I Didn't Say It ...

Chris Bryant, British MP, speaking in the House of Commons about the importance of Pride:

“I should start by declaring an interest in this Pride debate. The Daily Mail once referred to me as an ‘ex-gay vicar.’ I am an ex-vicar, but the other stuff is coming along quite nicely. In fact, I am a practicing homosexual—one day I will be quite good at it. People ask me, ‘Why on earth do you need a Pride Month? Do you really need LGBT History Month? What’s the point of Pride marches and Pride flags? Hasn’t the world changed? Haven’t you already got same-sex marriage and adoption, gays in the police and the military, and laws that protect people from discrimination on the grounds of their sexual orientation or gender reassignment? What more do you want?’ That is what I hear all the time, even from really well-meaning, liberal souls. But we have always needed Pride. We needed it when people lazily assumed that a short haircut meant that you were a lesbian or a lisp meant that you were gay. We needed it when people laughed at Larry Grayson and John Inman but forced them to hide their sexuality. We needed it when people said that we should be harassed, arrested and locked up for loving who we wanted. We needed it when the police wore rubber gloves to arrest us, just in case we gave them AIDS. We needed it when we were called queer, faggot and arse bandit at school. We needed it when we were sneered at, spat at, punched, kicked and beaten up. And we need Pride now—when kids are still bullied because they are camp or butch; when families still throw their LGBT children out of the home; when many are so worn down by abuse that they take their own lives; when so many are so terrified of coming out that they live lives of terrible, crushing loneliness; when people are abused for wanting to transition. When our cousins in Hungary are denied the right to demonstrate; when the state police in many countries deliberately entrap homosexuals; when trans people are treated as less than human; and when homosexuality is still illegal in 63 countries, including 38 that apply those rules to women, and including more than half the Commonwealth.  Yes, we still need Pride.”

Bravo, sir, bravo!

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Sean Casten, Democrat Illinois Representative, on impeaching The Felon for his bombing of Iran:

“This is not about the merits of Iran’s nuclear program. No President has the authority to bomb another country that does not pose an imminent threat to the US without approval of Congress. This is an unambiguous impeachable offense. I’m not saying we have the votes to impeach. I’m saying you do not do this without Congressional approval and if [Mike] Johnson doesn’t grow a spine  and learn to be a real boy tomorrow we have a problem that puts our very Republic at risk.”

All because no one came to his birthday party.

And then you have Little Mike Johnson, so desperate to be a part of the bully squad, that he sold that little black spot he once called his soul to the most unChristian human who ever lived.

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Rabbi Marisa James, on wars and wars and warmongers:

“May Iranians, who mostly hate their leaders, be safe. May Palestinians, who mostly hate their leaders, be safe. May Israelis, who mostly hate their leaders, be safe. May US citizens, who mostly hate their leaders, be safe. May all the war-mongering authoritarians be deposed and may they one day experience real justice for all the suffering and death they cause.”

It’s the innocent people and the children who pay with their lives when fascists and authoritarians want to prove their manhood.

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Stephen Fry, comedian, actor, writer, on JK Rowling being “radicalized by TERFS”:

“She has been radicalized I fear and it may be she has been radicalized by [Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist] TERFs, but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her. It is unhelpful and only hardens her and will only continue to harden her, I am afraid. She seems to be a lost cause for us. She started to make these peculiar statements and had very strong difficult views. She seemed to wake up or kick a hornet’s nest of transphobia which has been entirely destructive. I disagree profoundly with her on this subject. I am angry she does not disavow some of the more revolting and truly horrible, violently destructive things that people say. She does not attack those at all. She says things that are inflammatory and contemptuous, mocking, and add to a terribly distressing time for trans people. She has crowed at the success of legislation in Scotland and elsewhere, declaring things about gender. So, I am very happy to go on the record to say that I am really angry. My view about all things of [a] sharp and difficult nature is that it is much more important to be effective than to be right.”

Fry sparked controversy in 2022 when he failed to condemn Rolwing and her beliefs about trans people despite saying his transgender friends had been left “deeply upset” by her views so it’s nice to see him step up and voice his anger at his, I hope, former friend..

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Jinkx Monsoon, AKA Hera Lilith Hoffer, American drag queen, actress, singer and comedienne, on her idol, Lucille Ball:

“I want to be remembered in the way Lucille Ball is remembered; where, on the surface, she made us laugh, but when you peel away the layers she was so much more than a comedienne on television. She was punk-fucking-rock. I want to be like that. I want to be remembered first pleasantly and then when you really sit there and think about it, you think, ‘That badass bitch really did some fucking shit. She really rattled some cages and ruffled some feathers.’ ,I guess I want to be remembered for disturbing the status quo.”

Lucille Ball wasn’t just funny, she was a savvy businessperson. And she took on the status quo and set Hollywood and television on their collective ears.

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Jason Isaacs, actor from The White Lotus and Harry Potter, on playing the lover to a then-25-year-old Daniel Craig in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America at London’s National Theatre in 1993:

“We had a lot of sex. And then I kissed Daniel and he was so easy with it. And then I was easy with it and we were really easy with each other’s bodies and I thought, oh, it’s just that. God, I built this up and, and we had to lie naked on under the sheet for an hour every night. And it was easy. He’s very easy in his body. [But] I used to drag him to showers to make him shave because I got a stubble rash off him. We used to pinch each other’s bits under the sheets to make each other laugh.”

Okay, now all I can think about is Jason and Daniel in the sheets pinching each other’s bits.

Lucky bastards.

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Cumberbatch And Fry Seek Pardons For "The Other 49,000"

After portraying war hero Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, Benedict Cumberbatch has joined the call in England for overturning the so-called "indecency" convictions handed down to gay men like Turing.

Turing, you may recall, was a computer scientist and mathematician who cracked the Nazi’s Enigma machine World War II, leading to the Allied victory. Turing was also gay, and in 1952 was prosecuted for being gay under Great Britain’s indecency laws; instead of being imprisoned for his "crime," Turing chose chemical castration.

Alan Turing died two years later; and nearly sixty years after that, in 2013, his "crime" was pardoned by Queen Elizabeth II.

After a recent screening of The Imitation Game comedian Stephen Fry started the call to pardon the thousands other gay men who were convicted under the indecency laws, and Cumberbatch agreed:

"Alan Turing was not only prosecuted, but quite arguably persuaded to end his own life early, by a society who called him a criminal for simply seeking out the love he deserved, as all human beings do. Sixty years later that same government claimed to ‘forgive’ him by pardoning him. I find this deplorable, because Turing’s actions did not warrant forgiveness — theirs did — and the 49,000 other prosecuted men deserve the same."

Cumberbatch is right, though, when he says these men, like Turing, do not need to be forgiven for being gay; the government of England needs to ask for their forgiveness — at least of the 15,000 men still alive today who were convicted under this archaic law — and pardon every last one of them.

New ads for The Imitation Game — nominated nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture — appeared this week, highlighting the plight of Alan Turing and the “other 49,000”:

“Honor this movie. Honor this man. And honor the movement to bring justice.”

An open letter has been addressed to Her Majesty’s Government, imploring young political leaders, like the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, to see that these “convictions” are overturned; the letter reads, in part:

“The apology and pardon of Alan Turing are to be welcomed but ignores over 49,000 men who were convicted under the same law, many of whom took their own lives. An estimated 15,000 men are believed to still be alive. The UK’s homophobic laws made the lives of generations of gay and bisexual men intolerable. It is up to young leaders of today including The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to acknowledge this mark on our history and not allow it to stand.”

In a sad side note: Prince William and Catherine have opted not to publicly support the campaign to pardon these thousands of men because as a palace spokesperson explained that the royal family felt as if the issue was a purely governmental affair and that they had no place in the discussion.

Some say it was less about that, and more about the royal’s decision to distance themselves from this particular campaign because of the less high-profile men who would be exonerated.

I guess if you were imprisoned for being gay but weren’t a war hero, but just a regular bloke, the royals don’t give a fig for you.

Hopefully, without the help of these fools, the movement will keep on and men punished simply for being who there were, and are, and simply for loving who they loved, will one day no longer be considered criminals.

Can’t say that for the royals, though.

via Huffington Post

I Didn't Say It ....

Greg Louganis, Olympic champion diver and out gay man, on the controversy over LGBT athletes and the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics:

"I can't begin to imagine what it must be like for a gay athlete in Russia. It was hard enough to compete closeted representing the United States, a country that is considerably evolved on LGBT rights. It is unfathomable to consider what it's like for the Russian athlete - knowing that if you were to come out you could lose everything you've worked your entire life to achieve and then on top of that to be considered a criminal. It is both heartbreaking and heinous."

No one, anywhere on Earth, should be criminalized for their sexual orientation, and we need to stand up against this intolerance wherever it rears its ugly head, be it Africa or Russia.

We can’t let this type of persecution happen, again.

Oprah Winfrey, on the N-word:

"You cannot be my friend and use that word around me. It shows my age, but I feel strongly about it. … I always think of the millions of people who heard that as their last word as they were hanging from a tree."

Y'all know I have my issues with O, but I gotta hand it to her this time.

Heartbreaking. Succinct. To the point. Perfect.

John Baird, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the proposed boycott of the Winter Olympics in Russia due to their anti-LGBT laws:

"As concerned as we are about the Olympics, that's nothing. That's two, three, four weeks for the athletes and participants and the visitors. This mean-spirited and hateful law will affect all Russians 365 days of the year, every year. It is an incitement to intolerance, which breeds hate. And intolerance and hate breed violence. We wanted more than a verbal commitment to the IOC. And now the comments by the Russian sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, are of deep concern. The Olympics is a great celebration of international sport, of international co-operation. This type of law being enforced flies in the face of the entire Olympic spirit."

Baird, like many, hope the controversy now, will lead to an end of the laws in Russia. But what do we do if the games arrive and the laws haven’t changed?

Particulate in the name of the LGBT community and risk some kind of international incident, and sweep the whole mess under the rug.

Or, do we stay away, which only serves to punish the athletes who’ve trained for years to be there?

Cheyenne Jackson, on how he felt about being an out gay man having to issue a statement about his divorce:

“Yes, it is weird. But it’s a fact. And you just have to accept the way things are. Sometimes I think I am a little naïve to think that people even care, but they do. So you have to understand the significance that your relationship had to other people and I know that our marriage meant a lot to a lot of people…so that’s not lost on me, and I respect that…I didn’t want to have to say anything. The royals, the monarchy over in England always say ‘Never complain, never explain.’  And so I’d love to adhere to that, but the fact of the matter is, I did have to say something.  It was getting a little ugly, and my sister and brother were like ‘What’s up?’ So, it is kind of weird to have to make a statement about it….and Monte [Lapka] and I talked about it and decided what we wanted the statement to say…and it was nobody else’s business….yes, it is weird, but it is a fact.”

One part of equality is that gay couples will divorce, just like straight couples. And, if you’re an out celebrity, your divorce becomes fodder just like a straight couple.

Equality is equality, the good and the bad.

Matthew Mitcham, out gay Olympic champion diver, on the controversy over gay athletes and the Sochi 2014 Games:

"It's really sad. The way they are persecuting people in Russia is quite horrific...The Olympics is the best experience you will ever have as an athlete. Their whole memory and experience is going to be marred by this stuff. They are going to be made to feel unacceptable, inappropriate, and it is a really awful, awful feeling. The Olympics are supposed to be somewhere where they can go to be relieved of that feeling. A place where you can compete and feel that gender and sexuality is not an issue."

Again, how do we handle this? Does Russia get a pass during the games and then we go back to trying to change their laws? Or do we stand up and say No, we won’t be there?

Or, do we go, and stand proud, from every country around the globe, and show the Russian government and the Russian people that the LGBT community does not deserve the vile treatment they are receiving?

Stephen Colbert, on his, and the media's, confusion about the extent and severity of the recent terror threats:

"Without any details, I'm not even sure how panicked I'm supposed to be. At least during the Bush years I could look at this helpful chart and know that my sphincter tightness was orange. But even that's gone now because Obama gave all those colors to the gays for their rainbow."

Just a giggle, but then a question? How come the Rainbow Flag became a part of the terror alert system?

Do I thmell a conthpiracy?

Frank Bruni, for the NYT, on the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi:

"Imagine this: it’s the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. A huge television event, watched the world over. The American Olympians join the proud march of nations. They’re our emissaries, our exemplars. And as the television cameras zoom in on Team U.S.A., one of its members quietly pulls out a rainbow flag, no bigger than a handkerchief, and holds it up. Not ostentatiously high, but just high enough that it can’t be mistaken. Another American follows suit. Then another, and another. Within minutes the flags are everywhere in the American delegation, subtly recurring bursts of color and of honor, a gay-rights motif with a message: we’re here in Russia to compete, but we’re not here in Russia to assent. We have gay sisters. Gay brothers. Gay neighbors and friends and fans and probably teammates, and we reject the laws of a land that deems it O.K. to arrest them for speaking their truth or us for speaking up for them." 

I’d like to see that, and not just from the American delegation, but from every athlete. Imagine a sea of Rainbow Flags walking through that stadium.

It’d be a beautiful, powerful, message.

Stephen Fry, in an open letter to the IOC and British Prime Minister David Cameron, on the homophobic new laws in Russia:

"I am gay. I am a Jew. My mother lost over a dozen of her family to Hitler's anti-Semitism. Every time in Russia (and it is constantly) a gay teenager is forced into suicide, a lesbian 'correctively' raped, gay men and women beaten to death by neo-Nazi thugs while the Russian police stand idly by, the world is diminished and I for one, weep anew at seeing history repeat itself. 

'All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,' so wrote Edmund Burke. Are you, the men and women of the IOC going to be those 'good' who allow evil to triumph? The Summer Olympics of 2012 were one of the most glorious moments of my life and the life of my country. For there to be a Russian Winter Olympics would stain the movement forever and wipe away any of that glory. The Five Rings would finally be forever smeared, besmirched and ruined in the eyes of the civilised world."

As I said at the beginning, we cannot let this happen, again.

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

Daily Dish columnist, Andrew Sullivan, on Christine O'Donnell, who said if she knew where the Jews were hiding and the Nazis asked, she'd have to tell them because she cannot tell a lie:
"A mischievous thought: when will someone ask O'Donnell, as a single woman, if, since her conversion to Catholicism, she has ever masturbated? She cannot have had any sex, right? And that includes sex alone. Since she has made this a public stance, and since, apparently, she cannot lie (even if it would mean handing over Jews to Nazis), she has made the question perfectly legit."

It would be nice hearing that wingnut have to answer personal questions about herself and not lie.

I mean, she's a politician, all they know is lying, right?

Jodie Foster, on friend, homophobe, anti-Semite, Misogynist, Mel Gibson:
"When you love a friend you don't abandon them when they are struggling. Of course, Mel is an undeniably gifted actor and director and The Beaver is one of his most powerful and and moving performances. But more importantly, he is and has been a true and loyal friend. I hope I can help him get through this dark moment."

Oh Jodie Jodie Jodie.

I've loved you for a long time, even back in the days when you weren't a Lesbian. who am i kidding, we've always known.

But backing up Mel Gibson. His words seem to say that he doesn't think much of women or gay people, and, well, that would be you, honey.

It's fine to stand up for friends who have hard times, but to stand up for racism and sexism and homophobia, is just wrong.

Floyd Brown, president of the Western Journalism Center, spouting ignorance and hate:
"The Obama presidency is a disease. Article 2, Section 4 (the impeachment clause of the Constitution) is the cure. And it's Obama's hatred of America that makes it absolutely imperative that we take action now. Barack Hussein Obama is not some do-gooder that has had his plans go astray. He is not a person of good will just trying his best to make America go the right direction. He is not. Barack Hussein Obama is a liar that absolutely knows what he's doing to the United States of America. He has a plan. He has an agenda. This man knows exactly where he's taking us. Obama hates Christianity. He is a Muslim. Others will say he's just a godless atheist. The bottom line is that this man hates Christianity."

Crazy delusional asshated wingnutted motherfucker.

That's all I got.

Jon Hamm, on the difference between reality stars and actors:
"L.A. represents opportunity. And has been proven over and over in the current media landscape, it doesn't take much for them to put you on TV. If that's all you want you can just be on 'The Bachelor' or 'The Real Housewives' or whatever show just wants oversized personalities, ridiculous behavior and zero dignity. If you just want to be famous … that's not that much different than porn. 'I'm a movie star!' Well, no you're not. You're a porn star, and that's completely different. And you know, hey mazel tov — porn probably built half the houses out here, but you're selling your dignity in a way that I feel I'm not. And once you sell it, it's gone. You ain't getting it back."

I'm sorry.

Now all I can think about is Jon Hamm and porn.

And is that so wrong?

Stephen Fry, on the fact that he is only "part" gay:
“I am only '90 per cent gay,' which is of course pretty damned gay, but every now and again on my path through life I have met a woman in the 10 per cent bracket. Caroline at Cambridge was one, although I never told her so, and Sunetra was another.”

Oh Stephen.

There is no such thing as "part" gay.

You are, or you aren't, or you're bisexual.

And I don't think you're bisexual.

I think Caroline, that woman from Cambridge, well, maybe you were drunk, or just wanted to try it that one time.

California Cogressman, and apparent lifelong asshat and bigot, Devin Nunes, at a World Net Daily "Taking America Back" hatefest in Miami:
"I know what you all are thinking. Here is this young guy from California. He must be a liberal. What is he doing here? But please keep in mind: there are almost 40 million people in California. Not all of us come from Hollywood or San Francisco! In fact, one of the largest areas in California is the great San Joaquin Valley. That's where I was born and raised and that's the region I now represent in Congress. As a region, the San Joaquin has been labeled America's breadbasket. However, it might be better described as America's produce stand because farmers there grow more than 300 different crops. Actually, we grow a lot of fruits and nuts – ours are not the kind you hide from your children."

Oh, Devin, you don't know what I'm thinking, but here goes.

I think you like to make jokes you think are funny, but they aren't. They're homophobic and hateful and hurtful, and so not funny.

I also think that in a few years you'll get busted in some sex scandal involving men and you'll beg us to forgive you because you were so deeply closeted and ashamed.

Too late.

Fruitcake.

Meghan McCain, on LGBT rights, DADT, her father, and Obama:
Until you are the daughter of a republican senator - don't assume what I do and the stances I take are ever easy. I love my family and I love the gay community. There's a lot of anger being projected at me personally for my father's stance on DADT. I love my father very much and we disagree. Project your anger at politicians and the president you elected, because last time I checked - Obama isn't exactly advocating for LGBT rights or removing DADT."

Your father does have a right to his opinion, but which opinion are we talking about? The one where he said he would support the repeal if the leaders of the military supported it, until they supported it and they backtracked?

That opinion?

Or when he said the military doesn't seek out gay men and women to discharge even though he sat in on the hearings regarding Mike Almy, who was discharged after the military snooped through his private emails?

That opinion?

Your father's time as a politician is up.

Jon Stewart, on his lack of desire to run for public office:

"I deny that I am powerful. Power implies an agenda that's being acted on. Every generation has had its people who stand at the back and make fun of those in charge. When the Nazis came to power in the '30s, it created an incredible underground scene of satirical comedy. Peter Cook [a British comedian] once said with a straight face, 'Yes, they really showed Hitler.' That's how I see it. I'm not saying I'm powerless and in a vacuum. But if I really wanted to change things, I'd run for office. I haven't considered that, and I wouldn't — because this is what I do well. The more I move away from comedy, the less competent I become. I would lose my mind almost immediately. My job is I make jokes. I don't solve problems. If my job became solving problems, I would suddenly become a lot less good at what I do, unless the problem being had by the country was a lack of jokes."

No, Jon, you shouldn't run.

But you do have power. The power, through humor, to make people aware, to make them think, to give them a reason to advocate and vote and stand up for themselves and others.

And you make me laugh.

Listen Up

I saw this over at Joe.My.God. and needed to help spread the word. Stephen Fry is an openly gay British author, actor, and director, and he has something to say to the Catholic Church. It's long, but it's worth it.

The Intelligence² Debate - Stephen Fry (Unedited)
by Xrunner17