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Published by BANG Showbiz English Cara Delevingne’s struggles with her sexuality left her feeling suicidal. The 30-year-old model-and-actress – who identifies as queer and gender fluid – worried she was “abnormal” when she was questioning her own identity but is “so glad” she didn’t take her own life because she’s now in a position to help and support other young people who are in the same state of confusion as she was. She said: “I couldn’t talk to anyone about it. I had a lot of internalised homophobia and shame. I thought that I was abnormal. “I thought about ending my life, like I had multiple times, and I’m so glad I didn’t because if I can help any other kid that means the world to me. “It means the world to that little queer kid I was. Or I am.” The ‘Suicide Squad’ actress previously declared herself to be bisexual, and then pansexual, but she’s now settled on queer. Speaking on her new documentary ‘Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne’, she said: “I kind of started as bisexual, and then I was pansexual. I felt like ‘I don’t know what letter I am! “Queer felt fluid and free. It didn’t put too much pressure on anything I was deciding to be… Sexuality is definitely a spectrum, and I feel like mine wavers, but I’m definitely more on the side of women. I like having sex with men, I just don’t date them.” While Cara is “proud to be a woman”, she doesn’t want to “sit in a box” and admitted she enjoys “dressing up as a man and being a ‘he'” too. She said on the show: “I am a ‘she’ right now. But I also like dressing up as a man and being a ‘he’. You don’t have to put so much pressure on yourself about what you are, who you are. Whether it’s masculine and feminine, it’s just who I am… “The constructs and binaries that are given are stupid. I’m proud to be a woman, but I don’t have to sit in a box. “I’m definitely genderfluid. I love playing with what we’ve been given as those gender constructs. Being super femme, being super masc, mixing it all up in one big cauldron.” View the full article

Published by Raw Story The Texas Family Project debuted this summer with a donation page powered by National Republican Senatorial Party’s fundraising platform WinRed with the aim to be “the most powerful force in Austin.” Its mission? To “expose attacks on children’s innocence” and send “boots on the ground” and a “political cavalry of pro-family forces” to protect those kids. It identified the major menace against kids as …drag queen storytimes. And so it launched a Drag Queen Alert System. Whenever and wherever Texans hear there’s a drag queen event near them, they can fill out the online form on the website of… Read More View the full article

Published by NJ.com “Gaslighting” — mind manipulating, grossly misleading, downright deceitful — is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year. Lookups for the word on merriam-webster.com increased 1,740% in 2022 over the year before. But something else happened. There wasn’t a single event that drove significant spikes in the curiosity, as it usually goes with the chosen word of the year. The gaslighting was pervasive. “It’s a word that has risen so quickly in the English language, and especially in the last four years, that it actually came as a surprise to me and to many of us,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) – After the 2016 massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Florida, the owners of New York City gay bar C’mon Everybody hired more security staff, and the LGBT landmark Stonewall Inn ran active-shooter safety drills with its bartenders. Those bars and other LGBT spaces around the country are again weighing how to keep their staff and patrons safe after a gunman killed five people and injured 17 more at an LGBT club in Colorado Springs. Many worry that physical security measures can only go so far, and that staunching a surge of inflammatory anti-LGBT rhetoric is a better tactic. The Club Q attack, which is being investigated as a hate crime, has compounded the fear and anger of a community already confronting a wave of Republican legislation directed at transgender youth and gay Americans, and what they say is a related rise in threats and violence against its members. “It’s really tiring for the gay community that time and time again we have to come up with the solutions for problems that other people make,” said Jonathan Hamilt, executive director of Drag Queen Story Hour, a nonprofit group that organizes drag performers reading books to children in 45 states that has been repeatedly targeted and threatened this year. “We want to gather and dance, and people want to shoot and kill us,” Hamilt said. “Why is there so much that is being asked of us?” Just hours before the attack at Club Q in Colorado Springs, someone threw a brick through the window of gay bar Vers in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City for the fourth time this month, according to police. Erik Bottcher, the city council member representing Hell’s Kitchen, has joined other officials over the last week to warn that one or more people are drugging and robbing gay men in the neighborhood. In response to those attacks and the Colorado shooting, the Anti-Violence Project, a non-profit group founded in 1980 after a spate of attacks on gay men, plans to hold a safety event at a Hell’s Kitchen gay bar on Wednesday night. Volunteers will talk with staff and patrons about ways to heighten vigilance in bars, on hook-up and dating apps, and with partners at home. The attack on the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando six years ago, during which a man shot dead 49 people, forced many bars to review their security plans. “It was definitely an eye-opening moment,” said Eric Sosa, co-owner of C’mon Everybody and Good Judy in New York City. “We started having security onsite seven days a week.” He recently switched to using what he described as a queer-owned security firm, which he felt was better placed to hire the sort of “firm but caring” bouncers his patrons would want to meet at the door. But as queer venues grapple with safety, several LGBT activists and club owners said no amount of security personnel or technology would protect them from the anti-LGBT rhetoric they blame for stoking such violence. Several Republican-controlled states have proposed or passed laws that ban teachers from discussing sexual orientation with younger students or criminalize doctors who perform certain medical interventions for transgender minors. In Florida, supporters of the new law restricting teachers said it was designed to keep them from talking about topics young kids were not ready to process. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has said he is trying to protect children from abuse by prohibiting many types of gender-affirming medical care for minors. Stacy Lentz, a co-owner of Stonewall Inn, the site of the 1969 riots that catalyzed the gay liberation movement, echoed others in the industry in saying venues are reaching the limits of what physical defenses can achieve. “You’re not going to stop a man with an AR-15 who really wants to come in. They’ll just shoot the security guard and that’s it, right?” she said. “We’ve got to work, really work to get the far right to tone down this rhetoric. Hate shouldn’t be a political strategy.” Steven Raimo, a drag artist who has performed as Veronika Electronika in Nashville, Tennessee, for two decades, has given up organizing in-person Drag Queen Reading Hour events, saying it is too dangerous because of the threat of protesters, some armed with guns. A state senator in Tennessee has introduced a bill that would criminalize drag performances in the presence of children. Raimo still performs for adults, including a drag bingo night he was hosting on Tuesday at a Nashville gay bar. “The idea of a safe space really doesn’t exist,” Raimo said. “You can have as many armed security guards as you like, but it doesn’t guarantee a safe space and it doesn’t guarantee the lives of everyone in that room will continue.” Read more: With books and jewels, drag queens teach children tolerance From school boards to statehouses, conservative Moms for Liberty push to grow influence (Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Lisa Shumaker) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Will Young has slammed David Beckham for promoting the Qatar World Cup. The 47-year-old former soccer star has signed a lucrative deal to promote the ongoing World Cup – but Will has now described his ambassadorial role as “odious”. He said on Instagram: “Qatar is of course not the only country in the world with appalling records on human rights. The argument that sport is not political is duplicitous and two faced. “Look at South Africa during apartheid, look at Russia now. Who decides the yays and the nays? “What is undoubtedly clear however is a star like you @davidbeckham who I once sang for (not for any money I hasten to add) at your birthday has disappointed me more than I can say. (sic)” Beckham, 47, has previously been outspoken in his support for the LGBTQ community. But Will has now blasted him for promoting Qatar, where homosexuality remains illegal under the country’s laws. The pop star – who came out as gay in 2002 – said on the photo-sharing platform: “Here is what irks me the most – not a WHISPER from yourself David to show solidarity, not a WHISPER from yourself to show support for the practical massacre of migrant workers, not a WHISPER David to help LGBTQIA+ communities living under constant danger. “The decision to take the alleged £150 million over 15 years is greedy enough, the burying of your head in the sand from you, your team and your advisers is repellent and cowardice personified. “So here is what I suggest if you won’t change your mind: give £1million to LGBTQIA+ charities in Qatar every year that you get your £10million a year. Can something be salvaged from this odious deal? “Perhaps those funds can help provide much needed safety to those living in terror whilst your posters smile down on the people of Qatar. (sic)” View the full article

