July 22, 2019

Artists are withdrawing from the Whitney Biennial (dirty plutocrat money)

A True Protest Biennia — By Jerry Saltz

Since before the show’s May opening, a constant drumbeat has sounded for the artists to refuse to participate owing to the relationship of Kanders to the museum and its exhibition. Why? In a certain way, he is a representative figure of the culture of toxic philanthropy, in which plutocrats who’ve made money in unseemly ways cleanse their reputations through donations to reputable institutions — think of the opiate-peddling Sackler family’s support of the Met or David Koch’s donations to what seems like half of high-culture New York. As for Kanders: Among the other disaster-capitalism concerns, his company Safariland manufactured some of the tear-gas canisters used by the Trump administration against immigrants crossing into America. (This news was published early on by the art blog Hyperallergic, which has continued reporting on this and has been breaking stories ever since.) Safariland’s ordinance was also used in Turkey, where over 130,000 tear-gas canisters were fired into crowds, and in Gaza, where 154 Palestinian protesters have been killed, including 34 children. Kanders and his product were toxic long before there was any outrage at the museum.

Being naïve to the ways of industrialist tycoons, I had hoped that rather than forcing the Whitney higher-ups to legislate this explosive issue — knowing such a situation opens a Pandora’s box around all cultural funding — Kanders would have resigned before the biennial opening, recognizing that his presence was harming the museum, the art, the Whitney name, and the artists. Instead, sounding as if he saw the world as his own petting zoo, Kanders opined, “While my company and the museum have distinct missions, both are important contributors to our society,” adding that “the politicization of every aspect of public life including commercial organizations and cultural institutions is not productive or healthy.”

More on Warren B. Kanders

July 20, 2019

Russia launches criminal case over gay adoption (family faces prosecution)

Russian officials allegedly allowed a gay couple to adopt children. Now Russia's Investigative Committee has opened a criminal negligence case. And thanks to a "gay propaganda" law, the family could also face charges.

Olenichev described Russian society as a whole as very conservative, but he emphasized that the outcome of a potential case against the gay fathers ultimately would "depend on the individuals making the decisions." It's hard to predict what will happen to them, he added, though he doesn't seem optimistic that the family will escape a case against them.

Investigators are currently checking the children's family circumstances, Olenichev said. He confirmed to DW that the adopted boys are 12 and 14 years old. One of the men in the family works at the Higher School of Economics, a state university in Russia, and the family is quite "well off," he said. Along with the men, a grandmother and a nanny have been taking care of the boys.

Olenichev took care to emphasize that the children feel "comfortable and safe in the family" and that a psychologist has found the relationship between the parents and children to be close and affectionate. He even pointed out that there were no "indications of violence in the family."

His emphasis on the psychological well-being of the adopted children reflects public opinion in Russia, a challenge for the LGBT community — and a potential challenge for the family should a case be opened against them.

As a quick aside, I would encourage you to follow Pompeo’s “natural law/human rights” commission. The “Ya’ll Queda” republicans would love to redefine LGBTQ equality in the U.S. — Chilling, isn’t it?

July 20, 2019

If you were a space age kid, you'll love this.

Like many of you, I was a space age kid. I remember watching the moon landing with my family. I’m glad my Dad was so enthusiastic about it all. It’s a great memory.

Today’s apps - 50 years later - are amazing. This one from Time magazine won’t disappoint you.

Link: Welcome to TIME Immersive's Apollo 11 'Landing on the Moon' Experience

From Time’s website:

“The Apollo 11 simulation on which you’re about to embark, which is the world’s most accurate 3-D re-creation of the moon landing, is the result of TIME’s partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, as well as years of painstaking research by Industrial Light and Magic CCO John Knoll. Told in two chapters, Landing on the Moon allows you to witness Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’s landing from three breathtaking points of view; in Chapter 2, you can explore the surface of the moon, walk to the foot of the lunar module, and watch within inches of Neil Armstrong’s space suit as he plants the flag.”

May 16, 2019

Trump Administration to LGBT Couples: Your 'Out of Wedlock' Kids Aren't Citizens

Children of U.S. citizens are falling victim to a policy that de-recognizes their parents’ marriage—and strips them of their birthright citizenship.


“They first indicated that they needed proof of our marriage, which I found quite odd,” Roee said. “They needed the original marriage certificate, which we didn’t have with us, but I didn’t actually think anything more about it. I thought, ‘We don’t have time for this, we’ll just deal with it in the U.S.’”

Roee and Adiel obtained Kessem’s Canadian passport—a stopgap, they figured, until they could get her U.S. passport back home—and traveled back to their home in the United States.

But Kessem was about to become the latest victim of a government policy that effectively de-recognizes her parents’ marriage, granting her no automatic rights to American birthright citizenship despite the fact that both her fathers are U.S. citizens. That policy, Kessem’s fathers told The Daily Beast, poses a unique threat to LGBT families, and could change the decades-old legal understanding of what the word “family” even means.

“This is a very clear attack on families, on American families,” Roee, who married Adiel in California in 2013, told The Daily Beast. “Denying American married couples their rights to pass their citizenship, that is flat-out discrimination, and everyone should be concerned about this.”

Link

April 14, 2019

Globalization: Following the money across the globe and back in time

Globalization: Following the money across the globe and back in time Lapham’s Quartlerly, March 2019

“Everybody spoke English, old friends talking old times, fondly remembering how Cap managed to get Skandinavia back to the American side of the Atlantic after the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. The admirals in Berlin wanted to retain the tanker in German custody for fear of its use in the convoys supplying Great Britain. Cap stayed a long weekend at Carinhall, Hermann Göring’s Gothic hunting lodge in the Schorfheide, dining on wild boar, listening to the music of Richard Wagner, petting the pet lion, admiring the swans. The soon-to-be Reichsmarschall granted exit visas for the tankers in return for continuing shipments of fuel to the Nazi war effort in 1940.

The history lesson spread for three nights across a table always festive with wildflowers, oysters, and champagne, and over the many courses of gemütlichkeit, money was invariably the hero of the tale. Governments come and go, and so do wars and ideologies; money lives forever. The shipyard owners made no apologies for Hitler, nor did the captain regret his dealings with Göring and Francisco Franco, the Spanish dictator who made Rieber a Knight Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic. For a good many American corporations in the 1930s, dealing with Nazi Germany was standard operating procedure; Ford and General Motors building trucks for the Wehrmacht, the Rockefeller Foundation funding Nazi eugenics programs. The oil tanker sliding the next day into the Elbe River was a multinational corporate enterprise, free and clear of romantic sentiment, union labor, or nationalist entanglements—American ownership headquartered in the Bahamas, Greek officers, Malay crew, Panamanian registry and flag.”

October 20, 2018

MO GOP sent 10,000 voters false absentee voting info

Incompetency at every level of their party?

The Missouri Republican Party sent mailers to 10,000 voters across the state with false information about when their absentee ballots are due, the party’s executive director acknowledged Friday.

Ray Bozarth said the incorrect information was printed on postcards as the result of a miscommunication between the party and its vendor, which he declined to name. Bozarth also did not say how the miscommunication occurred.

A photo of the mailer provided to the Star shows a red bar across the top that says “urgent notice” in all capital letters and encourages voters to return their mail-in ballots “today.”

It also says, ballots must be returned by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 30, which is not the case. Ballots are due on election day, Nov. 6, and requests for mail-in ballots aren’t due until Wednesday, Oct. 31.

Read more here: https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/election/article220334185.html#storylink=cpy

May 15, 2018

Under His Eye: Tony Perkins appointed to U.S. religious freedom commission.

FRC’s Tony Perkins Appointed To U.S. Commission On International Religious Freedom

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins has been appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on the recommendation of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, according to an announcement in Monday’s Congressional Record. -snip-

Religious Right groups have been huge cheerleaders for Vladimir Putin, whose regime has restricted religious freedom as well as the rights of LGBTQ people. In 2017, when the USCIRF classified Russia as a “country of particular concern,” Perkins took note, but essentially blamed Barack Obama for increasing religious repression, saying that “America’s hostility to religious liberty at home has led to incredible indifference abroad.” Added Perkins, “After eight years of Obama’s war on faith, it’s time for America to pick up the torch of liberty and find its voice on the crisis.” -snip-

Perkins’ appointment appears to be yet another example of political payback to the Religious Right leaders and activists who make up a dominant part of the Republican Party’s political base and are President Trump’s strongest supporters. Perkins and other FRC spokespeople were outspoken cheerleaders for the confirmation of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Perkins praised the appointment of former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, another Religious Right favorite, as Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. And Perkins is helping put together a political gathering in June at which Religious Right leaders will heap praise upon Trump and urge conservative Christians to vote for Republicans in this year’s midterm elections.

November 28, 2017

Saving Mohammad by Joel Engardio (an important read)

“Saving Mohammad” by Joel Engardio

Sitting in morning traffic on the Google bus, Kevin Steen wasn’t thinking about founding an international organization to save LGBTQ lives in the Middle East. Work emails and weekend plans with his boyfriend were on his mind.

Then his phone lit up with panicked texts from a friend in Jordan.

Mohammad’s family found out he was gay. His father had beaten him up, badly. He was disowned and kicked out of his house. He fled without anything. He was in the street with nowhere to go.

“I was scared for Mohammad because his dad threatened to find and shoot him,” Kevin said. “It was an honor crime waiting to happen.”

Anxious to help from 7,500 miles away, there was only one thing Kevin could do while stuck on a bus crawling to Silicon Valley. He started googling for resources.

Yet the program manager for the world’s most powerful search engine was stumped.

Kevin couldn’t find any groups supporting people in Mohammad’s situation. Many organizations assist refugees after resettlement, but Mohammad required immediate aid in his home country. He was a young college student suddenly on his own and in danger. He needed housing, food and clothes in Jordan before he could flee to safety.

Kevin wired his own money so Mohammad could rent a room, then ended up paying for a series of rooms. Mohammad had to keep moving because his father was on the hunt...

Full story at link above.

See also: Rainbow Street
Rainbow Street is an international NGO that provides a lifeline for exceptionally vulnerable LGBT people in the Middle East and North Africa. Rainbow Street works with local activists and partner organizations to provide shelter, food, clothing, health care, migration services, community support, and other essential resources to people facing extreme discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender expression.

May 22, 2016

Padres in hot water over national anthem mixup

Padres in hot water over national anthem mixup
San Diego Men's Gay Chorus calls for investigation after woman's voice played over Petco PA with 100 men's chorus members on field

The Padres have a PR problem on their hands after a mixup during the national anthem for Saturday night's game against the Dodgers.

There were 100 members of the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus on the field to sing the anthem, but a woman's voice — believed to be that of Friday's anthem singer — was played over the PA system while the men stood on the field. The anthem is not always performed live, and this was an instance where a taped version was to be played with the performers on the field.

The Padres issued a one-paragraph statement during Saturday night's game to apologize for the incident:

“This evening, during the pregame ceremony, a mistake was made in the Petco Park control room that prevented the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus from performing the National Anthem as scheduled. We apologize to anyone in the ballpark who this may have offended, and have reached out to the Chorus to express our deep regret for the error.”

San Diego Union-Tribune

September 5, 2015

What’s It Like to be Gay in Appalachia?

Burley, Sam Williams -- and their dogs



As the podcast points out, LGBT people have become more visible and at the same time, more vulnerable. Sam Williams, a gay coal miner from WV, faced harassment and discrimination in the mines -- and later sued Massey Energy (his story at 30:00). Also listen to the Episcopal priest, Jim Lewis, who blessed gay and lesbian relationships in West Virginia as early as the 1970s (45:45).

The podcast offers important insights into the culture of Rowen County Clerk, Kim Davis, and the lives of contemporary LGBT people in Appalachia. It also asks important questions about national anti-discrimination legislation.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting