Tag: news round-up

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News Round-Up: July 15, 2019

(image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk Phillip Evelyn II (above) says 72 hours rest from the gym does wonders. Somehow, my lengthy time from the gym hasn’t paid off in the same way LOL.

• Variety: After receiving backlash for comments she made about politically correct casting saying that she should be allowed to “play any person, or any tree, or any animal,” Scarlett Johansson clarified the comments saying they were “edited for click bait” and taken out of context.

• NewNowNext: If elected to Congress next November, Dan Baer would the first openly gay man to be seated in the Senate and just the third LGBTQ person elected overall, following Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin in 2012 and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema last year

• The Guardian: The number of people who said they considered gay sex to be wrong rose for the first time since the AIDS crisis.

• Washington Blade: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has criticized gay adult studio Men.com for an alligator that appears in a scene of its latest porn video.

• Gaily Grind: World War II code-breaker and visionary mathematician who was castrated under Victorian-era anti-gay laws, Alan Turing will be the face of Britain’s new £50 note.

• Billboard Magazine: Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, rules the Billboard Hot 100 for a 15th week, moving to within a week of the record for the most time spent at No. 1 in the chart’s six-decade history.

Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” featuring Justin Bieber, and Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day” each spent a record 16 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 2017 and 1995-96, respectively.

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News Round-Up: July 12, 2019

• InstaHunk Max Souza (above) is a study in gorgeous contrast between that gorgeous skin, the blue ocean and his whiter-than-white swimsuit. #Brazil

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk Max Souza (above) is a study in gorgeous contrast between that gorgeous skin, the blue ocean and his whiter-than-white swimsuit. #Brazil

• Washingtonian: A bisexual man, frustrated he couldn’t donate blood, decided to donate a kidney in protest. Current FDA policy bans men who have sex with men from donating blood (but not organs) unless they are refrain from same-sex intimacy for a year.

• Sacramento Bee: California lawmakers have approved a bill that will require presidential candidates to provide five years of tax returns in order to appear on the primary ballot. Gov. Gavin Newsome, who provided six years of his own tax returns for his 2018 gubernatorial race, is expected to sign the bill into law.

• Washington Post: The U.S. House voted Friday to prevent Donald Trump from launching into war with Iran without first getting the approval of Congress. More than two dozen Republicans joined Democrats to include the provision, which includes an exception for cases of self-defense, in the House’s annual defense authorization bill.

• IndyStar: Gay high school teacher, fired for being in a same-sex marriage, sues Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

• TGIF: Groove into the weekend with Dinah Jane and her ‘tell-off’ video, “Heard It All Before.” The R&B diva recently brought her talent and sass to St. Louis PrideFest as well as the BET Awards Experience. DJ

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News Round-Up: June 25, 2019

• Instagram: Handsome guy + handsome dachshund pup = HotDudesWithDogs
So freaking cute…!

Some news items you might have missed:

• Instagram: Handsome guy + handsome dachshund pup = HotDudesWithDogs

• Politico: Federal prosecutors have accused Rep. Duncan Hunter of improperly using campaign funds to pursue numerous romantic affairs with congressional aides and lobbyists

• The Hill: Donald Trump says he couldn’t have raped writer E. Jean Carroll because “she’s not my type.”

• Reuters: A member of an armed group known for stopping migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has been arrested after authorities charged him with impersonating a U.S. Border Patrol agent

• AP: Illinois is the 11th state to legalize recreational marijuana

• Emerson Polling: Latest polling shows five Democrats would beat Trump in hypothetical match-ups:

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News Round-Up: June 13, 2019

I attended the opening night of the hit two-man play Potted Potter at Ballys Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas last night. The show, which parodies all 7 books of the Harry Potter series in 70 minutes, has been running for years in the UK. The original stars opened the show here and I was thrilled to take my uber-handsome god son, Josh, to the performance.
Opening night of ‘Potted Potter’ in Las Vegas

Some news items you might have missed:

• I attended the opening night of the hit two-man play Potted Potter at Ballys Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas last night. The show, which parodies all 7 books of the Harry Potter series in 70 minutes, has been running for years in the UK. The original stars opened the show here and I was thrilled to take my uber-handsome god son, Josh, to the performance.

