Queer

I could not put it better. Scott is SO RIGHT. (The link to a direct article isn’t working right – I’m talking about the Thursday, June 20 entry starting with ” A Convoluted Gay Pride Entry” and the related posts.) He and James should talk really soon.

From the IHT:

When Antonio Garullo and Mario Ottocento got married last Saturday in The Hague, they crowned a long-standing dream, and began what promises to be an even longer judicial nightmare.

The gay couple chose to marry in the Netherlands because it is currently the only European Union country that grants heterosexual and homosexual unions equal legal standing. Garullo and Ottocento were the first foreigners to be married in the country and they are the first gay Italians to legally wed.

Nice obit of Bill Blass from PlanetOut. I never met him, but I have a friend who was close to him, and another who worked for him for years.

In New York, Blass is also remembered as a generous and influential supporter of AIDS treatment services since the late 1980s.

“He was a major donor to Gay Men’s Health Crisis at a time when prominent people were silent about AIDS,” said Ronald Johnson, associate executive director at GMHC, a New York-based agency that serves people with AIDS. “His visibility was important in raising consciousness about HIV/AIDS.”

…

Jonathan Jacobs, executive director of the AIDS Care Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital, remembered that Blass first visited when the center was a “threadbare clinic” in 1988, and he became a major fund-raiser thereafter.

“He understood the spirit of what we were trying to do,” Jacobs told the Gay.com/PlanetOut.com Network. He also praised Blass’ attention to detail, noting that Blass quietly made sure there were beautiful flower arrangements in the center’s waiting area each week for the past 14 years.

“We never had to ask him,” Jacobs said. “He was always there for us.”

We went to Jackson Heights for Queens Pride today – photos here (automated slide show here). I think the thing that moved me the most was Colega. Colega (Colombian Lesbian and Gay Association) had people dressed as angels, marching in memory of Edgar Garzon.

The noise level of the crowd was less than I expected, and I think it was because it was the straightest crowd I’ve ever seen at a queer parade – a lot of Latin families out with the kids to see the parade, plus a smattering of South Asians (Pakastani, India, and Bangladeshi). It was cool to see people of all kinds mixing in the crowds for the parade and the festival stages and booths.

We had a late lunch/early dinner afterward at Jackson Diner. It was quite the crowd, thanks to the parade — including Douglas Crimp. As we told Penny Arcade when we talked with her and Chris Real, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a restaurant where she and Crimp were both present!

After picking up a few Hindi CDs and DVDs, we headed back home to rest for a few minutes hopping back on the subway to see Tom Donaghy’s new play boys and girls at Playwrights Horizons‘ fabulous new space. I like his plays — I’ve seen Minutes from Blue Route and The Beginning of August. I’m too tired to write more right now, but I recommend going to see it. Good play, great cast, and great direction.

Paul Davis, from ACT UP Philadelphia, has a good interview in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

I saw this story courtesy of Sam:

A record number of same-sex couples are flooding into Canada through Buffalo because they can be legally recognized as families, immigration officials say.

The Daily News has a story about a (male) firefighter, Michael Gorumba, who died of heart failure while fighting a fire last August. Albany and the City are talking about passing a bill to allow his (female) domestic partner to receive survivor benefits. Kudos to Christine Quinn:

A bill pending in Albany would extend those benefits, worth $11,000 a year, to their mother. The bill required Council authorization.

City Labor Relations Commissioner James Hanley, who testified in favor of the measure, was pressed on whether he and Mayor Bloomberg also supported benefits for surviving partners in gay relationships.

Hanley said only that Bloomberg would be willing to “take a look at it.”

“Do you or don’t you?” demanded Councilwoman Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan).

“It’s not a yes or no answer,” Hanley replied, contending there could be substantial costs.

The bill for Campbell was approved later by the full Council.

The only worthwhile part of the NY Post — the gossip pages — has this interesting tidbit:

In what could be seen as a pre-emptory strike, Mets manager Bobby Valentine says that Major League baseball is “probably ready for an openly gay player.”

Valentine makes the remark, seemingly out of the blue, in an upcoming interview with the June/July issue of Details magazine. “The players are a diverse enough group now that I think they could handle (a gay teammate),” he says.

While the manager’s statement is imminently sensible and unlikely to disturb any of his young players, it could roil some traditional Shea Stadium fans. (I can hear the chant of “switch hitter” already.)

More to the point, some may think that Valentine is getting in first, before one of his big guns is outed. There is a persistent rumor around town that one Mets star who spends a lot of time with pretty models in clubs is actually gay and has started to think about declaring his sexual orientation.

The rumor even goes so far as to say that the player and a still-closeted local TV personality recently purchased a house together in a ritzy New York suburb. (I’ve made a cursory check of the real estate rolls in that suburb and can’t find any documentation of the rumor. But even if it’s all nonsense, the story is out there and gaining momentum by the day.)

The other fascinating thing about Valentine’s statement to Details is that it shows how far he’s come in the big city. When Bobby came up to manage the Mets, he was, to be blunt, a bit of a redneck, a man perhaps more like a John Rocker than a crusader for gay rights. I think we all should be proud of him for taking such a principled and sensible stand.

Here’s a nice essay on homos at the Friends of Palestine march across the Brooklyn Bridge about a week ago, including a discussion of non-violence and the role of internationals, including the gay community, in bringing down apartheid in South Africa.