Here’s the first trailer for the coming-of-age, coming-out story “Love, Simon”
The film is based on on Becky Albertalli’s acclaimed novel “Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda.”

www.queerty.com/heres-first-trailer-coming-age-coming-story-love-simon-20171129?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Gay Football Fans Warned Against Holding Hands at Russia World Cup

Gay football fans will be warned against holding hands at the World Cup, which takes place in Russia in the summer of 2018. A group, Football Against Racism in Europe, will be producing a guide for fans highlighting possible dangers they could face.

The Guardian reports:

Piara Powar, executive director of Fare, said:“The guide will advise gay people to be cautious in any place which is not seen to be welcoming to the LGBT community. The same message is there for black and ethnic minority fans – do go to the World Cup but be cautious. If you have gay fans walking down the street holding hands, will they face danger in doing so – that depends on which city they are in and the time of day.

“The guide will also include some detailed explanations of, for example, the actual situation of the LGBT community in Russia. It is not a crime to be gay but there is a law against the promotion of homosexuality to minors. Issues relating to the LGBT community are not part of the public discourse. Gay people have a place in Russia which is quite hidden and underground.”

Fare has also written to Fifa on behalf of two fans’ groups from Britain and Germany to ask for permission to raise a rainbow flag inside stadiums during the World Cup, which begins in June next year. Although political displays are banned inside stadiums it is understood the governing body would not consider rainbow flags to fall into that bracket and fans would be welcome to wave them before and during games.

This week a gay couple from the U.S. found out the dangers of not observing local laws and culture when they were arrested for exposing their rear ends for an Instagram photo at a sacred temple in Thailand.

The post Gay Football Fans Warned Against Holding Hands at Russia World Cup appeared first on Towleroad.

Gay Football Fans Warned Against Holding Hands at Russia World Cup

Trump Retweeting Britain First Only Strengthens Extremists On Both Sides
Donald Trump, the President of the United States, retweeted three tweets and videos from Jayda Fransen, one of the duo of far right extremists who leads Britain First. The captions on the video which Trump retweeted read “Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!”, “VIDEO: Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!” and “VIDEO: Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!”

Trump retweeted these videos to 44million followers and, in effect, promoted the world view of Fransen and her poisonous group that Muslims, as a whole, are a potential threat to peace and stability within European communities. The statements in the videos stress Muslims on a number of occasions and provide a contextual background to viewers that people of this faith are associated with acts of violence. To some, this would read as Muslims as a whole and it is a strategy that Britain First has used time and time again in the promotion of its online extremism.

As a President who trumpets ‘fake news’, the hypocrisy of retweeting actual fake news with the Dutch video does nothing to warrant confidence in his judgement. This is a man who thankfully does not follow Jayda Fransen, yet he managed to find material from her which he recirculated. This is also a President who is supposed to be the leader of the ‘free world’ and whose values are supposedly based on protecting those very democratic rights that brought him into power. He is also a President who has put national security front and centre as part of his presidency.

Yet, by doing what he did this morning, he has presented groups like Islamic State, Al Qaeda and many Islamist extremist groups, with confirmation (in their eyes), that the West is against them and out to destroy them. We all know and realise that this Islamist narrative is used to pull people towards extremism, though when the President retweets material, he has strengthened their hands and those groups who play to a victim narrative. In essence, such actions strengthen Islamist extremist groups, weaken those Muslims working towards cohesion and integration and further radicalise others who are drawn to the easy narrative that there is yet to be a ‘clash of civilisations’.

As the founder and former director of Tell MAMA, I know full well how hate crimes are triggered by statements and national and international events. Just as Jews are targeted for hate in countries like the UK when there are military activities and assaults in the Middle East, so there are large spikes in anti-Muslim hate incidents when terrorist attacks take place in Europe, where innocent Muslims going about their everyday lives are abused, sometimes assaulted and where some mosques are also damaged.

