Golden Globes 2011: Host Ricky Gervais Mocks John Travolta's Closet

HomoQuotable - Richard Chamberlain

"There’s still a tremendous amount of homophobia in our culture. It’s regrettable, it’s stupid, it’s heartless, and it’s immoral, but there it is. For an actor to be working is a kind of miracle, because most actors aren’t, so it’s just silly for a working actor to say, 'Oh, I don’t care if anybody knows I’m gay' — especially if you’re a leading man. Personally, I wouldn’t advise a gay leading man–type actor to come out. Despite all the wonderful advances that have been made, it’s still dangerous for an actor to talk about that in our extremely misguided culture. Look at what happened in California with Proposition 8. Please, don’t pretend that we’re suddenly all wonderfully, blissfully accepted." - Richard Chamberlain, speaking to the Advocate.

Quote Of The Day - Kevin Spacey

"Look, at the end of the day people have to respect people's differences. I am different than some people would like me to be. I just don't buy into that the personal can be political. I just think that's horseshit. No one's personal life is in the public interest. It's gossip, bottom line. End of story. Now some people feed that. They'll go to the trendy restaurants where all the photographers are and then bitch about being famous. But if you don't want to feed that and you want your life to be based around what your work is then it ends there." - Oscar winner Kevin Spacey, taking a page from Queen Latifah in a Daily Beast interview that asks why he won't officially come out.

Glee Spoiler: Bullies & Burnett

Stay out out OUT of the comments if you haven't seen tonight's surprise and tear-laden episode. Otherwise dive in and dish the many unexpected developments. Yes, Glee is corny, over the top, and often unbelievable. But I believe it is changing the minds of millions of American teenagers. I don't see how it can't be. Now hand me another tissue.

HomoQuotable - Roy Ashburn

"I should begin with an apology. I am sincerely sorry for the votes I cast and the actions I took that harmed lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Just as important to me, I am sorry for not stepping forward and speaking up as an elected official on behalf of equal treatment for all people. For nearly 26 years, the voters in my area of California trusted me as their elected representative. I look back now knowing there is so much more I could have done to inform the public about LGBT people and to fight for equal rights under the law. Regrettably and selfishly, I took another path in my life and political career—I chose to conceal who I truly am and to then actually vote against the best interests of people like me. All this was done because I was afraid–terrified, really–that somehow I would be revealed as gay.

"My past actions harmed gay people. In fact, all people are harmed when there is unequal treatment of anyone under the constitution and laws of our country. I do not believe in discrimination, and yet my votes advanced unequal of treatment of gay people and promoted the suspicion and fear that limits people from being forthright and accepted in society.

"Now, from what I have lived and learned, I want to do the best that I can to advance equality and freedom for all people. Given the shame and confusion that many feel over their sexual orientation, perhaps my situation can serve as an example of both the harm that can come from denial and fear, and the opportunity to try to make things right." - Recently outed CA Sen. Roy Ashburn, continuing his campaign of apologies with a lengthy essay for Gay Politics.

HomoQuotable - John Browne

"The biggest problem with concealing your sexuality is walling yourself off from the people closest to you. Keeping secrets is not fair to anyone. It denies friends and family the chance to know who you really are. I realise now that being open about your sexuality is not about pleasing the public. It is about being honest with the people who know you best and love you the most. Looking back, I wish I could have been more truthful with those closest to me, especially to my mother.

"I should have realised that leading a double life was also not practical. I thought I could protect my secret as long as I was careful about who I trusted and who I spoke to. But that was unrealistic. People guessed, people knew, and eventually it was only a matter of time before it all had to come out." - Former BP chairman John Browne, writing in the Guardian. In 2007 Browne resigned after his "kept boy" sold his story to a British tabloid. Browne now says being outed was a blessing in disguise.

Sherry Vine - You're A Homo

One of her better Gaga parodies.

The Wives Of Comrades

Support groups and websites have sprung up in China for the "wives of comrades," women who are married to gay men.

"The condition of these ‘homowives is extremely tragic," wrote Li Yinhe, a professor of sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and one of the leading advocates for these women, in a recent blogpost. "Most days they wash their faces with tears." Despite this, many of the women remain in the marriages. "Only a few of these women choose to divorce their husbands," says Zhang. "Usually these have a higher educational background and are more independent financially. Also, most of those who choose to get a divorce don’t have children with their husbands." This was not the case for Wen, who eventually decided to ask for a divorce a year after finding out the truth. "I struggled with the decision, especially since we had a daughter together and I didn’t want her growing up without a father. But I didn’t want her growing up in a twisted family either," she explains. "While gay husbands cannot satisfy their wives sexually, some can still be good fathers and care for their families," says Zhang. "But to these wives, the hardest thing is mental or emotional abuse rather than physical abuse. Their husbands don’t love them, some are even disgusted by any physical contact, and this is the hardest thing for any women.

According to the above-linked story, the vast majority of gay men in China still marry women for appearances sake.

HomoQuotable - Queen Latifah

"I don’t have to explain anything. I don’t have to confirm anything. Look, I need my time. I need my life. You know, I was looking at something the other day. A magazine with Jennifer Aniston on the cover. That’s a strong woman right there. All of these people in her business-who is she dating? Angie this. Brad that. They come up with so much stuff. That’s a tough situation to be in.

"My situation is small compared to that. But still, I don’t feel like I need to explain. I’m the one living it. You write about it. You go ahead and speculate. I’ll just live it. I don’t feel like I need to explain things to a perfect stranger. The people who matter know. And they love me for Dana. I don’t have to tell Joe Blow. Joe, you worry about who YOU sleeping with." - Queen Latifah, speaking to Upscale Magazine.

(Tipped by JMG reader Suzanne)

HomoQuotable - CA Sen. Roy Ashburn

"The best I can do is to say that I was hiding. I was so in terror I could not allow any attention to come my way. So any measure that had to do with the subject of sexual orientation was an automatic "no" vote. I was paralyzed by this fear, and so I voted without even looking at the content. The purpose of government is to protect the rights of people under the law, regardless of our skin color, national origin, our height, our weight, our sexual orientation. This is a nation predicated on the belief that there is no discrimination on those characteristics, and so my vote denied people equal treatment, and I'm truly sorry for that." - CA state Sen. Roy Ashburn, continuing his apology campaign.

Ashburn, who says he has stopped drinking since his DUI arrest, says that over the year before being outed, he had become increasingly bold and had even attended gay pride events in Las Vegas and San Diego.

HomoQuotable - CA Sen. Roy Ashburn

"My practice in my entire political career when it came to gay issues was to prevent any kind of spotlight from being shined my way, because I was in hiding. So casting any kind of vote might, could in some way, lead to my secret being revealed. That was terrifying to me. It was paralyzing. So I cast some votes that have denied gay people of their basic, equal treatment under the law, and I'm not proud of it. I'm not going to do that again." - California state Sen. Roy Ashburn, admitting what we know to be true of any anti-gay politician. Welcome to the light, Roy. We look forward to you making amends.

VIDEO: NBC Los Angeles talks to Ashburn about his transformation.

HomoQuotable - Ed Koch

"Solicitor General Elena Kagan's sexual orientation is the subject of much discussion in blogs and mainstream newspapers. The White House response denied Ms. Kagan is a lesbian. Instead, shouldn't the White House have denounced the speculation and conveyed that such inquiries are improper? By denying she is lesbian instead of denouncing the inquiry, the White House is implicitly stating sexual orientation is a legitimate issue of discussion in the confirmation process.

"On the positive side, raising the issue of Ms. Kagan's sexual orientation may give more support to Barney Frank's [ENDA] bill with 198 co-sponsors in the House and Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon with a similar bill and 45 co-sponsors barring employment discrimination by the federal government against people because of their sexual identity. Only 20 states in the Union - New York being one of them - have such legislation. The current debate regarding Ms. Kagan's candidacy demonstrates the imperative of passing such legislation. How many U.S. Senators now considering Ms. Kagan's nomination will vote for such legislation? Write to yours and let's find out. Also, ask your member of Congress." - Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch, writing for the Huffington Post.

For decades Koch has refused to acknowledge his own gayness, which explains why he's so upset about the speculation regarding Elena Kagan.

(Via - Towleroad)

Curious Sergey On The Closet

Russian immigrant Curious Sergey asks random New Yorkers if they are in the closet.

Outing Aftermath: Can We Forgive Our Enemies? Should We?

JMG reader Stephen wonders if the LGBT community shouldn't extend an olive branch and a rainbow flag to homophobes like Dr. George Rekers after they've been outed. He writes:

In light of this most recent outing of an anti-gay conservative, I've had some thought that I'd like to share with you. Last summer, I saw that great documentary, Outrage, that actively outed several politicians and, then, I agreed with its justification. The bigoted, but closeted gay, politicians harmed us, so we'll ruin them so they can't do it anymore. However, now, I think there's a big flaw in this: when we get one and ruin them, trash talk them, and alienate them from both us and their conservative friends, it speaks volumes to all the others. Every time we shame and express our outrage at these people, we could be inspiring fear and be pushing others further into the closet. In fact, when we assassinate the character of these people, we are doing just what they would do to us. I well understand the pain that people like Dr. Rekers have brought to our community, but vengeance only engenders more pain. Would we fuel such hatred with our own?

