Mike Pompeo Defies Impeachment Inquiry Subpoenas: ‘I Will Not Tolerate Such Tactics’

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the Trump administration are now actively obstructing an impeachment inquiry by the House of Representatives.

In a letter to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, Pompeo suggested he would defy a request to depose five State Department employees, and  wrote, “I’m concerned with aspects of the committee’s request that can be understood only as an attempt to intimidate, bully and treat improperly the distinguished professionals of the Department of State. Let me be clear: I will not tolerate such tactics, and I will use all means at my disposal to prevent and expose any attempts to intimidate the dedicated professionals whom I am proud to lead and serve alongside at the Department of State.”

Wrote Engel in a letter to Pompeo on Friday: “Your failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry.”

Pompeo became a center figure in the impeachment inquiry when it was revealed yesterday that he was on a phone call in which Trump used U.S. military aid to pressure the Ukrainian president to investigate his political rival Joe Biden.

Added Pompeo: “This amounts to an attempt to circumvent the Executive Branch’s unquestionably legitimate constitutional interest in protecting potentially privileged information related to the conduct of diplomatic relations. Therefore, the five officials subject to your letter may not attend any interview or deposition without counsel from the Executive Branch present to ensure that the Executive Branch’s constitutional authority to control the disclosure of confidential information, including deliberative matters and diplomatic communications, is not impaired.”

Read the full letter:

The post Mike Pompeo Defies Impeachment Inquiry Subpoenas: ‘I Will Not Tolerate Such Tactics’ appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Mike Pompeo Defies Impeachment Inquiry Subpoenas: ‘I Will Not Tolerate Such Tactics’

#AM_Equality Tipsheet: October 1, 2019

HRC FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES “SNAP FOR GOOD REWARDS” CAMPAIGN WITH HONEY NUT CHEERIOS: Starting today, Honey Nut Cheerios boxes around the country will have a Snapcode on the back that can be scanned to unlock exclusive Lenses within Snapchat for three organizations, including HRC. As part of this campaign, Honey Nut Cheerios will donate a portion of $100,000 to the three participating organizations — HRC Foundation, the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals® (@ASPCA) and Feeding America (@FeedingAmerica). “We’re grateful to General Mills and Honey Nut Cheerios for recognizing the importance of funding our work to achieve full equality for LGBTQ people, and looking forward to seeing how people all across the country use the HRCF Snapchat Lenses,” said HRC Senior Vice President for Development and Membership Chris Speron. More from HRC.

.@HRC has teamed up with Honey Nut @Cheerios for its Snap For Good Rewards campaign.

�� Grab your box of Honey Nut Cheerios
�� Scan the Snapcode on the back
�� Snap & share your photos & videos using our Lens
�� Support the fight for LGBTQ equality!t.co/BJ5RfQObBM pic.twitter.com/KS82CE9tF2

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) October 1, 2019

HRC MARKS THE START OF LGBTQ HISTORY MONTH: This LGBTQ History Month, HRC is proud to honor the trailblazers who helped pave the way for LGBTQ rights and visibility in the ongoing fight for equality over the past five decades. More from HRC. 

Happy #LGBTQHistoryMonth! This year has been a record year for LGBTQ history. From #Stonewall50 to #WorldPride, @HRC is proud to honor LGBTQ visibility and the trailblazers who helped pave the way for LGBTQ rights. ��️‍�� t.co/dSFiHaCuDd pic.twitter.com/L68hMi9NV7

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) October 1, 2019

IT’S NO SURPRISE — TRUMP CONTINUES TO SUPPORT THE DANGEROUS RHETORIC OF ANTI-LGBTQ RELIGIOUS PASTOR ROBERT JEFFRESS: More from The Washington Post and HRC. 

It’s no surprise that Trump continues to support the dangerous rhetoric of Robert Jeffress, who has a history of extreme anti-LGBTQ comments, including saying that same-sex relationships are a ‘perversion’ & comparing marriage equality to Nazi Germany. t.co/1RUpJU6ppd

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) September 30, 2019

IMPORTANT — POPE FRANCIS MEETS WITH REV. JAMES MARTIN TO DISCUSS THE HOPES AND CONCERNS OF LGBTQ CATHOLICS: More from The Washington Post.

NEW PROJECT TO HIGHLIGHT VOICES AND STORIES FROM SOUTHERN VIRGINIA’S BLACK LGBTQ COMMUNITY: Through the Southwest Virginia LGBTQ+ History Project, the Queer/Trans People of Color Project: Representation Matters will work to help LGBTQ people of color share their stories publicly. More from The Roanoke Times. 

