7 winter wonderlands we want to spend Christmas in
We’re dreaming of a white – and largely Scandinavian – Christmas
jamiet
www.gaystarnews.com/article/7-winter-wonderlands-we-want-spend-christmas191214
'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season Six Marathon To Air On New Year's Eve
'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season Six Marathon To Air On New Year's Eve
Are You Ready To #RuLive Your Favorite “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season six Moments?
Well, you’re in luck. This New Year’s Eve Logo will be broadcasting all of “Drag Race” season six during a day-long, fan-interactive marathon. And that’s not all — throughout the day your favorite “Drag Race” queens will also being spilling the T on their “Rusolutions.”
“I’m super excited to #Rulive season six,” RPDR season six winner Bianca Del Rio told The Huffington Post. “I hear the winner is a real bitch.”
Throughout the broadcast be sure to tweet your own “Rusolutions” to @LogoTV — and you may just see your own goals for 2015 pop up on your TV screen.
Stay tuned after the season six broadcast for “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Top 15 Fan Favorite Queens,” a look back at 15 of the fan’s favorite queens. And for more from Logo, head here.
Happy Ru-year!
Swiss Film Festival Defends Homophobic Egyptian Reporter Involved in Gay Bathhouse Raid
Swiss Film Festival Defends Homophobic Egyptian Reporter Involved in Gay Bathhouse Raid
Mona Iraqi, an Egyptian reporter for the pro-government Al-Qahira wal Nas channel, is a homophobe. We reported on her the other day for leading Egypt’s morality police in a raid on a gay bathhouse earlier this month. It turns out that she is also the Egyptian representative for Shnit, an International Short Film Festival based in Switzerland, directed by Olivier van der Hoeven. One would think that an organization from the relatively liberal Switzerland would distance themselves from someone who would engage in outright discrimination against LGBT people, but instead the organization is doubling down on defending her.
Shnit insists that Iraqi was investigating sex trafficking and prostitution in Cairo, although that doesn’t jibe with the statement of her segment claiming to expose “the secret behind the spreading of AIDS in Egypt.” Shnit staffer, researcher and project coordinator Ekaterina Tarasova, jumped in by tweeting in Mona Iraqi’s defense, starting with a blasé-sounding dismissal of “It’s her work, I guess” before going fully tone-deaf with “Looks like you miss the point of Mona’s research. It was about prostitution” and “And yes, I will defend Mona’s position, because I believe she did right things.”
Tarasova shortly found herself on the receiving end of some backlash from Middle Eastern GLBT activists, which she tired to smooth over by claiming to be a “tolerant and gay friendly person” in a tweet with a rainbow flag. Because, as A Paper Bird author Scott Long snarked, “The rainbow flag always makes everything better.”
Trials for the 26 arrested men are scheduled to begin Sunday.
Christian Walters
www.towleroad.com/2014/12/swiss-film-festival-shnit-defends-homophobic-egyptian-reporter.html
Programa – Papo Em Dia (lgbt)
Programa – Papo Em Dia (lgbt)
Www.facebook.com/mauriciosonho
Op-ed: How Tom Saved Finland
Op-ed: How Tom Saved Finland
The art of Touko Laaksonen, or Tom of Finland, may have played a role in the recent passage of marriage equality in his Nordic motherland.
Jukka Kurttila
www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/12/19/op-ed-how-tom-saved-finland
FB-Titel
14 Great Gifts for the Ultimate Geek
14 Great Gifts for the Ultimate Geek
These are the gifts a total dork like me wants to get this month. Hint, hint, Santa.
Diane Anderson-Minshall
www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/holiday-gifts-everyone/2014/12/19/14-great-gifts-ultimate-geek
Sydney siege: Partner of gay hero pays tribute to 'soulmate'
Sydney siege: Partner of gay hero pays tribute to 'soulmate'
‘I would like him to be remembered as a humble and very generous person’
darrenw
www.gaystarnews.com/article/sydney-siege-partner-gay-hero-pays-tribute-soulmate191214
Gay Dad Wonders How To Teach His Sons The True Meaning Of Christmas
Gay Dad Wonders How To Teach His Sons The True Meaning Of Christmas
I’m wrestling with how to put Christ into Christmas for my sons.
This is three-year-old Ellison’s first Christmas where he “gets” it. But I’m afraid “getting it” means only, “Santa brings me Rocky and Peter Sam!” (*Friends of Thomas)
I’m concerned he’ll be a kid who tears through gifts, ungraciously casting aside Uncle Terry’s educational puzzle, and demands, “Where’s Rocky!?!”
At the risk of sounding FOX-like, I’m waging my own war on Christmas. I won’t allow my kids to take part in our seasonal consuming frenzy without understanding what’s important and why we celebrate.
To me, those are:
Generosity
Jesus
(Disclaimer: I’m of the “spiritual, not religious” camp. I believe there’s a higher power distinguishing between right and wrong and endowing humans with purpose. We’ll debate religion another time. Or not.)
The first goal isn’t hard. Ellison playing Santa. Behind his back he hides a “friend of Thomas” or handful of magnetic letters and shouts “Surprise!” He revels in watching me gush over the gifts.
I’ll continue to drum into him how good it feels to give, not just receive.
But then, there’s Jesus.
Truth is: Christmas exists because a child was born, perceived to be the son of God, and three kings brought him coveted spices and priceless metal.
And some kid banged a drum, pah-rum-pum-pum-pum.
I want Ellison to understand there’s an historic reason for the season. But I wrestle with my own knee-jerk liberalism.
I once bought a used car that had a Christian fish symbol on the bumper. Before driving away, I removed the fish. As I did so, I thought, “It’s so sad that I recoil at this. I think Jesus was a good guy with wonderful teachings.” But I believe the “Christian” label has been hijacked by literal Bible interpretations leaving no room for questioning, loving, and evolving.
And because of my beliefs, I have to fight my anti-religious-establishment in teaching my son “Jesus is the reason for the season.”
So without reciting scripture, I stop at nativity displays in the neighborhood and say, “The baby in the middle, there? That’s Jesus. And we celebrate Christmas because he was born.” And then, (I punt, here, because when are Santa and Jesus ever in the same story?) “And Santa brings gifts in that tradition.”
Then I wonder if Ellison will soon think, “Because I’m the son of God?”
And that makes me…?
Anyway. For now, Ellison is more interested in naming the animals in the display. So be it.
Eventually he will recognize the bottomless love from his family, peace on earth, and giving gifts are an amalgam of the reason for the season; and that it started with a religious movement celebrating Jesus.
Later, after he’s gained a religious education (eventually we will find a church so someone else – besides me – can lecture to him about right and wrong), he can believe what he wants. He might end up Muslim or Pagan. But IF he takes part in Christmas rituals from SantaCon to watching Love Actually, by God, he will understand from whence it all came.
And he will be grateful for the reason and the season, damn it.
So wish me luck instilling that this year.
Next Christmas we can explore the possibility that Santa is based on a Nordic tradition of tripping on red ‘shrooms growing under pine trees, making Arctic people hallucinate that their pet reindeer were flying. Seriously.
What are your thoughts? Other than church attendance, how do you give reason to the season for your kids?
Gavin Lodge is a Broadway performer, father and blogger. This essay was first published on Daddy Coping In Style.
Jeremy Kinser
Chile pastor attacks lawmakers for approving civil unions bill
Chile pastor attacks lawmakers for approving civil unions bill
‘To Chileans, this is perversion’
darrenw
www.gaystarnews.com/article/chile-pastor-attacks-lawmakers-approving-civil-unions-bill191214
