Jim Obergefell Introduces President Barack Obama; POTUS Reaffirms Commitment to LGBT Equality
Last night, Jim Obergefell had the honor of introducing President Barack Obama at a Democratic National Committee (DNC) LGBT fundraising gala.
HRC.org
On Papal Flight Back To Rome, Pope Francis Says Government Workers Have Every Right To Deny Gay Marriage Licenses
I can’t have in mind all cases that can exist about conscience objection. But, yes, I can say the conscientious objection is a right that is a part of every human right. It is a right. And if a person does not allow others to be a conscientious objector, he denies a right. Conscientious objection must enter into every juridical structure because it is a right, a human right. Otherwise we would end up in a situation where we select what is a right, saying ‘this right that has merit, this one does not.’ It is a human right, and if a government official is a human person, he has that right.”
— Pope Francis on the papal flight back to Rome, speaking to ABC’s Terry Moran, in reference to clerks denying marriage licenses to gay couples
Derek de Koff
Azealia Banks Compares LGBT Community to the KKK, Wants to Pepper Spray a Gay Man in the Face
It was just last week that rapper Azealia Banks went on a violent, gay slur-laden tirade while exiting a flight. Banks then doubled down on her use of the word “faggot”, echoing previous remarks she made defending her use of the anti-gay slur.
Banks was apparently not happy with the negative reaction she received over the incident and continued to post incendiary remarks on social media taking aim at the LGBT community.
In a now-deleted tweet, Banks compared the LGBT community to the KKK, writing, “LGBT community (GGGG) are like the gay white KKK’s. Get them some pink hoods and unicorns and let them rally down rodeo drive.”
She then went on to call the LGBT community a bunch of “weaklings.”
Words are not tangible things. You all CHOSE to get upset. Remember… Offense is only TAKEN, it is never given.
— AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
You boys gotta toughen up!!! Don’t be so weak !!! If one word can put your entire community in distress you’re DOOMED. LOL
— AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
So yes! You CAN call me a nigger and I won’t get mad! …. I’d be like “That’s all you got???”
— AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
I’m not a weak bitch, being called a dyke or a nigger does absolutely nothing to move me.
— AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
Because all the time spent being mad at word could’ve been used to help people who really need the help!
— AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
If I am to be a part of an LGBT community I want to be in it with people who aren’t so weak or so easily moved ya know.
— AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
All I had to do was say one word and I moved a whole community. What weaklings!!!
— AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
Banks also continued the story by attacking a commenter on Instagram in a manner in-line with her previous comments, as The Daily Mail reports:
A poster called @a_sanctuary_found wrote to the musician: ‘Imagine the pain young gay fans feel when they hear the vile things you say @azealiabanks.’
To which she replied: ‘@a_sanctuary_found oh well imagine how I wanna spray a gay man in the face with pepper spray everytime he calls me a bitch a slut or a hoe. Kiss my ass. Goodnight.’
The Instagram user, clearly shocked, wrote back, ‘@azealiabanks if the shoe fits,’ before adding, ‘omg what an evil thing to say??’
‘Keep f**king with me if you f**king want to,’ the 212 hitmaker replied, before continuing with: ‘One day your hemmroids (sic) are going to burst and you’ll bleed to death bitch.’
Banks also replied to that commenter on Instagram, “Yea keep trolling for d**k on grindr. You’ll be murdered and stuffed under a truck somewhere soon.” That comment has since been deleted.
Banks previously defended her use of anti-gay language and comments by writing, “I am bisexual. My brother is trans. My employees are all gay men. Nothing else to say.”
The post Azealia Banks Compares LGBT Community to the KKK, Wants to Pepper Spray a Gay Man in the Face appeared first on Towleroad.
Sean Mandell
Azealia Banks Compares LGBT Community to the KKK, Wants to Pepper Spray a Gay Man in the Face
WATCH: Hilary Clinton Says Yes, I Did Evolve on Marriage
Hillary Clinton sought to clear the air about her record on gay rights and other issues plaguing her run for the White House by sitting down for a one-on-one interview on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Her main message: She’s “thrilled” the Supreme Court ruled for equal marriage rights in all 50 states, and she concedes that her position on the issue had to “evolve” from support for civil unions for same-sex couples to endorsement of marriage equality.
Clinton joined host Chuck Todd in his Washington, D.C., studio for the 16-and-a-half-minute chat, portions of which were broadcast yesterday.
He showed several clips in a video collection titled “Clinton vs. Clinton,” to show how her opinions had changed on the war in Iraq, the Keystone XL pipeline, and marriage equality. Todd asked her how she responded to critics who say her stance on each of those issues changed for political expediency.
“I don’t think that it reflects how people who are thoughtful actually conduct their lives,” Clinton said.
“On same-sex marriage, like a lot of people, including our president, I did evolve. And I was not raised to even imagine this. And I’m thrilled now that it is the law of the land. And I have a lot of good friends who are now able to be married because of the changes we’ve made legally and constitutionally.”
Her tone in the exchange was firm but far more conciliatory than it was during a tense interview with NPR’s Terry Gross in June 2014, in which she was repeatedly challenged on her changing position on marriage:
“I think you are trying to say that I used to be opposed [to gay marriage], and now I am in favor, and I did it for political reasons. And that’s just flat wrong. So let me just state what I feel like you are implying and repudiate it. I have a strong record. I have a great commitment to this issue and I am proud of what I’ve done and the progress we’re making.”
Watch the entire interview from NBC’s Meet the Press below. Clinton addresses marriage equality at 14:00 in.
Dawn Ennis
www.advocate.com/election/2015/9/28/watch-hilary-clinton-says-yes-i-did-evolve-marriage
10 Queer Films That Will Teach You More LGBT History Than 'Stonewall'
Though the first big-budget film about the 1969 Stonewall riots has finally reached theaters, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Stonewall does no justice to Stonewall. No one’s claiming you can get all of LGBT history from one film, of course, but if you did want a crash course in queer history on film — whether through fictional narrative, documentary form or mixed-genre — then there are a few films that can jumpstart your education.
If you want a movie to teach you about LGBT history, where better to start than a movie that teaches you about the history of LGBT people in film? Based on the book by Vito Russo and narrated by Grace & Frankie star Lily Tomlin, Closet came out a few years after queer activists were sick of being scapegoated as killers in films likeSilence of the Lambs or Kennedy.
— 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.
Today In Dumb Things Azealia Banks Says: Gay Men = The KKK. And Are Weaklings.
It’s official: The songstress behind “Ice Princess” needs to have her jaw frozen shut.
Last week, footage captured Azealia Banks calling a Delta flight attendant “faggot” and then, a few days later, she went on an amped-up Instagram rampage, inferring that she’d like to pepper spray “a gay man in the face.” As one does.
Perhaps her publicist gently passed away last week and the body is still moldering in a swank office building off Wilshire Boulevard. Or perhaps the “Ice Princess” is, in fact, a Crystal Queen, who are similarly notorious for their wild ways.
Related: Azealia Banks Says She’s Too Rich To Care If You Think She’s A Homophobe
Whatever the case may be, because her latest rant — this time on Twitter, because versatile — claims that the “LGBT community are like the gay white KKKs. Get them some pink hoods and unicorns and let them rally down rodeo drive.” Ooh, burn.
Wait. It gets better.
All I had to do was say one word and I moved a whole community. What weaklings!!! ?
— AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
And this blood moon is a BONUS on top of it all!!!! — AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
Man, did she have to drag the Supermoon into this? The Wiccans will be furious.
If I am to be a part of an LGBT community I want to be in it with people who aren’t so weak or so easily moved ya know. — AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
Because all the time spent being mad at word could’ve been used to help people who really need the help! — AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
That’s true. Brb. And… back.
I’m not a weak bitch, being called a dyke or a nigger does absolutely nothing to move me. — AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
So yes! You CAN call me a nigger and I won’t get mad! …. I’d be like “That’s all you got???” ????? — AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
You boys gotta toughen up!!! Don’t be so weak !!! If one word can put your entire community in distress you’re DOOMED. LOL — AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
Words are not tangible things. You all CHOSE to get upset. Remember… Offense is only TAKEN, it is never given. ? — AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) September 28, 2015
And that’s, indeed, all we got. But come back fifteen minutes later when we report that Azealia Banks calls the gay community a bunch of “stuck-up stoopid poopyheads.”
And while we’re on the subject of fifteen minutes: Hopefully she won’t start tweeting disparaging remarks about twelve-year-old girls with inordinately shitty taste in music, or she’ll manage to isolate her only other fanbase.
Derek de Koff
Watch Gay Vlogger Riyadh K Call And Confront His Childhood Bully – VIDEO
Gay Irish vlogger Riyadh K has posted a new YouTube video in which he calls his childhood bully to “find out why he did what he did.”
In the video, Riyadh shares that he was frequently made fun of in school and called “faggot”, “poof”, and “queer” because of the way he talked and dressed. As a result, school was a nightmare for him. “I hated every minute of it,” he says. As a way of making peace with the past, he decided to call his childhood bully, not to attack him, but to understand more about what motivated his behavior:
“I thought I would be a guinea pig,to show that after time passes, your bullies end up being just normal people. They’re not evil, it’s not some scar that should remain there forever. I want to find out why he did what he did.”
After obtaining his bully’s number from a friend of a friend and texting him to let him know that he would be calling him (all proper etiquette was observed–including augmenting the bully’s voice in the video), Riyadh got the chance to confront him. The prospect of which even made him tremble.
Riyadh asked his bully, “Did you know you were causing me to feel that way?” To which the former bully responded,
“I don’t think we intentionally made a point of slagging you. I don’t think there was ever a conscious thing. I’m really sorry, I obviously didn’t know that was happening in secondary school, and feel kind of bad about it now for sure.”
Riyadh underscored why mocking, teasing or bullying kids because of their perceived sexuality can be so damaging for LGBT youth as they struggle to understand and come to terms with their identity:
“It was laughing about something that was so central to who I was and who I was becoming. I stayed in the closet for four years beyond when I realised – because I was afraid of reactions from you, the boys and a few others.”
Riyadh’s bully said that if Riyadh had approached him personally about the bullying he thinks he would have stopped making fun of him. He also was unaware how afraid Riyadh was of him in school and apologized for instilling such fear.
After the conversation ended, Riyahd said, “I don’t think that could have gone better than it did. He genuinely was sorry, and I don’t think he even realized the effect that it had on me, and still has on me now. It’s very cathartic.”
Watch the video below:
The post Watch Gay Vlogger Riyadh K Call And Confront His Childhood Bully – VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.
Sean Mandell
Watch Gay Vlogger Riyadh K Call And Confront His Childhood Bully – VIDEO
Matt Damon: 'Straight or gay, people shouldn’t know anything about your sexuality'
After lecturing a female black director about diversity in Hollywood and later offering a half-hearted apology, Oscar-winning Matt Damon is now facing backlash for comments he made about gay actors.
Damon told The Guardian that out actors “take a hit for being out,” specifically mentioning Rupert Everett, who’s career sputtered after breaking out in the 1990s with My Best Friend’s Wedding. Though he seems sympathetic toward Everett, Damon thinks an aura of mystery makes actors more believable.
“I think it must be really hard for actors to be out publicly,” he told the British publication. “But in terms of actors, I think you’re a better actor the less people know about you period. And sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether you’re straight or gay, people shouldn’t know anything about your sexuality because that’s one of the mysteries that you should be able to play.”
Of course, Damon — who played gay men in The Talented Mr. Ripley and HBO’s Beyond the Candleabra — does not hide the fact that he’s heterosexual, often appearing on red carpets with his wife, Luciana.
Neal Broverman
Michael Sam Believes He'd Be In The NFL Now If He Hadn't Come Out
Michael Sam believes he’d be playing in the NFL right now if he hadn’t come out as gay when he did.
Sam, 25, told sportscaster Dan Patrick in an interview last week that it “probably would have been better” for his professional sports career for him to keep quiet about his sexuality in early 2014, just before he was drafted by the NFL.
“I wanted to come out after I made an NFL roster. It really wasn’t supposed to be public,” Sam, who sad he believed somebody was planning to break the story about his sexuality in the media, told Patrick in the interview. “It was just supposed to be to the team, as I did at the University of Missouri, but… I wanted to be the one to tell my own story. I didn’t want someone to tell it for me.”
When asked if he thought he’d currently be on an NFL roster if things had gone differently, Sam said, “I’m not going to say … but it probably would have been better for me if I didn’t come out, I would be on a roster.”
He then stressed, “I have no regrets whatsoever.”
Sam, the 2013 SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year and former All-American at the University of Missouri, was ultimately selected by the St. Louis Rams with the 249th pick in the seventh round of the 2014 draft, but didn’t end up making the team’s 53-man roster or their 10-man practice squad.
After a brief stint on the practice squad of the Dallas Cowboys, Sam signed with the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes in May, but said he was stepping away from football in August because he was concerned with his “mental health.”
Sam told Patrick that he “never really want to go into the CFL,” and that he “wasn’t really getting better as a football player” during his time with the Alouettes. He’s now back at the University of Missouri, and said he’ll “train to get back to football” during his studies there.
Wishing you the best, Michael!
Also on HuffPost:
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19-year old student secures one of six £21,000 a month student ‘digs’ in London’s Mayfair
A bed, a desk and a kettle, with a Tesco or ASDA nearby, may tick the boxes for most students, but not for those who’ll move into Mayfair’s Fountain House, a nine-storey luxury property overlooking Hyde Park.
First to snatch up one of six ‘ultimate student digs’ was a 19-year old fashion design student from North America: their new luxury three-bedroom apartment will cost them a monthly rent of £21,000 (€28,417, $31,936.49).
Luxury is paramount for the six Fountain View student pads.
All properties cost a minimum of £2,250 (€3,044.68, $3,421.76) per week and are marketed by estate agent Wetherell; over 80% of enquiries for the student pads have come from overseas, the estate agent revealed.
The apartments’ open-plan kitchen/dining areas are fit for dinner parties.
Government statistics show that there are about 67,000 non-EU students attending universities in London, spending £1.32 billion (€1.79 billion, $2.01 billion) on accommodation and other living costs each year.
The chances of the residents using their state-of-the-art kitchen to heat up a ready meal are probably rather slim.
There’s no doubt students living in these Mayfair flats are worlds away from ‘standard’ students in the UK – instead of hitting Tiger Tiger for a night out, they’re expected to enjoy the perks of nearby members clubs, such as Annabel’s or 5 Hertford Street.
Elegantly furnished, the spacious master bedrooms also feature walk-in dressing rooms.
Dressed by Alexander James Interior Design, known for working on grand country houses and Sunseeker yachts, the apartments come with spacious living/dining areas with woodstrip flooring and mood lighting.
High standard: decked in stone and marble, the master en-suites feature everything you’d need – and then some.
The designer kitchens boast fitted grey units, stone worktops and integrated Miele appliances, and the master bedrooms feature plush deep carpets, walk-in dressing rooms and large master bathrooms decked in stone and marble.
No luxury flat is complete with a hotel-style entrance hall, complete with concierge and seating area.
A grand pillared main entrance foyer, with a 16-foot ceiling, hotel-style concierge desk and cozy seating for arriving guests completes the luxurious feeling.
Peter Wetherell, Chief Executive of Wetherell, calls the apartments ‘perfect for a wealthy student’ or ‘ideal for a City stockbroker, successful lawyer or couple wanting a London home’; he expects the apartments to be let just in time for the new term to start.
The post 19-year old student secures one of six £21,000 a month student ‘digs’ in London’s Mayfair appeared first on Gay Star News.
Stefanie Gerdes
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