* This one is getting a lot of traction because it is so over the top: a New Orleans pastor who crusaded against gay *anything* and decried such things as ‘the evils of public masturbation’ got caught -EW – jacking off in his van outside a kids’ playground: Anti-Decadence Pastor Accused Of Public Masturbation, see also (WDSU New Orleans, bestofneworleans.com)
* Top rate sex journalism and one of the best article I’ve read in a long time: grisly real-life porn noir about the bizarre murders last year (tip: open up the article in Readability so you don’t have to fuss with the LA Weekly multi-page BS) – Porn Machete Murder (LA Weekly)
* “Virtually every human male undergoes a period of sex addiction in his life. It’s called high school. (…) Should we regard out-of-control sexual behavior as an extreme version of normal sexuality, or is it an illness completely separate from it?” One of the best articles exploring the questions around sex addiction I’ve ever read, and no, I can’t believe it’s in TIME Magazine either – good for them: Sex Addiction: A Real Disease or a Convenient Excuse? (time.com, read single-page print version, another good one for Readability)
* Porn P2P copyright trolls saw 40K suits tossed (!) but are hoping no one noticed and are still sending supoenas to defendants who have been dismissed – making Big Porn look like even bigger assholes: P2P Shakedown Lawyers Apparently Still Sending Subpoenas (techdirt.com)
* Fucking crazy: HIV anti-retorivirals are being used to make a new crap street drug, and HIV positive people in South Africa are being mugged for their meds: ‘Whoonga’ threat to South African HIV patients (BBC News)
* Gay porn maker Michael Lucas successfully stopped an anti-Israeli protest that had selected an New York LGBT center for its location: Porn producer turns political activist to stop gay community center from hosting anti-Israel bash (nydailynews.com)
* Made of awesome: you may have heard that Wisconsin protesters are hating on FOX News, but did you know they truly pwn3d them life on the air with a “Bill O’Reilly: A Sexual Predator” sign?!? YouTube video – WI Protesters PWN FOX Cameras AGAIN! (youtube.com)
* Lessons mainstream tech culture can learn from porn, and it’s not what you might think – Kink does it again: Why a good porn site makes our web show pages look like amateurish crap (guerillashowrunner.com)
Image from Ming Xi by Mark Squires for Vs. Magazine S/S 2011 (fashiongonerogue.com)
Michael Lucas used his influence to stop an anti-Zionist/anti-apartheid gathering, not an “anti-Israeli” one. Many of the group’s members are Jews. Here’s a Village Voice article offering another perspective.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/02/sherry_wolf_on.php
And here’s Michael Lucas earlier taking a stand against the popular uprisings in Egypt. What a charmer!
http://www.advocate.com/Society/Commentary/Michael_Lucas_on_Myth_of_Democracy_in_Egypt/
Michael Lucas has sensationalized his actual contribution to the NYC’s LGBT Center’s decision to cancel the Anti-Apartheid group’s event. He makes no monetary contributions to the NY LGBT Center so their decision was non-economical. He merely raised a concern among people at The Center that holding the event may be one-sided and painful for many people (on all sides of the debate).
The queer community has reacted negatively to the Center’s decision because they brought up the issue of “free speech” and that it is being taken away by canceling the event. The Center’s decision to cancel the group’s event was responsible and respectable in my opinion. I believe that there is a proper context and format for free speech to take place around any topic, but especially this topic. I am personally divided within myself on the conflicts taking place between Israel and Palestine. There are such deep-rooted cultural, historical, political, and religious issues between and within these two groups that I a) don’t feel well-informed enough to take a position and b) don’t feel I ever could take a position anyway seeing as I am not Israeli or Palestinian and I have no way of knowing what it could possibly be like to be over there dealing with this conflict first-hand.
Being that this is such a deeply-rooted, heated, and often painful issue for people to discuss, I personally do not believe that the topic of focus and the political stance associated with the originally scheduled event was the proper format in which to have a truly open and equal “playing field” for a healthy debate/discussion. I think what we will find, once most of the heat dies down around this, is that the Center has not jeopardized its space for free speech and that they historically have and will continue to have events that welcome truly open and equal discussions around and related to this topic.
Furthermore, I think that the queer community’s move to react to the Center’s decision is fueled not by the Center’s decision so much as it is fueled by the anger and frustration people have around the Israeli/Palestinian conflict itself. I believe it rash to react so quickly, especially when there is a lot of misinformation circulating (like Michael Lucas’ actual contribution to the Center’s decision) and, thus, ill-informed accusations being made from all sides.
[I live in NYC and have personal connections at the Center]
Now, to play Devil’s advocate (hee hee…), the preacher said he really had to go to the bathroom, and was relieving himself in a bottle. So he says.
But even if you take him at his word and assume that’s true, it’s still funny as hell. This anti-sex, “zomg protects the childrens!!!” environment pricks like him have created has everyone ready to light him on fire in the village square. Hoisted on your own petard much, Reverand?
(For what it’s worth, if I had to put money down on it? I’d bet he was jerking it. Research has already shown that those who protest the loudest usually have the most to hide, as the Catholic Church and countless other anti-gay wackos have proven.)