Lambert to appear on ABC's 'The View' after complaining of being dropped from other ABC shows

NEW YORK (AP) — ABC says glam-rocker Adam Lambert will appear and perform on its daytime talk show "The View" on Thursday.

The announcement comes almost two weeks after Lambert's racy performance on ABC's broadcast of "The American Music Awards." That led to Lambert getting axed from an appearance on the network's "Good Morning America."

Since then, Lambert, who is openly gay, complained of being dropped from two other upcoming ABC shows.

In the meantime, he has been scheduled for NBC's "The Jay Leno Show" on Dec. 21.

And his taped appearance on "The View" will air a day after he is honored by "View" co-panelist Barbara Walters on her "10 Most Fascinating People of 2009" special. That also airs on ABC.
Orlando Sentinel

ABC Will Let Adam Lambert On Its Network Only In a Pre-Taped, Censor-Friendly Environment

Looks like ABC is reconsidering its ban on Adam Lambert. Not only will he be a part of Barbara Walters' annual The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009 on Wednesday night, Lambert will stop by and sing on Thursday's The View. But because Lambert still cannot be trusted — he might touch his crotch at any moment! — the appearance will be taped. And GLAAD is congratulating itself all the way to the bank.

"ABC has taken a step towards fairness by inviting Adam Lambert to perform on The View," says GLAAD chief Jarrett Barrios in a statement. "GLAAD has been advocating against the double standards that have been applied to Lambert as an openly gay performer. We thank community members and allies for voicing their concerns with ABC so that entertainers like Adam have the opportunity to be broadcast into living rooms across America." (Also noted in the GLAAD release: "Earlier today [Friday] GLAAD urged constituents to contact ABC to express disappointment. Throughout the day, GLAAD continued conversations with ABC that began two weeks ago when the network announced the cancellation of Lambert’s performance on Good Morning America following his performance on the American Music Awards.")

We can already hear the stupidity from Elisabeth Hasselbeck brewing.

UPDATE: We just spoke with one of Barrios' senior underlings at GLAAD, who tells Queerty "the whole situation has been embarrassing" for the organization. GLAAD "fucked it up … from the beginning" and is now "trying … to cover our ass" with statement after statement. Barrios "is not happy with … how this played out. We're all sort of just trying to pretend this was successful."

Queerty

Lady Gaga on Ellen Degeneres

California mayor apologizes for remark to newspaper about gays

VALLEJO, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California mayor is apologizing for comments he made to The New York Times that gays will not go to heaven.

Vallejo Mayor Osby Davis issued a prepared statement Tuesday saying he seeks to represent all city residents, not just a faction.

The controversial remark was published Friday in an article about the divide between the city's gay and evangelical Christian residents.

The mayor, an evangelical, told the newspaper gays are "committing sin and that sin will keep them out of heaven."

Davis now says the remarks were taken out of context, and he won't use his position to espouse his personal beliefs.

Davis defeated a gay candidate for mayor by two votes in 2007.

Orlando Sentinel

She Voted to Fire a Gay Teacher. And Now the Gays are Boycotting Her Restaurant

When we learned the manager of Los Angeles restaurant El Coyote donated to Prop 8, there was outrage and boycotts from gay clientele. In Oklahoma City, it's Flip's Wine Bar and Trattoria at the center of a new boycott. But this time because its co-owner, as a member of the Oklahoma City School Board, voted to fire an openly gay teacher. Well, that's not gonna be good for business.

Gail Vines, who owns a stake in Flip's, joined five others on the board to oust Joe Quigley, an openly gay teacher at Northwest Classen High School ("Home of the Knights!"), who also started the school's gay-straight alliance. Fired in May for "poor teaching," Quigley countered with a complaint that he was fired for his sexuality, and a judge ruled he was competent to teach. The board appealed, but Quigley is back in the classroom at a different school while a judge weighs in on the appeal.

But for now, supporters of Quigley are boycotting Flip's (Facebook page here) — and, according to Vines, calling in with harassing phone calls.

Except, uh, even Quigley sides with Vines in one respect, claiming he wasn't fired for being gay — just for vociferously standing up for gay rights. (He hasn't officially stated whether he supports the boycott or not.)

Further explains the Oklahoma blog Gossip Boy:

Flip’s co-owner Gail Vines, along with five other members of the OKC School Board (Steve Shafer, David Costello, Lyn Watson, Thelma Parks, and Phil Horning), openly defied an August court order that mandated the immediate reinstatement of gay school teacher Joseph Quigley, who a judge found had been wrongfully terminated and bias was involved in his firing. Despite the order from Judge Barbara Swinton, Vines and the others refused to allow Quigley back into the classroom. After Swinton threatened the board with contempt, the board relented and the teacher is back on the job for the time being.

Vines’ business was chosen as a boycott target due to her self-proclaimed support of the LGBT Community and the fact that other school board members lacked an actual business to challenge.

Meanwhile:

After the effects of the boycott began being felt by the restaurant, several of Vines’ employees, vendors, and friends began a counter boycott that saw several of them trashing the character of Quigley and his competency. Led by Chad Bleakley, the group began libeling Quigley on the Boycott Flip’s Facebook page and attempted to troll the board with their support for Vines and dismissal of the LGBT Community’s feelings.

Bleakley stated that if the Community is going to boycott Flip’s they would need to go ahead and boycott his restaurant VZDs. It appears the Community is ready to comply with that request.

In one of his posts he said, “This is a an issue of incompetence and lack of professionalism, not a gay rights issue. Quigley does an injustice to those seeking equal protection under the law playing the equivalent of the "race card".”

The focus of Bleakley’s attack, Joe Quigley, is not a part of the boycott, but is being targeted by members of Bleakley’s group despite their assurances it is only to defend Vines. In October Quigley began working at US Grant High School. He chose to discontinue grievances against the district and concentrate on teaching. It is his hope that a resolution can be obtained that stops the district’s excessive legal spending and that will ultimately lead to a compromise that will see LGBT student protections in school policies.

It's really as simple as this: If Quigley was a bad teacher, let him go. But presented with the evidence, a judge found otherwise. (It's unclear what started an investigation into Quigley's allegedly poor teaching practices.) But if he's been ousted because he wants to foster a safe environment for queer students, then go ahead, boycott the shit out of those responsible for his removal.
Queerty

Guess Which Escort Abuser Is Headed to Big Brother?

Because this is what you do with people who, when given their own free will, kidnap and attack escorts: Boy George will be locked up again. But this time, television cameras will be rolling the whole time.

George has agreed to appear on Britain's Celebrity Big Brother, supposedly scoring a £200,000 fee along the way.

And when he mouths off at other contestants and unleashes his Culture Club wrath while television audiences look on? He probably won't feel remorse for that, either.

Queerty

This 10-Year-Old Won't Pledge Allegiance to a Country that Discriminates Against Gays

He's got a small voice, and he's just one kid, but 10-year-old Arkansas fifth grader (he skipped a grade) Will Phillips might as well have Barack Obama's ear as much as Joe Solmonese. That's because Phillips, who's already aware of the gay rights struggle at such a young age, is making a small stand against a nation with discriminatory policies on the books: he's refusing to recite the Pledge Of Allegiance at school.

He wouldn't do it when the substitute teacher asked him. And he's not about to start now, even if other kids are, predictably, teasing him over his stance.

Given that his protest is over the rights of gays and lesbians, the taunts have taken a predictable bent. “In the lunchroom and in the hallway, they've been making comments and doing pranks, and calling me gay,” he said. “It's always the same people, walking up and calling me a gaywad.”

Even so, Will said that he can't foresee anything in the near future that will make him stand for the pledge. To help him deal with the peer pressure, his parents have printed off posts in his support on blogs and websites. “We've told him that people here might not support you, but we've shown him there are people all over that support you,” [his mother Laura] Phillips said. “It's really frustrating to him that people are being so immature.”

Queerty