HRC Introduces the New “Faces of Inequality” in the 114th Congress
As the new Congress is sworn in, the Human Rights Campaign shines a spotlight on six of the most rabidly anti-equality new members
HRC.org
Category Archives: NEWS
'American Horror Story: Freak Show' RECAP – 'Magical Thinking' [Spoilers]
'American Horror Story: Freak Show' RECAP – 'Magical Thinking' [Spoilers]
Welcome back! After a brief winter hiatus, American Horror Story: Freak Show returned with a real doozy of a guest star.
We last left a few of our favorite characters in some pretty precarious positions. Whether they were in jail or learning of the treachery that claimed the life of a beloved performer, big things are on the horizon.
Find out how our special guest fit into the twisted world of Freak Show and which character didn’t live to see next week, AFTER THE JUMP …
Well, look what the cat dragged in! It’s Barney Stinson himself. Hedwig. Doogie Howser, M.D. It’s host of the 87th Academy Awards, Neil Patrick Harris! What brings him to this neck of the woods? Perhaps he’s here to sing a song and rack up another Emmy Award for a guest spot on a Ryan Murphy show. Or maybe he’s here to ride a magic unicorn to White Castle. No, he’s just here as a poor, Atlanta chameleon breeder, selling his reptiles while nurturing his dreams of fame and fortune. How will his character, Chester, hit it big? Why magic tricks, of course! (Who wants to bet he breaks into a cover of Heart’s “Magic Man” at some point next week?)
He’s immediately taken with the twins, who remind him of some women from his past (more on that in a bit). He makes some goo-goo eyes at Bette and Dot (played by Sarah Paulson and Sarah Paulson wearing a different headband) and it’s all they can do from drowning in their own panties. And yet, these girls are so thiiiiiiiiiirsty. These days, they’re closer to one another than ever. They don’t even need to diary anymore, because they have no secrets. United, they’ve got only one thing on the brain: s-e-x. They’ve had their sights set on all the menfolk on the grounds, trying to find a suitable paramour with whom they could double punch their double V-card. While none of the performers met the standard, this handsome traveling salesman is certainly a promising possibility.
Chester shows Elsa (Jessica Lange) a few of his tricks illusions, but she is not impressed. But wait! There’s more! Have you met Marjorie? She happens to be something even creepier than a clown — a puppet! But not just any puppet, a scary, maybe alive puppet! (More on THAT later, as well.) You may recognize her voice as the divine AHS repertory player Jamie Brewer. And yet, Elsa is unmoved. As a last ditch effort, Chester tries to offer Elsa 50 percent of his chameleon sales, if he can perform. He shows her his ledger. Now she’s impressed. No, not with the hot chameleon trade, but with Chester’s bookkeeping. How’s about Chester can warm up the crowd if he’ll help Elsa with the books. Upon hearing the news, Chester is thrilled! Maybe a little too thrilled? Eerily thrilled.
Back in his trailer, Chester gets in a heated conversation with Marjorie. Just in case it wasn’t clear that this isn’t just your average puppet (you know, if the entirely different voice didn’t tip you off), people keep busting in on Chester and saying things like “I thought I heard you talking to someone!” “I can’t believe you can throw your voice like that!” and the whole thing makes me mad that these characters somehow know the songs of Fiona Apple and Nirvana, but they’ve apparently never seen The Twilight Zone. What a waste of anachronisms! What’s the deal here? If the puppet is a hallucination, what are the other people hearing? If she isn’t, doesn’t Chester not realize he’s talking when she is? I digress. The twins come in to congratulate Chester on his new gig, and he’s got some news for them. He wants them to be his new lovely assistant(s). He got access to Elsa’s old prop tent and found himself a real nice box for the ol’ saw the lady in half trick.
Then we get our first taste of Chester’s past. We see him as a man in uniform (he was at Normandy), sitting with Marjorie on his lap, watching two women just go to town on each other. One appears more into him than the other, but he doesn’t join in. Instead, he heads to the garage to work on his puppet act after the other lady gives him some sass. Weird.
That’s not the case in the present time, where Bette and Dot are practically throwing themselves at him. Their indecent proposal sends him into a bit of a tizzy. Maybe it’s the metal plate in his head, or maybe it’s the memory of those two brunette women going at it without him, but whatever it is, it’s got him very, very upset. They assure him that they are both very onboard with this plan, and they both want him to be very involved. While that’s some comfort, he reaches for Marjorie, assuring the twins that she helps keep him calm. The twins reply “Whatever it takes!” (which is probably what I also would say to sleep with NPH, but nevermind that). Success all around.
Everything’s coming up Chester! In addition to successfully deflowering the Tattler sisters, Elsa’s offering to sell him the show, thanks to her convenient good deal sense. It’s way better luck for him than back in the day when one of those sapphic brunettes hid Marjorie and mocked Chester for his work with the puppet and the fact he was still wearing his uniform four years after the war ended. (It’s also in this scene where we see Chester seeing Marjorie as a full-sized human, whatever that means.) If only she could see him now! As Elsa reviews the contract with him, he talks about how he’s going to give her tent to Marjorie and make her the headliner, because the poor girl’s been through so much lately. Elsa gets that look on her face, like “DO GO ON. THIS DOESN’T SOUND CRAZY AT ALL. AT ALL.”
Later, when Marjorie goes missing, Chester loses it. He searches high and low, only to find Dandy (Finn Wittrock) instead. Unbeknownst to Chester, Dandy’s got a private detective keeping an eye on the twins, so he knows that Chester and the girls have gotten very familiar with each other, in the Biblical sense and all. He also knows about Chester’s past. Like how his wife fell in love with an army widow while he was deployed, and how, when he got home, he was edged out of the relationship. Most importantly, he knows that his wife and her gal pal were found very murder-smashed and that Chester swears the puppet did it. Don’t worry, Chester, Dandy promises he knows where Marjorie is hiding and he’s here to help.
Chester finds Marjorie in the big tent. She tells him that she wants to be a headliner, and also she wants him to get rid of those that are coming between them. Watch out, Tattlers.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Darling (Evan Peters) is still in the slammer. Stanley (Denis O’Hare) is trying to convince him to take him up on his offer to get Jimmy a lawyer if Jimmy gives him one of his hands. The mere mention of Meep (Benjamin Woolf) is enough to convince Jimmy to reconsider. Stan slips him a vial of something that makes him sick, which is enough of a diversion to get the guards to call an ambulance (that happens to be driven by Stanley’s boytoy disguised as an EMT). By the time Jimmy wakes up at the county hospital, he’s not just missing the one hand promised to Stanley, he’s missing both.
Dell (Michael Chiklis) comes to visit and is distraught by Jimmy’s condition. He knows that Stanley’s a liar and a crook and that Jimmy lost his hands for nothing. Then he launches into some heavy-lobsterhanded story about how he was the only one in his family born without the signature Toledo lobster claws, so his dad would berate him mercilessly. As if that didn’t hammer it home enough, Jimmy says to him “Imagine that, being a freak for being normal.” WE GET IT. Just to put one more hammy point on the scene, as Dell helps shovel food into Jimmy’s mouth, he says he’s 50 years old and it’s his first time feeding his son. They also talk about buying the show from Elsa, unaware of her dealings with Chester. This will turn out well.
Dell returns to the grounds and tells Elsa about Jimmy’s plight. She’s concerned, but not enough to do much to help. She just tells him to get Jimmy out of there. He teams up with Eve (Erika Ervin) to rescue Jimmy as the police transfer him from the hospital back to prison. Dell kills the police escorts. More cops come looking for Jimmy back at Elsa’s, but the real trouble awaiting Dell is Desiree.
Fresh from her trip to the museum of morbidity, she’s waiting in his trailer with a gun. She asks him to tell her whom he has killed. He fesses up to the cops, and says they had it coming, but she knows there’s more than that. Elsewhere, Maggie (Emma Roberts) is showing Elsa the body of Ma Petite (Jyoti Amge). As Dell confesses to smothering Ma Petite to Desiree, Elsa shows up out of nowhere and shoots him in the head from behind. R.I.P., Dell. You were a very, very messy character whose motivations weren’t always clear, and, honestly, I’m still not sure how I feel about you.
Where do you think Jimmy is hiding? And what’s the deal with Marjorie? She certainly seems like a figment of Chester’s psychosis, but don’t put it past this show to make her a ghost or some never-explained alien.
Bobby Hankinson
www.towleroad.com/2015/01/american-horror-story-freak-show-recap-magical-thinking-spoilers.html
This Is Your Brain on Porn
This Is Your Brain on Porn
As much as half the Internet is dedicated to depictions of sex, and we’re just starting to learn what that means for your brain.
Brenden Shucart
Second Paris Shooting Occurs As Police Continue Manhunt for Gunmen in Attack on Satirical French Newspaper
Second Paris Shooting Occurs As Police Continue Manhunt for Gunmen in Attack on Satirical French Newspaper
As French police continue to search for two men involved in the attack on the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris Wednesday, a second deadly shooting occurred in the city’s southern suburbs on Thursday morning.
CNN reports:
A police officer was shot there, and she died. And about 20 heavily armed police have an apartment building surrounded, pushing crowds back from the area.
Witnesses said the gunman, dressed in black like the Charlie Hebdo attackers and apparently wearing a bulletproof vest, got out of a car as police officers were dealing with a traffic accident and fired at two of them. The suspect hasn’t been captured.
It is unclear whether Thursday’s shooting in the Montrouge suburb is related to the Wednesday attack.
USA Today has more on the ongoing manhunt for the Charlie Hebdo shooting suspects:
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said there were “several arrests” overnight in the hunt for two terror suspects after three gunmen, wearing hoods and armed with Kalashnikov automatic rifles, stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, shouting Islamic phrases and killing 12 people.
Valls told RTL radio that seven people had been arrested since the attack, Reuters reported.
The suspected terrorist shooters are brothers, one of whom is well known to French law enforcement. Cherif Kouachi, now 32, served 18 months in prison on terrorism charges in 2008.
A third suspect, Mourad Hamyd,18, surrendered at a police station in Charleville-Mezieres, a small town in France’s eastern Champagne region, Paris prosecutor’s spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said, the Associated Press reported. She did not specify his relationship to the Kouachi brothers.
According to The Guardian, Wednesday’s attack was not the first of its kind on the newspaper:
In November 2011, the magazine’s offices were fire-bombed after it published a special edition, supposedly guest-edited by the prophet Muhammad and temporarily renamed “Charia Hebdo”. The cover was a cartoon of Muhammad threatening readers with “a hundred lashes if you don’t die laughing”.
The petrol bomb attack destroyed the Paris offices, the magazine’s website was hacked and staff including the editor were subjected to death threats. But that did not deter Charbonnier. Six days later, the magazine published a front page depicting a male Charlie Hebdo cartoonist passionately kissing a bearded Muslim man in front of the charred aftermath of the bombing. The headline was “L’Amour plus fort que la haine” – Love is stronger than hate.
Watch a video from The Guardian on the story and the vigils held to pay homage to the 12 victims in the attack, AFTER THE JUMP…
Kyler Geoffroy
Op-ed: Not a Straight White Man in Hollywood? Well, Good Luck
Op-ed: Not a Straight White Man in Hollywood? Well, Good Luck
Chris Rock keenly addressed many of the racial hangups the entertainment history has held on to for years. Comedian and actor Jason Stuart says the same issues apply to LGBT roles and actors.
Jason Stuart
www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/01/08/op-ed-not-straight-white-man-hollywood-well-good-luck
Gay Star Travel Expo 2015 exhibitor profile: Gibraltar
Gay Star Travel Expo 2015 exhibitor profile: Gibraltar
GSN’s one stop travel shop takes place at London’s Heaven night club on Jan 17
jamiet
www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-star-travel-expo-2015-exhibitor-profile-gibraltar070115
American Horror Story: Freak Show Provides A Unique Gay History Lesson, Says Star Denis O’Hare
American Horror Story: Freak Show Provides A Unique Gay History Lesson, Says Star Denis O’Hare
I think what’s so great about Ryan and Brad and the team of writers is that they’re never content to simply write about one thing. They’re always using the occasion to raise awareness or consciousness. And certainly this series this year seems to be about physical abnormalities and what we consider to be a freak, or normal, but there are subtler applications.
And one of the subtler applications, of course, is the way that gay people were thought of and treated. And it’s really interesting to see Dell as one expression of that, somebody who’s so deeply closeted that he actually considers hanging himself in the last episode, to someone like Stanley, who just seems to roll with it. It seems to be part of his lifestyle, which is admittedly not a healthy lifestyle; he’s a professional liar, but there is a sense in which he’s a lot more, I guess, at ease with it.
But he’s hiring hustlers to basically fulfill himself, so that’s certainly not healthy. And he doesn’t seem to be in any kind of healthy relationship, so I think it is pretty amazing to have that snapshot of what it was like to be a gay person in the 1950s. I think it’s really cool.”
— Actor Denis O’Hare who plays Stanley, the freak-murdering con artist with the 13″-penis on American Horror Story: Freak Show, discussing the series in an interview with The Examiner
H/t: HuffPo
Jeremy Kinser
Resolving the Conflict Starts With Me
Resolving the Conflict Starts With Me
A few days ago I read Kevin Thornton’s HuffPost blog post “I Was a Teenage Fundamentalist: How I Resolved the Conflict Between Jesus and My Sexuality.” (You should read his before you read mine.) I was immediately taken with his ability to draw such a distinct portrait of my life. I mean, he doesn’t even know me, yet there I was, beginning to take shape in the words I was reading. I knew that he was telling his own story (and that his story, like mine, is not unique), but the similarities were uncanny — at least through the first paragraph.
Churchgoer? Check. Singer of the Baptist hymn “Just as I Am”? Check. Early ’90s? Check. Dark secret? Check. He’s from small-town southern Indiana; I’m from small-town Kentucky. There I was, coming into focus. I was standing in front of my pew in the church building where I attended worship services with multiple members of my family, singing my heart out for Jesus, concealing my truth, hiding my secret, scared to be me.
I had no one to talk to about any of the desires and feelings that were bubbling just under the surface, struggling for freedom, trying to take a breath in the light. I couldn’t talk to my pastor, he who pounded on his pulpit while his raised voice told me of the fire and brimstone that God rained down on the sodomites of Sodom and Gomorrah for their sins — the major sin being homosexuality. (Uh-oh. He’s talking about me. I’m beginning to feel those homosexual desires.) I couldn’t talk to my friends, because they would just as easily call me “queer” or “sissy” as come to my birthday party (then call me “queer” or “sissy” at the birthday party). I couldn’t talk to my parents. Oh, no. I didn’t trust them to understand or accept the fact that their son was gay. (I didn’t know what my parents would do with the information, but I was so riddled with fear that I couldn’t find out.) So I kept pushing those desires and feelings down, keeping them at bay. I was tormented, alone, scared.
I never experienced any “pray the gay away” organizations like Thornton’s referenced Exodus Ministries. But I spent more time on my knees, behind the closed door of my bedroom, crying, pleading, begging, praying to not be gay, than I can even remember. I created my own hell of trying to “pray the gay away.” The gay feelings never went away, though. I attended worship services three times a week. I prayed. I sang. I had invited Jesus into my heart and believed my soul had been saved from eternal damnation in hell, but I was still gay. Those homosexual desires never changed except to grow stronger.
Thornton says that going away to college saved his life. I never thought of college as saving my life. That’s probably because it took so long for me to start living my life after I got there. Getting there did help, though. It got me out of my small town. It opened my eyes to other ideas and beliefs. It helped me start questioning and forming my own opinions. I was drawn to and surrounded by people living the life I wanted to be living — I was on the five-year plan with a double major in performing arts and advertising — but still it took me until the summer before my fifth year to finally achieve enough courage to come out. I didn’t get to college and suddenly find my freedom. I was thinking differently, yes, but I still felt the heat of that fire and brimstone keeping me restrained. The truth is that I still feel the chains that want me bound to those beliefs that were so rigidly instilled in me in my youth. I’m still afraid of that fire-and-brimstone hell.
I’ve recently come to realize that that scared child is still very present inside me, and he’s been responsible for many of the fear-based choices I’ve made in my life. He’s also very responsible for the fears that I still allow to prevent me from living my adult gay life to the fullest, without concern about parental disappointment and eternal damnation. And unlike Thornton, I never really resolved my conflict with God. It’s a struggle, and I’m trying, but right now I feel as if I’m stepping away from God completely so that I can come back on my own terms with my own goals for our relationship. I should have done this years ago, but fear (like I learned in the pew of my church building) is something that is used to keep one in line and therefore holds one back.
Thornton says that communication is the way he resolved his situation. I believe in the power of communication. But with communication can also come disappointment. One has to find the courage to hear even as he finds the steadiness to speak. I recently took a huge step out of my comfort zone and, for the first time, shared with my mom my childhood feelings of fear and loneliness. I shared how afraid I was, how untrusting. I opened that door before I even realized I was turning the knob. I’m in my 40s now, but it’s never too late to start a dialogue. It’s hard for me not to feel as though I’ve wasted a lot of my life living in fear, but I also believe there is truth to the universe presenting things to you when you are ready to accept them.
Not long ago a friend of mine presented me with the concept of getting my hands dirty. Holding back and not communicating, at least with my mom, was me not getting my hands dirty, not rocking the boat, even at times being a victim. I realize now that I was afraid more of being disappointed in her possible answers or responses than of having the conversation. I may never change the mind of someone who believes that homosexuality is wrong, but there is no comfort, no freedom, in living in silence or fear. There’s just avoidance. Even a baby step forward is a step forward. I’m glad Mom and I took that step together.
As you might have noticed, that portrait of me that Thornton began drawing with such seemingly definitive strokes veered into Monet territory: recognizable from a distance, fuzzier upon closer examination. There’s still conflict in my life between God and my sexuality. That’s based on deep-rooted religious fears more than on anything else. There’s still conflict between my family and my sexuality. That will probably never change, but I know I’m loved. What can change is me. That scared inner child has to grow up and face his fears. I have to be willing to speak — and hear. I have to change my expectations. I have to change my pattern. I have to believe that “just as I am” is good enough.
Muhammad Gay Kiss Among Charlie Hebdo Cartoons
Muhammad Gay Kiss Among Charlie Hebdo Cartoons
A cartoon of the prophet lip-locked with the magazine’s editorial director was no doubt high on the list of resentments attackers used to justify killings in Paris.
Thom Senzee
www.advocate.com/world/2015/01/07/muhammad-gay-kiss-among-charlie-hebdo-cartoons
'American Horror Story: Freak Show' Episode 11 Recap: Magic Moments
'American Horror Story: Freak Show' Episode 11 Recap: Magic Moments
*** WARNING: Contains spoilers! Please do not read on unless you’ve seen Episode 11 of “American Horror Story: Freak Show,” titled “Magical Thinking.” Or if you don’t mind spoilers, go right ahead! ***
After watching so many episodes of “American Horror Story,” it’s easy to become desensitized. It’s almost to the point where I hardly bat an eyelash at anything that happens — from Jimmy getting both his claws chopped off to Jamie Brewer’s Marjorie bludgeoning that woman to death with a meat tenderizer — but every now and then, usually towards the end of the season, Ryan Murphy and his team throw something at us that breaks the bounds of what we expect. Watching Neil Patrick Harris’ Chester take Bette and Dot’s collective virginity, all while holding a creepy puppet, is one of those things. Even worse, the scene is oddly sexy.
How did we even get here? We started “Freak Show” fearing Twisty the Clown, who’s long gone; we moved on to Dandy as the main “evil” character; now we have Marjorie, who seems to be alive to Chester, seems to be capable of murder, but is really, by all appearances, just an ugly puppet in a red dress. All the while, Stanley has lurked in the background as the main nemesis to the freak show, picking them off one by one. We also can’t forget Edward Mordrake, who showed up to take one soul. Looked at as a collective whole it’s ridiculous, but viewed as a series of bizarre vignettes, “Freak Show” is itself a freak show, with acts that come and go, some wowing, some not. Chester, his puppet and his magic act (Harris puts everything he’s got into this role), while totally tangential, are fun to watch, not to mention welcome in what was becoming a sad (Pepper, Meep, Ma Petite) and maudlin (Dell, Jimmy, Ethel) season.
It’s like suddenly every character is stepping on the accelerator. Jimmy starts things off by sacrificing his claw hands to Stanley in exchange for his eventual freedom, or at least lawyerly representation. I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like I’d need a little bit more convincing to part with both my hands, especially if they were such a fundamental part of my identity. Stanley brings up Meep, and it’s a done deal. “You’re in my hands now.” Indeed, Stanley.
Bette and Dot decide to become sex-crazed, and they begin to prowl the freak show for the right candidate to take their virginity. After being spurned by Jimmy and abandoning Dandy, for some reason the twins burn their diaries and go on an outright crusade to be “de-flowered.” When Chester arrives on the scene, it too is a done deal. The twins are reaching for his crotch within 20 minutes of meeting him. Like this episode, they get right to the point.
It’s obvious that Chester ain’t right. We’re given many, many clues to that effect. He has a metal plate in his head that “acts up” when he gets excited, is a veteran who still wears his uniform despite the fact the war ended four years earlier, sees his wife and lover’s heads on Bette and Dot’s body, and talks to his puppet as if she’s alive. But is she? Is she the “AHS” Chucky? Chester seemed to enjoy sleeping with the twins, so I’m not sure where they’re going with this. Dandy is circling as well, with intent to kill him for sleeping with Bette and Dot, so his days are more than likely numbered. My bet is he’ll be around long enough to saw the twins in two, and then Dandy will take his “half” and leave Dot to rot, while Marjorie will put Chester out of his undefined misery.
Elsa has her foot on the gas too, and not a moment too soon, as her precious babies are dying left and right. She’s packing her bags for Hollywood and plans to sell the freak show to Chester … but we all know that isn’t going to happen. After Desiree and Maggie bring encased-in-a-jar Ma Petite back to show Elsa, she snaps and shoots Del in the head, killing him. R.I.P., Dell. It’s OK, he was getting boring. Once an “AHS” character starts talking about a happy, productive future, you can pretty much kiss them goodbye.
We’re gearing up for a classic stand-off in these final two episodes. Not unlike our search for last season’s Supreme, it’s anyone’s guess who’ll come out on top on “Freak Show.” Will Elsa take off for stardom at the end, leaving her freaks all dead and buried behind her? Will Jimmy buy the show from Elsa (and find out she killed his mother and then kill her) and lead it into a happier future? Will Stanley eventually get all of the freaks on display at the museum, as was foreshadowed several episodes back? (If the twins do get sawed in half, that flashback/flash-forward that we saw was completely accurate.) It’s anyone’s guess.
But just as we saw tonight — a two-headed virgin having sex with a demented war vet wearing a puppet — this show isn’t something you can predict.
Freak Of The Week: Chester. Harris took this role and ran with it, and was as freaky deaky as they come. Watching your wife have sex with someone else while smoking cigarettes and wearing the damn puppet? That is all sorts of crazytown.
Random Thoughts:
- This season could have used more Toulouse. “But I’m French!”
- Only on “AHS” could you have a lesbian making out with a gay man, both playing straight characters, and have it seem 100 percent authentic. Bravo.
- Ten points to whoever recognized Jamie Brewer as the voice of Marjorie before she was introduced on-screen.
- “Your Homo erectus bullshit.” – Desiree
- I want a recording of Sarah Paulson saying “Dear Diary.” It’s so soothing. She should consider doing audiobooks.
- I’ve said it before in previous recaps, but damn, Evan Peters’ characters are always getting wrongfully charged with murder. They also get an inordinate number of “Noooooooo!” scenes.
- Harris even had the eye twitch down. It was unsettling to look at him.
- Can we all agree that puppets should just be banned worldwide? I see no practical use for them anymore.
“American Horror Story: Freak Show” airs on Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. EST on FX and FX Canada.
Episode 10 Recap
Episode 9 Recap
Episode 7 Recap
Episode 6 Recap
Episode 5 Recap
Episode 4 Recap
Episode 3 Recap
Episode 2 Recap
Premiere Recap
