Kevin Hart Chronicles Anti-LGBTQ Oscars Fallout in Netflix Docuseries
The comedian stepped down as the host of the Oscars after his anti-LGBTQ tweets resurfaced. Naturally, he has a Netflix series in which to tell his side of the story.
Student comes out at Christian university with Taylor Swift lip-sync
A student has come out in the most public way possible at his Christian university. Reid Arthur attends Oregon’s George Fox University. He and his friends took part in a university lip-sync competition over the weekend.
The friends chose to do a mash-up of Taylor Swift’s songs “You Need To Calm Down” and “…Ready For It”.
Swift’s video for “You Need To Calm Down” was a celebration of her LGBTQ fans and a call for equality. Swift has been a longterm ally of the community and has donated over $100,000 to the Tennessee Equality Project, as well as encouraging her fans to sign petitions demanding equal rights.
The lip-sync routine included a particularly eye-catching segment. Arthur takes center stage and his friends grab the sleeves of his sequined jacket. They pull on them to reveal a white top with rainbow ribbons hanging from the sleeves – to the delight of the audience who give a huge cheer.
Re-tweeting a video of the moment, one of those involved, Allie Schluchter (@AllieSchluchter) said: “Tonight I helped one of my favorite people come out, and the love and joy that surrounded this moment is going to stick with me for the rest of my life. I’m so proud of you @reidoburrito95.”
The entire performance has been uploaded to YouTube. Watch below.
The video has prompted appreciative comments from all around the world.
“Reid. You are so brave and I love all of the ways that this represents you and who you are and what you love. Performing and Taylor and friendship and support and love. This is such a special way to show ALL parts of who you are with the world,” commented Kacy Hughson.
“This is AMAZING!,” said Kelley Marchant. “Reid Arthur, you are an AMAZING young man and I’m so glad you had the strength, bravery, and support to do this!”
Not only did the routine receive a big cheer from the crowd, but Reid and his friends went on to win the lip-sync competition. According to one person on Twitter, Arthur is to donate $500 prize to GLAAD and the Trevor Project.
The routine caught the attention of the campaigning organization GLAAD, who re-shared the video with the message: “This is EVERYTHING. Thank you, @reidoburrito95! Legendary performance.”
Others said the performance and the reaction it got from the audience should not be ignored by the University’s authorities – who publicly support the idea that marriage only exists between man and woman.
2004 Family Christmas Movie Goes Viral After Viewers Discover Nearly Identical Gay and Straight Versions, Created by Swapping One Parent
The 2004 movies Too Cool for Christmas and A Very Cool Christmas went viral this week after social media realized that they are the exact same movie expect for one parent, who was swapped out to create a gay and straight version of the films.
Director Sam Irvin spoke to Buzzfeed News about the films: “Back in those days, there was a little bit less open-mindedness to having gay characters. [Filmmakers thought] they would have better chances of selling [the straight version] to those more lucrative markets, but also be able to do an alternate version.”
Irvin said he created the gay version for the LGBTQ network Here TV because it couldn’t afford to finance a full movie so filmmakers swapped a gay actor into the straight version, being produced by Lifetime after networks agreed on the deal. The straight version is now on Hulu and the gay version on Amazon Prime.
Wrote one Twitter user: “Other than the gender of the actor that plays the other parent, the two versions of the film are virtually identical with identical lines being delivered by both the actors and the actress and the exact same camera shots being used for their scenes in both versions…one for the more tolerant Canadian audience and the other one for the presumably more conservative US audience at the time.”
Irvin said it was his insistence that they be identical: “I’m an openly gay director and they said, ‘Why don’t you tweak the dialogue for the dads to make it more gay or whatever?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely not. The whole point would be that there is no difference at all, and it shouldn’t matter.’ I wouldn’t do it.”
Hubby took this photo just as I was about to leave for Natalia’s Birthday Party in uptown Saginaw. He noticed that I did not have any panties on…………well I said that I have got pantyhose on and was in that sort of lucky mood. Indeed I was lucky that night and met a lovely guy! ?