• Huffpost: Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith expressed his terror over upcoming Pride Month in a frantic social media post Friday shrieking, “PRIDE MONTH ALERT: The Rainbow Beast Is Coming For Your Kids!”
Robbie Rodriguez (via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: So, who noticed openly gay Florida nurse and Crossfit athlete Robbie Rodriguez (above) on NBC’s ‘Titan Games’ recently? Follow the inspiring healthcare provider on Instagram here. • Washington Blade: The African nation of Gabon has decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations becoming one of the few countries in sub-Saharan Africa to legalize them. A 2019 law that criminalized same-sex relationships by a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a 5 million Central African CFA franc ($8,561) fine was repealed by both chambers of Parliament and the president of Gabon signed the measure on Tuesday. • Instinct Magazine: Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family) and Broadway producer Justin Mikita are officially fathers. The couple announced that their newborn baby boy, Beckett Mercer, was welcomed into the world on Tuesday, July 7. • CNBC: As the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic continues, 32% of U.S. households have not made their full housing payments for July yet. About 19% of Americans made no housing payment at all during the first week of the month, and 13% paid only a portion of their rent or mortgage. • NY Times: Joy Reid has been announced as the new anchor for the 7 p.m. ET hour on MSNBC. Her new show, “The ReidOut,” will premiere in the slot previously held by Chris Matthews’ “Hardball” on July 20. The new assignment makes Reid one of only a few Black women who have anchored a major American evening news program. • AP News: Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart said Wednesday Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa in late June that drew thousands of participants and large protests “likely contributed” to a dramatic surge in new coronavirus cases. Tulsa County reported 261 confirmed new cases on Monday, a one-day record high, and another 206 cases on Tuesday. During the week before the Trump rally, there were 76 cases on Monday and 96 on Tuesday. • LGBTQ Nation: Out actress Javicia Leslie has been cast as the new Batwoman in the CW series, following Ruby Rose’s departure after just one season in the titular role. She will be playing Ryan Wilder, a different character from Rose’s Kate Kane. She’s described as “likable, messy, a little goofy and untamed.” While Ryan is “nothing like Kate Kane,” the new character is also a lesbian. Ruby Rose congratulated her successor on social media.
MSNBC’s Joy Reid took time this morning on her show to address the ongoing debacle of whether she did or did not write homophobic/transphobic comments on her now-defunct blog during the mid-to-late 2000s.
The old posts were brought to light in December and at the time, Reid apologized for the content.
But then new posts were found by a social media adversary, and Reid told the press she didn’t remember writing these new findings.
She hired a cybersecurity expert to explore if a hacker had modified and added content. But the expert hasn’t been able to prove that theory.
So today Reid offered a flat-out unqualified apology.
“I’ve not been exempt from being dumb or cruel or hurtful to the very people I want to advocate for. I own that. I get it. And for that I am truly, truly sorry.”
“I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things … But I can definitely understand, based on things I have tweeted and have written in the past, why some people don’t believe me.”
Reid brings up the fact that the country is in a different place than it was ten or twelve years ago. And it’s true.
People and attitudes do change. I’ve seen that from my perch here at The Randy Report.
In owning the transphobic and homophobic comments – comments I’ve heard many in the gay lesbian community make as well – she seems to come with a true apology.
I believe her, I accept her apology.
She is not our enemy. We have much bigger issues to address today.
Thank you, Joy Reid. Apology accepted.
Forward.
.@MSNBC‘s Joy Reid addresses homophobic blog posts:
“I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things … But I can definitely understand, based on things I have tweeted and have written in the past, why some people don’t believe me.” pic.twitter.com/PWjdPfs5KB
What’s the point of successfully changing the hearts and minds of people if we’re just going to throw their 10 year old comments back in their face? Personally speaking, Joy Reid’s apology is accepted, with thanks for her continued support and advocacy.pic.twitter.com/IIJZ5EyLjR
What @JoyAnnReid just did is why I love & admire her. And I hope her heartfelt apology is accepted. That she is making no excuses & is taking full responsibility & is doing this panel says so much about her. It is something that I wish many would do. #StandWithJoy#AMJoy
If #AMJoy is not good enough for the left, or for LGBTQ people as an ally, no one is. Whatever she wrote pales in comparison to things actual LGBTQ people sometimes write and never disown. Her apology is nuanced, sincere, contextualized. I accept it. You? https://t.co/5tzthqwf30pic.twitter.com/MgiXXckSdq
The weirdest part of this Joy Reid kerfuffle is watching viciously anti-gay right wingers pretending for a hot second that they actually care about civil rights for LGBT Americans just so they can attack a liberal media personality.— JoeMyGod (@JoeMyGod) April 28, 2018
A cybersecurity expert working with Reid said in a statement to HuffPost on Tuesday that he found evidence five months ago of “suspicious activity” and that the alleged hacking was the subject of an ongoing federal investigation.
Jonathan Nichols, identified as an independent security consultant by a representative of MSNBC, said the posts in question had been “entered with suspicious formatting and time stamps.”
Reid had previously apologized in December for writing homophobic blog posts after Twitter user @Jamie_Maz tweeted screenshots of them. In those posts ― written in 2007 for The Reid Report, a politics blog Reid kept during her years as a morning talk show host in Florida ― she repeatedly accused then-Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (D) of being a closeted gay man.
“As someone who is not a member of the LGBT community, I regret the way I addressed the complex issue of the closet and speculation on a person’s sexual orientation with a mocking tone and sarcasm,” Reid wrote in her statement in December. “It was insensitive, tone deaf and dumb.”
Last week, @Jamie_Maz shared new screenshots that allegedly feature dozens more anti-LGBTQ posts from Reid’s old blog, as Mediaite first reported on Monday. While the blog itself has been shut down for several years, the amateur sleuth allegedly accessed the posts via the Internet Archive, a nonprofit dedicated to building a massive digital library known as the Wayback Machine.
Some of the most damning posts claimed “most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing” and that “adult gay men tend to be attracted to very young, post-pubescent types.”
As a result of the newly discovered blog posts, PFLAG National — the nation’s first and largest organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people, their families, and allies — has rescinded its Straight for Equality in Media award to Reid.
Reid has issued this statement about the alleged hacks:
In December I learned that an unknown, external party accessed and manipulated material from my now-defunct blog, The Reid Report, to include offensive and hateful references that are fabricated and run counter to my personal beliefs and ideology.
I began working with a cyber-security expert who first identified the unauthorized activity, and we notified federal law enforcement officials of the breach. The manipulated material seems to be part of an effort to taint my character with false information by distorting a blog that ended a decade ago.
Now that the site has been compromised I can state unequivocally that it does not represent the original entries. I hope that whoever corrupted the site recognizes the pain they have caused, not just to me, but to my family and communities that I care deeply about: LGBTQ, immigrants, people of color and other marginalized groups.
• Fitness guy Dominick makes for all kinds of sexy Santa. Looks like he’s got a nicely wrapped package to deliver, too 😉
• The Human Rights Campaign has wisely chosen to endorse Nevada Congresswoman Jacky Rosen as she begins her campaign to challenge GOP Sen. Dean Heller in next year’s election. The HRC writes, in part, “She has been an outspoken critic of the Trump-Pence Administration’s assault on LGBTQ equality, from revoking discrimination protections for transgender children in public schools, to attempting to render the LGBTQ community invisible in the U.S. census.”
• A gay man standing outside a McDonalds in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was viciously attacked by seven men. The man had to be treated in the hospital for a broken cheekbone and damage to his eye.
• Last month, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Alabama Republican Roy Moore wasn’t fit to serve in the U.S. Senate. Today, McConnell flip-flopped saying the people of Alabama should make that call. #SaveThatMajorityAtAnyCost
• MSNBC’s Joy Reid has apologized after blog posts from ten years ago surfaced wherein she often referred to former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist as “Miss.” Crist has long been rumored to be a closet-case.
