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Jane Lynch Is Glad Ellen Came Out So She Didn't Have To

Emily Farris — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:39:00 GMT

VIA THE REMOTE ISLAND: Jane Lynch, of Christopher Guest hilarity and infamy, has had a quick and thunderous rise to comedic success over the last fifteen years or so. But where was she before that? Watching Glee, it's hard to imagine why any casting director would pass on her brilliant brand of funny. In a chat with Jesse Thorn on The Sound of Young America, Jane explains why she really didn't work until 40.

But that's not all she talks about.

Interview highlights include: Why Jane can’t walk down the street unmolested, what happens when she auditions for male roles, and why she’s so glad Ellen Degenerous took one for the team.

Read more...

This Week In Gayness: The Coming Out TV Series

Brian Fairbanks — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:15:00 GMT

Sioux City, Iowa decided not to vote on gay marriage because they're not sure they have the authority to do so. We wish Prop 8 supporters had realized the same thing.

Arizona can't even decide whether it wants to support equal judicial representation of gay people.

Headline of the week: "How gay are Philly athletes?" Answer: very.

The State Department has find an interesting way to stop gay marriage...

I've now seen a couple of different reports (here and now here) about how same-sex couples who legally change their names on their marriage certificates are unable to get the State Department to recognize that name change on the couple's passports. In these cases, the State Department takes the position that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prevents the government from recognizing a name change effected in conjunction with a same-sex marriage. Nonetheless, the State Department will recognize the name change if the couple takes the separate (and completely unnecessary) step of going to court to get a judicial name change or if the new name is used publicly and exclusively for a period of at least five years (and you can document such use).

Showtime is producing a reality show called Coming Out, which is, you guessed it, about people who come out to their bizarrely-clueless families.

New Jersey may have marriage equality in the near future.

"Religion is far more of a choice than homosexuality." - Jon Stewart

Melissa Etheridge and Elisabeth Hasselbeck got into a fight about gay marriage on The View.

And another dumb kid wore a pro-Prop 8 shrit to school.

Related:

Stewart Goes After Huckabee Over Gay Marriage

Gay Penguins Stealing Eggs From Straights

We Won't Milk "Milk" For Its Every Pun, Promise...

This Week in Gayness: Call In Gay Tomorrow

This Week In Gayness: Gay Leader Assassinated

Brian Fairbanks — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:30:00 GMT

Amazingly, Google (as a corporate megapower) is stepping into the debate over gay marriage: they claim they will do everything they possibly can to insure it stays legal in California.

Almost ten years to the day of his death, the Matthew Shepard memorial has been publicly unveiled at the murder victim's former university.

A teenage boy upset that his friend was apparently spreading rumors of his gayness has confessed to the murder of said friend.

The Orlando Fox affiliate first claimed it would film at Come Out With Pride 2008, now they're acting all Fox News and turning their backs on the community...

The trans Top Model continues to raise positive interest in this so-called "alternative lifestyle."

A Lowell, Massachusetts man is guilty of beating another man for being gay.

A 27-year-old university student in Bagdhad, who was leading the LGBT movement there, was assassinated while getting a haircut:

He was one of the organisers of safe houses for gay men in Baghdad and was co-ordinator of Iraqi LGBT in the city.

Peter Tatchell of LGBT human rights group OutRage! said:

"On 25th September, I received the sad news from Iraq that the coordinator of Iraqi LGBT in Baghdad, Bashar, aged 27, a university student, was assassinated in a barber shop.

Trying to end on an upnote for a change... the South African health minister, who thought it was wise to suggest vitamins over drugs for HIV patients, has been removed from office, thanks to AIDS and/or LGBT activists.

Related:

Gay Community Attacks McCain By Outing His Chief Of Staff

You Can't Argue With A Conservative... No, Really, It's A Fact

This Week In Gayness: Guys Making Out On CNN

This Week In Gayness: Discriminated By McDonald's

Crush of the Week: Jamie Clayton, The Hottest Transsexual

Sloppy Seconds: More Fun With Sarah Palin Affair Rumors

Emily Farris — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:36:00 GMT

~~Hootie~~ Darius Rucker, front man of Hootie and the Blowfish, has bumped Jessica Simpson from the top of Billboard's country chart. Um, is Hank Williams rolling over in his grave? [Us]

Heather Mills gave hamburgers to poor kids in the Bronx last weekend. Except she didn't exactly tell the kids the burgers were vegan. [Gourmet]

We imagine 13-year-old Christian girls (and their mothers) with no taste in music and boys are about the only ones not happy about Clay Aiken coming out. [People]

Yes, we were right. [Radar]

Will you buy Blair and Chuck's albums? We will not. Though we also said we would not watch "Gossip Girl".. sigh. [MTV]

Just as you should not go to George Clooney with a medical emergency (save something stuck in your vagina), you probably shouldn't go to Michael Douglas in times of financial crisis. But hell, nobody else is doing a good job of fixing it, so maybe the "Wall Street" star can offer some hope? [Yahoo!]

If what The Enquirer says is true (hey, they were right about John Edwards) then Sarah Palin used to fuck a snowmobile dealer named Brad Hanson, yet another business parter of poor Todd Palin. [Wonkette]

This Week In Gayness: Post-Coming Out

Brian Fairbanks — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:27:00 GMT

The Tampa Tribune kinda called John McCain out on that phony "states rights" cover story.

Following a mere procedural vote in each chamber of government and the signature of Governor Patrick, Massachusetts will soon allow out-of-state gays to be married there.

Is Katy Perry a friend... or foe... of the gays?

It's funny, "I kissed a girl" is pro experimentation.

Yet, "You're so gay" is offensive. I get it, it is supposed to be funny and aimed probably at a homophobic boyfriend, but it's still using "gay" as a derogatory term without thought to it's more general impact. I think it's more careless, than intentionally hurtful.

Join the discussion here, a discussion in which at least most parties agree she is a talentless hack.

We're already boycotting the Paris Hilton on principle alone, so why not snub the Manchester Hyatt?

Boycotts are older than the nation itself, but during the past decade, they've become the weapon of choice for conservative Christians engaged in the nation's raging culture wars.

They've used the boycott to try to inflict economic damage against corporate giants that they believe are becoming too cozy with the gay and lesbian community, including Ford, Disney and McDonald's.
Now gay rights groups and their union allies are trying to turn the tables by targeting the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the Grand Del Mar because the hotels' owner, Doug Manchester, gave $125,000 to Proposition 8, a November ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriage in California.

A new report reveal the Justice Department, under Bush lackey Alberto Gonzales, discriminated against gays and especially Democrats.

A Pennyslvania judge struck down a new hate crimes bill.

Headline of the week: Principal Comes Out To His Students And His Bosses Are Fine With It

About.com features a story about overcoming the post-coming-out blues.

Previously:

This Week In Gayness: My Boyfriend Won't Put Out

This Week In Gayness: Lesbians Pick The Sexiest Woman Over 50

This Week in Gayness: McDonald's Makes Jesus Cry?

This Week in Gayness: Virginia Accidentally Marries Gay Men

Tina Turner Comes Out On Oprah

Katie Halper — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:41:00 GMT

Tina Turner has still got it and she's still simply the best. She's also out.

With the moral support of Cher and Oprah, Turner, 68, announced she is finally coming out... of retirement and kicking off a new tour. Three years after Tina appeared on Oprah and spoke about herself in the third person: "To go on tour every night—that's a bit much...There's a high expectation of Tina Turner, and I don't want them to say, 'She can't do it like she used to'…I'll think about [it]." Well, Tina has thought about it and she's decided to launch a final tour. FYI, Scanner Katie attended a Tina show during the tour formerly known as Tina's final tour.

JK Rowling Comes Out Against Homophobia

Katie Halper — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:50:00 GMT

When Harry Potter author JK Rowling outed Dumbledore in October, we were a little disturbed. (JK, there's something called TRUST!) At least she did it in New York, a safe space. And for those of you asking yourselves "how did the disco-dancing Dumbledore got past their gaydar?" it's called wizardry, Einsteins. Anyhoo, now Rowling herself is coming out-- against homophobia, which she describes as "a fear of people loving, more than it is of the sexual act." Speaking to Student, Edinburgh University's newspaper (which must have a very good journalism department) Rowling said:

"There seems to be an innate distaste for the love involved, which I find absolutely extraordinary.The issue is love. It's not about sex. So that's what I knew about Dumbledore. And it's relevant only in so much as he fell in love and was made an utter fool of by love."

But Rowling isn't a total prude. She realizes homosexuality isn't just about the lovin'. And, like R. Kelly, she "don't see nothing wrong/ with a little bump and grind." Rowling acknowledges that after falling in love, Dumbledore "lost his moral compass" for the first time. So that's what the Brits are calling it these days.

Hey, Did Ellen Page Just Come Out on "SNL"? -- UPDATED

Bryan Christian — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 05:59:00 GMT

So, um, did you guys happen to see that sketch just now on SNL where Ellen Page was playing a young girl jumping around so excited about a Melissa Etheridge concert and then it turned out that she might have gone gay at the concert, and she totally mimed grabbing a lady with her legs and it was funny, and then that Dick-in-a-Box guy was all like "Well, I'll love you just the same if you are gay" and they like hugged and that was it? Like, it. As in the sketch was over. Heck, the whole show was over.

Was that supposed to mean something? Like, was it supposed to make us think something about something? The last SNL sketch we remember with an ending like that was that hysterical one from 1985 where Oprah and Danitra Vance talked about abortion, and we're pretty sure we're supposed to have thought quite deeply about something after that. So maybe this one too? Or not. Are we being confusing? 'Cause we're totally confused. (Also, we're kidding about that Oprah sketch being hysterical. It was interminable.)

Oh, and did you see this also?

So, seriously: what just happened? A grudging acknowledgement? A full-on response? Or something more? Or was it maybe just like so many other weeks on SNL: an incomprehensible, mostly unfunny final sketch. We have no idea, and frankly might never have even brought up the question of Ellen Page's sexuality without something dramatic happening. Like what maybe just happened. Or not. Yeah, we're confused. Thoughts?

(And yes, in case you're wondering -- we just had to blog about this the minute it happened. We officially have no life.)

UPDATE: Video via the fine folks at Wired News, who seem to think that the point of the sketch was that it doesn't matter whether she's gay or straight -- which we totally agree with, but could think of a dozen other sketches to make the point more effectively. (Like, for instance, have her fighting crime with the Ambiguously Gay Duo -- which, as a bonus, would have saved us from that muddled Obama cartoon.) Anyways, have a look after the jump and let us know what you think.