Random Musings

Okay, so y'all know I'm no fan of Mittsy Romney, right? i mean, his campaign, between the gaffes, the lies and the flip-flops, was a blogger heaven. I relished every single Why Mittsy? post, and every The Height Of GOP Stupidity entry, but now?

I'm moving on.

There are a lot of posts about what he said in his concession speech and what he didn't say and how he said it or didn't say it and what he meant. A lot of nit-picking about the how and why he lost.

But not from me.

I'm'a take a page from our newly elected President, and I'm'a move....

Forward.

Well, you knew it would happen. You knew Mama Grizzly Bore™ would snow-shoe over to F**ksNews on election night to stir up her own brand of crazy.

But what you may not have known is what she would look like.

Mall hair, frosted lip gloss.

I couldn’t tell if she was auditioning for the touring company of Broadway’s Xanadu, or starring in a new version of that Fox classic: Married With Homophobic and Unwed pregnant Children.

Or maybe she was channeling her inner meth head.

Either way, could you imagine that as Veep?

Dodged.A.Bullet.

Is it me, or does anyone else think Michael Feinstein, Liza Minnelli and Carol Channing all have the same voice. Think about it—Google them if you have no idea who I’m talking about, though you should slap yourself first.

I want to throw a dinner party and invite these there just to listen to them speak. And to make sure they aren’t the same person.

Lizaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I spent a good deal of time yesterday reveling in the election results, especially the LGBT friendly results all across this country. So, today, I’d like to point out the asshat who, well, got their asses handed to them by the voters:

Tea Party freshman Representative Allen West, who has claimed that there are 80 communists posing as Democrats in the US House, won't have to worry about that a minute longer.

He’s out.

Former Hawaii Governor, Linda Lingle, is also out.

Lingle once compared same-sex marriage to incest, and once, while governor, invited a group of LGBT Hawaiians into her office so she could veto a civil union bill right in front of them, lost her bid to the US Senate.

Snap.

You be the judge:

Carlos and I watched the movie 50/50 the other night, where the absolutely adorkable, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt  plays a young man with cancer. During the film, there was a reference to Terms of Endearment, and later I noticed how much Angelica Huston—who played the mother—looked like MacLaine.

I drove Carlos insane every time Huston appeared onscreen, by pausing the movie and shrieking, “Isn’t that Shirley MacLaine?”

More great news from Election Day:

Alan Grayson, one loudest, smartest, and most progressive members of the US House is back, baby, winning his race in Florida on Tuesday night over his Republican challenger Todd Long.

Grayson was first elected in 2008, but lost in the Tea Party wave of 2010 by 18 points. This time, however, he bested his opponent by 25 points—a 43 point swing—one of the biggest records in history.

Tweets of The Week:

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

Neil Patrick Harris, on falling in love with David Burtka:
"I remember being in my mid-twenties, lying in bed thinking, I’ve never taken a shower with anyone before; I’ve never had any kind of long-term relationship. I remember thinking that the rest of my life would be solo. I wasn’t weepy when I thought that--it was just a realization that I had gone this long being self-sufficient."

I know exactly what he's talking about.
i was single for quite a while before Carlos and i thought that was just how it would be; and I was feeling okay with that.
You just never know what's waiting out there for you, around a corner or across the country.

"Pastor" Ken Hutcherson, on Washington Governor Christine Gregoire:
"She might as well change her name to John Wilkes Booth because what she’s doing now is trying to put a bullet in the head of one of the greatest traditions that has ever existed and has built our society, and that is marriage between one man and one woman."

Wow.
Kenny, you sure can over-reach. Makes me wonder how, as a Black man, you felt when Blacks and Whites couldn't marry, and then marriage was redefined to make that union legal.
Did you spit and fire and brimstone then, or is it just because this is Civil Rights for gay folks that has your granny panties in a bunch?

Jim Bob Duggar, on transgender Girl Scouts: 
"Our family loves Girl Scout cookies and I don't think allowing a boy in the Girl Scouts is a good thing...If they're wanting to create a new scout program where girls and boys would join together, that might be an option. But whether somebody declares they're a boy or girl and can join either one -- it isn't even logical and it goes against the core principles the group was founded on."

Let's just make anyone who doesn't fit the mold of what society deems normal live in their own separate world, eh, Jim Bob?
But, what then might you do if society says a man and woman who have nineteen children, and counting, is different?

Hudson Taylor, on LGBT athletic coaches coming out:

"If college athletics is ever to be free of the obstacles keeping coaches closeted, we must first acknowledge the presence of LGBT coaches among college teams. Currently, the college athletic community devotes little time and few resources to identifying this population and assessing the challenges they face."

