Eurovision!

So I have a bunch of stuff to blog on, I just haven't had time what with my BIG FAT RAISE AT WORK AND ALL! Ahem. So everything from gay marriage in California, to Medhi Kazemi finally getting asylum back in the UK, but I'm going to start off with:

EUROVISION!

Eurovision is the gayest thing ever. And by God I love it. You should to. In fact, I love it so much, I'm posting my four favourite entries down below. One was already been cut away in the first semi final (cry) one of them made it through to the final (yay!) and two we'll find out about on Thursday. The final is on Saturday, so I won't be watching it (cry) but I'll watch it online after the fact (yay!).

People are always hard on Eurovision. It's too campy, it's too stupid; it's outdated and useless. No-one takes it seriously! But then again, this is one of the only things that brings a large block of Europe outside of the EU together, even with all of the tactical voting. And for all of the things to bring Europe together, a song contest is most certainly a fun way of doing it. And with 43 countries participating this year, it's grown into a huge event. May the Grand Prix go on forever!

My favourite entries: (in order: Iceland, Armenia, Belgium, Ukraine.)
&tbsp;

And because I feel like I should support the country, the UK entry is below as well. And, don't get me started on Dustin the Effing Turkey. Sigh.


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Dangerous Dallas (if you're HIV+)

An HIV-positive man convicted of spitting into the eye and mouth of a Dallas police officer has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Because a jury found that Willie Campbell used his saliva as a deadly weapon, the 42-year-old will have to serve half his sentence before becoming eligible for parole. He was sentenced Wednesday.

Source: Associated Press

That's not just stupid, but a terrible violation of the law, and human rights.

Of course, it's completely impossible to contract HIV through spit, especially if the spit lands just on someone. I'll admit, it's pretty disgusting to have anyone spit on you, especially a drunk man you're trying to arrest, but come on. Deadly weapons are guns, baseball bats, knives, hangropes, not spit.

If there wasn't a man's life involved here I'd find this almost funny, but someone has been sentenced to 35 years in prison because Texas won't come out of the 70s AIDS panic. Perfect case for the ACLU. Read more...

Court decision on CA marriage ban forthcoming.

The California Supreme Court will be ruling tomorrow morning on whether or not CA's statutory marriage ban violates the State Constitution.

Case S147999 has been argued, vehemently (love the blog title ref) by both sides, with an unprecedented number of Amici (friend of the court) briefs with about 20 state counties filing, and 250 various organizations having their say on the matter.

I am of course hoping that the ban will be struck down. Await further information tomorrow. Read more...

Kiss me, count me.

Television history was made last Sunday in the United States when Kevin Walker (played by the gorgeous, and WELSH actor, Matthew Rhys) was formally institutionalised (read married) to his boyfriend, Scotty (played by out actor Luke Macfarlane) in a rather touching family ceremony within the Walker mansion. Of course there was other drama, but none of it involving the gays. Well, not because they're gay.

More, and a clip, after the jump..


And it was touching. I enjoyed it. It got me thinking about gays on modern television and how we as a community react to it.

I can think of a bunch of gay characters and storylines on mainstream television around the world. The best of these, in my opinion, is Kevin and Scotty - because they have a shot at happiness, their relationship isn't based around the horrors of homosexuality, and it's portrayed with a real genuine feeling that all of the heterosexual pairings on B&S shows. They, to me, most accurately show a modern gay relationship on television. Next we have John Paul and Craig, or Father Kieron, from Hollyoaks in the UK. And it's a nice genuine story, John Paul isn't a stereotype, and in typical McQueen fashion nothing's perfect. But the shame that Craig had right up until the end put me off a little bit. There are others; one of my favourite shows right now is Verbotene Liebe, a German soap with a pretty wonderful gay storyline in the form of Christian and Olli.

Then there's Luke and Noah. Already crowned the latest supercouple of As the World Turns, Nuke captured America with their very first kiss in the middle of an student A/V room. Then there were a bit more kissing, and then, nothing. For over 200 days, not a single lip lock between the two. Through the use of clever panning and annoying interruptions, two thirds of a year went by before there was any more intimacy between them. CBS denied they were portraying the couple differently from any other couple. I think that's a load of codswallop, but hey, at least they're portraying something positively gay on daytime television.

This brings me to the point of this post. The gay community watches for gay kissing on mainstream television like vultures circling the heads of network executives. If we get it, we go absolutely crazy. When they are suddenly withdrawn, we go crazy, but in a bad way. But why is it that our community is still having to count the kisses on television?

I absolutely agree that any television show that wants to portray gay characters and relationships needs to show the physical side of that, just as much as any other relationships are shown that way (although I can do without Kitty marinating in Robert's juices, thank you very much). It feels sad to me though that whenever we hear about gay characters on TV shows, one of our first questions is "will he get a kiss," I've never heard a new straight character being interviewed and having to answer that question. Because it's just expected that it won't be an issue.

I find it pathetic in a way that we 'kiss chase' television shows when we hear of gay characters. I find it even more pathetic that we get all excited when it happens, then upset when it doesn't. But what I find most pathetic is that in 2008 gay kissing on mainstream television is still so shied away from. Brothers and Sisters has consistently done it, and it hasn't been an issue. But they're one out of a myriad of television shows that still quake at the thought of two guys macking.

So I guess it's really sad that we have to kiss count our gay kisses, when there are so many of our straight counterparts kissing we'd lose count in the first day. I understand that we need to keep pressing the issue. I just hope that I won't still be kiss counting in ten years time.


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Obama-mary-mamma

The popular view is that Illinois Senator Barack Obama will be the Democratic Nominee for President of the US.

Current Delegate Count:

• Barack Obama: 1,587 Delegates, 275 Super-Delegates
• Hillary Clinton: 1.424 Delegates, 271 Super-Delegates

Source: AP via BBC, May 11 2008

According to almost everyone, Obama's lead is insurmountable, and Clinton's chances are as slim as mine are of winning the lottery. And Obama supporters couldn't be happier.

More after the break..

A lot of gay people I know are passionately for Obama. It's oft cited by gay Obama supporters that he is more willing to discuss how the LGBT community deserves with the general populace, as opposed to Hillary Clinton who allegedly only says so when talking to the LGBT community. But hasn't Hillary actually done more for the LGBT than Obama has? Sure, he's said the right, vague things to appease the community, have wee seen anything more than that? Despite her faults, despite Bill Clinton's signing in of DADT and DOMA (which were the best we could get at the time), she has consistently marched alongside at Pride events, and has supported the community for longer than Barack has even been in political office. I'd like to remind all of Hillary's detractors relating to DADT and DOMA that she wasn't the President, her husband was. And she can't be held responsible for everything her husband did. Obviously.

Barack has managed to talk a fair game, but say so little. Asking an Obama supporter why they support him, I usually get an answer like "he represents change / a new paradigm," but on further inquiry, can't really say much else. It isn't concrete. It's almost hypnotic.

I do believe that Hillary is a better option for our country, and our community. If she doesn't get the nomination, I will support her as a write-in candidate. People are so hard on a woman who has her faults but has done so much for our community, yet are overly forgiving of a man who hasn't proved himself yet. I do worry, though, that this Obama-mania won't list through the general election, then McCain will get the nomination, and we'll have another 8 years of the same.

Here's hoping I'm wrong about that.
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Inaugural Post of VG

It's funny that I have so much I want to talk about and say, yet getting started seems to be the hardest part. No matter how hard I try to think of where to begin, I draw a blank.

So that's where I'm going to start. The blank. This position where I have no real starting point and no stride. I hear that it's easy once you get into it, so we'll see. The point of VG is to give my own opinion on whatever I am talking about. Partly this will be gay news and current affairs and the rest will be a random assortment of whatever. This opinion is based on my own views. I do try and inform myself as much as I can, but I don't offer any qualification for my positions besides that I am a gay man who has an interest in his community in all its forms.

I'm a young person. 21, to be precise. I can imagine a lot of you going "aww, a baby!," it's OK, I get it a lot. Part of the purpose behind this blog is to give a different voice for my generation of gay people. I don't presume to talk for them, but I do want to put out there that younger gay men do have minds of their own. A lot of the gay blogs I've read (and honestly really enjoy) are written by men in their thirties and beyond. There is little from the POV of a younger gay guy. I think this gives the false impression that younger gay people don't care about their community, about the world around them, being too busy getting pissed and being self absorbed or whatever. I hope to differ from that impression.

So here we go. Post one, hoping I find my stride. Read more...