Best. Gay. Week. Ever. (November 06, 2009)

Another GREEK disagreement. I thought the finale was awful. Idiot plots, badly written dialogue, relationships were started, stalled, or ended for no reason. Even Beaver and Heath got on my nerves. I loathed this episode.

How predictable that Asleigh sees Fisher with another girl. How predictable that Rebecca hooks up with someone for the season finale. Every finale there has to be a surprise hookup. Did the writers forget the episodes where Cappy realised that he had been such a douche (his word) to Evan for going after Casey? Now, he's going to be shocked if Evan does not take kindly to him reconciling with her??? Did Casey forget the almost kiss?

This gets to the point that I've been hammering home for months. The writers don't know what to do with relationships--gay or straight. They only know one story. Get together, break up, almost get back together, break up sort of, get back together, and then break up again, etc. Yawn.

won the last leg, not second place.

 

Can`t wait for Glee to come back next week! Go Kurt!

in regards to celebrities not being 'out' if they are not out to the press or on the red carpet. For a regular person it's possible but still not completely probably that you can be out socially, but not everywhere and expect to never be found out. In this day and age for a celebrity that's nearly impossible. They can barely breath without it being caught on someone's camera phone or twittered or reported to TMZ. Most celebrities weren't thrust into the spotlight, they sought it. They know, much like budding politicians, anything done in public or in private around the wrong person, can and will bite you in the ass. How many reports of a missing wedding ring herald the 1st signs of impending divorce? When celebrities actually want to hide, they do. Gay celebs deserve no more or less consideration than straight ones who don't make the effort to keep their private lives private.

...but thank you everyone at AfterElton for the effort.

First of all I really liked the 5 points you made.

I lol-ed about that. It reminds me of some recent pictures of a certain silverfox ;)

Ok you’re saying if a celeb brings a male date to an official event but never says anything about his being gay, you can consider this actor to be out? Because if so – and I hate to bring this up again – Jim Parsons could be considered out according to this standards. He took the same guy to a official CBS Party and the Emmys where you could see them sitting next to each other on live television (ok they didn't do the red carpet), but the fans most certainly don’t consider him out (although they're discussing his possible gayness). Or what kind of behavior are we talking about? Holding hands? Kissing?

I really think a celebrity is only out if he said so or he got caught kissing his boyfriend (with pictorial evidence). Everything else can and will be interpreted in many different ways.

 

Parsons' pictures: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1433588/board/thread/149186961

By the way, I hope it's ok that I lust after Scott Kerns. I know he's straight and married, but he's all kinds of beautiful!!!

"The Politics of Dancing' by Re-Flex! Now I'm going to be bopping to that tune all day~ fun quiz, thanks!!!

She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain~ Louisa May Alcott

That is not the taxidriver on the photo in the asshat nomination, but actually the guy who was thrown out by him. You might want to correct that.

His name is Justin, not Jason...you must have Matt Damon on the brain :)

 

You too can be saved by the blog! www.savedbytheblog14.blogspot.com 

I may be straight, but I'm not narrow.

Closeted celebrities need to know that when they do come out we will be there for them. When they come out, we should watch their shows, buy their records, read their books and do whatever it takes to show them how much we appreciate them being out and visible. Of course it also helps when their shows are worth watching and their records are worth listening to and their books are enjoyable as well.

That Daily Show clip is all too real. Not long ago in Philthydelphia i walked by a young family heading to an Eagles vs Cowboys game (or in Philly parlance, the "Iggles"), and saw their young 8(ish) year-old sons wearing "Romo is a Homo" tees.

How lovely.

I have never heard Neil give a bad interview or Conan for that matter but when I learned NPH was going to be on The Tonight Show I frankly expected it to be more funny than it turned out. The crowd was dead for parts of the interview and it seemed like Neil had to explain things that fell flat ("Because we saw his ____ in that movie" being a prime example). Also, the way he made fat people out to be ugly trolls made him seem like kind of a jerk. Maybe that is why the (probably overweight) crowd didn't take to him as well.

Conan's kind of ham-fisted "What was he slapping you in the face with?" seemed kind of crass, even for Conan. Just a subtle reminder that Neil likes dudes which I was hoping would come up in a more casual and boring way if it had to be rehashed at all. We all know, Conan. If he had said that to a woman, it would have been totally inappropriate. This kind of gets to Michael's argument that those in the media (not just journalists) treat gay celebrities differently sometimes.

I didn't HATE the interview, but expected more from both of these funny men.

BTW what is up with NPH's new project? It sounds kind of bizarre to me. I'm from Iowa, and if I were in LA I doubt I;d want to spend time or money on a scavenger hunt. Even one run by Neil Patrick Harris.

Thanks, Michael Jensen, for being so articulate and clear about the closet, involving actors and their publicists and the press and the public. Double standards abound. If the straight star of the highest-rated new cable show were caught with photos of him kissing his ex, it probably would be some story, with perhaps some speculation about who the babe is. But apparently not if you're a seemingly closeted actor, like Matt Bomer (from USA Network's ''White Collar''). No one in the mainstream media has dared to touch this story, and not even some of the major gay Web sites. All of which seems to reinforce the idea that simply acknowledging one's sexual orientation (if you're gay) is a matter of shame. Too bad. We need to get past the canard that the public won't buy an openly gay man playing a romantic leading man. Yet the same public seems to have no problem buying a straight man playing a gay one (and that actor is often lauded for his ''bravery'' and wins awards). Again, it's a double standard. And as long as we attach a stigma to being gay, we'll never be treated as equals; we need to own who we are, without apologies.

Kevin is one hot man and has played gay before. He was Hugh Jackman's understudy during the run of BOY FROM OZ.  He was in a lovely gay film, GREEN PLAID SHIRT, that is available on DVD.

He also had a grounndbreaking role on DAYS OF OUR LIVES as a handsome doctor who marries an overweight woman, played by the vivacious, Patrika Darbo.

 

Kevin is one hot man and has played gay a few times. He was Hugh Jackman's understudy during the run of BOY FROM OZ during its run.  He was in a very inteligent film, GREEN PLAID SHIRT, about the anatomy of a relationship that is very moving.  It is available on DVD if you have not seen it.

He also had a ground breaking role on DAYS OF OUR LIVES as a hansome doctor who marries and overweight woman. It wasn't a gay storyline but certainly a first for daytime television. 

If I was in New York I would go see LOADED.

Great BGWE column this week! Very thoughtful about the whole closet issue, which is really complex. Thanks especially for the video from "Make The Yuletide Gay". Very sweet, and makes me want to see the movie. I also appreciate the side arrow for the "South Park" episode. That's a complex, multi-dimensional subject, and like you I have very mixed feelings about it.

I do have one disagreement I want to express. You said that all people in Maine who voted against gay marriage are bigots. I think that's incorrect, and I think feeling that way is ultimately counter-productive for reasons I'll explain. So yes, I'm going to "dress it up in fancy language".  As Sarah Palin would say, it's time for some fancy essay writin'!  

Without question, many of the voters were indeed bigots. But many others were ignorant or fearful. My experience in talking about gay issues with straight people is that there is so much ignorance out there, and so much fear. It's amazing how many "plain old folks" get their awareness of the world from conversations with friends, or worse, from Fox News or morning drive shows.  If they don't have a close friend or relative who's gay they have no reason to think about the issues.  And so their knowledge is limited to what they hear from their limited sources, and they are ripe for falling for the campaigns of misinformation that always attend marriage votes.

Beyond the fear that arises from the ignorance I describe above, there is a fear currently permeating middle America that is unlike anything I've seen before. It's a very generalized fear, but people are afraid of losing their way of life, losing their culture. It's really puzzling, but it's remarkably pervasive. Combine that generalized fear with a generalized ignorance, and you have someone easily persuaded that gay marriage is the first step to the fall of American civilization.  Or that gay marriage will lead to their kids learning all about gay issues in kindergarten.  And all the other lies that the anti-marriage people have spread.  But fear does not equate to bigotry.  Ignorance does not equate to bigotry.

The most important way in which many of these people are not bigots is the fact that very few bigots will ever change. They will be our enemies for the rest of their lives. But many of the people in Maine and elsewhere will indeed change. It may be a gay friend or relative who comes out to them. Or it may be someone like you or me patiently explaining things to them, and articulating just why marriage is so important. Or it may just be the march of time, and the evolution of our culture.

I think the most important thing we can do for gay equality is to come out to everyone in our lives:  not just friends, but family and people at work.  The second most important thing to do is to talk to people.  We'll win this battle one person at a time.  I've personally had a lot of success in talking to people, even very religious people.  They often start off pretty sure of their opinions, but I find it pretty easy to get past that and make them think.  They never realized how marriage is a part of equality, and how denying marriage to me is denying me something important, something that they take for granted.  Many of these people aren't bigots.  They just need something or someone to alleviate their ignorance and their fear.

If we see marriage opponents as merely bigots we'll never talk to them.  Or, if we do, we'll fight and attack them.  We won't give ourselves the opportunity to change them, to turn them from an enemy to a supporter.  As I said before, this battle will be won one person at a time.  And those people will come to our side faster and in larger numbers if we approach them not as bigots, but as friends, or potential friends. 

Isn't it Limelight by Rush?

...that publicity shot for "Loaded," or Adam Ruggiero's black-and-white striped PJ's. (What a fun gift to unwrap on Christmas morning!)