Gary Glenn's Anti-Gay Agenda

Let me get this queer: in Indiana, the GOP-controlled House and Senate, along with the GOP governor, Mike Pence, have decided that religious “freedom” means telling The Gays you don’t want their business. Sick, that, but in Michigan one GOP State Representative, Gary Glenn, doesn’t even want a gay man to get a new job.

See, Glenn has issued an "Agenda Alert" all over social media in response to news that his hometown newspaper, Midland Daily News, has :::gasp::: appointed Tony Lascari, an openly gay man, to the position of news editor.

Most folks think, and I tend to agree, that Glenn’s use of the phrase “Agenda Alert” is in direct reference to a supposed “Homosexual Agenda” that, except for the idea of full equality under the law, doesn’t really exist. But Glenn insists that the community has a right to hold the newspaper accountable and to question anything that could influence how they "represent our community's values" because, you know, the values of The Gays are in direct contradiction to the values of Glenn and his ick, er, ilk:

"I posted the paper's own report — without comment or criticism — except to alert readers to the reasonably observed possibility that this new position might be used to promote a political agenda or bias that's at odds with our community's values." — Gary Glenn

Tony Lascari, for his part, has said he has not been contacted by Glenn, though he’s seen Glenn’s “alert” on social media:

"I am aware that Michigan Rep. Glenn has issued an 'agenda alert' on Facebook and Twitter to let his supporters know about my marital status. I welcome him to contact me to speak about any topic at any time. In my new role as news editor at the Midland Daily News I look forward to helping my team produce quality stories that are accurate, interesting and important."

Isn’t it funny … though, really, it’s not … that the gay man wants to sit and talk to the bigot, but the bigot just wants the gay man not to have that job? But Gary Glenn, who believes that Tony Lascari might turn the paper gay, issued this Tweet:

The sad/funny/stupid thing is that if you follow that link, it takes you back to the Midlands Daily News article announcing Lascari’s appointment, along with all of his qualifications for the job and, there, right there near the very end of the piece, you learn that Tony Lascari lives in Midland with his husband Mark, and there you have the ALLEGED agenda.

Glenn likes to point out that in 2004, Midland County "voted overwhelmingly in favor" of the statewide proposal amending the Michigan Constitution to define marriage as between "one man and one woman" only and so the idea that a gay man, a gay married man, be allowed to have a job in that county is, well, it’s just too much. And because of that, Glenn says, he can question how the sexual orientation of a newspaper editor relates to the community's values.

"When it comes to holding people in positions of public influence accountable, the more public awareness, the better," he said.

Tony Lascari, however, published a column in the Midland Daily News, in response to Gary Glenn:

“As a professional news reporter, I have always worked to keep my articles balanced and accurate as I report on people in our community, no matter their views. I respect people’s right to hold their beliefs and to share them as they see fit. If Glenn wants to post alerts about me, that’s fine. But, I don’t see why having a political science major and a husband are an issue. No one else in Midland has ever brought up my marriage as a concern to me. Nearly 200 of our friends, family and coworkers joined me and Mark at our reception at a Midland hotel, with a cake from a Midland bakery and flowers from a Midland florist. I live a pretty average life in this community, and have for 10 years. I work hard and am involved in the community, as is the Midland tradition. I don’t think my marriage is worthy of an ‘Agenda Alert.’”

And let’s look again and see who really has The Agenda:

Gary Glenn is a Republican, and we know that most of the GOP is not at all gay-friendly, or marriage equality friendly.

Gary Glenn also serves as president of the American Family Association of Michigan; the AFA is a conservative religious organization that opposes the so-called "homosexual agenda."

Gary Glenn is also one of two co-authors of Michigan's Marriage Protection Amendment, which in 2004 enshrined a ban on same-sex marriage in the state's constitution.

Gary Glenn frequently voices his opposition to same-sex marriage and has stood against attempts to add sexual orientation and gender identity to protected classes in anti-discrimination laws and policies across the state.

It doesn’t seem like Tony Lascari has an agenda, unless it’s to be a good newspaper editor, while Gary Glenn seems to work overtime being a bigot and a homophobe … with a Hate Agenda.

Consider yourselves alerted.

story/photo: mLive
also: Lascari: My Marriage is a Non-issue in Midland

Look! Up in the sky! It's a plane: RFRAs Around The Nation

In light of Indiana, there is a spot, or spots, of good news …

In Georgia, a specially called meeting of the House Judiciary Committee set for earlier this week was cancelled, leaving the future of the state’s so-called ‘religious liberty’ [RFRA] bill in doubt.

The committee was to decide the fate of that bill for this year, but one member—who asked not to be identified for fear of angering leadership—told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the meeting was off.

The committee member did not know if it would be rescheduled, but with lawmakers only meeting in session Tuesday and Thursday before ending their 2015 session, time is rapidly expiring on Senate Bill 129.

Good.Bye.

And over there to Montana, after a very heated floor debate, the Montana House failed to pass their “religious freedom” [RFRA] bill, H.B. 615, deadlocking on a 50-50 vote.

Like Indiana’s RFRA, H.B. 615, sponsored by Republican Representative Karl Glimm would have placed a legislative referendum on the November 2016 ballot that, if approved by voters, would have legalized discrimination, if it was based on a person’s religious beliefs.

The vote fell mostly on party lines, with all 41 Democrats voting against the bill, while 50 Republicans voted for it. But the great news, the startling news, is that 9 Republicans joined the Democrats in voting ‘No’ to legalized discrimination.

And up in North Carolina, Governor Pat McCrory voiced his concerns over that state’s proposed RFRA by asking:

“What is the problem they’re trying to solve?”

Now that doesn’t mean it’s a done deal, but it does look like, if the RFRAs passed then McCrory might not sign it.

Spotty good news, and while none of the outcomes are guaranteed, maybe, just maybe, we'll see less legalized hate in the future?

Michael Elizabeth Pence: Fix This Now ... Then Go

Perhaps feeling the heat growing ever hotter, Indiana Governor Mike Pence has penned an Op-Ed piece for The Wall Street Journal trying, again, to explain why he signed a bill that clearly allows people, businesses, to refuse services to paying customers for any reason they choose if the business owner cites a “deeply held religious conviction” as their reason for discrimination.

Now, while it sounds a little vague, these Religious Freedom Restoration Acts [RFRAs] have sprung up in the light if marriage equality gaining a foothold in this country, and with certain bakeries, florists, dress shops, etc., refusing to do business with The Gays because, they say God doesn’t want them to do it.

It’s a kinder way of going Westboro Baptists; instead of ‘God Hates Fags,’ it’s ‘God told ne to not bake the cake,’ but however you slice it, it’s hate and discrimination.

Governor Pence has been appearing everywhere he can, trying to diffuse the situation, but every time he opens his mouth his foot goes into it deeper; first he asked to have the law clarified, which made me wonder why, as a career politician, he wouldn’t have asked for clarification before signing the law.

Then, when asked if he thought the law allowed discrimination against the LGBT community, he could not, would not, answer. I get that; if he’d said 'Yes,' he’s look like one of the bigots, but if he said 'No' he’d just look like a lying bigot. And so that may explain his need to explain … again … and saying, again, that it's "not a license to discriminate."

Pence says in his op-ed, that the law "simply mirrors" federal legislation signed by former President Bill Clinton in 1993 and similar measures in 30 other states.

"I want to make clear to Hoosiers and every American that despite what critics and many in the national media have asserted, the law is not a 'license to discriminate,' either in Indiana or elsewhere. In fact, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act reflects federal law, as well as law in 30 states nationwide. Indiana’s legislation is about affording citizens full protection under Indiana law."

Well, that’s not true, Governor, so let me clarify it for you: the laws he’s talking about, that were signed by former President Clinton, deal with disputes between the government and individual citizens. The Indiana RFRA law is the first to deal with potential lawsuits between individuals.

Pence ahs also claimed that the Indiana RFRA is just like Illinois law that then-State Senator Obama voted to support.

Again, not so high on the truth-meter, Governor. He failed to note that Illinois has strict nondiscrimination clauses in its state Human Rights Act that specifically protect LGBT people. Indiana does not. This matters because those seeking to discriminate in Indiana may claim that the lack of a statewide law barring sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination means that there is no compelling state interest in enforcing local ordinances providing such protections.

Pence also suggested that this new law merely strengthens existing laws already on the books in Indiana, which, again, is not so truthful.

The fact is that the law’s language is so “broadly written that someone can sue even without their religious beliefs having actually been burdened simply by claiming that is 'likely' to happen.”

He’s spinning, y’all, and spinning out of control. He seems to sign bills before really knowing what they mean, or what might happen after he signs them,  and then he out-and-out lies — or maybe, like Brian Williams, he ‘misremembers — about what the bill means, and lies about precedence for his legalized discrimination.

But what bother me most about Mike Pence, is that he expects anyone to believe that he isn’t anti-LGBT; that he isn’t a bigot; that he isn’t pro-discrimination as long as you cite Jesus as the reason for the season of discrimination in Indiana. In his op-ed, he says:

"I abhor discrimination. I believe in the Golden Rule that you should “do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If I saw a restaurant owner refuse to serve a gay couple, I wouldn’t eat there anymore. As governor of Indiana, if I were presented a bill that legalized discrimination against any person or group, I would veto it."

All well and good, you know, so nice and fair, you know, but the fact is that Governor Pence has signed a bill that allows a restaurant owner to deny service to a gay couple, and while Pence may not ever eat at that establishment again, he’s signed in law their right to discriminate.

He’s your typical GOP politicians, pandering to the base of the religious right by allowing discrimination to be legalized, and then lying about, it, refusing to answer a simple question about it, and then saying, and expecting anyone to believe, that he is anti-discrimination.

He isn’t; he needs to fix this, and then he needs to go.

sources:

WSJ

HuffPo

Lamda Legal

IndianapolisStar

Mike Pucillo Comes Out

Mike Pucillo, a 3-time All-American and 2008 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Champion Wrestler, has come out as gay in an article by Jason Bryant at The Open Mat.

Pucillo says he’s struggled with his sexuality for years and spent his high school years hoping he wasn't gay:

“You’ve been told that [being gay] is a bad thing your entire life. You hear it from your teachers, you hear it from your friends, you hear it from your coaches, you hear it from your parents.”

But finally, about a year ago, Mike had the courage to come out to his family and his friends and now he hopes his example will help someone ease struggling with coming out:

“I want people to know that you aren't alone. If I can just help one person get through, then I will be happy. If I can do that for one person, it's worth it for everybody out there to know my story… I know there's going to be people that don’t like it. To those people, I would say, ‘I've spent 26 years being uncomfortable. It's not my problem anymore.’ 'The only reason why I feel it's important to tell my story is I know there are a lot of other people out there that are like me who are in high school or about to go into college, whether it's wrestling or football or baseball or basketball or not in any sport, who are struggling with it. The more stories they hear about it, the easier it is for them.”

Pucillo spent a year as an assistant coach with the Buckeyes before quitting in 2011, saying he was afraid to recruit a kid to the sport because of what some might think of a gay coach recruiting a young man to the sport.

“Are their parents going to want their son to be at a school where one of the coaches is gay?”

Here’s hoping that by coming out, and inspiring others to do so, Mike Pucillo will open doors for gay athletes and gay coaches to come out.

And so, in that spirit, as we like to do here at HOMO HQ, we are sending Mike a copy of The Gay Agenda — and with so many people talking about it, let’s once again make it clear that The Gay Agenda is one page, one word, long: equality — and we’ll also send Mike the Obligatory Coming Out Toaster Oven.

Welcome out, Mike, welcome out.

photo source: FloWrestling

story source: GayStarNews

Look! Up in the sky! It's a plane: Mike Pence Stumbles

The heat is still on in Indiana with Governor Pence, who gleefully signed his Religious Freedom Restoration Act [RFRA], surrounded by real-life anti-gay bigots though he says the law isn't anti-gay.

Uh-huh. But, since the backlash against Pence and the state, he's come out ... see what I did there? ... to say he'd like the law clarified.

Funny; you'd have thought he would have asked for clarification before signing discrimination into law?

And then, this weekend, talking with George Stephanopoulos, Governor Pence wouldn’t … couldn’t … answer definitively if the law was anti-gay.

I get that he wouldn’t say 'Yes,' because then he looks like a big anti-gay Teabagging douche, but the fact that he didn’t say 'No' means he knows it’s anti-gay and he's a big Teabagging douche.

Just sayin'. Oh, and before I foregt: #BoycottIndiana

Let's Talk About Race, Baby

I find it ironic that people say the racism is over in this country because we have a Black president. I mean, take a look at how he’s treated by the far right, the racist jokes, the racist comments, and then take a look at how he’s treated by the GOP. It ain’t over, y’all, not by a long stretch, and it won’t be over if we don’t talk about it, and talk it down when we see it.

Of course, I don’t mean the way Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz wanted to talk about it. I like the idea of a conversation about race, but I don’t like the idea of my barista starting it just because he wrote #RaceTogether on my latte cup. And I guess Schultz didn’t like it either, or else his business suffered when the program went into effect, because Starbucks has stopped the practice scarcely more than a week into it.

Okay … so if we aren’t talking race while sipping a mocha frappuccino, when can we talk about it; and should we?

I say yes, and I’ll give you just one example why:

One day a co-worker was complaining about a guy who was working in her yard. Oh, he wasn’t doing anything bad, but she felt she needed to be home while he was there in case he decided to break into her house and steal something … because he’s Mexican, you know, and that’s what they do.

I said to her, “You know, Carlos is Mexican, right?”

And she literally smiled at me and said, “I know, but he’s one of the good ones.”

Yeah, we need to talk about race; and not just the anti-immigrant racism, which tends to be aimed at the more brown-skinned immigrants because they don’t look like ‘us,’ but also the blatant racism against anyone of color.

We have college students singing about “hanging n*****s from trees” while on a bus ride, and just a few weeks later Otis James Byrd, a black man, was found hanging in a tree in Mississippi.

The two aren’t related, I don’t think, but how can we say we have no race problem in this country when fraternities sing about it and black men are being lynched in Mississippi.

To be fair, no one knows if Byrd killed himself or was murdered, but his body was found strung up by a bedsheet just a few hundred yards from a house where he once lived.

And what about all these shootings of black men, young black men and children? If these shootings were reversed — black officers shooting unarmed white men — you can bet there would be outrage across the country, but when it happens to a black man, the outrage arises mostly from the black community.

Where’s the white outrage, or just plain outrage, at young men being shot dead, or choked to death, in the streets or in a park or at a Wal-Mart?

I know it’s a tough conversation to have because people have to choose their words carefully, lest they appear to be racist, but why not allow folks to stumble over their words during this talk? And then, why not educate the people about their racism? Why not call it out when you see it and hear it? Why not take a stand against people who want to hold anyone down, push them back, because of their skin color?

It’s like with that co-worker of mine. Carlos is ‘one of the good ones.’ 

I said to her, “If a Mexican man breaks into your house and steals from you, it isn’t because he’s Mexican, it’s because he’s a thief.”

You aren’t a criminal because of your skin color; you aren’t less than because of where you come from; you don’t deserve to be shot down in the street because you look menacing.

That’s the conversation we need to have, and one way to start it is to eliminate certain words from the conversation. And they are words we all use from time to time and yet, when you listen to the way they are said, you’ll see what I mean:

They and Them.

I think I told this story here once, about a client who was talking about Obama; this man is a Republican and a racist, though he’s not one because he’s the other, he just happens to be both.  But, when Obama was running for president in 2008, this man, while doing business with us, actually said to me, “I hope he doesn’t get elected,. Because all of them people will be dancing in the streets.”

I replied, “Cool, I love to dance. I guess I'm one of 'them' people!”

He muttered something about 'them' people being a different color.

I said, "Oh, I got that, but what I'm saying is that the people doing the dancing in the streets aren't just black, and they aren't just 'them' people; they're people ... like me."

Different, yes, because we're all different from one another in so many ways, but we're all people, human beings, just the same, and we should all be treated the same.

We don't need Starbucks to start the conversation, we just need to speak up when we hear racism, see racism. Start talking then.

The best way to have a conversation about race is when you hear someone say something racist. Take that second to educate them; take a minute to explain that the color of your skin, or your accent, doesn't make you any 'less' than anyone else; they just make you different.

And, seriously, different is good.

Miss Jones Has A New Perch

When we first adopted Consuelo Roca-Jones ... from an elderly woman who could no longer care for even a wee cat ... her name was, gulp, 'Molly.' Luckily, after a quick chat with 'Molly' we realized she was actually Consuelo Roca-Jones and all was well and good.

But, along with Consuelo, we got a scratching post upon which she could take out her frustrations. Trouble was, she preferred using a chair, a good chair, for that, so we bought her a very modern looking s-shaped scratching apparatus.

Consuelo Roca Jones still uses the chair as a scratching post ... though only when we aren't home so we never catch her ... and has begun using the scratching tool as a chair.

But, she does look purty resting there ...

Charity and Sylvia

The story goes like this …

Charity Bryant was just passing through Weybridge, Vermont; she was traveling alone to escape the gossip that followed her since she was nearing thirty, had never married, and had had relationships with women while living in Massachusetts.

She thought it best to keep moving, and never planned on settling down in that rural town, but whatever gossip may have been heard, she was welcomed by the people of the town, who flocked to her tiny house where she designed and sold clothes.

And then she met Sylvia Drake; they were like-minded women, literary and talented, and they instantly fell in love. Charity asked Sylvia to be her assistant, and the younger girl moved into Bryant’s home; then Charity Bryant asked Sylvia Drake to be her wife, and so they were married, though not legally, and lived together some forty-four years.

Now, Weybridge was one of those small, conservative towns, as most rural towns are, but the people there seemed not to be bothered at all by the relationship between the two women; in fact, most folks had no problem referring to Charity and Sylvia close to or nearly “married.”

Charity and Sylvia also considered themselves married.  They celebrated the day they moved in together as their anniversary, and Bryant often called Drake her spouse, while Sylvia, still quite young, spent her time writing their names over and over again on scraps of paper, as a young girl often did when she met the person she wanted to marry.

It reads: “Bryant, Bryant Charity, Bryant Sylvia, Bryant Sylvia, Bryant Charity, Bryant Sylvia.”

Their relationship was like that of most other couples; Bryant was the “husband,” who ran the business, and Drake the “wife.” And even at the end, even in that small town in Vermont, after forty-four years together, Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake were buried together, as spouses often are, in the Weybridge cemetery.  Charity went first, and Sylvia followed a couple of years later, but they are buried beneath a single granite tombstone that bears both their names.

Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake might be Vermont’s first same-sex couple, same-sex married couple; but they might also be known as Americas’ first married same-sex couple, because Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake met one another in 1807, and lived as spouses until the 1850s.

Nearly two hundred years before marriage equality became legal anywhere in this country, Sylvia and Charity lived as a married couple, and were respected as a married couple, in life, and in death.

photo via The Washington Blade

story via WaPo

It's Snarkurday!

There’s no love lost between Rob Kardashian and his sister Kash Kow. She thinks he’s too fat and brings the family down, and he thinks she’s a self-obsessed, self-entitled, former porn star turned media whore … I think.

What I know is that Rob Instagrammed a screenshot [see it HERE] from the movie Gone Girl, showing a bloodied Amy Dunne as portrayed by Rosamund Pike, with the caption:

“This is my sister kim, the bitch from Gone Girl,,,”

See, what Rob has done is compare his sister to a selfish, sociopath who stops at nothing to get what she wants.

Uh huh, I get it.

LeAnn Rimes is an adulterer. Eddie Cibrian is an adulterer.

So, what does one adulterer do when she heads out of town leaving her adulterer husband at home?

If you’re LeAnn, when you head off to London for 10-days, you make sure you install hidden cameras in the manse so she can see what goes on at home; she even has alerts sent to her phone if the garage door opens because, you know, that’s how hookers and mistresses enter the house.

Why all that kerfuffle LeAnn? Just modify an ankle monitor to strap on Eddie’s junk and you can follow his penis around town while you’re gone.

Bethenny Frankel, former candidate for Martha Stewart: Apprentice, failed talk-show host, and former, now current, Real Housewife of New York, is swearing off marriage:

“I will never get legally married again. It doesn’t mean I would not commit to someone, I’m not jaded or bitter about love. I think there are amazing guys out there in the world. It’s none of that. I’ll never ever be legally married again.”

Somewhere, Marriage breathed a sigh of relief.

Vin Diesel thinks that Furious 7 is going to win the Best Picture Oscar at the 2016 Oscars:

“Universal is going to have the biggest movie in history with this movie. It will probably win best picture at the Oscars, unless the Oscars don’t want to be relevant ever. This will win best picture,” Diesel said. “There is nothing that will ever come close to the power of this thing.”
Is there rehab for delusional and, if so, do they have a spare bed? Stat.

So, Jeremy Renner’s wife, Sonni Pacheco, decided she wanted a divorce a few months after they got married, and everything went cray.

Sonni claimed Jeremy had stolen her passport, birth certificate and social security card and demanded he return them so they could this party finished. But now, well, it’s all sunk to a whole sub-basement of nasty.

Jeremy is now saying that Sonni extorted him over some supposed sex tape if he didn’t follow through on his promise to get her a green card.

But all I can think of is this: who, seriously who, wants to see a Jeremy Renner sex tape?

I’d need to scrub my eyeballs with bleach afterwards and I am not doing that … again.

A celebrity booking agency has told the Texas attorney general’s office it is not all right, all right, all right to make public how much the University of Houston is paying Matthew McConaughey to speak at the school’s commencement ceremony.

The university has declined to release the information because its contract with California-based Celebrity Talent International includes a confidentiality clause that gives the agency a chance to object. The school has asked the attorney general’s office to issue an opinion on whether such information can be kept private.

What’s the big secret? He’s probably being paid in weed and Doritos.

I ♥ Audra McDonald ... For This and For That

I ♥ Audra McDonald, and have ever since I first heard her sing about 16 years ago; an amazing voice, a beautiful woman, a talented actress — she has won more Tony Awards than any other actor, male or female, and is the only person to have won Tonys in all four acting categories — and she’s a great big LGBT ally.

This week McDonald sent out a series of Tweets to Indiana Governor Mike Pence, after he signed a controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act which basically allows any business to discriminate against anyone — most notably The Gays — because, you know, God said discrimination is good and Christian.

I love her for that, and for this, too …

Photo by ABC/Andrew Eccles

Photo by: ABC / Andrew Eccles

Look! Up in the sky! It's a plane: Phil Robertson

We all know that Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson is an anti-gay religious loon, right? But, hey, he's trying to reach out to The Gays with a bit of advice ... on how not to be gay.

During a prayer breakfast speech last week, Robertson told men who are, ahem, “shacked up” with their girlfriends to get married and “have it, she’s yours then.”

Then he offered that same advice to men in same-sex relationships:

"Call the dude, find you a woman and marry her. ... You’re not in a trap you can’t get out of, come on! Marry a woman."

I'm not sure which 'dude' to call. Is there just one dude that has all the women folk and he's the one I need to see to get me outta this gay trap?

I Didn't Say It ...

Meghan McCain, on Aaron Schock's epic "flameout":

“The specific scandal that led to his resignation exacerbates every negative stereotype that exists about Millennials being the over-indulged, selfie-obsessed, “me-me-me” generation, and now, unluckily enough for us Millennial Republicans out there, our first well-known representative will be best remembered for completely blowing his chance to reform our party simply because he got too caught up riding around in private jets and going to Katy Perry concerts.” 

To me he's just another self-entitled Republican who thinks the rules don't apply to them, young or old, Baby Boomer or Millennial.
[photo source]

Kerry Washington, of Scandal, receiving the Vanguard Award at the GLAAD Media Awards about how marginalized communities should be working together for a seat at the table:

"So when black people today tell me that they don't 'believe' in gay marriage, the first thing that I say is please don't let anybody try to get you to vote against your own best interests by feeding you messages of hate. And then I say, you know people used to say stuff like that about you and your love. And if we let the government start to legislate love in our lifetime, who do you think is next? We can't say that we believe in each others' fundamental humanity and then turn a blind eye to the reality of each other’s existence and the truth of each other’s hearts. We must be allies. And we must be allies in this business because to be represented is to be humanized. And as long as anyone, anywhere is being made to feel less human, our very definition of humanity is at stake and we are all vulnerable."

Perfection.
[photo source]

Henry Rollins, musician and outspoken LGBT supporter, suggesting that opposition to marriage equality is the GOP’s best fundraising tool:

“I am not convinced that that many people really have a problem with gay marriage [but] I think that there are absolutely some people who hate and fear the gay and are very opposed to the gay marriage. … I think that it has become a consistent and dependable fundraiser to where if every homosexual person in America said ‘ok, we’re awful, we have a bad lifestyle, and we’ll slither under the rock that we should be living under and we’ll never ask to be married again,’ they would lose a major fundraising tool. People on the right would go ‘no, no, no, come back queer wanna-get-married guy, we need you in the bible belt.”

Sad, but true. Hate as a means of raising money for a political party.
[photo source]

Zoe Saldana, on the Dolce & Gabbana boycott:

“[That] would be the stupidest thing if it affected my fashion choice. People are allowed to their own opinion, however, I wouldn’t have chosen to be so public about something that’s such a personal thing. Obviously it caused some sensitivity, but then again if you continue to follow the news, you see they all kinda hugged it out, so why are we making a big deal about it? I’m certainly not going to stop wearing Dolce, and I’m certainly not going to be refuting when they are adopting synthetic children, however they wanted to say it. I do think things are lost in translation. My husband [Marco Perego] is from Italy and if I judged him based on the words that he misuses in our English language he wouldn’t be here today. It’s like look people, have a drink, relax, it’s okay.”

A prime example of why some, some, actresses shouldn't speak unless reading from a script.

It was by no means a case of not understanding the language; those two gay men are ashamed of ebbing gay and think that being gay means they have no rights to marry or have children, either via adoption, IVF, surrogacy...

Siddown Zoe, and keep quiet.

[photo source]

Madonna, on why she’s never met President Obama:

"The person I most want to meet is President Obama. When the heck am I going to meet him? He just needs to invite me to the White House already. He probably thinks I'm too shocking to be there. I'm serious. If I was a little bit more demure or if I was just married to Jay Z. Hey, if Jay would only take me as his second wife, then I'd score an invitation.”

Maybe he’s just not that into you, Madge.
[photo source]

Larry Kramer, LGBT activist, author, playwright and hero, receiving the first-ever Larry Kramer Activism Award from the Gay Men's Health Crisis [GMHC]:

"Genocide is the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or ethnic group. Such as gay people. Such as people of color. To date, around the world, an estimated 78 million people have become infected, 39 million of whom have died. When we first became acquainted with HIV there were 41 cases. The main difference between the Larry Kramer who helped to start Gay Men’s Health Crisis in his living room in 1982 and ACT UP in 1987 and the Larry Kramer who stands before you now is that I no longer have any doubt that our government is content, via sins of omission or commission, to allow the extermination of my homosexual population to continue unabated."

Silence = Death. Stand out, speak out, and carry on Larry’s legacy. Hiding does no one any good.

[photo source]