the gay place

It all started when the lights when down in the beautiful, Long Center. All the gay men put down their cardboard cut outs of Kathy's crazy face with a crown on her head and piped down. It was quite the faggy/haggy evening. Although, surprisingly, there were more galadies there than I could count on two hands. Read More | Comment »

Equality Texas is calling for a full investigation into what eyewitnesses are calling a "brutal" raid on Fort Worth gay bar, the Rainbow Lounge. Our ever vigilant pals at ET have launched a page to encourage supporters to get active and send letters to Fort Worth's mayor and council. The ET Take Action page features sample letters and easy ways for you to make your voice heard in this struggle. DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT Read More | Comment »

When Knots Landing executive producer David Jacobs accepted their pearl anniversary award from Prime TV's 2009 TV Land Awards, he said, "If I did it again now, and I really would like to do it again now, the only difference is, I'd have a new married couple on the left side named Jeff and Peter and new married couple on the right named Molly and Maria, but other than that I'd keep it just the same!" to hoots and joyous laughter from the audience and cast. Click here and find the Knots Landing link to see the clip. And none of this was as gay as the musical tribute to Sid & Marty Kroft, featuring La Lauper on the Electra Woman & DynaGirl theme. (Again, once you click, you must scroll down and find the tribute link.) It even out-gayed host Neil Partick Harris. Whoa. Read More | Comment »

…for Mickey. As for the rest of you, sorry, ummm, no. Read More | Comment »

It is officially safe for you to come out now. Read More | Comment »

The Funny or Die folks are making fun of Christian social conservatives again, uh oh! Don't you think it's just too easy sometimes? Take: Teabagging. This is the same site that brought Prop 8 the Musical to the pop culture table, and now they've brought us this gem. This time, FOD sends up the National Organization for Marriage A Storm Is Gathering advert. With more queer cast members than you can shake a bundle of sticks at – oh, and Alicia Silverstone – this is one viral video we're glad to pass on. Oh, and it seems that FOD didn't buy the URL mentioned at the end of the video www.giantgayrepellentumbrella.com. Someone else did. And then there's Lizz Winstead's A Shitstorm of Intolerance: And of course, this, from Colbert Nation:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Colbert Coalition's Anti-Gay Marriage Ad
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Gay Marriage Commercial

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Perhaps she's just not much of a daddy's girl.

While dad can't really raise his arms, Meghan McCain is raising some hell, on a mission to educate the GOP on why they should drop their hate for the G-A-Y. At first, I was skeptical. After all, Republicans don't necessarily listen to their daughters much, (Ahem, Cheney's lezzie daughter, ahem?) but squeaky wheels get … um … oiled?

I hate that I like her, but dammit, I can't help it. Listen to what she has to say, from her Beast memo to the GOP:

"If the Republican Party has any hope of gaining substantial support from a wider, younger base, we need to get past our anti-gay rhetoric."
"But it isn't just the GOP�s opposition to gay marriage that makes the party seem unwelcoming toward gay voters. It�s the anti-gay rhetoric they use to whip up the base. Recently, a conservative congressman was quoted saying, �If we don't save marriage, we can't remain pro-life." That's absurd."

Finally a Republican who makes a little sense. And she's not that bad to look at, either. Read More | Comment »

We spoke with Atlanta artist (and really, that should have a CAPITAL "A" on it) Janelle Monae. We apologize for how loud the background noise gets, with sirens adding a soundtrack to her explanation of the runaway androids that populate her musical Metropolis. Plus, she is very soft-spoken, but please have a listen. The sound improves about halfway through, as Ms. Monae explains why she felt it important to support Black Pride in Atlanta this past September by paying them a surprise visit. (And if you live in the South, you know how cool this is.) Click below for video. Read More | Comment »

Teens have it rough when it comes to sex. In fact, teens in our own state are subject to the misdirection of abstinence-only sex education classes, when there is sex ed at all. Not to mention, Texas' third-place ranking in live birth rates for teens. Embarrassing! Dangerous! What's a horny teen to do? Well, lucky for teens everywhere, there is Scarleteen.com, an online hub of open, honest sexual information for teens. Teens should have access to this quality information. And if you feel the same way, you can head over to Double Dollar Valentines at Scarleteen.com and make a donation that will be worth twice the metaphorical bang for your buck. Donate before March 15, and one of their regular donors will match it up to $350 per donor or up to $3,000 total. Pretty sweet deal if you can put your money where your mouth is. Read More | Comment »

