Always Charming & Classy [Not] Chris Brown Gets Into A Fight With Frank Ocean

TMZ reports: 

Chris Brown was involved in an all-out brawl with Frank Ocean Sunday night, and sources connected with Chris insist Ocean started it. Chris was at Westlake Studio in the L.A. area listening to one of the artists he represents. The sources say as Chris went to leave, Frank Ocean and his crew blocked Chris from leaving. The sources say Frank said, “This is my studio, this is my parking spot.” We’re told Chris went to shake Frank’s hand … and that’s when one of Frank’s people attacked Chris. Sources connected with Chris say one of Chris’ friends jumped in front and hit Frank’s friend. Sources connected with Chris say Frank then came at Chris … Chris pushed him away and they started brawling.

Everest is Frank Ocean’s dog, who was credited as “executive producer” on the chart-topping album, Channel Orange. 

The New York Daily News says deputies are considering assault charges against the woman-beater Chris Brown. 

Anderson Cooper Slams Star Jones: I Didn’t Come Out To Win Higher Ratings For My Show

Dan Savage Responds To Hate Group Leader Tony Perkins

Via Slog:

The robustly heterosexual head of the Family Research Council went on Mike Huckabee’s radio show today to respond to my recent comments. Huckabee said I was rude and vile and unhappy—please, Rev. Girlfriend, I listen toGypsy when I’m at the gym (unhappy gay men listen to Passion at the gym)—and then it wasTony Perkins’ turn:

• As my teenagers would say, he has some issues. He is a man with some real deep-seated issues … and Dan Savage is nowhere near, he’s a hundred and eighty degrees from the positions that we have taken. It’s wrong and I will tell you this,we are pursuing everything possible to deal with him because he is out of control…. This is the bottom line, Mike: is that if you don’t embrace and celebrate homosexuality and everything associated with it, then you are intolerant. And the truth of the matter is, let’s just be very, very truthful, and that’s what we deal in is the truth, that even is society embraced homosexuality, there would never be that sense of self-fulfillment because it’s outside the way God created man and woman. And that’s the bottom line. They cannot erase that, even if they get every law on the books changed, it will never change that.

Yes, Tony, I have issues.I have issues with people who would deny me and other LGBT people our full civil equality for no legitimate reason. I have particular issues with high-profile haters who encourage parents to reject their LGBT kids, doubling their already quadrupled risk for suicide. I have issues with people who say that LGBT people are “pawns of the devil.” I have issues with people who compare LGBT people to terrorists. I have issues with people who falsely link homosexuality and pedophilia. I have issues with people who suggest that a law calling for the execution of gay people merely “upholds moral conduct.”But having issues with you, Tony, isn’t quite the same thing as “having issues.” Please make a note of it.And you didn’t address the actual issue I raised during your chat today with Huckabee. You and Mike called me names—because you were angry that I called you names?—but you didn’t address the issue. So here it is again:

• LGBT kids are four times greater risk of suicide. Tony Perkinsadvises the parents of LGBT kids to reject their children. LGBT kids who are rejected by their parents are at eight times greater risk of suicide. Perkins is aware of these studies and yet heactively encourages the parents of LGBT kids to do what Perkins knows will push those kids closer to suicide.

Sue me, Tony. I’d love to see you talk about my “issues” on a witness stand.I realize that this isn’t how you think the world is supposed to work, Tony. You believe—and you’re old enough to remember a time when—people like you were free to say vile and disgusting things people like me without anyone objecting. Certainly people like me weren’t allowed to call you out. You believe you should be free to lie about me and other LGBT people—we’re all pedophiles and terrorists and Satanists—and that we should have to sit down and shut up and take it because… well, I’m not sure why you think we’re not allowed to respond when you lie about us.Maybe that’s something we could get to the bottom of during the depositions.

GOLD’s GYM San Francisco Bay Area, Now Fitness SF, Cuts Ties With Parent Company After CEO’s Anti-LGBT Donation

The Huffington Post reports:

A group of San Francisco Bay Area Gold’s Gym franchises has relinquished affiliation with its parent company in protest against the CEO’s substantial 2010 donation to a conservative organization with anti-LGBT ties. The franchise group is now calledFitness SF.
The group is privately owned and includes four gyms located in Oakland, Marin and San Francisco’s SoMa and Castro Districts, and has long been a pillar of the LGBT community. The group regularly donates to LGBT organizations, and the Castro location often participates in the San Francisco Pride Parade.
The Huffington Post reported on the donation and the backlash in 2010 when Gold’s Gym CEO Robert Rowling gave $2 million to American Crossroads, a conservative political group founded by former Bush advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove.
At the time, Gold’s Gym Bay Area Director of Operations Don Dickerson released a response to the news on the company’s Facebook page, condemning the move and vowing to sever ties when the group’s contract expired:
We were as surprised by [CEO] Mr. [Robert] Rowling’s action as anyone but because our company believes in and lives up to the ideals of equality for all we are going to take the following actions:
1: Our contractual obligation with Gold’s Gym expires on September 15th, 2012 and on or prior to that date (our legal counsel is reviewing our options) we will leave the Gold’s Gym brand. It is a major initiative to create a new brand and leave Gold’s Gym which has been our identity for over 20 years but we will begin that process today.
2: For every dollar we pay Gold’s Gym in franchise fees we will donate an equal or greater amount to LGBT charities. While we donate much more than this to charities and community groups that support the LGBT community we want to make a commitment to match or exceed this amount until our relationship with Gold’s Gym can be severed.
3: Our management and staff will continue to support LGBT causes in every way possible and we will use our business as a platform to fight for change and equality for everyone. We have always taken great pride in being a leader in the LGBT community and we will continue to.
After the 2010 backlash, Gold’s Gym quickly sent HuffPost a statement:
Gold’s Gym did not make a donation to American Crossroads (or any other political organization) and in no way supports anti-gay causes. Quite the contrary, the Gold’s Gym family has been strong supporters of the LGBT community over the years. This includes supporting PRIDE events, sponsoring LGBT media outlets and donating to various LGBT charities in the communities we serve.
Gold’s Gym is a non-political organization and our member’s dues are not used to fund political candidates. Bob Rowling, the CEO of our ownership group, TRT Holdings, made a private donation completely independent from (and not on behalf of) Gold’s Gym.
Nevertheless, Gold’s Gym Bay Area and LGBT activists were unmoved. A Change.org petition condemning the donation noted that money gained from Gold’s Gym was funding Rowling’s donation.
“Using both his corporate and personal bank accounts, Rowling has given upwards of $2 million to Karl Rove’s new organization, American Crossroads,” stated the petition. “In turn, that money has been used to support some of the most virulently anti-gay politicians in the country.”
The petition soon gained nearly 10,000 signatures.
Now that the September 2012 deadline has approached, Dickerson and Gold’s Gym Bay Area have kept to their word, changing the company’s name and branding, and severing all ties with Gold’s Gym.

“Very rarely in a situation like this does a business stand up and actually take a position on the matter, which is why I think people have been so happy that we’ve taken this course of action,” said Dickerson to CBS. “Our company has worked for over twenty years to support our LGBT staff, members and community in everyway possible and we will continue to.”

Madonna On Lady Gaga: Imitation Is The Highest Form Of Flattery

Gay Star News reports:

Madonna has spoken out of her love for fellow pop star Lady Gaga in the only way she knows how.
The Queen of Pop and gay icon dedicated her track Masterpiece to the younger bisexual star during a performance in Atlantic City, New Jersey, over the weekend, and appeared to accuse her of copying her.
She said: ‘I love her. I love her. I do love her. Imitation is the highest form of flattery.’
Perhaps most exciting for music fans, she added: ‘And one day, very soon, we’re going to be on stage together. Just you wait.’
The pop legend has previously accused her younger rival of copying her track Express Yourself on her single Born This Way.
She said: ‘I thought, “What a wonderful way to redo my song”. I mean, I recognized the chord changes. I thought it was interesting.’
During her current worldwide MDNA tour the star has also been joking about the similarities of the two, performing a medley of both songs.
Speaking at a concert in New Zealand, Gaga said: ‘It sometimes makes people feel better about themselves to put other people down or make fun of them or maybe make mockery of their work.
‘I don’t even want to fight back, because it’s more important to me to keep writing music.’
The last time Madonna and Lady Gaga shared the stage together was back in 2009, when they had a ‘cat fight’ in a comedy sketch for Saturday Night Live.
Check out Madonna making the comments here:

Molly Meldrum Interviews Sir Elton John On His Son Zachary, Feud With Madonna

Michael Musto On GOProud

Joe.My.God. reports:

“So a bunch of sef-loathing gays endorses someone who wants to rewrite the Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, and when someone attacks them for it, they insult his looks? And they reduce my career, without even addressing the issue at hand? I was hired as an entertainment columnist in 1984, but expanded that from day one to include gay (and other) political issues, as well as doing feature stories and eventually blogs on those topics. And I’ve fought self-loathing political crap, even angrier at the self-defeating bigots like LaSalvia who are smelling things up from within our own ranks than at the ones outside. Do I look like a Muppet? Yeah, but how is that relevant? Are the “professionals” in politics the ones who mock each other’s looks rather than try to find some rational defense for their own behavior? - Michael Musto, responding to GOProud’s attack on him.

Here’s what started it all. Jimmy LaSalvia: “Have you seen Michael Musto lately? We aren’t going to take serious political advice from a human Muppet. Musto should stick to writing gossip pieces about Lindsay Lohan, and leave politics to the professionals.”

“Moron Of The Week” Inductee Brian Brown To Dan Savage: Game On!

