Gus Kenworthy strips to raise money for LGBTQ charity. He should do this more often.
The company will donate $1 to the Los Angeles LGBT Center for every pair of “Celebrate” briefs sold.

www.queerty.com/gus-kenworthy-stars-meundies-first-ever-pride-campaign-often-20170528?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

World OutGames Canceled Hours Before Opening Ceremonies, Defrauding Athletes

The World Outgames unraveled spectacularly at the eleventh hour Friday due to unspecified “financial burdens” that have already led host city Miami Beach authorities to open a fraud investigation to determine what went wrong.

Billed as a 10-day LGBTQ-themed competitive gathering of athletes from around the world, participants were left holding the bag following the abrupt cancellation, many having already traveled from afar or in mid-transit, and seeking a refund on their registration fees that averaged from roughly $50-300.

The Miami Herald reports:

“This just displays bad management that has a serious financial impact on many people,” said Peter Clancy, a businessman from Belgium who was in a plane two hours away from Miami when he learned the news online. He was going to compete in track and field, and his partner was due to run in the half-marathon.

“Last-minute notice also shows a complete lack of respect for the participants and especially those of us traveling from other continents,” he said.

Rowen D’Souza spent about $3,000 traveling from Australia to play tennis in the games. He told the Miami Herald he was unimpressed with the flow of information from OutGames organizers throughout the process.

“The communication has been poor from the start,” he said. “I suspect they knew there were problems but did nothing.”

Ivan Cano, CEO of the OutGames, declined to comment beyond the statement from the board. As recently as Tuesday, he had spoken confidently about the OutGames.

Both opening and closing ceremonies and all sporting events apart from aquatics, country and western dance, and soccer were scrapped, leaving a bare-bones program of activities:

Several social events are still expected to go on, though the main focus of the games is supposed to be the athletic competitions. One of the events still going on as scheduled is the human rights conference, which was held Friday at the Loews Hotel. In the hotel lobby, athletes and attendees were shocked to find out sports events would no longer be held.

Community leaders greeted disheartened visitors and encouraged them to find other activities around Miami and Miami Beach.

In response to the OutGames debacle, all registered participants received free admission to a 7:30 p.m. performance of the Miami Gay Men’s Chorus performance at the Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road.

Despite a substantial commitment from the city to the tune of $200,000, along with various waived fees and potentially more in matching funds and reimbursements, the event’s apparent fundraising woes purportedly proved too much to overcome. But municipal and state officials are hoping a look at the organizers’ books will shed more light on the postmortem.

Patch reports:

“Due to the potential misappropriation of funds, the Miami Beach Police Department and the State Attorney’s Office have conferred and are jointly opening a fraud investigation,” explained Melissa Berthier of the city on Friday night.

“City staff has worked consistently for the past several months to assist the event producers with special events planning and permitting; fundraising efforts; relocating events to low or no cost venues; assisting with local partners to provide support and access; and providing financial support to cover police staffing costs,” she said. “As a lead sponsor of the event, the city also waived all related special event and permitting fees for this event and provided cash sponsorship to the OutGames.”

Berthier stressed that the city is committed to its LGBTQ community, and that officials will “do everything within our power” to determine the potential failures within the organization that caused so much of the even to be scrapped at the last minute. News reports said that some participants have flown to Miami Beach from long distances and even outside the United States.

In one case, a crowdsourcing attempt on IndieGoGo by event organizers got no traction, an early warning sign that the event was facing an uphill climb financially. The World OutGames began in 2006 and have faced obstacles before, particularly acts of violence directed against it in 2009.

The post World OutGames Canceled Hours Before Opening Ceremonies, Defrauding Athletes appeared first on Towleroad.

World OutGames Canceled Hours Before Opening Ceremonies, Defrauding Athletes

White House Snubs Luxembourg’s First Gentleman

After a string of diplomatic flubs in Europe, the Trump administration added a snub for equality.

www.advocate.com/politics/2017/5/27/white-house-snubs-luxembourgs-first-gentleman

Tennis Legend Margaret Court Boycotts Qantas for Its Support of Gay Marriage

Australian tennis great Margaret Court earned 24 singles Grand Slam titles, the standing record in women’s tennis, during her career in the 1960s and ’70s, but less illustrious is her nearly as long-standing opposition to LGBT rights.

In a letter to The West Australian newspaper, Court took it upon herself to announce that she will be boycotting major Australian airline Qantas due to its on-the-record support for marriage equality in the country. Apart from its official corporate stance, the CEO of Qantas, Alan Joyce, is an openly gay man and was targeted in a pie attack by an anti-LGBT protester earlier this month. Court brought up her previous promotional work on behalf of the carrier in her statement as a contrast to her current disavowal:

“I am disappointed that Qantas has become an active promoter for same-sex marriage,” she said in a letter to The West Australian newspaper that was widely shared and discussed on social media.

“I believe in marriage as a union between a man and a woman as stated in the Bible.

“Your statement leaves me no option but to use other airlines where possible for my extensive traveling.”

Court, who in her post-tennis life has become a pastor in Perth’s Victory Life Church, has periodically made known her opposition to same-sex marriage and relations publicly, calling them “abominable” and “unhealthy,” as well as frequently claiming that being gay is a choice while endorsing the conversion therapy offered by her church. Back in 1990, she took the triumphant occasion of Martina Navratilova’s ninth and final singles Wimbledon title to proclaim the LGBT tennis star a bad role model for children due to her sexual identity.

Given this history, it should be no surprise that Navratilova herself has now suggested that the arena bearing Court’s name in Melbourne Park, where the Australian Open is played, should be renamed due to her problematic views, which have been repeatedly rejected by fellow great and fierce LGBT advocate Billie Jean King as well as tennis governing bodies Tennis Australia and the Women’s Tennis Association.

While there is no indication as yet that such a move will be taken, Australian-born British tennis player Laura Robson famously wore a rainbow hair ornament in 2012 while playing in Margaret Court Arena as a form of protest against its namesake’s rhetoric shortly after that set of aforementioned remarks were made. Other players have spoken up against this latest episode, which comes as the French Open is gearing up to begin next week:

Australian player Casey Dellacqua, who is gay, tweeted: “Margaret. Enough is enough,” alongside an image of a letter by Court in a newspaper after the birth of her first child in 2013.

The 74-year-old had written of the “sadness that I see that this baby has seemingly been deprived of his father.”

Marriage equality in Australia remains in limbo, following a previous failed parliamentary vote on the subject in 2012 and ongoing insistence by conservative Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull that nothing other than a nationwide plebiscite, which was itself voted down by lawmakers, will be brought forward by his government, even as legislative attempts persist.

The post Tennis Legend Margaret Court Boycotts Qantas for Its Support of Gay Marriage appeared first on Towleroad.

Tennis Legend Margaret Court Boycotts Qantas for Its Support of Gay Marriage

For the Human Race
“I posed for the NOH 8 Campaign because I feel NOH 8 is likely the most important objective of the human race. I feel compelled to stand with The People who advocate NOH 8 . With NOH 8 we could have undiminished compassion. With NOH 8 we could have widespread kindness. With NOH 8 we could have worldwide peace. With NOH 8 … we could have bliss.” ~ Adrian Evans, San Francisco

www.noh8campaign.com/article/for-the-human-race