I Didn't Say It ...

James Corden, host of The Late Late Show with James Corden, on Bill Maher’s suggestion last that fat-shaming “needs to make a comeback”:

“[I] found it so surprising that he, or anybody, thinks that fat shaming needs to make a comeback because fat shaming never went anywhere. We are reminded of it all the time. There’s a common and insulting misconception that fat people are stupid and lazy. We’re not. We get it, we know. We know that being overweight isn’t good for us. I’ve struggled my entire life trying to manage my weight. We’re not all as lucky as Bill Maher. We don’t all have a sense of superiority that burns 35,000 calories a day. Let’s be honest, fat-shaming is just bullying. It’s bullying, and bullying only makes the problem worse.”

Good on Corden for taking on Smug Maher.

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Gareth Thomas, Welsh rugby star, has come out as HIV-positive after “evil” people threatened to go public with his condition without his consent:

“I want to share my secret with you. Why? Because it’s mine to tell you. Not the evils that make my life hell by threatening to tell you before I do. And because I believe in you and I trust you. I’m living with HIV. Now you have that information, that makes me extremely vulnerable, but it does not make me weak. Now even though I have been forced to tell you this, I choose to fight to educate and break the stigma around this subject. I’ve been living with this secret for years. I’ve felt shame and keeping such a big secret has taken its toll. I was in a dark place, feeling suicidal. I thought about driving off a cliff. To me, wanting to die was just a natural thought and felt like the easier way out, but you have to confront things. I was being blackmailed and in my mind,  I thought you only get blackmailed for something really bad, which compounded the feeling of shame. I went for a routine sexual health test at a private clinic in Cardiff. I didn’t feel ill and thought everything was going to be fine. When (the doctor) said those words… I immediately thought I was going to die. I felt like an express train was hitting me at 300mph. Then I was thinking ‘how long have I got left?’ I’m speaking out because I want to help others and make a difference. I hope me speaking out about my diagnosis will help a lot of people.”

In this day and age people are still trying to shame those with HIV.

Seriously, does anything ever change?

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Pete Buttigieg, Presidential candidate, on the most serious professional setback he ever faced:

“You know, as a military officer serving under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and as an elected official in the state of Indiana when Mike Pence was governor, at a certain point, when it came to professional setbacks, I had to wonder whether just acknowledging who I was, was going to be the ultimate career ending professional setback. I came back from the deployment and realized that you only get to live one life and I was not interested in not knowing what it was like to be in love any longer. So, I just came out.”

When you finally realize that, because you’re closeted, you cannot live a fully open life, cannot be open about who you love or how you feel, that’s when people come out.

Even today, younger queerlings, and some older ones, remain closeted out of fear, but the more of us that are ‘out’ there the stronger we all become.

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Rob James-Collier, Thomas Barrow, the valet in Downton Abby, on the film’s depiction of being gay in 1927:

“[Barrow’s storyline is] like a separate film so what a lovely thing, Thomas has got this little vignette off on the side. When all the pomp and circumstance with the royal visit is going on, you cut to Thomas’s story so I’m like ‘Thank you Julian (Fellowes, the writer) for trusting me that I can do this.’ You see Thomas discover a whole new world, and that is closer to who he is and there is a joy there, but then that joy may get taken away but it’s a very emotional, Thomas’s journey. It also hammers home what it was like to be a gay man in those times, it was horrific, and it’s brought back and it just shows how different it was. It must have been so hard for him and that is why the people warm to him and root for Thomas now, and they certainly will in the film if you watch it.”

Thankfully times have changed and, while this kind of vile anti-LGBTQ hatred still exists, it doesn’t happen as often as it did, and we cannot be jailed for being gay … in most places.

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Seth Dunlap, WWL Radio host, who was called a “fag” by his station’s Twitter account last week after he expressed disappointment with drew Brees’ involvement with the anti-LGBTQ group Focus on the Family., on that incident:

“While I have suffered greatly, this attack was not just about me. While I may have been the one directly and publicly shamed with the use of an unacceptable slur disseminated on social media, the target was really the entire LGBTQ+ community. That community, my community, is subjected to that sort of vile language and hate on a daily basis. Look inside the comments, replies, or DM’s to any openly LGBTQ+ person and you’ll easily find similar disgusting, foul attacks. This incident just peeled back the curtain a bit for people to see the ugliness that surrounds us. I truly believe this targeted attack was, in part, the result of deteriorating civil discourse in our country. Powerful men and women have decided to make hate, bigotry, and divisiveness platforms for their advancement in public life. It’s apparent that far too many people have forgotten the ugly lessons of the past, and this growing divide threatens to shatter the very foundations of an equal and welcoming society.”

Nice to know that the company that employs you calls you a ‘fag’ on social media because you, rightly, believe that Drew Brees did an ad for an anti-LGBTQ hate group.

WWL Radio has not commented since it said it was beginning an investigation into the matter.

Huh; go figure.

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I Didn't Say It ....

Eric Reid, San Francisco 49ers Safety, on Mike Pence’s faked “walk out” protest at last week’s game:

"My honest reaction: ... Does anybody know the last time he's (Pence) been to a football game? With that being said, he tweeted out a three-year-old photo of him at a Colts game, so with the information I have, the last time he was at a Colts game was three years ago. So this looks like a PR stunt to me. He knew our team has had the most players protest. He knew that we were probably going to do it again. This is what systemic oppression looks like. A man with power comes to the game, tweets a couple of things out and leaves the game with an attempt to thwart our efforts. Based on the information I have, that's the assumption I've made."

It was all a plan to appease the _____-Pence base of racists and asshats.

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Carmen Yulin Cruz, mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on ____ calling her ‘nasty’:

“I don’t give a shit. This isn’t about me or politics. I’m not going to be the face you see out there just giving you a box of food for the photo op. I’m the face of the person who is going to make sure somebody gets that to you … so like the last scene of Gone With the Wind — ‘Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.'”

I love that a woman cannot be groped in any way shape or form by the lying Hypocritical Bigoted Homophobic Misogynist In Chief.

It kills him that a woman is standing up to him.

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Rob James-Collier, who played the closeted butler on Downton Abbey, says he’s had trouble getting roles because casting directors just see him as the “gay bad guy”:

 “I think audiences in the US can identify quite easily with the quintessential English gent and English lady, whereas a neurotic, dark, gay character like Thomas is a hard thing to put into the American market. It can lead to typecasting. Because Thomas Barrow is gay and is, essentially, the bad guy for much of the show, a lot of people within the industry can only see you as that. They might not be in a rush to see you as a heterosexual love interest. That takes time. I always try and do something new and different. Unfortunately, it’s not always the way it turns out because it’s hard. It’s a tough game to be in. And I always say it, but there’s better actors than me out of work all the time.”

Don’t blame America because you’re being typecast; we have lots of out gay actors playing all kinds of roles in both film and TV.

Maybe it’s England, maybe it’s you ... but it’s not America.

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“President-For-Now” _____, on his horrific handling of Puerto Rico after the hurricane:

“They had these beautiful, soft towels. Very good towels. And I came in and there was a crowd of a lot of people. And they were screaming and they were loving everything. I was having fun, they were having fun. They said, ‘Throw ’em to me! Throw ’em to me Mr. President!’ The next day they said, ‘Oh, it was so disrespectful to the people.’ It was just a made-up thing.”

The made up part is that no one heard the voices in _____’s head that said to throw the towels other than _____.

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Gloria Steinem, offering a solution the gun control:

“I want any young men who buy a gun to be treated like young women who seek an abortion. Think about it: a mandatory 48-hour waiting period, written permission from a parent or a judge, a note from a doctor proving that he understands what he is about to do, time spent watching a video on individual and mass murders, traveling hundreds of miles at his own expense to the nearest gun shop, and walking through protesters holding photos of loved ones killed by guns, protesters who call him a murderer.”

Sounds good to me.

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Matt Bomer, on raising three sons—Kit, Henry, and Walker—with his husband, Simon Halls--left:

“What’s meaningful to us are manners, respect, a good work ethic, a belief in themselves, that they can follow their dreams, pursue whatever they want to pursue and to be their most authentic self. Whoever you are and whoever you want to be is accepted and surrounded with love.”

Ooh, scary gay parents raising kids to be decent human beings!

And, as always, Matt is hot!

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Donna Karan, fashion designer, standing by Harvey Weinstein and suggesting his victims have been ‘asking for it’:

“I think we have to look at ourselves. Obviously, the treatment of women all over the world is something that has always had to be identified. Certainly in the country of Haiti where I work, in Africa, in the developing world, it’s been a hard time for women. To see it here in our own country is very difficult, but I also think how do we display ourselves? How do we present ourselves as women? What are we asking? Are we asking for it by presenting all the sensuality and all the sexuality? And what are we throwing out to our children today about how to dance and how to perform and what to wear? How much should they show? You look at everything all over the world today and how women are dressing and what they are asking by just presenting themselves the way they do. What are they asking for? Trouble.”

Wait. So if a woman dresses a certain way she’s asking to be sexually assaulted, Donna?

Wow.

Maybe women should stop by any Donna Karan clothing items, lest, by wearing them, they inspire a man to rape them.

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I Didn't Say It ...

President Barack Obama, on ENDA: 

"As a result, millions of LGBT Americans go to work every day fearing that, without any warning, they could lose their jobs — not because of anything they've done, but simply because of who they are. ... It's offensive. It's wrong. And it needs to stop, because in the United States of America, who you are and who you love should never be a fireable offense. ...  Americans ought to be judged by one thing only in their workplaces: their ability to get their jobs done. Does it make a difference if the firefighter who rescues you is gay -- or the accountant who does your taxes, or the mechanic who fixes your car? If someone works hard every day, does everything he or she is asked, is responsible and trustworthy and a good colleague, that's all that should matter."

It can’t get any simpler.

Roger Ross Williams, openly gay documentarian, and creator of the film God Loves Uganda:

"One of the biggest anti-gay pastors invited me to his house for dinner. And I got there and thought, 'Oh my God, this is an ambush.' The pastors who are fighting the spread of homosexuality were all sitting there, not smiling. They pulled out the e-mail and said, 'We know that you are a homosexual.' I was terrified because I'd watched them hold up Bibles and say, 'This book says these people must be killed.' I was silent. 'But, Roger, we're going to help you, we're going to cure you.' They then just started praying over me."

Roger Ross Williams is still gay, proving, yet again, that it cannot be prayed away.

Kerry Washington, on the rumors that she’s a lesbian: 

“It’s interesting how much people long to fill in the gaps when someone in the public eye doesn’t share their personal life. I understand their frustration. I like how people will post pictures of me with other women that I adore, hugging on red carpets, and say, ‘See?’ Are we so uncomfortable with love between two people of the same gender that we immediately label it as sexual? But I’ve never been bothered by the lesbian rumor. There’s nothing offensive about it, so there’s no reason to be offended.”

Another reason why I just loves me some Kerry Washington.

Rob James-Collier, of Downton Abbey, on whether it's easier to kiss men or women on screen:

"I found [kissing men] easier. The way I was thinking was that if you kiss a girl you worry about: 

1) How big her boyfriend is; 

2) Is he in the building watching and is he going to kick the s**t out of you?; and 

3) What is my missus going to think of it? 

So we went to the BFI for a big unveiling on the cinema screen, and the missus knew [the kiss] was coming, and we were all sitting watching it and I thought 'Nice one, she can't accuse me of anything', and the missus turned to me and said 'You've never kissed me like that'."

Love that story!

Plus, Rob is hot.

Sally Kern, Oklahoma wingnut, homophobe and politician, on the legal marriage of Jason Pickel and Darren Black Bear by the Arapaho Cheyenne tribe:

"I find it kind of sad that this tribe is not willing to recognize what 75 percent of the voters of Oklahoma declared years ago, that marriage is a union between one man and one woman. Those of us who are Christians, who believe the Bible, are we going to have to give that up to satisfy the minority group that wants to redefine marriage...They can love whomever they want, there’s no laws right now that prevents two people of the same sex from living together."

I find it sad that you seek to impose your moronic viewpoint onto everyone else. That tribe understands love ifs love.

You don’t. You lose.

Portia de Rossi, on being a Lesbian:

"I just didn't want to be a lesbian. I'd never met one for a start and I just thought they were strange and that they hated men and they were very serious ... I had these ridiculous images in my head and there were no out celebrities or politicians or anybody that I could look to and go, 'Oh, I could be like that' ... There was nobody that I could say, 'I could date her and I want to be like her' ... I just kind of thought I don't want to live like this. I don't have to, I don't need to, I just shut down the emotional life."

And then came Ellen. 

It’s funny, though, the shame the gay person is made to feel about being gay; the stereotypes of us that we think are real and are the only way to be, when in fact we are just like everyone else, every size and shape and color and gender, except in whom we love.

Mike Michaud, Maine Representative, and candidate for Governor, coming out:

“When I entered the race for governor, I did so because I love the state of Maine and am tired of seeing it dragged in the wrong direction. There was never any question that it would be a tough race, but I know I have the vision, the experience and the commitment to lead Maine forward. … Once I jumped to an early lead in the polls, I knew it was only a matter of time before individuals and organizations intent on re-creating the uncertainty that led to our current governor’s election three years ago would start their attacks. … So I wasn’t surprised to learn about the whisper campaigns, insinuations and push-polls some of the people opposed to my candidacy have been using to raise questions about my personal life. They want people to question whether I am gay. … Allow me to save them the trouble with a simple, honest answer: “Yes I am. But why should it matter?”

It shouldn’t, and hopefully the voters in Maine get that.

And please accept, as a Coming Out present, a cpoy of The Gay Agenda and the Official Coming Out Toaster Oven.

Welcome out!

Eminem, on why he still uses the word "faggot" in his lyrics:

"I don't know how to say this without saying it how I've said it a million times. But that word, those kind of words, when I came up battle-rappin' or whatever, I never really equated those words [to actually mean 'homosexual']...It was more like calling someone a bitch or a punk or a--hole. So that word was just thrown around so freely back then. It goes back to that battle, back and forth in my head, of wanting to feel free to say what I want to say, and then [worrying about] what may or may not affect people. And, not saying it's wrong or it's right, but at this point in my career – man, I say so much s--t that's tongue-in-cheek. I poke fun at other people, myself."

To put it simply: when you know better, you do better.

Eminem doesn’t know any better, and he is no different that the white Southern racist who still uses the N-word because that’s the word he’s grown up using.

You can say you don’t mean it in the way others do, but howsabout not using it at all.

Dumbass.