In this episode of The Randy Report podcast: • Country music star TJ Osborne comes out as gay • Pete Buttigieg becomes first openly gay White House Cabinet member approved by the Senate • President Biden issues memorandum promoting/protecting LGBTQ rights abroad • Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says passing The Equality Act is a “priority” • A white Florida man shoots and kills his Black lover but only gets one year in prison • Out singer/songwriter John Duff drops his latest pop bop, “Do It” All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report You can subscribe/listen to The Randy Report on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud and wherever you find your favorite podcasts. If you enjoy catching up on LGBTQ news in a quick podcast, please consider sharing with your friends or on social media 🙂
A former WWE wrestling star, who performed under the stage name ‘Tyler Reks,’ has come out as transgender. This is Gabbi Alon Tuft.
She shared the news with fans in a social media post on Thursday writing, “This is me. Unashamed, unabashedly me. This is the side of me that has hidden in the shadows, afraid and fearful of what the world would think; afraid of what my family, friends, and followers would say or do.”
“I am no longer afraid and I am no longer fearful,” she adds. “I can now say with confidence, that I love myself for WHO I am.”
“However,” she said, “the day I stopped caring about what other people thought, was the day I truly became limitless and allowed my authentic self to come into the light.”
From 2008 to 2014, Tuft was cheered by fans battling opponents in matches on major professional platforms including Raw, Smackdown and Wrestlemania.
Tuft finally retired in 2014 in order to spend more time with her wife Priscilla and their daughter. Since then, she and Priscilla created a fitness company, Body Spartan, which aims to “positively transform the body, mind and spirit of men and women through targeted video workouts, nutritional programs and motivational sessions.”
While that was the public side of Tuft’s life, privately she had been keeping a secret since childhood.
In an interview with EXTRA’s Billy Bush, she shared, “When I was 10… when my parents weren’t home, I would sneak into my mom’s closet and try out her clothes and it just felt right. But I suppressed it my whole life, just because of society, knowing that people didn’t accept it. So I pushed it down as far as I could.”
Tuft teased the announcement for several days on her Instagram account in a countdown featuring playing cards and photos of friends and family.
After calling the previous eight months “some of the darkest” of her life, Tuft thanked fans and social media followers today for “the incredible outpouring of support.”
“As I walked to my neighbor’s house yesterday, and for the first time since I began my transition, instead of walking with my head down in fear – I held it high, my fingers were no longer clenched and hiding my nails, and my hair was no longer hiding my face,” she wrote. “You have reaffirmed what I already knew, which is that we as humans truly are beings of love and light.”
The world of professional wrestling has seen very little in regard to performers coming out. In 2017, Anthony Bowens came out first as bisexual, and then as gay in 2019.
Country music star TJ Osborne on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (screen capture) Following his public coming out on Wednesday, TJ Osborne of the country duo The Brothers Osborne beamed into The Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk about his decision, and how he feels in the afterglow of the love and support he’s received. Describing the experience as a “very emotional day,” Osborne explained he had really only come out to a very few family and friends before yesterday.
“I was asked ‘why do you have to do this?’ and I wish I didn’t have to. I kind of told myself for a long time ‘if everything is equal here and it’s not that big of a deal then why do I have to come out?’ And unfortunately it just isn’t that way.”
“And I got to this point where I knew there was never going to be a perfect time and honestly, now that I’m kind of behind it now – with coming out – it’s so wild to me to think that about the perfect time is always now.”
Like many folks who finally take the very personal step to share this very intimate part of their life, Osborne shared, “I instantaneously felt like I should have done this a long time ago.”
TJ, I hope you feel so supported today. It’s a brave thing to be wholly you in a world and industry that would rather you hide pieces of you behind a mask. #lgbtq#whollylovedhttps://t.co/KePZYq2gKB
Overcome with joy. He’s one of my best friends and one of the bravest people I know. Love you, TJ. Celebrating you today. https://t.co/5Wg5NKkObM // @brothersosborne
TJ Osborne (image via Brothers Osborne/Facebook) Since forming as a band in 2012, the Brothers Osborne have made a huge splash in the world of country music releasing seven country Top 40 singles and three studio albums. After scoring four CMA Awards and seven Grammy Award nominations, things have been going pretty great. But lead vocalist T.J. Osborne, 36, has grown weary of carrying a secret. So today, the country music star shared with his fans what his family and close friends have known for a long time. Today, TJ Osborne comes out as gay. From TIME Magazine:
In some respects, he says, coming out publicly is no big deal. “I’m very comfortable being gay,” he says later, in a quiet room at the office of his management company. “I find myself being guarded for not wanting to talk about something that I personally don’t have a problem with. That feels so strange.”
