Mayor of Canada’s Capital Comes Out as Gay in Emotional Op-Ed

Mayor Jim Watson, 58, says he regrets not coming out sooner.

www.advocate.com/news/2019/8/18/mayor-canadas-capital-comes-out-gay-emotional-op-ed

Is Santiago the next big gay hotspot?
I landed in Santiago, Chile, with no expectations except to possibly fall in love with a Chilean man. What happened next blew my mind.

www.queerty.com/santiago-next-big-gay-hotspot-20190818?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

HRC Endorses U.S. Rep. Colin Allred and State Rep. Julie Johnson

Today, HRC announced the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Colin Allred and Texas State Rep. Julie Johnson.

Allred has been a devoted ally of LGBTQ progress in Congress, voting in favor of the Equality Act and every pro-LGBTQ piece of legislation in the 116th Congress. Allred’s endorsement marks HRC’s first Congressional endorsement of the 2020 election cycle. Johnson was instrumental in defeating anti-LGBTQ legislation in Texas, and improving bills that would’ve had broad, discriminatory impact on millions of Texans. She is also a member of the Texas State House’s first-ever LGBTQ Caucus.

“From his work as a civil rights attorney to helping pass the Equality Act, U.S Representative Colin Allred has been a strong ally and a steadfast supporter of LGBTQ Texans,” said HRC President Alphonso David.“Congressman Allred is the type of leader we need in Washington: passionate, committed and focused on improving the lives of his constituents. We look forward to helping him return to Congress so we can continue this work, together.”

“Texas State Representative Julie Johnson has been a change-maker since joining the Texas House in 2018, and we know she will continue to fight fiercely for her fellow LGBTQ Texans once reelected,” said HRC President Alphonso David. “In order to make positive change for our community, the Human Rights Campaign must work at every level of government to defeat anti-LGBTQ legislation and pass pro-equality legislation. We have a lot of work to do to make Texas a fairer and more equal place, and we’re glad to take the fight to the statehouse in Austin and join Rep. Johnson in making that happen.”

In 2018, HRC deployed staff on the ground across the state to help elect Allred, Johnson  and other pro-equality candidates across Texas. Allred has a long history of support for the LGBTQ community. During the 2017 legislative session in Texas, Allred was an outspoken critic of the anti-transgender legislation SB6, which was eventually defeated. Allred, a former NFL player, signed onto a letter opposing the legislation, authored by Athlete Ally. He is a civil rights attorney and a North Texas native.

Rep. Julie Johnson has been a change-maker while in office. Heading into the 2019 session, there were 23 anti-LGBTQ bills filed, yet with the leadership of Johnson and the LGBTQ Caucus, the Texas legislative session concluded with only one anti-LGBTQ bill being passed into law. SB 1978 was originally filed as a broad, sweeping anti-LGBTQ bill. However, after concerns raised by the LGBTQ Caucus and Rep. Johnson specifically, significant changes were made to the bill. Texas Monthly named Julie “Freshman of the year” due to her effort on this bill. The caucus was started by five women in the House. Several of the members identify as openly LGBTQ and were honored by HRC at the National Conference for State Legislators in Nashville.

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-endorses-u.s.-rep.-colin-allred-and-state-rep.-julie-johnson?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Must-See LGBTQ TV: ‘Pose’ finale and Simon Amstell’s new stand up special

www.glaad.org/blog/must-see-lgbtq-tv-pose-finale-and-simon-amstells-new-stand-special

Can pregnancy be masculine? New reports say yes.

A noted social researcher in Australia has deemed pregnancy “masculine” after new statistics reveal that 22 men gave birth in the nation last year.

The figure comes as part of a larger statistic released by Australia’s Medicare agency, which says that 228 men gave birth in the nation over the past ten years.

Lauren Rosewarne of the University of Melbourne also affirms that, for some men, pregnancy is a masculine experience. “Masculinity means different things to different people,” she says. She also puts forward the idea that the international community needs to “confront some the conceptions we have around pregnancy, parenting and childbirth.”

Related: ‘Seahorse’ director Jeanie Finlay on filming a trans dad giving birth to a beautiful boy

Rosewarne also dismissed the idea that transgender men are any less male than cisgender men. “In this case, gender is something that is thought about in less binary terms than most of us,” she said. “They may not have necessarily had an operation, but they now identify as male. For them, they consider their entire identity wrapped up in the identity of a male, therefore they refer as males.”

Roswarne’s remarks as well as the new statistics surrounding transgender men giving birth come at a time when the societal conversation around transgender parenting has gained new urgency. Earlier this year, director Jeannie Finlay’s documentary Seahorse–which continues to play the festival circuit–examined the cast of Freddie McConnell, a transgender man who decides to give birth. At present, McConnell is suing in a British court to be listed as the father on his son’s birth certificate.

www.queerty.com/can-pregnancy-masculine-new-reports-say-yes-20190818?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Magnum Apologizes for Ad Comparing ‘Guilty Pleasure’ of Ice Cream to Going to Prison for Being Gay

Magnum Ice Cream has apologized for an ad on Spotify which compared the “guilty pleasure” of eating one of its desserts to being arrested for being gay.

Said the narrator in the ad, which aired in the UK: “A hug for my boyfriend—that’s my guilty pleasure.”

And the punchline: “Because in my country, just a simple hug with the man I love could send me to prison for more than 10 years.”

That didn’t go over too well with a lot of people.

A Magnum spokesman told HuffPost UK: “Magnum has a history of championing LGBTQ+ rights and Pride Month is a moment when lots of us celebrate progress. We’re sorry for any offence caused by the advert, which aimed to bring awareness to the injustices people still face around the world.”

The post Magnum Apologizes for Ad Comparing ‘Guilty Pleasure’ of Ice Cream to Going to Prison for Being Gay appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Magnum Apologizes for Ad Comparing ‘Guilty Pleasure’ of Ice Cream to Going to Prison for Being Gay

Who will save hip hop from toxic homophobia? (Hint: Probably not Lil Nas X)

It’s official: “Old Town Road” is the unofficial anthem of the summer of 2019. The millions of streamers and downloaders who put it atop Billboard’s Hot 100 for 19 weeks and counting can’t be wrong. At this point, even if Lil Nas X, the 20-year-old country rapper who launched the smash into the musical stratosphere, is here today and gone tomorrow, never to be heard from again, he’s made history, on and off the charts.

Twenty weeks ago, few might have predicted that his debut single, a country-rap hybrid that extols the joy of riding a horse (and a tractor!), would become the Hot 100’s longest-running number one of all time. And more unexpectedly, it’s scaled those previously unfathomable heights despite Nas X’s coming out as gay in June, on the last day of LGBTQ Pride Month.

Although the bigots came out in full force to try to take Nas X down, they clearly didn’t succeed. Is this a sign that a new day truly has come for LGBTQ artists in music, particularly hip hop?

Well, yes and no and maybe so. Entertainment, especially pop music, has never been more hospitable to LGBTQ acts than now. The breakthrough success of performers such as Sam Smith, Frank Ocean, Troye Sivan, Halsey, Janelle Monáe, and Kim Petras over the past decade or so offers proof of that. This year, Rocketman, unlike the 2018 Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, put Elton John’s homosexuality on full display without hurting either the legend’s legacy or the film’s commercial appeal.

But what about hip hop, a musical form and lifestyle that has bred unapologetic homophobia for years, a place where traditional and often toxic masculinity are celebrated and rewarded? Will Nas X help make rap safer for LGBTQ artists, particularly male ones.

That remains to be seen, but it would be more likely if the hip hop community embraced Nas X as one of its own. He’s largely considered to be more of a pop novelty act, a probable one-hit wonder, than the next rap superstar. His flashy duds and emphasis on marketing over message make him more of an obvious heir apparent to MC Hammer than LL Cool J.

Although I would never attempt to dictate when anyone should come out, and I think it’s wonderful and admirable that Nas X did, I wonder what the net effect would have been if he had waited until he was an established star. Then there would be no dismissing him as a flash-in-the-pan novelty act whose sexual orientation is therefore almost beside the point. Then he could have been a true litmus test on whether a black music superstar — an R&B or hip hop equivalent of, say, Elton John or Ricky Martin — can remain one after coming out.

That scenario has yet to be tested. The handful of rappers and hip hop artists who preceded Nas X out of the closet, like ILoveMakonnen, Brockhampton leader Kevin Abstract, and even Frank Ocean, did so without risking multiplatinum careers. Before they came out, suburban white kids weren’t chanting their names or quoting their lyrics en masse — and that’s still not happening.

Nas X has already surpassed them all in mass popularity, which is hardly shocking. If you look at the history of black gays in the white mainstream (from RuPaul to Titus Andromedon on Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt to Eric on Netflix’s Sex Education), he fits neatly into an acceptable niche. In many ways, he represents the brand of gay black male sexuality with which white audiences are most comfortable, one that is flashy, in your face, and almost asexual. One can enjoy Nas X’s music, knowing he’s gay, and never even think about him having sex with a man. That’s not what he’s selling.

Tyler, The Creator, 28, Frank Ocean’s former bandmate in Odd Future, isn’t peddling sex either, but he’s closer to the stock image of a straight black man. In an ironic twist, he might be doing more for LBGTQ acceptance in hip hop, without ever actually coming out.

The rapper used to casually toss off homophobic rhymes, but in a 2017 interview with XXL he talked about a boyfriend he had as a teenager. That same year, his single “I Ain’t Got Time!” included the line “I been kissing white boys since 2004.”

He later backtracked and said his XXL comments had been misinterpreted. Then last year when Jaden Smith announced that Tyler was his boyfriend, he sheepishly denied it. Still, his acclaimed current album, Igor — a song cycle about a love triangle between a guy, the man he loves, and the latter’s girlfriend — is a stunningly unabashed LGBTQ musical statement, as powerful in its own way as Nas X’s coming-out tweet.

On the seventh track, “Boy Is a Gun,” he raps, “How come you the best to me?/I know you the worst for me/Boy, you sweet as sugar, diabetic to the first degree.” It’s a long way from Beastie Boys rapping “All I really want is girls” in 1986 to here, 33 years later.

When Igor debuted at number one in May, it became Tyler’s first effort to reach the summit of Billboard’s Top 200 album chart. Had he released a statement confirming his sexual orientation as gay before the album’s launch, would it have done so well? Would it have sold 165,000 copies in its first week, outpacing the latest album by DJ Khaled for the top spot? I think it very well could have, and he might not have had to sacrifice his standing in the hip hop community.

Tyler established his stardom and street cred in rap, in part, by exploiting homophobia, and in that ride-or-die world, it’s unlikely that his peers would deny he’s one of their own. Yes, that’s the stench of hypocrisy you’re smelling. Now, by exploiting queerness without outright identifying with it, Tyler has hedged his bets. He’s not only mastered the system; he’s also revealed how flawed it still is.

If Tyler is indeed queer and not just playing us all, in the end, he, not Nas X, might be the one with the real power to help fix a flawed system.

www.queerty.com/will-save-rap-toxic-homophobia-hint-probably-not-lil-nas-x-20190818?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29