I am Matt Thomas.

Sorry, Jeff Gannon

March 10, 2005

I think somebody should ask how the real Jeff Gannon feels. Like Michael Bolton, he had the name first. Granted, I do share a name with a gay porn star (NSFW) but this guy’s just got it so bad right now.

Know Your Audience

March 8, 2005

Now that a few days have gone by since PlanetOut/Gay.com announced their new ad campaign, the fallout is beginning. But the most vocal criticism isn’t coming from where they were expecting. In fact, PlanetOut has proven themselves to be as out of touch with the gay community as any right-wing hate group around.

For those of you who haven’t yet had the displeasure of becoming acquainted with it, the campaign, titled “Come Together” (get it? you get it?), purports to show “two men who overcome their political division by finding a personal connection as they debate their passionate viewpoints.” The concept reminds me too much of the boring dreck we’d toss out during brainstorming in advertising classes in college. But it doesn’t matter; that’s not really the problem.

The problem, which PlanetOut wasn’t really expecting, is that gay people hate it.

It’s not difficult to imagine that the campaign was created to elicit controversy. That would be good for PlanetOut. What’s bad for PlanetOut is when the campaign is nearly universally despised by every gay man and woman that’s weighed in on it. And by depicting Gay America as practically the Aryan ideal, they’ve managed to do just that. Gene Cowan writes:

What they’re really doing is playing right into the hands of the fundamentalist right wing, who will simply send this imagery unedited to their intolerant base, asserting that gay people only think of sex, igniting more hatred… and probably generating another wave of “flag protection” legislation.

Not hard to imagine in the least. I’m all for controversy, but only when the controversy serves some purpose. Making a stand for equal rights, advancing political activism, enhancing gay visibility, all good things. But using the flag to sell what, as basically any gay man knows, is little more than a hook-up site isn’t going to impress anyone, gay, straight, republican or democratic. QueerDay writes:

Our emotional response is outrage. With a government set on eliminating our rights, not to even mention all the blood on our flag these days, we now have reasons to hate Gay.com beyond their continuing visual homage to body fascism.

Them’s strong words directed from one highly-visible gay web site to another. But nobody hates Gay.com’s campaign more than Gay.com users themselves.

All of us have to take so much crap because people have the wrong impression of who we are, and when I [first] saw this ad, I was hurt to see that gay people were contributing to this false image of ourselves too.

There is no clear message, but the ad seems to advocate that sex can solve political differences; how bizarre and unrealistic.

Thanks for perpetuating the myth that one has to look like a model to engage and enjoy gay life. I know my shrink thanks you.

When the gay rights movement is able to identify itself away from a sexual message … then maybe some legitimacy can actually be interjected into what gay rights should really mean.

It’s cheap and stupid. It certainly doesn’t represent me or the gay men I know.

What an absolutely HORRIBLE campaign. I agree with others that the flag belongs on a flagpole and not wrapped around two circuit party boys engaged in a cat fight. This is a BIG MISTAKE!!!! Shame on you.

This is an insult to gays everywhere. So two hot, hard body, “perfect” gay men represent the gay population? We are a powerful political community and I’m horrified that GAY.com would put this out to represent our views… This is such a fucking joke.

In fact, as of my writing this, there was not a single positive comment on Gay.com’s own web site regarding the campaign. PlanetOut went looking for controversy, and the found it in their own back yard. They’ve offended their own core audience, by depicting them exactly the same way the right wing does: as sex-crazed, utterly vapid and Un-American—as illustrated by the use of the American flag as a dreamcatcher. If your goal was to attract gay men to Gay.com, you might want to rethink that strategy, fellas.

Addictive Propaganda

March 7, 2005

It’s really bothering me that this story about a rise in the number of people going into rehab for marijuana use is getting so much play. It showed up in the New York Times this past Saturday, and I heard it on the local news just this morning.

Many sources, unfortunately, are leaving out the most salient point from the AP article—that the rise in numbers of people seeking treatment is directly related to the fact that the government is simply arresting more marijuana users than before. Consequently, they’re being forced to enter rehab. But the government doesn’t mention that on their faux-blog web site, pushingback.com. In fact, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy would have you believe that scores of bleary-eyed potheads were voluntarily checking themselves into rehab en masse.

In reality, the number of smokers arrested increased more dramatically than the number of smokers entering rehab. This doesn’t indicate the serious increase the government is trotting out for the press—not to mention the fact that over 750,000 pot smokers were arrested in 2003 isn’t exactly a rousing endorsement of the government’s current anti-smoking efforts.

The reality is that the criminalization of marijuana isn’t really keeping anyone who wants to from smoking. It is, however, ensuring that a whopping 88% of arrests are for simple possession, not the dealers who are supposedly creating the problem.

I’m not exactly a card-carrying member of NORML or anything, but even I can see how the government’s current reports are disingenuous. And I suck at math.

Life Doesn’t End at Birth, Part II

March 7, 2005

Not much to say this weekend, but there was a great op-ed piece in, of all places, my hometown Mobile Register today that did a fantastic job of explaining the point I try to make with anti-abortion activists: that they spend too much time worrying about what happens in utero, but far too little on ensuring a healthy childhood. The author, Pam Hartman, writes:

Coming out of an election year where religious issues often starred on the political stage, we’re quite aware that professed faith was an asset that propelled many candidates to victory. The two concerns that were weighed almost exclusively were abortion and gay marriage—one seen as a threat to the value of human life, the other a danger to the health of the American family.

One Alabama candidate was even defeated, at least in part, because she failed to complete a Christian Coalition “litmus test” card declaring her opposition to gay marriage. Her triumphant opponent, while denying responsibility for a mass mailing decrying his rival as an open lover of homosexual unions, declared that her refusal to mail the card clearly marked her as an enemy of good, Christian, family-loving folks.

It was an ends-justify-the-means argument (probably a violation of Christian principles in itself).

But over and over, as faith-based concerns are raised about the quality of the society we live in, we hear candidates, pundits, preachers and believers speak as though the only issues that matter when it comes to religion and society are stands against abortion and gay marriage. In the meantime, children already born are being abused and even killed by heterosexual parents or caregivers who themselves are struggling with living conditions that we as a society tend to ignore.

Anniversary

March 6, 2005

Dear J,

Hey girl. Can you believe it’s been two years already? I remember when I first saw your picture, I knew I had to have you. It seems like I went everywhere looking for you. Some guys told me about girls that looked like you, but I wanted you and you alone. And now we’ve been together for two years, and I love you so much, girl.

Every time I look at your sexy, sexy behind it makes me go wild, baby. Whether I’m feelin’ on your big, beautiful headlights or just peepin’ you from afar, it don’t matter. I love you from every angle. Just thinking about you makes me want to get up inside you, girl.

I love you baby. It’s been two great years, and I hope this thang lasts at least two or three more. Until I sell your ass and get after your sister.

I’m just playin’, girl. You know I’d never front like that.

Love, M

Lesbians, Butt Stains Need Not Apply

March 2, 2005

Found on Outsports: ‘Gay’ is a Naughty Word for NFL Shop. In the esteemed logic of the NFL, the words “gay” and “lesbian” have been placed on a list of banned words not allowed on customizable jerseys at the NFL shop. This led the investigative-minded folks at Outsports to find the list of 1,121 naughty words. The NFL stands by its policy, stating that it’s intended to prevent “misuse” and that the NFL reserves its right to limit what words are printable on jerseys, but doesn’t have an explanation for why New England Patriot Randall Gay is allowed to have a jersey with his name on it. I’m just wondering which potential customers made it necessary for the NFL to ban the phrases “butt stain,” “gonorrehea” (sic), and “pubiclice.” Naturally, Outsports undertook the inestimably fun task of figuring out which jerseys are allowed. Size queens rejoice, the NFL wants your support.

[caps]Update: You can now be Gay, but the title of this entry still applies; Lesbian is still on the naughty list, apparently because it’s nobody’s name. So you can be Gay, but not gay. You also can no longer be a Gay Nazi. Terrorist is still OK, though.

Looks like you’re safe, Junior.

March 2, 2005

Wow, a little bit of good news to keep us going. Today the Supreme Court abolished the death penalty for juvenile offenders. There’s not much to say, other than “Thank God,” but there were a few quotes from the Boston Globe article that I found astonishing.

The ruling is also notable because the majority invoked foreign precedents in reaching its decision about what the US Constitution permits, a direction in legal reasoning sharply opposed by conservatives [hooray! -MT] Kennedy, the pivotal swing vote in the case, noted that since 1990, only seven other countries—including Iran, Saudi Arabia, and China—have executed juvenile offenders, and all have since disavowed the practice.

Kennedy also noted that every nation except the United States and Somalia has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has a provision forbidding the juvenile death penalty. Somalia does not have a functioning government. (emphasis mine)

“The court thus proclaims itself sole arbiter of our nation’s moral standards—and in the course of discharging that awesome responsibility purports to take guidance from the views of foreign courts and legislatures,” Scalia wrote … Scalia was joined by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justice Clarence Thomas. All of them are “originalists” who believe that the meaning of the Constitution is fixed at what it meant when it was ratified in 1791.

Thanks to the Globe for reminding us why Scalia, Thomas, and Rehnquist are such fucking douchebags. The constitution also included the 3/5ths rule, but I don’t see Clarence Thomas in a cotton field.

Down on the Farm

March 1, 2005

Today we’re launching silvercreekfarm.net, the web site of my friend Ben Buchanan’s father’s business. Silver Creek Farm is a small family operation that sells evergreen shrubs for landscaping projects. Ben’s dad, Jace, is a good guy and I enjoyed working with him on the site.

The site is a small but informative introduction to the business. Jace wanted to eschew e-commerce for the time being, instead focusing on giving himself a place to keep existing customers up to date on what’s new at the farm, and introduce himself to potential future customers. The site reflects the personal, informal feel of the business.

What’s significant about silvercreekfarm.net is that it allowed me, for the first time, to gain some experience with Ruby on Rails. I didn’t do anything as complex as build a Rails app, but I did dip my toes in the water. The site includes an installation of Hieraki, a great wiki-style application that allows you to publish full, organized books on the web. I’m using it to give the Buchanans a primer on how to use their e-mail, Textpattern installation, and other TextDrive services.

Thanks to Will Mitchell for helping me get Hieraki up and running. Despite being a great app that’s full of potential, it unfortunately currently lacks any documentation whatsoever. Without Will’s help the manuals page would have been DOA.

I’m going to take a short break now that it’s done, but I’ll return to my regular pontifications (speaking of) all-too-soon.