I Didn't Say It ...

Joe Biden, praising the Supreme Court's ruling on DOMA:

"I think we're on the verge of seeing America move even further. I think we'll see the day when it is no longer a debate about whether or not same-sex couples can be married and whether or not they deserve every single civil right every other married couple deserves. This is a great day...for every gay and lesbian couple and it should be a great day for every straight couple in America. Now we can look each other in the eye and say: We're on the road to absolute fairness and equity."

I like that Biden says this is a great day for all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation.

As Dr. Martin Luther King said, ‘No one is free until we are all free.’

And we are on the march.

Andrew Sullivan, on the Catholic fear of The Gays and same-sex marriage:

“Jesus himself only said one thing about marriage, which was that you can’t divorce. And we live in a country where countless people are divorced, and that doesn’t seem to threaten the religious liberty of Catholics, and it’s as fundamental an issue. So if Catholics can live with religious liberty with divorced people, they should be perfectly able to live with gay people, as married–as a civil marriage.”

Where are all those Holy Rollers on the divorce issue? They seem to think Jesus spoke against The Gays when he didn’t but his words on divorce fall on deaf ears.

Phil Gingrey, Republican Congressman from Georgia, wants gender stereotypes to be taught in schools because it will stop the push for same-sex marriage: 

"You know, maybe part of the problem is we need to go back into the schools at a very early age, maybe at the grade school level, and have a class for the young girls and have a class for the young boys and say, you know, this is what's important. This is what a father does that is maybe a little different, maybe a little bit better than the talents that a mom has in a certain area. And the same thing for the young girls, that, you know, this is what a mom does, and this is what is important from the standpoint of that union which we call a marriage."

See, in every family around the world, Daddies are the same. They do the same things in the marriage and the Mommies do the same thing in the marriage, so kids need to know this so they will push for Mommy/Daddy marriages.

In short, Phil Gingrey is a tool.

Brian Sims, Pennsylvania congressman, and hottie, introducing a marriage equality bill in the statehouse:

“About two hours ago, I shopped around a co-sponsorship memo for a marriage bill, and I’m going to introduce an LGBT marriage equality bill helped light the fire under my colleagues to do it now. The co-sponsorship memo, which is sent out to House members for additional support, notes it “would re-define the definition of marriage as a civil contract between two people who enter into matrimony, and eliminate the current prohibition against same-sex marriage in our Commonwealth. It is important to note that this bill provides protections for religious organizations and entities that do not wish to sanction, perform, or in any way recognize such marriages.”

Hot. Smart. Compassionate. Gay.

And in politics.

We need more like him.

James Haskell, British rugby star, on being Attitude magazine's coverboy: 

“I’ve got a big gay following on Twitter so it’s an honour for me to be in Attitude. I’m surprised that across all sports more people haven’t come out because going by sheer statistics there have to be lots of gay sportsmen, right? I hate the idea of people feeling they can’t just be themselves and personally I wouldn’t give a s**t if any of my team-mates were gay."

Another one who is hot and smart and compassionate and an LGBT ally.

And, yeah, hot.

Eric Holder, Attorney General, on the Supreme Court’s ruling that Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional: 

“The Department of Justice will continue to carefully monitor jurisdictions around the country for voting changes that may hamper voting rights. Let me be very clear: we will not hesitate to take swift enforcement action — using every legal tool that remains available to us — against any jurisdiction that seeks to take advantage of the Supreme Court’s ruling by hindering eligible citizens’ full and free exercise of the franchise. Like many others across the country, I am deeply disappointed with the Court’s decision in this matter. This decision represents a serious setback for voting rights - and has the potential to negatively affect millions of Americans across the country.”

SCOTUS did some great things last week, and they also did this.

If the GOP starts using this as a means to steal elections, then we’ve all lost.

Sean Patrick Maloney, out gay Congressman from New York, on last week's DOMA and Prop H8 rulings:

“I called my partner, Randy, of 21 years to tell him about the decision and to congratulate him and I really couldn’t get the words out. And I realized in that moment that it was the first time in 21 years, 20 of those years spent raising our 3 amazing children, that I wasn’t talking to him as someone who was seen as less than in the eyes of my own country’s laws.”

I understand that many straight people don’t understand this, but when you’ve lived many years in a loving and committed same-sex relationship, and then you hear your president say you deserve equality, and then the Supreme Court says you deserve equality, it’s a really big deal.

Rachel Maddow, calling on the GOP to prove it isn't racist and save the Voting Rights Act:

“So which is it now, Republican party? Are you Paul Broun, stuttering and apologizing and saying you never meant any offense? Taking it back? Or are you Paul Broun introducing a stealth amendment in the middle of the night trying to kill the Voting Rights Act? Are you every single Republican in the United States Senate voting to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act, standing proudly by with your Republican president, as he signs it? Or are you the 33 House Republicans who that same year voted no, voted to kill the Voting Rights Act?”

I’m betting they’re just going to shrug on this and say, ‘Well, the Supreme’s ruled so ….’

Trouble is, they won’t have that same response about SCOTUS kicking DOMA and Prop H8 to the curb.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Republican Representative from Florida, on turning the tide in the Sunshine State toward marriage quality:

"In light of the court’s rulings in support of civil marriage for same-sex couples, Florida should begin to evaluate the decision that was made five years ago. The path to removing our state’s ban on the freedom to marry will be very challenging, and will take time to do so thoughtfully and with respect for everyone’s beliefs and opinions. It is wrong to deny LGBT Floridians the basic rights enjoyed by so many other Americans. We must actively, and authentically, engage our fellow citizens to ensure that the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution are extended to all Floridians."

Y’all know I do my share of Republican loathing on this here bloggy thingy, but every so often we get a Republican like Ros-Lehtinen, who reminds me that not all members of the GOP are cut from the same cloth.

She’s a keeper.

Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, in the U.S. Department of Education's It Gets Better video:

"I really believe we can't just say 'It gets better.' All of us have to work right now to make things better today, not tomorrow. If you're a 14-year-old or a 15-year-old, asking you to wait four or five years for things to get better, that can seem like an eternity, like a lifetime. And so you shouldn't have to wait that long. So I wanna be very clear. All of us have the power now to make things better today, not tomorrow."

And, in my mind, that means coming out. If more LGBT Americans came out, these young kids would have someone to look up to, to admire, to make them feel less different, less ‘less than.’

Their march toward self-acceptance would be better, and easier, because they see someone who lit the way.

Kevin Swanson, “pastor’, on God setting Colorado on fire because of The Gays and metrosexuals:

"When you have a state where the House leadership is performing a homosexual act on the front page of the Denver Post two months ago? Does God read the Denver Post? Do you think He picks up a copy of the Denver Post? He gets it. God gets the Denver Post. How are we going to repent of the sexual sin that is paraded in front of us in the wider culture? Why do we have to submit to theses sexual sins again and again? How many young boys are running out and doing the metrosexual thing with the skinny pants and the little fairy shoes? They’re working on the gender blender for themselves and they don’t want to look like a man and God is just so upset, He hates it when men are not manly in their approach."

The picture he’s referring to, and it’s probably the same picture he keeps under his mattress at night, to view in one hand while the other wanders beneath the sheets, is one of House Speaker Mark Ferrandino kissing his partner Greg Wertsch goodbye after the passage civil unions in the state.

That said. God reads the Denver Post?
Last I checked she was not finished with Fifty Shades of Grey.

I Didn't Say It.......

Bette Midler, on the recent rash of LGBTQ youth suicides:

"It is a sad, sad day for America when young people would rather die than endure one more day of hatred and relentless persecution. As a mother, I am ashamed of all the parents who have failed to teach even the most basic human lessons to their children, "Live and let Live" and "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The normal, everyday kindness that we took for granted just a few years ago is a thing of the past, and I for one, mourn it deeply. Technology, the Internet, with its anonymity, have allowed people to behave like beasts, pouncing on the weak and howling with laughter when they inflict a wound, that only the strongest could survive. What are we doing to ourselves? How are we to survive as a nation, when hate seems to be the only thing that motivate us??

Four children are dead by their own hand because they just couldn't take any more. How many more are we going to sacrifice to the hyenas? Isn't it time to stop??"

You truly are divine, Miss M.
This must stop, before chunks of whole generations are lost.


Cynthia Nixon, to NOM's Brian Brown, who sat to Nixon's left, at the New Yorker Festival's session for "Love and Obstacles: The Case for Gay Marriage":

"I want to say to the gentleman to my left, gay people who want to marry have no desire to redefine marriage in any way. When women got the vote they did not redefine voting. When African-Americans got the right to sit at a lunch counter alongside white people, they did not redefine eating out. They were simply invited to the table...We have no desire to change marriage. We want to be entitled to not only the same privileges, but the same responsibilities as straight people."

I am still waiting for someone, anyone, to tell me how my marrying Carlos would affect any one's marriage.
Anyone?
Bueller?
Anyone?

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, on the rise in LGBT youth suicide due to bullying:

"This week, we sadly lost two young men who took their own lives for one unacceptable reason: they were being bullied and harassed because they were openly gay or believed to be gay. These unnecessary tragedies come on the heels of at least three other young people taking their own lives because the trauma of being bullied and harassed for their actual or perceived sexual orientation was too much to bear.
This is a moment where every one of us - parents, teachers, students, elected officials, and all people of conscience - needs to stand up and speak out against intolerance in all its forms. Whether it's students harassing other students because of ethnicity, disability or religion; or an adult, public official harassing the President of the University of Michigan student body because he is gay, it is time we as a country said enough. No more. This must stop."

We need more voices like this, from outside the LGBT community, to step forward and say Enough!

Annise Parker, the first openly gay mayor of Houston, on what it's like to be an out and proud public servant:

"People assume the toughest decision in my life was coming out. But being gay isn't tough—it's who I am. What's been tough is learning how to be social, and how to adapt to public life. I don't get death threats anymore, but I still have to work at being comfortable with the public part of the job. There are so many more images of gay and lesbian people today, and so many ways to be gay. I'm a middle-aged soccer mom and I appear in public with my spouse of 20 years and my kids. It's hard to make me scary. When the job is over for the evening, I go home and pull up the drawbridge. It's a relief when the scrutiny isn't there. But being honest about my personal life pays off every day."

Just further proof that being open and out and honest, is a good thing.
People will have a harder time fearing something that is out.

Minnesota Family Council head Tom Prichard, who says this rash of LGBT suicides isn't due to unrelenting bullying, but because of an "unhealthy lifestyle.":

"Youth who embrace homosexuality are at greater risk, because they’ve embraced an unhealthy sexual identity and lifestyle. These alternative sexual identifications or lifestyles deny the reality that we are created male and female. To live or try to live in conflict with how we are made will invariably cause problems, e.g. emotional, psychological and social. Notwithstanding gay activist assertions to the contrary, people aren’t gay, lesbian, transgender, etc. by God’s design or nature. We are male and female with sexual expression designed for a lifelong union between a man and a woman. Denying or fighting against this reality is the reason alternative forms of sexual expression, whether homosexual or heterosexual, will put people at greater risk. To assert otherwise is to deny reality and involves 'kicking against the goad' to use a biblical analogy."

Typical.
Blame the victim, not the tormentors, the bullies.
Of course, had it been a straight child, bullied by a gay child, who committed suicide, Prichard would be singing an entirely different tune.

Daniel Radcliffe, on the recent string of gay teens committing suicides:

"Learning about the suicide deaths of Tyler Clementi, Seth Walsh, Asher Brown, Billy Lucas and Justin Aaberg has been heartbreaking for me. These young people were bullied and tormented by people that should have been their friends. We have a responsibility to be better to each other, and accept each others' differences regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ability, or religion and stand up for someone when they're bullied. When a friend is feeling depressed or says they're thinking of killing themselves, we must take it seriously and get them help. My deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends of these excellent young people. And to all the young people who are being bullied right now, you are not alone. Call the Trevor Lifeline at 866 4-U-TREVOR, because there's always someone there who will listen and who can help."

Not much to add.
Brilliant, as usual, by Mr. Radcliffe.

Mitt Romney, once again making his marriage equality position quite clear[?]:

“I fully support the rights of gay individuals to choose their course in life, their careers in life, to have civil rights that are consistent with other citizens of the nation. [But] as you know, I support traditional marriage. I believe that it is in the best interest of society, and at the same time I fully support the rights of gay individuals and homosexuals.”

Please to explain, Mitt, how "traditional"marriage is in the best interest of society?
::::crickets:::::
Mitt Romney doesn't support LGBT people in any way shape or form. Typical fucktard politician with a typical fucktard politician non-answer.

Donald Trump, on considering a run for president:

"For the first time in my life, I'm actually thinking about it [running for president]. I see what's going on with this country and it's never been worse. What's happening is a disgrace…I love this country, we have a great country … but it's not really great like it used to be. Let's face it, we are no longer respected the way we used to be respected, and if we keep going like this, within 10 years China is going to overtake us easily."

I hear Canada is nice.
Health care.
Gay marriage.
No chance of Donald Trump running for president.
Sidenote; As many times as Trump companies have filed for bankruptcy, how does he think he's electable?
Or is it just ego?
Never mind. I answered my own question.