Anyone Seen Jacobs/Courage's 2010 Research?

More hot air masquerading as political leadership was emitted today by Rick Jacobs, the chief of everything at his supposed 700,000 membership org, telling the community what many already knew - Jacobs was divorcing his org from the 2010 effort to repeal Prop 8 with another prop. Predictable as a sunrise, the blogosphere and the AP reprinted Jacobs' release, and no attention was paid to the missing "extensive and groundbreaking research."

I do so hate to be the skunk at the Gay Inc garden party hosted by Courage and Lambda Legal, but can someone show me, and the rest of the affected community, this amazing research? If Gay Inc gave a damn about transparency, we would see these two orgs sharing the research leading to their decision, on our behalf. Ain't happening.

From the release:

The Courage Campaign, in partnership with Lambda Legal, has recently concluded the first phase of extensive and groundbreaking research about public beliefs and concerns about marriage and homosexuality. It confirmed that attitudes are shifting steadily toward equal treatment of same-sex couples, and that conversations among family members and other close relationships inevitably speed the process. The statement released today is concurrent with a Lambda Legal statement.

I have not omitted the link from Courage to their alleged research. Courage has not made it public. We just have to take Jacobs' word. And don't bother looking to Lambda for the data. Their site hasn't even posted the joint release, never mind the data.

The AP's story was a good instance of stenography:

Rick Jacobs, founder of the Los Angeles-based Courage Campaign, said Monday that polling and other research his organization commissioned shows that gay marriage supporters do not have the financial backing, leadership or edge in public opinion to try to overturn Proposition 8 in 2010.

Nothing about the actual research and what it allegedly shows. Would it trouble the AP too much to ask Jacobs to produce his research for public inspection? Probably, and Jacobs knows it.

He has escaped any real scrutiny about his self-proclaimed 700,000 members, how all of the important decisions for his supposed grassroots org are always made by him, and why the org's failed deliver anything substantive in the year since Prop 8 passed.

Jacobs and his Courage toy were supposed to be the anti-Geoff Kors and anti-EQCA, and he's failed to deliver on his many promises. If Jacobs had any sense, he would fold his operation into EQCA, end his big-dick contest with Kors, and merge their orgs and egos, for the damn good of the movement. I know, it's a pipe dream to think Jacobs and Kors would unify forces, and finally begin coordinating together, for the greater good of California gays.

All I want is for Jacobs to show us his research, and the press and bloggers to stop serving as stenographers for Courage or any Gay Inc org.

Jamaican Foreign Ministry:
Two Gay Violence Files Located

At the end of October, Marion Edwards, the Access to Information officer with this ministry sent me an email responding to my request for any files on violence against gay Jamaicans. Part of her reply said:

Having researched the relevant files, we regret to inform you that such records do not reside within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. However, I will refer your request to the Ministry of National Security which has primary responsibility for matters of this nature.

Sounded very clear to me that no records responsive to my request were found last month. But now, such records have been located. Edwards sent another letter today, in which she informs me of some good news:

Further to your application dated 30th October 2009 and received on even date, for copies of any and all records from January 2004 to 30th October 2009, related to human rights violation of “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, or other persons perceived to be such”, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade is pleased to grant you access to the following documents:

1. Report on the Panel Discussion “Homophobic Violence in Jamaica: Culture, Dialogue and Resistance” Thursday 17th February, New Theatre (E171), East Building, London School of Economics and Politics. 9 pages.

2. An e-mail sent from Mr. Karl Angell to Wilton Dwyer, re the murder of Steve Harvey, a worker with Jamaica Aids Support. 1 page.

You may also wish to visit the United States – Department of State’s website, where country reports on Human Rights Practices in Jamaica are posted.

Grateful you indicate the format in which you require the information.

Edwards mentioned nothing about the switch from October to November and the retrieval of the files that weren't located a few weeks back, so I wrote back to her asking how the ministry failed to find the records, and how can I be certain there aren't more files in the archive. I also asked that the two files be emailed to me as a PDF.

In terms of what located, interesting that the bulk of the few pages is devoted to a meeting in London, and a single page of an email about the brutal murder of a gay rights advocate in Jamaica. Regardless of the skimpy files, I look forward to reading the contents of all the pages.

I'm also surprised the letter instructs me to read the American government's annual human rights reports on Jamaica, which offer ample evidence of the violence gay Jamaicans suffer, and the outrageous lack of government prosecution in many crimes against gay people.

Once Edwards sends me the files, I'll share them.

SF Chron Fails to Cite Blog for

Folsom Fellatio Item

Two political gossip writers for the San Francisco Chronicle, Phil Matier and Andy Ross, have a habit of picking up stories from other sources and not crediting them.

The Matier and Ross gossip column today prints an item regarding a recent meeting about the Folsom Street Fair, at which a restricted tent for public fellatio was proposed by me, but in true slimey fashion, my report on the meeting, was omitted by the writers.

As far as I can tell, my report is the only one out there. Demetri Moshoyannis, director of the annual leather fair, sent this note, in response to me asking if his group had issued any minutes:

There is no summary report yet from our meeting [posted on the fair's web site]. And, I certainly haven't spoken to any reporters. That said, Bevan Dufty did say that he received a media inquiry. Maybe you can ask him.

I have asked Bevan about this, but haven't heard back from him yet. I also left a message for Trapper Byrne, the editor for Matier and Ross' columns, and hope to get an answer from him today.

Astute readers of the Bay Area Reporter certainly noticed in recent years when Matier and Ross filched news from the gay paper, without properly crediting the weekly for breaking the original story. Today's Chronicle item does give credit to the BAR for the news about what led to complaints against the 2008 fair, which must be a welcome development for the BAR folks.

One political reporter, the BAR's Matthew Bajko, Tweeted last Wednesday about the upcoming Chronicle piece, and where the tent proposal originated:

# Look for a gay sex item from the Chron's Matier & Ross this weekend. The duo are asking about having a sex tent at Folsom St Fair next year. 1:35 PM Nov 25th from TwitBin

# Local blogger Michael Petrelis suggested just such a tent at a meeting Monday about the leather fairs: http://mpetrelis.blogspot.com/ 1:37 PM Nov 25th from TwitBin

Nice of Matthew to share some basic credit with readers, a concept Matier and Ross might learn about and begin to always practice, when cribbing from local bloggers.

NGOs Must Unite to Save 9 Iranians
Facing Death for Sodomy

On October 31 the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees issued a plea for help on behalf of Nemat Safavi, convicted of homosexual acts and facing execution in Iran. The plea was directed at non-governmental orgs, with vaster resources to conduct research, gather facts and mobilize public actions:

We ask that people write, fax, call, or email to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and any LGBT and/or international organizations to support Nemat Safavi and vigorously oppose his execution and the laws against homosexuals.

A day later, Peter Tatchell expressed personal sentiments about the current state of global gay activism over gay Iranians:

Everyone is now too intimidated by past denunciations and smears when we tried, in good faith, to defend Iranian queers.

Any person in Britain who takes a stand against homophobia in Iran is vilified as a neo con, agent of imperialism, Zionist, war-monger etc., including by other LGBTs, left-wingers, Islamists and some human rights organisations.

Those of us who stuck our necks out on previous occasions got precious little support. I weep at this terrible state of affairs.

The biggest obstacle to coordinated and effective global gay Iranian activism, after years of character assassinations against dozens of people who don't toe the Human Rights Watch party-line, is Scott Long. His campaign against other activists culminated in a 18-page grudge report, and he has done much to undermine previous claims of Iran executing homosexuals.

