Debra Messing Regrets Appearing on ‘Megyn Kelly Today’

The Will & Grace star was “dismayed” by Kelly’s joke about gay people.

www.advocate.com/television/2017/9/27/debra-messing-regrets-appearing-megyn-kelly-today

Trump Trickster Roger Stone: ‘I’m Trysexual, I’ve Tried Everything’

The onetime campaign adviser to Donald Trump weighs in on rumors regarding his sexuality.

www.advocate.com/politics/2017/9/27/trump-trickster-roger-stone-im-trysexual-ive-tried-everything

Jared Kushner voted in the 2016 election as a woman
And there are records to prove it.

www.queerty.com/jared-kushner-voted-2016-election-woman-20170927?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Trump Administration Tells Court That Discrimination Against Gay Workers is Legal

In arguments before the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, Lawyers for the Trump administration argued that discrimination against gay workers is legal.

The Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) faced off against each other in Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc., a case concerning a man who was fired from his job as a skydiving instructor because of his sexual orientation.

According to Freedom For All Americans (FFAF), the en banc hearing (meaning before the full 2nd Circuit court) is a rare phenomenon and a strong indicator of the case’s significance. The court is set to reconsider a 17-year-old legal precedent stating that employment discrimination based on sexual orientation is not prohibited under federal law.

Bloomberg reports:

Judges must interpret laws based on lawmakers’ intent, and Congress didn’t have the LGBT community in mind when it crafted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Justice Department attorney Hashim Mooppan argued on Tuesday in Manhattan. The agency made its case in defense of a New York skydiving company accused of firing a worker for being gay.

“Every circuit court for 50 years has said this isn’t covered,” Mooppan said at the hearing in Manhattan, referring to sexual orientation. He then compared the situation to an employer firing a worker for having an affair or being promiscuous, scenarios that he said have both been deemed legal.

The NYT adds:

A lawyer for the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Jeremy Horowitz, sided with the sky diver, arguing that federal law did prohibit employers from discriminating against employees because they are gay.

But a deputy assistant attorney general with the Justice Department, Hashim M. Mooppan, explained that, under federal law, employers were absolutely free “to regulate employees’ off-the-job sexual behavior,” meaning they could discriminate against employees for adultery, promiscuity or sexual orientation.

Even as the judges were struggling with the underlying legal question, they seemed unsure of what to make of the two government lawyers, each vigorously arguing opposite points.

Writes Mark Joseph Stern at Slate:

When arguments concluded, it seemed inevitable that the court would agree with the EEOC, reject the DOJ’s wackadoodle theories, and find that Title VII already proscribes anti-gay employment discrimination. After Tuesday’s performance, the Justice Department’s involvement in the case may have actually swung a judge or two away from its position; its flagrantly political intrusion seemed to irk even the Republican appointees. Anti-gay activists may have taken control of the DOJ—but they seem unlikely to persuade the 2^ndCircuit that America’s gay employees don’t deserve civil rights.

The post Trump Administration Tells Court That Discrimination Against Gay Workers is Legal appeared first on Towleroad.

Trump Administration Tells Court That Discrimination Against Gay Workers is Legal

Justice Department Argues for Antigay Discrimination in Skydiver’s Case

This put the department at odds with another government agency in a hearing on a gay skydiving instructor’s discrimination suit.

www.advocate.com/politics/2017/9/27/justice-department-argues-antigay-discrimination-skydivers-case

Producers continue giving ‘Bromans’ viewers exactly what they want
“Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?”

www.queerty.com/producers-continue-giving-bromans-viewers-exactly-want-20170927?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Trump Tax Plan, Scott Pruitt, Kygo, Anthony Kennedy, Zac Efron, Paul Horner, John Travolta, Southwest Airlines: HOT LINKS

TAX PLAN. Trump tax plan doubles standard deduction, slashes taxes for corporations, raise rates for the lowest bracket: “The plan would collapse the number of individual tax brackets from seven to three, with rates of 12 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent. However, it also would give the tax-writing committees flexibility to add a fourth rate above 35 percent for the wealthiest taxpayers. The top individual rate is currently 39.6 percent. The bottom rate is currently 10 percent, but Republicans expect most people in that bracket to be better off under the framework, even though the bottom rate is increasing, thanks to an increased standard deduction. The standard deduction would nearly double, to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for married couples. Doing so is designed to increase the number of people who end up in a zero percent bracket.”

TWITTER. Social media giant experimenting with 280 character tweets.

JEFFREY MEZGER. Kathy Griffin has now taking out a restraining order against her neighbor.

I AM BISEXUAL. 16-year-old comes out on live TV.

16-year-old Andy got a massive round of applause for coming out as bisexual on our #GenZ programme. He’d never said it publicly. pic.twitter.com/06a8w5oFA7

— BBC Newsbeat (@BBCNewsbeat) September 26, 2017

ANCIENT LIFE. Researchers believe carbon found in Canadian rocks contains ancient organisms: “Researchers in Japan analysed graphite particles in rocks from the Saglek region of northern Labrador and found that they contained potential traces of life. In work last year, the team dated the band of rocks to 3.95bn years old.”

PAUL HORNER. Fake News writer found dead in bed.

ROBERT MUELLER. Special counsel interview with White House staff ready to begin: “As CNN previously reported, among the people Mueller has expressed interest in speaking with are former and current White House staffers whom investigators consider witnesses, including former chief of staff Reince Priebus, former press secretary Sean Spicer, communications director Hope Hicks, White House counsel Don McGahn, communications adviser Josh Raffel and associate counsel James Burnham.”

CHUCK ROSENBERG. DEA Chief abruptly resigns.

SHADY. Scott Pruitt, the head of the EPA, is having a secure soundproof booth installed in his office: ‘The agency signed a $24,570 contract earlier this summer with Acoustical Solutions, a Richmond-based company, for a “privacy booth for the administrator.” The company sells and installs an array of sound-dampening and privacy products, from ceiling baffles to full-scale enclosures like the one purchased by the EPA. The project’s scheduled completion date is Oct. 9, according to the contract. Typically, such soundproof booths are used to conduct hearing tests. But the EPA sought a customized version — one that eventually would cost almost several times more than a typical model — that Pruitt can use to communicate without fear of being monitored.

SOUTHWEST. Airline apologizes after woman is forcibly dragged off flight. “The airline said that the situation began when the unidentified woman informed the flight crew of her serious pet allergy. The airline noted that one pet and one service animal were also aboard the Los Angeles-bound flight. The woman did not have the proper medical certificate to stay on board, the airline said.”

SWING VOTE AGAIN. Anthony Kennedy will be the key to the “religious freedom” cake case at SCOTUS: “The Colorado baker case, likely to be heard by the justices in December, will force Kennedy to balance his strong support for gay rights – he authored the 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide – with his advocacy for religious rights and free speech.”

ARI EMANUEL. Hollywood agent and little brother of Rahm gives touching tribute to cousin who died of AIDS.

ZAC EFRON. He’s ready to finish up his lovemaking with The Rock.

LOVE HAS NO BORDERS. Russians cross the border to Norway to attend Pride parade: ‘“This is historic, so close to the Russian border and still it feels safe,” says Valentina Likoshva, LGBT activist from Murmansk. She was one of about 50 people from Russia, Belarus and Kazhakstan who joined the first ever pride parade in Kirkenes, Norway’s border town to Russia in the north. Valentina is psychologist and was the leader of “The house of Equality” project at Maximum, the group for support of LGBT community in Murmansk. Maximum was an NGO that closed down after being listed as “foreign agent” a few years ago.’

JUSTIN BIEBER. Bieber says Ed Sheeran owes him another hit song for hitting him in the head with a golf club. “I think probably a lot of people aren’t even aware of some of the songs he has written for the biggest performers in the world over the last few years,” Justin adds. “He wrote ‘Love Yourself’ for me and bang! It was the biggest song of 2016.”

TRAILER OF THE DAY. Gotti.

FASHION PREVIEW OF THE DAY. GQ goes on set with designers AMI, United Arrows, and Kinfolk.

JUST NOPE. Snake pulled form North Carolina toilet: “When I arrived, only the tail of the snake was visible, so I had to reach in and pull the snake out of the toilet,” Greene says. “It was a very long black rat snake, about 6-feet-long. This was the sixth snake that I have removed from the same toilet in the past four years.”

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE DAY. Kygo “Stargazing”.

HUMP DAY HOTTIE. Kiran Singh.

The post Trump Tax Plan, Scott Pruitt, Kygo, Anthony Kennedy, Zac Efron, Paul Horner, John Travolta, Southwest Airlines: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad.

Trump Tax Plan, Scott Pruitt, Kygo, Anthony Kennedy, Zac Efron, Paul Horner, John Travolta, Southwest Airlines: HOT LINKS