Published by Knewz By Alex Lang New York (Knewz) — As members of the LGBTQ community and Colorado mourn the victims of a mass shooting at a club, nearly every state has seen drag events face threats. On Nov. 19, a gunman opened fire inside a Colorado Springs, Colorado, club during a drag show. Five people were killed and more than a dozen were hurt. A lawyer said the accused attacker is non-binary, but few details have emerged about the shooting. Drag shows and events, such as readings at local libraries, have become targets among far-right groups. Some have seen protests and intimidation; others have seen physi… Read More View the full article

Published by Radar Online colorado springs police Aaron Brink, the father of the 22-year-old Colorado shooting suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich, revealed his shocking first reaction to the disturbing killing spree which claimed the lives of five innocent people. mega RadarOnline.com has learned that Brink said he was notified about what happened on November 20 by Aldrich’s defense attorneys, who explained that his son was involved in a shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub known as Club Q. The 48-year-old said that he is a Mormon and immediately wondered why Aldrich was at Club Q. “You know Mormons don’t do gay. We don’t do gay. There’s no gays in the Mormon church. We don’t do gay,” Brink said during a new interview with CBS 8. Public defenders representing the 22-year-old describe Aldrich as “non-binary” who uses “they/them pronouns” in court documents. A new mugshot of Aldrich released on Wednesday showed them with extensive bruising and swelling after two heroic individuals rushed to subdue them during the attack. RadarOnline.com has learned that Brink had no idea his son was even alive until six months ago, claiming his ex called him in 2016 and told him Adrich changed their name from Nicholas Brink and committed suicide. “His mother told me he changed his name because I was in intervention and I had been a porno actor,” Brink shared. colorado springs police As a mixed martial arts coach, Brink said he showed his son how to fight in his earlier years. “I praised him for violent behavior really early. I told him it works. It is instant and you’ll get immediate results,” he said, noting there is “no excuse” for killing people. Brink later apologized while addressing the senseless tragedy that also left others severely injured and with long roads to recovery. “I’m sorry for your loss. Life is so fragile and it’s valuable,” he said. “Those people’s lives were valuable. You know, they’re valuable. They’re good people probably. It’s not something you kill somebody over. I’m sorry I let my son down.” mega Aldrich faces five murder charges and five charges of committing a bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury. View the full article

Published by AlterNet The Heritage Foundation, an anti-LGBTQ think tank, is reportedly spending $1.3 to air an anti-LGBTQ ad on TV and online during Thanksgiving weekend. The ad seeks to turn public sentiment against The Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would require U.S. states to legally recognize same-sex marriage. The bill would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996 law that prohibited federal government recognition of same-sex marriages. The act requires federal and state governments to recognize same-sex marriages that occur in states that provide them. Any state that refuses can be sued by… Read More View the full article

Published by AFP Space-X and Tesla boss Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022 San Francisco (AFP) – Elon Musk said Thursday many previously suspended Twitter accounts would be allowed back on the platform after a landslide of users responding to an informal poll by the new owner voted in favor of the move. The announcement comes as Musk faces pushback that his criteria for content moderation is subject to his personal whim, with reinstatements decided for certain accounts and not others. “The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week,” Musk tweeted, responding to the poll. “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” he added, repeating a Latin adage meaning “The voice of the people is the voice of God,” that he has used when talking about other Twitter polls. Of 3.16 million respondents to Musk’s Wednesday poll question, 72.4 percent said Twitter should allow suspended accounts back on Twitter as long as they have not broken laws or engaged in “egregious spam,” Musk posted. It was the same type of “yes/no” informal poll of Twitter users that Musk devised to decide in favor of reinstating former president Donald Trump on the platform. Trump’s Twitter account was reinstated Saturday after a narrow majority of respondents supported the move. Polls on Twitter are open to all users and are unscientific and potentially targeted by fake accounts and bots. Moreover, while Musk has 118 million followers, many of Twitter’s 450 million monthly active users might never have seen the poll question. A blanket amnesty for suspended accounts could potentially alarm government authorities that are keeping a close look at Musk’s handling of hateful speech since he bought the influential platform for $44 billion. It could also spook Apple and Google, tech titans that have the power to ban Twitter from their mobile app stores over content concerns. Trump was banned from the platform early last year for his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by a mob of his supporters seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. ‘No mercy’ Musk’s reinstatement of Trump followed that of other banned accounts including a conservative parody site and a psychologist who had violated Twitter’s rules on language identifying transgender people. The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has said that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones will not be returning to Twitter and will remain banned from the platform. Musk on Sunday said he had “no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame” due to his own experience with the death of his first child. Jones has been ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for his lies about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 26 people, mostly children. Musk, who closed his buyout of Twitter in late October, did not make clear whether the bans to be lifted by the poll were permanent suspensions or temporary ones. The future of content moderation on Twitter has become an urgent concern, with major advertisers keeping away from the site after a failed relaunch earlier this month saw a proliferation of fake accounts, causing embarrassment. Meanwhile the teams in charge of keeping nefarious activity off the site have been gutted, victims of Musk-led layoffs that saw half of total employees leave the company. John Wihbey, a media professor at Northeastern University, speculated that all the chaos might be because Musk is seeking to “buy himself time.” “Regulators are certainly going to come after him, both in Europe and maybe the United States… and therefore a lot of what he’s doing is trying to frame those fights,” Wihbey said. View the full article