HRW on November 4 put out a statement calling on Iran to stop the planned execution of three men for homosexual conduct:

Mehdi P., from Tabriz; Moshen G., from Shiraz; and Nemat Safavi, from Ardebil, were accused in separate cases of committing homosexual acts when they were under age 18. No date has been set for their execution yet, but the lawyer representing two of the men fears that it could happen any day.

"Killing people for what they did as children is wrong and repellent, and killing them for alleged homosexual conduct is just as wrong and repellent," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

Notice that it's not Long, head of the HRW gay division, who is quoted, but another HRW director. He really has a problem addressing the country's executions of men for homosexual relations, doesn't he?

The statement is also very telling about HRW's non-engagement style in any serious way with gays. No request to send emails or take any action that might save the condemned men. Furthermore, HRW says nothing about working with other NGOs on behalf of the death row homosexuals. HRW simply is engaging in their typical "go it alone" fashion, which may be enough to sway Iranian politicians.

Setting a better example of productive cooperation is the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. IGLHRC on November 25 issued a call to action, in conjunction with the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees and COC Netherlands, on behalf of nine men facing execution because of homosexual conduct. Here's part of the sample letter the NGOs provide for anyone who wants to send emails to European officials, whose countries have business and diplomatic relations with Iran:

I am writing to request an immediate intervention to save the lives of a number of Iranian men, including minors and people who were minors at the time the alleged crimes occurred, who are currently in detention after having been convicted of sodomy and sentenced to death. These men include Ghaseem Bashkool, Mahdi Pooran, Hamid Taghi, Ebrahim Hamidi, Mehdi Rezaii, Hamze Chavoshi, Loghman Hamzepour, Mohsen Ghabraii, and Nemat Safavi (see appendix for more information about their cases). [...]

The defendants are denied fair and open trials; due to the taboo nature of sexual crimes, lawyers, human rights activists and reporters find it next to impossible to advocate on behalf of the defendants. Furthermore, the Iranian judicial system does not allow independent observers to examine the outcome of the courts and those who dare to advocate for the defendants are often harassed by the government and vigilantes. [...]

I strongly urge you and your government to use your diplomatic influence on Iran to stop the pending executions of the minor and adult men already convicted of sodomy.

IGLHRC, IRQR and COC Netherlands also provide the email addresses of key European leaders, along with email addresses for Iranian leaders and a letter in Farsi to send to them.

With Iran so impervious to practically all Western influence and lobbying, any human rights effort targeting Iran's mullahs and politicians, particularly one of a homosexual nature, should have much collaboration among the NGOs. In the interests of the condemned men, let's see a more united campaign from the NGOs regarding a letter-writing campaign, and if need be, a weekday protest at Iran's mission to the United Nations in Manhattan.

The cooperation of several NGOs two weeks ago at Uganda's mission to the UN, over a proposed deadly anti-homosexual bill and other problems facing that African nation's gay community, was laudable. It was also effective at sending a strong message of peaceful pressure to a government recalcitrant to protect the human rights of its gay citizens. Such a unified action should be organized by NGOs for gay Iranians facing the death penalty.

Rebranding: Gay = Equality,
Rainbow = Blue

(Are Equality orgs and their imagery as bland as artificial sweetener?)

When exactly were the Protocols of the Elders of Sodom revised to mandate that the word gay had to be replaced with equality, and that the rainbow emblem celebrating our communal diversity was to be reduced to just dark blue, for political groups and ballot props?

Gay, the word we fought so hard and long to be adopted as our chosen group designation, has been made obsolete by Gay Inc and the expanding network of state orgs. Why did we picket the NY Times for years over their refusal to describe us as gay, only to run away from the word in our political battles of the new century?

Witness the creation in the past 10-12 years of statewide groups omitting gay from their names, and instead pretty much uniformly substituting equality, sometimes fairness, or in New York, pride, for gay.

One reason why I feel so little connection to Equality California, and the like, starts with the name. As a veteran gay community organizer, I still see the need and value to always putting gay visibility as the central value to our battles, and the equality mentality simply doesn't engage my gay sensibility. What equality for Gay Inc really equals is blandness, a muting of our eccentric and colorful nature as queers.

Then there's the ugly predominance of dark blue in the imagery of the equality orgs. Though the pink triangle and the rainbow flag have been overused and overmarketed, on occasion, they are easily recognizable brands of ID that we have worn with pride for decades. However, they're too problematic for equality orgs, who studiously avoid using the well established symbols.

The hope in the bright array of colors of the rainbow and pink triangle have been consiged to the dustbin of homosexual history. A rebranding of the gay community, the LGBT movement, and our shared symbols occurred I don't recall receiving an invitation to vote on that.

I'm not saying if the state orgs evolved to say gay in their namea and incorporated at least the rainbow flag in signage, that we'd have more tangible political achievements in hand. But if we did, it would represent a first step in a re-engagement with the large portion of the LGBT community that doesn't bond to empty equality and fairness arguments.

Putting gay and rainbow imagery back into our community's branding could also go far in better engaging the wider straight American public, that is comfortable discussing gay issues without first being re-educated with de-gayed equality lingo or somber blue designs.

Here are prime examples of logos and and signage that don't speak to my gay identity:

NYT Showcases BDSM
Leatherwoman in Pics & Words

The Old Grey Lady reveals some of her black-and-blue interests with this profile and fabulous b/w pics of NYC leatherwoman.

Brava to both the Grey Lady and the Leather Lady for showing the NYTimes.com readers a non-vanilla person, proud of her alt sexuality and flaunting it, fabulously. We've come a very long way from the dark days when the paper wouldn't use the term gay when writing about homosexuals of all sorts, if they deigned to cover us at all.

Check out the pics of and words from Lolita Wolf, described as "The Kinky Lover," who "[f]or 22 years [...] has been active in New York's B.D.S.M. scene - bondage, domination, sadism and masoschism."

Lolita would be most welcome at the Folsom and Dore Fairs, and I wager she's been to one or two of them, and was quite popular.

Standing Up for Public
Fellatio at Folsom Fair

(Several attendees at last night's meeting.)

Exactly 15 people, myself included, attended last night's 90-minute meeting at City Hall to discuss the 2009 editions of the Dore Alley and Folsom Street Fairs, and I have a report to share with all interested parties.

The meeting was a productive discussion ably guided by Demetri Moshoyannis and Andy Copper of Folsom Street Events, FSE, the non-profit org that puts on both fairs. Supervisor Bevan Dufty opened the talk explaining his role in helping FSE deal with city agencies and that he wanted to hear from the community about making the fairs even more great.

Among the folks sitting around the big table were reps from the Entertainment Commission, Real Bad party producers, the Janus Society, New Leaf, the mayor's office and two members unaffiliated with any org. Missing were reps from the police, fire, traffic and public works departments, agencies that are necessary to the permit process, and whose participation will be sought for future forums.

Demetri and Andy gave a recap of how 2-3 complaints filed against individual cops with the Office of Civilian Complaints, created controversy two months before the Dore Alley Fair, leading to a crackdown on public sex this year. When Demetri asked if there was a different vibe because of the crackdown, I spoke up and set there was, and that we lost public sex space - the alley next to the Powerhouse - and that I want to reclaim the right to engage in public fellatio, or watch it unimpeded by sex monitors.

I said a tent, that would be clearly marked for oral sex and alcohol-free, should be considered, as a safe space for consenting adults to engage in fellatio on a public street. Of course, some poor suckers, er, lucky volunteers would have to head up a committee to maintain security at the tent, or other structure, if this idea is to become reality, and I'd be the first to kneel down and pray that this happens. Demetri and Bevan will consider the tent idea and it will be revisited at future meetings.

