Playboy, based in Chicago, has offered its "sincerest apologizes" for the newest issue of its Mexican edition, which seems to poke irreverent (some would say lewd) fun at the Virgin Mary.
The magazine's cover features a model clad (barely) in a white cloth, in front of a stained glass window. The headline, "Te adoramos, Maria," means in English, "We love you Mary," or "We love you, Maria." (The model is Maria Florencia Onori.)
The magazine hit the stands on Dec. 1 -- seven days before the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church; and 11 days before an even bigger holiday in Mexico, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, commemorating the supposed appearance of the Virgin to a Mexican peasant, Juan Diego, in 1531.
In its apology, Playboy said the Mexican edition of the magazine is published by a licensee, and that the parent company did not approve the cover.
"While Playboy Mexico never meant for the cover or images to offend anyone, we recognize that it has created offense, and we as well as Playboy Mexico offer our sincerest apologies," the company said.
Raul Sayrols, publisher of Playboy Mexico, said: "The image is not and never was intended to portray the Virgin of Guadalupe or any other religious figure. The intent was to reflect a Renaissance-like mood on the cover."
Monday, December 15, 2008
Virgen de Guadalupe? or coincidence.....
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
ALPHA GAYS?
After reading the article do you agree with the ' new breed ' of gay male? or is it just another marketing approach for our money?
Friday, December 5, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Vatican Attacked For Opposing Gay De-Criminalization
Today, a strongly worded editorial in Italy`s mainstream 'La Stampa' newspaper said the Vatican`s reasoning was `grotesque`.
Gay rights groups and newspaper editorials on Tuesday condemned the Vatican for its decision to oppose a proposed U.N. resolution calling on governments worldwide to de-criminalize homosexuality.
The row erupted after the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations told a French Catholic news agency the Holy See would oppose the resolution, which France is due to propose later this month on behalf of the 27-member European Union.
Archbishop Celestino Migliore said the Vatican opposed the resolution because it would "add new categories of those protected from discrimination" and could lead to reverse discrimination against traditional heterosexual marriage.
"If adopted, they would create new and implacable discriminations," Migliore said. "For example, states which do not recognize same-sex unions as 'matrimony' will be pilloried and made an object of pressure," Migliore said.
Pointing out that homosexuality was still punishable by death in some Islamic countries, the editorial said what the Vatican really feared was a "chain reaction in favor of legally recognized homosexual unions in countries, like Italy, where there is currently no legislation"
.
Franco Grillini, founder and honorary president of Arcigay, Italy's leading gay rights group, said the Vatican's reasoning smacked of "total idiocy and madness".
"The French resolution, which is supported by all 27 members of the European Union, has nothing to do with gay marriage. It is about stopping jail and the death penalty for homosexuals," Grillini told Reuters.
The resolution is to be presented by Rama Yade, France's state secretary for human rights.
Human rights groups say homosexuality is still punishable by law in more than 85 countries and by death in a number of them, including Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen. Vatican spokesman Rev Federico Lombardi said "no-one wants the death penalty or jail or fines for homosexuals" but defended Migliore's comments, adding that the Vatican was in the majority on the issue.
"It's not for nothing that fewer than 50 member states of the United Nations have adhered to the proposal in question while more than 150 have not adhered. The Holy See is not alone," Lombardi said.
An editorial in Rome's left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper said the Vatican's position "leaves one dumbstruck". Margherita Boniver, a leading member of the Italy's leftist Democratic Party, called it "alarmingly anachronistic".
Grillini, the gay rights activist, said he feared what he called another "Holy Alliance" between the Vatican and Islamic states at the United Nations to oppose the proposed resolution.
At a major U.N. conference on the family in Cairo in 1994, the Vatican teamed up with Islamic and Latin American countries to defeat an abortion rights proposal.The Catholic Church teaches that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are. But in October, a leading Vatican official called homosexuality "a deviation, an irregularity and a wound"
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Who supported the overturning of Prop 8, and who didnt want it to reach the supreme court.
S168047
KAREN L. STRAUSS, et al., Petitioners v. MARK B. HORTON, et al.
Immediate Stay Request
Petitioner's Exhibits
Petitioner's Motion for Judicial Notice
Amended Petition
Motion to Intervene
Motion to Intervene by Official Proponents
Official Proponents Opposition to Motion by Campaign
Petitioners' Opposition to Motion to Intervene
Proposed Intervenor Campaign for Preliminary Opposition to Petitions
Request for Judicial Notice
Preliminary Opposition
Preliminary Response from the Attorney General
Letters submitted in support of petition:
The Bar Association of San Francisco et al.
Forty-Four Members of the State Legislature
Anti-Defamation League et al.
Beverly Hills Bar Association et al.
Los Angeles County Bar Association
Sacramento Lawyers for Equality of Gays and Lesbians et al.
Manning & Marder, Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez
Constitutional Law Center (Monterey College of Law)
Hastings College of the Law
Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein
Richards, Watson, & Gershon
The Ecumenical Catholic Church
Donna M. Ryu (Hastings College of the Law)
Letters requesting denial of petition and request for stay:
The Pacific Justice Institute
Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence (Chapman University Law)
Steven MeiersKingdom of Heaven
American Center for Law and Justice
S168066
ROBIN TYLER, et al.,
Petitioners v. STATE OF CALIFORNIA, et al.
Immediate Stay Request
Amended Petition
Motion to Intervene
Motion to Intervene by Official Proponents
Official Proponents Opposition to Motion by Campaign
Proposed Intervenor Campaign for Preliminary Opposition to Petitions
Preliminary Opposition
Preliminary Response from the Attorney General
Debra Bowen's Preliminary Response
Letter from counsel for petitioners in response to letter submitted by Pacific Justice League
Letters submitted in support of petition:
Beverly Hills Bar Association et al.
Los Angeles County Bar Association
Sacramento Lawyers for Equality of Gays and Lesbians et al.
Manning & Marder, Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez
Constitutional Law Center (Monterey College of Law)
Letters requesting denial of petition and request for stay:
The Pacific Justice Institute
Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence (Chapman University Law)
American Center for Law and Justice
S168078CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO et al.
Petitioners v. MARK B. HORTON, et al.
Petition for Writ of Mandate
Amended Petition
Motion to Intervene
Motion to Intervene by Official Proponents
Official Proponents Opposition to Motion by Campaign
Proposed Intervenor Campaign for Preliminary Opposition to Petitions
Judicial Notice
Preliminary Opposition
Preliminary Response from the Attorney General
Letters submitted in support of petition:
Beverly Hills Bar Association et al.
Los Angeles County Bar Association
Sacramento Lawyers for Equality of Gays and Lesbians et al.
Manning & Marder, Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez
Constitutional Law Center (Monterey College of Law)
Letters requesting denial of petition and request for stay:
The Pacific Justice Institute
Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence (Chapman University Law)
American Center for Law and Justice
S168281ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN LEGAL CENTER, et al.,
Petitioners v. MARK B. HORTON, et al.
Petition for Writ of Mandate
Motion to Appear as Counsel Pro Hac Vice
Motion by Campaign to Intervene
Letter submitted in support of petition:Sacramento Lawyers for Equality of Gays and Lesbians et al.
S168302
EQUAL RIGHTS ADVOCATES AND CALIFORNIA WOMEN'S LAW CENTER,
Petitioners v. MARK B. HORTON, et al.
Petition for Writ of Mandate
Motion for Judicial Notice in Support of Petition
Motion by Campaign to Intervene
S168332
CALIFORNIA COUNCIL OF CHURCHES, et al., Petitioners v. MARK B. HORTON, et al.
Petition for Writ of Mandate
Motion by Campaign to Intervene
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme/highprofile/prop8.htm
Monday, November 17, 2008
El Pollo Loco/Proposition 8
Friday, November 14, 2008
No Gays For a day ( L.A Times Article ),
What do you think about making DEC 5, a day in which we show the U.S how much they depend on our $$$$
Forget the marches against Prop. 8's passage. This will hit people where it hurts.
by: Joel Stein:
You wouldn't think gay people would need tips on staging a splashy event from Mexican immigrants. Yet since they lost the right to marry in California, gays appear to have no game plan, marching around West Hollywood and Silver Lake with their old "No on 8" signs, which makes about as much sense as holding a John McCain rally next month at John McCain's house. That's why I'm declaring Dec. 5 No Gays for a Day day. Patterned after the 2006 Great American Boycott organized by Latino immigrants, on that Friday, gays should stay home from work, school and do no shopping, to prove how crucial they are to American society. No Gays for a Day will demonstrate what it would be like if -- as so much of the non-coastal U.S. seems to desire -- gays just disappeared. You may not even know who all your daily gays are, so there's no predicting the impact. It probably won't shut down the restaurant industry like the immigrants did, but know this for certain: Dec. 5 will be a day that fashion does not move forward.To gauge this strategy's effectiveness, I called Sonja Eddings Brown, the spokesperson for the Protect Marriage coalition that put Proposition 8 -- which defined marriage as exclusively heterosexual -- on the ballot. Brown, to my surprise, sounded defeated. I reminded her that Proposition 8 passed, so maybe she should pep up a bit. "Did we win?" she asked. "It doesn't feel like it." When I ran No Gays for a Day by her, Brown said, "I have so many dear friends who are such invaluable parts of this city and California who are gay." It was the boldest use of "some of my best friends are ... " I had ever heard. My main concern about enacting my plan is that I'm not gay. And my previous attempt as an outsider to rally folks to a cause was a miserable failure: Right before I applied to college, I suggested Asian students protest being stereotyped as overachievers by skipping the SAT. Also, I'm really lazy. So I called Amy Balliett for help. Balliett is a lesbian in Seattle who, just last Friday, created JoinTheImpact.com, which has organized an expected 250,000 people nationwide to march Saturday in protest of Proposition 8. Balliett immediately embraced No Gays for a Day as JoinTheImpact's second event. We worked out some kinks, like "pretending you are sick" for people who aren't out of the closet at work. For economic impact, we picked a Friday -- one of the big shopping days before Christmas and the day People, Us Weekly and Star usually sell out at newsstands. We also decided that because this is a general strike, not a directed boycott, even gay-owned, gay-patronized businesses should shut down. "I hate to say this, but we should even say, 'Don't even go out to the bars,' " she said. "I just don't know if the community can stick to that." To get media attention, Balliett -- a search-engine marketer -- is going to use the social networking sites she used for Saturday's march. Although that sounded promising, I decided to hunt for a No Gays for a Day celebrity spokesperson. I chose Kathy Griffin because she's so well connected to the gay community and because it's hard to get Ellen DeGeneres on the phone at 10 p.m. when you're drinking and coming up with ideas like No Gays for a Day.Griffin -- who is a spokesperson for the Foundation for AIDS Research, AIDS Project Los Angeles, Aid for AIDS and, I'm guessing, AIDS, AIDS, AIDS -- was thrilled to get the official celebrity spokesperson job. And she thought our impact would be significant. "Forget Pinkberry. It's over for them. They could go under in one day," she said. "If you do two days without gays, Bravo would go under too." People, we figure, will have no assistance at libraries or gym class and will madly butcher their hair. Subaru dealerships shouldn't bother opening. Entertainment journalism will take such a hit, TMZ will have to report hockey scores. Griffin was getting more excited about our plan until I mentioned this might slow up the remodel of her house. "My remodel? What about the audience for my shows? The only reason I'm doing this is on Dec. 5, I don't have a show. I'd never do this if I had a show that day in Palm Desert," she said. Then -- and you'll have to trust me that this actually happened -- Griffin got quiet for a few seconds. "If my assistants don't go to work," she said, "who's going to go to the bathroom for me? I'm screwed on a day without gays. I've made a huge error in judgment. Me, Cher and Bette Midler are going to be the three most screwed Americans. We all might actually die that day. And what if Ryan Seacrest doesn't go to work? The state will collapse. This will wake up California."But Griffin decided No Gays for a Day is a cause worthy of her suffering. Now the rest of the world will find out what Griffin has known all along: We need our gays. If it turns out I'm wrong, and we don't miss them, then as a married man, I can tell you this: The best way to keep them at home is to let them get married
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-stein14-2008nov14,0,2377851.column
MADONNA: Gay rights anyone?
Monday, November 10, 2008
How far is too far?
Friday, November 7, 2008
With all of these protests going on About Prop 8...
