Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.
The only reason why Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has the reputation (undeserved) of a normal Christian leader is because the media is slack in calling him out for the myriad of times he and his organizations have defamed, demonized, and outright lied on the lgbt community.
And it seems to me that another reason is because the lgbt community isn't holding the media - especially OUR media - accountable for this.
Case in point is something he retweeted today.
As many of you already know, Perkins is in the Vatican as one of the invited guests of Pope Francis. He and others, including Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage is "discussing" their view of marriage, a view which of course omits the lgbt community.
There were others invited, including an Archbishop Nicholas Okoh from Nigeria. Perkins really liked him. He even retweeted a statement Okoh made:
Where the culture and the Gospel clash, the culture must bow to the Gospel. -- AB Nicholas Okoh of Nigeria #Humanum
— Tony Perkins (@tperkins) November 17, 2014
Of course the bigger question is what in the hell is someone like that doing being invited to have an audience with the Pope. But for the purposes of how Perkins likes to constantly harp on how Christians are being persecuted in Ammerica, further questions about his support of Okoh's statement needs to be asked of him.
Most likely these questions won't be asked. The lgbt community call him a bigot and make jokes about how he is secretly gay. Meanwhile, Perkins will go on Fox News where Megyn Kelly and company will treat him like a legitimate Christian leader. And they will be very sure to let him control the conversation and not even mention Okoh.
And to me, that's just so damn scandalous, it turns my stomach.
This is rich. A wedding chapel in Arizona which holds religious and non-religious weddings turns down a lesbian couple. The wedding chapel is well within its rights according to state law and the lesbian couple will not pursue legal action, but do bring up a good point of the chapel not posting anything about hold same-sex marriages.
So why is the owner of the chapel still furious? Because the lesbian couple chose to take the story to the media. Cue the "War on those who believe in Jesus" crap. It's bad enough that some businesses do not want to cater to the lgbt community. But when they get angry when that fact is known, the situation becomes highly surreal:
As you all may or may not have noticed (and I hope you have), the Know Your LGBT History portion of my blog has been under hiatus. The reason was simple. I was burnt out and running out of topics.
I wanted to bring it back with a bang so I hope that this post does the trick.
My Top Five LGBT Villains in Cinema
I love villains. Who cares about the heroes because it's the villains which make the movie. If it's a good villain, it will be a good movie. If the villain sucks, then the same will be said for the movie.
Lgbt villains are a difficult class to pinpoint. Our community have had to deal with movie characters who are villains for simply being lgbts. Unfortunately, these villains embody the very worst ofthin, one-dimensional stereotypes which do nothing but insult us. I'm glad to say that times are changing.
That's not to say that there were certain villains who transcended the stereotypes via nuanced performances or just downright campiness. With that in mind, I present my Top Five Villains who did just that. One note - this list will contain plot spoilers.
Honorable Mention: Mercy Croft - The Killing of Sister George (1968) - Late actress Coral Browne portrays Mercy Croft (I love that name), the innocuous television executive who is more than she seems in this controversial rendition of the hit Broadway play. Beryl Reid portrays June Buckridge, an actress who portrays a kind nurse, Sister George, on a popular soap opera. However, in reality, Buckridge is a loud, boisterous, drunken lesbian whose off-the-set exploits get her into trouble involving her job and threatens her relationship with her partner, Childe (Susannah York). Croft is the media executive who not only delivers the news of her firing to Buckridge, but also (in a scene still controversial by today's standards) seduces and steals Childe. Then she proceeds to verbally DEVASTATE Buckridge after being caught. Croft is honorable mention solely because many don't see her as a
villain. Her incredible tongue lashing of Buckridge does have some
truth to it because Buckridge is not a likable character. However, after
having the temerity to steal someone's girlfriend and then verbally
annihilate the person, Croft needs to have some type of recognition.
5. Raoul Silva - Skyfall (2012) - Silva (Javier Bardiem) is the villain in Skyfall, which is probably the best James Bond movie I have ever seen. His plot is simple. He wants revenge on Bond's boss, M (Judi Dench) for what he felt was a betrayal. But his methods are complex, including this scene where he teases Bond with a seduction. Some have said he was merely playing with Bond's head. I say that there was more to Silva than meets the eye and this scene proved it:
4. Mrs. Danvers - Rebecca (1940) - The oldest and easily the creepiest on our list. Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) is the head housekeeper of the estate Manderley whose actions in the motion picture are possibly because of her secret love of the late mistress of Manderley, Rebecca De Winters. As such, she despises the new wife (Joan Fontaine). She deviously manipulates Fontaine's nervousness and inadequacies until she has the poor child contemplating suicide. Then she tells to go ahead and do it. Not to worry though. Evil doesn't triumph in the end. Mrs. Danvers' secret love for Rebecca is hinted in a sly manner, such as in this scene of her and Fontaine in Rebecca's bedroom:
3. Dr. Frank N. Furter - The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) - Can a space alien doctor from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania be all that bad? I won't even bother with the plot of this movie or explaining Dr. Furter (Tim Curry) because you probably know it already. But I do have one question. What exactly was his mission before he decided to make a man for "dynamic tension?"
2. Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint - Diamonds are Forever (1971) - A pair of assassins from easily the campiest James Bond movie in the series. Kidd and Wint are lovers and cold blooded assassins hired to kill all of the chains of a diamond smuggling operation. They trade silly witticisms while doing just awful things such as blowing up helicopters, stuffing scorpions down the backs of their victims, throwing old women into canals, chaining folks to cement blocks at the bottom of swimming pools, etc. etc. The following scene, which cements who is in control of the relationship, is a classic:
1. The Nun - Come Back Charleston Blue (1972) - I know what you are thinking - who the hell is that. Bear with me. Come Back Charleston Blue was a blaxploitation movie sequel about a Harlem neighborhood besieged by the murders of drug dealers and the theft of their products. Residents claim that it is the work of Charleston Blue, a Prohibition era gangster who disappeared while on his way to kill legendary gangster Dutch Schultz. In reality, it is the work of a neighborhood photographer and community leader, Joe Painter (Peter De Anda). Painter is slowly but surely taking over the drug ring in Harlem by getting rid of the competition. Helping him is a character who I will call The Nun, although he is known as "the freak" in the movie and is credited as a "drag queen" by the credits. In a scene stealing performance (and unfortunately what looks like his only performance), actor Tony Brealond is Painter's second in command and a former soldier in Vietnam. Through subtle hints, it is implied that he is also Painter's lover even though Painter is also carrying on with Carol (Jonelle Allen), the niece of the neighborhood mob boss.
Some may ask why would I pick this character with no name from a movie which many of you don't remember or know. Basically because he is one of the only few lgbt of color characters in cinema not picked as comedy relief or to be pitied. He is the epitome of the "genderfuck" with an attitude. He commands respect and at times is downright fierce (particularly in the graveyard scene where he, clothed as a grieving widow, leads a massacre of mob figures) And then there is my favorite scene - when he starts a knock-down brawl with a bunch of pastors at a youth recreation center after being called a bad influence on young boys.
UPDATE: "I'm Not Gay No More" - So, the 'I'm not gay no more' video star has a lurid path of deceptions. Well color ME surprised.
Meet Cathi Herrod, Arizona’s Extreme Anti-LGBT “Legislative Terrorist” - If I said it once, I said it 1,000 times. The lgbt community CANNOT trust the mainstream media to tell the true story about anti-gay activists unless we either lead the truth-telling or do it ourselves with our own media. I could care less about Kim Kardashian's naked ass. But I do care when someone who wants to take away my equality is given a sweet, cuddling interview by the media.
Alabama Defends Marriage Ban With ‘Largely Unbelievable’ Expert - Works for me. In the past when the religious right would cite discredited work, they would be able to get over because very few folks knew about said work. The lgbt community has come a LONG way over the years in calling out discredited and cherry-picked science. We've made a disability into an asset.
THIS AFTERNOON - One stole the lead character's girlfriend then proceeded to give her a blizzard-inducing dressing down. One is a space alien who abandoned his original mission to build the perfect man. One is the second command in a neighborhood drug cartel and he will not be disrespected. But which one will be chosen as No. 1 in the 'Know Your LGBT History' Top Five LGBT Villains of Cinema. Find out this afternoon on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters. This will NOT be a negative list.
As to be expected, SC Attorney General Alan Wilson is digging real deep in order to keep marriage equality out of South Carolina. A recent article in The State hinted that he is prepared to take it to the Supreme Court. And it because of that reason, Wilson is claiming, that the court should put a hold on the recent ruling bringing marriage equality to South Carolina:
Attorney General Alan Wilson has asked a federal appeals court to put
on hold a judge's order allowing gay marriage in the state, warning
that not doing so will cause irreparable damage to South Carolina.
U.S.
District Judge Richard Gergel on Wednesday threw out the state's
constitutional ban on same sex marriage and blocked any state official
from enforcing it. But the judge wrote his order would not take effect
until noon Nov. 20 so Wilson could appeal.
Wilson asked the 4th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday to stay
the judge's order until the entire appeals panel can consider the
issue.
In the alternative, if the appeals court doesn't issue a stay, Wilson asked for time to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Here is where it gets interesting:
The 4th Circuit has already struck down Virginia's gay marriage ban, a
2-1 ruling that applied to other states in the circuit. The U.S.
Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of that case last month and
South Carolina remains the only state in the circuit refusing to allow
such marriages.
In asking for the stay, Wilson argued the dissenting opinion in the Virginia case was the correct one.
That
opinion supports South Carolina's position that "same-sex marriage
restrictions do not discriminate on the basis of sex and that South
Carolina's definition of marriage, dating from colonial times, a union
of a man and a woman is supported by rational grounds," Wilson wrote in
his request.
He warned that without a stay South Carolina will
suffer harm because same-sex marriages will go forward only to cause
legal confusion about the status of those married if the state prevails.
In other words, Wilson is prepared to take this as far as it can go. I wonder how much of the taxpayers money will he be using?
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/11/13/3809561_sc-appeals-ruling-that-tosses.html?sp=/99/205/&rh=1#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/11/13/3809561_sc-appeals-ruling-that-tosses.html?sp=/99/205/&rh=1#storylink=cpy
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!! - Tomorrow afternoon on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters will see the return of 'Know Your LGBT History' featuring 'The Top Five LGBT Villains of Cinema.' You can start guessing who they will be now, but you will never figure out my list! I will give you a hint. This will NOT be a negative list.
