Clay Aiken Tells Hate Group Leader Tony Perkins He'll Be Ashamed of His Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage: VIDEO

Brandon posted a shorter clip of yesterday's Face the Nation segment in his round-up last night, but the whole thing's worth watching because it also includes segments with Ted Olsen, Newsweek contributor and Bush advisor Mark McKinnon, and Freedom to Marry's Evan Wolfson.

Family Research Council's Tony Perkins leads off the segment on Obama's same-sex marriage endorsement.

Says Perkins: "I don't think the president did a political calculus to do this because if he did, he needs to go back to the calculator because it's a bad formula."

After a few minutes of Perkins' evangelical talking points, Aiken weighs in (he's become a polished pro).

Said Aiken:

“Between the time of 2003 and today, we’ve seen — as we’ve seen with gay marriage polling — we’ve seen minds changing. We’ve seen people become more open and understanding of homosexuality....I want to address the fact of what you just said here. When my mother married my stepfather, she went to a church — a Baptist church — and since she had been divorced, they wouldn’t let her get married there. So, churches are able to decide who gets married in a church regardless...Obviously, you’ve got people who make the argument that interracial relationships — back in the 70s, people made the same arguments against interracial relationships as they are making against same sex marriages today. So, I feel — I really strongly believe in the next 20 years, we’re going to look back on this and be sort of ashamed of the fact that we’re against this, just as we are ashamed today that we didn’t let people of different races get married.”

McKinnon thinks Obama's move shows he's principled and voters will respond to that:

"President Bush won reelection in 2004, not because people liked him necessarily, or even agreed with his policies. They voted for him because they thought he had core principles that they'd fight for consistently."

Adds Ted Olson: "The Republican Party is the party of Abraham Lincoln. Equality and independence and people that love one another, that wish to form a stable bond, are part of our economy, are part of our community - that should be a conservative value."

Check it all out, AFTER THE JUMP...

NEWS: Andrew Sullivan, Audra McDonald, And Clay Aiken Vs. Tony Perkins Vs. Rand Paul (VIDEO)

The aforementioned Andrew Sullivan story is out now, and it really is rather like that Toni Morrison essay:

... The core gay experience throughout history has been displacement, a sense of belonging and yet not belonging. Gays are born mostly into heterosexual families and discover as they grow up that, for some reason, they will never be able to have a marriage like their parents’ or their siblings’. They know this before they can tell anyone else, even their parents. This sense of subtle alienation—of loving your own family while feeling excluded from it—is something all gay children learn. They sense something inchoate, a separateness from their peers, a subtle estrangement from their families, the first sharp pangs of shame. And then, at some point, they find out what it all means. In the past, they often would retreat and withdraw, holding a secret they couldn’t even share with their parents—living as an insider outsider.

And this, in a different way, is Obama’s life story as well. He was a black kid brought up by white grandparents and a white single mother in Hawaii and Indonesia, where his color really made no difference. He discovered his otherness when reading an old issue of Life magazine, which had a feature on African-Americans who had undergone an irreversible bleaching treatment to make them look white—because they believed being white was the only way to be happy. He wrote:

I felt my face and neck get hot. My stomach knotted; the type began to blur on the page ... I had a desperate urge to jump out of my seat, to show [others] what I had learned, to demand some explanation or assurance. But something held me back. As in a dream, I had no voice for my newfound fear. By the time my mother came to take me home, my face wore a smile and the magazines were back in their proper place. The room, the air, was quiet as before.

Barack Obama had to come out of a different closet. He had to discover his black identity and then reconcile it with his white family, just as gays discover their homosexual identity and then have to reconcile it with their heterosexual family. The America he grew up in had no space for a boy like him: black yet enveloped by loving whiteness, estranged from a father he longed for (another common gay experience), hurtling between being a Barry and a Barack, needing an American racial identity as he grew older but chafing also against it and over-embracing it at times ...

GOProud wroth with Romney for pandering to "big government theocrats." (They plan to vote for him anyway.)

A very cool experiment with slime mold.

What's Audra McDonald up to?

Why is The Avengers making so much damned money?

Mayor Bloomberg delivers commencement address at University of North Carolina; blasts Amendment One.

Daily Mail: Colombian drug apparently turns people into mindless zombies. (Story neglects to mention that the same claim has been made of weed, LSD, ecstasy, PCP ...)

Gawker didn't get Rand Paul's joke either.

The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins might or mightn't have got it; either way, he thinks Paul should be nicer.

Face The Nation: Clay Aiken vs. Tony Perkins, AFTER THE JUMP ...

Clay Aiken Speaks Out Against North Carolina's Amendment One, Which Seeks to Ban Gay Marriage: VIDEO

In a new video, native North Carolinian Clay Aiken speaks out against Amendment One, the May 8 ballot measure that would ban all same-sex marriage-like institutions in that state including domestic partnerships and non-marriage partner benefits for gay and straight couples alike.

Aiken asks people to help Protect All NC Families, a group that is fighting it.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Will George Takei and Clay Aiken Speak Out Against Homophobe Donald Trump as 'Celebrity Apprentice' Cast Members? VIDEO

NBC has confirmed the cast of Celebrity Apprentice, which premieres February 12, Reality Blurred reports. I mentioned back in October that Clay Aiken and George Takei were reportedly cast. That has now been confirmed.

“The men are: late-night legend Arsenio Hall, pop star Clay Aiken, radio host Adam Carolla, the ‘Incredible Hulk’ Lou Ferrigno, magician/comedian Penn Jillette, rock star Dee Snider, actor George Takei, IndyCar legend Michael Andretti, and star of ‘American Chopper,’ Paul Teutul, Sr.

The women are: supermodel Cheryl Tiegs, pop star Debbie Gibson, actress and multi-Grammy winner Tia Carrere, author and reality star Victoria Gotti, comedienne Lisa Lampanelli, former Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza, singer and actress Aubrey O’Day, actress and model Patricia Velasquez, and star of ‘Real Housewives of New Jersey,’ Teresa Giudice.”

Watch Trump and some of the cast members speak conference announcing the show, AFTER THE JUMP...

Tonight In NYC: Cyndi Lauper's "Home For The Holidays" To Benefit Homeless LGBT Youth

Andy announced it a month ago, but here's a reminder: Tonight at 8 p.m., Cyndi Lauper takes the stage at the Beacon Theatre in NYC with a whole laundry list of cool people to raise money for the True Colors Fund -- which benefits, among other things, the True Colors Residence, Lauper's uptown, 30-unit housing shelter for homeless LGBT youth.

All of the Fund's activities are devoted to benefiting the homeless LGBT youth population. As Lauper's press release has it:

It is estimated that 20 percent to 40 percent of all homeless youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, yet of the general youth population, only 3 percent to 5 percent do the same. The True Colors Fund is committed to doing what it can to raise awareness about this issue and develop resources to help these young people, most of whom are homeless due to family conflict.

The Fund's mission resonates with all kinds of people, as evidenced by tonight's lineup. What else could convince Lou Reed and Vanessa Carlton to share a stage? Along with Lauper, Reed, and Carlton, tonight's "Home For The Holidays" concert features Norah Jones, Harvey Fierstein, Alan Cumming, Clay Aiken, Carson Kressley, and a whole mess of others. Tix run $30 - $500, and you can still get 'em.

... and if you don't, you can grab Lauper's new single on iTunes, which also benefits the Fund. The song, like the concert, is called "Home For The Holidays," and features Norah Jones.

Clay Aiken, George Takei to Compete on Homophobe Donald Trump's 'Celebrity Apprentice'

The cast of this year's Celebrity Apprentice has been announced and it includes two celebrities who have been fairly outspoken for LGBT rights in recent years, the AJC reports:

"The fifth season of “Celebrity Apprentice” features no Atlantans for the first time since 2008 but will include  its very first ‘American Idol” alum: Clay Aiken, according to People magazine....But will he be able to get along with the likes of Adam Carolla (comic), Debbie Gibson (1980s pop star), Arsenio Hall (talk show host), Cheryl Tiegs (model/actress), Dee Snider (Twisted Sister), Therese Guidice (sic) (”Real Housewives of New Jersey”) and George Takei (”Star Trek”)? There are clearly some strong personalities there, which is what makes this show tick. Guidice, of course, is the NeNe Leakes of this year’s crew. Snider even showed up in the past “Apprentice” and looks to be this year’s Meat Loaf type. Hall will surely make his presence known, as will Carolla. Aiken will mix it up for sure, too."

Takei married Brad Altman in September 2008.

As you may recall, Trump has been loud about his opposition to same-sex marriage and partner benefits for same-sex couples.

The Des Moines Register spoke with Trump in March:

"Asked whether he supports allowing same-sex couples to marry, Trump said no. Iowa conservatives have overwhelmingly opposed the 2009 Iowa Supreme Court decision overturning the state’s ban on gay marriage."

“They should not be able to marry,” he said. But asked whether gay couples should be able access the same benefits as married couples, he said his “attitude on it has not been fully formed. Given a second to think, Trump said on marriage and civil benefits, “As of this moment, I would say no and no.”

You might also recall that he compared same-sex marriage to an ugly golf club.

“It’s like in golf,” he said. “A lot of people — I don’t want this to sound trivial — but a lot of people are switching to these really long putters, very unattractive,” said Mr. Trump, a Republican. “It’s weird. You see these great players with these really long putters, because they can’t sink three-footers anymore. And, I hate it. I am a traditionalist. I have so many fabulous friends who happen to be gay, but I am a traditionalist.”