Cher Spills the Tea on Her Pal Hillary Clinton (Video)
At a Provincetown fundraiser, the Oscar-winner shared stories of the Democratic candidate, who was sitting in the front row.
www.advocate.com/election/2016/8/22/cher-spills-tea-her-pal-hillary-clinton-video
Federal Judge Sides With Texas, Blocks Obama's Trans Student Guidance
The ruling takes issue with how the Obama administration drafted its guidance, and it adheres strongly to a strictly binary understanding of gender.
A Brief LGBT History of 'Saturday Night Live'
Here are all the LGBT milestones and moments that any SNL buff should know.
www.advocate.com/comedy/2016/8/22/brief-lgbt-history-saturday-night-live
Pat McCrory ‘Pleased’ with Injunction Against Obama’s Policy on Transgender Students
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory has responded to news of a federal judge temporarily halting the application of President Obama’s policy on transgender students, namely that Title IX protects transgender students against gender-based discrimination.
On Monday, McCrory said he was “pleased” with the court’s ruling, as Dominic Holden reports.
Said McCrory’s communications director Josh Ellis,
“The federal court decision bolster the efforts of Governor McCrory, along with 22 other states, to protect the privacy of families and children in our school bathrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities. We’re also pleased that a federal court has sided with Governor McCrory’s position that the Obama administration overstepped its authority by bypassing Congress and the courts.”
NPR has more on the ruling out of Texas today:
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor has granted a preliminary, nationwide injunction in response to a lawsuit filed by Texas and a number of other states. […]
The preliminary injunction would mean that, until that lawsuit works its way through the courts, the “status quo” would be maintained and the guidance could not be considered enforceable. […]
In a ruling issued Sunday, O’Connor concluded that there is a strong likelihood the states will win their case, justifying an injunction in the meantime. He found that the administration didn’t follow the proper notice and comment process for the guidelines.
The post Pat McCrory ‘Pleased’ with Injunction Against Obama’s Policy on Transgender Students appeared first on Towleroad.
John Oliver to Donald Trump: ‘Drop Out and Teach America a Lesson’ – WATCH
On Last Week Tonight John Oliver once again tangled with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Oliver urged Trump to drop out of the race, arguing it’s in his best interest.
After all, Trump is all about winning. And should he lose to Hillary that would be humiliating and brand-destroying for him. But winning wouldn’t be any better. Trump would then have to actually be president, live in government housing and, you know, do work.
So, Oliver argued, Trump should drop out. In a direct appeal to Trump, Oliver said, “You have accidentally made upwards of 4 good points.” Included among them: Trump has “effectively exposed the length to which political parties will go to appease their base.” Amen.
Hyping the pros of dropping out, Oliver said,
“Just think about how triumphant it would feel to say on national television: ‘I openly ran on a platform of impossibly ignorant proposals steeped in racial bigotry and nobody stopped me. n fact, you embraced me for it. What the f*ck was that about?”
Oliver added, “If you drop out in order to teach America a lesson, you would not be a loser. You would be a legend. There’d be a federal holiday in your honor.”
Watch, below.
The post John Oliver to Donald Trump: ‘Drop Out and Teach America a Lesson’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
New York Area Trainings Kick Off National Tour for Voter Mobilization in November
Post submitted by Ryan Wilson, Senior Regional Field Organizer for the Southern U.S.
Last week, HRC’s Equality Votes campaign kicked off a nationwide tour holding workshops in local communities where staff equip and empower local volunteers with the tools needed to join fellow HRC members across the country to organize on behalf of pro-LGBTQ candidates for the November 2016 elections.
Members of HRC’s volunteer-led Steering Committee in Greater New York and other local HRC members participated in two trainings, one held in Manhattan and one on Long Island, which trained more than 30 local advocates who are passionate about the upcoming election. The participants learned what is at stake in this election as well as important skills needed for volunteer recruitment and voter mobilization at upcoming phonebanks and other efforts to contact pro-equality voters.
This year, HRC is undertaking an unprecedented effort to mobilize pro-equality voters in key races up and down the ballot. Beginning with intensive work in four key early primary and caucus states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina in support of Hillary Clinton for President of the Unites States, and now shifting to look at critical races in key battleground states in the November general election, HRC is focused on engaging our millions of members and supporters on why they can not sit out this critical election.
At HRC we know that elections matter. We’ve come too far to go back now and the stakes could not be higher for the LGBTQ community this election. That’s why we have aggressive plans to mobilize our members and supporters this fall and there is an important role for you in our effort. Click here to learn more about upcoming workshops in cities across the country.
For more information about our HRC Equality Votes workshops or volunteer opportunities in Greater New York or beyond, contact HRC’s Ryan Wilson at [email protected].
Paid for by Human Rights Campaign Equality Votes and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
A Call for Complex LGBTQ Anti-Heroes
ABC/Nicole Wilder
GLAAD has always championed fair, accurate, and inclusive representation of LGBTQ characters in the media, a model which is essential as film and television have such an enormous power to change the perception of marginalized groups – for the better or for worse. But fair, accurate, and inclusive doesn’t always have to mean positive.
The “golden age of television” has brought about a renewed fascination with morally ambiguous characters. Just look at Walter White, Dexter Morgan, Tony Soprano, or any of the other straight white cisgender men traipsing across your screens doing horrible, reprehensible things. Their behavior is atrocious – that’s not disputed – but there is a window of empathy granted to these men that allows the audience to understand why they do what they do. It humanizes them and makes room for a connection between the viewer and the audience that isn’t possible with underdeveloped, two dimensional characters.
Complexity is the goal of all primary characters that walk across your screen, and LGBTQ characters should be no different. “Fair, accurate, and inclusive” means that queer characters have a right to be on every end of the moral spectrum. They deserve to be the ones prosecuting people for their bad behavior, but they also deserve to be the ones evading the law and bending the rules. Between good and bad, there is a whole wealth of gray, and that is where the most interesting characters lie. It would be a shame for straight white cisgender men to be the only characters allowed to access this multi-faceted space.
While many shows have made a stab at the queer villain or anti-hero, most of them lack nuance. More often than not, these characters are seen as dangerous or corrupt because of their identity as LGBTQ. That isn’t the making of a complex and original villain; that’s harmful fearmongering based on outdated tropes and stereotypes that damage the community. A trope that’s still as rampant as ever on television is the depiction of bisexual characters as untrustworthy, unfaithful, and/or willing to use sex to manipulate those around them, as seen in Mr. Robot’s Tyrell Wellick and Halt and Catch Fire’s Joe Macmillan. Both of these characters only direct interaction with their queerness is when it can be used as a means to an end. This moral ambiguity doesn’t stem from complexity, but rather from the pervasive stereotypes about bisexuality.
How To Get Away With Murder’s Annalise Keating is a breath of fresh air in a largely barren landscape. She is the central character of the show, she is black, and she is bisexual – three facts which are remarkable on their own because of the sheer rarity of their occurrence. But on top of that, she doesn’t fall prey to the same stereotypes mentioned above, and she isn’t confined to conventional morality in order to be more palatable. She lies under oath, manipulates evidence, and has covered up two murders thus far. But none of that stops viewers from tuning in week after week and making the series so popular with viewers and critics alike.
We can appreciate her bad behavior, even enjoy it, because we know that there’s more to her than just sketchy legal dealings and infidelity. It’s a part of who she is, but isn’t the defining trait of her character, and that complexity is what makes her so understandable. Moreover, we’re given an insight into her past, what makes her who she is, and why she does all of the things that she does. What drives her moral ambiguity – loyalty to her students and friends, a desire for power and prestige, and desperation to overcome her past – is universal. Annalise is a powerhouse of a character – one who could, potentially, pave the way for more like her given the series’ critical success.
It’s important for LGBTQ characters to be given the opportunity to inhabit every fictional space with the same amount of nuance and complexity as their non-LGBTQ counterparts. Queer people are just as capable of being corrupt as we are of being morally upstanding. We make bad decisions, and we can hurt the people around us, and we can be selfish and cruel. We can exist in that wealth of gray between “good” and “bad.” Marvel’s Jessica Jones’ morally questionable Jeri Hogarth is just as important to diversity and representation as Grey’s Anatomy’s upbeat, optimistic Arizona Robbins, as they both exist to show different types of people who are impacted by different issues and struggles. There is no one “right” narrative for LGBTQ characters, and there are so many untapped stories left for television to tell.
Pride Festival
State Farm posted a photo:
By teaming with local events, venues, merchants and communities, the Better State Crews will help you get to a better state. Look for a State Farm Better State Crew near you.
Xenophobic Evangelical Homophobe Michele Bachmann Advising Trump on Foreign Policy
Michele Bachmann is advising Donald Trump on foreign policy because Trump can’t stop enhancing his collection of dangerous xenophobic right-wingers:
Before the event, former Minnesota Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann said she has been advising Trump on foreign policy and issues of concern to Christian conservatives. She said Trump is right to call for more restrictive immigration policies.
“He also recognizes there is a threat around the world, not just here in Minnesota, of radical Islam,” she said. “I wish our President Obama also understood the threat of radical Islam and took it seriously.”
Bachmann, of course, is already part of the anti-LGBT ‘who’s who’ that makes up his Evangelical Executive Advisory Board.
The post Xenophobic Evangelical Homophobe Michele Bachmann Advising Trump on Foreign Policy appeared first on Towleroad.
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