The Ryan Thomas Collection

“I DO” Support Gay Marriage. www.eqca.org

Popularity: 15% [?]

I have watched the Academy Awards for many years, watching touching moments of winners who had dreamt of the moment from the time they were a young child. Tonight, Kate Winslet finally won her Academy Award for Best Actress, a moment she described as one she had thought of since she was eight years old. I never imagined winning an Oscar; I am no actor, nor I am I sound technician, cinematographer or a director. 2009’s Academy Awards ceremomy made me feel like a winner and made me feel like an American. Never have I watched an Oscar ceremony finding myself brought to tears because a dream, an American Dream, was propelled in such a way that afffected me, a gay American.

When I saw “Milk” I was brought to tears, tears of sadness and hope. It was a film that touched me to a depth no film had touched for as long as I could remember. Harvey Milk was and continues to be a figure that Americans, gay and straight, should look to for inspiration and hope. Watching this film reaffirmed my belief that I am a legitimate citizen of the United States and rightfully due the rights and privileges due to all citizens. The film reaffirmed my belief that one day the United States of America would live up to its promise of justice and equality for all.

Tonight, I watched the Academy Awards and saw a gay male, Dustin Lance Black, accept an Academy
Award for Best Screenplay for “Milk.” Brought to tears as I finally saw an openly gay male on national and international tv openly express his sexuality whist accepting an Oscar, he said:

If Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they are less than by the churches, by the government, by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours.

There has been a lot of changes in our nation in the last four months. President Obama has taken office promising change. I cannot remember a moment when a young and vibrant gay male took the national stage and reminded Americans, young and old, gay and straight, that the gay community are people; they are Americans, and they are equal and beautiful. This is something I have felt and believed for as long as I can remember. Some people are not so lucky to be raised in an atmosphere that fertilizes this understanding. A speech like this can and hopefully will speak to Americans, gay and straight, young and old, that we are “wonderful creatures of value.” 

The moment of inspiration and hope was built upon when Sean Penn won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Harvey Milk in “Milk.” Personally, I felt that Penn fully owned his role and portrayed Harvey Milk in such a way that audiences would feel compassion and sorrow, yet hope for a brighter tomorrow. Fortunately, the Academy agreed. Penn took the stage and opened his speech of gratitude with, “You commie, homo-loving sons of guns.” Penn toys with the ideas of leftist ideas of equality and communism. One could almost say he draws upon J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI communist and homosexual fighter of the the 1950s and 1960s. Sean Penn’s Oscar win allowed a second international moment for gay equality:

For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think it’s a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and their shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that support. We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone.

As a young, gay American I watched this Academy Award ceremony like every other citizen. I’ve done this year in and year out. Everyone has that Oscar moment they will remember. For some it is the moment where Halle Berry won her Oscar. For others it will be when be the fact that “Slimdog Millionaire” won Best Film. 2009’s Academy Award ceremony has created a moment for me as a time that I’ll remember that me, my gay friends, and all my allies were recognized on an international platform. I am a beautiful creature of value. My gay friends are beautiful creatures of value. One day, we will be equal. Hopefully, this ceremony convinced one more person that this is our future; the future of the United States.

Popularity: 23% [?]

The story surrounding the alleged domestic violence between Rihanna and Chris Brown continues to make headlines as both parties and their reps release statements. The incident is disturbing and a vivid reminder of the pain domestic violence continues to bestow on society. However, the leaked photo appearing to be a beaten Rihanna and its subsequent public release by TMZ is a disgrace to our modern society.

Domestic violence certainly is not an issue that should be swept under the rug. Awareness surrounding this issue needs to be continuous and strong in order to empower those who are victims and prevent others from falling victim to its vicious cycle. Detailed stories and images can be an impactful tool. These stories and images need to come from the victims themselves, not exploited by pop culture for dollars or Internet hits. TMZ’s release of the image shows a complete disrespect towards the very celebrity it needs to survive, and although TMZ’s reputation is based on these types of actions, where is the line drawn?

Britney Spears walking barefoot in a gas station bathroom. Michael Phelps smoking marijuana at a party. These types of incidents are rather trivial. Spears being rushed to the hospital in the ambulance. This image technically occurred  in a public space, not making it more acceptable, but making it more legal. TMZ’s release of a supposed beaten Rihanna was disrepectful and trivializes a very serious issue. It statisfies a curiousity of the public, but a curiousity that needed no such statisfaction. The release of this photo does not necessarily glamorize the issue of domestic violence, but its occurence being carried out by TMZ puts it in the wrong context. TMZ is a gossip mechanism, plain and simple. In this sense, TMZ does trivialize the real issue at hand, alleged domestic violence. Their intention is not to help society through prevention and awareness, it is for monetary gain. This is disgraceful and those who fell into their trap should rethink their action.

