Billy Eichner helps bar staff left without wages over COVID-19

Comic and actor Billy Eichner has helped to highlight the economic crisis facing many LGBTQ people who work in the service industry.

With the ongoing spread of coronavirus, some cities and states are acting to close down all public gathering points.

Although everyone understands the importance of acting to stem the spread of the virus (which at the time of writing has been diagnosed in 182,000 people worldwide and killed 7,200), the economic impact is going to be incalculable.

Related: New York City and Los Angeles close all bars and restaurants

Where not forced to close down, some bars are staying open as long as they can. The financial implications of closing are undoubtedly one of the reasons for this.

On Twitter on Sunday, Eichner responded to a tweet calling on singer Lance Bass to shut his West Hollywood bar and restaurant (Bass did so at the close of business on Sunday – his venue is still able to offer takeout).

This is unacceptable. We MUST find a way to subsidize these workers (please tell me a reliable org to donate to and I will!) but my god if there is one community that should know the consequences of this type of crisis it’s ours. t.co/wEODKFNpDD

— billy eichner (@billyeichner) March 16, 2020

Responding to an image of Bass’s busy bar, Eichner tweeted, “This is unacceptable. We MUST find a way to subsidize these workers (please tell me a reliable org to donate to and I will!) but my god if there is one community that should know the consequences of this type of crisis it’s ours.”

Eichner went on to tweet a link to the USBG National Charity Foundation (US Bartender Guild), which helps out with grants for bartenders. It’s launched a COVID-19 relief campaign where people can donate or apply for help. Eichner said he was donating.

Jameson Irish Whiskey is donating to the same fund. It tweeted it was pledging $500k.

#LoveThyBartender pic.twitter.com/YaDS5yNnCj

— Jameson U.S. (@jameson_us) March 15, 2020

The charity says it is facing a huge number of applications. It also has links to similar non-profits helping those in the service industry.

The poster of the tweet Eichner was responding to was LA songwriter and activist, Justin Tranter.

Tranter went on to post a message, stating he wanted to offer more direct help: “I know how many lgbtq people make their living in nightlife. I was one of them for well over a decade. But there will be NO NIGHTLIFE for a very long time if we don’t take this seriously for the next few weeks.

“If you are an lgbtq nightlife worker who is suppose to be working tonight, dm me your Venmo I will send you your nights pay to stay home. I’m not kidding.”

He went on to later tweet, “Hi loves!!! Venmo is not letting me send anymore money, cus I’ve hit me limit. I’ll try again tomorrow. Stay strong lgbtq nightlife heroes!”

Others are also appealing for more direct help. A tweet from last week encouraging queer creatives, bar staff, those in the gig economy, sex workers and others to share their cash apps – and for “wealthy queers” to step up – has gone viral, with thousands posting their details.

if you are queer/trans and in the gig economy a sex worker in hospitality/service industry drag/nightlife freelancer working gig to gig put your venmo/paypals in this thread! ask for help if you need it! wealthy queers, fall in!

— Fran Tirado (@fransquishco) March 12, 2020

Related: Fetish fashion brand CEO offers the words of comfort we need right now 

In related news, Senator Mitt Romney – yes, Republican Mitt Romney – yesterday proposed every American should be given $1,000 as an emergency coronavirus payment.

“Every American adult should immediately receive $1,000 to help ensure families and workers can meet their short-term obligations and increase spending in the economy,” a release from Romney’s office stated, “Congress took similar action during the 2001 and 2008 recessions.

“While expansions of paid leave, unemployment insurance, and SNAP benefits are crucial, the check will help fill the gaps for Americans that may not quickly navigate different government options.”

Whether the proposals are included in future House response packages to the viral pandemic remain to be seen.

In the meanwhile, authorities are reminding people to frequently wash their hands, practice social distancing (i.e. limit the number of people you see or mix with), and to self-isolate if they suspect they have any symptoms of COVID-19. For more advice, check the guidance from the World Health Organization.

www.queerty.com/billy-eichner-helps-bar-staff-left-without-wages-covid-19-20200317?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Later: Paul Lisicky Reads from His Stunning Memoir of Belonging, Queer Identity, Sex, and the Plague Years in Provincetown

TOWLEREAD: LGBTQ BOOKS FROM THE AUTHOR’S MOUTH

I first met author Paul Lisicky in 1991, when we both were introduced to Provincetown, Massachusetts as fellows at the Fine Arts Work Center, an artist and writer’s colony founded in the ’60s which awards off-season residencies to emerging writers and artists. Today, nearly 30 years later, I’m thrilled to feature him in our returning ‘TowleRead’ feature in which authors read from their works. Because our arrivals in this singular queer resort town coincided, his memoir has personal resonance for me, and carries the feelings of freedom, joy, fear and pain unique to those gay men who experienced the height of the AIDS crisis in their early 20s. If you’re looking for something relevant and relatable during your social distancing in the plague year we’re currently living through, I can’t recommend it highly enough. You can get it right here.

I asked Paul to speak a little about the brief excerpts he reads below in the Soundcloud player.

Said Paul: “My book Later: My Life at the Edge of the World is about so many things. It’s about coming of age in Provincetown in the early 1990s at a time in which the town was a refuge for people with HIV and AIDS. It’s about how one community with a winter-time population of 3,000 pressed on when ongoingness wasn’t guaranteed. How do you stay vital and awake under those conditions? It’s about belonging, and sex—trying to figure it all out. It’s about identity and saying goodbye to your family when you know you have to say goodbye in order to live. It’s about finding your tribe and home at a crucial moment, and for me that meant a place in which I could live my writing and queer lives simultaneously. That doesn’t mean that my Provincetown came without challenges. How to read the social rules of an inscrutable place that made itself up on its own terms, in those last days before HIV drugs started working, and the internet changed everything?

“One of the four passages I’m reading is called ‘New Boy.’ The new boy in town is longed for and resented: a mirror, a projection screen, a cipher, an archetype, born out of our collective desire to stand out and matter at a time in which so many of us had to turn down our light in order to survive. He’s both known and unknown. And he’s close enough that you could possibly be him for two weeks and not even know you’d stepped into that role. And as soon as you figured it out, the new boy would become someone else, walking down the street with his back to you, too immersed in the feeling of his shirt against his lats to hear you calling out his name.”

LINKS.
Later: My Life at the Edge of the World [graywolf press]
Later: My Life at the Edge of the World [amazon]
Paul Lisicky [paullisicky.net]

The post Later: Paul Lisicky Reads from His Stunning Memoir of Belonging, Queer Identity, Sex, and the Plague Years in Provincetown appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Later: Paul Lisicky Reads from His Stunning Memoir of Belonging, Queer Identity, Sex, and the Plague Years in Provincetown

#AM_Equality Tipsheet: March 17, 2020

IDAHO SENATE PASSES DISCRIMINATORY, FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND ANTI-TRANSGENDER BILL:  “If HB 500 becomes law, Idaho will be the first state to have such a retrogressive, invasive and patently anti-transgender law on the books,” said HRC President Alphonso David (@AlphonsoDavid). “If HB 500 becomes law, it will send a strong message to trans youth that they are less than their peers and not deserving of community and acceptance.” HB 500 is a discriminatory anti-transgender bill that would bar transgender women and girls from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. It will undergo a few procedural votes before heading to Governor Brad Little for his signature. More from HRC. 

HRC ENDORSES…

MILWAUKEE MAYOR TOM BARRETT FOR REELECTION: “Milwaukee and Mayor Barrett have been true regional leaders for equality,” said HRC Wisconsin State Director Wendy Strout. “Through his dedicated leadership, Mayor Barrett has made Milwaukee one of the most inclusive cities in the Midwest and a model for how municipalities across the country can lead progress for equality while the U.S. Senate and President Trump impede our progress on the national level.” More from HRC. 

JUDGE JILL KAROFSKY FOR WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT: “Wisconsin is at a turning point. Leaders like Judge Karofsky are exactly what Wisconsin needs to create a more just and equal state,” said HRC Wisconsin State Director Wendy Strout. “Her dedication to equality and fairness and commitment to uprooting corruption make her uniquely qualified to serve on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.” More from HRC. 

ASSEMBLYWOMAN JOCASTA ZAMARRIPA FOR ALDERWOMAN: “Assemblywoman Zamarripa has been one of our community’s strongest advocates throughout her time in public service,” said HRC Wisconsin State Director Wendy Strout. “Milwaukee has become a true regional leader for equality. By joining the Common Council, Zamarripa will only continue to move that pro-equality agenda forward.” More from HRC. 

TUESDAY TWEET — ALABAMA LEGISLATURE ADVANCING BILL HARMFUL TO TRANSGENDER YOUTH: More from HRC. 

“Right now, if this bill is pushed through, then you must know that we are giving in to fear.”

If you live in Alabama, text HRCAL to 472472 to #ProtectTransKids and stop SB219 from becoming law. #ALPol pic.twitter.com/iQNKx9qCRL

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) March 16, 2020

THE FIGHT  TO ENSURE FULL EQUALITY AT THE BALLOT BOX — AN INTERVIEW WITH DR. MEGAN GALL: “One of the things that has always struck me about the queer community is that as a group of minorities, we’re the only group of minorities where members of our community belong to every other community on earth,” said Dr. Gall (@DocGallJr), whose voting rights work is very intersectional in terms of LGBTQ equality. “Because of that intersectionality, when we work on voting rights for other large marginalized communities, [LGBTQ people] are swept into what we’re doing because we are in all other groups.” More from HRC. 

IN THE STATES 

IT’S TIME FOR MISSOURI TO UPHOLD LGBTQ RIGHTS: For the 22nd consecutive year, Republican state lawmakers are poised to block legislation that would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. “Missourians, like other Americans, are generally more tolerant on LGBT issues today than they used to be,” writes the Editorial Board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

GET CULTURED – Entertainment, arts and sports news!

THE LIFE AND RISE OF BISEXUAL STAR AND LATE NIGHT SHOW HOST LILLY SINGH (@Lilly): More from Business Insider.

SCHITT’S CREEK TO RELEASE A MOVIE AFTER ITS FINAL SEASON: After the finale of the show airs, it will be joined by an hour-long special. Titled Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: A Schitt’s Creek Farewell, the special includes behind the scenes footage and commentary by Schitt’s Creek team. More from Mikelle Street (@MikelleStreet) at Out.

• Dan Levy (@danjlevy) is the recipient of HRC’s Visibility Award. He was scheduled to receive the award at the 2020 LA Dinner, which has been postponed.

GLOBAL EQUALITY NEWS

RUSSIAN COURT APPROVES LAW ON AMENDMENTS THAT COULD ALLOW PUTIN TO EXTEND HIS TERM FOR ANOTHER 16 YEARS: Alongside these constitutional amendments, Putin also has submitted a draft amendment to Russia’s constitution that would define marriage as between a man and a woman. The laws must still be approved in a national referendum vote on April 22. More from The New York Times.

BRITISH COURT RULING COULD CHANGE LAWS FOR LGBTQ PEOPLE ACROSS THE COMMONWEALTH AND OVERSEAS TERRITORIES: The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London will hear a final appeal on same-sex marriage in Bermuda that could impact a number of laws on same-sex marriage and same-sex relations in dozens of countries. More from Gay Star News.

READING RAINBOW – Bookmark now to read on your lunch break!

The Guardian spotlights contemporary African photography exploring self and sexuality; Dazed highlights queer female and non-binary photographers redefining fashion representation

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-march-17-2020?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Pro Wrestler Mike Parrow Marries Longtime Boyfriend

The coronavirus threat did not stop pro wrestler Mike Parrow from keeping the date to marry his longtime boyfriend Morgan Cole on Saturday. Parrow shared photos from the event in a post on social media.

ALSO: Pro Wrestler Mike Parrow: Conversion Therapy Made Me Realize ‘I am Gay and That is Not Going to Change’ – WATCH

View this post on Instagram

My Husband and I want to Thank everyone from the bottom of our hearts! Thank you to our friends that were able join us especially during everyone’s current circumstances and to all the others who sent well wishes,it truly meant the world to us.The Wedding was perfect! It does get better! #loveislove

A post shared by Mikey (@parrow49) on Mar 16, 2020 at 2:37pm PDT

View this post on Instagram

Not that I’m counting or anything but in 41 days my #MCM @love_the_tentacle will a officially be Mr. Parrow. It’s funny 6 years ago I remember always being sad and thinking I’d be alone forever now I can’t imagine my world without him! It does get better #lgbtq #loveislove

A post shared by Mikey (@parrow49) on Feb 3, 2020 at 4:03pm PST

Parrow came out as gay in late 2017. At the time, he said: “My mum was very Catholic, and there was never any talk or anything about being gay. It was just never brought up. In my hometown, we didn’t really have anybody that was gay. And everything that I saw on TV was nowhere close to who I was. So I did not want to be gay because everything that was represented was nowhere close to being me. So I kind of withheld that and I buried it…As a kid, I had no role models whatsoever to look up to…I was like, ‘There’s no way that there are other people like me. I am all by myself.’”

Parrow tried gay conversion therapy at one time, which ironically was what prompted him to come out – because he felt community for the first time with other gay people: “It was the first time I heard people had the same feelings that I did. Being there, I realized I am gay and that is not going to change. Because one of [conversion therapy’s] premises is that it’s a choice. It’s not a choice. You’re born this way. So right there, that’s a flawed philosophy…I’m not a doctor and I can’t prove that but I can tell you why I know [it doesn’t work].”

Parrow also talked about gay athletes and how his life has changed for the better: “There’s no role models for athletes because athletes tend to come out after they retire because of fear maybe of rejection, fear of different pay, fear of people just not accepting them for who they are. I’ve had the opposite. My career got better since I’ve come out because I know who I am.”

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Pro Wrestler Mike Parrow Marries Longtime Boyfriend