Gay Jewish Porn Star To Support Israeli Troops

I have not previously blogged about the Israel-Hezbollah war in the Middle East but this is an irresistible story I snagged from TerranceDC's latest QueerlyKos round up. Michael Lucas, a Russian American, gay Jewish porn star (Yes, Hadassah, they do exist!) is going to visit Israel to entertain the Israel troops in the wake of the latest armed conflict in the region.

There are many reasons why this story is interesting to me. First, I get to post pictures of hot barechested guys (always a good thing :-) on a blog!) to illustrate my thoughts. Second, this development highlights the different ways different countries deal with "the gays in the military" problem. Third, I get to highlight an interesting (read: titillating) gay blog that I just recently discovered (Michael Lucas has his own blog, called LucasBlog). Fourthly, the story deconstructs sexual stereotypes of Jewish people (the Wikipedia profile of Michael Lucas points out that he was a Falcon Studios exclusive with an official endowment of "11 inches" --cut, one would presume!)

The status of gays in the United States military is an instructive one. The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is a clear failure but it is the law of the land, despite vast majorities of Americans who think the policy should be repealed and gay, lesbian and bisexual citizens allowed to serve openly in the military. This just goes to show that public opinion and public policy do NOT always go hand-in-hand, particularly when the issue deals with homosexuality.

I believe that the current controversy over marriage equality may have political parallels. Despite the fact that the public is reasonably split on how to address legal recognition of same-sex relationships, almost 20 states have passed constitutional amendments (the nuclear option in terms of public policy) to ban recognition of same-sex marriage, and a few of these measures also prohibit civil unions also.

In 2007 it is very likely that same-sex marriage will become legal in California either by legislative enactment or by the State Supreme Court finally deciding Woo v Lockyer. Regardless it is clear that the response will be a statewide initiative to ban same-sex marriage and/or domestic partnerships in 2008. And then what the public policy of the state should be and what public opinion thinks the public policy of the state should be will be put to the test.