Artist Designs ‘Hate Shield’ to Muffle Anti-LGBTQ Protesters at Pride

Matthew Terrell has developed an ingenious art project to drown out hate.

www.advocate.com/art/2019/10/02/artist-designs-hate-shield-muffle-anti-lgbtq-protesters-pride

Planet Fitness goes radio silent over CEO’s donations to numerous antigay politicians

The popular gym chain Planet Fitness is in the middle of an antigay PR nightmare and it’s not handling it well.

This week, it was revealed that the company’s CEO Chris Rondeau has been secretly funding antigay politicians for years.

Recently obtained documents from the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that in 2016, Rondeau gave $1,200 to Donald Trump presidential campaign.

In 2018, he gave money to former New Hampshire State Senator Andy Sanborn, who opposed a bill banning gay conversion therapy and he voted against updating the state’s existing civil rights laws include protections for people based on gender identity.

As a company, Planet Fitness has long crowed about its commitment to equality, deeming itself a “judgment-free zone” and offering trans members the freedom to use the locker rooms that corresponds to their gender.

Since the news that its CEO has been funding the agendas of homophobic politicians, however, the company has gone radio silent.

Not only has it ignored requests for comment, but it hasn’t issued any statement or even done the bare minimum by acknowledging the controversy on social media.

The company’s most recently tweet, and its first since the news about Rondeau broke, was an awkward joke about jeans this morning:

Perhaps the company is hoping the whole thing will blow over so it won’t have to address the issue?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. The hashtag #boycottplanetfitness has already begun circulating on Twitter, and people aren’t happy.

@PlanetFitness So let me get this right – my membership money is going to fund a traitor and homophobes? Fuck you people. I will be canceling immediately unless you can document that this is not your practice. #NoJudgment? #BoycottPlanetFitnesst.co/k6QPuyYHub

— The Ghost Rat (a Marginally Stable Genius) (@The_Ghost_Rat) October 1, 2019

Here I thought ⁦@PlanetFitness⁩ was for everyone. I was about to join a gym and it won’t be PF. #PlanetFitness#BoycottPlanetFitness#LGBTQ #LGBT t.co/o6dwaBpRgO

— Fredrick Bertz (@BertzFredrick) October 1, 2019

As you well know @PlanetFitness I am an avid fitness enthusiast and love my PF, however if your company doesn’t make these Trump donations right, I will be cancelling my membership and standing outside with signs to get others on board. #planetfitness #boycottplanetfitness

— Paul Vasquez (@kismek83) September 30, 2019

Earlier this year, Equinox Fitness had a similar scandal when it was revealed the company’s majority stake holder, Stephen Ross, had hosted a $250,000 per person fundraiser for Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, raising $12 million in a single night. As a result, members left the gym in droves.

Planet Fitness should probably address this issue ASAP if it doesn’t want to suffer a similar fate.

Related: Planet Fitness CEO has been quietly funding antigay politicians, including Trump, for years

www.queerty.com/planet-fitness-goes-radio-silent-ceos-donations-numerous-antigay-politicians-20191002?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Our Rights At Stake: Key Cases Before SCOTUS

After coming out as transgender to her employer, Aimee Stephens was fired from her job as director of a funeral home in Michigan. 

The business owner would not allow Stephens to live her truth at work, saying it would be “unacceptable.” In March 2018, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that firing Stephens for being transgender violated Title VII, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in employment.  

“No one should be denied a job or fired simply because of who they are or who they love, including LGBTQ people,” said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. 

Stephens’ case, R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC and Aimee Stephens, is one of three cases the U.S. Supreme Court is set to review that would impact federal non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people nationwide. 

Several federal courts have already ruled that anti-LGBTQ discrimination is a form of sex discrimination that violates federal law. These courts have found that discrimination against LGBTQ people violates laws including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. 

The Trump-Pence administration, however, has recently threatened to undermine federal sex discrimination protections through regulations attempting to erase protections for transgender people. They have also asked the Supreme Court to bar LGBTQ people from receiving federal non-discrimination protections  —  critical protections in areas of life including employment, housing, health care and education. 

“The growing legal consensus is that our nation’s civil rights laws do protect LGBTQ people against discrimination under sex non-discrimination laws,” Warbelow said. 

These cases all involve employment discrimination against LGBTQ people. In Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda, skydiving instructor Donald Zarda was fired from his job after telling a client he is gay. He sued on the basis of sexual orientation discrimination, but a federal trial court rejected his discrimination claim, saying that the Civil Rights Act does not protect him from being fired for being a gay man. 

Zarda appealed, and in February 2018, the full Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that discrimination based on sexual orientation is a form of discrimination based on sex and is prohibited under Title VII. The court recognized that when a lesbian, gay, or bisexual person is treated differently because of discomfort or disapproval that they are attracted to people of the same sex, that’s discrimination based on sex. Tragically, Zarda died in an accident in 2014 without witnessing his court victory, but his family continued the case for him. 

At its core, these discriminatory cases hurt LGBTQ people and those who love them. In the third case the high court is set to review, Bostock v. Clayton County, Gerald Lynn Bostock was fired from his job as a county child welfare services coordinator when his employer learned that he is gay. Despite appealing, in May 2018, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reconsider a 1979 decision wrongly excluding sexual orientation discrimination from coverage under Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination.  

Now, the Supreme Court has a chance to make a statement and protect LGBTQ people from discrimination. 

“The Supreme Court has an opportunity to clarify this area of law to ensure protections for LGBTQ people in many important areas of life. The impact of this decision will have very real consequences for millions of LGBTQ people across the country,” Warbelow said. 

While the Supreme Court prepares to hear these cases, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Equality Act — which would provide clear, comprehensive protections for LGBTQ people across key areas of life, including employment, housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally funded programs and jury service. Now, the ball is in the U.S. Senate’s court. 

Regardless of the outcomes of these cases, LGBTQ people and others need Congress to pass the Equality Act to ensure and expand their federal protections under our nation’s civil rights laws. To learn more or to urge your senator to vote for the Equality Act, visit hrc.org/EqualityAct.

www.hrc.org/blog/our-rights-at-stake-key-cases-before-scotus?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Mj Rodriguez Slays ‘Suddenly Seymour’ (With a Kiss!) on ‘James Corden’

The Pose star and George Salazar gave a breathtaking performance from Little Shop of Horrors on the late-night show.

www.advocate.com/music/2019/10/02/mj-rodriguez-slays-suddenly-seymour-kiss-james-corden

Aaron Carter’s tattoo artist says singer wanted entire face covered in ink but “I just couldn’t”

The man responsible for permanently inking up half of Aaron Carter’s face is speaking out.

Celebrity tattoo artist Herchell Carrasco (a.k.a. RockRollG) tells TMZ that 31-year-old Carter invited him over to his house last Friday for what was supposed to be a standard tattoo session, but once he got there, everything went awry.

www.queerty.com/aaron-carters-tattoo-artist-says-singer-wanted-entire-face-covered-ink-just-couldnt-20191002?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Russian Man Sues Apple, Says iPhone Made Him Gay

Today in absurd lawsuits, a Russian man is suing Apple for more than $15,000, claiming that an app he downloaded to his iPhone “manipulatively” drove him to homosexuality, causing him “moral suffering and harm to mental health.”

The Moscow Times reports: “The plaintiff, identified as D. Razumilov, alleges that he became ‘mired in same-sex relationships’ this summer after receiving 69 GayCoins on a cryptocurrency payment app he downloaded onto his iPhone in 2017.”

RELATED: Russian Politician Threatens To Sue Apple For ‘Gay Propaganda’ U2 Album Gift: LISTEN

The sender of the cryptocurrency reportedly sent a message roughly translated as “don’t knock it till you try it.”

“I thought, indeed, how can I judge something without trying it? And decided to try same-sex relationships,” said the man in the ridiculous complaint, which was linked to and translated by the Times. “I can say after the passage of two months that I’m mired in intimacy with a member of my own sex and can’t get out. I have a steady boyfriend and I don’t know how to explain it to my parents. After receiving the aforementioned message, my life has changed for the worse and will never be normal again.”

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Russian Man Sues Apple, Says iPhone Made Him Gay