Can't wait to see Van Sant's 'Milk'...

Holiday movie season is upon us. For a cinephile like myself, the onslaught of great (or at least the best the Hollywood studios can pump out every year-end) movie releases makes the earlier sundowns and colder temperatures easier to bear.

I can't wait to see director Gus Van Sant's 'Milk,' with Sean Penn, James Franco and Josh Brolin, chronicling the life of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. Milk, along with then-San Francisco mayor George Moscone, were assassinated by fellow politician Dan White a year later, in a case that coined the phrase, 'The Twinkie defense'.

Opening this week,initial reviews have been strong. Already, there is talk that Penn's achievement playing Harvey Milk will land him another Oscar nomination and perhaps his second Best Actor award. But it's early yet and movie awards season is just taking shape.

Milk's arrival on big screens coincides with the aftermath of California's recent passage of Proposition 8. The film, itself, delves into a similar California referendum in 1978 that would've banned gay and lesbian teachers and Milk's efforts to defeat it.

If you don't know much about Harvey Milk, I'd recommend a viewing of the extraordinary 1984 feature documentary, 'The Times of Harvey Milk', which won the Academy Award for best documentary feature.

Please expect a review from me of 'Milk' very soon.

Oshawa attack reminds us of our collective, tragic histories...

Much has already been written by other bloggers on this terrible incident involving a lesbian couple attacked last week in Oshawa in front of their son.

My heart goes out to Jane Currie and Anji Dimitriou. For anyone who doubts that virulent homophobia isn't still a major problem in Canada, please remember this incident. This kind of violent attack is merely the most extreme form of homophobia going on out there. Taunts, homophobic slurs, sneers, rude comments, you name it, are still commonplace in most parts of Canada.

It's truly sad. It makes me angry at writers like Barbara Kay in the National Post who continue to say that the LGBT community has no shared commonalities or history, no common tragedies that bind us together like other "legitimate" minorities. Bruce had a lovely response to Kay's words on the weekend (it was his post that alerted me to Kay's column, as I don't normally read the National Post on a daily basis if I can help it.)

Last week, Kay wrote: "African-Americans, Jews, aboriginals, the Roma people and other historically disadvantaged ethnic or racial groups experience their collective memory through the narratives they inherit from their parents and grandparents and ancestors. Indeed, they are a true identity group because they have a collective history and common memories. The sufferings they endured are directly related to who they are historically, to characteristics and events they cannot change, to their skin colour and bloodlines, to the deeds of their ancestors. Where is their commonality with individuals disconnected from the great chain of human history, whose "identity" isn't a culture, an ethnicity, a race or a civilization - just a mere sexual preference that rules out both a collective past and a collective future, the sine qua nons of a true identity group."

Yes, sadly, LGBT people don't usually learn about historic injustices committed against gays and lesbians from their parents. No, we have to seek out our history on our own, usually in isolation and confusion. In fact, I would argue that it's that sense of youthful isolation from the mainstream (and even our own families), often initially leading to despair, and sometimes eventually followed by the experience of "coming out of the closet" that binds the LGBT community. Most of us share in these experiences and are profoundly changed forever by them. I remember quite fondly the friends I made after I came out, sharing stories of the closet and the joys of finally being true to oneself.

When we hear about a lesbian couple getting bashed in Oshawa, the entire community feels their anguish and anger. We don't need to have children to pass along our history (although it obviously helps), it lives in other ways: through art, through literature, through spoken word and collective memories and culture, through LGBT organizations dedicated to chronicling the LGBT experience for future generations. I'd recommend that Barbara Kay, if she purports to be a fair journalist, make a visit to the Canadian Lesbian Gay Archives and do a little learning before she publishes again on this subject.

What constitutes an identifiable group worthy of protection from discrimination in law and hate-inspired violence? Well, if the group has historically been targeted (because of how they looked or talked or dressed or kissed, etc) for discrimination in law, hatred, harassment and/or violence, that's about it, as far as I'm concerned. Heck if that community is still being targeted today for hatred and violence, we constitute a legitimate group worthy of specific protection. Take that, Barbara Kay!

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann weighs in on Prop 8, marriage and love...

The great Keith Olbermann has a new fan in me, I must say. Even if you've long made up your mind on the issue of equal marriage, have a listen to Olbermann's great commentary on the subject. I've never watched Olbermann's show on MSNBC, but that will have to change.

It's truly sad that, based simply on some exit polls in California, that African-Americans are being "blamed" for the passage of Proposition 8. On this point, I have a couple of comments: one, it seems that the pro-equality folks failed to adequately reach out to ethnic minority communities in California during the campaign, as this commentary makes clear. Two, this isn't about race, it's about religion.

On my first point, there's no doubt that the lily white nature of most LGBT organizations and campaigns needs to change if our movement is going to broaden its support. Luckily, in Canada, we don't put minority rights to majority votes (at least yet.) Sadly, as long as America remains drunk on democracy, these kind of referenda will continue to be fought. Thus, the simple intellectual argument in favour of full equality isn't going to cut it.

I read earlier this week about an African-American man who voted for Proposition 8 who was quoted saying that the gay experience is nothing like the African-American experience as blacks are "born that way," while gays "choose" to be gay. This ignorance of the truth of queer life is astonishing. There's no doubt that the lying bigots who make up establishment religion in America and elsewhere have been successful promoting the myth that gays choose to be gay.

GAYS ARE BORN THAT WAY!

What's needed now is a greater effort among all LGBT people, especially LGBT people of colour, to educate their communities about the truth of their lives so fewer straights, like the one I mentioned above, cling to the lie that homosexuality is not a natural part of the human condition. And we also need to ensure that our movement stops being so lily white and does a better job of walking the "inclusive" talk we often preach.

Fighting back in California against bigotry...

I can imagine how angry many LGBT citizens must feel in California or Arizona or Florida or anywhere else in the United States right now. Voting to exclude gays and lesbians from the lifetime commitment, responsibility and benefits of civil marriage is nothing more than pure bigotry that has no place on this Earth! Supporters of equality held a rally last night in Santa Monica. The following article was sent to me by activist blogger Julie Phineas at Lez Get Real and I thought I'd re-post it here verbatim:

Lez Get Real's own contributors were at the Prop. 8 Protest Rally held in Santa Monica, CA earlier tonight.

Streets were closed in the area to accommodate the gathering. Here is what happened at that rally, as reported to me via text message from p.Johanna:

"There was a reverend speaking and also another woman, who said this is a human rights issue. The crowd was really hyped. They said we need to stay angry! We need to keep going against Prop. 8 and towards civil rights and equality in the U.S. The crowd cheered in unison 'Yes we can! Yes we can!' They said we shouldn't be violent, but that we should work together to not be at the back of the bus anymore. The crowd yelled 'Equal rights! Equal rights! News channels began to arrive and it seemed like they didn't know this event was happening. A call was issued to march on the Mormon Temple at 10777 Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles at 2pm tomorrow November 6th. Bring your signs and video cameras.

Jerry Brown the State Attorney spoke saying that the marriages performed between June and yesterday are still valid. They are fighting for us and it's a legal mess. They are working around the clock on this. Jerry Brown says that we need to walk together, to walk in solidarity. The crowd yelled together 'Yes we can! Yes we can!'.

Javier Angulo called for a Chicano clap. The crowd yelled 'Si se puede! Si se puede!'. A helicopter flew overhead, and the crowd cheered at it. Javier Angulo quotes Martin Luther King Jr. saying that he had a dream and Obama made part of that dream come true. He says that now our fundamental rights have been infringed upon, but hold onto hope - all the votes have not been counted. Regardless, he said to take pride in achieving social justice. He said that the Latino community is often overlooked, and that Latinos value social justice. He says we have an ally. At that point everyone, even other nationalities chanted 'Si se puede! Si se puede!'. The helicopter shined its light on the crowd. He said they were shining the light on discrimination.

At that point, the woman began to speak again and said that bigotry is not only here, but in Arkansas, Arizona and Florida, but said that years to come the people who voted Yes on Prop 8 and in the other States will be ashamed of themselves. The crowd cheered 'Shame! Shame!'. She said that we are on the right side of history. Now, we're mad. And when we get mad, we work harder and we work smarter. The opposition will wish they didn't mess with us. At that, the crowd went crazy. I would often hear, 'TAX THEM! TAX THEM!'

She continued by saying that if we look at Prop. 22 we lost by a higher margin. This time we were within 5 points. That is enormous progress. The crowd yelled 'Not enough! Not enough!'. They were very angry! She went on to say that we make a promise to our opponents that we will gain our rights back, and we will crush discrimination. She said don't lose heart; use this as a push; don't give up... vow to continue the fight. She said to talk to everyone you know and tell them why the vote was wrong and how it was wrong from the start. Tell them how the majority was tyrannical to the minority, she continued. Tomorrow we will march on the Mormon Temple. The crowd cheered. The emphasis seems to be against the Mormons, and to fight against them. The crowd cheered in unison 'Equal rights! Equal rights!' There was a sign next to me that said 'You can't amend love.'

At that point she told us the rally was over. She said that tonight do not take it to the streets. We aren't taking it to our streets, she continued, tomorrow we take it to theirs."

Impolitical has a great post on this issue too today.

Land of the heterosexual free...

Like most queers, I have bittersweet feelings following last night's historic win by Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential election.

Of course, I'm elated that a great man will now occupy the highest office in the world. The message sent to all by electing an African-American man named Barack who opposed the Iraq war will have profound significance and change the world. I wish him and his team the best of luck as they begin the battle to put America back on its feet.

But yesterday's votes in a handful of states on the issue of gay rights were a major blow to equality and freedom yesterday. While Obama's victory shows that Americans are turning the page on their Republican/war-mongering/racist/neo-conservative economic past, they appear to be regressing badly when it comes to their queer brothers and sisters.

California narrowly voted 52% to ban same sex marriage in the state.. This could reverse all of those beautiful expressions of lifetime devotion we witnessed thousands of gay couples make this summer. The state's attorney general, Jerry Brown, has said those marriages will remain valid, although legal challenges are possible.

Furthermore, anti-gay measures in Arizona, Florida and Arkansas were passed by the requisite margins. Glancing at various other ballot measure results from last night, it appears that heterosexual Americans did very well for themselves, like in California where they even failed to approve a social conservative measure that would've forced teenage girls to get parental permission before obtaining a legal abortion. Or in Michigan where medical marijuana was approved.

But sadly, Americans seem to be in no mood to embrace equality based on sexual orientation. Very sad, indeed. Obama himself refused to support equality, saying instead gays should be contented with less-than-equal civil unions. So while heterosexuals in California will continue to drink from the fountain of marriage, gays will have to contend with the lesser tap around back for a while yet, it seems.

Exit polls in California showed Proposition 8 was most favoured by African-American voters, while Whites were largely opposed and Latinos divided. Today, those same African-American voters are undoubtedly elated at finally breaking through with an historic win in the Presidency. I very much share their joy at this symbolic victory. Racism is evil and Obama's win last night is huge in the ongoing battle against it. Most people of colour I know are, of course, also very supportive of queer rights. For those friends, I truly share their joy.

But for the majority of African-American voters in California who voted yesterday to promote discrimination against gays and lesbians, I have little enthusiasm. How can one group understand so clearly the evils of discrimination, yet so disgustingly support discrimination against another group of citizens? It's beyond hypocrisy. Discrimination in law, whether based on race, or gender, or sexual orientation, is simply wrong and perhaps one day all Americans will understand that. Of course, that's a topic for another day perhaps.

Same sex marriage comes to Connecticut!

I was in New York City this past weekend with friends for a nice vacation, having left on Friday and returning today. As a news junkie, I picked up a few newspapers and turned on CNN a couple times in my hotel room, but heard nothing of this landmark decision from Connecticut on Friday. (Granted, I did spend most of my time simply having fun and seeing the sights, so it's not surprising I missed this story.)

Connecticut now becomes the third American state to allow same sex marriage, following California's court ruling earlier this year and Massachusetts's historic court ruling in 2004.

What a difference four years can make! This issue practically turned the election in favour of George W. Bush in 2004. But this year, it's barely registering. The Connecticut ruling is especially telling because that state had adopted a 'separate, but equal' civil unions law. This Boston Globe editorial nicely dissects why a policy which reserves civil marriage for straights just won't stand up under America's equality guarantees.

I predict several more American states will also experience similar rulings in the years to come. Hopefully they will help convince President Obama to reconsider his current opposition to equal marriage in America. ;-)

*************

On another note, this is the last day of the Canadian election campaign. Having spent the last month plus immersing myself in Canadian election coverage, it was interesting to head south of the border this weekend where there was almost no mention of our country or its election. I did read a fairly decent article in today's Wall Street Journal which mentioned that 'Canada's Conservatives' were expected to increase seats tomorrow, but probably not enough to form a majority.

I'll post later tonight with my overall thoughts on the Canadian election campaign, how it went for the party leaders as well as my predictions on seat counts.

Guilty pleasures for political junkies...

I've actually been enjoying this federal election campaign. The most striking difference from the last campaign would be the widespread use of rolling polls.

My favourite rolling poll has to be the daily CPAC-Nanos polls, mostly because of how accurately they called the 2006 election result. I usually log onto Nanos' site every day around 2 pm to check out the latest national party numbers. It's become like a drug for many Canadian election junkies...lol.

I also check out Greg Morrow's sensational DemocraticSpace.com/Canada 2008 site for daily fluctuations in seat projections based on a complex formula I don't understand, yet seems to be likely accurate, at least based on most polls.

There's also the always impressive Election Prediction Project, predicting seat totals since the late 1990s (when its bandwidth isn't exceeded.)

There are other fun gadgets around the net to play with. The Globe & Mail's Poll of Polls is cool.

The best site page of this political season: the Washington Post's Pick Your President page. Check it out asap if you haven't. And let's not forget 'Electoral-Vote.com'.

Yes I'm a nerd, I must admit. Election nights for me are like the Superbowl for football fans. I'm sure I'm not alone in that opinion...

And of course Warren's Clear Canadian Campaign Coverage always brings a smile to my face and great insight. A daily read for sure.

I check out other blogs or sites once and a while, but none as much as these gems. Please feel free to comment with the sites you can't stay away from this election...

Singer Clay Aiken finally comes out of the closet

I guess I could say, "It's about time!" But I don't think coming out publicly as a homosexual when you're a celebrity is ever an easy decision. I'm glad he's finally acknowledged it. Better late than never.

Other celebs who have come out recently have seen no damage, and frequently in fact advancements in their careers (ie. Neil Patrick Harris, Megan Fox, and Cheyenne Jackson, to name but three).

To be honest, this'll probably get Aiken more fans. All the power to him...

Brad Pitt admits to hot affair with male stripper...

Okay, the headline is fictitious, merely designed to evoke the kind of reaction that I'm sure Transformers hottie Megan Fox (pictured) will elicit with the new revelation that she had a lesbian affair at age 18. I don't buy it, but I'm sure Fox's many straight male (and gay female) fans won't mind and will buy more copies of the upcoming GQ Magazine as a result.

All the power to her. International stardom is a hard thing to build. Hot, young actors or actresses need to give their fans something to chew on if they're going to keep buying tickets and guaranteeing that star a higher salary. No, I'm not too cynical, am I?

Fox's lesbian affair couldn't be more perfect. Fox was 18 when it happened (of course), and it was with a Russian stripper named Nikita (In the words of the great Liberal ads from 2006, "We are not making this up.")

Fox is not the only female Hollywood star who is using male fascination with lesbo-eroticism to gain greater notoriety.

No matter how much I try not to, I continue to see stories about Lindsay Lohan's "relationship" with her female buddy Samantha Ronson and Lohan's father's never-ending disapproval. I'm sure he won't be happy reading about Lohan's upcoming same-sex wedding! Get over it and support your daughter, you dolt!

Do I believe any of these cooked up lesbian fantasies? Not really. Nor do I believe most Hollywood romances are real either.

But would I like to read about how Brad Pitt once had a hot affair with Edward Norton while filming Fight Club? Sure I would. How about Pitt and Tom Cruise while filming Interview With A Vampire? Okay, I won't go there...lol. Sorry, Tom, you are not gay! lol

Until then, I'll have to content myself with the latest book about John Lennon's alleged homosexual lust for Paul McCartney.

*******UPDATE********

Okay, as of Sept 23, Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson have apparently confirmed they're together. Okay, I guess I'm too cynical and will need to work on that...lol. I'll start by believing Megan Fox's stripper story.

TIFF: Two feet from The Edge, and still alive to talk about it...

A good friend from work, a gorgeous reddish-brunette named Deana, invited me to a Toronto International Film Festival party last night at the Soho.

The party for the Jimmy Page/Jack White/The Edge documentary It Might Get Loud, by Davis Guggenheim (who did 'An Inconvenient Truth') was pretty pumped.

We got there around 11:30 pm and it was almost too busy. Felt like no air conditioning at first in the main entrance area. It was a mixed crowd of rock lovers, of which I really don't claim to be. I'm more into Pop, Indie, Classical and Jazz. I'm not even much of a fan of Led Zeppelin or Jack White, but who of course doesn't like U2?

At one point, my companion and I, brave with a couple glasses of wine, got past a security guard's velvet rope after he told her her dress was "hot."

We wandered down a hallway to a kitchen area and, almost welcomed along, made a right through a different doorway into the special V.I.P area, otherwise cordoned off from the main party by walls and more efficiently guarded velvet rope.

It was definitely creamier. We immediately saw The Edge, chatting in a crush of well-dressed people. I turned to see Michael J. Fox having a chat with Jack White on a luxury sofa nearby. Davis Guggenheim was there. A few minutes later, Jimmy Page entered. We just stood by the wall, a bit overwhelmed and sipped our new glasses of champagne. At one point, The Edge stopped right in front of us, no more than two feet away. I tried to look nonchalant, but I don't think I convinced him. Of course, we said nothing. What do you say to a legend, "Oh my God, I really loved 'Where The Streets Have No Name'"? They moved along.

We enjoyed it for about five more minutes until we got busted by security and were politely shown the exit back to the main party.

It was fun while it lasted. We went on to great conversations with other party goers for the next two hours. Also enjoying themselves in the main party area with the rest of the peasants were Geoffrey Rush and Eric Balfour.

For more on the It Might Get Loud party, check this out.

Did we like the movie? I'll let you know after we both see it...lol

The amazing Matthew Mitcham!

With the Beijing Summer Olympics now wrapped up, I'll join the chorus of congratulations for Aussie dreamboat diver and openly gay Matthew Mitcham (pictured above and below), who won the gold medal for the men's 10-meter platform final in Beijing, denying China a clean sweep of this year's diving gold medals.

The adorable, 20-year-old Mitcham was the only openly gay male athlete at this year's games (there were nine lesbians out of the closet in competition), making this upset victory all the sweeter, not only for his home country, but for openly queer athletes everywhere.

You can read more about Mitcham here, here and here. Thanks to Gay Persons of Color for the tip today on Mitcham's win.

Montreal Simon also writes eloquently about the importance of Mitcham's win to gay youth around the world. Check out his lovely post here.

While I'm at it, let me also congratulate the Canadian Olympic team for its great performance this year, taking 18 medals, their best since Atlanta in 1996.

Canadian Adam van Koeverden came back yesterday from a tough week to finally score a silver medal in the men's K-1 500-metre final.

To celebrate, here's a nice pic of him directly below because we can never see too many...lol.

Snobby Rufus Wainwright should learn to respect his Toronto fans...

I've been a loyal fan of Montreal native Rufus Wainwright for 10 years. I've been a Torontonian for 13 years. Wainwright is one of my favourite performers today, I love all of his music. I also love living in Toronto.

It's too bad that Wainwright felt the need to spout off about his apparent contempt for the Big Smoke for Xtra recently.

Said Wainwright: "I hate visiting Toronto. I can't stand it. The place drives me mad. I have friends there, I work there, but I find it really hard to like. I will have to go back there, but I wish I didn't have to."

It sounds all so very Montreal/New York snobby, the kind of criticism we've gotten used to from types like Rufus, who himself couldn't wait to get out of Canada for New York and parts of Europe in his 20s. It's been funny listening to Wainwright struggle to compliment his native Canada for our progressive same sex marriage laws, while at the same time show general disregard for his birth country abroad.

I've attended numerous Rufus concerts in T.O. and have always felt he had a certain, subtle contempt for his Toronto audiences, people who had paid good money to see him perform. He once brought out a giant glass of red wine during his Convocation Hall concert and messed up a couple songs; I certainly didn't feel I got my money's worth at that one.

I think I might be through with Rufus concerts if this keeps up. Will I still listen to his music? Of course I will, but I'll probably only download it. Thank you Limewire! Maybe one day he'll learn to respect his Toronto fans and show a little love...