Published by Raw Story A Washington state pastor celebrated the mass shooting last weekend at an LGBTQ nightclub that left five people dead. Aaron Thompson, of Sure Foundation Baptist Church in Vancouver, said the massacre was a “good thing” and falsely claimed the victims had been molesting children, although he walked that back moments later by saying their had only been looking at children in an inappropriate way, reported Only Sky. “Am I sad that five homos got shot?” Thompson said Tuesday in a sermon. “No, I’m not sad at all. As a matter of fact, I think it’s a good thing that they’re not here anymore to molest… Read More View the full article

Published by Raw Story Video has emerged showing Colorado LGBTQ nightclub shooter Anderson Lee Aldrich and his mother hurling racial slurs and obscenities to other passengers at an airport after a flight to Denver, Fox 31 reports. The video was captured by Frontier Airlines passenger Maria Martinez, which shows her questioning Aldrich and his mother Laura Voepel about a slur directed at Mexicans. “What makes me a b—-r?” Martinez asks. “Shut up!” Voepel snaps back. “What makes me a b—-r?” Martinez asks again. “Keep following me and I’m going to f— you up,” Aldrich replies. “I was having a hard time getting my luggage… Read More View the full article

Published by The Street By Jeffrey Quiggle In one open-ended tweet, the billionaire solicits opinions on a controversial and politically explosive topic. The term “culture war” has historical roots globally. In the U.S. it is localized, but in essence means the same thing as it always has. In general, it refers to a conflict among values in a society, largely between traditional beliefs and change. In Germany in the 1870s, for example, a conflict between the Catholic Church and anti-Catholic groups was referred to as Kulturkampf, or “cultural struggle.” In the United States in contemporary form, the invocation of cul… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Kylie Minogue is said to be in talks for a £100 million Las Vegas residency. The 54-year-old was reported by The Sun on Friday (25.11.22) to be ready to sign up for a 12-week run in Sin City. Planet Hollywood and Caesar’s Palace – currently hosting Adele’s Vegas residency – have made offers to Kylie, according to the publication. It added record label Sony BMG is liaising for “potential spin-off deals”. A source told The Sun: “While Kylie may not have a huge profile Stateside, she is an absolutely massive draw for the Brits. “She has a cult gay following especially, and it’s felt she will easily draw in the pink pound. Kylie visited a few venues in the summer, and numerous meetings have since been held. “It’s a no brainer for Kylie – easy money, and no touring. Everyone involved is hugely excited about the prospect.” Kylie has spent most of the summer in London recording new music, which if released would mark her 16th studio album and her first since 2020’s ‘Disco’. Adele is reportedly earning around £750,000 per show for her delayed Vegas residency, which started last week. Tickets for the concerts are going for up to £200,000 each on resale sites, according to the Mail on Sunday. Other big names to have headlined Vegas in recent years include Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez. Adele, 34, told fans on her opening night: “I should be giving you a standing ovation, thank you so much for coming back to me. I really appreciate it. You look amazing and it looks just what I imagined it would look like, it’s perfect. “I’m so scared and nervous, but I am so happy, I don’t know what I was thinking putting piano ballads at the top of the set, hopefully over time my nerves will disappear. “I would also really like to thank Caesar’s because there have been a lot of rumours and they never once asked any questions, they’ve been amazing. “Only legends have been through these doors, I’m so honoured. I have no idea what I’ve embarked on for five months, but I can’t wait.” View the full article

Published by New York Daily News Pete Buttigieg’s husband trashed Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Friday for accusing the trailblazing transportation secretary of lying about being gay while serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve. Chasten Buttigieg denounced Carlson for taking a judgmental pot shot at Pete Buttigieg for not disclosing his sexuality in an era when coming out of the closet would have gotten him kicked out of the military under the Pentagon’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. “It’s so easy to attack people and to go on your talk show and fire people up about something that’s not actually happening,” Chasten Buttigieg said… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Emma Corrin wants awards ceremonies to get rid of gendered categories. The ‘Crown’ actress – who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns – doesn’t feel Best Actor and Best Actress categories at events such as the Oscars, BAFTAs, and Emmys are “inclusive enough” so should be scrapped and merged into a single accolade. Emma told BBC News: “I hope for a future in which that happens. “I don’t think the categories are inclusive enough at the moment. “It’s about everyone being able to feel acknowledged and represented.” The 26-year-old star won a Best Actress Golden Globe and was nominated for the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for their performance as Princess Diana in ‘The Crown’ but at a time when they still used female pronouns. And Emma finds the idea of being nominated in female categories again in the future “difficult”. The ‘My Policeman’ star said: “It’s difficult for me at the moment trying to justify in my head being non-binary and being nominated in female categories. “When it comes to categories, do we need to make it specific as to whether you’re being nominated for a female role or a male role?” Emma also called for more “representation” in the genders being shown in TV and film. They said: “You can discuss awards and the representation there, but really the conversation needs to be about having more representation in the material itself, in the content that we are seeing for non-binary people, for queer people, for trans people, because then I think that will change a lot. “When those parts come up, meaning more people and more actors are playing those roles then I think there will be more of an urgency with which these questions will be addressed.” View the full article

Published by New York Daily News NEW YORK — The congregation is ready to let go of its church. The neighborhood isn’t. A debate over whether to preserve a once-stately Upper West Side church or to raze it to make way for a luxury condo building has erupted into lawsuits, hourslong hearings — and accusations of greed and neglect. Once the epicenter of social activism in the neighborhood, the condition of the West Park Presbyterian Church has devolved to the point where scaffolding surrounds its outer walls and signs of decay are painfully evident. The congregation argues the church is beyond repair. They want the building stri… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Karolos Grohmann DOHA (Reuters) – Germany players placed their hands over their mouths during a team photo ahead of their game against Japan for their World Cup Group E on Wednesday as the row over FIFA’s threat of sanctions over the “OneLove” armband continued. All Germany players took part in the gesture in front of dozens of photographers on the pitch ahead of kickoff, after world soccer body FIFA had threatened seven European teams with sanctions if they wore the armband symbolising diversity and tolerance. Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, sitting next to FIFA President Gianni Infantino in the stands, sported the armband as she chatted with the football administrator. Earlier, she had criticised FIFA, saying the threat of sanctions was a mistake and not acceptable behaviour. “This is not alright, how federations are being put under pressure,” Faeser said during a visit to a German FA event in Doha before the game. “In today’s times it is incomprehensible that FIFA does not want people to openly stand for tolerance and against discrimination. It does not fit in our times and it is not appropriate towards people.” A statement from the German Football Association (DFB) said: “We wanted to use our captain’s armband to take a stand for values that we hold in the Germany national team: diversity and mutual respect. Together with other nations, we wanted our voice to be heard. “It wasn’t about making a political statement – human rights are non-negotiable. That should be taken for granted, but it still isn’t the case. That’s why this message is so important to us. Denying us the armband is the same as denying us a voice. We stand by our position.” Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Christian Radnedge) View the full article