Good conversation on the Rubin Report about Tony Dungy and Michael Sam. I think Dungy really showed how close-minded he is. His unwillingness, as the first African-American NFL coach, to see how important Sam is to diversity in the game, is rather stunning.
Anyhow, watch. Rubin always has something interesting to say.
I’ve run across several articles recently that prove that I am not, in fact, alone in my thinking, mostly in regards to being vocal about being gay. Or bi. Or trans. Or just somehow perceived as different than the majority. At least there are a few people who are talking about these things now. I am always reminded of Dan Savage’s take on America: that we’re always the first to compliment ourselves about being the land of the free and the home of the brave but are always dead last with the actual freedom and the bravery.
Michael Urie in “Buyer and Cellar.” |Image: Joan Marcus
The first of these articles is a little piece on Michael Urie in FrontiersLA. Urie is bringing the terrific one-man show Buyer and Cellar to Los Angeles after a tremendous run off-Broadway. In this piece, Urie says,
“When I first started Ugly Betty in 2006, things were very different. I was encouraged to stay in the closet. This was before Neil Patrick Harris had come out. Even though I was playing an openly gay character, we thought we might want to keep the mystery of what I do behind closed doors. But, for me, coming out has only aided my career. It might not be good for everyone, but I have gotten to play so many wonderful roles.”
I find it so disheartening that today an actor would legitimately have to think about coming out because it could possibly damage his career. And, while I 100% get it, I also think that in 2014 you absolutely must say “No, I’m not lying about who I am so that I can be on a TV show.”
No one says you have to lead with it, for God’s sakes, but if someone’s askin,’ I’m tellin.’
Good interview. Michael Urie: Funny Girl Meets Funny Guy in Buyer and Cellar.
[As an aside, I was thinking, “What would noneofyourdamnbusiness-year-old me tell 25-year-old me about the benefits of coming out and working in or around “the business?” If I was 25 years old today, it’s a different answer than when I was actually 25 years old.]
Matt Fishel. The singer’s refusal to “un-gay” his lyrics prompted him to start his own label. |Image: mattfishel.com
The next piece serves to validate my assumption here (Kit and Van and Cal and Thom and … Cassandra?) that we have barely moved the needle in the entertainment industry in terms of LGBT acceptance in the last three decades.
There has been some press in the U.S. recently about London-based singer Matt Fishel and his terrifically poppy single “Radio Friendly Pop Song,” which tells the artist’s side of my anecdote about “you can’t be gay on the radio.” Hell, I don’t even know that Fishel was even born when that happened to me.
But it’s still happening. Only now, alleges Fishel, artists are being told not to sing about same sex attraction. (Oh, you know it happens every damn day.) Fishel’s song — and his entire canon, actually — is devilishly clever. Steve Grand is doing a lot of the same envelope-pushing stateside.
Here’s the HuffPo article and an embed of Fishel’s video. The Music Industry Doesnt Want You To Hear These Songs Because They Arent Radio-Friendly.
OutSports’ Cyd Zeigler wrote a great piece on Michael Sam and his acceptance of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPY’s. He calls 2014 “the year of Michael Sam” and, in many ways, I agree with him.
Michael Sam and boyfriend Vito Cammasano after the 2014 NFL draft. Sam, the first openly gay man in the draft, was picked up by the St. Louis Rams.
If you truly want to make progress on acceptance in this country, I think you do have to have a sports breakthrough. A baseball or basketball breakthrough is okay, but a football breakthrough, well, that’s where the rubber meets the road. If we can change the dialogue in football — with strong allies such as Brendan Ayanbadejo and Chris Kluwe leading the initial drive and a well-spoken, humble and talented out player like Michael Sam taking the first watch; things will start changing. Still, says Zeigler,
Everything isn’t suddenly better in sports for gay men like Michael. There is still a wall around conversations and banter. There are still those in sports who oppose men like Michael simply because he’s gay. Two hours before Michael accepted that award on stage, an athlete refused an interview by me because I simply wanted to talk about gay men in his sport. There is still a long way to go. We must do better.
He’s absolutely right about that. Read the whole thing: Michael Sams Courageous Tears Were Real, and So Were Yours | Cyd Zeigler.
Finally, a fiendishly good essay on /Bent from Kit Williamson about how, his words, “fucking hard it is” to crowdfund a web series. In this case, the second season of his show, EastSiders. Alert readers will know that already because I have written a lot about this series over the last year or so.
Kit Williamson flanked by Van Hansis (l) and John Halbach (r) from EastSiders. Williamson writes candidly about crowdfunding the upcoming second season.
And one of the reasons I have done so is that I believe that Kit’s series is one of those projects that does move the acceptance needle a bit. Thus, I find it important. Also, it’s damn good storytelling. It’s good storytelling because it is raw and real and allows all of humanity’s flaws to be shown, just like in this piece.
I was so stressed out that I broke out in hives all over my body. I gained ten pounds. My health took a nosedive and I contracted a gum infection— I didn’t even know people got gum infections. I crashed my car. Twice. But through it all I did my best to present an image of success and ease, both on social media and in real life. I think, in part, I was afraid that people would take me less seriously if they knew just how fucking hard it all was. It sounds oxymoronic until you consider that I live in LA, land of a million web series, where the majority of people you meet are looking for any opportunity to dismiss you as unworthy of their attention. But I’m confident enough now in what I’m doing to admit that I sacrificed a lot, I rarely slept, I lived in squalor and I regularly forgot to feed my cat.
Keep a weather eye out for Williamson. He’s the stuff, I guarantee you that.
How I Raised $150,000 on Kickstarter: The Secret Is There Is No Secret |/Bent.
I like to take a stack of books (anymore, a fully-charged Kindle) off to the beach and bake in the sun and catch up on everything I meant to read during the year. Haven’t had time to do that this year, so I’ve been fitting a few titles in around the edges. Here are three worth noting:
MURDERING MY YOUTH by Cady McClain
McClain, in case you haven’t paid any attention to daytime dramas over the last two decades or so, is an Emmy-winning actress best known for her turns as Dixie Cooney Martin on All My Children and as Rosanna Cabot on As The World Turns. She can currently be seen as Kelly Andrews on The Young and the Restless.
I’ve always liked her as a performer and I thought I’d pick this up because a generic soap star bio would occupy my brain and not require me to think too much. If that is something that you want, don’t read this book.
McClain tells an unvarnished tale of abuse, terrible parenting, getting over it, accepting what she can’t change and moving on. It’s often a harrowing tale, but it’s so well-written you have to check yourself to make sure you’re still reading someone’s memoir and not a Stephen King novel. And just when you think it can’t get any worse, McClain makes you laugh out loud. Sometimes the hilarious parts are downright uncomfortable for the reader and yet, you can’t help yourself.
This is a terrific, gripping read. It is NOT AT ALL what I expected it was, but it’s miles better. You should absolutely check it out.
THE PRINCES AND THE TREASURE by Jeffrey A. Miles
After McClain’s memoir, I needed some light reading, so I turned to the latest alternative kid lit, an adorable tale of two princes who go off in search of the kidnapped princess and end up falling in love with each other.
It’s a great little book and J.L. Phillips’ illustrations are terrific. It hews very closely to the classic white knight-saves-damsel-in-distress trope except for the fact that the white knights like each other. Diversity-minded parents will find this a good story and little boys will like it because there’s no kissing or other, you know, icky junk! (And if your little boys are so inclined, the princes are cute as can be!)
THE ART OF BREATHING by T.J. Klune
This is the third installment of Klune’s “Bear, Otter and the Kid” chronicles — or BOATK3, if you are in the know — and if you are into these books, you already love it, so my review is meaningless. And yet….
I resisted the original BOATK because I didn’t believe the hype and I was quite unconvinced that the debut work of an untested young novelist could be THAT good. Well, I was wrong. It was that good. It made me laugh until I cried and it made me straight up cry. It remains on my all-time greatest hits list.
I loved BOATK2 and eagerly awaited the release of The Art of Breathing. This one features an almost-grown-up Kid predominately and it has a bit of a different rhythm than the previous installments. Klune is verbose (like Bear) and sometimes I think he would be well-served with a serious editor. Still, it’s a damn good book and it comes highly recommended — with the caveat that you must read the first two installments first. I am sure there will be a BOATK4. You’ll think so, too, when you get to the end of this one!
NOTE: Click on any of the cover images to take you to their Amazon page to purchase.
It’s not just about the parade: Why pride still matters – LGBTQ Nation.
This is a good piece by Barbara Weicksel. She notes, “This world we live in is not always easy. It’s not always filled with love and hope and peace. More often than not, it’s filled with hate and war and people who love to judge.
“We are judged by what we wear, where we live, what we drive, the color of our skin, the tone of our voice, the car we drive, and, yes… who we love.”
Image| Wikimedia Commons: Benson Kua
But today, in a world where marriage equality is surely happening in places that we never thought it might even a year ago, in a world where the web is chock-a-block with gay-themed content even while mainstream television is not, in a world where tolerance, if not outright acceptance, is at a high, certainly in my lifetime, is there really a reason for a pride parade?
Absolutely, unequivocally, YES.
When I went to my first pride parade, I was only ever-so-slightly out. I wasn’t ready to accept myself completely and I certainly didn’t believe that anyone else would. And I was scared to death.
My first pride event was the 1993 March on Washington, D.C. It was so big they made a documentary film about it. There were more people on the Mall that April day than I ever saw at Presidential inaugurals or the insanity that is the 4th of July in the capital. I was in awe of that crowd.
And I learned that I absolutely was not alone; that there were, at the very least, a million other people just like me who descended on Washington that day; that I would be all right and that, in today’s parlance, it would get better.
In spite of the Internet and web series and Sunday morning talk shows and Oprah and self-help d’jour, there is, I guarantee it, somebody in Connersville, Indiana or Orangeburg, South Carolina or Bend, Oregon or New York City who is scared and desperate and does not yet understand that it is okay to be themselves. The bloody, bold, resolute, wild and garish pride parade is a hell of a lot more than cute boys dancing on a parade float; it’s a message that everyone can and will be accepted. Keep it going!
Back from my moving-across-half-of-the-country sabbatical to bring you a quick check-in on the goings-on at Westfield Prep. And there are a lot of things going on!
For the uninitiated, Westfield Prep and environs is the mythical(?) Southern California setting for the super-soapy teen web drama Youthful Daze.
When Tommy Dinato (Ethan Daniel Corbett) comes back to town, it’s clear that he has a past with Drew Castle (series creator Bryan James), but it’s not until a heated argument turns into a heated make out session do we learn that their history is a romantic one.
Nothing stays private for too long thanks to the movie studio everyone carries in their hip pocket. Will this restroom snogfest become fodder for the high school gossips or is it Grade-A blackmail material? As they say, tune in tomorrow.
Now, campers, your faithful correspondent, ‘Uncle Grandpa,’ is a bit long in the tooth for angsty teen drama, no matter how cute the angsty teens happen to be, but I was struck by this statement from creator James, “…[Youthful Daze] showcase[s] the straight storylines and the gay ones with no hang ups or discrimination in execution. We are a soap opera that has something for everyone.”
And that’s the way it should be. Besides, every generation needs their angsty teen stories and improbable dramas; it’s how we learn we’re not alone in the world. Take this well-crafted little soap out for a spin, I think you’ll enjoy yourself.
Here’s a preview, and below a link to one of the latest episodes.
I was going to write about this, then I read the great George Takei’s take and, well, why try to reinvent the wheel when the master has already said everything that needs to be said. Let Uncle George have the last word.
Much has been said about the moment when Michael Sam kissed his boyfriend on national television, as they joyfully and spontaneously celebrated the news of Sam’s drafting by the Rams. They embraced and kissed just like many other happy heterosexual couples do when one of them receives life-changing, great news. CONTINUE READING
Michael Sam kisses his boyfriend after learning that he had been drafted by the St. Louis Rams.
Liam And August Easton-Calabria, Twin Brothers, To Face Different Treatment From Boy Scouts.
I wrote a long diatribe on this the other day for a Scouting for Equality post on Facebook, because the Boy Scouts incense me.
I’m sure it was because I was a Boy Scout. Patrol Leader. Order of the Arrow. One of a league of Eagle Scouts-in-everything-but-name who didn’t finish their Eagle Project on time and so stupidly lost out on calling themselves that. Also, gay.
Scouting has shifted to a crazy right-wing organization that bears no resemblance to the organization that I knew and respected. Scouting taught me to stand up and be counted, to tell my own truth, to always remember that a Scout is brave.
There’s no bravery in what Scouting says to these brothers.
Questions plague Pasadena college over Dustin Lance Black debacle – latimes.com.
Here’s the thing: I have spent the better part of my career in media relations work. And most of the last decade or so on media relations work in colleges and universities. I have been a spokesperson during tragedies, I have answered questions when good things have happened, I have stood up in front of God and the New York Times and punted like a son-of-a-bitch over and over and over again and managed to look like I knew what in the hell I was saying.
And I know one thing about Pasadena City College and Dustin Lance Black: there is something bad, bad wrong here. And I will guarantee you — I will absolutely back it up with money that I do not have — that somebody at Pasadena City College is lying through their damn teeth and it probably has nothing to do with Mr. Black.
This is an object lesson in how to do public relations wrong. This is how stupid people get institutions in hot water. And this is about how when you are the stupid party and the other party is whip smart, you will look like an even larger dumbass. And that bit of ‘dumbassery’ imprints.
Dustin Lance Black won the friggin’ Oscar. He’s one of our finest writers. He’s a great activist. He has a compelling story about community college helping him to get to the top. And you don’t embrace that for everything that it’s worth?
I had never heard of Pasadena City College before this. Now, whenever I hear the name, I’ll think, “Oh, yeah. That’s the place that fucked over Dustin Lance Black.” Morons.
Homoerotic artist Tom of Finland gets the official stamp of approval | Art and design | The Guardian.
True. But not in the U.S.
You can’t be shocked. Our postal service is more than a little bit too conservative for THAT!
