In this week’s podcast: • President Biden issues first-ever presidential proclamation for Transgender Day of Visibility • Arkansas has passed a series of anti-LGBTQ laws in a week • The Pentagon erases Trump-era ban on trans military service members • Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the first legal same-sex weddings • Lil Nas X pens a touching letter to his 14-year-old self – Link to his new music video ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report podcast.
Time to get outdoors and enjoy the warmer weather (stock image via Depositphotos) Some news items you might have missed: • Andrew Christian: With the weather finally warming up, it’s time to get out to the great outdoors for a date that includes some Vitamin D. Check out these ideas for you and your boo to do. • LGBTQ Nation: On March 31, Karine Jean-Pierre, the principal deputy White House Press Secretary, became the first out Black woman to host an official White House Press Brief. She delivered the briefing standing mid-flight aboard Air Force One. • Kenneth-in-the-212: Don’t miss Kenneth’s weekly round-up of the best in LGBTQ publications including the feature in Hot Spots Magazine (below) on LGBTQs and our furry family members. (image via Hot Spots Magazine) • Broadway Cares: The virtual edition of Broadway Backwards delivered an exuberant evening of performances and raised a record $749,555 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center. The free online event can now be viewed by clicking here through 11:59 pm Eastern on Saturday, April 3. • Instinct Magazine: Virginia is now the 13th state to ban ‘gay panic’ and ‘trans panic’ legal defenses in cases of violence and murder on LGBTQ people. • Tostitos: The chip maker brings out Emmy Award winners Dan Levy (Schitt’s Creek) and Kate McKinnon (SNL) together for this cute new ad spot where the comic geniuses one-up each other describing the flavor of new Habanero Tostitos. McKinnon thinks the chips are “drama” but Levy says they are “pelvicular.”
Major League Baseball is making it known the organization is NOT having Georgia’s new voter suppression law. From the New York Times:
In a firm rebuke of Georgia’s new elections law, Major League Baseball said Friday that it had abandoned its plan to play this summer’s All-Star Game in Atlanta.
The decision by the baseball commissioner, Rob Manfred, came after days of pressure from civil rights groups and the Major League Baseball Players Association.
In a statement, Manfred said that after conversations with teams, players, former stars and players union officials he had concluded that “the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft.”
Earlier this week, President Biden voiced his support for MLB moving the midsummer showcase in light of the new voting law’s disproportionate impact on people of color.
(screen capture) UPDATE: The New York Times reports the suspect was shot and killed. CBS News correspondent Skyler Henry reports one of the injured officers has died.
The U.S. Capitol went into lockdown after two Capitol Police officers were reportedly struck by a vehicle near the north entrance to the U.S. Capitol building. From the New York Times:
The Capitol complex was locked down, as the agency instructed staff to remain indoors, away from doors and windows, as eyewitnesses posted videos of a large law enforcement response.
“A suspect is in custody,” the Capitol Police said on Twitter. “Both officers are injured. All three have been transported to the hospital.”
Images from the scene posted on social media appeared to show emergency workers treating someone on the driveway of the Capitol.
Film & TV star Richard Chamberlain (image via Boy Culture) Some news items you might have missed: • Boy Culture: Out actor Richard Chamberlain (above) turned 87 this week. Click over to BC for more photos of the eternally handsome star. • The Gaily Grind: The Nebraska Supreme Court has reversed a ruling by a judge who denied a lesbian couple’s petition to adopt a child because he said a dictionary defined a “wife” as having a husband. • Instinct Magazine: Did you know it’s the 20th anniversary of the first legal same-sex wedding and marriage? Twenty years ago, Dutch couple Gert Kasteel and Dolf Pasker became the first same-sex couple to get legally married in the Netherlands and the world.
• CNN: The ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial of Pfizer/BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine confirms its protection remains high for at least six months after the second dose and likely lasts even longer. The vaccine also appears to be fully effective against the B.1.351 variant currently circulating in South Africa and beyond. • RawStory: Supporters of Donald Trump are furious that his vice president, Mike Pence, might try to run for president in 2024. Trump fans are still angry about Pence refusing to fight the 2020 election with the Electoral College certification. • NBC News: Every Republican in Congress voted against President Biden’s COVID stimulus package, that’s not stopping them from trumpeting popular aspects of the bill to their constituents as if they’d actually done something. • AP: The Montana legislature has approved a bill that would allow discrimination against LGBTQ people based on their ‘religious beliefs.’ Lawmakers rejected an amendment that would make it clear the law couldn’t be used to justify discrimination. The legislation now heads to the governor’s desk who has indicated he will sign it into law.
BREAKING: The Montana Legislature just passed a bill that grants a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people, people of faith, and women under the guise of religious freedom.
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia (image via Facebook)
One of the so-called ‘moderate’ Democrats in the U.S. Senate – Joe Manchin of West Virginia – is quietly letting the powers that be know he may not be voting in favor of the Equality Act after being targeted by a massive call-in campaign by conservative groups.
While the legislation recently passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 221 to 206 (three Republicans voted in favor), the Senate is currently split 50/50 with Vice President Kamala Harris casting tie-breaking votes.
The rules of the Senate will require at least ten Republicans to vote with all Democrats (plus 2 Independents who caucus with the Dems) to overcome the filibuster. And presently, no one can name 10 GOP senators they believe will vote in favor of the bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing federal civil rights laws.
Without Republican support to overcome the 60-vote threshold, there’s no way to pass the Equality Act unless Democrats reform the filibuster. To do that, they would need Manchin to vote with them on the rules change which he has publicly opposed.
Even with recent polling showing an overwhelming 7 in 10 voters support the Equality Act, Manchin represents a hefty complication.
When the legislation was passed in 2019 by the House, Manchin publicly shared concerns he had saying the act didn’t provide “sufficient guidance to the local officials who will be responsible for implementing it, particularly with respect to students transitioning between genders in public schools.” It seems he still has those reservations today.
Plus, The Daily Beast reports Manchin has apparently received calls to his office by a ratio of “a thousand to one” opposing the Equality Act organized by conservative groups like the virulently anti-LGBTQ Heritage Foundation.
Without his support, it’s nearly impossible to see the Equality Act being passed in the Senate and heading to the desk of President Biden, who hoped to sign the bill in his first 100 days in office.
That could leave the widely popular legislation lost in neverland – the victim (again) of an outdated legislative process.
Remember when Donald Trump said the stock markets would crash if Joe Biden became president? From the New York Times:
A rally in big technology stocks, a tailwind of economic optimism following the latest big spending plan from the Biden administration and a jump in oil prices combined on Thursday to lift Wall Street to another record, this one punctuated by the S&P 500 index’s close above 4,000 for the first time.
The Nasdaq composite climbed 1.8 percent, bringing its gain over the past two days to more than 3 percent. The broader S&P 500 rose 1.2 percent, to 4,020.
“Round numbers can be big psychological barriers for markets, so breaking 4,000 could provide a confidence boost to stocks in the short term,” said Lule Demmissie, president of online banking and trading firm Ally Invest. “And we think the market has room to run longer term, too.”
All things considered, its worth noting that Biden doesn’t point to stock market moves and claim responsibility for them as Trump often did.
Wall Street continues to be very happy. For the first time ever, the S&P 500 closed above 4,000 (up 46 points to 4,019.) The Dow Jones Industrial Average also is way up — closing today up 171 points at 33,153.
The S&P 500 crossed the 4,000 threshold for the first time on Thursday as Wall Street built on a solid March following the rollout of President Biden’s infrastructure plan. The Dow was up 0.52%. The S&P 500 surged 1.18%. The Nasdaq jumped 1.76%. https://t.co/z8EFnaHQXvpic.twitter.com/vilzVWAVsM
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg appeared on Fox News this morning to help shed light on President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure bill dubbed the American Jobs Plan. Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer noted that in running through some numbers about the bill he found “5.6 percent of the $2 trillion proposal is only dedicate to roads and bridges. Why is that?” Buttigieg then calmly and politely explained to Hemmer that “infrastructure” isn’t merely “roads and bridges.” “Well, we’re talking about roads and bridges, we’re talking about rails and transit, we’re talking about airports and ports,” Buttigieg began. “As you mentioned, we’re talking about things like the grid. I don’t know why anybody would say that it’s a mistake to invest in the grid after what we just witness in Texas.” “We saw U.S. citizens, living in Texas, melting snow in their bathtubs to be able to flush their toilets,” continued Buttigieg. “In the United States of America that is unacceptable. So yes, infrastructure includes energy infrastructure.” As the country is now well-aware, Texas learned the hard way in February about how ignoring the state of energy infrastructure can come back to bite folks in the butt. Buttigieg added that in Biden’s proposal, infrastructure also includes broadband internet which is woefully absent in many rural areas. “Good infrastructure planning is always about looking to the future,” said the transportation secretary. “You know, railroads were not a part of infrastructure until we built them. And I’m sure in the Eisenhower era they weren’t thinking about things like broadband, they were still working on electrification which would have sounded newfangled in its time. Now it’s time to prepare for the future.” Buttigieg has made a name for himself being able to handle himself over at Fox News and he demonstrated that skill again today. By the way, note the video footage Fox News runs as Buttigieg explains the bill – money being printed and printed and printed…
In the early morning hours on Thursday, the Texas Senate approved legislation that would “prohibit social media companies with at least 100 million monthly users from blocking, banning, demonetizing or discriminating against a user based on their viewpoint or their location within Texas.” More from the Texas Tribune:
The measure, which would apply to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, among others, would also require the companies to disclose their content moderation policies, publish regular reports about the content they remove and create an appeals process for user content that has been taken down.
The Texas attorney general would be allowed to file suit against any company that violates a provision of the bill. If upheld in court, the attorney general could recoup “reasonable” attorney’s fees and investigative costs.
Hughes repeatedly referred to social media companies as “common carriers” (like cable or phone companies) even though they’ve never been classified as such. The issue moves to the state House where two identical bills have yet to move out of committees. It goes without saying that legal experts have raised doubts about the legality of the measure. What’s interesting to me is: the same people who say a baker doesn’t have to bake a cake for a same-sex couple now say Twitter or Facebook can’t boot someone for violating their terms of service by spreading misinformation on their platforms.
Fitness trainer Michael Blevins (screen capture via Boy Culture) Some news items you might have missed: • Boy Culture: Michael Blevins (above), a close personal friend of actor Henry Cavill’s who has trained him since 2011, used Instagram Stories to argue against the COVID-19 vaccine and face masks, leaning on his belief that the main reason the virus has been so deadly — well over a million killed worldwide — is because too many of you are fat, fat, fat. • PBS: A record number of bills to limit transgender rights have been introduced this year in state legislators across the country, with lawmakers in 28 states considering 93 bills targeting the rights of transgender Americans. • KTLA: NSYNC’s Lance Bass is getting ready to open the nation’s largest gay club in West Hollywood. Bass signed a lease to rent the space that was once home to famed gay nightclub Rage, which closed in September after a 37-year run over a landlord dispute.
• AP: As Wisconsin stands on the precipice of another COVID-19 surge, the state Supreme Court struck down Gov. Tony Evers’ statewide mask mandate on Wednesday, stripping the governor of one of his last remaining tools to curb the spread of the coronavirus. • New York Times: Pfizer and BioNTech report that their coronavirus vaccine is extremely effective in adolescents 12 to 15 years old, perhaps even more so than in adults. No infections were found among children who received the vaccine in a recent clinical trial; they produced strong antibody responses and experienced no serious side effects. • PEOPLE: Former half-term governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, has announced she has tested positive for the coronavirus and is urging people to wear face masks. • Kenneth-in-the-212: Over at KIT212 the ‘Song of the Day’ is Madonna’s “Live To Tell,” inspired by a Facebook post by one of my favorite LGBTQ journalists, Jeremy Kinser, who declares the tune is Madge’s best ballad. I agree with Jeremy and Kenneth. (Although, ‘Rain’ comes in a close second…)
In this week’s podcast: • President Biden issues first-ever presidential proclamation for Transgender Day of Visibility • Arkansas has passed a series of anti-LGBTQ laws in a week • The Pentagon erases Trump-era ban on trans military service members • Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the first legal same-sex weddings • Lil Nas X pens a touching letter to his 14-year-old self – Link to his new music video ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report podcast. 
Major League Baseball is making it known the organization is NOT having Georgia’s new voter suppression law. From the 
In the early morning hours on Thursday, the Texas Senate approved legislation that would “prohibit social media companies with at least 100 million monthly users from blocking, banning, demonetizing or discriminating against a user based on their viewpoint or their location within Texas.” More from the 