Jayron Martin, a 16 year old high school freshman who was beaten with a metal pipe by a classmate while eight others watched last week is afraid to return to school. The openly gay 16 year old tells Houston's KHOU-TV that before the incident happened he begeed two principals at his school and the school bus driver for help but to no avail.
“All they kept saying was, ‘We going to get you. We going to fight you,’ and all that and so when they started coming after me they were like, ‘You’re not going to be gay anymore.’ They just kept hitting me,” Jayron said.
"I'm disgusted", Jayron's mother Lakenya Martin tells KHOU-TV. “When the child does what they’re supposed to do and the adult doesn’t, what are you supposed to say then? How do you make him feel comfortable? How do you give him back that sense of security."
The beating finally ended when a neighbor pointed a shotgun at the attackers and cocked it. One of Martin’s attackers, another 16-year-old, has been arrested and charged with aggravated assault.
This is the third hate crime in the past week that has caught the attention of the media all of which involved people of color. Puerto Rican teen George Mercado was decpaitated, dismembered, and burned and 16 year old Jason Mattison of Baltimore was raped, stabbed in the neck and throat and stuffed in a closet. When will the violence end?
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion on the intersection of race, sexuality, and homophobia at Georgia State University and was struck by the story of a beautiful transgender woman named Somiaya who shared her experience as a victim of a hate crime.
It's not surprising that non-LGBT communities know very little about the experience of trans people but it's incredibly disheartening to see the lack of awareness and respect within our own community when it comes to our trans brothers and sisters. The "T" may be apart of the acronym but the people who identify as trans are often misunderstood and even further marginalized as evident in this thread.
Not to forget that trans identified people are frequently the targets of vicious hate crimes and workplace discrimination.
Somiaya tells a heart wrenching tale of an incident that thankfully didn't result in death as so many attacks on LGBT people have, yet the reaction of those who watched the incident occur and offered no assistance is enough to make anyone with the smallest ounce of compassion hurl.
Today is the National Transgender Day of Rememberance and I will do my part to make sure the "T" is represented on this blog consistently and not just on this day every year.
The wait is almost over. The boys from the successful web series "Drama Queenz" is returning to YouTube for their second season on November 29.
Thousands of viewers across the country fell in love with the ten minute webisodes that offered a look into the lives of Jeremiah, Preston, & Davis as they navigated through life, love, and auditioning in New York City.
Writer/creator Dane Joseph promises to deliver "ten minutes of fun, friends, and fierce" and if season one and the newly released trailer is any indication of what's to come then he's on target to deliver.
YouTube faithfuls may also recognize sexy dancer/actor Marcus Bellamy, a new addition to the cast in the trailer. If it's eye candy you want then Marcus does not disappoint.
If you haven't seen season one of Drama Queenz then do yourself a favor and get caught up before the season 2 premiere. I promise you it's the best show not on TV, although it should be.
Get into the new trailer below:
And if you're in NYC on November 29 come out and celebrate the season 2 launch with the cast:
TIME OUT NEW YORK LOUNGE @ 8:30pm 340 W. 50th St. btw 8th and 9th Ave. in New World Stages
CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer reports on the "un-christ like" behavior of the DC Catholic church and their threat to cut off crucial social service programs that help thousands of residents with adoption, homelessness, and health care if the DC City Council approves pending legislation granting marriage equality to same-sex couples in the district as expected on December 1.
And spotlight hungry Bishop Harry Jackson, one of the chief organizers among black clergy opposing the marriage equality bill continues his anti-gay crusade with the help of a glowing article in today's Washington Post.
The money quote: "Some of the smartest people I knew in college were gay," he says. "Some black students I knew who were gay were off-the-charts smart. I don't know of anybody black who says, 'I hate gay people.' We're more accepting generally. But you overlap that -- homosexuality and gay marriage -- with broken families, and we don't know how to put it back together."
So now according to Bishop Jackson gay folks & same-sex marriage are the reasons black babies are born out of wedlock, divorce is rampant, and the black family is in a "free-fall". I had no earthly idea we had that much power, but thanks for letting me know Harry.
If you missed Bishop Jackson's testimony against marriage equality during the DC City Council hearings and the smack down from David Catania, do yourself a favor and watch it here.
Friends and family are mourning the death of 15 year old gay Baltimore student Jason Mattison Jr. who was found dead on November 10. Mattison was raped, gagged with a pillowcase, stabbed repeatedly in the head and throat, and shoved into an upstairs closet of his aunt's home where he was staying after leaving his mother's residence for undisclosed reasons.
Dante Parrish, 35, a longtime family friend has been charged with first degree murder. A Baltimore police spokesman would say only that Jason "was staying at his aunt's house." It was there that Jason met Parrish, with whom the spokesman said the teen had a "forced sexual relationship." Parrish who has a criminal past plead guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting of a Maryland man in March 1999.
Wanda Williams, his paternal grandmother, one of the first Jason confided in about being gay and who handed him a few dollars now and then for food and clothes, questioned how other relatives could have allowed the boy to be in the same house with Parrish, given his violent past.
"I haven't cried so much this entire life," Williams said. "My grandson hollering for help and there is nobody there to help him."
When Jason came out as gay, there was some dissension in the family and though Williams said she stood by her grandson, his declaration caught her off guard.
"I accepted his sexual preferences," she said. "But I told him, 'You're young and don't understand life.' I told him, 'Plenty of young women would love to be with you.' He said he likes boys. Young people don't like to listen to adults, but I told him I'm not going to push him away."
Many of his friends learned of Jason's death from rumors on MySpace. They didn't believe it until they arrived at school and found his chair empty and a somber English teacher to break the tragic news.
Jason was one of the most popular kids at school, his English teacher said, always first to class, always first to the cafeteria, where students fought to sit at his table, always first to turn in his homework and always getting near-perfect grades.
Jason wanted to be a pediatrician. Today he is being buried and will never have the chance to fulfill his dream.
The second annual Jackson, Mississippi Black Gay Pride Celebration scheduled to kick off tomorrow and commence on Sunday with author and keynote speaker Bishop Terry Angel Mason (Love Won't Let Me Be Silent) of Los Angeles has been created with good intentions to address the health disparities amongst LGBT people of color in Jackson- but good intentions haven't stopped a fierce amount of opposition in this bible belt state.
A recent article in Mississippi's Clarion Ledger detailing the purpose of the Pride event and the reaction from some Jackson residents clearly articulates the lack of progress on LGBT issues in rural communities and the gays and lesbians who suffer from a lack of support, medical attention, and an environment conducive to living openly and honestly.
"We've noticed a growing health trend in this community of LGBT people who did not seek medical attention because they feared discrimination", says Dorlisa Hutton, program manager for My Brother's Keeper Center for Community Based HIV Prevention, a co-sponsor of Jackson Pride.
A scheduled Black Pride Prayer Breakfast featuring Bishop Mason and his message of religious inclusion and empowerment for Jackson's gay community has more than ruffled a few feathers among conservative fundamentalists.
Clarion Ledger commenter "Obrewsky" states: "Homosexuals, lesbians and transsexual-genders,et al, suffer from a form of mental illness. They are delusional and have succumbed themselves to a hedonistic abnormal lifestyle. They are not happy people. There's nothing GAY about being GAY."
Mason tells the Clarion Ledger: "Some Christians think being gay is a choice like a cigarette habit, but it is not," he said. "When an individual who is gay comes to Christ, his spirit is born again just like any other Christian's spirit is born again.
"The problem is many Christians think that a born-again experience should immediately deliver the person from being gay. It does not.
"The church says God is saying, 'Give up being gay.' No, God is telling me to be a holy man."
Many hold the view that the creation of a black gay pride celebration in Jackson and the presence of an openly gay bishop who challenges the stereotypical views of gays and lesbians will do very little to decrease the persistent homophobia that exists in the south. But if nothing else, Mason and Pride organizers will be sending a message to Jackson's LGBT youth that they are not alone as they face the difficulties of coming out in a hostile environment towards LGBT people.
For info relating to Jackson Black Gay Pride visit the official website here.
Randolph Forde, a 10th-grade substitute teacher at Mundy’s Mill High School in Clayton County, Georgia has been arrested for allegedly persuading another student to kill a 16 year old boy he believed was gay.
Forde was charged after, officers said, he held up a piece of paper with the alleged victim’s name on it saying he had a hit on him. The student’s mother said her son came home frightened when he found out.
“He says, ‘Ma, you’re not going to believe this but Mr. Forde offered another student money to kill me,’” said mother Marcia Killebrew.
Killebrew told Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Jones that she was shocked when her 16-year-old son told her his substitute math teacher at Mundy’s Mill High School was trying to hire a hit man to kill him. “I was extremely upset. I called the school at that moment,” said Killebrew.
Killebrew’s attorney said the incident began when Forde called the student out of the classroom one day. “(Forde) asked him if he was gay,” said attorney Terrance Madden. Madden said the student became angry at the suggestion and the next day the two had a verbal altercation.Weeks later, police said, Forde got a Mundy’s Mill student off a school bus and told him he had a hit on someone and needed him to take care of it. Officers said the student asked who it was and Forde said he would let him know.
“The teacher held a piece of paper up with the victim’s name on it,” said Otis Willis III of the Clayton County Police Department.
Forde was arrested and faces making terroristic threats charges. He could lose his job.His attorney told Jones that Forde was joking and never gave anyone a name.
Watch a video report of the incident via WSBTV.com here.
Bebe Zahara Benet, winner of LOGO's wildly successful Rupaul's Drag Race knew she'd have some big shoes to fill when she won the crown during the first season if she were to ever have the cultural impact of her mentor RuPaul. Well she hasn't stopped working since the cameras stopped rolling and she's determined to make the most out of her crown.
From headlining the Absolut Pride Tour after Drag Race wrapped to shooting a video for her first single appropriately titled "I'm The Shit", Benet is following the RuPaul playbok and making some rules of her own along the way. She also becomes one of the latest gay people of color included on the Out 100 list for 2009.
Benet gives fans a behind the scenes look at the making of her latest project on YouTube and she's serving a whole lot of fierceness complete with dancers, over the top fashions, and a ridiculous track created to burn the dance floor.
Fans of Drag Race, which was covered extensively during season 1 on loldarian.com, can begin the countdown as the second season is set to hit the tube in early 2010. LOGO has partnered with loldarian.com to bring you exclusive info and sneak peeks from season 2.
Get into Bebe and all her fabulousness in the video below:
This is the life. On a long overdue trip to Los Angeles and I'm finally getting a chance to experience Delta's GoGo inflight internet. I'll be updating the blog from 36,000 feet over the next couple of hours or however long my MacBook Pro battery will last. I'm hoping long enough to at least get a few items posted. Now if the airlines could only install power outlets at the seats this 4 hour flight would be over in no time. Alright enough of my rambling that's what I have Twitter for:). LA here I come!
It seems the entire motion picture industry and audiences across the country are praising the new Lee Daniels film "Precious" based on the book Push by Sapphire and starring Monique as an abusive mother and Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe as an overweight, abused, and illiterate victim of incest. It can be argued that a film with a predominantly African-American cast hasn't been this anticipated since Dreamgirls in 2006 and at the helm of this cinematic gem is Daniels- an openly black gay man.
While this fact has been somewhat ignored by the media and definitely not mentioned in conversation among the minorities who are flocking to the theater in droves to see the film, Daniels is using the films attention to describe his experience as a gay man of color in countless interviews and it's not always pretty.
"In the Black American community, homophobia is rampant, says Daniels to Clay Cane of Bet.com. " I think it is very difficult to be out, gay and Black. I feel very much alone, especially amongst my people. It's a very lonely place. I'm not going to live a f*cking lie. I'd rather get stoned, be made fun of and take a bullet." He adds, "It's not cute being out, but it's a really important part of the story that I think is overlooked."
Daniels’, says there was "zero tolerance" for gays in the southwest Philadelphia neighborhood where he grew up. He recalled, “I was beat up, and I went away to a white world that was more tolerant. I don’t want to know what I would have become if I’d stayed where I was. In our culture, homosexuality is so bashed, and I think that’s what f*cked me up.”
Daniels masterfully infuses what he calls a "gay sensibility" into Precious by featuring two lesbian characters that are void of stereotypes and forces the audience who may have held negative views towards gays and lesbians to look at them differently.
What does it say about our community that one of our own felt he needed to "go away to a white world" in order to live authentically?
Out Magazine is slowly rolling out it's annual Out 100 list of the most influential gay and lesbian people during 2009 and making the list is international artist Kehinde Wiley. You may not be familiar with this artists name or even his face but his stunning work has appeared all over the place from New York to Brazil.
A 2001 MFA graduate of Yale University, Wiley is known for his unique brand of art where old European portraiture meets modern hip-hop culture. Much of his art is inspired by and consists of everyday people found in his New York city neighborhood. His work challenges the perception of black men as hyper-masculine and hyper-sexual beings by using soft backdrops.
"As a culture we've in some ways codified the decorative as belonging to the feminine, and I am depicting young black men who are perceived as being hyper-sexual with a propensity towards sports and anti-social behavior- these things are codified as being very masculine-and by juxtaposing that with something seen as being feminine I think we sort of blast through both type of super nova that lays bare the absurdity of these codes to begin with."
I implore you to visit Kehinde Wiley's official website to watch him talk about his art and his creative process by clicking on the media link. It would be time well spent.
Employees of Atlanta gay publications Southern Voice and David Atlanta Magazine were shocked when they arrived to work this morning to find a notice taped to the front door informing them they were no longer employed by Windows Media, LLC and operations had been closed down effective immediately.
A three-sentence notice was posted to the front door of the Window Media office in Atlanta before employees arrived Monday morning. It was signed by Publisher Steve Myers and longtime Window executive Mike Kitchens.
It is with GREAT regret that we must inform you that effective immediately, the operations of Window Media, LLC and Unite Media, LLC have closed down.
Please return to this office on WEDNESDAY, November 18th, 2009 at 11:00 AM to collect personal belongings and to receive information on your separation stipulations. Please bring boxes and/or containers that will allow you to collect all your personal belongings at one time.
Regretfully,
Steve Myers Mike Kitchens
The websites to the publications, which were online early Monday, were shut down by 8:30 a.m. Visitors to the sites received an “unexpected error” message.
Window Media owns Southern Voice, David, the storied Washington Blade, Houston Voice, South Florida Blade and 411 Magazine.
In Atlanta, the company employed more than two-dozen people.
This closure ends a long battle with a federal receivership and major changes at the top tier executive level of Windows Media.
This is a sad day for LGBT news consumers, gay bloggers who depended on these publications, and the dozens of people who are now unemployed, especially in Georgia where our unemployment rate has already reached 10%.
I've never been a big Mariah Carey fan (you all know my loyalty lies with Janet) or a "LAMB" as her fans are affectionately called, but she's been playing the gay card lately for my adoration and it just might be working.
In her latest video for the remake of The Foreigner's 1985 hit "I Wanna Know What Love Is", Carey prominently features a black gay couple seen close together numerous times throughout the video. At one point the couple looks lovingly into each other's eyes leading me to believe they're more than just friends.
Isn't it sad that there's so few black gay characters on television that a couple in a Mariah Carey music video excites me? Sigh. But I digress. "I Want To Know What Love Is" is directed by celebrated hip-hop music video director Hype Williams.
After a five year hiatus from the ballroom scene the legendary House of Xtravaganza returned to the ballroom floor over the weekend during the Moda Ball in New York City. The popular underground competition between predominantly black and latino gay men for decades has served as a rite of passage and refuge from the harsh realities of being a double minority.
Ballroom culture and the highly artistic and athletic dance form know as voguing received national attention after pop icon Madonna ushered it into the mainstream and the subsequent release of the documentary Paris is Burning in the early 90's.
While the ball scene and those who frequent balls have acquired sketchy reputations over the years, breakout artists have also emerged like the late Willi Ninja(pictured above-middle) & Octavia St. Laurent Mizrahi. AIDS has taken the lives of many of the legendary ballroom children but a few still remain. Father Jose Xtravaganza(pictured above-right) is one of the survivors and used the ballroom to catapult him into a professional dance career that earned him a spot on Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour. He recalls meeting Madonna for the first time and auditioning for the tour during a recent interview with Black Book Magazine.
From Black Book Magazine:
Jose:So I was friends with her (Debi Mazar) from that club scene. And she was always Madonna’s friend and hair stylist, confidante, whatever. And Debi’s like, “I’m bringing Madonna to the club. You better be there, Saturday night, at the Sound Factory.” So I’m like, “Yeah, whatever. You’re gonna bring Madonna, whatever.” So it just so happens that she did. Sound Factory, at its peak ... it was New York City at its best. I was very fortunate to be there, to witness all of this. It was amazing.
So I see this woman sitting on top of a speaker, with a long trench coat and all of her hair under a newspaper boy’s hat. Very stylish. And Debi’s like, “Someone would like to meet you. I told her all about you, and how you do this vogue thing, and she wants to meet you.” And, I’m like “Noooooooo.” And she’s like, “Yeah, come.” So she brings me to Madonna, who’s sitting on the speaker. “This is Madonna. Madonna, meet Jose.” And I say, “Hi, nice to meet you.” And I shake her hand. And right off the bat, she says, “I heard you’re the shit. I heard you’re the one that can do this vogue thing. And I wanna see.”
And I was like, “Uh I’m not really dressed for it,” cause remember, you’re voguing, you want to be able to move, because a lot of the things incorporate this movement on the floor. And I remember being really well dressed, because it’s what you did in New York City at that time—you got dressed up and went to the club. So Madonna made someone in her entourage take their jeans off and give them to me, so that I can take off the slacks that I had on. So me and my friend Lewis ended up performing, auditioning for her right then and there, on the spot. It was like, “Okay now? On cue, on command? Whatever you say.” And we did it, and she invited us to the audition—it was 5,000 dancers to beat, in New York City alone, you know? Only seven were going, only seven spots. I went Friday night to the club, and I went to the audition Saturday morning. And she was there, and we were late.
Carmen: Like always ...
Jose: And she stopped everything. She was like, “Oh the divas, the vogue divas are here? Okay.” And I remember going to the back, and she was like, “No, you two to the front.” We were so amazed by her, as she was by us. It was amazing.
Watch Jose Xtravganza in a classic clip at the height of the ballroom era below:
Update 11/13: I'd like to thank everyone who has e-mailed, called, tweeted, and sent me messages of concern on Facebook. The love has been overwhelming during what has been a very challenging week for me. Things are starting to return to normal on my end and although I'm itching to return I'm going to wait and start fresh on Monday.
But how about that Donnie McClurkin? Get ready to LIVE OUT LOUD in a big way on Monday!
I'll be absent from the blog for a few days to work out some personal things. If you read loldarian.com regularly then you know I take pride in the articles that are posted herein and I don't post junk just for the sake of having fresh material at the top of the page. I appreciate all of your support and the countless e-mails that have been pouring in. This will not be a long hiatus but it's necessary that I take care of myself first in order to continue to deliver the standard of material that you've become accustomed too. Thanks for your patience and understanding. Be back soon.
If you were fortunate enough to attend The National Equality March or have seen photos from the event then chances are you've seen Damien & Seanmichael; they're what I'd like to call the unofficial black gay poster couple of the march. When I saw their photo I knew I had to find out more about them.
By Damien & Seanmichael being present together in DC on that historic day they were, perhaps unknowingly, defying stereotypes commonly associated with black gay men. They were present, politically aware, politically involved, out of the closet, in love and committed to each other for all the world to see.
Both are involved in the music industry, Seanmichael behind the scenes as a producer and Damien, better known to fans as Dy'Ari (pronounced diary) out front as a singer. But it's the beautiful music they're making together as a couple that we're celebrating as they become the latest to be featured on Coupled Up.
This also marks the first time a video montage has been created for this series since it began on loldarian.com
Many thanks to Damien & Seanmichael for sharing their love with us.
Black gay activist and DC For Marriage president Michael Crawford spoke out against Maine's recent decision to reject marriage equality at the DC rally held on Wednesday in Dupont Circle. DC was one of many cities that staged protests in the aftermath of the Maine vote. However, this rally had an unexpected visit from Maggie Gallagher, head of National Organization for Marriage, the group behind Proposition 8 in California and Question 1 in Maine.
Crawford wasted no time calling Gallagher and NOM out:
"I'm here today to tell you Maggie... I'm sorry but you cannot stop marriage equality here in our nation's capital. The National Organization for Marriage and Bishop Harry Jackson have come into our city and they are spreading a bunch of fear based lies. And you know what we should do right? We should take a play from Joe WIlson's book look them in the eye and tell them-you lie!"
We're gonna call them out. We're gonna let them know exactly what we think of them, exactly what we think of their lies and exactly how DC feels about our neighbors and our friends".
And who said there weren't any black gay men willing to be visible in the fight for equality? Get into Michael Crawford's rousing rally speech in the video below.
I don't think there's anyone who loves to see himself on television more than publicity whore (yeah I said it) Bishop Harry Jackson.
Jackson and his cronies at The National Organization for Marriage are beginning their media blitz to praise Maine voters for stripping away the rights of same-sex couples to legally wed and to continue to promote fear and bible-based bigotry across the airwaves.
MSNBC's Contessa Brewer asked Bishop Jackson why he and others who oppose marriage equality aren't exerting the same energy to end divorce. "We are teaching, training, having interventions...we're definitely aggressive. Positively preventing the destruction of marriage and then also positively intervening in helping those who are struggling in their relationships", says Jackson.
Yeah right. Brewer's follow up question is golden and catches Bishop Jackson in his lie. According to Bishop Jackson marriage is on life support because gays want to marry and then indirectly blames gay men for 40% of black women in DC who will never marry.
How many of my straight black female readers want to marry gay men? I'm guessing none. But maybe I should take a poll. This man is the epitome of lunacy.
With the tag line: "One of these couples will not make it", Perry seems to be taking the film in the direction of a thriller. Regardless, this film is certain to debut at #1 when it opens in theaters in April.
Recovering from a late night watching/tweeting election results in Maine. Traveling to Alabama to be with my mom post surgery today. New updates will resume tomorrow morning. If you're not following loldarian.com on Twitter then please do so. Until tomorrow...
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Friday, November 20, 2009
