US House candidate pardoned by Trump compares gay people to pedophiles

A former reality TV star turned US House candidate in Atlanta has lashed out on the subject of LGBTQ rights.

Republican Angela Stanton-King is running for Georgia’s 5th Congressional Seat. She qualified last Friday to run against US Representative John Lewis: the state’s most senior Democrat and a longtime LGBTQ ally.

Stanton-King appeared in the BET docuseries From the Bottom Up and wrote a book in 2012 entitled, Life of a Real Housewife.

Related: Trump plans to redefine the word ‘gender’ to write trans people out of civil rights laws

She was pardoned by President Donald Trump in February for a 2004 conviction on federal conspiracy charges for her reported role in a car theft ring. She served a six-month home confinement sentence in 2007 over the charges, recently telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “I turned my life around. I have completely redeemed my life.”

On the same day she qualified for her run last week, she took to Twitter to promote some of her views. This included a tweet on the advance of LGBTQ rights. It shows someone holding a rainbow gun to someone’s head, demanding: “Let me f### your 8 yo kid, pedofobe.”

Enough is Enough #LGBTQ pic.twitter.com/aVli0Xgc33

— Angela Stanton-King (@theangiestanton) March 6, 2020

Stanton-King went on to tweet: “America can accept a transsexual that changed their whole identity/sex but can’t accept a Felon who has changed their whole lifestyle…”

America can accept a transsexual that changed their whole identity/sex but can’t accept a Felon who has changed their whole lifestyle…

— Angela Stanton-King (@theangiestanton) March 7, 2020

She summed up her views as “Pro GOD, Pro LIFE, Pro WOMAN, Pro AMERICA, Pro TRUMP and PRO COMMON SENSE.”

On Saturday she again returned to the subject of pedophilia, using an image of Zaya Wade, the trans daughter of former basketball player Dwayne Wade.

“PEDOPHILIA,” Stanton-King tweeted. “Gay means Men having sex with men. If you wouldn’t want your 12 yr old daughter advertising that she enjoys sex with men/boys why your 12 yr old son? This is confusion, pedophilia, and sexual exploitation wrapped up in acceptance.”

PEDOPHILIA.
Gay means Men having sex with men.
If you wouldn’t want your 12 yr old daughter advertising that she enjoys sex with men/boys why your 12 yr old son? This is confusion, pedophilia, and sexual exploitation wrapped up in acceptance. #lgbtq#Pedophilia #Dwade pic.twitter.com/0ILPdHuDpY

— Angela Stanton-King (@theangiestanton) March 8, 2020

Yesterday she took to Twitter to defend traditional gender roles and to praise masculine men.

“I am a woman that loves men and appreciates masculinity. We need our men. We need our sons. We need our brothers. Our men are not women and Our boys are not girls.”

I am a woman that loves men and appreciates masculinity.

We need our men.

We need our sons.

We need our brothers.

Our men are not women and Our boys are not girls.

— Angela Stanton-King (@theangiestanton) March 9, 2020

Among those to criticize the tweets was gay, Georgia council member Antonio Brown.

Responding to Stanton-King’s initial tweet with the rainbow gun, Brown said: “Hate like this will never be supported in our communities. This is a true reflection of the dilusional rhetoric fueled by political warfare & is on the opposite spectrum of equality & humanity. But, we must meet this conscious injustice with love & unconditional understanding.”

Hate like this will never be supported in our communities. This is a true reflection of the dilusional rhetoric fueled by political warfare & is on the opposite spectrum of equality & humanity. But, we must meet this conscious injustice with love & unconditional understanding.

— Antonio Brown (@AntonioisMuted) March 7, 2020

Democratic Rep. Lewis was elected in 1987. Late last year, the 80-year-old has revealed that he has been battling stage-4 pancreatic cancer but is still running for re-election.

Related: Rep. John Lewis’ Awesome Smackdown of Rep. Louie Gohmert’s Ridiculous Pro-DADT Speech

Stanton-King told 11 Alive last week she believed it was time for Lewis to step back.

“With all respect to Congressman Lewis, when I think about him, I always have that image in my mind when he was on the Selma Bridge,” she said. “The truth of the matter is, with all that he has given towards the fight for civil rights – which we greatly appreciate – these are no longer the days of marching over the Selma Bridge.”

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HHS Secretary Alex Azar Unsure How Many Americans Have Been Tested for Coronavirus Because There’s No Reporting System: WATCH

Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said on Tuesday that he’s not sure how many Americans have been tested for coronavirus because of the lack of a reporting system.

Said Azar on CNN’s New Day: “We don’t know exactly how many because of hundreds of thousands of our tests have gone out to private labs and hospitals that currently do not report into CDC. We’re working with the CDC and those partners to get an IT reporting system up and running, hopefully this week, where we would be able to get that data, to keep track of how many we’re testing.”

Asked if a number reported by The Atlantic — 4,384 — seemed accurate, Azar replied: “I just wouldn’t want to speculate. Listen, my hallmark here is that I’m going to tell you what I know, and I’m going to tell you what we do not know. We’re about leveling with the American people and being transparent, and right now I’m just telling you, when somebody sells a test kit to a private entity, right now, we don’t know when or if that’s been used, but we are working with them to get that system set up.”

The post HHS Secretary Alex Azar Unsure How Many Americans Have Been Tested for Coronavirus Because There’s No Reporting System: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar Unsure How Many Americans Have Been Tested for Coronavirus Because There’s No Reporting System: WATCH

HRC to Honor Cody Alan and Stephanie White at the 25th Annual HRC Nashville Dinner

HRC announced that TV and radio host Cody Alan and Vanderbilt University Women’s Basketball head coach Stephanie will both be honored with the HRC Visibility Awards at the 25th annual HRC Nashville Dinner on March 14 at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel.

Cody Alan is a media personality best known for being on CMT’s top rated Hot 20 and heard by 8 million listeners on iHeartRadio’s After MidNite and CMT Radio Live. After coming out in 2017, Cody has become a trailblazer in the industry for LGBTQ voices. Alan has been named one of “Nashville’s Most Beautiful People” and honored with the National Personality of the Year Award in 2019 from the Country Radio Broadcasters. 

Stephanie White has been head coach of the Vanderbilt University women’s basketball head coach for four seasons. Prior to Vanderbilt, White spent two seasons as head coach of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, where she took the Fever to the playoffs in each of her two seasons, including a trip to the WNBA finals in 2015. She was the first rookie coach in league history to lead a team to the finals. Before the WNBA, she coached in the college ranks, serving as an assistant at Toledo, Kansas State and Ball State. 

Tickets and further information are available at www.hrc.org/events/nashville-gala.

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‘White Party Palm Springs’ Organizers ‘Closely Monitoring’ Coronavirus Outbreak as Asia’s Largest Gay Circuit Event is Canceled Over COVID-19

Jeffrey Sanker, the producer of the massive gay circuit event White Party Palm Springs, says organizers have not yet decided to cancel the event due to the coronavirus outbreak, but are watching the situation. The party is scheduled for April 24-27.

Meanwhile, Asia’s largest gay circuit event, Songkran, in Bangkok, Thailand, scheduled for April 13-15, has been canceled due to coronavirus fears: “Songkran parties in Pattaya, Bang Saen, Khon Kaen and Patong beach in Phuket have already  been cancelled for fear of spreading the coronavirus.”

Said Sanker in a statement: “We are closely monitoring the COVID19 and know that many of you have expressed concerns. We are taking all measures that the health department has provided us to protect our community and partygoers. White Party Palm Springs has no plans to cancel the weekend events. Every persons safety is our number one concern and we will continue to monitor this situation very closely.”

The 30-year-old, three-day event attracts more than 30,000 people from across the nation. Meghan Trainor and Todrick Hall are headliners for this year’s festival.

Cherry DC, an upcoming circuit event in Washington D.C. from April 16-20 which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, has not made any announcements regarding COVID-19. Towleroad has reached out to them and will update this post if we hear back.

The post ‘White Party Palm Springs’ Organizers ‘Closely Monitoring’ Coronavirus Outbreak as Asia’s Largest Gay Circuit Event is Canceled Over COVID-19 appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

‘White Party Palm Springs’ Organizers ‘Closely Monitoring’ Coronavirus Outbreak as Asia’s Largest Gay Circuit Event is Canceled Over COVID-19

Prevention Starts with Us – National Women and Girls HIV & AIDS Awareness Day

By 2016, nearly a quarter of all people living with HIV were women. The following year, Black women were reported to represent almost 60% of all women living with HIV. To make things worse, according to amfAR, 1 out of every 9 women living with HIV in the U.S. is unaware of her status. We can expect these numbers to continue to rise until we all come together to take action — first by acknowledging the disparities faced by women and girls, and then by changing the many inequities faced by them in the fight against HIV. 

When we look at race, social class, economic status and a host of other intersectional societal issues, we see why women are fighting against many systems and fighting to be seen and heard in the fight against HIV. Let us honor the women and girl warriors who continue to fight the good fight to end the epidemic.

Women and Girls HIV & AIDS Awareness Day falls during Women’s History Month. Annually on March 10, we commemorate this day and bring awareness to the HIV epidemic and how it affects women and girls around the world. Even in this new decade, America often treats women as less valuable, professional and loyal, and more sexualized, vilified and easily replaced. 

Women are making huge strides in every part of our lives. We are champions in athletics with the Williams sisters. We are breaking through the ivory towers of ballet with Misty Copeland, and dominating the recording industry with Lizzo. And, we are becoming business billionaires like Oprah Winfrey. Women living well with HIV like activist Linda Scruggs are blazing trails for all women and girls to follow. There is no limit to what women and girls can do, and we are continuing to break rules and break down barriers every day. Yet, women and girls are still disproportionately impacted by the HIV epidemic and not represented equitably in research and funding.

This year’s theme of “Prevention Starts with Me” is a message to women and girls that we must take the lead in advocating for our own health and health care. Prevention for women without HIV means taking control of our sexual and reproductive health. It means testing for HIV and other STDs regularly, even when we aren’t considered at high risk. Prevention for women means building strong villages of support and leaving relationships that are not healthy. 

For all women and girls, we must acknowledge our own mental, emotional, physical and sexual health needs. For women and girls living with HIV, prevention means living healthily, with our eyes on the prize of ending the HIV epidemic. For women with HIV, prevention means medical adherence that will help most achieve viral suppression making it impossible to pass along HIV to sexual partners. Prevention for all women and girls means using our voices to uplift others.

HIV is not a death sentence, but is not entirely avoidable. If you have an HIV diagnosis, do what’s best for yourself first, and for your family and friends — and that means taking charge of your own health and health care. Know that there is an entire community of other women and girls who support you on this day and others. And most importantly, know that you are not alone.

www.hrc.org/blog/prevention-starts-with-us-national-women-and-girls-hiv-aids-awareness-day?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed