Turns out that the video I posted yesterday features Oshri Cohen. (It’s written in the info with the clip but I wasn’t paying attention.) Oshri is an Israeli TV and movie star. I recently saw him in Beaufort. I’ll write more about that later…
My birthday is rapidly approaching, and I hope to get a few creative gifts this year.
I’ve done some research and found a helpful “Gay Gift Ideas” list. I especially love the “Golden Girls” DVD set, because those women cheer me up every time. Of course my favorite in Blanche Devereaux, because she gets ass as a senior citizen and has an ‘x’ at the end of her name.
Who is your favorite Golden Girl?
So your options for my birthday are as follows: get me something from this list, get me this dude at right, or make a donation to Mideast Piece so I know I am loved. Just don’t do nothing.
Last night I went to a showing of Jerusalem is Proud to Present at the DocAviv documentary film festival here in Tel Aviv. I was impressed by the large crowd that turned up for the film. Just like other pride events, it was great to be surrounded by “my” community, our supporters, and other cool people just looking for an interesting documentary film for a Friday night.
I had low expectations for the film and I guess that’s why I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it. The movie is about all the ups and downs that were associated with putting on World Pride 2005 - that became World Pride 2006. It shows how World Pride (and accordingly the LGBTQ civil right movement in the Middle East) was forced to take a back seat to the pull out from Gaza in 2005, a war with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006, and violent protests from the ultra-orthodox community in Israel.
I was living in Jerusalem during the planning for World Pride and was a volunteer at the Jerusalem Open House (the GLBTQ organization that put the event together) at the time. I led the English speakers meetings there and help to recruit people from around the globe to attend the event. It was a very frustrating experience and watching the movie made those memories fresh in my mind. It also reminded me how much work we still have to do here regarding GLTBQ issues and human rights in this neck of the woods. Matt and I feel that this blog is our way of making the Middle East a better place for gays, lesbians, bi, trans and queer people. Yes, we bring you hot guys (nothing wrong with that!), but in our hearts we’re social activists that are doing the best we can to make a difference. You can help us in our work by becoming a Mideast Piece Ambassador. A few folks have already made contributions and we really appreciate your help!
Here are a couple of YouTube videos of Jerusalem World Pride 2006. The first clip is a news report in Russian! I tried to find an English one - but watch anyway. You’ll see the event and all the police protection that was necessary to protect our civil rights to march, gather, and speak freely. The second video is someone’s personal clip of part of the concert portion of the celebration.
The audio quality isn’t great - but you can see that we’ve got out work cut out for us in building a strong, supportive gay community in the Middle East.
You can help by supporting this blog and telling your friends about us!
Recently CNN ran a piece on how some folks in the Hip Hop and Rap community are trying to take back the “f word” - you know - faggot. I am all for that! CNN’s piece featured a gay artist named Deadlee. Check it out:
Ran Danker is a star in an Israeli soap opera. Here you can see why. He’s beautiful!
I saved the best for last! Check out this video of Ran Danker being interviewed on the set of a recent photo shoot. So HOT! The interviewer is MTV host Jason Danino-Holt who I think is tres hot himself!
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