Born This Way: Born Bad

For decades activists have worked tirelessly to spread the message that sexual orientation is not a choice—a fight that Lady Gaga took to pulsing heights in 2011 with her hit anthem “Born This Way.” And over time, the message has begun to take hold. While in 1985 only about 20% of Americans believed that people are born gay, that figure more than doubled to around 47% in 2015, according to the Pew Research Center.

But what if teaching that gay people are “born that way” isn’t the most effective way to erase homophobia? A new study reveals that even those who believe sexual orientation is not a choice can be homophobic—just as those who know race is not a choice can be racist. Do activists, community leaders, and even parents need to tweak their message?

For the study, published in the Journal of Counseling Psychology, researchers from the University of Tennessee and University of Missouri-Colombia recruited 645 college students to answer questions about their beliefs involving sexual orientation. Respondents were presented with statements such as “It is impossible to truly change one’s sexual orientation,” then asked to rate each statement’s validity on a scale of one to five, with one being “strongly disagree” and five being “strongly agree.” Others statements included:

• “Sexual orientation is a category with distinct boundaries: A person is either gay/lesbian or heterosexual.”
• “People who share the same sexual orientation pursue common goals.”
• “It’s useful to group people according to their sexual orientation.”

Based on their answers, participants were given scores in the four categories below. The higher the score in a category, the more the person endorsed that particular belief:

1. Discreteness: Sexual orientation groups are clear and have and non-overlapping boundaries. Thus being gay makes you completely different than being bi or being straight.
2. Homogeneity: Believing that members of a certain sexual orientation are all similar to one another.
3. Naturalness: Belief that someone did not choose their sexual orientation, but rather they are born that way.
4. Informativeness: By knowing someone’s sexual orientation (SO) you can glean other information about them. In other words, their identity is tied to their SO.

   
The researchers discovered that many participants scored very high on the naturalness scale—meaning they endorsed the idea that being gay is not a choice. However, many simultaneously scored high in the other categories, which measured “homonegative” beliefs.

So what does this reveal? People may be fine saying, “sure, they’re born that way”—but they may also hold beliefs that suggest that being gay makes someone fundamentally different as a human, and thus opens the door for prejudice and discrimination..

“We found that most of respondents believe that sexual minorities are ‘born that way,’ and that sexual orientation is not changeable,” Patrick Grzanka, a professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee and the study’s co-author, told me over e-mail. However, he continued, “We found that people who are high in all four of these beliefs were more likely to be straight, and that people high in all four of these beliefs were more likely to be homophobic.” ...

Fusion.

It's also a great example of people picking a belief that they find the easiest to live with.

No-one really has a clue what makes us gay.

Billboard: "Heroes"

Presented without comment, as Reg and Stef are Christ-like figures and beyond criticism.

Lady Gaga: How Thick?

Gaga shared a photo on Instagram Sunday from the balcony of her Chicago apartment overlooking what appears to be a huge gathering of people down below.

“Watching over Chicago Pride from my apartment and smiling so big,” the “Born This Way” singer, 29, wrote. “So many happy people. Happy pride!”

In the image, Gaga goes shirtless, instead bearing the words “Gay Pride” across her chest and stomach.

The issue? The singer wasn’t anywhere near the city’s pride parade. The gathering was in fact the Chicago Mariachi and Folklórico Festival.

The event, honoring the Mexican folk music, was held at the recognizable Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park.

The parade, however, took over the city’s Uptown and Lakeview neighborhoods...

People.

Lady Gaga: Useful Idiot

Lady Gaga got some breathless media praise for singing Imagine at the opening ceremony of the European Games in Azerbaijan.

Weird how that praise only started getting published on June 16th though, given that the opening ceremony actually took place on the 12th.

And doubly weird how all the showbiz news outlets had exactly the same reaction. Hers was a "stunning version", which would "give you chills".

MTV - "Stunning... chills"
Mashable - "Stunning"
Buzzfeed - "Chills"
News Cult "Stunning"
Zimbio - "Stunning"
Eonline - "Chill-inducing"

You'd almost think PRs for Gaga and Azerbaijan were so keen for people to gloss over the human rights issues being raised by the games that they sent out a press release to people they knew would just rehash their words without any question or comment, wouldn't you?

Popbitch.

PS Tony Blair Azerbaijan PR guy.

Thought For The Day: Stephen Sondheim

“Ageing is no fun. My memory isn’t sharp. All your energies diminish. You don’t want to make any more friends than you’ve made and they’re all dying anyway. You want to leave the house less. I don’t want to even leave the couch to go to the next room. I rode a bike to Broadway for 20 years. You get to know every pothole in New York. Watch me climb the stairs and you’ll know I’m an old man climbing the stairs. That also happens at the piano.”

Stephen Sondheim in The Times.

Stephen also talks about his hatred of jukebox musicals and Lady Gaga ('a travesty'), and his sex dungeon - contrary to rumour he says he doesn't have one.

The Gay Gene: Born This Way?

An estimated 3 per cent of the population are lesbian or gay. Is it genetic – a biological 'accident of birth' predetermined in the womb – or could it be a choice? In other words, is sexual preference a social construction, or are we simply born that way?

With the gay rights agenda still very much in the news this question lies at the heart of the current debate. Join us as we explore these questions with our panel, chaired by Guardian writer Kira Cochrane and hear both sides of an issue that continues to polarise opinion.

The Guardian.

In answer to your question.

Nobody has the foggiest idea.
Anyone who claims they know is a liar.
Perhaps human understanding will never reach the point where we can answer this question.
People - gay or anti-gay - often just choose the option they feel most comforting.
This is an amusing parlour game, no more, no less.
No rational person would think it should have any impact on how gay people are treated.
Thanks for asking.

Panelists include Julie Bindel and Peter Tatchell - don't all rush at once.

Surprised they didn't ask that intellectual titan, Lady Gaga.

Why I'm glad I have the gay gene, Theo Merz, Telegraph, June 11th...

Haters, as is their wont, continue to hate, saying that if homosexuality is genetic, it’s nothing more than a birth defect. They add that if a gene can be isolated, removing it becomes easier. At the other end of the spectrum, among my London-based, 20-something gay and straight friends, the reaction is largely: who cares? Why this obsession with cracking a possibly non-existent gay code? As the actress Cynthia Nixon, who is married to a woman, commented on an earlier study, “It doesn’t matter if we flew here or we swam here, it matters that we are here”.

But while, as they’d say on the BBC, other gay opinions are available, I find the idea of a biological basis for my homosexuality extremely comforting. For me, the fact that we were born this way remains a convenient truth to fall back on in moments of self-doubt.

See? Told you.

Note the excited squeal with which Queerty reported the latest research...

And note the unwittingly ironic sub-header, 'Blinded with science'.

Lady Gaga: Born This Crooked

'I think if I had a brain it would be roundabout here.'

EXCLUSIVE: Don’t get me wrong: I like Lady Gaga and her parents. But celebrities probably shouldn’t start charitable foundations. Now the latest federal tax report is in for Lady Gaga’s Born this Way Foundation, and it’s not good news. Despite spending $348,000 in 2012 on their outreach bus tour, the Born this Way Foundation otherwise managed to fritter away around $1.5 million on legal fees, publicity, and a website.

The foundation, which lists Gaga’s lovely mom, Cynthia Germanotta, as president, had a lot of expenses in 2012 that had nothing to do with helping anyone. They spent $300,000 on “Strategic Consulting (web, digital),” $62,836 on “Stage Productions (Harvard, LA, UN),” $50,000 on “Social Media,” and another almost $50,000 on “Event Coordination.”

What?

Born this Way also spent: $808,661 on “other”; $406,552 on “Legal”; $150,000 on “Philanthropic Consulting”; $60,000 on “research”; 58,768 on “Publicity fees”; $78,000 on “travel”. They spent $72,000 on salaries– presumably for running the Born this Way bus, although that episode had its own expense line.

Under ‘grants to organizations or individuals”: $ 5000. Five thousand dollars.

They claimed net assets of $2.1 million. Donations came to $2.6 million, up from $1.4 million in 2011. But there’s no detailed listing of contributors or donations. I suspect most of the money came from Lady Gaga’s earnings. Where it went, and why it went there, is a mystery still.

On top of that, it looks like Lady Gaga loaned Born this Way over $10,000 to pay expenses.

Meantime, it’s unclear that anyone was really helped by the Born this Way Foundation other than lawyers, consultants, publicists and travel agents.

Gaga would have been better served just writing a check to the Elton John AIDS Foundation. It would have done more good, and quickly.

Showbiz 411.

Well at least furry yummy rugby player Ben Cohen isn't a total crook. 

Let's have a look at his Stand-Up Foundation's accounts again!

Thought For The Day: Boy George

“If it had been a gay rapper that had done Same Love I think it probably wouldn’t have had the same impact. It’s a weird thing about our culture. I think Same Love is a great record, I don’t care if he’s straight or gay, it doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter, but unfortunately it does.

“If you’re gay doing that song people think you’re preaching. No, it’s my life. It’s the same as a guy speaking about his girlfriend. For some reason when you’re gay people think you only talk about being gay. I don’t, actually. My sexuality takes up about three hours a month. At a push. And I’m sure that’s the same for a lot of straight people. If you look at how much you actually get down to business it’s really not as much of a priority as people think it is.”

“Born This Way? You’re a straight woman. But whatever. You’ve got to like her for liking us. That’s nothing to condemn someone for. She’s pro-gay, she loves her gay brothers and sisters and I’m sure she employs a lot of queens, with all the stylists and hairdressers. I find her hilarious, I love her antics, arriving in an egg or on a horse. She puts a lot of hard work into her razzle dazzle.”

news.com.au

Gotta love Boy George. x

One Direction: Fan Fury After Liam Tweets He Quite Likes A TV Show!

Liam Payne has defended a tweet to 'Duck Dynasty's' Willie Robertson saying he supports their family values.

The One Direction singer wrote on Twitter: "@williebosshog huge love to you/your family huge respect for your business prosperities and the family values you still all behold. big fan."

Fans were quick to express their anger and the singer responded shortly after insisting he doesn't agree with everything they say.

He wrote: "Being a fan of someones show and the way they still hold a family together doesnt mean i am ok with all they say."

Fans were furious with the initial comment and YouTube personality Tyler Oakley wrote: "Wow. Very confused and disappointed by this @Real_Liam_Payne. This literally changes everything..."

@aurosan added: "Well, we already got our fake apology/explanation from @Real_Liam_Payne. That was fast. Straight people are on fire this week."

Mirror.

Liam is currently Fagburn's favourite member of One Direction. I think he has nice hair. Thanks for asking.

Lady Gaga: An Idiot Speaks Out

"I don’t think that we should be going to the Olympics at all.
"I mean I would never take anything away from their hard work, I just think it is absolutely wrong for so many countries to send money and economy in the way of a country that doesn't support gays."

Oh, do shut up, you great big collossall idiot.
What do you know about this?
Or, indeed, about anything.
Lady Gaga actually thinks they arrest people just for being gay in Russia; "I screamed ‘I’m gay, arrest me’ on stage last time I was there."
Do you think this royal fuckwit could even point to Russia on a map?
And Lady Goo Goo Muck is so stunningly clueless about which she speaks she thinks Tom Daley will be competing in the Sochi Winter Olympics!

"It made me very sad to see the pain that some of the gay kids are in in Russia, and for the world to send their finest for the Olympic.
"I can’t, it just feels so wrong and sad. I hate saying that, because I’m so excited for those like Tom Daley to go and to win and to rejoice."

Diving On Ice anyone?

PS If you don't know the first thing about something, then it's probably best not to comment - just a thought.

Lady Gaga: Totes Gaga

The horror! The horror!!!

Lady Gaga: "I Don't Think..."

“I don’t think we should be going to Russia for the winter Olympics, thats my personal opinion. I care so much about these issues and I don’t think we should be bringing any commerce to a country which enforces such a lack of equality and a lack of human rights. A country where so much abuse of youth is happening, how can we bring so much attention to that part of the world and reward them for that? For me it’s shocking, then again everyone thinks Miley Cyrus is shocking and thats the world we live in…” 

Lady Gaga - one of the leading political thinkers of our age - talking to The Sun.

Obviously the multi-millionaire American superstar loonbag's words carry more weight than all the gay Russians who don't want a boycott.
We should take what Lady Gaga - of "I don’t think we should be bringing any commerce to a country which enforces such a lack of equality and a lack of human rights" fame - says particularly seriously as she's still selling her own music in Russia. 
Oops!
And in December La Gaga happily played in St Petersburg - knowing full well it had introduced its own law against "gay propaganda".
Unbelievable.
Is this the most stupid "political" campaign ever?
Paint your toenails rainbow if you agree. 

Sochi 2014: Drama

Most playwrights spend months, or even years, labouring over their work. But not Tess Berry-Hart, who was given just two and a half weeks to write a pioneering new play chronicling the lives of LGBT Russians living under the country's anti-gay laws.

The play, Sochi 2014, will be staged tonight and tomorrow at the King's Head Theatre in north London, but rehearsals are only due to start this morning. In a British theatrical first, the play will be based on 20 verbatim accounts from LGBT Russians...
The playwright told The Independent on Sunday she got involved because she supports "people's fight for equality." She said there is no single Russian "gay experience", but hopes that by looking at a "cross-section of stories," she will give a "true picture" of what is happening in Russia, where it is now a criminal offence to promote non-heterosexual relationships...

The play follows intense pressure from figures such as Stephen Fry to boycott the Winter Olympics, to be held in Sochi next year. But Berry-Hart said her own opinion on this issue changed after speaking to Russians, many of whom "want the Games to increase visibility and solidarity for them instead"...

Independent On Sunday.

Obviously, The Independent's coverage of Russia is not influenced by their billionaire owner, Alexander Lebedev, being a political foe of Putin. 
Or by the chair of Independent newspapers, his flamboyant and colourful etc etc son, Evgeny.

• Sochi 2014 at the King's Head Theatre. All profits admirably will go to Spectrum, the Russian LGBT human rights group.

Alternatively you could go to Cold War, a benefit party in London today raising money for... Peter Tatchell.
A club night in Brighton next Friday, No Crime No Punishment, will be showing solidarity with LGBT Russians by giving all their proceeds - again, not to any Russian group - but to All Out - the beyond pointless and hardly impoverished American passive activism clicktivist e-petition website.
You couldn't make it up etc etc...

Balls: In The Absence Of News

The Sun celebrates Silly Season's peak - nay, its absolute ZENITH - by running a photo gallery of players of the footyball playing with their balls.
Exciting times!

PS In today's other exciting non-news, Lady Gaga goes to a gay bar - for ten minutes. God bless you, ma'am!

Russia: Which One Of Us Is Gaga?

Russian officials are considering prosecution against Lady Gaga andMadonna after discovering they entered the country under incorrect paperwork.

The office of Russia's prosecutor general has issued a statement confirming that neither singer obtained an appropriate visa prior to performing there last year. Madonna, who played in August 2012, and Gaga, who appeared in December, travelled under cultural-exchange visas. These documents "do not grant their bearers the right to engage in any commercial activity," authorities said. According to the Russian legal information agency, prosecutors are now considering asking Russia's foreign ministry or federal migration service to press charges.

As any foreigner who has visited Moscow will know, Russian immigration can be extremely complicated. But Gaga and Madonna's mistakes weren't just discovered by accident: prosecutors launched their investigation only after being contacted by one of the singers' most outspoken enemies.

The man in question was Vitaly Milonov, who serves in St Petersburg's municipal legislature and authored St Petersburg's law banning gay "propaganda" – a model for recent legislation passed by the Duma. AfterGaga and Madonna spoke in support of LGBT issues at their 2012 concerts, Milonov tried to pursue them in court for "promoting sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality and transgenderism among minors". These claims were unsuccessful...

The Guardian.

Another outrage by the evil Russkies!

I will be protesting this tomorrow by not performing as Yuri The Clown in the Moscow State Circus.

NB Previous attempts to prosecute Madonna in Russia have garnered much publicity - surely their real purpose - then quietly fizzled out.

Update: Lady Gaga has been tweeting her support for gay people in Russia.
You're in big trouble now Putin!

Lady Gaga: Absolutely Gaga

Built by TechHAUS, the technological branch of HAUS OF GAGA, the app itself is a musical and visual engineering system that combines music, art, fashion, and technology with a new interactive worldwide community -- "the auras". Altering the human experience with social media, we bring ARTculture into POP in a reverse Warholian expedition.

Exploring Gaga's existence as a cultural interface, the user will share in the 'adrenaline of fame' as they build and share their own projects, chat with one another, and watch in real-time on a virtual globe as ARTPOP explodes onto the physical and virtual universe at once on November 11, our "BIG BANG!" On this day HAUS OF GAGA venges with forte to bring the music industry into a new age; an age where art drives pop, and the artist once again is in control of the 'icon',

In turn, the album ARTPOP musically mirrors Gaga's creative process as she passes through the mediums of each artist she collaborates with, scoring a blueprint of her journey. The result, a "rage" of electronic passion and fury, defining each artistic process from beginning to end, ARTPOP could mean anything. But for her, this is a celebration of obsession. And on November 10, she will host an evening of artRave exhibiting Haus of Gaga's projects as well as collaborations with

Inez & Vinoodh Robert Wilson Marina Abramovic Jeff Koons

Lady Gaga's Facebook page.

Absolutely unfuckingbelievable.
My friends, the world is fucked.

Thought For The Day: Kelly Osbourne

"I loved Gaga. I totally believed in everything she stood for, until I realised she's a great big hypocrite. Don't say, 'When you see bullying intervene.' While letting your fans send me death threats. If my fans did that I would not stand for it. You can say whatever you want with your millions of monsters. I know the truth. Your bells and whistles mean nothing to me. You're feeding on the freaks and geeks to further your career? Do you really care about the gay community? Because if you did , you'd stand up for it more than you do."

Kelly Osbourne interviewed by Cosmopolitan, quoted in The Mirror.
Anyone who slates the one-woman idiotfest that is Lady Gaga is a friend of mine...

Update: Also do not miss the thoughtful thoughts of the gay one from Union J on gay marriage! Wow.

Update2: Peter Robinson on Pop Star Twitter wars - and how Zayn from One Direction's mum has waded into the fray! 

Update3: And Max from The Wanted says on TV Louis from 1D might be gay!!! 
Exciting times, dudes.

Gay News: Barf Time Again

A gay man, who was openly gay, has died after drowning in a tidal wave of sentimental vomit, Fagburn can reveal.
Although as yet unconfirmed by doctors, who are openly gay, it is thought this may be another teen suicide related to the sheer pukey awfulness of all those It Gets Better videos posted on YouTube.
Doctors say this exercise in vanity and insincerity may have finally pushed him over the edge.
"We just don't understand this," said his friend, Steve, a gay man who is openly, openly gay.
"He seemed really happy with whatever he was given.
"He always liked watching those YouTube videos they post on gay websites where some posh high school kids do one of those unbelievably fucking annoying flashbomb things to a Lady Gaga song, or ones of some hired killers in Afghanistan lipsynching to Call Me Maybe.
"It's not like he didn't see enough photos of rich gaymarried couples having fun in a park with their trophy baby, either.
"Gay wedding dances, people who film their own coming out and post it online - so brave! - he adored them all.
"And those gay soldier dudes who did bumming - he loved them, too.
"This - quite literally - makes no sense."

Fagburn: A Christmas Wish

I hope every boy, who has something inside him screaming to get out, knows how much people love him.

PS I know this is old, I know it's Gaga - but it cracks me up, so shut the fuck up.

PPS No idea why it says he "wows all the girls". They look rather bored. But obviously cause he was 13 when this was recorded we can't suggest he's a screaming gay lord. I hate this world so much. 

Twitter: 2012's Most Followed LGBTs

From Advocate online where there's a full list.

Apart from Eleen, this, my friends, only adds to my interesting new theory that the world may - just possibly - be fucked.