• InstaHunk Gustavo Naspolini almost looks like he’s in a Disney fairytale in this photo from Italy. #MyPrinceMyPrince!
• A thread on Reddit found gay men sharing that ‘ah-ha!’ moment when they realized they were gay.
• A new Gallup poll shows 53 percent of Americans believe we need the Equality Act passed in order to ensure LGBTQ people aren’t discriminated against. Forty-six percent said we don’t need such laws. Guess which 46 percent?
• Check out this first look at the upcoming Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story.
Click image to enlarge
• The State Department has announced that it is ending all aid to Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador until the countries take “concrete actions to reduce the number of illegal migrants coming to the U.S. border.”
• The fabulous Robyn drops her latest music video, “Ever Again,” set in a landscape she describes as “a dreamy place, somewhere undefined, somewhere in my consciousness.”
The new track celebrates the power of sensuality, human touch and self care.
Over two decades, the “Dancing on My Own” singer has wracked up 5 Grammy nominations, 4 Top Ten singles in the UK and literally hundreds of millions of streams.
TVLine reports the awesome news that LGBTQ-drama Pose has been picked up for a 3rd season, less than a week after the show’s Season 2 premiere.
The series, which tells the story of New York City’s ‘ball culture’ during the height of the AIDS epidemic. The series boasts the largest number of transgender season regulars in television history.
The June 11th season two premiere was the most-watched telecast of the series, drawing 1.2 million total viewers and 572,00 adults ages 18-49, generating series high ratings in total viewers.
Season 2 kicked off last Tuesday, with a time jump to 1990 and the release of Madonna’s “Vogue,” which shone a spotlight on the ball community.
“Pose has elevated our culture and the TV landscape like few shows before it,” FX chairman John Landgraf said in a statement, “and we are honored to partner with co-creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals on a third season.”
Series star Billy Porter and the series itself were nominated at the Golden Globe Awards this year.
Personally, I’m thrilled. I think the series is not only delivering important history to a television audience, but many of the performances are just sensational.
For many people, Pride Month means proudly flying the rainbow flag that has come to represent the values, characteristics and freedom that we celebrate as a community.
Those rainbow stripes appear outside homes and businesses, as well as on dozens of products as corporate America seeks to join the celebration.
But a new campaign notes that not everyone is celebrating.
The folks at Out Not Down, a non-profit outreach program at Calvary-St. George’s Parish located in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, have created the “Thrown Out Flag” initiative to bring added awareness to the fact that 40% of homeless teens who come out are thrown out of their homes.
The campaign features photos by Luke Gargano of homeless LGBTQ teens wrapped in tattered, ripped rainbow flags dubbed the “Thrown Out Flag.”
Made from discarded fabrics in traditional rainbow colors, the flags represent those teens who have also been thrown out of their homes.
Each tatter and tear is meant to tell the stories of their struggle for acceptance.
The campaign targeted teens living on the streets with outdoor posters, bus kiosks and even billboards in Times Square. Its goal was to alert at-risk youth to the services and resources provided at Out Not Down which include housing, counseling and healthcare.
There’s also an Instagram account (here) to promote the initiative.
Additionally, flags were sent out as invitations to people to attend a gathering where teens could meet caring adults and share their stories.
According to Out Not Down, teens who were discarded by their biological parents can find supportive ‘rainbow parents,’ social workers and doctors.
The message to homeless LGBTQ teens from Out Not Down is “just because you’ve been thrown out doesn’t mean you can’t pick yourself up again.”
Watch the short film about the campaign above, and then click over to OutNotDown.org for more information.
“Gloria Vanderbilt was an extraordinary woman, who loved life, and lived it on her own terms,” Cooper said in a statement. “She was a painter, a writer and designer but also a remarkable mother, wife, and friend.
“She was 95 years old, but ask anyone close to her, and they’d tell you: She was the youngest person they knew — the coolest and most modern.”
Vanderbilt was diagnosed with an advanced form of stomach cancer earlier this month, Cooper said.
She joined Instagram at the age of 93, and Anderson says she was amazed anyone was interested in her on social media even as she accrued over 200k followers. Click over to peruse a fascinating collection of personal photos and art by the designer.
Cooper posted these photos of his mother on her 95th birthday:
Does your favorite kind of music reveal if you prefer the top or bottom bunk?
A new survey by TickPick, an online ticketing service, was interested in if the music people listen to affects sexual preferences, attitudes and fetishes.
In the online survey, titled “Music’s Influence on Sexual Behaviors,” TickPick asked over 1,000 music fans of all kinds (LGBTQ, straight, and all in between) if their sexual preference was to be “on the top” or “on the bottom.”
Now, we know you can be the “insertive” or “receptive” partner in either physical position, so take this all with a grain of salt as we don’t know how respondents might have interpreted the question. Plus, the answers are self-reported so…there you go.
In any case, the survey showed fans of country music, show tunes, pop, alternative and indie rock say they prefer being “on the bottom.” Country music fans lead the way with 48 percent preferring the bottom bunk.
On the other end of the spectrum, reggae, folk, EMD, Jazz and Blues music fans tended to choose being “on top.” Not sure if it’s the rhythm, but Reggae music fans topped the graph at 37 percent.
Interestingly, there was no question for versatile folks.
The overall favorite sexual position, chosen by 36 percent of respondents, was doggy style.
BDSM was the most mentioned fetish, and was the top choice of Indie rock fans.
Role-play was the next-preferred fetish, with 47 percent of country music fans leading the pack.
Blues fans say they last the longest in bed at 16 minutes.
It turns out technology comes in handy for couples who have different musical tastes. Seventeen percent of respondents shared they wear their Apple AirPods while getting down so both partners can enjoy their own favorite tunes.
One last factoid: country music fans were the least likely to use contraceptives during sex with just under 50% reporting usage, and over 25% of these same country fans admitted to having one-night stands.
Click here to check out all the stats from the survey.
Kyle Kashuv, a survivor of the Parkland school shooting, has had his acceptance to Harvard University rescinded after several racial comments posted on social media came to light.
Mediaite reports the messages, which featured several uses of the n-word, prompted Kashuv to apologize last month.
“I want to address this with honesty and transparency,” wrote Kashuv regarding his racist remarks, which he noted was “long before” the February 2017 massacre. “We were 16-year-olds making idiotic comments, using callous and inflammatory language in an effort to be as extreme and shocking as possible. I’m embarrassed by it, but I want to be clear that the comments I made are not indicative of who I am or who I’ve become in the years since.”
But in a letter Kashuv shared on Twitter, Harvard informed the student his admission was being withdrawn.
“[The Admissions Committee] takes seriously the qualities of maturity and moral character. After careful consideration, the Committee voted to rescind your admission to Harvard,” wrote Harvard. “We are sorry about the circumstances that have led us to withdraw your admissions, and we wish you success in your future academic endeavors and beyond.”
Kashuv took to Twitter to lament his situation.
1/ THREAD: Harvard rescinded my acceptance.
Three months after being admitted to Harvard Class of 2023, Harvard has decided to rescind my admission over texts and comments made nearly two years ago, months prior to the shooting.
2/ A few weeks ago, I was made aware of egregious and callous comments classmates and I made privately years ago – when I was 16 years old, months before the shooting – in an attempt to be as extreme and shocking as possible.
3/ After I issued this apology, speculative articles were written, my peers used the opportunity to attack me, and my life was once again reduced to a headline.
It sent me into one of the darkest spirals of my life.
4/ After the story broke, former peers & political opponents began contacting Harvard urging them to rescind me. Harvard then sent this letter stating that Harvard “reserves the right to withdraw an offer of admission” and requested a written explanation within 72 hours. pic.twitter.com/RfEQCvjgDX
He also traveled to the White House to meet with Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump.
Conservatives on Twitter are complaining that comments Kashuv made “when he was a kid” (they were two years ago) shouldn’t be held against him.
Twitter users posted examples of Kashuv’s “callous comments:”
TW: Extreme racist language
Here’s some of the racist language 16 y.o. Kyle Kashuv used, resulting in Harvard rescinding his admittance. Colleges take into account a student’s entire high school record when making decisions, and using slurs is 100% fair game for consideration. pic.twitter.com/fWssTqHzhl
The racial slurs in an open Google doc have gotten more attention, but I suspect these texts from Kyle Kashuv may have weighed heavier in Harvard’s decision. pic.twitter.com/hu7CYyE1M3
During an appearance on NBC’s Meet The Press, host Chuck Todd repeatedly quizzed Democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, on his relationship with African-American voters and whether being openly gay could be an obstacle in winning their votes.
Reading from an interview with Reverend Rodric Reid of the Uplift Church in Indianapolis, Todd recounted Reid’s thoughts on Buttigieg’s marriage to his husband, Chasten.
“‘I guarantee it’s going to be an obstacle for the candidate from South Bend,” read the quote from Reid. “That is really still a touchy subject, specifically and especially in the African American church.”
“Now, I think it could be overcome, because we are gradually getting to a point of, and I don’t want to say ‘accept,’ but we are getting to a point of realizing this is the culture that we are going to have to begin to live with and adapt to it,” added Reid.
Todd then turned to the Mayor and asked how his outreach efforts to the Black community are going.
“They’re going well,” said the 37-year-old mayor. “And we are working very hard to engage people across the party, but especially black voters, who expect you to demonstrate, especially when you’re new on the scene, what your values are and how you’re going to promote policies that lift them up.”
Buttigieg then pivoted to Donald Trump adding, “I also think we have a moment on our hands when we can do the exact opposite of what the president has done.”
“The president has used identity as a wedge, used race as a wedge to divide people who have common interests,” the young mayor explained.
Instead of dividing people, Buttigieg suggested recognizing our “distinctive identities,” whether the Black or LGBTQ community, could help to “build bridges, to reach out to people different from us, knowing that anybody who has been on the short end of an equation of exclusion has a way to sympathize with people who’ve had different experiences with exclusion in this country.”
“And if we build a solidarity around that, then people who have, for whatever reason, felt a lack of belonging or felt exclusion or felt discrimination in this country, even though those patterns of discrimination are very, very different, when all of us come together, we win, and we are all better off,” he added.
‘Meet The Press” host Chuck Todd and Mayor Pete Buttigieg
Todd wasn’t done with the subject, though.
The NBC host told Buttigieg he’d spoken to African-American congressmen who like what they’ve heard from the mayor and could see themselves supporting his campaign, but are concerned some of their more socially conservative constituents may have issues with his sexuality.
Todd wondered what could Buttigieg do to win over those voters?
Noting that he won his second term as mayor in a 80 percent landslide as an out candidate, Mayor Pete answered, “I’d invite them to look at what happened in South Bend.”
He continued saying he was confident “that American voters, especially Democratic voters, will not discriminate when the opportunity comes up to choose the right leader for the future.”
It is worth noting that a recent Post and Courier/Change Research Poll of likely Democratic primary voters in South Carolina, which holds the third presidential primary in the country and is the first real gauge of African-American voters mood, shows Buttigieg has recently surged into third place with 11% behind former Vice President Joe Biden (37%) and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (17%).
So it would appear that Mayor Pete’s outreach to the Black community is showing positive results.
You can watch Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s full interview on NBC’s Meet the Press below. The discussion on Buttigieg and the Black vote happens at the 12:57 mark.
Taylor Swift dropped her awesome new music video for “You Need To Calm Down” and it’s packed to the gills with LGBTQ stars, celebs and personalities.
Featured in the video are Ellen DeGeneres, Laverne Cox, Karamo Brown, Antoni Porowski, Jonathan van Ness, Bobby Berk, Tan France, Ciara, RuPaul, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and husband Justin Mikita, Billy Porter, Adam Lambert, Adam Rippon, Ryan Reynolds, Hayley Kiyoko, Todrick Hall, Chester Lockhart, Dexter Mayfield, Hannah Hart, and Katy Perry.
Billy Porter
The song shows Taylor’s “all-in” support for the LGBTQ community as the video is full of plastic wading pools, crowns for queens, bouncy beats, glitter, and queer references like GLAAD and shade.
The music video’s release arrives just weeks after Swift shared an open letter to her Republican Tennessee U.S. senators calling for their support for the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
And Friday night, she surprised folks at the historic Stonewall Inn with an impromptu performance of her mega-hit “Shake It Off.”
The climax of the vid is an epic trailer park food fight followed by the message:
“Let’s show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally.
“Please sign my petition for Senate support of the Equality Act on Change.org.
King Trump was displeased when his chief of staff coughed during an interview
During an interview segment with George Stephanopolous of ABC News, Donald Trump stopped mid-sentence and asked for a ‘re-shoot’ of his answer because his chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, coughed in the background.
As he was answering a question regarding his financial records, Trump stopped – as if on a television set.
“And let’s do that over, he’s coughing in the middle of my answer,” Trump told Stephanopoulos.
“I don’t like that, you know, I don’t like that,” Trump said in reference to the coughing, with clear disdain.
“Your chief of staff,” Stephanopoulos asked.
“If you’re going to cough, please leave the room,” said Trump. “You just can’t, you just can’t cough. Boy oh boy…”
Even at the end of the interview, Trump revisited “the cough.”
Pres. Trump says he “might” turn over his “financial statement” to Congress.
On Twitter, Washington Post reporter Jackie Alemany shared a message from a former Trump campaign staffer:
Text from former 2016 Trump campaign staffer: “I was told by multiple people when I came aboard to never cough or sneeze while in the presence of Trump. He thinks it’s a sign of weakness and lack of control. Nobody ever recovers.” https://t.co/9CmKeoH1iu
With all the news made on #Trump30Hours the scene where trump condescending embarrasses the person who coughs is the most revealing. Like Lonesome Rhodes in ‘A Face In The Crowd’ the curtain is down and the emperor is wearing no clothes. pic.twitter.com/Swh7iRceKX
— Barry Thomas Goldberg (@barrytgoldberg) June 17, 2019
Does he think he is a director on a TV show set? “Cut! HE COUGHED DURING MY LINE! I can’t work in these conditions!” LOL
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (L), former VP Joe Biden (C), Mayor Pete Buttigieg (R)
A new Post and Courier/Change Research Poll of likely Democratic primary voters released Sunday shows former Vice President Joe Biden with a commanding 20 point lead in South Carolina over his competitors, but Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Elizabeth Warren seem to be surging.
Biden’s support stands at 37% of likely Palmetto state voters, while Warren snatched up the number two slot with 17 percent. Mayor Pete is in the bronze position with 11 percent.
Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tied at 9 percent.
The South Carolina primary, which follows the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, is the first real show of where Black voters are leaning.
While Sanders had some struggle with South Carolina in 2016, some pundits say Buttigieg could have a similar issue connecting with African-American voters. But it appears his team has heard those issues and is working to address his outreach to that voting block.
