Are Lea Michele, Chris Colfer, and Cory Monteith Quitting 'Glee'?

Us Magazine

'Glee' creator Ryan Murphy announced in June that his vision for the show involved a rotating cast, in which older students would graduate and new stars would step in, saying, ''We didn’t want to have a show where they were in high school for eight years. We really wanted it to be true to that experience.''

On Wednesday, Murphy confirmed that current starsLea Michele, Chris Colfer, and Cory Monteith will all leave the show after the season three finale in 2012. He told The Hollywood Reporter, ''You can keep them on the show for six years and people will criticize you for not being realistic, or you can be really true to life and say when they started the show they were very clearly sophomores and they should graduate at the end of their senior year.''

Chris Colfer, who received his second Emmy nomination on Thursday for his role as Kurt Hummel on the series, revealed that leaving Glee was not his favorite option, but that he supports Murphy's decision. ''It's definitely not my choice, but I absolutely respect it and understand why it has to happen. Ryan has said, and I love this, that there's nothing sadder than a high school student with a bald spot. It's true! This is what happens in real life. Kids grow up and they move on. It makes sense that that's what we would do.''

'Glee's star character is Rachel Berry, who is played by Broadway veteran Lea Michele. In a tweet on Wednesday, Michele told her fans, ''We always knew we'd graduate in real time. It's all part of the plan and it's all good! It's going to make Season 3 amazing!'' and ''To Gleeks everywhere, you're in my heart now and forever. Love u all!!! This is just the beginning!''

Although 'Glee' will be losing three fan favorites, Murphy expressed that he is open to the idea of a spin-off featuring Rachel and Kurt's move to New York City. ''It’s an interesting idea. The questions are How would we do it? And when would we do it?’ It would have to be something I would talk about to Peter Rice and Kevin Reilly and Dana Walden and Gary Newman. What we’re trying to do now — maybe those discussions will happen around December — we’re just now trying to do the first 10 episodes.''

Do you think the loss of Rachel, Kurt, and Finn will hurt the future of 'Glee'? Would you watch a Rachel/Kurt spin-off? Vent your frustrations in the comment section below!

- Allison Weaver, ChaCha Television

BBC America Boots Christian Values Network

The BBC, through its BBC America commercial operation, is unwittingly helping to financially support a number of “gay hate” groups, it emerged yesterday.

The Website Christian Values Network (CVN), founded by Hollywood actor/director Stephen Baldwin and Michael Lohan (father of actress, pop singer and model Lindsay Lohan), raises money for various religious groups from the purchase of goods and services.

And BBC America is participating, offering “free shipping” to those ordering through the CVN site, CGBG Giveback.

When a customer makes a purchase through CVN, a donation is made to the ‘charity’ of the customer’s choice.

The CVN operation hit the headlines last week when a Change.org petition calling on software giant Microsoft to disassociate itself from the scheme.  Within hours, Microsoft had left the scheme, prompting Joe Mirabella to pen the article Microsoft Removes Store from “Christian Values Network” after Connection to Anti-Gay Groups Revealed which was posted on Change.org on Friday July 8.

In the article, Joe Mirabella wrote:

“ ... included among those organisations [benefiting financially from the CVN scheme] are ‘gay-hate’ groups Focus on the Family, Family Research Council,Summit Ministries, Abiding Truth Ministries, and the Liberty Counsel.  Each organization has been identified as an anti-gay “hate group” according to theSouthern Poverty Law Center.”

The BBC America online shop sells items like DVDs of Dr. Who, Torchwood, Top Gear, Faulty Towers and other BBC Television favourites popular in the USA. The shop also offers BBC books and programme memorabilia.

Yesterday, Apple was asked withdraw from the scheme – a Change.org petition to Apple, originated by Ben Crowther, a student at Western Washington University, had attracted 1,400 signatures.

When the BBC in London was contacted for comment yesterday afternoon, a spokesperson referred UK Gay News to BBC America in New York, adding that the BBC’s involvement with the CVN scheme was more than likely “gay hate”.

BBC America has been invited by both telephone and email to comment.  A brief response was received in the early hours of Wednesday morning. “We are looking into this and will follow up with you soon,” a spokesperson at BBC America told UK Gay News by email.

More than 600 companies, many of them well-known, are taking part in the CVN scheme.

