Hello Autostraddle! I’m glad to be curating another Sunday Funday for you. The weather is so fucking beautiful! Do you think we will have an Indian summer? I hope so. It’s always an Indian summer in my heart.
This week, like many weeks, all the good news fit to print is disproportionately about gay marriage! This seems timely since I just spent an hour telling people my plans to eventually be someone’s wife.
The Gay Marriage Music Video
Matt Nathanson’s video for “Modern Love” is about gay marriage because we’re so mod:
“People deserve to be free to love who they choose, without prejudice,” says Nathanson, who toured with Kelly Clarkson earlier this year. “The right to marry is an extension of this love. Until the time comes when this is no longer an issue in our culture, modern love will never be enough.”
Hip-Hop Is Still Getting Better
If you like hip-hop and/or gay people as much as I do, or maybe even 10 percent as much as I do, you might also love that “hip-hop artists confronting homophobia” is the newest trend story. Here’s another one from the Associated Press! Do you think we’re ready for a gay rapper? (Sidenote: I was ready two years ago when I became one.)
D.M.C. is skeptical about some of hip hop’s recent support of Ocean, since he believes homophobia is still rampant in the culture. Still, he is sure a homosexual hip-hop act will emerge.
“Of course there’s going to be a gay rapper.”
Minnesota’s Gay Marriage Battles
Did you know there may soon be a ban on gay marriage in Minnesota? This is bizarre to me because everyone I’ve met from the Midwest is so plum sweet. But there’s always good news to be found, you guys! ALWAYS!
+ This year in Minnesota, the state fair was a meeting ground for conservatives and liberals to discuss their feelings about gay marriage / people:
The campaigns both for and against the amendment debuted their Minnesota State Fair booths on its opening day Thursday. The fair, expected to draw 1.7 million visitors this year, has long been a must for political candidates and caucuses as its late August and early September dates coincide with the fall campaign kicking into high gear.
“We’ve been talking about this for months and months, but for a lot of people this is when they really start paying attention to politics,” said Kate Brickman, spokeswoman for Minnesotans United for All Families, which opposes the same-sex marriage amendment.
North Carolina Democrats Want Gay Marriage, So Do Other Democrats But Also These Ones Specifically
The Democratic National Convention is being held in North Carolina, where gay marriage is banned. Isn’t that awkward? Totally awkward. Democrats in the state are rallying around the convention as an opportunity to push for more civil rights and a new shot at gay marriage in the state:
“It’s an opportunity for the community to say, `Yes. The state may have passed an amendment limiting our liberties, but we’re going to keep fighting.’ This is an opportunity to show the community and ourselves that, you know what, we’re not down and out,” [David Webb, one of the pride festival’s organizers] said.
An Australian Rugby Player Also Wants Gay Marriage
David Pocock, a rugby star from Australia, pulled a Brangelina a while back and declared he wouldn’t get married until gay people could, too. Only he’s sticking to it! He has continued to speak out, and most recently participated in a panel for a program called Q and A which gave him a great platform to do so:
“We’re dealing with people here,” said Pocock. “And how can you blame someone for what they are? People don’t choose their sexuality. We marginalize the LGBTI community for what they are. So I think this is a conversation that needs to be had, and we need to discuss it compassionately and actually come to something that’s reasonable. And in my mind, that’s marriage for everyone, regardless of their sexuality.”
Rufus Wainwright Got Gay Married
Rufus Wainwright and Jorn Weisbrodt are officially gay married.
The Anglican Bishop Who Supports Gay Marriage
Bishop of Buckingham Alan Wilson is a father of five who has come out in support of gay marriage via a video for the Out4Marriage campaign. He serves in the Church of England as a senior bishop.
Fundraiser O’ The Week: FRINGE
Gayle Pitman of Sacramento City College wants to write a book. You should help her out!
My next book project is titled Fringe: On the Edges of the Mainstream Gay Community. In this book, I plan to explore the experiences of queer people who exist on the edges of the LGBTQ community – people who are bi, poly, kinky, HIV+, non-white, disabled, poor, intersex, trans, genderqueer, old, or otherwise on the fringes of the gay community. Fringe will be written in a science-journalism, narrative voice, incorporating interviews with people who are active in these communities – rap and hip-hop star Qui510, intersex activist Hida Viloria, trans writer and activist Max Wolf Valerio, and lesbian activist Phyllis Lyon, to name a few. Intended for a general audience interested in LGBTQ issues, Fringe would be the first book of its kind to weave together the various experiences of people in queer edge communities.
Evan Rachel Wood Bisexual and Miley Cyrus Are BFFs
Miley Cyrus, owner of one of the gayest haircuts on the planet, is now friends with Evan Rachel Wood, notorious bisexual. So she may not be gay, but she’s getting gayer by the minute.
Carry Me / Like You Are My Mother
This one month old anteater is being carried by his mom and I just totally can’t.
Oh my gosh, that anteater picture just melted my heart. And I now have way more reasons to listen to Matt Nathanson’s music.
DEAR AUTOSTRADDLE:
I know we are a small, loosely dominated state, but we are making history. Please someone mention the Marriage campaign in Maine. It’s historical.
http://www.mainersunited.org/pages/initiative
I used to be indifferent towards Miley Cyrus but since she verbalized her support for marriage equality I started liking her more and more.
Insert The Climb joke here
Me too. Also I totally never found her attractive before this haircut but now she’s looking kinda hot :)
I’ve been toying hard with the idea of getting an “alternative lifestyle haircut” these past few weeks…thanks for reminding me that Miley Cyrus has beaten me to the punch. Suddenly rethinking my plans…
ONE FOR RUGBY PLAYERS FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY!
My only exposure to Matt Nathanson is a duet he did with Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland. It’s such a good love song and not being a Country fan it’s really the only song I have liked by her. Go download it right now!
That’s some epic chest hair. Congrats to Rufus
I wuv that wittle baby anteater. Wuv.
This is such an accurate representation of my thoughts 10 sexonds ago.
I have no idea why that x appeared there. Maybe it’s a crossover from the NSFW Sunday tab I just opened.
dat video just gave me all the feels
Don’t forget about referendum 74.
Miley Cyrus has not only gayest haircut but short fingernails! :D
oh my god i did not even see that.
it’s like she’s showing us on purpose.
who gives the peace sign backwards??
WHAT IS SHE TRYING TO SAY.
Omg that kitten picture.
I can’t, really? Omg, IT’S LITTLE MOUTH BITING A FINGER, GNAWING ON IT WITH ITS MILK TEETH.
I die. I still can’t.
IKR. CATS. AM I RIGHT.
that puppy is awesome though <3
THAT VIDEO, so many feelings.
I don’t know how to deal with finding Miley Cyrus attractive.
Totally irrelevant to everything but does anyone recognize the locations in the video? My wife is especially excited to find where that windmill is…? :)
Totally went to the fair today, totally stood in line for ages at the Vote No Booth to buy cute v-neck “Vote No” t-shirts with my brother only to find that they were sold out and so we had to pre-order them. Sadly, we missed seeing the horseback square dancing. On the plus side, my love for Minnesota knows no bounds.
I’ve followed Alan Wilson on Twitter (https://twitter.com/alantlwilson) for awhile. He’s a bracing perspective on the mess that is the current Church of England(more entertaining for those of us on the other side of the Atlantic) and very sound in the general common sense department.
We spend a fair amount of time here bitching about people marginalizing and stereotyping LGBTQ humans (because they do), but aren’t we doing that too when we look at someone’s new short spiky hairdo and say “oh so-and-so got an ‘alternative lifestyle’ haircut. sooo gay”.
I personally don’t care who Miley’s screwing, but it does bug me that we’re stereotyping ourselves.
i think there’s something to be said for wanting to see a representation of ourselves in popular media. i know not all queers have short spiky hair, but it’s evocative of “baby’s first gay cut” or what many queer girls i know still wear. for me, my haircut was about differentiation from straight girls because i identify as somewhat femme.
while i agree with you that i want our collective idea of “lesbian” to be broader and more inclusive (i certainly don’t read as gay to the majority of people i meet), i do appreciate seeing something that i can relate to my life. the first girl i was physical with had that same haircut! i want to see the things i relate to in mainstream, and i feel like that’s a common feeling among the queer community. we want to see more of ourselves. maybe i’m wrong, but this is just my thought.
Ditto to everything you just said. To this day, I’m assumed straight until my girlfriend appears. We’ve joked that the collective “Ooohhhh….” from everyone in the room has become her intro music.
Also, short nails. Red flag #2. Jus’ sayin.
That vid was cute but, let’s get real, Bright Eyes did it better (First Day of My Life).
someone did a cover of first day of my life at a-camp and let’s be real i fell in love a little bit (then drunkenly told her so, then cried because i was worried i had betrayed my girlfriend.) guys everyone should go to a-camp, is what i’m saying.
Squee. I always like it when the sane CofE members get some attention…
Could be a bit obscure if you’re not in Ireland, but basically GAA is a very macho group of sports and a gay hurler made a really lovely speech http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0825/breaking27.html
I tried to buy a t-shirt at the Minnesota State Fair from Minnesotans United for Marriage Equality and I wasn’t able to because they sold out of almost all sizes and colors within the first two days of the fair. They said they had a HUGE line of people waiting to buy t-shirts, yard signs, and bumper stickers pretty much every day. Which is awesome! I was so happy to hear that.
I, personally, am not very hopeful about defeating this amendment since there is just SO much money on the other side…but I think if it’s going to happen anywhere, it will happen here. Minnesota is pretty awesome…we just have a lot of super rich conservative people in the outer ring suburbs of the Twin Cities.