I Didn't Say It ....

Ana Maria Ortiz, a member of Mexico's right wing National Action Party, on marriage equality:

"Marriage should only be considered as those relationships in which the members have sex facing each other, which does not occur between homosexual couples."

Um, think again, Ana. I mean, you seem so obsessed with the ins-n-out-s of homo-sex and yet you have no real idea how it can be done.

It’s funny when homophobes are all consumed with The Gays and how we ‘do’ it, because most gays could care less how The Straights do it.

Thomas Roberts, MSNBC host, on the GOP and their anti-marriage equality stance:

"Reince Priebus, when I got engaged, congratulated me at the White House Correspondents' weekend. Last year, Sean Spicer congratulated me on getting married to my husband. Yet they incorporate into the platform of the RNC their stance against marriage equality. It's odd, because why congratulate me? I didn't bring it up, I didn't say give me a congratulations, but they offered it. So it's odd, because then they'll go out and drumbeat that they're against marriage equality. It's weird."

It’s the hypocrisy of the GOP. To your face they’re all, Congratulations, and yet behind your back is when they show their true colors.

BTW: Sean Spicer, who is the RNC's communications director, responded thusly: "Believing marriage is between one man and one woman and being polite, courteous and respectful are not mutually exclusive."

But then why congratulate a man on doing something you work so virulently to oppose. You didn’t have to say Congratulations you could have just said Hello.

Like I said, hypocrisy.

Frank Bruni, on the rise in gay bashing:

"After all the education that we Americans have had and all the relished progress we’ve made, being gay does mean feeling constrained in situations where most people aren’t, scared in circumstances that wouldn’t frighten others in the least, self-conscious when you shouldn’t have to be. Like when you’re holding someone’s hand. It’s the sweetest, most innocent and most natural of gestures: to interlock your fingers with those of a person for whom you’re feeling a sudden rush of affection. A person you maybe love. And yet when my partner takes my hand in public in New York City, I look at the sidewalk ahead. I note how many pedestrians are coming our way, and how quickly, and whether they’re male or female, young or old, observant or distracted. And I sometimes take my hand back, wishing I were braver, wishing our world didn’t ask me to be." 

So sad to live in a world where holding the hand of the person you love could get you killed.

But that’s a fact, folks.

Masen Davis, the transgendered Executive Director of the Transgender Law Center, on Save California president, and bigot, Randy Thomasson referring to him as a 'lady':

"Thomasson’s attempt to disrespect my own gender identity by referring to me as a ‘lady’ said more about him than me (I’m no lady, and clearly he is no gentleman). I am comfortable in my own skin, and proud of my journey as a transgender man. I have heard, though, from many transgender people and allies who are very upset by his shallow attempt to mis-gender me. Failing to honor the gender identity of a transgender person is a common way for anti-equality zealots to try to undermine our credibility and humanity...I am surprised and disappointed that CNN relied on Randy Thomasson, described by Media Matters as the leader of an ‘anti-LGBT hate group,’ to discuss the passage of California’s AB1266 (the School Success and Opportunity Act). Thomasson’s extremist sentiments exemplify why transgender youth and adults alike need legal protection from discrimination and bias. I urge CNN to engage more reasoned and legitimate ‘experts’ in future segments about transgender issues."

Seriously, CNN, why ask someone who clearly hates LGBT people on to a show and discuss LGBT issues?

It’s just media pandering and trying to put on a ‘show’ rather than tell a story.

Orson Scott Card, former NOM board member, on Obama’s creation of a Secret police:

"Obama will claim we need a national police force in order to fight terrorism and crime. The Boston bombing is a useful start, especially when combined with random shootings by crazy people. Where will he get his 'national police'? The NaPo will be recruited from 'young out-of-work urban men' and it will be hailed as a cure for the economic malaise of the inner cities. In other words, Obama will put a thin veneer of training and military structure on urban gangs, and send them out to channel their violence against Obama's enemies. Instead of doing drive-by shootings in their own neighborhoods, these young thugs will do beatings and murders of people 'trying to escape' -- people who all seem to be leaders and members of groups that oppose Obama. Already the thugs who serve the far left agenda of Obama's team do systematic character assassination as a means of intimidating their opponents into silence. But physical beatings and 'legal' disappearances will be even more effective -- as Hitler and Putin and many other dictators have demonstrated over and over."

Looks like someone is trying to create a new work of fiction.

John Amaechi, openly gay retired NBA player, on the proposed boycott of the Sochi Olympics:

"Asking for a boycott is a very principled thing to do. I am with Stephen [Fry] in that the sentiment is absolutely correct – I just don’t think it’s practical – and I want to be clear…it’s a sad thing that it’s not practical because it means that people with great power have somehow lost sight of their lofty principles. It should be practical because if you look at the Olympic Charter and the seven principles of Olympianism which speak of things like human dignity; which speak of things like not allowing discrimination for any reason – if you look at those principles the Olympics shouldn’t even be in Russia in the first place." 

Too true; and I’m still hoping, perhaps in vain, that the Games can be moved to a place where The Gays aren’t subjected to such hatred, on the field or off.

Stephen Colbert, on the controversy surrounding the Sochi Olympics and Russia's anti-gay laws:

"Now this anti-gay legislation has caused outrage and in response the International Olympic Committee has bravely stood up to Putin and said, 'Whatever you want, Vlad'...All the Olympic Committee is saying is that being gay is an act of protest because what are gay men doing but boycotting women. The IOC is just asking gay athletes to knock it off for a couple of weeks. Just like at the '36 Olympic Games Hitler asked Jesse Owens to ease off on the black. Don't be so 'out there!' But to be safe I think they should bring the Olympics back to their Greek roots where nothing gay ever happened."

Word.

Funny, but true.

Sandy Rios, homophobic bigot and radio host, on God and The Gays ... and Obama and the liberals, too: 

"I would not want to be in the shoes of any of the left right now. I would not want to be in Barack Obama’s shoes. I would not want to be in the shoes of homosexual activists. I say that with humility and with fear for them because God will even the score, he will sort things out, he will be God and he will not be mocked. Whereas they think they are getting away with breaking all kinds of moral laws and mocking everyone in the process, they just don’t know God, they don’t know who they are up against and we do. And that should bring out some mercy in us because I wouldn’t want to be—what did that old evangelist say: ‘it’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.’"

So, Rios thinks God will smite The Gays, oh, and the Liberals, and Obama.

Funny thing, though, is that God is love, not hate.

Hate is reserved for people like Sandy Rios.

Lee Daniels, director of Precious and The Butler, on growing up gay and the stigma attached to homosexuality in the black community: 

"Black men can't come out. Why? Because you simply can't do it. Your family says it. Your church says it. Your teachers say it. Your parents say it. Your friends say it. Your work says it. So you're living on this 'DL' thing and you're infecting black women. And its killing us. The black culture and the Hispanic culture have a thing about [homosexuality]"

The saddest thing of all is the harm caused to young Black gay men and women who feel that they have to live in fear and shame and self-loathing. Hopefully, people, young Black gay people, will look at lee Daniels and realize that they, too, can come out, and they, too, can be themselves.

Jeremy Abbott, U.S. figure skater, who plans on staying silent about Russia's treatment of The Gays while competing there:

“Russia is hosting us. I'm not going to go into somebody's house and be like, ‘Um, the way you decorate is hideous, and you need to completely redo this or I'm never coming back.’ It's a little rude, so I don't want to say bad things about a country that's hosting the world, essentially. Maybe I don't agree with their policies, and maybe I don't agree with some things, but that's for them to sort out. My speaking out just makes me look like an ass.”

First off, Jeremy, you aren’t criticizing the way Russia decorates. You’d be criticizing a country that jails people, beats people, murders people, just for being gay. But, if you want to believe that isn’t worth talking about, then I’d ask that you simply not talk.

Your speaking out now does make you look like an ass; an ass who doesn’t care about LGBT Russians who have been brutalized or murdered.

So stay silent, but if some day, someone comes for you because of some intrinsic part of who you are,  and when you plead for help, the world has more caring people in it, and less people like Jeremy Abbott.

I Didn't Say It......

Kobe Bryant, on his 'fucking fag' slur:

"Even though I didn't mean it that way, I've since learned what that word still means to a lot of people. I went on-line myself and I did my own research and I saw and I read about kids who were committing suicide because of being teased for who they are. I don't play that. I used to beat up a lot of kids even in high school who used to tease my friends because they were gay, or because they were black, or because they were Jewish, or because they were yellow, or because they were whatever. For people who don't think my apology is sincere, they don't know me. This isn't over for me. I really plan to do more. What I said was ignorant and I really didn't realize what I was saying. Now that I do and realize how it affects people I really plan to do more and to help with the awareness."

Wow, so you had gay friends in school and beat up people who called them gay and then you grew up and called someone a fag and, well, that's just how it is, and you're being sincere when you apologize?
Keep talking, Kobe, and keep digging yourself in deeper. But if you want this to end, try saying, "I'm sorry I said something reprehensible. I'm sorry I didn't think before I spoke. I'm sorry that when someone upsets me the first thing I think of is to call them a 'fag'"
Failing that, just say,"I'm sorry"and don't do it again. Ever.


Former NBA Player, and out gay man, John Amaechi on Kobe Bryant's anti-gay slur:

"I suppose that's the typical, "I apologize if you're offended" type of comment. I doubt very much when he said that that he thought Bennie was a pile of sticks. There's only one contemporary meaning for that. The problem we have now is because of the way we don't address homophobia, the ultimate insult to a man is to tell them either they're like a woman or worse, that they're gay. We have to take it as unacceptable as a white person screaming the N-word at a black person. … I can tell you that I've been called a f——- fairly routinely, and yet people seem to hold off on calling me the N-word. We've got to mirror that progress.

I'm not interested in seeing Kobe punished. What I'm interested in is if you're really sorry, that this is a one-off mistake for you, use the power you have to make a difference. That means a proper apology and doing something with his brand. Good Lord, he's got the power with one executive decision to get people moving and do something good here. Do something good.

I've said this before and I know people think it's hyperbole, but especially in America, people look at sports stars like their gods. I keep saying every time, "If sports stars are gods it's time we see a miracle every once in a while." This is an opportunity for that....what I would want is to encourage Kobe to use the power he has to really make an apology that means something. Tell black men, men in general in America, that resorting to that sort of language is the lowest of the low and is unacceptable. And it doesn't make you any more of a man. That's really the answer. Saying you didn't mean it is not the answer."

I can't add to this.
Amaechi said it all, and much better than I could.


Marilyn Davenport, Tea Party activist and Orange County GOP committee member, on being busted for emailing an offensive "joke" with the caption: "Now you know why there's no birth certificate"--sidenote: you will not see that offensive picture on this blog:

"Oh, come on! Everybody who knows me knows that I am not a racist. It was a joke. I have friends who are black. Besides, I only sent it to a few people–mostly people I didn’t think would be upset by it. You're not going to make a big deal about this are you? It's just an Internet joke."

Oh, I get it, Marilyn.
You have black friends so you can't be racist.
Like Kobe has gay friends but still says, 'fag'?
With friends like you the Black Community doesn't need enemies.
Racism isn't funny.
Stupidity isn't an excuse.
You are a moron.

Barney Frank, on Obama's stance on DOMA:

"There are lawsuits against it that I think will win anyway, because the federal government can’t discriminate. Beyond that I don’t see anything about gay marriage happening on a federal level. More and more states will go that way, though. When they do, people will see, as with health care and the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” that there are no negative consequences. Places that have gay marriage have had none of the negative consequences that people warned us about. Zero. The divorce rate hasn’t gone up. There have been no calamities. Marriage hasn’t lost its meaning. Same-sex marriage as a divisive issue is losing its steam. Overall I think antigay prejudice is on its way out."

I'm not sure anti-gay prejudice will ever be all the way out.
Look at the racial prejudice many still feel toward the Black community, or even the Muslim community.
But I do see change, and I do see hope, and I do see more and more people understanding that my marriage, or any gay marriage, will have zero effect on their marriage.


Reese Witherspoon, on her 'disgusting'love scenes with Robert Pattinson:

"Rob possibly had the most hideous horrible cold of any co-star I've ever had to do a love scene with ever in my entire life ... He was literally snorting and snotting through every second of it -- and it was not appealing. I'm talking green, infectious, disgusting -- I'm not kidding! ... I'm going to say it's a little bit of a downer. I was a little disappointed. It wasn't sexy."

Quelle surprise.
Pattinson always looks, to me anyway, like an unwashed dog. so I can't imagine a love scene with him being sexy at all.


Robert Redford, on Sarah Palin's insinuation that higher education is elitist:

"Well....the country is made up of three categories. Traditionalists, cultural creative people and the moderns. The moderns are the hi-tech Silicon Valley people. The traditionalists on the lower end of it are the people who don't want change, they're afraid of change therefore they have anger. The fear card is a very big powerful card and when you have people afraid of change; they'll do anything to prevent it. They're doing it because they're limited, frightened of people who are not as limited. I think Sarah Palin, part of her strength is how limited she is."

Her strength is that a lot of limiuted, fearful people, think she has a clue as to what she's talking about, when clearly, she's an idiot.


Andrew Sullivan, on the long-awaited granting of his green card:

"I do not know right now what to do or say. Except to express my love and gratitude for my family and friends and husband who lived through this with me; and to those who helped lift the HIV ban; and to my lawyer who was simply magnificent; and to those who did what they could - and they know who they are - to keep this show on the road. "But I do know this. America remains the great dream, the great promise. For all its dysfunction, it remains an ideal, a place where the restlessness of the human mind and soul comes to rest in a place it constantly reinvents and forever re-imagines. I know this in my bones, perhaps more than many who take this amazing mess of a country for granted. But for the first time in my life, I do not feel somewhere in my psyche that I am displaced, unwelcome, an impostor."

Now, if we can allow gay couples, binatinal gay couples, to be treated as equally as straight binational couples, we will be headed in the right direction.

Sarah Palin, on how the media is treating Donald Trump unfairly:

"They are hammering him about the one issue that he has brought up and not been shy about and that's the birth certificate. He's merely answering reporter's questions about his view on the birth certificate and then reporters turn that around and saying that's all he's got! He's only running on a birth certificate issue when that's not the case...Donald Trump is running on the issue, bottom line, that Obama is so far over his head."

Um, Obama is in over his head?
How so, Grizzly Bore? I mean, do you have any solid evidence, or is the only thing you're grasping at Donald Trump's weave? If Trump had anything else to offer, then you know he'd be talking about that.
He's one-note, you're less than that. Seriously, when you pander to someone who is pandering to morons, what does that say about you?

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, on LGBT rights:

"I'm proud to be with you, to stand with you and pledge we will continue to work to fulfill the aspirations of Minnesotans and Americans who want the same rights, freedoms, opportunity, respect, dignity and legal protections and legal opportunities as every other one of their fellow citizens which the founding principal of this country."

Well, this must surely count as big news coming from the governor of Minesota, home of Tom Emmer and Target.
Hopefully the people of the state will follow and cheer their governor, rather than travel into homophobia and bigotry with Emmer and Target.

Ted Nugent, has-been rock star, and right-wing-nut, on Kobe's slur:

"If the NBA had any true gay convictions, the NBA should host a Homosexual Night. During halftime, the homosexuals could come down on the court, hold hands and prance around the court to music by the Village People. The NBA could then give each homosexual a pink basketball as a symbol of solidarity. Like other professional athletes, numerous NBA players have done all kinds of things on and off the court that do not cast a positive light on themselves or the NBA, but they have not been fined $100,000 by the league. Homosexuals are a protected class in America. If you think what happened to Mr. Bryant was a travesty, just wait until you see what homosexuals in the military do when they claim they have been mistreated because of their sexual orientation."

Wow, I'm a protected class in America?
I guess no one told me. Or America.
See, I, um, can't get married, save for a few states. In many places I can be fired, denied housing, unable to adopt a child, simply for who I am. I can get beaten just by walking down the street because of who I am.
And it's okay to call me names on TV. It's okay to make fun of me for sport. It's okay to use a derogatory term about me as an insult, because I'm protected.
What I need is protection from asshats like Nugent.

Chely Wright, on being snubbed by country music since she came out--except for people like Faith Hill and Brad Paisley:

"My first performance on the Grand Ole Opry was in 1989, and I was kind of an Opry darling. I'd be called to perform at least every 10 weeks, until my coming out. Since then, I've not heard a peep."

I'm sure the good ole folks at the Opry have their own version of the story, of why Chely Wright has not been asked to perform there in well over a year.
But, when she was asked to perfrom about five or six times a year, for about twenty years, and then is met with silence shortly after she said she was a lesbain, well.....
Shame on the Grand Ole Opry.