…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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Via Gawker, who rightly categorized this under "Things We Like" but couldn't help themselves from a subtle "fists up" joke, it's a poster in support of marriage equality designed by Shepard Fairey, whose red-and-blue Obama poster became such an iconic image in the presidential campaign that it inspired legions of imitators and parodies. I can't find any mention of it on Fairey's Obey Giant site, so I hope this isn't just a really well-done homage to his neo-propaganda style, but either way, it's pretty cool—as Gawker puts it, it's "butch," for once avoiding the same old triangles and rainbows we see on every gay thing ever. On the other hand, it's a bit, well, vague. Now, I recently complained to the esteemed MoJo editors about gay rights stories being ghettoized under the "Arts and Culture" section, so I'll try not to get too far into the politics of this here on the Riff, but some gay rights activists have said part of the problem with the (unforgivably disastrous and disorganized) No on 8 campaign was that their ads skirted around depicting actual gays and lesbians. The Obama "Hope" poster had, you know, an actual picture of Obama on it, but this one only reads "gay" if you, like most people I know, are already really pissed off about Prop 8. Maybe there could have been two hands, clasped? Also, maybe people could have done some of this before the election? Grumble. Deep breath. Anyway, nice work as always from Mr. Fairey. Click the "Continues" button to see it embiggened.

Update: Fairey has posted the graphic to his website, saying that "anyone who believes in equality and human dignity should be appalled that Prop. 8 passed." Right on, although Dave Gilson caught that the fist image was just recycled from an earlier "Obey" poster, with, er, its orientation changed.

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Seems like every year Christmas decorations in stores go up earlier. Even the Banana Republic across the street from Mother Jones' offices has installed its celebratory, yet demure, holiday displays well in advance. Appropriately, the "War on Christmas" is also getting an early start this year. Already a pro-atheist group, the American Humanist Association, has launched a literally godless ad campaign that's riling up the pro-Christmas soldiers at Fox News and other conservative outlets. The ads (seen left) are shamelessly posted on 200 secular buses throughout D.C. In addition, the American Humanist Association will post billboards in Lamb's-blood-red Colorado Springs and Denver that say, "Don't believe in God? You are not alone."

The congenial press contact for the campaign, Fred Edwords, says he will appear on CNN and Bill O'Reilly's show tonight. That promises to be interesting since O'Reilly prophesized that a lack of a properly Christian Christmas could lead society to embrace other "...secular progressive programs, like legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage, because the objection to those things is religious-based, usually." Instead of leading to gay marriage, O'Reilly would prefer Christmas lead to religious celebrations and the purchase of specialty, fleur-de-lis emblazoned doormats sold on his site which boldly proclaim "We Say Merry Christmas."

Bill O'Reilly isn't the only one worried about Christmas, though. The book publishing world is pinning its hopes not on a Jewish guy in sandals, but on a blonde British woman in pointy boots: J.K. Rowling. Her new book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, is reportedly the shining hope of what promises to be an otherwise rather gloomy time for Border's. Christmas will also be not-so-fun for folks at Hearst. And Morgan Stanley. And Viacom. Merry Christmas!

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Rolling Stone reports that the long-anticipated union of XM and Sirius' roster of music channels took place today, resulting in the elimination of some stations. The move had been expected since the companies' merger went through back in July, but it still took some listeners by surprise. Flagship stations like Sirius' Howard Stern channel and the Eminem-led "Shade 45" as well as XM's Bob Dylan and Tom Petty stations will remain, unsurprisingly, but say goodbye to Sirius' "Left of Center" (whose college rock playlist is now supposed to be covered by XM's "XMU") and XM's "Fred," "Ethel" and "Lucy," whose variations on the alt-rock theme are all kaput.

After the jump: hear a station die!

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