#AM_Equality Tip Sheet: September 23, 2016

HRC MEMBERS FIRST IN LINE TO VOTE EARLY FOR CLINTON IN MINNEAPOLIS: This morning, HRC members were the first in line to vote for Hillary Clinton at the downtown Minneapolis early voting site. HRC President Chad Griffin (@ChadHGriffin) joined them outside the early voting location to discuss the importance of the LGBTQ vote in the upcoming elections — up and down the ticket. The morning kicks off a wave of activity by HRC in Minnesota to encourage its members to vote early — in Minnesota, the estimated population of LGBTQ is nearly 122,000, a substantial number of potential voters in a state which had a 207,402 margin of victory in the last election.

HITTING THE TRAIL IN ARIZONA: Yesterday, HRC President Chad Griffin (@ChadHGriffin) traveled to Arizona to encourage the pro-equality vote and support candidates, kicking off a phone bank of HRC volunteers campaigning for Hillary Clinton. While there, he spoke with Univision Arizona about how the LGBTQ vote can impact elections up and down the ticket this year. Roughly 6 million LGB voters cast a ballot in 2012 — an election President Obama won by just under 5 million votes. With Donald Trump’s commitment to reverse nationwide marriage equality and support for dangerous and vile laws like North Carolina’s HB2, all the progress the LGBTQ community has made over the last eight years — and all the progress we have yet to make — is at risk in this election. In Arizona, the estimated population of  LGBTQ adults exceeds 200,000.

So excited to be in PHX to #turnOUT the vote for @HillaryClinton & pro-equality candidates up & down the ballot. First stop? @UnivisionAZ! pic.twitter.com/7cTwCR9ecr

— Chad Griffin (@ChadHGriffin) September 22, 2016

GLOBAL WORKPLACE LGBTQ EQUALITY PROGRAM LAUNCHES IN MEXICO: Yesterday, HRC, Francisco Robledo of Alianza por la Diversidad e Inclusión Laboral (ADIL) and Fernando Velazquez of FVConsulting – Consultores en Diversidad e Inclusion, S.C launched HRC Equidad MX: Global Workplace Equality Program, a new program that will work to promote LGBTQ workplace inclusion throughout Mexico. HRC Equidad MX: Global Workplace Equality Program will increase awareness about the importance of LGBTQ diversity and inclusion Mexico’s workplaces by developing consulting and education models for Mexican companies and organizations. It will also utilize HRC’s tools and relationships to engage interested companies in aligning their corporate policies on LGBTQ inclusion to international standards. More from HRC.

LOL OF THE WEEK: The Charlotte Observer created a roundup of the nation’s political cartoons taking a look at HB2. Check them out here.

The nation’s cartoonists gather in Durham, poking fun at North Carolina’s #HB2 bill: t.co/U9XgIPEW5s #ncpol #ncgov #charobs

— Kevin Siers (@KevinSiers) September 21, 2016

TIP OF THE HAT TO TIPPECANOE: This week, the Tippecanoe County, Ind. Board of Commissioners voted to add gender identity protections to their non-discrimination ordinance. In addition to gender identity, the ordinance adds a definition for veteran status to the County’s existing non-discrimination ordinance. More from The Journal and Courier.

• Local governments standing up while state leadership try to move back: Counties like Tippecanoe are leading the way in LGBTQ non-discrimination protections in Indiana. The state does not protect LGBTQ citizens from discrimination. Not to mention Indiana’s Lieutenant Governor said LGBTQ issues “is not an issue [he’s] focused on at all,” and we all know Indiana was the site of Gov. Mike Pence’s disastrous anti-LGBTQ law.

PRESIDENT OBAMA CONDEMNS ANTI-LGBTQ VIOLENCE IN UN SPEECH: In the final speech President Obama will make during his administration to the United Nations, he condemned global anti-LGBTQ violence, saying “If our religion leads us to persecute those of another faith, if we jail or beat people who are gay, if our traditions lead us to prevent girls from going to school, if we discriminate on the basis of race or tribe or ethnicity, then the fragile bonds of civilization will fray.” More from Pink News.

