Bobservations

The other night we watched Hampstead, an English film about a widow who finds love with a man who lives in a shack in the park across the road. It was cute—it starred Diane Keaton—and was filmed in Hampstead Heath so it was lovely to look at but … about twenty-seven minutes in Carlos said:

“Is that Diane Keaton?”

“Yes.”

“See, I know my actresses.”

“Except you’ve been watching her for half-an-hour and you just now figured it out?”

“Well, she just put on a beret, and Diane Keaton always wears hats.”

A new piece to the puzzle … blond women who sing must be, as Carlos pronounces it, Ma-dough-nah, and every actress in a beret is Diane Keaton.

Tuxedo takes after his daddy because, as he notes, if you want to effect change: CAST A GODDAMNED VOTE! 

Even a cat gets it.

As it should be … Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be the first woman to lie in state at the US Capitol this week. Ginsburg’s casket would be placed in National Statuary Hall, where a formal ceremony will be held for invited guests only, while a separate ceremony will be held Wednesday morning at the high court for Ginsburg’s family, close friends and members of the court.

She deserves every honor this country can bestow upon her.

_____ has announced that his SCOTUS nominee will be a woman.

Blatant pandering from a man who clearly thinks women are so dumb, they will vote for him simply  because he nominates a woman to the court.

A woman who will no doubt pander to _____’s rabid evangelical, anti-choice base.

I was noting the other day that Rosa Parks, Harvey Milk and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were heroes of mine; and then I added John Lewis and Elijah Cummings.

I then realized the GOP has no heroes, well, other than Reagan who ignored the AIDS crisis, invented trickledown economics which don’t trickle down, and Iran Contra.

Yeah … no heroes.

Oh-so-hot Canadian actor François Arnaud, who played Cesare Borgia on Showtime’s The Borgias, has come out as bisexual via Instagram”

“I’m sure many bisexual guys feel the same and end up doing as I did: letting other people’s assumptions of straightness stand uncorrected, perhaps out of fear of oversharing. Under the guise of privacy, maybe. Probably because ‘masculinity’ is a most fragile currency … and because it’s really f**king scary to give up your privilege. … But here’s the thing, silence has the perverse effect of perpetuating those stereotypes, making bi guys invisible, and leading people to doubt that we even exist. … labels are frustrating and words, imperfect. But I’ve always considered myself bisexual. Not confused or trying to look edgy. Not disloyal. Not ashamed. [No longer] invisible.”

Welcome out, Francois. I know a lot of people don’t understand bisexuality, but we don’t need to understand it, we just need to accept it as your truth. But, you know, shallow me, when your bisexuality swings toward the male side, I’m here to lend a ‘helping’ hand.

Just sayin’.

The other day conservative author and wingnut Candace Owens claimed that Amazon employees at a shipping center damaged copies of her books that were set to be mailed out to customers.

Uh huh. Anyway, conservative and Scientology wingnut Kirstie Alley Tweeted at Owens to hold Amazon accountable and I was preparing to Tweet at Alley that maybe the people who bought the books were the ones to deal with Amazon, if in fact the story was true.

But I discovered Kirstie Alley has Blocked me. I guess she doesn’t like people who disagree with her “church” and her “politics.”

Sorry, not sorry.

Joe Biden has a new ad running. It features ______ speaking at one of his rallies, where he says:

“If I lose to him, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I will never speak to you again. You will never see me again.”

Cut to Joe:

“I’m Joe Biden and I approve this message.”

Comedy gold!

QAnon nutbag Marjorie Taylor-Green, running for a Congressional seat in Georgia, decided to go after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter with this:

“As a blonde woman I would like to take a moment to thank Congresswoman @AOC.

She has single handily [sic] put an end to all “dumb blonde” jokes.

Blondes everywhere appreciate your service and sacrifice.”

AOC has zero fucks to give and replied like this:

“Don’t worry Mrs. Greene, I completely understand why you need to swing + miss at my intellect to make yourself feel better.

You seem to have trouble spelling your insults correctly.

Next time try 'single-handedly,' it’ll work better.

Good luck writing legislation!”

Love.Her.

And I love him … blue-eyed hottie, model and fitness trainer, Alexander Breck. I love a man who can rock a hot …and nothing else, who looks good in faux fur … and nothing else … and tighty whities …and nothing else. I’m sensing a theme here …

On This Date In ISBL History: Nick Comes Out, Gets Kicked Out, And Then Guess What Happened?

As I am in Oregon helping my Dad recuperate from knee surgery, I thought I’d do something I’ll call “On This Date In ISBL History” and repost some things from back when the blog was new, and newish … this was originally published November 6, 2013:

It’s long been said that members of the LGBT community often create new families for themselves out of friends and lovers that they meet along the way. We do this because, sometimes, our own families want nothing to do with us when we come out to them.

I was one of the lucky ones for my family was mostly, Um, okay? So what? 

Carlos, on the other hand wasn’t so lucky. His mother accepts him as a gay man, and accepts me as his partner, but his father wants nothing to do with him; or me. So Carlos made a new family out of friends he made when he moved to Miami and friends we both made when we moved to Smallville. And he stills gets choked up that my sister calls him ‘brother’ and my father calls him ‘son,’ and all my nieces call him Uncle Carlos.

So, as LGBT men and women, we make do, and we build new families to take the place of our birth families that no longer want us when we come out.

That’s the case with Nick. Nick is an 18-year-old young man, a freshman at Kennesaw State University, who lives in Marietta, Georgia. Last month someone he knew told Nick’s parents that he is bisexual and they weren’t having it. They kicked him out of the house; while he was at work, they took the car that was in their name, even though he made the payments on it; they took all of his belongings from their house and threw them on the front lawn.

Bad? Not even bad enough. They then used the fact that his bank accounts were "custodial accounts" and they emptied his bank accounts into theirs; taking all the money he’d saved over the last three years working as a bagger at Publix.

Lovely parents; role models, really.

But Nick didn’t give up, and people who knew him didn’t give up either. The mother-in-law of Steve Bevers, one of his co-workers, took Nick into her home instantly, and set up a crowdfunding page on GoFundMe to help him on with his life.

"When I heard about what happened to Nick I was flabbergasted. I couldn't understand how a parent could do that. While I'm sure there are multiple sides to the story, I just was amazed. I was hurt. The first thing I asked was, 'Does he need a place to stay? Does he need some money?'" — Steve Bevers

So Steve Bevers set up the GoFundMe page for Nick on October 22nd, to help him pay for school, maybe get another car, and finance a place of his own when he’s able. In just a couple of weeks the site has raised $26,000 — as of this morning — for Nick.

Complete strangers, who don’t know Nick, might never know Nick, have stepped up to help him when his own parents told him to get out of their house.

Last week, Nick uploaded a video to the site to thank his supporters and tell his story:

"This whole thing started when my stepmom caught wind of me being bisexual. I don't know where she got her information from, but I know it wasn't from me. She didn't like that and neither did my dad. I got told some very vulgar and disgusting things... That's why I didn't tell them, because I wasn't ready. And I didn't tell them for the exact reaction I was scared about, and that's exactly what happened."

Now, while Nick may be sleeping on the sofa at the Bevers home, he is still working, and planning to continue his education; he’s using the donations to pay for school and get himself a car so he can get back and forth to classes.

Complete strangers did this for him when his own family threw him out of the house.

As I said, we sometimes create new families for ourselves when our own families don’t want us because we’re gay, or something, but in the case of Nick, his new family is made up of people who might never meet him, who realize that just because he’s bisexual doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to be loved.

Apparently Nick's father released his own version of what happened in their family and tried to paint Nick as “the bad guy” in all of this because Nick had the nerve to consult an attorney about getting the money back that his parents stole from him.

Nick was a straight A student in high school, and has done very well in college, all the while working nearly full time.

Yeah, he sounds like a bad guy. Or maybe just a young bisexual man trying to make his way through life after his family disowned him.

PS Naturally, the GoFundMe page, while still up, is done; Nick accepted donations just to pay for college and housing and plans to pay it forward.

The Daily Hypocrite: Brent Randall

I am not one for outing people, though I do believe, and I will keep saying it until it happens, that every single LGBT person needs to come out now.

Think of the change in the world if there were no closet doors and no hiding; gone would be the shame; gone would be the pain; gone would be the intolerance, well, at least the blatant in-your-face intolerance because we would be everywhere.

Still, I don’t think it’s my job to out anyone … unless … and you knew there’d be an 'unless' .... Unless you’re a hypocritical anti-LGBT-Bible-Thumping-Holier-Than-Thou politician who works to deny civil rights to Americans based on their sexual orientation while you troll gay dating sites looking for a hookup.

Brent Randall.

Randall is a Republican, of course, who opposes expanding anti-discrimination protections to LGBT people, of course, through the law. He lives in Goshen, Indiana, and is a sports broadcaster and businessman, and has decided to run for the Goshen City Council.

Now, Goshen does not have an LGBT civil rights nondiscrimination law and Brent Randall is running on the platform of keeping Goshen anti-LGBT and claims, wrongly, of course, because he’s a Republican, that LGBT people are already protected by law.

Oh … and Randall has an active profile on  Adam4Adam, an online dating site that boasts it's the "world's largest gay hookup site." And when asked about his Adam4Adam profile, Randall said:

“I don’t even know if I consider myself bisexual or not. I just experimented a little since I was single again.”

So, maybe he’s bisexual, maybe he’s gay, but the last time I checked that’s at least two of the letters in LGBT, the very group he says does not need anti-discrimination protections; and he isn’t changing his stance … not to be confused, I think, with Larry Craig’s wide-legged stance in the men’s room stalls of airports and such:

"I don’t know why they feel they need special protections when there are other categories that might need protections. My little experimentation over the last six years hasn’t changed my view on that."

First off, Brent, don’t say ‘they’ say ‘we’ because you’re an online queer boy, no matter what you call it; and, seriously, when one has been experimenting for six years one should have already learned the answer to their question.

Naturally, the Republican Party is standing by their gay anti-gay candidate because, well, anti-gay:

“He is the same person today as he was yesterday and is the right person to serve on City Council representing District 5. We are deeply saddened to see someone’s private personal life be exposed, by no choice of his own, for what can only appear to be political motivations. His entire life is turned upside down. ”

Let me make this queer; Randall Brent is the most pathetic form of gay man on the planet, so self-loathing, and self-hating that, not only does he hide himself deep within a closet but he wants to be put in a position of power to keep openly gay people down, to allow for discrimination of openly gay people. That’s the height of hypocrisy.

But, as I said … Republican.

NCRM

Look! Up in the sky! It's a plane: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

After Michael Sam came out as gay he spoke about the closeted football players who reached out to him, and said they didn't "have the same courage" to come out before staring their NFL journey like he did.

Well, since no good deed goes unpunished, a bisexual NFL player, speaking anonymously, has pushed back against Sam and his comments:

"As a bisexual man, I just feel like Michael Sam does not speak for all gay men. He has his own opinion ... but DON'T say that we don't have the courage to come out. It's totally wrong. Just speak for yourself. No one else."

Wait. So this closeted gay athlete is angry at Michael Sam for saying closeted gay athletes don’t have the courage to come out before going pro, and yet he’s saying this anonymously while staying in the closet?

Honey, you just proved Michael Sam’s point.

Coming out is a process, and everyone does it at their own pace and time, but you are doing exactly what Michael Sam was talking about.

Now, take a seat, back in the closet again.

When BYU Asks About Sexual Orientation, LGBT Is Not An Option

Out there Utah way, the folks at Brigham Young University — fully owned and operated by the Mormon Church — distributed a survey to students so that, ALLEGEDLY, the school might better understand these “Millennial’s” attitudes regarding The Gays and same-sex attraction.

Trouble is, nowhere on the questionnaire is there a place to mark if you’re a gay.

The survey begins: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [LDS] is conducting a focus group to better understand your views on marriage and same-sex attraction … ”

But, while the short survey asks basic questions — Are you intimidated by people you are unfamiliar with, or Do you enjoy participating in new situations; Are you open to new ideas and experiences; Are you comfortable expressing your opinion to others — the survey also asks students to rate their “stance on social and moral issues” on a scale of 1-5 scale: “Traditional / conservative” to “Progressive / liberal.”

Simple, basic questions, no? Sure, until you get to that question; the one where Brigham Young asks the students: “What is your sexual orientation?”

The students have three options:

I am heterosexual, but I struggle with same-sex attraction.

I am heterosexual and do not struggle with same-sex attraction.

Other, please specify.

So, it seems that the Mormon Church, which has recently created a website called “Mormon and Gay” does not believe people can be gay; they can either be straight, or straight and “struggling with a same-sex attraction" but not gay, never gay. of course, you could check ‘other’ and then specify, but why is it so hard to ask folks if they’re gay, even for the Mormons?

Seriously, LDS, get ye olde arses into this century; there are gays everywhere, even sitting next to you in church, even in your family, in your classrooms, on your job site, and when you make it clear that ‘gay’ is not an answer to the question What is your sexual orientation, you are continuing to deny our existence.

We’re here, we’re queer and, some of us, are Mormons.

via The New Civil Rights Movement

Awards Season: The Advocate's People of the Year

via The Advocate:

JUSTICE ANTHONY KENNEDY
Before the Supreme Court took up its two marriage equality–related cases this year, everyone knew which vote would be the most pivotal: Justice Anthony Kennedy’s.  With four justices leaning liberal and four leaning conservative, Kennedy was the swing vote.

And he ruled in favor of equality, and then took it a step further, writing a majority opinion in the Windsor v The United States case, saying the federal Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA] served no other purpose except discrimination.

"DOMA’s principal effect is to identify a subset of state sanctioned marriages and make them unequal. The principal purpose is to impose inequality, not for other reasons like governmental efficiency. Responsibilities, as well as rights, enhance the dignity and integrity of the person. And DOMA contrives to deprive some couples married under the laws of their State, but not other couples, of both rights and responsibilities."

MACKLEMORE

Rap lyrics have long contained gay slurs and homophobic content — even the new release this year by Eminem was more of the same. Not so “Same Love.”

 “Same Love,” the fourth single from Seattle artist Macklemore, landed on the Billboard Hot 100 in February, rose to number 11 in August and number 2 on the Rap Chart in July. The song didn't make waves just in the U.S., but charted everywhere from New Zealand to Denmark.

“Same Love,” which featured out lesbian singer Mary Lambert, wasn’t a vague testament to loving everyone, but a personal declaration of support for gays and an indictment of right-wing activists, mean-spirited online commenters, the term “that’s so gay,” and “America the Brave,” which “still fears what we don't know.”

Growing up with two gay uncles, Macklemore — AKA Ben Haggerty — wrote the song in 2012 in support of Washington State’s proposed, and eventually passed, marriage equality law.  But Macklemore didn’t just release “Same Love” and wait to see what happened; he performed it everywhere, gave interviews about its impetus, donated proceeds to Music for Marriage Equality, and made an equally heartfelt video.

Eminem is the past, Macklemore is the musical future.

THE PLAINTIFFS

When the case to fight Proposition 8 first launched with the backing of the newly formed American Foundation for Equal Rights [AFER] and powerhouse lawyers Ted Olson and David Boies, it was the subject of harsh debate among LGBT activists about whether this was the right time for a full press on marriage equality rather than civil unions. Much of that is now forgotten, and the plaintiffs in the case — Kristin Perry and Sandy Stier, and Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo — have not only won the argument, but they did it at the Supreme Court.

And then there's Edie Windsor, who made a point of noting that her case was also turned away by major LGBT rights organizations when she first tried fighting the Defense of Marriage Act. It was attorney Roberta Kaplan who recognized its potential.

Thanks to the perseverance of all of the plaintiffs and their lawyers, same-sex marriage had an important legal moment and an important cultural one. Social media was filled with supportive red equality signs, friends were given reason to talk about their beliefs, and news outlets paused to talk about LGBT equality. The immediate effect of these cases is marriage equality in California, plus the demise of section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Same-sex marriages are being recognized, and many who refile taxes are getting money back from the government. Binational couples who were being split up because the federal government would not recognize their marriages are no longer facing that threat. Members of the U.S. Armed Forces finally can have their spouses considered part of the family. The effects are still being felt as the Supreme Court's ruling is referenced in cases going forward.

All good, all great, but let’s let Edie Windsor have the last word:

"Not only does a much larger portion of our country, and the straight members of our country, see us differently, as just people who live and love who bring up kids who will play with their kids, but our own community has come out and seen each other and loved each other in a way that makes me courageous and proud and joyous every day."

BRITTNEY GRINER

To feminists and female sports fans, ensuring the health of women's sports is crucial. While male athletes can concentrate on being athletes, women are too often are held to different standards: look like a Victoria's Secret model, but be able to dunk. You can't be butchy, because it gives away the secret that lesbians play sports. You can't be tough, either, so turn down that grunting, Williams sisters.

And then there’s Brittney Griner, the no-nonsense center on the Phoenix Mercury and the WNBA's number one draft pick. Not only was Griner unparalleled in college basketball, but she ended her career at Baylor by coming out in several interviews.

Griner is the lesbian athlete that women's sports needs — unabashedly comfortable with herself, charming, media-beloved, and can dunk like it's nobody's business. Her charm has gotten her an endorsement with Nike, the pinnacle of deals that every athlete on this planet craves. Griner may not have won Rookie of the Year — probably in part to a knee injury that curbed her season a bit — but she was unanimously voted onto the 2013 All-Rookie Team.

Most importantly, though, Griner should be considered the answer to the nagging question, Can a gay athlete come out, be accepted on a team, play magnificently, and still earn endorsements?

LEA SEYDOUX & ADELE EXARCHOPOULOS

The Cannes Film Festival made an unprecedented move this year by awarding the Palme d'Or to not only the director of Blue Is the Warmest Color, a romantic drama based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Julie Maroh, but also to its leading actresses: Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos.

 In the year France achieved marriage equality, the jurors’ recognition of actresses who depict two women passionately in love attracted international attention; Seydoux is 28 and Exarchopoulos, 20, are the only women other than Piano director Jane Campion to ever receive the coveted Palme d'Or. Official accolades are likely to continue, with the Golden Globes nominating Blue is the Warmest Color last week for Best Foreign Film.

Blue has made an indelible mark in cinema history for the raw honesty of love and loss so intimately captured by Seydoux and Exarchopoulos. Queer women in audiences around the world relate to the story of a French teenager and her sexual awakening, which is sparked by the arrival of a blue-haired artist who helps lead her on a journey of self-discovery. 

But thanks to the talents of Exarchopoulos and Seydoux, this tale becomes universal, a love story that is remarkable not because it involves two women, but because it shows two people braving the beautiful and brutal vicissitudes of l’amour.

ANTON KRASOVSKY

As the Russian Parliament considered a ban on gay propaganda, with President Vladimir Putin expected to sign into law, it was already dangerous to talk publicly about being gay. Yet Russian TV anchor Anton Krasovsky dared to challenge what was happening by coming out — live on air.

On January 25, he looked into the camera and told viewers that he is gay and "as human as President Putin" and then said, "It's time; now it's time to be open."

Open, and unemployed; Krasovsky lost his job within hours of coming out, even though he knew it would happen. But he plans to stay in Russia, even though he still doesn’t have a job.

Krasovsky is perhaps the most prominent of LGBT Russians to take a stand, but if what's happened there is to be reversed, Krasovsky is a brave example of what it might take.

JANE DOE, TRANS TEEN IN COLORADO

The fight over equal rights for transgender people is starting with young people. In California, where the Student Success and Opportunity Act to protect trans students in its schools was passed, right-wing groups made the bill a call to action and attempted to gather enough signatures to force a vote that would repeal it. So far, they've failed. In October, when the Pacific Justice Institute — a “Christian” group — set its sights on an innocent transgender teenager in Colorado.

"Jane Doe," a 16-year-old transgender girl at Florence High School, outside Colorado Springs, was first accused of "harassing" fellow female students in the bathroom. The district superintendent and local police confirmed no harassment took place, but PJI amended its claim to say that her mere presence in the bathroom was "inherently harassing." They even produced a video featuring cisgender (nontrans) schoolmates who claimed they'd "suffered" because they were forced to share a bathroom with someone who "doesn't have the same parts as [us]." Then some anti-trans activists published Doe's given name, and she was subjected to vile personal attacks online, some rising to the level of death threats; she was placed on suicide watch.

 Now it appears the Pacific Justice Institute has stepped back its harassment of “Jane Doe” though they have yet to apologize, but with the support of her moms, her school district, and recently reaffirmed Colorado state law on her side, “Jane Doe” is persevering.

"I want to be able to let people know I haven’t done anything to harm any being and I am a human with feelings too.  I just really hope from all of this comes good, and allows more minds to become accepting and open."

JACK ANDRAKA

Most of us take our jobs seriously, but sometimes we put them in perspective by saying, “Well, it’s not like we’re curing cancer.”

Well, this gay science prodigy’s work may actually play a role in curing cancer, by aiding in early detection. At age 15, when most kids are focused on prom dates and video games, Jack Andraka developed a low-cost, sensitive dipstick-type test for quick and early detection of pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancers. And all because of a close family friend’s death from cancer.

“What I found is that 85 percent of all cancers are diagnosed late, when someone has less than a 2 percent chance of survival, and our current method of detection costs $800, misses 30 percent of all cancers and is 60 years old. So then I decided to set out to change all this.”

Again, at fifteen years old. Now 16, Jack attends high school in Glen Burnie, Maryland., does scientific research at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and is dedicated to being a “normal kid” who enjoys sports and socializing — but also to being visible as a gay scientist.

THE BISEXUALS 

You’d be hard-pressed to name a year in American history in which bisexuals were more embraced by the public than 2013 — that despite the fact that many people who we might label bisexual — or who at least participate in bisexual activities or attractions — may prefer not to use that word at all.

Actress Zoe Saldana told Allure magazine that she had been with women, and could end up with a woman, married raising little Saldana babies. 

Prime Suspect star Maria Bello wrote an essay in The New York Times about being in a relationship with another woman.

British Olympic diver Tom Daley posted a YouTube video about being in love with another man.

Former American Idol star Crystal Bowersox released a song of LGBT support, and came out as bisexual.

So did 81-year-old music producer Clive Davis:

"Bisexuality is misunderstood; the adage is that you're either straight or gay or lying, but that's not my experience. To call me anything other than bisexual would be inaccurate."

All these folks are forging a new path where they don’t feel compelled either to identify with the acceptable label, or be forced to “choose” between gay and straight.

PERSON OF THE YEAR: POPE FRANCIS

Via The Advocate:

“The most influential person of 2013 doesn't come from our ongoing legal conflict but instead from our spiritual one — successes from which are harder to define. There has not been any vote cast or ruling issued, and still a significant and unprecedented shift took place this year in how LGBT people are considered by one of the world's largest faith communities.

Pope Francis is leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics all over the world. There are three times as many Catholics in the world than there are citizens in the United States. Like it or not, what he says makes a difference. Sure, we all know Catholics who fudge on the religion's rules about morality. There's a lot of disagreement, about the role of women, about contraception, and more. But none of that should lead us to underestimate any pope's capacity for persuading hearts and minds in opening to LGBT people, and not only in the U.S. but globally.

…

Pope Francis is still not pro-gay by today's standard. He started his term by issuing a joint encyclical in July with Benedict, in which they reiterate that marriage should be a “stable union of man and woman.” It continues, “This union is born of their love, as a sign and presence of God’s own love, and of the acknowledgement and acceptance of the goodness of sexual differentiation.”

As Argentina's archbishop, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio opposed marriage equality's eventual passage there, saying in 2010 that it's a ”destructive attack on God’s plan.” When Bergoglio became pope, GLAAD was quick to point out that he'd once called adoption by same-sex couples a form of discrimination against children.

…

As Pope, he has not yet said the Catholic Church supports civil unions. But what Francis does say about LGBT people has already caused reflection and consternation within his church. The moment that grabbed headlines was during a flight from Brazil to Rome. When asked about gay priests, Pope Francis told reporters, according to a translation from Italian, ‘If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge?’”

Well, I’ll judge.

Has the Pope done some wonderful things? Sure he has. Has he made one single change to the Catholic Church for women or gays? No.

It’s all PR work done to battle the crumbling numbers of the Church; done to shore up their already filled-to-the-Vatican-rafters coffers.

But, if you believe in God, in the hereafter, Pope Francis is right; who is he to judge?

He isn’t; that job falls on the shoulders of God, and I don’t think she thinks Pope Frankie is being quite as pro-LGBT as The Advocate seems to think.

I think The Advocate blew it by not naming Edie Windsor its person of the year. Her agenda was equality; the Pope’s is not. When he makes actual, tangible inroads within the Catholic Church for The Gays, and women, and actively works to protect children from being raped, call me for my vote.

Until then ... just sayin’.