07/31/2010
The LGBT group Sleep With The Right People! Support Hotel Workers! will demonstrate
in front of the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego this afternoon to
protest GOProud, who is holding an event there today that features Fox News Channel's Tammy Bruce. GOProud is a conservative gay Republican group. The hotel's owner, Doug Manchester,
was a big contributor to the "Yes on Prop 8" campaign, donating a hefty $125,000 in February 2008 .
The LGBT community and the UNITE HERE! labor union have been behind a boycott of the hotel since 2008 and this is the first LGBT group to break it since.
Says Cleve Jones, who is affiliated with UNITE HERE!:
“The solidarity between the labor movement and the LGBT movement is a powerful coalition. In San Diego, the owner of the Manchester Grand Hyatt—the second largest Hyatt in North America—gave $125,000 to put Proposition 8 on the ballot. Our union and the LGBT community are boycotting the Manchester Grand Hyatt, because there is power in the union and there is power in coalition.”
Protests begin at 4:30pm at the Manchester Grand Hyatt, 1 Market Place in San Diego. The GOProud event runs from 5pm to 7pm.
You may remember that hundreds of people showed up at a protest of the hotel back in January.
Posted 6:50 PM EST by Steve Pep | Permalink
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"Study":
“People who either identify themselves as homosexual or bisexual, or
have had a same-sex encounter or relationship, tend to come from more
disturbed backgrounds." Yeah, right.
WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning was closeted military man who leaked documents after a big argument where he was "lectured by ex-boyfriend." Would the leak have occurred if DADT didn't exist and Manning had more of a support system in the military?
Lindsay Lohan keeps dressing up as Marilyn Monroe.
New Michael Jackson album featuring "sensational" leftovers from his "Bad" album due in November.
Jersey Shore's Snooki leaves the pokey.
VA AG Ken Cuccinelli on letter he sent our earlier this year calling for removal of anti-discrimination laws: "Could we have dragged our feet and made it take longer? Yes. Should we have? Yes. Should it have been written less like somebody who's a cold-blooded, objective engineer wrote it? Yes. The one thing we got right in there was: the law."
Lack of money in the register, not Jesus, prevented this cell phone store from being robbed.
Matt Bomer shoots new scenes of White Collar with a pink collar.
Andy Cohen and Steven Colbert re-enact a Housewives cat fight.
Politician sends out flyers with opponent's "face superimposed over a rainbow flag, with two male figures holding hands." She also lied claiming he wants to legalize public sex in restrooms.
NY Mag on James Franco: "Franco, you might say, is queering celebrity: erasing the border not just between gay and straight but between actor and artist, heartthrob and intellectual, junk TV and art museum. His obvious relish for gay roles challenges the default heterosexuality of Hollywood leading men like Clooney or Pitt."
Twitter marks a big milestone: 20 billion tweets!
Yes, there is a difference between jazz hands for spirit fingers.
Well that was quick. Levi Johnston
and Bristol Palin's engagement has been called off.
Apparently Prince Charles thinks he needs to save the world.
Irish transgendered woman says she will apply for refugee status in Canada if that country tried to send her back to Europe.
Report: "The Vancouver School Board has significantly downsized its anti-homophobia and diversity consultant's hours, despite calls for greater anti-homophobia education in schools."
Posted 4:04 PM EST by Steve Pep in Andy Cohen, James Franco, Ken Cuccinelli, Lindsay Lohan, Matt Bomer, Michael Jackson, News, Transgender, Twitter | Permalink
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University of Illinois Catholic studies professor Kenneth Howell, who was let go from his job earlier this summer
due to his anti-gay beliefs (according to him gay sex is "injurious" to
the body), has been given the chance to teach at the public institution once again. If you recall, one of student complained about his viewpoints, calling them hate speech.
According to the Chicago Tribune: "The university released a statement Thursday saying Howell's appointment as an adjunct instructor in the Religion Department - teaching Religion 127, Introduction to Catholicism - will be continued for the fall. Howell also taught a course on modern Catholic thought, and the statement did not make clear whether he will still do so. A review of whether Howell's firing by the Religion Department violated his academic freedom is continuing, the university said. 'The University of Illinois is committed to upholding principles of academic freedom and the requirements of the First Amendment,' the statement said."