Popularity: 42% [?]

Popularity: 17% [?]

As his wife embarked on her first foreign visit to Asia as Secretary of State, Bill Clinton spent his President’s Day holiday weekend crossing a picket line at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, California. For months, LGBT rights groups and UNITE HERE, Local 30, worked to convince Bill Clinton to cancel his attendance and speech at the International Franchisee Association Convention being held at the hotel. The Manchester Grand Hyatt has been under a national boycott since the summer of 2008 in reaction to its owner’s, Doug Manchester, large donation of $125,00 in support of Prop 8.

In an effort to pressure Bill Clinton away from the convention, UNITE HERE, Californians Against Hate, in conjunction with seven other labor and LGBT rights groups, purchased an ad in the New York Daily News online. When it was known that Clinton would not move his speech to another location, hundreds of picketers stood before the hotel in protest. Unfortunately, Bill Clinton decided his paid visit to the convention was worth more than supporting the actions of both labor and civil rights organizations. He crossed a union-sanctioned picket line and reportedly sent letters to UNITE HERE stating all the good Clinton did for LGBT rights and equality during his presidency. It is not known if this is in reference to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) or Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

San Diego’s local newspaper, San Diego Union Tribune, reported that Bill Clinton accepted the speech invitation with no knowledge of the location and upon hearing its locale, worked “behind the scenes” to have the venue changed. Apparently, his efforts were ineffective. Despite this, Clinton still decided to accept payment for his speech and cross organized labor’s picket lines. Perhaps this is Bill Clinton’s quiet way of getting back at organized labor and other liberal activists for not being strong enough or active enough to get his wife into the White House.

Billy… We expected more out of you.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Talk continues about March’s edition of W Magazine featuring a 48 page photo spread titled, “Blame it on Rio.” The photo spread depicts a scantily clad Madonna with her twenty year old male Brazillian friend, Jesus, posing as her young lover. Critics from all sides have been going after this since the publicity photos were released. Gossip blogs and the press alike have been reporting on whether Madonna and Jesus are “dating” or simply having a love affair. We know one thing, the two were working together.

The initial shots from the photo spread look like a refined and updated version of Madonna’s brush with sexual exploration in Justify My Love and even bits of her Erotica album, ala “Bad Girl.” The shoot utilizes black and white photography to enhance the contrast between the porcelain skin of Madonna and the olive tones of her Rio lover. The contrast helps further separate these two “characters” by their age and what seems to be economic and social status. Photo spreads in W Magazine tend to be fairly artful in their production and representation. A story is being told and this can be seen simply by the title of the shoot. What is the story? What is being told of these two characters? These are the questions that should be asked. Rather, the question the photo spread and the gossip around Madonna’s supposed love affair with the twenty year old continues to be, “Why is Madonna going after a man more than half her age?” If a question must be asked along these lines, then why not ask, “Why are we still talking about an older women going after a young man?”

Women are still fighting the stigma that their sexuality ends at the age of fifty. Women are continuing to battle the double standard that their age must be in line with that of their latest boytoy, whereas their male counterparts can stroll about with girls half their age and the acceptance comes with little struggle. In the 80s, the media had a field day with Cher’s relationship with the infamous “Bagel Boy” who was noticeably younger than her. It seemed like ages for the American media to get over the Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore age difference. Why are we still talking about this? The idea of the “cougar” is being raised more and more, evening finding its way onto a regular skit on Saturday Night Live. Yes, these “cougars” are the products of the Women’s Liberation movement and therefore, we can understand how they continue to live their sexual lives more openly than older generations, but is this really unusual for society to witness now. Why is this funny? After 35 years of women’s liberation, this apparently is the next frontier, culturally. Enough is enough.

Is this funny to you?

(W Magazine cover photo credit, Steven Klein)

Popularity: 20% [?]

Gavin Newsom addresseses a Valentine’s Day EQCA dinner crowd commerating the push for equality and inspiring listeners to keep on working.

Popularity: 16% [?]

The Mayor of Las Vegas is angry with President Obama. As the president crosses the country in his bid to stimulate support for his package to spark economic growth, President Obama stated, “You can’t get corporate jets, you can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime.” This is in reference to Wells Fargo’s lavish corporate trip to Sin City that had a massive price tag associated with it, but has since been cancelled. Wells Fargo received $25 billion in federal bailout money in 2008 and received harsh criticism when news broke of the corporate retreat.

Mayor Oscar Goodmand of Las Vegas wrote a letter to President Obama asking our leader to refrain from making such comments because it hurts the tourism industry and the cities that depend on business tourism to survive. Nevada’s Congressperson, Shelley Berkley, chimed in and wrote to the President:

Mr. President, I support your efforts to curb corporate excesses in your recovery plan, but from the neon lights of Las Vegas to the Chicago skyline, from the white sands of Hawaii to the Kansas heartland, tourism means jobs. We need your support and we need the business more than ever before.

I think Nevada, particularly the Mayor of Las Vegas, is missing the point President Obama is attempting to make here. If a company has the profits and financial stability to plan and carry out a corporate trip, then by all means this should happen. If a company has the profit to stay at the Wynn on the Las Vegas Strip, there is no reason to stop them. In fact, yes, this does help the economy.

If a company is performing so poorly, and has made such irrational decisions and taken such frivolous acts as we have seen within the banking industry, then perhaps Las Vegas is not the place to be going. These acts have caused destabilizing effects on an entire nation, and globe at that. If a company needs to be bailed out by the federal government, then cancelling a lavish Las Vegas trip sounds in line with something that your average American family would have to do if a family member lost employment. Companies bailed out by the government and then sending employees on weekend getaways is similar to an unemployed citizen lacking any savings and in debt to Visa going to Hawaii to soak in some rays for a few weeks.  If you do not have the money, you can’t have luxury! President Obama knows this. I know this. Why can’t Mayor Goodmand wrap his head around it?

Wells Fargo, amongst numerous other banks, provided risky loans to borrowers. Apparently luck is not on their side, so Las Vegas really should be the last place to send employees. If companies that have been bailed out by the federal government really feel a need to take their employees to a recognition retreat in Nevada, like all Americans, they need to do it economically. Don’t book suites at the Wynn or the Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip, book a room Circus Circus in Reno!

Popularity: 17% [?]

After a day out and about, a friend and I found ourselves in front of the TV for some relaxing, mindless television entertainment. What we came across was disturbing and haunting. No, it was not MSNBC’s marathon of “To Catch a Predator,” but rather TLC’s program, “Toddlers and Tiaras.” The program undertakes the daunting task of displaying the lives of young beauty pageants contestants  (the toddlers) and their parents as they work day in and day out to win tiaras. Children from two to ten were depicted in the particular episode we viewed and the pageant took place in Georgia. Like a car crash on a freeway or a horrible audition on American Idol, I found my eyes glued to this horrid ritual of dressing up young girls as if they were dolls or sex workers on Hollywood Blvd.

The preparation and time parents were shown taking for the toddler pageants seemed like time better spent on a playground, in a classroom or even watching daytime television on the Disney Channel. Girls as young as four years old were being taken to salons to get manicures and pedicures. Thousands of dollars were spent on attire to wear in the many rounds pageants hold, including swimsuit, casual and formal wear. The most horrid moment came as the very television before my eyes showed a mother rubbing fake tan on her young daughter because she felt it made her daughter more attractive in the clothes. Fake tanning before the age of five? Before the age of 15? Fake tanning! The value system being instilled upon this impressionable mind should be classified as child endangerment.

When it came down to the pageant, one contestant, who appeared to be no older than three, continued to cry and scream during her hair styling session, as each hair found itself coiled for buoyant curls. The same girl later refused to get off the floor, in tears, as her mother attempted to coax her in line. Whose event is this; the young girls or the parents? Whose fun is this? Most of the young girls or “toddlers” as TLC names them, appear to be far from excited about the entire process. The mothers (some fathers) act as though this is life and death pageantry. One can only conclude that mothers are living out their dreams of desired beauty through their young children who have yet to develop affirmation of personal identity and independence. One can only assume that many of these mothers were never able to be in beauty pageants, whether it was circumstance or their individual appearance. These toddlers become subjects of their mother’s ambitions to prove something to themselves. These toddlers are objectified by their parents and then the society that sits before them in a pageant, as if they are Playschool dolls on a toy store shelf.

Yes, we as a television audience end up objectifying these poor toddlers by watching a program that looks into their lives of pageantry. “Toddlers and Tiaras” does not necessarily glorify the lifestyle of these families, but allows viewers to peak into a sector of society that needs massive attention. The events these young girls are subjected to work to place value on physical beauty. Impressionable minds begin development on a runway, fake tanned and hair curled. How are these girls supposed to create their sense of self worth if their self worth is based not only on fulfilling the dreams of their parents, but their physical beauty?

I knew these types of pageants existed, particularly after the Jon Benet Ramsey homicide in the 90s, but TLC’s “Toddlers and Tiaras” really vilified the parents of these girls in my mind. I won’t be making a habit of watching this show any further, for I have seen enough, but the nation still has a lot of work to do, as we work to mold young girl’s minds to look to a future that is dependent on their abilities and beyond their simple physical beauty.

Chelsea Handler appears to have similar concerns about this program and ritual of young pageantry. Watch her comedic take on it in this clip from Chelsea Lately:

Popularity: 41% [?]

Popularity: 15% [?]