LGBTQ news and entertainment
Out professional soccer player Robbie Rogers is featured in a new commercial for Target’s new clothing line from Goodfellow & Co.
According to Outsports, the spot featuring Rogers has been airing during NFL Sunday football games.
Rogers, who came out in 2013, has a son with his fiancé, TV producer Greg Berlanti (Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Everwood).
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| Maggie Szabo |
Acclaimed Canadian pop singer/songwriter Maggie Szabo recently released her moving and uplifting new music video, “Don’t Give Up On Love,” from her upcoming EP Worthy.
The video, a love letter of support to the LGBTQ community, tells the story of a transgender high school student attending prom.
Szabo’s soaring vocals sweep across an emotional, anthemic musical landscape accompanied by gospel-tinged backing vocals. The lyrics share an empowering message of hope and acceptance.
When your back’s against the wall
Cuz you feel you’ve lost it all
There’s nowhere left to turn and no one left to call
There is someone just like you
Who feels the same way too
Why would you surrender?
Don’t give up on love
Touching and authentic, the video is dedicated to transgender youth around the world who live in fear and suffer from rejection and exclusion.
Via press release:
The powerful and poignant narrative of ‘Don’t Give Up’ is reflected in an exquisitely cinematic video, that follows a girl who is struggling with her gender identity and the pressures of conformity in high school. Szabo’s ultimate messages to fight for social justice and equality, “people are people, love is love. Society needs to stand up” professes Szabo. “I can’t stand by and watch millions of transgender youth live in fear for their safety, outcast from their homes and marginalized by society simply because they are struggling to understand their gender identity. I want to stand with them.”
“Don’t Give Up” was written and recorded in Los Angeles along with Stefan Lit (One Direction) and Chaz Mason.
With over 14 + million Youtube views, Szabo has been featured on several high profile media outlets including Billboard, Perez Hilton, Huffington Post and Yahoo Music!
A portion of the proceeds from this music video will be donated to the Ali Forney Center whose mission is to protect LGBTQ youths from the harms of homelessness and empower them with the tools needed to live independently.
Watch “Don’t Give Up” below.
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| Hillary Clinton |
Hillary Clinton’s new memoir What Happened racked up huge first week sales according to publisher Simon & Schuster selling over 300,000 copies.
Hardcover sales of the book topped 168,000 – the biggest nonfiction release in five years.
Additionally, What Happened set a company record for digital audio sales in a single week, and sales of e-book editions was the highest for nonfiction in six years.
These numbers beat her 2014 book, Hard Choices, by 100,000 copies.
But her all-time opening was for 2003’s Living History, which offered Clinton’s first expansive comments on the affair of her husband, President Bill Clinton, with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Released in the days of Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores, Clinton sold over 600,000 copies of the highly anticipated memoir in its first week.
Clinton’s detractors have suggested that perhaps it’s time that Clinton stand down and be quiet. But I’d suggest these sales – and her 65.8 million people who voted for her – indicate that people are still very interested in what Hillary has to say.
The Disney animated classic Snow White has introduced generations of fans to those lovable Seven Dwarfs – Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, Dopey, Doc and Grumpy.
But visual artist Silverjow has taken a new look at the colorful characters and reimagined them as strapping muscular daddy-types, and the results are eye-popping.
You can check out the “new dwarfs” below and find more of Silverjow’s work on his Patreon page.
Who wouldn’t want to run into these guys in the woods?
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| Jimmy Kimmel calls out Sen. Bill Cassidy |
Jimmy Kimmel proved last night that he does not suffer fools (or liars) lightly as he ripped on Sen. Bill Cassidy who is attempting to pass the latest “repeal and replace” of the Affordable Care Act.
“This guy, Bill Cassidy, just lied right to my face.”
From Variety:
“I don’t know what happened to Bill Cassidy,” Kimmel said. “But when he was on this publicity tour, he listed his demands for a health-care bill very clearly. These were his words. He said he wants coverage for all, no discrimination based on preexisting conditions, lower premiums for middle-class families and no lifetime caps. Guess what? The new bill does none of those things.”
Earlier this year, Kimmel talked about the wrenching experience of seeing his son go through open heart surgery, and he talked of the importance of lower and middle class families having such coverage in the event of such an emergency. After seeing the monologue and using the term “Jimmy Kimmel test.” Cassidy appeared on his show.
But Kimmel said that Cassidy “just lied right to my face” when he was on the show, noting that he had said that his plan would not allow insurance companies to impose annual or lifetime caps on coverage.
On Tuesday, Kimmel said that “this new bill actually does pass the Jimmy Kimmel test, but a different Jimmy Kimmel test. With this one, your child with a preexisting condition will get the care he needs — if, and only if, his father is Jimmy Kimmel. Otherwise, you might be screwed.”
If you too are disappointed in Sen @BillCassidy #GrahamCassidy let them know it – call (202) 224-3121 pic.twitter.com/eswlh6BaoV— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) September 20, 2017
In six minutes, Kimmel crystalized exactly what this legislation would do better than anyone I’ve seen try to explain it. The power of pop culture may well be the deciding factor in motivating people to call their senators.
Cassidy appeared on CNN’s New Day this morning and told host Chris Cuomo, “I’m sorry he does not understand. Under Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson more people will have coverage, and we protect those with pre-existing conditions.”
To be clear, under Graham/Cassidy insurance companies will be able to charge those with pre-existing conditions higher premiums. The bill uses very vague language like “adequate and affordable” in describing that coverage but doesn’t legally define what that would mean in practical terms.
.@BillCassidy responds to Kimmel: “I’m sorry he does not understand.” With new bill “more people will have coverage” https://t.co/1wWZe843vC— New Day (@NewDay) September 20, 2017
Making the rounds on social media today in response to Donald Trump retweeting a gif of him hitting “Hillary Clinton” with a golf ball.
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| ITVs’s Bromans |
Some news items you may have missed:
• The new UK reality show Bromans features guys dressing up as Roman gladiators and competing in challenges. But the first step to dressing as a gladiator is getting undressed – as in buck naked undressed.
• A town in Tennessee is actually trying to ban drag shows. #FirstAmendmentAnyone?
• The breadth of former Republican state Sen. Ralph Shortey’s alleged sex crimes is jaw-dropping. Check out the FBI affidavit here.
• The Republican Governors Association attempted to pass off a website that pushed positive messages about GOP governors and criticized Democratic governors as a “news” site. #Busted
• According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the number of international visitors to the U.S. for the first quarter of 2017 dropped by close to 700,000 compared to the previous year. #ThanksTrump
• Song of the day – Elton John “Rocket Man”
Over the weekend I posted about a Facebook chat I had with a stranger who said there was no point in calling out haters because “you’ll never run out of work.”
You want to know what happens when people raise their voices and point out hate?
This.
Just a couple of days ago, CBS Radio host Heidi Harris decided she had a problem with a new ad here in Las Vegas for Clark County Family Services. The spot included two gay dads with their son.
Harris took to Facebook to share her ignorant outrage:
“Has anyone seen this ad for Clark County Family Services? Another no-so-subtle attempt to normalize something that is NOT normal. Even if this is normal for YOU, it’s not the best thing for a baby.
“Babies who are eligible for adoption should go to MARRIED people of the opposite sex. That is the IDEAL situation for a baby, and political correctness, changing laws or attitudes cannot alter that REALITY.
“And please don’t comment here about how “some straight people aren’t good parents” or how “you know gay people who are great parents”…blah blah blah… I am fully aware of that. I’m talking about what’s best for the CHILD, and that’s what the County should be promoting.”
You know what “reality” CAN be altered? Ms. Harris’s.
Her comment didn’t go over well in Las Vegas, and just two days later Harris’ show is no longer on the air here in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas LGBTQ activist Kavin Burkhalter just sent me the email below from CBS Radio SVP/market Manager Tony Perlongo:
“Thank you for your email. We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us and want to assure you that we take comments about our programming and personalities seriously.
“Please note that, effective immediately, The Heidi Harris Show will no longer air on KXNT.”
Bravo Las Vegas!
#WeCanBuildABeautifulCity
Senate Republicans are trying yet again to come up with legislation that would repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Via the New York Times:
The measure, sponsored by Mr. Graham and Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, is a last-ditch effort by Republicans to fulfill their seven-year-old promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Supporters say it is gaining traction in the Senate, but it remains several votes shy of passage.
Under the bill, millions could lose coverage, Medicaid would see the same magnitude of cuts that earlier repeal bills extracted, and insurers in some states could charge higher premiums to people with pre-existing conditions. The Senate Republican leadership has been taking the pulse of its caucus, trying to determine whether it can muster enough votes.
A clock is ticking. If the Senate does not vote by the end of next week, it will become nearly impossible to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The drive to kill the bill will lose the procedural protections that allow it to pass the Senate with a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes that would otherwise be needed to overcome a filibuster.
As a cancer survivor, I’m personally concerned about the bill. I pay for my own health insurance and having my premiums jump even higher because of a disease I beat 8 years ago is clearly untenable.
According to political prognosticators, the Republicans don’t quite have the 50 votes they need to pass the bill.
Call 202-224-3121 and ask for your senator’s office and let them know this is a bad deal for America.
Sen. Lindsey Graham pitches the Graham-Cassidy bill: “Obamacare is failing for a reason. It’s a bad idea” https://t.co/matqJ8EzQF— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 19, 2017
My favorite this on Instagram today: Miguel Angel Silvestre shared a practice session for a scene from season 2 of Sense8 today and it made me smile.
So charming. Damn.
You can currently catch Silvestre on Netflix’s Narcos.
Watch below.