The CDC Paints a Dark Picture for LGB Youth, But Don't Despair

The Trevor Project’s Abbe Land on the troubling new numbers from the Centers for Disease Control.

www.advocate.com/commentary/2016/8/12/cdc-paints-dark-picture-lgb-youth-dont-despair

Matt Baume Slams Article Outing Gay Athletes at the Olympics As ‘Lurid Clickbait’ – WATCH

Yesterday, The Daily Beast published an article by straight journalist named Nico Hines in which Hines used Grindr to report on the sexual activities of gay athletes at the Rio Olympics. As we previously reported, that article included explicit details about certain gay athletes who hail from anti-gay countries. In providing enough details to discern the identity of those individuals, Hines effectively outed them and put their lives in danger.

RELATED: Straight Journalist Cruises Grindr at the Olympics, Outs Athletes From Anti-Gay Countries

Twenty-fours and several redactions later, Hines has still not spoken out about the article. TDB, however, has taken it down from its site, a move it called unprecedented but necessary.

RELATED: ‘Daily Beast’ Pulls Article That Outed Olympic Athletes Using Grindr, Apologizes

Vlogger and activist Matt Baume weighed in on the controversy providing some much-needed perspective and sass.

As to why gay athletes using Grindr could at all be considered newsworthy, Baume quipped,

“It may come as a shock, but when we’re not busy being sassy friends, gay people do have sex with each other…So yeah, of course gay people are hooking up in Rio. But whats different about these hook-ups is that at the Olympics there’s a high likelihood that you’ll encounter people that are closeted for their own safety.”

And outing people who are in the closet because they come from a place where it’s illegal to be gay is just plain heinous. Baume explains, “It’s one thing to out a politician who actively harms LGBTs [e.g. Larry Craig] but it’s another to out a volleyball player who could be thrown in jail just for asking someone out for a drink.”

Baume also cautioned against letting your guard down when using gay dating apps like Grindr. “They may feel like a safe space to let your guard down…but they’re not,” he says.

The other tragedy of TDB’s article, besides the endangerment of the lives of gay athletes, is that it could have done some good. But chose not to do so.

Baume says,

“This article could have been about how gay athletes from all over the world may be isolated or face consequences for being out at home but they’re able to connect at the Olympic village. Or it could have talked about the difficulties they’ll face when they return to their home countries. But instead we just got some lurid clickbait.”

Watch, below.

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Massive Kiss-In Planned at UK Supermarket Where Gay Couple Was Told to Stop Holding Hands

A mass kiss-in is planned for a UK supermarket whose security guard told a gay man that holding hands with his partner in the store was “inappropriate.”

As we reported:

A gay couple were left “stunned and shaking” after a security guard in a London supermarket accused them of “touching and behaving inappropriately.”

32-year-old Thomas Rees (above left) was shopping in Sainsbury’s in Hackney on Monday when he and his boyfriend Josh (above right) were “beckoned over” by the security guard. In 2014, a Sainsbury’s in Brighton, England apologized after a security guard asked a lesbian couple to leave the store following complaints from other customers

RELATED: Gay Couple Told To Stop Holding Hands, ‘Behaving Inappropriately’ In London Supermarket

Writes the organizer of the kiss-in:

This Monday, a security guard at a Sainsbury’s store in East London told a man in the store that holding hands with his same gender partner was “inappropriate”.

This isn’t the first time this has happened: in a Brighton Sainsbury’s just a couple of years ago, a security guard did the same thing: telling two women that kissing was “inappropriate” too.

Back then, the Supermarket chain promised us they’d sort out their training to ensure this could never happen again. Guess what? It has.

Last time thousands of people descended on the Sainsbury’s branch for big (consensual) kiss, puckering up in the aisles in an act of defiance. showing affection to someone, whatever their gender or sexuality, is something to be celebrated.

In a year that’s seen attacks all too often on the LGBT community, it’s high time that Sainsbury’s – with profits over £500 million this year – put their money where their mouths are and use their resources to ensure that homophobia becomes a thing of the past. a £10 voucher just doesn’t cut it.

The blokes who were told off in the store will be coming down to join us and saying a few words, and there’ll be a drag queen on a mic to keep eveything orderly.

If you have nobody to kiss then just ask ppl nicely for their consent to kiss and if they say yes then kiss them but if they say no then you should ask someone else.

Come down to Sainsburys at 6:30pm this Saturday: hold hands, pucker up, and tell Sainsbury’s enough is enough. oh, and invite ppl.

The Sainsbury’s is at 238-244 Hackney Road if you happen to be in London tomorrow at 6:30 pm.

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Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Trolls Trump Voters – WATCH

If you’ve ever been morbidly curious about who Trump voters are and what they really believe, Triumph the insult comic dog is here to help.

Triumph has a new video in which he conducts a fake focus group with a very real group of Trump supporters. The point is to show outrageous fake Trump plans to deal with immigration, transgender bathroom rights and other issues to Trump supporters to see if they think those plans are over the top or just what we need to “make America great again.”

For instance, should we include handguns in all women’s bathrooms to protect cisgender women from transgender bathroom predators?

And trap illegal Mexican immigrants in porta-potties placed near Home Depot and then ship them back to Mexico? Or demand that Hillary Clinton prove that she is in fact a woman? These Trump voters agree: yes, we should.

Watch the almost too-outrageous-to-believe video, below.

Editor’s Note: the below video is only funny if Donald Trump doesn’t actually win the presidency. Otherwise, it is a sign of the end times. 

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#AM_Equality Tip Sheet: August 12, 2016

RUBIO RAILS AGAINST MARRIAGE EQUALITY ON TWO MONTH ANNIVERSARY OF PULSE TRAGEDY: A day after Trump courted anti-LGBTQ activists in Orlando, Rubio took to the same stage this morning to rail against marriage equality. Rubio calls for people to “not judge” the LGBTQ community, yet he continues to  support Kim Davis-style discrimination like the so-called “First Amendment Defense Act,” which would allow non-profit organizations and businesses contracting with the federal government to circumvent critical federal protections designed to protect LGBTQ families from harmful discrimination. Despite condoning a time where McCarthyism led to a witch-hunt against the LGBTQ community holding government jobs, Rubio consistently voted against the Employee Non-Discrimination act and vowed during his presidential campaign to reverse the executive order made by President Obama that bans anti-LGBTQ discrimination by government contractors. Read more on Trump and Rubio adding insult to injury in Orlando via TIME and The Huffington Post, and check out how, when it comes to opposing LGBTQ equality, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio are two dangerous peas in a pod.

NEW CDC DATA REVEALS LGB TEENS FACE STARTLING RATES OF VIOLENCE: Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) teens are far more likely to experience violence and bullying, and attempt suicide, than their heterosexual peers, according to new national data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data show just how deeply stigma and discrimination affect LGBTQ youth, how urgently they need their communities’ support and affirmation, and how far we have to go in protecting them. For the first time ever, the biannual Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) asked young people about their sexual orientation, allowing researchers to assess how being LGB affects teens’ risk of problems including depression, drug use and violence. The results are sobering. More from The New York Times.

• In Texas, one mother is standing up for her transgender daughter’s right to use school bathrooms consistent with her gender identity. “Please understand I’m not fighting about bathrooms, I’m fighting about her life, I’m fighting about her well-being, I’m fighting for her happiness, I’m fighting for her future,” said Kim Shappley. More from KXAN.

THIS DAY IN LGBTQ HISTORY: On August 11, 1981, a group of brave, early HIV and AIDS activists gathered in Larry Kramer’s living room and made history – founding Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), the world’s first AIDS service organization. Read this piece in The Advocate by Kelsey Louie, the current CEO of GMHC, about the history of the movement and work that remains.

HRC ALABAMA’S EVA KENDRICK: ROY MOORE MUST GO: In the Montgomery Advertiser, HRC Alabama state manager Eva Kendrick, citing suspended Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore’s unethical and anti-LGBTQ behavior and rhetoric, lays out why he must be permanently removed from the bench. “[Alabama] elected Roy Moore to be a Supreme Court justice, not a pastor,” she writes. Moore faces a second hearing on ethics charges next month. #NoMoore

HRC MOURNS THE LOSS OF ERYKAH TIJERINA: HRC is saddened to learn that Erykah Tijerina, a transgender woman, was found dead on Monday in her El Paso apartment. KFOX14 reports that police observed “obvious signs of foul play.” Tijerina was 36. She is at least the 16th transgender person murdered in the U.S. since January. Over 80 percent of those killed have been women and about 20 percent, including Tijerina, have been Latinx. More from HRC.

DOJ RELEASES REPORT DETAILING UNLAWFUL CONDUCT OF BALTIMORE PD: HRC is heartened to hear that the City of Baltimore recognizes the unlawful conduct by its Police Department  as detailed in a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) report, and is committed to reform. As DOJ and Baltimore work together to improve policing in Baltimore, HRC will continue to work with Congress and the Administration to push for criminal justice reform on the federal level. This week, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division released a report on its investigation of the Baltimore City Police Department (BPD) that concludes there is “reasonable cause to believe that BPD engages in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the Constitution or federal law.” More from HRC.

HRC’S SARAH MCBRIDE ON MAKING HISTORY AT THE DNC: In an interview with Al Jazeera’s The Stream, HRC National Press Secretary Sarah McBride talks about her historic speech at this year’s Democratic National Convention, where she became the first openly transgender person to address a major party’s convention. Watch it here.

OPENLY TRANS ATHLETES ABSENT FROM OLYMPIC ROSTER: While there are many talented and successful transgender athletes around the globe, there are no openly transgender athletes competing in the Olympic Games in Rio. It was only earlier this year that the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decided to allow transgender athletes to compete without gender affirming surgery. Previously, transgender athletes were required to undergo surgery and wait two years after before competing. Though there are no openly transgender Olympians in Rio, Rolling Stone reports that there are two athletes competing at the Olympics who are transgender. More from HRC.

MASS. MANDATES INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR SIDE EFFECT OF HIV DRUGS: Massachusetts has become the first state to require that insurers cover treatment for HIV-associated lipodystrophy syndrome, an often debilitating side effect of some old HIV medications, which some insurance companies did not previously cover. The law was signed yesterday by Governor Charlie Baker. More from MassLive.

GEORGIA PREZ SAYS NO TO ANTI-LGBTQ REFERENDUM: Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili has rejected an anti-LGBTQ organization’s proposal to hold a referendum on defining a marriage as a union between one man and one woman. More from Georgia Today.

READING RAINBOW

The Washington Post explores how one Jewish summer camp is finding new ways to welcome nonbinary campers; Gay Star News celebrates nine inspiring transgender teens; The Advocate details why transgender rights can’t wait; ThinkProgress explores why bisexual men fear coming out; Adweek unveils Grindr’s newest line of athletic wear to benefit LGBTQ athletes; The Charlotte Observer profiles a transgender student who earned one of the state’s most prestigious scholarships to attend UNC Chapel Hill; and The New York Times takes a look at what the Olympics say about the climate for LGBTQ people in China.

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!

www.hrc.org/blog/am-equality-tip-sheet-august-12-2016?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

'Mannouncing' Won't Stop Female Olympians or Their Fans

While men dominate sports coverage year-round, the Olympics offers a brief glimpse at the talent of female athletes. 

www.advocate.com/sports/2016/8/12/mannouncing-wont-stop-female-olympians-or-their-fans

'SNL' Comedian Leslie Jones Offers Hilarious Olympics Commentary

Leslie Jones has landed in Rio for the 2016 Summer Olympics, so get ready to laugh.

www.advocate.com/comedy/2016/8/12/snl-comedian-leslie-jones-offers-hilarious-olympics-commentary

‘Rogue One’ Trailer Channels 2016: ‘The World Is Coming Undone’ – WATCH

The first official trailer for the Star Wars spinoff film Rogue One was released Thursday night during coverage of the Olympics, giving fans more insight into what they can expect when the movie hits theaters December 16.

A previous teaser for the film got fans in a frenzy, and this latest one has already been viewed 3.2 million times as of publication.

Rogue One follows “a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction.”

The trailer opens with an ominous declaration by Forest Whittaker’s character, Saw Gerrera: “The world is coming undone.”

As Mashable points out, this is an apropos choice for film-goers in 2016. For if you’ve survived 2016 thus far, those words will resonate with you.

The trailer also includes the most we’ve seen of the ultimate baddy, Darth Vader, since 2005’s Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (which some of us would maybe prefer to forget).

More from Mashable: 

Every iconic visual that we associate with the Galactic Empire gets a spectacular shot, from Star Destroyers to TIE fighters to the mighty Death Star itself. […]

The focus is barely on Jyn Erso [star Felicity Jones] as the trailer takes most of its 135 seconds to briefly introduce us to other characters, such as intelligence officer Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), freelance assassin Baze Malbus (Jiang Wen) and the comic-relief robot K-2SO, a tall drink of CGI voiced by Firefly‘s Alan Tudyk.

Then there’s the eerie, blue-eyed Jedi-like spiritual warrior Chirrut Imwe (Donnie Yen), whom the gang meet on the planet Jedha, dropping Imperial guards like they’re sick beats. “I fear nothing,” Imwe says. “All is as the Force wills it.”

Watch the trailer, below.

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Marco Rubio, Provincetown, Belle and Sebastian, Greenland Shark, James Ellington: HOT LINKS

FLORIDA. Marco Rubio’s lead evaporates. “Incumbent Republican Senate candidates in the three key swing states surveyed — Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio — all polled better than Trump, the survey showed. But in Florida and Pennsylvania, both considered crucial to the party’s efforts to maintain control of the Senate, the races are now too close to call.”

HILLARY CLINTON. New ad shows Republicans pressing Trump to release his tax returns: “Clinton will release her 2015 tax returns “in the coming days,” a Clinton campaign official said, adding that Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and his wife will also release a decade of tax returns.”

HEARTBREAKING. Levels of violence against LGBT teens show far greater risk: “These adolescents were three times more likely than straight students to have been raped. They skipped school far more often because they did not feel safe; at least a third had been bullied on school property. And they were twice as likely as heterosexual students to have been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property.”

GREENLAND SHARK. The longest-living vertebrate. “She was born during the reign of James I, was a youngster when René Descartes set out his rules of thought and the great fire of London raged, saw out her adolescent years as George II ascended the throne, reached adulthood around the time that the American revolution kicked off, and lived through two world wars. Living to an estimated age of nearly 400 years, a female Greenland shark has set a new record for longevity, scientists have revealed.”

RIO 2016. No Chinese among the openly gay Olympians: “The absence of Chinese athletes ‘shows that the environment isn’t here for sexual minorities to come out yet,’ Mr. Peng said in a telephone interview.”

MINNESOTA. Former banker Stephen Habberstad may get $3.5 million after court rules he was fired because he’s gay: “People can have their own views on sexual orientation. That’s not the issue,” [attorney] Lienemann said. “The issue is that people have a right to work without that impacting their employment and their ability to earn a living. Discrimination happens even among people who you think are your friends and family who support you. It’s a hard reality for a lot of people.”

THE RAY. Greg Berlanti developing first animated DC superhero series with a gay lead: “Berlanti will produce an animated series about DC Comics Freedom Fighter The Ray, with an eye on a future live-action iteration. Like so many other super mantles, The Ray identity has been assumed by multiple characters in the comics. But it’s the Ray Terrill iteration from Grant Morrison’s Multiversity that will inform the TV character. According to the CW Seed, Terrill’s backstory is that he’s a reporter who stumbles upon “a group of government scientists working on a secret project to turn light into a weapon of mass destruction.” Unfortunately, before he can get to a payphone to dictate the story to a transcriber, Ray is exposed to a “genetic light bomb,” and ends up with light-based powers.”

PROVINCETOWN. Still the place to paint and party: “Rent was always expensive in Provincetown; everything cost a lot,” insisted Mr. Waters, who first hitchhiked here in 1964 and has returned every summer since. “I don’t think it’s changed. Times have changed. And I’m 70 now, not 20. I’ve always liked to ride a bicycle here. The difference is that I used to steal a bike the first night I came and then paint it a different color the next day.”

BELLE AND SEBASTIAN. Olympic Village, 6 am. “Belle and Sebastian dig the Olympics, love the Olympic ideal, love that the world gets together for a big ‘sports day’ once every four years. We can’t be part of it, though we’d like to be. So we recorded a piece of music with Rio In mind: specifically the Track and Field. Here it is.”

FRIDAY FLESH. Team GB sprinter James Ellington.

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