To celebrate the holidays, Queerty is playing Santa to all your favorite folks and asking what they want under the tree/ next to the menorah/ beside the Saturnalia bonfire this year, no Ms. America answers allowed.
James Kirchick is the assistant editor of The New Republic and a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal and The Advocate, but you know him as the blogosphere’s gay that everyone loves to hate–after Sully, that is.
Whether he’s endorsing John McCain in The Advocate, calling the boycott of Republican-owned Manhunt a “temper tantrum” or examining the political clout of the Mormon Church, Kirchick always manages to get a reaction. And while we don’t agree with much of what he says, I think by now it’s obvious that we believe in the value of questioning the common wisdom, which is something James, love him or hate him, is an expert at.
What to get the gay community’s right-leaning l’enfant terrible for the holidays? Find out after the jump.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
“Is it just me or have leather weekend bags become the new tiny dogs for gay men? Leather duffles by Tommy Hilfiger, Fossil and other design companies are the necessary homosexual accessory, like Diesel Jeans were 7 years ago and pervy mustaches before that. Every cute, twenty-something ‘mo on the Amtrak or at Penn Station is carrying one these days; it’s as identifying a symbol of one’s being a friend of Dorothy as a Chihuahua in Chelsea. These , by Fossil in particular, are quite nice. Not only is this versatile luggage extremely convenient for a quick weekend getaway to visit the boyfriend, it also works as a gym bag. Buy me one and maybe I’ll start going there more frequently”
Jasonj
I guess you have those things to get attention when you’ve got a face like that.
ggreen
The “gay movement†certainly is growing we now have out proud gay crackpots galore. Ass hats like Jasmine Cannick and James Kirchick prove that stupidity knows no political stripe or race. What next a séance to find out what Roy Cohen wants for Christmas?
ChristopherM
The only reason people pay attention to him or Sully is because their opinions are so outrageous and unbelievable. It certainly isn’t for their talent or insight. They are the gay Ann Coulters, shocking people for a living.
Queerty Cliche
How vapid is it that everything Queerty is everything left-wing and absolutely boring.
Tim in SF
@Jasonj: Oh, come on Jason. With a face like his, he could easily get a job as a mortician.
tallskin
What, Manhunt is republican?
Explain please, what do you mean? Do you mean it is owned by someone with sympathies to the republican party?
Manhunt is making a serious attempt to break into the UK online dating market, in direct competition to Gaydar and GayRomeo. It is currently free for us over here, but once they are established I daresay this will change and charging will start.
Yalie
Jamie’s always been a queer pariah, even back in college at Yale.
Go look up his op-eds on the YDN’s website.
Joe Moag
@ChristopherM: BINGO!
ChristopherM
@Yalie:
“Queer Pariah” aka “Attention Whore”
Tim in SF
@tallskin: Well, there’s this: http://tinyurl.com/5zd8md and a bazillion follow-up stories on the Google: http://tinyurl.com/5maof3
Manhunt is Republican owned and supports Republican candidates. Don’t give them your money. Craigslist is FREE!
Nick
So I googled this guy’s stuff. At least it’s fairly obvious he’s a gadfly. Sullivan’s actually sincere (i.e. boring).
Tim in SF
@ChristopherM: Right. The only reason he gets any column space is that editors of gay rags are ALWAYS looking for some diversity of opinion and, believe it or not, gay rags have plenty of liberals and Democrats on their staffs.
So, because of this, utter wretches like Sullivan http://tinyurl.com/jrzfu and Bianco http://tinyurl.com/6mt8gu
(who Queerty has, shamefully, quoted in articles fairly recently) and any other sad sack, self-hating log cabinites who can string together two words get picked up by as many gay rags as exist. There’s so little competition among gays to toe the conservative line that the few who exist are famous.
Ugh. Makes me fucking sick.
Jasonj
@Tim in SF:
Queer Eye for the Dead Guy
Japhy Grant
@Queerty Cliche: You must have missed our first day on the job where we were accused of being a Fox News plant and a “closet Mormon.”
Charles J. Mueller
There is only one thing worse than a str8 who is down on queers. and that is a queer who is down on queers.
Bill Perdue
I suspect that what Kirchick most wanted for the holidays was the election of McCain and he won’t get it. However, other right-wingers like Andrew Sullivan, Moag and ChristopherM were more successful. They got Obama.
Even before he was elected Obama’s “god’s in the mix” joined the chorus of mormon and catholic bigots using superstition-driven bigotry to torpedo our right to same sex marriage in California, Florida and Arizona.
The rest of us got another look at the undercarriage of the Democrats bus as it ran us over again.
Joe Moag
@Bill Perdue: I only wish that I could be as effective as you, oh great Village Idiot – I mean Village Atheist. I am sure that you are a great gay leader among your people, among the handful of burned out old Maoist wannabes that you lead, like your boot-lick Charles Mueller.
Your brillaint Pol Pot-channelling post on the other thread about taxation and reducing everyone to a subsistence level in the name of a new, classless workers’ paradise seems oh-so-effective, and sure to propel your movement to the heights. I can’t wait for Year Zero to commence!
ChristopherM
Right wing? *giggle!* Bill, you are just adorable. You’re like the Ross Perot of the interwebs.
Joe Moag
@ChristopherM: Please. Bill would have to class it up by volumes to be as stupid as Ross Perot. That’s an insult to Perot, something that I didn’t think was possible for an imbecile of his stature.
Nick
@tallskin:
Yeah one of the owners is a big McCain supporting Republican who owns half the company so even though he stepped down from the board he still collects many millions of dollars a year off of fags who enjoy self-oppression. If you don’t mind 50% of your Manhunt monthly going to Republican causes – then knock yourself out.
And there was some confusion – a donation was made for 2300 to McCain then it was said an equal amount was given to Obama and that the McCain donation was returned – it was not.
Manhunt also dosen’t believe in the First Amendment and prevents you from saying anything political at all or anything they don’t like it would seem.
In England use Dudesnude.
Check out stopmanhunt.com for the history of this issue if you feel the need to know more.
ChristopherM
@Nick:
While I agree with you about most of the ills of Manhunt, they are a private company and don’t have to allow political speech. It isn’t a violation of the First Amendment. Only the government can violate that by censoring speech.
blake
@Japhy Grant:
When you took this job did no one explain how the site is has a legion of self-hating Republican trolls and racist wing nuts?
As for Kirk-up-chuck, ugh! Why do people continue pushing this crap that gays are all one homogeneous lump that only some conservative know-it-all gay guy can save?
There’s Sullivan, Chris Crain, Nora something or other. All a bunch of blowhards who look down there noses and pass judgment on the little people and, for many of them, parasitically, take advantage of the hard work and efforts of gays progressives who fight for equality. Weasels like this self-righteous jerk are a dime a dozen.
chuck
Moag just rotated his head 180 degrees and regurgitated another pot-full of putrid, green pea soup into our laps.
Not to worry, however. Being the veritable ventriculite he is, I am certain he can sop it all up before our very eyes as quickly as he spewed it out.
blake
@Bill Perdue:
Dude,
How can you blame Obama or the “Democrats” in general for Prop 8? 1) Hello! FIFTY-percent of eligible gay voters in California were too lazy to vote! 2) The major Democratic leaders spoke out against 8. 3) There are GLBT Americans who are religious. Right? 4) There are progressive religious people who voted against Prop 8. Right?
Making blatant statements about all people who are religious is just as wrong as making similar statements about gay people.
Fidel Castro is an atheist. He ordered horrible, anti-gay persecution in Cuba for decades. Stalin and other Soviet leaders did the same.
Charles J. Mueller
> “I only wish that I could be as effective as you, oh great Village Idiot – I mean Village Atheist. I am sure that you are a great gay leader among your people, among the handful of burned out old Maoist wannabes that you lead, like your boot-lick Charles Mueller.”
If one were to take away Moag’s lexicon of demeaning and degrading words and terminologies, he would be left with a pitiful, limited vocabulary with which to make his libelous, vilifying posts that he has become so accomplished at.
Is there a “Bitch of the Year Award”, I wonder?
Tim in SF
@blake: Blake, don’t even try to convince Bill Perdue of anything. There’s Conservatives, moderates, Liberals, far-left liberals, extreme liberals, and then there’s Bill Perdue. He thinks Obama is right wing. He’s stuck in the 60’s fighting all authority. Kinda sad, actually, since he is otherwise quite a good writer. 🙁
Distingué Traces
Motherfucker may be “terrible“, but he ain’t no “enfant“.
Joe Moag
@Charles J. Mueller: If one were to take away your Knight In Not-So-Shinging Armor, Bill Perdue, what you be left with? The need to suck-up to some other Pol Pot-Channeling hate-mongering religio-phobe “hero of the masses”, such as, oh, I don’t know…you two are both such ridiculous archtypes that you both create and break the mold all in one fell swoop.
Now, if my references are too complex for you, I can dumb it down with hand puppets, Charley.
Now run along, old man. There’s a nice dinner waiting for you at Boston Chicken and then the “Milk” showing with your “friend” (I love it when sad old farts refer to their mom as their “date” or their “friend”). This will allow you to once again harken back to the days when Harvey used to come into your store in New York, thereby – in your mind – giving you some level of “old school” gay street cred…
Run along, Charley…
Joe Moag
@Tim in SF: Bill Perdue is pathological. Don’t bother with him at all would be my advice. I am still trying to shake he and his equally pathetic side kick Charles J. Mueller, having made the sad mistake of trying to point something out to them.
Don’t make that mistake. Like all ridiculous things that lurk in closets, if you just ignore him, he goes away…
Roland Basque
Wherever there is a confab of elitists who seek to implement their demands at the subjugation and suffering of others you will find the majority of this group is comprised of self seeking heterophobes.
Roland Basque
The heavens were displeased with the sons of Arabia because of their proclivity towards homosexuality.The Arabs abuse women and beat them .They do not like women they only seek intimacy with other arab men.The practice of homosexuality was introduced to Arabia by Irish “wild geese”.The arabs took up this custom with great glee and even neglected their camels to bestow their affections on other Arabic males.Little is known about the original Irish practicioners of this custom other then they went on to the countries of England and Scotland for a lengthy sojourn.Now the Arabs perform puerile acts of violence to disguise their rampant homosexuality but without the desired results.The world is aware of the fact that homosexuality is a way of life in Arabia.
John Smith
Why doesn’t Queerty organize a boycott of the Advocate for employing James Kirchick and publishing his articles? Oh, wait. That would be no fun. As you say, he is the gay you love to hate.
hardmannyc
I always suspected he was bitter about the “gay mainstream” because he didn’t fit in. Now that I see his photo, I understand why.
Charles J. Mueller
@Joe Moag:
He’s mean. So mean!
Mom’s disappointed. Couldn’t bring yourself to something horrible to say about her too?
I’m sure you thought it.
Bill Perdue
@blake:
Blake, get a clue. The question is not who voted against (or refrained from voting for us) but why they did.
And the first answer is Obama and his ‘god’s in the mix’. He galvanized and empowered the Euroamerican bigot vote and they clobbered us.
Second on the list is the clarity of Yes on 8’s understanding that they were running a GLBT bashing operation. They had no illusions, no focus groups and no agenda except to go for the jugular.
Third was the political bankruptcy and tactical stupidity of No on 8. They acted as if the campaign was operating in a vacuum and did everything they could not to mention GLBT rights, the bashing going on or exactly who might be getting married. They refused to criticize Obama’s bigoted remarks. In a state where minorities are the clear majority they decided not to campaign in minority communities until the last minute and even then their effort was insultingly makeshift and Eurocentric.
Fourth is the fact that many in our own communities and among our allies don’t ever bother to vote because they know that elections don’t produce change. While that’s true for candidates and parties – there were no substantive differenced between the two right wing candidates – this election did produce a defeat for us in all three states. They should have voted and if No on 8 had appealed to their sense of GLBT solidarity many would have. But that would have been way too radical for the Democrats and movement hustlers who ran No on 8.
Religious people do tend to be bigots. That’s the truth of the matter. And if they’re GLBT folks their superstition and ability to accept delusional dogmas, aka, religion, often promotes self hatred and internalized homophobia. But then so can being part of the Democrat or Republican machines – look at Barney Frank and what he did to ENDA and at the dozens or so Republicans caught going down on men.
Learn to judge parties by their actions and results. Judging them by their promises is stupid.
Bill Perdue
@Tim in SF: Tim in SF. Grow up a bit.
As opposed to your poli sci version of politics here’s a better breakdown on political divisions based on the relation of the parties to the ruling rich.
On the far right are the street fascists like the KKK and some of the skinhead groups. They’re not very large and don’t pose a danger for the present. Then there are the theocrats, who are a danger because of their size and influence. Also on the far right are some of the neo-cons who think that what’s good for Texaco is good for the world and are willing to commit genocide from Palestine toe Pakistan to prove it.
Sharing many of the ideas of the theocrats and neocons are the right centrists. Obama, McCain, Biden and most of the leadership of the Democrats are right centrists. The Republicans are split between right centrists and the far right. Right centrists oppose social programs, socialized medicine and unions. They support NAFTA and support the bailout of the retarded rich who threw us into this recession cum depression. They propose austerity measures on working people. They support the oil piracy begun by Clinton and the Bushes. That’s Obama’s program to a T.
There are a few left centrists in the Democrat Party but few in its leadership. People keep touting Kucinich but he has about as much influence as a fart in a tornado.
The left is composed of the growing numbers of union members and local leaders who reject cooperation with management, GLBT groups for full equality, most African American nationalists, growing civilian and GI antiwar movements, a newly radicalized layer of students and youth, especially GLBT youth, and people from other communities who have no intention of sacrificing to make up for the mistakes of the retarded rich. The politics of the left lean towards socialism and the absolute recognition of the rights of minorities to control their own destinies.
Later, when your understanding passes the level of lectures about “How a Bill becomes a Law†and other sophomoric drivel you might give up your clueless infatuation with hustling bigots like Obama. If not you’ll end up like Moag.
Eeeewwwweeee.
Bill Perdue
Moag’s thinking is christian, anti-scientific and Eurocentric and expresses the bitterness of a wasted life. That’s because Moag lives in the Land of Oggedy Boogedy and enjoys a close relation ship with the big jeebus himself. Moag is proud of his ‘faith’, read delusions, and his roots among the Franciscans and Jesuits. The Franciscans are among the worst of the child rapists and they’re still at it. So are the Jesuits who have the added distinction of having expelled from a dozen or so countries because of the fascist or monarchist inclinations. Moag, who thinks he’s god’s nastiest ankle biting attack Chihuahua, is really just another sad papal pulpit pimp.
He started posting here to promote his home grown version of Opus Dei for the deluded on his insipid blog and when he finds out no ones interested he’ll go away.
Bill Perdue
@ChristopherM:
ChristopherM supported Obama without reservation and everything Obama screws up belongs to him. He’ll be reminded of that from time to time. Beginning with Prop 8. And every time the GI death toll jumps. And every time unions and working people take a hit from the Democrats.
ChristopherM
Bill, our basic beliefs really aren’t that different. The difference is I live in the real world, and you’re still somewhere having a be-in hoping that somehow that will raise the consciousness of the world.
Bill Perdue
@ChristopherM:
Our understandings, and because of that our loyalties, are very different. A central divergence became evident when you didn’t just fall for election promises or project your views on hustler candidates who don’t give a rat’s ass about us, but actually shilled for them. You knew the war would get worse under Obama and you supported him anyway. You heard him say ‘god’s in the mix’ and told people to ignore it. You don’t get a pass for that. What you will get are reminders of what you did when Obama turns on us.
Your “real” world is a temporarily comfortable world inhabited by collaborators. Sometimes that pays off, but it won’t here. Not with and unwinnable war and an economy headed for the morgue. You certainly have lousy timing.
ChristopherM
I didn’t know the war would get worse and in fact I don’t believe it will you nutty old hippie. Your posts should come with a soundtrack by the Grateful Dead.
hardmannyc
Oh no! It’s the return on Bill Perdue. Be prepared for 3,000-word responses to posts. Deep … deep … within the underground bunker in the hills of Nevada, he sits hunched at his computer as he rights the world’s wrongs and plans for world revolution …
Bill Perdue
@hardmannyc: Let’s try that again and see if it makes sense a third time. Oh no! It’s the return on Bill Perdue. Be prepared for 3,000-word responses to posts. Deep … deep … within the underground bunker in the hills of Nevada, he sits hunched at his computer as he rights the world’s wrongs and plans for world revolution …
No, it’s still just a pissant attempt at personalizing a political discussion by some anonymous twit with a burnt out steroidal blob in his brain pan. ‘Hardman’ (referring only to his carotids) doesn’t have a clue about politics. But it is probably wise that he remain anonymous for obvious reasons.
Charles J. Mueller
Bill, what else would you expect from a gay man who bloviates about the state of his penis in his screen name?
Bill Perdue
Oh, is that what he’s talking about? I thought it was his carotid arteries. There has to be some problem with the oyxgen supply to what’s left of his brain.
Tim in SF
@Bill Perdue: As opposed to your poli sci version of politics here’s a better breakdown on political divisions based on the relation of the parties to the ruling rich. Later, when your understanding passes the level of lectures about “How a Bill becomes a Law†and other sophomoric drivel you might give up your clueless infatuation with hustling bigots like Obama. If not you’ll end up like Moag.
My “poli-sci version of events” !?
I was the webmaster on Gavin Newsom’s 04 Mayoral campaign. We won.
I was the webmaster for the Hetch Hetchy Prop-A campaign, a billion dollar water system retrofit bond issue. We won.
I was the webmaster for the Elaine Shaw for Congress campaign. We won.
I was the web designer for the Dorris Ward for County Assessor campaign. We lost that one.
I was the webmaster for the San Francisco ballot proposition F: Entertainment Commission Appointments / YES on F Campaign. I won that one practically by myself.
I was the webmaster for the Save The Vet – yes on C campaign (a $270 million bond issue for retrofitting the Veteren’s Administration Building”) – We won.
I was the web designer for the Pension Parity for Firemen Campaign, SF ballot prop F. We won.
I was the web designer for the Mary Ann Andreas for California State Assembly Campaign. Lost that one.
I was the web designer for California State ballot props J, K, and 0 in 2004. Won all three.
I was the web designer for the San Francisco School Board member Heather Hiles:Heather Hiles for School Board Campaign campaign. We won that one.
I was a web designer for the Los Angeles Councilman Bernard Parks: Bernard Parks for Mayor of Los Angeles Campaign. Lost that one.
I was the web designer for Hayward Unites, a citizens action group which lobbied the state of California, local officials and community groups to protect federal construction funds for a new elementary school in Hayward, California. We got the funding for the school.
I’ve been the webmaster for both of Myrna Lim’s runs for SF supervisor district 11.
I was the web designer for California’s 2004 special election website, in which I worked with the California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley.
What have *you* done lately?
I’d happily throw down in a matchup of political bona fides against yours, Any. Day. Of. The. Week.
You hijack every thread with your way-off-topic insane rants. You can’t get a point across in under ten paragraphs. You are bloviating like a liberal version of Bill O’Reilly. I, for one, do not believe you know what you are talking about and I think the evidence is manifestly present every time you post. I think your time spent hijacking QUEERTY threads would be better spent hanging out with Wavy Gravy in Golden Gate Park.
Just a suggestion.
Roland Basque
@Tim in SF:
BILL P IS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT YOU ARE THE PURVEYOR OF POLITICAL PAP AND PIFFLE.
Bill Perdue
@Tim in SF: Get a grip Tim. Stop bellowing. Politics isn’t a contest of personalities but of ideas, analysis, and program. You have none.
That’s where you and all liberal centrists are found wanting. The sophomoric theory that public relations techniques and web design (web design???) trump politics is why we lost the vote on Prop 8.
Count the words in your posts. The number of ideas is not particularly dense given the verbiage spewed. And while I’m glad to see people improve their vocabulary, as you did copying the term bloviate from Charles Mueller, who uses it correctly, you misuse it and that can boomerang badly. Your posts are as long as mine but what they lack is ideas. Do you accuse everyone who disagrees with you of ‘hijacking’, or just leftists? Or only when you’re exposed as a poser.
Get used to the fact that liberal, Democrat connected campaign technicians like yourself are NOT part of the left. You’re a centrist. Centrists lost the vote because they had no analysis of what Obama’s bigotry was doing to our chances and because they were too chickenshit to call him on it.
Tim in SF
@Bill Perdue: How am I a centrist? Do you have any idea where I stand on the issues? Other than your fixation on Obama, I don’t think you can name a single issue on which we disagree! I’m not saying you’re crazy, Bill Perdue, but I feel like I am arguing with a crazy person!
I don’t know who Charles Muller is. Bloviate is defined as “to speak pompously and excessively” and I think it rather accurately describes your writing style.
And really, I can’t believe you’re dissing my contribution in so many campaigns. People should contribute in the best way they can. I’ve got fifteen years of web design experience. Why wouldn’t I use it towards positive ends? It beats the hell out of carrying a sign. How elitist of you to dismiss my contribution because I’m one of the workers in the trenches.
I noticed you didn’t answer my question, Bill Perdue: What have *you* done lately? oh, that’s right, you are conducting your one-man boycott of California produce.
Good luck with that.
Bill Perdue
See above. All Democrats are centrists, right or left. Liberals are centrist. Many, if not most Republicans are centrist. That’s why there are only cosmetic differences between the two.
Stop pouting. And lying. I didn’t attack your web design expertise, just the absurdity of equating it with political experience. If the GLBT left ever quits talking long enough to organize the GLBT Left I’ll ask them to contact you to set up our website. You have an impressive resume.
I just described what I do. Why would I boycott produce? Is the UFWA calling a boycott? I missed it. Oh, now I understand. You don’t have a political thought in you head so you had to make up something. That was a good one. Gosh, You had me going there for a minute.
Now have your little say and let’s end this. It’s not educational and I see not point in trading barbs with a technician.
Your turn.
chuck
Way back in the day, Harry Neilson did an album called “The Point”.
http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=18519
Is it just me or does Kirchick remind anyone of Oblio too?
PS: Only left-overs from the flower-power 70’s decade, like me will even remember who Harry Neilson was. 😉 Anyone remember Neilson Schmeilson?
Joe Moag
@chuck: Can’t live, if living is without you….I still gag thinking about it… 🙂
Joe Moag
@chuck: Then, after gagging, I put a lime in a coconut and feel much better
chuck
@Joe Moag:
Glad to see that I’m not the only old fart around heere. ;-0