Loud and Queer

Attention Sluts in California!  Keep your naughty deeds out of the public restrooms!

If you are caught getting dirty in a public restroom on a Cali beach, you could have your biz-ness exposed to the world!  TO THE WORLD!

Right now on the left coast, gay rights organizations are up-in-arms about  the decision by LA’s Manhattan Beach police to release — and many local media to publish — the names and photos of 18 men arrested in an undercover sex sting at a public restroom.

Leaders of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center charged that last week’s release of the mug shots, names and birthdates of the men could lead to public humiliation and more severe consequences.

The  agency said one of the arrestees had reported to them that a fellow suspect attempted suicide after the results of the sting were made public. A center official said Monday that he had no additional details about the suicide report.

The case and the coverage it has received have set off MAJOR discussion on several news sites. Some argued that the arrests and publicity will be useful in dissuading others who might want to procure sex in a public place (like George Michael, me, the Kony 2012 guy…) Others said the attention given to the suspects, who have not been charged, echoed the public shaming visited on gays in decades past.

Jim Key, chief spokesman for the Gay & Lesbian Center, said the Manhattan Beach PD could have worked with the center to try to stop men from meeting in the restroom. Key pointed to Los Angeles Police Department who took the public education approach, rather than mass arrests, to cut down on a public sex problem at Griffith Park.

Darrel Cummings, the center’s chief of staff, said the news should use more discretion before identifying suspects in “a victimless crime”…

“Naturally we don’t condone illegal activity of any kind,but these men haven’t been proven guilty and historically, charges such as those leveled against them have involved police entrapment. Publishing their photos serves no purpose other than to humiliate and destroy their lives.”

Among the media that displayed some, or all, of the photos were the Torrance-based Daily Breeze newspaper; the alternative LA Weekly newspaper; CBS2, KCAL9, NBC4 and KTLA, the latter owned by Tribune Co., which also owns the Los Angeles Times. The Times did not write a story on the arrests, but the newspaper posted KTLA’s video of the story. The Huffington Post’s “Gay Voices” page did not run the name or photos of the arrestees, but the site posted the NBC4 video, which showed several of the suspects’ mug shots. (now, if you head over to one of those sites to check out the culprits… Well, then you are as sick and dirty as I am…)

Representatives of the outlets that covered the story defended the publication of the photos. One Daily Breeze journalist, who declined to be identified, said the paper often publishes mug shots with crime stories – regardless of your sexuality!

“Why wouldn’t we use them? We run mugs all the time when the police release them to us, both misdemeanor and felony,” said the journalist. “Now we are supposed to protect some people, but not others?”

Kevin Cody, the veteran editor and publisher of the Easy Reader, bucked the trend. The alternative weekly did not run the pictures.

“In general, we don’t run names or photos from ‘police beat’ reports because reporting a person’s arrest leads to the inference they are guilty, which they may not be,” Cody said. “And we rarely follow up on ‘police beat’ type crimes, which means that, even if arrestees are found innocent, readers are left with the inference that they are guilty.”

“Imagine the hell one of those 18 would be unfairly put through if he just happened to get caught up in the sting when all he was doing was taking a leak after jogging on the Strand.”

Manhattan Beach police expect to submit the case to the district attorney’s office, probably this week. Among the possible misdemeanor charges: soliciting/engaging in lewd conduct in public place, loitering around a public toilet for the purpose of a lewd or unlawful act and indecent exposure.

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The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), those super A-list gays who usually spend their time fundraising and going to pool party orgies, have FINALLY done something we approve of…. They launched a video ad featuring Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Jason Mraz for its Americans for Marriage Equality campaign.

In the ad, Mraz says “I believe that people have a right to marry the person that they love.”

The video can be viewed online at HERE.

“Millions of Americans listen to Jason Mraz’s love songs, yet not all loving relationships are treated with the same dignity and respect,” said HRC President and notorious pig-bottom Joe Solmonese.  “Gay and lesbian couples share the same values as everyone else – love and commitment – and deserve equal treatment under the law.”

For those of you who have been living under a rock, Jason Mraz is a multi-Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter. He is also super adorable, a dedicated surfer, cyclist, yogi and activist. And obviously, he loves the gays!

His latest single, “I Won’t Give Up” is shaping up to be another pop smash, debuting in the #1 slot on Billboard’s “Digital Songs” chart.  “I Won’t Give Up” also quickly ascended to #1 on iTunes’ “Top Songs” and “Top Pop Songs” charts and topped other digital retailer charts around the world. The track is featured on his forthcoming album, Love is a Four Letter Word, which will arrive everywhere on April 17^th. 

