Elle Fanning Comes Out of Her Shell With Robyn’s Help in ‘Teen Spirit’
Fanning stars as a British teen seeking to escape her hometown via an Idol-esque contest.
www.advocate.com/film/2019/4/12/elle-fanning-comes-out-her-shell-robyns-help-teen-spirit
Military gay rights advocate in the District: 1975
Washington Area Spark posted a photo:
Rudolph “Skip” Keith is shown attending a gay rights conference held at All Souls Church in Washington, D.C. October 11, 1975.
Keith had been in the Air Force for seven years when he announced he was gay during a race relations class at Dover Air Force base on May 23rd.
Keith, a native of Washington, D.C., was an Air Force staff sergeant who had an “outstanding” service record, according to military authorities.
The Air Force recommended his discharge citing five instances in which Keith told people he was gay.
Keith said at the conference that “I liked the Air Force and hated to go. They’re a bunch of hypocrites and their rules for discharges aren’t hard and fast.”
Keith was given an honorable discharge.
Leonard Matlovich also attended the conference and was a national figure at that point in time while few had heard of Keith.
Matlovich was a former Air Force technical sergeant who was discharged after 12 years in the service in 1975 and had come out two months before Keith and became a leading gay rights spokesperson.
Unlike Keith, Matlovich was given a general discharge instead of honorable and he sued over his expulsion from the service and the lesser grade discharge.
At the conference Matlovich told the 350 attendees, “If we are united, nothing on earth can defeat us. Black Americans led the way in the fight for civil rights and now we’re asking for our share of the American pie.”
Matlovich planned his coming out with longtime D.C. gay rights activist Franklin Kameny who was looking for someone in the military to test the vague bans on gay people.
Matlovich became the first openly gay person to be featured on the cover a major news magazine when Time put him on the cover of a 1975 issue.
Matlovich’s suit stalled for years in the courts, but in 1980 U.S. District Court Judge Gerhard Gesell ordered him reinstated into the Air Force and promoted.
The Air Force offered Matlovich a financial settlement instead. Convinced that the military would find some other reason to discharge him if he reentered the service, or that the conservative Supreme Court would rule against him should the Air Force appeal, Matlovich accepted.
The figure, based on back pay, future pay, and pension, was $160,000.
Matlovich briefly lived in Washington, D.C. but ultimately settled in California where he continued gay rights activism.
He announced on Good Morning America in 1987 that he had contracted HIV, and was arrested with other demonstrators in front of the White House that June protesting what they believed was an inadequate response to HIV/AIDS by the administration of President Ronald Reagan.
Matlovich died of AIDS in 1988. Keith dropped from public view and it is unknown what became of him.
‘In 1993 the military adopted a “Don’t ask don’t tell” policy where gay people could stay in the military provided they didn’t disclose their sexuality and prohibited military personnel from asking about someone’s sexuality.
That policy was ended in 2011, although ongoing litigation over same sex marriage benefits and discrimination continue.
Transgender people were briefly permitted, but President Donald Trump ordered them expelled from the military in 2018.
For more information and related images, see
The image is courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.
Lenten Devotional: We Are in This Together
People — including the LGBTQ faithful — look to their faith as a source of guidance and inspiration. Throughout the Lenten season, HRC will share devotionals from faith leaders, LGBTQ people and allies. The campaign seeks to create an environment in which LGBTQ people of faith and their allies can practice the spiritual traditions of their faith in a welcoming, inclusive environment.
The Lenten season marks the days leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and subsequent resurrection. For Christians, the resurrection is both a celebration of life and a reminder that people continue to suffer, including members of the LGBTQ community.
It is important to note that the season of Lent is observed by many Christian denominations and may not resonate with all readers. With this series, HRC seeks to amplify and honor the voices of LGBTQ-affirming faith leaders in many religious traditions.
Today’s post is a reflection on Ruth 1:16-17a, and it comes from J.J. Warren, a certified candidate for ministry in the United Methodist Church denied full certification because of Warren’s queer identity.
For more about the Lenten Devotional, visit hrc.im/Lent.
Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die —
there will I be buried.
Lent today is not all that different from the first Lent more than 2,000 years ago. We still grapple with economic imperialism. We are still torn by interreligious strife and apathy. Marginalized people are still harmed by those in power, and God’s presence is still silenced in those who don’t reflect the majority. In many ways, Lent today is exactly like that first Lent.
Within these circumstances, a powerful woman of color provides guidance for us. Ruth, a Moabite (a tribe excluded from the people of God by law), declares her love for and devotion to her mother-in-law, Naomi: “Where you go, I will go … Where you die, I will die.”
As a queer United Methodist, my denomination recently reinforced its ruling that I am excluded from serving the people of God. Still, I follow the wise prophets who have tread this path before me. Where they go, I will go; and when they grow weary of fighting, I will sacrifice myself for the justice they pursued.
Struggling to stay in a faith that rejects us is the Lenten story. Ruth reminds us that no matter how difficult the terrain ahead, we are in this together. We will journey toward justice, and we won’t cease until we’ve reached the Promised Land.
The Lenten Devotional is a faith-driven resource that compiles meditations written by 47 faith leaders from across the U.S. This project and other public education work with faith leaders in HRC’s Project One America states and HRC’s Religion and Faith Program is made possible in part by the generous support of the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
www.hrc.org/blog/lenten-devotional-we-are-in-this-together?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
Air Force gay rights advocates meet in D.C. – 1975
Washington Area Spark posted a photo:
Rudolph “Skip” Keith and Leonard Matlovich talk to each other during a gay rights conference held at All Souls Church in Washington, D.C. October 11, 1975.
The two were discharged from the Air Force in separate cases in 1975 when they openly said they were gay.
Keith, a native of Washington, D.C., was an Air Force staff sergeant who had an “outstanding” service record, according to military authorities.
Keith had been in the service for seven years when he announced he was gay during a race relations class at Dover Air Force base on May 23rd.
The Air Force recommended his discharge citing five instances in which Keith told people he was gay.
Keith said at the conference that “I liked the Air Force and hated to go. They’re a bunch of hypocrites and their rules for discharges aren’t hard and fast.”
Keith was given an honorable discharge.
Matlovich was a national figure at that point in time while few had heard of Keith.
Matlovich was a former Air Force technical sergeant who was discharged after 12 years in the service in 1975 two months before Keith and became a leading gay rights spokesperson.
Unlike Keith, Matlovich was given a general discharge instead of honorable and he sued over his expulsion from the service and the lesser grade discharge.
At the conference Matlovich told the 350 attendees, “If we are united, nothing on earth can defeat us. Black Americans led the way in the fight for civil rights and now we’re asking for our share of the American pie.”
Matlovich planned his coming out with longtime D.C. gay rights activist Franklin Kameny who was looking for someone in the military to test the vague bans on gay people.
Matlovich became the first openly gay person to be featured on the cover a major news magazine in the early gay rights movement when Time put him on the cover of a 1975 issue.
Matlovich’s suit stalled for years in the courts, but in 1980 U.S. District Court
Judge Gerhard Gesell ordered him reinstated into the Air Force and promoted.
The Air Force offered Matlovich a financial settlement instead.
Convinced that the military would find some other reason to discharge him if he reentered the service, or that the conservative Supreme Court would rule against him should the Air Force appeal, Matlovich accepted.
The figure, based on back pay, future pay, and pension, was $160,000.
Matlovich briefly lived in Washington, D.C. but ultimately settled in California where he continued gay rights activism.
He announced on Good Morning America in 1987 that he had contracted HIV, and was arrested with other demonstrators in front of the White House that June protesting what they believed was an inadequate response to HIV/AIDS by the administration of President Ronald Reagan.
Matlovich died of AIDS in 1988. Keith dropped from public view and it is unknown what became of him.
In 1993 the military adopted a “Don’t ask don’t tell” policy where gay people could stay in the military provided they didn’t disclose their sexuality and prohibited military personnel from asking about someone’s sexuality.
That policy was ended in 2011, although ongoing litigation over same sex marriage benefits and discrimination continue.
Transgender people were briefly permitted, but President Donald Trump ordered them expelled from the military in 2018.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHskcVHcxD
The image is courtesy of the D.C. Public Library Washington Star Collection © Washington Post.
Amber Heard Reveals Shocking Details of Alleged Abuse by Depp
The Aquaman star detailed the abuse in a motion to toss out her ex-husband’s $50 million defamation suit against her.
www.advocate.com/people/2019/4/12/amber-heard-reveals-shocking-details-alleged-abuse-depp
Christian pundit calls ‘sodomite’ Pete Buttigieg the ‘King of Cocks’
Pete Buttigieg, Cats, Pope Benedict, Ivanka Trump, P!nk, Love Simon, Queer Eye, Wikleaks: HOT LINKS
MAYOR PETE’S BIG WEEKEND. Buttigieg to formally kick off campaign.
“Pete Buttigieg is expected to formally kick off his long shot 2020 campaign this Sunday. If successful, he’ll make history certainly as the first openly-gay president, the first mayor to move into the White House and America’s youngest-ever commander in chief” –@peteralexander pic.twitter.com/B4Q1p8NrNd
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 12, 2019
ENDORSEMENT. Former DNC Chairman Steve Grossman endorses Buttigieg: “Proud to support @PeteButtigieg and his vision for inclusive prosperity for all Americans.”
Proud to support @PeteButtigieg and his vision for inclusive prosperity for all Americans. #PeteButtigieg #PeteForAmerica t.co/42Iv1x2aEf
— Steve Grossman (@SteveGrossmanMA) April 11, 2019
NO ENDORSEMENT. Pence says Trump never endorsed Wikileaks: “I think the president always, as you and the media do, always welcomes information,” Pence said in an interview with CNN. “But that was in no way an endorsement of an organization that we now understand was involved in disseminating classified information by the United States of America.”
ON THE RAG. This week on the gay magazines….
ISRAEL FOLAU. Rugby Australia’s meeting with homophobic star player changes nothing: “Folau met RA boss Raelene Castle on Friday, with neither party backing down in a feud that threatened to turn ugly. Folau maintained a stony silence after earlier holding crisis talks amid RA’s threat to tear up his multi-million-dollar contract following his latest attacks on homosexuals.”
POPE BENEDICT XVI. Former Pope comes out of retirement to blame sexual abuse scandal on sexual revolution of the ’60s and gay priests: ‘Church historian Christopher Bellitto questioned if Benedict, who turns 92 next week, was being manipulated by others. … “It is catastrophically irresponsible, because it creates a counter-narrative to how Francis is trying to move ahead based on the 2019 summit,” he told Associated Press in an email. “The essay essentially ignores what we learned there.”’
WORLD BANK. Trump says he considered Ivanka: “I even thought of Ivanka for the World Bank … She would’ve been great at that because she’s very good with numbers. She’s got a great calmness … I’ve seen her under tremendous stress and pressure. She reacts very well—that’s usually a genetic thing, but it’s one of those things, nevertheless. She’s got a tremendous presence when she walks into the room.”
JUSSIE SMOLLETT. Having the time of his life in Hawaii.
SPIN-OFF OF THE DAY. Disney+ is developing a spin-off of the gay coming out coming-of-age story Love, Simon: “The Disney+ project will be based on Becky Albertalli’s 2018 novel Leah on the Offbeat, which served as her sequel to the 2015 book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (on which Love, Simon was based). The book centers on Leah, the best friend of Simon Spier, as she attempts to navigate various personal issues, including friendships, relationships, body image and self-esteem.”
TACO TRUCK TAMMY. White woman threatens to call ICE on taco truck workers.
NEW TUNE OF THE DAY. P!nk “Can We Pretend”.
TRAINING VIDEO OF THE DAY. How cats are trained for movies like Pet Sematary.
KEEP OR CANCEL OF THE DAY. Queer Eye on hetero trends.
FRIDAY FLASH. Cody by Issa Tall.
The post Pete Buttigieg, Cats, Pope Benedict, Ivanka Trump, P!nk, Love Simon, Queer Eye, Wikleaks: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.
Pete Buttigieg, Cats, Pope Benedict, Ivanka Trump, P!nk, Love Simon, Queer Eye, Wikleaks: HOT LINKS
National Poetry Month: LGBTQ Poets Who Inspire
This year, HRC is celebrating National Poetry Month by asking young people nationwide to write poems about what equality means to them and share them with us. These poems and young poets are so inspiring as they paint a pictures of our world as a place where everyone is treated equally and all people can live life freely.
This vision of love and inclusion has always been explored by poets who use the art form to bring us closer to a world where all people, including LGBTQ people, are fully included in every community. Among them are inspiring LGBTQ poets including Audre Lorde, Andrea Gibson, Mary Oliver, Fatimah Asghar and Chen Chen. Learn more about them below:
Audre Lorde was a Black feminist, lesbian, poet, mother and justice warrior. Her writing, activism and poetry speak to the struggle often faced by people who have been marginalized by society, including LGBTQ people and people of color. The last four stanzas of one of her most famous poems, “The Black Unicorn,” show that even though progress has been made, more work remains in the fight for full equality for all people: “The black unicorn is restless / the black unicorn is unrelenting / the black unicorn is not / free.”
Mary Oliver, an out poet who believed “poetry mustn’t be fancy,” wrote at length about nature and the beauty of the world around us. Inspired by other queer women poets including Edna St. Vincent Millay, she explored the intersection of herself as a queer woman and the world in which she lived, embracing everyday beauty.
Andrea Gibson is a poet and activist whose work focuses on gender, politics and the struggles that LGBTQ people still face. Many of their poems are spoken word, a form of poetry and performance art characterized by rhyme, repetition, improvisation and word play that frequently speaks to issues of social justice and community. One of Gibson’s most moving poems is their tribute to the victims of the deadly Pulse nightclub shooting in June 2016.
Fatimah Asghar is a Pakistani, Kashmiri, American poet and queer woman. In her debut book of poems, “If They Come For Us,” Asghar focuses on navigating coming of age and questioning her sexuality without guidance from her parents, who passed away when she was young. The book explores what it means to hold an intersectional identity in today’s world, while still remembering the history of those who came before.
Chen Chen is an up-and-coming poet who also explores the intersection of identities in today’s world in his poetry. His poem “When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities” captures the heart of his work: “To be, in my spare time, / America for my uncle, who wants to be China / for me. … To be a cyclone / of laughter when my parents say / their new coworker is like that, they can tell / because he wears pink socks, see, you don’t, so you can’t, / can’t be one of them. To be the one / my parents raised me to be — / a season from the planet / of planet-sized storms.”
A.W. is another young poet who is taking up the reins of the next generation of poets advocating for equality. A.W.’s poem “Differences” inspires us to be who we are, treat everyone equally and always stand up for ourselves and our friends: “Treat people well, don’t treat them different because they’re different, all people should be able to do what other people can do if it is a good choice.”
For more information on how HRC Foundation’s Welcoming Schools program harnesses the power of poetry in our lesson plans, visit the Welcoming Schools website. HRC Foundation’s Welcoming Schools program and lesson plans help children share and explore issues they are passionate about, make connections around social justice and build inclusive communities by learning about and celebrating one another.
HRC Foundation’s Welcoming Schools is the nation’s premier professional development program providing training and resources to elementary school educators to:
www.hrc.org/blog/national-poetry-month-lgbtq-poets-who-inspire?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed
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