Jerry Curl

Photo caption: Judy Garland during her legendary concert at Carnegie Hall in 1961. In more Judy-related news: Robert Leleux of the NYT writes about something I'm all-too familiar with. That's to say, the pain and suffering Judy fans go through at the hands young kids who don't know a lick about her: Last Saturday I invited my friend Brodie, a 30ish gay man like myself, to a preview performance of End of the Rainbow , Peter Quilter’s play about the final days of Judy Garland. In the course of that invitation, I asked him if he was a Judy fan, and he said, “No, but she was good in ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ ” That’s the kind of answer I might expect from Tim Tebow, but being a good sport, Brodie accompanied me anyway. I weep for my people. I’m only half-kidding. I have this theory that because of the holocaust that was the AIDS epidemic and its annihilation of the previous generation of gay men, the faith of our fathers risks extinction. Today, Judyism, like Yiddish, is little more...

Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor of California and former Mayor of San Francisco, writes for the Huffington Post : In 2006, the goal was Congress. In 2008, it was electing Barack Obama. In 2010, it was defending Congress. Now, as we unite behind our President and start down the path towards November's election, we have another defining moment -- a chance to come together in Charlotte and state clearly what our party stands for. It's a chance for us to define for every voter, and more importantly, every American, what being a Democrat means. I believe that definition must include equality. That's why today, I couldn't be prouder to have former DNC chairman Howard Dean, Donald Fowler, Steve Grossman and David Wilhelm stand with us in calling on our party to include marriage equality in its 2012 platform. I know there will be some who argue that this is not the time, that there's already too much at stake in this year's election. To them, I would answer with this...

Michael Hayne has a few bones to pick. Namely, those of Dana Perinio: So you remember how a small group of oligarchs, banksters, and politicians collectively allowed their blind avarice and risky financial measures (or “casino capitalism”) to bring the entire world’s economy to its very knees, begging for sweeping bailouts from the unbeknownst unwashed masses in order to return to the very same greedy and risky ways that caused the economic abortion in the first place? And certainly you remember (it’s still going on) how these same monied interests bought their own personal teabagger Republicans to make sure the all the blame went towards all those ever-so greedy school teachers, firemen, students, and low to middle-income people,–all of whom were the ones who were forced with layoffs, pay cuts, and significant austerity measures? And, in the midst of all this insane and uncaring bickering were the nation’s twenty-somethings–forced with tuition hikes during a recession and a total dea...

Leonard Pitts Jr. writes a blistering piece on the GOP's resistence to social progress : The image forces us to see an old thing in a new way. It is a sign of the times -- jarringly so for some. That's why it went viral , why it has made international headlines and sparked thousands of comments on message boards. You can probably predict the contents without bothering to read them. On the one hand are best wishes for the happy couple and gratitude for Morgan's service. On the other, claims that the picture induces nausea or proves the country is going to hell at warp 9. Indeed, at least one GOP candidate -- the reliably entertaining Rick Santorum -- has promised, if elected, to reinstate the military's demeaning "don't ask, don't tell" policy, under which gay people were considered good enough to risk their lives for this country but not good enough to be open about their sexual identities while so doing. That promise is part of a breathtaking Republic...

Photo caption: The cool sterility of 2001: A Space Odyssey is just one example of how pop culture expresses an anxiety that's seemingly about technology, but may be as old as time. [ Editor's note ] I heard this awesome story on NPR last night and just ran into it on Google+. I think it speaks clearly about my personal apprehensions to the digital age. Bob Mondello reports: When Hollywood imagines the future, from Logan's Run to Avatar, it tends to picture living spaces as sterile and characterless, without any cultural clues to the person who lives there. No record library, no DVDs, no Hemingway on bookshelves ... often no bookshelves. And here we are, catching up to that vision of the future. Sales of physical books dropped 30 percent last year, while e-book sales more than doubled. Sales of DVDs fell during that same period, while online streaming rose. And in 2011, for the first time, digital music downloads overtook sales of CDs. It's as if we're deciding en m...

Photo caption: Anti-piracy legislation protesters gathered to demonstrate against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), which are being considered by Congress, at City Hall in San Francisco yesterday. Jeff Jarvis writes for the Huffington Post : The Internet has helped untold publics to form. Yesterday, the Internet became a public. Or rather, millions of people who care about Internet freedom used the net to organize and defend it against efforts to control and harm it. The SOPA-PIPA blackout got attention in media that previously all but ignored the issue, whether out of conflict of interest or negligence. More important, it got political action as legislators -- especially Republicans -- tripped over themselves to back away from the Hollywood bailout. In the discussion about the movement yesterday, I heard someone in Washington quoted, saying that these geeks should hire lobbyists like everyone else. No, we're all lobbyists now, and...

