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Pride Ad Features Burger King Macking On Ronald McDonald

Burger King lays a whopper on Ronald McDonald in new Helsinki Pride ad (image via MediaPost)

In an effort to show support for Helsinki’s Pride week in Finland, fast-food chain Burger King is running a new ad campaign featuring the King himself laying a whopper on burger competitor Ronald McDonald.

The usual Pride celebration has been canceled due to the COVID-19 crisis, but there are smaller events being held live as well as online streams for folks to join.

The ads feature a painting of the king tenderly kissing McDonald (who we see from behind) with a tagline, “Love Conquers All.”

Kaisa Kasila, Burger King’s Brand Manager for Finland, said in a statement, “We thought, what a better way to convey our values than by portraying an all-encompassing kiss between Burger King and McDonald. We wanted to show that in the end, love always wins.”

“Burger King has always stood for equality, love and everyone’s right to be just the way they are,” added Kasila. “The only instance where it might not seem so, is when we’re bantering with our competitor.”

No word yet on how McDonald’s feels about the ad spots, but Kasila underscored the message that “we want to be clear – it all stems from the respect we have for them. And we know McDonald’s stands for the values we stand for, too.”

Burger King hasn’t been shy about jumping in with gusto when it comes to support for LGBTQ Pride.

Earlier this year, the fast-food king served up ads changing the name of the restaurant to ‘Burger Queer’ on the King’s crown.

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Finland Ranks #1 As ‘Happiest’ Nation

The Nordic nation of Finland ranks number one in global happiness for the second year in a row.

While the debate rages on over socialism, some countries with the highest tax rates come out on top

The Nordic nation of Finland ranks number one in global happiness for the second year in a row.

Via Bloomberg:

It beat Nordic peers Denmark, Norway and Iceland in a ranking of 156 countries by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

The ranking saw the U.S. drop one place, to 19th, while people in South Sudan were the least happy.

The results are based on an average of three years of surveys taken by Gallup between 2016 and 2018 and include factors such as gross domestic product, social support from friends and family, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity, perceived corruption and recent emotions — both happy and sad.

According to the report published on Wednesday, Finland has witnessed modest but steady gains since 2014, and the country is now “significantly ahead” of other countries in the top 10, the researchers said.

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Podcast: Jeb Havens, Barronelle Stutzman, Texas’ “Bathroom Bill,” Finland Ready For Marriage Equality

Click play below as I recap this week’s top headlines from politics, pop culture and entertainment of interest to the LGBT community:

• Anti-LGBT florist Barronelle Stutzman loses again – this time in the Washington state supreme court over refusing to sell flowers for a same-sex wedding

• Texas gets pushback from the NBA and major stars on it’s proposed anti-transgender “bathroom bill”

• North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper shares his plan to repeal his state’s anti-LGBT law, HB2

• Finland’s Parliament kills a last ditch attempt to block same-sex marriage

• Out singer/songwriter Jeb Havens dropped his uber-romantical, world-traveler music video just in time for Valentine’s Day – “Pushy Little Compass Heart” from his album, Home Base

Hit play below – and share the link to share The Randy Report podcast!

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News Round-Up: February 17, 2017

Some news items you may have missed:

• This 22 year St. Louis police veteran (above) was told to “tone down” his “gayness” if he ever wanted to get promoted, despite placing 3rd out of 26 in promotion tests.

• Lady Gaga joined over 140 celebrities in denouncing Texas’ anti-transgender “bathroom bill.”

• Donald Trump’s second pick for National Security Adviser (now that Michael Flynn has resigned) has said “no, thank you” to the offer. According to reports, retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward turned down the chance citing “chaos” in the White House, labeling the offer as a “shit sandwich.”

• Finland’s Parliament rejects a citizen’s initiative to repeal marriage equality by a vote of 120 to 48. Hurray for the good guys!

• Donald Trump heads to Mar-a-Lago again this weekend. His three trips to his southern home have thus far cost the American people almost $10 million. Guarding Trump Tower in NYC could cost $183 million a year.

• Spend a few minutes inside the trials and tribulations of transgender folks in this short film, “Headspace,” by Jake Graf. Watch below:

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Finland’s President Signs Legislation Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage

The Washington Blade reports that last Friday saw Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö sign recent legislation into law that legalizes same-sex marriage for the Scandinavian country.

Niinistö signed the measure roughly four months after lawmakers in the Scandinavian country narrowly approved the measure. They considered the bill after supporters of marriage rights for same-sex couples collected more than 166,000 signatures to bring it before the Finnish Parliament.

Finland’s same-sex marriage law is scheduled to take effect on March 1, 2017.

In other international news, Ireland will be voting on marriage equality on May 22nd. Polls show over 60% of voters support the measure.

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Finland’s Lawmakers Approve Same-Sex Marriage

By a vote of 105-93, Finland’s Parliament approved same-sex marriage – the last country in the Nordic region to do so.

Since 2002 gay and lesbian couples have been able to enter into civil partnerships,  but those legal unions had limits.  With marriage, same-sex couples will also be able to adopt children and share the same surname.

Finland becomes the 12th European country to adopt marriage equality.

Due to changes in other legislation, the new law will not take effect until 2016.

Congratulations Finland!

(source)

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Finland: Marriage equality supporters gather largest number of petition signatures in the country’s history

Although Finland legalized domestic partnerships in 2002, the country has not gotten around to sealing the deal with full marriage equality.

That may change now that a petition has been submitted with three times the necessary number of signatures to bring the issue to Finland’s Parliament:

Supporters gathered 162,000 signatures in favor of it in the Scandinavian nation of 5.4 million people. The figure represents the largest number of signatures collected in favor of a citizen’s initiative in Finland and only 50,000 signatures, or less than a third of 162,000, were needed for the Parliament to have to consider the initiative. The Finnish Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee voted narrowly not to consider a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in February but thanks to the up-swell of public support lawmakers will have to look at the issue again.

(source)

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Finland: Marriage equality supporters successfully gather signatures needed to send issue back to Parliament

Early this month Finland’s marriage equality bill died in committee. However – the public was not happy with that result and have taken action:

A drive to gather the 50,000 signatories required to take a gender-neutral marriage bill to Parliament reached its target in just one day. The accumulation of the required support means that lawmakers must now consider a bill which was previously blocked at the committee stage.

Members of the public rushed to support the “I Do 2013” campaign, which was launched Tuesday to gather the 50,000 signatures required to compel parliament to consider legalising same-sex marriages. Public enthusiasm for the petition was so great that the civic proposal website crashed as a result of the overwhelming demand.

Finland is the only Nordic country that does not recognize same-sex marriage.