The Burden of Dave Myers

The Orlando Sentinel has a very fascinating article on Dave Myers, who was raised thinking that he was white with a skin disease called "melanism" in order to cover up the fact that his biological father was black.

The lie was apparently concocted by his mother, Judy, who in an Oleanna style turn of events either was raped by (her version) or had an affair (his version) with a black man ten years her senior while they were working at a psychiatric hospital. When she gave birth, she told her husband that Dave had a skin disease, as she had told him that Dave was his child. Her husband, Bill, treated Dave "no different [due to the colour of his skin.]"

What's particularly disturbing about this article is Judy herself. She claims that admitting the truth liberated her, but out of her mouth come some of the most vile, bigoted things about blacks:

• "Any black who rapes a woman will say she asked for it."
• On her son seeking his black identity: "He has with his actions totally soured me on the black race."
• "He's not my child...He's not a part of our lives anymore."

What sort of mother is she? It could be inferred that she cared enough about Dave to raise him as her own (although it could also be argued that she raised him since she had already told her husband to be that Dave was his). Yet, that's beside the point. She wears her hair shirt about this "lie" for lo these many years, and yet when her son starts seeking more information on his ethnicity--and trying to actually start a well-intentioned movement to at least try to heal this nation's racial divide--she is too self-absorbed to call him her son anymore?!

I shudder to imagine the hateful remarks she has made in respect to the victims of Hurricanes Katrina & Rita.

For me, Judy's reaction invokes the many stories you hear and read about parents disowning their children because they are gay. It also gets to me because I remember several times in my childhood where relatives and friends of relatives would remark on my strong physical differences from my parents. My mother would always point out that I was the only dark-skinned baby at the hospital on the day I was born. Yet, even to this day, when I look at my family pictures, I do look different. Quite honestly, I don't think I would have Dave Myers's strength and fortitude if I was in his place and I think he should be commended. Hell, I think he should lead a government agency on trying to repair this nation's race problems.

I'd love to just sit down with Judy and tell her bigoted ass off. However, that's the funny thing about hardcore bigots, you can't reason with them because they fear that if their world view is challenged then they themselves will crumble. If her eyes can't be open in 2005, then there is no hope for her. There is however, hope for the future, where people who think like her are extinct.

For more information on Dave Myers, visit his website DiscussRace.

The intentions are good, but...

A church is holding a "Marry Your Baby Daddy Day." How about holding a "Take Some Contraception Day?"Or a "Buy Some Damn Trojans Day?"

Usch.

It's not coy, it's just corny

Perhaps it's the fact that it's my first day after the stacking, but Robbie Williams's hokey-pokey with whether he's gay or not is just annoying.

And I'll make a possibly controversial statement, but he's been off his game ever since Sing When You're Winning was released.

You don't mean it, if you want everybody to see it

Last night, I had a good old fashioned rant over a "story" on WNBC about Habitat for Humanity.

Now, I can't find the link to it on their website, so you will have to take my word for it if you're outside of the New York area. Apparently, Habitat for Humanity is setting up shop in Rockefeller Center for some time to build houses for the Gulf Coast.

Let me repeat this again, they are building houses in Rockefeller Center in the Northeast to send down to the Gulf of Mexico.

It would make some sense to me if they were building them here and then trucking them down prefabricated. Lord knows how they'd navigate through the streets of Manhattan, but it would at least be the smart thing to do.

No.

They are assembling the houses in Rockefeller Plaza (or "Humanity Plaza" as the perky WNBC reporter dubbed it), disassembling them, shipping them to the Gulf Coast, and then reassembling them there. So what's the point of building the sodding things here if they are just going to be taken apart?

I hate to be a cynic, but it screams one thing: public relations.

It says something when the spokesman for Habitat for Humanity was given a soundbite by WNBC and opens his remarks with "Well, NBC News gave us a call and said they wanted to help..." No. NBC News wanted to make both you and themselves look good by adding on this pointless portion of what you are supposed to do. Hell's bells, you're based in Georgia, you could at least set up this p.r. stunt in Mississippi.

Update: Apparently they are building these houses in three locations: New York, Los Angeles, and Jackson. Can't these over-pampered egotists get their lazy rear-ends to Jackson? I say again, if you want to do something good, then you don't need to publicise it. I pray Jimmy Carter is calling these people out.

Tim Green Vs. Geraldo

They are cancelling the resurrected A Current Affair, hosted by the aesthetically pleasing, but quite huge-headed Tim Green.

I only saw one episode of it, but I would gladly ask TPTB to reconsider their decision since the replacement is going to be a daily news show with Geraldo Rivera. Now, Tim Green actually seems like a decent guy, not to mention well-rounded: football player-turned-bestselling writer. If you saw his occasional appearances on Good Day New York, then you'd know that he also comes across as quite likable and intelligent.

Contrast this with the bombastic and knuckle-headed Geraldo Rivera. He belongs in the category of men who really should just never speak and just walk around naked.

And honestly, it shocks me that NewsCorp is too cheap to just do a measly little half-hour national news broadcast. I wouldn't watch it, but judging by the way that FOX 5 was trying hype A Current Affair as the equivalent of their national news, they should just go ahead and do it.

By the way, in case you're wondering why my extreme-left self is doing watching FOX News, here's my explanation/excuse: Despite both being owned by NewsCorp, I do perceive the local FOX stations as being quite separate from FOX News Channel. The local FOX stations, especially the one here in New York, is pretty objective when it comes to opinion. (Even the resident editiorial curmudgeon, Christopher Jones, seems pretty moderate-to-liberal on many issues. I only hold his pro-Bloomberg stance against him.) Plus, to be honest with you, I'd rather watch the lively Good Day New York instead of any of the other staid morning shows.

Theatre Actor Idol?

The Daily News has a story about The Audition, a show which consists of 11 actors auditioning in the first act, with the second act comprised of the called back actors pairing off and doing cold reads.

Now this seems just a bit too gimmicky for me. For starters, isn't this just A Chorus Line without songs? Secondly, auditions are boring if you aren't participating. The most interesting audition I can remember was when I was cueing the actors for a friend's play, and the actor--who eventually got the role--went to grab my crotch.

I should point out that I had no input.

New York's Uncle Toms and Aunt Condoleezas

Our $1 mayor* has announced the formation of African-Americans for Bloomberg. Apologies for the language, since I despise this word, but this is basically a group of house n*****s trying to make the massa look good. Iman is a part of it. Iman! What the hell does she care? She wants to merely keep hers & David Bowie's money from going to the poor people--because it's all the better for the ego if they have a nicely staged photo op for their altruism.

*That's his salary and his value, if you ask me.

It says a lot about Dollar Bill Mike that this group includes several big names who aren't even registered to vote in New York City. I would not even be surprised if Georgie & Weezie Jefferson are listed as members.

Has there been a lobotomy craze going on that I'm not privvy to?

As heard on morning radio

(Not for the squeamish.)

Signs that you have gotten into the wrong cab:

#7 - "The driver has a pickle jar with blood on it, and the sign says 'tip big or die.'"

#2 - "The driver is a pimp and is checking up on all his women."

Steve Harvey now has a morning show on WBLS. This gives me some minor deja-vu, as his show was the only one I listened to during my four months in Los Angeles.

What's bigot for Schadenfreude?

The Christian Coalition has fallen on hard times, and what's this about a racial discrimination suit?

WWJD?

Click and be addicted

...or just stuck with the name of the official Wisconsin state animal in your head.

The Return of Jerry Kilgore

Speaking of smoke around flames, Virginia Republican Gubernatorial candidate Jerry Kilgore is proclaiming "55 days until victory" on his website.

I point to his media page where Jerry speaks in only two of his ads. I don't know how anyone can even take this man seriously. I mean he sounds like the offspring of Gomer Pyle and Alan Sues! My great aunt who lives in Lynchburg finds him hilarious.

See and hear La Kilgore praise teachers. (He married a teacher, but alas no "gay city" shout-out.)

The comedy fan in me wants him to win just because you know he will say "go-l-ly!" at some point.

However, for my great aunt's sake, I'll wait to see him queen it out in his concession speech.

Another Picture Says It All

In the photo, Edgar Costa, a Catalonian TV reporter friend of mine, interviews an evacuee from Hurricane Katrina in Baton Rouge. Edgar was in New Orleans to cover Southern Decadence, but managed to make it out right before the Katrina made landfall.

A Tale of Two "Closeted" Politicians

A disclaimer: I'm not saying definitively that these two men are gay, but there's a lot of smoke around their respective fires. However, if I wind up bound and gagged in the Hudson River...

My mayor and my senator are closeted, if the rumour mill is to be believed. Perhaps, I should clarify things a bit. The mayor of New York and the senior senator from Wisconsin are supposedly gay. NNDB even says so in respect to Herb Kohl. I do not expect in my lifetime to ever hear a McGreevey style "gay American" speech coming out of their mouths. What I find very interesting is that with one, I am content to let it slide, and with the other I am just waiting to go all ACT UP on.

First let's examine Michael Bloomberg. Supposedly, he was a lifelong Democrat until 2001 when he up and switched parties in order to get elected. Supposedly, he quite gladly forgot his Democratic past and welcomed the RNC in 2004 in an overwhelmingly Democratic city. I call him an opportunist over all. The local news in New York always mention Bloomberg Democrats, a phenomenon that has shocked me just as much as Reagan Democrats. I say the two are cut from the same cloth: "me above all others" (thought in lower case because they don't want to admit it publicly). I'd never vote for the fool--and had I acheived New York residency in 2001, I wouldn't have--but he wasn't as bad as Giuliani (yeah, yeah, America's mayor and all that, but do you remember what he was like before September 11th?).

Unfortunately, Bloomie started getting cocky: First, it was the smoking ban, which continues to make no sense, even to Penn & Teller; Then it was the RNC convention, which led to police confrontations with protesters, the cases of which are still being dealt with a year later; The West Side Stadium and Olympics that he tried to thrust upon us as recently as Spring this year, despite virulent oppostion (Bloomie's a money man, he only hears the rustle of cash).

However, what really got my goat was the fact that he decided that my--and therefore, his--right to get married to a man is not worth fighting for. In fact, he quite openly admitted that he didn't want a repeat in New York of what went on in San Francisco with Gavin Newsom. Why the hell not? I'm certain that like any person, Newsom has his flaws, but being willing to fight for what is absolutely morally, ethically, politically right is not one of them. Bloomberg has done nothing but try to turn New York into a playland for himself and his overly rich cronies. We pay exorbitant rent, you can't buy a home unless you're practically Rockefeller reborn, and oh yes, the arts are slowly getting dumbed down and the artists are seriously contemplating leaving.

But see, Bloomberg just doesn't care. If he can fatten his wallet, get his rentboys, and have no protection for whatever serious illicit male relationship he has--assuming that he does believe in partnership--then why should it matter to the rest of us? I mean here is a man that basically told gays & lesbians to "shut it" in February, and then in June had the audacity to do the Pride March! And not just that, he actually had a booth set up at the streetfair! How can tell someone "your rights mean nothing to me, but can I still have your vote?"

Lest I give myself an aneurysm, let's talk about Herb Kohl. Herb & I go way back. Well, inasmuch as he's been the senator from Wisconsin for most of my life. I like the man. I like him even more now that I know that he likes men too. If you grew up in Milwaukee, Kohl is a reassuring name, because you saw it everywhere. His family started up Kohl's food stores and Kohl's department stores. (The former got bought out by A&P and subsequently disappeared a couple of years ago, but everytime I go into a Food Emporium it's deja-vu. When I first saw a Kohl's department store ad on New York television, I did seriously think I was back in Milwaukee.) The long and short of it is that he's rich. He doesn't have to care or even be all that nice, but he is. An example: he voted down the Marriage Protection Amendment.

Now, Kohl is most definitely not as rich as Bloomberg, but apparently he has more heart. I'll be honest with you, a lot of Wisconsin is pretty, well, um..."country," if you know what I mean. There are people in parts of the state that see going to Rhinelander (a tiny little city in the North) as going to New York, and going to Milwaukee as being akin to visiting Gomorrah. I am not lying. So indeed, he might very well be taking a gamble amongst the bigots and closed-minded. This just makes me support him all the more.

Perhaps he's doing it subconsciously, but Kohl is working towards a US where we are all treated equally and protected as such. I will indeed vote for him (absentee, mind you) in 2006.

I pray that I will not ever have to hear or read the words "current New York City mayor Bloomberg" by that time.

Just A Reminder: VOTE!

If you're living in New York City (or any other locale with a primary today), vote in the primary today as well as in the general election in November. If you think that it makes no difference, think about it this way, only those who voted can legitimately complain.

I voted this morning around 6:30, since I hate crowds. I don't know what the Voter's Registry has against me, but I wasn't on the registry again, so I had to vote on a paper ballot. I've been a registered New York City voter for over a year now.

Still, it was worth it.

Finally, a premiere date

LOGO is now announcing Noah's Arc's premiere date as October 19. As hackneyed as this expression is, I'm going to use it: "about damn time."

In other LOGO news, I've been watching Open Bar, and the first thing that comes to my mind is that Tyler comes across as a butch version of Jonathon Antin of Blow Out. He's a very strange man. I'm both attracted and slightly repulsed by him. I want to have a torrid sex-filled affair with him, but I also want him to shut up, especially with his "dude," "man," and "bro" flavoured speech. I know he's a former USC frat boy, but Jesus wept, it's just annoying.

Also, for pete's sake, will he get over his paranoia about other's perceptions about him being gay? I mean, I read gay novels, read gay news on a daily basis, have a subscription to The Advocate, watch LOGO, and I don't obsess about my sexuality as much as he does. I know he only came out a few years ago, but get over it. I'd understand it if he had gotten hostile reactions, but he hasn't. (To be fair, I'll also assume that editing plays a role.)

Politics and my voice

This is going to be a rather schitzophrenic missive, but que sera...

The Democratic primary is tomorrow, and I think I finally have an idea who I'm voting for. I absolutely hate being undecided, but at least I got it together late.

So here's my slate:

• Mayor: Ferrer. I was on the fence with Weiner, but his performance in the debate swung me. Based on the polls, it's looking like a Ferrer-Weiner runoff, and I'm still going to vote for Ferrer in that, unless he screws up majorly.
• Manhattan Borough President: Ellner. I had waffled on this for ages, but like Ferrer, it just took one issue to put me in his camp. He's for a London-style commuter tax in Manhattan. Amen! Yes, the "emperor has no clothes" ads are cute, ditto the "this is my partner" (has everybody forgotten that Margarita Lopez is running as well?), but if he does actually manage to follow through on the commuter tax, I'll be happy. Will he win? It'll be close, but I'll be quite content with Stringer.
• Manhattan District Attorney: Snyder. I'm sorry, but we need a new DA. Morgy has been in charge since 1975! This is Manhattan, New York, not Manhattan, Kansas, nobody should be in power that long. (I even bet Manhattan, Kansas has had several DAs since Morgy has been in office.) In respect to her stance in favour of the death penalty, I'm sort of really indifferent. The fact of the matter is that the death penalty is on the books in New York State, so why not use it, if you use it exclusively for seriously heinous crimes? I don't get the sense that she's going to turn New York into Texas. If the death penalty gets repealed, then so be it. I still think Morgy has been in office too long.
• Public Advocate: Rasiej. Can't pronounce his name, but he seems pretty wry and wise in his campaign literature. I'm indifferent on this race, but I'm going for Rasiej, simply because I haven't read a peep out of Gottbaum.

Now switching gears entirely, my throat is extremely sore, and I'm taking it as a sign that I shouldn't be the cute li'l capitalist for awhile. (The guilt over these business deals will be around for a long time.) I don't really have discomfort speaking, inasmuch as drinking and eating, but it's got me thinking about my voice in general.

It is very unlikely you'll ever see a podcast on here (though TrunkGuy's are excellent), for one main reason. My voice is very breathy. You would think smoking for 7 years would change it, but it hasn't. When I was at college, we had a radio class and the teacher told me that I would need to pitch lower in order to "come across" on the radio. Essentially what she was saying is that my voice is suited for phone sex. And while I'm all for porn, I've seen Girl 6, no thank you. So I try to keep my recorded voice out of circulation.

A sidenote: I've added Bougie Black Boy to my blogroll--I hope he doesn't mind. The man is extremely insightful, hilarious, and like the brother I never had growing up.

It is a small town

You often forget that Manhattan is an island with just a little over a million people on it. Last night, while heading off on a mini-bar crawl (I need to dull the pain of my new capitalist lifestyle), I run into Meleni, a friend from high school who I haven't seen since 1997.

Meleni, by the way, was the singer I was hoping to see at the Roxy several weeks ago. Apparently she came on at 7am! So if I ever do the Roxy again, I will go to sleep at 10, and then go there at 5.

Slightly off-topic, but people have been calling me "diesel" recently, and I have no clue what on earth they mean. I can tell that it's a good thing, but the only thing that comes to my mind is "diesel dyke." Considering that these have been mostly straight people saying this, I doubt that's the connection. I realise I'm out of the loop, so please enlighten me.

The Middle Gets Wider

The Kraynak-Wright murder gets another twist. The authorities have come up with no clues from the autopsies as to how they died. No stab wounds, nor gunshot wounds were evident. The toxicology results, however have yet to come in. The armchair detective in me suggests that the answer lies there. Also, the surveillance tapes from the club that they were going to show no images of the pair getting out.

Just as intriguing is this article from 365Gay.com, which goes into their backgrounds:

• Kraynak wanted to become a high-fashion model since his days serving at Fort Bragg. With this in mind, he signed up with an Atlanta agency, but wound up in porn. An employee at the Toronto club the pair worked at stated that Kraynak was "very soft spoken and sometimes uncomfortable stripping."
• Wright conversely was quite happy with the money that he got from stripping, which allowed him to live a "party boy" lifestyle.

I haven't read the stateside coverage of this, but I'm hoping that they do not demonise either of these two because of what they did. I have sinking suspicion (which I hope does not occur) that Kraynak's hometown media is going to try to paint Wright as someone who led him astray, when both are now dead under mysterious circumstances.

What I would like to find out is how well did Kraynak and Wright know each other. It's evident that they worked for the same agency, but were they friends, possibly even more? The pair seem to have absolute opposite personalities. Wright being vivacious, and Kraynak being rather withdrawn. I don't want to jump to overdramatic conclusions, but the possibilty does exist that this is a lovers' suicide as depicted in many kabuki plays and in Romeo & Juliet.

A sidenote: Much has been said in editorals across the nation, that the American media only pays attention to missing young white girls, and never to women of colour, or men of all ethnic backgrounds. These men had been missing since August 22, and only the Canadian media, the gay media, and their local media found it worthy of coverage. You might very well say that this is only a local story. So was Natalee Holloway. So was Chandra Levy. So was Elizabeth Smart. How are they exceptions? What places their lives on a level of higher importance than those of Kraynak & Wright, or of anyone who goes missing? Part of the point of reporting on missing persons cases is the hope that someone will see something and go to the authorities.

So apparently men and minority women have lives that aren't worth saving according to the media's rules.

I'm stepping off my soapbox now.

An Open Letter to VH1 Classic

For starters, I love you. You don't dwell on insipid reality shows like your supposedly music-oriented siblings. You just play the damn videos.

Now, I have some bones to pick with you:

1. Please stop playing these videos of The Delfonics from when they were at some 1970s nostalgia concert. It's just flat out sadistic to see aging men sweating buckets and looking like they are about to pass out. Let's remember them how they used to be.
2. I like The Jets. Seriously, I do. Sometimes, I find myself walking down 6th Avenue with "Crush on you" playing in my head. However, I don't know what world you live in, but there is no way on god's green Earth that you could consider them "Classic Soul." I imagine Sly Stone would agree with me on this one.
3. Would you be consistent with your schedules? One day, I'm expecting Pop Show and get All Star Jams. I'm expecting We Are The 80s, and get some Carly Simon concert from 1977. (And unless it's an hour of "Vengance" played back to back, I don't want to see it.)
4. Please remove all Eddie Murphy videos from your rotation unless you plan on having a marathon of videos that are unintentionally hilarious. Or when he is forcibly outed. (Read between the lines of "Party All The Time.")
5. More ELO, please!
6. I have been watching you every day for 3 months now, and I have yet to see J.J. Fad, Chubb Rock, or E-Z Roc & Rob Base. For pete's sake, they play the latter at Splash, and those two need all the royalties they can get.
7. A house music night. Nothing but dance music from 1988 to 1993. Think about it. I mean, your sister station is LOGO!

Yours curmudgeonly,

Hikaru Freeman

First Massachusetts, now California?

California's Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act passed last night by one vote. In case the title seems like it's anti-gay marriage, rest assured that it is most definitely not. The bill is designed along the lines of Canada's same-sex marriage laws, wherein local clerks are required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but allows those who are opposed (read: small-minded and not challenged by intellect) to gay marriage, to refuse to perform the ceremony.

Schwartzenegger, who probably owes his career to muscle-worshipping gay men, has not said whether he will sign the bill or not.

Update: The steroids have gone to his head. Schwartzenegger says that he's going to veto it "out of respect for the will of the people." Apparently, we aren't people in his eyes.