EDITORIAL: Questioning the Need for an Inclusion Bureaucrat
Cornell intends to hire a Senior Associate Dean for Inclusion, Engagement and Community Support who will oversee many minority advocacy groups across campus. Administrators claim that whoever fills the newly created post will increase collaboration across organizations such as the LGBT Resource Center, the Asian and Asian American Center and […]
Daily Archives: April 8, 2015
Op-ed: Protecting LGBT Workers Means Protecting All Workers
Op-ed: Protecting LGBT Workers Means Protecting All Workers
As President Obama’s executive order protecting LGBT workers takes effect today, his senior adviser Valerie Jarrett sees it as a civil rights milestone.
Valerie Jarrett
www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/04/08/op-ed-protecting-lgbt-workers-means-protecting-all-workers
Clay Aiken Doesn't Mind If He's The 'Universal Punchline For Everything Gay'
Clay Aiken Doesn't Mind If He's The 'Universal Punchline For Everything Gay'
“American Idol” veteran and former North Carolina Democratic House candidate Clay Aiken joked that he’s become the “universal punchline for everything gay” in an interview with HuffPost Live this week.
Pointing to the number of tongue-in-cheek jokes that “Family Guy” and friend Kathy Griffin have had at his expense, Aiken said he let most of the humor roll off his back. Nonetheless, he said he was concerned about its impact on young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adults who are coming to terms with their sexuality.
“It doesn’t hurt me, it’s not me that is affected by it,” Aiken, 36, said. “I don’t worry about the person who just got picked on, I worry about [LGBT] kids.”
He went on to note, “What does that make that 15-year-old in Indiana feel like?”
Aiken is currently promoting “The Runner-Up,” a four-part documentary series about his congressional campaign, which airs on The Esquire Network.
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HRC Statement on Repeal of LGBT-Inclusive Ordinance in Springfield, MO
HRC Statement on Repeal of LGBT-Inclusive Ordinance in Springfield, MO
Yesterday, residents narrowly voted to repeal the ordinance.
HRC.org
Alejandro Granados Has A Beach Body Made For Swimwear
Alejandro Granados Has A Beach Body Made For Swimwear
Thanks to their narrow cuts, the underwear and swimwear that comes out of Australian brand teamm8 falls under the category of athletic-meets-sexy. They give the wearer more room to move and any passersby more skin to see. It’s the best thing about this photoshoot by Adrian C. Martin. Making fitness model Alejandro Granados his muse, you get to see teamm8 in action.
At just 23 years old, Alejandro has a stunning physique with the muscular legs (and butt) to flaunt teamm8’s designs perfectly. Both the Dash Swim Trunk and Swim Brief are modeled. With cuts that leave most of your hips exposed, the swim briefs form around the back for a flattering, bubble-butt look.
Alejandro also wears the teamm8 Racer Brief in the Blue Radiance style. The Underwear Expert loved the light blue/pink contrasts from the beginning. But now that we see them during the spring, on Alejandro and by the beach, we have a newfound appreciation for teamm8’s attractive simplicity in their swim briefs collection.
You can see more if this photo shoot on The Underwear Expert.
Photo Credit: Adrian C. Martin
Underwear Expert
feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/0_ormh_jrhA/beach-bodies-made-better-made-teamm8-20150408
Possessed Puppet Comedy 'Hand to God' Opens on Broadway: REVIEW
Possessed Puppet Comedy 'Hand to God' Opens on Broadway: REVIEW
BY NAVEEN KUMAR
The titular appendage in Hand to God, playwright Robert Askins’ wickedly hysterical play that opened on Broadway last night at the Booth Theatre, goes by the name of Tyrone. He delivers some of the most apt criticism of western religion you’re ever likely to hear, and has zero tolerance for B.S.—including from the hand that wears him. A sharp-tongued (and awesomely foul-mouthed) sock puppet, Tyrone may or may not in fact be possessed by the devil. Forget everything you know about puppet shows: On the hand of a preternaturally masterful Stephen Boyer, this puppet is unlike any other you’ve seen before.
Askin’s play, which transfers to Broadway after a critically acclaimed run Off Broadway at MCC last spring, is set in a small Texas town, where a few teenage kids meet at the local ministry to rehearse a puppet pageant and stay out of trouble. Jason and his mother Margery (who leads the puppet group) are both reeling from the recent loss of his father to a heart attack. For Marge, running the group seems like a much-needed distraction; for Jason and his puppet Tyrone, it’s a lot more than just that.
Aside from his recent loss, Jason is a shy, quiet type, and giving voice to his puppet helps raise the volume on his own. Tyrone starts out like the devil on Jason’s shoulder, a wisecracking voice for thoughts the boy might not otherwise say himself. It’s how he first connects with Jessica (a wonderfully droll Sarah Stiles) the girl he likes in class, and later how he lashes back at Timothy, his cocky, oversexed rival (a perfectly bro-ey Michael Oberholtzer).
But it quickly becomes clear that Tyrone has a mind of his own, or at least a will separate from Jason’s, who can’t just take him off as he pleases. By the play’s second act, blood is drawn, puppet sex is had, and it seems an exorcism may be in order. Yet still, his puppet’s violent temper and wild libido are qualities Jason could use himself in moderation—courage to stand up for himself and the nerve to get the girl.
Boyer reprises his mind-boggling, virtuosic performance as Jason (and Tyrone), spending much of the play in conversation with his own left hand—from acting out an Abbot-and-Costello routine to impress Jessica, to full-on hand-to-sock combat. Jason and Tyrone are so distinct in personality and their two-way dialogue is so convincing, at times it’s astonishing to step back and realize you’re watching a single performance.
Joining the others from the Off-Broadway cast, Geneva Carr is equally warm and maniacal as Marge, who doesn’t get along with the other church mothers, and who attracts equally ardent attention from Pastor Greg (an ever charming Marc Kudisch), and hormonal Timothy, making her the apex of a twisted (and surprisingly athletic) love triangle.
Director Moritz von Stuelpnagel scales up the production from its downtown digs, keeping the action moving swiftly around its rotating set and amping up the laughs for a larger crowd, while also firmly grounding the play’s human (non-puppet) drama. The stellar company reprises its expert performances with assurance, fueled by the uproarious energy of a Broadway audience.
Often shockingly funny, the play’s disarming humor makes its dark conclusions all the more startling. We’re accustomed to puppets who have something to teach us, like the difference between good and evil. Tyrone’s lesson that the two go inextricably hand-in-hand is likely to stick in your mind longer than most.
Recent theatre features…
Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy Open in ‘Skylight’ on Broadway: REVIEW
Elisabeth Moss and Jason Biggs Open on Broadway in ‘The Heidi Chronicles’: REVIEW
Helen Mirren Reigns on Broadway in ‘The Audience’: REVIEW
John Cameron Mitchell on Returning to ‘Hedwig’: INTERVIEW
Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar (photos: joan marcus)
Naveen Kumar
www.towleroad.com/2015/04/possessed-puppet-comedy-hand-to-god-opens-on-broadway-review.html
Which city takes the most pride in itself?
Which city takes the most pride in itself?
Brighton residents are mightily impressed with their city, but how much do city-dwellers elsewhere take pride in where they live?
Op-ed: Can a Hate Crime Occur Within the LGBT Community?
Op-ed: Can a Hate Crime Occur Within the LGBT Community?
A Mississippi bi-on-gay attack reminds us that internalized homophobia is not going away soon.
Debra Reagan
www.advocate.com/commentary/2015/04/08/op-ed-can-hate-crime-occur-within-lgbt-community
John McCain Wants A Fourth Decade In The Senate To Shake His Fist At Us
John McCain Wants A Fourth Decade In The Senate To Shake His Fist At Us
In an apparent attempt to have a Senate career as old as the country itself, Sen. John McCain has announced that he wants a sixth term in the Senate. As a reminder, when McCain entered that august body, Ronald Reagan was president, the Dow Jones had just broken 2,000 for the first time, and Madonna had yet to hold her first world tour. Today, Reagan is dead, the Dow Jones is at 17,880 and Madonna qualifies for AARP membership.
McCain will be 80 years old on election day 2016. Of course, he’s been acting like he’s 80 years old for a long time. McCain’s shtick these days largely consists of shaking his fist at the modern world, particularly the whippersnapper in the White House who had the temerity to beat him in 2008. (The nation shakes its fist back at McCain for inflicting the train wreck that is Sarah Palin on it.)
If nothing else, we can count on McCain’s continued incoherence on gay issues. This is the man who famously lectured Ellen DeGeneres about why she shouldn’t have the right to get married and who remains implacably opposed to marriage equality. He was especially obnoxious about the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, puffing himself up as an expert because he was a war hero (of the Vietnam War, not the Civil War) and knew that the Pentagon survey of military personnel a half century younger than him just had to be wrong.
On the other hand, McCain urged then-Gov. Jan Brewer to veto Arizona’s religious liberty bill last year. He also voted in favor of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), although he added amendments to extend religious exemptions. Just to prove that McCain can speak out of both sides of his mouth at once, he also speculated that bills like ENDA can lead to quotas and busing.
Of course, with time McCain may change his mind. Imagine how liberal he will be when he’s running for re-election in 2046.
Photo credit: Zach Frailey
JohnGallagher
Russia Bans Social Network Support Group For LGBT Teens: VIDEO
Russia Bans Social Network Support Group For LGBT Teens: VIDEO
A court in Russia has authorized the government to block the social network page of a support group for LGBT teens, reports Radio Free Europe.
Lawyer Maria Kozlovskaya said the support group Deti-404 had been preparing for a court hearing on the issue on April 6th.
However, when activists arrived at the court in St. Petersburg they were told that a decision had already been made to include the group’s page on VKontakte on a list of banned websites.
According to Kozlovskaya, it is very likely that the page will be blocked.
404 refers to the error message displayed on computer screens when people attempt to navigate to a web page that doesn’t exist.
Last year, Russia’s People’s Patriotic Channel claimed that the documentary Deti-404 violated Russia’s “gay propaganda” law.
Watch a trailer for the documentary, AFTER THE JUMP…
Jim Redmond
www.towleroad.com/2015/04/russia-bans-social-network-support-group-for-lgbt-teens-video.html