Ironically, I think we should take a leaf out of Jesus' (real) message: forgiveness. If we, as a community, welcomed these people and forgave their political trespasses against us, I think it will demonstrate a much better side of our community and actually help others follow in the path of coming out and repenting their old homophobic ways. Moreover, I think it would help our community demonstrate the irony that, in some ways, the "Christians" follow less of Jesus' teachings than us. I'm not saying we should excuse Dr. Rekers right now. From what I understand, he isn't as of yet knocking on our door asking for an accepting shoulder to cry on or for a rainbow flag to wave, but at the same time, I think we ought to make it clear that when he's ready, we'll have it for him.

One could make the case that an outed notorious homophobe could be a powerful ally. And certainly many survivors of the "ex-gay" movement are today advocating fiercely for LGBT causes. But could we forgive Dr. George Rekers (or someone like him) if he came to us tomorrow as a repentant homophobe and openly gay man? Should we?

Who Will It Be?

Insiders are reporting that People Magazine is about to feature the coming out of a "Hollywood celebrity."

People Magazine allegedly has the exclusive and the celeb is booked on several major talk shows that week including "The View." PR powerhouse Howard Bragman, who has successfully -- some might add brilliantly -- orchestrated several celeb outings in the past decade talked about his next coming out project at the GLAAD Media Awards red carpet Sunday (Apr. 17). Bragman -- the coming out king of Hollywood -- doesn't want to speculate on who it will be (that would kind of ruin his well-planned surprise, wouldn't it) but In the past he's helped NFL defensive lineman Esera Tuaolo, LPGA star Rosie Jones, WNBA star Sheryl Swoops and retired NBA center John Amaechi come out. He also orchestrated the plans for former "Party of Five" Mitchell Anderson, "Married with Children" co-star Amanda Bearse and aided Dick Sargent of "Bewitched" fame to come out on Entertainment Tonight.

My vote is on Queen Latifah. Of course, Johnny Weir (who isn't "Hollywood" but has a TV show) is repped by Bragman and he does have a book coming.

Teabaggers Continue To Push Sen. Lindsey Graham To Come Out

The extreme right anti-immigrant group Americans For Legal Immigration has issued a press release calling on Sen. Lindsey Graham to come out of the closet. This weekend the group's leader mocked Graham's sexuality during a speech at a teabagger rally in South Carolina. The group claims that Graham is being blackmailed into anti-American activities because of his sexuality.

The national border security organization known as Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) is officially calling for US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to make his homosexual lifestyle public knowledge in the interest of political integrity and national security. "US Senator Lindsey Graham is gay and while many people in South Carolina and Washington DC know that, the general public and Graham's constituents do not," said William Gheen President of ALIPAC. "I personally do not care about Graham's private life, but in this situation his desire to keep this a secret may explain why he is doing a lot of political dirty work for others who have the power to reveal his secrets. Senator Graham needs to come out of the closet inside that log cabin so the public can rest assured he is not being manipulated with his secret."

The mostly-conservative (and publicly anti-gay) Graham is the only Republican working with the Democrats on immigration reform, hence this campaign.

South Carolina Teabaggers Call Out Sen. Lindsey Graham For Being Gay

Sen. Lindsey Graham got called out for being in the closet by some of his teabagger constituents in Greenville, South Carolina. "Barney Frank is more honest and brave than you. Because at least we know about Barney Frank and nobody's gonna hold it over his head."

Roy Ashburn Sentenced For DUI

Formerly closeted California state Sen. Roy Ashburn has been sentenced to two days in jail and three years of probation for last month's DUI arrest as he left a Sacramento gay bar with a young Latino man in the front seat.

Ashburn entered his no contest plea to the misdemeanor charges Wednesday in Sacramento County Superior Court. He will also pay fines and fees of about $2,000, attend a mandatory first offender DUI program and have his license suspended for 30 days, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office. "Ashburn received no lesser penalties associated with his crime than your average citizen," said Deputy District Attorney Robert Clancey. Ashburn was pulled over on March 3 shortly after 2 a.m. when CHP officers saw his state car driving in an erratic manner. A breath test was conducted and a subsequent blood test turned up a blood alcohol level of .15 percent. Under California law, a driver is under the influence with a blood alcohol level of .08 percent.

Asburn refused to resign after the scandal broke and has said he will continue his anti-gay voting habits, because that's what his constituents want. He will be term-limited out of office this year.