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Chicago-Area Teacher Receives "Warning" for "Black Fag" Rant

There is an update to the story of the Chicago-area high school teacher who ranted against "black fags" during a lesson on funding the National Endowment for the Arts. The Geneva School Board has decided to issue a "warning" letter to Dave Burk for telling several classes 'How would you feel about your tax dollars going to pay some black fag in New York to take pictures of other black fags?', reports the Daily Herald.

"Instead, consumer education teacher Dave Burk will have a letter of reprimand placed in his permanent file, said his attorney, D.J. Tegeler. "Obviously, what he did was wrong," Tegeler said of Burk, who did not attend Tuesday's board meeting. "He admits what he did was inexcusable."

The veteran teacher came under fire last week after openly gay senior Jordan Hunter, 17, complained to the school district about Burk using a derogatory term to describe homosexuals in class lectures on government subsidies for the arts. Hunter, who was appalled by the comment, said he thinks Burk should be fired for using the rhetoric in front of students. "I'm disappointed and shocked" Burk will continue teaching, he said. "I thought they (the board) would take it more seriously than they did. He's more than entitled to his views and opinions, but there's no reason he needs to express them in the classroom."

Burk reportedly read a letter of apology to students in each of his classes Tuesday, saying he "used a very poor example of words" to make his point. "The message I conveyed was insensitive and hurtful," according to the letter.  "This is not what I had intended."

Jordan Hunter says he is concerned about the example being set to students. "People need to know," Hunter told NBC5. "This is someone influencing the children on Geneva with their tax dollars."

A "warning" letter for a teacher who rants against "black fags" to several classes. Six months in jail for killing a black gay man. Are you starting to see a pattern here?

Illinois Teacher: Tax Money Should Not Be Spent on "Black Fags"

Jordan Hunter, an openly gay senior at Geneva High School in far west suburban Chicago, has filed a complaint against a  teacher who made an anti-gay and racist remark to his students while discussing funding the National Endowment for the Arts. The Sun-Times reports Dave Burk allegedly told his students: "How would you feel about your tax dollars going to pay some black fag in New York to take pictures of other black fags?"

Burk's attorney, D.J. Tegeler, said Monday he was not personally aware of the terms Burk used to his classes, but that Burk apologizes for any offense. "Mr. Burk is cooperating fully with both the principal, the dean of students and the school board," Tegeler said. "Mr. Burk's biggest problem is he does not want to intentionally offend anybody and if he did, he apologizes." Tegeler said Burk will abide by any punishment the district picks. "We have no intention of fighting anything," Tegeler said. Hunter, who reported Burk to the administration, wants Burk fired. "If he wants to talk about a poor place to put our tax dollars, I think his salary is a poor place to put our tax dollars," said Hunter, who is gay.

Hunter said several other students contacted him and said Burk repeated the same phrase in all his classes on  October 5. The 17-year-old adds: "This was not a slip of the tongue thing. This is something he wrote out in his lesson plan for the day."

The Tribune adds: "Hunter was placed in another class and told by school officials that the accused teacher was not allowed to teach last week after the complaint was filed, Hunter said. Hunter and his mother, Kelly, met with the principal Friday. The Hunters say they were told that the school board is expected to make a decision about what action, if any, to take against the teacher at a school board meeting Tuesday."

WATCH: Wilson Cruz and Kalup Linzy in PSA for ENDHIV.com

Wilson Cruz, Lady Bunny, performance artist Kalup Linzy, youth HIV activist Hydeia Broadbent and porn star/scenester Ben Andrews ask: "What can you do with five dollars?" Answer: Help fund the latest advances in HIV vaccination testing.

It's the new PSA for ENDHIV.com and dovetails with last week's announcement of a breakthrough in an experimental vaccine. Watch, WHEN YOU JUMP.

Test your broadband speed

700+ Posters for Gay South African Film Festival Removed by Vandals

More than 700 posters for the Out in Africa Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in Cape Town, South Africa were "systematically" removed from lamp posts and buildings over a two-day period.

"Launched in 1994 to celebrate the constitution prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, the festival is on at the Nu Metro V&A waterfront until Sunday. Out in Africa South African Gay and Lesbian Film Festival director Nodi Murphy suspects the 'two-day systematic removal of the 700 posters' had been carried out by fundamentalist religious or right-wing groups. Murphy said she hoped to see the vandals 'in the court of law, with them doing community service at a gay and lesbian project'. She said the organisers had been advised to lodge a complaint so that they could receive permission to view CCTV footage of where many of the posters had been. The office of the executive mayor of Cape Town approved and paid R32 000 for the posters, Murphy said: 'It’s their money that’s been wasted and I can’t imagine them being too happy. I’ll be in their office tomorrow discussing the matter.' She believed the festival had helped to promote tolerance. 'I kept thinking that there was an end to my work and that people have come to tolerate gays and lesbians. I don’t know why there has been this upsurge (in homophobia) all of a sudden. I think it’s because we’re an easy target. When there’s fear in the world its easier to go after a minority group.'"

The posters were created by local artists Toby Attwell and Quinton Bruton. Murphy said the posters were one of the few means the festival could advertise and there had been many messages praising the design.

The Independent Online reports Murphy lodged a complaint and asked Metro Police to view CCTV surveillance footage. She received only a single fax message: "No footage available."

News: Kennedy, Gina Gershon, Adoption, Abercrombie and Fitch

· The lifeguards of Santa Monica. Are you feeling safer already?

· Florida's gay adoption ban in appeals court.

· "Destiny's Child" Michelle Williams extends run as Roxie Hart in London production of Chicago. 

· TIME asks, "Is Abercrombie and Fitch the world's worst recession brand? The upscale teen retailer has suffered 10 straight months of double-digit same-store-sales declines. In the second quarter of 2009 alone, sales were down an eye-popping 30% across the company's three name outlets.'Abercrombie has mismanaged this economic downturn more than any other retailer.'"

· Gina Gershon on playing Bye Bye Birdie’s Rosie, the iconic role originated in 1960 by Chita Rivera: "If one more person says, ‘Oh, my God, how do you do Chita Rivera? ’The answer is, I can’t. I’d have an easier time being Harvey Fierstein."

 · Anti-gay groups such as the National Organization for Marriage now focus their energy on Iowa: "NOW has launched the Reclaim Iowa Project, targeting legislative races in the state in an effort to elect candidates who support putting the issue of gay marriage before voters. Even if NOW is successful in the Iowa House race, the state's political landscape will make it years before Iowa's gay marriage law could be changed."

· Kennedy: Obama issues executive order that flags be flown at half-mast until Sunday. LGBT leaders and legal analysts on the Kennedy legacy. Barney Frank will not run for Kennedy's vacant seat. The senator's work on ENDA.

· The New York Times recounts Senator Ted Kennedy's final days: "The once-indefatigable Ted Kennedy was in a wheelchair at the end, struggling to speak and sapped of his energy. But from the time his brain cancer was diagnosed 15 months ago, he spoke of having a 'good ending for myself,' in whatever time he had left, and by every account, he did. As recently as a few days ago, Mr. Kennedy was still digging into big bowls of mocha chip and butter crunch ice creams, all smushed together (as he liked it). He and his wife, Vicki, had been watching every James Bond movie and episode of 24 on DVD."

Warhol "Thriller" Portrait of Michael Jackson Could Fetch Up to $10M

An Andy Warhol portrait, circa 1984, of Michael Jackson will be auctioned today by a Hamptons art gallery and the price could exceed $10 million.

The 30-by-26-inch painting, of one icon painted by another, "shows a smiling Jackson in a red jacket from his 1980s Thriller days." The painting is not expected to break any records—"the recession-weary market has significantly depressed art values", TIME reports—but the postmortem interest in the late Michael Jackson is expected to push prices skyward.

The only question: Where should you hang it a $10 million Warhol?

Harvard's Henry Louis Gates Arrested for Breaking Into ...

... his own house. Outrageous:

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation's pre-eminent African-American scholars, was arrested Thursday afternoon at his home by Cambridge police investigating a possible break-in. The incident raised concerns among some Harvard faculty that Gates was a victim of racial profiling.

Police arrived at Gates’s Ware Street home near Harvard Square at 12:44 p.m. to question him. Gates, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, had trouble unlocking his door after it became jammed. He was booked for disorderly conduct after “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior,” according to a police report. Gates accused the investigating officer of being a racist and told him he had "no idea who he was messing with,'' the report said.

Friends of Gates said he was already in his home when police arrived. He showed his driver's license and Harvard identification card, but was handcuffed and taken into police custody for several hours last Thursday, they said.

The Associated Press account of the incident quotes a police report that alleges Gates "refused" to identify himsel. An associate of Gates is quoted who says the historian, named by TIME magazine as one of the 25 most influential Americans, said "police continued to question him after he showed them his license and Harvard identification."

Skip Gates exhibited "loud and tumultuous behavior" when he was arrested for breaking and entering into his own home? Hell yeah you bet he did. I would too.

David Dinkins couldn't hail a cab several times when he was mayor of New York City. Skip Gates. is arrested for breaking into his own home. Kinda reminds me of that old racist joke from the 1970s. What do you call a black millionaire with a Phd and a driving a Mercedes? "A nigger."

Thanks @ZuriNayeem

After Days of Silence, Terrell Carter (Somewhat) Addresses "Gossip"

Five days after being "outed" across Twitter, the internets, and the gay-baiting black gossip blogs by his ex-boyfriend, singer/actor Terrell Carter finally emerges from his safe and undisclosed location to respond to ... the "gossip."

On Saturday, Carter, the uber-talented performer who co-starred in a number of Tyler Perry's "Madea" productions, was the top-billing in "The Lost Son." This was a gospel play at the Porter Sanford III Performing Arts & Community Center in Decatur, outside Atlanta. In a stirring rendition of "Never Would Have Made It", Terrell Carter improvises and sings he "never would have made it through the last five days and the gossip" without Jesus.

Okay. That's about the "gossip". What about the "truth"? Or is Carter still insisting in public he is very! straight!, while semi-publicly involved with men and a regular at gay clubs like The Abbey (comments)? Or does this pass for an an apology on the gospel musical circuit?

Radio Facts, the urban music industry blog, notes the irony: "[Carter] is going to the same people who make him hide ... for salvation? Perhaps they will do a gay exorcism on him now."

WHEN YOU JUMP, via AndresFlava, watch Terrell Carter's incredible and undeniable talent. It's too bad he cannot tell the audience, "It's true, but it doesn't change who I am. I still love Jesus and God loves me." Now THAT would change the conversation in the black church. Oh and while we're at it, maybe there will also be an explanation (or a song) for why Terrell Carter posed as homothug Raheim on the cover of the B-Boy Blues novels—finally confirms author James Earl Hardy—after he initially denying that too? 

Artwork Created by Pharrell and Murakami Sells for $2M at Art Basel

Despite the recession the high-end art market continues to thrive. A one-of-a-kind six foot sculpture by Takashi Murakami and Pharrell Williams fetched more than $2 million at the prestigious Art Basel exhibition in Basel, Switzerland. The sculpture sold within 20 minutes of the show's opening.

Rapper, designer, super producer and fashionista Pharrell Williams tells the New York Times in the mouth of the sculpture are "the things in life that get overlooked."

These items—a miniature ketchup bottle, a can of Pepsi, a pair of sneakers, a cupcake, a condom, a bag of Doritos and a bottle of Johnson & Johnson baby lotion—were "impeccably made in various types of gold and encrusted with 26,000 inlaid diamonds", rubies, sapphires and emeralds. "The taste of a cupcake is worth more than diamonds," Williams says, offering an "interpretation" of the conceptual artwork.

AFTER THE JUMP, watch Pharrell Williams explain the art collaboration to Art Magazin's Ute Thon.

Fascinating Virtual Archive of Black LGBTs on Chicago's South Side

If there is one thing that you read today make sure that it's "Queer Bronzeville", a brilliant virtual history of black gays, lesbians and transgenders on Chicago’s South Side.

The online exhibit focuses on the Chicago's original black community on the South Side and was created by Tristan Cabello, a doctoral candidate at Northwestern University. The wiki is a collection of more than 100 historical documents—including photographs, videos, maps, interviews and articles. Cabello shows "the visibility of queers on Chicago’s South Side, and their relative acceptance" from the turn of the century to the early 1980s. That was the beginning of the AIDS crisis, when homophobia and anti-gay attitudes toward gays began creeping across society. Cabello writes from the 1920s to 1940s ...

Homosexuality was quietly accommodated. Bronzeville’s most powerful inhabitants (Reverend Clarence Cobb, Reverend Mary G. Evans, and possibly Louise Smith Collier) and its most famous musicians (Tony Jackson, Rudy Richardson, Sippie Wallace, Frankie “Half-Pint” Jaxon, and George Hannah) were homosexuals. Joe Hughes, owner of a popular homo-friendly bar, was elected honorary mayor of Bronzeville in 1940. Journalist Theodore Jones regularly hired drag queen Valda Gray’s troupe of female impersonators for parties given for Bronzeville’s upper class.

There is also a fascinating history on Broneville's many black gay and lesbian religious leaders, such as Reverend Clarence Cobbs seen below, the head of the First Church of Deliverance, described as "the most popular church in Bronzeville."

Cabello writes: "While he never publicly revealed or discussed his homosexuality, neither did he hide it. Cobb’s homosexuality was well known within the Bronzeville community: historian Timuel Black claimed that 'Cobbs was gay,'  adding that 'everybody knew about it.' Bronzeville old-timers remember a choir filled with gay men and vacation trips that Cobb would take with his male “assistant;” which led historians such as Wallace Best to claim that Cobb 'lived openly, yet silently.' "

Another incredible tidbit are advertisements reprinted from Chicago's black press, dating from the 1920s to the late 1970s, for gay clubs and drag shows. There are also many newspaper clippings on gay subjects dating back to the 1910s.

Unfortunately the laissez-faire attitude toward gays, lesbians and transgenders in the black community would end. Attitudes began changing during the 1950s as the Civil Rights Movement approached. Church and community leaders began promoting bourgeois, "middle-class values [and] led many gays and lesbians to be careful about acting on their sexuality, or to limit their sexual relationships to other cities. For example, Reverend Cobb started giving homophobic sermons in the mid-forties but was known to have gay sexual partners in many other cities."

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Queer Bronzeville [OutHistory]