PR 13 Ep 7: Chopard Showdown

So, we start off with the remaining designtestants mourning Char’s Aufing, so, yeah, you know that’s a twist waiting to happen. But first, the designers are taken to the runway, where they meet Tim and Chopard jewelers’ co-president and artistic director Caroline Scheufele. Behind them are displays of over a million dollars in jewels, upon which their next challenge is based.

They will be tasked with creating an evening gown — yes, another gown challenge — that is inspired by whichever Chopard jewel the designer gets to select. They will have one day and just $250 to make a gown worthy of hundreds of thousands of dollars of gems.

Before we get started, though, Tim is a little verklempt. He wanders into the workroom to call the designtestants around and, out pops Char. Tim has decided that maybe he should have saved her last week, so now she’s back and everyone is happy … until they realize that The Save is gone for the season. Uh huh and uh oh.

After the sketching, but before Mood, Tim takes the designers on see the Charles James exhibit at the Met which showcases the couturier's ball gowns and gala dresses, and even shows how some of the gowns were constructed. I would think that would be an amazing, eye-opening, instructive trip that might help some of the less, shall we say, gown-worthy designers … Samantha, Korina?

But, let’s rip ….

THE SAFES

CHAR 

After last week’s Yellow Disaster — which, I think, should have sent Sandhya packing since she railroaded Char into the color — Char is playing it safe … with peplums and cutouts. Tim worries that it seems bridal and prim, but I think Char just wants to make it to another week. It’s cute, though a bit short, and, well, that’s it.

EMILY 

At the critique she asks Tim if he’s worried about the ‘point’ on the draped back of her dress and he says, “I don’t see a point.” I thought, as in, ‘it’s pointless.’ It’s sad and droopy from the model’s hair on down, and the bottom hem is uneven. I don’t know how this didn’t go Bottom Three.

FADE 

Tim thought the original neckline, with a thick gray strap, looked like an Ace bandage, so Fade fixed that. But what he gave us wasn’t an evening gown, but pretty little dress a woman could wear to the country club. I like his designs, but he seems to have missed the point of the challenge.

SANDHYA 

I don’t get it. To me a gown is floor length and stunning. This is just a dress in a weird — even though I like it — fabric. It bears no resemblance to a gown or to any of the creativity of the Charles James dresses. This could have gone in the Bottom as well.

THE TOP TWO

KORINA

She doesn’t ‘do’ gowns; we get it. But she does do ethnic, Native American prints, and so she chose what seems like a Native American blanket — turned out to be upholstery fabric — and wants to make a coat over a dress. Tim points out that her seams are off, ruining the print, and warns that Nina has bitchslapped a designer for awkward seams, so Korina takes it apart and fixes it, leaving her little time for the actual dress. I’m worried that she’ll just make some stapled and glued and pinned black tube dress and hope hope hope the judges don’t want the model to remove the coat!

WHAT SHE SAID

My look is so dramatic. She just completely commands the room.

WHAT I SAID

Wow. Show-effing-stopper. I guess this is what happens when Korina merges her style and design sense into the challenge perfectly.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Nina loved it; she said the ethnicity of the fabric made her dream, and she loved the way the coat and dress truly showed off the jewels. The Adorable Zac Posen™ adored the dress, calling it Korina’s best work, even with it being kind of spectacular Dracula. And when he asked the model to remove the coat, well, he was as stunned as I with how gorgeous, yet simple and chic the dress was.

Heidi, of course, wants the dress in every color, and guest judge Caroline Scheufele said Korina’s entire look really showcased the jewels.

WHAT HAPPENED

Korina gets her first win; and deservedly so.

SEAN

Riding high off of two wins — and apparently forgetting the two weeks he very nearly went home — Sean is very confident he’ll be best in show again, even though he and Samantha chose the exact same fabric. Still, one look at Samantha’s dress and Sean could have sent down a model in a blue sack carrying the jewels in a Duane Reade bag and still beaten Samantha; just saying.

However, he also very nearly made a terrible mistake. When Tim popped in for a visit, Sean was playing with the idea of shoulder pads … on the model’s hips. Tim nearly did a Nina Garcia Bitchslap and reminded Sean that no woman really wants bigger hips. Bullet dodged.

WHAT HE SAID

She looks so beautiful and stunning. It looks expensive.

WHAT I SAID

It’s a really simple dress, but since the jewels are so much, it really works. And the back is gorgeous.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Nina called it stunning, too, and added that the velvet trim was a smart choice to showcase the jewels; good color, great back, elegant. Caroline Scheufele thought the dress would be perfect for the Chopard catalogue and also called it elegant. Heidi loved the design, and the amazing fit, and was pleased that Sean was really stepping up his game; she actually said Wowza.  The Adorable Zac Posen™ offered congratulations, calling it good work, regal and impressive.

It also probably helped that his model loved the dress and really showed it off. Even during the UP Close section.

WHAT HAPPENED

Sean gets Second Place and seems almost miffed by it; please do not become Kini and think you should win every week.

THE MIDDLE TWO

AMANDA

Okay, it’s a gown challenge and in what universe does gown mean jumpsuit? Sure, if they said Red Carpet look a jumpsuit might work, but again … GOWN!!!

Amanda decided to create a sheer dress  worn over a jumpsuit, and she was creating all these heart designs — she picked her jewels because they were hearts and her last name is Valentine … excuse me while I wipe the vomit off my chin — that Tim just thought were awful; she scrapped them, but, for me, it didn’t help.

Her fabric choice didn’t help, either, in that it was difficult to work with and cased her all kinds of tsouris; sheer nightgown? Superhero? Hot mess?

WHAT SHE SAID

You see the ‘floatiness,’ but then you can see the jumpsuit. She looks like a badass.

WHAT I SAID

She looks like a hot mess and not at all what the criteria of the challenge asked for, i.e. a gown It looks like something a 50s movie star would wear in a bad film noir. A really bad film noir.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi asks if Amanda thinks she’s in the top, and Amanda replies ‘Yes.’ Heidi agrees, and I passed out; seriously, I wanted a 3D version of the PR so I could pretend to slap the dumbass out of Heidi. But, she said she liked that Amanda takes risks — in this case, that means not fulfilling the challenge. Nina loved it and called it editorial; I would call it editorial pages of the newspaper and line a birdcage with it. Caroline Scheufele said it was a great look.

Only The Adorable Zac Posen™ voiced his concern that it wasn’t good — he called the fabric choice torturous — and said it would land on a Worst Dressed list.

WHAT HAPPENED

While the women seemed to love her look, everyone admitted that Amanda was not in consideration for a win, so she gets a Safe.

KINI

He’s starting to wear on me because of his I should win and everyone else sucks attitude. And so, naturally, I was pleased to see him stumble into a pair of unruly breast cups this week that seemed to be his undoing.

His chose neoprene because in his world, I guess, neoprene is a gown choice, and added chiffon, so he could showcase both the structure and the flowy. The flowy worked, but even Tim wasn’t pleased with the Breast Bullets he saw during the critique.

And I wasn’t pleased with his dogging out of every single other designer, while pushing his pudgy paw over his back side to compliment himself. We all know where that kind of snarky over-confidence leads …

WHAT HE SAID

She’s gliding, the flow of the chiffon in the back … perfect.

WHAT I SAID

It’s really kind of bland and, I think, kind of Las Vegas bride.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi liked the sheer over the structure, and wished the skirt were shorter—in the critique Tim told Kini the skirt should be longer proving that Tim always wants chic and Heidi always want shorter—and pointed out the messy cups; she also liked that it was different. The Adorable Zac Posen™ agreed about the length and the ‘boob darts’ — he called them an eyesore — and said the neoprene was a bad choice.

Nina liked the styling, and she liked the dress, though from the waist down she found it all to be too much; a mistake and not very well executed. Caroline Scheufele thought the color was a good choice to show off the diamond hoops.

WHAT HAPPENED

Kini wasn’t really bad enough to be considered for the Aufing, so I placed him with Amanda in The Middle.

THE BOTTOM TWO

ALEXANDER

He picks the giant red stone necklace which is a showpiece all by itself. He could have sent the model down in a strapless bra and panties and that gem would have stolen the show. But, alas, Alexander was too drawn to the Charles James exhibit and so he opted to go for a draped and structured and twisted and creased gown in a sad looking gray.

During the critique Tim wisely suggested that the crew neck was a bad choice for highlighting the necklace and wondered what Alexander would say if the judges called it a ‘lava flow’ dress?

But he wasn’t having it, and he was going to pin and hand sew that gown if it killed him; which it might have if he’d had enough time to finish and didn’t have to sew his model into it, and leave a punch of pins holding it together.

WHAT HE SAID

Just the way that it’s moving and the way the crinkled silk taffeta is shimmering … everything is on point.

WHAT I SAID

It’s very structural, but so structural that it seems kinda stiff. And the back? It’s like a hodgepodge of messy idea and pins and bumps. I’m thinking topographic map of southeastern Wyoming.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi hated that the model’s figure seemed hidden and pointed out how bad the back of the dress was, as though it was a last minute afterthought not very thought out, and noted how, up close, it was even messier.

The Adorable Zac Posen™ made kind of a side-eye OMG at Nina and then pointed out that he can't see the jewelry because it's hidden underneath the gown's rising neckline — you could clearly see the jewels on the runway. Nina said it reminded her of "Princess Grace stuck in the spin cycle of the washing machine." That can’t be good. The Adorable Zac Posen™ chimed in with the seeing of the pins, the tortured fabric, but said it was an ‘Ok’ dress; Nina shot back, “It’s a terrible dress” and said she couldn’t understand how he could pick that jewel and then pick that fabric.

Caroline Scheufele simply said the jewel needs a different dress.

WHAT HAPPENED

Even though Alexander’s been renting a space in the Bottom for a while now, because he at least tried, he’s safe.

SAMANTHA

She doesn’t do gowns; she’s never been to a wedding; she does separates, and casual wear and never anything fancy. M’kay, then why audition for a design show and not a Casual Urban Wear Show? I‘m over that whole, This isn’t my thing excuse.

But then, obviously, this isn’t her thing because when Tim comes by she tells him how she’s pushing herself and then shows him a simple — so simple I could probably do it … with a glue gun — sweetheart neckline. Tim dubs it boring and says it’s just a pretty dress.

Pretty mess.

WHAT SHE SAID

It’s clean, it’s polished. The side flaps have been pushed down, but I really pushed myself.

WHAT I SAID

Side flaps? Is it an airplane or a gown? And by pushing herself does she mean Auf the show?

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Heidi hates it; there’s no design, and contrary to what Samantha keeps saying, she didn’t push herself. The Adorable Zac Posen™ frowns at first, then said he thought it was interesting at first, then says at second thought it’s drab and there wasn’t much to it so he would say no more.

Nina called it boring; she said it was the dress a star's assistant would wear, but never a star; she then said it was "like the white t-shirt of long dresses." She shoots! She scores!  Caroline Scheufele called it a bad color and a bad dress for the jeweled watch and ring.

WHAT HAPPENED

Boring always gets you Auf’d on the PR. Buh-bye.

MY TAKE

Another evening wear challenge? I love a good gown, but the Heidi Red Carpet look followed by at least half the designers making a wedding gown, and this week another gown? Enough already. Where are the female wrestlers of yore? How about a porn star challenge? Female dogs? Something new?

And Chopard? I mean, I liked the idea of a jewel challenge, but, seriously, wouldn’t Claire's have been the better choice over the luxurious Chopard line? Is Chopard so desperate for publicity that they’ll showcase their jewels ion the PR? It seemed like a mismatch.

And the Tim Gunn Save for Char? I like Char, but she hasn’t one won challenge, or even been in the Top Three or Bottom Three. She’s a safe, and a safe shouldn’t be saved. 

And after the judges, well, at least the women, raved about Amanda’s jumpsuit-not-a-gown it’s very clear that they want her at The Tents. When you completely avoid the challenge and do your own thing — even dubbing it a ‘risk’ — you should fail. I mean, what if she’d sent down a swimsuit because she really thought that would be risky? I loathe her and don’t see why she’s still here. She’s Gretchen 2.0; bohemian crapfest.

But anyway … what did YOU think?

Would You Hit Hit?

Joel McHale.

He hosts The Soup On E! And he's a standup comedian and actor, on NBCs Community.

But that's neither here nor there.

Would.You.Hit.It?

Yes or No.

I Didn't Say It ...

Jennifer Hudson, on how she feels about The Gays supporting her career:

"What I've always admired about the gay community is the independence and the confidence. Just that attitude. I'm so inspired by that, and I feel like, for me, that is my connection. I've never understood, gosh, what does the gay community see in me? You know what I mean? Because again, I grew up around a lot of that and that's the world that embraced me first, so that I've never fully gathered ... because that's where I started. I was just literally looking at old pictures a few minutes ago, and I saw a picture of me performing in a gay club and a picture of being dressed. Drag queens used to dress me, and then I would go and perform. That's where I started, so there's definitely a connection there. I wanted to make sure that I reconnected."

JHud. Love.Her.

Linda Harvey, on the National Organization for Marriage's ongoing boycott of Target over its support for LGBT equality:

“Have you noticed how this is how headlines often read these days? They talk about laws on natural marriage as being ‘bans’ on same-sex so-called marriage. And that’s incorrect because people who are male can still marry people who are female. The only obstacle for a few people is the presence of unnatural desires. Those desires can change with a different mind and heart.”

Oh, that's funny, gay people can marry as long as they marry the opposite sex!
Um, then we wouldn't be in a same-sex marriage you neanderthal.

Miley Cyrus, on social media: 

"You know what hurts your brain? Googling yourself. You know what hurts your brain? Instagram. You know what hurts your brain? Reading comments on Facebook. You know what hurts your brain? Reading US Weekly.”

This is the height of country bumpkin hilarity coming from the media whore herself. I mean, did she think anyone would forget how she Instagrams every single aspect of her life, including her hospitalization last year for, ahem, "exhaustion"?
Sit down, hillbilly, and think on that fer a spell.

T.I., on the accusations that Iggy Azalea is a racist:

“That p-sses me off. Simply because they don’t have any real substantial grounds. ‘I don’t like them.’ Why? ‘Just ’cause.’ What you mean just ’cause? Since when do you get the right to judge people? Who died and made you the emperor of Egypt? That kind of sh-t and then the things that they accuse her of, like the racist stuff. That’s not even her. That’s not even in her. Me knowing her, knowing where she comes from–for real, the whole racist thing, that’s American–we forget, she’s not American. So the whole Black, white, color divided thing, it isn’t a part of her DNA like it is here in America.”

Wow. So racism is a strictly American thing, huh?

I guess you should tell that to the Muslims and the Black folks and the Indians in other parts of the world, including Izzy';s home country.

T.I.? Take a seat next to Miley and put that dunce cap on your head.

Grover Norquist, on attending Burning Man: 

"A community that comes together with a minimum of 'rules' demands self-reliance – that everyone clean up after themselves and help thy neighbor. Some day, I want to live 52 weeks a year in a state or city that acts like this. I want to attend a national political convention that advocates the wisdom of Burning Man."

And yet hes' a 'Bagger who sticks his nose into same-sex marriage and women's vaginas all the time; and when was the last time you saw a Republican help a poor person, or an immigrant, or a lesbian or gay man?
There's room on the bench with Miley and T.I.

Random Musing: Joan Rivers Has Died

"It is with great sadness that I announce the death of my mother, Joan Rivers. She passed peacefully at 1:17 p.m. surrounded by family and close friends. My son and I would like to thank the doctors, nurses, and staff of Mount Sinai Hospital for the amazing care they provided for my mother. [My] son, Cooper and I have found ourselves humbled by the outpouring of love, support and prayers we have received from around the world. They have been heard and appreciated. My mother’s greatest joy in life was to make people laugh. Although that is difficult to do right now, I know her final wish would be that we return to laughing soon."--Melissa Rivers.

I loved Joan Rivers. I love snark and sarcasm and I love shocking people into fits of laughter like she used to do to me every single time I watched her. I'm going to miss the laughter, most all, but from now on, every time i do, I'll think of her.

Thanks Joan, for making me laugh, at the world, at you, at myself, for all these years. You will be missed.

Photo of the Week

Kim Kardastrophe-West in another ridiculous looking get-up. 

I knew that sooner or latter this serial marrying fame-whore would jump the shark, but never guessed she'd get caught up in a tuna net.

Seriously Kim. What the hell is this supposed to be?

Daniel Pierce Gays It Forward

Coming out can be easy — for me it was, my father’s response, “I love you very much.” — or it can be hard and harder. For Daniel Pierce, a 20-year-old Georgia man, it was the hardest of all because, simply by sharing with his religious parents his long kept secret, he was kicked out of his home.

We all know this because Daniel secretly filmed the moment he was disowned by his family for being gay, and the subsequent upload to YouTube went viral, seen by almost two million viewers in two days.

In the video a woman, believed to be Daniel’s mother, is heard saying: 'I have known that you were gay since you were a tiny boy … You have made a choice from what you've told your daddy. You can deny all you want to but I believe in the word of God and he does not create anybody that way.'

Daniel tries explaining that he knows her was born gay, but his family, his family, will not listen to him, and his mother says, 'You will need to move out and find whenever you can to live. Because I will not let anyone believe that I condone what you want to do. … You told me on the phone that you made that choice. You know you wasn't born that way. You know good and well you made that choice. … 'You know that your father has done everything he can to raise you. He didn't need to blame himself.'

Daniel’s clip — entitled 'How not to react when your child tells you that he's gay' — prompted hundreds of responses from around the world, nearly all supportive and nearly all wanting to help.

His boyfriend set up a GoFundMe page to help Daniel with living expenses after he was kicked out of his home.

"I didn't realize that this was even set up for me. I don't even know how to thank y'all. I wish I could give each and every one of you a huge hug. I was trying to respond to everyone but I couldn't keep up. Thank you."— Daniel Ashley Pierce

But it wasn’t just the money that poured in, it was also the strangers commenting, offering support, that shocked Daniel; his own family kicked him out and now strangers were standing up with him and for him.

"Be proud of yourself, it takes a lot of courage to do a thing like that. I lived in a hell like that for five years and I can completely understand you, go on with your own life and don't let them break your dreams."—Robert Randazzo

“I would never treat my child the way you have been treated. My mother is Christian and when my brother 'came out' she accepted it with love and told him that his actions and sexuality are between him and God. It is both sad and inspiring that strangers have shown more love and support than your own family."—Rebecca Hall

But what happened next is possibly the greatest thing of all.

The GoFundMe page raised nearly $100,000 for Daniel to move out, be on his own, and start a new life, but now Daniel has asked that people stop giving him money. He wants people to donate the money they wanted for him to an organization called Lost'N'Found, which is renovating a building to serve as a homeless shelter for LGBT youth and, so far, some $10,000 from Daniel’s supporters has been raised; the group plans to open the shelter in the spring of 2015.

So many of us, after coming out, lose our families and our friends to homophobia and religious intolerance, and so we turn to others to create our own families; families who love us, accept us, help us on with our lives. Family is not always who you are born into; sometimes it’s who you find out there along the way.

When Daniel's own family turned their backs on him he found a family of strangers waiting to help. And now he's becoming family for another group of strangers as well.

That’s called Gaying It Forward. 

sources:

Daily Kos

Daily Mail

Architecture Wednesday: Peter's House

Peter’s House is located in my favorite City in the world, San Francisco, above Dolores Park on a steep site that borders a public garden.

Not a large house by any means — just 1800 square feet — but it uses the steep lot quite efficiently. Rather than the typical method of construction which means staggering foundation for each level up the hillside, Peter’s House uses a 24 ft. x 24 ft. cast-in-place concrete garage at the lowest level and builds a 3-story glass tower above it, altering the land and native hillside drainage very little.

The top living floor spans from a flat plateau at top of the lot to the tower like a bridge, essentially reducing the amount of excavation typically involved in construction of this type of home. But, beyond the structural challenges, the biggest issue in designing Peter’s House was opening the building to the expansive views while maintaining a level of privacy from the sidewalk and gardens that pass alongside.

Around the time the house was being designed, the new on-ramp to the Golden Gate Bridge was under construction which necessitated clearing a grove of Monterey Cypress trees in its path from the Presidio; the architects acquired some of those trees and, working with a local milling shop, turned them into 90 solid wood louvers — fixed on the exterior yet operable on the interior — that regulate openness and privacy.

So the house has the most amazing views of The City yet maintains a sense of privacy in its urban park setting.

I personally think it should be called Bob and Carlos’ House.

source

Psst? Lindsey Graham Is In A Bit Of Trouble .... Pass It On

I am not much for poles, except for the stripper pole though those days, for me at least are over … but I digress.

We got a hint of good news this morning down here in South Carolina where it’s not the heat, it’s the stupidity, when I learned that Lindsey Graham, Tea Party goose-stepping, war mongering asshat, is falling way down in his approval ratings with his constituents; in fact, he’s as far down as President Obama, whom he loves to chastise and castigate at every opportunity.

Halle-loo!

In fact, head-to-head matchups against his three opponents Lindsey Graham can’t even muster 50% of the votes, and in most polls he’s hovering around 45%--still enough to win, I guess, but not a wide enough margin to keep Lindsey from twisting in his granny panties.

And Lindsey doesn’t have a lot of room to improve upon those numbers because there are two other conservatives running against him. Sure, one of them is Bravo reality star Thomas Ravenel, who was found guilty of cocaine possession and forced to resign as South Carolina State Treasurer; but he’s going up in the polls, ever so slightly, while Lindsey dips. Also not helping is Libertarian Victor Kocher, another conservative causing Lindsey Graham tsouris as more voters question whether Lindsey’s right for South Carolina.

He’s not.

Now, the Democrat running against Graham is Brad Hutto, a 19 year veteran of the state senate, and if he can get the Democrats out to vote — and, seriously, Dems, why aren’t you voting because not voting is a vote for Lindsey — and the all important black vote, he could end up in the mid 40’s making him the leading vote getter.

And here in The SC all you gotta do is win by one vote. One vote; I'd love to think it was mine!

Still, Hutto isn’t well known with most voters and, right now, is polling in the mid-30s range. But since most of the undecided voters are either Democrats or Independents, he could, with some help, and some cash, unseat Lindsey Graham and sent him back to the bogs from whence he came.

It’s not a sure thing, y’all, but it’s a thing, so, pass it on, and let’s lose Lindsey. 

via Blue Nation Review

Chase Culpepper Is Suing South Carolina For Telling Him to 'Look More Like A Man'

Show of hands, please. Who hates your driver’s license photo? Uh huh, me, too. All of the license photos I’ve had over the years either make me look like a lunatic or a moron, or a moronic lunatic. And, when they tell you to smile in the photo? Bitch, I will not be smiling when the cops pull me over for speeding so if you want this picture to look like me, let my scowl shine, m’kay?

Chase Culpepper, like most sixteen-year-olds do, went to his local DMV, here in South Carolina, and took his driver’s test; he passed. But when he went to have his picture taken, Chase, a gender non-conforming teen — he identifies as male, but wears makeup and women’s clothing regularly — was told to “go home” and “take off the makeup.”

 A DMV employee removed Chase from the line and made him wait for a department manager, who also said that he needed to go home and remove “all of it” and then said, “[i]f your name is David Jones and it says you are a male, then you should look like a male."

Trouble is, that’s Chase. He wears make-up, so what?

Now, though, Chase is suing the ate of South Carolina, arguing that by denying him the right to have his driver’s license photo taken as Chase appears every day, constitutes sex discrimination and violates his right to free speech and expression under the United States Constitution. The suit, filed by the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund [TLDEF] also “seeks a ruling under the U.S. and South Carolina Constitutions that the DMV’s photo policy is unconstitutionally vague, too broad, and lets DMV employees arbitrarily decide how a driver's license applicant should look, without regard for the rights of the people they are supposed to serve."

Let me make this queer: that picture is Chase Culpepper. It’s how he presents himself to the world every day; it's how his family sees him, it's how his friends see him; it's him. And if we are going to let the folks at the DMV refuse to take our photos unless we present ourselves in a way they deem appropriate, then let’s play real fair. 

All those men and women who lie about their weight on their licenses, when it’s clear they’re packing on at least another twenty-five pounds or more, should be told to step on a scale first; that woman with the bad blond dye job should be told to change back to her normal color; any man that does not look manly — whatever that means — should be sent packing until they look masculine; and the same goes for the woman who looks a little less feminine; tell her to go home and put some makeup on because if their license says Diana Jones, and says you are a female, then, gosh darn it, she best look like a woman!

"My clothing and makeup reflect who I am. The Department of Motor Vehicles should not have forced me to remove my makeup simply because my appearance does not match what they think a boy should look like. I just want the freedom to be who I am without the DMV telling me that I’m somehow not good enough. I want to take my license photo again, with makeup, so I can be myself and express to the world who I truly am.” — Chase Culpepper

Now, the DMV is arguing that Chase is trying to disguise his appearance by not appearing as a male when, in fact, all he is doing is expressing himself, daily. And Beth Parks, a DMV spokeswoman, dismissed the notion that the DMV's policy on altered appearances did not apply to Chase because he normally wears makeup.

"I understand that he does wear makeup all the time, and for women, regular everyday makeup is acceptable, but it is unusual to see it on a young man."--Beth Parks

I guess that’s true, it is unusual, especially here in South Carolina, but who are we, who is the DMV, to say that a young man who wears makeup shouldn’t? I don’t see anyone rushing to tell women who don’t wear makeup to slather it on. And if, one day, Chase Culpepper decides he no longer wants the makeup, I imagine he will be first in line at the DMV to get a new photo taken, but until then, let Chase be Chase, makeup and all, because what does it hurt?

If we can’t be ourselves, and we have to be whatever the DMV arbitrarily thinks we are, or should be, we are in a heap of trouble. I mean, if we have to live in a world where other people dictate how we present ourselves in public, then I'm headed down to The WalMart to start sending people home to change.

source

A Cop, Convicted Of Sexual Assault, Gets His Gun Back

On the heels of the Michael Brown murder in Ferguson, Missouri, we’ve all been focusing on our police officers. Are they doing what we expect? Are they upholding the laws, no matter what? Are they protecting and serving all the citizens? And if they aren’t, are they being removed from duty? And, when they are deemed, and proven to be bad cops, what happens to them?

Well, if you’re a bad cop, like Dennis Krauss, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles will restore your right to carry a gun even though you have been convicted of sexually assaulting a woman while on duty. And this wasn’t the first accusation Krauss faced; at least ten different women complained he threatened to arrest them unless they had sex with him. And a man said that Krauss threatened to arrest him on falsified charges unless the man allowed Krauss to have sex with his wife.

Yeah, he’s a dream of a police officer, eh?

But finally, it took one woman to stand up to Krauss and finally, after a trial, where he was found guilty, his police career was over. Here's the account of the assault:

...the record shows that on December 5, 1999, Krauss, a uniformed officer with the police department, was dispatched to the trailer home of the victim after she called 911. When Krauss arrived, the victim told him that her husband had hit her and that she wanted her husband to leave. Krauss, however, asked the victim to go with him in the police car. In the car, Krauss told the victim that he could take her to jail if he wanted to for domestic violence. The victim testified that at this point she became frightened; she also stated that she believed that she was in custody and was not free to leave. The victim told Krauss that she did not want to go to jail. He told her that they “could take care of it.” When asked how she “could take care of it,” Krauss told her “[b]y having sex with him.” Krauss also said, “We can go to the motel or you can go to jail.”

Once in the room, Krauss took his gun from his gun belt and told the victim he wanted to have anal sex with her with the gun. The victim refused, started crying, and, at Krauss's order, sat on the bed. Krauss then pushed her back, pulled off her pants, and had sex with her.  The victim stayed in the police car; when asked why she had done so, she said, “I had to, I was afraid to leave, he, you know, he is a police officer; you don't just leave.” She also stated that she thought she was under arrest. After securing a room, Krauss drove the police car around the back of the motel, got out, opened the door for the victim, and pushed her toward the door of the room.  Krauss drove to a motel, got out of the car, and went into the office to get a room.

The victim continued crying and told Krauss she wanted to go home. Krauss dressed and dropped by the motel office to get a refund on the room; while he was in the office, the victim again stayed in the car, testifying that she felt “locked in” and “under his authority.” After leaving the motel office, Krauss drove the victim home.

Dennis Krauss, a police officer, was convicted of sexual assault against a person in custody and his conviction was upheld on appeal. But, after a hearing the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles restored his “right” to carry a gun. 

A police officer, who used his position in the community to terrorize women, and men, so he could get his rocks off; a police officer, who while wearing his uniform, while on the job, forced women to have sex with him under threat of going to jail; he victimized victims and lost his job because of it. And then, he gets his gun back; a convicted rapist.

And most sickening of all is that he is not alone; Krauss is purportedly just one of 358 violent felons who have regained their gun rights over the last six years; 32 convicted killers and 44 sex offenders have been given their guns back.

Way to protect and serve your citizenry Georgia. And America, too, where gun owners can use their guns to terrorize people and still be able to keep them.

source

An Open Letter To Brad and Angelina

So, you're married now. Congratulations, though I'm sure you know a lot of people aren’t happy with you two, for a lot of reasons. I mean, 'poor Jen Aniston,' right? Minding her own business, and suddenly Angelina stole Brad away from her; though how you can "steal" a person is unclear to me, not to mention how you can "steal" someone who doesn't want to be stolen.

Personally, that's none of my business, because this isn't about how you met, or when you met, or which came first, the separation or the love affair, this is about the outrage of some in the LGBT community because, after six children and nine years together, you went and got married!

See, everyone's talking about that interview Brad gave to Esquire back in 2006, when you said you and Angelina would "consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able.”

That was a lovely thing to say, but now a lot of folks in the LGBT community are angry that you've gotten married when not everyone can get married — at least not in every state in the country. A lot of folks in the LGBT community are ready to march and picket, not for equality, but because you broke your promise.

But they seem to forget how many interviews you both have given where you've said your children want you to get married, and how, if you did it, you'd do it for your family. And that's what you did; you had a wedding with all of your children involved and I imagine it was just beautiful and just what you and the kids wanted it to be.

And, so, for myself, I'll say congratulations again, though others in my community would want to say so much more, and say it more angrily; they are pissed. And I’m pissed, too, at them.

So, let me make this queer for those of you in the LGBT community who are foot-stomping and head-snapping:  these two people have spoken out for marriage equality far more, and far more often, than almost any other straight celebrity in the world; and they’ve put their money — hundreds of thousands of dollars — into campaigns to fight for marriage equality in this country. How many of you, who are pointing fingers have done as much?

And should we, as a community, really think that what we want should come before what Brad and Angelina’s children want? I don’t.

But, if you wanna pay that card, and be angry at the Pitts for saying they’d hold off on getting married until everyone can, save a little room in your Hate Parade for Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell because they said the same thing too. Oh, and they were married in October 2013 and yet not one person has complained about them breaking their ‘promise.” So why the ire now?

And, as long as we're gonna play the They-Got-Married-When-I-Can’t card, why isn't anyone angry at every single gay couple in the United States who has chosen to get married in their states, or wherever it is legal, even though it's not the law of the land everywhere? I mean, these are your people running off to New York, or Iowa or Massachusetts … or Washington state like Carlos and me … to get married even though there are still gay couples who cannot marry in their home states. Why aren’t you angry at them, at us?

Because if you have the right to get married, and you want to get married, after nine years like Brad and Angelina, or fourteen years like Carlos and me, then why not do it? If it’s for children, for commitment, or just because you love the other person and want everyone to know, shouldn’t you be able to do it?

I'm glad they got married; I like them both. They seem to be a happy couple with six happy kids, so who am I, or anyone, for that matter, to be irate because they're married?

Marriage equality will happen, and it looks like it may happen everywhere in this country next year, so, rather than throwing eggs at Brad and Angelina, about throwing a little rice, or a little Congratulations.

A happy couple got married and that should be celebrated, not denigrated.

Happy Labor Day ... ISBL Will Return Tomorrow!