Donald Trump and Mike Pence Would Fail Their Own Ignorant Test

HRC today released the following statement in response to media reports that Donald Trump will require immigrants to pass an “ideological test” that would include interviews about their feelings about LGBTQ equality.

“What’s craziest about this ignorant, incomprehensible plan is that Donald Trump and Mike Pence would fail their own test,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Just last week, Donald Trump courted votes in Orlando from some of the nation’s most notorious anti-LGBTQ activists, including people who have worked to export anti-LGBTQ hate abroad. Trump and Pence have vowed to to roll back nationwide marriage equality, supported vile laws like North Carolina’s HB2 and pledged to appoint anti-LGBTQ Supreme Court justices. Pence is best known by most Americans for the hateful denial-of-service law he peddled in Indiana last year, and even sought to divert funding from HIV programs to promote the abusive practice of so-called ‘conversion therapy.’”

Last week, on the two-month anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting that took the lives of 49 LGBTQ people and allies, Trump courted anti-LGBTQ activists just 10 miles from the site of the tragedy in Orlando. Among the organizations attending was Liberty Counsel, which supports and defends archaic laws criminalizing homosexuality with harsh punishments around the world, and has condemned President Obama and the U.S. government for speaking out against such laws, saying, “America should not be trying to make that country act in an immoral way.”

Trump has also doubled down on his anti-LGBTQ agenda by putting Indiana Gov. Mike Pence on the ticket. Pence became a national disgrace in 2015, for his “license to discriminate” bill that could have allowed businesses to deny service to LGBTQ people — and for subsequently defending the bill after an outcry from the business community and a majority of Hoosier voters. In a now notorious interview with ABC last year, Pence refused to answer eight separate times when asked whether businesses should be able to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

In recent weeks, Trump has also campaigned alongside Tony Perkins — leader of the Family Research Council, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Here’s a snapshot of how Donald Trump and Mike Pence align in their pursuit of undermining LGBTQ equality:

On Marriage Equality

·         Trump: Vowed to roll back nationwide marriage equality by appointing justices to the Supreme Court who would reverse nationwide marriage equality.

·         Pence: Pence opposed the Supreme Court’s nationwide marriage equality ruling, saying, “Like many Hoosiers, I believe marriage is the union between one man and one woman…” After the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which barred legally married same-sex couple from having their marriages recognized by the federal government, was ruled unconstitutional, he urged amending the state of Indiana’s constitution to outlaw marriage equality.

On Non-Discrimination Protections

·         Trump: Trump has committed to signing the so-called “First Amendment Defense Act,” a bill to enable taxpayer-funded discrimination against LGBTQ people in the federal government. Trump said at the Iowa Faith and Family Coalition, his priority as President would be to “preserve and protect our religious liberty.”

·         Pence: While in Congress, Pence voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. He opposed the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” by saying it would turn the military into “a backdrop for social experimentation.” He voted against the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, calling it a “radical social agenda.” As governor, his “right to discriminate” bill could have allowed businesses to discriminate and deny service to LGBTQ people because of who they are or whom they love.

On Transgender Equality

·         Trump: When asked about laws like North Carolina’s deeply discriminatory HB2, Trump said he supported the law, saying, “I’m going with the state. The state, they know what’s going on, they see what’s happening and generally speaking I’m with the state on things like this. I’ve spoken with your governor, I’ve spoken with a lot of people and I’m going with the state.” Trump previously told Sean Hannity that when it comes to laws like North Carolina’s HB2, Trump said he would “leave it up to the states.”

·         Pence: Opposed guidance from the Department of Education that clarifies that transgender students have a right under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to access restrooms consistent with their gender identity, saying, “The federal government has no business getting involved in issues of this nature.”

www.hrc.org/blog/donald-trump-and-mike-pence-would-fail-their-own-ignorant-test?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

International Olympic Committee Condemns Article Outing Gay Athletes

 “This kind of reporting is simply unacceptable,” the IOC said.

www.advocate.com/sports/2016/8/15/international-olympic-committee-condemns-article-outing-gay-athletes

Rio 2016, Day 9 Report: Usain Bolt Fever, a Marriage Proposal, Brazilian Gymnasts and Andy Murray

Day 9 of competitions started out with a traumatic off-pool experience for swimmers Ryan Lochte, Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen; and it ended with a historical, worship-like experience, as an entire stadium roared when Usain Bolt became the first athlete to win three consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 100m.

The Jamaican sports superstar finished the race in 9.81 seconds, ahead of American Justin Gatlin who took the silver medal. Andre de Grasse of Canada won bronze. Gatlin, who had been banned for doping offenses twice, in 2001 and 2006, was booed by Bolt’s adoring fans the moment he came into view.

Known for his flamboyant personality and extreme self-confidence, Bolt didn’t disappoint. “Somebody said I can become immortal,” Bolt told reporters after the win. “Two more medals to go and I can sign off. Immortal.”

When a reporter for Brazilian news channel SporTV asked him about his now legendary status, he corrected him: “I was already a legend.”

If you haven’t seen it yet, watch Usain Bolt’s stunning gold in the 100m here t.co/ndXvn5Vq94 #Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/lFM9NwSt90

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 15, 2016

Hahahaha yeah, Usain Bolt clowned everyone in the 100m on Sunday t.co/hSO4q73BQr

— SB Nation (@SBNation) August 15, 2016

His fans — inside the stadium and out — agree. Check out the celebration on the streets of Kingston, Jamaica in the video below:

♦

Gymnast Arthur Nory also made history yesterday. For the first time ever, two Brazilian gymnasts shared the podium: he won the bronze and Diego Hypólito took the silver for the men’s individual floor exercise event.

Arthur Nory is so damn hot🔥 pic.twitter.com/SO3G1TU9TJ

— Emmanuel (@Emmanuelmacaro) August 14, 2016

The duo was all over sports news after the win, but Nory is no stranger to media attention. For months, Brazilian news outlets have speculated about his relationship with model Frederico Devito, who’s openly gay, after photos Devito posted on social media last year.

At the time, when Brazilian newspaper Extra asked him about their relationship, he was vague: “I’d rather not talk about it. People talk too much, and they and make up stories,” he said. The photos were soon taken down.

Just last week, he replied to a tweet that suggested the two of them were dating: “Guys, that’s enough!”

♦

Track and field shocker: sprinter Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa won the gold medal and broke a 17-year-old record in the men’s 400m race. Favorites Kirani James of Grenada and LaShawn Merritt of the United States took silver and bronze respectively.

To give you an idea of how incredible of an athlete Van Niekerk is, said CNN, he’s the only athlete in history to run 100m under 10 secs, 200m under 20 secs, and 400m under 44 secs.

To make his story even sweeter, Van Nierkerk’s coach is 74-year-old great-grandmother Ans Botha, who has been coaching track and field since the 1960s.

“She’s an amazing woman,” Niekerk said on a press conference. “She has played a huge role in who I am today and kept me very disciplined and very focused on the role and who I need to be. I’m very grateful my coach has pushed me to the limit. Anything is possible. I’m just grateful I can trust in her work.”

♦

Andy Murray of Great Britain can almost be called Rio 2016’s comeback kid. The tennis star is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles, but he was out very early in the double’s format, when he played with brother Jamie and lost to Brazilian duo Thomaz Bellucci and Andre Sá.

But yesterday he was back in all his glory. Murray became the first tennis player in history to win two singles gold medals. He defeated Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro — who had already sent fan-favorite and  world No. 1 Novak Djokovic home — in a 4-hour struggle.

He was not the first person to win two gold medals for tennis, however, as BBC’s John Inverdale said when he interviewed him after the match.

“You’re the first person ever to win two Olympic tennis gold medals. That’s an extraordinary feat, isn’t it?” But the Scot shot back: “Well, to defend the singles title … I think Venus and Serena [Williams] have won about four each but hadn’t defended a singles title before.”

Twitter melted for Murray, known and loved for speaking out against sexism:

Yet another reason to love Andy Murray… t.co/qWPaIIkNmx

— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) August 15, 2016

Great one #AndyMurray
The first man to get two Olympic medals
As Venus and Serena got 4
Each#Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/5keOiO7aPg

— Sophia Cannon (@SophiaCannon) August 15, 2016

On and off the court, a class act. Well played #AndyMurray @Womeninsport_uk t.co/zboawuWexD

— Rachel Harvey (@HarveyBKK) August 15, 2016

♦

Brazilian rugby player Isadora Cerullo’s marriage proposal from girlfriend Marjorie Enya might have started a trend. A second proposal happened in Rio, just moments after He Zi of China received her silver medal in the 3-meter springboard event. Boyfriend Qin Kai, a fellow Olympic diver, bent on one knee by the podium and offered the 25-year-old an engagement ring.

She said yes.

Chinese diver He Zi won silver, then had another special moment as fellow diver Qin Kai proposed to her. pic.twitter.com/KTebQFL35X

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) August 15, 2016

Photo credit: Instagram reproductions h/t Extra newspaper

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John Oliver Tackles the ‘Almost Criminal’ World of Car Loans: WATCH

John Oliver took on the predatory world of car loans on Last Week Tonight on Sunday, pointing out how the number of sub-prime auto loans is peaking.

Oliver also pointed out how used car loans that promise to approve anyone (seriously, anyone) ensnare people in a mountain of debt that, as Oliver puts it, “will affect every financial decision you make for the best part of the next decade.”

Explaining the extent of the problem, Oliver said,

“Nearly a quarter of all car loans are of the high-risk subprime variety. In fact, so many are being issued, they recently reached a 10-year high. And if the phrase ‘A boom in subprime loans’ is making your eye twitch with flashbacks to the mortgage crisis, just wait — we will get there.”

Mediaite adds, 

Even if you’ve suffered from bankruptcy, car repossession, or foreclosure, it is still incredibly easy to find yourself a victim of more offers for subprime loans. Oliver called the process a “feeding frenzy”. The staff even sent an undercover camera to a debt-buyers conference in Las Vegas, revealing the language of Ken Shilson from the National Alliance of Buy Here Pay Here Dealers, who said, “These people have negative equity all the way through and they’re not going to be able to hold their life together for seven years… You know the customer. You know how to collect. You’ve got the legal expertise. What’s holding you back?”

Oliver also enlisted the help of Keegan-Michael Key and Bob Balaban to comedically underscore everything that’s wrong with the predatory world of auto lending.

Watch below.

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Paul Manafort, Nico Hines, Justin Trudeau, R2-D2, Frank Ocean, Shakur Stevenson: HOT LINKS

2016 ELECTION. Hacker publishes list of phone numbers, private emails of House Democrats.

PREPARING TO LOSE. Trump says the only way he can lose Pennsylvania is if Hillary Clinton ‘cheats’: “We’re gonna watch Pennsylvania. Go down to certain areas and watch and study and make sure other people don’t come in and vote five times. The only way we can lose, in my opinion – and I really mean this, Pennsylvania – is if cheating goes on. I really believe it.”

UKRAINE. Ledgers show cash for Trump’s campaign chief: “Handwritten ledgers show $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments designated for Mr. Manafort from Mr. Yanukovych’s pro-Russian political party from 2007 to 2012, according to Ukraine’s newly formed National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Investigators assert that the disbursements were part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials.”

JUSTIN TRUDEAU. Canadian PM marches in Montreal Pride parade.

BLUEGRASS. Nobody seems to care that Kentucky has a gay Senate candidate: “What went unnoticed this recent Saturday afternoon was that Gray was probably first openly gay person to speak at Fancy Farm. Records aren’t easy to come by for something that began in 1880, but veterans of the event say they can’t recall an openly gay speaker. This is how Gray’s campaign has gone: He’s making history, and nobody seems to notice. Or, for that matter, care.”

SIGNORILE. Why The Daily Beast thought its article endangering gay Olympians was perfectly acceptable: “A hook-up app is a 2016 version of a gay bar, a gay bath or even a 1950s’ public restroom (the only place some gay men could meet for sex in many places in this country during that era), depending on how and why individuals are using the particular app. What Hines did is equivalent to going undercover into a public restroom or a gay bar or sex club and luring people into revealing information about their sexual lives — people who may be deeply closeted because they could be fired, ostracized or arrested — basically entrapping them, and then making the details public. It serves no purpose journalistically, however interesting it might be to some people, as there’s no reason we need to know the information — surely not if it means someone’s life might be terribly affected. That’s far different from a politician or another public figure with enormous power who is closeted and is doing something harmful to queer people.”

CHICAGO. Man attacked in Logan Square in alleged anti-gay attack.”Levi Frerichs said he was walking in Logan Square last week in the 2700-block of North Spaulding when three boys and two girls came up from behind and started punching him.”

DEATHS. R2-D2 actor Kenny Baker has died: “The British actor who played R2-D2 in the Star Wars films has died at the age of 81 after a long illness. Kenny Baker, who was 3ft 8in tall, shot to fame in 1977 when he first played the robot character….His niece, Abigail Shield, paid tribute to her uncle. She told the Guardian: ‘It was expected, but it’s sad nonetheless. He had a very long and fulfilled life. He brought lots of happiness to people and we’ll be celebrating the fact that he was well loved throughout the world. We’re all very proud of what he achieved in his lifetime.’”

WINNIPEG. Canadian volleyball coach loses job because he’s gay: “My agent told me the team said they didn’t want to take you because they were nervous about other teams’ fans being hostile toward you because of being gay. I was just, ‘Oh.’”

AUSTRALIA. Sydney woman raising her kids to be gender-neutral: “Gender stereotypes are so forcefully pushed on kids in so many different ways — in the use of gender specific language and stereotyping in schools, in the media and in marketing … and I think it’s really important parents consider the detrimental impacts of that.”

THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT. A new app sends an alert when Frank Ocean’s Boys Don’t Cry album finally drops: “The R&B singer’s sophomore album “Boys Don’t Cry” was supposedly set to release in July, then Aug. 5 and now fans are frantically speculating Nov. 13, thanks to a cryptic library due date card featured on Ocean’s website.”

ISN’T IT OBVIOUS? Why do gay men love the Olympics?

LEVI KREIS. Those of you who are in Provincetown for Carnival week can see Levi Kreis make his Ptown debut in concert on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Crown & Anchor as part of its big Broadway series. Highly recommended!

SOUTH AFRICA. The nation just got its first LGBT video-on-demand streaming channel: “Traditional TV channels have historically offered only small smatterings of one-dimensional LGBT content that ironically reinforces stereotypes instead of shattering them. PrideTV reverses the trend to restrict access to LGBT themes by South African and African broadcasters.”

HEDWIG. The hit musical about the trans East German rock star is headed out on a national tour and just posted this new spot featuring Darren Criss and Lena Hall.

TEGAN AND SARA. “Hang on to the Night”.

MONDAY MUSCLE. US Olympic boxer Shakur Stevenson.

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