Iran made international headlines when it seized two Navy boats and 10 American sailors after the ships supposedly drifted into Iranian waters. As you know, the ships and their crew were released days later. Well, the sailors were based in San Diego and during the ordeal I was contacted by one of the sailor’s partner…
Ep. 305 Preview In Friday’s episode of HBO’s Vice, Vice Correspondent Thomas Morton follows the stories of homosexuals and transsexuals in Iran as they navigate a terrifying cultural landscape. Post-revolution Iran is notorious for its religiosity: when Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in 1979 he enforced strict Islamic custom that made homosexuality punishable by death….
Iconic pop legend Googoosh (aka Faegheh Atashin) has released a new, pro-gay song and video entitled Behesht (Heaven) that has earned her a new generation of fans as well howls of protest. Behesht portrays a lesbian couple in a relationship banned by both society and by their families. According to England’s The Guardian, which first…
The Huffington Post reports that the mayor of Sochi is under the impression that there are no gay people in his city. Anatoly Pakhomov spoke with the BBC ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics and discussed how gay people would be treated in the Russian region with the country’s “homosexual propaganda” law in place. Pakhomov said gays…
dvd of the week Ben Affleck’s film about the insane plan the CIA devised (“This is the best bad idea we have”) to rescue six American embassy workers from Iran in 1980 is thrilling, funny and nearly flawless. The merging of a satirical comedy about Hollywood, the paranoid suspense in Iran, and the wonkish, but…
(CNN) — A conservative group is planning a television and online ad campaign urging senators to vote against former Sen. Chuck Hagel at his confirmation hearings to be secretary of defense. The American Future Fund plans to run television ads in Washington and in certain states against Obama’s nominee, the group said, as well as…
(CNN) — He forged his views of war and the military as a young man in mine-plagued fields of Vietnam. Now Chuck Hagel may become the first Vietnam veteran and first enlisted soldier to serve as U.S. defense secretary. In nominating him to succeed Leon Panetta, President Barack Obama urged the Senate to confirm a…
WASHINGTON (CNN) — If he becomes defense secretary, former Sen. Chuck Hagel will bring Vietnam battlefield experience, criticism of U.S. policy in Afghanistan and tensions with his own Republican Party to the Pentagon. President Barack Obama’s announcement of Hagel’s nomination to the defense post will occur around 1 p.m. Monday, along with the nomination of…
I saw about 75 movies in 2012, and while I saw a couple dozen that I liked a great deal, very few movies about LGBT people or queer themes were given a wide release. And that is disappointing in general, but particularly for a critic writing for a paper called San Diego LGBT Weekly. This…
Argo The thing about making movies based on true stories is that it’s hard to keep them suspenseful. This is especially so when the story is so famous, and everything but the smaller details are rather well known. Ben Affleck’s fantastic new film Argo is based on such an event: The Iran hostage crisis from…
