WATCH: How did gay cruise respond to deadly overdose at sea? More drugs, more partying.
If now isn’t the time to reevaluate the whole “wild and crazy drug-fueled gay cruise” concept, when is?

www.queerty.com/watch-gay-cruise-respond-deadly-overdose-sea-drugs-partying-20180126?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Alabama GOP Bars Candidate From Running For County Sheriff Because He’s Gay

A gay man has alleged that GOP leaders in north Alabama refused to allow him to run for sheriff following a review that included questions about his sexual orientation.

Jason White claims members of the Limestone County Republican Executive Committee voted on Tuesday to deny his bid for sheriff.

RELATED: Ellen Welcomes Alabama Hero Dad Who Went Viral Protesting Roy Moore for His Gay Daughter: WATCH

The Times Daily reports:

In qualifying to run this year, White had to fill out a form that includes questions about whether candidates have ever voted for a Democrat; if they believe “in the traditional definition of marriage;” and if they were “committed to protecting life at all ages.”

About two weeks before the vote, White said, a county Republican steering committee asked for an interview in which he was asked to name two weaknesses as a candidate.

“I said the fact I was fired and that I’m gay,” White said. White said members then had a lengthy conversation that included remarks like, “We don’t think we’d be able to raise any money for you,” and “We’re a small Southern town; how are we going to get around that?”

White said the committee spent more time talking about his sexual orientation than his dismissal by the Athens Police Department in 2012 over allegations he wrongly used a state crime database to look up information linked to his ex-wife.

White added that members of the committee asked if he voted Donald Trump for president. When he revealed he had voted for Gary Johnson he said members reacted like he had “stabbed them.”

40-year-old White – who is married to former Navy SEAL Brett Jones – said he is disappointed but not deterred. He now plans to run as an independent.

Watch a report from WHNT:



The post Alabama GOP Bars Candidate From Running For County Sheriff Because He’s Gay appeared first on Towleroad.

Alabama GOP Bars Candidate From Running For County Sheriff Because He’s Gay

Frankfurt – Gladbach im Live-Stream: Bundesliga online sehen, so geht’s

www.huffingtonpost.de/entry/frankfurt-gladbach-im-live-stream-bundesliga-online-sehen-so-gehts_de_5a6b0087e4b01fbbefb0ae06

Barry And Honey Sherman Were Murdered, Police Announce
Canadian pharmaceutical billionaire Barry Sherman and his wife Honey’s deaths were murder, Canadian police announced on Friday, but no one has been charged in their deaths.

“Through the six weeks of work review we have sufficient evidence to describe this as a double homicide investigation,” Detective Sergeant Susan Gomes told reporters at a press conference Friday afternoon, according to Global News.

A post-mortem examination found the Shermans died of “ligature neck compression”, the website reported.

The couple, one of the country’s wealthiest, were found dead in their mansion on December 16 after police responded to a medical call from their home around midday.

“The circumstances of their death appear suspicious and we are treating it that way,” Constable David Hopkinson said at the time.

Homicide detectives later told reporters gathered outside the home that there were no signs of forced entry.

Their neighbours, business associates and some of Canada’s most powerful politicians said they were saddened by the deaths.

“Our condolences to their family & friends, and to everyone touched by their vision & spirit,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote on Twitter.

Toronto Mayor John Tory said in statement he was “shocked and heartbroken” to learn of the deaths, noting that the couple had made extensive contributions to the city.

“Toronto Police are investigating, and I hope that investigation will be able to provide answers for all of us who are mourning this tremendous loss,” Tory said.

The Shermans recently listed their home for sale for nearly C$7 million (£4.1 million). A real estate agent discovered the bodies in the basement while preparing for an open house, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported, citing a relative.

Sherman, 75, founded privately held Apotex in 1974, growing it by introducing large numbers of low-cost generic drugs that took market share from branded pharmaceuticals. He stepped down as chief executive in 2012 but remained executive chairman.

Forbes has estimated Sherman’s fortune at $3.2 billion.

Apotex is the world’s No. 7 generic drugmaker with 11,000 employees and annual sales of more than C$2 billion in more than 45 countries, according to its website.

The couple was known for their philanthropy, giving tens of millions of dollars to hospitals, universities and Jewish organizations, CBC reported.

“They were extremely successful in business, but also very, very giving people,” former Ontario Premier Bob Rae told CBC. “It’s going to be a very, very big loss.”

The Globe and Mail reported in February that Lobbying Commissioner Karen Shepherd was investigating a complaint about a 2015 political fundraiser that Trudeau had attended.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/honey-and-barry-sherman_uk_5a6b6f26e4b01fbbefb17bdf

Virginia Senate Passes Bipartisan Legislation to Protect LGBTQ People from Discrimination

Today, HRC and Equality Virginia — the state’s leading LGBT advocacy group — hailed the Virginia Senate’s passage of two crucially important bills that would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in housing and public employment. SB 423 would update Virginia’s Fair Housing Law to include non-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. SB 202 would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in public employment, codifying into law protections that currently exist for state employees by way of executive order, and extending explicit protections to local government employees, including employees of school districts.

“Today, the Virginia Senate stood up for fairness and equality by voting to make the commonwealth a more welcoming and inclusive place for all Virginians, including LGBTQ people,” said Marty Rouse, HRC National Field Director.  “It’s essential for the future of Virginia that the newly elected House of Delegates move swiftly to ensure these long-overdue protections are passed and sent to Governor Northam to be signed into law. These are basic non-discrimination protections that LGBTQ Virginians need and deserve.”  

“Both parties came together today to pass non-discrimination protections consistent with the views of a majority of Virginians who believe gay and transgender people should be able to work and live free from discrimination,” said James Parrish, Executive Director for Equality Virginia. “We are hopeful that with a new Speaker, and many new pro-equality members, that these bills will pass in the House of Delegates, where they have stopped short of protecting LGBT Virginians in the past.”

The commonwealth is one of thirty-one states that currently lacks basic non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people in employment, housing, and public accommodations. The HRC Foundation and the Equality Federation Institute designated Virginia as a “High Priority to Achieve Basic Equality” in the organization’s 2017 State Equality Index.

This past November, both HRC and Equality Virginia worked aggressively in the commonwealth to ensure pro-equality candidates were victorious at the ballot box. The organizations’ investments in key get-out-the-vote efforts targeting equality voters proved successful when Virginia voters rejected the politics of hate and fear by electing pro-equality candidates up and down the ballot.

www.hrc.org/blog/va-senate-passes-bipartisan-legislation-to-protect-lgbtq-people-from-discri?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Former NFL star Esera Tuaolo explains why he hopes his first ever Super Bowl Inclusion Party will change the game for LGBTQ acceptance in professional sports

www.glaad.org/blog/esera-tuaolo-explains-why-he-hopes-his-first-ever-super-bowl-inclusion-party-will-change-game-lgbtq-professional-sports

TV is getting its first-ever series about a deaf gay man played by a sexy deaf gay actor
“It’s crazy that we’re the first show that was written and created by deaf people. And it’s 2018,” Josh Feldman says.

www.queerty.com/tv-getting-first-ever-series-deaf-gay-man-played-sexy-deaf-gay-actor-20180126?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Grindr Not Liable for Man Who Sent 400 Sex-Seeking Men to His Ex-Boyfriend’s Home: Judge

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Grindr brought by Matthew Herrick, whose ex-boyfriend posted fake profiles of him on the gay hookup app using names like “Raw Pig Bottom,” “Muscle daddy” and “Gang Bang Now!”.

The fake profiles resulted in at least 400 hundred men coming to Herrick’s home looking for sex, according to the lawsuit.

Courthouse News reports:

The gist of his 14 claims was that Grindr was defectively designed and manufactured because it has no built-in safety features; that it misled Herrick into believing that it could protect him from impersonating profiles; and that it wrongfully refused to search for and remove the impersonations, Caproni wrote.

Unfortunately for Herrick, the judge concluded, “while the creation of the impersonating profiles may be sufficiently extreme and outrageous, Grindr did not create the profiles.”

She agreed with Grindr that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 “immunizes Grindr for content created by others.”

Herrick sued Grindr a year ago, claiming it ignored his 50 requests to remove fake profiles set up by his abusive ex-boyfriend, which caused hundreds of men showed up at his home or work expecting “fetishistic sex, bondage, role playing, and rape fantasies.”

He said Grindr did not use “proven and common image recognition or duplicate-detection software,” which could have protected him.

The post Grindr Not Liable for Man Who Sent 400 Sex-Seeking Men to His Ex-Boyfriend’s Home: Judge appeared first on Towleroad.

Grindr Not Liable for Man Who Sent 400 Sex-Seeking Men to His Ex-Boyfriend’s Home: Judge

Semperopernball im Live-Stream: Ballnacht 2018 online sehen

www.huffingtonpost.de/entry/semperopernball-im-live-stream-ballnacht-2018-online-sehen_de_5a6b5af1e4b0ddb658c5fc17

Men (Still) Behaving Badly

They just don’t get it, do they?