Today President-Elect Barack Obama tapped Arne Duncan to be his Secretary of Education. Duncan is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Public Schools, and a full-on supporter of the expansion of Chicago's Social Justice High School to include a Pride Campus, to serve LGBTQA students. Here's the proposed school's mission statement: Read More | 1 Comment »

This weekend's nationally coinciding protest against the success of anti-gay ballot initiatives may bear more fruit than simply our malcontent. Inspired by the success of the grassroots Obama campaign, a lot of folks are getting involved in social action for the first time. We just received word from a group called 8 Was Enough. Here's what they sent: Read More | Comment »

Wow. Keith Olbermann. I am actually speechless. In a campaign where no one was willing to talk at length about Prop 8 or gay marriage, this guy uses his platform for six minutes (no small temporal chunk o' change) to speak out. Watch on. And send this dude a letter (or comment on his blog), because, god knows he's getting it from the other side… and not in the good way. Totally GP Crush of the Week. Read More | Comment »

I was having a nice little chat with K.D. Lang the other day (you know I sit around and practice typing sentences like that all the time… but this time it happens to be true) and she was telling me about marrying art and politics. Okay, "marrying" is my word, but bear with me, it applies… later. Anyway, amid our discussions about her new album, Watershed, I asked the Canadian crooner about recent activism that lead her to an Obama and National LGBT Finance Committee fundraiser this past October in New York. Originally, Joe Biden was to appear, but this was the same week as his mother-in-law's passing, so scheduled to take the wanna-veep's place was an old friend of K.D.'s: Bill Clinton. Lang's decade and a half as queer icon has often put her in the LGBT spotlight, and this election is no different. Not only are the states choosing a new leader, but gay marriage propositions are on the ballot in Florida and California. And for Lang, the political is personal. "When it makes sense to a number of issues in my life, I participate. It comes from a place of relativity for me. And in this environment of communication and �ber-media, there is a danger of having the wrong motivation to do these things." Read More | Comment »

To the tune of $100,000, Mr. Brad (perhaps soon-to-be Jolie) Pitt – the guy who in 2006 said that he and honeypie Angelina (perhaps soon-to-be Pitt) Jolie would not get married until everyone who wanted to would legally be able to – has donated to the anti Prop 8 group No on 8. And he is so darned purrdy in a dress. Read More | 2 Comments »

Welcome back to school, queers! It's going to be a great year (hurricane season not withstanding). For the queers at Texas State University (my place of employment), just south of Austin in San Marcos there's a Diversity Bar-B-LGBTQue (cute, ain't it?) at Sewell Park on September 10, 5-9 PM. There will be noshing, game-playing (volleyball, horseshoe), and a "slammin' DJ" Don't miss this inclusive event! The Bar-B-LGBTQue is put on by Lambda of Texas State, a student-run organization. You can friend them on Facebook or Myspace. Read More | Comment »

According to WOAI, the NBC affiliate in the Alamo City, San Antonio City Council has denied Second Baptist Church's request to change the name of the street on which their church resides. As the report points out, "Gay" is the name of a community activist of significance to the surrounding community, which wants the name of the street to remain Gay Street. We think instead that the church should move a few blocks south to the corner of Gay/Hub. Read More | Comment »

Say California voters approve Proposition 8 banning non-opposite-sex marriages. What happens to all the folks who got married between the date the state Supreme Court first legalized them, May 15, and the date of the ballot, November 4? Read More | Comment »

The International AIDS Conference is in full swing in Mexico City and the world is watching as the timing of some unthinkable data from the Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) brings news that previous rates of AIDS, especially among gay men have been grossly underreported � by as much as 40%. According to Read More | Comment »

So sad to hear that the delightfully diminutive Estelle Getty, aka Sophia, the consummate li'l Italian mama from the Golden Girls, and active supporter of LGBT rights and AIDS research, passed away July 22, just a few days shy of her 85th birthday. (You'll indulge your Gay Place host a moment of silence, please, as Sophia bears more than a passing resemblance in both looks and attitude to yours truly's own li'l Italian mama, and li'l Italian mama's mama.) Perhaps in tribute, some local curator might call Lenora Claire to bring her naughty, naughty Golden Gals Gone Wild art show here to Austin. (The collection includes work from one of our fave artists – okay, MySpace friend artists… – My Secret Life in Glass.) Read More | Comment »

The Bad News: We were unable to secure hotel accommodations for our ticket giveaway for tomorrow night's True Colors Tour show in H'town. (OMG, so many people take vacation in June! Who knew?)

The Good News: We do have a set of tickets to give away to Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour Houston show for tomorrow night, Saturday, June 21, 6pm at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in the Woodlands!!!

Last year, we had a blast. Read More | Comment »