Here's a piece about the trend from a couple of weeks ago. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
Congress Member Profile|U.S. Representative|Republican|North Carolina District 8
Mark Harris
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Voting Record — 551
Yes76%
No24%
Present0%
Not Voting0%
Party align93%
Cross-party1%
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District Map
Congressional District 8
U.S. Census Bureau boundary data.
Social & Web
External Resources
Mark Harris
U.S. RepresentativeRepublicanNorth Carolina District 8
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Mark's ATmosphere Activity
20 recent posts · 14 sponsored · 70 cosponsored
Recent ATmosphere posts, sponsorships, and cosponsorships.
My curmudgeonly thought for the day: We would not need so many "The ending of blahblahblah EXPLAINED" videos if full-length works of narrative fiction were still routinely taught in grades 5-12. If fairly straightforward plotlines are baffling this many people, something has gone seriously wrong.
That frustrating moment when all your deleted Bluesky drafts begin "As I believe I clearly said..."
He couldn't have been more gracious.
I will give you the answer to that but first I must push this baby out of my body.
2) A profile of the playwright David Henry Hwang. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/t... and 3) A Criterion essay on the 1975 neo-noir Night Moves. www.criterion.com/current/post... More to come in 2026 including details about the big gay culture book. Thanks for reading, responding, and engaging!
Most of what I wrote this year was a book. And I can't share that yet. But I did write a handful of stories that I liked, and since this is the week many of us share our year's work, here are three. 1) An essay on Paul Reubens and the painful history of the closet. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/t... >
To me it feels like, in terms of dialogue, he succumbs to the white-Hollywood trope of, for lack of a better term, Indigenous Peoples Kitsch--the blues and greens and reds all speak in earnest declarative statements without contractions or humor and the one really funny line goes to Jemaine Clement.
That is not to say that Cameron did something wrong with the Avatar movies or that they fail at doing what they set out to do; it's only to note that the people who are saying that there's a particular kind of cultural discussion that most franchises generate that Avatar doesn't are not wrong imo.
I sort of get the "Avatar has no cultural impact" argument, because it connects to what Cameron prioritizes in his movies. Going to that movie is like visiting a self-contained world, and people clearly love doing it, but most people couldn't tell you who "Jack Champion" is if you held them hostage.
The US version was on pay cable (and not HBO) and aired pre-social media; it never broke out beyond its small target audience or became a real subject of discussion.
It really is, but I read that novel recently and...maybe we need to let that one go.
Heavy snow, and my neighborhood in NYC, including the main thoroughfare of Amsterdam Avenue, is woefully unplowed. Thanks, Mamda--no, wait, I googled and apparently the mayor of New York is someone named...Eric Adams?
To quote the last line of David Rooney's Hollywood Reporter appreciation: "“Bitch, no one is watching that show for the hockey.”
I think it's a great movie, but it's a period piece and a tragedy, and both of those aspects of it are filters that can make gay stories more acceptable to straight audiences.
It's partly that, sure, but it's also partly that queer people can be very, um, declarative about deciding that something is "over" and insufficiently aware that every queer person is in a different place on their own personal and pop-cultural timeline.
Great piece and genuine LOL at the last line.
With HR, the answer is yes, obviously, but it also adds a condition that none of us figured out: For a show to be the kind of breakthrough we were entertaining, it'd have to be two new actors. It helps that they're both excellent, but it's crucial that we bring no baggage to watching them.
One more Heated Rivalry thought: As a journalist I have participated for literal DECADES in the "Will audiences ever accept a frankly sexual romance between two hot actors?" discussion. It has always been used as an imaginary gay benchmark: "We'll know we've won when the day comes that..." etc. >
Man, I thought I was mean! Respect.
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Voting History551 total votesExpandCollapse
Voting History
551 total votes
Recent roll calls with party-majority context so it is easier to scan how this member tends to vote.
| Date | Bill | Question | Position | Party Maj | Align? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-11-20 | H. Res. 893 (119th) | Motion to Refer | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-11-20 | H.R. 6019 (119th) | Fast-track passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-11-20 | H.R. 4058 (119th) | Fast-track passage | NO | YES | ✕ | Passed |
| 2025-11-20 | H.R. 5107 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-11-20 | H.R. 5214 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-11-19 | H. Res. 888 (119th) | Approve resolution | YES | YES | ✓ | Failed |
| 2025-11-19 | S.J. Res. 80 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-11-19 | H.J. Res. 131 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-11-19 | H.J. Res. 130 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-11-18 | H. Res. 888 (119th) | Motion to Refer | NO | NO | ✓ | Failed |
| 2025-11-18 | H. Res. 878 (119th) | Approve resolution | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-11-18 | H. Res. 879 (119th) | Approve resolution | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-11-18 | H. Res. 879 (119th) | End debate now | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-11-18 | H.R. 4405 (119th) | Fast-track passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-11-18 | H. Res. 878 (119th) | Kill the motion | NO | NO | ✓ | Failed |
| 2025-11-18 | H.R. 2659 (119th) | Fast-track passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-11-17 | H.R. 1608 (119th) | Fast-track passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-11-13 | H.R. 5371 (119th) | Accept Senate changes | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-11-12 | H. Res. 873 (119th) | Approve resolution | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-19 | H. Res. 719 (119th) | Approve resolution | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-19 | H.R. 5371 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-19 | H.R. 5371 (119th) | Send back to committee | NO | NO | ✓ | Failed |
| 2025-09-18 | H.R. 1047 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-18 | H.R. 3015 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-18 | H.R. 3062 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-17 | H. Res. 713 (119th) | Kill the motion | NO | NO | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-17 | H.R. 5143 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-17 | H.R. 5125 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-17 | H. Res. 722 (119th) | Approve resolution | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-17 | H. Res. 722 (119th) | End debate now | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-16 | H.R. 5140 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-16 | H.R. 4922 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-16 | H.R. 2721 (119th) | Fast-track passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-16 | H. Res. 707 (119th) | Approve resolution | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-16 | H. Res. 707 (119th) | End debate now | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-15 | H.R. 3400 (119th) | Fast-track passage | NO | YES | ✕ | Passed |
| 2025-09-15 | H.J. Res. 117 (119th) | Kill the motion | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-11 | H.R. 3486 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-11 | H.R. 3944 (119th) | Instruct negotiators | NO | NO | ✓ | Failed |
| 2025-09-10 | H.R. 3838 (119th) | Final passage | YES | YES | ✓ | Passed |
| 2025-09-10 | H.R. 3838 (119th) | Send back to committee | NO | NO | ✓ | Failed |
| 2025-09-10 | H.R. 3838 (119th) | Approve amendment | YES | YES | ✓ | Agreed to |
| 2025-09-10 | H.R. 3838 (119th) | Approve amendment | YES | YES | ✓ | Failed |
| 2025-09-10 | H.R. 3838 (119th) | Approve amendment | YES | YES | ✓ | Agreed to |
| 2025-09-10 | H.R. 3838 (119th) | Approve amendment | NO | NO | ✓ | Failed |
| 2025-09-10 | H.R. 3838 (119th) | Approve amendment | YES | NO | ✕ | Failed |
| 2025-09-10 | H.R. 3838 (119th) | Approve amendment | YES | NO | ✕ | Failed |
| 2025-09-10 | H.R. 3838 (119th) | Approve amendment | YES | YES | ✓ | Failed |
| 2025-09-10 | H.R. 3838 (119th) | Approve amendment | YES | YES | ✓ | Agreed to |
| 2025-09-10 | H.R. 3838 (119th) | Approve amendment | YES | YES | ✓ | Agreed to |
Alignment stats consider only votes where a clear yes/no majority existed for the legislator's party. Cross-party marks divergence where the vote matched the opposite party majority. ↔ indicates cross-party divergence.