LGBTQ news and entertainment
The cast of Queer Eye heads to Philadelphia this June on Netflix
Mitch McConnell is backed into a corner and forced to admit he lied about the Obama administration not leaving a pandemic plan, on Fox.pic.twitter.com/dQCNro43XS
— Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) May 14, 2020
You are not ready for Jeremy Ryan dancing with himself (screen capture)
Sharing that disco-tastic dream vision on Facebook, Ryan wrote, “Just me dancing alone in my loft having my own dance party.” But wait! There’s more! “What do you do when you’re stuck in quarantine alone for weeks in your loft that’s also your studio with tons of gear?” asks Ryan. “Well, you set up a stage, slap on some heels and program a stage light sequence and dance your heart out to Celine.” Ryan’s unabashed, unfiltered joy here is undeniably irresistible.
I have to add the videos were sent to me from a friend in Nashville, and I clicked play thinking I was previewing a new singing artist. What I got was a whooooole lot better 🙂 When not dancing in the dark with himself, Ryan’s work as a creative director includes artists like Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Emily West, Jamie Lynn Spears, Chingy, Keb Mo, Kelsey Ballerini, and more. If you click over to his website, you can check out his amazing portfolio of work. You can follow Jeremy Ryan on Instagram here, and on YouTube here.
Tafari Anthony (photo: Elliott J. Tilleczek)
Fight for what you want, take back your power, and find contentment in your current situation.
Musically, Tafari’s powerhouse vocals are framed in a sonic soundscape featuring elements of pop, reggae, and Afro-beat. The result is a totally infectious earworm. Hit the play button below. You can follow Tafari Anthony on Instagram here and Facebook here.
Dr. Rick Bright testifies before Congress
Dr. Rick Bright, the whistle-blower who was ousted as head of a federal agency involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine, warned Congress on Thursday that the Covid-19 outbreak will “get worse and be prolonged” if the United States does not swiftly develop a national testing strategy and devise a plan for distributing a vaccine.
“The window is closing to address this pandemic because we still do not have a standard, centralized, coordinated plan to take this nation through this response,” said Dr. Bright, who was abruptly removed last month from his position as head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
He told lawmakers on a House health subcommittee that the country could be facing “the darkest winter in modern history” if the administration did not act swiftly, as Americans become “restless” to leave their homes.
Bright was removed from his position because he refused to promote an anti-malaria drug championed by Donald Trump as a treatment for COVID-19. Numerous studies have shown the drug can have negative effects on patients with the coronavirus.
Donald Trump speaks at the White House (photo: public domain)
“DOA. Dead on arrival. Of course, Nancy Pelosi knows that,” he told reporters Wednesday at the White House.
About one-third of the $3 trillion legislation is relief for state, local and tribal governments, which many Republicans are resisting.
The measure also includes assistance to essential workers, an extension of unemployment insurance beyond July, another round of $1,200 direct cash payments and various other measures that are unlikely to gain bipartisan support but serve as an opening bid for Democrats.
Trump ripped into election-related provisions that would require 15 consecutive days of early voting and the option for every American to vote by mail through an absentee ballot, rules that would take effect starting in the 2020 presidential contest.
“Mail-in ballots is subject to tremendous corruption. Tremendous corruption, cheating. And so I’m against it,” Trump said. “And if you look at the bill that Nancy Pelosi is putting in, it has a lot to do with elections. We’re not going to lose elections because of that.”
As NBC News notes, ‘voter fraud’ is an often repeated lie for Trump. But even though he says it over and over, the truth is several studies and investigations by election experts have looked into the issue and no widespread fraud has ever been found. In fact, five state handle their elections completely by mail-in voting: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah. Additionally, Trump recently admitted that HE voted in Florida’s recent election by mail. And hundreds of thousands of military service members participate in the electoral process by mail every cycle. Trump’s issue with mail-in voting is it enables more Americans to take part, and higher turnout tends to favor the Democratic party.
Ignacio Pérez Rey (via Instagram)
President Trump says he was “surprised” by Dr. Fauci’s warning about reopening schools during the pandemic and says it’s “not an acceptable answer” https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/oX2LkydkPp
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 13, 2020
Wisconsin’s Supreme Court has struck down the state’s stay-at-home orders from behind the safety of remote video conferencing. From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has struck down Gov. Tony Evers’ order shutting down daily life to limit the spread of coronavirus — marking the first time a statewide order of its kind has been knocked down by a court of last resort.
The state’s highest court, which is controlled by conservatives, sided with Republican lawmakers Wednesday in a decision that curbed the Evers administration’s power to act unilaterally during public health emergencies.
The 4-3 decision was written by four of the court’s conservatives – Chief Justice Patience Roggensack and Justices Rebecca Bradley, Daniel Kelly and Annette Ziegler.
The court’s fifth conservative, Brian Hagedorn, wrote a dissent joined by the court’s two liberals, Ann Walsh Bradley and Rebecca Dallet.
The ruling, for now, immediately throws out the administration’s tool to control the disease for which there is no vaccine and comes at a time when Evers has already begun lifting some restrictions as the spread of the virus slows down for now.
During oral arguments, Justice Rebecca Bradley reportedly compared Wisconsin’s stay-at-home orders to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Seriously. Chief Justice Patience Roggensack downplayed a flare-up of coronavirus cases at a major meatpacking plant in the state saying it didn’t impact “regular folks.” As of Tuesday, Wisconsin had over 10,902 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 421 confirmed deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s tally of cases in the United States.
Wisconsin Supreme Court reverses governor’s stay-at-home mandate — in a hearing held remotely so the justices wouldn’t run the risk of getting ill by meeting together. #CovidIrony https://t.co/i0UzThIVlY
— Tim O'Brien (@TimOBrien) May 13, 2020
Millionaire-at-birth who’s never had a job that didn’t come from his rich dad cheers big govt forcing working Americans to risk their lives as the death toll rises past 83,000.
Seriously, #MAGA, y’all can stop pretending you’re Christian.
Wisconsin Supreme Court #RIPCapitalism https://t.co/7fqiyA8XdW
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) May 13, 2020
If the Wisconsin Supreme Court wanted to overturn Governor Tony Evers’ stay-at-home order, the judges should’ve had the guts to make their ruling in person. Instead they did it by remote video conference to protect themselves while telling the people of Wisconsin to go risk death
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) May 14, 2020
L-R Jeb Havens, Julie Garnye, Matt Zarley Recording artists Jeb Havens, Matt Zarley, and Julie Garnyé collaborated on the music video long-distance from their respective isolations during the pandemic lockdown. I’ve profiled two-time OutMusic Award winner Zarley and the handsome Mr. Havens before on TRR, but this is my first chance to share Ms. Garnye’s talents here as well. All three have lengthy resumes that reflect their vocal gifts and “Found” proves to be the perfect vehicle for the talented trio. Havens leads out alongside a spare, pensive piano accompaniment, and is soon joined by Zarley and a soothing cello line. Next stop – the chorus, tightly-woven harmonies, and that key change you know is coming. Like a powerful clarion call, Garnye sings as the beat kicks in:
There’s a place where we don’t have to feel alone / Every time that you call out, you’re a little less alone If you only say the word / From across the silence your voice is heard
Beat, beat, beat, accelerando, more harmonies (excellent musicianship, btw) and we get to the big gorgeous ending that seems our due. Big props to Zarley who edited the video. Three solo shots could have been a real snore to watch, but the whole shindig takes on such visual dynamics it feels like having a whole Broadway ensemble on my screen. Enough of my prattling, though. Hit play, kick back and feel good. The right message at the right time.
It was a rumble at a Red Lobster restaurant when another ‘Karen’ lost her mind waiting for her order and slapped an employee. The term ‘Karen’ has become popular in the modern-day lexicon referring to “a strident middle-class white woman who talks down to people of color, usually in serving-staff positions.” According to the York Daily Record, a video posted to YouTube shows several employees forcibly removing the woman (who was not wearing a face mask) from the restaurant. As she attempts to push her way back inside, she loudly demands her “motherf**king money back.” With the patron outside, she continues to be unruly. The employees inside appear to be trying to find a way to solve the refund issue when suddenly the woman hauls off and slaps a female employee. And all hell breaks loose. Once the moment seems to be defused to some degree, the employees start to head back inside the building as the woman declares, “I was assaulted and have a whole crowd to see it.” The Daily Record reports Springettsbury Township Police were called at 4:26 p.m. to the location. Lt. Tony Beam told the newspaper, from what he could ascertain, “She was upset because her food wasn’t ready. She wanted her money refunded.” Beam went on to say that the customer was gone by the time officers arrived at the restaurant, but they spoke with her at a ‘nearby location.’ No charges have been filed in regard to the incident. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, patrons weren’t allowed inside the restaurant, only employees. Pick-up orders were to be brought out to customers on the sidewalk. One commenter on the YouTube page said a friend was there and all the orders were placed and pre-paid either through GrubHub or the Red Lobster app. While there was an hours-long backlog, customers who wanted a refund apparently had to make those requests using the apps as local staff wasn’t hooked up to do refunds. I’ve worked in the service industry, and it seems apparent from the unified front of the restaurant employees throughout the video, the woman must have been putting up quite stink inside. Plus, if she’s ordering Mother’s Day dinner from Red Lobster, she’s got bigger problems.
Nicole Bott, director of communications for Red Lobster, provided this statement regarding Sunday’s incident:
“We understand that we may have disappointed some of our guests on Mother’s Day when due to COVID-19 and changes to our operations and staffing, we were not able to keep up with the demand at some of our locations. We apologize that some of our guests experienced long wait times, crowds, and in some cases, did not receive their orders.
“It is always our goal to provide our guests with a great seafood experience, and unfortunately, for some guests, we did not meet that goal on Sunday. We are working to better understand what occurred and how we can prevent it occurring in the future.
“That said, we do not tolerate violence for any reason in our restaurants. We expect our team members treat our guests with respect, and we expect our guests to treat our team members with respect in return. We are grateful our Manager and the guest involved were not seriously injured in the incident on Sunday.”
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper (via Instagram)
Anderson Cooper and Benjamin Maisani (via Instagram)
Cooper’s mother was acclaimed artist, fashion designer and socialite Gloria Vanderbilt, who passed away last summer at the age of 95. His father, Wyatt Emory Cooper, died in 1978 when Anderson was just 10-years-old. His brother, Carter, died after committing suicide ten years later in 1988. “I wish some adult, after my dad died, had stepped in, and just been like, you know what? I’ll take you to a ball game, or let’s go out to lunch every now and then, and let’s just talk,” he shared. “No one ever did that.” “And so I thought, if something happens to me – or even if something doesn’t happen to me – if more people love my son and are in his life, I’m all for that,” he said. “My ex is a great guy and it’s good to have two parents if you can.” Considering the two-parent status, Sterns asked, “Are you both going to be ‘dad?’” “Well, my ex is French, his name is Benjamin, so he’s going to speak to him in French and he’s going to be like, ‘papa,’” explained Cooper. “And I think I’ll be ‘dad’ or ‘daddy.’” “He’s already speaking French to him, I have no idea what he’s saying,” he added before joking, “He could be turning the kid against me, I don’t know.” I’ll say I completely understand Anderson’s thinking, and he knows he can trust Benjamin. Good on him.