Jillian Michaels on Fending Off the ‘Quarantine 15’

The out trainer has suggestions for making lemonade out of this terrible situation.

www.advocate.com/commentary/2020/4/02/jillian-michaels-fending-quarantine-15

‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic in coronavirus quarantine

Joe Exotic, the eccentric and convicted murderer-for-hire subject of the much-discussed Netflix docuseries Tiger King, has been placed into COVID-19 quarantine in a hospital after three fellow prisoners contracted the virus

The big cat enthusiast, 57, is currently serving out a 22-year sentence at a federal prison in Texas. He was found guilty of 17 charges of animal abuse and two counts of murder for hire.

Related: EXCLUSIVE: Co-director Rebecca Chailkin spills on the chaos of ‘Tiger King’

Dillon Passage, 24, Exotic’s fourth husband, had previously voiced concern after it was reported that Joe’s former prison had reported cases of the virus.

The prison confirmed Exotic’s quarantine status.

Texomashomepage.com also reported that he’d been transferred to a hospital for treatment.

Passage spoke with Andy Cohen on Wednesday, explaining, “We speak like three to five times every day, but since he’s been moved to this new facility, they are putting him on a COVID-19 isolation because of the previous jail he was at, there were cases.

Related: Kate McKinnon confirmed to play Carole Baskin in upcoming ‘Joe Exotic’ series

“I’ve yet to speak to him since he moved.”

Exotic was locked up in 2019 after being found guilty of hiring a hitman for $3,000 to kill his nemesis, Carole Baskin.

You can read our interview with one of the Netflix show’s directors, Rebecca Chailkin here.

www.queerty.com/tiger-king-joe-exotic-coronavirus-quarantine-20200402?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Daily Dose: Leslie Jordan takes to the stage with some Southern Sissies

Welcome to Queerty’s latest entry in our Queerantined: Daily Dose series. Every day as long as the COVID-19 pandemic has us under quarantine, we’ll release a suggested bit of gloriously queer entertainment designed to keep you from getting stir crazy in the house. Each weekend, we will also suggest a bingable title to keep you extra busy.

The (semi) Legit: Southern Baptist Sissies

We don’t know about you, but we’re currently obsessed with Leslie Jordan, the delightful southern gay gentleman who has become an ironic Instagram star in the age of COVID-19. While his anecdotes about boredom, Betty White and his mother keep us amused, we also have a certain love of his more legitimate work. Case in point: the filmed version of Southern Baptist Sissies which landed on streaming last year. Written & directed by Del Shores (hereto known for the film Sordid Lives, as well as his work on Queer as Folk), the play follows four young gay men growing up in a southern town. Jordan plays the town’s resident aging, alcoholic queen opposite actress Dale Dickey as a barfly, and the two manage to steal the entire show from the rest of the cast, which includes an out of drag Willam. By turns funny, scathing and tragic, Southern Baptist Sissies isn’t the best-ever story about queerness in the American South. It does, however, feature Jordan at his best, which should remind his Instagram followers that he’s more than just a pretty face.

Streams on Amazon & iTunes.

www.queerty.com/daily-dose-leslie-jordan-takes-stage-southern-sissies-20200402?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Trump, Allies Out-of-Step with U.S. Catholic Voters

Trump’s campaign will announce his “Catholics for Trump” coalition — elevating extremists and cementing himself and his campaign as out of step with modern Catholic voters. 

U.S. Catholics are more likely to support LGBTQ rights than the average American largely due to Catholic values of inclusion and justice 

PRRI: 72% of white Catholics and 71% of Hispanic Catholics support LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections versus 69% of all Americans 

PRRI: 68% of Catholics describe themselves as “more supportive” of transgender rights versus 62% of all Americans

Throughout his administration, Trump has elevated Catholic anti-equality extremists:

C-Fam’s Austin Ruse

Austin Ruse said “sexual orientation and gender identity is code for odious sexual behavior and gender lunacy” [Reuters]

Ruse said that Matthew Shepard’s death was a convenient excuse for supporters of “the gay agenda” to pass LGBTQ-friendly policies. [Media Matters]

The Trump Administration invited Ruse’s organization, C-Fam, to be part of the U.S. delegation to the Commission on the Status of Women. [The Guardian] 

American Principles Project’s Sean Fieler:

Fieler said “The problem with gay marriage…is it promotes a very harmful myth about the gay lifestyle. It suggests that gay relationships lend themselves to monogamy, stability, health and parenting in the same way heterosexual relationships do. That’s not true.” [New York Times]

Fieler said “unlike the gay lifestyle, the transgender lifestyle has not been, and perhaps never can be, normalized.” [Daily Signal]

Fieler’s company was awarded a federal grant by the Trump Administration to promote an app that sowed doubt about contraception. [The Guardian]

Susan B. Anthony List’s Marjorie Dannenfelser

Marjorie Dannenfelser was on the board of anti-LGBTQ SPLC-designated Hate Group Alliance Defending Freedom. [ADF] 

Dannenfelser applauded the administration for allowing medical providers to deny lifesaving care to LGBTQ people. [Reuters] 

Dannenfelser worked with Mike Pence on the Trump administration’s failed campaign to repeal Obamacare and make it harder for LGBTQ people to gain access to affordable health care. [Reuters]

www.hrc.org/blog/trump-and-allies-are-out-of-step-with-US-catholic-voters?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

FDA eases restrictions on gay blood donors amidst “urgent need”

The Food and Drug Administration, citing an “urgent need for blood,” has eased restrictions on gay men. A bit.

Men who have had sex with other men within 12 months could not donate under the previous rule. Now that widow has been shortened to 3 months.

Restrictions on gay blood donors were initially put in place in 1983 in response to the AIDS crisis. At that time, a lifetime ban was placed on any man who had ever had sex with another man. In 2015, the rule was replaced by the 12 moth window.

Related: Five Reasons Why Homophobia Is The Only Possible Reason The FDA Won’t Change Its Ban On Gay Blood Donors

Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Thursday that it’s “critically important” for HIV+ people not to give blood, but said the new rule is more in line with the time it takes to observe HIV in recently infected people.

“These changes are based on the best science that we have today regarding the time that it takes to test positive for HIV,” he told reporters, saying the change would help to reduce stigma and increase the donor pool.

Earlier this week, GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis called for the “antiquated ban” to be “immediately lifted.”

“The FDA cannot let an outdated and discriminatory ban on blood donations from gay and bi men get in the way of potentially life-saving treatment for the country’s painful current health crisis,” she said.

Related: The FDA said he couldn’t give blood because he’s gay… so he donated a kidney in protest

“Gay and bi men who have recovered from COVID-19 and want to donate plasma, or who want to help contribute to a nationwide shortage of blood, are banned from doing so as a result of the FDA. Continuing to enforce this antiquated policy is dangerous, irresponsible, and flies in the face of recommendations from medical experts.”

The Human Right Campaign put out this statement in response to the change:

“While this change by the FDA is a step in the right direction, it still bases itself in bias rather than science. Creating policy based on identity as opposed to risk is irrational and given the current COVID-19 crisis, it is more critical than ever to prioritize science and facts over fear and bias.”

www.queerty.com/fda-eases-restrictions-gay-blood-donors-amidst-urgent-need-20200402?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29