LGBT real-name controversy: Facebook apologizes, promises changes
LGBT real-name controversy: Facebook apologizes, promises changes.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV0XjKk3TrI&feature=youtube_gdata
Monthly Archives: October 2014
Facebook Apologizes for 'Real Name' Policy
Facebook Apologizes for 'Real Name' Policy
The social media giant clarified its policy today, saying it has always been intended to encourage users to appear under their ‘authentic name.’
Sunnivie Brydum
editorial.advocate.com/politics/media/2014/10/01/facebook-apologizes-real-name-policy
Facebook Apologizes To LGBT Community For Controversial Name Change Policy
Facebook Apologizes To LGBT Community For Controversial Name Change Policy
Facebook is apologizing to members of the LGBT community, specifically drag queens and transgender individuals, over the way their name change policy has disproportionately targeted and affected their identities.
Facebook came under fire several weeks ago after forcing a large percentage of individuals operating personal profiles on Facebook under pseudonyms, stage names, or any name not matching their legal name to change their name on Facebook or risk having their profiles deactivated. A number of individuals spoke out on the issue, including RuPaul and Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence member Sister Roma, who orchestrated a face-to-face meeting with Facebook to discuss the implications of this policy.
Today, the company’s chief product officer, Chris Cox, apologized to “the affected community of drag queens, drag kings, transgender, and extensive community of our friends, neighbors, and members of the LGBT community” through a post on his personal profile.
Cox notes in his apology, “Our policy has never been to require everyone on Facebook to use their legal name. The spirit of our policy is that everyone on Facebook uses the authentic name they use in real life. For Sister Roma, that’s Sister Roma. For Lil Miss Hot Mess, that’s Lil Miss Hot Mess. Part of what’s been so difficult about this conversation is that we support both of these individuals, and so many others affected by this, completely and utterly in how they use Facebook.”
This is a victory not only for drag queens and transgender individuals, but every person who chooses to self-identify for whatever reasons while navigating the Internet.
Suspected Philly Gay Bashers Positively ID’d By Victims, Get December Court Date
Suspected Philly Gay Bashers Positively ID’d By Victims, Get December Court Date
Looks like 24-year-old homophobe and accused gay basher Kathryn Knott will need to stay out of trouble for the next two months before she’s due back in court, a task that shouldn’t be too hard considering her recent termination from her job as an ER technician.
She, along with 24-year-old Philip Williams and 26-year-old Kevin Harrigan, were taken into police custody last week and charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, and criminal conspiracy for their involvement in the violent September 11th gay bashing in Philadelphia that left a gay couple hospitalized with severe injuries.
All three are expected back in court for a preliminary hearing on December 16th, where a judge will determine whether there is enough evidence in the case to prosecute the assailants.
If the case goes to trial, Harrigan’s attorney Josh Scarpello tells Philly magazine that “the earliest [trial date] would be February or March.” He adds that “if it’s scheduled to be a jury trial, it could take even longer.”
The three were released on bail to the court of public opinion last week — though details about the two male assailants are scarce, Kathryn Knott became the center of a media firestorm in the weeks following the crime. She is the daughter of Chalfont, Pennsylvania Police Chief Karl Knott, has a well documented homophobic past, and was fired from her job at Lansdale Hospital in Lansdale, Pennsylvania for violating physician-patient privileged policies.
Skeptics have questioned her involvement in the beating, but an affidavit made available after the trio’s Tuesday court date shows that both victims and a witness identified her and her two male co-assailants as the group who brutally attacked them.
According to that document, made available by Philly mag:
Both complainants positively identified Philip Williams through photo arrays. Williams was identified by Complainant #2 as punching him. Williams was identified by Complainant #1 as being part of the group and being one of the “main aggressors”.
Another member of the group, Kathryn Knott, was positively identified by Complainant #1, after viewing a photo array, as calling them “faggots”. Complainant #2 identified Kathryn Knott from the video as screaming “faggots” at both complainants and striking Complainant #2 in the face. A witness at the scene who was interviewed by detectives further positively identified Kathryn Knott from a photo array as striking Complainant #2.
