Debating Lady Gaga’s Genius, D.C.’s Gay Marriage Bill, Kelly Clarkson’s Not-Gayness … Gay ‘Freaks’ vs. Teabagger Freaks?
Our Fall Preview ’09 is well underway, already including a massive TV Preview, Autostraddle’s first Terrible/Awesome Grid, and the Glee live-blog/drinking game AND our Reading Rainbow Fall Book Preview (we love literature!) For the whole shebang, we have provided a comprehensive guide to the Fall Preview Issue.
New posts as of yesterday: This October 11th, bajillions of gays will be shacking up in Washington DC for the National Equality March, and now that Glee’s premiere is over, this is easily the biggest Fall event. Katrina looks at the controversy over the march, the marches that came before, and what you can expect this year: We’re going to Washington for the National Equality March and here’s why…
Fall Fundraising! On a more serious but equally fun note, you’ve probs heard that independent media operations are struggling these days to stay afloat, especially without an inherent online profit model, which is why if you enjoy what you read here every day you should consider supporting our Fall Fundraising Drive! There’s lots of ways to participate — for example, go right to Zazzle and buy a $10 fundraising sticker featuring our new Autostraddle logo and slap it on your ass and 50% of the cost goes directly to Autostraddle! Or just donate directly … details at the Fall Fundraising Drive!
DJ CARLYTRON: Where the girls at?! If you’re in New York, stop by Stonewall tonight for the launch of LivingLambda, a new series of women’s events in NYC. If finding out about Lambda Legal’s events and 2-for-1 drink specials aren’t enough incentive to come, our very own DJ Carlytron is gonna be busting out the jams as well. (@go magazine)
RIP: Patrick Swayze has died at 57 after a nearly two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. The L.A Times has a Patrick Swayze photo retrospective of some of his most memorable roles, and then go check out the Dirty Dancing website and get lost in his eyes.
GAY ‘FREAKS’: In “On freaks in crowds,” a gay Republican writer compares leather daddies, naked obese lesbians and drag queens to right-wing tea-bagger eccentrics and wonders why the media is so much nicer to the gay people (who just so happen to be fighting for love! Perhaps a bit graphically for passing children, but love nonetheless). The comments against what we see as a TOTALLY RIDICULOUS argument are somewhat awesome: “If that aged leather queen or the dykes-on-bikes had showed up with AR-15s slung over their shoulders, promising to water the trees with blood, then you’d have parity.” (@beliefnet)
LADY GAGA + KERMIT: Lady Gaga did a lot of special things last night. The best part? Kermit the Frog was fully her date. I’ve gone from admiring her to being really jealous.
++ Assorted Depthless Celebrity & Entertainment News Items Are In Abundance Today
THE THEORY OF GAGA: Nerve.com breaks it down for you in My Bare Lady: How Lady Gaga Out-Skanks the Competition: “Gaga likes to call herself a performance artist instead of a musician. It might be pretentious, but it’s actually kind of an inspired take on our pop-music universe.” (@nerve.com) Queerty, however, wasn’t impressed.
PARIS HILTON: Paris Hilton is now a gay rights activist sorta, which we suspect is a pretty comon side-effect of canoodling with Kate Moennig.
KELLY CLARKSON IS ‘NOT A LESBIAN’: Is Kelly Clarkson a lesbian? Her song lyrics tell a very sapphic story. (@santa barbara independent)
KANYE WEST: Kanye West issues a second apology after his fantastically drunk ALL CAPS ORIGINAL APOLOGY. It’s too late, though, because Katy Perry already compared his antics to stepping on a kitten, also in all caps. The real story is that he drank a lot of Henessey. Also Obama calls Kanye a jackass, maybe. But here he is on Leno, looking really sad and remorseful, and I think that it’s time to be on #teamkanye ’cause the guy hasn’t taken a day off since his Mom died. Also Taylor should’ve talked when he handed the mike back. Just saying!!
TATU: She made you gay with all the things she said – t.a.t.u.’s Lena Katina has gone solo and launched her own website. It’s all in Russian, but you can visit and bask in the memories of your gay adolescence. (@lena katina)
LADY GAGA: KANYE WEST AND LADY GAGA HAVE TOUR DATES. We will sit and wait and watch them compete for the title of Pop Culture Jesus. Also n that photo she’s hanging out with Madonna, also ohnotheydidnt deconstructs Lady Gaga’s VMA Ensembles and they miss out on a big one, but luckily Autostraddle already took care of the Ascension in “Gaga=Jesus.” (@gagadaily)
WOMYN: What makes a presidency female-friendly? “Considering the diversity of views among American women, it is insulting to assume that there is one ‘women’s view’ and it is represented by liberal feminist activists.” (@jezebel)
RELATIONSHIPS: The racial cop-out: Do we consider race when choosing a partner? (@thenewgay)
DEBORAH SOLOMAN: Gawker even has a Deborah Solomon questions-to-answers ratio graph to analyze this situation. I LOVE THE INTERNET. “Deboroah Solomon’s Seth MacFarlane interview for her NY Times Magazine “Questions With…“ column was a landmark not only of hostility toward a subject, but she has chosen that readers would rather hear what she has to say than her subjects.”
↑ INTERN WEDDING: Gay marriage is coming to D.C. Maybe. ”It’ll be the first time, in a long time, that we’d get a chance to see exactly where our elected representatives stand on gay rights. With a single yes or no vote on D.C.’s marriage bill, we’d know whether the “on the fence” members of Congress are friends or foes.” (@queerty)
? Apparently Health Care is the new gay marriage.
↓ We remember this case. Good for them that they’re suing!: A lesbian couple sued the city of San Antonio and nine police officers Monday for alleged harassment during a fruitless drug raid in April in which the women say officers handcuffed them and made demeaning comments about their sexual orientation.
↓ It is remarkable how little progress gay people have made in securing the basic protection against discrimination on the job: The Rights of Gay Employees. (@nytimes)
↑ Gays in China standing up to police: ”When the police descend on People’s Park and shoo away the gay men gathered there, the men usually scatter to avoid trouble. But recently, about 50 or so confronted five officers who began a sweep and finally forced a police retreat after a heated but nonviolent standoff.” (@365 gay)
↑ That’s so gay: GLSEN is launching a new ad campaign to make the phrase “that’s so gay” look outdated, meaningless, and ignorant…because it is. (@queers united)
Auto-Straddler of the Day
from Intercaine Katrina:
I will never tire of hipster humor. Stuff Hipsters Hate makes me laugh my skinny jeans off.
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from Crystal:
My team pick is Taylor Swift.
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from Carly:
Check out the Yellow Bird Project: T-Shirts and charity to the tune of indie rock! Awesome t-shirts made by bands like Rilo Kiley, Stars, and Little Boots, with profits going to charities of the bands’ choosing. They also have a new Indie Rock Coloring Book, which is genius. Cool bonus fact: EE Storey made their cute logo! (@coolhunting)