Ireland's Marriage Opponents Channel Anita Bryant With 'Save Our Children' Messaging
There are nine days left until a vote that will decide the fate of marriage equality in Ireland, and the anti-equality forces are trotting out some tired old arguments.
Thom Senzee
Blond Jesus: Singer Garrett Miller's Creative Eucharist For Marriage Equality and Beyond
The festive and rainbow-decorated month of June approaches and Gay Pride soirees are afoot. But the time is also ripe with other potential celebrations. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to give birth to a ruling for Marriage Equality soon.
All eyes are certainly on that … which it makes it all the more refreshing to come across a gay recording artist on a mission. Singer-songwriting Garrett Miller may not be the real incarnation of a Gay Messiah but on the creative front, he’s definitely rising to the occasion. His new album Blond Jesus drops May 15 and on it, Miller hopes to stoke the marriage equality fires in a powerful way.
The album’s title certainly captures one’s attention but so, too, does one of the work’s more prominent tracks, an anthem aptly released just in time for Pride. Dubbed “It’s A Nice Day For A Gay Wedding!” the song and video take audiences from the Stone Ages to celebrating marriage equality. It culls from Billy Idol’s 1982 hit “White Wedding” and is positioned to become one of the more memorable tracks for Pride month and beyond.
Blond Jesus boasts 11 rock, pop and dance tracks in all. The intent is clear: To inspire people to live out their dreams, accept and love who they are and those around them, and surrender to a life that is designed to be exhilarating. Debra Wilson of MAD-TV fame lends her powerful vocals to one of the more Top 40-worthy tracks–“Sweat & Testify”–as does award-winning singer/songwriter Kelly Fitzgerald on the festive “Witch Sisters Halloween.” Other songs include “Blond Jesus,” “So Long Mr. Nice Guy,” “Bouffants & Beehives,” “I AM,” “Memories That Time Forgot,” “Unlike You, Numbers Game” and a hard rock-inspired “Face.”
In an era where civil rights and marriage equality are destined to rise above a decades-long suppression, Blond Jesus materializes at the perfect time. Here, Miller opens up about the creative process and other divinely inspired things.
Greg Archer: Tell me about the genesis behind Blond Jesus? From where did the album idea emerge?
Garrett Miller: While recording the album, I’d written lyrics for some harder, edgier songs like “Face Front” and “So Long Mr. Nice Guy” and started evolving into who I am now: less corporate suit and tie; more authentic, rougher around the edges. Blond Jesus came to me when I was at Scott and Renee Baio’s Ugly Sweater Christmas party. I’d arrived wearing a hideous homemade concoction I’d hot glued together earlier in the day. I knew a few people, but most guests I was meeting for the first time. Here I am, proudly wearing this super ugly sweater, long blond hair, scruffy beard. At some point during the night, some of the ladies started affectionately asking “Where is that Blond Jesus guy?”
On the way home the radio started cranking out the Bee Gee’s ‘Stayin’ Alive.’ I can’t make this up. It hit me right then, and I smiled. I thought it would be a great social commentary to use the “controversial” title, write, on the surface, a “controversial” song that was also an awesome dance track. When I got home I messaged my producer, Brian Pothier, and said, “B–I’ve got to do one more, and you’re going to freak when I tell you about it.”
I sat down and opened up my heart on that piece of paper. For all my life I’ve just gone along with the flow, didn’t rock the boat–you know, because that’s the way it was. Everywhere you look–the news, Facebook, everywhere. It’s this political or religious so-called “leader” professing the dumbest things I’ve ever heard, like, “You’re going to hell because you ate the wrong kind of cheese sandwich on a Tuesday!” “You’re a sinner because you don’t love people the way I think you should love people–and I’ll also throw in a convenient ‘The Bible says’ so you know it’s official by quoting and/or misinterpreting my rants to suit whatever hate I feel like will best serve me and get me a sound bite tonight.” So let me get this, we’re supposed to believe everything you vomit simply because you use “The Bible says …” Really?
In writing Blond Jesus, I decided I was going to take a stand for my relationship with God. Because all of nonsense vomit these “leaders” continued to spew, does not describe my relationship with God. I’d ask people “What do you think of what that person said?” and their response would always be, “That’s not my relationship with God, either. I don’t know who they think they’re speaking for, but they’re not speaking for me. Blond Jesus speaks for me.
Greg Archer: Talk about the track “… Gay Wedding.” It’s a lively, uplifting track and video for that matter. What did you hope to convey through it?
Garrett Miller: It’s almost June 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule in favor of Marriage Equality in all 50 states. Long overdue. I can’t wait for my fellow LGBT brothers and sisters to be able to get married and officially receive the same Federal benefits heterosexual couples receive. There are more than 1,000 benefits married couples receive that LGBT couples do not. When people say they’re “fine” with gays and lesbians, but they shouldn’t have the right to get married–it’s always “fine” until you want to act like a bigot. The time is now for Marriage Equality. It’s time.
Greg Archer: What do you love most about singing and performing?
Garrett Miller: It’s the most fun I’ve had doing anything in my life. I won’t claim to be the best singer in the world. I have fun. I’m passionate about singing. This is what I want to do forever, and I want people to have fun when they hear me perform.
Greg Archer: What do you love most about songwriting?
Garrett Miller: I love telling a good story. Get me in a room and turn me loose. I like taking you on a journey with each song. Everything on the album is my truth for the last couple of years in my life. I’m telling stories that are good, bad, ugly, and fun. A lot of fun.
Greg Archer: What do you hope to communicate, overall, through this work?
Garrett Miller: People who have heard a preview of a couple of the songs on the album always ask, “Do all of your songs revolve around God?” I have to laugh, because that’s not what it’s about. OK–“Blond Jesus” is a giveaway right there, but its a social commentary and meant to stir up controversy. At least until you hear it and love it for what its really saying. On “Sweat & Testify,” references make a point, but it’s about finding the strength to make things happen. I mean stop whining and waiting for someone else to save your day! Believe in miracles. Make miracles happen. Get off the cross, we need the wood. Do it yourself.
I want people to get inspired with my music. I want people to listen and think, “I can do great things in my life! I can create a world I want to live in! I can make a difference in my life and the lives around me! I don’t have to settle for the Status Quo!” And dancing. Always lots of dancing.
Greg Archer: There is definitely a deeper message within all of this.
Garrett Miller: I always say “Believe and receive, attract and allow.” It’s powerful when you do your best to live life this way. With Blond Jesus, I want people to know it’s OK to be who you are. You are loved. You are a shining star. You can make your dreams come true. You can do anything you want to in life–make it great! You’ve got one go-round on your mortal coil, spend it doing things that make you happy.
Greg Archer: Best advice you’ve been given about being a recording artist?
Garrett Miller: Breathe. Learn to breathe. You can’t sing if you’re not breathing right. Take a deep breath before your next big line(s). And breathe some more in between.
Greg Archer: Best advice you’ve been given about life?
Garrett Miller: I’m a big fan of Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence Others.” In the last couple years I’ve also read Bob Burg’s “Go Givers” books and love his message–[sic] do things authentically in your life you are passionate about and you will be successful. Paul Coelho’s “The Alchemist” is simply one of the most brilliantly written full circle stories I’ve ever read. It helps me understand life every day.
It’s funny, sometimes you’ll get a message given to you in life, and if you’re not ready, you won’t understand it. When you are ready, it hits you like a ton of bricks. Now when things happen, I do my best to sit back and go, “What’s my lesson in this? How can I improve from this? What can I do better next time?” I’m learning something new every day.
Greg Archer: Best advice a Blond Jesus can pass along to others right now?
Garrett Miller: Blond Jesus says: “Don’t be a dick.”
Learn more about Garrett Miller and Blond Jesus here.
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Austin Tempers and Temperatures Rise as Legislative Clock Winds Down
With hundreds of bills yet to be considered by the Texas legislature in the remaining 36 hours before a key legislative deadline, the frantic pace has made it pretty hot inside the state house dome in Austin.
HRC.org
www.hrc.org/blog/entry/watching-the-texas-legislature-like-a-hawk?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
Pitch Perfect Parodies Bring Out The Best In Aspiring Vocalists
An old adage tells us that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If this is true, the filmmakers of the 2012 smash hit Pitch Perfect (and its hotly-anticipated sequel Pitch Perfect 2, which opens in theaters Friday) should feel highly honored. The comedy, which chronicled the journey of the Barden Bellas, a rag tag group of collegiate a cappella vocalists, as they vie to win the national competition, not only evoked a huge response from moviegoers, it also unleashed an almost unparalleled number of loving parodies. Everyone from prolific parodist Todrick Hall to a group of sex and talented military guys to every high school student with a camera tried to one up Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson and the other Bellas. Scroll down to see some of our favorites.
Todrick Hall is just about peerless when it comes to creating inspired musical parodies.
There’s much to be said for military men who serve both their country and a cappella realness.
These unidentified high school kids give it their all.
These talented seniors at Coppell High School in Texas could go all the way to Nationals themselves.
Jeremy Kinser
European Human Rights Court Rules in Favor of Georgian Gay Rights Activists
Georgian gay rights activists won a small victory after the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled on May 12 that Georgian authorities must compensate gay-rights activists after they failed to protect them from assaults at a gay-pride event in May 2012 reports RFERL.org.
The 2012 incident involved activists attempting to host the nation’s first gay pride march in Tbilisi to celebrate the U.N.’s International Day Against Homophobia. However, orthodox clerics and activists attempted to block the peaceful LGBT activists; many of the LGBT activists suffered physical and verbal assaults at the hands of the orthodox activists.
LGBT Tbilisi-based group Identoba and dozens of other activists are expect to receive between 1,500 and 4,000 euros ($1,675-$4,465) in compensation from the government. The ECHR also ruled that a violation of Article 3 occurred that prohibits individuals from enduring inhuman or degrading treatment in conjunction with a violation of Article 14 that bans outright discrimination.
Since 2012’s event Georgian LGBT activists have experienced escalating violence at demonstrations and rallies from Georgian Orthodox Church clerics and proponents.
Anthony Costello
WATCH: Texas Attorney General Unsure If He'll Listen to Supreme Court on Marriage
As Texas considers more antigay bills, Attorney General Ken Paxton gets ornery over questions about abiding by a potential pro-equality ruling from the Supreme Court.
Dawn Ennis
Messing With Texas on Marriage
Recently, Texas bewildered the rest of the nation as it overreacted to the Jade Helm 15 military exercise taking place this summer. Because Texas was labeled “hostile” territory on maps of the simulated battlefield for the exercise, some Texans worried that the exercise would be used as an excuse to take over Texas by declaring martial law and confiscating Texans’ guns.
Of course, pundits scoffed at the suggestion and derided Texas Governor Greg Abbott for ordering the Texas State Guard to monitor the military exercise. Reacting to the overreaction, the federal government has sought to assuage the concerns of the paranoid.
But the federal government might wish to rethink its stance on the exercises in light of this week’s moves in the Texas legislature regarding same-sex marriage. Anticipating the result in the same-sex marriage cases recently argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Texas legislature is considering a bill that would prohibit state and local officials from issuing or recognizing the marriage licenses of same-sex couples.
Through this bill, the Texas legislature is trying to send a message to the Supreme Court as it considers whether to extend the right to marry to same-sex couples nationwide. The message is undoubtedly that more conservative areas of the United States will actively resist any attempt to extend the right to marry to same-sex couples. They will try to slow the progress of the LGBT movement by ensuring that any pro-LGBT decision from the Supreme Court is bogged down in litigation for years to come.
Though far from unexpected, this proposed legislation is wholly without foundation. Ostensibly, the bill aims to protect the sovereignty of the State of Texas over the definition of marriage. Indeed, the second section of the bill states that “[T]he purpose of this Act is to affirm that the definition and regulation of marriage is within the sole authority and realm of the separate states and the people within those states.”
But that simply is not true. As someone who has practiced and taught federal tax law for many years, I can tell you that the federal government generally defers to the states on the definition of marriage, but it does often meddle with that definition for purposes of determining who is married under federal law. So, to say that the states have “sole authority” over the definition and regulation of marriage is incorrect as a matter of fact. What’s more, we are quickly approaching the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Loving v. Virginia, a case in which the Court struck down the remaining state laws prohibiting interracial marriage — including Texas’s.
That makes you wonder what the state legislators who support the pending bill would say were they asked whether Texas should similarly be permitted to reinstitute its ban against interracial marriage in defiance of a U.S. Supreme Court decision. After all, then, as now, the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution provides that the Constitution is the “supreme Law of the Land… , any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”
So, is this really about states’ rights or is it just another instance of states’ rights being used as code for a license to discriminate?
The answer becomes clearer when you recall that now-Governor Abbott was Attorney General of the State of Texas two years ago when the Supreme Court decided United States v. Windsor. Then-Attorney General Abbott (along with a number of other state attorneys general) joined an amicus brief in the Windsor case that urged the Supreme Court to uphold section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. At that time, section 3 of DOMA prohibited the federal government from legally recognizing same-sex marriages validly entered into in states that had extended the right to marry to same-sex couples. In other words, then-Attorney General Abbott urged the federal government to override state determinations of who could marry. Where was the concern then for “states’ rights” and the “sole authority” of each state to determine who is married?
Depending on how the Supreme Court rules in the same-sex marriage cases it is currently considering, the federal government might find it convenient having the military in Texas at a time when that state’s legislature is contemplating open defiance of the U.S. Constitution, which each of the legislators has sworn to “preserve, protect, and defend.”
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Momentum Builds for Historic Marriage Referendum in Ireland
On May 22, Ireland will become the first country to hold a national referendum for marriage equality.
HRC.org
How To Get A Kiss From Darren Criss, Cate Blanchett Has Loved Many Ladies, Britney Is Totally Hopeless
Cate Blanchett, whose new lesbian-themed film Carol will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, reveals she’s had a few lady lovers herself.
Even when performing the material of other entertainers Sia kills it, as she proves with this cover of “California Dreamin’” for the upcoming disaster epic San Andreas.
If you’ve dreamed of Darren Criss planting a smooch on you, keep dreaming — literally. While playing Hedwig on Broadway, the actor sometimes finds a distracted audience member to make out with when his characters wanders offstage.
Even Britney Spears‘ most loyal fans defending her lazy work in the video for her duet with Iggy Azalea, “Pretty Girls,” which is a rip off homage to the ’80s comedy Earth Girls Are Easy. As Gawker puts it: “She just sings what they tell her, doesn’t ask questions, and tries her best just to get through it all.”
Are you ready to rock out with the film adaptation of Jem and the Holograms? Not so much? Same here.
Everybody dies, apparently even luscious Tyler Posey in the upcoming MTV series Scream.
The common wisdom that Meryl Streep can do anything is tested once again with her role as a faded rock star in the upcoming comedy Ricki and the Flash which reunites her with Sophie’s Choice costar Kevin Kline. Director Jonathan Demme has already spilled that Streep can out-sing Gaga on her “Bad Romance” cover and the trailer proves the three-time Oscar-winning actress can even wring laughs from a bad joke about gray pubes.
Amy Schumer is now the worst nightmare of every vapid actress working today. Bless her!
You’ve probably already watched several red carpet interviews from last weekend’s GLAAD Media Awards, but you’ve likely never seen anything like Mike Diamond‘s interview technique.
Jeremy Kinser
Phyllis Schlafly: Gay Activists Want To 'Wipe Out' Christianity – LISTEN
Anti-gay wingnut and Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly has said that marriage equality advocates are trying “to wipe out the Christian religion”, reports Right Wing Watch.
In an interview with conservative radio host Chuck Wilder earlier this week, Schlafly spoke out for “harassed” business owners who have violated religious right to discriminate laws:
“Have you noticed that only Christian small-businesspeople have been harassed and sued for refusing to participate in same-sex marriages even though our fast-growing immigrant populations, you know of Muslims, Hindus and other faiths are also opposed to that concept?
“They want to wipe out the Christian religion. And most of these other religions do not recognize same-sex marriage. I assume there are some Muslim bakers and photographers and other people who have been harassed, but they’re not being attacked and they’re not being criticized.”
Hmmmm……
Listen, AFTER THE JUMP…
Jim Redmond
www.towleroad.com/2015/05/phyllis-schlafly-gay-activists-want-to-wipe-out-christianity-listen.html
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