What To Watch This Week On TV: Streaming 'Kimmy Schmidt'; 'Housewives' Goes Down Under

Bobby Hankinson

www.towleroad.com/2015/03/what-to-watch-this-week-on-tv-streaming-kimmy-schmidt-housewives-goes-down-under.html

Missouri: Latest to Seek Clerk's 'Right to Discriminate' in Marriage Licenses

His bill would provide for the firing of any public employee who granted a license to a same-sex couple.

read more

Trudy Ring

www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2015/03/02/missouri-latest-seek-clerks-right-discriminate-marriage-licens

Lawyer In California Proposes Killing Gays With 'Sodomite Suppression Act'
A lawyer in California has submitted a ballot initiative with the state Department of Justice calling for the death of anyone who engages in sodomy in the state, the San Diego Gay & Lesbian News reports.

The proposal by Matt McLaughlin, who lists his address in Huntington Beach, was received by the initiative coordinator at the Office of the Attorney General on Feb. 26. Enclosed was a $200 check and the complete text of his “Sodomite Suppression Act.” The act outlines seven measures relating to those who engage in same-sex sodomy, “a monstrous evil that Almighty God, giver of freedom and liberty, commands us to suppress on pain of our utter destruction even as he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha.”

McLaughlin recommends punishment by death, even though a judge ruled that California’s death penalty is unconstitutional last June:

Seeing that it is better that offenders should die rather than that all of us should be killed by God’s just wrath against us for the folly of tolerating-wickedness in our midst, the People of California wisely command, in the fear of God, that any person who willingly touches another person of the same gender for purposes of sexual gratification be put to death by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method.

The document goes on to push a ban on the distribution of “sodomistic propaganda” (we can only assume he was inspired by Russia, as some note) and on “sodomites” from serving in public office. He also wants the act to be “prominently” displayed in public school classrooms.

Ballot initiatives were added to the California Constitution in 1911 and allow for voters to propose constitutional amendments and statutes to be voted on by the larger populace. After an initiative is submitted, the sponsor must get signatures from five percent of the number of votes in the most recent gubernatorial election, Wonkette notes. That would be more than 350,000.

A representative for the Attorney General’s Office was not immediately available for further comment.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/02/lawyer-killing-gays-sodomite-suppression_n_6786776.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

HRC Commends Appointment of Benjamin Mizer as Interim Head of Civil Division at DOJ

Mizer is an incredible public servant whose strong record and experience make him an exceptionally qualified individual to fill this important role within the Department of Justice.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/hrc-commends-appointment-of-benjamin-mizer-as-interim-head-of-civil-rights?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Wrong Message: Russell Tovey Thankful He’s Not More Femme Because Dad Didn’t Let Him “Prance Around”

In a recent interview with The Guardian, British-born Looking star Russell Tovey spoke about his father’s decision not to allow him to attend the performing arts high school he had his sights on. Instead, he went to a more diverse school that he feels toughened him up.

He told The Guardian:

“I was so envious of everyone who went to Sylvia Young Theatre School. I wanted to go but my dad flat-out refused. He thought I’d become some tapdancing freak without qualifications. And he was right in a way. I’m glad I didn’t go.

I feel like I could have been really effeminate, if I hadn’t gone to the school I went to. Where I felt like I had to toughen up. If I’d have been able to relax, prance around, sing in the street, I might be a different person now. I thank my dad for that, for not allowing me to go down that path.”

The context, it should be noted, is that Russell feels his high school experience made him a more versatile actor, meaning better at playing straight/gay characters.

But the sentiment comes uncomfortably close to echoing a pervasive attitude in the gay community — that femme is bad and masculine is good. You need look no further than Grindr profiles to see one negative expression of this idea: “Masc4Masc,” “No Femmes,” etc.

Then there’s the generalization of a performing arts school as a place where all people do is “prance around, sing in the street.” And given his tone, his father’s “tapdancing freak” evokes code for “tapdancing fag.”

All in all, it doesn’t sound good no matter what he meant.

It’s fine for Russell (and everyone else) to be whoever it is they want to be, but when we start assigning values to identities it will always spell trouble.

He goes on to say:

“I get told, a lot, that I’m kind of carving my own path. That there are not many actors who are out and are able to play straight, and gay, and everyone’s OK with it.”

There aren’t, but perhaps it’s a sign more of the times and less of his father having instilled some external “tough guy” front in his younger self that allows Russell to navigate the entertainment industry as a versatile and talented performer.

But regardless, it’s the wrong message for LGBT youth, many of whom make up the audience of Looking and in turn look up to its stars as role models. And it’s certainly the wrong message for parents of said youth, many of whom may not know what to make of their sons’ desire to “prance around.”

We don’t mean to say Tovey has committed any mortal sins here. He’s an active and outspoken member of the gay community, and part of a show we think does a great job at trying to “get it right” when it comes to representing gay people.

But there is a conversation to be had among us about how we qualify identity. Because “that path,” as Russell put it, leads to no better or worse a destination than any he wound up on.

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/YTAKDVsCtcg/wrong-message-russell-tovey-thankful-hes-not-more-femme-because-dad-didnt-let-him-prance-around-20150302

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #1702

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/03/towleroad-guide-to-the-tube-1702.html

Supreme Court Won't Hear NOM's Latest Appeal on Donor Disclosure

The court let stand a ruling that the names of Proposition 8’s financial backers must remain public record.

read more

Trudy Ring

www.advocate.com/politics/marriage-equality/2015/03/02/supreme-court-wont-hear-noms-latest-appeal-donor-disclosure