I Didn't Say It ...

Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation and the first Senate-confirmed gay Cabinet member, sharing a memory of former President Jimmy Carter:

“President Jimmy Carter’s leadership, intellect, and moral example ennobled our country, during and ever since his presidency. President and Mrs. Carter were also extraordinarily gracious and kind to Chasten and me, receiving us warmly at their home and making us feel like friends even as we sat amazed by their presence and grace. There will not be another like President Carter, but his life and example will continue to make America and the world a better place for generations to come.”

Jimmy Carter was the kind of Christian human all Christians should strive to be, though sadly most political Christians fall well short of the mark.

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Karla Sofía Gascón, trans star of “Emilia Perez,” Golden Globe award-0winning film, speaking at the show:

"I was at the border of suicide. I always thought I was going to have to give up this work that I love and that I would end up on the streets. There was a moment where I had to confront a lot of people in the industry and in my personal life. I don't know why, but there are people that take a lot of joy in destroying other people's lives. Even now, there are still people who write horrible things to me. In France, there was a whole campaign against me when I received the (Cannes) award. There are people who think they can destroy others whom they consider weak, but they found their match with me. I'm a warrior. I chose these colors tonight, the Buddhist colors, because I have a message for you: The light always wins over darkness. You can maybe put us in jail. You can beat us up, but you never can take away our soul, our existence, our identity. And I want to say to you: Raise your voice for freedom. I am who I am, not who you want. Thank you so much."

Stand tall, stand proud, speak up; Silence = Death.

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Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Florida Democrat Representative, on The Felon’s desire to “take back” the Panama Canal:

“It is utterly preposterous to suggest that we are going to send our military into Panama to, quote, ‘take back the Panama Canal.’ We have a treaty with Panama. We have a free trade agreement with Panama. We are no more going to take back the Panama Canal than Panama is going to come in and try to take the Mississippi River from us.”

But his ignorance, along with that of the goose-stepping, fear-mongering GOP traitors to America, might try to make it happen.

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Adam Kinzinger, former GOP Congressman and Country over Party patriot, on the MAGAt infighting:

“So Elon Musk stripped the blue check because someone hurt his feelings? Dude lay off the ketamine, talk to a therapist, help the poor, retire, talk to your kids, and grow up. He’s going to keep strangling this place. If you love him great, but don’t pretend he’s for free speech.”

Elon is as much for Free Speech as The Felon is for the Me Too movement.

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Linda Lavin, who passed away last week, recalling the second episode of her TV series Alice and how it featured a gay character:

“There was a football player friend of Mel’s who came to town. He was big, and tall, and handsome and blonde and he invited me out to dinner ... And then he came back to the apartment, we’re sitting on the sofa, and Alice is very fond of this guy and wondering why he is not more attentive or affectionate. So she starts asking him little questions like ‘Are you married?’ ‘No,’ he says. ‘Are you engaged?’ ‘No,’ he says, ‘I’m gay,’ and that’s the end of act one ... [When Alice tells Mel about his friend] he says ‘You’re crazy. He’s a football player, and he’s all man and he’s not gay,’ and that’s Mel. That’s his small-minded, bigoted … he had planned this hunting trip with his friend and they were going to also take Tommy [Alice’s son but] ... Alice didn’t want Tommy to go hunting with this guy [because of her] homophobia, her ignorance, her fear. [But] then she submits to the reality that they have made this plan and they’re going to go, and she grows up. She grows up. She accepts the situation. In a half hour, she grows up in what took us maybe as a generation, 100 years. [When Tommy returns he’s upset at shooting a deer] so, it went from the place of homophobia, of fear, of a strange invasion into her life of something she didn’t know how to handle, to something even more serious, which was a child’s loss of innocence. The more we come out of those closets, the more we accept each other, and I think that’s what television can do.”

All that from a TV sitcom and a wonderfully evolved and smart woman. Brilliant

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President Joe Biden and Dr, Jill Biden, on Jimmy Carter’s passing:

“Over six decades, we had the honor of calling Jimmy Carter a dear friend. But, what’s extraordinary about Jimmy Carter, though, is that millions of people throughout America and the world who never met him thought of him as a dear friend as well. He was a man of great character and courage, hope and optimism. We will always cherish seeing him and Rosalynn together. The love shared between Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter is the definition of partnership and their humble leadership is the definition of patriotism. He showed that we are great nation because we are a good people—decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong.”

I see a lot of Jimmy in Joe Biden; I hope his life post-presidency is as filled with hope and joy and love as his good friend’s life.

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I Didn't Say It ...

Andy Cohen, Bravo TV bigwig, on the gossip that he’s engaged to NHL star and LGBT ally Sean Avery.

"Dude, Sean Avery is straight. Do you understand that? So a gay guy and a straight guy should be able to be friends without you asking me if we're engaged, right? Very, very straight. Listen, I'd be happy if Sean and I were bangin ... but it's not [happening]."

I’d be happy to be banging Sean.

Just sayin’.

Joe Biden, on LGBT rights and his marriage equality stance:

“A lot of people criticized me for speaking out, not long ago, about gay marriage. I could not remain silent any more. It's time we stopped talking. It’s the civil rights of our day. It’s the issue of our day … That’s why the president eliminated DOMA, Don't Ask, Dont' Tell. That's why he came out against this notion that marriage can somehow be recognized in one state and denied in another. And when it comes to the rights of — you know the president's phrase, and I'll paraphrase this slightly — that everybody in America should have the dignity to choose who they love and marry who they choose. He believes that but not just because it's a human right because it's about treating everyone with dignity."

Word.

And once again, thanks Joe.

John Nienstedt, Minneapolis Archbishop, on the Devil and The Gays:

"Today, many evil forces have set their sights on the dissolution of marriage and the debasing of family life. Sodomy, Sodomy, abortion, contraception, pornography, the redefinition of marriage, and the denial of objective truth are just some of the forces threatening the stability of our civilization. The source of these machinations is none other than the Father of Lies. Satan knows all too well the value that the family contributes to the fabric of a good solid society, as well as the future of God's work on earth."

Funny, he doesn't blame Satan for Catholic priests f**king little boys and girls.

Elton John, on Lady Gaga, Lindsay Lohan, Miley Cyrus and Michael Jackson:

 “I’d like to be able to talk to [Lady Gaga] right now, but I can’t get through to her. And there are times when you have to listen. When your persona begins to take over your music and becomes more important, you enter a dangerous place. Once you have people around you who don’t question you, you’re in a dangerous place.

…

“[Lindsay Lohan] was someone with a successful career and her parents completely f—ed her up. The dad was in jail and the mum was doing coke with her. Great!” 

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I see a meltdown waiting to happen … And [Miley’s] so young! But she’s got two records in the top 20, so who is going to stop her?

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“I was in my dressing room in Las Vegas when they announced that Michael Jackson was playing 50 dates at the O2. I turned to my agent and said: ‘He won’t do a single one of those.’ I could tell you he was going to die. He’d been doing drugs for so long, he’d been a mess for so long – and I’ve known Michael since he was 12 or 13 – that it was never going to happen. Everyone was saying it was going to be great and I was saying: ‘Hello? Are you looking at the real thing here?’” 

Elton does love to dish; I’ll give him that. And he’s right about Gaga; it’s less important what she sings and more important what she wears. As for Lohan, maybe—if rumors are true—she’s keeping her distance from her parents and that would be good. Miley? She’s making record companies a lot of money so they’ll continue to let her do and say and wear, or not wear, whatever she wants as long as the cash registers ring. As for Michael, I think we all knew that concert tour would never happen, even if we didn’t know it was because he was going to die.

Gwyneth Paltrow, on turning 41 and how, because her husband Chris Martin threw her so many parties last year, she’ll celebrate this year:

"This year it's Chick-fil-A. That's it."

Wow. 

Paltrow, who portrays herself as some sort of Vegan Goddess, and inspirer of regular people, will eat Chick-fil-A?

No wonder The Gays are done with her.

Tim Gunn, on never coming out to his parents:

"It was a very different time. It was a very different era. And I had a lot of fears about being gay, about what that actually meant. And I had already presented my family with a lot of disappointments and I didn't feel that I wanted to present them with yet this. It's very funny, though. My mother died two years ago. And I think she eventually figured out my sexuality, but we never talked about it. And my father was gone long before. We never once talked about it.”

It certainly was a different time, and Gunn’s parents were from a time before that.

Still, I feel sad he couldn’t be his whole self to his parents.

Robert Redford, coming out for marriage equality at an event in Utah:

"I'm here for the same reason you are – equal rights for all. Like you, I believe there's no place in our world for discrimination. None. I think it is un-American. If we change discriminatory laws in Utah, it sets a benchmark for people in other states; it allows people to see what can be done."

The march goes on … and Redford has stepped up.

John Hawkins, former South Carolina State Senator who led the charge in our state to amend the constitution to ban same-sex marriage, on now coming out for marriage equality:
"I was wrong about pursing the marriage amendment. I wish I hadn't been so strident against it....I'm really hoping that people are going to walk away from this with a little bit of healing...It would be great if everyone who stood against us in the Senate said, 'We were wrong; In fact, you really do deserve equal rights.'"

While it would have been nice to have him change his stance while still a senator, it's refreshing to see yet another politician realize that now it is the for full marriage equality.

Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the Democratic congressman from Flroida, on teh GOP and the Tea party: 
"The civil war that has been raging within the Republican Party is over. And now that the House has voted to shut down the government unless Obamacare is defunded, it's official: The Tea Party has won — the far right is calling the shots."

Say goodbye to any form of bipartisanship when it comes to the 'baggers. The party that doesn't listen is running the show over there.

I Didn't Say It ....

Martin Cizmar, the arts and culture editor of Portland Oregon's Willamette Week, on returning his Eagle Scout badge to the Boy Scouts in protest of the group's anti-gay policies:

"I am not gay. However, I cannot in good conscious hold this badge as long as the BSA continues a policy of bigotry. Though I didn't know at the time, I was acquainted with a number of gay scouts and scouters. They were all great men, loyal to the scout oath and motto and helpful to the movement. There is no fair reason they should not be allowed to participate in scouting."

Nice when more and more straight people step up as allies against LGBT discrimination.

Bravo, Mr. Cizmar, Bravo!

Frank Bruni, NYT columnist, on Michelle Bachmann’s hate:

“Does it encourage gratuitously divisive condemnations of Barack Obama as ‘anti-American,’ one of many incendiary phrases in her attacks against him in 2008? And does it compel a war against homosexuality waged with the language and illogic she uses? She has said that gay men and lesbians are dysfunctional products of abuse and agents of ‘sexual anarchy,’ and when the singer and songwriter Melissa Etheridge was battling breast cancer years ago, Bachmann helpfully chimed in: ‘This may be an opportunity for her now to be open to some spiritual things, now that she is suffering with that physical disease. She is a lesbian.’ Bachmann’s concept of Christian love brims with hate, and she has a deep satchel of stones to throw. From what kind of messiah did she learn that?”

Bachmann is the queen of masking her hate of LGBT people in a cloak of Christianity, as she is a master of hiding her loathing of a Black president in the guise of politics.

Dan Cathy, president of Chick-fil-Antigay, spouting his homophobia as the word of god [little g]:

"I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say 'we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage' and I pray God's mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about."

Um, how does his bigotry fit into Christianity? How does it work in Christian love? And which part of the Bible asked him to hate?

Tony Perkins, AFA bigot-in-chief, on Chick-fil-Antigay, to his minions:

"Last week, Chick-fil-A's CEO Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press of his company's steadfast support for marriage and family. This simple affirmation of biblical truth has sent homosexual activists into a frenzy. Chick-fil-A may be a private company, but that doesn't mean its executives have to surrender their beliefs. Under the First Amendment, they are just as entitled as any American to speak publicly about their views. Those of us who share Chick-fil-A's commitment to the biblical definition of the family need to show them that we stand with them (whether or not we're chicken connoisseurs!). Please join thousands of others and 'Like' our Facebook post supporting Chick-fil-A's stand. Leave a comment in support, or share the post on your page. Join FRC and eat at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday, August 1 for Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day - an effort started by Gov. Mike Huckabee to show that Americans stand with them."

I love how the LGBT community is portrayed as hateful because we call into question a fast food chain that takes its customers money and funnels it into hate group—um, like the AFA.

Chick-fil-Antigay can do whatever they want to do with their money, just like I can do whatever I want to with mine.

And it won’t be buying sammiches at a hate food store.

Tony Perkins, AFA bigot-in-0chief—aftar saying Chick-fil-Antigay ha the right to fund whatever hate they choose, on Google being LGBT-friendly:

"Thanks to a new campaign, Google's approach to traditional values is to search—and destroy. The web giant just kicked off a worldwide push called 'Legalize Love,' aimed at breaking down the barriers to homosexuality around the globe. Their biggest targets? Countries that have moral objections to same-sex relationships…. After watching Target and J.C. Penney take a financial hit after endorsing same-sex marriage, Google should know better. They can push to 'Legalize Love,' but they shouldn't be surprised by the blow back. Because when it comes to Google, political neutrality is what most users are searching for."

Not only does Miss Tony not see his homophobia, his bigotry, his hate, for the LGBT community, he cannot even see what a hypocrite he is; if funding hate is A-OK for Chick-fil-Antigay, then funding love is A-OK for Google.

Asshat.

Randy Thomasson, head of Save California, whining that California's Gay Education Bill won’t be repealed”

"Parents and grandparents who don't want their children and grandchildren sexually indoctrinated with unnatural and unhealthy 'lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender' role models must decide now to exit the immoral, imploding, dysfunctional government school system and place their children in church schools or home schools. This is no time to be indecisive, since you only have one chance with your child's education. Because of SB 48 and seven other homosexual-bisexual-transsexual indoctrination laws, California K-12 government schools have become radical sexual indoctrination agencies."

Funny, all those years I spent in school, having no access to gay education, just the straight kind, and I went all gay. By Thomasson’s own “logic” I should have been indoctrinated into heterosexuality. Oh, but I guess The Straights don’t have the ability to turn people straight; that’s a power for The Gays.

Phyllis Schlafly, on Obama’s non-religion:

“Every time he quotes from the Declaration of Independence, he omits the word ‘Creator.’ That's very strange; we all know what the Declaration says and he just omits that….You were talking a minute ago about Arlington Cemetery; if you haven't been there, I'm sure you've seen pictures of all the crosses there and I just wonder if the day is going to come when they want to take down all those crosses."

Yes, Obama will run across the Potomac and start digging up crosses in a cemetery because he’s not the right kind of Christian.

And by that I mean a white Christian.

Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, Democratic National Committee head, on her belief that marriage equality will be on the national party platform:

“I expect marriage equality to be a plank in the national party platform. President Obama has declared his support for it ... Now, our platform committee process is a people-powered process. We have a platform committee and the platform is developed by our Democratic activists and the platform committee members, so they’ll go through a process. I hope that marriage equality, and expect that marriage equality, will be part of our platform. "

Put it out there.

It’s equality, and it’s for everyone.

It’s about effing time.

Matt Barber, hate group honcho, on Hilary Clinton’s remarks about AIDS:

"Shame on Hillary Clinton. In choosing to ignore the reality that in the United States people are primarily infected with AIDS through deviant homosexual behavior, she has essentially postured with a false air of resolve while cowardly refusing to address the real cause of AIDS in the U.S. and that’s homosexual behavior. We all know better and so should Hillary Clinton. She missed a real opportunity here to show courage and discourage people from engaging in the high-risk behavior of homosexuality that spreads AIDS."

Yup. The kid who contracted HIV through tainted blood was a deviant. The mother who contracted the virus while giving birth to a child is a pervert. People having sex are not deviants.

We should all avoid high risk behaviors that might lead to contracting the virus. Wear a condom; don’t have unprotected sex; get yourself checked; don’t share needles.

But we aren’t deviants, we’re people, and it’s disgusting Barber doesn’t see that.

He is the reason there is still a stigma about HIV and AIDS; he's the problem, not any kind of solution, much less compassion.