Watch LIVE: Trump Promises ‘Major Statement’ on Birther Issue

Donald Trump has promised he’ll give a major statement on the ‘birther’ issue at a press conference at the Trump International Hotel in D.C. this morning.

On Wednesday, Donald Trump refused to say whether he believes Obama was born in the United States:

In the interview, conducted late Wednesday aboard his private plane as it idled on the tarmac here, Trump suggested he is not eager to change his pitch or his positions even as he works to reach out to minority voters, many of whom are deeply offended by his long-refuted suggestion that Obama is not a U.S. citizen. Trump refused to say whether he believes Obama was born in Hawaii.

“I’ll answer that question at the right time,” Trump said. “I just don’t want to answer it yet.”

When asked whether his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, was accurate when she said recently that he now believes Obama was born in this country, Trump responded: “It’s okay. She’s allowed to speak what she thinks. I want to focus on jobs. I want to focus on other things.”

Also:

Late Thursday, campaign spokesman Jason Miller said in a statement that Trump no longer doubted Obama’s birth in Hawaii and had done “a great service to the President and the country” by prompting Obama to release his long-form birth certificate in 2011. But Miller also repeated the widely debunked claim that Clinton and her campaign had questioned Obama’s birthplace in 2008, which is false.

Politico reported:

Donald Trump passed up yet another opportunity to say he accepts the fact that President Barack Obama was born in the United States, promising to make a “major statement” on Friday morning in front of his latest hotel project and telling Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo, “We have to keep the suspense going, OK?”

But he also blamed his opponent Hillary Clinton for raising doubts about Obama’s birthplace during the 2008 campaign, despite no evidence that she did so.

“I’m going to be making a major statement on this whole thing and what Hillary did,” Trump told Bartiromo. “But no, she is the one that started it and she was unable or incapable of finishing it. That’s the way it worked out. But I got him to release his birth certificate. So we will have a big statement and I hope you’re going to be watching.”

Clinton on Friday morning accused Trump of “feeding into the worst impulse” that still exists in America.

The President has responded to this nonsense:

I asked @POTUS about Trump camp acknowledging he was born in US. “I never had any doubt about where I was born ” pic.twitter.com/DpGJe4oiDO

— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) September 16, 2016

The post Watch LIVE: Trump Promises ‘Major Statement’ on Birther Issue appeared first on Towleroad.

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#AM_Equality Tip Sheet: September 16, 2016

IN TODAY’S EDITION: HRC and EqualityNC endorse candidates for the NC General Assembly… Hillary Clinton stands up for LGBT teens and blasts McCrory on the campaign trail… First openly transgender service member promoted… Two confess in hate-fueled anti-gay murder case… Iowa football teams under investigation for using racist, anti-LGBTQ slurs…  

HRC AND ENC ENDORSE CANDIDATES FOR THE NC GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Yesterday, HRC and Equality NC (ENC) announced key state legislative endorsements for the fall election. HRC and ENC also committed to supporting the endorsements by launching TurnOut NC, a project to mobilize pro-equality voters and elect pro-equality leaders in Raleigh. The LGBTQ vote has the power to impact elections up and down the ticket in North Carolina. An estimated 331,000 LGBTQ adults of voting age live in the state — a substantial population given that the state was won in the last three presidential elections by an average margin of 180,500 votes. More on the endorsements from The News & Observer.

• This November, a growing and highly engaged LGBTQ voting bloc in North Carolina will play a pivotal role in the presidential, gubernatorial and other down ballot races. More from HRC on the power of NC’s pro-equality vote here.

LGBTQ voters have the power to decide elections up and down the ballot — that includes in North Carolina. t.co/yYrkv8bNRM

— Chad Griffin (@ChadHGriffin) September 15, 2016

HILLARY CLINTON STANDS UP FOR LGBT TEENS & BLASTS MCCRORY ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL: At a rally in Greensboro, N.C., Hillary Clinton told the crowd “I’m running for the LGBT teenager here in North Carolina who sees [Governor Pat McCrory] sign a bill legalizing discrimination and suddenly feels like a second-class citizen. And if anyone wonders what the costs of discrimination are, just ask the people and businesses of North Carolina. Look at what’s happening with the NCAA and the ACC. This is where bigotry leads and we cannot afford it. Not here. Not anywhere else in America.” Watch here.

• Food for thought, Gov. McCrory: McCrory’s discriminatory HB2 law has already hammered NC with an estimated combined cost of  $448 million in lost commerce and money spent to bring businesses back and to fight HB2. More here.

