Goodbye, Gawker (and Nick Denton, and Jezebel, and Deadspin) (Video)
www.advocate.com/media/2016/8/18/goodbye-gawker-and-nick-denton-and-jezebel-and-deadspin-video
Daily Archives: August 18, 2016
Trans Folks Can Now Pee Safely in All Federal Buildings
Trans Folks Can Now Pee Safely in All Federal Buildings
The General Services Administation issued a new rule today that will ensure transgender employees and visitors have access to public restrooms in all federal buildings.
www.advocate.com/transgender/2016/8/18/trans-folks-can-now-pee-safely-all-federal-buildings
Gawker.com Announces End of Operations After 14 Years in Business
Gawker.com Announces End of Operations After 14 Years in Business
Gawker.com will close up shop next week after fourteen years in operation, the company announced on Thursday. Gawker was unable to recover from a protracted and ultimately disastrous legal fight with former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan who sued Gawker over its release of a sex tape featuring Hogan. Hogan’s lawsuit was funded by homocon billionaire Peter Thiel who had a score to settle with the media company founded by Nick Denton over its ‘outing’ of him in 2007.
RELATED: Gay Billionaire Peter Thiel Admits to Bankrolling Hulk Hogan’s Case Against Gawker
Gawker was found liable in the Hogan sex tape case to the tune of $140 million, an amount that ultimately led to the company’s bankruptcy.
Via Gawker’s official announcement:
After nearly fourteen years of operation, Gawker.com will be shutting down next week. The decision to close Gawker comes days after Univision successfully bid $135 million for Gawker Media’s six other websites, and four months after the Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel revealed his clandestine legal campaign against the company.
Nick Denton, the company’s outgoing CEO, informed current staffers of the site’s fate on Thursday afternoon, just hours before a bankruptcy court in Manhattan will decide whether to approve Univision’s bid for Gawker Media’s other assets. The near-term plans for Gawker.com’s coverage, as well as the site’s archives, have not yet been finalized.
PREVIOUSLY: Univision Buys Gawker Media for $135 Million
Members of the media reacted to the news on Twitter.
rip t.co/ao4r7otCzb
— Rich Juzwiak (@RichJuz) August 18, 2016
End of an era — t.co/WjyAwZsQ8S to end operations next week t.co/awqOJgXnY4 pic.twitter.com/xSxUf4IFMJ
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) August 18, 2016
RIP gawker dot com t.co/xlGAWCE4Hu
— Kevin O’Keeffe (@kevinpokeeffe) August 18, 2016
Woah. pic.twitter.com/CDcTUBixHY
— Calvin (@calvinstowell) August 18, 2016
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Rio 2016, Day 12 Report: Lochtegate, an All-American Podium and ‘Ouch, That Hurts’
Rio 2016, Day 12 Report: Lochtegate, an All-American Podium and ‘Ouch, That Hurts’
Happy Rio 2016 holiday!
Today is one of three feriados olímpicos (Olympic holidays) in Rio.
Back in April, Mayor Eduardo Paes had declared three local holidays, as a plan to help with traffic by reducing the number of cars and buses on the streets. The first one was on the day of the opening ceremony. Another one will be on the day after the closing ceremony, to help visitors leave town. Today’s holiday was declared because of the triathlon competition, where major streets had to be closed, and 42 bus lines are operating on alternate routes.
We’ll bring you all the Triathlon action tomorrow, but first let’s see what happened yesterday on the 12th day of competition
♦
It was a great day for lesbians: women’s field hockey, one of the sports with the highest number of out athletes in Rio — three from Great Britain, including a married couple, and two players from the Netherlands plus their coach — defined its final match:
Great Britain beat New Zealand 3-0, reaching its first gold-match ever (congrats, ladies!), and two-time defending gold medalist Netherlands topped Germany in a 4-3 sudden death shootout, after the game ended 1-1 in regular time.
Tomorrow, Team Great Britain will play Team Netherlands, and five openly-gay players and one out coach will fight for the gold. That almost beats the previous record number of openly gay athletes in a match. Last week on the soccer quarterfinal match between U.S. and Sweden, five out players and two out coaches battled it out.
Set your clocks for 21:00 on Friday night..
GB’s women are into the #Rio2016 hockey finalt.co/eqKImWVVoI pic.twitter.com/NOLdqhDIya
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 18, 2016
Rio Olympics 2016: Netherlands women beat Germany on penalties in hockey semi-final: Defending champions the … t.co/bJRUb2eyO5
— Dutch News Links (@dlDutchnews) August 17, 2016
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The latest chapter of the juicy Lochte saga seems to be taken out of a Robert Ludlum novel.
Last night, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz, two of the swimmers who were allegedly robbed at gunpoint with fellow swimmers Ryan Lochte and James Feigen in the early hours of Sunday morning were pulled out of their flight from Rio to the U.S. They have been ordered by authorities to stay in Brazil for questioning, as discrepancies regarding the accounts of the robbery became more apparent.
In addition, security video obtained by the Daily Mail showed the four athletes returning to the Olympic Village after the alleged attack and in possession of high-value items that might be expected to have been taken in an armed robbery.
The video:
Wednesday, a judge ordered Lochte and Feigen to surrender their passports, but when police got to the Olympic Village in the morning, the four men had already moved out. Lochte was already back in the States.
In the evening Feigen who had checked in for a flight online never showed up to the airport, but police were able to track down Conger and Bentz, who were already inside United Airlines flight 128 to Houston.
In a fresh interview with NBC that has yet to be aired, Lochte had slightly modified an aspect of his story, Today Show host Matt Lauer said, Reuters reported.
Thursday morning, The Daily Mail reported that the story had been in fact fabricated. The four swimmers got drunk after leaving a club, trashed a bathroom at gas station and refused to pay for damages. The gas station’s security guard pulled a gun and demanded they paid for it.
A security guard pulled a gun and demanded they pay for damages, police say t.co/dcJYLnTIRk
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) August 18, 2016
♦
Another ‘ouch’ moment during the diving competition: Russian diver Yulia Timoshinina landed face-first in the women’s 10m platform, when her dive went wrong. She finished last.
“She pretty much lands on her face, does’t she?” a BBC commentator said. “It’s the only way you can describe it: ‘ouch, that hurts’!”
♦
American duo Kerri Walsh-Jennings and April Ross won the bronze medal after winning Larisse França and her partner Talita Antunes of Brazil 2-1, a day after Walsh-Jennings lost her first Olympic beach volleyball match ever. She had won gold in the last three Olympics.
USA Today reported that she may not have won gold this Olympics, but she says she will cherish this bronze medal even more.
Kerri Walsh Jennings will cherish her bronze “much more” than her #gold medals t.co/sMNYYTXq0O #USA pic.twitter.com/hggzIZ4dWp
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) August 18, 2016
♦
Team USA took over the podium after the 100-meters hurdles race.
Brianna Rollins took the gold, Nia Ali won silver and Kristi Castlin the bronze.
“Women hurdlers are so strong in the US and we have overcome controversy. We are three strong hurdlers,” Castlin told reporters after the race.
No kidding.
American girls are so fierce that current world record holder Kendra Harrison didn’t even make the US team for Rio. Seven different American women have clocked the fastest seven times in the world this year, according to CNN.
In the long jump race, it was two out of three for Team USA: Tianna Bartoletta won gold and Brittney Reese took the silver.
Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin made Olympic history, swept the 100m hurdles t.co/3cbzvWDGpV pic.twitter.com/FDjGHbFkI6
— Jezebel (@Jezebel) August 18, 2016
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Soccer superstar Neymar of Brazil scored a goal after only 14 seconds – the fastest goal in Olympic soccer history – as Brazil defeated Honduras 6-0 to reach the men’s final on Saturday.
But now the real test begins. Still hurting from a soul-crushing 7-1 defeat to Germany two years ago in the World Cup semifinals — in the same stadium — the host country will get a shot at redemption playing Team Germany for the gold medal at the soccer final.
Will it be redemption, revenge or repeat?
It’s Brazil vs Germany in the gold medal football match.
What a game that is going to be!t.co/PLVRuyRrhh pic.twitter.com/dU8VyPfrZa
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 17, 2016
♦
Jim Buzinski, co-founder of Outsports, a sports news website dedicated to LGBT athletes, wrote that the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics will go down as the gayest in history, though there is still a lot of work to be done.
Buzinski noted the record number of 50 out LGB athletes, which is more than double the number in London in 2012.
There were no openly transgender athletes, and Outsports’ initial list had two intersex athletes, Dutee Chand of India and Caster Semenya of South Africa, both track and field athletes.
Outsports removed their name from the list after consulting with an expert on intersex athletes:
“Neither of them has publicly confirmed anything about their biology or that they are intersex. For that reason I have not labeled them as such in my writings. Intersex women have hyperandrogenism but not all women with hyperandrogenism have an intersex trait.”
The post Rio 2016, Day 12 Report: Lochtegate, an All-American Podium and ‘Ouch, That Hurts’ appeared first on Towleroad.
Rio Police: Ryan Lochte Lied About Being Robbed at Gunpoint, Got Involved in Gas Station Brawl
Rio Police: Ryan Lochte Lied About Being Robbed at Gunpoint, Got Involved in Gas Station Brawl
According to a Brazilian police source, Ryan Lochte lied about being robbed at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro, possibly to cover up an alleged brawl at a gas station.
BREAKING: Brazil police official: Lochte fabricated robbery claim; US Olympic swimmers were in rowdy gas station confrontation.
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 18, 2016
Lochte was one of four swimmers allegedly involved in the gas station confrontation. The other swimmers, all from Team USA, are Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen.
The official, who has direct knowledge of the investigation, spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about an ongoing probe.
He said that around 6 a.m. on Sunday, Lochte, along with fellow swimmers Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz and Jimmy Feigen, stopped at a gas station in Barra da Tijuca, a suburb of Rio where many Olympic venues are located. One of the swimmers tried to open the door of an outside bathroom. It was locked.
A few of the swimmers then pushed on the door and broke it. A security guard appeared and confronted them, the official said.
The official says the guard was armed with a pistol, but he never took it out or pointed it at the swimmers.
According to the official, the gas station manager then arrived. Using a customer to translate, the manager asked the swimmers to pay for the broken door. After a discussion, they did pay him an unknown amount of money and then left.
The official says that swimmers Conger and Bentz, who were pulled off a plane going back to the United States late Wednesday, told police that the robbery story had been fabricated.
Meanwhile, Civil Police in Rio de Janeiro obtained new surveillance footage that contradicts some statements of the swimmers, investigators told BuzzFeed News.
Police told BuzzFeed News they are investigating surveillance time-logs from inside France House — where the athletes were partying — that do not appear to coincide with the timeline the athletes gave to police.
ABC news reports that “one of the swimmers was seen on CCTV footage breaking down the door to the bathroom at the gas station and fighting with a security guard.”
However, according to Reuters, CCTV footage also shows the swimmers sitting on the ground with their hands in the air.
MORE: Brazil’s Globo TV shows CCTV images from Rio gas station depicting U.S. swimmers sitting on ground with hands in air
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) August 18, 2016
PREVIOUSLY: Ryan Lochte Changes Rio Robbery Story as 3 Teammates are Held in Brazil, Questioned
Meanwhile, a local report suggests that Lochte and the other swimmers urinated on the gas station despite appeals for them to use the bathroom.
Barra gas station owner says Lochte and friends urinated all over place despite appeals to use bathroom. t.co/Q6NpPJv4ak
— Bryan Armen Graham (@BryanAGraham) August 18, 2016
On Tuesday, security footage was released of Lochte and the other swimmers returning to the Olympic village after the incident. The individuals appear possibly inebriated and calm, considering they had been allegedly robbed at gunpoint.
On Wednesday, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger were pulled off a plane leaving Rio headed for the US as police wanted to question them regarding their involvement in the incident.
UPDATE. Local media organization Globo has revealed CCTV footage from the gas station in question.
One photo shows the three swimmers seated with their hands up.
Below, watch live as US swimmers are set to arrive at a police station to speak with Brazilian authorities.
The post Rio Police: Ryan Lochte Lied About Being Robbed at Gunpoint, Got Involved in Gas Station Brawl appeared first on Towleroad.
Target to Install Gender-Neutral Bathrooms in All of Its Stores
Target to Install Gender-Neutral Bathrooms in All of Its Stores
The company will spend $20 million to outfit its 1,800 locations with inclusive facilities.
www.advocate.com/transgender/2016/8/18/target-install-gender-neutral-bathrooms-all-its-stores
Laura & Nicole Wedding
Ryan Lochte Keeps Changing His Story About That Alleged Robbery
Ryan Lochte Keeps Changing His Story About That Alleged Robbery
As we reported yesterday, claims by Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte that he was robbed at gunpoint along with three fellow teammates has raised loads of speculation as to the veracity of his story, with Brazilian authorities trying to figure out what really happened on Sunday morning.
Related: Everyone’s Pissed At This Straight Journalist Who Used Grindr To Out Gay Athletes In Rio
One thing that’s not helping matters: the fact that details about the alleged robbery keep changing in significant ways.
Related: Testing The Limits Of Swimwear: A Sexy, Scandalous Night Of The Olympics In Pics
During a brief telephone interview with TODAY‘s Matt Lauer, Lochte contradicted his earlier account of the robbery, which he’d related to TODAY’s Billy Bush earlier this week:
The guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead and said ‘get down.’ I was like (puts hands up) I put my hands up. I was like ‘whatever.’ He took our money, he took my wallet.”
But speaking with Lauer, Lochte said the gun was aimed in his “general direction.”
Related: PHOTOS: What We Wouldn’t Give To Be Wrestler Jordan Burroughs’ Singlet For A Day
He initially told Bush, “We got pulled over in our taxi and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge. No lights, no nothing, just a police badge. They pulled us over, they pulled out their guns.”
But in the version he told Lauer, the taxi wasn’t forced off the road. Instead, they’d stopped the taxi at a gas station to use the bathroom, and that’s when they were robbed.
Related: Tonga Warrior Brings The World To Its Knees, Team USA Arrives In Rio & The Olympic Parade Begins
Speaking to Bob Costas, Lauer confirmed the story had changed:
“When he talked to me tonight, he said, ‘that’s when the guy pointed the gun in my direction and cocked it.’ And I pointedly said to him, ‘you had said before it was placed on your forehead and cocked.’ He said, ‘No, that’s not exactly what happened.’ And I think he feels it was more of a traumatic mis-characterization. I think people listening at home might feel that was embellishment at the time, but that’s up to people to decide.”
As BBC News reports, CCTV footage featuring the four swimmers — Lochte, Jimmy Feigen, Jack Conger, and Gunnar Bentz — has become key evidence in the investigation, particularly since the athletes appear totally relaxed as they pass through a metal detector and take items from their pockets.
Unrelated: This Week In Leaks: The Purported Jaw-Dropping Pic Of Reality Star Alex Bowen You Need To See
As one Brazilian judge noted, “They arrived with their psychological and physical integrity unshaken.”
Lochte is currently back in the states, but, as CNN reports, teammates Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were removed from their flight from Rio de Janeiro to the United States on Wednesday night. They’ve been ordered to stay in Brazil for questioning as authorities try to make sense of the various claims. and have been ordered to stay in Brazil.
Related: WATCH: Ryan Lochte Shaves His Entire Body, “Even The Bits You Don’t See!”
Lochte’s attorney Jeff Ostrow thinks the athletes are being unfairly scrutinized and taken advantage of by Brazilian police, telling CNN:
When you have one of America’s athletes who comes out and said something happened to him that happens to people there every single day, that doesn’t look good for a country trying to have a successful Olympics.”
Related: Poll Finds Hetero Guys Fantasize About Gay Sex A Lot, But Just How Likely Are They To Act Upon It?
Nevertheless, perhaps the shadiest aspect of this unwieldy story is the following soundbite by Billy Bush, explaining why he ultimately believes Lochte:
I spoke to him about four hours after he got into Olympic Village — or five hours — they’ve been out all night long,” he said. “He’s not the kind that can weave a brilliant tale when he’s hasn’t been out all night long, pardon me. (Emphasis ours.) The fact that he told this story so mellifluously makes me think, well, he could not have invented the whole thing.”
Woman Panics Upon Realizing Her Last Five Boyfriends Have All Been Lactose Intolerant, Gay, Or Both
Woman Panics Upon Realizing Her Last Five Boyfriends Have All Been Lactose Intolerant, Gay, Or Both
Statistics. Too many of them can drive a person crazy. Which is precisely what appears to be happening to one young woman on Reddit.
