This quote, from David Mitchell's brilliant novel, Cloud Atlas:
And after the last weeks in Iran, electronically via internet and mobile communications as well. And we have seen how corporations that offer internet and mobile services can sell out to repressive governments to further their own interests.
Steven Colbert just gets more amazing every week. He went to Iraq and stood before a cheering crowd of soldiers as he made fun of Don't Ask Don't Tell — proof positive that the troops on the ground are more than ready to end this shameful charade perpetrated by successive administrations, Obama included.
And last night, he had as a guest on his show (after mercilessly hitting Obama for cowardice and duplicity in "stonewalling" the lgbt community) Jim Fouratt, veteran of GLF, GAA, former proprietor of Danceteria - the great 80s disco. (This Danceteria bit made Colbert's comment on surviving the Disco Inferno all the funnier, though if 5% of the audience understood the reference I'd be amazed)
Colbert usually interrupts his guests and they rarely get a chance to really deliver their message. That didn't happen last night, and Fouratt got a chance to tell the story of the Stonewall Uprising as it actually happened (as opposed to the mythology of the event) to a national TV audience (even if it's cable!). Colbert isn't mere satire, he is queering the news. Here is the interview:
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Jim Fouratt | ||||
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New York State voters support 51 – 41 percent, with 8 percent undecided, a law allowing same-sex couples to marry, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
This is the first poll by the independent Quinnipiac University showing support for same-sex marriage in New York State, where voters split 46 – 46 percent on this issue in a May 14 survey and opposed same-sex marriage 55 – 37 percent in an April 15, 2004, poll.
In this latest survey, women support same-sex marriage 58 – 35 percent, while men oppose it by a narrow 48 – 44 percent margin. Same-sex marriage wins 65 – 28 percent from Democrats and 52 – 42 percent from independent voters, while Republicans oppose it 66 – 27 percent. The proposal wins 52 – 42 percent support from white voters and 55 – 39 percent from Hispanics. Black voters split with 43 percent in favor and 42 percent opposed.
Voters who attend religious services at least once a week are opposed 63 – 31 percent, while those who attend less frequently support same-sex marriages 61 – 31 percent. Support also rises with income and education level.
New York State voters support same-sex civil unions 68 – 25 percent, with support from all groups, including 55 – 37 percent among Republicans. Overall support was 65 – 27 percent May 14.
“It’s the slimmest of majorities, but for the first time in a Quinnipiac University poll of New York State, same-sex marriage is ahead,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Supporters have worked hard in the last six weeks, moving the needle from dead even to slightly ahead. Who knows how far they can move that needle in the next six weeks if the State Legislature doesn’t act.”
“It is interesting to note that support for same-sex civil unions, which gay marriage advocates say is an unacceptable alternative, has barely moved,” Carroll added.
Given three choices:
• 46 percent of New York State voters say same-sex couples should be allowed to marry;
• 27 percent say they should be allowed to form civil unions;
• 20 percent say there should be no legal recognition.
NewFest may be ending on Thursday, but next Monday and Tuesday nights, the queer film programs continue with three movies about lgbt life in Israel at the JCC in Manhattan. And all of them deal with the complexities of being queer in a country where religious fanaticism is rising. This is the 4th year in a row that the JCC has held this short festival during Pride month, and the JCC has become a real resource for the queer community extending beyond just the Jews. Out Professionals has held several events there.
This coming Monday you can see:
Veahavta—And Thou Shalt Love - June 15th, 7pm
Directed by Chaim Elbaum (30 min, Israel, 2008)
Winner of the coveted Wolgin Prize for Best Drama at the Jerusalem Film Festival, 2008. Ohad is a student in a hesder yeshiva who is secretly in love with his best friend. Torn between his homosexuality and his religion, Ohad must struggle between his love for God and his love for Nir.
Zirei Kayitz - Seeds of Summer - June 15th, 7:30pm
Directed by Hen Lasker - (63 min, Israel, 2007)
Hen Lasker’s feature documentary takes us back to the place where she first fell in love with a woman—the Israeli Defense Forces. Baby-faced teen recruits transform into combat-ready soldiers by day and cry for their parents by night. Lasker takes a close look inside a little seen world, and ends up revealing part of herself.
And on Tuesday...
Jerusalem Is Proud To Present - June 16th, 7pm
Directed by Nitzan Gilady - (80 min, Israel, 2007)
In the summer of 2006, Jerusalem was to host the World Pride events and parade. The planned events stirred turmoil in the politically complex city, with Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious leaders banding together in an uncompromising battle against what they said would “defile the holy city.” On the other side stood the activists of the Open House, Jerusalem’s LGBTQ community center. Steadfast in the face of anti-gay sentiment, they dealt with threats that extended beyond their right to march.
All this comes at an important time, since the tensions are rising as we approach this year's Pride in Jerusalem. And normally safe Tel Aviv is less so, with the report that 31 year old openly gay actor & singer Yehonathan, was mugged and robbed during the weekends pride events in Tel Aviv.
The first in two posts: today NewFest, tomorrow The Feigele Film Festival at the JCC.
The next 7 days in New York City is a great time to see films about what it means to be queer in Israel today — from the point of view of queer Jews across the religious and political spectrum, from secular Zionists to the orthodox, from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. And the distance between those two cities can seem like the distance between the 21st Century and the Iron Age.
First, there will be an encore screening of City of Borders at NewFest, the annual lgbt film festival, tomorrow night, Wednesday, June 10th at 6pm. It’s an amazing film that chronicles the story of Jerusalem’s only gay bar, through the eyes of its courageous owner (who also became a member of the city council) and its patrons — including a Palestinian man who would have to sneak into Israel to feel safe about being openly queer, and a young man from a settlement community who was one of the people stabbed by a crazed Haredi at the Pride parade in 2006. There is also a cross-national lesbian couple, Israeli and Palestinian, negotiating the rocky shoals of relationship with the added burden of war and oppression. This film asks all the right questions and shows Israeli society with all its beauty and ugliness, with its commitment to equality for all and the discrimination and danger faced by Muslim Israelis by Queer Israelis. This is a fully nuanced view of the multi-faceted reality free of the sloganeering of the knee-jerk crowds on all sides of the issues. And as such, is a film that is important for everyone to see.
It’s all the more interesting to see in the context of the news. The Jerusalem Post reports that international Israel advocacy organization Stand With Us has invited prominent gay opinion-shapers from around the world to Tel Aviv for the Pride celebrations, to show the progressive face of the country and a view that shifts the focus away from the conflict between peoples.
This is clearly a concerted PR effort that has the government behind it, even as the city government in Jerusalem prepares for violence by the Haredi against the upcoming Pride march in that city two weeks from now. Certainly in the face of protests by gay groups in Toronto and elsewhere against Israeli policies towards the Palestinians this is meant to mark the difference between the two societies in treatment of sexual minorities, and to say to these protesters, pardon my French, “what the fuck?”
Of course, you can’t make grey white by comparing it to black. And let’s be clear, while it is certainly true that I’d rather be queer in Israel than in Cairo or Damascus or Ramallah, I sure wouldn’t want to be Palestinian in Tel Aviv.
What’s more I feel used. Not like a politically active gay man wouldn’t feel used in the US today (are you listening Barack? I think not). But last year, when there was a pro-Israel demonstration outside the United Nations against Iran's president Ahmadinejad, I was asked by a Jewish organization called The Council of Presidents to help out by writing a print ad to help draw crowds to the demo by appealing to people concerned about human rights. My copy made it clear that many people were oppressed in today’s Iran, from religious minorities to women to gay men. At first they were happy. But of course, when push came to shove, queer folk got shoved. They didn’t really care about human rights — it was about Israel, pure and simple. And while I support Israel, I am not interested in being used by the Jews in this way.
Yes, my marriage (if I were married) would be recognized in Israel. And I would be killed in Egypt. Makes being an Israel supporter feel like being a Democrat in the US, huh?