Obama Awards Biden the Medal of Freedom

A bromance for the ages. In a surprise ceremony in the White House today, President Obama awarded Vice President Joe Biden the nation's highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom with Distinction, for his long career of service to the nation. This ABC news clip captures the moment:




You can watch the entirety of the President's remarks and Biden's reply here.

Bill Clinton Honored by GLAAD

Clinton accepts the award, flanked by Chelsea

Former President Clinton accepted GLAAD's "Advocate for Change" Award at the GLAAD Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday, making a moving speech in which he praised gay-rights activists for helping America progress towards "a more perfect union" - and credited daughter Chelsea and her gay friends with helping him evolve in his views.  The speech is quite good, well worth your time:



In March of this year, Clinton wrote an editorial for the Washington Post, urging the Supreme Court to overturn DOMA, an act which he signed into law in 1996 after being passed by overwhelming majorities in the Republican-controlled Congress. Excerpt:

In 1996, I signed the Defense of Marriage Act. Although that was only 17 years ago, it was a very different time. In no state in the union was same-sex marriage recognized, much less available as a legal right, but some were moving in that direction. Washington, as a result, was swirling with all manner of possible responses, some quite draconian. As a bipartisan group of former senators stated in their March 1 amicus brief to the Supreme Court, many supporters of the bill known as DOMA believed that its passage “would defuse a movement to enact a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, which would have ended the debate for a generation or more.” It was under these circumstances that DOMA came to my desk, opposed by only 81 of the 535 members of Congress. . . .

When I signed the bill, I included a statement with the admonition that “enactment of this legislation should not, despite the fierce and at times divisive rhetoric surrounding it, be understood to provide an excuse for discrimination.” Reading those words today, I know now that, even worse than providing an excuse for discrimination, the law is itself discriminatory. It should be overturned.

"So the Fuck What?" Sally Field Praises Gay Son at HRC Awards Dinner

I'd been wondering whatever happened to the delightful Sally Field; turns out she's been raising a gay son, Sam Greisman, and boy is she proud of the fact. Just listen to what she has to say about parenting a gay child "to be what nature intended" - and maybe keep a kleenex handy:

So Kind

Your Head Trucker was very pleased yesterday to make the happy discovery that the Blue Truck has been given its first award for excellence:

Many thanks for this honor to raulito over at From Top to Bottom (NSFW, but check it out anyway, guys), who says:

This blog deserves a well-earned recognition: it has just about a little bit of everything; from social commentary to entertainment, from male erotica to political opinions. But most importantly, Russ Manley is one very dedicated LGBT rights defender living in the homophobic wilderness that is Texas. I can imagine how hard it must be to face ignorance, superstition and homophobia every day of your life living in a place like Texas…and I do because I went to college there. So this award is given in view of all that and more…may you continue to post ‘till you drop...u are doing a terrific job!

Appreciate ya, bud. Muchas gracias!

Betty White Gets the Last Laugh

. . . after Sandra Bullock said she found her "annoying" at the Screen Actors Guild awards, #4 in the list of clips here (not embeddable).

I too have always found her screen persona very annoying, and never paid much attention to her.  But watching this short clip, I was struck by how she reminded me of my mother, in her later years:  a subdued, slightly faded glamour - but still vivacious and feisty underneath, a quality of spirit that age could never erase.

Otherwise, they were nothing alike, in looks or personality, but it was a sweet moment of recollection for me.

Give That Boy a Medal

Click here to see this issue of DNA online, the Australian gay mag.

Matthew Mitcham, 20-year-old openly gay Olympian who amazed the world by snagging a gold medal in the 10-meter dive last summer in Beijing, has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia back home in his native land. He sure makes Down Under look good, don't you think?

Below is a picture of Matthew with his partner, Lachlan Fletcher - which to my mind is an even better picture than the one above. Openly gay, openly in love: looks like Change has come to Australia too.

(Honk to Tres Fab Sweetie!)