the gay boy record party: august 1, 2011

haven't we been here before? this could possibly be a repeat a post from a while back, but i don't really give a rats. these are the songs i love so much, and that prove to the world that i am a proud, white, dork from the midwest who grew up surrounded by really sappy pop music in the 70's. i'm happy to count these songs among my all time, desert island favorites. and i am so not kidding. (these videos were not chosen because of their video content, but because they contained the best quality audio.)

WARNING: by watching these videos, your opinion of me may either be indelibly altered forever... or totally, happily confirmed.

"my son is gay."

"Or he’s not. I don’t care. He is still my son. And he is 5. And I am his mother. And if you have a problem with anything mentioned above, I don’t want to know you."

a 5 year old dresses as daphne from scooby-doo for halloween. from nerdy apple bottom.

what have you done for me lately?

democratic national committee treasurer andrew tobias provides a list of 42 accomplishments of the obama administration and the democratic congress toward lgbt equality.

attack of the gay millionaires

this is not the daily show. it's oklahoma:

dear gays,

can we please stop with the johnny weir stuff?

aaron sorkin to the rescue

synopsis: theatre critic claims well-known actor is too gay to play straight (and in fact, all gay actors are too gay to play straight.) well-known actor's well-known co-star publicly comes to his defense. the entire internet comes crashing down on theatre critic. even the gayest show on television comes crashing down on theatre critic.

personally, i think there's some serious self-loathing going on by the theatre critic (newsweek's ramin setoodeh) but i'm happy to let aaron sorkin have the last word:

Gay actors are in absolutely no danger of losing parts in Broadway shows, so if it were me, I'd re-direct my anger to the real problem. The honest-to-God, no kidding around, small-minded, mean-spirited, hysterically frightened, pig-ignorant bigots who don't think homosexuals are fit to get married, adopt children or fight and die for their country. The ones who hold signs saying "God Hates Fags." Those people aren't in the backwoods of Idaho, they're in Congress. Fight THEM. I'll help.

the whole sorkin response is well worth the read.

obama honors mama

an excerpt from the president's proclamation honoring mothers and mother's day:

"Whether adoptive, biological, or foster, mothers share an unbreakable bond with their children, and Americans of all ages and backgrounds owe them an immeasurable debt.

Nurturing families come in many forms, and children may be raised by two parents, a single mother, two mothers, a step-mom, a grandmother, or a guardian. Mother's Day gives us an opportunity to celebrate these extraordinary caretakers, mentors, and providers who have made us who we are. As we honor today's mothers, we also reflect upon the memory of those who have passed, and we renew our commitment to living the values they cultivated in us."

methinks thou dost protest too much*

ladies, keep this in mind the next time your guy makes some crass, homophobic crack. or the next time your elected representative votes against lgbt legislation. or the next time your church official...well. you get the idea:

In 1996, three researchers from the University of Georgia published a study in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology about the links between homophobia and homosexual arousal.

The authors, Henry E. Adams, Lester W. Wright, Jr., and Bethany A. Lohr, started with 35 straight men identified as homophobic and 29 straight men that were not. Both groups were shown heterosexual, lesbian and gay male porn while their erectile responses were measured.

“Only the homophobic men showed an increase in penile erection to male homosexual stimuli,” reported the researchers.

*this is a common "misquote." certainly tuesdaysblog readers know the correct version, and where it comes from. right?

draggin' peecrust out the closet...

...even if he's not in it. poor guy's been called many things on this blog, including the most appropriate moniker gaysey gaysome. the daily beast's thaddeus russel has a great suggestion for peecrust:

Even if he is heterosexual, Ryan Seacrest should consider being gay.

The Idol host, whose erratic behavior this season has intensified the speculation about his personal life, is hounded about his sexuality even outside the show.

At the 2009 Oscars, where Seacrest worked the red carpet for E!, co-host Jay Manuel, the openly gay makeup artist and star of America's Next Top Model, noted Seacrest's unabashed enthusiasm for one actress' gown. With a smile, Manuel told the audience that "Ryan was loving that dress" then asked his colleague, "fashion's your favorite subject, right, Ryan?"

And when Seacrest served as substitute host on CNN's Larry King Live he received a most unwelcome compliment from CNN anchor Anderson Cooper:

ophelia so bad for yourself!

"Instead of drowning yourself, you're gonna write a sad poem in your journal and move on!"

the second city's brian gallivan thinks ophelia (and shakespeare's other leading ladies) might fare a little differently if they had a sassy gay friend.







(hat tip scampini/wickey/mitchell/braun/tsikalas)

no bearing on a member's ability to perform

60% of iraq / afghanistan vets say don't ask, don't tell repeal is not a big deal.

philip seymour hoffman's boyfriend

ewan mcgregor speculates about life with a boyfriend (instead of a wife of 15 years and three daughters.)

"I'd like to be Philip Seymour Hoffman's boyfriend. I think we'd make a good couple. We'd look good, we'd look slightly odd and we'd go to interesting parties and people would be interested in us.  I don't know him, but I'd like to be his boyfriend."

oh go on. who would you pick?

sean hayes: i was never in.

sean hayes (sort of) tells the advocate he's gay and absolutely nobody is surprised.

i know you are, but what am i?

americans don't mind homosexuals, but they like gays and lesbians better:

In [a new CBS News/ New York Times] poll, 59 percent say they now support allowing "homosexuals" to serve in the U.S. military, including 34 percent who say they strongly favor that.

But the numbers differ when the question is changed to whether Americans support "gay men and lesbians" serving in the military. When the question is asked that way, 70 percent of Americans say they support gay men and lesbians serving in the military.

(hat tip laurin)

a true, obligatory homosexual

if only my dad had loved me more, been more affectionate, more warm, more supportive.

this is one of the messages from cbs reports: the homosexuals, a 1967 special hosted by 60 minutes' mike wallace. i was four. these messages were broadcast into my living room. messages to my parents, my friends, my family, and me.

"Most Americans are repelled by the mere notion of homosexuality. A CBS News survey shows that 2 out of 3 Americans look upon homosexuals with disgust, discomfort or fear – 1 out of 10 says hatred.

A vast majority believe that homosexuality is an illness, only 10% say it is a crime. And yet – and here's the paradox – a majority of Americans favor legal punishment, even for homosexual acts performed in private, between consenting adults.

The homosexual, bitterly aware of his rejection, responds by going underground.

The fact that somebody is homosexual – a true obligatory homosexual – automatically rules out the possibility that he will remain happy for long."

the 45-minute special is well worth watching. if only for old time's sake.


(hat tip the advocate)

tweet of the day

quote of the day

"I began to understand, even in grammar school, that somehow I was profoundly different.

No one comes up to you and tells you you're African American, or Jewish American, or Irish American. You discover your gay by yourself. And I was going to the public library and looking for 'What is homosexuality?' and what are it's origins and how is it described.

Well it was all horrific. It was apocalyptic, it was a curse.

I accepted all those messages of shame, and messages of hate, messages of ignorance. But you realize it's intrinsic. It's who and what you are. And so you deny this thing.

But what happens is it comes out. And it comes out in dark places. You begin to believe that it is shameful because your acting, for me, in shameful ways. I mean, where am I having sex? I'm having sex in back alleys of abandoned synagogues, I'm having sex in rest stops.

The fact is my straight friends were picking up their girlfriends in bars and at parties and doing it wherever. I didn't have that opportunity – to do it in public ways that were healthy, that were safe, and that were accepted. And so by doing it in secret, closeted ways, I believe it is unhealthy for the psychology, it is unhealthy for the being, and it is unhealthy for the soul."

– jim mcgreevy
former governor of new jersey

"those things aren't going to change."

it's a curious moment, when another person explains to you "the reasons you're gay." curious, and akin to being told you were born with brown eyes that eventually turned blue because of something in your past. the good news, they often suggest, is that there are places you can go, people you can turn to, who will make your eyes not blue make you not gay.

ryan kendall's parents sent him to an "ex-gay ministry" for "reparative therapy" when he was 13 years old. kendall recounted those experiences for the prop 8 trial on wednesday, beginning with this disclaimer:

"I'm gay, I'm short, and half Hispanic. Those things aren't going to change."

surely kendall met some "successful" patients during conversion therapy, the defense attorney suggested.

"During one of our group therapy sessions, [the doctor] trotted out his perfect patient, a guy named Kelly," Kendall said. "But after [the doctor] left, Kelly told me that he was going out to a gay bar that night."

The gallery erupted in laughter.

religious dispatches has more.

"i'm already an honorary lesbian."

maureen dowd had a chat with ted olson and david boies this week.

It has been quite a journey for Ted Olson. He’s gone from being the conservative lawyer who helped crown W. by winning the Bush v. Gore case before the Supreme Court, to being a lesbian.

“Maureen,” he told me in his gravelly voice, “one of the biggest lesbian groups in this country told me I’m already an honorary lesbian.”

olson and boies were arch-rivals during bush v. gore (boies represented vice president al gore.) now they're a team, fighting to overturn california's proposition 8.

boies:

"You can be a child molester and get married. You can be a wife beater and get married. You can be a child-support scofflaw and get married. The importance of that emotional relationship is so vital to the pursuit of happiness that even prison felons, who aren’t really procreating, have a right to get married.”

but yes, let's protect the sanctity of marriage.

in case you missed it, olson recently penned a must-read piece for newsweek – the conservative case for gay marriage. and prop8trialtracker.com is providing essential live-blogging of the landmark trial.

prop 8 challenge to be youtubed

from the san jose mercury news:

A judge today approved a limited form of broadcasting the trial in the legal challenge to California's ban on same-sex marriage, concluding it is the type of case that warrants breaking with traditions that generally ban cameras in federal courts.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker approved court-operated cameras in his courtroom for delayed release on YouTube, but rejected a bid by media organizations to televise the proceedings themselves for live broadcast.

Walker rejected the arguments of Proposition 8's defenders, who opposed any broadcast of the proceedings outside the San Francisco federal building. It was not clear from Walker's remarks how long the delay would be for the video to be posted on the Internet.

the fun begins on monday.