Caitlyn Jenner’s conservative politics don’t go over well with other trans women

It surprised many when Caitlyn Jenner – in her final interview as Bruce – told Diane Saywer of ABC News that she is a Republican.

Since then, Jenner has emerged as probably the most famous transgender woman in the world and made clear her intention to do some good with her renewed fame.

On Sunday’s episode of the docu-series I Am Cait, Jenner found herself sounding very stereotypically Republican and at odds with a group of other transgender women while discussing the needs of their community during a road trip.

When one women suggests that trans people really need help securing entry level jobs, Jenner said: ‘Don’t a lot of times they can make more not working with social programs than they actually can with an entry-level job? … You don’t want people to get totally dependent on it. When they get in trouble, “Why should I work? I’ve got a few bucks. I’ve got my room paid for.”‘

Jenny Boylan, the first openly transgender co-chair of GLAAD’s National Board of Directors, was riding with Jenner and interjected with: ‘I’d say a great majority of the people who are getting help as they need help.’

Boylan later added some pointed remarks via voiceover: ‘Many transgender men and women need social programs to survive and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Living in the bubble is an impediment to understanding other people.

‘If Cait’s going to be a spokesperson for our community, this something she’s going to have to understand.’

The post Caitlyn Jenner’s conservative politics don’t go over well with other trans women appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/caitlyn-jenners-conservative-politics-dont-go-over-well-with-other-trans-women/

Broadway Hunk Matt Doyle Shows Audience His Diaphragm And Then Some

In light of Steve Grand’s recent tirade against Queerty for only ever featuring him in his underwear (or less), we will take the high road on this one as to avoid accusations of “slut-shaming.” (To quote Wet Hot American Summer: “I love sluts! Sluts rock! It’s just, you know, it’s just gotta be the right slut, you know?”)

And so, out of respect, we will not mention how adorable Broadway’s Matt Doyle looked when he got up on stage with The Skivvies in his — get this — skivvies. See what they did there?

Got it? We will not be bringing up Matt’s good-sported self-objectification in a tight pair of Calvin Klein boxer-briefs. Nor will we note his gym-toned body or washboard abs. The old Queerty might have gone there, but times have changed. We won’t bring up his adorable back-up ukulele player, either.

It’s all about the music.

Watch below, and avoid the temptation to call Matt sexy. We’re sure he wouldn’t want that.

What’s he singing, anyways? A boy band medley? OK, that’s pretty damn cute.

Watch below: 

Dan Tracer

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/GJkf9OkIxGc/broadway-hunk-matt-doyle-shows-audience-his-diaphragm-and-then-some-20150803

David Drake Reads Sean Strub’s Account of ACT UP Disrupting Mass In St. Patrick’s Cathedral From ‘Body Counts’ – LISTEN

Today we’re thrilled to feature the next in our TowleREAD reading series (sponsored by Audible), in which LGBT authors (and other authors, if they have relevant books) read excerpts from their works.

BODY COUNTS: A MEMOIR OF POLITICS, SEX, AIDS AND SURVIVAL by POZ Magazine founder Sean Strub. The story, narrated by actor/playwright/director David Drake, is “a captivating… eyewitness account from inside the AIDS epidemic” (Next) and “a moving, multi-decade memoir of one gay man’s life” (San Francisco Chronicle)

From the publisher’s description:

“When the AIDS epidemic hit in the early 1980s, Strub was living in New York and soon found himself attending “more funerals than birthday parties”. Scared and angry, he turned to radical activism to combat discrimination and demand research. Strub takes you through his own diagnosis and inside ACT UP, the organization that transformed a stigmatized cause into one of the defining political movements of our time.”

“From the New York of Studio 54 and Andy Warhol’s Factory to the intersection of politics and burgeoning LGBT and AIDS movements, Strub’s story crackles with history. [In this excerpt,] He recounts his role in shocking AIDS demonstrations at St. Patrick’s Cathedral as well as at the home of US Senator Jesse Helms. With an astonishing cast of characters, including Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Keith Haring, Bill Clinton, and Yoko Ono, this is a vivid portrait of a tumultuous era.”

As part of its sponsorship of TowleREAD, Audible is offering a free download of Body Counts at Audible.com with a 30-Day Trial membership for Towleroad readers.

And check out this recent TowleREAD: Pilots Navigate Romance in Ensan Case’s Classic Gay World War II Novel ‘Wingmen’:LISTEN

The post David Drake Reads Sean Strub’s Account of ACT UP Disrupting Mass In St. Patrick’s Cathedral From ‘Body Counts’ – LISTEN appeared first on Towleroad.

Michael Goff

David Drake Reads Sean Strub’s Account of ACT UP Disrupting Mass In St. Patrick’s Cathedral From ‘Body Counts’ – LISTEN

Antigay Texas Attorney General Surrenders After Indictment

Some are feeling a sense of schadenfreude after antigay AG Ken Paxton was indicted for fraud.

read more

Neal Broverman

www.advocate.com/politics/politicians/2015/08/03/antigay-texas-attorney-general-surrenders-after-indictment

Obama On African Racism: 'I Have No Patience For It'

President Barack Obama criticized racism in Africa while speaking to a group of young African leaders in Washington, D.C., on Monday.   

“The notion that any African would discriminate against anybody because of the color of their skin, after what black people around the world have gone through, is crazy,” Obama said at the Young African Leaders Initiative summit, according to a White House pool report. “It is infuriating. And I have no patience for it.”

He also criticized gender-based discrimination, including practices like female genital mutilation and bride abduction, which are prevalent in some African countries.

Obama added that it was time to end prejudice against Africa’s LGBT community. “If you’re treating people differently just because of who they love and who they are, then there’s a connection between that mindset and the mindset that led to racism,” he said.

During a trip to Africa last month that included a visit to his father’s home country, Kenya, Obama said racism and violence against women “have no place in the 21st century.”

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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Leslie Jordan says he’d never been so scared in his life when he threw iced tea at homophobe

Leslie Jordan has become something of a tiny hero for standing up to a trio of homophobes at Starbucks in West Hollywood last week.

But the 4′ 11″ actor, an Emmy winner for Will & Grace, now admits he was plenty scared after throwing a glass of iced tea at a guy who had been hurling homophobic slurs while in line inside.

Jordan, a regular at the heavily-gay populated Starbucks, yelled at him and his friends to ‘Get out of my house!’ He then followed the trio out to deliver a lecture.

‘It was the (most) scared I’ve ever been in my life,’ he tells TMZ. ‘I tossed my tea and then pandemonium, mayhem. Ten cop cars.’

Police told Jordan he could file charges as a ‘hate crime; but they could probably come back and counter-charge since he ‘threw the first punch.’

‘I thought, “How butch!’ I threw the first punch,’ he says. ‘It was a glass of tea. But they were coming at me.’

‘These were kids. … Are they truly homophobic? Who knows? They can’t be using that language – not in my house, not in my neighborhood.’

Still, Jordan feels that he went too far in his attempts to scold the trio and turn the incident into a teachable moment.

‘My behavior was atrocious. I handled it badly, I should have let the cops – the minute it happened – just let the cops handle it.

‘We have to stir the pot but we have to do it without losing our temper.’

The post Leslie Jordan says he’d never been so scared in his life when he threw iced tea at homophobe appeared first on Gay Star News.

Greg Hernandez

www.gaystarnews.com/article/leslie-jordan-says-hed-never-been-so-scared-in-his-life-when-he-threw-iced-tea-at-homophobe/

Op-ed: Creating Transgender-Friendly and Inclusive Schools

In an op-ed in The Advocate, HRC Foundation’s Director Children, Youth and Families Program Ellen Kahn wrote about creating transgender friendly schools.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/op-ed-creating-transgender-friendly-and-inclusive-schools?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

See Eddie Redmayne In The Transgender Role For Which He Replaced Nicole Kidman

Fresh off his Oscar win as best actor for his gripping turn as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, freckle-faced heartthrob Eddie Redmayne may have found a role that’s equally as challenging and ultimately rewarding. The 33-year-old thespian will soon be seen as Lile Elbe (right), the Danish painter born Einar Wegener who is considered one of the world’s first trans women and who underwent the first gender reassignment surgery in 1930. The complex role was once claimed by another Academy Award-winning performer, Nicole Kidman, who dropped out following a delay in the start of filming. Gorgeous Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, who made a big splash earlier this year in Ex Machina and will soon be the envy of millions as the woman who comes between Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., will co-star as Gerda, Wegener’s wife.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis to give us a brief breakdown:

The Danish Girl is the remarkable love story inspired by the lives of artists Einar and Gerda Wegener (being portrayed, respectively, by Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander), whose marriage and work are cast into the unknown when Einar begins a groundbreaking journey to become one of the world’s first transgender women, Lili Elbe. The Danish Girl has been adapted into a screenplay by BAFTA Award nominee Lucinda Coxon, based on the novel of the same name by David Ebershoff. The film’s cast also includes Matthias Schoenaerts (The Drop), Ben Whishaw (Skyfall), and Amber Heard (The Rum Diary).

The film, directed by Tom Hooper, who won scores of awards for The King’s Speech in 2010, will be screened at film fests in Toronto and Venice this fall before it opens in theaters November 27. See a selection of the film’s advance posters below.

Jeremy Kinser

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Married in the Morning, Fired in the Afternoon: The State of LGBT Anti-Discrimination Laws in the U.S.

As we told you earlier this month, online travel site Orbitz is currently hosting a SNAP for Equality selfie contest that could win you a first class trip in the U.S. or Europe. Part of that campaign is dedicated to raising awareness about the current state of anti-discrimination laws in the U.S.

With the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, it might be easy to think that our biggest civil rights hurdles are behind us. However, as Vice President Joe Biden remarked at a rally celebrating marriage equality, LGBT people can get married in the morning and fired in the afternoon because of their sexual orientation or gender identity in 28 states.

What’s perhaps most shocking about LGBT anti-discrimination laws in the U.S. is the fact that a wide majority of Americans have no idea that the federal government does not protect LGBT people from being discriminated against–in fact, they think the opposite.

According to a Public Religion Research Institute poll from February 2014, 75% of respondents said that it is currently illegal under federal law to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Of course, this is not the case. For all the efforts to pass an Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), there currently exists no federal law that protects LGBT people from discrimination. As a result, the issue has been left to the states. And the states in turn have acted incredibly unevenly in deciding whether to put non-discrimination laws on the books to protect LGBT people.

Currently, only 17 states have banned discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Those states include California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Vermont, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

Massachusetts and Utah ban discrimination against LGBT people in employment and housing but not in public accommodation. As the Movement Advance Project (whose maps are displayed here) spells out, “Public accommodations laws generally cover anywhere someone is when they are not at home, work, or school, including retail stores, restaurants, parks, hotels, doctors’ offices, and banks.”

Three states, Wisconsin, New York and New Hampshire, have statewide anti-discrimination ordinances that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation but not on the basis of gender identity.

In the remaining 28 states, it falls to cities and counties to decide whether they will protect LGBT people from discrimination. Two of those states, Arkansas and Tennessee, explicitly ban cities and counties from passing nondiscrimination ordinances.

Despite this very bad news on the state of anti-discrimination laws in the U.S., there have been positive developments as of late.

The Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) just ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Wrote Towleroad’s Ari Ezra Waldman of the ruling,

“…[T]he Commission held that discrimination against gay persons violates Title VII’s ban on discrimination on the basis of sex. This is potentially groundbreaking: until Friday, there was no federal law protecting gay workers if they are discriminated against because they are gay, and although only the Supreme Court can issue a definitive ruling on the subject, the EEOC’s view is given substantial weight by the courts.”

And that’s not all. Members of Congress last week introduced new legislation, the Equality Act, that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, housing, credit, education, and jury service. The legislation is an update to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that would explicitly extend its protections to LGBT individuals.

But if the EEOC has decided that the Civil Rights Act already applies to LGBT people, why would more action be needed? As Ari Ezra Waldman pointed out in his analysis of the EEOC’s decision, the EEOC ruling is “unstable” and was a 3-2 ruling along party lines. Plus, it does not address all the anti-discrimination concerns currently on the table:

“[We] need a comprehensive anti-gay discrimination law passed at the federal level because this decision (and Title VII) only applies to employment discrimination. Gays are discriminated against in the provision of housing, education, and a host of other social services.”

What are your thoughts on the federal Equality Act? Sound off in the comments.

And don’t forget to enter in the Orbitz SNAP for Equality contest. Share a selfie of you celebrating marriage equality and you could win a first class trip to the U.S. or Europe! Click HERE to find out more.

The post Married in the Morning, Fired in the Afternoon: The State of LGBT Anti-Discrimination Laws in the U.S. appeared first on Towleroad.

Towleroad

Married in the Morning, Fired in the Afternoon: The State of LGBT Anti-Discrimination Laws in the U.S.