LGBTQ news and entertainment
In this week’s headlines: The United Methodist Church has reversed its ban on gay clergy. Plus… • Out country music artist Chris Housman drops his oh-so-romantic new single and music video “Guilty As Sin.” Continue reading “Podcast: United Methodist Church, Country Music Artist Chris Housman + More”
The United Methodist Church General Conference has voted to drop its ban on the ordination of practicing gay clergy. Church delegates also voted to stop penalizing clergy or churches from holding same-sex weddings. Continue reading “United Methodist Church Reverses Ban On Gay Clergy”
Some news items you might have missed: • Glamour: One Tree Hill star Sophia Bush comes out as queer and confirms she’s in a relationship with retired U.S. Women’s National Team soccer player Ashlyn Harris: “I finally feel like I can breathe. I don’t think I can explain how profound that is.” Continue reading “‘One Tree Hill’ Star Sophia Bush Comes Out + More News”
The North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church voted Saturday to accept the decision of 261 congregations (of its nearly 700 churches) to leave the denomination after the church strengthened its bans on partnered LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage in 2019. Continue reading “Hundreds Of Churches Leave United Methodists Over LGBTQ Policies”
Nathan McCallum (via Instagram)
• LGBTQ Nation: A gay man’s sister kidnapped him & forced him into conversion therapy where he was beaten and flogged. His family thought being gay was “demonic,” so his sister hired a “prophet” to beat it out of him. • Variety: Kevin Spacey has settled a lawsuit with the estate of a man who had accused him of sexual assault, following the accuser’s death in September. A trial was set to take place in federal court in June 2020, but when the accuser died, the accuser’s estate filed a notice dismissing the lawsuit on Monday. Each side agreed to pay their own costs. • WRAL: The United Methodist Church appears poised to split into two separate denominations over the issue of LGBTQ inclusion. The United Methodist Church is currently the third largest Christian denomination in the United States. • Politico: Why Pete Buttigieg enrages the political left – “The unspoken truth about the furor Buttigieg arouses is that his success threatens a core belief of young progressives: that their ideology owns the future, and that the rise of millennials into Democratic politics is going to bring an inevitable demographic triumph for the party’s far left wing.” • Twitter: As many have pointed out, before the 2012 presidential election, Donald Trump repeatedly predicted (wrongly) that President Obama would start a war with Iran in order to secure re-election. We all know Trump projects his own thoughts on others as this video clip resurfaces:
Not only tweets, we got video. Remember, folks – Trump is about projection. He always accuses others of what he would/will do. pic.twitter.com/QdEu8gpY8V
— The Randy Report (@randyslovacek) January 3, 2020
In this episode of The Randy Report podcast:
• Georgia lawmakers look to legalize LGBTQ discrimination
• The United Methodist Church doubles down on anti-LGBTQ animus
• Formerly homeless valedictorian kicked out of his home for being gay is thriving in college, and just landed a Congressional internship. He also set up his own scholarship foundation. Click here for more info.
• Pose star Billy Porter brings political discourse to the Oscars’ red carpet
• Out singer/songwriter Kisos shares his ‘five stages of grief’ with “Happily Ever After”
• Brooklyn Nine Nine’s Terry Crews got called out for saying kids of same-sex parents will grow up emotionally ‘malnourished’
All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report.
I want to send a big shout-out to everyone who’s hit up the podcast over the past couple of years.
It’s amazing to see the growth in numbers of folks discovering the podcast in such an organic manner, and I want to thank everyone for taking a listen and spreading the word about the podcast.
I always look at the podcast as the kind of “LGBTQ catch-up” I would want to hear, with a mix of stories that spans the wide spectrum of political and pop culture news.
I was excited to be contacted by an advertising exec who has a list of clients looking to advertise on the podcast.
!!!
Now, you know, ad execs only show interest when they see an audience they value.
Tip of the hat to all of you 😉
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| Bruno the wonder dog |
Some news items you might have missed:
• It’s the one year mark since Bruno the wonder dog crossed over the rainbow bridge. I’m celebrating his life today. My remembrance of The Brun here. He was the best dog I’ve ever worked for.
• The United Methodist Church on Tuesday voted to strengthen its ban on gay and lesbian clergy and same-sex marriages stating that “the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching.”
• Results of a new survey indicates if you watch more porn on a regular basis, you’re more likely to be bisexual.
• Openly gay jujutsu fighter, William Seth-Wenzel, just became a world champ as his boyfriend cheered him on.
• Handsome gay college football player Cy Hicks shares with Outsports how coming out made him feel empowered.
• The House passed what many say is the most significant gun control measure in more than two decades on Wednesday when it approved the first of two bills aimed at strengthening the federal background check system for firearms purchases.
• “Call Me Maybe” singer Carly Rae Jepsen proves she’s soooo not a one-hit-wonder dropping two new tracks today: “Now That I Found You” and “No Drug Like Me.”
Check out the totally banging dance track “Now That I Found You” below, and click here for “No Drug Like Me.”
A mother who lost her gay son to suicide after being shamed by a United Methodist Church youth director talks on the “gone too soon” journey of her son, and wonders what the true mission of a church is – to help create healthy relationships with Christ or create barriers that push people away from Christ?
The announcement was predicated on a case between the United Methodist Church and Rev. Dr. Thomas Ogletree who officiated his son’s same-sex marriage.
The trial has now been dropped and New York Bishop Martin McLee calls for no more prosecutions regarding ministering to the LGBT community.
Via press release:
At a joint press conference today, United Methodist Bishop Martin McLee and Rev. Dr. Thomas W. Ogletree announced that the church was dropping the case against Dr. Ogletree for officiating at his son’s wedding.
In a huge victory for the Methodist movement that is organizing ministry to all couples on an equal basis in open defiance of church law, the bishop dropped the case without any conditions.
Furthermore, Bishop McLee said in his statement “I call for and commit to cessation of trials,” the first time ever a sitting United Methodist bishop has categorically declared he will not prosecute pastors for ministering to LGBTQ people.
“I am grateful that Bishop McLee has withdrawn this case and the church is no longer prosecuting me for an act of pastoral faithfulness and fatherly love,” said Dr. Ogletree. “But I am even more grateful that he is vowing not to prosecute others who have been likewise faithful in ministry to LGBTQ people. May our bishop’s commitment to cease such prosecutions be the beginning of the end of the United Methodist Church’s misguided era of discriminating against LGBTQ people.”
The United Methodist Church is the second largest Protestant denomination in the US.
A United Methodist minister from Pennsylvania was defrocked after he officiated at his son’s same-sex wedding.