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Daniel Keenan Savage (born , Illinois , United States ) is an openly Gay American Sex Advice Columnist , Author , media Pundit , Journalist , and newspaper Editor . His strong opinions pointedly clash with both traditional Conservative moral values and those put forth by what Savage has been known to call the "gay establishment." Savage has also worked as a theater director, both under his real name and under the name '''Keenan Hollahan''', using his Middle Name and his grandmother's Maiden Name . Kittenpants interview with Dan Savage , ''Kittenpants'', 04.10.01 Issue 9 . SAVAGE LOVE Savage is best known for penning the internationally syndicated relationship and sex advice column " Savage Love ". Its tone is Humor ous, profane, and often hostile to Social Conservatives , as in the Santorum Controversy . The idea for the column began while Savage was living in , 2006 .Dan Savage, Introduction, ''Savage Love: Straight Answers from America's Most Popular Sex Columnist'' (New York: Plume, 1998), pp. 4-5. Savage stated in a February 2006, interview in ''The Onion'''s ''A.V. Club'' section (which publishes his column) that he began the column with the express purpose of providing mocking advice to Heterosexual s. "Forever, I'd read letters that had been written from straight advice columnists to gay people. Sometimes the advice was okay, but often it was clueless about gay issues or gay people or gay sex or gay rights. And I just thought it would be funny for once if there was an advice column written by a gay person where straight people had to get slapped around or treated with contempt." Savage wanted to call the column "Hey Faggot !" His editors at the time refused his choice of column name, but for the first several years of the column, he attached "Hey Faggot!" at the beginning of each printed letter as a salutation. According to Savage: :When I started writing this column in 1991, there was a debate raging in hellish homosexual circles about words like faggot. The idea was that if we used these words ourselves--Queer Nation, Dyke March, "Hey, Faggot"--straights couldn't use them as hate words anymore. I chose "Hey, Faggot" as my salutation in joking reference to this lively debate about reclaiming hate words.Dan Savage, Savage Love: Farewell, Faggot , ''The Stranger'', February 25 , 1999 . In his February 25 , 1999 column, Savage announced he was retiring the phrase: :Lo many columns later, it feels strange to begin every column with a joke about a debate that ended years ago. Recently, he has written in a number of columns about "straight rights" concerns, such as the HPV Vaccine and the Morning-after Pill , saying in his November 9 2005 , column that " {Link without Title} he right-wingers and the fundies and the sex-phobes don't just have it in for the queers. They're coming for your asses too." OTHER PROJECTS , 2007]]In addition to his weekly article and authoring four books, Savage is involved in several other projects. He is currently the editor of the , 2007 . From at least September 1994 until 1997, he had a weekly 2-hour call-in show called ''Savage Love Live'' on Seattle's KCMU (now KEXP ). From 1998 to 2000, he ran the bi-weekly advice column ''Dear Dan'' on the news website Abcnews.com . Savage is also a frequent contributor to '' Out '' magazine. Theatrical works Savage studied Theater and History in college at the University Of Illinois ; as a theater director, Savage (working under the name "Keenan Hollahan") was a founder of Seattle's Greek Active Theater . Much of the group's work was Queer re-contextualizations of classic works, such as a tragicomic '' Macbeth '' with both the title character and Lady Macbeth played by performers of the opposite gender. More recently, in March 2001 he directed his own ''Egguus'', a parody of Peter Shaffer 's 1973 play '' Equus '' that exchanged a fixation on horses for a fixation on chickens. Savage has not directed, produced, or performed in any productions since a 2001 production of his trimmed version of Mark Twain's "The Diary of Adam and Eve," which received poor reviews, including an extremely negative review from his own paper. Podcast A Podcast of Dan Savage's column Savage Love is available for download both at ITunes and at the ''Stranger'''s website for free download. It features Dan doing a call-in version of his sex advice column. OPINIONS AND POINT OF VIEW Political advocacy Savage has written about his interest in political matters. His political leanings are primarily Leftist or Liberal , with a pronounced Libertarian streak. In 2000, he wrote that while suffering from the by Conservative Republican presidential hopeful Gary Bauer that he abandoned his original plan "to follow one of the loopy conservative Christian candidates around—Bauer or Alan Keyes —and write something insightful and humanizing about him, his campaign, and his supporters." Instead, he volunteered for the Bauer campaign, intending to infect the candidate with his flu. He wrote that he'd licked doorknobs and other objects in the campaign office, and handed Bauer a saliva-coated pen, hoping to pass the disease on to Bauer and his supporters (though he later said that much of the article had been fictitious). He also registered and participated in the caucus, which was illegal, as Savage was not an Iowa resident. He was charged and pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of fraudulent voting in a caucus, and was sentenced to a year's probation, 50 hours of community service, and a $750 fine. ''Des Moines Register'' article . NewsWrap for the week ending November 11, 2000 , ''This Way Out'' program #659, '', January 27 – February 2 , 2000 . Savage often makes mention of political issues in his column, particularly issues that affect family planning, birth control, and sexuality. He often encourages readers to get involved, and often voices a positive or negative opinion about a politician or public official. After , 2003 . Savage also strongly supported the 2006 . Personal opinions Savage often surprises readers by defending unexpected positions. Among his more surprising or controversial statements:
Views on outing Savage stated in a column that he favours , 2007 . Local issues Savage's editorship of ''The Stranger'' has established him as a voice in local Seattle politics. His most high-profile commentary has been as an outspoken critic of the Teen Dance Ordinance and other crackdowns on all-ages events. Savage argues that closing down supervised all-ages dance venues drives teens to boredom and reckless activities: "Places like Ground Zero and the – April 5 , 2006 . Accessed 6 April 2006 . Religion Savage declared in his syndicated sex advice column: "I'm Catholic — in a cultural sense, not an eat-the-wafer, say-the-rosary, burn-down-the-women's-health-center sense. I attended Quigley Preparatory Seminary North, a Catholic high school in Chicago for boys thinking of becoming priests. I got to meet the Pope in 1979 when he dropped by our school during his visit to Chicago".Dan Savage, Savage Love (column), '', 1979 ]" on Quigley's official site. Shortly after the death of Pope John Paul II , he wrote in the same column: :John Paul II had more "no's" for straight people than he did for gays. But when he tried to meddle in the private lives of straights, the same people who deferred to his delicate sensibilities where my rights were concerned suddenly blew {Link without Title} off. Gay Blowjob s are expendable, it seems; straight ones are sacred. :So I can't get behind this orgy of cheap and easy piety . . .. I'm sorry the old bastard's dead, I'm sorry he suffered. But I'm not so sorry that I won't stoop to working John Paul II into a column about Zombie Fetishism . ANN LANDERS On - December 10 , 2002 . Dan Savage has facetiously referred to Ann Landers as his "college roommate"Dan Savage, " Savage Love: Lonely, Suicidal, and POPULAR! ", ''The Stranger'', '', p. 9. PUBLICATIONS
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