All three assailants are maintaining their innocence and claiming they fought in self-defense. Scarpello added that “there certainly is another side to this case…and it’s going to come to light,” as if there were anything the victims could have said that justified a vicious gang assault like this.
For more information on the assault, check out our previous coverage.
Queerty Editor
NEWS: Gay Square Dancing, SCOTUS, Jared Leto, Ebola
NEWS: Gay Square Dancing, SCOTUS, Jared Leto, Ebola
A how-to-guide to make sure you don’t miss Ben Affleck’s member in Gone Girl.
According to GLAAD, television has increased its depiction of gay, lesbian and bisexual characters: “In the 2014-15 season, the study by GLAAD said that 3.9 percent of 813 characters regularly seen on prime-time network scripted series will be lesbian, gay or bisexual, a total of 32 characters.That represents an increase over last year’s 3.3 percent, but is down from the 4.4 percent record high for LGBT depictions on network series in 2012.”
New study says women prefer gay male porn to “porn for women.”
Zac Efron gets into a tickle war with Wes Bentley.
Novelist Ken Follett on gay characters in his works: “These gay characters are there because this is the world I live in,” Follett said in an interview with The Daily Beast. “I live in a world in which there are gay people, and to leave them out would seem odd, just as it would seem odd to write a story in which there were no people of color, or all the heroes were men and no women were heroes. It’s just not the world I live in.”
Gay square dancing convention headed to New Jersey.
35,000 walrus converge on Alaska beach as sea ice retreats.
Drama reported behind the scenes of The View between Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O’Donnell.
Andrew Sullivan wonders, “Is The HIV Divide Now Over?”: “What are your options today as a gay man with a sex life in America? You live in a community where a deadly virus has killed hundreds of thousands and is still resilient in the gay male world as a whole. It has no external or visible symptoms most of the time. Many people have no idea they have it. But the virus can be permanently suppressed to a point where it cannot be measured in your bloodstream and to a point where an HIV-positive man cannot transmit the virus to another person. And someone who is HIV-negative can also have access to a daily pill that, if taken conscientiously, all but wipes out the chance of getting infected.
SCOTUS: Still “no announcement Tuesday on whether [the Court] will take up a case seeking marriage equality at its first conference of the term, making such a declaration unlikely until the beginning of next week at the earliest.” However, there are orders coming tomorrow at 9:30 AM EDT that could include a grant or a denial in the same-sex marriage cases before the Court.
Happy LGBT History Month!
Secret Service Director Julia Pierson resigns following security lapse scandals.
Court rebuffs Kansas GOP on issue of Democratic candidate in Senate race.
Andy Rooney’s grandson, Benjamin Fishel, marries partner: “Andrew Siman Brady and Benjamin Leo Fishel were married Saturday just off Pilot Knob, N.Y., on Lake George. Paul E. Boivin, a Progressive Universal Life minister, officiated aboard the Morgan, a cruise vessel that he captains.” Grandfather Andy Rooney came under fire in 1990 for comments he made that were perceived as disparaging towards the gay community: “‘There was some recognition in 1989 of the fact that many of the ills which kill us are self-induced. Too much alcohol, too much food, drugs, homosexual unions, cigarettes. They’re all known to lead quite often to premature death.”
Jared Leto shows off ripped side-torso.
Will Apple launch a gold iPad this month?
Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton smoulder and look Biblical in trailer for Exodus: Gods and Kings.
Clark Gable / Carole Lombard estate is for sale sale in Palm Springs.
Eruption of Mount Ontake in Japan was fueled by steam not magma.
Doctors say Tracy Morgan may never perform again as a result of the injuries he sustained from an accident in June.
With the first confirmed case of Ebola in the United States, the CDC is now trying to discern whether anyone else has been infected: “A CDC team is in Dallas helping to find the people that the patient may have come into contact with, said [CDC Director Dr. Thomas] Frieden. Once those people are identified, they will be monitored for 21 days — taking their temperatures twice a day — in cooperation with local and state health officials, Frieden said Wednesday.”
Sean Mandell
www.towleroad.com/2014/10/news-gay-square-dancing-scotus-jared-leto-ebola.html
Facebook Apologizes To LGBT Community And Promises Changes To Real Name Policy
Facebook Apologizes To LGBT Community And Promises Changes To Real Name Policy
Facebook Apologizes To LGBT Community And Promises Changes To Real Name Policy.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qQ1coLuSzg&feature=youtube_gdata
Holder's Final Vow to Supreme Court: Uphold Marriage Equality
'RuPaul's Drag Race' Night Of The Living Dead And RuPaul's Haunted Manor Coming To NYC
'RuPaul's Drag Race' Night Of The Living Dead And RuPaul's Haunted Manor Coming To NYC
Are you ready for a Halloween with all of your favorite Ru girls?
You’ll have two chances to party with scream queen Sharon Needles and company this Halloween on back to back nights at “RuPaul’s Drag Race Night of the Living Dead” and “RuPaul’s Haunted Manor.” Both parties are in NYC and will feature “Drag Race” faves like Alaska, Courtney Act, Manila Luzon, Ivy Winters and more.
Sharon typically has a major Halloween event every year since winning “Drag Race,” having previously been named Salem’s first official Scream Queen and starring in Brandon Voss’ Halloween parties last year.
Check out the flyers below for more info about “RuPaul’s Drag Race Night of the Living Dead” and “RuPaul’s Haunted Manor” and get tickets here.
John Carroll, Entertainer And Queerty Contributor, Named One Of The Sexiest Men Alive
John Carroll, Entertainer And Queerty Contributor, Named One Of The Sexiest Men Alive
Let’s hear it for John Carroll! The busy Broadway performer whose resume includes show-stopping turns in A Chorus Line, Follies and Wicked, was recently named one of the sexiest men alive of Australia’s gorgeous gay glossy DNA.
We have to say we knew it all along. In addition to his photogenic good looks and rock-hard physique, Carroll is a solid, upstanding member of the queer community. Not only is he happily married, he’s also a committed and passionate activist who has contributed a number of thought-provoking essays to this website.
Last fall, while many were raving over the recently-appointed Pope Francis, Carroll had some choice words of advice for the new pontiff. Later, he took aim at the art of the humblebrag on Facebook and even gently wrapped us on the knuckles for linking newly out Michael Sam’s boyfriend to a gay porn star. Eager to help spread word about a talented pal, he interviewed his photographer buddy Kevin McDermott about his sensational coffee table book Virgin Island.
Still, Carroll keeps his ego and good fortune in check. “They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” he told Queerty about the DNA honor. “In my case, it helps if the beholder is highly intoxicated or has inoperable cataracts.”
For more information on him, go to TheJohnCarroll.com or follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @MrJohnCarroll. Scroll down to see more sexy photos of the man, all taken by Kevin McDermott.
Jeremy Kinser
Rosamund Pike Tells Seth Meyers What It's Like To Have Sex with Neil Patrick Harris: VIDEO
Rosamund Pike Tells Seth Meyers What It's Like To Have Sex with Neil Patrick Harris: VIDEO
Rosamund Pike, one of the stars of David Fincher’s latest thriller Gone Girl, sat down with Seth Meyers to promote the movie and shared what it’s like filming a sex scene with co-star Neil Patrick Harris. Before she dished, Meyers provided clear instructions: “Don’t leave a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g out.” The actual filming of the scene was “remarkably normal”, according to Pike. However, Fincher asked the two to rehearse the scene for two hours. Alone. On a soundstage. As Pike put it, “You are alone with a man who is not your husband, who also has a husband.”
Watch as Pike explains the experience of getting up close and personal with NPH, AFTER THE JUMP…
Sean Mandell
