Category: cher

The Sneaky Disingenuous Hollywood Actors In the Closet; Cher, Dyslexia, Gays, and Hollywood Fail, Again; University of Indonesia To "Normalize" Gays

The Sneaky, Disingenuous Hollywood Actors In the Closet

This has always been a rough one for me, because I have always firmly believed that no one should ever be forced into coming out as gay. For most people who fall under the umbrella of LGBTQ, it’s a serious, emotional decision for which they have to be ready. And I still believe that. I receive e-mails daily from closeted gay male readers who are fighting with this dilemma every waking minute.

However, there are still a lot of double standards going on in Hollywood these days that are both disingenuous and sneaky. I’m not going into a long rant about this because I know everyone “gets’ it.

Here’s an article that gives 20 reasons why Matt Damon was wrong to tell gay actors to remain in the closet.

So there still are no openly gay leading men, at least on the Major Motion Picture front. It’s a pity.

According to Matt Damon (in a comment he’s since insisted was taken out of context), this is because the career of Rupert Everett, who came out in 1989 when Matt was 19, did not achieve the stardom Everett apparently assumed he was destined for. Apparently this narrative, promulgated mostly by Everett, made a deep impression on Damon.

Damon’s theory, whether he meant it or not, is another version of the old canard that openly gay men can’t be leading men because straight men recoil at the notion and, for women, it ruins the fantasy. Hahaha

You can read the rest here. It’s a list of successful openly gay stars, proving Matt Damon wrong. However, Damon isn’t totally wrong because that same passive aggressive, self-loathing homophobia still exists today in Hollywood. 

Cher, Dyslexia, Gays, and Hollywood Fail, Again

On the surface, this sounds okay. I can even relate to it to a certain extent…again, on the surface. However, I would never be presumptuous…or foolish enough…to even try to begin to understand what life is like for someone with dyslexia. And frankly, I would like the same respect extended to me as a gay man from someone who is still coming from a place of privilege like Cher. 

But while making yet another fundraising appearance for Hillary Clinton this week, the Oscar winner talked about another reason why she feels so simpatico with LGBTI people: her dyslexia.

‘I understand, and I think this is a thing that I share with my gay brothers and sisters, that I understand shame-for-no-reason,’ she said at The Park on 10th Avenue in New York City.

‘I understand trying to overcome what you shouldn’t have to overcome, something that’s just natural, that we are, the people who we are, the colors that we are.’

Here’s a link to the rest.

This is Hollywood fail, and in the same way it always has been. As far as I know, Cher will never know what it’s like to be refused the right to marry legally. And that’s just one thing. 

University of Indonesia To “Normalize” Gays

Evidently, they think they can “normalize” gay people at this university.

Syamsu Qamar Badu, the rector of the State University of Gorontalo (UNG), issued a new set of policies targeting LGBTI people.

This includes a ‘special team’ employed to look out for, and offer ‘counseling’ for, students they suspect of identifying as LGBTI.

‘This identification process will not be easy, but we can’t just let it happen if there are male students wearing lipstick on campus,’ Badu said.

You can read the rest here. 

Lipstick on campus? Someone should tell them.

And it’s interesting to note that The Indonesia Psychiatric Association (PDSKJI) still believes “homosexuality” is an illness.

Unabated

 Amazon


Unabated

 Uncertainty



Goodreads 25 Million; Ken Doll Porn; Cher Marks Her Territory

Goodreads 25 Million

According to this article in galleycat, Goodreads.com, a social network for readers, authors, publishers and anything book related, topped 25 million users this past year.

Amazon’s social reading platform Goodreads now has 25 million members, almost double the number of members that it had at this time last year.

