Kenyon Smith, Synchronized Swimming, and the Olympics

I love hearing about someone defying stereotypes, and this is why I appreciate this story about Kenyon Smith, a straight, male, synchronized swimmer.

Continuing to enjoy his sport amidst homophobic taunts from fellow straight guys, as well as the probable "I'm sure he's gay, he just doesn't know it!" kinds of comments emanating from gay men who themselves succumb to the evils of stereotyping, Kenyon finished second in the solo competition at the 2007 US national synchronized swimming championships.

Unfortunately, for Kenyon, he can't represent the United States at the Olympics as a synchronized swimmer because the highest levels of the sport are closed to males. Ouch. This is due to at least a couple of things. Some say it's unfair for men to compete against women at the Olympic games, and apparently there aren’t enough male synchronized swimmers in the world for there to be an event just for men.

It's a real pity that Kenyon was allowed to compete at the national level but then had his bubble burst when it came to the Olympics.

Sometimes that's what happens when you go against the grain. But sometimes, you have to keep on going because you just can't help but go against the grain. Right? Right.

Read more.

Summer Love

Muslim Congressman Keith Ellison supports gay rights

Wow!

Keith Ellison, the first African American elected to the US Congress from Minnesota and the first Muslim American to be elected to the Congress, has joined the LGBT Equality Caucus, which views to extending equal rights, repealing discriminatory laws, eliminating hate-motivated violence, improving health and well being for all, and tackling US foreign policy with regard to the human rights of LGBT people across the world.

And there you go. So it is possible to reconcile a belief in Islam with an acceptance of all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Hooray!

Listen up all you governments that punish homosexuality in the name of Islam. It's not necessary! Oh but wait. Maybe it is necessary because you need to find something to characterize as hateful (like homosexuality), and then manipulate people to unite against it (more votes) so that you can continue to stay in power. Gross.

Thank you Congressman Ellison for understanding that gay rights are human rights.

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Laguna Beach, California

This is one super quote.

On Laguna's City Council unanimously voting to oppose Proposition 8, intended to define marriage in California as between a man and a woman, Councilwoman Toni Iseman said:

"Laguna has a live-and-let-live attitude. We don't tolerate diversity, we embrace diversity."

I love it. Embrace rather than tolerate. Civilization at its best.

Laguna Beach followed Los Angeles' lead as one of the first cities in the state to reject a ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriage.

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Homosexual non-human animals

And why not?

Amsterdam’s Artis Zoo will give tours focusing on homosexuality in non-human animals, including cockatoos, apes, bulls, goats, and elephants during the city's Gay Pride festivities in August.

If only every city had the tolerance and liberal views of Amsterdam.

Read more about homosexuality in nature.

Brideshead Revisited...with a gay kiss

The news is out, and I knew it all along. Sebastian Flyte is gay, and in the new film adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited, he will kiss Charles Ryder!

From the time the book was released in 1945 to the 1981 Granada television adaptation, which starred Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews, never had Sebastian's character been overtly portrayed as gay.

But finally in 2008, the bromance between Sebastian and Charles, played by Ben Whishaw and Matthew Goode respectively, will turn into romance in one moment of physical intimacy. Talk about a long coming out process!

The Times They Are a-Changin'!



Brideshead Revisited opens in New York City this Tuesday. Read more.

Arrests in Dubai

This month, police in Dubai arrested a straight British couple for allegedly having sex on a public beach. Since then undercover police have been patrolling the shores to crack down on nudity and other forms of indecent behaviour in the Muslim city state.

This week, Dubai police detained tens of male tourists for allegedly being gay and wearing women's clothes in public.

It's interesting that a straight couple got the ball rolling (so to speak) on this whole situation. Why couldn't they just control themselves on the beach? Why did they have to let everyone know they were together, a couple, perhaps in love, having an intimate moment on the beach?

Oh wait a minute! They appreciate freedom! You know, the kind that gay people rarely have in most parts of the world and the kind that straight people take for granted in most parts of the world!

This is one of the reasons we have Pride festivities - because generally we can't celebrate our romantic love in a public atmosphere. Perhaps the straight British couple went too far, but at least they had the luxury of thinking they could.

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So Gay South Carolina

Tourism posters proclaiming "South Carolina is so gay" that plastered the London subway for the city's Gay Pride Week have caused a big uproar in the small American state, where officials have disavowed the advertising campaign and where one state employee has resigned over the issue.

Cities like Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Washington, D.C. reported no negative backlash from similar ads featuring these places. So, what's the problem in South Carolina?

Homophobia.

So, do we boycott South Carolina to show that we don't need to be where we are not wanted and limit our travel destinations based on homophobia? Or do we move bravely within the land of the free searching for that elusive southern hospitality?

South Carolina is so...

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Miss Universe 2008 and another fall from Miss USA

What are the chances?

After Miss USA’s monumental and well publicized beauty queen nightmare of falling on her butt in the evening gown competition at last year's Miss Universe Pageant in Mexico, another Miss USA contestant, Crystle Stewart, fell on stage in the evening gown competition at this year's Miss Universe pageant in Vietnam.



Seen by millions across the globe, I wondered when I saw this happen if in certain parts of the world a collective anti-American giggle (at the very least) was generated by the mishap of a helpless young American falling in Vietnam...

A Jihad for Love

A Jihad for Love is a feature documentary from Muslim gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma that explores the complex intersections between Islam and homosexuality.

Check out the trailer.



I can't wait to see it.

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No minarets in Switzerland?

Now I am not really a fan of religion, but the idea of banning minarets in Switzerland as proposed by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) just seems downright silly.

Or is it?

All kinds of religions have oppressed gay people since their conceptions, so is it really an unreasonable idea to ban not only minarets, but all built public religious symbols?

The SVP managed to gather the more than 100,000 signatures on a petition required for the question to be put to a national referendum. Is this Islamophobia? Probably. Does Islamophobia help the fight against homophobia? Probably. How does a government reconcile the two issues? Very carefully.

Read more about the Swiss situation here.

Homosexuality, homophobia in Northern Cyprus

Initiative Against Homophobia, an LGBT group in Northern Cyprus, has launched a website to combat homophobia in the area.

Male homosexual conduct has been a crime in Northern Cyprus since 1889 when Cyprus became a British colony. The British buggery laws, however, were maintained both after Cyprus gained independence in 1960, and after the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) declared independence from the southern part of the country in 1983. Turkey is the only nation that politically recognizes the formation and government of Northern Cyprus.

The Initiative Against Homophobia website is another example of how the Internet can disseminate information and stimulate and effect change even from politically isolated regions.

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Intolerance and homophobia from Germany's immigrants

What happens when immigrants to Germany from notoriously homophobic places like Russia, Turkey, and North Africa bring with them their hatred for homosexuals? Well, for one, a half-Tunisian German homophobic rapper finds himself popular amongst both Turkish teens and neo-Nazis.

Complex dynamics at work.

Check out this article for more answers.

SAS gay website

SAS Scandinavian Airlines became the first European airline with a website dedicated to the GLBT market.

The new site even provides tips from SAS crew for the best that Stockholm and Copenhagen have to offer to gay patrons.

Very cool.

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Gay over grey in Europe

According to a Eurobarometer study of 27,000 EU citizens, only 17 per cent of Europeans would be comfortable with someone over the age of 75 leading their country, as compared to the 36 per cent who would be at ease with a homosexual occupying the highest elected post.

Read more.