Huffington Post Gay Voices Goes Queer

In a recent edition of Friday's ‘I Didn’t Say It,’ I posted a quote from Ricky Martin saying he’d like to have sex with a woman:

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

And I put in my Two Cents, as I am apt to …

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

Well, this riled up Anonymous, who tried to take me to task:

“Calling Ricky Martin a "Queer" is vicious and mean. That is the word that most of us were called when we were growing up. Many of us still bear the emotional scars.

In the past, you have used that term before as an insult to people gay and straight. I can only conclude that you do not like yourself or other gay men.”

After I finished laughing at the idea I replied:

“@Anonymous [if that's your real name]

Yes, you're right! I am a self-loathing gay man.

Have you READ my blog and focused on anything other than that word? Ever heard of taking the word back?

You don't like it, don't use it.

You don't like to read it, don't come back here.

I'm here, I'm queer, get used to it.”

Well, now it seems like our friend Anonymous might have to stay away from the Huffington Post because this week they changed the name of one section from ‘Gay Voices’ to ‘Queer voices.’

Queer. And here’s why they did it …

“Our name change comes four-and-a-half years after we originally debuted as HuffPost Gay Voices — and after countless conversations with countless people, both inside and outside of the HuffPost newsroom.

Though I've had my own love affair with the word "queer" for as long as I can remember (more on that in a minute), at the time of our launch in 2011 some people felt that the term was too controversial, too divisive and, because of its history as a slur, perhaps just too painful to use. 

Instead, we settled on HuffPost Gay Voices … Though it wasn't my first choice, I have to admit, at the time, there was something radical about seeing that instantly recognizable three-letter word proudly emblazoned on one of the most-read websites in the world.

A lot has changed since then … and we believe that this is an especially critical time for queer people and the queer movement to regroup and redefine its mission in the wake of these incredible, once unimaginable changes to the political and cultural landscape. We hope that HuffPost Queer Voices can be a place where discussions about where we're headed, what matters to us and how we can become the best possible, most authentic versions of ourselves as queer people -- and as a community -- can take place on a daily basis.

We, like many others before us, have chosen to reclaim "queer" and to rename the section HuffPost Queer Voices because we believe that word is the most inclusive and empowering one available to us to speak to and about the community — and because we are inspired by all of the profound possibilities it holds for self-discovery, self-realization and self-affirmation. We also revere its emphasis on intersectionality, which aids in creating, building and sustaining community while striving to bring about the liberation of all marginalized people, queer or not.

"Queer" functions as an umbrella term that includes not only the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people of "LGBT," but also those whose identities fall in between, outside of or stretch beyond those categories, including genderqueer people, intersex people, asexual people, pansexual people, polyamorous people and those questioning their sexuality or gender, to name just a few. These groups have been and will continue to be featured on The Huffington Post, however now the section dedicated to these identities will be inclusive not only in scope but also in name.

We will also continue to present, cover and provide opportunities for conversations about topics that we believe to be patently queer and that we feel do not receive enough attention from mainstream or queer media including: non-traditional gender expressions and experiences, non-traditional sexualities, sex positivity, queer homeless youth, HIV/AIDS, the fight for global queer rights and expression, sex work and sex workers, romantic and non-romantic relationships, non-traditional families, the intersections of race, gender, class and sexualities and more.

As ecstatic as we are about our new name, we understand and respect that for some people, "queer" conjures up incredibly intimate and wholly negative associations and memories. We have no intention of telling anyone what words they should or shouldn't use to define themselves or their community. That's a personal, powerful and important choice. Our hope, however, is that those who have been hurt by this word or believe it to be solely derogatory can understand how we are employing it and why (for some useful resources related to the word "queer," look below).

My own first encounter with the word was being called "a queer" by my hunky neighborhood garbage man (he was all muscles and mustache -- totally my type at the time) when I was just five years old after I snuck outside to perform (what I guess I then imagined to be) a seductive dance for him in my underwear. Too innocent to understand that he was using the word against me, I ran inside and proudly told my dad what had happened. Before my dad, visibly upset, could make his way more than a few feet toward the front door, he stopped and turned back to face me, stunned, when he heard me say, "It's OK. I like being a queer."

Of course I had no idea what was really going on -- I simply thought "queer" referred to someone who was magnificently, extraordinarily different and that sounded like a pretty magical way to live my life.

As we at HuffPost Queer Voices see it, the end goal of the queer movement has never been about assimilation or becoming just like everyone else. We're proud of our queerness -- our glittering otherness -- and we want to be treated with the same dignity and afforded the same rights and humanity as everyone else while our magnificent, extraordinary differences remain intact to be honored and celebrated.

We hope you feel the same way and that no matter who you are or how you identify, you'll help us celebrate this new beginning. And we want to say thank you for joining us on this journey. We wouldn't be who we are or have gotten this far without our incredibly passionate readers. We hope you'll stick around because we can't wait to show you -- and to see for ourselves -- what happens next. 

We're here! We're queer! Get into it! 

The HuffPost Queer Voices Team

Noah Michelson, Editorial Director

Curtis M. Wong, Senior Editor

JamesMichael Nichols, Deputy Editor

Michelangelo Signorile, Editor-at-Large”

Queer. That’s me, in every sense of the word. So have a queer weekend; I know I will.

Huffington Post

This One Makes Me Smile ... A Good Way To Start The Weekend

This post if taken verbatim from Huffington Post Gay Voices and was written by Dave — no last name given — who calls himself “Husband, father, and intergalactic being of energy only on this plane of existence for a brief time.”

It’s a nice way to start a holiday weekend …

When you have a well-documented, young, gay son, you get a lot of questions. Everything from, "How does he know he's gay?" to "Are you sure he's gay?" to "No, really, HOW ARE YOU SURE?". And now that it's been almost four years since he "came out of the closet," (we need a new phrase for kids who announce their orientation when they've never been in a closet. Nor ever knew there was a closet in which to get stuck in) after people ignore our answers to those first three questions, they begin to ask questions about puberty, everyone's least favorite metamorphic bodily change. "Well, he's going to be in puberty soon, sooooooo..." followed by a bunch of eyebrow wagging, hand waving and leering smiles, anything to avoid the term "butt sex," the only thing people who ask questions like this seem to know/care about when it comes to gay men.

Our kid is not having sex, of any kind, yet. Although he's as tall as a 14-year-old, he's 10 and so far, puberty has involved emotional outbursts and stinking really bad after sweating (and the seven hairs on his upper lip he calls his mustache -- Fredrick Nietzsche he's not). It was the stinky part that got us into a situation the other day.

He and I have been playing tennis each day this summer and afterwards, we had to take showers, regardless of his protests that he doesn't need one. He was getting out of the shower one day when we realized we needed dog supplies and my wife, Amelia, threw him the top shirt off the pile of folded, clean laundry on the table in front of her. He pulled it on as we loaded the three boys into the Wagon Queen Family Truckster and headed out.

As I drove to the store, Amelia kept the kids busy talking about how we were not buying any hamsters, birds, fish, turtles or even feeder crickets as pets. Suddenly, she turned around and told me to look at his shirt. I moved the rearview mirror down and saw, on his white shirt, six-inch tall, black letters that said, "Likes Boys," just like one of his favorite Glee characters wore on the show. Uh-oh.

While we live in an island of blue in a very red state, our young boy wearing this shirt is still a political act, a statement that many of our fellow citizens do not agree with.After my wife started writing about our eldest's coming out, we received many negative reactions, so we know firsthand not everyone is OK with gay people, especially very young gay people. And now our son was wearing a shirt that shouted to the world how his heart leaned. It is a shirt he has owned for years, but one we have very subtlety controlled when he wore, because he should not have to deal with people's questions and comments during a trip to the store. Would people be cool or major jerk faces? We had to be prepared for the worst without letting him know what was going through our minds. We have always felt there was nothing wrong with him, and we weren't about to make him think that had changed now.

I've always called the pet store the poor man's zoo, and our kids love to watch all the little animals run in wheels, or swim or hang out on plastic tree limbs and crap everywhere, so we decided that I would take the kids to the animals and the wife would get what we had come for. I'm 6'4'' and people tend to keep their stupid opinions to just words and nothing physical when I stand by my kids. If it was only that easy all the time.

Our 5-year-old immediately ran over to the rescue cats in their cages in one part of the store, our 8-year-old wanted to watch the turtles be all turtlely, and our eldest was going to see what the hamsters were up to. Oh, to be three places at once. I was able to herd them together just in time for our eldest to roam off and find his mom. I shoveled the other kids in his direction and we got to shopping. We had been there for nearly five minutes and nothing horrible had happened. Yet.

And then, things did start to happen: smiles. People would look at his shirt as he looked at dog toys and they smiled. The fuzzy-headed lady with the tennis ball-sized dog, the couple loaded down with all the cat equipment you can legally buy at one time and the lady who checked us out all smiled at him. At us.

Maybe they smiled because he looks older and they can accept a 14-year-old gay boy more than a gay 10-year-old child. Maybe they smiled because attitudes are changing and our society is starting to accept that if people are born gay, there are gay babies and gay toddlers and gay little kids. Maybe they didn't even notice the shirt and they just smiled at my enthusiastic young son. As we make strides legally (thank you, Supreme Court!) and more people all over the country see LGBT people as just people -- people at home owner association meetings, taking up space on the bus, arguing with their partners in the store about what kind of jelly to buy -- hopefully, there will be more smiles for all the gay kids out there just wanting to live their lives, tell their parents their music sucks and that they just don't understand.

Perhaps things are getting better and we're just getting to the age where our gay boy is just another gay kid. It would be nice to think of him as just another kid, but maybe that's asking too much too soon. For now, I'll take the smiles.

Happy 4th of July. Have a Faboosh weekend, y'all!

Vacation Post: Broadway's Best Gay Showmances

by Kevin Burrows, for HuffPost Gay Voices

Last Friday, while surfing through the major Broadway websites, I came across a feature entitled "''Til There Was You': Broadway's Best Showmances." It was a collection of stories of 18 Broadway couples who fell in love while performing in or working on the same show. As I scrolled through the slideshow with the love stories and images of these couples -- most of whom I know -- I started feeling uneasy. And by the time I got to the end of the article, I was astounded. Of the couples depicted, not one of them was a same-sex couple.

How could this be? I mean, I'm pretty sure most people are aware of this (and even if people aren't, this major Broadway website certainly must be), but there are quite a few gay individuals in the Broadway community. I know, shocker, right?

I can easily rattle off a long list of same-sex couples who met on shows in New York or while in touring productions, including me and my husband. And most of these couples have been together for years, jumping at the opportunity to wed when the state of New York was brave enough to vote on and pass marriage equality into law.

The irony of being excluded from this piece was not lost on me. After all, we're not included onstage, so how could we possibly be included offstage? While many of the depicted romances occurred between men and women who were portraying couples, not one of the same-sex couples (again, including my husband and me) were afforded that opportunity. Aside from a small handful of gay-related shows, there are very few same-sex love stories being depicted onstage. This pissed me off. In fact, as I ran down the list of the same-sex couples I knew, I realized that none of us had been romantic pairings onstage. Our love stories included a Shark and a Jet, a stage manager and a chorus dancer, a musical director and a showgirl, and, in my own case, a straight, male-chauvinist cartoon character and a fork. (Perhaps the editor of the piece was concerned that my own pairing was a little too close to that marriage equality "slippery slope" we keep hearing about?)

Are our relationships somehow less than because we didn't have that magical opportunity to fall in love while pretending to do so onstage? Or worse: Is there some reason that our committed and loving relationships should be hidden away from theater-going audiences?

I thought about that gay, theater-loving kid in some small town somewhere -- this website offering him some hope and a connection to a potentially bright future -- seeing this feature and not seeing himself represented in any way. Once again, something is making him feel different, other, alone.

I want that kid to know that we are out here. And not only are we out here, but we are out here in huge numbers. We have fantastic, successful careers, relationships, marriages, and kids! That's what I want the next generation to see:

Kevin Burrows And Christopher Sieber

Kevin and Christopher met doing Beauty and the Beast in 2000. They have been together ever since and will have been married two years this November. Christopher is a two-time Tony Award nominee for his roles in Monty Python's Spamalot and Shrek: The Musical. Most recently he starred in the revival of La Cage Aux Folles.

Alec Mapa And Jamison Hebert

Actor Alec Mapa and producer Jamison Hebert, co-founder of Thought Moment Media, met in 2002 when Mapa was doing his solo show Dramaat Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum; Hebert was the directing intern on the production. They've been together 11 years and are proud fathers to their 8-year-old son Zion. 

Andy Monroe And George DeMarco

George DeMarco met Andy Monroe (composer of the Outer Critics Circle Award-winning musicalThe Kid, based on the book by Dan Savage) when they collaborated on a musical production of The Tragic and Horrible Life of the Singing Nun. As of Sept. 1 they will have been together for seven years.

Jenifer Foote And Tracy Geltman

Jenifer Foote (Broadway actor, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Follies, Rock of Ages, A Chorus Line) and Tracy Geltman (company manager, Broadway's If/Then, Peter and the Starcatcher,The Addams Family, Rock of Ages) met in 2010 while working on Rock of Ages. Tracy was the show's company manager, and Jenifer was the dance captain. In typical "showmance" form, they tried to keep their relationship a secret from the rest of the company (probably unsuccessfully) for as long as possible. Now they very happily live together on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. 

Charlie Sutton And Mark Myers

Charlie and Mark met in February 2004. Mark was the dance captain of Wicked, which had just opened. Charlie came in as the first vacation swing. They spent hours together as Mark taught Charlie all the tracks to the show. They went on their first date a month later and have now been together for nine and a half years. The couple live together and have a 4-year-old dog named Parker. 

Claybourne Elder And Eric Rosen

The couple met in Kansas City, Mo., in 2009, when Clay was cast by director Moisés Kaufman in Into the Woods at Kansas City Rep, where Eric is Artistic Director. Near the end of the run, the two had their first date, and thus began a multi-city romance that culminated in an engagement proposal by Clay in July 2011. The two were married on July 28, 2012, in a wedding officiated by Doug Wright and Moisés Kaufman. 

Subsequent celebrations were held in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Kansas City, Mo., in August 2012. They now split their time between the West Side of Kansas City, Mo., and the Upper West Side of New York, N.Y., continuing their multi-city romance as a married couple. 

Colin Bradbury And Brian Bogin

Brian and Colin met almost six years ago working on Irving Berlin's White Christmas in Boston in 2007. Brian is a stage manager, and Colin is a performer. They were married on March 20, 2013. The legal ceremony was held in New York, but the wedding was celebrated on the island of Curacao in the Caribbean. 

David Eggers And Eric Sciotto

David Eggers and Eric Sciotto met doing the 1999 Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette Peters. They started dating in the summer of 2001 and have been together ever since. They had a civil union ceremony in New Jersey, where they reside with their two kids, Sammy (4 and a half) and Olympia (1 and a half). 

Brad Oscar And Diego Prieto

Tony Award nominee Brad Oscar (The Producers) met husband Diego Prieto in 2005 on the first day of rehearsals for Damn Yankees at Arena Stage. It was Diego's second show at Arena and Brad's first, and they have been together ever since! They were recently married at Arena Stage by the theater's artistic director, Molly Smith. They currently live in Manhattan, and Brad is about to open in Big Fish on Broadway come the fall. 

Jeanne Smith And Pam Young

Jeanne and Pam met in the San Francisco company of Les Misérables in 1989; Jeanne was in the cast, and Pam was the production stage manager. They flirted for weeks, laughed a lot and became a couple within three months. The happy couple has been together for nearly 24 years and are more in love than ever! 

Gary Beach And Jeff Barnett

Tony Award-winner Gary Beach (The Producers) and husband Jeff Barnett met in San Francisco in 1989, when they were doing the first production ofLes Misérables there. Gary was playing Thenardier, and Jeff was a swing. They ran in the show for a year and half, fell in love with each other at the beginning of the run and have been together ever since, 24 years! The couple wed on June 14, 2013, in New York City. They now live in Palm Beach Gardens in Florida, and both still perform.

Gavin Lodge And Todd Ellison

Broadway conductor Ellison and actor Lodge have been together for the last nine years, since they worked together on 42nd Street. They now have two little boys via surrogacy, Ellison and 3-month-old Colton. They are both currently on Broadway in Annie (and incredibly sleep-deprived thanks to wonderful Colton!). 

Josh Rhodes And Lee Wilkins

The couple met 18 years ago while both were on tour in Costa Mesa, Calif.; a friend set them up on a date, and the rest has been a long, wonderful life together. Josh left his Broadway dancer life behind to become a choreographer around five years ago, and Lee has been working by his side ever since. Together they created the choreography for the Broadway production ofCinderella and the brand-new Broadway musicalFirst Date. The couple were married in front of family and friends in 2006 and made it legal once marriage equality was voted into law in New York. 

J.P. Christensen And David Rosales

The couple has been together for 19 years, having met doing a show at Tokyo Disneyland in 1994. They soon moved to New York, where they performed in multiple Broadway shows, includingCats, Fosse, A Christmas Carol, and Thoroughly Modern Millie. They also went on tour with Catsand have traveled all over the world performing together. The couple hopes to be married on their 20th anniversary next September. While they have no human kids, they count five dogs as part of their family.

Benjamin Taylor And Nathan Till

The two met in the West End while working onTaboo in 2002. Nathan was playing Steve Strange, and Benjamin was the resident director. They've been together ever since. 

Rich Roland And Raymond Sage

Raymond Sage and Rich Roland met while in the cast of the first national tour of Titanic: A New Musical in 1998. They started dating shortly thereafter, in March 1999, and have been together ever since. They married legally in Pasadena, Calif., in August 2008. Rich is now a full-time director, and Raymond is an Associate Professor of Voice for Musical Theatre at Penn State. However, Raymond still performs, and Rich has directed him in two productions recently: Urinetown and Ragtime. They split their time between their apartment in Manhattan and their farmhouse just outside State College, Pa., with their two Labrador Retrievers, Diggory and Finn. 

Sean McDaniel And Ben Cohn

Sean McDaniel and Ben Cohn are both Broadway musicians. Ben is currently the assistant conductor at Wicked, and Sean is the drummer atThe Book of Mormon. The couple has been together for 14 years and have a 1-year-old son named Allister. They have worked together two other times, on 9 to 5 and The Book of Mormon.

Stephen Oremus And Justin Bohon

Tony Award-winner Stephen Oremus (Kinky Boots) and husband Justin Bohon met doing All Shook Up in Chicago in 2005, then went on to do9 to 5 and The Book of Mormon together. The couple has been together for eight and a half years and married for two.

Michael Caprio And Randy Slovacek

Randy and Michael met at the recording session for the 1994 cast recording of the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! starring Carol Channing; Michael was VP of Publicity at Varese Sarabande Records, and Randy was in the cast of the show. In October they will celebrate 19 years together. In addition, they have been married twice: once in Canada and again in Palm Springs in 2008 before Prop 8 passed in California. Michael currently runs his own PR film, Caprio Media Design, while Randy directs and choreographs in the theater  world. You can read his blog, The Randy Report, which covers LGBT issues, entertainment and politics, at TheRandyReport.com.

Chad Lewis And Tom Bartlett

Chad Lewis and Tom Bartlett met several years ago on the Broadway musical adaptation of Monty Python's Spamalot. Chad was a stage manager of the Broadway production, and Tom was the stage manager of the Las Vegas version. They remained friends for many years before teaming up on the touring show of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, where their friendship turned into partnership. They add: 

It has been amazing to tour the country with each other, experiencing the amazing journey together. We feel very blessed to be able to share not only the wonderful work that we do in the theater together but also the beautiful gift of traveling. 

This photo of us was taken in a cabin way on top of a mountain in Mt. Charlston, just outside of Las Vegas. It was taken the morning of Tom's birthday, and it's our very favorite picture together.

Good News Friday #2: A Father's Reaction to His Very Young Gay Son

If you haven't read Amelia's stories on HuffPo about her seven-year-old-son, who has a crush on Glee's Blaine, you've missed something really special. The story of a mother whose son may be gay and how she handles it. [see story HERE]. But, what about the father? How does a father feel when his seven-year-old son announces that he's gay?
Listen up:

Over the past few months my wife, HuffPost blogger Amelia, has been asked numerous times what I think about our 7-year-old son identifying as gay.

This is not something I thought I'd be writing so soon (OK, honestly, I never thought I would be writing a blog on an internationally known news website). When my wife and I were expecting our first child, we discussed what we would do if he or she were born with a disability or with a foot growing out of his or her head. Dealing with a child with a disability would be a life-changing event and something that we had to think about a lot. Possibly having a gay son or daughter wasn't like that. We didn't even have to discuss it, because it wouldn't be a problem. Although the head-foot would need to be dealt with immediately, we assumed we had 15 years or so before any of our kids said they were gay.

You know what they say about assuming: it makes all the asses come out in the comment sections of blogs -- people who don't know anything about my son other than the few guarded things my wife has written, and yet they seem to think they know so much. Let me say that most of the comments have been very supportive, and it's great to see the same people come to Ameila's defense whenever the occasional jerk butts into the conversation with some homophobic ideas. And many of jerk-butts (and some of the normal people, too) want to know what I think about this whole "gay thing."