For example, after the brutal terrorist murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich in 2013, we counted 34 mosques that reported into Tell MAMA which were attacked in 3 months after the brutal murder by Islamist extremists. Between May 2013 and June 2017, there were 167 mosques that were attacked in the UK. After the Westminster, London Bridge and Manchester terrorist attacks, there was a 250%, 456% and 312% rise in anti-Muslim hate incidents that were reported into Tell MAMA.

These sharp rises do not happen because people overnight change opinion and then decide that they are going to abuse an innocent fellow citizen who happens to be Muslim. Such incidents are a trigger for latent hatred and ill feeling towards Muslim communities, some of which no doubt, Britain First plays on, supports and feeds through its hateful material. Furthermore, today we know that the President of the United States circulates such material and certainly has amplified fake news, since one of the videos highlighted, that of a ‘Muslim migrant beating up a Dutch boy’, was untrue and inaccurate.

So, there is only one thing I want to say to Trump if he ever reads this article:

Mr President, your actions in retweeting extremist far right material strengthens the very groups you purport to want to weaken. Both you and I detest Islamist extremism and terrorism and I say that as a proud British Muslim. But where you and I will possibly diverge after today’s retweets, is that I also detest and actively challenge far right anti-Muslim groups. You on the other hand, retweet and amplify their material. I am assuming this is a mistake, but if it isn’t, can you really claim the moral high ground around tackling extremism and terrorism?

Fiyaz Mughal is the founder of Tell MAMA, and founder and director of Faith Matters

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/donald-trump-britain-first_uk_5a1ed911e4b0d52b8dc1f512

HRC Opposes Trump-Pence ‘Tax’ Scheme — Includes Dangerous Attack on Life-Saving Health Care Access

Today, the Human Rights Campaign opposed the dangerous Trump-Pence tax scheme. The bill was drafted in secret without meaningful public input and is being rushed through the Senate this week. Under the guise of this tax bill, some Republican leaders in Congress continue to play politics with people’s lives, using it as a vehicle to once again attack the Affordable Care Act and other vital health care programs.

“With provisions that undermine the Affordable Care Act and threaten programs critical to LGBTQ people, the Trump-Pence tax plan would have devastating consequences for millions of Americans,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “The Senate must reject this reckless and desperate attempt to score a legislative victory at the expense of everyday Americans.”

The Senate version of the bill repeals the ACA’s individual mandate that requires all American’s to have health insurance or pay a penalty. This provision was at the heart of the Trump-McConnell failed effort to repeal the ACA earlier this summer. Repealing the individual mandate could result in 13 million people leaving the insurance market, immediately causing insurance premiums to soar and leave millions more priced out of access to healthcare. Furthermore, the deficits triggered by the bill will also result in mandatory spending cuts to critical health programs like Medicare and Ryan White, the safety net program for people living with HIV.

Another provision that some Republicans are attempting to sneak into the final bill includes language that would undercut the Johnson amendment, allowing houses of worship to endorse or oppose candidates for public office. Such a change would allow candidates and political parties to pressure houses of worship for endorsements, transforming them into tools for their own political gain. HRC strongly opposes efforts to weaken to the prohibition on political engagement by houses of worship.

When Congress last considered tax reform legislation 31 years ago, they had 30 days of public hearings over six months. Then House members worked together for 10 months to produce a bipartisan package with 26 days of markup in committee. This time around, Republican leadership has allowed for a handful of hearings, limited public input, and barely enough time to review the hundreds of pages of tax code changes.

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-opposes-trump-pence-tax-scheme-includes-dangerous-attack-on-life-saving?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Here’s the First Trailer for the Gay, Coming Out Romance ‘Love, Simon’ — WATCH

Greg Berlanti (Dawson’s Creek, Brothers & Sisters, Green Lantern, Everwood, Political Animals, Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow) is directing Love, Simon, the film adaptation of Becky Albertalli’s “coming-of-age coming-out” novel Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda.

The film is due for release on March 16, and the first full trailer has just debuted

The first poster art was revealed last month, along with a Halloween-themed teaser.

Love, Simon stars Jurassic World‘s Nick Robinson and also features Katherine Langford, Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Garner, Miles Heizer, and Tony Hale.

The film’s synopsis:

Everyone deserves a great love story. But for seventeen-year old Simon Spier it’s a little more complicated: he’s yet to tell his family or friends he’s gay and he doesn’t actually know the identity of the anonymous classmate he’s fallen for online. Resolving both issues proves hilarious, terrifying and life-changing.

Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger , who co-exec produce the new NBC show This Is Us, wrote the script. The film is being produced by Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen of Temple Hill and Pouya Shabazian.

Said Berlanti to EW about choosing to direct the film: “There’s this one section of the film where Simon imagines this one boy and imagines them kissing underneath the mistletoe at Christmas. In every other major studio film, it’s always the guy and the girl. And there was something so powerful about it being just a guy imagining himself with this other guy in a film again that was going to be marketed and sold as a mainstream romantic comedy.”

Watch:

The post Here’s the First Trailer for the Gay, Coming Out Romance ‘Love, Simon’ — WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

www.towleroad.com/2017/11/love-simon-trailer/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+towleroad%2Ffeed+%28Towleroad+Gay+News+%29

Bath University Students Furious Over ‘Golden Handshake’ For Boss Amid Row Over £470,000 Salary
Bath University students are furious after the institution’s £470,000-a-year vice chancellor stepped down amid a pay row – only to be offered a “golden handshake” deal.

It was announced on Monday that Dame Professor Glynis Breakwell – the highest paid vice chancellor (VC) in the UK – would leave her role in August following criticism from staff and students over her salary and benefits package, which amounts to almost three times that of the Prime Minister.

The pay packets of university bosses has become a point of contention as student loans have crept past the £9,000 mark, with former education minister Lord Adonis taking the floor of the House of Lords in July to slam their “greed”, specifically criticising Breakwell in his scathing attack.

While more than 300 university workers have called for Breakwell’s resignation over the issue, hundreds of students were set to protest her salary in an “unprecedented” campus rally on Thursday.

A vote of no confidence in the VC was also reached by Bath’s student union earlier this week.

But while students say they are “happy to see her go”, they have slammed the university’s decision to allow Breakwell a six month sabbatical on full pay after she steps down, despite the institution’s insistence the 65-year-old will receive “no payments for loss of employment”.

The university confirmed that while Breakwell will cease to be VC at the end of the academic year in August, she will officially retire in February 2019 to give her time to “further her academic research for a semester” and allow an “orderly transition”.

The institution will also write off a £31,489 car loan for Breakwell, as agreed on her appointment in 2001.

Politics student Clementine Boucher described the situation as “unacceptable”, saying it has triggered “so much student anger”.

“Breakwell’s leaving is great in one sense, as it shows they [the university] are listening to our demands,” the 22-year-old told HuffPost UK.

“But the fact they are willing to let her go with a golden handshake shows they are trying to fool us.

“They wanted to undercut the momentum of the referendum and tomorrow’s demo,” she added. 

According to the group Bath Students Against Fees and Cuts, Thursday’s protest over the VC’s pay is still going ahead, despite news of Breakwell’s departure. Around 350 students are expected to attend the rally.

“We thought the announcement of the VC’s resignation was a victory for us, but it turns out that, as usual, management have fucked us over,” the group wrote on Facebook, referring to Breakwell’s “golden resignation handshake”.

Calling for the university’s governors to resign, the post continued: “Glynis has presided over massive staff pay freezes and the casualisation of their contracts, as well as over the rise in our fees and rents.

“She and her management team run this university like a business and for the interest of a small elite staff minority. It is extremely unlikely that this will change after her departure, unless management promises a structural overhaul or their operations.”

“They tried to shut down student voices by not letting the referendum and demo being carried out to show the true extent of student anger. Thursday’s demo is still on, we’ll show them who’s boss.”

