Jack Larson, Best Known as ‘Jimmy Olsen’ in TV’s ‘Superman’, Dies at 87

Jack Larson, an actor, playwright, and librettist best known for his role as Jimmy Olsen in the ’50s TV series Adventures of Superman, has died at his home in Brentwood, California.

In addition to his acting and writing, he also produced several films written and/or directed by his late longtime companion, the late Oscar nominee James Bridges, notes The Hollywood Reporter:

Larson and Bridges met when they were supporting players in the cast of Johnny Trouble (1957), starring Ethel Barrymore in her final film. They later formed a production company, and Larson produced such Bridges films as The Baby Maker (1970), Mike’s Murder (1984), Perfect (1985) and Bright Lights, Big City (1988).

Bridges died of cancer in June 1993 at age 57.

Larson, who also was close with actor Montgomery Clift until his death in 1966, shared a historical Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home on a Brentwood hillside with Bridges for years.

“It was obvious to anyone that since we lived together we were partners,” Larson told the Los Angeles Times in 2011. “We always went places together. We never pretended. I always did what I felt like doing. I never did publicity when I was very popular as Jimmy. The question [about being gay] never came up.”

The NYT, which first reported Olsen’s death, notes that his acting career ended after he became typecast because of his role in Superman:

Although Mr. Larson was pleased that Jimmy Olsen developed into a comic role, his fears of being typecast were realized. After a particularly upsetting encounter with the producer Mervyn LeRoy, he was advised by the actor Montgomery Clift, with whom Mr. Larson was having a romantic relationship, to stop putting himself in those casting situations. So Mr. Larson gave up acting and made a new career.

The post Jack Larson, Best Known as ‘Jimmy Olsen’ in TV’s ‘Superman’, Dies at 87 appeared first on Towleroad.

Andy Towle

Jack Larson, Best Known as ‘Jimmy Olsen’ in TV’s ‘Superman’, Dies at 87

WATCH: Waka Flocka Flame: Caitlyn Jenner Is an 'Affront to God'

Rapper Waka Flocka Flame has taken to Twitter to extinguish a firestorm he created when he insulted Caitlyn Jenner and transgender people in general. Flame went on to bemoan the “dangers” posed for “traditional families” in Friday’s interview with New York radio station Power 101.5 show The Breakfast Club,

Commenting that young people are now “afraid” to be “husbands and wives,” Flame went on a diatribe about transgender people. He blames the media and pop culture for the recent focus on trans rights.

“Women are afraid to be a wife and young males is afraid to be men,” he said. “It’s like, it’s not cool, they’re not marketing that. They don’t market families and husbands and wives no more. They marketing young girls, you know what I’m saying? Transgenders — they’re marketing evil, man.”

The rapper went on to blame the devil for the rise of interest in the lives of transgender people. He said Caitlyn Jenner and the media attention her transition has spurred is an “affront to God.”

“You are who you are when God made you, not who you became after he did,” Flame told the radio hosts. “That’s how I just feel. You rebuking God, man. God didn’t put them feelings in you, man, that’s the Devil playing tricks on your mind. That’s a test from God. If you can’t outbeat [sic] that one task and you believe that, then you’re going to believe everything else.”

There’s been no reaction from Jenner as of press time. But an online backlash over his remarks prompted the rapper to tweet a clarification of his comments:

So now I’m #Homophobic because I don’t agree with #CatlinJenner Smh

— Waka Flocka Flame (@WakaFlocka) September 19, 2015

I have nothing against transgender people. I simply feel we need to be careful what our children see as “sensationalized”

— Waka Flocka Flame (@WakaFlocka) September 19, 2015

Children’s brains are a constant development to adulthood. And they pay attention to everything whether we want to accept it or not

— Waka Flocka Flame (@WakaFlocka) September 19, 2015

IM NOT HOMOPHOBIC I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST THE GAY COMMUNITY. IM STILL STANDING ON WHAT I SAID —

— Waka Flocka Flame (@WakaFlocka) September 19, 2015

Watch Flame’s Friday interview with The Breakfast Club about transgender issues and his controversial thoughts on other topics like race relations in America.

Bil Browning

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2015/9/21/watch-waka-flocka-flame-caitlyn-jenner-affront-god

Queer Women Win Big At 2015 Emmys
Lesbians rocked the 2015 Emmy Awards. Here’s a look at four out queer women who were among this year’s big winners.

1. Jill Soloway, ‘Transparent’
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series

2. Lisa Cholodenko, ‘Olive Kitteridge’
Outstanding Directing For A Limited Series, Movie Or A Dramatic Special

3. Jane Anderson, ‘Olive Kitteridge’
Outstanding Writing For A Limited Series, Movie Or A Dramatic Special

4. Jane Lynch, ‘Hollywood Game Night’
Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality-Competition Program

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REVIEW: Chez Guy – Gevrey-Chambertin, Burgundy

Dinner on our first night in the wine region of Burgundy was booked at Chez Guy in the attractive village of Gevrey-Chambertin.

This is a small, modern bistro with very friendly and welcoming staff as well as quality food – presenting local specialities in an informal and relaxed style.

We started with poached eggs in a rich red wine sauce; on to slow-cooked beef cheeks in a pinot noir sauce; finishing with a plate of local cheeses.

Simple, uncomplicated food done really well. You can’t ask for much more than that.

Read more from Gareth Johnson

Read more restaurant reviews

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Gareth Johnson

www.gaystarnews.com/article/review-chez-guy-gevrey-chambertin-burgundy/

Teacher Fired After 18 Years of Service to Her Church

Kristen was a campus minister and English teacher for 18 years and was fired after coming out as gay.
HRC.org

www.hrc.org/blog/entry/teacher-fired-after-18-years-of-service-to-her-church?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Hillary Clinton’s New Ad Hilariously Skewers The Ridiculous Republican Debate

Hillary Clinton‘s latest ad hones in on last Wednesday night’s CNN Republican presidential primary debate, focusing on a laundry list of issues close to Democrats’ hearts that nonetheless failed to be broached at any point during the not-so-animate arguments: paid family leave, affordable child care and college education, equal pay for women, and protecting voting rights.

Related: Hillary Clinton May Be Trying To Outdo Obama For Gay-Friendliness

However, the ad does emphasizes how eager each presidential candidate is to defund Planned Parenthood, repeal ObamaCare, and vilify, yes, Hillary Clinton.

Check it out below.

Jeremy Kinser

feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/zTYKAgpJva0/hillary-clintons-new-ad-hilariously-skewers-the-ridiculous-republican-debate-20150921

Kayaker Speaks Out About Surviving Humpback Whale Breach: ‘I Was Going to Die’ 

Last week, we showed you footage of an incredibly close call captured from a whale-watching boat in Moss Landing, California. Kayakers Tom Mustill and Charlotte Kinloch were lucky to escape with their lives after a humpback whale breached over their tiny boat.

In an article for The Guardian, Mustill recounts what was going through his head at the time:

All of a sudden without warning, the water nearby to our right gave way to an adult whale shooting upwards, like a space shuttle taking off: a huge block of living thing impossibly held in the air. The only thing my brain registered was quite calmly that when it came down I was going to die. Then it fell, and I was underwater. I felt a yawing next to me and I was tossed around. I think this was the body or tail of the whale and I get a funny feeling in my guts when I think back on this.

I came to the surface. I saw Charlotte to my left and our kayak had a dent in the front. I was waiting for the pain to start, but it didn’t. Other kayakers came to our aid, someone fished Charlotte’s flip-flops from the water. Our friend who was in another kayak was very shaken. She had seen the whale land where we were, and then it was gone, and we – and our kayak – were gone too.

We laughed, partly to be alive, and partly because we didn’t know what else to do. The half-hour paddle to shore seemed so long; at the dock we started to shake. Our instructor gave us hot chocolate and a free hat, and told us this had never happened in 30 years. We agreed that no one would ever believe us – and they didn’t really until a video popped up online two days later.

Mustill says that after speaking to a whale specialist about the incident, he believes the gentle giant adjusted his landing after breaching to avoid directly crashing on top of the two kayakers. He adds that the encounter has left him more introspective:

When I lie in bed looking up at the whale in my mind, I think how lucky we are not to have continued to get rid of them as we have done until recently. It is strange that we search so avidly for aliens outside of this planet and are obsessed with creating artificial minds, while knowing so little about the workings of these enormous thinking animals in the sea.

Check out Mustill’s full account of his brush with death here.

The post Kayaker Speaks Out About Surviving Humpback Whale Breach: ‘I Was Going to Die’  appeared first on Towleroad.

Kyler Geoffroy

Kayaker Speaks Out About Surviving Humpback Whale Breach: ‘I Was Going to Die’ 

British Officer Will Be Jailed for Selling George Michael Gossip

George Michael’s brushes with the law are notorious, but his most recent stint behind bars will end with a prison official going to jail. Amanda Watts, 43, will be sentenced next month after being found guilty of selling information about the gay singer to British tabloid, The Sun.

Michael was sentenced to eight weeks in Highpoint Prison and served half of the time before being released. While high on marijuana, Michael crashed his car into a photography store in early July. He has repeatedly been in trouble with the law for driving while intoxicated.

Watts admitted selling stories about Michael’s stint in jail to the tabloid for £2,100, or $3,200 in U.S. currency. She was granted bail until her sentencing hearing, but was warned that she will serve time, according to The Guardian.

“You should understand the fact I’m bailing you until then is to enable you to make appropriate arrangements,” the judge told Watts as she wept. “A prison sentence is inevitable. I’m sure you understand.”

Bil Browning

www.advocate.com/crime/2015/9/21/british-officer-will-be-jailed-selling-george-michael-gossip

New Infographic for Bisexual Awareness Week Highlights Stigma and Disparities Facing Bisexual People
Many are unaware that bisexual people comprise more than half of the LGBT population in the United States. Yet bisexual people are among the most invisible, and face stigma, legal inequality, and a lack of bisexual-specific data that all contribute to poor outcomes for bisexual people across the country.

Today, the Movement Advancement Project released a new infographic illustrating the inequalities and disparities facing bisexual people. As someone who is out and proudly bisexual, I’ve heard the stereotypes and myths about bisexuals. For example, when people come out as bisexual, it is often assumed that they are “confused” about or hiding their “real” sexual orientation. These stereotypes and myths can lead to discrimination, invisibility, or a lack of acknowledgement that bisexual people exist. People may assume a bisexual person is heterosexual or gay based on the gender of their current partner, or may intentionally refer to the “gay” community in order to exclude bisexual people.

In addition to stereotypes and myths, and perhaps because of them, bisexual people suffer from high levels of violence, economic insecurity, poor health, and employment discrimination. For example, 61 percent of bisexual women say they have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner, compared to 43 percent of lesbians and 35 percent of straight women. As we shared in our report Understanding Issues Facing Bisexual Americans, nearly half of bisexual men (47%) report experiencing sexual violence other than rape in their lifetime. These numbers are too high.

This Bisexual Awareness Week, the second annual week-long celebration centered on September 23, Celebrate Bisexuality Day, is a time for education and awareness. In a recent poll by You.gov, one-third of young Americans said they identified themselves as something other than “exclusively heterosexual.” At the same time, bisexual people are half as likely to be out in the workplace as gay men and lesbians. And only about one-third as likely to be out to their close friends and family.

As part of a group of bisexual advocates and policy experts from across the country who have been working to outline concrete policy changes — from suicide prevention and mental health services for bisexual youth to recommendations on data collection to protections for bisexual asylum seekers — I was struck by the volume of data finding just how many bisexual people face discrimination, poor mental and physical health, and violence, often at much higher rates than our gay or heterosexual counterparts. It is critical that we establish robust services and programs to finally address the deep disparities that bisexual people face in many areas of life.

Please help us celebrate Bisexual Awareness Week by sharing this infographic with your social media circles and finding MAP on Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, and Instagram.

— 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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Mark McBride-Wright: ‘Bringing your whole self to work gives you the capacity for creativity’

I have had a very positive experience in the past ten years that I have been involved in engineering.

Whilst studying at university, I did not have any problems. Indeed, I was lucky that during my first term in halls, I vividly remember turning on TV and seeing Cherie Blair celebrating the passage of the UK’s Civil Partnership Act 2005.

Living and working in a country where I am legally backed and protected by law, and my relationship is recognized by law gave me even more confidence to be openly out.

Engineering does suffer from the stereotype of the predominantly male workforce which it contains, and with this it can mean it is difficult to be open in the workplace.

Other sectors such as banking and law have established LGBT diversity networks. When I was studying Chemical Engineering at Imperial College in London, there was a lot of LGBT specific networking and support available from businesses in these sectors for internship and job applicants.

Where were the LGBT engineering groups? They did not exist. And, to my mind, they still do not adequately exist.

The Royal Academy of Engineering held a landmark event entitled ‘Data Driven Diversity: The Facts About LGBT in Engineering’ in May 2014. This event was pivotal to me, because it was the first time I had seen ‘LGBT’ and ‘Engineering’ in the same sentence. Lord John Browne, the gay former BP CEO, released his book The Glass Closet which I consider a must-read for any LGBT employee within engineering.

After finishing my PhD at Imperial, I started my professional career as a Process Safety Engineer which focuses on preventing major accident hazards (fires, explosions, accidental chemical releases, etc.) on oil and gas production installations, both onshore and offshore.

I have worked in consultancies as well as the engineering contracting sector. I have never had any direct problems working as a gay engineer. People judge you based on the quality of the work you deliver. However, you are constantly coming out at work whenever you meet new colleagues, engage in polite conversation with new clients, or attend a networking function at your professional institute.

Whenever the conversation moves on to your personal life, there is the ‘pronoun game’. Do you say ‘she’ if you are a gay male? Do you say ‘husband’ if you are married, or keep the term ‘partner’?

This is a mind-juggle a lot of gay individuals will identify with. On principle, I refuse to play this game, as I see it as being dishonest and doing myself a disservice. I would say this is a core focus of anxiety for LGBT employees, and a barrier to being open in the workplace.

I have always found that by being open and bringing your whole self to work gives you the capacity for creativity and to dedicate your whole-self to your job, with no energy wasted on worrying about people’s perceptions of you.

I see the corporate diversity culture spectrum as being Tolerance – Acceptance – Celebrating. Different organizations are at different stages and this will vary across geographies too.

An open and honest, networked culture is where (I think) people feel comfortable. Why would I want to work in an organization where I am simply ‘tolerated’?

Each year I take my husband to our corporate Christmas Ball and my colleagues make him feel very welcome. I prefer to be in a company with a corporate environment where your work colleagues can become your friends, and it is an environment which I believe to be common across engineering firms.

There is a skills gap within the engineering sector, and many young students and children need to be inspired to consider the profession in the future. Lack of diversity should not be a reason to have an attrition rate of existing talent exiting the profession, and neither should it be a reason to miss attracting the future talent.

Find out more about InterEngineering here.

The post Mark McBride-Wright: ‘Bringing your whole self to work gives you the capacity for creativity’ appeared first on Gay Star News.

David Hudson

www.gaystarnews.com/article/mark-mcbride-wright-bringing-your-whole-self-to-work-gives-you-the-capacity-for-creativity/