“Today, more than ever, it is clear that state legislatures need to step up to the plate to protect LGBT youth from the dangerous and discredited practices of conversion therapy,” said National Center for Lesbian Rights Staff Attorney and #BornPerfect Campaign Coordinator Samantha Ames. “We commend Delegate Hope and Senator Lucas, as well all the local organizers who have worked tirelessly to get this bill introduced and ensure all Virginian children are able to grow up in communities and families where they are loved for exactly who they are.”
A similar bill failed to pass in the state House last year, so Delegate Patrick Hope and Senator Louise Lucas may have a fight ahead of them to get this one through.
New Kids On The Block's Jonathan Knight Joins Cast Of 'Amazing Race' With Boyfriend
Jonathan Knight and his boyfriend are taking their relationship “Step by Step” around the world.
Knight and Harley Rodriguez will join the cast of “The Amazing Race” for Season 26. The new season will be the first ever all-dating couples season, with five of the teams actually going on blind dates.
After the news of the casting was announced, Knight tweeted about his excitement:
So happy to finally be able to officially say Harley and I will be on season 26 of the amazing race! t.co/R6OD30cWI6
Knight said it’ll be “interesting” doing the competition with Rodriguez, adding, “This is probably going to be the most time that we’ve been together continually,” according to People. The NKOTB singer went on to say that if there’s a tough situation they wouldn’t argue, however, and would instead “help each other through it.”
In addition to Knight, the cast also includes Olympic bronze medallist Aly Dudek and bobsledder Steven Langton:
“The Amazing Race 26” premieres Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 9:30 p.m. ET on CBS.
Massachusetts Advocates Prepare for Legislative Session
Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC), MassEquality, and other groups are working together to urge the Massachusetts General Assembly to add public accommodations protections based on gender identity. HRC.org
Russell Brand Calls Scrutiny Over Bruce Jenner’s Appearance “Bullying” And “Transphobic”
Transphobia seems to be the most recent and encouraged form of prejudice, now that racism and homophobia are not tolerated. It’s such a celebration of the worst aspects of human values. What this does is it sanctions people being judgmental and cruel toward transgender folks. This is bullying. Stop. Stop. Bruce Jenner is a human being. If you want to learn more about transgender issues, look at GLAAD.org.”
— Comic actor Russell Brand referring to the offensive InTouch cover which featured Bruce Jenner photoshopped and wearing lipstick and blush
Illinois Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Ban Harmful Gay 'Conversion Therapy' for Minors
LGBT advocates in Illinois today announced plans to launch an initiative intended to facilitate passage of a bill introduced on Friday in the General Assembly which would ban gay “conversion therapy” for minors, Equality Illinois reports:
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (pictured) of Chicago introduced the bill on Friday. House Bill 217, the Conversion Therapy Prohibition Act, would make it illegal for mental health care providers to engage in sexual orientation change efforts with anyone under the age of 18. A Senate version will be introduced soon, sponsored by Sen. Daniel Biss of Evanston.
“Illinois should be at the forefront of banning this failed and discredited non-therapy that attempts to change the unchangeable, our innate sexual orientation and gender identity,” said Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois, the state’s oldest and largest civil rights organization advocating for LGBT Illinoisans.
“It is tragic,” said Rep. Cassidy, “that LGBT youth suffer at the hands of so-called experts whose therapies have been refuted by every legitimate medical and mental health organization. That is why my bill would label the therapy as ‘unprofessional conduct’ and subject the perpetrator to disciplinary action.”
Bans on so-called “conversion therapy” have been passed in D.C., New Jersey, and California. An effort to pass one in New York state failed last June after GOP leaders blocked the bill from coming to the floor for a vote.
Lee Daniels Says Its Time For The Black Community To Fully Accept Gay People
“Homophobia is rampant in the African-American community, and men are on the DL. They don’t come out [and] they’re killing our women,” Lee Daniels told critics at the Television Critics Association winter previews on Saturday. “I wanted to blow the lid off of it, and of homophobia, in our community.”
Daniels was speaking about his new show Empire, which features a gay character named Jamal (played by Jussie Smollett) whose father Lucious Lyon (played by Terrence Howard) struggles with accepting his son’s sexuality.
Daniels says that the character of Lucious is partially based on his own father. When he was a boy, Daniels’ father beat him up after walking in on his young son dressed in a pair of his mother’s red pumps.
“What we’re doing is telling a little bit of the story of Lee growing up in that way,” Howard added during the panel discussion, “but it’s really a bigger part of what’s happening throughout the entire world.”
