Gay Men To That!!

Christian Nelsen (left) & Caleb Jett (right) at their senior prom in Maine Via ThinkProgress:  The Southern Poverty Law Center has helped achieve a big victory for gay students in Tuscaloosa, Alabama:  same-sex couples  will be welcome at prom. The question came up in January when 10th-grader Elizabeth Garret  wore a sweatshirt  that read, “Warning, This Individual Infected With ‘The Gay,’ Proceed With Caution.” A school administrator demanded she take the sweatshirt off because it was “distracting,” and also informed her that same-sex couples could  not attend the prom . In addition to allowing an inclusive prom, the district has also now recognized the right of students to wear clothes that support the acceptance of LGBT people.

Matthew Vines Personally, I don't care what the bible says about homosexuality.  I used to care and I felt the need to reconcile this issue for myself.  I read several books including John Boswell's  Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century .   Maybe, I don't care because I did the research.  Either way, this is a very thoughtful and reasoned presentation by a very intelligent young man.  Good for him!! Via ThinkProgress: When Harvard student Matthew Vines came out as gay his sophomore year, he was “relieved and crushed” — crushed specifically because he worried he wouldn’t be welcome in his Kansas hometown. Not content to accept condemnation from his conservative Christianity, Vines took a leave of absence from college to thoroughly study the supposed conflict between homosexuality and the Bible. Earlier this month, he  presented the...

Via Unicorn Booty: Jason Biggs unwittingly set off a cultural wave of teenage boys making sweet, sweet love to apple pies when he plunged into that pastry thirteen years ago in the first American Pie movie. But pies have feelings too, and they don’t take kindly to being violated by the thousands. So to quote the anthropomorphized desert in this Funny or Die clip,  “Your ass is mine, Biggs!”  Watch in terror and delight as Jason Biggs bottoms out for a nightmarish apple pie seeking his revenge. Revenge Of The Pie from Jason Biggs

NOM President Brian Brown New documents reveal that the anti-gay marriage group NOM wanted to drive a wedge between African Americans and white gays over gay marriage.  They even used the words "fanning the hostility" with regard to their strategy. Via AmericaBlog: It's not like we didn't think this was happening, but, wow, it's really ugly to see it in writing.  As John notes on the main AMERICAblog home page , the religious right wanted to fan a race war, and they admitted it in writing.   Ben Smith at Buzzfeed calls the documents "explosive" . Earlier tonight, Alvin McEwen tipped me off about some court documents that revealed NOM's strategy. It's ugly.  From Alvin : The National Organization for Marriage's  unsuccessful fight  to skirt Maine's financial disclosure laws just backfired majorly on the group by revealing a distasteful part of its game plan to stop marriage equality. According to a court document that  was upl...

Dennis Mayer (left) and John Hart. There have been very different reactions to this story based on the information that has been available.  There were the initial story reporting, where all we heard was "gay couple arrested for having sex on cabin balcony".  Now we know that is not accurate and, yes, a homophobic country may have overreacted because these were 2 men.  Let's see what other information presents itself. Via Huffington Post: SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A Southern Californian said Friday that he and his partner were taunted, humiliated and subjected to inhumane treatment when they were arrested and jailed after being escorted off a gay cruise in the Caribbean this week. Dennis Jay Mayer, 53, told The Associated Press that he has no doubt they were arrested in Dominica because they were gay. Police said it was because they were seen having sex in public on the balcony of their ship cabin. He said they were not having sex, but were "partially clot...

Real life lesbian bride-to-be Alix Genter The ABC show "What Would You Do" is really doing a job on homophobia and showing how unacceptable it is...at least in New Jersey! Via The Advocate: Last year, New Jersey woman Alix Genter  was turned away  from a bridal salon after proprietors found out that she was not marrying a man, but instead committing to another woman.  ABC News decided to see what other people would do if faced with the situation of shopping in a bridal salon with another woman who was turned away because of her sexual orientation. The reoccurring special, "What Would You Do?," pits actors in compromising, uncomfortable public situations to see how bystanders would react. This week's scenario took place at a bridal shop in New Jersey, where a lesbian customer is being turned away.  Looks like the video embed is disabled! You can watch this segment at Hulu.com

This could get very interesting!  Now that she has announced her intentions to speak out for gay equality in St. Petersburg this coming August, what will government officials there do?  Will they somehow block the concert from happening?  Will they wait until she makes pro gay statements and then attempt to prosecute her for violating the new law?  I know I will be watching!! Via Huffington Post: Madonna will use her upcoming performance in Russia to speak out against St. Petersburg's controversial "gay propaganda" law. "I will come to St. Petersburg to speak up for the gay community and to give strength and inspiration to anyone who is or feels oppressed," the Material Girl, 53,  told Bloomberg Businessweek in an email  yesterday. "I'm a freedom fighter." Madonna's announcement came on the heels of the release of  her new "Girl Gone Wild" video , which features barely-dressed male dancers in sweaty, homoerotic embraces. T...

I am truly fascinated with the world view of homophobes, especially in this day and age.  Do they have no sense of history.  Do they not see themselves as the modern day equivalents of George Wallace in the civil rights era.  I guarantee you everyone else will.  Their children will.  Your children will.  Historians and novelists and readers of their books will.  Hopefully, for their sake, they will come to a point of reflection and regret their choices in the same way that Wallace himself did.  The "choice" is theirs and history's judgement of their bigotry will or will not be tempered by that choice. We have reached a tipping point that can not be reversed.  What really fascinates me are the holdouts.  Today, in the New Hampshire House, they're were much fewer "holdouts" than expected.  This is a Republican-led body that could not even gather a majority, let alone a veto proof majority.        Via The Advo...

This song is wonderful!!  It makes the obvious point that if you are vocally homophobic, you're probably gay.

Rick Santorum I love when the hate monger feels the need to pray for the person who calls out his hatred.   Via Huffington Post: Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said he is "praying" for gay rights activist and syndicated sex columnist Dan Savage, who launched a campaign to redefine the former Pennsylvania senator's last name into a sexual neologism, in an  interview with the website RealClearReligion published Monday . When asked what he would say to Savage,  he said , "I would tell him that I'm praying for him. He obviously has some serious issues. You look at someone like that who can say and do the things that he's doing and you just pray for him and hopefully he can find peace."... ...Savage targeted Santorum over his  infamous comments in 2003 on homosexuality and "man on dog" sex . A website linking his name to a sexual neologism was created and rose to the top of search engine results. His presidential campa...

Santorum Supporter Dennis Terry So, this is what modern day mainstream republican thinking is.  Read this carefully.  It is all you need to know about today's GOP.  They hate everyone that is different from themselves.  Even more so, they think that if you are not like them, you are destroying the country.  This is the most un-american quote I've seen in a long time. Via Huffington Post: "I don't care what the liberals say, I don't care what the naysayers say, this nation was founded as a Christian nation...There is only one God and his name is Jesus. I'm tired of people telling me that I can't say those words.. Listen to me, If you don't love America, If you don't like the way we do things I have one thing to say - GET OUT. We don't worship Buddha, we don't worship Mohammad, we don't worship Allah, we worship God, we worship God's son Jesus Christ." In a revival type speech, Greenwell Springs Baptist Church pastor ...

I bet Chick-Fil-A hates this!!

The Modern Day GOP Mascot I, like many others, think the GOP got their mascot wrong.  They want to bury their collective heads in the sand and ignore reality.  They want to pretend that global warming doesn't exist and is not, in part, caused by man made issues.  They want to pretend that evolution doesn't exist.  They want to pretend that gays don't exist or, at least can change themselves to being not-gay.   Obviously, the "O" in GOP should stand for Ostrich.  Yes, for Rick Santorum, porn is one of the most pressing matters facing our country.  I think Rick simply doesn't want any evidence that people have sex other than the birth of children.  I'm sure he doesn't want there to be evidence of a certain type of sex...poor Santorum .  In this instance, he wants to ignore the fact that men like to watch porn and the sky hasn't fallen as a result.   Via Talking Points Memo: Rick Santorum has garnered quite a bit of attention ...

I knew I was gay when I was about 4.  I didn't know what to call it or how to define it.  It was a different time and I didn't even know who or what to ask about it.  It thrills me that in some areas of this country, parents like this are raising such brave and self aware children.  What a wonderful mom! Via The Huffington Post: My son was in another room talking to the big kids. They were fourth graders, 9- and 10-year-olds who are very cool, hip, and mature (according to my kid, anyway). They were a mix of girls and boys, and most of the girls were talking about which boys they thought were cute, and who was whose boyfriend or girlfriend. The boys were frequently providing commentary. My son piped up, "Blaine is my boyfriend." (Blaine is a gay male character on  Glee .) "You're supposed to have a girlfriend," one of girls snapped back, all snotty. My kid shook his head. "No, I'm gay," he said. "I have boyfriends." ...

John Bartlett and friends This is such a great story.  So many of us are so busy making up for lost time, figuring out who we are, that we forget to find ourselves by serving others.  In this case, fashion designer John Bartlett chooses to serve our 3 legged friends... well, at least in one instance with his dog Tiny Tim.   Via Huffington Post: Nine years ago, on my 40th birthday, I rescued a homeless dog named Tiny Tim, who ended up rescuing me right back. Tiny Tim was a voracious and scrappy German Shepherd/Labrador/Pit Bull mix who was struck by a car on Christmas Eve, resulting in the amputation of his front leg. When I met him at the North Shore Animal League four months after his operation, it was love at first hairy sight. As a gay man with no inclination for children, I had always been drawn to dogs, and as a 40-year-old single man (at the time), I wanted to do something with impact, move out of my comfort zone, and be responsible for another creature ...