Ricky Martin Comes Out of the Closet

Ricky Martin announced on his blog today that "I am a fortunate homosexual man." Now pass the peas. Let's move on to something important. We'll I wish things were that simple. While really this should be a non-issue, the fact that he had to make this announcement states the relevance of its importance. It shouldn't really matter if Mr. Martin was gay or not. But the truth is that people care tremendously about the sexual orientation of the next person. People care so much about the next person's sexual identity that they stalk, badger, condemn, judge, lie about and ridicule anyone that sits in silence and does not acknowledge their orientation one way or another.

Queen Latifah's seemingly ambiguous lifestyle has many writing, screaming and demanding that she come out and publicly announce which team she plays on. When Sean Hayes (Jack from Will and Grace) refused to say publicly that he was homosexual he angered heterosexuals and homosexuals. He finally came out publicly as gay only one month ago himself. What I want to know is how is the sexuality of any of these individuals relevent to their talent. If Latifah were gay would that make her less beautiful? Would her voice lose its charm and would she lose her commanding stage presence if she announced she were bisexual?

For some reason we are fixated with labels. We NEED for individuals to define themselves one way or another. Everyone needs to be compartmentalized and placed in a box that says who they are and where they belong. When someone refuses to self identify they tend to piss people off. But this need to name and define and label is the issue of the larger community, it is not the issue of the one that refuses to be identified.

And let's look a little closer at the person that does not identity. What lies at the root of this need not be labeled? Could it be simply that some people are not easily categorized? Could it be that there are consequences to the labels that befall a person? What were the reasons that we demanded Mariah Carey and Tiger Woods come out as black? We still have not lived up to the creed of Martin Luther King, Jr. We are still not a place where we judge someone on the content of their character. Talent and determination were the reasons for the success of Ricky Martin, Queen Latifah and Sean Hayes. I love and support each of them . . . gay, straight or unconfirmed.

Robin Thicke Talks to his Gay Audience

I've been in love with Robin Thicke for many years now. With his fresman CD (when no one really had a clue who he was) he recorded only under the moniker Thicke. It was filled with so much soul that several friends of mine didn't believe it was blue-eyed talent that was delivering the voice and those hooks. You see with his freshman album Robin Thicke pulled a Teena Marie and did not put his picture on the cover.

Now here we are many years later and Robin has made it to the senior class. He recently released his fourth album and I must tell you that it is like WOW!!! Sex Therapy has a reoccuring theme that appears on every track (and that would sex if didn't figure it out from the title). Since I've had he CD my favorite track seems to change almost every week.

This week, Robin Thicke sat down with the Advocate to talk about his wife, the hip-hop community and his gay audience. It is a great read. I swear every single question was gay related. Every single one. But it was fabulous. Robin talks about his influences from friends of his parents that were gay, his wife's role as a lesbian in the Oscar hit Precious, and how he adores his gay fans. Please get into the interview here.

History's Most Influential Lesbians?

So I need your help. I am working on a project for Women's History month. I want to create an exhibit of the most influential lesbians in history but I am having trouble narrowing down my list. And truth be told I know I am a bit biased. I know LGBT African-American history very well (I teach seminars on LGBT African-American history). However, when it comes to naming famous and influential non-black lesbians I am at a loss. I know Ellen and Portia de Rossi. That's it. So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give me your feedback. Who do you think are some of the most influential same-gender loving women in history?

Transform Me: The New Queer Eye

You've got to remember her from the first season of I Want to Work For Diddy. She is Laverne Cox; transgendered diva that stole the show. Well pardon the pun but I've been wanting more Cox since she left the show. And now my yearning has been answered. Laverne is back with a new show called Transform Me. Laverne will be traveling around the country with a team of two others giving make-overs to those that are desperately in need (kinda like the guys from Quuer Eye for the Straight Guy). Child I can't wait. With the new season of Top Model going and the now more immunities on RuPaul's Drag Race, TV is getting hot once again. The new show will premiere on Vh1 on March 15. This is going to be good.

The Advocate sat down with Laverne to discuss the new show. The brilliant and beautiful Ms. Cox is not at a loss for words as she talks about style and fashion and what we should expect on her new show. I for one can not wait for it to start. Please get into her interview here.

Another Victim of Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Jene Newsome, an airman of the U.S. Airforce, has been terminated from her duties. She is now just another statistic in the long line of victims of the discriminative Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy which is ruining the careers of many gay and lesbian military personell. What is ironic and unique and Newsome's situation is that the military did not ask. The fact that she is lesbian was disclosed to the Airforce by the police officers of the Rapid City, South Dakota police department. And now, according to the Advocate, Newsome is filing a lawsuit against the police department for invasion of privacy.

The police apparently entered the home of Newsome with a warrent for the arrest of her partner on theft charges. While searching through their home they found the marriage license of the two. Newsome and her partner had visited Iowa and gotten married after the state became the fifth one in the country to allow same-gender couples to legally do so.

The police officers took it upon themselves to then contact the Airforce and disclose the fact that Newsome was a lesbian and that she had married her partner. Now I don't know about you but I want to know how that falls into the realm of "due process." And now the chief of the police department is defending his men by saying they were well within their rights by contacting the Airforce and sharing this information.

Actions like this one against Newsome are discriminative and they target the LGBT community. And it looks like were just supposed to lie down and take this abuse. Well I'm thankful that Newsome is taking action. When will this country wake up and grant us the rights we deserve? When will we earn our equality? I'm still hopeful that it will happen under this administration but my hope fades a little more each day. My prayers are with Newsome and her partner. I hope their is some kind of positive outcome that results from this aweful mess.

Desmond Tutu on Hatred

Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu wrote an open-editorial to the Washington Post where he addressed the recent homophobic legislation proposed in Uganda. He addresses the policies of hatred being introduced perfectly yet eloquently. Please get into his post below.

Hate has no place in the house of God. No one should be excluded from our love, our compassion or our concern because of race or gender, faith or ethnicity -- or because of their sexual orientation. Nor should anyone be excluded from health care on any of these grounds. In my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied many of them fundamental human rights. We knew this was wrong. Thankfully, the world supported us in our struggle for freedom and dignity.

It is time to stand up against another wrong.

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people are part of so many families. They are part of the human family. They are part of God's family. And of course they are part of the African family. But a wave of hate is spreading across my beloved continent. People are again being denied their fundamental rights and freedoms. Men have been falsely charged and imprisoned in Senegal, and health services for these men and their community have suffered. In Malawi, men have been jailed and humiliated for expressing their partnerships with other men. Just this month, mobs in Mtwapa Township, Kenya, attacked men they suspected of being gay. Kenyan religious leaders, I am ashamed to say, threatened an HIV clinic there for providing counseling services to all members of that community, because the clerics wanted gay men excluded.

Continue reading the entire article here.