Oh that liberal elite media and its terrible sense of humor! Everyone needs to get their heads checked, because Stephen Baldwin was simply making a hilarious joke when he said he would leave the country if Barack Obama became president. According to our least favorite Baldwin brother, "The liberal Democrats who didn't get that I was joking need to lighten up." Here's a thought, Steve-O: Perhaps everyone knew you were joking but, deep down, secretly hoped that you were serious and would pack your bags after Nov. 4.
Queerty commenter Michael alerted us to this super-duper pressingly important PSA from the Upright Citizen's Brigade that all Prop. 8 supporters should see. It's important now that they've won one battle, that they be ideologically consistent with their beliefs and make marriage safe by eliminating the family-destroying, children's-tears-inducing world of divorce.
Yes, Barack Obama is now the leader-elect of this shitty country that's getting worse by the minute, and we were all very very happy last night that, like The Onion said, "who, faced with the complete collapse of their country, were at last able to abandon their preconceptions and cast their vote for a progressive African-American."
But stuff still sucks this morning, and in case you forgot about that, take a look at what happened to
gay marriage in Florida and Arizona.
Oh, and Prop 8 (basically) passed in California, meaning that Ellen and Portia are going to have a hell of a time untangling the mess of their now legislatively unrecognized marriage:
San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom has been a tireless crusader for gay rights. It was he who, way back in 2000, began issuing marriage licenses in San Francisco.
Though those marriages were later annulled by the state, California's Supreme Court this year ruled that gay folk should, in fact, have the right to marry, a decision that spurred the right to launch Proposition 8, which would reverse the Court's ruling. Again, Newsom's been campaigning against that measure and just this week shored up support against conservative "extremists."
Obviously the right doesn't like Newsom very much and have been using him as the poster child for gay-friendly politicians. This means, of course, that should Proposition 8 pass, Newsom's ubiquitous image may take some of the blame.
Oh, it gets better:
Noted gay rights activist Bill O'Reilly last night predicted California's Proposition 8, which seeks to overturn gay marriage there by using that "man and woman" definition, will be defeated at the voting booth. Is O'Reilly really this scared of the bill not passing? Or — and you know where we're going with this — is this a scare tactic to get California's "I have gay friends but this is just a difference of opinion" conservatives to the polls to make sure Prop 8 passes?
Ellen's tearing up the activist scene.
The lesbian funny lady this week released a video urging voters to vote "no" on California's Proposition 8, which - as you should know by now - would overturn gay marriage in the Golden State.
The commercial is all well and good, but Ms. DeGeneres has only just started. The No On 8 campaign informs us that the comedienne has used her own cash to buy up television time to further spread her progressive message:
Rumor has it that MSNBC newsman Chris Matthews will run for senate once his contract runs out.
Seizing on those rumors, Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal asked Matthews about his stance on gay marriage. After eschewing the question - what would Matthews do about the defense of marriage act - Matthews went into a valid tirade about freedom, which could come across as support.
Segal, however, wanted specifics. What he received were expletives:
Congratulations, CNN! Thanks to your contention that gay marriage isn't real marriage — even though California agreed it is — you've slung yourself into the same category as the right-wing American Family News Network.
This week we brought your attention to CNN's placement of "marries" in quotation marks in a headline about Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi getting married.
Know who also likes to put the gay version of marriage in quotes? OneNewsNow.com, the Christian-focused conservative site that the AFNN runs. CONTINUED »
Conventional wisdom says that blacks will turn out in droves in California — and in every other state — to support Barack Obama come November 4th. Conventional wisdom also says that blacks are a generally homophobic lot who will vote for the anti-gay marriage resolution that will be on the ballot in the Golden State. So we can conclude that on election day, blacks will greatly contribute to the end of gay marriage in California. Right?
Wrong, says Timothy Stewart-Winter in the LA Times. Sure, we all know that blacks will be voting in record numbers this election, he writes, but do we really know that blacks are more against gay marriage than anyone else?
It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: California officials have officially made same-sex marriage official!
At 5:01 PM, clerks began issuing the state’s first same-sex marriage licenses. And, as a proper institution, the ladies went first. Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, who have been together 55 years, inaugurated the festivities in San Francisco, while Robin Tyler and Diane Olson did it up in Los Angeles county. The latter were the original plaintiffs in the case that led to California Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the ban on gay marriage.
JOSSIP REPORTS
Ellen DeGeneres does some things conventionally (launch a mega-hit daytime talk show) and some things unconventionally (announce she's gay on her own sitcom). Thanks to California's OK-ing of gay marriage, she's about to do something else quite conventional: get married, to partner Portia de Rossi.
But here's the unconventional part: She won't be selling the pics, Jossip hears.
While plenty of magazines would love to get their hands on the exclusive pics of her big day – since it'll really be the first celebrity wedding of its kind, with that whole gay thing – most of them will find themselves in another situation: with pics, but without exclusivity. That's because the talk show host plans to distribute multiple sets of pics a single photo to scores of media outlets, we're told, while avoiding certain places she's at odds with (among them, American Media's titles) (a well-placed insider says the photo will be available to everyone who asks).
DeGeneres is said to be one of very few celebs who refuses to accept payouts from the media in exchange for access. And especially with the wedding, she wants to get as much exposure for it as possible, which would help normalize the idea of gay marriage, which she's spoken endlessly about on her show. The more press with the photos, the more blanket the coverage. (Though without giving any magazine exclusive shots, she may lose out on major play on the covers.)
But one fear remains: CONTINUED »
Usually armed with pundits who will back him up or talking heads he can easily steam roll, Bill O'Reilly found himself in a precarious position last night: His guest who was supposed to argue that allowing gay marriage was bad for California … failed.
It's always been O'Reilly's gimmick to book guests who are sympathetic to his beliefs when he wants to make a case without actually standing behind it. Whether it's on immigration, the presidential election, or teen sex, O'Reilly rarely needs to stand on a soapbox of his own to make himself heard (though he often does); he does it by proxy with bandwagon guests.
So last night's program, where he invited anti-gay marriage attorney Don Schweitzer on to argue O'Reilly's own talking points, was a shining disappointment: Schweitzer didn't even pass the host's own low bar for a solid argument.
(Also interesting: Schweitzer is a divorce attorney, so wouldn't he stand to earn more by having a larger pool of people getting married and, potentially, divorced?)
Video below. CONTINUED »
New York Governor David Paterson’s sticking to his good, gay word.
The politico, who took over after Eliot Spitzer’s hooker scandal, vowed earlier this year to bring same-sex nuptials to the Empire State. While couples can’t yet marry within state lines, Paterson and his team this month declared that New York must accommodate gay marriages performed elsewhere, like California, which will likely start issuing same-sex marriage licenses June 17th.
Here's Ellen DeGeneres quizzing Sen. John McCain about gay marriage, now that California will let people like, uh, Ellen, get married. Insists Ellen: "We are all the same people, all of us. You're no different than I am. Our love is the same." McCain looked genuinely scared.
But ya know what we're genuinely scared about? The type of fodder this is going to promote on this evening's cable news programs, given their history with this issue. Please, Mr. Bill O'Reilly, call Ellen a soundbite-baiting gay agenda pusher!
Republicans used gay marriage to their advantage during the last two elections. The slate this year, however, proves a bit more complicated.
We’re mired in a seemingly eternal war, the economy’s in the toilet, social security’s endangered and things are basically a big old mess.
While social conservatives want John McCain to toot his horn against last week’s gay marriage ruling in California, he’s sticking to the script and focusing on the aforementioned issues. And eschewing the well-trod marriage road may be the smartest thing he could do …
In the mood for some anti-gay marriage rhetoric on Fox News and CNN?
Here's Wendy Wright, of Concerned Women For America, on CNN. [Watch Video]
And here's FNC's The O’Reilly Factor, with guest host E.D. Hill. [Watch Video]
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