If Kate Bornstein's piece for Out on Israel Luna's (pictured) controversial film Ticked-Off Trannies with Knives is not the final word on the subject, I will cut a bitch. Her essay is just brilliant, beautifully written (despite the use of the phrase "marshal arts" a few times) and thoughtful to an extent that could be called brain porn.

GLAAD's Rich Ferraro has consistently invited me to his organization's events and I've consistently declined; I officially cover so many events for my dayjob and unofficially cover so many events on my blog for fun that my thought has been I don't really need to hyperextend myself by marrying the two and officially covering an event for my blog.

Gays & thespians: Honoree Nixon with Prayers for Bobby's Weaver

But The 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards were honoring Cynthia Nixon and Joy Behar (two of my favorite redheads—the red carpet was truly red/orange...it was a Night of 1,000 Gingers) so I made it my first red carpet, quickly discovering that doing an event with no boss to please and nothing to lose and yet having orchestrated access to the main attractions can wind up being the best of both worlds—officially fun.

From where I stood 

I arrived around 3PM for press check-in. There was a crush of people and the nice lady at the desk wasn't; I asked where to go and she said up the escalator, which isn't really that descriptive considering I was in the Marriott Marquis in Times Square (a place I was at on 9/10/01, and where I discussed going to the World Trade Center the following day to get TKTS tickets for a show...something that never panned out, obviously). I went up, as commanded, but couldn't figure out where to go next. I was pointed in many directions, finally landing on the third floor. (You'll see from the photos that I was much even more disheveled and droopy than usual.)

All my B-roll footage:

Here, I found my spot on the line—right toward the end. Red carpets are like the social caste system made manifest, or like a literal food chain. On the latter, I would be the seeds the birds poop out to keep the plants growing. To make it less metaphorical, I was two slots behind something called Autostraddle.com, which I refuse to look up because it sounds like one of those mechanical dildo sites. (I broke down and looked it up—it's a kinda great lesbian site with lots of traffic.)

But it turns out my spot wasn't so bad (considering I'm just some guy with a blog) because most of the stars were rather available and those who weren't were stopping to my left to do stuff with GLAAD. At first, I was right next to Ben Harvey and Dave Rubin of Ben & Dave's Six Pack (pictured, image from Metrosource). They were also covering for Queerty, though I wondered if they might not get less frozen reactions if they left the Queerty part out (I still link to Queerty, but I think it's fair to describe it as somewhat caustic). They were cute and as nice as can be; I point this out because the act of having a six-pack makes people gushingly nice, but the act of having six-pack abs usually does the opposite. They were professional and hot, the types of guys you wouldn't hate being stuck on a crowded elevator with, so I hoped they'd help attract stars, Suddenly Last Summer-style.

Samara puts the Reichen Lehmkuhls on the spot 

Dustin Lance Black is suing his ex, his ex's ex and Starzlife for the leaking and publishing of those bareback sex photos that embarrassed him earlier this year and Bilerico Project thinks he's making a huge PR mistake in doing so. I like Bilerico, but I think they're making a huge assumption in focusing on only the PR angle. Are gay people supposed to be so devoid of personal boundaries that we're not allowed to be humiliated when private, sexually explicit images of ourselves get out completely unintentionally? (Unlike other high-profile cases, this was obviously a case where Black never dreamed the images would leak. You can argue that anytime images exist there is that possibility, but that has nothing to do with the legal aspects—that is a sympathy question.)

Below is my comment for Bilerico because it wouldn't post and I'm working remotely, so sorry for any styling weirdness. And again, I don't legally fault any secondary blogs or news media that trafficked in the images because in my opinion once they were leaked they had a news quality to them, though I personally would have felt bad republishing them unexpurgated because, again, these were not posted by him on the 'Net on Manhunt, they were clearly stolen:

Via Towleroad: Lance Black makes the point that there is never a convenient time to grant full and equal rights. I am much more comfortable with voices like his and like that of Richard Socarides (former Clinton advisor) when it comes to being sharply critical of President Obama without careening into hysterical threats to leave the Democratic party and/or never again vote for him. I guess you could say I am a within-the-system person, but not complacent.

It is interesting that Lance brings up Clinton-era mistakes in front of a Clinton-era figure.

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Dustin Lance Black—nothing's changed.

Dustin Lance Black has reacted to the publication of private sexual images showing him and a former boyfriend having (bareback) sex:

"It is unfortunate that individuals and other outside parties are trying to profit from material which is clearly private. I have had the privilege to speak to people across the country, both gay and straight, on a number of critical issues including safe sex. More important than the embarrassment of this incident is the misleading message these images send. I apologize and cannot emphasize enough the importance of responsible sexual practices," he said in a statement to E! Online (not the Advocate, Out or Instinct).

Even before this statement, many in the gay blogosphere had already reacted—and not to reprimand Black, but to attack Perez Hilton for posting the uncensored shots.

To be honest, I'm somewhat torn on this.

I get the argument that Black is an important figure on gay issues (and is thought of as a great guy and role model), so if he is on our team, why should a gay blogger go out of his way to post something that would be embarrassing? I initially posted a link to Perez and still have one non-nude image up; I've since removed the link, which is admittedly not that meaningful since everyone knows where to go.

This same thing happened years ago with Thomas  Roberts, whose nude pictures were leaked. In that case, I really had no angst over people posting his images—if you are going to take naked pictures of yourself and post them on a public site (even if it's a site that requires membership) and/or send them out to people as an enticement to come have sex with you, how can you be truly worried that they might find a wider audience? If you are a well-known person and/or a person with a job that carries prestige, the chances that the images will surface are exponentially greater.

In Black's case, I don't believe he put his image on the 'Net to begin with, nor do I think he is Pam Andersoning anyone—he obviously is not orchestrating their release to sex up his image. I don't believe he ever made them public on the Internet. Instead, it would seem a partner is selling him out. The villain is the person who leaked them, and presumably if the images were only known to him and to Black, Black could and should sue.

But in reading a well-intentioned and obviously passionate editorial like the one over at Instinct, I take issue with the arguments.

Editor Mike Wood states "please please please don't go look" and, "We must be very, very careful about applauding a person in our community because he takes on a beauty queen when that same person—Hilton—is just as willing to post compromising and damaging pictures of one of the gay community's actual up-and-coming leaders...if we didn't have those who are in our community looking out for us—and trying to boost us up while everyone else kicks us down—what do we have?"

Now that Dustin Lance Black's private sex photos (and potentially a video) have been sold to an agency (presumably by the sexy guy who fucked him back in 2006, when they were made), it'll be interesting to see if he is embarrassed or cares at all. He's got to be angry that someone would leak them, let alone sell them; I mean on the broader level of how he reacts to their being out there.

One issue to at least address is that they're bareback. Easily enough, this could be a long-term partner with whom he felt safe, but I guess if I were him, a bona fide gay icon, I would probably speak to that one way or another. Perhaps he'll say, "It's nobody's business." Which is fair enough since it's not like he's deliberately releasing these.

Aside from the condom question mark, he really has nothing much to be embarrassed about. The other guy, or whoever is selling them, does.

"You know what, I think Proposition 8 was kind of great in that it brought the struggle back to the forefront. We've been losing propositions in the States for almost the last eight, nine years; it's just Proposition 8 just kind of got press attention. There have been rallies, but maybe not as big, and the movement is catching steam and gay people are finally fed up. And not just with the voters: gay people are also fed up with the gay and lesbian leadership in the United Stated, which is very closeted. It's almost like we've regressed."—Gay activist and Milk scribe Dustin Lance Black, in a swipe at Human Rights Campaign in Attitude

Black is also the coverboy on the new Advocate. He's the lead pick for the magazine's "40 Under 40" feature. Believe it or not, I was chosen, just over 10 years ago, as one of The Advocate's "30 Under 30." I'm glad I turned 40 before this came out so I have an excuse—had I been 39 and failed to make the list, I'd have had proof that I've degenerated in importance and promise over the decade!

Jennifer Livingston shoots "Mavericks 2009" for Details (April 2009), an article that selects the most truly maverick figures of 2009. Among them, Dustin Lance Black (above), the Oscar-winning writer of Milk, who says that while he was "very, very closeted" as a teen, a move to San Francisco led to an obsession with Harvey Milk's legacy that would later prove useful. Least maverick trait? In reference to his BlackBerry, he notes, "I totally use smiley faces."

After the jump, openly straight Andy Samberg and openly gay Facebook founder Chris Hughes...

Dustin Lance Black made a Skype-tastic appearance on Oprah, though it was weird to me that Gayle had him spend so much time discussing how moving Oprah's words to him at a pre-Oscar party were.

Speaking of Milk, the Oscar-winning movie (Actor! Original Screenplay!) is on DVD already—it's available March 10. As Lance says in this interview, Milk was not an exercise in money-making, but considering its excellence and its social content, that's all the more reason for you to purchase this DVD today. Voting happens in ballot boxes on Election Day, but it also happens with your wallet every day.

Cleve Jones speaks out on if the Oscars can swing some minds across the country in the pursuit of equality. Via JoeMyGod.