Aaron Schock Finally Gets His Day in Court, Faces 24 Felony Charges

Disgraced anti-gay former Illinois Congressman Aaron Schock (R) will be arraigned in federal court on Monday. Schock has been implicated by the federal government in a far-reaching corruption investigation that centers on Schock’s alleged misuse of government funds.

Schock’s troubles first began when it was revealed that he had unlawfully accepted design services for free so that his congressional office could be styled in the manner of Downton Abbey.

Schock faces 24 felony counts.

The Peoria Journal Star reports: 

The Peoria Republican was indicted last month by a federal grand jury which spent 18 months looking at his financial dealings. He’s expected to plead not guilty at the 3:30 p.m. hearing, which will likely result in U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough setting his trial for sometime next spring.

PREVIOUSLY: Anti-Gay Former GOP Rep. Aaron Schock Whines About Being ‘Poked, Prodded, and Probed’ – WATCH

More from The Chicago Tribune: 

The charges include wire fraud, mail fraud, theft of government funds, making false statements, filing false reports with federal election officials and filing false tax returns.

Usually, defendants waive their right to have the indictment read aloud in court — and Schock’s indictment runs 52 pages. Schock will be asked to enter a plea on Monday. Based on his oft-stated insistence that he is innocent, a “not guilty” plea is a good bet.

[Judge] Myerscough [who is presiding over the case] is a former Illinois appellate judge who considered running as a Democrat for the seat in Congress that Schock eventually won in 2008. President Barack Obama nominated her to the federal bench in 2010.

Myerscough on Friday denied the goverment’s request for a gag order in Schock’s criminal proceedings. Via Politico: 

“The Government has not made the requisite showing here,” Myerscough wrote in an order issued late Friday afternoon. “While this is a high-profile case that has and will generate a significant amount of publicity, the Court has no reason to believe at this point that the parties’ conduct poses a serious and imminent threat to the administration of justice.”

The post Aaron Schock Finally Gets His Day in Court, Faces 24 Felony Charges appeared first on Towleroad.

Aaron Schock Finally Gets His Day in Court, Faces 24 Felony Charges

HIV 360° Fellow Spotlight: PJ Moton

Earlier this year, HRC Foundation announced the inaugural class of the 2016 HIV 360° Fellowship Program. Made possible with generous support from the Elton John AIDS Foundation, HIV 360° is a capacity-building fellowship program for young, non-profit leaders ready to take HIV-inclusive organizations and initiatives to the next level.

The HRC blog recently sat down with each of the fellows to discuss the program, their work, and their vision of an AIDS-free generation.

PJ Moton, 28, was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. PJ received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Sociology from Fisk University and earned his Master of Social Work degree from Washington University in St. Louis. With seven years of experience in HIV & AIDS research, prevention, and care, specifically focused on Black gay and bisexual men, PJ has become a nationally recognized leader among his peers. PJ currently works at Abounding Prosperity in Dallas, Texas.

How did you first get involved with the movement to end the HIV and AIDS epidemic? How, if at all, did that inspire you to become an HIV 360° Fellow?

I started in the field almost 10 years ago volunteering with a local non-profit that offered prevention services and had a group for Black men who have sex with men (MSM). First, I modeled in some of their marketing campaigns and eventually my responsibilities expanded. I soon began co-facilitating the support group and planning initiatives for Black MSM. After doing this work for so many years, the fellowship seemed like an opportunity to grow in new and different ways.

Each fellow has been asked to design, implement, and evaluate a community service project to combat HIV transmission rates in their respective communities. Tell us about yours and what you hope to accomplish with it.

Project  T.R.I.P.S. (Transportation Resource for Improved Prevention and Suppression) provides safe and discreet round-trip transportation services to Black and Latinx men who have sex with men and transgender women in the Dallas Metropolitan area. People who sign up for the program can arrange for someone to take them to their medical appointments and/or other essential support services. In accordance with the National HIV and AIDS Strategy, I hope the programs helps participants – both positive and negative – stay in care and remain healthy.

What is one key lesson you’ve gained from the fellowship program? What have you enjoyed the most about it?

Project management has been an overall theme throughout the fellowship program. Prevention and care services can have many moving parts and without the ability to effectively manage all of those parts, your programs and services may not be as effective as you may want them to be. The retreats have taught me a lot about managing the different pieces that comprise a program or service.

How can people learn more about your organization and support the work you are doing?

Please check out the Abounding Prosperity as well as our community mobilization initiative, Dallas Southern Pride.

To learn more about the HIV 360° fellowship program itself, click here. Also, check out:

• Thomas’ Story
• Andrés’ Story
• Steven’s Story
• Sasanka’s Story
• Milan’s Story
• Mardrequs’ Story
• Tyrell’s Story

www.hrc.org/blog/hiv-360-fellow-spotlight-pj-moton?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

PHOTOS: The Enduring Beauty of David Hockney

www.advocate.com/film/2016/3/24/photos-hockney-gaze

Oh look, a new antigay hate group rears its ugly head

How did you celebrate International Human Rights Day? If you have an undeveloped sense of irony, perhaps you spent it as Brian Brown did: working to undermine human rights all around the world.

You might remember Brian as the potatoey head of the National Organization for Marriage. Ever since it was clear that NOM had totally failed in its mission, he’s been re-arranging deck chairs in a panic, trying to justify the hundreds of thousands of dollars he makes trying/failing to block marriage in the US.

Well, now he’s hit on a clever scheme: set up a little shell game where he can continue to solicit money forever, in defense of what he calls “family.” Of course, your family doesn’t count as a family. Only the kinds of families he likes are real families.

This weekend Brian announced the formation of a new group called the International Organization for the Family. He’ll use this little club to scam donors around the world, convincing them that queer couples are a threat and various foreign countries need his protection. Of course, Brian Brown completely failed to accomplish anything of value here in the US, so that doesn’t exactly make his resume sparkle.

Related: The ten biggest losers of the marriage equality debate, and how we should deal with them

But hey, now he can be an international laughingstock instead of just an American laughingstock!

The IOF has five main projects — one is organizing events around the world through the “World Congress of Families.” Another is a magazine called “The Natural Family” that they’re calling an “academic journal” — but really it isn’t academic or a journal. Then there’s the “Article 16 Initiative,” an effort to twist the UN’s declaration on human rights to exclude queers; and an “Emerging Leaders Program” to foster hate groups around the world.

And finally they want to get two million signatures on a declaration that gays shouldn’t get married. Their deadline: one year. Let’s see how Brian Brown manages to bungle this one.

www.queerty.com/oh-look-new-antigay-hate-group-rears-ugly-head-20161212?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

John Cena Caused This Gay Kiss to Happen on ‘SNL’ – WATCH

SNL brought the heat this week with a kiss between cast members Beck Bennett and Kyle Mooney.

In a sketch about a fictitious MTV dating show called “Hook a Hunk” Cecily Strong finds herself falling for the show’s hunky host, played by John Cena, rather than the dorky contestants vying for her heart. As it dawns on the contestants that they don’t stand a chance with Strong because of Cena, two of the guys discover an unexpected bond.

So if it wasn’t for John Cena being so distractingly attractive, these guys never would have discovered their passion for one another. Nicely played, John Cena.

Watch, below.

The post John Cena Caused This Gay Kiss to Happen on ‘SNL’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

John Cena Caused This Gay Kiss to Happen on ‘SNL’ – WATCH

HRC Joins Leading LGBTQ Activists and Experts in Bangkok for Major LGBTQ World Conference

HRC Global was pleased to join about 700 of the world’s leading LGBTQ advocates, experts and allies gathered earlier this month in Bangkok for the 28th International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) World Conference. This was the biennial gathering of the ILGA, a worldwide federation of 1,200 organizations from 125 countries working on LGBTQ rights.

ILGA World in Bangkok provided HRC Global with a priceless opportunity to meet with key partners in every region of the world, take stock of progress, identify existing and future challenges and to strategize about how best to protect LGBTQ human rights and advance the global fight for equality.

HRC Global staff and our fellows from three countries participated in every aspect of the conference, including in two days of pre-conference sessions. During the main conference days, we attended sessions on strategic litigation, workplace equality, health and HIV, U.N. advocacy, intersex people, refugees and climate change among many others.

During the week, our staff and fellows branched out to actively engage in panels, discussion groups and networking events. These opportunities covered a wide range of issues, including global transgender rights, the Universal Periodic Review process, the importance of data and research for advocacy and the resources available to support global LGBTQ advocacy.

One of the highlights of the conference was the keynote address by Vitit Muntarbhorn, a distinguished law professor from Thailand who is the first U.N. Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In a rousing speech that served as a call to action for LGBTQ activists across the world, Muntarbhorn laid out his approach and vision for the mandate.

ILGA World 2016 was the second world conference to be held in Asia and the largest ILGA conference to date. The Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand and Purple Sky Network co-hosted the event. HRC is proud to be an ILGA member and is committed to working together with partners all over the world to advance the global fight for equality.

Learn more about HRC Global’s work here.    

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-joins-leading-lgbtq-activists-and-experts-in-bangkok-for-major-lgbtq-wo?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Meth addict who strangled and ate his Grindr date sentenced to life in prison

The man who strangled a police officer to death and later tried disposing his body in an acid bath has been sentenced to life in prison.

South London’s Stefano Brizzi, 50, confessed to strangling PC Gordon Semple and dismembering the body while high on crystal meth.

As the BBC reports, Brizzi claimed he met PC Semple on Grindr and the officer died due to a sex game gone wrong.

Related: Every gay person will soon become a cannibal rummaging through hospitals for human waste, pastor claims

After five days of deliberations, jurors at the Old Bailey convicted Brizzi, with a 10-2 majority.

Stating the obvious, the judge said there were “terrible features” to the case, claiming Brizzi’s drug addiction ruined his life.

“Regret you express now for Mr. Semple’s death has to be seen against what you did over a number of days to his body.”

The crime scene was discovered when Stefano Brizzi’s neighbors reported a “revolting smell” coming from his apartment.

When two officers were sent to investigate, they found bottles of chemicals in the hall and a “blue-green liquid” floating in the bath with “flesh-colored globules floating in the water,” in the words of prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC.

Then, one of the officers looked inside a trash bin and discovered a human hand and part of a spine.

Sky News reports Semple’s DNA was discovered on a blender blade, on a cooking pot, a pair of chopsticks, a chopping board, and inside the oven.

The Old Bailey heard prominent bite marks were found on a bone in the kitchen.

Related: Related: Cannibal cop who killed and ate man he met on fetish website has conviction overturned

Semple was on duty when he decided to meet Brizzi after chatting on Grindr, lured by the promise of “hot, dirty, sleazy sex.”

Jurors heard other bizarre details, such as how Brizzi claims he was told by Satan to “kill, kill, kill.”

www.queerty.com/meth-addict-strangled-ate-grindr-date-sentenced-life-prison-20161212?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Greg Lecoeur, China, Frank Ocean, Electors, Cupcakke, Rio, John Bolton, Kimberly Peirce: HOT LINKS

HE WANTS NAMES. Trump asks for names of staffers who worked on Obama’s climate change policy: “The transition team has asked the agency to list employees and contractors who attended United Nations climate meetings, along with those who helped develop the Obama administration’s social cost of carbon metrics, used to estimate and justify the climate benefits of new rules. The advisers are also seeking information on agency loan programs, research activities and the basis for its statistics, according to a five-page internal document circulated by the Energy Department on Wednesday. The document lays out 65 questions from the Trump transition team, sources within the agency said.”

METHANE LEVELS SPIKE. Atmospheric levels of greenhouse gas shoot up: “Atmospheric concentrations of this gas — which causes much sharper short-term warming, but whose effects fade far more quickly than carbon dioxide — are spiking, a team of scientists reports in an analysis published Sunday in the journal Environmental Research Letters.”

CHINA. “Serious concern” expressed by China after Trump suggests he’ll do away with “one-China” policy: “China expresses serious concern on this subject,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters. “If the [one China policy] is compromised or interfered with, any sound and steady development in China-U.S. relations and cooperation in various fields is out of the question.”

FLYOVER. China sends nuclear bomber over South China Sea to “send message” to Trump.

‘I’M A SMART PERSON’. Trump on why he skips intelligence briefings. “I don’t have to be told — you know, I’m, like, a smart person. I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years. Could be eight years — but eight years. I don’t need that.”

Um, it’s not that kind of intelligence they are passing on. t.co/ZyYzMbgGCF

— Lydia Polgreen (@lpolgreen) December 11, 2016

JIM HIMES. Connecticut Congressman calls on electors to reject Trump.

We’re 5 wks from Inauguration & the President Elect is completely unhinged. The electoral college must do what it was designed for. t.co/6dLJ5K7B5K

— Jim Himes (@jahimes) December 12, 2016

NEED TO KNOW. At least 10 members of the electoral college demand intelligence briefings on Trump-Russia investigations: “The Electors require to know from the intelligence community whether there are ongoing investigations into ties between Donald Trump, his campaign or associates, and Russian government interference in the election, the scope of those investigations, how far those investigations may have reached, and who was involved in those investigations,” they wrote. “We further require a briefing on all investigative findings, as these matters directly impact the core factors in our deliberations of whether Mr. Trump is fit to serve as President of the United States.”

JOHN BOLTON. Russian hacking may have been a “false flag” committed by the Obama administration… “It is not at all clear to me just viewing this from the outside, that this hacking into the DNC and the RNC computers was not a false flag,” Bolton said. “So the question has to be asked, why did the Russians run their smart intelligence service against Hillary’s server, but their dumb intelligence service against the election?”

PAUL KRUGMAN. Election is illegitimate: “So this was a tainted election. It was not, as far as we can tell, stolen in the sense that votes were counted wrong, and the result won’t be overturned. But the result was nonetheless illegitimate in important ways; the victor was rejected by the public, and won the Electoral College only thanks to foreign intervention and grotesquely inappropriate, partisan behavior on the part of domestic law enforcement.”

LINER NOTES. Frank Ocean’s Blonde liner notes reveal Kanye West co-wrote “White Ferrari”.

BOYS DON’T CRY. Director Kimberly Peirce harangued by trans activists: “The students hurled a litany of insults at Peirce, putting up posters that read “fuck your transphobia” and “you don’t fucking get it” among other things. Worse, when Peirce ascended to her podium, students had placed a sign there. It read “f**k this cis white bitch.” That Peirce is actually gender-fluid is quite beside the point.”

SARDINE MIGRATION. Greg Lecoeur is the winner of National Geographic’s Nature Photographer of the Year awards. “The dolphins launched their assault, rushing into the sardines right before my eyes. Like lightning, crazy gannet birds pierced the surface, reaching a depth of about 30 feet. They would then begin a disorderly swim to catch several fishes in the same dive.”

Greg Lecoeur sold his company and left home to live a nomadic life, diving and photographing the underwater world. t.co/9HZt9Afvy0

— National Geographic (@NatGeo) December 12, 2016

RIO. Thousands celebrate Gay Pride.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE DAY. “LGBT by Cupcakke.

MONDAY MUSCLE. Rachata Worawechwattana.

The post Greg Lecoeur, China, Frank Ocean, Electors, Cupcakke, Rio, John Bolton, Kimberly Peirce: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad.

Greg Lecoeur, China, Frank Ocean, Electors, Cupcakke, Rio, John Bolton, Kimberly Peirce: HOT LINKS

Training Tomorrow’s Physicians About Transgender People and Their Health Needs

Post submitted by Ames Simmons

Earlier this month, Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta hosted a panel to equip medical students with knowledge about transgender people’s lives and health needs. Alliance Group, the LGBTQ medical student association, and Health Students Taking Action Together (HSTAT) sponsored the panel. Morehouse School of Medicine is the graduate medical division of the historically black college/university (HBCU) supported by HRC’s HBCU Project.

It was an honor to serve on the all-trans panel along with Tori Cooper of Positive Impact, Dr. A. Daul from Grady Memorial Hospital, Amir Jones of The Health Initiative, Tavianna Rouse of Someone Cares and Sybastian Smith of the Transgender Health Initiative. Topics included stressors and emotional experiences in making the decision to transition, hormone replacement protocols, HIV-related risk factors for the trans community, and access to care.

Students showed a high level of interest in HRC’s guide on transgender affirming hospital policies and how those policies can translate to physician practice. HRC’s Healthcare Equality Index also figured in as the students contemplated where they would complete their residencies and how LGBTQ-friendly their hospital might be as an employer. HRC’s new Safer Sex for Trans Bodies pamphlet also stood out as a primary resource for physicians to learn what transgender people’s sexual health priorities are and the language that we use to describe our bodies, our practices and our care needs.

One medical student said afterward that he had a much firmer footing going into an encounter with a transgender patient. Given newly released data from the U.S. Trans Survey that almost a quarter of respondents did not see a doctor because of fear of being mistreated as a transgender person, the need for medical training on transgender health has never been more urgent.

www.hrc.org/blog/training-tomorrows-physicians-about-transgender-people-and-their-health-nee?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed