The gathering was to be Serbia’s first gay pride march since 2001. The previous event received almost no police protection and was broken up by rightist groups.

The planned march was seen a major test for the current Serbian government, which has launched pro-Western reforms and pledged to protect human rights.

But organizers said Saturday authorities have informed them that the march in downtown Belgrade was too risky. Spokesman Dusan Kosanovic says police offered a different venue but organizers decided to cancel the march instead.

Several extremist groups had said they would attack the gathering.

Anyone read Their Eyes Were Watching God ? My favorite character is Mrs. Turner! She’s a crazy one and if I had enough queer studies under my belt, I would say she is sort of sweet on Janie, the protagonist. Mrs. Turner hates blacks who are dark skinned and has convinced herself the race problem in America would be solved if there were only paper bag or lighter blacks like her and Janie.

All minority groups have their Mrs. Turners. People who think bigotry and oppression wouldn’t exist if the “darkies” of their tribe either were no more or at very least toned it down. If I had a dime for every time I heard some gay man drone how effeminate men, drag queens, circuit boys, bears, daddies, lesbians, muscle heads, and/or gay Republicans made it so hard for him to live his life as a regal proud queen, some young pretty thing in shorts would be serving me breakfast. In bed. In a home. On beach front property. That was mine. Did I mention he would be pretty?

Usually the “darky complaint” comes about every Pride, when people get all exercised about some 45 year old man of blubber parading in ass-less chaps (I look good in my chaps thank you very much and will not allow your body fascism to impact me*). Yesterday our site was chock full of this tiff, here and here. Getting upset that the cast of a Broadway play is going to join gays and lesbians in a freedom march is churlish. Is there anything more middle American than the Great White Way?

No need to trod over old ground, but I hope if we have this conversation we stay away from the hysterics of Mrs. Turner. You want to be put out by Dykes on Bikes? Go at it but it’s a leap to go from there to the assumption that gay marriage isn’t the law of the land because some lesbian loves a Harley. The young middle school kid being bullied right now is not being taunted due to some leather daddy and his apprentice walking in a pride parade. Homophobia exists because straights disdain gays and lesbians. And that hatred is for everyone from effeminate men, drag queens, circuit boys, bears, daddies, lesbians, muscle heads, gay Republicans, AND the regal queen clutching those pearls because he might be associated with “those freaks.” Yeah Mr. Mutchnick: I’m calling you out!

We are not required to like everyone in our tribe but our oppression is not because some in our club won’t act right. A straight black man said it best:

“The final insult to oppressed people, is always to make them responsible for the venal stupidity of their oppressors.”

*I have way too many body issues to be marching my fat self in ass-less chaps, in public or private. I apologize for all who had the image in their heads.

Sterling, a Republican, was one of about 20 elected officials who had sent letters of support to the nonprofit San Diego LGBT Pride organization. After her letter was posted to the group’s website, Hartline told her he thought she should have it removed. Sterling said she initially refused.

Last month, Sterling sent a second letter to the group after she discovered more about “the nature of some of the activities that take place” and that she “was shocked and shaken to my core to learn of the lewd and lascivious behavior and unconscionable activities portrayed.”

“Her letter was just disappointing,” said Ron deHarte, executive director of San Diego LGBT Pride. “The words she was using were disappointing coming from an elected official in the year 2009.”

Read the full San Diego Union-Tribune story here.

His words hit all the right notes. Repeated themes he stumped on. The repeal of DOMA, signing “an inclusive hate crimes bill into law”, and the end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (although he did add that for him to sign anything on DADT, it would take an act of Congress). He rightfully placed the Stonewall riots as part of a larger struggle for justice, and noted the progress that has been achieved since that night 40 years ago. Took the duck ring tone in stride and even acknowledged the impatience with his work thus far.

But aside from the words and adulation of the crowd (which really isn’t strange considering it is the White House), there was nothing offered. Nothing. No game plan. No dates. Just a promise of work and this line:

“We’ve been in office six months now.  I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration.”

People clapped with pleasure at this, but what else could they have done? If you trust Obama then these are stirring words and it’s hard not to be moved when a president of the United States talks about gay rights. But it’s never a good idea to trust the promises of a pol. I have no doubt that Obama will work on those things, but if the scene gets too hot (as it will), he will turn pragmatic and move on. To keep that from happening we need to keep dissenting and giving loud grief when his administration stumbles (DOMA defense anyone?).  These folk have the right idea.

PS: Here is some unsolicited advice to the Jackson family: muzzle Joe Jackson. He’s not helping.

This actually happened a few days ago but you know how Pride works in New York. June is all pride 24/7 . Some businesses and restaurants, hoping to get those pink dollars, have the rainbow flag waving from the start of June until July 4.  All of this  can be a little bit overbearing. A friend last night noted he was “prided out.”

Those of you who have been with us since we were Visiblevote, will remember Pauline Park. She is the co-founder of  NYGRA, the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy, and was the grand marshal of the 2005 New York City Pride March. Pauline has been on the city’s public airwaves this week. On Tuesday she was part of a panel on the Brian Lehrer Show that looked at  gay politics since Stonewall (she had a return appearance on Friday  for a more in depth conversation about the transgender legislation languishing in Albany). And on Thursday, she was part of a protest against Christine Quinn, the city’s first woman and openly gay council speaker. The protesters were skeptical of Quinn’s record, especially when it comes to pushing human rights legislation and her support of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“She [Quinn] has not supported a progressive LGBT agenda. In practice she has not been  an ally at all of the LGBT community,” Pauline said on Friday.

Of course, and even Pauline would agree with this, there are a number of people out there who would disagree with this assessment and think when it comes to gay rights, Quinn has been right on the mark; however, what I’ve always liked about Pauline is that she never allowed her work for LGBT rights to overshadow her larger political goals. They were one in the same.  She can acknowledge the historical nature of Quinn’s appointment and yet be critical of the speaker’s agenda.

I’m repeating myself but a vibrant gay politics works best when it focuses on the prizes of gay rights and larger political goals. In today’s parade, many of us will be connected by our commitment to gay liberation, but will be on the opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to other political objectives. That dichotomy shows a level of political maturity and it needs to be nurtured and supported. There is nothing wrong with having our power brokers and the folk outside looking to change the very nature of the power game. The history of the country is the tension between those two camps.

I’ll post Pride parade photos tonight and tomorrow morning.

Anyone remember columnist Art Buchwald? He had a Thanksgiving column that has been published ever since November 1953. In it he tries to explain the American holiday to the French (trouble if you ask me). Today I’m going to pull a Buchwald and re-post a pride column that was written last year when we were Visiblevote. Drop by during the week-end because there will be a few more Pride articles. Lastly, RIP Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett.

Around this time last year, I was waiting by the phone for fame and fortune to call. Genre’s pride issue was out and I was in it (not on the cover silly!). My long essay against the term “LGBT” had made the middle pages and I was convinced everyone would want to talk to this new voice in gay political writing (let a brother dream people; let a brother dream). The gist of the article was this: 1) the term LGBT  is ugly. It doesn’t roll of the tongue and it’s hard to imagine any poet of substance using it artfully, and 2) LGBT washes out our differences.

“Granted, LGBT is more ‘big tent’–friendly, but it’s never going win pretty points. Its lack of beauty (can you imagine Auden using it in a poem?) has everything to do with what it does. It corrals us all—from the white lesbian couple living in the outback of Montana to the Asian bisexual kid walking down Christopher Street—into the same corner. Outside of sexuality, there is nothing that connects the distinct worlds found under the LGBT sign.”

My solution? Instead of yammering about some mythical LGBT community or marching in a gay pride parade let’s admit we are queers but also members of other tribes that are just as important in our person-hood. This doesn’t mean we leave aside the push for gay rights, but an acceptance that sexuality, such as it is, is not necessarily a place to start a political movement.

The issue came and went with nary a peep. No party invites. No book deals. Nothing. Oh well. That’s okay. I’m not good at parties anyway.

This week-end is Gay Pride and while the article fell flat I still think it says something important. However, there is one thing I would add. While it’s easy for guys like me to talk about how gay pride parades  and clunky  terms have outgrown us, there are folks behind me, youngsters, who take those terms very seriously. If I could, I would add this story to that Genre article : the Monday after Pride last year, I’m in my local bakery paying for coffee. The guy behind the counter knows me because I’m a regular. His skin glows a dull red and he looks like it’s been a few days since he had a good night sleep.

“So James did you do Pride yesterday,” he asks as he hands me coffee.

I reply no. Make some lame joke about not liking parades.

“I went. It was my first New York City Pride parade. I marched with a religious group.”

The way he’s telling the story, its clear he’s excited. Yes he’ serving coffee to some bitter queen on a Monday morning, sure he should have used a bit more sun screen, but for one day who he was, a gay young man with a religious background, did not have to be explained. His identity didn’t have to be fought or argued over and he could walk with others just like him. There is something refreshing in that and that came through in his telling of his march.

Gay pride, like LGBT, is not perfect and I’ll spend the week-end listening to my Billy Strayhorn albums instead of doing anything prideful. Yet  when I think of that young man, my criticisms  seem silly and old. Happy Gay Pride peoples.

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA - JUNE 14: LA Pride Festival Parade on June 14, 2009 in West Hollywood, California.

Today at 4:30 EST a protest is scheduled in front of Joe Biden’s DNC fundraiser at Fenway Park in Boston. LGBT activists and supporters will be demonstrating against the recently filed DOMA brief and the general lack of action on LGBT issues since Obama’s presidential victory. On Friday, more protests are expected at the high profile DNC fundraiser in Washington D.C. 77 members of Congress sent a letter to Obama demanding that he institute a moratorium on the dismissal of gay service members and both Obama and the GOP are meeting with gay leaders to discuss their outrage and demands (at least we hope demands are being discussed).

Oh, and for many cities, this weekend is gay pride.

This is a time of concerted efforts in the political arena and heightened visibility: an important combination. As images of the parades across the country hit newspapers, congressional and public support for gay rights will also be in the media. This gives two sides of an important story – the political inequality and the humanity and sheer numbers of the LGBT community.

But the strategy won’t work if this years pride parades are not expressly political. Places like Boise, Idaho have already had expressly political marches for pride month. But bigger cities, like New York, will garner more attention and potentially have a wider effect. We need signs that deman gay rights, but also chants, songs, rallies and meetings. Pride this year needs to achieve more than celebration and visibility.

So, I know we will all be looking forward to a weekend are parties, cute outfits and dancing and drinking with our friends. But check out a meeting or reception for your local gay rights group, bring a homemade sign demanding the rights your state has yet to grant. Yell at the cameras as they roll by.

When I was young the adults had the yearly table conversation about the dearth of black leadership. No one ever matched Martin Luther King, Jr. and they would ask when a king would return.When I got colleged the old ones still wondered where the black leaders were and when would there be the return of the one to lead us like MLK. When I suggested the whole leadership question was removed from actual history (King was one among many) and waiting for King 2.0 was at best a pipe dream, the adults paused, looked at me, and continued their lamentation.

Leadership conversations, especially in minority communities, are always suspect because they are more wish fulfillment than dialogues about the actual meaning of freedom. The very idea that one person can lead a diverse minority group is the sort of thinking that makes good TV but is removed from the actual record.

And when MLK is added into the mix everything turns all hushed as if he were a mythical god too good for this evil world. His humanity, which was messy, complex, and never simple, is drained out. Don’t believe? Then start reading Taylor Branch’s America in the King Years.

Over at Huffington Post, Max Mutchnick, goes for the simple history tale in his “Where is My Martin Luther Queen” essay. I’ll leave alone how Mutchhnick lobs the tired chestnut of being embarrassed by loud queens who get TV time during Gay Pride parades (yes, the guy who created the character Jack is ashamed of loud skinny queens with moxie). Well wait a minute. Let’s not glide over that too quickly. Here is Mutchnick showing way too much moxie his own darn self:

“Dykes on bikes, Tarzana Trannies, Jewish Leather Daddies and Kathy Griffin’s mom. Don’t get me wrong. I love these people. Let’s call them the ‘Usual Suspects.’ They fought for my rights and taught me how to dance. But they should no longer be representing “the pride.”

Not much to add to that is there? If Mutchnick thinks you will make it difficult for him to live a respectable gay life, silence is required; however, please be there when his rights need to be fought for. That’s only fair of course.

Aside from this unabashed disaster of upper middle class privilege run amok, Mutchnick then wonders where is his gay MLK–the guy who makes a speech everyone will steal from but few will understand. But to be a little fair here, Mutchnick gets rightfully greedy. He asks why the President of the United States isn’t making a Kingian argument for gay rights.

A fair question of course, and one that everyone is asking; however, once again Mutchnick is writing in a history vacuum. No president of this country enters the Oval Office willing to fight for the rights of minorities. Some come to it of course but they are always pushed. From Lincoln to Johnson, the White House only becomes a beacon of freedom when it becomes politically expedient to do so. If Mutchnick is looking for President Obama to become a “fierce advocate”, he better team up with those “freaks” he is so willing to dismiss.

But this Wednesday, Cui and other organizers managed to pull off the opening to the five-day Beijing Queer Film Festival with no police and no disruptions – drawing only an appreciative and low-key crowd to the Songzhuang Art District on the city’s outskirts.

For China’s gay community, this week’s film festival and an art exhibition on sexual diversity in Beijing, along with last week’s first gay pride festival in Shanghai, are quiet steps forward after years of slow but unmistakable progress.

Cui, a professor at the Beijing Film Academy, said the events mark a significant moment for China’s fledgling gay movement.

“The biggest change is that I’m not the only one doing this,” he said. “There’s more support from the gay community. Society has become more relaxed and open-minded in its thinking.”

But he sounded a note of caution that progress is often accompanied by setbacks, saying organizers would not consider the events a success unless they make it to their closing ceremony Sunday unscathed.

“In China, we were the first to put on queer events. In those events, we’ve had interference and that had lasting influences,” Cui said.

“(Now) we’ve had a successful opening and if we can also achieve a successful closing to the event, it will have another kind of impact,” he said.

China has indeed eased its control over some aspects of gay life. In 1997, sodomy was removed from the country’s list of crimes, although homosexuality was not taken off the list of mental disorders until 2001.

In recent years, the gay community in China has gone from being virtually invisible to establishing a small foothold in society. In large cities, gay bars have opened and gay and lesbian activist and support groups have sprouted. Internet access to gay groups online has helped ease the isolation for those who live in rural areas.

Even so, the vast majority of the country’s gay and lesbian population continues to face discrimination and stigmatization. Most remain deeply closeted in a still highly conservative society. Gay Web sites are often blocked by the government’s Internet firewalls.

Still, community organizers see progress in the fact that gay-themed events that would have been banned outright even a few years ago are now being permitted.

“Ten years ago, this would have been completely impossible,” said curator Yang Ziguang, who helped put together the Beijing art show, the first in the country to explore sexual diversity and gender issues. The works by 16 artists include explicit explorations of gay and gender issues.

The auditorium for the film festival’s opening movie – a story of a Chinese man who searches for the soul of his dead Swiss lover – was packed with a lively crowd of about 100 people, mostly young and proudly gay.

Others who came were simply curious to know more about gay issues, a segment sought out by organizers who wanted to encourage dialogue between the gay community and the wider public.

“I don’t know that much about the lifestyle so I was curious,” said Du Jie, 30, an artist who lives in the area. “I really liked the movie. You see on-screen the raw emotions in the relationship between them. It’s a very good opportunity for the public to better understand the gay community.”

That’s not to say that everything has gone smoothly. The art show curators ran into problems with local authorities just before opening day last Sunday.

“I used to think China was becoming more and more open. On TV, movies and magazines, you hear more and more about these issues,” said Gogo, a second curator who goes by one name. “But before the exhibit started, they came and told us ‘You can’t do this.’ That changed my mind a little about how ready China really is.”

Furious negotiations followed, and in the end only four works were removed – including one photo showing a man holding a fish over his crotch and a painting depicting two naked men in a sexual act. Organizers decided to leave the empty white frames hanging on the wall as a statement on censorship.

Despite the initial problems, the exhibit’s opening drew an estimated 500 people – an enthusiastic public response that left its organizers pleasantly shocked.

The organizers said they made a concerted effort to keep the events low profile to ward off unwanted attention. There were no fliers or public advertisements for the events – only announcements circulated on Web sites. And they chose to hold it in the remote Songzhuang Art District, almost an hour’s drive from downtown Beijing.

“If we were to advertise this all over the place, then we would only cause problems for ourselves,” said Zhu Rikun, another film festival organizer.

The same low-key approach was taken by organizers of the country’s first gay pride festival last week in Shanghai, China’s commercial hub. They carefully planned a week’s worth of movie screenings, art shows and sports events – all held in private venues instead of public spaces, said festival spokesman Kenneth Tan.

Despite the attempt to avoid problems, several events still ended up getting delayed or canceled by authorities who claimed organizers didn’t have the correct permits, said Tan.

Still the festival got high praise from the China Daily, the country’s official English-language newspaper, which ran a front-page article lauding organizers for sending a strong signal about “greater acceptance and tolerance.”

Overall, China has been slowly moving in a direction of more openness toward the gay community, Tan said.

“I think the government has given a lot of space for the local gay community to grow and flourish,” he said. “I’ve been in China for seven years and the changes I’ve seen in the Shanghai gay scene is tremendous. It’s a metamorphosis.”

A lawyer representing Apple of His Eye Inc. said Monday that the ministry will resume religious leafleting at St. Louis’ PrideFest on June 27-28, following the judge’s ruling.

Ministry members have said they were threatened with arrest by a ranger when they tried to hand out religious fliers at PrideFest in Tower Grove Park in 2006. Some viewed their actions as disruptive and felt they were violating a city ban on leafleting in public parks.

The group’s lawyer, Rick Nelson, said members of the Messianic Jewish organization believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah and were handling out fliers about the Gospel. The literature did not mention homosexuality, he said.

The ministry sued last year, and U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey issued a preliminary order, saying St. Louis can’t totally ban leafleting in public parks.

Autrey made his order permanent last week.

PrideFest organizers did not respond to requests for comment. The two-day festival draws about 80,000 participants and includes a parade, entertainment, food and information booths.