Ian Reisner’s Fire Island Business Suffers Aerial Assault
Poor Ian Reisner. He just can’t catch a break. We almost feel sorry for him now.
This weekend, the gay hotelier found himself the target of yet another protest when the gay rights group Queer Nation flew private plane over Fire Island trailing a banner promoting the boycott of the millionaire’s businesses there.
Boycott Hi/Lo Tea! Fight For Full LGBT Rights! the sign read.
The stunt accrued during “High Tea” and “Low Tea” cocktail hours held at the Pavilion, a popular Fire Island night club owned by Reisner and his former-lover-turned-business-partner Mati Weiderpass. The pair also own Botel, Bistro, Sip-N-Twirl, Blue Whale, Pines Pizza and the Cultured Elephant.
Related: Ian Reisner Calls Gay People “Cheap” And “Entitled” While Trying To Defend His Dinner For Ted Cruz
In a press release, Queer Nation said: “We can get married on Sunday and then evicted or fired on Monday in many states in this country. Yet two gay business owners are making money off of the LGBT community at a world-famous gay vacation spot and then giving that money to outspoken anti-LGBT politicians who would keep us from winning those rights.”
“Is doing without a cocktail at Tea such a sacrifice to make in our struggle for true equality?”
Reisner’s problems hardly stop there. A Facebook group also organized a protest, delivering postcards to every home in the Pines and plastering the island with hundreds of posters alerting people about Reisner’s political shenanigans.
On top of all that, Reisner is also facing a lawsuit filed by four current and former Out Hotel employees who say were denied overtime wages and suffered discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.
The moral of the story: Don’t screw over your own people.
Related: The Ian Reisner/Ted Cruz Saga Continues With $2,700 Donation Cover-Up
h/t: Gay City News
Graham Gremore
Watch: Sydney Lucas Performs 'Ring of Keys' from 'Fun Home' at the Tonys
Last night’s Tony Awards featured a show-stopping performance by Sydney Lucas from Fun Home called “Ring of Keys” about a young girl’s gay sexual awakening when she spots a butch woman with the jangling accessory mentioned in the song’s title. Also in the scene, Beth Malone and Tony winner Michael Cerveris.
It’s just one of the treats that awaits you in this spellbinding show.
Watch, AFTER THE JUMP…
Andy Towle
Hillary Clinton Heading To D.C. For LGBT Fundraiser
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton will be in Washington, D.C., on Monday night for a fundraiser hosted by and attended by predominantly lesbian supporters.
About 120 people are expected to attend the event, which is being billed as “an intimate fundraiser” at the Woman’s National Democratic Club. The cost to attend is $2,700 per person. For the more generous, those willing to bundle $27,000 ahead of the event also get to attend a special reception with Clinton.
The event is being hosted by Claire Lucas and her partner, Judy Dlugacz, who founded a travel company called Olivia, which sells cruises targeting the lesbian community. Lucas told The Huffington Post that she and Dlugacz decided a couple of weeks ago that they wanted to do something to support Clinton’s presidential run, so they started reaching out to their network of contacts to gauge interest. The result is Monday’s event, which Lucas estimates will be about 75 percent lesbian attendees from around the country. That’s atypical for an LGBT political fundraiser, which are by and large organized and attended by gay men.
“We had such a big group of people wanting to attend,” said Lucas, who acknowledged it is “unusual” that the event will have such a strong lesbian presence.
The Clinton event lands just as President Barack Obama has declared June as LGBT Pride Month, something he has done for several years. There are two other Pride-related fundraising events for Clinton’s campaign in D.C. this week, though she is not expected to attend them.
The first, on June 10, is being hosted by gay Democratic activist Lane Hudson at the Howard Theater. The second one, on June 11, is being hosted by gay Democratic activist Peter Rosenstein at Lost Society. That event will include appearances by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), the first openly lesbian U.S. senator, and four other openly gay members of Congress: Reps. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Mark Takano (D-Calif.).
Clinton is a vocal supporter of LGBT rights and featured a gay couple in the campaign kick-off video she used in April to announce her presidential run. That couple later invited Clinton to their wedding.
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
“Fun Home” & Fun At Bradley Cooper’s Expense: The 2015 Tonys
The Gay Olympics, otherwise known as the Tonys — not to be confused with the Gay Super Bowl, the Oscars — were last night with hosts and beloved Broadway babies Kristen Chenoweth and Alan Cumming.
Fun Home, based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir about her lesbian identity and her closeted father’s suicide, snatched up five awards including Best Musical and Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Michael Cerveris. The show also made herstory as Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori became the first all-female writing team to win Best Original Score.
Kelli O’Hara, the Susan Lucci of the Tonys, finally got hers and it only took six nominations. O’Hara won Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for The King and I and she did a joyous little soft shoe as the audience gave her a standing ovation.
Bradley Cooper may have lost out in his category — Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play went to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time‘s Alex Sharp — but at least he won this gay joke by Alan and Kristen:
Cooper then presented the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play to Dame Helen Mirren for The Audience. This means she’s this close to EGOTing for portraying Queen Elizabeth, lest we forget her Oscar for The Queen and an Emmy for Elizabeth I. Let’s just get her to record an audiobook as one of those Queens so the Grammys have an excuse to throw a trophy in her face.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch creator John Cameron Mitchell won a Special Tony Award for his groundbreaking show, posing a question I often ask myself, “What’s an old drag queen doing up here uptown?”
Check out the full list of winners from the 2015 Tony Awards below:
Best Musical
Fun Home
Best Play
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Michael Cerveris, Fun Home
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Kelli O’Hara, The King and I
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Helen Mirren, The Audience
Best Revival of a Musical
The King and I
Best Revival of a Play
Skylight
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Ruthie Ann Miles, The King and I
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Annaleigh Ashford, You Can’t Take It with You
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Christian Borle, Something Rotten!
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Richard McCabe, The Audience
Best Direction of a Play
Marianne Elliott, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Best Direction of a Musical
Sam Gold, Fun Home
Best Book of a Musical
Lisa Kron, Fun Home
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, Fun Home
Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Bob Crowley and 59 Productions, An American in Paris
Best Scenic Design of a Play
Bunny Christie and Finn Ross, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Best Costume Design of a Play
Christopher Oram, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Best Costume Design of a Musical
Catherine Zuber, The King and I
Best Lighting Design of a Play
Paule Constable, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Natasha Katz, An American in Paris
Best Choreography
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris
Best Orchestrations
Christopher Austin, Don Sebesky, Bill Elliott, An American in Paris
Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Tommy Tune
Special Tony Award
John Cameron Mitchell
Regional Theatre Tony Award
Cleveland Play House, Cleveland, Ohio
Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award
Stephen Schwartz
Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre
Arnold Abramson
Adrian Bryan-Brown
Gene O’Donovan
Les Fabian Brathwaite — fun homo.
Les Fabian Brathwaite
feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/b3zq8pIhDK8/2015-tony-awards-20150608
Norway's 2012 Eurovision Contestant Tooji Comes Out as Gay in Sinfully Sexy Music Video 'Father' – WATCH
Norwegian-Iranian singer Tooji, who represented Norway in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, is out with a sultry new video for his song “Father” featuring the mononymous musician having an illicit affair with a gay priest.
The black and white video ends with angel wings and some clerical copulation in front of stunned churchgoers (aka my kind of Sunday).
The decidedly NSFW video is also being used as Tooji’s official coming out declaration, with the singer writing on Twitter:
My new video Father is Out, and so am I! t.co/pfoGKM8ovx
— Tooji (@Tooji_) June 8, 2015
In a separate video released today titled “Human Rights Above Religion,” Tooji further explained his decision to come out alongside the video’s release:
It is time we put human rights above religion. I always thought that who I love is my business….Forgive those who judge, forgive society and people led like sheeps to be told what to think, how to live, and what to believe. Any individual that seeks within itself will find that there is one language. Beyond any man and beyond any book, the language of love. I am gay and I stand up for my rights and that is why I made the video “Father.”
Watch the NSFW video, AFTER THE JUMP…
You can also watch Tooji’s performance of “Stay” at the 2012 Eurovision Grand Final (he placed 26th) below:
Kyler Geoffroy
Conservative British MP Comes Out, Announces Wedding to Secret Partner of 29 Years
A member of the British parliament kept his sexuality and his relationship with another man secret for 29 years.
Bil Browning
If Caitlyn Jenner Is So Gorgeous, Why Do Transgender Youth Feel So Sad?
You can’t turn on the news right now without hearing about Caitlyn Jenner. She’s made an enormous splash with her coming out and transition. And, it seems the reception has been surprisingly positive. She’s been lauded as inspiring and courageous and, of course, beautiful.
So, this is good news, right?
As young transgender people look on, more transgender individuals are being highlighted in positive ways on the news, on TV and on the covers of magazines. The conversation has also begun shifting toward the issues that transgender people face such as discrimination, trouble with employment and violence. And, Caitlyn Jenner has been inspiring and courageous. Her story says that maybe trans people can expect greater acceptance and visibility. And this is big news.
But, if this is so good, why does it make so many young transgender people feel so bad?
Many transgender youth look at Caitlyn and feel despair: How could they ever have the money, genetics or support to look that beautiful or handsome? After all, she has access to the best surgery, makeup artists and clothing that money can buy! Very few people have the resources to look like Caitlyn.
With money and genetics on her side, she can easily “pass” or look so completely feminine that no one questions her gender. This is not often the experience for transgendered youth. Those who go through life being misgendered, harassed or bullied for their gender expression may start to think that the only way to get any acceptance at all would be to look as gender normative (looking like the typical man or woman) as Caitlyn does.
And, what has left many young people feeling quite angry is that they might not even want to look that gender normative. “Great,” they might think, “the whole world assumes the only way to be transgender is to go from being all one gender to the other.” It leaves no room for those with a more genderqueer identity, or who wish to be more of a tomboy girl or feminine guy, or something else altogether.
Everyone seems to accept Caitlyn because she looks beautiful, very feminine and tells a transgender “story” that people start in one gender and then just “switch” to the other. Except, these standards apply to so few people.
So, what is there for transgendered youth to do as this media circus continues to invade their phones, feeds and TVs?
Remind yourself you’re not alone.
There are plenty of transgender, genderqueer and genderfluid folks out there who are feeling this way too. The internet is full of them. Even as we cheer on the increasing visibility of trans people, lots of folks are having mixed feelings, and that’s really ok.
Let go of wanting to be “perfect.”
The media is flooded with images of “ideal” representations of masculinity and femininity, and people everywhere (cisgender and transgender) are comparing themselves to what they see on TV and in magazines — but the truth is that these ideals are not realistic. We would all be happier if we could accept that all bodies, faces and genetics are unique; we should strive to be our authentic selves and our own perfect role models.
Be with the people who see who you really are.
Because giving up hope of being that “perfect” man or woman may leave you wondering “what now?” Being around the people who care for you, who see you as beautiful and handsome, right now, just as you are, is a great remedy for all the people who don’t. In the face of harassment, or being misgendered, spending time with friends and loved ones who really see you just as you are is a way to boost your spirits and remind yourself that you really are great, just how you are today.
Remember that Caitlyn Jenner is only the first step.
Even if Caitlyn is setting an impossible standard for acceptance, she is only one early step toward acceptance for people of all gender expressions. We’ve come a long way over the last 10 and even five years. In your lifetime we will come even farther. You’re an important part of that work.
Fall in love with yourself.
Many people struggle with body shame or hatred. This can be much worse for transgender youth who often feel at odds with their body and their true identity. Thus, the suggestion to fall in love with yourself may seem wrong or odd. But, the fact is that your body, just how it is today is what you have. You may find that even if or when you get the body you hope to have in the future, it still will not solve all your problems. Get creative about how you can treat yourself like a friend right now: Maybe that means getting a manicure or buying a tie. Dying your hair a new color — regardless of your gender — can be a really fun way to treat yourself. Be in your body with a walk, yoga or a sport. Get outside and feel the air on your face. Anything you can do befriend your body is great.
Remind yourself of what’s unique about you and your gender.
The fact is that everyone has their own, unique and wonderful way to express their gender. We might feel angry or spiteful that Caitlyn’s expression is unattainably “movie star.” But, that’s her expression right now. We all have pressure on us to look a certain way and it takes a lot of courage to express yourself genuinely. Truly for all we know, Caitlyn is really more of a tomboy sometimes but feels the same pressure you do: to conform to expectations of gender and attractiveness. So, take some time to think: What would you look like, and who would you be, today, if there were no pressures, no restrictions, no expectations? And make sure you know that this person you just imagined is good, very good. And be proud.
Tune out.
Shut down the social media. Turn off the TV. Focus on something that makes you feel happy.
Reach out.
As always, if you are feeling so sad, anxious or angry that you aren’t sure how to cope, or you are having thoughts of harming yourself, speak to a counselor, therapist or trusted adult. The Trevor Project staffs a hotline to help young LGBTQ people who are feeling suicidal or overwhelmed: 866-488-7386.
In the end, it is good news that, after so long, we finally see some positive images of transgender people. We’re in a new era of acceptance and public awareness of the fact that transgender people even exist. And, however you feel in response — whether good, bad, indifferent or a mix — is not only your business, but totally normal. As the media dust settles, realize that your journey — your unique, incredible journey — is yours alone. Being real and genuine about yourself in the world takes a lot of courage. It took courage for Caitlyn, and it takes no less courage for you. Maybe more. And for that, well, there just aren’t enough magazine covers available to celebrate exactly how amazing that is.
Jayme Peta, MA, MS is a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at Palo Alto University and has worked with LGBTQ youth since 1997, when she first joined LYRIC’s (San Francisco’s Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center) LGBTQ youth talkline. She also spent time doing health education with LGBTQ youth, leading support groups, and helped with the creation of San Francisco’s Trans Health Clinic at the Dimensions Clinic. She is a co-author of The Gender Quest Workbook (New Harbinger Publications, February 2016).
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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