Cyndi Lauper Talks 'Kinky Boots' with Jay Leno: VIDEO

Last night Cyndi Lauper appeared on The Tonight Show to talk about her new musical Kinky Boots (read our theatre critic Naveen Kumar's review HERE if you missed it) as well as a new tour she's doing in which she'll sing the entire She's So Unusual album beginning to end to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Rick Santorum: Gay Marriage Discourages Straight Marriage - VIDEO

Bill O'Reilly invited Rick Santorum to appear on his show following Grosse Pointe High School's decision this week to re-invite the failed presidential candidate to speak after a cancelation and complaints from Santorum that his "free speech rights" were being trampled on.

Santorum said it was "disappointing" that parents were being made to sign a permission slip for their kids to see him speak "as if there's something that that person could do to harm your child."

After a discussion about how marriage equality is winning because it's being framed as a civil rights issue, O'Reilly asked Santorum if he believed that gay marriage would be "discouraging heterosexual marriage."

Said Santorum:

“Yeah, I believe we would. And because we'd be saying that marriage isn't about children. Isn't about having children. Isn't about raising children. And when we say that, then of course, the consequences are you're probably going to have less children. It's happening as we see it. It's already happening in America. Before this whole gay marriage debate, we really have seen a change in what marriage is in America."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

(on top via tncrm)

Gay Former NBA Exec Rick Welts: Nike Hungry to Sponsor Openly Gay Pro Athlete

The first openly gay pro athlete, whether he be in football, baseball, or basketball looks set to score sponsorship deals worth millions of dollars and a promise from Nike is already on the table, Bloomberg reports:

By the time former Phoenix Suns executive Rick Welts’s I-am-gay announcement appeared on the front page of the May 15, 2011, New York Times, he already had revealed his secret to friends, co-workers and business associates. Among those told before the article was published were NBA Commissioner David Stern and senior executives at Nike Inc...

...Nike asked Welts to deliver a message to anyone thinking about becoming the first openly gay athlete in major U.S. team sports -- the company wants him as an endorser.

Said Welts to Bloomberg: “They made it clear to me Nike would embrace it. The player who does it, they’re going to be amazed at the additional opportunities that are put on the table, not the ones that are taken off.”

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban called the opportunity "a marketing goldmine for all involved."

Gay marketing strategist Bob Witeck agreed: "the first openly gay team-sport athlete -- provided he’s a recognizable name -- would earn millions in endorsements and speaking engagements..."

Brother and Gay Partner Involved in Kansas City Hospital Arrest Discuss Incident: VIDEO

Kansas City's KSHB interviewed both parties in the hospital room dispute that went viral this week after Roger Gorley was removed in handcuffs from his sick partner's bedside.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Roger says the dispute started after his partner Allen's brother Lee called 911 after not being able to reach him and had him taken to the hospital:

He said Lee shouldn't have called 911 without letting him know in the first place.

"Haul your husband into a hospital without even talking to me about it -- that's like overwriting us as a couple of who we are," Roger said. "That would be like me going over to his house and taking his wife and hauling her off to the hospital without talking to him."

Lee and Roger and up getting into an argument over Allen's medical care in the hospital room.

"I know the conversation got a little heated, and the nurse had come in the first time and said 'you two need to leave the room,' so we kind of quieted down for a minute," Lee recounted. "Roger wanted me to leave the room, and I told him 'well, no, you need to leave the room' and the nurses came in the second time and said 'you both need to leave the room.'"

A nurse called security officers when Roger refused to leave, the station says:

Cpt. Steve Young, a spokesperson for the Kansas City Police Department, said officers were called to Research Medical Center by the hospital security. When they arrived, Roger was already in handcuffs and bleeding. The KCPD officers wore gloves to transfer Roger into their cuffs as standard procedure.

Roger told 41 Action News he wasn't being disruptive -- and that security got violent.

"Hospital security came, and it started to hit me on my wrist" while he was holding onto Allen's bed, Roger said. "(They) hit me ... because I was holding on, and they kept hitting and kept hitting and kept hitting."

But Lee said this is all being blown out of proportion. He said he only wants what's best for his brother, and that it's not a gay rights issue.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

More background...
Differing Accounts Emerge in Story of Gay Man Arrested at Patient's Bedside at KC Hospital
Gay Man Arrested at Hospital for Refusing to Leave Sick Partner's Bedside: VIDEO

Daft Punk 'Get Lucky' Promo Played at Coachella Features Pharrell, Nile Rodgers: VIDEO

Attendees at the first night of Coachella were treated to a promo video that someone grabbed with a cellphone, featuring "Get Lucky", a track from the group's highly-anticipated new album Random Access Memories.

The video featured Pharrell and Nile Rodgers jamming and singing with Daft Punk and confirmed a list of collaborators which include Panda Bear, Julian Casablancas, Todd Edwards, DJ Falcon, Chilly Gonzales, Giorgio Moroder, Nile Rodgers, Paul Williams and Pharrell Williams.

UPDATE: A new ad based around this clip played during SNL on Saturday night.

Watch both, AFTER THE JUMP...

(via idolator)

The SNL ad:

Margaret Thatcher's Anti-Gay 1987 Speech: VIDEO

In the wake of Margaret Thatcher's death earlier this month, video has emerged online of a speech she gave at a Conservative Party Conference in October 1987, the year before her government introduced Section 28 legislation which forbid teaching in any school that homosexual relationships were acceptable.

Says Thatcher in the clip:

"But it's the plight of individual boys and girls that worries me the most. Too often, our children don't get the education they need, the education they deserve....Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay....All of those children are being cheated of a sound start in life. Yes, cheated."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

The full transcript of the speech is here.

(h/t huffpost)