I Didn't Say It ...

Dolly Parton, legend, icon, LGBTQ+ ally, angel, in a Zoom interview with RuPaul, about always being fully made-up:

“I have to always stay ready—street ready, I always say. I have to keep my makeup on and keep my hair done. Like, when I’m in L.A.—I’ve told you about it—if it’s going to earthquake, if we get an earthquake, I’m not running out in the street looking like you look now. I have to be ambulance-ready at all times, if I get sick or something. But I actually do wear high heels most of the time. They’re not always as high as the ones I wear for show. But I’m little. I’m short. And I have to wear heels in order to reach my cabinets. But I always enjoy wearing the shoes too, and I just feel more like me. But I can come down, though. I’m comfortable in my own skin; I’m comfortable with my image. I dress for myself more than I do for somebody else.”

I’m.Not.Running.Out.In.The.Street.Looking.Like.You.Do.Now.

Oh Dolly, you are a gift! Actually, you're a treasure.

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Clément Beaune, French European Affairs Minister, coming out as gay in an interview TETU magazine, and saying he will visit Poland’s “LGBT free” zones in support of activists:

“I wouldn’t want people to say I am fighting against ‘LGBT-free’ zones because I am gay. It would be insulting to say I am leading that fight for myself. However, as European affairs minister, I have an additional responsibility. I must fight for tolerance.”

Perhaps he isn’t fighting these zones simply because he’s gay, but it may have something to do with it. I mean, a place exists where you are not allowed to exist simply because you’re gay?

Go. Stand. Fight. Not for tolerance, but for the same right to exist as every other person,

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Luke Evans, actor and tall hunk of British Husband-In-My-Head, saying he never hid the fact that he was gay because he didn’t discuss it:

“[My sexual orientation] was the last thing I had, because everything else I’ve given to the world. My career was public, I was photographed, and all that stuff. My personal life just became the last thing that I had. Also, what was strange was that when people did find out that I was gay, there was a lot of articles and stuff written saying that I was hiding it, and I wasn’t. I just wanted to get online and I wanted to pick up the phone and say, ‘Do you realize I left home at 16 because I was gay?' I went into the world as a kid, because I had to. I am proud and happy, and I’ve lived a very big life that I’m super happy with. And I’ve never been ashamed. And now all of a sudden I was being treated in this way and it was a scary moment because I was, like, oh God, this is horrible. This is not true. None of this is true. I just try and be authentic, because this is who I am. I am this person. I’m not creating another image so that I can portray one to you.”

I like the way he explained this: that, as an actor, you give so much of yourself to the media and the public, but maybe you want some semblance of privacy, BUT … anyone who comes out makes it easier for someone else to do so, and when a person who has a certain level of fame comes out, it makes it easier for a great deal more LGBTQ+ people to come out.

You don’t have to talk about your romantic life, but just come out so people won’t think you’re ashamed and hiding and maybe they’ll feel less ashamed and stop hiding themselves.

Just sayin’.

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Bob the Drag Queen, calling out comedian Dave Chappelle for making anti-transgender jokes:

“I do think the issue with trans lives—especially in the Black community—doesn’t necessarily lie within racism, but it does lie within prejudice and misogyny, specifically trans-misogyny, and this is not just something for just the trans people to address or just the queer people to address. Like, we need, in this world, cisgender, straight, Black men to stand up and say, ‘Trans lives matter.' Don’t even get me started at Dave Chappelle. This is a real blow to my system because, like, Dave Chappelle is someone that I’ve always looked up to, and his comedy is so… lately he’s been really doubling down on this idea that trans people are a joke, or that trans existence is funny or that trans people just living their lives is funny to him. And then when Dave Chappelle—who’s one of the most respected Black people in comedy and entertainment—goes on TV or when Netflix gives him money to say, ‘I can’t stop laughing at trans people, they’re just so funny!’ then it validates that idea for other people, and then other people double down and agree with him. You don’t have to punch down. Like, you’re Dave Chappelle, all of your content leading up to this year, you didn’t have any trans-misogynistic jokes in any of that stuff. You don’t need that stuff.”

Trans people aren’t a joke.

Trans people are being murdered because they are trans, and every time a Dave Chappelle makes light of being trans, he’s making them less than, and killing someone less than isn’t such a bad thing to some people.

It’s not funny.

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Tom Harald Hagen, a Norwegian football referee, coming out as gay after hearing a player’s homophobic slur against another player:

“It is the height of irony that I was just leading that match. Maybe he said it on a whim, that can happen in football. But we have to get rid of it … [And so] I feel the time is right and I think that only positive things will come out of this. I have gradually become confident in myself, and my life is very good. I feel it is important to make it safe, including the fact that I am gay. I have lived like that all my life, my relationship, my family—and my football family."

Coming out and standing up to homophobia in sports. Bravo, sir.

And so, please accept as out gift to you, from HOMO HQ, the Official coming Out Toaster Oven™ and a copy of the Gay Agenda.

Welcome out and thank you!

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