GET CULTURED – Entertainment, arts and sports news!

TRANS BOXER PATRICIO MANUEL MAKES HISTORY AS NEW FACE OF BOXING GEAR COMPANY EVERLAST: More from OutSports and Mashable.

ALEXANDRA BILLINGS BECOMES FIRST OPENLY TRANS ACTRESS TO PLAY MADAME MORRIBLE IN WICKED: More from Broadway.com.

SOUL SINGER SADE SHARES HER TRANS SON’S JOURNEY AND CELEBRATES HIS TRANSITION: More from Pink News.

GLOBAL EQUALITY NEWS

THOUSANDS OF ACTIVISTS CONTINUE TO PROTEST BILLS PENDING IN THE INDONESIAN PARLIAMENT THAT WOULD GREATLY HARM LGBTQ PEOPLE: More from The New York Times and The Jakarta Post.

SCREENING OF FILM HIGHLIGHTING LGBTQ BULLYING IN BUDAPEST DISRUPTED BY NEO-NAZI DEMONSTRATORS: More from Pink News.

CROWD RALLIES FOR UNITY IN TORONTO AGAINST ANTI-LGBTQ GROUP: More from Global News Toronto. 

READING RAINBOW – Bookmark now to read on your lunch break!
NBC shares a photo of gay Tennessee teen Brandon Allen crowned homecoming royalty in a stunning gold dress

Gay high school senior in Tennessee crowned homecoming royalty in gold dress. t.co/33rlnzPcar – @NBCOUT

— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 30, 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!

www.hrc.org/blog/am-equality-tipsheet-october-1-2019?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

MUST WATCH: Peppermint remembers the 19 trans lives lost to violence this year and has a powerful message while hosting the GLAAD Gala San Francisco: “Don’t scandalize or act surprised when you discover someone loves a trans person.”

On September 28, Broadway star and RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Peppermint hosted the GLAAD Gala San Francisco.

During the evening, Peppermint made a powerful speech about the National Trans Visibility March that took place earlier that day. Check out the full speech below:

In her remarks, Peppermint had a powerful message for the room: “I know how lucky I am, but I also know you shouldn’t have to be lucky just to feel safe walking around in your own skin. That should be my right, not my privilege. But we cannot make that a reality; we can’t change the world if we are fighting alone.”

She continued by remembering the 18 transgender women of color who lost their lives to hate violence this year: “This unrelenting cycle of despair puts one in three trans women in extreme poverty and leads many of us to substance abuse, which subjects many of us to violence and survival sex work. Trans women of color are twice as likely to be unemployed and live in extreme poverty as our white counterparts, more than 40 percent of us experience homelessness, and nearly half of Black trans women attempt suicide.”

Peppermint continued, “19 trans women have been murdered already this year, and 18 of those 19 victims have been Black trans women. Many of us escaped murder only to remain inside a cycle of poverty, abuse, and oppression that seems unbreakable. But it’s not unbreakable.”

In the closing of her speech, Peppermint asked for one final request: “Don’t scandalize or act surprised when you discover someone loves a trans person. Our potential partners need to be welcomed into our spaces, not made to feel as though their sexuality is off because they love a trans man or woman.”

 

 

During the GLAAD Gala San Francisco, Paula Abdul was honored with the Ariadne Getty Ally Award, Dan Levy was honored with the Davidson/Valentini Award, and Ali Rosenthal was honored with the Ric Weiland Award. The event featured celebrity guests including the cast of Schitt’s Creek, Alicia Garza, Eva Gutowski, Justin Tranter, Ariadne Getty, August Getty, and more. Singer Garrett Clayton also performed a musical medley during the event.

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.

www.glaad.org/blog/must-watch-peppermint-remembers-19-trans-lives-lost-violence-year-and-has-powerful-message

Irish Hospital ‘Regrets’ History of Shock Therapy on Gays

Queens University Belfast continued research on the practice as late as 1973.

www.advocate.com/world/2019/10/01/irish-hospital-regrets-history-shock-therapy-gays

Back in 1953, this daring soul promoted same-sex marriage & monogamy

August 1953 cover of One Magazine, courtesy USC Digital Library Archive

In honor of LGBTQ History Month, we’re looking back at the first gay publication in America—ONE magazine. Launched in Los Angeles in 1953, ONE was published by One, Inc., which grew from The Mattachine Society, the seminal gay-rights group founded by Harry Hay. Its editorial founders were Martin Block, Don Slater, and Dale Jennings, who also served as editor-in-chief. Produced on a shoestring and sold for 25 cents, ONE began to change the course of history with unapologetic exploration of homosexuality and the societal taboo against it. 

This is the first in our series of ONE magazine cover stories.

Volume 1, Issue 8: Homosexual Marriage?

This groundbreaking 1953 cover essay was written under the pseudonym E.B. Saunders, who chastised the nascent gay-rights movement for ignoring the subject of marriage and monogamy. While the tone was scolding, it’s clear is that this prescient author was laying the groundwork for the “assimilation versus rebellion” debate that was to come.

One would think that in a movement demanding acceptance for this group, legalized marriage would be one of its primary issues. What a logical and convincing means of assuring society that they are sincere in wanting respect and dignity!

Equal rights means equal responsibilities. Equal freedoms mean equal limitations.

Nothing in the literature of the Mattachine Society and little of ONE magazine is dedicated to exploring the idea of necessary homosexual monogamy. The idea seems stuffy and hide-bound. We simply don’t join movements to limit ourselves! Rebels such as we, demand freedom!

Of course, Saunders’ stance is riddled with the biases of the day: that monogamy should be a norm, that legal marriage should be the only “respectable” way to enjoy sex, and that heterosexuals are any more naturally monogamous whether married or single. Nevertheless, the author might have been surprised to know that their clarion call would take shape sooner than anticipated and that the US Supreme Court would legalize gay marriage not in 2053 but 2015. They might be just as surprised by the current attitude toward gay marriage not as a stuffy, hide-bound duty, but a choice.

How far we’ve come.

Magazine cover courtesy of One Archives

ONE Archives Foundation provides access to original source material at the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the University of Southern California Libraries—the largest such collection in the world

www.queerty.com/back-1953-daring-soul-promoted-sex-marriage-monogamy-20191001?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Hillary Laughs as Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ Audience Chants ‘Lock Him Up!’ — WATCH

Hillary and Chelsea Clinton appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to talk about their new book, The Book of Gutsy Women. They were greeted by an extremely enthusiastic audience Colbert described as “people who are big fans of the alternate timeline we’re not living in.”

Then, before getting into the book, Colbert got into the Trump impeachment inquiry, asking, “Is it, dare I say, time to ‘lock him up?’”

This of course, prompted the audience to break out the chant.

“Sorry, I created a monster,” acknowledged Colbert before getting into a more measured discussion of Trump betraying the country.

Said Clinton: “I believe strongly that this particular incident has had such a huge impact because we’ve known for a long time that he [Trump] was a corrupt businessman who cheated people, and we’ve known that he and his campaign asked for aid from Russia, we’ve known that. But to see him in the office of the president putting his own personal and political interest ahead of the national security of our country just pierced through whatever confusion or denial people had. And, at that point, Speaker Pelosi rightly said this is something we have to investigate and that’s what’s going on.”

The post Hillary Laughs as Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ Audience Chants ‘Lock Him Up!’ — WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Hillary Laughs as Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ Audience Chants ‘Lock Him Up!’ — WATCH

HRC Foundation Announces Campaign with Honey Nut Cheerios

HRC Foundation announced it will partner with General Mills and Honey Nut Cheerios on a new campaign to help raise crucial funds in the fight for LGBTQ equality. 

Starting October 1, Honey Nut Cheerios boxes around the country will have a Snapcode on the back of the package that can be scanned to unlock exclusive Lenses within Snapchat. Once the box is scanned, Snapchat will offer users a choice between three organizations, each of which has its own interactive, organization-specific Lens. As part of this Snap for Good Rewards campaign, Honey Nut Cheerios will donate a portion of $100,000 to the three organizations participating: the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) and Feeding America. 

“We are so thrilled to be a part of this significant, fun and interactive campaign alongside such great organizations,” said Chris Speron, Senior Vice President for Development and Membership at the Human Rights Campaign. “Both the ASPCA and Feeding America do important work and we are honored to be included in this campaign with them. And, we hope this campaign spurs important conversations around breakfast tables across the country. We’re grateful to General Mills and Honey Nut Cheerios for recognizing the importance of funding our work to achieve full equality for LGBTQ people, and we’re looking forward to seeing how people all across the country use the HRCF Snapchat Lenses.” 

For years, General Mills has received consistently top marks on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies and practices pertinent to LGBTQ employees. 

More information on the Snap for Good Rewards campaign can be found here. 

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-foundation-announces-campaign-with-honey-nut-cheerios?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed