Interesting Article: The Sports World Is Not Ready For Gay Male Athletes To Come Out There Is A Code Of Silence.
  Gregorio Borgia / Associated Press Antonio Cassano drew derision for his homophobic comments. Italian striker Antonio Cassano may be good at opening up defenses, but opening up his big mouth is a problem. His dumb comments on gay soccer players drew derision at Euro 2012 earlier this month. He hoped there were no “queers” on the Italian team. Later, he issued the predictable mea culpa apology, most likely written by someone skilled in the verse of damage control. An estimated 500,000 professionals have kicked soccer balls across the globe. So far, only one top pro has come out as gay, the late Justin Fashanu of England. Tennis, rugby and other sports have witnessed gay athletes coming out. So what of soccer? English academic Ellis Cashmore, author of “Making Sense of Sports,” published research last year in the Journal of Sport and Social Issues. Ninety-three percent of participants in the broad survey, which included average fans and people involved professionally in British soccer, opposed homophobia. So I asked him this week: Why have no openly gay players emerged? “Gay players are already known by the clubs’ front offices as well as other players, perhaps game officials and agents; they observe a code of silence,” Cashmore said. “Reason? They assume it is in none of their interests to make it known if a player is gay. Other players think they will be mocked by players from other teams, front offices think it will hurt the club’s ‘brand’ if it is seen as the only club to have an openly gay player, refs and other officials have members of their own fraternity who are gay and wish to remain in-closet, and agents mistakenly assume their own commissions will take a hit if one of their clients is known to be gay. When a player comes out or is outed, they will all reflect on how wrong they were. Fans’ reactions will be surprisingly muted.” But the reaction is unlikely to be silent at first. “There’s no doubt that the first one or two players who come out will experience what British soccer fans call ‘stick,’ i.e. good-humored reprimands or chastisement, which can often be sharp but is essentially not malevolent,” Cashmore told me last year. “They will also encounter more serious forms of bigotry from sections of the crowd. It will be mean, nasty and wounding.” Who wants to go to a job and be publicly berated every week? Ace German strikerMario Gomez, in an interview last year with German magazine Bunte, said, “Being gay should no longer be a taboo topic.” Cashmore believes the spectacle will be less cruel over time. “Once the players show their mettle, their sexual orientation will recede in importance. Fans the world over are interested principally in performance on the field of play.” So where can we find gay soccer players? San Francisco Spikes is a predominantly gay soccer club playing in Bay Area leagues. Jay Higa plays defense, a veteran of 20 years. So how is it being a soccer player who happens to be gay? “It’s changed a lot,” Higa said. “On the field it doesn’t really matter. Every year it is getting easier. Soccer is not so much a blue-collar sport so I think soccer players in the U.S. might be a little more tolerant. I see some soccer stars coming out in the next 10 years. It won’t be as difficult as a football or baseball player coming out. And it will give us another person to look up to.” — A short film about the club, “Beyond the Team,” directed by Tim Kulikowski, is featured at the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival. It’s showing Saturday at 4:15 p.m. at the Victoria Theater, 2961 16th St., San Francisco. |
Sydney Morning Herald Article: Gay Marriage Conscience Vote Will Stop Same Sex Marriage Becoming Legal In Australia.
Supporters of same-sex marriage are delaying a final vote in federal parliament hoping to shore up their numbers.
- ADVOCATES of same-sex marriage accept Parliament will defeat two bills later this year calling to legalise gay marriage but believe public pressure will ultimately prevail.
The Finance Minister, Penny Wong, one of the strongest proponents for a change to the Marriage Act, said yesterday that change would come.
”I think the campaign is not going to go away because, ultimately, it’s a campaign for people’s equality,” she said.
Same-sex marriage … proponent Penny Wong believes change will come. Photo: Andrew MearesA seven-member parliamentary committee split 4-2 against same-sex marriage yesterday with one abstention as it handed down a report which contained no recommendations, only information for all politicians to use to inform their final decision.
