LGBTQ news and entertainment
At a rally in Las Vegas last night, Republican front-runner Donald Trump told his supporters he’d like to punch protesters in the face. How very presidential.
“In the old days,” Trump said, protesters would be “carried out on stretchers.” “We’re not allowed to push back anymore.”
Trump also picked up on the ongoing vibe that Sen. Ted Cruz is “the biggest liar.”
Grab the popcorn, kids. It’s getting good.
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| Justin Trudeau |
From Pride Toronto:
Pride Toronto, the city’s most vibrant and inclusive arts and cultural festival and North America’s largest Pride celebration, unveiled today its 2016 Pride Month theme, announcing to the world that this June, “YOU CAN SIT WITH US.”
Pride Toronto’s 2016 Parade will make Canadian history, with Justin Trudeau participating as Canada’s first ever sitting Prime Minister to march, alongside leadership from both Toronto’s municipal and Ontario’s provincial governments.
This year’s theme is a play on, and response to, the infamous line from the 2004 cult-classic film Mean Girls. ‘YOU CAN SIT WITH US’ conveys a strong message of belonging and inclusion – a sentiment that was heard in consultations with community members.
Canada’s first-ever Pride Month will launch on June 1, featuring extended programming and provocative events throughout the city, culminating the much-anticipated Pride Parade on July 3.
Success!
The Charlotte City Council has approvede an LGBT nondiscrimination bill on Monday night in a 7 to 4 vote.
The Charlotte ordinance, which is slated to take effect in April, bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in housing and places of public accommodation. (State law does not allow cities to ban workplace discrimination.)
“The City Council’s vote today sends a clear message that discrimination has no place in Charlotte,” said HRC National Field Director Marty Rouse. “Everyone, regardless of who they are, should have the legal right to feel safe in their community, and we commend the City Council for standing with us on the side of fairness and equality in the Queen City.”
Gov. Pat McCrory has previously stated that state lawmakers could “immediately” take action to block the law in a Sunday email to city officials.
This development makes Charlotte the latest center for the LGBT movement where nondiscrimination laws have struggled since winning marriage equality won at the Supreme Court last June.
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| Duck Dynasty reality star Phil Robertson |
Some news stories you may have missed:
• GOP White House hopeful Ted Cruz thinks anti-gay Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson would make a great U.N. Ambassador due to the “joy” he speaks. Really? Joy?
• Democratic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, who is not up for reelection until 2018, announces she has breast cancer.
• Ted Cruz fired his campaign’s social media guy, Rick Tyler, for posting a false report that Marco Rubio had mocked the bible.
• The latest “dump” of emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shows she took an early, tough stance against anti-gay laws in Africa.
• South Carolina is reporting lots of absentee ballots – like 20,000 – coming in ahead of the Democratic primary.
• New Kids On The Block and CBS’ Blue Bloods star Donnie Wahlberg endorses Marco Rubio, who has promised to repeal same-sex marriage. Did I mention Donnie’s bandmate Jonathan Knight is gay and married? #Awkward
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| New Kids On The Block’s Jonathan Knight (L) and Donnie Wahlberg (R) |
It starts out with “You know, you look familiar…” and a moment later you realize why 🙂
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| Sen. Mark Kirk |
Illinois Republican Sen. Mark Kirk has taken a step away from his party indicating that he is open to considering a Supreme Court nominee put forward by President Obama.
“I recognize the right of the president, be it Republican or Democrat, to place before the Senate a nominee for the Supreme Court and I fully expect and look forward to President Barack Obama advancing a nominee for the Senate to consider,” Kirk writes in a Chicago Sun-Times oped posted Monday afternoon.
“I also recognize my duty as a senator to either vote in support or opposition to that nominee following a fair and thorough hearing along with a complete and transparent release of all requested information,” he added. “The Senate’s role in providing advice and consent is as important and significant as the president’s role in proposing a nominee.”
Kirk’s comments represent a stark departure from those made by Republican Party leadership. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has warned Obama not to even nominate a replacement for the late Antonin Scalia, because the GOP-controlled Senate will not act on it. McConnell, and the vast majority of his party, argue that the next president should get to choose the nominee — in hopes, of course, that the next president will be a Republican.
In addition to Kirk, Republican Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Dan Coats (R-Ind.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have stated they may be open to considering an Obama nominee.
Today in an op-ed for The Advocate, HRC President Chad Griffin called on President Obama to build on his legacy of LGBT equality by nominating an openly LGBT Supreme Court justice.
From Griffin’s op-ed:
If the president truly wanted to be bold and bring in greater diversity to the bench, he could look to the LGBT leaders outside of the federal judiciary. We can look to our publicly elected officials for brilliant legal minds who have fought for LGBT equality on behalf of their constituents. Like Senator Tammy Baldwin, the first elected openly-LGBT U.S. Senator who introduced the Equality Act in the Senate. Or Oregon Governor Kate Brown, who championed a ban on so-called “conversion therapy” in the state, protecting LGBT children. Or Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who spearheaded the state’s challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act. These elected officials bring experience to the bench not only as members of the LGBT community, but as people with legislative and federal experience that has largely lacked from previous Supreme Court justices. And of course, there are more qualified candidates from across the legal and political realms whose lived experiences as being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender would inform their time on the bench.
Despite the overwhelming support for full LGBT equality, millions in our community are still at risk of discrimination and violence in their daily lives all across the country.
It is time for an openly LGBT justice on our Supreme Court who will both affirm and symbolize our country’s commitment to full legal equality for its LGBT citizens.’
Appearing on “Fox & Friends” this morning, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was surprisingly candid with the hosts, saying that their show essentially “invented” Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy.
Via Talking Points Memo:
When host Brian Kilmeade asked Gingrich how Trump could be “running away with this thing,” the former Georgia congressman turned the blame back on the network.
“Look, that’s because of you guys,” Gingrich said. “Donald Trump gets up in the morning, tweets to the entire planet at no cost, picks up the phone, calls you, has a great conversation for about eight minutes, which would have cost him a ton in commercial money, and meanwhile his opponents are all out there trying to raise the money to run an ad. Nobody believes the ad.”
Kilmeade said Trump has made himself available to networks, unlike Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee. Host Steve Doocy added that Trump has “invented scenarios” to get “free media.”
Gingrich didn’t relent.
“Look, you could say that Trump is the candidate ‘Fox & Friends’ invented. He was on your show I think more than any other show,” he said. “It was always a happy, positive conversation.”
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
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| North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory |
Proposed changes to city ordinances on behalf of LGBT citizens is already getting push back from North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, who says if the legislation passes it “will most likely cause immediate State legislative intervention.”
The concern for McCrory seems to be language that, as part of new LGBT protections, would allow transgender residents to use gender appropriate public bathrooms. The Republican governor is not down with that.
From the Charlotte Observer:
“It is not only the citizens of Charlotte that will be impacted by changing basic restroom and locker room norms but also citizens from across our state and nation who visit and work in Charlotte,” McCrory said in an email to the council’s two Republicans, Ed Driggs and Kenny Smith. “This shift in policy could also create major public safety issues by putting citizens in possible danger from deviant actions by individuals taking improper advantage of a bad policy.”
McCrory, a Republican, continued: “Also, this action of allowing a person with male anatomy, for example, to use a female restroom or locker room will most likely cause immediate State legislative intervention which I would support as governor.”
Driggs and Smith voted against the ordinance a year ago and have been skeptical of it this year. McCrory’s email was sent after Driggs sent him an email Sunday afternoon asking his opinion on the issue.
