Gay Man Attacked by Mob in D.C.; Three Arrested

Also, in a separate incident over the weekend in the nation’s capital, a man with a gun threatened transgender women.

www.advocate.com/crime/2019/6/17/gay-man-attacked-mob-dc-three-arrested

‘Pose’ Hits Its Highest Ratings and Lands Early Third Season Renewal

In the TV equivalent of a death drop, Pose was renewed only one episode into its second season. 

www.advocate.com/television/2019/6/17/pose-hits-its-highest-ratings-and-lands-early-third-season-renewal

39 Photos of Iowa City Pride Bring Out the Sunshine

www.advocate.com/pride/2019/6/17/39-photos-iowa-city-pride-bring-out-sunshine

Photos: The shiny, happy people of Denver Pride are a mile high
All those hiking trails and that mountain air is certainly working wonders for the people who live there because the crowd at Denver Pride this past weekend was filled with beautiful people of all shapes and sizes.

www.queerty.com/photos-shiny-happy-people-denver-pride-mile-high-20190617?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

The First Transgender Contestant on ‘Naked and Afraid’ Used it as an Opportunity to Educate: WATCH

The Discovery Channel featured Quince Mountain, the first transgender contestant on its outdoor survival show Naked and Afraid, in Sunday night’s episode. On the show, two people are dumped into the wilderness with nothing, not even the clothes on their backs, for 21 days.

Mountain took it as an opportunity to educate.

The Reno Gazette Journal reports: “The episode features a tense moment when Mountain tells Owens that his surgical scars are the result of his gender transition. Mountain said producers gave him the option of keeping his gender transition private. But he declined and chose to discuss it openly. He welcomed the chance to be himself and discuss gender identity on his own terms, an opportunity transgender people are often denied.”

Mountain talked about the opportunity on Twitter (and check out the trailer below):

The post The First Transgender Contestant on ‘Naked and Afraid’ Used it as an Opportunity to Educate: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

The First Transgender Contestant on ‘Naked and Afraid’ Used it as an Opportunity to Educate: WATCH

Man Gives ‘Free Dad Hugs’ at Pride, Asks Parents to Accept LGBTQ Kids

Scott ‘Howie’ Dittman gave out more than 700 hugs at Pittsburgh Pride and says that as a parent he can’t wrap his head around exiling a child because they’re gay. 

www.advocate.com/pride/2019/6/17/man-gives-free-dad-hugs-pride-asks-parents-accept-lgbtq-kids

Nicholas Sparks apologizes for homophobic emails but forgets to apologize for racist ones

In a message posted to his official Facebook Page this morning, bestselling author Nicholas Sparks said he’s really, really, really sorry for those homophobic emails that were leaked to the media last week.

It all started when Saul Benjamin, a former headmaster at the Epiphany School, accused Sparks of trying to ban an LGBTQ group from the Epiphany School of Global Studies, a faith-based prep school founded by the author in 2006.

Leaked emails showed that in 2013, a group of students began informally meeting to discuss their sexual orientations, and became the immediate subject of bullying.

When Sparks learned about the group, he ordered Benjamin to ban it, then he threatened at least two teachers with termination for defending the students.

When Benjamin pushed back, telling Sparks that banning the group was discriminatory, the author replied: “Not allowing them to have a club is NOT discrimination.”

In another email, Sparks suggested banning all forms of student protest after two lesbian students planned to come out during chapel services. When Benjamin refused to do so, Sparks accused him of secretly authorizing an “official School LGBT club.”

In another set of emails, Sparks made disparaging comments about African Americans, claiming that the dearth of Black students at his school had less to do with racist policies and more to do with African-Americans being “too poor and can’t do the academic work.”

In another email, he cited the school’s one–yes, one–Jewish student among the 500 person student body as being proof of the institution’s dedication to “diversity.”

Since the emails leaked, Sparks has received an barrage of criticism from LGBTQ activists and allies. Today, he finally addressed that outrage in a statement.

“I regret and apologize that mine have potentially hurt young people and members of the LGBTQ community,” Sparks wrote on Facebook, “including my friends and colleagues in that community.”

Sparks went on to say that he is “an unequivocal supporter of gay marriage, gay adoption, and equal employment rights and would never want to discourage any young person or adult from embracing who they are.”

Sparks then tried to clarify that the dispute surrounding the student group was never about it being an LGBTQ group, but rather how it was being formed.

“My concern was that if a club were to be founded, it be done in a thoughtful, transparent manner with the knowledge of faculty, students and parents,” he explained, “not in secret, and not in a way that felt exceptional. I only wish I had used those exact words.”

Noticeably absent from his apology, however, is any mention of Sparks’ remarks about Black kids being too poor or dumb to attend his school.

Read the full statement below. Or don’t.

Related: Leaked emails reveal author Nicholas Sparks’ true feelings about LGBTQ people and they’re not nice

www.queerty.com/nicholas-sparks-apologizes-homophobic-emails-forgets-apologize-racist-ones-20190617?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29