Michelle Obama: 'I'm With Her' (Video)
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Daily Archives: July 26, 2016
Learning Curves
This Week In Leaks: The Purported Jaw-Dropping Pic Of Reality Star Alex Bowen You Need To See
This Week In Leaks: The Purported Jaw-Dropping Pic Of Reality Star Alex Bowen You Need To See
No man is an island. But other parts of their anatomy sometimes deserve their very own zip code.
The reason you’re here is because you’ve heard we found a (purported) naughty pic of Love Island‘s surrealistically hot Alex Bowen.
Related: Ass Appeal: Queerty’s 10 Favorite Male Nude Photo Leaks
Well, the rumors appear to be true. The tattoos certainly match up, even though that’s not what we’re studying right now.
Unfortunately, we can’t post that hypnotic black-and-white pic, because, erm, the file size of the jpeg is way too large. Also, we’re a family site!
Related: Are These Model River Viiperi’s Long-Awaited Full Frontal Pics?
But you can see it HERE. The term NSFW was invented for this one, so tread lightly.
Then again, some things are worth getting fired for.
Crazed Conservative Calls DNC’S Gender-Neutral Bathrooms “Rape Rooms”
Crazed Conservative Calls DNC’S Gender-Neutral Bathrooms “Rape Rooms”
Today, or at least for the next half hour before slithering onto something else, the Internet is intent on dissecting the DNC’s “gender-neutral bathrooms,” with many praising their presence as “a sign of the times,” while inkier voices suggest the whole thing is a nefarious publicity stunt, or a very real danger to society at large.
One writer goes so far as to refer to these bathrooms as “rape rooms” and “unrest rooms.”
Related: Anti-Trans Activist Encourages Men to Chase Women into Bathrooms
Let’s start with him. We hadn’t heard of Matthew Vadum up until today, but all good things come to an end. Some exceedingly light Google research reveals he’s “an award-winning investigative journalist at a conservative watchdog group in Washington, D.C.”
Related: The Best Bathroom Panic Memes And GIFs (So Far!)
In his op-ed piece published today in The Canada Free Press, Vadum spills bottles of ink on the “all-gender” restrooms at the Wells Fargo Center, which he claims are indicative of the “Left’s crusade to include ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE in everything everywhere at all times without regard to public safety, appropriateness, decorum, or common decency.”
Throughout the piece, he refers to the W.C.’s as “unrest rooms,” “everything-goes facilities” (!) and “rape rooms,” since they allow “big, strong men… to relieve themselves alongside little girls and women.”
Related: What’s Going On In Public Bathrooms That Has People So Terrified?
He thinks that’s bad news indeed, whether these people choose to identity as “men or women or octopusses [sic].” Or misspellings.
Such bathrooms, he argues, “present a standing invitation to those seeking to commit sexual assaults.”
“They paint a target on those who cannot defend themselves.”
Meanwhile, radio host Jason Rantz suspects the whole thing is a publicity stunt engineered for maximum impact. “All of the other bathrooms in the arena appear to be more traditional, split by the sexes,” he notes, demonstrating unusual powers of deduction. “Is it a coincidence that the all-gender restroom is right by the press booth?”
So he digs deeper and actually dares to go inside this unsettling new fortress where people of all genders are invited to relieve themselves, and presents his subsequent findings like a bombshell: “It appears that it’s just a women’s bathroom with the new sign on it.”
The only #DNCinPHL gender neutral bathroom is right by the press. How about that? pic.twitter.com/WVJ7D9dhUj
— (((Jason Rantz))) (@jasonrantz) July 24, 2016
Of course, more level-headed denizens of the Internet were supportive, or, more appropriately, utterly unfazed by this controversial collection of toilets and sinks and paper towel dispensers:
y’all the #DNC had an All-Gender bathroom. I love progression
— morgan (@mtwizzlle) July 26, 2016
Had a new experience-used a gender neutral bathroom. All genders went about their business and it was pretty much a non-event. #dnc2016
— SheilaRuth (@SheilaRuth) July 26, 2016
This bathroom at DNC is being used by men and women. It’s busy in there. Nobody seems phased. pic.twitter.com/TO1foJJSoZ
— Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) July 26, 2016
We look forward to a time when we’re not being asked to think about public restrooms everyday.
Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and What Must End Before Any Revolution Can Happen
Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and What Must End Before Any Revolution Can Happen
Last night, through portions of the opening night at the Democratic National Convention, a small group of Bernie Sanders supporters from the California delegation booed and heckled various speakers. This wasn’t a surprise. When a candidate promises his supporters rainbows and unicorns and doesn’t deliver, people get upset. Bernie and his “bros” wanted a revolution. They didn’t get it. They wanted to upend the “system.” They didn’t. They believe the election was stolen from them. It wasn’t. They’re upset, and they have that right.
But revolutions do not start by booing Elijah Cummings, Sarah Silverman, or the incomparable Michelle Obama. There is a better way. And it has everything to do with the election of 2020.
Let me be clear: It is absolutely essential — you know, for the survival of the human race — that we elect Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump in 2016. But the 2020 elections at the state level — governors and legislative chambers — will determine how the states allocate their congressional seats after the next census. In 2010, Republicans swept into power in states from Pennsylvania and North Carolina to Florida and Arizona. And they used their control over the state levers of power to gerrymander districts to protect their incumbents and dilute Democratic voters. In short, they all but assured that the House of Representatives would stay in Republican hands for a decade.
This is the first in a series of posts about voting rights, gerrymandering, and the impact of gerrymandering on the rights of LGBTQ Americans. If we really want to silence the Tea Party and squash the radical House Freedom Caucus, if we want a Congress that is representative and responsive, if we want to respect the principle of one-person-one-vote, if we want to stop diluting minority voter power, and if we want to see fewer anti-gay discriminatory laws like HB 2, we need to start focusing on more than just presidential elections. We need to end partisan gerrymandering.
Gerrymandering is the manipulation of voting district boundaries to achieve a particular outcome, i.e., favor one party over the other.
To see how it works in real life, consider this picture of a circle divided into 10 pieces. At the center of the circle is a big city, population 1000. Outside the city are 1100 voters. That’s a total of 2100 residents in this state. Fair representation would give city voters about 48% of the seats in a legislature. If the legislature has 50 seats, that 24 seats for urban voters and 26 seats for everyone else.
As most of us know, cities and urban centers tend to vote Democratic; rural areas tend to vote Republican. The suburbs are split. So, if you’re a Republican in the legislature of this state, and you have the power to gerrymander districts to maximize the chances that Republicans will win elections, you’re going to want to draw district boundaries to dilute the impact of urban voters. There are several ways to do that.
Dividing the city’s population into 10 even sections and lumping 100 urban voters with 110 rural voters in the rest of the triangle is called “cracking.” When the city is “cracked,” city voters may make up a total of 48% of the voting population, but could not win a single seat in the legislature. Cracking could turn a legislature that is pretty evenly divided into one that is overwhelmingly dominated by one party. This is what Republicans have tried to do (several times) in Texas.
“Packing” is a little different. Let’s say you don’t want to be as obvious about diluting urban (read: minority) votes. So, you throw urban voters a district of their own, “packing” as many urban votes into a single legislative district as possible. Then, you carve out the many remaining districts among all the non-urban voters. This strategy has the benefit of creating a safe “minority” seat, but it allows non-urban voters to dominate the legislature nonetheless. This is what the Republican legislature tried to do in Florida.
There are other strategies, but you get the idea. In 2010, gerrymandering of districts had a significant impact on the composition of the House of Representatives.
In 2014, after Republicans gerrymandered Pennsylvania’s congressional districts after the 2010 census, Democratic candidates collected 44 percent of the vote, yet Democratic candidates won only 5 of Pennsylvania’s 18 House seats. That’s only 27 percent of Pennsylvania’s delegation. In North Carolina, Democrats won only 3 of the state’s 13 House seats even though Democratic candidates won 44 percent of the vote. And in 2012, the first election for the House of Representatives after partisan gerrymandering, Democratic House candidates won 50.59 percent of the vote — or 1.37 million more votes than Republican candidates — yet won only 201 seats, compared to 234 seats for Republicans.
This imbalance is itself troubling. But gerrymandering has significant harmful effects, from devaluing minority voters and preventing urban centers from getting the money and services they need, to creating hyperpartisan political environments where only radicalism is rewarded. These effects, plus the steps we need to take to take back the House (and other legislatures) will be our next subjects.
The post Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and What Must End Before Any Revolution Can Happen appeared first on Towleroad.
Daniel Franzese’s Mom Shames Hateful Grindr Users – WATCH
Daniel Franzese’s Mom Shames Hateful Grindr Users – WATCH
Looking star Daniel Franzese decided to introduce his Italian mom, Denise, to the world of Grindr to get her reactions to gay dating app culture.
Denise was unimpressed by what Grindr had to offer. “Yeah he’s got a hot chest, but that’s not what it’s all about,” she told Daniel of one shirtless torso she saw on the app. “What if you’re not that pretty?” she wondered.
As any mom would, Denise also worries about who you might meet online (think of the Craigslist killer, she implores).
As for those with racist, fat-shaming, and femme-shaming profiles (e.g. no fats, no femmes, no Asians), Denise has a very clear point of view:
“Shame on you. You don’t deserve nobody. Stay by yourselves. In Italian we’d call you. In Italian we call you miserabile — you’re miserable, stay that way! Stay by yourself, that’s where you belong.”
Tell it, Denise.
Watch, below.
The post Daniel Franzese’s Mom Shames Hateful Grindr Users – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel Return to Couples Counseling – WATCH
Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel Return to Couples Counseling – WATCH
Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel are making another go at couples counseling. The pair have famously been in a feud for years and Kimmel has even banned Damon from his show.
PREVIOUSLY – Matt Damon Gets Revenge on Jimmy Kimmel, Takes Over Show: VIDEOS
Damon has done everything in his power to get on the show, including sneaking in with his buddy Ben Affleck when he appeared on Kimmel’s Oscar special last year. That didn’t go so well for Damon. So now Damon hopes that another trip to couples counseling–yes, they’ve been before–might get the pair back on the right path.
The session starts off rocky but the tension starts to ease with a little help from a butt and a dick. It will all make sense when you watch, below.
The post Matt Damon and Jimmy Kimmel Return to Couples Counseling – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Conservatives Complain DNC’s All-Gender Restroom Is ‘Confusing,’ ‘Bizarre,’ And ‘Very Disturbing’
Conservatives Complain DNC’s All-Gender Restroom Is ‘Confusing,’ ‘Bizarre,’ And ‘Very Disturbing’
“I mean, I guess we’re liberated by this? Everyone should come visit one and see the reality of it. It’s unbelievable.”
The post Conservatives Complain DNC’s All-Gender Restroom Is ‘Confusing,’ ‘Bizarre,’ And ‘Very Disturbing’ appeared first on ThinkProgress.
thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/07/26/3802094/dnc-all-gender-restroom/
HRC Alabama Enhances Student Outreach
HRC Alabama Enhances Student Outreach
Post submitted by Tori Wolfe-Sisson, HRC Alabama Field Organizer
As we approach the 2016-2017 academic year, HRC Alabama is connecting with colleges and universities across the state through several student-specific programs. HRC Alabama is proud to offer and recommend several volunteer and internship opportunities that allows students to be a part of the work we do every day.
HRC Alabama interns work to develop new, innovative initiatives that support, assist and empower straight allies and LGBTQ community members, students and families in Alabama. They set up and implement infrastructure for several events and answer inquiries from community members about HRC’s work on LGBTQ issues.
HRC Alabama also assists existing LGBTQ-inclusive organizations on college campuses with bits of advice, plenty of resources and lessons for longevity. HRC Alabama staff can help start conversations with students that their advisors may not know how to begin and offer outside resources for smaller, newer groups.
Additionally, HRC Foundation’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) program empowers LGBTQ HBCU students to be change-agents on their campus and lead resourcefully through the intersections of race, religion, gender identity, class and sexual orientation.
To apply to be an HRC intern in Alabama, click here. To invite HRC Alabama to your school or to get more information, please contact Tori at [email protected].
www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-alabama-enhances-student-outreach?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
Equal Rights Coalition Launches at Global LGBTI Human Rights Conference
Equal Rights Coalition Launches at Global LGBTI Human Rights Conference
Post submitted by HRC staff with contributions from Molly Aronson
Earlier this month, 29 governments announced the launch of an Equal Rights Coalition at the conclusion of the Global LGBTI Human Rights Conference in Montevideo, Uruguay. This new intergovernmental coalition seeks to strengthen cooperation between countries in advancing LGBTI rights and calls on participating governments to share information about how best to advance the human rights and inclusion of LGBTI people worldwide.
While the coalition does not formally include civil society groups, its Founding Principles included a commitment to working with civil society to avoid further marginalizing LGBTI people and creating common ground through open dialogue between its member countries.
The governments of Uruguay and the Netherlands co-hosted the conference and the Uruguayan advocacy group Ovejas Negras and the Dutch LGBT group COC Nederland co-organized the conference. Over 150 civil society advocates joined with government officials and donors from around the globe to discuss pressing issues on the LGBTQ rights agenda.
The United States joined Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Italy, Mexico, Montenegro, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom and Uruguay in working toward a vision of equality regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
HRC looks forward to working with this coalition and urges its leaders to advance the global equality movement in collaboration with civil society.
