Author: Randy Slovacek

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Thousands hold hands across bridge to protest LGBT violence

On Sunday night, more than 4,000 people showed up to a Facebook-organized demonstration against last week’s anti-gay hate crime in Portland, Oregon and held hands across the Hawthorne bridge where the attack occurred.

JustOut blog reports that, “demonstrators packed into the space beneath the west side of the bridge at about 7:30 p.m., spilling over onto the ramp and stairs to hear from the attack’s survivors, Brad Forkner and Christopher Rosevear. Afterward, the crowd filed down both sides of the bridge with hands held. Despite being tightly packed together, some attendees could not fit on the bridge.

Before the crowd moved to the bridge, Forkner talked about the attack, explaining that the violence he experienced is part of a larger culture of discrimination and fear:

“This is not the first time I have feared for my safety or my life and, sadly, I don’t expect it to be the last,” Forkner said. “What I want to talk about is a much larger cultural issue we have with making different people feel like they’re worth less than normal people, as if there is such a thing as “normal.” In this instance, it was because we are gay.”

After Forkner’s speech, Basic Rights Oregon Executive Director Jeana Frazzini thanked Forkner and Rosevear for their courage and invited the crowd to take part in a display of love and affection:

“Holding hands is an act of love. It’s an expression of affection and it’s a symbol of faith in another human being. And tonight in this crowd we’re surrounding Brad and Christopher — and everyone who’s been the victims of violence and oppression and hateful words because of who they love or who they are — with the love that is Portland, with love that is Oregon and with the love that we can spread across this city, this state, this nation and the world.”

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The Family Research Council denies it is a hate group

The Family Research Council – listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center – vehemently opposes any rights afforded to the LGBT community.

This is a montage of video clips of Tony Perkins & Peter Sprigg spewing claims and false information about the gay community.

See for yourself if you think this is “hate”…

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Patrick Dempsey to exit Grey’s Anatomy after season 8

Patrick Dempsey tells Italian Vanity Fair he plans to exit Grey’s Anatomy after Season 8.

“It’s gonna be my last,” Dempsey says. “I do not know what’s going to happen to the other characters, but for me it’s done.”

Dempsey’s contract is up after the eighth season, along with those for other original castmembers Ellen Pompeo, Chandra Wilson, Sandra Oh and Justin Chambers.

Executive producer Shonda Rhimes has already expressed that she’s planning Season 8 to be the last for the original cast. “It might be the last hurrah for a lot of them; you never know,” she told TVLine.com. “Everybody has an individual choice to make and I get that.”

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IL Catholic Charities end all adoption services to avoid allowing gays to adopt

From ThinkProgress: Following up on their threat, Catholic Charities of Rockford, IL, have voluntarily ended all their adoption and foster care services rather than comply with the civil unions law that will take effect next week.

In doing so, the organization terminated $7.5 million in state contracts, fired 58 workers, and likely displaced 350 foster children. Diocese spokeswoman Penny Wiegert attempted to blame the government for not protecting charities’ ability to discriminate against same-sex couples:

The law of our land has always guaranteed its people freedom of religion. Denying this exemption to faith-based agencies leads one to believe that our lawmakers prefer laws that guarantee freedom from religion.

But the decision had nothing to do with the children (who will do just fine with same-sex families) and nothing to do with religious liberty. It was a blatant choice to prefer discrimination and stigmatization of gays and lesbians over the ability to do important, charitable work.

This is only the latest example of how out of touch Church leaders are with its members. A March poll from the Public Religion Research Institute demonstrated that Catholics overwhelmingly support marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples (74 percent), but that number has been consistently over 60 percent since at least 2008. In Rhode Island, 63 percent of Catholics support full marriage equality, but Church leaders have been instrumental in holding back the progress of legislation there.

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True Blood’s Joe Manganiello Hotter Than Ever

Not that I really NEED a reason to post a picture of him, but Joe Manganiello (of TRUE BLOOD on HBO) gave an interview to eonline.com about staying in shape, keeping his clothes on or off and his joking about “manscaping” at the NewNowNext Awards.

Regarding his muscular build: “Sometimes I think, ‘Man, maybe I raised the bar a little too high last year,’ ” the actor tells me, adding with a laugh, “I’m also at the age where this is the time to do it. So if I’m going to do it, let’s see how far we can push it.”

About how often he has to be naked on TRUE BLOOD: “It’s definitely a lot. I was talking recently with my manager Coleen, and we calculated that in the first seven episodes that I’ve filmed for the new season, I was naked three out of the seven. So yeah, there’s a lot.”

Manganiello would like to clear up one thing — he does not use a professional groomer for his body hair. He actually started the rumor when he thanked his “manscaper” after winning the Cause You’re Hot award last month at the NewNowNext Awards.

“It was a complete joke!” he said. “I was training with my trainer, and he’s like, ‘Dude, do you know about this manscaping thing? And then he explained the whole thing. I was like, ‘I’m going to talk about that at the awards.’ So I made it up. I actually don’t need one. I’m Sicilian and Armenian, so you would think I would, but I’m completely hairless. I don’t know how I won that roll of the dice.”

Read more at eonline.com