A recent study has shown that African-Americans in California were far less supportive of proposition 8 -- which banned gay marriage in California in Novemer - than originally believed, but still more supportive than several other groups.

The study by Patrick J. Egan, Ph.D., assistant professor of politics and public policy at New York University, and Kenneth Sherrill, Ph.D., professor of political science at Hunter College, CUNY, under the auspices of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute shows that while exit polls indicated Black voters supported Prop 8 by nearly 70 percent, they in fact supported it by about 58 percent.

The study looked at pre- and post-election polls and conducted a sophisticated analysis of precinct-level voting data from five California counties with the highest African-American populations (Alameda (Oakland), Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco). Based on this, it concludes that the level of African-American support for Proposition 8 was in the range of 57-59 percent.

Egan said, "Party identification, age, religiosity and political view had much bigger effects than race, gender or having gay and lesbian family and friends."

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "...support among blacks is still well above the 52 percent Prop. 8 received from all voters in the Nov. 4 election. Much of that can be attributed to the strong religious tradition in the black community, where 57 percent of African American voters attend church at least once a week, compared with 42 percent of Californians overall."

We don't mean to suggest a secret bromance between straight author John Irving and gay writer Edmund White, but in a recent interview, Irving called White's book A Boy's Own Story far superior to The Catcher in the Rye.

"We're the same age, and I remember when I first read A Boy's Own Story—in the early 1980s—and I thought that the novel spoke much more to me about a boy coming of age (even though it's about a gay boy coming of age, and I'm not gay) than The Catcher in the Rye ever did. I reread The Catcher in the Rye recently, and it doesn't hold up at all; it's just not very well, or very consistently, written. But A Boy's Own Story is beautifully wrought, and fiercely defiant; I could reread that novel every year and find something terrific I had missed in a previous reading. I believe Edmund White is one of the best writers of my generation; he's certainly the contemporary American writer I reread more than any other, and the one whose next book I look forward to reading most."

It's wonderful to hear when good writing by gay authors is applauded not for being good GAY fiction, but for being simply good fiction. Too often, readers limit themselves when universal themes and understanding can be found in all types of writing. (Yes, that means we can read and learn from straight authors, too).  Hear hear, John Iriving!

New laws passed in Australia in November mean widows of war veterans in that Country can apply for pension benefits. The new laws come as a result of a ruling by the United Nations' Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the case of Edward Young of Australia.

According to an article in The Age, Young's partner of 38 years, Larry Cains, served in the Australian Army in Borneo during World War II. The two met in London in 1960 when Cains was a photographer and Young a model.  "He was desperately handsome," Young said, "we spent two weeks together and I told him I wanted to spend my life with him."

Edward Young  Photo: Peter Rae/ The Age

Young's battle began 10 years ago with the death of his partner.  Young applied for the pension only to be told that he and Cains were not a legally recognized couple under the Veteran's Entitlement Act.  The UN court ruled in his favor in 2003, saying Australia breached the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, but the government of then Prime Minister John Howard held out on reviewing Mr. Young's case.

A spokeswoman for Veteran's Affiars said the new law will come into effect on July 1 of this year and encouraged others in Young's position to come forward and apply after that date.  "People such as Mr. Young will not be denied a war widow or widower's pension on the basis of a same-sex relationship."

Edwin Cameron, openly gay and HIV positive, has been appointed as a judge to the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the highest court in that Nation.   Judge Cameron becomes the first openly gay man or woman ever appointed to any nation's highest court.  The appointment came from South African President Mothlanthe on Wednesday.

A former Rhodes Scholar and human rights lawyer, Judge Cameron is the co-author of several books, including Witness to AIDS, a memoir on his experiences as a person living with AIDS.

Last summer, Judge Cameron addressed the International AIDS Conference in Mexico, arguing that homosexual sexual conduct should be decriminalized throughout the world, as a necessary step in fighting AIDS.  He elaborated the argument in a scholarly paper co-authored withwith Scott Burris.

We're always thrilled here at DaddyHunt when another mature gay man opens a new door for the rest of us.  Let's hope we see more gay men and women leading our world courts (and legistures and countries) soon.

Oh, Santa Daddy, Oh Santa Daddy
bring that white beard to me.
Let it brush upon my nipples, my armpits and my knees.

Santa Daddy, Oh, Santa Daddy
uncut, I’m sure, and hung.
I lie in bed and dream of you
your taste upon my tongue.

Oh, Santa Daddy, I know how naughty I have been.
These impure thoughts fill my nights
and are how my days begin.

It’s not the suit (entirely)
though I confess a fondness for red.
Not just the beard, nor jolly belly
that urge me to your bed.

