LGBTQ news and entertainment
Some news items you might have missed: • PEOPLE: Don’t miss triple-threat Vanessa Williams covering this week’s issue of PEOPLE where she reflects on living her best life 40 years after her Miss America days. Continue reading “Vanessa Williams Covers PEOPLE Magazine + More News”
Some news items you might have missed: • LGBTQ Nation: Gilead has announced that its new twice-yearly pre-exposure prophylactic (PrEP) injectable medication, lenacapavir, has passed a Phase III clinical trial finding the medication protected patients from HIV in 100% of cases. Continue reading “Twice-Yearly PrEP Med Passes Phase 3 Trial + More News”
Rosie O’Donnell (via Instagram)
R-L Lance Bass and husband Michael Turchin (photo: Lori Dorman)
In this week’s headlines: • Catholic priests in Germany defy the Vatican and bless same-sex unions • GLAAD looks at social media safety for LGBTQ users • A 20-year-old gay man was beheaded by his own family in a brutal ‘honor killing’ in Iran • The gay panic defense is banned in two more states…and counting • Skittles defers to the true “rainbow” for Pride Month • New music from out singer/songwriter Milahroy ‘Daylight’ (Link to music video) All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report
Time to get outdoors and enjoy the warmer weather (stock image via Depositphotos)
A group of lawmakers in North Carolina has proposed a package of 4 bills that would improve life for LGBTQ people in the state. The first bill would repeal House Bill 2, also known as the state’s ‘bathroom bill.’ The second piece of legislation would put into place statewide non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people. The third bill would outlaw so-called ‘conversion therapy,’ the dangerous pseudo-science that attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. And the fourth bill would prohibit the use of the ‘gay panic’ or ‘trans panic’ defense in legal cases which attempts to justify killing or harming someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. “No one should worry that they can’t buy a home because of who they love or be denied a haircut or a hotel room because of their gender identity,” Rep. Vernetta Alston (D-District 29) told the local ABC News affiliate. Kendra Johnson of Equality NC added, “For too long LGBTQ North Carolinians have lived in the shadow of archaic and outdated laws that impact everyone in our community.” Lawmakers say they are ‘hopeful’ the bills have momentum to pass, but I’ll note that the Republican-controlled state legislature hasn’t previously given queer people much to believe in.
In this week’s podcast: • A new Gallup Poll shows more people identify as LGBTQ than ever before • Virginia has outlawed the use of the ‘gay panic’ and ‘trans panic’ legal defenses • Houston police have arrested a man who assaulted and killed a man he met using Grindr • The Equality Act begins its trek through Congress (again) • The largest Protestant adoption and foster agency has announced it will open up its services to LGBTQ families • And the creators of the acclaimed FX series POSE have announced the upcoming 3rd season will be its last All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report podcast
Virginia could be the next state to ban the gay/trans legal defense. House Bill 2132, introduced by state Del. Danica Roem (D-Manassas), was approved on Friday in the House Courts of Justice Subcommittee by a vote of 6-2. All of the Democrats on the committee plus Carrie Coyner (R-Chesterfield County) voted in favor of the legislation. State Dels. Rob Bell (R-Charlottesville) and Les Adams (R-Pittsylvania County) opposed it. From the Washington Blade:
Judy Shepard, Wesley Bizzell of the National LGBT Bar Association and Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth are among those who testified in support of the bill. Out and Equal Workplace Advocates and other groups also submitted testimony in favor of HB 2132.
“Filing this bill as a constituent service request from an out student in Manassas Park reminds me that young LGBTQ people today in 2021 still live with the same fear I did as a 14-year-old freshman in 1998 when Matthew Shepard was tortured and killed for simply existing as a gay man in America,” Roem told the Washington Blade after the vote. “Equality is constituent service and the lives of my LGBTQ constituents need to be protected by the Virginia General Assembly.”
The American Bar Association denounces the gay/trans panic legal defense saying it “legitimizes and excuses violent and lethal behavior against members of the LGBTQ+ community.” “The defense is defined by the LGBT Bar as ‘a legal strategy which asks a jury to find that a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity is to blame for the defendant’s violent reaction, including murder.'” Currently, 11 states and the District of Columbia prohibit using the legal strategy. The state of Maryland is also looking at banning the practice.
Joe Blizzard (via Instagram)
• Washington Blade: Facebook and Instagram have announced they will ban conversion therapy content/posts on their sites, following a block on paid ads promoting the practice earlier this year. • Instinct Magazine: LA Pride has announced that it will be moving out of West Hollywood after almost five decades of celebration citing ongoing construction in West Hollywood Park as well as the changing demographics of Greater Los Angeles. • VOTE: Eight of America’s leading fitness photographers have joined forces for “Flex Your Vote,” a new campaign that urges the LGBTQ community and its allies to the polls this November. “It’s painfully clear why this is the most important time in our lifetimes to vote,” says Mike Ruiz, the campaign’s organizer. “We are being engulfed by a pandemic, millions are unemployed, the government is riddled with corruption. We need to change the direction of this country or we are headed towards a dictatorship where we will be stripped of our rights.”