Celebrate Gay Pride Around the World!

Dann Hazel used Reactions to Homophobia, an essay in Holding Me Together, as one of the resources for his book Witness: Gay and Lesbian Clergy Report from the Front. In Australia, Kris Coonan, UQ Union, University of Queensland, used it as a resource for his article Sexual Prejudice: Understanding Homophobia and Heterosexism, Biphobia and Transphobia. The Queensland Government's Community Benefit Fund and PFLAG Brisbane used it as a resource for the booklet Assisting Those Who Come Into Regular Contact with Lesbian and Gay Youth.

“By killing yourself, intentionally or through unsafe sex, you call yourself worthless and expendable. How can you think of a human being that way? Quit punishing yourself for the bigotry in society. Refuse to help the cause of homophobia. Take care of yourself. Learn to love yourself and protect yourself. See yourself and your partner as worth protecting. Treat safer sex as an act of defiance and gay pride, a statement about your love for yourself, a statement about the value of your life. Treat living each day as a tear in the fabric of bigotry.”

That quote comes from Not Worth Dying Over, another essay in Holding Me Together. Paul Harris quotes that passage in the book From Our Own Lips: The Book of GLBT Quotations. Minnie Van PileUp (the pseudonym of a writer who lives in Boston) quotes the same passage in The Quotable Queer: Fabulous Wit and Wisdom from the Gays, the Straight, and Everybody In-Between.

Mountman, a reviewer for StoneWall Society, has created animated versions of two poems from Holding. Visit MS Agent Pages for the software and links. (Note: the poems are earlier versions, and slightly different from how they appear in Holding’s 2nd Edition.)

Artist Roger Beauchamp created Team Leviticus, artwork based on Reactions to Homophobia.

Watch for news about how the 2007 Pride in the Arts Festival will involve my books.

About.Com 2007 Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Calendar.

Summer reading.

This is the 300th blog entry at Acorn Universes! Thanks for reading!

Critic and gay activist Amos Lassen has just reviewed The Acorn Stories for Amazon.Com and the gay Web site Eureka Pride. Lassen wrote that “Each of Simolke’s stories lets us look into the lives of some of the most interesting characters I have ever read about.”

Summer of Pride 2007 Celebrations

Pride in the Arts Awards & Festival. Summer of Pride.

Summer of Pride 2007 Celebrations have begun at StoneWall Society. Besides a Scavenger Hunt and a number of Outvoice and Rainbow World Radio events, nominations have begun for the annual Pride in the Arts Awards. Those awards promote and celebrate the works of LGBTs in music, visual arts, writing, film, and performance arts. Pride in the Arts Awards, History, and Past Recipients.

Creative gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and trans people who want to promote their work should look into StoneWall Society, including an event that’s happening after the summer this year, Pride in the Arts Festival 2007, October 12-14 at Longfork Campground in Walton, West Virginia.

My StoneWall Society Wing

--Duane Simolke

REEL ATTRACTIONS
Schedule and press release

3rd Annual Arkansas LGBTQ Film Festival
Sponsored by Cinema Pride, Easy Street Piano Bar, and
University of Central Arkansas PRISM
June 23-24

Special Guest 6 Time Emmy Award Winner: Stu Maddux

Schedule of Screenings:
Following Conway PRIDE on

Saturday, June 23
6:00- “Love Life”- Drama about a marriage of convenience between a gay male and a lesbian woman that turns sour (71 minutes)**

7:30- “Bubbeh Lee and Me” – 87-year-old speaks her heart to her gay grandson (35 minutes)

8:00- “Bob and Jack’s 52-year Adventure” – Directed by Special Guest Stu Maddux – story of two men who survived all odds and are still together 53 years later (41 minutes)
(Followed by discussion with director)

9:15- Women Short Films (30 minutes)

9:45- “Tan Lines” – Coming of age story of young surfer
(97 minutes)**

11:00- Special Bonus-- film from 2007 Diversity Pride in Eureka Springs (60 minutes)

Sunday, June 24
12:00- “Red Without Blue” – Moving documentary about identical twins, one of whom opts for sexual reassignment surgery (90 minutes)

