LGBTQ news and entertainment
Immediately after Donald Trump came out of his classified intelligence briefing on Putin’s Russian cyber-hacking of the DNC, he falsely claimed the report ‘concluded’ the hacking did not have any effect on the election & that it found the Russian hackers were ‘unable’ to hack the RNC!
Both of those claims were utterly false & deliberate LIES! Donald has no idea what the truth or facts are.
Watch as Rachel Maddow calls Trump a liar more times than you can count.
2017 has begun – what stories are already impacting the LGBT community?
Check out the week’s biggest stories in LGBT news via this week’s podcast, including:
• Texas Republican lawmakers are looking to pass their own anti-transgender “bathroom bill” despite watching the economic carnage that resulted thanks to similar legislation in North Carolina.
• Ellen DeGeneres booted Kim Burrell from her show’s guest list after the singer went on an anti-LGBT sermon. Ellen then discussed the rant with Burrell’s duet partner Pharrell (who appeared solo) on the air.
• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation commits up to $140 million to help develop a device to deliver a steady stream of HIV medication to healthy patients (PrEP) over an extended period of time.
• IBM Corp. has released a new rainbow-colored logo in support of the LGBT community.
• LGBTQ Nation names professional provocateur and Breitbart ‘alt-right’ personality, Milo Yiannopoulos, its 2016 Person of the Year.
• Vivica Fox says it’s strictly “no homo” for gays at her upcoming Las Vegas male revue.
• Plus, this weekend: the premiere of the new Debbie Reynolds/Carrie Fisher HBO documentary Bright Lights; and the boozy, buzzworthy wild child of Hollywood award shows, The Golden Globes.
This is all kinds of awesomeness 🙂
Click here for all the details for Concert for America: Stand Up, Sing Out!, the first of a monthly benefit concert series with Broadway, TV, film and recording stars that will debut at The Town Hall on Friday, January 20, 2017, at 3:00pm.
The concert will feature performances by Betty Buckley, Sharon Gless, Andrea Martin, Jessie Mueller, Bebe Neuwirth, Rosie O’Donnell, Rosie Perez, Billy Porter, Chita Rivera, Brian Stokes Mitchell and more.
Proceeds will benefit several national organizations working to protect human rights, including Planned Parenthood, Southern Poverty Law Center, National Immigration Law Center and the Sierra Club Foundation.
Tickets range from $25 to $50 and are available at TicketMaster.com and at The Town Hall box office (123 W 43rd St.). Participating performers are subject to change.
But here’s the best part – if you can’t attend, no worries! The concert will be broadcast on Facebook Live at 3:00pm EST on January 20th, directed by Emmy Award winner Debbie Miller.
How super cool is that? So buy your tickets if you’ll be in the NYC area on January 20th, or set your calendar to remind you at ten minutes to 3PM EST that day to hit the link and watch your favorite Broadway stars “stand up, and sing out!”
IBM unveiled a new logo this week that utilizes the rainbow Pride flag. The symbol will be featured prominently at Pride events and programs focused on diversity.
IBM’s Chief Diversity Officer, Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, issued a statement saying the multi-colored logo “will represent IBM’s ongoing push for diversity, acceptance, inclusion and equal opportunity.”
“The rainbow is recognized worldwide as the symbol of LGBT equality and we are proud to fuse it with the emblem that has represented our company for more than four decades.”
It’s always worth noting that the uber-LGBT friendly IBM received a perfect 100 score on HRC’s Corporate Responsibility Index.
And, has been named “most gay-friendly employer in the world” by Workplace Pride Foundation.
I’m currently directing a new theatrical cabaret piece titled Bassey & Me, written and starring the fab Niki Scalera (Broadway’s Tarzan, Hairspray) with music direction and additional writing by Keith Thompson.
The show explores the life, career and inspiration of the one and only Dame Shirley Bassey, and her impact on Scalera.
I’m a huge fan of Bassey, and while I knew most of the songs in the show, “The Living Tree” is a theatrical powerhouse that’s new to me somehow. Check out the Dame performing the song during the Glastonbury Festival in 2007, at the age of 70!
Bassey & Me will have two performances at The Smith Center here in Las Vegas on January 14 (7PM) and January 22 (2:30PM).
You can check out Niki talking about the show – and The Dame – on Vegas Video Network here.
Trae Crowder, everyone’s favorite “Liberal Redneck,” took a moment to thank President Obama, “everybody’s gun-hating Muslim from Kenya,” for “pissing off sh*tty white people.”
Via Raw Story:
“I loved his message, his ideas — he was different, he was young, he was cool, he was funny,” Crowder said. “Most importantly of all, to me, he was an unparalleled expert at pissing off sh*tty white people.”
Crowder considers himself a connoisseur of the art of pissing off sh*tty white people, saying he likes to sit around in a Colin Kaepernick jersey listening to the Dixie Chicks and watching YouTube videos of Tim Tebow’s failures.
“When it comes to pissing off sh*tty white people, Barack Hussein Obama is a first-ballot hall-of-famer,” Crowder said. “He changed the game. Ain’t nobody done it like he done it — nobody.”
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| Donald Trump |
While it appears that Trump did listen, his main talking point after today’s intelligence briefing seems to be doubling down on the fact that he won the presidency on his own, with no help from Russia.
From USA Today:
President-elect Donald Trump said he had a “constructive” meeting with intelligence officials on Friday, and while praising them still had questions about assertions that Russia hacked Democrats in an effort to influence last year’s election.
Claiming that Russia, China, and other countries and organizations are always launching cyber-attacks against the United States — “including the Democratic National Committee” — Trump said in a written statement that “there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election including the fact that there was no tampering whatsoever with voting machines.”
He added: “There were attempts to hack the Republican National Committee, but the RNC had strong hacking defenses and the hackers were unsuccessful.”
While criticizing aspects of the Russia investigation just hours before a special briefing, Trump said in his statement that
“I have tremendous respect for the work and service done by the men and women of this (intelligence) community to our great nation.”Saying all Americans need to “aggressively combat and stop cyber-attacks,” Trump said that as president he would appoint a team to develop a new defense plan.
“The methods, tools and tactics we use to keep America safe should not be a public discussion that will benefit those who seek to do us harm,” the president-elect added. “Two weeks from today I will take the oath of office and America’s safety and security will be my number one priority.”
Before his high-profile briefing at Trump Tower, the president-elect also announced he has asked Congress to investigate what he believes to be the leak of a secret intelligence report on the Russians to the news media. He tweeted: “I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it.”
Trump has also protested news coverage on Thursday night, tweeting: “How did NBC get ‘an exclusive look into the top secret report he (Obama) was presented?’ Who gave them this report and why? Politics!”
The president-elect had a nearly two-hour briefing that included Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan and FBI Director James Comey, all of whom have cited evidence pointing to a Russian plan to hack Democrats backing Clinton, perhaps in an effort to aid Trump.
A declassified version of the report was released today via the Director of National Intelligence:
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Vivica A. Fox had a disconcertingly homophobic moment during a recent interview promoting her ‘Black Magic’ male revue.
Vivica and a couple of the dancers from her new reality show sat down for a chat with the hosts of the popular radio show, “The Breakfast Club,” and during the kiki Charlamagne tha God and DJ Envy asked if gay guys would be welcome at her dancers’ shows.
Her cringeworthy response: “Hell no. Back all that up.”
When asked further why the dancers wouldn’t dance for gay men, Fox said this:
“There’s no need to. They dance for women. It’s called ‘the ultimate girl’s night out’ for a reason.”
It’s worth noting that Chippendales, the longtime leader in male revues, has long had an open door policy regarding men in their audiences.
Any given night, you see men with their wives, girlfriends, boyfriends or husbands. It’s all good with the Chipps.