"Marriage is not a civil right—you're not Black!"—the ever-erudite Ann Coulter shared her views on gay marriage to a group of gay conservatives, GOProud, at its first Homocon gathering. I suspect they'd have no problem if she called them tea-baggers!
I heard that Jason Ritter and Blair Underwood lost quite a bit of weight before they started shooting The Event. But that's not entirely true. They actually lost weight in the months after filming the pilot. Blair says: "There's five months between shooting the first episode and the second episode. I saw the pilot and I go, 'Oh, no. Oh, no brother. You need to lose some weight.'" Blair had it easy; he decided for himself. Two days into shooting, Jason was told, "We got you a gym membership and a personal trainer." He's always had a little bit of baby fat that made him so adorably endearing in previous roles, but the studio wanted him tight and taut for The Event. The first thing the trainer did was put him on a cleanse. As it turns out, Blair did the master cleanse "for weeks" to get back in shape. He lost 20 pounds, his abs are back, and he feels great. As to Jason, let me assure you he looks fabulous. ( He may have lost his ass, but he's young—it'll grow back! )
We've been hearing numerous disturbing accounts of the bullying young gay people endure and how it often leads to suicide. It's been a tragic wake-up call for people who think that perhaps we are immune to these pressures. But the truth of the matter is, this is nothing new. You don't have to look too far back in history to see every minority group has endured this. The Tyler Clementi episode particularly reminded me of how girls in a bygone era would commit suicide or, at the very least, be ostracized if someone started rumors that she was "loose." It should remind us that no one is immune to bullying or being bullied.
Our biggest resource in the LGBT community is The Trevor Project ( www.TheTrevorProject.org ) . This amazing organization works hard to tell gay and questioning teens that there is nothing wrong with them, that they are OK and they are not alone. Loads of celebs have joined Trevor to film PSAs letting kids know that it gets better. One of the most haunting was that of Tim Gunn, who revealed that he attempted suicide as a gay teen. Happily, he was unsuccessful—or we'd have been robbed of the phrase, "Make it work" ( to say nothing of the dashing silver fox himself ) . If you text the word "KIND" to 85944, you can make a donation of $5 to the Trevor Project. Do it today.
Kathy Griffin has always been a supporter of the gay community and always puts her money where her mouth is. In the past, she's raised tens of thousands of dollars for the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center. Now she's helping Trevor. Every dollar that she would have made from her Dec. 16 show at the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City will be donated to the Trevor Project. Way to go, Kath!
Another funny lady brought the plight of gay teens to primetime last week. In what was to be her last dance on "Dancing with the Stars," Margaret Cho donned a rainbow ensemble for her joyous samba. When asked the message, she said, "It's about having pride in who you are and that's why we wore rainbow colors. Because we want to talk about pride." If only that samba had been a little better...
Our straight allies are vital to spreading acceptance throughout the world. Pop star Robbie Williams made headlines last week when he was asked by a radio host if he and his wife want to start a family, and would they like to have a boy or a girl. He surprised the host by saying, "I want a gay one. We've talked about it and that's what we want—whatever it is." I suspect there are more than a few readers who would like to call Robbie their Daddy!
Then there's James Franco. The sexy stud has played gay several times, but now he's taken it a step further. He's featured in full drag on the cover of Candy magazine—a publication described as "the first fashion magazine ever completely dedicated to celebrating transvestism, transexuality, cross dressing and androgyny, in all its manifestations." I dunno about all that, but James looks hot in the pics by renowned fashion photographer Terry Richardson! Photos ( and outtakes ) can be found on BillyMasters.com .
Someone else who's not gay ( that we know of ) is sexy Brando Eaton, who plays gay on The Secret Life of the American Teenager ( and showed his ass on Dexter—which you can see on BillyMasters.com ) . Earlier this year, he was a guest star on the short-lived Miami Medical. His character needed to be revived with the aid of a defibrillator. In a shocking turn of events, the prop defibrillator ended up being real, giving Brando quite a jolt! He's now suing the people responsible, claiming he needs "treatment and counseling for the anxiety, flashbacks and apprehension from this incident." In other words, don't go near him with a defibrillator—it could kill him!
Could it be that Josh Duhamel is one of our straight allies? Maybe. He's never had a real public connection to the gay community, and yet... While promoting his film Life As We Know It, he said something about his co-star Katherine Heigl that caught our eye: "Personally, I'm a big fan of Katherine's husband, Josh Kelley. So kissing her was like indirectly getting to make out with him." Uh-huh.
When Franco's hiding his candy, it's definitely time to end yet another column. I may be in southern California, but it might as well be Boston. All you people who say New England weather is fickle, we had a 40-degree drop in temperature overnight here in Los Angeles. And yet, it's still sizzling on www.BillyMasters.com . For your gossip needs, feel free to drop a note to Billy@BillyMasters.com, and I promise to get back to you before Duhamel gets to actually make out with Josh Kelley! So, until next time, remember, one man's filth is another man's bible.
