Chely Wright’s Return to the Grand Ole Opry Was Right on Time

One of The Advocate‘s “Women of the Year,” Wright hadn’t been asked back to perform at the Opry for 10 years after she came out. But then they called. 

www.advocate.com/music/2020/5/12/chely-wrights-return-grand-ole-opry-was-right-time

California police officer says he was fired because he’s gay and has HIV

A former police officer from Gardena, CA has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city. He claims that he lost his job because he is gay and HIV+.

Metro Weekly reports Steven Prendergast worked as a lieutenant for the Gardena Police Department from 1995 to 2019. He claims that during that time he experienced discrimination and harassment by his fellow officers over his sexual orientation and medical status. He also claims that the department denied him access to the medical care of his choice because of his diagnosis.

Related: Police chief suspended after linking gay cop’s COVID-19 death to his sexuality

Prendergast also says he was wrongfully accused of inappropriate touching of two other officers while on a trip to Washington DC. He believes that allegation also was used to justify his termination from the department, though other heterosexual officers were accused of similar conduct and faced no disciplinary action.

Officials for the Gardena Police Department claim they have not yet been served with the lawsuit, and refused to comment on the matter. “It is the City’s consistent practice not to comment on lawsuits that have not been served,” the department said in a statement. “The City does however strictly enforce its equal employment guidelines, including prohibitions on workplace harassment, against and for the protection of all ranks of its employees, from entry-level positions to top-level managers. The City will respond in court at the appropriate time.”

www.queerty.com/california-police-officer-says-fired-hes-gay-hiv-20200512?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Anthony Fauci Shuts Down Rand Paul, Warns of ‘Cavalier’ Assertions About Children and COVID-19: WATCH

Dr. Anthony Fauci and Rand Paul had a sharp exchange at today’s hearing before a Senate panel on opening schools amid the coronavirus crisis.

Said Paul: “Shouldn’t we be at least be discussing what the mortality of children is? … It’s not going to be zero but it almost approaches zero. Between [the ages of] 18 and 45, the mortality was 10 out of 100,000. … I hope that people who are predicting doom and gloom [about opening up various economies around the nation] will admit that they were wrong if there isn’t a surge because I think that’s what’s going to happen.”

Paul said we need to be reopening schools “school district by school district” and told Fauci “as much as I respect you, I don’t think you’re the ‘end all,’ I don’t think you’re the one person that gets to make a decision. We can listen to your advice but there are people on the other side saying ‘there’s not going to be a surge.’”

Replied Fauci: “First of all, I have never made myself out to be the ‘end all’ and the only voice of this. I am a scientist, a physician, and a public health official. I give advice according to the best scientific evidence. … You use the word ‘we should be humble about what we don’t know.’ We don’t know everything about this virus, and we really better be very careful, particularly when it comes to children. Because the more and more we learn, we’re seeing things about what this virus can do that we didn’t see from the studies in China or in Europe. For example, right now, children presenting with COVID-19 who actually have a very strange inflammatory syndrome, very similar to Kawasaki syndrome. I think we better be careful, that we are not cavalier in thinking that children are completely immune to the deleterious effects.”

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Anthony Fauci Shuts Down Rand Paul, Warns of ‘Cavalier’ Assertions About Children and COVID-19: WATCH