I Didn't Say It ...

Hillary Clinton, on whether or not _____ is a racist:

“I think he has thrown his lot in with many people and groups whose stated objection is white nationalism, white supremacy, how could you explain what he did and why after Charlottesville? … He has been racist, he’s been sexist, he’s been Islamophobic, he has been anti-LGBTQ, I mean, there’s a long list. He has a view of America that is incredibly constricted. And he talks to that America. He talks to them all the time.”

Which is why the rest of America needs to stand up and vote, and vote Blue and votewoemn and people of color and LGBTQ Americans.

Send.That.Message.

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Kellyanne Conway, _____’s Minister of Propaganda, has said she, too, is a victim of sexual assault:

"I feel very empathetic, frankly, for victims of sexual assault and sexual harassment and rape. I'm a victim of sexual assault. I don't expect Judge Kavanaugh or Jake Tapper or Jeff Flake or anybody to be held responsible for that. You have to be responsible for your own conduct.”

A victim of sexual assault is saying that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is responsible for her own conduct of being taken into a room and held down against her will while a drunken frat boy tried to rape her.

Take a seat Kelly, you’re an embarrassment to women.

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Jake Tapper, on _____ mocking Dr. Christine Blasey Ford for reporting a sexual assault and taking on Senator John Cornyn who said such comments are not “useful”:

“We don’t know if President _____ thinks it’s useful to ridicule a woman claiming she was sexually assaulted or if he just did it ’cause he thought it was fun. But let’s take a moment to reflect that the President of the United States believes it’s appropriate. There appears to be no bottom.”

He just goes lower and lower. That’ll be his legacy ... President Pig.

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_____, in response to a question about Brett Kavanaugh’s drinking habits, said he had “compromising” info on a Democratic senator and then claimed to be a teetotaler:

“I happen to know some United States senators. One who is on the other side, who’s pretty aggressive. I’ve seen that person in very bad situations. Okay? I’ve seen that person in very bad situations. Somewhat compromising. And I think it’s very unfair to bring up things like this. I was surprised how vocal [Kavanaugh] was about the fact that he likes beer, and he’s had a little bit of difficulty, I mean he talked about things that happened when he drinks. This is not a man that said that he was perfect with respect to alcohol…I’m not a drinker. I can honestly say I never had a beer in my life. It’s one of my only good traits. I don’t drink. I never had a glass of alcohol. I never had alcohol. For whatever reason. Can you imagine if I had? What a mess I’d be. I would be the world’s worst. I never drank. I never drank.”

First off, this is just another time he’s claimed to ‘know’ something but then not divulging it which proves he’s lying.

And, while it may be true that he doesn’t drink alcohol, his constant sniffing suggests another habit.

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Eric Reid, who gained notoriety when he became the first player to join then-teammate Colin Kaepernick in taking a knee during the national anthem, signed with the Carolina Panthers, and spoke about the movement at his first press conference:

“Next year will be 2019. It will mark 400 years since the first slaves touched the soil of this country. That’s 400 years of systemic oppression. That’s slavery, Jim Crow, new Jim Crow, mass incarceration, you name it. The Great Depression—they come out with the New Deal, and black people didn’t have access to those government stimulus packages. The New Deal set up what is known as the modern-day middle class. We didn’t have access to those programs, the GI Bill, social security, home loans, none of that. So this has been happening since my people have gotten here. And so, I just felt the need to say something about it.”

Take a knee. Take a stand.

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Anthony Kennedy, former Supreme Court Justice whose retirement created the vacancy for Kavanaugh, on maintaining civil discourse:

“Perhaps we didn’t do too good a job teaching the importance of preserving democracy by an enlightened civic discourse. In the first part of this century we’re seeing the death and decline of democracy.”

Perhaps had you not been forced out we wouldn’t be in this mess right now.

So, thanks, but take a seat.

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Jimmy Kimmel, ripping Junior a new one over his disbelief that Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford has a fear of flying … Junior Tweeted: “I’m no psychology professor but it does seem weird to me that someone could have a selective fear of flying. Can’t do it to testify but for vacation, well it’s not a problem at all”:

“I agree, you’re not a psychology professor. You are a dull-witted human canker sore who shoots baby hippos out of daddy’s helicopter because it’s the only way you can get an erection. Do us a favor, put the Twitter aside. Go rub a tub of Axe extreme-hold hair gel on your empty head, you chinless son of a circus peanut. Could there be a dumber thing to be than Donald _____ Jr.?”

