#AM_Equality Tipsheet: October 15, 2018

KAREN PENCE CAMPAIGNS FOR ANTI-LGBTQ EXTREMIST WHO SUPPORTS CRIMINALIZING SAME-SEX CONSENSUAL RELATIONSHIPS: More from Pink News.

Karen Pence (@SecondLady) is campaigning for @MarkHarrisNC9, who longs for the days when “homosexuality was once criminalized,” has extremist anti-LGBTQ views and is endorsed by @splcenter-designated hate group Family Research Council. t.co/foPMVo4w7t

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) October 15, 2018

HRC RALLIED VOTERS AT NEARLY 1,000 GOTV EVENTS ACROSS 69 KEY RACES DURING NATIONAL WEEKEND OF ACTION: With less than 25 days until Election Day, HRC launched a National Weekend of Action to mobilize voters for the critically important midterms through phone banks, canvassing, early vote rallies and more. With more than 140 staff deployed around the country, HRC has already:

• Had more than 2,600 volunteers complete nearly 14,500 volunteer hours;
• Trained more than 1,550 local advocates;
• And helped more than 33,400 people register to vote.

More from HRC.

MONDAY MUST WATCH — HEY TRUMP, KAVANAUGH DOES NOT DESERVE AN APOLOGY. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DO.

.@realDonaldTrump, Brett Kavanaugh doesn’t deserve an apology. The American people do.

November is coming and we’ll make our message heard loud and clear. pic.twitter.com/RRZytI8XCd

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) October 15, 2018

AS LATINX HERITAGE MONTH COMES TO A CLOSE, HRC STAFFERS REFLECT ON THE IMPORTANCE OF VOTING THIS NOVEMBER: More from HRC.

“It is critical that Latinx people vote in this election because of the countless sacrifices of those before us. We must not only honor their work, but also act as advocates for those…who do not have a voice.” -Nathan Barrera-Bunch #HHM #TurnOUT t.co/qcSD0Yzk8G

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) October 15, 2018

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE MISGENDERED AT WORK — AND HOW WE CAN ALL HELP: Says Beck Bailey, deputy director of the HRC Foundation’s workplace equality program: “It’s really incumbent upon all of us as we learn more about these conversations to work on not assuming the genders of folks that haven’t disclosed to us how they identify, and working to have language that is more inclusive and neutral all the way around.”

More from Julia Carpenter (@juliaccarpenter) at CNN.

TWO TRANS WISCONSIN STATE EMPLOYEES WIN SUIT CLAIMING STATE INSURANCE WRONGFULLY DENIED NECESSARY MEDICAL CARE: More from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS HOCKEY TEAM AND LGBT NETWORK PARTNER ON NEW ANTI-BULLYING PARTNERSHIP: More from Newsday.

PRO-EQUALITY MICHIGAN PRINCIPAL SELECTED AS 2018 NATIONAL DISTINGUISHED PRINCIPAL: Craig McCalla, principal of Cornerstone Elementary School in Dexter, Michigan, implemented the HRC Foundation’s Welcoming School program in his school. More from We Love Dexter.

AWFUL — TRANS MAN IN MAINE OUTED BY NEIGHBOR, ASKED TO LEAVE CHURCH: Landon Fry also reported his children have been bullied following his outing. More from News Center Maine.

DAILY AWWW — SAME-SEX PENGUIN COUPLE ADOPTS EGG AT SYDNEY AQUARIUM: More from ABC.

USA VOLLEYBALL MEN’S JUNIOR NATIONAL TEAM PLAYER SAM LEWIS COMES OUT AS GAY: More from Outsports.

GLOBAL EQUALITY NEWS

HORRIFYING — VIRAL VIDEO SHOWS IRAQI TEEN MURDERED ON SUSPICION OF BEING LGBTQ: More from Advocate.

FOR FIRST TIME, BRAZIL ELECTS BOTH AN INDIGENOUS WOMAN AND TRANS WOMAN TO PUBLIC OFFICE: More from The Washington Post.

MEET THE AMERICAN ANTI-LGBTQ HATE GROUP ATTACKING EQUALITY IN ROMANIA: More from Media Matters.

READING RAINBOW – Bookmark now to read on your lunch break!

Bloomberg covers a rally in Brazil for LGBTQ equality; Los Angeles Blade interviews local advocate and Point Foundation Scholar Nia Clark; American Magazine shares a first-person perspective from a gay Catholic; HRC honors Tyler Oakley and Andrea Jenkins at its Twin Cities Gala

last night, i was honored to receive the @HRC “Visibility Award” & share the stage with their other honoree, Andrea Jenkins – who made history as the first openly transgender black woman elected to public office in america. what a legend.

such an incredible night.  pic.twitter.com/h6RD9RtP8v

— tyler oakley (@tyleroakley) October 14, 2018

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Aaron Hernandez’ Gay Lover Speaks Out: ‘We Didn’t Want People to Know’

The late former NFL player Aaron Hernandez’ gay lover speaks out about their relationship in a new profile in the Boston Globe. Hernandez, who was convicted of murdering Odin Lloyd in 2013, killed himself in his prison cell in 2017.

Dennis SanSoucie told the paper that his relationship with Hernandez began in middle school and continued through high school. Their parents had known each other. SanSoucie’s father Tim had once been on the receiving end of a punch from Hernandez’s father when Tim was coaching their sons’ youth tackle football team.

In high school Dennis SanSoucie and Aaron Hernandez had become something of a phenomenon on the football team. SanSoucie was the quarterback and Hernandez broke a Connecticut high school record by catching 67 passes from SanSoucie.

SanSoucie told the Globe that they got high on marijuana often, and strove to hide their relationship: “Me and him were very much into trying to hide what we were doing. We didn’t want people to know.”

The profile also reveals that Hernandez’s family, particularly his father, was highly homophobic, and objected when Aaron came home one day as a young student and said he wanted to be a cheerleader.

‘Faggot’ was used all the time in our house,” said Hernandez’s brother Jonathan. “All the time. Standing. Talking. Acting. Looking. It was the furthest thing my father wanted you to even look like in our household. This was not acceptable to him.”

SanSoucie is now an out gay man, according to the profile, and  believes Hernandez would be proud of him for talking about their relationship: “I really truly feel in my heart I got the thumbs-up from him.”

Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, Hernandez’s fiancee, wrote about rumors he was gay in the foreword to a book published in August by defense attorney Jose Baez.

Wrote Jenkins-Hernandez, via the Boston Herald: “There has been much speculation about Aaron’s sexuality since his death. I can say this: Aaron was very much a man to me. I saw no indication that he was gay or homosexual. I wish I had known how he felt, just so we could have talked about it. I wouldn’t have disowned him. I would have been supportive. I can’t fault him if he was feeling that way. When you love someone so much you just want to be there to support them. The fact that he felt he couldn’t come out to me or he couldn’t tell me these things hurts, because we had that bond. I’ve accepted that he may have been the way he was said to be, or that it may not be true. Regardless, I won’t know.”

In an Oxygen network special which aired in March, Aaron Hernandez Uncovered, defense attorney George Leontire said the former NFL player was tortured over the fact he was gay,

Said Leontire: “Aaron and I talked about his sexuality. This man clearly was gay. [He] acknowledged it. Acknowledged the immense pain that it caused him…I think that he also came out of a culture that was so negative about gay people that he exhibited some self-hatred.”

The post Aaron Hernandez’ Gay Lover Speaks Out: ‘We Didn’t Want People to Know’ appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Aaron Hernandez’ Gay Lover Speaks Out: ‘We Didn’t Want People to Know’