June 12, 2008
Governor & Mrs. Patrick “Embody the Perfect Combination of Leadership & Love,” Group Says
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) today applauded a groundbreaking interview, in Bay Windows newspaper, in which Katherine Patrick, daughter of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, talks openly for the first time about being the lesbian daughter of one of America’s most pro-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) leaders.
In an interview with Windows reporter Laura Kiritsy, Governor and Mrs. Patrick discuss their shared pride for their daughter and recount Katherine’s coming out experience at the Governor’s Mansion.
“[T]the first thing my dad did was, [he] wrapped me in a bear hug and said, ‘Well, we love you no matter what,” and the family shared a group hug. “And I’ve been closer to my parents since coming out than any other time, I think,” Katherine says.
“All of us at PFLAG congratulate Governor and Mrs. Patrick as they embrace their daughter and celebrate their family’s love,” said PFLAG national president John R. Cepek, who is the father of a gay son. “The Patricks embody the perfect combination of leadership and love and are role models not only for parents in Massachusetts, but for families across the country. Long before he knew he had a lesbian daughter, Governor Patrick was a leader on LGBT issues. He has set a policy and parental example that every father, and every elected leader, should aspire to follow.”
Massachusetts is one of only two states to officially recognize full marriage equality for same-sex couples. In 2007, the state legislature defeated a measure, following the historic Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling legalizing marriage, to amend the state’s constitution to ban such unions. The effort to defeat the measure was led, in large part, by Governor Patrick.
“[O]f course, he didn’t know I was gay then,” Katherine Patrick says in her interview this morning. “So, for someone so publicly to fight for something that doesn’t even affect him was just like, ‘That’s my dad,’ you know? That’s all I could think. I was very, very proud to be part of this family, and this state in general.”
This Saturday, Governor Patrick will join his daughter to march in the Boston Pride Parade.
“PFLAG extends a heartfelt invitation to the Governor and Katherine to join our local chapter in Saturday’s parade,” Cepek added. “We are proud to have them as part of the growing chorus of families who believe in loving all of our children equally, and just as they are.”
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Marriage Equality,
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Outing & Coming Out,
Press Releases
October 20, 2007
J.K. Rowling Outs Hogwarts Character
Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall.
After reading briefly from the final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” she took questions from audience members. She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds “true love.”
“Dumbledore is gay,” the author responded to gasps and applause.
Rowling, finishing a brief “Open Book Tour” of the United States, her first tour here since 2000, also said that she regarded her Potter books as a “prolonged argument for tolerance” and urged her fans to “question authority.”
Not everyone likes her work, Rowling said, likely referring to Christian groups that have alleged the books promote witchcraft. Her news about Dumbledore, she said, will give them one more reason.
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October 10, 2007
Press release:
LOS ANGELES, CA — October 9, 2007 - The gay rapper who challenged the hip hop community’s status quo of Homophobia, Deadlee, is back at it again. He’s launched a blog at Deadlee.com (Perez Hilton watch out), and is initiating the first ever WORLD KISS OUT DAY on December 1, 2007.
DEADLEE (website: www.deadlee.com), made headlines throughout the music industry following his announcement of the HomoRevolution Tour and his controversial comments about hip hop’s biggest alleged homophobes, Eminem, 50cent, and DMX earlier this year. He went on to appear on CNN, NPR, The Tyra Banks Show, and Howard Stern. He has been the subject of numerous articles and blogs from Rolling Stone to Wired to The Advocate and the local newspapers of almost every city His tour went to.
WORLD KISS OUT DAY was inspired by the actions of Marion A. Bolden, the Newark Public Schools superintendent. Bolden made the decision last June to use markers to black out a photo in East Side High School’s yearbook that showed two gay males engaged in a kiss. The yearbook featured heterosexual couples kissing. In addition, recent remarks by rapper Ja Rule who has blamed gays on MTV for “f^&king up America” have inspired the flagship gay rapper to take action.
“Many people accuse lesbian, gay and bisexual people of “flaunting” their sexuality when they talk about their partner, hold hands or kiss one another in public,” says Deadlee. “These are activities that heterosexual couples do all the time. Due to homophobic reactions, some lesbian, gay and bisexual people are actually forced to hide their sexuality in public, not flaunt it. DECEMBER 1ST 2007 - WE HIDE NO MORE”.
In 2008, The World Kiss Out Day will be October 1, 2008 to mark the beginning of LGBT Month. Rather than skip 2007, the day will be observed on December 1, 2007, which is the same day as World AIDS Day.
“This one year, I think we can have both on the same day,” speculates Deadlee. “The magnitude of the AIDS epidemic will not be diminished by a kiss. Observances and actions can exist on the same day.”
For more information on World Kiss Out Day, please go to www.myspace.com/worldkissout or www.deadlee.com
See also:
Newark School Supe Orders Gay-Kiss Blackout. Literally.
Gay-Kiss-O-Phobe School Supe Forced to Eat Crow
Ja Rule Isn’t Homophobic. Also: The Earth Is Flat.
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October 9, 2007
No, it’s not just that he refuses to come out — as gay, or straight, or bi. No, it’s not just his criminal fashion sense, or even his butt-ugly hair. It’s that he would perform for a hate-filled, anti-gay church, no matter what his own sexuality.
Or, as Duncan puts it: “My question is why would Clay Aiken agree to perform at such a bigoted venue? Especially after being subjected to such a personal ‘inquisition’.”
One guess: He doesn’t give a damn about his gay fans (assuming he has any left, that is).
The story, from the breathless Teen Television:
Idol Star Aiken Caught Up In Church Gay Controversy
American Idol star Clay Aiken is caught up in another gay controversy after parishioners at a church where he is set to perform a Christmas concert demanded assurances the singer isn’t a homosexual.
Aiken’s sexuality hit the headlines last year when a former Green Beret soldier revealed he had spent a night of passion with the crooner, but Aiken refused to discuss the issue when it came up in interviews.
Then, fans threatened to file a class action suit against the singer if it was proven he was gay.
And now, elders at a Wichita, Kansas church want to make sure the singer is heterosexual before green-lighting plans for him to perform for their congregation on November 26th.
. . .
[Executive pastor Mark Posson] avoided the gay issue, declaring Aiken was a Christian who didn’t “drink, smoke, swear or womanise”.
The clergyman also recalled interviews Aiken gave to Rolling Stone magazine and an internet site, in which he stated he was not gay.
Ya gotta love Posson’s half-baked thinking: The church demands Aiken declare his heterosexuality, while Posson praises Aiken for not being a womanizer.
If he’s gay, he wouldn’t be a womanizer, would he? So what does the church want him to do — start shagging chicks to prove he’s straight, and then ask for forgiveness? Would that work? 
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September 10, 2007
Mike Rogers writes:
In the Summer of 2004, I began to share my frustration about closeted, anti-gay politicians and high-level staffers with my friends and acquaintances. During those chats and in strategy talks about the launch of the site — many with my blogfather John Aravosis — friends and colleagues always used the word ‘outing.’
At the time, I did not know that Michelangelo Signorile had written about the origins of the word and that its etymology shows the word was coined by a closeted gay man. Signorile, of course, is the godfather of modern day reporting of these stories. In the early 1990s edgy publications like OutWeek, took on these under reported stories — with Signorile leading the way. As ACT-UP! was shaking up AIDS activism, Signorile was using the press to move his message — and at a time without the luxury or speed of the web. His work helped motivate the founding of Queer Nation, an organization dedicated to, among other things, the reporting of closeted public figures.
You can’t do what I do and not consider Michelangelo Signorile a pioneer and hero to more than one generation of gay activists. In 2003, Signorile wrote on the word ‘outing’ in Gay City News:
The word was coined by a major closet case, William Henry III, a critic at Time magazine who is now deceased. He claimed that some gay journalists–yes, including yours truly–were doing this terrible new thing, revealing gay public figures’ homosexuality, and he claimed that some gay activists had dubbed it ‘outing.’ The word stuck, though some of us hated its violent and special connotation–we preferred simply calling it reporting.
Of course, Michelangelo is 100% correct. And back in March of 2005 I said I’d no longer use the word. I’ve been slipping up. A lot. …
And some people probably thought he meant he really wasn’t going to do any more outing. 
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Outing & Coming Out
Sessions ad lands in surprising location
A Web site best known for “outing” gay members of Congress is not where you would expect to see a campaign ad for U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile. But that’s exactly where you could find one last Tuesday: a four-line pitch on www.blogActive.com/ touting Sessions’ service to Alabama.
The blogActive site is run by Mike Rogers, a gay activist in the nation’s capital who has won new-found notoriety for raising questions last year about the sexual orientation of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig , R-Idaho.
. . .
“It’s not where we want to advertise at all,” Sessions campaign spokesman Chuck Spurlock said last week in response to Press-Register inquiries. But Google matches ads to sites where certain words appear, he said. The campaign has since blocked the ad from further appearances on Rogers’ site, he said.
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