And wouldn't it be much easier for gay players to come out of the coaches came out. And easier for the coaches if gay players came out.
It's just easier. No lying or hiding or shame.

Michael Fassbender, on his habit of being nude on screen:
“From the start of my career, I’ve been naked. My first job was a commercial for SAS airlines. In the spot, I wake up in a pink room next to a beautiful blonde girl and get out of bed naked. From that point forward, it’s been in all of my contracts: He must be naked in this film.”

And this is a problem because.......?
I mean, it's true; the man good play nude golf and not need a club.
Just sayin'.

Tricia Erickson, speaking on the Voice Of Christian America radio show about Mormons:
"The political machinery of the priesthood of the Mormon Church is named the Kingdom of God and/or the Government of God, and the goal of the Mormon Church, through the Mormon Kingdom of God, is to bring the United States government, this is true, under the rule of the priesthood, the Mormon priesthood. Mormons believe that they are the only true church, all other religions are false, and their main objective is to be ready when the time comes for the millennial reign by having their leaders ready to rule or already in key places of authority and power. Their ultimate goal is better serve their agenda by being able to rule and govern before the millennium actually takes place and the Mormon Church and its corporate empire, assets and resources will be the chief element in the millennial overthrow of the United States government."

I love when people who call themselves Christians denigrate other religions, and then cry fowl when someone does the same to theirs.
Judge not, Erica.....you moronic tool.

Kate Kendell, head of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, speaking to Karen "Missus Frothy Mix" Santorum: 
"Karen, we need to talk. And by that, I mean that I need to talk and you need to listen. You love your husband--I get that. You love your faith--fine by me. But when you pretend that hate is love, that lies are truth, and that victims are oppressors, you have become insane. Your husband believes that LGBT people cannot be trusted to serve in the military, raise children, form stable relationships or be fully respected under the law. According to you, Rick may love us, but honey, his love is killing us, and we want nothing to do with this abusive relationship. Our community has endured expulsion from family, mass firings, daily epithets, assaults, harassment, humiliation, death, and suicides. We know that if your husband becomes president of our country our long suffering will only deepen and magnify. [snip] You and Rick are the haters. My community is the victim, and anyone paying attention knows the truth."

Thanks Kate for making it very clear when religious folks trot out the 'Love the sinner, hate the sin' rhetoric, they actually mean, Hate the sin, hate the sinner.'
So, effing-Christlike.

Dan Savage, on Newt and The Open Marriage:

Calista never wavered from the path of deceit and betrayal. Newt Gingrich was making an implicit promise to socially conservative voters: He did not ask his most recent ex-wife for an open marriage, and he will not ask any of his future ex-wives for an open marriage."

It was kind of sadly sick and twisted that Newt stated emphatically that he never asked for an open marriage while he was fucking the help, er, aide.
This just means that he wanted to fuck the help, and keep the wife, until she got sick, and then he divorced her and married the help.

Chris Christie, on Newt The Cheater:
"We all know the record. He was run out of the speakership of his own party, he was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. This is a guy who’s had a very difficult political career at times and has been an embarrassment to the party. The fact of the matter is I don’t need to regale the country with that entire list again except to say this. I’m not saying he will do it again in the future, but sometimes past is prologue."

Newt can atone for his marital sins, and pronounce himself forgiven. Good for him, he buys it. I don't. Once a lying hypocrite, always a lying hypocrite.
But he can never explain away his political past, and, well, history does repeat.

Cynthia Nixon, on choosing to be gay:
“I gave a speech recently, an empowerment speech to a gay audience, and it included the line ‘I’ve been straight and I’ve been gay, and gay is better.’ And they tried to get me to change it, because they said it implies that homosexuality can be a choice. And for me, it is a choice. I understand that for many people it’s not, but for me it’s a choice, and you don’t get to define my gayness for me. A certain section of our community is very concerned that it not be seen as a choice, because if it’s a choice, then we could opt out. I say it doesn’t matter if we flew here or we swam here, it matters that we are here and we are one group and let us stop trying to make a litmus test for who is considered gay and who is not. As you can tell, I am very annoyed about this issue. Why can’t it be a choice? Why is that any less legitimate? It seems we’re just ceding this point to bigots who are demanding it, and I don’t think that they should define the terms of the debate. I also feel like people think I was walking around in a cloud and didn’t realize I was gay, which I find really offensive. I find it offensive to me, but I also find it offensive to all the men I’ve been out with.”

Let me set you queer, Cyn.
A woman who was attracted to men and had sexual relations with men, and then finds herself attracted to women and having sexual relations with women, is, in fact, gay. And, narrowed down, bisexual.
I know you said you don't like the word bisexual, but you are. There's a 'B' in LGBT for a reason. And you do a great disservice to those of us who know being gay is not a choice, when you say you chose it. You were born bisexual, you didn't choose bisexual, but, beaing bisexual, you can choose which sex to whom you are attracted; I, as a gay man, cannot.

Mittsy Romney, on Newt:

“Speaker Gingrich has also been a leader,. He was a leader for four years as speaker of the House. And at the end of four years, it was proven that he was a failed leader and he had to resign in disgrace. I don’t know whether you knew that, he actually resigned after four years, in disgrace. He was investigated over an ethics panel and had to make a payment associated with that and then his fellow Republicans, 88 percent of his Republicans voted to reprimand Speaker Gingrich. He has not had a record of successful leadership.”

Which makes him only a hair bit worse as a GOP candidate for president than the flip-flopping out of touch, dog abuser, that you are, Mittsy.
But thanks for sharing.

Martin O'Malley, on his Maryland marriage equality bill:

"We have done our very best in the drafting of this bill to make very, very, very explicit the protections of religious liberty as well as the protection of rights equally under the law, and it’s my hope that that will not only allow more support in the House of Delegates but, as importantly, I hope it will allow more people throughout our state to be able to support this bill,. One does not have to be an advocate for same-sex marriage in order to support equal rights under the law.”

It's equality.
It's law.
It does not, and should not, affect churches.
Separation of church and state, people. The church can't tell the government what to do--or they shouldn't--and the government cannot do the same to churches.
Can't have it any other way.

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

Karl Rove, on Mama Grizzly Bore's presidential candidacy:

"I don't think she thinks the rules apply to her. She doesn't need to have the traditional trappings of a presidential campaign, no finance committee, she can raise the money, she doesn't need to go shake a lot of hands in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina. She gets to decide what the rules are that govern her campaign and go accordingly and politics is changing. Some people have done things that have been outside the norm of custom and have won."

She doesn't follow the rules because her self-involved, self-important- out-of-control narcissism, thinks rules apply to everyone but her.
That isn't event PTA presidential, much less United States presidential.
And once she realizes that she'll not be pulling in that exorbitant income from the mindless drones who buy her books and her agenda, she'll go back to being another ignorant loudmouth in a sea of ignorant loudmouths, like Karl Rove, on FOX News.

Wrestler and straight LGBT-ally, Hudson Taylor, on gender roles:

"My concept of gender identity is based around the assumption that gender is performative. As a wrestler and coach I grew up being taught that as a heterosexual athlete I had to act, dress, and live according to a very strict masculine gender script. It wasn't until my interest in the arts that I began to understand that gender didn't have to be so binary after all. It has been that realization that has allowed me to be truer to myself and remains a major reason why I try to challenge heterosexism and homophobia."

See, a penis doesn't make you a man, it makes you male. And male doesn't have to be macho and straight, it can be artistic and straight, macho and gay, artistic and gay.
It's nice that someone like Hudson, who understands gender, and it's fluidity, is able to speak up, to show all people, gay and straight, that gender isn't a sex organ.

Georgia State Representative Rashad Taylor, coming out as a gay man:

"Although this is not the time or the way that I wanted to come out, I feel actually very lucky, thanks to all the support that I've received from those people who are closest to me...As a black man, it can be a struggle to find acceptance within the community and at times with myself as well. But I'm proud of the man my mother has raised, and I make no apologies for who I am. There may be those who want to paint those in political terms. They'll say that this is a political liability to me. To me it's actually a gift form God.Through his grace and examples of thousands of members of the LGBT community who have come out often to great personal and professional risk, I have been blessed. It's your bravery and example that makes it possible for me to publicly and say to you, 'this is who I am and I have nothing to be ashamed of.'"

It seems that Taylor was forced into coming out because of an email that was circulating through the Georgia state house, written by his boyfriend's ex-boyfriend.
Yet, while he was forced out, he has openly embraced being an openly gay man. Now, he can be his true self, and in doing so, can be a better public servant.
Plus, there;s that whole Coming Out Toaster Oven, and copy of The Gay Agenda. It's nice to get gifts.

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, on marriage equality:

"In talking to state legislators who do not yet support marriage equality, I can sense that many of them are searching their souls for answers – and they are torn. Like all of us, they have friends and family and colleagues who are gay and lesbian. They know gay and lesbian couples who are deeply in love with each other – many of whom are loving and devoted parents, too. They know those couples yearn to be seen and treated as equal to all other couples. And they often hear from their own families – especially their children – that this is a civil rights issue. I hope they listen to their kids carefully and make them proud with their foresight and courage."

Nice sentiment. And it is true that the more gay men and women, and transgendered men and women, who come out, the less fear and ignorance and intolerance there will be.
But, is Bloomberg being honest? Is he doing all he can for marriage equality?
Read on........

Andy, Humm, Gay City News reporter, on Michael Bloomberg's speech:

"Bloomberg's speech today amounted to hollow words. He is the sole reason that Republicans are in the majority in the NYS Senate as he has propped them up literally with MILLIONS of dollars in just the last several years. And he has repeatedly said that he will NOT stop donating to Senators who oppose marriage equality--who also happen to be the ones who oppose GENDA, the AIDS bills we need, and virtually everything else of a progressive nature. Let Bloomberg put his money where his mouth is: Stop funding bigots. It is sickening to watch the gay establishment and average gay people fawn over him like some kind of hero when he is in fact the main reason we don't have marriage equality in New York."

Seems to me that there are two Michael Bloombergs.
One who wants marriage equality, and one who funds politicians against marriage equality.
Hopefully the Bloomberg who speaks in a pro-LGBT voice, will win out over the other one.
Senator Al Franken, on Minnesota's anti-gay marriage amendment:

“Every Minnesotan deserves dignity and equal treatment under the law, and our state’s same-sex couples should have the same right to marry as anyone else — period. This amendment would do nothing more than write discrimination into our state’s constitution and add to the barriers same-sex couples already face to the full recognition of their families. I’m hopeful that common sense and compassion will prevail and that this amendment will be defeated.”

Seriously.
Who ever thought that Stuart Smalley would become a US Senator? And then be able to speak so eloquently about this civil rights issue?
But he understands that LGBT are good enough, smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like us.
And we should have full equality in the united states.

Courtney Love, on Lady Gaga:

"She may be doing fine at the moment, but I'm worried about her future. She's very young, and she's very talented, but she doesn't seem to have any female friends. Or any straight guy friends for that matter. Instead, she surrounds herself with this coterie of gay stylists and advisors who've turned her into this weird, sexless Barbie doll... If she doesn't watch out she'll turn into a lonely drag queen."
 
You gotta love someone who surrounds herself with addicts and losers telling someone else how to live their life and run their career.
I wonder if Gaga had a lot of female friends and straight male friends if she'd be more like Madonna or more like Courtney?

Hudson Taylor: The Future Is Now

Hudson Taylor is a wrestler for the University of Maryland. He's ranked 3rd in the nation in his weight class. He wants to be a lawyer, and maybe run for office, but he isn't your basic, run of the mill athlete.

He is a openly straight ally of the LGBT community. He used to wear an HRC [Human Rights Campaign] sticker on his headgear when he wrestled--though he stopped when that became more of a topic than his athletic prowess--and he is an outspoken proponent of both LGBT and feminist rights.

"For me and my generation, [LGBT rights] is a pressing issue. I believe that whatever history I'm a part of, I'm responsible for. If I feel something is unjust or unequal, I feel a responsibility to do something about it."

And he isn't just talk, planning his spin for a possible political office run down the line. At twenty-three, he is a monthly donor to the HRC, and he works passionately to counteract the aura of homophobia that pervades sports by talking about gay rights in interviews and discussing the issues important to the LGBT community with teammates, despite the discomfort it might bring.

"It's tough being a college athlete. Guys like to bring each other down and use hurtful words. But I think you need to be conscious of your thoughts, words and actions."

While there aren't many sports that are "gay tolerant"--a look at the recent Olympics and the topic of Johnny Weir versus Evan Lysacek is a prime example--wrestling, and wrestlers face even more stigma. With the outfits wrestlers wear, and the opponents grabbing each other, it can seem very homoerotic to some. Taylor says this often leads some wrestlers, and other athletes, to feel the need to "reaffirm to others their quote, unquote, ‘masculinity,' and to show and strut their bravado." Hudson Taylor loves his teammates, but he isn't afraid to speak up when he hears one of them utter anything that might demean the gay community.

"A common way to degrade a teammate is to call them a ‘fag. This is not unique to wrestling, but a common discourse for many male sports teams. It's important to address it publicly and say something in front of the team."

His passion for gay rights doesn't come from having gay friends and witnessing the difficulty with which they must navigate through every day life; he just knows that discrimination, against anyone is wrong. The two maids of honor for his upcoming wedding to Lia Alexandra Mandaglio are lesbians, but he doesn't have a close gay male friend, and doesn't know of any college wrestlers who are gay. He, however, has been as gay on an Internet discussion forum for his pro-LGBT views.

Taylor Hudson is the future of the LGBT community, when our leaders don't necessarily need to be L, G, B or T, but simply human, and capable of understanding that no one is equal until we are all equal. i look forward to hearing more about Taylor Hudson and what he can do, and will do, as a pro-LGBT, feminist, lawyer, politician, artist, speaker. Human.

To read more about Taylor Hudson, and he really is quite interesting, go HERE