I Didn't Say It ...

Joe Biden, praising the Supreme Court's ruling on DOMA:

"I think we're on the verge of seeing America move even further. I think we'll see the day when it is no longer a debate about whether or not same-sex couples can be married and whether or not they deserve every single civil right every other married couple deserves. This is a great day...for every gay and lesbian couple and it should be a great day for every straight couple in America. Now we can look each other in the eye and say: We're on the road to absolute fairness and equity."

I like that Biden says this is a great day for all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation.

As Dr. Martin Luther King said, ‘No one is free until we are all free.’

And we are on the march.

Andrew Sullivan, on the Catholic fear of The Gays and same-sex marriage:

“Jesus himself only said one thing about marriage, which was that you can’t divorce. And we live in a country where countless people are divorced, and that doesn’t seem to threaten the religious liberty of Catholics, and it’s as fundamental an issue. So if Catholics can live with religious liberty with divorced people, they should be perfectly able to live with gay people, as married–as a civil marriage.”

Where are all those Holy Rollers on the divorce issue? They seem to think Jesus spoke against The Gays when he didn’t but his words on divorce fall on deaf ears.

Phil Gingrey, Republican Congressman from Georgia, wants gender stereotypes to be taught in schools because it will stop the push for same-sex marriage: 

"You know, maybe part of the problem is we need to go back into the schools at a very early age, maybe at the grade school level, and have a class for the young girls and have a class for the young boys and say, you know, this is what's important. This is what a father does that is maybe a little different, maybe a little bit better than the talents that a mom has in a certain area. And the same thing for the young girls, that, you know, this is what a mom does, and this is what is important from the standpoint of that union which we call a marriage."

See, in every family around the world, Daddies are the same. They do the same things in the marriage and the Mommies do the same thing in the marriage, so kids need to know this so they will push for Mommy/Daddy marriages.

In short, Phil Gingrey is a tool.

Brian Sims, Pennsylvania congressman, and hottie, introducing a marriage equality bill in the statehouse:

“About two hours ago, I shopped around a co-sponsorship memo for a marriage bill, and I’m going to introduce an LGBT marriage equality bill helped light the fire under my colleagues to do it now. The co-sponsorship memo, which is sent out to House members for additional support, notes it “would re-define the definition of marriage as a civil contract between two people who enter into matrimony, and eliminate the current prohibition against same-sex marriage in our Commonwealth. It is important to note that this bill provides protections for religious organizations and entities that do not wish to sanction, perform, or in any way recognize such marriages.”

Hot. Smart. Compassionate. Gay.

And in politics.

We need more like him.

James Haskell, British rugby star, on being Attitude magazine's coverboy: 

“I’ve got a big gay following on Twitter so it’s an honour for me to be in Attitude. I’m surprised that across all sports more people haven’t come out because going by sheer statistics there have to be lots of gay sportsmen, right? I hate the idea of people feeling they can’t just be themselves and personally I wouldn’t give a s**t if any of my team-mates were gay."

Another one who is hot and smart and compassionate and an LGBT ally.

And, yeah, hot.

Eric Holder, Attorney General, on the Supreme Court’s ruling that Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional: 

“The Department of Justice will continue to carefully monitor jurisdictions around the country for voting changes that may hamper voting rights. Let me be very clear: we will not hesitate to take swift enforcement action — using every legal tool that remains available to us — against any jurisdiction that seeks to take advantage of the Supreme Court’s ruling by hindering eligible citizens’ full and free exercise of the franchise. Like many others across the country, I am deeply disappointed with the Court’s decision in this matter. This decision represents a serious setback for voting rights - and has the potential to negatively affect millions of Americans across the country.”

SCOTUS did some great things last week, and they also did this.

If the GOP starts using this as a means to steal elections, then we’ve all lost.

Sean Patrick Maloney, out gay Congressman from New York, on last week's DOMA and Prop H8 rulings:

“I called my partner, Randy, of 21 years to tell him about the decision and to congratulate him and I really couldn’t get the words out. And I realized in that moment that it was the first time in 21 years, 20 of those years spent raising our 3 amazing children, that I wasn’t talking to him as someone who was seen as less than in the eyes of my own country’s laws.”

I understand that many straight people don’t understand this, but when you’ve lived many years in a loving and committed same-sex relationship, and then you hear your president say you deserve equality, and then the Supreme Court says you deserve equality, it’s a really big deal.

Rachel Maddow, calling on the GOP to prove it isn't racist and save the Voting Rights Act:

“So which is it now, Republican party? Are you Paul Broun, stuttering and apologizing and saying you never meant any offense? Taking it back? Or are you Paul Broun introducing a stealth amendment in the middle of the night trying to kill the Voting Rights Act? Are you every single Republican in the United States Senate voting to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act, standing proudly by with your Republican president, as he signs it? Or are you the 33 House Republicans who that same year voted no, voted to kill the Voting Rights Act?”

I’m betting they’re just going to shrug on this and say, ‘Well, the Supreme’s ruled so ….’

Trouble is, they won’t have that same response about SCOTUS kicking DOMA and Prop H8 to the curb.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Republican Representative from Florida, on turning the tide in the Sunshine State toward marriage quality:

"In light of the court’s rulings in support of civil marriage for same-sex couples, Florida should begin to evaluate the decision that was made five years ago. The path to removing our state’s ban on the freedom to marry will be very challenging, and will take time to do so thoughtfully and with respect for everyone’s beliefs and opinions. It is wrong to deny LGBT Floridians the basic rights enjoyed by so many other Americans. We must actively, and authentically, engage our fellow citizens to ensure that the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution are extended to all Floridians."

Y’all know I do my share of Republican loathing on this here bloggy thingy, but every so often we get a Republican like Ros-Lehtinen, who reminds me that not all members of the GOP are cut from the same cloth.

She’s a keeper.

Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, in the U.S. Department of Education's It Gets Better video:

"I really believe we can't just say 'It gets better.' All of us have to work right now to make things better today, not tomorrow. If you're a 14-year-old or a 15-year-old, asking you to wait four or five years for things to get better, that can seem like an eternity, like a lifetime. And so you shouldn't have to wait that long. So I wanna be very clear. All of us have the power now to make things better today, not tomorrow."

And, in my mind, that means coming out. If more LGBT Americans came out, these young kids would have someone to look up to, to admire, to make them feel less different, less ‘less than.’

Their march toward self-acceptance would be better, and easier, because they see someone who lit the way.

Kevin Swanson, “pastor’, on God setting Colorado on fire because of The Gays and metrosexuals:

"When you have a state where the House leadership is performing a homosexual act on the front page of the Denver Post two months ago? Does God read the Denver Post? Do you think He picks up a copy of the Denver Post? He gets it. God gets the Denver Post. How are we going to repent of the sexual sin that is paraded in front of us in the wider culture? Why do we have to submit to theses sexual sins again and again? How many young boys are running out and doing the metrosexual thing with the skinny pants and the little fairy shoes? They’re working on the gender blender for themselves and they don’t want to look like a man and God is just so upset, He hates it when men are not manly in their approach."

The picture he’s referring to, and it’s probably the same picture he keeps under his mattress at night, to view in one hand while the other wanders beneath the sheets, is one of House Speaker Mark Ferrandino kissing his partner Greg Wertsch goodbye after the passage civil unions in the state.

That said. God reads the Denver Post?
Last I checked she was not finished with Fifty Shades of Grey.

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I Didn't Say It ...

Rachel Maddow, on the Republican Party needing to make some tough decisions regarding their positions on LGBT issues:

"You apparently cannot support something like non-discrimination for gay people and have any future in Republican Party politics. Nobody who has any real prospects of being a national leader in Republican politics in the next few years has anything other than 100% anti-gay policy position on something like non-discrimination... And that is awkward given that the country, as a whole, is in a really, really different place than that."

Listen up, Marco, Rand, Frothy, or you’ll be sitting on the sidelines again when another Democrat takes the White House.

Michele Bachmann, claims the GOP is dead should immigration legislation pass:

"We will never again have a Republican president — ever — if amnesty goes into effect. We will perpetually have a progressive liberal president, probably a Democrat...You will never again be able to see our country return to its constitutional foundations."

And the problem with that is ...... ?

Lindsey Graham, our own Senator from South Carolina, and So Not Gay, says the GOP is dead should immigration reform not pass:

"If we don’t pass immigration reform, if we don’t get it off the table in a reasonable, practical way, it doesn’t matter who you run in 2016.  We’re in a demographic death spiral as a party, and the only way we can get back in good graces with the Hispanic community, in my view, is pass comprehensive immigration reform. If you don’t do that, it really doesn’t matter who will run, in my view."

Even the GOP cannot agree on what the GOP should do.

This is gonna get good, y’all!

Barack Obama, at his annual LGBT Pride Month reception at the White House:

"In 34 states, you can be fired just because of who you are or who you love. That's wrong. We've got to change it. There's a bipartisan bill moving forward in the Senate that would ban discrimination against all LGBT Americans in the workplace, now and forever. We need to get that passed. I want to sign that bill. We need to get it done now. And I think we can make that happen -- because after the last four and a half years, you can't tell me things can't happen."

If we are all believed to be equal, then we should all be treated equally, especially in the workplace.

Max Baucus, the Democratic Senator from Montana, on ENDA:

"When it comes to the workplace, it is unacceptable for anyone to be fired simply because of their sexual orientation. ENDA will help protect workers from this type of discrimination and I look forward to moving forward on this legislation in the Senate as soon as possible. Members of the LGBT community are our neighbors, brothers, sisters and friends. They are community leaders who bring the kind of diversity to our nation that makes it strong. We all have a role in making sure that Pride Month is not just something we check off on the calendar. 'Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness' for all Americans is what we are called to strive for every day of the year."

Okay, so Montana’s on board, let’s get this done because the right thing to do will always be the right thing to do.

Marissa Powell, Miss Utah, being asked about the income disparity between men and women at the Miss USA pageant:

"I think we can relate this back to education and how we are continuing to try to strive to .... figure out how to create jobs right now. That is the biggest problem and I think especially the men are, um, seen as the leaders of this so we need to try to figure out how to create education better so that we  can solve this problem."

I think beauty pageant contestants should just stick to saying they want Whirled Peas.

Michael Burgess, Republican Congressman from Texas, on his support of a federal abortion ban because, um, he saw a fetus masturbate: 

“There is no question in my mind that a baby at 20-weeks after conception can feel pain. The fact of the matter is, I argue with the chairman because I thought the date was far too late. We should be setting this at 15-weeks, 16-weeks,” said the former OB/GYN during the House Rules Committee debate on the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. Watch a sonogram of a 15-week baby, and they have movements that are purposeful,” he continued. “They stroke their face. If they’re a male baby, they may have their hand between their legs. If they feel pleasure, why is it so hard to believe that they could feel pain?”

Fetuses masturbating?

Oh. Texas.

That’s all.

Frank Bruni, on the Vatican’s ‘gay lobby’:

"I have many questions for and about the 'gay lobby' in the Vatican, but I’ll start with this: How can you be so spectacularly ineffective? You wouldn’t last a minute on K Street; the Karl Roves of the capital would have you for lunch. Despite your presence in, and presumed influence on, the upper reaches of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, church teaching still holds that homosexuality is disordered, and many church leaders still send the preposterously mixed message that while gay and lesbian people shouldn’t be admonished for, or ashamed about, their same-sex attractions, they should nonetheless elect cold showers over warm embraces. Look but don’t touch. Dream but don’t diddle."

I imagine the Gay Lobby has been in the Vatican since the Vatican was first built, and yet they’ve accomplished nothing regarding the teachings of the Bible and homosexuality.

Maybe those Gay Lobbyists in the Vatican are more interested in their own private times and not so much the rest of the LGBT world.

Jeb Bush, former Florida Governor, on how the GOP should "sound" inclusive but stick to their conservative beliefs: 

"I think we could focus on all our disparate parts, all of the points of disagreement that conservatives have and never win again. My general thought is that the focus ought to be on how you get fifty plus one, not how you win amongst forty-five. And that’s kind of where we are where everybody has a view that’s slightly different than one another and certainly social conservatives are a huge part of a winning coalition, which means that we have to change our language to be inclusive but not abandon principle. That’s not as hard, I think, as people make it out to be."

Wait, let me get this queer: Jeb wants the GOP to say they’ve changed but not really change. Be inclusive, while remaining divisive?

Yeah, that hasn’t worked so far, has it?

Serena Williams, in what appears to be an old interview, on the Steubenville rape case:

“Do you think it was fair, what they got? They did something stupid, but I don’t know. I’m not blaming the girl, but if you’re a 16-year-old and you’re drunk like that, your parents should teach you: don’t take drinks from other people. She’s 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn’t remember? It could have been much worse. She’s lucky. Obviously I don’t know, maybe she wasn’t a virgin, but she shouldn’t have put herself in that position, unless they slipped her something, then that’s different.”

Wow. This is one of those cases where an athlete, while admirable for her skills on the court, should learn to zip it.

A drunken girl does not ask to be raped.

A girl dressed provocatively does not ask to be raped.

A girl who is not a virgin—and how in the hell do you suggest that she wasn’t—does not ask to be raped.

A girl who goes to a party is not asking to be raped.

By Serena’s warped logic, girls should wear potato sacks, stay home, remain virgins their entire lives and never touch alcohol, lest they encourage a group of over-indulged athletes to rape them.

Stick to tennis, hon.
PS Serena is back-tracking now:

"I am currently reaching out to the girl's family to let her know that i am deeply sorry for what was written in the Rolling Stone article. What was written -- what I supposedly said -- is insensitive and hurtful, and I by no means would say or insinuate that she was at all to blame."

Doesn't sound like an apology, it sounds like she's blaming Rolling Stone for what she supposedly said.
Just say, 'I'm sorry I said something so stupid.' Serena.

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I Didn't Say It ....

Ellen DeGeneres, blogging about her amicus brief to the Supreme Court:

"I’ve never filed a brief to the Supreme Court, so I thought I would post mine here. I’m sure someone will tweet it to them. Portia and I have been married for 4 years and they have been the happiest of my life. And in those 4 years, I don’t think we hurt anyone else’s marriage. I asked all of my neighbors and they say they’re fine.   But even though Portia and I got married in the short period of time when it was legal in California, there are 1,138 federal rights for married couples that we don’t have, including some that protect married people from losing their homes, or their savings or custody of their children .... The truth is, Portia and I aren’t as different from you as you might think. We’re just trying to find happiness in the bodies and minds we were given, like everyone else. In the words of Benjamin Franklin, 'We’re here, we’re queer, get over it.'  And there’s another famous quote that says 'A society is judged by how it treats its weakest members.' I couldn’t agree with that more. No one’s really sure who said it first, so if anyone asks, tell them I said it."

Well said, and with a bit of humor too.

Ann Romney, Queen Ann, on being married to a loser:

"In our church, we're used to serving and you know, you can be in a very high position, but you recognize you're serving. And then all of a sudden, you're released and you're nobody. And we're used to that. It was really quite a lot of energy and a lot of passion and a lot of -- a lot of people around us and all of a sudden, it was nothing."

Nothing, except mansions and millions.

My.Heart.Bleeds.

Mitt Romney, Average Joe, on being a loser:

"It's different. But it's like riding on a roller coaster. We were on a roller coaster. Exciting and thrilling, ups and downs, but the ride ends. And then you get off. And it's not like, 'oh, can't we be on a roller coaster the rest of our life?' It's like, 'no, that ride's over'."

Like we all knew it would be.

When at first you lie, about taxes and offshore bank accounts, and then pander to the left while pandering to the middle, you aren’t presidential material.

You’re a pandering liar.

Rachel Maddow, on her visit to the Supreme Court as the Court was considering the Voting Rights Act:

"I don't have a number line that is long enough, that goes high enough to understand how on the same day we are unveiling the statue of Rosa Parks at the US Capitol and one block away we are considering getting rid of the pillar of American civil rights law, and that happens at the same time in the same place and nobody's head explodes."

It’s because we have bigoted, homophobic, hateful justices like Scalia on the court.

Brendon Ayanbadejo, Baltimore Ravens linebacker, and Chris Kluwe, Minnesota Vikings punter, in their amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down Proposition 8:

“When we advance the idea that some people should be treated differently because of who they are, demeaned in public as lesser beings, not worthy of the same rights and benefits as others despite their actions as good citizens and neighbors, then we deny them equal protection under the laws. America has walked this path before, and courageous people and the Court brought us to the right result. We urge the Court to repeat those actions here.”

I am still amazed that these two straight professional football players are stepping up as the most fierce LGBT allies, and don’t back down, and don’t keep silent.

If only the entire LGBT community and all its allies were so vocal.

Andrew Sullivan, on his feeling that Pope Quitter, er, Benny, is gay:

"The damage Benedict XVI has done to the Catholic Church and the papacy may be far from over. All I can say about yesterday’s developments is that they seem potentially disastrous and also indicative to me of something truly weird going on underneath all of this. Benedict’s handsome male companion will continue to live with him, while working for the other Pope during the day. Are we supposed to think that’s, well, a normal arrangement?  This man—clearly in some kind of love with Ratzinger (and vice-versa) will now be working for the new Pope as secretary in the day and spending the nights with the Pope Emeritus. This is not the Vatican. It’s Melrose Place."

The ex-Pope has got a boy-toy sharing his palace?

Maybe the Vatican isn’t so homophobic when it comes to Popes.

Scott Fujita, Cleveland Browns linebacker, believing most NFL players will have no problem with a gay teammate:

"I would argue that the overwhelming majority would be fine with having a teammate who was gay... Once a guy comes out, yeah, it'll be very newsworthy. It'll be a huge, huge breakthrough and then it'll be another one and another one and another one. Then it'll be just another guy in the locker room."

And as long as he plays well and the team keeps winning, does it really matter who he loves?

Lech Walesa, Nobel peace prize winner, who believes The Gays have no right to sit in Poland’s Parliament, unless they sit behind a wall:

"They have to know that they are a minority and must adjust to smaller things. And not rise to the greatest heights, the greatest hours, the greatest provocations, spoiling things for the others and taking (what they want) from the majority. I don't agree to this and I will never agree to it. A minority should not impose itself on the majority."

The minority imposes itself on the majority?

And yet the majority gets to vote on what rights, if any, the minority may have?

You’re an ass, and to quote Andy Towle, you’re more Blech Walesa.

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