Australia’s Cardinal George Pell, Vociferous Opponent of Marriage Equality, Convicted of Sexually Abusing Two 13 Year-Old Choirboys

It’d be a joke at this point, if it was funny, about the widespread conspiratorial cult of hypocritical homophobic pedophiles, with covens lurking in every corner of the globe the Catholic Church has found roots.

“Up until his arrest and trial, he was the Roman Catholic Church’s most senior figure within Australia. He also had a leading role as the Vatican’s treasurer. The church suspended him as cardinal in June 2017, and removed him from office in December 2018. His term as treasurer ended on Sunday,” reports The Gay Star News.

GSN continues, “A jury found Pell guilty at a trial in Melbourne in December. However, legal restrictions imposed on the media stopped the world’s press from naming him. A judge lifted those legal restrictions today ahead of his sentencing. The court found him guilty of abusing two choirboys in Melbourne in 1996. One of his victims has since killed himself.”

Pell was one of the Catholic Church’s biggest critics of Ireland’s passage of marriage equality.

In a 2015 interview in the Catholic Herald UK: Pell [referring to the fact the Church had had to surrender its rights in Catholic adoption agencies in Britain and Northern Ireland], “Urged young people to get involved in political life and warned the laity against fleeing from the world and instead becoming preoccupied with church services and tasks of the priesthood.”

“We don’t need watered down and uncertain priests, and we don’t need lay faithful who seem determined to fill the gap,” he said.

“Same-sex marriage votes,” Pell concluded, “shows society is abandoning Christian foundation.”

A consistent opponent of marriage equality, the venomous Pell repeatedly referred to same-sex marriage in the most pernicious terms.

In a piece he penned for the Catholic News World entitled”Document on Marriage” that was essentially an Op-ed, Pell said, “Marriage is a natural institution whereby a man and a woman give themselves to each other for life in an exclusive sexual relationship that is open to procreation. It is a union that is publicly recognised, honoured and supported because of its unique capacity to generate children and to meet children’s deepest needs for the love and attachment of both their father and their mother. In the words of Professor Robert George of Princeton University: 

“Marriage is the community formed by a man and a woman who publicly consent to share their whole lives, in a type of relationship oriented toward the begetting, nurturing and educating of children together. This openness to procreation, as the community’s natural fulfilment, distinguishes this community from other types.”¹

By contrast, although the community formed by a homosexual couple may involve genuine caring, affection and commitment to one another, it is not an inherently procreative community, because their sexual relationship is not designed to generate children. Marriage is not simply a loving, committed relationship between two people, but a unique kind of physical and emotional union which is open to the possibility of new life.”

With this verdict, Pell has the dubious distinction of being the senior most Catholic official convicted of a sexual offenses.

Ironically his conviction comes on the heels of Pope Francis’ Vatican summit on the problem of sexual abuse in the church.

The post Australia’s Cardinal George Pell, Vociferous Opponent of Marriage Equality, Convicted of Sexually Abusing Two 13 Year-Old Choirboys appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Australia’s Cardinal George Pell, Vociferous Opponent of Marriage Equality, Convicted of Raping Two 13 Year-Old Choirboys

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Inherited Histories Explode in Dynamite ‘Marys Seacole’ Off-Broadway: REVIEW

When “I’m Every Woman” rings out triumphantly over Marys Seacole, an astonishing, history-exploding new play by Jackie Sibblies Drury, Whitney Houston has never sounded so apt. And not simply because every member of this remarkable six-woman cast walks around in the same pair of sensible pink sneakers.

The subject of Drury’s play, which opens off-Broadway tonight at Lincoln Center’s LCT3, is Mary Seacole, a Jamaican-born healer, businesswoman, and author of an 1857 travel memoir. After Florence Nightingale refused her services, Seacole set up her own hotel to care for British soldiers during the Crimean War. Victorian Britain came to revere her, to the extent that it could a creole woman. “If you don’t know who she is,” Drury’s script reads, “look her the f**k up.”

Audiences will know a great deal more about her by the end of these electrifying 90 minutes. They’ll also be compelled to reckon, in ways both thrilling and primal, with mortality, motherhood, ancestral and colonial legacies, and no less than what it means to be any kind of woman.

Mary (a searing Quincy Tyler Bernstine) introduces herself from a modest pedestal, heaving off her shoulders the weight of untold histories to give it to us straight. “I am the only historian of myself and my accomplishments, and so I shall try to speak from my own experience, simply,” as she later puts it. Mary soon sheds her 19th-century finery to reveal present-day nurse’s scrubs, in which she’ll change the sheets of a dying woman who’s just shit the bed.

With one step off Mary’s pedestal, Drury traces an ancestral line between a woman renowned for tending to British sons and daughters to an immigrant service provider tasked with both emotional labor and dirty work no one else wants to do. In both centuries, Mary is serving white women (and men) who amount to equal part patron and succubus — furnishing her means to survive while siphoning off her human dignity. Ultimately it’s the same shit, different era.

Drury bends, suspends, and ultimately shatters conventions of time and space altogether, in order to tease out threads of inheritance systematically overlooked by the churn of western history. Somehow the play is also a total hoot. This is a spectacular feat, accomplished with a sharp sort of expressionism by director Lileana Blain-Cruz. A nurse’s station transforms into a rum-soaked bar at a convalescent resort on Jamaican shores. The glass partition to a waiting room also demarcates a liminal space of elegiac memories.

A maternal woman in Victorian black, referred to in the script as ‘Drury’ or spirit Mary, affixes Mary with a bluetooth earpiece when she steps into the present, a first puncture through time that lands with a laugh. Mary’s ancestral mother proceeds to haunt her with sporadic dropped phone calls. Yes, history, it seems, has Mary’s number on speed dial. It’s just the wry sort of gesture that makes Marys Seacole so exhilarating to watch, waiting to see what facet of the truth it’s about to reveal next.

Recent theatre features…
Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano Play Men Behaving Badly in ‘True West’ on Broadway: REVIEW
In ‘Bleach,’ Confessions of a Rent Boy in a Brooklyn Basement: REVIEW
Black, Gay, and Striving to be Heard in ‘Choir Boy’ on Broadway: REVIEW
Towleroad’s Top 10 Plays and Musicals of 2018
The Most Interesting Part of Broadway’s ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Already Happened Off Stage: REVIEW
Bryan Cranston Headlines a Bold but Bloodless ‘Network’ on Broadway: REVIEW
Broadway’s ‘The Cher Show’ Is a Feast for Fans and an Assertion of Legacy: REVIEW
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Broadway’s ‘American Son’ Starring Kerry Washington Is the Most Vacuous Kind of Race Play: REVIEW

Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar

(photos: julieta cervantes)

The post Inherited Histories Explode in Dynamite ‘Marys Seacole’ Off-Broadway: REVIEW appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Inherited Histories Explode in Dynamite ‘Marys Seacole’ Off-Broadway: REVIEW

Four Ways to Support LGBTQ Youth During National Eating Disorder Awareness Week

Trigger warning: This post includes mention of eating disorders.

Post submitted by Children, Youth and Families Program Coordinator Sula Malina

When I came out at 17, the notion that I had an eating disorder was the furthest thing from my mind. I was a queer, trans, non-binary, masculine-presenting person and, as far as I knew, eating disorders were about conforming to beauty standards. I did not identify with the popular narratives I saw in media; in my mind, I was controlling my weight to reduce the appearance of my hips, chest and cheeks — all of which translated as “feminine” to me.

As a non-binary person, losing weight was my own dangerous form of self-controlled gender transition; I wanted to appear “androgynous” at any cost. In reality, there is no such thing as “looking androgynous.” The idea that such a singular image exists is rooted in fatphobia, transphobia, transmisogyny and racism. It is no accident that the few examples we see of non-binary identity in popular media are consistently thin, white, transmasculine and hairless.

It took years of therapy with mental health providers who were competent in transgender identities and eating disorders before I came to terms with my reality. I was diagnosed with the most common eating disorder: Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder. Finally, I began the lengthy and ongoing process of recovery. For me, this meant not only engaging in conventional methods of eating disorder recovery, but also recognizing eating disorders as a social justice issue, confronting my unconscious biases and pursuing safe methods toward physical transition.

HRC Foundation and the University of Connecticut’s 2017 survey of more than 12,000 LGBTQ youth revealed sobering statistics around the prevalence of disordered eating behaviors among those in the community.

• Sixty-six percent of LGBTQ youth reported skipping meals and/or eating very little food within the past year in order to lose weight or prevent weight gain;
• Twenty percent had made themselves throw up;
• A staggering 80 percent of LGBTQ youth reported eating because they felt depressed or sad. This is not a narrative that we share often; few people are aware of the dangerous rates of eating disorders among the trans population in particular.

From February 25 through March 3, the National Eating Disorders Association hosts its annual NEDAwareness campaign. This year, the theme is “Come as You Are.” This NEDAwareness week, here are some steps you can take to support LGBTQ youth, whether or not they are vocal about struggling with disordered eating behaviors.

1. Examine your own tendencies to talk about calories, weight loss or exercise habits. For those struggling with disordered eating behaviors, these topics of conversation can be triggering. We already live in a culture that normalizes weight loss trends to a dangerous degree. Avoid bringing these things into everyday conversations and consider speaking to a mental health professional about your own behaviors.
2. Be a vocal ally. Several researchers cite minority stress and discrimination as a major cause of eating disorders among the LGBTQ community. HRC’s own data around mood-related eating indicates the importance of allyship and a commitment to bettering the all-around mental health of LGBTQ young people.
3. Help trans and gender-expansive youth access gender-affirming health services. Studies indicate that disordered eating behaviors among trans people decreased once they were able to access safer forms of physical transition, including hormones and surgeries.
4. Use your platform — whether it’s social media or something larger–to celebrate a diversity of LGBTQ bodies. From the movies you watch to the music you stream to the people you follow on Instagram, we make choices all day about what types of people receive our attention. Next time you’re scrolling through Instagram, consider following and sharing content from LGBTQ, Black, fat activists, including Ericka Hart, Roxane Gay and others.

www.hrc.org/blog/four-ways-to-support-lgbtq-youth-during-national-eating-disorder-awareness?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

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Brandon Rogers’ New Video ‘Apathy’ Is Your New Favorite Thing: WATCH

American Idol alum Brandon Rogers just dropped his new video Apathy.

Rogers’ musical journey has been exciting and challenging as he’s experienced major victories and navigated tough obstacles to get to where he is today: a man who is ready to own his spot as an artist and accomplished songwriter.

Rogers says Apathy came about following the break-up of a short relationship. He felt the sting of it when scrolling through his Instagram feed and seeing that the person had moved on with someone else. He notes, “It’s that emotional grey area where you know you don’t want the person anymore, but you see them moving on and happy with someone else and it’s not you.”

The concept was further inspired by his favorite quote from Holocaust survivor/humanitarian, Elie Wiesel, that states, “The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference.”

He decided on the synonym “apathy” as it worked better melodically and thus the song and title were born.

Produced and written solely by Rogers, it is an R&B laced modern pop classic showcasing his vocal range, prowess and undeniable mark as a fully actualized artist. At the heart of his music, he is a genuine storyteller, which is clearly evident with this single and other material he is eager to release for an upcoming album that will drop in the early part of 2019.

The video also includes an all-star cast featuring: Nikki Rae, Dylan Dovale, Natalie Cantral,l Ronnie Kroelle, Tadjh Brooks, Rachel West, Trinity Ganatt, Gilles Marini, Brandon Rogers, and Sasha Birrittella on guitar.

Watch the fire video below.

Photos by Rahsaan Patterson and Brett Richards.

The post Brandon Rogers’ New Video ‘Apathy’ Is Your New Favorite Thing: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Brandon Rogers’ Video ‘Apathy’ Is Your New Favorite Thing: WATCH

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Meet Ashton P. Woods, Houston’s Next Political Superstar

When I first spoke to Ashton P. Woods three years ago, I wrote, “Houston-based activist and blogger Ashton P. Woods is gay, atheist, HIV-positive and “unapologetically black.” While none of these things completely define Woods, they highlight his multiple identities and, hopefully, remind others that being black is not monolithic. In Woods’ view, justice must be intersectional and nowhere is this walk the talk more evident than his involvement in the Black Lives Matter movement.”

In the intervening years Woods has continued the good fight and is now looking to change the system from within by running for Houston’s City Council-At-Large 5, which will give him oversight of much of the city’s politics.

Towleroad spoke to Woods about his campaign.

TLRD: What led you to run for office?
There are several factors that got me to this point… I have spent years working with elected officials and candidates for political office to shape their platforms and advise on a path to ethical and equitable policies. This has yielded mixed results and in the process people are left out on the fringes, in many cases criminalized for being the working poor.
How long should we wait to get every Houstonian on a stable footing and out of poverty? We shouldn’t and I feel that I will represent the people closest to the problems that our city has to contend with. 

When is the election?
The election takes place in Houston, TX on November 5, 2019. This also happens to be my 35th birthday.

How has you activism played a role in you’re campaign?
My activism plays a major role in how I shape my platform to reflect ALL Houstonians, with special focus on those who have been relegated to the fringes. I often work with folks who don’t have means to show up like they would want to because of barriers to entry like lack of transit, low wages and thus means their voices are not heard. I am running to open the door for their voices to be heard.

What are the primary objectives you hope to accomplish?
My objectives are interconnected and the intended goal is to increase the life chances of all Houstonians. We do that by moving to provide healthcare for all, addressing climate change, Justice reform (decriminalize Houstonians), Increase the minimum wage to 16.50, Job training programs and a host of other options that will boost the people of Houston from equality to equity.

Follow Woods on Twitter for updates on his campaign. And check out his website here.

The post Meet Ashton P. Woods, Houston’s Next Political Superstar appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Meet Ashton P. Woods, Houston’s Next Political Superstar

How the Classic Sitcom ‘Married With Children’ Took On Gay Marriage in a Surprisingly Sensitive Way: WATCH

In a new episode of Cultural Cruising, Matt Baume examines the classic sitcom Married With Children which took on gay marriage in an episode that aired in October 1990, a little more than three years into its decade-long run.

Said Baume: “Though it was primarily concerned with the mating habits of heterosexuals, or lack thereof, the show touched on LGBT life now and then with surprising sensitivity. And even more surprisingly, it went so far as to air an episode featuring two married gay men, just two months before a real-life lawsuit kicked off the modern marriage equality movement.”

In the episode, Peg (Katey Sagal) is bored and wants to go out. Al (Ed O’Neill) isn’t interested, so Peg goes out with her friend Marcy (Amanda Bearse, who, as Baume notes, later came out as a lesbian). Peg and Marcy head to a dance club where Peg finds a dance partner named Andy.

At home, Al gets a knock at the door from a man who tells him “your wife has been seeing my husband.”

“Your husband?” Al asks, confounded.

“Yes,” replies the man.

“You know you’re a guy, right?” replies Al.

“Yes,” replies the man.

Responds Al: “Well then we got three guys who won’t touch my wife, what’s the problem?”

Baume points out that at the time this episode was shot, marriage equality wasn’t recognized anywhere in the world, yet the show still used the word “husband.”

Watch Matt unpack the rest:

The post How the Classic Sitcom ‘Married With Children’ Took On Gay Marriage in a Surprisingly Sensitive Way: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

How the Classic Sitcom ‘Married With Children’ Took On Gay Marriage in a Surprisingly Sensitive Way: WATCH

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