California is dreaming no more for gay marriage—last week the state’s Supreme Court surprised the nation when they struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Faster than you can say, “Oh snap!” Ellen DeGeneres announced that afternoon on her show that she’s getting hitched to her beautiful partner, actress Portia de Rossi, to which the audience responded with a standing ovation. Even the Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger says he will respect the ruling. Thank god he’s not going to play Terminator this time (in the past he’s he vetoed two pro-gay marriage bills). He also said he will not support a constitutional amendment to overturn the ruling. California is only the second state (after Massachusetts) to offer same-sex marriage rights, while worldwide the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, South Africa and Spain also give equal marriage rights. Let’s hope the victory can energize New York to do the right thing, too!
And speaking of our gay friends in Canada, some of us took some much-needed time off last weekend to visit Montréal. They party so hard up there we need a vacation after our vacation! They say that Montréal is the city of festivals and that was certainly the case in the city’s Gay Village last weekend. The Bad Boy Club of Montréal, which puts on the annual giant Black & Blue Festival every October, geared up with their Hot & Dry event. On Friday night, Stephan Grondin (who you may remember from this year’s Black Party) tore it up for a circuit-y crowd on Friday night at Parking, but there was even more dirty action in the club Tunnel downstairs. On Saturday night, they filled beautiful club Medley with beautiful people for DJs Max Julien, Mark Anthony and New York’s own Sin Morera. Since they had a three-day weekend the party continued Sunday with Grondin back at Parking along with Patrick Dream and Manny Lehman, fresh off his Saturday night gig at Splash. Bar Le Stud got in on the fun hosting a weekend for hot bears, and there was plenty of burly action in the sprawling bar. Up St. Catherine St, Aigle Noir (the Black Eagle) was holding their annual Mr. Montréal Uniform contest all weekend. We didn’t understand much of what they were saying on stage (our French is très rusty) but we certainly understood all the hotties in all sorts of getups. Alas, no Mounties to fulfill our ultimate Canadian fantasies, but the barman came close in his northern military ensemble.
In more traveling news, Daniel Nardicio and his band of ass-bandits headed off for another adventure on his wacky Road Trip series, this time to the seedy yet slowly gentrifying Atlantic City. “Dirty Daniel” reports that while taping DList Radio from the only gay bar left in AC, a dingy watering hole named West Side Bar, a scuffle in the bar ensued in which a girl was threatened by a knife-wielding stranger and someone got stabbed! Bianca del Rio and cast ran outside while the police and ambulance took everyone away—the blood on the wall became a photo attraction that night and the culprit left his backpack behind, which they immediately went through on air (results to be broadcast Saturday on EastVillageRadio.com at 8pm). Later, after a hilarious show hosted by Bianca featuring Adam Joseph and Wendy Ho, Violet Temper tossed Aussiebum undies and Fleshjacks into the eager crowd, while new Playgirl model Jeff danced for the greedy masses. Then they searched the crowd for “Atlantic City’s Best Drag Queen” to bring back to New York for a weekend of shows. The winner, they assure us, will blow everyone away, and Nardicio describes her as “Mr. Peanut meets Patti Labelle.” Later that night the hotel became a hotbed of sexual activity as the cast found dates at the bar and everyone ended up bed hopping. We look forward to watching the episode on NakedSword in June!
On Saturday the indie hipsters at 40C’s Family went gaga over new dance queen Lady Gaga. Her rocker-chic outfit included a fierce scepter with a glowing white top that she shone on the audience. She opened with a shout-out to California for legalizing gay marriage, and the boys all but proposed to her when she sang infectious single “Just Dance.” Host Cazwell even did a little rapping alongside and invited Lady Gaga back onstage for an encore asking her to say something to her East Village queer fan base. After taking a moment she stated a simple, “Thank you,” with a stone-cold face (hysterical!) and walked off stage. For those who complain that New York lacks the energy that it once was famous for, Lady Gaga has shattered all doubts that this city has lost its edge.
It was hair, there and everywhere on Sunday’s fur-tastic Truck Stop Sunday at Park. Over 350 bear, leather & muscle daddies kept packing in to the point where the rooftop lounge was wall-to-wall beef, and they had to refill the hot tub, not once, but twice! Now that is what we call a wet and wild time. The next Truck Stop will be Sunday June 15 at The Park.
The previous night, proving that being gay has its advantages in the most unusual of circumstances, our mischievous intern David Gins was at first refused entry to Park’s straight Saturday night due a dress code restriction banning sneakers. When a drunken frat boy was overheard calling the bouncer a “faggot,” The Guest List Lady who previously denied Gins graciously granted entry to our injured intern and barred the offender. In witty retaliation, Gins turned to the homophobe and announced, “This faggot is getting in tonight.” Not quite California, but a victory nonetheless! N
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