MADONNA is “bringing gay to the Super Bowl.” That’s what we overheard one of her dancers say at the premiere party for Her Madgesty’s “W.E.” at Top of the Standard on Monday night. On the red carpet, Madonna told us she’s “extremely nervous” about the big game, but looking forward to singing her new song, “Give Me All Your Love,” and some “oldies but goodies.” She also said the best fashion advice she’s gotten from her daughter Lourdes — who was escorted into the Cinema Society and Forevermark-sponsored screening by two bodyguards — was, “Mom, you’re totally ridiculous. No one is going to take you seriously as a director.” At the Le Bain after-party, Madonna shook it on the dance floor and cuddled with beau Brahim Zaibat. Bravo’s Andy Cohen and actors Julia Stiles and her very affectionate boyfriend, Dave Harbour, also attended.
Them’s fightin’ words!
Elton John lost toMadonna at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, where the Material Girl won for Best Original Song (Motion Picture) for “Masterpiece,” which she wrote for W.E., which she also directed.
And John’s husband,David Furnish, was unhappy about the loss. (Madonna beat out John’s “Hello Hello” from the film Gnomeo & Juliet plus three other contenders, including Mary J. Blige‘s “Living Proof” from The Help.)
Shortly after the 53-year-old pop singer’s name was called, Furnish wrote on his Facebook page: “Madonna. Best song???? F**k off!!!”
After Madonna’s acceptance speech — the orchestra even started playing in an attempt to cut her off — Furnish’s rant continued.
“Madonna winning Best Original Song truly shows how these awards have nothing to do with merit. Her acceptance speech was embarrassing in its narcissism,” he wrote. “And her criticism of Gaga shows how desperate she really is.” Last week, Madonna gave several interviews in the press accusing her pop queen successor Lady Gaga of ripping off her classic “Express Yourself” in “Born This Way,” calling the latter track “reductive.” But, backstage at the Globes, Madonna was hopeful that her win wouldn’t irk John, 64. “I hope he speaks to me for the next couple of years,” she quipped. “He’s been known to get mad at me so I don’t know. He’s brilliant and I adore him so he’ll win another award. I don’t feel bad!”
Madonna: Lady GaGa’s Born This Way “Sounded Familiar”
Madonna has revealed that when she first heard pop rival Lady GaGa‘s hit single Born This Way, she thought it sounded “very familiar” to her own work.
Back when GaGa first released the anthem,people noticed the similarities between BTW and Madge’s 1989 hit Express Yourself- with the Queen of Pop now admitting that she was ‘surprised’ by how alike the two tunes were.
Speaking to ABC News about the Marry The Night singer, Madonna revealed: “I certainly think she references me a lot in her work. And sometimes I think it’s amusing and flattering and well-done,
“When I heard ['Born This Way'] on the radio … I said, ‘that sounds very familiar’ … It felt reductive.”
The Vogue hitmaker was then asked whether “reductive” was a good or bad thing, to which she replied: “Look it up.”
Madge has also commented on GaGa’s BTW to Newsweek/The Daily Beast, stating she felt Lady G ‘copied’ Express Yourself: “I thought, ‘What a wonderful way to redo my song’. I mean, I recognised the chord changes. I thought it was… interesting.”
Earlier this week, Madonna revealed that her 12th studio album would be called M.D.N.A - which is due for release in the spring. (via MTV.com)
Great Article from the Advocate…read here:
The GOP candidates’ political barnstorming throughout the state is finally coming to a close. If only the antigay rhetoric that often accompanied it would follow suit.
Iowa voters will finally head to nearly 1,800 precinct caucuses in the state today as they begin winnowing the Republican presidential candidates — some striding toward the finish line, others positively limping. And aside from a few who declined to pander to the social conservative base, nearly all hopefuls have been the target of LGBT activists, both seasoned and impromptu, with an arsenal ranging from undercover operations tofrank discussions over mugs of diner coffee andboxes of glitter dumped at book signings.
However questionable some of the tactics employed, reporters were given the required drama for a story, and YouTube hits accumulated as LGBT campaign interlopers created a persistent and disruptive narrative for candidates who support overturning “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal, invalidating lawful marriages (as the surging Rick Santorum recently told MSNBC), and ousting judges who ruled on the side of equality.
Troy Price, executive director of One Iowa, the state’s LGBT advocacy group, has bristled at the antigay rhetoric spewed in his state during the past several months, most notably the barn jacket-clad Rick Perry’s now-infamous “Strong” ad and Newt Gingrich’s Septemberassertion at a Fort Dodge campaign stop that marriage equality is but a “temporary aberration that will dissipate.” Perry has been incessantly parodied, Gingrich excoriated — and previously glitter bombed — for his pronouncements on marriage.
“Some of these tactics may not be what I would do, necessarily,” Price said of the activism he’s seen in his state and elsewhere. “But I think it all works toward the greater goal, which is highlighting who these candidates really are.”
The campaign trail confrontations in Iowa and New Hampshire have been particularly symbolic, given that the first two battles for the nomination are in states where gay marriage has become legal following the last presidential election yet faces continued attack from antigay groups. Groups such as the National Organization for Marriage are likely to target Iowa senate majority leader Michael Gronstal, who has fought legislative attempts to force a ballot measure on marriage and faces reelection in November. Meanwhile, the New Hampshire legislature is poised to vote on a bill after the January 10 primary that would dilute marriage rights.
Dogging antigay candidates has provided a definite boon for smaller gay organizations that are both nimble and willing to take risks. Such has been the case for Truth Wins Out, founded by Wayne Besen in 2006 with an objective of exposing dubious ex-gay therapy and those who promote it. The group proved to be a formidable antagonist of Rep. Michele Bachmann,exposing last summer the “reparative” methods practiced at a clinic owned by the Minnesota congresswoman and her husband, Marcus. “[The Bachmanns] owe it to all Americans to provide a full and honest explanation for their embrace of these dangerous and fraudulent practices,” Truth Wins Out director of communications John Becker wrote in July.
Such an explanation never happened, and how the exposé ultimately affected Bachmann’s slow demise in the polls is unclear. But the storyline during the summer shifted from surging GOP candidate to co-owner of an “ex-gay quack clinic,” and that itself was a success, Besen said.
“People who fund us don’t want boilerplate statements,” Besen said of Truth Wins Out supporters. (Mitchell Gold, the Arcus Foundation, and New York philanthropist Henry van Ameringen are among those contributing to a $250,000 annual budget, he said.) “They want high impact. They want to fund us to say things that other people won’t. And everybody’s thrilled. We have extremely happy investors over the past year.”
Impact during the campaign hasn’t always been the product of highly coordinated maneuvers. Romney’s December campaign stop at Chez Vachon in Manchester, N.H. was remembered not for an endorsement from the city’s mayor that day (the original point of the event), but for the candidate’s run-in with Bob Garon, a 63-year-old gay veteran who grilled Romney on his marriage stance over scrambled eggs. “I went and fought for my country, and I think my spouse should be entitled to the same [benefits as they would] if I were married to a woman,” Garon said following the exchange. “What the hell is the difference?”
In Iowa, Price said the campaign has been difficult to stomach, however unsurprising the talking points against LGBT rights from many in the race. “To see so many presidential candidates who claim they want to lead all Americans score cheap political points on the backs of gay and lesbians has been tough,” he said, “but at the same time it’s also put into focus what’s really at stake here.”
As for the candidates today, Price added, “I’m just looking forward to them getting out of town.” Read the rest here: http://www.advocate.com/Politics/Election/Decision_Time_in_Iowa/
A sweet someone gave me a jar as a gift.
I’ll let you guys know how it works out soon! Today is my second day using it. 
In a landmark speech in Geneva today, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for global consensus to embrace human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people everywhere.
Speaking in stark and bold language, Clinton denounced anti-LGBT violence and called on the leaders of anti-gay regimes to end the injustices faced by LGBT people. She told LGBT people worldwide that they have a friend in the U.S., and said their human rights are a priority of American foreign policy.
Clinton referenced a presidential memorandum released this morning by the Obama administration directing all U.S. government agencies engaged overseas to enhance their efforts to protect LGBT refugees and asylum seekers and enlist foreign organizations in the fight for LGBT human rights.
Clinton also announced a global equality fund to aid international organizations and human rights groups in their work toward expanding LGBT human rights. [gaypolitics.com]
December 5, 2011, according to AP: A grandson of the late screen actress Rita Hayworth has been found dead in an apparent suicide in New York City.
Police say 25-year-old Andrew Embiricos was discovered in his Manhattan apartment Sunday night with a bag over his head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. No crime is suspected.
A spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office says the cause of his death is pending autopsy results.
Embiricos was the son of Hayworth’s daughter Yasmin Aga Khan, a philanthropist known for publicizing the plight of those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
Hayworth was a legendary beauty who rose to fame in the 1940s and ’50s in movies such as “Cover Girl” and “Gilda.” She died in 1987 of Alzheimer’s disease at age 68.
But wait, there’s more:
Village Voice reporter Michael Musto, who knew the 25-year-old from the New York social scene, wrote of his death: ‘I’m deeply saddened by the loss of someone with such radioactive charisma. He was a strikingly handsome, personable guy who radiated charm no matter what crisis he was weathering.’ “I’ll tell you one thing, though: Andrew was extremely kinky,”Musto wrote in an article in the Village Voice. “Isn’t it possible that Andrew was experimenting with autoerotic asphyxiation?” According to Musto, it is not surprising that Embiricos would experiment with S&M, particularly with asphyxia, which offers a euphoric high when the brain is lacking oxygen. Autoerotic asphyxiation involved strangling or suffocating oneself in order to experience sexual arousal through lack of oxygen. [ibtimes.com]
In addition, Lavender Lounge has some photos and a full article about Embiricos. Apparently, his turn-ons were: “Pig here. Clearly, I love PISS. Other turn ons: uncut cock, dirty dick, role play, sports kit, bb, spit, kissing, flip fucking, porn, soft dick, Whitney Houston, and a hell of a lot more.”
It’s a little weird…
what do you think?
LOL
…needs to release the ‘marry the night’ music video. asap.
Oneal Ron Morris has been arrested for practicing medicine without a license after she injected a woman’s butt with a combination of cement (presumably the rubber variety), mineral oil, and Fix-A-Flat tire sealant. The woman developed pneumonia and MRSA. Morris (pictured above) appears to have given herself injections as well. [courtesy: http://jezebel.com/]
Film director John Waters says he supports marriage equality but wonders about the cost of becoming too politically correct, in a interview with Slate.
Though the stage musical and subsequent film version of his 1988 movie Hairspray introduced him to a wider audience, Waters somewhat laments gay culture becoming more mainstream and the treatment of gay characters becoming more p.c. “I miss it,” Waters says. “I’m for gay marriage. I don’t want to do it, but I certainly think people should be allowed to, and I wouldn’t vote for anybody that would be against it. But at the same time, why do we have to be good now? Why can’t we be villains in movies?”
Waters is still upset over the commercial disappointment of his last film, 2004′s A Dirty Shame, which was given an NC-17 rating, then a box office kiss of death. “Dumbbell censors are easy,” Waters says. “You use their quotes in the ad. Liberal censors are much harder to fight.”
