It's Friday, kids. You know what that means? Well, yes, you're free to do as you please until your slave driver of a boss whips you Monday morning. But it also meants that it's time for Queerty ReBUTTal time. Hoorah!

You know the drill - dive into that there jump to read some our comments on some of your comments on some of our comments from this past week. Preemptive [sic], as usual.

• First, let it be known that we love when you guys help broaden an argument and/or direct us to something we overlooked. For example, this morning we wrote on Australian Prime Minister John Howard's push to ban HIV positive persons from immigrating to his country (Aussie PM Seeks HIV Ban). We neglected to mention, however, that the lovely United States of America has a similar law. Canadian reader Andrew provided an ACT-UP link regarding the controversial measure. Some of you may recall the hubbub over a 1989 ACT-UP meeting. The US government refused to let positive activist Hans Paul Verhoff enter the country. Subsequently, a 1993 meeting had to relocate to Amsterdam. The ACT-UPers write:

[The] ban made world news when a Dutch PWA (Hans Paul Verhoff) was denied entry into the U.S. in 1989 to speak at a conference in San Francisco and this same ban was the cause of the massive boycott of the 6th International Conference on AIDS in SF in 1990.

It was on this ban that caused the '92 International AIDS Conference to be moved from Boston to Amsterdam. It was at the Amsterdam AIDS Conference that activists, ACT UP chapters, and Elizabeth Taylor hosted a press conference flaunting Tomas Fabregas' re-entry into the U.S. as a resident PWA.

When activists demanded the release into this country of over a hundred HIV-positive Haitian political refugees unconscionably quarantined at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay (Cuba), the then-current practice of restricting travel and immigration of people with HIV was made into stricter law, following President Clinton's half-assed move to issue an executive order to eliminate the Ban. Senator Don Nickles (R-OK) initiated the amendment to the Senate version of the NIH revitalization act of 1993 (which gave the OAR budgetary authority among other things) and the House followed suit with an express "motion to instruct" the House conferees to make sure that the travel and immigration ban stuck through the conferencing of the legislation. Clinton signed the bill into law furthering restrictions on HIV entry into the U.S.

Very interesting. Thanks for the link, Andrew. We have to admit, we were too young in 1993 to understand what was happening there. If only we had been born earlier!!

• Moving on, let's spend some time on Roseanne. Or, rather, the emotions her allegedly homophobic comments stirred up (Roseanne Needs To Think Outside The Box). For those of you too lazy to follow the link provided, the actress and noted pro-gay activist came under faggot fire for this little slip-up:

[Gays] don't care about any other group other than their own self because you know, some people say being gay and lesbian is a totally narcissistic thing and sometimes I wonder.

We expressed a little disappointment in her ill-phrased remarks but, over all, agreed with what she had to say: gays need to think about other people's rights, too.

We expected a huge uproar, but you guys proved that our readers are the best readers. For example, "queertext" offered:

good for Roseanne. She's not uniformly right, of course, but we should take to heart what she is saying. "Gay" activism these days is a bunch of middle class white people agitating to marry so they can make sure their lover can get their money if they die.
Where are gays and lesbians marching against the war, fighting for minimum wage increases, holding the gov't accountable for racist education funding laws like No Child Left Behind or taking on the racist criminal justice and prisons system?

Right on. Although, the gays may be there and you may not notice. Later in the comments section, the same reader wrote:

...This constant comparison to Black civil rights is sloppy and often offensive, because you don't find gay communities taking the responsibility of undoing their own racism and white privilege. So let's argue for queer rights on our own terms, and not try and piggyback on other movements that are fighting to win their own battles. Let's help other movements win their battles...that's what Roseanne is saying.

Swoon! We're in love with you, queertext. Yes, the civil rights movement makes a convenient comparison, but not necessarily because racism and heterosexism are the same. The civil rights movement comes so easily only because it's the most talked about, taught and debated movement in American history. If American Indian rights had dominated the political arena, you can be sure gay people would be using that as a platform. Racism and heterosexism, however, are not the same. Not by a long shot. Nor do gays have the same history of oppression.

Also, we have to have a big belly laugh at poodle's comment:

she is only doing this because the release of her four emmy winning season is coming out on dvd.

me thinks queerty is going to benefit financially too. roseanne and queerty boys are in bed!

Oh man! Wouldn't that be nice. We'd love some of those residuals. By the way, nice "emmy winning" plug. Who's in bed now, fool?

• Speaking of being in bed with women. We broke new ground this week with Alessandra Ambrosia's Morning Goods. We have have to admit, we were a little scared about how you kids would take it. In fact, we commented to a lesbian reader that we feared being lynched for posting a sexy lady. Imagine our surprise, then, when you guys overwhelmingly supported the move! Reader "Nas" wrote:

i ain't a lesbian, and i sure as hell ain't a woman, but it's moments like these that i wish i were. damn!

Damn is right, Nas (hey, isn't Kelis going to have something to say about this?) Ambrosia's one fucking smoking hot chick. nystudman agrees: "I'd fuck her. I always say I'm gay, not blind." Of course, not everyone's so enthusiastic. The childishly named "Ewwww" responded with an equally childish "Boooooooooooooooo!" That's a lot of O's for something you're not cumming over. Meanwhile, ComradeThomas got all haterific on our asses:

Why is this one for the lesbians ? I HATE The Lesbians. Hate them. They are just a bunch of toads. Bad idea boys.

Hating on lesbians is like a conservative Jew hating on a reform Jew - idiotic. We're all in this shit together, dude. Sure, you don't have to love all lesbians (god knows we don't love all gays), but you can't say you hate all lesbians. That ain't fresh. As for it being a "bad idea", reader Bryan seems to think otherwise:

Brilliant. Excellent. Love it. Cheers to you, equal opportunity pin-uppers. I say equal opportunity has to go both ways. give with one end receive with the other. Share the love.

Another reader asked that we do two MG's a day: one for the ladies and one for the gents. Nice idea, but, as you point out, that's loads of work. We'd rather spend our energy on bringing you the morning news than scouring the internet for hotties. We can say, however, that we'll continue bringing you kids some luscious ladies.

• Midge Potts certainly qualifies as a luscious lady. Sure, she may have been born Mitchell, but that's no matter - this activist tranny has definitely left her mark by protesting Bush at the Valerie Plame hearing (Pink Plame Protester Speaks Out). Reader "The NWord" (we're hoping it's 'Nancy' and not nigger) makes a valid point:

Well, more power to Midge for her efforts, but it kind of bugs me that the only reason she got any media attention at all was for the who's-the-tranny speculation. Seriously, no one would have noticed her if she was about a foot shorter with a smaller jawline. Even if she was still dressed head to toe in pink.

That's definitely true, but we think it's swell the nation's so fascinated by a transsexual activist. Not only does Midge help spread the anti-war message, but she brings some (much needed) positive attention to the trans set.

Also, we have to pass along Midge's comment:

Thanks...

I really hope other people are inspired to "speak truth to power" wherever you are. In America, "all power is derived from the People", so let's live our lives that way!

Peace & Freedom,
Midge

Peace and Freedom indeed, Midge. We're all sorts of in love with you. Call us.

• We're totally not in love with Jim McGreevey, especially after his uber-ballsy attempt to deny his daughter the opportunity to meet Kelly Ripa, Diane Sawyer and other powerful women (McGreevey's Mind Still Lost). No, it seems he'd rather take her to Australia to meet his lover's parents. Damn, what a fool. Every commentator on that story agrees. Here's a taste from reader Noah:

McSleezy is just a user. I don't get how people can support someone with such sociopathic tendencies. Just because someone is gay does not mean he deserves support. This guy was against gay marriage/civil unions, cheated on his wife the day she gave birth to his child, and, of course, married the woman knowing that he was gay after a previous marriage to a woman. His excuse was that he needed a wife to get higher office and damn his wife's feelings or needs.

Word. McGreevey gives faggots a bad name.

• Let's end this Queerty ReBUTTal edition on a positive note. Remember how we told you Kevin Smith's making a horror movie called Red State and Fred Phelps inspired one of the characters (Fred Phelps Inspires Kevin Smith)? In that post, we mentioned that Kevin appeared on our favorite teen sudster, Degrassi (it goes there). Read Chaq left a little note asking when Smith appeared on the Canadian show. Well, Chaq, he appeared last season as himself. He was shooting a movie at Degrassi, or something. We're a little hazy on the details, so here's what Wikipedia has to say:

In early 2005, Smith appeared in three episodes of the Canadian-made Degrassi: The Next Generation television show. In the episodes, Smith, portraying himself, visited the school to work on the (fictional) film Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!. Smith wrote all his dialogue for the shows he appeared in. He also appeared in 2 more episodes later in the same season, when he returned to Degrassi for the movie release of Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh!.

In addition to appearing on Degrassi: The Next Generation, Kevin Smith is an avid fan of the original Degrassi series, Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High and references to the original are present in some of his early films.

You know why he likes Degrassi so much? Because it goes there. Where? There.

Speaking of going - we're off like a prom dress!
Have good weekends, readers!

xoxo,
Queerty