Lachlan Watson to be Honored with Visibility Award, Mark Kelly to Speak at HRC Arizona Gala Dinner
HRC announced that actor Lachlan Watson will be honored with the HRC Visibility Award and Mark Kelly, a retired U.S. Navy combat pilot, engineer, NASA astronaut and current U.S. Senate candidate will be a guest speaker at the 2020 HRC Arizona Gala Dinner on Saturday, March 7 at the JW Marriott Camelback Inn Resort & Spa.
Lachlan Watson is an American actor is best known for their role as Theo Putnam, a transgender kid in the Netflix original series, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Early in their career, Lachlan received many acting roles, including on an episode of Drop Dead Diva in which they played a transgender boy fighting for the use of the school’s bathroom. As one of the youngest self-identified non-binary actor, Lachlan is an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ equality. In 2018, they were featured on a Netflix produced segment titled What I Wish You Knew: About Being Non-Binary.
Mark Kelly has been a steadfast ally for the LGBTQ community throughout his life and service to our country. Kelly has committed that should he be elected to the U.S. Senate, he would co-sponsor and vote in support of the Equality Act, crucial federal legislation that would finally guarantee explicit protections for LGBTQ people under our nation’s existing civil rights laws. In January 2020, HRC announced its endorsement of Mark Kelly in his bid for the U.S. Senate.
Additional special guests include Evangelina Siler, the recipient of Sheila Kloefkorn Individual Equality Award and Ada Vox, a San Antonio-based drag queen and American Idol semi-finalist. Tickets and further information are available at www.hrc.org/events/arizona-gala
Canadian politician who said being LGBTQ is a ‘choice’ gets blocked
We’re not shedding a tear for Richard Decarie, a Canadian politician who was barred from the Conservative Party of Canada’s 2020 leadership race after — and perhaps because — he said that being LGBTQ+ is a “choice.”
According to The Canadian Press, Décarie had submitted the required application, fee, and nomination signatures for the leadership race, and the party had interviewed him for the position.
On Twitter, Décarie told followers that the Leadership Election Organizing Committee provided him with “no reasons” for their rejection. “It seems my candidacy was viewed as a threat to the establishment of the CPC and to the kind of leader THEY want to select,” he added in his February 29 tweet.
He added: “True Blue Conservatives, including those with traditional values, are a major force within our Party.”
Cory Hann, a spokesman for the party, said that he couldn’t offer specific reasons for the Décarie decision, citing the confidentiality of the process.
Décarie aired his views on LGBTQ+ individuals in an interview on CTV’s Power Play in January after saying that the “real people” he meets agree that same-sex marriage shouldn’t be allowed.
At that point, his interviewer asserted LGBTQ+ people are “real people, too” and Décarie replied, “I think LGBTQ is a liberal term. I don’t talk about people that way.”
“I think it’s a choice, and how people are behaving is one thing. I think government has a responsibility to encourage the traditional value that we have had for the past years. That’s the kind of [socially conservative] issues that I would bring as a leader.”
Emphasizing his “so-con” values, Décarie says “LGBTQ” is a “Liberal” term and that being gay is a “choice.” #cdnpoli#ctvpp
Other Conservative politicians, including two of his competitors for the Conservative leadership role, criticized Décarie for the comments.
Ontario MP Marilyn Gladu said that Décarie’s comments were “unacceptable” and that she “will stand up for the rights and freedoms of every Canadian”.
And former Minister of Justice and Attorney General Peter MacKay tweeted, “Being gay is not a choice and nobody should be running for office on a platform to roll back hard-won rights.”
Alex Trebek, Stupid Love, Maine, Ronan Farrow, Cape Town, Nyle DiMarco, Malia Civetz, Love is Blind: HOT LINKS
2020. Biden wins Maine primary: “Biden led with 34.3 percent of votes in Maine to Sanders’ 33.1 percent. The Maine presidential primary was originally expected to go decisively to Sanders, but the endorsements for Biden from former candidates Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar seem to have shaken up the results.”
Fmr. Obama Press Sec. Robert Gibbs: “Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden need Secret Service protection. What happened tonight was nothing short of genuinely scary.” pic.twitter.com/KUkl5FP3wp
BERNIE SANDERS: “Have we been as successful as I would hope in bringing young people in? And the answer is no. We’re making some progress.” pic.twitter.com/1jZ620YNtD
In landmark win for #LGBT rights, the #HongKong High Court has decided that the Housing Authority’s policy of excluding same-sexcouples from applying for Public Rental Housing as “Ordinary Families” is “unlawful and unconstitutional for being in violation of BL25 and BOR 22”. pic.twitter.com/DpF0qqo6PB
CAPE TOWN. Teen boys gang-raped lesbian to “correct” her sexuality: “The suspects, who are only 14 and 17 years old, allegedly attacked the young woman just a day before the annual Cape Town Pride Festival on Saturday, which is held to celebrate gay pride and raise awareness about the problems facing the LGBTQI+ community.”
SURVIVING. Alex Trebek has some news to share about his Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. “Now, I’d be lying if I said the journey had been an easy one. There were some good days, but a lot of not-so-good days. I joked with friends that the cancer won’t kill me; the chemo treatments will. There were moments of great pain, days where certain bodily functions no longer functioned, and sudden, massive attacks of great depression that made me wonder if it really was worth fighting on. But I brushed that aside quickly, because that would have been a massive betrayal — a betrayal of my wife and soulmate, Jean, who has given her all to help me survive. It would have been a betrayal of other cancer patients who have looked to me as an inspiration and a cheerleader of sorts, of the value of living and hope. And it would certainly have been a betrayal of my faith in God and the millions of prayers that have been said on my behalf.”
VICE. The straight men going gay-for-pay with OnlyFans. “Ryan is one of an increasing number of heterosexual men uploading explicit content for their mostly gay subscribers – Ryan tells me that he estimates his subscribers to be “97 per cent” men. Many of the straight men doing so sit between ‘top-lad’ and ‘apex-lad’ – meaning, they perform heterosexuality to its most aesthetic extremes.”
#proudinmycalvins 
