North Carolina Mom: HB 2 Is 'Emotionally Killing' Trans Kids

The mother of a transgender son shared the impact anti-LGBT legislation has had on her family.

www.advocate.com/people/2016/5/12/north-carolina-mom-hb-2-emotionally-killing-trans-kids

Gus Kenworthy Defies Publicist, Proudly Shows Off His Fine Assets

Sometimes you have to throw caution to the wind.

And sometimes that same wind will gently tickle your bare buns.

That’s the day Olympic skier and all-around cutie Gus Kenworthy is having.

Back in November of last year, he had this to say about his much-circulated naked Instagram shots:

“I just think the worry is that I’ll type-cast myself or people will come to expect it. I’m not being controlled though, [my publicist] just thinks it’s important to remain a skier and not have all the emphasis on my body. And I agree. It feels good to have a bit of validation but it’s very vain! I know it’s vain, so I don’t wanna be that guy all the time. There’s a lot more to me.”

On the flip side, he wouldn’t want to take the emphasis completely off his body, would he?

Short answer? No.

Head here for the mildly NSFW shot Gus shared while on vacation in Australia.

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Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump’s Butler, Rob Gronkowski, Caitlyn Jenner, North Carolina, Obamacare: NEWS

HIV/AIDS. Hillary Clinton has meeting with HIV/AIDS activists and activist groups as promised. From legendary activist Peter Staley’s Facebook: “We started about an hour late, but she stayed well beyond our budgeted 45 minutes — over an hour, in the end. A frank exchange. It was a first step in what we all agreed would be an ongoing process with her campaign. No surprise — she’s an HIV wonk.”

TRAILERS. First look at Ang Lee’s latest, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. 

OBAMACARE. House Republicans score victory in never-ending fight against the Affordable Care Act: “At issue is the “cost sharing” provision in the law that requires insurance companies offering health plans through the law to reduce out-of-pocket costs for policy holders who qualify. The government offsets the added costs to insurance companies by reimbursing them. But lawyers for the House argued that Congress did not properly approve the money for those reimbursements.”

ROYALS. Prince Harry leads chant during the Invictus Games. 

DONALD TRUMP’S BUTLER. Trump’s butler at Mar-a-Lago says “this prick” Obama “needs to be hung for treason!” Now, the Secret Service is investigating. Because that’s what happens when you threaten the life of the president. Trump disavows: “Thursday afternoon, after news broke that the Secret Service was investigating Senecal, the Trump campaign issued a statement distancing itself from the butler. ‘Tony Senecal has not worked at Mar-a-Lago for years, but nevertheless we totally and completely disavow the horrible statements made by him regarding the President,’ a Trump campaign spokesperson said in a statement.”

CANNES. Blake Lively was not amused by that Woody Allen Rape joke. (Woody Allen didn’t mind it).

SKIN. New England Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski shows his bum in GQ. 

NORTH CAROLINA. White House announces it will not strip funding from North Carolina while lawsuits over HB 2 make their way through the courts: “‘What has been concluded as a result of that effort is that the administration will not take action to withhold funding while this enforcement action is playing out in the courts,’ [WH Press Secretary Josh] Earnest said.”

LATE NIGHT. Andy Cohen plays Famous Face-Off with Jada Pinkett Smith, Jimmy Fallon and Tariq Trotter from The Roots.

LET’S DO THE TIME WARP. First look at Laverne Cox as Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

SPACE. What are the limits to how far humanity can travel into space? “If the Universe were static, constant and forever unchanging, then all it would take was time to reach even the most distant object we could fathom. But our Universe isn’t any of those things; it’s expanding, cooling, and gravitating from an initially hot, dense state known as the Big Bang.”

CAITLYN JENNER. Despite rumors to the contrary, Caitlyn is not ‘de-transitioning’: “The rep’s rebuttal came after Ian Halperin, who is the author of Kardashian Dynasty: The Controversial Rise of America’s Royal Family, claimed in an interview with The Wrap that a family friend told him that Jenner found living her authentic life was ‘much harder than she anticipated.’ Halperin predicted that Jenner would ‘de-transition’ in the next few years, and then open up publicly about the difficulties in transitioning.”

THURSDAY THIRST (PART 2). Joshua Cummings.

The post Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump’s Butler, Rob Gronkowski, Caitlyn Jenner, North Carolina, Obamacare: NEWS appeared first on Towleroad.

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White House: North Carolina Won't Lose Federal Funds — Yet

The federal government won’t withhold funding while the court battle over the state’s anti-LGBT law plays out.

www.advocate.com/politics/2016/5/12/white-house-north-carolina-wont-lose-federal-funds-yet

Azealia Banks’ Homophobic Zayn Malik Rant Got Her Banned From Twitter

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Relive “Top Gun’s” Gay Legacy On Its 30th Anniversary

Ah, Top Gun — the 1986 alpha male saga of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and Nick “Goose” Bradshaw as they intercept combatant aircrafts over the Indian Ocean.

Right?

Well, not really.

While the film may have fit appropriately into the confines of mid ’80s mainstream masculinity, the Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer bro-fest now rests squarely in the gay camp/innuendo corner. Chalk it up to shifting perceptions and a more knowledgable public when it comes to gay subtext.

Thirty years to the day since it’s release, let’s relive that hilarious (and hot) legacy:

1. The volley ball scene

The glistening shoulders, the shirtless players, the tight jean-shorts, the shirtless onlookers, the music! This could easily be the beginning of an adult film.

2. So much locker room

These guys just had so much to process with one another…naked…still glistening.

Related: The Most Realistic Gay Sex Scenes In Film

3. The overtly sexual dialogue

The Telegraph sums it up nicely:

“Giving me a hard-on!” whispers one flyboy to another while watching videos of dogfights. “Don’t tease me!” replies his buddy. “I want butts! Give me butts!” shouts an angry air traffic control officer. “You can be my wingman any time!” says Iceman in the final reel consummation of his coquettish dance with Maverick. “Bulls***, you can be mine!” comes the reply.

And then come the references.

4. Quentin Tarantino argues the film is actually about queer sexuality in the 1994 film Sleep With Me, saying, “What is Top Gun? You think it’s a story about a bunch of fighter pilots? It is a story about a man’s struggle with his own homosexuality.”

5. Bill Hader as Harvey Fierstein calls it out on SNL in 2011 (head here if video isn’t showing up):

On the film’s 25th anniversary, SNL put together a mock audition reel featuring Harvey saying:

“This is not a gay thing? But it says in the script we play volleyball in jean shorts. I say, ‘Iceman’s on my tail. He’s coming hard.’ I literally said that to a bathroom attendant last night.”

“The last line in the movie is, ‘You can ride my tail anytime’? You guys–that’s like my mantra.”

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Mr. Gay Syria Contestants Take Defiant Stand Against ISIS – PHOTOS, VIDEO

A group of gay Syrian refugees living in Istanbul organized a Mr. Gay Syria competition to show the world that gay Syrians are more than just victims of ISIS.

Hussein Sabat, who was crowned Mr. Gay Syria, spoke with The Daily Mail about his journey out of ISIS-controlled territory and what he hopes the competition will achieve:

‘I want to show that Syrian gays are not just bodies thrown off buildings by ISIS; we have dreams and ideas and we want to live our lives.

‘Of course we were nervous but we we’re excited – we all wanted to be Mr Gay Syria to do something empowering,’ he said. 

Of ISIS, Sabat adds, “Everyone is scared of ISIS but it doesn’t stop me from living my life. I won’t let them be a barrier and I hate them more than I’m scared.”

Sabat has already faced tragedy in his mere 24 years. His boyfriend was beheaded by ISIS three years ago, though he does not know if he was killed for being gay or for some other alleged offense:

 “I was with Zakaria for four years, but three years ago ISIS beheaded him. They sent the execution video to his family – his mother almost went crazy and I couldn’t speak for a month.”

Sabat says he dedicated his performance to his late boyfriend. More on the competition which took place earlier this year:

Each man was given three minutes to show off their performance skills in their bid for ‘Mr Gay Syria’ crown.

[Another contestant named] Wissam [above] danced in high heels, and ripped competitor William showed off his good looks with a strip tease, which was greeted with woops of approval from the audience in the central Istanbul venue.

‘I played a character speaking to his mother at her grave about the difficulties of being gay.

‘I just wore trousers and a t-shirt – the only thing that was missing was the hijab,’ he joked, comparing his costume to his near-naked competitors. […]

‘I thought it was going to be all about the looks and not just about the whole package so I didn’t want to do it.

‘But then three weeks later I saw an application form posted on Facebook. I don’t know why, but I found myself filling it in,’ he said.

The next stage saw the competitors grilled by the organisers to make sure they could handle the pressure, and the risk of becoming a target for homophobic attacks.

‘I said if this competition is about beauty then let me go because there are so many men more beautiful than me.

‘But they said no, we need someone who can talk,’ he told MailOnline.

Sabat is not out to his family. “They don’t speak English and my family is disconnected from Western websites or media, so I’m not scared they will find out this way,” he says. Once Sabat leaves home he says he feels comfortable being in his own skin.

But athough Istanbul is a far better place for LGBT people than Syria, it’s far from paradise. Sabat was recently attacked because he is gay:

Nine months ago Hussein was beaten so badly he couldn’t open his eyes for a month after a group of Syrian and Turkish thugs attacked him when he walked home from work.

‘I was talking on the phone with my boyfriend and a Syrian guy overheard me.

‘He called me a f****t, and I made the mistake of answering back.

‘I asked him, ‘do you know me?’, and he said ‘you’re Syrian and you’re putting us all to shame.’

Then he hit him in the face and in his gut before dragging him with a Turkish accomplice to a car.

‘They were going to kidnap me, it was terrifying,’ he said. ‘Even the freedom in Istanbul is not complete.’

Luckily a second car distracted the attackers and Hussein was able to make his escape.

Sadly, despite raising money to travel to Malta for the Mr. Gay World competition and getting a makeover with help from the Berlin-based organizer of Mr. Gay Syria, Mahmoud Hassino, Sabat’s visa request was denied, preventing him from competing at the Worlds.

Sabat says, “My happiness was not complete. It was a wonderful title but then I found out on my birthday that they had denied my visa.”

Of what could have been, Sabat says, “I think we would have been an inspiration to them if we had been able to go to the final in Malta, but now… I don’t know.”

Watch a video that Sabat and Hassino made to raise funds for Sabat’s travel to Malta, below.

The post Mr. Gay Syria Contestants Take Defiant Stand Against ISIS – PHOTOS, VIDEO appeared first on Towleroad.

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HRC Statement on Hillary Clinton’s Meeting Today With HIV and AIDS Activists

Today, following Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s meeting in New York City with 20 leading HIV and AIDS activists, the Human Rights Campaign released the following statements:

“It is essential that our next President be an outspoken champion for ending the HIV and AIDS epidemic,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Secretary Clinton’s meeting today with advocates underscores her commitment to do everything she can to help people living with and affected by HIV, and to work with us to end the epidemic and the continued stigma around HIV.”

“As a young, Black gay man, I want to underscore the importance of our elected officials truly understanding the unique challenges facing LGBT people, and today’s conversation with Secretary Clinton was a welcome opportunity,” said Noël Gordon Jr., Senior Program Specialist for HIV Prevention and Health Equality at the HRC Foundation. “When one in two Black gay men in America will be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetime, and where the rate of HIV among transgender women is shockingly high, we must confront the ways stigma and discrimination keep LGBT people from getting tested or treated for HIV. I believe we will have a full partner in our work if Secretary Clinton is in the White House.”

For more information on HRC Foundation’s HIV and AIDS work, please check out our resources here.

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-statement-on-hillary-clintons-meeting-today-with-hiv-and-aids-activists?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed