Katie Toth
If you stayed in Toronto for Canada Day, you are probably still recovering.
Well, wasn’t Pride delightful? The people were in various degrees of attire, the sun was a-blazing as usual, and the alcohol enforcement seemed, according to some attendees, to be at an all-time low.
I’m a fan of this because I think it’s silly to get in trouble for having a drink if you’re not hurting anyone. I’m a little concerned, though, because I’m a big fan of rules being specifically laid out so we all know what they are. Otherwise “officers using their discretion” about a rule can potentially result in different groups of people getting different degrees of discretion (my mind has strayed to a particular Jay-Z song at the moment…).
I’m not saying that happened this weekend; the laid-back ‘tude of officers (one wore beads! One wore a Hawaiian lei!) was a positive step on a pretty great weekend.
Anderson Cooper: “The fact is, I’m gay.”
Speaking of Pride, Anderson Cooper came out!
In an email to his friend Andrew Sullivan, which he allowed to be made public, Cooper seems kind of annoyed that he even has to go through this exercise. “I’ve always believed that who a reporter votes for, what religion they are, who they love, should not be something they have to discuss publicly,” he said. “As long as a journalist shows fairness and honesty in his or her work, their private life shouldn’t matter.”
Amen. You know you’re gay, your friends and family and colleagues know you’re gay, yet the world will not rest until you’ve publicly affirmed something that’s none of their business. I look forward to the day that high-profile journalists with a taste for privacy don’t have to come out, because it’s just not that important any more.
But Anderson Cooper’s a brilliant guy and he knows why making a statement is crucial right now—even if it shouldn’t be. “There continue to be far too many incidences of bullying of young people, as well as discrimination and violence against people of all ages, based on their sexual orientation, and I believe there is value in making clear where I stand,” he writes. “In a perfect world, I don’t think it’s anyone else’s business, but I do think there is value in standing up and being counted.”
Thanks for doing so, Mr. Cooper. It’s going to make some kids’ lives a little easier. You’re a classy man.
Lefty Bonus! Bill O’Reilly apologizes for “being an idiot!”
You may have heard that America now has a unique approach to universal health care, and that it has been largely approved by the Supreme Court. Bill O’Reilly was pretty confident that this would not happen. He said if the US Supreme Court did not strike down the health-care mandate he would apologize for “being an idiot.”
But they did not! So he did!