My pal and not-so-secret Twitter crush Asher Huey writes a brilliantly eye-opening letter for the Huffington Post : Dear gay Republicans, Rick Santorum's surge and near-win in Iowa should be a wake-up call: your party hates you. Let's put economic and other issues aside for a moment; we can have a spirited debate about the backward GOP approach to taxes, the environment, and foreign policy another time. I don't understand how you can look beyond the fact that a major portion of your party's fundamental beliefs are that you are not equal. This isn't a minor issue within your party. The Republican Party platform calls for amending the United States Constitution to discriminate against you. Party officials actually want to use our country's foundational document, which grants and extends rights and freedoms to people, to limit yours. But that's only the tip of the iceberg. Santorum's come-from-behind, surprise second-place finish is creating quite a mess i...

[ Editor's note ] There seems to be a lot of chatter lately about the ins and outs of monogamy. I may have to give this some more introspective thought and write my own piece on it... But in the meantime, Dan Savage chimes in with a defense of nonmonogamy: Why do most people assume that all nonmonogamous relationships are destined to fail? Because we only hear about the ones that do. If a three-way or an affair was a factor in a divorce or breakup, we hear all about it. But we rarely hear from happy couples who aren't monogamous, because they don't want to be perceived as dangerous sex maniacs who are destined to divorce. This state of affairs—couples who experimented with nonmonogamy and wound up divorced won't shut up; couples who experimented with nonmonogamy and are still together won't speak up—allows smug and insecure monogamists to run around insisting that there's no such thing as happy, stable monogamish couples. "You know lots of couples who hav...

The Huffington Post has an interesting article on the biological needs of men and sex. While I agree with most of what's inluded here, I think cheating is never ok. Open relationships are honest relationships. But it's never ok to hurt others for personal satisfaction. Eric Anderson, an American sociologist at England's University of Winchester and author of the provocative new book, The Monogamy Gap: Men, Love, and the Reality of Cheating says that monogamy is failing men. Not only is it failing them, but it's a "socially compelled sexual incarceration" that can lead to a life of anger and contempt. In his study of 120 undergraduate gay and straight men, 78% of those who had a partner cheated, "even though they said that they loved and intended to stay with their partner." Contrary to what we may think, most men aren't cheating because they don't love their partner, he says; they cheat because they just want to have sex with others. And so...

CNN 's Jessica Yellin and Ted Metzger explain: For Democrats the outcome of the Iowa caucuses was a plus but no surprise: no candidate sealed the deal. Three takeaways from the Democrats point of view. First, it denies Romney the momentum he needs to lock up the nomination early and move up the start of the general election. Even with the surprising rise of Rick Santorum, the Democrats still expect Mitt Romney to ultimately win the Republican nomination. And that's why they still focused all of their fire on Romney tonight. Multiple aides to President Barack Obama pointed out that Romney barely matched his showing from the caucuses four years ago. And his support among middle class Iowans – defined as those making $50,000 or less – fell by five points. In a statement DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said, “After five years of campaigning and adopting policies far to the right of Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich on issues ranging from economic philosophy, to immigr...

My Twitter pal Asher Huey writes a smart piece for the Huffington Post on the ethics of outing: Glee 's ability to address serious and complex issues is always impressive, but this week's episode was particularly commendable. Continuing a story line from last season, glee club member Santana Lopez, powerfully portrayed by Naya Rivera, is coming to terms with her sexuality as tongues wag about her relationship with fellow glee club member Brittany. In the episode titled "Mash Off," lead character Finn outs Santana in a school hallway. At first, the incident seems to be treated as just an embarrassing moment. I, for one, was incredibly mad at Finn and Glee for treating outing so flippantly, to the point that mid-episode I tweeted my frustration. But perhaps I was too quick to tap, as toward the end of the episode they revisit the central question with verve. One of the various sub-plots involves cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester running for Congress. In a campaign sme...

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Bob Cesca writes for the Huffington Post : When I heard President Obama announce The American Jobs Act, I mistakenly thought the Republicans wouldn't dare vote against "American jobs." For the first time, the Democrats had come up with a title for a bill that borrowed the successful Republican tactic of naming legislation in a way that makes it politically impossible to vote against. You probably remember some of the good ones. The Republicans aggressively triple-dog-dared members of Congress to vote against the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act. After all, who would be idiotic enough to go on record as having voted against the "USA" and "patriotism", especially when it's shouted in all-caps during the aftermath of 9/11? Only one senator, Russ Feingold, voted against it. One. The Bush years also gave us Orwellian titles like the "death tax", the Healthy Forests Initiative and Clear Skies Act. Incidentally, the Clear Skies Act was a cap-and-trade program...

Eve Ensler writes for the Huffington Post : I have been watching and listening to all kinds of views and takes on Occupy Wall Street. Some say it's backed by the Democratic Party. Some say it's the emergence of a third party. Some say the protesters have no goals, no demands, no stated call. Some say it's too broad, taking on too much. Some say it is the Left's version of the Tea Party. Some say its Communist, some say it's class warfare. Some say it will burn out and add up to nothing. Some say it's just a bunch of crazy hippies who may get violent. I have been spending time down at Zucotti Park and I am here to offer a much more terrifying view. What is happening cannot be defined. It is happening. It is a happening. It is a response to injustice and inequity and poverty and Wall Street corruption and soaring college debt and unemployment and homelessness, institutionalized racism and violence against women, the murdering of the earth, fracking and the keyston...

Jared Bernstein writes an informative article on the Occupy Wall Street movement for the Huffington Post : Last night I heard a story on NPR about the Wall St. protest that is now spreading to other cities. The gist of the story was: "what are these protests really about? What do they want?" I'm sorry, but that's just not a head scratcher. Do these news analysts think it's a coincidence that they're occupying Wall St. as opposed to Columbus Ave north of 79th? As Andrew Sorkin put it today (after writing that the message was "at times...hard to discern"): ... the demonstrators are seeking accountability for Wall Street and corporate America for the financial crisis and the growing economic inequality gap. I'm not saying everyone down there is ready to give a clear exposition of the facts of the case, but commentators can stop scratching their heads now. I've been writing about these problems for decades. Sometimes they've gotten a little b...

Ingrid E. Newkirk is the president and founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The following is as editorial she wrote for the Huffington Post regarding the Orca's in captivity: SeaWorld got away with it once, using political bullying to force California's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) not only to back down from its prediction that it was "only a matter of time" before a trainer would be killed by an orca, but also to grovel and apologize for the inconvenience. That's perhaps why SeaWorld thought it could bully OSHA again last year when trainer Dawn Brancheau was pulled underwater by the orca Tilikum and savaged so badly -- her scalp was peeled back, a limb was severed, and more -- that her family is fighting to stop the video, the one considered "too disturbing" to show on TV, from being released, ever. Rather than quietly accepting the penalty that it was assessed, SeaWorld has been defiant despite massive public...

Nicholas Kulish of the New York Times writes about the growing disillusionment of 20 somethings around the world: "Our parents are grateful because they’re voting,” said Marta Solanas, 27, referring to older Spaniards’ decades spent under the Franco dictatorship. “We’re the first generation to say that voting is worthless.” Economics have been one driving force, with growing income inequality, high unemployment and recession-driven cuts in social spending breeding widespread malaise. Alienation runs especially deep in Europe, with boycotts and strikes that, in London and Athens, erupted into violence. But even in India and Israel, where growth remains robust, protesters say they so distrust their country’s political class and its pandering to established interest groups that they feel only an assault on the system itself can bring about real change. Increasingly, citizens of all ages, but particularly the young, are rejecting conventional structures like parties and trade unions ...

Novelist Douglas MacKinnon writes for the Huffington Post : I believe I would meet most people's definition of a "true conservative." So much so that I'm sure many on the far-left have no doubt that my knuckles drag on the ground as I lurch from one defense of traditional values to another. It is exactly because of that reputation and my beliefs that I felt it important to weigh in on the Chaz Bono-Keith Ablow "controversy." An issue which gained national attention after Mr. Ablow -- who is a psychiatrist, author, and Fox News contributor -- ignorantly, purposefully, and hurtfully said in his Fox News column with regard to Mr. Bono appearing on ABC's Dancing With the Stars : I advise parents to not allow their children to watch the episodes in which Chaz appears. The last thing vulnerable children and adolescents need, as they wrestle with the normal process of establishing their identities, is to watch a captive crowd in a studio audience applaud on cu...

Christopher Sabatini, the editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly and senior director of policy at the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, writes : The people-power revolutions that ousted the decades-old autocratic governments of Ben Ali in Tunisia and Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and are rocking the rest of the Middle East have prompted Cuba watchers –yet again– to wonder when the last redoubt of Cold War dictatorship in the hemisphere is next. It isn't, and we have U.S. policy partly to blame. For the last two decades, from Eastern Europe to Egypt, none of the countries that has experienced a people's revolution has been under a U.S. embargo. Though it is about to be the target of focused sanctions as a result of its bloody response to the protestors (and deservedly so) before the current uprising even Libya saw its sanctions ended in 2004 by the George W. Bush administration. In the case of Libya –and in the past– targeted sanctions tied to a specific act by the ...

Drew Zandonella-Stannard writes a poignant piece on coping with your 20s. There are a few things people forget to tell you. Each year of your twenties is worth three in regular time. The decade moves like dog years except that in the end you suddenly turn 30 as if you didn’t just age a single lifetime. Something happens between the ages of 20 and 25. This is your first go-round as an adult. Your brain shifts and closes and hardens like the soft spot on an infant’s skull. You try harder. You begin to stand up on those baby deer legs and learn how to carry yourself in challenging situations. You eventually grow into a human who is brave enough to wake up before brunch is over, and offices start answering phones with “good afternoon” instead of “good morning.” You’ll never quit being an animal, however. Around 25 or 26 you will decide to really feel the rain on your skin. It may hurt. By this time, you have already made the big move from your parents’ nest. You’ll look around, s...