Pat McCrory, Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, Rudy Giuliani, Ryan Gosling, Ellen and Kathy Griffin: HOT LINKS

NORTH CAROLINA. Ousted Governor and HB 2 super-proponent Pat McCrory “definitely” has a place in the Trump administration: “’They’re definitely going to take care of him,’ said the source, who asked not to be named because he’s not authorized to speak for the transition. McCrory met with Trump last week at Trump Tower in New York City. The day before, he’d met backstage with Trump during the president-elect’s thank-you rally in Fayetteville.

THEATRE. Jake Gyllenhaal to hit Broadway in musical Sunday in the Park with George: “The show will play at New York City’s Hudson Theatre, beginning on February 11, 2017. It will run for a 10 week engagement.”

NORMALIZATION. Bill Gates compares Trump to JFK: “But in the same way President Kennedy talked about the space mission and got the country behind that,” Gates continued, “I think whether it’s education or stopping epidemics … [or] in this energy space, there can be a very upbeat message that [Trump’s] administration [is] going to organize things, get rid of regulatory barriers, and have American leadership through innovation.”

CLAP BACK. Lady Gaga will do interview with Piers Morgan, who said he didn’t believe she has PTSD: “if you continue to shame me in the process of kindly agreeing to interview w/ u I’ll happily do the interview with someone else.”

OKAY, GIRL. Rudy Giuliani says he turned down two cabinet-level jobs in the Trump administration (neither of which were Sec’y of State): “He declined to name the positions but acknowledged to CNN’s Chris Cuomo that those two “very high” positions did not include the top job at State. Giuliani had been an early contender for that post, and was unusually public about his attempt to court it, but the transition team said last week that he was no longer in the running.”

OHIO. Governor John Kasich signs law banning abortion at 20 weeks: “The Ohio Republican also vetoed a bill that would have banned the practice at 6 weeks, a point when many who would have conceived don’t even know that they are pregnant. Both bills are designed to limit women’s right to choose, and, according to the ACLU, both are unconstitutional.”

WET WHITE BUTTON UP CONTEST. Ryan Gosling goes swimming with his clothes on–but at least they’re partially see-through.

WHAT’S IN A NAME? White supremacists don’t like being called what they are: “Some Trump supporters, like a college Republican featured in The New York Times, have expressed outrage at Clinton supporters who feel scared and sad. A white supremacist featured in the LA Times, describes being on ‘an emotional high’ since the election and explains that he actually considers terms like ‘racist’ to be ‘antiwhite hate speech.’ A KKK-member describes how and why he doesn’t care for the term “white supremacist.” And, it’s all so grotesque.”

EEK. Queens of comedy Ellen DeGeneres and Kathy Griffin had a tense phone call that ended with Kathy in tears: “According to Griffin, DeGeneres repeated, ‘I don’t hate you,’ and Griffin responded, ‘I don’t think you hate me.’ But after hanging up, Griffin said she ‘started sobbing.’”

DON’T MAKE ME CLOSE ONE MORE DOOR. The Bodyguard is a musical for your listening delight.

STRUT. “Slumber Party” slay-age.

INSTAHUNK. Robert Oliveira.

The post Pat McCrory, Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, Rudy Giuliani, Ryan Gosling, Ellen and Kathy Griffin: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad.

Pat McCrory, Bill Gates, Lady Gaga, Rudy Giuliani, Ryan Gosling, Ellen and Kathy Griffin: HOT LINKS

HIV 101: Is It Possible I Got a False Positive on My HIV Test?

Everyone has questions when they find out they are positive. In this series of posts, here are several of the most common, plus straightforward answers to help you navigate this new life of yours.

www.advocate.com/together-we-know/2016/12/13/hiv-101-it-possible-i-got-false-positive-my-hiv-test

Andy Cohen and Sting Play Spin the Bottle (and Andy Gets What He Wants) – WATCH

On Watch What Happens Live!, host Andy Cohen got exactly what he bargained for when he invited Sting and Trudie Styler to play a game of ‘Spin the Message in a Bottle.’

A combination of Spin the Bottle and Plead the Fifth, Spin the Message in a Bottle poses questions that one must answer or get out of answering by kissing the person who spun the bottle.

After kissing Trudie twice, Andy finally got what he wanted when Sting spun the bottle and it landed on him. While the question is something he says he’d normally be happy to answer — is he a member of the mile high club? — he deferred answering so he could get a lip lock, albeit brief, with Sting.

Watch, below.

The post Andy Cohen and Sting Play Spin the Bottle (and Andy Gets What He Wants) – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Andy Cohen and Sting Play Spin the Bottle (and Andy Gets What He Wants) – WATCH

Check out the LGBTQ-inclusive films and experiences coming to Sundance

www.glaad.org/blog/check-out-lgbtq-inclusive-films-and-experiences-coming-sundance

Maddow Speaks With Clinton Rep. on Russian Hack, Electoral College

Jennifer Palmieri explains why Hillary Clinton’s campaign supports the Electoral College receiving an intelligence briefing.

www.advocate.com/election/2016/12/13/maddow-speaks-clinton-rep-russian-hack-electoral-college

Let ‘The Sissies’ vogue you right on out of those 2016 blues

File this one under “mid week life-affirming magic.”

Related: Grocery shopping is better with voguing and this video proves it

Choreographed by Bay Area dance legend Allan Frias and directed by Frias and Jaysin Ashbaugh, the below video features dance triad The Sissies voguing their way through the Castro in San Francisco to a crazed, skittering (and sickening) track called “What U Lookin’ At” by Ash B.

Related: Vogue mini-doc takes you inside New York’s contemporary ballroom scene

Kicking off with an homage to Paris Is Burning, it’s the perfect antidote to basically every other bit of news today, and yesterday, and likely tomorrow. The world may be messy, but as long as there are queer people dancing in the streets and turning heads, something is moving in the right direction.

Watch below:

www.queerty.com/let-sissies-vogue-right-2016-blues-20161213?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Vigil Held to Honor Pulse Victims on 6 Month Anniversary of Orlando Massacre – WATCH

Monday marked the 6 month anniversary of the Pulse nightclub massacre that took the lives of 49 people.

The Orlando mass shooting was the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11 and also the worst anti-LGBT hate crime in American history. As the attack happened on the club’s Latin night, victims were predominantly Latinx and LGBT.

Family, friends and loved ones of the victims gathered at a special candle-light vigil early Monday morning to remember those they lost to a senseless act of hate.

NBC News reports:

At 2:02 a.m. early Monday morning—the exact time lone gunman Omar Mateen opened fire inside the club on the night of June 12—mourners gathered in the nightclub’s parking lot to light candles and stand in silence. Star-shaped cutouts bearing the names of all 49 killed in the shooting stood propped up on the pavement in the shape of the Pulse logo, each name surrounded by delicate white roses. […]

As the names of the mostly Latino, LGBTQ victims were read out loud, many in the crowd could be seen crying and covering their faces in grief as they reached out to comfort one another.

Once all 49 names were read, the small crowd stood in near-silence, only the quiet sounds of weeping and nearby traffic to be heard.

More from The Orlando Sentinel: 

Tall, white candles were set up in a pulse pattern on the ground near the entrance of the club. They held up multi-colored stars with the names of each of the victims. White and red roses bordered the arrangement.

The crowd gathered around the memorial. Many wore black as a sign of mourning or a shirt with their loved one’s face on it. Some brought flowers to honor a friend or family member lost in the shooting.

Click Orlando adds: 

A Christmas tree also stands outside the nightclub as a symbol of how much time has passed since the June attack.

“Makes me so sad to see it dark,” Dewey said. “Beyond the fence, I see the walls of a building that used to be so filled with life,” Dewey said.

Pulse owner Barbara Poma announced Friday that she plans to reopen the nightclub in another location, but hasn’t said where or when that will be.

Watch news reports on the 6 month anniversary of the attack, below.

Miami police have been training for a Pulse-like scenario in which victims are trapped inside a nightclub since the June 12 attack.

The post Vigil Held to Honor Pulse Victims on 6 Month Anniversary of Orlando Massacre – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Vigil Held to Honor Pulse Victims on 6 Month Anniversary of Orlando Massacre – WATCH

Trump Adds to Collection of Anti-LGBTQ Cabinet Nominees With Rick Perry Nomination

Today, President-elect Donald Trump announced he would nominate Rick Perry to lead the Department of Energy.  Perry brings with him a long history of opposing LGBTQ equality, both as Governor of Texas and a former candidate for president.

As a candidate for president, Perry not only consistently opposed LGBTQ equality, but he’s used his opposition to LGBTQ rights as a campaign issue against other candidates. Perry released a notorious campaign ad in 2011 saying there was something “wrong” with our country when “…gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school.”

Prior to that, Perry has long opposed marriage equality. Perry supported a ballot measure to ban marriage equality in Texas, supported a federal constitutional amendment banning marriage equality nationwide, and has attacked judges who have ruled against marriage bans. He even defied a Department of Defense rule that granted LGB service members access to spousal benefits.

As Governor, Rick Perry suggested that Texans who supported marriage equality should move to California, telling NPR, “If, you know, you want to live in a state that has high taxes, high regulations, that is favorable toward smoking marijuana and gay marriage, move to California.”

Perry also defended then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s right to discriminate law — putting LGBTQ people at risk of discrimination and costing the state millions of dollars. And just like Mike Pence, Rick Perry also attacked the Obama Administration for fighting for LGBTQ equality abroad.

Click here to read more about the troubling anti-LGBTQ records of three other Trump nominees: Representative Tom Price, Ben Carson and Senator Jeff Sessions.

www.hrc.org/blog/trump-adds-to-collection-of-anti-lgbtq-cabinet-nominees-with-rick-perry-nom?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed