Side Benefit of Prop 8’s Passage: Celebrities Busting Out of Closet

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mojo-photo-wandasykes.jpg…or at least one celebrity, so far. Comedian and actress Wanda Sykes surprised an audience at a Las Vegas protest against on Saturday with the announcement that she’s gay. The event was one of many held around the country as part of a coordinated protest against Proposition 8 and other anti-gay measures. Sykes told the crowd that Prop 8 inspired her to be more outspoken:

“You know, I don’t really talk about my sexual orientation. I didn’t feel like I had to. I was just living my life, not necessarily in the closet, but I was living my life,” Sykes told a crowd at a gay rights rally in Las Vegas on Saturday. “Everybody that knows me personally they know I’m gay. But that’s the way people should be able to live their lives. Now, I gotta get in their face. I’m proud to be a woman. I’m proud to be a black woman, and I’m proud to be gay.”

The Emmy award-winning actress has roles on The New Adventures of Old Christine and Curb Your Enthusiasm. While Sykes hadn’t publicly discussed her sexuality before this, she has been a long-time supporter of gay rights causes, performing as part of this year’s Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Tour which benefited the Human Rights Campaign. Her Wikipedia page says, “She is now officially a homosexual,” which makes me wonder if there’s some sort of certificate I’m supposed to get? A passport stamp or something? I’ve been practicing without a license!

Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user Bobster1985.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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