Sex & Society

Two big shots in the adult-entertainment industry, Larry Flynt (of "Hustler" fame) and Joe Francis (creator of "Girls Gone Wild") want in on the government bailouts. They have petitioned Washington for a whopping $5 billion.

“The government’s handing out money to the auto industry,” Francis said. “Why shouldn’t it hand some to an industry the nation could not live without?”

Adult star Jenna Presley said her website has seen a 20 percent decline in customers, forcing her to cut back on overhead costs. (Fewer wet naps?)

“I said, ‘I’ve got to stop paying guys and girls to perform with, and I’ve got to find (other Web site proprietors) to do a content exchange with,’ ” Presley said.

However, as far as a bailout is concerned, Presley said the industry just needs to change with the time. “I’m not taking this bailout request seriously,” Presley said. “I love Larry. He’s a great guy. But he doesn’t need $5 billion.”

Rep. Brad Sherman from Sherman Oaks agrees. “I regret that two porn-industry executives have used the current economic crisis to launch an obvious publicity stunt. As Americans face tough economic times, we need a serious discussion of the issues.”

“People are too depressed to be sexually active,” Flynt countered in a news release. “This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such, but they cannot do without sex.”

Something tells us that Republicans and conservative Democrats will draw the line on this one ...

In an effort to end homophobia in football (soccer) the likes of David Beckham, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo are being asked to join forces in a Public Service Announcement (PSA) to be screened at soccer stadiums and in schools throughout the UK.  The message: "kick anti-gay prejudice off the pitch and out of the terraces."

The Football Association and the Professional Footballers Association have promised £20,000 in funding for the project.

"I know of a group of gay footballers who would not feel comfortable coming out at the moment," said project organizer Peter Tatchell. "This video might be the precursor to that happening, and if it's well received, I suspect it will give some players the confidence to think about coming out."

In British football history only one player has been open about his homosexuality, and that didn't end well. Justin Fashanu committed suicide in 1998 after suffering from years of abuse and bigotry from teammates and football fans.

Tatchell noted: "The plan is to feature big-name stars speaking out against homophobia, in order to make anti-gay chants look as stupid, ignorant and uncool as racist ones."

We think Beckham should just come out (gay or not). He could even be a bi man. And then we could get married in some strange three way with Victoria and live happily ever after in a villa on the west coast of Spain and ... but we digress.

Campbell Soup Company's recent ad in The Advocate has angered conservative types. The two page spread features Cafe Forant Chef Lea Forant with her partner, Carolyn, and their young son Eli.

The American Family Association (AFA) was quick to attack the company for "a message that homosexual parents constitute a family and are worthy of support." The AFA is urging members to write to Campbell's President Douglas Conant and "tell him you want his company to stop supporting the gay agenda."

Campbell's, however, refuses to give in. "Our position on this is pretty straightforward," said company rep Anthony Sanzio. “Inclusion and diversity play an important role in our business, and that fact is reflected in our marketing plan. For more than a century, people from all walks for life have enjoyed Campbell’s products, and we will continue to try to communicate in ways that are meaningful and relevant to them.

"Our plans for the Swanson brand include additional placements in The Advocate."

We can understand the AFA's concern. First it's soup, and then what? Frozen pizza? We gays will be eating just like everybody else soon.

Watch your back Martha Stewart; there's a new domestic diva on the scene and she's a he. Note to Johnny Hazzard: the apron has got to go!

Johnny completed the clip for unzipped.net.

Pope Bene-Dick XVI this week called for the protection of straight people, comparing the Catholic church’s role in defending the traditional family to saving the rain forests. He also attacked gender theory,  the study of how sexual gender affects behavior. The church dismisses gender theory, which gay and lesbian groups see as a key to understanding and tolerance.

What we don't get is how a man who appears in public like this can possibly have a problem with a liberal interpretation of gender.

President-elect Barack Obama has the gay community up in arms after he chose evangelicall pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the presidential inauguration in January.

Warren is seen as a very influential religious leader with a noticeably right-leaning ideology. For example, he is a vocal opponent of gay marriage.

"For 5,000 years, every culture and every religion -- not just Christianity -- has defined marriage as a contract between men and women," Warren wrote in a newsletter to his congregation. "There is no reason to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population."

Hello; it's 10 percent, thank you very much.

"[It's] shrewd politics, but if anyone is under any illusion that Obama is interested in advancing gay equality, they should probably sober up now," columnist Andrew Sullivan wrote.

"There is no substantive difference between Rick Warren and James Dobson (founder of Focus on the Family)," People for the American Way President Kathryn Kolbert said. "The only difference is tone. His tone is moderate, but his ideas are radical."

Linda Douglass, an Obama spokeswoman, argued the decision proved that "this is going to be the most inclusive, open, accessible inauguration in American history." Because God forbid we forget to include the bigots.

The fight for gay rights is not limited to humans. Two queer penguins were separated by zookeepers after the pair started stealing from other birds. The two would place stones at the feet of the parents before escaping with their eggs.

As word spread about the separation, Polar Land in Harbin, northern China, was confronted by angry animal rights activists who demanded the pair be reunited and be allowed to care for an egg or two.

"It wasn't fair to stop them becoming parents," said one protestor, "and keep them apart from all the other birds just because of the way nature has made them.'

Zookeepers eventually gave in.

"We decided to give them two eggs from another couple whose hatching ability had been poor and they've turned out to be the best parents in the whole zoo,' said one of the keepers.

"It's very encouraging and if this works out well we will try to arrange for them to become real parents themselves with artificial insemination."

We need a few of those animal rights activists working for us!

In New York's ongoing social cleansing campaign, the police are using questionable tactics to close down  venues that queers have patronized for generations, sweeping up innocent men in their zeal.

Gay City News reported this week on a disturbing pattern of arrests and prosecutions used to shut down porn shops. Typically, a New York City police officer  poses as a patron in a cruisy area of a porn shop, offering money to another man for sex and then promptly arresting him for prositution.

Once a video shop has been found to be a venue in which prostitution arrests have been made, the city fines it and imposes conditions to prevent future offences. But if another arrest is made the city sues the business to have it shut down once and for all.

Most of the men charged with prostitution plead guily to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct and receive small fines and minor sentences. Those arrest records will eventually be sealed, which suggests the men had never had a run-in with the law before. 

In the case of  Blue Door Video, eight  of the 12 men arrested for being prostitutes were between the ages of 42 and 54 -- not the typical age for a hustler.  Another man arrested was visiting from Europe with his partner --  quite a distance to travel in order to turn a $20 trick.

"A lot of what's known suggests that this was a massive violation of the civil rights of those arrested who were charged falsely," William K. Dobbs, an attorney and gay civil libertarian, told Gay City News. "The circumstances surrounding these arrests don't add up to what the police claim."

For more details see: "Shuttering Porn Shops, City Fakes Arrests";
"NYPD, City Respond to Questions About Prostitution Arrests"

While more companies are setting up shop online to avoid the overhead costs of a bricks and mortar store, porn directrix Chi Chi LaRue is doing the opposite. She will be opening a brand new shop on Dec. 11 on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood.

The store will carry the whole Channel 1 catalog, including All Worlds Video and Catalina Video, and will also offer Rascal Video titles.

“This is the first time a customer will be able to find every Rascal, All Worlds, Catalina and Dirk Yates title under one roof,” C1R partner Rob Novinger said. “It is physically impossible for retailers to stock our full library.”

Toys and other novelty items will also be available.

“This place is going to be over-the-top fabulous,” LaRue said. “I’m thrilled to be opening a store where customers can come and get the full Chi Chi experience.”

Does that mean every shopper gets their own personal fluffer?

The Catholic Church in Poland is up in arms over IKEA's latest catalogue which features same-sex couples. The Church is even planning a boycott of the store.

"I would not like to cease doing shopping in IKEA but if the firm does not stop promoting homosexual relationships, I will, unfortunately, feel compelled to do so and I will notify about it all the people I know so that they do the same," one Catholic woman wrote.

"Treating single-sex relationships on a par with married couples is impermissible," said Grzegorz Górny, the editor-in-chief of Fronda.pl, the website behind the possible boycott. "IKEA's publication is a promotion of a particular style of living, which does not deserve public propagation. ... This is done to establish their picture in society as equal and then to legalise them."

IKEA refuses to back down. "Homosexuality is one of the essential elements of living in contemporary society," said IKEA spokesperson Karolina Horoszczak.

IKEA has faced criticism of promoting the queer "lifestyle" before. One TV spot showed a gay male couple playing with their young daughter and the tag-line: "Why shouldn't sofas come in flavours, like families?"

It does make you wonder, though, what will Polish-Catholic university students do for furniture?

The transition team helping Obama settle into his new role as US President has a surprisingly pink hue. Seven openly gay people have been asked to join the team to help bring in a new era of non-Bush politics. Happy day. 

Three of  people named have some experience, having worked with the Clinton administration, are businessman Fred P. Hochberg, former San Francisco Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg, and labor attorney Elaine Kaplan. 

Michael Guest, President Bush’s former ambassador to Romania, will also be joining the team.  Last year, Guest caused some controversy after announcing he was retiring to protest a State Department policy that denies spousal benefits to same-sex partners of Foreign Service officers. He named Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as one of the chief roadblocks, as she had authority to provide some benefits but refused.

Granted, 7 appointments is a drop in the bucket, what with more than 300 people appointed to various transition review panels this week. However, it still provides the gay community with some influence as each team will “provide the president-elect, the vice president-elect, and key advisors with information needed to make strategic policy, budgetary, and personnel decisions prior to the inauguration.”

We think he needs to consider at least one drag queen. She'd certainly be able to put any haters in their place!

Aussie politics just got a lot more interesting. Australia's adult industry trade association, the Eros Foundation, has created the Australian Sex Party hoping to take on the growing power of religious conservatism in the country.

"There is a new conservatism creeping up in Australia - we're becoming a nanny state where politicians can't talk about sex without giggling or saying something negative," said Eros Foundation CEO Fiona Patten. "I think there are enough free-minded thinking individuals for us to win seats."

The plan to control access to what Australians can view on the Internet is just one example of why the party was formed. Their battle cry: "We're Serious About Sex."

The party platform includes: overturning the new ISP filtering of the Internet; develop a national sex education curriculum for secondary schools; allow Viagra and other drugs to be listed in Pharmaceutical Benefits plans; and to provide equal rights in all areas of the law for gay, lesbian and transsexual couples.

Yes, it's that kind of sex party, not the Aussie orgy we were hoping for.