POLL: Who Do You Want To Win ‘RuPaul’s All Stars Drag Race’ Season 2?

Gentlemen, start your engines! RuPaul’s All Stars Drag Race is finally back for a second season, premiering this Thursday at 8pm ET/PT on Logo.

Who do you think deserves to snatch the crown and join Chad Michaels in the All Stars hall of fame? Watch the promo video below and then vote and let your voice be heard. And may the best woman win!

Oh, and don’t forget to visit Dragaholic every week for exit interviews with the eliminated queens, only on Queerty!

Who Do You Want To Win ‘RuPaul’s All Stars Drag Race’ Season 2? Vote Now!

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Frank Ocean’s ‘Nikes’ Music Video is a Queer Masterpiece – WATCH

The music video for Frank Ocean’s song “Nikes”, the first off his new album Blonde, doesn’t shy away from queer elements. In fact, they’re baked into what makes the video so spectacular.

There’s been some confusion surrounding the title of Ocean’s new album, given that it’s spelled as the masculine “blond” on the album artwork while the official title is the feminine Blonde. But the fact that Ocean is presenting us with “two versions” of Blonde is not surprising.

Back in April 2015 he promised he would give us “twooo versions” of the then-titled Boys Don’t Cry. When that album morphed into Blonde and was finally released, there were not only two different spellings of the album (with two different album covers), but also two actually different albums–one that you could get online and one you could get at pop stores.

Two-ness exists throughout Blonde and “Nikes.” As Rolling Stone notes, Ocean plays it up in “Nikes”, “singing as a pair of different guises, one a sped-up vocal, the other slowed down, with the two distinct voices weaving alongside and contrasting each other over the song’s first half.”

What’s more, early on in the video, Oean’s image is literally spliced in two.

And binary gender expectations are juxtaposed when Ocean, perfectly made up with Elizabeth-Taylor-in-Cleopatra-level eyeliner, goes racing in some bada** sports cars. Who said you can’t like glitter and hot wheels?

“Nikes” also has no qualms about turning the camera’s gaze on male flesh just as much (okay, maybe more so) than it does on female bodies.

All of that gives a distinctly queer vibe to the video that’s as alluring as the video itself.

Watch “Nikes”, below.

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Courtney Act Goes to a Trump Rally, Finds Likable People But Not Many Facts – WATCH

Drag star Courtney Act recently left the gay summer seaside pleasantness of Provincetown to journey to somewhere much more sinister: a Donald Trump rally.

Act decided to make the trip when she realized that Trump would be holding an event only 4 hours away from P-Town, where she’s performing her The Girl From Oz show this summer.

Act was a little scared going into the rally, but it seems the scariest thing she found once there was a general disregard for facts–to put it lightly. Act wrote about her experience attending the rally for Junkee:

My whole goal of going to the rally was to understand people. I didn’t want to belittle or mock them. I really wanted to have conversations and listen in the hope that we could find some common ground. What I found really surprised me.

Not one of them made any sense — and I don’t just mean their views didn’t align with mine. It was their use of the English language didn’t make sense. None of them spoke in complete sentences or seemed to listen, comprehend or properly respond to what I was saying. There was a lot of buzz words and rambling rhetoric cut and pasted together….Nothing I heard was based on any facts whatsoever. Just jumbled up sound bites, spewed out with passion and conviction.

RELATED: The Daily Show Finds Out If Trump Supporters Would Pass ‘Extreme Vetting’ Gay Rights Test – WATCH

Yet despite the fact-free zone she found herself in, and the dread she felt leading up to the rally, Act was surprised by the crowd:

I found them all to be likeable. I didn’t feel scared. These people weren’t filled with hate. There weren’t innately bad or wanting to cause harm. It made me feel inspired that we are not fighting an enemy that hates us; they’re just misinformed. They’re not thinking about the world beyond their own immediate needs. They haven’t researched, read several independent news sources and created informed opinions that happen to be diametrically opposed to those on the left. This isn’t about facts, it about fear. Yes, that may make them a bigger threat to the future of the free world, but my perspective was totally shifted.

Read the rest of Act’s reflection on entering Trumpistan here. And watch her video, below.

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Stevie Wonder, Jessie J, Lance Bass, Matt Bomer Raise Money for Pulse Survivors

www.advocate.com/crime/2016/8/23/stevie-wonder-jessie-j-lance-bass-matt-bomer-raise-money-pulse-survivors

Barbra Streisand Got Tim Cook To Change How Siri Pronounces Her Name In Ultimate Success Story

We’d expect nothing less: when Barbra Streisand found that Siri couldn’t pronounce her name, she didn’t just give up in defeat. She made them fix Siri.

That news came out in a lovely new NPR interview in which the star charms the pants off of Scott Simon (probably not literally but then again you never know). At one point during the interview, she showed off by asking Siri “who’s was [sic] the only female vocalist who’s had hit records for six straight decades?”

“Barbra Streisand,” Siri replies, but she flubs the last name: “Stry-zand,” Siri pronounces it. We tried to replicate this behavior and Siri simply brought us to Bing, so in other words she was completely unhelpful. But ask her “Who’s in the movie Yentl” and you’ll get her to mispronounce the name.

“I called the head of Apple, Tim Cook, and he delightfully agreed to have Siri change the pronunciation of my name, finally, with the next update on September 30th,” Barbra said. Was it known that Apple has an update coming on September 30th, or did Barbra Streisand just leak a Mac rumor?

The rest of the interview is an unmitigated delight, with stories about Marvin Hamlisch and Jamie Foxx. She also tells Melissa McCarthy not to call her Babs. It’s wonderful. If you want to hear the whole conversation, go stand near a radio for several hours in the hopes that it comes on. Or just head here.

