Gay Chub Haven

MEMBERS of Sydney’s gay and lesbian community today urged tolerance and acceptance at a church service coinciding with the Pope’s arrival for World Youth Day.

The group of about 100 people gathered to celebrate sexual diversity in the Christian faith at Sydney’s Pitt St Uniting Church, where a red carpet symbolising the path to faith was placed in the aisle. “On this carpet lie the tears of many people who have been turned away as those who are not worthy to walk it – who have been betrayed by Christ’s church,” Uniting Church Reverend Dorothy McRae-McMahon told the congregation.

“They experienced hate or judgment, simply because they were not like others, or because they loved in different ways.

“On this day as we claim our place, we place our feet on the pathway of faith.”

Speakers from different Christian denominations urged religious communities to fight ignorance.

Pentecostal minister Anthony Venn-Brown said he had learned from his experience as a gay Christian not to blame church leaders alone for discrimination.

“We should do all we can to educate and inform ourselves and others,” Mr Venn-Brown said.

“It’s up to gay Christians to live their faith boldly and honorably and its up to our heterosexual friends and supporters to not be silent.”

Anglican parishioner David Reeder said young Australians need to educate others about sexual diversity.

“I think it’s over to the young people here to keep up the fight,” Mr Reeder said.

Fogler originated the character William Barfée in the original Broadway cast of the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Along with actor Sarah Saltzberg and Jay Reiss, he was one of the original creators of the show when it began as the improvisational play C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E on Off-Off Broadway. In 2005, Dan won the The Lortel, Outer Critics, Broadway World and Drama Desk for his portrayal of the middle schooler with a rare mucous membrane disorder and a magic foot. He was also honored with the prestigious Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for this role.

Fogler starred in Balls of Fury, Good Luck Chuck, and next will appear in the films Fanboys and Kids in America. He is a voice actor in the 2008 animated films Horton Hears a Who! and Kung Fu Panda. Fogler’s play Elephant in The Room, inspired by Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros has been accepted into The NY International Fringe Festival 2007. He is also the director of this production. Fogler is presently editing his own film, Hysterical Psycho, which he also directed. He was also featured in the music video “I Don’t Wanna Be Me” by the band Type O Negative, playing a man recording himself on video as he cross-dresses and puts on celebrity costumes.

Fogler was born in Brooklyn, New York, the second child of an English teacher mother and a surgeon father. In addition to acting on stage and film, Dan is a founding member of Stage 13 Theater Company and also plays in the rock band 2nd Rate with good friend Law Tarello. Fogler is Jewish and resides in New York’s Chelsea.

Trivia

Won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor (Musical) for his performance in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”.

Plays in the band, “2nd Rate”, with long time friend Law Tarello.

He is a founding member of Stage 13 Theater Company.

His dad is a surgeon.

Dan is also a talented sculptor.

His girlfriend runs Capes Coaching - a company in New York that helps actors establish their careers.

Personal Quotes

In his Tony acceptance speech he said - I Feel like Rocky right now and she’s my Adrian (acknowledging his girlfriend Jodie) We did it with this hair and this body. Be brave. Be different.

In explaining why he founded Stage 13 Theater Company with his lesser known but very talented good friends: “When you have a foot up on the glacier, you have to turn around and give the others a hand.”

HUNGARIAN riot police used water cannon and tear gas on Saturday to stop far-right extremists from throwing petrol bombs and breaking up the annual gay parade in the capital Budapest.
Hundreds of far-right demonstrators threw petrol bombs and stones at the police as the police tried to separate them from the participants of the “Gay Pride” march. They also threw eggs and firecrackers at people in the parade.

Riot police detained 45 people, police spokeswoman Eva Tafferner said.

Ambulance workers and police said at least eight people were wounded in the clashes, including two policemen.

The anti-gay demonstrators attacked a police car carrying Socialist European Parliament member and human rights activist Katalin Levai. They slammed a stone through the window of the police car but she was not hurt.

“This is outrageous and shameful that some 20 years after the change of regime, this is what we have … such intolerance,” Ms Levai said.

“This (violence) is sad,” said 32-year-old book editor Istvan Ruzsacz, who took part in the parade.

“Those people simply don’t accept that gays exist and use this as an opportunity to advertise themselves.”

A leading liberal politician Gabor Horn was also attacked according to local news agency Index.

