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Daily Archives: March 16, 2017
Here’s some handsome, openly gay divers who just made history
Here’s some handsome, openly gay divers who just made history
Virginia Tech believed they’d never had an athlete come out publicly as LGBT, until last week, that is. And not just one.
Even more notable: at the NCAA Zone A Championships hosted by Virginia Tech and held in Christiansburg, Va., five out LGBTQ men’s divers competed (one requested not to be named in the below video).
Related: Ex-college swimmer explains why coming out is magic
Old Dominion junior Cory Moreno, Drexel freshman Anthony Musciano, West Virginia junior Alex Obendorf, and Harvard junior David Pfeifer made history in what is believed to be the largest group of out divers to ever compete at the event.
“That’s a big thing, especially for just one zone,” said Obendorf, who came out publicly in 2014. “I personally wouldn’t think there would be that many [LGBT] people here.”
Watch:
h/t OutSports
Watch LIVE: WH Press Secretary Sean Spicer Holds Press Briefing
Watch LIVE: WH Press Secretary Sean Spicer Holds Press Briefing
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer is scheduled to hold a press briefing at 2 pm.
Today’s press conference comes as the Senate Intelligence Committee releases a statement saying they have no evidence of wiretapping at Trump Tower, Trumpcare faces bipartisan pushback, federal judges are halting Trump’s travel ban, and more messes.
The post Watch LIVE: WH Press Secretary Sean Spicer Holds Press Briefing appeared first on Towleroad.
Watch LIVE: WH Press Secretary Sean Spicer Holds Press Briefing
Time cover story highlights evolving gender identities
Time cover story highlights evolving gender identities
In the new issue of Time Magazine, an article titled “Infinite Identities” is featured on the cover, drawing on a GLAAD-commissioned survey to explore the evolution of gender and sexual identity in younger (Millennial) generations. The survey found that 20% of Millennials identify as something other than strictly cisgender and straight, as compared to 7% of Baby Boomers.
The article points out that some feel as though there are more people than ever identifying as LGBTQ, but that this is likely a result of growing rates of acceptance—individuals who are coming out as LGBTQ are doing so because they feel more comfortable than they may have in prior years.
“There have been the generations that have lived by the rules and those generations that break the rules,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis tells Time magazine. Young people today, she says, are “redefining everything.”
The Time article discusses the idea of rejecting binaries, meaning that it is more likely in the Millennial generation that someone will identify as bisexual, pansexual, or asexual than simply “gay” or “straight,” as in the past. To a somewhat lesser extent, this is true of gender identity as well—rather than “man” or “woman,” Millennials are more likely to identify as gender nonconforming, genderqueer, or demi-fluid.
The piece also turns to older organizations or individuals within the LGBTQ movement, who have often used binary descriptions in their arguments for equality. By focusing on how gender and sexual identities have evolved over time, the article begs for us to observe the generation gap that has arisen, even within the LGBTQ movement.
March 16, 2017
Issues:
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www.glaad.org/blog/time-cover-story-highlights-evolving-gender-identities
Republican says ‘demonic spirits’ using ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to turn kids gay. That escalated fast.
Republican says ‘demonic spirits’ using ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to turn kids gay. That escalated fast.
Unswervingly creepy Colorado state congressman Gordon Klingenschmitt is quite certain demons helped executive-produce the upcoming live-action Beauty and the Beast film.
Their endgame: Turn the innocent children into homosexuals.
Related: Gordon Klingenschmitt Is Turned On By The Idea Of Gay Scout Leaders Being Drowned In The Sea
Disney has faced a certain amount of heat from religious zealots since it became known that there’d be a gay character in the film.
Klingenschmitt is upset Le Fou is seen flagrantly dancing with another man in the film, and he made these feelings known during a recent broadcast of his talk show, Pray In Jesus’ Name.
“Demonic spirits,” he says, are using BATB to “recruit children into sin.”
As Right Wing Watch reports, the evangelical talking head recommended “a boycott of the movie”:
“I recommend that Christian parents avoid having their children recruited into the homosexual agenda.
Behind the human actors, the Disney Corporation and the owners thereof are intentionally promoting sin to children. When we discern through the moral lens of human interaction with the demonic spirits, pride is a demonic spirit. Sexual immortality is demonic, but what about pride?
Homosexuals proudly marching in the streets… pride is the sin of arrogance, thinking that you’re smarter than God, your creator. If God made you male and female, but you want to be confused and celebrate the sin of being sexually immoral, there is a demonic spirit behind that.
This all culminated in a fiery prayer to “stop the recruiting of our children into the sinful lifestyle of homosexuality.”
“Father,” he begged, “protect America from using cartoons to recruit children into sin.”
His prayers have been answered, as Beauty and the Beast is live-action.
Watch:
Sally Field Is Starring in ‘The Glass Menagerie’ on Broadway — and You’ll Really Like Her: REVIEW
Sally Field Is Starring in ‘The Glass Menagerie’ on Broadway — and You’ll Really Like Her: REVIEW
If walking into the Belasco Theatre feels like interrupting a rehearsal for The Glass Menagerie, it’s by design. In Tennessee Williams’ familiar opening lines, the narrator Tom (a rumpled and wonderful Joe Mantello) notes that this is a memory play, so we ought to know upfront “it is dimly lighted,” “sentimental,” and “not realistic.” But director Sam Gold’s stripped-down and finely acted production, which opened on Broadway March 9, is very often none of the above.
For starters, Tom delivers this preamble in the same bright lights under which you found your seat (the prominent lighting design is by Adam Silverman). As Tom promises to present us with “truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion,” there are no signs of illusion to be found on Andrew Lieberman’s spare set — just an empty black stage with a folding table, some chairs, and a gramophone. In his forward to the play, Williams insists directors toy with these ideas of art and reality, and Gold (who won a Tony for directing Fun Home) is certainly game.
Even Tom’s sister Laura, whose condition Williams describes in the script as crippled from childhood illness, with one leg shorter than the other, is played by a differently abled actress, newcomer Madison Ferris. Nothing about her limited mobility or degree of dependence on others feels like make-believe; Ferris brings to the role a tangible sense of fragility as well as mental isolation, aligning Laura all the more with her treasured collection of glass figurines.
Tom brings us back in his memory to 1930s St Louis. Their father is gone, and Tom pays the bills with a factory job while aspiring to be a writer and escaping nights to local bars (knowing Williams, likely to meet men). Their mother Amanda (Sally Field, in a role she was born to play) frets over Laura, who’s not cut out for work and has never received a gentleman caller (of the sort Amanda loves to remind us, she had to beat off with a stick).
Field, who has been Hollywood’s quintessential mom for nearly three decades, is a marvel to see here. The earnest, doting instincts she brings to Amanda have been a hallmark of her most iconic on-screen roles (see: Steel Magnolias, Forrest Gump, Brothers & Sisters, the list goes on). Perhaps because we’re so used to seeing Field as a mother, Amanda’s grand reminiscing, micromanaging, and investment in her kids’ well-being don’t feel as obsessive or delusional as they did, say, in Cherry Jones’ masterful (and vastly different) performance on Broadway just a few years ago.
In a certain way, the stakes feel higher here than in John Tiffany’s hyper-imaginative 2013 production. Gold’s bare-stage approach puts the focus on fine performances from the central trio. There is another layer of urgency to questions about Laura’s future, which would seem to add to Tom’s guilt for leaving her behind. But the vastness of the empty stage also swallows up any sense of claustrophobia. And Mantello’s sensitive performance notwithstanding, seeing that Tom grew into a wise adult who seems to be doing okay, it’s hard to imagine he’s spent most of his life running from ghosts.
But it’s the play’s emotional turning point, a scene between Laura and her presumed gentleman caller, Jim (here played by Finn Wittrock), that doesn’t quite round the corner to heartbreak. Charismatic to a fault and almost compulsively good-natured, Wittrock’s Jim overwhelms the candlelit scene, which Ferris plays with a more quiet intensity. By the time lights come up a bit too harshly on the play’s final moments, the illusion of truth is gone too soon, and we’re back where we started.
Recent theatre features…
‘Come From Away’ Is the Rousing 9/11 Musical You Could Not Have Predicted: REVIEW
The ‘70s Gay Bar of Your Dreams Is Alive in ‘The View UpStairs’ Off-Broadway: REVIEW
‘Significant Other’ Renders Gay Thirst a Laughing Matter on Broadway: REVIEW
First Look at ‘The View UpStairs’, a Provocative New Musical About a Tragic Moment in LGBT History: WATCH
‘Moonlight’ Star André Holland Opens in August Wilson’s ‘Jitney’ on Broadway: REVIEW
Cate Blanchett Opens in ‘The Present’ on Broadway: A Gift That’s Not So Giving: REVIEW
Teen Angst Musical ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Opens on Broadway: REVIEW
Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar (photos: julieta cervantes)
The post Sally Field Is Starring in ‘The Glass Menagerie’ on Broadway — and You’ll Really Like Her: REVIEW appeared first on Towleroad.
