I did something I don’t usually do last night, I watched the local news. It wasn’t entirely intentional. I was watching Brothers & Sisters and didn’t pay enough attention to the screen as they rolled into the lead story on the nightly news.

Shock! Scandal! Hypocrisy! Shame! So, apparently, at 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday, the CFO of Cincinnati Christian University made his way to an isolated spot a mile and a half from the entrance of Mt. Airy Forest where, along with 2 other gentlemen, he made the mistake of getting into a car with an undercover cop and making sexual advances. Despite what certain sensational editing of the story would imply, the suspect is not gay-identified; was not engaging in inappropriate behavior with, near, or in front of children or students; and as the CFO, was probably not looked to as a “religious leader” by many of the students at CCU.

I usually love a good hypocrite scandal story, but not this one. Instead, I find the reporting, not to mention the very act of the police sting, to be insulting and degrading.

Cincinnati police recognize an ongoing problem of men soliciting sex from men at the park. They regularly conduct sting operations. [[name]] and [[name]] were also were arrested for indecent exposure the same morning. They were picked up at the same location in the park where Williams was arrested.

Really? The ongoing problem I see is the ongoing shame that straight-identified men feel for their deeper sexual orientation impulses… shame that drives them to risk career, jail, family and disease for a few minutes of rough play at 9:30 on a Saturday morning deep within a public park… shame that prevents them from acknowledging homosexual desires in a venue and in a method that is healthy and safe. The ongoing problem I see is a city so intent on stigmatizing sex (especially the gay sex) that it shuts down and shuts out venues like adult video arcades, bath houses, sex clubs, and even makes life difficult at gay bars that get “a reputation” (like The Serpent)… leaving few sane and safer outlets men struggling to cope with the conflict of the external and internal sexual identities. The ongoing problem I see is another small city vice squad operating in the 21st century with methods barely advanced from the Puritan arrival… using jail time and public embarrassment (were the news reports really necessary?) as a deterrent to a kind of crime that is essentially a psychological problem. These men need counsellings to come to terms with their urges and impulses, not time in jail and scarlet letters sewn onto their clothing.

News stories like last night’s and police stings of gay cruising grounds both serve to reinforce the notion that man-on-man sexual contact is dirty, shameful, a bigger-than-proportion problem in society. Really, a glorified accountant tries for a handjob and it’s the lead story on two networks? Seriously? Fuck!

News stories like last night’s and police stings of gay cruising grounds also reinforce terrible stereotypes about gay-as-predator. Although not directly stated in the articles, the implication is there… “this was a public park, what if there had been children?!? Won’t somebody please think of the children!” Even leaving aside the children implications, doesn’t this story “prove” that gay men are sexually aggressive? What if a genuine straight guy with absolutely no homosexual urges accidentally found himself parked in this remote location at 9:30 am where strange old men seemed to be paying him a lot of attention and flashing him their dicks? Why, he’d be powerless to (leave in his car/ politely refuse any unwanted advances/ resist the cock)!

News stories like last night’s and police stings of gay cruising grounds fictionalize the idea that only “gay men” are engaging in this kind of behavior, when the opposite tends to be true. More and more, police officers are discovering that the men picked up in these stings are married, straight-identified, and religious. Also, why is it that a little groping in the car at Mt. Airy Forest is a crime when it’s a guy and a vice officer, but not worth mentioning when it’s a couple of straight college students in a car parked outside a downtown bar? When does Cincy PD conduct its sting operations on slutty bar parking lot sex offenders?

Hey, I don’t think cruising public parks for anonymous sex is a great idea. In fact, I think it’s a risky and stupid idea for reasons entirely unrelated to police stings. Today is World AIDS Day, and you hang around the queer community long enough, you too will hear stories of monogamous wives who are inexplicably infected by their faithful husbands of 20 or more years. Still, I’m over the police sting of MSM cruising areas stories. Even when they bring me fun Xtian hypocrite stories. I prefer my Xtian hypocrite stories in the Ted Haggart/Rep. Foley variety rather than the Sen. Larry Craig version.

Posted: December 1st, 2008 under Cincinnati, news, queer rights.
Comments: none

So, I decided to dash over to City Hall on my lunch break and join the national day of queer rights protests. I couldn’t stay long enough to hear Margaret Cho (that’s right, bitches, we got the patron saint of queer radicals at our protest in Cinci-fucking-nnati) speak, but I did see several friends and I was amazed at the crowd. We had people filling the sidewalks on both sides of the street despite the very cold rain. I imagine if we’d had warmer weather, they would have been forced to close the street.

Queer umbrellas surround city hall:

Gotta love the moms:

Hot boy in hoodie at the protest (shut up, you know I find activists sexy):

We love Keith Olbermann (or “Keithier” as we call him in Casa Diggs):

Organizers hand out signs (look out for the homo-monster in the background):

Barry rocks the mic!:

Why did the queer cross the road? Because we didn’t have enough room on one side of the street for all the protesters:

Eric (and parents in red in the background) looks for his missing husband:

Glenna and Jeanne pretend to be a lesbian couple:

Congressional candidate Vic Wulsin tries out for the part of Little Red Riding Hood:

Finally, Margaret Cho with protest organizers Cameron and Barry:

See the full set at flickr

Local news coverage

So, tell me what the protest was like in your city! Also, check out Andrew Sullivan’s great round-up of photos and reactions from around the world. The most interesting (to me) was the Vegas recap where comedienne Wanda Sykes came out as black (also, lesbian… officially from her own two lips).

Posted: November 15th, 2008 under Cincinnati, queer rights.
Comments: none

Ever since switching my voter registration to Ohio, I’ve been concerned about two things: will I be allowed to vote or will Republican voter challenges disenfranchise me? And, who will I vote for in the local congressional race. My choices are Steve Chabot (who disgusts me), Steve Driehaus, and a couple write-in candidates.

Now, I know it seems to some of my friends like I’m a one-issue voter (queer rights). If that were true, I’d be okay with voting for Steve Driehaus. Sadly, not so much, at least not after seeing ads like this:

And this:

If you didn’t want to click on the videos, here’s the scoop: 1) opposes amnesty of immigrants, 2) supports English as the “official language” 3) announces he’s “pro-life” and 4) declares himself “fiscally conservative.”

In other words, this rabid San Francisco liberal finds him to be a complete and total douchebag, his (comparatively) open-minded position on LGBT issues notwithstanding.

I’d love to see more Democrats in Congress next January, and the race is close enough that I’m not sure I can cast a vote for a write-in with good conscience, so I’ll hold my nose and vote for Driehaus, but I want it on the record before I cast that vote that I think he’s a total tool and he only begrudgingly has my support. Can someone please find me a liberal?

Also, if I find out that Driehaus is one of those fucking freshmen blue-dog Democrats who derails an inclusive ENDA in the 2009 legislative session, I will make a fucking donation to a fucking conservative Jesus-freak Republican in the 2010 OH-1 congressional race. At least I know what I’m getting into with those asswipes.

Posted: October 23rd, 2008 under Cincinnati, politics.
Comments: 1

Well, I didn’t win the caption contest, but thanks to everyone who voted for me.

I’m now on day 3 of sleeping more than waking because of a nasty cold. I’m starting to feel like my normal self again, but I’m not back to 100%.

I’ve been a little sparse on the personal details of late, so I thought I’d update a little more about what’s going on in my life. Since returning to Cincinnati from my New York trip, I’ve been putting in double efforts on finding work. It’s definitely not a good market to be searching in right now. I’ve been sending out a lot of resumes without much luck. I assume three things are working against me: that I’m overqualified for a lot of the jobs I’m applying to, that my resume reads like a rainbow flag in a community that isn’t exactly known for progressive politics, and the economy in general has created a shortage of decent jobs. All that said, I’m still keeping my head up. I’ve got an audition for a tutoring gig this week, I applied to Americorps, and I’ve made some inquiries with LGBT-friendly folks in the area who aren’t themselves hiring but might have some good advice on where I can look.

At this point, I’m seriously considering holiday retail to at least get some cash coming in. I’ve got student loan payments to make and the only thing holding me back from submitting my law school apps at this point is my bank balance ($4.39 this morning).

So, yeah, money is a big concern at the moment. I’m trying to remain optimistic. I’m not the only one struggling to find work. Jacob hasn’t been having an easier time of it, either.

There’s also been family stuff going on that I won’t get into right here and now, but last week included some upsetting news. Someday, my good health karma (compared to the rest of the family) is going to come back to haunt me. Either that, or I’ll follow the Keys men pattern and live far, far longer than anyone expects.

Anyway, I’m wide open to ideas on employment right now. If you know of a good opportunity for work in the city - especially general office support positions - please let me know.

Posted: October 6th, 2008 under Cincinnati, personal, work.
Comments: none

Since approximately 620,000 of Duke Energy’s approx. 800,000 Tri-State customers are still affected by the power outages, the Governor has declared a state of emergency, and somehow Casa Diggs and our neighbors are watching Gossip Girl Countdown with Keith Olbermann tonight, I feel it is my duty to report on the highlights of Craigslist for those Cincinnati metro area folks whose iPhone batteries have died. Gentlemen, ladies, I know when you get your power back, you’re going to regret not having the opportunity to contact these generous posters who are in no way trying to take advantage of the blackout.

The second guy with his generous offer to assist “cougars and milfs” is my favorite. The last ad is at least tempting… (click to embiggen)

Now don’t you wish you’d had working power tonight?

According to Joe.My.God, New Yorkers are exhibiting similar selfishness in reaching out to former Lehman employees.

Posted: September 15th, 2008 under Cincinnati, Funny.
Comments: none

Unlike most people in Cincinnati, our power is back on. Hurricane-strength winds (the remnants of Ike) blew through the city from 2:00-6:00 this afternoon, knocking over trees, destroying roofs, and throwing debris all over the city. Wind gusts were as high as 60mph. Our power went out fairly early on and came back about an hour ago.

Apparently, over 1/2 million homes in the tri-state area lost power and the news is calling it the “biggest round of power outages” to hit the Duke Energy system in the area. It may be Tuesday before everyone is back. All Cincinnati public school are closed tomorrow. One person was killed when a tree fell on her house, and the hospitals are calling for a state of emergency to deal with the trauma.

Earlier, before it got dark, we took a walk around the neighborhood to survey the damage.

It was weird spending the whole day without power. We cooked on the gas stove and ate by candlelight. Listened to podcasts and read books. Now that we have ‘lectricity again, I’m catching up on the day’s news. Anything interesting happen while I was unplugged?

Posted: September 14th, 2008 under Cincinnati.
Comments: none

Jennifer and Jacob are on their way to Toronto to take care of some of Jennifer’s immigration stuff. Hopefully they’ll be allowed back into the US. Meanwhile, I’ve got the apartment to myself for a few days.

So Thursday night, to prepare myself for the final night of conservative bullshit on television, I took a long walk down into the largely industrial neighborhood known as Camp Washington. Sure, there’s a lot of gritty, out-of-date reminders of a different time, abandoned buildings, even evidence of a homeless encampment, but I found it to be pretty (if you could ignore the smell of the giant aluminum casting factory). Anyway, since we no longer gather in one another’s homes to be tricked into viewing slides of the latest vacation, you all get to see the picspam.

Posted: September 7th, 2008 under Cincinnati.
Comments: 1

Another exciting day at Casa Diggs.

Jacob found work, leaving me as the only still underemployed member of the household, but I’m still not really worried about it yet. It took me about 6 weeks when I moved to San Francisco, and it’s only been three and a half since I arrived in Cincy.

After hitting the gym pretty hard, all 3 of us (4 if you count the dog) gathered around the television to watch our next President. Yes, there were chills and moments that made us very happy. I’m glad me mentioned gays and lesbians, wish he’d mentioned bisexual and transgender, but progress is progress.

Apparently, McCain is less than 100 miles from me right now - preparing to announce his veep (scary evangelical Tom Pawlenty, most likely) in Dayton at 9am tomorrow. If I had a car, I’d make plans to go protest or something. Get outta my new state. Based on all the polls I’ve looked at, if Obama takes Ohio, he takes the country. Don’t believe me, try it out. Just hit the “Create your own scenario” and watch what happens when you switch Ohio to blue… that’s before you add the votes he’s almost certain to get from DC, Hawaii and Vermont. If you take away Minnesota because of Pawlenty, he still wins with DC, Hawaii, Vermont and Maryland… plus Ohio. I desperately want Ohio to be the state that brings it home for Obama this year.

Posted: August 29th, 2008 under Cincinnati, politics.
Comments: 2

We finally got the home internet hooked up again. All three of us sat around the living room with laptops tonight, eating Chinese food and watching crappy movies. I listened to Hilary’s speech on the internet while Jennifer and Jacob watched Constantine.

No word today from the staffing agency, but I spent a good portion of the day working on my personal statement and recommendations for law school - projects that didn’t require an internet connection.

This evening, I went over to the GLBT Center of Cincinnati for the first 2009 Pride planning meeting. 24 days. It took me 24 days before I agreed to take a major position - this time chairing the Festival subcommittee which includes vendors and food/beverage. I’ll be needing help on the committee, so please let me know if you’re willing to lend a hand. I’d especially love to see some women and/or people of color get involved. The committee is disturbingly lacking in both departments. I’m not going to hold my breath on the transgender front if we can’t even get lesbians to show up.

Anyway, based on my first impressions, I almost wish I were planning to stay longer than a year. There’s so much that could be done in the community, and I’ll do what I can, but the clock is already ticking and this time next year I hope to be telling you all about my first days of law school.

Posted: August 26th, 2008 under Cincinnati, Pride, personal.
Comments: 2

Things are looking up in the job hunting department. I’ve got a meeting scheduled for Monday and I have a good feeling about it.

Last week while I was out exploring, I ran across this awesome sight:

It’s a parking garage that is being demolished, but it looks like a giant art installation that mimics a melting building to me. I went out of my way to grab some shots.

I love the way the concrete clings to the rebar. I’m so used to seeing buildings imploded that seeing it torn down a piece at a time by construction equipment chewing into it is really different.

Posted: August 21st, 2008 under Cincinnati.
Comments: 1