Frank Ocean, Nigel Farage, Oxford, Michael Sam, True Blood, Zachary Quinto: NEWS
INCOMING. Frank Ocean updates website, suggests new album is coming this month.
2016 ELECTION. Is Donald Trump on Fen-Phen?
AUSTRALIA. Election called win for marriage equality: “LGBTI groups have declared the election a win for marriage equality, with at least seven opponents of same-sex marriage voted out and two new LGBTI MPs elected for the Coalition. Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (Pflag) noted seven Coalition MPs who oppose same-sex marriage lost their seats: Andrew Nikolic, Brett Whiteley, Jamie Briggs, Peter Hendy, Russell Matheson, Michelle Landry and Louise Markus.”
BREXIT. Nigel Farage resigns as UKIP leader.”It is the third time he has stepped down as the party leader, but Farage dismissed the idea of coming back again in the future and claimed standing as an MP was no longer top of his to-do list. Speaking at a press conference in Westminster on Monday, he said: “During the referendum I said I wanted my country back … now I want my life back.””
MALE, PALE, AND STALE. Oxford University replacing portraits of famous men with gay, female, and black icons: “The university has commissioned dozens of new portraits at a cost of £900 each, the Sunday Times reported. Staff and students have been ask to nominate ‘suitable subjects’ by the end of this week, it added. Separately, colleges already have new pictures and paintings of prominent figures, including the portrait of Libby Lane, the first female Anglican bishop, at St Peter’s College.”
GAYS AGAINST GUNS. The next GAG meeting is on July 14.
LOS ANGELES. Reeking whale carcass towed out to sea: “Authorities used boats pulling ropes attached to the tail to pull it off the sand during the evening high tide, taking the whale far out to sea and avoiding a foul stench and grim scene on the beach as Fourth of July weekend crowds began arriving.”
BUDAPEST. First Pride without incidents in years.
BROKEN RAINBOW. Investigation into the collapse of Britain’s only national charity for LGBT victims of domestic abuse. “Broken Rainbow, which ran both a helpline and an advice service for LGBT people in abusive relationships, went into liquidation on 3 June, with the causes of the collapse unknown. But BuzzFeed News has now seen a huge cache of internal files – including accounts, expenses claims, bank statements, and demands from unpaid creditors – that reveal crucial new information about the charity’s collapse.”
CHELSEA MANNING. Whistleblower posts op-ed for the Guardian about lifting of ban on transgender troops: “The policy outlined by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter would require new recruits to be “stable in their identified gender for 18 months, as certified by their doctor, before they can enter the military”. How many young trans people like myself fit this criteria? The idea of having a gender certification process is a misuse of the medically accepted standards of care. What is the stability of gender? Isn’t gender an inherently unstable concept – always being constrained by the various context and rules under which we live? I worry that this type of requirement will further entrench the gender binary and further legitimize the control that administrators and medical providers have over our bodies and our identities.And what about those of us who are incarcerated? Will these rules apply to us? I am deeply concerned that like so many policies, the impact of this change won’t penetrate the prison walls. What does it mean that the military will recognize our gender, unless and until we are arrested, and then what? This core identity is then stripped away and our birth assigned sex is imposed on us?”
HE’S AN A**HOLE. Michael Sam on Donald Trump.
BRAZIL. Epidemic of anti-gay violence is only tip of the iceberg: “While Americans have fiercely debated how to respond to the massacre last month at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Brazilians have been confronting their own epidemic of anti-gay violence — one that, by some counts, has earned Brazil the ignominious ranking of the world’s deadliest place for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. Nearly 1,600 people have died in hate-motivated attacks in the past four and half years, according to Grupo Gay da Bahia, which tracks the deaths through news articles. By its tally, a gay or transgender person is killed almost every day in this nation of 200 million.”
VAMPING. True Blood to become stage musical: “Like the TV show, “True Blood: The Musical” is set in the fictional town of Bon Temps, La., where vampires live among humans. The town also boasts witches, fairies, shape-shifters and werewolves. If a full production ever materializes, there will be plenty of special effects.”
SELF-DRIVING. Tesla owner killed in autopilot crash was watching Harry Potter: “He was killed May 7 in Williston, Florida, when his car’s cameras failed to distinguish the white side of a turning tractor-trailer from a brightly lit sky and didn’t automatically activate the brakes, according to statements by the government and the automaker. Brown didn’t take control and brake, either.”
ANTON YELCHIN. Zachary Quinto remembers his co-star.
TOO HOT FOR TUESDAY. Post-Independence Day smiles from Provincetown.
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