Reflections on 8ATE

Last Saturday, Blu-tooth, Minnesota Mike and I attended a rally and march to protest the passage of Prop 8. Even though Prop 8 is specific to California, demonstrations were occuring everywhere nationwide. Ours was in front of City Hall in Downtown LA.

I was glad to be there in solidarity, but there's really nothing more that can be done except wait for the courts to make a decision (with hopes that such demonstrations could influence the judges in our favor maybe?!) and perhaps wait for a repeal of the discriminatory proposition in 2010.

Not that rallies and boycotts are insignificant. They are important, necessary and strategic. But where were all the rallies and boycotts before the majority of California voters decided that a marriage recognized by the state must be between a man and a woman?

Instead I see boycotts against Majorie Christoffersen, a member of the Mormon Church and proprietor of El Coyote, who had contributed $100 to her church to support Prop 8.

Dude. Are you kidding me? This is why we lost Prop 8. I could understand if you don't patronize El Coyote because the food taste like diarrhea. But to focus so much energy on this one woman who acknowledged and apologized for her mistake, was contrite and offered free lunches to her offended clientele. She admitted that she simply did what her church told her. So why waste any more time and energy punishing this idiot? She's already experiencing a mental and emotional breakdown, yet the boycott continues. It makes me sad, not for her (I find her situation humorous actually), but because the disenfranchised continue to fight the disenfranchised. It's classic divide and conquer. LGBTs and Mormons probably have nothing in common EXCEPT that our government does not recognize either of their definitions of marriage. Kind of ironic.

On a positive note, this was Minnesota Mike's first protest. Ever. How exciting!



In the video, we're on the train. I was so pleased to see the huge number of people who used public transportation to get to the rally. Also, there were A LOT of good-looking people there. Gays are just hot.

Of course I randomly bump into my favorite couple with their hairless Peruvian dogs.

By the way, hairless Peruvian dogs are hypoallergenic, for obvious reasons. Can't see you Malia and Sasha with these cute pups?

Then there were some very cool posters (which kind of bummed us out because we forgot to make our own. Blu-tooth and I felt so unprepared).

This picture is funny because the lesbian on the left was upset that I took a picture with her poster being held by the lesbian in the center of the photo. She whined, "that's my poster." To make her feel better, I took another picture of her with her poster, but I refuse to post it.
No one is going to see it.

I know Tron and other Ron Paul supporters would appreciate this.

And finally, we marched along Main Street until we reached Chinatown, where we diverged for some dim sum.

What do we want? DIM SUM. When do we want it? NOW!!

Just another manic monday

I was suppose to see this riveting documentary after work. But Tron cancelled on me. For a woman, no less. And no one else seemed interested. I wonder why? For real, why? I think it's a pretty good concept and I'm always interested to see what those wacky Chinese villagers are up to.

So, instead, I ventured to the westside to check out this book reading by Norah Vincent, author of Self-Made Man.

In the book, Norah shares her journey of going undercover as a man for eighteen months. It's kind of like John Howard Griffin's Black Like Me, but unlike Griffin's book which totally confirmed why I hate white people, Norah's book actually exhibits sympathy for men. That's what the audience said anyway. And can I tell you how kooky the audience was! Thank god I had two cocktails at Houstons beforehand, thanks to my buddies Plus, Blu-Tooth and Michael! By the way, why is it so easy to get people to come out for drinks than see a documentary about newly-empowered Chinese villagers with access to modern digital freedom? Fucken drunks.

So back to the audience. Although I was impressed with the diversity of the group, in terms of race, gender and sexual orientation, you could tell most of the folks were academics. And why is it that before an academic asks a question in a public forum, he or she must provide complete disclosure of his/her identity?

I am a middle-class African American lesbian of color born and raised in the melting pot of Los Angeles with an abusive alcoholic father and albino mother and a cat with three legs.

Are you fucken serious? Just ask your stupid question, please. But no.

I was raised as an Orthodox Jew but studied eastern philosophy at a community college and now I perform accupunture on people who are frightened to leave their homes and I find it very rewarding and... oh, I forgot my question.

Then these two ladies get into a heated debate with an obnoxious straight Asian male, a Latino guy, and a gay white man (sounds like I'm starting a joke, huh?) about the differences between hetero-male sexuality and gay-male sexuality. This went on for a while. Poor Norah.

Truth be told, much of it was interesting despite the annoying personalities. Norah made one statement that made me ponder: "The one thing that prevents heterosexual men from freely engaging in polygamous relationships is... the woman." Norah admitted that her statement is an overgeneralization but true in many cases. I've been thinking a lot about monogamy lately and I'm not so sure if it works either, particularly in our day and age when marriage is no longer a necessity of life.

Don't get me wrong. I value partnerships. But why can't you have partnerships with multiple people, especially when it's unlikely that one person will be your everything? Why should you compromise and have less than everything you deserve and desire? Why settle on one person who has only half of everything when two halves make a whole?

You know, four fourths make a whole too.

Gee. Things that make you go hmm.

Ho ho ho!!

A festive cross-dressing hooker in Echo Park.
Pictures courtesy of Tonkhero who literally turned his truck around and got out of his vehicle to snap a few pics of one of Santa's little ho.
Nice. Better than my karaoke pose below.

Boogie down in Brooklyn

Miss Ritu Singha (producer of upcoming movie, TRON -- watch for it) and I went to the Caddyshack in Brooklyn on Friday night. With this description from the Village Voice, we couldn't resist:

Sadly, there are no strip clubs for dykes in the city. If lady lovers wanted to see the gravity-defying acrobatics of pole-dancing, they had to visit a gentlemen's club. That is, until Cattyshack began featuring women working the pole, which is positioned on the bar with a red light for extra effect. Friday night's Cirrah party features the best of the lot. Hostess Aja announces each of the dancers, who saunter their way to the bar in occasionally elaborate, always shimmery ensembles from bikini tops to pasties. These ladies have a way of making you feel like every split and spin is just for you. They climb the metal with an ease that's almost unsettling and with just as much skill as any hair-swinger at the local strip bars for dudes. Just don't forget your singles.

We had a lovely time. Here are some highlights and observations:

(1) No matter what kind of club you are in, or sexual preference you may have, pole dancers are hot. No one can deny this.

(2) Race is deep, man. There is racial segregation in our cities, in our schools, in our workplaces... so why not at the local lesbian bar? The upstairs of the Caddyshack was occupied by all white women while the downstairs had all the women of color. The upstairs played 80s music while the downstairs played hip hop and dance music. Coincidence? I doubt it.

(3) Any bar that has a Ms. Pac Man machine is an excellent venue.

(4) We received major attitude from some of the women (particularly the ones from upstairs, maybe because we crossed racial lines?) for absolutely no reason. For reals, no reason. Hello, Ladies, what happen to sister solidarity? I love you bitches, you don't even know. Haters need to bring back happy in the gay...

(5) Why is it that every time I hang out with Miss Ritu, management tells us to shut up?

And why is it that we never listen and end up mocking them instead?? Ah, good times.

The religious right to hate

Ruth Malhotra says her Christian faith compels her to speak out against homosexuality. But the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she's a senior, bans speech that puts down others because of their sexual orientation. So she's suing the school for its "infringement" on her right to religious expression.

A growing campaign has begun to force public institutions to eliminate policies protecting gays and lesbians from harassment. The religious right aims to overturn a broad range of common tolerance programs: diversity training that promotes acceptance of gays and lesbians, speech codes that ban harsh words against homosexuality, anti-discrimination policies.

Ruth, what happen to love thy neighbor? You know, you're going to burn in hell for this. You can't avoid judgment day...

Man v. Machine

BF and I went to see the 1962 classic, Lonely Are The Brave, starring Kirk Douglas. The story is based on the book, The Brave Cowboy, by Edward Abbey, who wrote stories about the preservation of the wilderness and man's struggle (and combat) with industrialization. I can understand why BF, the ultimate nature boy, adores him so much.

Now back to the movie, which was a black and white Western, very unlike DYY. In fact, I never sat through an entire Western before... and I fell asleep for only a very small part of it so you should be impressed.

Now what I can't understand is people who are in such disbelief that cowboys could be gay... with their tight jeans and cowboy shirts, and matching handkerchiefs tied perfectly on their necks, it's all so obviously gay. Kirk Douglas looked fuckin gay. Sorry, but he did.

But back to the movie... the acting was awful, action was slow, and the plot was unbelievable (Douglas breaks into jail, breaks out of jail and becomes a fugitive on the run, with nothing to live for but his horse and freedom)... but I did enjoy the story, which I think should be attributed to Abbey. I felt for Douglas' character, who yearned for a simple time when there were "no borders, no bridges". At the end, he and his horse, Whiskey, were hit by a huge semi transporting kitchen and bathroom fixtures.

Damn those toliets! Modernization killed Whiskey!