DON'T ASK DON'T TELL "OKAYED" by OBAMA and SUPREME COURT. TONY AWARDS GAY GAY GAY!

June 8, 2009
The Obama Administration asked the Supreme Court to let the demeaning anti-gay “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” military directive stand and the justices agreed? What the hell is going on? Barack Obama promised to repeal the policy, but has been steadily dragging his feet.

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Photo of former Nat Guard Lt. Dan Choi who was fired under Don't Ask Don't Tell
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The administration also said it still won’t intervene to stop honest gays and lesbians from being dismissed, in spite of a recent statement by Obama that gays have a friend in the White House and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent vow to fight discrimination against LBGT people around the world. What about here at home? The Servicemember's Legal Defense Network notes there have been 238 discharges based on this shameful policy since Obama was sworn in. Here’s a link to a Yahoo News story about this travesty.

Photo of living legend Liza Minnelli accepting the Best Special Theatrical Event Tony for Liza's at The Palace

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On a brighter note, could the Tony Awards, complete with Elton John and Liza Minnelli, have been any gayer? I mean, after all, three twinks who wear tutus and dance ballet, won Best Actor in a Musical!
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Photo of openly gay Neil Patrick Harris hosting the 63rd annual Tony Awards 6-7-09

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Not that I’m complaining. I loved it all, especially Neil Patrick Harris’s amazing song rendition at the end summing up the evening as gay, gay, gay.

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David Hyde Pierce with his husband Brian Hargrove photo

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Even David Hyde Pierce got in on the act when he was introduced as coming out for the second time, a reference to his recent public revelation that he is gay. (On 5/28/2009, he revealed on The View that he and his partner of 25 years, Brian Hargrove, were married 10-24-08).

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Photo of writer/singer Elton John with Billy Elliot Best Actor stars David Alvarez, Kiril Kulish and Trent Kowalik and Billy Elliot staff

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Although my main man Gavin Creel of Hair lost, I thoroughly enjoyed the show.

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Photo of Neil Patrick Harris and lover David Burtka at Broadway Backwards 3 LGBT Benefit 2-4-08

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The Nielsen ratings for the CBS broadcast were the best since 2006. Here’s a New York Times list of all the Tony Award winners.
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TV Chef Gordon Ramsay, is in trouble with his network for sexist and obscene remarks he made about a female Australian journalist, Tracy Grimshaw, calling her a “dyke” and a pig. His highly rated shows, Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares, which I’ve never liked, given all he does is demean and scream at his underlings, are carried by the Fox Broadcasting network. They signed him for two additional seasons last September, so you might say Fox is stuck. Unless they can get out of it for breach of contract or a morals clause or some such. In any case, I imagine he’ll lose a large part of his audience, even though he now says the rant was all a “joke.”
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Photo of an unhappy Heidi Montag-Pratt on the set of I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!

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TMZ.com reports, The Hills starlet Heidi Pratt was abused by NBC to the point she was "convulsively throwing up" and developed a gastric ulcer on the set of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here. Pratt claimed she was confined to a dark room for over 24 hours and fed only water, rice, and beans after she and husband, Spencer Pratt, decided to leave the show. One cast member reportedly told TMZ that the two were treated like detainees at "Guantanamo Bay." Heidi was transported to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with an ulcer.

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Photo of Heidi and Spencer Pratt in happier days on The Hills

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According to TMZ, her husband plans to sue NBC over the show. TMZ said some of the cast members want to quit, but their passports have been taken away and they are under guard. Paul Telegdy, NBC's Exec VP of Alternative Programming, supposedly told Ryan Seacrest they held Heidi and Spencer in isolation as punishment. "They are now going to be examined, and their value system utterly deconstructed,” he said. “These people really are going to bare their souls." What the hell? Sounds like sadomasochism to me and I don’t even like the Pratts. Here’s a link to the whole story.
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Update: NBC denies they were tortured. I suspect the whole thing is a publicity stunt because an anonymous source told MSNBC.com, “We can’t comment on her medical condition, but all will be revealed on the June 8 episode.” That's tonight! Not that I'm going to watch or anything. Here’s a link to that article.
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The New York Post says Katherine Heigl, the blonde star of Grey’s Anatomy, has been dropped from an ensemble cast of the romantic comedy Valentine's Day because she demanded three million dollars. The film stars Julia Roberts, Jennifer Garner, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Shirley MacLaine and Bradley Cooper and because each actor had to work less than two weeks, none of them asked for such high salaries. A spokesperson for Heigl denied the report, saying she walked away from the project for “multiple reasons.”
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Photo of Katherine Heigl winning an Emmy for Grey's Anatomy in 2007

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Heigl also caused an uproar when she withdrew her name from consideration from last year's Emmy, dising the Grey's Anatomy writers by saying, "I do not feel I was given the material this season to warrant a nomination," even though she snagged an Emmy the year before, in 2007. Here’s a link to the entire NYPost story.

Don't forget Season 5 of super-gay-friendly Kathy Griffin's Bravo show, My Life on the D-List premiers tonight at 9:00 central. The network has been running a marathon of her hilarious shows all day.

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Photo of dwarf red Victor Crepe Myrtle lagerstroemia indica from the author's free flower photo website http://www.freefishcaretips.com/photos130

Also visit http://www.galechesterwhittington.com for free short stories, poems, and book excerpts from the award-winning gay author

==copyright 2009==