madonna pleads

this is definitely posted a little too late but better late than never right? this is madonna's pretaped message that was broadcast on last week's american idol 'idol gives back' show featuring bono and a bunch of other forward thinking celebrities. she has become such an amazing person over the last few years and she's definitely not that good of an actress to pull this off as a publicity stunt...she's for real and so happy with her life right now it's impressive and inspiring...screw america...she's human...she's amazing..she's a world idol (oh gawd that was sappy ehhe)

those damn dykes!

Lesbians stir rage in Nigeria

Muslim cops pursue actress, 4 wives

BY CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Saturday, April 28th 2007, 4:00 AM

A nervy Nigerian lesbian decided that if Muslim men can have four wives - then she can too.

But now 45-year-old Aunty Maiduguri and her four wives are on the run from the Islamic police and could face death by stoning if caught.

"As defenders of Sharia law, we shall not allow this unhealthy development to take place," said Ustaz Abdulkarim Rabo, deputy commander of the Hisbah, which enforces Islamic law in Nigeria's Kano State. "We are investigating the matter with a view to find the culprits and punish them."

An actress in Kano's burgeoning video industry, Maiduguri stoked outrage by staging an elaborate wedding at a theater on Sunday.

Maiduguri, who is also a Muslim, invited 2,000 people to bear witness as she married Aisha Yola, Maryam Soba, Hadiza Single Baby and Hadiza Maiduguri.

That didn't sit well with some Muslim men, who tried to disrupt the ceremony and were "overwhelmed by thugs," Nigeria's This Day newspaper reported.

But when the Hisbah was called, Maiduguri and her spouses scrammed. Meanwhile, local officials took out their fury on the theater, demolishing the building.

Nigeria is half-Muslim, half-Christian. Eleven of the country's mostly Muslim northern states have adopted strict Sharia law. And under Rabo's interpretation of that law, Maiduguri faces being buried up to her neck in sand - and then battered with stones until her skull cracks.

Four years ago a Nigerian woman nearly met that fate after she was accused of adultery. Amina Lawal had fallen for a cad - after she was divorced - and had his baby. But she was saved when a Nigerian appeals court - under worldwide pressure - tossed out the death sentence and overturned her conviction.

csiemaszko@nydailynews.com

rob zombie's 'halloween'

i simply cannot cannot cannot wait for this...one of my favourite horror movies of all time reinvented by one of the newest visionaries of the terror genre! fuck the summer blockbusters...this will be the shit to see!

life on other planets?

it is from wikinews...the news source you can write...but it is still exciting even if it is science fiction!

Newly discovered extra-solar planet may be Earth-like

April 24, 2007
From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!

A planet 1.5 times greater in radius and with about 5 times earth mass orbiting the red dwarf Gliese 581 has been discovered inside the constellation of Libra.
A 2005 search revealed that the star Gliese 581 possessed a Neptune sized planet, prompting astronomers to take a closer look.
Gliese 581 c, as the planet is currently named, has an estimated surface temperature between 0 and 40°C (32 and 104°F). Scientists claim the planet is likely to have an atmosphere and liquid water.
A second planet, about 8 times the mass of earth, was also discovered not too far from Gliese 581 c.
A team of scientists from France, Switzerland and Portugal discovered the planets using the ESO 3.6-m telescope from the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher or HARPS, located at the European Southern Observatory in La Silla, Chile.
"The separation between the planet and its star is just right for having liquid water at its surface," said team spokesperson Stephane Udry of the Observatory of Geneva in Versoix, Switzerland. "That's why we are a bit excited."
"Liquid water is critical to life as we know it and because of its temperature and relative proximity, this planet will most probably be a very important target of the future space missions dedicated to the search for extra-terrestrial life. On the treasure map of the Universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X," added Xavier Delfosse, from Grenoble University in France.
The newly discovered planet is 20.5 light-years away from the Earth.

hx feature!

finally got a chance to scan the feature that i so intoxicatingly wrote about recently ehhe
it's from the april 20th issue of the nyc gay nightlife bible

go go go vermont!!

http://www.adelphia.net/news/read.php?id=1...s=0〈=en

Vermont Senate: Impeach the President

Friday, April 20, 2007 2:07 PM EDT
The Associated Press
By ROSS SNEYD

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont senators voted Friday to call for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, saying their actions have raised "serious questions of constitutionality."

The nonbinding resolution was approved 16-9 without debate — all six Republicans in the chamber at the time and three Democrats voted against it.

Bush and Cheney's actions in the U.S. and abroad, including in Iraq, "raise serious questions of constitutionality, statutory legality, and abuse of the public trust," the resolution reads.

The Vermont Senate is believed to be the first state chamber in the country to pass such a resolution, said Bill Wyatt, a spokesman for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"Many chambers passed resolutions about the war in Iraq, but none that we are aware have called for impeachment," he said.

Advocates were thrilled with the vote.

"I think it's going to have a tremendous political effect, a tremendous political effect on public discourse about what to do about this president," said James Leas, a vocal advocate of withdrawing troops from Iraq and impeaching Bush and Cheney.

Vermont lawmakers earlier voted to demand an immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq in another nonbinding resolution.

Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington has kept a similar resolution from reaching the floor in her chamber. She argued that an impeachment resolution would be partisan and divisive and that it would distract Washington from efforts to get the United States out of Iraq, which she says is more important.

In the Senate, Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie had opposed the resolution, but he was absent Friday. That left Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin in charge, and he immediately took up the measure.

Forty towns voted in favor of similar nonbinding impeachment resolutions at their annual town meetings in March. State lawmakers in Wisconsin and Washington have pushed for similar resolutions.

this is who i am...you can...like it or not?

i magically and passive agressively posted this as a bulletin on myspace about four and a half minutes ago...honestly...how could you not love me?

Hey everyone...not everyone...just the gorgeous people who actually click on the bulletins i spit out....etc...etc.....

If you get a chance in your busy life....not that any of you have a busy life...especially if you're on here enough to catch a bulletin that i send out...(oooh that was wonderfully mean) pick up a copy of HX magazine...

it's possibly page 31 or possibly page 39 but somewhere in there... i am the featured dj in the bear section! and you can see my picture and my top ten favourite songs!!!!

this is my third time featured in HX accompanied by a top ten within the almost five years that i have been a NYC dj....i think its pretty fucking cool and i think i deserve to get over excited about it...especially when i'm intoxicated...like i am now ehehhe

if you agree and think it's cool....send me a little reply...if you don't think it's cool....well forgive me for giving HX magazine WAY too much credit but i remember when back in 1993 HX was just basically a pamphlet that let all the faggots know the proper party to go to...

now it's a magical piece of pansyish yet profound periodical that makes a humble homosexual like me feel unbelievably overjoyed at the fact that i am interesting enough to be one of the featured djs that obviously matters within the gay community. however or whichever road led me to my current state of cacophonic queer notoriety or celebrity...whichever way you choose to decipher my newfound excitement...i must admit that i have made a formidable impact on the gay terrain. I will do my best to be the best example. I will do my best to conquer my demons. I will do my best to perfect my imperfections. I will wake up before my alarm clock rings. This I guarantee...


thank you Jack Daniels....the only man who has ever been loyal to me

Woof!

DJ Ch@uncey D





the above graphics were created by Franco (aka Porkhoufer) when I first became a dj back in 2002....so much has changed...yet so much hasn't..."and the coloured girls sing....do do do do do do do do do do do...do do..do do do....do do do...do do...etc...etc...

chauncey treat - tori makes a statement

it's been hard keeping us the blog with my dual life as a manager at housing works and still spinning a couple nights a month here and there but i'm trying my best....just couldn't ignore this chance to share a chauncey treat with a little ditty from tori amos' new album 'american doll posse'. it's called 'yo george' and guess who its about? you got it! it's subtle but harsh...in the trademark tori way...check it out

tori amos - yo george

back to black and a chauncey treat too!

all this hype over amy winehouse's "rehab" is well deserved but the whole album is pure genius and should not be overshadowed...it's like she's from another world...her sound is so classic yet so fresh and new and funky....definitely one of my favourite albums to come out in recent years...i hope she's around for a long time in this prime form and not end up like another fiona apple...

here's the video clips for "back to black" and "you know i'm no good" and a live performance of "rehab" thrown in for good measure...she's so quirky and cute live! eheh







and a hot and sexy remix of "rehab" by recent musical heroes hot chip, a chauncey treat for you to enjoy as well!
amy winehouse - rehab (hot chip remix)

out and loud and michael musto

this is pretty bold and necessary on out's part....guess i'm pretty proud of them



‘Out’ Ranks the Top 50 Gays; Anderson Is No. 2

When New York did a "Gay Life Now" issue in 2001, only seven of the forty prominent New York gays asked to pose for the cover were willing. Those big shots may have been gay, and they may have been out, but it just wouldn't do for them to be gay and out on the cover of a magazine. "There was a time when the closet was a necessary safe haven," our pal Maer Roshan, who edited the issue, wrote in an angry 2,000-word essay. "But now, it exists as an anachronistic monument to shame. It's time for our public figures to stop hiding in there — and for journalists to stop helping them." Six years and a month later, maybe at least that second part has come true. Here's a first glimpse at the cover of Out magazine's "50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America" issue. Those are models holding Jodie Foster and Anderson Cooper masks on the cover. Neither, of course, would appear themselves.

1. David Geffen
2. Anderson Cooper
3. Ellen DeGeneres
4. Tim Gill
5. Barney Frank
6. Rosie O’Donnell
7. The New York Times Gay Mafia: Richard Berke, Ben Brantley, Frank Bruni, Stuart Elliott, Adam Nagourney, Stefano Tonchi, and Eric Wilson
8. Marc Jacobs
9. Andrew Tobias
10. Brian Graden
11. Jann Wenner
12. Andrew Sullivan
13. Suze Orman
14. Joe Solmonese
15. Fred Hochberg
16. Christine Quinn
17. Perez Hilton
18. Scott Rudin
19. John Aravosis
20. Sheila Kuehl
21. James B. Stewart
22. Nick Denton
23. Tom Ford
24. Nate Berkus
25. Adam Moss
26. Jim Nelson
27. Lorri L. Jean
28. Adam Rose
29. Annie Leibovitz
30. Simon Halls and Stephen Huvane
31. Bryan Lourd
32. Bryan Singer
33. Jonathan Burnham
34. Brian Swardstrom
35. Robert Greenblatt
36. Chi Chi LaRue
37. Dan Mathews
38. Neil Meron and Craig Zadan
39. Ingrid Sischy
40. Marc Cherry
41. Carolyn Strauss
42. Irshad Manji
43. Jodie Foster
44. Christine Vachon
45. André Leon Talley
46. Hilary Rosen
47. Matthew Marks
48. Benny Medina
49. Mitchell Gold
50. David Kuhn

so shocked that perez hilton made it up so far in the list but i guess he has a lot more power than he even thinks ehhe. i am ashamed to say that i only know about fifteen of the fifty on the list...time to do some good ole google research i guess

here's more on "outing" and the like

radaronline

Not-out Cooper on Out's Gay Power List

Most of the celebrities and tycoons on Out magazine's first Gay Power List (May issue, on newsstands Apr. 17) will probably be grateful for the honor, but maybe not the two on the cover. That's because Anderson Cooper and Jodie Foster have never publicly identified themselves as gay, though neither has ever challenged plentiful speculation to that effect.

"It's a bit of chutzpah on our part," acknowledges Out editor in chief Aaron Hicklin. But he says it wasn't merely an attempt to stir up controversy. "The A-list and even B-list gays are mostly in the closet still, and those are the kinds of people we need to have on our cover. This is a way of addressing that."

While the ethics of outing are up for debate, Cooper and Foster, who appear on the cover in the form of models holding up masks of their faces, were fair game, says Hicklin, because they inhabit what he calls the "glass closet." "The Anderson Coopers and Jodie Fosters of the world don't go to any great lengths, if any at all, to pretend they have partners of the opposite sex. There are a lot of closeted gay men and women who aren't going to make that list because the risk of litigation [against Out] is too great."

A CNN spokeswoman said Cooper was out of the office and not immediately reachable; the network itself had no comment. A message left for Foster's spokeswoman wasn't immediately returned.

http://www.out.com/detail.asp?id=22392

The Glass Closet

We all know which stars are inside the glass closet, so why won't they come out?

Michael Musto

"Bravo, Jodie Foster!" That cry has long sounded among easily charmed gay celebrity watchers from Hollywood to Gotham. After all, Jodie is one of the original out-but-not-really-out queens of "at least." You know: She's never come out publicly, but at least she's never tried to claim she's straight either. She's talked incessantly about her kids, but at least she hasn't named the father and tried to make it sound like he was any kind of love interest. She won her greatest acclaim for a movie protested by gay activists—The Silence of the Lambs—and reportedly refused to do a short film based on the lesbian classic Rubyfruit Jungle, but at least she isn't afraid to play tough women, single moms, and parts originally written for men (even if that might be what she mostly gets offered).

And though her '92 Oscar speech for Lambs seemed to confirm her tenacious belief in the semicloset ("I'd like to thank all the people in this industry who have respected my choices and who have not been afraid of the power and the dignity that entitles me to"), at least she's never threatened lawsuits when press people drag her out of it!

By all reports, Jodie lives an out life—within serious limits—while cagily avoiding any on-the-record revelations, a delicate dance that's difficult to pull off—but not nearly so much so as double-bolting the door and living a total lie. Jodie, it turns out, is one of the foremost residents of a glass closet—that complex but popular contraption that allows public figures to avoid the career repercussions of any personal disclosure while living their lives with a certain degree of integrity. Such a device enables the public to see right in while not allowing them to actually open the latch unless the celebrity eventually decides to do so herself.

The glass closet is nothing new in Hollywood. Back in the 1920s and '30s, leading man William Haines was gay in everything except magazine interviews. (He was, in fact, as gay as any star was allowed to be in that era, and when he crossed the line—getting arrested in a gay incident and then refusing to hook up in a fake marriage—his acting career was kaput.) In the '70s performers like Paul Lynde and post-Liza Peter Allen similarly went as far as seemed possible, hinting around at their sexuality and even making appearances at various gay spots. But they could be certain the squeamish media wouldn't push things any further by addressing that, so they remained flamboyantly, ambiguously glassed off. And today, the press still gives a free pass to people like Good Morning America weather anchor Sam Champion and CNN presence Anderson Cooper, helping to keep their glass doors shut so they can lead gay social lives while carefully skirting the issue. The media has a field day with all kinds of oddballs, but the earnest TV-news presences—whom everyone has a crush on—get "protected," even though Cooper has been seen in gay bars in New York and Champion sightings have long been reported from Fire Island to the Roxy.

The glass closet seems to make a perfect fit for a lot of celebs today, when gay is inching toward becoming more OK in the entertainment world. In an increasingly gay-tolerant environment, these stars can enjoy actual relationships, they don't have to constantly dredge up opposite-sex dates (other than their mothers), and after a day of pretending for the cameras they can go back to almost being themselves.

But at the same time, the stars aren't willing to make the jump to being officially labeled queer and all that it represents in the business. Douglas Carter Beane's timely play The Little Dog Laughed—which ran earlier this season on Broadway—had a wily lesbian agent, Diane, not only angling to heterosexualize her client's breakthrough movie role but trying to do the same thing to the client himself. I wasn't surprised to read at least one review that seemed to think Diane was a winsomely heroic "fairy godmother"!

She was more like a Machiavellian deception queen who's terrified of shattered glass, though some closet-busting survivors might say she had a point. In his memoir, Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, Rupert Everett describes losing jobs in About a Boy and Basic Instinct 2 specifically because he's openly gay. (And no, in the latter case, he probably didn't dodge a bullet. A quality art-house director was set to helm it at that point.)

What's more, Everett deserved an Oscar nomination for My Best Friend's Wedding, but the Academy generally frowns on out gays playing gays—it's not really acting, after all. Though Sir Ian McKellen broke the curse in 1999 with a Best Actor nomination for Gods and Monsters, actual trophies have been reserved for "courageous" straights playing gay, like William Hurt, Tom Hanks, Hilary Swank, Charlize Theron, and Philip Seymour Hoffman (as if it takes courage to accept career-defining roles most actors would die for). Alas, whenever another X-Men movie rolls around, no one says, "Wow, Sir Ian was so brave to play straight! What a stretch!"

