Obama A “Champion” For The Gay Community?
That remains to be seen, but President Barack Obama insists that he will not neglect the rights of the gay community any longer. The President invited leaders of the community to the White House today for a reception celebrating Gay Pride Month. He spoke to the audience about the “support” the community will garner from himself and the First Lady and looks forward to changing minds as well as laws. “I will not only be your friend, I will continue to be an ally and a champion and a president who fights with you and for you,” he said. You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk????? The President addressed the fact that many gay rights leaders have viewed his administration as being somewhat lax in the fight for equal rights. However, Obama assured his guests that the fight was just beginning and that the community should look forward for things to come: “I know many in this room don’t believe that progress has come fast enough. And I understand that…I expect and hope to be judged not by words, not by promises I’ve made, but by promises that my administration keeps.”
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/obama-champio…
Ricky Martin Says ‘I’m Gay’ … sort of!
The Puerto Rican magazine TVAqui just broke the news on its twitter page about its upcoming issue in which Ricky Martin openly confesses that his “heart could belong to a man or a woman,” according to Perez.
Martin who has repeatedly denied being gay has also been outspoken on the issue of closeted celebrities. When Mexican pop singer Christian Chavez came out in June of 2007, Martin stated: “Life is too short to live closed up, guarding what you say. [Christian] has to be free in many aspects. I wish him much strength See Ricky Martin Says ‘I’m Gay‘ … sort of!
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/ricky-martin-…
Miss California defends nude pics
Miss California Carrie Prejean, who sparked a gay rights outcry following an outburst at the Miss USA pageant, has defended a series of raunchy snaps that have hit the internet.
A photo of Prejean topless and in lacy pink underwear surfaced on websites such as www.perezhilton.com and spread quickly. Five other photos are rumoured to be hitting the internet soon.
Miss California officials are investigating whether the snaps violate her contract as a beauty pageant winner.
Prejean, 21, said the photos were taken when she was a teenager and their release was designed to “mock” her religion.
“I am a Christian, and I am a model. Models pose for pictures, including lingerie and swimwear photos,” she said in a statement.
“Recently, photos taken of me as a teenager have been released surreptitiously to a tabloid website that openly mocks me for my Christian faith. I am not perfect, and I will never claim to be.
“But these attacks on me and others who speak in defense of traditional marriage are intolerant and offensive.”
Miss California defends nude pics
Stuff.co.nz * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/miss-californ…
On gay rights, two steps forward, one step back in the Alabama house
In a headspinning series of moves today, the Alabama House of Representatives today voted to add gays and bisexuals to the list of classes of people protected by a state hate crimes act — and passed a resolution praising Miss California for speaking out against gay marriage.
In a 46-41 vote today, the Alabama house approved a bill sponsored by Montgomery Democrat Alvin Holmes that would make it a crime to attack someone because of the victim’s sexual orientation. The bill updates a law passed in 1994 that included race, colour, religion and national origin.
Also today, the body passed on a voice vote a resolution sponsored by Republican Montgomery Representative Jay Love praising Miss USA contestant Carrie Prejean. Love said she stuck to her convictions even though it may have cost her the pageant.
At the Miss USA pageant earlier this week, Prejean, competing as Miss California, was asked by gay blogger Perez Hilton, a judge, if she believe same-sex marriage should be allowed across the country. She said: “in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there but that’s how I was raised.”
Hilton later said on his blog that she gave “the worst answer in pageant history”, and that she lost not because she doesn’t believe in gay marriage but because “she’s a dumb bitch”. See
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/on-gay-rights…
Miss USA contestant Carrie Prejean defends anti-gay stand
Still the center of a raging debate two days after her anti-gay-marriage remarks at the Miss USA pageant, Miss California Carrie Prejean went on the “Today” show Tuesday and maintained she was proud of what she had said.
During Sunday night’s competition, Prejean was asked by openly gay celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, a judge in the pageant, if she felt all states should move toward allowing same-sex marriage.
She said, “I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman … that’s how I was raised.” Besides setting off a firestorm of pro- and con-gay-marriage/freedom-of-speech twittering and blogging, the remark was widely believed to have cost her the crown. It also prompted Hilton to later post a nasty and unprintable rant about her on his massively popular Web site perezhilton.com.
“I was ready for my question, and when I heard it from (Perez), I knew at that moment after I’d answered the question, I knew that I was not going to win because of my answer,” she said. “Because I had spoken from my heart, for my beliefs and for my God. … It’s not about being politically correct, for me, it’s about being biblically correct.”
Earlier in the day Prejean went on MSNBC’s morning show, where she was asked about Hilton’s attack on her.
“I can only say to him that I will be praying for him. I feel sorry for him, I really do,” Prejean said. “I think he’s angry, I think he’s hurt.
See : Miss USA contestant Carrie Prejean defends anti-gay …
San Jose Mercury News
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/miss-usa-cont…
Miss California sparks outrage over gay marriage remarks
Mixing a beauty pageant with politics is a recipe for disaster. You could make a strong case for it, anyway.
The two merged last night at the site of the Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas. The result was similar to the fallout after the Miss Teen USA pageant in 2007 when Miss South Carolina gave the greatest non-answer answer perhaps in American history. Both times the non-winner of a pageant got all the attention the next day.
But unlike the pageant two years ago, the contestant in the crossfire didn’t give a nonsensical (and wildly entertaining) answer. The contestant last night, California’s Carrie Prejean, was too articulate in the minds of many and led to some flaring tempers (similar to Janeane Garofalo’s flare-up on Keith Olbermann’s show the other night).
The question posed to the contestant couldn’t be any more incendiary: gay marriage.
Asked judge Perez Hilton to Prejean, “Vermont recently became the 4th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Do you think every state should follow suit. Why or why not?”
Observers quickly learned that in Hilton’s mind there was only one correct answer. And Prejean picked the wrong one.
“Well I think its great that Americans are able to choose one or the other,” she said. “We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there but that’s how I was raised and that’s how I think it should be between a man and a woman. Thank you very much.”
Prejean was greeted with a mixed reaction from the audience. Boos followed by applause. And the reactions didn’t stop at the pageant. It went into overtime.
Worst answer
Perez then blasted her on his video blog calling it the “worst answer in pageant history.” He also made comments that he has since apologized for. Now he’s asked her out for coffee to “talk.”
The directors of the Miss California pageant condemned her answer on Monday morning.
“As co-executive director of Miss CA USA and one of the leaders of the Miss CA family, I am personally saddened and hurt that Miss CA USA 2009 believes marriage rights belong only to a man and a woman,” wrote Keith Lewis on Hilton’s blog. “Although I believe all religions should be able to ordain what unions they see fit, I do not believe our government should be able to discriminate against anyone. Religious beliefs have no place in politics in the Miss CA family.”
Sticking by it
Does she regret the answer? Not at all.
“I was raised in a way that you can never compromise your beliefs and your opinions for anything,” she told AccessHollywood.
Further, she informed the entertainment site that her sister is a gay rights activist in the Air Force. By the way, her sister was more sympathetic than Hilton.
“She was just in my hotel room and she said, ‘Sis, I’m not offended by anything that you said. We have two different opinions and I love you because of it. I love you because you stood up for what was right, and it’s not a matter of being gay or not gay, it’s a matter of you competing for Miss USA and getting a question and answering it to the best of your ability.”
On one area both Hilton and Prejean agree: her answer killed her chances of winning the competition.
“She lost it because of that question. She was definitely the front-runner before that,” Hilton told ABCNews.com
“It did cost me my crown,” she concurred. “I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I said what I feel. I stated an opinion that was true to myself and that’s all I can do.”
See Miss California sparks outrage over gay marriage remarks @ Christian Science Monitor - Also:
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Miss USA Scores Controversy, Not Ratings E! Online -
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/miss-californ…
Daytime’s First Gay Wedding Comes To ABC!
Just because Prop 8 passed in California doesn’t mean it has any effect on Pine Valley!
ABC’s All My Children is planning to walk down the aisle on February 13th and 16th with a wedding to remember, the first gay nuptials in daytime television’s history!
The marriage will be between lesbian couple Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel) and Reese Williams (Tamara Braun), and they promise to bring the on-screen affection.
See
PerezHilton.com
Daytime’s First Gay Wedding Comes To ABC!
PerezHilton.com, CA
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/daytimes-firs…
