tagged w/ Gay Pride
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“Homophobia” is an intensely dramatic short film by Austrian writer-director Gregor Schmidinger, which was released last week in support of The International Day Against Homophobia. The film deals with a theme that’s of major concern in our present-day political and social worlds: homophobia, the fear of homosexuals and of their way of life. “Homophobia” also deals with a perhaps even deeper issue: the fear of oneself being homosexual.
The film tells the story of an adolescent boy serving in the Austrian Military Forces, who experiences homosexual feelings towards one of his comrades. It’s their last night serving on the Austrian-Hungarian border, where they are socially isolated and armed with loaded weapons. On their final patrol, underlying tensions reach a climax, and the young boy must confront both the judgements of others and his own self-understanding.
“Homophobia” explores the difficulties faced by many young homosexuals, and, in a wider sense, outsiders who have to fight against social disapproval. While the subject of fear, persecution and coming out is familiar territory in gay cinema, “Homophobia” takes this important topic and, by telling a compellingly intense story focused on a single main character, is successfully able to universalize it.
This piece includes color photographs, as well as the fiercely poignant short film.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/homophobia-pathos-and-the-culture-of-fear/“Homophobia” is an intensely dramatic short film by Austrian... more
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You know what ruins the sanctity of marriage? Government issued marriage licenses.
http://youtu.be/aQJcJAJSMxgYou know what ruins the sanctity of marriage? Government issued marriage licenses.... more
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An iconic portrait of Elvis Presley by pop artist Andy Warhol went for $37 Million when it hit the auction block tonight at Sotheby’s. The life-size 1963 painting, “Double Elvis (Ferus Type),” epitomizes Warhol’s obsessions with fame, stardom and the public image, according to Sotheby’s. Previously estimated to sell for $30 million to $50 million, it was included in the auction house’s May 9th sale of post-war and contemporary art.
Art auctions have turned into freak-show casinos, spectacles where the uber-rich can act out as much in public as possible, trying to buy immortality, become a part of art history, make headlines and create big profits. They are despicable for what they do to art, for the bad magic of making mysteriously powerful things turn into numbers.
This piece includes a number of vintage photographs, two videos and a documentary about Warhol's art and life.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/another-freak-show-big-money-art-auction-warhols-double-elvis-brings-33-million/An iconic portrait of Elvis Presley by pop artist Andy Warhol went for $37 Million... more
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On Wednesday, President Obama publicly endorsed gay marriage in a television interview and took a definitive stand on one of the most politically charged social issues of the day. Includes photographs and a video of the interview.
“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Mr. Obama said in an interview that came after the president faced mounting pressure to clarify his position.
Public support for same-sex marriage is growing at a pace that surprises even professional pollsters as older generations of voters who tend to be strongly opposed are supplanted by younger ones who are just as strongly in favor. Same-sex couples are featured in some of the most popular shows on television, without controversy.
Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, called the president’s statement “a watershed moment in American history” that would aid efforts to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act barring federal recognition of same-sex marriage. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York said, “No American president has ever supported a major expansion of civil rights that has not ultimately been adopted by the American people, and I have no doubt that this will be no exception.”
Chad Griffin, the incoming president of the Human Rights Campaign, said that, “President Obama’s words today will be celebrated by generations to come. For the millions of young gay and lesbian Americans across this nation, President Obama’s words provide genuine hope that they will be the first generation to grow up with the freedom to fully pursue the American dream. Marriage, the promise of love, companionship, and family, is basic to the pursuit of that dream.”
This piece includes photographs and video of the interview.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/obama-publicly-endorses-gay-marriage-says-same-sex-marriage-should-be-legal/On Wednesday, President Obama publicly endorsed gay marriage in a television interview... more
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Keith Haring ranks among the most iconic, influential and popular artists in the world. Opening twenty years after his death, “Keith Haring: 1978–1982” is a rare and in-depth look at the prolific early years that established Haring’s language as an artist, his politics and social conscience, and his open homosexuality. The historic exhibition opened on March 16th at the Brooklyn Museum and chronicles the early career of Keith Haring in New York City, through the years when he opened his studio and took his art to the streets.
Organized by the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati and the Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna, the exhibition traces the development of Haring’s extraordinary visual vocabulary. “Keith Haring: 1978–1982” includes 155 works on paper, numerous experimental videos and over 150 archival objects, including rarely seen sketchbooks, journals, exhibition flyers, posters, subway drawings and documentary photographs.
This piece includes a number of vintage photographs, a photo-gallery and the documentary, “The Universe of Keith Haring.”
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/the-early-works-of-keith-haring-1978-1982/Keith Haring ranks among the most iconic, influential and popular artists in the... more
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Fox’s “Glee” dedicated Tuesday’s Valentine’s Day episode to the late Whitney Houston when, through a strange twist of fate, the hour featured a cover of one of the late pop icon’s most memorable hits in “I Will Always Love You.” Originally written and performed by Dolly Parton, with Houston singing the track for 1992′s feature film “The Bodyguard,” “Glee’s” Amber Riley covered the song in an already emotional scene where her character chose to be single rather than choose between her current boyfriend Shane and her ex, Sam.
The producers of Glee opted to update the episode, which had been delivered to the network last Friday, the day before Houston’s death, and featured a dedication to the singer-actress in a title card that came at the end of the episode. The card read, “Whitney Houston 1963-2012. We will always love you.” Houston died on Saturday at the age of 48.
This piece includes photographs and the music video.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/the-glee-valentines-day-a-tribute-to-whitney-houston/Fox’s “Glee” dedicated Tuesday’s Valentine’s Day episode... more
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Police in the Kaliningrad region have mistaken a marathon for a gay pride parade.
Several athletes gathered in the town center of Sovetsk on Saturday for the run, but were approached by police, who detained some of them, including teenagers.
Police later explained they had been falsely tipped-off about a planned but illegal gay pride march in the town.
Organizing pride parades has long been a big problem among activists in Russia’s gay community.
In Moscow, they have been unsuccessfully applying for permission to hold a parade for several years – with former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov branding them "satanic" on one occasion.
With Luzhkov replaced by Sergey Sobyanin, the LGBT community hoped for change, but the new mayor deemed such events in the capital to be “unnecessary.”
The bans have always been warmly supported by the Russian Orthodox Church, with its officials supporting what they say is the authorities' right to ban any propaganda based on its potential moral damage to the people.
In July 2011, Russia paid 30,000 euros in compensation to gay activists over its decision to ban so-called pride marches.
The fine was issued by the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that the decision to repeatedly ban gay pride parades in 2006, 2007 and 2008 was unlawful.Police in the Kaliningrad region have mistaken a marathon for a gay pride parade.... more
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Imagine flipping through the television channels and you turned on Glee’s “Extraordinary Merry Christmas,” expecting a group of rambunctious teenagers covering a number of holiday pop songs, but instead you get a black-and-white homage to Judy Garland’s 1963 Christmas Special, complete with laugh tracks, a Luke Skywalker lookalike (including a lightsaber) and an Irish holiday elf!
Well, this year’s Glee Christmas program was every bit as strange as it sounds, but maybe in today’s times it takes a show like this to spread holiday cheer and inspire the gift of giving.
This piece includes color photographs and two wonderful music videos from the show.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/the-glee-holiday-spectacular/Imagine flipping through the television channels and you turned on Glee’s... more
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“Losers” is a new, emotionally touching two-minute short film by Everynone, with brilliant sound design and an ethereal score by Keith Kenniff. “Losers” is an anti-bullying film that not only effectively conveys its message, but is visually stimulating as well. The film brings you face to face with how racial slurs, anti-gay taunts, and other insults and actions can hurt others.
This piece includes photographs and the short film.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/losers-walking-through-a-world-of-insults/“Losers” is a new, emotionally touching two-minute short film by... more
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The disaster that occurred on September 11, 2001 was the worst in the history of New York City. Not only were nearly 3,000 people killed in Manhattan, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on that morning; they were victims of a premeditated act of mass murder that pioneered the use of hijacked passenger jets as suicide bombs and then reordered and distorted the decade that followed.
For those in the immediate vicinity, the horror was immediate and unmistakable; it occurred in what we have learned to call real time, and in real space. Those farther away, whether a few dozen blocks or halfway around the world, witnessed the horrors through the long lens of television.The sense of grief and shock, a terrible roaring in the mind of every American, made it impossible to assess the larger damage that Osama bin Laden and his fanatics had inflicted, the extent to which they had succeeded in shattering our self-possession. In the years after 9/11, many still can hardly erase the vision of the wreckage of the two towers, the twisted steel and sheets of glass, the images of men and women leaping from ninety-odd stories up and the knowledge that thousands lay beneath the ruined buildings.
This piece includes a number of high resolution color photographs, a photo-gallery, audio, a documentary short film and the full version of the movie, “The Saint of 9/11.”
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/09/10/september-11-never-forget/The disaster that occurred on September 11, 2001 was the worst in the history of New... more
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On Sunday, September 4th, marchers turned out by the hundreds in New York City to honor the memory of the Rev. Mychal Judge, the beloved FDNY chaplain killed on 9/11. Firefighters and their families, friends of the Franciscan priest, and well-wishers from near and far, all came together for a four-hour Walk of Remembrance through the streets of Manhattan. Father Judge, commemorated as The Saint of 9/11, was killed while giving last rites to a firefighter at the World Trade Center. The group walked from midtown to Ground Zero, stopping at firehouses and police precincts along the way to pray and read the names of the 9/11 dead.
Father Mychal Judge was a Franciscan priest who served everyone that he encountered with the passion and spirit of St. Francis. Those who knew Mychal Judge have described him as carefree, open-eyed, laughing and humble. Some of his greatest friends were alcoholics whom he had saved from street corners, a mother who lost her daughter on TWA Flight 800 and a disabled former policeman whom he wheeled across an embattled Northern Ireland in an attempt to persuade the people there of God’s healing power of forgiveness.
Mychal Judge was also the dedicated official Chaplain for the New York Fire Department. He rushed to be with the FDNY firefighters at the site of the 9/11 World Trade Center tragedy, and as he was kneeling to give Last Rites to a fireman who had just perished there, Mychal was struck by falling debris from the burning towers and killed.
Father Judge was gay, which he knew would have caused him to be barred from the priesthood under the current Pope. He kept knowledge about his sexual orientation closely guarded, because he was acutely aware that it could become an obstacle to his work with some of the beloved firemen to whom his ministry was so dedicated.
In addition, many people have a special remembrance of Father Judge for his labors with and on behalf of persons who were suffering with AIDS during the early years of the crisis. Beginning in the early 1980s, when HIV really began to emerge with its fury of terror, Father Judge was one of the first persons to courageously devote himself to caring for those who were stricken, mostly alone, isolated from society and totally abandoned by their families. His steadfast kindness continues to stand as a role model for us all.
This piece includes a number of high-resolution photographs, a video and the full movie, “The Saint of 9/11.”
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/09/06/on-the-10th-anniversary-of-911-remembering-the-saint-of-911/On Sunday, September 4th, marchers turned out by the hundreds in New York City to... more
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Paris --Tens of thousands of revelers turned out Saturday for a gay pride parade in Paris, many of them hailing the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York and demanding that France follow suit.
Marchers paraded under a sea of rainbow-colored flags. Elsewhere in Europe, however, Russian police detained 14 gay rights activists trying to hold an unsanctioned rally in St. Petersburg to demand equal rights for gays. An Associated Press photographer saw some unidentified attackers besiege the activists and try to take their banners before police moved in. One suspected attacker was also detained.
Paris' parade drew many leaders from France's political left, which has rallied around equal rights for gays - notably marriage and adoption rights - and put the issue in their platform for the 2012 presidential election race.
"This is wonderful news from New York," said Eva Joly, a Green Party presidential hopeful. "Within the first 100 days of the new government, we will adopt that law" allowing gay marriage, she said.
Two weeks ago, France's National Assembly rejected a bill presented by the opposition Socialist Party seeking to legalize same-sex marriage, despite growing public support for gay rights.
In Germany on Saturday, thousands packed downtown Berlin wearing colorful costumes for the 33rd annual CSD festival calling for acceptance of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people.
Gays and lesbians face widespread hostility in some societies of eastern Europe - and opposition to their public events has been fierce, and even violent, at times.
Attempts to hold gay pride rallies almost always end in violence in Russia. Authorities habitually refuse gay rights activists their constitutional right to assemble, particularly in Moscow, on the grounds that other people find it offensive.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/06/25/MNTH1K2ODB.DTLParis --Tens of thousands of revelers turned out Saturday for a gay pride parade in... more
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The 42nd Annual Chicago Gay Pride Parade kicks off from the northside Lakeview neighborhood at noon on Sunday, led by Chicago’s new mayor, Rahm Emanuel. It will be the first time in a long time that a sitting mayor has appeared in the parade, a salute to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Emanuel is a regular at the parade, having appeared at the festivities almost every year while he served in Congress. He has been a relentless advocate of gay causes, including HIV/AIDS funding, civil unions and gay marriage. Joining him in the parade will be Governor Pat Quinn, recently who signed the Illinois civil union legislation, as Illinois became the sixth state to allow civil unions or their equivalent, giving same-sex couples the same state-level rights that come with marriage.
The parade usually draws around a half-million celebrants, but coming right on the heels of winning the long-sought right for same-sex couples to enter into civil unions and the historic passage of the New York bill allowing same sex marriage Friday night, this parade is expected to swell far beyond a half-million rainbow-clad spectators.
This piece includes a number of color photographs and two parade videos.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/mayor-rahm-emanuel-leads-chicagos-42nd-annual-gay-pride-parade/The 42nd Annual Chicago Gay Pride Parade kicks off from the northside Lakeview... more
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The New York Senate voted on Friday to legalize gay marriage, a breakthrough victory for the gay-rights movement in the state where it got its start. New York became the sixth state where gay couples can wed, and by far the biggest. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who campaigned on the issue last year, has promised to sign it. Gay weddings could begin 30 days after that.
Although New York is a relative latecomer in allowing gay marriage, it is considered an important prize for advocates, given the state’s size and New York City’s international stature and its role as the birthplace of the gay-rights movement, which is said to have started with the Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village in 1969.
Gay-rights advocates are hoping the vote will galvanize the movement around the country and help it regain momentum after an almost identical bill was defeated in New York in 2009 and similar measures failed in 2010 in New Jersey and this year in Maryland and Rhode Island.
This piece includes photographs and two documentary short films.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/new-york-senate-votes-36-26-to-approve-gay-marriage/The New York Senate voted on Friday to legalize gay marriage, a breakthrough victory... more
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“Brothers of Arcadia” is an amazingly erotic four-minute short fashion film directed by Branislav Jankic. The film features a number of mostly-naked men with stunning physiques to grab your attention. It starts off slowly with a dramatic, black and white beachside romp set to classical music, with the leading men wearing nothing but briefs and some bling. However, the mood quickly changes when vibrant colors emerge, as well as a bumping techno jam by Jessica 6. Viewers are transported into a steamy underground photo-shoot that seems to have a Greek gods and soldiers theme, which is appropriate because these dudes are, like, chiseled from marble.
This piece includes a number of high-resolution black-and-white photographs, as well as the very sexy short film.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/the-very-sexy-brothers-of-arcadia/“Brothers of Arcadia” is an amazingly erotic four-minute short fashion... more
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The 2011 Mermaid Parade took place on Saturday, June 18th in New York City’s Coney Island. The annual event first took place in 1983 and has been a very popular area attraction ever since. The Mermaid Parade draws a huge crowd of celebrators who don wild and outrageous costumes, with the parade’s naughty marchers wearing sea-themed outfits that often leave little to the imagination.
This piece includes a number of beautiful high-resolution color photographs, a photo-gallery and a documentary short film.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/those-crazy-coney-island-dayze-the-mermaid-parade/The 2011 Mermaid Parade took place on Saturday, June 18th in New York City’s... more
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“Sequoïa Snail” is a very funny one-minute animated short film by the French design group Marcel. In the film, a poor little gay snail faces the camera to share his doubts, problems and worries about being gay in the midst of the harsh world of the animal kingdom.
This piece includes color photographs, as well as the humorous animated short film.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/06/17/the-very-sad-confessions-of-a-gay-snail/“Sequoïa Snail” is a very funny one-minute animated short film by the... more
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“Zero” is a highly acclaimed Australian stop-motion animated short film, written and directed by Christopher Kezelos. “Zero” has screened at over 50 film festivals and won 11 awards, including Best Animation from LA Shorts Fest and the Rhode Island International Film Festival and has been nominated for an AFI Award.
The film follows life in a world of yarn puppets, where the main character is a zero. This is a world in which from birth your destiny is determined by a number boldly displayed on your chest, representing all that you are or can be. 9′s are the elites of this world, and the very lowest you can sink, the untouchables, are cursed as Zero.
The dark fairytale takes place in a world built upon a rigid foundation of social intolerance. In this land of numbered characters, the zeroes endure lives of constant heart-ache, never allowed to have romantic relationships, marry, have children or be parents. Faced with constant prejudice and persecution, one oppressed zero walks a lonely path of disappointment and abuse until a chance encounter changes his life forever: he meets a female zero. Together they prove that through determination, courage, and love, nothing can become truly something.
This piece includes color photographs, as well as the much-awarded animated short film.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/zero-a-courageous-yarn-of-forbidden-love/“Zero” is a highly acclaimed Australian stop-motion animated short film,... more
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Larry Kramer’s “The Normal Heart,” which originally was performed at New York City’s Public Theater in 1985, won the 2011 Tony Award for revival of a play. The play is considered to be a literary landmark, contending with the AIDS crisis when few would speak of the disease afflicting gay men, including gays themselves. It remains the longest-running play ever staged at the Public Theater.
In addition, Ellen Barkin and John Benjamin Hickey both won Tony Awards for their performances in “The Normal Heart.” Producer Daryl Roth accepted the award, but it was the playwright Larry Kramer, an outspoken gay activist for many years, who received the biggest welcome from the audience. The writer exhorted the gay community to “carry on the fight,” adding that “our day will come.”
The stunning, pulse-pounding ensemble drama tells the groundbreaking story of love, rage and pride as it follows a group of New Yorkers confronting the AIDS crisis in the early 1980s. The story of a city in denial, “The Normal Heart” unfolds like a real-life political thriller, as a tight-knit group of friends refuses to let doctors, politicians and the press bury the truth of an unspoken epidemic behind a wall of silence. A quarter-century after it was written, this unflinching, and totally unforgettable look at the sexual politics of New York City during the AIDS crisis remains one of the theater’s most powerful evenings ever.
This piece includes a number of color photographs, as well as three documentary short films.
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/broadway-revival-of-larry-kramers-the-normal-heart-wins-three-2011-tony-awards/Larry Kramer’s “The Normal Heart,” which originally was performed at... more
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Although California is presently the only state with an official Harvey Milk Day, cities all across the country will be holding rallies and events today to honor the first openly gay man to be elected to public office and an icon of the gay-rights movement. Milk, who would have been 81 years-old, gave us his life 32 years ago, knowing that the first of any civil rights movement, who clearly and loudly proclaim their right to equality, most often meets a violent and sudden end. Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. He fought to end discrimination against gays and lesbians and built coalitions of gay-rights groups, labor unions and small-business owners. He was 48 when he was killed a year later by a former supervisor, Dan White.
“The Times of Harvey Milk,” a documentary film, won the 1984 Academy Award for Documentary Feature. The movie “Milk,” was released in 2008, directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Sean Penn as Milk and Josh Brolin as Dan White. “Milk” received two Academy Awards, for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor. In August 2009, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Harvey Milk the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution to the gay rights movement stating, “He fought discrimination with visionary courage and conviction.”
This piece includes a number of high-resolution photographs, a photo-gallery and four videos, including the full version of the Academy Award-winning documentary “The Times of Harvey Milk.”
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/05/22/harvey-milk-day-2011-youve-got-to-give-them-hope/Although California is presently the only state with an official Harvey Milk Day,... more
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