Orlando: 49

Anderson Cooper reads the names, remembers the victims, breaks down.

Gus Kenworthy: As Thousands Cheer! 3

Gus Kenworthy is Thanking @AndersonCooper for His New Hair https://t.co/cuwqrNVAcB pic.twitter.com/OMbskMWYNS

— Towleroad (@tlrd) December 16, 2015

Breaking: Man has haircut!

Alec Baldwin: Goodbye Public Life

Now I loathe and despise the media in a way I did not think possible. I used to engage with the media knowing that some of it would be adversarial, but now it’s superfluous at best and toxic at its worst. If MSNBC went off the air tomorrow, what difference would it make? If the Huffington Post went out of business tomorrow, what difference would it make? Arianna Huffington accomplished what she wanted to accomplish. She created this wonderful thing. And what have they done with that? They want clicks, I get it. They’ve gotta have clicks for their advertisers, so they’re going to need as much Kim Kardashian and wardrobe malfunctions as possible. The other day, they had a thing on the home page about pimples. Tripe. Liberal and conservative media are now precisely equivalent.

I’m aware that it’s ironic that I’m making this case in the media—but this is the last time I’m going to talk about my personal life in an American publication ever again.

From a very, very long open letter on Vulture by Alec Baldwin, following accusations of homophobia - or rather of using homophobic language - last year, "by Andrew Sullivan, Anderson Cooper, and others in the Gay Department of Justice".

He's kinda right. Seems you can't say a bad word - like 'queen' FFS!!? - without the pink witch-hunters lighting their torches. 

NB He doesn't say he's retiring, as some have claimed.

Anderson Cooper: On Reflection

A man is a man is a man is a man.
And a man should be free to say what he wants to be.
Or to say nothing, equally.
If he chooses to stay silent in this world, what are we?
Fuck the gay bourgeoisie and their right-wing snobbery;
"Why can't all people be as great as me?"
Fuck you.
Fuck me.

Breaking!: Anderson Cooper Is A Big Gay!!!

In a move that has literally sent shockwaves around the world, Anderson Cooper, who is now openly gay, has said he is gay.
The CNN presenter, who everyone knew was gay anyway, but who probably means fuck all to you if you don't live in America, said he was gay in an email to The Daily Beast.
He also "came out" as having grey hair.
CNN viewer Tom Madeupname told Fagburn: "This is a bombshell - who knew! I feel even more devastated than when I heard Ricky Martin likes it up the bum-bum from gentlemen."
The multi-millionaire scion of privilege was unavailable for further comment.
More when we hear it...

Virtual Reality: A Tale Of Two Cissies

ME AT NINE, PERFORMING TO MADONNA IN SUMMER '91! from Robert Jeffrey on Vimeo.

Two videos went viral last week in the gay blogosphere.
You may be bored of seeing the first by now, but I think it's interesting to compare and contrast it with the second.
Above is Robert Jeffrey's 'Me At Nine, Performing To Madonna In Summer '91'.
Everyone seems to think it's "ADORABLE!"
And it is - there's such a sense of joy about it.
And everyone loves joking about how surprised they were to hear that kid grew up to be a big ole queen.
Tee hee. No kidding!!



Doing the virtual rounds simultaneously was Anderson Cooper's three-part documentary for CNN, The Sissy-Boy Experiment.
Here's the story;
"In 1970, a five-year-old boy named Kirk Murphy was subjected to an ex-gay experiment. Under the care of Dr Ivor Lovaas and George Rekers, then a doctoral student, of UCLA, he underwent therapy to eliminate supposed effeminate behaviors.
"In 1974, Lovaas and Rekers jointly published a paper about the boy they renamed 'Kraig,' heralding his treatment for 'childhood cross-gender problems' a success and claiming he had been transformed from a gender-confused homosexual-in-waiting to a healthy, heterosexual young man. On the back of this study, Rekers built a career as an anti-gay activist and a supposed expert in childhood sexual development. He co-founded the Family Research Council and championed reparative therapy to turn gay men straight. In 2003, Kirk, aged 38 years old and gay, committed suicide."
Everyone seems to agree that that was fucking awful.
Why couldn't they let the kid be?
Robert Jeffrey's story has a happy ending - he's a successful scriptwriter and a proud gay man now.
Knowing that - and because he posted the Vogue video himself - gives people permission to talk about his younger self as a cissy.
Even though without that knowledge the kid is quite obviously a screaming little pansy.
But otherwise - as I think the Ronan Parke story showed recently - pointing out that a boy is a cissy is still seen as something terrible and taboo.
But surely it shouldn't be - unless you think being a cissy boy, and that a boy could grow up to be a gay man, is something terrible and taboo?

• See also the great Born This Way blog; "A photo/essay project for gay adults to submit childhood pictures and stories, reflecting memories & early beginnings of their innate LGBTQ selves..."

Bradley Manning: The Facebook Leaks

Whilst checking an article about Bradley Manning, Fagburn was surprised to see that his Facebook profile is still online.
Not sure if it's active as you can't Friend him or message him.
It's also set to; "People who aren't friends with Bradley see only some of his profile information."
Which makes you wonder how the private photos and posts from there that have appeared in the media were first accessed (Fagburn thinks the Daily Telegraph was first to publish them).
Anyone can still read the list of Bradley's 65 Likes, which include;
No On Prop 8, Repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell, Glee, Michelle Obama, Barney Frank, Gavin Newsom, Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans Of America, Stonewall Democrats, The Daily Show, Chelsea Handler, Dan Savage, and Anderson Cooper 360.
As ever, Bradley Manning is in our thoughts.

Eminem Vs Anderson Cooper: Whatever

Eminem was gentled prodded by Anderson Cooper on US show 60 Minutes last night.
Mr Mathers was thrown slightly on the defensive due to the current shitstorm following the spate of gay teen suicides over there.
"That word was thrown around so much, you know? 'Faggot' was, like, it was thrown around constantly, to each other, like in battling, you know what I mean?"... I don't have any problem with nobody, you know what I mean. Like, I'm just whatever."
Whatever.
The poor diddums also tried to paint himself as the victim, part of a persecuted majority.
"I felt like I was being attacked. Is it because of the colour of my skin? Is it because of that you are paying more attention? Because there are certain rappers that do and say the same thing that I'm saying and you don't hear anyone saying anything about that. I didn't just invent saying offensive things."
You can watch it thanks to Towleroad.

"Gay", Anderson Cooper and The Dilemma

Here's a story so packed with irony Fagburn might explode.
Huffington Post reports that Universal have deleted a scene from a trailer for new movie, The Dilemma, which opens with Vince Vaughn's opening line; "Ladies and gentlemen, electric cars... are gay".
(For the record - as you can see - the character then clarifies; "I mean, not homosexual, but my-parents-are-chaperoning-the-dance gay”, though I'm not sure what this changes, or indeed means).
The studio announced; "The teaser trailer for The Dilemma was not intended to cause anyone discomfort," the studio statement said. "In light of growing claims that the introduction to the trailer is insensitive, it is being replaced. A full trailer, which has been in the works for some time, will post online later today."
Anderson Cooper - a CNN presenter with a huge profile in the States - had condemned the use of the phrase in the trailer when he appeared on Ellen to talk about the recent gay teen suicides and anti-gay bullying.
"I was shocked that not only that they put it in the movie, but that they put that in the preview. They thought that it was OK to put that in a preview for the movie to get people to go and see it... I just find those words, those terms, we've got to do something to make those words unacceptable cause those words are hurting kids."
As you can see from the cavalcade of comments on this Queerty thread, rather a lot of gay men in the US think there's a glaring incongruity in Mr Cooper condemning homophobia, while appearing to collude with it by keeping one foot in the closet.
Still when he does come out, Cooper's been gifted a great line to break the non-news.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Anderson Cooper... is gay."