'Our Bitch Madonna' Performs 'Living For Love' At The Grammys

'Our Bitch Madonna' Performs 'Living For Love' At The Grammys
Madonna performed “Living for Love” — the inaugural single from her forthcoming album, “Rebel Heart” — for the first time at the Grammys on Sunday. Dressed like a matador and surrounded by topless men wearing bull masks, the iconic singer asked the audience to rise to its feet before exiting the stage through the ceiling.

Madonna was introduced by Nicki Minaj and Miley Cyrus, who chose the wise words “Let’s give it up for our bitch, Madonna! She made me call her that…” to do so.

Prior to taking the stage, the icon mooned the red carpet attendees.

The 56-year-old singer rushed to release “Living for Love,” along with five other tracks from “Rebel Heart,” in an official capacity after unfinished versions of two other tracks leaked in late November. Madonna hadn’t yet announced the album’s title or release plans when the initial leaks occurred, but she’s since set March 10 as the drop date. The song’s video, in which Madonna portrays a matador fighting off an army of men dressed as bulls, premiered last week.

Madonna confirmed via Instagram that she will also perform at the BRIT Awards on Feb. 25, three days after “Living for Love” is slated for release in the U.K.

This marks the second consecutive year Madonna has performed on the Grammy stage. In 2014, she joined Macklemore, Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert to sing “Same Love” while a few dozen weddings took place on the telecast.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/08/madonna-grammys-performance_n_6614938.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Slovakia's Anti-Gay Rights Referendum Flops Due To Low Turnout

Slovakia's Anti-Gay Rights Referendum Flops Due To Low Turnout
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — A nationwide referendum on restricting gay rights in Slovakia has failed to produce a legally binding result after the required number of eligible voters did not turn out.

In Saturday’s vote, Slovaks were asked whether they agree to three points: that marriage can only be called a union between a man and a woman; that same-sex partners must be barred from adopting children; and that it’s up to parents to decide whether their children receive sex education. The vote was forced by the Alliance for Family, a social conservative group that received a massive support from the Catholic Church.

With all the votes tallied early Sunday by the country’s Statistics Office, voters in the predominantly Catholic country overwhelmingly voted “yes” — 95, 92 and 90 percent, respectively — to the three questions.

But turnout reached only 21.4 percent, far less than the 50 percent needed.

“It’s a success of Slovakia’s democracy,” said Silvia Porubanova, an analyst.

A leader of the alliance, Anton Chromik, said he was delighted that a clear majority of the voters who participated in the ballot supported the alliance and called it “a good base” for its further activities.

Romana Schlesinger, a LGBT activist said, she hoped the government will now work to make it possible for same-sex couples to live in registered partnership “because all our partnerships, our families are living without legal recognition or protection.”

Slovakia doesn’t allow same-sex partners to live in registered partnerships and the country’s constitution was amended last year to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The vote in Slovakia — which follows a similar one that succeeded in Croatia in 2013 — points to a cultural divide within the European Union in which more established western members are rapidly granting new rights to gays, while eastern newcomers entrench conservative attitudes toward LGBT people.

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Associated Press video journalist Philipp-Moritz Jenne in Bratislava, Slovakia contributed.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/08/slovakia-anti-gay-rights-referendum_n_6641666.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

British Right-Wing UKIP Party Urged To Cut Ties With Christian Group Over Anti-Gay 'Depravity' Comments: VIDEO

British Right-Wing UKIP Party Urged To Cut Ties With Christian Group Over Anti-Gay 'Depravity' Comments: VIDEO

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Right-wing British party Ukip has distanced itself from an authorized Christian group that said depraved gay people should be “converted” from their “vice,” reports The Guardian.

In a newsletter about last year’s Manchester Pride, the Christian Soldiers of Ukip wrote:

“Thousands of people proclaiming their pride in their depravity paraded through the streets watched by multiple thousands of supporters applauding the display of wickedness and seeking to drown out the voices of the few crying in the wilderness.

“There are those who say that we shouldn’t be witnessing at these events because they are given over by God to this vice as per Romans Chapter 1. While this is undoubtedly true of many, it is not true of all because homosexuals are being converted. The same could be said of most sinners.”

The group also asked Christians to boycott supermarket chain Asda “because of their support for the ‘gay march’ in Manchester which took place in front of little children during the day.”

A party spokesman said that the Christian Soldiers of Ukip “do not represent the party or its policies. This leaflet was recently brought to our attention. Authorised groups are not allowed to invent Ukip policy and we do not consider that this leaflet is of an acceptable standard to be associated with the Ukip brand.”

Elizabeth Biddulph, a leading member of the group, said that the publication represents “free speech between people who share the same view unless we live in Soviet Union or Nazi Germany censoring what people believe.”

Andrea-Minichiello-Williams-Youtubev2Although Ukip has made moves to distance itself from the publication, the party has failed to cut ties with the group.

At a Ukip conference last year, the Christian Soldiers of Ukip hosted the “Coalition For Marriage” group whose director Andrea Minichiello Williams (right) spoke at conference in Jamaica to lobby against the repeal of anti-gay laws and claimed that Tom Daley is gay because his father died.

Watch Ukip leader Nigel Farage explain why he is against same-sex marriage (but he’s not really), AFTER THE JUMP


Jim Redmond

www.towleroad.com/2015/02/british-right-wing-ukip-party-urged-to-cut-ties-with-christian-group-over-anti-gay-depravity-comment.html