Politics, pop culture and entertainment news of interest to the LGBTQ community
Tom Holland (via Instagram)Some news items you might have missed:
• UpRoxx: Tom Holland on Spidey suit secrets – the actor (above) recently shared that former Spider-Men Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, who appear in the multiverse romp, Spider-Man: No Way, got a little help in the padding of their old Spidey suit. “I’m not going to tell you who, but one of us has a fake ass in their suit.” Continue reading “Tom Holland On Spidey Suit Secrets And More News Stories”
In this week’s headlines:
• Colorado Gov. Jared Polis made history as the first out governor to get married while in office Continue reading “Podcast: Out NFL Player Carl Nassib, RuPaul At The Emmys & More”
Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) married his longtime partner Marlon Reis on Wednesday becoming the first LGBTQ+ U.S. governor to get married while in office. Continue reading “Jared Polis Becomes 1st Gay Governor To Marry While In Office”
Joe Blizzard (via Instagram)Some news items you might have missed:
• InstaHunks: Woofy Joe Blizzard (above), signaling in from Yosemite National Park, calls this “being a nerd, as usual.” Nerd???
• LGBTQ Nation: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed four pro-LGBTQ bills into law this week. The new laws range from banning gay/trans panic legal defenses in cases of violence, making PrEP easier for gay folks to obtain to prevent HIV infection, and making it easier for trans people to change the gender markers on their state ID documents.
• GMA: Mary Trump, niece to President Trump, whose new book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man, was just released, speaking to ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos about her uncle: “He is utterly incapable of leading this country, and it’s dangerous to allow him to do so.” It’s worth noting that Ms. Trump is a trained clinical psychologist.
• 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.”
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| Colorado Gov. Jared Polis |
Governor Jared Polis – the country’s first openly gay governor – has signed two pieces of legislation into law that are vital to the health and safety of LGBTQ youth in Colorado.
HB19-1039 will allow transgender Coloradans to more easily update the gender on their birth certificate, enabling them to have the identification documents that match who they are. Coloradans will be able to update their gender on their birth certificate to M, F, or X — without a surgery, a doctor’s note, or court order.
HB19-1129 will ban a state-licensed mental health care provider from engaging in the discredited, harmful practice of conversion therapy on a patient under 18 years of age.
Congratulations Colorado for protecting LGBTQ youth from the discredited practice of #ConversionTherapy! 🎉Learn more about the amazing work of our partners and advocates in Colorado: https://t.co/xvxgzJE81K
Let’s protect LGBTQ youth across the US 🌟 Text TREVOR to 40649 📲 pic.twitter.com/RlR5bFoFeP
— The Trevor Project (@TrevorProject) May 31, 2019
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| Colorado Democratic candidate for governor, Jared Polis |
Less than one percent of elected officials in the United States are openly LGBTQ.
According to The Victory Institute, in terms of LGBTQ representation, we have:
• 1 governor
• 7 members of Congress
• 4 statewide elected officials
• 37 mayors
• 123 state lawmakers
• 306 local officials
• 95 judicial elected officials
That’s a total of 573 LGBTQ elected officials in the entire country which breaks down to 0.11% of all public offices.
With a record number of LGBTQ candidates running for office this year, that could change after this year’s midterm elections.
Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon is the first openly LGBTQ person to be elected to governor in the country. After succeeding John Kitzhaber upon his resignation in 2015, Brown, who’s openly bisexual, was elected to the office in 2016.
Brown is currently running for reelection this year, as are three more LGBTQ leaders (which end up ticking all of the LGBT boxes):
• Lupe Valdez, a lesbian woman running for governor in Texas
• Christine Hallquist, a transgender woman running for governor in Vermont
• Jared Polis, a gay man running for governor in Colorado
Of those four, the one poll in Vermont shows Hallquist trailing her opponent by 14 points, and Lupe trails her opponent by an average of 20 points.
Brown looks steady for reelection as she leads her opponent in Oregon by an average of 3.4 points.
And in Colorado, Polis could be poised to become the country’s first-ever gay man elected to a governor’s mansion. (In 2004, former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey was closeted when elected but came out during his resignation speech).
According to RealClearPolitics, Polis leads his race by an average of 7 points.
Polis is one of the wealthiest members of Congress having made several fortunes as a tech entrepreneur. After taking his family’s greeting card company online, he also founded and sold ProFlowers.com for hundreds of millions of dollars.
With an estimated $300 million in personal wealth, Polis is funding much of his own campaign telling NBC News, “I’m beholden to no one except voters.”
So, if you’re in Colorado, make sure you vote for Jared Polis for governor.
And if you live in any of the 49 others states, make sure you get out and vote for our candidates as well!
You can find a list of LGBTQ candidates at The Victory Fund.
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| Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jared Polis |
Last night, Rep. Jared Polis of Colorado came one step closer to becoming the first openly gay man to be elected governor in the United States.
Shortly after the polls closed, the Boulder native was declared the winner of the Democratic nomination for governor of Colorado with 44.7% of the vote. His nearest competitor, Cary Kennedy, garnered only 24.7% of the vote.
Come November, Polis will take on current Colorado State Treasurer Walker Stapleton in the governor’s race. Current Gov. John Hickenlooper – who is term-limited.
A recent poll shows Polis leading Stapleton, a second cousin of George W. Bush and vocal supporter of Donald Trump, by 5 points.
One of the wealthiest members of Congress, Polis is said to be worth upwards of $400 million. In his 20s, he helped turn his family’s Blue Mountain Arts greeting card business into an e-card retailer eventually selling the business for $780 million.
Elected in 2008, Polis is one of seven openly gay members of the 113th Congress and caucuses with the LGBT Equality Caucus. He campaigned for governor on a platform of universal healthcare, free pre-K education and robust renewable energy.
Polis has a long-term partner, Marlon Reis. In 2011, Polis became the first openly gay parent in Congress when they welcomed a son, Caspian. They also have a daughter, Cora.
While former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey came out as gay during his time in office, Polis would be the first openly gay man to be elected to a governor’s mansion.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown became the first openly bisexual governor when she took office in 2015.