‘Baby Jane’ parody with Courtney Love, Madonna impersonators is uncanny and amazing

Rolling Stone has unearthed a 20-year-old short film by David LaChapelle that is shockingly relevant to today. It’s a Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? parody reimagined with Courtney Love and Madonna impersonators.

The grotesque film was shot back in 1996, when both women were at peak points in their careers. Courtney was rock-and-roll’s “it” girl and a raging mess, and Madonna was right on the cusp of clinching icon status and wasn’t about to let anyone get in her way. The two couldn’t have been more different, or more similar.

Related: Bette Davis who? Jessica Lange’s real-life feud is all too real.

They had a famous run-in during the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards when Courtney crashed Madonna’s interview with Kurt Loder by throwing makeup at her then barging onto the stage uninvited. After that, they became archenemies.

David LaChapelle took their relationship and ran with it in his modern take on the 1962 camp classic for for MTV’s Raw. In it, two actresses play Madonna and Courtney playing Joan Crawford and Bette Davis playing Blanche Hudson and Baby Jane Hudson.

Related: Everything You’ve Always Wanted To Know About “Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?”

It opens with Madonna chain-smoking and lifting weights in a wheelchair while watching her old music videos. “Still a pretty good video,” she mutters. Moments later, Courtney, dressed in a filthy babydoll dress, comes barging in and flips over the TV set. “You’ve been watching that video for 30 years,” she screams before serving her nemesis a live rat. “Maybe you oughta reinvent yourself!”

Watch below.

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HRC Honors Pro-Equality Female Senators for Women’s History Month

While the outcome in the 2016 Presidential race was devastating for many in the LGBTQ community, the election wasn’t all bad news. In down ballot races, the election proved that pro-equality women can still come out on top. Hillary Clinton didn’t break the highest and hardest glass ceiling, but four incredible women made history in their own right by winning U.S. Senate seats: Catherine Cortez Masto, Tammy Duckworth, Maggie Hassan and Kamala Harris.

This Women’s History Month, we’re honoring these female advocates who made U.S. Senate history: Cortez Masto is the country’s first-ever Latina senator; Duckworth is the first-ever Thai American senator, and the first woman senator to serve in a combat role in the U.S. Army; and Harris is the country’s first Indian American senator, and California’s first African American senator.

The 115th U.S. Senate has more women members than ever before — a record-breaking 21 — including Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin, who is the nation’s first openly-lesbian U.S. Senator.

Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV)

As Nevada’s Senator, Cortez Masto is committed to working with HRC to ensure that historic LGBTQ equality gains are protected and to fight LGBTQ discrimination. She has said, “It is outrageous that in 2016 people can still be at risk of losing their jobs in this country because of whom they love.. in the Senate I will focus on ensuring LGBT people are treated equally under the law by working to end discrimination.”

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)

Seantor-Elect Tammy Duckworth has been a strong LGBTQ ally in the House of Representatives. Duckworth received a perfect score on HRC’s Congressional Scorecard for both of her terms in the House of Representatives. She is a cosponsor of the Equality Act and the Global Respect Act, which would provide a means to prevent individuals who violate the human rights of LGBTQ people from entry into the United States.

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark marriage equality case, Obergefell v. Hodges, she said, “I am so proud that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of love, commitment and equality today. The LGBT community is entitled to the same rights afforded to everyone else and our nation has taken an enormous step towards being more fair and just.”

Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH)

Throughout her career, Maggie Hassan has fought for the rights of all citizens to participate fully in the civic and economic life of their communities. As a state senator, she worked tirelessly to achieve marriage equality, helping make New Hampshire one of the first states to pass legislation ensuring access to legal marriage for all. Last year, as Governor of New Hampshire, she took a bold and historic step by issuing an executive order extending vitally important non-discrimination protections to transgender people in New Hampshire with respect to government employment, contracts and programs.

.@SenatorHassan tells our @HRC board members that #LGBTQ rights are at the core of our country’s values. pic.twitter.com/fe501tGDWK

— HumanRightsCampaign (@HRC) March 10, 2017

Hassan’s commitment to LGBTQ equality is illustrated in a digital ad HRC released in support of Hassan, “Raymond Braun Reflects on Why He Came Out to Maggie Hassan.” “I’ve known Maggie Hassan for more than 10 years,” Braun said, “and I’ve seen firsthand what a great champion she is for equality. Maggie was one of the first people I came out to, and I am honored to be able to share my experiences with the great people of New Hampshire.”

Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA)

As California Attorney General, Kamala Harris stood up for LGBTQ rights. She led the team that helped bring down California’s Proposition 8 at the U.S. Supreme Court, and in 2015, worked to  stop an abhorrent and unconstitutional proposed ballot initiative that could have criminalized same-sex relationships, potentially threatening those convicted with death. She advanced a robust platform for LGBTQ equality in her Senate campaign, fighting for LGBTQ youth, and vowing to work to include essential protections for sexual orientation and gender identity in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In 2014, Harris spoke at HRC’s Los Angeles Gala, where she shared her experience fighting for marriage equality in California and across the United States. She said, “Let us stand together on the side of fighting for justice and equality,” and called for LGBTQ equality, reproductive health rights, immigration reform and voting rights.

Despite the uphill climb for this congress to advance legislation protecting and defending the rights of the LGBTQ community, members of Congress plan to reintroduce the Equality Act during this legislative session — proving that these remarkable women will continue to stand on the right side of history. 

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-honors-female-senators-for-womens-history-month?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

ヒューマン・ライツ・ウォッチ: 日本：いじめ防止基本方針が改訂　LGBT生徒の保護　盛り込まれる
日本の学校現場は、LGBT差別の憎悪表現がほぼ至るところに存在しており、LGBT生徒は押し黙り、自らを呪い、ときには自傷行為にすら及んでいる。

もっと見る: 社会, Japan Lgbt, いじめ, ＬＧＢＴ, 人権, 教育, 学校, 日本, Japan News

www.huffingtonpost.jp/human-rights-watch-japan/japan-bullying-lgbt_b_15615880.html

Lenten Devotional: Remember to Love

This year for the season of Lent, HRC Foundation launched a campaign that aims to tell the stories of LGBTQ people of faith. The Lenten season marks the days which lead up to Jesus’ crucifixion and subsequent resurrection.

For Christians, the resurrection is both a reminder and celebration of life, yet people continue to suffer, including members of the LGBTQ community.

“A central and inspiring part of my ministry has been working to make sure the institutional church — and religion in general — is affirming and inclusive of LGBTQ persons,” said the Reverend Dr. J. Edwin Bacon, author and reverend in the Episcopal Church. “I am a more joyful and faithful priest because of that part of my work.”

We hope the meditations offered every day from Ash Wednesday to Easter on April 16, will bless souls, revive spirits, renew minds and strengthen bodies. These stories will be hosted on the HRC website and on Twitter and Facebook.

The Lenten Devotional is a faith-filled resource that compiles meditations written by 47 faith leaders from across the United States. This project and other public education work with faith leaders in HRC Alabama, HRC Arkansas and HRC Mississippi is made possible in part by the generous support of the  E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.

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The culture we live in defines everybody.

And they define everybody for us.

They tell us what thoughts to think about people. They provoke the emotions we should feel about them. In many cases, society even dictates how we relate to them, live in relationship to them.

This includes us.

Elements of our being have been categorized as positive or negative by popular culture. Whether or not we want to be, we are exposed to society’s opinion of us. Some days there is ease in combating the tendency to believe those opinions because we know better. Then, there are those days where we question our worth and wonder, are they right?

What do you think? What is your opinion of yourself?

Deeper than that, what is God’s opinion of you?

The psalmist reminds us:

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my

mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully

made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My

frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth (Psalms 139:13-14).

These days, we are called to look ourselves in the mirror and make sure the loudest voice we hear is our own…reflecting God’s love for us. We cannot forget that God values us. Therefore, we cannot misappropriate the value we have of ourselves either.

We must not equate our love of self with the way others devalue or look down upon us. Instead, it we must see God in ourselves and in one another and honor that in our interactions.

It is up to us to stand in solidarity with each other in a way that creates a new culture, a culture that has the potential to transform lives. We do that by radically loving one another no matter who we are, where we come from or what our situation is.

Let our love reflect God’s love so that the virtue of our being promotes togetherness and healing.

God loves us all.

Let us love one another. 

To the immigrant who has been told “you don’t belong here,”  you are God’s creation, made with a purpose.

You will always belong. (Jeremiah 29:11)

To the LGBTQ community whose love and life have been invalidated.

You are a child of God, and God is love. (1 John 4:8)

To the indigenous peoples who have experienced disrespect, devastation and/or loss, God is your refuge. (Psalm 147:3)

To the poor often overlooked, God sees you, and God cares. (Matthew 10:30-31)

To the differently abled, people underestimate you. Don’t believe them. Focus on whatever you want and do it.

Knowing God is with you; you will succeed! (Philippians 4:13)

To women who have not been honored fully, God loves you and delights in everything you do and all that you are! (Isaiah 43:4a)

To the veteran who has fully known war but struggles to live in peace, God will be your strength! (2 Corinthians 12:9)

To native Africans, now known as African-Americans whose people continuously experience oppression, suppression and depression in many forms, redemption is yet at hand!  (Isaiah 41:10)

No matter what we’ve been through in our lives, let us never forget that we are loved, valued and cared for.  After all, we are STILL God’s very own!

The Reverend Carissa Rodgers, Pastor

Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church

Little Rock, Arkansas

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