State Senate Candidate Calls Gay Teen Who Committed Suicide A Murderer, Internet Comes For Him

The below comment was written by Jason Christensen, a man currently running for Utah State Senate, in regards to a teenager who committed suicide last week over his sexuality:

Since being posted on Reddit earlier today, it’s drummed up considerable outrage, with hundreds of people demanding that Christensen’s political career come to an abrupt and inauspicious end.

Related: Andrew Christian Model Jorge Ilich Dies In Apparent Suicide

The comment was left on a post linking to the obituary of Braxton David Taylor (pictured, right), a 19-year-old student at Weber State University who committed suicide on Monday.

“Yes, this is sad,” Christensen writes, “and hopefully God will have mercy on both sins that this boy committed. The sins of homosexuality and the sins of murder.”

Later on in the thread, he writes:

“Read the scriptures, stop denying the scriptures. I do feel bad for him and his sins. But one must recognize what’s sins [sic] and what is not sin. One must live the Gospel of Jesus Christ and not the Gospel of the Devil.”

Related: Antigay Lawmaker Commits Suicide Ahead Of Fraud Trial, Still Wins Election

Since the story went public, Christensen has made his social media accounts private due to the overwhelming barrage of hate mail he received over the course of a few hours.

“I actually emailed him and explained how disgusted I was in his comments,” writes Redditor UlyssesRambo, and Christensen wrote back:

“Please re-read my comments. I am not a bully at all unlike my opponent. I may have poor tactics to state the facts, but what I did say is truthful and I did show mercy for this poor confused boy. Life is precious and needs to be preserved, but we must also recognize the facts and give hope and encouragement in order to not just save lives, but to change peoples lives. This is our duty as Christians, not the government.”

“Terrible,” says Ramses3. “At least most people will be able to see this screenshot and realize the piece of shit he is and hopefully shun him from modern society, where he clearly doesn’t belong.

“Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention,” Meeze writes. “If you run for public office, you must be held accountable. My organization has consolidated and shared this disgusting display on our Facebook page.”

After 499 comments poured in, the discussion was closed. A message from slyder565 explained why:

Hello r/lgbt-ers and guests from /r/all! While this guy is a public figure and obviously a horrible human being, we cannot condone a which witch hunt and will be removing all additional contact information and temporarily banning anyone sharing it.

If you are angry about this, GOOD. Channel that anger into meaningful action, donate time or money to LGBT foundations in UT (no amount is too small), spend time on message boards supporting each other, support candidates who support us.

For a start: Utah Pride Centre

Please post additional resources and ideas below! Looks like this guy is actually a fringe candidate – any Utahans have more info? Who is the candidate to support in this race?

Christensen calls the notion of LGBTQ rights an “evil communistic agenda” on his floridly insane website.

Here’s a most unfortunate Facebook post from Christensen responding to the controversy:

www.queerty.com/state-senate-candidate-calls-gay-teen-committed-suicide-murderer-internet-comes-20160929?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

You Can’t Unsee The Hillary “Shimmy Song”

Earworm warning: this one will burrow its way into your brain.

You’ve seen the shimmy GIFs and memes, now this growing phenomenon has its own song, and it’s…well, kind of annoying actually, but still somewhat amusing.

Related: Randy Rainbow Moderates The First Debate; It’s Super

The lyrics center around how Hillary Clinton won the first debate simply by showing up, smiling and shimming her way through Donald Trump falling on his face and hanging himself with his own rope. It also makes note of those, “Can you believe what I have to put up with?” looks, which have reminded many of Jim Halpert from “The Office.”

In fact, the more we watch this, the more it grows on us.

Check it out below and let us know what you think, and who you think won the first debate.

www.queerty.com/cant-unsee-hillary-shimmy-song-20160929?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Protests Planned in Philadelphia After Video Emerges of Gay Bar Owner Calling Black Guests ‘Niggers’ – WATCH

A video has surfaced in which the owner of Philadelphia gay bar Icandy repeatedly refers to black patrons as “niggers.”

The owner of Icandy, Darryl DePiano, cannot be seen in the video but he is heard saying, “only niggers ask for drink passes.”

Here’s a transcript of the audio in the video, via PhillyMag: 

Guy No. 1: “And Ricky Peterson, nig, nig, nig, nig, niggers — everyone of them. (laughs) Does Ray ask you for drink passes — white, obnoxious white, but white?”

Guy No. 2: “No he’s never asked me.”

Guy No. 1: (laughs) “There you go, and he was definitely your real boyfriend. All three of them that ask you for drink passes are niggers.”

Background voice: whispers “oh my god” and the video ends.

DePiano confirmed on Facebook that it was him making the racist remarks in the video. He says the video was recorded approximately 3 years ago and that it does not reflect his “true feelings.”

DePiano wrote,

As Everyone is aware, there is a Video ciriculating that was recorded about 3 yrs ago of me using some Very Hurtful and Racist language in a time ofFrustration!! Although,I acknowledge that this type of Language and and actionare NEVER acceptable it truly does NOT reflect my true feelings. It is NEVER ever ever Ok to refer to anyone in this manne,but I did make this comment, and I have grown since then to be understanding and respectful to each and every individual. As many of you know me and know that i am always striving for diversity, and always willing to listen, learn and grow myself, my business, and my team. Again, this was an EXTREMELY Poor Choice I made on my own many years ago and i definitely learned and continue to learn each day. I SINCERELY and Truthfully Apologize to all my Friends, Valued Customers, and Everyone that I Hurt and Offended. It was NEVER my intention to do so. I Truly am SORRY, and PROMISE to continue to do better at respecting Everyone I love our whole Community, and will always do my part to make it a better place. I AM SOOO SORRY FOR MY STUPID AND OFFENSIVE ACTIONS!!

Outrage emerged on social media over the video and DePiano’s response. Some have called for a boycott of the club.

I’m done! SO DONE! I hope ICandy and the Gayborhood enjoy being an ocean of nothing but vanilla ice cream.

— Jayson Flores (@gayonabudget) September 29, 2016

Not buying what you’re selling. Apologizing and whitesplaining only after being caught #boycottiCandy

— AnAmbiguousMinority (@Minority_Tales) September 29, 2016

If drink passes frustrate you, try being called a racist slur #boycottiCandy

— AnAmbiguousMinority (@Minority_Tales) September 29, 2016

A protest is planned for this evening outside Icandy organized by the Black & Brown Workers Collective.

Thursday’s protest comes on the heels of a previous protest in Philadelphia’s gayborhood which called out Icandy for its racist dress code.

Medium writer Joshua Scott Albert reports: 

Last week there was a protests in the Gayborhood led by the Black and Brown Workers Collective. They made a few stops, one of which was ICandy, a popular gay bar in the Gayborhood. They were protesting ICandy’s blatantly racist dress code policy that prohibits patrons from entering wearing Timberlands. Not Uggs. Not Boots. Timberlands.

Gayborhood Racism protest happening right now outside of ICandy! pic.twitter.com/MWechQBVD4

— G Philly (@G_Philly) September 23, 2016

Philadelphia Gay News recently reported on the controversy surrounding the dress code at ICandy:

“In the spring, some patrons of ICandy said they had been denied entrance because they were wearing Timberland boots; many saw it as a way to keep black people out of the bar. General Manager Jeff Sheehan told PGN at the time that a miscommunication between management and a member of the door staff led to the problem, when in fact, ‘There are no brand-specific bans at all.’ The dress code is clean, neat and casual, Sheehan said.”

However, many of iCandy’s former patrons have not seen the dress code as an issue of “miscommunication.”

PhillyMag notes that nearby Philadelphia gay bar Woody’s has also been accused of having a racist dress code, and that “enforcement of Gayborhood bar dress codes that target urban fashion trends has seemingly become more frequent in the past year.”

[Photo via Facebook]

The post Protests Planned in Philadelphia After Video Emerges of Gay Bar Owner Calling Black Guests ‘Niggers’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Protests Planned in Philadelphia After Video Emerges of Gay Bar Owner Calling Black Guests ‘N—ers’ – WATCH

GOP Candidate for Utah Senate Trolls Woman Mourning Gay Teen Who Committed Suicide 

A Republican candidate for the Utah state Senate went viral on Reddit after trolling a woman on Facebook who was mourning the death of a gay teenager who committed suicide.

Braxton Taylor tragically took his own life at the young age of nineteen. And as NNN reports, “People close to the case…have called Taylor’s death an ‘LGBT suicide’ on various ‘ex mormon’ websites.”

The story of Taylor’s death got an ugly postscript after a woman who lived near Taylor shared the boy’s obituary on Facebook. As Raw Story notes, the woman wrote, “This beautiful boy lived in Kaysville and shared the same zip code as I do. He attended the same jr. high school as my children, and was just nineteen years old.”

Utah Senate hopeful Jason Christensen (R) then commented on that post, writing that he hopes God forgives Taylor for the sins of “homosexuality” and “murder.”

Wrote Christensen, “Yes this is sad, and hopefully God will have mercy on both sins that this boy committed. The sins of homosexuality and the sins of murder.”

When challenged by a commenter on calling Taylor a murderer, Christensen responded, “When you take a life what you call it? It’s still murder.”

The woman who shared the obituary fired back at Christensen, saying, “Jason Christensen get off my thread now. Not able to block you now but will asap. How dare you! Get the hell off!”

But Christensen didn’t leave it there. He added, “Read the scriptures, stop denying the scriptures,” he replied. “I do feel bad for him and his sins. But one must recognize what’s sins and what is not sin. One must live the Gospel of Jesus Christ and not the Gospel of the Devil.”

After making his Twitter private, Christensen later posted on Facebook, “Don’t you love how intolerant the left actually is?”

You can read Taylor’s obituary here.

[h/t NNN]

The post GOP Candidate for Utah Senate Trolls Woman Mourning Gay Teen Who Committed Suicide  appeared first on Towleroad.

Candidate for Utah Senate Trolls Woman Mourning Gay Teen Who Committed Suicide 

New Report Finds Voter ID Laws Disenfranchise Transgender Community

A new report from the Williams Institute found that voter ID laws disproportionately impact and disenfranchise the transgender community.

The report released this month found that more than 34,000 transgender Americans across eight states could be prevented from voting due to restrictive voter ID laws.

In Shelby County v. Holder in June 2013, the Supreme Court invalidated a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, a law that is designed to ensure minority voters across the country are able to participate equally in the electoral process by prohibiting discriminatory voting practices and removing barriers to voting.  Since the Supreme Court’s decision, states and localities have brazenly pushed forward potentially discriminatory changes to voting practices, such as changing district boundaries to disadvantage select voters, instituting unnecessary voter identification laws, and changing polling locations with little notice.

Transgender people are particularly vulnerable to discrimination and disenfranchisement when voting due primarily to challenges around valid identification documents. Many transgender people do not have forms of ID that reflect their gender, either because they are in the process of changing their documents or face financial or legal barriers to doing so. In addition, many LGBTQ people face compounded discrimination based on other characteristics, including race, age, and economic status.  These vulnerabilities weaken our entire community’s voting power.

Roughly 6 million LGB voters cast a ballot in 2012 — an election President Obama won by just under 5 million votes. Historically, turnout among LGBTQ voters is significantly higher than the general voting population. And there’s this: in key swing states like North Carolina, Florida, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia, the number of LGBTQ adults is greater than the margin of victory in 2012.

This November, there are approximately 9.4 million LGBTQ people of voting age in the U.S. This year, more than any election before, we know that every vote counts. That’s why HRC is on the ground, working to mobilize and #turnOUT LGBTQ and pro-equality voters in battleground states across the country. Learn more at hrc.org/VoteEquality and register to vote today at hrc.org/vote.

www.hrc.org/blog/new-report-finds-voter-id-laws-disenfranchise-transgender-community?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Lil Wayne Officiated A Same-Sex Wedding In Prison

Lil Wayne didn’t say if the couple exchanged rings, but they did celebrate with cookies and Gatorade. 

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2016/9/29/rev-wayne-rappers-memoir-reveals-he-officiated-same-sex-wedding-prison

California Eliminates Rape Statute of Limitations After Cosby Case

In many states, once a certain amount of time has passed, rape cannot be prosecuted. 

www.advocate.com/crime/2016/9/29/california-eliminates-rape-statute-limitations-after-cosby-case

After AfterEllen, Trish Bendix to Edit GO Magazine

The job hunt didn’t take long for the former AfterEllen editor.

www.advocate.com/media/2016/9/29/after-afterellen-trish-bendix-edit-go-magazine