A recent news story about San Jose’s spreading rash of coffee shops featuring scantily clad, sometimes nude, baristas tells me I don’t get out enough. Or maybe I’m missing the all the action because I don’t drink coffee.
This gives a whole new spin to Coyote Grace’s Ingrid Elizabeth singing “Do You Like Me? (I Didn’t Come Here for the Coffee),” backed by fellow band members Joe Stevens and Michael Connolly:
Watch for the song on Coyote Grace’s next CD, in production this summer.
Miss California USA, Alyssa Campanella, was crowned Miss USA last night in Las Vegas.
The self-professed “science geek” seemed like an unlikely winner in a field of pageant queens who gave unclear, muddled, confused, and conservative answers to the interview question, “Should evolution be taught in schools?”.
In a sea of Sarah Palin-wannabes, Campanella’s strong affirmative interview answer stood out. While most of the contestants hedged their bets by saying evolution should be taught as “one of many theories,” three were flat-out opposed: Miss Kentucky USA from the home state of the Creation Museum; Miss Alaska USA, who assures “each of us was individually created by God for a purpose,” and Miss Alabama USA who doesn’t believe in evolution.
The scariest thing is realizing that most of the pageant candidates don’t know that religion isn’t taught in public schools. Many said they believe evolution should be taught along with the biblical creation story. Others appeared to not understand what evolution is, and many of them clearly don’t understand the difference between a scientific theory, which is based in quantifiable and observable phenomena, and the more casual use of the word “theory”.
Listening to this montage of all 51 contestants’ answers makes me realize how much our schools need good, basic, science education. (If you can’t stand hearing all of them, Campanella speaks at 1:15.)
It’s worth pointing out that Campanella’s title going into the pageant wasn’t Miss California, but rather Miss California USA. (You can read about the distinction in this post.) The next title for which she competes will be Miss Universe, not Miss America. The Miss California USA title was briefly held by Carrie Prejean, whose stated belief in “opposite sex marriage” made her a darling of the political right until she fell from grace dressed as briefly as she held the title.
The Miss USA pageant is owned by Donald Trump, who is obviously working hard for this nation, grooming the next wave of embarrassing female candidates.
The first time I really sat up and took notice of edgy, sometimes androgynous appearing, model Agyness Deyn was in a menswear-inspired phoot spread in W Magazine.
I think it was about 2008, and the blatant butchness of the photos just knocked me out. They weren’t the glamorous “le smoking” looks we’ve been conditioned to think of as menswear for women, nor were they playful, like Annie Hall. Deyn brought a seriously masculine energy to the photos, and although that well-thumbed issue of the magazine is long gone, I still have the memory of it. (Sigh.)
Then today, I stumbled across a new photo shoot by James Franco. His photography debut for Elle — a biker-flavored editorial called “Chateau Dreams,” he says was inspired by actor James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. The pictorial features Agyness Deyn roaming Los Angeles, along with models Natalia Bonifacci and Imogen Poots in similar gender-bending aesthetic — ties, men’s shirts, and leather jackets. The shoot is part of Franco’s contemporary art project which debuts this Summer at the Venice Biennale, and you can see all of the photos now on Elle.com.
Whenever the topic of same-sex marriage arises, there inevitably has to be an explanation of why domestic partnership agreements and their cousins aren’t marriage. Even with a civil union, it can take time, lawyers, and money for a couple to duplicate the rights granted by traditional marriage.
The internet community is still reeling from the news that lesbian Syrian blogger “Gay Girl in Damascus,” Amina Arraf, who built a reputation on writing vivid accounts of revolt in Damascus, is actually a man.
After Gay Girl’s reported detention fueled internet and media attention, this identity was revealed to be an elaborate hoax. Tom MacMaster, a 40-year-old American man living in Scotland has apologized for inventing, and posing as, the blogger.
It’s amazing how the internet can seem so vast and impersonal, and yet has an ability to pull people together in the weirdest possible ways. Continue reading →
I couldn’t be happier to make my 700th blog post one with Neil Patrick Harris, my gay man crush! In case you missed the opening of last night’s Tony Awards:
The world abounds with (fatherly?) advice and restrictions about all of the things women should and should not do, for fear they might call unwanted attention to themselves.
This awesome info graphic turns the tables on the oft-repeated list of “dos and don’ts for preventing sexual assault”. Aimed at perpetrators, this list is the collaborative brainchild of bloggers feminally and tumblinfeminist.
Click it to enlarge.
*What about riding a bike in a skirt and a veil? Would that be okay, officer?
One of the most-read posts on this blog is one titled “There Isn’t a Gender Test” that I wrote about South African runner Caster Semenya, whose biological sex was called into question during competition.
This “progressive” culture that we live in is slowly waking to the cojoined concepts that sex isn’t gender and gender isn’t sex and neither of these are destiny. Gender is complicated and non-binary and biological sex is also complicated and non-binary.
This TED talk by Alice Dreger, a professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University in Chicago, should be required viewing for everyone who thinks they have an opinion about sex or gender. It’s 19 minutes long. Watch the whole darn thing. In a short amount of time, Dr. Dreger manages to tie genetics, history, civil rights, and feminism together brilliantly. (She’s now on the short list of people with whom I would most like to have dinner!)
Baby dyke singer-songwriter Dani Shay, 22, rocked the internets with her America’s Got Talent audition – “What the Hell,” a song addressing her uncanny resemblance to Justin Beiber (or rather Justin Beiber to her).
Watch her audition below and try not to think about the possibilities for twin porn.
I saw this video called Любовь к велосипеду (bicycle strip) by Entropy on Tiny Nibbles, Violet Blue’s awesome blog, and it is just too hot not to share. This video is decidedly not safe for work, but it should be the first thing you click on when you’re alone. Be forewarned: You’ll want to ride your bicycle. The music is Tito and Tarantula’s “After Dark,” but now I’m humming Queen’s “Bicycle”.
Earlier this week, LGBT bloggers and the Twitterati erupted in “huzzahs” at the announcement Old Navy would carry Pride t-shirts in its stores and on the company’s website*, beginning June 1. Furthermore, it was announced, 10 percent of the sales would be donated to the It Gets Better Project. The project is near and dear to the hearts of many of us lesbihomogays, especially those that grew up outside of gay Meccaswhere gay visibility is almost non-existent and there’s little support or acceptance for queer teens.
But June 1 came and went, with nary a shirt to be seen on the website.
It turns out Old Navy is limiting the distribution of these shirts to those same gay Meccas where they are sure-fire sellers and where their display won’t roil the retail waters for the heartland-targeted chain. The shirts are being carried in just 26 of the companies 1,030-plus stores.
I think it’s really sad that the parts of the country most in need of queer visibility won’t be able to easily access these shirts.
More update: The shirts can be ordered by phone and shipped. See the list of stores selling the shirts here.
Update: Apparently Old Navy doesn’t intend to sell these shirts on the company’s website, but rather only in selected stores. I’ve written to the company’s customer service department to request a list of stores with the shirts, but I haven’t received it yet. I’ll update when I do. Meanwhile, you can email Old Navy, custserv@oldnavy.com, or contact the retailer by Twitter, @OldNavy, and let them know this is a great idea, but only if the shirts are accessible to Pride supporters everywhere. After all, the point of the It Gets Better Project is to make sure that support is visible to teens in every nook and cranny of the country, right?
Mega-retailer Old Navy is lending its support to the It Gets Better Project in the form of Pride t-shirts.
The shirts go on sale Wednesday, June 1 and will be available in sizes for men, women, and babies.
Old Navy has a long history of selling over-the-top patriotic get-ups for the Fourth of July. The retailer’s LGBT and homogay-supportive customers will find these a colorful and welcome switch-up.
Ten percent of the sale of each shirt will be donated to the It Gets Better Project, founded by Dan Savage and his husband, Terry Miller. The project aims to help aims to help disenfranchised gay kids get through their difficult teenage years by by presenting positive images, and the stories, of queer adults.
Want to show your support? Visit Old Navy’s website Wednesday and order a t-shirt. Or, make a donation directly to the It Gets Better Project through the organization’s website. (While you’re there, check out the video contribution by LGBT employees of The Gap, Old Navy’s parent company.)
