LGBTQ news and entertainment
Some news items you might have missed: • Insider: Idiot social media users on TikTok and Twitter used Grindr to find athletes in Tokyo’s Olympic Village with profiles on the gay dating app and then shared their photos online. The bone-headed move put some athletes who live in countries where being gay is illegal in jeopardy. Continue reading “News Round-Up: July 28, 2021”
(image via Mart Production/Pexels)A high ranking official for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) resigned his position after the conference was approached by a Catholic media outlet purporting to have cellphone data indicating he regularly used Grindr, the gay dating app.
The Pillar, an online newsletter that reports on the Catholic Church, published its claims about Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill and the alleged Grindr use on Tuesday. The post also contends that Burrill “engaged in serial sexual misconduct” as well as frequented “gay bars and private residences.”
Burrill, a priest from the La Crosse, Wisconsin, diocese resigned from his position as general secretary from USCCB on the same day. As general secretary of the USCCB, Burrill was responsible for coordinating administrative work and planning for the conference, which is the country’s network for Catholic bishops.
USCCB spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi told the Washington Post it was Burrill’s decision to resign after being notified of The Pillar’s allegations of “improper behavior.”
#BREAKING: Per memo from @ArchbishopGomez, Msgr. Jeffrey Burrill has resigned as General Secretary of the @USCCB. pic.twitter.com/Ci6bCrjA0P
— Christopher White (@cwwhite212) July 20, 2021
The Pillar says an independent firm had authenticated “commercially available records” based on data Grindr collects from its users.
“A mobile device correlated to Burrill emitted app data signals from the location-based hookup app Grindr on a near-daily basis during parts of 2018, 2019, and 2020 — at both his USCCB office and his USCCB-owned residence, as well as during USCCB meetings and events in other cities,” reported The Pillar.
The “commercially available” signal data doesn’t include users’ names but instead correlates a specific numerical identifier assigned to each mobile device. Privacy experts say it’s possible to identify a specific cellphone by checking locations an individual may frequent like their home or workplace.
So, it would appear, someone searched through the “obtained and analyzed data” looking at Burrill’s residence and office space and noted the identifier.
The report went on to conflate homosexuality with pedophilia in an extremely heavy-handed manner even though there doesn’t appear to be any evidence Burrill was in contact with minors through his use of Grindr.
The Washington Post reports experts “have long raised concerns about ‘anonymized’ data collected by apps (like Grindr) and sold to or shared with aggregators and marketing companies.”
A spokesperson for Grindr described the report by The Pillar as “homophobic” and told the Post the data described in the story couldn’t be publicly accessed.
“The alleged activities listed in that unattributed blog post are infeasible from a technical standpoint and incredibly unlikely to occur,” said the representative in a statement. “There is absolutely no evidence supporting the allegations of improper data collection or usage related to the Grindr app as purported.”
Adding more for those who didn't read through:
Right-wing Catholic zealots obtained tracking data from Burrill's cell phone, Grindr location data, etc., & then used it to force him to resign — then wrote it up, & grotesquely connected gay to child predation. Nasty stuff.
— Michelangelo Signorile (@MSignorile) July 21, 2021
Out singer/songwriter KENTÖ
Gay Valedictorian Says Speech From Memory After Principal Tries To Cut It Short https://t.co/ukrqrqqInN # #Graduation #HighSchool #lgbt pic.twitter.com/xvTSONzzb3
— Instinct Magazine (@instinctmag) June 25, 2021
• New York Times: The Manhattan district attorney’s office has informed Donald Trump’s lawyers that criminal charges against his family business, the Trump Organization, in connection with fringe benefits the company awarded its chief financial officer, Allen H. Weisselberg, could be announced as soon as next week. • Justice Dept: Michael Atkinson, 28, Pablo Ceniceros-Deleon, 21, and Daryl Henry, 24, were sentenced to prison terms for their involvement in targeting gay men for violent crimes. The sentences ranged from 11-22 years for luring five men (using the Grindr dating app) to a vacant apartment in Dallas where they held the men at gunpoint, kidnapped, carjacked, and assaulted them. • Out Music: I recently shared the latest from out singer/songwriter Kentö, and today the artist (top photo) drops the official music video for the single, “Silhouette.” “Silhouette” is the first single from Kentö’s upcoming album release, Strangers, slated for release later this year. Kentö shares, “I feel like I’m finally making music that is really expressing the sounds that have been in my head all along.” https://youtu.be/fVUuXa2UHGw
(image via Depositphotos)
Jenkins pleaded guilty to one hate crime count, one count of conspiracy to commit hate crimes, kidnapping, and carjacking, and one count of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
According to court documents filed in connection with his guilty plea, Jenkins admitted that he and his co-conspirators used Grindr, a social media dating platform used primarily by gay men, to lure gay men to a vacant apartment and other areas in and around Dallas for robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, and hate crimes over the course of approximately a week in December 2017.
Jenkins admitted that he and his co-conspirators held victims against their will; pointed a handgun at victims and took their personal property, including their vehicles; and traveled to local ATMs to withdraw cash from the victims’ accounts.
Jenkins further admitted that he and his co-conspirators physically injured at least one victim and taunted the victims based upon the co-conspirators’ perception of the men’s sexual orientation.
In March 2019, Michael Atkinson pleaded guilty to conspiracy and kidnapping charges in connection with this case. In December 2019, Daryl Henry and Pablo Ceniceros-Deleon pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime and other charges in connection with this case. Sentencing for these three defendants is set for June 23.
At his sentencing, scheduled for October 6, Jenkins will face up to 26 years in prison.
(image via Depositphotos) Officer Eric King, LGBT Liaison for Atlanta Police Department
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
Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons (photo via Instagram)
(image via DNA Magazine)
The popular gay dating app Grindr asked 10,000 users in the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, and India how their ‘socializing’ behaviors have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Just some of the results of the poll:
• 88% say discussing COVID safety helped them make a decision about whether or not to meet up with someone
• 69% say they’ve watched more porn
• 64% say they’ve been more likely to try new socially distant ways of meeting up
• 58% say they’re more interested in a long term relationship than they were before the pandemic
• 31% say they’ve hooked up with a mask on
• 71% say trading pictures and videos on Grindr helped them get off during the pandemic
• 59% of users say their sex drive has increased during the pandemic
• 48% say they’ve hooked up virtually during the pandemic
Head over to Grindr’s blog for more results from the survey. Who’s been on Grindr lately? (stock image via Depositphotos)
(image via Depositphotos)
The entire hydroxychloroquine hype cycle was utter madnesshttps://t.co/18I0WJxLTo
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) January 26, 2021
Norway’s Data Protection Authority said it plans to fine dating app Grindr $11.7 million for what the regulator said was illegal disclosure of user data to advertising firms https://t.co/QD5YYjOTJJ
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 26, 2021
The Senate has voted 55-45 to reject a Republican effort to stop Trump’s impeachment trial https://t.co/AXNkJI28p8 pic.twitter.com/aJHsnIAlbl
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 26, 2021
(photo via Depositphotos)On a Throwback Thursday note, I was recently reminded of the so-called Hanky code used predominately by gay men in the 1970s and 1980s as a method of sexual signaling.
Before we had dating apps like Scruff and Grindr to pretty much ‘lay it all out there’ in terms of what sexual practice, fetish or role one preferred, there was the hanky code. The practice was also referred to as the ‘bandana code’ or flagging.
Basically, men would stuff a colored bandana in their back pocket – left position meant you liked to take the top bunk or dominant role while right pocket wearers were letting the world know they preferred being on the receiving/passive side of the spectrum.
And there was a whole rainbow of interests to express interest in.
Stores that catered to gay men would sell a variety of bandanas along with free decoder lists so guys could make sure they were sending the appropriate signal.
A red hanky indicated an interest in fisting; light blue meant someone might be on the hunt for oral sex; a yellow bandana was a pretty obvious signal for watersports; and green would act as an advertisement for hustlers.
(screen capture via Wikipedia)Of course, there was always the chance that a newbie gay might think the hanky thing was just a cool fashion choice. Inevitably, though, a friend would let them know what that brown bandana hanging from their right belt loop really meant.
Eventually, the hanky code became quite an extensive list of hues and shades differentiating to such a degree as to separate light blue, robin’s egg blue, teal blue and navy blue. It practically became its own language.
(image via Penn State – CC BY-SA 4.0 License)Some credit a journalist for the Village Voice in early 1971 for coming up with the system while others say Alan Selby, founder of Mr. S Leather in San Francisco, created the first hanky code as a way to sell an accidental over-shipment of bandanas he received.
According to The History Project, the hanky code was predominately used early on by gay men interested in the BDSM movement or the leather subculture. But it soon started to spread into the queer mainstream by the 1970s.
But the nonverbal shorthand began to fall out of favor in the 1980s as anonymous sex habits grew to be frowned upon thanks to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its devastating effects on our community.
Most trends tend to evolve over time, though, and by the 1990s a black and white checked bandana became a way to flag someone as embracing safe sex practices and HIV awareness.
As we moved into the digital age, with increased embracing of the internet, use of the hanky code eventually faded as more overt fashion choices regarding sexual predilections emerged in the gay community like leather harnesses, collars, and more. But the hanky code is important to remember as a part of LGBTQ history beginning in the 1970s as we grew more confident about signaling not only our identity and visibility in public but also reflecting the queer zeitgeist through the years. (photo: Muzzlesf, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)