According to Joe Mirabella: “Dozens of major companies like Netflix, Target, Best Buy, REI, Delta, and even Sesame Street participate in CVN’s service.  When customers make purchases through CVN, a donation is made to the charity of the customer’s choice. For example, Wells Fargo gives up to $300 per loan made through CVN and 2.5% of the purchase price for products bought through Apple iTunes store can be donated to groups like Focus on the Family.”

■ This article was prepared by UK Gay News with the help of Joe Mirabella who writes for Change.org and the Seattle Post Intelligencer

The Padres are first pro team to sign GLSEN’s Team Respect Challenge

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by Cyd Zeigler jr..

GLSEN’S Sports Project, which launched earlier this year, got some amazing news when their San Diego chapter announced the San Diego Padres have signed the group’s Team Respect Challenge. In the pledge, created by project director Pat Griffin, the team promises to avoid slurs, remind teammates who use bullying language that it’s “not ok,” and treat all teammates with respect, among other items. You can read the full pledge here. GLSEN executive director Eliza Byard said:

As baseball comes back from the break, the San Diego Padres have made it clear who the real all-stars are by signing on to GLSEN’s Team Respect Challenge. From the pros to the playgrounds, far too many athletes seem to think that disrespectful language and behavior are just part of the game. The Padres have sent a clear message to youth everywhere: Name-calling and harassment of any kind is not acceptable and teams perform best when every teammate is safe and respected.

I’m on the group’s advisory board, and this is fantastic news. Pro sports teams are taking various angles to get a message of tolerance across to their fans — making ‘It Gets Better’ videos, doing NOH8 photo shoots — and this adds to the multitude of ways they can commit to tolerance. Good for GLSEN, and good for the Padres!

outsports.com/jocktalkblog

Larry King is one of the Many joining NOH8 campaign for gay marriage

by Tom Downes 

Former CNN host Larry King has posed for a NOH8 photograph to raise awareness for marriage equality. He also filmed a soon-to-be-released advertisement calling on president Barack Obama to support the calls for gay marriage.

King is shown in the adverts with duct tape across his mouth and ‘NOH8′ written on his cheek. NOH8 is the name of the campaign against Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California.

Earlier this year, the NOH8 campaign wrote a letter to president Obama which has been signed by gay celebrities including Rufus Wainwright, Ellen and Portia DeGeneres and Glee star Jane Lynch, together with straight celebrity Martin Sheen and Marc Pincus, the chief executive of Zynga, the home of FarmVille and CityVille.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk

FCC Investigating Google+, Facebook Over New Privacy Concerns

Igor Bobic

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com

FCC is,investigating Facebook, Google Following new privacy concerns regarding Google Inc.'s new social networking service Google+, congressional lawmakers today questioned whether the government's leading agencies tasked with regulating the nation's communications systems were doing enough to protect users' private information.

"What is the [Federal Trade Commission] doing to oversee Google+ and the new service that apparently there's some problems with?" demanded Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). "What is the FTC doing in regards to Facebook and the facial recognition technology? Does that pose a threat to privacy?"

The heads of the Federal Trade Commission, Federal Communications Commission, and the National Telecommunication and Information Administration were called to answer to a House Energy and Commerce hearing about their efforts to curb improper data collection, use, and sharing often taken advantage of by marketing and advertising companies.

FTC Commissioner Edith Ramirez offered no specific details into her agency's investigations but did reassure the members of the panel that the FTC was monitoring privacy issues.

"I'm afraid I can't comment on specific private companies but what I can tell you is that the agency is looking very closely at the social networking arena," said Ramirez, pointing to the investigation subsequent settlement of a case regarding Google Buzz, one of the company's previous, unsuccessful attempts at S.networking.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) followed up on Google's apparent failure to adequately respond to earlier inquiries regarding Google Street View, its national mapping service that also came under fire due to privacy issues.

"[Google] made fairly significant verbal assurances that they would improve their behavior but apparently that's all they did," Barton said. "They really didn't change their business model and it appears to me Google had adopted a model of saying one thing in Washington and doing another in their business practices."

"We might need to drop the 'G' from Google and just call them 'Oogle' because of what they appear to be doing," he added to a bemused audience.

Barton further inquired whether the FTC needed additional congressional - legislative - authority to more effectively regulate users' internet data. Ramirez intimated that she didn't know whether legislation was needed per se, but that the FTC's authority to regulate internet privacy was certainly limited.

Google+ appears to be the company's hottest new commodity, but one influential network whiz doesn't appear to like his private data on the web - Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who changed his Google+ profile to private earlier this week.

If You Heard Michelle Bachman's Husband is Gay, Wait 'till you see him Dance

By Eliot Glazer    bestweekever.tv

Michelle Bachmann wants to be your President, probably, and she’s out of her mind. Although, at the center of her campaign is basically a chocolaty center filled with hatred against gay people. She really hates gay people. That’s already pretty much been established everywhere, but did you know that her husband, Marcus, “exorcises” the gay out of dudes who like dudes? It’s true! He [probably falsely] calls himself a doctor, and helps facilitate the practice of “un-gaying” people, something pretty much considered ineffective and often likely to damage one emotionally.

The sweet irony in all this, however, is that — from where I, a 
person with eyes
 gay dude, can see — the guy is “gayer than a picnic basket” ( –Sophia, The Golden Girls). Honestly, like, it doesn’t matter how progressive, moderate, or liberal-minded you are. You hear that lisp, notice that lilt, and simply watch the guy dance, and you’re going to walk away scratching your head because how often do you see a woman-loving husband who sounds exactly like Corky St. Clair? (Gaydar knows what we’re talking about.)

Some might say lobbing such accusations at a self-identified straight guy is unfair, and they’d probably be right. On the other hand, Marcus Bachmann has called gay people “barbarians [who] need to be disciplined.” Very cool way to talk about human beings, Mr. Possible First Lady!

Like us, Jon Stewart is pretty sure that being “disciplined by gay barbarians” is the stuff Marcus Bachmann’s secret dreams are made of, but he’s not gonna say that out loud. Or, at least, he’ll try his best.

Bachmann's stepsister a Gay Obama Follower

 

BY NATASHA LENNARD

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Vimeo/Julie Phillips              salon.com

Michele Bachmann's stepsister, Helen LaFave, celebrates Obama's inauguration Not all of Michele Bachmann's family shares her far-right views. As the media has been aware for sometime, the Minnesota Republican has an openly gay stepsister, Helen LaFave.  While shying from the spotlight, LaFave has publicly opposed Bachmann's anti-gay stance since the congresswoman proposed a gay-marriage ban in the Minnesota Senate (as the Daily Beastreported earlier this year).

LaFave's political differences from Bachmann's go beyond the spheres of LGBT rights, however, as a short clip discovered on Vimeo suggests. Captured outside the U.S. Capitol in 2009 when Obama was sworn in, the video shows a friendly LaFave (who appears with her long-term partner Nia Wronski) telling the videographer of her excitement about the "reawakening of the country" and the "start of something new." Wronski expresses a desire to see more barriers broken down.

Interestingly, LaFave mentions that she drove down to the event from Minneapolis with six other family members and received tickets "through one of the congresspeople." Bachmann was already a U.S. congresswoman by this time (she assumed office in 2007), though we have no idea if she helped her stepsister gain access.

FireBall Over The Bachmann's EX Gay Therapy Clinic

By Chris Johnson    washingtonblade.com

Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) said she's "very proud of the business" that she runs with her husband, but dodged questions about the practices there (photo courtesy of wikimedia.org)

Recent reports that the therapy clinic co-owned by Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann offers “ex-gay” therapy are raising questions about the extent to which federal dollars are subsidizing the widely discredited practice.

John Becker, a gay activist with Truth Wins Out, an LGBT group dedicated to fighting “ex-gay” conversion therapy, posted a report last week detailing his experience seeking reparative therapy with Bachmann & Associates, a Minnesota-based clinic operated by Bachmann’s spouse, Marcus Bachmann.

Feigning a desire to change his sexual orientation, Becker caught on tape sessions with counselor Timothy Wiertzema, who told him he could change from being gay to straight. Major psychological and other medical organizations have refuted the idea that people can change their sexual orientation.

According to Becker, he was asked whether he suffered any child abuse that could have caused his sexual orientation, was advised to find a heterosexual “accountability buddy” and was recommended ministry at the discredited “ex-gay” group Exodus International as a potential place for worship.

Marcus Bachmann has said he doesn’t try to convert gay people who say “they want to stay homosexual.”

The Bachmann campaign didn’t respond to the Washington Blade’s request for comment on the “ex-gay” services offered at Bachmann & Associates. In an interview with a local ABC News affiliate, Michelle Bachmann said she’s “very proud of the business” that she runs with her husband, but dodged questions about the practices there.

“I’m running for the presidency of the United States,” she said. “As I said, again, we’re very proud of our business, and we’re proud of all our job creators in the United States. That’s what people really care about, and that’s what people are talking to me about all across Iowa.”

But the report that Bachmann & Associates offers reparative therapy has additional significance because the clinic has reportedly been the beneficiary of state and federal funds.

According to NBC News, the clinic has been collecting annual Medicaid payments totaling more than $137,000 for the treatment of patients since 2005. These payments are on top of the $24,000 in federal and state funds that Bachmann & Associates received in recent years under a state grant to train its employees. The figures were reportedly provided late last month in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney declined to comment when asked if the administration has a problem with federal money going to a clinic that engages in “ex-gay” therapy.

“I confess I do not have an answer to that question, sorry,” Carney said.

A White House spokesperson deferred a response to comment further from the Washington Blade to the Department of Health & Human Services. The department, in turn, deferred comment to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

“States make the determination about which services to cover, within federal law and guidelines,” Brian Cook, a Medicaid spokesperson, told the Blade. “State law and regulations govern the licensing of counselors and the scope of their practice.”

The Minnesota Department of Health couldn’t be reached for comment due to the state government’s shutdown this week.

Richard Socarides, president of Equality Matters, said “more information” is needed on whether these federal funds are contributing to the “ex-gay” practices at Bachmann & Associates, or if they’re going to other services rendered at the clinic.

“It’s conceivable that they received federal funds that are in connection with an appropriate reimbursement for some services rendered,” Socarides said. “It’s possible, but I don’t know, but one would hope that there are no federal funds that are being used to pay for reparative therapy, which has been shown to do terrible damage.”

Socarides said the Department of Health & Human Services should make clear that using Medicaid funds for reparative therapy “is not an appropriate use of federal money, if it’s not already clear.”

Equality Matters has called for an executive order from the president that would spell out the federal government won’t use money to discriminate against LGBT Americans.

Socarides said such an executive order would create assurances that the federal government won’t support “ex-gay” therapy with federal funds.

“I would say that certainly an executive order which made it clear that you could not use federal funds to discriminate or hurt LGBT Americans would make this point all the more clear,” Socarides said. “But it should already be clear that this is something that federal funds should not be used for because federal funds should not be used for quack medicine.”

Incredible Victory For Our Kids: Jerry Brown Signs Gay History Law

By JUDY LIN     huffingtonpost.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Thursday making California the first state in the nation to add lessons about gays and lesbians to social studies classes in public schools.

Brown, a Democrat, signed the landmark bill requiring public schools to include the contributions of people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender in social studies curriculum. The Democratic-majority Legislature had passed the bill last week on a largely party-line vote.

"History should be honest," the governor said in a statement. "This bill revises existing laws that prohibit discrimination in education and ensures that the important contributions of Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life are included in our history books."

The bill has drawn criticism from some churches and conservative groups that argue such instruction would expose students to a subject that some parents find objectionable.

Republican lawmakers who opposed the bill had called it a well-intentioned but ill-conceived bill. Some raised concerns that it would indoctrinate children to accept homosexuality.

State Sen. Mark Leno, a Democrat from San Francisco and the bill's author, hailed the bill signing as a step toward teaching tolerance. Supporters say the bill will teach students to be more accepting of gays and lesbians in light of the bullying that happens to gay students.

"Today we are making history in California by ensuring that our textbooks and instructional materials no longer exclude the contributions of LGBT Americans," Leno said in a statement.

California law already requires schools to teach about women, African Americans, Mexican Americans, entrepreneurs, Asian Americans, European Americans, American Indians and labor. The Legislature over the years also has prescribed specific lessons about the Irish potato famine and the Holocaust, among other topics.

The new law, SB48, requires the California Board of Education and local school districts to adopt textbooks and other teaching materials that cover the contributions and roles of sexual minorities, as soon as the 2013-2014 school year.