Jason lends both his voice and his music to today’s video.  His new single, “I Won’t Give Up” plays in the background as he speaks out in favor of marriage equality nationwide.

This is the fifteenth video released by HRC for the Americans campaign.  Past videos feature Rossana Rosado, The Rev. Al Sharpton, Lloyd Blankfein, U.S. Sen. Al Franken, Michael K. Williams, Aisha Tyler, Dee Rees and Kim Wayans, Scott Fujita, Josh Charles, Katori Hall, John Leguizamo, Julian Bond, Mo’Nique, and Mayor Cory Booker.

About 53% of the American public supports marriage for same-sex couples, according to a number of nonpartisan polls, including Gallup, CNN, and Washington Post/ABC News.

The school agreed to let sophmore Couch, 16, wear the t-shirt on April 20, the annual Day of Silence, dedicated to raising awareness of anti-gay bullying and harassment.

“He’s happy he’s going to be able to wear the shirt on April 20, but this suit is about his ongoing right to freedom of expression, and that should not be limited to a single day,” Christopher Clark, an attorney with Lambda Legal,  told ABCNews.com.  .

“The case goes on,” he said.

Couch alleges that officials at Waynesville High School banned him from wearing the T-shirt on last year’s Day of Silence  and in the days that followed. The lawsuit that has grabbed national spotlight for what it means for student’s First Amendment rights.

Couch says principal Randy Gebhardt, who was named in the suit, told him the shirt was  ”indecent and sexual in nature” and had to be worn inside out.

“I was baffled,” Couch told ABC affiliate WCPO. “I don’t know how they see it as sexual, other than it having to do with sexual orientation.”

The lawsuit, which Couch will continue to pursue, asks that Couch be allowed to wear the shirt, and payment for attorneys’ fees and “nominal” damages, said Clark.

The school district superintendent, Patrick Dubbs, said that the district  had been blindsided by the lawsuit.

“It needs to be stated this happened a year ago, and it has not been an ongoing issue,” he said.  “We received one letter that came out of the clear blue months ago that asked us to please consider letting him wear this shirt that happened a year ago.  We discussed it a board meeting, and our attorney crafted a letter in response.  The next notice we got was press calls about the lawsuit.”

Clark disagrees.

“The truth is, this young man made numerous attempts in respectful ways to secure his right to wear the shirt.  On two occasions the principal asked him to remove the shirt and then on several occasions after, Maverick asked to wear the shirt and those requests were denied and he was threatened with suspension,” he said.

“Then we wrote a letter to the school district explaining what the law is regarding the First Amendment and expressed our hope that this ongoing violation of his First Amendment rights would stop,” said Clark.  “After that letter was sent, Maverick made several attempts to talk to the principal to find out if he was changing his position.  Instead we got the letter from the school district’s attorney that, in my opinion, in no uncertain terms, was the school district’s view that he could not wear the shirt because it was sexual in nature and therefore inappropriate.”

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The internationally renowned (and completely adorable) vocal group, BLAKE, gear up for their debut US release through Merovee Records. Get ready to heat up those iTunes!

For those of you not in the know… Blake are a classical vocal quartet, comprising Ollie Baines, Humphrey Berney, Jules Knight and Stephen Bowman. They are widely known as the group who formed on Facebook. (Why not, that is where I meet all my tricks!)

They released their debut album “Blake” in 2007, which won the Album of the Year Award at the Classical BRIT Awards in 2008.^[ The album contains covers of popular classical songs and themes from the movies, to create a more commercial classical-pop crossover sound.

They sang for Shirley Bassey at her 70th birthday party, and performed in front of 80,000 football fans at Wembley Stadium. In the summer of 2007 their version of the ‘Swing Low’ was chosen as the Official Anthem of the England rugby team for the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

In 2009, baritone Dominic Tighe ditched the boys to return to acting. So, they once again used  social media to recruit, looking for a new member on Twitter! After two weeks, and 55,000 subscribing to their “tweets”, Humphrey Berney (better known as “Barney”) joined the gang. (Evidently, the fact that I couldn’t sing was not enough for them. )

Legendary songwriter, Diane Warren, penned the majority of the songs on their new record, lending to the band a new and captivating sound. Members of Michael Buble’s backing band were also on board, as well as veteran producers Marc Swersky and Steve Greenwell. To date, the boys of BLAKE have achieved acclaimed success overseas selling over one million records with 3 international releases; two were nominated for Album of the Year in the UK, one is a Classical Brit Award winner. The natural evolution and growth of the band can be heard on the album’s first single “Start Over“ (available via itunes now! Buy it you whore! )