Christopher J. Hogan Is In Big Trouble

Googling yourself is so 2004. All the cool kids today are doing Google Image searches on their names. What does it say that when I put "Christopher J. Hogan" in, three of the top hits were mugshots?

Christopher J. Hogan

Christopher J. Hogan

Christopher J. Hogan

One picture of me did turn up in the search, and it's very different from the others.

Christopher J. Hogan

Since my name didn't yield people who seemed a lot like me, I tried Google's great "search by image" feature. Here's the picture that is the most "visually similar" to mine:

Kate Monaghan

I guess that whole "what's in a name" thing is true. Clearly, I have much more in common with Kate than with the other Christopher J's. She looks like my type of gal, and if that's a mugshot, it's the best one I've ever seen.

If love was a train but love ain't a train

The L&N don't stop here any more, but apparently it does stop in Crazy Town. Michelle Shocked went on a homophobic rant during her concert in San Francisco last night. I highly recommend Chris Willman's very fair account of the event on the Stop The Presses! music blog.

...After an intermission, Shocked hadn't even gotten to any music when she started talking first about the importance of social media to carry on a dialogue with her fans off-stage, and then about Proposition 8. She started reading some tweets from the stream and having a dialogue about people's impressions, talking about how she was feeling brave at this point and that she was doing the right thing. Then the tone of the conversation became extremely religious and she began talking about the two things most important to her being Jesus Christ and freedom. Then she talked about how she had just come from a prayer meeting the night before, and the people in her prayer meeting were really worried because these are the end times, and they’re the end times because Prop. 8 is going to lead to ministers marrying gay people with a rifle to the head. At which people got a little riled up; then there started to be some call and response from the crowd about what she meant. She started exhorting the crowd very specifically to go ahead and tweet or write and say that Michelle Shocked says God hates f--s, and some other references to the Bible denouncing homosexuality as sinful and abhorrent.

Read the whole thing here.

As you can imagine the blogs--especially the LGBT ones--are all over this.

The Bay Area Reporter had a reporter at the concert:

After the performance Shocked was off the stage and talking with three fans. The B.A.R. asked her to clarify her comments. She seemed interested but a reporter heard one of her fans tell her, "It's a gay paper." Shocked again said, "God bless us everyone." She thanked her fans, began sobbing, and ran from the stage.

 Joe.My.God points out why so many people are so surprised:

The music press has often identified Shocked as lesbian herself, mistakenly it now appears, unless she's gone "ex-gay." Last night her Wikipedia page was changed to read "Michelle Shocked (born Karen Michelle Johnston, February 24, 1962) is a BIGOTED lesbian singer/songwriter." That notation has since been removed.

Queerty also provides a little Shocked's history with gay issues:

“I am a believer. I am a devout practicing Christian,” she told Edge on the Net in 2008. “I don’t like the ring of that because I know so many people who profess the faith, and I look at their social conscious, and I can’t see how they reconcile their faith with their politics.” In that same 2008 interview she confessed to some “inconvenient truths,” like how the Bible teaches homosexuality is immoral. “But homosexuality is no more less a sin than fornication,” she said. “And I’m a fornicator with a capital F.” That’s not the F-word we’re concerned with, Michelle.

I think Jezebel summed up many people's reaction:

Beyond the fact that WHAT THE FUCK, MICHELLE, I honestly just don't understand how human beings can justify wasting their time on shit like "who that dude from spin class wants to marry." And I certainly don't understand how anyone with basic critical thinking skills can characterize those views—that one person wanting to make out with another person has some grave, cosmic, supernatural consequence for the universe—as ANYTHING but mindless-indoctrination-bordering-on-brainwashing. There is no logic here. Even Biblical scholars will tell you that there is no logic here.

Me, I'm mostly just sad. Short, Sharp, Shocked was part of the sound track of my college years. I listened to it pretty much non-stop when it first came out, and it's an album that I often go back to. I really love it.



It feels like I lost touch with a dear college friend only to find out they had joined a cult because, well, that's pretty much what has happened. Thank God I can still count on Tracy Chapman for my leftist, feminist folk music fix.

UPDATE 1: There are rumors and speculation about Michelle Shocked has a history of mental illness, and if that is the case, as seems very likely, I hope she finds a path to wellness and love. Any anger I have is for the homophobic church leaders that got their claws into a vulnerable person and twisted her up to use her as a mouthpiece for their bigotry.

UPDATE 2:  Janis Ian speaks out:

It is sad when a talented person chooses to use that talent in the service of their own misplaced rage, and their disappointment in their own life. I often wonder if people like this die and meet God, who will smack them upside the head and say 'Did I really LOOK like I needed your help?!

It looks like Michelle Shocked will have time to battle whatever demons are chasing her. Not surprisingly, venues are now cancelling Michelle Shocked's shows.

Trust Fall Fail

I have watched this video literally a dozen times today:

So, I made my second gif:

That spells funny all day long.

Belated Valentine

I was so busy posting love poems for Valentine's Day that I totally forgot to share my favorite thing ever on the internet. Better late than never. Plus, why just share Valentines on February 14th? Like love, Otto's message is truly timeless.

25 Things About Me

Remember the "25 Things About Me" thing that went around Facebook in 2009? ("Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are suppose to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it is because I want to know more about you.") Here are my 25 things:
 

A favorite Facebook pictures of myself from 2009.

1. I had almost finished this list when I clicked in the wrong place and lost everything. I swore, looked for a "save" option (there is none), and started over. That's how I roll.
 
2. I will not "tag" 25 people in this note. I'm a rule breaker, a renegade. (Actually, it's because tagging people seems too pushy, and I fear being seen as pushy.)

3. My parents do not like the name Chris.

4. I have read all of Shakespeare's plays.

5. It's driving me a little crazy that I do not have more options for formatting this list.

6. I was smart about baseball before I was smart about politics. In the fall of 1976, as I was turning 9, I rooted for the Yankees in the World Series and Ford in the Presidential election.

7. I am oddly fond of my tiny feet.

8. "Death Comes For The Archbishop" by Willa Cather is my favorite novel. At least it is at this moment. I reserve the right to change my mind. (Also, I wish I could put the title in italics rather than quotation marks. See #5.)

9. Of all the jobs I have had, the one I was best at, hands down, was camp counselor.

10. I will only get out of bed if the time ends in a 0 or a 5. Seriously.

11. Television is my second favorite thing in the world--which actually why I do not own a TV.

12. I refuse to give up my most favorite thing in the world.

13. Because I was a drama major, many people think I am/was an aspiring actor. I never was. I am a terrible actor. Really, God awful.

14. I was a Junior Master in the American Contract Bridge League, but my membership lapsed long ago.

15. Even though I think youngest children (like myself) have it best, I have always wanted a baby brother or sister.

16. At first I thought I was self-censoring this list because my nieces and nephews are among my Facebook friends. That's not really the reason. There are many things that, while I don't mind my friends knowing them, I don't want them posted on the Internet.

17. Most dogs like me. Cats, it seems, can take me or leave me.

18. I am very conflict-adverse. Almost pathologically so.

19. If I could pick any talent to have, it would be the ability to sing beautifully.

20. I hate putting things away. This probably says something about my personality that I don't want to know.

21. Whoever invented the BLT deserves a monument in my opinion.

22. I'm terrible at keeping in touch with friends and family, and I hate that about myself.

23. I love books--not just reading them but also owning them or even just holding them.

24. I have kept every letter I have gotten since leaving home for college 23 years ago. I miss real, old-fashioned letters delivered by the US Postal Service.

25. I rarely lie, but I often bend, fold, spindle or mutilate the truth.

What He Said

Just a little follow up to an earlier blog post....

Long story short. Singer/diva Azealia Banks called blogger/diva Perez Hilton a "faggot" on Twitter causing the internet to explode. Things settle down and no one is paying enough attention to the two fame whores, so Banks reignites the feud with another f-bomb. She also calls reasonable criticism of her use of the slur "fucking bullshit". I'm pretty much over her right now. Thankfully, the smart and adorable Ryan James Yezak has made a video explaining why her using "faggot" is totally not cool:

Word.

Blogroll

Hey, still in the launch phase of this blog. Here are some sites I visit every day and am going to put on my "blogroll". Any suggestions for others to add?

Joe.My.God

Towleroad

The Dish

Gawker

Slog

Tom & Lorenzo

Crooks and Liars

Bilerico Project

Slate

Flavorwire

Pam's House Blend

AMERICAblog

Big Gay Super Bowl Postscript

This was supposed to be the Big Gay Super Bowl, and it didn't disappoint. Here are the top four highlights of the night.

1. Culliverfreude
First, this happened to #29 Chris Culliver:

Then, Chris Culliver had a very bad night on Twitter. The "Culliver #ItGetsBetter" thread was my favorite.

2. Beyoncé Is Fierce
Mrs. Carter's whole show was amazing right from the beginning.

There was a lot of talk about whether or not Mr.Beyoncé would be in the show, but there was a much better surprise: Destiny's Child.

PERFECTION!

This picture (via Lady Bunny) explains exactly how the gays felt about the halftime show:

3. This Happened
A million THANKS to Deadspin for sharing this truly mesmorizing moment.

4. Athlete Ally Brandon Ayanbadejo Gets To Put A Ring On It

On Facebook, Ayanbadejo posted this great pic himself kissing the Vince Lombardi trophy with the message: "WORLD CHAMPIONS I love my team, I love city, and I love MD for all that you do to show the world love conquers all!!"

All in all, it was a very good Super Bowl for the gays.

The Big Gay Super Bowl

Brendon Ayanbadejo for the NOH8 Campaign

I've been totally scooped on the whole blogging about football with a gay twist schtick. Who knew this year's Super Bowl would be all homo-a-go-go? Here's a quick (and very incomplete) run down.

It all started with Brendon Ayanbadejo of the Baltimore Ravens who has been a big advocate of LGBT rights especially during the past election when Maryland had a Marriage Equality initiative on the ballot. Frank Bruni, the New York Times resident gay, wrote about Ayanbadejo "Carrying a Cause to the Super Bowl" (link behind NYT paywall). Then, everyone from the Huffington Post to Fox News was covering the story.

Then, the homophobia hit the fan. I'm going to steal the always sharp Miz Sarah B's Facebook far better recap than I could write. (To pretend that I'm actually blogging this part, I'll add links and pictures).

So let's recap this 49er crap:

1. Chris Culliver says, "We ain't got no gay people on the team… They gotta get up out here if they do. Can't be with that sweet stuff. ... Nah, can't be ... in the locker room, man."

Confidential to Chris Culliver: If you are worried about gays looking at you in the locker room, perhaps you should not post selfies like this on the Internet.

2. He is at least the mouth-piece for an apology I cannot even unravel: "The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel."

3. Ahmad Brooks and Isaac Sopoaga deny their involvement with "It Gets Better" (anti-bullying video campaign).

4. They are shown their own video. (Which was made super publicly a couple years ago ... after a move.org campaign to get them follow the lead of the Giants, and is still easily found on youtube, even after It Gets Better founder Dan Savage takes it down from the It Gets Better website.)

5. These players then claim ignorance of the ad's intentions and refuse to comment further, ultimately suggesting that they are NOT against bullying. Nicely played.  

Fuck you. YOU'RE COOL. Fuck you.

6. Donte Whitner, also in the ad, and openly down for everyone to get to be themselves, points out he does not share Chris Culliver's homophobic sentiments.   

7. All sorts of 49er fans choose to lay aside the chasm between what we say are our values and what is happening right in front of us just in time for Super Bowl Sunday: "San Francisco 49ers Chris Culliver will begin sensitivity training and education immediately after the Super Bowl following his anti-gay remarks this week, then start volunteer work with at-risk homosexual youth nationwide. Culliver is scheduled to begin working with "The Trevor Project," an organization that provides crisis and suicide intervention to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, according to his public relations representative, Theodore Palmer."  

8. My muscles are taut from all the eye-rolling my face has been practicing this week.

Thanks for the round-up of the cray, Sarah! Now, I'm back.

This whole brouhaha exploded on the Interwebs--and not just on little blogs like mine but notably on big mainstream sites. In fact, Cyd Zeigler at Outsports wrote a post titled "Thank You Chris Culliver for speaking your homophobia out loud" saying the silver lining of all this was that Culliver has brought mainstream attention to homophobia in football (go read the whole thing). Here are some highlights:

• ESPN: Chris Culliver backpedals: Comments, apology, lack of understanding, even as others fight discrimination
• The Nation: Is It Getting Better? Homophobia Rocks The Super Bowl
• Salon: How did the Super Bowl land on the front lines of the culture war?
• The Pioneer Press: Vikings' Chris Kluwe wants Chris Culliver to get a gay rights education
• The Atlantic: How Chris Culliver's Anti-Gay Comments Actually Started a Dialogue in the NFL
• My San Antonio (Dallas Cowboys and the NFL blog): Lombardi would have frowned on Culliver’s homophobic remarks

Then to top it all off, Beyoncé is headlining the halftime. Gawker is saying will be even gayer than last year's show with Madonna. This leads to the biggest gay question about Super Bowl XLVII: Will Beyoncé go with straight hair...

...or wavy...

  

 ...or curly?

Of course, I'm hoping for the most unlikely option: the full-on Foxy Cleopatra.

To sum it up: GO RAVENS!

PS: In the end, it doesn't really matter what any of think about the teams in the Super Bowl, who we want to win, or who we predict will win. 27% of Americans know the truth: God is going to pick the winning team based on their holiness. 

Let's Go To The Videotape: John McCain Edition

 Senator John McCain has been in fine form at the Chuck Hagel confirmation hearings.


I actually kind of love Cranky John McCain, so I went looking for more video evidence. There certainly is plenty to choose from including this gem:

However, there's one thing I wasn't expecting to find in my search: John McCain's musical tribute to his love of vegetables. Seriously, "...and his Vegetable Friends" is one of the top suggestions YouTube makes to auto-complete your "John McCain..." search terms. Who am I to argue with over 2 million viewers? So, here it is. Enjoy!

My Boyfriend Who Lives In Ukraine

The wbole Manti Te'o story brought to mind my erstwhile internet boyfriend, Vladimir from Ukraine. Even though Manti Te'o, like everyone who has a long-distance girlfriend no one has ever met, is "far from gay," the experience of falling in love with someone you've only met online is totally universal.

Let me take you way back to 2003... This was before Facebook and Skype. We didn't have any gay-dating blogs to give us advice. Vladimir and I courted the old-fashioned way: he answered my ad on Gay.com and we emailed each other. Unfortunately, I lost our initial email exchange, but I think it was fairly perfunctory. The email from Vladimir titled "Our great friendship" was the highpoint of our relationship. In it, he seems completely real and not at all like a scam artist trying to fleece American gays. This is, sadly, the last I heard from my Ukrainian boyfriend--I hope he didn't die of the cancer.

FYI: While I have highlighted some of my favorite passages, this email including the picture is exactly as I received it, complete and unedited.

From: Knight Lance vk452@uzhe.net
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 23:02:34 +0400
To: cjhogan
Subject: Our great friendship!

Dearest Chris,

Thank you very much for interesting reply. I am glad that we understand each other, although many miles divide us. I wish I could communicate with you "Live"!

Unfortunately it is impossible for me to use either chat-rooms or messengers here, that's why I try to write you more detailed every time. Because I have a lot to tell you about me, but my resources are limited so I can't visit the Internet access more often! However I am very glad that we are in touch and our friendship develops.

I also would like if you send me something special: your autograph or postcard with your hand-written words, because I want to keep it close to me, to carry it with me and to feel your presence in my life constantly!

As for me I have also found something very special to send for you. It will be surprise! As soon as I'll save enough for postage I'll mail this small souvenir of mine to you immediately! But it's a bit of very special thing...

Here is my hostel address: Vladimir Kiriyazi, Kikvidze 30, k.37, 01103 Kiev, Ukraine. It is only very pity that the parcel goes from here to the States in 4-6 weeks, but anyway it comes one day!

Also if you only can, please send me any information about your Great Country - for instance USA Constitution. Because here we don't have a lot of information from and about America.

Everything is censored and always very negative. I realize that there are a lot of information in the World wide web, but as my access to it is limited, let's rather use Internet for our communication.

I am really glad to find you and to be able to share my thoughts and hopes with you! I never had a man to talk about my gay feelings. I am so glad that I can write you about them - there is nobody closer to me to share them. I am feeling quite lonely in this sense.

Although thanks my job I am constantly among simple and very sincere, direct and honest people - house-builders, and that's why I don't feel the loneliness deeply. But in my intimate sphere I am very undercover and in closet (not out to them at all).

I am very new to men's love. Living in Bakhmach, very small provincial town, I haven't seen any gay men. And I wanted to meet a man for physical love. However it wasn't possible.

For the first time I had sex with a guy in Kiev, after I moved here to study. He was one of the pupils in our professional school. We made love on regular basis then. But we didn't talk about it, and he had contacts with girls as well.

Than I have had several occasional moments in the army and later. But I never had a man to talk about homosexuality, it was just simple sex without any communication. All the time it was just sex. Frankly it was hurting for me - I think that I am really more emotional person who need spiritual bound more than sexual.

That's why I assume that my sexual life was poor. And now it is below zero at all. Because I don't want to repeat it that way as it was all the time before!

I don't like it that way.

I would rather prefer to meet a partner with serious attitudes for gay way of living and share my life with him. I am missing monogamous 1to1 relationship built on true deep feelings of love and devotion. I am versatile and 8" endowed (uncut) by the way, however for true love this doesn't matter as for me.

My family doesn't know anything about my preferences. In the Ukraine it is strongly notorious to be gay.

My Childhood Is For Sale On Esty

It's amazing how much of my past can be found on the Internet considering the fact that almost half my life was spent before the Internet went viral. Here was today's reminder that your memories are just a Google away.

A friend was worried about me in the cold snap in Minnesota and suggested I get a lovely knit hat. Here are a couple he found--which I agree are quite fetching.

Their 70's retro look made brought to mind the only knit hat I can honestly say really stands out in my mind. My mother had a winter hat that my siblings and I hated. It was deeply embarrassing to be seen with her when she was wearing it. I thought my friend would appreciate it, but I didn't have a picture. So, I Google "hand knit brown hat with sequins" (yes, my mother wore a hand-knit brown hat with sequins--BIG sequins!) which got me an image that came very close:

Next, I tried "brown knit hat with paillettes". See? Watching every episode of Project Runway paid off, I learned the word "paillette". Admittedly, I had to scroll down, but there it was in all its hideous glory:

Party Like It's 1992

This ad pops up when I go to sign onto my email.

I have a few questions:

• Fun again? When was email fun? I seem to have missed that.
• Is email supposed to be fun?
• The people in the picture do seem to be having fun; however, they do not seem to be emailing. Unless... are they wearing those new Google Glasses I've heard so much about?
• Do you think these models knew they were going to be in an ad for email?
• What sense memories do you think they used to convey such happiness? I seriously doubt thoughts of email provided the necessary emotional recall.
• Must one wear bright patterns to use Outlook email?
• Speaking of clothes, where is the sweater the guy in the lower right corner available for sale?
• Speaking of the guy in the lower right corner, is he available?

I don't think I can even consider switching to Outlook email until these questions are answered.

Lance Armstrong's Next Big Confession?

So, Fucking Lance Armstrong told Oprah that his "perfect story" was "one big lie". All the media is focusing on his lies about doping, and then his lies about lying about doping. However, drug allegations weren't the only rumors about Lance during the height of his career. There was much internet speculation that perhaps the "b" should be dropped when people talked about his "bromance" with Matthew McConaughey.

 

The pictures of them exercising shirtless together started the stories that they were more than "work out buddies" (because everyone knows that jogging on the beach is foreplay for the gays).

There were even rumors of a big gay ménage à trois between Lance Armstrong, Matthew McConaughey, and Jake Gyllenhaal because the three of them shockingly, publicly bicycled together and were also seen together at a LIVESTRONG event.

Of course, Armstrong and McConaughey denied that they were homosexual lovers. Armstrong said they were just "buds" who took "guy trips" and it was all "something very normal"--but how can we believe that they were "just friends" given Armstrong's incredible history of lying? In short, is Lance Armstrong about to pull a Jodie Foster?

The Confessions Of St. Jodie

  
The Interwebs continue to be abuzz with thoughts on Jodie Foster's Golden Globes speech. One big question is whether or not she actually "came out". I don't think this was a true confession because it was not made properly. True confessions, like those of St. Augustine, must written in Latin. So, using Google Translate, I translated (a slightly edited version of) Jodie's speech into Latin--for those who can read Latin, that text is at the bottom of this post. Since most of us cannot read Latin, I then put translated the Latin text back into English. What follows is the result. I've highlighted the most enlightening passages for all our spiritual benefit.

The Confessions of St. Jodie

Thank you. It is well for all of you SNL fans, I'm 50! , ... You know that this work without the worship, as long as, or later. I'm 50! You know, I was going to bring my walker this night, but it just does not go with CLEAVAGE. Robert, I want to thank them all. For your bat-crazed brain rapid fire, the sweet inside. Gaius, I love you and I am so grateful that I said that I have always been done is to make them idle to talk with the honor of .... Welcome to me last night. Home is a great part of the year promises a queen of the night in my opinion.

The confession of the whole, therefore, I am here, I guess I just is to say that the air is never a surprise attack they were able to service of the state. Thus, the declaration ... I'm a little nervous about that, but maybe not quite as nervous as my publicist right now, huh Jennifer? Just now, I am not a lamb of god not to extinguish it by law? The great and proud, right? In this way, I'm need your support on this, lamb of god. I am ... celibate. Yes, I am, I am unmarried men. No, I'm kidding. But I really am kidding, but I am such a kidding. Many thanks for the enthusiasm. Wolf whistle or can take it? I hope you guys expecting to find a great night out of speaking, because I came a thousand years old, stone back. Bid it fragile time when the girl opened the door of a friend and the faith of the family, co-workers, and by degrees all that had known it boldly, even when it belongs to them all. But now, apparently, I'm told that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of private life, with a press conference, the scent, and the first time a reality show. You guys might be surprised, but I'm not Mel ROAR ROAR of the Child. Let me not be ashamed of, and it's just not to me has never been and never will be. But Do not cry, because it would not be the truth of a proposition, my loves. I would have to do with Marion Cotillard, I would like to spank Daniel Craig's farm, you know, just to stay on the air. But, nevertheless, will not be allowed an evil deed.

But seriously. From this it is if you were a toddler, you openly, if you'd felt to fight against the truths of life and was the only loves the honesty, the price to you, perhaps, most of all the lakes. Private. Sometimes they will be mindful of the future was a beautiful look. I have put everything there, from the time of three years. That's enough of a reality show, do not you think? There are a few secrets to keep your psyche intact for so long here. First: Love the people, and next to them in the morning .... My family and friends, here to night, and at home. And, indeed, Mel Gibson - you know, he was making.

The way I would be able to stand here without acknowledging the any one of the deepest loves of my life, heroic co-parent, my ex-partner in love, but in the life of a righteous soul sister. My confessor, ski Buddy, consigliere, most beloved bff of 20 years, Cydney Bernard. Thank you Cyd. I am proud of this amazing family, our children, Charlie and Kit, who are my reason to breathe, and to evolve, my blood and soul. The boys, if you do not know the song, just as all things, this is for you. ... You see, Charlie and Kit, sometimes your mom lose it too. To have the moony but that I can, you know. This has the beginning of the end of the time, and like each other. Exciting the SCARY, and now what? Well, I'm never going to be in this stage again. Some degree. Be changed, you've Gotti love it. Indeed, I always tell us how to move the men, led by fables: a work of a great man in the world. From the comment it is now, in another conversation used to hold the staff I can. And maybe it will not be just as sparkly. Maybe it will not open in the three thousand screens. Maybe it will be a quiet and delicate that only dogs can hear it hiss. But it will be the writing on the wall, where Jodie Foster, it is still to be seen, and I desire to be understood, and so it is not at all alone. View all camps. Our next year.

See? That makes much more sense. I totally agree with Mel Gibson and Opus Dei that Vatican II was a big mistake.

P.S. Here's text in Latin... well, Google Translate Latin:

Jodie Foster Comes Out & LGBT Bloggers Have A LOT To Say

As predicted, Jodie Foster's confusing, quasi-coming-out speech at The Golden Globes was the topic in the LGBT blogosphere today What do people think? Well... it's complicated.

 

Tom & Lorenzo summed up the experience many us had watching the the whole cray-crayness unfold:

While the press and a whole bunch of other writers seem to be a bit confused as to what, exactly, happened, we think congratulations and back pats are in order. Yes, the whole world pretty much knew Jodie was gay and yes, she danced around the subject in the past, and yes, for the pedantic people in the room, it’s true; she didn’t actually utter the words, “I’m gay.” But she didn’t have to. Instead she offered up a rambling, emotional, exhilarating rant that laid bare her soul and her life to a roomful of people and a camera full of the world. It was awkward and funny, cringe-inducing and uplifting. Sloppy and real. And when it was over, we sat there, stunned and open-mouthed, until Tom finally managed the words, “Good. For. HER.”

Oh, and even before you dropped that little bomb on the room, we thought your dress was pretty damn fierce.

Andrew Belonsky at Towelroad is glad the wait is over:

Well aware that people have been waiting for this moment for years, Foster explained that her delay wasn't based in shame, but in the fact that she came of age when there was a larger premium on privacy ...But, standing up on that stage, poised and proud, Foster finally did the deed - and, as always, she did it her way. And we couldn't be more happy for her!

Michelangelo Signorile provides a little history at HuffPo:

Jodie Foster's sexual orientation has been discussed since the '80s, when her face was plastered on "Absolutely Queer" posters pasted by activists all over the streets of major cities. I discussed the rumors in my column in OutWeek magazine at the time, when queer activists charged that Foster's 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs was homophobic -- and, by today's more precise definition, transphobic -- and asked what responsibility a closeted gay star should have when it comes to anti-gay depictions in his or her own films. But for decades Foster steadfastly refused to discuss it, even in recent years as she made references to her former partner.

In the end, Signorile thinks Foster's coming out is one sign of how much queer activism has accomplished in the last few decades:

But whatever you thought of last night, you'd have to agree that it was another indication of how it's becoming harder and harder for anyone in public life to have any real credibility and still be living in the closet. Personally, I don't care if people like Jodie Foster are bitter or annoyed at activists. It's the job of activists to challenge people and, yes, to annoy people. What I care about is that the repressive and suffocating gay closet not be seen as a good place even if it is still the only safe choice for many. The only reason that millions are still in the closet is that society forces them there under threat of punishment. But things get easier for all those millions of closeted individuals when Hollywood celebrities and media figures come out. And more and more, it appears that it's becoming their responsibility, as privileged members of society, to do so.

At Autostraddle, actress Haviland Stillwell explains the particular importance of Jodie Foster to many lesbians in the industry:

For many of us, Jodie Foster was THE example of a gay woman who was really "making it" in Hollywood – but of course, the caveat was the reminder of, "Yeah… but she's not out." So we danced this line of "public vs private" and learned from birth that acting on instinct was not, in fact, always encouraged. But I am here to say that acting on instinct and being open about LOVE is a very positive thing – and it radiates outward. It’s important.

I can only imagine to be the kind of public figure Jodie Foster is and has been, for her entire life, everything she said about the need for privacy was 100% understandable, and I believe we will get to the point where “coming out” is unnecessary. We will get to the point where no one will assume someone is straight at birth. We will not need to have “gay role models” because we’ll just have role models.

John Aravosis at AMERICAblog is sympathetic to Foster's desire to stay out of the poisonous trap of celebrity culture, but wishes she had been more gracious to the LGBT community.

I think the immediately chorus of confusion and criticism I saw from my gay friends and colleagues online, in response to Foster’s speech, were justified. Scold the paparazzi who want you to come out because they’re bloodsuckers. Don’t scold your own community who has learned over the years that the best way we have of securing our civil rights, and saving gay kids who are at far too high a risk of suicide (and bullying), is by giving them role-models, and giving society yet another “she’s gay? I like her.”

I’ve had a…. what do you call a man-crush a gay guy has for a lesbian?… for Jodie Foster since I was a kid.  So maybe I’m just prone to giving her a break.  I do think that she was somewhat “off” tonight at the Golden Globes.  Maybe someone pestered her about coming out right before the awards.  Who knows.  And I can respect the overwhelming desire for privacy from any movie star, especially one who has sought it since the age of 3.  I just think that perhaps she could have responded, to the legitimate desire of the gay community to publicly welcome her into the fold, with something less than a scold.

Deb Baer at HuffPo is PISSED:

Why am I so angry? Because I'm roughly the same age as Jodie, and yet I had the courage to come out exactly 20 years ago. This was before Glee and Modern Family and Will & Grace -- and even Ellen DeGeneres' historical and culture-changing pronouncement. I, and so very many others, took a leap of faith and dealt with the consequences. Sure, I wasn't worried about losing $20 million a picture, but it's all relative: I feared that family and friends would abandon me, that I'd get passed over for jobs and promotions, that I'd be the victim of violence, and all the other clichés from the after-school specials.

And by the way, some of that stuff happened....

But back to Jodie. She blamed publicly remaining in the closet all these years -- even with a long-term partner and two children -- on that whiny excuse that so many celebrities use: "privacy." Sorry, but there are a lot of "private" stars who don't do a lot of press and don't talk about their personal lives, like Daniel Day-Lewis and Johnny Depp, but we know basic facts about them, such as whom they are married to. The "privacy" excuse is just that: an excuse.

Nobody was asking Jodie to be president of the gays.

Leah McElrath praises Foster for being a role model for the modern family:

I greatly appreciated Ms. Foster taking the time to honor her ex-partner and co-parent for the emotional support she has provided her through the years. Rather than critique her for “rambling”, I celebrate Ms. Foster for providing a role model of how to acknowledge that our most intimate relationships are substantial and life-altering, even after they transition. I know that my ex-partner and I aspire to do this – but it’s not easy. It takes work. It takes integrity. It takes commitment to the goal of doing so. It isn’t something that comes naturally for most people.

Over at Pam's House Blend, the always sensible and smart Pam Spaulding first points out that Jodie Foster is understandably fiercely protective of her privacy given her unique past--"how many people have had to contend with a man who tried to assassinate the President of the United States over an obsession with them?" She then goes on to question Hollywood culture and the media's role in maintaining the "glass closet":

My question is whether, even with so many public figures coming out, the media will really stop reporting with the closet in mind — the double standard that results in reporters inquiring on all sorts of levels about personal lives and relationships of hetero celebs, but studiously avoid asking socially out, but professionally questionably closeted people about the mundane same aspects of their lives. Hollywood still seems to be a place very conflicted about its public and private image when it comes to disclosing sexual orientation — that projects and career successes are tied to the illusion of straightness as something that must be maintained, or that something is “too gay” to be commercial or credible (see ‘Behind The Candelabra,’ Liberace Movie With Michael Douglas And Matt Damon, Deemed ‘Too Gay’ By Studios).

"Jodie Foster Stops Lying" is what Andrew Sullivan titled his post on The Dish. As you can imagine, he is having none of Jodie Foster's, in his words, "unadulterated bullshit."

"How beautiful it once was"? When gay people were put in jail, or mental institutions, or thrown out of their families - all because of the "beauty" of privacy for Hollywood royalty like Foster? And she honestly believes it's courageous to come out in a retirement speech? Well I guess we should be relieved she didn't leave it for her obit.

Finally, as in most things, I think Mx Justin Vivian Bond provides the best analysis--even while drunk. (You also get bonus thoughts on the NRA and the relationship between fish and eye shadow in this vlog post):

So... We're welcoming Jodie Foster to the LGBT community with both open arms and the middle finger. 

UPDATE

Karen Ocamb explained why she found Jodie Foster's speech "infuriating" at The Bilerico Project. Ocamb expands the story of Jodie Foster's fisrt public coming out:

...In the early 1990s, [Jodie Foster] helped her best friend Randy Stone and co-producer Peggy Rajski make the 1994 Oscar-winning short film Trevor - which was re-made for HBO in 1998 and was ironically introduced by newly out Ellen DeGeneres. And in 2007, the same year Randy Stone died of heart disease, she contributed another huge chunk of change to The Trevor Project, the largest in the organization's history. I met her then, on the rope line. She seemed quintessentially sophisticated Hollywood - posing for pictures and seemingly accessible but inscrutable when asked questions. Foster said in a statement:

“I feel so lucky to have had a best friend like Randy Stone, the funniest guy I’ve ever known. He was talented, passionate, supportive, and as big as life. He brought all his beautiful energy to The Trevor Project, which has done such meaningful work on behalf of gay and questioning youths. The call center campaign’s impact will continue the Trevor mission in Randy’s honor just as he would have wanted. I am proud to continue my support of Trevor in memory of my dearest friend. He is missed.”

Some of us wondered if that trip to the Trevor Project event was the impetus for coming out of the closet later that December when she accepted an award at the 16th annual Women in Entertainment Power 100 breakfast, during which she said: "I'm not sure I've managed to deserve the family and friends that surrounds me ... [including] my beautiful Cydney who sticks with me through the rotten and the bliss."

Fast forward five years to Jodie Foster's much discussed (second) coming out at last Sunday's Golden Globes. Ocamb unpacks the speech point-by-point (go read the whole analysis here--it's excellent), and concludes by bringing the story full circle:

To me, her most deeply personal, "confessional" remark was: "I want to be seen, to be understood deeply and to be not so very lonely."

That is the cry of all of humanity, something that the wealthy superstars at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and the poor, at risk LGBT kids somewhere in a dark room crying can understand. And that is why I found Jodie Foster's Golden Globe speech so infuriating: she knows this! And yet she apparently chooses to side with the angry self-centeredness of Mel Gibson rather than the loving humanity of Randy Stone. Yes, she has a right to do and say what she wants and to come out as she wishes. But she also has it in her to be bigger than that, to contribute what she knows about loneliness and hurt to benefit others - to benefit kids without the love of friends and family and she choose this award show where she could have reached millions to obfuscate, once again. The nugget of meaning I took from this Golden Globe: talent and brains don't mean you prize humanity.

 Matthew Breen, the editor-in-chief of The Advocate, looks at "Why Jodie Foster Left Us Deeply Conflicted":

Everyone should come out in her own time, but Foster was angry last night. One reason could be embarrassment at not having come out publicly (at least in her own estimation) until 2013. Last night’s speech clearly took a lot of guts for Foster to undertake. But too much anger was directed at a straw man of her own creation. ....By referencing Honey Boo Boo, a stand-in for all that is shamelessly confessional about celebrity in 2013, Foster’s implication was that the choices she faces as a public figure are few: (1) stay closeted, never acknowledge your sexual orientation in public, or (2) tell the world every sordid detail of your intimate life. That’s a bogus comparison, and it’s one that reinforces the idea that being LGBT is shameful, worthy of being hidden, and that saying you’re LGBT is an invitation to the whole world to come into your bedroom. That’s patently wrong. There are numerous out celebrities who guard their personal lives: David Hyde Pierce, Anna Paquin, Zachary Quinto, Amber Heard, Anderson Cooper, just to name a few.

....This speech had me deeply confused and conflicted. On the one hand, not everyone can or wants to be an advocate for LGBT rights. We cannot expect every smart, able celebrity to fly the flag and shout from the rooftops. Yet Jodie Foster is so smart, so capable, so worthy of respect as an actor, a filmmaker, and a feminist that I can’t help having wanted her to say, “I’m a lesbian, and there’s nothing wrong or shameful about it.”

I'll leave it there, as conflicted as we were at the beginning, but also, thanks to working through it together, much less confused.