"I think there are four kinds of gays in Hollywood," explains Howard Bragman, CEO of the PR firm Fifteen Minutes. "There's the openly gay; the gay and everybody knows it but nobody talks about it; the married, closeted gay who doesn't talk about it; and the screaming 'I'll sue you if you say I'm gay' person." In other words, the no closet, the glass closet, the cast iron closet, and the closet you get buried in.

In the case of the Windex people, says Bragman, "A lot of actors are afraid of being defined by their sexuality. In Hollywood they don't cast by positives, they cast by negatives: 'This one's too this or that.' And actors don't want to give red flags. They're actors and want to talk about their mutability, not their personal lives." (Except for their adorable children, their busy workload that precludes any relationships, and their utter admiration for Kylie Minogue.)

These glass-housed actors, he adds, "are comfortable with their decision because they feel like they're living honestly." But if someone who's struggling with the sexuality issue comes to Bragman, he'll advise them to totally come out. "Their career may be different and less lucrative," he says, "but everyone I've seen come out has been happier as a result of it." Of course, in Hollywood "less lucrative" and "happier" don't generally appear in the same sentence.

Bragman handled the coming-out campaign for former NBA star John Amaechi, who Bragman says has lived openly but never came out publicly because it would have thrown the team balance off-kilter in the same way a straight headline-grabber like a divorce does. But the basketball star is now retired and promoting his new book, Man in the Middle, so the glass is no longer required.

In a phone interview the U.K.-raised Amaechi—who played for the Orlando Magic and Utah Jazz and now works as a psychologist—explains to me his longtime lifestyle. "I was a regular at gay places on the road," he says, "from WeHo to [the New York City bar] Splash. It's not as if I was hiding." And he'd bring gay friends—and even a partner once—to the backstage area where his teammates would invite their wives and girlfriends. What's more, he says, "If someone asked me if I was gay, I'd either joke and say, 'You're not pretty enough. You've got nothing to worry about,' or I'd tell the truth. I never lied. I even told a reporter once, but he didn't report it." Through much of the '90s the "Peter Allen free pass" was still in full operation across the boards.

But why stay covered in glass and not come out even more openly back then? "I talked to people about it—my friends, mostly," Amaechi says. "Some suggested it was a very good idea to not come out. I was worried about my career and what it would be like walking through stadiums. In 30 states I could still have been fired for being gay, without recourse. There's no protection for discrimination—though that's going to change with the new Congress."

A different type of stadium star, singer Clay Aiken, parried a question from Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America:

Sawyer: For three years now, everyone has assumed the right to ask if Clay Aiken [is] gay? Everybody assumed that what has really been happening in these last few years with you and what's probably going to happen right here today, in this next couple of weeks, is that you are ready to come out and say you're gay.

Aiken: That would not make any sense for me to do that.

Not long afterward, on Larry King Live, when the host asked him "hypothetically" if it would affect his career if he were gay, he responded "hypothetically, I don't think so."

A longtime target of Web gossip, Aiken has become adept at deflecting questions about his sexuality—often by phrasing his answers as questions. But when a man came forward last year professing to have hooked up with Clay for sex after responding to an ad, the press went wild ("Clay Is Gay," trilled the National Enquirer). Those claims were recently retracted, but speculation about Aiken's private life persists. As other celebrities have discovered, in cyberspace no one can hear your denials. Lance Bass and Neil Patrick Harris broke out of glass last year partly because of intensive Web chatter, and neither seems the least bit hurt by his emergence.

But at least—yeah, there's that phrase again—he hardly denies it anymore. Maybe Clay figures that takes him a step away from his most famous song title, "Invisible."

Surprisingly enough, the concept of being semi-sort-of-out has even infiltrated the ranks of the Republicans. Pioneer outing journalist Michelangelo Signorile feels that "in the Republican Party now, the glass closet is OK. It's like 'just don't talk about it or announce it.' It's progress, but it also still makes being gay something you really shouldn't talk about." But things got extra sticky when people started asking questions about then Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman's sexuality. At first, Mehlman refused to answer any questions, which only fueled the discussion, until he flatly told a New York Daily News reporter, "I'm not gay." The fact that he parried the question for so long, wrote Washington blogger John Aravosis, was in itself unusual. "I can't recall many, if any, straight men who refuse to acknowledge that they're straight—if anything, most are a bit too obvious about it—and that ultimately leads to speculation, caused by Mehlman's own failure to respond to a direct question posed by a reporter."

Keeping the glass up is a high-maintenance job, especially since many celebs are left to do it—or, more often, screw it up—alone. Bragman swears there are no meetings between stars and their handlers to strategize whether or not they will stay glassed off. That would explain the various slipups that happen when the luminaries take their own images by the balls. I was wildly amused some years ago when the terminally noncommittal Sean Hayes was asked by a newspaper interviewer what he likes in a partner and he blurted out that he's "not into that gay ideal of musclemen." This from the guy who refuses to label his sexuality. Whoopsy! (Though he can always say "Well, I said I'm not into the gay ideal.") Meanwhile, the more circumspect David Hyde Pierce is quoted on the Internet Movie Database as saying, "My life is an open book, but don't expect me to read it to you."

I also loved the blind item in the New York Post a few years ago about how a more calculating star goes into premiere screenings with his female date while his male trainer enters separately and, when the lights go down, switches seats to be next to the star. Good try—but obviously the charade was shabby enough to eventually make it into print.

A popular argument in favor of celebs not going on the record with their gayness is that these people deserve privacy, after all. "It's nobody's business but theirs," onlookers counter—usually while devouring a trashy tabloid.

It's true that stars are free to put up whatever walls they want in order to maintain boundaries with the public. But even at their most controlling, straight stars never seem to leave out the fact that they're straight in interviews. Whenever a subject tells me, "I won't discuss who I'm dating" or "I resent labels," I generally know not so much that they're passionate about privacy but that they're gay, gay, gay.

Are the glassy—or ambiguous—stars tortured? Sometimes. It must be weird to be, say, Wanda Sykes and turn up with gal pals at New York City's gay lounge Beige and at Fire Island discos while seeming to exude a hope that no one notices enough to ask whether you are or aren't. But if played right, there are benefits to the high-wire act. As Signorile disdainfully puts it, "Anderson Cooper has finessed it where straight women who have a crush on him think he's straight and gay men actually think he's out. [The glass closeters] are able to play different niche audiences to whatever sexual orientation those people want, and they believe it!"

Once again, bravo! (said with rolling eyes). When halfheartedness is used as a career move, there's little to cheer about, especially when truthin' could be the road to real relief. As newfound lesbian Cynthia Nixon told New York magazine after coming out, "If someone is chasing you, stop running. And then they'll stop chasing you." So come on, people, just say the words. Or just mouth them. At least.

keith richards snorts his father?

this is pretty damn amazing...and hysterical and basically posted as an excuse to post this photograph ehheh
Keith Richards says he snorted father's ashes Stones guitarist mixed remains with cocaine — ‘it went down pretty well’ LONDON - Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of illegal substances in his time, but this may top them all. In comments published Tuesday, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist said he had snorted his father’s ashes mixed with cocaine. “The strangest thing I’ve tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father,” Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME. “He was cremated, and I couldn’t resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn’t have cared,” he said, adding that “it went down pretty well, and I’m still alive.” Richards’ father, Bert, died in 2002, at 84. Richards, one of rock’s legendary wild men, told the magazine that his survival was the result of luck, and advised young musicians against trying to emulate him. “I did it because that was the way I did it. Now people think it’s a way of life,” he was quoted as saying. “I’ve no pretensions about immortality,” he added. “I’m the same as everyone ... just kind of lucky. “I was No. 1 on the ‘who’s likely to die’ list for 10 years. I mean, I was really disappointed when I fell off the list,” Richards said. © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

alanis covers fergie!

absolutely fucking brilliant!
as if i didn't love alanis already...even though she got a little adult contemporary for a little while...she's bbbbback! with a vengeance!

i know cory!

i know cory....we almost dated...or did it ehhe...so proud of him!


Bigoted emails from Army recruiter outrage gay man
Monday, March 26, 2007
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Jersey City resident Corey Andrew, like thousands of other job seekers, recently posted his profile on a popular career-based web site, hoping to nab some work as a copywriter. But the response he received was anything but typical.

