NPR on the gayification of TV.
Facebook “hate” page exposes gayfolk in the Australian military.
Ricky Martin, Julianne Moore, and a whole bunch of others team up with GLAAD to get a Mother's Day message to Boy Scouts of America.
Geraldo “raped” by TSA worker:
“The last time I flew to Afghanistan I got manually raped by a guy who – the scanner wasn't working,” said Rivera, before adding that his “junk was junked” by a TSA screener.
“This guy, it seemed to me, was getting off on it…And the more and the tighter I got and the angrier I got,” said Rivera. “You know, he just wanted to be a little more intimate.”
Rivera explained how his trouble with the TSA began when he got put on a ‘no fly list' and was continually subjected to “enhanced interrogation and search” every time he took a flight.
“And I was so frustrated. I called the TSA, and I called and I called. I went on television. I exposed them, I embarrassed them. I said, ‘can't ya?' And they just could not remove my name from the computer that had the no-fly list.”
“Trayvon Martin”-styled gun-range targets prove wildly popular:
WKMG's Mike DeForest reported on Friday that the unidentified seller told him that the targets “sold out in 2 days.”
“The response is overwhelming,” the seller said.
While the item appears to have been removed from GunBroker.com, a cached version of the page was still available at the time of publication.
Photos of the item, which was titled “10 Pack Trayvon Martin Targets,” showed crosshairs over a hoodie similar to the one Trayvon Martin was wearing when he was shot by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman in February. The figure has a bag of Skittle in his pocket and is holding what appears to be a can of iced tea…
Around the world, disappointment with Obama. He failed to close Guantanamo or acknowledge American responsibility for the financial crisis, and:
… Obama has been the U.S. president “least involved in the Palestinian issue,” said Mohammed Ishtayeh, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“We were very optimistic when Obama was elected. He talked in his meeting with us without looking into his notes; that tells how much he knows about our issue,” he said.
But since Obama made his Cairo speech, Ishtayeh added, “he found his hands tied and couldn't make much progress.”
… but angriest of all are Kenyan clerics, who really disliked Obama's announcement this week:
Speaking to the Nation in Mombasa, Council of Imams and Preachers Organising Secretary Sheikh Mohammed Khalifa accused President Obama of playing god by legalizing what “God Himself objects”.
“Simply because he has risen to be the President of a super power does not mean he can now start acting as God. He is nothing in the eyes of God and his plans will not succeed just like those who preceded him in such plans,” said Sheikh Khalifa …
“God created man and woman so that we can procreate. How come we now want to behave worse than dogs who do not go for their own gender but know the difference between the two?” asked Sheikh Khalifa. [Ed. note: Actually, several of my dogs have been confused on this point.]
Can somebody please explain this joke from Sen. Rand Paul?
“The president, you know, recently weighed in on marriage. And, you know, he said his views were evolving on marriage,” the first-term senator said Friday evening. “Call me cynical, but I wasn't sure that his views on marriage could get any gayer.”
The Los Angeles Times asks: “Will black voters follow Obama on gay marriage?”
… historically, homosexuality was a nonissue. Then, in the 2004 presidential election, anti-civil union and marriage equality laws were put on ballots in key states to draw “values voters” to the polls. Part of the Republican strategy was to have white evangelical leaders actively recruit black clergy to the anti-gay movement. For example, the Promise Keepers, the Traditional Values Coalition and other evangelical groups organized meetings of black clergy from Washington to Texas to California to oppose gay marriage.
As important as the church's role is, this fact remains: A gay rights movement never really happened among African Americans. The fight for civil rights took up almost all of the justice oxygen. For a black person to be “out,” he or she was most likely also out of the black community …
Finally: After President Obama made his announcement last week, I saw trolls on no fewer than three internet forums begin pointing to this site as evidence of the POTUS's perversion. If they want people to visit it so much, I figure: Why not give 'em a hand?