Chinese Ad Featuring Gay Couple Challenges Country’s Taboos

A commercial from an e-commerce subsidiary of Alibaba is showing a progressive vision of the Chinese New Year.

www.advocate.com/world/2020/1/10/chinese-ad-featuring-gay-couple-challenges-countrys-taboos

Buttigieg Slips in Iowa as Sanders Surges

Bernie Sanders leads the latest Iowa Poll for the first time, while Pete Buttigieg dropped 9 percentage points into third place, the Des Moines Register reports.

The poll shows likely Iowa caucusgoers closely divided among the top four candidates, with Sanders leading the way at 20 percent. He is followed by Elizabeth Warren at 17 percent, Buttigieg at 16 percent, and Joe Biden at 15 percent. Amy Klobuchar is a distant fifth at 6 percent, followed by Andrew Yang at 5 percent. No other candidate received more than 3 percent.

“There’s no denying that this is a good poll for Bernie Sanders. He leads, but it’s not an uncontested lead,” said pollster J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., which conducted the poll. “He’s got a firmer grip on his supporters than the rest of his compatriots.”

The news is not all bad for Buttigieg, who has doubled his support in New Hampshire and leads the latest poll there with 20 percent, followed by Biden at 19 percent, Sanders at 18 percent, Warren at 15 percent, and Klobuchar at 6 percent, reports POLITICO.

“The race remains fairly wide open,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “To the extent that New Hampshire voters could take some cues from Iowa, it’s also worth keeping an eye on lower-polling candidates like Klobuchar if any of the leading contenders stumble in the earlier Iowa contest.”

The Iowa Caucuses are Feb. 3, followed by the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 11. The top candidates will meet for a debate in Des Moines on Tuesday night.

The post Buttigieg Slips in Iowa as Sanders Surges appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Buttigieg Slips in Iowa as Sanders Surges

CBS fires reporter over false HIV claims

CBS has announced the network has fired a New York reporter for passing on false information about HIV/AIDS in a recent story.

The unnamed reporter published a story and social media posts in December regarding an attack by an HIV-positive man on a police officer. The story claimed that by spitting on the officer, the assailant had put him at risk for transmission of the virus. One tweet referred to the incident as an “HIV ATTACK,” and claimed the “suspect admitted they spit into an officer’s mouth knowing they had HIV.” In reality, HIV cannot be transmitted by saliva.

Related: More straight guys in Western Australia were diagnosed with HIV in 2019 than gay guys

“This online story should not have been published,” CBS New York told Gay City News in a statement. “It does not meet our journalistic standards, nor does it reflect our core values. The person who wrote and published the story and social media post failed to review the copy with our news managers. This individual is no longer employed by CBS New York.”

The Port Authority Police Benevolent Association is said to have been the origin of the information in the false tweet. An unnamed member of the PAPBA apparently disclosed the suspect’s HIV status to CBS, which may violate privacy law. The comments also furthered the misconception that spit can transmit HIV.

“The problem is when a person with an infectious disease has a weapon, we have a problem with that,” PAPBA public information officer Bob Egbert told GCN. “A guy who knowingly has an infectious disease — that’s a problem.” The union has yet to apologize for the comments.

www.queerty.com/cbs-fires-reporter-false-hiv-claims-20200110?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Trump Administration Asks SCOTUS Not to Decide Obamacare Case Before Election

The Trump administration wants the U.S. Supreme Court to hold off on deciding a lawsuit that could gut the Affordable Care Act until after the November election.

Following a federal appeals court’s decision striking down the ACA’s individual mandate last month, Democrats defending the law asked the Supreme Court to fast-track the case so it could be decided before the election.

In response to the Democrats’ motion, the Trump administration and Republican attorneys general who are challenging the ACA argued Friday there is no pressing need for the high court to intervene.

“A high court intervention could elevate the lawsuit and its threat to guaranteed health coverage for people with chronic medical conditions to the forefront of the 2020 election,” Politico reports. “Democrats leveraged the lawsuit to secure huge gains in the 2018 midterms and ultimately retook the House majority.”

The post Trump Administration Asks SCOTUS Not to Decide Obamacare Case Before Election appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Trump Administration Asks SCOTUS Not to Decide Obamacare Case Before Election