Shepard Smith Reportedly in Talks to Join MSNBC

The gay broadcast journalist may soon find life after Fox News.

www.advocate.com/media/2020/1/14/shepard-smith-reportedly-talks-join-msnbc

Major tech company challenges LGBTQ censorship in China with this commercial featuring a gay couple

One the largest tech company’s in China is being applauded for its latest gay-friendly ad.

Alibaba is an e-commerce and tech multinational conglomerate. The multi-billion dollar company just released a 20-second commercial that shows a gay couple returning to one of their homes for Chinese New Year.

The ad starts with one of the guys introducing his boyfriend Kelvin to his mother. The camera then cuts to his father eyeing the men suspiciously while two girls, presumably in on the secret, giggle at the table. The ad concludes with a narrator promoting a site-wide discount for the coming holiday.

LGBTQ representation is still very uncommon in China, where queer people are often subject to discrimination and state censorship and where same-sex couples cannot marry or adopt.

Many on Twitter are praising Alibaba’s ad for its sweet and subtle representation of same-sex love.

Meanwhile, over on Weibo, China’s version Twitter, one person said: “It doesn’t directly support or not support [same-sex couples], but the fact that we can see it is already an amazing step.”

Alibaba issued a statement saying: “Chinese New Year is a time for family reunion and inclusion, and the ad is a creative expression to celebrate such an occasion.”

This isn’t the first time the company has been supportive of China’s LGBTQ communities either. In 2017, it flew 10 same-sex couples to Los Angeles so they could get married.

Watch.

www.queerty.com/major-tech-company-challenges-lgbtq-censorship-china-commercial-featuring-gay-couple-20200114?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Kentucky School Expels Student for Celebrating Birthday with Rainbow Cake, Calls it a ‘Lifestyle Violation’

Kayla Kenney, a freshman at Whitefield Academy in Louisville, Kentucky, has been expelled from the school after officials at the Christian school saw a social media post by her mother showing her celebrating her birthday with a rainbow cake, in a matching sweater.

Kenney’s mother was told that the photo “demonstrates a posture of morality and cultural acceptance contrary to that of Whitefield Academy’s beliefs [and follows two years of ] lifestyle violations,” the Courier-Journal reports.

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#MissionMonday | From weekly chapels and Bible classes to small-group prayer and discipleship opportunities, #WhitefieldAcademy is filled with a “passion for the living and active Jesus,” and we desire to support our students in their walk with God.

A post shared by Whitefield Academy (@whitefieldacademy) on Jan 13, 2020 at 11:55am PST

Kenney’s mother says her daughter is not gay, and the bakery listed the cake as “assorted colors.”

The other “lifestyle violations” included getting caught with Juul pods.

WAVE reports: “The code of conduct does address sexual orientation and says if a student’s off-campus behavior isn’t in line with the school’s beliefs they can be disciplined. But Alford wants to know how the shirt brought them to that conclusion.”

Here’s what it says: “On occasion, the atmosphere or conduct within a particular home may be counter or in opposition to the biblical lifestyle the school teaches. This includes, but is not limited to, sexual immorality, homosexual orientation or the inability to support Biblical standards of right and wrong … In such cases, the school reserves the right, within its sole discretion, to refuse admission of an applicant or to discontinue enrollment of a student.”

The post Kentucky School Expels Student for Celebrating Birthday with Rainbow Cake, Calls it a ‘Lifestyle Violation’ appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Kentucky School Expels Student for Celebrating Birthday with Rainbow Cake, Calls it a ‘Lifestyle Violation’

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