Doug Pitt Addresses Jane Pitt's Anti-Gay Letter On 'Today:' VIDEO

Doug Pitt, brother to actor Brad, showed up on The Today Show this morning to discuss his new Virgin Mobile Australia ad — you know, the one in which he plays himself, "the second most famous Pitt" — but the conversation soon turned to another Pitt, their newly infamous mother, Jane, and the anti-gay letter she published in the Springfield News-Leader last week.

Asked about the letter and its opposition to marriage equality, something Brad Pitt supports, Doug Pitt handled himself like a pro, simply saying that parents and kids can agree to disagree and that their family endorses health discussion.

“Moms and dads and kids agree to disagree all over the world, so why would our family be any different?” he told Matt Lauer. "There can be healthy discussion when people disagree with you, and I think there should be. The bad thing is when it turns into venom and negativity and we don’t have that in our family. It’s open discussion, we can learn from each other … maybe you learn something."

Watch the video AFTER THE JUMP.

NEWS: George Walks, TED Talks, Scott Lively Freaks Out, And Goodbye Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine has died.

A lesbian mum responds to Jane Pitt, Brad Pitt's anti-gay mother.

Scott Lively pleads with a Missouri city to get serious about the rainbow menace:

Framed as an “anti-discrimination” measure it is in reality a “Gay Fascism” Bill that will make disapproval of homosexuality illegal in the City of Springfield and grant gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders (GLBTs) legal standing to sue their opponents, primarily Christians.

Starting in the 1980s in cities like San Francisco, homosexuals have forced many U.S. cities and numerous states to adopt similar “Gay Fascism” laws with disastrous effects on Christian landlords and businesses. Empowered by recent successes, they are now pushing into conservative cities.

... in a strategic political sense ... an “anti-discrimination policy” based on “sexual orientation” is the seed that contains the entire homosexual agenda with all of its poisonous fruit, including “gay” marriage, “gay” adoption, and heavy taxpayer funding of “gay” programs and projects. Wherever the seed takes root, “gay” power and control just keeps growing until it supplants traditional family values with San Francisco-style sexual anarchy in every social and political sphere.

Conversations about homosexuality and the Bible in Africa.

Gayfolk and Rick Perry have something in common.

George Zimmerman is out of jail.

On the cheap thrill of looking at other people's mug shots:

A mug shot doesn’t simply provide information, it lures us into a drama in which we are given an intimate, Leviathan’s-eye view of the state asserting dominance over an individual. In the old days, this spectacle took place live, on the scaffold of the pillory. Today, it happens in the creation and online circulation of the mug shot. In the faces of these photographic subjects we behold an alarming look of knowledge without consent, and the formal elements associated with this type of portrait—the rigid, head-on stare, the non-professional lighting and institutional accouterment—are charged with the candid photo’s shock of spontaneous revelation.

On the art and science of TED talks.

Fleeing from Scientology's "Land Flag Base," in Clearwater. The architecture's cool, but the sales pitch is creepy.

Three-hundred homeless folks take the stage at the Royal Opera House.

Fifty years of Bond on display in London:

... a bullet-shaped entry way leads through to the Gold Room, which features a life-sized recreation of character Jill Masterson's death by gold paint from the 1964 film "Goldfinger."

"Shirley Eaton's golden body is one of the most iconic Bond images, and we went to great lengths to cast a form -- not just a mannequin -- to painstakingly make a body that resembled her nubile proportions from Goldfinger ... "

Brad Pitt's Mother Pens Anti-Gay Letter (Updated Again)

UPDATE III: The News-Leader is now saying that the letter was in fact written by Mrs. Pitt.

To clear up earlier confusion, the News-Leader has verified the letter writer is the mother of actor Brad Pitt and local businessman Doug Pitt.

UPDATE II: Despite the paper's claim that this letter was indeed written by Jane Pitt, ThinkProgress now reports that it was not Jane Pitt.

Last month, the News-Leader in Springfield, Missouri, published a reader's letter asking voters to reject Mitt Romney because of his Mormon faith.

"Mormonism teaches, by the statements of their leaders and sacred writings, what some Christians would consider to be the inherent inferiority of women in the sense that they believe only Mormon men can hold the 'priesthood' or rise to leadership positions in the church," wrote reader Richard Stoeker. "Traditional Christians believe in gender equality. They believe Mormon theology denigrates women."

In response, a woman named Jane Pitt, which is the same name as Springfield-born actor and gay marriage activist Brad Pitt's mother, wrote a response lambasting the letter, "Barack Hussein Obama" and marriage equality.

Here's the letter:

I have given much thought to Richard Stoecker’s letter (“Vote for Mormon against beliefs,” June 15). I am also a Christian and differ with the Mormon religion.

But I think any Christian should spend much time in prayer before refusing to vote for a family man with high morals, business experience, who is against abortion, and shares Christian conviction concerning homosexuality just because he is a Mormon.

Any Christian who does not vote or writes in a name is casting a vote for Romney’s opponent, Barack Hussein Obama — a man who sat in Jeremiah Wright’s church for years, did not hold a public ceremony to mark the National Day of Prayer, and is a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage.

I hope all Christians give their vote prayerful consideration because voting is a sacred privilege and a serious responsibility.

There's no confirmation that this Jane Pitt is indeed Brad Pitt's mother, but if it is, this could prove embarrassing for the actor.

UPDATE from Missouri gay group PROMO, via comments: "I'm with the state advocacy group PROMO. The News-Leader did confirm that it is in fact Brad's Mother."

West Coast Performance of Prop 8 Play to Hit Radio Airwaves

The West Coast performance of Dustin Lance Black's dramatization of the Prop 8 trial will be broadcast to radio this month, the AP reports:

"A recording by L.A. Theatre Works of the March 3 performance in Los Angeles will be broadcast in the coming days on 90.7 KPFK in Southern California, 89.7 WGBH in Boston, 91.5 WBEZ in Chicago, 94.9 KUOW in Seattle, 91.1 KRCB in San Francisco, 89.3 WPFW in Washington, D.C.; and over 100 other markets nationwide. June is Gay Pride Month."

More information on '8' can be found here.

Brangelina Engaged: No Hard Feelings

In January, Andy reported that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie may get married sooner than later, despite the couple's repeated insistence that they'd wait until all Americans enjoyed full marriage equality. Back then, Pitt was saying:

We’d actually like to, and it seems to mean more and more to our kids. We made this declaration some time ago that we weren’t going to do it till everyone can. But I don’t think we’ll be able to hold out. It means so much to my kids, and they ask a lot. And it means something to me, too, to make that kind of commitment.

Indeed, they couldn't hold out. The couple's engaged, and TMZ reports that Equality California's got no hard feelings:

Rebekah Orr, Communications Director for Equality California, says the group is totally behind the Brangelina marriage, even if the right to vote is still not enjoyed by everyone. [sic]

She tells us, "Marriage is something that says ‘we're a family’ in a way that nothing else can ... No one has to deny that for themselves or their family to prove they are an ally and supporter of equality."

NEWS: Afghanistan And Egypt; Brad And Ellen; Glenn Beck, Louis Farrakahn, And Andy Samberg (VIDEO!)

 "LGBT Rights Window Closing In Egypt":

In many ways, the huge demonstrations of early 2011 that took place in Tahrir Square and led to the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak inspired Egypt’s gay community to join the call for a new, more democratic nation.

But now more than a year into the revolution, Egypt’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has stepped back out of the public eye and retreated into the shadows once again.

... On a recent reporting trip to Egypt ... I met Taher Lamey, a doctor and member of the LGBT community who volunteered in the tented field hospitals of Tahrir helping victims of attacks by Egyptian security forces.

... In the heady days following the toppling of Mubarak, [Lamey] said he had high hopes for the revolution. He said, “The best of the country is involved in this. But they won’t win. If these people were in charge you would expect a lot from this country. International connections, democracy, social justice, social welfare..”

And, he believes, LGBT rights.

“I’m sure also that would have definitely been better because they’d have been liberals, ” he explained.

But in a country whose newly elected parliament is controlled by a two Islamist parties that control more than two-thirds of the seats, that possibility, he added, is “a long way off.”

Taher sighed and said he’s thankful he also holds a Dutch passport.

“I could leave. I have a fear of what happens next. I think we will be the next Iran,” he says.

 Australian political advetisement: homophobic, xenophobic and racist -- all at once! 

 American soldier loses it; goes on door-to-door killing spree in Afghanistan. Nine children, seven adults die:

Residents of three villages in the Panjwai district of Kandahar Province described a terrifying string of attacks in which the soldier, who had walked more than a mile from his base, tried door after door, eventually breaking in to kill within three separate houses. At the first, the man gathered 11 bodies, including those of four girls younger than 6, and set fire to them, villagers said. 

 Ohio Attorney General and Santorumfan Mike DeWine squashes effort to get marriage equality on state ballot:

Mike DeWine said Friday that Freedom to Marry Ohio had submitted the initial required 1,000 voter signatures but had not supplied an adequate description of the measure.

 Newt Gingrich campaign zeroes in on new target: Good Christian Bitches. 

 Scientists "now have a glimpse of the brain's bio-molecular code for memory."

 Glenn Beck vs. The Nation of Islam vs. Barack Obama.

 Brad Pitt shows Ellen around New Orlean's 9th Ward ...

 ... in advance of a star-stuffed benefit last night for his foundation, Make It Right, which is rebuilding the ward's homes and bringing home the city's displaced citizens. Brad Pitt! He's awesome. 

 Lots of people say Andy Samberg's parody of other comedians' parodies of Sarah Palin's on last night's SNL was amazing. I'm not one of those people. Are you? Find out AFTER THE JUMP ...