Conversion Therapy Ringleaders Arrested for Trafficking Boys
Gary Wiggins and his wife, Meaghan Wiggins, who’ve been hopping from state to state opening abusive “religious” camps, have finally been arrested.
www.advocate.com/crime/2019/8/21/conversion-therapy-ringleaders-arrested-trafficking-boys
Priest arrested for spending church money on beach house, boyfriends, and a Grindr XTRA account
A Catholic priest from Pennsylvania is accused of stealing almost $100,000 from his church to pay for a lavish beach house, boyfriends, and other personal expenses.
The Chester County District Attorney’s office announced that Joseph McLoone of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Downingtown, Pennsylvania was arrested this week after over a year-long investigation.
Philly Mag reports:
According to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case, Chester County detectives began investigating McLoone more than a year ago. He had been with the church since 2010, and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia conducted their own internal investigation of McLoone in 2017.
Investigators claim that McLoone opened a secret checking account in 2011 and diverted parishioner donations into that account and misappropriated other church funds undetected for the next seven years.
McLoone allegedly embezzled money from the church into the secret checking account and then used it to pay for expensive dinners, travel expenses, and a beach house in Ocean City, New Jersey, as well as a Grindr XTRA account and to make several multiple online purchases.
When confronted about it by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, 58-year-old McLoone admitted to paying for “personal relationships” with men using church funds. He was placed on administrative leave and now faces 18 charges, including multiple counts of felony theft.
“These charges are serious and disturbing,” Kenneth Gavin, chief communications officer for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, says. “The Archdiocese and the parish will continue to cooperate with law enforcement as the criminal matter enters its next phase.”
Chester County D.A.’s office put out a statement saying: “Father McLoone held a position of leadership and his parishioners trusted him to properly handle their generous donations to the church. Father McLoone violated the trust of the members of St. Joseph for his own personal gain.”
McLoone, who is out on $50,000 bail, has declined to comment on the matter.
Related: Antigay youth pastor busted for sexting teen boy, asking for x-rated pics
‘Pose’ Ends Strong Second Season with a Series Best [RECAP]
The second season of Pose on FX wrapped last night with an installment that may be the best representation of the show at the top of its game. Stylish and packed with pathos, the super-sized episode justified the extended running time with moments of humor, unforgettable ballroom performances and a satisfying tie at the end of nearly every narrative thread.
It’s easy to imagine this was written as a series finale, but, thankfully, the show has been renewed for another season. The one plot point folks may be disappointed to see left unaddressed is Elektra’s body in the closet. Chekhov’s checked luggage may seem like a tell-tale heart pounding away in Elektra’s closet, but if you consider the real-life inspiration for the story, it’s entirely possible the writers never intended for it to resurface later.
So what was addressed? Let’s rehash some of the highlights in our recap below.
The episode opens with a time jump to about nine months in the future. Blanca, now doing nails in her otherwise empty apartment, is clearly not in good health. Pray arrives, the first time interacting since their falling out at Damon’s graduation party. There’s not much more the audience would have gained from seeing more of Blanca being lonely and sad that wasn’t already beautifully conveyed in that final tracking shot last week, so it was a smart move to skip to the reunion.
Pray gets Blanca to the hospital to recover, and it’s heartwarming to see Angel, Elektra, Lulu and Pray all rally to her side. It’s not long before Blanca is spreading her magic across the ward, sort of like the Mother of the House of the Infectious Disease Ward. She also learns Frederica was arrested for arson and insurance fraud.
In a quick flash to the prison, we also learn Frederica was denied bail since she has so many resources. Frederica is enraged and feels like she’s being punished for being a successful woman. Her one regret? Ruining another woman’s business. That’s justice, baby, and it so rarely plays out as satisfyingly in real life.
Before Blanca is released, she’s visited by Damon, back temporarily from Paris. The tour was great, and now they want him to choreograph. He’s thriving. He also started his own extension of the House of Evangelista with his own children.
It is easily the best Damon scene from the series. This maturity and confidence suits him well, and Ryan Jamaal Swain seems liberated from the caricature of naïveté Damon sometimes fell into over the last two seasons.
Most importantly, Damon reminds Blanca of all the other children out there that need her to raise them. From the beginning, Blanca’s journey of motherhood has been the beating heart of the series, and the notion of Evangelista: The Next Generation is an exciting opportunity for Blanca (and viewers, as well.)