The university also revealed that they would no longer pay adjunct professors, such as Howell, who teach Catholicism courses through the a local church group, St. John's Catholic Newman Center. They'll now be paid directly by U of I.
But, Howell, as an adjunct professor, could still be dismissed from his teaching position at any time.
Posted 2:59 PM EST by Steve Pep in Chicago, Illinois, Religion | Permalink
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Openly gay writer Kevin Williamson reveals that he wants to see a gay character on his show, The Vampire Diaries. But it won't be somone currently on the show (sorry Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder fans), but a new character. Williamson says: "I don't want to do a coming-out story."
According to Blastr:
"It's one of those things that needs to feel organic and seamless," Williamson told a group of reporters on July 28 in Beverly Hills, Calif., where he was at The CW's party for the Television 
Critics Association press tour. "I don't want it to be a character that comes in and is a one-off. I want someone to come in and have a reason and a purpose and really push that story forward the way I want to do it, and they're so important to the story that without them the show won't happen. That's what I want."
Gay teens are an important issue to Williamson outside of show business. He supports GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. "I'm sitting in the wings waiting," he said. "I'm waiting. Which character can be gay? Which character won't? Where will it fit in? How can I get the gay character in? I don't want to sound like I'm a militant about it, like THERE MUST BE A GAY CHARACTER, even though I am. It's not just that, it's also diversity. I always feel like I don't have enough diversity on my show, and that is one of the things I'm very conscientious of, and not just gay characters. Any diversity. In anything, I want everyone represented. I want everybody on the show."
And if it ends up being a male character, the actor who portrays him better get used to not wearing a shirt.
Posted 1:23 PM EST by Steve Pep in Kevin Williamson, Television, Vampires | Permalink
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He showed up on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson a couple of nights ago with a collection of Silly Bands he'd molded into shapes of things he really, really likes. Things such as rabbits, dolphins and pineapples.
And, um, roosters.
Watch the short clip, AFTER THE JUMP.
Continue reading "Neil Patrick Harris Plays With Silly Bands"
Posted 12:48 PM EST by Steve Pep in Neil Patrick Harris, Video | Permalink
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Israel's gay pride parade was pushed back about a month or so this year, so that it would fall on the one-year anniversary of the deadly shooting last year that claimed two lives in Tel Aviv. The gunman of that attack is still at large.
The parade, which was held in Jerusalem on Thursday, drew more than 3,000 participants.
There was no sign of the donkey cut-outs the city's ultra-Orthodox deputy mayor, Rabbi Yitzhak Pindrus, was allowed to bring to the march
after his initial plan to march 50 real life donkeys through the streets in
protest of the parade was rejected by police. There were, natch, actual human anti-gay protesters, several of whom were arrested. Some held signs that read: "sick perverts - get out of Jerusalem."
Reports the AP:
Carrying rainbow banners, several thousand demonstrators walked along the 1.5 mile (2.5 kilometer) route. A few dozen black-suited ultra-Orthodox Jewish protesters at the beginning and end of the route held signs denouncing homosexuals, with slogans like "Gay Play in Hell, Not Jerusalem." Many ultra-Orthodox Jews consider homosexuality an abomination. Marchers said such opposition has forced the gay community of Jerusalem underground in most parts of the city. "In a religious society, a lot of people still don't realize we actually exist," said Sarah Weil, 26, who helps run an organization for lesbians who are also Orthodox Jews.
Also, yesterday, even Catholic Patriarch Fouad Twal issued a statement criticizing the march: "Leave Jerusalem to her pilgrims and faithful", he began, "(the parade's) organizers and the authorities who allow it, care neither for the feelings of families nor the holiness of this city."
I've compiled several clips of the pride-full moments at the parade. Watch them AFTER THE JUMP.
Continue reading "Delayed Jerusalem Pride Parade Draws Thousands, Criticism"
Posted 11:31 AM EST by Steve Pep in Israel, Jerusalem | Permalink
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