READING RAINBOW

HRC shares five bisexual women who aren’t afraid to live their truth… The Associated Press photographs a pageant celebrating trans women in Barcelona… HRC sits down with HIV 360° Fellow Thomas Davis of the Los Angeles LGBT Center…

Have news? Send us your news and tips at [email protected]. Click here to subscribe to A.M. Equality and follow @HRC for all the latest news. Thanks for reading!

www.hrc.org/blog/am-equality-tip-sheet-september-23-2016?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Mexico Catholic Church Claims Censorship Over Marriage Equality Opposition

“There is persecution against the Church,” said a spokesman for the Archdiocese.

www.advocate.com/religion/2016/9/23/mexico-catholic-church-claims-censorship-over-marriage-equality-opposition

Kentucky Judge Thinks Men Don't Hug Anymore Because Gay Marriage

The judge compared called same-sex marriage an oxymoron akin to “jumbo shrimp.” 

www.advocate.com/politics/2016/9/23/kentucky-judge-thinks-men-dont-hug-anymore-because-gay-marriage

13 Things Never to Say to Bisexual People

Yes, bisexual people really do exist, but they aren’t any more — or less — promiscuous, monogamous, or indecisive than anyone else.

www.advocate.com/bisexuality/2014/06/02/13-things-never-say-bisexual-people

“Fat Ugly Face”: Intense New Clinton Ad Captures Trump’s Misogyny

It turns out there is something worse than a misogynist gay man, and that’s a misogynist Republican presidential candidate. Just days after her daughter Chelsea accused Donald Trump of  “sad, misogynistic, sexist rhetoric,” a powerful new Clinton ad called “Mirrors” brilliantly captures how pigheadedly pervasive his hatred for women is — simply by showcasing some of the rhetoric he’s used on the campaign trail: “She’s a slob;” “she ate like a pig;” “fat ugly face;” and “a person who is flat-chested; it’s very hard for them to be a ten” are just a few recent examples of his bizarrely hateful rhetoric. Awfully judgmental for a sentient tub of pumpkin cream cheese.

Related: Justin Trudeau Subtly Disses Donald Trump During His First UN Address

Only 30 seconds in length, the new Clinton ad undoubtedly packs quite a punch. Unfortunately, it’s probably time to forgo the attack ads altogether, and just put Hillary and Trump in a boxing ring so she can punch him in the face.

Watch the new Clinton ad below: 

www.queerty.com/fat-ugly-face-intense-new-clinton-ad-captures-trumps-misogyny-20160923?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Asexuals Are Tired Of Your Crap, Demand Greater Visibility

It may be Bisexual Awareness Week, but Asexuals the world over say they want to be noticed as well. They are demanding greater visibility, saying they want asexuality to be recognized as an official sexual orientation by the government, the National Post reports.

In a new review published by the University of British Columbia, Canadian sex academics are insisting that asexuality isn’t some bizarre form of “psychopathology” or the result an extremely low libido as famously diagnosed by zoologist and sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in the 1940s. Instead, they say, “we surmise that the available evidence points to asexuality being best conceptualized as a unique sexual orientation.”

In other words: Having no sexual orientation is itself a sexual orientation. Just like being gay, straight, bisexual, etc. So start treating it as such!

Related: Ten Sexual Orientations Besides Gay, Straight Or Bi To Round Out Your Sexicon

But the movement isn’t just happening in Canada. In the U.K., asexual activists are seeking to have “asexual” added the list of options around sexual identity in the upcoming 2021 census questionnaire, arguing that “around one per cent of the population is asexual” and should therefore be counted.

“It is most likely that the best part of a million British residents are asexual,” the sex academics write, “yet we have almost no data that sheds light on the causes of asexuality, its correlates or the implications of identifying as asexual.”

Activists and researchers alike argue that making “asexual” an official sexual orientation on government census forms “would challenge much of the stigma and myths that suggest asexual individuals are just celibate, or that this is some kind of manifestation of psychopathology or trauma.”

Indeed, a study published by Yale University back in April documented the “coming out” experiences of over 150 asexuals. Many reported being met with disbelief and dismissiveness. One woman reported being called “ridiculous” by a friend. Another said the person she told responded by saying, “You’re not a tree.” Similarly, a 2012 study found asexuals were met with significant bias and negative attitudes, particularly be heterosexuals.

Related: What It’s Like To Be Gay And Asexual In A Sex-Crazed World?

h/t: National Post

www.queerty.com/asexuals-tired-crap-demand-greater-visibility-20160923?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Keith Olbermann on Kathy ‘No Racism Before Obama’ Miller: ‘She IS the Trump Campaign’ – WATCH

Keith Olbermann took a look at the racism underlying Donald Trump’s campaign for president in his latest episode of his new web series The Closer.

Said Olbermann sarcastically, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but there’s a slight undertone of racism to Donald Trump’s campaign. No! Really! And of course when I say ‘slight undertone’ I mean something approximately the size of the SKY.”

Olbermann focused on The Guardian‘s interview on Thursday with Trump’s Mahoning County, Ohio campaign chair Kathy Miller, in which Miller said there was no racism before President Obama took office.

Said Miller,

“If you’re black and you haven’t been successful in the last 50 years, it’s your own fault. You’ve had every opportunity, it was given to you.”

“You’ve had the same schools everybody else went to. You had benefits to go to college that white kids didn’t have. You had all the advantages and didn’t take advantage of it. It’s not our fault, certainly.”

PREVIOUSLY – Keith Olbermann Rips Trump’s Calls for Clinton’s Assassination: ‘What Kind of Sick Bastard Are You?’

Kathy Miller ended up resigning her post on Thursday.

But as Olbermann points out, Miller resigning doesn’t change one simple fact about her involvement with the Trump campaign: “[Kathy Miller] is the Trump campaign. She is him. She is all of them. Living a whole life made up of, ‘If it didn’t happen to me, it didn’t happen.’”

Preach.

Watch, below.

The post Keith Olbermann on Kathy ‘No Racism Before Obama’ Miller: ‘She IS the Trump Campaign’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Keith Olbermann on Kathy ‘No Racism Before Obama’ Miller: ‘She IS the Trump Campaign’ – WATCH

Rick Santorum, Manatee, Yahoo Hack, David Beckham, Charlotte, Instapundit, Britney Spears: HOT LINKS

FIVETHIRTYEIGHT UPDATE. Clinton 60.3%, Trump 39.7%, slight improvement for Clinton.

NEW POLL. Clinton up by 6. “Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is leading Republican Donald Trump by six points nationally, according to the latest McClatchy/Marist poll released Friday.”

ISIS. Clinton plans to hunt down its leader: “A key priority of Hillary Clinton’s proposed intelligence surge will be to kill or capture Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, her campaign has told the Guardian. During the past year, Clinton, the former secretary of state and Democratic presidential nominee, has placed bolstering the vast US intelligence apparatus at the center of her national security agenda. Days before the first presidential debate – and after the New York area escaped without mass casualties from multiple bombings – her campaign has for the first time expanded on how her policies would work.”

CHARLOTTE. Instapundit Glenn Reynolds won’t apologize for telling drivers to run protesters over: “Glenn Reynolds, a USA Today columnist and University of Tennessee law professor who goes by the name Instapundit, said on Thursday morning that he will not apologize for a tweet urging drivers to run over protesters in Charlotte, North Carolina. Reynolds told radio host Hugh Hewitt that he would “probably not” tweet the message if given another chance, but he was unapologetic.”

TERENCE CRUTCHER. Tulsa officer Betty Shelby, who shot unarmed Terence Crutcher, is charged with manslaughter, released on bond: “Tulsa officer Betty Shelby ‘reacted unreasonably’ when she fatally shot 40-year-old Terence Crutcher on Sept. 16, prosecutors wrote in an affidavit filed with the charge on Thursday. Police also acted quickly to provide videos of the shooting to black community leaders and members of Crutcher’s family and then released them to the public.Shelby was booked in the Tulsa County jail at 1:11 a.m. Friday and was released at 1:31 a.m. after posting $50,000 bond, according to jail records.”

FROTHY MIX. Trump taps Rick Santorum as advisor: “The actions are the result of Trump’s creation of a 35-member Catholic Advisory Council, which includes, in addition to Santorum, other individuals with anti-LGBT histories. Accompanying the creation of the council is a new statement from Trump outlining “Issues of Importance to Catholics” and reiterating his support for the First Amendment Defense Act, a federal “religious freedom” bill seen to enable anti-LGBT discrimination.

HACK. Hackers post emails revealing details of Clinton, Biden, Obama’s schedule: “The emails were stolen from the personal Gmail account of the Democratic operative, Ian Mellul. They reveal how widely White House officials, Clinton campaign operatives and Secret Service agents have exchanged detailed and sensitive information with people using personal email accounts. There is no indication that Mr. Mellul, 22, who was in effect working as a freelancer when the White House or the Clinton campaign needed help, did anything wrong, and government officials declined to talk about the use of the private account.”

2016 ELECTION. Mike Pence’s lieutenant governor won’t use Pence’s name in his ads: “In a new TV spot in Indiana’s gubernatorial race, Republican Eric Holcomb blandly talks about job creation. But interestingly, Holcomb brags that he worked with former Gov. Mitch Daniels—whose term in office ended nearly four years ago—yet doesn’t say a word about current Gov. Mike Pence.”

BRITNEY SPEARS. Her kids scared their mommy.

My damn kids 😂 pic.twitter.com/YNVWlo1jOH

— Britney Spears (@britneyspears) September 22, 2016

CAPE COD. Wayward manatee rescued: “We’re hoping that with additional medical care and after some time in the warm water pools at Mystic, the manatee will bounce back. Once stable and strong enough for transport, we will bring it to more permanent rehabilitation center in Florida where the manatee will have more time to recuperate before ultimately being released back to the wild. When this manatee was spotted in Chatham in late August, I was surprised. It’s pretty rare for these warm water sea cows to come this far north.” (photo IFAW)

CANADA. Alberta NDP calls on supporters to sign pro-gay-straight alliance petition: “The poll comes as Alberta’s Education minister and two Edmonton-area Baptist private schools engage in a game of chicken over a law granting all students the right to form a gay-straight alliance or similar club in school.”

TOM DELAY. The former House Majority Leader says something that no one believes.

DAVID BECKHAM. Footballer does the #22kill push-up challenge for director Guy Ritchie, on a piano.

iPHONE 7. New phone can survive boiling water and being frozen in Coca-Cola.

YAHOO. Hackers stole data from 500 million users: “The breach included swathes of personal information, including names and emails, as well as “unencrypted security questions and answers”.The hack took place in 2014 but has only now been made public. The FBI has confirmed it is investigating the claims.Stolen data includes names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth and encrypted passwords, but not credit card data, Yahoo said.”

FRIDAY FLASH. Farley.

The post Rick Santorum, Manatee, Yahoo Hack, David Beckham, Charlotte, Instapundit, Britney Spears: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad.

Rick Santorum, Manatee, Yahoo Hack, David Beckham, Charlotte, Instapundit, Britney Spears: HOT LINKS

Guernsey Votes To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage

Guernsey in the Channel Islands voted on Wednesday to legalize same-sex marriage, meaning there’s only one part of the UK holding out.

Northern Ireland is now the only part of the UK that has not legislated for marriage equality.

A preliminary vote in December of last year made a vote in favor of gay marriage almost a certainty. In Wednesday’s second free vote, lawmakers voter by 33 to five to pass the legislation.

According to Buzzfeed, last year, 90% of of respondents in a survey said they supported “a non-discriminatory equitable system for the legal recognition of committed couples.”

RELATED: Isle of Man Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

Ellie Jones, vice chair of LGBT activist group Liberate, said:

“We are ecstatic that Guernsey is now a more equal place to live and that the States have demonstrated their support for LGBTQ islanders, some of whom have waited a very long time to be able to get married.

“We would like to thank all of those in the States and the wider community who have worked so hard to bring this about, and we wish luck to all whose who will be hearing wedding bells in 2017”

So Guernsey approves gay marriage and @WBCSaysRepent don’t like it, that’s a double win in my books. #guernsey #pride #cult #realitytv

— James Le Huray (@Jameslehuray) September 22, 2016

The first same-sex weddings are expected to take place in the middle of next year.

(Image via Liberate.gg)

The post Guernsey Votes To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage appeared first on Towleroad.

Guernsey Votes To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage

The GLAAD Wrap: 'Dirty 30' out now, 'The Tyler Oakley Show' launches, George Takei's 'Allegiance' comes to big screen and more!

www.glaad.org/blog/glaad-wrap-dirty-30-out-now-tyler-oakley-show-launches-george-takeis-allegiance-comes-big