Gay youth in America

Last night on Ugly Betty Justin, her teenage nephew finally came out after years of speculation. The way it was handled on the show was sensitive, delicate and romantic. Justin had been in slight denial of his sexuality and was really just figuring it out. With the support of his family he came out on his terms and I swear I could see the weight being lifted off his shoulders.

He was at his Mother's wedding, the setting was romantic and beautiful. People were dancing and his boyfriend was there as his guest, but both appeared uncomfortable and awkward. You could see that Justin was deep in thought and after a final word from his beloved Aunt Betty encouraging him not to be afraid, he went to his boyfriend and extended his hand romantically inviting him to dance and that's all there was to it.

It got me thinking about Constance McMillen, the gay teen who was denied access to her prom because she wanted to bring her girlfriend. She challenged the school and in a move out of the fuckhead playbook, the idiot school decided to nix the prom for everyone. Period.

Naturally this made poor Constance pretty unpopular amongst several of her fellow students. While some showed their support, others were understandably upset and unfortunately channeled their anger towards Constance and not the fuckheads at the school where it belonged.

I'm not going to pull out a soap box about this. My feelings are simple. You love who you love. End of story. The real world requires us to exercise tolerance. Tolerance for the jerk in the cube next door who always screams when he's on the phone and doesn't think about the people around him. Tolerance for the slow ass people who work at the DMV. Tolerance when speaking to people with heavy accents. Tolerance of jerks who whistle at any female that walks by a construction site. Tolerance for the people who turn their blinkers on a half mile before they actually make their turn. Tolerance for the people who walk through a door that you were only holding so they wouldn't get smacked in the face, but instead of grabbing the door, they walk through as if you were a doorman, then don't bother to thank you. Tolerance for lousy tippers. Tolerance for holy rollers who think everyone needs to be saved. Tolerance for people who don't understand other religious beliefs. Tolerance for senior citizens who probably shouldn't be driving, but are. Tolerance for the idiot teenagers who cruise the malls making asses of themselves with their juvenile antics and behavior. Tolerance for the list that goes on and on.

We have to exercise a bit of tolerance every day. The best time to begin to teach this valuable lesson is when our children are still young. These are tools that will help them in their lives, so why are there schools who refuse to teach tolerance and acceptance of sexual difference? It seems so simple to me, yet the waters get muddied with separation of church and state talk, and how offensive it is to others who don't believe in same sex coupling. The real world exists of people who are different. This is what makes us special. This is how we learn from one another and learn to understand and accept.

That's all I have to say about that.

Standing O's

Am watching Dancing with the Stars and couldn't help but wonder to myself when standing ovations became common place? I've been noticing this trend happening again and again at various award shows and more recently DWTS.

It used to be that standing ovations were reserved for special people and special occasions. As I watch DWTS people are standing for every gosh darn routine. Even Buzz Aldrin, God bless his old ass, is not deserving of a standing O.

As I give it further thought there are a lot of things that used to be reserved for special occasions that are now common place...

- Limo rides: Once reserved for the rich and famous, important business people going to the airport and sometimes prom, but now are as inexpensive as a taxi ride so anyone and everyone uses them (including yours truly) for airport rides, pub crawls, birthday celebrations, prom, homecoming, etc.

- Manicures: Used to be a thing rich ladies did and something you did for weddings, proms, etc. Today nail salons are on nearly every corner and the prices of mani/pedi's are you cheap, that even men are getting in on the action. Now they're weekly occurrences for women and some broads even bring their little girls who are already being groomed to expect mani/pedi's as part of their regular grooming.

Is anything reserved for special occasions anymore? Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I think there's a certain dignity in preserving certain things for 'special occasions' and standing O's should only apply to the people who deserve them most and yes, this includes our 'ordinary' heroes.

I'm just sayin'...

(Still) Fat actress

Dear Kirstie Alley,

There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just blurt it out... YOU'RE FAT AND NO ONE CARES!

There. I said it. Kirstie, we love you. We've always loved you, even with pointy ears on Star Trek. We love that ultra sexy voice of yours, your smokey green eyes and you're-tell-it-like-it is personality. However, we're tired of hearing about your weight challenge.

Look, I know a thing or two about being fat. I'm fat, but I don't go around talking to anyone who will listen about the woes of my fatness. You have money and resources that most fat people don't have. You have options.

Option 1: Hire a fancy ass trainer, get on a program and use the state-of-the-art gym you have in your home and shed those excess lbs. the good ole fashioned (and healthy) way. The success will be that much greater for doing it the right way and not the "get-thin-quick-way".

Option 2: Stay fat. Love who you are - jelly rolls and all, but for God's sake stop wearing those gosh dang prairie dresses! Who is advising you to wear those God-awful things? You're a celebrity and have access to people in high places... can't you get Rachel Zoe on the horn and get her skinny ass to help a sister out?

This could be a pristine opportunity for you to become an advocate for large women of all ages (kids too). You're hip, smart, fun, cool and sexy, and we need a pistol like you in our corner. You have the opportunity to connect with designers to force their hands at expanding plus size lines, teach them how to properly design and cut for a fat woman's body and help them make cute, affordable clothes for women of ALL sizes.

Another thing - stop trying to shock people all of the time. We get it - you're robust, you're horny for Jaime Foxx, and you've got a voice, but bring it down a notch. You don't need to have the surround sound on all the dang time!

I'm just sayin'...

P.S. Enough with the bleach blond hair and the creepy streaks - it's not helping you.

Arrogance will be mine!

Okay, I was just cruising the net and came across a picture of Robert Downey, Jr. in an ad for Sherlock Holmes and it totally reminded me of a thought I've been having since I saw him on one of the award shows this year.

Um, has anyone noticed how arrogant Robert Downey, Jr. has been lately? I picked up on this a while ago, but it was really cemented when he was presenting an award for best something in a something category at one of the award shoes.

They announced his name and he took to the stage like a big, arrogant peacock. He's had a lot of success lately and there's no question as to his talent, but I think a guy who has done hard time and who has publicly struggled with addiction for years before finally getting clean should exercise a bit more humility.

He's damn lucky that Hollywood has been so kind to him giving him chance after chance after chance. I think had it not been for his talent (and good looks) that he might not have been given so many "get out of jail" free cards. How many other actors have battled addiction and have it ruin their careers to the point of no return?

In an industry where as Heidi says "one day you're in and the next day you're out", Mr. Downey, Jr. should act a little less cocky and a lot more thankful.

I'm sure he's grateful to an extent, but you sure don't see that in the way he carries himself and if it were up to me I'd love to see him brought down a notch. It doesn't help that his last few films have all been box office smashes, which only inflates the ego even more. The more his pay check increases, his ego increases as well.

I'm a little sick of seeing him walking around as if he wasn't just sleeping in a jail cell that side of a few years ago. Don't get me wrong - I love him and have loved him since Less than Zero, and I'm sincerely glad that he's kicked the crack pipe, but if I should happen to see him walking down the street, I can't say that I wouldn't find myself giving him a good crack across the face (no pun intended), a firm body shake and maybe even a time out.