Padres DJ Fired for Gay Men’s Chorus Flub Re-Hired Following MLB Investigation

The DJ responsible for the humiliating incident involving the Gay Men’s Chorus of San Diego at the Padres’ Pride Night game has been re-hired by the team following an MLB investigation which found no “malicious intent” behind the error.

DJ Artform previously came out and apologized for the incident, saying it was the result of an unintended mistake. 

The Gay Men’s Chorus accepted Artform’s apology and called for him to be reinstated. 

ICYMI: Fired Padres DJ Apologizes for Gay Men’s Chorus Flub, Explains What Happened: LISTEN

Artform shared the news that he had been invited to return to the Padres organization on Facebook, writing, 

Speaking from the heart got me this far, so I’ll speak from the heart again as this controversy comes to a close. First and foremost, I would like to personally thank the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus, MLB and the San Diego Padres for truly understanding what caused the error during the National Anthem. I’m extremely humbled and honored for the tons of support of individuals who truly know my character and for those who had no idea who I was but believed in me from the start. I am extremely relieved that MLB’s thorough investigation concluded and found the truth behind this entire unfortunate event. I would also like to thank the entire community for rallying behind me and signing the petition requesting reinstatement of my duties with the San Diego Padres. I have spoken to an executive within the Padres and,while details have not yet been discussed, have accepted an invitation to return and again provides services to the team. I truly hope we can continue to build bridges with and between the LGBT community and Major League Baseball, as well as athletics in general. Once again, I am truly sorry for the incident that occurred and for all those negatively affected, the Chorus in particular. I’ve exposed my heart to the world and I appreciate you all rallying behind this San Diegan.

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Man Who Attacked N.Y. Gay Couple With Chair Found Guilty

Bayna Lekhiem El-Amin brutally assaulted two men last year but claimed self-defense. A jury didn’t buy it.

www.advocate.com/crime/2016/5/26/man-who-attacked-ny-gay-couple-chair-found-guilty

Brad Paisley's Song About North Carolina: 'Sit by Your Man' (Video)

On Jimmy Kimmel Live! country star Paisley delivers a tuneful protest against HB 2.

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2016/5/26/brad-paisleys-song-about-north-carolina-sit-your-man-video

Stephen Colbert Shows Trump the Cost of Creating Gender-Neutral Bathrooms

The late-night host ripped apart the GOP candidate’s claim that bathroom equality is “unbelievably expensive.”

www.advocate.com/comedy/2016/5/26/stephen-colbert-shows-trump-cost-creating-gender-neutral-bathrooms

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Star Phi Phi O’Hara Surprises Boyfriend (And Crowd) With Emotional Proposal

RuPaul‘s Drag Race season four contestant Phi Phi O’Hara surprised her long-term boyfriend, Mikhael Mikhol, with an emotional marriage proposal that has gone viral.

Phi Phi, the drag queen alter ego of Jaremi Carey, popped the question live on stage (out of drag) during the Wednesday night New York City stop of the Battle Of The Seasons tour. The audience erupted as soon as they realized what was happening.

“No matter, through all the bullshit that people think about you or anything, he’s seen me for everything, the true me,” Phi Phi confessed, “I’m so happy that I’ve spent over four-and-a-half years with this beautiful man.”

Watch the epic proposal in the video below.

Congrats Phi Phi!

Related: Gay Man In China Proposes To His Boyfriend On Crowded Subway, Crowd Goes Wild

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YouTube Restores Gay Fetish Site Recon’s Videos After Claim Of Antigay Bias

Okay, internet, breathe easy. You can still watch your Recon videos on YouTube.

Recon is kind of like Grindr, but the conversations have more than one syllable and the sex is never vanilla. Bondage, WS, leather, latex, ABDL — you name it, Recon has it. They’ve also got a YouTube channel with a million views, and lots of saucy footage. There are interviews, promo shoots, ads for merch, and lots of man flesh.

But YouTube didn’t particularly care for that, and recently started taking the videos down with little to no explanation. The best that YouTube could offer: “YouTube isn’t the place for sexually provocative content.” Wait, what? What a weird policy, since obviously there is tons of sexually provocative content on the site. Search for “breasts” and you’re off to the races.

In fact, heterosexual sexy videos seem to have no problem remaining up on YouTube. So what’s with the double standard? Recon just woke up one day to discover that not only had some of their videos been eliminated, but the entire channel had been taken down. Cue the massive freakout from the internet’s normally-happy fetish community.

And then Buzzfeed came to the rescue. One day after the site started poking around and contacting PR people, YouTube admitted, “sometimes we make the wrong call.” Hooray! The internet is saved!

Recon is now back up, though now with some age restrictions in place.

Here’s one of the videos that was taken down only to be reinstated. Is it provocative? Maybe, a little. Is it inappropriate? Not in the slightest:

In an email from YouTube, the company was told: “After further review, we’ve determined that while your video does not violate our Community Guidelines, it may not be appropriate for a general audience. We have therefore age-restricted your video. This does not negatively impact your account standing.”

But while their account standing my be intact, those aforementioned million views remain lost at sea.

A Recon spokesperson told Buzzfeed: “we are disappointed that our total channel views in excess of 1 million have been removed. This obviously puts restrictions on our content being more widely seen by the YouTube community. A lot of time and effort was put into building our presence as it can be difficult to reach the likeminded people who most connect with what we do.”

And it’s still kind of unclear what sort of content YouTube is willing to tolerate when it comes to sexuality. Hopefully there can be some guidance in the future, though if we’ve learned anything about internet media gatekeepers, it’s that their policies seem to change with the wind.

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Democratic Congresswoman Rips Transphobic Witness: ‘You’re An Ignorant Bigot!’ – MUST WATCH

Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (CA) blasted a transphobic witness during testimony on Capitol Hill about President Obama’s guidance for public schools on how to treat transgender students fairly.

The witness, Gail Heriot, a member of the United States Commission on Human Rights, was brought before the House Judiciary Committee to testify against President Obama’s guidance on transgender students. Lofgren first spoke up to denounce Heriot’s testimony on transgender people as “regrettable.”

As Talking Points Memo notes, Lofgren read Heriot’s written testimony aloud for the committee. Wrote Heriot, “If I believe that I am a Russian princess, that doesn’t make me a Russian princess, even if my friends and acquaintances are willing to indulge my fantasy. Nor am I a Great Horned Owl just because — as I have been told — I happen to share some personality traits with those feathered creatures.”

Responding to that testimony, Lofgren said, “I’ve got to say, I found this rather offensive. And it says to me that the witness really doesn’t know anything and probably has never met a transgender child who is going through, in almost every case, a very difficult experience finding themselves.” She added, “it’s very regrettable that that comment was put into the record, and I think it’s highly offensive.”

When Heriot tried to pipe in and defend her statement, Lofgren wasn’t having it. “I think you’re a bigot, lady. I think you are an ignorant bigot,” Lofgren said.

Anti-LGBT Republican Rep. Steve King (IA) quickly chimed in to tell Lofgren that she was “out of order.” “We don’t call names in this committee,” King added.

Lofgren stood up to King, saying, “Mr. Chairman, it is my time, and I would just like to say that we allow witnesses to say offensive things, but I cannot allow that kind of bigotry to go into the record unchallenged.”

Lofgren posted video of the exchange on Twitter, writing, “I don’t usually confront committee witnesses, but bigotry and hate need to be exposed for what they are.”

Watch the video, below.

The post Democratic Congresswoman Rips Transphobic Witness: ‘You’re An Ignorant Bigot!’ – MUST WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

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MLB Says ‘No Malicious Intent’ in Padres’ Gay Chorus Incident

Major League Baseball announced Thursday that they found no evidence of “malicious intent” at play in the humiliating incident involving the San Diego Gay Men’s Choir who were slated to perform the National Anthem at the Padres’ annual Pride Night game.

In a statement released on Twitter, the MLB said, “Saturday’s regrettable situations was a product of human error”, adding “that the situation was exacerbated by the fact that the lead entertainment supervisor was involved in a card accident on Friday night and thus was unable to work on Saturday and handle his typical responsibilities.” The MLB also said employees involved in the incident “universally relayed contrition for how the incident unfolded and the adverse impression that it created.”

PREVIOUSLY: San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus Wants Padres to Reinstate DJ Fired Over Anthem Incident

MLB, which announced the investigation just days ago, said it interviewed a dozen individuals who were involved in the indent and and believes the Padres have taken the necessary steps to remedy the error by inviting the chorus back to perform the National Anthem at a future game.

MLB statement regarding investigation into events in San Diego during last Saturday’s pre-game ceremony: pic.twitter.com/9mWG24mDuM

— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) May 26, 2016

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Texas AG Ken Paxton: ‘Men Decide They are Women Then Switch Back The Next Day’ – WATCH

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told Fox & Friends that the real reason he’s fighting the Obama administration’s directive on transgender students is that he’s worried about ‘men switching genders.’

On Wednesday, Paxton announced that he and 10 other states would sue the Obama administration over its guidance which urged all states to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and changing rooms in accordance with their gender identity.

Said Paxton on Fox, “This guideline doesn’t address any particular problem. They have not been very specific about what they’re trying to solve. This opens the door with all kinds of issues with men deciding one day they want to be women and then switching back the next day.”

More from Politico: 

Asked by co-host Brian Kilmeade what Paxton would tell professional sports leagues who have, for example, expressed concern about a recent North Carolina law that restricts the use of private facilities by transgender individuals, the Texas attorney general seized the opportunity.

“Well, I’d just tell them to look at the law and realize that we’re a constitutional republic,” Paxton said. “And that we need to focus on following the law and if these groups want to change the law, they should go in and speak to their congressmen and work on changing those laws, but it shouldn’t come through the White House. That’s not the constitutional job of the White House.”

RELATED: Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant To Join Lawsuit Over Transgender Students’ Bathroom Use

Watch Paxton, below.

The post Texas AG Ken Paxton: ‘Men Decide They are Women Then Switch Back The Next Day’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

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