Second year politics and international relations student Francesco Masala added: “The departure package is a kick in the face to the student and staff body.

“The move was supposed to put a stop to the student protest, but it actually just added fuel to the fire,” he said.

“Breakwell is the tip of the iceberg, the controller of the iceberg, and removing her doesn’t erase the whole problem.

“She will be gone, but the paramount goal is making sure that nobody else can fill her shoes in the future, and do the exact same thing.”

In a statement, Breakwell said she had served the university “to the best of my ability” during her time in office.

“Since 2001 the University has changed dramatically,” she said.

“It has almost tripled in size and is now among the top universities in the UK. It has had many great achievements in its first 51 years and it will go on to be even greater.” 

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/bath-university-boss_uk_5a1e8a23e4b0cb0e917c96f8

#AM_Equality Tipsheet: November 29, 2017

ONE STEP CLOSER! AUSSIE SENATE APPROVES MARRIAGE EQUALITY BILL, NOW ON TO HOUSE: The bill passed 43-12 and now heads to the House, where it is also expected to pass. Before today’s vote, Australian Senator George Brandis gave a moving speech in support of the measure, saying, “These late spring and early summer days of 2017 will always be remembered as a time when the Parliament heeded the wishes of the overwhelming majority of Australians that ours should be a society defined by greater decency, truer equality, more perfect freedom.” This follows Australia’s Marriage Law Postal Survey, in which 61.6 percent of Australian voters who participated endorsed marriage equality. More from Voice of America and The Washington Blade.

• An attempt by conservatives to add a “license to discriminate” amendment to the marriage equality bill failed. More from News.com.au.

One step closer! Aussie Senate passes #MarriageEquality bill, now on to House. t.co/0k6jsJGY4x

— HumanRightsCampaign (@HRC) November 29, 2017

ROY MOORE’S LATEST UNHINGED ATTACK ON TRANSGENDER PEOPLE: The Alabama U.S. Senate candidate has again launched an anti-transgender tirade, this time siding with the Trump-Pence Administration’s discriminatory directive barring brave transgender Americans from joining the U.S. military. Writes WaPo’s Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott): “If any group knows that the fight for equality is a long one, it’s the transgender community, a group that has at times even felt discriminated against within the larger LGBT community. For whatever progress has been made over the last few months — from bathroom to boot camps — transgender Americans know there is still much work to do.” More from The Washington Post.

MEET YOUNG TRANSGENDER AMERICANS FIGHTING FOR FULL LEGAL EQUALITY: NPR’s Martha Bebinger sat down with young transgender advocates who are pushing back against laws that fuel the harassment and abuse faced by transgender people. “The findings underscore the fact that our approach to achieving equality has to be a ‘both/and’ strategy,” HRC National Press Secretary Sarah McBride (@SarahEMcBride) told Bebinger. “We have to open hearts and change minds while at the same time pushing for laws that protect LGBTQ people from discrimination.” A new NPR poll found that 84 percent of Americans believe discrimination against transgender people exists, with younger Americans identifying bias in laws as a major factor driving discrimination. The survey was conducted in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health More from NPR.

• More findings from the NPR survey — LGBTQ people of color more likely to face discrimination than white LGBTQ people. The survey confirmed that LGBTQ people of color are twice as likely to experience anti-LGBTQ discrimination when applying for jobs and interacting with police. More from The Daily Beast.

WHAT WE’RE READING WEDNESDAY: New Delhi’s annual LGBTQ Pride festival had a markedly positive tone this year following the Supreme Court of India’s ruling that LGBTQ people have “real rights founded on sound constitutional doctrine,” and those rights “dwell in privacy and dignity.” The eloquent decision could signal the beginning of the end to India’s Colonial-era law that bans same-sex relationships. From NYT’s Kai Schultz’s (@Kai_Schultz) report on the festival: “In the crowd was Ashish Chopra, 22, who had traveled from the city of Pune, more than 700 miles away, to attend the parade. Wearing rainbow suspenders and holding the hand of his mother, Simmi Nanda, 50… He began to cry, casting a long look at his mother.” More from The New York Times.

In a landmark decision, India’s Supreme Court wrote that “sexual orientation is an essential attribute of privacy” t.co/eosQP3u2Tj

— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 25, 2017

MORNING MUST READ: “Why This Open Enrollment is Critical for Transgender People,” by Valerie Jarrett, former senior advisor to President Obama and Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. More from The Advocate.

GRAMMY NOMINATES LGBTQ AND ALLIED ARTISTS: Nominations include Portugal the Man for Pop Duo/Group performance; Bette Midler for Musical Theater Album; Lady Gaga for Pop Solo Performance and Pop Vocal Album; Kesha for Pop Vocal Album and Pop Solo Performance; Beyonce and Jay Z for Rap/Sung Performance; Bruce Springsteen for Spoken Word Album; Sarah Silverman for Comedy Album; and Pink for Pop Solo Performance; and a host of other pro-LGBTQ artists and performers. More from The Los Angeles Times.

EQUALITY RULES IN THE BADGER STATE — MAJORITY OF WISCONSINITES OPPOSE ANTI-LGBTQ DISCRIMINATION: Sixty-two percent say they believe that discrimination against transgender individuals is wrong and should be illegal, and 63 percent say the state’s non-discrimination laws should be updated to include transgender people. Fifty-nine percent believe that businesses should not be given a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people. More from The Wisconsin Gazette.

MUST WATCH — ELLE MILLS COMES OUT AS BISEXUAL: In a powerful video, YouTuber Elle Mills (@millselle) shares her coming out process — including filming scenes of coming out to her closest friends and family by turning her home into a rainbow. Watch here.

HORRIFYING — EGYPT CONVICTS LGBTQ PEOPLE, ALLIES: A Cairo court found 14 Egyptians guilty under anti-debauchery and “sexual deviancy” laws, often used to target LGBTQ people and their allies. HRC has called on Egyptian authorities and the media to respect the human rights and freedom of expression of their LGBTQ citizens. More from BBC.

CHILEAN SENATE COMMISSION CONSIDERS MARRIAGE EQUALITY BILL: It was introduced by President Michelle Bachelet earlier this year. More from The Washington Blade.

LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP — JUSTIN TRUDEAU OFFERS HISTORIC APOLOGY, COMPENSATION FOR ANTI-LGBTQ PERSECUTION: Yesterday, the Canadian prime minister offered a formal apology for LGBTQ people who were persecuted or discharged from the military in the past, committing $85 million to compensate those affected. More from The New York Times.

Canadian PM @justintrudeau: We have failed to LGBTQ2 communities, individuals time and time again. It is with shame and sorrow and deep regret that the things we have done that i stand here today and say we were wrong, we apologize. I am sorry. We are sorry. @WashBlade

— Michael K. Lavers (@mklavers81) November 28, 2017

TRANSGENDER WOMAN KILLED IN PAKISTAN: The woman, Spogmai, was shot this weekend in a market in Peshawar. A second transgender woman was murdered in Peshawar just weeks ago. More from Geo.tv and NewNowNext.

READING RAINBOW

NewNowNext highlights four wedding magazines for LGBTQ people; NPR speaks to Texans with HIV struggling to obtain medicine after Hurricane Harvey; AdWeek shares stories of brands taking a stand on LGBTQ equality

Have news? Send us your news and tips at [email protected]. Click here to subscribe to #AM_Equality and follow @HRC for all the latest news. Thanks for reading!

www.hrc.org/blog/am-equality-tipsheet-november-29-2017?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

The Best Jewish Comedy on Christmas Is, Fittingly, in a Chinese Restaurant

Celebrating 25 years of queer Jewish comedy on Christmas (at a Chinese restaurant).

www.advocate.com/current-issue/2017/11/29/best-jewish-comedy-christmas-fittingly-chinese-restaurant