Some news items you might have missed: • Xtra Magazine: What’s going on with Trump’s cuts to PrEP funding? The president’s freeze on foreign aid has raised many questions about HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in the U.S. and abroad. • YouTube: I came across this terrific round-up of 15 underrated gay movies you may have missed including the oh-so-romantic Nuovo Olimpo (lead photo). There are definitely several I’m making a point of revisiting soon. Continue reading “Trump Cuts To PrEP Funding + Underrated Gay Films + More”
Fitness guru Joel Green (via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Fitness motivator Joel Green (above) encourages his crew to take a few moments every day to sit in silence and turn your full awareness inward to connect with your spirit. As we enter the second year of the pandemic, I find that really lands for me as my brain fog can get overwhelming at times. Anyone else? • Washington Blade: Pennsylvania State Rep. Malcolm Kenyetta announced on Tuesday evening his candidacy to run for U.S. Senate, setting himself out on a path that, if elected, would make him the first openly gay Black senator. • HBO Max: The acclaimed new UK drama It’s A Sin (from Queer As Folk creator Russell T. Davies) premieres today in the U.S. The series follows several young people throughout the 1980s and early ’90s as they experience the horrific toll of HIV and AIDS in the London gay community. All six episodes are available now on HBO Max, which requires a subscription, but the first episode is available for free on YouTube.
• The Advocate: The Equality Act, which would ban anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination throughout the nation, was formally reintroduced in the House of Representatives Thursday. The act would amend existing civil rights laws to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The legislation passed in the House in 2019 with a bipartisan 236-173 vote but never got a vote in the Senate. • Instinct Magazine: Nearly three years after a gay couple was bashed after a Pride parade in Miami, the case still hasn’t gone to trial. Plus – it turns out one of the four attackers is gay? • The Gaily Grind: Chasten Buttigieg – husband to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg – shared a picture of the couple kissing on Wednesday in what appeared to be subtle shade following the death of far-right, homophobic radio host Rush Limbaugh, who had mocked the couple throughout last year.
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.
Former Vice President Joe Biden (image via campaign)Deadline reports that former Vice President Joe Biden will participate in a Town Hall event hosted by NBC News’s Lester Holt on October 5 in Miami, Florida. The event was announced following last night’s wild debate between Biden and Donald Trump. Biden previously participated in a similar event earlier this month in Scranton, Pennsylvania, hosted by CNN. Socially distanced attendees took part from the safety of their cars. NBC News has also extended an invitation to Trump to do a similar event. Trump took part in an ABC News Town Hall in September. Candidates and their campaigns favor such events because taking questions from ‘everyday people’ can offer an appealing connection to voters.
Bear Week 2019 in Sitges, Spain Some news items you might have missed: • TBT: Remembering a year ago when we discovered Sitges, Spain, for the first time (above) – and it just happened to be Bear Week 🙂 • WSVN Miami: A man was convicted of hate crime charges and sent to prison after he yelled homophobic slurs and beat up two gay men while they were walking their dog in downtown Miami. Quenton Moss, the assailant, was recorded on police body cams bragging to officers, “I split him good. He’s a [expletive]. [Expletive] should die, die.” • OUT: Author and activist Sarah McBride is poised to become the first out trans person serving in the upper chamber of a state legislature. The former Obama administration staffer and current National Press Secretary for Human Rights Campaign won the Democratic primary for Delaware’s first state senate district. The seat is considered a sure-bet for Democrats and McBride is expected to win the general election in November. • GLAAD: Bisexual+ Awareness Week seeks to accelerate acceptance of the bi+ (bisexual, pansexual, fluid, no label, queer, etc.) community. BiWeek draws attention to the experiences, while also celebrating the resiliency of, the bisexual+ community. Throughout BiWeek, allies and bi+ people learn about the history, culture, community, and current policy priorities of bi+ communities.
• Associated Press: Germany’s Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer apologized on Thursday for 65 years of discrimination against gay military service members. “I very much regret the practice of discrimination against homosexuals in the Bundeswehr, which stood for the policy of that time,” said Kramp-Karrenbauer said in a statement. “I apologize to those who suffered because of it.” • Washington Post: A seven-hour “flight to nowhere” advertised by Australian airline Qantas sold out within 10 minutes on Thursday. The flight will depart Sydney on Oct. 10 and return on the same day, with no stops along the way. But passengers are promised views of the Great Barrier Reef, the Uluru monolith and the Australian outback as the plane flies over the country at low altitudes. The 134 available tickets ranged from $787 to $3,787 in Australian dollars, the equivalent of $575 and $2,765. • HuffPost: Donald Trump was called out on Wednesday for bragging that the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus would be lower if one subtracted the deaths from “blue” states. “The blue states had tremendous death rates,” Trump said. “If you take the blue states out, we’re at a level that I don’t think anybody in the world would be at, we’re really at a very low level.” According to data collected by The New York Times, 3 of the top 6 states in terms of deaths have Republican governors and 5 of the top 10 voted for Trump in 2016.
Dear @realDonaldTrump: Please stop dividing us. We are not the Red States of America. Or the Blue States of America. We are the United States of America. At the end of the day, we are all Americans. https://t.co/WxTjEqATyI
A Miami-Dade police officer was relieved of duty after body-camera footage surfaced Wednesday night of him hitting a woman who was yelling at him at Miami International Airport.
The video, obtained by the Miami Herald, shows a masked officer speaking to a Black woman in a terminal on Wednesday when she becomes irate and begins taunting him. “You acting like you white when you really Black…what you want to do?” the woman says.
The unmasked woman steps up to the man, putting her face right in his before he strikes her in the face. “She headbutted me,” he says as the officers rush in to handcuff her.
The officer has apparently been identified as Antonio Clemente Rodriguez, a Black officer of Puerto Rican heritage, who is currently assigned to the airport. The woman’s identity hasn’t been revealed to the public. Steadman Stahl, the president of the Miami-Dade Police Benevolent Association, told the Miami Herald the officer hit her with an “open-hand slap,” sometimes called a “diversionary strike.” I understand the woman got in the officer’s face but is sucker-punching her the answer? I thought he’s wearing a badge because he’s been trained to manage and de-escalate situations?
Miami-Dade Police Department Director Alfredo Ramirez III tweeted that he was “shocked and angered” by the video, and that in addition to relieving the officer of duty, he’s asked for an investigation into the incident.
I am shocked and angered by a body cam video that i just saw involving one of our officers. I’ve immediately initiated an investigation and ordered that the involved officers be relieved of duty. Actions such as these undermine the hard work that we have invested in (1 of 3)…
— Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez III (@MDPD_Director) July 2, 2020
I have also just spoken to our State Attorney @KathyFndzRundle and asked that her office immediately become involved in the investigation. (3 of 3)
— Alfredo “Freddy” Ramirez III (@MDPD_Director) July 2, 2020
