Entries from July 2006 ↓

Which is worse, dying from the affects of AIDS or being a victim of gay-bashing?

Which is better, inviting musical artists who sing homophobic lyrics to a concert promoting HIV awareness, or taking a stand against homophobia by uninviting those same artists and by doing so, acknowledging the ways in which homophobia contributes to the overall climate of shame, fear and self-loathing that often leads gay people to become HIV infected?

Those are some questions the group LIFEBeat must answer. LIFEBeat is the music industry’s response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. They have a reggae concert planned for next week here in New York and among the invited artists are Beenie Man and TOK.

Our friends across the pond in England are quite familiar with those two popular Jamaican dancehall acts. Gay groups in Great Britain have routinely protested and successfully prevented them from performing at concerts there because both acts have continued to sing lyrics that call for the violent death by burning and hanging of lesbians and gays, even after they agreed to stop such behavior.

Now lest anyone think this is just a free speech issue, such comments are about as harmless as yelling fire in a crowded movie theatre. Life for gays and lesbians, particularly in Jamaica, is one of constant fear for one’s safety. No shortage of dancehall music fans have taken such vicious hate speech to heart and attacked or killed gay activists and private citizens alike, with little protection or redress from law enforcement and government officials on that island.

Which is why we find it strange then these same individuals would be part of a concert to promote HIV/AIDS awareness. Gay men remain the population hardest hit by the virus and in this city Black gay men are the most impacted. Are Beenie Man and TOK advocating that we become more aware of the risks of HIV transmission so that we won’t get infected, only so we can later become victims of a bashing brought about by their hate speech? I’m having a hard time finding the sincerity in their association with this cause.

Please join in a rapidly growing campaign of enlightened activists, both online and off, who are calling upon LIFEBeat to uninvite these artists. Contact them and let them know that any appearance by Beenie Man and TOK is unacceptable and runs counter to the causes of HIV education, LGBT and human rights.

CONCERT DETAILS

Reggae Gold Live 2006 Summer Jumpoff
July 18, 2006
Webster Hall
125 East 11th Street between 3rd & 4th Avenues
Doors open at 9pm

BACKGROUND ON LIFEBEAT

LIFEbeat, Inc.
630 Ninth Avenue (between 44th and 45th Streets)
Suite 1010
New York, NY 10036
http://www.lifebeat.org/

Telephone: 212.459.2590
Toll-free: 800.AIDS.411
Fax: 212.459.2892

John Cannelli, Executive Director, x101, jcannelli@lifebeat.org

Sarah Peters Manager, Operations, x119, speters@lifebeat.org

Promotional support provided by BET, Vibe magazine, Music Choice and Power 105.1

Emil Wilbekin, the openly gay former editor-in-chief of VIBE magazine, is on their board of directors. Hilary Rosen, the openly gay former head of the Recording Industry Association of America, is on their board of advisors.

UPDATE
LIFEBeat Refuses to Back Down link

Other voices of concern

Keith Boykin link
Republic of T link
Pandagon link
Clay Cane link
Jasmyne Cannick link
Journey Into Light link
Frank Leon Roberts link
A Burst of Light link
Blabbeando link
J’s Theater link
FemmeNoir link
AnziDesign link
PlanetOut’s Politics and News link
GreasyGuide link
Troy Notorious link
thebrotherlove.com link
Woubi-Yossi Collective link
Just My Thoughts link
Obsidianbear link
The 7 Magazine link
The Larry Lyons Experience link
Simply Fred Smith link
Every Shut Eye Ain’t Sleep link
Novaslim link
Front Porch Storytellin link
Taylor Siluwé link
Bialogue link

Related Media Coverage

PlanetOut link
Southern Voice link
BBC News link
UK Gay News link
KeithBoykin.com link
Electronic Urban Report link
Gay.com UK & Ireland link
GCN link
Newsday link

My life is all about irony.

On the very day that the New York State Court of Appeals handed down its decision that same-sex marriage was unconstitutional under state law, yours truly had to attend a bachelor party for an old college friend who got married this past Saturday. I also attended the wedding and was asked to serve as MC during the reception.

Now years ago, there was a period right after I graduated when a number of my college and even high school classmates were getting hitched and it was still fun getting old friends together. But the older I got the less fun they became, and the more secure I became in my own identity, the more it became apparent to me how fundamentally unfair the whole marriage rights issue is.

I don’t have a problem with heterosexual marriage. I think straight people should have every right to marry if they’ve actually found someone special and in fact really are in love. But those big gaudy displays of heterosexual privilege, complete with bouquet and garter tosses and the unstated expectation that some lucky “single” in the audience will be next, leaves me a bit cold, considering how this is a privilege to which I am not entitled by law. Unless it’s a family member or close friend, I’ll pass, thank you.

This past weekend fell into the close friend category and I would have been hard pressed to bail out. This friend who I’ve known about 26 years, has waited his whole life to find that special woman and he has. They make a great couple and he’s truly happy. In the company of so many straight married husbands at the bachelor party and couples at the wedding and reception, I wasn’t going to go all political and engage everyone in a discourse on the current inequities of the law. I smiled, laughed and told some jokes, and was happy for him that he was getting what he wanted in life.

But the entire time I could not escape the realization that even if I had someone significant in my life right now, by law, I am denied such a celebration.

An update on a story we reported back in April.

Kevin Powell, an author, activist and former cast member from the first season of MTV’s “The Real World,” has dropped out of the race for the U.S. House of Representatives from the 10th Congressional District in New York, which covers several neighborhoods in Central Brooklyn.

Citing obligations related to his involvement with a group providing relief to Hurricane Katrina victims, Powell made his announcement last week. The district is currently represented by 24-year incumbent Edolphus Towns, whom Powell has characterized as ineffective.

