LGBTQ news and entertainment
Here’s my appearance on Candi Fox’s BlogTalkRadio show last night talking about Broadway, Carol Channing, and other things related to my life in the theater.
Thank you Candi for having me on, and thanks to everyone who listened in.
I hope I made sense…
🙂
Benevolent charity has long been a cornerstone of conservative social policy, whether in the form of a religious group organizing large-scale relief programs or a quiet donor giving a helping hand to an individual man or woman. But how well conservative politicians might practice what they preach varies dramatically.
Remember, many conservatives issues with public programs that help those in need come from the position that they prefer to do their own “charitable giving.”
Rick Perry has had steady work as a politician since the mid-1980s, and his income increased dramatically when he became governor of Texas in 2000. Between 2000 and 2009, he has earned $2.68 million, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Yet Perry’s money hasn’t answered many prayers. A review of his tax records from the mid-1990s through 2009 show the governor has contributed very little to charity. When he has, Perry has given mainly to charities connected to his family, and even then, his donations have sometimes been slight.
An analysis by the San Antonio Express-News in mid-June reported that of his $2.68 million, Perry “gave half a percent to churches and religious organizations, or $14,243.”
The Express-News goes on to note: “By comparison, Americans averaged gifts of nearly 1.2 percent of their incomes to churches and religious groups from 2004 to 2008, according to Empty Tomb Inc., an Illinois-based research firm specializing in U.S.-church giving trends.”
In 1996, Tax records show the Perrys reported $182,318 in adjusted gross income with just $626 in gifts. Of that, $400 was non-cash donations to Goodwill.
In 1998, according to tax records, the Perrys donated to their children’s school, O’Henry Middle School. Their handout totaled $10. The Perrys later gave larger donations to Austin High School, when their two children attended in 2002 and 2003: They gave $50 each year to the school.
In 2007, tax records report the couple donating a total of $90 to their church at the time, Tarrytown United Methodist. That year, they gave a total of $413 in cash contributions to charity. Their adjusted gross income was more than $1 million.
Read more at the HuffingtonPost
From the upcoming movie “What’s Your Number?”
BTW – there was an apple in the scene?
What you need to know about the “Super Congress” that will need to find at least $1.5 trillion in budget reductions.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada announced Tuesday his picks for the upcoming “Super Congress.” They are Democratic senators Patty Murray of Washington, Max Baucus of Montana and John Kerry of Massachusetts.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced the Senate GOP counterparts will be Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio.
GOP House Speaker John Boehner’s choices: Reps. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Dave Camp of Michigan and Fred Upton of Michigan.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has until Aug. 16 to name her three picks to the committee that will have six Democrats and six Republicans, equally divided between the House and Senate.
The committee will try to work out $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction, after an initial round of more than $900 billion in spending cuts in the debt ceiling agreement. It is required to complete its work by November 23, and Congress then has until December 23 to vote on the proposal, with no amendments permitted.
A simple majority on the panel — seven of 12 members — is needed to approve whatever package it comes up with, meaning that it will require at least one member of either party to push something through by voting with the other side. The committee’s proposal would then need a simple majority in each chamber of Congress to make it to President Obama’s desk.
If the committee fails to reach agreement or Congress fails to pass whatever package it recommends, a trigger mechanism will enact automatic across-the-board cuts in government spending, including for the military.
According to the CNN/ORC International Poll released Wednesday, 63% of respondents say the so-called “super committee” should recommend increased taxes on higher-income Americans and businesses, with 36% disagreeing.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents oppose major changes to Social Security and Medicare.
Nearly nine in 10 don’t want any increase in taxes on middle class and lower income Americans.
The political wrangling of the negotiations, with uncertainty over whether the government might default if no deal was reached, was one reason why Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA+ on Friday.
One of the main Republican arguments against tax increases on the wealthy is that they would inhibit job creation. The CNN/ORC poll results showed that only a third of respondents agree with that stance, while 62% say taxes on the wealthy should be high so the government can use the money for programs to help lower-income Americans.
Hunter Parrish, star of the acclaimed Showtime series “Weeds” and the recent Tony Award-winning hit Spring Awakening, is set to star as Jesus in the upcoming Broadway revival of the legendary rock musical GODSPELL.
“I am elated to be joining the GODSPELL family, and honored to be a part of bringing this thrilling classic back to Broadway,” said Hunter Parrish. “I knew after meeting with the creative team that I was going to be a part of something really exciting. I can’t wait to get started.”
On television, Parrish is currently reprising his role as Silas Botwin on the seventh season of “Weeds” opposite Mary-Louise Parker, Justin Kirk and Kevin Nealon.
Parrish made his Broadway debut to critical acclaim as Melchior in the Tony Award-winning hit musical Spring Awakening.
On the big screen, he starred in director Nancy Meyers’ 2009 hit It’s Complicated opposite Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin; in Burr Steers’ 17 Again opposite Zac Efron, Matthew Perry and Leslie Mann; and in Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney’s Paper Man opposite Ryan Reynolds, Jeff Daniels and Lisa Kudrow.
Read more at broadwayworld.com
The English rugby player chats with Out about his new anti-bullying StandUp Foundation.
The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation, Inc. is the world’s first foundation dedicated to raising awareness of the long-term, damaging effects of bullying, and funding those doing real-world work to stop it. We stand up against bullying regardless of to whom it happens. Because lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are often targeted by bullies, we give particular attention to this community. We include removing homophobia from sports as central to our mission.
Ben Cohen, MBE, is an England Rugby World Cup champion, and among the world’s greatest athletes. He ranks second in all-time scoring for England, and first among straight professional athletes to focus his philanthropic efforts for the benefit of the LGBT community.
In case readers haven’t noticed, I’m a big fan of Ben Cohen. He is an amazing and beautiful man inside and out.
The LGBT community has a great ally in Ben Cohen.
Today, Wisconsin voters will head to the polls for the special recall elections of six Republican state senators who supported Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) anti-union bill that stripped public workers of collective bargaining rights.
While Walker can tread the recall backlash until January of 2012, Wisconsinites are forcing him to face the music now.
Last week, Wisconsin kicked off its 10-day state fair. It’s traditional for the governor to herald the fair’s opening day. But when Walker took the stage Thursday, he was met with a hail of boos and protests signs. “This is the one place where all across the state where people can actually come together,” he tried to shout over the crowd. “At least most people can.” As he walked off stage, the crowd chanted “Recall Walker.”
The policymaking body of the American Psychological Association (APA) unanimously approved the resolution 157-0 to approve of full marriage equality on the eve of the group’s annual convention.
The group, with more than 154,000 members, has long supported full equal rights for gays, based on social science research on sexual orientation. Now the nation’s psychologists — citing an increasing body of research about same-sex marriage, as well as increased discussion at the state and federal levels — took the support to a new level.
“Now as the country has really begun to have experience with gay marriage, our position is much clearer and more straightforward — that marriage equity is the policy that the country should be moving toward,” says Clinton Anderson, director of APA’s Office on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns.
The resolution points to numerous recent studies, including findings that “many gay men and lesbians, like their heterosexual counterparts, desire to form stable, long-lasting and committed intimate relationships and are successful in doing so.”
It adds that “emerging evidence suggests that statewide campaigns to deny same-sex couples legal access to civil marriage are a significant source of stress to the lesbian, gay and bisexual residents of those states and may have negative effects on their psychological well-being.”
Six states (Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont) and the District of Columbia allow same-sex marriage.
