why do straights hate gays?

this commentary was reprinted from an article found in the los angeles times. depressing but true.

WHY DO STRAIGHTS HATE GAYS?

An aging 72-year-old gay man isn't hopeful about the future.

By Larry Kramer

LARRY KRAMER is the founder of the protest group ACT UP and the author of "The Tragedy of Today's Gays."

March 20, 2007

DEAR STRAIGHT PEOPLE,

Why do you hate gay people so much?

Gays are hated. Prove me wrong. Your top general just called us immoral. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is in charge of an estimated 65,000 gay and lesbian troops, some fighting for our country in Iraq. A right-wing political commentator, Ann Coulter, gets away with calling a straight presidential candidate a faggot. Even Garrison Keillor, of all people, is making really tacky jokes about gay parents in his column. This, I guess, does not qualify as hate except that it is so distasteful and dumb, often a first step on the way to hate. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama tried to duck the questions that Pace's bigotry raised, confirming what gay people know: that there is not one candidate running for public office anywhere who dares to come right out, unequivocally, and say decent, supportive things about us.

Gays should not vote for any of them. There is not a candidate or major public figure who would not sell gays down the river. We have seen this time after time, even from supposedly progressive politicians such as President Clinton with his "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military and his support of the hideous Defense of Marriage Act. Of course, it's possible that being shunned by gays will make politicians more popular, but at least we will have our self-respect. To vote for them is to collude with them in their utter disdain for us.

Don't any of you wonder why heterosexuals treat gays so brutally year after year after year, as your people take away our manhood, our womanhood, our personhood? Why, even as we die you don't leave us alone. What we can leave our surviving lovers is taxed far more punitively than what you leave your (legal) surviving spouses. Why do you do this? My lover will be unable to afford to live in the house we have made for each other over our lifetime together. This does not happen to you. Taxation without representation is what led to the Revolutionary War. Gay people have paid all the taxes you have. But you have equality, and we don't.

And there's no sign that this situation will change anytime soon. President Bush will leave a legacy of hate for us that will take many decades to cleanse. He has packed virtually every court and every civil service position in the land with people who don't like us. So, even with the most tolerant of new presidents, gays will be unable to break free from this yoke of hate. Courts rule against gays with hateful regularity. And of course the Supreme Court is not going to give us our equality, and in the end, it is from the Supreme Court that such equality must come. If all of this is not hate, I do not know what hate is.

Our feeble gay movement confines most of its demands to marriage. But political candidates are not talking about — and we are not demanding that they talk about — equality. My lover and I don't want to get married just yet, but we sure want to be equal.

You must know that gays get beaten up all the time, all over the world. If someone beats you up because of who you are — your race or ethnic origin — that is considered a hate crime. But in most states, gays are not included in hate crime measures, and Congress has refused to include us in a federal act.

Homosexuality is a punishable crime in a zillion countries, as is any activism on behalf of it. Punishable means prison. Punishable means death. The U.S. government refused our requests that it protest after gay teenagers were hanged in Iran, but it protests many other foreign cruelties. Who cares if a faggot dies? Parts of the Episcopal Church in the U.S. are joining with the Nigerian archbishop, who believes gays should be put in prison. Episcopalians! Whoever thought we'd have to worry about Episcopalians?

Well, whoever thought we'd have to worry about Florida? A young gay man was just killed in Florida because of his sexual orientation. I get reports of gays slain in our country every week. Few of them make news. Fewer are prosecuted. Do you consider it acceptable that 20,000 Christian youths make an annual pilgrimage to San Francisco to pray for gay souls? This is not free speech. This is another version of hate. It is all one world of gay-hate. It always was.

Gays do not realize that the more we become visible, the more we come out of the closet, the more we are hated. Don't those of you straights who claim not to hate us have a responsibility to denounce the hate? Why is it socially acceptable to joke about "girlie men" or to discriminate against us legally with "constitutional" amendments banning gay marriage? Because we cannot marry, we can pass on only a fraction of our estates, we do not have equal parenting rights and we cannot live with a foreigner we love who does not have government permission to stay in this country. These are the equal protections that the Bill of Rights proclaims for all?

Why do you hate us so much that you will not permit us to legally love? I am almost 72, and I have been hated all my life, and I don't see much change coming.

I think your hate is evil.

What do we do to you that is so awful? Why do you feel compelled to come after us with such frightful energy? Does this somehow make you feel safer and legitimate? What possible harm comes to you if we marry, or are taxed just like you, or are protected from assault by laws that say it is morally wrong to assault people out of hatred? The reasons always offered are religious ones, but certainly they are not based on the love all religions proclaim.

And even if your objections to gays are religious, why do you have to legislate them so hatefully? Make no mistake: Forbidding gay people to love or marry is based on hate, pure and simple.

You may say you don't hate us, but the people you vote for do, so what's the difference? Our own country's democratic process declares us to be unequal. Which means, in a democracy, that our enemy is you. You treat us like crumbs. You hate us. And sadly, we let you.

scissor sisters :: the theatre at msg

i was fortunate enough to go to the scissor sisters concert at the theatre at madison square garden on saturday 03.03.07 - it was absolutely spectacular. ames (tixgirl), lauren, and i were able to score floor tickets and push right up to the stage and snap some fantastic photos and videos.

the concert - one of the best i've seen - it may have been the fact that msg plays no games - or it could be the fact that the scissor sisters can do no wrong - either way - costumes and lighting and jake's never ending energy were brilliant things to watch.

seen: fashion icon amanda lepore, kiki of 'kiki and herb' justin bond, and b-52's front man fred schneider.

view all of the images on flickr

theatrical thoughts :: grey gardens

grey gardens
walter kerr theatre :: new york, ny
attended :: february 28th, 2007

i was extremely disappointed to learn that christine ebersole - star of grey gardens - would be out sick on the night i was to see the show. after all - she is one of the hottest divas on broadway. i decided i would go see it anyway because - why not.

the house was virtually empty. evidently people took up the offer that if the star's name is above the title (in this case it is) and that star is not in on that particular night - you can change your tickets to a later date when said star is back. so - in a house that seats more than 500 asses - may 75-100 people were in the audience. the good part about this is we were allowed to move to better seats and away from the smoky eastern europeans picking their teeth with some kind of pick sitting next to us causing us to gag on their funk.

grey gardens is a musical adapted from a documentary with the same name about the lives of two reclusive socialites - edith bouvier beale and her daughter 'little' edie beal. the story made national news when it was revealed that these relatives of jacqueline bouvier kennedy onassis were living in a flea-infested, broken-down 28 room east hamption mansion with 52 cats and rabid raccoons. if you have not seen this documentary - i highly recommend it - you'll just shake your head in disbelief.

in this performance - the roles usually played by christine ebersole were played by maureen moore. i figured that someone as strong and as well known as ebersole would have to have a fantastic stand-in. maureen's performance was good - though sometimes her east hamptons accent sounded more like british - but in all - it was pretty good - the mannerisms - the costumes - the sheer insanity of this person. mary louise wilson who played edith was spot on in her performance. it was like 'big' edie was there in person.

i was most impressed with the performance of erin davie who played 'little' edie beal in 1941. act one shows the history of the family - something you don't quite get in the documentary. erin's performance was believable and you could totally see how she would grow up to become the crazy women she ended up being.

some of the highlights were of course in the music. 'the revolutionary costume for today' and 'jimmy likes my corn' were two of the best in the show - though serious - you just had to laugh at these crazy women!

as far as the entire work - i'm not sure it was the best thing i've seen. i can understand the cult appeal for this story - but in all - i thought it just lacked - what - i have no idea. at times it felt like a souped up community theatre project. maybe it was the lack of ebersole - i'd hope not - if it takes one woman's performance to cary a show like that - it says something about the show now doesn't it. i didn't walk out humming any tunes. and the story was something i already knew. so it wasn't that exciting really - just another way to look into the lives of two very crazy women. i'd say just rent/buy the documentary - don't rush to new york to see it - but if you are in town - 'jerry loves my corn' makes it all worth it.

related videos on youtube
'the revolutionary costume for today'


buy the cd 'grey gardens - a new musical'

tonight show funny first date

a friend passed this to me in an email - it was so funny i had to share! enjoy!

first date...

if you didn't see this on the 'tonight show,' i hope you're sitting down when you read it. this is probably the funniest date story ever, first date or not! we have all had bad dates...but this takes the cake.

jay leno went into the audience to find the most embarrassing first date that a woman ever had.

the winner described her worst first date experience. there was absolutely no question as to why her tale took the prize!

she said it was midwinter... snowing and quite cold...and the guy had taken her skiing in the mountains outside salt lake city , utah. it was a day trip (no overnight). they were strangers, after all, and truly had never met before.

the outing was fun but relatively uneventful until they were headed home late that afternoon.

they were driving back down the mountain, when she gradually began to realize that she should not have had that extra latte.

they were about an hour away from anywhere with a rest room and in the middle of nowhere!

her companion suggested she try to hold it, which she did for a while.

unfortunately, because of the heavy snow and slow going, there came a point where she told him that he had better stop and let her go beside the road, or it would be the front seat of his car. they stopped and she quickly crawled out beside the car, yanked her pants down and started. in the deep snow she didn't have good footing, so she let her butt rest against the rear fender to steady herself.

her companion stood on the side of the car watching for traffic and indeed was a real gentleman and refrained from peeking. all she could think about was the relief she felt despite the rather embarrassing nature of the situation. upon finishing however, she soon became aware of another sensation.

as she bent to pull up her pants, the young lady discovered her buttocks were firmly glued against the car's fender.

thoughts of tongues frozen to poles immediately came to mind as she attempted to disengage her flesh from the icy metal. it was quickly apparent that she had a brand new problem due to the extreme cold.

horrified by her plight and yet aware of the humor of the moment, she answered her date's concerns about 'what is taking so long' with a reply that indeed, she was 'freezing her butt off and in need of some assistance!'

he came around the car as she tried to cover herself with her sweater and then, as she looked imploringly into his eyes, he burst out laughing.

she too, got the giggles and when they finally managed to compose themselves, they assessed her dilemma.

obviously, as hysterical as the situation was, they also were faced with a real problem. both agreed it would take something hot to free her chilly cheeks from the grip of the icy metal!

thinking about what had gotten her into the predicament in the first place, both quickly realized that there was only one way to get her free.

so, as she looked the other way, her first-time date proceeded to unzip his pants and pee her butt off the fender. as the audience screamed in laughter, she took the 'tonight show' prize hands down...or perhaps that should be 'pants down.' and you thought your first date was embarrassing.

jay leno's comment: 'this gives a whole new meaning to being pissed off.'