LGBTQ news and entertainment
Chaz Bono made through Week 2 of “Dancing With The Stars” – although with a painful knee injury that looks to make for tough going ahead.
But Chaz didn’t complain and worked like a trooper. As any professional dancer will tell you, this is the life.
Good for Chaz and Lacey!
From Towleroad: The boos during the question from the gay soldier during last week’s GOP debate are still resonating.
Today, VP Joe Biden appeared on The View and called the booing “reprehensible” and Joy Behar scolded the panel for not speaking up or chastising the audience.
Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee is making hay of the incident in a new attack ad against the GOP.
Yesterday much news was made about musician and “L Word” actress Leisha Haley being escorted off of Southwest Airlines for kissing her ‘Uh Huh Her’ bandmate and girlfriend Camila Grey. Hailey and Grey have released a formal statement saying they were told Southwest was a “family airline” when they were escorted off for “one, modest kiss”. They say they will be filing a formal complaint.
Hailey and Grey’s statement:
“We have always promoted tolerance, openness and equality both as a band and as individuals. We both come from loving homes where our parents not only love and accept us, but are also proud of who we are. We believe everyone has the right to live openly in this society as equals. In no way were our actions on Southwest Airlines excessive, inappropriate or vulgar. We want to make it clear we were not making out or creating any kind of spectacle of ourselves, it was one, modest kiss. We are responsible adult women who walk through the world with dignity. We were simply being affectionate like any normal couple. We were on the airplane less than 5 minutes when all was said and done. We take full responsibility for getting verbally upset with the flight attendant after being told it was a “family airline.” We were never told the reason the flight attendant approached us, we were only scolded that we “needed to be aware that Southwest Airlines was a family oriented airline.”
“No matter how quietly homophobia is whispered, it doesn’t make it any less loud. You can’t whisper hate. We ask this airline to teach their employees to not discriminate against any couple, ever, regardless of their own beliefs. We want to live in a society where if your loved one leans over to give you an innocent kiss on an airplane it’s not labeled as “excessive or not family oriented” by a corporation and it’s employees. We find it very disturbing that the same airline who lauds itself as being LGBT friendly has twisted an upsetting incident that happened into our behavior being “too excessive.” The above is not an apology and we are in the process of filing a formal complaint with the airline. We hope that when all is said and done a greater tolerance without prejudice will evolve.”
Southwest released this statement yesterday:
“Initial reports indicate that we received several passenger complaints characterizing the behavior as excessive. Our crew, responsible for the comfort of all Customers on board, approached the passengers based solely on behavior and not gender. The conversation escalated to a level that was better resolved on the ground, as opposed to in flight. We regret any circumstance where a passenger does not have a positive experience on Southwest and we are ready to work directly with the passengers involved to offer our heartfelt apologies for falling short of their expectations.”
Southwest released a new statement late today, following the release of Hailey’s statement:
“Additional reports from our Employees and Customers onboard flight 2274 during a stop in El Paso on Sunday now confirm profane language was being used loudly by two passengers. At least one family who was offended by the loud profanity moved to another area of the cabin. Although we have reports of what Customers characterize as an excessive public display of affection, ultimately their aggressive reaction led to their removal from the aircraft. We do not tolerate discrimination against anyone for any reason. In this situation, their removal was directly and solely related to the escalated conversation that developed onboard the aircraft.”
“Our tenets of inclusion and celebration of diversity among our Customers and Employees-including those in the LGBT communities-anchor our Culture of mutual respect and following the Golden Rule. The more than 100 million people who fly Southwest each year reflect the great diversity of our country and our Company – and ALL are valued and welcome. In fact, we’ve been recognized as a leader in diversity throughout our 40 years of service.”
“Our Customer Advocacy Team reached out to extend goodwill and a full refund for an experience that fell short of the passengers’ expectation.”
Stay tuned for further developments in this “she said/she said” situation…
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Thoughts?
The trailer for Olivia Newton-John’s upcoming movie “A Few Best Men” – directed by Stephan Elliott (Priscilla Queen of the Desert) and also starring Xavier Samuel (Twilight) – was released and this certainly isn’t ‘Sandy’ from “GREASE.”
Olivia literally swings from the chandeliers and slams a bedroom door to do a few lines of cocaine in a funny bit.
From the producers of “Death at a Funeral,” the film is about a groom and his three best men who come from the UK to Australia for his wedding. It’s the Aussie answer to “The Hangover” and “Bridesmaids” (and happens to feature “Bridesmaids” scene-stealer Rebel Wilson too).
You can see screen captures of from the trailer below.
I like the first 22 seconds…
🙂
I hope people see this. I had the exact same thoughts.
From the NYTimes: The Senate reached a tentative spending deal Monday night that would head off a threatened government shutdown over the handling of disaster aid, Senate officials said.
The apparent breakthrough came after the Federal Emergency Management Agency indicated it had enough money to squeak through the end of the fiscal year Friday night, eliminating one of the main points of partisan contention: whether to offset a quick infusion of funds to the agency with cuts elsewhere as House Republicans had insisted. Democrats in both the House and Senate had resisted that approach.
Under the agreement, funding for government agencies — including FEMA — that is due to run out at midnight on Friday, would be extended for six weeks at a level set in this year’s debt limit deal.
But that legislation will still require the approval of the House, which is in recess this week with lawmakers scattered around the country. Senate leaders are hoping that the House will agree to adopt the stop-gap measure in a pro forma session later this week without all its members being called back. The Senate was also going to pass a measure that would extend spending by one week to buy time for a longer agreement.
“We have basically resolved this issue,” Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said on the floor Monday night.
The new revival of “Follies” grossed more than $1.12 million last week at the box office. This represents the highest one week box office gross ever for a Broadway production with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.
From NYTimes: Last week, with no more complimentary tickets to give away to theater critics and other media (as is customarily done before and soon after opening night), the “Follies” producers were able to sell their best orchestra seats at full price. They also had a batch of superlatives from critics to highlight, particularly for the performances of Bernadette Peters, Jan Maxwell, Danny Burstein, and Ron Raines.
The producers of “Follies” have already announced a three-week extension for the limited engagement, which is now scheduled to close on Jan. 22, 2012, and which they hope will give the show enough performances to make money on Broadway for the first time.
Even more, the gorgeous production is going to be available on CD soon. It’s now available on pre-order from Amazon now! Click here for more info.
For your entertainment, the entire uncut finale of her cult movie “Xanadu”
As many of you know, I’m not only a fan, but I count Olivia as a dear friend. Like a fine wine, she only gets better with age.
At 63, she continues to make fantastic music, campaign to save the environment and is helping to build the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Australia.
Bravo!
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| With Olivia during rehearsals for her “Grace and Gratitude” concert I staged for her in March 2010 |