'Hatred (of Gays) Unites Jerusalem's Feuding Faiths'

"In a Holy City fissured by faith, finding a consensus on anything among Jewish, Christian and Muslim clerics is a near-miraculous occurrence. Yet Jerusalem's rabbis, priests and imams have united, however briefly, to stop the city's Gay Pride parade."

Er ... Um ... Glad we could help?

"For some of their followers, the issue is worth spilling blood over: An unknown extremist Jewish group pasted up signs announcing a $500 "reward" for every gay man or woman killed during the parade, which is scheduled for Nov. 10. Several ultra-orthodox rabbis have vowed to mobilize more than 100,000 protesters to shut down Jerusalem on the day of the parade, and police warn that some groups plan to pelt the marchers with apples jagged with razor blades. "

Uhhh ... Holy crap.

TIME looks at "the showdown over a gay pride march [which] reveals the rising tension between religion and secularism in the Jewish State." Click to read.


Previously: The Shande & the Fury

 

Conservative Christian Swan-Dives Onto His Gay Sword

Plus: Why are gay escorts who service conservatives ugly?



Amid accusations of paying an escort for gay sex and drugs, the head of one of the largest conservative Christian organizations has resigned.  (Read the full story here.)

Rev. Ted Haggard (pictured, above left) denies any wrongdoing. Mike Jones, the gay escort, says he is in possession of taped messages proving his claim, which a voice expert has confirmed as being the voice of Haggard. (See video)

I'm never surprised when these virulently anti-gay guys have men hidden under their covers. Never.

But riddle me this:

1) Why are gay escorts who service conservatives ugly? (See Jeff Gannon)

2) Why wouldn't Pastor Ted get his jones on with a hotter escort than Mike Jones? Does Jones have a great personality? A pin-sharp mind? Weird.

3) On why Jones came forward: "It made me angry that here's someone preaching about gay marriage and going behind the scenes having gay sex."  It took escort Jones three years to figure that out? Guess that rules out "pin-sharp mind."

Life is funny.


BLOG UPDATE, 11:22pm:
Apparently, Mike Jones didn't know that his customer, Haggard, was a big shot in the conservative church industry until a few months ago. (New: The Advocate interviews Mike Jones.)

After he found out in Spring 06, he saw Haggard 2-3 more times, and struggled about what to do in light of the fact that Haggard was actively preaching against gay marriage.

Subsequently, he decided to expose the pastor's hypocrisy.

The tenor of my post this morning was somewhat informed by an assumption that Jones knew who Haggard was during the three year period of their relationship, which, in my view, would have made Jones a party to the lie and hypocrisy. 

Knowing now that this wasn't the case, I agree with comments left on this blog and elsewhere today that we owe Mike Jones a debt of gratitude for having the courage to come forward.

I still think you can buy way hotter escorts, but that's just me being shallow. I never said I wasn't shallow.

Tags: Mike Jones, Pat Haggard, Gay

''Project Runway' Turned My TiVo Gay'

I absolutely heart this video by San Francisco dude Mark Day -- a fella who delivers hilarious commentary to you straight ('cuz he is). Not only that, he talks with a funny accent, making funny things sound even funnier.

I should warn you: This video actually made me spit my grande-Americano-with-an extra-shot out of my nose.

Mark: You owe me a keyboard. Or at least a grande Americano.

 

S.F. Mayor Gavin Newsom Says Gay Marriage Is Inevitable

With This Ring magazine shares with AOL a recent interview with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom -- you know, the guy who almost three years ago ordered his city clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in an act of civil disobedience.

Writer Jonathon Feit chats with Newsom about gay marriage, his role in the struggle, and why he sees civil unions as an inherently inferior status to full-on marriage. 

It is always shocking to be reminded, as Newsom does here, that interracial marriage was legalized in 1967, a mere 40 years ago -- and that the opposition to it was (is?) as vehement as the opposition gay marriage faces today:

"When you read back in the Loving decision, and you read a lot of the articles of the time -- and the polling, which is very suggestive -- there are two polls that show that about 70% of Americans opposed interracial marriage at that time.  Opposed it -- seven out of ten people, which is rather remarkable.  Even today [there's] double-digit opposition to interracial marriage in America. 

I think it's helpful to look at the opposition to same-sex marriage in the context of that arc of history, because we are so much further along on same-sex marriage than we were -- frankly, even in the 1960s -- on interracial marriage. So that's what gives me some solid expectation that this is simply an inevitability."   -- Gavin Newsom

Did you catch that? Inevitability.

Click to Read: Walking in MLK’s Footsteps

 

Andy Dick's 'Skinny Dick Pant'

Andy Dick does his own version of the Audrey Hepburn GAP ad.

Good thing he isn't gay.

Watch Andy Dick: 'The Skinny Dick Pant'

 

Homophobes Celebrate Shooting in the Castro

Is homophobic hatred alive and well in America? It seems it is.

I'm not talking about the shooting of 10 people last night during the Halloween celebration in the Castro. We don't know the sexual orientation of any of the victims. We don't know if the violence was gay-related at all, and in fact SFGate.com reports that the violence may have been gang-related.

But it happened in the Castro -- gay neighborhood U.S.A. -- so the 10 victims deserved it according to a host of gay-haters on the message board that accompanies the story on AOL today.

'Hey, Ken, Call Me...'

BlogActive takes on the RNC for using race-baiting (not to mention generous truthiness-stretching) in a political ad meant to attack Tennessee Democrat Harold Ford.

In producing a biting parody of the original, BlogActive mocks RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman by gay-baiting him. As the person ultimately responsible for the original ad (which was pulled after much brouhaha), Mehlman is on the hit list of BlogActive, the blog famous for outing politicians.


The Parody:




The Original: