Hollywood Must Do Better

In a new report out the LGBT advocacy group GLAAD claims that most major Hollywood studio films either totally avoid our community or they ensure that LGBT figures are simply the butts of jokes or putdowns.  In 2014, for example, only 17 of more than 100 studio releases included lesbian, gay or bisexual characters, and most of those roles amounted to little more than cameos. Movies like 'Get Hard,' 'Ted 2' or 'The Wolf of Wall Street' blatantly use homophobic terms or use gay characters as easy sport for really bad and offensive jokes.

GLAAD have now released an online video campaign called 'Hollywood Must Do Better' to highlight the unfair treatment of LGBT characters in major Hollywood films using a collection of clips from some of the worst offenders. A disclaimer at the beginning of the video reads "People around the world love going to the movies, but for LGBT people, entertainment often comes at their expense."

GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis warned that the film industry was in danger of being left behind – by failing to mirror the progress made by ground-breaking TV shows such as 'Transparent' and 'Orange is the New Black'.  She added “As television and streaming services continue to produce a remarkable breadth of diverse LGBT representations, we still struggle to find depictions anywhere near as authentic or meaningful in mainstream Hollywood film.”

http://www.glaad.org/

Dolce and Gabbana finally say 'We're Sorry'

                                                                                                     (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

Domenico Dolce has finally apologised for the remarks he and business partner  Stefano Gabbana made back in March that seemed to disparage the freedom of same-sex couples to become parents.  The Italian openly-gay fashion designer in an article in the September issue of 'Vogue Magazine' says 'I am so sorry. It was not my intention to offend anyone.'

His highly offensive remarks about “synthetic” children and gay parenthood quickly gained notoriety and condemnation from some of  their most famous customers like a very vocal and angry Sir Elton John and Madonna calling for a worldwide boycott of the Dolce & Gabbana brand. The design duo's attempt to clarify their remarks at the time to CNN backfired as they only served to re-iterate their extreme homophobic view on the issue.

Dolce told Vogue 'I’ve done some soul-searching. I’ve talked to Stefano a lot about this. I’ve realized that my words were inappropriate, and I apologize.' Gabbana adds that some of his original comments were fueled by the fact that he had seriously thought about being a father and that he was somewhat distraught that is not possible in Italy for gay men to adopt under the current law.

The couple (no longer romantically involved) were obviously shocked and dismayed at the speed and ferocity of the social media campaign against them that quickly went viral. In an effort to counterbalance the claims that they have internalized homophobia, Gabbana was quick to add that when they came out as a couple to the press in 1999 in Italy it was a brave and un-heard of move.

Dolce now claims 'We shouldn't become too rigid. We need to understand, accept everyone'. Whether this new stance that the couple have taken is purely because of the harm the boycott did to their business or a genuine claim that they really have honestly re-thought their traditional Catholic views, is a tough one to call right now.  The jury will still be out for a very long time yet.

Why we LOVE James Corden

The more we see of (fellow Brit) James Corden the unquestionably funniest Late Late Show Host on American TV right now, the more we love him. Watch him here pitch in with his very witty take on why Dalton Maldonado, the star basketball player at Betsy Layne High School in Kentucky omitted from his yearbook because he is gay.

Part of Corden's spiel was 'If you’re a homophobic school, you do not call yourself Betsy Layne High. Betsy Layne sounds like a girl who would love a gay friend. It actually sounds like a term for coming out, as in, ‘Have you heard about Simon? Oh what, what’s happened? He’s gone down Betsy Layne.”

On a lighter note, Corden has a regular slot in his show called 'Carpool Karoake' when he gifts a ride to work to a famous singer and then turns on the car radio which just happens to be playing their music and the two of them sing along. He has had people such as Justin Bieber, Rod Stewart and Mariah Carey in his passenger seat so far, but the very best guest by far was the day his traveling companion was Jennifer Hudson.   The clip of the two is totally wonderful and already clocked up over 8  million views since it was posted onto You Tube.

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