LGBTQ news and entertainment
Some news items you might have missed:
• The Advocate: Andry Hernández Romero (above), a gay makeup artist who sought asylum in the U.S. due to persecution in Venezuela but was deported to a prison in El Salvador, has been released as part of a prisoner swap — but he’s being sent back to Venezuela instead of the U.S. Continue reading “Gay Venezuelan Deportee Released From El Salvador Prison + More News”
Ohio State Rep. Wes Goodman (R-Cardington), who consistently touted his faith and conservative values, has abruptly resigned after being confronted with evidence of inappropriate conduct with another man inside his office.
From the Columbus Dispatch:
House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, met Tuesday afternoon with the Cardington Republican soon after the speaker became aware of an incident from weeks ago in the lawmaker’s office that, sources said, involved a male in a consensual situation.
No harassment complaint, sexual or otherwise, was filed against Goodman. But someone, reportedly not a staffer, who knew of or witnessed the incident informed House Chief of Staff Mike Dittoe of the situation early Tuesday afternoon.
“I was alerted to details yesterday afternoon regarding his involvement in inappropriate behavior related to his state office,” Rosenberger said in a statement on Wednesday. “I met with him later in the day where he acknowledged and confirmed the allegations. It became clear that his resignation was the most appropriate course of action for him, his family, the constituents of the 87th House District and this institution.”
The speaker’s office is not releasing additional details of the conduct, though Brad Miller, spokesman for Rosenberger, said it did not involve Statehouse staffers or other legislative members. Rumors about Goodman’s questionable conduct, including his use of social media, have been swirling at the Statehouse in the past few weeks and include stories dating back years to when he worked in Washington. His Facebook account was taken offline.
Rosenberger and Goodman agreed, Miller said, “that it was activity unbecoming of a state representative.”
Goodman, 33, who says on his campaign web site that “healthy, vibrant, thriving, values-driven families are the source of Ohio’s proud history,” expressed regret for his actions.
“We all bring our own struggles and our own trials into public life. That has been true for me, and I sincerely regret that my actions and choices have kept me from serving my constituents and our state in a way that reflects the best ideals of public service,” he said in a statement. “For those whom I have let down, I’m sorry. As I move onto the next chapter of my life, I sincerely ask for privacy for myself, my family, and my friends.”
Goodman’s entire career in politics has been predicated on his uber-conservative positions on “natural marriage” and “pro-family” issues.
As I’ve said in the past: Ye who protesteth the loudest do it the mosteth!
You’ll recall Pastor Mark Burns, who last week posted a controversial cartoon of Hillary Clinton in blackface. When asked about it, he backpedaled apologizing for the method but not the message.
Today, Burns in more hot water as it’s become apparent that he lied about some of his personal/professional accomplishments.
In an interview with CNN’s Victor Blackwell, he became combative and eventually walked off the set when asked about these embellishments.
From CNN:
South Carolina preacher Mark Burns, who regularly introduces Trump at his campaign events, had listed on his church’s website that he had a Bachelor of Science degree and served six years in the Army Reserve.
Burns, however, was never in the Army Reserve. He was in the South Carolina National Guard, from which he was discharged in 2008, CNN found. As far as a Bachelor’s degree, North Greenville University told CNN he only attended the school for one semester. Burns admitted that he did not finish his degree when CNN asked him about it.
When CNN confronted Burns about the various professional and social exaggerations he had featured on his biography, Burns first said the page had “obviously” been either “manipulated or either hacked or added.”
Burns eventually took responsibility for the lies, but blamed his being “targeted” because he’s a black man who supports Donald Trump:
“As a young man starting my church in Greenville, South Carolina, I overstated several details of my biography because I was worried wouldn’t be taken seriously as a new pastor,” Burns said in a statement Friday, pre-butting the report. “This was wrong, I wasn’t truthful then and I have to take full responsibility for my actions. Since that time I should have taken steps to correct any misrepresentations of my background. We all make mistakes, and I hope that the measure of my character and the quality of my works speak for what kind of person I am.”
“I do also want to set the record straight about why this attack is happening — because I am a black man supporting Donald Trump for President,” he continued. “For too long, African-American votes have been taken for granted by Democratic politicians, and enough is enough Instead, I’m going to tell people that there is another option — an option that represents a position vision that will unify our country. That’s why I have and will continue to tirelessly support Mr. Trump.”
So, some may ask, why it this important? This is a pastor of a small church who’s a volunteer for the Trump campaign.
The issue here is that Donald Trump has campaigned on the idea that he will surround himself with “the best people.”
For months, Burns has acted as a campaign surrogate; he has introduced Trump at many campaign rallies; he spoke at Trump’s convention. He has represented the campaign.
Burns admitted to CNN that there was “no vetting” of him to participate in the campaign. No surveys, no background checks.
So, if Donald Trump is touting his ability to judge and select the people he will let represent him, what does his decision to let a man who misrepresented a lot of his accomplishments say about him if he were to become president?
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| (image via Gawker) |
I think you file this under “Delicious Irony.”
It would seem that an über-wealthy hedge fund investor and Republican donor, who has publicly made fun of Hillary Clinton staying in her marriage to “a liar and a cheat,” had an account on the cheaters networking website Ashley Madison.
The account was recently uncovered in the data dump when hackers released the website’s info for the public to see.
From Gawker:
The name and email address of Dan Loeb, founder of hedge fund Third Point LLC and prominent contributor to the Romney campaign, appear in the company’s database of users, and Loeb confirmed in a statement to Gawker that the account is authentic.
Once an Obama supporter, Loeb has since turned into a very generous supporter of Republican candidates and conservative Super PACs—he gifted $1,000,000 to the right-wing American Unity PAC and a quarter million to the Ending Spending Action Fund just last fall, along with tens of thousands of dollars straight to the Republican Party.
More recently he’s become a vocal detractor of presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. In June, he posted a joke to his Facebook page that described Clinton as a put-upon spouse trapped in a loveless marriage with a cheating husband who thinks she’s a lesbian.
I asked Loeb about this account, and received this statement via public relations rep Steven Rubenstein:
“As my family, friends and business colleagues know, I am a prolific web surfer. Did I visit this site to see what it was all about? Absolutely – years ago, at the time I was invested in Yahoo and IAC and was endlessly curious about apps and websites. Did I ever engage or meet with anyone through this site? Never. That was never my intention — as evidenced by the fact that I never provided a credit card to set up an account.”
Interestingly, Loeb’s profile data shows that the last time he checked “private message” on the site was on December 9, 2013 — eight months after he joined Ashley Madison.
Now, why would he be checking private messages if he had no intention of hooking up?
Things that make you go “hmm…”
So many folks are talking about the recent hacking and dumping of data from the online cheaters website Ashley Madison.
One of the factoids of note today was that there were over 15,000 military or government email accounts in the database.
But HERE’s the really delicious news that could really get you over Hump Day.
As we all know by now, Josh Duggar (of 19 Kids and Counting fame) was revealed to have had a problem inappropriately touching little girls about 10-12 year ago when he was a teen. Some of those little girls included some of his sisters.
That would be the same guy who has railed against the evil gays and campaigned against our civil rights.
Since the revelations, his family’s TV series has been cancelled and Josh has issued public statements apologizing for behavior from long-ago.
However, the folks at Gawker found that Josh’s very “conservative” and “deeply religious” leanings that he proclaims so loudly may not be all THAT conservative. They went through the data and found something very interesting.
Take it away Gawker:
But data released online in the wake of the hack on Ashley Madison’s servers certainly seems to show otherwise. Someone using a credit card belonging to a Joshua J. Duggar, with a billing address that matches the home in Fayetteville, Arkansas owned by his grandmother Mary — a home that was consistently shown on their now-cancelled TV show, and in which Anna Duggar gave birth to her first child—paid a total of $986.76 for two different monthly Ashley Madison subscriptions from February of 2013 until May of 2015.
According to the data, Josh Duggar was paying Ashley Madison in order to find an extramarital partner for the following acts:
“Conventional Sex,” Experimenting with Sex Toys,” One-Night Stands,” “Open to Experimentation,” “Gentleness,” “Good With Your Hands,” Sensual Massage,” “Extended Foreplay/Teasing,” “Bubble Bath for 2,” “Likes to Give Oral Sex,” “Likes to Receive Oral Sex,” “Someone I Can Teach,” “Someone Who Can Teach Me,” “Kissing,” “Cuddling & Hugging,” “Sharing Fantasies,” “Sex Talk.”
And here are the turn-ons that he offered up in service of finding a compatible person other than his wife with which to engage in those acts:
“A Professional/Well Groomed,” “Stylish/Classy,” “Casual Jeans/T-shirt Type,” “Muscular/Fit Body,” ”Petite Figure,” “Tall Height,” “Short Height,” “Long Hair,””Short Hair,” “Girl Next Door,” “Naughty Girl,” “Sense of Humor,” “Imagination,” “Creative and Adventurous,” “Relaxed and Easy Going,” “Aggressive/Take Charge Nature,” “Confidence,” “Discretion/Secrecy,” “A Good Listener,” “Good Personal Hygiene,” “Average Sex Drive,” “High Sex Drive,” “Dislikes Routine,” “Has a Secret Love Nest,” “Disease Free,” “Drug Free,” and “Natural Breasts.”
Among other bits of fact that make this “Joshua J. Duggar” probably the now-infamous “Josh Duggar” is that the second of the accounts was cancelled in May of 2015.
That would be about, oh, I don’t know, around the time his troubles became famous?
The hypocrisy! It burns! It burns!
In related news, former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle saves Duggar from being the ickiest sexual predator revealed today after pleading guilty to allegations that he paid for sex acts with minors and received child pornography that he knew had been secretly produced by the former director of his charitable foundation, federal prosecutors said in court documents released Wednesday.
Fogle faces between 5 – 12.5 years in prison and must pay $100K to each of his 14 victims.
So, hey Josh, send a ‘thank you’ to Jared for helping you not be the creepiest guy in the news today!
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| Billboard outside Richmond, VA |
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays, the organization that promotes “reparative therapy” (sometimes called “conversion therapy” – medical professionals call it torture), has been busted for telling the public that folks aren’t born gay because “twins.”
It turns out not only is the man on the billboard in the picture above (model Kyle Roux) not a twin, he’s gay and has been out and proud his whole life.
From LGBTQ Nation:
Kyle Roux, a model from South Africa, has whose photographs were used in the billboard, who said he was shocked his image was used to promote gay-to-straight conversion therapy, especially because he is openly gay.
Roux said the pictures were taken in a photo shoot nearly a decade ago. He said he signed away the rights and was told the pictures would be used in commercial and corporate ads and brochures.
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| Former GOP Senator Larry Craig |
You may recall the tale of former Republican Senator Larry Craig of Idaho, who had to retire from the Senate after being busted in an airport bathroom stall during a 2007 sex-sting.
Yesterday, a federal judge ruled that Larry “Wide Stance” Craig has to pay the U.S. Treasury $242,000 for the improper use of campaign funds during his legal defense.
Craig incurred the legal costs after seeking to withdraw his guilty plea to one count of disorderly conduct at the airport during a layover from a return flight to Washington from his home.
In the current legal action, Craig argued that Senate rules permit reimbursement for any costs while on official travel. But the Federal Election Commission filed suit, saying Craig converted the campaign funds for personal use in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the District agreed.
“The Court finds that defendants violated the FECA when they converted campaign funds to pay for legal expenses related to Senator Craig’s efforts to withdraw his guilty plea, which was a personal matter that was not connected to the Senator’s duties as an officeholder,” Jackson wrote.
At the time of the arrest, the Washington Post was able to ascertain that – judging from what sources told us were the usual arrival and departure gates for his flights — Craig strolled past four bathrooms at the airport before choosing the one where he was eventually busted. It just happened to be the one an airport official deemed “the biggest hotspot” for sexual encounters.
Oh – it should be noted that during his 28 years in Congress, Craig voted against the LGBT community 100% of the time. He had a zero rating from the Human Rights Campaign.