LGBTQ news and entertainment
As I’m frantically packing to head to NYC, I needed some “up” music to get me in the right frame of mind for the next several days of rehearsal for the National Asian Artists Project concert of “Hello, Dolly!”
Btw – I’m in the video above somewhere. See if you can find me 🙂
President Obama gave a briefing to press at the White House this morning in which he said that it is not yet known if a group or individual is behind the attacks on the Boston Marathon. He did call the Boston bombing an act of terror today, less than 24 hours after the explosions.
Said Obama: “This was a heinous and cowardly act, and, given what we now know about what took place, the FBI is investigating it as an act of terrorism…We will find whoever harmed our citizens, and we will bring them to justice. We also know this: the American people refuse to be terrorized. Because what we saw in the aftermath of the explosions were stories of heroism and kindness and generosity and love.”
Also in President Obama’s comments, he praised our first responders:
“If you want to know who we are, what America is, how we respond to evil – this is it: selflessly, compassionately, unafraid.”
(source)
New Rutgers-Eagleton poll came out yesterday:
A proposal to place the question of same-sex marriage on the fall ballot also gets broad support; voters want a chance to decide by a 68 percent to 25 percent margin.
Given a chance, New Jersey seems likely to become the latest state to legalize same-sex marriage: 62 percent would vote yes on the question, 30 percent would vote no, while 8 percent are unsure. This represents the highest level of support for gay marriage ever recorded in a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Tom Menino held a joint press conference with the FBI to announce continued security measures and to declare that “Boston will overcome” this disaster.
Only two improvised explosive devices or IEDs, both of which exploded, were discovered yesterday at the scene of the Boston Marathon, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said Tuesday. “There were no unexploded bombs,” he told a press briefing. State and local officials warned Bostonians that an investigation into the bombing of its prized marathon on Monday will continue to affect every day life.
“Everyone should expect a continued, heightened police presence,” Mr. Patrick added during the news conference Tuesday morning. Yet Mayor Thomas Menino and others tried to set a positive tone for the city as it moves forward, praising first responders, neighbors and runners who offered a helping hand in the wake of the blasts.“This is a bad day for Boston, but I think if we pull together we’ll get through it,” said Mr. Menino, seated in a wheelchair as he recovers from the leg surgery over the weekend.
The Archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, has warned the French government that legalizing same-sex marriage will lead to violence:
Vingt-Trois, the archbishop of Paris, said the difference between the sexes was a basic human trait and denying it by legalizing marriage and adoption for homosexuals would weaken society’s ability to manage its differences peacefully. “This is the way a violent society develops,” he told the spring meeting of the French bishops’ conference. “Society has lost its capacity of integration and especially its ability to blend differences in a common project.” Vingt-Trois, the archbishop of Paris, said the difference between the sexes was a basic human trait and denying it by legalizing marriage and adoption for homosexuals would weaken society’s ability to manage its differences peacefully. “This is the way a violent society develops,” he told the spring meeting of the French bishops’ conference. “Society has lost its capacity of integration and especially its ability to blend differences in a common project.”
On Saturday the leader of France’s anti-gay Manif Pour Tous declared that “Hollande wants blood and he will get it.”
(source)
In 24 hours, this post by Patton Oswalt has been shared on Facebook over 250,000 times.
In the post to his Facebook page, Oswalt wrote that while violence such as Monday’s tragedy exemplifies the worst of humanity, it’s easy to lose track of the bigger picture. :
Boston. Fucking horrible.
I remember, when 9/11 went down, my reaction was, “Well, I’ve had it with humanity.”
But I was wrong. I don’t know what’s going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem. One human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths.
But here’s what I DO know. If it’s one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out. (Thanks FAKE Gallery founder and owner Paul Kozlowski for pointing this out to me). This is a giant planet and we’re lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they’re pointed towards darkness.
But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We’d have eaten ourselves alive long ago.
So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, “The good outnumber you, and we always will.”
A bit of perspective for us all.
The news stories will continue. The clip of the explosion will loop in our brains. We’ll grow fatigued of the inhumanity of it all as we keep Boston and all affected in our best thoughts.
And through it all we’ll continue on.
Forward.
More positive polling this week, as yet another US Senator comes out for marriage equality. We have some major action quickly approaching in state legislatures. All that plus a huge international shake-up, with access to marriage set to expand in at least three countries.
President Obama pledged that the American government will find out who set off the twin bombs at the Boston Marathon on Monday afternoon and “hold them accountable.”
Speaking at the White House press briefing room just hours after two bombs exploded in Boston, Massachusetts, Obama was careful not to characterize the attack and instead stressed that “we still do not know who did this or why and people shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have all the facts. But make no mistake, we will get to the bottom of this and we will find out who did this, we’ll find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice.”
“On days like this there are no Republicans or Democrats, we are Americans united in concern for our fellow citizens,” he added.
A White House official says that the Boston explosions will be “approached as an act of terror.”
