Jeb Bush on Marriage Equality: Respect 'Rule of Law, Safeguard Religious Liberty'
The man widely considered to be a frontrunner in the GOP race for the White House in 2016 still doesn’t support same-sex marriage, but he says he will respect laws that embrace it.
Sunnivie Brydum
Interview With Dina Martina, Hilariously Surreal Raconteur
Photo Credit: David Belisle
There are some artists that defy definition by being so fiercely original that any attempt to classify them winds up being reductive, and then there is Dina Martina. For more than 25 years, Dina has been delighting audiences around the country with her profoundly unique performances, causing such luminaries as John Waters to remark that, “Dina Martina goes way beyond drag into some new kind of twisted art.” Whether she is recreating television commercials or covering obscure Neil Diamond songs, there is no mistaking Dina’s art for anyone else’s.
Since Dina is a fully realized individual, I thought it prudent to use this interview not just as a way to really get to know her, but also as means to get her insights about the some of the biggest news stories of 2014. As we all begin our march through this (still relatively) new year, who better to reflect on 2014’s goings-on than this well-seasoned “former child prodigy?”
With so many years of performing under your belt(s), where do you look to draw inspiration for new material?
I’m inspired by so many people: Colonel Sanders, Fatty Arbuckle, Bigfoot, Ke$ha (I know she doesn’t spell her name with a dollar sign anymore, but I couldn’t find a cents sign). Sometimes I’m inspired by Shakespeare too; he used to do shows. I’m also inspired by my dreams. Last night I dreamed I was a wet nurse at the Olive Garden, and instead of mother’s milk I produced creamy Alfredo sauce.
Do you have any pre-show rituals that really help get your motor running?
I usually try to eat some Lipton California Onion Dip before I go on. It’s so important to eat a diet that’s rich in sodium.
What was it that first brought Dina Martina to the stage?
When I was four, my mother entered me into the Little Miss Las Vegas Pageant and I won. Things really took off from there and I started doing a lot of commercials. Baby shampoo commercials, cereal commercials – mostly breakfast cereals – and I was also the original Johnson’s Thumbtacks girl. Then when I was a teenager I got into modeling, mostly for the Braille edition of Vogue.
Singing is a major aspect of your live show – at what point did you realize that you had such a vocal gift?
Well I’ve enjoyed my singing since I was born, but I realized that pretty much everyone else loved it too, during the talent round of the Little Miss Las Vegas Pageant, when I sang a lovely piece by Beethoven. That’s when everyone started calling me “The Pipe,” referring to my golden pipes.
What is your favorite part of being a performer?
Oh man, where do I start? Show Business has more fringe bennies than you can shake a thing at. You get to hang with Industry and Brass, you know, it’s all luxury pavilions and celebrity pleasure domes, chauffeured PT Cruisers, V.I.P. receptions with balloon animals, swag bags with prime rib, men who always wear cummerbunds, iceberg wedges and Cold Duck…it’s pretty dolce. Plus, I love me some smoke and mirrors.
Photo Credit: David Belisle
Now on to some global and domestic politics. What do you make about this year’s kerfuffle surrounding “Obamacare”?
Not much; I don’t pay attention to kerfuffles until they become donnybrooks.
Pretty recently, several hundred people around the country were aware that there was a Midterm election. The democrats lost their majority, and it looks like the entire South is now what highly educated political analysts would refer to as, “red.” What do you think about this apparent cultural shift?
I really empathize with the Democrats, because I remember when I lost my majority, in the back seat of a ’75 Pacer, and my south was pretty red, too.
Any thoughts on the recent hacking of Sony?
I hate it. I’ve always loved Sony and Cher.
I was referring to the hacking of Sony Pictures and the subsequent release of tons of their “classified” information.
Oh. Well see, that’s why I don’t like computers and stuff. I mean, I realize that the Internet can be a wonderful resource and all, but boy, TV never gave us problems like this…’member? You could watch Miami Vice or Mr. Belvedere ’til the cows came home and you never needed a password and North Korea had to actually sit through Hollywood’s movies to find out who Hollywood’s minimally talented actresses were, just like the rest of us. Boy, those were the days.
The latest food trend sweeping the nation is sticking to foods that are gluten-free. Are you a fan of gluten, and if so, does this movement feel a bit like a personal affront to your epicurean preferences?
I am a fan of gluten, thank you for asking. But when I was little, we couldn’t afford it on account of my mother being the sole breadwinner (my father died in childbirth) so gluten was something of a delicacy in my youth. I was pretty much raised on an old family recipe of raisins, butter and Crisco (in a bowl) until I started bringing in money too, which augmented my mother’s income, and at that point we were able to start having things like gluten with Karo syrup, gluten loaf and baby back gluten. Since then, I’ve developed quite a taste for it.
Former child star and current Santa Claus warrior Kirk Cameron recently released his film Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas, which has an unbelievable 0% rating on RottenTomatoes.com. As an annual celebrator of the holiday, what about Christmas do you think needs saving?
The bows.
Games played on cellphones (such as Flappy Bird, the sixth most searched term on Google last year), are taking over the free time of adults and children alike. What would your ideal phone-based game be?
It would be a game where the player who figured out how to be removed from the ValPak Coupon mailing list would win a million billion trillion dollars.
Finally, with only about two years to go until our next Presidential election, who would Dina Martina like to see elected to the highest office in the land?
That’s a tough one. Definitely not Rachael Ray or Pitbull, but possibly my friend Doreen…or Lyndon Baines Johnson, if he were still alive, because he had the same initials as Little Baby Jesus.
Photo Credit: David Belisle
Keep abreast of all things Dina Martina:
Reintroduced Respect for Marriage Act Would Fully Repeal Discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act
RMA would fully remove the DOMA from the books and establish a clear rule for the federal government that all married same-sex couples have access to equal rights, benefits, and protections under federal law.
HRC.org
Jamie Dornan’s Junk Looks Like A “Bag Of Grapes” And Other Behind-The-Sex-Scenes Revelations
On-screen sex can be all sorts of hot, even though most of what we see on TV and in film is of the heterosexual variety. There’s a craft involved in making the finished product seem to drip off the screen, and good sex scenes can be masterful storytelling.
But it’s another story entirely for the actors and actresses shooting the scenes. It’s almost reminiscent of first-time experiences — awkward, fumbling, uncomfortable.
Here’s a rundown of some of our favorite actors discussing getting down during a hard day’s work:
Jamie Dornan on the upcoming 50 Shades of Gray
Your dignity is intact as much as it’s all tucked away in a little flesh-coloured bag… As a guy you put all your essentials in a little bag and you tie it up like a little bag of grapes and it’s tucked away.
Neil Patrick Harris on Gone Girl
We had to rehearse the sex scene with David [Fincher], like every inch of it — ‘Then you put your mouth on his dick here, and then this number of thrusts, and then you ejaculate.’ He doesn’t want a lot of reinterpretation once you start rolling.
Daniel Radcliffe on Kill Your Darlings
I was talked through it by the director [John Krokidas]. He would be telling me what I would be feeling in each take. Basically, gay sex, especially for the first time, is really fucking painful. And he said that he had never seen that portrayed accurately on film before. He wanted it to look like an authentic loss of virginity.
Justin Timberlake
It’s actually kind of annoying, you’re there for 12 hours, it’s exhausting.
Jon Hamm on Bridesmaids
It’s like running in the rain. There’s a certain point when you go, ‘Fuck it, I’m already wet. I’m not going to get any less wet, so I might as well just enjoy how this feels.’ I mean, sure, there’s awkwardness about being in a weird flesh-colored thong, bouncing on top of an actress.
Anna Paquin on True Blood
Maybe it should be weird, simulating sex with your husband in front of people? But it’s really not. When it’s a love scene with someone you actually love, there’s no feeling like, ‘Can I touch him here? Can I touch him there?’ You know what your boundaries are — or what they aren’t, I suppose.
Michael Douglass on Behind The Candelabra
The hardest thing about sex scenes is that everybody is a judge. I don’t know the last time you murdered somebody or blew anyone’s brains out, but everyone has had sex and probably this morning, which means everyone has an opinion on how it should be done.
Dave Franco on Neighbors
It was my first real sex scene where I show my butt. You’re not going to have that reaction when you see it on the big screen. It was nerve-wracking. I was pretty nervous. I met the girl the day before, and she was beautiful and very sweet. But it’s awkward. You meet each other and then you’re grinding. You don’t even know her name … barely.
Jake Gyllenhaal on Love and Other Drugs
I’ve had a pretty illustrious career at this point, but the hardest thing has been pretending to be turned on by Anne Hathaway. And I pride myself on really having pulled it off.
Bradley Cooper on Wet Hot American Summer
I remember saying, ‘What if we wear tube socks, and I’ll go up on the wall, and you’ll come from behind me.’ And I said in the scene, ‘Say my name,’ and Michael says, ‘Ben!’ And I say, ‘No! Say my Christian name,’ and he whispers, ‘Benjamin,’ and that’s when I came.
Dan Tracer
The Origin Of 'Hot' – VIDEO
It’s a strange term when one stops to think about it: why would we use temperature to describe someone’s sexiness? The folks over at Mental Floss dove into this etymology lesson with some surprising revelations, such as the fact that it’s been a common term for over 700 years, first appearing in the 1300s to reference lust and desire. Canterbury Tales is an early work to use this new definition with the line in the prologue, “Hot he was, and lecherous as a sparrow.” The complete adoption of the word to mean “attractive” took a long gestation time and according to the Oxford English Dictionary became official slang in the 1920s.
Word nerds can get the full rundown AFTER THE JUMP…
Christian Walters
Hope for LGBT people
I wanted to make a video to try to help LGBT people to keep up their hope and continue to fight for their rights to live normal lives.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T0uAA9f_5w&feature=youtube_gdata
Is 'My Husband's Not Gay' an Ad for the 'Ex-Gay' Industry?
Opposition against TLC’s new documentary about four Mormon men who are attracted to men but married to women is growing as the show’s air date nears.
Jorge Rodriguez-Jimenez
www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/television/2015/01/06/my-husbands-not-gay-ad-ex-gay-industry
Justice for Leelah Alcorn: Pass Leelah's Law
While stories of self-harm among the LGBTQ+ community are all too common on too frequent a basis, the news of 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn’s suicide on December 27, 2014, has left us reeling, especially those within and working on behalf of the transgender community.
The Ohioan teen, misgendered and misnamed by local media, was struck by a tractor trailer on I-71 in Warren County two days after Christmas. Her true identity, proclaimed in a note she left behind on her Tumblr account, revealed the pain Leelah had suffered for years as a result of a family who didn’t understand and refused to accept her, as well as the abuse she endured from the extremely misguided conversion therapy she was forced into. She had been isolated from her friends and, as a result of the aforementioned, ended her life — but not without a strong message for all of us:
My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say ‘that’s fucked up’ and fix it. Fix society. Please.
As a member of the Transgender Human Rights Institute (THRI) and Transgender Violence Tracking Portal (TVTP), I am well aware of the statistics; this past year alone has seen a rise in violence against the trans* community. As severe as the numbers appear, they are truly just a drop in the bucket considering how many unreported cases of trans* discrimination in the form of assaults, suicides, murders and the like remain.
How many more Leelahs do there need to be before true change comes?
In an effort to hasten that change, the THRI has begun a petition via Change.org, calling for a permanent end to transgender conversion therapy in Leelah’s name. At this point, only with help from the federal government can we hope to see differences made quickly in the United States on this front.
As our petition notes:
“Conversion therapies” have been documented to cause great harms and, in this case, Leelah’s death. Therapists that engage in the attempt to brainwash or reverse any child’s gender identity are seriously unethical, and legislation is needed to end such practices immediately. Transgender youth have one of the highest suicide rates in the nation. We must not allow therapists to increase those rates with therapy methodologies that have been demonstrated in harming transgender youth.
The American Association of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers and the American Counseling Association have all released studies and statements with various statistics demonstrating the damage that comes from such therapy, seen in increased incidences of self-mutilation, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts. The AAP alone states:
According to the study, “Characteristics of Children and Adolescents with Gender Identity Disorder Referred to a Pediatric Medical Center,” in the March 2012 Pediatrics … gender-dysphoric children who do not receive medical treatment or counseling for GID can be at high-risk for certain behavioral and emotional problems, including psychiatric diagnoses. Of 97 patients younger than 21 years who met the criteria for GID … 21.6 percent had a history of self-mutilation and suicide attempts.
Allison Woolbert, founding member of both the THRI and TVTP, said:
The one message we need to get out to the world is transgender conversion therapy kills. Gender identity and sexual orientation are not choices; and those who unethically try to modify transgender and gay/lesbian/bisexual+ youth through therapy, brainwashing or religious bias can cause severe harms. Leelah’s Law must be created, enacted and enforced to save our youth.
We hope this petition, currently at over 292,000 signatures strong, will raise the awareness needed to get the powers that be to act in Leelah’s memory, saving countless lives in the future.
Fix society. Please.
For more information and resources on how you can help, please visit LeelahsLaw.com.
The THRI is dedicated to advancing acceptance of transgender human rights. We seek to be an educational catalyst and the foremost provider of accurate, verified data through our education, advocacy and research, ensuring human rights and dignity for all transgender people around the world.
Adorable, Cuddly Gay Couple Kicked To The Curb By Uber Driver For Being Adorable And Cuddly
What started as a typical ride from point A to point B ended in an unforgettable act of discrimination for Corey Watts and Jordan Sloan recently in London.
They were traveling from Covent Garden at around 8 p.m. on New Year’s Day when the driver pulled over and told them to get out of the car.
“We were kissing and cuddled next to each other when a minute or two after picking us up he pulled over and told us to get out,” Sloan told ITV News.
They asked him why they were getting the boot, and the driver allegedly told them, “I take gays but they don’t normally do this,” essentially the I’m OK with gay people as long as they don’t flaunt their lifestyle in my face equivalent of cab driving.
The two, both in their early 20s, were understandably shaken.
Sloan, from Toronto, Canada, said, “I’ve never had any homophobic stuff happen to me so I was caught off guard. You don’t expect it to happen in one of the world’s biggest cities.
“I wanted to understand what he was thinking so I asked the driver: ‘Would you do the same thing if it was a guy and a girl?’”
That’s when the driver drove off.
Shortly afterwards, they got an email receipt for the ride they’d been charged for.
Uber refunded their money, and has suspended the driver pending an investigation into the incident.
A spokesperson for the ride-sharing service said: “Uber does not tolerate any form of discrimination either by our partner drivers or towards our partner drivers.
“We opened an investigation from the moment we learned of this unacceptable incident and have been in contact with the rider to extended our sincere apologies and get further information.”
Related Stories:
Homophobic Server Tells Lesbian Couple Their Kisses Are Inappropriate At Family Restaurant
Homophobic Mall Santas Horrified Over Gay Santa Being Included In Christmas Film
Lea Delaria Tells The Story Behind Her Shouting Down A Homophobic Subway Preacher
Dan Tracer
