Trans Woman Nina Pop Stabbed to Death in Missouri

Pop is at least the 10th transgender person to be murdered in the U.S. this year.

www.advocate.com/crime/2020/5/06/trans-woman-nina-pop-stabbed-death-missouri

Daily Dose: In a time of illness, learn from those who have survived

Welcome to Queerty’s latest entry in our series, Queerantined: Daily Dose. Every weekday 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 binge-able title to keep you extra engaged.

The Relevant: How to Survive a Plague

Here at Queerty’s Daily Dose, we’ve tried to keep our screening recommendations to light-hearted, intriguing, or generally escapist fare. After a two month lockdown, getting depressed comes easily. That said, with social distancing restrictions loosening and the Trump Administration talking about dissolving the COVID task force by the end of the month, we think a reminder of dire times–and how to endure them–is in order.

Which brings us to today’s film: How to Survive a Plague. Director David France chronicles the horror of the AIDS crisis, from the earliest rumblings of a so-called “gay cancer” to a full-blown epidemic, the result of misinformation and government inaction. France interviews early AIDS activists, including Peter Staley and Larry Kramer, as well as covers the inception of radical groups like ACT UP. Commentators in the media and activists like Kramer have already commented on the parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and AIDS: government mishandling, a recommendation of untried and deadly “treatments” which actually made patients worse, conspiracy theories, and self-righteous voices that call for ignoring those infected with the pathogen. France scored an Oscar nomination for the movie, his directorial debut, and with good reason–How to Survive a Plague is one of the best queer films ever made. As the world stands at a pivotal moment in combating another deadly disease, the AIDS epidemic, complete with all its failures, offers tender, if ominous lessons for surviving the coronavirus.

Streams on Amazon, YouTube and iTunes.

www.queerty.com/daily-dose-time-illness-learn-survived-20200506?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Ted Cruz Blasts Hollywood’s ‘Kowtow’ to China’s Antigay Censors

The antigay senator has suddenly become a crusader against censorship.

www.advocate.com/politics/2020/5/06/ted-cruz-blasts-hollywoods-kowtow-chinas-antigay-censors

After downplaying coronavirus, Fox News hosts received VIP treatment from White House for PPE requests

In case there were any lingering doubts that Donald Trump gives preferential treatment to those willing to stroke his ego, this should surely put all questions to rest.

At least two Fox News hosts had their requests for hard-to-get personal protective equipment expedited by the Trump administration, according to the Washington Post.

Six different officials on Jared Kushner’s coronavirus task force say that volunteers were ordered to prioritize requests for PPE from Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro and Brian Kilmeade. Specifically, they were instructed to “fast-track” orders from “VIPs.”

You may be wondering why two homophobic TV hosts were contacting the White House for PPE in the first place, and that is a very good question. The answer is not known.

Related: Fox News fires more of its most popular conspiracy theorists amid coronavirus misinformation lawsuit

In early March, Pirro claimed “all the talk about coronavirus being so much more deadly [than the flu] doesn’t reflect reality.” Just a few weeks later, she hounded the coronavirus task force until it finally sent 100,000 masks to her preferred hospital.

Meanwhile, Kilmeade, who praised Wisconsin for holding an election during the middle of a pandemic and said 60,000 dead Americans was a sign of success, contacted two officials within the Trump administration several times about buying the lifesaving protective equipment presumably for himself and his family.

Now here’s the real kicker, according to three of the six sources, the task force used personal email accounts rather than official government email addresses, to coordinate the shipments.

A spokeswoman for Fox News says that neither of the hosts knew their requests were being prioritized.

These latest reports about Fox News personalities getting priority treatment by the Trump administration comes just a few weeks after it was revealed Trump met privately with Laura Ingraham to discuss promoting the controversial drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential cure to COVID-19.

Related: Why is non-expert Laura Ingraham having secret meetings with Donald Trump about coronavirus?

www.queerty.com/downplaying-coronavirus-fox-news-hosts-received-vip-treatment-white-house-ppe-requests-20200506?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29