Jim Parsons Will Play God on Broadway
The out Big Bang Theory star will headline the comedy An Act of God, a new stage adaptation of the satirical book The Last Testament: A Memoir By God.
Brandon Voss
editorial.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/theater/2015/01/29/jim-parsons-will-play-god-broadway
Displaying Three Decades Of LGBTQ Art Censored By Museums
In Irreverent: A Celebration of Censorship, opening next month at the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in New York, all of the art has previously been censored from major museums. The 17 artists represent the “controversial” perception of LGBTQ work over three decades, from Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs in the 1980s to the expulsion of David Wonjarowicz’s “A Fire in My Belly” from the National Portrait Gallery in 2010.
Male Kegel Exercises May Prevent You From Squirting Too Soon
More and more men are ditching their cock rings and penis pumps and instead doing kegel exercises to help improve their stamina in the sack. At least according to a woman named “Marni,” a professional “dating coach” for Ejaculation Advisor.
In a YouTube video called Kegel Exercises For Men — How To Last Longer in Bed, Marni explains that kegel exercises can be done “everywhere and at every moment of your life” to help prevent premature ejaculation.
“[Kegel exercises] control your [pubococcygeus muscles] so you can control ejaculation and prolong ejaculation,” Marni says. “It also helps you so you don’t pee in your pants.” (In case that’s a problem for you.)
According to Medical Daily, pubococcygeus muscles help to hold your pelvic organs in place and assist in bladder control and sexual function. As a person ages, those muscles can weaken, which can result in unwanted sexual side effects, like squirting before you want to.
So how do you do a kegel exercise anyway? It’s easy! Basically you just clench what Marni calls your “pee muscle.” Start by doing 10 t0 20 reps per day and gradually work your way up to 50. Clench for 3-5 seconds and then release. As your muscles begin to strengthen, increase the time from 3-5 seconds to 5-7 seconds.
And where can you do kegel exercises? Lots of places, says Marni. “Driving you your car. Sitting in your office. Sitting at the doctor’s. Wherever you want to do them, you can do them!”
Ready. Set. Go.
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Graham Gremore
A Fascinating (and Chaotic) Look At a World Without Humans – VIDEO
What would happen to our planet if we all suddenly disappeared? Turns out…pretty much chaos – with billions of livestock on the loose, cats and dogs roaming wild, boulevards turning into rivers, subways flooding, entire cities wiped out by fire, and much more.
ASAPScience has full, fascinating answer, AFTER THE JUMP…
Kyler Geoffroy
Op-ed: One Little Word Means the World
The word ‘bisexual,’ from President Obama’s lips to America’s ears.
Aud Traher
www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/01/29/op-ed-one-little-word-means-world
How Ryan Scott Oliver Is Shaking Up Musical Theater With His Dark, 'Twisted And Genius' Work
Ryan Scott Oliver could very well be musical theater’s answer to an auteur filmmaker or a gothic novelist, and for good reason: the 30-year-old composer-lyricist says he’s equally inspired by the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Stephen King as he is Stephen Sondheim.
“I like to think of my artistic perspective as being morbidly optimistic,” Scott told The Huffington Post in an interview. Like Tarantino and King, he sees darkness as the common denominator in all of his work, noting, “I believe in happy endings, but I also believe that there’s a lot of really, really awful sh*t that people have to go through in order to get there.”
New Yorkers who aren’t familiar with Scott’s shows, like 2014’s “Jasper In Deadland” and 2009’s “Mrs. Sharp,” will get an opportunity to be introduced to the scope of his musicality at Manhattan nightspot 54 Below on Feb. 2. The composer will join Broadway veterans Jay Armstrong Johnson, Lindsay Mendez, Andy Mientus and Derek Klena (among others) for two back-to-back concerts showcasing his eclectic — and occasional eccentric — melodies.
Jay Armstrong Johnson sings a tune from “Jasper in Deadland.”
Though he’s yet to be produced on Broadway, Oliver has already garnered a cult-like following among legions of theater fans, as evidenced by the fact that both performances were nearly sold out at the time this story was first published. That comes as little surprise to Johnson, who praises Oliver’s music as “deep, rich, innovative and new.”
“His stuff is never based on a movie or a book — the source material is always his brain, which is twisted, genius and exciting,” Johnson, who is currently starring in the Broadway revival of “On The Town,” said. “He’s always dealing with religion, he’s always dealing with sexuality … things that are dark and semi-uncomfortable, but which always make you think. As an actor, you don’t really come across many composers of that breadth and depth.”
Oliver, who set out to become a composer in high school and aims to pen at least one new show every year, also acknowledges the inherently queer themes that thread his work. One example is his 2010 musical “Darling,” which put a “dark, jazzy and sexy” spin on the story of “Peter Pan” by, among other things, recasting the Lost Boys as male hustlers. He says he’s most drawn to narratives that feature the “fabulousness” and “shimmer” of traditional musical theater, but also that highlight the triumph of an underdog.
“I really like creating underdogs as well as the people who will suppress them and aim to destroy them,” he said. “I’m really fascinated by monsters that take human form.”
Oliver married photographer Matthew Murphy (left) in 2014. 
Fortunately, Oliver has found an ideal personal and professional partner in the form of dance and theater photographer Matthew Murphy. The couple collaborated on an experimental multimedia exhibition, “35MM,” in New York in 2010 and 2012; Murphy has since gone on to shoot many of Oliver’s shows, including “Deadland.” In May 2014, they tied the knot in a Brooklyn ceremony officiated by Mendez.
Noting that he and Murphy have a “loving creative competition” with each other, Oliver added, “Our relationship is never jealousy-inducing, but I’m always aware of the fact that I’m married to very talented, driven person. We set a good example for one another, and that’s a very, very special thing. He’s a genius, so that doesn’t hurt either.”
Actress (and longtime pal) Lindsay Mendez sings from “35MM.”
So what’s next for Oliver following his 54 Below engagement? These days, much of his creative energy is focused on a new, folk-driven musical called “Rope.” A production of “Jasper in Deadland” opens in Seattle in May, and Oliver says he is hopeful a full-scale production of “Darling” will be staged in New York in the imminent future, following a reading in late January.
For now, however, Oliver is content to be creating the niche musicals he wants to make, even as mainstream Broadway audiences flock to jukebox shows like “Mamma Mia!”
“There’s a crowd who wants to go to a musical for a good time, and there’s a crowd who wants to see a musical to be changed,” he said. “For me, if I write a good story, I think people will want to see it. You have to write the show that speaks to your heart in a given year.”
“RSO at 54 Below” opens at New York’s 54 Below on Feb. 2. Head here for more details.
State Equality Index Spotlight: New Mexico
New Mexico is one of 18 states in the country that has explicit state-level workplace protections for all LGBT employees. It is also one of 36 states with marriage equality.
HRC.org
www.hrc.org/blog/entry/state-equality-index-spotlight-new-mexico?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
Marriage At the Supreme Court 2.0: The Cases
This article is one in a multipart series leading up to a future Supreme Court decision on marriage equality. The Court has granted review of four marriage cases from the Sixth Circuit and a decision may be handed down at the end of June. Between now and then, Towleroad will break down the cases step by step. Today’s topic: The Cases.
Last time, we spoke about the importance of framing the case through the Questions Presented. I argued that despite some concern, the two questions posed in the Supreme Court’s order do not indicate that the justices are looking for a way out. They are ready to rule. Before we discuss the substance on which the justices will rule, let’s review the four cases that will decide the marriage equality question.
CONTINUED, AFTER THE JUMP…
This matters because not all cases are fungible. Some come with better facts, others come with messy complications; some come with sympathetic plaintiffs, others have unfortunate optics. Especially when it comes to appellate review, the record on appeal can even tilt the outcome of the case. Plus, the cases are fun to talk about at nerdy cocktail parties.
Bourke v. Beshear is the Kentucky case and it was one of the earlier (though not the earliest) post-Windsor pro-equality decisions from a federal district court. It is about both the right to have a valid out-of-state marriage recognized in a home state and Kentucky’s own in-state ban. The judge, the Honorable John G. Heyburn, relied heavily on Windsor and found that Kentucky’s marriage laws discriminated against gay persons in violation of the Equal Protection Clause as applied to the states. Using rational basis review — the lowest form of scrutiny that only requires a rational connection between a law and a legitimate government objective — the court said there was no rational reason to treat gays this way. He struck down the anti-recognition law.
DeBoer v. Snyder is the Michigan case. It is unique for several reasons. First, it started out as a challenge to Michigan’s ban on same-sex couples jointly adopting children, but it ended up as a consolidated case challenging the state’s marriage ban. Second, it became one of only three marriage equality cases to ever go through a trial. Third, that trial featured the obviously discredited study by Mark Regnerus that even the court said was “unbelievable.” After a trial in which Judge Bernard Friedman, a Reagan appointee, considered evidence from experts and made findings of fact about the state’s purported rationales for its discriminatory laws, he concluded that Michigan’s marriage law violated the Equal Protection clause. The trial record is important because, on appellate review, factual findings have to be accepted unless clearly erroneous: there is nothing clearly erroneous about Judge Friedman’s findings.
Tanco v. Haslam is out of Tennessee and deals strictly with the question of recognizing valid out-of-state same-sex marriages. The Tanco parties will be arguing on Question 2. Tanco is also a unique case because it started as a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop Tennessee from continuing to discriminate against gay couples married out of state. Preliminary injunctions are granted when, without them, the moving parties would suffer irreparable harm. There are other elements to the preliminary injunction standard, but suffice to say that Judge Trauger agreed that the deprivation of equal rights occasioned by marriage discrimination in Tennessee was so worrisome and irreparable that she granted the injunction.
Finally, Obergfell v. Hodges comes to us from Ohio. Obergfell is another out-of-state recognition case. Ohio has had a flurry of marriage equality litigation since Windsor. In fact, one of the early cases in the post-Windsor winning streak was an order requiring Ohio to recognize same-sex marriages for the purposes of death certificates. The ruling was extended to all valid out-of-state same-sex marriages.
Although the cases have different elements and some raise different legal questions, they are all covered by the underlying legal question of whether the Fourteenth Amendment countenances state marriage discrimination against gay persons. They are all covered by the two Questions Presented. With this background, we can now move on to discuss some of the arguments we can expect from both sides.
In the next installment of Marriage 2.0, we will discuss the anti-equality arguments from the states and, in particular, consider what, if anything, will happen with the Baker v. Nelson misdirection.
***
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Ari Ezra Waldman is a professor of law and the Director of the Institute for Information Law and Policy at New York Law School and is concurrently getting his PhD at Columbia University in New York City. He is a 2002 graduate of Harvard College and a 2005 graduate of Harvard Law School. Ari writes weekly posts on law and various LGBT issues.
Ari Ezra Waldman
www.towleroad.com/2015/01/marriage-at-the-supreme-court-20-the-cases.html
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