‘One longstanding attendee said it was “a boys’ night out” and compared it to “a rugby club dinner”.’

‘These are not underage girls. They are all over 18 … They all know it’s a bit racy.’

‘The girls were told to wear short skirts and sexy underwear and sign a non-disclosure agreement. Where on earth did they think they would be working, a vicar’s tea party?’

And more, much more, in the same vein following the Financial Times story on Wednesday about a men-only charity dinner at the Dorchester Hotel in London.

So let us try to imagine what goes on inside the head of a man who thinks there is absolutely nothing wrong with telling a young woman whom he has never met before and who is a paid worker at a dinner he is attending that he wants her to ‘rip off her knickers and dance on a table.’

This same man presumably thinks it is perfectly acceptable that, in the words of the FT’s report: ‘Many of the hostesses were subjected to groping, lewd comments and repeated requests to join diners in bedrooms …’

I am trying to imagine the life this man has led. Perhaps he went to a boys-only school, where as an adolescent, he got into the habit of making smutty jokes about girls and boasting about his (fictional) sexual exploits.

He played in boys-only sports matches, followed by booze-fuelled, boys-only after-match parties. If he went on to university, perhaps he joined a men-only drinking club, at which adolescent behaviour was not only accepted, but expected.

Perhaps now that he is middle-aged, he has a teenage daughter of his own. What would he say if she were to be subjected to the sort of behaviour he indulged in at the Presidents Club dinner? Oh, but she wouldn’t be, would she, because she would never do the sort of job for which the young women at the Dorchester were being paid the princely sum of £150, would she?

Look back at one of those comments I quoted earlier. ‘The girls were told to wear short skirts and sexy underwear …’ In other words, they knew perfectly well what they were being paid for: to be groped, fondled, and propositioned.

Er, no, actually, they weren’t. Just as actresses in Victorian England weren’t prostitutes, nor are hostesses in 2018. Women who dress to be attractive to men, whether on instruction or otherwise, are as entitled as everyone else to be treated with respect.

Two simple words are the key to the non-mystery of why some men insist on behaving boorishly: money and power. (‘Presidents Club’: interesting name, don’t you think? Exactly what did these men think they were Presidents of, I wonder?)

The men at that now notorious dinner would have us believe that they were there for no other reason than to give some of their wealth to charity. What could possibly be more deserving of our praise and admiration?

I am (just about) prepared to accept that for some of them, it went no further than that, although I confess I fail to understand why it requires a men-only, black-tie dinner at the Dorchester to donate to good causes. Most of us manage it a good deal less ostentatiously.

But for others, the dinner surely provided a wonderful excuse to feel entitled: ‘Look at me, I’m giving away some of my money ― so surely I deserve some fun in return?’

They were there (all right, some of them were there) because they knew that they would be out of sight of their mothers, wives, girlfriends, sisters and daughters ― free to indulge in the sort of adolescent behaviour which had become second nature to them. The charity bit was no more than a figleaf with which to hide their guilty consciences.

They were, in their own eyes, at least, men who had made a success of their lives. They had amassed enough money to buy them the right to behave however they liked, especially towards younger, less wealthy women. It is only one remove from the medieval droit de seigneur, which supposedly entitled feudal lords to have sex with the brides of their vassals.

So how about someone trying to teach adolescent boys how to behave appropriately towards their female fellow-humans? How about those much-mocked PSHE (personal, sex and health education) lessons involving something more than slipping a condom onto a banana?

Some schools are trying ― one day a year, perhaps, devoted to relationships ― but they plainly need to do more. Too many men, of all ages, still don’t get it. Ill-educated adolescent males are still growing up into ill-educated adult males.

Yes, they can behave as badly as they like in the privacy of their own homes, as long as they harm no one else. If they want to sit in front of the TV getting pissed with their mates, shouting rude remarks at every attractive young woman who appears on screen, by all means, let them go ahead.

But here is the message they need to hear, loud and clear: No, you can’t do it in the workplace, or at a charity dinner. You can’t assault, grope, harass or intimidate anyone. It doesn’t matter how they are dressed, or how much you’re giving to charity. It doesn’t matter if you’re a hot-shot film producer or merely a Loadsamoney property developer.

I can even boil the message down to two words: Grow. Up.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/presidents-club_uk_5a6aef77e4b006be66080ed1