Family Affairs: The Gay Mafia?

Many thanks to those of you who were able to attend last night’s Gender PANIC! reading at Nowhere in the East Village. We had a great time listening to the stories and poetry of our three featured renegade writers. In a city that’s become overrun with Starbucks and practically cleansed of counterculture (hipsters are not counterculture, sorry), someone’s got to keep it real. You won’t get rid of all of us! I promise to deliver even more original sexiness at next month’s reading, where I’ll be featuring “female desire” as the theme. Details to follow soon…

Some weeks ago, I posted a piece on “gay gangs” and all of the media hoopla surrounding that “epidemic”. Turned out it was a sensationalized ploy by desperate, conservative newscasters who magnified queer-related crimes and self-identified queer gangs, grouping them with locusts, armageddon and apocalypse. It’s easy to forget that homosexuality in America was (and I believe still is in some places) an illegal behavior/orientation. As a result, anything related to queerness was/is illegal by association and this mentality is deeply-entrenched into our national psyche. Crime and homosexuality were long ago linked by mainstream hostility, and the words “gay” and “Mafia” have increasingly become joined at the hip. So what is this gay mafia I keep hearing about and does it really exist? What I discovered was far more interesting than what I was looking for—love when that happens!

The first article I accessed after Googling “gay mafia” was a gossip piece on billionaire celebrities and entertainment moguls, gay ones at that; those who use their wealth for political purposes, funding political candidates and so forth. So disappointing. Who cares? As soon as the name David Geffen appeared I winced and when I saw the combination of “Elton” and “John” I nearly vomited and went to the next listing.

And then it happened—SHAZAAM!

http://www.bitterqueen.typepad.com/

Now this jewel of a blog (listed above) was what I had in mind—it was even more than that. I LOVE sleazy history and this should satisfy me for weeks, if not months. This blog illustrates how queers have been used by everyone from the police to the Mafia for a quick buck (amongst other things). Examining this lovely consortium of links made me realize that it was not that long ago that our public gathering (in New York City mind you) was suppressed and questionably legal.

Gay bars sprung up in downtown New York City as far back as the mid-1800s, though I doubt they were known as “gay bars”; they just happened to cater to “painted ladies” and the interesting men working in the growing theater industry. (Anyone who wants to know more about this should look into Timothy Gilfoyle’s very excellent book City of Eros, a history of New York City prostitution, 1790-1920). In the wake of World War II, thousands of men who had experienced more relaxed attitudes toward sexuality abroad found themselves in large port cities such as New York and San Francisco. A pansexual, pornographic subculture began to flourish on Manhattan’s West Side, eventually basing itself on West 42nd Street, in and around Times Square. Gay bars at this time also operated in and around the Greenwich Village, but were often shut down by the State Liquor Authority for various reasons; bars catering to homosexuals were routinely denied liquor licenses to begin with. It was the Mattachine Society who challenged these “laws” and helped bar owner hopefuls attain the legal platform with which to acquire licenses.

There was a spate of gay bar closings in the late 1950s through about 1960, fueled by no other than the New York Police Department. This vacuum of gay bars and clubs was filled by the enterprising Mafia, who saw the possibility for making quick and large profits by buying faltering straight joints, redecorating them, and paying “connected” queens to spread the word. As soon as the bar became profitable, they would shut it down and start over again elsewhere, repeating the process. According to celebrity journalists/writers Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer, in the 1950s:

“All fairy night clubs and gathering places are illegal, and operate only through pay-offs to the authorities. They are organized into a national circuit, controlled by the Mafia which also finds unique opportunity to sell dope in such dives. Many gangsters like it that way, too, after indoctrination in prison.”

Ooh, I’m telling! It’s been alleged that even the iconic Stonewall Inn somehow avoided being shut down by the police, operating for years without a liquor license. The Mafia also spearheaded prostitution rings, illicit gambling enterprises, and was a catalyst for the popularizing of heroin, which many war veterans had become fond of in Asia, where it was created by refining morphine. Other interesting tidbits I found (but did not have time to research) questioned certain mobsters’ heterosexuality and spoke of the interesting marriage between a notorious mob boss (who oversaw a Manhattan gay bar empire) and a woman who had open lesbian affairs he approved of. There’s always next time for that!

So once again, oppressive laws and acts such as the Prohibition (which was largely ignored) created the demand for illicit subcultures funded by the mob, who took an especial interest in fulfilling the demand for public venues where groups such as queers could meet and mingle—in order to generate the money that the government ignored. If we need to learn anything from this fascinating history (and many won’t) is that the forbidden fruit is often the most desired. Taboo stirs the soul like nothing else and human nature will always find a place, wherever it can, to express itself. Stricture inspires rebellion, landing unlikely partners, such as the mob and queers, into the same bed. And now we have…

Charlie Vázquez

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Support Prison Illiteracy Rehabilitation!

Creatures of the sun, creatures of the moon…I promise I’ll change this picture soon….

For those of you in Gotham, I’ll be hosting “GENDER PANIC! – literary excursions into otherness”, a reading at Nowhere in the East Village that will focus on writers and writing reflecting gender variance. That’s this coming Wednesday, February 25th, 8pm, 21+, free. For more info, go to

www.firekingpress.com.

And speaking of reading…

I’ll begin by apologizing for the brevity of this post (though some of you might be relieved), as other things ate my time during the course of the last week. But this is just as urgent as anything else I’ve posted. Greasing the wheels of a revolution…

I was wondering what to do with some of the many, many books I have. The ones I know I’ll never read. And while doing some research, I came across wonderful websites (listed below) that tell you how you can send new and used books to prisons and how to support the many rehabilitation programs across the land that seek to strengthen the literacy rates of inmates, in hopes of helping them start anew. The cost of keeping a man in federal prison can rival the tuition of America’s best colleges and many activists believe that encouraging better literacy for the 49% (average) of incarcerated men and women with less than high school-level reading skills will make a difference. (This applies to the USA, but there may or may not be similar services elsewhere. It shouldn’t be hard to find out, and if you find similar programs outside of the USA, feel free to post as a comment.)

Someone near and dear to me is serving time in federal prison through next year and my first thought was to send my books to him, but I know that many of them are books he wouldn’t want to read. But someone else might. The wonderful folks at Prison Pen Pals used to send the books for you, but now for mere dollars, you can send valuable classics, business how-to, self-help, poetry, fiction and other life-improving books directly to prison libraries near you (the closer they are, the cheaper the postage). I’m sure the prisons censor the incoming literature, etc, but leave that to them. This is something that might actually make a difference to someone, and I promise to do my share on my end. Give the gift of books to those who really need them…I know of many people who didn’t become regular readers until they served jail time (I’m from the Bronx, ok?) and your kind actions might just help someone get to that next step in their lives, while their recreational options are scant and they can focus and plan ahead.

Go to the following websites, where mailing addresses and kinds of books needed are listed by institution. As for Prison Pen Pals, each prison has its own rules (some of them are weird), but you will find one that wants what you have. And please tell others about this if you can. Any comments on this?

Prison Pen Pals

http://www.prisonpenpals.com/booksbehindbars.html

Circle of Literacy

http://www.literacyinprison.com/

Great Books Foundation, Chicago

http://www.greatbooks.org

Charlie Vazquez, NYC

www.firekingpress.com

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Are Queers Bullying Christians?

Greetings little creatures, near and far! I’ll be hosting “GENDER PANIC! – literary excursions into otherness”, a reading at Nowhere in the East Village that will focus on writers and writing reflecting gender variance. That’s on Wednesday, February 25th, 8pm, 21+, free. For more info, go to www.firekingpress.com.

Fellow queer writer Vince Sgambati sent me this terrifying link the other day, and although I’ll surprise you with something funny someday, today is not that day. I’m not being a drama queen either—these are the “Lizard People” if ever there were any. I’m certain that this frightening crusade, as perpetuated by no other than fear-driven, desperate conservative Christians, hits closer to home for Vince and his partner, as they adopted a beautiful little girl, who I was lucky to meet at one of the Queer and Catholic readings last September. If she wasn’t happy to have two sweet fathers who love her, then I’m the Virgin Guadalupe! There are people out there working to do anything they can to dissolve, what they consider, “untraditional” families.

For your viewing (dis-) pleasure: http://www.silencingchristians.com/

Speechless: Silencing the Christians (can you believe it?) is an hour-long documentary chronicling the “abuse” being served to Christians who actively challenge the “Homosexual Agenda”; it is brimming and over-pouring with their familiar brand of fear-splattered propaganda. These right-wing Christians claim that this war against the Bible is being perpetuated by the liberal and secular media (maybe this has something to do with the fact that the media is educated?). I already knew how I would react before watching it and would like to share my thoughts—and hopefully hear yours—on this controversial battle between “moral traditionalists” and the queer equality movement.

Speechless: Silencing the Christians immediately throws out a call-to-arms to fellow conservative Christians, claiming that Christian morals, the church itself, freedom of speech—and even children—are being imperiled by the advancement of queer equality. This hysterical heap of privileged white Christian horse-crap is nauseating on every front. These people really believe that they speak the absolute truth and that all opposed to them are hell-bound sinners and criminals. They are unenlightened and trapped in the Dark Ages; they insist that they can save queers with tactics that will turn any queen into a straight, woman-chasing suburban husband. Um, sure. I’ve read various articles on this “deprogramming sensation” and the failure rate is high. Suppressing your sexual desire doesn’t change your sexual orientation, but they can keep believing this if they want to (it complements the rest of their nonsense).

They warn that “traditional values” are under siege and they’re feverishly opposed to gay adoption. They are outraged by the possibility that gays may one day openly serve in the military and claim that if a queer person were to ask for a job at a Christian bookstore they might happen to own, they could be penalized for refusing him/her the job. Watch it if you don’t believe me! Their problem is that they’re not changing with the times, with the rest of the contemporary world they forget other people live in. The narrator (who looks like a girl’s gym teacher) announces that Barack Obama is promising to be a catalyst for the dismantling of these Christian traditions, with his promises to loosen restrictions on gays in the military and elsewhere. This suspiciously sounds like the 22% of the population that supported George W. to his last day. Who else can it be?

Desperation breeds audacity. During the course of the documentary they martyr themselves by using children and old ladies as a means to enrage fellow Christians who really believe that queers are out to hurt cute little Sally and frail, innocent grandma. Seriously. And the men–I’ve never heard a lowlier pack of emasculated, frustrated morons and closet cases in my life. (My boyfriend also pointed out a possible future gay sex scandal candidate, but I will let you decide should you feel the urge.) These people are so hung up about sex that it constantly surfaces in their attempts at proving that all queers are immoral heathens. Their small-mindedness is just pitiful.

So what is their obsession with gay sex, or shall I ask Ted Haggard? Sadomasochistic footage (The Passion of the Christ?) of the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco, of course, surfaces, as does the arrest of Christian protesters at a pride event in Philadelphia, where, as they claim, two 75-year-old women were arrested and almost spent “years in jail” for trying to spread the gospel. Um, take a hint, people. They say that their “freedom of speech” is in jeopardy because of hate crimes legislation, but I doubt that they realize that this kind of legislation came into creation because of unjustified crimes committed against queers that their “teachings” helped to perpetuate.

The word “tolerance” also gets used a lot throughout the film, but you have to wonder how many of these wackos even know the meaning of the word. Going to prison sounds worse than beating someone’s head in, so you tolerate them. Tolerance is used to suggest “acceptance”, but these are two very different words (hint: read other books once in a while). They believe that everyone should live by their archaic, Christian principles, even if you don’t live in Tupelo, Mississippi, and happen to live in, say, Los Angeles. The reason they’re falling behind is that they don’t believe in evolution, to any degree: evolution of their scriptures, in natural history, or in this lifetime.

They’re also projecting all of the violence of their church’s legacy onto the queer rights movement. You have to wonder how many of them know the actual history of their own church. Christianity’s history of justifying violence to spread the gospel and increase the number of Christians in the world is something that they will never be able to shake off, considering how un-Christian it really is. Christian violence is a darker and more sinister stain than any queer version they try to invent and inflate.

Their emphasis on LGBT folk and our “special rights” underscores the basis of their short-sightedness, what people who are neither queer nor conservative Christian are finding bigoted about them. According to them, we do not deserve equal rights because we are not equal to begin with. We are somewhat human, but not deserving of equality. So when laws elevate our rights to match theirs, they’re considered “special rights”. Well, I’ll be damned!

But what I think frightens them most is the diversifying of America; they are adverse to other religions and ravenously xenophobic (afraid of foreigners). White supremacy is masked with religion. These people live isolated, narrow-minded lives, and this is their choice. White America (which was always a bigoted illusion) is becoming increasingly ethnic, with Latinos chopping the charts. People move to the USA from all over the world—Buddhists, Muslims, atheists—non-Christians. Their white Christian privilege is what is really under siege and the confines of their teachings do not allow for reform. As religious strictures lose their power of persuasion amongst more educated generations, the weight of their arsenal is reduced.

But to claim that queers are responsible for what they see as “the disintegration of society” and the “corruption of children” is simply intolerable. They mean to say they breed perfect children? My youngest brother’s father died shortly after he was born and my weekly time with him is the closest to that relationship that he has right now—I am an asset. These evil and divisive folks are on the same crusade they started hundreds of years ago, except that this time, they insist the violence is being hurled at them. They claim they’re protecting the safety of the public by fighting queer equality and whatever they seem to think they have in common with a shy, miraculous and compassionate Jew eludes me. And although these conservative “Christians” are far from harmless, I suspect that their latest calls for action signal large-scale changes in the country and world around them, changes that they are not accepting. Evil.

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The Reverend Al Sharpton and Queer Politics

Thanks for stopping by to check things out…later in the month I’ll be hosting “GENDER PANIC! – Poetical probing into otherness”, a reading at Nowhere in the East Village that will focus on writers and writing reflecting gender variance. More details to follow soon…

The mere mention of the name “Reverend Al Sharpton” raises as many eyebrows for hopeful reasons, as it does for venomous omens. I, like many Americans, never heard of the Reverend Sharpton until the controversial Tawana Brawley fiasco of the 1980s. I was too occupied with my adolescence to really follow the scandal; one which began with Ms. Brawley’s claims that she’d been raped by six white men (including police officers), and ended with allegations of a complete hoax on her part. The Reverend Sharpton was one of her fiercest supporters during the frenzy and my first impression of him was a mixed bag of civil rights soldier and media manipulator.

Fast forward.

During the 1990s, the Reverend Sharpton kept busy by organizing marches and protests throughout New York in response to crimes against people of color. In 1991 he was even stabbed in the chest, a failed assassination attempt. He asked the judge in the case to give the attempted murderer, Michael Riccardi, a more lenient sentencing. Forgive your enemies, if you wish to learn anything…

Sharpton’s personal life is rife with forays in the entertainment business (Mahalia Jackson, James Brown), spiritualism (he was ordained at ten years old) and what he’s most famous for, activism. He spent 90 days in prison in 2001 for protesting in Vieques, Puerto Rico, has spoken out about cruelty to animals and has been referred to by staunch critics as a “racial arsonist” and “anti-Semitic racist”. He, of course, accredits this criticism to his effectiveness in provoking difficult dialogue between tense camps, as with the mayhem that broke loose during the Crown Heights Riots of summer 1991 (which were sparked when a seven-year-old Guyanese boy was struck and killed by a Jewish driver who was sent off-course by another car).

The Reverend Sharpton’s most curious stance on injustice resides in the sphere of queer politics; he’s a strong supporter of gay and lesbian equality. Don’t let this fool you, though. The Reverend Sharpton is a devout Pentecostal and believes that homosexuality is indeed a sin that lands one in hell after death. But he refuses to let his religious convictions cloud the inequalities of civil rights injustices and is on a mission to combat homophobia in black churches throughout the nation. His reason for this? There are more crucial battles to be fought.

The Reverend, for all of his foibles, is looking further ahead than most. He has decried the religious manipulation of black people by the former Bush administration and insists that faith and politics need to be separated. When asked about the recent Proposition 8 chaos in California his response was:

“It amazes me when I looked at California and saw churches that had nothing to say about police brutality, nothing to say when a young black boy was shot while he was wearing police handcuffs, nothing to say when they overturned affirmative action, nothing to say when people were being delegated into poverty, yet they were organizing and mobilizing to stop consenting adults from choosing their life partners. There is something immoral and sick about using all of that power to not end brutality and poverty, but to break into people’s bedrooms and claim that God sent you.”

“I am tired of seeing preachers who will preach homophobia by day, and then after they’re preaching, when the lights are off they go cruising for trade…we know you’re not preaching the Bible, because if you were preaching the Bible we would have heard from you. We would have heard from you when people were starving in California, when they deregulated the economy and crashed Wall Street you had nothing to say. When Madoff made off with the money, you had nothing to say. When Bush took us to war chasing weapons of mass destruction that weren’t there you had nothing to say. But all of a sudden when Proposition 8 came out you had so much to say, but since you stepped in the rain, we gonna step in the rain with you.”

Sharpton’s unusual alliance with the queer community might be in part fueled by the claim that his sister is a lesbian and that he was friends with Bayard Rustin, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s right-hand man and organizer of the March on Washington, a gay African-American man. Sharpton sees the nasty and divisive workings of political manipulation through faith-based propaganda and is hunting it down like a bloodhound. This momentum is what our country so desperately needs. People need thinking, intelligent and compassionate men such as the Reverend to inform them that what their faith teaches them is not something they have the right to project onto the rest of the world. Sharpton is a brilliant and key reformer on this front.

Sharpton does not agree with the proposal to leave it to “the states’ to decide the fate of queer equality in the USA. He says this should be mandated by the federal government, period. Even when asked about gay marriage, his answers shimmer with enlightenment and compassion:

“I think it is not an issue any more of just marriage. This is an issue of human rights. And I think it is dangerous to give states the right to deal with human rights questions. That’s how we ended up with slavery and segregation going forward a long time. I, under no circumstances, believe we ought to give states rights to gay and lesbians’ human rights. Whatever my personal feelings may be about gay and lesbian marriages, unless you are prepared to say gays and lesbians are not human beings, they should have the same constitutional right of any other human being.”

Sharpton even thinks that gays and lesbians should be able to adopt:

“I believe that gays and lesbians deserve to have the same rights as heterosexuals. I believe that sexual orientation should not be an impediment in the workplace, in the housing marketplace, or in the adoption market. Just as I would fight for a black or Latino not to be discriminated against, I would fight equally for the rights of gays. I believe that gays and lesbians should have the right to adopt. Sexual orientation in no way matters when it comes to parenting—all children need is love.”

Someone hand me a tambourine!

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