Director Doug Spearman on the attraction to married men in ‘From Zero to I Love You’

One very hot Friday afternoon, amid the swelter and indie rock music of Republic of Pies, a hipster hangout in North Hollywood, actor, writer and director Doug Spearman sits down across from us, iced coffee in hand.

Spearman has come straight from the airport, where he picked up longtime editor Christo Tsairas from arrivals. Tsairas has flown in from Boston on the eve of a milestone for both men: their latest film From Zero to I Love You, opens at Outfest July 27.

From Zero to I Love You centers on Jack (Scott Bailey, of The Bay), a devoted husband and father, who also has a penchant for getting drunk and hooking up with men. One chance evening, he meets Pete (Darryl Stephens, Spearman’s Noah’s Arc co-star), a handsome, single guy with a nasty habit of meeting and falling for married men. What begins as an innocuous liaison becomes a connection too powerful to ignore, even when Jack insists that he is not gay. Over the course of several months, both men must face their own fears and predilections to decide who they are, and ultimately, what they want.

As Spearman and Tsairas chomp on lunch, we managed to snag a few minutes to discuss the film and its rather provocative implications.

So most of our readers will know you from Noah’s Ark or any number of other series. This is also your first film as director in five years, only your second overall. Where do Pete & Jack come from?

Doug Spearman: My life. Actually, Hot Guys with Guns was also inspired by something that happened to me and an ex-boyfriend. The crime in that movie was based on something that really happened. But, when I was growing up, I would find myself in situations with married men. A lot.

Ok.

DS: I would find myself constantly hit on or falling for guys and then finding out they were married. Sometimes I knew beforehand; it was like you’re my teacher. I know you’re married. Or it’s the father of a girl I went to school with. So I wrote it to figure out why that was happening.

That’s a very good reason.

DS: I first wrote it as a novel to try and work out some questions I had. When I moved to LA, I was going to be a director and an actor. I was never going to be a writer. But I wrote a novel—I’m the only guy I know that moved to LA and wrote a novel. A couple of years later, I wanted to see if I could actually write a screenplay. I didn’t want to do it from scratch. I’ve read thousands of scripts in my life, and I work in television, so I had access to some of the best and worst scripts in the world. So I read a lot, and I thought let me see if I can adapt this novel to a screenplay. So I took a 500-page novel and adapted it into a 120-page screenplay. There were 48 different versions of the script, and I stared in 1998.

Oh wow, that’s crazy. And obviously, you knew Darryl Stephens before you began this project. Did you always envision him as Pete?

DS: I wrote it for me.

For yourself?

DS: Yeah, and I just aged out of the part. Same thing with Hot Guys with Guns. I got too old to play it. At the time I started directing film, I was falling out of love with being an actor. But I also have a cell phone full of actors, and 30 years of friendships. My friends have careers, so I thought I’ll just call my friends.

So that’s how it happened?

DS: That’s how it happened. And Darryl, I think is such a multi-layered actor. There’s stuff in Boy Culture where you get to see him really just doing some fine, layered acting. That’s what I wanted here.

It’s funny you say you wrote this to sort of dissect your own reasons for getting involved with married men. That might be the most troubling element in the movie. I felt terrible for Pete. And you say this is based on your own experience.

DS: I didn’t know why I did it.

So what did you discover?

DS: Let me share my theory on writing. I believe all I do is take dictation. Everything comes through me. I am the lantern, not the light, know what I mean? Everything comes through me. I was writing a scene where Pete goes to see his dad and soon-to-be stepmother in a bar. And that’s based on my relationship is based on my brother and sister-in-law. Originally, Richard [Lawson] was going to play my older brother. Ron is basically my brother.

Oh, interesting.

DS: There’s the scene where they ask Pete, “Why are you doing this?” And they say in unison, “You have a fear of commitment.” And I was like, do I?

So did you?

DS: Maybe.

I think that’s one of the more provocative elements of the film. This isn’t, I would add, something unique to gay guys either, who get involved with a “straight” guy or a married guy. I know women who suffer from the same issue.

DS: It’s about emotional and physical availability. It’s not about why do you pursue straight guys, or why do you pursue [X]? It’s about A) getting something out of it. You’re putting that energy out there. And one of the things I know from my own experience about dating guys who are in a relationship—there is a settled, grounded quality to them. They’re not looking for more. It’s nice to not be facing down a pack of wolves.

[Laughter]

Know what I mean? Single people look hungry. All the time.

Even people in relationships look hungry all the time.

DS: That’s a different movie.

[Laughter]

Jack’s coming out is quite different. Alcohol is almost always involved, and for him, sex with men is almost compulsory.

DS: I had to do that. For me, when I was first going to gay bars when I was 18…I’m old enough to remember when the legal age was 18 to get into a bar. I remember going to gay bars and having to stir my courage up just by having a couple drinks. There was no internet. There was no app. You had to go talk to somebody. You know what my best pick up line is?

What’s that?

“Hi.”

It’s basic but it works. I’ve had it happen where I see a guy in a bar, and he’ll message me on an app but won’t come over to talk. Then he gets up and leaves.

DS: We live in a very neurotic city.

[Lunch arrives.]

You need a degree in psychology to date in Los Angeles. And it’s a degree in abnormal psychology. It’s hard being a man. It’s hard being a black man. It’s hard being gay in this city. The neurosis out there are jaw-dropping. I turn 57 in September. Have you ever been at an airport, running to catch a connecting flight and you see people just saunter about in the Admiral’s Club?

Not really. I fly Southwest.

[Laughter]

DS: But you know those lounges?

Yes.

DS: Ok, your 20s and 30s is running through the airport. Your 40s are going into the lounge.

That’s interesting.

DS: Life after 40 is fantastic. Life after 50 is unbelievable. I have more, better, hotter sex now in my late 50s than I ever did when I had a 28-inch waist and a six-pack.

I’ve noticed it does get better as I get older. Sometimes I wish I could go back and show some of those early guys how much I’ve improved.

[Laughter]

Fran Lebowitz had a great line about sex in the 70s. She said something to the effect of: “In the 70s, we thought sex was like kale. You just had as much as you could because we thought it was good for you.”

DS: That’s what I think. I grew up in the 60s during the sexual revolution. That’s one reason sex in the movie isn’t so fraught. It’s a panacea for Pete.

It’s not that way for Jack. I really admired in Scott Bailey’s performance.

DS: What did you see? I learned something from Scott.

He plays a lot of the ambiguities of the character. I wasn’t always sure what he was thinking for feeling because the character wasn’t sure what he was thinking or feeling. As a director and writer, how do you convey that to an actor?

DS: You know, the best thing I can tell you is hire better, direct less. If you hire Picasso and DiVinci, you don’t go behind them and say “ok, can you put a line there?”

[Laughter]

They want you to do it. Let DiVinci be DiVinci.

The old axiom that casting is 90% of directing…

DS: It’s 100%. That, and rehearsal. The thing I gave [Scott] was that his world comes alive at night. And I had it in my head that there would be a different color palate for each environment, and that Jack’s world happened in the daytime with different lighting [from the night scenes]. I got in there very little. My job is to let them work it out and do their thing. If there’s a problem, I’m there to answer a question.

Well that’s a good editorial question then. So often, performances happen in the editing. When the two of you collaborating, and I assume the two of you work closely together.

DS: Never. We’re bi-coastal.

Holy Christ. Really?

Christo Tsiaras: Here’s the thing. When I get the rushes, Doug barely tells me things.

Does he tell you which takes to use?

CT: No. I take it all. I’ve been doing this 40 years. His work with the actors is so good, and the actors are so good, I go through and look at the performance and gather from that what Doug was trying to do. I put it together the way I think it should be seen, but in doing that, I put myself in the place of the viewer and ask what I want to see. Doug concentrates on dialogue, but I see the reactions.

DS: I go in and give him notes, but I let him play with it.

So is this what Orson Welles used to talk about: presiding over happy accidents?

CT: There are no happy accidents here. What happens is that this stuff exists, and I’m looking for it. When I cut, I’m always looking for that other area that they may not have seen.

DS: I shot this over four years.

I did not know that. Wow.

DS: Yeah. And the great thing about taking that much time was that I would see things and adapt.

CT: I scroll through all the takes. I always look for the eyes. That’ll give you your emotion.

The whole Palms Springs sequence [in which Jack visits his wife’s family] is really funny, and interesting. Karla’s Brother—it’s hinted that he might be gay, insofar as Jack thinks. At least, he and his friend have a bromantic sort of relationship that really confused Jack. Is that a statement about west coast mores versus east coast attitudes? Is that generational?

DS: It’s very interesting that you ask about east coast versus west coast. I realized my gaydar in LA was broken around 2000. Gay guys in LA look straight, and straight men in LA are so over-groomed and over-tanned. You think most straight men in LA are gay. Gay men wear t-shirts and have tattoos. There’s a lot of that. And if you don’t come on to a straight man in LA, they get offended. They’re like, am I not hot enough?

I’ve had that happen.

CT: Is that a thing?

Related: Darryl Stephens Explains Why It’s Difficult For Black Gay Actors To Break Through To The Mainstream

DS: It’s a thing. So, there’s that in the scene. But I also wanted to show the depth in the lives of these characters. If you notice, Karla’s married to a philanderer. Karla’s brother is a philanderer. And if you listen in the pool scene, you hear Karla and her mother arguing about her father leaving her mother for a younger woman. I know this from my own life: we tend to fall in love with people who are very much like our parents.

Life patterns.

DS: It’s a genetic thing. And if you watch the pool scene, Jack’s treading water. Scott didn’t have to do that. It’s like he’s now in the pool with the gay guys.

Both this film and Hot Guys With Guns follow an interracial gay couple. Is that happenstance, or does something fascinate you about that? Where does that come from?

DS: I come from an interracial family. Ron & Pamela [his fiancee played by Leslie Zemeckis] are based on my brother and sister-in-law. I’d say three-quarters of the men I’ve gone out with are white. And also, I did it on purpose because queer films tend to happen in, for example, an all-female universe, an all-white universe, an all-black universe. Or an all gay universe. My problem with that is we fetishize so much—our viewing reflects our fetishes.

How so?

DS: Well have you ever noticed—you look at the poster for 90% of all queer films and it’s a white man’s torso. It looks like a Grindr profile. And it’s because that’s the idea. The head has a personality. The beauty is so iconic it’s not even a person anymore. And I want people to see my work because my life doesn’t take place in a singular universe. I have a very broad, beautiful, magical life. And just because we’re gay doesn’t mean we don’t discriminate against each other.

Very true.

DS: We’re Americans. We discriminate against everybody. It’s racist, it’s ageist, its weightist…you know, “no blacks, no fats, no Asians.”

It’s masculine versus feminine. It’s everything.

DS: Yeah, and I thought if I could integrate the theatre, I could integrate the lobby. If I can integrate the lobby, people will start talking to each other. A friend of mine is Hispanic, and we’re always joking about brown people: not just for sex!

[Laughter]

DS: You know. He’s Latino. And we’re good for other things besides fulfilling sexual fantasies and mowing the lawn. I was in The Abbey once, and there was this guy. We were on our way to hook up, and I turned my back for a second. And his friend said to him “You do like those Mandingos, don’t you?”

Oh my lord.

DS: And I was like no, you’re not going home with me. So for me…it’s my life. It reflects who I am.

That makes sense.

DS: I’m attracted to who I’m attracted to. If you’re hot you’re hot. So…

[He slaps his fist against his palm, as if holding a bottle]

DS: Smack the ketchup bottle.

I’ve never heard it put like that!

[Laughter]

Now what you say about the racial fertilization of only dating white guys, or black guys, or Asian guys…I didn’t experience that until I lived in a city, and I heard the rather unkind terms…

CT: Like “rice queen?”

Yeah, that.

DS: Or “dinge queen?” That’s a term from the 70s for a white guy that only dates black guys. It’s dinge…as in dingy water.

That’s…awful.

CT: I haven’t thought about that term in years.

But what is that about though? I’ve always wondered: why would anyone date only a specific race?

DS: Men are visual. And whatever your visual thing is, you go for that. Men carry around a picture—that’s why men’s porn is all about the visual. That’s the way we are genetically set up.

This is something of a delicate question. One thing that comes up with so many of the black men I chat with—creators, directors, writers, actors… This came up with Billy Porter…

DS: He’s a friend of mine.

Is he? I want him to run for president.

DS: Or first lady…

[Laughter]

Hey, in any capacity. He’s brilliant.

DS: He is.

This also came up with Nelson Lassiter (of Single Record). —is the pervasive difficulty for queer people that still exists within the African American community, especially men. What is that about? Where does that come from?

DS: I can’t speak to that. It wasn’t my experience. My parents were always like here’s a Barbie, shut up.

[Laughter]

That’s marvelous.

DS: I have very unusual parents. I remember I was 7—this was like 1965. We were at my grandmother’s house and she had a wig on a Styrofoam head.

Those terrified me.

CT: Me too.

DS: I was down on my knees styling this thing, just brushing it. And my mom came in and was like oh, that’s pretty good. Here, do another one. Then she was like what should I wear?

[Laughter]

DS: So my parents were totally on board. My mom was thrilled. A lot of what drives people not to change is fear. But I don’t even know what those cultural fears are. I know people have those stories. I know when I asked Richard Lawson to play Ron, I did it specifically because Richard has been a hero of mine.

He’s very underrated as an actor.

DS: And Richard has a lot of clout [Lawson is married to Tina Lawson, mother of Beyonce]. But if I put Richard in a part—here’s a black man who is so well-recognized and doesn’t have a problem with having a gay son, that’s going to change the minds of people out there. If more people model good behavior with their kids, there would be less of [that homophobia].

