Outside the Stonewall Inn
tripletstate posted a photo:
June 13, 2016
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LA Pride, Barbra Streisand, Vigils, The Abbey, Frank Langella, Cuba: NEWS
LA Pride, Barbra Streisand, Vigils, The Abbey, Frank Langella, Cuba: NEWS
LOS ANGELES. Carly Rae Jepsen and Hailee Seinfeld closed out LA Pride on Sunday night.
TONYS. Barbra Streisand made her first appearance at the Tonys in 46 years last night.
HATE SPEECH. The connection between right-wing nuts and the Orlando shooting: “Every anti-gay politician, every bigoted preacher, every self-hating bully has blood on his hands. Make no mistake about it, the shooting in Orlando which targeted the LGBT community was the end result of decades of anti-gay hate speech and gay bashings.”
SEARCHING FOR A SILVER LINING. Comparing the firebombing of New Orleans’ Upstairs Lounge in 1973 and the attack on the Pulse: “…it’s worth noting that hope and progress, however fragile, are also present today. We can take some solace in that. When those 32 people died in New Orleans, law enforcement officials did not respond with the humanity and professionalism we saw in Orlando last night. No flags were lowered in their honor and no elected official, least of all the President of the United States, offered condolences to their families and the LGBT community.”
BEAUTIFUL DISTRACTION. Male Model Monday hunk, Gilberto Fritsch.
PRIMARY. On Sunday, Bernie Sanders announced he would not concede the Democratic campaign.
#WEAREORLANDO. Vigils held around the world for victims of Orlando shootings.
CONGRESS. Gay congressional candidate Bob Poe (FL) comes out as HIV-positive: “Poe says that he was diagnosed with HIV 18 years ago, but until now had only shared that with a few family members. He says he’s making it public now because of a recent encounter with a woman who is also HIV-positive.”
WEST HOLLYWOOD. Iconic bar The Abbey considering hiring armed guards to protect patrons: ““It’s something we’re looking at moving forward. We’re going to talk more with the sheriff and City Hall to figure out the appropriate safety precautions.”
CELEBRITY SIGHTING. Modern Family‘s Ed O’Neil didn’t recognize Britney Spears when he met her.
ICYMI. Frank Langella gave a moving speech at the Tonys on Sunday in honor of the victims of the Orlando shooting.
CUBA. Commercial airlines cleared for takeoff to Cuba: “American and five other U.S. airlines received U.S. Department of Transportation approval Friday for the first regularly scheduled flights to Cuba in more than half a century.”
A WELL REGULATED MILITIA. Gun shop owner who sold the Orlando shooter the guns he used to kill 49 people spoke out today.
Owner of store where Orlando shooter bought guns: “I’m just sorry he picked my place. I wish he picked no place.” t.co/fb03uOts28
— ABC News (@ABC) June 13, 2016
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Donald Trump Claims He is Friend to LGBT Community in Speech Politicizing Orlando Massacre: WATCH
Donald Trump Claims He is Friend to LGBT Community in Speech Politicizing Orlando Massacre: WATCH
In a speech in Manchester, New Hampshire today, Donald Trump used the massacre of dozens of LGBT people at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub to promote his bigoted immigration policies and attack Hillary Clinton, claiming he is a better friend to women and the LGBT community.
Said Trump:
“This shooter, and amazingly, in Orlando was the child of an immigrant father who supported one of the most repressive regimes on earth. Why would we admit people who support violent hatred? Hillary Clinton can never claim to be a friend of the gay community as long as she supports immigration policies that bring Islamic extremists to our country and who suppress women, gays, and anyone else who doesn’t share their views or values.”
Adding:
“Ask yourself who is really the friend of women and the LGBT community. Donald Trump with actions, or Hillary Clinton with her words? I will tell you who the better friend is and someday I believe that will be proven out bigly.”
Watch:
Trump went on to add Obama to that list:
Here’s Trump saying that the Obama administration’s policies are “a disgrace” to LGBT community: pic.twitter.com/uU19pUwz3H
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) June 13, 2016
Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin lashed out at Trump on CNN following the speech:
“He is no friend to the LGBT community. He is no friend. And at a moment like this when a leader should put their personal ambitions and their partisan differences aside, or just shut up, but if they choose to speak out, they should be speaking from a place of unity and a place of sympathy and talking about building bridges. And I would tell you, Wolf, I bet there is not a single family member or friend or brother or sister or girlfriend or boyfriend that is suffering from this great loss that found any comfort in what Donald Trump had to say today. Instead, he was up there bragging about the fact that he claims he predicted this.”
Watch:
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LGBTQ Groups Call For Unity in the Wake of Orlando Shooting
LGBTQ Groups Call For Unity in the Wake of Orlando Shooting
Today, HRC joined over 50 other LGBTQ groups from across the country to call for unity following yesterday’s tragic shooting in Orlando.
“This national tragedy happened against the backdrop of anti-LGBTQ legislation sweeping this country and we must not forget that in this time of grief. Unity and an organized response in the face of hatred is what we owe the fallen and the grieving. Collective resolve across national, racial and political lines will be required to turn the tide against anti-LGBTQ violence,” they wrote. “Our response to this horrific act, committed by one individual, will have a deep impact on Muslim communities in this country and around the world. We as an intersectional movement cannot allow anti-Muslim sentiment to be the focal point as it distracts from the larger issue, which is the epidemic of violence that LGBTQ people, including those in the Muslim community, are facing in this country.”
The horrific attack occurred during Latin Night at the LGBTQ-nightclub, Pulse. Forty-nine people died and 53 others were injured.
The letter was also published in Arabic, French and Spanish.
To learn more about how you can help in the wake of the shooting, click here.
Karam
LA Pride 2016
LA Pride 2016
Feddal Nora posted a photo:
LA Pride attracts upwards of 400,000 revelers. This inclusive festival is a huge party, even by LA standards, and stands out as one of the biggest pride events in the country.
BREAKING: Orlando Shooter Was A Regular At Gay Club Before Attack, Witnesses Say
BREAKING: Orlando Shooter Was A Regular At Gay Club Before Attack, Witnesses Say
No fewer that four regular customers of Pulse, the Orlando nightclub that was the scene of last weekend’s horrific attack, say they recall seeing the shooter, Omar Mateen, drinking at the bar in the past.
“Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent,” Ty Smith, who also uses the name Aries, told the Orlando Sentinel.
He added that he saw Mateen at the club dozens of times before last weekend, when Mateen murdered 49 people and injured another 53.
“We didn’t really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times,” Smith said. “He told us he had a wife and child.”
Orlando Police say they do not have any information about these visits.
Another regular, Chris Callen, who performs under the name Kristina McLaughlin, told the Canadian press, “It’s the same guy. He’s been going to this bar for three years.”
Unclear in the reports is whether they think Mateen was there simply as a patron, or if he was possibly scoping out the scene of his future massacre.
Much ado has been made of the story that Mateen saw two men kissing in Miami a few months ago, and that the experience had shocked him in some way.
“That’s bullcrap, right there. No offence. That’s straight-up crap. He’s been around us,” Smith said Monday in an interview at the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida.
“Some of those people did a little more than (kiss) outside the bar…. He was partying with the people who supposedly drove him to do this?”
Neither Smith nor Callen said they could speculate on Mateen’s sexuality, but they were both doubtful of the version of the story put out by Mateen’s father.
We’ll bring you updates as they come.
New Yorkers Gather Outside Stonewall Inn To Pay Respects To Orlando Victims
New Yorkers Gather Outside Stonewall Inn To Pay Respects To Orlando Victims
“Whatever this evil is that’s spreading across the world, it seems like people everywhere are starting to get a taste of it.”
This is said apropos of nothing by a woman standing beside The Stonewall Inn; she says she came to “pay her respects” by joining the crowd that right now is jostling for a position directly in front of the bar.
By the front entrance, a spray of flowers, notes, and candles have been placed as a memorial to the fifty people lost in the Orlando massacre early Sunday morning. The vigil officially starts at seven. One man, one of many hovering around the shrine, openly sobs: “Everyone be careful out there,” he keeps saying to strangers shuffling past. Pockets of people scream “Love, not hate!” Police officers swarm near the barricades erected up and down Christopher Street. Many clutch automatic rifles. A lone chopper circles overhead.
Cutting through the crowd, a bicycle messenger grows exasperated as he’s momentarily gridlocked: “What the fuck is this faggot shit?” he barks. He spits next to the memorial before escaping the throng. News crews with cameras and microphones vie for the closest proximity to the bar entrance: NYS governor Andrew Cuomo and New York mayor Bill de Blasio Andrew Cuomo and NYC mayor Bill De Blasio will be saying a few words at some point during the night.
To watch a live feed of the vigil, you can visit here or here.
Orlando Shooter Frequented Gay Nightclub Pulse, Messaged Guys on a Gay Dating App: REPORTS
Orlando Shooter Frequented Gay Nightclub Pulse, Messaged Guys on a Gay Dating App: REPORTS
Reports have surfaced suggesting that Omar Mateen, the shooter responsible for the death of at least 49 people at gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida, was a regular at that club and also messaged guys on a gay dating app.
RELATED: Get Out. Keep Running. — Susie Bright on Orlando
According to The Orlando Sentinel, Mateen visited the gay nightclub at least 12 times, a fact corroborated by 4 witnesses.
Reports of Mateen’s visits to Pulse were also reported in the Canadian Press, as Gawker points out:
“It’s the same guy,” Chris Callen, who performs under the name Kristina McLaughlin, told the Canadian Press. “He’s been going to this bar for at least three years.”
Ty Smith, who also goes by the name Aries, also said he’d seen Mateen being escorted drunk from the club, Pulse, on multiple occasions.
“(He’d get) really, really drunk… He couldn’t drink when he was at home—around his wife, or family. His father was really strict… He used to bitch about it,” Smith told the Canadian Press.
“Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent,” Smith also explained to the Orlando Sentinel, which spoke with at least four clubgoers who remembered seeing Mateen at Pulse at least a dozen times. “We didn’t really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times… He told us he had a wife and child.”
Both Callen and Smith, who are married, tell the Canadian Press they stopped speaking to Mateen after he threatened them with a knife, apparently after someone made a joke about religion.
Callen and Smith are married and told the Canadian Press Mateen threatened them with a knife. The incident occurred after someone allegedly made a joke about religion to Mateen. Callen recalled, “[Mateen] said if he ever messed with him again, you know how it’ll turn out.”
Chris Hayes will be interviewing one of the men who reportedly knew Mateen after meeting him on a gay dating app. That individual says he was a regular at Pulse.
The man I spoke with today also said the shooter has messaged him on a gay dating app. His friend as well. We’ll run the interview tonight.
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 13, 2016
I talked to regular today who said the same. And that his friends recognized him as well. t.co/HOCEq1q4C9
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 13, 2016
“At least four regular customers at the nightclub…believe they had seen the killer, Omar Mateen, there before.” t.co/5XM5DoMQpt
— Murtaza Hussain (@MazMHussain) June 13, 2016
Developing…
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Get Out. Keep Running. — Susie Bright on Orlando
Get Out. Keep Running. — Susie Bright on Orlando
I’ll never forget those words — in a Wilmington working class gay bar, with Melody, in 1977. You could smell the oil fields then. It was packed; a gay men’s club all week, but on weekends, women showed up, too. I was 19. I had on a crushed blue velvet leotard slit down the front like Cher and high waist jeans. Later, I busted that zipper.
