NYC Mayoral Candidates Disagree on Obama’s Gay Rights Advances

Last night, gay rights came up once during the “lightning round” of the New York City mayoral debate between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Democratic opponent Comptroller William Thompson, who was recently endorsed by President Obama. The moderator asked: “Has President Obama done enough for gay rights?”

Bloomberg: “No.”

Thompson: “He’s been there nine months. Yes.”

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Gunfight Causes Stampede During Atlanta Black Gay Pride

Sundays in Piedmont Park are an enduring tradition at Atlanta’s Black Gay Pride. The APD estimates up to one thousand people were in the park on Sunday, peacefully gathering at cookouts and dancing while DJs played dance music and hip-hop. Last night’s gunfight and arrests were the only reported major disturbances over the holiday weekend.

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Bea Arthur Dies at 86

“The larger-than-life actress who scored on Broadway as the original matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof and the hard-drinking actress in Mame before she went on to star in the groundbreaking ’70s TV series Maude and, in the ’80s, the beloved sitcom The Golden Girls, has died. She was 86.”

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You’ll be missed Bea Arthur and you’ll always be Golden to us!

Omarion’s “Boys Night Out” with Chris Brown and Tyrese

R&B poptart Omarion finds the best way to lure the paparazzi—oh and butch up his image—is a spontaneous “boys night out” with accused girlfriend beaters Chris Brown and Tyrese “No Homo” Gibson. Just three pop stars hanging out and bowling, says OK! Magazine.

“On Saturday night, a Rihanna-free Chris enjoyed a boys’ night out with Tyrese, Omarion and actor Keith Robinson at Lucky Strike Lanes & Lounge in L.A. Chris arrived around 11:45PM, and Omarion arrived shortly after and met him in the luXe Lounge.

“Hanging out with his guy pals in the exclusive luXe lounge, witnesses tell OK! that Chris “appeared happy and was dancing around,” and “was being very flirty with the wait staff.”

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Seeking a Place to Call Home

Unlike other ethnic groups, the approximately 4,500 gay black men who reside in San Francisco do not have a central gathering place to meet, socialize and create a sense of community. The Castro is seen as a neighborhood for white gay men, and with the shuttering of the Pendulum bar several years ago, black gay men lost the last remaining gay space that catered to them.

“There is no place to socialize. It is very limited for us,” said Norman Tanner, an outreach worker with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Black Brothers Esteem program who has lived in the Tenderloin since the mid-1970s. “The nightlife is not what it used to be.”

Creating such a space is seen as key in not only addressing the spiritual and health needs of African American men who have sex with men, but also as a way to combat the disproportionately high prevalence of HIV infection within this subset of the city’s gay male population.

Read the entire post at Rod 2.0

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