• During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, John Cena talked about getting ‘accidental boners’ during wrestling matches.

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) somehow ‘straight-washed’ his proclamation observing the 3rd anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting. DeSantis blamed the missing mention of the LGBTQ community on staffers. It was later added to the proclamation.

• A mother in South Carolina was arrested after walking into an elementary school and confronting her son’s bullies.

• The Australian man accused of killing 51 worshippers at two mosques in New Zealand in March pleaded not guilty to all charges in a court on Friday.

• The 20 Democratic presidential candidates who qualified for the first Dem debates have been announced:

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News Round-Up: June 5, 2019

Some news items you might have missed:

• Instagram: Out Olympian Gus Kenworthy and company share: “Tired, sore and sunburnt… Welcome to Whine Country!” Team Worthy reached the mid-point of this year’s AIDS/LifeCycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. #AllForAGoodCause

• NBC News: A Texas school board unanimously voted to fire a teacher who tried to report undocumented students in her school district to President Donald Trump through a series of public tweets — that she thought were private messages to the president.

• NY Times: The leader of La Luz del Mundo, a church headquartered in Mexico that claims to have more than one million followers worldwide, was charged Tuesday in Los Angeles with more than a dozen sex crimes, including allegations that he forced children to have sex and made them pose naked for photos.

• The Guardian: The White House paid nearly $1 million to rent four limos during Donald Trump’s two-day trip to Ireland. Four limos, two days. Seriously.

• The Sun: Pop star George Michael left nothing in his will to his past lovers, Kenny Goss and Fadi Fawaz. His estate’s estimated worth is $98 million.

• Gay Star News: Sir Ian McKellen has launched a new program, Pride In Ageing, that will work to end the inequalities faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people over 50 in Greater Manchester and ensure that they have access to inclusive housing and care later in life.

• Netflix, which has nearly doubled the number of LGBTQ characters in their shows and movies over the last 12 months, has launched a collection of queer stories on the streaming service.

The streaming giant also launched a brand new Instagram page @Prism today, to spotlight queer stories, characters and talent.

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News Round-Up: June 3, 2019

(image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk The Griffopotamous (above) is feeling fruity and fabulous this gorgeous Monday.

• The valedictorian for the 2019 Sheboygan Lutheran High School senior class says administrators banned him from speaking at commencement because he mentioned being gay in a draft of the speech.

• A federal grand jury charged a pair of Dallas men with conspiracy to commit hate crimes, kidnapping and carjacking. According to the 15-count indictment, suspects used the gay dating app Grindr to create fake profiles and pose as gay men interested in “dates” to lure gay men to an apartment complex in Dallas in order to commit violent crimes against them.

• Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are the first British Royals to ‘proudly’ celebrate Pride Month on social media.

• A Roman Catholic bishop who admitted last year to being “aware of incidents of sexual abuse” in the church but did nothing to stop them, warns Catholics that LGBTQ Pride Month is “harmful for children.”

• A former West Virginia Republican official who called Michelle Obama an “ape in heels” has been sentenced to 10 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to embezzling $18,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), funds that were intended to help flood victims.

• Don’t look now but there are more naked selfies by former Congressman Aaron Schock circulating the inter webs. Whatever you do, don’t click here.

More naked selfies of 'totally-not-gay' Aaron Schock are making their way around the interwebs
This is the most tame photo in the latest raft of Schock selfies

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News Round-Up: May 29, 2019

• Who’s ready for Pride Month? • Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who famously did not allow a debate on the SCOTUS nomination of Merrick Garland for nearly a year, told a crowd in Kentucky on Tuesday that if a Supreme Court vacancy came up during the 2020 presidential campaign, “We’d fill it.” Totally different thing when the nomination is from your party, huh? • Even the legal pundits at Fox News think Robert Mueller’s statement that he didn’t charge Donald Trump with obstruction of justice “because he’s the president” was damning for Trump: https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1133840519640039425 • Louisiana lawmakers passed an abortion ban on a 79 – 23 vote Wednesday that would prohibit women from terminating a pregnancy once a fetal heartbeat has been detected. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards [photo] has indicated that he would break with his party and sign the ban if it crosses his desk. • The non-partisan Congressional Research Service reports the sweeping tax law Republicans enacted in late 2017 is definitely not paying for itself, and has not significantly boosted the economy or increased wages.

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News Round-Up: May 22, 2019

Some news items you might have missed:

• Well, hello newly-discovered InstaHunk Jefferson Ferreira. Aren’t you just a heaping helping of furry goodness…? #woof

• The U.S. federal government has settled a lawsuit for $750,000 with a gay inmate who was threatened by another prisoner over his sexual orientation. Instead of intervening, officials moved the gay inmate into his bully’s cell where the aggressor followed through on his promises to repeatedly beat and rape the gay inmate.

• Adult entertainment site XTube surveyed over 3,000 gay and bisexual men about what fetishes turn them on the most. Ranked number one was ‘partialism’, also known as a fetish for a particular part of the body like feet or a hairy chest. Some studies have shown folks who engage in kink are more likely to have positive mental health.

• Out talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has inked a deal to keep her titular chat-fest going three more years taking her through the 2022 season.

• The Trump administration is proposing a rule change to gut protections for transgender people seeking to stay at federally funded homeless shelters.

• The latest music video from Madonna – her collaboration with Swae Lee, “Crave,” from her upcoming album Madame X.

I like the song. Hit play below…

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News Round-Up: May 21, 2019

Some news items you might have missed:

• We usually see InstaHunk Ignacio Pérez Rey (above) on a sun-drenched beach somewhere, but it turns out he also likes his pool back home in Madrid.

• The Maine legislature has passed LD 1025 which will protect LGBTQ youth from the harmful practice of so-called conversion therapy, and make Maine the 17th state to do so. The harmful practice is condemned by every major medical and mental health organization, including the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, and American Medical Association.

• The Philippines Congress launched an online poll this week to gauge support for legalizing same-sex unions.

• Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson didn’t know the difference between “REO” and sandwich cookie Oreo. Every nascent real estate agent knows in their first week of training “REO” stands for “real estate owned,” another term for a foreclosed property. But this guy is the Housing Secretary…

• Several lawmakers are opposing the nomination of homophobic court nominee Howard Nielson, who has made antiquated remarks on same-sex parents, famously lashed out at a gay judge, and helped challenge affirmative action in court.

• An out, gay black man has become a congressional leader in fighting back against the homophobia of Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro.

• Inspired by the books of Armistead Maupin, the new Netflix Limited Series Tales of the City begins a new chapter in the beloved story.

Mary Ann (Laura Linney) returns to present-day San Francisco and is reunited with her adopted daughter Shawna (Ellen Page) and ex-husband Brian (Paul Gross), twenty years after leaving them behind to pursue her career. Fleeing the midlife crisis that her picture-perfect Connecticut life created, Mary Ann is quickly drawn back into the orbit of Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis), her chosen family and a new generation of queer young residents living at 28 Barbary Lane.

Here’s the first full trailer for the new incarnation of TOTC which premieres June 7th on Netflix.

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News Round-Up: May 13, 2019

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk Steve in LA (above) makes baseball much more palatable, no? And – he has the good sense to attend a Yankees game 🙂

• The Gaily Grind: A Canadian man filmed himself tearing down and burning a neighbor’s Nazi flag, saying he took matters into his own hands because “authorities weren’t going to.”

• Vox: In the new book, Commander in Cheat, sportswriter Rick Reilly explores Trump’s complicated relationship with the game of golf, and herculean efforts he goes to lie about his scores, sabotage his opponents, and generally defraud the sport. Sport reveals, in part, who we are. Golf reveals the cheat that is Donald Trump.

• LGBTQ Nation: Mike Pence whines that America has ‘little tolerance’ for Christians if he can’t be anti-gay.

• Gay Star News: A makeup company is marketing a new brand specifically to ‘macho men’ with black packaging and the name ‘War Paint.’ They say male skin is ‘different’ from female skin, and therefore men need their own manly brand of makeup.

• Instinct: Mr. Ratburn of PBS’ Arthur is gay, and married.

• InstaHunks Alex Abramov and Brett Miles hug it out after exploring NYC’s ‘The Vessel.’