The Week In Review

By Keith Boykin
Friday, May 19 2006, 1:10PM

This week I decided to do something new and different with the week in review. Rather than going to the mainstream news sources, I thought I'd look to see what was happening in the blogosphere and in other alternative news sources. Sure, it's some of the same news, but I wanted to get a different perspective from what we see on TV or read in the papers.

To be honest, I also peeked at some mainstream news sources in the process. But the overwhelming majority of the stories in this week's Week In Review actually come from alternative press. There are some stories that the mainstream press don't cover unless they're pushed by the bloggers. And there are other stories that the mainstream press just won't cover at all. Here now are some of those stories.

Tar Baby In The White House

Talk about getting started on the wrong foot, new White House press secretary Tony Snow began his first day on the job with a racial epithet heard around the world. Snow said, "I don’t want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program, the alleged program, the existence of which I can neither confirm nor deny." Hug the tar baby? Huh? Was that his idea of a bad joke?

And He Does Windows Too

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it in a reputable news source. Our president is a man of many talents. So what if he dodged the draft? He can help "land" a fighter plane on an aircraft carrier. And now we learn that he's one helluva border patrol agent. Determined not to allow his opponents to get ahead of him on the volatile immigration issue, the commander in chief of the armed forces jumped in a dune buggy to take a tour of the Arizona border this week. Bush rode shotgun but there's no word on whether he caught any immigrants crossing the border.

Russ Feingold and Arlen Specter Face Off On Marriage

Things got testy this week when two powerful senators squared off over gay marriage and congressional openness. Sen. Russ Feingold, upset at a GOP decision to move a hearing on "gay marriage" into a private room, reportedly "declared his opposition to the amendment, his affinity for the Constitution and his intention to leave the meeting." Replied Sen. Arlen Specter, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, "I don't need to be lectured by you. You are no more a protector of the Constitution than am I...If you want to leave, good riddance." To which Feingold then retorted, "I've enjoyed your lecture, too, Mr. Chairman. See ya."

First Black Woman Joins Yale Law Faculty

Tracey L. Meares, the Max Pam Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Studies in Criminal Justice at the University of Chicago School of Law, will join Yale Law School as Professor of Law in January 2007. Professor Meares’ teaching and research interests center on criminal procedure and criminal law policy, with a particular emphasis on empirical investigation of these subjects.

Black Lesbian Murdered In DC

Almost exactly three years after 15-year-old Newark resident Sakia Gunn was murdered in a vicious hate crime, a 20-year-old black lesbian was shot to death and two of her friends were wounded while the three stood on a street near their homes in Washington D.C. shortly before midnight on May 16. Crystal Smith died minutes after being struck in the head by a bullet fired by an unknown gunman who wore a mask. The two people who were with Smith at the time of the shooting, a 15-year-old female and a 16-year-old male, suffered gunshot wounds to the legs and were recuperating in local hospitals, according to the Washington Blade.

Furor Grows Over Bishop's Anti-Gay Sermon

Things are heating up in DC after word spread recently that Bishop Alfred Owens of Greater Mt. Calvary Church had delivered a fiery homophobic sermon on Palm Sunday. DC Mayor Anthony Williams denounced Owens's remarks and called on the pastor to apologize or be booted from the mayor's interfaith religious council. Owens wrote a letter to the editor of the Washington Post in which he never really apologized but instead acknowledged that some black gays and lesbians were offended by his remarks. By week's end, Owens was still on the mayor's council and black gay men were still going to Owens's church.

John Legend and Cornel West Tackle Homophobia

R&B singer John Legend, Princeton Professor Cornel West and former White House national security expert Richard Clarke appeared on "Real Time With Bill Maher" last week and had an engaging discussion about homophobia. West challenged the notion that homophobia is worse in the black community than in other communities but at the same time acknowledged that blacks are homophobic. He, Legend and Clarke also seemed to agree that the GOP uses the homophobia issue as a wedge to win votes from fearful voters.

Black LGBT Writers Win Awards

The 18th Annual Lambda Literary Awards were presented last night and several prominent writers in the community picked up awards. E. Lynn Harris's anthology, Freedom in the Village: 25 Years of Black Gay Men's Writing, was selected as best anthology. Directed by Desire: Collected Poems by June Jordan won the award for lesbian poetry. Thomas Glave's Words to Our Now won the award for nonfiction. Meanwhile, across the pond, Valerie Mason-John, who has been profiled before on this site, won the award for Mind Book of the Year for her first novel, Borrowed Body.

Black Gay Group To Protest Raw Sex Party

Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD) will be staging a protest against a sex party called Raw Dukes III on Saturday. The party, which is held at a private residence in Harlem, New York, is a recurring event that takes place at least twice a month, according to GMAD. "Although it is held in a private residence, patrons who attend are charged an entrance fee and it is promoted through the internet via an Evite," according to a press release from GMAD. "This party promotes unsafe sex using no condoms as well as use of drugs. As per the evite, patrons are told ahead of time that if they are caught using a condom, they will be asked to leave with no refund." The raw sex party is scheduled for 11:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. GMAD will begin the protest at 7:30 p.m. "to assure that this party does not take place." The protest is scheduled to take place at 2718 8th Avenue, Apt. # 2A, at 145th & Frederick Douglass Boulevard.

Atlanta Still The Black Gay Mecca

Not long ago the Washington Post did a story on how Atlanta had become the black gay mecca. So too did the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Southern Voice and most recently the Los Angeles Times. That story has since reappeared in several other newspapers, which means it must be true.

Caribbean Queen

Gays may be welcome in Atlanta but not in certain parts of the Caribbean. Less than a week after two gay American tourists were brutally beaten with tire irons in an anti-gay attack on the island of St. Maarten, the daily newspaper there published an editorial that condoned violence against gays and blamed the victims for the attack. The editorial writer for the publication referred to the victims as “faggots,” “homos” and “silly homosexuals.”

Half Million Dollar Reward Offered For Murderer of Peter King

A $500,000 reward has just been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killers of Jamaican trade ambassador Peter King. On March 20, King's nude body was found "in his bedroom with his throat slashed and multiple stab wounds to the chest. Reports indicated that two young men who may have slept over at the house were questioned by detectives but were not charged.

Former B2K Singer To Star in Noah's Arc

Raz B will play gay on Noah's Arc, according to Rod 2.0, who reports the latest news from Pink Mafia Radio. Raz has already established himself as a "gay-friendly heart-throb," according to Rod, but now the former B2K member will play a love interest in the upcoming second season. Rod doesn't tell us whose love interest just yet.

Blacks Check Out Of American Idol

A few weeks ago I made predictions on who would win American Idol. I still think I'm right about the winner, but I've been wrong about everything else in the show. Who knew that Chris Daughtry would be kicked off the show before Elliot Yamin? I certainly didn't see that one coming. What I did know is that black people vote for black contestants and that many black people stop watching when there are no black performers left. Well now an economics professor in Arkansas has confirmed my hunch.

Jungmin Lee found that when viewership and voting were taken into account simultaneously, the connection between black viewers and black contestants was particularly strong. With relatively more black viewers, black contestants were less likely to be eliminated. Then came word today that black people have stopped watching AI now that the show's only remaining black contestant, Paris Bennett, is no longer on.

Will and Grace Say Goodbye

Say goodbye to Friday morning water cooler conversation about Will and Grace. They won't be around for Thursday nights anymore. The curtain fell for the final time last night on the long-running comedy that helped to introduce gay characters to mainstream America.

Cracking The Da Vinci Code

The book was a number one New York Times bestseller and has sold more than 60 million copies worldwide. And despite -- or perhaps because of -- bad press, threats of protests and negative reviews, the movie is likely to shatter some records of its own this weekend.

Homoeroticism and the NBA

Who says there's no homosexuality in professional sports? If nothing else, there is a whole lot of feeling going around. That's what Rod observed last week as he tracked down some provocative photos of ballers all on top of each other during the NBA playoffs.

E. Lynn Harris on Luther Vandross

Author E. Lynn Harris does a new interview with The Advocate where he talks about Luther Vandross' sexuality.

Keithboykin.com Launches Spring Fundraising Drive

You knew I had to put this in the mix. This week we launched our annual spring fundraising drive to raise money to support this site and keep it growing. With a goal to reach $2000 in two weeks, the readers of the site generously contributed more than $100 a day for the first four days, bringing the grand total of funds raised to $462.08 from Monday through Thursday. The money raised will pay for new infrastructure, software and web design, all of which help to bring you fresh new content everyday. The site has been experiencing major challenges lately because it has become so popular that it has outgrown its host and needs a new server. We are encouraging contributions until the goal is reached.

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