Wichita Gay Blog

Sir Ian McKellen has said openly gay US actors are prevented from having successful Hollywood careers. "It is very, very, very difficult for an American actor who wants a film career to be open about his sexuality," the gay British actor said. His career in mainstream films "really took off once I'd come out and said I was gay", he said.

The actor, who came out in 1988, is one of the film world's most high-profile openly gay stars. A number of other British actors such as Rupert Everett, Simon Callow and Sir Anthony Sher have publicly acknowledged their sexuality. But fewer US actors have been willing come out and big names such as Rock Hudson and Montgomery Clift hid their sexuality for most of their lives.

We've seen this sort of political demagoguery before. You may recall when there was raid after raid in an attempt to save the citizenry from the dangerous exposure of female breasts in stripper bars. This crusade reached a fevered pitch when the raids were conducted by vice cops dressed up like SWAT teams.

They would launch their assaults hoping to catch a glimpse of female skin, in concert with the city council and the city attorney, who were busily obsessing how to define the criminalization of female nipple exposure that would withstand constitutional challenge in the courts. The amount of tax dollars devoted to this effort was incredible. It reached it's ludicrous height when the boob brigade raided a bar and arrested the employees for indecent material being shown on a large screen television. The offending content was an MTV broadcast.

It was one of those “The Emperor Has No Clothes” moments in Wichita, when all but the most blinded zealot in the city could not help but see how far things had gone awry. It exposed not skin, but the ridiculousness of the entire affair.

Not one for learning from history, now we have another crusade to save consenting adults from themselves by closing down the adult bookstores. This new war on sex was started by a group calling itself Operation SouthWind, supported by our Mayor, which collected about 7,500 signatures from people who say the stores sell obscene magazines, videos and gadgets. The signatures were gathered on a petition demanding a grand jury investigation of sexually oriented shops for allegedly violating obscenity laws.

Now does that mean these dedicated citizens, horror of horrors, went to these stores, and purchased adult DVD's and forced themselves to watch these terrible tapes. Or in an even greater sacrifice for the rest of us, purchased said “gadgets” and proved to themselves what a threat sex toys are? Apparently not our Mayor, as he was quoted in the Wichita Eagle as saying he's never been inside an adult store. In fact, whenever he passes one, he says he wonders to himself, "What kind of individual frequents one of those places?" Adults who enjoy a healthy sex life, the owner of Priscilla's said in the same article.

In any event, the result was that a grand jury returned an indictment against Priscilla's and its owner, Robert Floyd, with one misdemeanor count of promoting obscenity. This alleged promotion was in the form of a single DVD. No indictments were handed down against six other adult-oriented businesses it also investigated.

"This obviously was brought about by a group of people in the community who don't trust adults to make good decisions about what to view or not to view, so they want to tell us what to view or not to view," defense attorney Steve Joseph said. "It is the same group of so-called Christians that want to dictate moral standards to everyone in the community that are forcing this issue." An additional bit of irony is that the same Mr. Joseph was the former assistant district attorney who 28 years ago organized citizens in this same community against pornography, and prosecuted cases in 1977 and 1978 in a concerted drive to put adult stores out of business. What comes around goes around it appears.

Carlos Mayans and City Council member Jim Skelton are bravely sallying forth in another front in their battle to regulate the morals of big bad Wichita. They are trying once again to use zoning laws to put these businesses out of business. Mr. Mayans admits that he knows the city will be sued as a result. He does not offer an estimate of how many more tax dollars he will use in the process, or much he has already spent.

It looks as if Mr. Mayans has taken the low road of politics of a failed Mayor who has no vision or ability to impact the many real and pressing problems of Wichita. It is only a matter of time, though, until he is exposed, no pun intended, in his own “The Emperor Has No Clothes” moment. The citizens of Wichita deserve a Mayor who gets real results on real issues. We need a Mayor who will:

Get rid of gangs and the violence and murder they commit. The city has neighborhoods where people lives are so terrorized by these gangs that they sleep in a bathtub in fear of stray bullets.

Get serious about reducing other violent crime and increasing apprehension and conviction rates.

Push for Kansas to become a leader in sentencing reform for child sexual abuse, and support Phil Kline's efforts to bring a Jessica's law for Kansas to fruition.

Provide proactive leadership rather than the bungling we have seen on the gambling casino issue. Mr. Mayans has us on a course that will insure an enormous amount of tax revenue and entertainment dollars goes to surrounding counties whose communities are aggressively pursuing development. The Kansas City area's four casinos posted combined revenue of $60.8 million in January, up 9 percent from $55.7 million a year earlier, the Missouri Gaming Commission reported. That is one month of revenue. Our schools sorely need revenue to improve our children's education, and casino taxes could be providing that.

Bring new business to the community. Mayans tries to sell his adult business crusade as his answer to attracting corporations. Right, that will get them flocking to our community. The Wichita Business Journal reported on some of the real issues:

A perceived lack of community leadership.
No downtown arena.
A belief that the river area is not being developed rapidly enough.
Concerns about the cost of air travel from Wichita.
Problems with the city's self-image.
High taxes on business.
The rising cost of utilities.
Underground water pollution in downtown.

Kansas ranks 43rd in total personal income, and the trend is negative. Little wonder when we have our leaders focused on the content of what DVD's our citizens rent. Mayan's efforts on adult bookstores has gotten Wichita in the national news. BTK and porn police as a national image are sure to be a winner for attracting jobs.

No, not nasty sex. Nasty attitudes toward one another based on age, mannerisms, build, or any of a number of other individual traits. The gay community never tires of complaining about intolerance by straight people, and the discrimination they suffer.

Go figure then, that the greatest intolerance experienced by gay men is often from each other. And they are much more vocal about it than those who are not gay. Fem, flamer, troll, fag, and nelly – we seem to love hating each other. It's not that I think everyone should be attracted to everyone else – we all have our preferences for friends, playmates, and lovers. It's just that I think we could do with a good deal more tolerance and kindness towards those who don't meet our own particular likes.

If we want tolerance from the community at large, we ought to practice it within the gay community. Otherwise our own hypocrisy makes us unworthy of it from others.

"Allah is the only one that must be worshipped on Earth, and the only way to guarantee this is to control all the land masses, air and sea and give Islam the proper channel to be heard by the people."
--Sheikh Abu Hamza Al-Masri, Allah's Governance on Earth

"Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the Israeli Likud party said, trying to disparage his enemies: 'The celebrated goal of Islamic Fundamentalism is to secure the worldwide victory of Islam by defeating the non-Muslim and infidels through Jihaad...'. Thank you very much, Mr. Netanyahu, for a very accurate description.”
--Muhammad Abdus Salam Faraj, Jihad: The Absent Obligation

The biggest fault of George Bush is not that he is focused on Islamic terrorism. It is that he understates the nature of the problem to the point of misrepresentation. In his effort to not alienate “moderate” Islamic countries, he speaks of a tiny violent muslim minority within an otherwise innocuous and peace loving Islam. The short term utility of this political correctness is understandable. However, it is an impediment to most people gaining an understanding of the nature of the conflict, and therefore what will be involved in reacting to it successfully.

The recent violence in France by the Muslim population there, and the current riots and killing throughout the world over an obscure Danish newspaper cartoon – among enumerable other examples – bear witness to that.

From a historical perspective, it is not the first time that Islam has pursued the course of Jihadic imperialism. Early on, Islamic military forces experienced it's first great surge, conquering the Middle East, Persia (Iran), Central Asia, North Africa, Sicily, and Spain. Both Christians and Jews throughout Europe were terrified until the Islamic troops were halted by Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours, France, in 732. The Muslim conquest for Italy and Rome lasted nearly 100 years until 916. The struggle played out in various countries well into the 14th century. The Christian Crusades, albiet tardy and often flawed, were a response to Islamic expansionism.

We are in the beginnings of the second great Jihadist era. The strategies being employed are now apparent in this stage of Jihad:

First, inculcate Muslim populations throughout the world in militant Jihadist philosophy and goals, and the obligation for all Muslims to participate. This process has been under way for many years in Mosques and Islamic schools. The effort is bearing fruit in hitting a “critical mass” of millions upon millions of Muslims with Jihadist ideals. Moderating voices in the Islamic community are rare, and certainly not the predominate message being promoted every day in Islamic media, mosques, schools and madrassas. Americans are often shocked and bewildered by the intensity of the hatred toward us in Islamic demonstrations. We largely fail to understand how these populations have since birth heard this drum beat every day of their lives.

Second, establish Islamic theocracies wherever the population of countries is predominately Muslim. Iran was the first overthrow. Afghanistan became a model as well. Syria is essentially now in this camp. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and any other Middle East country not directly under fundamentalist control are targets. Every country with an Islamic dominated population and a secular government is finding itself in a precarious position. Their people are becoming more radicalized every day and sympathetic to regime change. Iraq, though certainly a brutal dictatorship under Saddem Hussein, was not a theocracy. Now the struggle is for which way it will fall.

The underlying rationale of the Bush administration for invading Iraq – beyond weapons of mass destruction and the Bush family legacy – was to create a second “beach head” for western style secular democracy to thwart Jihadist domination in the Middle East after Afghanistan. This is the reason the outcome in Iraq and Afghanistan is so critical.

Third, intimidate, strike fear, and ultimately cripple the west through terrorism. The secondary gain is to embolden, hearten, and recruit Muslims around the globe to the Jihadist cause by demonstrating the viability of the movement and prove that Islam has emerged from a period of self-perceived impotence to make holy war against the “infidels”. The greater the destruction and death tolls, the more effective terrorist strikes will be from their view. Those that doubt these terrorists are seeking and will use nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons are naïve and fail to understand the role of terrorism as a tool within the overall Jihadist strategy and vision.

We often hear western journalists and leaders describe terrorism as “senseless violence”. It is just the opposite. It is a carefully conceived approach to weaken non-Islamic nations by both the tangible damage and the morale / resolve of it's victims. Similarly, the many deaths of Iraqi's by terrorist bombs are designed to send a clear message about the cost of cooperation with non-fundamentalists.

Fourth, utilize ever increasing Muslim populations in every country, a trend that has been underway for some time, as an “invasion force” from within. Immigrants do not relocate to Europe with becoming a soldier of the Jihad as their motivation. It is a push-pull effect of economics. Most Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa have poorly developed economies and high poverty rates. Europe on the other hand has looked to immigration as a way to re-invigorate it's own economies to counteract declining and aging indigenous population trends.

Virtually every European country has experienced dramatic rises in Muslim immigration. Over the last 30 years, Europe’s Muslim population has more than doubled, and its growth rate continues to accelerate. Current projections hold that the number of Muslims living in Europe might double again by 2015. Major Muslim immigration, high Muslim birth rates, and a shrinking traditional population—point to a steady rise in Muslims as a proportion of Europe’s people.

In an influential article in the Washington Quarterly in 2004, Timothy M. Savage of the State Department’s Office of European Analysis estimated that Europe would be 20 percent Muslim by 2050. “Some even predict that one-fourth of France’s population could be Muslim by 2025 and that, if trends continue, Muslims could outnumber non-Muslims in France and perhaps in all of western Europe by midcentury,” he pointed out. It has created a situation ripe for exploitation.

Importantly, this new population growth, far from becoming assimilated into European culture, is forming a second front for Jihad. This development is a paradox to many sociologists, who figured that such behavior was confined to newcomers who brought it with them. Not comprehending the virulence and organized nature of the Jihadist movement, they theorized that with time, immigrants would moderate their views. Instead, it is Europe's second and third generation Muslims who are the most radical.

In 1990, the U.S. Census counted 5.27 million Muslims; today, there are as many as 9 million Muslims in America. Most of that growth, again, occurred between 1990 and 2002. By 2000, the number of Muslims worldwide had exceeded the number of Catholics; by 2010, the State Department estimates that there will be more Muslims in America than there are Jews, making Islam the second-largest religion in America.

Fifth, after establishing strong Islamic nations that have become the majority alliance in the world, we will see direct nation-based military aggression in a final stage of Jihad to complete global domination. The result would of course be catastrophic for everyone. Yet it is a path that seems unlikely to be abandoned at that point if Jihadism succeeds in nearing so close to it's ultimate goal.

The current "crisis" concerning Iranian nuclear capability should be viewed in this context. Their dedication to developing nuclear weapons is part and parcel of preparing for the day of direct warfare. Syria likely obtained some weapons of mass destruction technology if not weapons themselves during the invasion of Iraq. These two countries are now working closely together. The first target for aggression is apparent. Iran's new leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has publicly called for the total irradication of Israel.

This is a man who has visions - literally. He believes that when he addressed the United Nations last September, he was bathed in a holy green light, and "for those 27 or 28 minutes, all the leaders of the world did not blink. When I say they didn't move an eyelid, I'm not exaggerating. They were looking as if a hand was holding them there..". He is pre-occupied with the mystical coming of a Shiite Islamic messiah figure – the Mahdi. The belief is that when he returns, he will reign on earth for seven years, before bringing about a final judgment and the end of the world.

He states,"We don't shy away from declaring that Islam is ready to rule the world".

The Palestinian election victory of Hamas - dedicated in it's charter to the destruction of Israel - is an additional element in the gathering storm clouds. Without intervention, there is no question of what will occur, it is only a question of when.

If this seems to be a polemic against the religion of Islam, let me assure the reader that it is not. That Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – all branches of a common theological tree – should be the source of hatred and violence is a tragedy and travesty that exceeds my ability to express it. That does not obviate our responsibility to describe what is happening and is likely to happen in the future, even if it is politically incorrect to state the truth in unvarnished terms. Though the West does not wish to be at war, we are. To refuse to see or acknowledge the fact is folly.

If we fail to come to grips with the cultural, religious, economic, and military aspects of this conflict and pursue a comprehensive long term response, we may see the copy of the “The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire” joined on the shelf by “The Rise and Fall of Western Civilization”.

Many gay people in the United States are left to far left in the American political spectrum. We tend to view conservatives and particularly conservatives of the Christian stripe in stark terms of disdain and even fear. Some of the extremist Christians admittedly give a basis for this in their anti-gay views and rhetoric.

The “orthodox” gay view is one that sees the Republican party as their greatest threat, going to extremes of typifying them as fascist, a view without historical foundation or accuracy from any rational political comparative analysis. While it is true that conservatives are generally opposed to gay agenda issues such as gay marriage, the demonization of conservatives has an unfortunate and ultimately dangerous effect. That danger is in being blinded to the most lethal threat to gay people, which is Jihadist Islam.

While many Christians believe homosexuality is a sin, the Christian theological foundation stone of hating sin but not the sinner, has meant that all but the “lunatic fringe” such as Fred Phelps, believes that homosexuals need to be redeemed and saved. There are numerous examples of Christian groups that try to convert gay people to heterosexuality. Most gay people view this as misguided, unrealistic, and insulting. Compared to Islamic belief and practice, however, it is benevolent and caring. For example:

Secretary of the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association in Britain, George Broadhead, commented that all Muslim countries outlawed homosexuality, and the penalties for those convicted ranged from prison, flogging, and execution by a variety of perverted methods – such as throwing the victim off a cliff or pushing a stone wall on to them to bury them alive. "The record of these countries on human rights in general is bad enough, but when it comes to gay human rights, they are disgusting".

NSS Newsline 2003 Apr 25

The one attempt to form an Islamic group by gay men, Al-Fatiha, resulted in a "fatwa," or religious edict.. "The very existence of Al-Fatiha is illegitimate and the members of this organization are apostates," the decree said. "Never will such an organization be tolerated in Islam and never will the disease which it calls for be affiliated with a true Islamic society or individual. The Islamic ruling for such acts is death."

This attitude is not limited to fundamentalist Islamic countries. Even in democratic societies, Islam remains overwhelmingly anti-gay. Dr Muzammil Siddiqi, director of the Islamic Society of North America, says "homosexuality is a moral disease, a sin, a corruption… No person is born homosexual, just as nobody is born a thief, a liar or a murderer. People acquire these evil habits due to a lack of proper guidance and education."

Sheikh Sharkhawy, a cleric at the prestigious London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park, compares homosexuality to a "cancer tumour." He argues "we must burn all gays to prevent paedophilia and the spread of AIDS," and says gay people "have no hope of a spiritual life." The Muslim Educational Trust hands out educational material to Muslim teachers – intended for children! – advocating the death penalty for gay people, and advising Muslim pupils to stay away from gay classmates and teachers.

Gay people would do well to pay more attention to the real danger confronting them. The goal of Islamic Jihad is no secret. Jihadist leaders throughout the world are vocal in stating that they will seek to rule every country on earth, and will not cease their holy war until this is achieved.

This is part one of two posts on this topic.