At last night’s L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s “An Evening with Women,” comedian/actress/married lesbian with kids Wanda Sykes spoke thoughtfully about Obama and the NAACP’s stance on marriage equality. And had some very wise words about marriage, and why atheists get married.

I’m so proud of him [Obama]. I knew he would get there. But I believe it’s earnest and I’m just so proud because I flash back to this time four years ago and watching the vice presidential and presidential debates and when the topic of same sex marriage comes up, it was almost like they laughed…I still voted for him because it was what I thought was best for the country and I just hope people who are – have a problem with him coming out for same sex marriage that they will still go with their instinct of what’s good for the country.

Sykes was super enthusiastic regarding the NAACP’s support of marriage equality:

I’m so proud of the NAACP! I mean – this is huge! Really is huge because the NAACP, their roots are so instilled in the church. That’s where their meetings and all of that are held, in churches. So to come out and support same sex marriage – I’m so  thrilled that they have gotten past the point that it’s not about religion, it’s about rights.

And the she pointed out a very important fact:

Marriage really doesn’t have anything to do with religion. That’s why atheists get married. It’s about all the rights that comes along with it. So I’m very proud of the NAACP right now and I think I’m going to join! Maybe I’ll up my membership now.

Karen Ocamb’s column LGBTPOV has the full interview on video from Renee Sotile & Mary Jo Godges of Traipsing Thru Films.

The 2012 Olympics® is a serious  branding fest, and what better way to show corporate compliance than with an official tee shirt that satirically supports protesting the greenwashed London Olympics®–and provides you with a link to apply for official tickets to protest.

Created by the anarchitects Space Hijackers, the tee shirt mocks the glut of official merch stamped with the ghastly London Olympics® logo and the UK government’s first court order to ban an Occupy activist from the Olympic Games®.

Space Hijackers explain their reasons for protesting the London 2012 Olympics® include poor employment practices, lack of affordable housing after the Olympics, toxic waste, unethical sponsors, and inability of Londoners to get to their jobs because of VIP traffic routes created by the 2012 Summer Games®, and that the Summer Games®:

will certainly be promoting many things through its corporate sponsorship deals. LOCOG are interested in protecting their benevolent sponsors but seem to have little interest in anyone else’s freedom of speech or expression, even handing out ASBO’s to anyone opposing the games. Their crack team of branding Police will be enforcing laws expecially drawn up for the olympics which are far more stringent than any other copyright law. With everything from an “Official chocolate bar of the Olympic Games” through to banning anyone using the words “olympics”, “2012″, “Summer Games” “Twenty Twelve” and many more, the games is more than anything an experiment in extending corporate control of social life.

I like fois gras, and the state of California now wants to pry the fatted duck liver off my fork. But this is America, and there’s room for all sorts of food lovers, from tattooed fois gras fans to vegan black metal chefs.

And thus I am very confused about this whole states rights issue that Obama brought up re: marriage equality. Like, it’s okay for states to decide if people can get married or not, and the Federal government won’t interfere, but when states decide that medical marijuana is legal, the Feds jump in and say

NO WEED!

Could some explain that to me?

Gridlock will greet homebound Angelenos as Barack “Same sex couples should be able to get married…but I support the concept of states deciding the issue on their own” Obama makes his way to one of George Clooney’s palatial homes for a celebrity and high-donor filled event. The Los Angeless Police Department to residents of Fryman Canyon to stay home all day or make other plans, and whole business areas have “no parking” signs. The traffic situation is so bad it’s been dubbed Starmageddon, but hey, it’s expected to raise $15 million for Obama.

Obummer’s  calculated personal decision to support marriage equality (the day after North Carolina voted against it) is also expected to raise money. Oscar winning writer Dustin Lance Black, who previously was so angered by the President’s lack of action on LGBT issues that he spoke about sitting out this election (bad idea, everyone should go to the polls and vote for their local ticket!), is thinking about holding an all-star LGBT fundraiser for Obama and  said

I am moving from a position of little enthusiasm to a position of strong support, and that means you will see me contributing financially and repeating my efforts of 2008 by knocking on doors in states where he wants me to knock on doors. When you ask for something big and you get it, you have to show your gratitude.

Obama is the first Democratic president since Harry Truman to assert state’s rights. Dustin, please research what that phrase actually means. Because it kinda sucks. Massively.

photo 1 and 2: screen shots “Falling Down”

photo 3: screen shot: “Hollyscoop”

photo 4: Zazzle.com

It’s May Day when those of certain faiths celebrate spring with dances round the maypole (a phallic symbol if ever there was one) and jumping over the Beltane fires, along with some other heart-rate raising activities of the fornicatory variety. In modern times May Day has become associated with another exercise: Marches! There were marches all over the world today!

Today in Los Angeles we had Four Winds, where groups from the four corners of the county converged in downtown, joining with pro-immigrant rallies in downtown and shutting down LAX for a while. There were several arrests for civil disobedience, and some idiot hit an LAPD officer with a skateboard. Not be sexist, but the moran, who remains at large, hit a female officer, and considering how everyone at the marches is supposed to be all respectful of the wimmins–even cops–that’s an epic fail. Or an outside agitator.

Celebrating May day with a Beltane frolic or a community march helps change the world. And even if it’s not a holiday, please make an effort to walk! Exercise changes your life!

Oh jeeze, Lindsay Lohan couldn’t be bothered to catch her flight to DC for tonight’s White House Correspondents Dinner, and ended up a later plane, where she’s being escorted by Greta van Susteren. Kim Kardashian (guest of Fox, which her mom watches non-stop) is there, along with George Clooney, Charlize Theron and a slew of others. Newt didn’t stop to talk with the press.

Come let’s live blog the arrivals and the delicious meal which hopefully will include dessert this year, along with main speaker Jimmy Kimmel and the usual good-natured ribbing from POTUS.

You can watch live on CSPAN or here

President Obama appeared on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” during a taping at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and POTUS made himself right at home, performing “Slow Jam the News” with the host and the house band The Roots. (Obama chose to discuss keeping low interest rates on Stafford student loans, telling Fallon during their chat that he and Michelle had paid off their loans just eight. years ago).

Obama also admitted that he and Mitt Rmoney are

not friends,

adding,

His wife is lovely.

Fallon and Obama both touched on the Secret Service scandal, with the host saying that he had spent some time with the Secret Service leading up to the President’s visit:

And those guys sure know how to party! Ay carumba!

Obama commented:

They protect me, they protect our girls. A couple of knuckleheads shouldn’t detract from that they do. A couple of knuckleheads shouldn’t detract from that they do. What they were thinking, I don’t know. That’s why they’re not there anymore.

POTUS also discussed sports and movies and noted that he would not be taking any pratfalls or staging some stumbles down the steps of Air Force One to make headlines, but admitted that when the women in his family would occasionally pick on him and Bo, they’d head off and watch sports.

In the past few years, rock and roll has come to Kazakhstan, and Kazakhs have seen concerts from the likes of the Black Eyed Peas, the Scorpions and Deep Purple. This year, to mark its 20 years of independence from the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan, which is still dealing with heavy pollution left over from the Soviet era, released a major national epic called “Myn Bala,” the country’s most expensive film ever.

Kazakhstan got lucky. But don’t plan to book a flight to the Republic of Wadiya, homeland of Admiral General Aladeen featured in “The Dictator.”  The country is fictional.

Okay, if this happens, it would be so utterly whack >9000: Mitt Romney hosting Saturday Night Live.

Lorne Michaels, the venerable show’s venerable producer has reportedly offered the GOP candidate with the most delegates a chance to host SNL. And Willard Mittens Rmoney is said to be considering it. If he does, he’ll be the first presidential candidate since 1996 to host, though since 2000 all candidates have appeared on the New York-based show show. The last presidential candidate to host was Steve Forbes, and we all know what happened there.

Imagine the hilarity ensuing as skits feature proxy baptism, polygamy, Ann’s job riding an Austrian Warmblood, and of course the dog on the roof. Hey, maybe they could make him play a gay character. Mitt’s wooden delivery and weak, feeble attempts at humor could make his foray into funny unintentionally spit-take worthy.

Call it an un-dorsement: On Easter Sunday, Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback (mega) Church just defined Mormons as not being Christians. Ergo, Mitt Romeny, the most-likely GOP nominee is not a Christian. Today on ABC, Warren told Jake Tapper:

Well, the key sticking point for evangelicals and actually for many is the issue of the Trinity. Orthodox Christians, Catholic Christians, Protestant Christians, evangelical Christians and Pentecostal Christians all believe in the Trinity; that’s the historic doctrine of the church, that God is three-in-one. Not three gods; one God in Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Mormonism denies that. That’s a sticking point for a lot of Catholic Christians, evangelical Christians, Pentecostal Christians, because they don’t — they don’t believe that.

Now they’ll use the same terminology, but they don’t believe in the historic doctrine of the Trinity. And people have tried to make it other issues. But that’s really one of the fundamental differences.

So, if Rmoney is the GOP nominee, will evangelicals vote for him? How big is the evangelical  bloc within the GOP? Will they stay away from the polls because Rmoney isn’t their flavor of faith? Or do Rick Warren’s words  go deeper than evangelists, potentially influencing a greater majority of Christians. Consider this–

In 2008, Warren told CNN:

I don’t think it’s right for pastors to endorse [a political candidate] in the first place. I would never endorse a candidate. I would never campaign for a candidate. I think as a pastor my role is to pastor all the flock regardless of their political persuasion, so I wouldn’t have wanted endorsements anyways..

I believe in the separation of church and state, but I do not believe in the separation of faith and politics, because faith is simply a worldview and everybody’s got a worldview.

We make our decisions based on our values, based on our worldview so I think it’s entirely appropriate for America to say not only what is your faith – whether it is in Christ or someone else – but what is your worldview because that is going to influence how we live in the next four years.

Thus in Rick Warren’s opinion, Mitt Romeny is not a Christian, and as such does not have a Christian worldview.  And that could prove problematic for some Christians. Especially those of the more conservative and/or  fundamentalist streak, be they evangelical or not. Will they vote for a Republican branded a not-Christian by one of the country’s most influential pastors, someone whose faith claims Jesus and Satan/Lucifer are brothers, with God as their father?

On first hearing, the doctrine that Lucifer and our Lord, Jesus Christ, are brothers may seem surprising to some — especially to those unacquainted with latter-day revelations. But both the scriptures and the prophets affirm that Jesus Christ and Lucifer are indeed offspring of our Heavenly Father and, therefore, spirit brothers. Jesus Christ was with the Father from the beginning. Lucifer, too, was an angel who was in authority in the presence of God, a son of the morning. (See Isa. 14:12; D&C 76:25-27.) Both Jesus and Lucifer were strong leaders with great knowledge and influence. But as the Firstborn of the Father, Jesus was Lucifer’s older brother. (See Col. 1:15; D&C 93:21.)

And  that in addition to the Heavenly Father, we have a Heavenly Mother?

Today the belief in a living Mother in Heaven is implicit in Latter-day Saint thought. Though the scriptures contain only hints, statements from presidents of the church over the years indicate that human beings have a Heavenly Mother as well as a Heavenly Father.

Frankly, the economy and foreign policy may be more important to conservative voters than theology. And the Mormons’ hardline anti-LGBT stance may convince some fundie-vangelists that a Mormon who has different family values in Heaven but not on earth might be the lesser of two evils.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have an un-dorsement, which could prove whether or not faith is indeed a sticking point for a certain stripe of Christian at the ballot box.