LGBT Celebrities
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How Gay Does Adam Lambert Really Need To Be?
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Female Country Music Stars Love Them Some Gay Marriage
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A Collection of Celebrities for Gay Marriage
Should South Park Get Away With Using the F-Word?
Published November 06, 2009 @ 10:07AM PT
This week's episode of South Park was an F-word extravaganza. No, not that F-word. The word "fag," the three-letter insult that has become a staple on playgrounds to tease kids, in locker rooms to ridicule teammates, and in the demonstrations of Rev. Fred Phelps and his church crew to wish LGBT people a one-way ticket to hell.
Generally speaking, it's a word that rivals the "N-word" in terms of vulgarity. Victims of hate crimes have had it scrawled on their body after being beaten or killed. So given it's reputation, is it OK for South Park to air an episode that uses the word so cavalierly?
A little context might help. The episode that ran this week had nothing to do with LGBT people. Instead, it had to do with the characters (kids in a Colorado town, for those who might not have watched it over the past twelve years) taking on a loud motorcycle gang. The kids decide that they want to reclaim the word "Fag," so that it's not considered an insult to LGBT people, but used to describe "inconsiderate douchebags" everywhere. Hence a 22-minute episode on the etymology of the word "faggot" and an effort to change the word's definition in the dictionary.
On its surface, it sounds kind of noble. But underneath the surface, the fact that South Park used the word so frequently this week likely means that more people are saying the word today than yesterday.
Sir Ian McKellen's Grudge with Leviticus
Published November 02, 2009 @ 03:48PM PT
How's this for the premise of X-Men 4: Magneto decides that instead of seeking world domination, he's just going to wage battle against radical right-wing religious folks who use the Bible as a means of beating up on LGBT people.
Well, it might hit a little close to home for Sir Ian McKellen, the out British actor who plays Magneto. As it turns out, he's been quietly waging a war against the use of religion as a weapon of oppression against LGBT people all along in his real life. His method? At every hotel he visits, he rips out a page in Leviticus that fundamentalists use to label LGBT people as sinful.
McKellen tells Details magazine that he's not intending to vandalize the Bible. He just thinks the world would be better off if people took the passages in Leviticus a little less literally.
"I'm not proudly defacing the book, but it's a choice between removing that page and throwing away the whole Bible," McKellen says.
For those not familiar with Leviticus 18:22, it might be interpreted as the most homophobic verse in the Bible. It starts with the familiar refrain, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind," and finishes up with a powerful "it is an abomination" punch. But the passage is often misunderstood, and all too often used to justify hatred and violence toward LGBT people -- as was the case earlier this month in New York, where the friend of a gay basher said that attacking gay people was justified because the book of Leviticus approved.
A Quiet Campaign for Rachel Maddow to Host "Meet the Press"
Published October 19, 2009 @ 01:32PM PT
If I were David Gregory right now, I'd certainly be looking behind my shoulders to see if I could spot any Rachel Maddow sightings.
For a few weeks now there has been a quiet, simmering push that Rachel Maddow -- one of the most popular television journalists on the block -- might be the medicine necessary to help NBC's "Meet the Press" emerge from rather slumpish ratings in the wake of former host Tim Russert's passing. That push became an outright shove this past weekend, with Brian Donovan at True/Slant arguing that while Russert successor David Gregory is a nice guy, Maddow has better news chops to take Sunday morning political television to a whole new level.
"What used to be Sunday morning’s hardest-hitting, most compelling politics show has become a little soggy," Donovan writes. "It’s nothing personal against Gregory, he does a respectable job. But Tim Russert’s shoes were ridiculously hard to fill, and most anyone would’ve been a let down. Which is why it’s time for MTP to make another change...And that person is Rachel Maddow."
Maddow, who is certainly the most prominent openly LGBT person in television news, might just be a force to be reckoned with if she were given the opportunity to shine on Sunday mornings. Her ratings at MSNBC, as of September 2009, were a bright spot for the network, and she's hugely popular with the coveted 25-54 age bracket -- those folks who will be watching Sunday morning television shows for many, many years to come. Her show on MSNBC is also the fastest-growing cable news show in prime time, with viewership up more than 92 percent from last year.
Good ratings. An ability to draw an audience and a following. Popular with a large age demographic. Yup, sounds like all the right ingredients for someone who deserves a promotion. And hey, wouldn't it be nice to finally have a woman (let alone someone openly LGBT) hosting a Sunday morning television show?
True/Slant hits one other nail on the head. With Maddow, it's not about political ideology, gender, or sexual orientation that necessarily makes her popular. It's that she's not afraid to go after the truth, whether that means targeting Republicans or Democrats.
"Maddow is ruthless when it comes to the truth. She goes after anyone – liberal or conservative – when they try to deceive the public," Donovan at True/Slant writes. "She challenges her guests to be forthright, and makes them pay when they attempt anything less. Maddow could, without a doubt, bring the fire back to Sunday morning..."
I think we'd all like to see that.
(Photo courtesy of MSNBC.)
Belinda Carlisle Thinks Gays Should Be Able to Get Married
Published October 14, 2009 @ 12:25PM PT
"I Get Weak" every time I see a celebrity come out for marriage equality. And sure enough, Belinda Carlisle has a message for the gays: she's "Mad About You." And if she has her way in Maine come this November, equal rights will win at the ballot box and prove that "Heaven is a Place on Earth."
(OK, how about a round of applause for three Belinda Carlisle puns in the opening paragraph! If only they gave out Nobel Prizes for such accomplishments...)
It's true, though, that artist Belinda Carlisle has come out in support of marriage equality in Maine, filming a little promotional video championing equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians in the state. She's not speaking as an artist or public figure, though. She's speaking as a mom with a gay son.
"My son, James, is gay, and I want him and every other gay person out there to have the same opportunities and rights that I’ve had in life," Carlisle says on camera. "After the devastating setback that was Proposition 8, it is absolutely vital that we win this battle in the Pine Tree state. By doing so, we send a strong message to President Obama and our representatives in Washington that public opinion is with us and that it is time for federal action."
Goodness, someone get this woman to run for public office.
Check out the video below, and if you haven't already contributed to the No on 1 campaign via the Moneybomb for Maine, please consider doing so. Support now is more critical than ever, as we're two weeks out and (at least by some poll standards) doing a heckuva job fighting this battle.
Bill Maher on Scaring the Hell Out of Right-Wing Homophobes
Published October 10, 2009 @ 06:08AM PT
Today marks Day 1 of the National Equality March weekend, and in honor of the weekend of action, training and marching for equal rights, Bill Maher is out with a column that will likely provide fits for the anti-LGBT right-wing. His message for LGBT activists in D.C. this weekend is simple: scare the hell of out right-wing homophobes, and tell our President that everyone deserves equal rights.
Maher especially goes after "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," calling on President Obama to sign an executive order -- much like President Harry Truman did in the late 1940s to integrate the U.S. military -- ending the discriminatory policy that keeps gays out of the military (or kicks them out when they're discovered). While the legality of such an executive order is questioned by some groups, Maher's point echoes what Rep. Joe Sestak wrote here yesterday. Rep. Sestak said that as a former Navy officer, he lost good soldiers because of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and that hurt America's national security.
Maher doesn't put it quite so elegantly, but his comments are still pretty effective.
"'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' has always been bad policy that was made out of a bullshit political compromise. You know, like [we're] doing now with health care. It never made sense to begin with," writes Maher. Ouch. Take that, moderate Democrats who slow progress down.
Will Obama touch on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" tonight in his Human Rights Campaign speech? A few leaks coming out of the White House suggest that maybe he will, albeit in a measured tone. He certainly owes it to the more than 200 soldiers discharged for being gay under his watch to say something.
Lady Gaga: Get Your Ass to D.C. for Gay Rights
Published October 06, 2009 @ 01:57PM PT
Celebrity support for the National Equality March is pretty widespread, from Charlize Theron to Dustin Lance Black to Annette Benning to the NFL's Scott Fujita. Lady Gaga, perhaps the denmother of the LGBT population, added her name to that list, and she did so with a message for everyone: "Get your ass to D.C."
And while that might not be dinner party language, it's a pretty darn good call for people to get together to fight for equal rights. Here's LG:
I was thinking to myself, 'If everyone in this room were to go and bring 10 friends -- which I don't think is a lot to ask because you all have lots of friends -- just from this one night, there would be 10,000 more people marching....' I really believe in this cause, and as a woman in pop music, I think that this is really an important weekend, and it's not a f*cking joke. So, get your asses to DC and wear something fabulous.
Just please, don't wear anything with little frogs plastered all over it. Or don't be covered in bubble wrap.
And putting her money where her mouth is, Lady Gaga had a sign up sheet at a concert this weekend recruiting folks for buses to D.C. for the National Equality March.
Joy Behar Smacks Ukraine Over Gay Adoption
Published September 23, 2009 @ 02:57PM PT
When Elton John announced that he and his partner wanted to adopt a 14-month-old HIV positive orphan named Lev from Ukraine, the world-renowned pop star was told by the country that he was (1) too gay, and (2) too old to adopt a baby. If that seems pretty effed up, it's because it is. And Joy Behar isn't going to let it slide by the international news circuit without taking her own gloves off.
Behar, co-host of The View and about to launch her own news-like TV show on a CNN affiliate, has a piece just utterly blasting the Ukranian government for not acting in the best interest of children. It's one of the best riffs out there on gay adoption bans, especially on the international scene. Behar's message for the Ukranian government? Children belong in homes, not in shoddy orphanages.
"Family doesn't mean a huddle of orphans sharing a few soiled mattresses," Behar writes. "it's not youth if you die of AIDS before you reach kindergarten, and wrestling over dinner scraps is not a sport."
Family means love and support, and two LGBT parents are equally as qualified to provide that as two straight parents. And that's just not coming from some liberal blogger or TV show host; it comes from the American Psychological Association, the National Adoption Center and the American Academy of Pediatrics -- to name a few of the professional organizations that support LGBT adoption.
As Behar writes, it's not LGBT adoption that hurts kids. It's growing up with no parents, because the Ukranian government (and let's not forget that Arkansas government) are too damn homophobic to put the best interests of a child ahead of their own bigoted, 14th century views.