LOL OF THE WEEK: Check out The Civilist, a new podcast from The Washington Post’s Steven Petrow (@StevenPetrow) on LGBTQ rights and more. In yesterday’s episode, Mr. Manners himself took on Pat McCrory’s ridiculous assertion that anti-trans discrimination was “proper etiquette,” by laying out the history of bathroom etiquette. Listen here.

FIRST OPENLY TRANSGENDER SERVICE MEMBER PROMOTED: In a historic first, Navy Lt. Cdr. Blake Dremann became the first openly transgender service member to be promoted. He was officially promoted by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Amanda Simpson (@AmandaRSimpson), who is the first transgender presidential appointee, and the highest ranking transgender person in the Department of Defense. Dremann’s proud parents, David and Diane, traveled from St. Louis for the ceremony. More from NBC.

History made as Navy Lt. Cdr. Blake Dremann becomes first out trans service member to be promoted! t.co/DxCnPaImLK via @fionajdawson

— Chad Griffin (@ChadHGriffin) September 15, 2016

ACT NOW: END AIDS COALITION LAUNCHES: A significant coalition of more than 20 HIV and AIDS advocacy organizations was announced Thursday at the US Conference on AIDS with the goal of ending AIDS in the United States.  ACT NOW: END AIDS will seek to ensure access to treatment for those living with HIV and expand access to preventative measures like Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). It will also collaborate with other organizations to combat drivers of HIV like stigma, prejudice, and homelessness. “We look forward to working with ACT NOW in the crucial fight to achieve an AIDS-free generation in America,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. More from HRC.

TWO CONFESS IN HATE-FUELED ANTI-GAY MURDER CASE: This week, two more members of a gang confessed to fatally beating 18-year-old Anthony Collao in Woodhaven, N.Y., in 2011.  Jonathan Echevarria and Nolis Ogando were sentenced to 18 and eight years in prison, respectively. Four other gang members already confessed to the crime, and are in prison. More from New York Daily News.

IOWA FOOTBALL TEAMS UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR USING RACIST AND ANTI-LGBTQ SLURS: Two Iowa high school football teams are being investigated for allegedly using racist and anti-LGBTQ slurs. One incident involves a player using racist slurs against an opposing player; the other involves team members using anti-gay slurs against a classmate who was named to the school’s homecoming court, including texting that the student should “kill himself, or go die.” More from USA Today.

READING RAINBOW

Fred Karger (@FredKarger) writes for The Huffington Post about the need for LGBTQ acceptance in the Mormon Church… Media Matters shares two new reports on poverty rates among the LGBTQ population… BuzzFeed shares the beautiful story of two gay Syrian refugees who reunited…

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

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The GLAAD Wrap: New music from Against Me!, 'Nashville' casts Jen Richards, and more!

www.glaad.org/blog/glaad-wrap-new-music-against-me-nashville-casts-jen-richards-and-more

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“We’ll Kill You With AIDS”: Referee Receives Death Threats After Returning To Football

He’s Spain’s only openly gay football referee, a job he temporarily left after being besieged with homophobic death threats in May.

Unfortunately, the situation has hardly improved since his return.

On Saturday, 21-year-old Jesús Tomillero was refereeing a game between Atlético Zabal and CD Lasalle in Andalusía’s second division when a Lasalle fan told him to “get off for being gay” after he awarded a penalty to the competing team.

Related: NBA Referee Called A “Fu**ing Faggot” By Player Comes Out To Combat Homophobia In Sports

Though the game was stopped and the heckler removed, the man still managed to yell “You fucking faggot!” at Tomillero before being escorted out.

Shortly after the match, the death threats on social media began pouring in.

“You son of a bitch,” read one. “You messed with the wrong club. We’ll kill you with Aids, you faggot.”

Another message featured a photo of handguns and bullets, and the caption, “Not long left to live, faggot.”

Related: Gay Soccer Ref Loses His Job After Being Called A Faggot

Talking to The Guardian, Tomillero said, “I go the first one about three o’clock yesterday afternoon. It said: ‘Reporting this was a mistake, Jesús. The boss has put a price on your head.’ There was a picture of a gun and a car and it said: ‘Get ready for what’s coming, faggot.’”

He’s stunned by the abuse.

I had a fit of nerves and didn’t know what to do. But we got into a taxi and went to the police. They’re investigating the case, not just here but all over Spain. There are police officers outside my house 24 hours a day, but I’m still afraid and I don’t know what could happen.”

“I’m going to keep on doing what I like doing, whatever it costs. But I am really, really scared.”

In May, Tomillero called it quits because the onslaught of abuse simply became too much to take.

Related: Gay Turkish Soccer Referee Wages High-Profile Legal Fight After Losing His Job

The worst offense was when a heckler shouted, “That’s that poof who was on the telly … You can stick the goal up your arse, you fucking poof.”

What hurt Tomillero more than the insult was the fact that the crowd laughed.

Three years ago, a survey concluded that Spain was the most accepting European country when it came to homosexuality, but prejudice is still a huge problem there

In fact, in Madrid there’s a homophobic attack every two days.

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PHOTOS: The Boys Have No Boundaries At Metro Disco In Barcelona

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Archbishop of Wales: Sex Between Gay People in Committed Relationships is Perfectly ‘Proper’

Dr Barry Morgan, the Archbishop of Wales, says that sex between gay people in committed relationships is perfectly “proper.”

Ahead of his retirement, Morgan spoke at his final address to the governing body of the Church in Wales. He used his speech to urge members to rethink traditional beliefs about same-sex relationships as being sinful.

During the speech, he said that it is not possible to argue that there is “one settled understanding of what the Bible says” on sexuality, reports the Telegraph.

Even Biblical texts often cited as condemning homosexuality, such as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone, could be “interpreted in more than one way”, he said.

Read as a whole, it is not possible to argue that there is “one settled understanding of what the Bible says” on sexuality and a range of other topics, he claimed.

Dr Morgan, a prominent liberal figure in the church, is stepping down in early 2017 after 14 years as Archbishop, the longest serving primate in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

In his address he cites a string of examples from both the Old Testament and New Testament in which, he said, different passages effectively contradict each other on topics as diverse as the status of eunuchs in Jewish society to the use of violence in retribution.      

“What all this shows is that within the Scriptures themselves, there are radical shifts in understanding in what it means to discern the will of God. It absolutely will not do to quote texts from parts of the Bible in a simplistic way without reference to their contexts, said Morgan.

RELATED: Church Of England Faces Legal Challenge After Blocking Job Offer To Married Gay Priest

Wrote Morgan:

“What all this amounts to is that one cannot argue that there is one accepted traditional way of interpreting Scripture that is true and orthodox and all else is modern revisionism, culturally conditioned. Scripture itself is diverse and theological views held in some biblical books are reshaped in the light of experience by other writers….

“So taking the Bible as a whole and taking what it says very seriously may lead us into a very different view of same-sex relationships than the one traditionally upheld by the Church…..

“Given that each of the passages purported to be about homosexuality can be interpreted in more than one way, we come to the fundamental question as to whether taking the Bible as a whole, we can come to the same conclusions about committed, faithful, loving, same-sex relationships as we did about slavery.

“We are not thereby abandoning the Bible but trying to interpret it in a way that is consistent with the main thrust of the ministry of Jesus, who went out of His way to minister to those who were excluded, marginalised, and abandoned by His society because they were regarded as impure and unholy by the religious leaders of His day, either because of their gender, age, morality or sexuality. Taking Holy Scripture seriously means paying attention to Jesus’ ministry of inclusivity.”

Earlier this month, Bishop of Grantham, the Rt Rev Nicholas Chamberlain became the first bishop to openly declare he is gay and in a relationship.

In January, the Anglican Church suspended the U.S. Episcopal Church for three years from any committees or decision-making over its acceptance of gay marriage and gay relationships. In the same month, a poll found that 45% of people who define themselves as Church of England approve of same-sex marriage, compared with 37% who believe it is wrong.

You can read Morgan’s full address here and watch an interview with Chamberlain below.

(Image via Wikipedia)

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Davey Wavey’s Carnival Adventure Included a Quest for the Most Hung Man in Provincetown: WATCH

Vlogger Davey Wavey headed to Provincetown, Massachusetts for this year’s ‘Back to the ’80s’ Carnival celebration, where he served as Grand Marshal of the parade. Davey brought along his high school classmate Haley Star, who served as “Grand Marshal’s Bitch”, aka colorful drag sidekick.

Together, they attended the Carnival boat cruise on Cape Cod Bay, interviewed Ptown’s resident drag queen Miss Richfield 1981 and took in Drag Race alum Courtney Act, did some underwear promotion, and attended a pool party where they sought out – and found – the biggest dick in Provincetown (or at least among the go-go boys hired to swing their things).

Watch:

For more of this year’s Ptown Carnival activities, check out drone aficionado David A. Cox’s wrap-up of the festivities.

The post Davey Wavey’s Carnival Adventure Included a Quest for the Most Hung Man in Provincetown: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

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