PHOTOS: Discover the homoerotic work of vintage photographer George Platt Lynes
The out-gay photographer of the 1930s loved photographing naked men in very homoerotic poses.
Daily Archives: May 8, 2019
Atlanta’s Queer Impresario Jon Dean is No Wussy
Atlanta’s Queer Impresario Jon Dean is No Wussy
Long before he founded Wussy, whose mission is to produce the magazine for Atlanta based sissies with an eye on queer art and pop culture, Jon Dean grew up Columbus, Georgia.
Columbus is a small (ish) military town on the border of Alabama and Georgia. “There’s a church on every corner and I was voted Most Christian in seventh and eighth grade,” Dean says, “My first foray into publishing was a highly successful Buffy the Vampire Slayer email newsletter that I ran from my AOL account. It included spoilers, fan fiction, music videos, and reviews. I don’t mean to brag, but I won awards.”
After majoring in photography at the Savannah School of Art and Design (SCAD), Dean moved to Atlanta and started exploring the queer scene. “Me and my partner at the time started attending The Other Show — this fabulous cabaret style drag show hosted by Edie Cheezburger. I began photographing former cast members like Violet Chachki and Evah Destruction, and created a drag/artist/photography collective called Legendary Children Atlanta. We threw art shows, drag shows, dance parties, and just generally tried to make as much noise as possible. I found my tribe going to bars and drag shows — photographing people that inspired me.”
Dean felt compelled to create Wussy because at the time, most coverage of the LGBTQ community (especially locally), was heavily catered to affluent, older white gay men. “My friends and I wanted to create a space to discuss things that we were seeing in pop culture and the local queer community.”
Wussy began as a Southern + Queer Publication and in the past year has expanded to cover all aspects of queer pop culture. Dean says, “we got our feet wet by being a regionally focused blog, which has now allowed us to expand our lens internationally and become a fully realized, biannual print publication.”
But Dean is not wont to accept all the credit, giving that to his collaborators, “I work with an amazing team: Sunni Johnson, Nicholas Goodly, Iv Fischer, and our designer Liz Yo. We’ll be launching a new web design soon and our latest issue just came out with TR/ST, Jayne County, Allie X, Aja, Mister Wallace, and more. It’s available on our website now.”
All photos by Kelly Blackmon
The post Atlanta’s Queer Impresario Jon Dean is No Wussy appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.
HRC Announces Unprecedented Support for the Equality Act from 200+ Leading Businesses
HRC Announces Unprecedented Support for the Equality Act from 200+ Leading Businesses
Today, HRC announced that more than 200 of the nation’s leading businesses have now joined HRC’s Business Coalition for the Equality Act. With a combined operation in all 50 states, headquarters in 29 states, more than $4.5 trillion in revenue, and more than 10.4 million employees across the United States, these companies know how important it is to have a federal legal standard that guarantees all employees the same rights and protections — no matter where they live. Expected to receive a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives soon, the bipartisan legislation also has unprecedented support from nearly 70% of Americans, hundreds of members of Congress and more than 500 statewide and national organizations, including social justice, religious, medical and child welfare organizations.
“Today, HRC’s Business Coalition for the Equality Act has surpassed more than 200 companies urging Congress to pass comprehensive non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Every LGBTQ person deserves to earn a living, raise their families and live their lives free from discrimination. And these leading companies know that protecting their employees and customers from discrimination isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s also good for business.”
The bipartisan Equality Act would finally add clear, comprehensive non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people to our nation’s civil rights laws. Currently, 50 percent of LGBTQ Americans live in the 30 states that still lack statewide legal non-discrimination protections, leaving their residents and visitors at risk of being fired, denied housing, or refused service because of who they are or who they love.
Discrimination is a real and persistent problem for LGBTQ Americans. HRC polling has found that nearly two-thirds of self-identified LGBTQ Americans report experiencing discrimination. The Equality Act would extend existing civil rights protections to LGBTQ people by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity across key areas of life, including employment, housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally-funded programs and jury service.
Recent polling shows that a growing majority of Americans support federal non-discrimination protections and LGBTQ equality. A recent survey by PRRI found that seven in 10 Americans (71 percent) support laws like the Equality Act. In addition, post-election polling from HRC found that 60 percent of voters in the 2018 midterms opposed the Trump-Pence administration’s reported plans to define gender entirely by sex assigned at birth, thereby potentially excluding transgender people from civil rights protections. Overall, voters also identified protecting the rights of groups targeted by the Trump-Pence administration as their top reason for voting to flip the U.S. House.
In March, HRC launched a public awareness and advertising campaign called “Americans for the Equality Act.” Filmed by award-winning directors Dustin Lance Black and Paris Barclay, the series debut video featured Academy Award-winning actress Sally Field and her son Sam Greisman. The campaign has so far also featured transgender singer and songwriter Shea Diamond, actress Justina Machado, U.S. Olympian Adam Rippon, Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown, and Modern Family’s Jesse Tyler Ferguson and his husband Justin Mikita.
GLAAD: Oran Smith is Wholly Unqualified to Lead South Carolina’s College and University System
GLAAD: Oran Smith is Wholly Unqualified to Lead South Carolina’s College and University System
Smith has built a career targeting LGBTQ South Carolinians
ICYMI: Finalist for SC higher ed overseer once was editor of a neo-Confederate magazine
NEW YORK – GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, today condemned Oran Smith, a member of Coastal Carolina University’s board of trustees in South Carolina for his extensive anti-LGBTQ record. Currently, Smith is a finalist to be the taxpayer-funded Executive Director of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education.
“Oran Smith is wholly unqualified to lead South Carolina’s college and university system. He has demonstrated time and time again his disdain for those who don’t share his narrow views,” said Zeke Stokes, a South Carolina native and GLAAD Chief Programs Officer. “His hateful record and rhetoric over the decades disqualify him. He simply cannot and will not serve the needs of all students.”
According to the State of South Carolina, the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education (CHE) “serves as the coordinating board for South Carolina’s 33 public institutions of higher learning […] The Commission is responsible for assuring a balance between student and taxpayer interests and institutional policies, aspirations, and needs.” The CHE’s own website states: the “CHE works closely with institutions to expand educational opportunities for all state’s citizens…”
Prior to being a finalist, Oran Smith also served as editor of the neo-Confederate Southern Partisan magazine from 1989 to 1999. Smith’s decades long racist and anti-LGBTQ record was the subject of a news investigation in today’s The State newspaper in Columbia, SC. The Southern Poverty Law Center credits Southern Partisan as one of the key players in the Neo-Confederate movement going as far back as the 1980’s.
For more on Smith’s anti-LGBTQ activism, see below.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Oran Smith’s Anti-LGBTQ Record
—Helped write South Carolina’s amendment banning marriage equality.
— Said he believes marriage between one man and one woman “is the gold standard for kids,” adding that “Anything that harms that ability in a family is something we oppose.”
— Insisted that marriage equality would “reverse thousands of years of human flourishing.”
— Attacked lesbian author Alison Bechel’s celebrated memoir Fun Home “because it’s promoting that lifestyle.”
— Attacked city of Columbia, SC, for flying Pride flags: “I think the mistake the city has made is being knee deep in agenda for a specific organization promoting a specific kind of lifestyle.”
— Stoked fears about “young girls who may have men in their shower rooms” at public schools.
— Said of transgender rights: “The idea of gender identity, in particular, is a relatively new concept, and one that concerns us on how it may actually work if it were put in our statute.”
— Complained about ads promoting LGBTQ tourism in South Carolina: “”I think with today’s economy, we have to be really smart with our tourism dollars, and South Carolina’s market, very clearly, is the family-friendly market,” Smith said. “So if we want to spend our dollars in a way that’s wise, we need to go after our market, and our market is families.”
May 8, 2019
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LIVE: The New Democrat Coalition Announce Support for the Equality Act
LIVE: The New Democrat Coalition Announce Support for the Equality Act
‘Drag Race’ Fan Anne Hathaway Cries Tears of Joy While Meeting RuPaul
‘Drag Race’ Fan Anne Hathaway Cries Tears of Joy While Meeting RuPaul
The actress who stars in The Hustle shares how she’s moved that she and Monet X Change both learned to step their “pu**ies up.”
“God, save us!”: Twitter responds to Jerry Falwell Jr.’s x-rated photo scandal
“God, save us!”: Twitter responds to Jerry Falwell Jr.’s x-rated photo scandal
People are feeling all sorts of ways.
Meghan McCain’s Husband Rages at ‘Cuck’ Seth Meyers After Exchange with ‘View’ Co-Host: ‘He Regularly Gargled Lorne Michaels’ Balls’ — WATCH
Meghan McCain’s Husband Rages at ‘Cuck’ Seth Meyers After Exchange with ‘View’ Co-Host: ‘He Regularly Gargled Lorne Michaels’ Balls’ — WATCH
Meghan McCain’s husband, Federalist publisher and conservative commentator Ben Domenech, raged at Seth Meyers after McCain and Meyers had an exchange on Late Night over comments by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
Mediaite reports: ‘On Tuesday night’s edition of Late Night with Seth Meyers, Ms. McCain and Mr. Meyers had a tense debate over McCain’s comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in the wake of the Poway synagogue shooting, and while Meyers appeared to be trying to extract something like an apology from McCain, she stood by all of her comments and accused Meyers of acting as Omar’s publicist.’
Ben Domenech, McCain’s husband and publisher of conservative publication The Federalist, went off on Meyers on Twitter. He has since deleted the tweets.
Tweeted Domenech: “I see that @sethmeyers, the untalented piece of sh*t who only has his job because he regularly gargled Lorne Michaels’ balls, went after my wife tonight with his idiotic anti-Semitic bullsh*t”
He added: “Seth is an awful person who is known within the industry for how terrible he is. He is a monumental a**hole who is utterly unfunny. He deserves the mockery he receives from all the people who laugh at him”
He continued: “Here is proof that white men get ahead despite their obvious lack of talent: it’s @sethmeyers, who would beg for a third of the viewers at @TheView. He’s awful, untalented, and a perfect definition of a cuck”
Domenech later apologized:
I love my wife. I apologize for rage tweeting about how Seth Meyers treated her. I don’t like him, I think he’s a hack, but I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry to anyone I offended.
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) May 8, 2019
Domenech’s tweets, via Mediaite:
The post Meghan McCain’s Husband Rages at ‘Cuck’ Seth Meyers After Exchange with ‘View’ Co-Host: ‘He Regularly Gargled Lorne Michaels’ Balls’ — WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.
057-gay village-photo susan moss
#AM_Equality Tipsheet: May 8, 2019
#AM_Equality Tipsheet: May 8, 2019
MORE THAN 150 LGBTQ COMMUNITY CENTERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY URGE CONGRESS TO PASS THE EQUALITY ACT: In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, CenterLink, an organization that works to support strong, sustainable LGBTQ community centers, wrote: “For decades, community centers have been working with and for the LGBTQ community to fight discrimination. With passage of the Equality Act, community centers will finally have federal protections in place to assist them as they advocate for their constituents and work toward lived equality.” Read the full letter here.
DESPITE PUSH FOR ANTI-LGBTQ LEGISLATION, PRO-EQUALITY BILLS GET HISTORIC HEARINGS IN TEXAS HOUSE: “Having a hearing is sometimes a victory,” said state Rep. Celia Israel, D-Austin (@CeliaIsrael), whose conversion therapy ban was debated for the first time this year, reports Emma Platoff (@emmaplatoff) of The Texas Tribune. One of the pro-equality bills would extend statewide non-discrimination protections to LGBTQ people. Notably, this legislative session, anti-LGBTQ legislators are attempting to gut Texas cities’ employment non-discrimination ordinances, which extend the only fully-inclusive protections for LGBTQ Texans. Read more at The Texas Tribune.
WHAT WE’RE WATCHING WEDNESDAY — HRC CELEBRATES TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK: Through the HRC Foundation’s Welcoming Schools program, elementary school educators can access training and resources to help them embrace family diversity, create LGBTQ-inclusive schools, prevent bias-based bullying, and support trans and non-binary students. Learn more here.
.@HRC’s Welcoming Schools program is here to help teachers around the country prevent bullying and create LGBTQ and gender inclusive classrooms. #TeacherAppreciationWeek pic.twitter.com/HC8zNRrkAc
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) May 7, 2019
NEW REPORT FROM NATIONAL CENTER FOR TRANSGENDER EQUALITY DETAILS FAILURE OF U.S. POLICE DEPARTMENTS TO PROTECT TRANSGENDER PEOPLE: Failing to Protect and Serve “reveals a widespread failure of the nation’s police departments to adopt or modernize policies protecting the rights of transgender people.” Read the full report here.
- Researchers at HealthEast Medical Transportation are collecting data on how transgender patients are treated by EMTs. Learn more here.
PROMINENT TRANSGENDER ACTIVIST FROM ZIMBABWE, RICKY “RIKKI” NATHANSON, GRANTED ASYLUM IN THE U.S.: Nathanson (@rickynathanson) is the director of HIV & AIDS prevention and outreach at Casa Ruby in Washington, D.C. Read more from Michael K. Lavers (@mklavers81) at the Washington Blade.
STATE DEPARTMENT CONTINUES TO FIGHT JUDGE’S DECISION THAT TWIN SON OF BINATIONAL SAME-SEX COUPLE IS A U.S. CITIZEN: Read more from the Daily Beast.
NEW YORK MAY BECOME FOURTH STATE TO BAN “PANIC DEFENSE” AGAINST LGBTQ PEOPLE: “It is long past time that every state ban perpetrators of violent crimes from asserting a victim’s LGBTQ identity as a potential defense for their violent actions,” said Xavier Persad, HRC senior legislative counsel. Read more from Susan Miller (@susmiller) at USA Today.
GLOBAL EQUALITY NEWS
COVERAGE CONTINUES ON REPORTS THAT THE SULTAN OF BRUNEI HAS DECLARED A MORATORIUM ON THE DEATH PENALTY: While this is an important step, the Sultan must repeal this draconian law in its entirety and uphold all Brunei’s commitments under international law. Read more from the Washington Blade, Metro Weekly, Gay Times and CNN.
NEW REPORT FROM HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH DETAILS THE ONGOING ANTI-LGBTQ CRACKDOWN IN CHECHNYA: Read more here.
LGBTQ MARCHES IN CUBA HAVE BEEN CANCELLED: They were set to take place in Havana and Camagüey to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. Read more from the Washington Blade.
READING RAINBOW – Bookmark now to read on your lunch break!
WBUR reports on a mom who attends same-sex weddings as a stand-in mother to support LGBTQ couples; The Daily Beast reviews the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new exhibit, “Camp: Notes on Fashion”; HRC celebrates the addition of trans-inclusive terms to the official SCRABBLE™ dictionary
New trans-inclusive terms added to the Collins Official SCRABBLE™ Words dictionary include:
Cisgender
Genderqueer
Transphobia
Zet.co/BuIoh920EV pic.twitter.com/c7AZ9Sq00u— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) May 7, 2019
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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