Orlando Pulse Protester Confronts Marco Rubio: ‘You Have Blood On Your Hands’

A gay man confronted Marco Rubio at an event near the Pulse LGBT nightclub in Orlando as the Florida Senator attended an event to assist business traffic in the area following the mass shooting, the Orlando Sentinel reports:

“I’m really angry at you,” Moran said. “I don’t feel you’re doing anything to support the LGBTQ people. I need to know what is your relationship is with the NRA. Why are you talking with transphobes and homophobes like John Stemberger… all of you have blood on your hands,” Moran said.

Rubio responded, “I disagree with your assessment… Homophobia means you’re scared of people, I’m not scared of people. Quite frankly I respect all people. We probably have a disagreement on the definition of marriage.”

Moran interrupted again, “Your policies kill people. Your policies enable people to be murdered. You have to protect us. You’re not protecting us. We’re going to be gunned down.”

RELATED: Columnist Claims This Might Be a Photo of Marco Rubio at a Gay Miami Foam Party in the ’90s

The paper also reported that Rubio was often drowned out by a crowd of several dozen protesters who had gathered outside the event to demonstrate against Rubio’s inaction on gun control.

Watch video of the Rubio confrontation HERE.

Picketers gather at South Orange business to protest Marco Rubio comments on #PulseShooting aftermath pic.twitter.com/zOEXOBtESc

— Paul Brinkmann (@PaulBrinkmann) July 19, 2016

The post Orlando Pulse Protester Confronts Marco Rubio: ‘You Have Blood On Your Hands’ appeared first on Towleroad.

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There Was a ‘Gays for Trump’ Party at the RNC and It Was Absolutely Insane – VIDEOS, PHOTOS

The second night of the Republican National Convention saw a “Gays for Trump” rally that showcased a series of militant, xenophobic, anti-Islamic speakers who argued that the Republican party is the real friend of the LGBT community.

The event took place in a ballroom lined with images of scantily clad white twinks in “Make America Great Again” hats.

The wall art here is white… white: pic.twitter.com/RVdCxMSZjB

— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) July 20, 2016

The title of the event was “WAKE UP” and billed as “The most fab party at the RNC.”

The event’s headliners were notorious homocon and Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos and anti-Islam ‘activist’ Pam Geller.

Yiannopoulos appeared at the event after having just been permanently banned from Twitter for harassing SNL and Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones with racist tweets.

At LGBT for Trump party, Milo says he got banned from Twitter for fighting with “tertiary star of a fucking terrible feminist flop”

— Luke Brinker (@LukeBrinker) July 20, 2016

When Yiannopoulos took the podium, he appeared wearing a bullet-proof vest which he quickly removed. He went on to rail against Islam and at one point declared,  “Growing up gay wasn’t that f**king bad.”

The Washington Blade reports: 

Wearing a white tank top with the image of a gun in rainbow colors and the words “We Shoot Back,” Yiannopoulos said the time has come for the LGBT community to separate itself from the progressive movement to take on Islamic extremism.

In the aftermath of a shooting in Orlando at a gay nightclub by a follower of Islamic extremism, Yiannopoulos said while the left once supported gay people, that’s “no longer the case.”

“Growing up gay wasn’t that f[**]king bad, let’s be honest,” Yiannopoulos said. “But I still don’t see the reason why the left-wing press mollycoddles and panders to an ideology that wants me dead.”

Yiannopoulos announced at the event he would travel to Sweden next week to lead a Pride parade in what he called a “Muslim ghetto” in Stockholm. Yiannopoulos said he draws no distinction between Islam as a whole and Islamic extremism, although he acknowledged some in the audience may disagree with him.

RELATED: ‘Gays for Trump’ Homocon Milo Yiannopoulos Banned Permanently from Twitter for Racist Tweets at Leslie Jones

Yiannopoulos also said Trump is “the most pro-gay candidate in American electoral history.”

Denouncing the Democratic Party, Yiannopoulos added,

“You have done nothing for gays. While you were busy hectoring and bullying and nannying us about transgender pronouns, you completely forgot that politicians in this country, Democrat[ic] politicians who are welcoming in a religion that wants us dead. They were welcoming in movements and belief systems that are completely incompatible with the Western way of life, with modern, Western, capitalist, liberal democracies, the only systems under which gay people are happy and successful and have rights.”

When noted Islamophobe Pamela Geller (who created the infamous “Draw Mohammed” contest in Texas last year) took the mic, she decided to start with a joke. Said Geller: “A jihadi walks into a gay bar, and the bartender says, ‘What’ll you have?’ The jihadi says, ‘Shots for everyone!’”

FIRST JOKE: “A jihadi walks into a gay bar. Bartender asks what he wants. He says ‘shots for everyone.'”

— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) July 20, 2016

Geller blasted the Democrats as well, saying the party takes advantage of the LGBT community. Via Rolling Stone: 

“The Democrats pay lip service, OK? And give out transgender bathrooms,” Geller says. “That is not gay rights in the 21st century. Gay rights in the 21st century is [about] the persecution, oppression, execution of gays living in Muslim countries under the sharia. That is gay rights.”

.@PamelaGeller enters “Gays for Trump” party with rainbow shirt that says “love will win.” pic.twitter.com/AlreT60gIV

— Chris Johnson (@chrisjohnson82) July 20, 2016

Also present at the event was leader of the Dutch Freedom Party Geert Wilders who railed against Islam.

Some of his remarks via BuzzFeed: 

“It’s really so good to be back again in America all week at the convention of what you call the Grand Old Party,” Wilders, who is visiting the convention this week as a guest of the Tennessee Republican Party, told the crowd. Like the other speakers, Wilders spoke behind a lectern sporting a Trump-Pence sign and in front of a wall covered in photographs of half-naked young men wearing Make America Great Again hats taken by “Twinks for Trump” auteur Lucian Wintrich. “I’m not American but don’t blame me if I say I hope that Donald J. Trump will win the election.” Wilders was accompanied by several bodyguards who escorted him out immediately after he finished speaking, and organizers said Wilders was part of the reason security at the venue itself was so tight (attendees were wanded before going in).

As for what happened after the speeches concluded, it appears that the party devolved into a dance party. If you can call it that.

Exactly. What. You’d expect. pic.twitter.com/gztjF8sWpS

— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) July 20, 2016

The post There Was a ‘Gays for Trump’ Party at the RNC and It Was Absolutely Insane – VIDEOS, PHOTOS appeared first on Towleroad.

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Lawsuit: Trans Students Made To Wear Green Bracelets To ID Themselves

These trans students filed federal lawsuits saying their civil rights were violated after being denied access to bathrooms of their gender.

The post Lawsuit: Trans Students Made To Wear Green Bracelets To ID Themselves appeared first on ThinkProgress.

thinkprogress.org/education/2016/07/20/3800220/trans-students-file-federal-suits/

#AM_Equality Tip Sheet: July 20, 2016

TONIGHT AT THE RNC: ANTI-LGBTQ MIKE PENCE TO ACCEPT VEEP NOMINATION, PROGRAM FEATURES ANTI-EQUALITY POLS TED CRUZ AND PAM BONDI: The third day of the Republican National Convention features a parade of Republican officials who’ve consistently worked against LGBTQ equality throughout their careers — including Ted Cruz, who ended his failed presidential campaign with a false smear attack on transgender people, and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose anti-LGBTQ record was on full display under questioning from CNN’s Anderson Cooper in the wake of Orlando. The evening will be capped off with an address by vice presidential nominee Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who became a national disgrace in 2015 for his “license to discriminate” bill that could have allowed businesses to deny service to LGBTQ people. More on Pence’s long anti-equality record here.

RNC CHAIR PRIEBUS TRIES TO DENY ANTI-LGBTQ EXTENT OF PARTY’S PLATFORM: Republican National Committee delegates Monday opened their party convention by approving a heinous platform with a slew of anti-equality provisions, including attacks on transgender people and a commitment to overturn nationwide marriage equality. But RNC Chair Reince Priebus is trying to deny just how extreme the platform is, deceptively claiming in an interview with Chuck Todd that the platform doesn’t endorse conversion therapy. The amendment adopted by the platform committee explicitly supported conversation therapy. Party leaders modified the final language to keep the extreme position, but make it far less obvious. The context of the entire debate around this makes it crystal clear that “support[ing] the right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children” means continuing to allow this harmful practice to be lawful. The fact that Tony Perkins and his allies didn’t raise a ruckus when the language was tweaked tells you all you need to know.

• Also in RNC Recapping… Ben Carson, speaking at the Florida delegation breakfast, compared transgender people to someone who “woke up tomorrow morning after seeing a movie about Afghanistan and saying ‘you know what? I’m Afghanistani [sic].” Said HRC President Chad Griffin in a tweet: “What doesn’t make sense is @RealBenCarson‘s ignorance of the medical community’s consensus about transgender people.” More from The Hill.
• Michael Flynn’s transphobic rhetoric: Watch retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn launch a vile attack on transgender people during his speech Monday. Flynn’s rhetoric is consistent with the RNC Platform, and Donald Trump, who has gone on the record in support of North Carolina’s vile HB2. More here.
• Get the facts: HRC has released a video detailing the harsh reality that everything the LGBTQ community has fought for is at risk this election — from LGBTQ worker protections and the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” to transgender equality, marriage equality and global LGBTQ rights. As of last night, Donald Trump is the party’s official nominee. Watch the video here.

MCCRORY SELF-CONGRATULATES FOR UNDOING HIS OWN MISTAKE: North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory bizarrely patted himself on the back this week for repealing a provision within HB2 that he signed — and then almost immediately was forced to admit was “very poorly thought out.” McCrory this week restored the right to sue in state court for employment discrimination — though it shortened the window for employees to file those suits — but of course, he left intact the most vile anti-LGBTQ provisions of the deeply discriminatory HB2 law. The law has eliminated existing municipal non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people and prevents such protections from being passed by cities in the future. Furthermore, it unacceptably continues to prevent transgender students in public schools from using restrooms and other facilities consistent with their gender identity. More from HRC and The News and Observer.

HRC AND WALGREENS PARTNER ON NEW LGBTQ-INCLUSIVE GUIDE FOR PHARMACISTS AND STAFF: This week, the HRC Foundation in partnership with Walgreens, released a resource guide that helps pharmacists better understand the needs of LGBTQ customers and patients. The guide is being distributed by the pharmacy giant to more than 70,000 health care professionals across the country. Read the full resource guide here.

ANTI-EQUALITY ACTIVISTS ATTEMPTING TO REPEAL MA TRANS LAW: Anti-LGBTQ activists are at it again in Massachusetts, where they just filed a formal request to put the the state’s new trans-inclusive non-discrimination law on the ballot this November. If granted, they will have until late September to collect 32,275 names to force a fall referendum. More from The Boston Globe.

• Meanwhile in West Virginia: Despite the fact that his district was recently ravaged by devastating floods, anti-LGBTQ State Senator Robert Karnes is planning to hijack an expected special session focused on flood relief, by pushing for HB2-style anti-transgender legislation. Read about his despicable plan at the West Virginia Gazette.

VA LEGISLATORS INTRODUCE BILLS TO REPEAL STATE’S STATUTORY BANS ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: Virginia State Sen. Adam P. Ebbin and Delegate Mark D. Sickles, both openly gay, have introduced legislation to formally remove from state law and the state constitution language prohibiting marriage for same-sex couples. More from The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

HISTORIC CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON LGBTQ HUMAN RIGHTS ABROAD: For the first time in Congressional history, a full committee in the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing last week featuring a witness whose exclusive focus is the human rights of LGBTQ people around the world. The hearing included testimony from Mark Bromley, chair of the Council for Global Equality, a coalition of human rights groups — including HRC — that seeks to encourage greater U.S. support for LGBTQ people and communities around the world. More from HRC.

FOOD INSECURITY IN THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY: A new study by The Williams Institute found that one in four LGBTQ adults struggled to feed themselves or their families in the past year, compared to one in six non-LGBTQ adults. More from The New York Times.

SUPPORTING LGBTQ BABY-BOOMERS: San Diego will open its first LGBTQ-friendly affordable senior housing community in December 2017. A study on LGBTQ seniors finds that they are susceptible to poverty; 23 percent earn less than $20,000 a year and 68 percent lack younger friends or family for support. More from San Diego LGBT Weekly.

A STEP BACK IN ROMANIA: Today, the Constitutional Court of Romania ruled that it is not unconstitutional for an anti-LGBTQ group to request to change the country’s constitution to state that marriage is a union between a man and a woman. An actual change to the Romanian constitution requires a two thirds vote of Parliament. More from The Associated Press.

THE ISLE OF LOVE: Starting Friday, same-sex couples on the Isle of Man will be able to marry. This marks final implementation of the Marriage and Civil Partnership Amendment Act. More from Isle of Man Today.

READING RAINBOW

Gay Star News reports that one in three LGBTQ entrepreneurs don’t come out to potential investors; Fusion breaks down the Williams Institute’s study of the number of transgender people residing in each state; OUT Magazine celebrates the late Nelson Mandela’s birthday by sharing five of his inspiring quotes; Howl & Echoes previews Against Me!’s new album that explores transgender themes; The Washington Post shares the personal effect the GOP has had on one transgender woman; Gay Star News introduces us to a new transgender superhero; Roll Call highlights LGBTQ Republicans trying to find their way at the RNC; and NBC News covers the stories of transgender military service members who are now able to serve openly.

Have news? Send us your news and tips at [email protected]. Click here to subscribe to A.M. Equality and follow @HRC for all the latest news. Thanks for reading!

www.hrc.org/blog/am-equality-tip-sheet-july-20-2016?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

RNC Chair Priebus Tries to Deny Anti-LGBTQ Extent of Party’s Platform

In an interview earlier this week with NBC’s Chuck Todd, Republican National Convention (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus tried to deny just how extreme the platform is, falsely claiming that the platform doesn’t endorse “conversion therapy.”

“There’s two things in the platform that…I’m curious if you’re comfortable with it,” Todd asked. “One it says ‘conversion therapy.’”

“No, it doesn’t,” Priebus replied. “That’s out…There’s an amendment on that issue. It has been taken out…it’s not in the final platform.”

The amendment adopted by the platform committee explicitly supported “conversation therapy.” Party leaders modified the final language to keep the extreme position, but make it far less obvious. The context of the entire debate around this makes it crystal clear that “support[ing] the right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children” means continuing to allow this harmful practice to be lawful. The fact that Tony Perkins and his allies didn’t raise a ruckus when the language was tweaked tells you all you need to know.

The party’s abhorrent platform, described by some of the GOP’s own members as the most anti-LGBTQ in history, aligns closely with positions taken by presidential nominee Donald Trump, and his vice presidential pick, Mike Pence, who has made virulent anti-LGBTQ activism a cornerstone of his political career.

In 2000, Pence wanted to cut funding for HIV prevention and redirect the funds toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to “change their sexual behavior.”

“Conversion therapy” is based on the false premise that being LGBTQ is a mental illness that needs to be cured, a theory that has been rejected by every major medical and mental health organization for decades. For more information on the lies and dangers of efforts to change sexual orientation or gender identity can be found here.

www.hrc.org/blog/rnc-chair-priebus-tries-to-deny-anti-lgbtq-extent-of-partys-platform?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Babies, Fakers, and Devil Worship: GOP Convention Recap, Day 2

 

GOP Convention Recap

Trump accepted his party’s nomination last night— but it was as if he were never there.

Even his children, who resemble nothing so much as Stockholm Syndrome victims, paled in comparison to the real star: That Damned Woman. I mean, Hillary.

 

Women in Chains

Governor Chris Christie led a dyspeptic GOP crowd in a chant of “LOCK HER UP!” as he goose-stepped his way through a mock trial of Clinton’s crimes against humanity— pretty nervy, considering Christie’s Bridgegate criminal exposé is far from over.

Donald himself has been sued by more Americans, over fraud and unpaid bills, that perhaps any man in the world and certainly any candidate— 1300+ cases since 2000.

It’s is a grisly bit of sexism to consider, but GOP revanchists have a habit of wishing death upon their male enemies— while for women, they want humiliated prisoners, locked down. You see this in their fascination with restricted birth control, forced-birth, purity ball echo chambers.

The Babies

Tiffany is 22. Donnie Jr. is 38. But Tiff seemed closer to thumb-sucking as she unwittingly described her Great Father’s neglect of her entire childhood.

One time— like this one time at Trump Camp, when a close friend of hers died?— he phoned her.

OUCH.

What distinguishes Tiffany from Donnie Junior, as in all Trump Patriarchal spectacles, is that the female figures are infantilized— barely crawling out of their eggs— while the male figures in the family are full-grown chain-rattlers.

 

The Plagiarism Count for GOP Primetime: 2 For 2

Last night, Donnie Jr. hired a speechwriter who recycled some hack piece the same man had published in The New Conservative a few months ago. Weak tea, sir.

The pressure is now ON for Daddy himself to plagiarize something REALLY epic. Nixon’s Checkers? Churchill’s “We Shall Fight on the Beaches”? “Hamilton”?

 

Who ISN’T On the Podium

Interesting to consider that while the GOP specializes in locating lunatic apologists: Clarence Thomas Wanna-Be’s, “Muslims for Trump,” and other miscellaneous shonda for the goyim— they have boxed themselves into a closet when it comes to Trumptastic Homosexuals. After all, the last homocon in the building has just been permanently expelled from Twitter.

 

Hellfire Club

Quaint Dr. Ben Carson went full-Salem-Witch-Trial, linking Hillary directly to the Dark Forces.

“Let me tell you something about Saul Alinsky,” Carson bellowed at the crowd, who seriously did not give a crap.

“He wrote a book called Rules for Radicals. On the dedication page, it acknowledges Lucifer, the original radical who gained his own kingdom. —Are we willing to elect someone as President who has as their role model someone who acknowledges Lucifer?”

Less flashy last night— also less laughable— was the strange priest who gave the invocation, Monsignor Kieran Harrington from the Brooklyn Diocese. Unlike previous Dem/GOP contests, American Catholics are largely backing Hillary — or abstaining from the voting booth altogether.

But what of our exceptional man of cloth? Harrington is a man whose career is flush in crushing The Child Victim’s Act from passing the New York state legislature, proclaiming on Holy Week: “There is no one doing more to protect children than the Catholic Church today.”

A pox on both their houses.

 

Infomercial Highlights

Some said Trump Wineries took the Gold. After all, wine critics say: “I actively dislike this wine. You know when you walk through the department store and they’re spraying perfume and you accidentally walk through it?”

Yes, we do.

But for sheer D-List Gas, I’m crowning Mystery Meat Presenter Kimberlin Brown, who closed out the evening with this:

“Hi! Many of you know me from one of your favorite soap operas, The Young and the Restless... I’m now an avocado farmer… yay, Guacamole!…my husband and I also run a sport fishing business and assorted other enterprises—I’m not even going to begin to tell you about the red tape…”

Thank goodness for that small favor.

 

The Serious Men

Not-so-secret Trump Despisers Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell did a bang-up job of avoiding The Pretender’s name or record. They pled with the faithful to vote the straight GOP ticket, but with Barbara Bush leaving the building, who’s left? They ask the assembled to hold our noses for the the better good of their 2020 prophecies. Were they listening?

The post Babies, Fakers, and Devil Worship: GOP Convention Recap, Day 2 appeared first on Towleroad.

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Randy Rainbow Spells It Out: ‘We Got Trump Trouble, America’ – WATCH

Well, it’s official. Donald Trump is the Republican nominee for president of the United States.

To celebrate this historic low point in U.S. history, Randy Rainbow created a musical tribute to the Donald a la The Music Man. Yes, we got Trump trouble, right here in America.

RELATED: Randy Rainbow to Donald Trump: ‘Are You Made of Cheese?’ – WATCH

Watch as Randy serves up musical political satire as only he can, below.

The post Randy Rainbow Spells It Out: ‘We Got Trump Trouble, America’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

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Laura Benanti Slays as a Plagiarizing Melania Trump at the RNC – WATCH

Tony Award-winning actress Laura Benanti perfectly lampooned Melania Trump and her plagiarized speech at the RNC on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night.

Benanti impersonated Mrs. Trump in a spot-on impression in which she insisted that she did not plagiarize her convention speech…as she ripped famous or well-known lines from Charles Dickens (A Tale of Two Cities), Green Eggs and Ham, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (fave), the Kit Kat commercial, Braveheart, Network, the Beastie Boys, The Lion King, the McDonald’s “I’m loving it” jingle, and more.

Watch, below.

The post Laura Benanti Slays as a Plagiarizing Melania Trump at the RNC – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

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