LGBTQ news and entertainment
Ivanka Trump really doesn’t want to testify in her father’s civil fraud trial in New York City. And when the judge overseeing the case denied a motion from her attorney to quash a subpoena compelling her testimony, she appealed, claiming “undue hardship” if forced to appear during a “school week.” Continue reading “Ivanka Trump: Testifying During School Week Would Create ‘Undue Hardship’”
Some news items you might have missed: • Gallup: The percentage of U.S. adults who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual has increased to a new high of 7.1%, which is double the percentage from 2012, when Gallup first measured it. Continue reading “News Round-Up: February 17, 2022”
Nick Vallejo (image via Instagram)
This happened yesterday in Minnesota, the suspect was a 61-year-old white man fleeing police. He wasn’t shot or tased. pic.twitter.com/FEq39kssC9
— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) April 15, 2021
Some news items you might have missed:
• Gay Star News: A transgender woman is suing the Georgia Department of Corrections for failing to protect her from sexual assault after being assaulted 14 times in prison. Continue reading “News Round-Up: November 25, 2020”
From the activist filmmakers group The Meidas Touch:
Our video #ByeIvanka takes the commencement address given by Ivanka Trump today that no one asked her or invited her to give (which she gave in front of an empty room using White House resources after Wichita State canceled her speech because her and her family are hate mongers) and places her scripted, sterile, and disingenuous words against the backdrop of what is actually going on in the country.
Juxtaposed to the First Daughter’s speech are sound bites of reports that she and her husband Jared Kushner made $82 million last year and footage of her dining with China’s president at Mar-a-Lago.
Some news items you might have missed: • Broadway: Broadway choreographer Bob Avian (above), who worked alongside director/choreographer Michael Bennett on his greatest achievements (Follies, Company, A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls) has written a not-to-be-missed autobiography. Click here to find it on Amazon. • Washington Blade: Advocacy groups have sharply criticized a bill that would prevent transgender people in Hungary from legally changing their gender. Without the ability to legally change their gender marker, trans people face harsh workplace and healthcare discrimination can be accused of stealing when they use their credit cards, and questioned whenever they use their ID. • The Gaily Grind: President Trump on Tuesday falsely claimed that his daughter and senior advisor Ivanka Trump had “created 15 million jobs” before the economy imploded as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump has repeatedly claimed that Ivanka has created 15 million jobs even though official estimates indicate the country had gained only 6.7 million jobs since 2017 before the recent economic collapse. • CNN: A new SSRS poll shows 43% say Donald Trump is doing everything he could to fight the outbreak, while 55% say he could be doing more. Trump’s overall approval rating in the polling stands at 44% approve to 51% disapprove. 
• WFSU: The Tallahassee City Council unanimously voted to ban so-called ‘conversion therapy’ for minors in the Florida city today. “The Trevor Project applauds the Tallahassee City Commission for taking bold action to protect LGBTQ young people from conversion therapy,” said The Trevor Project’s Sam Brinton in a statement. “This new ordinance will send a message to the LGBTQ youth of Tallahassee that they should be proud of who they are, and hopefully, it will inspire other localities in Florida to take similar action as well.” • RealClearPolitics: The news today that Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT-I) dropped out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination comes a day after Wisconsin voters went to the polls. We won’t have tallies until next Monday, but perhaps Sanders got exit polling that mirrored recent polls showing former Vice President Joe Biden leading in the state by 28 points. • Raw Story: Donald Trump on Tuesday boasted about the television ratings that he’s been getting for his daily coronavirus press briefings at a time when deaths from the disease in the United States have surged past 13,000.
…the Fake News Media into not covering them, but that effort failed because the ratings are through the roof according to, of all sources, the Failing New York Times, “Monday Night Football, Bachelor Finale” type numbers (& sadly, they get it $FREE). Trump Derangement Syndrome!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2020
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| Terron Beckham (via Instagram) |
Some news items you might have missed:
• InstaHunks: Terron Beckham (above), the ridiculously jacked cousin of the Cleveland Browns’ Odell Beckham Jr., shows off some gym humor along with his ‘big-is-best’ everything else. #thosecalves
• OUT: A new study shows some men may be reticent to recycle because it might be perceived as ‘feminine.’
• Variety: At her Madison Square Gardens concert over the weekend, Barbra Streisand offered up a tweaked version of “Send in the Clowns” that trolled the current clown in the Oval Office.
• Twitter: A police officer busts some moves to Steps’ 2017 hit “Scared Of The Dark” while attending Brighton Pride in the UK. The clip went viral after his police department shared the clip on social media.
Did you see our #DancingCop in the @PrideBrighton Parade yesterday. Officers volunteered their time to represent @HertsPolice along with Officer from across the UK. 🕺 @SXP_LGBT @LGBTpoliceuk #BrightonPride @HertsPRIDE @hertslgbtq_nh @LGBTHerts pic.twitter.com/eP5PfCVPAG— Herts Police LGBT+ 🚔 (@HertsPoliceLGBT) August 4, 2019
• Red Flag Bill: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is collaborating on a “red flag” bill with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) that would start a federal grant program to help encourage states to create “‘red flag’ protection order” laws, which are meant to make it easier for law enforcement to identify mentally ill people who should be banned from purchasing guns.
• NY Magazine: A new profile on Ivanka Trump quotes a friend who says the Trumpette, “Has no idea she’s privileged. She genuinely thinks she’s earned everything she has. She goes on and on all the time about how hard she works.”
• Out Music: Make-up artist Deney Adam (whose work has been seen in Vogue, NY Times, Interview) puts down his brushes to drop his wild and wooly new track and music video, “Heartdrop.”
The visual, directed by the fab Mike Ruiz, is a fast and furious, animalistic affair featuring a nearly naked Deney locked inside a glass case.
“I wanted to convey that feeling of being trapped in a situation; when just at the moment that you think you are finally free from it, you find yourself right back where you started,” says Deney.
Musically, the track continually switches gears resulting in a visceral, heart-pounding (or should that be ‘heart-dropping?’) ride. Hit play below.
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| Ivanka Trump |
Remember how Republicans, and especially Donald Trump on the 2016 campaign trail, hammered Hillary Clinton for using her private email for government business?
Surely, after all of that, the Trump administration would absolutely be on point using only their government-issued email accounts, right?
Nope.
The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform voted 23 to 16 to day to authorize the issuance of subpoenas for emails and texts sent to or from White House officials on their personal accounts relating to official business in violation of federal law and the White House’s own records policy.
Chairman Elijah Cummings said this in advance of the committee vote:
“The Committee has obtained direct evidence that multiple high-level White House officials have been violating the Presidential Records Act by using personal email accounts, text messaging services, and even encrypted applications for official business—and not preserving those records in compliance with federal law. What we do not yet know is why these White House officials were attempting to conceal these communications.”
The House committee has been trying for months to obtain the documents and information.
In a press release regarding the vote today, the committee specifically called out current and former White House advisers Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Steve Bannon, and K.T. McFarland for using private email or cell phones in the course of government business.
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| Rosie O’Donnell (image via Instagram) |
During an interview segment with SiriusXM host Michelangelo Signorile, Rosie O’Donnell shared her thoughts on Donald Trump’s relationship with his daughter Ivanka, as well as Ivanka’s ‘public service’ working in the White House and a possible future run for president.
“I don’t know what he’s doing with her,” said O’Donnell “I think he’s been doing bad things with her for a very long time. There’s a creepy incest feel that is a very prevalent amongst Donald Trump and his children, at least his daughter. Very creepy. I don’t know.”
“I think she’s like, you know, a talentless, non-intelligent, non-powerful woman. And, I think she’s…it’s laughable to think of her in any kind of public service role. No one in his family has ever been in public service. Why should they start now?”
Rosie doesn’t cite any particular instance between Trump and his daughter, although many in the public square have noted various statements by the Donald about his daughter that seemed to step into queasy territory.
Listen to the clip below.
Ivanka Trump tells ABC News today the recent revelation that she’s used a private email account while doing government business has no “equivalency” in comparison to Hillary Clinton, who her father bashed over and over again for during the 2016 presidential campaign.
She says her personal email use was focused on “mainly scheduling and logistics and managing the fact that I have a home life and a work life.”
From Good Morning America:
Speaking with ABC News’ Deborah Roberts in Wilder, Idaho, where she’s promoting STEM initiatives alongside Apple CEO Tim Cook, Ivanka Trump maintained that all of the emails on her private account were properly archived and contained no classified information. She is adamant they bear no resemblance to Hillary Clinton’s email scandal, which her father eagerly and frequently condemned as part of his campaign for president.
“All of my emails are stored and preserved. There were no deletions. There is no attempt to hide,” she said, adding, “There’s no equivalency to what my father’s spoken about.”
.@IvankaTrump to @DebRobertsABC on her use of personal email vs. Hillary Clinton’s: “There just is no equivalency between the two things.” https://t.co/yL3oLTXcqd pic.twitter.com/qBiTbw8BdB— Good Morning America (@GMA) November 28, 2018
In truth, Ivanka is correct to a degree – there is no equivalency.
Hillary left the State Department in 2013 and did not violate the actual Federal Records Act law that was amended in 2014 like Ivanka did.
One thing that people fail to note about how Ivanka and Hillary’s email situation is different: When Clinton did it, there was no law against it. Now there is.— Kara Calavera (@KaraCalavera) November 28, 2018
Ivanka also pushed back at the idea her father had authorized “lethal force” on migrants. And then GMA played the video tape of him using that exact phrase.
GMA: Are you comfortable with your dad giving troops authorization to use lethal force at the border?IVANKA: “I don’t believe that’s what he said.”
GMA: Actually he did. Here’s video of it.
IVANKA: “So… he’s the commander in chief, so he always has to protect the border.” pic.twitter.com/kT0WN1HHWG
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 28, 2018