But of course Donald Trump is giving the commencement speech at a university that bans LGBTQ people

Nobody respects the rights of LGBTQ people more than Donald J. Trump… which is precisely why he will be delivering the commencement speech at antigay Liberty University later this year.

In a statement given exclusively to the Christian Broadcasting Network, Trump said:

I look forward to speaking to this amazing group of students on such a momentous occasion. Our children truly are the future and I look forward to celebrating the success of this graduating class as well as sharing lessons as they embark on their next chapter full of hope, faith, optimism, and a passion for life. …And homophobia.

OK, OK. We added that last part.

Liberty University likes to boast that it’s “the largest private Christian university in the world.” It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell, one of the most strident homophobes in America right up until his death in 2007.

The university has come under fire in recent years for its stances on all things LGBTQ. In 2006, for instance, it banned all LGBTQ student groups on the grounds of “morality.” And in 2014, it filed for an exemption from federal anti-discrimination laws so it could openly discriminate against LGBTQ people.

The school also has a no gay sex policy. Upon enrolling, students are forced to sign a statement promising not to engage in homosexual sexual relations, or sex with a transgender person. The official policy states: “Sexual relations outside of a Biblically ordained marriage between a natural-born man and natural-born woman are not permissible at Liberty University.”

Liberty University’s president and Trump’s BFF Jerry Falwell Jr. said they’re totally psyched that Donald will be speaking at this year’s graduation ceremony.

“His supporters, including over 80% of the evangelical community, are thrilled with President Trump’s actions so far,” he tells the Christian Broadcasting Network. “The fact that the mainstream media and the Establishment (on the left and the right) remain in attack mode with their often baseless and dishonest claims against Trump is a sign that President Trump is doing a wonderful job.”

In other news, in the most recent Gallup poll, Trump’s approval ratings reached another historic low. He’s currently less popular than any U.S. President in over 70 years of polling.

Related: Thanks to millennials, Trump’s approval ratings are worse than any president in over 70 years

www.queerty.com/course-donald-trump-giving-commencement-speech-university-bans-lgbtq-people-20170322?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

UK Parliament on Lockdown After Possible Terrorist Incident in London

This is a breaking news story. Please refresh for updates…

British Parliament is on lockdown after multiple injuries and possible casualties in Westminster related to a potential terror incident. A meeting in the House of Commons has been suspended and Prime Minister Theresa May was whisked away to safety.

At least a dozen people were seen injured and on the ground on Westminster Bridge after witnesses say a car plowed them down.

The vehicle involved went into Parliament Square and smashed into the railings in front of Houses of Parliament, injuring others.

One attacker reportedly left the vehicle, confronted police, got into the palace yard at Westminster where he was confronted by a police officer who was stabbed. Other officers opened fire and shot the attacker. No further details on their conditions are available.

The police are treating it as a terrorist incident until they learn otherwise…

Terror attack outside U.K. Parliament. 2 men down on road. Man with knife/machete got into Parliament and stabbed policeman. He’s been shot pic.twitter.com/aYNktTiF4d

— James West (@westicles69) March 22, 2017

Here;s what I saw. pic.twitter.com/ERYWuPjDqX

— Owen Bennett (@owenjbennett) March 22, 2017

Injured being treated in New Palace Yard after shooting incident pic.twitter.com/svRO3quBRS

— Libby Wiener (@LibbyWienerITV) March 22, 2017

This is a breaking news story. Please refresh for updates…

The post UK Parliament on Lockdown After Possible Terrorist Incident in London appeared first on Towleroad.

UK Parliament on Lockdown After Possible Terrorist Incident in London

HB2 One Year Later: NC GOP Leadership Refuse to Allow Clean Up or Down Vote on Full HB2 Repeal

Today, HRC and Equality North Carolina slammed North Carolina’s Republican leadership for their continued refusal to allow a clean up or down vote on the full repeal of HB2. Signed into law a year ago tomorrow by former Governor Pat McCrory — who lost his bid for re-election over that unconscionable decision — HB2 has cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars and continues to inflict profound harm on North Carolina’s people, reputation, and economy.

HRC and Equality North Carolina also released a new video taking a look back over the past year and the very real harm HB2 has caused. The video makes clear that North Carolina cannot afford one more day of the deeply discriminatory law.

“It’s now a full year since HB2 was signed into law, and the shameful political gamesmanship we’re seeing from North Carolina’s GOP leadership is beyond the pale,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Instead of taking meaningful action, North Carolina’s Republican leadership has given excuse after excuse as to why they can’t allow a clean up or down vote. To be clear, their reckless obstructionism makes them directly responsible for the continued harm inflicted on the state. No more excuses. Republican leadership must immediately allow a clean vote on HB2 repeal.”

“A year after the initial passage of the worst anti-LGBTQ bill in the nation, HB2 continues to hurt the economy, reputation, and people of our state every single day,” said Chris Sgro, Executive Director of Equality North Carolina. “It is baffling and saddening that Tim Moore and Phil Berger have refused to step up and provide real leadership by finally fully repealing HB2. I hear from lesbian, gay, bisexual, and especially transgender North Carolinians every day who face discrimination and potential violence because of this law. The state can’t afford another day with it on the books — our leaders must commit to full repeal right now. Only then can North Carolina’s reputation — and economy — be fixed.”

Over the past year, instead of repealing HB2, North Carolina politicians have passed legislation that is shamefully trivial and frivolous in comparison to the urgent need to repeal HB2. For example, North Carolina lawmakers:

• Passed HB 469, which altered the way the town of Sunset Beach could use money earned from on-street parking meters.
• Passed HB 292, “an act to require a license to operate a beach bingo game…”
• Passed SB 132, “an act to establish a season for trapping foxes in Carteret County.”
• Introduced SB 303, which increase the penalty of traveling under the speed limit when “operating a motor vehicle in the leftmost travel lane of a controlled-access or partially controlled-access highway”
• Filed SB 313, “an act to increase the number of barrels of malt beverages a small brewery may self-distribute.”

Meanwhile, the people, reputation, and economy of North Carolina have continued to suffer very real harm caused by HB2. Here’s just a snapshot of the overwhelming outcry over the past year:

• Over 200 major business leaders, from Apple to Zola, signed an open letter to NC Gov. Pat McCrory opposing HB2, because discrimination is bad for business. The letter was first announced on March 29, 2016, when it was hand-delivered to Pat McCrory by HRC President Chad Griffin, Equality NC Executive Director Chris Sgro and transgender advocate Candis Cox.
• On April 5, 2016, PayPal CEO Dan Schulman announced that the company will seek an alternative location for its new “global operations center.” PayPal’s investment was expected to bring 400 skilled jobs to North Carolina, with an annual payroll impact of more than $20 million. In its statement, Schulman said, “The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal’s mission and culture.”
• On April 8, 2016 Bruce Springsteen cancelled his concert in North Carolina over HB2, saying, “Some things are more important than a rock show and this fight against prejudice and bigotry — which is happening as I write — is one of them. It is the strongest means I have for raising my voice in opposition to those who continue to push us backwards instead of forwards.”
• On May 4, 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice determined North Carolina’s discriminatory HB 2 violates federal civil rights law, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972. At a press conference on May 9, Attorney General Loretta Lynch spoke directly to the transgender community, saying “We see you. We stand with you, and we will do everything we can to protect you going forward.”
• On July 21, 2016, the NBA decided to stand up to North Carolina lawmakers who refused to repeal HB2 by pulling its 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte, NC. Despite the NBA’s repeated warnings that it would have to consider moving the high-profile game out of the state if the anti-LGBTQ law was not repealed, the state’s General Assembly shamefully adjourned after 100 days of inaction.
• In North Carolina, basketball is king — but that didn’t stop the NCAA from standing up for their LGBTQ players, employees and fans by vowing to move tournament events from the state because of HB2. The NCAA announced that they would move all 2016-2017 championship games out of the state on September 12, 2016.
• On Election Day, NC Governor Pat McCrory, who signed HB2 into law, was defeated at the ballot box — the only incumbent governor from either party to lose on Election Day. Polling by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research showed that HB2 was the most cited issue leading to McCrory’s defeat in those who voted against McCrory.
• In February, the North Carolina Sports Association sent a letter to lawmakers warning of a loss of NCAA championship games through 2022 if HB2 is not immediately repealed. In the letter, the sports association warned that the NCAA decision could cost the state at least another half a billion dollars in economic activity when other sports organizations follow the NCAA’s lead in moving events out of the state. In November 2016, Forbes estimated that the state had already lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to HB2.
• In March, the Greensboro Coliseum Complex reveals it has lost $23.5 million in revenue from various championships and conventions because of HB2.

www.hrc.org/blog/hb2-one-year-later-nc-gop-leadership-refuse-to-vote-despite-harm?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

SCOTUS Nominee Neil Gorsuch Faces Day 3 of Questioning: WATCH

Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch will face Day 3 of questioning in his Senate confirmation hearing. Yesterday, he was grilled by Senators Dick Durbin and Al Franken about marriage equality and LGBTQ rights. He may face more on that today.

Also, check out this piece from Towleroad’s legal editor Ari Ezra Waldman on the conundrum faced by Democrats over Gorsuch.

RELATED: Do Democrats Face a ‘Nuclear’ Dilemma on Neil Gorsuch?

The post SCOTUS Nominee Neil Gorsuch Faces Day 3 of Questioning: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

SCOTUS Nominee Neil Gorsuch Faces Day 3 of Questioning: WATCH

19 Videos YouTube Is Hiding from Kids

A new filter from YouTube is hiding queer people from children, and the company won’t say why.

www.advocate.com/media/2017/3/22/19-videos-youtube-hiding-kids

Ex-Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort Had $10M Contract to Advance Interests of Vladimir Putin

In a revelation which “appears to contradict assertions by the Trump administration and Manafort himself,” the AP reports that ten years ago Manafort had a $10 million contract with a Russian billionaire “to undermine anti-Russian opposition across former Soviet republics.”

RELATED: Sean Spicer Claims Paul Manafort, Who Was Campaign Manager for 5 Months, Had ‘Limited Role’ in Campaign: WATCH

The AP reports:

Manafort proposed in a confidential strategy plan as early as June 2005 that he would influence politics, business dealings and news coverage inside the United States, Europe and the former Soviet republics to benefit the Putin government, even as U.S.-Russia relations under Republican President George W. Bush grew worse. Manafort pitched the plans to Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, a close Putin ally with whom Manafort eventually signed a $10 million annual contract beginning in 2006, according to interviews with several people familiar with payments to Manafort and business records obtained by the AP. Manafort and Deripaska maintained a business relationship until at least 2009, according to one person familiar with the work

Manafort denies that his work represented Russian political interests and called the AP story a “smear campaign” in which his work was being misrepresented as “nefarious” toward the U.S.

Meanwhile, since Comey’s revelation that the FBI is investigating Trump’s links to Russia, the Trump administration has been trying to distance itself from Manafort. Earlier this week Sean Spicer claimed that Manafort only had a “limited role” in the campaign even though he ran it for five full months.

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Ex-Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort Had $10M Contract to Advance Interests of Vladimir Putin