CNN New Day, CNBC, Good Morning America, Despierta América, TODAY kick off Spirit Day 2018 and bring support for LGBTQ youth to TVs everywhere

www.glaad.org/blog/cnn-new-day-cnbc-good-morning-america-despierta-am%C3%A9rica-today-kick-spirit-day-2018-and-bring

HRC Endorses Ilhan Omar for United States Congress (MN-05)

HRC announced its endorsement of Minnesota State Rep. Ilhan Omar for U.S. House in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District.

“State Rep. Ilhan Omar is a proven leader who will stand up for Minnesota’s working families in Congress,” said HRC Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs JoDee Winterhof. “In the Minnesota State Legislature, she has worked to advance fairness and equality, and she is the clear choice for Minnesotans. HRC is proud to endorse her bid to represent the people of Minnesota’s 5th District in Congress, and we look forward to mobilizing our thousands of members and supporters across the district to turn out for equality on November 6th.”

“I am honored to be endorsed by the Human Right Campaign,” said Rep. Omar. “I will fight for LGBTQIA+ rights in Washington D.C., and together, we will raise our voices against those who seek to divide us with hate and bigotry.”

As Assistant Minority Leader in the Minnesota House, Omar has worked hard to champion the equal rights and dignity of all Minnesotans. She is a strong supporter of marriage equality and the Equality Act, landmark federal legislation that would provide the same basic nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ people as other protected groups under federal law. She is also committed to addressing the epidemic of homelessness facing LGBTQ youth, and fighting against efforts to undermine LGBTQ equality under the guise of religious liberty.

In Minnesota, HRC has identified more than 750,000 voters as likely “Equality Voters,” meaning they are strong supporters of progressive LGBTQ policies including marriage equality, equitable family law, and laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Last year, HRC announced a coast-to-coast campaign to mobilize voters for the midterm elections called HRC Rising, which represents the largest grassroots expansion in the organization’s 38-year history.

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-endorses-ilhan-omar-for-united-states-congress-mn-05?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Stockard Channing and Glenn Close Make Magic of Maternal Strife Off-Broadway: REVIEW

A shift in perspective makes a world of difference. Where and how we choose to look can radically alter how we make sense of ourselves and everything else. That’s the sweeping scope of Alexi Kaye Campbell’s intimate drama Apologia, titled after the memoir of its central character, an art historian played with cunning grace by Stockard Channing. Downtown, Jane Anderson performs a different pivot in her new play Mother of the Maid, turning our historical attention to Joan of Arc’s family life, and particularly her mom, played with ramrod forbearance by Glenn Close.

That each of these plays provide such venerable stars with plum roles into which to sink their teeth is a delightful bonus, no doubt (and likely why the plays have arrived in New York in the first place). But it’s in aligning our point of view with that of sharp, extraordinary women, wise in more than just years, that the plays succeed in disrupting how we look at history and our own place in the world.

Early on in Apologia, a Roundabout Theatre Company production that opened off-Broadway October 16, Channing’s character reins in her patience to explain how Giotto revolutionized Western religion. He helped spread faith to the masses by allowing viewers to see themselves reflected in his grittier paintings of Christian idols. The scholar’s son (Hugh Dancy) has brought an American girlfriend (Talene Monahon) home to the English countryside to meet mom, a proud and somewhat cynical U.S. expat herself.

Her defense of the Gothic artist, in response to an inane question by a new girlfriend, distills the insightful thrust of Campbell’s elegant and deceptively simple play. Everyone has their own concept of value — be it based on money and fame, or on faith, intellect, or artistic achievement. It’s different for every character on stage as it is for each member of the audience. Our individual conceptions of value reflexively dictate how we measure our own — drama is born in the discrepancies.

Anderson’s view of 15th-century France focuses on the Arc family’s more earthly values, rather than the divine crusade of its ‘Maid’, Joan. Primarily known for her screen work (most recently The Wife, also starring Close), Anderson renders an epic figure on an intimate canvas in this off-Broadway production that opened tonight at the Public Theater. Before her visions of Saint Catherine led her into battle against the English, we find this Joan (Grace Van Patten) picking burrs out of wool with her Ma (Close), in a dialect that more closely resembles the rural American West than the North of France.

Joan has been no stranger to New York stages recently; a revival of George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan went up this spring, and a disastrous musical from David Byrne also bowed at the Public last year. By assuming the perspective of Joan’s mother and grounding the story in more mundane realities, Anderson makes Joan’s journey seem all the more remarkable, though the most sensational moments take place off stage. It is perhaps easier to sympathize with a mother’s pride and agony witnessing her child’s rise and fall than it is put ourselves in Joan’s shoes. Not surprisingly, Close has no trouble galvanizing the story around her character’s perspective with a striking performance. Five hundred years on, there’s little new to discover about Joan’s story but to see it as a human one.

Recent theatre features…
Gay Romance Blooms Atop a Baby Grand in New Musical ‘Midnight at the Never Get’ — REVIEW
Jomama Jones Is a Spiritual Mother for the Moment in ‘Black Light’ — REVIEW
‘What the Constitution Means to Me’ Is the Best Political Play of the Trump Era: REVIEW
Trans Representation Comes at a Price in ‘The Nap’ on Broadway: REVIEW
Dangerous Nostalgia Gets a Glow Up in ‘Pretty Woman: The Musical’ on Broadway: REVIEW
New Musical ‘Be More Chill’ Is Like an Incel’s Answer to ‘Mean Girls’: REVIEW
New Go-Go’s Musical ‘Head Over Heels’ Is a Goddamn Queer Delight: REVIEW
Get in, Losers: The ‘Mean Girls’ Musical Is Fun as Hell: REVIEW

Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar
(photos: joan marcus)

The post Stockard Channing and Glenn Close Make Magic of Maternal Strife Off-Broadway: REVIEW appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Stockard Channing and Glenn Close Make Magic of Maternal Strife Off-Broadway: REVIEW

Robert Mueller’s Results, Zachary Quinto’s Dome, Julian Castro, Beto O’Rourke, Wild Boars, Leo Stronda: HOT LINKS

JAMAL KHASHOGGI. On whether the FBI is investigating his death: “Why would I tell you?”

RUSSIA PROBE. Robert Mueller ready to deliver key findings: ‘Specifically, Mueller is close to rendering judgment on two of the most explosive aspects of his inquiry: whether there were clear incidents of collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, and whether the president took any actions that constitute obstruction of justice, according to one of the officials, who asked not to be identified speaking about the investigation.’

ORANGE JUMPSUIT. Judge orders Paul Manafort to court in prison clothing.

IDIOT OF THE DAY. Man swims naked in shark tank at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Aquarium in downtown Toronto.

THE TWO HAROLDS. They were a gay, interracial couple in an age of relentless bigotry.

DOME OF THE DAY. Zachary Quinto has shaved his head.

BRETT KAVANAUGH. Anti-LGBT lawsuits already headed his way: “The complaints — two filed in federal court, one filed in state court — were filed in Texas and seek to challenge the City of Austin’s LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination ordinance and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. agency charged with federal employment civil rights law, over its interpretation of Title VII to prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination in the workforce.”

2020. Julian Castro says he’s “likely” to run.

SHERIFF JOE. Joe Arpaio files libel suit against the New York Times: ‘In a complaint filed Tuesday evening with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the ex-lawman takes issue with a Times opinion piece published just after Arpaio’s loss in the state’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate. The article — “Well, at Least Sheriff Joe Isn’t Going to Congress: Arpaio’s loss in Arizona’s Senate Republican primary is a fitting end to the public life of a truly sadistic man” — was written by Michelle Cottle.’

DATA DUMP. Twitter releases massive trove of tweets exposing Russia’s Trump strategy in 2016: ‘The huge data cache consists of tweets from some 3,400 accounts tied to the Kremlin troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency and 770 others linked to Iran. It also includes some two million gifs, videos and other visual content. Twitter said it’s making the information available to “enable independent academic research and investigation,” according to a company blog post.’

FIVE TAKEAWAYS. From the Beto O’Rourke – Ted Cruz debate.

WEARING THE PANTS. Lady Gaga wears man’s suit for powerful speech: “As a sexual assault survivor by someone in the entertainment industry, as a woman who is still not brave enough to say his name, as a woman who lives with chronic pain, as a woman who was conditioned at a very young age to listen to what men told me to do, I decided today I wanted to take the power back. Today I wear the pants.”

CHRISTINE HALLQUIST. NYT profiles Vermont’s transgender gubernatorial candidate: “Ms. Hallquist, 62, a plain-spoken Democrat who spent more than a decade running an electric utility company, has been enthralled by science and engineering ever since she was young, when classmates mocked her for being feminine and the nuns at school beat her and recommended her parents treat her nonconformity with an exorcism.”

LEO STRONDA. Brazilian rapper, reality star, and bodybuilder goes fullfrontal in wk-unfriendly shot.

GRANDPA CHIP COOKIES. Teen bakes grandfather’s ashes into cookies, feeds them to classmates.

MINNESOTA. Anti-gay photographer’s “religious freedom” case is argued before appeals court: ‘Carl and Angel Larsen, who run a Christian videography business called Telescope Media Group, sued Minnesota’s human rights commissioner in December 2016 in federal court, saying the state’s public accommodation law would hit them with steep fines and jail time if they began offering wedding videography services that only promoted their vision of marriage. Chief U.S. District Judge John Tunheim dismissed their lawsuit in September 2017. In his ruling, he called the Larsens’ plan to post a notice on their website that they would deny services to same-sex couples “conduct akin to a ‘White Applicants Only’ sign,” and that it would be an act of discrimination not protected by the First Amendment.’

AARON HERNANDEZ. Teammates detail his bizarre behavior: ‘Late NFL star Aaron Hernandez threatened to “f*** up” a teammate, exposed his genitalia to fellow Patriots while he spoke about “gay sex” and displayed erratic behaviour on the field during his final season with New England.’

INTERVIEW OF THE DAY. Ellen talks to the Wild Boars, the Thai soccer team trapped in a cave for 10 days, and gives them a big surprise.

HUMP DAY HOTTIE. Mesh.

The post Robert Mueller’s Results, Zachary Quinto’s Dome, Julian Castro, Beto O’Rourke, Wild Boars, Leo Stronda: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Robert Mueller’s Results, Zachary Quinto’s Dome, Julian Castro, Beto O’Rourke, Wild Boars, Leo Stronda: HOT LINKS