Remaining in the race are New York City Councilman Charles Barron and New York State Assemblyman Roger L. Green.

It has taken me the entire World Cup to finally figure this game out.

Football—soccer, as we call it—is a test of endurance. A contest of the collective will of each team and their ability to outlast their opponents physically and mentally. Which team has enough stamina and psychological resolve to run back and forth across the pitch for 90 minutes plus stoppage time, and if necessary, two 15 minute overtime periods and if still further necessary, 5 shootouts, without dropping from exhaustion or cracking under the strain?

American sports fans looking for the high scoring of basketball, or the strategy and playmaking of American football, or even the clear delineation of offense and defense as typified by the change of innings in baseball, are wise to settle in and wait for each match to play out its course.

For most of the 2006 World Cup final between France and Italy it seemed as though “les Bleus” had the advantage over their Italian opponents. France’s Thierry Henry went down in the first minute in a seemingly innocent collision with Italian defender Fabio Cannavaro. Henry stayed on the ground, clearly dazed, for two minutes before being helped off with an ice bag held to his head.

The striker soon came back and on his first touch headed the ball towards a breaking Florent Malouda. Malouda stumbled (or dived) in the penalty area and the referee immediately signaled a penalty kick.

French captain Zinedine Zidane scored on the kick in just the seventh minute. It was the first score against the Italian team in seven games and gave France the early lead.

But the Italians put the ball into the net 12 minutes later on Marco Materazzi’s header off a corner kick. And then they held on, in a game marked by sloppiness and maliciousness. France dominated on offense putting the Italians on the defensive for most of the remaining regulation time. Italy seemed tired and unable to sustain any attack even with second half substitutions.

With both teams gasping for air, the match went into overtime, and that is when the test of wills took a decided turn. In the 110th minute, in a move that will surely be questioned across France and the entire football-loving world, Zidane lost his composure and head-butted an opponent, bringing about a red card and his ejection. It would be the last play for Zidane, who is retiring, and hardly a proud moment on which to end an illustrious career.

It couldn’t have come at a worse time. The game was headed towards a shootout and the French team was without its leader and top scoring threat in penalty kick situations. It may have proved to be all the advantage the Italians would need.

In the shootout, Andrea Pirlo, Materazzi, Daniele De Rossi and Alessandro Del Piero all easily beat France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. The difference was the miss by rarely used David Trezeguet, which hit the crossbar on France’s second attempt. With Italy leading 4-3 in shootouts, Fabio Grosso could win it all, or by missing, give France a chance to tie. His left footed kick into the net sank the French and lifted Italy to its fourth World Cup title.

What was evident even to the casual observer is that both teams left it all on the field. Exhaustion was their shared experience, only victory allowed the Italians enough second wind to celebrate. When you consider how passionate football fans are in other parts of the world, it is this same type of “putting everything into it” that makes them so fanatical. Perhaps because scoring doesn’t happen often or easily, you can’t hold back, sit back on your heels or just play out the clock, as so often happens in our favorite sports.

This was more soccer/football than I’ve watched at any previous point in my life. I can honestly say I enjoyed every minute. More than a billion people watched the final worldwide, more than any other sporting event anywhere. Despite the uninspiring performance by the U.S. team, Americans watched in record numbers. But has the sport really made any new fans?

I think the World Cup is a special event that like the World Series, Super Bowl, Wimbledon or the Tour de France, generates interest even among those who are not regular followers of those respective sports. It’s a spectacle that happens once every four years, but in the interim, offers little to satisfy those who have caught the bug.

I believe the jury is still out on whether it will ever become a major sport in America. But I also know I can hardly wait until 2010.

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York’s highest court rules gay marriage is not allowed under state law.

The decision results from a combination of four lawsuits in which 44 gay and lesbian couples, who were denied marriage licenses, challenged state law as unconstitutional.

The cases were brought after clerks denied licenses in New York City, Albany, Ithaca and several other towns upstate. In February 1995, one local judge in New York City found the law limiting marriage to “a man and a woman” unconstitutional. Four others in Rockland, Albany and Tompkins Counties, upheld the ban in late 2004 and early 2005.

In December 2005 and February 2006, appellate courts in Manhattan and Albany upheld the existing law. The Manhattan ruling reversed the New York City judge’s decision.

The Court of Appeals consolidated the cases and heard oral arguments May 31, 2006 that led to today’s decision, which supersedes all other New York Court decisions.

The State Attorney General’s Office and New York City Corporation Counsel defended the State’s Domestic Relations Law as consistent with legislative intent and sound public policy. It protects, they argued, the foundation of family units as designed to ensure creation of children and promote childrearing that is financially and emotionally secure.

Lambda Legal, a national organization representing same-sex couples in New York City, the American Civil Liberties Union and others representing plaintiffs in the cases argued that the law violates due process clauses in the State Constitution. They told the Court that it discriminates based on sexual preference and argued that there has been no harm in Massachusetts, where Supreme Judicial Court judges ruled same-sex couples had the legal right to marry in 2003.

Since the 2003 Massachusetts ruling, more than 8000 same sex couples have been married.

According to the New York City Corporation Counsel’s Office, appellate courts in New Jersey, Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Washington State and Washington, D.C. have all found laws banning gay marriage to be Constitutional. Appeals are now pending to the highest courts in New Jersey and Washington State.

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has said that he personally favors issuing licenses to same-sex couples, but has been obligated to follow the law. New York Gov. George E. Pataki opposes gay marriage and is a supporter of the existing law.

Source: WNBC

More information

The decision of the New York State Court of Appeals
(a PDF document) link
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund statement in response to decision link
Empire State Pride Agenda to hold rallies across New York State link

Georgia High Court Reaffirms Gay Marriage Ban link
Georgia Supreme Court decision (a PDF document) link