Awesome dad’s pitch-perfect note to his gay son’s bully goes viral
“Dads, this is why you need to be there to raise your sons.”

www.queerty.com/awesome-dads-pitch-perfect-note-gay-sons-bully-goes-viral-2-20171019?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Russian Trolls, Kelly Clarkson, Fire Tornado, Chelsea Handler, Thad Cochran, Billy Joel, Puerto Rico: HOT LINKS

I’D SAY IT WAS A 10. Trump grades himself on his response to Puerto Rico.

ONE MONTH LATER. One million Puerto Ricans still lack drinkable water.

RUSSIA. Trump staffers pushed tweets from Russian trolls in days before the election: ‘Some of the Trump campaign’s most prominent names and supporters, including Trump’s campaign manager, digital director, and son, pushed tweets from professional trolls paid by the Russian government in the heat of the 2016 election campaign. The Twitter account @Ten_GOP, which called itself the “Unofficial Twitter account of Tennessee Republicans,” was operated from the Kremlin-backed “Russian troll farm,” or Internet Research Agency, a source familiar with the account confirmed with The Daily Beast. The account’s origins in the Internet Research Agency were originally reported by the independent Russian news outlet RBC. @Ten_GOP was created on Nov. 19, 2015, and accumulated over 100 thousand followers before Twitter shut it down.’

TESLA. Factory workers claim anti-LGBT threats, racial abuse.

FRAIL AND DISORIENTED. Health concerns for Thad Cochran (R-MS) as Senator appears confused, disoriented: ‘Cochran had to be guided by staffers around a security checkpoint inside the Capitol. He started to walk into a first-floor room — though the Senate chamber is on the second floor. He was then ushered by an aide up to the Senate. When another reporter asked whether leadership had pressured Cochran to return for a vote on the budget resolution — a key moment in the tax reform debate — Cochran smiled and responded, “It’s a beautiful day outside.”

BURN BOOK SING-ALONG. The news on Taylor Swift’s new album.

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. President Obama heads out: “Obama, who has spoken at private party fundraisers but largely steered clear of electoral politics since leaving office in January, will make public appearances on behalf of Democratic candidates in Virginia and New Jersey – the only two states holding off-year elections for governor.”

EXPECTING. Billy Joel is going to be a father again at 68.

CHELSEA HANDLER. Quitting her Netflix show to become a “more engaged citizen.”

WEST VIRGINIA. City of Morgantown passes LGBT rights ordinance: ‘Morgantown Mayor Bill Kawecki says the move “simply verbalized the kind of community I really hope that we are.” Kawecki said about 45 people spoke in support of the ordinance Tuesday and about three spoke against it. He said two were from out of town.’

INDONESIA. Country considers ban on LGBTQ TV content: “Lawmakers told Reuters the ban could include dramas with gay characters, traditional folk or comedic performances with cross-dressing or “effeminate” men and broadcasts advocating LGBT rights. It would be the latest measure targeting the LGBT community in a rising tide of hostility in the world’s third-largest democracy.”

NEW TUNE OF THE DAY. Kelly Clarkson “Meaning of Life”.

FIRE TORNADO OF THE DAY. Wildfires have killed at least 41 in Portugal.

THIRSTY THURSDAY. Jared Keith Lee.

The post Russian Trolls, Kelly Clarkson, Fire Tornado, Chelsea Handler, Thad Cochran, Billy Joel, Puerto Rico: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad.

Russian Trolls, Kelly Clarkson, Fire Tornado, Chelsea Handler, Thad Cochran, Billy Joel, Puerto Rico: HOT LINKS

Trump-Pence Administration Unleashes Sweeping Anti-LGBTQ #LicenseToDiscriminate

Today, HRC strongly condemned the Trump-Pence administration’s decision to carry out a sweeping “license to discriminate” that puts millions of LGBTQ Americans at risk of discrimination, as well as release a new regulation that could deny millions of Americans access to critical contraceptive care previously guaranteed under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

“Today the Trump-Pence administration launched an all-out assault on LGBTQ people, women, and other minority communities by unleashing a sweeping license to discriminate,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “This blatant attempt to further Donald Trump’s cynical and hateful agenda will enable systematic, government-wide discrimination that will have a devastating impact on LGBTQ people and their families. Donald Trump and Mike Pence have proven they will stop at nothing to target the LGBTQ community and drag our nation backwards. We will fight them every step of the way.”

“It’s unconscionable that the Trump-Pence administration also today encouraged employers to exert control over the essential health care decisions of their employees,” continued Griffin. “The rule change on contraception will undoubtedly limit access to vitally important care that women and so many in the LGBTQ community rely on every day. We each deserve to have the freedom to live and plan our lives with dignity, and this administration’s reckless efforts to undermine the health care of millions of Americans must be stopped.”

In May, Donald Trump signed an order that threatened to exacerbate anti-LGBTQ discrimination by laying the groundwork for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to implement the license to discriminate announced today. Already, more than 50 percent of Americans live in an area of the U.S. where LGBTQ people are at risk being fired, evicted, or denied services because of who they are — and two-thirds of LGBTQ people report having faced such discrimination in their lives.

A preliminary analysis of the Trump-Pence administration’s license to discriminate indicates that LGBTQ people and women will be at risk in some of the following ways:

• A Social Security Administration employee could refuse to accept or process spousal or survivor benefits paperwork for a surviving same-sex spouse
• A federal contractor could refuse to provide services to LGBTQ people, including in emergencies, without risk of losing federal contracts
• Organizations that had previously been prohibited from requiring all of their employees from following the tenets of the organization’s faith could now possibly discriminate against LGBTQ people in the provision of benefits and overall employment status
• Agencies receiving federal funding, and even their individual staff members, could refuse to provide services to LGBTQ children in crisis, or to place adoptive or foster children with a same-sex couple or transgender couple simply because of who they are

The guidance instructs federal government attorneys on how to handle matters before them and instructs federal agencies to reconsider current and future regulations in light of this license to discriminate. It’s important to note this Department of Justice interpretation of existing federal law is not consistent in the way that federal courts have interpreted these issues and are subject to legal challenges.

www.hrc.org/blog/breaking-trump-pence-administration-unleashes-license-to-Discriminate?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Out LGBTQ elected officials across the United States send messages of support to LGBTQ youth on #SpiritDay

www.glaad.org/blog/out-lgbtq-elected-officials-across-united-states-send-messages-support-lgbtq-youth-spiritday

Love Among the Ruins in 12 Photos

www.advocate.com/photography/2017/10/19/love-among-ruins-12-photos

George W. Bush just read Trump for filth without ever dropping his name
“Bigotry in any form is blasphemy against the American creed.”

www.queerty.com/george-w-bush-just-read-trump-filth-without-ever-dropping-name-20171019?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Frank Ocean Wins $14.5 Million Defamation Suit Brought Against Him by His Father

Frank Ocean has won a $14.5 million defamation lawsuit brought against him by his own father. U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson agreed with Ocean that there was not sufficient evidence to prove defamation.

Calvin Cooksey filed the lawsuit over a Tumblr post Frank wrote in 2016 in the wake of the Orlando massacre.

In the post, Frank accused his dad of using a homophobic slur years and years ago … when Ocean was a kid.

Frank recalled, “I was 6 years old when I heard my dad call our transgender waitress a f****t as he dragged me out of a neighborhood diner saying we wouldn’t be served because she was dirty.”

Cooksey called the story BS and said it’s damaged his financial opportunities in film and music.

Billboard reports:

Cooksey filed his suit in February 2017, claiming that he tried to get Ocean to remove the post without any success. The former also argued in his complaint that the Tumblr post put him “in the middle of a terrorist attack on the gay community,” as well as “ruined [Cooksey’s] future financial opportunities in the film and music industries.”

According to a trial brief, Ocean argued not only that his post is substantially true, but also that Cooksey’s suit does not sufficiently provide a category of libel under which the post allegedly falls, nor does it show how Cooksey has been professionally injured.

Ocean swiftly left the courtroom after the verdict was read, and his attorney, Keith Bremer of Bremer Whyte Brown & O’Meara LLP, told Law360 that the conclusion of the case was a welcome relief. “I’m happy he can put it behind him,” said Bremer.

The post Frank Ocean Wins $14.5 Million Defamation Suit Brought Against Him by His Father appeared first on Towleroad.

Frank Ocean Wins $14.5 Million Defamation Suit Brought Against Him by His Father