Tornadoes Ravage Six Southern States After Anti-Gay Actions Taken by Legislatures, Hate Groups, and Individuals from Those States

 All of this has happened in 2011:

• Tennessee–State Senate panel advances law that would prohibit the discussion of homosexuality in schools.
• Virginia–The State Attorney General says that state board does not have authority to allow gay adoptions.
• Georgia–Atlanta Braves pitching coach is investigated for making anti-gay slurs and gestures.
• Alabama–A lesbian was beaten and then arrested by a group outside a bar.
• Kentucky–A member of the Masonic Lodge in Lexington was kicked out for being gay.
• Mississippi–The designated hate group, American Family Association, started a boycott against Home Depot for making donation to a gay organization.

Then, over a 24-hour period on April 27 and 28, 2011, a devastating storm with major tornadoes wreaked its havoc on the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Virginia.  Don’t see any cause-effect relationship here?  You mean you don’t think it was the wrath of God?  Nothing but a coincidence?

Then why does anyone give evangelists, such as Pat Robertson and John Hagee, any credence when they have blamed gay people for events such as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Haiti Earthquake?

Tony Alamo Update: Evangelist Sentenced to 175 Years in Jail

Finally this child molester who hid behind religion will get his just metes.  Read more about the sentencing.

It’s 2:15 AM, But You Should Read This Book

(Yes, it’s 2:15 AM, and luckily, tomorrow starts my vacation, and I will only have to wake up to take Annie out to do her business, and then I can crash again if I want. But someone posted a comment to one of my old posts, and responding to took enough time and effort that I decided to add a bit and use it as its own post.)

Beliefs. When it comes to beliefs, we have to make some distinctions.

If I put a pan of water on the stove, add some salt, turn on the burner, and wait until the water starts to boil at 212 degrees fahrenheit, I believe that if I dump the linguini into the water, it will be cooked a little more than al dente in about 8 minutes. On the other hand, maybe I’m cutting the grass, and I spy a four-leaf clover at the edge of the sidewalk, and say to myself, “Hey, I believe I’m in for a bit of good luck. Then, if some positive happens, I can attribute it to finding the four-leaf clover; however, if nothing significant takes place, I can just forget about it, and say, “Oh, well,” and wait until another “sign” like another four-leaf clover comes along.

That’s my take on beliefs, and if I haven’t drawn a clear enough picture for you, you’re not ready for Philosophy 101.

So that’s what applies in my comment below. (If my transition is weak, now it’s 2:30 AM.)

I always get tickled when religious people want to come back and say to me, “You’re angry.” Obviously, you haven’t read much else here on the blog.

You say you’ve made sacrifices. Most people in their lives have made sacrifices, but there is a difference between rights as a citizen of this country and whatever personal sacrifices people make to have the life they want. Just because some people have certain personal religious beliefs should not mean that others in this country should be prevented from having the same rights as everyone else. You as a married person have a whole slew of rights granted to you by the government besides the most obvious–marriage itself, but also the many spousal benefits that go along with it, not to mention being able to be open about who you are in the military, or even more simply to give blood.

When you start to add god into the picture, I say, “Whose god?” There are many denominations that have no problem accepting gay marriage and full equality across the board. We don’t have a theocratic government system in the U.S. Countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran have governmental laws based on Islam, and whatever side of the political fence you sit on in this country, I have heard few people advocating they would like a government like that in this country.

You say: “I don’t think gay people are less than others, I never said that, so I don’t know where you got that. I think that gay people choose to believe that God is okay with their choice and I believe that they are mistaken.”

I “get that” because you chose to comment to my post and indicate that you are against gay marriage. What is inherent in what you say is that you think your beliefs are the correct beliefs and based on those beliefs, gay people shouldn’t be allowed to get married in this country. You say “they are mistaken” and that indicates that they cannot have what you have–marriage–which indicates you do think gay people are less.

This is really no different than in theocratic countries where women are treated as “less”. Based on those laws, the wife has to walk behind the husband, cover her head and most of her body, and in some countries not be able to drive a car. Oh, but sure, he doesn’t think she’s “less” than he is, does he?

One thing that always gets me and every other gay person I know is that when people tell them being gay is a choice. I just don’t buy that you have any gay people whom you are really close to; otherwise, you just would not say or even think that.

Did you make a choice NOT to be gay? Chew on that a moment, and you have to realize that gay people don’t make a choice NOT to be straight. Are you left-handed or right-handed? Did you make a choice about that? Back in the good ol’ days, especially in parochial schools, left-handed kids got their hands whacked with a ruler or even had their left hands tied behind their backs to force them to use their right hands because being left-handed was thought to be wrong by some people. I guess in your way of thinking being left-handed wasn’t in god’s plan.

There’s no fork in the road of life where people choose to be left-handed or right-handed. Likewise, there’s no fork in the road where people choose to be gay, straight, or even something in the middle. Like being left-handed or right-handed, it just how we are wired.

The problem is that some religions and some people want to attach some kind of moral significance to that wiring.

Where there is a choice, however, is in what people choose to believe. As part of their beliefs, the Aztecs sacrificed other human beings; the people of Salem believed that some of the local women were witches and burned them to death; some people from Latin countries believe that if a pregnant woman looks at a full moon, the baby will have a mark on its face; some Hindus believe that cows are sacred; and the Pope of the medieval church believed that the earth was flat, and, thus, Galileo was a heretic and driven out of the church.

Through the ages, beliefs have changed. People learn, people grow, people use logic and knowledge. (Others, however, keep on with the same ol’ superstitions and fairy tales.)

But just what is it with christians and homosexuality anyway? The bible really doesn’t say that much about it, and the lines there are come from way back in the part where there are all sorts of weird old Jewish rules, like not letting dwarfs or invalids anywhere near the altar and not touching the skin of a pig. There’s a bunch of stuff like that back in Leviticus, but nobody, even those people who say they take every word of the bible literally adhere to any of that, but somehow they pull out homosexuality as being just about the worst thing anybody could be.

Never mind that it’s not on the top ten list of biblical no-no’s. I mean shouldn’t adultery be written into U.S. law? I’m pretty sure it’s there on that big ol’ tablet that Moses came down the mountain with. But I didn’t see any christians advocating for any laws against adultery when Governor Sanford was/is having his fling with his Argentine “soul mate” or after Senator Vitter got caught cheating on his wife with prostitutes. Why aren’t all the christians up in arms about that? (Remember that ol’ song “Things That Make You Go Hmmm”?)

Why did the Aztecs believe they should sacrifice other humans? Why did the people of Salem believe some of the local women were witches and burn them to death? Why did people believe the world was flat?

(But based on your thinking, not those sacrificed by the Aztecs, the women put to death in Salem, nor even Galileo were “less”, because, of course, the Aztecs, the people of Salem, and the medieval church were all just following the laws based on their beliefs.)

And I think this should be a question for you. WHY do you believe what you believe. (I heard that ol’ Sunday School song “Cuz the Bible Tells Me So” many times, but that just doesn’t cook the linguini any more than the four-leaf clover cooks it.)

In the end, you can believe whatever you believe. If you want to believe a rock is a hairbrush, you can believe that, especially if some church elder has convinced you that a rock is a hairbrush. And would you dare question that with a “Why?”.

In the same way that some parents’ religious beliefs should not prevent their child with cancer from being treated, your own and others’ religious beliefs should not prevent gay people from marrying the person whom they love.

Finally, you need to read this book: “Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality” by John Boswell.

Tony Alamo Guilty on All Ten Counts

  The jury has come back with its verdict in the Tony Alamo case and he is guilty on all ten charges.

Tony Alamo Found Guilty of Transporting Minors for Sex

Latest News:

Here is the latest from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: “Jurors on Friday found evangelist Tony Alamo guilty on all 10 counts of transporting five young girls across state lines for sex.

The jury of nine men and three women found Alamo guilty of transporting girls as young as 9, in violation of a nearly century-old federal law. He was accused in a 10-count indictment. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The jury returned a verdict shortly after entering its second day of deliberations. The seven-day trial included testimony from Alamo’s accusers for the prosecution, and his common-law wife and a mother of an accuser for the defense.”

Read the entire article here.

And the Bible Says This about Marriage

The last time I ever read anything from the bible was back in my college days when I was taking a World Lit. course, and during the section on Ancient and Medieval Lit., I figured out that a lot of what was written in a supposedly holy book was hardly different than the fantastical stories and sagas of other writings of those times.

Tonight after thinking about Betty Bower’s video (check it out below), I got to wondering about Adam and Eve, and especially their children. I only remembered about Cain and Abel, and that “Cain slew Abel”, but then tonight I found out that there was Seth, who was born like 130 years later, because people lived such a long time in those days. Yeah, right. Life was so easy back then, I guess.

But what I was really wondering was how all these anti-gay-marriage people explain all this. Well, now I know. Just like they say in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, “Incest is best!”

I mean, they always say, “The bible says marriage is between one man and one woman.” But why are they so closed-mouth about incest?

They say that what the bible says about marriage has always been the same, but shame on them; they’ve been holding out. Now I know because “Bible Study Manual” told me so.

Read on. I’m sure you’re going to be busting a gut at how all this is explained–yeah, “explained” nudge, nudge; wink, wink.

As marriage in the Bible specifies one man for one woman for life, this means Christians have to be able to explain how Adam and Eve’s sons could marry and have children to propagate the human race. Thus we need to be able to answer the question concerning Cain’s wife.

One can actually answer this question with just a little Bible knowledge. Genesis 5:4 tells us that Adam and Eve ‘begat sons and daughters.’ Josephus, the Jewish historian, states that ‘The number of Adam’s children, as says the old tradition, was thirty-three sons and twenty-three daughters.’ The point, of course, is that Adam and Eve did have many children.

Therefore, brothers must have married sisters at the beginning. Remember that the law against close intermarriage was not given until the time of Moses – e.g., ‘none of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him’ (Leviticus 18:6). There was nothing wrong with brother and sister marriages, originally. If you think about it, that is the only way to populate the world, starting with only one pair. Notice that Abraham married his half sister with no condemnation from God, even though this was later forbidden.

Also, as Adam and Eve were created perfect, their genes would have been perfect. As the curse God placed upon creation started to operate only after they sinned, their descendants would not have had many mistakes in their genes. These mistakes (harmful mutations) add up only after a long period of time.

So brothers and sisters (Adam and Eve’s children) could have married and not had the problems of deformities in their offspring as might well happen today, if such close relatives married and had children. This is because today humans have lots of mistakes – because of the curse – in their genes. This may cause problems when matching pairs are inherited from both parents, as much more likely with close intermarriage.

Some people, though, say that there must have been people other than Adam and Eve, because Cain went to the land of Nod and found his wife. First of all, the Scriptures quoted above make it obvious that there was only one man and one woman from whom came all other human beings.

Secondly, the Scripture says that Cain went to the Land of Nod and ‘knew’ (had sexual relations with) his wife. John Calvin, in his commentary on Genesis, and most other conservative expositors, make the point that Cain was married before he went to the land of Nod.

Don’t you like how they can use science when they want to throw in the idea of “genes”, but then ignore it when comes to how long people lived.

So there you go. If you don’t have a good answer, just make one up, and “That’s the way it is.” End of story. No discussion.

Winds of Change Come to Kansas Both in Energy Producers . . . and in People’s Hearts

Change has come to the Kansas landscape: the Smoky Hills Wind Farm, Ellsworth and Lincoln Counties

Some complain that Obama and the Congress aren’t doing enough to bring about changes for gay equality. But for real change to happen when it comes to beliefs and prejudices, it has to happen in people’s hearts.

I was raised in a part of the country where big changes don’t seem to happen very fast–no matter what kind of change we might be talking about. That place is western Kansas (central Kansas if you think of the state as having 3 regions), where the wind never seems to stop blowing from one direction or the other.

I read an article today that reminded me of an event I had wanted to write about before. Both of these show that changes in the way others feel toward gay people are being made.

In my little ol’ hometown of Dorrance, the biggest event of every year is Memorial Day weekend. It’s the time when alumni go back for school reunions and other get-to-gethers on Saturday and Sunday. On the Monday holiday itself, there is always a parade that goes from downtown out to the flower-filled cemetery, and the local American Legion post puts on a moving service and tribute. That particular event is so much a part of our local heritage. (And me too. You know, I can’t even explain; it’s something that maybe only people from small towns can understand, but I’m getting choked up as I write this.)

But, anyway, back to the point. I don’t think I have ever been so proud of my hometown and its people as a couple of years ago when I went back for the holiday weekend, and the main speaker at the Memorial Day service was the youngest sister of one of my old friends, who is now a university professor and an out lesbian. I had met her partner the year before at the same event, but I was completely overwhelmed with happiness to see how my hometown of not even 250 people was so accepting and welcoming.

Today an article from the Garden City Telegraph also made me proud, proud of a young gay kid from Kansas. A senior at Garden City High School had taken it upon himself and gotten a GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) started. Even though GCHS is one of the largest high schools in the state, the town of about 25,000 does sit out in the flat southwest Kansas plains, surrounded by farms and feedlots full of cattle. By reading the Comments to the article, we find that not everyone is accepting: his father kicked him out of the house. However, all but one commenter had very positive things to say. Except for his father, this young man seems to have a good support network and a very positive attitude. Hopefully, there are some PFLAG people in the area that will help the dad get some better understanding of his own feelings and that the two can once again have a relationship.

Only a few years ago, people thought that tall wind chargers would destroy the unique beauty of the rough Kansas pastureland, but once put in place, the wind farms have seemed to add their own beauty to the landscape, not to mention their benefit as clean energy producers.

I think that’s also what happens with people’s prejudices too: get to know what you fear and you find there’s really nothing to fear, and more possibly there’s something even more to endear.

California Court’s Decision on Proposition 8 May Be Disappointing, But 18,000 Legally Married Same-Sex Couples “Ain’t Nothin’ To Sneeze At”

The California Supreme Court sent out a mixed message today when it upheld last November’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages, but, on the other hand, did not make make the proposition retroactive, which means that the 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place previous to the election are still legal.

While those opposed to gay marriage may be celebrating today, they must realize that the sand in the top of their hourglass continues to drain into the bottom: eighteen thousand gay marriages remain intact despite the millions they spent. The court’s ruling only says that the proposition made a legal change in California’s Constitution; the court did not say gay marriage was wrong; in fact, just the opposite is the case in allowing the 18,000 marriages to stand.

The effect of allowing the 18,000 marriages to remain legal will be much more enduring than the upholding of Proposition 8.

Except for under the G. W. Bush administration (with various interferences to privacy and to the writ of habeas corpus), it’s hard to think of civil liberties, once granted, that have been retracted. How willing would African-Americans be to go back into slavery? Would women say, “Oh, we’re just so happy with the way men run the government that we’ll just stay at home on election day”? Can you imagine Jon and Kate or any other inter-racial couples thinking how “unnatural” it would be to get married and have kids? When it comes to civil liberties, it’s very hard to get the toothpaste back in the tube once it’s been squeezed out.

And gay people are not going back either.

Because of these 18,000 marriages, gay marriage will become legal for other couples, one way or the other. It may be through the court itself or through the ballot box. It may come about through more people realizing that equality counts for all, not for just some. It may come about when a financially-strapped state understands the boon of same-sex marriages.

Whatever way–things will change. Look at the difference between now and barely a year ago. Until May 15th of last year when the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, only the state of Massachusetts allowed it. In spite of Proposition 8, 18,000 couples were legally married in California, and . . . same-sex marriage became law in Connecticut (since October 10, 2008), Iowa (since April 27, 2009), Vermont (starting September 1, 2009) and Maine (starting September 14, 2009). And it appears some of the “New” states–New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire will approve gay marriage soon.

So for all the NOMers and other nay-sayers out there, imagine a “storm” of fluffy clouds, spring flowers, and the most delicious wedding cakes out there, because if you think you’ve won something today in California, most gay people see a silver lining that’s going to be found in more and more tuxes and wedding gowns all across the land.

In just looking at the Declaration of Independence, I see again that it says that one of the unalienable rights is “the pursuit of happiness”. Nothing in there that I can read says that working to make other people’s lives unhappy is an unalienable right. But, thank goodness, people like Maggie Gallagher, James Dobson, and Jerry Falwell are a dying breed. Oh, sorry, Falwell’s dead already, isn’t he?

An Historic Day for Iowa and for Marriage Equality: Couples Get Licenses and Exchange Wedding Vows on the First Day for Same-sex Marriage in the Heartland State

Melisa Keeton and Shelley Wolfe became the first same-sex couple to exchange marriage vows under the new Iowa ruling. (Des Moines Register photo)

Today is the first day that same-sex couples can apply for marriage licenses in Iowa, and in some cities they are lining up at county courthouses to do it. Some couples, who have had the usual 3-day waiting period waived, are already getting married.

Couples line up waiting to apply for marriage licenses at the Polk County Administration Building in Des Moines, Iowa. (Des Moines Register photo)

According to the Des Moines Register, at least 360 same-sex couples had applied for marriage licenses on the first day. There also have been petitions by anti-marriage groups asking courthouse officials not to grant licenses to gay couples, but, in general, there was very little visible protest against those waiting to make their applications.

Grandfield, Oklahoma, Small Town Teachers, and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”

I feel sorry for Grandfield, Oklahoma, its people, and its school. I’ve never been there, but I feel like I know it. I doubt that it’s much different than many small towns dotted all over the Great Plains.

Bigger than many similar little prairie towns, Grandfield has a population of around a thousand people and sits out in what some would call “the sticks” between Wichita Falls, Texas and Lawton, Oklahoma. The high school itself is a small one (74 students in the 2006-2007 school year).

But now this small town and its school are getting national attention because of the dismissal of one of the high school’s teachers, whose students were working on a production of “The Laramie Project”, the story of Matthew Shephard, the Wyoming college student brutally murdered in an anti-gay attack a decade ago. (Read the story from the Lawton, OK newspaper here and here.)

If you look at the school district’s website, you realize that Grandfield probably has a good school. The fact that a school this size even has a website is evidence of this, but aside from the fact that some of its sports pages could do with some updating, the school’s site is well done.

From what I’ve read about the main players in this controversy (the superintendent–a Mr. Ed Turlington, and the dismissed teacher–Debra Taylor), it seems likely that there probably have been some “philosophical differences” between them. Added to that, by looking at the school’s schedule of classes, it’s not difficult to see that there could have been some varying points of view among the faculty members about what should be taught in classes in this school.

In most small schools, the teachers generally have an overlap of the subjects they teach; for example, a math teacher might have to teach some of the science courses too, or the physical education teacher might also teach history and driver’s education. Sometimes, because of class size or lack of funds, even the superintendent or the principal (who might also actually be the same person) has to teach a class or two.

On the other hand, because of the small size, teachers who have a special interest may be given the opportunity to teach more topic specific courses. By looking at the class schedule again, this looks as if what might have been the case in Grainfield. Ms. Taylor’s schedule includes an Ethics class and a Street Law class, not your run-of-the-mill courses generally taught in small rural schools. Likewise, there is a class listed as the Bible as Literature, taught by a C. Turlington, (whom we can assume has some relationship with the superintendent), also not a course that we’d find in most small public high schools, nor for that matter, even large public high schools.

Just looking at those course listings, at first one might think how lucky the students are to have such choices. But courses like those are not instituted without some push from somebody who wants them to be taught or who wants to teach them. When you see the outcome of the teacher’s being dismissed, it’s seems like there probably was some undercurrent of discord because of differences of opinion about what should be taught in this school and in these classes long before the “Laramie Project” situation.

Even so, this problem seems to be one that should stay a local one. The biggest story about this small school should be one about a sports team winning a championship or an FFA member taking a Grand Championship ribbon at the state fair.

PFLAG groups getting involved on the side of the teacher and the Phelps family coming to town to rail against “The Laramie Project” should not be what brings attention to this school and town. Issues in small towns are small town issues, no matter what they are. In the end, it is the locally-elected school board that decides what is best for the school.

Outsiders getting involved only exacerbates the conflict and will make it much harder for those in the town itself to come back together. Because come back together they will have to, one way or another. You just can’t avoid people in a small town like you can in a big city. People who do not grow up in a small town just have no understanding how close-knit the people who live there are. People from outside trying to favor one point or the other are going to be looked at as “meddlers”. That’s why I feel sorry for the people of this community. They don’t need all of that interference.

But even I am taking a side here. First of all, there is no reason for a class like “The Bible as Literature” to be taught in that school or any public school. If students need more literature than they are getting in their English classes, the school should offer AP (Advanced Placement) Literature to get them ready for college. I’m sure Grandfield has a number of churches that have Bible Study classes, Sunday School, and Summer Bible School, from which anyone interested could get all the Bible Lit. they wanted.

On a more personal note, years ago, I had a “Debra Taylor” as my English teacher. Her name, though, was Mrs. Anna Herman, and she was my English teacher for all my years at Dorrance (Kansas) High School. Not only was she the English teacher, but she started a speech and debate program in one of the smallest schools in the state at that time (about 40 students in grades 9-12). This gave us the opportunity to compete against schools much larger in size, something that sports usually doesn’t do.

What makes this situation in Grandfield seem so similar is that when I was a senior, Mrs. Herman suggested that my classmate and I do a piece from Edward Albee’s play, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”. At that time, this controversial drama had just come out as a movie with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton cast as the leads. The cutting that our teacher wanted us to do was from some of the Taylor-Burton scenes. However, before we could work on the piece, she asked that we get our parents to go watch the movie at the theater.

Back in the 60s, the film’s subject matter was considered raw and the language strong, but when compared with today’s films, or even TV shows, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” would  seem fairly “tame”. But in 1966, it was a cutting-edge movie, and not an easy one for 17-year-olds to watch with their parents, let alone 17-year-olds with farm parents from a town of about 300 people .

The 15-mile drive home from the show was a very quiet one.

However, we got to do “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” as our speech competition piece because our parents trusted and believed in Mrs. Herman. To this day, after all these many years, I’m proud to say that we got a first place in every speech contest that we entered, including the state competition.

We also presented our piece in front of the school and parents a couple of times, and always got a positive reception; even though the people from my little town were both conservative and religious, they also were the type of people who recognized the importance of their kids’ getting an education that would prepare them for life beyond the farm and our little town.

And you know what? Mrs. Herman wasn’t some sort of liberal interloper from the outside. She was a farmer’s wife who had gone back to school later in life to get her degree and teaching credentials, but she was a teacher who gave her all so that her students would have more opportunities and realize that the world goes a lot further than just the county line.

I don’t know Debra Taylor, but I have an idea that she might be the same kind of teacher.

This may be the problem with some of the people in Grandfield, Oklahoma: that narrow-mindedness is interfering with giving kids an education to help them prepare for the world beyond their town.

(Just for the record: Anna Herman was the sister of Johnny Locke, who coached basketball for many years at Natoma High School in the 1950s and 60s and was one of the winningest coaches in Kansas high school history.)

I Want My Gay TV (Part III)

I’ve been wanting to write a new post on gay TV, but, frankly, I’m becoming less and less of a television watcher. I think some of it has to do with the new digital broadcasting. As a long-time remote-control flipper, I have no patience for that several-second period of dead air between one channel and the next. Because of that and also the fact that our cable provider, TVMax, didn’t provide any instructions with the remote that came with the box, I haven’t been able to delete all of those religious, Fox Noise, and other channels that just get in the way. Also they said this digital was going to be so great, but what’s up with all that pixelation or the video stopping and the audio continuing? The only channels that I know the numbers for are the local channels (because they’re the lower numbers), ESPN, HGTV, and Logo. I think I can remember National Geographic too because on Friday nights, I really try hard to watch The Dog Whisperer.

I’ve been watching a lot of NCAA basketball on my various ESPNs. You see, once I can find the one, I know the other ESPN channels are close by. I don’t have any favorite teams this year, but some of the teams are really fun to watch. I don’t care for the ACC much, but last night there was a good game between Wake Forest and Duke. I’m just waiting for one of these college basketball players to come out of the closet. As a side note, if you’re interested in a good gay sports site, this is a good one.

I’m glad I’ve got Logo, the gay channel, on my lineup. They’ve got some good shows on it, but they re-run them to death. One new thing (at least for me) is they are also showing MTV’s Real World Brooklyn, so I’ve been able to catch a show or two that I’ve missed on MTV itself. This time Real World has eight cast members including one gay guy, JD, and one transgender female (post-op), Katelynn. So far, the show has been mostly major friction free despite having, Chet, a full-of-himself Mormon boy, and Ryan, a former U.S. soldier who served in Iraq. Last night, MTV showed the fourth episode of this year’s version of Real World; it seems like they are trying to make Ryan into the next “American Idol” as they are featuring his singing a lot. Actually, he has a pretty good voice and isn’t hard on the eyes either. I’m sure both MTV and Logo will be replaying this episode this week. You can also see them here on the web with almost no commercial interruption.

Ryan Kelley and Sigourney Weaver in Prayers for Bobby

The most touted gay-themed show this past week was Prayers for Bobby, a made-for-TV movie based on a real-life story, which was also published as a book. Presented on Lifetime, in Prayers for Bobby, Sigourney Weaver is cast as the overly Christian (yes, not a misspelling, I mean “overly” not “devoutly” or “overtly”) mother of a son who she basically pushes out of her life because she cannot accept that he’s gay.

Although this show has it’s moments when the Kleenex need to be brought out, both the story and the characters seemed predictable. Bobby’s family, and most of all his mother, because of her religious beliefs, cannot accept his being gay. Already out of high school, Bobby goes to live with a more liberal cousin in a somewhat distant city, where he meets a guy (perhaps not “the” guy) of his dreams, although he still cannot reconcile his own religious upbringing and being gay. Still suffering from these inner conflicts, he sees his boyfriend leaving a bar with another guy and goes and jumps off an overpass onto the highway below. The story then continues focusing on his mother dealing with her own responsibilities in his committing suicide.

This show reminded me of another made-for-TV film, Doing Time on Maple Drive, which came out in the early 90s. It has a similar story line, but worked much better as an all-around film because each of the characters were developed and had their own lives and problems, not just the son dealing with being gay and a mother who wouldn’t deal with it. The message of Prayers for Bobby is a good one but could have been a bit less didactic. However, if even just a few Bible-thumping parents listen to the story’s refutation of these evangical preachers’ ranting “Leviticus says this” and “Romans says that” and them make changes in how they treat their own gay son or daughter or gay people in general, Prayers for Bobby will be a success.

Speaking of success, I have seen Robert Gant, who plays in Queer as Folk (originally on Showtime, now re-runs on Logo) doing a couple of commercials, first showing off some skin on a shaving ad and just recently, playing straight, seemingly, in one of the many new ads that Volkswagen has been running. Gant is an out actor and makes a lot of appearances on behalf of the community all over. Just a couple years back he was he in Houston, riding in the Gay Pride Parade.

On the other side of the coin, Focus on the Family (and head homophobe, James Dobson), whose prime reason for being is its anti-gay agenda is trying to put forth another boycott; this time against Pepsi for a commercial that it has playing in Great Britain. Here’s the spot that’s getting all the contempt from the haters. Who knows who they’ll try to boycott next? There are quite a few gay-themed ads out there.

You can see several other gay-themed commercials on my Vod Box on the right sidebar.

You can see “I Want My Gay TV” (Part I) here and (Part II) here.