Stories of Pride: I Didn't Say It ...

Pete Buttigieg, Democratic candidate for president, saying that being gay is just one part of who he is:

“I am proud of who I am. I’m certainly very proud of my marriage and my husband. We don’t shy away from that. It’s also not the only thing that defines me. I’m here to be a president for everyone. Talking about my experience is an important part of that. But it’s especially important because it can help me relate to people who have a different experience than what I went through. All these things fit together.I think some people have an image of what a gay person or an LGBTQ activist is supposed to look like. And I think if you’ve met one gay person, you’ve met one gay person. We have different styles and different approaches. But what I try to do is just be who I am … I don’t know who else to be.”

My thoughts exactly.

I don’t call myself a ‘gay man’ but a ‘man who is gay,’ because I am more than just my sexual orientation, and when we limit ourselves to one thing, that’s all we’ll ever be.

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Anderson Cooper, speaking of his mother, fashion icon Gloria Vanderbilt, who passed away this week:

“The last few weeks, every time I’d kiss her good-bye, I’d say ‘I love you mom.’ She would look at me and say, ‘I love you too. You know that.’ And she was right. I did know that. I knew it from the moment I was born and I’ll know it for the rest of my life. And in the end, what greater gift can a mother give to her son? Gloria Vanderbilt was an extraordinary woman who loved life and lived it on her own terms. She spent a lot of time alone in her head during her life, but when the end came she was not alone. She was surrounded by beauty and by family and by friends….What an extraordinary life. What an extraordinary mom. What an incredible woman.”

“I’ll know it for the rest of my life.”

What a gift from mother to son, and back again.

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Ricky Martin, in a letter to Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló, asking him to axe an anti-LGBTQ “religious freedom” bill:

“As a member of the LGBTT  [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transvestite, Transsexual] community, I join the constituency that affirms that there has never been a willingness among our LGBTT people to allow for the validation or legalization of discrimination against us. House Bill 2069, filed at the request of Governor Ricardo Rosselló and promoted by Representative Charbonier, achieve nothing more than opening the doors to hatred towards anyone who doesn’t share the same ideology, who simply belong to the LGBTT community, or who don’t  have the same color skin, amidst many other discriminatory measures. Authentic religious freedom calls for respecting everyone equally. As a defender of human rights and a member of the LGBTT community, I am vehemently opposed to the proposed measure imposed upon us under the guise of religious freedom, which degrades us as a society and projects us to the world as a backwards country, unwilling to honor the basic constitutional right of individuality. This movement is not representative of the Puerto Rico that we all love, defend and hold so dear. We call on the Senate, the House and Governor Ricardo Rosselló to reject this effort, which is an open door to hatred and discrimination.”

And a letter works. After receiving Martin’s letter Governor Rosselló asked lawmakers to shelve the bill.

There is power in our voices.

The march goes on …

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Halsey, performing in a t-shirt paying tribute to Melania and Chris, the lesbian couple attacked on a London bus last week, blasting the so-called ‘Straight Pride’ movement:

“The sad reality is, after the Pride parades are over and after the bars close their Pride nights, when the glitter is being swept out of the streets, a lot of people get on those trains and they get on those buses and they try to wash the rainbows off their bodies. They peel the stickers off their clothes, because when Pride is over, it’s not safe to be gay anymore, because they are worried that someone is going to viciously assault them or viciously attack them. So, when the people around the world ask the question, ‘Why isn’t there a ‘Straight Pride’ parade?’ The answer because if there was one, you wouldn’t have to get on the bus and be terrified of getting f**king beaten or killed afterwards. That’s why there’s not a ‘Straight Pride’ parade. Because every f**king day on public transport is a ‘Straight Pride’ parade.”

Truth.

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Tyler Blackburn, Pretty Little Liars and Roswell, New Mexico actor, who came out as bisexual earlier this year, revealing he’s dating “an amazing guy” in an interview with Playboy:

“As I got older, I realized good sex is when you really have something between the two of you. It’s not just a body. The more I’ve realized that, the more able I am to be settled in my sexuality. I’m freer in my sexuality now. I’m very sexual; it’s a beautiful aspect of life. Once I decided to date men, I was like, Please just let me be gay and be okay with that, because it would be a lot fucking easier. At times, bisexuality feels like a big gray zone. I’ve had to check myself and say, I know how I felt when I was in love with women and when I slept with women. That was true and real. Don’t discredit that, because you’re feeding into what other people think about bisexuality.”

Sometimes we—and I’m also guilty of this—joke and downplay people who identify as bisexual. But if we cannot accept our own, how  can we ask anyone to accept them, or us, either.

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Judith Light, receiving the Isabelle Stevenson Award at the Tony Awards earlier this month:

“The HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ communities are inspirations and demonstrations of how to be and live in the world; courageous, honorable, and uplifting. They inspire me and it is my privilege to be of service to them. I am humbled by this recognition from my theater family, whom I so respect, honor, and love.”

We can do all we want for ourselves; speak up, act up. But it helps to have an ally like Judith Light who has stood with us, marched with us, spoken with us, and for us, for decades.

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It's Snarkurday!

The E! channel; what a mess.

Less than a week ago, Suzie Hardy went public with her claim that Ryan Seacrest Harvey Weinstein’d—yes, it’s a verb now—her over the course of several years while she worked for him. Seacrest denied it and his lawyers claim Hardy is in it for the extortion coins, but … she never asked for money, and she first went to Seacrest’s bosses at E! to handle it quietly. She only made her story public when E! covered Seacrest’s ass.

Well, this led to a series of “crisis meetings” between Seacrest and E! on how to handle the E! Oscar Red Carpet show, and this is how they’ll work it out. Rob Silverstein, executive producer of the syndicated entertainment-news show “Access” will prep his hosts Scott Evans and Kit Hoover to ask the celebrities about the #MeToo movement and the politics surrounding it …

“And then, we will ask them whether or not they will talk to Ryan Seacrest.”

So, basically E! is still covering Ryan’s ass and not letting celebrities who have issues with men like Seacrest to speak to him?

But this is how E! rolls; remember one of their hosts, Catt Sadler, quit the network after they refused to pay her as much, or commensurate to, Jason Kennedy, so covering Seacrest’s ass.

And then this… Aileen Gram Moreno, veteran female producer on E!’s red carpet programming, claims she was fired after she “allowed” celebrities like Debra Messing, Eva Longoria and others to trash E! on the Golden Globes red carpet show about the Catt Sadler situation.

E! If you’re a woman, you’re paid less; if you’re a man, rub your little dick on a woman and stand on the red carpet.

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Looks like Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott are angling for a new realty show: Tori and Dean: Domestically Violent.

See, police were called twice to Tori and Dean’s house last week for two domestic incidents within 24 hours.

The first involved Tori mistaking Dean for a burglar as he came home late one night; so, she called the police. The second incident was just a few hours later but it seems that Tori had some kind of a “mental breakdown” as Dean told 911; it was later classified as a domestic violence incident and Tori was not arrested and, according to police, “didn’t meet the criteria to be held for mental evaluation.”

So, Dean came home late and Tori called police saying he was a thief in her house, and hours later Dean calls police to say his wife was very aggressive and going through some sort of mental breakdown.

I smell a reality show.

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Well, as it turns out, the Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux splitting story was a blip on the news cycle; oh, don’t get me wrong, they split, but it was news for a day and then it was fish wrap. So, how do the tabloids keep this story alive since people don’t really care about Poor Jen, Alone Again stories?

Dog custody. Yup; it seems like the once ALLEGEDLY happy couple are mostly fighting about their dogs and who gets them and when. Between them, the exes have four dogs: Dolly, a white shepherd mix, Clyde, a terrier, and Sophie, a pit bull mix, in LA, and Justin’s pit bull he keeps in NYC.

A source—and it’s probably Courtney Cox because what else has she got going on—says:

“They’ve always referred to them as their children, and it looks like Jen will keep the LA dogs with her and Justin will keep the pit bull in NYC. But it was the biggest bone of contention in the split. They’ve made an arrangement for visitation.”

Seriously. Dog custody is news?

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Lotsa folks think NBC is quietly erasing part of their deal with Megyn Kelly; the part that deals with her having a Sunday prime-time NBC News show.

Since her morning show is such a bust, it’s safe to assume America doesn’t wanna see her at night, so NBC will air Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly “periodically” this spring and summer. Meaning you probably won’t see it at all. Last summer, the news magazine was scheduled for a 10-week run but scrapped after a sharp drop in the ratings.

Poor NBC, they shelled out big bucks for Kelly and she’s barely worth nickels for the dollars they spent, and then add in the Matt Lauer mess and they are bleeding coins.

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This is a cute story … Gus Kenworthy and his boyfriend Matthew Wilkas went to an Oscar event and ran into Ricky Martin—hot again thanks to American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace—and his husband, Jwan Yosef. The four chatted a bit and then were separated in the crowds so Gus took out a Craigslist ‘Missed Connection’ ad that went like this:

“Living La Vida Lonely - m4m (LA, California)

Us: We were wearing black Ralph Lauren tuxedos, mine had little cowboys on it. You: You were also both wearing tuxedos because... well, because it was the Oscar's and everybody does. You and your husband stood out though. Partly because you're both gorgeous but also because you're literally @ricky_martin & @jwanyosef. The four of us chatted and laughed but then, sadly, got separated in the chaos of the Oscar's. My bf and I searched for you both for the rest of the night but never found you again. In town for a week. Let's connect."

And then this week, when Ricky Martin was on The Talk, Julie Chen read Gus’ ad to Ricky, who seemed more than willing to hook-up meet:

“Of course we’re going to connect! I mean, he’s a national hero. Give me a break. Are we flattered? Yes, we’re flattered.”

And then Gus Tweeted:

*clears schedule for the rest of the week*

I think Ricky’s getting the better deal; Gus is totally adorable and so it his boyfriend.

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The divorce is final, so what can Mel B do to keep herself in the news now?

Fight over visitation rights … Mel B claims her ex-husband Stephen Belafonte showed her three daughters—Phoenix, her daughter with Jimmy Gulzar; Angel, her daughter with Eddie Murphy; and Madison, their daughter—videos of ISIS beheading individuals:

“When I was not present, Stephen thought it was funny or educational (I still do not know) to play videos of ISIS beheading individuals. This was entirely inappropriate for such young girls, who do not understand what is happening in the videos. Angel has repeatedly told me about these videos and that she was scared and frightened that Stephen would expose her to such gruesome images.”

Mel wants to end Stephen’s visitation with Angel and says he has ALLEGEDLY been trying to get in touch with her by slipping his phone number into a teddy bear he told Madison to give to her. But, he ALLEGEDLY wants no contact with Phoenix, who says he played a video of ISIS beheading men during her 16th birthday trip. Phoenix said in a declaration:

“I never bonded with Stephen because he would call me names such as: ‘retarded’ and ‘stupid.’ He would do things which upset me … He would be very aggressive with Angel and Maddie if they broke the ‘rules,’ like talking when he was on the phone. He would just yell really up close to them.”

Okay, I get it, but why does Belafonte get any visitation with two of the kids who aren’t even his? And why does Mel B always pick jerks to get her pregnant?

Back in the day, when she says Eddie Murphy knocked her up, he refused to recognize Angel as his own until there was a paternity test; and even after, Eddie was not much of a father, so Stephen took over. Now, however, Eddie is all #TeamMel in stopping Belafonte form seeing his daughter.

Like I said, Mel B’s life is, and was, and probably will always be, a mess.

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Oh, Beyoncé and Jay-Z are fun, right?

It seems they hosted an Oscar party and shockingly didn’t try to cash in on it even though they are all about the coins. But, no, but they decided to mess with their guest’s heads by keeping the details weird and vague.

A source—and it Beyoncé, let’s be clear—says the Carters “wanted to mind-fuck everyone and keep everything mysterious and exclusive” about their party, which was held in the garage …the garage … of the Chateau Marmont in L.A.

Close friends didn’t know ahead of time if they were even invited, but once they knew they were going to a party, Bey and Jay made their arrival difficult as hell. Guests were sent up a hill past the hotel, through the kitchen and down a back entrance to the garage. There were no photographers and no red carpet … nobody mentioned Beyoncé or Jay-Z by name, but instead referred to them as simply “the host and hostess.” There was no performance by either Carter, the group of 200 guests simply mingled and relaxed with no press.

Really? We’re to believe Beyoncé and Jay-Z held a party, kept their names out of it, and didn’t take the stage and pass the hat?

Apparently, they enjoyed their secret party so much they wanna do it again next year, clearly unaware that once you announce you’re gonna do another secret party it’s really no longer a secret.

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You knew Barbra Streisand would be pissed about the dog cloning story, right? Well, there’s that, too.

Streisand is annoyed with both Variety and The New York Times which ran features on her that didn’t exactly rise to Babs’ precise standards. The issues that irked her have all been corrected in the online versions, but Babs still put out a “New Truth Alert” on her website BarbraStreisand.com.

Streisand says Variety misquoted her and made it sound like she didn’t really want the role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl! which is scandalous:

“I fought hard for that part! How could they make that mistake? I loved the character of Fanny Brice (they even misspelled her name Franny)”

Even worse:

“Also, they originally said I had an awards room. I have a den where if you look in the doorway, you don’t see any awards! They’re hidden in the corners.”

Damn you Variety. Still, their blunders are nothing compared to what The New York Times did when they ran a photo of Miss Violet and Miss Scarlet, the two clones of Barbra’s beloved Coton de Tulear Sammie in a feature titled Barbra Streisand Explains: Why I Cloned My Dog.

“P.S. Even though the New York Times didn’t change a word I wrote about my beloved Samantha, I was disappointed that they did change the picture I sent. It was cut in half in the actual Sunday paper (I guess for space purposes), but it destroyed the intent and specialness of the full picture that was shown online. The point is, my little girls were looking at their mother pictured on her tombstone! It’s an amazing photo, taken by my longtime and dear assistant, Renata.”

Yup, Babs is annoyed that the NYT cropped out the headstone shot of the cloned doggies “mother.”

Seriously.

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Last week we talked Heather Locklear’s latest arrest for beating up her boyfriend, and now there’s a bit more to the story … a gun.

It seems that police showed up at Heather’s house again with a search warrant to retrieve a gun because, if you remember, .as Heather was being arrested, she ALLEGEDLY struck three police officers and then told them:

“If you ever come back to my house I will shoot you.”

And so the police raided Heather’s home looking for a handgun that was registered in Heather’s name, and that she has owned since 1985, but they found no gun.

Luckily, for now, there is no threat of heather using that gun on anyone as she is currently in a medical treatment facility … again.

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I Didn't Say It ...

Idris Elba, British actor and, fingers crossed, maybe the first Black James Bond one day, calling for more gay representation on TV: 

“Diversity in the modern world is more than just skin color. It’s gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, social background, and — most important of all, as far as I’m concerned — diversity of thought.”

Well said, and quite true, but, well, you know me; I’m’a dip into the Shallow Pool and wonder when Idris will play gay in a film because I’d like to see that!

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Janet Porter, Ohio state senate candidate and right-wing nut job, touting her crazy in an online video:

“I just happened to notice that I am Right Wing Watch’s second-most-watched woman in America, second only to former congresswoman and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann. It kind of made my day! Think about that. They have more articles about what I’ve been doing than they’ve posted about Governor Sarah Palin. They are watching. And they only watch those who they consider to be a threat.”

Um, Janet? Do you remember how much of a threat Palin was? No, because she's out of office now. Same goes for Bachmann, and the same fate awaits you, dear.

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Gus Kenworthy, out gay Olympic skier, about almost coming out at the Sochi Games in Russia:

“Leading into the Russian Olympics there was all this anti-LGBT legislature and they had warned people about … if you’re gay … or if any of the athletes are gay, like, try not to show it because it’s very unsafe, it’s not accepted. And I was like, that’s bulls–t! I wasn’t even out. But I was like, that’s ridiculous. … I had a boyfriend at the time and had kind of talked about landing the best run ever and winning an Olympic gold medal and kissing him at the bottom … That would be my way of telling everyone. But it didn’t happen, and I’m glad it didn’t because I hadn’t told my mom, my dad, my brothers. It would have not only been a shock to the sport and to the Olympics, but my family would have been like, what the hell?”

I wish that had happened.

It would have been pure Olympic gold!

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Mama Grizzly Bore™, endorsing Donald [t]Rump for President:

“What he has been able to do, which is really ticking people off, which I’m glad about — he’s going rogue left and right.  Looking around at all of you, you hard working Iowa families, you farm families and teachers and teamsters and cops and cooks, you rock and rollers and holy rollers! You all make the world go around and now our cause is one. Now what they’re doing is wailing that, ‘Well, Trump and his trumpeters, well they’re not conservative enough.’ Oh my goodness, gracious, what the heck would the establishment know about conservatism?”

Does this even make sense? And she'll be as much help to [t]Rump as she was to McCain.

Half-term endorses Half-wit.

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Ricky Martin, on saying he’d like to have sex with a women, before saying he’d never have sex with a woman:

“I know that I like both men and women. I’m against sexual labels, we are simply human beings with emotional and sexual needs. I am gay, men fascinate me, but I like to enjoy sex in total freedom, so I’m open to having sex with a woman if I feel desire [but] men are my thing.”

Oh Ricky. You’re open to schtupping a woman but men are your thing? Then you are not open to schtupping a woman. You’re queer, dear, through and through.

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Brandon Davis, football and rugby player for Montana State, coming out as gay:

"My name is Brandon Davis, and I am a proud gay African-American athlete. Now I want to be there for other people like me. I understand the struggle of feeling alone and wanting acceptance. If I can help one individual at a time, that would be such a blessing for me. There's no better copy than the original, and there is no better feeling in the world waking up without having to put on a mask. Know who you are and be yourself, you only get one time to be alive so don't waste your years being a replica of what society wants you to be."

Well said, welcome out.

And, of course, please accept our gift of the Obligatory Coming Out Toaster Oven™ and copy of The Gay Agenda.

Oh, and you’re adorable, too.

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It's Snarkurday!

It looks like Chris Brown’s new sober coach, Scott Disick, wasn’t doing his job very well because over the weekend Chris Brown — best known for beating Rihanna — ALLEGEDLY slugged another woman.

Liziane Gutierrez says Brown went ballistic and punched her in the eye after she snapped a cellphone photo of him at a private party in his hotel suite at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Gutierrez says Brown was furious because she managed to slip the phone past his security guards.

Brown says he called the police himself, though, for what, I wonder? Cellphone usage? Being smarter than a security guard? Gutierrez said she was not hurt badly enough to be hospitalized though the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the ALLEGED punch.

As for Chris Brown, his people are already in spin mode, with his mouthpiece saying that “making false accusations seems to be a pattern of behavior of Ms. Gutierrez. Whatever her motives, her statements are unequivocally untrue.’’

Blame the victim again, Brownie.

I guess Miranda Lambert is really annoyed by all the social media attention her ex-husband, Blake Shelton, is getting with his new piece, Gwen Stefani.

Seriously, that couple posts more selfies of their ALLEGED relationship than a teenage girl with her first boyfriend. So, Miranda decided to get in on the action too. And that took a while because from the moment Shelton and Lambert split there were all kinds of stories about the singers and the roadies and the McDonald’s counterboys and the guys at the car wash that Miranda was doing.

And so Miranda threw up a picture of herself and her new man, 27-year-old R&B singer named Anderson East, in matching floppy hats to Instagram with the caption “The snuggle is real” a not-so-subtle dig at Bwen or Sheltani or Glake or Stefton or whatever that duo is calling themselves these days—I suggested Media Whores but nobody picked that one.

Still, I guess that’s how you get back at your ex… posting “real” snuggles pictures on the interwebz.

Grow up, people.

So, after the holiday Ricky Martin gave all his fans a treat: a photo of him strolling around the pool in a mankini. And it was kinda hot, but then Ricky spoiled because he suffers from EHS … Excessive Hashtag Sickness.

Seriously, a hot picture of a hot gay man rocking a hot bikini and then he adds thirteen … thirteen … hashtags:

#islander #beachbum #livemylifebarefoot #saltyhair #sandyfeet #speedo #sunga #up #early #earlybird #newweek #newyear #2016

And I get them all, well, except for that one, and so, while cruising the interwebz and stopping in at D-Listed, I got myself edumacated as to what #sunga means.

The Sunga is a Brazilian-style swimsuit for men. But … sunga is also the name for a male version of the Brazilian wax, involving hair being waxed off the man’s balls, his butt crack, his  butt cheeks and his pubic region.

#TMI #Ricky

Abstinence educator, hillbilly and unwed single mother to two children from two different baby daddies, Blister Palin is in a pickle.

Blister had a little girl — ALLEGEDLY around Christmas … I have a whole conspiracy theory about that coming up on Monday — whom she named Sailor Grace Palin.

PALIN. Not her daddy’s name because Blister does not discuss her daughter’s paternity, unlike the countless interviews she gave where she mentioned Levi’s name every other second after he spermed her up.

And so, Sailor’s daddy, Dakota Meyer, is suing mad. And he has filed legal documents in which he claims he’s the biological father of Sailor and he wants a judge to award him joint legal and physical custody. Oh, and he wants child support from Abstinence Mommy.

And it gets uglier and dumber because Sailor’s Illiterate Trailer Park Grandma, Sarah ‘I Can’t Finish This Job Because It’s Too Hard’ Palin, AKA Mamma Grizzly Bore issued a statement about Dakota’s filing:

“For many months we have been trying to reach out to Dakota Myers [she can’t even spell the man’s name] and he has wanted nothing to do with either Bristol’s pregnancy or the baby.”

And Blister released her own statement:

“My values are such that a real American hero doesn’t ask for child support.” 

Values? Like spreading her legs every couple seconds whenever the mood strikes while preaching abstinence?

Tune in Monday; it’s good!

This could be worse than The Sony Email Hack of last year, so brace yourself … The Personal Assistants Are Talking! And Star Magazine has it all, entitled “Personal Assistants Tell All: Outrageous Celebrity Demands!” 

Let’s rip …

Kim Kardashian. Kim gets secret liposuction, but then she stashes away the oodles of fat sucked from her head in case she needs to rejuvenate her face or ass — and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference — in what is called “lipobanking.” She even has her own private lipobank facility … it’s called Kim’s Ass Vault.

Jennifer Aniston. She hates to sweat and absolutely refuses to ever be sweaty, so she makes her assistants carry fans at all times and often hold fans in front of her. She also has assistants press ice cubes against her forehead all the time.

Jamie Dornan. Que escandalo, but Jamie loves to … wait for it … it’s so shocking … I can almost not type the word … needlepoint. He loves to whip out his, er, tapestry and “get to work” on planes or when he’s at home.

Justin Bieber. He’s been known to sleep with his personal staff, even with his maids because when you’re The Help you need to help get the Little Mister’s rocks off.

Julia Roberts. She holds on to her old costumes — especially the Pretty Woman hooker ensemble — and will “put [it] on for Danny” once a year or so.  Wait, does she wear it or does she make Danny wear it?

Lady Gaga. Gaga expects her assistants to be on call 24-7, and expects them to do everything for her. She called up one assistant in the middle of the night to change DVDs, because Gaga was too lazy to walk across the room and change it herself. Well, it’s hard to walk in twelve-inch platforms … unless you’re Elton John circa 1984.

Jessica Simpson. She rarely pays her bar tabs because she feels like the bar should buy her drinks because she’s Jessica Simpson and the bars just think she’s a drunk blond hooker.

Elton John. He’s really lazy, and he loves to be pushed around in a wheelchair. Huh, maybe he really is Lady Gaga? Or maybe his feet were ruined by those twelve-inch platforms?

And so, worse than the Sony Hack are the peccadilloes of the stars.

I’m still freaked out that Jamie Dornan needlepoints. Fifty Shades Of Grandma?