Op-ed: Your City Council Needs You

One out council candidate in a major American city says a seat held by a termed-out gay legislator needs to remain in LGBT hands.

read more

Chris Ward

www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/02/03/op-ed-your-city-council-needs-you

Jon Stewart Says Mike Huckabee's Gay Marriage Stance 'Makes No F**king Sense'
“Daily Show” host Jon Stewart appears to have a new hobby: tearing apart Mike Huckabee’s hypocrisy.

When the former Arkansas governor and possible 2016 presidential candidate was on the show last month, Stewart went after him for attacking Beyonce’s music but performing with Ted Nugent.

Now Stewart’s tearing apart Huckabee for the bizarre explanation he gave for opposing gay marriage. On Sunday, Huckabee said he can’t evolve on the issue because it’s a biblical matter.

“I can’t just ‘change’ with the ‘times’ if it means deviating from ‘biblical law,'” Stewart said (complete with the air quotes) in summing up Huckabee’s opposition to same-sex marriage. Then he pointed out a few other pieces of “biblical law,” at least two of which might not be as important to Huckabee.

“It’s why Huckabee never mixes fabric in his clothes or trims his beard or sleeps with another man’s slave,” Stewart said. “It would be wrong.”

Huckabee also declared that asking him to accept gay marriage would be like “asking somebody who’s Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli.”

Stewart said that analogy “makes no fucking sense.”

“No one is forcing you to get metaphorically married to the biblical abomination that is this bacon-wrapped shrimp,” Stewart said.

And that led to one of the most unforgettable “Daily Show” interviews yet.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/03/jon-stewart-mike-huckabee-gay-marriage_n_6601774.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Exclusive Interview With Cheyenne Jackson (VIDEO)
For my weekly, live, Saturday-night talk show, The Not-So-Late Show, I sat down at New World Stages with 30 Rock and Glee star Cheyenne Jackson. We chatted about everything from Jackson’s Broadway career to marriage to whom he’s enjoyed working with the most. There are some great behind-the-scenes stories!

Video by Frankie C

The Not-So-Late Show (@notsolatenyc), hosted by Marti Gould Cummings and featuring Michael Lamasa, takes place every Saturday night at New World Stages on 50th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. Every week there’s a new celebrity guest!

www.huffingtonpost.com/marti-gould-cummings/exclusive-interview-with-cheyenne-jackson_b_6591172.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Canned Homophobic Fire Chief Proudly Steps Into New Role As Modern Day Jesus H. Christ

As suspected, Atlanta’s former fire chief is absolutely nuts. New video of the canned city official has emerged online in which he compares himself to none other than Jesus H. Christ, the GAVoice reports.

Kelvin Cochran was ousted from his high profile city job earlier this year after it was discovered he was peddling a self-published, antigay hate manifesto on Amazon to help supplement his taxpayer-funded income.

In Who Told You That You Were Naked?, Cochran, a self-proclaimed “devout Christian man,” mediates on the evils of gay people, calling them “vile,” “vulgar,” “perverts,” and “inappropriate,” and comparing homosexuality to bestiality.

When it was discovered he had self-published the book without permission (the city requires all employees to obtain written approval before publishing a book), he was let go from his position.

Naturally, he said he was being targeted for being a Christian, going so far as to rally on the steps of the Georgia State Capitol alongside hate monger Tony Perkins and members the FRC.

Now, in a new video shot on January 25, Cochran gives sermon at the Tabernacle Baptist Church, during which he claims to be a victim of “God-induced suffering,” whatever that means.

“That’s what this experience is for me and my family,” Cochran said when speaking about his recent termination. “This is not as a result of something that I didn’t do that God is chastening me for, this is something that God has chosen to do because of his purpose and design for not just me and my family, but for a greater cause for the kingdom of God.”

That may sound like your typical, in-one-ear-out-the-other, Fundamentalist hogwash. But it gets better.

First, Cochran compares himself to Daniel. (You know, the guy who got locked in the lion den.) Says he: “Daniel’s God had saved him from the lions! He made a decree that nobody could worship any other God in this kingdom but Daniel’s God and threw the plotters, the schemers against Daniel and their families, in the lion’s den and they became food for the lions!”

Then, he compares himself to Jesus H. Christ, saying: “[H]e reminded me of the ultimate suffering servant, Jesus Christ, who suffered, bled and died. Rose again on the third day and because of his suffering he has the name that is above every name. God blesses always during suffering!”

Before finally concluding that, when everything is said and done, he’s confident that he’s going to prevail, telling churchgoers: “I found out there are worldly consequences for standing for righteousness, but what God is about to show everybody is that there are also kingdom consequences for standing for righteousness. And he’s going to vindicate me in such a way that everybody will see it and everybody will know that it’s nobody but the most high God who is vindicating me!”

Then as soon as he finished his sermon, an image of Cochran’s book, Who Told You That You Were Naked?, flashed on a screen behind him.

We’ve got to hand it to Mr. Cochran. He certainly knows how to turn lemons into lemonade. Sort of. Who Told You That You Were Naked? is currently #12,713 on Amazon’s bestseller list.

Related stories:

Atlanta’s Fire Chief In Hot Water For Self-Publishing Creepy Antigay Book Online

Homophobic Fire Chief In Atlanta Gets Canned Over Antigay E-Book

Canned Homophobic Fire Chief Joins Christian Protestors To Rally Against The City Of Atlanta

Graham Gremore

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/sGWpl8Wyqms/canned-homophobic-fire-chief-proudly-steps-into-new-role-as-modern-day-jesus-h-christ-20150203

Op-ed: Oklahoma's Multiple Anti-LGBT Bills Are Unacceptable

LGBT Oklahomans may be use to being hassled by right-wing lawmakers, but this time they’ve gone too far.

read more

Sharon Bishop-Baldwin

www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/02/03/op-ed-oklahomas-multiple-anti-lgbt-bills-are-unacceptable