The Vote

The republicans got their feelings hurt and the stock market lost close to a trillion dollars. Thats 300billion dollars more than the bailout. here is what openly gay Representative Barney Frank had to say about it.

JefferySelf Makes Fun Of Clay Aiken

SURPRISE!!!!! Clay Aiken Is Gay

Following the Aug. 8 birth of his son Parker, singer Clay Aiken is following through on a promise he made to himself as a new dad: to publicly acknowledge that he's gay.

"It was the first decision I made as a father," Aiken, 29, tells the upcoming issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday. "I cannot raise a child to lie or to hide things. I wasn't raised that way, and I'm not going to raise a child to do that."

Aiken says he expects the news may overwhelm some of his fans. "Whether it be having a child out of wedlock, or whether it be simply being a homosexual, it's going to be a lot," said Aiken, who returned to Broadway last week as Sir Robin in Monty Python's Spamalot.

He adds that he hopes his fans "know that I've never intended to lie to anybody at all. ... But if they leave, I don't want them to leave hating me."


Via People

Jonathan Burkin On The Today Show

Jonathan might have been kick off America's Got Talent a few weeks ago, but that has not stopped america from loving him. If it had not been for the Judges' horrible decision to kick him off America would still be voting for him today. He brought real talent to the stage and made the show more than just another singing competition.

Even though he was kicked off he is still performing for America. Here is his appearance on the Today Show.

Good luck in Belgium, Jonathan!!!

Brad Pitt Supports Doing It Up The Butt

Brad Pitt has donated $100,000 to fight California's November ballot initiative that would overturn the state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.

It's the first time voters will be asked to ban same-sex marriage in a state where gay couples already have won the right to wed. Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts and California.

It's the first time voters will be asked to decide the issue in either California or Massachusetts _ the states where gays have won the right to wed.

"Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8," Pitt said Wednesday.

Trevor Neilson, Pitt's political and philanthropic adviser, told The Associated Press that Pitt was surprised that his colleagues in the entertainment industry had not donated more money to support the battle against Proposition 8.

Earlier in the week, Pitt and Angelina Jolie announced they donated $2 million to help fight HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in Ethiopia.

Via Huff Post

Its Not Just A Time For A Change

Here is a video I found deeply moving. This election is not just a time for change. Its a time to continue the dream that we all have. It's time for everyone in America to be equal. Native American, White, Black, Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern, Straight, Gay, Its time for us all to stand as one and keep the dream alive. We are America, We are one!

Very Funny Sarah Palin Video

This woman is soooooo funny. Everyone must watch her videos. All I have to say is...."Rats off to ya"!

Sarah Palin, Is She For Or Against Same-Sex Marriage?

Republican Senator John McCain has selected Sarah Palin, Alaska's governor and a little-known conservative with a slim record on gay and AIDS issues, to be his running mate in the 2008 presidential race.

"She's fairly socially conservative, she's fairly anti-choice," said Jeffrey A. Mittman, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska (ACLU).

Palin became governor in 2006 after serving as a councilwoman and then mayor of a small Alaskan town. She made an unsuccessful run at becoming Alaska's lieutenant governor in 2002. Palin has confronted a single piece of gay rights legislation in that time.

In 2005, Alaska's highest court ruled, in a case brought in 1999 on behalf of nine couples, that the state could not deny benefits to the domestic partners of state government employees. The court ordered the state to implement that ruling in late 2006.

The ruling was seen by right wingers as conflicting with a 1998 amendment to the Alaska Constitution, passed by voters in a ballot referendum, that defined marriage as solely between one man and one woman. The Republican-dominated State Legislature passed a bill that barred the state's administrative agency from implementing the ruling. Palin vetoed it.

"The Department of Law advised me that this bill... is unconstitutional given the recent court order... mandating same-sex benefits," Palin said in a statement. "With that in mind, signing this bill would be in direct violation of my oath of office."

The statement added, "The governor's veto does not signal any change or modification to her disagreement with the action and order by the Alaska Supreme Court. It is the governor's intention to work with the Legislature and to give the people of Alaska an opportunity to express their wishes and intentions whether these benefits should continue."

Eight days before signing the veto, Palin signed another bill that called for a "statewide advisory vote" regarding the ruling from Alaska's high court, saying in a statement, "We may disagree with the rationale behind the ruling, but our responsibility is to proceed forward with the law and follow the Constitution... I disagree with the recent court decision because I feel as though Alaskans spoke on this issue with its overwhelming support for a Constitutional Amendment in 1998 which defined marriage as between a man and woman. But the Supreme Court has spoken and the state will abide."

Get the whole story here Gay City News

Book Burner Palin Tries To Ban Gay Book

According to sources in Wasilla, Alaska, Palin tried to use her sway as mayor to censor the local library. Though then-librarian Mary Ellen Baker tells ABC News Palin didn't specifically ask her to censor any specific titles, journalist Paul Stuart attests that Baker, who was later fired, had named names. And - surprise! - one of the books had gay themes:

"Stuart told PolitiFact that in a conversation with [Baker] after his article ran, she listed three titles. He said he could recall only two, and initially said they were I Told My Parents I’m Gay and I Asked My Sister. We looked for these titles; they don’t appear to exist.

“Mary Ellen told me that Palin asked her directly to remove these books from the shelves,” Stuart said. “She refused.”

Asked later if the first book could have been Pastor, I am Gay, a controversial book written by a pastor who lives just outside Wasilla, Stuart said that was it.

Howard Bess, author of Pastor, I am Gay and former pastor of Church of the Covenant in nearby Palmer, recalls that his book challenging Christians to re-examine their ideas about and prejudices against gays and lesbians was not well received in Wasilla when it was published in 1995 — the year before Palin was elected mayor."

Coincidentally enough, Palin's church at the time, Wasilla Assembly of God, had been campaigning against Bess' book.

These details suggest two things. One, Palin's not so clear on that whole church, state separation. And, two, Palin's easily - and irresponsibly - swayed by outside forces, not a good trait for a politician, national or otherwise.

Via queerty

Pope Joke Takes Us Back To The Middle Ages

Guzzanti is accused of "offending the honour of the sacred and inviolable person" of Pope Benedict XVI.

The satirist and comedian, during a routine at a rally in Rome in July, condemned the Vatican‘s interference in issues such as gay rights.

“Within twenty years the Pope will be where he ought to be, in Hell, tormented by great big poofter devils — and very active ones, not passive ones," she said.

Now the Rome prosecutor has been given permission to proceed against her under the 1929 Lateran Treaty.

The treaty, between the Vatican and the Italian government, was signed when fascist leader Benito Mussolini was in power.

It stipulated that an insult to the Pope carries the same penalty as an insult to the Italian President.

Via Queerty

Openly Gay Olympic Diver, Matthew Mitcham, Gets Postage Stamp!

Australia's, Gold Medal Winner, Matthew Mitcham is now on a postage stamp! This is a new dawn for the gay community. Thank you Matthew for standing up for yourself and for us all.

Iran Prefers Trannies Over Gays

A disturbing documentary titled Be Like Others, exposes the twisted remedy Iran proposes for gay and lesbian people.

(What the Eshaghian) film reveals is a culture so steeped in hatred of gays and lesbians that it deems a sex change preferable to simply accepting differences in sexual orientation. The shift in policy came more than two decades ago, when Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini issued a fatwa (religious decree) declaring sex changes permissible for “diagnosed transsexuals.” Be Like Others introduces us to a number of the people who have been given this label. Some have accepted their fate, and feel the sex change to be a way to avoid further persecution; others are clearly uncomfortable with the idea, but have agreed to it simply because of intense outside pressure.

Those who undergo the procedure are often ostracized by friends and family. Most of the candidates are poor individuals who don’t have the options available to the wealthy. They believe they have no choice except to conform to the demands of the state.

Eshaghian relates that during her filming, a reporter from government controlled media showed up and proceeded to berate and criticize the young people waiting to undergo the operation. The reporter claimed they had brought their troubles with the authorities upon themselves by breaking the rules and cross-dressing before they had the operation.

Iranian authorities suffer from a bad case of myopia when it comes to even acknowledging the existence of homosexuality in their society. This would explain the bizarre statement by Ahmadinejad during his visit to the US, when he claimed that unlike the US - ‘there are no homosexuals in Iran.’

Be Like Others screens as part of Montreal’s World Film Festival which runs until September 1.

Via gayswithoutborders

Posters Call For Execution Of Gays

International observers have spoken out after tensions around the first ever gay festival in Bosnia intensified.

The Queer Sarajevo Festival is to take place in from September 24th to 27th. The Dutch, Canadian and Swiss embassies are among those supporting the event.

However, a Muslim politician in Bosnia has criticised the country's gay community for holding an LGBT event that coincides with his religion's observance of Ramadan.

Posters appeared on the streets of Sarajevo this week proclaiming "Death To Gays" and imams have spoken out, claiming that homosexuality is immoral and contrary to the Koran.

The Bosnia mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe expressed concern about the situation.

"The mission strongly condemns attempts to incite violence against any group within Bosnia and Herzegovina," the OSCE said in a statement.

Croat and Serb leaders also expressed their displeasure at gay people holding such an event.

"We've been preparing the project for the past year and I would not spend my time only to provoke someone," Svetlana Djurkovic, head of the gay and lesbian rights group Association Q, told AFP.

"It is a festival of culture and art."

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a potential candidate country for EU membership.

If admitted it would have the largest Muslim community of any member state.

Recent figures indicate that 40% of the population are Muslims, 31% are Orthodox Christians and 15% are Roman Catholics.

There is an equal age of consent but discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is "widespread" according to the EU.

Via PinkNews

America's Got Talent Jonathan Burkin....Way To Go Boy!!!

Jonathan Burkin doesn't just play with fire. He twirls it, tosses it, even throws it. It flickers from the tips of his batons as he swirls around the stage like a young man possessed.

There were days when some people used to make fun of him for this. They would say mean things and bully him for being a male baton twirler.

That's OK, because David Hasselhoff digs it. Ditto for the other judges on the NBC reality show America's Got Talent who selected the 18-year-old from this town southeast of Fremont as one of the program's top 40 competitors.




Mr. Burkin's unlikely trip to the reality TV universe began at the age of 4 when he saw a feature twirler for the local high school band performing with fire batons.

"I thought it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen," Mr. Burkin told the Blade. "I came home that night and broke a twig off that tree and started twirling it."

Two years and numerous sticks and toy batons later, he started taking lessons. Eventually, Mr. Burkin joined the Hi Society Baton Corps out of Fremont as the only male member. (Today, he is one of two in the 65-person group.)

A man in a traditionally female discipline, Mr. Burkin remembers being harassed by other kids, especially in eighth grade. He'd get prank phone calls. Someone taped his locker shut. A bench in front of the school had to be repainted - twice - after someone scrawled nasty comments about him on it.

"People hated me," Mr. Burkin said. It was a minority, he added, but "people that did make fun of me made it hell."

Doug and Denise Burkin saw how much it hurt their son.

"There were times that Doug and I seriously wondered: Should he stay with it? I mean, in the long run, what will it do to him?" his mother said.

No one said anything to her face, but there were times at parades when she would hear some disparaging comment from the crowd.

"Sometimes we would just walk by and let it go. Sometimes ... I'd have to stop and just say a few words," Mrs Burkin said.

Things improved later in high school, Jonathan Burkin said, as more people appreciated his talent and he became more self-assured.

He was successful too. At last count, about 280 sparkling trophies were sitting in his garage. Mr. Burkin has been crowned a national champion in each of the last three years by different organizations, and he also qualified to compete in the world championships in Belgium in April.

It's no accident. Knowing how others in and out of the sport might view him, he resolved to answer naysayers with his performances.

"If you're going to do something that's different, you have to make sure you do it well," Mr. Burkin said.

During the summer, he practices two to three hours every night and spends at least 12 hours training each Tuesday.

"With baton you have to make sacrifices," he said.

One of them was not getting his driver's license, since he decided he couldn't take two weeks off to receive driver's education instruction. Another has been to defer for a year his dream of attending Ohio State University, where the young man hopes to study nursing and one day be drum major.

Because of America's Got Talent, his inability to drive, and the upcoming world championships, he has enrolled for this year at Tiffin University, where his mother works as assistant to the vice president of enrollment management.

Even with this change in plan he only had time to attend the first day of regular classes Monday before flying to Los Angeles to prepare for the TV show, which is hosted by Jerry Springer and whose other judges include Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan.

Tuesday's episode will mark Mr. Burkin's third performance for the show. After his initial audition, he did a routine in Las Vegas to the tune of "Footloose."

Each original routine has been purposefully designed to build upon the last, increasing in difficulty and energy, he said. He wouldn't reveal what particular skills or song he'll use next week, only saying, "The lyrics portray my attitude."

This time it's the television audience, not the judges, who determines who stays on the show. Mr. Burkin's coach hopes viewers will enjoy it but also be changed by it.

"We want to show that it's a sport," said DeDee Carte, a director of Hi Society who thinks more boys will be captivated by the activity. "It takes a true athlete to be able to do it. It's not just about flipping a baton."

That's something a few of Mr. Burkin's former tormentors may have finally realized, even if it's a bittersweet victory for him.

"It's weird looking back now because it takes someone being on TV to make kids that used to make fun of me say: Oh, I'm really sorry," he said.

As he prepares for his next appearance, the Clyde teen refuses to daydream just yet about how he would spend the $1 million in prize money.

"I would love to win but the chances that I'm going to win are not great," he said.

He just says he's grateful for the support of his hometown and the little perks that come with being on television.

"Being noticed at the grocery store is nice," he said.

Via Toledoblade