Joe Blizzard (image via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Woofy Joe Blizzard (above) is getting through the rough Miami winter the best he can 🙂 • Kenneth-in-the-212: The venerable NYC-based gay blog turned 15 recently! Hit the link to check out Kenneth’s Top 10 posts over the years. Congratulations, Kenneth! • Broadway World: NBC is bringing the magic of Dr. Seuss’ world to life in a new musical production airing next month. Matthew Morrison (GLEE, Hairspray) will star as the title role in Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical! set to air Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. ET/PT from the Troubadour Theatre in London.
• STAT News: Pfizer may be within days of filing for an emergency use authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine, having collected the safety data necessary to submit an application to the Food and Drug Administration, CEO Albert Bourla said Tuesday. • Eonline: 13 years after Isaiah Washington was fired for calling his Grey’s Anatomy co-star T.R. Knight a ‘faggot’ on set, he reignited his feud with former co-star Katherine Heigl, who stood up for Knight at the time of Washington’s hate speech. There was no apparent reason cited for Washington reinvigorating the incident. Oh, and he’s a big Trump supporter, so… • Instinct Magazine: The European Union has announced a new strategy to fight anti-LGBTQ laws and sentiments across its borders. The union specifically made this announcement as a response to discrimination skyrocketing in Poland and Hungary.
Everyone should feel free to be who they are – without fear or persecution. This first-ever strategy on #EU4LGBTIQ equality will reinforce our joint efforts to ensure that everyone is treated equally.
Mike Taveira (photo: David-Simon Dayan) Some news items you might have missed: • CNBC: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case concerning the rights of LGBTQ Americans on Wednesday morning in a dispute that advocates are warning could pierce holes in the nation’s anti-discrimination laws. Arguments, which will take place just a day after the presidential election, will mark the first major fight to come before Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was sworn in a week ago. • Instinct Magazine: Taiwan held one of the few Pride Parades this year as nearly 130,000 people gathered to march, dance, and visit a Rainbow Market of 100 LGBTQ-owned or supportive businesses/organizations. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, other countries have gone without Pride events this year, but Taiwan has not had a reported diagnosis of COVID-19 since April. In total, the country has had only 554 recorded cases and only seven deaths nationwide. • Out Music: Out recording artist Mike Taveira (top image) offers his new single, “Karma.” An uber-catchy pop-bop groove, Taveira calls the track “the breakup anthem for anyone who feels like their ex has yet received the karma they deserve.” “I do believe in karma and I do believe she is coming,” says Taveira. “She just likes to wait for the perfect timing and I was impatient, which led to the song.”
• The Advocate: Parliament House, the iconic Orlando nightclub that has been serving central Florida’s LGBTQ+ population for 45 years, is closing, though the owners say it’s not a permanent closure. In a Facebook post, they tried to get the money for much-needed renovations, but they sadly couldn’t reach their goal. • The Signorile Report: Michelangelo takes a look at what it will take for a President Joe Biden to get The Equality Act passed in his first 100 days as promised. • KIT212: I’m catching up on Kenneth’s weekly round-up of LGBTQ publications like DNA Magazine’s 250th issue featuring cover model Julian Gabriel (below). (image via DNA Magazine)
Bette Davis in ‘All About Eve’ Some news items you might have missed: • Washington Blade: Paying homage to the iconic film All About Eve on its 70th anniversary. • Out Movies: Coming to Amazon Prime this Thanksgiving – “In 1973, teenaged Beth Bledsoe (Sophia Lillis) leaves her rural Southern hometown to study at New York University where her beloved Uncle Frank (Paul Bettany) is a revered literature professor. She soon discovers that Frank is gay, and living with his longtime partner Walid “Wally” Nadeem (Peter Macdissi) — an arrangement that he has kept secret for years. After the sudden death of Frank’s father — Beth’s grandfather — Frank is forced to reluctantly return home for the funeral with Beth in tow, and to finally face a long-buried trauma that he has spent his entire adult life running away from.”
• Roll Call: Former Rep. Duncan Hunter, who was convicted of misusing campaign funds, will serve his 11-month federal prison sentence at Federal Correctional Institute La Tuna in Anthony, Texas. • Kenneth in the 212: Catch up on the latest in LGBTQ publications including the photography of Jim Jordan on the cover of Numero Homme: • Instinct Magazine: Celebrating LGBTQ owned businesses – Rich Ferreira and Gabe Zichermann who created the delicious Two Spoons Creamery. • Election 2020: Sometimes political donations can be an interesting measure of voter enthusiasm. Check out some 3rd quarter fundraising reports from some contentious Senate races. In every case, the higher number belongs to the Democratic challenger. #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmm
More Q3 fundraising numbers for Senate candidates with help of FEC filings
South Carolina Harrison: $57M Graham: $28M Maine Gideon: $39M Collins: $8.3M Arizona Kelly: $38.7M McSally: $22.6M Kentucky McGrath: $36M McConnell: $15.7M Iowa Greenfield: $28.7M Ernst: $7.1M — Sarah Ewall-Wice (@EwallWice) October 16, 2020
Happy World Smile Day from Snoopy Some news items you might have missed: • World Smile Day: Talk about ‘who can turn the world on with his smile?’ Snoopy (above) sends TGIF greetings to all. #HandsomeDog #DogsRule • The Advocate: A man was dancing with a female friend recording a TikTok video in Lower Manhattan on Saturday when an unknown assailant called him a homophobic slur and punched him repeatedly in the head. The assailant fled on foot, and the New York Police Department’s hate-crimes unit is investigating the incident as a bias crime. • Pink News: In a letter to USA Today’s political reporter Susan Page, who will serve as moderator for the upcoming vice presidential debate, 13 LGBT+ rights groups asked her to address queer rights, as it would “do our nation and community a disservice to exclude these issues as a part of the conversation.” • KIT212: Check out Kenneth’s lastest round-up of LGBTQ publications including DNA Magazine’s latest issue (below) featuring Ian Utterback on the cover. Ian Utterback covers DNA Magazine (photo: James Franklin) • USA Today: Newly revealed secretly recorded conversations with Melania Trump show the first lady expressing dismay at her role in decorating and promoting the White House during Christmas time, while she was being criticized for not doing more meaningful work. “I’m working my a– off with the Christmas stuff that, you know, who gives a f— about Christmas stuff and decorations but I need to do it, right?” Trump is heard saying. • Washington Post: Amazon said Thursday that nearly 20,000 of its U.S. employees had tested positive for the coronavirus since the pandemic began. The retailer has faced harsh criticism as hundreds of workers and critics have said it hasn’t done enough to keep employees safe as they work in its warehouses amid a surge in demand to send items to shoppers across the country. • Twitter: File this clip of Donald Trump mocking Joe Biden for wearing a face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic under “Didn’t age well.”
“I don't wear masks like him (Biden). Every time you see him, he's got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask I've ever seen." – Donald Trump at Tuesday’s debate pic.twitter.com/0Sj6IR8eqP
Tom Goss in ‘Amsterdam’ (photo: Mark Nickels) Some news items you might have missed: • JoeMyGod: In a money-beg email, virulently anti-LGBTQ Brian Brown solicits donations for his woeful National Organization for Marriage declaring conservatives should support Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court because “It will mean that religious liberty will be restored to its rightful place as a foundational constitutional right, and that the fake “rights” that are constantly demanded by the left – including special rules for homosexuals and the so-called transgendered – will no longer see the light of day.” Oh no, no hate there… • Out Music: The sensual music video for Tom Goss’s “Amsterdam,” is a beautifully shot wet and sexy romp. He wrote the song four years ago while in Holland, when he had a transformative sexual experience that still reverberates to this day. “It started in the shower,” recalls Goss. “We were kissing and holding each other tightly, with water pouring down over us. I had this overwhelming feeling of peace and acceptance of who I am, like I was being baptized in a whole new way.”
• Reuters:A federal appeals court ruled in favor of allowing the House of Representatives’ lawsuit challenging Donald Trump’s diversion of funds to pay for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to proceed. • KIT212: Check out Kenneth’s weekly round-up of the what’s what in LGBTQ publications like MetroWeekly featuring Ritchie Torres, who will likely become the first gay Afro-Latino elected to Congress. • AP: In the Midwest, the virus is now landing squarely in places where there is strong resistance to masks and governors have been reluctant to require face coverings. Oklahoma and Missouri are regularly recording 1,000 new cases a day, and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson [photo], a staunch opponent of mask rules, tested positive this week. Kansas and Iowa are also witnessing a spike in cases. And South Dakota and Idaho are seeing sky-high rates of tests coming back positive.
NEW | The U.S. passes the merciless milestone of 200,000 deaths due to COVID-19.
The world-leading tally comes 8 months after the first confirmed coronavirus case in the U.S. — and less than 4 months after the death toll topped 100,000 in May.https://t.co/XwMygaDAQo — New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) September 22, 2020
L-R Jim Parsons and Matt Bomer in ‘The Boys in the Band’ (image via Netflix) Some news items you might have missed: • EW: Netflix has released the first look photos (above) of the upcoming movie version of the acclaimed Broadway revival of The Boys in the Band set to premiere September 30. The cast of the Tony Award-winning production is reuniting for the film including The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons, The Sinner’s Matt Bomer, NOS4A2’s Zachary Quinto, Black Monday’s Andrew Rannells and Tuc Watkins, Teen Wolf’s Charlie Carver, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s Michael Benjamin Washington. • Washington Blade: The State Department has stubbornly appealed a federal judge’s ruling that said it must recognize the U.S. citizenship of a gay Maryland couple’s daughter who was born in Canada via surrogate. Section 301(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act that states “a baby born abroad to married parents is a U.S. citizen at birth when both parents are U.S. citizens and one of them has resided in the United States at any point prior to the baby’s birth.” Both parents are citizens, both had resided in the U.S. • Vice: A member of a Facebook group dedicated to taking pictures of loaded weapons pointed at their d*cks finally shot himself in the balls, according to photos and video he posted on social media. The apparent point of the private group Facebook group “Loaded Guns Pointed at [B]enis” is to somehow ‘trigger the libs.’ I’m not sure how shooting your own junk ‘owns the libs,’ but you do you, boo.
Now these MAGA dolts are pointing guns at their dicks with the safeties off and their fingers on the trigger to own the libs. I fucking hate it here. pic.twitter.com/O1vVUldLn5
• Journal Sentinel: Vandals burned a Joe Biden yard sign, a Pride flag and an American flag at a home in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. “I think it was (a) hate crime ‘cuz someone started the pride flag on fire,” the owner said. “We felt targeted.” • KIT212: Check out Kenneth’s round-up of the latest in local LGBTQ publications. • Washington Post: Trump’s latest attempt to shield his tax records from the Manhattan district attorney was rejected Thursday by a federal judge, who said Trump’s legal team failed to show the subpoena was issued “in bad faith.” • CNN: Anderson Cooper spoke with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell about his campaign for an herbal “cure” for COVID-19 called oleandrin based on the oleander plant. Lindell has no background in medicine or science, but he does donate big bucks to the GOP and is a member of Donald Trump’s inner circle. Oh, and Lindell was added to the board of (and received a financial stake in) Phoenix Biotechnology, which produces the supplement. Trump is now touting the supplement as well.
Anderson Cooper tears into the MyPillow guy for pushing unproven coronavirus therapeutic as a “miracle” cure:
“You have no medical background. You are not a scientist… You are now on the board and going to make money… How are you different than a snake oil salesman?” pic.twitter.com/6cQIn1FYpA — Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 18, 2020
(screen capture via HBO) Some news stories you might have missed: • NPR: A new survey from NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll shows more than a third of Americans (35%) say they won’t get vaccinated when a vaccine comes available; 60% say they will. The poll also indicates former Vice President Joe Biden now leads Donald Trump 53% to 42%, up from an 8-point advantage at the end of June. • Instinct Magazine: From the director of Call Me By Your Name, HBO announces We Are Who We Are (screen cap above), premiering September 14, a new coming-of-age story about two American teenagers who live on an American military base with their parents in Italy.
• Billings Gazette: Kanye West’s sad, inconsequential bid for the White House is being funded/directed by the Trump campaign to siphon off Black votes from Joe Biden. “You want to help Trump?” one of the organizers called out. “We’re trying to take votes away from creepy Uncle Joe.” • KIT212: Check out Kenneth’s weekly round-up of the what’s what in local LGBTQ publications like Get Out!’s latest issue encouraging folks to ‘Flex Your Vote.’ (via GetOut!) • Variety: AMC Theatres, for one day only, will offer tickets to select movies for only 15 cents, roughly the equivalent of what it cost to watch a movie in 1920. That’s the year that the company’s founders began operations in Kansas City, Missouri. Note – the offer will be for legacy titles such as “Black Panther” and “The Empire Strikes Back.” • Twitter: Out Teen Wolf/Arrow star Colton Haynes has put in his bid to play the super-hero Iceman in the upcoming reboot of the X-Men movie franchise after hearing rumors Shia LeBeouf was being vetted for the role. Haynes shared a gif of the mutant hero with an emoji of a young guy raising his hand. I totally see Haynes in the role.
Men’s saunas may make a comeback in San Francisco Some news items you might have missed: • Gay Star News: San Francisco may finally see gay bathhouses return thanks to the city relaxing rules it brought in at the height of the AIDS crisis. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the city’s governing council, voted unanimously on Tuesday to remove the restrictions on saunas in hopes that the businesses will now ‘reopen as part of the city’s COVID-19 economic recovery’. • Meidas Touch: A Democratic super PAC is launching an anti-President Trump ad that uses former President Reagan’s comments in a 1980 presidential debate when he was challenging then-President Carter. The ad is set to air exclusively on Fox News over the course of the next week and features Reagan’s famous debate moment when he asked the country if it was “better off” than it was four years ago.
• Queerty: Actresses Indya Moore and Angelica Ross, of FX’s Pose, have criticized the Emmy Nominations, just one day after their announcement. The two transgender actresses attacked the Television Academy for ignoring the trans performers on the show, and lashed out at the show’s network, FX, for a lack of promotion. • KIT212: Kenneth helps us all over Hump Day with his latest installment of ‘Wrestle Wednesday’ (below). • Boy Culture: When the man who wrote Encyclopedia Madonnica 20: Madonna from A to Z, literally THE BOOK on Madonna, calls the international superstar out over COID-19 batshittery, you know it’s serious. • The Gaily Grind: Four plainclothes NYC police officers were caught on video jumping out of an unmarked grey Kia minivan in broad daylight, snatching an 18-year-old transgender protester off the street, wrestling her to the ground, and throwing her into the vehicle before speeding away from the intersection.
NYC is taking after Portland – a trans femme protestor was pulled into an unmarked van at the Abolition Park protest – this was at 2nd Ave and 25th Street pic.twitter.com/1PDhSYuK9h
Broadway star Norm Lewis Some news items you might have missed: • What To Watch This Weekend: I’ll definitely be watching Tony Award nominee and all-around super-talent Norm Lewis in concert with SiriusXM’s Seth Rudetsky at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT. Broadway audiences know the oh-so-handsome Lewis from his performances in Phantom of the Opera, Once on This Island, Sondheim on Sondheim, The Little Mermaid, Les Misérables, Chicago and more. Continue reading “News Round-Up: July 17, 2020”
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