Gawker Editorial Staff Condemns Takedown of Story Outing Media Exec

In a strongly worded statement posted yesterday afternoon, the Gawker Media Editorial Staff reacted to managing editor Nick Denson’s takedown of a controversial story that purported to out a high-profile media executive.

Our union drive has expressed at every stage of the process that one of our core goals is to protect the editorial independence of Gawker Media sites from the influence of business-side concerns. Today’s unprecedented breach of the firewall, in which business executives deleted an editorial post over the objections of the entire executive editorial staff, demonstrated exactly why we seek greater protection. Our opinions on the post are not unanimous but we are united in objecting to editorial decisions being made by a majority of non-editorial managers. Disagreements about editorial judgment are matters to be resolved by editorial employees. We condemn the takedown in the strongest possible terms.

Gawker’s own J.K. Trotter reported that  the managing partnership of Gawker Media voted, 4-2 to remove the post.

“Executive editor Tommy Craggs, who helped edit the piece, and President Heather Dietrick, who reviewed and cleared it before publication in her capacity as Gawker Media’s chief legal counsel, were the only partners who dissented. […]

The partners who voted to remove the post were Andrew Gorenstein, who serves as the president of advertising and partnerships; chief operating officer Scott Kidder; chief strategy officer Erin Pettigrew; and chief executive officer Nick Denton, who founded Gawker Media in 2002. Along with Tommy Craggs and Heather Dietrick, they belong to Gawker Media’s managing partnership, which Denton established in 2014 and whose members decide on all major company matters.”

Denton confirmed the vote count in a Tweet last night.

In the interest of accuracy: the vote among the managing partners on taking down yesterday’s story was 4-2, not 5-1.

— Nick Denton (@nicknotned) July 18, 2015

The post Gawker Editorial Staff Condemns Takedown of Story Outing Media Exec appeared first on Towleroad.

Kyler Geoffroy

Gawker Editorial Staff Condemns Takedown of Story Outing Media Exec

PHOTOS: Patricia Velasquez Is a Neo-Noir Star in 'Guys Reading Poems'

The Advocate debuts exclusive stills of the lesbian actress in her latest role.

read more

Daniel Reynolds

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2015/07/18/photos-patricia-velasquez-neo-noir-star-guys-reading-poems

You Can’t Unsee This Image Of Taylor Swift And Justin Bieber As A Cute Lesbian Couple

You can thank (or blame) Miley Cyrus for bringing this to our attention — face swap Taytay and the Biebs and you’ve got yourself one adorable lesbian couple.

@fuckjerry

A photo posted by Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus) on Jul 15, 2015 at 4:10am PDT

Taylor’s response? She wrote “Sending you love.” as a comment on the photo. Does that mean she approves? We’re not sure.

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/HZV05C_xBMw/you-cant-unsee-this-image-of-taylor-swift-and-justin-bieber-as-a-cute-lesbian-couple-20150718

Kathy Wolfe – Taking LGBT movies to the world

If you’re feeling alone or isolated, struggling to find your identity or place in the world, movies can have a transformative impact.

There is nothing more powerful than seeing characters on the big screen that you identify with, stories that somehow reflect your own journey, or insights into communities and worlds that you only dreamed existed.

For the LGBT community, finding those movies can sometimes be a bit of a challenge.

Wolfe Video has been one of the key distributors helping to share LGBT movies with the wider world.

On the 30th anniversary since they were founded in 1985, we caught up with Kathy Wolfe – the woman who started it all – to share some memories as well as talk plans for the future.

When did you first begin to realise that the mail order service that you were initially setting up was tapping into a demand from the LGBT audience?

The mail order business was an immediate success. Of course, this is based upon a very small need for profit as I was working out of the basement of my home. Low overheads, in every sense of the word, allowed me to grow slow and steady.

What was the breakthrough moment when you knew that Wolfe Video had a place in the market?

In 1992 we released the Lily Tomlin collection featuring The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. Lily’s work helped us break into the national distribution network and open direct relationships with Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, and Tower Records. After that we were able to release hundreds of titles into the mainstream and access the over 27,000 video rental stores operating at the time.

What’s been the most popular movie of all time that has been distributed through Wolfe Video?

Big Eden. It was hugely popular and we sold over 75,000 DVDs.

Are you still excited by movies?

Being part of the LGBT movie business is full of satisfaction. I love watching movies and meeting filmmakers. I love helping and sharing with them all that we have learned over the past 30 years.

Mostly I feel like we have made a difference both in the lives of our community but also in the world at large. We have always considered ourselves pioneers in visibility.

With increasing equality in many countries, is there still a need and an appetite for a specialist distributor of LGBT movies?

Our global streaming platform – WolfeOnDemand.com – is a lifeline to thousands desperately in need of community. It reminds me of the late 1970s when being in the closet was the norm here in the USA.

How is developing media technology changing the way that Wolfe Video operates?

When it comes to technology, a business like ours must adapt. We have gone from VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and now streaming. Technology has been great for us but it’s also added the concerns of internet piracy. I’m sure that readers of Gay Star News will understand the connection between not paying for their viewing and ultimately not getting quality filmmaking. Clearly, when we support our artists they can support us.

How will Wolfe Video continue to stay relevant in the crowded media market place?

Wolfe is a major supplier of LGBT content to all the players including Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, HBO, Showtime and beyond. Our films grace the screens of film festivals around the world and conversely Wolfe brings foreign films home for us to enjoy and learn from. We sell public performance rights to colleges and universities. In addition, our pay-per-view service WolfeOnDemand.com is one of the largest collections of LGBT streaming content available anywhere, including classics as well as new releases.

Read more from Gareth Johnson

Read more movie reviews and interviews

The post Kathy Wolfe – Taking LGBT movies to the world appeared first on Gay Star News.

Gareth Johnson

www.gaystarnews.com/article/kathy-wolfe-taking-lgbt-movies-to-the-world/

Artist Spotlight: Ludwig von Hofmann

von_hoffman_leadx400.jpg

Christopher Harrity

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/art/artist-spotlight/2015/07/18/artist-spotlight-ludwig-von-hofmann

Anti-gay-marriage Sweet Cakes bakers raise over US$350,000

Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of now-defunct Sweet Cakes by Melissa have raised a record-breaking US$352,500 in two months via crowdfunding website Continue to Give.

This is the second fundraising effort created in support of the couple since an Oregon judge ruled in April that they must pay Rachel Bowman-Cryer and her wife, Laurel Bowman-Cryer, US$75,000 and US$60,000 in damages respectively for rejecting their cake order in 2013.

On July 2 the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) handed the couple a final order for the same amount.

In April 2015, the couple raised nearly US$110,000 in donations via GoFundMe before the campaign was shut down by the site.

The company said the campaign was disabled as they were found to be in violation of Oregon state law concerning discriminatory acts. It said at the time the Kleins will be allowed to withdraw the funds they have raised.

GoFundMe soon after changed their policy to include a ban on ‘claims of heinous crimes, violent, hateful, sexual or discriminatory acts’ to make it easier for the company to remove campaigns for Christian-owned business owners fighting discrimination charges after declining to provide services for gay weddings.

The Washington Times reports that the Kleins started their fundraising campaign on Continue to Give on May 5 after their GoFundMe page was disabled.

Jesse Wellhoefer, the founder of Continue to Give which bills itself as ‘a faith-based giving platform,’ told the Washington Times that the Kleins have already broken the three-year-old site’s record for highest total raised and is continuing to raise funds.

He added that while his company has received ‘lots’ of complaints about the crowdfunding campaign, he will continue to host the campaign on his website.

‘Our response has been, “Thank you for your concern, have a great day and God bless you,’” he said.

The Kleins are expected to appeal the labor commissioner’s July 2 decision to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

The post Anti-gay-marriage Sweet Cakes bakers raise over US$350,000 appeared first on Gay Star News.

Sylvia Tan

www.gaystarnews.com/article/anti-gay-marriage-sweet-cakes-bakers-raise-over-us350000/