Tag: Pride Month

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No Pride Love From Trump Administration For 4th Year In A Row

Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David

Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David
While Donald Trump and Mike Pence took the time to acknowledge Global Coptic Day today, for the fourth year in a row they failed to recognize Pride Month. In response, Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David issued the following statement:

“This June, the Trump-Pence administration has yet again failed to recognize Pride Month to honor the history of the LGBTQ community and acknowledge the ongoing movement toward full equality,” said HRC President Alphonso David. “In a global pandemic and national crisis highlighting ongoing racial violence and police brutality across the country — violence that particularly targets Black lives — Trump and his administration have stoked division, hate, and anger with continued attacks on LGBTQ people, people of color, immigrants, and other vulnerable communities.

“The first pride started with protest. LGBTQ people — led in large part by transgender women of color — resisted police brutality and violence at Stonewall, the Black Cat, and Compton’s Cafeteria, among others. In this moment, we must unite like never before and take action, combat racism in all its forms and end white supremacy, not as necessary corollaries to our mission, but as integral to the objective of full equality.”

In order to help the LGBTQ community and its allies celebrate Pride Month in this moment, HRC is today officially launching its #PrideInside toolkit, a series of resources to help HRC members, the LGBTQ community and its allies celebrate Pride. The toolkit can be found at HRC.org/pride.

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Skittles ‘Gives Up The Rainbow’ In Honor Of Pride Month

Multi-colored candy Skittles has announced it’s giving up its ‘giving up its rainbow’ in honor of Pride Month this year. In an Instagram post, the popular candy company wrote, “During PRIDE only #OneRainbow matters. That’s why we are giving up our rainbow to show support for the LGBTQ+ community! For every SKITTLES Pride Pack sold we are donating $1 to GLAAD. 🌈” The special-edition grey ‘Pride Packs’ will be available at CVS and select Walmart stores beginning this coming week through the month of June. This isn’t the first time Skittles has gone colorless. CNN reports the brand has released the limited-edition ‘Pride Packs’ in Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom in previous years. For the US debut, Skittles has partnered with LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD – one dollar will be donated to the organization for every pack of gray Skittles sold up to $100,000. And, in case you’re worrying – losing the colors doesn’t mean losing the fruity rainbow flavors. Have no fear – you’ll still get to ‘taste the rainbow.’

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PBS Celebrates Pride Month With PRIDELAND One-Hour Special & Digital Series

PBS is celebrating LGTBQ+ Pride Month with the launch of PRIDELAND a new one-hour special and short-form digital series following host and actor Dyllón Burnside (from FX’s Pose) on a journey across the South. The six-episode, short-form series will launch on PBS Voices, a new documentary-focused YouTube Channel by PBS Digital Studios, beginning Thursday, May 26. A one-hour companion special, also hosted by Burnside, will premiere on Friday, June 12 at 9:00 p.m. ET (check local listings) on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS Video App.

PBS will also air an encore presentation of The Lavender Scare, the gripping documentary that tells the untold story of how tens of thousands of homosexual federal workers were either fired or denied employment in the 1950s, stirring outrage in the gay community and starting an LGBTQ rights movement with an unlikely hero at the forefront. The acclaimed documentary (winner of 16 awards for Best Documentary) will air on PBS on Friday, June 12 at 10:00 p.m. ET.

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Podcast: NYC Pride’s Big 2020 Plans, Uganda, Albania, Daytime Emmys, PrEP

The Randy Report podcast

The Randy Report podcast delivers the week's top stories in a quick, convenient podcast - 'the 60 Minutes of gay news - only shorter' In this week’s podcast: • Prosecutors in Uganda have dropped charges against 19 LGBTQ people held in jail for 49 days • A ‘once every two months’ injectable version of PrEP has shown very positive results in clinical trials • Albania bans so-called ‘conversion therapy’ • NYC Pride has announced a huge 50th anniversary Pride television special featuring Billy Porter, Dan Levy, Janelle Monae, and more. • The 2020 Daytime Emmy nominations are out with big love for LGBTQ actors and shows Here’s the link to my recent interview with the Emmy Award-winning creators of the Amazon series ‘After Forever’ • Out singer/songwriter Clinton John’s new single “Cry” taps into those frustrating times when you realize you’re really not over that lost love. Link to download “Cry.” All that in this episode of The Randy Report.

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Podcast: Blood Donations, Anti-LGBTQ Hate Groups, A Virtual Pride Celebration

The Randy Report podcast

The Randy Report podcast delivers the week's top stories in a quick, convenient podcast - 'the 60 Minutes of gay news - only shorter' In this week’s podcast: • The FDA issues new guidelines regarding gay and bisexual men donating blood • A new report shows anti-LGBTQ hate groups are on the rise in the U.S. • Get ready to live-stream a global Pride celebration this June • Sean Hayes reflects on saying goodbye to Will & Grace a second time All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

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Lady Gaga On Pride: “I Wish It Could Exist 365 Days Of The Year”

Lady Gaga spoke about the 50th anniversary of Pride at her Apollo Theater concert Monday night
Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga speaking at her concert Monday night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem:

“So it’s Pride Week. I wish it could exist 365 days of the year, but I’ll take a f–ing global week.

“Wow on Friday, the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. Yeah, that was when our community said enough is enough. And all hail to so many, including miss Marsha P. Johnson. What bravery, what courage. In the spirit of acceptance, the spirit of tolerance, the spirit of courage to be seen as you see yourself.

“I have learned so much over the years from all my fans. I feel so blessed, thank you for showing me and teaching me. And I’ve learned something very important to those people now, and I wish to share this with everyone who’s listening, not just in this theater, but around the world.

“Ask the question: ‘What. is. your. pronoun.’ Because for a lot of people, it’s really hard, and their pronouns aren’t respected or they’re not asked, and for me I’ve grown and changed over the years in a lot of different ways — I’ve felt misunderstood in different ways.

“All our hardships are different; I don’t mean to compare; I just mean to say we’re in this together, and I’ve had a million reasons to want to give up, and sometimes if you’re lucky you just need one good reason to stick around.”

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My Favorite Thing Today: Lavender

Former Ambassador and Congressional candidate Rufus Gifford shared this performance by a young woman named Lavender at his local Pride event on his social media.
Lavender (image via Twitter/rufusgifford)

Former U.S. Ambassador and Congressional candidate Rufus Gifford shared this performance by a young woman named Lavender at his local Pride event in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.

Lavender performs “Part of Your World” from the Disney classic, The Little Mermaid.

From Gifford’s social media:

A young woman comes on stage in Fitchburg. Introduces herself as Lavender.
She tells us that she’s blind and autistic and wants to sing a song in honor of LGBT pride month.
And then she blows us all away and brings us to tears…

Wait… you are not prepared.

We’ve seen special moments at Pride events across the country – marriage proposals at Pride events, straight ‘country boy’ allies in Oklahoma show up for us, and more.

What I love about this video, and the story behind it, is how Pride events, large and small, can remind us of our better selves; that we celebrate the fabulousness of how different we all are and that diversity makes us better people.

Lavender not only delivers a powerful performance, but a powerful Pride message with the lyrics of “Part of Your World.”

Lavender has been singing in her local church group for years, thanks to her dads, Wil Darcangelo and Jamie Cormier.

Darcangelo founded a youth music group called the Tribe Music Mentorship Project that offers kids and young people, many from challenging backgrounds, opportunities to create music, books, art and more.

What I do know is even if Lavender weren’t blind, or autistic, she would be just as awesome for wanting to share her considerable gifts with the LGBTQ crowd.

With so much coming at us from many directions these days, let’s celebrate Lavender and the message she sends.

I’m honored she’s ‘part of our world.’

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NBA Star Dwayne Wade On Supporting Son Attending Pride: “It’s My Job As A Father”

“I don’t really talk about it much because it’s Zion’s story to tell,” Wade said to Variety during an interview at Cannes Lions, the annual advertising conference in the South of France. “I think as a family, we should support each other. That’s our job. And my job as a father is to facilitate their lives and to support them and be behind them in whatever they want to do.”
Dwayne Wade

NBA star Dwyane Wade shared with Variety recently that it’s “his job as a father” to support his son attending a pride parade.

In April, Wade’s then 11-year-old son Zion posted pictures of himself at Miami Pride, with his siblings and stepmother Gabrielle Union.

Wade, who was on the road with the Miami Heat, chimed in and voiced his love for Zion on social media. “We support each other wide Pride!” Wade wrote on Instagram.

“I don’t really talk about it much because it’s Zion’s story to tell,” Wade said to Variety during an interview at Cannes Lions, the annual advertising conference in the South of France. “I think as a family, we should support each other. That’s our job. And my job as a father is to facilitate their lives and to support them and be behind them in whatever they want to do.”

Asked if he had a message for other parents during Pride month, Wade said it’s no different than parenting every other month of the year.

“I’m asked a question about my kids a lot from a sports perspective,” Wade said. “I think people expect you to parent each kids the same. They are all different, and I have to get to know them and where they are. I have to say to most parents, get to know your kids. Don’t put your wants and needs on them.”

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Touching Anonymous Note Demonstrates Why Showing LGBTQ Pride Is Important

An note from a young neighbor told a Texas lesbian her Pride flag inspired them to come out.

Earlier this week, partners Meghan Stabler and Sal Stow found a touching note placed under a rock on their doormat in Williamson County, Texas.

“You don’t know me, but my name is [redacted]” the note read. “We’re moving today, but I wanted to thank you.”

“Seeing a pride flag waving so proudly out side your house every day has given me the courage to come out to my family and be more comfortable with who I am,” the note concluded.

“This is why visibility is SO important,” Sal Stow wrote on Facebook in sharing the note. “You never know who needs the support and to know it’s ok. I hope this person is ok, their family is being supportive and they find a community to connect with that can help them through this brave process.”

She also explained that county officials recently voted 4-0 to not allow the Pride flag to be flown over the courthouse, but that won’t stop her from showing her pride.

“I am proud of who I am and the person I love” Stow wrote. “I will continue to be visible in whatever way I can.”