Pope Francis met privately with gay couple during US visit

The day before he came face-to-face with Kim Davis, Pope Francis met privately with an openly gay friend from Argentina and his partner.

Yayo Grassi confirmed to CNN on Friday (2 October) that he and his partner of 19 years and several other friends had a visit with the Pope at the Vatican Embassy.

The meeting took place on 23 September and was arranged personally by the Pope.

‘Three weeks before the trip, he called me on the phone and said he would love to give me a hug,’ Grassi said.

YouTube video of the visit shows the Pope greeting his friend with a hug then being introduced to the rest of the group including Grassi’s partner Iwan whose last name was not disclosed.

‘He has never been judgmental,’ Grassi said. ‘He has never said anything negative.’

Pope Francis has come under fire for meeting Davis, the Rowan County Clerk whose refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples landed her in a Kentucky jail last month.

The Vatican issued a statement Friday clarifying the Davis visit saying she was one of ‘several dozen persons who had been invited by the Nunciature to greet him as he prepared to leave Washington for New York City. Such brief greetings occur on all papal visits and are due to the Pope’s characteristic kindness and availability. The only real audience granted by the Pope at the Nunciature was with one of his former students and his family.’

That former student was Grassi.

Is Grassi troubled by the Pope’s stance against same-sex marriage?

‘Obviously he is the pastor of the church and he has to follow the church’s teachings,’ Grassi said. ‘But as a human being he understands all kinds of situations, and he is open to all kinds of people, including those with different sexual characteristics.’

The post Pope Francis met privately with gay couple during US visit appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/pope-francis-met-privately-with-gay-couple-during-us-visit/

The Day Before Meeting With Kim Davis, Pope Francis Met With This Gay Couple

The day before Pope Francis‘ now-infamous meeting with antigay Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis, he held a private audience with his longtime friend and former student from Argentina, Yayo Grassi, who happens to be an atheist who’s been in a same-sex relationship for 19 years.

Grassi declined to CNN to go into detail about the meeting, but said he brought his partner Iwan Bagus and some friends, and that it was arranged weeks in advance via email and phone communication.

“Three weeks before the trip, he called me on the phone and said he would love to give me a hug,” Grassi said.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi, who has downplayed the meeting with Davis, said Grassi has met previously with the pope in Rome.

“As noted in the past, the Pope, as pastor, has maintained many personal relationships with people in a spirit of kindness, welcome and dialogue,” Lombardi added.

“Obviously he is the pastor of the church and he has to follow the church’s teachings,” Grassi added. “But as a human being he understands all kinds of situations, and he is open to all kinds of people, including those with different sexual characteristics.”

Yes, obviously he can’t support marriage equality — that would be mayhem, right?

When Francis opposed same-sex marriage rights in Argentina in 2010, suggesting gay marriage is the work of the devil, Grassi wrote to him, “You have been my guide, continuously moving my horizons—you have shaped the most progressive aspects of my worldview. And to hear this from you is so disappointing.”

Francis — then Cardinal Jorge Margio Bergoglio — wrote back, apologizing for having upset his former student and promising that homophobia had no place in the Catholic Church.

Grassi believes the pope was duped into meeting with Davis, which still doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence in the religious leader.

Video of their meeting is below:

Dan Tracer

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Gay Man Who Met with Pope Says Pontiff Was Blindsided by Kim Davis Meeting

Yayo Grassi, the gay former student of Pope Francis, who, along with several friends and his partner of 19 year, had a private meeting with the Pontiff during his U.S. visit, tells Dan Zak at the Washington Post that he decided to speak out about it after the Kim Davis story blew up because he knew there were some shenanigans going on:

“Although I didn’t know any details, I knew immediately that [Pope Francis] had nothing to do with [the Kim Davis meeting], that this was arranged by other people without telling him the real character [of Davis]. I received from friends of mine a lot of quite disturbing mail, telling me that ‘This is your pope, look what he did, and he’s a coward,’ and my defense is ‘We don’t know anything. Just wait until things come out.’ And I’m extremely pleased that I was right. And I never had any doubt that I was right.”

Folks inside the Vatican think the Pope was blindsided too, according to a CBS Chicago report.

News of the meeting with Grassi broke as the Vatican struggled to contain a narrative surrounding its meeting with Rowan County, Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis.

Earlier on Friday, the Vatican released a statement regarding the meeting with Davis, denying that it was private or that it was “a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects.”

Davis’s lawyers at the Liberty Counsel countered by saying the Vatican’s statement was a lie, and presented its own narrative (which you can read HERE). They also released a set of photos of Kim Davis and her husband allegedly sitting in a Vatican embassy waiting room.

The post Gay Man Who Met with Pope Says Pontiff Was Blindsided by Kim Davis Meeting appeared first on Towleroad.

Andy Towle

Gay Man Who Met with Pope Says Pontiff Was Blindsided by Kim Davis Meeting

Canadian Store Fined for Selling Chest Binder to Trans Teen

A store in Canada is receiving support from elected officials this week after it was fined $260 for selling to a teen an elastic garment intended to give the chest a flat appearance, angering the youth’s parents, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The garment, called a chest binder, is often used by transmasculine people to achieve the appearance of a flat chest and may even be considered a medical device. 

However, the teen’s parents complained to law enforcement about the purchase, and Venus Envy, an adult goods store in Ottawa, found itself subject to fines based on a city bylaw that prevents adult stores from selling goods to those under 18, reports the CBC. 

“There’s nothing illegal about the binder. The problem is the premises,” wrote the Ottawa Citizen. “Even though there is a demand for products that help transgender youth affirm their gender identity, teens can’t enter the store to buy the products. It’s even unclear if those under 18 can enter the store and make a purchase if a parent or guardian is present.”

Venus Envy owner Shelley Taylor told the Ottawa Citizen that her store is the only one in the city that sells products such as binders and gaffs — a garment used to smooth the genital area. She said that on an average Saturday, her store sells three or four gaffs and between six and eight binders.

She said teens in particular may select her store because they may not have credit cards and can’t order online, or may fear having products mailed to their homes. 

“Do you need to have fake ID to buy something that affirms your gender? That’s good for your emotional and mental health?” Taylor asked. “Our goal is to make people comfortable and offer good service.”

According to the CBC, elected officials have sided with Taylor and revoked her fine and hope to repeal the bylaw which had prevented her from serving teen customers. 

Somerset Councilor Catherine McKenney and Mayor Jim Watson both seek to repeal the law.

“Stores like Venus Envy have a role to play. It’s an issue of public health, mental health and support for youth. It just makes sense we would look at this bylaw and make sure it reflects the need for these purchases,” McKenney told the Ottawa Citizen.

Taylor told the paper that she plans on immediately removing explicit video content from her store so that she will be legally allowed to serve all ages and is pleased with the support.

“We know that having access to information and a supportive community is the key to acceptance and well-being, and this is clearly what we want for our youth,” Taylor told the paper. 

Elizabeth Daley

www.advocate.com/transgender/2015/10/02/canadian-store-fined-selling-chest-binder-trans-teen

Before Meeting Kim Davis, Pope Met With A Longtime Gay Friend In Washington

Pope Francis privately met with a gay couple last week while visiting Washington, D.C., according to several news reports Friday.

Yayo Grassi, an openly gay Argentine-American caterer who lives in the Washington area and is a former student of the pope’s, met with Francis at the Apostolic Nunciature one day before the pope met Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who has been at the center of a national controversy over her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Joining Grassi was his boyfriend of 19 years, Iwan Bagus.

The news was first reported Friday by CNN, which published an interview with Grassi and described a video of him embracing the pope. A partial video of Grassi’s encounter with Francis can be seen below. The Associated Press reported Friday that the Vatican confirmed Francis had met with a “gay former student and his partner.”

Grassi did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Huffington Post.

Grassi, who studied under the pope when Francis taught at Inmaculada Concepcion high school in Flores, Argentina, in the mid-1960s, told CNN the meeting was arranged via the Vatican embassy in Washington.

According to a Vatican statement on Friday, the embassy also arranged the pope’s meeting with Davis, which the Vatican said “should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects.” The Vatican said the pope only had one “real audience” while at the embassy, which was his former students.

Grossi’s description of himself as a former student would seem to match the Vatican’s.

In an interview with The New York Times, Grossi said that he did not think the pope was making a statement with the meeting, which reportedly lasted between 15 and 20 minutes.

“I don’t think he was trying to say anything in particular,” he said. “He was just meeting with his ex-student and a very close friend of his.”

The news that Francis met with a gay man in a long-term relationship within hours of meeting with one of the highest-profile opponents of same-sex marriage in the U.S. elicited surprise and applause from LGBT advocates, some of whom had said they were offended by the pope’s meeting with Davis.

“Pope Francis never ceases to surprise us,” said Christopher J. Hale, executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, in a statement. “The news that Francis met with a gay couple should put to rest any notion that Pope Francis is held down by the narrow ideological divisions that plague the United States. He is first and foremost a pastor who is willing to encounter and engage anyone.”

“Once again, this shows that the Pope meets with a wide variety of people on his trips,” said the Rev. James Martin, editor at large of American Magazine, a Jesuit publication, in an email to HuffPost. “Of course it does not betoken any sort of papal approval of same-sex marriage. But if the story is accurate, I’m glad to hear that the Pope keeps in touch with old friends, gay or straight.”

Also on HuffPost:

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Kylie Minogue’s homeware range will make you feel like royalty

Kylie Minogue is showgirl through and through – and her At Home collection helps fans give their apartments the same character.

Inspired by the glitz and glamour of showbiz, the Kylie Minogue At Home collection focuses on home textiles focusing on the living- and bedroom.

Neutral colors, ranging from grey to pearl or deep amethyst, fit into every bedroom.

Spot on the trend of elegant, glamorous interiors in dark neutrals and bright highlights, the collection combines the gay icon’s love of stylish interiors with glitzy, yet sophisticated items fit for a princess’s chambers.

Held in gold and silver, offset against black, grey and cream tones, the pieces are have a decadent, yet at the same time delicate appearance due to the attention paid to every detail.

Dripping in diamants, the Mezzano line sparkles like the skylines of London, Paris or New York.

Whether they’re generously covered in tiny sequins, encrusted with or featuring a trim of sparkling, delicate diamantes or simply embossed, the lush linens, dazzling pillows and indulgent throws turn inner-city apartment bedrooms into miniature palaces.

High-quality materials, including soft velvet and exquisite satin ensure the collection feels as good as it looks – like freshly laundered sheets in a luxurious hotel, sinking into the pillows becomes a whole new experience.

The soft oyster of the Astor line shows that sometimes, understatement can be just as effective.

The golden Alexa line will add a touch of Kylie glitz to bedrooms, while the rich, dark satin of the Mezzano – working exceptionally well with the Jayza velvet boudoir cushion – makes you want to never resurface again.

But it’s not always about the bling: lines like Astor, available in deep amethyst or soft oyster tones, don’t hold back on the sparkles, yet embrace the idea of understatement being one of the pillars of sophisticated design.

Light or dark, Kylie Minogue’s collection helps turn city apartments into miniature palaces.

Available from selected online and stationary retailers, including Debenhams, Next and House of Fraser, prices start at £16 (€21.61, $24.32) for a pillowcase, with cushions clocking in at a minimum of £30 (€40.52, $45.61).

Duvet covers are priced between £50 (€67.53, $76.01) and £150 (€202.60, $228.05), and throws have a starting price of £145 (€195.85, $220.45).

The post Kylie Minogue’s homeware range will make you feel like royalty appeared first on Gay Star News.

Stefanie Gerdes

www.gaystarnews.com/article/kylie-minogues-homeware-range-will-make-you-feel-like-royalty/

HRC: Arne Duncan Helped Lead Fight Against Discrimination and Move Toward More Inclusive Classrooms

Through Secretary Duncan’s leadership, the Department of Education has become a trailblazer in protecting LGBT students
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/hrc-arne-duncan-helped-lead-fight-against-discrimination-and-move-toward-mo?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Natasha Lyonne Reteams With Her “But I’m A Cheerleader” Director In New Comedy

With her doe eyes, wild tangle of blond curls and deadpan line readings, Natasha Lyonne made a big impression during the late ’90s with comedies such as American Pie, The Slums of Beverly Hills and the queer-themed cult classic, But I’m a Cheerleader. After a celebrated career comeback (and an Emmy nomination) for Netflix’s buzzy ladies prison series Orange is the New Black,  Lyonne has reteamed with Cheerleader director Jamie Babbit for Addicted to Fresno, a comedy trifle that opens in select theaters today. The 36-year-old actress plays against type as hotel maid Martha, the responsible sister to unstable sex addict Shannon, played by Judy Greer. Queerty spoke with Babbit and Lyonne about reuniting for the film.

Queerty: Addicted to Fresno was written by your wife, Karey Dornetto. Was there any apprehension about going to her with story or writing notes considering you had to go home together later?

Jamie Babbit: [Laughs] Well, we’re still together. Working with Karey was great. It’s really great to have a collaborative experience between the writer, director and actors.

The role of Martha was written with Natasha in mind.

Natasha Lyonne: I was super flattered to hear that Jamie wanted to work with me again. She sent me the script and I was just shocked that she had thought of me for it.

The city of Fresno gets such a bad wrap.  Why did you decide to set the film there?

Babbit: Karey researched cities in California and found that the top two places people say they want to escape are Bakersfield and Fresno. She chose Fresno. It’s one of the most polluted cities in the United States. I’m interested in that kind of subject matter; people that are either trapped in cities or trying to get out. It’s a theme I continue to explore.

Natasha and Judy Greer have such great chemistry. How much of the script was improvised and how much was on the page?

Lyonne: Emotionally and artistically speaking, it was a real joy to be able to feel such a state of freedom. I could really explore things and make things up. Judy Greer is such a master. She is a great person to have as your number one on the call sheet.  You’re in safe hands. She is incapable of having a false moment. She’s always stellar.

What do you think your character, Megan in But I’m a Cheerleader would be up to now? Would her life resemble Martha’s at all?

Lyonne: I think Megan is a little more of a natural overachiever than Martha. I feel like Megan could be like a political advisor. Megan is a like lesbian Republican but still anti-Trump.

How difficult is it to be a hotel maid? Did you undergo training?

Lyonne: We went out to the desert in Simi Valley during the apex of summer. I remember that first day I pulled up 15 minutes late, panting from the heat with the air conditioner blasting, chain smoking and drinking a Red Bull. I was wearing a black blazer, black jeans, black boots and thinking, “Why is it so fucking hot out here?!”

Judy shows up with a picnic basket and homemade cupcakes. She’s wearing a sundress and smiling. And I thought in that moment, “Wait a minute, they got the parts wrong.” Then we went upstairs to a motel room and began our housekeeping lessons. We followed a housekeeper around.  Judy excelled at it. I was a failure.

First of all, they work very quickly. The woman was drenched in sweat because she would clean the room so quickly. They all have serious hairdos and full makeup and sweat profusely. There is only one cleaning product, Lysol. And it gets sprayed on everything.

There’s a scene in the film in which Natasha and Judy are styling Natasha’s hair.  It’s wildly comical as I feel like Natasha’s hair is often its own character in films.

Babbitt: It was actually Natasha’s idea that she wanted to look like Gilda Radner in that scene. So she brushed her hair out and it’s enormous. Natasha’s hair is its own character. Natasha did her impression of Cousin It for us and it was so funny. She did it one of the takes and I liked it so much I reshot the master because I knew I wanted to use it. It was all totally improvised.

Natasha’s character, Martha is much more of the adult, responsible sister and goes to great lengths to help her older sister Shannon. It was great to see Natasha cast against type.

Babbitt: Natasha was definitely cast against type in this film. I think it was a nice break from her Orange is the New Black character where she is playing someone a little closer to herself.

She’s such a phenomenal actress and comedian so I think this movie shows what a remarkable range she has. I hope it inspires other directors to cast her against type because she is truly, truly gifted.

Watch the film’s trailer below.

Jeremy Kinser

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Cops Hunt Suspect in Anti-Gay NYC Subway Attack

The NYPD is searching for a suspect who attacked a man on the NYC subway last week, the NY Daily News reports:

The victim had just exited a train at the 50th St. No. 1 train station and was approaching the turnstiles when the creep kicked him from behind about 6:45 p.m. Sept. 23.

“Puto!” the man screamed, using derogatory Spanish slang for gay men.

The victim tried to run but his attacker grabbed him and punched him twice in the face before fleeing the station. The victim, who was not seriously injured, told police he had been on the train with the suspect but had no interaction with him before the attack.

The suspect is described as  a Hispanic man, between 30 and 40 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall, with long dark hair, wearing a black T-shirt, black shorts and red sneakers. They also released the above sketch and a surveillance video.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call 800-577-TIPS.

The post Cops Hunt Suspect in Anti-Gay NYC Subway Attack appeared first on Towleroad.

Andy Towle

Cops Hunt Suspect in Anti-Gay NYC Subway Attack

Vatican Disputes Kim Davis's Version of Papal Meeting

Papal spokesman Federico Lombardi is disputing Liberty Counsel’s version of the meeting between renegade antigay county clerk Kim Davis and the pope, saying people shouldn’t read too much into it.

After Davis recounted the experience to ABC News and her attorney, Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver, claimed the pope told the defiant antigay clerk to “stay strong,” the Vatican now says Pope Francis did not talk about Davis’s defiance of federal law in denying same-sex couples marriage licenses. In fact, the Vatican claims that Davis’s audience with the pope wasn’t even a private meeting, as she and Staver have repeatedly claimed.

“The pope did not enter into the details of the situation of Mrs. Davis, and his meeting with her should not be considered a form of support of her position in all of its particular and complex aspects,” Lombardi said in a prepared statement this morning. “Pope Francis met with several dozen persons who had been invited by the Nunciature to greet him as he prepared to leave Washington for New York City. Such brief greetings occur on all papal visits and are due to the pope’s characteristic kindness and availability. The only real audience granted by the pope at the Nunciature was with one of his former students and his family.”

An unnamed Vatican official told Reuters the Holy See had a “sense of regret” that Pope Francis had any face-time at all with the antigay clerk. Lombardi’s assistant, Canada’s Father Tom Rosica, told Reuters that the Vatican underestimated the significance of a papal audience with Davis, who has become the figurehead of religious-based opposition to civil marriage equality in the U.S. He also rejected Davis’s claim that the pope spent 15 minutes speaking with Davis and her fourth husband, Joe. “There simply was not enough time” during the pope’s six-week tour of the country, he said.

“I’m not sure that [the embassy] realized how significant it would be,” Rosica told Reuters. “The visit was extraordinary … so to allow this to kind of overshadow it would be very unfortunate. This is not the centerpiece of the papal visit. This is one small part of it, but it is a loaded centerpiece.”

According to Chicago’s CBS2, Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich also denied the meeting was requested and a source inside the Vatican told the television station the Pope was “blindsided.” According Vatican officials, Davis met the Pope as part of a receiving line of “dozens” of people, although Davis’s attorney disputes that claim.

Staver, who leads the right-wing Liberty Counsel, a certified anti-LGBT hate group, told the Associated Press that Davis was invited by the Papal ambassador and was picked up at her hotel by a car dispatched by the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C. Staver said Vatican officials asked Davis to change her hairstyle for the trip so she wouldn’t be recognized, and stood by his claim that the meeting was private and not part of a receiving line.

After Pope Francis departed, Liberty Counsel announced that the pontiff had met with the antigay clerk, explaining that the meeting was kept secret until the pope left the United States because the group “didn’t want the pope’s visit to be focused on Kim Davis.” He contends that the Davises snuck into the Vatican embassy for a 15-minute meeting with the Holy Father, wherein Pope Francis gave the Apostolic Pentecostal Christian Davis a pair of rosary beads he personally blessed, which she then gave to her Catholic parents.  

An advisor to Pope Francis has claimed on Twitter that the pontiff was “exploited” by Davis and her attorneys, calling it a “meeting that never should have taken place.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Liberty Counsel has been caught in a fabrication about international support for Davis. Earlier this week, leaders in the right-wing group were forced to admit that a photo they claimed showed 100,000 people praying for Davis in Peru was a fake after ThinkProgress blogger Zack Ford exposed the fraud. The photo was actually taken in May 2014 at a multi-day religious event. Staver now admits that no prayer rallies were held specifically for Davis as he previously claimed, saying some people prayed for her instead.

Bil Browning

www.advocate.com/religion/2015/10/02/vatican-disputes-kim-daviss-version-papal-meeting