Former Member

I just saw an interesting documentary a few minutes ago, Life in the Doghouse. Interestingly enough, I thought of some of our favorite horse-loving GA authors! The doc focuses on Danny Robertshaw and Ron Danta who run a dog rescue and earn a living working with horses! Apparently these guys are well-known around the horse show circuit. They go to the shows with dogs available to adopt out.

This is part of a larger trend. At events like LGBTQ film festivals, attendees are getting older. Part of it is that most younger people are working and older people can take time off to attend – and can afford to pay for the tickets! And part of it is that younger people have other ways of celebrating and expressing their LGBTQ identities. They have other ways of distributing their creativity and they don’t necessarily feel the need to find or create LGBTQ-specific venues. Only in a few places are young people taught LGBTQ history. California requires all public schools to include LGBTQ history and heritage in the curriculum. There is resistance in the more rural and less-populated areas of the state. Young people think they know about our history because they’ve seen a few movies in theaters, but they miss out on vast swaths of knowledge. As always, there is a white-washing of history with People of Color being marginalized or ignored. There is also a marginalization of the less mainstream expressions of gender and sexuality that is such an important component of major events like the Compton’s Cafeteria Riot or the Stonewall Riots – which is also an example of how events that don’t take place in NYC tend to be forgotten by mainstream media! The other day, I saw Riot. an Australian movie depicting the origins of Sydney’s Mardi Gras celebration. While most of us know it as a huge street party and parade, it began as an LGBTQ civil rights celebration, being influenced by things that happened outside of Australia (especially in the US). It was a reaction to the violent and bloody police response to earlier, more political protests. And yet the Sydney Police, at the time, reacted by badly beating one of the organizers. The war for Civil Rights has not been won. We’ve achieved victory in many battles, but the enemy is cunning and evil. When they see they are losing in one area, they shift tactics and fight somewhere else where the resistance is weaker. In the US, it’s bakeries. Outside the US, Canada, (Western) Europe, and Australia, it’s Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. It’s the Caribbean and Central America. It’s in the more rural parts of the advanced countries. LGBTQs represent everything they oppose, partly by our own definition, partly from their creative rebranding of what they want to misrepresent us as. We question what organized religion and other organizations support and believe, just by our mere existence.

Friday was Trans March. San Francisco City Hall was lit up with pink, white, and purple to match the Trans Flag! The Trans and Dyke Marches are deliberately not commercial and are much smaller than Sunday’s Pride Parade. ;–) It is my impression that they resemble the early Gay Pride Parades of the ‘70s. Much more intimate and a completely different mood! Definitely no Google, Apple, Macy’s, not even any bars or church groups! I doubt any politicians show up! ;–)

Hanukkah is Jewish counter programming. Outside the US, Hanukkah is a minor holiday. It’s not a big deal at all in Israel! ;–)

Absolutely not! And I don’t know anyone who identifies as Hebrew. They might speak the language Hebrew, but everyone I know describes themselves as Jewish, not Hebrew. Jew and Jewish refers to an ethnic group as well as a religion. (Israel is a country and Israeli is a nationality.) But what do I know? I’m not Jewish or Israeli and don’t speak Hebrew. I only have had friends who are Jewish, attended Jewish Temples, or immigrated from Israel.

So the shunned outsider moves to the Bay Area and becomes the highly sought-after prize for two wildly different guys! Why wouldn’t Artie have an extremely difficult time figuring out what he wants? He doesn’t have experience dealing with issues like this. How many days has he known the three friends? Everyone seems to want him to pick a side, any side, just make a choice! But it’d be foolish of Artie to choose so quickly! Why should Artie act more rashly than Ryder did? ;–)

Buzz is at California Adventure’s Pixar Pier! ;–) And many families put up Hanukkah Bushes. Decorated with silver and blue ornaments and lights. Naturally! I’m not sure who brings the gifts though, if it’s not Santa. ;–0

I think it’s kind of a respect thing. The author thought it was important enough to include. But I usually sit through the movie credits (unless I’m trying to make sure I catch the last BART train home – or disliked the movie almost enough to walk out).

I cannot imagine how excited Buddy & Andre would be to see the documentary about Madonna’s dancers that was shown at Frameline a couple year’s ago. They’d probably really get into Bucking even though it’s usually five or more on the dance teams on the documentary, When the Beat Drops (I just saw it on Monday evening). They’d have loved seeing Todrick Hall in Behind the Curtains. And they’d probably have been much too able to identify with Ulysses in Saturday Church! Because I get a Castro Pass, I can see all the Programs shown at the Castro Theatre (except the Opening and Closing Night Programs) during the Film Festival. I almost always see all but a couple of the Programs available to me. I see lots of movies I would not have purchased a ticket for if I had to pay for each one separately. I let the Festival Programmers decide what I should see. This means I see a much, much wider variety than I’d have selected on my own. I often get transported into a world I’d never experience otherwise! While I probably would have gone to see the Madonna dancers documentary, I’m much less likely to have seen the others – and I’d be the poorer because of that. I’ll be adding to my thoughts on the Programs I’ve seen (and will see over the next couple days) at Frameline42 in The Pit. It usually takes me a couple weeks to finish writing. I think the other movies were mentioned in Frameline40 or Frameline41, also in The Pit. Note to filmmakers, musicians, actors, and others: create a Wikipedia page for yourself and your work so I can link it when I mention them!

The local ABC station had shots of San Francisco’s Coit Tower and City Hall all lit up in the rainbow colors in celebration of LGBTQ Pride since Friday will be the Trans March, Saturday will be Dyke March, and Sunday with be the Pride Parade! ;–) My own city was a couple days late when they started flying the Rainbow Flag on the 4th of June. I’m not sure when they first put it up this year, but as usual the neighboring city is flying the Rainbow Flag over their City Hall (visible from BART). I’m sure that Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco are flying the flag too. I don’t know if Oakland will light up its City Hall in rainbow colors this weekend or if they’ll do it when Oakland has its LGBTQ Parade and Celebration (or for both occasions). ;–) In a few days, volunteers will be laying out the huge Pink Triangle on Twin Peaks above The Castro… ;–)

There is also an older documentary about Armistead Maupin called Armistead Maupin is a Man I Dreamt Up (the second half of the title is an anagram of his name). I saw it on KQED a long time ago. On Tuesday, there was an interesting documentary, Dykes, Camera, Action! followed by a panel discussion, Lights, Camera, Take Action. The documentary was about early Lesbian films — I was simultaneously surprised by how many and so few of them I'd seen. The panel discussion included the comment that documentaries are now providing news information and editorials that people used to get in newspapers. With the trend towards further and further consolidation and concentration of news and entertainment sources, the separation between factual news and entertainment has gotten extraordinarily blurred. ABC's Nightline was once the bastion of very serious news and analysis. Today's travesty frequently shills for parent company Disney's latest Marvel, Star Wars, or Pixar movie. While feel-good stories have long been a part of televised news, non-news fills larger and larger portions of what prends to be news.

My topics on Frameline film festivals in The Pit discuss many documentaries on LGBTQ subjects. I’ll be adding to this year’s thoughts, probably mostly next week. I’m not going to describe them here, but I’ve enjoyed The Ice King (subject: UK Olympic Figure Skater, John Curry), Believer (subject: Dan Reynold’s of Imagine Dragons and how Mormons are [not] dealing with LGBTQs), Quiet Heroes (subject: the Doctor and the Physician’s Assistant who cared for all the AIDS patients in Utah in the early years of the HIV/AIDS pandemic), and When the Beat Drops (subject: the form of dance called Bucking and several teams who compete). There are at least a few others I’ll be seeing in the next couple days that look extremely promising. ;–) Outside the festival, there are several with San Francisco and LGBTQ connections that I’d recommend. KQED’s documentary on the Castro neighborhood, The Life and Times of Harvey Milk, The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin, and Coming Out Under Fire (about Gays & Lesbians in the US military during WWII). ;–) Buying a Castro Pass to Frameline LGBTQ film festival allows me to stay in the Castro Theatre all day during most of the festival. This means I end up seeing Programs that I probably wouldn’t choose to buy tickets for based on their descriptions in the catalog. But I have seen many that have surprised, shocked, enlightened, and delighted me that I never would have otherwise seen (including this year's When the Beat Drops!). The only problem with recommending movies that I’ve seen in Frameline is that many are still on the festival circuit, while others are struggling to find distribution deals. These days, there are many more venues for even niche films with all the legal streaming sites. Especially with short films, YouTube has become a venue to expose the artist and the work to a worldwide audience. But there are always a few that seem to just disappear… Frameline40 and Frameline41 in The Pit (free membership required to join the GA club)

The Mad Hatter Dentist? ;–)

Or the dentist’s office… ;–)

Hopefully there’s no mercury in that amalgam! ;–)

My older brother is only 3½ years older (my younger brother and I are 23 months apart), but he always seemed like he was part of a different family. My younger brother and I were almost always lumped together as ‘the little boys,’ a description I hated. We were often treated more like twins than brothers separated by nearly two years. I still don’t really know my older brother as well as I know my younger brother – and we’ve all drifted far apart emotionally over the years.

I think I could easily have been Eric. Just a few changes from how my life actually progressed and I could have been as isolated. If I were a decade or two older, or if I had grown up in a more rural area with fewer residents… ;—) So many people fought for the rights I take for granted. So many people whose lives were ruined by bigoted politicians and other authorities. So many crooked police officers. So this Comment's connection to a movie I just saw is to the Australian movie Riot! The narrative movie was about the early fight for LGBTQ rights and the origins of Sydney Mardi Gras! There were of course parallels to the fight in the US and they were definitely influenced and inspired by the Stonewall Riots. But a big difference was the alliance with the Socialist Labor Union. Communism and Socialism were thoroughly discredited and stigmatized by McCarthy in the US, so Socialism and Communism have only existed as extreme fringe movements. Many people in the US who were associated with the movements were blacklisted for decades. It was shocking to me to find out that "Grandpa Walton” (Will Geer) had been a Communist in the '40s! It was almost less shocking to find out that Will Geer had been one of Harry Hay's lovers than that Henry Ford had been a Nazi sympathizer in the '30s!

Ignoring Buddy’s initial infatuation with Kyle, the boys seem to have made two really nice couples! They’ve all managed to actually talk and get to know each other. And they seem to have made some strong connections in a short amount of time! ;–)

Seriously, there were echoes of the religious bigotry in the documentary I was Sunday evening, Believer. The doc focused on Imagine Dragons’ lead singer, Dan Reynolds and his frustration with the attitude of his own church, the Latter Day Saints (Mormon) towards LGBTQs. Dan, who is straight, married, with three daughters and a Mormon, had two close friends. a Lesbian couple, who declined to attend his wedding because it was conducted by Mormons. Initially, he remained quiet about the issue. But he realized he needed to speak out about how the Mormon leadership’s anti-LGBTQ policies is connected to Utah’s large rise in teen suicides, a rise that shows a clear correlation to various events that made LGBTQ Mormon teens feel isolated and hopeless. Dan and Tyler Glenn, also Mormon and the Openly Gay lead singer of Neon Trees, collaborated to organize LOVELOUD, now an annual concert in support of LGBTQs. It’s an attempt to initiate a conversation between Mormons and LGBTQs. A conversation focused on educating both sides instead of a confrontation or argument between the two groups. The LDS church does not murder their LGBTQ children directly as Darcy’s ‘church’ did. But by excommunicating their LGBTQ-friendly members (you just need to be outspoken about your opposition to their LGBTQ policies, you don’t even need to be LGBTQ yourself) thus removing church, community, and sometimes even familial support. Vulnerable LGBTQ teens feel they have no choice but to commit suicide. There is a group for LGBTQ Mormons. The Trevor Project offers a toll-free hotline specifically for LGBTQ teens. There is support out there if you feel the need to harm yourself. and it does get better. But as the protagonist in 1985 (a narrative movie I also saw Sunday evening) says in a letter to his younger brother (and I’m paraphrasing because my memory isn’t that great), it might get darker before it gets better. Your classmates might make fun of you for being different. You might need to leave where you are. But eventually, you’ll find friends and people like you who will love you for who you are.

You killed Fred and that put an end to any possibilities that Jeff and Fred would explore their obvious flirty love/hate relationship! ;–)

Well, I was between Programs at Frameline42 and had time to read just one chapter (of the nine stories I had saved). I chose this one because I needed to find out what happened to David! I was pretty sure having David die also was just a little too much for you to write, I needed to be sure. This was a satisfying chapter to read. I’ll read the epilogue later. ;–)

My Queers in History, 2009 by Keith Stern, is a dangerous thing. Every time I intend a quick look-up on somebody, I get distracted by the most random entries -- to the point sometimes I can't even remember who I was I looking for originally This happened recently, and the 'distraction' turned out to be handsome man, Stephen Foster. I hadn't thought much about the composer's orientation, but the article on him was most interesting. First, it mentions his hits -- song we know still today -- Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair; My Old Kentucky Home; Oh, Those Golden Slippers; Beautiful Dreamer; I Love the Old Folks at Home; and of course, The Camptown Races.* Then it mentions all of those songs were only possible because of Foster's husband and collaborator, the talented poet George Cooper. Despite his man's love, Foster succumbed to depression and alcoholism, dying tragically young in 1864 at the age of thirty-seven. It was George who did all he could to make sure Stephen's music stayed in the limelight for decades afterwards, until he too passed away. It worked! Yay love. ----------------------------------------- *I can't help but doubt 150 years from now, anyone will remember Kanye West's name, much less be able to cite a dozen of his songs as household words. I suppose time will tell

Murray Perahia plays Handel and Domenico Scarlatti

Exposure therapy? You’re willing to even consider an all-over tan? That’s more than I’ve ever done! ;–)

That's just the British in you. We could hug it out of you if you'd like! Kind of like when the get people who have a fear of flying to ride in an airplane just so they can see how silly their phobia was! ;–) We know that Brits secretly want be just like those of us in California! All tanned and casual. Not stuffy at all! Even Harry Wales loves California! ;–)