Category Archives: NEWS

Jon Stewart Says Mike Huckabee's Gay Marriage Stance 'Makes No F**king Sense'

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)

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

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

Screen shot 2015-02-02 at 1.03.58 PMAs 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

Aaron Schock's New Office Decor is Inspired by 'Downton Abbey'

Aaron Schock's New Office Decor is Inspired by 'Downton Abbey'

Downton

Rep. Aaron Schock’s new office decor is inspired by the red room from the UK drama Downton Abbey, reports Ben Terris, hilariously, at the Washington Post.

SchockBut drama of another kind erupted when Terris went to the office and began being shown around. Word got out to Schock’s communications director, Benjamin Cole, who demanded to know why he was looking at the decor:

“Are you taking pictures of the office?” he asked. “Who told you you could do that? . . . Okay, stay where you are. You’ve created a bit of a crisis in the office.”

A staff member then came and asked me to please delete the photos from my phone.

Terris was being shown around by the interior decorator herself, Annie Brahler, “whose company is called Euro Trash.”

Terris adds that although it has “bright red walls…A gold-colored wall sconce with black candles….a federal-style bull’s-eye mirror with an eagle perched on top…a drippy crystal chandelier, a table propped up by two eagles, a bust of Abraham Lincoln and massive arrangements of pheasant feathers,” it’s not an exact replica of the Downton room but just “takes inspiration” from it, according to Brahler.

“I guess because he’s fresh-minded and forward-thinking, he’s not hung up on doing things the same way as everyone else,” Brahler said. “It’s gotten to where he’s comfortable with everything I do.”

Except, perhaps, when she gives a tour of his office to a journalist.

Of course, Schock’s maverick style has come out before. In June 2010, a photo of Schock at a White House picnic in white jeans, an aqua belt, and purple gingham shirt posted by Gawker sent rumors he is gay into overdrive. Schock later tweeted that he “burned the belt” after the photo went viral.

And Schock isn’t the first Republican to worship Downton. Rep. Michelle Bachmann and her family posed like the Crawley clan for a Christmas card in 2014 that they called ‘Bachmann Abbey’ on Facebook.

But Schock doesn’t want to be so public about his Downton worship, or showing outsiders his office. Perhaps he’s worried about what reporters might find in the office closets?

The big question is, Does Aaron Schock play make-believe that he’s in #downtonabbey & which character is he? t.co/daVoUzkKcv

— Mike Signorile (@MSignorile) February 3, 2015

(top image vanity fair)


Andy Towle

www.towleroad.com/2015/02/aaron-schocks-new-office-decor-is-inspired-by-downton-abbey.html

Oregon Baker Found Guilty of Discriminating Against Gay Couple; Faces Fine of Up to $150,000

Oregon Baker Found Guilty of Discriminating Against Gay Couple; Faces Fine of Up to $150,000

Sweetckaes

Sweet Cakes, the Oregon bakery which refused to bake a cake in January 2013 after they found out it was for a lesbian’s wedding, has been found guilty by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries of discriminating against the couple getting married and faces fines of up to $150,000, KGW Portland reports:

In Jan. 2013, Laurel Bowman said Sweet Cakes refused to sell her and her fiancée a cake for their upcoming wedding. Bowman said Aaron Klein, the co-owner of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, said the couple’s union was an “abomination unto the lord.”

Bowman filed an anti-discrimination complaint with BOLI later that year, alleging that the bakery violated the Oregon Equality Act of 2007, which protects the rights of Oregonians who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.

According to KGW, Sweet Cakes by Melissa is liable for up to $75,000 per person, “which means the same-sex couple could be awarded up to $150,000.”

Sweet Cakes closed in September 2013, moving its business to an ‘in-home’ bakery after the state began its investigation and it became the target of protests.

The baker posted a sign on the door at the time:

“This fight is not over. We will continue to stand strong. Your Religious Freedom is becoming not Free anymore. This is ridiculous that we can not practice our faith. The LORD is good and we will continue to serve Him with all our heart. ♥”


Andy Towle

www.towleroad.com/2015/02/oregon-baker-found-guilty-of-discriminating-against-gay-couple-faces-fine-of-up-to-150000.html

Is Writing 'Masculine Only' in Your Dating Profile Homophobic?

Is Writing 'Masculine Only' in Your Dating Profile Homophobic?
I had just typed: “Hey gorgeous,” on Grindr and hit send before realizing my phone had corrected it to: “He forgives.” Well, might as well lead with something provocative. Gorgeous boy was not phased. “More pics?” he instantly responded.

I flipped through my selfie library and selected the usuals. The one where the Instagram filter blew out my fine lines. Another from last summer, when the tank top was hugging me in a way that showed pecs where there really weren’t any.

“Sorry,” he quipped back, “Masculine only.”

Wait. What? Should I have sent him the picture of me tearing a tiger in half with with my bare hands? Or, perhaps the one where I demolished an entire building with my balls? What did he see in two cell phone snap shots that made him think I was going to rollerblade into his life wearing daisy dukes and waving dance streamers?

Scroll through any of the gay hook-up apps these days, and you’ll get a sea of exclusive terminology. “Masc4Masc only.” “No Femmes.” “Masculine/Muscular ONLY.” (Did he mean Mascular?) What’s going on here? Is this personal taste in men? Or, is it subtle homophobia with a dash of self loathing?

In elementary school, there was an effeminate little boy. It was the early ’80s in small-town Indiana, and the other boys were quite cruel. They really let him have it. Out of fear, I remember making a concerted effort to sit with my legs spread wide, and to speak in the lowest tone my prepubescent voice could muster. To never get too expressive.

It worked. I passed.

Later, in high school, as my sexuality awakened, I was able to fly under the radar as one of the artsy kids. I grew out my hair. Played in a band. Wore a biker jacket. To the untrained eye, I wasn’t gay; I was just too cool for school.

As a young adult, I was also on a masculine-only kick. So much so that I developed a tragic ability to fall for straight guys. The moment I saw a flash of girly-ness on your visage, or a swish in your sashay, it was over.

It’s a funny thing, how painful and fearful moments from our childhood seem to linger with us forever, subconsciously influencing our behavior. Even funnier still is how time has a way of distancing us from the past. With each passing moment, I step further away from the scared little boy, overly-concerned with surface mannerisms that simply do not matter, and closer to the wise old man who has embraced the diversity of our people. I’m not all the way there yet, but it’s the direction I’m heading. It’s the direction I choose to go.

Today, I attempt to live without limitations, without preconceived ideas about what might be best for me. For one, being surprised is amazing. Two, living without the constraints of a scared little boy is the better way.

www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-thornton/is-writing-masculine-only_b_6539220.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices