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Tag: gay

  • Passion Pit Frontman Michael Angelakos Comes Out

    Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos announced his split with wife Kristy Mucci a couple of months ago.

    Now, Angelakos has come out as gay.

    “I lived in such a group of straight people …not that anybody was going to be not understanding .. it was just not the time,” he said about the last few years, in an interview with author Bret Easton Ellis on his podcast.

    According to Angelakos, his wife was one of the main reasons he decided to be honest with himself about his sexuality.

    “When I decided to really deal with it head on, which was, I don’t know, in June, she was the one who spearheaded it in a way,” he revealed, according to ET. “She said, ‘You need to figure out what’s going on with your sexuality because you can’t hate yourself anymore.’”

    “I just wanted so badly to be straight, because I love her so much,” he added. “I think that was one of the most painful things when we decided to separate.”

    Passion Pit’s Twitter account recently tweeted that “everything’s gonna be ok,” and that Angelakos has “received so many kind and supportive messages.”

    “When you are teetering on the edge of homosexuality, it’s just so much more comfortable to keep going back to what you know because … I didn’t want to deal with other people,” says Angelakos.

    And why did he choose now to reveal it?

    “When this was all happening recently, finally, I just decided it might be best to talk about it here,” he told Ellis. “I don’t really know what happened, but it’s just one of those gut feelings. It’s the same gut feeling I had when I said, ‘OK, I kind of just need to talk to people about the fact that I am.’ I’m gay. And that’s it. It just has to happen. This was exactly the type of situation where I don’t feel like I’m being threatened.”

    You can check out the full podcast here.

  • Kanye West Cries Discrimination For Being Straight Guy In The Fashion Industry

    After making his mark in the music industry, Kanye West seems to be under a lot of pressure as he tries to get the same recognition in the fashion industry.

    After the Yeezy Season 2 collection was launched in New York Fashion Week a few weeks ago, West said he felt like he was being discriminated against in the fashion circle just because he is straight man.

    “I feel like I got discriminated in fashion for not being gay,” West said during a live interview with fashion-oriented website SHOWStudio. “In music, you definitely get discriminated in music if you are gay. It takes amazing talent to break down barriers,” West added.

    However, fashion critic Cathy Horyn, thinks that West’s Yeezy collection is not being discriminated against because of his sexual orientation but because of the actual clothes. “This second round of drab, broken-down basics proved he can’t be taken seriously as a designer; but nevertheless many people in fashion do seem to take West seriously, they keep showing up expectantly for his performances, and that makes them fools,” Horyn wrote in her blog. That is after Horyn saw West’s designs, which she described as the same thing that West had shown before, hoodies, baggy pants, and beige undergarments that looked like Spanx.

    West seemed to have forgotten that there are a lot of straight guys who have made their names in the fashion industry, and that their sexuality didn’t get in the way of their success.

    Some of these designers include Ralph Lauren, Kenneth Cole, Yohji Yamamoto, and Tommy Hilfiger to name a few.

    West adds that he doesn’t have anything against gays, since he talked about how supportive he was of Caitlyn Jenner and even encouraged Kim Kardashian to accept her transgender stepdad.

    “Then it was like, ‘F**k what people say. F**k what people think. I feel proud to be in a family that has so many people breaking ground for generations to come. I’m still getting acquainted to what’s politically correct [to say],” West said in the same interview.

  • Tim Cook Talks to Stephen Colbert About Coming Out

    Tim Cook Talks to Stephen Colbert About Coming Out

    Tim Cook is one of the country’s most-powerful – and most-visible – CEOs. And it’s that visibility that led him to come out publicly last October.

    The Apple CEO opened up to Stephen Colbert about his decision, saying he “wanted to tell everyone [his] truth.”

    Cook said he felt “a tremendous responsibility” to do it during an interview on The Late Show.

    “It became so clear to me that kids were getting bullied in school, kids were getting basically discriminated against, kids were even being disclaimed by their own parents — and that I needed to do something … Where I valued my privacy significantly, I felt that I was valuing it too far above what I could do for other people. And so I wanted to tell everyone my truth.”

    “Many people already knew, for many people it was no revelation. it’s like discovering something in your iPhone that it’s always done but you didn’t quite know it, right?” said Cook. “And so it wasn’t a revelation to a lot of people that I work with but it was maybe to the broader world.”

    Cook revealed he is gay in an eloquent piece in Bloomberg last October. There, he called being gay ‘among the greatest gifts god has given him.”

    “I don’t consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others. So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy,” he said.

  • Brittney Griner Fights Demand For $20k Per Month Spousal Support By Ex-Wife Glory Johnson

    According to ESPN, Brittney Griner is being asked to pay $20,000 for temporary monthly spousal support by former wife and WNBA star Glory Johnson. Court documents filed in June in Maricopa County, Arizona also state that she is requesting a $10,000 advancement for her attorney’s fees.

    The two basketball players were married May 8 – just a few weeks after a domestic violence incident in their Arizona home on April 22 where both of them were arrested. After this event, the WNBA suspended both players.

    Griner filed to annul her marriage to Johnson on June 4 arguing that she was pressured into marriage under duress by Johnson’s threatening statements.

    Stasy Click, Johnson’s legal representative, stated in the filing that Griner has” far superior control over the family’s financial resources” and that Johnson is “without the necessary financial means to pay for legal representation in this matter.”

    The filing also stated that Johnson is unable to seek employment outside of basketball because she is having a high-risk pregnancy. She is pregnant with twins.

    Click stated that Johnson is currently on a slashed salary from the WNBA due to her pregnancy, which also means she will not be able to play overseas this winter.

    It was also stated that Johnson’s insurance does not cover household assistance, personal trainers, and medical care.

    In vitro fertilization, wedding expenses, and furnishing of the home they once shared drained Johnson’s finances, as stated in the filing.

    According to ESPN, Griner declared that “due to the brief marriage, neither side was in need of nor entitled to spousal support.”

    There will be an evidentiary hearing set on August 17 at Maricopa County Central Building in Phoenix for Griner’s petition and Johnson’s counter-petition.

    espnW tried contacting both parties last Monday but were unsuccessful.

  • Supreme Court Marriage Ruling Got You Feeling Prideful? Facebook Lets You Rainbow Your Profile Pic

    Supreme Court Marriage Ruling Got You Feeling Prideful? Facebook Lets You Rainbow Your Profile Pic

    If you’re excited about today’s Supreme Court ruling, Facebook has a cool way to let you show it.

    Head on over to facebook.com/celebratepride and you can add a rainbow filter to your profile picture.

    See? Mark Zuckerberg just did it:

    Screen Shot 2015-06-26 at 2.13.45 PM

    Earlier today, Zuckerberg praised the ruling, saying we are moving in the right direction.

    Our country was founded on the promise that all people are created equal, and today we took another step towards achieving that promise.

     

    I’m so happy for all of my friends and everyone in our community who can finally celebrate their love and be recognized as equal couples under the law.

     

    We still have much more to do to achieve full equality for everyone in our community, but we are moving in the right direction.

    Today the US Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, said that the Constitution requires that same-sex couple be allowed to marry. The decision effectively makes gay marriage legal nationwide, as states can no longer reserve the right to marry only for heterosexual couples.

  • Rosie Perez Reveals Junior High Same-Sex Experience

    Rosie Perez declared that she had felt confused about her sexual identity, in a speech on TrevorLIVE New York on June 16.

    The co-host from The View also revealed that she tried a relationship with another girl during junior high in a Catholic school, wrote Carlos Geer for Page Six.

    The host, now in her fifties, initially had a crush on a girl called Michelle. And though she wanted nothing but to “hump her,” she didn’t give in to the urges and instead concealed her desires.

    Perez’ uncertainty in having homosexual feelings, however, made her feel all alone, “until Michelle, one day, started humping on me”, the host revealed through the event by national LGBT youth organization The Trevor Project.

    Regardless of the same-sex relationship that she had in junior high, Perez, now married to artist Eric Haze, announced that she does not consider herself as “gay.”

    The host claimed that she is not confused anymore of her sexuality and that she has arrived at a place of security.

    “I know I’m not lesbian, gay or whatever,” she declared. “I’m a quasi-straight person.”

    Perez further added that she still had that moment when she had a lesbian relationship but admitted that she thought she was all alone, Amanda Mikelberg reported on CBS News.

    The relationship didn’t end well as the two broke up and stopped being friends, which hurt Perez. She admitted she needed someone who could understand her and someone she can talk to.

    But she didn’t have The Trevor Project, and had no community so she kept silent, which she confessed added more to her pain.

    “That silence brought shame,” Perez announced on the show. “I remember that hurt and that hurt kept me silent, and that silence brought shame” Perez said.

    “I didn’t have a community. No, I’m not gay, lesbian, transgender . . . but I’m a human being.” she added.

    And Perez went on about the significance of The Trevor Project’s crisis hotline for teenagers. She acknowledged that she is not the only one that went through this period of confusion on sexuality.

    “I’m not the only one that suppressed those feelings,” Perez said.

    Perez further emphasized the role of adults in a teen’s life. She admitted that if she had some grown-ups to call up to tell her that she was normal and that it will pass, “it would have made all the difference in the world.”

    But Perez says she was fortunate to have some great people in her life, referring to her father and aunt. There were also community leaders who assured her, ‘No, it’s okay to be different and just let your spirit shine.’”

    Perez’ advice for teenagers? Accept the journey and their individuality. “There’s no such thing as normal”, she added. “What is the norm is being different.”

  • Lucy Lawless Brings Drag Queen Show to a Grinding Halt

    Lucy Lawless is busy these days shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, where she is filming the second season of the TV show Salem.

    Lucy Lawless told TV Guide that she has fun wherever she shoots because she gets to know the area by slipping into local courtrooms to hear what sort of issues everyday people are dealing with.

    “Most people have never been here but it’s a very surprising place, not what you would expect – a very complex society,” Lucy Lawless says of Shreveport. “They call this place the buckle of the Bible Belt, so you have a lot of convention and religiosity but you also have a lot of libertarians and free-thinking people and an arts community.”

    Lucy Lawless is from Auckland, New Zealand, so some of the issues of American society are a bit out of the norm for her. Even though she is seen as a feminist icon, that seems odd to her.

    “I’m not saying it’s a totally equal society, because I’m sure wage-wise it doesn’t play out like that, but I never grew up thinking I was not equal thanks to my parents and their encouragement. I didn’t even realize I was a feminist because I never really needed to be.”

    Another part of American society that claims Lucy Lawless as an icon is the gay community. While working in Shreveport, Lucy Lawless dropped in on a drag show. She had no intention of making a scene, but you can’t put Xena in a room full of drag queen and not have her be spotted, even in Shreveport. Lucy Lawless stopped the show.

    “I was dressed down. I was just sort of hiding but they picked me out (in the audience) and the drag queens would break from their act to come off stage and give me a hug. It’s amazing.”

  • Apple’s U2 Album Giveaway Turned Kids Gay, Say Russian Wingnuts

    Apple’s U2 Album Giveaway Turned Kids Gay, Say Russian Wingnuts

    According to some right-wing Russians, this is probably going to turn your kid gay:

    That’s the cover of U2’s most recent album, Songs of Innocence. You might remember it as “that album my iPhone kept playing whenever I accidentally opened up iTunes.”

    The Guardian reports that a member of Russia’s Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) is raising hell over the album, blaming Apple for “spamming youths with illegal content” – more specifically distributing “gay propaganda” to kids. He wants an investigation from the top legal authority in the country.

    You may recall that last September, Apple did everyone the favor of giving out U2’s new album to every iTunes user. During Apple’s big press event for the iPhone 6 launch, CEO Tim Cook gave Songs of Innocence to hundreds of millions of people for free. But here’s the thing – instead of just allowing users to download the album for free if they wanted to do so, Apple pushed the album to everyone. It was mandatory U2.

    This led to lots of people waking up in a why the fuck is there U2 on my phone stupor, followed by a pretty significant backlash. It was so intense that Apple had to make a dedicated page with the sole purpose of helping people remove the album from their libraries with one click.

    U2 called the whole stunt “incredibly subversive”, “really disruptive”, and totally “punk rock”, as U2 would.

    Apparently, it wasn’t just the music that pissed off Mr. Starovoitov.

    The photo, of U2’s drummer Larry Mullen Jr hugging his son, is supposed to represent “how holding on to your own innocence is a lot harder than holding on to someone else’s”

    But to anti-gay Russians, it’s a dangerous promotion of gay sex.

    According to a Russian newspaper, there’s already talk of taking legal action against Apple.

    Look, homophobic Russian dudes – U2 isn’t trying to make anyone gay. Apple isn’t trying to make anyone gay. You can’t make anyone gay. It doesn’t work like that. You can make someone’s ears bleed, and they may be responsible for that – but that’s about as far as it goes.

    Apple and Russia have a history when it comes to homophobia. Bigoted politicians have tried to ban Tim Cook from the country, and iPhone statues have been removed just days after Tim Cook came out.

    Even Siri is homophobic in Russia.

    Image via Helge Øverås, Wikimedia Commons

  • ‘My Husband’s Not Gay’: TLC’s New Show Sparks Fear And Controversy In LGBT Community

    TLC’s upcoming special, My Husband’s not Gay, is already causing controversy even before it airs. The program, which features four Mormon men from Salt Lake who are attracted to men but don’t identify as gay, has drawn the ire of GLAAD and the rest of the LGBT community. GLAAD president, Sarah Kate Ellis, said that the show is potentially dangerous.

    A Change.org petition is asking for My Husband’s not Gay’s cancellation has already gotten over 80,000 signatures. The petition was started by Josh Sanders, a gay Christian man, who agrees with Ellis’ comments that the show could be dangerous especially for the LGBT community as well as communities of faith. According to Sanders, the show “promotes the false and dangerous idea that gay people can and should choose to be straight in order to be part of their faith communities.”

    Sanders wrote, “The men featured in this show deserve to be shown compassion and acceptance. Perhaps even more importantly, TV viewers need to know the horrific consequences of trying to change who you are. Instead, TLC is presenting victims’ lives as entertainment, while sending the message that being gay is something that can and ought to be changed, or that you should reject your sexual orientation by marrying someone of the opposite sex.”

    A representative for TLC responded to the My Husband’s not Gay controversy by putting out a statement defending their programming.

    “TLC has long shared compelling stories about real people and different ways of life, without judgment,” the network said in the statement. “The individuals featured in this one-hour special reveal the decisions they have made, and speak only for themselves.”

    My Husband’s not Gay is scheduled to air on January 11.

  • Alabama Bill To Be Named After Tim Cook

    Alabama Bill To Be Named After Tim Cook

    In October, Tim Cook penned a piece for Bloomberg Buisnessweek in which he publicly came out as gay. Now, it appears that an anti-discrimination bill in Alabama is to be named after him.

    Reuters reports:

    Democratic state Representative Patricia Todd, Alabama’s sole openly gay lawmaker, said on Wednesday that Apple was initially hesitant about having Cook’s name on her bill, which faces steep odds in the Republican-dominated Legislature, but later embraced the idea…

    “Nobody could have scripted this,” said Todd, who plans to introduce her bill in the Alabama legislative session beginning in March. “I never in a million years would have expected it.”

    Todd had said after Cook’s letter that she would put his name on the bill, but apparently it’s official now.

    Cook was born in Mobile.

    In other Tim Cook news, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took some issue with Cook’s comments on advertising-based businesses in a new Time Magazine cover story.

    Image via Apple

  • Dolly Parton: Judgmental, Anti-Gay Christians Are “Sinning”

    Dolly Parton: Judgmental, Anti-Gay Christians Are “Sinning”

    Dolly Parton is an icon in the gay and transgender community. Two of the most popular “characters” in any drag queen competition are Cher and Dolly.

    Dolly once told Nightline that she once secretly entered a “drag queen look-alike contest — and lost.”

    “They had a bunch of Chers and Dollys that year, so I just over-exaggerated — made my beauty mark bigger, the eyes bigger, the hair bigger, everything,” she said. “All these beautiful drag queens had worked for weeks and months getting their clothes. So I just got in the line and I just walked across, and they just thought I was some little short gay guy… but I got the least applause.”

    Rumors have floated around for years that Dolly is secretly gay and in a long-time relationship with childhood friend and constant companion Judy Ogle. Dolly has smacked down those rumors again and again.

    “[People] just think that you just can’t be that close to somebody,” Parton said. “Judy and I have been best friends since we were like in the third and fourth grade… We still just have a great friendship and relationship and I love her as much as I love anybody in the whole world, but we’re not romantically involved.”

    Dolly has said, “I am not gay, but if I were I would be the first one running out of the closet.”

    Dolly’s concerts have the distinction of attracting gay and transgender audience members right alongside Evangelical Christians. Much to some Christians’ chagrin, she has come out in support of gay marriage.

    “I don’t want to be controversial or stir up a bunch of trouble but people are going to love who they are going to love. I think gay couples should be allowed to marry,” she said.

    Recently, she told Billboard Magazine what she thinks of Christians who judge gay people.

    “[A]s far as the Christians, if people want to pass judgment, they’re already sinning. The sin of judging is just as bad as any other sin they might say somebody else is committing. I try to love everybody.

    “[Gay people] know that I completely love and accept them, as I do all people. I’ve struggled enough in my life to be appreciated and understood. I’ve had to go against all kinds of people through the years just to be myself. I think everybody should be allowed to be who they are, and to love who they love. I don’t think we should be judgmental. Lord, I’ve got enough problems of my own to pass judgment on somebody else.”

    In fact, Dolly says her Christian values are the very reason that she stands up for LGBT equality.

    “In the country field, we’re brought up in spiritual homes, we’re taught to ‘judge not lest you be judged,’ and it’s always been a mystery to me how people jump all over things just to criticize, condemn and judge other people when that is so un-Christian – and they claim to be good Christians! We’re supposed to love one another. We’re supposed to accept and love one another.”

  • Tim Cook: “Being Gay Among the Greatest Gifts God Has Given Me”

    Tim Cook: “Being Gay Among the Greatest Gifts God Has Given Me”

    Citing a desire to help others be more comfortable in their own skin, Apple CEO Tim Cook has publicly revealed that he is gay.

    In an eloquent piece for Bloomberg Businessweek, Cook writes:

    For years, I’ve been open with many people about my sexual orientation. Plenty of colleagues at Apple know I’m gay, and it doesn’t seem to make a difference in the way they treat me. Of course, I’ve had the good fortune to work at a company that loves creativity and innovation and knows it can only flourish when you embrace people’s differences. Not everyone is so lucky.

    While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now. So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.

    Cook says that he’s always been a private person with “humble roots” – one that doesn’t “seek to draw attention to myself.” It is this that’s prevented him from coming out in the past. Now, he explains, he’s willing to give up his own privacy to be a lead figure for equality.

    “I don’t consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others. So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy,” he says.

    Though Tim Cook has a history of supporting LGBT causes and was always open about his sexuality at Apple, he had never discussed it publicly until now.

    “When I arrive in my office each morning, I’m greeted by framed photos of Dr. King and Robert F. Kennedy. I don’t pretend that writing this puts me in their league. All it does is allow me to look at those pictures and know that I’m doing my part, however small, to help others. We pave the sunlit path toward justice together, brick by brick. This is my brick.”

    Image via Apple

  • Raven Symone Is Proud To Be American, So Don’t Call Her AFRICAN-American. Or Gay.

    Oprah Winfrey knew it was going down the minute Raven Symoné started.

    But before she could stop the That’s So Raven star, Symoné marched head first into truly controversial, and potentially career threatening territory.

    During a recent interview for Winfrey’s Where Are They Now? program, she declared that she was simply tired of being “labeled.”

    Said Symoné, “I don’t want to be labeled ‘gay’, I want to be labeled ‘a human who loves humans.’”

    She added, “I’m an American. I’m not an African American; I’m an American.”

    And then Oprah tried to throw out an “anti-controversy life-line”.

    Winfrey sputtered, “Don’t set up Twitter on fire. Oh, my lord. What did you just say?”

    Raven could have simply said that she didn’t believe in letting other people label her and that she wanted to be her own person.

    However, Symoné decided it was time everyone knew exactly where she was coming from.

    “I don’t know where my roots go to. I don’t know how far back they go. I don’t know what country in Africa [my ancestors are] from, but I do know that my [American] roots are in Louisiana. I’m an American. And that’s a colorless person.”

    Raven will no doubt set black Americans on edge with her comments, not to mention gay Americans and persons who are both black AND gay.

    But the 28-year-old former child star simply wants everyone to understand that she rejects preexisting labels that she personally does not identify with.

    Is Raven Symoné on to something? Should people of color and others be more thoughtful about what labels they accept (or reject)?

    Or did she fail to take key factors into consideration before making her declarations to Oprah?

    It’s possible she may not get as much flak for her “gay label” remark as pansexuality is an increasingly acknowledged form of human sexuality.

    However the “I’m not African-American” remark, which comes on the heels of Pharrell’s remarks, may lead to a rather heated debate.

    At least, among those people other than Raven Symoné who label themselves as African American and people of color.

  • Jesse Tyler Ferguson Talks Gay Porn And Coming Out

    Jesse Tyler Ferguson is a confident and successful gay man, but he says he wasn’t always that way and admitted that his coming out process was a bit awkward and even embarrassing.

    Ferguson said that when he realized he was gay as a teenager he started to steal gay porn and had built up a small collection that he hid from his parents.

    When he was caught shoplifting a gay porn magazine, his father found out and Ferguson decided it was time to come out to him.

    “Well, I was caught stealing gay porn when I was 14,” Jesse said on the Girl On Guy podcast. “So I always considered that my coming-out.

    “It was so humiliating. I had been stealing porn for a while. I had quite a little collection. And I would bring it into the house, and then I’d get nervous, so I’d hide it under the mattress, or I’d hide it behind a shed in the backyard. And then it would get rained on, and I’d have to go get the barbecue tongs to [get it out].”

    Ferguson said he was caught by a store employee and she decided to call his father after she saw the material he was stealing.

    “I had to go back and the woman asked me if I had anything in my backpack,” he said. “She was giving me the benefit of the doubt … she took me to the back room. They brought my dad in, and they showed him the nature of the material I was stealing, and it was really, really humiliating. So I always consider that my coming-out process.”

    Ferguson is glad that he came out when he did and he is very happy to have met his husband. Ferguson married his partner Justin Mikita in New York last year.

  • George Takei Reveals How He Came Out Because of Arnold Schwarzenegger

    Star Trek alum George Takei has become the well-broadcast voice of the gay community on social media. He has championed the cause of bullied gay teens and marriage equality in general. He even once offered that his own name “Takei” (which, he famously explained at William Shatner’s roast, rhymes with “toupeé”) could be used in the place of the word “gay”. He lives his life in such a way as to stand for his principles, including gay advocacy, and not letting America forget about the prison camps that he and his family were placed in during World War II.

    But George Takei was not always open about his homosexuality. While Hollywood was quietly accepting of gay people, much of middle America was not. Shatner’s on-screen kiss with Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, the first televised interracial kiss, was tough enough for America to handle, A gay Starfleet offficer might have been too much.

    But Takei did eventually decide to come out, and not in a quiet way. He became a crusader. Now, in his recent interview with Winq, he explains what made him finally decide to stay quiet no longer. And that reason was Arnold Schwarzenegger.

    “When Arnold Schwarzenegger ran for the Governor of California’s office he ran by saying, ‘I’m from Hollywood, I’ve worked with gays and lesbians, some of my best friends are gay.’ I assumed, therefore, he was pro-gay. But when the Marriage Equality Bill landed on his desk he played to the reactionary conservative element of the Republican party and vetoed it. Both Brad [George’s husband] and I were raging, our blood was boiling.

    “That night, we saw all these young people pouring out onto Santa Monica Boulevard, venting their rage against Schwarzenegger. They inspired me. I’d spent a lifetime being silent on the issue… now I had to speak up.”

    Takei says that he has learned that a militant approach is not the way for him to further the idea of equality in America. He does it through humor.

    “I’ve learned over the years that you don’t necessarily make a point with teeth-gritting seriousness; sometimes tongue-in-cheek puts the issue into the larger context.”

  • Julia Roberts and Hubby to Receive LGBT Honor

    Julia Roberts and husband Danny Moder will soon be honored by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network for their work on an HBO film called The Normal Heart. Roberts starred in the film and Danny Moder served as director of photography. The adaptation came from a 1985 play of the same name, written by Larry Kramer that highlighted the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

    Julia Roberts and Danny Moder will receive the GLSEN Humanitarian Award, not only for their work in The Normal Heart, but also for their off-screen efforts to raise HIV/AIDS awareness. The couple also helps global charities like UNICEF, Stand Up to Cancer, and Heal the Bay.

    “We are proud to recognize Danny Moder & Julia Roberts, whose inspiring work on HBO’s The Normal Heart has brought renewed attention to an important movement – and an on-going crisis – in LGBT and American history,” GLSEN said in a statement to the media.

    Danny Moder and Julia Roberts will be recognized for their efforts at the 2014 Respect Awards in Los Angeles on October 17. Just the trailer for The Normal Heart gives a hint at why.

    The Normal Heart was nominated for sixteen Emmy Awards. The 2014 Emmy Awards will take place next Monday night, August 25th. In addition to Julia Roberts, the film stars Mark Ruffalo and Matt Bomer. Roberts, who played Dr. Emma Brookner, was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie. Mark Ruffalo was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his performance as Ned Weeks. Matt Bomer, along with Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory), Joe Mantello, and Alfred Molina all received nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie.

    The Normal Heart was released on DVD back in May. It sounds like one of those films that absolutely everyone should see. The cast of Emmy-nominated characters is beyond impressive.

    Congratulations to Julia Roberts and hubby Danny Moder for their work both on and off-screen to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.

  • Same-Sex Marriage Finds Ally in Target Stores

    Same-Sex Marriage Finds Ally in Target Stores

    Target Corp. has broken with its past allies and come out in support of same-sex marriage. The company joined other corporations like Starbucks and Apple in backing the issue.

    Specifically, Target filed an amicus brief in a pending court case in the Seventh Circuit. Target Executive Vice President of Human Resources, Jodee Kozlak, took to the company’s blog to explain target’s decision.

    “As our leadership team discussed signing on, we took time to consider the bigger questions at hand. This brief is important, as the issues it addresses have significant impact on businesses. But it is more than that and we agreed that now is the right time to more directly share our views on this issue.

    “It is our belief that everyone should be treated equally under the law, and that includes rights we believe individuals should have related to marriage.”

    Kozlac spoke further about the business reasons behind the move.

    “At Target, we have long offered comprehensive, competitive benefits to our LGBT team members and their families, often above what is legally required. We continue to do so today because we believe doing so is right for our team and for our business. But current laws — in places like Wisconsin and Indiana that are addressed in this brief – make it difficult to attract and retain talent. These disparate laws also create confusing and complicated benefits challenges across multiple states.”

    Of course, the move was not without critics. A spokesperson for the Minnesota Family Council played the familiar “family values” tune.

    “This is a very risky business decision and ultimately the wrong one because it is families that shop at Target,” Autumn Leva said. “People in Minnesota are still deeply divided on this issue.”

    Comments on Target’s blog statement ranged from supportive to scathing.

    A Workforce Management Supervisor at Target commented, “Yay! Thrilled to be part of a company, and live in a state, that supports marriage equality! May everyone have the opportunity to marry the love of their life!”

    A man who identified himself as an “urban church planter” wrote:

    “Just lost my business. I hold to the truth that God designed marriage and not man and that God set up marriage between one man and one woman. Sorry Target, I will not shop in your stores again… Ask K-Mart how that attitude has worked for them. Target will find themselves in the same place. Businesses should stay out of the political arena.”

    Another outraged Christian said:

    “As a Christian, I find it very offensive that Target is joining others in making a mockery of marriage. Marriage is defined between man and woman. man cannot be a bride nor a woman a groom. It is a shame and a disgrace that is shameful and sinful act is being done. On the other hand just a another sign that the second coming is not far away. Like any other time when man has sunk to the lowest form on sin, God put His foot down and destroyed that place.”

