Brian Sims Responds to Republican Lawmaker Calling Him a ‘Little Girl’

The gay politician is using the experience as arsenal to help flip the Republican-led House. 

www.advocate.com/politics/2020/5/29/brian-sims-responds-republican-lawmaker-calling-him-little-girl

Taylor Swift just burned Donald Trump on Twitter and OMG it was epic

For the longest time, Taylor Swift kept her lips tightly sealed about the political climate in America. Then in October 2018 that all changed when she spoke up for LGBTQ people in a statement against then-Tennessee representative and Congress candidate Marsha Blackburn.

“In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now,” Swift said, before railing into Blackburn for being a racist, homophobic, transphobic, anti-woman, anti-Black bigot whose on the wrong side of history.

Welp, it looks like she’s done it again!

Swift just issued a very strongly-worded statement against Donald Trump just hours after he called for “thugs” (his word) in Minnesota to be shot in the streets.

“After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November. @realdonaldtrump,” she wrote to her more than 86 million followers.

OOF!

In just a matter of hours, the tweet has received over 550K likes, 160K retweets, and hundreds of comments. (And counting!)

PERIODT.

— Mister Preda (@MisterPreda) May 29, 2020

In a world of Amy Klobuchars, be a Taylor Swift.

— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) May 29, 2020

pic.twitter.com/LQpP9wiJjP

— Mon Sy #JunkTerrorBill #ActivistsNotTerrorists (@YearoftheMonSy) May 29, 2020

Thank you Taylor. YOUR VOICE is one of the ones we need most! Thank you.

— Emmanuel Acho (@thEMANacho) May 29, 2020

Honestly woke swift is one of the few bright spots of 2020

— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) May 29, 2020

Out actor Ben Platt voiced his support of Swift’s tweet with a good, old-fashioned “f*ck yeah!”

f*ck yeah

— Ben Platt (@BenSPLATT) May 29, 2020

Swift burn, Taylor. Nicely done.

Related: Taylor Swift just threw major shade at an antigay senator and we’re totally here for it

www.queerty.com/taylor-swift-just-burned-donald-trump-twitter-omg-epic-20200529?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

UPDATED: Officer Derek Chauvin, Who Knelt on George Floyd’s Neck, Charged With Murder

UPDATE: Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said during a news conference Friday afternoon that Chauvin is charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter, adding that additional counts against him are possible. 

“We are in the process of continuing to review the evidence,” Freeman said, adding that the formal complaint against Chauvin would be released later Friday. 

Freeman said the other three officers involved in Floyd’s death remain under investigation, and he anticipates charges against them.

“We felt it appropriate to focus on the most dangerous perpetrator,” Freeman said, adding that the case has moved with “extraordinary speed.” 

Third-degree murder is punishable by up to 25 years in prison.

ORIGINAL POST:

Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck, has been arrested.

WCCO-TV reports: On Friday, John Harrington, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, announced that Chauvin has been taken into custody in connection with the May 25 death. Chauvin is the former officer in the video seen around the world with his knee on Floyd’s neck. He’d been with Minneapolis police for 19 years.

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune: Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said he just received information that the officer identified as Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd has been taken into custody by the Bureau of Criminal apprehenson. There was no more information on charging, because that’s in the jurisdiction of the Hennepin County Attorney, Harrington said. Harrington only mentioned that one officer had been arrested; no word yet on the other three Minneapolis police officers who have been fired. 

Prior to Floyd’s death, Chauvin had 18 previous complaints against him.

Chauvin also once worked overlapping security shifts with Floyd at a Minneapolis nightclub.

Here’s how black Minneapolis leaders reacted to Chauvin’s arrest during a news conference that was already under way when the news broke:

BREAKING – MPD Officer Derek Chauvin has been arrested in the death of #GeorgeFloyd.
I am at a news conference in Minneapolis City Hall with black leaders in Minnesota and friends of George Floyd. They found out the news in the moment and this is their response. #WCCO pic.twitter.com/JNOE2zm1IG

— Marielle Mohs (@MarielleMohs) May 29, 2020

The post UPDATED: Officer Derek Chauvin, Who Knelt on George Floyd’s Neck, Charged With Murder appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

UPDATED: Officer Derek Chauvin, Who Knelt on George Floyd’s Neck, Charged With Murder (VIDEO)

The Human Rights Campaign and 75 LGBTQ Organizations Release Open Letter Condemning Racist Violence

Today, the Human Rights Campaign released a letter, joined by prominent LGBTQ and civil rights organizations, condemning racism, racist violence and police brutality while calling for action to combat these scourges. The letter is signed by 75 leaders of the nation’s most prominent LGBTQ and civil rights organizations.

The full list of signers can be found below and here.

“The racist violence that has filled our television, computer and phone screens this spring is a stark reminder of how far we still must go to ensure that the promise of America is not dependent on the color of one’s skin,” said Alphonso David, President of the Human Rights Campaign. “When we see injustice, we must speak out as strongly as we can. Otherwise, we are complicit in oppression. And we have seen a lot of injustice lately. From George Floyd, to Ahmaud Arbery, to Breonna Taylor, to Christian Cooper, to Nina Pop. The LGBTQ community is familiar with fighting against systems of power that are set up to serve the privileged few. And we are united to fight the systems that target our Black and brown siblings, today and always.”

The letter reads, in full:

LGBTQ Organizations Unite to Combat Racial Violence

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Those words, written over 30 years ago by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, remind us that indifference can never bridge the divide of hate. And, today, they should serve as a call to action to all of us, and to the Movement for LGBTQ equality.

This spring has been a stark and stinging reminder that racism, and its strategic objective, white supremacy, is as defining a characteristic of the American experience as those ideals upon which we claim to hold our democracy — justice, equality, liberty. 

• We listened to the haunting pleas of George Floyd for the most basic of human needs — simply, breath — as a Minneapolis police officer kneeled with cruel indifference on his neck.
• We felt the pain of Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend as he called 9-1-1 after plainclothes Louisville police kicked down the door of their home and shot her eight times as she slept in her bed.
• We watched the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery by white vigilantes in Brunswick, GA, aware that they evaded the consequence of their actions until the video surfaced and sparked national outrage.
• We saw the weaponizing of race by a white woman who pantomimed fear in calling the police on Christian Cooper, a Black gay man bird-watching in Central Park.
• We have heard and read about the killings of transgender people — Black transgender women in particular — with such regularity, it is no exaggeration to describe it as a epidemic of violence. This year alone, we have lost at least 12 members of our community: Dustin Parker, Neulisa Luciano Ruiz, Yampi Méndez Arocho, Monika Diamond, Lexi, Johanna Metzger, Serena Angelique Velázquez Ramos, Layla Pelaez Sánchez, Penélope Díaz Ramírez, Nina Pop, Helle Jae O’Regan, and Tony McDade.

All of these incidents are stark reminders of why we must speak out when hate, violence, and systemic racism claim — too often with impunity — Black Lives.

The LGBTQ Movement’s work has earned significant victories in expanding the civil rights of LGBTQ people. But what good are civil rights without the freedom to enjoy them?

Many of our organizations have made progress in adopting intersectionality as a core value and have committed to be more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. But this moment requires that we go further — that we make explicit commitments to embrace anti-racism and end white supremacy, not as necessary corollaries to our mission, but as integral to the objective of full equality for LGBTQ people.

We, the undersigned, recognize we cannot remain neutral, nor will awareness substitute for action. The LGBTQ community knows about the work of resisting police brutality and violence. We celebrate June as Pride Month, because it commemorates, in part, our resisting police harassment and brutality at Stonewall in New York City, and earlier in California, when such violence was common and expected. We remember it as a breakthrough moment when we refused to accept humiliation and fear as the price of living fully, freely, and authentically.

We understand what it means to rise up and push back against a culture that tells us we are less than, that our lives don’t matter. Today, we join together again to say #BlackLivesMatter and commit ourselves to the action those words require.

Affirmations, Dave Garcia, Executive Director

AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Aisha N. Davis, Director of Policy

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director

Arkansas Transgender Equity Collaborative, Tonya Estell, Board of Directors

Campaign for Southern Equality, Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Executive Director

Cathedral Of Hope UCC, Rev. Dr. Neil G Thomas, Senior Pastor

Center on Halsted, Modesto Valle, CEO

Equality Arizona, Michael Soto, Executive Director

Equality California, Rick Chavez Zbur, Executive Director

Equality Delaware, Mark Purpura and Lisa Goodman, Board Chairs

Equality Federation, Rebecca Isaacs, Executive Director

Equality Florida, Nadine Smith, Executive Director

Equality Illinois, Brian Johnson, CEO

Equality New Mexico, Adrian N. Carver, Executive Director

Equality New York, Amanda Babine, Executive Director

Equality North Carolina, Kendra R Johnson, Executive Director

Equality Ohio, Grant Stancliff, Communications Director

Equality Texas, Ricardo Martinez, CEO

Fair Wisconsin, Megin McDonell, Executive Director

Fairness Campaign, Tamara Russell, Board Member

Family Equality, Denise Brogan-Kator, Chief Policy Officer

Freedom for All Americans, Kasey Suffredini, CEO & National Campaign Director

FreeState Justice, Mark Procopio, Executive Director

Gay City: Seattle’s LGBTQ Center, Fred Swanson, Executive Director

Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), Kelsey Louie, CEO

Georgia Equality, Jeff Graham, Executive Director

GLAAD, Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO

GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), Janson Wu, Executive Director

GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality, Hector Vargas, Executive Director

GLSEN, Eliza Byard, Executive Director

GSAFE, Brian Juchems, Co-Director

Human Rights Campaign, Alphonso David, President

Immigration Equality, Aaron C. Morris, Executive Director

Ingersoll Gender Center, Karter Booher, Executive Director

Lambda Legal, Kevin Jennings, CEO

LGBT Community Center of the Desert, Mike Thompson, CEO

LGBT Life Center, Stacie Walls, CEO

Louisiana Trans Advocates, Peyton Rose Michelle, Director of Operations

Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, Tre’Andre Valentine, Executive Director

MassEquality, Tanya V. Neslusan, Executive Director

Movement Advancement Project, Ineke Mushovic, Executive Director

National Black Justice Coalition, David Johns, Executive Director

National Center for Lesbian Rights, Imani Rupert-Gordon, Executive Director

National Center for Transgender Equality, Mara Keisling, Executive Director

National LGBTQ Task Force, Rea Carey, Executive Director

NMAC, Paul Kawata, Executive Director

Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, Joe Hawkins, CEO 

Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, Erin Uritus, CEO

One Colorado, Daniel Ramos, Executive Director

One Iowa, Courtney Reyes, Executive Director

OutFront Minnesota, Monica Meyer, Executive Director

OutNebraska, Abbi Swatsworth, Executive Director

Pacific Center for Human Growth, Michelle Gonzalez, Executive Director

PFLAG National, Brian K. Bond, Executive Director

PRC, Brett Andrews, CEO

Rainbow Community Center of Contra Costa County, Kiku Johnson, Executive Director

Resource Center, Cece Cox, CEO

Sacramento LGBT Community Center, David Heitstuman, CEO

San Francisco Community Health Center, Lance Toma, CEO

SF LGBT Center, Rebecca Rolfe, Executive Director 

SAGE, Michael Adams, CEO

San Diego LGBT Community Center, Cara Dessert, CEO

Silver State Equality, André C. Wade, State Director

Tennessee Equality Project, Chris Sanders, Executive Director

The Diversity Center, Sharon E Papo, Executive Director

The Gala Pride and Diversity Center, Michelle Call, Executive Director

The Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, Glennda Testone, Executive Director

The LGBTQ Center, Long Beach, Porter Gilberg, Executive Director

The LGBTQ Center, NYC, Reg Calcagno, Senior Director of Government Affairs

The Trevor Project, Amit Paley, CEO

Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT), Emmett Schelling, Executive Director

Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF), Andy Marra, Executive Director

TransOhio, James Knapp, Chair & Executive Director

Uptown Gay & Lesbian Alliance (UGLA), Carl Matthes, President

Wyoming Equality, Sara Burlingame, Executive Director

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-and-75-lgbtq-organizations-release-letter-condemning-racist-violence?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed