With the wins in California and Washington, some Springfield legislators say they will now make a serious push for equal marriage legislation this year in Illinois.  As they do so, we can expect that the usual suspects to loudly bray about how “unfair” equal rights legislation is, and demonize LGBT people in the process.

Chief among them will be Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George.  George is already on record comparing lesbians and gays to the KKK, and repeatedly defended that insulting comparison before finally issuing what many considered an inadequate apology.  The “apology” implied that he still thinks that many lesbians and gays are fascists, and he justified his blasts against us as being motivated by his alleged fear for “the liberty of the church.”

George, as head of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, spent tens of thousands backing the anti-gay referendums Proposition 8 in California and Question 1 in Maine.  After the passage of the civil unions bill in Illinois, George pompously predicted, “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.”

As marriage equality moves forward this year in Illinois, look for Cardinal George to once again take his bigotry out from under wraps, trying to lean on Illinois legislators to vote against equality.

As a cover for this bigotry, look for him to try to play the victim role again, falsely stating that equal marriage legislation in Illinois would somehow force the Catholic Church to celebrate marriages it chooses not to.

Look for him to violate the church’s tax-exempt status by using its institutional power to advocate on legislation.

We can sit back and take it – as Californians fatefully did with the Mormon Church before the passage of Proposition 8 – or we can proactively push back against this bigotry now.

Please come to Freedom to Marry Day 2012 at 10:30 AM this Sunday, Feb. 12 in front of Holy Name Cathedral, 735 N. State Street, and stand with the majority of lay Catholics and others of good will who support equal rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people.

This protest was initiated by the Gay Liberation Network and is supported by the 8th Day Center for Justice, Dignity-Chicago, Equality Illinois and the Rainbow-Sash Organization.  For more information, email LGBTliberation@aol.com

See you on Sunday!

You’re probably familiar with all the times Bugs Bunny crossed dressed for laughs in all the Warner Brothers cartoons, but did you know that accidentally kissing a man while dressed up as a woman was a regular comedy bit in the vaudeville circuit?

Watch “A Woman” from 1915, one of the few times Charlie Chaplin appeared in his films without his iconic mustache. In the short 20 minute movie, Charlie dresses up as to sneak into a sexy lady’s house, but her overprotective father and his friend fall in love with him instead. Who knew Charlie Chaplin had such a handsome face behind that crazy Hitler mustache?

From what I’ve heard, this film was made at the Essanay studios right here in Chicago, just blocks away from where we tape the Feast of Fun podcast and make many of our drag videos for YouTube. I like to think that here in Chicago we’re following in Charlie Chaplin’s footsteps.

With her Givenchy designed Roman outfit, the seemingly wing inspired headdress by Philip Treacy, the use of a lyre and her arrival under a cloud of feathers, who else could she be but the goddess that awards victory in battle?

Let’s take a look and you decide:

Cher's album cover did not inspire Madonna.

Kylie Minogues' Aphrodite has nothing on Madonna.

Madonna prefers twinks to He Man, so She Ra didn't inspire her either.

Nike, Goddess of Victory often shown with Lyre.

Madonna with Lyre.

Madonna arrives under giant feathers- wings are a symbol of Nike.

The headpiece seems wing inspired- Madonna is Nike.

Madonna is Goddess! Nike, that is.

(L) Madonna at the 2012 Superbowl Half Time Show, (R) David La Chapelle's 1993 Portrait of Jocelyn Wildenstein

Is Madonna finally embracing her inner Wildenstein?

If you’re like me and have a Google Alert on the Bride of Wildenstein, then your inbox is flooded with daily comparisons between the Material Girl’s (as of late) pumped up features and plastic surgery poster-victim, Jocelyn Wildenstein.  But at today’s halftime show, I seriously began considering if Madge was openly embracing these recent comparisons to the cat woman.  Her initial Cleopatra-look (complete with leopard print) bore a striking resemblance to a 1993 David La Chapelle portrait of Wildenstein.

Of course Madonna’s superbowl performance was almost flawless, and she managed to keep her clothes on. But here’s a hilarious clip of Madonna almost falling during the Vouge intro of her halftime show.

For those of you laughing at Madge, try doing her movies in stiletto heels in the freezing Indiana winter!

Here is Madonna opening during Superbowl XLVI Halftime Show:

Tonight Channing Tatum is hosting Saturday Night Live, the actor known for his role in the homoerotic Roman film “The Eagle.” Reminding the audience that he got his start as a male stripper, Channing busted out of his shirt right in the opening monologue of the show, looking pretty darn good.

At first I thought he was going to only have Kristen Wiig in the audience as one of his former clients, but of course it went gay and we got to see the hilarious Fred Armisen drool over Channing’s ripped body.

Here’s a photo of the actor in his early days as a male stripper.

View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

Police respond to fight on Hollywood Blvd between Catwoman, Ozzy Osbourne and an Alien. Spiderman and batman just watched… I can’t make this stuff up!

The production company that employs British adult film star Keiran Lee took out a million dollar insurance policy with Lloyd’s of London insurance to protect Keiran’s great biggest asset.

Lloyd’s is famous for insuring celebrities body parts like David Beckham’s legs and Bob Dylan’s vocal chords.

Should anything happen to Keiran’s working stiffy the company would receive the payout, not the actor.

A million dollars seems like a lot of money but his actress girlfriend Kirsten Price said “Only a million dollars? To me, baby, it’s priceless.”

I bet it is.

via

You might remember her getting mad at Beyonce for singing her ballad “At Last” at President Obama’s inaugural ball.

Maybe she was also angry at the way Beyonce played her in the 2008 film “Cadillac Records,” which suggest her success was not one of her own making. Either way, we’ll never forget the strength and intensity of her voice and music.

Here’s one of her last TV appearances on Dancing with the Stars, singing her iconic song.

Ruth Brown as Motormouth Maybelle Stubbs in the original film Hairspray.

Was Etta James part of the inspiration for John Water’s soulful rebellious character Motormouth Maybelle Stubbs in Hairspray?

Here’s a great mix of some of her sexier, racier songs. In the Basement, down in the basement!

First off, can I just say- God bless pageant babies who talk like extras from “Paris is Burning.” Why is it that drag queens and pageant girls all talk like southern black women?  If you edited this Cosco-coupon-crapfest down you would basically have “SH*T BLACK GIRLS SAY”…. Throw in a flying Absolut cocktail and you’d have outtakes from RuPaul’s Drag Race Untucked.

If “Dollar, Make Me Hollah, Honey-Boo-Boo” isn’t the “Halleloo” of 2012, I’m going to be more disappointed than Britney Spears after finishing the last Cheeto in the bag.


 
And then there is her mother…..And the burp.  It’s the holy grail of this clip. The mother has this uncanny likeness to Jabba the Hutt and this poor woman.

Honestly it is more frightening than Taylor Swift without Auto-Tune.
 


Lets face it this poor family has more lazy eyes than an Anna Nicole off-spring.
 
Little Alana says that when she grows up she’s gonna be a coupon queen.  Bitch needs to lower her expectations; I suspect this poor girl will be dead by Christmas, maybe Christmas Eve. 

El Nuevo Dia reports that sources close to pop star Ricky Martin say he will marry his longtime partner in la Gran Manzana (NYC) on January 28th.

Ricky likes to use Twitter but he hasn’t confirmed anything yet. We’ll see!

They say it’s a fake. but do we really need Taylor to come out on the cover of People magazine to know he’s gay?

This says all I need to know-

Interesting to note also that young Stephen is at loggerheads with Chaz Bono’s definition of trans identity, viewing it as pathologizing and some of Chaz’s remarks about relating to women post his own transition as misogynistic. I wonder if we could get him on the show?

“In comparing LGBT rights advocates to the KKK, the Cardinal shows that he is not an honest man of faith trying to better the world, but rather, a mendacious one trying to deflect criticism of church policies that promote discrimination.

“It is ironic that George chooses to mention the KKK, as they are but one of the most extreme examples of organizations which have used religion to shield themselves from criticism of their hateful policies.  While an overwhelming majority of lay Catholics support equality for women and LGBTs, the Catholic leadership has a history and present practice of discrimination which they apparently will go to quite extreme lengths to defend.

See more at tinyurl.com/foolishgeorge

This routine will consist of a Warm-Up, Workout, & Cool-Down.

Throughout the various articles published on her life and death, she is alternately referred to as “transgender” and “drag performer”, and occasionally by the Maori term “whakawahine” (fah-kah-wah-HEE-nay) which refers to ‘one who lives as a woman’ (compare to the Samoan “fa’afafine”).

However you define her, Carmen was a colourful boundary-breaking character, a former street worker turned dancer and entertainment entrepreneur, and once ran for Mayor of Wellington (a position later won by the world’s first openly trans MP Georgina Beyer, also of Maori descent), all during an era still marked by retrograde and phobic attitudes towards homosexuality and rigid gender roles.

A karakia (prayer) for the dead follows, in te reo Maori, the language of the indigenous people of Aotearoa-New Zealand. Phrased so that it is appropriate for pakeha (people not of Maori descent) to say:

Tena Koutou i o koutou tini mate
No reira, haere e nga mate
Haere ki te wa kainga
Haere, haere, haere.

Translated into English:
Greetings to your many dead
Therefore, farewell the dead
Go to the home of all time
Farewell, farewell, farewell.

For those who can’t wait until late January for Drag Race or need a holiday chuckle – be sure to check out this gem by Rupaul!

Fausto at the 38 minute mark is an appearance by Miss Eartha!

We are all living in a tough period… blah bla bla bla… instead of commiserate let’s celebrate our fabulousness!!

How can we do this? In many ways (you do not want me to send you a picture, do you? ), but one particular way here on the FOF!

The idea is simple: we can create a video, a letter, a poem, a message, a picture… let your imagination work, and post it here on the FOF and use it to send your wishes to Fausto and Marc and the other FOF listeners and guests.

Posting can start on Dec. 15th until glitter day.