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Documentary 'To Russia With Love' Looks at LGBT Rights In Russia In The Lead Up To Sochi Olympics: VIDEO
To Russia With Love, a new documentary from EPIX narrated by Jane Lynch, takes a closer look at what life is like for LGBT people in Russia and at the convergence of sports, human rights and activism that took place during the Sochi Olympics earlier this year. As the film’s synopsis notes, “LGBT athletes and activists [had to] choose whether to risk their own safety by speaking out against Russia’s anti-gay laws.” The doc follows out figure skater and commentator Johnny Weir and official US Olympic delegate Billie Jean King as they come to Sochi and meet a 17-year-old gay Russian named Vlad who details the tragic truths of the hardships faced by LGBT people in one of the world’s most virulently anti-gay nations. The film also features Jason Collins, Stephen Fry, Greg Louganis, Blake Skjellerup and Mark Tewksbury.
Watch young Vlad talk about his experience of Russia’s hatred for the LGBT community, along with his meeting Weir and King along with a trailer for the documentary, AFTER THE JUMP…
The documentary will debut on EPIX on October 29 at 8 PM.
To Russia With Love: Clip 1 from EPIX PR on Vimeo.
To Russia With Love: Clip 2 from EPIX PR on Vimeo.
To Russia With Love: Clip 3 from EPIX PR on Vimeo.
Sean Mandell
Dates n Mates Hugh Torrance LGBT YOUTH Director on DNM PAST
#TBT: They Died in the Closet
The stories of these closeted notables range from bittersweet to tragic, and some are just plain outrageous. Times have changed, we can agree, heading into National Coming Out Day on Saturday.
Advocate.com Editors
www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/people/2014/10/09/tbt-they-died-closet
Supreme Court's Gay Marriage Decisions Discussed On The Rubin Report
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights advocates have praised this week’s surprise sweep of same-sex marriage victories across the U.S. But does the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of same-sex marriage appeals from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin really represent a win for the LGBT community, or a collective failure of American government?
Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report pointed to remarks made by CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin, who said that the Supreme Court’s decision was “outrageous” and an “abdication of duty,” while welcoming John Iadarola and Kim Horcher of The Young Turks to discuss the news on his show.
Horcher, who supports marriage equality, nonetheless seemed to side with Toobin’s comments, noting, “I stand by keeping our legal system legal and by the book, rather than just ‘Oh, my religion says this, and my feelings say that.'”
Meanwhile, Iadarola suggested that those states’ respective stances on same-sex marriage might not be “contentious enough judicially” to justify a Supreme Court intervention, and that a Roe vs. Wade-style ruling “could lead to long-standing resentment.”
“I would rather it was a popular decision,” he said.
For more on The Rubin Report, head here.
Join HRC in Celebrating National Coming Out Day
On Oct. 11, 2014, we mark the 26th anniversary of National Coming Out Day. How are you celebrating?
HRC.org
Jessica Lange Flawlessly Channels Bowie, Plus What To Expect From This Season’s AHS Covers
David Bowie has some pretty big, pretty extra-terrestrially bedazzled shoes to fill, but Jessica Lange did a pretty honorable job slipping into them on last night’s American Horror Story premiere.
Show creator Ryan Murphy has revealed that due to demand the track, which Lange performs as freak show proprietor Elsa Mars, will soon be available to download on iTunes. He has a little bit of experience in this arena, as any Glee fan will tell you.
He also hinted at other musical numbers we have to look forward to on this season of AHS. He said Jessica’s Lana Del Rey cover is, “something to behold,” and Kurt Cobain will be featured in a musical homage. We’ve also got it on good authority that Sarah Pauley will give us a mean Fiona Apple performance next week.
Here’s Jessica getting glammy to Bowies “Life on Mars”:
Dan Tracer
News: SCOTUS Error, Matt Smith, Ebola Crop Art, Anna Wintour
Supreme Court blames clerical error in yesterday’s mix-up that blocked the start of gay marriages in Nevada.
Amanda Bynes is back on the crazy train.
Ex-Doctor Who Matt Smith is the latest celeb to be hit by the nude photo hacking leak.
An email fail at the University College London that enabled all 29,000 students at the school to email each other has resulted in thousands of spam messages and school-wide subscriptions to everything from One Direction Fan Club to hardcore gay adult sites to the Sarah Palin channel.
Check out The Harlot’s Guide to Classy Cocktails – a new cocktail recipe cookbook featuring “true and trashy” drinking tales from drag queens around the world.
HRC: 10 Shocking Facts About the Anti-LGBT American Family Association
Ebola screenings at JFK International Airport to start Saturday – the first of five major U.S. airports that will start screening travelers entering the country from West Africa.
The London School of Economics director is encouraging gay students to seek counselling after the school’s rugby team distributed vile, sexist, and homophobic leaflets across campus.
Michelle Obama teams up with Anna Wintour at the White House for a fashion education workshop
Italian land artist draws attention to the ebola outbreak with 656-foot crop drawing of the virus.
Iggy Azalea reveals cover art for her upcoming re-release of The New Classic album.
Paula Patton and Robin Thicke are divorcing.
You’re welcome: shirtless Joe Manganiello playing football on the beach.
One Direction gives a sneak peek at their upcoming Where We Are concert film.
Oops: A Texas news station tweets out gay adult images instead of the traffic report.
Benedict Cumberbatch explains why The Imitation Game doesn’t have an explicit gay sex scene, saying such a scene would have taken away from the film’s subtitles. “You don’t see him [Alan Turing] having sex. That’s not an exploration of someone’s sex life. The fact that he’s chemically castrated because he admits to being a homosexual; he talks about entreating a young man to touch his penis. I mean, it’s pretty explicit. If you need to see that to understand that he’s gay, then all is lost for any kind of subtle storytelling.”
Bow down: A radio station in Houston has stopped its regular programing and converted to an all Beyonce music station.
Check out this Frozen inspired wedding dress from designer Alfred Angelo.
Kyler Geoffroy
Suspect Arrested in Murder of Calif. Trans Activist
Anaheim police have a suspect in custody in connection with the death of Zoraida Reyes, a transgender and immigrant activist found dead in June in Southern California.
Jorge Rodriguez-Jimenez
www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/10/09/suspect-arrested-murder-calif-trans-activist
Michigan Cops Raid Wrong House, Shoot Beloved 15-Year-Old Dog
Authorities who went to the wrong house in search of a wanted fugitive and shot a beloved family pet are refusing to take responsibility for their actions, according to a Michigan attorney who has filed a lawsuit against them.
“These officers came into the wrong house, shot this dog, told the owners they would take care of it and then never returned their calls,” Royal Oak attorney Chris Olson told The Huffington Post.
Olson is representing Erica Moreno and Katti Putnam. The couple’s 15-year-old mixed breed dog, Clohe, was shot in the face during the mistaken police raid, Olson said.
Clohe survived the shooting, but has had to endure three surgeries, and lost part of her tongue and a canine tooth.
“Clohe’s not been the same since,” Putnam told HuffPost. “It really angers me and makes me concerned for the system and how things work.”
On Oct. 3, Olson filed a federal lawsuit against Michigan Department of Corrections investigator Ron Hughes. The lawsuit alleges that in shooting Clohe, the defendant violated Moreno and Putnam’s Fourth Amendment rights.
According to Putnam, the events leading up to the shooting began on June 18 when Hughes, along with several Michigan State troopers, went to Moreno and Putnam’s home to recover a wanted fugitive.
“It was a hot day, the windows and back door were open, and I was sitting inside reading a book,” Putnam said.
The peaceful summer day was interrupted by a loud bang at the front door.
“The next thing I knew there was a tactical team surrounding our house,” Putnam said. “I went onto the front porch and they said they were looking for a fugitive. I was answering their questions when an officer looked at the address on our house and said, ‘We’re at the wrong house.'”
According to Olson, the tactical team had mistaken Moreno and Putnam’s house for that of a neighbor’s home — where the fugitive they wanted was allegedly staying.
“I went inside to get my identification and I heard a pop,” Putnam said. “I looked out the door to the back yard and there was an officer with his arm raised and a gun in his hand. I immediately realized Clohe had gone outside.”
Jimmy Armstrong, a neighbor who witnessed the shooting, wrote in a signed affidavit that he saw Clohe enter the backyard. He said she was not attacking or threatening any of the officers.
“[Hughes] shot Clohe for no reason at all,” Armstrong wrote in the affidavit, according to the lawsuit.
Hughes allegedly fired a second shot, which missed Clohe, prompting Putnam to place herself in harm’s way — between the officer and her now injured pet.
“I was yelling at him,” said Putnam. “I said, ‘Why are you shooting my dog? What are you doing? You’re at the wrong house.'”
During the exchange, Clohe made her way back inside the house, leaving a trail of blood in her wake.
“I followed the blood trail into the bedroom, where my partner was cradling Clohe and crying hysterically,” Putnam said.
According to the lawsuit, a Michigan state trooper told Moreno and Putnam, “We’ll take care of this” and urged them to get their wounded pet to a veterinary clinic.
CASE PHOTOS: (Story Continues Below)
The couple was turned away by the first clinic they visited because they did not have cash on hand to pay for treatment up front. The second clinic they visited did not have a veterinarian on site to look at the dog. However, an employee there not only directed them to a neighboring clinic that would help, but also gave the cash-strapped couple money for gas to get there.
“On the way there a state trooper pulled us over,” Putnam said. “By now we were all covered in blood. She asked what happened and I gave her a 30-second run down. She then escorted us all the way to the veterinary hospital.”
The couple’s neighbors later informed them that authorities had spent about an hour outside their residence while they were gone, taking photos related to the shooting. The search for the fugitive, Olson said, had become secondary to Clohe’s shooting.
“They didn’t go next door to get the guy after the shooting,” Olson said, citing police documents he claims to have obtained. “It was not until three hours later that they raided the right house.”
The attorney added, “What this tells me is it was not very much of an emergency to get that guy. In fact, they didn’t even get him until a month or so later — after I filed my [Freedom of Information Act] requests.”
Prior to seeking legal representation, Putnam said she and her partner placed multiple calls to the officers involved in the incident and none of them were returned.
Michigan State Police did not respond to a request for comment from HuffPost on Wednesday.
Russ Marlan, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Corrections, declined to discuss the case.
“We cannot comment on pending litigation,” Marlan wrote in an email to HuffPost.
The silence on behalf of the authorities has only added salt to the wounds, according to Putnam.
“They should not have been in our backyard,” she said. “Clohe did not charge them or anything. She is old. She has a hard time getting on our couch as it is and she hobbles down the steps when she goes outside. She does not run or charge.”
Olson said he is hoping the lawsuit, which is not his first involving police shooting a dog, will help bring about change in the way authorities react to family pets.
“We certainly want to address this case, but we also want to be an agent for change,” he said. “That is what we’re trying to accomplish.”
In July, Olson filed a similar lawsuit against authorities in St. Clair Shores, a suburban city that borders Lake St. Clair in Macomb County. In that case, he is representing a woman whose dog was fatally shot by police officers. Olson said the evidence in that case suggests that shooting was premeditated.
“It was right when [The Huffington Post] was breaking that story that I received a call from Moreno,” Olson said. “My first reaction was, ‘Wow that sounds familiar.’ I was amazed because it was literally within one day of that story breaking.”
The lawsuit for Clohe is seeking unspecified punitive damages and attorney’s fees “in a fair and reasonable” amount. A date for the lawsuit has not been set.
“Clohe is a member of our family — one of our kids,” Putnam said. “The officer was completely out of line and they are totally negligent.”
READ THE LAWSUIT:
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