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Polish Gay Couple’s Video For Roxette’s New Song Is The Perfect End To Summer

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NYPD Officers Ignored Anti-Gay Hate Crime, Says Alleged Victim

Manhattan resident Omar Villalobos says six New York police officers who were working on 42nd street did nothing after he was punched by a man who used an anti-gay slur before the alleged attack.

The NY Post reports:

“He had been staring at us, really giving us a very hateful glare,” Villalobos remembered. “I was telling Natasha that I had never seen someone look so hateful. In my head, I very much dismissed it, though, because there’s crazy people in New York all the time who can’t control their facial expressions. But then out of nowhere, we just heard mumbling and then the word fa**ot.’ As I go to respond, he punches me right on my forehead, splitting me open right above my right eyebrow.”

Villalobos claimed that after the assault, his attacker — a blonde-haired, blue-eyed man who appeared to have been in his 40s — didn’t even try to escape.

“Natasha was trying to get the cops to arrest him, and then two bystanders even came over to try and get [the officers] to help, and one of the cops goes, “All they’re going to do is put him in the mental clinic and then he’ll be back on the street in no time.’”

According to the Post, the NYPD Hate Crimes unit has launched an investigation of the incident but not the reaction of the police officers, who, according to Villalobos “said they were there for terrorist attacks, not homeless people.”

Villalobos required six stitches according to the report.

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What is Nick Denton Doing After Gawker?

The answer to that question doesn’t seem at all clear at this point, except to say that Denton is getting out of the news business.

Denton, who founded Gawker, will reportedly be receiving $17,000 a month in return for signing a non-compete agreement with Univision, the Spanish-language media company that purchased 6 of Gawker Media’s blogs for $135 million after the company declared bankruptcy. Gawker.com was not one of those blogs and it has ended operations. 

According to USA Today, 

“[Univsion] will pay Denton $16,666 a month for the next two years to ensure he follows through on the promise [to leave news media], according to a non-compete pact included as part of Denton’s personal Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York.

As part of their pact, Denton “has agreed not to, directly or indirectly, associate with any business enterprise that engages in the business in the United States, Puerto Ricoor Hungary” without Univision’s written consent, the filing read.

Gawker was financially crippled by a legal battle with former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan who sued Gawker for releasing a sex tape in which he appeared. Gawker lost that law suit to the tune of $140 million. It later turned out that Hogan was being bankrolled by homocon billionaire Peter Thiel who sought revenge against Gawker for ‘outing’ him in 2007.

Of his next chapter, Denton has said in an internal staff memo circulated at Gawker,

“I will move on to other projects, working to make the web a forum for the open exchange of ideas and information, but out of the news and gossip business. Gawker.com may, like Spy Magazine in its day, have a second act. For the moment, however, it will be mothballed, until the smoke clears and a new owner can be found. The archives will remain, but Monday’s posts will be the last of this iteration.”

Gawker’s last post was published on Monday.

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HRC Foundation and Whitman-Walker Health Release Comprehensive Transgender Sexual Health Guide

Today, the HRC Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, and Whitman-Walker Health, a community health center with special expertise in LGBTQ and HIV-related care, released Safer Sex for Trans Bodies, a comprehensive sexual health guide for transgender and gender expansive people and their partners. The guide fills a significant gap in inclusive, publicly-available sexual health resources for transgender and gender expansive people.

“Transgender people are too often denied crucial and relevant guidance around sexual health that everyone needs to live healthy, safe and whole lives” said HRC Communications Director Jay Brown. “Transgender health issues, especially those related to sexual health, are all too often stigmatized or completely ignored. Safer Sex for Trans Bodies provides essential information that will help minimize health risks that can develop because of a lack of knowledge.”

This first-of-its kind resource was drafted by HRC and Whitman-Walker Health in consultation with Casa Ruby, Trans United Fund, and TransLatin@ Coalition. It was made possible with support from the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with HRC in creating this important resource for the community,” said Josh Riley, Director of Community Commitment at Whitman-Walker Health. “Too often in healthcare settings, if there is a focus on sexual health at all, it is only explored through the lens of pathology or dysfunction. Sexual health for trans bodies is even less recognized, rendered invisible because of ignorance or stigma.  This new guide emphasizes sexual health, wellness, and exploration, in addition to risk reduction, and will be a valuable tool for trans-identified individuals across the spectrum, as well as their healthcare providers and other allies.”

The guide is written by and for members of the transgender community and offers them a long-overdue resource on potentially life-saving and affirming practices, from respectful terminology and definitions to helpful practices for sexual health following transition-related care. It will be available online and at Whitman-Walker Health’s locations in Washington, D.C. A Spanish-language will be released in the coming months. HRC and Whitman-Walker Health will also host a Facebook Live conversation about transgender health on Wednesday, August 23rd at 1 PM Eastern on the HRC Facebook page.

Ruby Corado of Casa Ruby, a bilingual, multicultural organization providing life-saving services and programs to LGBT people in the DC-area, offered her support of the guide. “This publication is critical to support informed decision-making in trans communities that lack access to many resources. Through this guide, providers will have ready access to culturally competent guidance,” Corado said.

Transgender people frequently experience significant barriers to inclusive and competent care.  Last year, the HRC Foundation released a guide for transgender people navigating insurance plans, which often exclude coverage for medically necessary transition-related care. The annual Healthcare Equality Index (HEI), the HRC Foundation’s national benchmarking tool that evaluates health care facilities’ LGBTQ-inclusive policies and practices, measures services and treatment of transgender patients.  

To learn more about how HRC’s work on transgender equality, visit www.hrc.org/transgender.

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