Violinist Itzhak Perlman Slams ‘Discriminatory’ HB 2, Cancels North Carolina Concert

Violinist Itzhak Perlman Slams ‘Discriminatory’ HB 2, Cancels North Carolina Concert

Itzhak Perlman

Grammy award-winning violinist, composer and Presidential Medal of Freedom holder Itzhak Perlman has canceled a planned concert in North Carolina in response to the state’s anti-LGBT HB2.

Writes Perlman on Facebook:

As my fans know, I have spent a lifetime advocating against discrimination towards those with physical disabilities and have been a vocal advocate for treating all people equally. As such, after great consideration, I have decided to cancel my May 18th concert in North Carolina with the North Carolina Symphony as a stand against House Bill 2. As Attorney General Loretta Lynch recently stated, HB2 “is about a great deal more than just bathrooms. [It] is about the dignity and respect we accord our fellow citizens.” I couldn’t agree more and will look forward to returning to North Carolina when this discriminatory law is repealed.

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Rob Gronkowski Proves He’s a Shirt Ripping Monster at the ‘Bro Combine’ – WATCH

Rob Gronkowski Proves He’s a Shirt Ripping Monster at the ‘Bro Combine’ – WATCH

shirtrip2

New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, aka “Gronk”, is definitely a beast on the field. And while he’s mastered the NFL Combine, can he dominate GQ‘s ‘Bro Combine?’

One of the most critical parts of the Bro Combine is proving your ability to rip shirts to shreds at any given moment so as to show off your swollness.

And Gronkowski passed this part of the Combine with flying colors (kinda literally).

shirtrip1shirtrip3shirtrip4

Watch, below.

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PHOTOS: LGBT advocates around the world speak up for IDAHOT

PHOTOS: LGBT advocates around the world speak up for IDAHOT

In honor of International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia, LGBT organizations and communities around the world are commemorating the day in a variety of ways.

Human Rights First produced a video featuring many of their inspiring partners and friends 

 

Logo launched Global Ally, an international LGBTI storytelling project, featuring global LGBTI research, videos and ways to stand in solidarity with activists around the world

#LGBTI rights are #humanrights. #GlobalAlly #IDAHOT2016 pic.twitter.com/zKofafSCAm

— Logo Global Ally (@Global_Ally) May 17, 2016

 

President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released statement regarding IDAHOT

“Our nation is committed to the principle that all people should be treated fairly and with respect.” —@POTUS pic.twitter.com/OGYpGRB9Nj

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 17, 2016

 

“Everyone deserves to live free of stigma, persecution & discrimination” Canadian PM @JustinTrudeau on #IDAHOT2016 t.co/bB9LUmE2cI

— IDAHOT (@may17IDAHOT) May 17, 2016

 

Human Rights Campaign

WATCH LIVE: @HRC Global Director @tywesleycobb joins @YahooNews to discuss #IDAHOT and North Carolina’s HB2 t.co/p4kTXcyzyw

— HumanRightsCampaign (@HRC) May 17, 2016

 

The Bisi Alimi Foundation, an organization that improves the lives of sexual and gender minorities in Nigeria, launched a new survey targeting LGBT Nigerians to find out the impact of homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia on people’s physical and mental health, personal safety, and human rights

The Bisi Alimi Foundation is proud to support this year’s #IDAHOT2016 pic.twitter.com/8puLOUJvYW

— tbafoundation (@tbafoundations) May 17, 2016

 

Free & Equal, the United Nations campaign for LGBT equality

 

In St. Petersburg, Russia, over 40 activists from different groups and organizations came out to release the traditional rainbow balloons in front of St. Isaac’s Cathedral and the City General Assemply, wehere the infamous “propaganda law” was adopted

 

London, UK

Flying the Pride flag at City Hall for #IDAHOBiT #IDAHOT2016. We are a city of tolerance, acceptance & respect pic.twitter.com/4gPEvPUc70

— Mayor of London (@MayorofLondon) May 17, 2016

 

Fiji

Guests at @ambafrancefj #IDAHOTFiji morning tea with anti-homophobia & equality messages. #IDAHOT2016 #Fiji pic.twitter.com/XPHOBjQHg4

— IDAHOT Fiji (@IDAHOTFiji) May 17, 2016

 

Colombo, Sri Lanka

#WhyWeFight: The #rainbow flag is our flag. Everyone is equal regardless of who we chose to love. #IDAHOT2016 pic.twitter.com/duct8WFXZb

— Una McCauley (@unamccauley) May 17, 2016

 

Netherlands

Secretary-General @RJonesBos and @COCNederland Director Tanja Ineke raised the rainbow flag this morning #IDAHOT2016 pic.twitter.com/LwJRM4bQlT

— MFA The Netherlands (@DutchMFA) May 17, 2016

 

Kosovo held it’s first ever pride march 

Kosovo must foster inclusion and equality on solid legal foundation and in respect of human rights. #idahot pic.twitter.com/haNUw7rd1B

— Atifete Jahjaga (@atifetejahjaga) May 17, 2016

 

Brisbane, Australia

We’re showing support tonight for International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia #IDAHOT t.co/rZwtw6fVn6 pic.twitter.com/xnuTvz9FWX

— Brisbane City (@brisbanecityqld) May 17, 2016

 

Check out more photos of International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia events here

May 17, 2016
Issues: 

www.glaad.org/blog/photos-lgbt-advocates-around-world-speak-idahot

London Mayor Hoists Rainbow Flag Over City Hall For International Day Against Homophobia

London Mayor Hoists Rainbow Flag Over City Hall For International Day Against Homophobia

sadiq khan

London just elected a new mayor and he seems pretty dope. Sadiq Khan already made headlines by being a real dick to Donald Trump (hooray!) and now he’s flying a rainbow flag over London City Hall to mark International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT).

So far, the flag-raising has been well received in England, the country that refined homosexuality to an art form.

“I was elected on a pledge to be Mayor for all Londoners and I will work with the LGBT+ community,” wrote a mayoral spokesperson on the Mayor’s behalf, “to do everything I can to make London a more tolerant, fairer place to live.”

The mayor has spoken in the past about being a victim of hate crime (he’s Muslim) and acknowledged that all minorities are vulnerable. In addition, he promised to attend Pride. The former mayor, Boris Johnson, skipped Pride every year since 2010, though he did support marriage equality.

Khan, on the other hand, seems to be taking a far more active role, even at great personal risk. Several years ago, after announcing his support for marriage equality, other Muslims sent him death threats. At the time, he was the MP for the unfortunately-named area known as “Tooting.”

In addition to supporting gay marriage and gay flags, Khan voted in favor of nondiscrimination protections and for broadening marriage protections to members of the armed forces.

More recently, he got into a tiff with Donald Trump over Trump’s Muslim ban. Khan observed that the ban would prevent him from visiting the US, and Trump relented and said he’d make an exception. But Khan stood his ground and retorted that Trump was missing the point — that the ban itself was the problem.

So far, it seem like London’s got a real winner on its hands. Must be nice to have politicians who are actually intelligent, sensitive people who genuinely want to improve the lives of everyone around them. Is it too late for America to say “never mind” about that whole declaring-independence thing?

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Self-Hating Gay Man’s Disastrous “Take Down” Of Gay Culture

Self-Hating Gay Man’s Disastrous “Take Down” Of Gay Culture

jason-hill-federalist

If you’re looking for a lesson in how internalized homophobia can mix seamlessly with antiquated puritanism to produce a toxic sludge dressed up in a three-piece suit of “social analysis,” your search is over!

Jason Hill has been kind enough to offer a master class on the above topics in his riveting expose hit piece on his fellow gays, posted to the conservative blog The Federalist.

Hill, a self described, “gay, Jamaican…conservative Democrat,” has so much to say about modern gay culture, we don’t even know where to begin.

So we’ll take his points as they come.

On gay marriage:

Marriage between two men in our contemporary culture is a colossal waste of time, a hopeless undertaking doomed for failure, and, fundamentally, a naive endeavor profoundly at odds with the hypersexual, broken, and ethically bankrupt ethos and nature of gay male culture.

If it isn’t glaringly obvious by his eyebrow-raising opening argument, Hill is not a believer in open relationships or non-monogamy, but rather than say “to each their own,” it’s as if every gay man in the world who has an honest conversation with himself about love and sex and arrives at any conclusion other than life-long monogamy is actually chipping away at human decency itself.

We hate to break it to you, Jason, but gay men did not invent promiscuity. We’re pretty sure plenty of straight guys throughout history, some with fancy titles like Father, President and Your Excellency, have spent countless hours in the pursuit of “getting it in.” Let’s not pretend this is a modern, or gay, phenomenon.

Related: I Don’t: Six Kinds Of Relationships To Try Before, Or Instead Of, Marriage

“The majority of gay men, with their transparent and blatant preference for open relationships and polyamorous dalliances,” Hill writes, “will suffuse mainstream culture with ‘experiments in living’ that will radically alter the sexual landscape of our culture.”

Hill goes on to say that, “heterosexuals are considered to possess a higher share in humanity than gays,” but that the “worst” of the straight world shouldn’t be used to judge the groups “majority-forming members.”

So who does he lump into the “worst” category?

Prisoners, the mentally and physically handicapped, rapists, those who fail to care for their children, those unable to procreate, serial killers, the elderly, the asocial, the non-communicative, and those who participate in traditions of wife beating, philandering, and wife desertion are all accorded the right to marry. But at least some persons in this list are regarded as, at best, psychological aberrations who are incidental to the larger heterosexual marrying population and, at worst, social ballasts who, if we did not live in a civilized society would be a job for the sanitation department to dispose of.

We’ve never wanted so badly to realize we’re being trolled, because that truly makes the blood boil. The handicapped, rapists, the elderly — what’s the difference, anyway?

Let’s get back to the sex part because if we read the above quote one more time we’ll lose our lunch:

Sexual promiscuity among gay men is an addiction that has little to do with conquering prey and liking the chase. At some point in a heterosexual man’s life, mindless and maniacal cruising for sex with women ceases and he begins, like women, the biological search for an ideal mate who will be a suitable mother to his future children.

Thanks Dr. Judgy-Mc-Ass-Hole for that diagnosis and biology lesson. Those heterosexuals sure are noble creatures, aren’t they?

After literally countless more bogus points that you can read in full if you really have the stomach for it, Hill get’s to his conclusion: we need a new “moral contract” for gay men.

What would that look like?

This moral contract, I believe, will forge a new culture, in which a milieu of respect and authentic validation transcends the obsession with validating oneself and others via an appeal to sexual anatomy…Whatever those rules of engagement are, though, they seem unlikely to be authentic unless we admit that, despite the growing acceptance of homosexuality, the psychological trauma of growing up and still living in a world that is run predominantly by heterosexual men is still a deeply painful world to live in.

Without claiming to be victims, this open admission of shame, guilt, and pain will allow us to connect to each other and the world in a way that is healthy, sustainable, and deeply loving. This ethos, generated by a radical break with the culture as it stands, is the only way to foster a love for humanity and create a new world in which we feel at home—one we have co-created by suffusing it with an original, passionate, and authentic assemblage of who we are as moral creatures.

What do we want? Heteronormativity! When do we want it? Now!

We offer our deepest condolences to any man who ends up on a dinner date with Mr. Hill. That will be one conversation you’ll definitely want back.

For someone so adamantly opposed to sexual pleasure, he sure does spend a hell of a lot of time thinking about it. Coincidence?

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Elton John Blasts NC Governor Pat McCrory’s ‘Failure of Compassion’ for Trans People

Elton John Blasts NC Governor Pat McCrory’s ‘Failure of Compassion’ for Trans People

Elton John

Elton John has written a letter blasting North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory for his “failure of compassion” for transgender people.

In an article which appeared Tuesday on The Hill, John took McCrory to task not only for signing the horrific ‘bathroom bill’ HB 2 into law, but for prioritizing the supposed threat posed by non-existent transgender bathroom predators over the real threats that transgender people face every day.

John writes, “What’s worse than the discriminatory bill itself, and the millions in taxpayer dollars McCrory is wasting to defend it, is that the governor signed it after admitting he had never met a transgender person.”

He adds that HB 2 sends a dangerous message to the LGBT community and to the world:

“It’s a message we hear far too often. This brand of ignorance deliberately shuts out the perspective of an already marginalized community. It’s dangerous, and it goes beyond bathrooms. As the father of two children, I would hope their world is free of discriminatory, hateful legislation like North Carolina’s.

Forcing transgender people to use the bathroom of a gender with which they don’t identify isn’t just inconvenient or impractical. For many, especially young students still grappling with their transition, it can be traumatic, and at worst, unsafe.”

McCrory’s biggest failure, John says, is “a failure of compassion, a failure to recognize the difficult and frequently unwelcoming world transgender people must navigate every day, stigmatized by the fear and ignorance of others.”

Transgender men and women are more likely to be exposed to HIV, to rely on sex work to make ends meet, to suffer violence violence, depression, and to have attempted suicide compared to cisgender people. Bills like HB 2 severely set back the fight against anti-trans injustice. “To address these problems, our leaders must first acknowledge their existence, as well as the existence of the people affected,” John writes. “And yes, that starts with bathrooms.”

 

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Powerful New Ads Highlight Donald Trump’s Attacks on Women: WATCH

Powerful New Ads Highlight Donald Trump’s Attacks on Women: WATCH

Donald Trump women

Priorities USA, a SuperPAC supporting Hillary Clinton, is about to spend $6 million on a set of ads which give new life to Donald Trump’s disgusting attacks on women which will air in Florida, Ohio, Virginia and Nevada, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The ads feature quotes from Trump being ‘dubsmashed’ by women and the debunking of Donald’s claim that he has “respect” for women.

Said the group’s Guy Cecil: “This is only the beginning of an aggressive and sustained advertising campaign against Donald Trump and the more voters learn about him the less likely they’re going to be comfortable with the idea that he could be president.”

Watch:

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‘Go-Go Boy Interrupted’ Tries to Survive a Gay Pool Party – WATCH

‘Go-Go Boy Interrupted’ Tries to Survive a Gay Pool Party – WATCH

gogo

Go-Go Boy Interrupted took a serious turn this week in episode 7 of the web series’ second season. The show from comedian Jimmy Fowlie looks at one of the most dreaded (or alternately, one of the most anticipated) events on the gay social calendar: the gay pool party.

As Fowlie’s character Danny explains, “When you’re living in L.A., people hate to commit to plans. They’re all quietly waiting for something better to come along. But if it’s a Saturday in West Hollywood, there’s one text that will get their attention: ‘House party, free booze.’”

truth

The episode sees the return of Heather Morris (Glee), Scott Evans–

scott

Danny’s mother (Lynne Marie Stewart)–

mom

and the arrival of Danny’s love interest, played by Broadway alum Nick Adams.

nick

See how Danny navigates the gay WeHo pool party scene, below.

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