I’ll begin this post by stating upfront that United is my airline of choice.
And one of those reasons is the company’s commitment to supporting LGBTQ inclusion and equality.
Please note the rainbow logo United switched to immediately on the 1st of June to recognize Pride Month.
Everyone, however, wasn’t thrilled with the pic.
A certain hater – Pastor Ron York – had to chime in and tell the airline the logo was “inappropriate” and “political.”
United wasn’t having any of that, though.
The company that invites you to “fly the friendly skies” clapped back at his hate letting him know, “Pride is not about politics, it’s about humanity.”
Have you ever noticed the amount of female nudity on HBO? Why not some “full frontal” from the male characters?
A few years ago, the ladies of College Humor called out HBO demanding equal time for their viewing pleasure asking for more ‘Full Monty’ from men on the premium channel.
Even today, they have a point, don’t they?
“We’re not saying ‘no more boobs,” say the girls. “We just think you should show dong.”
“I want a little ‘Dude Tube’ on my ‘Boob Tube,'” says another.
They even point out the easy opportunities the channel blew. “You had a show called Hung about a guy with a big d*ck – and we never got to see it??”
“Game of Thrones? We were promised a ‘storm of swords.'”
The ladies even have suggestions – like two guys showing naked peen comparing sizes.
“Ooh, and it’s a tie, so then they have to wrestle naked and there’s some cross-dong action.”
I think these ladies have a point here. And to be fair, they come with a compromise: “For every minute we have to sit through this dumb double standard, you owe us an inch of Grade A man meat.”
Nothing’s really changed has it?
It’s time to level the playing field, HBO. What do you say?
LGBTQ group Single Step, based in Bulgaria, provides critical support to LGBTQ youth and their families.
The advocacy group has dropped a gorgeous, heart-stopping video for their Be Yourself campaign urging young folks all around the world to take pride in who they are.
Featuring amazing athleticism and stunt work, the video was created to be “an artistic manifestation of courage, self-expression, human connection and community.”
“The world doesn’t want me to be me; pressures me to be less of me.
Maybe my family only loves this version of me that isn’t me.”
“I wanted to create a coming out story that is universal, that everyone can relate to on some level,” said director Sandro Suppnig. “A piece to inspire young people to have the courage to be their true self, using parkour as a metaphor for finding inner strength by belonging to a community. If this film helps only one person, I have achieved what I wanted.”
“Nothing I can do but be who I am, you see?
My identity doesn’t come off so easily.”
Single Step founder Ivan Dimov shared, “One year ago I had a vision of a young man in distress standing on the edge of a cliff. And he takes one crucial step… I am deeply grateful to the amazing team that created Be Yourself, for their dedication and heart.”
Adrian Coman and his American boyfriend Clai Hamilton married in Belgium in 2010 after dating for 8 years.
Living in New York City at the time, Romanian-born Coman requested residency permits in 2012 for Mr. Hamilton to live and work in Romania. But the request was denied on the basis that the country doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage.
The couple took their case to the Romanian courts which referred the gentlemen to the European Court of Justice to inquire whether EU law applied to the issue of same-sex marriage.
According to the BBC, the EU court ruled on Tuesday that member states must recognize marriages contracted between people of the same sex in member countries.
“Although the member states have the freedom whether or not to authorise marriage between persons of the same sex, they may not obstruct the freedom of residence of an EU citizen by refusing to grant his same-sex spouse, a national of a country that is not an EU Member State, a derived right of residence in their territory,” the court said.
Of the 28 member nations of the European Union, only 14 have moved to legalize same-sex marriage. Six member nations have no legal recognition of same-sex relationships.
Earlier today, Donald Trump declared via Twitter that he has “the absolute right to PARDON” himself.
The Trumpster goes on to wonder, “But why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?”
It’s hard to get beyond the idea that Trump is evening TALKING about his ability to pardon himself…
If you’re innocent, why would you even bring up pardoning yourself???
Just, odd.
As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? In the meantime, the never ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others) continues into the mid-terms!
The real end game begins: Trump asserts the “absolute” right to pardon himself only because he knows what he did, and he knows he’s going to be indicted for it. New strategy is: “Ok, yea I did it, but you can’t get me because I’m president.” The ultimate test of the rule of law.
WHY DOES trump KEEP SAYING “ I HAVE THE ABSOLUTE RIGHT 2 PARDON MYSELF”,UNLESS HE KNOWS HES GUILTY‼️ WHY WOULD AN INNOCENT MAN KEEP SAYING WHAT HE HAS”THE POWER 2 DO”, UNLESS HE ANTICIPATES WHAT HE’LL B FORCED 2 DO⁉️psWHAT ABOUT”IM LOOKING 4WARD 2 TESTIFY B4 MUELLER”⁉️
Asked why Trump thinks he has an absolute right to pardon himself, Sarah Sanders says, “Thankfully the president hasn’t done anything wrong and wouldn’t have any need for a pardon.” Pressed, she repeats that line nearly word for word.
For Pride Month, NBC Out is putting the spotlight on 30 individuals who are bringing positive awareness to and for our LGBTQ community not only through their actions but living by example.
So, meet Lt. James Tracy of the Englewood Cliffs Police Department in New Jersey.
Yes, let’s stop and take in the photo and all. It’s pretty fab.
Now, aside from the biceps and chest on display (when you got a Porsche, you don’t keep it in the garage), Officer Tracy has been instrumental in bringing LGBTQ inclusivity to police departments all across Bergen County in the Garden State.
Tracy, 40, helped to initiate the Bergen County Police Academy’s very first LGBTQ bias training program in 2016. Now, the New Jersey native is working to expand this program throughout the whole state.
Last June, during LGBTQ Pride Month, Tracy started an initiative where every officer in his department wore “rainbow pride bracelets.” The program was intended to show the town’s LGBTQ community that their police officers are dedicated to inclusion and are supportive of everyone’s rights. The program also initiated a dialogue between officers and numerous residents who asked questions about the bracelets and how they could get one for themselves.
In addition to LGBTQ equality, Tracy has also been dedicated to engaging with youth and training the next generation of law enforcement officers. Tracy is the co-founder and leader of the Junior Police Academy, which is held annually in Englewood Cliffs. It’s a weeklong summer program that trains young people who may want to pursue a career in law enforcement. The program is now in its 14th year.
In true Pride Month fashion, the 40-year-old police veteran shares that he was ‘in the closet’ for the first 10 years of his career as a police officer.
Acknowledging he worked with great professionals in the police department, he was still wary of telling his co-workers the truth about his sexual orientation for fear that they would not accept him.
Eventually, the weight of his personal truth became too much to carry and he slowly began to share with his co-workers.
“The relief that I experienced after coming out can’t be described with words; it was just this enormous weight off my shoulders,” says Tracy. “After experiencing that, I wanted to help other gay officers who may be dealing with the same struggles. Ten years of hiding who I am was much too long; life is too short to hide anything about yourself.”
Because of his personal experience, Tracy helped to initiate the Bergen County Police Academy’s very first LGBTQ bias training program in 2016. And now the native New Jerseyan is moving to share that program throughout New Jersey.
Tracy says he finds “do’s” and “don’t” in bias training shuts down interaction due to fear of saying or doing the wrong thing.
“If you train people from a diversity and inclusion perspective, you don’t need to spend a lot of time on ‘don’t do this’ and ‘don’t do that.’ The LGBTQ population is the only demographic that crosses into every race, ethnicity and religion. Essentially, we are a minority within a minority, and if agencies are not providing bias training on LGBTQ issues, they are missing a huge minority segment.”
NBC Out closes it’s profile of the handsome officer by asking what pride means to him. His answer is spot on.
“Pride to me is about being proud of yourself, accepting yourself, and everything about yourself — regardless of what other people think.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Make sure you follow NBC Out’s series #Pride30 which includes Tracy, Parkland shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez, trans Virginia lawmaker Danica Roem, Hollywood producer Greg Berlanti, and a whole bunch of way impressive/inspiring LGBT folks you should know.
One more thing: I’m gonna say normally I resize photos for The Randy Report so the images fit my blog.
In this case, however, I couldn’t bring myself to deprive you of the full-size awesomeness that is Lt. James Tracy.
• Loving this new InstaHunk account find – Muscle_Woof (above). #WoofWoof
• A local veteran in a small Maine town has a big problem with a rainbow flag flying during Pride Month calling the show of LGBT support a “travesty.”
• Researchers in Australia have found a direct correlation between low cognitive ability and folks who hate gays.
• Promising news from the National Institutes of Health – a new experimental HIV vaccine has been shown to neutralize dozens of HIV strains from around the world.
• Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt asked a top aide to purchase a “used mattress” from the Trump International Hotel for him…?
• UK trio Clean Bandit dropped their new self-directed music video for their single “Solo” featuring Demi Lovato released earlier this month which garnered over 20 million streams during its first week.
The song is a paean to “self-love” (solo, get it?) and even better, the story resolves with a rainbow-furred dog. What’s not to like? Hit the play button below 🙂
According to several sources, ABC is considering a revamp of it’s now cancelled reboot of Roseanne.
In the aftermath of cancelling the sitcom after Roseanne’s racists tweets last week about Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, the network is said to be looking at reshuffling the show to shift the focus to the character of “Darlene” played by out actress Sara Gilbert.
Gilbert, who has been acting as an executive producer for the reboot, has apparently been reaching out to the show’s cast members about interest in continuing with a revamped show.
TMZ reports that John Goodman is “very interested.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, ABC is scheduling a confab later this week to explore other options for the show.
One caveat: Any new format would “have to be without Roseanne Barr, and the actress and former head writer of the sitcom would not be able to financially benefit from any new incarnation of the series.”
In that Roseanne was a creator of the original show, I’m not sure how you could utilize the same characters without compensating Roseanne.
What do you think, readers? Would you watch “Darlene?”
While today’s ruling from the U.S.Supreme Court was disheartening to say the least, the good news is that the opinion as written by Justice Anthony Kennedy reaffirms our “dignity and worth” in an open marketplace.
While the court sided in a narrow ruling that Colorado’s Civil Rights Commission handled their decision against baker Jack Phillips in a sloppy manner, it did not set precedent for “legal discrimination” against LGBTs.
Plus, there was a lot of support out there on the interwebs for our community.
Take a look:
I’m gay and agree with the #SCOTUS ruling. Masterpiece Cakeshop shouldn’t be forced to hide their disdain for LGBT monogamy. They should be subject to whatever scrutiny their *opinion* of it warrants. I want to know who disagrees with my lifestyle so I don’t give them my business
— Richard Armande Mills (RAM) (@RAMRANTS) June 4, 2018
Jack Phillips insists he will serve gay people, just now weddings. Who wants to place some orders for Pride flag cupcakes? Ya know, just to see.
While #MasterpieceCakeShop is a ruling on *procedure*, not the legality of discrimination, I need the Supreme Court to remember something for future cases:
People CHOOSE to be religious. People are BORN gay.
The Supreme Court has made a gross mistake in issuing the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision by, once again, hiding clear discrimination behind a veil of “sincerely held religious beliefs.” As a country, we have to be #OpenToAll, or else we lose any hope of realizing justice.#SCOTUS
THREAD: Today, #SCOTUS ruled for the baker in #MasterpieceCakeshop – but the ruling reaffirms important nondiscrimination principles and underscores why federal and state lawmakers should step up for #LGBT folks.
