HRC on President Obama’s Decision to Commute Portion of Chelsea Manning’s Remaining Sentence

Today, HRC released the following statement following President Obama’s decision to commute a large portion of Private (Pvt.) Chelsea Manning’s 35-year sentence.

“President Obama has a strong record regarding the humane treatment of prisoners and a long commitment to LGBTQ equality,” said HRC Communications Director Jay Brown. “The decision to commute Pvt. Chelsea Manning’s remaining sentence – after she served nearly 7 years for her crimes – reflects that record. We hope Pvt. Manning soon can access the care and treatment that she, and every transgender person, deserves.”

With this decision, Pvt. Manning will be released in May of this year. As Pvt. Manning serves the remainder of her sentence, she deserves the same thing that any incarcerated person does – appropriate and competent medical care and protection from discrimination and violence.  The care she receives should be something that she and her doctors – including professionals who understand transgender care – agree is best for her.  There is a clear legal consensus that it is the government’s responsibility to provide medically necessary care for transgender people and the military has an obligation to follow those guidelines.

www.hrc.org/blog/president-obama-commutes-portion-of-chelsea-mannings-sentence?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Reporting on Chelsea Manning with consistent respect for her gender identity

www.glaad.org/blog/reporting-chelsea-manning-consistent-respect-her-gender-identity

WATCH: Reality show contestant unleashes not-so-secret weapon to get ahead

From the start of his audition, it was clear there was something different about 26-year-old Harry.

“There’s a lot of hormones in the room,” a judge notes as Harry takes the stage, vying for a spot on the BBC’s new show “Let it Shine.” That’s one way of putting it.

The thirsty crowd squeals in delight as the panel of judges grill Harry on the tough questions, like “So you spend a lot of time in the gym? and “How’s your abs?” (Side note: “How’s your abs” might be the worst pickup line ever.)

Related: Two Hunky Brits Share A Kiss Before Doing The Dumbest Thing You Will Ever See

To that second query, Harry is all-too-eager to please — with one condition.

“Give me fifteen stars and I’ll take it off,” he says.

After singing a pretty forgettable song, the moment of truth arrives. Will he do it?

Oh please, we have a feeling Harry will take anything as an excuse to take his shirt off. Why would reality television be any different?

Graham Norton, for one, looks pleased.

Watch the dramatic events unfold below:

www.queerty.com/watch-reality-show-contestant-unleashes-not-secret-weapon-get-ahead-20170117?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Seth Meyers Takes ‘A Closer Look’ at Trump’s Attacks on Civil Rights Icon John Lewis: WATCH

Echoing, the majority of Americans’ thoughts, Seth Meyers started out last night’s “A Closer Look” with this note: “The Trump transition has been like listening to a spooky version of ‘Pop, Goes the Weasel’ that you hear in a horror movie.”

He then moved on to Trump’s John Lewis remarks, notable (or not notable) for the fact that they contradict remarks he made praising the civil rights icon a decade ago:

“If you’re wondering whether it’s racist to assume Lewis’ district is ‘crime-infested and falling apart’ just because he’s black, the answer is a hard ‘yes’. Of course, as usual, Trump isn’t even being consistent. He felt a little differently about Lewis’ district, which includes most of Atlanta, back in 2006 when he wanted to build a high-rise there, saying, ‘It’s a great location in a great city, I’ve loved Atlanta for years.’ I guess I’m not surprised; Trump changes positions more often than a porn star with a bad back.”

Watch:

The post Seth Meyers Takes ‘A Closer Look’ at Trump’s Attacks on Civil Rights Icon John Lewis: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

Seth Meyers Takes ‘A Closer Look’ at Trump’s Attacks on Civil Rights Icon John Lewis: WATCH

HRC’s Marvell Terry Featured in POZ Magazine for Working to End HIV in the South

Marvell L. Terry II, HRC’s HIV & AIDS Project Manager, is featured on the cover and in the January issue of POZ magazine, an award-winning resource for people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS.

The article, Southern Exposure, focuses on the unfortunate stigma black gay and bisexual men face in southern states and how it undermines their wellbeing and access to appropriate healthcare. The piece by Rod McCollom, also highlights a particularly staggering statistic from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — more than 60 percent of all black gay and bisexual men diagnosed with HIV in 2014 were living in the South.

Terry is working to combat stigma and raise the bar for education and awareness surrounding HIV. He spearheaded HRC’s innovative HIV 360° Fellowship Program, which has brought together 10 community-based leaders for a nine-month fellowship providing high-level training to elevate their work ending HIV in hard-hit U.S. communities. The program is made possible by the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Terry was also the face of HRC Foundation’s public education outreach campaign It’s Time to End Bad HIV Laws to raise awareness about the harms of HIV criminalization.

He is the founder of The Red Door Foundation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the health outcomes of black gay and bisexual men in the Southeast region of the U.S., and created the annual Saving Ourselves Symposium held in Jackson, Mississippi.

Terry told POZ that his inspiration for stepping up to create the annual symposium for Southern black gay and bisexual men living with HIV was straightforward: “We are in a state of emergency, and I wanted to convey this.” The event, Terry said, is for those “who need to be at the table to decrease transmission in the South.”

In addition to its 360° Fellowship Program, HRC is also committed to expanding education in the South through its multi-year Project One America, a comprehensive campaign in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi working to reduce the stigma of HIV & AIDS and advancing awareness of treatment and prevention.

Southern Exposure: Structural, social and health barriers – fueled by conservative politics, racism and stigma – are challenging the black gay and bisexual men at the center of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the south. can be read in full here.

Learn more about HRC’s commitment to working with allies, partners, members and supporters to end the HIV epidemic and the stigma surrounding HIV & AIDS by visiting hrc.org/HIV.

www.hrc.org/blog/hrcs-marvell-terry-featured-in-poz-magazine-for-working-to-end-hiv-in-the-s?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Betsy DeVos Is a Threat to America's Children

All of the nation’s youth — especially LGBT students — are at risk with Besty DeVos as Education secretary, writes Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers.

www.advocate.com/commentary/2017/1/17/betsy-devos-threat-americas-children

Billy Eichner might live-tweet reruns of “The Golden Girls” on inauguration day

American hero Billy Eichner is not pulling his punches when it comes to the disgraces about to assume control of the United States.

“[Trump] did all of this to try to sell more steaks,” Billy said in a new Variety interview. “I sound like I’m joking, but I’m not. He managed to dupe a very gullible, uneducated and/or bigoted section of the American electorate into voting for him, and now he’s stuck with a job he doesn’t really want.”

He added, “He’s so transparently full of s— — it’s shameful.”

Billy will be spending inauguration day doing something, anything to resist. And for him, that might be live-tweeting reruns of “The Golden Girls,” because he says people are going to need to escape the awfulness of the inauguration. That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

He’s very worried about what the new administration will do to LGBTs. There have been amazing advances under Obama, but Trump could demolish them all in a matter of days.

“Our new vice president, Mike Pence, is one of the most blatantly anti-LGBT politicians in the country, and most, if not all, of Trump’s cabinet is anti LGBT equality as well. Unfortunately for them, the majority of the country, especially young people, are very much in favor of equal rights for all LGBT people, and no one mobilizes like the gay community. So they really don’t know who they’re f*cking with.”

And don’t expect to see any Donald-administration politicians running around on Billy’s show (he recently welcomed Michelle Obama and Big Bird on). He refuses to have anything to do with them, he says, unless they add Debra Messing to the cabinet.

www.queerty.com/billy-eichner-might-live-tweet-reruns-golden-girls-inauguration-day-20170117?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Anti-Gay Radio Host Rick Burgess’s Daughter Comes Out and Gets Told She’ll Go to Hell

Brandi Burgess, the daughter of homophobic conservative Christian radio host Rick Burgess came out of the closet in an op-ed in which she said “I’m praying for my father.”

Rick Burgess is the host of the popular Rick & Bubba show and has made no secret of his anti-gay views. In 2010 he apologized after saying, about homosexuality, “there is, absolutely, no way, impossible, to biblically justify this lifestyle.”

Brandi Burgess, an actress living in Philadelphia, published the op-ed on AL.com and wrote that though she was the subject of many of her father’s on-air radio tales while growing up, she was “erased” by Burgess after coming out to the family and says “recently, I’ve returned, cast as the prodigal daughter.”

Writes Brandi:

For the past three years, my father and I have been debating God’s stance on homosexuality. It started with my Instagram post at a Pride parade: a picture of a mother holding a sign saying “I love my gay son.” I got a text demanding its removal: “How dare you compromise my platform!?”, “Remember who you represent.”, “Are you a gay?”

I have been praying, researching and meditating on the many emails, sermons and verses my dad has sent me. I always come back to the same conclusion. Love is love.

I shared this with him. “I love you. I’m sorry. I still love God.” I promised to be discrete.

This led to a constant barrage of shame.  “You think you’re so mod, so special. But you’re nothing. You’re typical.”

Brandi says on trips home this summer she “wasn’t allowed too close to my siblings” because she is gay and her stepmother told her “you choose this or you choose us” after she came out.

Brandi says she let shame define her and does not want other kids to do the same, and that’s why she wrote the piece:

So now, I am writing to the young women who feel like they don’t belong in their bodies, to the boys who want to kiss boys, and those on the spectrum between:

Perhaps you have heard my father on the radio and it makes you want to go to sleep and never wake up.

I love you. Your worth is untouchable. Find a good friend. Invest in therapy. Dance in the middle of the night and hold yourself accountable to the life you’ve always wanted. At the root of all this hate speech is fear. This is not your fear to carry. Release it.

Rick and his wife Sherri spoke out about Brandi’s editorial on his radio show. AL.com reports:

To Brandi, he said: “I told you before and I’ll say it again you’re my daughter and I will always love you. But I love you enough to tell you the truth. I’m not going to come up with some version of love that really isn’t love at all, that pats you on the back to justify you all the way to hell.”

…Sherri said she advised Brandi not to live according to human passions, but according to God’s will.

“This is not a battle between Rick and me and our daughter. It’s a battle between good and evil,  the Bible versus the world,  God versus the world….I don’t care if you’re happy. I don’t care if you’re healthy. I care about your eternal salvation.”

Added Rick: “This has become a new version of Christianity which is not biblical in any way shape or form. Sadly our daughter and others have bought into this new hippie version of Jesus…Quit making up a version of God which is your own – which is idolatry…”

The post Anti-Gay Radio Host Rick Burgess’s Daughter Comes Out and Gets Told She’ll Go to Hell appeared first on Towleroad.

Anti-Gay Radio Host Rick Burgess’s Daughter Comes Out and Gets Told She’ll Go to Hell

Donald Trump made a video begging people to attend his inauguration and the comments are hilarious

Hey, remember when 1.8 million supporters turned out for President Obama’s first inauguration in 2009, setting a record attendance for any event held in Washington, D.C.? Yeah, well, that’s definitely not happening this Friday when Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America.

Related: Donald Trump books the most antigay of antigay clergy for his doomsday inauguration

RSVPs to the event are pretty dismal, so to try and drum up attendance, Donald released a video over the weekend inviting everyone–anyone, really–to his “Make American Great Again Celebration” on Friday, which he promises will be “incredible” and “really fantastic.” (How could it not be with performers like Three Doors Down and whoever he can find at the last minute to replace Jennifer Holliday?!)

“I’ll see you on January 19th, very importantly, at the Lincoln Memorial at four o’clock,” Trump says with forced enthusiasm.

Related: Donald Trump lashes out at “Hillary flunky” Meryl Streep following historic speech

The video was shared on Mike Pence’s Facebook page over the weekend, where it has so far garnered over 12,000 comments, the majority of which from people sending their regrets, as well as their reasons why they won’t be able to attend. Sad!

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the comments…

Related: #Goldenshower memes and jokes flood the Internet thanks to #PEEOTUS-elect Donald Trump

www.queerty.com/donald-trump-made-video-begging-people-attend-inauguration-comments-hilarious-20170117?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29