• Gayety: The upcoming Heartstopper Forever, the film finale set to wrap Nick and Charlie’s story, will move forward without Academy Award winner Olivia Colman, who played Nick’s mother in the first two seasons. Anna Maxwell Martin will step into the role for the film.
Wayne Brady (via Depositphotos) Some news items you might have missed: • PEOPLE: Actor and TV host Wayne Brady came out as pansexual in an interview with PEOPLE Magazine. https://twitter.com/huffpostqueer/status/1688682600234098688 • The Advocate: The Florida Department of Education has now U-turned and earlier decision and will allow the full curriculum for an Advanced Placement Psychology Class to be taught to high school students including information about sexuality and gender-identity. • Reuters: Pope Francis said on Sunday that the Catholic Church is open to everyone, including the gay community, and that it has a duty to accompany them on a personal path of spirituality – but within “the framework of its rules.” https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1688558110951010304 • Kenneth-in-the-212: By now you’ve probably heard that filmmaker William Friedkin has died at the age of 87. Some thoughts about the acclaimed director of The Boys in the Band, Cruising, The French Connection and The Exorcist. • Axios: A mint condition, first-generation iPod — originally purchased for $399 in 2001 — sold for $29,000 at an auction. https://twitter.com/axios/status/1688603037512749056
Some news items you might have missed: • The Advocate: The ACLU sued the Texas Attorney General on Wednesday to prevent Senate Bill 12 from taking effect on September 1. The law, if permitted to move forward, would prohibit drag performances in most public venues. Continue reading “Texas Sued Over Anti-Drag Law + More News”
Nigel Shelby Some news items you might have missed: • The Advocate: The parents of a Huntsville, Ala., teen Nigel Shelby – who killed himself in 2019 after being bullied at school for being gay – are now suing that school district. They allege that school officials knew their son was considering taking his life. • Kenneth-in-the-212: The NYC-based blog has a new weekly feature – ‘Manspread Monday.’ You know you want to hit that link… 🙂
• Buzzfeed: This hilarious SNL skit about period lesbian dramas is so accurate it hurts. “My parents died before I was born.” “Mine too.”
• Variety: Nomadland dominated at the BAFTA Film Awards, where the Frances McDormand-led road movie picked up four prizes including lead actress, cinematography, director, and best film. • Bloomberg News: Video chat on you TV? Apple is working on a product that would combine an Apple TV set-top box with a HomePod speaker and include a camera for video conferencing through a connected TV and other smart-home functions. • Detroit Free Press: Ted Nugent, the aging rocker, mocked health guidelines regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in a recent Facebook video asking, “Why weren’t we shut down for COVID one through 18?” Of course, the coronavirus that has killed close to 560,000 people in the U.S. was named for the year in which the first infection was reported — 2019.
A Russian man is suing Apple for more than $15,000 because an app he downloaded to his iPhone ‘manipulatively’ coerced him into being gay, according to the Moscow Times. The man, identified in the lawsuit as D. Razumilov, claims in his lawsuit that he became “mired in same-sex relationships” after someone sent him 69 GayCoins (a form of cryptocurrency) via an app he downloaded to his iPhone in 2017. No, it wasn’t Grindr. And it wasn’t Scruff, either. Whatever those are… Included with the cryptocurrency, which would be worth about $1.40, was a message which Razumilov says read, “Don’t judge without trying.” “I thought, indeed, how can I judge something without trying?” wrote in his complaint. So, Razmuliov says he “decided to try same-sex relationships.” Next thing you know, he says he’s hooked on the gay. “I can say after the passage of two months that I’m mired in intimacy with a member of my own sex and can’t get out,” reads Razumiolov’s complaint. “I have a steady boyfriend and I don’t know how to explain it to my parents.” “After receiving the aforementioned message, my life has changed for the worse and will never be normal again,” he adds. The lawsuit, registered in Moscow’s Presnensky District Court last Wednesday, blames Apple for “manipulatively pushing me toward homosexuality.” The result of his same-sex relationship is “moral suffering and harm to mental health” for which he is asking 1 million rubles (approximately $15,331 with today’s exchange rate). Razumilov is scheduled to appear in court on October 17. (source: Moscow Times – image via Depositphotos)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: From Ricky Martin – “I’m joining my friend @AlejandroSanz on this great initiative to support the #Dreamers in the US. By purchasing this t-shirt www.CharityStars.com/Alejandro you can be part of our #DreamerTeam too. Because #WeAllDream. We all belong. We are all one. And EVERYONE matters.” • The Advocate: “The Country Music Awards nominated the track from Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus in the category of Musical Event of the Year. … Lil Nas X is now the first out gay man to be nominated at the CMAs” • Courthouse News: After announcing the children born to U.S. service members while overseas would not automatically have U.S. citizenship, Immigration Director Ken Cuccinelli had to issue a statement clarifying the new rules will affect children of military service members and government workers who are legal U.S. permanent residents but not citizens. They can also affect U.S. citizens who can’t show evidence they lived in the U.S. for a sufficient amount of time. • Buzzfeed News: Steven Canals, co-creator of FX’s POSE, shares how his Bronx upbringing helped inspire the most important show on television. •CNET: Apple sent invitations to the media on Thursday for its next big product launch. On September 10, the tech company will unveil the 11 series iPhones. The devices likely will include better cameras, faster processors and iOS 13. They come at a time of malaise in the smartphone market, with people holding onto their devices longer than before. • New Music: Since I’m on a Ricky Martin tangent today, he has teamed up with Madonna collaborator Maluma for a new duet, “No Se Me Quita.” Check out a sample below. https://www.instagram.com/p/B1weT0QAyAP/
So-called ‘ex-gay therapy’ can lead to anxiety, depression & suicide (stock photo via Depositphotos)
An app promoting so-called “conversion therapy” has been removed from Apple’s App Store one day after LGBTQ advocacy group Truth Wins Out (TWO) launched a campaign in protest.
