Ellen DeGeneres Sends a Big LGBT Thank You to President Obama from 25 Celebs: WATCH

Ellen DeGeneres collected videos from more than two dozen LGBT celebs and allies to create a big ‘Thank You’ video for President Obama, highlighting his achievements for marriage equality, hate crimes, and LGBT rights in the US and around the world.

Neil Patrick Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jim Parsons, Nathan Lane, Evan Rachel Wood, Colton Haynes, Jonathan Groff, Sia, Alan Cumming, Macklemore, Debra Messing, Lily Tomlin, George Takei, Kristen Bell, Lance Bass, Laverne Cox, Guillermo Diaz, Dan Bucatinsky, Tom Daley, Sarah Silverman, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Tig Notaro, Portia de Rossi, and Chris Colfer all sent in videos thanking the president.

Watch:

Ellen also paid tribute yesterday with a video featuring her favorite moments with the First Couple:

The post Ellen DeGeneres Sends a Big LGBT Thank You to President Obama from 25 Celebs: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Ellen DeGeneres Sends a Big LGBT Thank You to President Obama from 25 Celebs: WATCH

Zachary Quinto furious with James Franco over his confusing sexuality!

That darned James Franco, always causing confusion, grief, and, well, glee over his sexuality, and this time he makes onscreen boyfriend Zach Quinto suffer in the biopic about ex-gay Michael Glatze, I Am Michael.

It’s just one of the movies and shows features in What To Watch, our biweekly guide to awesome LGBT-interest entertainment in theaters, on DVD and VOD, and streaming and cable.

Now for the rundown!

 

Theatrical Releases

Paris 05:59 Theo & Hugo

(Opens January 27th at IFC Center, NYC; Laemmle Music Box, L.A.; The Roxie, S.F.: Wolfe)

The latest film from French partners in filmmaking and life, Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau (Funny Felix) deliver a modern day, real time gay romance that kicks off with a nearly 20-minute long, explicit gay orgy scene in a sex club. Meeting – ahem – during this sequence, Theo and Hugo end up leaving together afterwards, possibly connected on a deeper level than just sex. Then, a revelation: Hugo is HIV-positive, and Theo, not realizing this, didn’t use a condom, so the pair race to a hospital to seek out PEP treatment… and perhaps fall in love while doing so. Truly a gay romance for the post-Looking/Weekend era, this one’s a must-see.

 

I Am Michael

(Opens January 27th)

Having first premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, I Am Michael represents the first teaming up of James Franco and his King Cobra writer/director, Justin Kelly, and tells the true life story of Michael Glatze, an LGBT activist turned ex-gay Christian. Franco plays Michael, who writes for slick (and provocative) gay youth publication XY Magazine, settles into a relationship with boyfriend Bennett (Zachary Quinto), and eventually welcomes a third, college student Tyler, into their bedroom and activism. Yet way beneath the surface, Michael is feeling troubled, fear, panic, and seems to be grasping for an elusive happiness, which he eventually turns to the bible and religion for. However, aware of Michael’s ultra-gay past and high profile, even religion shows reluctance to accept him… A truly committed performance from Franco – yes, with some hot gay action involving Quinto – keeps this from being a Lifetime style movie, and no easy answers are offered. Also available on VOD.

 

DVD/VOD

Concrete Night

($21.99 Blu-ray/DVD: Altered Innocence)

Lesbian director Pirjo Honkasalo crafted this gorgeously shot, moody, and homoerotic black and white drama back in 2013, which now comes to the US thanks to upstart distributor Altered Innocence. Finland’s entry to the 87th Academy Awards and based on an 1981 novel by Honkasalo’s life partner, Pirkko Saisio, it follows a poverty-ridden teenager named Simo, whose older brother Ilkka must go to prison the next day. An otherworldly, gritty Helsinki serves as backdrop to a night and day of incidents, including an encounter with a stalk-y photographer… Grim yet artful stuff from a queer filmmaker whose work is tragically obscure stateside.

 

An Act Of Love

($19.99 DVD; Virgil Films)

After officiating his gay son’s same-sex wedding in Massachusetts 2013, Reverend Frank Schaefer was stripped of his ministerial credentials by the United Methodist Church. Director Scott Sheppard’s documentary explores Schaefer’s story, from determined to avoid the same-sex marriage controversy to his realization that acceptance of his son’s sexuality was paramount in both personal and spiritual life, to the price it extolled on his career and the fight he would undertake against the Church to push it into a more progressive place and future.

 

Fox & His Friends

($39.99 Blu-ray, $29.99 DVD: Criterion)

One of the most iconic works by gay German director/auteur Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Fox And His Friends is also one of his most explicitly queer works (along with Querelle) and now comes in a souped-up Criterion version. Fassbinder himself stars as the title character, a naive working class Munich resident who wins the lottery. Suddenly flush with cash, he finds himself brought into the gay upper echelon and the target of parasites who would manipulate him, including the son of an industrialist who could save his family’s business by sapping Fox’s fortune (timely, no?). Way ahead of its time in the casual, matter of fact depiction of gay life, Fassbinder’s film, like his best work, is also a biting social commentary – and mercilessly heartbreaking. Restored in 4k, while extras include new interviews with filmmaker Ira Sachs (of Love Is Strange fame), actor Harry Baer, vintage interview with Fassbinder, and more.

 

Streaming/Cable/TV

The Young Pope

(Sundays & Mondays at 9PM: HBO)

In this 10-episode series, Jude Law plays American Lenny Belardo, who is drafted by the Vatican as – hopefully – a hot new Pope that can bring young, more liberal followers to the Church. Alas, Lenny is a real prick, manipulator, and tyrant (hey, at least he’s not orange). Timely, sometimes OTT stuff, and hey, Law is wonderful to look at.

 

ALSO OUT:

 

Denial

Girls: The Complete Fifth Season

Deepwater Horizon

The Accountant

Homeland: Season 5

www.queerty.com/zachary-quinto-furious-james-franco-confusing-sexuality-20170120?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Rep. Brian Sims Introduces Legislation to Ban Gay ‘Conversion Therapy’ in Pennsylvania: WATCH

Declaring that anti-gay conversion therapy “isn’t science—it’s science fiction,” Pennsylvania House Democratic representative Brian Sims introduced legislation to ban the practice in the state.

Said Sims in an email:

This afternoon I announced, with Mayor Kenney and the American Psychiatric Association (APA), legislation banning the practice of conversion therapy on minors, aimed at changing their sexual orientation. In my experience, there is oftentimes a deeply rooted connection to religious fundamentalism that underscores the thought processes of many advocates of so-called ‘conversion therapy,’ which highlights the need for clinicians to take a hard look at their own biases and motivations for practicing under the auspices of good clinical practice and ignoring the ethical issues and very real consequences of these methods. Moreover, LGBTQ youth should not be forced to endure cruel and unusual treatment in a failed attempt to change who they are or who they love.

Watch:

 

The familiar LGBT legislative ally cited statistics that find the ineffective and traumatic procedure leads to a six times higher rate of depression and nine times higher rate of suicidal ideation in calling for the state legislature to explicitly prohibit its attempted use.

The post Rep. Brian Sims Introduces Legislation to Ban Gay ‘Conversion Therapy’ in Pennsylvania: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Rep. Brian Sims Introduces Legislation to Ban Gay ‘Conversion Therapy’ in Pennsylvania: WATCH

This Trans Woman Is Marching With a Message

Kristen Browde on the long road that will bring her to this weekend’s historic Women’s March.

www.advocate.com/commentary/2017/1/20/trans-woman-marching-message

8 firewalls that could save us from Trump and his GOP Congress

The reality couldn’t be more stark: President Trump and a Republican Congress eager to undo all or at least most of of Obama’s progress toward LGBTQ equality. Starting at noon today and for the next two years (at least), we will have to live with what was once unimaginable.

But just because the Republicans are triumphant today, it doesn’t mean that they will necessarily be successful in pushing their regressive agenda. As the are soon to discover, getting things done is a lot harder than stopping them from being done. A combination of outside pressure, legal checks and internal division has the potential to stop some of the worst policies from ever being implemented.

Here’s a list of eight firewalls that could make sure that the successes of the past eight years don’t get thrown into the dustbin of history…

1. Corporate America

Just because the business community prefers the GOP’s tax policies doesn’t mean that it will go along with the homophobic ones. If anyone can attest to that, it’s Vice President Mike Pence. Pence had his head handed to him by corporate America when as Indiana governor he signed a “religious freedom” law that legalized antigay discrimination. Pence eventually had to back down and was such damaged goods politically that the state Republican party was relieved to see him join the Trump ticket and not run for re-election as governor. He’s a walking object lesson in why antigay attitudes don’t fly with big business any more.

2. The federal judiciary

Obama appointed more than 300 judges to federal courts, including a record number of openly gay judges. Those appointees are an important check on any antigay agenda. Any restrictive policies are likely to be challenged in court. There’s a good chance that those policies could run into a stone wall there.

3. Blue states

Governors and legislators in liberal states on either coast have already signaled their willingness to buck the conservative trend. Any attempt to roll back protections won’t just be resisted. It will be ignored. When it suited them, Republicans loved to talk about states’ rights. They are now about to find out that the argument cuts both ways. Deep blue cities and states can continue to make a huge difference by simply being better–more compassionate, more anti-discriminatory. These places already feature far better economies, health care, racial harmony and life expectancies. Let’s make sure the other side remembers that.

4. Public opinion

The polls are on our side, and they are not rigged. A majority of Americans support marriage equality. Even larger numbers believe in nondiscrimination protections based on sexual orientation or gender identity. That means the most outrageous efforts will have a hard time getting off the ground. Perhaps even more significant: majorities continue to give very low ratings both to the Republican Congress and to Trump–he enters office the least popular in the history of polling–which will limit how far he can move to the right.

5. Peter Thiel

Thiel hasn’t exactly been a champion of gay rights, and he does not inspire confidence when talking about the vulnerability of his own community because he has apparently never felt it. But let’s give him the benefit of the doubt for once. In his recent New York Times interview he expressed confidence that Trump won’t come after us: “I don’t think he will reverse anything. I would obviously be concerned if I thought otherwise.” Let’s hope that if that does come to pass, Thiel would have a word or one hundred with his hand-fondling admirer.

6. Pro-gay Republicans in Congress

Yes, they do exist. As a reminder, seven Senate Republicans actually voted in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in 2013 (although three of them lost re-election). In the House, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has led the small band. If the Democrats can keep a united front (always a big if with Democrats), peeling off a few sympathetic Republicans can help them throw sand in the gears of any antigay legislation.

7. Jared Kushner

Trump’s son-in-law is apparently the new president’s closest advisor. He’s also reportedly pro-gay. (His first cousin’s wedding was featured in The New York Times.) Kushner and his wife, Trump’s daughter Ivanka, are two of the people Trump most trusts. One word from them telling Dad that an antigay move is bad news, and the Tweetstorm will soon follow.

8. Donald Trump

The Orange One cuts both ways. On the one hand, he’s never shown the kind of reflexive homophobia that his appointees have. On the other hand, he’s the master of mixed signals and contradictions and basically does what the last person he talked to suggested. Between the two, he’ll probably feed divisions and disarray in the GOP. This is a very good thing.

9. You

Look in the mirror. Voting, particularly in the mid-terms in 2018, could stop the antigay right in its track. Letting your representatives know just how you feel about bad legislation actually does make a difference. Remember how far we have come toward equality in a historically short period of time. That was because you organized, you came out, you spoke out, you voted and made a difference. Dust off that version of you. Direct action captures media and public attention. It’s all well and good to rely on the other firewalls.

But we need to make sure this is the first one built.

www.queerty.com/8-firewalls-can-save-us-trump-gop-congress-probably-wont-20170120?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Full Video of Last Night’s NYC Trump Protest with Alec Baldwin, Michael Moore, Cher, and More: WATCH

Here’s full video of last night’s massive NYC Trump protest in front of Trump International Hotel featuring Robert De Niro, Michael Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Rosie Perez, Al Sharpton, Julianne Moore, Cynthia Nixon, Sally Field, and more.

The NYT reports:

As Mr. Trump was serenaded at a concert on the National Mall in Washington that featured performers like The Piano Guys, a YouTube sensation, and the percussionist DJ Ravidrums, Robert DeNiro, took the stage in New York to mock Mr. Trump’s twitter habit as Cher and Mr. Ruffalo watched. Later, Alec Baldwin reprised his Trump impersonation from “Saturday Night Live,” joking that he was heading over to the Russian Consulate, before calling for “100 days of resistance” from the crowd.

Speaking backstage, Cher said that she took part because “I want to show people the danger.” She also said that she doubted Mr. Trump would find the White House to his taste. “The Lincoln bedroom is fabulous,” she said, “but it’s not big.”

The city’s Democratic mayor, Bill de Blasio, also took part, telling the crowd, “Tomorrow, Donald Trump will have power but tomorrow, you will have power as well. Donald Trump may control the agenda in Washington, but we control our destiny as Americans.”

The NY Daily News adds:

“Thank you for showing up on this final night of the pre-Trumpian age,” Moore said.

“It will be a short-lived age, but it will be significant, and it will be studied for centuries.”

The director then led the protesters on a march to nearby Trump Tower on 57th St. where the crowds thinned out.

Moore called for 100 days of protest against Trump as he kicks off his presidency.

Watch:

The post Full Video of Last Night’s NYC Trump Protest with Alec Baldwin, Michael Moore, Cher, and More: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Full Video of Last Night’s NYC Trump Protest with Alec Baldwin, Michael Moore, Cher, and More: WATCH

My Worries for the Women's March

Will it truly be an inclusive gathering?

www.advocate.com/commentary/2017/1/20/my-worries-womens-march