Tim Kaine Lays Into Pence, McCrory, Speaks Out For LGBTQ Rights

Tim Kaine speaking at a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine appeared in Greensboro, North Carolina on Wednesday and LGBTQ rights were on his mind.

“In Philadelphia last week, there was a speaker, Sarah McBride, who made history. Some of you know her, she was the first transgender person ever to speak at a national convention. And she talked about the continuing battle we have in this nation to fight against discrimination,” Kaine said, referring to the 2016 DNC.

Related: Leaked DNC Email Calls McCrory “Moronic Little Bigot Of A Tarheel Governor”

“I know in North Carolina there’s been some pain over this issue,” Kaine continued. “They snuck through in the legislature this HB2, and they tried to introduce it kind of in the dead of night, and (thought), ‘Can we do an end run and make it happen really fast? And maybe people won’t notice, and maybe people won’t complain.’ But you all have stood up in a major way, and you’ve said, ‘This is not who we are, this is not who North Carolina is, these are not our values.’ And that’s one of the reasons North Carolina is so intensely focused on this race.”

Kaine shared that Roy Cooper, the state’s attorney general, who is running against Gov. McCrory in the gubernatorial race, told him he didn’t want people to think of North Carolina as going backwards.

“We gotta go forward, not backward,” Kaine said, which brought chants of “Forward together!”

Related: Donald Trump Promises To Protect LGBTQ People, Twitter Reacts

The North Carolina NAACP has been using the phrase. NC NAACP President Rev. William Barber II gave a speech at the 2016 DNC.

Kaine pointed out that Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence also tried to enact discriminatory laws and when businesses began to pull out of Indiana as a result he “had to do a u-turn.” Gov. McCrory and the Republican controlled North Carolina General Assembly have instead dug in their heels and watched companies such as PayPal pull out, and events like concerts, conventions and most recently the 2017 NBA All-Star Game hightail it out of the Tar Heel state as well.

“This is somebody who has said LGBT people would bring about a ‘societal collapse.’ That’s just not right, folks.” Kaine said of Pence.

HuffPost Pollster has Clinton holding a slight lead over Trump in the state, and Cooper with a slight lead over McCrory in the race for governor.

McCrory signed HB2 into law, which requires transgender people to use the bathrooms and locker rooms matching the gender on their birth certificate in public buildings, and allows private businesses to set their own rules around the issue. It also capped the state’s minimum wage, nullified any pre-existing discrimination ordinances passed by cities and municipalities in North Carolina and took away the right to sue for workplace discrimination in the state courts.

Related: 6 Times Hillary Clinton Stood Up For The LGBTQ Community

This last provision was changed, but LGBTQ people are still unable to sue for workplace discrimination in the state, as there are no protections for them and there are no protections federally, either. Clinton has pledged to work with Congress to pass the Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination against the LGBTQ community in employment, housing, education, obtaining credit, federal funding, jury service and public accommodations.

Kaine also praised the recent court decision to strike down restrictive voting laws, which were passed after the Supreme Court, in 2013, made it possible for Southern states to change their voting laws without federal preclearance, which they had been required to do since the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

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Tom Goss Reveals Some Raw Truths in His New Clip ‘All My Life’ – WATCH

Out singer-songwriter Tom Goss gets intimate in “All My Life”, the first release from his sixth album What Doesn’t Break.

Goss told Billboard:

“For [the video of] ‘All My Life’ I wanted to do something different. I wanted to be completely vulnerable. I wanted to strip away the Hollywood gloss and tap into the true emotion of the song and the experience of love. I booked a studio, camera and lights, then sat alone with myself. I shot, directed and edited the video. Honestly, I’m not sure I could have been as emotionally revealing had there been a dozen people in the room. I wanted this to be the most emotionally honest thing I’ve ever done. I believe I have accomplished that.”

He told WOW that the new tracks confront a different side of himself:

“I really was hesitant to release these songs. Not because I didn’t believe in their worth, but because I was afraid of the truth I was revealing. I’ve spent years releasing songs that projected the person I want to be, while neglecting the other person that sometimes shows up in front of me. This record speaks to my greatest failures and regrets, it acknowledges the darkest and least lovable side of me, and then embraces it, loving it all the same.”

Watch:

PREVIOUSLY: Tom Goss Gives Dusty Springfield’s ‘Son of a Preacher Man’ a Gay Teen Twist – WATCH

And click here for more Goss.

And you can also see him on tour in August and September when he hits, Arlington, VA, NYC, Hollywood, Orlando, and several other Florida cities.

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Chicago Fire Soccer Team Shuts Down Anti-Gay Chants

MLS soccer team the Chicago Fire has come out strongly against anti-gay chants, making it clear this week that the club will not tolerate fans shouting homophobic slurs during games.

General Manager Nelson Rodriguez took the field before a recent match to make the announcement. Rodriguez fittingly chose the club’s Pride Night to take a stand.

Chicago Tribune sports columnist and Fire fan John Kass was on hand for that game with his two sons and shared his reaction:

“An inappropriate and offensive chant has been used by some of our fans,” Rodriguez said. “It is unbecoming and certainly not reflective of the great city that we live in, and the best fans in major league soccer.

“Please be advised that if the chant continues and you are found to be participating, you are subject to removal. If you are near fans using offensive language, please advise stadium security so we can handle that as well.”

And all I could say was “bravo.”

There were a few boos. But most of us applauded him. And I didn’t hear that chant once during the game.

The chant that Rodriguez was referring to is one commonly used in Mexican soccer games. “Puto”, fans often shout, particularly singling out the opposing team’s goalie. For non-Spanish speakers, Kass explains that the term “means effeminate man whore. It is ugly and demeaning, directed at gay men in a macho culture…”

The chant has become deeply rooted in soccer culture and LGBT activists and allies have struggled to stamp it out.

While FIFA recently fined seven national soccer teams for fans using anti-gay chants, the organization has also favored hosting the world cup in anti-gay nations (Russia, Qatar) and historically has done little to discourage such chants.

Rodriguez told Kass in no uncertain terms, “This chant is offensive.”

He added,

“It’s vulgar, it’s inappropriate and it runs contrary I think — even in my short time here — to the spirit of Chicago, which at every turn I just find is warm and welcoming and friendly, and I’m of Latino descent.”

The chant, he said, “is not clever or creative, or catchy or appropriate in any way. Yeah, I’m not deaf. I heard a smattering of boos. But that’s a very small minority of fans, and I don’t care if they don’t return. In fact, personally, if they are booing the message as opposed to booing the messenger, go find another team to support.”

Watch video of Rodriguez making his announcement at Pride Night, here.

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Gay Corrections Officer Says He Was Fired After Suing Texas County for Discrimination

Back in June, we told you about Derek Boyd, a gay corrections officer who sued Collin County, Texas, for alleged discrimination and retaliation based on his sexual orientation.

In his federal lawsuit, Boyd alleged that after he complained about two nurses referring to inmates as “faggots,” the sheriff’s department began to “egregiously harass” him. Rather than take his complaint seriously, jail officials pursued investigations against Boyd, and other officers would no longer even respond to his radio calls.

Now, Boyd says the county ultimately fired him in retaliation for the lawsuit, which he’s temporarily withdrawn while the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigates his original complaint. He also says the county is fighting his unemployment claim, leaving him unable to afford groceries, rent and his car payment.

“What they did was not right, what they’re continuing to do is not right, and I know they’re just going to do it to somebody else because they got away with it,” Boyd told The Texas Observer.

County officials, meanwhile, maintain that Boyd resigned and was not fired — even though he received a letter from their health insurance provider saying he’d been terminated.

Boyd told the Observer the retaliation continued after he filed the lawsuit, when he was assigned to an undesirable position in a control room known as “the glass box,” cut off from other employees.

“Nobody was allowed to associate with me, and nobody was allowed to talk to me, and when they would talk, they would share their personal feelings,” Boyd said. “I got things like, I don’t belong here, God has a special place for me in hell.”

Fearing that he won’t be able to get another law enforcement job in Texas, Boyd has launched a GoFundMe page to help make ends meet while he awaits the results of the EEOC investigation.

“I was terminated on June 30, 2016 because of my sexual orientation and also because I made the complaint of discrimination,” Boyd wrote on the GoFundMe page. “I have since been fighting with them trying to get unemployment which has been a constant fight because they dont feel they should have to pay since gay employment discrimination is legal in the state of Texas. I urge you to stand with me and fight this as this law has to be changed and there must be protections for everybody in Texas.”

Read the full story here.