The committee chairman and Labor MP, Graham Perrett, along with fellow Labor MP Laura Smyth, favoured gay marriage while Liberal MPs Sharman Stone and Ross Vasta, and Labor’s Mike Symon and Shane Neumann opposed it.
The other member, the Liberal moderate Judi Moylan, gave no separate opinion.
Because both pieces of legislation are private members bills, time set aside to debate them is limited and no vote is expected until the end of this year at the earliest.
Priority will be given to the bill introduced by the NSW Labor MP Stephen Jones. The other is a Greens bill, sponsored by Adam Bandt.
”We’re short of the numbers at the moment but anything could change,” Mr Jones said.
The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, will vote against gay marriage but has allowed Labor MPs a conscience vote. Number crunchers estimate about 36 of the 70 Labor MPs will vote for same-sex marriage while 10 to 15 are undecided and the rest will vote against.
Tony Abbott will not allow a conscience vote and all Coalition MPs are required to vote against same-sex marriage. Backbenchers can cross the floor but any frontbencher who does so would have to resign from the shadow ministry.
Mr Bandt, who will hold off on his bill until later this year or next year, said the delay between the start of debate and the final vote would be used to increase public pressure on political leaders, especially Mr Abbott, to have a change of heart.
”I’m optimistic of achieving reform within the life of this Parliament with some more discussion and more persuasion,” he said.
Parliament’s standing committee on social policy and legal affairs received a record 276,437 responses to an online survey it conducted as part of its inquiry.
Church groups and the Australian Christian Lobby have fiercely campaigned against gay marriage, despite Labor’s bill exonerating the churches and any other religious groups from having to marry gay people.
Mr Perrett, who holds a marginal Queensland seat, said ”it is important to remember that God did not write the Marriage Act”.
With public opinion polls consistently showing majority support for same-sex marriage, Mr Perrett said it was incumbent upon MPs to respond to growing public support ”by categorically opposing laws that legitimise discrimination”.
Ms Stone and Mr Vasta said the Liberals had promised before the federal election not to legalise gay marriage.
”I do not accept that the view towards marriage has changed since the 2010 federal election,” Ms Stone said.
Blind Item: Hip Hop Star Sean “P Diddy” Combs Is Bisexual Likes Having Sex With Younger Men.
Three Men And A Hip Hop Mogul
[Gawker] Which Hip-Hop Mogul Is Not Very Discreet About His Gay Romps With Young Men? Three young men, to be exact, according to the source. They were all “summoned” to the mogul’s apartment for some downlow fun. He was very enthusiastic about giving bl*w jobs and very effeminate, which is odd, considering his rep as a ladies’ man. Our source says that he entertained his visitors “while his assistants typed on their laptops and waited for him to finish.”
Mr. Mogul doesn’t seem to mind that most in his inner circle know of his extracurricular proclivities, but he certainly doesn’t want it public. Yet.
My guess is Sean Combs the rumours have swirled for many years he is bisexual and his heterosexual image is just an illusion. Since the rap industry is very homophobic it isn’t surprising that P Diddy can’t come out of the closet. Being gay is career suicide for a male rapper. Since Sean Combs is on the down low he can have the best of both worlds.
Sad News: Porn Star Erik Rhodes Is Dead But Is The Gay Community & Porn Industry To Blame?
An Early Death but Perhaps Not a Surprise
By JACOB BERNSTEIN
Published: June 20, 2012
- THE bereaved reactions on Twitter came from all over: Kim Hastreiter, the editor of Paper Magazine; Bruce LaBruce, the independent film director; and Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters, who called his recently departed friend “brave” and “honest.”
Richard Phibbs/Art Dept
Erik Rhodes talked of dying young for many years. Sometimes he was joking, sometimes not.
The source of their grief?
Erik Rhodes, 30, a 6-foot-4, 258-pound gay pornographic-film star who died last Thursday in Manhattan from a heart attack after a nearly decade-long career that had made him an unlikely celebrity in some New York social circles. He appeared regularly on Page Six, spent time with the designer Marc Jacobs, was profiled in magazines that had nothing to do with pornography, and shot an ad campaign for Loehmann’s.
Over the last few years, he had also been the author of a harrowing (and frequently clever) Tumblr feed, on which he detailed his escapades escorting, his rampant steroid use and his stories of winding up in psychiatric wards after crystal meth binges. (The blog was taken down last weekend, shortly after news of his death ricocheted around the Internet.)
Mr. Rhodes, whose given name was James Naughtin, was signed to Falcon Video in 2004, and became one of a handful of recognizable faces in an era when the industry was going through a painful economic contraction, thanks to online file sharing and free pornography sites like Xtube.
“The gay porn audience often looks to a hulking macho fantasy, and he provided that,” said Michael Musto, the Village Voice gossip columnist who was friendly with Mr. Rhodes. “He was Thor, the Hulk and the rest of the ‘Avengers’ cast wrapped in a gay package. And the fashion connection and the fact that he had a brain elevated him from your everyday escort-slash-porn-god and gave him texture.”
Mickey Boardman, the editorial director of Paper, said, “We would see him out all the time,” adding: “He was hilarious. He was totally self-aware, and the stories he would tell me were unbelievable.”
Mr. Rhodes grew up with his identical twin, John Naughtin, in Massapequa, N.Y., two children whose parents had a long and nasty divorce. Only Mr. Naughtin went to college, and Mr. Rhodes took a stream of low-paying jobs, working at a CVS and a sex-toy store, before moving into stripping and then pornographic films at 22.
At first, Mr. Naughtin, who is straight, was inclined to be open-minded about his brother’s new career. “I thought it was fine,” he said. “And I was a little naïve about how much money he was making. I thought, ‘If it pays the bills, why not?’ ”
But as the Web replaced video stores as the delivery mechanism for adult content, Mr. Rhodes found his salary shrinking, even while his celebrity rose. And there were other problems.
“People faulted him for doing steroids, which was the thing that allowed him to be the ideal they wanted,” said Samuel Colt, an actor who appeared with Mr. Rhodes on-screen and was a friend for the last several years of his life. “And people were always trying to push drugs onto him.”
Things went from bad to worse. Mr. Rhodes got into fights with boyfriends, and the police would be called. Famous friends like Mr. Jacobs, who did not respond to calls for comment for this article, fell away. Mr. Rhodes went from using steroids to dealing them. And then, a few years ago, he tested positive for H.I.V.
According to Mr. Colt, Mr. Rhodes found this out when he went to shoot a scene for Randy Blue, a company that requires testing. “They said, ‘Your test results came back, and you’re H.I.V. positive,’ ” Mr. Colt said. Nevertheless, Randy Blue still managed to get Mr. Rhodes to film a solo scene that day, Mr. Colt said.
As the novelty of being in pornographic films wore off, Mr. Rhodes turned increasingly to the Internet, using his Tumblr feed and his Facebook page to discuss his sense of anguish. “I feel so left out … so alone,” he wrote in a post just weeks ago.
On June 13, after a night in which Mr. Rhodes was hired along with another escort to perform for a wealthy client (according to text messages later read by his brother), the two men continued the evening on their own, having sex and doing drugs. But Mr. Rhodes quickly realized that he was not feeling well and cut the evening short.
Once home, he apparently went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead in a hospital shortly thereafter, his brother said.
For many years, Mr. Rhodes talked of an early death, sometimes joking, sometimes not. Now it was here.
Mr. Naughtin looks back with regret at the casual attitude he took when his brother told him he was going into pornography. “I wouldn’t have let him get into it,” he said. “I would say that’s not a direction that can lead anywhere good.”
Interesting Article: Why Are Gay & Straight People Afraid Of Bisexual Men?
Will Men Ever Be Able to Come Out of the Bisexual Closet?
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| William Hamon |
In the porn industry, several men that I know do not disclose their bisexuality to employers, nor do they do bisexual porn, for fear of being discriminated against or losing jobs. One such porn star (who wished to remain anonymous), said that several female co-stars would not appear with him on screen due to that fact.
The more time I spend writing about sex, more and more of my male friends and acquaintances have brought up this topic as a source of frustration. While many seem to be comfortable with experimenting sexually, they feel they can only do so as long as no one else knows about it. A friend of mine and fan of the swinger site Lifestyle Lounge, checked bi-comfortable on his profile and then received several hateful responses via chat, saying bi men were not welcome in the swinger community. He changed his status back to straight, in order to avoid further aggressive behavior.
Bisexuality is often seen as a cop-out, a phase, or an all-out denial from people on every side of the sexual spectrum. Again, these are all fear-based reactions to a subject that makes people extremely uncomfortable. If you are a man, you are encouraged to have a lot of sexual partners, but you are never encouraged to be sexual with other men.
Straight men are barely even allowed to be on the receiving end of anal sex with women because it’s seen as gay behavior. Never mind that a lot of men happen to enjoy anal stimulation. If society says you like to take it up the ass, then you must be gay. This is the kind of thinking that leads to self-hatred and feeds outdated gender stereotypes. Even in my enlightened sex-positive community, men are very uneasy even broaching this subject.
On a personal level, I think it’s hot when a man is sexual with other men. In the handful of times I’ve jerked off to porn, it was always the guy-on-guy variety. I also enjoy having threesomes or foursomes with men who interact with one another and then with me. But, I am not all women, and some women can’t handle it because according to the stereotype, it is just a matter of time before the bi guy discovers he is gay and leaves her.
Good News: Second Season Premiere Of The Awkward Black Girl Web Series!!!
Last year, a young black woman Issa Rae decided to create her own web series called Awkward Black Girl due to the paucity of entertainment geared towards black women. The show is a hit on You Tube! Issa and her friends worked together, got on Kickstarter and raised the funds for the web series. In fact, Issa Rae has received a lot of mainstream media attention from CNN, New York Magazine, and other publications. Issa also had discussions with television networks interested in her series. Issa Rae wants to maintain control over her show and give the audience the entertainment that is lacking on mainstream television.
Is Halle Berry’s Decline In Hollywood Just Proof Hollywood Is Racist & Sexist Against Black Women?
Ten years ago, Halle Berry was on the top of the world she made history by becoming the first black woman to win the Oscar for best actress for Monster’s Ball. A decade later Halle Berry’s career is currently in the toilet she is struggling just to get work. Berry’s victory in 2002 was supposed to open the door for women of colour in Hollywood. High profile black actresses Vanessa Williams, Queen Latifah, and Angela Bassett all turned down the female lead in Monster’s Ball. In fact, in 2002, Angela Bassett told Newsweek Magazine that Berry’s character Leticia Musgrove was a “prostitute”.
It might be difficult for people who are not black to understand the anger and disappointment blacks had with Halle Berry. There was a huge uproar and backlash against Berry for appearing in Monster’s Ball. Berry was criticized by many blacks and her popularity with black audiences declined dramatically. A common complaint among blacks is blunt, why did the first black woman to win best actress have to screw a white man in order to win? Would Hollywood allow Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, or Jennifer Aniston to have an explicit sex scene with a black man and win an Academy Award?
Many black people objected to the explicit sex scene Berry had with white actor Billy Bob Thorton because they felt the film promoted the licentious black whore stereotype. When Berry’s character Leticia Musgrove screamed the line “make me feel good” baring her breasts and nude body this upset many African-Americans.
The Monster’s Ball sex scene also alludes to white male dominance over black women and to the horrors of slavery where black females were raped by white men.
The pornographic scene in Monster’s Ball was similar to a rape scene and not a loving or romantic film scene.
Black women are consistently stereotyped as being lascivious, and sexually available for the disposal of men. Young black female pop stars such as Rihanna and Beyonce promote the black jezebel image with their sexually explicit music videos! Turn on MTV, BET, or Much Music, and the viewer will see young black women dancing seductively in tight clothing this promotes a disturbing negative image of black females.
Why didn’t Angela Bassett win the Oscar for her incredible performance in the 1993 Tina Turner biopic What’s Love Got To Do With It? Why did a black woman have to take her clothes off in order to win the best actress Oscar? Was Berry character Leticia Musgrove the jezebel?
In the 1982, the groundbreaking black feminist classic book All The Women Are White, All The Blacks Are Men, But Some Of Us Are Brave, black feminists argues black women are still placed into sexist categories. A black actress is either the maid, or the whore, but she is never depicted on the silver screen as a three dimensional human being. Where are the movies with black women in leading roles as doctors, teachers, police women, firefighters, writers, lawyers, politicians, bankers, or dentists?
Last year, the success of summer hit The Help received some negative press in the black community because of the black mammy stereotype. Kathryn Stockett’s novel The Help is considered a feminist classic by mainstream white feminists. However, in the novel and the film the central theme of the novel is about Skeeter a young white woman’s evolution and change. The black female characters Minny, and Aibileen are just shadows to Skeeter.
Octavia Spencer won the best supporting actress Oscar for The Help but there was apathetic support in the black community. The reason is, despite Spencer’s strong performance in The Help she won an Oscar for being a white woman’s maid! Spencer’s best supporting actress win is not progress because it proves Hollywood is still incredibly racist against black actors.
Over seventy years ago, another black actress Hattie McDaniel also won an Oscar for being a maid in the racist film Gone With The Wind. Octavia Spencer’s victory cemented that fact Hollywood still places black women into restrictive racist and sexist binaries.
Meanwhile, ten years after Halle Berry’s victory she was unable to capitalize off her success. Time will tell if Octavia Spencer can maintain her success after winning the Oscar. For a short period of time Berry’s career was successful.
In December 2002, Halle starred with British actor Pierce Bronson and the film grossed $431 million dollars worldwide. In 2003, Halle was the star of the horror flick Gothika and the movie was a huge hit earning $141 million worldwide. Halle cemented her A list status by proving she can headline a movie by herself. However, in 2004 Berry’s career hit rock bottom with the disappointing performance in the film Catwoman. Despite winning an Academy Award she wasn’t the first choice which was Ashley Judd. Judd turned down the role for Catwoman and Halle won the part.
On various internet websites such as IMDB.COM, some fans were disappointed that a black actress obtained the lead role. The budget for Catwoman was $100 million dollars but the worldwide box office was only $82 million. The mainstream media attacked Halle for taking on the role. Although Catwoman was a disappointment, white actresses such as Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Aniston, Charlize Theron, Angelina Jolie also have numerous bombs in their careers.
The dilemma for Halle Berry was, since she was the only A list black actress any failure was used to justify the myopic belief black actresses are not profitable. However, the truth is Hollywood doesn’t know what do with a beautiful, talented, black actress.
White actresses also have white skin privilege therefore they are allowed more opportunities to obtain leading lady film roles. An A list white actress such as Nicole Kidman can have a series of bombs yet she still have the offers for leading lady roles!
Halle Berry’s career as an A list actress was over after Catwoman she never was offered the same kind of roles her white female contemporaries get.
The Hollywood system still favours white women over women of colour and this is a fact. Mainstream magazines such as Vanity Fair, Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, Variety, New York Times, LA Times, promotes young white actresses over women of colour. Television shows such as E Talk, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, also have a prominent role of being a representation for white beauty.
Since Hollywood is a racist dream factory, the white woman is still placed on the pedestal as the ultimate beautiful woman. The image of a woman in the pop culture that is successful, talented, and attractive is still the white female. Women of colour rarely ever obtain the high-profile film roles despite being as talented, hardworking or beautiful. Halle Berry has complained in numerous media interviews that she receives the scraps the crappy film roles that an A list white actress doesn’t want.
Although Berry has a legitimate complaint that she is treated unfairly compared to the A list white actresses, she still had better opportunities than any black woman in Hollywood history. Berry was paid $14 million dollars for Catwoman, she also has endorsements with Revlon cosmetics, and she has her own perfume line.
Berry has also made some poor choices she honestly believed after she won the best actress Oscar for Monster’s Ball that she could cross over to white America.
The dilemma for Halle Berry is, although she is half white she still did not connect with a mainstream audience. Berry attempted to reach the mainstream with her roles in films such as Things We Lost In A Fire, Perfect Stranger, Frankie & Alice. Berry’s recent film the pathetic and dismal shark movie Dark Tide failed to reach an audience.
The quandary for Berry is, she is an aging sex symbol although she looks great and is physically fit she is also forty-five years old. Hollywood is a sexist business and judged by their age and not their talent. Men are allowed to age in Hollywood gracefully. For instance, Denzel Washington is fifty-seven years old yet since he is a male he still has the opportunities to obtain the high-profile film roles. Will Smith is forty-three years old and Jamie Foxx is forty-four yet their careers are more successful than Halle Berry’s career. Although black men encounter racism in Hollywood they still benefit from male privilege because they are men.
All women in Hollywood are treated to the unfair misogynist double standard that they can only be successful for an ephemeral period of time. Once an actress regardless of her race reaches the magical age of forty the roles start to dry up. Meryl Streep is the exception to the rule but for most actresses regardless of their talent they are replaced by younger actresses.
Since black women encounter discrimination in relation to their race and gender Halle Berry’s decline is incredibly sad. Unfortunately for Berry, Hollywood replaced her with younger black actresses such as Zoe Saldana, Kerry Washington, Jennifer Hudson, and Meagan Good.
Halle Berry’s contemporaries such as Queen Latifah, Vivica A Fox, Taraji P Henson, Sanaa Lathan, and Gabrielle Union are still working. One problem which Halle Berry needs to address if she wants to make a comeback is to make movies which appeal to the black female audience. Tyler Perry is successful because his movies have reached black women which is a lucrative market which mainstream Hollywood tends to ignore. Black women want to see other black women fall in love, have romantic relationships, and appear in exciting and interesting movies. Queen Latifah has not forgotten the black female audience and this is the reason why her career is currently more successful than Halle Berry’s career.
If Halle Berry wants to make a successful comeback she needs to make films which will win back the black female audience. Berry needs to consider making a romantic comedy or a dramatic film which involves romance.
Blind Item: Will & Jada Smith Are Bisexual & Their Daughter Willow Might Be A Butch Baby Dyke?
Child Gives Mommy Some News
This couple always ramps up the phony gushing about their marriage whenever there is a project to promote. However, what goes on behind the scenes is a different story. They actually spend as little time together as humanly possible, and rarely speak to each other. Recently, though, they did have to get together to have one serious discussion about their child.
The child admitted to Mom that they are having romantic feelings about a member of the same sex. While we do not know the outcome of that discussion, we do wonder if Mom and Dad have told their child/ren that they have lots of personal experience with the subject. And we also wonder if they will encourage the child/ren to stay as closeted as they are.
My Guess: I think this blind is about Will, Jada, and their daughter Willow Smith. For many years, rumours have swirled that Jada and Will are bisexual. Earlier this year, the mainstream media published reports that Will and Jada’s marriage is on the rocks.
In fact, Will Smith went on an exotic vacation to Trinidad and Tobago with close male friend Duane Martin! Will and Duane did not invite their wives they went to the Caribbean.
Will and Jada currently have movies in the theaters so they want to maintain the image their family is perfect. A happy illusion is critical for stars to maintain good publicity and of course good box office.
However, Will and Jada’s daughter Willow is only eleven years old. The world is changing and children are becoming more cognizant about homosexuality. It is possible that a child could start to realize she is a lesbian at that age. Willow has always spiked my gaydar she certainly dresses like a butch dyke. Willow’s appearance has changed from a sweet innocent feminine girl to dressing dramatically different she looks very masculine like a boy. She’s also cut off all her hair she definitely looks like a baby dyke.
Willow could just be a tomboy or maybe she is a butch lesbian? If Willow is indeed a lesbian I hope Will and Jada support her and let her know it is okay to be gay.
Gayblackcanada 