Musica: Outdoor summer lovin' - Pt. I

I've been late with this post this year but, as they say, better late than never...

The NYC summer concert season has long been upon us and I wanted to pinpoint a few highlights (and no, I don't mean that free Bon Jovi concert in Central Park! Save the grass! Save the trees! Or at least have the common decency of booking a better band if greenery has to die for the sake of music!).

Cucu Diamantes: First off is tomorrow evening's free Central Park Summer Stage performance by sassy Cuban diva, actress and AIDS activist, Cucu Diamantes (pictured left, a vocalist for the Afro-Cuban outfit Yerba Buena who is releasing a solo album in the Fall).

Cucu, if you must know, is among several Latino celebrities featured in the "Podemos por Obama" video, providing backing chorus vocals. At SummerStage, she is part of a program that will feature a memorial for Cuban jazz master Frank "Machito" Grillo.

Miss her tomorrow? No worries! Cucu will also perform for free on Thursday evening - at 6pm - at the Hudson River Park's Pier 54 (at 14th Street). The gayest possible place on earth! Or at least in Manhattan.

Other upcoming worthwhile SumnerStage concerts (more to come later):

• Julieta Vanegas, Plastilina Mosh & DJ Bitman (July 12, 2008)
• SantoGold, Diplo, A-Track & Kid Kudi (July 20, 2008)

Related:

• Cuco Diamantes MySpace page here

Cuba: Mariela Castro says government did not shut down first gay pride march

[Previously: "1st ever gay pride march canceled, organizers claim intimidation, others differ," June 28, 2008]

This has been bubbling out there on the internet all day long.

Earlier I got a Google alert that read, in Spanish, "Mariela Castro qualifies a gay march summoned by independent groups as a 'sad montage'" (Encuentro Cubano, July 8, 2008).

The article, posted in what is a strongly anti-Castro web portal, quoted excerpts from what seemed to be a private letter by Castro, signing as the Director of the Cuban Sexual Education National Center, to Dr. Pierre Assalian, the President of the 17th World Congress of Sexology organized by the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS) - indicating that she was responding to some of his comments.

Seeking more information, I actually found a bilingual blog post with information on an internal e-mail message sent by Dr. Assailan to members of the WAS ("Cuba and sexual diversity: Some comments and clarifications," La Polilla, July 8, 2008). La Polilla, which leans towards pro-Castro views, translates his brief message as follows:

Re: CUBA’s first gay pride march-the organizers were arrested this morning
I do not understand, I thought Cuba was so open??????
Here WAS should take a stand, even NAFSO [North American Federation of Sexuality Organizations], if we want to put in practice what we talked about in our last meeting regarding ADVOCACY as a role of NAFSO.

La Polilla also offers what seems to be the full text of Castro's letter as well as an English translation (another translation is available at the Penultimos Dias blog).

I still have no confirmation that the statement is real but, if so, Dr. Castro rejects any claims that the Cuban government had anything to do with shutting down what was billed as the first gay pride march in Cuba, takes pot-shots at Cuban-American organizations in Miami and accuses them of terrorism, alleges that none of the persons that showed up for the march were even gay and accuses them of being a front for United States-backed forces seeking to discredit efforts by the Cuban government to increase government led recognition of the rights of LGBT Cubans.

Below, my own translation!

Pierre Assalian, M.D.
President Professional Development of AMPQ
President - 17th World Congress of Sexology

Dear Pierre,

I regret your disagreeable and clumsy irony. It would be very healthy if you sought in-depth information before providing an opinion since none of us are that ingenuous and we know that news regarding Cuba is rewarded with very tempting sums of money to discredit any accomplishment by the Cuban society. We all know that campaigns against Cuba are financed and organized by the United States government, using terrorist groups and organizations made-up at the last minute to be able to justify that funding and divert the attention towards the majority of the funds that remain in the pockets of the organizers. Have you read about these scandals? A common mechanism for this is to create the news and to sell it to different press agencies and bodies, with the goal of indicating that the assigned moneys were ‘adequately’ used.

Just in case you do not know, the Cuban revolution, and in particular the work done by CENESEX during the last years, have elicited much world-wide sympathy. Some of the foreign press accredited by Cuba have communicated to me that they received the order by their newspaper’s directors not to publish more news regarding the social advances in Cuba in the field of the right of the LGBT community, due to pressures expressly received from North American diplomats. This is perhaps why you are not aware of all the work we are doing to promote the sexual rights of the LGBT community, of the intense and extensive program undertaken in all of Cuba close to May 17th, of our efforts in the legislative field. Nevertheless, you become alarmed by news that have been made-up and politically manipulated, to justify the funds received by these organizations, coming from the North American government program, to discredit Cuba, with the ostentatious intention of discrediting the work we are doing.

I have received letters from gay, lesbian and transgender activists living in Cuba and abroad who are angered by this information. In the first place, because those organizations in Miami are profoundly homophobic and never took care of the rights of neither Cuban nor Cuban-American homosexuals. In the second place, because they will never allow any organization based in the exterior to decide on their behalf. In the third place, because it was all a sad montage [un montaje infeliz]: There was no march because no-one supports them, no-one confronted them, no-one repressed them, there was not a single policeman in their surroundings and there were no detainees. The foreign press let us know that there were only 6 persons in the referred park and none were LGBT, they weren’t even able to explain the LGBT situation in Cuba when the press asked them, for this reason they weren’t sufficiently covered by the summoned foreign press media, who suffered a great deception when they discovered that it was a coarse and badly mounted show. In the end, they were ignored.

We regret that the attacks against our work from the exterior begin to be increasingly desperate. It’s our understanding that they will be more systematic and that there are a lot of media and the economic power to carry them out We will continue to do and improve our work, with the full support of the LGBT community of Cuba and many friends around the world.

I assume that the WAS is not a political organization and that it has the professional responsibility of not playing into the media campaigns, which discredit it as a worldwide scientific organization. I remind you that it’s not the first time that some fall into this trap.

It will be my pleasure to meet you again in Ecuador and Sweden, to greet you as good colleagues who fight for the same cause and to talk about the advances of the LBGT community in Canada, where you live. We all have a lot of useful work to do in our countries on behalf of the promotion of sexual rights. I am certain that we all are doing our best efforts.

My best greetings,

Mariela Castro Espín, Director of the Sexual Education National Center (CENESEX)

My New York: Subway mirror image

[h/t: JockoHomo]: Improv Everywhere's latest successful stunt involved a bunch of identical twins wearing similar clothing and a Manhattan subway car. Add together and you get the mirror image above. At least one of the passengers was reported as questioning her sanity.

They have additional photos and video here (including passenger reaction).

As JockoHomo points out, IE also recently launched Urban Prankster "featuring pranks, hacks, participatory art, flash mobs, and other creative endeavors that take place in public places in cities across the world."

BTW, New Yorkers, if you want to get alerts on future stunts, join the mailing list!

Happy 4th of July weekend...

Empire State Building, New York, New York.

A personal day of joy, tears

Above: Silent video released in February by the FARC to prove that some hostages, including former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three US consultants who had been taken hostage were still alive.They were all rescued by Colombian military forces today (as well as eleven former policemen, some of whom had been in captivity for more than ten years).

I am an immigrant to the United States. I was born in 1968 in Medellín, Colombia. I came to the United States in 1980 on the same year that US president Jimmy Carter decided to launch a disastrous rescue operation to liberate 52 US dipomats who were ultimately held hostage by Iran for 444 days. Naturally, everyone in the United States was completely invested in seeing that the hostages came back home.

444 days might seem like a long time but it wasn't a record. The record was set today.

As the Associated Press says tonight "Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell were conducting drug surveillance for the Pentagon when their plane went down in rebel-held Colombian jungle in February 2003" [The Times' take here].

They were taken as hostages in Colombia by the FARC that year and only set free tonight - five years after being taken into captivity (the new record). I am happy to say that they are on their way home right now.

Also liberated was international cause célèbre and former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt (a dual French-Colombian citizen who was held for six years and was long the symbol of all kidnapped victims).

She gave an incredible speech tonight once she reached safe ground (she is pictured left with her mother shortly after seeing her for the first time after landing in Bogota and featured in the video above when she was ill while she was a FARC hostage before she regained freedom).

Most moving, at least to me, was the rescue of eleven former Colombian soldiers such as Jose Luis Buitrago (right), who had been in captivity for more than 10 years and held in the same hostage camp as Betancourt.

Buitrago represents hundreds of unsung heroes who have been kidnapped and remain sequestered even as international media focuses on Betancourt and the freed Americans.

The best case scenario would be the release EVERYBODY remaining under the FARC's control and for the FARC to give up - but that seems a bit unrealistic. At the very least I hope people will not forget that there are still people under FARC custody - including 42 soldiers and hundreds of other civilians - and that they also need freedom. Que viva Colombia!

Glam Slam X: Flotilla does Macy Gray's "I Try"

Michael Musto, who I've photographed before for Wockner News and who even caught me being extremely politically correct in one of his columns a couple of years ago (a true honor as much as I love his columns), has posted his thoughts on last week's final House of Xavier's Glam Slam which Blabbeando promoted in June.

An excerpt:

I've done this gig many times before, but this year—the last one before the event takes off for the UK—seemed extra looney and special. For example, the "loss poem in blue" category brought out a weirdo who screamed drug regimens and time announcements in between railing about "Angela" Jolie. Later, we realized he'd interpreted loss as in "lost my mind." Brilliant! There was also a Jamaican guy who dropped his pants and kept chanting about how his sperm had turned blue. We took his word for it. At other times in the night, Flotilla cleansed the crowd's palette with a brilliant Macy Gray impression

Hm, Michael might not have video of the scandalous night but - guess what! I do!

Here is Ms. Flotilla DeBarge doing that brilliant and respectful 'fromage' of Macy Gray's greatest hit "I Try."

Flotilla DeBarge MySpace

Related:

• Emanuel Xavier official site
• Emanuel Xavier MySpace

Venezuela: Gay pride marchers are critical of President Chavez' record on LGBT rights

Photo: A kiss in the midst of Sunday's gay pride rally down the streets of Caracas (All photos courtesy of Santiago Farías).

Organizers of Sunday's 8th Annual Venezuelan LGBT-rights March said they were surprised by the large numbers of people that showed up which they claimed eclipsed last year's estimated attendance of 30,000.

El Universal reports today that Venezuelan gay rights organizations such as Unión Afirmativa, Movimiento Gay Revolucionario and Orgullo GLBT de Venezuela supported the march.

And then there was Amnesty International: "We are not in favor or against, but it's about defending these person's rights," said Manuel Finol, identified as a member of Amnesty International's executive committee.

Jesus Medina, a member of Alianza Lambda - another sponsoring organization - said that President Hugo Chavez' government had strongly supported indigenous communities and Venezuelans of African descent but was still marginalizing the gay community.

"All the marches have taken place under the mandate of President Hugo Chavez and we thank the Mayor's Office which provided support [in the form of] security, sound equipment and the stage," he said, "but there is still no law that protects us against discrimination - To be homophobic and a revolutionary is a contradiction."

Over at Noticiero Digital, Santiago Farías of AFINES Venezuela, said that organizers called for equal rights and the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships (and posted an amazing series of photographs including the ones on this post).

"Following a ruling by [the Venezuelan Supreme Tribunal of Justice] in relation to this topic, [same-sex partners] only can achieve this through the creation of a Common Partnership of Possessions belonging to the couple; a judicial determination that does not satisfy demands by Venezuelan homosexual couples," he said, "and for this reason [marchers] are attempting to elicit another judicial resolution through the National Assembly."

One Venezuelan lesbian rights organization - Fundación Reflejos de Venezuela - was not present. On June 24th they released the following statement:

"The Board and members would like to state: WE DO NOT HAVE any relation, responsibility, nor are we any part of the 8th LGBT Pride March; this is due to the discriminatory, disrespectful and anti-democratic attitude of Mr. Heisler Vaamonde with the backing of the sponsor entity and supporting entities."

No other reasons are given but Mr. Vaamonde is known as a long-time Chavez acolyte who always trumps the president's policies while overlooking his record (or statements) on LGBT rights.

Previously on Blabbeando:

• Top Court says no to same-sex marriages (March 5, 2008)
• Hugo Chavez wants to be Master of His Domain (Dec. 2, 2007)
• Legislative committee says discrimination based on sexual orientation should be outlawed (Oct. 11, 2007)
• President Chavez too macho to be gay (Sept. 16, 2007)
• Embassy in Spain defends Chavez from gay rumors (Sept. 12, 2007)
• Is President Chavez - Gulp! - Gay? (Sept 8, 2007)
• 1,500 naked Venezuelans, Simon Bolivar and a Brooklynite (March 19, 2006)
• Gay politics in Venezuela (Nov. 29, 2005)
• $1M for HIV awareness (but what about the gays?) (Aug. 15, 2005)

Dominican Republic: Gay pride 2008, pt. II

Amazing! Just two short years ago Dominican activists seemed divided as to whether the LGBT community in the Dominican Republic should celebrate gay pride away from public venues and stay indoors - or celebrate it out in the open and in the streets of Santo Domingo.

On Tuesday I reported on the seemingly impromptu LGBT pride march that took place at El Conde Street in downtown Santo Domingo on Friday, June 20th.

Now comes word that a second public gathering took place last night at the Duarte Park (also in the downtown colonial zone) as congregations of mostly young people celebrated the end of this year's LGBT pride week (for some reason I suspect that my friend Daniel Castellanos was an inspiration).

Today's El Nacional says that most participants were members of The Gay-Transgender-Men Alliance (also known as the GTH Alliance) but also credited Amigos Siempre Amigos (RevASA) for organizing the event ("Gays bring to closure day of pride," June 29, 2008).

Daniel Benitez from RevASA told the paper that "To be gay, lesbian or transsexual in this country is a matter of courage, since day to day we see ourselves exposed to physical and verbal mistreatment, to indifference and to being harassed by the police, religious authorities and Governmental authorities, just as regular citizens that assume that because of our sexual orientation we are less of a people, less Dominican."

Harold Jiménez, also from RevASA riled against stereotypical portrayals of gays and lesbians in Dominican media and chided religious leaders for trying to tie a recent decision by California courts to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples to the emerging gay rights movement in the island. "Gay Dominicans do not have the marriage issue on our agenda," he said.

As during the June 20th march, many bystanders were surprised and shocked to see dozens of LGBT Dominicans waving rainbow flags and expressing their gay pride.

Marianela Gutierrez, for one, was delighted: "I am heterosexual and believe that people have the right to live their sexual orientation without restrictions," she said, "here we have too much double morality, people show up in the media defending morals and good customs, appearing saintly and in the end they end up in huts and brothels and not necessarily with their wives or husbands."

• Related: Monaga: Gay pride celebrations (June 30, 2008)

Cuba: 1st-ever gay pride march canceled, organizers claim intimidation, others differ

Photo: Mario José Delgado González, Vice President of the Reynaldo Arenas in Memoriam LGBT Foundation, speaks to media at Habana's Quijote Park on the day the pride march was cancelled (CSM/Cuba Encuentro)

Of all the recent developments in LGBT rights throughout Latin America, few have been as fascinating as the Cuban government's increasing openness towards the island's LGBT population (particularly in light Fidel Castro's repressive record on LGBT issues during his mandate).

When Fidel finally relinquished his dictator's throne earlier this year to make way for his brother Raúl some commentators said that they expected little to change in the island. But things had already begun to change in Fidel's waning years as a ruler and economic and political pressures on the Cuban government seemed to indicate that it had to change or else.

And so, since Raúl took over, the island has indeed seen a series of changes such as allowing regular citizens to buy DVD-players, PC's, cell phones, scooters and other products; allowing Cuban citizens to book rooms at luxury hotels previously only available to wealthy tourists (which doesn't mean necessarily that the average Cuban has the money to do so anyway); and, most recently, institute a new wage system which would reward workers for good performance.

When it comes to LGBT rights, it helps that Mariela Castro is Raúl's daughter. It also helps that she is a sexologist and heads Cuba's National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX). And, as with other changes in the island, she had already begun to lay the groundwork to open up official recognition of the rights of LGBT Cubans even before Fidel stepped down.

These efforts are beginning to bear fruit this year. First came an official ceremony on May 17th commemorating the International Day Against Homophobia ("Cuban Government Backs Calls to Combat Homophobia," AP, May 17, 2008) - as public a government-sponsored LGBT-rights event in Cuban history. Then came news earlier this month that a long-gestating government resolution to have the Public Health Ministry cover the costs of sexual reassignment surgeries for transgender Cubans had been approved ("Free sex-change operations approved," IPS, June 6, 2008).

