Corporations show support for Jason Collins’ coming out
LGBT advocacy groups press on gay-inclusive immigration reform
Via press release jointly issued by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, GLAAD, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, United We Dream and Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project:
Our primary goal is to pass a commonsense, compassionate immigration reform bill that puts our nation’s undocumented men, women and children on a pathway to citizenship. That pathway would provide at least 267,000 LGBT undocumented people the opportunity to become full participants in our economy and our democracy.
We do not believe that our friends in the evangelical faith community or conservative Republicans would allow the entire immigration reform bill to fail simply because it affords 28,500 same-sex couples equal immigration rights. This take-it-or-leave-it stance with regard to same-sex binational couples is not helpful when we all share the same goal of passing comprehensive immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship.
We all deserve a chance to live with dignity, to pursue our dreams, and to work for a better future and better quality of life. Our current immigration system is broken. It dehumanizes, scapegoats and vilifies all immigrants, including LGBT immigrants, and their friends and families. Comprehensive, compassionate immigration reform is an urgent priority for our nation and the LGBT community. We stand firmly that the following principles must be included if we are to truly have comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
Sen. Marco Rubio has stated that immigration reform will tank if the gay-inclusive amendment is attached.
“It will virtually guarantee that it won’t pass,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the Gang of Eight negotiating group, told POLITICO in a brief interview. “This issue is a difficult enough issue as it is. I respect everyone’s views on it. But ultimately, if that issue is injected into this bill, the bill will fail and the coalition that helped put it together will fall apart.”
The proposed amendment is known as the Uniting American Families Act, first introduced by Rep. Jerry Nadler in 2000.
The bill has never advanced out of its House or Senate committees.
Delaware: Marriage equality passes out of Senate committee by 4-2
Delaware Senate Executive Committee passes marriage equality bill by 4-2 vote.
Now on to the full Senate.
May is National Masturbation Month
(h/t JMG)
From God’s gentle people to the NBA – “God Still H8s Fags”
From Westboro Baptist Church: “In light of NBA veteran Jason Collins becoming the first active professional athlete who is openly homosexual, Westboro Baptist Church’s Twitter account @WBCSays said Tuesday it will picket outside Chesapeake Energy Arena for the Rockets and Thunder Game 5 first-round playoff matchup.”
Never let it be said that the idiots from Westboro Baptist Church let an opportunity to let their bigoted voice be heard…
Sad. Just sad.
(via JoeMyGod)
Ten years ago today: May 1, 2003
- 4,474 soldiers dead
- Nearly 32,000 wounded US soldiers
- Veteran suicide rate now at 22 per day
- At least 112, 000 Iraqi civilians dead
- Total direct death tol of at least 176,000
- Estimated excess death toll of more than 650,000 Iraqis
- $1.7 trillion spent by the USA
- Projected total expense of more that $6 trillion
- Still no WMDs
But remember – “Mission Accomplished…”
Kentucky: 2 year old killed by 5 year old brother playing with “My First Rifle”
UPI is reporting that a two year-old Kentucky girl has been shot and killed by her five year-old brother, who was playing with a gun sold as “My First Rifle.”
Cumberland County Coroner Gary White told the Lexington Herald-Leader the family had not realized a shell was left inside the gun. The boy picked up the gun from where it was kept in the corner of the house and it accidentally fired when he began playing with it.
The siblings’ mother was home when the shot was fired. The toddler was rushed to Cumberland County Hospital but pronounced dead. “It’s a Crickett,” White said. “It’s a little rifle for a kid. The little boy’s used to shooting the little gun.”
(via JMG)
Wisconsin: Church cancels NFL’s Leroy Butler speaking appearance over Jason Collins support tweet
Former (and famous) Green Bay Packer Leroy Butler has lost out on an $8,500 speaking gig for praising Jason Collins on Twitter.
A church in Wisconsin pulled the plug on the contracted gig after noticing Butler congratulated Jason Collins for coming out of the closet, citing a morality clause.
Here’s how he responded (read bottom to top):
“Wow, I was scheduled to speak at a church in WI, and a member said that the pastor wants to cancel my event. I said ok why? Then I was told, because I said congrats to Jason Collins on Twitter,” Butler wrote. “I said really? we have a contract, he said check the moral cause, FYI the fee was $8,500, then I was told if I removed the tweet, and apologize and ask god forgiveness, I can have the event. I said no, only god can judge.”
(via Instinct)
NYC: Opening of HELLO, DOLLY! with National Asian Artists Project
For the past two weeks, I’ve been in NYC splitting my time between The Randy Report and rehearsals for a “staged concert” production of HELLO, DOLLY! for the National Asian Artists Project spearheaded by my long time friend Baayork Lee.
NAAP is a community of artists, educators, administrators, community leaders, and professionals. It is a not-for-profit organization that recognizes the need to build bridges between the work of artists of Asian descent, and the many communities that the work can serve, from underserved primary school students to seasoned arts patrons.
 |
| The National Asian Artists Project cast of HELLO, DOLLY! takes a bow |
The show opened this past Monday (I’ve been recovering and catching up from the last minute rush of opening) and I have to post some of the pictures of the beautiful and talented cast from the show and the reception afterward.
One of the things I love about theater is we all seem to find each other again eventually. Hang out in the business long enough, we’ll see one another again.
Take a look at the pic below – from left to right:
• Zoie Lam (founder of NAAP, who I performed in A CHORUS LINE with in the 80s)
• Baayork Lee (founder of NAAP, who cast me in 2 national touring companies of A CHORUS LINE in 1989 and 1991)
• Christine Toy Johnson (our “Dolly Levi” who performed with me in CATS from 1986-1988)
• Lee Roy Reams (our director, who cast me in my first Broadway show and made me the “designated choreographer” for HELLO, DOLLY! all these years).
So many people from so many different productions of my theater career, all of us coming together again for this great event.
 |
| Zoie Lam, Baayork Lee, me, Christine Toy Johnson, Lee Roy Reams and music director Kevin Ferrell |
A wonderful experience all around, here’s a few more pictures from the evening…
 |
| “Dolly Levi” leads the company in ‘Hello, Dolly!” Photo by Eric Bondoc Photography |
 |
| Alex Chester (“Minnie Fay”) and the men of HELLO, DOLLY! (JP Moraga, Daniel J. Edwards, Rommel Pierre O’Choa, Aaron Komo) Photo by Eric Bondoc Photography |
 |
| Christine Toy Johnson (“Dolly Levi”) and me |
 |
| Jaygee Macapugay (“Irene Malloy”) and Karl Josef Ko (“Cornelius Hackl”) |
 |
| Karl Josef Ko (“Cornelius Hackl”) and me |
|
| Me with 9 time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune, who was very gracious in complimenting my choreography! Wow! An out of body experience… |
 |
| My husband Michael Caprio, Christine Toy Johnson and I |
 |
| Director Lee Roy Reams, Christine Toy Johnson and 9 time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune |
For more information about The National Asian Artists Project and their mission, head to their official website by clicking here.
Pilot loses a wing of his plane and still manages to land
If this is real, it’s pretty amazing…