The idea that I would be immediately disappointed/angry/suicidal that my son identifies as gay offends me, both as a father and simply as a human. It seems the further we all move along into the 21st century in terms of technology, the more some parts of society regress to the 1950s -- or the Victorian era, if we're being honest -- when it comes to ideas of social mores and attitudes on certain subjects: Ward Cleaver would have been angry if the Beaver had come out of the closet, so surely a father 60 years later would have the same reaction. I mean, come on, that's only common sense!

Excuse me while I roll my eyes for an hour or two.

I don't see how a father, or any parent, can look at their son, the one they've loved since before the child was even born, and upon hearing him say, "Dad, I'm gay," turn their back on him. The comments from men much older than me telling stories just like that break my heart. My wife always wants to adopt the teenage kids who write to her; I want to adopt the 60-year-old men who cry when they read that I tell my son how awesome he is. I don't care if they are as old as my father; they deserve love just as much as anyone else.

So many of the negative comments have been funny to Amelia and me because the people writing them obviously don't know our son. "Isn't your son's father going to miss teaching him sports?" "Isn't not having your child get married going to just break your heart?" "How does his father react to the prancing flamer that your son must be?"

First of all, as I write this, my shoulder is sore from throwing a football with him earlier. He loves sports (American Football is his favorite), and he can throw a really nice spiral, especially for a 7-year-old (although if he grows up to be my size, he'll either be a fine defensive end or the heaviest quarterback in the history of the NFL). And again, he's 7: as far as he's concerned, he's going to play all the positions -- at the same time. And if tomorrow he wants to start ballet classes, we will go to all his recitals and cheer him on just as loudly as if he were on the 50-yard line.

Getting married is up to him; single or married, he's still my son. If he and his maybe-some-day-far-far-in-the-future boyfriend want to tie the knot, they just need to tell his mother and me where to be, and we'll be there. Hopefully by then they can get married in whichever state they want, but if not, we'll just travel to one of the cool states and have a great time.

And the "flamer" comments... where to begin? Do effeminate men exist? Of course. Are all gay men effeminate? Of course not. But does it matter? Whether he grows up to be the manliest man in all mandom or the most effeminate guy to ever hit the drag-show circuit, he is my son. I want him to be loved, comfortable with himself and his friends, and happy. If that means he's the next RuPaul or Joe Montana (or just that nice guy in Accounts Receivable), he will know that being himself is important, no matter who he ends up growing into. And he will always know that his father loves him.

If these are the parents of future generations of gay and straight, and questioning, kids, then I've suddenly become aware that we'll be all right.

via HuffPo

Random Musings

Careful when listening to the radio these days.
A U.K.-based radio station's programmers are feeling the heat this week after they, ahem, inadvertently aired five minutes of a gay porn soundtrack.
Yup, Jazz FM, which focuses on light jazz, standards and occasional blues, mistakenly aired a recording of what sounded like "two British men in a mostly wordless, but fairly graphic, exchange" on Sunday.
Mike Vitti, the station's head of programming, apologized for the porn gaffe: "Unfortunately we had an unauthorized access to the live feed this evening which resulted in a highly regrettable incident. Please accept our profound and sincere apologies for any offence that may have been caused.”
One man's offense is another man's, er, well, you know......

So, I'm still watching Smash.
I love a good show tune as well as the next queen, and, as Carlos likes to say, "It's Glee for adults."
What that says about the fact that we both also like Glee, I do not know, but....
I am still not really liking Katharine MacPhee. She doesn't come off as naive farmgirl making her way in the Big Apple; she comes off as schemer.
But I am liking Brit actor Raza Jaffrey, who plays her boyfriend.
Cute and English. 
And I does loves me an accent.

2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, which was created to honor and remember those who have passed from the virus.
I remember seeing the Quilt in Miami many years ago, and, knowing I'd be moved, but feeling shock as I walked through the convention center looking at just a partial exhibition, and wiping away tears as I read from the panels.
It was one of those Never Forget moments: 

Billy Graham's son, Franklin, says that not only is Obama not a Christian, according to Islamic law, he's a Muslim. 
Yes, he's waving that tired old flag.
Of course, to Little Franky Graham, Mittsy is also not a Christian.
And, if these things were true, that's bad because......?
Who knows. All I know is that the wacknuts are still out there, and still spouting the same idiotic rhetoric that the mindless minions drinking Tea will use in their next foot stomp.

Seriously Top Chef? Sarah in the finale? 
She served you a dish that was nothing like her vision. A frozen piece of Ginger Mousse that didn't melt into the pasta? How does that say top chef?
Of course, now I know you're gonna give the win to Paul--who deserves it.
Sidenote: Paul has some hot thighs. Just sayin'.
Sidenote 2: Anyone else sick of Sarah's Taylor-Swift-like astonishment when she wins anything?

LGBT Best and Worst [via HuffPoGay]

The effort to legalize same-sex marriage passed a long-standing hurdle in the Maryland House of Delegates when the  House voted 71-67  to give gay couples the right to marry. The measure heads to the state Senate where last year it easily cleared the 47-member body. Governor O'Malley says he will sign it.

"Amelia," a featured HuffPost Gay Voices bloggers, offers her reaction to her 7-year-old son telling her that he's gay:"...[A few months ago] I was on the phone with a relative who had just discovered that I was blogging on The Huffington Post and openly discussing my son's crush on Blaine. I was in another room alone (I thought), explaining, "We're not saying he's straight, and we're not saying he's gay. We're saying we love who he is," when my son's voice piped up behind me."Yes, I am," he said. "Am what, baby?" I asked. "Gay. I'm gay." My world paused for a moment, and I saw the "geez, Mom, didn't you know that already?" look on my son's face. I got off the phone and leaned down to eye level with him and rubbed my nose against his. "I love you so much." "I know," he said, and ran off to play with his brothers.

HuffPost Gay Voices Editor-at-Large Michelangelo Signorile talked with wacknut Victoria Jackson at CPAC, and she had a lot on her mind:On Obama: "This president was raised marxist. His parents, his grandparents, his college professors, his whole life, he's been immersed in marxism, even his church. Jeremiah Wright did not preach Christianity. He preached black liberation theology, which is marxism disguised as religion."On Republican presidential candidates: "Republicans and the Democrats are looking the same these days. Newt Gingrich and Mitt are socialists. I think Santorum is the only conservative."On Prop 8: "We should vote on everything--of course we should vote on everything," she said, though she almost instantly changed her mind: "Oh no, I believe in a republic where we should have elected officials. Democracy turns into mob-ocracy."

The Westboro Baptist Church said it would picket Whitney Houston's funeral because they're all Christ-like, you know. And they posted pictures and stories on the website of their time at the service. Except....they weren't really there. The pictures were photoshopped. Of course that didn't stop them from releasing a parody of Houston's signature song. "I Will Always Love You", entitled "God Will Always Hate You, Whitney." So, so Christ-like.

Filed under Amazing is the news that Oklahoma has elected its first openly gay state senator, when Democratic state Congressman Al McAffrey soared to a landslide victory, besting Republican opponent Jason Reese with more than 66% of the vote. Congratulations, Al, and those people of Oklahoma who voted for you. 

Australian comedienne Magda Szubanski--best known in the US as Mrs. Hoggett, the farmer's wife in the "Babe" movies, and as the voice of Miss Viola in "Happy Feet"--announced on a national television show that she is gay: "Oh yes, yeah, absolutely...people will say, 'Why did [I] take a while to do this?' I needed to be as solid as I could be so I could do this in the strongest possible way and be really clear about myself."

Yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued its order finding that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act--the federal definition of marriage--is unconstitutional.Un-freaking-constitutional!

Now, in the Not-so-gay-but-definitely-crazy news: 

At a campaign stop in Phoenix, Rick Santorum was asked to respond to speech he made in 2008, in which he said, “Satan has his sights on the United States of America! Satan is attacking the great institutions of America, using those great vices of pride, vanity and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that have so deeply rooted in the American tradition.”
Now, he backtracks a little, leaving out Satan: “I’m a person of faith. I believe in good and evil. I think if somehow or another because you’re a person of faith you believe in good and evil is a disqualifier for president, we’re going to have a very small pool of candidates who can run for president.”
Oh, Rick, you sweater-vested-delusional-narrow-minded-homophobic-one-note. I would hazard a guess that most people believe in good and evil, good and bad, but we wouldn't use the fear of Satan infiltrating our lives to be elected to office.
And, last time I checked, evil was wearing a sweater-vest and telling everyone else how to live their lives.
M'kay, Frothy?

Lastly, after her six wins at the Grammys, Adele returned to England for the Brit awards where she won the night's top prize.
Overcome with emotion, she began her acceptance speech only to be told her time was up.
Kanye West say what?
Adele smiled sweetly, said a quick thanks and then gave a One Fingered Salute to the suits who cut her short.
Word to the wise: Do.Not.Mess.With.Adele.