Gay bar owner’s racist history comes back to haunt him, but he would still like your business
Palmer Marsh is the owner of Burkhart’s Pub in Atlanta. He’s also a racist.

www.queerty.com/gay-bar-owners-racist-history-comes-back-haunt-still-like-business-20180123?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Simon Barnes, Actor Who Played Teletubbies’ Tinky Winky Amid ‘Gay’ Controversy, Has Died at 52

Simon Barnes, the actor who played Teletubbies’ Tinky Winky and became mired in a controversy over the character’s sexual orientation in the ’90s, has died at 52. A cause of his sudden death has not been given.

The Guardian reports:

Barnes was a trained ballet dancer and choreographer, but found fame as the tallest Teletubby who always carried a red “magic” handbag.

He became embroiled in a furore over the sexuality of Tinky Winky, who was accused of being a gay role model who could be morally damaging to children by evangelical preacher Jerry Falwell in 1999. “He is purple – the gay-pride colour; and his antenna is shaped like a triangle – the gay-pride symbol,’’ he wrote in the National Liberty Journal.

“People always ask me if Tinky Winky is gay,” Barnes said. “But the character is supposed to be a three-year-old so the question is really quite silly.”

The post Simon Barnes, Actor Who Played Teletubbies’ Tinky Winky Amid ‘Gay’ Controversy, Has Died at 52 appeared first on Towleroad.

Simon Shelton Barnes, Actor Who Played Teletubbies’ Tinky Winky Amid ‘Gay’ Controversy, Has Died at 52

Here’s How Ukip Could Rise From The Dead… Seriously
It’s not looking good for Ukip.

A leader nobody heard of has now become a leader nobody wants.

The party’s precarious financial situation means it could struggle to fund a contest to replace him.

Members are leaving in droves, perhaps feeling that after the referendum result, it is job done.

The party now seemingly flits between being an irrelevance and a joke – sometimes both at the same time.

But those of you who want Ukip to completely disappear from the political scene shouldn’t pop the champagne corks just yet.

There is a road back for the party which, for good or ill, helped deliver the greatest shake-up to the political establishment since Margaret Thatcher.

First of all, the party needs a product to sell on the doorstep. This should be easy.

Its core policy, indeed, in many people’s eyes, its only policy, is incredibly popular with the public. We know this because 17.4million people voted for it in the 2016 Referendum, and Brexit went from being a dream of political outsiders to policy of the Government.

But it is not a reality yet. Ukip’s version of Brexit is unlikely to be delivered. In the mind of Nigel Farage and others in the party, March 29 2019 should signal the end of free movement, the end of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, the end of sharing the UK’s fishing waters.

We know that is not going to happen. Theresa May has already made clear she wants an ‘implementation period’ of around two years, with the UK/EU relationship continuing on the current terms.

This is exactly the kind of compromise Ukip can dress up as a Brexit betrayal.

And that is before the nuts and bolts of the future trade deal has been discussed.

French President Emmanuel Macron last week repeated the EU’s position that the UK needs to pay into the Single Market in order to get full access.

Should May cave into pressure from the City of London and other institutions to deliver as smooth a Brexit as possible, money could continue to leave these shores and head to Brussels.

That is another ‘betrayal’ Ukip could focus on.

As such, it could use the May 2019 local elections as a referendum on May’s Brexit deal, and once again act as a conduit for people to express their views on the Government in same way it did in previous regional votes.

Its mistake would be reverting back to the policies focused on under Paul Nuttall’s leadership: namely an aggressively anti-Islamist agenda, which includes such measures as the compulsory inspection of girl’s vaginas for evidence of female genital mutilation.

Ukip’s so-called ‘integration agenda’ was the centerpiece of its 2017 General Election campaign, and it was a disaster. The party has to ask itself: if the British people would not endorse such a manifesto in the wake of terrorist atrocities, including the Manchester suicide bombing, when will they?

The party needs to stick to what it does best: Brexit.

Having a popular product alone is not enough, you need someone who can sell it on the doorstep, in the town halls, and down the lens of a TV camera.

Is Henry Bolton the man to do it? This week he displayed something he had summarily failed to do so far in his leadership reign: a degree of political nous.

The party’s ruling body, the National Executive Committee, has been a thorn in the side of all the many leaders Ukip has had in recent years.

Farage described it as featuring “the lowest grade of people I have ever met” in 2016, saying his attempts to reform the party had been “fought at every step of the way by total amateurs”.

Diane James, who stuck it out as Ukip leader for a grand total of 18 days, says the NEC stopped her reforming the party in the way she had promised during her leadership campaign, and was one of the reasons why she quit.

With such antipathy directed towards the NEC, Bolton has decided to use the Emergency General Meeting called as a referendum not just on his leadership, but on how the party is run.

If he is able to articulate a message to members that supporting him will put more power in their hands, that might be an attractive offering which keeps him in his job.

Farage, who is still wildly popular with the membership, has indicated he is open to persuasion on this point, and could back Bolton when it comes to the crunch.

And let’s be brutally honest, more people now know who Bolton is after the Jo Marney debacle.

Bolton now has a profile. Ukip could use it to its advantage.

But the relationship with Marney has to be over.

Not just the “romantic part”, as Bolton claims, but all of it. No more cosy dinners together, no more being photographed on the tube, no popping-round-each-others-flats-to-pick-up-bags.

All of it.

Winning the vote at the EGM would not only invigorate Bolton, it could conceivably give what remains of the party a shake.

If it was able to get itself together – and considering the number of egos, factions and splits involved, that is a big ‘if’ – Ukip could still find a hearing in the country.

Or the party could stay true to form, and descend into a political knife fight in which all factions are left fatally wounded, leaving Ukip to bleed out.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/heres-how-ukip-could-rise-from-the-dead-seriously_uk_5a6758bce4b0dc592a0cec8c

HRC Endorses Elissa Slotkin for Congress

Today, HRC announced its endorsement of Elissa Slotkin for election to the U.S. House of Representatives in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District.

“Elissa Slotkin has spent her career in service to our nation. She is a tenacious fighter and she will be a champion for Michigan’s working families. When elected, she will be a strong voice in the effort to move equality forward,” said HRC Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs JoDee Winterhof. “We proudly endorse her candidacy to represent Michigan’s 8th Congressional District, and look forward to working with another pro-equality voice in the United States Congress.”

“I am proud to be endorsed by Human Rights Campaign. The issue of LQBTQ equality is deeply personal for me: my mother came out in the 1980’s and was in a committed same-sex relationship prior to her passing away. There have been important advances for the LGBTQ community in my lifetime, but that progress must be defended — and advanced,” said Slotkin.

Elissa Slotkin has dedicated her life to serving her country and fighting for every Americans’ right to feel safe in their community. In response to 9/11, Slotkin joined the Central Intelligence Agency, serving three tours in Iraq. She served under both Republican and Democratic administrations at the White House, Office of the Director for National Intelligence, and in the Pentagon. She is a strong supporter of LGBTQ equality, most recently speaking out against President Trump’s effort to ban qualified transgender service members from the military. Slotkin will be facing incumbent Rep. Mike Bishop (R), who is now in his second term. Bishop received a zero on HRC’s most recent congressional scorecard and this summer, voted in favor of an amendment that would have banned critical access to transition-related health care for military service members and their families.

In July, HRC announced a bold, proactive grassroots expansion with the launch of HRC Rising — a campaign to accelerate progress in states from coast-to-coast, resist the politics of hate, fight anti-LGBTQ legislation, and fuel pro-equality candidates and initiatives. The expansion is the biggest strategic investment in the organization’s 37-year history and will include significant investments in Michigan. HRC has identified more than 1.1 million Michiganders as likely Equality Voters, meaning they are strong supporters of progressive LGBTQ policies including marriage equality, adoption by LGBTQ people, and laws that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-endorses-elissa-slotkin-of-michigan-for-congress?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

A Fantastic Woman, Call Me By Your Name, Lady Bird, and The Shape of Water receive 2018 Academy Awards nominations

www.glaad.org/blog/fantastic-woman-call-me-your-name-lady-bird-and-shape-water-receive-2018-academy-awards

Inside the Fight for Marsha P. Johnson’s Legacy

Trans activist Reina Gossett accuses out filmmaker David France of stealing her work to make his film about the Stonewall icon. But there’s more than scandal beneath the surface.

www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2018/1/23/inside-fight-marsha-p-johnsons-legacy

Chechnya’s Anti-Gay Leader Attacks Human Rights Group as Revenge for Instagram Deactivation

Russia’s oldest human rights group Memorial has said that Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov likely directed ongoing attacks against it after he lost his Instagram account dues to U.S. sanctions.

In December, Vladimir Putin ally Kadyrov, 41 was sanctioned by the US Treasury over alleged human rights abuses. Facebook, which also owns Instagram, said the U.S. decision meant it was legally obliged to deactivate his accounts.

RELATED: Chechnya Dictator Ramzan Kadyrov: Gays ‘are Not People. They are Devils. They are for Sale’ – WATCH

Last week, Memorial offices in the southern Russian republic of Ingushetia were torched by masked men. Days earlier, Oyub Titiev, the head of Memorial’s office in Chechen capital Grozny, was arrested for possession of six ounces of cannabis. That charge could potentially lead to a 10-year prison sentence.

Memorial representatives believe that Chechen security forces were involved in both cases.

One of Memorial’s founders Oleg Orlov said:

“The closure of his Instagram account is a matter of Kadyrov’s image, of his prestige. When he feels offended, nothing else is important to him – whoever gets in his way must be destroyed. We were held responsible for this by Kadyrov and his inner circle because we are one of the very few sources of information about rights abuses in Chechnya.”

Katya Sokirianskaia, another group founder and former representative in Grozny, added:

“I think this is partly revenge for losing his Instagram [account]. Being placed on the US sanctions list didn’t really bother Kadyrov, but the loss of Instagram was very painful for him. Kadyrov loved his Instagram. It was a very powerful propaganda tool for him, not just his favourite toy.”

According to the Guardian, since its founding by dissidents in 1989, Memorial has gained international respect for its work on Soviet-era repression and modern-day human rights abuses. Last year, it helped document the crackdown against gay men in Chechnya.

The post Chechnya’s Anti-Gay Leader Attacks Human Rights Group as Revenge for Instagram Deactivation appeared first on Towleroad.

Chechnya’s Anti-Gay Leader Attacks Human Rights Group as Revenge for Instagram Deactivation

Mum Shares Shock At Heathrow Airport’s ‘Non-Apology’ After Breast Pumping Nightmare

A mum has shared her disappointment at the way she was treated when she was pumping breast milk at Heathrow Airport.

Sophie McBain, from New York, US, felt uncomfortable as she had not pumped that day and needed to do so before her flight.

She asked airport staff where she could get some privacy while pumping milk and was advised to go to the baby changing room.

But she claims a male staff member opened the door on her while she was in the middle of pumping and said she should have left it unlocked or pumped in the main terminal.

“To explain why I was upset I compared it to someone bursting in on you while you are on the toilet and then calmly telling you, while your pants are still round your ankles, that you are hogging the public bathroom,” McBain wrote on Twitter on 22 January.

McBain explained she filed a formal complaint with the airport team as she didn’t want other women to go through the same experience she had.

She hadn’t originally intended to speak out publicly about her experience, but was so unsatisfied with the “excuse-filled, non-apology” she recieved in response.

The mum explained she didn’t want to get anyone in trouble, calling it a “systemic problem”.

“From my perspective what’s really important is that this isn’t about one male attendant’s awkward reaction – he was probably expecting an empty cubicle and we sometimes say weird things when caught off guard,” she told HuffPost UK.

“The reason I am so upset and annoyed is because clearly Heathrow has given no thought to the needs of breastfeeding women and as 1,300 flights land and depart from the airport each day there must be hundreds of us passing through.

“Even when I gave them an opportunity to acknowledge their shortcomings and to suggest ways in which they might prevent this happening again they side-stepped the issue.”

The mum explained her story on a Twitter thread. 

McBain explained she told the male staff member that breastfeeding women who are travelling need to pump otherwise they are at risk of serious conditions such as mastitis.

The reply from Heathrow Airport, screenshotted and shared by McBain, explained that a male bathroom attendant will “always enter a bathroom” if he has not had any response from requests to enter.

“In this, while it was uncomfortable it was not entirely his fault for entering after warning,” the reply read. 

“With that said, every passenger should be treated with courtesy and respect, meaning we expect our staff to be professional, helpful and polite at all times.

“I appreciate your experience was not acceptable and so I have passed your feedback on to the appropriate terminal’s manager so they can take necessary action.”

Twitter users shared their disgust at how McBain was treated.

HuffPost UK contacted Heathrow Airport for comment and will update this piece upon their response.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/mum-breast-pumping-heathrow-airport_uk_5a673724e4b0e5630073717c