I think this is interesting for several reasons. One, there was a firestorm over book reviews and alleged bullying over the past year and a half at goodreads and I followed it haphazardly out of curiosity. Some didn’t like what goodreads did and vowed to delete their accounts and never return. I don’t go there often so I don’t know the details. Evidently, this drama had a minor impact on goodreads or Amazon and whatever happened there didn’t seem to affect the millions of people who are just beginning to really take the Internet seriously. Many of us who have been working and blogging and interacting online for the past ten years often take for granted that everyone is just like us. But if you go into a supermarket anywhere in the US and you question people about goodreads most still won’t know what you’re talking about and I would bet none would know there was even a discussion about book reviews, bullying, and goodreads. I’m not trying to diminish either side of the argument. I’m just being realistic.

Second, I’d like to know how they gather this information about 25 millions users. Is it 25 million individual users? Or is it based upon a quarter of that amount with most users signing up with multiple accounts and fake identities? C’mon. Like that doesn’t happen? Ha!! Something doesn’t make sense to me. And if it doesn’t make sense the odds are it’s questionable.

You can read more hype here. I have nothing against goodreads. I just don’t have the time I wish I had to go there and actively participate as much as I’d like to. The few times I’ve been in book give-aways there it’s always bothered me that the US members are usually the only readers who are able to participate. Why can’t it be global? I do global give-aways here whenever I do a blog hop.

 Ken Doll Porn

The other day I reviewed the film, Don Jon, and mentioned in the review how the main character’s girlfriend went BERserk when she caught him watching porn. So when I saw this link and watched how the main character’s girlfriend in this clip reacted to him having sex with a Ken doll it reminded me of Don Jon. It could almost parody Don Jon.

Cannot stop laughing! Mancast.com  tipped us off to this masterpiece. This dude is one of the sexiest men we have laid our eyes on in a long time! Humor turns up the sexy factor big time.

I wonder if Joseph Gordon-Levitt saw this.

You can view it here.

Cher Marks Her Territory

I often think there must be something missing in my gay genes, because I’ve never been part of the gay male fandom with entertainers like Cher, Streisand, Garland, or even Madonna. I like them all, don’t get me wrong. I respect them all, too. But I would rather stand in line for Mumford & Sons than any of them.

Evidently, Cher isn’t too happy with the way the media makes Lady Gaga out to be a young “Cher” or a young “Madonna.” So Cher made this statement:

“You can’t be the young anybody else. That’s why Gaga is Gaga and Madonna is Madonna. All these people are themselves. You can’t be the young anybody… There is no young me. If you get to be that, if you get to a certain level, you have to be the young you … Until I’m dead. Maybe when I’m dead, someone will go, ‘Oh that’s the young Cher.’”

I get that. I like Cher even more now. I was once compared to another gay author and it didn’t sit well with me either. But I also think it’s human nature for people to do this and I’m not that sensitive about it. I’ve been compared to much worse in my time, trust me.

You can check it out here.  

Cher on Russia; Russia Scorns Gay Parents; Village People Cowboy Marries

Cher on Russia

With so many disillusioning things happening in PA this week regarding same sex marriage, when I read this piece about Cher turning down an invitation to perform at the Russian Olympics I had to admit that it felt nice to see that some people are still willing to challenge unfair laws…on principle, not black and white laws. She also clearly knows hate from personal experience.

“I can’t name names but my friend called who is a big oligarch over there, and asked me if I’d like to be an ambassador for the Olympics and open the show,” she told Canadian newsmagazine Maclean’s. “I immediately said no. I want to know why all of this gay hate just exploded over there.

He said the Russian people don’t feel the way the government does.”
In the wide-ranging interview, she discussed how the treatment she and former husband Sonny Bono received made her empathize with other outsiders, and she also noted her support for her transgender son, Chaz Bono.

“People hated Sonny and I in the early days because we looked and acted so different,” she said. “Sonny was always getting into fights — people would called him ‘fag’ and he’d get his nose broken — only because we were dressing different. And these were our street clothes!”

You can read more here. 

Russia Scorns Gay Parents

Speaking of Russia, now there’s a Russian lawmaker who wants to take away children from LGBT parents for some of the most ridiculous reasons I think I have ever heard.

Last week, Russian lawmaker and nationalist party leader Alexei Zhuravlev proposed legislation that would allow the government to remove all children from all LGBT parents and from same-sex couples. In his bill, State Duma Deputy Zhuravlev compared homosexuality to child abuse, drug abuse, and alcoholism. Zhuravlev this week shared with Russian reporter Olga Pavlikova his stunning views on gay people and on “allowing” them to raise children.

This article only devolves into something much worse than what’s above. If this is the mind set that President Obama has to deal with during foreign affairs, God bless the President for having the patience to deal with them. I wouldn’t be able to do that. You can read more here.

Village People Cowboy Marries

In much lighter news, Randy Jones who was the cowboy in the Village People from 1970’s disco fame is marrying his longtime partner. I was only a child at the time, but I recall being fascinated with the cowboy and the construction worker.

This is not going to be just any old event either.

Day one will reportedly include “a public proposal” with Randy “[popping] the question in front of friends and family in Columbus Circle.” Day two will feature the wedding ceremony at New York City Hall “in front of their mothers.” Directly after, there will be a party at a “trendy rooftop bar” with “special guest host Warrington Gillette — who the couple credits as “Jason” from ‘Friday the 13th Part 2.'” Finally, on day three, there will be a “post-wedding banquet” in Little Italy.

You can read more here.


Good For Cher: Chaz Bono on Dancing with the Stars



I probably should have left up my new release post for the weekend. But I saw this about Cher and Chaz Bono and couldn’t help posting about it right now.

When I made my last post, about Chaz doing the reality show, I was a little surprised at some of the negative reactions I received. And from gay and straight people, too. Well, anyone who knows me knows I don’t buckle when it comes to things like this. I kept the post up and I’m posting about it again. This is what the T in GLBT is all about, and I’ll fight to my death for tolerance.

Good for Cher for coming to his defense!!

As for Chaz, you may not like it, you may not understand it. You may not even want to like it or understand it. But the point is that Chaz Bono is doing something most people wouldn’t have the guts to do. And I find that amazing…on so many levels I could fill this entire blog with examples. And I don’t even like dancing myself…can’t do it….won’t even try. But I’ll be watching this show.

….Cher takes to Twitter to defend Chaz Bono on DWTS

By Sandy Cohen | AP – Thu, Sep 1, 2011 9:08 AM PDT

….tweet240EmailPrint…

..LOS ANGELES – Cher is taking to Twitter to defend her son Chaz Bono.

The superstar posted several tweets Wednesday defending his participation on the upcoming season of “Dancing With the Stars.” Bono is the first transgender competitor on the hit ABC show.

Cher says her son, who was born female and underwent surgery to become a man, is being “viciously attacked” on blogs and message boards since the new cast was announced Monday.

“This is Still America right? It took guts 2 do it,” Cher wrote, adding that she supports him no matter what he chooses to do.

“Mothers don’t stop Getting angry with stupid bigots who (mess) with their children!” the 65-year-old singer wrote.

Bono, 42, is paired with pro dancer Lacey Schwimmer on the reality show, where celebrities and their professional partners perform various ballroom dances for judges’ scores and viewer votes.

“Dancing” fans have posted both angry and supportive comments on the show’s message boards. One called the casting choice “disgusting” and said “ABC should be ashamed of theirselves for harassing mainstream Americans and Christains.”

Another wrote: “I never and mean NEVER watch DWTS but will this season to support/vote for (Chaz).”

On his own Twitter page, Bono described himself as “the luckiest guy around” and thanked his fans for their support. He also thanked Cher.

“Thanks for all your support mom,” he wrote. “The haters are just motivating me to work harder and stay on DWTS as long as I possibly can.”

The 13th season of “Dancing With the Stars” is set to premiere Sept. 19.