Know Your LGBT History - In & Out

I'm going to catch so much hell for this but I loved In & Out.

It was a 1997 comedy which was inspired by Tom Hanks' Oscar speech (when he won Best Actor for Philadelphia.) In the speech, he thanked one of his teachers and classmates.

In&Out repeated the speech moment but made one big difference.

What if Hanks had accidentally outed the people he thanked.

That's what happens in In & Out when an actor (played by Matt Dillon) thanks one of his high school teachers from the podium and outs him as a gay man.

Only one thing, however. No one knows that the man is gay, including the teacher himself.

Okay, some folks didn't like this movie because they felt it exploited stereotypes about gay men. This is true. Kline's character is a stereotypical gay man who likes Barbara Streisand and has a "fey" manner about him even while constantly insisting that he isn't gay.

And there are some scenes - i.e. the dance scene and the "I am Spartacus" type ending - which I felt were corny as hell:



But the saving grace of this movie has to be the performances. Tom Selleck is okay as the openly gay talk show host willing to exploit the entire incident for ratings. I found Kline to be marginal as the main character. Of course the scene everyone remembers is when Selleck liplocks Kline:



However the person who really steals the show in this movie, and this becomes its saving grace, is Joan Cusack as Kline's fiance - a woman who is counting on marrying him so much that she lost weight and based her entire self-worth on the fact that he would lead her down the aisle.

Cusack received a much deserved Oscar nomination for her role as a jilted bride (you really didn't think they would get married, did you?)




Not to worry though. This is a comedy, which means it has a happy ending for all parties involved, including Cusack. Guess who her character ends up with at the end of the movie?

Past Know Your LGBT Posts: .

'Family Research Council pushes more hate' and other Friday midday news briefs

POLL: New Hampshire Voters Want To Preserve Marriage Equality Law, Vote For Candidate Who Opposes Repeal - The question is will it be the same after NOM inundates them with lies about gays wanting to harm the innocence of children.

Those 'Values' keep a comin': FRC bus seats another uber-extreme voice - FRC pushing more hate. Sad.

Teacher's anti-LGBT Facebook rant crosses the line -  - Sorry but if this teacher had said the same thing about religion or ethnic groups as it pertained to displays at her job (like the situation did here with the gay community), there would be no talk of this being a "free speech" issue. Furthermore I refuse to believe you can claim that EVERY negative comment made about the gay community is a simple expression of a religious belief.

Shaquille O’Neal, Amy Poehler Among Celebrities In New Anti-Bullying PSAs - You have to admit. This is pretty cool.


Gay Military Personnel To Join NOH8 Campaign For Marriage Equality - Ending Friday's news briefs on a positive note.

Liberty Counsel is LYING about Dakota Ary case

Remember the recent case of Dakota Ary - the student who was supposedly suspended for "merely" claiming that homosexuality was a sin last month.

To recap - after a media blitz in which Ary's family and the religious right group the Liberty Counsel boggarted the public with only one side of the story, it was later learned via the teacher, Kristopher Franks, involved in the situation that Ary was not as innocent as portrayed.

Apparently the nonchalant statement he made was a part of an alleged campaign of harassment he and a few other students were conducting against the teacher.

However because the laziness of the media and the willingness of the religious right push a phony victim, the talking point that Ary was persecuted drew enough negative attention to cause the teacher to be investigated.

Needless to say though that the teacher was exonerated.

But now weeks after the entire incident is over, the Liberty Counsel is trying to claim victory so to speak by claiming that the school district has said that Ary did nothing wrong:

“In fact, in his file is a letter now that says that Dakota has a right under the First Amendment to express his own personal opinion consistent with his First Amendment protections,” (the Liberty Counsel's Mat) Staver remarks. “So we are very pleased with this as the result has now taken a few weeks, but the result is exactly what we were looking for.”

However this is what the letter actually said:

The Fort Worth Independent School District has concluded its review of the removal of Dakota Ary from the German class led by Kristopher Franks.

This review was conducted in accordance with District policies and was essential for two reasons: 1) Dakota’s claim of a potential First Amendment violation and 2) the implication that bullying behavior might have been involved. After carefully reviewing the information gathered, the District has determined that neither potential issue has validity.

A perceived student conduct violation does allow for the temporary removal of a student. The District then considers two questions before assessing discipline. The first is whether there has been a violation of the Student Code of Conduct. If so, the District then determines the appropriate consequence for such a violation. But in this case, as in all cases, if the perceived violation is determined not to be true, the student is returned to class, as soon as possible, without consequence. Unfortunately, Dakota remained in in-house suspension for almost four hours before returning to his assigned classes without a consequence. While the delay was due to the District’s attempt to carefully consider the competing interests presented by the referral, we do apologize for the delay in returning Dakota to class.

As previously stated, Dakota was not punished for expressing an opinion and there is no permanent record of his being punished for expressing an opinion. We recognize Dakota has the right to express an opinion in a manner consistent with law and policy.

The letter says that neither issue - a: the possiblity that there was bullying involved and b. Ary's First Amendment rights being violated - had any validity.

Furthermore, the letter make something clear  - Ary's First Amendment Rights were not violated.

That last part is probably something which Staver is seizing upon to claim victory:

We recognize Dakota has the right to express an opinion in a manner consistent with law and policy.

Of course Ary does. Everyone has that right. The point was the question of whether or not Ary's manner was consistent with law and policy.

If you ask me, it sounds as if the district is trying to this controversy and unfortunately is playing into the Liberty Counsel's hands. I bet a steak dinner that  the organization pushed hard for this letter as a way of claiming victory and covering up for the fact that it intentionally jumped the gun to make Ary a victim before the case was even fully investigated. And I bet the organization pushed hard to have that last statement about Ary's "First Amendment rights"  be included.

But the clincher of the Liberty Counsel's audacity is the following statement by Staver:

Homosexual activist teacher Kristopher Franks was also suspended while his classroom conduct was under investigation. Staver says that on Frank's return to the classroom, he remained under close supervision.

“He was accompanied by an administrator from the school in the classroom to observe his behavior,” Staver explains. “The teacher is clearly on notice now that his action is inappropriate, that what he did is wrong, and he’ll no longer be able to use the classroom as a bully pulpit to promote his homosexual agenda.”

As far as it is known, Staver's statement is inaccurate. Staver does not reveal who gave him that information. His claim about the teacher "being put on notice" is not in the letter.

As as stated before, Franks was fully exonerated.

Black people can get along fine without being defended by Ann Coulter

Recently, author (I guess I have to call her that) Ann Coulter defended presidential nominee Rick Santorum for comments he made about the difference between being black and gay.

And amazingly enough, she actually took it upon herself to defend black people as only Ann Coulter can - i.e. putting down another group of Americans:

I'm sick of people comparing gays to blacks. No, it's very different. What Santorum said is true. It's sexualization of the military. It's not someone being Black. Tell me how being Black is like being gay. You can see someone is Black. You can't see someone is gay and the precise policy we're talking about is whether they can go around announcing they're gay."

I never thought it was possible but as a black man AND a gay man, I am offended by Coulter twice as much rather than singularly.

Rather than go into an expository about being black and gay, I think it would suffice that folks look at the source when it comes to such a comment. Furthermore, someone should tell Coulter that simply because she may have gone out a few dates with Jimmy "J.J." Walker" does not make her an authority on the black community:

Furthermore, I think the black community can get along just fine without being "defended" by someone like her. Lastly, someone should inform Coulter that she is not a "down sista," no matter what the following clip from The Boondocks may portray her as (parental guidance suggested) :

'Glee part of a huge gay conspiracy?' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Tony Perkins Blames Gays For The Economy - Well why not?He blames us for everything else.

Matt Barber Uncovers The "Glee" Conspiracy - Geez, this stuff just writes itself.

Fundraiser to aid GOP backers of N.Y. gay marriage - And it raked in over a million dollars. Betcha NOM won't talk about it.

Discussing Lawrence King's Murder, Truth In Action Ministries Blames The Victim - Just mind boggling and sad . . .

Thank you Maggie Gallagher for revealing your lies - In case you missed this morning's post, a recap - Maggie Gallagher just helped the movement for equality . . . again.

Thank you Maggie Gallagher for revealing your lies

Maggie Gallagher

Former chairwoman of the National Organization for Marriage, Maggie Gallagher, recently let the cat out of the bag so to speak when she chose to praise the Family Research Council during the "Values Voter" Summit:

GALLAGHER: I want to pause and say I know all of the organizations involved in this fight, and I treasure fighting with each and every one of the people on this panel, the organ – the Family Research Council, and others. 

Equality Matters breaks down why this admittance is significant:

Gallagher’s decision to single out the Family Research Council (FRC) – the organization that hosted the Values Voter Summit at which Gallagher was speaking – is worth noting. The group has been labeled an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for promoting smears about the LGBT community. Indeed, SPLC urged public figures attending the Values Voter summit to stop associating with anti-gay groups like FRC, which work to “create a climate of hate and violence against the LGBT community.” A recently released SPLC report documents FRC’s history of promoting anti-LGBT smears and propaganda, including depicting gay men as mentally ill child molesters

 . . .  If Gallagher truly “treasure[s]” her relationship with FRC, it’s safe to assume that she doesn’t see this kind of hate speech as particularly problematic. In fact, NOM has criticized the SPLC for labeling FRC as a hate group. Both Gallagher and NOM president Brian Brown signed a statement last year condemning the SPLC for its “hateful rhetoric” and “character assassination” efforts against FRC.

In other words,  Gallagher's admittance puts a huge hole in her schtick. Those who have heard Gallagher espouse her views against marriage equality are familiar with her con game. She can't complete one sentence without implying that how folks like her are "unfairly labeled a bigots because they simply believe that traditional marriage is the joining of the two halves of humanity."

Gallagher has managed to ride that tired old argument into a bit of success against the gay community and some national face time. And the talking point is also useful in the fact that its basic dishonest drives some gays to distraction while Gallagher nonchalantly wraps herself up in the cloak of false victimhood like an aggressor hitting someone with a large rock and then assuming an innocent pose when investigated.

But it's a nasty lie which Gallagher has now exposed thanks to her eagerness to kiss up to FRC. Gallagher has revealed that NOM is a fraud. It's not about values or morality. The organization is nothing more than the same old rotten homophobia encased in new wrapping paper and given a neat bow.

Bigots fail in California! Anti-gay referendum doesn't get enough signatures

All of the religious right's lies and all of the religious right's men won't be able to put gays in the closet again.

From the San Diego Gay & Lesbian News:

Today was the deadline for signatures to qualify a new referendum for inclusion on the November 2012 ballot.

As EQCA announced yesterday, the anti-equality advocates were unable to get the specified number of signatures to get their discriminatory policies back in the hands of the voters.

They were seeking a referendum to overturn the recent FAIR Education Act (SB48), which ensures classrooms are including LGBT, minority and handicapped individuals in the teaching of history.

At many public locations where the group attempted to gather signatures, it was reported they were misleading the public about what the law was about, even linking it in some cases to pedophilia.

After a last minute rally in an attempt to uncover or gather more signatures, today the group sent out an email to all their supporters, entitled, "We Fought the Law and the Law Won."

In the email, they shared their disappointment with losing their attempt at overturning the "very bad law" and thanked their supporters.

They also offered guidance on what to expect of their referndum's "opponents," avowed to not give up the fight for the sake of the children and identified the state politicians that stood with them in the attempt to overturn the FAIR Education Act.

The communication also gives insight into to their discriminatory tactics, from the school board level, up.

Unfortunately we did not collect enough signatures to qualify the referendum to overturn SB48. That law will be in place in our schools at the first of next year.

We thank all of you that worked so hard to provide the hundreds of thousands of signatures received. In the end, 90 days was too short a time to accomplish such a large task.

In the coming days you will see the celebration of our opponents. We know this because it has already started in social media and other places. And some of the rhetoric will be harsh. Remember, despite what they say about us, we opposed SB 48 simply because we do not believe that children should be exposed to an intentionally one-sided argument about lifestyles and values we do not hold.

And you will have to face some of those who said from the beginning that our referendum effort was a waste of time. They said we did not have enough money, the commitment of enough groups, or enough days. Ultimately they were right. And in private perhaps they will ask if the effort they withheld would have made the critical difference.

In the end, everybody that dedicated time and effort to qualifying this referendum should hold their heads high. The children in California schools and their parents owe a debt of gratitude to each of you for attempting such a huge task.

We hope that you will be there for the next battle.

While we did not overturn this very bad law, we built a small army of dedicated volunteers that collected an incredible amount of signatures. There will be a next battle. Despite the overuse of the term "tolerance," there is little tolerance for those who do not endorse the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lifestyles. And there will be more laws passed that advocate for these and attempt to silence any opposition.

What tripe. They pass themselves off as so noble. Of course they omit the depths they stooped to in trying to get signatures for the petition such as telling basic lies about what the petition was about and then trying to push the following mess in area churches:

I didn't post this yesterday in spite of the fact that several pro-gay blogs did simply because I wanted concrete confirmation. Having dealt with religious right tactics, I was very wary of a Trojan Horse tactic. But there is no need to be wary any more.

These folks and all of their lies about "indoctrinating children" lost and lost hard. And that includes the Family Research Council and the National Organization for Marriage.

Let this be a lesson to us all. There are times when all of the money, influence, and connections in the world can't make lies true. And if those of us who are fighting these lies hold fast to our principles and never stop fighting, we win.

For true information about the Fair Education Act, go here.