As IPS reports, the next step will probably be recognizing same-sex partnership rights:

"The [proposed] reformed Family Code would stipulate that the family has the responsibility and duty to accept and care for all of its members, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation. It would also recognize the same civil, patrimonial, inheritance and housing rights for homosexual and heterosexual couples, while opening the door for legal recognition of same-sex civil unions."

Imagine that! Cuba granting same-sex couples all rights afforded to heterosexual couples even before the United States does it [Oh! And on the eve of the May 17th event, Cuban television broadcast "Brokeback Mountain" on national television].

And yet...

In October I wrote about the birth of a small gay rights organization in the island called the Cuban Movement for Homosexual Liberation ("Independent reporter says a gay rights organization has been launched," October 24, 2007). Leanes Imbert Acosta, one of the founders, told reporters that they planned to "denounce the cases of repression and human rights violations to which [gays] are subjected by the government of this island" [Back in February Luiz Mott, one of Brazil's leading LGBT rights activists, echoed those thoughts by demanding that Fidel Castro "ask for forgiveness for the persecution of gays in Cuba"]. The government, while lamenting some polices from the past, has never indicated that it would do such a thing.

It wasn't the first time that LGBT Cubans criticized their own government from the inside, of course. But considering all the recent changes, would any dissent from the official norm be tolerated?

1st ever Cuban LGBT pride march suddenly announced:

On Tuesday I received a press release from Miami's Unity Coalition announcing that the Cuban Movement for Homosexual Liberation was among a number of Cuban organizations planning the first ever gay pride march (other organizations included the Cuban Commission on Human Rights for people with HIV and Sexual Races, the Cuban League against AIDS, the Elena Mederos Foundation, the Reinaldo Arenas in Memoriam LGTB Foundation, the Havana Transsexual Collective and the Havana LGTB Cultural Center.

The march was scheduled for 10 am the next day under the theme "You are not alone." Marchers would gather at the Don Quixote Park and make their way to the Ministry of Justice were the plan was to hand a list of demands including "the cessation of violence and repression against Cuban homosexuals," an acknowledgment that gays and lesbians have been and are currently discriminated in the work place and from national political think tanks, a review of the cases of those gays and lesbians currently imprisoned under a "Dangerous Index" law enforcement policy, an better treatment for individuals with HIV/AIDS including those in prison.

Specifically, organizers said that they would ask Raúl Castro to "apologize to the Cuban people for the introduction in the 60's of UMAP concentration camps that were created by the dictator Fidel Castro, to suppress and punish homosexuals and the religious youth who opposed his Marxist ideology." (UMAP stands for Military Units to Aid Production).

They also said that they wanted to raise awareness about Jordanys Tamayo Aldama, a man they allege is serving a seven year prison sentence for "contempt towards the figure of Fidel Castro" for having publicly stated that Fidel was a homophobic.

Finally they also said that they would raise attention about the political nature of Mariela Castro's activities at CENESEX.

Unity Coalition said that they would support their efforts by opening an "information center" at Club Azucar, a Miami gay bar, and by holding an afternoon community rally in solidarity.

Sudden cancellation:

Just before noon on Wednesday, the day of the march, an e-mail message from Unity Coalition stated that "as organizers arrived at the scheduled starting point, several of them were met by Cuban police, who beat & arrested several of them."

Ray Sanchez from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Havana bureau reported on the arrests ("Cuba's Gay Pride Parade Canceled", June 25, 2008), although he says that a local activist alleged they had happened the day before the march.

"Activist Mario José Delgado [pictured above] announced the cancellation of the march moments before it was to start Wednesday at a park in Havana. He said two organizers who were to deliver a set of demands to the Justice Ministry were detained one day earlier. Delgado said he has no details of the arrests."

"'The president of the Cuban League Against AIDS and the president of the Foundation LGTB Reinaldo Arenas in Memoriam have been arrested,' Delgado said. 'They were to be here with our written demands but now we cannot carry out our activity.'"

The Sun-Sentinel also reported that a passer-by who identified himself as being gay dismissed the activists.

40-year-old Felix Lopez, told the paper that it was unnecessary: "Important strides have been made. We don't need to be instructed by people in Miami or any other part of the world. We're slowly gaining a space in our society and that's important."

The paper also said that they had tried to reach Mariela Castro at CENESEX for comment but that her secretary stated that no statements would be released.

On Thursday, Cuba Encuentro published their take ("Police stops independent march for the Day of Gay Pride," June 26, 2008, Spanish language). They said that Ignacio Cepero Estrada, coordinator of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights for people with HIV had been detained by police for two hours and let go and that an unnamed official from CENESEX told a reporter from the ANSA news agency "We have no knowledge of any manifestation that might happen. No one has informed us about this and, as such, we cannot say anything."

They also quote "independent reporter" Carlos Serpa Maceira as having seen a number of law enforcement agents surrounding the area and quote Cuban dissidents on human rights violations by the Cuban government.

As with everything related to Cuba, there are other versions:

I didn't find the direct quote at ANSA, but did find a brief article ("Homosexual protest, one detained," June 25, 2008) which does report that one of the organizers was detained. Interestingly they contradict other statements and say that there was no discernible presence of law enforcement officers in the area. As for the protest? They note that an organizer was detained but also say that the protest was cancelled because of lack of participation as only twenty people showed up.

Call me a right-wing anti-communist imperialist pig (although some of those might call me a rabid commie for mentioning some LGBT rights advances in Cuba), but I am a little more inclined to trust The Guardian and the Sun-Sentinel versions.

I also have long believed that social change doesn't happen without visibility and leadership which is what personally bothers me about the fact that the only face presented on LGBT rights in Cuba is Mariela Castro and the only version on advancement of LGBT rights seems to be hers. Why not allow LGBT leaders to speak on their own?

Reaction:

Blogland has had some reaction.

Over at Babalu Blog, a 2006 Weblog Awards winner for "Best Latino, Caribbean or South American Blog" which features posts from different US based Cuban bloggers and describes itself as "an island on the net without a bearded dictator," George Moneo wasn't surprised that the march might have been shut down by the Cuban government.

Interestingly when Val Prieto posted the image on the right on the same blog yesterday without any commentary, another Babalu blogger who uses the nickname pototo was so incensed by other Babalu bloggers expressing support for gays in Cuba that he decided to leave Babalu (that according to this post today from Manuel A. Tellechea at "Review of Cuban-American Blogs").

Gay Canadian blogger Jonathan Higbee reacts to the Guardian's piece and says "[Wednesday's] despicable start to Cuba's first gay pride shows that the country is not quite ready to move forward."

In a reply Calvin from the UK begs to differ and says that "A media fraud is being perpetrated here in the interests of the United States" and calls the march "a stunt designed in Miami by far right Cuban-American sects, and funded by the US Government."

He also says that "The 'gay rights' organisations in Cuba said to be behind the parade, do not exist in any meaningful sense. Rather, they are tiny political front organisations populated by the same group of two to three hundred professional 'dissidents' who run dozens of non existent 'institutes', 'independent libraries', 'trade unions', 'human rights centres' and the like" and alleges that most are on the United States payroll.

I guess you can read anything into something depending on ideology. I don't discount his assertion that these organizations might be small in numbers but that in itself does not mean that they shouldn't have the right to protest or to demand their rights - or that they are flush with US dollars.

Golden Gaytime: Three scoops of gayness

So I've been trying to be all deep and stuff and all 'GAY-RIGHTS-NOW!' by trying to bring you the latest on the Cuban pride march debacle (Don't worry if you haven't heard about it, I'll probably post something about it by Sunday).

Instead, I am sorry to say that I've been wholly distracted by a particular bit of rainbow ephemera despite the fact that I am officially prided-out this year.

Then again, what could bring me out of my post-gay anti-pinkness funk than the first ever official gay pride ice cream?

Straight from the Spanish press:

"Today, gays and lesbians from Barcelona have launched the first gay ice cream commemorating the celebration taking place next Saturday on Gay Pride Day."

The scrumptious treat will be similar to an Italian gelato but - and this is what makes it gay gay gay - it will also have the six distinctive colors of the rainbow flag!

The icy delight, say the makers, is "very smooth, light and refreshing - you can eat two or three balls and you won't feel full!" (OMG, I'm usually satisfied with two!).

Best yet! Proceeds from sales will promote the ice cream maker company's socially conscious initiatives. The company, which has a staff of 15, has stated that 70% of its employees are "intellectually incapacitated" which I assume is the Spanish way of saying "mentally disabled" although one wonders what the 30% with full mental abilities were thinking when they actually had the original idea.

• Related: Helado Bala (Lake y su blog bizarro)

ACT UP gets horny for gay pride: Marchers needed!

The Press Release:

COME MARCH WITH ACT UP/NY FOR PRIDE 2008!
Sunday, June 29 - 11:30am
56th Street at 6th Avenue
917-653-7267 (cell)

This year we will be focusing on getting the word out about our exciting new harm reduction campaign that we are launching in print and on the web. Infection rates in NYC are up by 33% since 2001 among young gay and bisexual men under 30 years of age. Prevention efforts are hampered by years of abstinence only teaching, which has affected even AIDS organization's educational materials which often are timid. Our first effort will be published in this weeks Gay City News showing an inviting young man starting to dress himself by opening a condom, with the following text:

"Infection Rates are UP! The only thing you need to wear are condoms!"

The CDC's recently released statistics for 2005 show that, men who have sex with men accounted for 71% of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses among men. This is another reason we need to mobilize attention to this issue. We need an edgy, gay-sex-positive, safe-sex promotional campaign in response to this alarming rise in new infections among
young gay and bisexual men under 30. That's why ACTUP/NY is creating this new campaign to promote effective safe sex messages targeting gay youth. Our contingent will be displaying our hot new posters, promoting the launching the new campaign website, and of course, distributing condoms to all the parade-goers.

No matter what your age or gender, we need you to march with us. We don't want a tiny contingent, we need a contingent that helps set a tone that safer-sex is a LGBT community standard. Monogamy, domestic partnership and marriage won't solve this problem because, they don't really work among a very large section of young men.

We'll also have vintage ACTUP banners and chants throughout for what promises to be a fierce and fun showing at pride. We hope to see you marching in the contingent!

Dominican Republic: With little notice, pride just happens

Photo credit: Thalia Almendares, Coordinadora de TRANSSA

Pride happens. If you were strolling down the tourist colonial area in downtown Santo Domingo you might have been surprised to see revelers and marchers holding rainbow flags and beating on drums last Friday as the Dominican Republic's 3rd (?) annual pride event took place down El Conde Street.

The march, organized Amigos Siempre Amigos, also had members of the transgender rights organization Trans Siempre Amigas (TRANSSA).

Both Diario Libre ("Gay Pride on El Conde Street") and Al Momento ("Gays March on Conde Street, criticize the Catholic church") covered the event in brief articles, allowing readers to post comments, most of them homophobic (a couple of examples: "The winds of social decomposition have arrived to the Dominican Republic stemming from the licentiousness of the United States" and "This country imitates all the bad things, who the hell said that to be a faggot was a source of pride, what should be done is to give all those faggots a beating right there in Conde").

New York based LGBT news portal Tras La Verdad also covered the event ("Gay pride is celebrated in the Dominican Republic; Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez is challenged publicly").

Marchers asked political leaders to promote legislation to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender.

One participant ridiculed Dominican Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez by donning a golden robe and portraying him as the devil (the good Cardinal has been known to rile against gays and lesbians and has even gone as far as calling us "faggots").

It's not the first time that TRANSSA has been publicly active on behalf of the transgender community in the Dominican Republic. Back in December, I noted that they had participated in a reality show called "The Bus is My Home" to raise awareness about their rights (the show featured a transgender participant).

TRANSSA Coordinator Thalia Almendadres is interviewed in this news report from Dominican television.

Here is a video on how marchers ridiculed the Cardinal:

Update:

• Blabbeando: "Gay pride 2008, pt. II"

Related:

• Monaga: Gay Pride (June 23, 2008)

Previously on Blabbeando:

• Gay Pride Out in the Open (June 29, 2007)
• Friday night's gathering in Santo Domingo (June 27, 2006)
• There Might Be a Pride Parade After All (June 22, 2006)
• Gay Pride in the Dominican Republic (June 21, 2006)

My New York: The FINAL EVER Glam Slam is amongst us

All good things sometimes must come to an end and so does the annual House of Xavier's Glam Slam which will be bowing out after a decade of ballroom scene antics combined with poetic debauchery.

The soiree is scheduled for Wednesday night at 7pm and will be held at The Bowery Poetry Club in Manhattan (308 Bowery, btwn. Bleeker & Houston). It's cheap! $10 bucks to get in. Scheduled appearances by Michael Musto and Flortilla DeBarge.

And, if you are in the mood to be a contestant, here are this year's open categories:

* BEST LOVE POEM IN RED
* BEST LOSS POEM IN BLUE
* BEST LUST POEM IN UNDERWEAR, LINGERIE OR LESS
* WIG-A-POEM

$100 Grand Prize:

* BEST VERBAL VOGUE

The rules? Each contestant gets up to three minutes to share an original selection featuring the required props within each category. Winners must be prepared to read a second piece to compete for Grand Prize. Grand Prize category only open to the winner of each Open Category. Repeat poems will not be allowed.

To confirm participation e-mail houseofxavier @ emanuelxavier.com

Ad design by Rodney Allen Trice, photo of Mother Diva Xavier and Emanuel Xavier courtesy of Derek Storm.

For more info, emanuelxavier.com or myspace.com/emanuelxavierartist.

On hiatus

Yes peoplez, the Blabbeando blogger sometimes does take a break. The blog will be on hiatus until June 23rd or so. No internetz, no RSS feedz, no hit counter browsingz. We will see if we are able to survive.

Stomp Out Cancer seeking indie bands for 2nd compilation

I got a message from Jake Wheat earlier today. Jake wanted to let blog readers know that he is seeking submissions for the 2nd Stomp Out Cancer indie music compilation to be released on October 28th, 2008 under the theme of "Hope." All proceeds will go to Erwing's Sarcoma research.

The 1st Stomp Out Cancer compilation was an effort to honor the life of 27 year-old Steven Mackin, a friend who died from the disease on October 16, 2006.

This year in tribute of Ben Lanman, a nine year-old boy who developed Ewing's at 8 years of age and has since recovered, and the hope that one day there will be a cure (this type of cancer mostly afflicts younger people).

For more information on how to submit songs or how to donate / buy the compilations please visit the project's site at: StompOutCancer.com.

• Previously:A year without Steven (Oct. 11, 2007)

Tragedy (That's Not My Name!)

Above: The Ting Tings video for "That's Not My Name!" (much, much more at Ting Tings TV here)

I was not even aware of this but... Joe.My.God has the traumatic news that the Virgin Records at Times Square and Union Square will be no more after 2009.

This follows the closing of Tower Records and HMV stores in the last few years (and a recent New York Times article on the dwindling number of record shops in the city).

Over at Joe's someone asked "Doesn't Best Buy totally have as good of a CD selection as Virgin does?" Blasphemy!!!

That might be the case if you are looking for the latest Celine Dion or Michael Bolton but where oh where will I get my fix of UK dance music imports? (Then again, I did get The Ting Tings amazing debut album "We Started Nothing" for $5.99 at Best Buy this week).

All of a sudden I feel old. The young kids do no longer get the concept of a CD, much less an LP, a cassette tape or an 8-track. Sadness.

• Related: Soon there will be no virgins in New York (Manhattan Offender)

Spain: HIV prevention campaign targets bears

With funding from Spain's Office of the National Plan Against AIDS, the State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals (FELGBT) has just launched an HIV prevention campaign targeting Spaniard bears.

"Bears: Protected Species" is the first nationally funded HIV prevention campaign to target the bear community and consists of a stand-alone website ( ososcontraelsida.com ) which provides access to information about HIV and STD prevention, drug use as related to sexual risk taking, and directions and phone numbers for HIV testing sites throughout the country.

Once on the site you can click on "Descarga Campaña" in order to get access to the posters, post-cards, stickers and website banners for the campaign as well as a 32-page "Illustrated HIV prevention Guide."

In a press statement the FELGBT said that they had chosen to target men who identify with the bear scene "because they have an image of being healthy, robust men who appear not to be at risk of getting infected, but are in reality just as vulnerable when it comes to HIV as any other homosexual."

This is not the first time that Spain's gay bars have seen an HIV prevention campaign targeting the bear community. You might still remember that back in February of 2006 I featured the "BEARback yes, BAREback NO" campaign organized by bear event photographer Antinoo and some of his friends which was not officially sanctioned by the country's health departments but pretty effective as well.