Transsexual Actress Calpernia Addams and Drag Race Star Shangela Light Up New Facebook Home Ad: VIDEO

Transsexual actress and activist Calpernia Addams (below) wrote to alert us to a new ad for Facebook's new 'Home' launcher app in which she and RuPaul's Drag Race star Shangela are featured.

Here's the synopsis of the ad:

A boring business trip gets a lot less boring, when Facebook Home brings a guy's friends on the journey with him. And all it takes is a few glances to reveal that his life isn't as conservative as his khakis.

Mark Zuckerberg featured the ad in his keynote this week, Calpernia tells us, and the ad makes Facebook one of the few companies to feature a trans actress in a commercial in a positive light.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

UPDATE: Business Insider reports that the ad is receiving "a wave of negative reaction":

The ad's intent seems to be to show that having Facebook Home means that no matter where you are, you'll get all the wonderful, unadulterated weirdness of Facebook. But it also gives the odd impression that Facebook Home will turn your life into a visual clown car, with an endless stream of trivia spewing randomly from your phone.

The ad was created by agency Wieden + Kennedy, which also did "Chairs." Facebook spends very little money on TV advertising — why should it, it's owns its own audience of 1 billion people after all — and thus needs its ads to go viral in free online video media. Ads generally don't go viral unless they're very unusual. So what's happening here is that Facebook is being deliberately weird in order to get your attention.

Courtney Love for Electronic Cigarettes: VIDEO

Courtney Love will 'NJOY' herself wherever she damn well pleases.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

London Mayor Boris Johnson Wins Court Battle Over Barring Christian 'Ex-Gay' Group's Ads from Buses

A judge has ruled in favor of London Mayor Boris Johnson in a case brought by a Christian group challenging Johnson's decision to ban "gay cure" ads from city buses, the Guardian reports:

A judge found on Friday that Boris Johnson did not abuse his position as chairman of Transport for London (TfL) last April when he imposed the ban on the advert, which suggested that people could be cured of homosexuality.

The decision is a defeat for the Core Issues Trust, a Christian charity that funds "reparative therapy" for gay Christians, which it claims can "develop their heterosexual potential". They believe Johnson was "politically driven" when he intervened to block the ad.

The ad posters earmarked for the sides of the capital's buses read: "Not Gay! Ex-Gay, Post-Gay and Proud. Get over it!"

Johnson condemned the "gay cure" ad as "offensive to gays" and said it could lead to retaliation against the wider Christian community.

The judge agreed, though she said that Johnson's process "was procedurally unfair, in breach of its own procedures and demonstrated a failure to consider the relevant issues".

The judge also allowed an appeal, but said she thought it didn't have much of a chance.

Powerful Anti-Hate Ad Imagines What Harvey Milk, Matthew Shepard, and Others Would Be Like Today: VIDEO

A powerful new ad from the Anti-Defamation League takes a look at a number of well-known figures whose lives were cut short by hate, imagining what their lives might be like today. MLK Jr., Anne Frank, Harvey Milk, Daniel Pearl, James Byrd, JR., Matthew Shepard, and Yitzhak Rabin are included in the ad which marks the organization's centennial year.

The ad is set, appropriately, to the music of John Lennon.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

'Respect for Marriage' Coalition to Run New Ad to Capitalize on Marriage Equality Momentum: VIDEO

A new ad from the Respect for Marriage Coalition (HRC, Freedom to Marry, ACLU, others...) is set to run this week to take advantage of the growing momentum for same-sex marriage, Politico reports:

The $150,000 ad buy is the latest step in a $1 million campaign. The ads will be broadcast on stations in Washington, D.C., including the Sunday political talk shows and will air throughout next week on national cable.

“A growing majority of Americans have come to believe it’s time to allow marriage for gay and lesbian couples. Here’s why,” the ad from the Respect for Marriage Coalition begins. The ad features regular Americans talking about their gay and lesbian relatives and friends. The ad ends with the line, “It’s time to give gay and lesbian couples the freedom to marry.”

Watch the ad, AFTER THE JUMP...

MinusIQ, The Pill to Lower Your IQ Permanently: VIDEO

Tired of idiots? Become one.

"Unfortunately there is one side effect... All those people that you have no concern about will suddenly start to annoy you. People of other races, other sexual orientation, people with more money, basically everyone different from you..."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

(via mashable)