She Needed Her Butcher's Knife

I wasn't aware that such disgusting things happened outside of the movies anymore. But apparently in Sea Cliff, NY (of all places!), gay-bashing is still pretty common. And, of course, by "bashing," I mean "screaming anti-gay epithets, spitting on them and then beating them."

One of the women in a group who was asked to leave a bar over Labor Day weekend and then targeted because of their apparent homosexual tendencies is Josie Smith-Malave, a former contestant on Bravo's "Top Chef." Her straight sister, who was among those in the small group, was also spat upon and beaten. I'm sorry, but it's a sad day in New York state when the residents can't even stop the straight-on-straight hate?

As someone from a small town who would expect to hear of these things more often, I don't get a sense of this going on around here or in any part of the nation. I'm thankful for that. But at the same time, this sort of thing both surprises and sickens me even more when it happens. Shame on them.

The White House Using the Gay Smear

This happened several years ago, apparently, but I saw it in an article that Andrew Sullivan linked to about openly gay newscasters:

In 2003, [openly gay reporter Jeffrey] Kofman's honesty created something of a minor national incident in the U.S. After his World News Tonight report from Iraq on troop morale — which included one soldier calling for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld — Matt Drudge briefly printed the headline, "ABC News Reporter Who Filed Troops Complaint Story — Openly Gay Canadian," linked to an interview Kofman did with national gay magazine The Advocate. Drudge later claimed the story was slipped to him by an overeager White House staffer, presumably in a misguided attempt to discredit Kofman.

Misguided? Not by White House standards as we've seen the WH use smear tactics to discredit their detractors. What kills me about it is the cynicism...we know the Bushes themselves know gay people and treat them well - think Mary Cheney. We know the Republican Party elite don't have a problem working shoulder to shoulder with gays - the Foley scandal revealed several openly gay staffers at the highest levels. Hell, even Rick Santorum employed an openly gay communications director. And we saw GOP operative Rich Galen -- despite his personal, moderate views on homosexuality -- urging the GOP to play the gay card in the 06 election.

Maybe I'm just naive. But the hypocrisy and cynicism of this just leaves me appalled.

We Belong

"We Belong" is a documentary by a young man who was harrassed at school for being gay while school officials did nothing (except have him arrested at one point). From the documentary's Web site:

When C.J. Bills is gay bashed in the school locker room, then arrested for disorderly conduct because he protests to an administrator about the harassment he has experienced, he decides to fight back by making a documentary about discrimination. With his family’s help, he also initiates an investigation by the state human rights commission and shames the school district into developing an anti-bullying and diversity training program.

C.J.’s documentary project also leads him to Tim Dahle, a former high school student who challenged the years of anti-gay harassment he suffered in a neighboring town. In Tim’s case, the school district that failed to protect him agreed to one of the largest sexual harassment settlements in history, sending a signal to school districts around the country that such behavior can be costly.

You can view the short documentary video here.