Monthly archive of July 2005

McMillan and Wife

Could it be a coincidence that R&B legend Luther Vandross passed away in the same week when Terry McMillan’s divorce to a gay man became public and R. Kelly’s new “Trapped In The Closet” music video outed a closeted gay man?

Just hours after Logo launched the first ever gay television channel on basic cable and Sandra Day O’Connor resigned from the Supreme Court, our heads were spinning with news that Luther Vandross had died at 54.

Posted in sexuality on July 6 2005, 1:27PM | Read More | Comments (78)

London Fog

Call it the second British invasion. Not since the Beatles landed on our shores in 1964 have Americans been so closely connected to the British zeitgeist. This special relationship may be a big party in pop culture, but it’s a big problem in politics.

At the beginning of the month, Americans cheered at Wimbledon as Venus Williams beat Lindsay Davenport in an all-American women’s championship that lasted longer than any other match in the history of the British tournament. Just days later, the British got their revenge when London beat out New York to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

Posted in politics on July 13 2005, 11:34AM | Read More | Comments (7)

Black and Gay and Defending the GOP?

Robert Traynham is a black Republican. I disagree with the GOP on race issues but that's his right. Apparently Robert Traynham is also gay. It's a little more difficult to understand how anyone could be a black gay Republican, but it's still his right.

Now here's the kicker. Robert Traynham is a key GOP operative for one of the most homophobic Senators in our country. That's right. Traynham is Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Communications for the Senate Republican Conference, where he serves U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Prior to working in the U.S. Senate, Traynham served as Political Director for Black America's Political Action Committee (BAMPAC), an organization whose mission is electing black conservatives to national office.

Posted in politics on July 15 2005, 1:12PM | Read More | Comments (38)

The Ski Trip Debuts on Logo

Note: This Sunday night, the Logo channel (a part of MTV Networks) will air the first black gay feature-length film on commercial television, The Ski Trip. I had a chance to review the film last October when it was still on the film festival circuit. Now the final version of the movie, with all new music, will debut Sunday night at 10 p.m. To mark the event, I am republishing the movie review I wrote about The Ski Trip last October. (kb)

What do you get when you mix a great story with complex characters, witty dialogue and realistic acting? You get Ski Trip, a romantic comedy that tells the stories of a group of black and Latino friends who venture out from their city dwellings on a weekend getaway to ski country.

Posted in movies on July 15 2005, 1:17PM | Read More | Comments (11)

Rev. Willie Wilson Outed

Every now and then, someone makes remarks so outrageous that they have to be seen and heard to be believed. Two weeks ago, Rev. Willie Wilson, the pastor at Washington's Union Temple Baptist Church, did just that when he delivered a viciously homophobic sermon that blamed lesbianism for almost everything wrong in America.

That alone would be bad enough if Wilson were not the executive director of the Millions More Movement, Minister Louis Farrakhan's effort to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March. You may recall that I met with Farrakhan back in February in Atlanta. At the time, he promised that gays and lesbians would be welcome at the new march. But if Rev. Wilson's comments are indicative of the way gays and lesbians will be treated, will gays and lesbians be there at all, and if so will we come as participants or protesters?

Posted in spirituality on July 18 2005, 12:44PM | Read More | Comments (70)

Stealth

In the new movie “Stealth,” the military attempts to replace the old human-piloted fighter plane with a new prototype jet controlled by an artificial intelligence computer. The new jet is placed on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific to learn combat maneuvers from top human pilots. But when it is struck by lightning and develops a mind of its own, Jamie Foxx and two fellow pilots have to bring it down before it starts a war.

In the new political version of “Stealth,” George Bush attempts to replace an old moderate judge with a young new conservative model. The new judge is to be placed on the U.S. Supreme Court to learn combat maneuvers from top conservative judges. But this time liberal activist groups and Democratic senators hope to bring him down before he reignites a smoldering culture war. But there is another, somewhat unlikely, ending to this story. Roberts could also develop a mind of his own once on the bench and force the right-wing to attack him the way they attacked his predecessor, Sandra Day O’Connor.

Posted in politics on July 21 2005, 9:22AM | Read More | Comments (2)

Sunday You Learn How to Box

Meet little Ronnie Parris. This adorable 3-year-old boy (pictured here) was killed by his father because the father thought the boy might be a “sissy.” Let me repeat that. His own father murdered him because he thought the boy might be gay.

Now meet Rev. J. Grace Harley. Salon.com reporter Mark Benjamin calls her a “kindly, big-boned, middle-aged black woman with gentle eyes and an obvious wig.” She calls herself a voice crying in the wilderness, but she’s really a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Harley runs the special anti-gay ministry at Greater Mt. Calvary Holy Church in Washington, DC.

Posted in spirituality on July 21 2005, 10:25AM | Read More | Comments (34)

Hustle & Flow: A Movie Review

Pimping ain’t easy. That’s the central theme behind “Hustle & Flow,” the story of a small-time Memphis pimp and weed dealer who dreams of escaping the ghetto. But fortunately, there’s much more to the story than that.

DJay (Terrence Howard) is a handsome, smooth-talking hustler when he bumps into his old high school buddy, Key (Anthony Anderson), a local sound engineer who sparks an idea to record crunk rap songs. There are two types of people in the world, Key tells DJay, shortly after they meet. There are those who talk the talk and those who walk the walk. DJay is determined to be a walker.

Posted in movies on July 22 2005, 12:08AM | Read More | Comments (18)

The Terrorists Have Already Won

At first glance, Fire Island seems an unlikely front in the war on terror. It is a place where residents and visitors worry more about ferry schedules and bright orange sunsets than about sleeper cells and color-coded terror alerts. But a recent trip to the trendy Long Island getaway reminded me of just how much life has changed in the past year.

Located sixty miles east of Manhattan, Fire Island is a secluded island community accessible only by boat. An hourly ferry shuttles passengers across the shallow, choppy waters of the Great South Bay. Once on the island, there are no roads to drive on and no cars to drive. The half-mile-wide island is outlined by spectacular white sand beaches alongside the Atlantic Ocean on the south and by boating docks adjoining the bay to the north. It’s a place I visited several times last summer to get away from the hustle and bustle of New York.

Posted in politics on July 26 2005, 9:58AM | Read More | Comments (34)

Just Another Missing Woman?

Have you seen this woman? The 24-year-old woman was reported missing from her West Philadelphia home on July 18. She is 5' 0" tall, with long, dark brown hair and brown eyes.

Any wonder why we haven't heard about her in the news? It's not her age. At 24, she's younger than Jennifer Wilbanks, "the runaway bride," who is 32. It's not that she's unsympathetic. She has a 7-year-old daughter and she is five months pregnant. And it's not that she's done anything wrong. Remember, Jennifer Wilbanks violated the law by making false statements to the police. But she still got plenty of news coverage even afterwards.

But this woman's name is not Natalee Holloway or Jennifer Wilbanks. It's Latoyia Figueroa. And she's got one big strike against her. She's not white.

Posted in pop culture on July 27 2005, 11:57AM | Read More | Comments (35)

Much Ado About Nothing?

An old man moves into a senior citizens' home and goes to see the resident doctor. He asks the doctor to guess his age. After running a few tests, the doctor guesses the man is 69. “Nope,” the proud senior responds, “I’m 98 years old.” The doctor is stunned but encouraging. A few minutes later, the old man approaches an old woman in the lobby and asks her to guess his age. “I don’t know. Pull down your pants,” she says. The old man politely complies and pulls down his pants while she feels him up for a few minutes to inspect him. Then she sits back down in the couch and declares, “You’re 98 years old.” The man is amazed. “How did you know?” he asks. The old woman leans back and replies: “I heard you tell the doctor.”

The point of this story is that things are not always as they appear. So today I’m going to take a minute to look at a few things that may or may not be what they appear to be.

Posted in pop culture on July 29 2005, 12:28PM | Read More | Comments (5)

Rev. Willie Wilson Apologizes...Sorta

July has not been a good month for Rev. Willie Wilson. On July 3, Wilson, the pastor of Union Temple Church in Washington, DC., delivered a homophobic sermon about black lesbians. When the sermon surfaced, black gays and lesbians were outraged, and many called for Wilson to resign from his position as executive director of the Millions More Movement March. Wilson said his comments were taken out of context but also refused to apologize. Now Wilson has issued a formal statement on the matter.

His statement is a first step but it's not nearly enough. In fact, it's not even an apology at all. Wilson still seems not to understand the offensiveness of his remarks. His defensive statment begins by repeating the red herring that his comments were made "within the confines" of his church. Yeah, so what? It doesn't matter where it's said, the point is, it was said. In fact, saying it in church makes it worse, not better.

Posted in sexuality on July 30 2005, 1:12PM | Read More | Comments (45)