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Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch Calls For Unity Among Conservatives & LGBTQs On His Way Out The Door

Retiring GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah

The Republican Party has never been a great friend to the LGBTQ community.

Too many conservative, Evangelical votes to court made us less than a priority in their eyes.

But as Congress prepares to recess for the holiday, Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, in his farewell address on the floor of the Senate, surprised many by telling his colleagues they should “protect LGBTQ individuals from invidious discrimination.”

Here’s just part of what the conservative Christian and Mormon said on Wednesday via the Washington Post:

“Nowhere is the pluralist approach more needed than in the fraught relationship between religious liberty and LGBTQ rights. . . . Religious liberty is a fundamental freedom. It deserve the very highest protection our country can provide. At the same time, it’s also important to account of other interests as well — especially those of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. Pluralism shows us a better way. It shows us that protecting religious liberty and preserving the rights of LGBTQ individuals are not mutually exclusive. I believe we can find substantial common ground on these issues that will enable us to both safeguard the ability of religious individuals to live their faith and protect LGBTQ individuals from invidious discrimination.”

Referencing the passage of the “Utah Compromise,” an anti-discrimination law that passed with bipartisan support in Utah in 2015, the 81-year-old shared how the legislation strengthened religious freedom and protected LGBT Americans from discrimination.

Hatch said that passing similar legislation on a federal level could be a unifying piece of legislation that honors the diversity of Americans.

While it’s nice that Sen. Hatch raises his voice in support for LGBTQ inclusion as he walks out the door, pardon me if I find it a bit of “too little, too late.”

As The Washington Post points out, no group is less supportive of same-sex marriage and the advancement of LGBT rights than white evangelicals.

And the Republican Party has been home to white evangelicals since the election of President Ronald Reagan.

And, it was white evangelicals, white Catholics and white Protestant Christians who flocked to Donald Trump in 2016. The same Donald Trump who hasn’t paused in his attacks on our community since taking office.

And then there’s Hatch’s own record on LGBTQ issues:

• Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage

• Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage

• Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes

• Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation

So, while I appreciate the sentiment, Mr. Hatch, thanks for not a lot.

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Legendary, Gifted Nancy Wilson Passes Away At 81

Nancy Wilson (image via WikiMedia)

My heart is heavy upon hearing the news that the awesome, legendary and gifted Nancy Wilson has passed at the age of 81.

Jazz ballads, standards, torch songs, show tunes, pop songs – there was nothing she couldn’t sing. I should rephrase that, there was no style of music she couldn’t bring to life in her own special way.

In interviews over the years, she shared that she began singing at the age of 3 or 4.

“I have always just sung. I have never questioned what it is. I thank God for it and I just do it,” she told NPR’s Piano Jazz in 1994.

In addition to her decades of sterling musical performances and recordings, she had an enviable TV career – her NBC variety show, The Nancy Wilson Show, which garnered her an Emmy Award; appearing as a frequent guest herself on countless variety shows hosted by Andy Williams, Carol Burnett and more; and acting roles on hit TV shows like Hawaii 5-O, The Cosby Show, The FBI and more.

And then, of course, she touches my heart with the moral courage she showed during the 1960s. Among many events, she took part in the 1965 march on Selma, Alabama.

In 1998, she rightfully was honored with the NAACP Image Award for raising her voice during the civil rights movement.

NPR notes that she addressed the idea of retiring at a 2007 gala in her honor at Carnegie Hall.

“After 55 years of doing what I do professionally, I have a right to ask how long?,” she told the audience.

“I’m trying to retire, people,” she said with a laugh before leaving the stage to a standing ovation.

I won’t be morose, folks. I’ve loved her music and grace, and will continue to do so. My house will be filled with Miss Nancy today.

Here’s just a few of what’s on repeat in my office right now. I really encourage to take a listen to the incredible range and variety of her musical gifts.

RIP Nancy Wilson.

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News Round-Up: December 13, 2018

• Austin Wolf celebrates getting his Instagram account back online (above). #HappyDanceTime
Austin Wolf

Some news items you might have missed:

• Austin Wolf celebrates getting his Instagram account back online (above). #HappyDanceTime

• The New York City subway attacker who sucker punched a woman he believed to be lesbian has been arrested. His victim suffered a fractured spine due to his attack.

• Janet Jackson is headed to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with Stevie Nicks, The Cure, Radiohead, Def Leppard, Roxy Music, and the Zombies. Nicks becomes the first woman to be inducted twice having been honored previously as part of Fleetwood Mac.

• Fox News host & Donald Trump superfan, Sean Hannity, was caught deleting past tweets that showed his connections to the president’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, just hours before Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday.

• CBS News reports that Donald Trump is considering his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to be his third Chief of Staff.

• Tony Award winner and current Golden Globe nominee Billy Porter dropped a few holiday tracks on Soundcloud just in time for Christmas. The collection – “A Billy Porter Christmas” – can be found here.

Check out his smooth, soulful “Christmas Time Is Here” below.

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Judge Resigns After Telling Attorney To Blow Viggo Mortensen

Actor Viggo Mortensen (image via Josh Jensen/Flickr – CC license)

A judge in upstate New York has resigned after allegedly telling a lawyer he should get a hotel room with a certain movie star and “suck each other’s d**ks.”

The story begins back in January when Judge John W. Hallett was speaking to a lawyer who was involved in the promotion of a film festival honoring actor Viggo Mortensen.

According to a complaint filed against Hallet, who has served as a town court justice in Jefferson County since 2003, he allegedly told the attorney that the film festival was “about the gayest thing I have ever heard.”

He then – allegedly – added, “You and Viggo Mortensen should get a hotel room and suck each other’s d**ks.”

But wait – there’s more!

Five months later, while speaking to the same lawyer, he apparently made a gesture simulating oral sex and then patted the attorney on the cheek and said, “There, there little boy.”

It would seem that the judge has a strong fixation on blow jobs, no?

According to TMZ, the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct opened an investigation into Hallet’s odd and homophobic behavior.

While the commission hasn’t handed down an opinion on the complaint, Hallett – whose current term was scheduled to end in 2019 – has offered his resignation.

“Homophobic remarks and anti-LGBTQ sentiments have no place in the lexicon of the courts or the vocabulary of a judge,” Robert H Tembeckjian, the commission’s administrator, said in a statement to The Times Union in Albany.

“Such statements undermine public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary, which demands that a judge be and appear fair-minded and unprejudiced toward all who have business in the courts,” he added.

In light of Hallet’s resignation, and his promise to never serve in any judicial capacity again, the commission dropped its investigation.

His resignation will take effect at the end of this year.

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Israel: High Court Rules Same-Sex Parents Can Have Both Names On Child’s Birth Certificate

(photo: 24x7photo.com/Flickr – CC license)

In a huge win for gay/lesbian parents, Israel’s High Court of Justice has ruled that the government cannot refuse to list both same-sex parents on a child’s birth certificate.

The decision, issued on December 12, comes as the result of a lawsuit filed by a gay couple who had adopted a son.

According to The Times of Israel, when the two men tried to obtain a birth certificate with both of their names listed as the parents, officials at the Interior Ministry refused.

The court case was filed in conjunction with The Aguda, Israel’s LGBT Task Force, which advocates for gay rights.

The unanimous ruling, by a panel of three judges, noted the decision wasn’t just about the parents’ rights but the child’s right to be recognized as the couple’s son.

“The principle of ‘the good of the child’ argues for the recording of his entire family unit,” wrote Judge Neal Hendel, “and doesn’t permit us to limit ourselves to only one of his parents in the birth certificate.”

“The contrast with the treatment of a child adopted by a heterosexual couple, who has the right to have both adopted parents written in a birth certificate, is a contrast that applies both to the child and to the parents,” Hendel added. “It is unreasonable for the couple to be [legally] recognized as parents but for the certificate not to give expression to that fact.”

The high court decision orders the Interior Ministry to issue a birth certificate with both fathers’ names.

The Times of Israel notes that the ruling could affect two more LGBT parenting cases soon to arrive in the High Court of Justice.

One regards a lesbian couple suing to have both of their names on their child’s birth certificate even though only one woman has a biological link to the child, and the other concerns a transgender man who wishes to have his standing on his child’s birth certificate changed from ‘mother’ to ‘father.’

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News Round-Up: December 12, 2018

Laverne Cox (via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Congrats to Laverne Cox (above), who I believe became the first transgender person to announce the nominations of a major entertainment award this morning at the Screen Actors Guild Award ceremonies.

• Netflix is very tight-lipped about its numbers, but the streaming service just did a once-a-year announcement of its most binge-watched shows.

• And in related news, Google has released lists of the most searched/trended actors/subjects/movies/news/musicians of the year. Click here for the info.

• Not happy that a club owner called Stormy Daniels’ assistant a “faggot,” but I do love she cancelled her appearance because of it 🙂

• A new New York Times story alleges Ellen DeGeneres may not be all “that” nice, and she may be considering ending her run as THE daytime talk diva.

• That time when Batwoman flirted with Supergirl.

• Check out this a cappella mash-up of hit songs by The Voice judges, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, and Jennifer Hudson, backed up by The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon and the Roots.

Maroon 5’s Levine leads off with “She Will Be Loved” with a segue into “This Love,” which crosses over to Hudson’s “Spotlight;” Clarkson chimes in with her hit, “Stronger,” and Shelton joins in with his “I’ll Name the Dogs” (with an assist by Fallon) all while the Roots groove along.

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Web Series: “A Bad Boy Christmas”

Artie O’Daly in “A Bad Boy Christmas”

Just like many hit television series have holiday-themed episodes, it makes total sense that our favorite web series’s would follow suit.

And so, with the holiday season now in full swing, let’s sit back and enjoy the latest from Artie O’Daly’s “Bad Boy” series.

As we’ve shared in the past, “Scott” (played by O’Daly) and “Mack” (the ‘bad boy’ played by Tony Harth) have spent episodes getting to know each other – to varying degrees of clarity.

Mack first appeared at Scott’s door when he came to pick up Scott’s daughter for a date.

Since then, the rather ambiguous relationship has seen revealing confessions by Mack ranging from a coming out moment to explaining why Scott needed to pretend to be Mack’s dad for a probation officer to Mack’s favorite TV series.

Braden Davis in “A Bad Boy Christmas”

In the new holiday episode, Scott is invited to share Christmas dinner with Mack’s family.

It is soon clear that the apple doesn’t fall very far from the family tree as Mack’s mom, “Whitney” (Theresa Ryan), and brother “BJ” (Braden Davis), demonstrate similar idiosyncratic behavior keeping Scott off-balance for most of the holiday supper.

Check out how it all goes down below.

And you can see my previous coverage of the “Bad Boy” series here.

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Nominations For 2019 Screen Actors Guild Awards Announced

The nominations for the 25th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced this morning by trans actress Laverne Cox (Orange Is The New Black) and Awkwafina (Ocean’s 8, Crazy Rich Asians).

Sadly, not much in terms of nominations for LGBTQ projects and/or actors except for two nominations for out producer/director Ryan Murphy’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace (Darren Criss and Penélope Cruz).

A Star Is Born, starring LGBTQ favorite Lady Gaga, received several nominations including one for Gaga, Bradley Cooper, Sam Elliott and for the entire cast (which is the closest the SAG Awards comes to a “Best Picture” award).

Rami Malek was nominated for his acclaimed star turn as bisexual rocker Freddie Mercury in the hit film, Bohemian Rhapsody.

It was refreshing to see wide-ranging diversity in the category of ‘Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture,’ which included Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians, BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody as well as A Star Is Born.

The most obvious snub, to this writer, is no mention of FX’s Pose, which chronicles the ballroom culture of the 1980s.

With the most LGBTQ cast in history, the groundbreaking series garnered Globe nominations last week, but apparently failed to score with the SAG nominating committee. It’s easy to imagine nominations for both Best Cast and Billy Porter’s turn as “Pray Tell” in the ‘Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Drama Series’ category.

Alan Alda will receive the SAG Life Achievement Award for his career accomplishments and humanitarian work. Past recipients include Morgan Freeman, Betty White, Carol Burnett and Debbie Reynolds.

The 2019 SAG Awards air live from Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium on TNT and TBS on Sunday, January 27, at 8 p.m. ET.

See the full list of nominations below!

FILM:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
A Star Is Born
Black Panther
Crazy Rich Asians
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Christian Bale, Vice
Bradley Cooper, A Star Is Born
Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen, Green Book
John David Washington, BlackKklansman

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Emily Blunt, Mary Poppins Returns
Glenn Close, The Wife
Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Lady Gaga, A Star Is Born
Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Timothée Chalamet, Beautiful Boy
Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman
Sam Elliott, A Star Is Born
Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams, Vice
Emma Stone, The Favourite
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
Emily Blunt, A Quiet Place
Margot Robbie, Mary Queen of Scots

TV:

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
The Americans
Better Call Saul
The Handmaid’s Tale
Ozark
This Is Us

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Drama Series
Jason Bateman, Ozark
Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us
Joseph Fiennes, The Handmaid’s Tale
John Krasinsky, Jack Ryan
Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Drama Series
Julia Garner, Ozark
Laura Linney, Ozark
Elisabeth Moss, The Handmaid’s Tale
Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Robin Wright, House of Cards

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Barry
Atlanta
Glow
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Comedy Series
Alan Arkin, The Kominsky Method
Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method
Bill Hader, Barry
Tony Shalhoub, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Henry Winkler, Barry

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Comedy Series
Allison Brie, Glow
Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Alex Bornstien, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Jane Fonda, Grace and Frankie
Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a TV Movie or Limited Series
Antonio Banderas, Genius: Picasso
Darren Criss, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Hugh Grant, A Very English Scandal
Anthony Hopkins, King Leer
Bill Pulman, The Sinner

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a TV Movie or Limited Series
Amy Adams, Sharp Objects
Patricia Arquette, Escape at Dannemora
Patricia Clarkson, Sharp Objects
Penélope Cruz, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Emma Stone, Maniac