Author: Randy Slovacek

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Former Conversion Camp Scammers Arrested For Child Trafficking

Husband and wife who previously ran 'conversion therapy camps' have been arrested in Texas on child trafficking charges The ringleaders of a former ‘conversion therapy camp’ have been arrested in Texas on child trafficking charges. From local NBC News affiliate KXAN:

More than a year after boys were removed from a nonprofit in Burnet County, the couple who ran it are facing trafficking charges. A grand jury indicted Gary Wiggins, 49, and his wife Meghann Wiggins, 34, on Trafficking of Persons charges.

They are both accused of “knowingly” trafficking four underage boys and “through force, fraud or coercion” making them “engage in forced labor or services.” The two ran Joshua Home, which officials described as a place that “purports to be a residential home for troubled boys.”

According to the indictment, the trafficking allegedly occurred between May 17, 2018 and July 25, 2018. Eight boys between the ages of 10 and 17 were removed after a multi-agency investigation into allegations of abuse, neglect, labor violations, fraud, licensing violations and human trafficking.

Watch the report from KXAN below:

The Advocate reports the couple has hopped from state to state setting up so-called ‘conversion therapy’ camps where they tried to torture the gay out of young boys.

Before the Wigginses set up the home in Missouri, they ran the Blessed Hope Boys Academy in Robertsdale, Ala., where Wiggins was referred to as Brother Gary. The shuttered school was the subject of a 20/20 investigation in which boys who’d been sent there spoke out against the abuse that included forced exercise, solitary confinement, withholding food, and various conversion therapy tactics.

“He took off his belt and started swinging,” Lucas Greenfield whose mother sent him to Blessed Hope because he is gay, told 20/20 in 2017.

“I’m going to get the demon out of you and make you straight,” Gary Wiggins told the boys he terrorized, Greenfield told police in 2016.

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Teen Arrested After Making Threats To Shoot Gay Bar & Federal Agents

An Ohio teen From ABC News:

An Ohio teenager threatened to shoot federal agents, a Planned Parenthood and a gay bar and was found at a residence that had a gun vault and around 10,000 rounds of ammunition, according to police and court documents.

Justin Olsen, 18, was the moderator of an online chat where he made light of mass shootings and made the threats against all federal agents, the nonprofit, and an undisclosed gay bar, according to a police report from the Boardman Police Department.

After searching his father’s house in Boardman, a suburb south of Youngstown, FBI agents seized 15 rifles and 10 semi-automatic pistols, according to a criminal complaint. Investigators also observed an estimated 10,000 rounds of ammunition in one room and another 300 rounds of ammunition on the stairway leading to the second floor, according to the complaint.

When Olsen turned 18 in May, he apparently bragged online that he couldn’t “wait to start stockpiling weapons,” according to the police report. He also wrote that he was planning on buying an AR-15 parts kit after posting a photo of it, the police report said. The case began in February, when the FBI received a complaint about Olsen in Anchorage, Alaska, and traced his computer information back to Olsen’s address. Olsen is charged with aggravated menacing. He admitted the threats to the police, but said it was all a joke.

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Billy Porter On Breaking Through At 49 ‘I Do Not Take It Lightly’

Billy Porter, nominated for ‘Best Actor in a Drama’ at this year’s Emmy Awards for his star turn on the FX series, POSE, recently spoke to PEOPLE about the ‘moment’ he is currently in thanks to the groundbreaking TV show.

“I really had a hard time as an out, black, gay actor making any headway. I wasn’t having a great time living up to the heteronormative masculinity standard to get the straight male work. So I wasn’t really working in film and television. And it was just frustrating, you know? It was just frustrating to sort of feel ignored and feel dismissed, and dismissed for even the flamboyant things.

“I’ve been in the busy 30 years – I’ve never been the object of affection in anything. When you’re gay, they like to cut your dick off and make you asexual.

“The stories that get greenlit about black men are generally about us killing each other very often.

“And so, it’s nice, it’s beautiful, and it’s time to for the world to understand that there all types of people on the planet, we do different things AND we can honor each other’s humanity inside of that.”

“I choose joy, I choose life, I made that decision a long time ago.”

Watch more from the Golden Globe/Emmy Award-nominated Mr. Porter below.

(images via screen capture – People)

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Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown Calls Sean Spicer “Sweet” & “Nice”

  The new cast of Dancing with the Stars has been announced, and it includes Sean Spicer (below), who became famous as Donald Trump’s first White House Press Secretary, and Queer Eye‘s Karamo Brown (above). In a recent interview with Access Hollywood, his co-“star” Brown shared he thinks the man who repeatedly lied to the White House press corps and America “a good guy, a really sweet guy.” Check Brown’s kind words for Spicer in the tweet below:

“Sean Spicer and I have been talking. Yeah, like, literally, I was most excited to meet him because, like the thing is that people would look at us and think that we’re polar opposites but I’m a big believer that if you can talk to someone and meet in the middle that you can learn about each other and help each other both grow. So we have been chatting all day today. Like, he’s a good guy, a really sweet guy. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Karamo from Queer Eye saying Sean Spicer is a nice guy. I know. I know.”

Now, you may recall Spicer was the guy who frequently lied about Trump’s allegations that millions of people illegally voted in the 2016 presidential election. Then there were the lies regarding the firing of former FBI director James Comey. More on my coverage of Spicer here. But, hey, “really sweet guy.” Some fans were not up for the Brown/Spicer love.

Brown responded on Twitter, although he later deleted the tweets. He also, according to Newsweek, began blocking people and comments on his Twitter account. “First, I have no say who is on the cast and didn’t find out till this morning that he is on!” said Brown in the first tweet. “But I’ll tell you this… I’m excited to sit down w/ him and engage in a respectful conversations. Only way things get better is if we try to educate those who have different POV than us.” In a second tweet, Brown said how he “can’t stand people” who post things “just to flame the fire and get a reaction. We fight harder than your ass ever has for people of color and members of the LGBTQIA community” after someone else called him out.

By the way, DWTS host Tom Bergeron also shared HIS thoughts on the new cast via Twitter as well:

Dancing With the Stars returns for its all-new season Monday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m ET/PT on ABC.

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Trump Joked About Trading Puerto Rico For Greenland?

From the New York Times:

In the latest only-in-Trumpland episode skating precariously along the line between farce and tragedy, the president of the United States on Wednesday attacked the prime minister of Denmark because she will not sell him Greenland — and found the very notion “absurd.”

But while Mr. Trump has long derided nation-building, his flirtation with nation-buying turned out to be more serious than many originally thought. He has been talking privately about buying Greenland for more than a year and even detailed the National Security Council staff to study the idea.

At one point last year, according to a former official who heard him, he even joked in a meeting about trading Puerto Rico for Greenland — happy to rid himself of an American territory whose leadership he has feuded with repeatedly.

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Out Music: Raph Solo “Memory Lane”

Out singer/songwriter Raph Solo goes personal with his new single, "Memory Lane" In “Memory Lane,” out singer/songwriter Raph Solo takes a moment to look back on a deeply personal experience that nearly extinguished his self-esteem: his unsuccessful attempt at erasing his homosexuality through conversion therapy. The song’s lyrics, taken from the diary he kept at the time, were written as a prayer. “It’s a conversation between God and myself where I made a promise to never be filled with self-hate again,” he explains. “I believe the ultimate key to inner peace and happiness is self-acceptance and loving yourself the way God made you.” “Memory Lane” is Solo’s second release from his new album, LIFE, his powerful collection of retrospective ballads available now on Apple Music, Spotify, and all digital download outlets. The new acoustic ballad is comprised of three basic elements (vocal, piano, and strings) that also represent three important aspects of Raph: his music, voice and soul. Similar to the other songs on the LIFE album, “Memory Lane” encapsulates the theme that “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” “I grew up thinking that being gay and believing in God were incompatible but what I know now is God is love and love is love and love can be platonic, romantic and of more than one orientation,” says the Lebanese/Chilean singer. The music video has a very European sensibility in its look and feel. Check it out below. For more information, visit raphsolo.com

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News Round-Up: August 21, 2019

Some news items you might have missed: • Instagram: Hubby Michael and I (above) are traveling today to Barcelona for a few days before we head out on the Mediterranean via Atlantis Cruises. Long travel day from Sin City to Barcelona, but looking forward to playing in the ‘City of Counts’ again. I’ll be sharing the adventure along the way…:) • kenneth-in-the-212: Every Wednesday, Kenneth has the goods to get us over Hump Day – #WrestleWednesday • Twitter: Donald Trump told reporters today his administration is “very seriously” looking at changing the Constitution through executive order. p.s. you can’t…

• Geekwire: LinkedIn blocked or removed 21.6 million fake accounts on its platform from January to June of this year, a sign that the Microsoft-owned social network is actively fighting some of the same issues that have plagued Facebook, Twitter and others. • Boy Culture: Matt Rettenmund has more peeks at Renée Zellweger and Finn Wittrock as Judy Garland and Mickey Deans in Judy. The film lands in theaters September 27. • Good Morning America: GMA announced the next cast of Dancing with the Stars, which includes former ‘liar in chief’ Sean Spicer, Queer Eye’s culture guy Karamo Brown, Christie Brinkley, and more. https://twitter.com/GMA/status/1164165340236001282

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Trump Quotes Radio Host Who Called Him “King Of Israel” & “Second Coming Of God”

Donald Trump took to Twitter to quote conservative radio host Wayne Allyn Root, who referred to him as the “King of Israel” and the “second coming of God.” The Donald not only thanked Root but quoted him in full. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1164138795475881986 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1164138796205654016 https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1164138797220671488 This followed Trump telling reporters that Jewish people who vote for Democrats show “either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.” https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1163909975896416259 A few folks on Twitter had some thoughts on the “King of Israel” https://twitter.com/jchaltiwanger/status/1164162095681822720 https://twitter.com/eugenegu/status/1164171220859797504 https://twitter.com/battletested5/status/1164154880199733250 https://twitter.com/OhNoSheTwitnt/status/1164157414460891136

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Log Cabin Spokesman: LGBTs Are Better Off Under Trump

Log Cabin Republicans spokesman Charles Moran defends his organization's endorsement of Donald Trump Yesterday, I reported on the numerous resignations by Log Cabin Republicans over the conservative LGBTQ organization’s recent endorsement of Donald Trump for reelection. Today, Log Cabin spokesman Charles Moran went into defense mode on Fox News explaining that the “LGBT community is better off than it was four years ago.”

“Like so many disaffected Republicans who have not been comfortable with President Trump and with his record, I look at the question of, ‘Is America is better off now than it was four years ago and is the LGBT community is better off now than it was four years ago?’“

And under President Trump, the answer is inarguably, yes. President Trump is the first person elected president of the United States who supported gay marriage and also has a background supporting equality issues both as a businessman and as a philanthropist.

“We always try to follow the rule of trust but verify. And looking at President Trump’s appointments, appointing people in our organization, taking meetings with our organization, and just really advancing the big causes that are important to the LGBTQ community.”

If Moran were to ask ME if we’re ‘better off,’ I’d point him to these 123 times the Trump administration has attacked the LGBTQ community.