As it turns out, bizarre tear-filled appearances on morning shows don't go over well with sponsors, especially when your racist past has recently come to light. On Wednesday, hours after her interview on The Today Show, Paula Deen lost three more corporate partners: Caesars Entertainment, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart.
It was fun while it lasted, but Texas Governor Rick Perry, a catcher's mitt in a cowboy hat, has called for a second special session of the Texas Legislature in an effort to pass a hyper-restrictive abortion bill. This after state Senator Wendy Davis, with the support of her Democratic colleagues, successfully filibustered the bill for about 15 hours yesterday, ultimately defeating it.
There are, in total, 29 U.S. Senators and Representatives who changed their positions regarding same-sex marriage since it was first voted on in 1996. Of those 29 politicians who no longer support DOMA, 24 signed an anti-DOMA amicus brief earlier this year. Still in office are 43 members of Congress who supported DOMA and continue to do so, as well as 31 politicians who always opposed the measure.
This morning the Supreme Court held that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, and dismissed California's Prop. 8 appeal, making gay marriage legal in California. A good day for the judicial system, and an even better one for civil rights. In light of today's rulings, we present you with Gawker's coverage of same-sex marriage over the years.
Last month, self-made pharmaceutical billionaire Stewart Rahr, a man who would seem preposterous and unrealistic even if he were a character on an ABC Family drama, divorced his wife of 43 years, leaving her a settlement of $250 million. This week, he mass-emailed an orgy sex tape that he had filmed with three women in the back of a limo to tons of his society friends, unsolicited. Just cool people existing in the world doing normal things that they love!
I can't even know what to say about the video for "Like a Rainbow" from Jersey's Carishma (pronounced like Liza Minnelli saying "charisma"). It makes "Born This Way" sound subtle, like early James Baldwin. It makes the Sex and the City style handbagging of gay men seem like ascending to a Louis Vuitton-upholstered throne. It kind of made me a little homophobic for three and a half minutes?
The National Institutes of Health announced today that most of America's federal stockpile of chimpanzees will be permanently retired from biomedical research. Of the 360 chimps currently available for testing, 310 are to be irrevocably assigned to the Federal Sanctuary System. The remaining 50 will still be eligible to be recalled for research, if necessary.
In a 5-4 ruling released this morning, the Supreme Court struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, granting thousands of married gay couple federal recognition. What does this mean, practically?
Farrah Abraham famously got pregnant at 16, only to have her boyfriend die in a car crash not long afterwards. Scandal stardom awaited as she worked out personal issues on MTV’s Teen Mom while birthing an unusual career in the reality spotlight. Farrah seized the chance to write a best-selling book, record an album of self-help songs, and just recently to sell a sex tape with James Deen for a reported $1.5 million. But that was then. Nowadays, Abraham, 22, plans to study at Pace University’s Lubin School of Business in hopes of becoming a restaurateur. Too vanilla? Don’t worry, she’s also working on a new reality show!
