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After Bungled HIV Outbreak, Pence Is The Guy To Head Up Coronavirus Efforts?

L-R Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump (public domain)
Donald Trump’s announcement that Vice President Pence would head up U.S. efforts against the spread of the coronavirus caused many to raise eyebrows given Pence’s woeful handling of one of the biggest HIV outbreaks in Indiana’s history. From the Washington Post:

“He’s got a certain talent for this,” Trump said at a White House briefing about the virus, which has infected nearly five dozen people in the United States so far.

The announcement has cast light on Pence’s record as a lawmaker and his handling of a major public health crisis during his time as governor of Indiana. The worst HIV outbreak in the state’s history happened on his watch in 2015, which critics blamed on Pence’s belated response and his opposition to authorizing a needle-exchange program.

In 2011, as a member of Congress, he voted to cut funding for Planned Parenthood. Two years later, a Planned Parenthood clinic that had been the only HIV-testing center in Scott County, Ind., closed after public health spending cuts, HuffPost reported.

Two months passed from the start of the outbreak in 2015 before Pence declared a public state of emergency.

Pence’s solution for the HIV outbreak was to turn to prayer. It wasn’t until after 75 more people were diagnosed as HIV+ that Pence finally allowed a 30-day needle exchange program to be implemented. Pence also opposed condom distribution to combat HIV. That led, in part, to his overseeing the defunding of Planned Parenthood in Indiana. As a result, the Planned Parenthood clinic in Scott County, which housed the county’s only HIV testing center, closed in 2013. But this is the guy to spearhead the federal government’s response to a worldwide virus…? Sen. Bernie Sanders weighed in on the choice of Pence via Twitter:

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Podcast: Billy Porter On Sesame Street, National Guard LGBTQ Inclusion, Homophobes In Croatia

The Randy Report podcast

The Randy Report podcast delivers the week's top stories in a quick, convenient podcast - 'the 60 Minutes of gay news - only shorter' In this week’s podcast: • National Guard units are taking positive steps to promote LGBTQ inclusion • A crowd in Croatia cheered at the burning of an effigy depicting a same-sex couple with a child • Texas teacher wins $100K settlement for LGBTQ discrimination • Atlanta man convicted of rape after pretending to be gay in order to befriend lesbian • The ‘Love, Simon’ TV sequel will premiere in time for Pride Month on Hulu • One Million Moms is really, really mad Billy Porter is heading to Sesame Street All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

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What To Do If You Boink Your Banana

In an essay for AskMen.com, writer/comedian Ross Asdourian explains that, yes, you can break your penis. After personally experiencing his own bruised banana during a romp in the sheets, followed by two emergency surgeries, he hopes to explain the ‘nuts and bolts’ (as it were) of the what and how of surviving a broken penis. As Asdourian points out, the penis isn’t a bone you can technically break. “The penis has three relevant parts to this article — two spongy tissues sacks (corpora cavernosa) that fill up with blood when you get erect and the urethra (that thing you pee and squeege out of),” explains Asdourian in his non-medical way. “If you’ve ever heard of a break, it’s actually a tear of one of those tissue sacks or a fracture of the urethra.” The writer shares that he hit the trifecta of penile injuries by tearing both of his ‘spongy sacks’ and severing his urethra. Asdourian shares that his banana break occurred having sex in the doggy position. In fact, a small 2017 study found that doggy-style is the sexual position that offers the most danger for guys going to Pound Town. If you like a big swing to your strokes, chances are you might miss reentry sometime. The result might be what’s known as a ‘penile fracture.’ Not only will there be substantial pain involved, but if you’ve really broken something there will be ample swelling and discoloration.

Ross Asdourian
Asdourian is stone-cold serious when he says: do not hesitate, get yourself to the emergency room. Sometimes, guys don’t want to face the embarrassment of explaining the incident to medical personnel. And sure, if this were stubbing your big toe, you might just tough it out. But as Asdourian notes: This. Is. Not. Your. Toe. What happens if you delay? Most importantly, your penis will not heal properly. The upshot of that could be bad blood flow meaning possibly no erections. And if you get erections, they could be really painful. In Asdourian’s case, he had to endure a three-hour surgery to repair the damage done. It took four weeks of recovery to be able to urinate on his own. After a few months, he regained full sexual function. “The long term effects of short term inaction are irreversible,” reports Asdourian. “Set your ego aside, do not play it cool, and get that hose to a doctor.” You can read more about his adventures with a broken penis in his funny/not-so-funny take on the experience titled, Broken Bananah: Life, Love, and Sex…Without a Penis.

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Viral ‘Shallow’ Singer Delivers Powerhouse Performance On ELLEN

Charlotte Awbery with Ellen DeGeneres (screen capture)
What a great feel-good story to get you over Hump Day! You may have seen the viral video clip zooming around social media of a woman stopped in the London subway by video blogger Kevin Freshwater. In the video, Freshwater thrusts his microphone into the face of Charlotte Awbery asking her to ‘finish the lyric’ as he begins the Lady Gaga smash hit, “Shallow.” Unsure of where the moment was going, Awbery tentatively picks up the next line of the song. And as Freshwater continues to react to her singing, she kept going eventually belting out the high section of the Academy Award-winning tune. It turns out Awbery IS a professional singer who performs at weddings, pubs, and other venues. But when the viral video took off, so did her social media following. Of course, it’s no surprise that Ellen DeGeneres would fly the blond singer to Los Angeles to celebrate the serendipitous episode.
Charlotte Awbery sings “Shallow” on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (screen capture)
After belting out “Shallow” for Ellen’s audience she sat down with the talk show host who ticked off just some of the stats that followed the video including over 60 million views online, a number that Awbery was not aware of. Additionally, the song “Shallow” reentered the Top 40 on iTunes thanks to the video. And her Instagram following has grown from 4,000 to over 480,000 in just a few days. By the way, one of those new followers was Ariana Grande. “I followed her back,” Awbery quickly assured Ellen.

Awbery is disarmingly charming as she is still taking in what it means to have all this attention after being a working singer for fifteen years. With Freshwater sitting in the audience, Ellen also confirms that the video was not a ‘set-up’ as some have posited. Of course, it wouldn’t be ELLEN if there wasn’t some gift-giving involved. So, to make sure Awbery gets to her gigs all across London, the show gave her a year-long pass on the London tubes, and Shutterfly gave the songbird $10,000 British pounds. As her Instagram following has grown exponentially since the video’s release, folks are now discovering past videos by Awbery. Check out her unfiltered take on the Judy Garland classic, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” below. #gorgeous

 

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#somewhereovertherainbow🌈 #live

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Poll: Joe Biden Leads Democrats By 18 Points In South Carolina

Former Vice President Joe Biden (image via Instagram)
A new poll by Clemson University released today shows former Vice President Joe Biden has an 18-point lead over his Democratic presidential primary opponents in South Carolina. The survey showed Biden has 35 percent support in the Palmetto State just days ahead of the ‘First in the South’ primary on Saturday. Businessman Tom Steyer, who’s been highly focused on South Carolina, placed a distant second in the poll with 17 percent support. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the current delegate leader among the Democrats, trails Steyer in the poll by 4 points. Results from the Clemson University Palmetto Poll: Biden: 35% Steyer: 17% Sanders: 13% Buttigieg: 8% Warren: 8% Klobuchar: 4% Gabbard: 2%

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Gay Mayor Of Wilton Manor Dies Of Brain Aneurysm

Justin Flippen, the 41-year-old  openly gay mayor of Wilton Manors, Florida, died suddenly early Tuesday night as he was driving to a meeting of the Wilton Manors City Commission. Wilton Manors Police Chief Paul O’Connell said Flippen was taken to a nearby hospital due to a serious “medical issue,” and that he was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Police Chief Paul O’Connell said Wednesday that the Medical Examiner’s Office determined Flippen died of a brain aneurysm. Flippen was elected mayor in 2018 on a platform of experience, fiscal responsibility, inclusive community values and protecting neighborhoods’ small-town feel. He had filed to run for reelection this November.

Mayor Justin Flippen (center)
With his election, Wilton Manors became only the second city in the U.S. to have an entirely LGBTQ elected city government. Palm Springs was the first. Flippen was first elected to the Commission in November 2008 and then picked to serve as Vice Mayor. He also served from 2008-2010 and 2014-2018 before being elected mayor in 2018. Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, who Flippen had endorsed for president, tweeted his condolences.

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Bi Twitter Rises Up As #BisexualMenExist Trends

(images via Twitter)
Bisexual men want you to know they exist and are not ‘confused’ whether they are dating men or women. The hashtag #BisexualMenExist was trending throughout Tuesday after software engineer Vaneet Mehta tweeted he had noticed an increase in biphobia recently.

In follow-up tweets, he encouraged non-binary, pansexuals, omnisexual, polysexuals and bicurious to use the hashtag and share photos of themselves as well. In an interview with HuffPost, Mehta shared that his tweet was in response to an exchange he saw on Twitter about Netflix’s new reality show, Love Is Blind. In one installment, a couple gets into a heated argument after the guy in the relationship, Carlton, comes out as bisexual to his fiancée, Diamond. The revelation led Diamond to doubt Carlton’s sexuality. Folks on Twitter apparently sided with Diamond. “One of the main things I saw on Twitter was a poll trending asking women whether they would ever date a bi man,” Mehta told HuffPost. “Most people voted no. I also saw quite a few comments insinuating that bi men were basically gay and just lying to themselves. It was upsetting.” Mehta added that many of the conversations he was seeing on Twitter about bisexuality included comments like “it’s just a phase,” which results in bisexual erasure. “These stereotypes about bisexual people erase my identity entirely, telling me I’m not valid,” said Mehta. “And it means people feel that they couldn’t date me because I’m only going to come out or I’m still in the closet.” In fact, bisexuals make up the largest share of LGBTQ Americans. A 2013 survey of LGBTQ Americans by Pew Research showed 40% of respondents identified as bisexual, while 36% identified as gay men, 19% as lesbians and 5% as transgender. Bi men from across the Twitterverse chimed in sharing their photos and stories including actor Joshua Rush (Disney Channels’ Andi Mack) and former NFL player Ryan Russell (Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Buccaneers).

