#AM_Equality Tipsheet: February 4, 2020

February 4, 2020 GayFriendschat.com

#AM_Equality Tipsheet: February 4, 2020

VIRGINIA HOUSE PASSES BILL TO PROTECT LGBTQ YOUTH FROM SO-CALLED “CONVERSION THERAPY”: The bill has bipartisan support, and could lead to Virginia becoming the 20th state, alongside DC and Puerto Rico, to enact laws or regulations protecting youth from this harmful practice. More from WAVY.

HRC SVP AND (MORE IMPORTANTLY) IOWA NATIVE JODEE WINTERHOF WAS ON THE GROUND IN HER HOME STATE TALKING TO VOTERS, HANDING OUT COOKIES FOR EQUALITY: Winterhof (@JoDeelive), senior VP for policy and political affairs, hit the streets of Des Moines to encourage caucus-goers to support equality. More here.

Read more about how HRC is working to harness the power of LGBTQ and equality voters in Iowa and other early primary and caucus voting states in this John Riley (@JohnAndresRiley) piece for Metro Weekly.

“This is how we will change things in this country.” – @RepCindyAxne

Iowans, make your voices heard today. And pro-equality voters everywhere, find what you need to vote in your primary or caucus at t.co/TlHI8DjGud. #IowaCaucuses #IACaucus pic.twitter.com/hPgXRI1bnC

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) February 3, 2020

TUESDAY TWEET — OUT MAGAZINE EDITOR RAQUEL WILLIS (@RaquelWillis_) MARKS BLACK HISTORY MONTH WITH A TWITTER THREAD HONORING BLACK LGBTQ CHANGEMAKERS: Read the powerful thread here.

THREAD: Black queer and trans folks are making history every day. Give us our flowers. #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/JLwXW86DXq

— Raquel Willis (@RaquelWillis_) February 2, 2020

ICYMI — MEET HRC FOUNDATION’S 2020 CLASS OF YOUTH AMBASSADORS: The new class includes Nicole Talbot, 18, a musical theater actress with Broadway aspirations who is a passionate advocate for transgender youth and for the rights of transgender people in her home state of Massachusetts and nationally, and Gia Parr, 15, a high school student in Connecticut who is shifting the conversation around gender by being a model of positivity and achievement. Read more about them at Wicked Local Beverly and Hamlet Hub.

NEW HOUSING IN GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, TO OPEN FOR LGBTQ YOUTH: Five community groups are joining together to open the Union House to support LGBTQ youth who are experiencing homelessness. More from Brian McVicar (@GRMcVicar) at MLive.

HRC MOURNS JUDGE DEBORAH BATTS, FIRST OPENLY GAY FEDERAL JUDGE: “Saddened to hear of the passing of Deborah Batts, a giant of the legal community who blazed new trails for justice and equality,” said HRC President Alphonso David (@AlphonsoDavid). “This is a major loss for our judiciary and our movement. Sending my deepest condolences to Judge Batts’ loved ones.” More from The Associated Press and The New York Times.

GET CULTURED – Entertainment, arts and sports news!

LOS ANGELES FEATURES AWESOME NEW BILLBOARD OF SCHITT’S CREEK CHARACTERS DAVID ROSE AND PATRICK BREWER: Dan Levy (@danjlevy), who stars as David Rose, will be honored next month with the HRC Visibility Award alongside Janelle Monáe (@JanelleMonae) at the 2020 HRC Los Angeles Dinner. More from Brandon Voss (@BrandonVoss) at NewNowNext.

LA! �� 7677 Sunset Boulevard, if you want to grab a selfie (and send it our way!) t.co/AoOgGf0jHV

— Schitt’s Creek (@SchittsCreek) December 18, 2019

THE ADVOCATE SITS DOWN WITH OPENLY BISEXUAL NFL ATHLETE RYAN RUSSELL: In the interview with Diane Anderson Minshal (@DeliciousDiane), Russell (@RKRelentless) reflects on his NFL career, coming out and what’s next. Read more here.

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and I’m rooting for inclusivity! Thank you to @TheAdvocateMag for this fantastic exclusive being released at such a crucial time in football and on Black History Month. Sports, at its root, is about family and working together to reach a common goal. pic.twitter.com/O3MUFlbZBf

— R.K. Russell (@RKRelentless) February 2, 2020

GLOBAL EQUALITY NEWS

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH RELEASES REPORT DETAILING TANZANIAN GOVERNMENT’S CRACKDOWN ON THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY: Read the full report here.

SAME-SEX COUPLE ATTACKED AT TRAIN STATION IN KILDARE, IRELAND: The attack is currently being treated as a hate crime. More from The Irish Post (warning — disturbing descriptions of attack at link.)

READING RAINBOW – Bookmark now to read on your lunch break!
Cosmopolitan recommends five queer movies and shows; NBC Out looks at the rise of LGBTQ-inclusive sober spaces

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-february-4-2020?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

NEWS

GLAAD celebrates lesbian representation amongst the nominees for the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards

February 4, 2020 GayFriendschat.com

GLAAD celebrates lesbian representation amongst the nominees for the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards

Credit: CW/Showtime

Last month, GLAAD announced the nominees for the 31^st Annual GLAAD Media Awards. This year’s nominees feature fair, accurate, and inclusive portrayals of LGBTQ people and issues in a variety of categories, including several impactful projects that highlight the lesbian community. Projects that showcase the lesbian community can be found across a variety of categories, including Outstanding Film – Wide Release, Outstanding Film – Limited Release, Outstanding Drama Series, and several others.

In GLAAD’s 2019-2020 Where We Are on TV Report, broadcasting, cable and streaming all saw an increase in the percentage of lesbian characters from the past year. In regards to lesbian representation, broadcast saw a significant increase year-over-year to 33 percent (40) of regular and recurring LGBTQ characters. Lesbian representation is up significantly on cable year-over-year, up from 53 to 65 characters or 30 percent of LGBTQ regular and recurring cable characters. Lesbians make up 30 percent (46) of the 153 characters on streaming, which is a decrease of three percentage points from the previous year but an increase of nine characters.

Batwoman is nominated for Outstanding Drama series for it’s first time this year after premiering on the CW in 2019. Ruby Rose, who identifies as gender fluid and an out lesbian, plays Kate Kane (Batwoman), who is the first LGBTQ superhero to lead a network television series. Batwoman takes place three years after Batman mysteriously disappeared. The city of Gotham is now in despair and under the control and watch of military-grade Crows Private Security, which guards the city with firepower and militia. Kate returns home, deciding that if she wants to help her family and her city. In order to do so, she’ll have to become the one thing her father loathes: a dark knight vigilante. With the help of those close to her, Kate Kane continues the legacy of her missing cousin, Bruce Wayne. Armed with a passion for social justice and a flair for speaking her mind, Kate soars through the shadowed streets of Gotham as Batwoman.

Ruby Rose spoke to the Washington Post about her role as the first LGBTQ superhero on network TV: “That’s why this show is so important” – she’s a gay superhero whose sexuality is intended to be no big deal. People being straight doesn’t get that kind of attention. It’s the least interesting thing about [Batwoman].”

“I mean, I even look at her as I look at my own sexuality,” added Rose, who identifies as gay. “I would think my sexuality is the least interesting thing about me. We all identify as something. We wake up in the morning and we don’t think about it, it just is. Being straight and being gay, it’s the same thing. It’s just love. It’s who you love.”

Also nominated for Outstanding Drama Series this year is The L Word: Generation Q, which takes place over ten years after the original The L Word, which finished in 2009. Set in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, The L Word: Generation Q follows a group of friends, the majority of whom are lesbians. Generation Q is set in a new L.A. that has been shaped by the recession, gentrification, and policy failures.

An article by NPR looks at how The L Word: Generation Q is now needed more than ever in the age of the Trump administration, and talks to Jennifer Beals, one of the series original stars, who stated: “…We realized our strong suit is storytelling and perhaps this is the moment to rededicate to bringing The L Word back — to give visibility to the community that was about to get hit by this divisive administration.”

Booksmart, nominated for Outstanding Film – Wide Release, follows two best friends who, after spending their high school careers focused on academics, realize on the eve of their high school graduation that they want to experience high school like the rest of their party-going peers. Determined not to fall short of their schoolmates, the girls try to cram four years of fun into one night. Booksmart is filled with fresh humor, and celebrates queer inclusivity as one of the main characters of the film, Amy (Kaitlyn Dever), embarks on her journey of sexuality and engages in one of her first romantic experiences as a lesbian.

Nominated for Outstanding Film – Limited Release this year is The Heiresses, a tender drama of female awakening and queer romance between two women in politically conservative Paraguay. Descendants of Paraguayan aristocracy, the women have enjoyed a silver spoon lifestyle together for thirty years. When the couple is abruptly hit by financial hardship, they scramble to find work and auction off their respective heirlooms—silver spoons included—to stay afloat.

Chiquita, one of the main characters of this film, is imprisoned for her fraudulent side hustle. Chela, her partner, begins working as a taxi driver, gradually building new relationships and autonomy for the first time in her life. Each caged, one by a gutted lovenest, the other by razor wire, an irremediable distance grows between the two women.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire, also nominated for Outstanding Film – Limited Release, is set in 18th-century France, and reveals that a glance, or a stare is everything. The artist Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is commissioned to paint the noblewoman Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) so that the man Héloïse’s mother has arranged for her to marry can approve or disapprove of her before the wedding.

Héloïse, who is opposed to the impending nuptials, has refused to sit for portraits before, and at first Marianne must do her job surreptitiously, studying her subject carefully during outings under the guise of having been hired as her companion. In the looks cast from Marriane toward Héloïse and the curious glances that Héloïse returns to her, the exchanges reveal a mutual attraction and cement a powerful bond between the two women over time.

One Day at a Time, nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, features the daily life of the Alvarezes, a Cuban-American family. One Day at a Time give us a glimpse into a type of family that is rarely showcased on television, and part of that story includes queer representation through poignant storylines involving memorable characters.

One Day at a Time looks at a Latinx family led by an Army veteran single mother raising her teenage children (an out lesbian activist and a politically aloof boy) in the same household. One Day at a Time grapples with acceptance, mental health, faith, gentrification, alcoholism, and bigotry.

After winning the award for Outstanding Comedy Series at the 30th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, Vida is nominated again for Outstanding Comedy Series. The series focuses on two Mexican-American sisters from the Eastside of Los Angeles who couldn’t be more different or distanced from each other. Circumstances force them to return to their old neighborhood, where they are confronted by the past and shocking truth about their mother’s identity.

The Advocate describes Vida as “a universal story of found family that’s imperative to LGBTQ people who continually seek out others like themselves. In the show, Vida exiled Emma for being queer only to enter into a relationship with a woman later in life herself.” Ser Anzoategui is a nonbinary actor who plays the old-school lesbian. In contrast to Emma’s character, “Eddy” exists on the spectrum of gender identities that is not exclusively masculine or feminine, an identity that is outside the gender binary. Vida is a series that intertwines queer identity, religion and culture all in one.

In the Sports Illustrated cover story “2019 Sportsperson of the Year: Megan Rapinoe”, which is nominated for Outstanding Magazine Article, Jenny Vrentas looks at the role and impact of Megan Rapinoe, an out lesbian and co-captain of the U.S. Women’s Soccer team who won the Women’s World Cup in 2019. Vrentas explores how Rapinoe has continuously taken charge to authentically and fearlessly exist in a world as herself despite what anyone has to think or say about her.

Megan Rapinoe, as highlighted in the article, is known to call herself “walking protest”, which is drawn from her social activism on issues such as equal pay for women. Overall, Rapinoe continues to challenge the perceptions of women, female athletes, queer women, and herself.

The 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards feature several other series, films, and projects that highlight lesbian representation, including Killing Eve, Tales of the City, and many many more. For a full list of nominees for the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards, click here. A tip sheet with a breakdown of nominations by media and trends among the nominees is also available here.

February 4, 2020

www.glaad.org/blog/glaad-celebrates-lesbian-representation-amongst-nominees-31st-annual-glaad-media-awards

PHOTOS

Solo

February 4, 2020 GayFriendschat.com

Solo

TheIrishDevil posted a photo:

I’m walking on fire
My debt isn’t paid
I’ll take myself higher
So I’m feeling okay

Look at me now
I’m done with the chase
I taught myself how
Now I’m feeling okay

Solo, oh oh, oh oh oh
I taught myself how
Now I’m feeling okay
Solo, oh oh, oh oh oh

I wanna take my time
To make my decisions
Change my mind for no damn reason

I’m riding solo, oh oh
I’m feeling solo, oh oh

—

VIDEOS

Powerful top giving rimjob to bottom

February 4, 2020 GayFriendschat.com

Powerful top giving rimjob to bottom

Views: 14496

Rating: 84.2105

Duration: 360

"Powerful top giving rimjob to bottom" Added: 2020-02-04, Duration: 360, Rating: 84.2105, Views: 14496

NEWS

Tanzania bans lube because it “promotes homosexuality”

February 4, 2020 GayFriendschat.com

Tanzania bans lube because it “promotes homosexuality”

Dar es Salaam’s regional commissioner Paul Makonda (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Non-profit organization Human Rights Watch yesterday released a report on a crackdown against the LGBTQ community in Tanzania.

Although same-sex sexual relations are outlawed in the East African country, locals say the situation took a turn for the worse in 2016 following the election of President John Magufuli.

Since then, not only has there been an increase in the harassment of suspected gay people in the country, but the government has acted to deny them access to full healthcare.

The country’s Health Ministry has closed HIV-testing drop-in centers and banned the distribution of lubricant by organizations specifically serving vulnerable communities.

The government says citizens can only obtain lubricant from public hospitals, but many LGBTQ people are afraid to ask for lube at such places in case they face discrimination or personal questions.

Lubricant is regarded as an essential tool in the fight against HIV as condoms can easily rip without it.

Police have also raided meetings held by LGBTQ rights activists and health campaigners.

Suspected gay and bisexual men arrested under the country’s colonial-era law prohibiting “carnal knowledge against the order of nature,” are often forced to undergo “anal examinations” to find evidence they have broken the law. Such practices have no basis in science and have been criticized as “cruel, inhuman, and degrading.”

Human Rights Watch’s 112-page report included anonymous interviews with 35 people who identified as LGBTQ. One, “Kim”, a gender non-conforming person, gave a graphic description of being forced to undergo an anal exam.

“These doctors did the procedure of anal tests. It was by force. The police officers were there with guns, so many of them.… We went to the maternal ward where the women go and give birth. They took this metal instrument and they stick it – they penetrate it in our [anus], and it was very, very painful.

“And then they say ‘Cough, try to cough’ while the steel is inside our [anus], and when I coughed, they were pressing the metal into me. It was very brutal and painful. They were pressing the testicles, the penis. Everything about that testing was very brutal.”

“Medard,” a 38-year-old gay man, talked about the closure of LGBTQ-friendly drop-in centers.

“Whenever I had a health problem, I could go to those centers for help or to be connected to a healthcare provider that did not discriminate, that treated me like everyone else. These days, even if I have a health problem, I don’t have a place to go where I can describe my problem, so I just keep quiet.… I would like the government of Tanzania to allow kuchus [LGBT people] access to health services. If we don’t get services, we will die.”

Neela Ghoshal, senior LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said, “The Tanzanian authorities have orchestrated a systematic attack on the rights of LGBT people, including their right to health.

“Manufactured threats around the so-called ‘promotion of homosexuality’ have displaced best practices and evidence-based approaches in guiding HIV policy in Tanzania.

“The Tanzanian authorities should ensure that not one more Tanzanian is arrested for being gay or trans – or for attending an HIV education session. Concrete steps forward should also include banning forced anal examinations and reforming health policies so that they are based on evidence, not prejudice.”

According to the report, the government’s crackdown on LGBTQ people began in June 2016. A local TV show interviewed a trans person, prompting a government official to accuse the program of “glorifying gayism” and forcing the TV channel to issue an apology.

Since then, other government officials have spoken out against gay people. In July 2016, Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu said, “We don’t agree with the promotion of homosexuality and homosexual acts. We should do these HIV/AIDS interventions, but my goodness, to distribute lubricants for men who have sex with other men in the United Republic of Tanzania…. In fact, I ban it in the entire country.”

One of the most notorious local politicians is Dar es Salaam’s regional commissioner, Paul Makonda, who gave a 2016 speech threatening to arrest all the gay people in the country and ban any organization that “promotes homosexuality.”

Coincidentally, last Friday – just a couple of days before the HRW report was published – Makonda was slapped with a travel ban to the US.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted it was due to Makonda’s involvement with “gross violations of human rights.”

Today we designated Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Paul Christian Makonda as ineligible to enter the U.S. for his involvement in gross violations of #humanrights. We are deeply concerned over deteriorating respect for human rights and rule of law in #Tanzania.

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 31, 2020

A US state department statement said the ban came about because “[Mr Makonda has] also been implicated in oppression of the political opposition, crackdowns on freedom of expression and association, and the targeting of marginalized individuals.”

www.queerty.com/tanzania-bans-lube-promotes-homosexuality-20200204?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

NEWS

Remember That Time TV’s ‘Cheers’ Almost Turned into a Gay Bar? — WATCH

February 4, 2020 GayFriendschat.com

Remember That Time TV’s ‘Cheers’ Almost Turned into a Gay Bar? — WATCH

In the latest episode of his Culture Cruise series, Matt Baume looks back at the TV sitcom Cheers and how it tackled homophobia at a time when the AIDS crisis was in its early stages.

Wrote Baume: “In early 1983, the show ‘Cheers’ was brand new, getting terrible ratings, and close to getting cancelled. So what did they do? Ran an episode entitled ‘The Boys in the Bar’ that was all about how homophobia threatened to destroy the bar. It was a huge risk and could have turned off what few viewers the show had — but it may actually have saved the show.”

The post Remember That Time TV’s ‘Cheers’ Almost Turned into a Gay Bar? — WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.