Ben Affleck, NRA, Provincetown Shark, Nick Jonas, Freddie Gray, SCOTUS Immigration: NEWS

SCOTUS. 4-4 deadlock dooms Obama’s immigration policy: “The U.S. Supreme Court split 4-4 Thursday over a challenge to President Obama’s immigration policy, a result that prevents the administration from putting the program into effect during the rest of him term.Announced in late 2014, it would shield more than four million people from deportation. But lower courts blocked its implementation after Texas and 25 other states sued, claiming the president had no power to order the changes.”

BALTIMORE. Officer found not guilty in Freddie Gray case: “Officer Caesar Goodson Jr., 46, had faced the most serious charges of any of the six officers indicted in Gray’s death last April, including a charge of second-degree murder. Goodson was also acquitted of three counts of manslaughter, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office.”

PLUTO. Planet probably has liquid water ocean: “Our model shows that recent geological activity on Pluto can be driven just from phase changes in the ice—no tides or exotic materials or unusual processes are required.”

TMZ. Camera footage supports claim by purported lover of Orlando shooter: “Sources at the Ambassador Hotel tell TMZ, Mateen was seen on camera footage recorded December 14, 2015 around 11 PM. We’re told the video bolsters the claims of the heavily disguised man who told Univision he met up with Mateen 15-20 times at the hotel between November and December.”

NICK JONAS. OUT Magazine’s Editor at Large rips singer for speaking at Stonewall vigil: “Nick, we have our own heros, and you don’t come close and never will. This would have been a shining opportunity to step quietly to the side, and let us be. There are so many beautiful, heart wrenching, and hilarious things in the gay world and none of them have anything to do with you, Nick Jonas.”

PETITION. Nearly 200 artists and music executives demand Congress end gun violence: “With the help of leading gun-violence prevention group Everytown for Gun Safety, editors reached out to those we cover in the music industry, and asked for their support and their signatures to help seek a sane and safe end to gun violence. Within minutes, Joan Jett was the first to sign on. Lady Gaga shortly followed. Within hours, and then in a matter of just a few days, nearly 200 top artists and executives—pop stars (including Grimmie’s friend Selena Gomez), rappers, rock gods, legends, Broadway heroes, even two Beatles and Yoko Ono—lent their voices to the chorus of Americans looking to our political leaders for change. Billboard, artists and music-industry executives join so many members of the House and Senate this week proudly advocating for common-sense gun safety.”

NO GO. Pennsylvania judge dismisses lawsuit against gay couple for in-ground pool fence: “In his decision, Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Sommer voiced concerns about the lawsuit’s motivation, saying the couple had been subjected to anti-gay slurs and vandalism and suggesting that the dispute smacked of ‘selective enforcement.’”

FRONT PAGE. Paul Ryan is NRA’s Li’l lapdog.

A look at tomorrow’s front page…
NRA’S LI’L LAPDOG: @SpeakerRyan rolls over again t.co/zVLxOWsIJK pic.twitter.com/DX8sQjxqiH

— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) June 23, 2016

DEFLATEGATE. Ben Affleck goes on semi-drunken rant about Tom Brady and the NFL.

PROVINCETOWN. Man films Great White shark seal attack at Race Point Beach.

SEEING COLOR. Colorblind brothers are overwhelmed seeing colors for the first time after receiving pair of EnChroma glasses. “Our sons Jimmy and Jace are colorblind. We bought Jim a pair of EnChroma glasses which lets people who are colorblind see colors the same way we do. Please watch this special amazing moment! It brought us all to tears!”

THIRSTY THURSDAY. International go-go boy and finance student Sam Ghafooripoor.

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Robin Hood, Merry Men Reimagined as Gay ‘Burly Men in the Woods’

Hero, anti-hero, thief, archer, gorgeous and… gay?

In a new comic book series by Oni Press, the legendary swordsman known for his good looks and for robbing from the rich to give to the poor, as well as his Merry Men friends are a bunch of burly gay guys in the woods. That’s according to a new interpretation of the English folklore by openly gay writer Robert Rodi, and with art by Jackie Lewis.

In Rodi’s version of the story, Robin Hood is an outlaw because he’s gay.  Newsarama, a website dedicated to the comic book industry explains:

Set in the 12th century, Merry Men centers on Robert Godwin – a.k.a. Robin Hood – who is discovered to be romantically involved with King Ricard, and quickly banished by Prince John as part of a new law criminalizing homosexuality. Godwin and his friends come to live in Sherwood Forest and are comfortable with their lives in hiding until a mysterious stranger comes asking for help against the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Rodi got the idea when, a few years back, he came across the is-he-is-he-not discussion about Robin Hood’s sexuality on the internet. He looked into it and found academic studies on the subject, as he explained to Panels, another website dedicated to the industry:

There was some discussion, based on a few papers by a few academics, that possibly the origins of the Robin Hood story were rooted in sexual outlawry — that the historical figures who inspired the legend of Robin and his merry men, were people who were ejected from society and forced to live in nature because of their homosexual practices.

He explained his process to IGN:

I did quite a bit of reading and research—a lot of which is reflected in the “Queer History of England” text feature that’s included in each issue of Merry Men. The simple fact is, there’s not a lot of original source material, for two reasons: first, in the medieval period, same-sex activity was seen as a behavior, not an expression of identity. In other words, there were—in modern terms—gay acts, but not gay people. (“Homosexual” is a much later term.) That was the official view, anyway; my personal feeling is that the people engaged in that behavior probably felt very differently. That’s how I’m treating them in Merry Men; though even there, some of the cast are exclusively gay, and some are less so.

Merry Men, by Robert Rodi, Jackie Lewis, and Marissa Louise is on sale now.

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Nico Tortorella Speaks Out About Reaction to News of His Sexual ‘Fluidity’

Yesterday, news emerged that Nico Tortorella considers himself sexually “fluid” which brought the actor, who stars in TV Land’s Younger with Sutton Foster, a lot of new fans.

Tortorella responded to the reaction:

well that escalated quickly.

— Nico Tortorella (@_NicoTortorella) June 23, 2016

He also posted a message to Instagram: “call me whatever you want, just call me.”

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Twitter celebrates Pride with #LoveIsLove

www.glaad.org/blog/twitter-celebrates-pride-loveislove

Orlando Concert Raises More Than $700K for Victims, Survivors, and Families

www.glaad.org/blog/orlando-concert-raises-more-700k-victims-survivors-and-families

Kim Davis Is Trying To Rewrite Her Antigay History; Too Bad The Internet Remembers Forever

Kim Davis. Now, there’s a name we haven’t heard in a while.

The Rowan County clerk has kept a low profile after dominating headlines last summer for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on religious grounds–despite the historic Supreme Court ruling that came exactly one year ago on Sunday.

Related: PHOTOS: Kim Davis Memes Just Keep Getting Better

Davis’ personal moral dispute with the United States Constitution, doomed from the get-go, included multiple courtroom visits, court orders, an arrest and failed appeals. And in the end, all that time and taxpayer money resulted in absolutely nothing except that she got a flurry of attention in her attempt to humiliate same-sex couples. Wef can still get married. And Kim Davis has since faded into obscurity.

Until now, the anniversary of the supreme court decision legalizing marriage equality.

This week, Davis’ lawyers asked an appeals court to forget about the stir she created and to please make the entire case vanish.

In a motion filed yesterday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, where Davis is still fighting an earlier contempt order against her, her lawyers asked the whole matter–everything–all of it–including the part when she stood in front of a jailhouse, raised her hands to the sky and declared herself a martyr–be dismissed.

Related: Kim Davis Offered $500K To Do Interracial Lesbian Porn

Davis’ attorneys argued that, thanks to a new state law, county clerks are no longer required to sign their names on marriage licenses. Therefore, “the very religious accommodation Davis sought from the beginning of this litigation” has been met and the whole case is officially moot.

And now that that’s been settled, Davis’ lawyers added, she’d also like to have the lower court order that found her in contempt, resulting in her spending five days in jail, dismissed and her record cleared. Please and thank you.

Since the start of Davis’ legal drama, when she first issued a “no license” policy on all marriage certificates, gay or straight, in response to the SCOTUS ruling, she has failed at convincing the court that her personal religious beliefs held any sway over her duties as a public official required to follow the letter of the law. Though insiders say there’s a good chance the 6th Circuit will agree to put the issue to bed this time.

If it does, it will be Davis’ first win in her epic, year-long court fight.

But, as Huffington Post points out, it would be a win “not because she was ever right on the law, but because the law was changed to spare her.”

Related: Kim Davis Admits She Loves The Attention, Accuses Americans Of Being Intolerant

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Newly-Crowned Miss Missouri Erin O’Flaherty is First Openly Gay Miss America Contestant

The Miss American pageant has its first-ever openly gay contestant, as Erin O’Flaherty, an out lesbian, was crowned Miss Missouri on Saturday.

O’Flaherty told the AP in an interview that she came out at 18, and knew that if she won the competition it would be groundbreaking:

“I’m on cloud nine really just to be Miss Missouri,” she said. “I don’t know that I intended to be the first, but I am. So I’m very excited about it.”

O’Flaherty believes she also will be the first openly gay woman to compete in the Miss America scholarship pageant, which is scheduled for Sept. 11 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. A spokeswoman for the Miss America pageant didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

O’Flaherty has chosen suicide prevention as her platform. She says that while she will be talking about her sexual orientation and “raising awareness for the LGBT community” she says it won’t be the focus of her year.

Watch O’Flaherty’s crowning moment:

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What Was Your First Gay Bar? — Open Thread

Following the Orlando shooting, there has been a lot of talk about gay bars and the sanctuary they provide for members of the LGBTQ community. Hashtags like #MyFirstGayBar have sprung up on social media for people to share their stories.

The New York Times even got in the act, running a piece featuring out celebs talking about their first experiences.

So please, let us know, what was your first gay bar? Was it frightening, liberating, or a combination of the two? And please go into detail. We may share some of the stories in a later post.

Please share in the comments below.

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