The director, who still tours the world with speaking engagements and is the subject of two new books (John Waters Interviews and Low Budget Hell), still hopes to get financing for his long-postponed film, Fruitcake. The script for the Christmas-themed movie focuses on a boy runs away after he’s caught shoplifting and meets runaway girl who runs away from her gay fathers to search for her birth mother. Plans to film the screenplay were shelved two years ago when the production company folded. Waters think his first “children’s movie,” asFruitcake was referred to at the time, “would be incredibly commercial.” [courtesy: advocate.com]
Kim Kardashian took to her blog today, her brother Rob’s 24th birthday, to share an embarrassing photo of six-year-old Rob Kardashian dressed as a woman.
“In honor of Rob’s 24th birthday I wanted to post my all time favorite photo of my wonderful brother,” blogs Kim.
“When we were young, Kourtney, Khloe and I used to torture poor Rob. One day when Rob was six we forced him to dress up in mom’s clothes to make him look like a girl. When my dad came home he immediately grounded us all!! Rob, for all the times we tortured you, I am truly sorry.”
Nice sister! [courtesy: celebuzz.com]
In an editorial in the Boston Pilot on Friday, Daniel Avila, a lobbyist and spokesperson for the Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage of the U.S. Catholic Conference, wrote that because being gay is not genetic, it must be the work of the devil.
Avila penned the column in the Boston Pilot, the newspaper of the Boston Archdiocese which also claims to be the oldest Catholic newspaper in the U.S. In the column, he claimed because no definite genetic connection can be established for homosexuality, then logically, homosexuality must be the work of the devil.
Therefore, whenever natural causes disturb otherwise typical biological development, leading to the personally unchosen beginnings of same-sex attraction, the ultimate responsibility, on a theological level, is and should be imputed to the evil one, not God.
In other words, the scientific evidence of how same-sex attraction most likely may be created provides a credible basis for a spiritual explanation that indicts the devil. Any time natural disasters occur, we as people of faith look back to Scripture’s account of those angels who rebelled and fell from grace. In their anger against God, these malcontents prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. They continue to do all they can to mar, distort and destroy God’s handiwork.
Avila is one of the top employees of the Roman Catholic Church working to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. He previously worked for the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the public-policy arm of the Massachusetts Catholic Bishops.
He also describes himself as the church’s “marriage guy.” [courtesy: americanindependent.com]
Former U.S. senator and doomed Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum toldCaffeinatedThoughts.com recently that he is willing to “die on that hill” in the battle against same-sex marriage.
“The battle we’re engaged in right now is same-sex marriage, ultimately that is the very foundation of our country, the family, what the family structure is going to look like,” the candidate told the website. “I’ll die on that hill.”
But he wasn’t done there. Building on his comments in the recent Republican debate on the primacy of family as the foundation of everything that is America, he stated in the interview that the eradication of same-sex marriage may be his first order of business but targeting contraception not far behind.
“One of the things that I will talk about that no president has talked about before is I think the dangers of contraception in this country, the sexual liberty idea and many in the Christian faith have said, you know, contraception is okay,” he said, adding, “It’s not okay because it’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.”
According to Santorum, birth control is not even supposed to be used outside the framework of a marriage. “They’re supposed to be within marriage,” he insisted. “They are supposed to be for purposes that are, yes, conjugal but also procreative, and that’s the perfect way a sexual union should happen. When we take any part of that out, we diminish the act. If we take one part out, it’s not for the purposes of procreation, it’s not one of the reasons; and then you diminish this very special bond between men and women. So, why can’t you take other parts of that out? And then all of the sudden it becomes deconstructed to the point where it’s simply pleasure, and that’s certainly a part of it, and it’s an important part, don’t get me wrong. But there [are] a lot of things we do for pleasure and this is special and it needs to be seen as special.”
Santorum is the poster child for religious totalitarianism and hangs his hat on extreme positions that would deny others the freedoms he swore to uphold when he became a United States Senator, and so it is far too late for him to take any sort of reasonable position regarding these issues, but it’s too bad because he really doesn’t seem to be having any fun at all as he traverses the country calling for a return to 16th century values.
Even worse for him, his inevitable failure to knock us back a few centuries will mean that, as long as he insists that it’s a “do-or-die” situation, he is doomed to die on that hill. That’s called a death wish. [courtesy: avn.com]
Lady Gaga‘s ensemble for her new video, “Marry The Night” has been revealed (see it in the image to the left): It’s a custom-made double zip lambskin jumpsuit from New York City designer, Asher Levine. In a press statement, the video is described as “bloody” and also a “nod to New York downtown refinement.” As always, Nicola Formichetti handled the styling.
• Gaga and Formichetti also debuted a new behind-the-scenes short promo film for MAC Cosmetics. It’s a look into her latest work for the Viva Glam campaign, the proceeds from which benefit the MAC AIDS Fund. As you can see, Mother Monster mode is still in full effect for the singer. [courtesy: rollingstone.com]
Here’s the latest–if unlikely–grooming craze for U.S. troops at a remote forward operating base in Shinwar, Afghanistan: eyebrow-shaping.
According to the Wall Street Journal’s Michael Phillips, Afghan barbers–forbidden from practicing the fine arts of eyebrow-trimming, shaping, plucking and threading on their religiously observant Muslim countrymen–have eagerly added the service for American troops coming in for a hair cut and a shave. Sometimes, as Phillips recounts, the service comes as a bit of a shock to U.S. soldiers looking for a no-frills trim.
Private First Class Richard Guillemette’s “first brow ‘do was an accident,” Phillips reported Thursday from the Afghan barbershop near U.S. Cavalry Forward Operating Base Joyce, not far from Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. Guillemett had asked the base’s Afghan barber Gulam Farooq for the usual hair cut and a shave, and realized only “too late did he realize the barber was … sculpt[ing] his eyebrows into thin arches, tapering into points at the flanks.”
A month later, however “Pfc. Guillemette, a 20-year-old from Lyman, Maine, decided he liked the look, and he has had two touch-ups since then”–rivaling the high-maintenance beauty routines of even many of his less-disciplined civilian counterparts.
However, not every American soldier is on-board with the finer points of eyebrow-shaping.
“I don’t get it, I just don’t get it,” Lt. Col. Jerry Turner, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment commander tells the WSJ. “And you’re not going to get me to get it.”
And for the record, not every U.S. service branch seems to be keen on the practice. Marine Corps officials recently updated the Corps’ 2007 grooming instructions to stipulate that “excessive plucking or removal of eyebrows is not authorized, except for medical reasons,” Phillips writes.
Nor is this the only unlikely male-grooming trend on the ground in Afghanistan. Photographer Thomas Dworzak has collected a striking series of photographs showing members of the Taliban–notorious for imposing ultra-stringent Islamist dress and grooming codes on subject populations–indulging an unlikely fondness for eyeliner. [courtesy: yahoo news]
If you aren’t familiar, Derek and Romaine host the best(and gayest) show online. You can catch us by going to Sirius XM OutQ 108 tomorrow, Wednesday, November 12th at 8pm EST. If you don’t have satellite radio and still wanna talk to me, you can get a free trial of Sirius at www.SiriusXM.com.
Austin Wilde and I will be on-air talking about Fleshjack and all of the lovely offerings we have on our site. If you have a question for me, here’s the number to call –> 1-866-305-6887. The interview is only going to last about 15-20 minutes so make sure you’re ready. Talk to you tomorrow night!
Ther Derek and Romaine Show official website- http://dnrshow.net/
A student has been punished for chanting during a school dance that 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer is “better off dead” after committing suicide in September in the face of unrelenting bullying.
The students began the taunt as the speakers blared a song by Lady Gaga, who Rodemeyer adored — even being buried in a “Born This Way” T-shirt. There in the auditorium to hear the taunts was Rodemeyer’s sister. Parents Tracy and Tim Rodemeyer shared the shocking story during a Today show interview last week after their daughter came home very upset.
Superintendent Scott Martzloff of the Williamsville, N.Y., Central School District reported that the student responsible for the chanting faced suspension “to the fullest extent allowed under education law.”
“We will not let the actions of any student threaten the emotional well-being of others,” he said in a video message posted on the school district’s website.
Martzloff said he’d activated North High School’s crisis team in response to the suicide to deal with grief. And he said officials are cooperating with potential criminal charges being investigated by local police.
As a parent of three kids in his district, Martzloff promised “student safety is a top priority for me.”
Martzloff said today will be devoted across his district to education about bullying, in conjunction with the World Day of Bullying Prevention. [courtesy: advocate.com]
Lady Gaga says it’s fair to read Jo Calderone, her male alter ego, as a trans man, according to an interview with The Huffington Post.
Gaga, who appeared in her “Yoü And I” music video as Calderone and recently opened the Video Music Awards with a blistering monologue, tells HuffPo‘s Noah Michelson, “Reading Jo in any kind of way is a fair reading.”
Gaga says the character is “meant to manipulate the visualization of gender in as many ways as I possibly could. And in a completely different way, sort of do that by creating what seems to be a straight man — a straight and quite relatable American man. I wanted to see how I could take someone who is so approachable and so relatable and press a much more unrelatable issue that is so hidden or so chained up. [I wanted to see] how I could put someone who is challenging all of those things in a very pop culture moment and force people to deal with it no matter how uncomfortable or exciting it may be.”
Gaga also discusses why she is inspired by transgender people. “I see the trans community as a very inspiring group that on a daily basis deals with obstacles and struggles that most of us can’t perceive of,” she says. “I think they should be revered and honored and protected and I think it’s important for me, as an artist, to push those particular boundaries because of how many of them I know and how important it is to the young community and in order to stop bullying and to inspire teachers in schools and the heads of giant organizations to be kind and tolerant to one another so that we all may discover who we are in a free and loving space.” [courtesy: advocate.com]
Lady Gaga attended a fund-raiser with the president Sunday night, according to a White House pool report, and she raised the issue of suicide and bullying of gay teens.
The report describes her as wearing enormous heels that had her towering over President Obama as she made her way through a photo line with her manager, having a polite exchange with the leader of the free world. Gaga reportedly wore a lacy black dress, with her hair gathered atop her head with a black veil.
During a question-and-answer session after the president spoke, Gaga thanked Obama for hosting an antibullying conference earlier this year and then implored everyone in the room to do what they could about the problem and the resulting suicides.
Photographers were not allowed in the room, and no other photos have yet surfaced. ABC News reports that the $35,800-per-couple fund-raiser was held in Atherton, Calif., at the home of Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer.
This isn’t the singer’s first brush with Washington. For example, she spoke at the National Mall ahead of repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” called for repeal of the policy repeatedly, and exchanged tweets with Senate majority leader Harry Reid on the issue.
Gaga had said recently via Twitter that she intended to meet with the president and pledged to talk about the death of Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14-year-old boy who committed suicide after repeated bullying at his school. Rodemeyer, a big fan of Gaga’s and self-professed “little monster,” was buried this weekend in a “Born This Way” T-shirt. [courtesy: advocate.com]
As the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” becomes official today, celebrations are planned around the nation. Here’s a sampling.
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network has scheduled a flagship event in Washington, D.C., in addition to observances throughout the nation. The D.C. event will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. at K Street Lounge, with an open bar. Special guests are to include SLDN executive director Aubrey Sarvis and other military activists, such as Col. Grethe Cammermeyer, Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, Maj. Mike Almy, and OutServe cofounder J.D. Smith. Representatives from the Pentagon, Capitol Hill, and the White House are also expected.
In New York City, the historic Stonewall Inn will be the site of an SLDN-sponsored celebration from 7 to 9 p.m., featuring City Council speaker Christine Quinn, former West Point cadet Katherine Miller, a variety of military advocates, and Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey, producer-directors of the HBO film The Strange History of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Charleston, S.C.’s party will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. at Taco Boy, with Thomas C. Clark, a member of SLDN’s board of directors, in attendance. West Hollywood’s Abbey bar and restaurant will host a celebration from 6 to 9 p.m.
Former Pennsylvania congressman Patrick Murphy, a staunch supporter of DADT repeal, will appear at Philadelphia’s SLDN event, to be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at Tabu Lounge and Sports Bar. A Chicago celebration is set for 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Downtown Lounge Bar, with Jim Messina, President Obama’s 2012 campaign manager, scheduled to attend. For information on all of the above events and links to several others, click here.
Also in Chicago, according to Windy City Times, there will be an SLDN-sponsored night out at Sidetrack bar from 8 to 11 p.m., and the local chapter of American Veterans for Equal Rights is looking both back and forward, holding a traditional memorial service plus talks on what to expect in the post-DADT military era at the Center on Halsted from 6 to 7 p.m. See Windy City Times’ preview here.
In the heavily military city of Norfolk, Va., SLDN and Equality Virginia will host an event from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Waterside Festival Marketplace. Former Virginia congressman Glenn Nye, who supported repeal, and former Naval aviator Tracy Thorne-Begland, honorably discharged after coming out on Nightline, will speak. For details, click here.
In another military enclave, San Diego, events include Freedom to Serve, a party with SLDN reps and others at the the San Diego LGBT Community Center from 6 to 7 p.m.; An Evening of Service, sponsored by the local Log Cabin Republicans chapter, with Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, a candidate for San Diego mayor, at the 94th Aero Squadron from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.; and a Military Acceptance Project celebration, Salute, at Bourbon Street, featuring food, drink, awards, and prizes, from 7 to 10 p.m. More information is available from LGBT Weekly.
Up north in San Francisco, there will be a ceremonial celebration at 12:30 p.m. at the San Francisco War Memorial, then an evening cocktail party at the city’s LGBT Center from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. See details here.
And it’s not strictly repeal-related, but Portland, Ore.’s annual Veterans Stand Down and Job Fair will have special significance for gay service members and vets this year. Veterans for Human Rights and SLDN are joining in the event, sponsored by several veterans’ and social service groups, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Oregon Convention Center. Go here for more info.
Don’t see your city here? Not to worry — there are celebrations in many other locations. The SLDN website has a search facility for finding an event in your area. [courtesy: advocate.com]
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – He won’t be riding the main float during Pride, but Clint Eastwood doesn’t care if same-sex couples get married.
In the October issue of GQ Magazine, the steely gazed slab of machismo says he doesn’t think gay marriage should be such a controversial issue.
“These people who are making a big deal about gay marriage?” Eastwood tells the magazine. “I don’t give a fuck about who wants to get married to anybody else! Why not?! We’re making a big deal out of things we shouldn’t be making a deal out of … Just give everybody the chance to have the life they want.”
The Oscar-winning director is promoting “J. Edgar,” his biopic about J. Edgar Hoover, the controversial longtime FBI chief, who many suspected to be closeted.
Leonardo DiCaprio, who stars as the bureau chief, also thinks that the gay marriage debate has been overblown.
“That’s the most infuriating thing — watching people focus on these things,” DiCaprio told GQ. “Meanwhile, there’s the onset of global warming and these incredibly scary and menacing things with the future of our economy.”
Though DiCaprio is a prominent supporter of liberal causes and candidates, Eastwood is known as one of Hollywood’s few Republicans. However, he maintains that his attitude is in keeping with his political beliefs.
“I was an Eisenhower Republican when I started out at 21, because he promised to get us out of the Korean War,” Eastwood tells the magazine. “And over the years, I realized there was a Republican philosophy that I liked. And then they lost it. And libertarians had more of it. Because what I really believe is, let’s spend a little more time leaving everybody alone.”
“J. Edgar” hits theaters on November 9. It’s written by Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”), an openly gay screenwriter who has been active in the marriage equality movement.
