LGBTQ news and entertainment
Some news items you might have missed: • New York Times: Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked the most ambitious voting rights legislation to come before Congress in a generation, using the filibuster to deal a blow to a bid by President Biden and Democrats to counter a wave of state-level ballot restrictions. Continue reading “News Round-Up: June 22, 2021”
It’s been an exciting, uplifting time in the hours since Carl Nassib, defensive end for the Las Vegas Raiders, came out as gay in an Instagram post on Monday. Continue reading “Thinking About Our Other NFL ‘First’ Michael Sam”
Carl Nassib, of the Las Vegas Raiders (my town!!!), has come out as gay becoming the first openly gay active player in the NFL. Continue reading “Carl Nassib Of The Las Vegas Raiders Comes Out As Gay”
Broadway at the Biden Inaugural Concert
• Outsports: 39 current NFL players on 22 teams say they have already had an out gay teammate, including six players with the Arizona Cardinals. • Instinct Magazine: Tiger King star Joe Maldonado-Passage (a.k.a Joe Exotic) truly believed Donald Trump would issue him a presidential pardon on his last day in office. The Tiger King was so sure the pardon was coming he had a limo standing by to pick him up at the prison.
I was too innocent and too GAY to deserve a Pardon from Trump. I only mattered to Don Jr. when he needed to make a comment about me to boost his social media post. Boy were we all stupid to believe he actually stood for Equal Justice? His corrupt friends all come first. pic.twitter.com/ysGfwnqlHi
— Joe Exotic (@joe_exotic) January 20, 2021
Every four years, we celebrate the beginning of a new administration. It’s the start of a bright new chapter. A time for us all to come together. I’m so grateful to all who worked to create an incredible day – especially in this uniquely difficult year. pic.twitter.com/P3L7OYoANR
— Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) January 21, 2021
Some news items you might have missed: • Pink News: The pharmacy chain Superdrug has launched the UK’s first-ever PrEP service and it will be fully remote (utilizing online doctors) in an effort to make it accessible to as many people as possible. Superdrug will, however, require that people accessing PrEP through its new service adhere to blood monitoring tests to ensure that they can safely take the HIV-preventing drug. • Back2Stonewall: It has been confirmed that the new HBO Max reboot series of the Green Lantern will feature the first Green Lantern character, Alan Scott – and, like in the Earth-2 comics, the character will be openly gay. • Instinct Magazine: Current and former pro football players (Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Rob Gronkowski above) took part in this terrific PSA for National Coming Out Day. “Today, on National Coming Out Day, we come together with one clear message,” say the athletes direct to camera. “To all current players who are thinking of coming out, when you are ready, so are we. It takes all of us and you deserve to be all of you.”
• Politico: South Carolina Democrat Jaime Harrison raised a staggering $57 million in the third quarter of this year, shattering the previous record for a Senate candidate as he seeks to unseat GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham. Graham, who has not released his third-quarter fundraising totals, raised $8.4 million in the second quarter and had $15 million in the bank as of June 30. • AP News: Here’s a bit of a warning sign for Donald Trump who won the 65+ vote by 9 points in 2016. The Villages, the nation’s largest retirement community located in battleground state Florida, recently held a 300+ golf cart parade in support of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. • The Hill: Donald Trump’s son Eric told ABC News’s Jon Karl on Sunday his father’s treatment for COVID-19 a “vaccine” that he further claimed the president helped create from “day one.” • Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Eager Georgia voters swarmed to polling places Monday morning for the start of three weeks of early voting before Election Day. Voters filled parking lots and waited in lines to lock in their choices in advance of November 3. As the tweet below notes, 410,000 absentee ballots have already been returned versus a total of just over 200K in 2016.
In 2016, just over 200,000 Georgians voted by mail in the general election, but this year, already 410,000 absentee ballots have been returned, and there are still 22 days until those ballots are due.https://t.co/zWsnuzING1
— Johnny Verhovek (@JTHVerhovek) October 12, 2020
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell (via Flickr/WEBN-TV – CC License)
View this post on Instagram
Racism has been a persistent issue in the NFL, particularly after former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling before games while the national anthem played to protest police brutality.
No team has offered Kaepernick a contract since 2017, which many attribute to his protests. Kaepernick accused NFL team owners of colluding to keep him from being signed. The NFL denied any collusion but in 2019, they reached a settlement with Kaepernick and former teammate Eric Reid, who knelt with him.
Ryan Russell, currently an NFL free agent, hopes to return to the game after missing all of last season with a shoulder injury. But before he begins his journey to redemption, he had a little business to take care of. In a first-person essay for ESPN, Russell has come out as bisexual, writing, “My truth is that I’m a talented football player, a damn good writer, a loving son, an overbearing brother, a caring friend, a loyal lover, and a bisexual man.” “Today, I have two goals: returning to the NFL, and living my life openly,” penned the 6’5″ 267-pound defensive end. “I want to live my dream of playing the game I’ve worked my whole life to play, and being open about the person I’ve always been.” Back in 2015, Russell was a fifth-round draft pick for the Dallas Cowboys. Alas, he only played in a single game for the Cowboys before being traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Having missed all of last year’s season, he’s now working to get back in the game. More from his ESPN piece:
Growing up, I always felt as though my existence slipped between the cracks of two worlds.
I wasn’t flamboyant, tidy, or any other stereotypes kids are forced to construct their world around.
I wasn’t straight, hyper-masculine or aggressive; I cried quite a bit, and, as a young black man, I didn’t fit the bill.
I played football — so I put that in the straight column. I wrote poetry and romance stories — so I put that in the gay column.
Over time, I came to build two worlds. There was football, the drive to play at a professional level, a place that catered to my competitive instincts. Football was a world of opportunity where, if I performed well, I could earn a scholarship, support my family and build a life for myself long after I stopped playing.
Then there’s my personal world, which probably isn’t much different from most people who are figuring out who they are in adulthood.
I admire his honesty and authenticity. At this point, the question is, after the Michael Sam / NFL debacle of 2014, can an openly bisexual man return to the game? https://www.instagram.com/p/B1wP7kwgjmQ/
|
| The LA Rams cheerleaders (screen capture) |
Last Spring, I reported on Napoleon Jinnies and Quinton Peron becoming the first male cheerleaders to dance in the NFL when they auditioned and made the Los Angeles Rams cheer squad.
The 2018 season marked the first time men danced at NFL games as part of the official cheer squads. Jinnies and Peron joined the Rams, and Jesse Hernandez joined the New Orleans Saints cheerleaders.
Other teams, like the Baltimore Ravens and the Indianapolis Colts have had men on their cheer squads but they acted primarily as stunt men, not dancers, lifting the female cheerleaders.
Jinnies, Peron and Hernandez have been getting down doing the same dance routines as the ladies, albeit without pompoms.
Still can’t belive I’m one of the first males in history to be a pro NFL cheerleader! Everyone’s support and love has been insane! thank you and GO RAMS! @RamsNFL @LARamsCheer #LARams pic.twitter.com/srpkYiVmEI— Napoleon Jinnies (@NapoleonJinnies) March 27, 2018
Now, with the Rams heading to the Super Bowl, that means more history in the making as the guys are set to become the first-ever male cheerleaders to dance at a Super Bowl.
 |
| Quentin Peron, Napoleon Jinnies and Emily Leibert for the LA Rams |
The men appeared alongside their coach, Emily Leibert, on Good Morning America today. They say heading to the Super Bowl as part of their first season with the team “feels like a fairy tale.”
“It’s been a crazy 10 months,” said Jinnies. “Dancing hard and really engaging with our community and our team and supporting our players. I can’t believe that we made it to this point, so I’m pretty sure it’s showing off that we’ve been working pretty hard.”
Aye Napoleon, you think Atlanta is ready for us? … NAHHHHHH .. WE’RE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL! pic.twitter.com/oWFAElcw61— Quinton Peron (@Qperon) January 21, 2019
2018 first male cheerleaders in the NFL2019 first male cheerleaders dancing at the Super Bowl.
I can’t breath
— Napoleon Jinnies (@NapoleonJinnies) January 21, 2019
When asked what surprised them the most about their first season, “How crazy our fans are,” said Peron. “We have the best fans ever!”
Leibert gushed about how easily the guys integrated into the squad, saying, “Having these two on the team has been really incredible, and to work community events with them to see the way they’ve been embraced by our fans is pretty unbelievable.”
“They’re extraordinary in that they are trailblazers but they are also totally normal teammates,” she added. “They fit right in.”
The guys share that they’ve heard from men across the country “who are so excited to try out!” And not just adults but younger guys who plan to try out for their junior high and high school cheer teams.
Peron and Jinnies are clearly feeling high on life right now, and they should be.
The Super Bowl featuring the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots airs on CBS, February 3 at 3:30pm EST.
Watch the GMA appearance below.
|
| Aaron Hernandez (image via Wikimedia Commons/Jeffrey Beall) |
In April of 2017, former NFL player Aaron Hernandez committed suicide while incarcerated at Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Massachusetts.
The 27-year-old was serving time after having been found guilty of the murder of Odin Lloyd in 2013.
In the aftermath of his death, scores of news stories explored possible reasons why the former New England Patriots player would take his own life.
In march of this year, a documentary titled Aaron Hernandez Uncovered on Oxygen featured his former lawyer saying, “This man was clearly gay.”
Now, Hernandez’s boyhood friend, Dennis SanSoucie, has come forward claiming to be Hernandez’s on-again/off-again gay lover.
Speaking to the Boston Globe, SanSoucie says the relationship began in middle school and continued through high school.
During their time in high school, the two became a power duo on the football field with SanSoucie as quarterback and Hernandez as receiver.
In their junior year of high school, SanSoucie connected with Hernandez for 67 passes for a total of 1,807 yards, a Connecticut high school record.
But SanSoucie tells the Globe that there was a completely different, secret life the two led outside of football.
SanSoucie shares that they would get high on marijuana often – before school, before football practice and before games.
It was during this time the two began a physical relationship as well, keeping the secret between themselves.
“Me and him were very much into trying to hide what we were doing,” SanSoucie shares with the Globe. “We didn’t want people to know.”
SanSoucie says that growing up in the traditional, conservative community of Bristol, the idea of being openly gay would not have played well. SanSoucie was heading into the military after graduation and Hernandez was bound for football glory.
The Globe report also indicates that anything ‘gay’ would have been extremely difficult at home. Hernandez’s brother Jonathan shares that their dad had been “deeply homophobic.”
He recalls Aaron coming home one day and announcing he wanted to be a cheerleader. The dad shut that idea down quick, according to Jonathan.
‘Faggot’ was used all the time in our house,” says Jonathan. “All the time. Standing. Talking. Acting. Looking. It was the furthest thing my father wanted you to even look like in our household. This was not acceptable to him.”
The Globe also reports that both Jonathan Hernandez and George Leontire (Aaron Hernandez’s former lawyer) say that Aaron had hinted at having been the victim of sexual abuse as a child. But neither identify who that person would have been.
Now out and living in Las Vegas, SanSoucie says he believes Aaron would be proud of him for coming forward now.
“I really truly feel in my heart I got the thumbs-up from him,” he said.
Donald Trump spent some of his ‘executive time’ this morning retweeting praise from his followers.
One tweet he especially liked used a photo of the Trumpster wrapped in a flag proclaiming, “Thank God for Trump!”
He also took a swipe at the NFL as some players over the opening weekend of the new season took a knee during the playing of the national anthem.
Trump tweeted that viewership is down 13%, but he wasn’t quite accurate.
From Philly.com:
CBS had its best opening NFL single-header rating in three years, drawing an average overnight household rating of 10.6 on its slate of five regional single-header games. That’s up 23 percent compared to CBS’ slate of games in Week 1 last year.
FOX averaged an 8.9 overnight rating on its 1 p.m. regional games, up six percent compared to last year. In its 4 p.m. national window, which featured the Carolina Panthers defeating the Dallas Cowboys, Fox garnered a 15.7 overnight rating, up slightly from last year.
In fact, Panthers-Cowboys drew the second-highest overnight Week 1 ratings in that national window since 2014, and it’s the seventh-highest number since 2004, according to Sports Media Watch.
What Trump failed to include is that most other programming, including scripted television shows, have seen drops in their viewership as streaming services like Hulu and Netflix continue to garner more and more customers.
Thank god for Trump! pic.twitter.com/bnPaMHW3tB— America First (@trueamerica1st) September 9, 2018
Thank you @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/fpFwNqw5id— America First (@trueamerica1st) September 9, 2018
STAND FOR THE NATIONAL ANTHEM! pic.twitter.com/oHk86YNi0v— The Trump Train 🚂🇺🇸 (@The_Trump_Train) September 9, 2018