Michael Avenatti, Kim Petras, North Carolina, Monica Lewinsky, Gay Royal Wedding Food, Troye Sivan, Romania, Brian Brown: HOT LINKS

SPIKED. Michael Avenatti told Chris Cuomo that he knows someone who said “Mark Judge and Brett Kavanaugh would spike the punch with grain alcohol and quaaludes.”

WAR GAMES. Chinese submarine and US destroyer had an “unsafe” encounter in the South China Sea.

NORTH CAROLINA. Judge rules that transgender people are not barred from using restroom of their choice under law passed last year: “U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder also allowed a legal challenge to go forward on part of the new law that prevents local governments from passing any anti-discrimination ordinance dealing with public accommodations or public business practices until Dec. 1, 2020.”

EMBARRASSED. How Kim Kardashian felt about Kanye West’s MAGA rant.

TAKING A KNEE-TING? Kanye West claims he’s arranging a meeting between Donald Trump and Colin Kaepernick.

KIM PETRAS. Her track-by-track breakdown of her new Halloween-themed mixtape EP. “I just feel like this is the way that I’m showing people that I’m not just extremely sugary, even though it has it’s really sugary moments.”

DELISH. Everything we know about the food at the gay royal wedding of Lord Mountbatten and James Coyle.

ROMANIA. Anti-gay marriage referendum stirs hate: “Dozens of human rights groups, which are encouraging people to boycott the ballot, have warned it will embolden further attempts to chip away at the rights of minority groups and push the European Union state onto a populist, authoritarian path. The referendum needs 5 million votes to be valid.”

ALAN CUMMING. On Monica Lewinsky: “To say she is a survivor is, unfortunately, quite literally true. She has been subject to more scrutiny, more unjust worldwide public rancor and humiliation, than any other human being in our lifetimes. But if anyone was going to survive all that, it was Monica.”

BRIAN BROWN. NOM President bragged about helping craft anti-gay propaganda law in Russia: ” It was a subcommittee, and I was asked to speak, and I willingly did. And I would do so again.”

BACK TOGETHER. Madonna and Jean-Paul Gaultier.

POP EMERGENCY. Troye Sivan and Charli XCX are teaming up for new single “1999”.

ORLANDO. Red Bull decks out bikes in rainbow colors for Come Out With Pride.

DAILY BEAST. On set with Will & Grace. “We got the thing going again and told everybody where these characters are and how they’re doing,” Mutchnick says. “But I think we’ve set it up so that big changes come this season. This is the year everybody in the cast ends up at a different place in their lives at the end of the year.”

MASH-UP OF THE DAY. A deer and Phil Collins.

LOOKALIKE OF THE DAY. Ben Affleck lookalike Steve Memmolo.

TWO HOT FOR TUESDAY. Davizvitor.

The post Michael Avenatti, Kim Petras, North Carolina, Monica Lewinsky, Gay Royal Wedding Food, Troye Sivan, Romania, Brian Brown: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Michael Avenatti, Kim Petras, North Carolina, Monica Lewinsky, Gay Royal Wedding Food, Troye Sivan, Romania, Brian Brown: HOT LINKS

Manager of NYC’s ‘Monster’ Gay Bar Resigns in Wake of Racist Text Uproar

Yesterday we reported that Honey Davenport, a drag queen who performs at the Monster gay bar, an iconic nightclub in NYC’s Greenwich Village, walked out on Saturday night after revealing that she had seen a text exchange in which the bar manager Italo Lopez had told DJ/producer Mitch Ferrino to revise flyers he had produced for the club’s party “Manster” because it looked like they were promoting “black night” and that would be bad for business.

The Monster has released a statement saying that Lopez resigned and that employees would be undergoing racial sensitivity training.

Wrote owner Charlie Rice on behalf of the bar, on Facebook: “We are deeply upset as to how the language used in the recent text messages that came to light on social media miscommunicates our strong belief in community and diversity. We at The Monster are not going to make excuses. Rather, we are using this as an opportunity to learn and to ensure it doesn’t happen again. When any member of our staff does or says something insensitive, we know it reflects on all of us. For that reason, I am requiring all of our staff to partake in racial sensitivity training. After seeing vulnerable communities mistreated and addressed publicly that past few years, we know that sweeping it under the rug is not the answer. Facing it head on, using it as a teaching moment, admitting mistakes and encouraging growth is the way to progress. This week we will schedule an anti-bias training course for our staff to put us back on the right path.”

Added Rice: “As members of the LGBTQ community, we know it is often those who love us most who say something stupid, out of ignorance without thinking of how it will affect us. We are going to use those personal experiences to grow upon with relating to all minorities.”

Rice vowed that the bar would be more thoughtful about its advertising in the future: “I can’t take away any of the negative feelings you may have about us as a result of this situation, but I can promise that it does not represent us in the past, present or future. We will use this experience to grow and ensure our words, our behavior and our advertising represent us all.”

The post Manager of NYC’s ‘Monster’ Gay Bar Resigns in Wake of Racist Text Uproar appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Manager of NYC’s ‘Monster’ Gay Bar Resigns in Wake of Racist Text Uproar

5 Major U.S. Cities that Are Perfect for Active Singles

With a diverse array of culture, entertainment, attractions and nightlife, the singles scene is thriving across our fifty states. That’s great news for the estimated 111 million Americans whose relationship status is “currently unattached” and looking to move or simply explore a new city. For those who prefer more excitement than just dinner-and-a-movie, some U.S. […]

The post 5 Major U.S. Cities that Are Perfect for Active Singles appeared first on PlentyOfFish Blog.

5 Major U.S. Cities that Are Perfect for Active Singles

HRC Responds to Trump-Pence Attack on LGBTQ Foreign Diplomats

Today, HRC responded to a new policy by the Trump-Pence administration that denies visas to same-sex partners of U.N. employees and foreign diplomats. It also requires those currently in the U.S. to get married by the end of the year or be forced to leave the country. First reported on by the Washington Blade in August, the new policy went into effect on Monday.

“This is an unconscionable, needless attack on some LGBTQ diplomats from around the world, and it reflects the hostility of the Trump-Pence administration toward LGBTQ people” said HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy. “It is unnecessary, mean-spirited, and unacceptable. The White House must immediately go back to a policy that is fully inclusive and takes into account the dangers faced by LGBTQ foreign diplomats, U.N. employees, and their families.”

The new policy would place an extraordinary burden on LGBTQ diplomats and families from countries without marriage equality. Since 2009, under an order introduced by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the United States has granted diplomatic visas to domestic partners of foreign diplomats and U.N. employees. These couples must now show proof of marriage by December 31st of this year or leave the country within 30 days.

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-responds-to-trump-administration-attack-on-lgbtq-foreign-diplomats?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed