Army Holds Arrival Ceremony for Eric Fanning

Yesterday, the United States Army held an Arrival Ceremony for Eric Fanning, the 22^nd Secretary of the Army. Fanning is the first openly gay leader of a U.S. military service and is now one of the highest ranking openly gay officials in the Administration.

In his remarks at the ceremony, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter discussed his relationship with Fanning, noting:

“Secretary Fanning served as my chief of staff when I first became Secretary of Defense.  I looked to him to help me recruit and attract a talented and innovative team of civilian and military leaders, many of whom are with us today.  And He’s served in senior leadership roles in each of our military departments, including time as Undersecretary of the Air Force, and Acting Secretary of the Air Force, as well as Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy, and that gives him a unique perspective on the pivotal connections that bind our joint force.”

HRC praised President Obama for nominating Fanning last September and worked closely with our allies in the Senate to get him confirmed to serve as Secretary of the U.S. Army. Fanning’s nomination and confirmation comes just five years after the historic end of the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) law that prohibited qualified LGB Americans from serving in the U.S. armed forces.

Earlier this month, Fanning reflected on becoming the first openly-gay leader of a U.S. military service and the highest-ranking, Senate-confirmed openly-LGBT appointed official.

“I’ve gotten used to the fact that this is going to be a part of any time I get a new job or do something,” he said in an interview with The Today Show. “And when it first happened I was more bothered by it because I didn’t quite have the track record that people know now. And I wanted the focus on qualifications. Now I embrace it. It’s so important to so many people, I realize. And something I didn’t have 25 years ago.”

The ceremony comes as the military is preparing to move forward to lift the ban on transgender service in the military.

www.hrc.org/blog/army-holds-arrival-ceremony-for-eric-fanning?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

GLAAD postpones Southern Stories Summer Tour of Florida to focus on Orlando

www.glaad.org/blog/glaad-postpones-southern-stories-summer-tour-florida-focus-orlando

PHOTOS: Pride Persists in St. Charles, Mo.

www.advocate.com/pride/2016/6/21/photos-pride-persists-st-charles-mo

Donald Trump Backtracks on Orlando Gun Comments

 “When I said that if, within the Orlando club, you had some people with guns, I was obviously talking about additional guards or employees,” said Trump.

www.advocate.com/election/2016/6/21/donald-trump-backtracks-orlando-gun-comments

10 Practical Things You Can Do to Support Orlando

Your help is desperately needed.

www.advocate.com/crime/2016/6/21/10-practical-things-you-can-do-support-orlando

Two Teenagers Accused Of Shooting At British Gay Bar

In the wake of the Orlando massacre that killed 49 patrons of the gay nightclub Pulse, there have already been a handful of incidents in which copycats have evoked the crime or threatened to follow in shooter Omar Mateen’s footsteps. San Diego police are investigating a Craigslist ad promising an Orlando-inspired attack; a drunken patron promised to come back to Brooklyn bar Happy Fun Hideaway to “take his fifty, Orlando-style“; and an Atlanta man’s Twitter account vowed to turn two local bars into “the next Orlando.”

Now, police are investigating an incident at a British gay bar that was apparently “shot at” on Sunday night.

Related: “Angels” Protect Orlando Funeral Attendees From Westboro Baptist Church

According to Gay Star News, a road was closed earlier this week as police investigated the Limes bar in Canterbury, Kent. Social media lit up with witnesses and bar patrons claiming the windows of the Limes Lounge were “shot out” around 10pm on Sunday, although police have yet to confirm these reports.

According to KentOnline, Sally Smith of Kent Police said, “No injuries were reported and the investigation into the incident continues. A window was broken and the cause of the damage remains under investigation. No weapons were reported to have been seen.”

Related: Christian Pastor Hopes God “Finishes The Job” And Kills Orlando Survivors

An 18-year-old man and 17-year-old girl from Hythe were arrested in relation to the incident, and they’re currently released on bail.

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Seminary Rocked By Gay Scandal Involving Seven Student Priests, Two Staffers, TONS Of Sex

Ruh-roh!

An enormous gay scandal is currently taking place at Ireland’s national seminary, St. Patrick’s College in Maynooth, leaving the community in a tizzy and forcing the college’s president into an unplanned sabbatical.

According to a statement published on the college’s website, Monsignor Hugh Connolly “has advised the staff of his plans to take sabbatical leave for the academic year 2016-2017.” 2017 was already scheduled to be Connolly’s last term in office, raising suspicions over the timing of his alleged year-long vacation.

Related: Orgy-Loving Priest Outed For Keeping Secret Grindr Account

The announcement of Connolly’s sudden departure comes amidst rumors of an underground gay subculture happening in the seminary. According to The Irish Catholic, an anonymous source told the paper that “seven seminarians and two staff members” have been “involved in inappropriate behavior of a homosexual nature.”

Gasp!

Bishop Pat Buckley, an openly gay “rebel cleric” who was excommunicated from the church 18 years ago, told the press that the timing of Connolly’s firing, er, sabbatical is not a coincidence.

“This sabbatical comes as the Maynooth gay scandal rages,” he said. “Why not finish the last year of his term and then take the sabbatical at the natural juncture of leaving the presidency and going back to teach?”

Related: Catholic Priest Caught Using The Book Of Grindr To Spread His Gospel To Underage Boys

Buckley also claims the current gay scandal is nothing new. In a recent blog post, he wrote that the national seminary “has been in deep trouble for decades–mainly due to the homosexual subculture that exists in both places.”

Buckley has also been an outspoke voice against the hypocrisy of the church’s public teachings on homosexuality, considering what many of its clerics do behind closed chapel doors.

h/t: Irish Central

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Writer Jack Qu’emi Explains the Meaning of ‘Latinx’

Jack Qu’emi is a writer and self-described “queer, non-binary femme,” who among other terms identifies as Afro-Latinx.

That’s Latinx. Not Latino. Not Latina.

The term (pronounced: la-teen-ex) is gaining traction in Spanish-speaking communities. But many are still asking, “What’s the meaning of the ‘x’?”

Qu’emi explains: “The x [in Latinx], is a way of rejecting the gendering of words to begin with, especially since Spanish is such a gendered language.”

Like the use of they/them/their pronouns in English (in place of the gendered pronouns he/him/his and she/her/hers), “Latinx” is an attempt in Spanish to include non-binary people, those who are neither male nor female.

Latinx is practically the only explicitly ungendered term that has gained traction outside of academic circles. The conversation in much of South America is about including both genders (only male and female), rather than all genders.

On their social media profile, Qu’emi reminds the casual follower to use gender-neutral pronouns and titles.

English-speaking grammar purists might cry out, “But they is plural! It cannot refer to just one person!” However, Merriam-Webster and the American Dialect Society have effectively ended any legitimate linguistic debate (although there are still doubters).

In Spanish, the debate is far from over.

“In Spanish, the masculinized version of words is considered as gender-neutral. I don’t think its appropriate to assign masculinity as neutral when it isn’t,” Qu’emi says.

Gender-neutral adaptations of language like Latinx, and before it Latin@, are often criticized as being academic and removed from everyday speech.

They can also take time for others to fully grasp. Qu’emi’s mother has had difficulty understanding their non-binary identity. Qu’emi remembers an early conversation the two had about it:

“So, are you a boy?”

“No.”

“Are you a girl?”

“No.”

“Then what!?”

Their mother’s confusion is understandable, tied up in a life’s worth of reinforced gender norms. However, she is making a real effort to embrace a new understanding of Qu’emi’s gender, using gender-neutral English terms such as “my little one” and “my child.”

Qu’emi has spoken and written extensively on the topic of gender outside the masculine/feminine binary. Their collegues jokingly call them “The Teacher” (“Maestra? No no no, Maestrx!”). While Qu’emi readily accepts this role, queer people are often forced into the role of educator for the straight world. But there are plenty of resources out there for people to educate themselves — the internet is full of well-written articles and interviews with queer people that explore the complexity of gender outside the binary.

Latinx is one attempt among many to break down the masculine/feminine binary in the Spanish language.

Qu’emi says it’s just the beginning of the linguistic revolution. “After all,” they say, “that’s just one word!”

Artemis Octavio contributed to this report.

This article first appeared on PRI’s The World.

The post Writer Jack Qu’emi Explains the Meaning of ‘Latinx’ appeared first on Towleroad.

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