Tyler Oakley, one of the most well-known YouTube stars in the world, has shared with his millions of fans that he is taking a break from producing weekly videos for his channel. “I am just going to cut right to the chase,” Oakley said in a vlog post. “I have been making videos and uploading them every single Tuesday at noon for years and years and years. If you have been watching since I have been in college, I was 18 when I started, and I’m now 31.”
“I’ve never really taken a break and it’s now time for me to take a break,” Oakley added. “I’m going to be focusing on some other stuff that I’m really excited about, and I’m really ready to develop out and make into some fun new little things. I haven’t felt a fun, new little thing in a long long time.” Over the 13 years Oakley has been on the video platform he’s amassed over 7 million subscribers who have faithfully shown up for the young LGBTQ advocate as he shared various aspects of his life. In the video (titled ‘See Ya Later’), Oakley says he’ll definitely be back, but doesn’t name a specific date.
Trevor Wilkinson (screen capture) Texas high school senior Trevor Wilkinson was placed on in-school suspension (ISS) on November 30 after he showed up to school wearing nail polish. Nail polish, it turns out, violates his school’s dress code – but only if you’re male. According to Wilkinson, who attends Clyde High School in West Texas, he was told he would remain in suspension until he removed the nail polish. Wilkinson took to Twitter that day to protest writing, “Imagine your school not allowing boys to paint their nails and giving boys iss for it. And the whole administration being okay with it, homophobic and sexist? Welcome to west Texas.”
imagine your school not allowing boys to paint their nails and giving boys iss for it. and the whole administration being okay with it, homophobic and sexist? welcome to west texas🤠
Wilkinson’s story went national after he refused to remove the nail polish and instead launched a Change.org petition demanding that the school policy be changed. At this writing, over 336,000 people have signed the petition. “It is a complete double standard because girls are allowed to have any form of nails they want, and honestly they can express themselves in any way they want,” Wilkinson wrote on Change.org. “I am a gay male and I’m beyond proud. This is unjust and not okay.” Monday night, Wilkinson addressed the school board again asking them to amend the dress code. And yes, he was wearing his nail polish. He began by noting that the ACLU had sent letters to nearly 400 schools in September about school rules that might be discriminatory. Clyde High School was among those who received a letter. (image via Trevor Wilkinson) “With all due respect, there have been two times this issue could have been resolved,” he told the board. “Although frustrating, I know everything is not going to go my way. But this isn’t about me anymore – it’s about a discriminatory, sexist policy that needs to be changed.” “I got my education taken away from me for something as minor as painting my nails because it’s against the dress code,” he continued. “The question is why? Why is it against dress code for a man to be comfortable with his masculinity and defy the gender norms society has imposed on us?” “If it’s not harmful for girls to wear it, why is it harmful for males?” he added. Wilkinson also pointed out that making a rule about nail polish only applicable to male students was sexist. “Having a double standard like this only shows that Clyde doesn’t accept kids for who they are.” He also threw down some equality speak saying, “I understand that you guys have traditional values and I respect that, but to get respect you also have to give it.” “There’s a certain beauty in uniqueness and nobody should have that taken away. Diversity is what makes this country so beautiful.” He closed his remarks asking the school board to be “open-minded enough to accept and respect others for who they are.” Wilkinson addresses the school board at the 2:45 mark in the video footage from local ABC News affiliate KTXS. https://www.facebook.com/KTXSTelevision/videos/297445305014979 But it appears the school district will not be changing its dress code any time soon. Superintendent Kenny Berry issued a statement which read, in part, “The District will conduct a thorough review of its dress code when it performs its annual review of the Student Handbook.” There was no mention of when that annual review might take place. Berry went on to note that, until that time, “the District will assure that no student is treated in a discriminatory or inequitable manner.”
Riotron releases surprise holiday single, ‘Silent Night Angel’ (promo photo) Some news items you might have missed: • Instinct Magazine: Hungary’s parliament has voted to amend the country’s constitution defining families as ‘the mother is a woman, the father is a man.’ This effectively bans LGBTQ people from adopting since queer people cannot marry in the conservative nation. • NY Times: A day after the U.S. surpassed 300,000 deaths due to the coronavirus, the FDA has confirmed Moderna’s assessment that its vaccine had an efficacy rate of 94.1 percent in a trial of 30,000 people. With expected approval on Friday, six million doses could begin shipping across the country. • Christmas Music: Canadian retrowave pop artist Riotron (above photo) returns with a surprise holiday single titled “Silent Night Angel.” Riotron’s Jeff Fettes says, “For me, the holiday season is magical, but also intense and full of surprises. This is my version of a carol.”
• Ipsos Polling: New polling shows more than one in four Americans (27%) say they plan to get the vaccine as soon as it’s available, more than double the number that said the same in mid-September (13%). Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) trust the FDA to look out for the best interests of their family. • USA Today: A judge in Phoenix jettisoned a lawsuit claiming widespread election fraud in Arizona, saying the plaintiff had no standing to challenge the state’s election results because she was not registered to vote. • The Advocate: Mike Pence is being mocked for his exuberant entrance to a campaign event where he “prance-clapped” across a tarmac in order to stump for Georgia Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. It’s like he was just called down on The Price Is Right.
L-R Joe Biden, Pete ButtigiegReuters reports President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate Pete Buttigieg to serve as Secretary of Transportation in the upcoming administration. In choosing Buttigieg, Biden would be nominating the first openly gay man to a Cabinet position. If confirmed, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, would become the first LGBTQ Cabinet secretary to be approved by the U.S. Senate.
Mayor @PeteButtigieg is a leader, patriot, and problem-solver. He speaks to the best of who we are as a nation.
I am nominating him for Secretary of Transportation because he's equipped to take on the challenges at the intersection of jobs, infrastructure, equity, and climate.
A rising star in the Democratic Party, in 2020 Buttigieg won the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses becoming the first openly gay candidate of a major political party to win delegates in a White House bid. But when he saw no path to winning the Democratic nomination, Buttigieg ended his campaign and became a vociferous campaigner for Biden. During a March campaign event, Biden spoke warmly of Mayor Pete and compared him to his late son, Beau Biden. “I know that may not mean much to most people, but to me it’s the highest compliment I can give any man or woman,” said Biden at the time.
Before the 2020 election cycle, Buttigieg served two terms as the mayor of South Bend since 2012. While in office, Buttigieg deployed to Afghanistan as an intelligence officer in 2014. Earlier reports indicated the 38-year-old had been under consideration for several prominent posts in the Biden administration including U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Commerce Secretary and U.S. ambassador to China. The transportation job, though, would seem to be a good fit for the Rhodes Scholar who displayed a strong knack forwonkish facts and figures during the 2020 campaign. If confirmed, Buttigieg would oversee nearly 55,000 employees and a $90 billion budget for a department that oversees the funding of highways, transit systems, air traffic control and more.
Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement regarding Buttigieg’s nomination, “His voice as a champion for the LGBTQ community in the Cabinet room will help President-elect Biden build back our nation better, stronger and more equal than before.”
Biden campaigned on promises of new infrastructure projects like building new highways and bridges as good for the country and a way to create good paying jobs while balancing the impact on the environment.
Attorney General Bill Barr (image – Flickr/WhiteHouse) Donald Trump just tweeted the news that his Attorney General Bill Barr will be leaving his post. “Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,” wrote Trump. “Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all!” There have been numerous reports for weeks that Trump was VERY unhappy Barr told the press no evidence of widespread voter fraud had been found by the Justice Department. And so, out he goes…
…Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all! pic.twitter.com/V5sqOJT9PM
Quite a day.@JoeBiden elected (again) Bill Barr resigns We cross 300,000 deaths from covid in the USA The vaccination phase starts. And it's only 3 PM PST……
In this week’s podcast: • More LGBTQ candidates won elections this year than ever before • A US Supreme Court decision upholds high school transgender students’ rights • Switzerland is poised to (finally) legalize same-sex marriage • Adoptions by same-sex couples in the UK has increased for the 3rd year in a row • Isolated Asian country of Bhutan legalizes same-sex relations • Emmy/Grammy winner Billy Porter has been announced to help usher in the New Year • A coming out Christmas song by country artist and LGBTQ ally Aaron LaCombe goes viral ‘Uncle Carl (Came Out On Christmas)’ Click here to watch the video and head over to Aaron’s official website for more info about his music All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report
Faultlines – Ashley Morgan and John Flanagan (photo: Steve Limones) Something for everyone in this round-up of new music: country/folk, Broadway/cabaret, and diva R&B. Folk duo Faultlines(comprised of Ashley Morgan and out artist John Flanagan) dropped their first original holiday single, Snowfall, this week. The cozy and warm song remembers spending the holidays with the ones you love. The seasonal track takes the band back to its early stripped acoustic sound with minimal instrumentation, consisting of acoustic guitar, light electric guitar tones, and a cello by Artem Litovchenko. “I always swore I wouldn’t write a Christmas song,” Flanagan shares from his Los Angeles home. “With its heavy religious overtones, I feared Christmas might be too heavy a topic for our diverse listeners. I’ve since softened my opinions. Western culture celebrates Christmas as a season of giving, of geniality, of love. That’s the feeling we tried to capture in Snowfall: a warm, safe space in a dark, cold season.” The duo also recently released their third EP, Bittersweet Revival. The collection of upbeat songs and ballads draw inspiration from Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, Joni Mitchell, and Brandi Carlile. “Snowfall” is available on digital streaming sites here.
Cabaret artist Travis Moser recently released a new EP, So Many People: The Sondheim Sessions, which “explores the experience of 2020 and the effects of COVID-19 through the lens of the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim.” The five-track EP, a collaboration with music director/pianist Drew Wutke, includes new takes on Sondheim tunes from Merrily We Roll Along, Follies, Dick Tracy, and Saturday Night. “This collection of songs represents my feelings and emotions over the past 6 months through the lens of Stephen Sondheim,” shares Moser. “Family, friends, politics, self-identity, and love…Sondheim says it better than I ever could.” The stripped-down collection of songs, created entirely by queer artists, was done as a homage to the albums of the great Julie Wilson. The EP is available on all digital download/streaming sites.
The all-girl group Citizen Queen drops its first original single, “Call Me Queen.” Gays love talented, strong female singing groups, and this pop/R&B track is wrapped firmly in self-empowerment and swagger. “These brilliant young women are exactly what a girl group should be in 2020,” says songwriter Justin Tranter, who co-wrote the song. “Diverse, inclusive, passionate, loving and truly dedicated to every detail of their craft. They don’t take their extraordinary vocal gifts for granted for one second.” Dressed in stunning outfits embellished with Swarovski crystals, the music video showcases the girls’ powerful vocals and dance skills as they prepare their heist to reclaim their rightful crowns. “Call Me Queen” is available on all digital sites now.
Charley Pride (image via publicist)Charley Pride, whose rich baritone voice and impeccable song-sense altered American culture, died Saturday, December 12, 2020, in Dallas, Texas of complications from Covid-19 at age 86. Born a sharecropper’s son in Sledge, Mississippi, on March 18, 1934, Pride emerged from Southern cotton fields to become country music’s first Black superstar and the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. “No person of color had ever done what he has done,” said Darius Rucker in the PBS American Masters film Charley Pride: I’m Just Me. Pride was a gifted athlete who at first thought baseball would be his path from poverty, labor, and strife. But his musical acumen was more impressive than his pitching arm or his hitting skills, and he emerged as one of the most significant artists at RCA Records, with chart-topping hits including “Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’,” “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone,” and “Mountain of Love.”
He won the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award in 1971, its top male vocalist prize in 1971 and 1972, and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. His final performance came on November 11, 2020, when he sang “Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’” during the CMA Awards show at Nashville’s Music City Center with Jimmie Allen, a modern-day hitmaker who counts Pride among his heroes. Charley Frank Pride was not the first Black artist to make important contributions to country music — DeFord Bailey was a star of the Grand Ole Opry from 1927 through 1941 — but Pride was a trailblazer who emerged during a time of division and rancor. After a stint in the Army, time working at a Missouri smelting plant, and some unsuccessful attempts to break into big-league baseball, he came to Nashville in 1963 and made demonstration recordings with help from manager Jack Johnson.
In 1967, Pride’s recording of “Just Between You and Me” broke into country’s Top Ten, and Pride quit his job as a smelter. Iron ore was behind him, and platinum records lay ahead. Between 1967 and 1987, Pride delivered 52 Top 10 country hits (including 29 number ones), was honored with Grammy awards, and became RCA Records’ top-selling country artist. His musicality opened minds and superseded prejudice. “We’re not color blind yet, but we’ve advanced a few paces along the path and I like to think I’ve contributed something to that process,” Pride wrote in his memoir.
Michael and I with living legend Rita Moreno who turns 89 today (photo: Denise Truscello) Some news items you might have missed: • The Advocate: Todd Gloria made history as he was sworn in as San Diego’s mayor Thursday, becoming the first out member of the LGBTQ+ community and first person of color to hold the post on anything but an interim basis. San Diego becomes the largest city in the nation with an out gay man as mayor. • KIT212: Kenneth’s weekly round-up of the what’s what in LGBTQ publications includes an article in MetroWeekly about gay adult performer Billy Santoro admitting he faked a suicide attempt (below) after backlash for racist social media posts. Billy Santoro (via husband, Gage Santoro/Instagram) • Gay Star News: The parliament for the isolated Asian country Bhutan, located in the Himalayas, has approved a bill decriminalizing gay sex. • BosGuy: It’s Furry Friday over at the Boston-based gay blog. Yay! Find more furballs here. (via BosGuy) • HuffPost: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) introduced legislation in the House on Thursday that would bar schools from receiving federal funding if they allow transgender girls and women and non-binary people to compete on sports teams consistent with their gender identities. The bill was immediately denounced by transgender activists and allies who labeled the legislation “blatantly transphobic.” • Gr8terDays: The Hollywood throwback Instagram account highlights celebrity birthdays like living legend and EGOT-winner Rita Moreno, who turns 89 today. The lead photo with the iconic star and hubby Michael was taken at Nevada Ballet’s annual gala last year. We asked if we could pose as her back-up dancers Tiger and Duff from her film, The Ritz.
Ellen DeGeneres (screen capture) Emmy Award-winning talk show host Ellen DeGeneres shared via Twitter today that she’s tested positive for the coronavirus. “Hi Everyone, I want to let you all know that I have tested positive for COVID-19,” wrote Ellen. “Fortunately, I am feeling fine right now. Anyone who has been in close contact with me has been notified and I am following all proper CDC guidelines.” “I’ll see you all again after the holidays,” she wrote in closing before adding, “Please stay healthy and safe.” There’s no word on whether her wife, Portia de Rossi, or any staffers have tested positive. Production for her talk show has been paused until January according to Variety. Unfortunately, Ellen joins the ranks of just a few high-profile LGBTQ celebrities to have contracted the virus.
Tyler Oakley, one of the most well-known YouTube stars in the world, has shared with his millions of fans that he is taking a break from producing weekly videos for his channel. “I am just going to cut right to the chase,” Oakley said in a vlog post. “I have been making videos and uploading them every single Tuesday at noon for years and years and years. If you have been watching since I have been in college, I was 18 when I started, and I’m now 31.” 
Cabaret artist 