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It Does Make LGBT Parents a Little Crazy to Come Out All the Time (Video)

Parents in two-mom and two-dad families have to find ways to mention it — repeatedly.

www.advocate.com/families/2016/8/04/it-does-make-lgbt-parents-little-crazy-come-out-all-time-video

This Just In: Devil Is Flattered to Be Compared With Hillary Clinton (Video)

Why wouldn’t the devil be happy to be compared with a groundbreaking woman? 

www.advocate.com/comedy/2016/8/04/just-devil-flattered-be-compared-hillary-clinton-video

When Trump Quotes Attributed to Clinton, Her Supporters Agree! (Video)

What happens when Hillary Clinton supporters are told she said things that Donald Trump actually said?

www.advocate.com/comedy/2016/8/04/when-trump-quotes-attributed-clinton-her-supporters-agree-video

Uncensored Trump Rallies Show Cornucopia Of Homophobia, Racism, Anger

Donald Trump supporter and protester clash at rally, via The New York Times.

The New York Times have put together a compilation video giving an inside and behind the scenes look at Donald Trump rallies and it is every bit as disturbing and disconcerting as any rational person might imagine.

Judging by this video, Trump supporters are racists, homophobes, Islamophobic, misogynistic, angry, violent…and I assume some are good people.

Related: Trump Promises To Protect LGBTQ People, Twitter Reacts

Slurs are hurled from the crowd with the type of blind, unhinged rage typically resolved for cross-burnings and major sporting events.

“Build the wall!” yells one slogan parroting supporter.

“Fuck those dirty beaners,” he adds.

Those attending various rallies are also heard calling for Hillary Clinton‘s death, making Islamophobic statements, a Nazi salute, complete with a “Sieg Heil!” yelling, “Fuck that ni**er!” about President Obama and “Get out of here, you f*g!” to a protester.

And that’s just some of the repugnant behavior on display in this eye opening video.

Trump has encouraged violent behavior, claiming he wanted to hit speakers at the 2016 DNC “so hard” for what they said about him, including one in particular, whom he left nameless, whom he said he wanted to hit “so hard his head would spin.”

Related: Why Donald Trump’s Flirtation With White Supremacists Is Really Bad For Us

When a protester was removed from a rally in Las Vegas in February Trump said he would like to “punch him in the face.”

He also promised to pay the legal fees of anyone who would attack protesters who might want to throw tomatoes at him at a campaign stop in Iowa.

“Have I been a good messenger? This is a movement like people have never seen before,” Trump says to a crowd at the end of the video.

You can say that again. Let us hope we never have to see it again.

Watch the video below:

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Seth Meyers Tells Dems to ‘Stay Out Of It’: ‘Let Trump Dig His Own Grave’ – WATCH

Seth Meyers has some advice for Democrats as the dumpster fire that is Donald Trump continues to burn during this election year: “Stay out of it!”

Said Meyers, “Obama, Hillary…Trump is digging his own grave. Don’t grab the shovel! Leave it to Republicans like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell to comment because, right now, those guys have got to be feeling like Dr Frankenstein.”

Meyers added, “Do as little as possible. If for some reason Trump actually does debate Hillary, she should just say, ‘Hi, I’m Hillary Clinton,’ and then she should turn off her microphone, open a big bag of Skinny Pop, and watch him slowly unravel. And then every ten minutes during the debate she should just shoot the camera a Jim Halpert look. That’s it! Stay out of it!”

via GIPHY

Watch, below.

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Melania Trump Responds to Allegations That She Worked in U.S. Illegally

Melania Trump has responded to allegations that she was working illegally when she first came to the U.S. and became a model.

Experts told Politico that based on accounts she has given in several interviews, Trump was likely visiting the U.S. on a B-1 Temporary Business Visitor or B-2 Tourist Visa, neither of which permit employment.

RELATED: Melania Trump May Have Been Illegal Immigrant When She First Worked in US: Experts

Given Donald Trump’s opposition to illegal immigration, this could present some fresh problems for his campaign.

This morning, Melania Trump responded on Twitter.

pic.twitter.com/U3VTY05mzc

— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) August 4, 2016

She wrote:

“In recent days there has been a lot of inaccurate reporting and misinformation concerning my immigration status back in 1996. Let me set the record straight: I have at all times been in full compliance with the immigration laws of this country. Period. Any allegation to the contrary is simple untrue.”

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