Raw Story Reports : A gagged priest at Springfield’s St. Aloysius church called 911 late last year and asked them for help because he had been “playing” with handcuffs and he got stuck. Audio of Father Tom Donovan’s Nov. 28 911 call was published by the Illinois Times on Thursday. “I’m stuck in a pair of handcuffs and I’m going to need help getting out before it becomes a medical emergency,” Donovan tells the dispatcher in a muffled voice. RawStory youtube
Are Professional Team Sports Too Intolerant To Accept Openly Gay Players In 2013, will professional team sports see the very first openly gay athlete? We have to ask, especially after reading an insightful piece in the Los Angeles Times about homophobia in professional sports. Here’s an excerpt: About 4,000 players spent time on active rosters in the NBA, NHL, NFL and Major League Baseball in 2012. With the best estimates of the gay population in U.S. ranging from 2% to 10%, it’s likely many of those 4,000 athletes are gay. Yet not one has come out of the closet. Not this year, not last year, not ever. There are openly gay congressmen and two senators-elect. There has been a gay governor and a cable TV network anchor. Just never an openly gay shortstop, quarterback or power forward. And changing that would require more than simply challenging convention. It could require a player to challenge his teammates as well. “It’s still taboo in the locker room,” explains the Clippers’ Grant Hill. Like in the New England Patriots’ locker room. Earlier this season linebacker Brandon Spikes sent out a tweet claiming to be homophobic “just like I’m arachnophobic. I have nothing against ho*****uals or spiders but I’d still scream if I found one in my bathtub.” Spikes later said he was joking. But former Angels outfielder Torii Hunter, among baseball’s most thoughtful and intelligent players, isn’t kidding when he says an “out” teammate could divide a team. “For me, as a Christian … I will be uncomfortable because in all my teachings and all my learning, biblically, it’s not right,” he says. “It will be difficult and uncomfortable.” David Kopay (Redskins running back), Billy Bean (Dodgers and Padres outfielder) and John Amaechi (NBA center-forward) are gay athletes who waited, like former NFL’er Wade Davis, to come out after their playing careers ended. Yet an active player coming out may be inevitable. In the last six months Puerto Rican boxer Orlando Cruz, a featherweight contender, and Kevin McClatchy, former owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, revealed they were homosexual. And hyper-masculine males such as Brendon Ayanbadejo of the Baltimore Ravens, Scott Fujita of the Cleveland Browns and Chris Kluwe of the Minnesota Vikings — all of whom are straight — have become impassioned spokesmen for same-sex marriage. Then there’s NBA Commissioner David Stern, who last year said it’s no longer a matter of “if” but “when” basketball welcomes its first openly gay player. “It will happen,” he said. “I have no doubt about it.” And talk like that, insists a cross section of professional athletes, former athletes, scouts and team executives, is laying the groundwork for a new locker room culture that will be more welcoming for gays. The views of older players, they say, are at odds with younger players, such as 26-year running back Arian Foster of the Houston Texans who, when asked this month about a gay player being in the NFL, told TV’s Jim Rome “People are more accepting of it…. I don’t think it will be long.” As older players retire and younger ones take their place, attitudes in professional sports are bound to change. That generation gap in social thinking mirrors public opinion polls on gay marriage, with a CBS News poll released last month showing the greatest support — 72% — among Americans ages 18 to 29. But journalist Cyd Zeigler, co-founder of the gay sports website Outsports.com, says something else may be at work. Zeigler interviewed more than two dozen current and former NFL players — including Redskins rookie Robert Griffin III, New England tight end Rob Gronkowski and Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, plus retired Pro Bowlers Jevon Kearse, Ahman Green and Eddie George — over the last seven months and found just one who said he would be uncomfortable with a gay teammate. “When I talk to these guys, the majority of them have a gay family member. And all of them know at least one gay person,” Zeigler says. Griffin had a gay teammate in high school, for example, Green has a gay brother and lesbian sister and Hasselbeck insists he must have played with at least one closeted teammate during his NFL career. Do you think that knowing someone gay makes people more tolerant of homosexuality or has it just become more acceptable thanks to public awareness about marriage equality and other issues? Which pro team sport do you think will have the first openly gay player? Any ideas about who the player may be? Photo Credit: John Loomis/WENN
This lil guy has a Mommy who has appeared on “Basketball Wives” and his Daddy is an 11 year NBA veteran who once donated over $18K in goods to Hurricane Katrina victims. He’s also the youngest of four kids the pair have together. So Who Are His Parents ? Any guesses? Hit the flip to find out if you’re right.
Black Actors Who Played Gay Male Characters It’s no question that the Black community has had to deal with plenty of homophobia, making some feel uncomfortable about coming out or showing their true selves. However, some Black men have shed the fear in order to portray gay characters either in movies or TV shows. So let’s take a look and tip our caps to these guys.
Poor Elmo got janky junk . Via NYPost reports : The fourth man to come forward to accuse “Sesame Street’’ puppeteer Kevin Clash of inappropriate sexual contact says the voice of Elmo had trouble getting it up as he was trying to get down with his alleged victim. “Kevin Clash told [his accuser] he had difficulty . . . due to a medical condition,” according to the new accuser’s civil lawsuit filed yesterday in Manhattan federal court. The alleged victim, now 33, said he was about 16 when he first met Clash, then 35, in 1995 while walking on a Miami beach. The two started talking — Clash complimented him on his looks, the man said — and the pair kept in touch over the phone. After learning that the accuser had problems at home and wanted to run away, Clash, the voice of Elmo for 28 years until he resigned last month, promised to “be a dad” to him. Clash lured the young man to the city “with promises to pay for his plane ticket . . . and give him cash and a free place to stay,” according to the lawsuit, in which Clash’s latest accuser remains unnamed. “[The accuser] had been abused by a teacher when he was 15 and was initially very leery of Kevin. But Kevin convinced him he would be safe” — by disclosing he was the man behind the world’s most beloved muppet, said the plaintiff’s lawyer, Miami-based Jeff Herman, who is also representing two other accusers. “As soon as he got to New York, Kevin told him he was the voice of Elmo,” Herman said. The accuser stayed with Clash only a few days, when the abuse is alleged to have happened. Herman said that because Clash is alleged to have transported his accuser across state lines for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity, he could face criminal charges. “The lawsuit is without merit, and we will vigorously defend the case and Mr. Clash’s reputation,” said Michael Berger, a lawyer for Clash, reiterating what the puppeteer’s camp has said each time the other claims were made public. A doorman at Clash’s Upper West Side apartment building yesterday said the Muppet master, a divorced dad with a college-age daughter, has not been seen in some time. The latest accuser said that being a parental figure was a role Clash liked to play — and another alleged victim has echoed that. “ ‘Mr. Tickler’ is what I will call him, and the game we played was father and son,” a previous accuser, who claims he also was 16 when he and Clash hooked up, wrote in an unpublished memoir. Herman added yesterday: “These are all vulnerable boys. None of them had father figures in their lives, and they were looking for that father figure. There’s a consistency.” Abuse charges against Clash, now 52, first surfaced last month. After the first accusation was made public, Clash released a statement that said he was gay and admitted the relationship but said it was between two consenting adults. He resigned when a second accuser came forward — college student Cecil Singleton, now 24, who sued him for $5 million. Singleton and another accuser said Clash was trolling for young boys on a gay telephone chat line and that he lied about his age. Herman said other possible victims have been in contact with him and that he is in the process of vetting them. No wonder Elmo’s such a tickle monster, he couldn’t even use that thang for nothing but a lil tickling. Life just keeps getting more and more embarrassing for this guy. SMH. AP Images
La La was spotted bustin’ a move or two at Atlanta nightclub Reign on Friday. She was accompanied by her usual entourage of Diego, Dice and Po and another chick we’ve seen on her Vh1 whose name we can’t remember. Looks like homegirl was feeling nice. Jeezy was also in the building, hanging with party promoter Alex Gidewon. Hit the flip for more pics.
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