Tag: homophobia

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School Chaperones March Students Out Of ‘Gay’ Nutcracker

(photos: Michael Brosilow/The House Theatre)
Ohio’s Notre Dame Academy found itself in an unexpected controversy after school faculty and chaperones decided students couldn’t be exposed to a two-men playing the parents in a production of the holiday classic, The Nutcracker. Each year the Catholic school takes its 8th graders on a field trip. This year, the school chose The House Theatre of Chicago’s production of The Nutcracker. According to school alum Carly McGoldrick, the students were marched out of the theater before the curtain even went up once the adults in charge realized the same-sex casting.

The production has received rave reviews.

Notre Dame Academy posted this apology on its Facebook page:

We apologize for our decision for 8th graders leave to a performance of The Nutcracker before it began due to casting choices. The mistake is contrary to our inclusive spirit and reminds us our actions should affirm that we are all God’s children.

To clarify what happened, the decision was made for the NDA eighth-graders to leave a performance of The Nutcracker before it began because upon arrival they discovered that the producer had chosen to cast two men as the main character’s parents. However, the Spirit of Inclusion statement adopted by the NDA Board of Trustees in 2014 affirms that we in the Notre Dame Academy community welcome all into our Gospel community including but not limited to people of all colors, religions, ethnicities, sexual orientations, gender expression, abilities, economic classes, and nationalities.

We consider the decision to not attend the performance a mistake and sincerely apologize to anyone we offended. The action does does not reflect NDA’s true values. Rest assured we will redouble our efforts to live up to our inclusion statement.

Sometimes we teach our children as much from our mistakes as from our successes. We view this as a chance to teach our students the value of taking ownership of one’s mistakes and to reaffirm that our community is committed to inclusion.

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News Round-Up: November 26, 2019

InstaHunk Max Souza is looking fierce

InstaHunk Max Souza is looking fierce Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: When the future’s so bright you gotta wear shades, you might be hottie Max Souza (above). • NZ Herald: Ken Miller and his husband Jason Brumbaugh moved to New Zealand two years ago and bought a restaurant, Saluté, that became the target of local homophobia. Then, an online review of the small-town restaurant raved about the food and denounced the homophobia sparking a nationwide wave of support for its owners. • The Gaily Grind: Actress Jamie Lee Curtis said in a new interview that she “fully accepts outing” hypocritical politicians that pass “anti-gay legislation.” And I’m totally with her. • Boy Culture: First a hit novel, then a movie, and in 2020 will become ‘The Series,’ Matt Rettenmund is releasing a 25th Anniversary Edition of his book, Boy Culture. Click here for the backstory on the novel, a cavalcade of sexy covers from all the international iterations of the book, plus a link to buy the new, updated edition. Congrats, Matt! • PEOPLE: First lady Melania Trump was met with a “resounding chorus of loud boos” from middle and high schoolers as soon as she walked on stage at an opioid awareness event on Tuesday. • Advocate: For her decades of activism with LGBTQ youth, Cyndi Lauper will be awarded the inaugural High Note Global Prize presented by the United Nations Human Rights and the High Note Global Initiative at her annual Home for the Holidays concert on December 10. • JustJared: Wendy Williams denied she’s gay telling her audience today, “I am no lesbian. I like women for friendship. I like men and I like the D.” • Instagram: Madonna had ‘a moment’ with out rapper Lil Nas X at the Wiltern Theater during the residency of her Madame X tour in Los Angeles.

 

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Is happy to Share her last name ❌ and a beer 🍺 with @lilnasx #madamextheatre #thewiltern

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Swiss Father Slits Son’s Throat For Being Gay

(image via CEN)
A gay teen in Switzerland has shared his shocking story of an attempt by his own father to kill him. The 17-year-old, identified as “Seran M” in the press for his own protection, told the Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten that he woke one night to find his father holding a knife to his throat. According to a Google Translation of the news report, the father shouted at the teen, “You’re gay, you’re gay?” And at that point, he slid the blade across the teen’s neck. Seran says he fought off his father while sustaining further injuries to his neck and upper body. Eventually, the teen escaped the attack across a balcony and sought safety at a neighbor’s home. Due to the severity of his injuries to his throat, chest, arms, and back, he was flown to the University Hospital of Bern. “Fortunately, he narrowly missed the carotid artery, but my trachea was badly injured,” shared Seran. “I had to be put in an artificial coma.” Seran, whose family is from Iraq, told 20 Minuten he doesn’t know how his father discovered he is gay adding, “I’ve always hidden my homosexuality from my family.” Since leaving the hospital six months ago he lives on his own in Bern and feels he is “a freer person than before the incident.” That said, the scars from the hate crime remind him of the incident every day. “I see them in the mirror or when I take selfies and snaps,” he explains. “They will be with me or the rest of my life.” Seran added that he’s begun counseling to help him process the emotional scars. He says he’s sharing his story to encourage other LGBTQ people from Muslim backgrounds to “get help if you want to come out as gay.” “We are living in 2019 and my dad wanted me dead because I’m attracted to men. I just cannot accept that. I hid long enough, this is the end of that now.” According to the UK’s Daily Star, the father was arrested for the attack but it’s unclear when he will stand trial. Switzerland has wrestled with the issue of homophobia for years. A 2016 study found that gay men in Geneva are four times more likely to suffer attacks than men in the general population. ILGA, a human rights organization, ranks Switzerland 27th out of 49 countries in Europe on LGBTQ+ equality. (source: Google Translate/20 Minuten)

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Out Swimmer Removed From Training Group Admits To Drinking/Breaking Honor Code

Two-time NCAA champion Abrahm DeVine (image via Instagram)
Last week, two-time NCAA champion swimmer Abrahm DeVine shared a lengthy message on his Instagram addressing homophobia he said he experienced as an openly gay athlete at Stanford University. DeVine, who graduated from the university this year but is continuing to take classes, accused the Stanford Swim coaching staff of removing him from the Stanford swim team because of his sexuality. “There are surface level reasons I was kicked off the Stanford swim team, but I can tell you with certainty that it comes down to the fact that I am gay,” wrote DeVine.

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As many of you know, I’m an openly gay swimmer and I am the only one at my level. I want to use this post to call out some of the homophobia that I’ve experienced being an athlete, and encourage everyone to be thoughtful and intentional about changing some of the homophobic aspects of the athletic culture that exists today. While I have many specific examples of micro aggressions and outright aggressions that I’ve experienced, homophobia is ultimately much more than an accumulation of experiences. In fact, it is a denial of experience. While I feel like I’ve tried to convey this to many people, many of whom deny any possibility that they contribute it, I’ve started to ask myself: Why is it my job to educate coaches and athletes at the most resourceful university in the world? I cannot continue to try to engage people in this conversation when there is so much fragility to obscure my humanity and character, so much rhetoric to keep me silent. Everyone says they support me, and yet, for the millionth time, I am the only one speaking up. To my coaches who sport the pride flag on their desk, to the athletes who liked my pride photo on Instagram, I need you to wake up to what’s happening around you. How can you say you support me and my equality? How can you not see how Stanford Swim has treated me and used me over the last 4 years? Am I invisible? Plain and simple: there are surface level reasons I was kicked off the Stanford swim team, but I can tell you with certainty that it comes down to the fact that I am gay. This is a pattern. Homophobia is systematic, intelligently and masterfully designed to keep me silent and to push me out. I am a talented, successful, educated, proud, gay man: I am a threat to the culture that holds sports teams together. I want something to change, because I can’t take it anymore. My story is not unique. There are queer voices everywhere and all you have to do is listen. I am asking, begging for some sort of action. If you are reading this, this post is for you! Gay or straight, swimmer or not. None of us are exempt from homophobia. It is your civil duty to educate yourself. If you choose not to, it is at my expense.

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The coaching staff of Stanford Swim issued a statement refuting DeVine’s claims and added that the athlete wasn’t being allowed to train with the team “for reasons entirely unrelated to his sexuality.” I remember reading the story and at the time both the ‘surface reasons’ and the ‘reasons entirely unrelated’ comments stuck out as intentionally vague.

The Stanford Daily is now reporting DeVine’s “expulsion came after he drank at a Team USA swim meet instead of showing up to support his teammates who were competing, a violation of the National Team’s Honor Code.” The Daily also makes a point to clarify that DeVine wasn’t kicked off the swim team but was “barred from the University’s pro-training group after finishing his collegiate career.” DeVine told the Daily that while he stands by his Instagram post, he feels people focused on just one aspect of the essay and not his main point. “I think that I wrote this entire Instagram post where every sentence is very important, but the only one that people are really focusing on is me calling out Stanford, and that makes my message sound very aggressive and that I’m out for blood, when in reality that is not what I wanted at all,” DeVine said. “I’m here to just say this is a systemic issue.” DeVine says his message was meant to highlight what he feels is a homophobic environment on the Stanford team and to “call out” the homophobia he says he experienced. During his time on the Stanford swim team, DeVine recalls coaches attempting to motivate swimmers by appealing to “masculine stereotypes,” and when he tried to explain why he felt excluded from the team as a gay athlete, the coaching staff would “get defensive and unwilling to listen to him.” DeVine came out in an interview with Swimming World magazine in September of 2018. At the time, he told the magazine he felt his teammates and coaches “received the news warmly” and expressed regret that he had struggled with deciding to come out to them. “I remember that being a pretty emotional time, and just feeling my whole team wrap around me and feeling that love in a place where I hadn’t really felt it, that was definitely pretty special for me,” DeVine said. “Just seeing them kind of prove me wrong was definitely special, something I’ll never forget.”

(source: Stanford Daily, Swimming World)

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Podcast: Suicide In Tennessee, Swimmer Booted For Being Gay, Music Video Highlights Domestic Violence

In this week’s headlines: • A Tennessee teen commits suicide after being outed by fellow students (If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255) • The Trump administration tried to wipe out Pride crosswalks • A suspect has been arrested in brutal crime where a gay man was tied to a minivan and dragged through the streets of Jacksonville • Collegiate swimmer says he was kicked off Stanford’s swim team for being openly gay • Tom Goss’s new music video ‘La Bufadora,’ dives into domestic violence among LGBTQ couples All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report. Reminder – if you enjoy catching up on LGBTQ news in a quick podcast, I’d appreciate if you would share The Randy Report with your friends 🙂

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News Round-Up: September 30, 2019

InstaHunk Dan Tai (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Ok, who knew hottie Dan Tai (above) even owned this much clothes??? Btw – Dan shares in his Instagram post wise words about cherishing the moment you’re in. Follow him here. • Billboard: Rapper Lil Nas tells CBS This Morning’s Gayle King he knew he was gay early on and used to “pray, pray and pray.” When King asked what he prayed for, he said, “That it was a phase.” • CNN: The latest polling by SSRS shows 47% of Americans support impeaching Donald Trump and removing him from office, up from 41% who felt that way in a CNN poll in May. Opposition stands at 45% in the new poll, down from 54% who said so in May and the lowest point in CNN polling. There’s equally bad news for Trump in the latest Quinnipiac (47% support) and CBS News (55% support) polls. • Buffalo News: Rep. Chris Collins (R) – most famous as the first member of Congress to support Donald Trump’s presidential campaign – resigned from Congress today after pleading guilty to criminal insider trading. • LGBTQ Nation: Abrahm DeVine, a 23-year-old collegiate swimmer who came out as gay in a 2018 interview with Swimming World magazine, says he was kicked off of the Stanford University swim team due to “systematic homophobia.” DeVine is a member of the U.S. men’s national swim team and was an NCAA champion at Stanford. • Out Music: Peter Thomas drops his latest single, “If You’re Happy Now,” about the aftermath of a breakup. “Heartbreak has been replaced by a less intense heartache,” explains Thomas. “I find myself wondering about you. Are you okay? Do you have someone new? Are we in the same time zone? Maybe we’re not ready to talk yet, and maybe we won’t end up together, but I still care. I’ll always care. And I want to know if you’re alright.” I have stood in the center of that emotional landscape. Hit the play button below.

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Indiana Teen Beaten In High School Locker Room

Video footage of a high school student in Alexandria, Indiana, being attacked and beaten in the boy’s locker room was widely circulated among students and even sent to the boy’s mother. The reason for the attack? Being gay. Speaking to local NBC affiliate WTHR the young man said, “I’m not ok, but I will be.” The assault took place following gym class after he’d gotten dressed “The guy who attacked me was standing next to my locker and wouldn’t stop staring at me, so I had a weird feeling that something was about to happen,” the student told WTHR. What ‘happened’ was the student began shoving the teen. “He kept pushing me, but then he stopped pushing me and everything got quiet, so I thought he walked out,” said the young man. But the attacker didn’t leave, he’d merely paused before he began punching his victim. “I felt him punch me a couple more times and I got hit my face on the mirror and then he punched me in the head twice,” said the student. “It happened so fast. I can remember them holding me against the wall,” he added, explaining that two other students helped restrain him so he couldn’t fight back. The boy says he knows who his alleged attackers are and that they’d teased him before about being openly gay. “I’ve gotten so used to it over the years that it doesn’t phase me much,” he said. Eventually, another student stepped in and stopped the assault. When the teen’s mother took him to the hospital he was told his nose was broken. “I just tell myself to forget what happened and try to act like it never happened,” he said. School officials and Alexandria police both say they are investigating the incident. The alleged victim calls what happened a hate crime and has a message for others students targeted because of their sexuality. His parents say they’re not going to let what happened to their son get swept under a rug. They’ve been told by school officials that two of the students involved have been expelled, but WTHR was unable to confirm that. (source: WTHR)

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Egypt: TV Host Sentenced To One Year Hard Labor For Interviewing Gay Man

Mohamed al-Ghiety

A television host in Egypt has been fined $167 and sentenced to a year of hard labor for the crime of interviewing a gay man.

According to the BBC, Mohamed al-Ghiety interviewed a gay man in 2018 about his life as a sex worker. In the interview, the man (who was not identified) says he has regrets about being gay and working as a prostitute.

A lawyer, Samir Sabry, sued the TV host for appearing to promote possible monetary gains from “practicing” homosexuality. Sabry apparently has a history of targeting celebrities via lawsuits.

Ghiety, who ironically has history of homophobic comments, will also be under police surveillance for a year after his prison sentence.

Homosexuality is not specifically illegal in Egypt, but police often arrest folks suspected of being LGBTQ by using a 1961 law banning prostitution which criminalizes ‘habitual debauchery.’

At the time of the interview, the top governing organization for media – the Supreme Council for Media Regulation – banned the channel from airing for two weeks due to ‘professional violations.’

The media council has prohibited LGBTQs from being shown on television in the conservative country since an incident at a Cairo rock concert in 2017, where a rainbow Pride flag was waved in a rare exhibition of gay pride.

(image via Facebook/Egypt Rainbow)

At the time, the BBC wrote, “The raising of rainbow flags at the concert by the Lebanese band Mashrou’ Leila – whose lead singer is openly gay – on 22 September was a rare public show of support for the LGBT community in the conservative Muslim country.”

As a result of the images going viral, 32 men and a woman were detained by authorities. The BBC reported that five of those men had anal examination carried out on them.

For a bail bond of 1,000 Egyptian pounds ($58US), Ghiety could appeal his verdict and remain free while he awaits the outcome of the appeal.

(h/t BBC)

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Don Lemon On Kevin Hart Debacle: “Stop Lowkey Cosigning Homophobia”

CNN’s Don Lemon addresses the ongoing Kevin Hart/homophobia story

I’ve been conflicted watching this whole Kevin Hart kerfuffle on whether he should or shouldn’t host the Oscars after homophobic tweets and jokes from some years ago resurfaced.

Yesterday, I posted a segment from Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show where she implored Hart to reconsider hosting the Academy Awards saying she knows him, she knows he’s grown as a person and she believes in him and his apology.

As you may recall, Hart was selected to host on December 4, but stepped down from the gig three days later in the aftermath of the homophobic tweets returned to the spotlight.

In the interview, Hart says, “It’s ten years old. This is stuff I’ve addressed. I’ve talked about this; this isn’t new. I’ve addressed it. I’ve apologized for it.”

Now, I believe we can change to some degree as we grow older. And I believe a good, straightforward apology is something to be accepted.

One sticking point I’ve had, though, is Hart saying he had apologized for his ‘jokes’ already and didn’t want to keep doing so.

Out journalist Louis Virtel had this take on that statement:

But I couldn’t find an actual apology in his history, other than the one he issued after he stepped down from the Oscar gig.

It turns out I’m not the only one.

CNN host Don Lemon, armed with some info via Vulture, took to the airwaves last night to weigh in on the issue now that Ellen had hosted Hart on her afternoon talk show and urged Hart to reconsider hosting the Oscars.

Lemon says he felt the need to address the issue as a member of both the LGBTQ and Black communities.

“These issues need to be addressed especially when it comes to black youth in our country. They need to know that they have value. And it’s ok to be who they are.

“We in the African American community have to stop low-key cosigning homophobia. It is not cool. And we won’t tolerate jokes that tell those youth otherwise.

“We need to talk about how some people who’ve messed up can become allies as well. Because apologizing and moving on does not make the world a better place for people who are gay or are transgender. Being an ally does.”

Lemon also noted that LGBTQ homeless youth are disproportionately black, with black kids representing some 62% of homeless trans youth.

Lemon then contrasts Hart’s jokes about violence against a potentially gay son is especially harmful. “The truth is that is a reality for many little boys in the United States,” said Lemon. “Somewhere, a black dad is beating his black son.”

Lemon also announced that the Oscars and ABC have now said they want Hart to host the Academy Awards if he signals he wants the job.

I’m not always the biggest fan of Lemon, but I think he has salient points here. Definitely worth the watching.

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Ellen DeGeneres Faces Backlash After Urging Kevin Hart To Reconsider Decision To Not Host Oscars

During today's chat, Ellen basically lets Hart have the floor to explain what hosting the Oscars meant to him, how he viewed the shit storm over his homophobic tweets involved statements from a decade ago and how he's spent ten years moving on from that 'immature' comedian into becoming a grown, cultured man. DeGeneres urged Hart to reconsider his decision on stepping down as Academy Awards host.
Kevin Hart and Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen Degeneres feels so strongly that comedian Kevin Hart should reverse his decision and host the upcoming Academy Awards, she interviewed him for her show about it.

The segment was set to air Monday, but she felt SO emphatic about the issue she moved the interview to air today.

In December, Hart stepped down as host of the Oscars after a social media uproar over past homophobic tweets.

One tweet from 2010 said a user’s profile picture looked “like a gay billboard for AIDS.” Another tweet, from 2012, read: “Yo if my son comes home & try’s 2 play with my daughters doll house I’m going 2 break it over his head & say n my voice ‘stop that’s gay.'”

During today’s chat, Ellen basically lets Hart have the floor to explain what hosting the Oscars meant to him, how he viewed the shit storm over his homophobic tweets involved statements from a decade ago and how he’s spent ten years moving on from that ‘immature’ comedian into becoming a grown, cultured man.

DeGeneres urged Hart to reconsider his decision on stepping down as Academy Awards host.

“As a gay person. I am sensitive to all of that. You’ve already expressed that it’s not being educated on the subject, not realizing how dangerous those words are, not realizing how many kids are killed for being gay or beaten up every day,” DeGeneres told Hart.

In fact, DeGeneres shares that she actually called the Academy on Hart’s behalf.

“I called them, I said ‘Kevin’s on. I have no idea if he wants to come back and host. What are your thoughts?’ And they were like, ‘oh my God, we want him to host. We feel like maybe he was misunderstood or it was handled wrong or we said the wrong thing. But we want him to host.Wwhatever we can do we would be thrilled and he should host the Oscars’”

Hart now says he’ll reconsider his decision.

The 2019 Academy Awards airs February 24.

Some LGBTQ activists are not having Ellen giving Hart a platform and her support here.