Despite the pleasant gloss of awkward photo-ops, State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. has made no secret of his loathing of the concept of gay marriage. So to have some fun at his proselytizing expense, The New Gay launched a gay erotica contest featuring "NYC's number one bigot," to be followed by the "Fuck Ruben Diaz Festival" at a Brooklyn bar this month. And as you can imagine, Diaz is none too happy: "I continue to be the target of a vulgar campaign by seething extremists who oppose my defense of New York's marriage laws."
Diaz, who preached at the Rally To Protect Marriage last month, says he's been the target of death threats for his vocal stance against gay marriage, and cites The New Gay's contest as evidence of the opposition's viciousness: "I have never preached hate. They're showing that they're the ones that are doing the hateful things," he told the News.
The New Gay contest was started by contributor Andrew Steinkuehler, who wrote the goal of the project: "if a fool is our theme, let satire be our song. Imagine a day in the life of the Bronx’s most prominent Pentecostal minister. Is he downtown scoring poppers? Is he rehearsing his latest screed in his bathroom mirror? Is he waking up in a tangle of hard man-bodies after a raging orgy?" He told the News that he didn't view it as a personal attack, but rather as "one of those kind of 'laugh to keep from crying' sort of things." Diaz countered that he was disappointed with "the disrespect and irreverence that flourishes from those who have no respect for religious leaders here in New York and those who mock us as we serve our communities."
Either way, The New Gay went out of their way with a second post on the contest to make it clear that they don't approve of any violence or death threats. They did agree with Diaz that at its heart, the contest is ‘vulgar’: "When one is confronted with a politician whose most salient contribution to civic discourse is the fomenting, both directly and indirectly, of an atmosphere of intolerance one cannot always take the high road. Occasionally, taking the low road is just the ticket."
The "Fuck Ruben Diaz Festival" is scheduled for Saturday, June 11th, 5:00 p.m. at Metropolitan bar ("NYC's best gay bar for meeting a guy with $80,000 in M.F.A. debt") in Brooklyn. Audience members will get to hear the funniest pieces from the contest, and vote on the top three, to be published later on the site. "We're fighting absurdity with absurdity," said columnist Topher Burns.
