A certain Squee(Kat) kept her birth date a secret from us, but the jig is up, the news is out and we can’t let it go by without recognizing it.  So, happy belated birthday, SeaKat! You’ve added cleverness, wit and poignancy to the comments, lent your fellow squeers! and hags a whole lot of support, and often infused moments of insanity with intelligence and common sense.  So today, let us take down a census taker for the fine young SeaCannibals’ dinner while you relax and bask in our adoration.

Perez Hilton stated on his blog that any proceeds he received from his suit against Black Eyed Peas’ road manager Polo Molina would be donated to the Matthew Shepard Foundation.  However,  the Matthew Shepard Foundation heard this and have publicly denounced Hilton and stated they don’t want his money.  It may be time for Hilton to examine his own role in these events, given this comes on the heels of GLAAD publicly shunning him.  Here’s the Matthew Shepard Foundation’s entire statement.  It’s long, but I’m not inserting a break for a jump because I think it deserves the page space. (Thanks to SeaKat for the tip.):

STATEMENT FROM MATTHEW SHEPARD FOUNDATION REGARDING PEREZHILTON.COM

The Matthew Shepard Foundation was surprised to learn this morning via media reports that blogger Perez Hilton (Mario Lavandeira) has announced he plans to donate, to our organization, the proceeds of a lawsuit he is contesting over an altercation which has been widely reported in recent days.

We had no advance notice or contact from Mr. Hilton or his representatives regarding this proposal, nor any communication since he posted this plan to his website.

We do not know the details of the lawsuit, whether it has been filed, the nature of his claims or the likely outcome. But because the lawsuit presumably involves the physical attack prompted by Mr. Hilton’s admitted use of an anti-gay slur, the Foundation will be unable to accept any funds obtained in such a manner.

We very much appreciate the generosity of the offer to support our continuing work to memorialize Matthew through activism in defense of sexual minorities and in favor of understanding, compassion, and acceptance. But because so much of our work involves education to reduce the use of hateful language against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, or those so perceived, it would be inappropriate for us to benefit financially from circumstances in which such a verbal attack was involved.

While we applaud Mr. Hilton’s apology to the LGBT community and their loved ones for his use of such a slur, we also feel compelled to point out that use of epithets can often lead to physical violence, as it appears it may have in this case, and that the Matthew Shepard Foundation has worked for more than 10 years to bring to people’s attention the consequences of hateful or intolerant language.

Judy Shepard

Chair, MSF Governing Board

I think this might officially answer stopthemadness’ question. Kudos to Judy Shepard for setting Perez straight so eloquently.