#AM_Equality Tipsheet: October 05, 2018

HRC SHARES STORIES OF SURVIVORS WHO WILL BE AFFECTED BY KAVANAUGH ON THE STEPS OF THE SUPREME COURT: The action was part of the 24-hour People’s Filibuster, an effort from a coalition of organizations working to #StopKavanaugh. HRC shared stories submitted by HRC members who are survivors of sexual assault. The event will also feature remarks by U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and more. They will be joined by progressive advocates, sexual assault survivors and other activists.

These stories of sexual assault shared by @HRC members & supporters are devastating & heartbreaking. This morning we shared them at the #PeoplesFilibuster outside the Capitol as we urged the Senate to #BelieveSurvivors, #StopKavanuagh and do the right thing. pic.twitter.com/6MY9hOoITB

— Chad Griffin (@ChadHGriffin) October 5, 2018

THERE ARE 1.8 MILLION EQUALITY VOTERS IN OHIO — WE MUST #TURNOUT THE VOTE IN NOVEMBER: HRC rallied across the state this week, joining pro-equality champions like state Rep. Nickie Antonio to mobilize voters and advocate for legislation like the Ohio Fairness Act, which would add protections for LGBTQ people to Ohio’s nondiscrimination law. More from WKSU.

NEW RESEARCH SHOWS PENCE’S TEPID RESPONSE TO HIV OUTBREAK LIKELY DID LITTLE TO CURB THE CRISIS: As the outbreak of HIV and AIDS spiraled out of control in Scott County, Ind., then-Governor Pence was “reluctant” to lift a ban on needle exchanges that could mitigate the spread of the virus. After an intervention staged by officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Pence continued dragging his feet on full implementation for needle exchanges, waiting for a year to sign off on funding, leading to an outbreak in Scott County that included 215 people testing positive for HIV. New research shows that, had he acted immediately, he could have prevented up to 173 of these positive tests. More from The Nation.

• WATCH PENCE’S DANGEROUS RECORD ON HIV AND AIDS: The video is part of HRC’s “The Real Mike Pence,” a comprehensive campaign — including a scathing report and microsite — exposing the vice president’s career of attacks on LGBTQ people and shining a spotlight on the inordinate influence he and his inner circle wield in the administration. Watch here.

FEEL GOOD FRIDAY — HRC LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO MARK 30TH ANNUAL NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY: HRC’s powerful new digital campaign highlights inspirational stories of celebrities and influencers who have come out over the past year. HRC launched the campaign this week with videos and graphics featuring the powerful coming out stories of Janelle Monáe, Bex Taylor-Klaus, and Alyson Stoner, and the organization will continue sharing coming out stories from the past year throughout the next week. Additionally, HRC will mark the actual anniversary on October 11 with major coming out moments of the last three decades. More from HRC.

“I can love people of every gender identity and expression.”

Ahead of the 30th anniversary of #NationalComingOutDay, @HRC proudly recognizes actress, singer, dancer and model @AlysonStoner, who came out as a member of the #LGBTQ ��️‍�� community this year. #NCOD pic.twitter.com/tOBbQ56XLz

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) October 4, 2018

HRC MOURNS CIARA MINAJ CARTER FRAZIER, BLACK TRANS WOMAN KILLED IN CHICAGO: Frazier was found dead on Wednesday, say police, who are investigating the crime as a homicide. LaSaia Wade, a local trans advocate, told reporters Frazier was active in ball culture — gatherings of LGBTQ people to compete in dance and fashion shows. More from Chicago Sun Times.

HRC JOINS NASSP ON CAPITOL HILL FOR BRIEFING ON INCLUSIVE ENVIRONMENTS FOR LGBTQ STUDENTS: HRC and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Policy & Advocacy Center were in Washington, D.C. today for a congressional briefing on creating supportive and inclusive environments for LGBTQ students. Watch here.

HRC JOINS ORGS, CONGRESS MEMBERS TO CALL ON STATE DEPARTMENT TO INCLUDE REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS IN ANNUAL HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS: Read the letter here.

THIS WEEKEND IN PHILLY — PHILLY TRANS MARCH TO CALL ATTENTION TO UNSOLVED MURDER OF SHANTEE TUCKER: Tucker, a Black trans woman, died in September after being shot. She had just celebrated her 30th birthday. More from Philly.com.

THIS SUNDAY — CNN’S LISA LING SPECIAL ON GENDER IDENTITY FOR CNN:

We are in the midst of a gender revolution and it’s being led by young people like ones pictured on both sides of me. Find out more about it this SUNDAY on an absolutely fascinating episode of #ThisIsLife 10pm on @cnnorigseries. pic.twitter.com/KxZbiIOaRe

— lisaling (@lisaling) October 4, 2018

INAUGURAL TUPELO, MISSISSIPPI PRIDE WALK ON SATURDAY: More from Daily Journal.

