WATCH: Gay Pol Features Husband in Charming Campaign Ad

Brett Smiley, a gay mayoral candidate in Providence, R.I., may have released the most adorable campaign ad yet.

read more

Daniel Reynolds

www.advocate.com/politics/politicians/2014/06/13/watch-gay-pol-features-husband-charming-campaign-ad

WWE Legend Pat Patterson Comes Out As Gay
WWE legend Pat Patterson has come out as gay.

As TMZ first reported, the 73-year-old wrestling icon spoke at length about his sexuality for the first time publicly in a clip from the reality series, “Legends’ House.”

“For once in my life, I’m gonna be me now,” a teary-eyed Patterson says. “I survived all this, being gay … I lived with that for 50-something years.”

Fortunately, the response Patterson then receives from his “Legends’ House” cast mates is truly heartwarming.

As the Bleacher Report pointed out, however, the Canadian-born Patterson’s announcement was actually taped in 2012, but didn’t become public until Thursday, June 12, when the season finale aired.

Meanwhile, WWE commentator Jim Ross suggested that Patterson’s declaration came as no surprise to wrestling industry insiders.

“@Jmhixson6932: @JRsBBQ any comment on Pat Patterson coming out on legend house”

Happy for Pat but old news. It shouldn’t matter.

— Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) June 13, 2014

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/13/pat-patterson-comes-out_n_5492726.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

UPDATE: General Mills Says Aaron Schock Is Mistaken, Has No Partnership With Wheaties

Congressional beach bod Aaron Schock is donning a suit for his latest campaign to promote “healthy living” in a partnership with General Mills, a company that just launched a host of LGBT-targeted advertisements for Gay Pride month.

The 33-year-old allegedly gay Illinois state representative debuted his face on the cover of the new Wheaties box this morning. “How funny is this!?!!”, he asks.

Well, since you asked, Aaron, it’s pretty damn funny! We think you should have started your “healthy living” campaign by addressing the incessant gay rumors on your coattails, the fact that a CBS correspondent “outed” you on Facebook, and the New York Times‘ hard-on for the details of your sex life.

We also think you should have removed your clothes for the shot. You looked so great werkin’ on your fitness, hangin’ at the pool and riding that serfbort, honey!

Meanwhile, over at General Mills:

RT @LuckyCharms We live in a colorful world and that’s a good thing! #LuckyToBe t.co/tngONC5Yxt pic.twitter.com/a4XfusEUDk

— General Mills (@GeneralMills) June 3, 2014

Update: A General Mills spokesperson sent Queerty the following statement, confirming that the company has no relationship with Aaron Schock or the Campaign To End Obesity. He probably ordered this Wheaties box online, which apparently equates a “partnership” in his book:

The congressman’s tweet you reference was inaccurate — General Mills is not involved with the Campaign to End Obesity, and we do not have an agreement with the congressman. It appears that this custom Wheaties box was ordered from our website: [link], which anyone can do.

Keep it classy, Aaron!

Matthew Tharrett

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/Qx-Zi-kJfxQ/aaron-schock-kicks-off-healthy-living-campaign-with-lgbt-friendly-general-mills-20140613

Michael Sam Signed to Four-Year, $2.65 Million Contract with St. Louis Rams

Andy Towle

www.towleroad.com/2014/06/michael-sam-signed-to-four-year-265-million-contract-with-st-louis-rams.html

Iowa high court reverses conviction in HIV criminalization case

The Iowa Supreme Court has reversed the conviction of an Iowa gay man under the state’s HIV criminalization law (Photo by Bigstock).

The Iowa Supreme Court set aside on Friday the conviction of a gay man in the state who was once sentenced to 25 years in prison under an HIV criminalization law for engaging in sex without disclosing he had HIV.

In a 6-1 decision, justices vacated lower court decisions denying Nick Rhoades relief for his sentence, remanding the case to the district court on the basis that his trial counsel was ineffective because it submitted a guilty plea not based on the facts about HIV.

“Here, we find the fact was subject to reasonable dispute,” writes Justice David Wiggins. “At the time of the plea, Rhoades’s viral count was nondetectable, and there is a question of whether it was medically true a person with a nondetectable viral load could transmit HIV through contact with the person’s blood, semen or vaginal fluid or whether transmission was merely theoretical.”

In 2008, Rhoades had a one-night-stand with Adam Plendi. After meeting online at Gay.com, Rhoades went to Plendi’s home in Cedar Falls and the two had consensual sex. Rhoades received unprotected oral sex, and then the two had protected anal sex in which Plendi was the receptive partner. Rhoades is HIV-positive, but didn’t disclose that information to Plendi, who wasn’t infected by the encounter.

After later learning that Rhoades is HIV-positive, Plendi contacted the police, who charged Rhoades with criminal transmission of HIV. Under advice from his attorney, Rhoades pled guilty to the charges and was given the maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and classified as a sex offender. Several months later the court reconsidered the decision, suspended Rhoades’ prison sentence and placed him on supervised probation for five years.

In March 2010, private attorneys on behalf of Rhoades applied for post-conviction relief, arguing his attorney who advised him to plead guilty had failed to inform him of the specifics of the statute. Rhoades later contended he didn’t violate the law because the anal sex was protected and during oral sex he didn’t intend to ejaculate.

But in December 2011, the district court denied Rhoades’ claim for post-conviction relief. Lambda Legal assumed representation for him in 2012, but that court decision was affirmed by the Iowa Court of Appeals in October. The decision from the Supreme Court on Friday reverses those decisions.

Christopher Clark, counsel for Lambda Legal and attorney representing Rhodes, said the Supreme Court decision is in line with the modern understanding of HIV transmission.

“We applaud the Court for applying the law in light of current medical understanding of how HIV is and is not transmitted,” Clark said. “An individual who takes precautions to prevent transmission should not be considered a criminal for choosing to be sexually active, and we are very pleased that the Court agrees.”

But the ruling wasn’t unanimous. Justice Bruce Zager wrote in his dissent that he disagrees Rhoades’ counsel was ineffective for allowing him to plead guilty.

“In the months leading up to the criminal offense, and in the subsequent months prior to Rhoades’s decision to plead guilty, we cannot forget it is Rhoades who had all of the relevant facts,” Zager writes. “Rhoades had all of the medical information regarding his HIV status and his viral load. Rhoades knew whether he should engage in intimate contact, whether this intimate contact needed to be protected or unprotected, the reasons he believed the intimate contact did or did not need to be protected, and whether there was a possibility that the HIV could be transmitted.”

The decision is handed down just weeks after Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed into law a measure softening his state’s HIV criminalization law so that it only makes illegal purposefully intend to transmit the disease. Also, instead of singling out HIV, the law now includes other infectious diseases like tuberculosis, meningitis and hepatitis and makes criminal sentencing a tiered system.

Scott Schoettes, HIV Project Director for Lambda Legal, said his organization hopes the results of the case will fuel efforts for further modification to the law.

“In light of today’s decision, we believe that additional modifications to the state’s infectious disease law should be considered,” Schottes said. “Great strides were made through the law’s recent amendment, and we are hopeful that today’s decision—acknowledging the effectiveness of various HIV prevention measures—will fuel the Iowa Legislature’s clear desire to bring the state’s law fully up to date.”

According to Lambda, 39 states have HIV criminalization laws, or have brought HIV-related criminal charges, which have resulted in more than 160 prosecutions within the United States in the past four years. Critics say HIV criminalization encourages discrimination against people living with HIV, negatively prevention responsibility, creates a disincentive to getting tested for the disease and may actually discourage disclosure of HIV status.

Sean Strub, an Iowa-native HIV activist and executive director of the Sero Project, also praised the decision, but said more work is needed.

“Nick’s victory adds even more energy to the growing movement for HIV criminalization reform,” Strub said. “But while we celebrate Nick’s freedom, we must remember those who are still incarcerated, still suffering from convictions for behaviors that would otherwise be unremarkable if they did not have HIV. Kerry Thomas is serving 30 years in Idaho, for the same crime, failing to disclose one’s HIV status before having sex. Like in Nick’s case, all parties involved also agreed that Kerry always used a condom and had an undetectable viral load.”

Chris Johnson

Iowa high court reverses conviction in HIV criminalization case

WATCH: WWE Legend Pat Patterson Comes Out as Gay

The 73-year-old wrestling legend revealed he’s been living in the closet more than 50 years.

read more

Jase Peeples

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/people/2014/06/13/watch-wwe-legend-pat-patterson-comes-out-gay

Pastor Says Parents Should 'Alienate' Gay Kids, 'Turn Them Over To Satan'
A California pastor apparently thinks telling parents of gay children to “alienate” them and “turn them overt to Satan” is sound advice.

John MacArthur of the Grace Community Church in the San Fernando Valley responded to a question from a listener on his “Grace to You” show who asked how to react to an adult child coming out.

“If that adult child professes Christ, claims to be a Christian, then that becomes an issue for confrontation of the sternest and strongest kind because that falls under Matthew 18,” which discusses dealing with sin in the church. “If they profess to be a Christian, you have to alienate them, you have to separate them. You can’t condone that; it’s inconsistent with the profession of Christ. So, you isolate them; you don’t have a meal with them; you separate yourself from them. You turn them over to Satan, as it were as scripture says.”

MacArthur does clarify that his advice is for parents of Christians. Parents of non-believers, he says, should bring the Gospel “compassionately, directly, confrontationally” to “expose that sin and all other sins, and call that person to salvation and repentance.”

Anabaptist author Benjamin Corey of the religious blog Patheos challenged MacArthur’s statements as hypocritical, since he targeted sexual “sinners” while disregarding others, like the greedy, idolators and drunks.

Wrote Corey:

I’m just glad that I worship Jesus –- not MacArthur (or even Paul himself!). Jesus is the one who religious conservatives hated because instead of shunning, he had meals with people. The drunks. The hookers. The swindlers. You know, the kind of people we’re supposed to shun. This is precisely why we are to make Jesus — and nothing else — the center of our faith and practice. Because it is through Jesus we find that sharing a meal, not alienation, is what love looks like.

MacArthur’s remarks might not come as a surprise to those familiar with his sermons. Back in 2012, MacArthur condemned the Democratic party for supporting what he refers to as the “homosexual revolution.” This “revolution” came about, he claimed, because God abandoned the nation and “unleashed on the world the horror of AIDS.” At the time, he defended this position as “love speech.”

(Hat tip, Towleroad)

www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/13/pastor-alienate-gay-kids_n_5491931.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices