From Fox News ~ Olympic Leotards Lack Patriotism!

Dear Fox News ~

Meet me at the corner of Too Much Time To Kill & Will Actually Just Say Anything.

(Clip via The Huffington Post)

Sincerely,
Ian

A Twitter Conversation About Religion & Gay People Sparked By Chick-Fil-A

Below is a Twitter conversation I had late last night.  As with so many Twitter conversations, I have no idea who I was speaking with.  His profile says that he is male and a father.  Clearly he is religious and conservative.  Our chat was sparked by the Chick-Fil-A appreciation day that took place yesterday and the upcoming kiss-in.  The very first tweet is by someone else.  All the tweets after that are either him or me.

I wonder sometimes about the usefulness or destructiveness of Twitter.  I find so many of the things people say on it to be utterly disgusting.  I guess people feel anonymous and therefore find it safe to say horrific things to one another.  Oddly, Twitter gives us the feeling of importance by handing us a microphone while simultaneously giving us a blanket to hide under.  Public anonymity.  It seems to bring out [continue reading...]

Marriage Equality in the Party Planks ~ Dems (Now to Include FULL Marriage Equality!) or the Repubs (Not So Much)

Via The Village Voice ~

Quoting outgoing, openly gay congressman Barney Frank, the Blade reports that a 15 member panel unanimously backed including language that supports the right for same-sex couples to marry. Despite President Obama’s wink-wink, nudge-nudge stance about states’ rights on marriage, the DNC plank sounds like it will mirror the administration’s legal battle for full marriage equality at the federal level.

FULL LEGAL MARRIAGE AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL.  FULL LEGAL MARRIAGE AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL.  

This is the Republican Party platform regarding marriage equality as of 2008.  Now that’s a long time ago already, but methinks they ain’t changin’ it too much for the upcoming convention.  Note the demonization LGBT endure even in the party platform ~

Preserving Traditional Marriage

Because our children’s future is best preserved within the traditional understanding of marriage, we call for a constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage as a union of a man and [continue reading...]

Iordan Iovtchev ~ At 39, the Oldest Competing Gymnast in London

While not quite 40, Iordan Iovtchev of Bulgaria still gets a giant FuckYou40 salute!  At 39, he is by far the oldest gymnast competing in London.  This is his sixth Olympics.  His first was in Barcelona.  Seems like yesterday, but in fact it was 20 years ago, in 1992, before many of his competitors were born.  He went on to compete in Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000), Athens (2004), Beijing (2008) and now London.

Via GymnasticsCoaching.com ~

This quote, via National Post, reveals his dedication to this sport even as his body begs him to stop ~

His 39-year-old body is “falling apart”, his back is “hurting” and his ankles are “killing” him but even if he has to be pushed out in a wheelchair, gymnastics’s elder statesman Iordan Iovtchev is determined to make one final hurrah at the Olympics.

And then there’s this, from [continue reading...]

Joe Klamar’s Olympic Portraits ~ Love ‘Em or Hate ‘Em?

I’ve fully enjoyed following the “controversy” over these portraits for the past three weeks.  I personally love the pictures.  And I love the fact that sometimes you just can’t trust an artist to do exactly what’s expected.

The photographer says that the pictures are not the result of his wanting to make a statement, but rather the result of his not being prepared (via Denver Post) ~

“I was under the impression that I was going to be photographing athletes on a stage or during press conference where I would take their headshots for our archives,” [Klamar] explained. “I really had no idea that there would be a possibility for setting up a studio.” It was the first time AFP had been invited to participate in the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Media Summit, which was held this year, in May, at a Hilton Hotel in Dallas.

Joe had come armed with two [continue reading...]

Marriage Equality Brings $259,000,000 to NYC ~ in Its First Year!

Via GLAAD ~

New York City reaped $259 million of economic benefits from marriages for same-sex couples in the first year of the law allowing the practice, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn said.
At least 8,200 marriage licenses were issued, accounting for more than 10 percent of the 75,000 wedding licenses issued in New York City in the past year, Bloomberg and Quinn said in a statement today, citing a survey conducted by NYC & Co., the city’s marketing and tourism office, and the city clerk’s office.

That sooooo doesn’t sound like the beginning of the end of Western civilization to me.  That sounds more like one way to begin to end a recession.  And we haven’t even started getting divorced yet.  As you straight people can tell us, divorce is waaaaaay more expensive than a wedding!

Vito ~ An HBO Documentary

Know your history.  Know your history.

RIP Sherman Hemsley

A little Tuesday afternoon RIP Sherman Hemsley brought to you by the cast of “Purlie.”

Sally Ride ~ American Trailblazer, American Lesbian

“We won’t die secret deaths anymore.”  Tony Kushner, Angels in America, Part One:  Millennium Approaches

As America reflects upon the life of a trailblazer, the LGBT community celebrates the fact that we get to claim that very trailblazer as one of our own.  Sally Ride was the first American woman in space (not to mention that, at 32, she was also the youngest American in space.)  And Sally Ride was a lesbian.  She is, inexorably, a part of American history.  And she is, inexorably, a part of LGBT history.  This distinction will remain important until the day this country realizes that these two histories are not mutually exclusive ~ that they are, in fact, so intertwined as to be utterly inseparable.  They are the same history.  (We do the same thing with black history, female [continue reading...]

Bill Moyers ~ The Disclose Act

More from the brilliant Bill Moyers on money and politics.

Via BillMoyers.com ~

The DISCLOSE Act is meant to pull back the curtain and reveal who’s donating $10,000 or more not only to super PACs but also to trade groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and these so-called “social welfare” non-profits that can spend limitless cash on campaigns as long as it’s less than half the organization’s total budget.

The New York Times recently cited a report by the Center for Responsive Politics and the Center for Public Integrity finding that “during the 2010 midterm elections, tax-exempt groups outspent super PACs by a 3-to-2 margin with most of that money devoted to attacking Democrats or defending Republicans.”  We’re talking in excess of $130 million. What’s more, the Times reported, “such groups have accounted for two-thirds of the political [continue reading...]