Other attendees spoke up about the queer sexual culture of the SoMa district, which has certainly evolved over the decades, as has the erotic vibe for the fairs. Ways of engaging the fetish community and the city agencies include asking fair-goers to attend SF Police Commission and South Station meetings, in the spring, when the permit process is just getting underway. We need to have our voices heard at the police station responsible for SoMa, and the commission that oversees the SFPD.

Andy told of how the highest number of complaints are not about sex or nudity, but about kids and dogs. The reasons for the complaints are varied, and FSE, at the entry gates, strongly encourages people with children and pets to think twice about entering. Still, given that the fairs are on public streets, there will never be a way to keep pets and kids out.

A big concern for FSE is that they feel not enough of the fetish and gay communities, and the larger public, understand and appreciate the tremendous amounts of money given to non-profits. FSE would like for everyone to be knowledgeable about all the benefits that come back to the communities, after we've all had fabulous times, especially the millions of dollars donated to local groups.

Bevan mentioned he is arranging a meeting with Chief of Police George Gascon and leather leaders, to get him educated on the history of the fairs, and what the community wants from the cops on fair days.

Finally, Demetri and Andy explained that there is one big inter-agency meeting with assorted city government stakeholders, which takes place at the end of February or beginning of March. There was much agreement around the table that we would all work to be there, and to enlist the participation of our friends and fellow fair-goers.

All in all, the meeting was a fabulous public re-commitment to genuine and full engagement by the wonderful FSE folks and those of us who get so much pleasure, friendship, eye-candy and community-building from Folsom and Dore. Last night was the giant first step toward making the 2010 fair the best ever. Be ready to do your part to make that happen in the new year.

Gay Inc Again Blames Community for
Miscommunication Failures

I am of the opinion that our failure 32 times on gay marriage props, along with other problems holding back basic advancement of our civil rights, is not just because our opponents have more money or better arguments and leaders. Our non-advancement is also a product of weak, sometimes misguided, Gay Inc leadership.

After we lost gay marriage in Maine, our leaders trotted out the same old glass-is-full and we're making incremental progress despite losses. They reaffirmed their marriage to the hollow equality arguments and rendering the word gay invisible for future ballot props, which is also the context in which Gay Inc fights for us, day in and day out.

And when Gay Inc leaders are publicly asked to account for the state of our progress, all too often they absolve themselves and their orgs of any genuine responsibility for the stagnancy pervading the movement.

Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign engaged in such absolution in an August interview with US News & World Report. Using the framework of Obama's campaign promises, versus his actions in the White House and HRC's relationship with his administration, Solmonese said:

But where the LGBT community is feeling frustration is that the road map and timetable have not been made as clear to them.

And who might make the road map to victory visible to the community? Maybe HRC's well-funded and state-of-the-art public relations division? Joe, er, never makes it clear who hasn't shown us the road map. The basic problem for Joe is what the community can't see, not who is obscuring the plan for advancement.

The thing is, another member of the Gay Inc leadership circle, Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, marches in lock-step with Joe on this. Adam Bink spoke with Rea last week, about the state of the movement, for the Bilerico.com group blog, and she eerily echoed Joe's "blame the community" thinking:

One of the things about marriage and the dominance in the media and the public sphere is that we've actually made all this other progress. Unfortunately, not a lot of people know about it, unless you're playing insider baseball.

Gayja vu, all over again. So, there's been lots of progress made, but the problem isn't that NGLTF, HRC and other professional advocacy and educational gay orgs are failing to achieve significant, significant and wide-reaching goals, then using their well-staffed communications departments to explain the progress. For Rea, the failure is that the millions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans who don't work in Gay Inc are ignorant of the progress, if they're not policy wonks.

If there's been an actual and true achieving of all this other progress, why the hell don't I feel and know it? Sorry, Joe and Rea, the big problem is not that the larger gay community can't see your road map or that the progress made is only understandable to baseball fanatics. Stop blaming the community for you and your orgs' weak advocacy.

A comment at Bilerico.com from "TanyaM" raised important questions, that should be posed constantly to NGLTF:

I am sorry but how is NGLTF relevant any more? What do they do to earn their budget? I am not a huge fan of HRC, but it is HRC that is the lobby shop for the community in Washington, and that is involved in grassroots political work. When is the last thing that NGLTF did anything notable, on its own initiative, instead of taking "me too" credit primarily earned by HRC or a statewide organization?

If gays don't ask Gay Inc to justify themselves and their relevancy, who will?

Whipping Up Support: Folsom Fair Forum
Tonight at City Hall

(Just one golden reason why Folsom was so freaky and fine this year.)

There were a handful of complaints from prudes and anti-fun forces regarding nudity and public kink at the 2008 Dore and Folsom fairs, creating hassles for fair organizers and putting the fetish communities on the defensive. Organizers of the fairs, at the behest of many fair attendees, promised to hold a town hall to give us all a chance to, um, come together and discuss community engagement to make the fairs even more fabulous than they already are.

Last week, both Demetri Moshoyannis, head of Folsom Street Events, and Supervisor Bevan Dufty, send out announcements about the forum, which is at 6 pm this evening at City Hall in Room 305.

Not only is it fabulous to live in a city that hosts these two public fetish fairs that bring much consensual pleasure to hundreds of thousands of people, but it's also great that an open forum to foster dialogue between the community and city agencies responsible for the permits necessary to put on the fairs, is held at our beautiful City Hall.

From Demetri:

Hi, Michael! Here is the information about the event. We sent out a 5,000+ eblast about it and it's listed on our homepage too.

Community Feedback Meeting
Hosted by Supervisor Bevan Dufty

Folsom Street Events would like to hear from you about what makes our events so great and what would make them even better! There's no need to RSVP. Just stop by and listen or give us a piece of your mind. We hope to see you there!

From Bevan:

This Monday, November 23rd, I am co-hosting a public meeting with the organizers of Folsom Street to talk about the Street Fair. The meeting will take place at City Hall in Room 305 and begins at 6:00 pm.

I wanted to support the great work of Folsom Executive Director Demetri Moshoyannis and his hard-working volunteer Board while ensuring openness. So please come join us with your questions and concerns and we hope to have some social time after the meeting.

I can't wait to hear from the city representatives about how they'll work with fair organizers to make the 2010 events the best yet, and to also listen to the concerns of the kinksters. If you've got the time, show up to the meeting tonight and speak up for public kink on San Francisco streets.

Transgender Woman Burned to Death
in Italian Political Scandal

(Brenda, murdered transgender woman.
Photo credit: EPA.)

Yesterday was the 11th annual International Transgender Remembrance Day, a day to recall all the murdered and bashed trans-persons in the previous year. It was also the day the body of a Brazilian-born transgender woman, so far IDed as Brenda, was found in the Lazio region of Italy. Brenda was burned to death, and according to news reports, no suspect has been arrested in her death.

From Reuters:

A Brazilian transsexual caught up in a scandal which prompted the resignation of a senior Italian politician -- the center-left governor of Lazio region, which includes Rome -- was found burned to death in his home Friday. Police found a body following a fire in a basement flat in a neighborhood frequented by transsexual prostitutes and court sources said magistrates were treating the death as murder.

Forensic tests were expected to identify the remains as those of a transsexual known only as Brenda, police said.

Brenda and another Brazilian transsexual were at the center of a case involving the blackmail of former Lazio Governor Piero Marrazzo by four police officers who secretly filmed him having sex and taking drugs with one of the transsexuals. [...]

Marrazzo's lawyer Luca Petrucci told reporters Brenda's death was "really worrying news" and demanded police protection for the other transsexual in the case, who is known as Natalie.

Let us remember Brenda, and all of our other dead transgender brothers and sisters, this weekend, while we also fight for policies lessening discrimination against transgender people everywhere and stand in solidarity with them.