The posting on CareerBuilder.com brought several potential suitors, including an Army recruiter who replied in late February.


However, Andrew had no interest in joining the Army for a number of reasons, including the military's ban on openly gay and lesbian citizens from putting on the uniform. Andrew identifies himself as gay.

His lack of interest didn't stop him from asking the recruiter whether he was able to serve in the Army as a gay man. The question sparked a bizarre three-day exchange, escalating into a bigoted tirade from the recruiter and an official military investigation.

Using a military email address, U.S. Army recruiter Sgt. Marcia Ramode fired off an email in capital letters that " IF YOU ARE GAY WE DON'T TAKE YOU. YOU ARE CONSIDERED UNQUALIFIED."

After more prodding from Andrew on the Army's recruitment policy, the messages escalated into a bigoted tirade. For example, Ramode told Andrew that "being gay is disgusting and immoral."

In a separate email, Ramode wrote, "You must be a total idiot and so stupid to presume that you do not know what gender you are." Ramode added that Andrew should be more grateful to the military for defending his freedoms, but that as a gay man "he should leave the United States."

The insults were not only flying one way, as Andrew criticized her vocabulary and poor spelling and, after finding out she was a Native American, wrote:

"So take that to your next rain dance."

Ramode didn't limit her email attacks to insults about Andrew's sexual preferences.
Andrew, who is black, criticized Ramode's word choices and poor spelling. In response, the apparently enraged sergeant said in graphic language that Andrew should "GO BACK TO AFRICA AND DO YOUR GAY VOODOO LIMBO TANGO AND WANGO DANCE AND JUMP AROUND AND PRANCE AND RUN ALL OVER THE PLACE HALF NAKED THERE."

The U.S. Army Recruiting Command's Staff Judge Advocate has referred the email exchange to Ramode's commander for "review, investigation and appropriate action," Sgt. Douglas Smith, a public affairs officer based Fort Knox, Texas, said in a statement.

Under the Department of Defense's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, recruiters do not ask applicants any questions about their sexual orientation.

"If an applicant makes a statement that he or she is homosexual, the recruiter must inform the applicant in a professional manner that they are not eligible for enlistment," the statement said.

Andrew, who is also a singer-songwriter and has worked for New York's advertising giant Young & Rubicam, said he thinks the Army contacted him because the Iraq war has made it harder to recruit.

Steve Ralls, a director of communications for the Service Members Legal Defense Network, which helps victims of discrimination under the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, says Ramode should be fired.

"The recruiter's remarks were outrageous and offensive in almost every way," Ralls said. "Anti-gay harassment throughout the military is well documented but this is particularly egregious because the recruiter's language is so homophobic and racist."

Ralls is relieved the Army appears to be taking the email exchange seriously.

"The command expects its recruiters to conduct themselves in a professional manner in all dealings with potential applicants and members of the public," said Smith of the Army. "We are ambassadors for America's Army."

Ramode did not return phone calls seeking comment.


Here's some of the email exchange
Monday, March 26, 2007


Here's some of the email exchange between Corey Andrew of Jersey City and Sgt. Marcia Ramode on Feb. 27 and March 1 as provided to The Jersey Journal by Andrew. Misspellings, capital letters and grammatical errors are as they appear in the emails:

Sgt. Ramode: My name is Marcia Ramode, and I am United States Army recruiter. I saw your resume on career builder and we have lots of vacant positions in Logistics, Administration...If interested please give me a call at my toll free number.

Andrew: Awesome! Sounds great! The US Military has so many vacant positions and opportunities. I had no idea. I'm seriously considering contacting you. One thing, I'm not up on current politics but since its 2007, I would imagine also that I am now able to serve in the US military as an openly gay man, right?

Ramode: WELL IF YOU ARE GAY WE DON'T TAKE YOU. YOU ARE CONSIDERED UNQUALIFIED.

Andrew: Wow! Unqualified to serve my country just because I'm gay? It's because they think I might all of a sudden desire one last kiss from my fellow male solider if ever facing death at the hands of the enemy in a fox hole, isn't?... Funny, the US Government doesn't mind taking my "gay" dollars every tax season or out of my paycheck every two weeks. I'm stunned that the US ARMY could afford to be so choosey when I see sergeants on my school campus and in the local shopping Mall...begging teenagers to enlist.

Ramode: YOU ARE DEFINITELY UNQUALIFIED, NOW TAKE YOU GAY SELF SOMEPLACE ELSE WE DO NOT TOLERATE GAY PEOPLE LIKE YOU IN ANY PART OF THE MILITARY. AND IF IT BOTHERS YOU PAYING TAXES THEN MIGRATE TO ANOTHER COUNTRY.... AND IF IT BOTHERS YOU ABOUT THE US MILITARY RECRUITING THEN YOU GO TELL THE BOARD OF EDUCATION .... AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE RECRUITERS RECRUITING IN FRONT YOU HIGH SCHOOL THEN COMPLAIN TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OR BETTER YET TRY COMPLAINING TO MAYOR BLOOMBERG AND SEE WHAT HE HAS TO SAY... YOU SHOULD SAY THANK YOU MILITARY PEOPLE FOR WHAT YOU DO SO THAT YOU CAN LIVE A FREE LIFE IN THIS COUNTRY. FREEDOM IS NOT FREE.

Andrew: Before you go on waving your flag all over the place let me first inform you, that as an African American who's ancestry is most likely MORE deeply rooted in American history than yours ever will be...I respect the millions of soldiers fighting to protect my rights every day but just so you know, those rights include me being gay... I applaud servicemen and women everyday for their role in our country's protection. However, for you and the government to deem homosexuals "unqualified" to risk their own lives and defend their own freedom as well as their country's freedom, is moronic.

Ramode: OH I FORGOT TO LET YOU KNOW THAT YES YOU MIGHT TO TRY TO KISS A SOLDIER IN THE FOXHOLE SO THAT IS A NO NO.

Andrew: You are living proof that "Don't Ask Don't tell" is a fallacy. You initially rejected me without any consideration whatsoever of my integrity, or abilities. This behavior is at the very core of the discrimination that has plagued the USA for decades. You should know that I never had any intention of joining the military; I simply wanted to have this discussion to prove a point. With over 2,500 cases of anti-gay harassment acts against gay soldiers, including bashings and murders, for you to say the US Military only takes "straights" is delusional.

Ramode: YOU HEAD OFF TO THE GAY LAND OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO MORALS AND GET RID OF YOURSELF. PERSONALLY I THINK BEING GAY IS DISGUSTING AND IMMORAL.... AS AN AFRICAN HAVE NO PLACE TO SAY YOUR ROOTS ARE DEEPLY ROOTED HERE. MY ROOTS ARE MUCH STRONGER THAN YOURS. YOU WERE BROUGHT HERE BEING YOUR WILL POWER WHEREAS MY ROOTS RUN FROM THE NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN. I HAVE MORE RIGHTS HERE THAN YOU AND MY ROOTS HAVE BEEN HERE EVER SINCE BEFORE THE AMERICAS WERE DISCOVERED...YOU TAKE YOUR GAY A-- OFF SOMEPLACE AND GO TO SOME OTHER COUNTRY AND BADMOUTH THE MILITARY...TAKE YOUR A-- BACK WHERE YOU BELONG NOT HERE.

Andrew: Clearly with your limited vocabulary and poor spelling, the Army mayhave been the only option YOU had in life. Granted, there are highly intellectual people in the military. You're just not one of them. ...Native American history you are so proud of and research their position on homosexuality. They are very tolerant and accepting of homosexuals believing that the inner spirit is true to itself in its nature. They are less tolerant of fools than they are of homosexuals. So take that to your next rain dance.

Ramode: YOU GO BACK TO AFRICA AND DO YOUR GAY VOODOO LIMBO TANGO AND WANGO DANCE AND JUMP AROUND AND PRANCE AND RUN ALL OVER THE PLACE HALF NAKED THERE AND PRACTICE YOUR GAY MORALS OVER THERE THAT'S WHERE YOU BELONG....I AM REPORTING YOU AS SPAM AND ADDING YOU TO MY BLOCK SENDER LIST SO I DO NOT HAVE TO HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN....