Opinion section: Metro Weekly magazine, Washington, DC newspaper

Solitary Confinement

As a child, I learned that being gay meant being alone; as a gay man, my community has taught me a better lesson

Published on February 2, 2012, 7:40am

After coming out to my mother during college, she and I entered into one of those melancholy conversations familiar to so many of us who faced parents who obviously loved us yet had some intense feelings of loss and sadness at the news their child was going to be different. So we discussed, obliquely, some of those feelings, such as the sudden removal of potential grandchildren from her future. And we touched on the oldie-but-goodie standby of maternal coming out ...[more]

Dissing the President

Gov. Brewer's finger-wagging performance is the latest sideshow in the anti-Obama circus

Published on February 2, 2012, 7:39am

''Get your goddamn finger out of the president's face.'' That was my first thought upon seeing the photo of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) with President Obama at the Phoenix airport on Jan. 25. My second thought was that she was treating him like an errant servant: ''Don't you sass me, boy!'' Despite the president's cool response as shown in the photo, Brewer later said that she ''felt a little bit threatened'' by Obama. Really? What did she think he ...[more]

Court Time

The GOP campaign offers a frustrating experience when it comes to gay issues, but some more sporting inspiration is found Down Under

Published on January 26, 2012, 7:00am

So my television viewing this past week or so has given me a front-row seat to an intense competition, where the protagonists shift wildly between near victory and total defeat, where the the challenger who's spent years building an aura of inevitability finds that aura dashed in an unexpected defeat, where pundits and commentators dig into mounds of data to find the deeper meaning in it all. I'm talking, of course, about the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tennis ...[more]

DCTC's Chief Problem

Organizers of the trans coalition find fault with Lanier's handling of anti-trans violence

Published on January 25, 2012, 8:27am

The words rolled off her tongue like a well-rehearsed mantra, ''We'd like to see all of those folks who are in that high-risk environment find ways to increase their safety, and help us out.'' This is how Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier plans to address mounting violence against trans people, as she stated on WTOP radio Jan. 5. If we replace ''those folks'' with ''robbery victims,'' this would be an outrageous example of victim blaming. How does someone trapped in ...[more]

Foolish Thing Desire

For gay men, the intersection of sex and race brings out the worst in a small number of people, who then make headaches for everyone else

Published on January 19, 2012, 8:55am

A few years ago, before I began dating my husband, my then-boyfriend took me to a summer cookout with a local gay Asian group. It was a fun Sunday afternoon of volleyball, hotdogs and chả giò, meeting new people, and all the enjoyment you're supposed to get out of a Sunday afternoon party. While scarfing down some pasta salad and Korean barbecue, I overheard one of the few single white men in attendance, who'd been pretty openly cruising around the ...[more]

Minister at Midnight

Responding to Anthony Evans's anti-gay attack on marriage

Published on January 19, 2012, 7:11am

Anthony Evans is an anti-gay minister who claims to head a vast network of black churches and sends me frequent updates on his plans. On Jan. 15 I wrote this: Dear Rev. Evans: I feel conflicted in calling you Reverend, because in your case the honorific conceals a record of promoting intolerance. As a nice white boy I hesitate to write harshly to a black minister, especially on the 83rd birthday of one I revere. You, however, are no Dr. ...[more]

Friendly Fire

Don't mistake comments on imaginary gay sons and friends for a softening of Rick Santorum's anti-gay bigotry

Published on January 12, 2012, 5:27am

''Some of my best friends are [fill in the blank]'' is deservedly one of the most mocked phrases in the English language, given that it always leads those of us who often fill in that blank to consider another common phrase, ''With friends like this, who needs enemies?'' And there's a lot to consider these days, when even Republican social conservatives find themselves needing to say something — anything — positive about homosexuals in order not to come across as ...[more]

Leather in the Lead

Whatever your conventions, you have kinship with the kinky crowd

Published on January 12, 2012, 5:26am

There's an axiom of which I never grow tired: Perspective is everything. I think I'm an ethical person; others would cast me into the pits of hell for my homosexual abomination. Cross a border, and you're a criminal. One society's day-to-day normalcy is another's capital offense. Particularly, on a planet that I perceive to be grossly overpopulated, I turn to the Duggar family of 19 children. Someone else may look at the Duggars, with their ''Santorum for President'' emblazoned family ...[more]

Raucous Caucus

Iowa starts off 2012 with a surprising surge of Santorum, making January an interesting start to the year

Published on January 5, 2012, 7:24am

If nothing else, the Iowa caucuses kicked off the year with an inadvertently entertaining bang. After months of a rotating circus of second-tier candidates taking their spotlight turns as ''not Mitt Romney,'' we ended up with Santorum coming from behind. And, yes, hardly any writers in the free world at this point can restrain themselves from puns based on Rick Santorum's frothy ''Google problem.'' As someone noted on Twitter — where Santorum one-liners ran fast and free throughout Tuesday night's ...[more]

Times Square Tantrums

Artistic liberty pulls Green and his critics into Twitterverse tumult

Published on January 5, 2012, 7:22am

Not since Sinéad O'Connor ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live in 1992 have so many believers been so outraged by such a simple act. I refer to the furor that erupted in the early hours of Jan. 1 over Cee Lo Green's performance of John Lennon's utopian anthem ''Imagine'' before the ball dropped at Times Square. The three-time Grammy winner had replaced the line ''And no religion too'' with ''And all religion's true.'' ...[more]

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