It beat Nordic peers Denmark, Norway and Iceland in a ranking of 156 countries by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
The ranking saw the U.S. drop one place, to 19th, while people in South Sudan were the least happy.
The results are based on an average of three years of surveys taken by Gallup between 2016 and 2018 and include factors such as gross domestic product, social support from friends and family, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, perceived corruption and recent emotions — both happy and sad.
According to the report published on Wednesday, Finland has witnessed modest but steady gains since 2014, and the country is now “significantly ahead” of other countries in the top 10, the researchers said.
Trans/deaf model Chella Man will play ‘Jericho’ in DC Universe’s TITANS
The world of super-heroes is about to get a lot more diverse as transgender model, activist and YouTuber Chella Man has been cast to play ‘Jericho’ in season 2 of the live-action TV series Titans.
The 20-year-old, who identifies as Jewish/Chinese-American, deaf and genderqueer, announced the news on his social media where he has developed a large following documenting his transition including top surgery and hormone replacement.
The Brooklyn-based artist has over 255k followers on Instagram, 65k on Twitter, and over 173,000 subscribers on YouTube.
In his Instagram post announcing the news of his new acting gig, Man shared, “As a trans, Deaf, Jewish person of color, I have always reminded myself of the power in my differences.”
“It is a dream come true, now, as I will be able to showcase this power on the Titans,” he continued. “HUGE thank you to all who have supported me throughout this process!”
A post shared by Chella Man (@chellaman) on Mar 19, 2019 at 10:21am PDT
Man’s super-hero character, ‘Jericho,’ has the ability to possess and control the body of anyone he makes eye contact with. He communicates through sign language as he was rendered mute as a youth when kidnappers severed his vocal cords.
When Jericho possesses another body, he can communicate using that person’s voice, vocabulary and language.
The character first appeared in 1984’s Tales of the Teen Titans #43, and is the son of longtime villain, ‘Deathstroke.’ Esai Morales has been cast as the father and will join the show in season 2 with Man.
While the original Tales of the Teen Titans comic books in the 1980s didn’t address his sexuality, his modern incarnation is openly bisexual and has an edgier quality.
Man joins the series which debuted last fall as the first original programming for the DC Universe subscription streaming site.
The show follows a team of young heroes led by Batman-side kick Robin, the empath Raven, alien princess Starfire and shape-shifting Beast Boy.
Director/producer Greg Berlanti (Love, Simon; Riverdale; The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), is a member of the Titans producing team.
Filming for season 2 of Titans is scheduled to begin next month.
Twitter lost its mind this morning when a quote attributed to fashion designer Tom Ford began to circulate wherein he reportedly referred to First Lady Melania Trump as a “glorified escort.”
Slow your roll, Twitter – Tom Terrific never threw that shade.
The quote that went viral was in reference to the designer refusing to dress the First Lady.
“I have no interest in dressing a glorified escort who steals speeches and has bad taste in men,” is how the quote read, but, no source was attributed.
The comment was probably somewhat believable in that Ford did say during a November 2016 appearance on The View that he had ‘declined’ to dress her some years before explaining, “She’s not necessarily my image.”
He went on to add that he felt his clothes were “too expensive” for a First Lady as he believed the wife of a president has to “relate to everybody.”
If a bakery can refuse to sell a cake to a gay couple, Tom Ford can refuse to share his art with someone with whom he has a fundamental difference in beliefs. He doesn’t believe in nudie pics, sugar daddies and plagerism. I get it.
Out Mayor Pete Buttigieg has already qualified for the Democratic LGBTQ Forum
For the first time in ten years, Democratic presidential candidates will share their policy positions and views on LGBTQ issues at a debate to be hosted by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs.
Scheduled for October 10, coinciding with National Coming Out Day, the event will be held on UCLA campus.
The topics will range from hate crimes, transgender rights, so-called ‘conversion therapy’ and more.
To qualify for participation, a candidate needs to poll at least 1% in three separate national polls, OR receive campaign donations from over 65,000 people in at least 20 states.
As Instinct recently reported, openly Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, has already crossed that threshold.
The forum will be one of 12 debates to be held during the Democratic primary season leading up to the 2020 election.
The last forum sponsored by the HRC took place in 2008 with then-candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinish and Bill Richardson.
It’s notable that LGBTQ issues have shifted substantially since then.
• In 2008, 55% felt “same-sex relations between consenting adults should be legal.” In 2018, that figure has reached 75% support.
• In 2008, only 40% of those polled agreed that “marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized by the law as valid.” In 2018, that figure had risen to 67% support.
There hasn’t been a Republican presidential debate on LGBTQ issues.
As NBC News points out, LGBTQ Americans have traditionally voted for Democrats in presidential elections.
According to an NBC News exit poll last November, 82 percent of LGBTQ voters cast a ballot for their district’s Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives.
And in 2016, 78 percent of LGBTQ voters cast a ballot for the Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.)
The U.S. Supreme Court declined the hear the appeal of a bed & breakfast owner in Hawaii who refused to host a same-sex couple due to her religious objections over homosexuality.
The initial lawsuit, Aloha Bed & Breakfast v. Dianne Cervelli, stems back to an incident in 2007 when Cervelli contacted the B&B owner, Phyllis Young, about accommodations.
Cervelli indicated there would be two guests as she would be traveling with her same-sex partner, Taeko Bufford.
According to the complaint, Young asked “Are you both lesbians?” Young then refused to board the couple saying she was uncomfortable having lesbians in her home.
The couple filed complaints with the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission which found Young had illegally discriminated against the couple. Hawaii’s public accommodation law clearly bars discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The Associated Pressreportedthat Young told the commission she is Catholic and feels that homosexuality is wrong. She felt her decision to deny accommodations to the couple was protected by her right to free exercise of her religious beliefs under the First Amendment.
Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit on behalf of the couple in 2011, along with the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission as co-plaintiffs.
In April of 2013, the Hawaii First Circuit Court ruled in favorof Cervelli.
The B&B owner tried to take her case to the Hawaii state Supreme Court, but the high court refusedthe hear the appeal last year.
In October, Young filed a petition to have her appeal heard at the U.S. Supreme Court.
As SCOTUS has declined to take up the case, Young has exhausted her legal options and the ruling by the lower court will stand.
Peter Renn, counsel for Lambda Legal’s Western Regional Office, celebrated the news.
“The Supreme Court’s decision to let the lower court ruling stand reaffirms that the freedom of religion does not give businesses a right to violate nondiscrimination laws that protect all individuals from harm, whether on the basis of race, gender or sexual orientation,” said Renn in a statement to the Washington Blade. “The Supreme Court declined to consider carving out an exception from this basic principle when a business discriminates based on the sexual orientation of its customers.”
“LGBT people deserve an equal right to go about their everyday life without the fear that discrimination waits for them around the corner,” he added.
During a White House press event with Brazil’s virulently anti-LGBTQ President Jair Bolsonaro, Donald Trump told reporters he was “never a fan” of deceased Sen. John McCain, and he “never will be.”
This occurred while sitting next to a man who says he’d prefer a dead son than a gay son.
Trump: “I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be”
Said while hosting President Bolsonaro of Brazil who once said he would prefer a dead son to a gay son.
New polling by Morning Consult (over 13,000 interviews with registered voters planning to vote) show former Vice President Joe Biden continues to lead as the choice for Democratic candidate for president in 2020.
The recent polling showed Biden edging up 4 points nationally, and 6 points in early primary states.
Biden currently polls 35% among all Dems with Sen. Bernie Sanders coming in second at 27%.
The nearest contenders after the two leaders are Sen. Kamala Harris and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke coming in with 8% each.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told the audience at a CNN town hall last night that the electoral college should be eliminated and the popular vote should determine the presidency.
“Come a general election, presidential candidates don’t come to places like Mississippi,” she told the crowd in Mississippi. “They also don’t come to places like California and Massachusetts, right? Because we’re not the battleground states.”
“My view is: every vote matters,” she continued. “And the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting, and that means get rid of the electoral college.”
The presidential hopeful also called for repealing all of the voter suppression laws in the country.
As New Zealand continues mourning the deaths of 50 people gunned down by a white nationalist terrorist, dozens of boys from Christchurch Boys’ High performed a ceremonial haka dance to show support and unity with the Muslim community.
I’ve posted hakas on The Randy Report before here.
I always find the fierce commitment to the dance, and the spirit of those performing the haka, to be profoundly inspiring.
According to ABC News Australia, “Tears began to stream down the faces of some people watching as the boys performed the traditional dance.”
Sen. Cory Booker pledges to repeal the Trump military trans ban
Speaking to a crowd of 300 in Davenport, Iowa, presidential hopeful Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) pledged to repeal Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving openly in the U.S. military.
The topic came up as a trans woman asked the senator what he would do to protect LGBTQ rights as president.
“When I am president, right away I will end this ridiculous, insulting, un-American ban on transgender Americans serving in the military,” replied the 49-year-old senator.
According to NBC News, the response was met with cheers from the crowd.Open service in the military by trans people began June 30, 2016, under the Obama administration.
But Donald Trump surprised the world when he tweeted on July 26, 2017, “After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please advised that the United States government will not accept or allow Transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.”
Trump went on to denounce “the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender military would entail.”
But, an analysis by RAND Corporation found that the Pentagon spends only $2.4 to $8.4 million on trans-related healthcare annually, out of an estimated Department of Defense (DoD) defense budget of $49.3 billion (in 2014). That represents an infinitesimal 0.017% of the Department’s total budget.
On August 1, 2017, 56 retired generals and admirals released a letter opposing the proposed ban on transgender military service members.
After multiple court challenges, the Pentagon released its plan last week to implement the new ban beginning April 12.
Other Democratic presidential candidates have called out the Trump/Pence administration’s dismal record on LGBTQ issues, but Booker is the first declared candidate to promise to repeal the trans ban.
Booker also pledged to revisit the Trump tax cuts, and expressed support for legalizing marijuana nationwide including expounging criminal records due to marijuana crimes.