Although homosexuality was legalised in eastern Europe after the collapse of communism, same-sex couples rarely display their affection publicly and gay parades have sparked scorn and violence in several other countries in the region.

A week ago, about 60 far-right extremists were arrested in Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia, after they tried to break up the country’s first gay parade.

Participants in a parade in the Czech city of Brno were also attacked by anti-gay activists last week.

Hungary passed a law last year which will legalise registered partnerships of same-sex couples from 2009. Hungarian gay groups have argued they should be allowed to adopt children.

Last year, when participants of the gay parade were pelted with eggs in Budapest, rights group Amnesty International criticised Hungary for what it said was a failure of police to protect the peaceful march.

Meet Scott from NSW, Australia. He is a fine looking chubby Bear and has certainly got a reaction in my pants. Some of these hunky guys that come from down under are just the best. So let’s hear what Scott has to say for himself.

“Hey there I am Scott. I am a truck driver and travel the length and breadth of Australia’s east coast. I really dig your awesome blog and just couldn’t resist submitting a picture. I am a gay bear who loves chubby guys and bears and am especially in love with truckers. I have had so many truck drivers in my life that I always enjoy hitting the road and seeing how many horny truckers I can have along the way.”

“Yeah I am a bit of a slut I guess. But you get around these macho blokes and immediately I get as horny as all fuck. It is a pretty interesting life really. In my spare time I like working on my A model Ford that I am restoring or hanging out at the local pub for a cold beer and a chat.”

“I am an openly gay man and my straight mates don’t mind. Truth be told I have fucked many so called straight guys it isn’t funny. So I laugh when guys try and act all macho to show you how un-gay they are. Then they are begging for a blow job later on. Blokes are full of so much bullshit at times it isn’t funny. Anyway, that’s all from me so keep on truckin’.”

Scott sounds like a top bloke and thanks so much for being a part of my blog.

Gay activist Edward Young has called on the Rudd government to implement a United Nations directive on equality or remove Australia’s signature to an international covenant on human rights.

When his partner of 38 years – a World War Two veteran – died in 1998, Young was refused the equivalent of a war widow’s pension by the Department of Veterans Affairs. After domestic remedies failed, he took his case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC).

Australia is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), one of the main international human rights treaties. In 1990 it acceded to the First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, which allows individuals to take complaints about violations of their human rights to the UN Human Rights Committee.

In 2003, the UNHRC found Australia was in violation of Article 26 of the covenant. Although it has no official power to do so, the UNHRC directed the Australian government to outlaw discriminatory legislation. But the Howard government ignored the directive.

Young is now calling on the Labor government to take action.

“This was the first time in history that any country in the world that was taken to the UN on an equality before the law matter pertaining to homosexual or lesbian rights in their country has been directed by the UN that they have broken the covenant and therefore must rectify that directive,” he told Gay Chub Haven.

“The Labor government were [initially] fully supportive of the Young v Australia case [but] … I want people to know the Labor government is still not complying with the directive given to them. They are ignoring it. I say that if the Rudd government is a signatory to the covenant, then the previous directive should stand. If we are not going to abide by the directive, the next step should be to remove Australia’s signature to the covenant.”

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva wrote to Young’s solicitors as recently as November 2007 to find out what Australia is doing to comply with the directive, Young added.

While not addressing the issue of the UN directive, a spokesperson for Federal Attorney-General Robert McLelland told Gay Chub Haven: “The government is committed to removing discrimination against same-sex couples in the Veterans Entitlements Act. This will form part of the second tranche of same-sex reforms proposed by the government.”

Meanwhile Queensland’s highest ranking judge Margaret McMurdo has slammed the Opposition for delaying same-sex superannuation reforms, which she says could adversely affect gay judge Justice Michael Kirby when he retires next year.

In a letter she urged the Judicial Conference of Australia to ensure the Bill is passed by the legislature as soon as possible, according to The Australian.

The Bill will be debated by a Senate committee and changes will not be implemented before July 1, as was originally hoped.

Gay and lesbian rights advocates have welcomed a federal government initiative to allow property disputes between former same-sex de facto partners to be resolved by the Family Court.

Australian Coalition for Equality spokesperson Corey Irlam said that the move will mean partners in same-sex relationships which have broken down will no longer be required to resolve their disputes in state Supreme Courts.

“Equal access to the Family Court will mean disputes can be resolved with less expense, less trauma, and greater privacy,” Irlam said.

“Same-sex partners already have access to the Family Court in disputes over child custody, and they have full access to WA’s state Family Court, so allowing access to resolve property disputes is simply an extension of an existing principle.”

“We applaud the Rudd Government for its continued commitment to equal legal treatment for same-sex partners.”

In 2003 and 2004 the states and territories referred their powers over de facto property disputes to the federal government to ensure national consistency, but the Howard Government failed to act.

The current federal government has a commitment to removing discrimination against same-sex de facto couples across all federal laws based on a report from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission which found discrimination in a wide range of laws including Family Court access.

The commission’s recommendation that this discrimination be removed was backed up by former Family Court Chief Justice Alastair Nicholson in a letter to the government last month:

“It is just as imperative that same-sex couples have access to the Family Court for resolution of their relationship disputes, property division and maintenance as it is for heterosexual de facto couples to do so,” Nicholson stated.

COMEDIAN George Carlin, a counter-culture hero famed for his routines about drugs and dirty words, has died of heart failure aged 71.

Carlin, who had a history of heart and drug-dependency problems, died at Saint John’s Health Centre in Santa Monica about 6pm PDT (11am today ) after being admitted earlier in the afternoon for chest pains, spokesman Jeff Abraham said.

Known for his edgy, provocative material, Carlin achieved status as an anti-establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine called “Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television”.

A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of the routine ultimately reached the US Supreme Court.

In the 1978 case, Federal Communications Commission versus Pacifica Foundation, the top US court ruled that the words cited in Carlin’s routine were indecent, and that the government’s broadcast regulator could ban them from being aired at times when children might be listening.
Carlin’s comedic sensibility often came back to a central theme: humanity is doomed.

“I don’t have any beliefs or allegiances. I don’t believe in this country, I don’t believe in religion, or a god, and I don’t believe in all these man-made institutional ideas,” he said in a 2001 interview.

Carlin, who wrote several books and performed in many television comedy specials, is survived by his wife Sally Wade and daughter Kelly Carlin McCall.

AUSTRALIA’S obesity epidemic has been drastically underestimated, according to the latest comprehensive study showing 9 million adults are fatter than they should be.

The report says Australia is the world’s most overweight nation, ahead of the supersized Americans.

Experts are now calling for extreme measures like gym discounting and denial of surgery based on body mass index (BMI) to rectify the situation.

“These might be controversial but they won’t just be targeting a small sub-set of Australians,” said Simon Stewart, head of preventive cardiology at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute.

“Overweight and obese people now make up the vast majority of us and these are the drastic measures now needed to bring these numbers down.”

The report, released ahead of the Federal Government’s obesity inquiry, presents the results of height and weight checks carried out on 14,000 adult Australians in 2005.

It gives the most thorough picture of obesity since the AusDiab study in 1999, and Professor Stewart, the author, said it shows the burden has been underplayed.

“Based on the old data and self-reported surveys, we had thought that 7 million adults were obese or overweight, but it is actually 9 million,” he said.

The report, entitled Australia’s Future Fat Bomb, shows the middle-aged are leading the way, with seven in 10 men and six in 10 women aged 45 to 64 now registering a BMI of 25 or more.

An analysis of the data shows there will be an extra 700,000 heart-related hospital admissions in the next 20 years due to obesity alone.

Almost 125,000 people will die as a result, many prematurely.

“I would regard this as now the biggest threat to our future health,” Professor Stewart said.

“As we send our athletes off to the Olympics let’s reflect on the fact that we would win the gold medal problem now in the world fat Olympics if there was such a thing.

“We used to be down mid-table, but I’m picking that we’re now the gold medal favourites.”

The report calls for a national weight loss strategy on the scale of smoking and skin cancer campaigns, including subsidising gym memberships and personal training sessions for heavier people.

Wait lists for surgery could be prioritised on the basis of weight loss.

“These are some of the controversial things we need to deal with because the healthcare system is going to be overwhelmed by weight-related hospitalisations from knee replacements through to heart attacks and strokes.”

Professor Ian Caterson, director of the Institute of Obesity, Nutrition and Exercise at the University of Sydney, agreed such measures were needed.

“Governments have to start thinking outside the square because as we get fatter and older as a nation things are just going to get worse,” he said.