Category: anti-gay

Brent Corrigan Mainstream Film Truth; Benham Bros on HGTV; North Carolina Gay Marriage Licenses

Brent Corrigan Mainstream Film Truth

The mainstream film, Truth, I posted about once before is now out on DVD. It’s being classified a psychological thriller and it stars former porn star, Brent Corrigan. He’s using the name Sean Paul Lockhart.

Truth, a psychological thriller starring former porn star Sean Paul Lockhart (a.k.a. Brent Corrigan), is now available on DVD. The plot follows Caleb (Lockhart) as he pursues a romance with Jeremy (Rob Moretti), whom he met online. As they begin to fall for each other, it soon becomes clear that there is more to Caleb than meets the eye. A troubled past and a mentally ill mother are among the dark secrets he tries to conceal from his new lover, who finds himself tangled in Caleb’s web of lies. Steamy and suspenseful, Truth is a cautionary tale of romance in the digital age that also features a stellar performance from Emmy-winner Blanche Baker, of Sixteen Candles fame. Watch the trailer for Truth below. — Daniel Reynolds

More here…

I find this interesting and I’m going to follow it just to see how…and if…he makes the full transition to mainstream films. I’m not sure it’s ever been done before, and with a gay porn star at that. Evidently, he’s landed a few other small mainstream roles, too.

Since his indie gay film debut as Sean Paul Lockhart in the Charlie David mystery-drama, Judas Kiss, adult favorite Brent Corrigan has managed to make a new name for himself as a legit actor in a mixed bag of indie features including Sister Mary, Triple Crossed and now, the new romantic chiller, Truth. From the film’s trailer it looks like Lockhart gives a pretty convincing performance. He’s the apparently sweet, yet truly Jekyll-and-Hyde kind of guy who anyone might fall for — in this case writer-director-star Rob Moretti.

There’s more here. I’ve often wondered if it’s possible for an author of over 100 gay erotic romance novels and various short stories to make the transition into mainstream fiction. I’m not sure it can be done, but I’ve been aching to try it out. And this might be the year.


Benham Bros on HGTV

I knew this was coming when I first posted about it last week. The Benham brothers who had a show canceled on HGTV for being closely associated with anti-gay organizations are now claiming that HGTV was bullied by the gay agenda. I guess they fail to realize that there are straight people with gay family members watching HGTV, or straight people with gay friends and co-workers watching, too. Or for that matter, gay people who own or are connected to HGTV. That lack of reality always surprises me even though it shouldn’t at this point. Are these guys living in such a hooded environment they don’t know any gay people themselves? It’s actually hard to imagine this anywhere in the US.

In any event, here’s what the two Christians are saying now:

“We love all people. I love homosexuals. I love Islam, Muslims, and my brother and I would never discriminate. Never have we — never would we,” David Benham said in the above clip. “Never have I ever spoken against homosexuals, as individuals, and gone against them. I speak about an agenda. And that’s really what the point of this is — is that there is an agenda that is seeking to silence the voices of men and women of faith.”

I’m not even going to comment. There are numerous articles out that show the anti-gay beliefs…among many other “anti” beliefs that surprised even me. I just wonder how these “Christians” go to sleep at night after dealing with all that hate. And I’m not joking about that.

There’s a lot out about this one. You can read more here…and here…and here… The last link will show you how David Benham is the co-founder of a hugely twisted, unhealthy coalition that causes more damage to gays than school yard bullying with their approach to being gay and Christian.

 Flip Benham’s eldest son, David Benham, is a co-founder of the Coalition and serves as its strategic coordinator.

And they are still crying bully.

North Carolina Gay Marriage Licenses

If Mark Chilton of North Carolina becomes the next Register of Deeds in Orange County, N.C, he’s promised to start issuing same sex marriage licenses even though same sex marriage is illegal in NC.

“I’m a legal scholar as well as a real-estate attorney,” said Chilton Thursday. “And after reading all of the cases that are involved with same-sex marriage that have come down from the federal courts, it seems very clear to me that North Carolina’s state constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage is definitely contrary to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”

It should be interesting to see what happens if he does get elected and does issue the licenses. I’ve read the legal argument he mentions above before, right here in Pennsylvania. However, Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia, and the Mayor of New Hope flatly refused to perform same sex marriage because it’s illegal in Pennsylvania. Both mayors support same sex marriage publicly. I’ve also posted about the Montgomery County, PA, clerk, Bruce Hanes, who started issuing same sex marriage licenses even though it’s illegal in PA. And a judge ruled against him and ordered he stop issuing the licenses.

At least Hanes went down on the right side of history and he was willing to stand up for something he believed in.

You can read more here about Mark Chilton.

Palm Beach Stud by Ryan Field
 
 

His Only Choice by Ryan Field
 
 
 
 
 
The Preacher’s Husband by Ryan Field
 
 
 

Greg Louganis on Sochi; Hawaii Stops Marriage Challenge

Greg Louganis on Sochi

As we get closer to the Olympics in Russia, more LGBTI people with platforms and voices have been speaking up in various forms. In this case it’s Greg Louganis. Even though Louganis has been openly against a boycott, he has been vocal about having the games in a place that’s so anti-gay they create laws to legally discriminate gays. It’s hard to phrase that any other way. In most places it is against the law to discriminate, but in Russia laws have been created to make hate legal.

‘In some ways, it’s rather disappointing that Russia was actually chosen as a host country,’ Louganis told HuffPost Live this week.

Louganis, winner of four gold medals and a silver medal at three different Olympics, called the period leading up to the Olympics ‘an exciting time.’

I find nothing exciting about it, not when LGBTI people are being treated that way in Russia. I’m still for a full boycott. And I don’t always believe boycotts are effective or send the right signals. In this case, total dismissal is really needed more than anything. I don’t feel that it’s rather disappointing. I think it’s a damn crime.

You can read more here.

Hawaii Stops Marriage Challenge

A Republican lawmaker against gay marriage in Hawaii, Bob McDermott, tried to challenge same sex marriage and Judge Karl Sakamoto threw it out ruled that Hawaii’s marriage equality act is constitutional on all levels.

Following lengthy sessions, the bill was passed by the state Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Neil Abercrombie in November; and took effect in December. More than 670 same-sex couples have been married and another 230 have requested licenses.

This is one reason why it’s so important to make sure the laws passed are solid enough to keep people like McDermott from challenging them. Sometimes the ruling of one judge can make all the difference in the world to something as important as same sex marriage. It just can’t be rushed.

You can read more here.

Goldie Hawn Sorry to Gays; Lance Bass on Bachelor Star

Goldie Hawn Sorry to Gays

A photo tweeted by Goldie Hawn evidently started a minor firestorm because it was a pic of Hawn with anti-gay Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan. Hawn had no idea he was anti-gay, and she not only apologized but also admitted the photo should cause controversy.

Hawn, who deleted the tweet and apologized to a number of her Twitter followers, called Jonathan’s anti-gay actions “very fear-based” and “full of hatred.”

“It breaks my heart because I have my own personal feelings about this,” Hawn said. “This is man’s inhumanity to man of the first order.”

It’s an honest mistake anyone could have made. And, I’ve read a few of Goldie Hawn’s books and loved each one. Her auto-bio was one of the most candid I’ve ever read, and she writes with an honest voice and you always feel that she’s keeping it real.

You can read more here.

Lance Bass on Bachelor Star

A few weeks ago star of TV show, The Bachelor, Juan Pablo Galavis, made a few comments about not having gays on The Bachelor that disgruntled many people. He thought having gays on the show would be too much, and used the word “pervert.” Immediately following this, he made a huge apology to the world and explained that he often uses the wrong words when translating to English, he has gay friends, he supports gays, and he did not communicate his thoughts as well as he should have.

Lance Bass was asked about Galavis and he responded this way:

‘I don’t hate him at all,’ Bass told the Associated Press this week. ‘I still think he’s cute.’

Personally, I couldn’t care less what Juan Pablo Galavis looks like. But I don’t hate him either. Although he has a great deal to learn about many things, I do think his apology was sincere. At least I hope it was. Many others make gay hate comments and they stand by them.

You can read more here. Photo is in the public domain.

Orson Scott Card Anti-Gay; Gay Friendly Alabama

Orson Scott Card Anti-Gay

I’ve posted about anti-gay author, Orson Scott Card, a few times. And now he’s claiming that he’s been attacked, savagely, in an unfair way. I’m not going to get into Card’s past anti-gay record because it would be too long and involved for a short post. But if you do a simple search with his name you’ll be amazed at what you find.

His novels, which I’ve never read and can’t comment on, are being turned into a film and many have been calling for a boycott of the film. Here’s how Card views it:

‘I’ve had no criticism. I’ve had savage, lying, deceptive personal attacks, but no actual criticism because they’ve never addressed any of my actual ideas,’ Card told Deseret News.

I’m honestly not certain what that statement means. It’s a pragmatic issue for me. As a gay man I have no interest in debating my life with Card or anyone else, or offering him criticism. It’s not up for debate, and not with Mr. Card, a fiction writer. I have no interest in debating equal rights with him either. And how I live my life is not up for debate with Card or anyone else who is anti-gay. I don’t care what his ideas are. I don’t care what he believes. But more important, I don’t have to care what his ideas are or how he thinks. I’m not the one trying to discriminate against Card or how he lives his life. And at this point in my life, after being with the same man for over twenty-one years and still not able to get legally married in Pennsylvania, I don’t feel the need or have the inclination to offer Card anything more than total complete dismissal.

So if he expects critical responses he’d better stop waiting. Because some things just aren’t up for debate anymore. I. Want. Equal. Rights. I’m tired of talking about them.

The natural response to anything anti-gay, or to any author or public figure who is stupid enough to discuss controversial topics in public, is to not support their work if you don’t agree with them.

Check out the full article with the link above. It gets better, and the comment thread is interesting.

Gay Friendly Alabama

One huge misconception I’ve always found about the US is that everyone (including Americans) tends to classify certain parts of the US in set ways. It’s like everything between NY and LA is backward, and only those who live in certain places are gay friendly. Of course I’ve exaggerated that to a certain extent. But the geographic stereotypes do exist, and the south usually gets slammed the worst. And when people think of places like Alabama and Mississippi they tend to think homophobia…or at least not as accepting. This article proves that theory dead wrong:

The actors held hands walking down city streets, kissed in a photo booth at a carnival and acted out a marriage proposal in the middle of a crowded waffle house in both states.

 Instead of being met with jeers or abuse, the proposals received scattered applause and not a single derogatory remark.

The sad fact is that you can find homophobia and hate anywhere in the world, from New York City to Southern California. But it looks like things are, indeed, getting better. I’m old enough to remember when it was shocking to see two men holding hands and walking down the streets of Manhattan.
 

Forbes Promotes Gay Shame; Mean Girls Racism Big Brother; American Idol Racism Lawsuit

Forbes Promotes Gay Shame

I often talk about how shame plays such a huge part in the lives of gay people. And even though we’ve come so far in the past few years that same brand of shame still continues with publishers like Forbes. And the kind of shame I’m talking about now isn’t something that always registers as quickly as it should…I would bet most of the people who read what happened this week with Forbes and the President of Ireland didn’t even pick up on it.

According to this article in Huff Po, Forbes published an article about the President of Ireland and they said he was gay in the article. They were wrong. The President of Ireland isn’t gay. But instead of just posting a simple retraction, Forbes posted a fucking *apology* to readers, not the President. They will allegedly contact the President of Ireland in private and apologize to him for calling him gay. Obviously, they feel the need to go out of their way because he’s not gay.

 The article, posted Tuesday by Ireland-based blogger David Monagan, called Higgins an “acknowledged homosexual.”

Higgins, a poet and intellectual who supports gay rights, was elected as Ireland’s ceremonial head of state in 2011. One candidate he defeated, Sen. David Norris, is Ireland’s foremost campaigner for gay rights and famously open about his homosexuality.

It’s important to pay attention to the way this is worded. Forbes called him an “acknowledged homosexual.” That phrase itself is an insult, like “practicing homosexual.” But they didn’t call him a car thief, a murderer, a bank robber, or a rapist. They didn’t call him anything that should have warranted an apology. They said he was gay. All they had to do was retract what they’d done and move forward. No apology needed, because gay isn’t something negative and it isn’t a crime.  

But the fact that they felt the need to issue an apology, as if there is something inherently wrong with being gay in a general sense, shows how Forbes and other media outlets are constantly promoting gay shame and most of the general public doesn’t even know it, including gay people who are still struggling with issues and not out of the closet. I know that’s the kind of article I wouldn’t have even noticed ten years ago. But now that I’m more aware of how the LGBT community is portrayed in the media, it’s like that proverbial slap in the face. And I think it’s time to start slapping back.

Mean Girls on Big Brother

One of the reasons why I’ve been watching the reality TV show Big Brother since it first aired about eleven or twelve years ago is because it’s interesting to watch how real people interact, and react, in a stressful situation where they are kept hidden from the world and they are competing to win a half a million dollars. Since I started watching BB, I’ve seen everything from people stabbing each other in the back to falling in love. It’s part of the game, it can be highly entertaining and amusing, and the gender politics is fascinating.

But I have never, not in all the years I’ve been watching, seen anything like what’s been happening this season. There is a group of mean girls that rivals anything that’s ever been produced in a film or a book. It’s worse than what I’ve seen in publishing with mean girl book review sites. And these women on BB aren’t just mean girls, they are racist and filled with hate. In most cases they don’t even know it. Here’s just a tip of what’s been happening with these mean girls. If you do a simple search for “Big Brother 15 Mean Girls” you will come up with tons of other articles and forums with people who agree with me. In fact, America got a chance to vote someone off this week, and they chose the meanest, racist girl in the house. Unfortunately, she figured a way out and she’s still there.

The plastics are up for eviction. And by plastics I hope you have watched the movie Mean Girls. Aaryn is Regina Goerge, Kaitlin as Gretchen Weiners and GinaMarie as the dumb Karen. Will the Queen Bee get stunned by getting voted out? Perhaps, this week has been fetch.

The most interesting thing this season about the mean girls and the racist remarks is that they’ve made hideous slurs against Asian Americans, and the host of Big Brother, Julie Chen, is Asian American. You have to wonder, first, how dumb can these mean girls be? So far, Chen has addressed the issue on her own TV show, but she’s been playing it cool every Thursday night during the live eviction show she hosts. And frankly, while I admire Chen for being professional and taking the high road, it’s getting a little frustrating. Even last night, Chen had a guest on the show who was a previous contestant, Jeff Schroeder. I’ve posted about Jeff Schroeder’s anti-gay remarks in previous seasons. And yet there he was last night, sitting opposite Julie Chen, laughing and joking around about some of the meanest, racist people I think I’ve ever seen on TV, and not a word was mentioned. His anti-gay remarks were never addressed aloud, and since then CBS has continued to promote him.

We’re living in interesting times now. And racism is a huge topic this summer, especially in the African American community thanks to Paula Deen’s racist remarks and thanks to the Zimmerman verdict. And for CBS to ignore what’s been happening on Big Brother with regard to the racism, and to welcome Jeff Schroeder on the show as a guest, is about as insulting to all minorities as what Forbes recently did to the LGBT community. I wonder if the mean girls will be invited back a few years from now if BB is still on TV.

I know Big Brother is only a game. I get that. I know people are expected to do and say things in order to win that they normally wouldn’t do or say in real life. But how far does it go? And how long will it continue before CBS mentions it openly instead of just skirting around the issue. This past week there was an interesting discussion between Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg on The View. Walter’s was promoting her 20/20 special about the new royal baby, and Goldberg said she wasn’t interested in the royal baby. Walters smiled and continued to promote the 20/20 special. The next day I checked the ratings for the 20/20 special and they weren’t very good, so maybe Goldberg had a point? And if TV networks and producers think they can get away with the same thing they did twenty years ago, they’re in for a surprise. Most of us don’t care about the royal baby enough to watch a one hour special. But we do care about racism. And if nothing is mentioned about the racism on Big Brother at all this season, I have a feeling a lot of people like me won’t be watching Big Brother next summer.

American Idol Racism Lawsuit

Whether you agree with this or not, I thought that since racism is a huge topic of discussion right now I should post about it.

“American Idol” is being sued by 10 black former contestants, claiming they were kicked off the show in their respective seasons because of their race, TMZ was the first to report.

I used to watch American Idol faithfully, but then I noticed subtle forms of racism, especially with gay contestants and gay remarks. Simon Cowell used to find it amusing to refer to Ryan Seacrest with snide comments filled with gay innuendo, as if there was something comical…or shameful…about being gay. Cowell thought that was okay to do, and no one ever questioned him. Cowell is a straight man and like most straight men he has the power and the upper hand at all times. Seacrest who is also a straight man laughed it off and ignored the comments. That kind of gay pejorative was the reason we stopped watching. It just wasn’t funny to us, and that spoiled the entire show.

But this issue with American Idol is more complicated than other racial issues I’ve seen. There have been African American contestants who have won American Idol. And there was even a gay contestant who won. So it should be interesting to see how it plays out in court. Frankly, I hope they all at least win a settlement this time, just for the anti-gay comments Cowell used to make to Seacrest. Am I being too politically correct? Probably. But it has to start somewhere.

Ender’s Game Boycott Continues; Orson Scott Card

According to this piece, the Ender’s Game boycott continues, thanks to what can be attributed to highly anti-gay author, Orson Scott Card, whom I’ve posted about before.

From mediabistro, where the studio stated this, as if it’s going to make it better:

As proud longtime supporters of the LGBT community, champions of films ranging from Gods and Monsters to The Perks of Being a Wallflower and a company that is proud to have recognized same-sex unions and domestic partnerships within its employee benefits policies for many years, we obviously do not agree with the personal views of Orson Scott Card and those of the National Organization for Marriage. However, they are completely irrelevant to a discussion of Ender’s Game. The simple fact is that neither the underlying book nor the film itself reflect these views in any way, shape or form.

Geek’s Out, highly involved in leading the boycott, said this:

The simple fact is that Skip Ender’s Game has never been about the content of the novel or the film Ender’s Game. It’s about money. It’s about the money the company has already paid to Card and the potential millions he and the National Organization for Marriage stand to make off of the success of the film—our money.

I say this:

I fully understand that the novel and the book do not contain anti-gay content. But if you think I’m going to financially support something even remotely associated with an anti-gay author or NOM, when right now I’m trying to figure out what the best scenario is after the recent SCOTUS ruling because my partner of 20 years and I live in a state where gay marriage is still NOT legal, you’re about to have a very rude awakening.

And it’s not as if Orson Scott Card’s views…which I respect but don’t agree with…have been hidden from public view. You can read back as far as May, 2009. And I’ve seen other things, too. He’s never hidden his feelings. And as I said I respect them. But I don’t have to support anything in which he’s involved, and the movie studio should have thought about that a long time ago.

What really amazes me is that Paula Deen makes racial comments in private that date back years and she loses her empire, literally. Then she goes on national TV and begs for forgiveness and tries to explain and they still won’t forgive her. And the people in this film studio try to bait the LGBT community and their supporters with past films they’ve made as if anything Card has said or done means nothing. I don’t see Orson Scott Card coming out with any apologies or begging for forgiveness.