Straight men we love

Opponents of gay rights often say they’re doing it to “protect the children” (um, from what, exactly?) but can anyone tell us how beating up an Oshawa lesbian couple in full view of kids at a schoolbus stop accomplishes that?

Perhaps Family Research Council president Tony Perkins could but watching him lie to CNN’s Anderson Cooper about ‘gay rioting’ in California makes me disinclined to believe a word he says (cheers to Lisa Bloom for taking him on!):

It’s easy to get angry listening to this drivel so today, let’s stay positive and salute our allies: gay-friendly straight guys like…

– California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who told CNN that he hopes the state court will overturn the gay marriage ban. I think Tony Perkins called gay marriage a “tumour” and well, you know the rest.

– The Killers’ singer Brandon Flowers, who says, “A lot of my heroes were and are gay men.” Watch him girl out at a UK concert this weekend:

– Indian actor Abhishek Bachchan, who stars in ‘Dostana,’ the first gay-themed Bollywood movie, this fall and who told a United Arab Emirates paper, “I bow to the gay fraternity…Appreciation and love from any quarter is welcome.”

– and of course, US actor Paul Rudd, who — though forever denied me by a series of restraining orders — appeared on ‘The Daily Show’ to perform what host Jon Stewart could only call “the most seductive dance.” Watch their love unfold before your eyes:

 

A former editor of the late, lamented fab magazine, Scott has been writing for Xtra since 2007 on a variety of topics in news pieces, interviews, blogs, reviews and humour pieces. He lives on the Danforth with his boyfriend of 12 years, a manic Jack Russell Terrier, a well-stocked mini-bar and a shelf of toy Daleks.

Keep Reading

Signs and buildings of queer archives; hands playing a game

Among the archives, you can find love, community and history

Queer and trans archives preserve our past—they also offer community space that is essential to our future
Collage with an image of the Book Boudoir's interior, which features candles on a wooden park bench that is suspended by metal chains, bookshelves, a ladder and a counter in front of a shop sign

How BookTok inspired this real-life romance bookstore

Edmonton’s Book Boudoir is building queer-inclusive community one page at a time
Collage with photos of rows of theatre seats, a "Buddies in Bad Times Theatre" sign, a person in a wheelchair lawn bowling, and masked people sitting in a theatre

Disabled queer organizers refuse to leave anyone behind

From low-sensory spaces to masked events, expanding the menu of options can help make queer spaces accessible to everyone
The cover of Cannon by Lee Lai; a self-portrait by Lee Lai

‘Cannon’ shows the cost of keeping in your feelings

Lee Lai’s latest graphic novel follows a woman on the verge of exploding