Via Brown’s Blog on NOM’s website:

Dan — I accept and will look forward to debating you at your dining room table. As I said in my challenge to you, anytime, any place.
While I appreciate the invitation that you have extended to my wife, she will not be able to attend. She is a full-time mom with seven beautiful children and an eighth on the way.
I have no objection to Mark Oppenheimer from the New York Times covering the discussion, nor to you hiring your own video crew to film the event, provided that I am able to hire my own video crew to be sure there is no creative editing of the discussion.
Not that a New York Times reporter would slant the news, mind you! 
This will be fu

Dan Savage: Brian Brown Said I Could Name The Time & Place

Via Dan’s Slog:

And he would debate me—anytime, anyplace—all I had to do was name, again, the time and the place. And I have. To find out when and where I’ll be debating the head of NOM, listen to the top of this week’s “Savage Lovecast.”

This is about a debate that NOM’s President, and “Moron Of The Week” Inductee Brian Brown challenged Savage after he gave a speech before the National High School Journalism Conference, where he ranted against the Bible (regarding sexuality & its morality). 

USA: Fred Karger Restarts Quest For Maggie Gallagher’s Elusive Husband 

Queerty reports:

Back in 2010, gay GOP presidential candidate Fred Karger wrote an open letter to National Organization for Marriage founder Maggie Gallagher, asking her to reveal the whereabouts of her husband of 20 years, Raman Srivastav.
Now Karger, whose campaign is all but dead, is raising the issue again. He’s sent another open letter asking why she never wears a wedding ring or brings Raman to public functions:
I was on Thomas Roberts’ show MSNBC Live with the founder of the National Organization for Marriage, Maggie Gallagher. We were on MSNBC so she could try and defend the treasure trove of “Confidential” NOM documents that had just been uncovered as a result of the 2009 investigation that I got launched against NOM in Maine.
Maggie and I were in separate studios although we met afterwards for this photo and a chance to visit. I asked Maggie if she was still living in New York, and she told me that she moved to Washington, DC nearly three years ago. What about her husband Roman [sic] Srivastav?
She allegedly married this East Indian man 19 years ago after living as an unwed mother for 11 years. No one has ever seen Maggie with Raman. Wonder if they really did get married? If so, maybe so he could get a green card?
Queerty put in a call to Gallagher to check about Raman’s whereabouts, but it went straight to her voicemail. We’ll update you in the unlikely event she should respond.
We also gave GOProud Jimmy LaSalvia a ring. Said LaSalvia: “I only met Maggie Gallagher once in 2010 at CPAC. She came over to say hi and that was about it. I don’t know much or anything about her family.”
Nobody does, Jimmy. Nobody does.
No pictures of him seem to exist, and Maggie has never brought him to a political event, unlike NOM’s other “family-oriented” leader Brian Brown, who trots out his clan at every opportunity.
Anyone who has pictures of Raman or evidence that he exists (or doesn’t) can send it to us at holla@queerty.com. Now that we’re thinking about it, researchers just confirmed that many anti-gay crusaders have repressed gay feelings. Is it possible Maggie Gallagher is—gasp—a lesbian?
Or, even weirder, since apparently no one has seen Raman and Maggie together in the same room, could it be they’re actually the same person?

The Muppets Slam Fox News 

David Furnish, Mending Fences

Cindy Lauper Unhappy “True Colours” Used In Romney Attack Ad

The Advocate reports:

Iconic entertainer Cyndi Lauper, whose song “True Colors” has become synonymous with the advancement of LGBT equality, is unhappy about its unauthorized use in a negative political campaign ad.

Lauper has released a statement, saying: “Yesterday, I learned that my version of ‘True Colors’ was used in a negative political ad focused on Mitt Romney without my knowledge and approval.

While I am in no way a fan of Mitt Romney, my music is meant to lift people up, especially ‘True Colors.’ The song has been a tremendous source of healing and acceptance for so many people and for it to be used in such a negative way dishonors its history and intention. 

I am a huge supporter of President Obama and his re-election, but I have let the responsible party know how disappointed I am the song was used and asked that it be removed from the ad.”

HRC Slams NOM’s Financials

Joe.My.God. reports:

“This is extremely unusual – that practically the entire budget of a $9 million national organization is funded by five mysterious individuals or entities. We can only conclude that NOM’s claim to being a grassroots organization representing thousands is phony. Tax returns don’t lie. NOM speaks for a few wealthy anti-LGBT donors and does not speak for the majority of Americans who support marriage equality.” - HRC head Joe Solmonese. Yesterday we learned that the vast majority of NOM’s millions come from just a handful of undisclosed sources.

RELATED: Not a peep from NOM regarding media inquiries into their funding sources. Nor have they addressed the fact that Brian Brownshirt was busted attending a mega-wealthy fundraiser for serial adulterer Newt Gingrich, who, not by coincidence, is now a Catholic.