Gay Artist Juan Carlos Cabrera, Survivor of Domestic Violence, Has Show in Greenwich, Connecticut
Artist Juan Carlos Cabrera-Ramirez has all too acute an understanding of how anti-gay domestic violence inside a single house can be a reflection of anti-gay domestic violence, so to speak, on a national scale, with a heterosexist majority oppressing LGBT minorities. Native to Tumbes on the northernmost coast of Peru, the now 33-year-old Cabrera even at an early age was subject to abuse from his own parents, who deemed him too gay-seeming. Early on, he manifested a spark of creativity which they tried to snuff, viewing creativity as a thing for maricones. After seven years in Lima, Cabrera in 2002 came to New York, here finding worlds of liberated inspiration. Tragically, he fell into the clutches of a gay domestic violence abuser, who at the end of a two-year reign of terror against him hoisted him into the air, slammed him to the ground and then trampled him, rupturing his spleen.
Artist Juan Carlos Cabrera
“I felt such a hunger to express myself, ” he says in his charmingly accented English, “but I just couldn’t find a way to throw off my fears and inhibitions. I was always too shy to take that risk. I guess my God was waiting for the right moment to show me my direction.”
Raised Catholic, Cabrera has a personal feel for his faith that is very much at odds with the gay-bashing politics of the Catholic Church. “He’s El Demonio,” the Devil, he’ll say, in reference to Ratzinger. “That thing isn’t even human. Uck; look at it. How dare he talk against gay people and their rights, when I know that God made me gay, and loves me exactly the way I am?”
Sueño con Flores
Of the dozens and dozens of works Cabrera has so far created, some are oils, others are acrylics, still others water colors – and many are in soft pastels, even crayon. Like many of his creations, Sueño con Flores, which in English the artist calls Dreaming with Flowers, was inspired by a dream. “I like to experiment with different paints and artist’s pencils . . . I’ll just pick up what appeals to me at a given moment and run with it. Sueño con Flores is done in water colors and carbon pencil. The different textures . . . the solidity of the background, the whimsical appearance of the magenta flowers . . . it shows a masculine and a feminine side. We all have it, we accept it and we show it, I say. ”
Joie de vivre bursts forth from Cabrera’s painting ¡España! — an abstract expression of Cabrera’s pride in la tierra madre – Spain — the ultimate homeland for all Latino people. Of his painting Energìa Sexual (image, below) – Sexual Energy – he says “This communicates my steadily growing acceptance of and excitement over the Pandora’s box of my sexuality – as full of surprises, colors and vibrancy as life itself.”
Cabrera has strong feelings about the gay community’s, as well as the wider society’s failure to impose strong deterrent penalties on domestic violence offenders. “More, much more needs to be done to get victims the escape from torture and the humane treatment they deserve. I know from my experiences that you become trapped, not just in the psychology of it but literally trapped into a corner with an abuser lording his power over you and making you fearful that he will kill you if you tell the outside world what is happening. It’s a nightmare, a total nightmare. And did you know that in all of New York City, there isn’t one dedicated refuge for gay victims of domestic violence?” Now there’s an idea for the philanthropically inclined.
Fuerza y Coraje
Cabrera’s first-ever painting, Amoris, was a phallic image that he created staying up until dawn in a white heat of inspiration. While making touch-ups to it later, he accidently ripped the canvass a bit and then, for reasons not yet fully clarified, destroyed the work. Missing it later on, he created a pride rainbow overlaid with kissing doves that he calls Amoris, la Resurrección. “Each of my paintings has a very individual energy,” he says, “even the ones that deal with heavy subjects, and pain and sorrow, give me more and more strength as I look at, study and live with them.” Fuerza y Coraje, Strength and Courage, shows a wounded bird, summoning all his inner resources to escape from a perilous situation out to safety.
