LGBTQ news and entertainment
Very cool new video from Pink featuring Nate Ruess (lead singer of the band “fun”); plus Pink is joined by her muscle hunk real-life husband Carey Hart.
The song is from the Grammy-nominated “The Truth About Love.”
David Beckham, his H&M underwear line and his famous body are all on display in this new “short film” by Guy Ritchie.
After his robe gets caught in a car door, Beckham goes in chase of said robe. Along the way, his clothes – of course – are ripped off by various obstacles until he’s left wet and nearly naked in the streets of Beverly Hills.
Just another day for Mr. Beckham and LA.
Happy viewing!
“With France and Britain poised to become the next countries to embrace the freedom to marry, it’s clear that the momentum we see here in the United States for ending marriage discrimination is, in fact, a global movement toward greater freedom and equality for all – and the U.S. should be leading, not lagging.
“America cannot afford to fall behind its closest allies and trade partners in this global economy, and needs to do right by its families, as a right-of-center British prime minister and left-of-center French president have called on their parliaments to do, with resounding success.” – Freedom To Marry head Evan Wolfson, in a press release noting this week’s victories in Britain and France.
There will be no announcement from the Boy Scouts of America today on whether or not to lift the ban on gays in scouting.
The Boy Scouts released a statement saying a decision has been postponed until May:
“After careful consideration and extensive dialogue within the Scouting family, along with comments from those outside the organization, the volunteer officers of the Boy Scouts of America’s National Executive Board concluded that due to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time for a more deliberate review of its membership policy.
“To that end, the executive board directed its committees to further engage representatives of Scouting’s membership and listen to their perspectives and concerns. This will assist the officers’ work on a resolution on membership standards. The approximately 1,400 voting members of the national council will take action on the resolution at the national meeting in May 2013.”
Roll three high fashion designers, sexy/beautiful lighting and an expert film maker into one project and what do you get?
A great afternoon break…
From Out.com: “In a new film directed by Matteo Marostica, we get the best of both worlds: bare skin and expensive suits. The young French model Steven Chevrin embodies the “new Adam”: blond and beautiful in his birthday suit, he longs for union with the divine spheres of fashion, namely Burberry Prorsum, Ermenegildo Zegna and Louis Vuitton.”
Once again, the clear-eyed, well-spoken Zach Wahls brings thought and common sense to the discussion on lifting the current anti-gay ban on gays participating in the Boy Scouts of America.
From the Advocate:
Edward Whelan, the president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and author of an incendiary New York Post op-ed that suggested gay Boy Scout leaders would molest their charges, debated former Eagle Scout Zach Wahls on CNN.
Whelan is also the father of a soon-to-be Eagle Scout; he recently wrote an op-ed for the Post that posited, “Imagine that a group of girls is going on a long camping trip, supervised by adult volunteers who are young men you barely know. Would you let your 15-year-old daughter go?”
On CNN this weekend, Whelan defended the right of the Scouts to allow only people they deem “suitable.” Activist Wahls had much to say in response.
Zach continues to be one our very best allies in the public discussion for equality. His thoughtful, calm and confident demeanor makes the argument for equality a clear one.
The Advocate is reporting a petition was delivered Tuesday morning to the Boy Scouts of America’s board members, urging them to change the national policy barring openly gay scouts and troop leaders.
Both gay and straight scouts and leaders delivered a bundle of several petitions, totaling 1.4 million signatures from Americans who weighed in on the policy, according to GLAAD.
The petitions were handed off to board members at the BSA’s Texas headquarters where the policy is one of the chief concerns during a three-day conference.
An announcement is expected Wednesday regarding any change of policy.
An Illinois Senate committee on Tuesday approved a bill that would allow same-sex couples to marry in the state.
A 9-5 vote in the Illinois Senate Executive Committee moves the bill forward nearly a month after state Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and gay state Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) reintroduced bills in their respective chambers that would extend marriage to gays and lesbians. That vote occurred on Jan. 3, but time ran out in that legislative session to see the bill put to a full Senate vote.
President Obama, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin and Illinois Republican Party Chair Pat Brady are among those who have voiced support for the measure.
Senate President John Cullerton has previously stated that he would like to schedule a vote on the bill in the full Senate on Valentine’s Day.
More at Washington Blade
Via press release: Outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is expected this week to announce the long-delayed extension of support and benefits for gay and lesbian military families, according to reports.
Army Veteran and OutServe-SLDN Executive Director Allyson Robinson said today that the organization hopes Panetta will take full advantage of this final opportunity to act before leaving office.
“Secretary Panetta established a strong civil rights record long before taking office at the Pentagon, so his unwillingness to extend support and recognition to gay and lesbian service members and their families where it is clearly within his authority to do so has baffled many of us. We are hopeful that he will not take half-measures here; for him to grant anything less than the full extent of benefits available under current law would be an anticlimactic end to an otherwise exemplary record on civil rights,” said Robinson.
Read more here.
Yesterday I posted about Sweet Cakes, an Oregon bakery that refused to sell a cake to a lesbian after finding out it would be used for her wedding.
Today, according to the Huffington Post, Baltimore-based pastry chef and “Ace of Cakes” star Duff Goldman has offered to bake a cake for the lesbian and transport it free of charge:
The executive chef of the Baltimore-based Charm City Cakes told HuffPost Live, “I saw this story and I was like, “Wait — I can do something, there’s injustice involving a cake!”
Noting that Charm City has been making same-sex wedding cakes for some time, Goldman added, “For a cake decorator to really feel like he really needed to take a stand…it just makes absolutely no sense. It’s petty, it’s small… this man has wrapped up his hatred in the cloak of religion.”