I only know a kiss from you
is present all I need.
No toy, no candy necessary
just your breath to feed

and I will pass another year
knowing you have been near
my Santa Daddy, Oh Santa Daddy
I sleep with such visions dancing...

image from bigboytoons.com

Ahhh, the holidays.  They bring out the best in most of us -- we smile a little more brightly and trick a little more lightly.  But when it comes to finding that perfect gift for your Daddy or Hunter, the grinch in many of us often comes uninvited to the party, much like your brother-in-law's best friend, who still thinks wedgies are funny and show how "cool" he is with your being gay.

Lucky for you, we present here the first ever DaddyHunt Holiday Shopping Guide.  Here are a few of our favorite gift ideas for the season.  For more great book, CD and movie ideas check out the DaddyHunt Gift Page here!

If you're looking for erotic art that will really turn your crank but is also produced by a first-rate artist, check out the sexy, beefy, hairy men drawn by Burbank artist Minoru. Print prices are generally $20 to $40 and originals also can be purchased.  Check it out at artbyminoru.

After checking out that erotic art, you may want to dress your daddy or hunter in this masculine racing jacket ($224.95) and have him do a little posing for you in the privacy of your own home.  You can see more great gifts like this at The Complete Bear.

In all the recent excitement around gay marriage, civil unions and domestic partner registration the last few years, some of us might have forgotten that these unions, while they can be sacred spiritually and emotionally, are at their core legal agreements and, as such, should not be entered into lightly.

In that vein, I offer you “Domestic Partnership in California: A Cautionary Tale…”

After 6 years of living apart in a joyful and exciting relationship, my partner and I decided to move in together and register as domestic partners in California in 2004.  Up ‘til then, I had always lived by the adage, “if it aint broke, don’t fix it.”  But it seemed to us that it was the right time for us to take these next steps.

He had inherited a large sum of money.  I was at the beginning of a new career.  So we could save expenses by moving in together and I could focus on getting my career off the ground while he took a year’s sabbatical from work before deciding on his next steps. 

For me, I admit, the domestic partnership was almost an afterthought.  We should be covered in case one of us ends up in the hospital, I thought (visitation rights!).  We would have legal protection under the law as a couple! Hooray for legal protection!

Was I naïve?  Yes.  Because my partner had a great big secret he wasn’t telling me and it got bigger and bigger until it destroyed our relationship earlier this year.

As if we needed more evidence of the power and wisdom that comes with age, 55-year-old gay poet Mark Doty has just won the 2008 National Book Award for Poetry for his collection, Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems.

The poems in the book represent more than 20 years worth of work but in an interview about his win, Doty said it was only at this stage in his life as a mature man that he could critically put this collection together. "When I started out I did what most young poets do -- take all the poems I'd written that I could stand and put them in my first book. But more and more it's a matter of building relationships between poems, and the way that new poems get made is out of the suggestions and possibilities of what I've already done."

Sounds like a a good daddy approach to life, and one that we appreciate here at Daddyhunt.

Check out Doty's website here to learn more about him and read some of his poetry.  Doty is the author of several collections of poetry and non-fiction books.  He lives in New York City and Houston, Tx.

Photo © Star Black

Does banning same-sex marriages in California require a Constitutional Amendment or Revision? That arcane distinction may be Prop. 8 opponents' best chance to have the recent voter-approved Amendment thrown out by the courts.

The California Supreme Court has agreed to hear three cases that claim the measure abridges the civil rights of a minority group by relying on a Constitutional Amendment rather than a Constitutional Revision. The California Constitution requires an Amendment to receive a simple majority vote to pass, while a Revision requires a vote of two-thirds of the California Legislature followed by a majority vote of the citizens.

The determination as to whether an Amendment or Revision is required hinges on whether the changes are narrow or broad. Prop. 8 added only 14 words to the Constitution and advocates say it deals only with the narrow issue of defining marriage, therefore requiring only an Amendment. Opponents say is is a Revision because Prop. 8 stripped a fundamental right (marriage) from a suspect minority class (gays and Lesbians). Does your brain hurt yet? Mine does.  If you want it to hurt even more, you can read the brief filed yesterday by several legal groups representing gay couples.

But that procedural distinction in California is what it might all come down to so you can bet lawyers on both sides are going to be parsing the Amendment vs. Revision argument in their briefs.

In the mid-1970s there were no gay divisions at publishing houses and no “gay lit” courses taught at colleges and Universities. But mention the name of Christopher Isherwood to those who were around then and chances are you’ll hear what a brilliant writer -- and what an inspiring example -- he was. This was the man who had written “Berlin Stories”, on which the musical “Cabaret” was based, as well as many other novels, plays, and screenplays. In the final paragraph of his 1976 memoir, “Christopher and His Kind,” which covers his experiences from 1929 through 1939, Isherwood writes that he would eventually find “the ideal companion to whom you can reveal yourself totally and yet be loved for what you are, not what you pretend to be.”