4:58 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Activism|Controversia|GLBT|Politics|race|Religion|society · 1 Comment
19 May 2009
…apparently because being gay “is a choice”:
“We know what we have gone through as an ethnic group. We feel the terminology, the definition itself, has really been hijacked,” he said. “Unfortunately, it’s just another ploy to garner more support from people who may not understand what the civil rights struggle was all about.”Bishop Michael A. Badger, pastor of Bethesda World Harvest International Church on Main Street, said that he doesn’t doubt there is discrimination against gay people but that it is hardly on the order of what African-Americans have encountered and still face.
“As an African-American, I don’t have a choice in the color of my skin. I have a choice in whether I’m abstinent or not,” Badger said. “I don’t think you can compare the two.”
Actually he said because “abstinence” is “a choice”. Well, that makes even less sense.
Just because the two issues aren’t exactly the same doesn’t mean they aren’t both about civil rights. And sorry, I think we can draw more parallels between the civil rights movement and the fight for gay rights than with the fight against gay marriage. To quote journalist Earl Ofari Hutchison: “Homophobia and racism are frequently two sides of the same coin.”
Let’s be honest. I’d rather get schooled on said parallels and what the civil rights movement was about by Coretta Scott King than from this guy.
Oh, and for those of you who wonder why this issue is even important, read this story from today’s NYT.
What do you think?
Via / Buffalo News
Image via LogoOnline(Noah’s Arc)
2:05 pm By Jennifer Woodard Maderazo · Culture|Movies|Spain|TV · 7 Comments
19 May 2009Pedro Almodovar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is considered a comedic masterpiece and is a personal favorite of mine. One might think I’d be excited about the premise of bringing it to television, but more than enthusiastic, I am feeling a bit tortured. This will be either the best or worst show ever:
Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar is venturing into television with a series adaptation of his first international hit, the Oscar-nominated 1988 feature “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.”Fox TV Studios is developing the English-language hourlong project and has tapped Mimi Schmir to pen the pilot script. Almodovar and Schmir are exec producing [...]
The “Women” series “will be a suburban drama about a group of women who have known each other for a long time, perhaps from college, who are in the middle of their lives and looking at the second half of their lives,” Schmir said.
Like the movie, the series will feature a fair amount of humor. Schmir also is planning to pay homage to the movie by keeping some elements, like the film’s ongoing gag of unsuspecting visitors to the actress’ apartment being knocked out by sleeping pill-laden gazpacho she had intended for her philandering lover.
That sounds…boring. I am not going to judge too much before seeing it, but I think a lot about what makes Mujeres al borde special has to do with the when, where and who of the film. When? The 80s. Where? Downtown Madrid. Who? Some of the best comedic actors Spanish-speaking film as ever seen — and at their prime at that. How do you pull this off in a U.S. suburb? And furthermore, how do you make the premise worthy of an on-going series? I’m just not seeing it.
Have a look at the clip from the original classic and let us know if you think this show has any chance in hell of being good.
Via / The Hollywood Reporter
10:41 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Controversia|Immigration|Justice|Obama|Politics|TV · 8 Comments
19 May 2009
President Obama has promised over and over again how immigration reform is a priority for his administration. Pero there have also been signs that Obama, who out of political necessity is playing cautious, is willing to follow in the enforcement first policy footsteps of his predecessors.
According to the Washington Post:
The Obama administration is expanding a program initiated by President George W. Bush aimed at checking the immigration status of virtually every person booked into local jails. In four years, the measure could result in a tenfold increase in illegal immigrants who have been convicted of crimes and identified for deportation, current and former U.S. officials said.
The fact that President Obama has moved forward on this first and not a moratorium on ICE raids that break up families, is very telling.
7:49 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · Activism|GLBT|Linking Latinos|New York City · Comments Off
19 May 2009Andrés Duque from Blabbeando has some great video and pictures from two very different rallies that took place this past Sunday here in NYC. Both rallies dealt with the lives of GLBT people and both had Latinos speaking on the issues.
First here’s Ugly Betty‘s Ana Ortiz (no relation), speaking at a rally organized by Broadway Impact and co-sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, the Empire State Pride Agenda, Marriage Equality New York, the Civil Rights Front and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
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