LGBTQ news and entertainment
UPI reports that the Newman family of Pennsylvania discovered home security camera footage of a bear exploring their porch and ultimately stealing a box of dog food from mail-order company Chewy. After sharing the footage with Chewy, which is operated by PetSmart, the company offered to send a replacement box of dog food.
Calling Mr. Trump ‘completely unfit,’ former Congressman Joe Walsh, a conservative radio host, says he will launch a television-centric strategy to try to rattle a media-obsessed president. Walsh announced his candidacy during an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week.” https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1165613529455562752 https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1165618693386244097 From the New York Times:
“We’ve got a guy in the White House who is unfit, completely unfit, to be president and it stuns me that nobody stepped up,” Mr. Walsh said in announcing his candidacy, claiming that “everyone” in the Republican Party believes Mr. Trump is not fit for the job.
Mr. Walsh’s decision to announce his candidacy on television, aides said, is a preview of a television-centric strategy designed to rattle a television-focused president with a rare challenge from within the party.
Despite Mr. Walsh’s claim that many Republicans share his belief that Mr. Trump is unfit to serve, most polls show the president’s approval rating among Republican voters is consistently in the high 80s.
Mr. Walsh stands virtually no chance of wresting the Republican presidential nomination away from Mr. Trump. But he framed his long shot primary challenge as a moral imperative to offer an alternative to Mr. Trump, and said that he is jumping in because “somebody needs to step up.”
Donald Trump (above) raised eyebrows this week referring to himself as ‘the chosen one’ when answering questions from the press regarding the current trade war with China. Explaining his position that previous American presidents didn’t tackle China’s behavior when negotiating trade deals with Beijing, Trump said:
“President Clinton, President Bush, and President Obama and others should have done this long before me. My life would be much easier, although I enjoy doing it. But my life would be much easier if I just said, ‘Let China continue to rip off the United States.’ But I can’t do that.”
Finishing his thought, he looked up to the sky and said, “Somebody had to do it. I am the chosen one.” But on Saturday, Trump ranted on Twitter that he was just joking. “When I looked up to the sky and jokingly said ‘I am the chosen one,’ at a press conference two days ago, referring to taking on Trade with China, little did I realize that the media would claim that I had a ‘Messiah complex.’” he said in the tweet.
When I looked up to the sky and jokingly said “I am the chosen one,” at a press conference two days ago, referring to taking on Trade with China, little did I realize that the media would claim that I had a “Messiah complex.” They knew I was kidding, being sarcastic, and just….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2019
….having fun. I was smiling as I looked up and around. The MANY reporters with me were smiling also. They knew the TRUTH…And yet when I saw the reporting, CNN, MSNBC and other Fake News outlets covered it as serious news & me thinking of myself as the Messiah. No more trust!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2019
TRUMP: I don't have a messiah complex. Trust me, no one knows more about messiah complexes than me.
— Jeremy Newberger (@jeremynewberger) August 24, 2019
@realDonaldTrump Messiah complex or not? You decide… pic.twitter.com/rSNQyd8Nlo
— berealDonaldTrump (@berealDonTrump) August 24, 2019
Good Morning America co-host Lara Spencer stepped in it this week when reporting on Prince George as part of her Pop News segment. Talking about the young royal’s new school curriculum, she paused when she mentioned that he would be taking “ballet,” and then began to laugh at the idea that boys would study dance. As the studio audience continued laughing, Spencer added, “I’ve got news for you Prince William, we’ll see how long that lasts.”
Folks in the dance world, male and female, clapped back at Spencer laughing at the idea of boys/men dancing. Social media was soon flooded with comments from dance luminaries tagging Spencer to make sure she would see them. In case people think the following reactions might be overly-sensitive, I’d point out that if Spencer had mentioned a UK princess taking ballet, there would have been NO laughs, right? Broadway and television dance star Debbie Allen, who has championed the arts for young people for decades, spoke directly to the issue saying, “Lara Spencer – I am sure you did not expect your remarks to set off the firestorm that it has – but it did.” She added, “Poking fun at the dance world, and ballet and young boys – this just isn’t cool.” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1hDs_Rhi2l/ Emmy Award-winning choreographer and So You Think You Can Dance alum Travis Wall posted a video as well saying, “Dear @lara.spencer of GOOD MORNING AMERICA. I have a message for you. Wake up. It’s 2019,” he wrote. “Get with the program. Please share and repost this so a boy who needs to see this feels supported if he dances or wants to!” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1gjmZTBCxW/ Michael Dameski, from NBC’s World of Dance competition, posted this off-the-hook video clip tagging Spencer with the comment, “Still laughing?” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1hH6kmgnP3/ Dancing with the Stars alum Derek Hough chimed in saying he was surprised and disappointed by the comments and laughs, adding it reminded him of how he was laughed at as a young male dancer. https://www.instagram.com/p/B1hEfo6gJGr/ Tony Award-winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Pretty Woman, Legally Blond) added his thoughts advising Spencer to “think before you speak.” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1guMmfnnaJ/ And as my friend Jerome Vivona, A-list Broadway dancer and currently running American Theater Dance Workshop pointed out, dance training develops, “Strength, grace, power, empathy, collaboratio, and balance.” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1iDPrCpebS/ Spencer eventually apologized for her “insensitive comments” midday Friday on Instagram. “My sincere apologies for an insensitive comment I made in pop news yesterday,” she wrote. “From ballet to anything one wants to explore in life, I say GO FOR IT. I fully believe we should all be free to pursue our passions. Go climb your mountain-and love every minute of it.” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1gzsy_D7-L/ I’ll add my own thoughts here as someone who enjoyed a long career in dance and theater thanks to my beginning dance classes at 14-years-old. Echoing what many have said above about the athleticism, strength, and sense of collaboration that dancers develop, I also champion the fact that dance helps men and women to understand the value of discipline which helps people as they pursue other careers outside of the dance world. Finally, I credit dance with keeping me in touch with my own body as I grow older. The photo below was taken when I turned 50 a few years ago when I appeared in Chicago the Musical at the Hollywood Bowl. While I’m no InstaHunk, trust and believe I would not be in this shape if I hadn’t danced all these years. 
Bad news for homophobic former Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis (above). Cue the sad trombone sound…womp womp womp An appeals court has ruled that Davis can be sued as an individual for refusing to issue marriage licenses to two same-sex couples after the historic U.S. Supreme Court Obergefell ruling in 2015. Reuters reports:
The Kentucky county clerk who in 2015 gained widespread attention for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples may be sued for damages by two of those couples, a federal appeals court ruled late on Friday.
In a 3-0 decision, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said Kim Davis can be sued in her individual capacity, though sovereign immunity shielded her from being sued in her former role as Rowan County Clerk.
Davis claimed that Obergefell v Hodges, the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision recognizing a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, did not apply to her because she stopped issuing licenses to everyone regardless of sexual orientation, and the plaintiffs could have obtained licenses elsewhere.
Davis lost her reelection bid last year. She was represented by the virulently anti-LGBTQ Liberty Counsel law firm. Mat Staver, the organization’s founder told the press, “She had no hostility to anyone, given that she stopped issuing all marriage licenses.” Liar. In related news, the 6th Circuit Court also ruled that the state of Kentucky is on the hook for $224,000 in legal fees incurred by the couples who sued Davis when she refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses. According to the Lexington Courier-Journal, Gov. Matt Bevin fought the judgment saying Davis should be responsible for the fees, not the state of Kentucky. He lost. Hate doesn’t pay, kids.
Video footage of a high school student in Alexandria, Indiana, being attacked and beaten in the boy’s locker room was widely circulated among students and even sent to the boy’s mother. The reason for the attack? Being gay. Speaking to local NBC affiliate WTHR the young man said, “I’m not ok, but I will be.” The assault took place following gym class after he’d gotten dressed “The guy who attacked me was standing next to my locker and wouldn’t stop staring at me, so I had a weird feeling that something was about to happen,” the student told WTHR. What ‘happened’ was the student began shoving the teen. “He kept pushing me, but then he stopped pushing me and everything got quiet, so I thought he walked out,” said the young man. But the attacker didn’t leave, he’d merely paused before he began punching his victim. “I felt him punch me a couple more times and I got hit my face on the mirror and then he punched me in the head twice,” said the student. “It happened so fast. I can remember them holding me against the wall,” he added, explaining that two other students helped restrain him so he couldn’t fight back. The boy says he knows who his alleged attackers are and that they’d teased him before about being openly gay. “I’ve gotten so used to it over the years that it doesn’t phase me much,” he said. Eventually, another student stepped in and stopped the assault. When the teen’s mother took him to the hospital he was told his nose was broken. “I just tell myself to forget what happened and try to act like it never happened,” he said. School officials and Alexandria police both say they are investigating the incident. The alleged victim calls what happened a hate crime and has a message for others students targeted because of their sexuality. His parents say they’re not going to let what happened to their son get swept under a rug. They’ve been told by school officials that two of the students involved have been expelled, but WTHR was unable to confirm that. (source: WTHR)
Alec Smith, younger brother of CrossFit Games winner Ben Smith, is not only an athlete in his own right but has made a name for himself outside of his brother’s shadow in the CrossFit games as both an individual and as a part of the team/association CrossFit Krypton. Alec recently came out on Instagram through a video that he captioned, “My coming out story. Honestly one of the hardest things I’ve had to do.” Referencing a line from Lizzo’s hit song, “Truth Hurts,” the hunky athlete added, “Took a DNA test, turns out I’m gay.” “So I’m gay, and I’m at the point at life now where I’m ok with that,” shared Smith. “I’ve accepted it and I’m happy with who I am.”
“It’s been a struggle, it really has. My whole life, I’ve known that I was different,” he continued. “When I was twelve years old, I knew that I was attracted to guys. And I hated myself for being attracted to guys, which led me to hide who I was. I hid who I was in high school, I hid who I was in college. I found myself playing sports. Doing all these things to distract myself from who I really was. It just got to the point where it was unhealthy and I decided to tell somebody. And after I told one of my closest friends, it just led me to telling more and more of my friends. And truly just talking about it helps so much.” He also had advice for others dealing with the idea of coming out: “When the time is right, the time is right… just focus on yourself and what’s important to you.”
Guest post by Lawrence Pfeil, Jr. of TheOUTFront.com It’s hard to imagine a place filled with more of life’s drama than a hospital, and when it comes to hospitals it’s nearly impossible to imagine one more filled with history’s drama than New York City’s shuttered, St Vincent’s Hospital. Such is the point of departure for Rattlestick Playwrights Theater’s Novenas for A Lost Hospital, an intimate theatrical experience taking audiences on a literal journey through the West Village, September 5 – October 13, 2019. 
Opening Rattlestick’s 25th anniversary season, the world premiere of Cusi Cram’s Novenas for A Lost Hospital stars Tony Award nominee (Angels in America) and four-time Obie winner, Kathleen Chalfant as Saint Elizabeth Seton. The production and cast of thirteen are under the direction of Rattlestick Artistic Director, Daniella Topol. This unique walking theatrical production is presented in partnership with Village Preservation, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Community Center, NYC AIDS Memorial Board, NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, St. John’s in the Village, and Visual AIDS. For the LGBT+ community, especially gay men, the connection to St Vincent’s Hospital runs deep and very personal. Located on the border of the Village and Chelsea, it was the community’s “go-to” hospital for decades. Injured protesters from the Stonewall Uprising fifty years ago were brought to St. Vincent’s Emergency Room for first aid. When AIDS grew into an epidemic twenty-five years later, far too many men were brought there one last time and their chosen families gathering there to bear witness endless times. The one saving grace was the staff of doctors and nurses of the hospital-borne out of one plague having compassion on a community facing another. 
This is but one story in the 161-year legacy that was St Vincent’s Hospital. Its ties to some of history’s most iconic moments are so much more. As Dramaturg Guy Lancaster writes,
“St. Vincent’s Hospital was started inside a rented house on East 13th Street in 1849 during a cholera epidemic by four nuns from the Sisters of Charity. It was the first Catholic hospital in Manhattan. Survivors of disasters such as the sinking of the Titanic, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, and September 11th were treated at St. Vincent’s after it moved to its eventual site on 7th Avenue in 1856.
A devastating new plague, HIV/AIDS, would profoundly affect the institution and the surrounding neighborhood from the 1980s onwards as the hospital became a center for AIDS research and treatment. By the time St. Vincent’s closed its doors on April 30, 2010, 3,500 employees had lost their jobs. The last Catholic hospital in Manhattan was replaced by a luxury condo development.”
Times Square is called as the “Crossroads of the World,” but just a mile south of it, on the same avenue, St Vincent’s Hospital could be called the “crossroads of humanity.” For five weeks, Novenas for a Lost Hospital will allow audiences to traverse time and tale, walking with compassion through the history of this storied house of healing. 
More information about Novenas for a Lost Hospital HERE Previews begin September 5. Official opening night September 19, with performances through October 13. * Guests arriving at the 6:30 time will experience an extended prologue, and audiences at both check-in times will unite for the majority of the event. Due to its traveling nature, audiences are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes and to leave heavy bags at home. Coat check is not available. Purchase tickets HERE More information about Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, their 25th anniversary season, and subscriptions HERE (photos: Mark Abrahams)
The Trump administration, in its never-ending campaign against LGBTQ rights, has filed a brief in support of allowing private companies to legally fire employees based solely on their sexual orientation. From Dominic Holden at Buzzfeed News:
An amicus brief filed by the Justice Department weighed in on two cases involving gay workers and what is meant by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans discrimination “because of sex.” The administration argued courts nationwide should stop reading the civil rights law to protect gay, lesbian, and bisexual workers from bias because it was not originally intended to do so.
That view conflicts with some lower court rulings that found targeting someone for their sexual orientation is an illegal form of both sex discrimination and sex stereotyping under Title VII. Those courts have found, to illustrate the point, that a gay man wouldn’t be targeted if he were instead a woman dating a man; thus he faced discrimination because of his sex.
But the administration said in its brief Friday that Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination only prohibits unequal treatment between “biological sexes,” as it argued last week in a related brief against transgender rights, in which the Justice Department said companies should be able to fire people because they are transgender as well.
Earlier this week, the Donald sidestepped a question about his administration’s position on the cases claiming he has deep support from LGBTQ Americans. “I think I’ve done really very well with that community,” said Trump citing his endorsement by the conservative LGBTQ group Log Cabin Republicans. “They like the job I’m doing.” The U.S. Supreme Court will hear the cases beginning October 8.
By comparison, almost every Democratic Senator signed an amicus brief urging SCOTUS to find that Title VII bars employment discrimination against LGBT people — as did the highest ranking relevant House members. https://t.co/mexWW6qVVu pic.twitter.com/517SRWUlaX
— Sasha Samberg-Champion (@ssamcham) August 24, 2019
Thank you @realDonaldTrump for accepting our endorsement! We’re with you in #2020 ! @TeamTrump @GOP pic.twitter.com/LiYYvjGwNe
— LogCabinRepublicans (@LogCabinGOP) August 20, 2019
(lead image: public domain via Flickr/White House)
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| Me and Vanessa Williams |
So, life is funny, sometimes. As I arrived in Barcelona yesterday, I was reminded of this happy coincidence when I was here last year. In August 2018, while traveling on the Atlantis cruise from Rome to Barcelona, I got word that award-winning actress/singer/dancer Vanessa Williams would be the surprise guest star on the cruise ship. Longtime readers know I have been friends with the multi-hyphenate super-star since we were both freshman music theater majors at Syracuse University in the early 1980s. We quickly traded emails excited at the prospect of seeing each other live, in person. What happened was the bestest catch-up you can imagine as V and I, with my hubby Michael, spent just the most delicious hours laughing and smiling off the French coast near Nice, on the Atlantis cruise. We explored Mallorca together, and I even joined her onstage during her concert (more about that later). My apologies for the light posting today, as I was adjusting to the jetlag. But walking around Barcelona this afternoon, it was fun to remember the really wonderful company I got to keep just a year ago.