Globalize This!

Do you think it's worth of opening your feed reader to awake at words like these: "Uganda's controversial ethics and integrity minister who last month called for the wearing of miniskirts to be made illegal said Saturday he believed civilization was being threatened by gays."?

Wait a minute, apart of the miniskirt thingy, where else have one heard about homosexuality being such a civilization threat? Oh, yes, of course!

This guy James Nsaba Buturo went on adding misconceptions over misconceptions such as that of "globalization of homosexuality". Well, signor James, sorry to disappoint you, but there's no such a thing. What happens is that we're living in the 21st century, dear. There's been homosexuality in Uganda for ages. The problem now, for people like you especially, is that globalization in its best aspects such as the Internet, with its quick spread of news, gossips and MySpaces or Facebooks make easier for Ugandan homosexuals to connect and know they're the a rare species of monster you want them to believe they are. Information is the key, and they can surf the web to find out that they are just normal people, that there are places in this world where people with their same feelings are treated with respect, like human beings. And the same happens with homosexuals worldwide: Ugandans, Kuwaitis, Pakistanis, Indians, Saudis, Moroccans and Americans.

But of course, narrow minded people will always rise up to demand a stupid solution to a problem that only exists in their minds. Hey, forbid miniskirts because there are weak minded people and it can cause accidents. It's not the miniskirt, stupid: it's the weakness of your mind. And you're the real accident.

Wall Street and Testosterone.

If yesterday the solution to financial crisis seemed to be placing a ban on all ungodly behaviors and manners of the world, and instead of a bailout Wall Street needed more Bibles, today we woke up with the announcement that higher levels of testosterone lead to riskier investments. Once again, science proves to divorce from religion.

Forget the Bailout, or How to Really Deal with Financial Crisis.

Via Gay News Blog, this week's tidbit of hilarious humor: Reputed Financial Advisor Michael Heath proposes the following measures to deal with financial crisis:

Heath goes on to list policy changes that would make God “crack a smile,” including: End abortion rights and defund non-profit groups supporting it, amend state constitutions to ban gay marriage and eliminate domestic partnerships and civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, and end discrimination against private religious schools and homeschools.

Definitely, why spend so many billions and zillions when you've got the solution at hand? Open the bible instead of touching the interest rate.

Abdellah Taïa interviewed

Today's online number of Publico presents an interview with Abdellah Taïa, Moroccan writer born in Sale in 1973, and the first one in coming out of the closet via Tel Quel magazine in January 2006. Abdellah has been pictured in Tel Quel's front page. Over his picture there was an only word: "Homosexual".

The interview, in Spanish language, describes briefly his coming out process, his family feelings and an overview of Morocco in regards to homosexuality. Some excerpts:

What about your family?

They thought I couldn't be a good Muslim, but they didn't reject me totally. They feared about me, my personal safety. My younger brother couldn't go out to the street.  [...] When I came back home, my mother cooked a lot for me. It was so tender, but also a way of not speaking about my sexual condition. Morocco is in the stage of denial of homosexuality: we don't want to name it since naming it means recognize its existence.

Homosexuality is present in Moroccan popular culture.

Sure; those men in women disguise in Jmaa el Fnaa (Marrakech) and nothing happens; there's been a wide tolerance, traditionally. Privately, Moroccans are a very free people. The problem is society's control. [...] Even the Islamist party will tell you "You can be homosexual, but you can't show it". There's no problem as long as you hide, however, there'll be some point in which you'll be socially compelled to get married.

Are you optimistic about Morocco's future?

Sometimes I am: nowadays, newspapers are criticizing the King, but there's an economical impasse. For many Moroccans, there's a daily struggle to find food for today. You can't achieve sexual freedom when you live in such conditions.

For those of you able to read Spanish, here's the link to the full text.

I now pronounce you husband and SUV

We bears (and gays) have been hearing fundamentalist Christians arguing against gay marriage for a while. One of the reasons they usually point out is that "marriage can only take place between a man and a woman" and if we allow other genres to marry, such would lead to a weird what's next, as in "humans marrying their pets" et al.  Another feature of born again Christians, like president George W. Bush, is their abhorrence of alcoholic beverages.

Well, I have eventually found the proof that they are really right in their appreciations. See what a combination of liquor and free marriage can lead to:

Couching on Bears.

Yes, we're somehow back after some months of silence, there's gonna be major changes in this blog and there'll be people who'll take the most part of such changes, but before publishing the introductory post, I couldn't help wonder thru this picture of Mrs. Palin. I'm frankly worried not only because of the awful decorative taste she's showing (who would really want such a crab in the lounging room? and what's most important, is that really a crab or does it come from Area 51?) but, mostly, because of the love for bears Sarah shows.

I can't deny, as a gay man and as a pocket bear, that one of my sexual fantasies is having a Bear Couch. And since I didn't get the context of the picture I can't be sure whether she's in love with bears or she just loves to hunt them and make them couch her. Any of the cute bears I know (and I know a few, believe me), would surely cuddle the lady for a while, but I'm not sure we'd love to be shot and made couches in order to have people's asses upon ourselves. We surely choose carefully whose ass we get under.

And y'all, twinks, jocks and all the rest of the Gay Nation, beware. If we bears are intended to turn into couches, what use will you have at the eyes of Mrs. Palin?

Everybody knew

No breaking news that Michael Stipe came out a few days ago. REM, and Michael, are one of the greatest, and everybody's celebrating this coming out, and cheering, and everybody's full of superb intentions and against homophobia and all that. And REM's new album, Accelerate, is coming out very soon too. Also Alejandro Amenabar came out shortly before the release of his movie The Sea Inside. Then the press talks about Michael and adds to the album promotion which adds to the coming out etc. We knew you were gay, Michael, and we all know that homophobia is a crime, and we all know that knives cut. It's only we still don't know how to take their edges off, seen?