Category: Uncategorized

Posted on

US Economy Adds 263,000 Jobs In April

The Labor Department reports that 263,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy in April, making for a record 103 straight months of positive job growth.

With those jobs factored in, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.6 percent, the lowest since 1969.

The official unemployment rate has been at or below 4 percent for more than a year.

Additionally, average hourly earnings rose 3.2 percent in the past year.

Posted on

News Round-Up: May 2, 2019

• InstaHunk JW says, "Be thankful for the hard times - they can only make you stronger."

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk JW says, “Be thankful for the hard times – they can only make you stronger.”

• Jake Bain, the Indiana State football player who came out while still in high school, has announced he will “step away from football and focus on academics.”

• In anticipation of the upcoming Rocketman, chronicling the life of music superstar Elton John, the producers have released an official music video of the title song sung by film’s star, Taron Egerton. The musical fantasy biopic lands in US theaters May 31.

• Out producer/director Greg Berlanti (Love, Simon; Riverdale; Supergirl) says the most egregious example of anti-LGBTQ bias he’s seen in Hollywood was “gay executives and gay casting people who were the least likely to let me cast an actor they knew was gay in a straight part. These were the individuals who knew how important it would be.”

• Far-right loons like Alex Jones and Milo Yiannopolous have been banned from Facebook and Instagram (finally) in an effort to reduce hate speech.

• When Channing Tatum loses, we all win. The ‘Magic Mike’ star lost a game of Jenga, and so he had to post a photo of girlfriend Jessie J’s choosing. She has good taste.

Posted on

Equality Act Approved By House Judiciary Committee Along Party Line Vote 22-10

The Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, has been approved by the House Judiciary Committee.

Although the legislation had been introduced in the House twice before, this is the first time Democrats have been able to see the bill move out of committee and on to the full House.

Even though recent polling shows nearly seven in ten (69%) of Americans support the measure, the vote was a straight party-line affair. All 22 Democrats on the committee voted yes, while all 10 Republicans voted no.

Should The Equality Act be passed into law, it would prohibit LGBTQ-based discrimination in areas like housing, employment, public accommodations and more on a nationwide level.

Currently, you can be fired from your job in 30 states for being gay.

In addition to the strong support by Democratic lawmakers, The Equality Act has been endorsed by 165 major businesses and 288 statewide and national organizations.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said in his opening statement, ‘It is time that the federal government recognizes that discrimination in any form is wrong and that we should move forward with these common-sense protections that simply build on existing statutes.’

The measure now heads to a vote by the full House, which could happen as soon as next week.

With 240 co-sponsors in the House, and strenuous support by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the legislation is expected to easily pass.

However, the odds don’t look so good for the bill in the Republican-led Senate where Senate Leader Mitch McConnell probably won’t even allow the legislation to come up for a vote.

And, while Donald Trump campaigned saying he would be ‘better for the gays’ than Hillary Clinton, since he took office his administration has waged a war against LGBTQ rights. His evangelical base would probably rise up were he to sign the bill into law.

Posted on

Dan Reynolds Uses Billboard Music Awards Speech To Call For Ending Conversion Therapy

Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons at 2019 Billboard Music Awards

During last night’s Billboard Music Awards telecast from Las Vegas, Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds used the band’s acceptance speech time for winning Top Rock Artists to call for a nationwide ban on so-called conversion therapy.

“I just want to take this moment to say that there are still 34 states that don’t have laws banning conversion therapy,” said Reynolds backed by his band mates Wayne Sermon, Ben McKee, and Daniel Platzman. “On top of that, 58 percent of our LGBTQ population live in those states. This can change, but it’s going to take all of us talking to our state legislature, pushing forward laws to protect our LGBTQ youth.”

“And lastly, we have seen with conversion therapy that our LGBTQ youth have double the rate of depression, triple the rate of suicide after conversion therapy,” he added. “It’s not working and needs to change.”

Major medical organizations like the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have all denounced ‘conversion therapy’ which treats being gay as a mental illness.

Also known as ‘ex-gay therapy,’ the practice has been shown to lead to depression, decreased self-esteem, substance abuse, anxiety and, in some cases, suicidal behavior.

Currently, 16 states plus Washington D.C. have banned the harmful practice on minors.

Reynolds, a longtime LGBTQ ally, has spent years standing up for the community. Growing up Mormon in Utah, he saw close friends struggle to resolve being gay with their families and faith.

Reynolds does a lot more than make speeches at award shows, though.

He teamed up with former Mormon rocker Tyler Glenn to create the annual music festival LOVELOUD which aims to raise money for LGBTQ charities and organizations like The Trevor Project and the Tegan and Sara Foundation.

He also helped produce the documentary Believer, which explores how the Mormon Church treats its LGBTQ members.

Last month, Reynolds took to Twitter calling for religious leaders to help stop the practice of so-called ‘conversion therapy.

Posted on

Pelosi On Barr: “He Lied To Congress – If Anybody Else Did That It Would Be Considered A Crime”

During testimony to Congress last month, Attorney General William Barr was directly asked by Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) if he was aware of any concerns/frustrations Special Counsel Robert Mueller or his team had regarding Barr’s now-infamous four page ‘summary’ of Mueller’s two year investigation.

At the time, Barr told Crist, “No, I don’t.”

But this week, news of a letter from Mueller to Barr expressing frustrations that Barr’s summary mischaracterized the investigation’s context and substance now puts Barr’s denial in a new perspective.

He had received the letter from Mueller and had a phone call with the Special Counsel about the summary. So, he lied to Congress when he said he didn’t know of any concerns on Mueller’s part.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was asked today how she felt about the statements by Barr.

Pelosi didn’t hold back. “He lied to Congress – if anyone else did that it would be considered a crime.”

Yesterday, Rep. Adam Schiff echoed the same sentiments.

Posted on

Mayor Pete & Husband Cover TIME Magazine “First Family”

Openly gay White House hopeful Mayor Pete Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten, cover TIME Magazine with the caption “First Family.”

Mayor Pete and Chasten are the first gay couple to be featured on the cover since 2013.

From the profile:

Buttigieg is a gay Episcopalian veteran in a party torn between identity politics and heartland appeals. He’s also a fresh face in a year when millennials are poised to become the largest eligible voting bloc. Many Democrats are hungry for generational change, and the two front runners are more than twice his age.

But Buttigieg’s greatest political asset may be his ear for languages. He speaks eight, including Norwegian and Arabic, but he’s particularly fluent in the dialect of the neglected industrial Midwest. Buttigieg is a master of redefinition, a translator for a party that has found it increasingly difficult to speak to the voters who elected President Donald Trump.

The son of an English professor and a scholar of linguistics, he roots his campaign in an effort to reframe progressive ideas in conservative language. “If the substance of your ideas is progressive but there’s mistrust about them among conservatives, you have three choices,” Buttigieg tells TIME, sitting on his living-room couch in South Bend.

“One is to just change your ideas and make them more conservative. The second is to sort of be sneaky and try to make it seem like your ideas are more conservative than they are. And the third, the approach that I favor, is to stick to your ideas, but explain why conservatives shouldn’t be afraid of them.”

[snip]

Some of Buttigieg’s fellow officers who had used gay as an epithet in his presence reached out to express their support. “I bet some of them still go back and tell gay jokes because that’s their habit, you know?” he says. “Bad habits and bad instincts is not the same as people being bad people.”

All this informs his belief that it’s still possible to reach across America’s political divide.

“We’ve got to get away from this kill-switch mentality that we see on Twitter,” he says.

He has seen once disapproving parents dance at their gay son’s wedding and homophobic military officers take back their words, and so he believes in the power of redemption and forgiveness.

“This idea that we just sort people into baskets of good and evil ignores the central fact of human existence, which is that each of us is a basket of good and evil,” he says. “The job of politics is to summon the good and beat back the evil.”

It’s a terrific read. Definitely click over and learn a bit more about Mayor Pete.

The historical importance of such representation for the LGBTQ community can’t be overstated.

Posted on

‘Slate Of Hate’ Anti-LGBTQ Legislation Moves Along In Tennessee

Several anti-LGBTQ bills have been working their way through the Tennessee state legislature that have come to be known as the ‘slate of hate.’

Pop star Taylor Swift brought the national spotlight to the issue when she donated $113,000 to the Tennessee Equality Project in early April.

Here’s an update on some of the bills that would negatively affect LGBTQ Tennesseans.

HB 1151puts transgender and non-binary people at increased risk of harassment by adding public restrooms, changing rooms and locker rooms to the state’s indecent exposure laws.

In its original form, the bill had specific anti-trans language saying there would be no exception for folks with a diagnosis of “gender dysphoria, gender confusion, or similar conditions.” While explicit anti-trans language has been removed, LGBTQ advocates worry the law will still be used to arrest trans people.

The legislation has passed in the state Senate and House, and heads to the governor’s desk for his signature.

Another anti-trans bill, HB 1274, has passed in the state House and the Senate is expected to take it up soon.

The legislation would push school districts to keep trans students from using the bathrooms that align with their gender identity. The legislation also requires the state Attorney General to defend discriminatory anti-transgender laws.

The sponsor of HB 836 has pulled his own bill from consideration even though the legislation had passed in the state House already.

The bill would allow state contractors who receive taxpayer funds for providing adoption and foster care services to refuse to place children with LGBT parents if the agency’s religious beliefs didn’t approve.

By spiking the bill, the legislation will now be shelved until the next legislative session.

And the so-called “Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act,” has also, thankfully, stalled.

The bill aimed to void recognition of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefellruling on same-sex marriage based on the premise that Tennessee has its own constitutional amendment banning marriage equality.

Many major companies like Hilton, IKEA North America Services, LLC, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), Lyft, Marriott International, MassMutual, Nike, Inc. Replacements, Ltd., Salesforce, Unilever and Warby Parker have signed a letter opposingthe ‘slate of hate.’

Additionally, the Tennessee Titans have also come out against the anti-LGBTQ bills saying:

The Tennessee Titans oppose discrimination in any form. We are long-standing supporters of Tennessee Thrives. Discriminatory legislation hurts all of us.

It also impacts our ability to secure events like the 2019 NFL Draft, major conventions, major athletic contests and other events that benefit our local and state economy.

It also weakens our ability to recruit new business and industry to Nashville and to Tennessee. We would encourage our elected officials to keep us on a path that protects all our citizens, our growth and our economy.

Posted on

Dallas Karaoke Host Wakes Up With Fractured Skull, Broken Jaw But No Memory

Oscar Rodriguez

A popular karaoke host at the Dallas gay bar, the Round Up Saloon, is still suffering the severe after-effects of an apparent late night assault.

Oscar Rodriguez remembers leaving after his shift at the Round Up a little after 2 a.m. on April 14.

But the next thing he can remember is waking up in his car. There was no damage to his vehicle, his ID and cash were still on him, but his phone was missing.

Although he was experiencing an excruciating head ache, he was able to drive to his home in the neighborhood of Oak Lawn, but it soon became apparent he needed serious medical attention.

(screen capture)

His roommate drove him to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a bleeding brain, a fractured skull, a broken jaw and several missing teeth. Surgery was required to wire his jaw shut and insert metal plates in his head.

Rodriguez’s friend and co-worker, Nikkii Meister, told WFAA News, “The doctors at Parkland (Hospital) said whoever did this intended for him to not walk away from it.”

The 32-year-old karaoke host says he’s still experiencing serious memory loss.

“My memory was all over the place,” he told WFAA. “I couldn’t remember what year it was, I couldn’t remember my birthdate.”

With no memory of the assault, and no leads to go on, police have made no arrests in the case.

Additionally, Rodriguez has no health insurance, so the bills are mounting up quickly. With his jaw wired shut for several more weeks, he can’t work as a karaoke host without being able to talk.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help defray the costs of his medical treatment.

(Source: WFAA)

Posted on

Trump Retweets Over 50 Anti-Biden Messages In One Morning

Donald Trump must be getting waaaay nervous about former Vice President Joe Biden jumping into the presidential race. Bloomberg reports the Trumpster retweeted more than five dozen tweets this morning, almost all anti-Biden in nature.
Donald Trump

Donald Trump must be getting waaaay nervous about former Vice President Joe Biden jumping into the presidential race.

Bloomberg reports the Trumpster retweeted more than five dozen tweets this morning, almost all anti-Biden in nature.

Biden, who announced his candidacy last week, has focused on blue collar, Rust Belt voters who helped Trump win in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

On Monday, the International Association of Firefighters endorsed Biden as several polls show Biden the clear front-runner among Democratic candidates.

But the endorsement clearly got under Trump’s skin.

“I’ve done more for Firefighters than this dues sucking union will ever do, and I get paid ZERO!” Trump said in one posting to his nearly 60 million followers on the social media platform.

The retweets were replies to an earlier tweet by Fox News personality Dan Bongino, who announced that the firefighters he knew weren’t lining up behind Biden.

Posted on

Former NFL Player, Hubby & Ex-Wife Blended Family Under One Roof

Jeff Rohrer and Joshua Ross (image via Instagram)

In November, I reported on the marriage of retired Dallas Cowboy linebacker Jeff Rohrer, who became the first NFLer to celebrate a same-sex wedding.

Rohrer has now opened up to People about settling into his new home life raising two teenagers under the same roof with his ex-wife Heather and new hubby, celebrity aesthetician Joshua Ross.

The former athlete didn’t come out until long after his football days. “Being gay was not a part of my life when I played football,” says Rohrer.

But, after years of struggling with his sexuality, being closeted took a toll on his 17-year marriage. He and his wife, Heather, split for 18 months barely speaking to each other.

“It wasn’t that Jeffrey came out to me, but once I figured it out, it was obvious he was gay,” Heather tells People. “He thought it was wrong; he was so angry. He thought his children wouldn’t love him, that he’d lose his job. I tried to help him. I kept trying to tell him it was okay, that it was no big deal. But it was to him.”

But then in 2013, the two decided for the good of their two children – son Dondillon and daughter Isabella – that Rohrer should move back in so they could co-parent as a family unit.

Over the next couple of years, the LA-based commercial producer slowly came to terms with being gay.

In 2015, Rohrer met Ross in at a happy hour and began seeing each other. Six months into dating, Ross asked to meet Rohrer’s children and ex-wife.

Ross shared with People, “It was a very pivotal time in our relationship to be able to take that next step forward.”

Heather didn’t object – “I was totally okay with it.”

And the kids where nonplussed about their dad dating Ross. “It wasn’t really like coming out,” says Dondillon. “I pieced it together that they were dating. And eventually he called Josh his boyfriend. I was fine with it.”

Things progressed and Rohrer proposed to Ross in May of 2018. Two months before the November wedding, the 37-year-old moved into the family’s Manhattan Beach home.

There were adjustments ahead for the new blended family, but Heather says, “Being together for the kids is the important thing for us.”

“It’s been difficult to get to this place, but it’s worth it,” she added.

“We get in our fights, but we find a way to make up,” said Ross. “We’re just trying to do the best that we can.”

Daughter Isabella describes life at home as “one big bundle of very strong personalities, so sometimes we butt heads.”

“But in the end, we’re always laughing,” shares the 16-year-old.

“There are all these different dynamics,” adds Rohrer. “And it’s working out really well so far.”

Heather sums up the situation for People saying, “Jeff and Josh are my family, and we’re a better team together than apart.”

Read the full article at People.com.