Magician and arch-debunker Penn Jillette made a very valid point on his podcast Sunday: That Obama has called states’ rights for marriage equality, but not for marijuana laws.
First off states’ rights for marriage equality means that over 1,300 federal rights are denied to same-sex couples in the states that celebrate marriage equality, but that wasn’t where Jillette was going. The entertainer, doesn’t smoke, drink or do drugs, said about Obama and marijuana legalization:
Now, he has not left this to states’ rights. As you know, medical marijuana… you can get in California, and the feds are coming in to try to stop this. States’ rights don’t mean jack sh*t to the Obama administration on anything except gay marriage.
Bottom line, Obama should repeal DOMA and let states set their own pot laws. Oh heck, go whole hog and federally legalize marijuana.
about to reintroduce a previously existing DC character who was previously straight and now will be “one of our most prominent gay characters.”
DC already has a large number of LGBT characters including superheroines Batwoman and The Question, superhero couple Apollo and Midnighter, and bisexual Voodoo.
But who will come out of the closet? We may have to wait until September to find out, but oh that will make Halloween so much more fun!
Today Pam Spaulding wrote about Pastor Charles Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, NC who told his congregation on May 13, 2012 that his solution to dealing with lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender people is to send them to concentration camps.
Okay, clear and simple, this guy is an absolute hate-filled moron who believes the the King James Version of the Bible is
the inerrant Word of God.
You know, the version with the satyrs dancing. Because satyrs existed. According to this version of the Bible.
But let’s get back to Pastor Worley’s speech:
I figured a way to rid of all the lesbians and queers, but I couldn’t get it past the Congress.
His plan? To incarcerate LGBT behind an electrified fence and drop in some food. Because
they can’t reproduce
they would eventually die off.
Isn’t one of the biggest fears of the wingnuts “FEMA camps”? Even Glenn Beck says Obama is building them for Republicans. and why do you suppose The Wingnut Gummit would stop with the queers and homosexuals? They might go after oh, say Republicans who support queers and homosexuals. Or Republicans who don’t like they way their taxes are being spent. Or… Someone needs to send Pastor Worley this poem by Pastor Niemoller:
First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Then at 1:24, Pastor Hate Worley preaches from the pulpit:
Somebody says, Who are you gonna vote for?” I ain’t gonna vote for a baby killer and a homosexual lover.
At last night’s L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s “An Evening with Women,” comedian/actress/married lesbian with kids Wanda Sykes spoke thoughtfully about Obama and the NAACP’s stance on marriage equality. And had some very wise words about marriage, and why atheists get married.
I’m so proud of him [Obama]. I knew he would get there. But I believe it’s earnest and I’m just so proud because I flash back to this time four years ago and watching the vice presidential and presidential debates and when the topic of same sex marriage comes up, it was almost like they laughed…I still voted for him because it was what I thought was best for the country and I just hope people who are – have a problem with him coming out for same sex marriage that they will still go with their instinct of what’s good for the country.
Sykes was super enthusiastic regarding the NAACP’s support of marriage equality:
I’m so proud of the NAACP! I mean – this is huge! Really is huge because the NAACP, their roots are so instilled in the church. That’s where their meetings and all of that are held, in churches. So to come out and support same sex marriage – I’m so thrilled that they have gotten past the point that it’s not about religion, it’s about rights.
And the she pointed out a very important fact:
Marriage really doesn’t have anything to do with religion. That’s why atheists get married. It’s about all the rights that comes along with it. So I’m very proud of the NAACP right now and I think I’m going to join! Maybe I’ll up my membership now.
the false perception that traditional and non-traditional relationships are socially equal.
Fines can be as high as $15,000, and St Petersburg city assemblyman Vitaly Milanov says he will attend the concert to insure its
moral content
and that Madonna is charged under the new law if she refers to it negatively or makes any positive statements about LGBT rights. The bill, which also bans the promotion of homosexuality and pedophilia to minors, was signed into law by Mayor of St Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko, a former KGB officer and close friend of Vladamir Putin.
On her Facebook page, Madonna wrote:
I’m a freedom fighter.
My show
My songs
My work
My art
Is all about freedom of expression
Freedom to choose to speak to act
Always with humanity and compassion
I will come to St. Petersburg to speak up for the gay community, to support the gay community and to give strength and inspiration to anyone who is or feels opressed.
I don’t run away from adversity.
I will speak during my show about this ridiculous atrocity.
Why it is not illegal to be gay in Russia, LGBT events have been violently disrupted by police, who claim the events upset the populace, and the Russian Orthodox church urges punishment or hospitalization for gays.
Madonna’s concert appearance in August is causing friction in the LGBT community. Yury Gavrikov, head of the St. Petersburg branch of Gay Russia movement told AFP:
We intend to protest against the hypocrisy of pop stars. In Russia, they have fantastic earnings, and this allows them to forget about the problems of human rights. If people like Madonna boycott their concerts particularly in Saint Petersburg that could have economic consequences, and that is important, while declarations of support for gay rights at concerts mean nothing.
Meanwhile, in Moscow, Igor Kochetkov, chairman of the Russian LGBT Network spoke to the Daily Mail, saying:
We consider that Madonna’s visit and her address to millions of her Russian fans with words in support of freedom of expression for everyone will bring more good than a boycott would.
(Icon caption from “Crimes of Passion,” by Madonna and Kevin Bray)
A group of five twenty-somethings were removed from a Rick Santorum rally Friday at the Liberty Heights Christian Academy after chanting
Mic check! Mic check! Mr. Santorum!
while two men in the group began to kiss. The crowd booed at first then began to chant
USA! USA!
as the freedom of expressionators were led out by security. I’d like to think chanting our country’s initials was meant as a show of solidarity with the couple and their friends, since this is the land of the free, but it was a pro-Santorum rally, so sadly my optimism is misplaced.
I do think this could spawn a trend of straight/unmarried and LGBT couples–married or not– making out passionately en masse at any GOP rally. But minus the mic check to make it, like you know, more polite.
Heck, at a Fred Karger or Ron Paul rally such expression of freedom would be embraced; and at a Romney, Newt, or Santorum event, LGBT kissing should serve to remind the candidates that in America we have LGBT Republicans, while emphasizing to the other attendees that America is not like those nasty furrin ray-jeems that kill folks for being different. Why in his speech before the guys started kissing, Santorum was saying that America is an exceptional country. Time to prove it.
Teeth gnashing, hostile conservative, homophobic h8ters One Million Moms have dropped their mean-spirited call for retailer JC Penney to fire spokeswomen Ellen DeGeneres because the beloved talk show host is openly gay. One Million Mom spokesperson Monica Cole told One News Now:
Everyone works hard for their money, and they want to spend their money with companies that have the same values as them. And JC Penney stated that Ellen DeGeneres shares the same values that they do. So obviously, it’s not the same as Christians or conservatives, which is unfortunate [because] JC Penney was founded by a Christian man.
The Clorox Company introduces the Liquid-Plumr Double Impact Snake and Gel System in this ad which is full of sexual innuendos as well. They are attempting to use sex to sell a product to unclog drains…The commercial starts off with a woman in a supermarket daydreaming about what this new Liquid-Plumr product has to offer. She says, “Double impact,” twice as she reads the bottle. In her dream she is at home and answers the door to find a sexy plumber… She says come on in and he walks upstairs. The doorbell rings again and it is a second sexy plumber…
Then she wakes up to reality to find the two men in the supermarket. She flirts by giving sexy eyes to the one man in the deli slicing meat and the other in produce holding two melons. These two men are the same as in her dream. It may be coincidence, but the man in produce is standing beside cucumbers with a price sign behind him reading 69 cents.
(this is not the banned video, though it is indicative of Andrew Christian’s video style)
Andrew Christian’s cheeky videos on YouTube advertise the clothing company’s expressive line of men’s underwear, featuring gorgeous male models flaunting their assets—and front-sets: Andrew Christian’s “Show-it” line promises
maximum frontal enhancement.
The company directs their marketing towards gay men, though seriously straight dudes couldn’t go wrong wearing some of these styles which look far more comfortable and sexy than the standard hide-away tighty-whiteys and boxer briefs. A man, no matter what his sexual orientation, would definitely cut a fine figure in these underpinnings–they are kinda like a super-bra for the meat and potatoes.
The Andrew Christian videos–which are age restricted on YouTube–definitely play up sexuality, as do vast number of YouTube videos aimed towards straights and featuring female models (and amateurs). So why did YouTube yank Andrew Christian’s “Pink Paradise” promo from the company’s YouTube channel? (I haven’t seen it, but if it’s anything like their others, it’s cute, playful, and sexy with hot guys frolicking in skivvies, eye candy for straight women and gay men).
Our video was meant to be a fun way to feature our new line of underwear. We’re disappointed and confused about its removal for inappropriate content when there are hundreds of thousands of videos featuring overtly sexual female imagery. We are a company that only produces menswear, and it feels unfair that our ads are held to different standards for featuring the male body.
There is no doubt in our mind that there would be no issue if the exact same video was posted with female models instead of male. Are you being homophobic or is it something else?
All we request is for our account to be unblocked, and the “Pink Paradise” video to be restored with its original view count so we may continue to regard YouTube as a fair and balanced outlet for reaching our audience.
The company’s channel is now unblocked. Their letter included a short list of videos which feature the same type of content as the Andrew Christian video (and may be NSFW depending on your company standards):
Some of these are age restricted, and one that Andrew Christian listed in their letter featuring
Women making out and putting their hands under each others’ underwear
is now removed. I found more raunchy videos of women including this one which far exceeds the amount of ass shown in Andrew Christian videos, and the related videos that are featured on the same page are um, really rather extreme. Based on their titles, I cannot unsee them, so I didn’t click. You may be braver than I.
YouTube is not for pornography or sexually explicit content.
While I haven’s seen Andrew Christian’s “Pink Paradise,” based on other videos featured the company’s channel, I can safely say they are sexy but not explicitly sexual. And definitely not porn.
You further understand and acknowledge that you may be exposed to Content that is inaccurate, offensive, indecent, or objectionable
Undoubtedly there are people who find videos of anyone frolicking in their underwear offensive, indecent, or objectionable, but seriously, they are adults. In underwear. And just like Victoria’s Secret and that god awful Paris Hilton Carl’s Jr commercial (I do not recommend clicking on the “banned” version which will get you a whole list of related videos which are really skanky and somehow have passed muster with YouTube’s community standards, possibly because they cater to heterosexuals, though feminists might get a bit worked up over a couple of them based on the preview stills).
Seriously, YouTube, did you cave to some homophobic complaints? Please reinstate Andrew Christian’s “Pink Paradise,” which is simply a sexy underwear ad, the same as this one.
JC Penney named Ellen DeGeneres as spokesperson. And naturally conservative crackpots One Million Moms (have you ever met anyone who is one of these mythical million moms?), , have launched a whine-athon against the department store chain, urging that people call their local JCP branch and complain.
In what many might seem as one of the signs of the End Times, Bill O’Reilly jumped into the fray and supported JC Penney’s right to choose whomever as a spokesperson, saying that calling for Ellen’s firing is un-American and
wrong…a witchhunt.
Meanwhile Ellen had this to say:
Me, I’ll be calling my local JC Penney’s manager and thanking them for having Ellen as a spokesperson. And maybe I’ll venture inside their doors for the first time since I was like 16, buy some things, and tell the salespeople and cashiers why I chose to spend my dollars there.
