August 2009

  • Mixed Tracks: Coming Out Songs

    By msarko on 8/27/09 2:10am
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    There's a huge disconnect between the pop ephemera of gay culture and how the straight majority tends to perceive it. Where kitsch, camp and overall theatricality are hallmarks of queer art, they're hardly meant to be taken seriously or even considered the emotional core of the subculture. That's why it's so frustrating to hear the likes of The Village People and Sister Sledge used as the umbrella anthems for all things gay. These fun, frivolous acts exist as a necessary counterbalance to the confusion, fear and alienation so often associated with the experiences of LGBT individuals in our society, especially in decades past. Rather than assuming that fallback tracks like "We Are Family" are the alpha and omega of the coming out experience, I humbly propose the following songs as more honest renditions of the same event.



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  • GLBT Smoking

    By lisala on 8/15/09 3:53pm
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    Among Homosexuals

    • 37% of the women smoke
    • 33% of men smoke

    Among Heterosexuals

    • 18% of women smoke
    • 24% of men smoke



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  • PETA's Anti-lesbian, Anti-woman Ugliness

    By macallister on 8/14/09 8:04pm
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    PETA reaches new lowsPETA reaches new lowsJust, you know, for your general edification—I thought I'd spread the joy. I happened across this article on afterellen.com, today, while I was chasing down links about the crappy male-gaze rape-fantasy-fulfillment dressed up as a token lesbian added to the cast of one of rapidly-digging-their-own-grave-by-pissing-off-any-fans-they-ever-had SyFy network's shows.

    That's right. PETA, the people who've made a publicity nightmare out everything they've ever touched, have executed one of the most repulsive, exploitive, anti-woman, and anti-queer publicity campaigns ever conceived.

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  • Julia!

    By macallister on 8/6/09 10:32pm
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    On the set of The French Chef in 1963On the set of The French Chef in 1963

    With Julie and Julia coming out this weekend, there's a fresh surge of interest in Julia Child, the French Chef. Part of that interest includes a certain degree of shock and surprise over her apparent homophobia, and her expression of distaste for gay men, especially, and her regrettable use of terms like "de-fagification" or the French pejorative terms pedal or pedalo.

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