ISRAEL: Knesset Member Comes Out In Wake Of Jerusalem Pride Attacks

"We can no longer remain silent because the knife is raised against the neck of the entire LGBT community, my community. It will not stop there. This is the time to fight the great darkness. This terrible criminal act that once again happened in 'the city of God.' is an attack on all of us. It attacks the right of all of us to be different, make our choices, accept differences and include the other. Israeli society is wounded, it has been stabbed in the stomach. It is losing its compassion for other people just because they are different. It is losing its acceptance of others. There is a direct connection between those hanging loudspeakers in front of a hostel for autistic children to keep them away to those people who stab people whose only desire is to live according to their conscience and desire. On behalf of what God did the despicable criminal charge at a crowd of marchers yesterday? In the name of what religion did he draw his knife and begin to stab once. And again. And once again." - Itzik Shmuli, writing today for an Israeli newspaper.

RELATED: A former student leader, Shmuli was elected to the Knesset in 2013 as a member of the Israeli Labor Party, which late last year joined with the left-wing Hatnuah Party to create the Zionist Union in an ultimately failed campaign to unseat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

HomoQuotable - Jim Parsons

"I never had a coming out piece, I just didn't mention it. I took [my partner] Todd with me to events and then finally one day while working on Harvey I did a piece with Patrick Healy for The New York Times and he just point-blank asked, 'Was working on The Normal Heart meaningful to you as a gay man?' And I was like, 'Well, yeah. Yeah.'  I can't tell you what a wonderful thing that was, what a gift he gave me with one question. It was suddenly out there and official." - Jim Parsons, speaking on Inside The Actors Studio.

Honest Conversations: Dads & Gay Kids

INDIANA: South Bend Mayor Comes Out

"I was well into adulthood before I was prepared to acknowledge the simple fact that I am gay. It took years of struggle and growth for me to recognize that it’s just a fact of life, like having brown hair, and part of who I am. Putting something this personal on the pages of a newspaper does not come easy. We Midwesterners are instinctively private to begin with, and I’m not used to viewing this as anyone else’s business. But it’s clear to me that at a moment like this, being more open about it could do some good. For a local student struggling with her sexuality, it might be helpful for an openly gay mayor to send the message that her community will always have a place for her. And for a conservative resident from a different generation, whose unease with social change is partly rooted in the impression that he doesn’t know anyone gay, perhaps a familiar face can be a reminder that we’re all in this together as a community."- Mayor Pete Buttigieg, writing today for the South Bend Tribune.

RELATED: Buttigieg was first elected in 2012 at the age of 30, making him the youngest US mayor of a city with a population over 100,000. In 2014 he left office for seven months to serve in Afghanistan with the US Navy Reserves. (Tipped by JMG reader Peter)

Miley Cyrus: I'm Bisexual

"I am literally open to every single thing that is consenting and doesn't involve an animal and everyone is of age. Everything that's legal, I'm down with. Yo, I'm down with any adult -- anyone over the age of 18 who is down to love me. I don't relate to being boy or girl, and I don't have to have my partner relate to boy or girl. I remember telling her [Miley's mother] I admire women in a different way. And she asked me what that meant. And I said, I love them. I love them like I love boys. And it was so hard for her to understand. She didn't want me to be judged and she didn't want me to go to hell. But she believes in me more than she believes in any god. I just asked for her to accept me. And she has." - Miley Cyrus, speaking to Paper Magazine. (Note: Photos at the link are not work-safe.)

Viral Video Of The Day

Via TIME Magazine:

"This is something that is a part of me and has always been a part of me" YouTube beauty expert Ingrid Nilsen had an important message for her 3.3 million followers this morning, announcing in an emotional 20-minute video that she is gay. The video, which garnered more than 900,000 hits in just eight hours, featured an alternately tearful and pensive Nilsen explaining how she decided to come clean about something very personal. “I have had this wall up for so much of my life, but it wasn’t like this brick or stone wall,” she said. “I’ve described it to my friends as this glass wall, where you could see me but you were never getting all of me, because there was always that barrier there.”

The clip already has two million views.

Viral Video Of The Day

440K views already.

American Family Association: Townhall Must Fire Homocon Editor Guy Benson

"The political editor of a nominally conservative website, Townhall.com, revealed this week that he is a practicing homosexual. Townhall, by the way, is owned by Salem Media Group, which describes its mission as 'targeting audiences interested in Christian and family-themed content and conservative values.' To my knowledge, Salem has yet to explain how paying an openly homosexual activist to be the political editor of its main public policy publication is consistent with this mission. If Salem leadership is to be at all true to its own mission statement, Benson must be replaced. His values on homosexuality are not Christian, family-themed, or conservative. Some such individuals call themselves 'homocons.' Perhaps 'gayservatives' or 'gaytarians' or some other such concoction will suffice. Just don’t call them conservatives, for that most certainly is not what they are. - Bryan Fischer, writing for the American Family Association.

RELATED: In addition to Townhall, Salem owns Twitchy, Hot Air, RedState, Human Events, and over 100 Christian radio stations.

ALSO RELATED: Remember that time Bryan Fischer screamed about homofacists calling for the firing of former Mozilla CEO Brandon Eich because of his political opinions? Fischer doesn't.

Fox Homocon Guy Benson Comes Out

"Gay rights is not something that dominates my attentions — or my passions — and that may seem incongruous, that may seem counterintuitive to a lot of people, but the issues that I care about most undergird the reasons why I’m a conservative and have been forever and will be a conservative moving forward. I’m for civil marriage, I’m for nondiscrimination laws — but I think there should be broad carve-outs for religious organizations, in particular, and narrow carve-outs for closely-held businesses that serve the wedding industry. I think a lot of gay people have felt for generations, obviously, that they have not been treated fairly, and I don’t think that coming to a point of social harmony and then pushing further in this almost vengeful, ‘Let’s get ‘em,’ hounding people out of jobs … [I]t’s not productive, it’s not good for the country,” - Fox News contributor and Townhall columnist Guy Benson, in a Buzzfeed interview to promote his coming book, End of Discussion: How the Left’s Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes America Less Free (and Fun).

Bruce Jenner: I'm A Woman

Via ABC News:

Bruce Jenner was once hailed as the greatest athlete in the world and later became a reality television star with one of the world’s most famous families. Now, the former Olympian is revealing a secret that has caused him turmoil for decades. “For all intents and purposes, I’m a woman,” Jenner told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview that aired Friday in a special two-hour edition of ABC News’ “20/20.” “People look at me differently. They see you as this macho male, but my heart and my soul and everything that I do in life -- it is part of me,” Jenner, 65, said. “That female side is part of me. That’s who I am.”

In hours of interviews with Sawyer in New York and California, Jenner detailed his internal struggles with being transgender, which he said he has wrestled with since childhood. During the interview, Jenner referred to himself using male pronouns and ABC News has chosen to follow his lead, though he also referred to himself as “Bruce” and “her.” “I look at it this way—Bruce always telling a lie. He’s lived a lie his whole life about who he is. And I can’t do that any longer,” Jenner said. “My brain is much more female than it is male,” he added. “It’s hard for people to understand that, but that’s what my soul is.”

During the interview Jenner revealed having cross-dressed since early childhood, but said that there had been no attraction to other boys. Quoting a researcher, Diana Sawyer said, "Sexuality orientation is who you go to bed with. Gender identity is who you go to bed as." Jenner: "It's apples and oranges." More on that:

Jenner tells ABC that when it comes to attraction, “No, I’m not gay. I am not gay. I am, as far as I know -- heterosexual.” “I’ve never been with a guy -- I’ve always been married, raising kids, doing all that kind of stuff.” Jenner adds. "There’s two different things here. Sexuality is who you personally are attracted to—who turns you on— male or female. But gender identity has to do with who you are as a person and your soul, and who you identify with inside, okay?"

Overall, the show was thoughtful, revealing, and both sad and light-hearted, often in the same moment. Towards the end Jenner also came out as a conservative Republican who is no fan of President Obama, which surely exploded many heads across Teabagistan. Log Cabin immediately rushed out a press release:

As the nation’s only organization representing LGBT conservatives and straight allies, Log Cabin Republicans congratulates Bruce Jenner in the tremendous courage he demonstrated tonight, being true to himself both in terms of his personal identity as well as his political identity. There is a home for you in Log Cabin Republicans — as there is for all lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender conservatives and straight allies.

The weekend news cycle will doubtlessly be dominated by reactions and analysis of tonight's show (sorry about that NOM!) and I'll have more tomorrow.

TRAILER: Grace And Frankie

OMG: "From the co-creator of Friends, Netflix original comedy Grace And Frankie stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as two women who form an unlikely bond after their husbands reveal they are gay and leave them for each other."

(Tipped by JMG reader Scott)

GEORGIA: School Superintendent Comes Out After Grindr Photos Sent To Press

The superintendent of schools in Monroe County, Georgia has come out in a public statement after an unknown person sent explicit photos from his Grindr profile to the local press. Project Q Atlanta reports:

The statement comes as the Monroe County School District and the county sheriff launched investigations to see if Monroe County School Superintendent Anthony Pack improperly used a school system-issued phone or computer equipment as he cruised the gay sex app. In a public statement issued to media outlets, Pack denied any wrongdoing and criticized the anonymous tips that led to the public revelations about using a gay sex site. "Deep personal contemplation, prayer, and a desire to see my spouse as happy as she can be in her personal life, led me to realize that I am gay," Pack said in the statement. "I have tried to privately cope with accepting my sexual orientation as not definitive of my identity, but rather a small part of who I am as a father, a person, and a public figure." The married father of two children said he has and his wife separated four months ago and are seeking an uncontested divorce.

A local television station has a video report here.

Joel Grey Comes Out At Age 82

"I don't like labels, but if you have to put a label on it, I'm a gay man. All the people close to me have known for years who I am.  [Yet] it took time to embrace that other part of who I always was." - Joel Grey, 82, formally coming out today in People Magazine.

It was different for a man of his generation. Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of noted actor-comedian Mickey Katz, Grey remembers "hearing the grownups talk in the next room, my mother included, talking derisively about 'fairies' and men being dragged off to jail and even worse for being who they were." At about the same time, he says, "I came to realize, along with being attracted to girls, I had similar feelings for boys." Grey didn't reveal his truth for many more years to come. He was married to actress Jo Wilder for 24 years, a period he calls "the happiest of my life." Together they have two children: actress Jennifer Grey and son James, a chef. "I feel very happy for my dad that he has come to a point in his life where he feels safe and comfortable enough to declare himself in a public way as a gay man," Jennifer tells PEOPLE.

In 1966 Grey won a Tony for his performance in Cabaret and he took the Oscar for the same role in the 1973 movie version. He replaced Brad Davis in the lead role in the original Off Broadway production of The Normal Heart in 1985 and co-directed the play's Tony-winning 2011 revival.

IRELAND: Health Minister Comes Out

Via the Irish Times:

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has come out publicly this morning, saying he is a “gay man”. “I am a gay man, it’s not a secret, but not something that everyone would necessarily know but isn’t something I’ve spoken publicly about before,” he told Miriam O’Callaghan on RTÉ Radio 1. “It’s not something that defines me,”he said. “I’m not a half-Indian politician, or a doctor politician or a gay politician for that matter. It’s just part of who I am, it doesn’t define me, it is part of my character I suppose”. Across the course of a wide-ranging interview, in which the Dublin West TD discussed his Indian heritage, struggling with an introverted nature and an ambition to leave politics after another 15 years, Mr Varadkar said he wanted to make clear there were no hidden agendas on his behalf going into the same-sex marriage referendum set for May this year. “There’s a referendum on marriage equality coming up too, and I just want to be honest with people. I was thinking about the arguments that I might make, and all the arguments that I was going to make were kind of detached” he said, speaking on his 36th birthday.

(Tipped by JMG reader Chaz)

Viral Video: Twins Come Out To Dad

Over 5M views on the first day.

Ho-Hum, Yet Another "Ex-Gay" Former Exodus Leader Comes Out As Gay

In what has become a fairly routine event, yet another "ex-gay" leader has decided that he was kidding himself. Today it's Randy Thomas, former Exodus International vice president and self-described "ex-gay poster boy." He writes:

Whether anyone cares, pays attention, approves, disapproves, friends or unfriends me isn’t the point. The point is that I need to stay true to how I am wired, be honest, and consistent with what I believe to be true in this regard. Writing this post is something I need to do as a part of taking personal responsibility for my past journey and being honest in my present reality. My love for Jesus and His finished work on the Cross is unwavering, and stronger than ever. I am as saved today as I was the moment I believed in, and received Him as my Lord and Savior. He rose from the dead to open the door to reconciliation with God and eternal Life. I’ve already walked through that door. He is in my heart. None of that changes regardless of my sexuality or my all-to-human musings. It doesn’t change because it’s all on Him and He never changes. He loves me, I know it. He loves you, is not angry with you, and I hope you know that truth.

Thomas says he hasn't had sex in 24 years. He notes that he published an apology to the gay community back in 2013. Former Exodus leader Alan Chambers, who has also apologized, is among those participating in the comment thread at the top link. (Tipped by JMG reader Jasun)

IRELAND: Catholic Priest Comes Out During Mass, Urges Support For Marriage

Via the Irish Central:

A Dublin priest received a standing ovation from his congregation this week as he called for same sex marriage equality in Ireland and came out to his parishioners. Father Martin Dolan, who has been a priest at Church of St Nicholas of Myra in Francis Street in Dublin’s city center for 15 years, opened up to his congregation at the Saturday night Mass. He also confided in his Sunday morning congregation. Dolan is the only priest in the parish. Calling on his Dublin city congregation to support same sex marriage in the upcoming Irish referendum, set for the end May, Dolan said “I’m gay myself.” A referendum on same sex marriage will take place at the end of May 2015. Although polls consistently show that over 70 percent of the Irish are in support of gay marriage, campaigners admit that there’s no room for complacency during the run up to the vote. The Dublin Archdiocese declined to comment until they had spoken directly to Dolan. However, the Catholic Church hierarchy in Ireland showed their disdain for the referendum in December 2014. Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin said legalizing same-sex marriage would change the meaning of marriage itself.

The Irish government is supporting a "yes" vote in the referendum.

Matt Baume: Marriage News Watch

Clip recap: "South Carolina's anti-gay Attorney General may have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to gay rights groups. New research shows why marriage equality has been so successful so fast. And Hillary Clinton gets thanks for supporting the freedom to marry from an unlikely source."

Pro Sports First: MLB Umpire Comes Out

Major League Baseball umpire Dale Scott, seen above left with his husband of 28 years, has formally come out. Jim Buzinski writes at OutSports:

Major League Baseball umpire Dale Scott bleeds the green and yellow of his beloved Oregon Ducks football team, having gone to games since the Johnson Administration. He has two black Labs, Roman and Rollie, who rule his world. Using his skills as a former DJ, he has recorded the voice mail greetings for 15 of his fellow umpires. He loves history, politics and documentaries and watches every season of "Survivor" and "The Amazing Race." He has worked three World Series, three All-Star Games, two no-hitters and numerous playoff games. He is gay and married to his partner of 28 years. That last fact is just part of who Dale Scott is and has had no impact on his abilities as an umpire for the past 29 seasons. Yet it is understandably the one that most people will notice, because Scott is the first Major League Baseball umpire to publicly say he is gay while active (and the first out active male official in the NBA, NHL, NFL or MLB). This story you are reading now came about because Scott made a decision to first come out in a very quiet and understated way.

That "understated way" came via a profile in the small, subscription-only Referee Magazine. Hit the link, it's a great piece.

HomoQuotable - Michael Sam

"If I had it my way, I never would have done it [come out] the way I did, never would have told it the way I did. I would have done the same thing I did at Mizzou. Which was to tell my team and my coaches and leave it at that. But since I did tell my team, word got out.  People think the word didn't get out. It did. Or it did and it didn't. They kept it confined within our family. But the recruiters knew, and reporters knew, and they talked to each other, and it got out. If I didn't have the year I did, nobody would have cared. But I did have that year. And a lot of people knew. Someone was gonna ask me, 'I heard you told your team a secret.…' Well, I was comfortable with who I was, and I wouldn't have denied it. And then I wouldn't have been able to control the story. But I have no regrets. Some people can argue that I had the potential to go higher in the draft. But I think everything happens for a reason. It looks good to see me in the position I'm in now, because I can show the world how good I am and rise up the ranks. I'm at the bottom now. I can rise up, show I'm a football player. Not anything else. Just a football player." - Michael Sam, speaking to GQ Magazine.