Chris Meloni on True Blood?

Oh PLEASE let it be so!  Reportedly, the Law and Order SVU star is close to signing on to the 5th season of True Blood to play an "incredibly powerful vampire."  I first heard about this on a friend's Facebook page, and now it's all over the place.   

Obviously, the perfect role for Chris would be Alexander Skarsgard's lover.

Quote of the Day

"We're not afraid to address those issues, but we're also not interested in squandering Iowans' time.  We have a job to do and we're going to do it."

--Iowa House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, a Republican, explaining why the House will not deal with marriage equality or abortion in the next legislative session which begins in January.  The Democrats have retained control of the Senate and Majority Leader Mike Gronstal has indicicated that he will continue to block GOP attempts to take rights away from Iowa's gay citizens.      

Marine Corps Commandant Calls DA/DT Repeal "A Non-event"

Marine Corps Commandant, Gen. James Amos was a strong opponent of Don't Ask/Don't Tell repeal.  A year ago, he said that repeal "has strong potential for disruption at the small unit level as it will no doubt divert leadership attention away from an almost singular focus on preparing units for combat.”  He was widely quoted by the various anti-gay groups as proof that repeal was a terrible idea that would destroy our great military.  However, in a recent AP interview, Gen. Amos called repeal "a non-event" with no sign of disruption anywhere, even in the front lines.  He went on to tell a charming story of meeting a lesbian Marine's girlfriend at the Marine Birthday Ball.  You can read it all here.  

I'm sure the Family Research Council and all the other hate groups will quote him now and admit that their fears of DA/DT repeal were unfounded.  I'm waiting....   

Monday's Man: Harry Connick, Jr.

Harry Connick, Jr. is back on Broadway in the first ever revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.  The show has been completely reworked, changing the main character from a straight woman into a gay man.  Unfortunately, that's not the role Harry's playing.  He's the psychiatrist, whose role has been expanded to take advantage of his star power.

 The show opens December 11.  Of course, who can forget his arms performance in Pajama Game in 2006. 

 And just because it's my blog and I'll post what I want to, here's an undated pic of his pecs. 

I Weep For Our Culture

These people are fighting over $2.00 waffle irons at Wal Mart in Black Friday, reportedly in Arkansas, but it could have been anywhere.



Via Mashable

The Culture War is Over And We Won

Exhibit #1:  Archie Comics gay interracial wedding cover:

Quote of the Day

"Body Hair."

--Yves Saint Laurent in response to the question "What do you admire most in a man?"  From the documentary "L'Amour Fou." 

Blog Off

I'll be away from the blogger machine for a few days.  It takes time to whip up my mother's cornbread stuffing, my mother's baked macaroni and cheese pie, my mother's turkey gravy, Marcia Adams' (sorry mom) gingered sweet potatoes with pecan praline crust, and Aux Anciens Canadiens maple sugar pumpkin pie.  Oh yeah, and turkey.  Don't you wish your boyfriend could cook like me?   

Bachmann's IA Co-Chair: Gay Marriage Will Lead to Eiffel Tower Marriage

These people really are insane.  Michelle Bachmann's Iowa co-chair, one Tamara Scott, appeared with Iowa Family Leader hate group head Bob Vander Plaatz to warn that marriage equality will lead to people marrying objects, such as the Eiffel Tower.  I'm not making this up:



First off, I'm a bit surprised that she's even heard of the Eiffel Tower.  Secondly, WTF is wrong with these people?  What sort of unresolved issues cause someone to obsess about other people's lives and invent such wild paranoid delusions?  You remember Vander Plaatz for his noxious marriage pledge that Bachmann, Rick Santorum and now Rick Perry all signed.  He has taken out the passage claiming that black children were better off under slavery than they are today, but kept the vow to hold hearings on gay harassment of Christians.  I guess I'm harassing myself.  Remember, if someone punches you in the face yelling "Faggot," it's your fault that his fist hurts. 

But wait, there's more!  Tammy has a jobs plan!  Speaking for NOM (naturally) she said that banning gay marriage will save the economy!



She didn't invent this bullshit argument.  The hate group Family Research Council dreamed it up and other GOP candidates like Rick Santorum have spewed it. 

At times like this, it's nice to take another look at Steven Colbert on Bachmann and Vander Plaatz:

 

Monday's Man: Jean Dujardin

If you've never heard of French film star Jean Dujardin, just give it a week.  That's when his highly anticipated film The Artist,  opens in the US. 
 The Artist is a silent film about silent films and I can't wait to see it. He already won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival and is certainly an Oscar contender. 

Fall in Dallas

We don't get a great deal of fall color in Dallas, but I am lucky enough to live in the best neighborhood for it.  Oak Cliff is a transitional urban neighborhood that the gays discovered 25 to 30 years ago.  It may be a stereotype, but it's a nice place to live.

 We get mostly yellows and not a lot of reds, so when I always look forward to this tree which is around the corner.

 We certainly don't get the fall color here that I saw when I lived in the east, particularly Charlottesville, Virginia, but we have roses blooming in November. 

This is the payoff for those long, hot summers.  October and November are the best months in North Texas.

Oklahoma City is OK

Oklahoma City government recently considered a bill adding employment protections for gays and lesbians.  Watch Councilman Ed Shadid argue passionately for its passage.  



The measure passed 7-3.  Good for OKC. 

Quote of the Day

"Mr. Lautner, whose pumped physique and flat affect bring to mind one of those friendly pizza delivery boys in a pornographic movie, remains a dish best served with as few words and clothes as possible."

--Manohla Dargis in her review of The "Twilight Saga:  Breaking Dawn -Part I" in today's New York Times. 

Steven Kornacki's Coming Out Story

Steve Kornacki is the News Editor for Salon.  He's a successful, educated, attractive New Yorker yet he's just coming out at the age of 32.  His story is a reminder of how difficult coming out remains, even in New York in 2011.  An excerpt:

"But this time I stopped myself. There weren’t a thousand little reasons why things had ended up like this. There was one big one. If I couldn’t stand up to the fear that had gripped me since high school, regret would become my permanent condition."

You can read it all here. 

Ding Dong! Lady Bird Calling!

This is just too rich.  It seems that "Dr." Marcus Bachmann is making collection calls these days.  You may recall that last summer, Wayne Besen's excellent Truth Wins Out conducted an undercover investigation proving that Bachmann and Associates was providing "ex-gay" snakeoil therapy despite Michelle's denials.  It seems that the TWO associate, John Becker, made several appointments that didn't get cancelled despite his efforts, and he has incurred some missed appointment fees.  "Dr." Bachmann himself decided to personally call the extremely cute Mr. Becker to inform him that those fees will NOT be written off.  Here's the transcript (although you really need to go to TWO's site to hear the pissy audio):      

"Hello John Becker, this is Doctor Marcus Bachmann (emphasis his); I received a message from our billing department asking if we would write off the two no-show fees for 7/7/11 and 7/12/11. We will not (emphasis his) be writing those off, so you do owe those no-show fees, and we would expect payment as soon as possible, otherwise we will have to turn it over to collections. If you have any questions you can call (651) 379-0444. Thank you."

Well!  Someone's thong got twisted.  How many therapists personally make collection calls?  This ranks up there with Ginni Thomas leaving a voicemail for Anita Hill.  TWO's investigation was published in The Nation, so Lady Bird certainly knew who John Becker was.  The best part is, Becker called back and will be posting an account of that encounter soon.  Can't wait. 

Our Marriages Aren't Blue, They're Cerulean

Concerned Woman Mario Diaz, the "Policy Director for Legal Issues" for the Concerned Women for America spoke on the Voice of Christian Youth America radio to discuss the horrifying consequences of the repeal of DOMA (which is already off the table, but the various concerned family orgs are still fundraising like crazy off it).  He said that marriage equality is "like redefining a color, it’s like getting the color blue and saying for now on some other color will be called blue. You’re really redefining the term to mean whatever you want it." 

He went on to say that even gay rights advocates know that marriage equality is wrong because it violates God's principle and the intent of the founding fathers or something like that.  He kind of went off the rails, but somehow we're making John Adams cry. You can read and hear it at Right Wing Watch.

It's a West Side Story Flash Mob!

Did I spot LC NY Bureau Chief Doug? 

Quote of the Day

"South Carolina politics is a richly interesting combination of fierce injunctions to biblical fundamentalism and coverage of which elected official is copulating with what other big wig or potentate in the back seat of what car. And then there's which politician is gay. There's also the episodic embrace of treason and efforts to break up the union. Together, it's a lot."

--Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo during his live blog of the November 12 GOP debate from Spartanburg, SC.

"Ex-Gay" Therapy Exposed....Again

A recent article in Religion Dispatches magazine explains the flawed methodology in a supposedly landmark "ex-gay" study.  The study, conducted by Rev. E. Mansell Pattison and his wife Myrna Loy Pattison (not that Myrna Loy) of the Melodyland Church in Anaheim, CA, was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 1980 and has often been cited as proof that gays can become heterosexual.  Michael Bussee, who participated in the study and now writes the blog Beyondexgay.com, explained to Warren Throckmorton why the so-called study proves nothing of the sort.  An excerpt:

"But in an interview, Michael Bussee, who had been a leader at Melodyland at the time of the study, told me, 'We professed that we had been healed—past tense—because it was part of the theology to claim your healing in order to bring it about.'”

Read it all here.   

Monday's Man: Armie Hammer

The best thing about the new movie J. Edgar, it's the presence of the gorgeous Armie Hammer as Clyde Tolson.  Has Hollywood ever produced a more handsome man?

 Quite simply, he's incapable of taking a bad picture.  

 The worst thing about J. Edgar is that Armie stayed fully dressed the whole time.  But that's OK, that's why the internet was invented. 

J. Edgar's Deep Freeze

Wes and I went to see the new Clint Eastwood film J. Edgar, with screenplay by Dustin Lance Black. From the first scene on, I was startled and distracted by Leonardo DiCaprio's horrible old man makeup. It looked like the latex might pop off at any moment. Roddy McDowell's Planet of the Apes makeup was more subtle. But Leo's face looked clean and fresh compared to Armie Hammer's Kabuki mask. I have known very handsome young men who aged into attractive older men and I do not believe that Armie Hammer, who played Clyde Tolson, will turn into The Walking Dead. What they did to that dreamboat is a sin. The real Tolson, pictured below, was never as handsome as Armie (who is?) but I doubt that he aged into The English Patient.

The only thing more distracting than the makeup was Leo's WTF accent. The real J. Edgar was born and raised in DC but Leo's accent was utterly different from anyone around him, including his mother, played with quiet menace by Judi Dench.

Then there's the sex, or rather, the lack of it. Apparently, Clint and Dustin would have us believe that J. Edgar and Clyde were inseparable and in love for 40 years; sexually attracted and emotionally bound to each other, and never sexual. Not once. Actually, I can maybe believe that J. Edgar was frigid, considering how Leo played him as thoroughly repressed and tightly-wound. Plus, that mother of his would turn anybody cold inside. Miss Dench/Momma Hoover pulled out the stops when she said she would rather have a dead son than a daffodil for a son. In that moment, I wouldn't have blamed J.Edgar for cutting off his own wiener. But I didn't for a second believe that Armie's Clyde would willingly sign up for a life of celibacy with such an unpleasant tight-ass. Armie played Clyde as a light-in-the-loafers, fun-loving High Queen who enjoyed hobnobbing with the glitterati at The Stork Club. He was charming, handsome, witty, handsome, well-educated, and handsome. He could have had any life he wanted, so why was he so hopelessly in love with J. Edgar? The film never answered this question for me.

One other annoying distraction: Clyde used the term "fashion forward" in a department store scene in 1930. Obviously, this is a recent term. I get what Dustin Lance Black was trying to convey to a modern audience, and it reminded me of the running shoes amid the period pumps in Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette. However, Sophia wove modern references and manners throughout the film to great effect. For Dustin, this was a one-time thing and a needless distraction. He could have come up with a phrase appropriate to the time that would have conveyed Clyde's gay cred more effectively.

Otherwise, the film wasn't bad, even when it turned into a Depression era CSI during the long segment devoted to the Lindburgh baby kidnapping and murder. Apparently, J. Edgar introduced modern forensic science to crime solving. How nice. I would have liked to have seen more on his slimy tactics gathering dirt on people and using it against them. There was certainly some of that, including a very powerful scene in which J. Edgar listened to an audio tape, apparently of Dr. King and an anonymous woman enjoing sexual pleasure in a way that J. Edgar never had.  That, and a deeper exploration of his life with Clyde would have been a better movie.

Oh yeah, Naomi Watts was in it too. I don't know why they chose an actress of her stature for a role with no emotional arc. "My life is my work," she says early-on for no apparent reason, and then spends her life as J. Edgar's loyal secretary. She does what she can with what she's given, but she's not given much.

All that being said, I'm sure J. Edgar will earn lots of nominations. This is a big, prestige Clint Eastwood picture and that's just the way it is. I don't make the rules. I predict Best Picture, Director for Clint Eastwood, Screenwriting for Dustin Lance Black, Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, Supporting Actress for Judi Dench, and maybe Supporting Actor for Armie Hammer. It may be nominated for cinematography also, which was inventive though usually so dark and shadowy that I wondered if the electricity had gone off in J. Edgar's office. I kept hoping Naomi Watts would turn on the lights.

Mitt Romney's Salute to Veterans!

Mitt Romney chose Veterans Day to announce that he might replace the VA medical system with private insurance.  I'm not making this up.

For all those brave soldiers who return from Afghanistan with life-altering wounds, President Romney's answer is "Here's the 800 number for United Health Care.  Oh yeah, we repealed Obama care so they can reject you for pre-existing conditions.  Thank you for your service!" I'm sure the Tea Party "Patriots" are eating it up. 

Via Joe.My.God

Hugh Jackman is a Talented Man

Watch him get hit in the groin by a (lucky) cricket ball.  Freeze it at 1:03.  Is it my imagination or is he packing?

Today is Veterans Day

And this proud U.S. Army veteran was at the parade at Dallas City Hall today.  You can check out a nice slide show here. 

Quote of the Day

"Perry is now an extra in The Walking Dead but less articulate."

--Andrew Sullivan on the Governor's debate performance last night.

Today in Hot Protesters

Last night, there were protests on the Penn State campus as students objected to the firing of Joe Paterno.  There was also a smaller counter-protest featuring this guy and his arms:

Seriously though, I'm with him on this.  Why are Penn State students protesting the discharge of someone who allegedly enabled a child molester?  I'm a little shocked by it. 

"My Gay Lifestyle"

College professor Domenick Scudera dares to rip away the curtain to reveal the raw truth of the Gay Lifestyle.  An excerpt:

 "7:00 a.m. I wake up, and just as I have done every morning since puberty, I choose to be gay today. This will come as a great relief to my gay, homosexual, male lover who lies beside me. Because being gay is a choice, our relationship is a gamble day to day. Even though we have both chosen to remain gay and to be together every day for the past 16 years, we never take anything for granted. One of us just might throw in the towel one day and give up the lifestyle."

Read the whole hilarious article here. 

"Personhood" Fails; Union, Voter Rights, and Marriage Triumph

Yesterday was a bad day for ultra conservative causes as Mississippians soundly defeated the personhood amendment, Ohioans stood up for union rights, Mainers rejected voter supression, and Democrats kept control of the Iowa Senate. 

In Mississippi, the proposed constitutional amendment would have defined a person as a fertilized egg, which would have had profound consequences for abortion rights and contraception.  The bill was heavily pushed by the hate group Family Research Council, but it was a step too far even for Mississippi, which rejected it by a wide margin.  If it can't pass in the deepest of red states, it is truly a radical idea.

In Ohio, the voters soundly rejected Governor Kasich's signature achievement, which was a bill that stripped public sector employees of collective barganing rights. 

In Maine, voters rejected a voter supression measure that would have eliminated same day voter registration. 

Finally, in Iowa, Democrat Liz Mathis defeated Republican Cindy Golding for a state senate seat that could have given control to the GOP which has vowed to overturn marriage equality there.  The so-called National Organization for Marriage poured out of state money into that race making this another defeat for Maggie and Company. 

All in all, it was a good day for progress.

Richard Dawkins on the Evolution of Gay

Dawkins discusses the gay gene and the evolutionary basis of homosexuality with Wayne Besen:

Monday's Man: Dylan McDermott

Have you been watching American Horror Story on FX?  Oh.My.God.  I don't even like scary stuff usually, but this show is so over-the-top that, at the end of each episode, Wes and I look at each other and say "What the hell did we just see?"  It stars the amazing Jessica Lange, Connie Britton, Denis O'Hare, Zachary Quinto, Francis Conroy, and Dylan McDermott as a man who sleep walks in the nude.  He does this a lot.  That alone is reason enough to watch, and if you don't believe me, hit this NSFW link.

 You know, it's been a long time since he went skinny dippin' with Shelby in Steel Magnolias, but he's still the man with the big bat. 

Herman Cain is Killing it in SC

Pizza executive turned motivational speaker Herman Cain is leading in the polls for the first-in-the-south South Carolina Republican primary.  I grew up there and keep up with a lot of people and I can tell you that Carolina folks love him.  A friend from college has changed her Facebook page to a Herman Cain for President logo.  A guy I went to high school with sent out an email blast listing Cain's credentials and declaring that he "just may be the most highly qualified Presidential Candidate in the past 50 years!"  That would mean Herman is more highly qualified than a 2-term governor of California, several former Vice Presidents, or a 5-term governor of Arkansas, not to mention a U.S. Senator and former Illinois state senator who was deemed by these same people to be less experienced than a small town mayor who had been governor of the smallest state for a few months, but that's just the liberal in me getting all factual and stuff. 

I have to say I don't really get the appeal of The Hermanator, and neither does LC NY Bureau Chief Doug who put it this way:

"What concerns me most about Cain is not these allegations of sexual harassment, though that is not something to be dismissed, of course. As Blow puts it, this drama boils down to: He says versus she says...and she says...oh, and she says.


Rather what concerns me most (of the MANY things to be concerned about Cain) is that he is the purchased, controlled PUPPET of the billionaire Koch Brothers, or as Herman proudly proclaimed at a Koch event on Friday: "I am the Koch brothers’ brother from another mother.”  Really?

And you are boastful of THAT?"

Doug is spot-on as usual.  It used to be that politicians at least pretended to stand for the people, now they're bragging that they do the bidding of their corporate overlords?  Why are so many people supporting him?  Doug sent me a fascinating Charles Blow piece from the New York Times.  Blow gets to the heart if it:

"Cain is an “American black conservative — an A.B.C.” who rejects prevailing wisdom among blacks about the racial state of play in America. He is a walking rebuff to the 400-year-old racism issue that continues to dog and drain this country. He lifts the burden of guilt from whites on the right and places it on the shoulders of blacks on the left — the ones still on “the Democrat plantation” and not willing or able to think for themselves. He is a fascinating sociological phenomenon but also an affront to some basic facts about the existence and impact of our racial reality.



Furthermore, he fits two prerequisites of the new right: he’s anti-intellectual and anti-establishment. He’s “real.” He’s a real guy with real passion who has had a real job but has no real understanding of government. Tea Party perfection."

Tweet of the Day

Quote of the Day

"That big splashing sound you hear is Kim Kardashian jumping the shark."

--Joan Rivers, who obviously reads Lazy Circles, speaking on Fashion Police.

Conan O'Brien's Gay Wedding

Performed live on his show last night:

Quote of the Day

"The right to, as a young person, to openly court, to craft rituals around that courting, to have touch-stones, to publicly reminisce over them, all without the threat of violence--explicit or implicit--strikes me as a rather powerful privilege. Surely there must be caveats for, class, geography and social groupings, here, but I think it's fair to say, at my high school, the space for gay kids to publicly talk about what cologne they were wearing to woo the objects of their affection was nonexistent."

--Ta-Nehisi Coats, a straight guy who gets it. 

Quote of the Day

"Together we hope to establish a standard of Bravery and Kindness, as well as a community worldwide that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment."

--Lady Gaga announcing The Born This Way Foundation which she is launching in conjunction with the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the California Endowment and the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.  How wonderful to see a celebrity use her fame and fortune to make the world a better place.      

What Do The Kardashians Have In Common With The Fonz?

They both jumped the shark.

Quotes of the Day

"Our Nation must defend the sanctity of marriage."  George W. Bush

"But if we had a vote, it would be no. Marriage as an institution has fallen on hard times in recent years. But that's no excuse for weakening it further."  The New York Post Editorial Board on marriage equality, before the legislature approved equality.

"Children are confused enough right now with sexual messages. Let’s not confuse them further." Maggie Gallagher, explaining why marriage equality sends a confusing message to children.

"Gay 'marriage' sends confusing messages to children."  Tony Perkins, as if he and Maggie were reading from the same script.

In other news, Kim Kardashian has filed for divorce after 72 days of marriage during which she enjoyed more rights than I have ever enjoyed.  She also reportedly pocketed approximately $17 million dollars from selling the rights to her wedded bliss to E! TV, People Magazine, and others.  I'm sure the divorce will rake in millions more. 

Yet we're the ones sending confusing messages about marriage to children.  We're the threat to the sanctity of marriage.  Hell, it seems like we're the only ones left who believe in the sanctity of marriage. 

I have nothing against Kim Kardashian and don't care about her marriages and divorces, but it seems clear that heterosexuals only believe marriage is sacred when gays want to take part. 

Herman Cain Responds to Sexual Harassment Allegations

With song:



Why he needs to sing a song about forgiveness when he did nothing wrong is beyond me.