“All of my past boyfriends have been lactose intolerant,” she writes in a recent thread, “and a statistically confusing amount have later come out as gay.”
Related: Bromantic Dilemma: What Happens When A Straight Guy Falls In Love With Another Straight Guy?
The woman goes on to cite a finding by the Physicians Committee of Responsible Medicine that 25 percent of Americans (50 million people in total) cannot properly digest dairy.
“It’s weird to date five people and have ALL of them be lactose intolerant,” she writes. “I get that it’s not globally strange, but it is bizarre on a national level.”
As for the “statistically confusing amount” of gay men she’s dated, that’s more than she can process right now. For the moment, she just needs to know, “What odd patterns or coincidences do you see in your dating history?”
Related: Climate Determines Whether You Are A Top Or A Bottom
Turns out, she’s not alone in her unusual relationship patterns.
“None of my ex-girlfriends was lactose intolerant,” one man responds, “but four of them dated girls right after me. (Without dating any girls before me.) After a while it kinda gets to you, even though you know that you’re (probably) not the reason.”
“Every girl I have dated has been bisexual, and about half have come out as gay,” another man says. “My mom thinks it’s a thing I look for, but I don’t.”
“Most of my boyfriends have admitted being bisexual at some point,” a woman writes. “Both guys that I have chased and ones that have approached me.”
Related: What Exactly Is The Protocol After Hooking Up With A Straight Guy?
But the patterns don’t stop there.
“I’m 28,” a woman writes. “I’ve slept with four people and all of them either identified as a trans woman then or later came to identify as one. I’m retroactively a gold star lesbian!”
“Probably about 80% of the men I’ve had sex with completely disappeared and we’re never heard from again,” another woman says.
“I kept dating people who all worked for the same bank,” another person says. “Not the same branch, of course.”
Related: While Camping, This Guy Hooked Up With His Friend. Now? Radio Silence.
“Both my elementary school boyfriend and my middle school boyfriend later went to Brown for college and came out as gay,” a woman writes. “I guess my affection is correlated with success and queerness.”
“My first boyfriend had my brother’s name,” someone else says. “The last two have my dad’s name. I try not to think about it.”
“I have had five boyfriends with cancer,” another person adds. “Could be the region (dubbed ‘cancer valley’), but it’s a higher number than my friends.”
What bizarre patterns have you noticed in your own dating history? Share them in the comments section below…
San Antonio to Fight Anti-LGBT Legislation That Could Cost It 2018 Final Four
San Antonio to Fight Anti-LGBT Legislation That Could Cost It 2018 Final Four
San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor isn’t exactly known as a champion of LGBT rights. As a city council member in 2013, Taylor voted against San Antonio’s nondiscrimination ordinance, which she later referred to as “a waste of time.”
But even Taylor sees the writing on the wall: If Texas lawmakers pass a North Carolina-style bill sanctioning discrimination against LGBT people, San Antonio could lose the 2018 Final Four, which is expected to have a $75 million impact.
On Wednesday, Taylor spoke out in support of the city’s plans to formally lobby against such a measure, which GOP Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has threatened to push. Taylor’s remarks came during a meeting where San Antonio officials laid out the city’s proposed legislative agenda for next year, which includes advocating for local control and economic competitiveness, according to The Express-News.
“I did want to just call attention under ‘economic competitiveness,’ as to how important that is, I think those of us who have been watching what has been happening in some places across the nation, particularly in North Carolina, we can take a lesson from their loss in economic development and their decline in competitiveness due to some actions their state legislature took,” Taylor said, adding that she wishes lawmakers “would focus on the many issues that we as Texans have.”
Despite the threat of losing the Final Four and other economic backlash, some Texas lawmakers have indicated they plan to plow ahead with anti-LGBT legislation in next year’s session. GOP state Rep. Matt Shaheen recently told The Star-Telegram of Fort Worth he plans to introduce a bill that would prohibit cities, counties and school districts from allowing transgender people to use restrooms based on their gender identity.
“We’re taking that ability away,” Shaheen said. “We should leave that power where it should reside, at the state and federal level. I think this is such a silly topic. At the end of the day, this is about common sense and decency.
“We are the 12th-largest economy in the world,” Shaheen said of Texas. “If a company like Target wants to leave, I’ll help them pack and leave. But the Texas economy is going to do fine.”
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