Michael Sam Released By Dallas Cowboys, Vows To Keep Fighting For NFL Job

Michael Sam Released By Dallas Cowboys, Vows To Keep Fighting For NFL Job
Michael Sam is looking for a new team and another opportunity to prove he can play in the NFL after the Dallas Cowboys cut him from their practice squad. The team announced the release of Sam, the first openly gay football player ever to be drafted into the NFL, from their 10-man practice squad on Tuesday.

Sam took to Twitter and told his thousands of followers that he will continue fighting “for an opportunity to prove that I can play every Sunday”:

I want to thank the Jones family and the entire Cowboys organization for this opportunity, as well as my friends, family, teammates, (1/3)

— Michael Sam (@MichaelSamNFL) October 21, 2014

and fans for their support. While this is disappointing, I will take the lessons I learned here in Dallas and continue to fight for an (2/3)

— Michael Sam (@MichaelSamNFL) October 21, 2014

opportunity to prove that I can play every Sunday. (3/3)

— Michael Sam (@MichaelSamNFL) October 21, 2014

Sam, the 2013 SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year and former All-American at the University of Missouri, was selected by the St. Louis Rams with the 249th pick in the seventh round of the 2014 draft. But Sam didn’t end up making the Rams’ 53-man roster or their 10-man practice squad. Shortly after his release, the Cowboys signed him to their practice squad. Cutting Sam frees up a spot for linebacker Troy Davis, per the Cowboys’ official website.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/21/michael-sam-cowboys-released_n_6023506.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Beautifully Intimate Portraits Of Gay Couples From The Height Of AIDS Hysteria

Beautifully Intimate Portraits Of Gay Couples From The Height Of AIDS Hysteria

In the Summer of 1986, photographer Sage Sohier set out to document the lives of gay and lesbian Americans in their homes. It was the peak of AIDS hysteria, and her intimate photos stood (and continue to stand) in humanizing defiance to the horrible rumors and fears circulating about the gay community in mainstream society.

Sohier’s father was also gay, though he couldn’t quite say those words. Looking back on this series, titled “At Home With Themselves: Same-Sex Couples In 1980s America,”Sohier has come to see her work as a vehicle to connect with her dad.

“After I showed my father the pictures, he teared up, he looked moved, and seemed grateful,” she told The New York Times. “There was a sense of relief. I felt that I was sort of saying to him that I understood what was going on and that I was OK with it.”

Here is a selection from the portfolio, which is now also a book. More info on that here.

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Tim and Chuck, Key West, FL, 1987

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Gordon and Jim, with Gordon’s mother Margot, San Diego, CA, 1987

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David and Eric, Boston, MA, 1986

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Brian and Hanns, Key West, FL, 1988

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George and Tom, with Samantha, Key West, FL, 1987

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Chris and Cris, Provincetown, MA, 1986

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Jean and Elaine, Santa Fe, NM, 1988

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Sue and Shelley, with four of Shelley’s five children, San Carlos, CA, 1988

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Reno and Lee, Fire Island, 1988

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Sheila and Dorothy, Santa Fe, NM, 1988

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Herb and Dana, Quincy, MA, 1988

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Bruce and Don, Washington, D.C., 1987

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Cindy and Barb’s Wedding, Boston, MA, 1986

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Bill and Ric, with Ric’s daughter Kate, San Francisco, 1987

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Lloyd and Joel, San Francisco, 1987

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Stephanie and Monica, Boston, MA, 1987

 

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Linda and Nancy, Key West, FL, 1988

© Sage Sohier 2014

Dan Tracer

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Postmodern Jukebox Takes Taylor Swift's 'Shake It Off' To Motown: VIDEO

Postmodern Jukebox Takes Taylor Swift's 'Shake It Off' To Motown: VIDEO

Von1

American Idol alumnus Von Smith teamed up with Scott Bradlee and his Postmodern Jukebox to give Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” an injection of Motown-style smooth. 

Watch Smith and the Jukebox shake, shake, shake, AFTER THE JUMP…


Sean Mandell

www.towleroad.com/2014/10/postmodern-jukebox-takes-taylor-swifts-shake-it-off-to-motown-video-1.html

Playwright Responds to North Carolina High School That Canceled Play Due to Gay Scene

Playwright Responds to North Carolina High School That Canceled Play Due to Gay Scene

John Cariani has released a powerful statement about a student production of Almost, Maine deemed inappropriate for ‘sexually-explicit overtones and multiple sexual innuendos.’

read more

Brandon Voss

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/theater/2014/10/21/playwright-responds-north-carolina-high-school-canceled-play-d

Texas-Sized Stupidity

Texas-Sized Stupidity
Does sheer stupidity drive human history? According to the late, great historian Barbara Tuchman, it does to an alarming extent. Tuchman’s final book, The March of Folly, makes that case. Tuchman does not mean the Moe, Larry and Curly sort of petty stupidity; the follies of those who, alas, are just not very bright. She means the truly grand acts of stupidity, the intellectual malfeasance of smart, educated, and powerful people whose boneheaded decisions have sometimes harmed millions. She presents case studies of willful, obstinate stupidity that defied common sense and even self-interest. You might disagree with the details of some of her examples, but her general point about the pervasiveness and insidiousness of culpable stupidity can hardly be gainsaid.

Another name for willful stupidity is irrationality. What is irrationally? Perhaps the most illuminating analysis was made by the brilliant and tragically short-lived mathematician and philosopher W.K. Clifford (1845-1879). Clifford says that we have epistemic duties, that is, we have certain obligations with respect to how we hold our beliefs. If we hold our beliefs in a responsible manner, fulfilling our epistemic duties, then we are acting rationally. Epistemic duties require us to subject our beliefs to critical examination and willingly revise or release them when they are contrary to evidence and logic. On the other hand, we violate our epistemic duties when we believe irresponsibly, for instance, when we accept preposterous scenarios rather than plain facts, leap to conclusions in defiance of the most elementary canons of inference, or permit wishful thinking to substitute for sober judgment. To neglect your epistemic duties is to act irrationally, to be voluntarily stupid.

There is also a narrower and even more pernicious sense of irrationality that I wish to distinguish from the sort of dereliction of epistemic duty mentioned by Clifford. I make the distinction at the end of this essay, after developing a detailed example. I draw upon Texas politics, the wellspring for every type of stupidity and irrationality.

For those who live outside of Texas, the Republican candidate for Governor in next month’s election is the current Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott. As Attorney General, Abbott has the duty of upholding Texas laws when they are challenged in court. Lately, of course, courts nationwide have been ruling in favor of same-sex marriages, and laws prohibiting such unions in many states have now been struck down. Texas laws unequivocally recognize marriage as between one man and one woman, and deny the legitimacy of all other unions. In a brief filed to the 5th U.S. Circuit Abbott, argued in support of Texas marriage laws.

The issue of same-sex marriage propels some Texas Republicans into paroxysms of bigotry (actually, with these folks just about anything will do that). The knuckle-dragger response to same-sex marriage is to declare that if we recognize same-sex unions, soon we will have people marrying horses or inflatable dolls.

To his credit, Abbott abjures such low-I.Q. rants. In fact, Abbott is a very clever guy. He knows that opponents of same-sex marriage have little to say when asked what harm it does. For instance, how is a happily-married heterosexual couple harmed by having a happily-married gay couple next door? In his brief, Abbott contends that “It is enough if one could rationally speculate that opposite-sex marriages will advance some state interest to a greater extent than same-sex marriage will.” Note what a light burden of proof he gives himself. He doesn’t have to prove anything about same-sex marriage, only “rationally speculate” that it is less beneficial.

What arguments support his speculation? First, he says that Texas law encourages procreation which is needed “…to ensure economic growth and the survival of the human race.” Odd. I was not aware that Texans needed encouragement to procreate. In fact, Texas’ population is booming. What about the world? The human population is projected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050. Also, some same-sex couples do procreate. Surely, Abbott has heard of artificial insemination and surrogate motherhood. Further, if an essential aim of Texas marriage laws is to encourage procreation, and therefore to discourage non-procreative unions, then what about heterosexual couples that cannot procreate? Should not the law be written to deter unions between heterosexual individuals who are infertile, or elderly, or disabled in a way that prevents natural procreation?

Abbott’s second argument is that “…Texas laws reduce unplanned out-of-wedlock births and the cost that those births impose on society. Recognizing same-sex marriage does not advance this interest because same-sex unions do not result in pregnancy.” Pause to contemplate the sheer illogic of this claim: Same-sex marriages do not result in pregnancy (false), therefore, laws honoring the marital commitments of both same-sex and opposite-sex couples will be less effective in discouraging out-of-wedlock births. Logicians would call this a textbook instance of non sequitur. Everybody else will just scratch their heads and say “Huh???”

To be fair, Abbott only claimed to “rationally speculate.” He is speculating, but not rationally. This, then, is the narrow sense of irrationality I wished to identify. Irrationality in this narrow sense is not stupidity, whether willful or not. Irrationality in the narrow sense, the kind deployed by Abbott, is a conscious stratagem, an intentional effort to construct a counterfeit of reason. It is a deliberate effort to muddy the waters — obscurantism, in other words. Knuckleheads cannot produce such refined, artful irrationality. It takes a really smart person like Abbott to generate something that resembles logical argument but which is really just nonsense on stilts. It is bad when someone is not able to think rationally. It is worse when they refuse to do so. It is worst of all when they use high-level intellectual abilities to generate obscurantist claptrap.

www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-m-parsons/texassized-stupidity_b_6021536.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

South Carolina Congressional Candidate Calls Gay People “Gremlins” Out To “Destroy Lives”

South Carolina Congressional Candidate Calls Gay People “Gremlins” Out To “Destroy Lives”

Culler and his wife, Renee.

When asked why he was running for the U.S. Congress in South Carolina’s 6th district, Republican candidate Anthony Culler replied: “God has asked me to run.”

Evidently, the married father of four, who claims to be a huge fan of Appalachian Mountain music, has God on speed dial and the two have late night gab fests all the time.

“When elected,” Culler wrote on Facebook last week, “I will consult the Constitution and God on every bill. Then I will cast my vote. I will strive to be a Godly servant to the people I represent.”

Last week, Culler wrote a hyperbolic diatribe calling same-sex couples “gremlins,” and “a pestilence that has descended on our society.”

“Do not buy the ‘cuteness’ and ‘What will it hurt?’ arguments whispered in your ears and marketed to our children,” he scribed. “Same-sex couples that seek to destroy our way of life and the institution of marriage are NOT cute and cuddly but rather (for those of you that are old enough to remember the movie), Gremlins that will only destroy our way of life.”

He continued by accusing supporters of marriage equaling for seeking “to destroy the traditional family and the values we cherish.”

Values that apparently include watching horror movies from the ’80s while texting with God.

Culler also called gay people “bullies,” “self-destructive,” and a “scourge on society” with “a strong tendency for substance abuse.”

He followed up last week’s Gremlin statement with this eloquent tweet this morning:

To the voters of SC-6 Vote Anthony Culler if you’re Pro-Traditional Marriage – one man and one woman. Vote @Clyburn if you’re for samesex.

— Anthony Culler (@AnthonyCuller) October 21, 2014

What a charming family man.

Related stories:

Antigay Christians Fear Losing Their Jobs For Being Homophobic At Work

Pastor Claims Gay People Are Possessed By “Fart Demons” That Can Drive Pigs To Suicide

Christians, Take Heed! Gays Are Demanding “Open Sex” And Threatening Your Businesses!

Graham Gremore

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Theatre News: A New Hedwig, Pacino Back on Broadway, 'Once' Closing, Upcoming Sondheim Musical

Theatre News: A New Hedwig, Pacino Back on Broadway, 'Once' Closing, Upcoming Sondheim Musical

Michael c hall

This month in theatre news, Broadway gets a new Hedwig, Once sets closing date, Pacino teams with Mamet and Sondheim at work on a new musical.

> Michael C. Hall began performances last week in the title role of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, stepping in after Girls star Andrew Rannells completed his 8-week run as the trans rocker. Hall, best known for Dexter and Six Feet Under, was just on Broadway last spring in Will Eno’s The Realistic Joneses. No stranger to gender fluidity, he previously played several stints as the Emcee in Roundabout Theatre Company’s 1998 production of Cabaret. Hall will continue as Hedwig through January 4.

Once> Tony and Grammy Award-winning musical Once announced a closing date of January 4 at the Jacobs Theatre. Based on the acclaimed Oscar-winning film of the same name, the Dublin-set musical about a passionate and unlikely romance featuring an ensemble of actor-musicians, will have played 1,167 regular performances and 22 previews. The show’s U.S. national tour continues and a number of international productions are currently running or in development, including a West End production that will close in March of next year.

> Producers announced that Al Pacino will return to Broadway next fall in China Doll, a new play by David Mamet. In a statement, the playwright described it as “a play about a wealthy man, his young fiancé, and an airplane […] I wrote it for Al. It is better than oral sex.” The new play will be directed by Pam MacKinnon and produced by Jeffery Richards, Jerry Frankel and Steve Traxler at a Shubert theatre to be determined.

Stephen-Sondheim-08> Lincoln Center Theatre announced two new additions to its 2015 docket: Shows for Days, a new comedy by Douglas Carter Beane (The Nance, The Little Dog Laughed) set in a 1970s community theatre, to be directed by Jerry Zaks Off Broadway at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, and Preludes, a new musical by Dave Malloy, directed by Rachel Chavkin (creators of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812) about Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff at LCT3’s Claire Tow Theatre.

> Stephen Sondheim is at work on a new musical with playwright David Ives (Venus in fur) based on two films by Spanish director Luis Buñuel, The Exterminating Angel and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, according to the New York Times. The Public Theatre and Scott Rudin are producing the new work. No timeline has been set; Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of the Public, said in a statement, “We will do it whenever Steve tells us to.”

Producer Kevin McCollum announced that Robert Askins’ dark comedy Hand to God starring Steven Boyer will open on Broadway at the Booth Theatre on April 7, 2015 with previews beginning March 12. Featuring a critically-acclaimed performance by Boyer as a young man whose hand puppet takes on a demonic life of its own, the play was previously produced at Ensemble Studio Theatre and again at MCC Theater earlier this spring. Moritz von Stuelpnagel directs.


Naveen Kumar

www.towleroad.com/2014/10/theatre-news-a-new-hedwig-pacino-back-on-broadway-once-closing-upcoming-sondheim-musical.html

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