As Blanca leans into life as a grandmother, her own mother, Elektra is shaking up the ball scene. All these new categories have displaced the trans girls at the balls. The emcees are all men, as are the judges.
Pray brings her concern to the council, and they come up with the idea to host a “Butch Queen First Time Up in Drags at a Ball” category. It seems counterintuitive to address Elektra’s concern with ANOTHER category aimed at cis men, but it’s more of a loving homage than anything else.
To help learn to walk in heels, Elektra hosts the boys and gives them some tough love. It’s all too much for the struggling Pray, who leaves the training session in a huff. Ricky follows him outside, and Pray confesses he struggles to embrace his femininity due to his father’s discomfort. In a refreshing change of pace, it’s Ricky imparting the wisdom to the older Pray, explaining how it’s possible to balance masculine and feminine energies, sometimes at the same time.
It’s one hell of a scene. The walking-in-heels lesson is mostly played for comedy, as Elektra read each guy for filth. Then we got this beautiful exchange between Pray and Ricky that addressed internalized homophobia and misogyny in the gay community, attitudes toward homosexuality and femininity in the black community and intergenerational differences between gay men, plus it further developed the relationship between Ricky and Pray.
I mean, what other show can pull all that off over the course of a SERIES, let alone an episode, LET ALONE ONE SCENE?
Meanwhile, Angel’s modeling gigs have dried up. Ms. Ford calls her in and breaks the news. The word is out about Angel’s identity, and most companies have pulled their contracts. Ms. Ford is almost overwhelmingly supportive, though realistic, about her prospects. (I imagine part of the deal to use Eileen Ford’s likeness/name had something to do with portraying her relatively positively.)
This is terrible news for Angel, and she resigns herself to a life on the couch. Papi will not let this stand, so he devises a plan. He’s going to open a business managing trans talent. It sounds optimistic in 2019; in 1991, it sounds insane.
Still, this is Pose, where, no matter what, there is always hope. Papi wisely goes to Ms. Ford and pitches her on this idea of an agency-within-an agency focused on trans/queer talent. She’s skeptical, but he and Angel make a passionate pitch.
“The world doesn’t change,” Angel pleads with a skeptical Ford. “People change it.”
Although not totally sold, Ford agrees to give Papi a desk, a phone and her watchful eye. If he can land a deal within two weeks, she’ll take him up on it.
Wisely, Papi asks Ford for a list of clients deemed not good enough for Ford. These clients tend to be more open-minded, and it’s not long before Papi books Angel a commercial for a new soda in Germany.
The episode and season ends with an extended ball scene, and it’s one of Pose‘s best (which is saying a lot). A member of the House of Ferocity wins the vogueing category and dedicates the trophy to her former House Mother, Candy. Elektra wins mother of the year.
Then it’s time for Candy’s Sweet Refrain, and, you guys are not ready. I wasn’t. (I’m still not?) Angel pushes Blanca out in her wheelchair pretty fresh from the hospital. She starts lip syncing Whitney Houston’s famous rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and it’s … everything. As someone who regularly writes thousands of words about this show every week, I’m at a loss, but I will do my best.
At one point she leaps to her feet and tears away her clothes to reveal a gorgeous red jumpsuit. It finishes with Papi waving a Pride flag and Damon waving a House of Evangelista flag behind her. “Triumphant” doesn’t even begin to describe it. If they could turn the feeling this gave me into a pill, I would take it each day with my Truvada and feel amazing.
The ball ends with the Butch Queens walking, and it’s fun. Elektra takes over the role of emcee, which truly she was born to play. I hope they explore this next season, because it’s a natural fit for her critical eye and acid tongue. Pray gets to have his big Diana Ross moment, and it’s a wonderfully light (though still powerful) note to end on. He doesn’t win, but it doesn’t matter. This wasn’t about a trophy; it was about being comfortable in your own skin, which is infinitely more valuable.
Finally, outside, Blanca waits for Pray when she notices two youths loitering about. They’re homeless and stealing, probably worse, and she invites them to dinner, her treat. It certainly looks like the House of Evangelista will live on.
And thankfully, so will Pose. I know I breathlessly champion the series week after week, but it can’t be underscored enough just how absolutely vital this series is. Even as someone who watches television professionally, I have rarely encountered a series as emotionally evocative. It’s expanded and challenged my own understanding of our greater community. It’s taken enormous pieces of LGBTQ history and distilled them down to the human parts in a way too few films and television shows have even attempted. It’s introduced us to a collection of incredible actresses we would likely never have been exposed to otherwise. It put people on television that most folks would never think they would see on this scale, and it empowered a generation to dare to dream bigger than their current circumstances. While, of course, it’s not flawless, it does exactly what great art should.
Indeed, the world doesn’t change on its own, but we should all be grateful Pose continues to try.
The post ‘Pose’ Ends Strong Second Season with a Series Best [RECAP] appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.
Ali Rosenthal to be honored with the Ric Weiland Award at the 2019 GLAAD Gala San Francisco
GLAAD announced that Ali Rosenthal, the founder of Leadout Capital, will receive the Ric Weiland Award at the 2019 GLAAD Gala San Francisco on September 28. The Ric Weiland Award honors an innovator in tech and new media who is advancing equality and recognition of the LGBTQ community.
Ali Rosenthal is an out LGBTQ entrepreneur and business executive who is the Founder and Managing Partner of Leadout Capital Partners, an early stage venture capital firm based in Northern California. Leadout finds, vets and supports gritty and resilient founders who are building software driven solutions for overlooked and underserved markets and communities. Inspired by the effects of the #MeToo movement, Rosenthal has been dedicated to helping promote more female tech entrepreneurs and investors. As a result, the mandate of Leadout Capital is to invest in underrepresented founders. Leadout’s first five investments include four women-led businesses, three of which have Latinx founders.
A former professional cyclist and technology investor, Rosenthal is also a proven operating executive responsible for scaling teams and businesses from their earliest days to platforms serving customers on a global basis. Rosenthal was one of the earliest business hires at Facebook (2006-2011) and a founding member of the Facebook Mobile team, where she was instrumental in driving the driving growth and adoption of the mobile product, globally. She joined Wealthfront when it was less than $1BN in AUM and helped scale the platform as well as introduce several new products, most notably the 529. Rosenthal’s professional investing experience includes roles at General Atlantic Partners (investment associate) and Greylock Partners (EIR).
Previous honorees of the Ric Weiland Award include former US Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith, Google, YouTube, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, and journalist Emil Wilbekin.
GLAAD previously announced that Schitt’s Creek’s Dan Levy will be honored with the Davidson/Valentini Award at the 2019 GLAAD Gala San Francisco, hosted by RuPaul’s Drag Race and Broadway star Peppermint.
The GLAAD Gala San Francisco celebrates and features storytellers and tech innovators who accelerate LGBTQ acceptance and helps fund GLAAD’s digital advocacy work to grow LGBTQ inclusion in digital and social media. The 2019 GLAAD Gala San Francisco is presented by Gilead, Ketel One Family-Made Vodka & Wells Fargo, with official partner Google.
For more information on the event, including how to purchase tickets, visit www.glaad.org/events/2019-san-francisco-gala.
www.glaad.org/blog/ali-rosenthal-be-honored-ric-weiland-award-2019-glaad-gala-san-francisco
That’s Hot
EnviouSLAY posted a photo:
♥ Wearing ♥
(5/5★) Hair:Kuni~Silvia [ @Access ]
Head:Genus~Classic Face
Eyebrows:SB~*Genus* Eyebrows Amanda
Shadow:L’Etre~Ryan HD make-up
Lipstick:Pink Fuel~GENUS HD LIPSTICK Applier – Dazzle Me
Body:Belleza~Freya
(5/5★) Jewelry:Cae~Ayla Collection
(5/5★) Top:Riot~Michelle Top
Skirt:Neve~Skirt – Hop Neutral
Cory Booker: I Have a Nonbinary ‘Niephew’
Booker says his “‘niephew,’ which is a combination of niece and nephew,” has helped him understand issues facing trans and nonbinary youth.
www.advocate.com/election/2019/8/21/cory-booker-i-have-nonbinary-niephew
WATCH: CNN shows Randy Rainbow in a whole new light, no green-screens necessary
Who knew one of the few (very few) good things to come out of the 2016 US presidential election would be the meteoric rise of a theater queen from Long Island, NY.
Amid the daily chaos of team Trump’s every move and the inconceivable success the circus side-show had on American voters, Randy Rainbow‘s satirical, high-camp musical parodies racked up view after view.
Related: Randy Rainbow Takes On Melania Trump And Makes Life More Bearable
And while he already has two consecutive Queerty Awards under his belt, Randy’s visibility just reached a whole new crowd with a recent CNN profile. Though he “doesn’t like to boast”, apparently Stephen Sondheim told him his lyrics are as good as “anyone writing today.” No big deal.
We think he’s on to something here:
Janet Mock on being a constant trailblazer and directing the ‘Pose’ Season Finale
Janet Mock might just be the closest thing someone can be to a bulldozer while still being human.
The much-lauded transgender rights activist, journalist, podcaster, cable pundit and newscaster became the first ever transgender woman of color to write and direct an episode for television with the first season of Pose, a show she executive produced despite no prior work behind the camera. Now she’s added another plume to her hat. Last month, Mock became the first transgender producer ever nominated for the Best Dramatic series Emmy. She also just inked a lucrative deal with Netflix to create, produce, write and direct a new series and feature films.
Mock brings her latest directorial outing to the world August 20, when she helms the Season 2 finale of Pose on FX. We managed to snag a few minutes from Mock’s very busy schedule to chat about the show, her rich life and her groundbreaking work.
So congratulations on your Emmy nomination. You’ve had such a varied career, how do you feel going into the finale?
I’m so proud of this finale. As someone who supervised production this season from day one of Season 2 all the way to the final day, and directed and written episodes this season, I’m so proud of the work we’ve all done. Our finale is our more ambitious script, and it involves two acts in the ballroom which are such hard scenes to shoot. There are 300 people in a singular space. It’s crowded. It’s noisy. There’s a lot of dancing. And so the fact that it turned out and it turned out well…Ryan [Murphy, who executive produces along with Mock and Our Lady J] says he thinks its the strongest episode we’ve done.
Oh wow.
To be trusted with a finale for any director is astounding. For me, it’s astounding and it’s humbling and it’s great and it’s astonishing. At the same time, it’s also meaningful and impactful because it’s a story about my community.
Absolutely.
So it makes it that much more meaningful. So I’m so excited that I’ve done a finale. This whole process of working on Pose has changed my life and emboldened me as a storyteller and an artist, and I get to keep on telling stories with my deal with Netflix and next season. So that’s exciting.
Finales are always tricky because they need to bring everything together. I was impressed by the sheer number of story threads and character arcs you had to cap off. Are you intimidated when you go in to do something like that? How do you keep an even keel?
For me it’s always about the characters. When it comes to any script, specifically as a director, what’s hard about the finale, as you point out, is that there are so many storylines that you are trying, not to wrap up, but to tell and to keep those threads all going. For me, it was about Blanca. She’s our heroine. MJ Rodriguez, the lead, gave the performance of a lifetime in the episode. I hope she’s recognized in ways as an actress. She’s grown so much as our leading lady. Realize that no one came before her to do this work.
Great observation.
Every episode she’s challenged. The first scene we shot for the finale was her and Billy Porter in the House of Evangelista. We were tearing down the set the day after.
Oh wow.
The two of them together, seeing each other for the first time [in a long time], I think the audience will feel that in the cold open. And I think everything else hangs onto there. You love Blanca, and you’re here for the journey, you know?
Yeah.
So for me it was just about the characters. The Angel storyline with her modeling and how that ties in with her romance with Lil Papi. They have a home, and it was challenging to tell that story just to make it realistic just because we’ve never seen a storyline like that between a trans woman and a cisgender young man. He’s so unapologetic about loving her. The stakes were so high for the characters. I think it raised the stakes for me as a director to make it seem grounded and real and to anchor it in the human experience of supporting and loving one another, which is what this whole episode is. That’s what we need right now in our particular culture: to feel that.
Related: We visited the set of ‘Pose,’ the show that might just save the world
Absolutely. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but you hadn’t directed prior to Pose.
No, I hadn’t. I never had ambitions to direct. I never thought that I would up until Season 1 of Pose. I directed episode six, “Love is a Message.”
I’m curious then. You’re someone who has had such a varied career, and you’re not very old. What have you learned about yourself in challenging yourself in this way, creatively?
For me the anchor for everything I’ve done in my career is being a writer and a storyteller. I think for me, a lot of it—you know I’m trained as a journalist. That’s where I learned the craft of storytelling. Then I became a memoirist. And I’ve written a lot of profiles and interviews of celebrities. I did that for MSNBC. I’ve hosted my own podcast. Now, as a writer/director, it’s easier for me to write and direct an episode because I have such a hand in telling the story. I can change words if things don’t fit right. It was just natural for me. I think Ryan saw something in me long before I saw myself as a director. It’s been great to be surrounded by a mentor who believes in me and also offers me resources and guidance.
Sure.
It’s not like I do this work alone. But I think the training wheels came off when it came to the finale. It is my fourth hour of television directing. I also just did Episode 3 of The Politician. The trailer just dropped today, and I noticed a lot of my shots and scenes are in the trailer.
That’s wonderful.
It’s great. And I also have a development deal with Netflix. But for me, what Pose has given me is the ability to learn more about myself as an artist, and as a storyteller, to stretch my wings. To challenge myself and not be afraid of doing things I haven’t’ done before. I’ve surprised myself and I’ve been emboldened. I have a whole new career now because of the show.
I’m excited to ask then, what can you tell us about your Netflix deal?
Nothing!
[Laughter]
I had a feeling.
You know, we’re developing right now. So they’re not ready to announce anything yet. But I promise we will circle back.
Please do.
I’m also hopping right into the writer’s room of Ryan’s new series Hollywood, and I’m directing a couple episodes of that as well as several episodes of The Politician.
Your Wikipedia bio describes you as an activist. That’s a vast oversimplificaiton for your carer, but it’s not wrong. You’ve done everything. You’re changing the world. When you go through your day, when you survey life and your work, where do you find the most gratitude? Where do you find the greatest peace of I’ve done something with my life?
Wow. I think for me, the fact that I can live my truth. I’ve been able to live my truth since I was 12 years old. That’s the most gratifying for me. I don’t have to live a lie. I’m anchored in my truth, and by telling my truth as a writer, as a memoirist, as a director, that I am able to offer kids growing up like I did affirmative images of themselves, affirmative stories, things that can make them puff out their chest a bit more. I am all too aware of how it feels to be a young person—or just a person period—aching to be yourself and be met with a shake of a head instead of a nod, to not be affirmed for who you are.
Indeed.
One of the most aspirational things, to bring it back to Pose and the stories we tell there. In the ballroom stage, or even when we’re not there, when that person steps into the spotlight and they live their dreams for those three minutes, they are applauded for that dream. That’s what people return to over and over again with the show. I hope that long after we’re gone, the show will exist. And people will go back and look and be affirmed, be seen, be celebrated. So for me, I just feel great gratitude that I get to do this work, and that I’m empowered to tell more stories. To be the first trans person empowered with this kind of a deal—to greenlight your own projects and have great creative partners behind you…I’m grateful that I get to do this work.
The Season 2 finale of Pose airs on FX August 20.
Delusional Log Cabin Republicans Spokesman Says LGBT Community is Better Off Under Trump Than It Was Four Years Ago: WATCH
Log Cabin Republicans quisling Charles Moran defended the group following the resignation of board member Jennifer Horn over LCR’s endorsement of Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign.
Said Moran: “Jennifer is a friend and up until 24 hours ago she was a fellow board member with me on the national board. But like so many disaffected Republicans who have not been comfortable with President Trump and with his record, I look at the question of, ‘Is America better off now than it was four years ago and is the LGBT community better off now than it was four years ago?’ And under President Trump, the answer is inarguably, yes. President Trump is the first person elected president of the United States who supported gay marriage and also has a background supporting equality issues both as a businessman and as a philanthropist. But now also as a president of the United States.”
“We always try to follow the rule of trust but verify,” added Moran. “And looking at President Trump’s appointments, appointing people in our organization, taking meetings with our organization, and just really advancing the big causes that are important to the LGBTQ community.”
Michelangelo Signorile has an excellent response to LCR’s endorsement in the Washington Post. Read that HERE.
The post Delusional Log Cabin Republicans Spokesman Says LGBT Community is Better Off Under Trump Than It Was Four Years Ago: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.
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