I Didn't Say It.....

Queen Latifah, speaking to Upscale Magazine, on being gay or not being gay:
"I don’t have to explain anything. I don’t have to confirm anything. Look, I need my time. I need my life....But still, I don’t feel like I need to explain. I’m the one living it. You write about it. You go ahead and speculate. I’ll just live it. I don’t feel like I need to explain things to a perfect stranger. The people who matter know. And they love me for Dana. I don’t have to tell Joe Blow. Joe, you worry about who YOU sleeping with."

No, maybe you don't need to explain it to me, or any number of other openly gay people, but, if you are gay, maybe some young Black girl, who is gay herself, can hear about you coming out, and feel just a little bit better about herself, not feel so alone, and maybe, not try to take her own life.
Wouldn't that be a good thing, Dana?

Kathy Griffin, on this season of My Life On The D-List:
"I embarrassed my mother once again., but I was so proud of my public pap smear in a bikini poolside. You're not going to see that s**t on f***ing Intervention, which robbed me of the Emmy last year. Those f***ers! Those goddamn crackheads. You're not going to see them in stirrups--just me, baby."

Now that's what I call Avert Your Eyes TV!

Broadway actor and singer, Josh Strickland, on why he decided to come out:
"It was from all that speculation during Tarzan. I was really tired of people making up their own answers. I’d rather just put it to rest and be myself. Nowadays it really doesn’t even matter. You see people coming out all the time, and it makes them stronger and happier. I didn’t want to be one of those souls struggling every day to fight who I am. I’m 10 times better just by being out and open about it. It makes my life so much happier. I have no regrets about anything."

Pass that sentiment on to Queen Latifah, Josh, and, um, call me?

Steve King, on Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama's stance on Arizona's Immigration Bill:
"When you look at this administration, I'm offended by Eric Holder and the President also, their posture. It looks like Eric Holder said that white people in America are cowards when it comes to race. And I don't know what the basis of that is but I'm not a coward when it comes to that and I'm happy to talk about these things and I think we should. But the President has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race--on the side that favors the black person."

Pot. Kettle. Racist.

Joan Rivers, on the Conan and Leno hubbub:
"I think they both came out of it such winners. Are you kidding? Leno's right back where he should be, boring America to sleep and getting great ratings. He's perfect! He doesn't rock the boat. You can go to sleep. He's not going to upset you. He's perfect. And Conan got more publicity than he ever got, and he walked away with $45 million."

Joan knows whereof she speaks. Years ago, when Johnny was host, she was the permanent guest-host. But when FOX offered Joan her own late night talk show, she called Carson first to tell him about the offer.
He slammed the phone down on her and never spoke to her again.

Senator Roy Ashburn, on why, as a gay man--albeit a closeted gay man--he voted against nearly every issue regarding LGBT people:
"The best I can do is to say that I was hiding. I was so in terror I could not allow any attention to come my way. So any measure that had to do with the subject of sexual orientation was an automatic "no" vote. I was paralyzed by this fear, and so I voted without even looking at the content. The purpose of government is to protect the rights of people under the law, regardless of our skin color, national origin, our height, our weight, our sexual orientation. This is a nation predicated on the belief that there is no discrimination on those characteristics, and so my vote denied people equal treatment, and I'm truly sorry for that."

Again, pass that along to Queen Latifah. Tell her that being in the closet is a form of homophobia.

Swedish football star and Calvin Klein underwear model Freddie Ljungberg, on how he feels when people assume he's gay:
"There’s been a gay rumor for a long time. I don’t mind at all. I am proud of that. I love fashion, and I think so many gay people have amazing style. So that is a compliment to me. I really don’t know why people are so interested. I just made a decision that I won’t talk about it."

I never assumed he was gay, though I can't say i didn't wish it, dream it, and hope it.

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

LeAnn Rimes, on how she and Eddie Cibrian, who began an affair with one another while both still married to other people, are not homewreckers:

"I take responsibility for everything I've done. I hate that people got hurt. But I don't regret the outcome. It was very emotionally driven. I never once thought what I was doing was OK. I was out of balance. My marriage was out of balance. There was something missing.
"The hardest thing to hear is someone call either of us a home wrecker because we didn't walk into a perfectly happy marriage and ruin it. I don't know what the future holds, but I know it holds Eddie. I'm really happy. I've moved on, and I hope there can be some forgiveness and acceptance."

Hawaii Congressman Charles Djou, on why he was one of five House GOP members to vote in favor repealing DADT:
"I have seen too many instances as an army reservist, soldiers would sign up for a re-enlistment bonus. Get this gigantic sum from the American taxpayer. And then as soon as the unit gets called up to mobilize to Iraq and Afghanistan, they suddenly claim they are gay, with no prior indication of that whatsoever. Get the discharge and keep the bonus. That’s wrong, that’s unfair and that’s why this policy should be changed."

California state Senator Roy Ashburn, on why, as a deeply closeted gay man, he often voted any gay rights legislation:

"My practice in my entire political career when it came to gay issues was to prevent any kind of spotlight from being shined my way, because I was in hiding. So casting any kind of vote might, could in some way, lead to my secret being revealed. That was terrifying to me. It was paralyzing. So I cast some votes that have denied gay people of their basic, equal treatment under the law, and I'm not proud of it. I'm not going to do that again."

Eugene Delgaudio, head of the Christianist group Public Advocate Of The U.S., on the Student Non-Discrimination Act:

"Our children...They’ve been the Radical Homosexuals’ target all along. Now they’re finally going after what they’ve always wanted. Just a few weeks ago, radicals in Congress led by openly homosexual Representative Jared Polis introduced H.R. 4530....a bill to turn America’s schools into indoctrination centers, its classrooms into social laboratories, its playgrounds into homosexual breeding grounds.

"Of course, they’ve disguised the bill’s wicked nature behind the innocent name 'The Student Non-Discrimination Act.' Sound harmless, right? Well, that’s key to their scheme. Honestly, I can hardly imagine a law more harmful. More appropriately, this bill should be called 'The Homosexual Classrooms Act.'

"You see, The Homosexual Classrooms Act was introduced quietly, and some insiders say Nancy Pelosi wants to 'fast-track' it before there is a public outcry. There’s even talk of burying it inside the must-pass Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly known as “No Child Left Behind” Reauthorization. If they succeed, they’ll only ensure that No Child is Left Uncorrupted by the poisonous influence of the Homosexual Agenda."

Kristen Stewart, on fame and how being photographed is just like being raped:
"It's so… The photos are so....I feel like I'm looking at someone being raped. A lot of the time I can't handle it. I never expected that this would be my life. What you don't see are the cameras shoved in my face and the bizarre intrusive questions being asked, or the people falling over themselves, screaming and taunting to get a reaction. All you see is an actor or a celebrity lit up but a flash. Your little persona is made up of all the places that people have seen you and what has been said about you. And usually the places that I am are so overwhelming in the moment and fleeting for me - like one second where I've said something stupid, that's me, forever."

UFC fighter Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, on acting--he's playing the role created by Mr. T. in the movie remake of The A Team:

"Acting is kind of gay. It makes you soft. You got all these people combing your hair and putting a coat over your shoulders when you're cold. I don't want a coat over my shoulders! I'm a tough-ass [individual]! Vancouver strikes me as a San Francisco-kind of place. And I don't want [individuals] getting ideas about me. I feel in my heart I'm the toughest [individual] on the planet. And I don't want nothing changing my train of thought."

PETA, on the news that Brooke Shields went to Denmark last March to design a mink coat:
"When I was a little girl, I dreamed about growing up to be a rock star. Or maybe a veterinarian. Or a roller derby queen. I didn't dream about anally electrocuting animals on fur farms, but apparently Brooke Shields did…We understand that when some actors' careers begin to fade, they'll do just about anything to stay in the limelight, including appearing in eyelash-growing commercials and starring in short-lived TV shows. But Brooke, did you really want the world to remember you as a 'fur pimp' who stares agog at rows of animal skins?"

Come ALL The Way Out, Roy

See what the closet does.

Last year, California state Senator Roy Ashburn was a deeply closeted, deep in denial gay man. Not too much wrong there, really, it';s his choice to be out, open and honest. But the sad part was that, as a senator, Ashburn consistently voted against LGBT legislation in his state.

That's what the closet does. it forces you to work against yourself so no one would ever suspect you might be gay. It forces you to deny your very self.

But now, two months after his drunk driving arrest, two months after it was discovered he was leaving a Sacramento gay bay, two months after reluctantly announcing he was gay, Roy Ashburn openly discussed his sexual orientation on the Senate floor and cast votes on two separate gay-rights bills.

He was the only Republican senator to vote in support--SUPPORT--of allowing openly gay people to serve in the military. He gets a half hand-clap here, because he also voted against--AGAINST--a bill that would clarify that clergy members would not be required to perform a civil marriage that was contrary to his or her faith.

Ashburn explained his votes on the Senate floor: "I would not have been speaking on a measure dealing with sexual orientation ever prior to the events that have transpired in my life over the last three months. However, I am no longer willing or able to remain silent on issues that affect sexual orientation and the rights of individuals. And so I am doing something that is quite different and foreign to me, and it’s highly emotional."

Ashburn also said, of DADT: "The public supports allowing openly gay people to serve in the military....The current policy of 'don’t ask, don’t tell’ is clearly out of date and discriminatory.’’

But what about that second bit of business?

Ashburn said he supported the portion of the legislation that made it clear clergy members would face no sanctions, including the loss of tax-exempt status for their churches, if they refused to perform gay marriages, but called it "troublesome’’ that the bill described marriages as "civil’’ unions. Since Prop H8 gave a definition of marriage, Roy Ashburn said he was worried the new definition in the bill could muddy the water and lead to new lawsuits on the issue.

But, Roy, you're out, you're a little bit proud. Don't you see that allowing marriage equality is just the same as repealing DADT.

Prop H8, like, DADT, to use your own words, is "out of date and discriminatory." Two bad you're not out of the closet enough to see that.

Showed His Face At Faces

I used to live in Sacramento. In fact, the house I lived in was just a few blocks from Faces, the gay nightclub in question here. Faces, while a gay bar, also has a diverse clientele; many straight people ::::gasp:::: go there for the music and the dancing, but let's not forget, it's a gay bar in the middle of a neighborhood affectionately known as "Lavender Heights.".

People often wondered why.

Not wondering, however, is one of California's most anti-gay Republicans, Senator Roy Ashburn, who was arrested for allegedly driving drunk after leaving Faces. A California Highway Patrol [CHP] officer noticed a black Chevy Tahoe swerving through the downtown streets, and when the officer stopped the state-issued vehicle, the driver identified himself as Senator Ashburn. He was arrested without incident and charged with two misdemeanors: driving under the influence and driving with a blood alcohol level higher than .08% or higher.

Interestingly enough, Ashburn was leaving Faces with an unidentified male passenger, who was not detained. Ashburn was booked into the Sacramento County Jail and released on $1,400 bond.

Roy Ashburn, quite well known for a long history of opposing gay rights, and a father of four--he divorced his wife in 2003--released the obligatory statement after his post-gay nightclub arrest:

"I am deeply sorry for my actions and offer no excuse for my poor judgment. I accept complete responsibility for my conduct and am prepared to accept the consequences for what I did. I am also truly sorry for the impact this incident will have on those who support and trust me – my family, my constituents, my friends, and my colleagues in the Senate."

Effin' self-loathing closet case. Ashburn voted against a Senate resolution declaring Prop H8 unconstitutional; voted three times to oppose the creation of Harvey Milk Day; voted against California recognizing out-of-state same-sex marriages; voted to oppose an expansion of California's insurance laws to include sexual orientation as a protected class.

Once again. Effing.Self-loathing.Closet case.