Obama Isn't Quiet About LGBT Rights, Even in Jamaica Trip
Activists had hoped the president would use his influence in Jamaica to highlight LGBT equality. read more
www.advocate.com/world/2015/04/11/obama-isnt-quiet-about-lgbt-rights-even-jamaica-trip
Obama Isn't Quiet About LGBT Rights, Even in Jamaica Trip
Activists had hoped the president would use his influence in Jamaica to highlight LGBT equality.
Lucas Grindley
www.advocate.com/world/2015/04/11/obama-isnt-quiet-about-lgbt-rights-even-jamaica-trip
Justin Timberlake And Jessica Biel Welcome Baby Silas Randall Timberlake
This will be one talented baby.
Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Silas Randall Timberlake, on Saturday. Reps told People that the new father is “ecstatic” and everyone is doing well.
Rumors of Biel’s pregnancy first broke in November 2014, and Timberlake finally confirmed the news in January with a touching Instagram photo of himself kissing Biel’s growing belly:
Thank you EVERYONE for the Bday wishes! This year, I’m getting the GREATEST GIFT EVER. CAN’T WAIT. #BoyOrGirl #YouNeverKnow #WeDontEvenKnow #WeAreTakingBets
A photo posted by Justin Timberlake (@justintimberlake) on Jan 31, 2015 at 3:29pm PST
The couple, who has been dating since 2007, tied the knot in October 2012 during an intimate wedding ceremony in Italy. Congratulations to the family of three!
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Rebel Heart: Madonna’s Most High Profile BFF Breakups And What We Can All Learn From Them
Sandra Bernhard and Andy Cohen recently sat down to critique Madonna’s latest music video “Ghosttown” on Watch What Happens Live.
Of course, anyone who knows anything is aware that, once upon a time, Madge and Sandy were thick as thieves. Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the pair were often spotted running around New York City together, making joint appearances on The David Letterman Show, and, at one point, even rumored to be lesbian lovers.
“She came to my show in 1988, came backstage, and then we started hanging out,” Bernhard told Wendy Williams back in 2010. “We would go out, we would have a genuinely great time, and I think we were a really good example of two women being friends.”
Then one day, that all abruptly ended.
“I like to maintain my friendships,” Bernhard said. “But, you know, certain people can’t handle those kinds of friendships.”
Of course, Sandra Bernhard isn’t the only close confidant Madonna has dropped for seemingly no apparent reason. The rebel heart has a long history of ditching her pals.
Scroll down for some of Madonna’s most high profile BFF breakups…
Gwyneth Paltrow
There was a period in the mid-2000’s when Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow were practically joined at the hip. Both were blonde American women living in the U.K. who possessed an air of cultural superiority sophistication. They could frequently be seen gossiping over lunch, working out together, or attending fashion shows, where they snickered at the models from the front row. Then something happened. And now they hate each other.
Rumor has it the falling out occurred when Madonna fired their shared personal trainer, Tracy Anderson, then told Gwyneth she should, too. When Gwyneth refused, Madonna terminated their friendship contract. In 2011, Paltrow alluded to the feud on her blog Goop when she wrote about an “insufferable” friend who left her feeling “drained, empty and belittled.”
The moral of the story: Nobody belittles Gwyneth Paltrow. And absolutely nobody crosses Madonna!
Niki Haris
Niki Haris sang backup for Madge from 1987 to 2001, appearing in the Who’s That Girl Tour in 1987, Blond Ambition Tour in 1990, The Girlie Show Tour in 1993, and The Drowned World Tour in 2001, as well as in the documentary Truth or Dare, and music videos “Vogue” and “Music.” Then in 2004, she was inexplicably replaced in Madonna’s Re-Invention Tour.
At the time, Haris’s publicist claimed the backup singer had chosen to sit out the tour because she wanted to “focus on her solo career and family,” but insiders said she wasn’t asked to participate after allegedly making off-handed comments about Madge to the press.
In 2009, Haris kinda sorta opened up about what happened, telling an interviewer that “maybe there was some drama” but that ultimately Madonna is “a gem” and she was grateful for having worked with her. “Of course, my ego was involved: ‘Oh, she don’t want me no more!’ But at the end of the day, she gave me the greatest gift,” Haris said.
Unfortunately, these kind words about her former boss still didn’t land her a spot in the 2012 MDNA Tour.
The moral of the story: Once you cross over to the bad side of Madge, there’s no going back.
Christopher Ciccione
In 2008, Madonna’s younger brother Christopher published a tell-all book called Life With My Sister Madonna. Naturally, the “Keep It Together” songwriter wasn’t pleased.
The gloves came off as Christopher, who had worked with Madonna in a variety of capacities over the course of two decades — from backup dancer, to personal assistant, to interior designer — dished about his complex relationship with his famous sister, her career failures, her marriages, and her lack of boundaries when it came to making money, going so far as to accuse her of exploiting their mother’s death in the documentary Truth or Dare.
The book, which reached #2 on the New York Times Bestseller List, was packed with jabs at Madonna’s age, negative personality traits, parenting skills, and inability to truly love. As a result, the singer didn’t speak to her brother for several years. When asked about the book in an interview recently, she it was “very hurtful” but said she and her brother have since made up.
The moral of the story: Madonna’s not the only member of the Ciccone clan who will do anything for a buck.
Donna De Lory
Donna De Lory was Madge’s other longtime backup singer, who, like Niki Haris, began working with her in 1987 and appeared in every one of her world tours, as well as several of her music videos, up until 2007. De Lory loyally stood alongside Madonna as she went from pop starlet to music icon to mother to Kabbalist. And that’s when things seemed to go awry for the duo.
“Kabbalah, all of a sudden, was mandatory,” De Lory recalled in a 2013 interview. “I thought it couldn’t hurt, but it wasn’t my belief system per se. However, two times the teacher tied on the red-string, and two times I watched it untie and come off me. They tie these things and knot them and they aren’t supposed to come off for a long time. After it came off two times on its own, I figured that I didn’t need that to protect me.”
Coincidentally, after De Lory decided Kabbalah wasn’t for her, she wasn’t asked back for Lady M’s 2008 Sticky & Sweet Tour.
“Even though she is very wealthy and very famous,” De Lory said, “Madonna is still human and, like all of us, she is trying to figure it all out.”
The moral of the story: Wear the fucking red bracelet!
Demi Moore
Just like Gwyneth, there was a time when Madonna and Demi Moore were BFFs. When they were younger they’d go nightclubbing together. As they got older they’d go to Kabbalah class together. The women had plenty in common. They both rich. They were both famous. And they both had a taste for younger fellas. But when Demi’s relationship with her younger beau Ashton Kutcher ended, so did her friendship with Madge.
The story goes: Around the time of Ashton and Demi’s split, Ashton signed with Madonna’s long-time manager Guy Oseary. When forced to choose between her relationship with Demi or her business partnership with Guy, Madonna went where the money was and dropped Demi from her Christmas card list.
Talk about getting the shit end of the stick. Poor Demi lost her boyfriend and her best friend all in one fell swoop.
The moral of the story: Money can’t buy you class.
Liz Smith
So what’s with Madonna ditching all her best buddies anyway? We think iconic celebrity columnist Liz Smith explains it best. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 92-year-old veteran reporter opened up about her friendship with Madonna, saying: “She’s an extremely talented, deeply complicated woman. We were close for a while, or as close as anyone can get to her.”
Related stories:
Madonna Makes Her Stand-Up Comedy Debut, But We Laughed More At Her New Song
Madonna Likens Ageism To Homophobia, Has A Message For The Haters
Graham Gremore
Tony Perkins Warns Fascist Pro-Gay Christians Are Committing Heresy: VIDEO
Tony Perkins, the president of the hate group Family Research Council (FRC) has said Christians who make biblical arguments in favor of homosexuality are committing heresy, reports Right Wing Watch.
Perkins was reacting to a New York Times column by Frank Bruni (right) last weekend on the growing body of work arguing for Christian acceptance of homosexuality.
Arguing that the views of anti-gay groups are not shared by the majority of Christians, Bruni noted that “in the end, the continued view of gays, lesbians and bisexuals as sinners is a decision. It’s a choice. It prioritizes scattered passages of ancient texts over all that has been learned since — as if time had stood still, as if the advances of science and knowledge meant nothing.”
However, Perkins argued:
“Bruni grants no possibility that there is a rich, articulate, persuasive, and sound literature by Christian theologians demonstrating how clear and unchanging is the Bible’s teaching on same-sex intimacy, marriage, and human sexuality in general.
“He is disinterested in such, and instead appeals to outliers like David Gushee and Matthew Vines. And in a particularly desperate move, he notes that the ‘United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’ have all affirmed same-sex relationships.
“True, but these historic denominations are no longer mainstream. They are dying, becoming more like social clubs and liberal foundations than proclaimers of a faith delivered with clarity and finality, once for all.”
Perkins concluded with a (loving) stark warning for Bruni:
“We will not be ‘re-educated,’ nor will we be silent. We are not going away. We love you too much to affirm sin in any fashion. We condemn any vitriol you receive from those who, outraged by your dismissive and hostile column, call you names or worse. And we love you too much to reduce Christian faith to simply being ‘nice’ or affirming what the God of Creation and of the Bible says is un-affirmable.
“Sin is sin. Our sin. Your sin. God sets the standard, not us. His standard is not unclear or subjective or ambivalent.”
Watch Perkins weigh on the Indiana #RFRA controversy, AFTER THE JUMP…
Jim Redmond
We gotta get out of this place: The GOP’s war fixation and the lingering curse of Vietnam
A haunting film about Vietnam re-enactors touches a cultural nerve: America has never gotten past that trauma
HBO's VICE Uncovers Gay Iranians Forced to Surgically Change Gender
Hard to believe, but the Iranian government will pay for gender-reassignment surgery to “cure homosexuality.”
Thom Senzee
www.advocate.com/world/2015/04/11/hbos-vice-uncovers-gay-iranians-forced-surgically-change-gender
Rejoice, Lesbians: 'Bed Death' Isn't Actually A Thing
In a same-sex relationship with a woman and not getting enough action? Don’t diagnose your partnership with lesbian bed death just yet—survey data has now proven without a doubt that it doesn’t exist.
“Lesbian bed death,” or LBD, is a term that’s often used to describe when a lesbian relationship goes through a sexual dry spell. The term dates back to 1983, when sociologist Pepper Schwartz used it to describe sexless states in lesbian relationships in her book American Couples.
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Joe Manganiello Gives Pee-Wee A Ride, Steve Grand Reveals His Blow-Up Lover
This week, Barry Manilow married his male manager, Nick Jonas got naked yet again and Sean Hayes auditioned for Empire. Here’s what happened recently on Instagram:
“All-American Boy” Steve Grand has finally opened up about his new relationship.
A photo posted by Steve Grand (@stevegrandmusic) on Apr 9, 2015 at 4:30am PDT
Green is Max Joseph‘s color. So is grey.
We know Nick Jonas looks great undressed, but he’s pretty sexy in clothes, too.
Shot from @britishgq this month A photo posted by @nickjonas on Apr 8, 2015 at 6:59am PDT
Does this mean Hugh Jackman is a Golden Girls fan?
Sometimes a second piece of cheesecake is a must!!! A photo posted by Hugh Jackman (@thehughjackman) on Apr 8, 2015 at 4:38am PDT
Cheyenne Jackson had some throat work done.
TONSILS ARE OUT. Thanks Dr Osborne and Dr Gupta and everyone at Cedars Sinai for taking such good care of me. #Loopy A photo posted by Cheyenne Jackson (@mrcheyennejackson) on Apr 7, 2015 at 4:39pm PDT
John Stamos had some oral work done.
I love the Dentist. #BagofLies A photo posted by John Stamos (@johnstamos) on Apr 7, 2015 at 10:08am PDT
Pee-wee Herman and Joe Manganiello are a dream team.
My Secret Is Out! Joe Manganiello Joins Me On My Big Holiday!!!!!! t.co/eFGNYPN3S5 pic.twitter.com/DC7yip8gh8 — Pee-wee Herman (@peeweeherman) April 8, 2015
Jeremy Kinser
feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/UpLTmajw_VQ/joe-manganiello-gives-pee-wee-a-ride-20150411
Guam Rejects Gay Couple’s Marriage License Application, Attorney General Declines To Comment Until ‘Later Time’
Guam couple Loretta M. Pangelinan and Kathleen M. Aguero’s marriage license application, the first to be submitted in the U.S. territory, was rejected by a Department of Public Health and Social Service clerk this week, the AP reported. Under Guam law a marriage license is only issued to opposite sex couples.
The U.S. District Court of Guam falls under the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has ruled in favor of marriage equality. Pangelinan and Aguero’s attorney, R. Todd Thompson, says the couple plans on taking their case to federal court and that he expects the Guam court to follow the appeals court’s precedent. Although many same-sex couples on Guam usually fly to Hawaii or Washington to marry, Pangelinan and Aguero wish to marry in Guam so their friends and family may all attend.
Guam’s Attorney General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson said that she is “deferring answering further questions on the issue of gay marriage until a later time.” Barrett-Anderson’s statement issued to Pacific Daily News came a day after she issued a public statement that the island’s health department was, “Acting in compliance with Guam law,” when it denied Pangelinan and Aguero’s marriage application on Wednesday. On April 9, Barrett-Anderson said, “Whether Guam’s statutes will stand or fail will soon be definitely decided by the Supreme Court of the United States for our entire nation and upon that decision Guam will abide.”
Of the five U.S. Pacific and Caribbean territories, only Puerto Rico has faced a marriage rights lawsuit for gay and lesbian couples. The federal judge of Puerto Rico rejected the suit. The case later appealed to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, but Puerto Rico’s Justice Department stated last month that it would not defend its own laws banning gay marriage, with Justice Secretary Cesar Miranda stating that the government can no longer continue to discriminate against the gay community.
Watch a report on the couple and the license denial, AFTER THE JUMP…
Anthony Costello
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