Op-ed: Why 'I Can't Breathe' Does Belong on the Basketball Court
Some say sports isn’t political, but one athlete argues the opposite.
Paulo Senra
www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/12/18/op-ed-why-i-cant-breathe-does-belong-basketball-court
Category Archives: NEWS
'American Horror Story: Freak Show' Just Revealed How The Seasons Are Connected
'American Horror Story: Freak Show' Just Revealed How The Seasons Are Connected
Ryan Murphy shocked “American Horror Story” fans in October when he revealed that all the seasons of the anthology series are connected. On Wednesday night, the first links were made onscreen.
We first knew that Season 4 would connect to Season 2’s “Asylum” when it was announced that Lily Rabe’s Sister Mary Eunice would appear on “Freak Show.” Wednesday night’s mid-season finale finally connected the dots between Elsa Mars’ freak show and Briarcliff Manor from “Asylum.” The episode revealed Pepper’s entire origin story, from when she first met Elsa to how she arrived at the asylum. In present day of “Freak Show,” which is set in Jupiter, Florida in 1952, Elsa finds Pepper’s sister and asks her to take Pepper in so she can finally have a real family.
But then “Freak Show” jumped ahead 10 years to 1962 in Massachusetts — let us remind you that Briarcliff was purchased by the Catholic church and converted into a Sanitarium that year, according to “Asylum.” In the scene, Pepper’s sister sat across from Rabe’s Sister Mary Eunice (she’s back!) and told her that Pepper murdered her son. In Season 2 of “AHS,” it was revealed that Pepper had been accused of drowning her sister’s son and cutting his ears off (but it was actually her sister’s husband who committed the murder). The “Freak Show” mid-season finale included this twist: Pepper’s sister and brother-in-law both conspired against her, killing their own son to have her locked away.
The episode ended with Pepper’s arrival at Briarcliff where she meets Sister Mary for the first time and the God-loving nun (remember, this is before her demonic possession) welcomes her with kindness. Pepper looked down at an old Life magazine dated July 6, 1958 to see Elsa Mars on the cover, a now-proclaimed TV star. So now we know that no matter how Season 4 of “American Horror Story” ends, Elsa’s dreams of stardom will eventually come true. The only thing we’re left wondering is how we’re supposed to ignore the fact that Elsa looks exactly like Sister Jude.
“American Horror Story: Freak Show” returns on Jan. 7 with a mid-season premiere that will guest star Neil Patrick Harris and feature the return of “AHS” alum Jamie Brewer.
“American Horror Story: Freak Show” airs on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. ET on FX.
Bills Aim To Overturn Anti-Gay Texas Law That Punishes Children For Having Same-Sex Parents
Bills Aim To Overturn Anti-Gay Texas Law That Punishes Children For Having Same-Sex Parents
The founders of a popular support network for gay dads are taking on a Texas law that prohibits them from having both of their names on their son’s birth certificate.
Austinites Andy Miller and Brian Stephens (above and below), founders of The Handsome Father, say the law is “mean-spirited” because it punishes their son, 7-year-old Clark, for something over which he has no control. From The Texas Observer:
“As he got older, it became less about us and it became more about him,” Miller said. “This is his document that he’ll carry with him the rest of his life, and it very clearly only lists half of his family on it, and that’s when we kind of became angry and said the state is treating our son differently because of who his parents are, not because of anything he has done or hasn’t done. This needs to change because of our kids. The state is basically targeting them for unequal treatment.”
Acting in the name of “conservative values,” the Texas Legislature decided in 1997 to require supplemental birth certificates issued to adoptive parents to have the name of one man and one woman. Texas is one of a handful of states with similar laws, and marriage equality won’t solve the problem.
On Wednesday, lawmakers in the state House and Senate introduced bills to overturn the law. State Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, told the Observer:
“I think if you asked every member of the Legislature, they would say they care about orphaned children, and if we can get them to understand that this bill is about children and not about who their parents are, then that should carry the day. There’s no doubt that this policy has cruel effects.”
Daniel Williams, legislative specialist for Equality Texas, called the law “the lowest form of politics possible — if you don’t like someone, attack their children.”
A few years ago, Lambda Legal challenged a similar law in Louisiaina, but lost the case when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear it.
Equality Texas is calling on people to contact their legislators in suport of the bills.
John Wright
Snow gets sexy: 6 gay ski weeks around the world
Snow gets sexy: 6 gay ski weeks around the world
Planning your winter ski trip? Grab your mates and do it in style
G2003
www.gaystarnews.com/article/snow-gets-sexy-6-gay-ski-weeks-around-world131214
WATCH: Duggars Claim Petition Against Show Is Gaining Them Fans
WATCH: Duggars Claim Petition Against Show Is Gaining Them Fans
The homophobic and prolific couple contend that ‘God is expanding our borders through the national media.’
Dawn Ennis
Church That Fired Gay Music Director Is Closing Its Doors For Good
Church That Fired Gay Music Director Is Closing Its Doors For Good
The First United Methodist Church in Alexandria, IN has fallen on hard times.
Last year, it made headlines for firing its music director, Adam Fraley, after learning he was gay. As a result, members of the congregation left in droves. Now, Pastor David Mantor says the church will be closing its doors for good at the end of the year, but he insists that it has nothing to do with the Fraley firing incident, the Herald Bulletin reports.
“This closure is not due to that situation whatsoever,” he said.
Instead, he claims falling attendance, membership and financing problems are to blame.
“This is a problem that’s going on everywhere,” he said. “And that’s why we’re closing.”
The church has been steadily losing members over the past year. Dr. David Steele, a former member and lay leader for the church, said it lost around 80 percent of the congregation after Fraley was fired for being gay.
“I think this is hurtful for all of us who were involved in that church,” Steele said. “I grew up in that church. We had a very tight-knit congregation.”
According to Mantor, only 20 or 30 of the once 700 parishioners remain. But come December 31, they will need to find a new place to worship.
Related stories:
Indiana Church Divided After New Minister Fires Gay Man, Straight Supporters
Methodist Minister Shares Journey As Transgender Man With Congregation
Pastor Who Was Defrocked For Officiating Gay Son’s Wedding Is Officially “Re-Frocked”
Graham Gremore is a columnist and contributor for Queerty and Life of the Law. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
Graham Gremore
Duck Dynasty's Willie Robertson 'trying to figure out' if being gay is a choice
Pat Robertson Says Gays 'Will Die Out'
Pat Robertson Says Gays 'Will Die Out'
Televangelist Pat Robertson predicts that gays will die out because they don’t reproduce.
Robertson was responding to a viewer who belongs to a church in which congregants aren’t allowed to date.
“It is treated as a sin to show interest in or have a mutual understanding in church with the opposite sex,” wrote Crystal. “Most of the people in church are frustrated because we’re getting older and no one is getting married.”
In comments made on his show “The 700 Club” on ABC Family that were then posted on YouTube by Right Wing Watch, Robertson replied:
“You know those who are homosexual will die out because they don’t reproduce. You have to have heterosexual sex to reproduce. Same thing with that church. It’s doomed. It’s going to die out, ’cause it’s the most nonsensical thing I have heard in a long time. This is absurd.
God has made us to be in families. God has created a desire of men and women to have attraction to the opposite sex so that they will reproduce and have children.
If I were you, I’d get out of the church as fast as I could, cast the dust of it on your feet, shake off the dust and run.
Of course, gays can become parents in a number of ways, including surrogacy. And as Inquisitr points out, the children of gay parents are no more likely to be gay than other children, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Australian politicians are auctioning off their time for marriage equality
Australian politicians are auctioning off their time for marriage equality
Some of Australia’s leading politicians, including Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s sister Christine Forster, have offered to have lunch with donors to a campaign to raise $50,000 for Australian Marriage Equality
andrewp
www.gaystarnews.com/article/australian-politicians-are-auctioning-their-time-marriage-equality181214
Atlanta's Mo'Dest Volgare Serves the Most Offensive Holiday Drag Performance (NSFW VIDEO)
Atlanta's Mo'Dest Volgare Serves the Most Offensive Holiday Drag Performance (NSFW VIDEO)
If you’re not offending somebody, you can’t call it “drag.” Cross dressing in any form flies in the face of so many societal expectations around gender, sexuality, and the symbols we use to express them. Drag queens take the offense of cross dressing and amplify it to an art form; the best queens try to shock as many people as possible through their performances. Every queen has a scat number, an off-color celebrity impersonation, and a lewd striptease. The cheery mainstream drag represented by RuPaul does not represent the true grassroots drag seen in clubs. Drag is punk rock done up in a wig and heels. It flips off the status quo with elegance and grace.
At the season finale of Dragnificent, Atlanta’s premier drag competition, I saw the most offensive number I believe exists. Celeste Holmes, host of Dragnificent, introduced the performer by telling the audience, “You are not prepared for this.” Celeste has been performing drag for three decades, and she said Mo’Dest Volgare‘s number was the wildest, most offensive piece of drag she had ever seen. I was dubious. I’d seen drag queens do Anne Frank, Helen Keller, and shit-stained fisting numbers. To shock me would take a ballsy performance.
Celeste was right. I was not prepared for Mo’Dest’s number.
The curtain opened up with Mo’Dest as the Virgin Mary kneeling before the angel Gabriel (played by Lola Bundy). Gabriel announces Mary’s impending pregnancy. Mary proclaims her desire to be God’s servant. Mo’Dest begins her lip sync: “Baby Daddy” by jazz vocalist Lil Armstrong. God walks in with a foot-long dong protruding from his robe. The Virgin Mary drops to her knees and begins to serve her gracious savior with professional deepthroat head. She rises to face the audience and reveals an extremely realistic pussy underneath her gown. Mary does not look like a virginal girl down there at all.
As Lil Armstrong wails on about the joys of “Baby Daddy” and “Big Daddy” making everything all right, Mary lies back while God pounds her with his big, heavenly dick. Mo’Dest shows us everything we wanted to know about the Immaculate Conception; she makes Mary’s innocent story a lurid and titillating tale of celestial intercourse.
The second half of Bible Tales by Mo’Dest Volgare gives us a more objective account of the birth of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.
A very pregnant Mary gallops on stage riding a wooden horse; her pubic hair waves in the breeze. “Baby Daddy” by M$ney comes on, and Mo’Dest starts her lip sync: “I don’t need a job. I need a baby daddy to pay for my Louis and Gucci bag habit. … Imma have this baby. This if fucking payday!” The song and Mo’Dest’s urban-stripper attitude cast the holy mother in an entirely new light.
Once Mary makes it to the stable, she lies back on a bale of hay as Joseph serves as midwife. He reaches deep into Mary and pulls out a large, naked (living) baby Jesus, covered in amniotic fluid, with an umbilical cord hanging out of him. Mo’Dest takes the umbilical cord as a leash and finishes her lip sync; her creamy thighs are covered in blood, and her vulva still hangs out for everyone to see.
This number captures what I love about drag and the spirit of Mo’Dest Volgare so well. When I see this performance, I see a young gay man taking the frustrations and hardships of his life and turning them into a spectacle of depraved humor. Mo’Dest came from a very conservative, Christian, suburban, middle-class, white family. When he came out to them, he was disowned for his sinful ways. As a young man today, Mo’Dest lives the life of urban Atlanta poverty; food stamps, taking public transit, living in dangerous areas, and struggling to survive have been part of his life for years. Mo’Dest’s appropriation of the music, dance, symbols, and attitude of hip-hop is an expression of class solidarity, even if some perceive it as racially insensitive. The joy Mo’Dest has performing this number is palpable; it’s as if this unholy extravaganza removes years of negativity from her soul.
Mo’Dest’s interpretation of the Virgin Birth shows audiences exactly who Mo’Dest is: a strong performer willing to take on the fables of religion, even if it means pissing off the audience. Mo’Dest has consistently used the styles of urban black culture in her outfits, wigs, music, and attitude; this is both daring and truthful to the life she lives. She is a highly political, controversial queen channeling her struggles into conceptual drag, and that is why I love her. In the religious, racially divided South, a ‘hood-style Mary getting knocked up by God, bleeding on stage, and singing about Jesus as a payday might possibly offend everyone in the audience; this is what Mo’Dest lives for.
I would argue that the more people you offend with your drag, the more successful you are as a performer. Unfortunately, this was not the view of the judges of this cycle of Dragnificent. Mo’Dest received third place behind Chyna White and winner Jazelle. But when it comes to exemplifying the depraved catharsis possible through drag, Mo’Dest is always the winner.
