I Didn't Say It ...

Mark Foster, holder of six world titles, 11 European championship gold medals, two Commonwealth gold medals, and a five time Olympic swimmer, has come out as gay:

“I was a little apprehensive but years ago I would have been fearful of how I would be judged. Maybe that’s me being older and having a long time to get used to the idea. I went to the Attitude awards last month and gave Greg Louganis an award. I spent time with him and his partner and was backstage with Prince Harry and Kylie Minogue. I have a weird and wonderful life meeting all these people. They know about me–well, Prince Harry doesn’t–and I felt such warmth and togetherness. I thought: ‘I’ve been tiptoeing in the shadows but now’s the time to come out.’ I wish I’d done it was when I was 21 and met my first partner. But I wasn’t ready. Sharing stuff was always the problem. I’ve got used to avoiding the truth and I never spent much time looking in the mirror. It’s a fear of being vulnerable because if you open yourself up you could be hurt.”

But when you think about it, coming out ends the hurt. The pain is caused by the hiding and the self-inflicted shame.

Welcome out, Mark, and please accept as our gift a copy of The Gay Agenda and the Offical Coming Out Toaster Oven.

PS He’s a hot silver fox.

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George Brandis, Australian Attorney General, speaking before the marriage equality bill passed its second reading without objection:

“I want to reflect for a moment on the message this will send, in particular, to young gay people. To the boy or girl who senses a difference from their friends, which they find difficult to understand and impossible to deal with. How many hundreds of thousands of young Australians have known that fear? How many have lived with it, silently and alone? How many have failed to come to terms with it, and been overborne by it? By passing this bill, we are saying to these vulnerable young people ‘there is nothing wrong with you’. You are not unusual, you are not abnormal, you are just you. There is nothing to be embarrassed about, there is nothing to be ashamed of, there is nothing to hide: you are a normal person, and like every other normal person, you have a need to love. How you love is how God made you. Whom you love is for you to decide, and others to respect. Australia may have been slow to reach this day. But when that day did come, it came triumphantly, it came joyously, and most importantly it came from the Australian people themselves.”

I still cannot believe Australia doesn’t yet have marriage equality. I thought they’d beaten the US to the punch.

Still, good on Brandis for his statement and his common sense and understanding that gay people are no different, other than in who we love, that straight people.

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Rick Wilson, media consultant and … wait for it … Republican political strategist, calling White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders a "serial congenital liar":

“The reason she does that is because her job is contingent upon her being a serial congenital liar in defense of Donald Trump’s latest outrages. I mean, she probably has some tiny, shriveled husk left in her soul where she realizes this is the wrong thing to do. But she does it anyway because otherwise they’ll replace her. Few presidents go out and sling overt racial code words like that, few presidents go out and crap on the dignity and legacy of people like these code talkers, these heroic veterans, and then send their press secretary out to answer questions in a way that isn’t saying, ‘Wow, the president regrets what he said today, he made a mistake, he truly wishes he had not said that.’ Instead she goes out, tries to bury people in an avalanche of horse shit every day, because this is her job.”

Word. It’s an administration filled with liars, from the top down …

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Daniel Day-Lewis, brilliant actor, on why he’s quitting acting:

“I knew it was uncharacteristic to put out a statement But I did want to draw a line. I didn’t want to get sucked back into another project. All my life, I’ve mouthed off about how I should stop acting, and I don’t know why it was different this time, but the impulse to quit took root in me, and that became a compulsion. It was something I had to do. I need to believe in the value of what I’m doing. The work can seem vital. Irresistible, even. And if an audience believes it, that should be good enough for me. But, lately, it isn’t. I’ve been interested in acting since I was 12 years old, and back then, everything other than the theater—that box of light—was cast in shadow. When I began, it was a question of salvation. Now, I want to explore the world in a different way.”

I have always loved DDL, for his acting, his accent, his beautiful eyes, that shy smile, and now this?

Yeah, for the second time this week, I’m’a need to take some time.

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Ridley Scott, film director, on replacing Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer in his film All the Money in the World:

“I sat and thought about it and realized, we cannot. You can’t tolerate any kind of behavior like that. And it will affect the film. We cannot let one person’s action affect the good work of all these other people. It’s that simple.”

And I said it before, I would lovelovelove to see Plummer win an Oscar for the role that Kevin’s actions had erased from the film.

Karma… bitch.

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Ann Curry, Matt Lauer's former Today co-anchor who may have been fired at Lauer’s suggestion, on Matt’s own firing for being a perv:

"The women's movement got us into the workplace, but it didn't make us safe once we got there. And the battle lines are now clear. We need to move this revolution forward and make our workplaces safe. Corporate America is quite clearly failing to do so, and unless it does something to change that, we need to keep doing more ourselves. I admire the women who have been willing to speak up both anonymously and on the record. Those women need to keep their jobs, and all women need to be able to work, to be able to thrive, without fear. This kind of behavior exists across industries, and it is so long overdue for it to stop. This is a moment when we all need to be a beacon of light for those women, for all women, and for ourselves."

As usual, Curry takes the high road, though I bet there was plenty of pleasure at Matt’s downfall.

Again,  karma … bitch.

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