COALITION OF PROGRESSIVE EVANGELICAL FAITH LEADERS ISSUES MESSAGE OF HOPE AND SUPPORT TO YOUNG, DIVERSE FAITHFUL: More from HuffPost.

ATLANTA-AREA LANDSCAPING COMPANY REFUSES SERVICE TO SAME-SEX COUPLE, GOES ON ANTI-LGBTQ TIRADE ON YELP: More from 11 Alive.

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

Washington Blade interviews Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander; QNotes profiles Elizabeth Birch for LGBTQ History Month

Paid for by Human Rights Campaign PAC (www.hrc.org) and not authorized by any candidate or committee.

Have news? Send us your news and tips at [email protected]. Click here to subscribe to #AM_Equality and follow @HRC for all the latest news. Thanks for reading!

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Charli XCX and Troye Sivan Take a Nostalgia Trip Back to ‘1999’ on New Single: Listen

British singer-songwriter Charli XCX enlisted “Bloom” singer Troye Sivan to join her on the new single “1999” which looks back on the last year of the last millennium and all its memories – Nike Airs, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, MTV and more. Take a listen above.

The post Charli XCX and Troye Sivan Take a Nostalgia Trip Back to ‘1999’ on New Single: Listen appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Charli XCX and Troye Sivan Take a Nostalgia Trip Back to ‘1999’ on New Single: Listen

‘A Star is Born’ is Electric Entertainment: Movie Review

Overnight success is a myth. Great artistic success in show business generally comes from working hard and learning the craft, often for years, so that you’re ready should a big break ever come. ‘Overnight’  is only just that moment when the world suddenly notices your long-standing gifts. A Star is Born as a franchise always synthesizes this myth and this truth for something like a fairy/cautionary tale; just as quickly as a star rises, a star can fall. Talent is never the question, but the starting point; whether the world notices and for how long, is out of your hands.

The screenplay for the latest telling of A Star is Born, emphasizes this last point, as Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) urges Ally (Lady Gaga) to give it her all because the world might not always be listening.

For those who’ve been living under a cultural rock the story of A Star is Born is ancient and simple: One already established successful showbiz man ‘discovers’ an absurdly gifted but basically unknown female performer and takes her under his wing. They fall in love but as her fame rises, his falls, plagued as he is by personal demons in liquid form. The story never has a happy ending so if you need a good cry, queue up.

It’s easy to see why this enduring showbiz tearjerker attracts star performers who know a thing or two about life in the spotlight (Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, James Mason, Fredric March, etc…) though its appeal to filmmakers is perhaps a bit less obvious. Enter Bradley Cooper, famous actor and now an overnight success as a director…

Cooper’s clearly been honing the storytelling side of his gifts for years on the sly. Perhaps he was purposefully hovering, soaking up the magic of multitudinous decision-making on the sets of the gifted directors he’s been fortunate to work with: Clint Eastwood (American Sniper), David O. Russell (American Hustle), and Derek Cianfrance (The Place Beyond the Pines) chief among them. There’s little other explanation possible as to how Cooper so confidently dons this new hat, born anew as a director behind the camera while simultaneously giving the performance of his career as a movie star in front of it.

Though it would be silly to say that Cooper is unrecognizable as Jackson Maine, his voice at least is totally new — to his vocal chords that is. Like a more benevolent Ursula, he’s magically stolen the voice of Sam Elliott while letting Sam Elliott keep those molasses-gravel pipes, too. In effect there are two Sam Elliotts before you since Elliott is on hand (and terrific) as Jackson’s older brother who raised this rock star and now manages him on the road. It’s a full time job given the infinite booze. Aside from the new speaking voice, Cooper has thoroughly recalibrated himself physically and emotionally never feeling anything less than authentic as a casually mega famous but frequently sozzled rock star.

Cooper’s iteration of this old story is the first time an actor has directed the material and it shows. Arguably more than the other versions –even the magnificent Judy Garland classic from 1954 —  this one conjures up a romance that’s deeply rooted in the spirit of artistic collaboration. This Star is not just concerned with the yin and yang of fresh and dimmed spotlights but in the act of creation.

Cooper’s smart performance-focused read on the material and his generosity as an actor is obviously a huge boon to Lady Gaga as his discovery “Ally”. Gaga is still a novice actor rather than a true natural but paired with Cooper she’s relaxed and expressive and moving.  It helps of course that the role is tailored to the superstar in an almost comically meta way. She’s even cheered on by a gaggle of gays in her first big scene, then symbolically released from the gay community into the real world via Jackson Maine accidentally stumbling into a drag bar on the hunt for more booze. But this role tailoring has always been the case with A Star is Born, which lives or dies by the gifts of its female Star, the one being Born.

Lady Gaga knows what a once-in-a-lifetime gift this role is and she’s taking no chances delivering some of the best songs of her career. Lady Gaga came to slay so that “Ally” could be Born This Way.

If either Cooper or Gaga had any doubts about their ability to pull this off you’d never know it from what’s on screen, the movie operating at all times from an electric place of total confidence, even when the subject of the scenes is the lack of it. For Gaga’s part she walks this high wire with no safety net. Within the first reel of her performance she’s directly inviting comparisons to major legends.

The first time she sings, under the title card no less, it’s the seldom sung intro verse to Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow” which she then chases with a full performance of Edith Piaf’s signature song “La Vie En Rose.” Once she’s risked communing with those formidable ghosts, she’s talking about her nose in profile in a way that would make Barbra Streisand blush. This is a fearless performance demanding your fealty. All you can say in you seat is “yaaaas queen!” when she finally lets loose with “Shallow”.

I’m off the deep end
Watch as I dive in
I’ll never meet the ground
Crash through the surface
Where they can’t hide us
We’re far from the shallow now

The song is thrilling and so is the movie. Watch as these two great artists dive in. Oh, the treasures they dig up together. Once the movie lifts off (with this very song) it never meets the ground again.

An embarrassment of riches, A Star is Born delivers this moment earlier than you’d think. Before the already iconic moment when Ally blows the roof off of a Jackson Maine stadium concert with her hhaaawwwooahaaahahwoaha caterwauling — the centerpiece of the ubiquitous promotional campaign — we’re treated to a verse of the song in the humblest of ways. Ally sings a bar for Jackson in a parking lot as they talk the night away. The scene is quiet, long, and watchful, as fascinated with this nascent romance as Jackson is with this singular new woman he can’t stop staring at. The new tune is presented casually as the seed of an idea Ally has been tending to. It suddenly blooms in Jackson’s presence, one artist inspired by another. A song, a romance, and a new classic movie born right before your eyes.

The post ‘A Star is Born’ is Electric Entertainment: Movie Review appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

‘A Star is Born’ is Electric Entertainment: Movie Review

Rejection: What to Say When You’re No Longer Interested in Someone

“I’m just not that into you” is almost an impossible phrase to say to someone – it’s honest sure, but boy does it hurt hearing it from someone you really like. Today I’m going to share some alternative, more tactful phrases that relay the same message. Photo by Andy Art on Unsplash Rejection via Dating […]

The post Rejection: What to Say When You’re No Longer Interested in Someone appeared first on PlentyOfFish Blog.

Rejection: What to Say When You’re No Longer Interested in Someone

Celebrating Openly LGBTQ Role Models in Sports for National Coming Out Day

Across the world, sports represent an opportunity for us to transcend difference, celebrate excellence and build community. When we see open and proud role models on the field, court, track or elsewhere who share our experiences and identities, we are reminded of our own potential and power.

However, for many LGBTQ youth, the lack of visible LGBTQ athletes means that they don’t see themselves represented as champions. HRC Foundation’s recent study with the University of Connecticut found that just 24 percent of LGBTQ youth participated in a sport, compared to 68 percent of a national, external sample of all youth. And as we hear from too many young LGBTQ athletes, this disparity is often a product of non-inclusive sporting environments, discriminatory policies and anti-LGBTQ attitudes that can pervade athletic spaces.

As we approach the 30th annual National Coming Out Day, HRC celebrates LGBTQ athletes and sports professionals who have publicly shared their LGBTQ identities and experiences over the past year to inspire others. This group include referees like Alex Valvo and Pascal Erlachner and athletes like Nir Rotenberger, Mike Parrow, Jessica Platt, Zach Leader, Matt Evers, Sandra Forgues, Bradley Kim, Tadd Fujikawa, Robert Páez and Christine Nairn. Together, and alongside the increasing number of out athletes participating in sports all over the world, all of these sportspeople are proving that LGBTQ athletes exist and deserve the right to thrive in any and all sporting contexts.

HRC also celebrates LGBTQ members of the athletic community who, for any number of reasons, are unable to come out. We reaffirm our commitment to creating a world in which everyone can bring their whole selves to authentically participate in sports, school, work, government and all facets of society.

For more information on the challenges faced by aspiring LGBTQ atheletes and how you can help dismantle these barriers, be sure to read HRC’s Play to Win: Improving the Lives of LGBTQ Youth in Sports.

For more information about HRC’s work in sports equity, click here.

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