With this news, T.J. becomes the only openly gay artist signed to a major country label—a historic moment for the genre. He’s had predecessors, of course: Other openly queer artists, from Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile to masked cowboy Orville Peck to viral hitmaker Lil Nas X, have found success by integrating country influences into their genre-defying music, and country artists including Chely Wright and Billy Gilman have passionate fanbases.
But T.J. may be the first to come out with his feet so firmly planted in both the sound and machinery of mainstream country, in the full bloom of his career.
“People will ask, ‘Why does this even need to be talked about?’ and personally, I agree with that,” he says. “But for me to show up at an awards show with a man would be jaw-dropping to people. It wouldn’t be like, ‘Oh, cool!”
While I celebrate Osborne finally living as his authentic self, the article reveals painful parts of his life – “It was so lonely and isolating.” He also shares one of his favorite songs, “21 Summer,” was actually written about an early heartbreak that he couldn’t discuss with anyone. And he was reminded of that everytime he sang the tune in concert. “There are so many times I’ve sung that song and wanted to cry,” he says. “People love that song, but the emotion of it is deeper than they even realize.” Make sure you read the full piece at TIME. In addition to being an uplifting moment in someone’s life, the article itself is artfully written. And you can find more of my coverage of coming out stories on The Randy Report here.
Haaz Sleiman and Michael Cassidy in ‘Breaking Fast’ Some news items you might have missed: • Pink News: First lady Dr Jill Biden is visiting an LGBTQ health center and HIV/AIDS clinic on her third day in the White House “to highlight and promote support services for cancer patients and caregivers, and hear about the impact of COVID on access to health care, including cancer screenings and prevention efforts.” • Queer Cinema: The gay-themed romantic comedy Breaking Fast, starring Haaz Sleiman and Michael Cassidy (lead image), gets released today on VOD and digital outlets. The acclaimed film offers rare visibility for gay Muslims. Set against the twinkling lights of West Hollywood, Breaking Fast is a romantic comedy that follows Mo, a practicing Muslim still reeling from heartbreak. When an All-American guy named Kal offers to join him in his nightly Iftars –the traditional meal eaten by Muslims during Ramadan– meal after meal, the two start to discover they have more in common than meets the eye.
• Boston Herald: Mark Sahady, 46, of Malden, and Suzanne Ianni, 59, – organizer’s of Boston’s so-called ‘Straight Pride’ event – were arrested for taking part in the violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6. Because of course. • Kenneth-in-the-212: Check out Kenneth’s weekly round-up of the what’s what in LGBTQ publications like Michigan’s BTL featuring Brian Michael Smith (below). • The Nation: Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) has misled the public about training for the Paralympics, just as he misrepresented his education and business history. After saying he “had an opportunity” for the Paralympics with hopes of breaking the 100-meter dash, journalists took a deep dive and couldn’t find any evidence he’d ever competed anywhere. • Instinct Magazine: YouTube star Jojo Siwa (Dance Moms, Nickelodeon) came out via a photo on Twitter.
Screen capture from Cadbury’s new commercial Some news items you might have missed: • LGBTQ Nation: Rising star wrestler Mr. Grim came out as pansexual on New Year’s Day. After he “struggled” with his identity for years, the imposing figure known as the “Hitman For Hire” thanked a trans woman athlete for being his “inspiration.” • Instinct Magazine: Cadbury has taken their annual advertising in an egg-citing direction, and are featuring a stunning gay couple as they creatively dive into a seasonal favorite, the Cadbury egg.
• Pink News: Alexandria Winchester, a 24-year-old Latina transgender woman, was shot dead on Boxing Day in the Bronx making 2020 the deadliest year for trans people on record. • Kenneth-in-the-212: Check out the weekly round-up of LGBTQ publications by KIT212 like South Florida’s Hot Spots Health issue (below). (image via South Florida’s Hot Spots) • Washington Post: Dominion Voting Systems on Friday filed a defamation lawsuit against lawyer Sidney Powell, demanding more than $1.3 billion in damages for havoc it says Powell has caused by spreading “wild” and “demonstrably false” allegations, including that Dominion played a central role in a fantastical scheme to steal the 2020 election from President Trump. • The Advocate: Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican senator who was an ardent critic of Donald Trump until the latter was elected president, was rushed away from an angry pro-Trump mob Friday. Trump supporters heckled and screamed at Graham, who is not visible in the video. “Traitor!” and “Liar!” are screamed by the increasingly angry mob.
JUST IN – Lindsey Graham approached by an angry crowd at the airport in DC, ranting “You traitor.”pic.twitter.com/usNJMMpt8B
Pro rugby player Devin Ibañez with his boyfriend Fergus Some news items you might have missed: • Outsports: Devin Ibañez (above), who played professionally in Major League Rugby, has come out as gay in social media posts, saying he has “decided to embrace what I once felt embarrassed of and be proudly and shamelessly myself.” • PBS: Canada will soon require that air travelers test negative for COVID-19 before arrival, federal ministers said on Wednesday after social media images of maskless tourists prompted a call for stricter measures to curb the virus. • NewNowNext: Marcus D’Amico — who brought the beloved Tales of the City character Michael “Mouse” Tolliver to life in the original 1993 PBS miniseries — died from pneumonia on December 16 at the age of 55. Marcus D’Amico on the right (image via PBS) • The Hill: The United States on Tuesday broke its record for the most number of coronavirus-related deaths in a single day with 3,725 reported, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. As of Wednesday evening, the U.S. has now recorded a total of 342,312 deaths due to COVID-19. • Reuters: Donald Trump’s pardon of four American men convicted of killing Iraqi civilians while working as contractors in 2007 may have violated U.S. obligations under international law. The Geneva Conventions oblige states to hold war criminals accountable for their crimes, even when they act as private security contractors, the U.N. experts said. • Twitter: As the death toll from the coronavirus passes 341,000+ dead Americans, Donald Trump is back on the golf course today.
Dr. Jake Jacob, an openly gay physician, recently reflected on social media about his process of severing ties with the Mormon Church specifically his decision to stop wearing his ‘temple garments.’
Posting a photo clad in just a white t-shirt and briefs, the beefy doc shared with his 278K Instagram followers that it has been 12 years since he decided to stop wearing the ‘magic underwear’ noting “it made no sense since I was having sex with men which is a mortal sin against the Mormon church’s teachings.”
But rather than a sad moment of reflection, Jacob recalls the decision as “life-altering physically, emotionally, and spiritually.”
“It was my last physical reminder, for good or bad, of my ties to childhood religion,” he continued. “It was liberating for my body to finally remove the oppressive clothing that insisted I always stay covered instead of celebrating the body God gave me.”
For the hunky 39-year-old, shedding the garments represented discarding unnecessary shame and self-loathing that he’d carried for years about who he was and a part of himself that he “can’t and shouldn’t change.”
“It was a necessary step in overcoming years of conversion therapy that taught me I was broken and somehow God was supposed to fix me if I was righteous enough, an ever-moving impossible goal post,” he added.
Jacob also recalled the feeling of “sliding into my sheets without any clothes the first night I felt freedom I’d never experienced before.”
Being able to choose how he presented his body to the world began “a journey of loving my own body, embracing my flaws, of actually looking in the mirror and choosing to like what I see without guilt or forced ‘humility’ which I now know was the quest for impossible constant perfection of body and mind.”
The result was the beginning of loving himself “for who I am independent of a higher power’s approval or acceptance of my peers.”
With good and bad days in the rearview mirror, Jacob’s focus now is on the gratitude he feels having journeyed towards self-acceptance.
“I’m grateful I took a chance stepping into the unknown discovering a life I never dreamed could be so fulfilling,” he writes in closing.
The good doctor offers more than just eye-candy on his social media, although he’s clearly built AF. Check out some other recent posts below and follow the body-conscious Jacob on Instagram here for more of his posts.
Alpine skier Hig Roberts (image via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • NewNowNext: Alpine ski legend Hig Roberts (above) has come out as gay. “Not being able to be who I am and not be able to be openly gay as a professional athlete was truly hindering my performance,” the 29-year-old told The NYTimes. • Instinct Magazine: The UK is loosening its restrictions for gay and bisexual men to donate blood – a bit. The National Health Service of the United Kingdom announced men who are sexually active in a relationship with a single male partner for the prior three months can now be considered for donation. • Pink News: Disgraced former influencer Milo Yiannopoulos has vowed to ‘burn the Republican Party to the ground’ after losing everything for ‘Daddy’ Trump. The gay ‘Straight Pride’ figurehead has vented about his life being “completely destroyed”, as Republicans struggle to accept the defeat of Donald Trump. Milo Yiannopoulos (screen capture) • Eonline: A new Guardians of the Galaxy comic story depicts the superhero Star-Lord, played by Chris Pratt in the Marvel movies, in a polyamorous, bisexual relationship. It’s unclear whether the character’s sexuality will be addressed in any Marvel movies, including the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Thor: Love and Thunder. • Vice: Pornhub is removing all videos on its site that weren’t uploaded by official content partners or members of its model program. Before the content purge on Sunday evening, the website hosted around 13.5 million videos, a large number of them from unverified accounts. On Monday morning as of 9 a.m., that number had dropped to only 4.7 million videos. • Boy Culture: Hillary Clinton was feeling good after voting as an elector in New York state for Joe Biden.
3-time Olympic medalist Danell Leyva (screen capture) Gymnast Danell Leyva, who represented Team USA at two Olympic Games, came out to his 52,000+ followers on Twitter earlier this month on National Coming Out Day. “For a long time I’ve known that I wasn’t straight,” began the 28-year-old Cuban-American. “But because of certain very personal reasons, I always rejected that side of me.” Leyva added, “Earlier this year I finally understood that I’m bi/pan (still trying to figure that one out) but I also realized that, as of now at least, I’m not attracted to cis men.”
For a long time I’ve known that I wasn’t straight. But because of certain very personal reasons, I always rejected that side of me. Earlier this year I finally understood that I’m bi/pan (still trying to figure that one out) but…
One of the main reasons why I’ve never come out publicly is because throughout my life, for whatever reason, other people’s perception of my own sexuality have always been imposed onto me and it has always made me reject it even more. It made me uncomfortable. Not because…
A reminder to check the way we say certain things to people. Because sometimes our hearts and intentions may be in the right place, but we never truly know what they’re dealing with.
Speaking to Olympic Channel, Leyva shared that stereotypes about men in his sport, plus his own determination to not give homophobes “the satisfaction of being right,” slowed his coming out process in some respects. “[The stereotypes were] such a big factor in it, just not giving those people the satisfaction of being right because it doesn’t come from a good place,” said Leyva. “It wasn’t somebody that was trying to help us understand [our sexuality]. It was just somebody pointing at us and that doesn’t feel good.”
The Olympic champion also noted that, as he was growing up, he would “always somewhat reject” his sexuality. “And especially coming from Hispanic family, it’s very much rejected,” he added. Leyva says he had been thinking about coming out for a while and almost shared the news this past June during Pride Month. But with Black Lives Matter protests happening across the nation in the aftermath of George Floyd’s homicide, he reconsidered. “I was like, ‘No, I’m not really that important,’” said Leyva. “And so I decided to just kind of forget about it, and I did forget about it.” Until, that is, until this year’s National Coming Out Day and those five empowering tweets. Since sharing his authentic self with the world, Leyva says the response he’s received has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive. Among the many who have sent messages of support were fellow Olympic gymnasts Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, and out figure skater Adam Rippon.
Congratulations Danell. Happy #NationalComingOutDay. Incredible for you to share something so personal. Don’t be so terrified, it gets easier. Really happy for you. You just have to be yourself & people who matter will still love you. Sending u socially distanced hugs ❤ 🏳️🌈 🌈
Glad you feel comfortable enough to share, and like other mentioned, don’t bother with exact labels. Feel free to explore and change your mind at any point, the only person you have an obligation to I that regard is yourself. 🏳️🌈
Also comforting to the 2011 World parallel bars champion were messages giving him space to not worry about this label or that label. “In the post, I said that I’m still trying to figure out between whether I’m a bi or pan. It was nice to have people be like, ‘You don’t have to label it. You don’t have to just be ‘a thing’. It’s an ever-changing fluid thing, so you don’t have to worry about that,’” explained the world-class athlete. “That was nice because that was certainly reassuring.” “You know, it’s such a non-issue,” he continued. “It literally means nothing that if you’re just like, ‘Oh, you’re left-handed? That’s cool. Oh, you’re bi? That’s cool.’ Like, it’s really nothing.” “Everybody’s different, you know?” said Leyva before adding, “And at the same time, we’re not.” Leyva hopes that his coming out might offer some inspiration to those considering coming out themselves. “If I get help one person be brave enough to live in their truth, then I feel like that that was the entire point of that post.” And speaking of ‘inspiration,’ let’s flashback to Leyva’s exhibition performance on the parallel bars at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
In this episode of The Randy Report podcast: • Country music star TJ Osborne comes out as gay • Pete Buttigieg becomes first openly gay White House Cabinet member approved by the Senate • President Biden issues memorandum promoting/protecting LGBTQ rights abroad • Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says passing The Equality Act is a “priority” • A white Florida man shoots and kills his Black lover but only gets one year in prison • Out singer/songwriter John Duff drops his latest pop bop, “Do It” All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report You can subscribe/listen to The Randy Report on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud and wherever you find your favorite podcasts. If you enjoy catching up on LGBTQ news in a quick podcast, please consider sharing with your friends or on social media 🙂 
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