“The civilian partners of gay and lesbian military personnel are often forgotten in the debate over the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy,” said Alexander Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United. “These silent heroes must bear all of the same burdens of military family life, but they are not able to share in the support, benefits, or recognition that the military provides to the wives and husbands, and even the girlfriends and boyfriends, of straight troops.”

Nicholson continued, “Long deployments to warzones can be especially difficult times for families and loved ones back home, and the problems are only exacerbated by the difficulties that gay and lesbian couples face, including isolation and an inability to even communicate with the deployed partner. Our Campaign for Military Partners initiative has seen a lot of initial success in reaching out to military partners, and we expect the launch of www.MilitaryPartners.org to go a long way toward providing more and more support to military partners as the project grows.”

The Campaign for Military Partners grew out of the work of a Military Partners Advisory Group that Servicemembers United set up in mid-2009 to help the organization’s leaders identify ways to better support the military partner community. The Campaign’s mission is to reach out to, recognize, connect, and support the civilian partners of active duty LGBT military personnel.

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Granderson joined us to discuss his latest op-ed piece “Closeted anti-gays are the enemy within.”

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In this segment:

*More DADT drama
*Another gay escort details night with Christian ex-gay activist
*Another mobile application that allows gay men to find other gay men
*Are lesbians morally superior to gay men?
*Is there anything wrong with meaningless sex?
*Can you love more than one person at a time?

Featured indie musician: Nhojj (Song played: Dream)

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Hear Geoffrey discuss:

* His career as a writer

*The very first book he wrote: he was 21 and the book was 700 pages long!

*The series ‘Fathom’s Five

*Why he doesn’t believe writing for a gay audience has hurt his career

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On Dec. 9, 2009, Belhue Press was informed that an ad for the book The Manly Art of Seduction by Perry Brass, after running for a week on FaceBook, had been “disapproved,” and that the site “will not allow the creation of any further FaceBook ads for this product. Ads for this service, product, or site should not be resubmitted.” During its run, the ad was seen for (approximately) 58,000 impressions. It received 183 “clicks” to the Amazon page selling The Manly Art of Seduction. The ad was specifically tailored to be seen by gay men and their friends, and during the creation of the ad, which FaceBook very quickly approved, the site informed Belhue Press that the target audience for the ad would be approximately “13,000 people”; in other words, the ad would not be placed in places where people outside a target audience might see it, although there was nothing in the ad that they deemed offensive at the time of the creation of the ad.

Our main feeling is either that the Christian Right has been screening FaceBook ads and targeting some for their disapproval and possible threats, or that the great, faceless bureaucracy running FaceBook somehow caught up with an ad for a book that it found offensive. The book cover shows nothing that might not be seen on thousands of book covers and hundreds of thousands of FaceBook pages. The copy for the ad, which has to be brief, states, simply: “Frustrated, scared of rejection, alone? The Manly Art of Seduction, a complete guide to emotional and sexual satisfaction with men.”
FaceBook, later, through one of its nameless spokespeople, told Perry Brass that the very word “seduction” set off alarms, and they could not allow any ad with the word “seduction” in it. This would mean that any movie (such as “Alien Seduction”; Lina Wermuller’s “The Seduction of Mimi”; “Anatomy of a Seduction,” a harmless 1979 TV movie; or “The Last Seduction,” a 1997 cult movie so bad it’s good) could never be advertised on FaceBook. Neither could books like The Art of Seduction, by Robert Greene, a primer for poets—in truth, there are hundreds of books with “Seduction” in the title—so what exactly is FaceBook so bothered by?

Why is FaceBook targeting a short book that is simply a guide for gay men who want emotional and sexual satisfaction with each other? If this book had been targeted for heterosexual men and women, there would have been no problems at all. If it had been targeted at dogs and cats, there would be have been no problems. But obviously FaceBook is offended by a book that was written openly to benefit gay men. In this age of gay marriage, of a huge corporate presence in the lives of gay men and lesbians, why is it so offensive to be this candid about something that thousands of gay men want, just like anyone else—emotional and sexual satisfaction? And, this also brings up the question, now that FaceBook has 57 million members all over the world, and many organizations are now using FaceBook as a major source of connecting with their own members and others, what else will FaceBook start banning?

For more information about the FaceBook banning of the The Manly Art of Seduction, please contact Perry Brass at belhuepress@earthlink.net, or reach him at the phone number: 718-884-6606

Listen to the interview we did with author Perry Brass in November on SistersTalk Radio.

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Howard Fine, Hollywood’s most sought after acting teacher and Broadway director has worked with hundreds of stars, including Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Bradley Cooper, Justin Timberlake, Lindsay Lohan, Salma Hayek, Simon Baker, Amanda Bynes, Gerard Butler, Jennifer Connelly, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Michelle Williams, Val Kilmer, Sela Ward, Sophia Bush, Jason Priestley, Kerry Washington, Amy Smart, Jared Leto, Wilmer Valderrama, Brooke Shields, Daryl Hannah, Rick Fox, Estella Warren, Christopher Meloni, Enrique Murciano, Garry Shandling, Alexa Vega, Heather Locklear, Geri Halliwell, James Belushi, Diana Ross, Jon Bon Jovi, and Josh Groban.

He joins us to discuss coming out in Hollywood.

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Marcellas is the host of E! Network’s new reality TV show, Perfect Catch. He’s also a model, celebrity fashion stylist, entertainment reporter, writer and former star of Big Brother 3 and 7.

An accomplished fashion stylist and art director, Marcellas works with some of Hollywood’s hottest stars. His list of clientèle includes Justin Timberlake, Rebecca Hall (Frost/Nixon), Sharon Stone, Jayma Mays (Glee, Ugly Betty) and Eddie Cibrian (CSI: Miami). His work has appeared in numerous publications including InStyle, British Vogue, British GQ, Self and Angeleno Magazine.

Hear Marcellas discuss:

*His new reality show Perfect Catch
*Preparing to film Perfect Catch in Greece
*How he was discovered by Marie Anderson (who also discovered Cindy Crawford)
*His experience on Big Brother (3 and 7)
*His interview with The Pussy Cat Dolls
*How to look great without spending a lot of money

Download the podcast.

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