Tag: Tennessee

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Tennessee Commissioner: “We Got A Queer Running For President!”

Sevier County Commissioner Warren Hurst (screen capture)
During a commission meeting in Sevier County, Tennessee, Monday night Commissioner Warren Hurst decided he had somethings he wanted to get off his chest. While the public meeting was meant to discuss a pending vote on becoming a gun sanctuary city, Hurst shifted topics. “We got a queer running for president – if that ain’t about as ugly as you can get,” said Hurst with a toothpick in the corner of his mouth. “Look what we got running for president in the Democratic party. We can go over here to Hoss’s jail [Sevier County Sheriff] and get better people out of there than those running for democratic to be President of the United States.” “I’m not prejudiced – but, by golly, a white male in this country has very few rights and they getting took more every day,” added the 77-year-old commissioner. “Now, your kids and your grandkids is gonna pay for what we’ve let happen.” Local news station WVLT reports one woman stood up and left the meeting telling Hurst, “This is not professional. This is [expletive].” But many attending the meeting laughed at Hurst’s comments. Hurst later defended his comments to WVLT saying he stood by his remarks but claimed – get ready for it – that ‘some of his best friends’ are African-American. Of course, they are. On Tuesday morning, Perrin Anderson, assistant to the Sevier County Mayor, issued a statement denouncing Hurst’s remarks: “The statements made by Commissioner Hurst at the Sevier County Commission meeting of October 21, 2019, do not reflect the opinion or position of Sevier County administration,” said Anderson. “Sevier County is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or status in any other group protected by law.” Sevier County includes the cities of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge (home of Dolly Parton’s theme park, Dollywood). Their economies survive on tourism, so you have to wonder why would anybody want to visit there now? You can watch Hurst’s comments below. https://www.facebook.com/WVLT8/videos/520357218510468/

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Podcast: Sexual Battery In Football Locker Room; New Drug Approved For PrEP; Man Says He’s Gay Because iPhone

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: • Allegations of sexual battery have led to the cancellation of a California high school’s football season • A federal judge has struck down Tampa Florida’s ban on so-called conversion therapy • The FDA has approved a second drug to be prescribed for PrEP • A Russian man is suing Apple for $15k because his iPhone made him gay? • And a Tennessee teen honored as part of his school’s homecoming royalty, graciously accepted in a sequin gown All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

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Podcast: Suicide In Tennessee, Swimmer Booted For Being Gay, Music Video Highlights Domestic Violence

In this week’s headlines: • A Tennessee teen commits suicide after being outed by fellow students (If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255) • The Trump administration tried to wipe out Pride crosswalks • A suspect has been arrested in brutal crime where a gay man was tied to a minivan and dragged through the streets of Jacksonville • Collegiate swimmer says he was kicked off Stanford’s swim team for being openly gay • Tom Goss’s new music video ‘La Bufadora,’ dives into domestic violence among LGBTQ couples All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report. Reminder – if you enjoy catching up on LGBTQ news in a quick podcast, I’d appreciate if you would share The Randy Report with your friends 🙂

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Cyber-Bullying Leads To Teen Suicide In Tennessee

Channing Smith (images via family/FOX17)
Channing Smith, a high school junior in Manchester, Tennessee, committed suicide last week after another student posted private text messages between Smith and another boy resulting in outing  the teen as bisexual, reports Buzzfeed News. Smith had apparently kept his attraction for other boys a secret, but an argument with another teenager who is close to the boy he’d been messaging became upset that she “didn’t know about the sexting and posted the screenshots to be vindictive, according to Keylee Duty, a fellow student at Smith’s school. “She was just doing it to be mean,” Keylee told Buzzfeed. Smith had been dating 17-year-old Hailey Meister for a month prior to his suicide. “He didn’t deserve that,” she shared. “He was kind and loving and a very good person.” Meister added that Smith told her when the screen captures were shared on social media “how bad it made him feel and it was a mistake.” She also says Smith was “trying to find himself” and hadn’t explicitly identified as bisexual before his death. His older brother, 38-year-old Joshua Smith, says the nature of the text messages were explicit to the point that “there was no room for Channing to be able to claim it was a misunderstanding.” “When he saw the screenshots on social media he called some people around 10 p.m. Sunday night, freaking out,” he added. “His last posting on Instagram was about people he couldn’t trust.” Smith’s body was found by his father at around 4 a.m. The father had noticed Smith’s light on in his room and went to check on him. “He’s still in shock,” says Joshua. The older brother explained that life in their “small, Southern town” could be “complicated.” “You could be gay and still like the Confederate flag and shoot pistols,” says Joshua. But to be labeled “gay, queer, or a sissy” would be devastating for a high school junior he added. The local Fox affiliate reports that Joshua says his brother called the female classmate who posted the private messages and said her he was going to kill himself. According to Joshua, she didn’t reach out to Channing’s family or any suicide prevention hotline.

A complication in the case comes as the family feels Coffee County District Attorney Craig Northcott isn’t being appropriately pro-active in investigating the cyber-bullying Channing experienced by fellow students. Joshua told Buzzfeed that “investigators spent only a day” on the case, and “didn’t confiscate the kids’ phones’ saying they didn’t have the technology to ‘bypass the passcodes.’” In June, statements by Northcott in a 2018 video surfaced where he said he disagreed with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell ruling which made same-sex marriage legal in the U.S. He also shared that he doesn’t prosecute domestic cases involving LGBTQ people because he doesn’t believe marriage exists. In a statement regarding the Smith case, Northcott said that while he can’t comment on an open investigation, he said allegations that his office had failed to act are “inaccurate” as the investigation has not been completed. Smith’s family and friends are also critical of Channing’s high school for not making a public statement about his death or to condemn bullying. “They haven’t made any mention about him or his death on their website, on Facebook, anywhere,” Joshua said. “They haven’t offered counseling to the kids or gathered them to talk about anti-bullying.” “The principal told my father that he felt like we would not want anything at our memorial service that says justice for Channing, which was total bullshit,” added the older brother.

(screen capture)
When Channing’s friend attempted to make a statement wearing t-shirts asking for “Justice for Channing,” the principal demanded they remove the shirts. “We refused. Not only me, but his close friends and people who loved him stood during the assembly holding our posters,” said Keylee. “We believe the school refused to do anything because what happened to Channing involved gay rights.” If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Other international suicide helplines can be found atbefrienders.org. You can also text TALK to 741741 for free, anonymous, 24/7 crisis support in the US from the Crisis Text Line.

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News Round-Up: July 30, 2019

• Hottie of the Day: Prior to last week's red carpet at Chippendales in Las Vegas when 'Jersey Shore' star Vinny Guadagnino returned as celebrity guest host, my hubby Michael (longtime publicist for Chipps) helped photographers get their light settings right standing in for the reality star. This was his 'back of the dress' pose.
Michael Caprio

Some news items you might have missed:

• Hottie of the Day: Prior to last week’s red carpet at Chippendales in Las Vegas when ‘Jersey Shore’ star Vinny Guadagnino returned as celebrity guest host, my hubby Michael (longtime publicist for Chipps) helped photographers get their light settings right standing in for the reality star. This was his ‘back of the dress’ pose.

• Tennessee: A group of over 300 lawyers says Coffee County District Attorney Craig Northcutt should have his law license suspended after admitting he doesn’t prosecute domestic violence crimes involving married same-sex couples. “I don’t prosecute them because I don’t recognize it as marriage. There’s no marriage to protect.”

• Sun Sentinel: The South Florida newspaper had an ‘oopsie’ when it tweeted out a headline about moving a 100-year-old house, but instead featured a hot guy and a link to a story about an ‘adult-themed’ party in Key West.

• Lambda Legal: Military leaders, medical associations, public health groups, and HIV advocates joined three friend-of-the-court briefs which argue the Pentagon’s exclusion and discharge of HIV-service members is outdated, irrational and discriminatory given the advancements made in HIV medicine.

• Newsweek: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell got his panties in a wad when #MoscowMitch began trending on Twitter after he refused to allow a vote on new election security measures to stop interference in U.S. elections. What he’s not keen on admitting is he received campaign donations from voting machine lobbyists before blocking the vote.

• Out Music: Earlier this month, I interviewed out singer/songwriter Tom Goss about his latest single, “Quayside,” from his upcoming album, Territories.

The song is born out of Goss’s own experience exploring a polyamorous relationship after his husband asked to open their marriage. It was a journey he’d not previously considered.

“I really wanted the video to reflect the uncomfortableness of my situation,” Goss recently told Parade. “I want the viewer to feel the uncertainty and fear that I did visiting the Quayside for the first time.”

“That said, we were very conscious to make sure that my actions were still my own,” he added. “Nobody ever forced me through the door, I was, and am, a person who chooses his own path. The final decision, to walk into the Quayside and to completely submerge, represents the most complicated and uncharted path of them all — polyamory.”

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Dying Man’s Funeral Refused By Church Because His Son Is Gay

L-R Brandon Smitty, Jessie Goodman (image via WTVC)

For years now, the LGBTQ community has endured reports of being denied services – like trying to buy a wedding cake or wedding invitations, or enrolling children of same-sex parents at private schools – all because of ‘deeply held religious beliefs.’

But a church in Tennessee is now denying a dying man’s request to host his funeral because his son is gay.

Jessie Goodman’s father is 71-years-old, very ill and dying.

His father has two requests after he is gone: that Jessie sing “The Anchor Holds” at the funeral, and that the services be held at Lee’s Chapel Baptist Church in Sweetwater, Tennessee. It’s the church the father first attende

But when Jessie, who is engaged to Brandon Smitty, approached the church about the service, Pastor Jay Scruggs and several members of the church told him neither he nor his fiancé could be involved in the funeral because they are gay.

Goodman told local ABC affiliate WTVC News 9, “As long as I was going to take part in any way, he (Goodman’s father) could not have his service there.”

Goodman was reportedly told the funeral could be held at the church if Jessie would attend alone, and not be a part of the service at all.

And if his fiancé showed up, he would be asked to leave.

News 9 reached out to Scruggs, but the pastor refused to comment saying he would speak to the press “after Jessie’s father is in the grave.”

“They’re punishing my dad for a lifestyle choice I’ve made,” said Goodman. “It’s not me up there in a casket. It’s him.”

The father, whose name is being withheld at the family’s request, has been told that his services will not be held at his own church.

“He did know that his funeral wouldn’t happen there,” said Goodman. “And he had a very hurt look on his face when we told him that.”

The family has since found a different funeral venue in the area to host the services.

And Goodman will sing “The Anchor Holds” at his father’s funeral.

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News Round-Up: July 3, 2019

• InstaHunk Jeff Ferreira calls the setting for this photo (above) "perfectly perfect." No wonder he looks so natural there ;)
InstaHunk Jeff Ferreira

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk Jeff Ferreira calls the setting for this photo (above) “perfectly perfect.” No wonder he looks so natural there 😉

• ABC News: According to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, nearly 5 million people took part in this past weekend’s World Pride festivities.

• New York Times: It was 38 years ago today that a mysterious disease was reported to be targeting gay men in San Francisco and New York City. And so began a pandemic that the Reagan and Bush administrations would choose, in large part, to ignore.

• Washington Post: Tennessee has quietly enacted a new law that bars ministers ordained online from solemnizing weddings in the state. As of July 1, only priests, rabbis, ministers, people designated through a temple or church, and public officials can perform weddings. Many LGBT folks have their weddings officiated by family members or friends since many religious or elected officials won’t perform the ceremony, especially in deep red states.

• Page Six: Anderson Cooper (youngest child of now-deceased Gloria Vanderbilt) will inherit almost all of his mother’s estate. In 2014, Cooper told Howard Stern he didn’t expect to inherit anything.

• Tweet of the Day: White contractor shows up to the job of black homeowner with a racist Confederate flag on the back of his truck. Hit play to see what happened next.

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Sashay Away: Cracker Barrel Cancels Hate Pastor’s Reservation

(image via Flickr/JeepersMedia – CC License)

Tennessee hate pastor and Knox County Sheriff’s Detective Grayson Fritts has been told to ‘sashay away’ by popular southern restaurant Cracker Barrel.

Fritss, who recently made national headlines for a series of sermonshe gave calling for police to round up and kill LGBTQ people (whom he referred to as ‘filthy animals’), had planned to hold a meeting at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Cleveland, Tennessee, on June 29.

But the restaurant has turned the pastor and his church group away citing the company’s zero-tolerance policy for “discriminatory treatment or harassment of any sort.”

Grayson Fritts

In a statement posted to the company’s Twitter account, Cracker Barrel wrote, “We strongly disagree with their statements of hate and divisiveness” and added that Fritts and his group “will not be permitted on site.”

“We take pride in serving as a home away from home for all guests and in showing our communities and our country that the hospitality we practice is open to everyone,” continued the statement.

In closing, the company wrote, “We serve everyone who walks through our doors with genuine hospitality, not hate, and require all guests to do the same,” said in closing.

Local LGBTQ activist David Tierney had spoken to the restaurant and jumped into action organizing a phone campaign.

Speaking to the Knoxville News Sentinel, Tierney said, “It is a small victory for our community and it took a lot of work for us to even get this accomplished.”

“This is all started as an online campaign and action, organized by direct message (online), then grew into a real action, and then got picked up by the states Democratic Party,” Tierney told the News Sentinel. “It really just spread like wildfire over the course of 5 days.”

The community action helped spur the Tennessee Democratic Party to contact Cracker Barrel as well.

Party chair Mary Mancini penned a letter to Cracker Barrel CEO Sandra Cochran reminding the executive of the company’s own pledge to honor inclusivity and diversity.

As Fritts’ controversial sermons went public earlier this month, he was allowed to use paid sick days until a Voluntary Workforce Reduction Buy Out program kicks in July 19 when he will retire with benefits.

Fritts has used his ‘sick leave’ to travel this past weekend to Orlando, Florida, where he took part in the three-day “Death to Gays” rally celebrating the 3rd anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting which left 49 dead and more than 50 more injured.

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Tennessee: Detective Calls On Police To Arrest & Kill “LGBT Freaks”

A Sheriff’s Office detective who is also a pastor at the All Scripture Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, has drawn heavy criticism for a sermon he gave on June 2 where he called on police to “enforce a bible passage” that calls for killing LGBTQ people.

During a sermon titled, “Sodomite Reprobates,” Grayson Fritts said “The purpose of this sermon is, our government, like the police, should enforce Leviticus 20:13,” reports local CBS News affiliate WVLT.

In the King James Bible, Leviticus 20:13 reads, “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”

Fritts said that “God has instilled the power of civil government to send the police in 2019 out to the LGBT FREAKS and arrest them.”

The detective said “riot teams” should round up gays at Pride events, take them to jail and put them on trial.

“We got a bunch of them we’re gonna get convicted because they’ve got their pride junk on and they’re professing what they are, they’re a filthy animal,” said Fritts.

If convicted, Fritts’ prescription is to put the LGBTQs to death.

On Wednesday evening, WVLT reporter Robert Grant attended a service where Fritts delivered another sermon at his church. According to Grant, Fritts concluded his sermon with the message, “Put homos to death.”

WVLT news anchor Amanda Hara posted on her Facebook page a photo of a message left after Fritts’s sermon that read, “Dear Pastor Fritts, I don’t know what happened to you, but I am so sorry. Love, Thy Neighbor.”

Interestingly, the Sheriff’s office reports the detective put in a request to take part in the Knox County Voluntary Workforce Reduction Buy Out program days being delivering the controversial sermon.

Timing is everything, no?

Sheriff Tom Spangler issued a statement saying Fritts is “currently on paid sick leave until the effective date of the workforce reduction which will be July 19, 2019.”

“I want to be very clear that it is my responsibility to ensure equal protection to ALL citizens of Knox County, Tennessee under the law, my oath and the United States Constitution without discrimination or hesitation,” Spangler added. “Rest assured that I have and will continue to do so.”

Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs told reporters he found Fritts’s remarks to be “extremely vile and reprehensible” and condemned the calls for violence.

WVLT reports the Knox County District Attorney’s office is now investigating the matter, as well as past closed cases handled by Fritts where his anti-gay bias may have played a role in his investigations.

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News Round-Up: June 4, 2019

InstaHunk Anthony Bowens

Some news items you might have missed:

• Today’s InstaHunk lead photo was not even hard to decide. Thanks to out pro-wrestler Anthony Bowens for the awesome inspiration. Caption:

“Happy Pride everyone! Let’s spread the love and focus on things that bring us together as human beings rather than our differences. Let’s remember those that have paved the way for us to live openly and freely. Let’s continue fighting for those who have yet to have that freedom and provide hope that they will soon love in a world where they can. How will you celebrate pride?”

• A homophobic prosecutor in Tennessee (do I even need to continue?) says he doesn’t prosecute domestic violence cases involving same-sex couples because bigot.

• Actor Kevin Spacey appeared in court on Monday in Nantucket for a pretrial hearing where he is accused of groping a male teenager in 2016. Spacey’s lawyers say the teen’s mother deleted text messages from his phone (that could help prove Spacey’s innocence) before turning it over to authorities.

• A UK teenager mowed a giant penis shape in the field along the Stansted Airport flight path as a welcome to Donald Trump as he landed for a state visit to London early Monday morning.

• A Florida man is facing a manslaughter charge after deputies say he accidentally shot and killed a woman during an act of foreplay with his handgun. The man told police he and the woman were using the loaded weapon for ‘sexual excitement.’ #smh #straightpeople

• Donald Trump’s campaign held a rally in El Paso, Texas, in February but has refused to pay bills from the city to the tune of more than $470,000. The Trump campaign, using an old Trump tactic, says the city of El Paso is ‘overcharging.’

• The city of Boston, one of the most pro-LGBTQ cities in America, may have agreed to issue a permit for a ‘Straight Pride Parade.’ #IsntThatEveryDay?

And SmashMouth takes it for the win: