Marisa Tomei joins TV’s Empire as a lesbian billionaire

Marisa Tomei is making a rare return to series television.

What drew the Oscar-winning actress back to the small screen is a juicy role on Empire as a lesbian Forbes list billionaire.

Tomei will appear in a multi-episode arc as demanding venture capitalist Mimi Whiteman who Deadline Hollywood describes as a lover of ‘hip hop music, social trends, high-end fashion and beautiful women.

Empire, created by openly gay director-writer-producer Lee Daniels, already has a high-profile gay character played by Jussie Smollett who came out to the world in dramatic fashion at the end of the show’s first season.

Tomei won the supporting actress Oscar for My Cousin Vinny and was also nominated in the same category for In the Bedroom and The Wrestler.

But before her career in movies, she was one of the leads on the NBC sitcom A Different World which was a spinoff of The Cosby Show. Her character was written out after the show’s first season.

Since then, Tomei has done a recurring role on the FX drama Rescue Me but has largely appeared only in feature films including Unhook the Stars, The Paper, The Ides of March and last year’s gay-themed Love is Strange.

The post Marisa Tomei joins TV’s Empire as a lesbian billionaire appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/marisa-tomei-joins-tvs-empire-as-a-lesbian-billionaire/

Twitter Trolls Bobby Jindal During #AskBobby Q&A

Earlier this week, hugely unpopular anti-gay Louisiana GOP Governor and hidden camera star Bobby Jindal got a serious pounding when he took part in an #AskBobby Twitter Q&A.

The results were stunning.

Via his handlers, Jindal – who yesterday caved in on plans to block same-sex marriage in the state – had asked for questions he intended to answer at his campaign’s first town hall event in Waukee, Iowa.

Possibly expecting an anti-gay love-in from his 195,000 Twitter followers, #AskBobby caught the eye of his many detractors.

Here’s a selection of the many, many burning questions Jindal faced and some hilarious reactions.

#AskBobby You’re Hindu pretending to be Christian and a Rhodes Scholar pretending to be an idiot. Do people like you for your authenticity?

— Jeff Tiedrich (@jefftiedrich) June 30, 2015

When people rode dinosaurs, did women do it side-saddle? #AskBobby

— Brynn Tannehill (@BrynnTannehill) July 1, 2015

Can we vote on which version of the Bible you’ll use to replace our Constitution, or will Texas just decide that as usual? #AskBobby

— RiskyLiberal (@RiskyLiberal) July 1, 2015

#IdMuchRather #AskBobby questions that wreck his head than anything serious as he’d probably defer me to God pic.twitter.com/SIRcfbGnM4

— St Peter (@stpeteyontweety) June 30, 2015

@BelieveAgainGOP My kid’s been behavin’ badly lately. Could you come over and extract Satan from his soul? #AskBobby

— John F Dillon (@JFD8) June 30, 2015

#AskBobby: Who will be your next public relations team after you fire the ones who created #AskBobby?

— Chris Hewitt (@ChrisHMovie) July 3, 2015

Bobby Jindal’s PR person on seeing #AskBobby: pic.twitter.com/hnEIJp3qTD

— Meg (@sassylibrarian1) July 1, 2015

The post Twitter Trolls Bobby Jindal During #AskBobby Q&A appeared first on Towleroad.

Michael Fitzgerald

Twitter Trolls Bobby Jindal During #AskBobby Q&A

Mormon Church Makes First Donation to LGBT Group

Its financial contribution to a Salt Lake City program for homeless LGBT youth is believed to be its first ever to an LGBT organization.

read more

Trudy Ring

www.advocate.com/politics/religion/2015/07/03/mormon-church-makes-first-donation-lgbt-group

Anti-Gay Bakers Vow Appeal After Oregon Orders Them To Pay $135K To Lesbian Couple

The owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa say they’ll appeal Oregon’s order this week that they pay $135,000 in damages to a lesbian couple for refusing to bake a wedding cake based on their religious beliefs.

On Thursday, Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian upheld a judge’s recommendation from earlier this year, ordering that Melissa and Aaron Klein (below right) pay damages to Rachel Bowman-Cryer and Laurel Bowman-Cryer for turning them away in January 2013.

From OregonLive.com:

“This case is not about a wedding cake or a marriage,” Avakian wrote. “It is about a business’s refusal to serve someone because of their sexual orientation. Under Oregon law, that is illegal.

“Within Oregon’s public accommodations law is the basic principle of human decency that every person, regardless of their sexual orientation, has the freedom to fully participate in society.  The ability to enter public places, to shop, to dine, to move about unfettered by bigotry.”

Though the Oregon Equality Act of 2007 includes an exemption for religious organizations and schools, it does not permit private business owners to deny service and discriminate against potential customers, BOLI said.

The Bowman-Cryers issued this statement:

“This has been a terrible ordeal for our entire family. We never imagined finding ourselves caught up in a fight for social justice,” they said. “We endured daily, hateful attacks on social media, received death threats and feared for our family’s safety, yet our goal remained steadfast. We were determined to ensure that this kind of blatant discrimination never happened to another couple, another family, another Oregonian.”

The Kleins, who were forced to close Sweet Cakes after vendors cut ties with them over the case, now operate out of their home. They raised $100,000 with a GoFundMe campaign, but KPTV reports that after taxes and fees, they’ll only see half of that. The Kleins say they’ll now appeal the decision to the Oregon Court of Appeals. Aaron Klein told KPTV:

“For this to go this far, this is ridiculous. It should scare every American.

“She was asking me to not only bake the cake, Melissa to decorate cake, to design the cake, but then show up at the wedding. There’s so much more to it than most people understand.

“We’ve had it seems like almost a weekly occurrence when someone has sent us hate mail.

“It’s cost us our freedom, our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech.”

Watch KPTV’s report below.

WFSB 3 Connecticut

The post Anti-Gay Bakers Vow Appeal After Oregon Orders Them To Pay $135K To Lesbian Couple appeared first on Towleroad.

John Wright

Anti-Gay Bakers Vow Appeal After Oregon Orders Them To Pay $135K To Lesbian Couple

Pop Culture Highs And Lows Of 2015 Thus Far
We were pretty bored around the midway point last year, but 2015 has given us more than enough to celebrate (and condemn). It’s been a wild six months, and pop culture is no exception. Our list of the peaks and troughs ranges from a heroic coming out and a record-smashing TV debut to an embattled comedian who just won’t go away and a divorce that leaves our hearts gone, baby, gone.

— 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.

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The post Contacts at Gay Star News appeared first on Gay Star News.

Gareth Johnson

www.gaystarnews.com/article/contacts-at-gay-star-news/

Did Queer Movies Help Us Win Marriage Equality?

From state censorship to cross-dressing to cane fondling, the portrayal of homosexuality in film does more than reflect the opinions of the day — it helps mold them.

Below, work your way up from The Gay Brothers in 1895 to see how gender roles, stigma, homophobia and ultimately liberation tells the story of gay representation.

What’s next?

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/va2D3ifqV6o/did-queer-movies-help-us-win-marriage-equality-20150703

‘Do It Like Miley’ with Team Heartbreak, Alaska and Violet Chachki: VIDEO

Musical duo Caleb and Brian Raux, better known as Team Heartbreak, have released the video for their new song “Do It Like Miley” which features RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni Alaska Thunderf**k and the winner of season 7, Violet Chachki.

“Do It Like Miley” is the first song off of Team Heartbreak’s upcoming album, Sassy Summer Sounds. The song and video celebrate liberation by paying tribute to Miley Cyrus while also raising awareness about her Happy Hippie foundation dedicated to combatting LGBT youth homelessness.

“The message in ‘Do iT Like Miley’ is: who cares what other people think of you,” says Caleb.  “[Others’] opinions don’t matter. The key to happiness is forgetting your insecurities and loving who you are. Just be you no matter what.”

The singers, who identify as straight, often get questions about their sexuality and first bonded over their defiance of traditional gender roles. “We don’t believe in traditional gender roles. We like poking fun at them any chance we get,” says Brian. “I mean, who needs gender roles when you have pizza rolls? Have you tasted those things? They’re seriously bomb!”

Watch the video for “Do It Like Miley” below:

The post ‘Do It Like Miley’ with Team Heartbreak, Alaska and Violet Chachki: VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.

Sean Mandell

‘Do It Like Miley’ with Team Heartbreak, Alaska and Violet Chachki: VIDEO

George Takei denies he’s racist

George Takei has denied he’s racist after referring to Justice Clarence Thomas as a ‘clown in blackface’.

The gay Star Trek actor and activist angered some when he delivered a stern rebuke to the African American judge after he voted against same-sex marriage in the Supreme Court ruling.

Thomas denied that same-sex couples who were unable to get married were ‘deprived of their liberty and dignity’.

‘Slaves did not lose their dignity (any more than they lost their humanity) because the government allowed them to be enslaved,’ he said in his dissent. ‘Those held in internment camps did not lose their dignity because the government confined them…The government cannot bestow dignity and it cannot take it away.’

Takei, who was a survivor of a Japanese internment camp, reacted angrily to Thomas’ dissent.

‘He is a clown in blackface sitting on the Supreme Court. He gets me that angry,’ Takei told KSAZ-TV.

‘For him to say slaves had dignity … I mean, doesn’t he know slaves were chained? That they were whipped on the back?’

Many were outraged by his comments, with many calling Takei ‘racist’.

Writing on his Facebook, Takei has given a statement explaining his comments.

He said: ‘A few fans have written wondering whether I intended to utter a racist remark by referring to Justice Thomas as a “clown in blackface.”

‘”Blackface” is a lesser known theatrical term for a white actor who blackens his face to play a black buffoon. In traditional theater lingo, and in my view and intent, that is not racist. It is instead part of a racist history in this country.

‘I feel Justice Thomas has abdicated and abandoned his African American heritage by claiming slavery did not strip dignity from human beings. He made a similar remark about the Japanese American internment, of which I am a survivor. A sitting Justice of the Supreme Court ought to know better.’

The post George Takei denies he’s racist appeared first on Gay Star News.

Joe Morgan

www.gaystarnews.com/article/george-takei-denies-hes-racist/

You’ve Seen It On Facebook, But Does This Gay Pride Meme Deserve All The Outrage?

Photographer Ed Freeman created the gay flag image to the right more than 10 years ago for the cover of Frontiers magazine. Since then, it has been used across countless social media posts for its highly recognizable features — four men work to raise a rainbow flag, instantly evoking Joe Rosenthal’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1945 photo at Iwo Jima (left).

Most recently, Freeman’s image resurfaced after last week’s Supreme Court victory. Freeman himself posted the picture to his Facebook account with the following message:

When I took this picture almost ten years ago, it never, never occurred to me that it would someday come to symbolize the victory we are celebrating today. Congratulations to all of us! Love to you all.

But many were upset at the implied comparison between the struggle for gay rights and the sacrifice on the battle field.

“Im all for gay rights and equal for all but DO NOT DISRESPECT THOSE WHO SERVED, SACRIFICED, AND DIED FOR YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RIGHTS AND FREEDOM,” wrote one commenter in response to Freeman’s post. “Its this shit that will drive ppl to hate on you. You WANT RESPECT THEN GIVE IT TO THOSE WHO DESERVE AND EARNED IT.”

Reaction on Twitter was similar:

I don’t say much, but this is too far. Do NOT take away from the Men and woman who fight and die for your “freedom”.. pic.twitter.com/Tdj5MxOXiC

— Robert Ybarra III (@albino_mexican3) July 2, 2015

The gay flag remake of the flag that flew at Iwo Jima is just insulting to America and those who have died for this country

— Jacob Anthony (@LabGrappler_95) June 27, 2015

But then again, the same person soon after Tweeted:

Hearing thats kids will be learning about incest, homosexuality, bisexuality in kindergarten makes me sick

— Jacob Anthony (@LabGrappler_95) June 28, 2015

One threat was so troubling, Freeman reported it to the FBI. “He said if he ever saw me, he’d kill me,” he told the Washington Post. “I got swamped with vitriolic hate mail.”

“The principle complaint that people have is that I am equating the gay struggle with the contribution and sacrifice of American servicemen,” Freeman said. “But there is no equal sign here. This is not meant as a sign of disrespect. For God sake, no. I totally support people in uniform. There is no comparison going on here. The comparison is going on in people’s heads, and they’re spoiling for a fight. They’re already on edge because of  the gay marriage decision.”

He added that before social media, his photo would only have been seen by people who wanted to see it, not by “straight people from small towns in Idaho.”

Is this a meme malfunction, or does everyone just need to simmer down?

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/9McPg9S4V3A/youve-seen-it-on-facebook-but-does-this-gay-pride-meme-deserve-all-the-outrage-20150703