tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86845282011-10-30T06:49:30.377-07:00Editorials that take on gay rights issuesKirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.comBlogger301100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1151212621821935212006-06-24T22:16:00.000-07:002006-06-24T22:17:49.200-07:00

"Bushwomen" focuses on a subject overlooked by the mainstream press: How the Bush female cabinet members are used to give the appearance of inclusiveness, while they carry out the Bush/Cheney radical right wing agenda. Author Laura Flanders introduces us to women as cynical, hypocritical and downright nasty as the Bush Cartel men. Like most of the Bush Cartel male members, they all had a helping

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1151211974569839492006-06-24T22:01:00.000-07:002006-06-24T22:07:55.780-07:00

It was the military and the media that made The Gay Agenda popular, says Bill Horn, once a CBS sportscaster, now video maker for the Springs of Life charismatic Christian church that produced the tape. "Since The Gay Agenda was featured on Larry King Live and ABC World News Tonight, calls have poured in on the 1-800 sales number requesting a copy," boast the producers. After appearing on Pat

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1151120743808353082006-06-23T20:29:00.000-07:002006-06-23T20:45:43.850-07:00

(I started this "blog" as a collection of articles on gay rights - some by me, but most by others - which I gleaned from magazines and websites; I found it very frustrating to wade through reams of bad writing and wishy-washiness, etc. trying to find a few gems, thus it was all done with the aim of having things where I could find them easily. If anyone happens to read them and like them, that's

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1115319133152402312005-05-05T11:49:00.000-07:002005-05-05T11:52:13.163-07:00

This is a wonderful article. My only problem with it is that he doesn't mention the very important fact that gays WERE killed by Hitler. I was amazed that the San Diego Union-Tribune picked it up.BY LEONARD PITTS JR.: Anti-gay laws are inhumaneMay 4, 2005BY LEONARD PITTS JR.Gay Holocaust?That was the subject line of an e-mail I received last week from "Chris," a lawyer in a red state. He wanted

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1114117271074476582005-04-21T13:54:00.000-07:002005-04-21T14:01:11.083-07:00

America's Designated Victims: Our Creative YoungBette GreeneThe Alan Journal, 1992After my novel The Drowning of Stephan Jones (inspired by a true crime, the drowning of a gay man by a teenager on a "religious" rampage) was published, something very strange happened. At first it seemed strange; while later on, it became almost predictable. Every time I spoke before an assembly of students, there

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1111347305006022542005-03-20T11:33:00.000-08:002005-03-20T11:35:05.010-08:00

Who you callin' a fag hag?By Heather Matarazzo From The Advocate, March 29, 2005I was hanging out with my friend Carl a few weeks ago. He was on the phone with a new female friend of his. After he hung up I asked, “Is that your new best—?” Before I could finish my sentence, he replied, “Heather, you’ll always be my number 1 fag hag.” I told him that I couldn’t possibly be a fag hag, since I’m a

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1106250365208609552005-01-20T11:40:00.000-08:002005-01-20T11:46:05.206-08:00

Brent Hartinger It’s a cliché to say it, but I’ve always known I was gay. Oh, sometimes I’d play mental games where I’d tell myself that I just hadn’t met the right girl. Or that I was always checking out other boys because I was just comparing myself to them. But deep down, I think I always knew the truth. Problem was, it was pretty clear what all the people around me thought of homosexuality

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1106247444464918882005-01-20T10:55:00.000-08:002005-01-20T10:57:24.463-08:00

Gay Abe, Sapphic Susan The Difficulties Of Outing The Dead Michelangelo Signorile Having myself outed a dead man—the publishing tycoon Malcolm Forbes—back in the spring of 1990 (while some of his sanitized obituaries were still being written), I've curiously watched the uneven coverage of Susan Sontag's life and death in recent weeks, as well as the critics' treatments of the late Kinsey

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com49tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1106246401876433182005-01-20T10:36:00.000-08:002005-01-20T10:40:01.910-08:00

Gay Abe, Sapphic Susan The Difficulties Of Outing The Dead Michelangelo Signorile Having myself outed a dead man—the publishing tycoon Malcolm Forbes—back in the spring of 1990 (while some of his sanitized obituaries were still being written), I've curiously watched the uneven coverage of Susan Sontag's life and death in recent weeks, as well as the critics' treatments of the late Kinsey

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1104003034830304892004-12-25T11:09:00.000-08:002004-12-25T11:30:34.830-08:00

Dyke - A lesbian. The term derives from the nineteenth-century slang word dike, which referred to male clothing, and when it was first used to refer to women, it carried a derogatory connotation of masculine appearance or behavior. I have long had the suspicion that the word had such an origin. Besides not buying into the idea that a word long used as an insult can be "claimed" by and thus

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1103140953923144152004-12-15T11:49:00.000-08:002004-12-15T12:55:25.996-08:00

I recently found this article (at Independent Gay Forum) on the subject of gays bearing arms. Though it's a few years old, I think it's incredibly relevant today and a persuasive argument for why we shouldn't be afraid to protect ourselves. Pink Pistols By Jonathan Rauch First published in Salon March 14, 2000. ONE NIGHT IN the autumn of 1987, in Little Rock, Ark., a boy named Austin Fulk

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1103082185236455762004-12-14T19:41:00.000-08:002004-12-14T19:46:51.063-08:00

Having caught the linguistic “bug” while doing a couple post-graduate degrees in linguistics, I’m unable to restrain myself from pointing out semantic curiosities from time to time. The use of “dude”, a word which I finally expunged from my vocabulary during my time away from southern California, is mildly interesting and worth a look. It was the subject of an academic paper written recently by a

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1103057714724603892004-12-14T13:47:00.000-08:002004-12-14T12:55:14.723-08:00

I am addicted to this show. Unfortunately I don't have Showtime, but I'm wearing down a path into the video store where I've been going to rapidly catch up on the first three seasons (having been out of the country for years now). Sometimes the show pisses me off (like with the re-iteration of stereotypes that I have to admit, in the end, sometimes ring true) and sometimes the plotting is a

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1103000991267096372004-12-13T21:02:00.000-08:002004-12-13T21:09:51.266-08:00

Being a lesbian is not at all political to me – it is sexual and it is aesthetic. The fact that I have engaged in the political nonsense going on where gays are deprived of their full status as citizens is incidental as far as I’m concerned. When I dress up to go out, I make myself as attractive as I can for any women I might meet just as straight women do this for any men they might meet.

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1102797154540323722004-12-11T13:21:00.000-08:002004-12-11T12:32:34.540-08:00

I have had an annoying exchange with the head of “The Commercial Closet” during the last couple of days. I was interested in visiting his website since I believe that getting gay portrayals into advertising is vitally important as visibility in every area is instrumental to acceptance into mainstream society. I was, however, very miffed to see that he, like a certain group of lesbians, buys

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1102366769043039282004-12-06T13:51:00.000-08:002004-12-12T19:53:18.410-08:00

I found this speech by Larry Kramer on Rupaul's site (www.rupaul.com) and, though I've left out certain parts, this is at least three-fourths of the original text. Finally, someone who is pissed off about not only the right-wing haters but also about the inertia of the pathetic "gay rights" organizations. At last someone who's as fricking angry as I am! THE TRAGEDY OF TODAY'S GAYS An address to

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1102357747286834572004-12-06T10:09:00.000-08:002004-12-06T10:32:48.903-08:00

December 5, 2004 FRANK RICH, The New York Times The Nascar Nightly News: Anchorman Get Your Gun (This is only an excerpt of the article. Rich talks about the end of integrity as concerns the news media, using 20/20s offensive and irresponsible "investigation" into the Matthew Shepard case of the latest example of the media kowtowing to the red state mentality) IF Democrats want to run around

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1102108420215676602004-12-03T13:42:00.000-08:002004-12-03T13:42:03.130-08:00

I saw “Kinsey” recently which was as entertaining as it was informative. The film fulfilled the blurb expressed in its advertisement: “You’ll be shocked at how far we haven’t come”. Every week there are more news events that show just what a puritanical and repressed country the United States is. More importantly, these occurrences show the absolute fascism inspired by the current Shrub

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1101546368405571232004-11-27T01:05:00.000-08:002004-11-28T18:42:05.973-08:00

I’ve been wanting to write about this horrid sitcom for a while now – since I first discovered it after a long sojourn en France (though I did see it in a sub-titled state once while there). I have so many problems with this so-called “gay” show that they’re difficult to count but I’ll give it my best try. 1) Will is as celebate as a monk at a eunichs’ prayer-in. This, of course, has been

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1101251847459464762004-11-23T15:14:00.000-08:002004-11-23T15:19:30.253-08:00

SORDID TALES by Edwin Decker San Diego CityBeat, November 2004 Phobophobia n. (fo-bo-fo-bee-uh): The fear of fear. Of all the results of Election Day 2004, none was as sickening as the overwhelming sentiment against gay marriage. Of course, a lot of people don’t agree with this thesis. They say gay marriage wasn’t an important issue at all—that during a time when war is waging, the economy is

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1100580710339475742004-11-15T20:47:00.000-08:002004-11-23T13:32:53.480-08:00

Homophobic politicians, singers and journalists share the blame Gareth McLean Wednesday November 3, 2004 The Guardian By Rocco Buttiglione's logic, David Morley got what he deserved. The once-aspiring EU commissioner believes homosexuality is a sin. The wages of sin, at least according to the book on which the Italian minister bases his morality, is death. Morley, a gay man who survived the

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1100065701847748212004-11-09T21:46:00.000-08:002004-11-23T13:35:09.850-08:00

Thomas Oliphante The Boston Globe, November 9, 2004 The news media have grossly misreported the contents of state referendum questions targeting Americans who are apparently seen as more dangerous to national security than John Kerry – gay people. Using unthinking shorthand that carries out the hidden agendas of the people who want gays banished to the fringes of society, the press has over and

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1098996895464441582004-10-28T13:09:00.000-07:002004-11-23T13:27:13.463-08:00

By Kirstin Johnson Instead of continuing to focus on whether or not our parents accept us, why don't we gays ask ourselves if we accept them? After all, they are not in a moral position to decide whether they can live with our sexuality unless we decide, persuaded by a societal bias which is drummed into everyone's heads starting at near-infancy, to give them that power. No one, however,

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1098431031280624242004-10-22T01:37:00.000-07:002004-11-23T13:37:22.446-08:00

Frank Rich The New York Times, October 24, 2004 IN the annals of election year 2004, Oct. 13 will be remembered as the day it rained lesbians in red America. That was when we learned that Andrea Mackris, an associate producer on "The O'Reilly Factor," had filed her sexual harassment law suit, charging that her boss had an obsessive interest in vibrators, phone sex and, most persistently, erotic

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1098429321330840852004-10-22T01:10:00.000-07:002004-11-23T13:38:58.173-08:00

Ellen Goodman Globe Columnist, October 21, 2004 LET ME SEE if I have this right. The Republicans are now accusing the Democrats of being insensitive to gay Americans? Or to one gay American at least? After John Kerry mentioned Mary Cheney in the third debate, talk radio hosts finally found a lesbian they wanted to protect. Even the homophobic wing of cable TV rallied to the support of a family

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1098162887949381832004-10-18T22:08:00.000-07:002004-11-23T13:40:41.253-08:00

Kirstin Johnson It is clear to many gay people that those who express homophobia usually have something to hide when it comes to their own sexuality. Very many of those who are now comfortable with their gayness once were much more critical of people who projected the homosexuality they were so desperate to suppress in themselves. I understand this reflex from painful experience. Though I

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1097911519655296522004-10-16T01:22:00.000-07:002004-11-23T13:42:17.013-08:00

(I found this excellent article on democraticunderground.com): Some Republican's Daughter (or, Lynne Cheney Can Bite My Ass) Lynne Cheney, apparently, is now out there telling everyone it was mean and low of Kerry to bring up the fact that her daughter is a lesbian. Everyone from the HRC to Andrew Sullivan has responded that she's nuts. First of all, Mary Cheney is out and has been otu for

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1097881834743621902004-10-15T15:44:00.000-07:002004-10-15T16:10:34.743-07:00

The media frenzy following the debate as to whether John Kerry should have (gasp!) mentioned that Mary Cheney is gay indicates two things: 1) The Republicans will stop at nothing, certainly not at using their daughter as a political tool (as they accuse Kerry of doing) to keep people's minds off Shrub's dismal performance in the debates AND 2) The homophobic climate is even worse (if possible)

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1097625529913091442004-10-12T16:13:00.000-07:002004-11-23T14:05:12.886-08:00

Kirstin Johnson There was an article in the Boston Globe on Sunday (10/10) by Renee Graham suggesting that the protests against the homophobic lyrics of such Reggae "dancehall" artists as Capleton and Beenie Man are in fact racist. I can understand why this question is being asked, especially since there are apparently counter-protests taking place in London calling those who oppose the

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684528.post-1097560331577186672004-10-11T22:14:00.000-07:002004-11-23T14:12:11.253-08:00

Kirstin Johnson As totally disillusioned as I am by news in general - and by cable news in particular - I tuned into Chris Matthews' side show on Sunday morning only to find I should never underestimate the heights which my disgust can reach. I rarely watch his show "Hardball" which I unaffectionately call "Softball" since I suffered through his post-debate shows with his motley crew of

Kirstin Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02749577824261450005noreply@blogger.com0