No, Finland is giving Tom of Finland a place in philatelic history. And the images are, according to The Guardian article, some of the most daring ever put on a stamp, even if they are tame by T of F standards.
Finland’s Tom of Finland stamps, some of the most overtly homoerotic images to appear on an official government-issued postage stamp.
A nation’s stamps often mirror the nation’s culture and Finland is notoriously more open-minded to LGBT issues than other countries in the West. Still, times are changing. The Royal Mail issued a stamp commemorating Alan Turing in 2012. And next month, the USPS honors Harvey Milk with a stamp bearing the slain San Francisco councilman’s visage and a small rainbow flag. There is an effort currently underway to get the postal service to commemorate civil rights leader Bayard Rustin on a stamp as well.
Leather gloves and bare asses are, we can safely assume, not going to happen in the US mail anytime soon.
Alert readers will already know that there’s not too much that I like more than discovering a really well written and well-produced show. And I’ve got another one for you: Wallflowers, the charming comedy from Kieran Turner (Jobriath A.D.) that’s just launched its second season on Stage17.tv.
According to the site, Stage17 is a new “digital platform offering captivating original, executive-produced and curated entertainment for the world’s largest stage — the Internet.”
John Halbach and Patch Darragh in Wallflowers. The second season opener is now available at Stage17.tv.
You’re going to see more of these types of platforms coming online as smart entrepreneurs, producers and, eventually, the mainline ‘creativity oligarchy,’ begin to understand where their audiences are getting entertainment.
As I started watching Wallflowers, I began to think about the title of the show. And, of course, I did what any self-respecting researcher would do: I turned to that specialist bastion of lexicography, urbandictionary.com. (Don’t judge.) UD defined wallflower this way, in part: “…some of the most interesting people if one actually talks to them.”
And that’s a pretty good jumping off point for this series; the central conceit of which is following a fairly tight-knit yet wildly diverse group of people who, for whatever reason, can’t get dates. They are all members of the support group, “Navigating the Relationship Waters in the New Millennium,” sort of an AA for the hopelessly single.
It’s a thesis that could get really old really quickly, but creator Turner is a smart writer, who uses the group meetings sparingly and effectively to advance the narrative. Janice, the group leader, sets the tone and Christianne Tisdale plays her with deadpan hilarity. Janice is doggedly earnest, even when her group members think she may have gone ‘round the bend.
Patch Darragh (Mercy, Boardwalk Empire) is the third actor to take on the central role of Bryce in the short history of the show and I believe he really nails the character in a way that neither of his predecessors (both quite good, by the way) did. Darragh has a marvelous world-weary, overly cynical, screw-you-guys, every cloud has a black lining kind of — what? — ennui, maybe — that just drips beautifully from every line he delivers.
John Halbach as Alex opposite Patch Darragh as Bryce in the second series of Wallflowers. The duo has their first encounter in a smartly written ‘pas de deux with Marlboros’ in episode 1.
This season, Bryce has a new love interest — after a riotously bad blind date from hell in Season 1 — in the form of piano player Alex, played by EastSiders’ John Halbach.
Halbach plays endearing all-American wide-open genuineness so well that, set against Darragh’s mordant darkness, you know sparks are soon coming.
Their main interaction in the first episode is a short, but important scene where you learn just about everything you need to know about them. It’s adorable. The mating rituals of the smoker.
Bryce fights against his acid edge here while Alex displays the same genuineness that Halbach had playing opposite another caustic love interest (the fantastic Constance Wu) in EastSiders. Smart writing. And the scene follows the old axiom “let picture tell story;” something forgotten by so many. It’s the moment when I definitely decided to come back for the next episode.
I have a clip of this scene that I put in and took out I don’t know how many times. Ultimately, though, I think you need to watch the entire episode to watch it all gel.
To keep you coming back: more cute boys, less clothes. John Halbach as Alex in an upcoming episode of Wallflowers.
Rounding out the principal cast are Sarah Saltzberg, Gibson Frazier, Jolly Abraham, Susan Louise O’Connor (an out-and-out screaming hoot), Max Crumm and Marcia DeBonis. All are actors with serious theatre chops. I’m sure I’m biased, but I find that’s where most substantial ensemble players come from.
Anyhow, watch it. Turner is a clever one and a deft weaver of all of humanity’s various foibles and failures — and those tiny glimmers of hope that make us get out of bed each day — into a well-turned story. Also, Wallflowers looks lovely; so props to cinematographer Zachary Halberd.
I have a short list — a very short list — of favorite series that I go back to again and again because they never seem to get old. That list has now grown by one.
Something Else:
It turns out that Turner is the man behind a little holiday flick called 24 Nights. I had no idea. You should check it out, as well. It, too, is delightful. Plus, as an added bonus, it features the lovely David Burtka, so young he’s barely out of short pants!
One Last Word 