Bryshere Gray (left) and Jussie Smollett in Empire
He went on to say that the show aims to tackle the issue of homophobia in the black community by offering certain viewers “an opportunity to see what they’re doing is painful. It’s crushing someone that could be beautiful.”
“[Homophobia] is so real and it is happening to so many people, has happened to so many people,” Smollett said.
One of the scenes in the pilot episode is particularly disturbing. It shows Lucious take his 4-year-old son outside and throw him in a trash can after walking in on him wearing his mother’s underwear. The scene is inspired by the event from Daniels’ childhood.
“When Lee had me take that kid down the stairs and put him in the trash can, it was with no apologies associated with it, because that’s what happened to him,” Howard explained. “The fact that he survived that is a beautiful thing.”
Empire is the only prime-time drama the featured a nearly all-black cast and was just renewed for a second season. The cast and producers say they are hopeful the show will start a trend both in the depiction of gay stories and black stories on television.
“What it shows is that people want to see people that look like them on television,” Smollett said. “They also want to see people that do not look like them on television. They want to see a representation of our world on television, and our world is not one color.”
NEW MUSIC: Sasha Siem, Sleater-Kinney, Waxahatchee, Shura, Gemma Hayes, Resistor
New Music is brought to you weekly by Deadly Music!, which covers mostly indie/alternative music as well as electronica, ambient/modern classical, pop and anything really, really good.
Anglo-Norwegian composer/songwriter/singer Sasha Siem (right) is one of the most exciting emerging acts of recent months.
Her debut “My Friend”, which was produced by Valgeir Sigurðsson (Sigur Ros, Bjork, Bonnie Prince Billy, Feist), was a beautifully constructed and performed chamber pop about a friend on the cusp of losing it all.
Sasha’s debut album Most of the Boys – genuinely one of the most original releases we’ve heard in a long time – is out on March 1st.
In the meantime have a listen to “My Friend” along with the jarring “So Polite,” the latest lifted from the album.
Newly resurrected feminist post punk act Sleater-Kinney’s eighth studio album No Cities To Love has been long anticipated and a bit of a worry. Could the trio rise to the legendary status of their early work or will be it be a case of cashing in and knocking out derivative shite?
Happily, the former riot grrrl legends are on top form on what is probably one of their best albums to date. Occasionally heavier than fans might be used to, the album is nonetheless close to flawless and tight as a coiled spring.
Have a listen to the album title along with a painfully hip sing-along video featuring some of Sleater-Kinney’s hipster musician pals. No idea who most of them are but I think I spotted Rick Rubin, Actress and that (not) gay guy from The Walking Dead.
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Listen to new s by Waxahatchee, Shura, Gemma Hayes and Resistor, AFTER THE JUMP…
DIY singer/songwriter Waxahatchee (above) aka Katie Crutchfield, also one half of Great Thunder, has just dropped new “Air” which is taken from forthcoming third album Ivy Tripp, out April 7, 2015 on Merge Records.
Following up on the critical success of American Weekend and Cerulean Salt is not going to be easy but to address the problem it would appear that Crutchfield has retained the DIY sensibility while embracing a more accessible sound – al to great effect.
Forever to be favorably compared to PJ Harvey, a better comparison for “Air” might be Scoutt Niblett on 2001’s Sweetheart Fever.
Fresh from a year of fairly impressive critical and commercial successes, Anglo-Russian singer and producer Shura continues to channel her inner Janet Jackson via 80s Madonna on latest “Indecision”.
With the added to the In New Music We Trust list at Radio 1, going Top 10 on iTunes’ Electronic chart and reaching #1 on Hype Machine, Shura is currently writing and recordings songs for her debut album, set to be released later this year.
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Gemma Hayes: Bones + Longing
Gemma Hayes is a singer/songwriter from Tipperary, Ireland.
With a number of mainstream release under her belt over the last 15 or so years and a Mercury Prize nomination back in 2003, Hayes released her latest album Bones + Longing in November of last year.
Releasing her first songs in her early 20s, Hayes started off her career with a folksy sound which has since refined itself sufficiently to garner critical praise, comparisons with the likes of PJ Harvey, Beth Orton and Heather Nova, and a degree of well-deserved commercial success.
Latest “Cordless Phone” opens with minor key chords worthy of OMD and follows through on the promise with a gloriously retro gorgeous downtempo synth pop with irresistible boy/girl vocals.
