LGBTQ news and entertainment
There is simply no way I can flip through Instagram without stopping to appreciate the ridiculously photogenic dog-lover, Steve_In_LA. So, let’s just take a moment, shall we? Happy Monday everyone! https://www.instagram.com/p/Byg8IbsBcQ4/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BlMxjqQgarc/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk5gNGNgfMH/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BtmEiQqnwGr/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BsJZZDcHVaG/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BtKDOG8HhyP/
Checking in with our favorite InstaHunks this weekend… Hunky actor BJ Gruber (above) got his CrossFit workout done and done. #sweat Mario Hervas was a man in motion: https://www.instagram.com/p/B1WYyEKCk2-/ Dan Tai is content with just a beach and coconuts: https://www.instagram.com/p/B1jLCrOlMRU/ ABC news guy Gio Benitez and model hubby Tommy Didario had a movie date night checking out Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood: https://www.instagram.com/p/B1kLCSTFt8k/ Bodybuilder Bremen Menelli is celebrating bulking season: https://www.instagram.com/p/B1kCRSjAUGb/ Austin Wolf got in one last workout here in Barcelona before joining me on Atlantis Cruise’s Mediterranean cruise. https://www.instagram.com/p/B1jljlKDVk-/ NYC real estate guy Brett Miles had to work this weekend (as a Realtor myself, I feel your pain, Brett): https://www.instagram.com/p/B1grqCvgcmw/ Max Emerson went camping in Yosemite National Park (funny, I’ve always called this something else…): https://www.instagram.com/p/B1jZnJdgfbP/ And fitness guru Ramses Principe waxed philosophical about learning from failure: https://www.instagram.com/p/B1jbTSRHTHd/
Calling Mr. Trump ‘completely unfit,’ former Congressman Joe Walsh, a conservative radio host, says he will launch a television-centric strategy to try to rattle a media-obsessed president. Walsh announced his candidacy during an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week.” https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1165613529455562752 https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1165618693386244097 From the New York Times:
“We’ve got a guy in the White House who is unfit, completely unfit, to be president and it stuns me that nobody stepped up,” Mr. Walsh said in announcing his candidacy, claiming that “everyone” in the Republican Party believes Mr. Trump is not fit for the job.
Mr. Walsh’s decision to announce his candidacy on television, aides said, is a preview of a television-centric strategy designed to rattle a television-focused president with a rare challenge from within the party.
Despite Mr. Walsh’s claim that many Republicans share his belief that Mr. Trump is unfit to serve, most polls show the president’s approval rating among Republican voters is consistently in the high 80s.
Mr. Walsh stands virtually no chance of wresting the Republican presidential nomination away from Mr. Trump. But he framed his long shot primary challenge as a moral imperative to offer an alternative to Mr. Trump, and said that he is jumping in because “somebody needs to step up.”
Good Morning America co-host Lara Spencer stepped in it this week when reporting on Prince George as part of her Pop News segment. Talking about the young royal’s new school curriculum, she paused when she mentioned that he would be taking “ballet,” and then began to laugh at the idea that boys would study dance. As the studio audience continued laughing, Spencer added, “I’ve got news for you Prince William, we’ll see how long that lasts.”
Folks in the dance world, male and female, clapped back at Spencer laughing at the idea of boys/men dancing. Social media was soon flooded with comments from dance luminaries tagging Spencer to make sure she would see them. In case people think the following reactions might be overly-sensitive, I’d point out that if Spencer had mentioned a UK princess taking ballet, there would have been NO laughs, right? Broadway and television dance star Debbie Allen, who has championed the arts for young people for decades, spoke directly to the issue saying, “Lara Spencer – I am sure you did not expect your remarks to set off the firestorm that it has – but it did.” She added, “Poking fun at the dance world, and ballet and young boys – this just isn’t cool.” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1hDs_Rhi2l/ Emmy Award-winning choreographer and So You Think You Can Dance alum Travis Wall posted a video as well saying, “Dear @lara.spencer of GOOD MORNING AMERICA. I have a message for you. Wake up. It’s 2019,” he wrote. “Get with the program. Please share and repost this so a boy who needs to see this feels supported if he dances or wants to!” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1gjmZTBCxW/ Michael Dameski, from NBC’s World of Dance competition, posted this off-the-hook video clip tagging Spencer with the comment, “Still laughing?” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1hH6kmgnP3/ Dancing with the Stars alum Derek Hough chimed in saying he was surprised and disappointed by the comments and laughs, adding it reminded him of how he was laughed at as a young male dancer. https://www.instagram.com/p/B1hEfo6gJGr/ Tony Award-winning director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots, Pretty Woman, Legally Blond) added his thoughts advising Spencer to “think before you speak.” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1guMmfnnaJ/ And as my friend Jerome Vivona, A-list Broadway dancer and currently running American Theater Dance Workshop pointed out, dance training develops, “Strength, grace, power, empathy, collaboratio, and balance.” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1iDPrCpebS/ Spencer eventually apologized for her “insensitive comments” midday Friday on Instagram. “My sincere apologies for an insensitive comment I made in pop news yesterday,” she wrote. “From ballet to anything one wants to explore in life, I say GO FOR IT. I fully believe we should all be free to pursue our passions. Go climb your mountain-and love every minute of it.” https://www.instagram.com/p/B1gzsy_D7-L/ I’ll add my own thoughts here as someone who enjoyed a long career in dance and theater thanks to my beginning dance classes at 14-years-old. Echoing what many have said above about the athleticism, strength, and sense of collaboration that dancers develop, I also champion the fact that dance helps men and women to understand the value of discipline which helps people as they pursue other careers outside of the dance world. Finally, I credit dance with keeping me in touch with my own body as I grow older. The photo below was taken when I turned 50 a few years ago when I appeared in Chicago the Musical at the Hollywood Bowl. While I’m no InstaHunk, trust and believe I would not be in this shape if I hadn’t danced all these years. 
Alec Smith, younger brother of CrossFit Games winner Ben Smith, is not only an athlete in his own right but has made a name for himself outside of his brother’s shadow in the CrossFit games as both an individual and as a part of the team/association CrossFit Krypton. Alec recently came out on Instagram through a video that he captioned, “My coming out story. Honestly one of the hardest things I’ve had to do.” Referencing a line from Lizzo’s hit song, “Truth Hurts,” the hunky athlete added, “Took a DNA test, turns out I’m gay.” “So I’m gay, and I’m at the point at life now where I’m ok with that,” shared Smith. “I’ve accepted it and I’m happy with who I am.”
“It’s been a struggle, it really has. My whole life, I’ve known that I was different,” he continued. “When I was twelve years old, I knew that I was attracted to guys. And I hated myself for being attracted to guys, which led me to hide who I was. I hid who I was in high school, I hid who I was in college. I found myself playing sports. Doing all these things to distract myself from who I really was. It just got to the point where it was unhealthy and I decided to tell somebody. And after I told one of my closest friends, it just led me to telling more and more of my friends. And truly just talking about it helps so much.” He also had advice for others dealing with the idea of coming out: “When the time is right, the time is right… just focus on yourself and what’s important to you.”
Guest post by Lawrence Pfeil, Jr. of TheOUTFront.com It’s hard to imagine a place filled with more of life’s drama than a hospital, and when it comes to hospitals it’s nearly impossible to imagine one more filled with history’s drama than New York City’s shuttered, St Vincent’s Hospital. Such is the point of departure for Rattlestick Playwrights Theater’s Novenas for A Lost Hospital, an intimate theatrical experience taking audiences on a literal journey through the West Village, September 5 – October 13, 2019. 
Opening Rattlestick’s 25th anniversary season, the world premiere of Cusi Cram’s Novenas for A Lost Hospital stars Tony Award nominee (Angels in America) and four-time Obie winner, Kathleen Chalfant as Saint Elizabeth Seton. The production and cast of thirteen are under the direction of Rattlestick Artistic Director, Daniella Topol. This unique walking theatrical production is presented in partnership with Village Preservation, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Community Center, NYC AIDS Memorial Board, NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, St. John’s in the Village, and Visual AIDS. For the LGBT+ community, especially gay men, the connection to St Vincent’s Hospital runs deep and very personal. Located on the border of the Village and Chelsea, it was the community’s “go-to” hospital for decades. Injured protesters from the Stonewall Uprising fifty years ago were brought to St. Vincent’s Emergency Room for first aid. When AIDS grew into an epidemic twenty-five years later, far too many men were brought there one last time and their chosen families gathering there to bear witness endless times. The one saving grace was the staff of doctors and nurses of the hospital-borne out of one plague having compassion on a community facing another. 
This is but one story in the 161-year legacy that was St Vincent’s Hospital. Its ties to some of history’s most iconic moments are so much more. As Dramaturg Guy Lancaster writes,
“St. Vincent’s Hospital was started inside a rented house on East 13th Street in 1849 during a cholera epidemic by four nuns from the Sisters of Charity. It was the first Catholic hospital in Manhattan. Survivors of disasters such as the sinking of the Titanic, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, and September 11th were treated at St. Vincent’s after it moved to its eventual site on 7th Avenue in 1856.
A devastating new plague, HIV/AIDS, would profoundly affect the institution and the surrounding neighborhood from the 1980s onwards as the hospital became a center for AIDS research and treatment. By the time St. Vincent’s closed its doors on April 30, 2010, 3,500 employees had lost their jobs. The last Catholic hospital in Manhattan was replaced by a luxury condo development.”
Times Square is called as the “Crossroads of the World,” but just a mile south of it, on the same avenue, St Vincent’s Hospital could be called the “crossroads of humanity.” For five weeks, Novenas for a Lost Hospital will allow audiences to traverse time and tale, walking with compassion through the history of this storied house of healing. 
More information about Novenas for a Lost Hospital HERE Previews begin September 5. Official opening night September 19, with performances through October 13. * Guests arriving at the 6:30 time will experience an extended prologue, and audiences at both check-in times will unite for the majority of the event. Due to its traveling nature, audiences are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes and to leave heavy bags at home. Coat check is not available. Purchase tickets HERE More information about Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, their 25th anniversary season, and subscriptions HERE (photos: Mark Abrahams)
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| Me and Vanessa Williams |
So, life is funny, sometimes. As I arrived in Barcelona yesterday, I was reminded of this happy coincidence when I was here last year. In August 2018, while traveling on the Atlantis cruise from Rome to Barcelona, I got word that award-winning actress/singer/dancer Vanessa Williams would be the surprise guest star on the cruise ship. Longtime readers know I have been friends with the multi-hyphenate super-star since we were both freshman music theater majors at Syracuse University in the early 1980s. We quickly traded emails excited at the prospect of seeing each other live, in person. What happened was the bestest catch-up you can imagine as V and I, with my hubby Michael, spent just the most delicious hours laughing and smiling off the French coast near Nice, on the Atlantis cruise. We explored Mallorca together, and I even joined her onstage during her concert (more about that later). My apologies for the light posting today, as I was adjusting to the jetlag. But walking around Barcelona this afternoon, it was fun to remember the really wonderful company I got to keep just a year ago.
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.
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.
Young Jaden was busting out the breakdancing in downtown Denver when this police officer jumped in with some fierce moves of his own. Don’t ever stop dancing, kids.