In Case You Missed the Tonys - Gayest TV I've Seen in a While

My favorite annual entertainment awards show, the Tonys celebrate the best of the year's performances on Broadway. Yep, a totally New York thing. And I love it. OK, I'm a Theater Queen - no denying it.

[In all of these, click on the "YouTube" logo to see it slightly larger (once you get there, click on the double-headed, right-angle arrow in the lower right of the screen to "expand") or click on the box with four arrows pointing to the corners on here to show it full screen - if you have the bandwidth and the resolution for it.]

This year's show had to be the gayest television presentation this side of the Logo network. It starts with Neil Patrick Harris (yes, he's openly gay), who's hosting again this year, along with dance companies from most of the nominated Musicals, singing "It's Not Just For Gays Anymore" (Broadway, that is) as the opening segment of the show:



Then, do you like tap-dancing sailors in tight pants? Check out the guys in the chorus (especially the one just to our right (stage left) of Sutton in most of this once the full chorus comes on - my personal fave) in this performance of the title number from "Anything Goes," which won Best Revival and features Sutton Foster (the new Ethel Mermon, in my book), who won Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical. These guys are hot:



So, then Hugh Jackson, who has hosted the show in the past, comes out and gives Neil Patrick Harris some crap about how he (Hugh)'s a better host. They wind up singing and dancing a medley of show tunes, including "Baby if I'm the Bottom, you're the Top" and waltzing around the stage with each other. Pretty campy:



Finally, not technically in the that's-so-gay category, but my favorite performance from the show, is this "I Believe" from "The Book of Mormon" - the huge hit brought to us by the creators of TV's "South Park." It wound up winning nine Tonys including Best Musical, as expected. This kid, Andrew Rannells (who was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, but didn't get it), totally captures the youthful exuberance and blind faith so typical of the Mormon Missionary experience (and I've definitely known a few of those who've later gone gay). I can't stop watching/listening to this - I love it!



Can't wait to get to New York to see that! Well, and maybe the sailors, too.

Broadway may not be just for Gays anymore, but it's definitely still for this one.

How’s your transgender IQ?

Ever heard of the Authentic Gender Model? Know the difference between Sex, Gender Role, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation? Have any idea what Genderqueer means? It’s time for Episcopalians to brush up on their gender knowledge.

As a Deputy to General Convention from the Diocese of Los Angeles, I attended (as an observer – I was a Deputy, but I wasn’t assigned to any legislative committee) many of the meetings of the Committee on World Mission because they had the task of dealing with all 13 of the anti-B033 resolutions that had been submitted by Deputies and Dioceses (including our own) and coming up with something meaningful, which they did with resolution D025, which ultimately passed.

They also dealt with several resolutions dealing with transgender issues, which most of the members were not familiar with. Members of TransEpiscopal who were following these resolutions wound up creating a glossary for them to help them deal with the terms involved and to try to get a little better understanding of what they were talking about. Ultimately resolution D032 was successful in getting the phrase “gender identity” added to the list of protected classes against which the church cannot discriminate when hiring lay employees.

Unfortunately, resolution C061, which attempted to add the phrase “gender identity and expression to the list of protected classes in Title III, Canon 1, Section 2 (the Canon on Ordained Ministries) was not successful. It passed in the House of Deputies, but the House of Bishops amended it to remove the whole list of protected classes (“…race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disabilities or age…” and change it read something along the lines of “The process of discerning who is called to ordained ministry is open to all people…” The Deputies weren’t happy with that, feeling that the list of protected classes still needs to be spelled out in the Canons, so the resolution failed. But the transgendered community made it clear (there was some particularly moving testimony from Deputy Dee Tavolaro, a 19 year-old trans-man from Rhode Island) that they would be back in three years to try again.

So it feels to me like it's time for us to get educated on some of this stuff. I've been gay my whole life (and out for most of it), but there's so much about the trans world that I'm unaware of. The Gender Identity Project has produced Transgender Basics, a 20 minute educational film on the concepts of gender and transgender people. I recommend it highly.

One Son's Choice: Love or Country?

Over at Newsweek, they have a great column called "My Turn," where readers can send in their own stories and maybe get them published. The 5 Feb 07 issue has a great one from a mom who has lost her son to Canada because he can marry the love of his life and live with all the rights and privileges that heterosexual marriage provides. Just can't do it in this country. As one Toronto immigration lawyer says, "Your loss, our gain." Here's a teaser...

My son Cameron is a model American citizen. He is a hardworking, tax-paying, law-abiding young man. An honor student, a National Merit Scholar, a dean's list mainstay. He is liked by his teachers, co-workers and bosses; he's kind to cats, dogs and little old ladies. He is an environmental engineer because he believes we need to save our planet. He is wildly in love with the first and only person he ever dated and their monogamous relationship is an example of what it means to be soulmates. Except for a brief interlude with hideous pink hair, he has led an exemplary life. My son will be an asset to his employer, his community and his country, but unfortunately for us, his country will not be the United States.

Cameron is moving to Canada. As soon as he graduates from school, he says, he is packing his bags and leaving.

Why is my son compelled to leave the only country he has ever known? Cameron is leaving because he is gay and because he wants what heterosexual American citizens take for granted. He wants to marry the one person in the world who makes him happier than anyone else. He wants to be able to go to the hospital when his partner, Aaron, is sick and have the same decision-making rights that heterosexual couples have as soon as they say "I do." He wants to be able to take advantage of family health-insurance rates that Aaron's company offers to all its heterosexual married couples but not to domestic partnership couples. He wants the tax breaks that heterosexual married couples get and the ability to inherit shared assets without paying taxes. He simply wants what he cannot have in this country.

Read the whole thing here.