Did Vladimir Putin Call Elton John?

Sir Elton John turned to social media to thank Russian President Vladimir Putin for a phone call that he claimed the leader made, a call Putin’s spokesman denied. 

John announced the conversation on Instagram. 

 

Thank-you to President Vladimir Putin for reaching out and speaking via telephone with me today. I look to forward to meeting with you face-to-face to discuss LGBT equality in Russia. @president_vladimir_putin @ejaf #lgbt #lgbtrights #ShareTheLove

A photo posted by Elton John (@eltonjohn) on Sep 14, 2015 at 8:11am PDT

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov twice told reporters the call never happened, according to BuzzFeed, which reported he did not rule out the possibility that Putin might meet the singer “at some point.”

Putin, Peskov told the Russia Today website, has always “been and remains open to discuss any of the human rights issues, any questions, he is always ready to explain the real situation. Often, people simply do not have the exact knowledge of what is happening in our country and in fact the victims of varied information exaltation.

“I have no doubt that if such a wish, the President will be ready to meet, including Elton John, in order to provide answers to all the questions that he can deliver. But we are such signals are not received.”

John isn’t the only one concerned about Russian gays and lesbians these days. Sam Smith also took to Instagram to support Russia’s LGBT population, as reported by our sibling Out magazine.

As The Advocate reported over the weekend, John announced on a visit to Ukraine that he would like to meet with Putin to encourage him to improve the situation in his nation. He also urged Ukrainian business and political leaders to foster a better climate for that nation’s LGBT citizens.

Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/world/2015/9/15/did-vladimir-putin-call-elton-john

Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Suffers Yet Another Loss In Federal Court

Rowan County clerk Kim Davis of Kentucky suffered another legal setback Tuesday when a federal appeals court denied her request to be exempted from a gubernatorial directive to comply with the Supreme Court’s June decision on same-sex marriage.

In a short order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit noted that “Davis has not demonstrated a substantial likelihood of success on her federal constitutional claims.”

This dispute — which is separate from Davis’ legal challenge to an August court order instructing Davis to issue marriage licenses to gay couples — stems from a countersuit she filed against Gov. Steve Beshear (D), whom she has argued is partly responsible for her present court troubles.

The ruling is only procedural, but it adds to a string of losses for Davis at all levels of the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court.

In court documents filed while Davis was incarcerated for contempt of court, her lawyers had charged that Beshear failed “to take elementary steps to accommodate Davis’ undisputed, sincerely-held religious beliefs about marriage” when he issued a directive in June asking that all county clerks in Kentucky comply with Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized gay marriage nationwide.   

“As a prisoner of her conscience, Davis continues to request a simple accommodation and exemption from Gov. Beshear, who is overseeing Kentucky marriage policy,” the lawyers argued.

Davis’ legal team has at least three appeals pending in the 6th Circuit: one involving the the clerk’s lawsuit against Beshear; another challenging the ruling that sent her to jail for contempt of court; and a third one challenging the merits of the Aug. 12 order that effectively told her to begin issuing marriage licenses to all couples.

These legal maneuverings all stem from the original lawsuit a group of gay and straight couples filed against Davis as a result of a blanket “no marriage licenses” policy she instituted following the Supreme Court ruling that established a constitutional right to marry for same-sex couples.

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Gay football player Mason Darrow not considered distraction by Princeton teammates

The knock on Michael Sam was that his being openly gay when drafted by the NFL would be a distraction.

Fortunately for Mason Darrow, his coach and his teammates at Princeton University saw things differently when he decided to come out publicly ahead of the season this fall.

‘Here at Princeton, if we can’t handle this and say, “We’re supportive of everybody no matter what their background, religion, race or sexual orientation,” then we don’t have the right guys in the locker room. We’re going to support Mason 100%,” head coach Bob Surace said in an interview posted Tuesday (15 September) on Outsports.

It was two years ago that Darrow began coming out to his fellow players and he now says: ‘Telling my teammates was the best decision I have ever made.’

He needed that support when his 2014 season was cut short when Darrow tore an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). As he worked his way back from injury, the coaching staff remained unaware that he had come out to the team.

‘We knew if we told the coaches, then that would make it a thing,’ says Darrow’s teammate Caleb Slate who was the first person he came out to on the team. ‘He’s still just our teammate to us. We didn’t want to go to the coach about it, we wanted Mason to do it when he was ready.’

Darrow decided to tell Surface earlier this summer. Because the coming out to Surface was preceded by a phone call from Darrow the night before setting up a meeting, the coach was dreading bad news about an injury or the offensive linesman wanting to quit the team.

When he told the coach he was gay, a relieved Surface replied: ‘That’s great. Geez, I thought you were injured.’

The coach now says of the player: ‘He’s tough, he’s physical. He’s one of the guys you enjoy and you love. He’s one of our leaders.’

The post Gay football player Mason Darrow not considered distraction by Princeton teammates appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/gay-football-player-mason-darrow-not-considered-distraction-by-princeton-teammates/

Gay Website Insists It Was Correct In Asking Tom Hardy Cringe-Inducing Question About His “Ambiguous Sexuality”

— A post co-written by Robin Perelle and Kevin O’Keefe on Daily Xtra‘s website to defend its widely-derided novice reporter Graeme Coleman timidly asking Legend star Tom Hardy about a 2008 interview he gave to Attitude magazine and using examples of other celebs such as Evan Rachel Wood who’ve answered the question. Watch the super-awkawrd exchange between Hardy and Coleman below.

Jeremy Kinser

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/rENS8gtCGZE/gay-website-insists-it-was-correct-in-asking-tom-hardy-cringe-inducing-question-about-his-ambiguous-sexuality-20150915

News: Tom Hardy, Mr. Leather, Paleo Diet, PrEP, Gay Instagram

> Christopher Rice on Tom Hardy and that interview that touched on his sexuality: “Enough of this. Enough of allowing actors once they reach a certain threshold of fame to act like they’ve been violated or shamed by any question that suggests they might not be one hundred percent heterosexual. Asking a handsome young male actor if he’s gay is not in any way indecent. To pretend as such deepens the stigma around homosexuality on a vastly public level, in a manner that does damage to gay people who don’t have access to media platforms and who aren’t regularly provided with a press conference in which to air their views.”

>  Devo band-member Jerry Casale had a 9/11-themed wedding last Friday. 

> Whitney Houston hologram is going on tour next year.

> David Gandy wants to thank you for liking him in his skivvies (and also liking his skivvies).

> Neil Patrick Harris’ variety show Best Time Ever debuts tonight.

> Why Mr. Leather went to Uganda.

> Facebook is working on a dislike button.

> California may soon require condoms for all porn performers.

> Gay-themed film From Afar wins top prize at Venice Film Festival. 

> Your Paleo diet just got f*$ked. New research shows Paleolithic people were making and eating flour 32,000 years ago.

> Kim Davis’ 2nd/4th husband is now becoming a right-wing poster child in his own right. 

> Happy Birthday, Prince Harry.

> Leo has ditched his beard.

> Porn producer Michael Lucas: Drop the backlash on PrEP.

> Has Instagram been taken over by the gay community?

> Miley Cyrus releases song from Freeheld soundtrack.

> Samantha Bee rips Vanity Fair‘s boys club spread on late night hosts. 

> Google Maps now shows you if climate change will put your home underwater.

> NY Times talks to survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic clergy ahead of Pope Francis’ US visit.

The post News: Tom Hardy, Mr. Leather, Paleo Diet, PrEP, Gay Instagram appeared first on Towleroad.

Sean Mandell

News: Tom Hardy, Mr. Leather, Paleo Diet, PrEP, Gay Instagram

WATCH: High School Senior Suspended For Wearing 'Nobody Knowns I'm a Lesbian' T-Shirt

A South Carolina high school student was suspended last week after a T-shirt she was wearing that said “Nobody Knows I’m a Lesbian” in bold letters was judged to be “disruptive.”

According to Charleston TV station WCBD, out Chesnee High School senior Briana Popour was asked to change out of her “Nobody Knows I’m a Lesbian” shirt by a school administrator who said he found the shirt offensive, and after she refused to do so, was later suspended. 

When she noted that there was nothing in the school handbook that said she couldn’t wear her pro-LGBT shirt on campus, the school administrator told her “not everything is in the handbook,” reports WCBD as well as another station, WSPA. 

“He does not like people in his school wearing anything that says anything about lesbians, gays, or bisexuals,” Popour said.

“Isn’t that what school is supposed to teach you? To be happy with who you are?” she continued. “Maybe people will be more comfortable showing who they are because you should be able to wear what you want to wear.” 

Watch WSPA’s report on Briana Popour below.

Raffy Ermac

www.advocate.com/youth/2015/9/15/watch-high-school-senior-suspended-wearing-nobody-knowns-im-lesbian-t-shirt

Some Thoughts on PrEP

Around two years ago, I met the first guy who told me he was on Truvada for PrEP. He said he had been on the drug for six months, along with a bunch of “bareback fuck buds” he hooked up with who were also on the drug. Although I had read about PrEP in The Times a few months before that, I had no idea guys were actually on it and running around having raw sex, just a few blocks away from my apartment! Call me naïve.

At the time, the concept seemed crazy to me because I’ve always had a distrust of the pharmaceutical industry. At 43, I’ve had my fair share of bizarre side effects from drugs, so the idea of taking an HIV med to help prevent HIV infection when I could just use condoms seemed ridiculous to me.

But in the past two years, PrEP has gone mainstream, and practically half my friends are on it. This is a boon for its maker, Gilead, since it costs upwards of $12,000 a year to be on it. It’s also a boon for the gay community, as new HIV infections have dramatically decreased since its introduction. In fact, a recent studied followed 600 men over the course of a two-year period and not one man seroconverted.

The makers of Truvada state the drug should be used with condoms, but from what I see going on here in NYC, a lot of men have abandoned them because they’re so confident in the drug’s effectiveness. Friends tell me they have bareback sex all the time and are still negative, even after bottoming for positive guys who are undetectable. It seems this advance in HIV meds has had one very good side effect. Thanks to PrEP and HIV meds like Stribild, the stigma many HIV+ have had to deal with for so many years seems to be fading away.

Another side effect these drugs have had is they’re breaking down a 30-year-old fear of semen. Now that it isn’t seen as the main way of contracting a life-threatening illness, loads of guys seem to be obsessed with exchanging loads. It seems the gay community is now going through a period where ejaculate has become almost fetishized because it no longer carries a potential death sentence. The end result is that many men have become liberated from the fear of having someone ejaculate inside them.

In my opinion, this is a good and bad thing. While I’m all for being released from any kind of mental bondage, the lack of condom use in the past two years has increased the spread of STDs like syphilis, herpes, gonorrhea and chlamydia. Interestingly, it’s now starting to have a boomerang effect because the latest trend I’ve been hearing about is…condoms! It seems more and more men are getting sick of having to take antibiotics for STDS they contract and have decided to start using them with PrEP. And since using Truvada with prophylactics ups it’s effectiveness to 99 percent, this can only be a good thing.

Sure, I wished we lived in a world where we didn’t have to take a break from foreplay to put on a condom, but in the scheme of things, it doesn’t take that much time to slap one on to keep you and the men you sleep with safe. And hey, that minute goes by a lot faster than an afternoon in your doctor’s office.

Greg Scarnici is the author of the book, “I Hope My Mother Doesn’t Read This” – now available on Amazon. Connect with him and his social networks on www.gregscarnici.com

— 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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Neil Patrick Harris admits he has a big crush on Nick Jonas

Neil Patrick Harris may be happily married to David Burtka but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still have crushes on other guys.

Harris, whose new show The Best Time Ever premieres on NBC on Tuesday (15 September), was asked by talk show host Wendy Williams this week who his celebrity crush is.

Harris did not hesitate: Nick Jonas.

‘He was good-looking even before I was allowed to think he was good-looking,’ said Harris of the boy bander-turned Kingdom star. ‘It was a bit of a problem, I had to wait until he turned 19 or 20.’

Jonas, 22, can add Harris to a growing gay fan base that he has specifically courted in recent years of his career as a solo musical artist. His character on the drama Kingdom is a closeted gay man.

As for Harris going public with his crush, it won’t cause any problems at home. Hubby Burtka was already well aware of his crush on Jonas.

Below is NPH’s full appearance on The Wendy Williams Show:

The post Neil Patrick Harris admits he has a big crush on Nick Jonas appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/neil-patrick-harris-admits-he-has-a-big-crush-on-nick-jonas/

Woman Single-Handedly Spearheads Campaign To Protect Rights Of Sex Robots

We recently told you about Sinthetics, the $25,000 life-like, “individually handmade” male sex dolls taking the internet by storm. Now, one woman is making it her personal mission to stop people from engaging in sexual intercourse with these kinds of robots.

“I started thinking, ‘Oh, no, something needs to be said about this,’” Kathleen Richardson, a senior senior research fellow in the ethics of robotics at De Montfort University in Leicester, England, tells the Washington Post. “This is not right!”

Related: What Is It About These Male Sex Dolls That’s So Creepy? Oh, Everything.

Richardson has dedicated her academic career to researching sex robots and the harmful impact they’re having on humanity, particularly the sex industry.

“I propose that extending relations of prostitution into machines is neither ethical, nor is it safe,” Richardson says. “If anything the development of sex robots will further reinforce relations of power that do not recognize both parties as human subjects.”

That’s right, Richardson fears if people continue doing it with robots they’ll lose the ability to differentiate between machines and humans and, in the process, forget how to empathize with one another. Or something.

“These robots will contribute to more sexual exploitation,” Richardson says. Not only that, she adds, but companies will begin manufacturing sex robots that look like children. In fact, they probably already are!

“It’s a new and emerging technology,” she cautions. “Let’s nip in the bud!”

Related: Turns Out There’s An Abundance Of Creepy Sex Toys Out There

The robot sex industry, however, is displeased with Richardson’s crusade.

Douglas Hines, CEO of True Companion, told the BBC that his company isn’t trying to exploit anyone, nor does it want to replace people’s real-life sexual partners.

“This is a solution for people who are between relationships or someone who has lost a spouse,” he said. “People can find happiness and fulfillment other than via human interaction.”

Tuthor of Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships, David Levy, added that he believes love with robots “will be as normal as love with other humans.”

“The number of sexual acts and lovemaking positions commonly practiced between humans will be extended, as robots teach us more than is in all of the world’s published sex manuals combined,” Levy proclaimed.

But Richardson isn’t buying.

“It’s important that we have a debate about this,” she says. “Einstein’s theory of relativity–it didn’t have to turn into the atom bomb, right?!”

Right!!!

Related: Encase Your Beloved’s Ashes In An Elegant Glass Sex Toy. Wait, What?

Graham Gremore

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/-00gmX2nEp0/woman-single-handedly-spearheads-campaign-to-protect-rights-of-sex-robots-20150915

POLL: Most Americans Want Kim Davis to Do Her Job

A new poll shows most Americans want antigay Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis to be required to do her job, namely to issue marriage licenses same-sex couples. 

Davis returned to work Monday in Rowan County, and did not block her staff from issuing any licenses, as ordered by the courts and Kentucky’s governor. 

The Washington Post-ABC News poll found 63 percent of those surveyed say Davis should be required to do so regardless of her religious objections.

According to pollsters, almost one in two, or 45 percent, approved of the decision by a federal judge to send Davis to jail for not complying with his order to issue those licenses. And 16 percent preferred Davis be forced to issue the licenses but were against sending her to jail for her refusal. 

Nearly three-quarters of respondents said when civil rights and religious beliefs conflict, it is more important to treat everyone equally than to accommodate someone’s objections based on faith. And it wasn’t just Democrats but Republicans, liberals and conservatives who offered broad support for that concept.

The Post-ABC poll was conducted Sept. 7 to 10 among a random national sample of 1,003 adults, including land-line and cellphone respondents. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Dawn Ennis

www.advocate.com/2015/9/15/poll-most-americans-want-kim-davis-do-her-job