This un-cropped photo of Prince William with a Speedo-clad rugby player is real awkward
So this happened.

www.queerty.com/un-cropped-photo-prince-william-speedo-clad-rugby-player-real-awkward-20171201?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Seth Meyers Rips Matt Lauer After Sexual Assault Firing: ‘You Killed Your Career and You F**ked Yourself’ – WATCH

Seth Meyers tore into his former colleague Matt Lauer over the sexual assault claims that got him fired from NBC News.

First Meyers pointed out that one complaint against Lauer came during the Sochi Olympics.

Said Meyers: “And you thought the most disgusting thing at the Sochi Olympics was Bob Costa’s pinkeye. Well, move over, pinkeye, there’s a new, grosser sheriff in town.”

He then moved on to the lurid details, that Lauer gave another colleague a sex toy and a card saying how he’d use it on her.

Said Meyers: “As a general rule, if you’re giving someone a dildo at work, you’re the dildo at work.”

He also took note of the fact that Lauer had a button installed under his desk so he could lock the door without getting up.

“Let me address anyone who works in the button-installing business, if I may,” added Meyers. “Nobody wants a button under their desk for a non-evil reason. No one’s ever said, ‘I need a button under my desk that will release kittens when my interns are feeling blue.’ If someone asks you to install a button under their desk, just nod and report it to the police.“

Finally, Meyers mocked Lauer’s fondness for the game “F**k, Marry, Kill” in which he’d name co-workers he wanted to sleep with.

Quipped Meyers: “I don’t know who you said you’d marry in those conversations, but I do know that you killed your career, and you f—ed yourself.

Watch:

The post Seth Meyers Rips Matt Lauer After Sexual Assault Firing: ‘You Killed Your Career and You F**ked Yourself’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Seth Meyers Rips Matt Lauer After Sexual Assault Firing: ‘You Killed Your Career and You F**ked Yourself’ – WATCH

EU Tells May: If Brexit Offer Is Unacceptable To Ireland, It’s Unacceptable To Us
couple of days will be crucial, the Press Association reported.

Theresa May is hoping EU leaders will give the go-ahead for the second phase of the negotiations, including talks on a free trade deal, to begin at the European Council summit on December 14-15.

She is due to travel to Brussels on Monday for talks with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in the hope of securing a declaration that “sufficient progress” has been made on divorce issues like the financial settlement and the Irish border.

The leaders of the remaining 27 EU states, including Irish premier Mr Varadkar, have a veto on triggering the second phase of talks, meaning Mrs May must be sure of support from Dublin for progress to be made.

Tusk confirmed the Irish would be consulted on whether the UK’s offer was sufficient.

He added: “If the UK offer is unacceptable for Ireland it will also be unacceptable for the EU.

“I realise that for some British politicians this may be hard to understand but such is the logic behind the fact that Ireland is an EU member while the UK is leaving.”

The free-flowing and invisible border between Northern Ireland and the Republic since the 1998 peace deal was enabled through the UK and Ireland’s joint membership of the EU and its single market.

When the UK departs it raises the prospect of some form of customs barrier or else continued harmonisation on issues like duties on goods.

Ireland’s proposal for no checkpoints could mean Northern Ireland sticking to the EU rulebook while the rest of the UK diverged, a red line for the Democratic Unionists who are propping up the UK Government.

Tusk met the Taoiseach in Dublin on Friday afternoon.

Varadkar said good progress had been made during EU-UK negotiations on finance and EU citizens rights as well as on people moving between Ireland and the UK.

He said advances had been made towards a common understanding on protecting the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which ended violence in Northern Ireland.

But he warned that the British Government must offer credible, concrete and workable solutions guaranteeing no hard border.

He said: “I am also prepared to stand firm with our partners if needs be, if the UK offer falls short on any of those key issues, including the Irish ones.” 

The UK is pressing for a frictionless frontier on its only land border with an EU state.

It wants to use technology and trading arrangements to ensure the free flow of goods and no return to the heavily militarised border of the conflict.

The Taoiseach said the UK was Ireland’s friend and neigbour and they wanted to work together.

He added: “I want to make progress but I also need to make clear: the EU 27 cannot declare sufficient progress without firm and acceptable commitments on the border and that is a position shared across the political spectrum in Ireland.”

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17 stories you can watch this World AIDS Day

www.glaad.org/blog/17-stories-you-can-watch-world-aids-day

Police have now opened an investigation into the death of bisexual rapper Lil Peep
Authorities are examining texts from a woman seen on a tour bus with the rapper shortly before his death.

www.queerty.com/police-now-opened-investigation-death-bisexual-rapper-lil-peep-20171201?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Let’s Face It, Christmas Has Been Rebranded

A crisp winter’s evening. The still air is broken by the sound of a church bell ringing. Startled, yet filled with excitement, a small child scrambles to the window. They peer through the pane, leaving a ring of condensation against the frosty glass. Is it? Could it be? A glimpse, no more, of something in the distance – far away across the snow-covered vista. It’s magical. It’s here. It’s really here! The child rushes to find a warm coat as, carried on the wind, soft voices are heard:

“Holidays are coming, holidays are coming…”

This time of year has always been filled with myths and legends, heart-warming stories to ease us through the coldest of winters. Of late, since 1995 in fact, a new story has joined the canon. The myth of a bright red articulated truck, entering a small snow-dusted town, acting as herald to a non-denominational ‘holiday season’. Crowds gather to share comradeship, love and a famous soft drink.

Every year, at this time, I find myself admitting – to close friends and family – that this tale of the garishly lit vehicle traversing through the snow to bring tidings of (deliberately vague) holidays and fizzy drinks moves me. Genuinely. I don’t feel ‘Christmassy’ until I’ve seen it. This isn’t sarcasm, I’m being totally candid. This revelation usually leads to cries of derision, that, like some modern day overly saccharine Scrooge, I’m ‘missing the true spirit of Christmas’.

Similarly, at this time, naysayers flock to social media to complain about the pop standard given the acoustic treatment for John Lewis’ latest mini movie. These pint-sized epics, depicting sage morals against a backdrop of consumerism, are too frequently dismissed as missing the point.

I couldn’t disagree more strongly.

It’s time to face it, Christmas has been rebranded. We need to get over it and move on.

What do I mean by this?

Well, if Christmas didn’t exist, we’d need to invent it. It’s no coincidence that the feast lies at the darkest part of the year, literally ‘in the bleak mid-winter’. A time when we need something to look forward to, a pick-me-up. Pre-Christian society understood this, with their ‘Yuletide’ winter solstice celebrations, which were neatly ‘re skinned’ (using a modern parlance) by early Christianity with the familiar Bethlehem-based narrative. The story changed, but the heart of the feast remained the same – communities coming together to celebrate, during the bleakest of seasons.

The mid-winter oasis of the ‘festive season’ was, for generations, the exclusive territory of religion. But things change, meaning evolves and time moves on. We know, of course, that the ‘holidays’ so movingly crooned of in the Cola commercial are a contraction of the Christian ‘holy days’. Yet the word no longer has an ecclesiastical connotation. The same might be said of ‘Christmas’ itself – an abbreviation of ‘Christ’s Mass’, which (I feel) wouldn’t be the primary definition for most. Like ‘holiday’, the word has new common meaning: a festive period of goodwill and joviality. There are new myths and traditions too, with John Lewis and Coca Cola at the heart of these, here in this country.

I wish those who choose to celebrate the religious during this festive time well. They do not, however, have a monopoly on ‘the true meaning of Christmas’. The meaning of anything in the public domain is constantly evolving, to reflect the times. These new connotations and understandings around the feast are, in my view, totally valid and ‘true’. In the 21st century shopping malls have replaced churches as places of pilgrimage, while brands provide a tribal sense of belonging that used to be the preserve of organised religion.

In truth, I don’t think that, fundamentally, much has changed. Like with all rebrands, the core elements of the offering stay the same, they’re just presented differently. A feast that previously was about family, friendship and celebration against a background of religion, now plays out against a background of consumerism. Both versions help maintain our society’s fabric, yet the rebrand is more relevant for today’s secular life.

Perhaps the view I’m outlining will prove a step too far for some, seeing it as heretical and bold. Perhaps it is. That said, such frustrations about how the mid-winter feast was presented were probably felt by the pre-Christians when their Yuletide was rebranded all those years ago.

I, for one, am excited about Christmas – just like the child with their nose against the glass as the red lorry trundles through the snow. For me, it represents all the best parts of life, a time when people make the effort to be that bit nicer to each other – which can only be a good thing.

The stories we tell each other around this festival are down to us, whether they be tales of friendly monsters under our beds, red nosed reindeer having their day in the sun or overfilled inns improvising accommodation. All have their place as part of the ‘true’ meaning of this wonderful midwinter shindig.

Happy Holidays

Chris McGuire

Read Chris’ ‘Out Of Depth Dad’ blog here.

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www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/lets-face-it-christmas-has-been-rebranded_uk_5a1eada9e4b0e9a1b9c7b54a

Paid Leave is Critical for People Living With HIV

While the Family and Medical Leave Act provides some protections for people living with HIV, not all are eligible to utilize this critical workplace protection. Furthermore, the LGBTQ community is disproportionately affected by HIV, and inclusive paid leave policies that support LGBTQ people’s right to balance both their health, job, and family is a vital protection. Read more in Paid Leave Is Critical for People Living with HIV.

www.hrc.org/blog/paid-leave-is-critical-for-people-living-with-hiv?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed