National Transgender Group Endorses Joe Biden for President

“Joe Biden is the advocate and president we need at this consequential moment,” says Mara Keisling of the NCTE Action Fund.

www.advocate.com/election/2020/5/05/national-transgender-group-endorses-joe-biden-president

Pro volleyball player Dennis Del Valle comes out as gay… Now can we talk about his Instagram page?

Dennis Del Valle is a professional volleyball player living in Switzerland and a member of the Puerto Rican national team. He just came out as gay in an interview with the Swiss website 24 Hours.

Del Valle, who is originally from San Juan, played volleyball in college at Penn State before going professional and becoming a free agent. He says he chose to come out now in hopes that it will inspire other queer athletes to do the same.

“Now is the time to speak,” the 31-year-old explains. “There are lots of young athletes who live in secret, in Switzerland and elsewhere. … I hope they will say to themselves: ‘Why not me?’ Maybe I could change someone’s life. My speech could allow some to gain confidence, to feel safer, not to stop [playing a] sport for fear of rejection.”

Del Valle says he was hesitant to come out at first because he didn’t know how it would be received by his teammates.

“I especially didn’t want to break the chemistry of the team,” he says, “that it could become weird in the locker room for some, that they imagine things, fixate on my homosexuality, no longer dare to go to shower in my presence, or whatever.”

But, he continues, “When I get to the room, I’m there to work. It’s my priority. I’m not here to watch guys or flirt.”

Following the interview, Del Valle took to Facebook to say he was “feeling proud” and to thank everyone for their support.

“What an unusual Sunday for me,” he wrote shortly after the interview published. “While I thought I was doing something nice and special for myself, I didn’t realize how much more I was doing for others like me.”

“I wanted to use this platform not to tell the world my story or who I am. But to try to inspire other people, kids, especially athletes that don’t have anyone to look up to.”

Scroll down for more pics from Del Valle’s Instagram page…

Related: Finally, an Instagram page dedicated exclusively to male athlete butts

www.queerty.com/pro-volleyball-player-dennis-del-valle-comes-gay-now-can-talk-instagram-page-20200505?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

George Conway Mocks Trump’s ‘Abject Self-Pity’ Over ‘Mourning in America’ Ad: ‘Love, Your Friend, Moonface’

This morning we reported about Donald Trump’s late-night meltdown over a new ad produced by The Lincoln Project, a group of disillusioned Republicans, among them George Conway, the husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway.

In his tweetstorm, Trump attacked George Conway, calling him ‘Moonface’. ‘Moonface’ has now responded.

Tweeted Conway: “My friend @WindsorMann, who gave me the idea that we do a “Mourning in America” (not “Morning”) ad, is sad you didn’t rage-tweet at him. Could you take a moment from your busy day of abject self-pity to attack him? Many thanks. Love, Your friend, Moonface”

The post George Conway Mocks Trump’s ‘Abject Self-Pity’ Over ‘Mourning in America’ Ad: ‘Love, Your Friend, Moonface’ appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

George Conway Mocks Trump’s ‘Abject Self-Pity’ Over ‘Mourning in America’ Ad: ‘Love, Your Friend, Moonface’

These gay, black writers just won Pulitzer prizes for drama and poetry

The annual Pulitzer Prizes were announced yesterday, and among the winners are two acclaimed gay writers.

Jericho Brown won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry with his third collection of poems, The Tradition, which was published in April 2019.

The winner of the Pulitzer Prize for drama was Michael R. Jackson, for his 2019 musical, A Strange Loop. He becomes the first musical theatre writer to win the drama prize.

The Pulitzers have been awarded to those excelling in the fields of journalism and the arts since 1917. Yesterday’s awards were announced digitally because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jericho Brown is believed to be the first gay, black man to win the prize for poetry. Born in Louisiana, he teaches English and creative writing at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. His collection, The Tradition, explores how we’ve grown accustomed to terror – from mass shootings to rape to the murder of unarmed people by police.

The Pulitzer judges called the work, “a collection of masterful lyrics that combine delicacy with historical urgency in their loving evocation of bodies vulnerable to hostility and violence.”

In a statement published by Emory University, Brown said, “I have known about the Pulitzer Prize and understood its prestige since I was in elementary school and Rita Dove won it. And I’m so glad I understood it as one of the possibilities for a writer even when I was a kid.

“Understanding it as a possibility doesn’t mean I ever expected to win it, and getting the news that I won is the very best thing to happen to me in 2020 by far,” he said. “I didn’t expect to win it because when I write my poems I mean to be as subversive and radical as possible.”

Related: Newly out NFL player Ryan Russell posts love poem to boyfriend and… wow

His win has been widely celebrated online, with one tweet highlighting it – and reshared by Brown – having over 100k likes.

Y’all, a black gay man just won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.

— Jabari Allen (@pleasureisblack) May 4, 2020

Detroit-born Michael R. Jackson won the drama prize for his semi-autobiographical musical, A Strange Loop, which played off-Broadway last year. It also won the award for Best Musical of the 2019–2020 season by the New York Drama Critics Circle, and will enjoy a forthcoming run at Washington DC’s Woolly Mammoth theater in the fall (COVID-19 permitting).

Related: Woman absolutely loses it during ‘Slave Play’ Q&A, calls playwright “racist against white people”

The show follows “Usher” – an usher for The Lion King on Broadway and “a black, queer writer, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical: a piece about a black, queer writer, working a day job he hates while writing his original musical.”

The judges called the work, “A metafictional musical that tracks the creative process of an artist transforming issues of identity, race, and sexuality that once pushed him to the margins of the cultural mainstream into a meditation on universal human fears and insecurities.”

You can watch a trailer for the show below.

On Twitter, Jackson expressed his joy at winning: “Never in my wildest dreams. NEVER. IN MY. WILDEST. DREAMS. Thank you to everyone who has supported me on my journey to such an incredible honor. I’m sure I’ll have more to say once I’ve caught my breath and looked at all these text messages and emails but for now, THANK YOU.”

Never in my wildest dreams. NEVER. IN MY. WILDEST. DREAMS. Thank you to everyone who has supported me on my journey to such an incredible honor. I’m sure I’ll have more to say once I’ve caught my breath and looked at all these text messages and emails but for now, THANK YOU. t.co/P73Aonzy5t

— Michael R. Jackson (@TheLivingMJ) May 4, 2020

www.queerty.com/gay-black-writers-just-won-pulitzer-prizes-drama-poetry-20200505?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

The Daily Show’s Jaboukie Young-White Coaches Two Gay Men with COVID-19 Antibodies Who Tried (and Failed) to Donate Their Plasma — on How to Pass as Straight: WATCH

The Daily Show‘s Jaboukie Young-White zoomed with two gay men with COVID-19 antibodies who tried to donate their blood plasma to fight the coronavirus epidemic but failed because of the FDA’s discriminatory ban.

But Young-White has a solution that may or may not be successful: pass as straight.

Said Young-White: “If you want them to take your blood, you just can’t reveal that you’re gay. You have to pass as a straight guy. …. Your look should kind of say, ‘I’m looking for a girlfriend to shop for me because I can’t shop for myself.’ Also, do you have any clothes that your mom bought you? Plaid? Any plaid? More plaid? How ’bout any boot cut jeans? Do you have shoes that look like they’re too casual for formal events, and then too formal for casual events, and they’re scuffed up and they look like they’re the only shoes you’ve owned for the past decade? Let me hear you say ‘bro.’”

The post The Daily Show’s Jaboukie Young-White Coaches Two Gay Men with COVID-19 Antibodies Who Tried (and Failed) to Donate Their Plasma — on How to Pass as Straight: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

The Daily Show’s Jaboukie Young-White Coaches Two Gay Men with COVID-19 Antibodies Who Tried (and Failed) to Donate Their Plasma — on How to Pass as Straight: WATCH