Another work that didn’t survive reworking was El Ojo de Jesús, inspired by Cabrera’s recollections of his mother singing him a Spanish-language children’s song, Palomita Blanca, Palomita Azul. The little blue dove of that painting, though, was reborn as the more forceful adult bird depicted in Melancolia. Esperanza, Hope, (image, top,) depicts Cabrera’s present goals with his art. “Painting is more than just making beautiful things,” he says. “Painting is the reflection of my soul. With my art, I would like to convey a message of hope for a better world, filled with harmony, respect, tolerance and solidarity.”
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Energìa Sexual
New York City-​based novelist and freelance writer Scott Rose’s LGBT-​interest by-​line has appeared on Advocate​.com, PoliticusUSA​.com, The New York Blade, Queerty​.com, Girlfriends and in numerous additional venues. Among his other interests are the arts, boating and yachting, wine and food, travel, poker and dogs. His “Mr. David Cooper’s Happy Suicide†is about a New York City advertising executive assigned to a condom account.
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U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, Republican of Georgia, is under fire after praising University of Mississippi students, some wearing American flag outfits, mocking a Black woman protester by making monkey sounds and shouting, “lock her up.”
“Counter-protestors at the University of Mississippi made racist remarks — including monkey noises and comparisons to Lizzo — towards a Black woman who was part of a planned protest against the war in Gaza,” Los Angeles Magazine reported Friday.
Collins, who tried to defund Vice President Kamala Harris’ Office in November, declared his support for the counter-protesters at “Ole Miss,” as the University is called.
“Ole Miss taking care of business,” he wrote on social media, atop the video (below).
The counter-protesters, as evidenced in the video, appear to be mostly white.
A large number of users on the social media platform X responded, accusing the Congressman and the counter-protesters of racism.
“When is the inevitable ‘I don’t have a racist bone in my body’ tweet coming,” wondered Rewire News Group editor-at-large Imani Gandy.
“Which part is your favorite, Mike?” asked Fred Wellman, the former executive director of The Lincoln Project. “Is it the white kid acting like a monkey at the black woman or the white security guy acting like she’s a threat? I’m trying to figure out which flavor of racism has you all excited the most?”
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Harvard Law Cyberlaw Clinic clinical instructor Alejandra Caraballo responded to the Georgia GOP congressman, “Thanks for confirming you’re a massive racist piece of sh*t.”
Mississippi Free Press news editor Ashton Pittman wrote: “Rep. Mike Collins, R-Georgia, praises a video showing a University of Mississippi frat boy dancing like a monkey and making monkey noises near a Black woman student who was protesting for Palestine while other frat boys chant ‘lock her up.'”
In a separate post describing a separate video taken of the same group Pittman wrote: “Frat bros at @OleMiss chant, ‘Lizzo! Lizzo!’ and shout, ‘F**k you fatass, f**k you b*tch’ at a Black woman who was protesting for Palestine. Do people really think these counterprotestors are doing it to support Jews?”
Journalist John Harwood did not mince words, writing, “Congressman proud of the racism.”
“Okay, Mike. We get it,” wrote podcast host, documentary director, and author W. Kamau Bell. “You want to be famous for being a racist. Fine. I’ll help you become a famous racist. You’re welcome.”
The original video is here.
See Rep. Collins’ post and the video below or at this link.
Caution: the video is disturbing.
Ole Miss taking care of business. pic.twitter.com/JiL9hs2pHz
— Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) May 3, 2024
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Amid more damning revelations from her soon-to-be released book, embattled South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem will head to Mar-a-Lago this weekend as ex-president Donald Trump auditions potential vice presidential picks in front of high-dollar donors. Noem was also slated to attend a Republican fundraiser in Colorado this weekend but it was canceled over alleged safety concerns after news broke she had bragged about shooting her 14-month old dog.
While Noem’s shooting to death of her wirehaired pointer, Cricket, which she detailed in the book, is still making headlines overnight a new revelation made news: Noem falsely claims in her book she met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
A spokesperson for Noem “seemed to concede that the Kim story was false Thursday night,” and notified her publisher, Politico’s Ryan Lizza reported in his exclusive.
But less noticed appears to be the actual text of Noem’s false story, in which she brands children she ministered in church “little tyrants,” and compared them to the murderous North Korean dictator.
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“Through my tenure on the House Armed Services Committee,” Noem wrote, according to Politico, “I had the chance to travel to many countries to meet with world leaders. I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all).”
CNBC reported this week Trump “will mingle with potential vice presidential running mates and wealthy Republican donors at the Republican National Committee’s spring donor retreat. The meetings are likely to act as informal tryouts for a short list of politicos in the running to join the Trump ticket.”
The list of Republican “special guests” includes U.S. Senators Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, and J.D. Vance, Rep. Elise Stefanik, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.
Also expected to attend are House Speaker Mike Johnson, U.S. Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Wesley Hunt of Texas, former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and other elected Republicans along with RNC co-chair Lara Trump.
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NBC News, which says Rep. Donalds is also under consideration, on Friday added there will be “a fundraising retreat that could serve as a screening session” for potential vice presidential running mates.
Meanwhile, the Jefferson County, Colorado Republican Party chair announced a fundraising dinner Noem was slated to attend was canceled after threats were made, The Denver Post reports.
“We understood there was a planned organized protest outside of the hotel, led by Progress Now,” Nancy Pallozzi said. “I felt that our event would be negatively impacted, and we could not take the risk that those who made threats would cause physical harm.”
Over the weekend independent 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. spoke at a fundraiser for a far-right anti-government group in Erie County, New York – a slice of the country that had a large proportion of residents arrested and charged for crimes related to the January 6 insurrection. Kennedy, a conspiracy theorist and vaccine denialist, increasingly is embracing the far-right.
“That group, Constitutional Coalition of New York State, has founders who not only have ties to Donald Trump but are also connected to the stop-the-steal movement through their activist network, which includes groups that had a presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6,” The Daily Beast reported Friday. “It’s yet another instance of Kennedy—who is mounting one of the most well-funded third-party presidential threats in decades—serving as a peculiar bridge between his own anti-establishment movement and Trump’s.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center includes the Constitutional Coalition of New York State (CCNYS) on its page of anti-government groups. Political Research Associates, which detailed the high proportion of January 6 residents arrested and charged, included the Constitutional Coalition of New York State in its February report on “The Rise of the Far Right in Western New York.”
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“If you don’t think the government is lying to you, you’re not paying attention,” Kennedy told attendees at the CCNYS fundraiser, The Buffalo News reports.
“CCNYS founders Nick and Nancie Orticelli are also affiliated with the Watchmen, a nearby militia who Nick has encouraged his social media followers to join. The Watchmen had several members at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and one member, Pete Harding, is still facing charges for violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds,” The Daily Beast noted. “Nancie Orticelli has also hosted the Watchmen’s founder, Charles Pellien, on her weekly radio show on several occasions.”
One of Kennedy’s goals in traveling to New York was to get on the ballot for the November presidential election. Various polls show him taking votes from both President Joe Biden and ex-president Donald Trump, but Kennedy currently has only qualified to be on the ballot in three states, Utah, Michigan and Hawaii, the newspaper reported.
But The Washington Post on Thursday reported The American Independent Party of California, which has a history of “far-right ties,” and “backed segregationist and former Alabama governor George Wallace in 1968, nominated Kennedy for president.”
Kennedy “said this week that he has qualified to be on the ballot in California and will accept the nomination of the American Independent Party, which has a history of associating itself with far-right figures and individuals who have expressed racist views.”
Some news reports and RFK Jr. himself say the Trump campaign was actively courting Kennedy, attempting to convince him to consider being the ex-president’s 2024 vice presidential running mate.
“That MAGA dalliance with Kennedy could be coming back to bite the Trump campaign, some Republicans close to the former president worry,” The Daily Beast also reported.
“’They can only blame themselves,’ a Trump-aligned strategist told The Daily Beast, requesting anonymity to speak candidly about private conversations about the risk Kennedy poses, ‘because they cozied up to him and thought it was funny.’”
Watch WIVBTV’s report on Kennedy’s trip to New York below or at this link.
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