The legendary Judy Garland (screen capture)
Happy 99th Birthday Judy Garland
News Round-Up: June 10, 2021
Caden Wyatt with his dad, John, and his mom, Janell (image via John Wyatt)
.@JoyVBehar to @Caitlyn_Jenner: “A lot of Republicans in this country believe that Donald Trump won the election and not Joe Biden. Are you one of those people?”
Jenner: “I’m not going to get into that. That election is over with. I think Donald Trump did do some good things.” pic.twitter.com/mPri9Pq736 — The View (@TheView) June 10, 2021
This is the amazing moment Austin came out to his Mormon father. 🏳️🌈 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Ku0XvpWGvG
— Humankind (@humankind) June 9, 2021
Congress Designates Pulse Nightclub A National Monument
Days before the fifth anniversary of the horrific Pulse nightclub shooting, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved designating the site of the former nightclub as a national memorial. The House version of the bill, HR 49, passed on a voice vote on May 12. From the Orlando Sentinel:
Forty-nine people were killed and dozens more injured in the June 12 LGBTQ+ nightclub shooting, which is among the deadliest mass shootings in American history.
A similar bill passed the U.S. House last year but stalled in the Senate. This year’s bill still has to be signed into law by President Joe Biden before the designation becomes official.
The national designation does not incorporate the memorial into the National Park system and it does not require the monument to receive federal funds.
The onePULSE Foundation, a nonprofit founded in the wake of the shooting, plans to build the National Pulse Memorial & Museum in Orlando over the next few years. Preliminary designs for the memorial and museum incorporate the remains of the club into a garden with a reflecting pool and 49 trees, with the open-air museum planned for construction a half-mile away.
Scott Bowman, a spokesman for onePULSE Foundation, issued a statement Wednesday that onePULSE was “thrilled” about the memorial’s national designation. “The unanimous consent is such welcome news as we are set to mark the five-year remembrance of the Pulse tragedy,” said Bowman. “This recognition from both the House and Senate means so much to the LGBTQ+ community.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CP7AK9MLhv4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Poll: Trust In U.S. President Soars Under Biden In Global Survey
L-R Donald Trump, President Joe Biden
Trust in the U.S. president fell to historic lows in most countries surveyed during Donald Trump’s presidency, according to Pew.
Under Biden, it has soared. In the 12 countries surveyed both this year and last, a median of 75 percent of respondents expressed confidence in Biden to “do the right thing regarding world affairs,” Pew found, compared with 17 percent for Trump last year. Sixty-two percent of respondents now have a favorable view of the United States vs. 34 percent at the end of Trump’s presidency.
“The election of Joe Biden as president has led to a dramatic shift in America’s international image,” the Pew report reads.
Additionally, the survey shows the favorability rating for the U.S. grew 23 percentage points from last year in France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. 
Out Music: Todrick Hall “Rainin’ Fellas”
Screen capture from the latest music video from Todrick Hall “Rainin’ Fellas”
The new album, Femuline, is bold and unapologetic, like it’s creator. Hall exudes confidence and charisma on every track, not to mention his clever wordplay. The album was entirely written by Hall, with production from Grammy-winning Wiidope (Nicole Scherzinger, Ciara), and Jeeve (Bruno Mars, Britney Spears). The dance floor-ready collection is a defiant statement of self-empowerment and self-described as an “open love letter to the LGBTQ community,” released in tandem and in honor of Pride. Additionally, today Hall announced a global tour in 2022, with dates spanning the U.S., Europe and Australia. The North American leg will kick on March 12, 2022 in Seattle and wind through the U.S. until May 3, 2022, ending in Toronto, ON. https://www.instagram.com/p/CP393x1FSAJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Boston Pride Prez To Resign Amid Turmoil Regarding Lack Of Inclusion
(image via Facebook/BostonPride)
Sue O’Connell, copublisher of Bay Windows and a host at NECN, the official media sponsor of Boston Pride, said the discontent has been years in the making.
“The pandemic and the reckoning of our unjust racial past has just claimed the Pride committee because they were unable to actually do the right thing over many, many years,” she said.
Pride celebrations grew out of the June 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York — a violent resistance to police abuse that was led in part by trans women of color. In its later years, critics say, Boston Pride has forgotten its activist mission and become commercialized by corporate sponsors, many of whom don’t share their other social justice concerns.
The long-simmering conflict boiled over last summer, after protests erupted nationwide over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The Pride board rejected a statement drafted by its own communications team and issued a watered-down version without consulting its Black Pride subcommittee members. That was the last straw for many activists who felt Pride’s board was not taking their feedback and was out of touch with their concerns.
The Globe goes on to report that 80% of Pride’s volunteers left the organization in protest over that incident.
News Round-Up: June 9, 2021
Joshua Hall (image via Edge Media)
• The Advocate: A gay man in Florianópolis, Brazil, was gang-raped last week, one of the latest examples of horrific violence against LGBTQ+ people in the country — violence that activists say is spurred on by the nation’s homophobic president. • Page Six: The Bachelor host Chris Harrison demanded a $25 million payout after being booted from the show — and threatened to spill all the franchise’s dirty secrets if he didn’t get it, sources told Page Six. “He has nearly 20 years of dirt,” an ABC source said Tuesday. • New York Post: Jeff Bezos is getting shafted online over the shape of his big rocket. “Is it me, or does Jeff Bezos’ rocket look like a giant penis?” one person tweeted alongside a photo of Blue Origin, the craft the 57-year-old world’s richest man will fly into space next month. “I thought ‘penis’ as soon as I saw that image,” another person agreed.
Jeff Bezos teased over phallic-shaped rocket Blue Origin https://t.co/HiYQXRWUna pic.twitter.com/j32ODK1aen
— New York Post (@nypost) June 9, 2021
Justice Department Condemned For Defending Anti-LGBTQ Colleges
Attorney General Merrick Garland (photo: Public Domain)
The Justice Department in a court filing Tuesday said it can “vigorously” defend a religious exemption from federal civil rights law that allows federally funded religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students, a move that surprised some LGBTQ advocates who said the wording went further than just an obligation to defend an existing law.
In the filing, the Biden administration said it “shares the same ultimate objective” as the conservative Christian schools named in the case.
“What this means is that the government is now aligning itself with anti-LGBTQ hate in order to vigorously defend an exemption that everyone knows causes severe harm to LGBTQ students using taxpayer money,” said Paul Carlos Southwick, director of the Religious Exemption Accountability Project, which filed the case in March on behalf of dozens of current and past students at conservative religious colleges and universities. “It will make our case harder if the federal government plans to vigorously defend it like they have indicated.”
The case at hand, Hunter v. the U.S. Department of Education, involves 40 LGBTQ students from religious colleges and universities who have filed suit against the government for providing funding to schools with discriminatory policies. The schools, however, are playing the First Amendment rights card saying they have a right to discriminate against queer students via their traditional religious beliefs about sexuality and gender. While it sounds like the Justice Department has thrown us under the bus, over on Michelangelo Signorile’s website LGBTQ civil rights lawyer Jillian Weiss took a look and says this may not be as bleak as it seems:
“As I read the brief, DOJ is trying to prevent religious colleges from taking over the case. They would certainly argue outlier positions that a newly conservative Supreme Court would love to scoop us.
“Sure, 28 USC 1681(a)(3) is bogus: “this section shall not apply to an educational institution which is controlled by a religious organization if the application of this subsection would not be consistent with the religious tenets of such organization.”
“But I would prefer Garland’s DOJ to handle this any day of the week rather than the proposed religious intervenors.”
Pride Music: Country Artist Hayden Joseph ‘Out’
Out country music artist Hayden Joseph
‘Lost Spaces’ Podcast Remembers The Pulse Nightclub Massacre
The LGBTQ-themed podcast Lost Spaces, hosted by K Anderson, speaks to a different person each week about a lost queer space from their past, what they got up to there, and how it helped to shape the person they’ve become. Launched in 2019, Lost Spaces seeks to explore what is lost when queer spaces no longer exist, recognizing their importance in helping people to explore their own identity and develop relationships and a sense of community. This week Anderson remembers the horrific Pulse Nightclub massacre, the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. in over a decade.
Today we are talking about Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, which on June 12, 2016, became the site of the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. since the September 11 attacks of 2001. And, the repercussions were felt worldwide – I remember how shocking and terrifying it was to hear about this happening in a country like America.
But, before it was the sight of this tragedy Pulse was a place where people came to meet likeminded queer folks, dance, be messy and forget their regular lives.
I caught up with leukemia warrior and makeup artist Jared Lipscomb, who grew up in Orlando to talk about body image, first times and why that space will always have a special place in his heart. In lots of ways this is a very serious episode because we’re talking about a horrific incident, but in other ways it’s very joyous as we talk about what made the place special.
Hit the play button below. Click over to LostSpacesPodcast.com for more.