Courtney Love interview in Spin

"Courtney Love: Let the healing begin" (from October 2005 issue of Spin):

It's been 11 years since Live Through This came out. Are you still bitter about rumors that you didn't write a lot of the songs?

I don't give a shit anymore. My number one thing to work on is not being reactive - but appropriateness doesn't come easily to me sometimes. One of the reasons I hate Dave [Grohl] so much is he went on Howard Stern and said "I like 'Teenage Whore' because I know she wrote it." That stupid motherfucker. He knows exactly what I wrote, he knows exactly the input I had on [Nirvana's] third album. Kurt came [by the studio] to play with [Hole] more than he did with Nirvana because he liked us better. But, hey, it wouldn't be Spin if I wasn't slagging anybody.

You've had a career as both an actress and a musician. What's the difference?

Being a rock star is like being a cult leader - you really have to be in your own religion. Movie stars are supposed to be healthy. They're kept happy and nutritionally together. In rock stardom there's an absolute economic upside to self-destruction. What makes the most money for this business? Dead rock stars.

click here for the complete interview

Sex In Violets

In the mid-90s Jade Starling and Whey Cooler from Pretty Poison had a hip heavy metal/hard rock band called Sex In Violets. They released a seven-song EP titled Deflowered in 1995 and did a lot of bunch of live gigs, including opening for a then-rocking Boy George at the Electric Factory in Philly in November that same year. They also filmed a video, "Crawl," at the defunct Eastern State Penetentary. Quite different from the pop-dance music that Pretty Poison made (and continues to make).

Sex In Violets - "Crawl" video

Will & Grace

Last night I watched the season premiere of Will & Grace, which was broadcast live. It was better than I thought it would be, since I thought that the last season ended on a really silly note with Karen Walker's husband turning out not be dead. (It least they didn't do a Dallas where Karen wakes up and finds out that it was all a dream.) Some really funny one-liners on that show, such as where Grace contemplates having an affair with a married man: "I'm not even think about it. I'm just going to close my eyes and do what I want. Oh--hey, hello, I'm George Bush!"

Things coming this weekend

Monday I went to the Philadelphians general meeting at the Bike Stop, where I was given my pledge pin and badge. I was to get a pledge book as well but the group made some last-minute changes to it, so I'm going to get that at the next meeting, which is next week. Needless I'm excited about the whole process. I hope that I'll do well for the next six months. I know people are rooting for me.

A couple items of interest this weekend...up in New York the Eagle will be holding its Mr. Eagle NYC 2006 contest on Friday September 30 at 10pm EST. I wish I could be there since I always enjoy a good leather contest, but I have to work that Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, so I can't go. But people I know will be there so I hope that they'll have a good time.

But I will be at the Chester County Pridefest in Phoenixville, PA this Sunday October 2. This will be its the fourth year it's been running and the second in it current location. (The first two CC Pridefests were held in West Chester.) This is always a good warm-up for the OUTfest block party in Philly, which happens the following Sunday.

The D in D-List stands for...

...DIVORCE.

Kathy Griffin, comedian and star of the Bravo TV reality show My Life On The D-List is divorcing Matt Moline, her husband of four years. They seemed to be a happy couple on that show, though it was filmed about a year ago.

Parody: Madonna cover art

"Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!"

Thanks to the folks at Pop Justice and Hot Lunch.

First weekend of fall

Well the first weekend of the new fall season is winding down to an end. It was still sunny outside and the trees were still mostly green, though a few leaves were starting to fall onto the ground. But it did get cooler, and the nights are starting to be longer. As I'm sad that summer's gone, I still think that autumn is a great season with the leaves turning all those different colors.

Last night I went into Philly to the Bike Stop. The bar was having a Spartans MC bar night from 8pm to midnight. The Spartans are a leather farternity for the DC/Baltimore area. It was a good night. I also saw several members from the Philadelphians MC there. This will the first event I've been to since I started as a pledge to the Philadelphians.

Today I worked on my latest CD-R compilation called Autumn Mix 2005 and I posted the tracklisting on ArtOfTheMix.org. It features songs that make me think of fall. Some of them were released during the fall while others just have the feeling of an ornate autumn day.


















One album I listen to a lot when autumn comes around is Want One by Rufus Wainwright. It was released on September 23, 2003, and I find it to have the lush and ornate qualities I see in the fall. Its quite theaterical, sophisicated, and poignant. Someone once described Rufus's music as "opera disguised as pop music." He definitely has a good pop sense in his music with songs like "Movies of Myself" and "I Don't Know What It Is." And "14th Street" will be gracing every break-up-theme mixed tape I make. (And I used two tracks from this album for my new mix-CD, "I Don't Know..." and "Harvester of Hearts.") I can't decide if I think that this is his best album or that his 1998 self-titled debut LP is instead (which has quite a few spring-like qualities to that one). Anyhow, I think that Want One is an excellent album to play this time of year.

Parody: New Starbucks album titles

Taken from the September 2005 issue of GQ:

Who sells the wussiest music on earth? America's leading coffee retailer, of course. Here are some future titles from the chain that brought you Antigone Rising and Jagged Little Pill Acoustic:

Dido: Zinfandel Dreams
Norah Jones: Live at Bed Bath & Beyond
Various Artists: Now That's What I Call Emasculating! 3
Aimee Mann: Music for Sunday Brunch
Indigo Girls: Let's Make Our Own Pottery
John Mayer: Songs That Make My Vagina Ache
R Kelly: I Just Want to Spoon
Natalie Imbruglia: Pajamas With Feet
Joni Mitchell: A Two Pints of Haagen-Dazs Kind of Night
Seals & Crofts & Loggins & Messina & Iron & Wine
Bruce Hornsby Reads Nick Hornsby
Kate Bush: You Have No New Messages

Gang Of Four

The classic post-punk group Gang Of Four will be releasing Return the Gift, which are re-recordings of material from their first three albums. You can get a stream of the entire album here. While this album is techincally fine, the new recordings really don't add anything new to the material. There doesn't seem to be any point to this other than the band doesn't own the masters to the original albums. It'd probably be better for you to head towards the reissue of their debut album Entertainment instead. Anyhow Return the Gift will be released October 11. (Thanks to Japanese God Jesus Robot for this.)

BTW Gang Of Four will be playing at the TLA in Philly on October 3. I wish I could be there but I've made other commitments. I've heard lots of positive things on their recent batch of live dates.

Lady Bunny interviews Larry Kramer

Lady Bunny has just posted an interesting interview with AIDS activist and writer Larry Kramer on her blog. It was originally done for Index magazine but they canned it, so she used it on her website instead.

"Kramer vs. Flamer" interview

WTF? Bush creates FBI squad to combat...adult porn

Gee with all the terrorism and espionage going on, do you think that it's right that Bush ought to be wasting the FBI's time to combat porn featuring consenting adults? After all he did send the Louisiana National Guard over to fight in Iraq, leaving New Orleans vulnerable to Hurricane Katrina. And you know what happened. You'd think they'd know better than to go after this campaign to appease the anti-sex Religious Right.

from the Washington Post:

Recruits Sought for Porn Squad
By Barton GellmanWashington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 20, 2005

The FBI is joining the Bush administration's War on Porn. And it's looking for a few good agents.

Early last month, the bureau's Washington Field Office began recruiting for a new anti-obscenity squad. Attached to the job posting was a July 29 Electronic Communication from FBI headquarters to all 56 field offices, describing the initiative as "one of the top priorities" of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and, by extension, of "the Director." That would be FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III.

Mischievous commentary began propagating around the water coolers at 601 Fourth St. NW and its satellites, where the FBI's second-largest field office concentrates on national security, high-technology crimes and public corruption.

The new squad will divert eight agents, a supervisor and assorted support staff to gather evidence against "manufacturers and purveyors" of pornography -- not the kind exploiting children, but the kind that depicts, and is marketed to, consenting adults.

"I guess this means we've won the war on terror," said one exasperated FBI agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity because poking fun at headquarters is not regarded as career-enhancing. "We must not need any more resources for espionage."

Among friends and trusted colleagues, an experienced national security analyst said, "it's a running joke for us."

A few of the printable samples:

"Things I Don't Want On My Resume, Volume Four."

"I already gave at home."

"Honestly, most of the guys would have to recuse themselves."

Federal obscenity prosecutions, which have been out of style since Attorney General Edwin Meese III in the Reagan administration made pornography a signature issue in the 1980s, do "encounter many legal issues, including First Amendment claims," the FBI headquarters memo noted.

You can check out the whole article here.

A Night in the City

With the price of gas these days it helps to multi-task when one drives into the city. Needless to say my visit in Philly last night was busy. First I stopped over at the Bike Stop for a half an hour, and then I went to my group therapy, which was a good session. After that I went down to Bob and Barbara's Lounge on South Street for the The Dumpsta Players. I hoping to see Jimmi there, with him being part of that group, but he didn't show up when I was there. Anyhow that was my first time in Bob and Barbara's, which the walls are decorated with lots of Pabst Blue Ribbon memorabilia. The Dumpsta Playas put on an energetic show with "The Dumpta Horror Picture Show", which mixed up urban legends and lip-synching to pop hits of yesterday. I got tired and I left for home a little after midnight. Needless my latest visit to Philly went very well.

cover art for new Madonna album

"I picked up this fab wig from Cher's garage sale. You like?"

Mr. Double L 2005 Contest

Yesterday I went down to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware to watch the Mr. Double L 2005 Contest. This was the first leather contest I have seen in eighteen months. The last one I attended was the Mr. and Ms. Philadelphia Leather 2004 contest in February of that year. (I missed this year's due to a bad cold.) The drive down was okay though my allergies were acting up. I arrived in Rehoboth around 6pm and I had dinner and took a brief drive down the main strip (which is Rehoboth Avenue) before heading over to the Double L Bar, Rehoboth's leather bar. The place filled up quickly and I noticed quite a few people from Philly in the crowd (including Mr. Philly Leather 2005 Bill Hawk and his husbear Dan). I have been to this bar five times during this summer and I believe that this was the most crowded I've seen.

Anyhow four contestants was vying for the title of Mr. Double L 2005. It took place out by the bar's patio. Lots of leather title-holders in the crowd. Before the winner was announced there was a stepping-down speech from Steve Ranger, Mr. Double L 2004 and Mr. Mid-Alantic Leather 2005. The Brotherhood award went to BJ Smith, who had the biggest crowd respone with his rugged good looks. First runner-up went to Roy Cotter, and the winner was Scott Harris from Virgina.

It started to rain around quarter of midnight, fifteen minutes after the contest ended. (I could see lighting in the sky during the second half of the contest.) The bar got jam packed and I decided to leave. So I drove for half an hour and crashed at my parent's shore place down in Ocean City, Maryland.

This morning I headed back home, making a few leisurely stops along the way, including a visit to my friend Perry in Wilmington, Delaware. The weather turned out lovely today, very sunny and warm. I'm glad that we're going to have a least one more weekend of summer weather.

I didn't get any pictures of the contest but I hope to at least post a link when the contest photos come up on the Double L Bar website.

New Orleans Relief Contest

I first heard about this contest at the Philadelphians general meeting this past Monday and I thought that I'd pass this along.

From FetishAuctioneer.com:

Catherine Gross (FetishAuctioneer.com), Ms. Victoria, and Viola Johnson (see her site) are sponsoring a fundraiser to help members of the New Orleans leather community. So many have lost everything in the wake of Katrina's devastating impact, and we want to help them rebuild their lives and communities. While many individuals and organizations are contributing their time, money and support to the relief effort, it is our hope that a concerted group effort will enable us to offer even more to extended members of our leather family who are in desperate need.

The fundraiser will be in the form of a contest, which will be open to clubs, events, businesses, and e-mail lists. The group contributing the largest donation will win a basket from Fetish Auctioneer, valued at $250.00. All funds collected will be split between the clubs in New Orleans: Lords of Leather , N.O.B.L.E. , Knights d'Orleans, New Orleans Bear & Bear Trappers, and Crescent City Outlaws, for distribution to our leather brothers and sisters in need.

The contest will run from September 7th, 2005 to October 20th, 2005.

P.S. You can make donations at that site as well. Click here for more details.

Speaking of Bush's TV address last night...

Yesterday I came across this on the Survivor Sucks message board. This pretty much represents I feel about Bush.


"Bitch please, you best not fuck with my Social Security."

Some more stuff

American Leatherman 2005 Blackkat recently updated his website, which is called Blackkat's Alley. Among the new stuff in there is his take on Hurricane Katrina and the politics left behind in its wake. There's also his account on the places and events he's been at in the past month, with some good pictures thrown in as well.

BTW this week after much personal debate I finally decided to get iTunes. I don't have an iPod but I have noticed that iTunes has some great tracks I can't find anywhere else, such as the Rufus Wainwright live EP Alright, Already (Live In Montreal), which I'm going to get later this week. Mostly I'm planning to burn them to play on my CD player. Tonight I downloaded my first track from iTunes, which was Armand Van Helden's "Into Your Eyes," which I believe samples a track from Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor's first solo album. It sounds fierce.

The Stick Men

Another band from Philly's 80s new wave scene I fondly remember was the Stickmen. Formed during the late 70's amongst the local avant-art crowd and fronted by singer and guitarist Peter L. Baker, they played a frentic mix of hyper-avant demented-funk, sort of in the same style as James Chance and the Contortions. They released their debut LP This Is The Master Brew in 1982, and the next year they followed it up with the Get on Board The Stick Men EP. They had a good following but they broke up in the mid-80s. (Peter L. Back would die in 1994.) In 2001 a CD compilation, Insatiable, was released. In addition to all the tracks from the two records, it also featured three additional live radio broadcast tracks. The enhanced CD also featured 22 minutes of live footage perfomed at places like the East Side Club. They defintely laid dowm some wild and hyper-active tracks live "Duraflame Dog" and "Level Head." May they not be forgotten.

Philadelphia City Paper 2001 article about the Stick Men

My night in Philly & Santa Saturday

BTW I was at the Bike Stop last night for the Philadelphians MC general meeting last night. I had a good time there. In fact, I just started the process to become a full member of the group. So the next few several months are going to be an interesting and exciting time as a pledge.

Speaking of leather events I found out that the Bucks MC will be holding the 32nd annual Santa Saturday at the Raven in New Hope, PA on Saturday November 26, 2005. In the past it was held at the Cartwheel, which was burned down in a fire back in April and has not been re-opened since then. The Raven isn't as big as the Cartwheel but I heard that they are making some accomdations for the potential crowd. Let's hope things will go well.

Politics and the search for the Good Straight Father Figure

I was reading the Sptember 9-15 2005 edition of the Philadelphia Gay News and I came across Mark Segal's "Mark My Words" column (which only appears in the print version; I couldn't find it on their website), which was about next year's US sentorial race in Pennsylvania. So far Bob Casey looks like the head candidate for the Democratic nomination to run up against Rick Santorum, and with good poll numbers right now. Segal points out that just because you peak in the poll numbers a year before the election doesn't mean that they'll stay the same when the proper election comes around--when Casey was running for governor in 2002 he was peaking a year before in that election as well; of course he wound up losing to Ed Rendell. Segal also points out that Casey has not made any real commitment to the gay community and that lack of commitment will eventually be his undoing, since Santorum will be energizing his conservative and homo-hating Christain supremicst bases. Casey needs to stir up the enthusiasm of the gay vote in Pennsylvania by providing substance when he addresses gay issues, and the sooner the better. Otherwise it'll just end up a rerun of the John Kerry presdential campaign, who waited until the last moment to show his support for the gay community, and it was used against him by Karl Rove and the Republicans.

Ever since Bill Clinton was elected as president in the early 90s, the gay community has been looking to straight policitians to help fight for the community, sort of like a father (or mother) figure would. We get involved in politics to search for that Good Straight Father Figure who will protect us and treat us with kindness and respect. We tend to build to them up to that ideal. But we almost always end up being disappointed and betrayed when they let us down or turn against us for their own personal gain and/or political survival. That Good Straight Father Figure either turns out to be a bumbling doofus (which Democrats usually end up being) or a abusive shit (which most Republicans wind up as). Us gay people have to realize that the Good Straight Father polictian is just a myth in the end, that Daddy isn't going to be around to tie our shoelaces, kiss our bruises, and protect us from the bullies. We have to be our own Good Father Figures.

Summer's ending

I usually consider the weekend following Labor Day as the last weekend of summer, when it is usually very warm and sunny. After that the weather gets cooler. This past Saturday and Sunday turned out to be no exception. Sunny today with a high of 84 degrees F. It would have been a nice day to go up to the Raven in New Hope, PA, and sit by their pool, but I didn't do that because the price of gas has drasticly gone up during the summer (though it's started to go down, thank you, $2.99 per gallon in these parts). Plus I'm planning to go to Philly tomorrow evening for a general meeting of the Philadelphians MC, (which is a leather fraternity I'm an associate member of) as well as going down to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware for the Mr. Double L 2005 Contest this Saturday, so I'm trying to save money. I hope that I'll make more money this fall so I don't have to pass up on going to places like the Raven's Pool. Oh well, hopefully it'll still be there next summer.

Respone to Schwarzenegger's gay marraige veto

I hope that all the gay people in the state of Cailfornia will have a very loud and vocal uprising if Schwarzenegger vetos that state's gay marraige bill. (Don't you just love it when governors who have gone around sexually harrasing femaale co-workers suddenly become paragons of morality?) I hope that it's something like as it was back in 1991 when then Governor Pete Wilson vetoed that state's anti-discrimination bill AB101 in Spetember 1991. Then gay people were tired of the continous and unsuccessful working on trying to get pro-gay bills passed in the legislature and try to get the governor to sign it. Gay people poured out in the streets as a sign of protest and weren't afraid to stir some shit up. Some people labelled the rebeillion as "Stonewall 2." If Schwarzenegger does veto that marraige bill, I hope that they do it again. As the Kaiser Chiefs song goes, "I Predict A Riot."

And meanwhile those self-hating Log Cabin Republicans are singing the Crystals song "He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)." Like countless times before.

More 80s Philly new wave and punk

Here's another website devoted to the punk and new wave scene of Philadelphia in the 80s. Philly Punk Page is a list of the records of the Philly area punk and new wave bands from 1977 to 1985.



http://www.geocities.com/loworb/

Some stuff I'm into

I did a lot of reading and listening to music when I spent the weekend down the shore. I've been getting into the new M.I.A. album Arular which I had bought while I was down there. It mixes raw electro with hip-hop and throws in some world music touches. I got into this after hearing "Pull Up The People," which has a very Lene Lovich/Nina Hagen vibe on the chorus. I've also noticed quite a bit of Neneh Cherry-like sass here as well.

I admit I'm not familiar with Japanese magna comics but I did pick up Princess Ai 2: Lumination after hearing that Courtney Love was involved with making this; how she's involved I don't have a clear idea. It's also written by D.J. Milky and illustrated by Misaho Kujiradou. It's the story of Princess Ai who finds herself in Tokyo, Japan and all she remembers that her name is Ai, and she spends the story finding out where she came from. She meets Kent, a librarian/rocker, and she finds out she has a great talent singing. She gets a job at a strip club singing, where she is discovered by a powerful talent agency and becomes a rock star. Meanwhile she is pursued by a female demon. I found this quite well-written and illustrated. The only thing I don't like about this is the portrayal of Hikaru, Kent's jealous and possesive gay roommate who considers Ai as competiton for Kent's affections (who hasn't returned them). I found him coming across as stereotypical and a bit of a buffoon. This is part 2 of a three-part series (I've already read the first part). Part 3 should be interesting.

While I was down the shore I watched quite a bit of the Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi show on the Cartoon Network. I found the group as having a very fun rock vibe a la Shonen Knife. I defintely want to pick up their most recent album. It sounds like really good music to drive to the beach by.

One more thing--this week a couple of clips of the new Madonna single "Hung Up" has been leaked onto the Net. I heard one clip via the Arjanwrites music blog (they've removed the clip since then) and I have to say that it has a Giorgio Moroder/Bobby O vibe to it. It makes me salavate like Pavlov's dog and look forward to the whole single and album coming out. "Hung Up" is supposed to be released to US radio on October 17. Let's hope that US Top 40 radio will embrace this, we defintely need some uplifting dance music on the radio these days!

Abuse of power against Katrina victims

I took the following article from Yahoo! News UK. It really made me sick to my stomach.

Storm Survivors Told To 'Expose Themselves'

"A group of female hurricane survivors were told to show their breasts if they wanted to be rescued, a British holidaymaker has revealed. Ged Scott watched as American rescuers turned their boat around and sped off when the the women refused.

The account was just another example of the horror stories emerging from the hurricane disaster zone."

Click here for the whole article.

NBC/Kanye West petition

The follow is from RuPaul's blog:

ASK NBC TO HONOR KANYE WEST'S FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS

Mr. Wright,

On Friday, September 2, 2005, recording artist Kanye West appeared on NBC with other celebrities to raise funds for Hurricane Katrina relief.

While on air, Mr. West made several remarks regarding the relief effort. Unfortunately, his remarks were removed from the west coast feed of the telecast. During repeat airings over the weekend, Mr. West's remarks were still censured. In fact, his remarks were only aired on cable news outlets, where his opinions were debated by reporters and politicians.

The irony, of course, is that his remarks were not available to viewers without access to (paid) cable television.

While all broadcast networks are obligated to censure obscenity, nudity and violence, I was disturbed that your network chose to censure political speech.

Mr. West had every right to express his political views. He did not use profanity, and (unlike the Reverend Pat Robertson), he did not advocate violence against anyone.

Please show Mr. West's comments, in their entirety, in all future broadcasts of the telethon. Your network's explanation that the views expressed were those of Mr. West and not of the network was sufficient as a disclaimer.

To remove his comments was a poor choice. It reflects badly on your network's commitment to freedom of speech. Like millions of other Americans, I believe that the First Amendment is worth protecting, and will NOT support a network that does not uphold it.

Thank you,
A Concerned Viewer
CLICK HERE TO SIGN ONLINE PETITON

Oil companies + price gouging = rich pigs

I just read an article from the Village Voice about how the oil companies having been taking advantage of the public by hiking the price of gas every time the wind changed direction even though there is a surplus of oil. No doubt Hurricane Katrina was another opprotunity for them to continue. It keeps them rolling in huge profits. And president Bush is willing to help those companies out. (Not surprising since Big Oil gave him $52 million in his last presidental campaign.) I read this and I wonder: Why are we taking this lying down when we should be holding major protests at the oil refineries over the companies' price gouging?

Labor Day weekend at the beach

I just came back from spending the weekend at Ocean City, Maryland and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Friday I headed down Delaware State Rt. 1, had lunch at Lori's Cafe in Rehoboth and did a little shopping there (I picked up the new M.I.A. album Arular which I have been meaning to get for a while), then I continued down to Ocean City, where I stayed at my parent's beach house there. That night I stayed in and watched the NBC Hurricane Katrina aid show where Kanye West ripped President Bush a new asshole for not helping the victims fast enough. Saturday night I drove back up to Rehoboth and went to the Double L Bar, which is my favorite bar there. It got packed and I saw a few people from the Philly area. Sunday I basicly stayed around the house, though my parents and I went to Happy Hour at a restaurant in OC called Bull On The Beach. I headed back up home this morning, stopping again in Rehoboth for lunch at S.O.B.'s Deli. Overall I had a good time, though the continuing rising gas prices have really put a crimp in my wallet. ($3.27 per gallon down in Ocean City!)

Music for uplift

The events of the past few days have really gotten me down and I definitely need to listen to some uplifting music this weekend. 80s new wave, dance and female rockers like Joan Jett and the Go-Go's. I was also hoping to pick up the US release of Anastacia's self-titled album which was supposed to come out on August 30. (It's been released internationally a year and a half ago.) Now it seems that it's been either been cancelled or pushed back. This is the second time that this had happened; it was first scheduled to come out in America in July 2004. Appearently her single "Left Outside Alone" didn't click at US Top 40 radio for a second time. I guess they don't play it because either she's considered too old to be a pop commodity in America (she's in her late 30s) or that she doesn't rent a rapper on her records. I was hoping that Anastacia and the record company would have bothered to release it here anyway and do some promo. Oh well she could always do a reality show a la Kathy Griffin with a theme of "I'm a popular singer everywhere but in my native country America" to it. Or hook up with PuffDaddyPDiddy or whatever his name is for the next album. It's just another example that the music industry, like life, is not always fair. At least I've got those mix CD's I've made in the past couple weeks to crank up on the car stereo.

Gay people and Katrina

I'm worried about the gay people that live(d) in New Orleans. It's bad enough that they have to go through a hurricane and flood and probably lose everything. There'a the additional baggage of homophobia and homo-hatred. Someone might be trying to find a missing lover or partner and the cops or rescue workers could be just dismissive of them. They could get turned down for shelter or food. They could be harrassed or assulted at the local shelter. They could lose a lover or partner and might have trouble collecting insurance or health benefits, or end up not getting them at all, since last November Lousisana was one of the eleven states that voted to ban gay marriage. A homophobic relative could contest the will and be successful due to that anti-gay marriage law. And to top that off, some people are going around holding them responible for the hurricane itself, such as those assholes from the Repent AmeriKKKa website. That just pissed me off to no end. Not all gay men and women have that "disposible income" that advertisers like to dream about. Not all gay people live in a "Will & Grace" fantasy land where everyone is well off and well-dressed and have frequent guest starts drop in. These gay people need anti-gay discrimination laws and it's likely that they're either insufficent or just not there.