On the last day of early voting, Dallas Voice classifieds honcho Chance Browning, pictured, came into the office wearing a blue Hillblazer pantsuit, a fierce wig and an actual Versace silk scarf. We shot some pictures of him working his Hillary Rodham dance moves.
In the immortal words of Rachel Zoe, Miss Chance shut it down, and it’s now closed for business. (more…)
In this article about the Human Rights Campaign’s most recent Congressional Scorecard, I noted that Congressman Nick Lampson received a score of 0 percent, making him the lowest-scoring Democrat from Texas behind Rep. Chet Edwards at 60 percent.
What I didn’t realize at the time is that Lampson was once a darling of the gays. When Lampson ran for re-election in District 2 in 2004, LGBT groups reportedly contributed about $10,000 to his campaign. HRC itself actively solicited money for Lampson on its Web site and called him one of the top six equality candidates nationwide. And with good reason. Lampson was running against Republican Ted Poe (who also scored a 0 percent in 2008), and Lampson had scored a 100 percent on the Scorecard in 2002. According to HRC, Lampson co-sponsored the Employment Nondiscrimination Act as well as a hate crimes bill that included sexual orientation. Lampson also opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment.
During the 2004 race, Lampson took some heat over HRC’s support. A Web site, www.liberallampson.com, accused him of being “bought and paid for by the homosexual lobby.” And someone erected a billboard in Beaumont that said “Nick Lampson supports homosexual marriage. Do you?”
Lampson lost the race, and apparently he blamed HRC. In 2006, he was elected to represent District 22, which is one of the most socially conservative districts in Texas and was previously represented by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Since then, Lampson has sold us out, voting against the very same legislation that he once co-sponsored, including ENDA and hate crimes. Needless to say, we don’t get our money back!
Found this on HunksduJour.com (I read it for the articles). It’s a (clearly) Photoshopped pic of Robert Buckley (”Lipstick Jungle”) and Hugh Jackman apparently holding hands while shirtlessly frolicking in the water, with the legend “Vote No on Prop 8.”
This has to be the most effective campaign ever. Who — gay or straight (women only on that latter) — would not want to see these two hunks happily ever aftering?
Over on MyOutSpirit.com, in a post titled “Everything’s bigger in Texas,” Azariah Southworth offers a fascinating glimpse inside life on the bus that is Soulforce’s Equality Ride. Southworth says he’ll miss Dallas, where the Equality Ride has spent the last week, but not just because of the dialogue on LGBT issues at local universities:
“Another reason why it is unfortunate is because I met a great guy while we were here. It’s not often I find someone who is responsible, young, gay, a Christian, has values, and a personality. He took me ice skating for the first time on our first date.”
A responsible young gay man with values in Dallas? Who can ice skate? Where in the hell did you meet him, at the Waxahachie jail? Southworth isn’t telling, but he does give us a hint:
“The very last reason why I’m saddened about leaving Texas is because of Buli. It is this FANTASTIC restaurant in the gayborhood of Dallas on Cedar Spring Road. Everyone must go there and try the ‘Tuna Salad Panini’ on the ‘Hippy Health Bread!’ Yum!”
I’m so glad these selfless young activists are willing to make such grave sacrifices on behalf of all of us!
OK, we’re all used to the gays turning up on reality TV, especially cable, especially Bravo. (The next season of “Top Chef” features three gays out of 17 contestants.) And we all know we queers are creative, artsy types.
But c’mon: “Top Design” is SOOOOOOO gay. First, Dallas native Todd Oldham (gay!) is the Tim Gunn-esque mentor; there’s head judge Jonathan Adler (super gay!); recent guest judges Simon Doonan (uber-gay!) and “Flipping Out” star Jeff Lewis (crazy and gay!); and three of the four finalists this week (center in the pic above) were Nathan, Eddie and Preston (gay, gay and ga-ay!). Eddie was booted this week in favor of Ondine (fag hag!). And most hilarious of all is how Adler so blatantly has a crush on Preston — each week, I expect him to swoon whenever Preston enters the room. (I know the feeling.)
I’m not complaining, but here’s a suggestion: Let’s get the gays on a motorcycle repair show and break the fancy boy cycle. Oh, heck, I’m a theater critic — who am I to judge?
I try to avoid simply regurgitating national stories into your Instant Tea, but I couldn’t resist these quotes from Bill Maher about Mormon morons and the same-sex marriage fight in California. You can read the full story here.
“It is ugly because it’s prejudice,” Maher says. “It’s denying people their civil rights. And it all comes from religion. If there wasn’t a Bible, no one would ever think twice about homosexuality. It’s obviously something that occurs in nature. It’s just that it says in the old book of Jewish fairytales that you’re not supposed to do it with people of your own sex.”
“I think it’s amazing in this tough economic climate that people are digging into their wallets and purses to give money to this issue which affects their life not at all. What do they care if gay people get married? It’s astounding to me how unimportant this issue is and it still drew something like $25 million (in donations).”
Travel journalist Tanya Churchmuch was the Canadian lesbian who visited Dallas in April and asked Tom Leppert how our queer Metroplex will manage to attract gay tourists once Dubya moves here.
Churchmuch operates GirlPorts, the freebie site that tells globetrotting sapphic sisters about nifty cities. Her Big D story just went online — check it.
(Image of Kilgore Rangerettes outside of the dowtown Dallas Comerica building shot by Bryan Amann.)
Three people were arrested during the Soulforce Equality Ride’s visit to Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie today. Read the press release after the jump.
So says queer E! gossip Ted Casablancas — that Witherspoon and Gyllenhaal are only a photo-op couple who appear to like each other, at best, as brother and sister. He compares them to Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn …
J.K. Rowling made headlines last year when she “outed” Albus Dumbledore, deceased former headmaster of Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in her series about boy wizard Harry Potter.
Now fans of Rowlings’ best-selling books - and the mega-hit movies made from those books - are coming out in support of marriage equality in California.
This was posted yesterday on the Potter fan site Mugglenet.com:
“The Harry Potter Alliance, continuing their perpetual effort to support equal rights for all, is asking for your help to ensure that every Californian be afforded the same liberties regardless of sexual orientation. Drawing on the lessons of love we learn from the Harry Potter series and remembering the greatest wizard of them all, Albus Dumbledore, the Alliance has been striving consistently to raise awareness about this serious issue.”
In the HPA newsletter, “Patronus Alert,” Paul DeGeorge of the “wizard rock” band Harry and the Potters, wrote: “I ask you to take some time and think about whether or not it’s fair to deny couples the right to marry. Think of any people that you might know that would be affected by this constitutional amendment. Would it be legal to deny people the right to marry based on race or social status? If the answer to that question is no, then why should it be legal to do so based on sexual orientation?”
