“Proud of Taylor Lautner for his bravery and his courage.”

Russell Simmons of Def Jam, responding via Twitter to a purported People Magazine cover story titled, “Taylor Lautner: Out & Proud.” The alleged Jan. 7, 2012, cover, which was widely circulated on the Internet, is “absolutely fake,” according to the magazine. (E! Online, Dec. 27)

“Disappointed that people would joke about someone coming out about their sexuality. Let Taylor Lautner be whoever he wants to be....”

Russell Simmons, tweeting again after learning the People cover was not real. E! Online, Dec. 27)

“You don’t want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Klu Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism.”

Chicago Cardinal Francis George on Fox Chicago Sunday in late December, reacting to news that June’s Chicago Gay Pride Parade will pass in front of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. Parade organizers moved the start time to noon after church complaints. (Towleroad.com, Dec. 22)

“Cardinal George’s outrageous comparison of the LGBT community to the Ku Klux Klan was so degrading and hurtful that apologizing will not be sufficient. He has crossed so far over the line of basic decency that he couldn’t see it with a pair of binoculars.”

Truth Wins Out, an LGBT rights group, calling on Cardinal George to resign immediately in a full page ad in the Jan. 1 issue of the Chicago Tribune. (Towleroad.com, Jan. 2)

“By encouraging the audience to laugh at the characters’ attempts at womanhood, the show gives license to similar treatment of transgender women.”

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the Human Rights Campaign in an ad criticizing the new ABC sitcom “Work It,” which launched Jan. 3 and features to straight men who dress as women for a job. GLAAD and HRC criticized the show in a Dec. 21 ad in Variety, a Hollywood trade magazine. (Entertainment Weekly, Dec. 22)

Top photo: Russell Simmons (Photo by Brett Weinstein)