1:30- “The DL Chronicles”—Episode from Here! TV’s new series on African-American men who cheat on their wives with other men (29 minutes)**

2:00- “Rock Haven”- Story of merging Christian Fundamentalism with sexuality and succeeding
(90 minutes)

3:30- “El Calentito” – A Spanish rock musician finds her true love in the audience at a local bar (86 minutes)

5:00- “Show Business: The Road to Broadway” – Behind the scenes of 4 musicals, “Wicked,” “Taboo,” “Avenue Q,” and “Caroline, Or Change” (104 minutes)

7:30- “Laughing Matters… More” – All female, all stand-up, all comedy (73 minutes)

9:00- “Back Soon” – Bittersweet love story between two men, one of whom is straight (83 minutes)**

10:30- Bonus Gay Short Films**
**Films may not be suitable for all ages

There will be additional showings as well after the official schedule (as bonus films) including the world premiere of "We're All Angels."


***
Bob and Jack's 52-year Adventure

(Little Rock, AR) In 1952 an Army sergeant was cornered and courted by his commanding officer. Their romance grew so obvious that rumors became anonymous tips to headquarters. They avoided court-martial by confronting their entire unit. That pivotal moment cemented Bob and Jack together for the rest of their lives. 52-years later they share how they remained a couple: how one man left his wife and children, how together they moved to a small town and became a fixture in the community, and today how they survive in their eighties without the benefits of marriage.

Now, Bob and Jack’s 52-Year Adventure, an award winning documentary about their relationship will have its Arkansas premiere Saturday June 23rd, 8 PM at Easy Street Piano Bar as the opening night film of Reel Attractions, The Arkansas GLBTQ Film Festival. A discussion with director Stu Maddux will follow.

“We feel extremely honored to premiere at this festival,” says Bob Claunch, now 81, from their home in Los Angeles, CA. “With everything going across the country with "don't ask don't tell" and with gay marriage, we hope people are encouraged by our story. We didn’t have it easy but we didn’t give up.”

“That’s one of the reasons we think that the film is a good message for young people too”, says partner Jack Reavley, 83. “They need to know that they can have successful relationships. The skeptics are just waiting for us to fail when we try to have lifelong love. Well, we didn't. And we're here to tell you that you won't either'."

The weekend-long festival will exhibit more than a dozen films including some of the best releases this year in the genre of gay cinema. For more information about the event contact Amos Lassen: 870-550-6298.

For more information, photographs and trailer visit: http://www.bobandjack.org

Watch for news of how StoneWall Society’s Pride 2007 celebrations involve my books!

Gay blog

Blogger Twin Powers Activate! Read about Homomojo’s request for more gay bloggers to contribute articles and help promote Homomojo.

Gay Movies

Del Shores, creator of the cult classic Sordid Lives, is currently directing a film version of his play Southern Baptist Sissies. I saw a production of Sissies in Dallas; it’s as funny as Sordid Lives at times, but really sad at others. It’s great all the way through, though, and I had kept hoping Shores would turn it into a movie.

Some new or upcoming gay DVDs:

Boy Culture

Eating Out 2

Noah’s Arc: the Complete Second Season

Dante's Cove: The Complete Second Season

Deaf Characters

The West Texas fiction collection The Acorn Stories and the fundraiser The Acorn Gathering: Writers Uniting Against Cancer both appear in My Shelf.Com’s list of books with deaf characters.

Meet The Founder Of A Group That Promotes LGBT Artists

I’ve always appreciated Len Rogers of StoneWall Society for Pride in the Arts, Rainbow World Radio, and all the other great work he does to promote LGBT music, books, film, art, and spoken word. However, I never knew about how SWS came to be, until I read Jed Ryan’s interview with Len.

LEN ROGERS WANTS YOU!...to Take the Pledge, to Support the Arts, to Vote, and More!

It’s a long interview, but inspiring, and a great example of how much difference one person can make. Len not only gives of his own time and creativity but also provides a platform for reviewers like Mountman (his best friend) to help promote gay artists.

Gay.Com honored Len as one of six local heroes; Len and SWS also received 2007 WVAS Terry Awards.

My StoneWall Society Wing

Len and StoneWall Society at MySpace