But once the folks at TWO, which fights the ‘ex-gay’ myth, discovered the app, it was time for action.
A Change.org petition was launched asking Apple to remove the app from its store citing the many organizations (American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association to name a few) that oppose the practice as multiple studies show it can lead to anxiety, depression, and self-destructive behavior, including suicide.
In their petition, TWO asked, “Why would Apple allow its online store to be used as a platform to promote such dangerous, homophobic garbage?”
The app was dropped from Apple’s App Store the next day.
Apparently, the deletion occurred without notifying Living Hope Ministries.
Executive Director Ricky Chelette told The Dallas Morning News they plan to appeal the decision, adding, “I don’t know why they would have taken it down.”
On their website, Living Hope Ministries says its mission is “to proclaim God’s truth as we journey with those seeking sexual and relational wholeness through a more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.”
In a statement, Truth Wins Out executive director Wayne Besen thanked Apple for “exemplifying corporate responsibility and taking swift action to remove a dangerous app that stigmatizes and demeans LGBT people.”
“Ex-gay programs are consumer fraud and cause significant harm to the people they purport to help,” he added.
The app is still available, though, on other digital platforms like Google and Amazon, and Besen is addressing those tech giants as well.
“Every minute this heinous product is available on these platforms, the potential exists for it to harm LGBT youth,” says Besen. “We demand that Google and Amazon immediately stop selling and promoting this app, which dehumanizes LGBT people.”
The project was headed up by 14 LGBTQ advocacy organizations, led by the Human Rights Campaign and Out Leadership.
The coalition included: Athlete Ally, Freedom for All Americans, GLAAD, GLSEN, Lambda Legal, National Center for Transgender Equality, National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, National LGBTQ Task Force, Out & Equal, PFLAG National, The Trevor Project, Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF).
In the letter, the companies denounce the Trump administration’s treatment of trans people including the recently discovered plan to ‘redefine’ trans people out of existence.
We, the undersigned businesses, stand with the millions of people in America who identify as transgender, gender non-binary, or intersex, and call for all such people to be treated with the respect and dignity everyone deserves.
We oppose any administrative and legislative efforts to erase transgender protections through reinterpretation of existing laws and regulations. We also fundamentally oppose any policy or regulation that violates the privacy rights of those that identify as transgender, gender non-binary, or intersex.
In the last two decades, dozens of federal courts have affirmed the rights and identities of transgender people. Cognizant of growing medical and scientific consensus, courts have recognized that policies that force people into a binary gender definition determined by birth anatomy fail to reflect the complex realities of gender identity and human biology.
Recognizing that diversity and inclusion are good for business, and that discrimination imposes enormous productivity costs (and exerts undue burdens), hundreds of companies, including the undersigned, have continued to expand inclusion for transgender people across corporate America.
Currently more than 80 percent of the Fortune 500 have clear gender identity protections; two-thirds have transgender-inclusive healthcare coverage; hundreds have LGBTQ+ and Allies business resource groups and internal training efforts.
Transgender people are our beloved family members and friends, and our valued team members. What harms transgender people harms our companies.
We call for respect and transparency in policy-making, and for equality under the law for transgender people.
Accenture Adobe Systems Inc. Airbnb Altria Group Amalgamated Bank Amazon American Airlines Apple Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP) Bank of America Merrill Lynch Ben & Jerry’s Homemade BNY Mellon Cargill Cisco Systems Inc. Citi Clifford Chance The Coca Cola Company Corning Incorporated Corteva Agriscience [™] , the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont The Dow Chemical Company Deutsche Bank E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company Facebook Fastly, Inc. Google Hogan Lovells International LLP HSBC IBM Corporation Intel Corporation Intuit Inc. Iron Mountain JPMorgan Chase & Co. Levi Strauss & Co. LinkedIn Lush Handmade Cosmetics Lyft Marriott International MassMutual MGM Resorts International Microsoft Corp. Nike, Inc. PepsiCo Replacements, Ltd. Ropes & Gray Royal Bank of Canada S&P Global Salesforce Sheppard Mullin Sodexo Inc. Splunk State Street Corporation TiVo Corporation Trillium Asset Management Twitter Inc. Uber Warby Parker
Some news items you might have missed: • 
Some news items you might have missed: • 
