Arizona Goddamn!

Yesterday I had to send a prayer up to my beloved Nina Simone and let her know that to Mississippi Goddamn...we now have to add Arizona.

First the Arizona legislature lost their goddamn minds by coming up with this heinous bill that actually makes it illegal to be an undocumented immigrant in Arizona (and, despite Supreme Court rulings to the contrary, basically directs the Arizona law enforcement officers to engage in blatant racial--and clothing--profiling). Secondly, facing an election year, Republican Jan Brewer, waiting until the last possible minute, steeled up her bright red ovaries and signed the bill into the law.

I expect legislators, especially white racist legislators in territory that legally belongs to Mexico and that has consistently violated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, to try and pull some fucked up shenanigans, but the fault for this bill becoming law lies squarely in the lap of that blocked headed creature of darkness called Jan Brewer.

Not only did she signed the damn bill, with a straight face, she said as she signed it, and I quote, "I will NOT tolerate racial discrimination or racial profiling in Arizona." (Emphasis is HERS and is included in the full text of her speech--the link to the full text is in the box at the bottom of the page).

I almost never ever use the following word in reference to a woman but...excuse me, bitch?

Jan Brewer just signed a law that explicitly makes being an undocumented immigrant in Arizona illegal. Already, we have heard about advice to police from California Rep. Bilbray suggesting that an undocumented immigrant can be identified by his or her clothes (read sombrero y chancletas). And, frankly, there are reams and reams of research that shows exactly that racial profiling is the ONLY way that law enforcement has used, outside of raids into particularly employers, to track and arrest undocumented immigrants. Again. Excuse me. Bitch.

And let me clarify my use of language. When you decide to demonize, demoralize, and establish laws to make a human being illegal (up to this point they were undocumented, now, in Arizona, undocumented immigrants are actually illegal) then you have no more sense than a common wild dog. If you act like a dog and raise your leg to piss on people, then you have earned the use of the term bitch as an apt noun and adjective to describe you.

Already there are calls to boycott Arizona. The Lakota and Ojibwe nations have released a poignant and beautiful statement establishing the rights of indigenous people from across Turtle Island to migrate as they wish as the borders themselves are illegal constructions created by an illegitimate occupying power that used genocidal practices to create their political and military hegemony. And even Shakira, today, has turned her ojos asi towards Arizona and rolled them so far up in her head that she can see her brain.

And, of course, GOP Chairman Michael Steele (who should, as my Mama used to say, be held up and have the black beaten off of him) along with other GOP turd faced pundits called President Obama's condemning of Arizona's idiocy "playing the race game."

This is a race game mother fuckers, and it was not started by President Obama or any other person of color in this nation, but I swear before God that we will finish it either by Malcolm's plan or Martin's, but the shit is on. Bitches.

Arizona goddamn.

(P.S. Just to be clear, if you ain't native...you are undocumented.)

Rookies versus Diablitos: Attack of Captain Prison Porn

Last weekend marked the official start of Summer. Don't look at me crossed eye bitches. Summer starts when the first softball is pitched in the opening game of the queer Summer softball season. Mother Nature is a drag queen, and she will not be denied.

On a beautiful sunny Saturday afternoon, the Ladies of the Rookies (and assorted cheer-wives) gathered at the newly renovated, highly sparkling, goose shit covered softball fields of Randall's Island. With hope in our hearts, we started off with a little practice on a field which amounted to a giant Port-a-Potty for the Canadian Water Fowl nation.

This year we are joined by two Nookies and on sNookie. Only two of the three were there, and I have not yet met our new Gaysian. I super duper heart both Scottie and Roy...and they both bring Super Secret Special Powers to our team. Roy has the power to mesmerize any man within two yards of his Shimmy Shake and Scottie has magic booty shorts that cause spontaneous orgasms when he rubs his stark albino white (yet firm and shapely) thighs together.

With these new magics added to our team, you would think we couldn't lose.

But we did. Twice.

This week we played the Diablitos (for those of you that are Spanishly challenged that translates to "Little Devils"). Los Diablitos had been in a lower division last year, but after he was discovered that they recruited half of their team from Yankees that had been suspended due to steroid use, they dropped out of the season last year and moved up a division this year. The game started off with a bang, and the Rookies scored a number of runs. At first, I thought we had the game in the bag. The opposing teams defense was about as firm as a roofied sorority girls at a sex offender special invitation taping of Girls Gone Wild.

Then we met their secret weapons: Latino the Hun and Captain Prison Porn. These two got up to bat and acted like they were offspring of Superman and the Bionic Woman. I bet they could both shoot lasers from their dicks and shit radioactive turds.

The worst was Captain Prison Porn. He was like 8 feet tall, probably had a 5 foot dick, go go gadget legs, was tatted to hell, and literally every time he hit the ball it landed on the far side of the neighboring softball field.

For those of you that are sports challenged, you are not allowed to position your outfielders on the pitching mound of the field behind you as that would be rude to the team playing on that field.

And we are all about manners.

Frankly, and I ain't afraid to say it, the other team should be ashamed of themselves. For real. Those two dudes could easily play in the highest division of our league, and we are smack dab in the middle. If I wanted to play with a Yankee, I would drape myself in needles full of anabolic steroids and have Roy teach me how to do the Man Shimmy.

In the end, we had fun, and we did mighty well considering the genetically engineered opposition. We had some awesome plays (and some not so awesome plays), and I learned to never listen to Reggie when he is coaching third base.

I can't wait until this weekend's games.

P.S. A special thank you to our cheer section which included two of my besties from Minnesota that were visiting us, Rodrigo and Nubia, as well as Scottie's Hotty Boyfriend Brendan (wife swap anyone?), my very own love David (pictures by him), the ever sexy Rich, and also a surprise visit from Dan's Mom, sister, and nephew!

They Tried To Make Me Go To Rehab...and I wrote Poetry

Well...I actually went to rehab...five years ago at the Pride Institute. Those of us that went to Pride and met each other there, often refer to it as our extended time at the spa. If only I had spent that five months getting facials, seaweed wraps, and Swedish massages by a man named Thor.

Instead I spent five months up to my ears in therapy, the 12 steps, meetings, relapse prevention classes, self reflection, and, I believe, I filled about five journals with thoughts, feelings, emotions, rants, raves, and poetry.

Anyone that claims to be a poet and insists that he or she is completely well adjusted, has never had a problem with any sort of mind altering substances, and/or comes from a functional family...is either lying or is an alien and should be reported to the Men in Black. Poetry is the way that marginally crazy people that have seen a little or a lot of the beauty in the ugliness of this world share what they have seen, felt, or experienced...in this waking world or in some other altered or dream reality. Poets go places that other people can't go or wouldn't survive if they went there.

The earliest recorded literature that still exists are epic poems. The stories of Gilgamesh, Beowulf, The Odyssey and The Illiad, fantastic tales written by folks...some of whom that didn't survive too well past publication of their works, yet live on, despite their personal struggles, in the beauty they left behind.

When I was at Pride, a friend of mine was graduating from the program, and I decided to write him a poem to express to him what his friendship meant and how he had touched my life during our time together. That one poem turned into a tradition during my stay at Pride. Soon, folks that were graduating were asking me if I would write a poem for them. Some of these people were folks that I can say with an almost 100% certainty had never voluntarily read a collection of poetry, gone to a reading, or could name more than five working, living poets. Yet, these same people saw something in poetry and something in poetry woke up something in them that made them want to be a part of it.

I am currently doing 9 hours of classes a week in what basically amounts to rehab refresher courses. There are people in the group sessions that have been sober for 13 years and there are folks that were using two days ago. Some are straight up kids, 18 years old, and just in or just dropped out of college. Some, like me, are professionals trying to keep ahead of their addictions, and others are grandmothers and grandfathers trying to make sure they are around to see their grandchildren grow up. Some people walk in that are obviously people of means and others are obviously working poor.

I see poetry in all of these people.

These rooms are filled with folks that come in with their pain, fear, anger hurt, joy, triumph, hope, inspiration, sadness, ambivalence, and frustration. Some have stories that make my struggles seem downright easy, and others have stories that are milder than my own, but each person, it is obvious, is in pain and that pain is real without needing to or being measured in severity against an other's. Some folks have managed to get on my damn nerves straight from the gate, but, I can say with all honesty, I love these people for the poetry in them. They are living, truly living, because they are struggling against their circumstances in a fight to LIVE differently.

In this city of millions, I watch people coast through life every day. I watch living automatons moving about their day, oblivious or sedated to the point of oblivion. I watch them do the same things, in the same way, each and every day. Rich or poor they have accepted what they have, without examination, or having examined where they are and what they have, they have chosen to make peace with stasis or at least have chosen the route of apathy.

I want to live, I want to grow, and when I leave this world, whenever that may be, I want to look back on it and say that I struggled against what needed to be overcome, accepted all the love that was freely offered, and returned love freely to those that needed it.

And so I write poetry, because it is the way that I love myself, love the people around me, and love the world. Openly, as honestly as I can at the moment when writing, and wishing only that someone, somewhere finds something in the words I write to help them live a poetic life of their own.

Dating Preferences/Racial Preferences

While I don't think that preferences in and of themselves are racist, I believe that how we come to many of our preferences are a product of the isms under which we live. As a young brown man growing up in Minneapolis, I was told, oh so many times, to my face...almost always by white men (though it was sadder when it came from brown men) that I was "cute," but he (the man in question) didn't do black, brown, dark men (and I am by no means dark, so I can't imagine what would have been said to a dark skinned black person).

Our standards of beauty are absolutely based in race and racism just as is our fetishism and what each individual finds attractive is crafted and shaped by those forces just as much as the messages they got at home and from family. Sometimes family and personal messages/community messages can counteract societal and media messages but not often and never completely.

And, frankly, though I am with a white man now, for five years I refused to date any white men because I understood that it was radical, in our society, to love a brown man...particularly when I came to understand that as a product of where I grew up, when I grew up, and the messages I received that I had been taught that brown/black/yellow wasn't beautiful unless it was exotified.

POETRY: Therapy I

For a clown
muting color
and avoiding notice
is a Herculean task

-Brandon Lacy Campos
-New York, NY
-April 14, 2010

POEM: Canis Familiaris

For Mimzy

Perched, she stares at me with challenging eyes
Like old Smaug on his stolen gold
It’s a challenge
to describe how she speaks without words
a sure touch to the leg
can mean so many things
depending on the tilt of her eyes
the heft of brows
the way she tests the air
but it always has meaning
even if I am sometimes too stupid to understand.

-Brandon Lacy Campos
-New York, NY
-13 April 2009

POETRY: Chardonnay

Cool she slips tartly
over my curled tongue
then boldly
this dryad sinks oaken roots
into the back of my throat
she slides
deftly fingering my soft palette
This is the closest to heterosexuality that I will ever come.

-Brandon Lacy Campos
-Bristol, CT
-12 April 2010

Rest in Peace Dixie Carter

I am a child of the 80s. Whenever that email forward comes around and lists 100 things from the 80s that should resonate with those that grew up in the 80s, I resonate with 115. From the Monchichis and the Smurfs to Different Strokes and Designing Women, I grew up in a time when all the world's problems were solved in 30 minutes by Mr. Drummond, Mrs. Garret, Mr. Huxtable, and the Golden Girls.

I grew up wishing desperately that I lived with M'am and George in a house with secret rooms and a hidden stairwell behind the grandfather clock in the living room. I reveled in the fact that Punky Brewster's dog's name was Brandon and my middle name was Brandon. I can still, to this day, sing the theme songs to just about every 1980s sit com, Saturday morning cartoon, after school cartoon, and children's show from Sesame Street to the Great Space Coaster. And in high school, when Bob Ross (aka the Channel 2 Art Guy...the white man with the Jewfro that drew happy trees) died...I went into three days of deep mourning.

But, other than Nell Carter, no TV female personality from the 1980s impacted my life more than Dixie Carter aka Julia Sugarbaker aka Mr. Drummond's wife and the mother of Sam on Different Strokes.

I have had three step-father's in my life in addition to my birth father. So when Mr. Drummond decided to remarry and brought a step-mom into the house, I finally felt like I had found a home on prime time television. Add to that the fact that Dixie Carter was as sassy as my own Mother and had a beautiful Southern accent like my Father, and it was love at first sight.

When Designing Women debuted, I was hooked. There was a black man on the show that I loved (Meshack Taylor), and it was four strong, independent, and funny women that took life by the balls and lived it according to their own desires. I watched my Mama doing the same thing, and I loved the show for validating her existence. Since birth, I have been drawn towards strong, sexy, independent, powerful femme women, and Dixie Carter was my goddess. And when the episode aired wherein Dixie stands up for her sister (Delta Burke...another favorite of mine)...I too knew why that Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia.

I know that Dixie was a conservative Republican, but the fact that she, in her art, addressed issues such as blended families, multi-cultural families, valuing ex-convicts, feminism, and sexuality...I can forgive her for being a product of her geography. No one will remember Dixie the Neo-Con, but everyone will remember the Designing Woman.

We lost a great actress and a strong woman yesterday, and I, for one, will always remember her fondly. Say hello to Bea Arthur for me, and do some dirty dancing with Patrick Swayze...one day we will all hang out, have a mint julep, and reminisce about the decade of Greed and the popular culture that forced America to start seeing some realities that it had tried to hide or deny for a very long time. Rest in peace, Dixie. I love you.

POETRY: Spring II

The young girl in the green dress asked the robin, "Have you seen an old man in a long white coat pass by?"

"Every year, but he hurries away just before I arrive," said the robin

She sighed warmly, "That's my grandfather."

-Brandon Lacy Campos
-Bristol, Connecticut
-10 April 2010

POETRY: Spring

Each curled green tongue
hesitantly licks
the reborn sky
quivering, reluctant
at first opening
the soft note
crescendos to an emerald chorus,
Spring.

-Brandon Lacy Campos
-On the train in Connecticut
-9 April 2010

Alfred C. Carey Prize in Spoken Word Poetry

Dear Friends:

I am happy to announce the first ever spoke word poetry award (really the first award ever) from My Feet Only Walk Forward.

The Alfred C. Carey Prize in Spoken Word Poetry will be awarded to a poet that demonstrates the power of spoken word to address issues of class, sexuality and race in a way that transcends rhetoric and creates movement.

The winner will receive $150, and the winning poem will be published at My Feet Only Walk Forward (www.myfeetonlywalkforward.blogspot.com). Two honorable mentions will also be named.

About the Prize:

Alfred C. Carey was a hard working man from Northern Minnesota. He worked in construction, specifically roofing, while raising a family of 8, including three children not biologically his own. He represented a series of beautiful and sometimes hard contradictions in race, class, and history. He also, without a vocabulary around race and sexuality, accepted all of his children and grandchildren for who they were without judgment. This award is named in the honor of my grandfather.

Rules:

You may submit up to three poems no longer than a combined total of six pages double spaced.

You may also submit audio recordings in CD format. The recordings should not exceed 9 minutes in length.

Along with your submission please include a cover page that states your: Name, Address, Telephone Number, Email Address, Website Address, and a brief biography of no more than 6 sentences.

ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE POSTMARKED BY JUNE 30, 2010. WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCE JULY 15, 2010.

Authors retain all copyright to their works, and if you would like samples returned, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope.

Make submissions to:

Alfred C. Carey Prize in Spoken Word Poetry
c/o Brandon Lacy Campos
462 W. 52nd Street #3N
New York, NY 10019

HIV, Criminal Conduct, and Reality

A man in Minnesota has been charged with willfully spreading HIV. According to the story and video clip, the man had sex with multiple partners, did not disclose his status, and at least one person has tested positive. In the cases in the video clipped, the man is NOT charged with rape, though I have heard from a friend of mine that he is charged with sexual assault from an earlier incident in February. While I am not going to comment on this man's guilt or innocence, I sure as hell am going to comment on the situation. The following blog post may seem a little disjointed, as I co

Did you listen to the story? Mike Freeman, Hennepin County Attorney, needs to check his facts. He said, "The man didn't have it [HIV] before, and a month later he did." Ummmm....any doctor will tell you that it takes, in general, a minimum of 3 months to have built up enough antibodies to detect HIV. Which means that the "victim" was having unprotected sex with more than just the accused.

Also, if the men were having unprotected sex with this guy and NOT asking his status, and there is no evidence that the dude lied, then it is not a leap to believe that they had unprotected sex with other men. How do they KNOW that this is the guy that transmitted HIV to them? Where the fuck is the responsibility on their end? Why is the blame/shame/burden always on the positive individual?

Also, were there drugs involved? I am going to go ahead and say most fucking likely. Regardless of the outcome, the accused's life is ruined.

As an HIV+ man that has struggled in the past with drug addiction, I can tell you that almost 99% of the time no one was asking anyone else about their HIV status when crystal meth was involved.

If you choose to have bareback sex then you CHOOSE the risk of contracting HIV. That choice is on you, the burden is on you, and the responsibility for the action is on YOU. Unless you can prove that you were RAPED or the sex was not consensual in some other way, the burden is on you. It was your choice to believe the man or to trust the man with your life, and now that you found out you made the wrong choice, you are going to lay the burden on someone else? BULLSHIT.

I am not perfect, but this case is more than just about the one dude (I hear that he is also charged with rape...that is another story all together)...but the precedent this will set if he is convicted on the spreading HIV charge as opposed to a rape charge is going to create such an overwhelming fear in positive people and a justified one...what if you don't disclose your status, you are having protected sex, and the condom breaks? Are you then a felon? What if you honestly believe you are HIV-, have unprotected sex, and then you find out you are after having infected someone else? Even your partner? Are you a felon? What if you and the party are both engaged in the use of illicit drugs....I am not perfect, and I carried a lot of guilt for a long time for my actions when actively using, but I will be damned if I carry the burden or the HIV+ community should carry the burden for the choices of others. It's just that simple, unfortunately the apparatus of the state and 20 years of fear mongering, gay baiting, and oppression are on the side of the Hennepin County attorney. And let's not forget that Mike Freeman is an elected official. The county attorney office led directly to the Senate for Amy Klobuchar. He is going to sensationalize this case as much as humanly possible to set himself up runs for hire office. The good tough attorney got this diseased predator off the street. What could be sweeter on the campaign trail?

I am curious to see what other cases Mike has made sure got into the paper? What other cases are on his case load? Why this case? Why this incident? I will tell you...H-I-V.

The continued stigmatization and scapegoating of positive people for the actions of negative people is based in shame and fear--the shame of the positive person that leads him or her to not disclose and the shame of the newly positive person that seeks to shed his shame by blaming everyone else for his HIV status except the person responsible: himself.

Let the witch hunts begin.

ObamaCare(s)

With passage of the legislation, Obama has achieved the signature domestic goal of his presidency, and the most sweeping piece of social legislation since the 1960s Great Society initiatives that saw the passage of Medicare and Medicaid.

-Karen Tumulty, Time Magazine

Mr. President, thank you for putting my current and future health as your top domestic priority.

Thank you for not giving up when Mr. Brown went to Washington. You went to the mat for the people of the U.S., and, for once, the people won.

Now your healthcare plan isn't perfect. It is not single payer universal. The Hyde amendment is still in full effect (banning the use of federal funds for abortion), and you gave a nod to the Devil (aka Rep. Stupak of Michigan) in order to get this deal through. While you didn't put any new restrictions on a woman's right to choose, you did not, however, broaden their ability to access safe reproductive services including abortion. And that is saddening.

You did, however, guarantee that 32 million people living in the United States will receive health care coverage. That still leaves us with 15 million undocumented residents that will need healthcare services. We need to cover those human beings too with no questions asked.

But you did what U.S. Presidents have tried to do since Teddy Roosevelt was in office: you created a healthcare system that will cover all U.S. citizens. Mil gracias, mi presidente. Mil gracias.

The critics are already out there wondering if this will hurt the Democrats in the mid-term elections. I am sure it will. Those who are brave enough to stand up for what is right when the wolves are howling for what is wrong, sometimes get bitten. But the truth and history will make victors of the temporarily defeated, and though you may lose some political ground after November, you have won a fight for justice, and that is worth more than controlling both houses of Congress.

Thank you President Obama.

(The following is a breakdown of the bill, it's cost, and an implementation timeline. This is taken from an article from CBS News)

Cost:

$940 billion over ten years.

Deficit:

Would reduce the deficit by $143 billion over the first ten years. That is an updated CBO estimate. Their first preliminary estimate said it would reduce the deficit by $130 billion over ten years. Would reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion dollars in the second ten years.

Coverage:

Would expand coverage to 32 million Americans who are currently uninsured.

Health Insurance Exchanges:

The uninsured and self-employed would be able to purchase insurance through state-based exchanges with subsidies available to individuals and families with income between the 133 percent and 400 percent of poverty level.
Separate exchanges would be created for small businesses to purchase coverage -- effective 2014.
Funding available to states to establish exchanges within one year of enactment and until January 1, 2015.
Subsidies:

Individuals and families who make between 100 percent - 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) and want to purchase their own health insurance on an exchange are eligible for subsidies. They cannot be eligible for Medicare, Medicaid and cannot be covered by an employer. Eligible buyers receive premium credits and there is a cap for how much they have to contribute to their premiums on a sliding scale.
Federal Poverty Level for family of four is $22,050

Paying for the Plan:

Medicare Payroll tax on investment income -- Starting in 2012, the Medicare Payroll Tax will be expanded to include unearned income. That will be a 3.8 percent tax on investment income for families making more than $250,000 per year ($200,000 for individuals).

Excise Tax -- Beginning in 2018, insurance companies will pay a 40 percent excise tax on so-called "Cadillac" high-end insurance plans worth over $27,500 for families ($10,200 for individuals). Dental and vision plans are exempt and will not be counted in the total cost of a family's plan.

Tanning Tax -- 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services.

Medicare:

Closes the Medicare prescription drug "donut hole" by 2020. Seniors who hit the donut hole by 2010 will receive a $250 rebate.

Beginning in 2011, seniors in the gap will receive a 50 percent discount on brand name drugs. The bill also includes $500 billion in Medicare cuts over the next decade.
Medicaid:

Expands Medicaid to include 133 percent of federal poverty level which is $29,327 for a family of four.
Requires states to expand Medicaid to include childless adults starting in 2014.
Federal Government pays 100 percent of costs for covering newly eligible individuals through 2016.
Illegal immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid.
Insurance Reforms:

Six months after enactment, insurance companies could no longer denying children coverage based on a preexisting condition.
Starting in 2014, insurance companies cannot deny coverage to anyone with preexisting conditions.
Insurance companies must allow children to stay on their parent's insurance plans through age 26.

Abortion:

The bill segregates private insurance premium funds from taxpayer funds. Individuals would have to pay for abortion coverage by making two separate payments, private funds would have to be kept in a separate account from federal and taxpayer funds.
No health care plan would be required to offer abortion coverage. States could pass legislation choosing to opt out of offering abortion coverage through the exchange.
**Separately, anti-abortion Democrats worked out language with the White House on an executive order that would state that no federal funds can be used to pay for abortions except in the case of rape, incest or health of the mother. (Read more here)

Individual Mandate:

In 2014, everyone must purchase health insurance or face a $695 annual fine. There are some exceptions for low-income people.
Employer Mandate:

Technically, there is no employer mandate. Employers with more than 50 employees must provide health insurance or pay a fine of $2000 per worker each year if any worker receives federal subsidies to purchase health insurance. Fines applied to entire number of employees minus some allowances.
Immigration:

Illegal immigrants will not be allowed to buy health insurance in the exchanges -- even if they pay completely with their own money.

Nigger

It's an easy walk from the word Negro to Nigger. As a matter of fact, some white folks gleefully skip from one to the other, which is why, frankly, I have now decided that Negro needs to be banned from the public conversation as well.

Here's what changed my mind: yesterday, as Civil Rights Movement veteran and friend of Martin Luther King Jr., Congressman Lewis was leaving the Cannon Office building, Tea Bagger protesters gathered outside of the building started chanting kill the bill, nigger.

Let me repeat myself in case you missed that.

WHITE Tea Bagger protesters started shouting at a man that had his skull broken by police in Selma, Alabama, "KILL THE BILL, NIGGER." And they did so in chorus while spitting on Congressman Cleaver from Missouri, another member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

But wait....there's more...the same protesters saw Massachusetts Representative Barny Frank and greeted him with a rousing refrain of FAGGOT.

Don't believe me? Here is a link to an article written by my acquaintance John Nichols from The Nation.

Here's a report from McClatchy Newspapers.


Even Fox News deigned to report on this issue. Though you will note they declined to actually use the words that were hurled at the members of Congress, which, I find, suspect.

Republican Uncle Tom Chairman Michael Steele had the nerve to condemn the actions of these Tea Baggers without declaring a complete and total break from the "Tea Party Movement." How many more racist incidents have to happen before it becomes unconscionable for Republicans of any stripe (well any stripe short of Dixiecrats and the resurrection of Strom Thurmond) to associate or accept any sort of support from these racist individuals?

How many more racist incidents will have to happen before the "leadership," of the Tea Baggers call off the entire fucking parade because their rank and file are RANK and firing hateful slurs at members of Congress doing their jobs and working to provide support for the American people? Tea Baggers overwhelmingly identify as fundamentalist Christian, and the Bible commands that we provide the most for the least, and yet when members of Congress are seeking to lift up and provide healthcare for the least of the least of Americans, they buck their Christianity and become rabid fascist brown shirts.

How long before some Tea Bagger assassinates a member of Congress or takes aim at the President or First Family? Is that what it is going to take before people wake up and recognize these people for the threat they are? What are the FBI and Homeland Security doing about these domestic terrorists? Are these people on No Fly lists? Is Janet Napolitano using her wire tapping powers to monitor the conversations of the Tea Bagger leadership? These are the questions I want answered before someone is murdered by these selfish, hateful, self-absorbed, over privileged white people.

The Tea Bagger movement is racist. It is fascist. It is corrupt. And the Republican Party needs to be pulled down and ripped apart for continuing to accept the "grassroots" support of these rabid jackasses.

And truthfully, I feel sorry for the Republican Party.

Yesterday, I was sitting at the home of a New York lawmaker, and I got to know the young queer Republican that ran against him in the last election. This young man was sweet, articulate, and genuine. Though we did not talk politics, my guess is that he is one of those old school Republicans that simply wants smaller government, fewer taxes and a business friendly climate. There were Republicans, once upon a time, that believed that Civil Rights were not antithetical to their world view, and this young man was one of them. Unfortunately, his party has gone so far past that common sense and compassionate point that it simply can not be pulled back by a few well meaning good hearted Republicans trying, desperately, at the edges to bring Republicanism back to its roots.

It's time for moderate, good hearted Republicans to break off, form their own party, and let the rest of the rabid hate mongers that consistently show their asses on the national stage crash, burn, and die in a bonfire ignited by their own stupidity and hatred.

And to close, I will quote my dear friend Stacey Parshall Jensen, "I'll head east and take it to the street because my wish for health care reform, for ending the war, for cuttting taxes, for education reform, for giving the middle-class a break, for ending discrimination against women, gays, and folks of color, and for helping the poor all in the name of the FREAKIN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS DOES NOT MAKE ME A NIGGER. Shoot. The old Black lady in me has spoken."

The old black lady in you has spoken for me too.

Negro

So, like many Americans, I was tickled to death to see the word NEGRO on my Census form. Ten years ago, when I filled out my first Census form as an adult, the word Negro was not on the form. Now...all 10 questions on the Census form are approved by an act of Congress. Setting aside the stupid and ridiculous red tape that must have gone into actually getting 535 members (or, at the very least, a majority of those 535 members) to agree on 10 questions for a form (only in the US of A), where the hell was the Congressional Black Caucus when this question came up?

I mean, I know, for example, that the entire CBC is not made up of 75 year old black men from Georgia. For example, the Congressman that represents Minnesota's 5th District aka Minneapolis is Keith Ellison...a young black man that is also Congresses first Muslim Representative. Was Keith absent the day that they debated those 10 questions? Was there some "Back to Negro" movement that I missed out in the last 10 years? I know on first glance I don't necessarily appear as the most niggerish of Negroes, but even as a stealth Blacky, I still tend to know at least any major movements/issues/discussions going on within the black community. Did Kwame call up the Census Bureau and say that his great-grandma was mad that Negro had been taken off the form in 1970 and wanted it back? Maybe Maya Angelou, old and fierce as she is, wrote a poem called "On The Pulse of the Negro," and it created an intense but narrow movement to bring back the word Negro.

Negro. Negro. Negro.

I can't stop saying that damn word.

Negro.

See...there I go again.

Really...I am not offended at all by the use of the word Negro on the Census form, but I am, perhaps overly, amused by it and a little confused. Is there an enclave of Black folks in America that neither recognize that the word "black" and the words "African American," are referring to them? I can TOTALLY see if the word "black" were omitted as there are many many many black non-African-Americans in the United States. The word black, for me, indicates everyone of African descent no matter their country of origin...so black Puerto Ricans, black Brazilians, and Africans living in America are all encompassed in the word black, but African-American covers, nicely, all those not covered by black. Negro just seems like an archaic redundancy and perhaps a misguided attempt by the Census Bureau to make Michelle and Barack Obama feel welcome and included in Washington.

Negro.

I'm just saying.

Theater Review-- Yank!: A World War II Love Story

The hardest part of seeing the play Yank! was finding the York Theater. Tucked away in the basement of the Church of St. Peter on 54th and Lexington, the street numbers magically jump from 601 to 649 Lexington, leaving this theater-goer at a loss to find 619 Lexington.

But do not fret, the theater is in the basement of the beautiful St. Peter's, and though I loathe the Upper East Side, I would make the pilgrimage to see Yank! every single night if my theater budget would allow me to do so.

This show was phenomenal.

The story opens with a young, presumably queer, man that has found an old journal in a junk shop in San Francisco. The journal chronicles the love story of Stu and Mitch, two men that find love at the height of World War II. Dealing with issues of war, sexuality, race, and cultural tropes all set to hilarious and sometimes poignant original musical numbers, Yank pulls at your heart strings and plays the audience like the cello hidden offstage.

The story is focused on the two main characters Mitch and Stu. Mitch, played by the lamentably straight but oh so gorgeous Ivan Hernandez, and Stu played by the presumably (and hopefully) queer Bobby Steggert, are well rounded characters brought to vibrant life by these gifted actors. I saw Bobby Steggert in the recent, and now sadly defunct, production of Ragtime on Broadway. He wowed in Ragtime, and he blew me away in this production. But, even with stellar performances by Hernandez and Steggert, the show was completely stolen by Nancy Anderson, the sole femme (though most assuredly not the only femme) in the production. Nancy played half a dozen or more female characters throughout the show from a plucky USO girl and a sultry blues singer to General MacArthur's right hand lesbian wo(man). And each time she took the stage a great production became brilliant. I will literally see that woman perform in anything she does from now on whether it be a shampoo commercial or a Roger Corman film. She was a phenom and her voice gave me goose bumps.

In the end, the cast included laudable performances by Jeffrey Denman (Artie) to the bubbly and infectious Pole played by Tally Sessions. The fact that this show brings back tap, evoking old time movies starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kay, makes this lover of Savion Glover, a happy camper.

This show, mark my words, will be going to Broadway. And it is a success that the Zellnick Brothers, David and Joe, rightfully deserve. My only complaint is that I had the opportunity to meet David after the show last night, but he was coming in from out of town, and he wasn't going to arrive until nearly midnight, and this writer was already dead on his feet.

Thank you to Bill Martin for making this show happen for me last night. And to the rest of you, GO AND SEE YANK! It is running at the York Theater until March 21, 2010.

For showtimes and more information on the show, including additional reviews, check out the Yank! Website.

PS Yank was actually a magazine published by the Army during World War II, and actual pages from Yank were posted on the walls of the reception area of the theater. Included in some of the pages posted was a picture of my hometown, Minneapolis, from the 1940s. Kismet I tell you.

My AIDS...a Comedy by Daniel Horrigan

MY AiDS
TO BENEFIT SEVERAL LGBT ORGANIZATIONS

Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids,
Anti-Volence Project, Hetrick-Martin Institute, Men’s Sexual Health Project, Trinty Place Shelter, Gay Men’s Health Clinic and the Ali Forney Center

The 30th Street Theater
February 13 - March 1

At Hand Theatre Company (Justin Scribner, Executive Director) announces that its production of Dan Horrigan’s MY AiDS will benefit several LGBT organizations at each performance.

Hetrick-Martin Institute February 14th
The Hetrick-Martin Institute creates a safe and supportive environment in which LGBTQ youth, ages 12 to 21, can reach their full potential. Through a comprehensive package of innovative and creative after-school programs, supportive services, and referrals, Hetrick-Martin, with its experienced professional staff, is a leader in caring for our most vulnerable at-risk youth. We are also host to the Harvey Milk High School, an inclusive voluntary New York City public high school focusing on the educational needs of children who are in crisis or at risk of physical violence and/or emotional harm in a traditional educational environment.

Anti-Violence Project February 15th
The New York City Anti-Violence Project is dedicated to eliminating hate violence, sexual assault, stalking, and domestic violence in LGBTQ and HIV-affected communities through counseling, advocacy, organizing, and public education. The New York City Anti-Violence Project was founded in 1980 in reaction to neighborhood incidents of anti-LGBT violence and the failure of the criminal legal system to respond. AVP remained an all-volunteer organization until 1984, when the first full-time Executive Director was hired. With the addition of full-time staff, AVP was able to broaden its services to provide professional counseling to victims and survivors of hate violence. AVP also began expanding our work beyond bias-motivated violence to include services for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and HIV-related violence. Today, AVP provides free and confidential assistance to thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and HIV-affected (LGBTQH) people each year from all five boroughs of New York City.

Men's Sexual Health Project February 20th
Bellevue Hospital Center and NYU School of Medicine now offer free, confidential testing for HIV and sexually transmitted infections at two bathhouses for men who have sex with men in New York City. This innovative project, under the direction of Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, combines the Bellevue clinical service of HIV testing with NYU research in sexually transmitted infections and prevention. Accesible testing hours and a judgment-free environment streamline the availability of testing for infections impacting our community. The Men's Sexual Health Project offers the following on a walk-in basis: Rapid HIV antibody testing, with results available in 20 minutes, HIV PCR/viral load testing to identify recent HIV infections, Testing for sexually transmitted infections, including Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, and Syphilis, and Risk reduction counseling with a doctor or trained HIV counselor.

Trinity Place Shelter February 21st
Trinity Place Shelter is a non-sectarian, 10-bed transitional shelter that is open all year to provide LGBTQ youth with a safe place to sleep, eat, store belongings, and have access to transportation. Through strong local community partnerships, we are able to provide access to comprehensive medical services, case management, education, career counseling, art classes and mental health services. All youth referred to Trinity Place have been identified as interested in, or are actively seeking, employment or schooling. We provide a unique, family-like environment where the youth receive the respect, individualized care, and basic services so often denied them. There are as many as 10,000 LGBTQ youth currently living homeless in NYC and only 250 beds or fewer that are specifically available for this population. These youth often experience abuse in other shelters. Our goal is to expand our program to provide homeless LGBTQ youth with the basic services and skills necessary to make independent living a reality, and to make a positive difference for as many as possible in the midst of this crisis.

GMHC February 22nd
GMHC is the world’s first and leading provider of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and advocacy. To end the AIDS epidemic, we need comprehensive solutions that promote education, increase awareness, improve care, reduce stigma, elevate policy and build strong, supportive communities. Whether it’s getting tested, living with HIV/AIDS, succeeding at home and work or elevating our voice for policy change, we provide answers that give hope. We understand the root causes of the disease and take a holistic approach to care — from medical treatment and counseling to legal services and job placement — that promotes total well-being for your whole life. We help you develop meaningful relationships within the GMHC community, receive support and give back to others along the way, so you feel a sense of confidence and pride that empowers your life on your terms. AIDS is not over. In fact, awareness is down as new infections are up — including among women, people of color and men who have sex with men. The roots of the epidemic are wide and deep, from stigma and misinformation to the increasing cost of care. At GMHC, we believe we can end the epidemic by addressing the underlying causes, shifting cultural beliefs and promoting smart behaviors that empower a healthy life for all of us. In 1981, six men united against fear and death from a disease then known as the Gay Men’s Health Crisis. The group set up an answering machine in the home of Rodger McFarlane and the first AIDS hotline was born — receiving over 100 calls the first night. Today, GMHC continues to pioneer HIV prevention, care and advocacy. Fight AIDS. Love Life. Since before AIDS had a name and until the epidemic is over, GMHC will continue to fight AIDS and love life.

The Ali Forney Center February 28th
As the visibility of LGBT people grows in our society, more and more LGBT teens are finding the courage to come out of the closet. Tragically, as many as 25% of these teens are rejected by their families, and many end up homeless on the streets. Homeless LGBT teens are more likely than straight homeless teens to be subjected to violence on the streets, and in the homeless shelter system. They suffer from inordinate rates of mental illness, trauma, HIV infection and substance abuse. The Ali Forney Center (AFC) was started in June of 2002 in response to the lack of safe shelter for LGBT youth in New York City. We are committed to providing these young people with safe, dignified, nurturing environments where their needs can be met, and where they can begin to put their lives back together. -- Ali Forney was a homeless queer teen who was forced to live on the streets of New York during the 1990s. Ali was dedicated to the safety of other homeless queer youth; he was a committed HIV prevention worker, and aggressively advocated that the NYPD investigate a series of murders of the homeless queer youth he had befriended. Ali was an inspiration to those who knew him. In December of 1997, Ali was murdered on the streets. His tragic death called attention to the atrocious conditions for homeless LGBT youth in New York. Ali's murderer has never been identified.


Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS March 1st
BC/EFA is one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 BC/EFA has raised over $175 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States. BC/EFA is the major supporter of seven programs at The Actors’ Fund - including The AIDS Initiative, The Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative, The Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic, The Dancers’ Resource and three supportive housing residences. BC/EFA also awards annual grants to over 400 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide.

My Aids a comedy will run February 13 – March 1 and is set to open February 15 at The 30th Street Theater (259 West 30th Street). Dave Solomon (NYMF’s Marrying Meg) will direct the 80-minute solo comedy
Synopsis
Armed with only his wit, storyteller Dan Horrigan does battle with evil bosses, loses true love, and confronts being HIV positive... all while searching for the perfect set of kitchenware! With humor and candor, he shares his story about grappling with growing up and accepting himself.

Best known for POP!, their annual production of short plays, At Hand Theatre Company has previously presented the plays Lila Cante, One Nation Under, Silence!, Trickster at the Gate and Cake and Plays...But Without the Cake

MY AiDS plays February 13 through March 1
Saturdays at 10:30pm;
Sundays and Mondays at 7pm at The 30th Street Theater (259 West 30th Street)
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by phone at (212) 868-4444 or online at www.smarttix.com .


www.AtHandTheatre.com
Dan Horrigan

Raise My Taxes Please!

A brilliant woman that I do not know half as well as I would like, but I do love and appreciate for her work supporting queer families, Betty Tisel, posted on her Facebook page a status that read

I was thinking about Republicans today - and the tea partiers — and I was thinking that they have FREEDOM and GREEDOM mixed up — please speak up if you disagree. I love good infrastructure and the only way we have good infrastructure is with taxation. BRING IT ON.

I totally agree with Betty, and more than that, I have always maintained that I am delighted to pay out most of my earned income in taxes if I have a short list of 10 things guaranteed by the federal government.

Let me state publicly that if the U.S. government in partnership with the states and local municipalities can guarantee the following 10 items, I will gladly pay out 80% of my income in taxes, and I will do so with a smile:

1) Anyone in the United States regardless of status would receive full and free healthcare including unlimited mental health care including drug/alcohol treatment,

2) An extensive mass transit system in every major metropolitan that was quick and affordable including FREE transportation for the homeless and the working poor,

3) Rapid rail lines connected every major metropolitan region of a state AND bullet trains in between major metropolitan areas from state to state connecting the entire nation in a web of super fast/green travel,

4) Free, quality, elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education through the PhD level (with every school receiving even a single federal dollar required to enact a decision making structure, including financial decision making, with equal representation from community and school based constituencies: students, instructors, professional staff, union staff, administrators, and representatives from the geographical locale in which the school is located),

5) Federally guaranteed maternity and paternity leave, for each parent or a guardian of the parents choice, with two months fully paid salary with the cost to be split between the federal and state governments with a 1/3 covered by the employer.

6) During recessions or other economic emergencies anyone that loses his or her job would immediately qualify for state funded re-training in a new vocational field OR a new post-secondary degree in a field substantially different than his or her original and/or one full year of unemployment payments for any employee that wishes to remain in his or her field of choice but is let go from a position for anything short of willful malfeasance that would qualify as materially damaging to the organization/company or is punishable as a criminal/civil offense,

7) A minimum livable wage requirement with mandatory cost of living adjustments AND merit pay increases except when a company could prove to a labor relations board comprised ENTIRELY of wage workers and union representatives that it would be an undue burden to the company to increase wages (also, in any year that a company has laid off workers, executives in that company would be banned from any level of bonuses including long term stock options,

8) Any military expenditure would have to be matched dollar for dollar by domestic entitlement, federal grants to nonprofit organizations, block grants to states, aid to local governments, and social safety network spending that directly supported the lives and well being of U.S. residents specifically excluding now and forever abstinence only education programs,

9) Long term low interest or no interest loans for first time working class home buyers REGARDLESS of credit history as long as a steady income stream is proven and has been maintained for at least two years, and

10) A constitutional amendment to ban anyone from public office for all time that voted for, is related to, or ever had a relaxing dinner at home with anyone connected to the Bush family. (I am willing to be flexible on this one).

Raise My Taxes Please!

A brilliant woman that I do not know half as well as I would like, but I do love and appreciate for her work supporting queer families, Betty Tisel

A Prediction

Call me Miss Cleo or believe that I am channeling the spirit of the now deceased Zelda Rubenstein (aka Tangina) but I have a feeling that some shit is about to break off up in this piece sometime very soon.

We got angry white men flying airplanes into IRS buildings and the media refuses to call it what it is: Terrorism (fucking racism)

We have angry ass white men in Tennessee calling for a return to Jim Crow (fucking teabaggers).

We have an angry white woman in Washington State calling for the lynching of U.S. Senator Pat Murray (more fucking teabaggers)

Finalists are being eliminated from American Idol for shenanigans and skulduggery (fucking FOX)

And I got the shits.

Oh yeah...something real is about to break off up in this piece.

Obama has reached up inside himself, grabbed his nuts, and pulled them out of his abdomen and is letting the Republicans have it.

The Republicans are firing back a full 41 gun salute in the Senate (damn you Massachusetts). And Nancy Pelosi is off getting Botox when she should be in Harry Reid's office slamming his forehead into his desk.

And Carnie Wilson has gained all that weight back that she lost from gastric bypass surgery.

The world is going straight to hell.

The good news is that the economy has rebounded, some. And I know a lot of gay boys in finance that are making money hand over fist or fist inside anus, however you want to phrase it.

But even with that...my Spidey Sense tells me that something for real for real is going to break off this week. Something unexpected or perhaps some shit we should have expected but thanks to a gaff by the CIA, NSC, FBI and PBS we are going to be caught with our pants down, our cheeks spread, and a baby Jesus butt plug in some hard to explain places.

Call me Nostrahomodamus....but grab your implants boys and girls...we are in for some real shit, really soon.