WATCH: Queerantine with ‘Sissy’ author Jacob Tobia and Jordan Star
Let the Zooms carry on!
Queerty’s Jordan Star caught up with Jacob Tobia, author of Sissy: A Coming of Gender Story, about toxic positivity, sexting, and tips and tricks for mental/emotional health under lockdown.
‘Obamagate,’ Chromatica Jockstrap, Dua Lipa, SCOTUS and Trump’s Taxes, Robert Pattinson, American Horror Stories: HOT LINKS
‘OBAMAGATE’Senate Republicans have no interest in following Trump’s diversionary lead: “Trump’s Senate allies on Monday stopped short of echoing Trump’s claim that Obama acted illegally when the Justice Department began probing incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn in late 2016. And they indicated that the Senate would pass on investigating the former president as they conduct their own investigations that could soon ensnare other senior Obama administration officials.”
DR ANTHONY FAUCI. His opening Senate testimony statement:
RUSSIA. Putin’s spokesman hospitalized with coronavirus: “Peskov, a key aide of Russian President Vladimir Putin, told the Interfax news agency on Tuesday, ‘Yes, I’ve gotten sick. I’m being treated.’ Peskov, 52, has been Putin’s spokesman since 2008, but started working him with in the early 2000s.”
ANTI-SEMITISM. All-time high in 2019: “The American Jewish community experienced the highest level of antisemitic incidents last year since tracking began in 1979, with more than 2,100 acts of assault, vandalism and harassment reported across the United States, according to new data from ADL (the Anti-Defamation League). The record number of incidents came as the Jewish community grappled with vicious and lethal antisemitic attacks against communities in Poway, Jersey City and Monsey, and a spree of violent assaults in Brooklyn.”
SUMMER PARTY CONVENTIONS. What are the options? “Democrats are now acknowledging that the coronavirus may make it impossible to conduct the in-person convention in August that they’d envisioned, and they’re taking steps to allow virtual or socially distanced elements.”
HATERS. Donald Trump is losing their vote: “President Donald Trump is losing a critical constituency: voters who see two choices on the ballot — and hate them both. Unlike in 2016, when a large group of voters who disliked both Trump and Hillary Clinton broke sharply for Trump, the opposite is happening now, according to public polling and private surveys conducted by Republicans and Democrats alike.”
SCOTUS. Justices divided on question of president’s tax returns and financials: “U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared divided over President Donald Trump’s bid to prevent Democratic-led congressional panels from obtaining his financial records but seemed more sympathetic toward a New York prosecutor’s attempt to access similar records.”
‘THIS CORONA THING’6-year-old tied up in shed for weeks is freed: “His grandmother said he was only in there that one time as punishment. But her boyfriend, Jose Balderas, said for at least two weeks, confinement in the shed was the child’s punishment since he was stealing food.”
California police officer says he was fired because he’s gay and has HIV
A former police officer from Gardena, CA has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city. He claims that he lost his job because he is gay and HIV+.
Metro Weekly reports Steven Prendergast worked as a lieutenant for the Gardena Police Department from 1995 to 2019. He claims that during that time he experienced discrimination and harassment by his fellow officers over his sexual orientation and medical status. He also claims that the department denied him access to the medical care of his choice because of his diagnosis.
Prendergast also says he was wrongfully accused of inappropriate touching of two other officers while on a trip to Washington DC. He believes that allegation also was used to justify his termination from the department, though other heterosexual officers were accused of similar conduct and faced no disciplinary action.
Officials for the Gardena Police Department claim they have not yet been served with the lawsuit, and refused to comment on the matter. “It is the City’s consistent practice not to comment on lawsuits that have not been served,” the department said in a statement. “The City does however strictly enforce its equal employment guidelines, including prohibitions on workplace harassment, against and for the protection of all ranks of its employees, from entry-level positions to top-level managers. The City will respond in court at the appropriate time.”