Pics from the 20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York

Just wanted to say that.

Everytime I see pics of her at these events I always smile, remembering how she has been one of the first major straight performers to actively advocate for our rights and continues to do so tirelessly.

Besides, she totally rocks on Ugly Betty.  Thanks Judith for everything.

FB

In the commentary that won him the award he said he didn't have any close gay friends.  Kieth, I think you have a few now.

Nous Sommes Tous Sauvages.

It was a brutal hour. They took the entire gay media community to task for their coverage of the media. But hey, Tyra apologized for over using a word *rolls eyes*

Derek and Romaine's show was honored with an award for their 10 years since Matthew Shepard show and AE didn't want to interview them. Derek made himself available and the person from AE that he spoke with said he was busy and had to run...minutes later Derek saw the guy watching the show from above.

Sad, really. I know Derek and Romaine aren't as visible or important as Tyra and her "gay for pay" Exposés or seeing a person like Clay who slammed the gay community for three years, but the show they did for Matthew was fantastic. For those that are reading this and don't know, Romaine was personal friends with Matthew and she is the one who helped found Angel Action during the Fred Phelps protests. It's too bad that AE didn't think it was important enough to cover with an interview. If anybody is interested in hearing the program you can go here and listen to it for free.

And while I'm at it, this has nothing to do with AE, but Tyra Banks? Brad Pitt literally got the donation and PR machine kicked into overdrive for Prop 8. His supportive statements over the last year did more for the gay community than Tyra ever has. I don't get why they choose the people they do...Jennifer Aniston in previous years? Tyra Banks?

EDIT: Derek Blogged about it here. I mixed the AE encounter up a bit but I didn't want to change what I said in case it's already been viewed.

Update: Bilerico has reprinted Derek's Blog entry.

I would like to know exactly how Clay "slammed the gay community for three years"?  Is being an entertainer in the closet who refuses to talk about his/her personal life now considered a personal attack on the gay community?  To the contrary, Clay has always been very open & inclusive in his work to our people.  He's the first self-identifying Christian that I know of who's ever gone on national TV to say that God loves us all, gays included, & that no one should be discriminated against, especially by the religious community.  He's never had any problem employing gays or socializing with gays in a very public manner.  And it's known that he contributed to the campaign against Prop 8.  The only time he ever outright denied being gay was in the very first major interview of his career, 6 years ago, right after his stint in AMERICAN IDOL, when he wasn't even out to any of his family or close friends.  What I find destructive to our community is those who think they should be able to dictate the timeline of when another gay person should come out publicly.  This creates an atmosphere of discompassion, exclusion & just downright cruelty.  NO ONE should be dragged out before they are ready.  I can't think of one previously closeted celeb who's come out without first being in a committed relationship, or as Clay did, having a child.  Please name me one male artist who appeals primarily to women who's come out in the early years or even middle of his career?  Clay is the only one.  He's also the only single dad in Hollywood who's come out.  He's also the only mainstream Christian who's come out.  If there are others, I'd like to know.  Please stop the bashing of our own, telling lies about them, labeling them with your own agenda & committing your own form of bigotry.  Thank you.

"Remember when he was in the closet and threatened to sue people for telling the truth about him? Remember how he allowed and encourage the Claymates to cause trouble for people in the gay community, even to the point of almost getting them fired." 

Now this is just a downright lie.  This is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about.  Clay has never threatened to sue anyone.  Site your sources, please.  To the contrary, he has never uttered a bad word against anyone who has bashed him.  His fans have encouraged him to stick up for himself when he was getting crap from all sides, even from some of his fans, his peers & the gay community.  Yet he stood tall & took it all like a man, without any kind of striking back.  He has time & time again, asked, pleaded, even lectured his fans on jumping to his defense at every little slight.  And the truth is, the vast majority of them listened to him.  It was only a small, childish minority who jumped on those who dissed him.  Yet you choose to perpetuate the stereotype (which is what we're supposed to be against) that "the Claymates" did these things.  Most of Clays fans hate that word & that stereotype.  Do you like being called names & blamed for bad things other gays have done?  It's hypocritical & people like you need to just stop it. 

And there has only ever been ONE person who came out publicly - I won't repeat the scumbag's name.  By his own admission, he did it vindictively to try & destroy Clay's career because Clay did not want him as a boyfriend or even friend.  And who could blame Clay, if there's even any truth to the story?  The guy is an absolute wacko!  He's been stalking Clay for over 3 years, showing up at his concerts claiming Clay is singing to him & inviting him to sit with Clay's mom, blogging, tweeting, emailing everyone about how Clay raped him (yeah, that's the new twist to his ever changing story), posting pictures of Clay's mother's home & church, complete with addresses urging people to picket her & send subscriptions to gay porn, posting the address of Clay's new home in Raleigh, waiting outside the gated community to try to get pictures of Clay going in with men, attacking Clay's partner of the past 1.5 years, scouring fansites for photos of underage Clay fans & then posting them & ridiculing their looks (children!), threatening to send false eye witness testimony to Family & Child Services in Raleigh to try to get Clay's son taken from him.... THIS is the kind of lowlife you are portraying as some kind of "victim."  Please, Louise!  Clay has never said or done anything against this freak, yet the sociopath continues to try to make Clay's life a living hell.  He's only gone more ballistic since Clay's come out & been public with his dancer/model boyfriend.  His latest ploy is attacking the mother of Clay's child, Clay's closest friend & colleague, as a prostitute. 

"He's most certainly NOT the only mainstream christian to be out of the closet. I guess you just assume that all the other out celebs are non-Christian? Chad Allen, TR Knight, Jason and Demarco, Neil Patrick Harris, etc. Adam Lambert has mass appeal to women and he's out." 

Jason & Demarco are not mainstream at all, but when did any of these others claim to be living a Christian lifestyle?  Not to my knowledge.  You're using symantics & I'm talking about daily public acknowledgement.  And I should have said Christian entertainer, sorry.  But you can't be serious using actors like Neil & T.R. whose careers have nothing to do with pleasing women, as equal to a pop star with a predominantly female fanbase.  Get real.  Yeah, right.  Adam Lambert is starting already out, that's completely different.  Obviously, he had a different upbringing & became comfortable with himself at a younger age than Clay.  Good for him.  Even so, he has NEVER acknowledged his homosexuality on "American Idol."  NEVER, because he knows if/when he does, he will lose all kinds of middle-American votes.  Your analogies just don't fit the mold.  Now if Timberlake, Lachey, McCartney, Brown or Mathis, Sinatra, Vandross, Cassidy in their days had come out, we would have a problem closer to what Clay was going through.  George Michael was a huge sex symbol whose career completely tanked when he was caught hooking up.  Even Lance said his biggest reason for not coming out sooner was the fear of destroying his N'Sync buds careers.  And yet, none of them attracted such a large Christian following.  So Clay's situation was unique in & of itself. 

I think he handled it the best he could given his upbringing, lifestyle, family, friends & conservative fans.  Most of my gay pals came out gradually throughout their 20s - first to close friends, then close family, then extended family, then lastly to people involved in their careers.  That is basically exactly what Clay did.  My point is that we all have our own journey.  NO ONE should have to travel theirs to the dictates of anyone else following a different path.  I would hazard a guess that a good portion of the gays screaming for Clay to be dragged out before he & loved ones were ready are themselves still closeted at work.  My office is full of obviously gay men who NEVER talk about it except amongst themselves, because it is frowned upon & yes, it could cost someone a promotion or even employment in the long run.  Sad, but true.  It is very easy for some to be out & proud & very hard for others.  We all have our own circumstances to deal with.  The last thing we should be doing is picking apart the edited words of someone who's head we are not in, demanding that every celeb be fully out on our time schedule & bashing those who do find the freedom to come out because they didn't do it exactly the way we think they should.  There are hundreds, if not thousands, of famous musical artists, actors, TV personalities who haven't come out for DECADES.  Clay did it fairly early in his career compared to most.  However, if I were a closeted celeb & saw the way Clay was treated both before & after by the gay community, it would probably inspire me to stay even further back in the closet than ever.  We need to think before we bash our own.  It's not right & it's certainly not helping.