Don’t call a doctor
Don’t call her momma
Don’t call her preacher
Something loud happened; everyone started screaming. Melody grabbed my arm like a claw. I was so high. GET OUT. The music went wrong. Glass shattered. The crowd mobbed toward the back. Melody gave me that look, don’t stand there, and she dragged me. Dragged me through the fire exit with fifty others, another fifty people screaming Vámonos! and I was screaming Why? Melody ditched her shoes and I ditched mine and we ran along the train tracks, ducking between boxcars. I saw the lights, heard the sirens. My questions answered: a police raid. My zipper bust open. Thank god it wasn’t my skull. Just keep running.
The raid went unreported except from one gay mouth to the next. The Long Beach PD had once again busted a bunch of “faggots” with their billy clubs, charged everyone with sex offender raps and hosted a violent night in County Jail. If you were one of the people there that night, it still sits on your record; it destroyed your life. Maybe you still have the headaches — or worse — from your head being bashed.
Long Beach is on the border of Orange County — O.C., where Christian televangelists and career politicians, extreme in opinion and corruption, have dominated for years. They ran the schools, the city councils, the criminal justice system. This is in a huge community of disenfranchised residents. A large working class the media never notices. Spanish is a first language for many. It’s home to Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom. There is a black gay community, a PAPI gay community, a Mexican and Chicano gay community, a Middle Eastern gay community. Drag was never looked down on. Club music ruled.
This is the California county where Anita Bryant reached out from Florida in the 1970s to keep “HOMOSEXUALS OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS.” Her O.C. soul brother, Senator John Briggs, led a movement to criminalize not only gay teachers but also their “friends,” whatever that means. They were the Orange Juice Firing Squad, screaming about “bathrooms” from the very beginning.
I woke up Sunday to the news of Orlando and its faintly beating pulse. Keep Running. Floridian politics have long been been hijacked by fundamentalist redneck homophobes, people who make Anita Bryant look soft. Hello Marco Rubio, Rick Scott. They understand all too well how to shame the flock, the knife of self-loathing and sexual repression. They’ve sent their shock troops to abortion clinics, they’ve led the “bathroom wars,” they’ve torn children out of their (gay) parents’ arms. With God on their side.
This particular murderer wasn’t Christian. He wasn’t converted by the white GOP. But this religious man had almost beaten his ex-wife to death. This is a murderer who stalked a former co-worker with hundreds of race-and-sex obsessive messages, until the man quit in fear. This is a visibly-ill gun enthusiast who posed for selfies in NYPD work shirts to look the kind of hyper-masculine badass he esteemed, the kind of man who would never, ever suck cock. —Because there is nothing worse for a man than to want that, right? That stain so worse than death; that only a bloodbath can wash it out.
The killer’s father has offered an explanation: his son Omar was walking downtown and got upset when he saw two men kissing; Omar proclaimed his little three-year-old son should not have to see that. He couldn’t stop repeating it. But it wasn’t the toddler who was upset, it was the fathers. Sexual repression is the unspoken driver of religious mania. It was a grown man, Omar Mateen, who couldn’t stop seeing that kiss every time he closed his eyes, and looked for a scripture, a war flag, to relieve him, to justify anything.
When will we say it? Prudery Kills. Sexual shame is the kissing cousin of hateful homicide. More taboo than gun control, the one diagnosis the docs won’t touch. Repression is the glue that binds every missionary effort. I don’t want to run anymore. This man didn’t want to be brown or black, but he was. He didn’t want to be queer, but I think he was. He didn’t want to keep feeling the things he did, and he made a last-minute pledge to ISIS that was supposed to throw us off the trail. Show me one of these crazy delusional fucks who isn’t as latent as a three-dollar bill soaked in hellfire brine and Daddy issues. I don’t care what their stupid religion is, they’re all culpable. I don’t want to run anymore. And apparently, neither did Omar. An incredible price to pay.
A best-selling author and the country’s preeminent feminist sex writer, Susie Bright is one of the worlds most respected voices on sexual politics, as well as an award-winning author, activist, editor. In light of the significant role of sexuality in the short document, Susie’s lifelong body of work make hers an interesting voice to check in with.
All opinions expressed are those of the author.
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