Thursday, March 26, 2009

TNG has moved

Check out all the posts over at http://thenewgay.net.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

TNG Flashback: It's Cum to My Attention...

The work day is almost over. We hope you use your last ounce of concentration to revisit this year-old TNG article. Originally published by Jenny Miller on 3/24/2008

...that some of you are unaware of the great, populist experiment called XTube. Your appetite for porn may wax and wane, which is why there isn't always a stack of DVDs by your bed when you want them. And though we all know the internet was invented for lolcats and dirty movies, a blind, one-handed search for "free pornography" will reward you with an avalanche of sites which, upon clicking furtively through, turn out to be a maze of popups, spyware, and cocktease shorts leading to pay sites. So where's the real free porn?

  • 1,215,042 Straight
  • 994,908 Gay
  • 901,641 Bisexual
  • 603 Unknown Sexual Orientation
Gender:
  • 2,594,101 users are Male
  • 181,281 users are Female
  • 336,553 Unknown
My recommendation for getting your new-gay self oriented over there is to select "Both" when the choice is Gay, Straight or Both, then selecting the "Videos" tab at the top, and then "Top Favorites." Happy endings.

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Wednesday, March 18, 2009

TNG Flashback: Give Me A Fucking Break

The work day is almost over. We hope you use your last ounce of concentration to revisit this year-old TNG article. Originally published by Zack on 3/20/2008


"Less discussed has been [the metrosexual's] female counterpart: gals who, while not lesbians, dress like guys (young guys), well into their 30’s; who leap into games of pickup basketball with male friends while the rest of us watch wanly from the sidelines; who affect a wry detachment from their sex’s conventional concerns of shoe-shopping, man-hunting and family."

The above quote is from a Tuesday New York Observer article, entitled "The Urbane Tomboys," that attempts to draw a female equivalent to the metrosexual label that I found so offensive a few years ago. I thought we were past this kind of pigeonholing, but The Observer couldn't let a sleeping dog lie. Their article elucidates the unthinkable fact that some women don't like wearing dresses and makeup, but are still totally into dick.

Did I fall asleep in my time machine last night? Is that how I woke up in 1942?

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Dispatches from Left Field: On My Honor...

TNG contributor Matt' wrote this piece.

It was a clear March night nine years ago. The stars were out casting their pinpricks of light upon the rolling Georgian hills. The parking lot where I sat was washed out by the sodium vapor lights high above. That Thursday night I was nervous as hell. I was about to step into a building and finish what I had started many years prior. My stomach was a tight knot filled with a volatile mixture of acid and butterflies. The scene was not unlike one I would experience a few years later - one which would rend my heart - but this occasion was, in the end, a happy one.

On March 23, 2000, I walked into a room in a church outside Woodstock, Georgia. When I walked out, I was an Eagle Scout. My Board of Review had been successful. All the hard work I had put forth so far in scouting was recognized. But if I thought at the time that I had reached the highest point in my Scouting career, I was wrong. Scouting and I still had several years together before our estrangement would begin.

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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

TNG Flashback: Out At Work

Or,Dear New Straight Female Colleague: Please Stop Flirting With Me. Love, Michael

The work day is almost over. We hope you use your last ounce of concentration to revisit this year-old TNG article. Originally published by Michael on 3/20/2008

I'm out at work. I included some of my queer community building projects and queer-related volunteering gigs to my resume, so I obviously put it out there from the get go. But office dynamics change. New people come all the time, replacing previous colleagues. The workplace is hardly static. So, aside from wearing a pink triangle on my coat lapel or hanging a rainbow flag in my office, how can I prevent the constant need to "come out" to new colleagues as they flux into my life.

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Monday, March 16, 2009

TNG Flashback: Gay Fiction Pride!

The work day is almost over. We hope you use your last ounce of concentration to revisit this year-old TNG article. Originally published by Zack on 3/18/2008

A couple months ago, Ben posted "Gay Fiction Shame?" which summarized one author's unflattering opinion of contemporary gay fiction and ended by asking readers if they had any recommendations for homo writing that doesn't blow. Sorry this took me so long, but there are at least a couple books (and one graphic novel) that are worth checking out.

Between graduating from college and starting this blog, I thought it would be fun to take a self guided tour through the gay canon. Its far from comprehensive, and is entirely subjective to my own taste, but each of these books had some kind of effect on me. I can't promise you'll like all (or any) of them, but they'll give you something to think about.

(I'll also admit that these books skew toward the male perspective. Amy, Jenny— feel free to write a response on lesbian fiction that doesn't suck when you have some time. Zami, Passing, The Corrections and Mrs. Dalloway come to mind, but you'd know better than I would.)

Full list in alphabetical order below the fold:

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Ticket Giveaway: The Mountain Goats @ 6th and I

This post was written by TNG co-founder Zack.

Every blogger crazy 'bout a sharp-dressed goat...

Lets just make this short and sweet, like a candy-coated toddler: This Saturday, March, 21, quiet folk-rock outfit The Mountain Goats will be playing at the Historic 6th and I Synagogue with John Vanderslice. I don't know much about The Mountain Goats myself, but there are many out there that treat them like the guitar playing second coming of Jesus and Joan Baez's musically gifted son. That's saying something.

To win a pair of tickets, simply answer the below question as both a comment and an email to Zack@thenewgay.net. Contest closes on Wednesday at noon. Most creative or bizarre answer wins:

We're all familiar with terms like "steady as a mountain goat" or "slippery as an eel." What analogy would you use to describe yourself akin to an animal? Are you as industrious as an ant? As squawky as a seagull? Surely you can give better examples than the ones I just gave...

While you're at it, check out a Mountain Goats playlist below the fold:

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The Reluctant Activist: Marriage Equality Has Become the Scapegoat for Divorce

This week, TNG contributor Ed exposes divorce, not marriage quality, as the greatest threat to so-called "traditional" marriage.

Arguments against traditional marriage won't defuse or eliminate the perceived threat homosexuality poses to the institution. We have to expose and talk about the real threat to marriage, which is divorce.

A while back, one of my mentors taught me that when you tell someone "no," you need to be prepared to present alternatives. She said, "When the only thing you have to offer is "no" you render yourself useless. You have no power, but if you can say no, explain your position, offer a better alternative, and back it up, then you are bringing something to the table with which you can bargain."

I would later learn that when facing an adversary in the "market place of public opinion," it's not the best plan that always wins, it is frequently the one that is easiest to explain. The perfect example is marriage equality. The position being espoused by the supporters of "traditional marriage," is contrived at best but is probably best explained as a craven, immoral exercise demonstrating a willingness to use religion to achieve political objectives. But, it's easy to explain. Saying you support marriage is like saying you like babies or puppies or kitties. What cold-hearted bastard is going to launch a campaign against babies and puppies? And even if that person has a good reason, like he or she is deathly allergic to smiling, cooing babies and goes into anaphylactic shock around them, they dare not say it. If they did, the stone-throwing, pitchfork-wielding, torch-waving, toothless villagers would be knocking at their castle door within the hour.

  1. Eliminate no fault divorce. If people are going to get a divorce they better have a damn good reason.
  2. Eliminate infidelity as a reason for divorce. Instead of divorce, married couples will have to duke it out in civil court. One spouse can sue the other and receive financial compensation for any substantiated extramarital sexual activity that has not been agreed to in writing by the couple.
  3. Couples will be required to sign a marriage contract. Each one has a minimum expiration date of at least 40 years. If individuals choose and complete a contract that is 50 years or longer, they will receive an increase in their Social Security checks after retirement. State governments will view early withdrawal as a breach of contract, punishable by a minimum fine of $50,000 per partner, and they will have to serve out the rest of the contract in prison.
  4. Any divorces will result in the partners publicly swearing their eternal souls to the service of Satan, aka "The Prince of Darkness," because a divorce is a violation of a sacred, oral agreement with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, through whom salvation is made possible.
Seriously though, the following is a list of policies that I think supporters of traditional marriage would readily adopt. If the existence of Western Civilization hangs in the balance, then they need to step up their game. Trying to kill marriage equality isn't going to cut it, but fear not my unprincipled brethren. I have real ideas to help you accomplish your goals, and pay close attention. At the end of the day, none of the silliness you have put forward in opposition to marriage equality will actually protect marriage from divorce, but most of these will:
  • Eliminate no-fault divorces.
  • Make marriage counseling tax deductible.
  • Divorces will only be granted once couples have completed 52 (one a week) sessions of counseling.
  • Automatic paternity tests if a child is involved.
  • Marriage counseling prior to marriage must be completed before a marriage license will be issued.
  • Both individuals must complete a polygraph test in which they answer questions regarding moral and spiritual beliefs, having children, opinions about infidelity, money management, credit scores, domestic violence, anger management, and any number of potentially revealing questions that could one day lead to divorce.
  • Both must submit to criminal background checks.
  • Couples must undergo a full physical workup that includes fertility tests, drug tests, tests to identify precursors for heart, liver, and kidney diseases and diabetes.
  • Couples must undergo an IQ test to determine if they are intellectually compatible.
  • Couples must complete a financial disclosure form revealing all personal assets and debt.
  • Couples must fill out a form attesting to whether or not they are a Baby Momma/Daddy or have a/any Baby/ies Momma/s or Daddy/ies.
  • Every individual is only allowed one divorce in their lifetime in accordance with scripture.
  • Divorces will be limited to cases involving domestic violence or in which one or both spouses are involved in activities that present an immediate and consistent danger to the safety of other family members.
  • The "Gingrich Rule"--No one will be allowed to divorce a sick and/or dying spouse.
  • On second thought, maybe the ideas on the first list aren't all that absurd.
If everyone of these commonsense protections were to be enacted in every state that opposes marriage quality, then I would be willing to fore go my right to marry my partner. I will throw my entire support behind their efforts to lower divorce rates by both properly screening couples for compatibility, honesty, drug use and past criminal activity prior to entering the marriage and making it more difficult for couples to get out after they say "I do." Now let's get out there and get this stuff on state ballots. We know these ideas will pass in at least 40 states, because bans on marriage equality and constitutional amendments defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman have already passed in at least 40 states. The message has been sent, and it was loud and clear.

So, if the advocates of "traditional" marriage are serious about protecting the institution, then protect it from divorce. Otherwise leave us alone, and shut the fuck up.

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Degrassi: The Next Generation of Gay Teens on TV

TNG reader and frequent commenter Adam Isn't Here submits this post.

Man, there are lots of fags on the TV these days. It’s almost as if you’re not allowed to make a show that doesn’t have a homo in it. Even the pretty-macho Soprano’s, in its final weeks, outed one of their own. And mostly sympathetically too; even if he did get raped to death by a pool cue in the end.

Television has taught us that mobsters can be gay; as can bookstore owners, tenants in drama-prone Los Angeles apartment complexes, fussy pathetic New York lawyers, morose funeral home operators, witch friends of vampire slayers, kick ass Baltimore cops, conflicted drug dealers, cute hilarious drug dealers, creepy Mormon cult leaders, naked survivors, and whatever it is those boring married-gays do on that boring Brothers and Sisters show. That’s right, gays can be boring and earnest too.

But you know what kind of gay you don’t see much of on the ol’ tube? I mean, apart from women, people of color, or anyone who isn’t physically attractive of course. Teens! Which is weird, because television LOVES teenagers. Oh sure, I remember Ricky, (how could I forget Ricky?) but he, like everything else having to do with My So Called Life, was an anomaly. Not any more though.

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Hidden History: Goodbye, Gay Bookstore

TNG contributor Philip submitted this post. Hidden History appears biweekly, exploring the nooks and crannies of the gay and lesbian past.

With a friend, I made my final pilgrimage to Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop on a cold and sunny day in February. I had heard it was scheduled to close at the end of March, a victim of declining sales. As we walked down Christopher Street in the West Village, I spied a rainbow flag hanging loosely. Closer to the building, I could see the familiar, purplish sign screwed into the bricks. “Est. 1967”: years before I was even born.

I don’t have a long history with Oscar Wilde—I only first went in 2005, when I was up in New York City for a GLBT literary awards presentation—but I have tried to go each time I’m in the Village. I’ve found little gems there, including issues of a 1970s gay poetry magazine, Mouth of the Dragon, and a copy of Essex Hemphill’s Conditions chapbook, but my desire to go is only partly spurred by book hunting.

More specifically, it is a sense of place and community that has caused me to return so often to Oscar Wilde. It is the same sense of place and community that founder Craig Rodwell (1940-1993) was trying to engender when the store opened in 1967.

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Drug Addict

Ben is a co-founder of TNG.

Rush Limbaugh is in the news again. Apparently, the Democrats are doing a good job of helping him promote his voice as the focal point of the Republican party. I’m supportive of anything that helps the GOP implode, but I feel drunk when confronted with the reality that Rush is still taken seriously by the people we rely on for information and analysis.

Rush Limbaugh is a drug addict. For whatever reason, America seems to have forgotten that fact. For over two years, he illegally obtained and used massive amounts of Lorcet, Hydrocodone, and Oxycontin, otherwise known as “Hillbilly Heroin.” He abused so much of it that he went deaf in both ears and rapidly lost a great deal of weight. Any idea how many drugs it takes to lose your hearing and drop 40 lbs? I'm guessing a lot.

Let's review some of the prevailing signs of drug addiction:

  • Paranoia, delusions
  • Temporary psychosis, hallucinations
  • Dishonesty
  • Unreliability
  • Verbosity, “up” and cheerful behavior, with seemingly boundless energy.
  • Irritability, agitation, and anger
These characteristics not only describe Rush Limbaugh, but someone whose opinions should not be taken seriously. I don't want to demonize drug addicts or inspire hatred for Limbaugh, because I'm sympathetic to the overwhelming psychic pain these sick people feel on a daily basis. 12-step programs work because they are designed to deflate a massive ego (typical of addicts) while suggesting steps for rebuilding self-esteem, but so often addicts refuse to admit they have a problem or they shift addictions. Granted, Rush is probably off the pills, but once an addict, always an addict. Any graduate of the Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step program will admit that. When addicts don't address their underlying psychological problems they just redirect their addictions. They continue to hide their crippling insecurity by further inflating their self-importance and self-medicating, if not with drugs than some other proxy. Rush, who is reviled by so many, can't possibly pump enough air into his ego bubble to keep the demons at bay. It's a testament to his strength and personal fortitude that he hasn't exploded. My guess is that he'll off himself with a shotgun during his radio show. Probably between an interview with Ann Coulter and an analysis of Barack Obama's ties to satanism. But I digress.

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Morrissey at the Warner Theatre

TNG co-founder, contributor and webmaster Michael submits this post.



Sexually ambiguous British pop icon Morrissey still has it. And the crowd still wants it. Morrissey played many of the hits from both his solo career as well as his time with The Smiths (as well as a few misses) and the audience ate it up. Look below the fold for a slide show.

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