Sally Field Is Starring in ‘The Glass Menagerie’ on Broadway — and You’ll Really Like Her: REVIEW
Married Okla. GOP Senator Ralph Shortey Offered Cash to Underage Male for ‘Sexual Stuff’: Police
Married Okla. GOP Senator Ralph Shortey Offered Cash to Underage Male for ‘Sexual Stuff’: Police
More details are emerging in the investigation into married Oklahoma GOP state Senator Ralph Shortey after the lawmaker was found in a Super 8 motel room with an underage male teen.
Police yesterday recommended three prostitution-related charges against Shortey and now a police report has emerged, The Oklahoman reports:
Details about electronic communications between Shortey and the teenager were captured on the teenager’s Kindle tablet that was taken into evidence, police said.
The conversation started with the boy asking Shortey, “Is there anything I can help you do some cash?”
Shortey, using the screen name “Jamie Tilley,” responded: “How much you needing?”
“I need money for spring break,” the boy answered.
“Tilley” responded, “I don’t really have any legitimate things I need help right now. Would you be interested in ‘sexual’ stuff?”
Police were told the teenage boy had a history of drug abuse and “soliciting himself on Craigslist for sexual conduct.”
Police launched the investigation after being called by the boy’s father, who had been contacted by his son’s girlfriend.
She told police that her boyfriend had said he was “going to get paid tonight,” and she feared he might be “involved in illegal drugs.”
Police found condoms and lotion in the teen’s backpack and said the two had been communicating for about a year.
The charges recommended by police include soliciting prostitution of a minor, prostitution within 1,000 feet of a church and transporting for the purpose of prostitution.
The Oklahoma Senate voted 42-0 to pass a resolution to punish Shortey for disorderly behavior.
The Oklahoma Republican Party also released a statement:
“The Oklahoma Republican Party takes all accusations against elected officials seriously, especially when the welfare of a minor is involved. We have reached out to Senator Shortey for comment and have not heard back from him at this time. We await the report from law enforcement on whether charges will be filed.”
Police report:
Moore police report by NewsOK on Scribd
The post Married Okla. GOP Senator Ralph Shortey Offered Cash to Underage Male for ‘Sexual Stuff’: Police appeared first on Towleroad.
Married Okla. GOP Senator Ralph Shortey Offered Cash to Underage Male for ‘Sexual Stuff’: Police
Athletes Oppose Anti-Trans Texas Bill
Athletes Oppose Anti-Trans Texas Bill
About 50 athletes have signed on to Athlete Ally’s letter condemning the state’s “bathroom bill,” including (from left) Gus Kenworthy, Brittney Griner, and Aydian Dowling.
www.advocate.com/politics/2017/3/16/athletes-oppose-anti-trans-texas-bill
Grindr App Rolls Out ‘Gaymoji’ Icons
Grindr App Rolls Out ‘Gaymoji’ Icons
The vintage ad slogan may be “say it with flowers,” but now you can say it with overhauled eggplants and peaches: the gay dating app Grindr now offers 500 “Gaymoji” for its users to jazz up their messages to each other.
As emojis have increasingly taken over informal bursts of communication, the set of conventional, generic and often heteronormative images was often being massaged into meaning other things, wink wink. Now Grindr’s executives, as they explained to the New York Times, have sought to address those limitations and add some fun in the process:
“Almost 20 percent of all Grindr messages” already use emoji, its creative director, Landis Smithers, said. “There’s this shift going on culturally and we need to follow the users where they’re taking us.”
That is, toward a visual language of rainbow unicorns, bears, otters and handcuffs — to cite some of the images available in the first set of 100 free Gaymoji symbols. An additional 400 are there for the unlocking by those willing to pay $3.99 to own digital icons arranged in categories like Mood, Objects, Body, and Dating and Sex.
The company’s founder, Joel Simkhai, said that in his own communications on Grindr he had often felt the need for emoji that were not previously available.
Of course, some gaymoji have already raised a few eyebrows, including one that was widely perceived to coyly represent crystal meth, and that was quietly removed following the fuss.
Grindr’s new emoji keyboard includes a capital T, which is slang for meth. That’s…boldly nonjudgmental, I guess? pic.twitter.com/HD6HvX5K01
— Rich Juzwiak (@RichJuz) March 14, 2017
But if you ever felt the pressing urge to drop a glittering disco ball, joyfully weeping pageant queen, a cloudburst of raining men (the Weathergirls couldn’t be prouder), the proverbial banana hammock, or a bound leather guy into conversation, you need look no further.
The post Grindr App Rolls Out ‘Gaymoji’ Icons appeared first on Towleroad.
Where the Bears Are (Photos)
Where the Bears Are (Photos)
www.advocate.com/photography/2017/3/16/where-bears-are-photos