I think that sums it up.

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Greg Abbott, Republican Governor of Texas, called Senate candidate, and Democrat, Beto O’Rourke as “cult-like” in the way that he’s garnered attention in his bid to unseat Ted Cruz:

“He’s been a cult-like, very popular figure the way that he’s run the campaign, but you don’t vote on cult, you don’t vote on personality when you get to the U.S. Senate. You vote on the issues. Texans are hostile to any candidate who’s talking about raising their taxes. Texans are hostile to anybody talking about big government programs run their lives.”

Huh. Tell that to the 55,000 Texans who came to see Beto the other night, compared to the hundreds who show up for Cruz.

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Naomi Campbell, on the Cardi B and Nicki Minaj shoe-hurling mess at the Harper’s Bazaar ICONS party:

“It was called an Icon Party but there were no icons there. And I’m going to say it because I told it to Carine Roitfeld to her face. I don’t think it’s something I can’t say. But Kate and I were at home on the couch watching TV. But I was disappointed. I don’t want to see women of color fight. I don’t want to see women fight period. So not there, not that. It’s all music. There’s no division of music and music is for everyone. There’s no discrimination. So I felt very disappointed.”

I love Naomi Campbell but …

In 1998 Campbell beat her assistant Georgina Galanis about the face and neck with a phone and also threatened to throw her out of a moving car.

In 2005 then-assistant Amanda Brack accused Campbell of assaulting her with a BlackBerry mobile phone. Also in 2005, Naomi beat up her longtime friend, actress Yvonne Scio, because she was wearing too similar a dress to the one worn by Campbell.

In 2006 Naomi was arrested for wreaking havoc on a boat. Again in 2006 Naomi was arrested for hitting her housekeeper with a cellphone.

That said, I’ll be going into hiding now, because I think Naomi knows where I live.

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Tuesday Thought #1

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’. 

Gay Dad Wants To Dine With Supreme Court Justice

I'm a huge proponent of Coming Out. I think all LGBT people should Come Out ... Right now. See, once we're out, there is no more fear; people will begin to realize that gay folks are pretty much like straight folks, except in terms of who we love. And fear, as we all know, is at the root of intolerance and bigotry and homophobia, and even hate; fear of the unknown.

So, it seems pretty clear that if we are all 'known' there will be less fear, and one man has a novel way to make certain someone's less fearful, and make himself more known.

Rob Watson, a gay dad, an LGBT activist and blogger, wants to become known to Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, and he wants to do it in the best way possible: he's invited Kennedy to his home for dinner:

Dear Justice Kennedy: 

This is an invitation to dinner. I thought that would be the best way for you to decide how to vote on whether my family deserves the equal protections that other people's families enjoy. 

If you come, you will meet my 10-year-old sons, who will likely impress you, given how personable, articulate, polite and bright they are. You might ask, as many people we meet do, if they are twins. The answer will be, "They are 'almost-twins': Their birthdays are four months apart." That will bring a "huh, come again?" look, and I will explain how I adopted them as babies from different drug-addicted birth mothers through foster care. 

Many of the amicus briefs you've seen in these cases suggest that other families deserve legal protection over mine because those families were created more spontaneously or accidentally than the family of someone who went out to help children and save them from real danger. ("Marriage is ... inextricably linked to the objective biological fact that opposite-sex couples, and only such couples, are capable of creating new life together," says Dennis Hollinsworth.) I would just ask you to meet my sons, look them in they eyes and see their smiles before you decide whether the "procreation advantage" briefs are correct. 

If you were to come to dinner with my family, you would also meet Jim. He is the man in my life. It wasn't until our relationship became serious that he met my sons, and now he has taken up running a lot of the day-to-day needs of my family and has been an incredible support. He and the boys have already established a terrific bond. You will be able to see by the way I look at him, and by the way my sons look at him, that we love him. Deeply. 

Jim had a business life before he met me, as I did before meeting him. You and I can chat about how complicated blending all that can be, and what a terrific hardship it would be to each of us should the other die. Where opposite-gender couples have legal protections, we do not, and our attempt at blending our finances would fall apart, our pensions would be lost, and enormous taxes would be imposed on us. This would be the scenario even if our state allowed us to legally marry each other. If any of our biological next of kin were to interfere, then things could go badly very quickly. 

Some have told you that we gays are politically powerful. Paul Clement claims, "Gays and lesbians are one of the most influential, best-connected, best-funded, and best-organized interest groups in modern politics, and have attained more legislative victories, political power, and popular favor in less time than virtually any other group in American history." Around our dinner table we can discuss how it sure does not feel that way. On the sideboard you will see pictures of dear friends of mine who passed away from AIDS, a disease that ran rampant for years because, at the time, it was not politically defensible for the president of the United States -- the one who appointed you -- to say its name. We can try to name another health crisis in history that received such a lack of immediate action, but I don't think we will come up with one. 

We can also talk about my relationship with Jim, and how, before I met him, millions of strangers voted for me not to be able to marry him. Neither of us has yet brought up marriage, but you will see by looking at us that one of us probably will want to bring it up in the near future. We are happy and love each other that much. However, even if one of us were to propose, he would need to ask millions of people for permission to marry his love. Somehow that does not make us or my kids feel particularly "politically powerful." 

Republicans from the House of Representatives have asked you not to decide on the same-sex marriage issue as "a matter of sound social and political policy while the American people are so actively engaged in working through this issue for themselves." As I look across the table at the man I love, I would ask you to in fact decide on it so that he and I can work on our lives and our feelings for ourselves. 

If you come to dinner, we can chat about how you also started in California and whether you are liking your home in McLean, Va. I would tell you how I envy you. You see, even if Jim and I were allowed to marry in California, we could not move to Virginia as you and your wife have done, because the legal protections we'd have in California would fly out the window, and without them our family arrangements would unravel. Even if we could marry in California, we would be under statewide house arrest, essentially. We do hope that you are enjoying your freedom to move from state to state and continue to be considered married wherever you happen to live. 

We will probably then verify your taste in food and beverage, so that we can make any necessary last-minute changes in the serving of the meal. It is interesting how deeply ingrained our tastes are, in terms of what we are drawn to eat, what we desire and what our systems can tolerate. Those do not seem to be learned but something we were born with. Some people have tried to tell you that being gay is just an expression of chosen taste and behavior. "What lower courts have understood to be a homosexual 'orientation' is not a trait attributable from conception or birth. Rather, particularly as framed by Respondents here, it involves a species of conduct," states the Catholic Church in their brief. You will see me furrow my brow at such a suggestion, because every credible biologist states that sexual orientation is biologically based, as it is in most species of animals. I will also mutter under my breath, "Gee, I don't recall scientists declaring the discovery of the gene that makes one Catholic. Yet these bishops are crying that a pro-gay decision would impede on their religious freedom. If they have rights protecting their chosen religion, I should have rights protecting my innate nature." 

You may hear my comment, and that will enhance our conversation as we serve the ham. As I cut the boys' meat and try to convince Jesse that he does actually like it but just forgot, I will mention that I am glad that you did not require a kosher meal. Some of our friends do, and serving ham to them would be a faux pas. Eating ham is a sin, according to their religious beliefs. However, they do not seem to feel a need to turn their personal belief into a federal law that would require everyone to avoid ham, nor do they think that because people eat ham, society as we know it is coming to an end.

I hope that over dessert, you will just sit back and take us all in. We are not perfect, but we are a family. We love and plan and live just like any other family. Jim and I do not want anything special; we just want what we have worked for our entire lives to go to the benefit of each other and our loved ones. We do not consider ourselves better because of how we came together, but we also do not consider ourselves any worse. You will see that my kids have been raised with standards just like kids in other families have, and with manners, and that they too have bedtimes that we hit like clockwork.

With that, we would get your things, and I would walk you out to your car. I would look at you and say, "Thank you, Justice Kennedy, for coming. We were honored to have you. We know that the future of our family rests in your hands. You have the power to make it devastatingly difficult. You can make it confusing and convoluted. Or you can do the right thing. Please, Justice Kennedy, please, please, do the right thing.

Be a rock star.

Sincerely,
Rob Watson

Like I said, once we're known, it becomes clear that we are so frightening; fabulous, maybe, but not scary at all.

We just want the same things that heterosexual people have been having for years: peace, love and understanding.

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