I wish I’d never written the story. It’s just been the cause of hassle and problems and irritation since the film came out. Before the film it was all right… In Wyoming they won’t read it. A large section of the population is still outraged. But that’s not where the problem was. I’m used to that response from people here, who generally do not like the way I write. But the problem has come since the film. So many people have completely misunderstood the story. I think it’s important to leave spaces in a story for readers to fill in from their own experience, but unfortunately the audience that Brokeback reached most strongly have powerful fantasy lives. And one of the reasons we keep the gates locked here is that a lot of men have decided that the story should have had a happy ending. They can’t bear the way it ends — they just can’t stand it. So they rewrite the story, including all kinds of boyfriends and new lovers and so forth after Jack is killed. And it just drives me wild. They can’t understand that the story isn’t about Jack and Ennis. It’s about homophobia; it’s about a social situation; it’s about a place and a particular mindset and morality. They just don’t get it. I can’t tell you how many of these things have been sent to me as though they’re expecting me to say, ‘Oh great, if only I’d had the sense to write it that way.’ And they all begin the same way — I’m not gay, but?.?.?.?The implication is that because they’re men they understand much better than I how these people would have behaved. And maybe they do. But that’s not the story I wrote. Those are not their characters. The characters belong to me by law.”

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s declarationback in August that she was “just getting started” in her fight against gay marriage came to an abrupt end on December 19 when the Supreme Court denied her emergency request for a stay on a federal ruling overturning Florida’s same-sex marriage ban. 

Since then, Bondi has managed to further assert her incompetence by failing to communicate exactly what will happen in Florida after the stay on the federal ruling expires January 5. She’s acknowledged the stay will end, but her refusal to clarify the scope of the situation at hand has led the Florida State Court Clerks Association to issue a statement warning that county clerks may face legal consequences if they issue marriage licenses to gay couples next month. Gay rights groups, meahwhile, are disputing the association’s claims and have said clerks are “compelled” to issue the licenses to gay couples. 

Needless to say, things are messy in Florida right now and Bondi isn’t helping at all. And so for these reasons and more, it’s apt the Tampa Bay Times has awarded Bondi its “Loser of 2014” award.

Writes Times Political Editor Adam C. Smith:

It’s hard to imagine how someone who won re-election so handily (rival George Sheldon could not afford a single TV ad) could emerge from 2014 more wounded and diminished as our Republican attorney general. Put aside the unseemly junkets funded by groups seeking to influence her. Bondi’s clumsy communication skills and relentless defense of Florida’s gay marriage ban have made her a modern-day Anita Bryant. Antagonizing Florida’s gay voters over same-sex marriage and Hispanic voters over immigration reform ensures Bondi has a bright political future ahead of her — if she moves to Mississippi.

If Bondi decides to throw an awards night party to celebrate, someone better bring pie. 

Sitting down with Oprah for an interview that aired on OWN last night, Michael Sam was asked about the infamous “cake kiss” that aired on ESPN after Sam was drafted to the St. Louis Rams late in the seventh round of the NFL draft. 

Oprah asked Sam whether the kiss was staged for the cameras, as well as whether he thought the kiss itself was “too much” for America and the NFL to handle? 

In a separate clip, Oprah asked Sam if he thinks he isn’t in the NFL now because he “wasn’t good enough to play” or because he’s gay.

Find out, AFTER THE JUMP…

Did you watch the interview and documentary? What did you think?