    Another commenter countered his post by saying:

    “I find it offensive that Newt Gingrich made a mockery of marriage. I find it offensive that Mark Sanford made a mockery of marriage. I find it offensive that Mark Foley, Larry Craig, John Edwards, Ed Schrock, etc., etc., made a mockery of marriage. The only people I know who have defiled the “sanctity” of marriage have been heterosexual couples.”

    Soon the whole comment section went where most comment sections do.

    “The next marriage equality: marry your dog, two couples being married to each other. Three people being married… the people have endless ideas on marriage equality.. one perversion leads to another,, that’s just how SIN is. Nasty sinners REPENT…”

    Image via YouTube

  • Gay Pride Parade 2014 Kicks Off In New York City And Across The U.S.

    The annual Pride Parade kicked off in New York City on Sunday where lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, and supporters marched around the city to celebrate same-sex marriage triumphs.

    Fifth Avenue became a sea of colors as thousands of people marched and waved their flags to celebrate. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio were in attendance as well.

    The Pride Parade is a yearly event that starts at Fifth Avenue and ends at Greenwich Village. This year, attendees celebrated the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall riots that happened in 1969 where the gay community protested police raids, which started the modern gay rights movement. The parade route passed through Stonewall Inn where the riots took place.

    In New York, Shayna Melendez and her cousin Yaseena Oatis joined the celebration. “We’re walking to celebrate, to be embraced being who we are around people who are like us, free to express ourselves. Everybody has a different story about how they came out as gay, but we’re all here,” Oatis said.

    Other cities also held their own festivals including San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago.

    In Chicago, around a million people celebrated their first gay pride parade since the legalization of gay marriage in Illinois just last month. David Wilk and Charlie Gurion were the first couple who got their marriage licenses after the verdict.

    Gurion said, “I think there is definitely like an even more sense of pride now knowing that in Illinois you can legally get married now. I think it is a huge thing and everybody’s over the moon that they can do it now.”

    Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Sen. Dick Durbin were among those who attended the parade in Chicago.

    In San Francisco, the lesbian motorcycle group Dykes on Bikes took their usual spot as the head of the parade on Market Street. Apple was one of the corporations to show its support. Around 4,000 employees and their families attended the parade. Chief Executive Tim Cook was also present.

    In Seattle, Star Trek star George Takei, who is a proud supporter of gay rights acted as the celebrity grand marshal of the parade. Thousands of people gathered in Seattle for the 40th Pride Parade where the theme was “Generations of Pride.”

    2014 has been an eventful year for the gay and lesbian community. Since the Supreme Court struck down their verdict to recognize same-sex marriages in California, seven more states legalized same-sex unions, which brings the total to 19, plus Washington DC.

    Image via YouTube

  • Pennsylvania Same-Sex Marriage: Judge Says Ban Is Unconstitutional

    On Tuesday, a federal judge struck down the ban of same-sex marriages in Pennsylvania, saying that it is unconstitutional. Judge John E. Jones said that the label “same-sex marriage” will be abandoned by future generations and simply call it “marriage.”

    “We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history,” the judge said.

    With the ban of same-sex marriage thrown out, same-sex couples are now allowed to get their marriage licenses. After the judge’s ruling on Tuesday, hundreds of same-sex couples rushed to get their marriage licenses.

    Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett announced that he would end his fight to stop same-sex marriage, stating, “The case is extremely unlikely to succeed on appeal.”

    In October, Corbett’s comments on same-sex marriage stirred controversy among same-sex couples. He compared same-sex marriages to the marriage of brother and  sister. “I continue to maintain the belief that marriage is between one man and one woman,” the governor said.

    Gov. Corbett compares same-sex marriage to brother and sister relationship

    Pennsylvania is the 19th state in the U.S. to recognize same-sex unions.

    According to Pennsylvania law, couples that have their marriage license must wait 3 days before they can get married. However, one couple was wed about an hour before the judge made his decision. The 3-day waiting period was waived for them.

    Another couple, Jim Devaty and Stephen Miller, who have been together for more than 20 years, was excited about the ruling. They immediately applied for the marriage license after the judge’s ruling. “I’m in shock. In a way, I never thought I’d live to see the day when Jim and I could get married,” Miller said.

    Attorney General Kathleen Kane said, “Today brings justice to Pennsylvanians who have suffered from unequal protection under the law because of their sexual orientation.”

    With the ban on same-sex marriage lifted, same-sex couples are rejoicing and are happy that they can finally get married in their home state.

    Image via YouTube

  • State Rep Posts Impassioned Plea Against Butt Sex, Wants Doctors to Oppose Gay Marriage for Medical Reasons

    The great state of South Dakota, which has had a legal ban on same-sex marriage since 1996 and a constitutional amendment against it since 2006, is about to face its first legal challenge. And before the case hits the court, one state rep is urging the medical community to speak out against the dangers of…

    Anal sex?

    Yes, Pastor and State Legislator Steve Hickey from Sioux Falls District 9 has posted an impassioned argument on Facebook. He’s also sent it in as a letter to the editor of the Argus Leader, but doesn’t know if they’ll print it. I guess that’s why he also took to his Facebook page.

    In a letter titled ‘A One Way Alley for the Garbage Truck,’ (!!!) Hickey argues that anti-gay marriage activists have been going about this all wrong. You see, if only medical and psychological professionals didn’t feel intimidated to the point of silence, then they could speak out about the real reason that man on man marriage is so wrong.

    You know, butt sex. Ew. Not only gross, but just as dangerous as that Big Mac you just stuffed in your face.

    Here’s the relevant chunk:

    Consider this an open letter to the medical and psychological communities in South Dakota. The subject is homosexuality, which is about to be a front-page topic for the next few years in our state. I’m asking the doctors who practice in our state, is the science really settled on this issue or is it more the case that you feel silenced and intimidated?

    Certainly there are board-certified doctors in our state who will attest to what seems self-evident to so many: gay sex is not good for the body or mind. Pardon a crude comparison but regarding men with men, we are talking about a one-way alley meant only for the garbage truck to go down. Frankly, I’d question the judgment of doctor who says it’s all fine.

    South Dakota docs, it’s time for you to come out of the closet and give your professional opinion on this matter like you capably and responsibly do on all the others. Somehow the message we are presently getting from the medical community is that eating at McDonalds will kill us but the gay lifestyle has no side effects. Truth be told it seems self-evident the list of side effects would read far longer than anything we hear on a Cialis commercial.

    If many are indeed wearying of our religious community leading on these morality issues, and believe also those of us in the legislature should butt out too, it’s time for the medical community in our state to be honest with us. If you don’t speak up, this issue will be decided by five unelected judges on the Supreme Court regardless of what states like ours have decided by public vote.

    This indeed is a matter of being on the wrong side of history considering that historically, homosexuality has been a notable marker of the downfall of past civilizations, not their rise. It’s not hate for a physician to speak up about something that is harmful to human health. It is not unloving to tell people you don’t have to have sex with and marry someone to love and be loved by them. As one who performs marriages and counsels couples as part of my professional life, marriage is the last thing I’d recommend to someone who simply wants to be loved and legitimized. What do other health care and mental health professionals in our state really think?

    Post by Steve Hickey.

    It’s clear that Mr. Hickey has given this a lot of thought. A lot of thought.

    The rest of Hickey’s open letter (which I urge you to read) talks about transgender kids, suicide rates, and sports. I won’t spoil it for you.

    South Dakota, one of only four states with bans on same-sex marriage but no pending lawsuits, will soon have one on the books. According to the AP, a same sex couple plans to marry on Saturday in Minnesota, come back to South Dakota, and sue when the county clerk denies them a name change. Apparently, they would then have legal grounds to challenge both the original ban and the fact that their state would be denying a legally-performed marriage in another state.

    For Rep. Hickey’s sake, let’s hope that the doctors speak out before it’s too late. We wouldn’t want a traffic jam on the garbage truck alley.

    Image via Facebook

  • Matt Bomer Reveals He Is Married

    Matt Bomer came out publicly as a gay man while accepting an award at the Desert AIDS Project’s Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards in 2012.

    After that, fans assumed they knew everything there was to know about the handsome actor, but there is one thing that Bomer has kept a secret … until now.

    During a recent interview with Details magazine, Bomer shocked his fans once again by revealing that he is married to his partner Simon Halls, who he has three children with, and has been for three years!

    The Magic Mike star also talked to the publication about his newest role in Ryan Murphy’s film adaptation of the play The Normal Heart. In the film, Bomer plays a gay man dying from AIDS. He credits the author of the play Larry Kramer with helping pave the road for gay rights. “I wouldn’t have a lot of the rights I have today if it wasn’t for people like Larry,” Bomer said.

    Bomer explained that he had read The Normal Heart when he was in high school, and when he heard that there would be a film, he wanted to be involved in any way possible. “I just wanted to be involved with the project in some capacity,” he said. “I didn’t care what my part was.”

    While Bomer had his doubts about landing a role in the film, Murphy did not. “Matt was the first person I felt would do whatever it took to be true to the history of the part and to the millions of people who have died because of this disease,” Murphy said. “I needed somebody who was a protector of that. That meant going on a really dangerous, incredibly severe diet and going to a dark place emotionally.”

    Bomer lost 40 pounds for his role with the help of his doctors and a14-day alkalized-water, juice, tea and enzyme cleanse. He also received tips from his Magic Mike co-star Mathew McConaughey, who lost 50 pounds to play an aids victim and activist in Dallas Buyers Club.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons