up Locally

This whole California Prop 8 protest thing has been rattling around in my head for the last few days. On the one hand, what I said the other day. But on the other hand, aren't we all in this together?

As a perk of this blogging gig, I was invited to go to the preview of the new movie Milk last night. I am not allowed to review it until it comes out in two weeks, but I am going to say that watching the events of Harvey Milk's life reminded me why action is important today.

Didn't see these until the way out, but how VIP!

In the 1970's, every gay victory around the country was celebrated all around the country, and every gay defeat was a call to arms for every gay person everywhere. Each victory by Anita Bryant and her posse in Florida and other states spurred gays in the Castro to march in protest. And they fought hard, and they mobilized the everyday gay to get out and express his or her outrage. And their successes made the complacency of today possible.

Proposition 8 banning gay marriage in CA should never have passed, and I think everyone on our side thought it wouldn't. The loss was a huge wake-up call to gay and straight people alike who honestly thought we were on our way to a more progressive, inclusive America this election. The amount of outrage we have seen emerge about this says to me that gay people are finally realizing we need to assert ourselves if we want real equality under law.

Now let me be clear: I can barely get a gay date, so you can be sure as hell I have no personal interest in gay marriage. And I think Keith Olbermann is a FREAK for his whole "this is about love" commentary on MSNBC. This is about fairness. Commitment ceremonies are about love.

I will tell you this much though, I am fucking tired and a half with gay people being viewed as somehow less than fully human, and that needs to stop. It's bad enough I have to deal with all the self-loathing quasi-closet cases around town. I don't need my government overtaxing and underrepresenting us too.

I didn't live through the gay rights protests of the 70's, but I did watch the protests of Queer Nation in Boston and participated in ACT UP demonstrations in Washington, DC. I was in the March on Washington in 1993 and went to the biggest showing of the AIDS Quilt on the Washington Mall. I wasn't hardcore, but I was paying attention. But then - like everyone else - I stopped pushing.

Now we have another reason to push ... or rather push back. This weekend we can be part of a demonstration that lets people everywhere know it's really time to grow up about this. And we can be part of a demonstration that gives us a sense of solidarity and a stronger sense of ourselves. If you have never participated in a demonstration, you may find it does as much to change your inner world as it does the outer world.

I have come to a point where I feel it is absolutely imperative that as many supporters of gay marriage show up to protest on Saturday as possible. Gay people should obviously be there, but our straight friends need to show support too.

Please come with friends to the protest demanding marriage equality this Saturday, November 15, at 1:30pm at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in downtown Detroit.

We can dress up the Spirit of Detroit too.

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More changeover

Well, according to her Facebook status Triangle Foundation Interim Director Kate Runyon has taken the Executive Director job at Equality Maryland. That is a great gig, and I guess that explains why she put her pad in A2 up for sublet the other day.

Facebook is scary sometimes.

I wonder what will happen with Triangle now? There's really a bit of a gay leadership vacuum in this state (actually, a leadership vacuum period), so a little more turmoil there doesn't bode well for gay rights in this state.

I guess that's why I feel it's important that as individuals we make sure our voice is heard. We really can't afford to wait for new leadership to settle in. That's why things like the protest at CAY this weekend are important. We need to stay visible!
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When the going gets tough, the tough do it Doggy Style

If I'm going to engage in all this gay political stuff then I need to have a little gay fun too. So I'm starting up Tuesday Nights Doggy Style at the Park Bar again!

If you missed Doggy Style last year you can read about its genesis here, and see all Doggy Style-related posts from last winter here. Essentially it's a "gay-er" night at the Park Bar where gay folks with a downtown sensibility meet up for music that's more finely attuned to a gay ear and a curated video program that is kind of new music / old music / production number / drag queen / camp. Or whatever else I find.

She big.

We went on hiatus for summer, but we are long overdue for some more good ol' downtown gay camaradarie. So get your friends and come on down! And stop by after the Madonna concert, if you're going!

The Park Bar is located at 2040 Park Avenue, right behind the Fillmore (formerly State) Theater, near Comerica Park. There's no sign, but it's the bar right on the corner of Park & Elizabether with the huge windows.

It all starts up next Tuesday, November 18. Arrive starting at 8:30, videos start at 9:30. You'll be home in bed by 11:30, not bad for a school night.

So see you next Tuesday! And every Tuesday after that until May! Yay!

Palate Cleanser

With all this drama going on here, I thought it might be nice to escape to a little real drama, just to keep things in perspective. This video is a promo for a show called "Behind the Purple Door," about a hair salon in Atlanta, apparently for TBS. If you live or work in Detroit then gurrrrrl you already know this is gonna be the greatest reality show ever!

The CA Gay Rights Brigade

OK, before I get into the Very Important Gay Rights Protesting I need to discuss, I have to get something off my chest.

The California Gay Rights Brigade is chapping my ass. A gay marriage ban passed there so now we have to have national protests. Here's my question: where the fuck was California's outrage when marriage bans passed in 29 other states?

Every time I'm in California people ask, "Oh, so when are you moving here?" Seriously, people I've just met. Comments about the state of gay affairs here are met with "you should know better" looks. People cannot even wrap their brains around why a gay person might live in Detroit.

So now gay California, which hasn't had a real gay rights fight in twenty years, gets a little taste of what we deal with more frequently here in the flyover states and we're supposed to put down our knitting and march, since it's NOW an issue of national importance?

OK, fine, whatever it takes, I realize California is a bellweather state for gay rights. But I just wanted to point that out. California, maybe you could be a little less smug in the future.


There is a Very Important Gay Rights Protest coming up this week! All around the country people are gathering to "Join the Impact." Their website says:

"Tuesday night was a bitter-sweet celebration. We came together to witness the first black man who will become our president, yet watched in sadness as Florida, Arizona, Arkansas, and California all voted down equal rights for all citizens.This is not a four-state issue. This is an issue of equality across America. Stand up and make your voice heard."

The protest will be this Saturday at 1:30pm in downtown Detroit in front of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center. I suspect there will be a good turnout, and all bitterness aside, right now "the iron is hot" and we need to push hard to capitalize on the momentum and outrage that the passing of Proposition 8 in California hath wrought.

And this extends to straight folks too. We really need your support and your voice. It's not enough to silently support marriage equality. You need to let people know that the way things are now is not right, and that you support change.

Now get to steppin'!

You and me both, Mary.
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Coffee Bar-Hopping

Cafe 1923 in Hamtramck is like my new BFF. It is a great place to work. And even though I am possibly the most rabid anti-smoker I know, if you stay in the front part it isn't really noticeable that they allow smoking in the back room. Of course if you want a comfy chair you have to deal with smoking, but fortunately I don't.

The front is also better for the random run-in. Just yesterday I was enjoying tea and viewing the internet when who should walk in but fellow Detroit blogger D-Tales. While I was reading her blog. That was funny.

After a fantastic old-school liquid lunch with a colleague at the Caucus Club I ventured over to the Mercury Coffee Bar in Corktown.

That place has been buzzing every time I've driven by lately. Sunday night around 5pm it was nuts in there. It was relatively busy yesterday too, lots of folks working on laptops and a few meeting type activities in the lower level, but I think the greatest thing was working and being able to look out at the Michigan Central Depot on an overcast Monday afternoon.

Another thing I've noted before and has been verified by several friends is the very attractive and well-dressed crowd that patronizes this business. Incredulous, one of my friends asked, "where did these people come from?"

Actually the only thing that has been bugging me about Mercury is the fact that their identity program involves using the initials "MCB." First of all, why in God's name would you not fully utilize a great name like Mercury?? Of all the horribly named places in this area (Detroit Breakfast House and Grill comes to mind) you get handed this really glorious name by virtue of your location and you decide to change it to the wholly-uninspiring initials "MCB"?

And secondly, MCB is kind of already taken in Detroit - it's how everyone seems to refer to Motor City Brewing Works.

I feel like I will just call it Mercury all the time and maybe "MCB" won't catch on. Otherwise, I love it.
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And the hits just keep on coming

Hey, just to kick you when you're down, I wanted to let you know that we here in SE Michigan fared no better than California (again). Voters in the multi-culti funkytown of Hamtramck also voted to hate gays a little more, defeating the Hamtramck Human Rights Ordinance. 55.4% of Hamtramck voters cast ballots against it.

Those Hamtramck United folks worked their butts off though, and according to council member Scott Klein in this article in Between the Lines, they will keep pushing the issue. So we all need to thank them a lot, and maybe offer them a non-sexual massage the next time we see one of them.

Jay McNeeley. Jay McNeeley. Jay McNeeley.
(thrice for Google Image searches)

And if you see Jay McNeeley a.k.a. Gladys Kravitz - the guy from Ypsilanti who nosed in and decided Hamtramck needed to make this a ballot issue in the first place - or any member of the American Family Association, feel free to kick them in the balls. If it's a chick kick her in the cooter, I don't care. I'm tired of this bullshit.
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A Bridge to Somewhere

My summertime emotional journey to heck and back turned out to be such good source material I used it for my most recent piece for Detroit Public Radio's Detroit Today program.

Enjoy my bitching about all the things I love to bitch about on here AND hear about the disco cocktail party I threw last month in this piece that aired on Election Day!

Fierce Hot Mess goes Bi

Bi-weekly, that is! Fierce Hot Mess, the fabulous gay dance party at Oslo!



Woo hoo! More gay dance party every month! And only $5!
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Hot anti-gay action!

Did you read the Detroitist today? Because he did a write-up on a gay-related issue and saved me the time.

Fred Phelps and his caravan of crazy (www.godhatesfags.com) are coming to Grosse Pointe (of all places) to protest GP South High School's production of "The Laramie Project" next month. Read Detroitist's report here.

When Phelps was in Ann Arbor a few years ago Martin and Keith at the /aut/ bar came up with this idea to get people to pledge money for every minute that Phelps and company protest. "Every Minute Counts" eventually became a popular counter-protest to the Phelps brigade all around the country. Nice job, fellas.

Here's the picket schedule comment - you can't make this shit up!

11/21/08 - 2:45 - 3:30pm Grosse Pointe South High School - God Hates You! 11 Grosse Pointe Blvd That's right, these little turkeys believe they can change the fact that Matthew Sheperd is in hell, 10+ years now. Lot's of luck on that one. If you wanna go to hell, then follow his example! Mt 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: AMEN!

Maybe we should do an "Every Minute Counts" for this? We can give money to a worthy gay charity, like Supergay Detroit or something! Or maybe something possibly more worthy, like Triangle Foundation or Ruth Ellis Center. I dunno, just tossing that out there. What do you think?
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I did not make this graphic but it's funny as hell.

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Obamarama?

The Obama win tonight was exciting.

I went to Ann Arbor to my friend Eve's house to watch the election because (a) I spent all the Bush years in Ann Arbor and thought it would be nice to celebrate a shift back to reason in that town, and (b) she owns the amazing restaurant Eve and I knew the food would be worth traveling for.

It was, of course, a lovely time, and so great to see an awesome collection of people I've known over the past ten-plus years. And even more exciting to see the Obama win! Yay America.

It wasn't until the way home, when I received a text response from CA friends to my inquiry about the status of the gay marriage ban that the whole night imploded. California was set to ban - and abolish - gay marriage.

Furious doesn't even begin to describe my reaction. I can't tell you the last time I pounded my steering wheel and screamed in rage, mostly because it has never happened before. It was only a stop by the Park Bar and touching base with some unaware but sympathetic friends that prevented this from being a post that consisted of the giant words "straight people, go fuck yourself." Sorry, but it's true.

You have a straight, white, wealthy, Mayflower-family, Yale-educated male to thank for talking me down.

So straight people, don't go fuck yourself. But please pay attention to what is happening. Michigan was disappointing. Arizona, Florida and Arkansas not surprising. But California was really unexcusable.

At least their "Stop Animal Cruelty" inititative passed by a 3-to-1 margin. Oh yeah, and Obama won.
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Don't Stop Believin'

This was another weekend of Halloween party awesomeness, this time with the MoCAD Believin' party!

Not to belabor details, but since it was on Halloween night the New Wave Committee thought they'd maybe get 500 people. Instead? 1000 people showed up (an exciting fact only mitigated by an overwhelmed bar). Only a handful of people didn't show up in costume, and the costumes were tremendous! You go hipsters!

The music was a great Dorkwave vibe, the decor so cool. Since I was the emcee for the evening (it's a living) I'll just give you some photographic super gay highlights instead of bogging things down with prose. Good job MoCAD!

The trash monster was awesome when he danced!

Big bats and bubbles.

Well, here's what happened to her.

Clearly inspired by this blog.

Have you a little fairy in your home?

It takes a village of dj's.

You have to admit, this is not a costume the hoi polloi would appreciate. Well done!

Something for the ladies.

It's not real. I checked. *sigh*

With a Z!

Making it work!

Nothing gay about this except how cute I thought this boy was.

Yay!!

Winners of Funniest Costume - the Ren Cen was amazing!

The view of an awesome party from the stage.