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Prominent SC Rep. Jim Clyburn Endorses Joe Biden

Just days before the South Carolina Democratic primary, Rep. Jim Clyburn has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden. Clyburn is considered one of the most popular politicians in the state. From the Post and Courier:

As South Carolina’s most influential Democrat and the highest-ranking black member of Congress, Clyburn’s support for Biden could hold far more significance than a typical presidential endorsement, boosting him as he seeks to stave off two surging rivals in U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and businessman Tom Steyer in a state where about two-thirds of the Democratic electorate is African American.

Some political observers even dub him the South Carolina Democrats’ “kingmaker.” Clyburn endorsed Hillary Clinton at a similar stage in the 2016 primary. He only endorsed Barack Obama months after South Carolina’s 2008 primary.

Clyburn’s endorsements historically carry the state. Clyburn has also recorded a campaign ad for Biden that will run throughout the state over the next several days.

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News Round-Up: February 25, 2020

Karl Thorssen (via Twitter)
Some news items you might have missed: • Twitter: After the hashtag #BisexualMenExist began to trend on Twitter, Karl Thorssen joined the party tweeting the pic above with the caption, “Joyfully reminding y’all that and sometimes take selfies in trucks.” #woof • The Advocate: An Atlanta man who pretended to be gay in order to befriend a lesbian has been convicted of raping her in 2015. • HRC: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who is technically still running for the Democratic nomination for president, refused to answer questions regarding LGBTQ issues for the Human Rights Campaign. • Politico: Two Florida Democrats have filed a lawsuit asking that Sen. Bernie Sanders be disqualified from the Democratic primary because he’s a declared independent. The two military veterans argue that because Florida has a closed primary only declared Democrats should be on the ballot. • Reuters: The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit against a Border Patrol agent for fatally shooting a 15-year-old Mexican boy on Mexican soil from across the border in Texas. The family sued in federal court accusing the agent of violating the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment ban on unjustified deadly force and the Fifth Amendment right to due process. The court dismissed the case saying people who are not in the United States at the time of a cross-border incident to file civil rights lawsuits in federal court. • New Music: Hailing from rural isolation on a sheep farm in the Scottish Highlands, ONR (pronounced “honor”) drops his new track “Sober” (feat. Carina Jade). The track draws musical inspiration from both indie rock and 80s synth-pop while the video is an intoxicating wash of pink, black and blue light. “Sober” is his debut release on Warner Records and the first off his forthcoming Must Stop EP, out May 15.

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Village People Are Cool With Trump Campaign Using Their Music?

The Village People, whose disco-tastic hits include “In The Navy,” “YMCA,” and “Macho Man,” have given the green light to President Donald Trump’s campaign to use their songs at campaign events even though fans have urged the band to withhold permission. In a statement posted on their Facebook page, the band shared that they had received “numerous requests” to ban Trump from using their songs, particularly “YMCA” and “Macho Man.” Noting that Trump recently made his entrance at Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, on Monday to the 1978 track “Macho Man,” the band told fans they can “no longer remain silent” on the issue. “Since our music is not being used for a specific endorsement, the President’s use is “perfect[ly]” legal,” read the statement. “He has remained respectful in his use of our songs and has not crossed the line; if he or any other candidate were to use any of our songs in a manner that would suggest our endorsement, or in a promotional advertisement, that would cross the line.” The Village People also underscored that their music is “all-inclusive and certainly everyone is entitled to do the YMCA dance, regardless of their political affiliation.”

While Trump has been using “Macho Man” at campaign events since 2018, many have noted the irony in the Donald’s usage of the gay anthem considering his unceasing attacks on the LGBTQ community since he took office. Just a few of the attacks include the president’s anti-transgender military policy, which prohibits transgender people from serving in the U.S. armed forces; the administration’s proposed policy to allow religiously affiliated businesses to turn away LGBTQ people; and attempts to discharge HIV+ soldiers who are healthy and able to serve. Plus, according to Lambda Legal, Trump has nominated dozens of circuit court judges who have demonstrated anti-LGBTQ bias in their careers. While the Village People are cool with Trump using their music, other artists, including Adele, Rihanna, R.E.M., Aerosmith, and Queen, have publicly demanded the Trump campaign stop using their music at his events.