Randy Rainbow’s Newest ‘Pirates of Penzance’ Trump Slam is a Lyrical Tour De Force: WATCH
Randy Rainbow takes the Gilbert and Sullivan comedic opera Pirates of Penzance to new heights with “A Very Stable Genius”, his take on the iconic musical’s “I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major General”.
A sampling of Rainbow’s brilliant lyrics:
He’s always been a pro at things like violating protocols And reproducing other egotistical neanderthals To all our greatest allies he decides to say “get outta here” While doing all he can to satisfy his daddy Vladimir. There’s no one as accomplished in the art of the distraction Of anything that’s factual he orders a retraction When greeting foreign leaders he prefers the pomp and circumstance Then vomits verbal diarrhea to satisfy his sycophants…
HRC CONFRONTS TRUMP-PUTIN WITH PROJECTION CALLING OUT ANTI-LGBTQ CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN CHECHNYA: Just ahead of the Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki, HRC projected an enormous message onto the Presidential Palace demanding that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin immediately end the ongoing anti-LGBTQ crimes against humanity occurring in the Russian republic of Chechnya. For more than 15 months, Donald Trump and his administration have refused to publicly condemn the systematic torture, abuse, and murder of LGBTQ people occurring in Chechnya as Vladimir Putin has licensed the violence to continue. More than 100 LGBTQ people have been rounded up, tortured, and abused — and as many as 20 have been murdered. More from HRC, Newsweek, The Hill, Daily Mail, Bustle, HuffPostand Pink News.
Earlier on Sunday, HRC Global Director Ty Cobbspoke at a rally in Helsinki to crowds gathered to protest the Trump-Pence and Putin regimes’ dangerous attacks on LGBTQ people, saying “Trump has unconscionably turned a blind eye to some of the worst anti-LGBTQ atrocities in a generation, including monstrous attacks on gay and bisexualmen in Chechnya.”
FEDERAL JUDGE IN PHILLY RULES FOSTER CARE AGENCIES MUST ADHERE TO CITY’S NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY: Catholic Social Services, alongside three parents, had claimed in a lawsuit that they should have a license to discriminate against same-sexcouples. In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Petrese B. Tucker wrote that the Department of Human Services had a legitimate interest in ensuring “that the pool of foster parents and resource caregivers is as diverse and broad as the children in need of foster parents.” More from The Philadelphia Inquirer.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING MONDAY: U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has ruled that an employer’s religious beliefs should be allowed to override their workers’ access to birth control. While refusing to answer whether he believed Roe was correctly decided during his confirmation hearing for the D.C. Circuit, once on the bench he wrote that his colleagues had “badly erred” by determining that an undocumented immigrant teen should have access to an abortion. And, in dissenting against the Affordable Care Act, Kavanaugh claimed that “the President may decline to enforce a statute… when the President deems the statute unconstitutional, even if a court has held or would hold the statute constitutional.” More from HRC
TROUBLING NEW DATA ON TRANS VETERANS FROM UCLA’S WILLIAMS INSTITUTE: The study found that transgender veterans are more likely to experience poverty and are less likely to be employed, have a college education or have health insurance. More from Windy City Times.
HORRIFYING — TRANS ASYLUM SEEKER ALLEGEDLY SEXUAL ASSAULTED WHILE IN DETENTION: Nicol, a transwoman escaping violence in Honduras, was raped and physically assaulted while in a detention center in New Mexico. She is fighting to be released on parole to escape further violence — though fears it will not be granted because of the Trump-Pence administration’s anti-immigrant policies. More from Arizona Public Media.
MORNING MUST READ FROM A TRANS BLACK WOMAN IN MISSISSIPPI ON THE STATE’S ANTI-LGBTQ HB1523: The harmful Mississippi state law, passed last year, allows the use of religion to justify discrimination against LGBTQ Mississippians at work, school and in their communities. “I’ve spent my whole life here, and despite the difficulties, this state is my home. It’s a part of me,” writes Malaysia Walker. “I am committed to fighting discrimination with everything I have, on behalf of all of the people who live here. That work starts with talking about our issues and, for me, educating others about what it means to be transgender.” More from Vice.
In a powerful oped, a Black #transgenderwoman in #Mississippi shares how she has faced bullying, discrimination and harassment – and why she’s not backing down, even in the face of laws like #HB1523. t.co/b4rF3jE2wF
HAWAII SUPREME COURT RULES BED AND BREAKFAST DISCRIMINATED AGAINST SAME-SEX COUPLE BY DENYING THEM A ROOM: Diane Cervelli and Taeko (Ty) Bufford were represented by Lambda Legal. More from Patheos.
ADDRESSING SUICIDE RATES AMONG LGBTQ YOUTH IN NORTH CAROLINA: A new report from the University of Connecticut and the HRC Foundation details the ways bullying, violence and harassment contribute to negative mental health outcomes for LGBTQ youth. State LGBTQ group Equality North Carolina is calling on lawmakers to repeal the state’s anti-LGBTQ HB 142 and has developed a youth fellowship program to uplift LGBTQ youth in rural areas. More from The (Durham) Herald Sun.
HOW ANTI-LGBTQ SO-CALLED “PANIC” DEFENSES HARM LGBTQ PEOPLE: Mobile, Alabama, native Amanda Scott writes on why her state should ban the nefarious tactic employed by some criminal defense attorneys who use the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity to justify a crime. More in Al.com.
HRC FOUNDATION HOSTS FAITH LEADERS FOR JUSTICE CAMP AT GATHERING FOR PROGRESSIVE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS: “As southern states continue to codify discrimination against LGBTQ individuals and families under the guise of religion, it is heartening to experience the warm welcome of LGBTQ people in a space such as the Wild Goose Festival,” said Eva Kendrick, HRC Alabama state director. More from HRC.
SEVENTH ANNUAL ‘CHEFS FOR EQUALITY’ TO BE HELD OCT. 9 AT WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL: More from HRC.
GLOBAL EQUALITY NEWS
LGBTQ ASYLUM SEEKERS IN THE U.K. ARE BEING DENIED REFUGE BECAUSE OF LEVEL OF PROOF DEMANDED: The UK Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group reported that some asylum seekers have been denied because they are LGBTQ and Muslim. More from Reuters.
CHILD OF SAME-SEX COUPLE DENIED IRISH PASSPORT: The government told the fathers to prove that one of them is the child’s biological father, a process that would deny the second father parental rights. More from Pink News.
AUSTRALIAN PRIEST REMOVED FROM CATHOLIC CONFERENCE FOR SUPPORTING MARRIAGE EQUALITY: More from The Georgia Voice.
READING RAINBOW – Bookmark now to read on your lunch break!
Swimming World interviews openly trans NCAA Division 1 swimmer Schuyler Bailar (@sb_pinkmantaray); Home Health Care News reports on the Visiting Nurse Service of New York’s new program to affirm transgender patients; Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller Times announces that the local police have created a new LGBTQ liaison officer position; Pride Source speaks to Kalamazoo, Mich.. Mayor Bobby Hopewell about LGBTQ equality; HRC spotlights Makayla Humphrey, HRC youth ambassador
The Best Local Dating Spots in the U.S. According to People Who Actually Date
Here are the 2018 OkCupid + Yelp Daters’ Choice Awards winners
Looking for the perfect date spot? You’ve come to the right place. Your fellow OkCupid daters did the legwork for you and found the coolest local date spots in 8 cities across the U.S. These are places you won’t find in any old guidebook, but ones with the stamp of approval from real people who go on real dates every day (FACT: OkCupid users go on 50k coffee and drink dates every week). We partnered with Yelp to ask those daters to vote for the best spots in various categories from cheap eats to no-judgements makeout spots (#priorities) for this year’s OkCupid Daters’ Choice Awards—and the results are in!
So here they are, your 2018 OkCupid Daters’ Choice Awards winners. If you want to skip directly to your home city click on it below, or scroll through the old-fashioned way and see the entire list. You can also see the full detailed list from Yelp here.
Harry Styles: ‘We’re All a Little Bit Gay’ – WATCH
Harry Styles held the final concert of his solo world tour at The Forum in Los Angeles on Saturday night. During the concert he reacted to a gay fan who was holding up a sign for the One Direction singer.
Said Styles after approaching a fan: “Can I read [the sign]? It says ‘I’m gay and I love you.’”
“I love you as well. Thank you for coming. I mean, we’re all a little bit gay.”
Styles has been showing support for the LGBTQ community throughout his tour. He has even been selling tour merchandise – rainbow t-shirts with the phrase “Treat People With Kindness” – that benefit GLSEN. In June he held up a rainbow flag that said “Make America Gay Again”.
Styles sent fans into a frenzy on social media in March after performing his track “Medicine” at a gig in Basel, Switzerland. Some suggested the lyrics meant he was coming out as bisexual.
“It’s weird for me — everyone should just be who they want to be,” said Styles. “It’s tough to justify somebody having to answer to someone else about stuff like that.”
When asked if he gives his sexual orientation a label, Styles said: “No, I’ve never felt the need to really. No.”
But he praised artists like Miley Cyrus, who do discuss it: “Being in a creative field, it’s important to be progressive. People doing stuff like that is great.”
