Should #BeardedButtigieg Really Let It Grow?

All the buzz about Pete’s fuzz.
 

www.advocate.com/commentary/2020/2/25/should-beardedbuttigieg-really-let-it-grow

Under Brutal Grilling, Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf Appears to Have No Clue About Coronavirus or U.S. Response: WATCH

Chad Wolf, the Trump-appointed Acting Secretary of Homeland Security appeared to have no clue about the coronavirus or the U.S. response to it during a brutal grilling from Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) on Tuesday.

Wolf could not tell Kennedy the extent of the infections the U.S. was anticipating or prepared for, if the country has enough respirators, and seemed stumped when Kennedy asked him how the virus was transferred.

When Wolf tried to refer Kennedy to the CDC and HHS, the senator responded: “I’m asking you questions as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. And you’re supposed to keep us safe. And you need to know the answers to these questions.”

The post Under Brutal Grilling, Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf Appears to Have No Clue About Coronavirus or U.S. Response: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Under Brutal Grilling, Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf Appears to Have No Clue About Coronavirus or U.S. Response: WATCH

HRC Mourns Neulisa Luciano Ruiz, Trans Woman Killed in Puerto Rico

HRC is deeply saddened to learn of the death of Neulisa Luciano Ruiz, also known as Alexa, a transgender woman fatally shot in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico yesterday. Ruiz is believed to be the second violent death of a transgender or gender non-conforming person in 2020. 

“This is a horrifying crime that must be investigated with the utmost thoroughness and care. This victim, who has now been identified as Neulisa Luciano Ruiz, was a human being, a member of a community, a friend and family member,” said HRC Director of Community Engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative Tori Cooper. “She had dreams, hopes, hobbies and did not deserve to have her life taken from her. HRC has heard that Ruiz was experiencing homelessness, further highlighting the ways a toxic mix of transphobia and misogyny conspire to put the transgender community at risk of extreme violence.”

According to reports, Ruiz appeared to have been targeted by her killers after a social media post claimed a homeless transgender woman was using the women’s restroom. Her attackers followed her in a car, filmed the brutal killing and posted it online.

Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez tweeted that they are considering all possible motives in this crime, and have encouraged anyone with information on Ruiz’s death to contact local authorities.

According to the U.S. Trans Survey, 30 percent of respondents had experienced homelessness in their lifetimes. 

As we mourn this tragic loss, HRC is also closely monitoring the death of a transgender woman in Washington, D.C. on December 29, 2019. According to the latest reports, police are waiting to notify the woman’s next of kin before releasing her name publicly. 

In November 2019, ahead of Transgender Day of Remembrance, HRC Foundation released “A National Epidemic: Fatal Anti-Transgender Violence in America in 2019,” a heartbreaking report honoring the trans people killed and detailing the contributing and motivating factors that lead to this tragic violence. Sadly, 2019 saw at least 26 transgender or gender non-conforming people fatally shot or killed by other violent means. We say at least because too often these stories go unreported — or misreported.

These victims are not just numbers or headlines. They were real people worthy of dignity and respect, of life and love. 

There are currently very few explicit federal legal protections for transgender or gender-expansive people. However, transgender and gender non-conforming people in Puerto Rico are explicitly protected in employment, and they are covered under the state’s hate crimes legislation. Nationally, despite some marginal gains in state and local policies that support and affirm transgender people, recent years have been marked by anti-LGBTQ attacks at all levels of government. 

We must demand better from our elected officials and reject harmful anti-transgender legislation appearing at the local, state and federal levels because it is clear that fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color. The intersections of racism, transphobia, sexism, biphobia and homophobia conspire to deprive them of necessities to live and thrive.

HRC will continue to hold the Trump-Pence administration and all elected officials who fuel the flames of hate accountable at the ballot box. 

This epidemic of violence that disproportionately targets transgender people of color — particularly Black transgender women — must cease.

For more information about HRC’s transgender justice work, visit hrc.org/Transgender.

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-mourns-neulisa-luciano-ruiz-trans-woman-killed-in-puerto-rico?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Melissa Etheridge Praises Kelly Clarkson’s Cover of Her Lesbian Anthem

Clarkson crushed a version of Etheridge’s “I’m the Only One” in the “Kellyoke” segment of her talk show. 

www.advocate.com/music/2020/2/25/melissa-etheridge-praises-kelly-clarksons-cover-her-lesbian-anthem

No, the woman who outed her ex on Facebook did NOT deserve to be murdered

A lot is being said about Jane Waughfield, the 40-year-old Indianapolis woman who was murdered last week after outing her ex-lover on Facebook.

Last Tuesday, Waughfield live-streamed a video in which she she told everyone about a man she hooked up with two years ago. “Y’all gotta hear this story,” she said, “because this is a good story.”

Waughfield then proceeded to spend the next 17 minutes talking about her ex, who she recently learned was “f*cking n*ggers in the ass” and “hitting the fudge out the back.”

She recounted telling him and his cousin, who she claimed was his gay lover, to pay her $5,000 or she would publicly identify them. When they refused, she delivered on her threat and made the video. She also published her ex’s name, photo, and place of employment.

Hours later, she was dead.

CBS4 reported that Waughfield was shot Tuesday morning near the intersection of West 30^th Street and Lafayette Road in Indianapolis. According to police, she was struck by a bullet during a 90-100 MPH car chase. After colliding into another vehicle, she was rushed to a local hospital, where she soon expired.

Queerty’s original article about the story was met with a number of comments ranging from “Justice was served” to “No sympathy for this stupid sow.”

“Well, Miss Piggy will NEVER do that again,” one person remarked.

“As the law of the jungle goes, she got what she asked for,” another wrote.

On Facebook, they weren’t much better.

“She had it coming,” one person commented. “No loss.”

“Bye girl,” someone else said. “Shoulda minded yo damn business.”

And then there were the tweets.

Jane Waughfield was a lesson on minding your business. You never know how people will react when you attack them publicly and try to extort them.
It’s just mind blowing that she was 40 years old making a video like that. The mind of a 15 year old tryna bully someone

— david (@BunkyFenAskren) February 20, 2020

Karma’s a bitch!

— Katherine M. Stroik (@luvyourbullydog) February 21, 2020

This is a rough lesson that I wouldn’t wish on anyone but may she be a lesson to sooo many women who think it’s ok day to day to screen shot and expose people listen we don’t have to do Gods work he told us what’s done in the dark will come to light #janewaughfield

— Dameka Rochelle (@DamekaRochelle) February 19, 2020

Just to be clear, outing someone is never OK. Never ever ever.

But neither is murdering them.

What Waughfield did wasn’t just wrong, it was illegal. But that doesn’t mean she deserved to die.

In Indiana, extortion falls under the statutes for the offenses of “intimidation” and “harassment.” The penalty can be anywhere from six months to two and a half years in prison plus fines. Capital punishment is reserved for the most heinous of crimes, mainly murder. It is not imposed for outing someone on Facebook Live.

Unfortunately, there are no sentencing guidelines for homophobia. If there were, both parties in this situation would be guilty.

Homophobia poisons people’s minds and drives them to do horrible things. Waughfield was clearly motivated by it when she made the video. Her executioner (assuming it was the man she outed, as appears to be the case) was motivated by it when he let his fear of people learning about his same-sex attraction drive him to murder.

I honestly don’t know which is sadder.

Waughfield had two daughters. They are completely innocent in all this and will now grow up without a mother. Her executioner will likely spend the rest of his life in prison, an environment that will no doubt be incredibly hostile towards him because of his sexual orientation. Both are victims in their own right, and neither “deserved” what happened to them.

www.queerty.com/no-woman-outed-ex-facebook-not-deserve-murdered-20200225?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29