That also speaks volumes about the character of Ron, and how he’s the moral anchor of the film.

DS: Yeah.

And he’s the only one, I believe, that points out how unfair Pete & Jack behavior is, that they have no regard for anyone else’s feelings. So what’s next for you?

DS: A thriller. It’s not queer.

Hey, if you make it queer, that’s great. We’d watch that.

From Zero to I Love You plays at Outfest July 27.

www.queerty.com/director-doug-spearman-attraction-married-men-zero-love-20190727?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Shark Week Looms, But Don’t Panic

Sharks elicit outsized fear, even though the risk of a shark bite is infinitesimally small. As a marine biologist and director of the Florida Program for Shark Research, I oversee the International Shark Attack File – a global record of reported shark bites that has been maintained continuously since 1958.

We are careful to emphasize how rare shark bites are: You are 30 times more likely to be struck by lightning than be bitten by a shark. You are more likely to die while taking a selfie, or be bitten by a New Yorker. In anticipation of the anxiety that’s typically generated by the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week programming, here are a few things about sharks that are often overlooked.

A big, diverse family

Not all sharks are the same. Only a dozen or so of the roughly 520 shark species pose any risk to people. Even the three species that account for almost all shark bite fatalities – the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier) and bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) – are behaviorally and evolutionarily very different from one another.

The tiger shark and bull shark are genetically as different from each other as a dog is from a rabbit. And both of these species are about as different from a white shark as a dog is from a kangaroo. The evolutionary lineages leading to the two groups split 170 million years ago, during the age of dinosaurs and before the origin of birds, and 110 million years before the origin of primates.

Yet many people assume all sharks are alike and equally likely to bite humans. Consider the term “shark attack,” which is scientifically equivalent to “mammal attack.” Nobody would equate dog bites with hamster bites, but this is exactly what we do when it comes to sharks.

So, when a reporter calls me about a fatality caused by a white shark off Cape Cod and asks my advice for beachgoers in North Carolina, it’s essentially like asking, “A man was killed by a dog on Cape Cod. What precautions should people take when dealing with kangaroos in North Carolina?”

Know your species

Understanding local species’ behavior and life habits is one of the best ways to stay safe. For example, almost all shark bites that occur off Cape Cod are by white sharks, which are a large, primarily cold-water species that spend most of their time in isolation feeding on fishes. But they also aggregate near seal colonies that provide a reliable food source at certain times of the year.

Shark bites in the Carolinas are by warm-water species like bull sharks, tiger sharks and blacktips (Carcharhinus limbatus). Each species is associated with particular habitats and dietary preferences.

Blacktips, which we suspect are responsible for most relatively minor bites on humans in the southeastern United States, feed on schooling bait fishes like menhaden. In contrast, bull sharks are equally at home in fresh water and salt water, and are often found near estuaries. Their bites are more severe than those of blacktips, as they are larger, more powerful, bolder and more tenacious. Several fatalities have been ascribed to bull sharks.

Tiger sharks are also large, and are responsible for a significant fraction of fatalities, particularly off the coast of volcanic islands like Hawaii and Reunion. They are tropical animals that often venture into shallow water frequented by swimmers and surfers.

Humans are not targets

Sharks do not “hunt” humans. Data from the International Shark Attack File compiled over the past 60 years show a tight association between shark bites and the number of people in the water. In other words, shark bites are a simple function of the probability of encountering a shark.

This underscores the fact that shark bites are almost always cases of mistaken identity. If sharks actively hunted people, there would be many more bites, since humans make very easy targets when they swim in sharks’ natural habitats.

Local conditions can also affect the risk of an attack. Encounters are more likely when sharks venture closer to shore, into areas where people are swimming. They may do this because they are following bait fishes or seals upon which they prey.

This means we can use environmental variables such as temperature, tide or weather conditions to better predict movement of bait fish toward the shoreline, which in turn will predict the presence of sharks. Over the next few years, the Florida Program for Shark Research will work with colleagues at other universities to monitor onshore and offshore movements of tagged sharks and their association with environmental variables so that we can improve our understanding of what conditions bring sharks close to shore.

More to know

There still is much to learn about sharks, especially the 500 or so species that have never been implicated in a bite on humans. One example is the tiny deep sea pocket shark, which has a strange pouch behind its pectoral fins.

Only two specimens of this type of shark have ever been caught – one off the coast of Chile 30 years ago, and another more recently in the Gulf of Mexico. We’re not sure about the function of the pouch, but suspect it stores luminous fluid that is released to distract would-be predators – much as its close relative, the tail light shark, releases luminous fluid from a gland on its underside near its vent.

Sharks range in form from the bizarre goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni), most commonly encountered in Japan, to the gentle filter-feeding whale shark (Rhincodon typus). Although whale sharks are the largest fishes in the world, we have yet to locate their nursery grounds, which are likely teeming with thousands of foot-long pups. Some deepwater sharks are primarily known from submersibles, such as the giant sixgill shark, which feeds mainly on carrion but probably also preys on other animals in the deep sea.

Sharks seem familiar to almost all of us, but we know precious little about them. Our current understanding of their biology barely scratches the surface. The little we do know suggests they are profoundly different from other vertebrate animals. They’ve had 400 million years of independent evolution to adapt to their environments, and it’s reasonable to expect they may be hiding more than a few tricks up their gills.

[ Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day. ]

Gavin Naylor, Director, Florida Program for Shark Research, University of Florida

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Shark Week Looms, But Don’t Panic

HIV Risk, Trump Non-Exoneration, Matt Damon, Tokyo Medals, Gay Wedding Photos, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, THC/CBD Drinks: HOT LINKS

NOT EXONERATED. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler asks Robert Mueller whether Donald Trump is exonerated.

The video of another key moment:

Buck: “Could you charge the president with a crime after he left office?”

Mueller: “Yes.”

Buck: “You believe that you could charge the president of the United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?”

Mueller: “Yes.”
Via ABC pic.twitter.com/REBbQsSMYl

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 24, 2019

.@RepGregStanton uses his questioning time to make clear that Mueller, who was appointed to various roles by Republican presidents, was not engaged in a witch hunt pic.twitter.com/DuUZJVnpzs

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 24, 2019

GONE MISSING. 60-year-old gay wedding photos: “Decades after having photos from their same-sex Philly-area ceremony confiscated, a search is on for the owners of a historic set of prints. Can they be found before it’s too late?”

DECAPITATED. The dark original ending to Avengers: Endgame.

NOTORIOUS RBG. I am very much alive. “There was a senator, I think it was after my pancreatic cancer, who announced, with great glee, that I was going to be dead within six months. That senator, whose name I have forgotten, is now dead himself, and I, am very much alive.”

UNDETECTABLE = UNTRANSMITTABLE. CDC updates page on HIV risk levels.

NEW YORK. Cuomo signs revenge porn legislation: ‘The new law, which comes after five years of back-and-forth negotiations attempting to find a legislative weapon against “revenge porn,” creates a path for victims to remove content from the internet and imposes a penalty of up to a year in jail for violators.’

CLUCK. NYC’s very gay neighborhood Chelsea now has a Chick-fil-A.

CANN. THC and CBD-infused beverage introduced: “The company founded by two former Bain consultants is the latest to take on the growing market for non-alcoholic intoxicants that use a combination of chemicals traditionally found in the marijuana plant to make their drinks.”

RECYCLED ELECTRONIC DEVICES OF THE DAY. The Tokyo 2020 Olympic medals. “The Tokyo 2020 Olympic medals are made from recycled mobile phones and small electronic devices, making them 100 percent sustainable. People from Japan donated their electronics between April 2017 and March 2019 to be used in unique fashion for the upcoming games.”

FACEBOOK. FTC announces $5 billion settlement with social media giant. “The Federal Trade Commission formally approved a record $5 billion settlement Wednesday with Facebook over the company’s privacy policies. Shares of Facebook were down less than half a percent during morning trading, shaving about $1 billion from its market cap and bringing it around $576 billion. The fine is the largest ever imposed by the FTC against a tech company. The previous high was a 2012 $22.5 million fine against Google for its privacy practices. The $5 billion fine against Facebook represents approximately 9% of the company’s 2018 revenue.”

UNLICENSED. Laverne Cox reveals the one reason she needs a driver’s license.

MEDIEVAL ‘ME TOO’ STORY. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon to work together again, co-writing script.

ST. PETE. Flamingo Resort to close: “The Flamingo, an iconic destination and gathering place for St. Petersburg’s gay community, will soon be torn down to make way for a new apartment complex, management announced Monday. Its last day of operations will be July 31.”

DISCOVERY OF THE DAY. A freshwater aquifer under the ocean.

HUMP DAY HOTTIE. Alphie.

View this post on Instagram

South Beach Recap!

A post shared by Alphíe (@omgitsalphie) on Jul 17, 2019 at 1:09pm PDT

The post HIV Risk, Trump Non-Exoneration, Matt Damon, Tokyo Medals, Gay Wedding Photos, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, THC/CBD Drinks: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

HIV Risk, Trump Non-Exoneration, Matt Damon, Tokyo Medals, Gay Wedding Photos, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, THC/CBD Drinks: HOT LINKS

Safety Update: Introducing Traveler Alert

blog.gotinder.com/safety-update-introducing-traveler-alert/

Congratulations to Amy and Randy from New Jersey!

Find someone who loves you to the moon and back. Amy did. She writes: “Randy and I talked for hours on Zoosk, and when I finally met him two weeks later, I was already falling for him. We just clicked right away, you know? We have been inseparable since that first date. We met each other’s

The post Congratulations to Amy and Randy from New Jersey! appeared first on Zoosk.

about.zoosk.com/en/blog/success-stories/congratulations-amy-randy-new-jersey/

The GLAAD Wrap: ‘Dear White People’ trailer, new music from Hayley Kiyoko, Blood Orange, Elton John, and more!

www.glaad.org/blog/glaad-wrap-dear-white-people-trailer-new-music-hayley-kiyoko-blood-orange-elton-john-and-more

Single and Looking for Adventure? 7 Tips for Living a Happier and More Fulfilled Life

Many people sometimes feel as though they may be missing out in life, if they haven’t found “The One” yet; but this shouldn’t be the case. You need to view not having a partner or a family yet as a path to reaching personal goals and making yourself happy first. I have compiled a few […]

The post Single and Looking for Adventure? 7 Tips for Living a Happier and More Fulfilled Life appeared first on PlentyOfFish Blog.

Single and Looking for Adventure? 7 Tips for Living a Happier and More Fulfilled Life

#AM_Equality Tipsheet: July 18, 2019

NO APPETITE FOR DISCRIMINATION — AN END TO VIRGINIA’S ANTI-LGBTQ LAWS IS NEAR: After another disappointing legislative session, Equality Virginia and HRC are going all-in to flip Virginia’s House of Delegates and oust anti-Equality Speaker Kirk Cox: “HRC will be going door to door and engaging our 10,000 plus equality voters in Cox’s district, and millions more across Virginia, to put him out of a job come November,” says Lucas Acosta, HRC National Press Secretary of Campaigns (@LucasRAcosta). More from Mother Jones.

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS, REPS. WATSON COLEMAN AND SCHIFF INTRODUCE PREP ACCESS AND COVERAGE ACT IN CONGRESS: More from HRC.

Thank you @RepBonnie @RepAdamSchiff and @SenKamalaHarris for introducing the PrEP Access and Coverage Act in Congress.

This critical legislation would expand access to and insurance coverage of the anti-HIV medication and treatment-related services. t.co/80YIB9boB5

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) July 17, 2019

HRC RECOGNIZES PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY (MD) SOCIAL SERVICES DEPT. FOR STRIDES IN PROMOTING INCLUSIVITY: “For years now, the HRC Foundation’s All Children – All Families program has worked side-by-side with Prince George’s County Department of Social Services as the department implements LGBTQ-inclusive policies and practices,” said Alison Delpercio, deputy director of Children, Youth & Families Program at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (@AlisonDel). Reports Jalen Wade: “This recognition was garnered due to the exemplary work that the department has done for the LGBTQ community, such as enhancing safety, permanency and well-being for LGBTQ youths and families.” More from The Sentinel.

THANKFUL THURSDAY — SAN ANTONIO TRANS WOMAN AND HER FATHER APPEAR IN NATIONAL AD CAMPAIGN ABOUT ACCEPTANCE: The video campaign features transgender model and advocate Jessica Zyie (@TheJessicaZyrie), who has been featured on magazine covers and on the runway during New York Fashion Week. More from San Antonio Current.

NEW HAMPSHIRE PROVIDES NON-BINARY OPTION ON PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS: More from New Hampshire Union Leader, The Hill and Metro Weekly.

READING, PA. MAYOR BLOCKS RAISING OF PRIDE FLAG, CALLING IT AN EMBLEM OF A “POLITICAL MOVEMENT”: The City Council and the LGBTQ community were set to make history by raising the flag at City Hall for the first time Monday evening. More from the Reading Eagle. 

TWO DETROIT MEN CHARGED IN THE JUNE MURDER OF A GAY MAN: More from WXYZ.

GLOBAL EQUALITY NEWS

HORRIFIC — RUSSIAN BISEXUAL MAN TORTURED AFTER FINDING EVIDENCE OF ANTI-LGBTQ PURGE IN CHECHNYA: More from Gay Star News. 

• Russian city withdraws permits for pride parade, citing “gay propaganda”: Strezhevoy was poised to be the first city in Russia to hold a Pride parade before the mayor withdrew the permit citing a law to protect children from knowledge of “unconventional sexual relationships”: More from Gay Star News.

HORRIFIC: Elbrus, a Russian bisexual man, was forced to flee for his life after being kidnapped & tortured for exposing the ongoing anti-LGBTQ crackdown in Chechyna—only for officials to reject his asylum claim because he “cannot prove” he is LGBTQ. t.co/xVbR2RslM1

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) July 18, 2019

EGYPTIAN TRANS ACTIVIST RELEASED AFTER FOUR MONTHS IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT: Malak Al-Kalshef was released from an all-male prison after a social media campaign called for her release. More from Pink News.

UNITED NATIONS URGES FOR GREATER URGENCY IN FIGHT AGAINST HIV AND AIDS: More from Openly.

READING RAINBOW – Bookmark now to read on your lunch break!

The Root highlights Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund’s (@TLDEF) ‘The Name Project,” which provides legal name change services to low-income transgender and non-binary people; Advocate spotlights Alaskan trans woman, activist and longtime HRC supporter Lillian Lennon (@mislillianlennon); HRC hosted former HRC board chair Fred P. Hochberg (@fredhochberg) and Ambassador Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice)

.@HRC was glad to host former HRC board chair @FredHochberg and @AmbassadorRice for a discussion with students from @HarvardIOP & @UChiPolitics on foreign policy and national security issues–including her work to promote and protect the rights of #LGBTQ people around the world. pic.twitter.com/CUl6L1CHKm

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) July 18, 2019

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

www.hrc.org/blog/am-equality-tipsheet-july-18-2019?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

#AM_Equality Tipsheet: July 17, 2019

PEOPLE LIVING WITH DISABILITIES ARE A FORMIDABLE VOTING BLOCK — MORE THAN 14M TURNED OUT FOR THE MIDTERMS:  According to TIME, that turnout surpassed the 11.7 million Latinx voters and came close to the 15.2 million Black people who cast ballots last year. HRC is highlighting their voting power during National Disability Voter Registration Week. More from HRC.

Issues important to people with disabilities MUST be part of the platform for any candidate running for public office — that’s why we encourage you to join #REVUP and registering to vote 7.15–7.19. Let’s make the #DisabilityVote count: t.co/Y6oEdw1B3X

— AAPD (@AAPD) July 16, 2019

AWFUL — ALABAMA SENATE CANDIDATE JOHN MERRILL SAYS ‘HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVITIES’ RUINING MORAL FOUNDATION: “This attack on LGBTQ people and our values only further underscores the fact that the Alabama Senate Republican primary is becoming a race to the bottom and a competition for who is the most virulently anti-LGBTQ,” said HRC Project One America Director Meghan Kissell (@mkissell) . “Alabamians deserve a leader who fights for the equality of everyone and every community, not someone who would feel more comfortable in America’s oppressive past.” More from Advocate.

HRC REMEMBERS FORMER SUPREME COURT JUSTICE JOHN PAUL STEVENS, A POWERFUL VOICE FOR EQUALITY: More from The New York Times.

.@HRC mourns the loss of John Paul Stevens, a former Supreme Court Justice who was a critical voice for a more equitable and just future for all, including LGBTQ people. t.co/Yu7lR7Z2sc

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) July 17, 2019

WHAT WE’RE READING WEDNESDAY — FORTUNE LOOKS AT NEW EFFORT TO END WORKPLACE HARASSMENT OF LGBTQ EMPLOYEES: Inspired by the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, Ally Coll (@allyrosecoll), co-founder of the anti-harassment organization the Purple Campaign (@campaign_purple), is developing a certification that will recognize companies taking appropriate steps to address workplace harassment. More from Fortune. 

CONGRATULATIONS TO LGBTQ AND ALLIED CASTS AND CREW ON THEIR EMMY NOMINATIONS: Those nominated include FX’s Pose (@PoseOnFx), Billy Porter (@thebillyporter), Hannah Gadsby (@Hannahgadsby), Jane Lynch (@janemarielynch), Laverne Cox (@Lavernecox), Natasha Lyonne (@nylonne), Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette), Queer Eye (@QueerEye) and cast, RuPaul (@RuPaul) and RuPaul’s Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace), and Wanda Sykes (@iamwandasykes). More from HRC. 

• Pose’s Billy Porter makes history as the first openly gay Black man to receive an Emmy nomination for Lead Actor in Drama. More from People.

Strike a POSE: The groundbreaking series @PoseonFX was nominated for six Emmy Awards. t.co/N8tdLm6itG

— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) July 16, 2019

PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANS GATHER AT 8TH ANNUAL WILD GOOSE FESTIVAL, ORGANIZING AROUND ACTIVISM AND SPIRITUAL REVIVAL: More from Religion News Service. 

JURY FINDS THAT NOW-FORMER IOWA GOV. TERRY BRANSTAD DISCRIMINATED AGAINST A STATE OFFICIAL BECAUSE HE IS GAY: The jury awarded $1.5 million to Chris Godfrey, who said that members of the jury “made the determination that [the state and Branstad] discriminated and retaliated against me and violated my constitutional rights.” More from the Des Moines Register. 

GLOBAL EQUALITY NEWS

NEW ZEALAND TO EXTEND SUPPORT FOR TRANSGENDER YOUTH IN NORTHLAND AND AUCKLAND: More from RNZ and Gay Star News. 

CITIGROUP INC. EXTENDS HEALTH CARE COVERAGE, EMPLOYEE BENEFITS TO LGBTQ STAFF AND LIVE-IN PARTNERS IN INDIA: More from Economic Times. 

INDIA LAWMAKERS REVISE TRANSGENDER RIGHTS BILL AMID BACKLASH FROM THE TRANS COMMUNITY: They removed a provision from a transgender rights bill that would have required transgender people to gain certification from a screening committee before being acknowledged as transgender. Transgender advocates remain skeptical as the government has yet to release the final draft of the bill. More from Gay Star News and The Telegraph India. 

READING RAINBOW – Bookmark now to read on your lunch break!

Advocate features powerful profile of two-spirited activist Jen Deerinwater’s (@JenDeerinwater) fight for visibility and justice

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

www.hrc.org/blog/am-equality-tipsheet-july-17-2019?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

WeChat 7.0.5 for iOS and Android

Upgrade now to WeChat 7.0.5, available on the iOS App Store and Google Play and try the latest improvements and features

1. Big changes to Moments

“Moments” allows you to share life’s most interesting experiences with your WeChat friends. In the latest version of Moments, we’ve made sharing even more “musical”. Now, you can search and add song snippets from WeChat’s comprehensive music collection to the videos you shoot and share to your Moments.

When browsing your friends’ Moments, videos will automatically play with the sound muted. You can tap on the video to view a fullscreen version of the video with audio. Worried about using too much data? Don’t worry, videos on WeChat use special methods to make video downloads on Moments use no more data than downloading a photo. Additionally, you can change your auto-play options within “Me” -> “Settings” => “General” => “Photos & Videos”.

Finally, at the request of many users, we’ve made it even easier for you to control WHO is able to view your Moments. When posting to Moments, you can select “Share List” => “Select from Groups” and select one or more groups who will have permission to view your Moments post. After selecting, only members of those groups will be able to view your post. This is another great way to make sure that only the people you care about see your personal photos, funny baby videos, or other Moments posts.

 

Select one or more groups. Afterwards, only members of these groups will be able to view your Moments post.

 

2. Time Capsule: Supports photos montages and music lyrics

“Time Capsule” is WeChat’s latest major feature and allows you to share a short video story with your friends for a brief period of time. Now, Time Capsule supports selecting multiple photos from your photo album after which a photo montage will be automatically created. It’s a great way to share either photos OR videos with your friends.

Also, while sharing photos or videos,  you can now search a song title, artist, or lyrics to accompany your video. An additional option allows  you to display a song’s lyrics. Decorating your Time Capsule with song lyrics adds extra feeling to your Time Capsule.

Search and add a song from WeChat’s extensive music collection

Enable “Lyrics” to display song lyrics to accompany your Time Capsule video

3. Floating Window now supports multiple windows and window types

Have you ever needed to view your chat messages while reading an article within WeChat or playing a Mini Game? It’s a hassle to back out of your article mid-stream in order to check your messages.

Floating Window was initially introduced in 2017 as a way for you to save your place and minimize an article while checking other parts of WeChat like chats. We’ve now greatly expanded Floating Window so that you can “float” up to 10 different windows. Windows can be articles, document previews, or nearly any other type of content. When viewing a music or audio Mini Program, you’ll also be able to see what’s playing via our new music display in Floating Window. Floating Window makes multi-tasking within WeChat a breeze.

When viewing an article, document preview, or other content, simply swipe right and hold to minimize the article to your Floating Window.

The Floating Window appears as a small tab that you can move around the screen.

Tapping on the Floating Window tab shows all of the screens that you’ve “floated” and can easily reopen. Float articles, document previews, and tons of other screens to make your WeChat browsing experience even more convenient.

Be sure to download the latest version of WeChat now and try out all of these new improvements!

blog.wechat.com/2019/07/17/wechat-7-0-5-for-ios-and-android/