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Published by BANG Showbiz English Taron Egerton gets “filthy” emails from Sir Elton John. The 32-year-old actor struck up a friendship with the ‘Cold Heart’ hitmaker and his husband David Furnish while working on the 2019 biopic of the singer, ‘Rocketman’, and they are still in regular contact now. Taron said of Elton: “He doesn’t text, he emails. He emails filth, normally. “I saw him about three weeks ago, he was in London doing sometour dates and I went to his house and we had crab salad and spicy lamb.” The ‘Black Bird’ actor confirmed he is currently single and though Elton has promised to play matchmaker for him, no potential dates have yet materialised. Speaking to Andy Cohen on his ‘Radio Andy’ show, he said: “He talks about it but he never really comes through with the goods, he talks a good talk.” Taron is looking for a woman who is “quite attractive and funny” – and preferably has a big butt to match his own. Asked by Andy if the first physical attribute he looks at is “boobs”, he said: “No, I don’t care about that. I’m probably more of an a** man I think. But there are no prerequisites.” Asked what he thinks about big butts, he added: “I’ve got a big butt, quite a big round butt, I can’t be with a woman who’s got a small one, do you know what I mean? It’s not going to balance it out, otherwise, when we’re walking away holding hands as a couple… It won’t work.” Taron is happy to have a “wagon” but admitted there are days when he’d prefer it if his derriere was smaller. He said: “Some days I wish I had a littler butt, it feels nice to have a wagon but then some days I think, there are certain pairs of trousers where it could be great if I could just slip into them.” One place the ‘Kingsman’ actor won’t be looking to find a new girlfriend is in his Instagram DMs. He said: “I’ve gone in there to have a look once every now and then but it’s like a portal to hell.” View the full article

Published by Al-Araby A well-known Iranian actor has come out as a transgender man, to mixed reception on social media. The 56-year-old actor said in a voice recording last week that he would now be going by the name Maziar Lorestani – though his Instagram username also includes his former first name, Shohreh. Lorestani, who lives and works in Iran said that he is now “customarily and legally” a man. “I hope I can continue my work as an artist with my new identity,” Lorestani said. Lorestani began acting in the 1980s, featuring in television, film and theatre productions. He has close to half a million followers on… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Rose Horowitch and Moira Warburton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday was expected to pass legislation protecting gay marriage rights, after the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade imperiled similar precedents that protected rights to same-sex relations and contraception. The bill establishes federal protections for gay marriage and prohibits anyone from denying the validity of a marriage based on the race or sex of the couple. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler sponsored the bill after the federal right to an abortion was overturned when the Supreme Court struck down its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. In a concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said the court should also reconsider its past rulings that guaranteed access to contraception and the 2015 right to gay marriage, because they relied on the same legal arguments that Roe did. The bill is expected to win bipartisan support in the House, according to a Judiciary Committee aide, but it faces a difficult road in the Senate where Republican opponents might be able to block passage. Congressional Republicans have echoed Thomas’ arguments. Republican Senator Ted Cruz said on Saturday that the high court was “clearly wrong” in establishing a federal right to gay marriage. Democrats have argued that Congress must enshrine the right to gay marriage into federal law in case the court revisits its past rulings. “The rights and freedoms that we have come to cherish will vanish into a cloud of radical ideology and dubious legal reasoning,” Nadler said in a statement on Monday. Under the House bill, states could still restrict gay marriage if the Supreme Court overturns its prior ruling. But such states would be required to recognize marriages that occurred in states where they remain legal. Democrats are hoping the bills will draw a contrast to Republicans ahead of Nov. 8 midterm elections, in which soaring inflation challenges Democrats’ majority hold on the House and Senate. (Reporting by Rose Horowitch and Moira Warburton; editing by Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Jonathan Van Ness imagined the first girl he kissed was Isaac Hanson. The ‘Queer Eye’ star shared an “unremarkable” smooch with a classmate when he was around 12 years old because he felt he “had to have” a girlfriend, but his real love at the time was the oldest member of sibling boy band Hanson. He told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper: “My first kiss happened in sixth grade with a girl called Bree. “It was unremarkable because I thought I had to have a girlfriend, but in my mind I imagined she was Isaac Hanson because I loved the oldest Hanson brother.” The 35-year-old grooming guru married Mark Peacock – who he met on Instagram – in 2020 but admitted he never expected to tie the knot. He said: “I always wanted to get married but I didn’t think I would find the right person. I am so glad I did. We celebrated our two-year anniversary recently.” Jonathan paid tribute to the people around him who have helped him overcome various issues throughout his life. He said: “There have been broken hearts in relationships and some drug-taking in my life that have made me who I am. “It got pretty tough and rough for me, but curiosity and gratitude are the two things that have allowed me to survive the sexual abuse from my past to drug addiction and now living with HIV. “In part that’s due to the great friends and family I have, and to the women in my life, too, who showed me strength of character.” Jonathan recently explained he has happy for people to use any pronouns for him because he feels like he is “all of those things and none of those things”. The ‘Getting Curious’ star said: “When I say, he, she, they, whatever, I mean it because I feel like in ways I am all of those things and I’m none of those things at the same time. “That’s why I feel like whether you want to say he, she or they, it is okay for me. “If it is they or she, for me who I am is so much more than what that means to other people and to me. “That is where I come at it and why I identify as he, she or they ­because I feel like I’m everything and I feel like I’m nothing at the same time. That is kind of existential, but it is how I see it.” View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Travis Gettys Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has positioned himself as a culture warrior ahead of a possible White House bid, and an expert on the state’s politics says his success is making Donald Trump nervous as he considers his own campaign. NBC News national political correspondent Marc Caputo told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Trump is anxious about the support DeSantis has picked up by raging against classroom lessons on “critical race theory” and LGBTQ inclusion, and the governor is now seen as the most viable GOP contender to the former president. “I think it is beyond a shadow of a doubt … Read More View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega The Russian embassy in Switzerland threatened legal action against a Swiss newspaper after the outlet published a photo of Vladimir Putin dressed as a clown, Radar has learned. In a letter posted on Saturday, the Russian embassy condemned Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung over a caricature of the 69-year-old Russian leader wearing a red clown nose with a rainbow streak running across the left side of his face. Mega The newspaper’s article, titled “Between Superheroes and Villains: The Power of Memes in the Ukraine War,” also depicted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dressed in a Captain America-like suit holding a shield with a sunflower – Ukraine’s national flower – painted on the front. Although the article and caricature were first published on July 9, the Russian embassy did not respond until one week later. In the letter, addressed to NZZ editor Eric Gujer, the embassy expressed that they were “outraged” over the “insulting caricature of the President of the Russian Federation.” The Russian embassy also threatened to sue the Swiss newspaper for defamation and slander. Mega “We believe that freedom of expression is in no way compatible with the freedom to disseminate insults and fakes,” the Russian embassy wrote. “If we are speaking about clownery, it would be much more appropriate to touch on this topic in the context of the recent past of the former Ukrainian comedian V. Zelensky,” the embassy added. The letter also explained that Putin “is a deeply religious Orthodox person” and that he “advocates the preservation of traditional Christian values in Russian society (and he is clearly not a fan of the LGBT community).” As RadarOnline.com previously reported, this is just the latest incident in which Russia had to speak out after their leader was publicly mocked. Mega Last month, while the members of G7 met in Germany to discuss the war in Ukraine, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joked about Putin’s penchant for being photographed without a shirt on. After Putin found out about the incident, he fired back at the members of G7 while speaking to reporters in Turkmenistan. “I don’t know how they wanted to get undressed, above or below the waist,” Putin said after Johnson suggested they take a photograph, like Putin, without their shirts on. “But I think it would be a disgusting sight in any case.” “Everything in a person should be harmonious: both body and soul,” the Russian despot added, “but for that to happen it’s necessary to stop abusing alcohol and other bad habits, do physical exercise and take part in sports.” View the full article

Published by AFP A shoting isntructor with a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle in Jackson, Mississippi, in September 2020 Washington (AFP) – The US gun lobby on Monday seized on the “heroic” acts of a civilian who used a pistol to shoot dead a young man who had opened fire in a shopping mall, pushing its case in the midst of a fierce debate over the regulation of firearms. On Sunday evening, Jonathan Sapriman, a 20-year-old white man whose motives remain unknown, opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle in an Indiana shopping mall. He killed a 30-year-old man and a couple seated in a restaurant space, and injured two more, before being shot dead himself by Elisjsha Dicken, a 22-year-old customer who was carrying an unlicensed pistol, as recently authorized under local laws. “Many more people would have died last night if not for a responsible armed citizen that took action very quickly within the first two minutes of the shooting,” said Greenwood police chief James Ison during a press briefing. Ison said the shooter appeared to have prepared for his deadly assault by dropping his cell phone in a toilet and burning his computer in an oven before he set out. He also had a second assault rifle, a pistol and a large amount of ammunition, the police official said. The powerful lobby group, the National Rifle Association (NRA), immediately seized on the tragedy to reassert its line that an armed public is good for public security. “We will say it again: The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” the NRA said on Twitter. Another group pushing against any restrictions on firearms ownership, the CCRKBA, echoed the NRA line. “We carry guns to defend ourselves and others from criminals and crazy people in sudden emergencies,” its chief, Alan Gottlieb, said in a statement. “That courageous young man is rightfully being hailed as a hero,” he said. Kris Brown, president of the Brady Campaign, which is pushing for stricter gun-control laws, hit back on Twitter. “Let me be clear: If more guns made us safer, America would be the safest country in the WORLD,” he said. In the same vein, Shannon Watts, founder of the organization Moms Demand Action, shared graphs placing the United States at the head of the developed countries in terms of weapons per capita but also for deaths by firearms. Nearly 400 million guns were in circulation among the civilian population in the United States in 2017, or 120 guns for every 100 people, according to the Small Arms Survey project. More than 24,000 people have been shot dead since the start of the year, including 13,000 by suicide, according to the Gun Violence Archives site. Several of the recent gun rampages, including the shooting in a school in Texas and a supermarket frequented by African-Americans in Buffalo, caused particular shock across the country, prompting lawmakers to agree in June, for the first time in 30 years, to pass modest reform of gun laws. View the full article

Published by AFP 'Game of Thrones' fans attending Comic-Con are eagerly awaiting 'House of the Dragon' set in George RR Martin's fictional world of Westeros San Diego (AFP) – Comic-Con finally returns to San Diego this week, where new “Lord of the Rings” and “Game of Thrones” TV series will compete before tens of thousands of cosplaying geeks and nerds at the world’s most famous pop culture gathering. Disney and its Marvel superheroes will also preview their upcoming films and shows to adoring fans at the sprawling convention, which has not taken place in full for three years due to the pandemic. “I think it’ll look like Comic-Con from 2019,” said the event’s communications chief David Glanzer, even if guests — whether dressed as hobbits, dragons or princesses — will be required to wear face masks. “We weathered it. And now coming back, maybe we’re gonna have tears of joy… it’s very emotional,” he told AFP. In addition to 135,000 screaming fans, the comic book, science fiction and fantasy extravaganza draws Hollywood’s biggest studios and their A-list stars to show off upcoming titles — kicking off this year with Paramount’s “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.” Marking the first time the world’s most popular role-playing game has received a mega-budget silver-screen adaptation, the movie out next March stars Chris Pine, Hugh Grant and former “Bridgerton” heartthrob Rege-Jean Page. But the week’s headlines are set to be dominated by two huge fantasy series coming to television screens soon: Amazon Prime’s “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” and HBO’s “House of the Dragon.” “The Rings of Power” is Amazon’s enormously ambitious saga taking place in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, set long before the events of Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning trilogy of films. The series — playing out across five seasons, the first of which launches September 2 — is reported to have cost Amazon well over $1 billion, and is said to be a personal obsession of founder Jeff Bezos. Much of that cost went into buying the Tolkien universe rights and on lavish production values, with a healthy sum set aside for “activations,” or immersive fan experiences, at Comic-Con. Amazon on Friday will bring its cast of hobbits, elves and dwarves to the venue’s cavernous Hall H, where fans who line up for hours or even days anticipate seeing the first detailed look at the series. Rings v Thrones – The following day, “House of the Dragon” — the first spin-off to “Game of Thrones” set in George RR Martin’s fictional world of Westeros, out August 21 — will be unveiled by HBO. Martin has played down talk of a rivalry between the two mega-franchises, insisting, “I want both shows to find an appreciative audience, and give them great television. Great fantasy.” “The more fantasy hits we have, the more great fantasy we are likely to get,” he wrote in a blog post. But HBO hopes its prequel can match the wild popularity of the original “Thrones,” which over eight seasons became appointment viewing, spawned countless imitations and delivered 59 Emmys — a record for a drama at television’s equivalent of the Oscars. Starring Matt Smith, Rhys Ifans and Emma D’Arcy, “House of the Dragon” tells the story of the murderous, dragon-breeding Targaryen family, some 300 years before the events of “Thrones.” Its stars will appear in Hall H immediately after a movie presentation from HBO’s sister company Warner Bros Pictures, which is set to feature Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who is promoting his upcoming superhero flick “Black Adam.” Elsewhere, Disney is keeping its own Hall H presentation under wraps, but rumors abound that it will finally show off its much-anticipated “Black Panther 2” sequel. The week will also feature a send-off for AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” as the juggernaut zombie TV series bows out with its final season — and launches a new spin-off, the anthology-style “Tales of the Walking Dead.” But for Glanzer, the blockbuster studio showcases are secondary to what Comic-Con is all about: a community for its fans. “To be able to see people have a good time, enjoying comics and popular art is a gift that I look forward to. I really, really do… We get to come home,” he said. “What better thing to be able to do than that — and share it with your friends.” View the full article

Published by DPA Sabine Schormann, general director of documenta fifteen and the Museum Fridericianum, speaks during an interview. Swen Pförtner/dpa An interim managing director for the documenta art show was appointed on Monday, following the resignation of the show’s general director Sabine Schormann in the wake of anti-Semitism scandal. Alexander Farenholtz was unanimously chosen for the position, documenta announced. He will take over on Tuesday and his term is initially limited until September 30. Farenholtz was involved in the production of documenta 9 in 1992 and was in charge of the management of the cultural programme of the world exhibition Expo 2000 in Hanover. Schormann stepped down from the Kassel-based documenta on Saturday in the wake of a scandal at this year’s event. The Indonesian collective Ruangrupa, which curated this year’s edition of the show, erected a large artwork which was deemed anti-Semitic shortly after the opening of the exhibition in June. It was eventually taken down but critics say there were warning signs ahead of the exhibition and that Schormann’s attitude was at best apathetic. It later came to light that there had been accusations of anti-Semitism made against Ruangrupa before the show began. Also on Monday, the chairman of documenta’s supervisory board, Kassel mayor Christian Geselle, denied having ignored accusations of anti-Semitism at the exhibition. He said all decisions from the board had been taken unanimously and jointly since the accusations began, but conceded that mistakes had been made. Speaking at a city council meeting, he said the documenta scandal was a vehicle for a debate that is now necessary locally and nationally on how anti-Semitism, racism, and post-colonialism relate to art. The documenta contemporary art show is held in the German city of Kassel every five years. This year’s event is its 15th edition. It was founded by painter Arnold Bode in a bid to connect Germany with other countries and the international art scene after World War II. The first edition of documenta in 1955 aimed to showcase styles of art that had been banned during Germany’s years under Nazi rule. An artwork by Indonesian artist collective Taring Padi is being covered up at the Documenta fifteen art exhibition after a simmering row over anti-Semitism escalated days after the exhibition’s opening. Following the resignation of the documenta general director Sabine Schormann, an interim managing director has been appointed for the exhibition. Swen Pförtner/dpa View the full article

Published by Reuters By Julie Steenhuysen and Jennifer Rigby CHICAGO/LONDON (Reuters) – Sexual health clinics on the frontline of the monkeypox response are already financially stretched, leaving the United States and UK ill-equipped to tackle the first major global health test since the COVID-19 pandemic. Infectious disease experts say sexual health clinics – which offer confidential walk-in diagnosis and treatment – are best placed to identify and treat cases of monkeypox, which is largely affecting men who have sex with men. Yet such programs are doing so largely without additional funding despite years of financial neglect. There is little data on funding for sexual health services globally, but experts agree that the sector is under-resourced. That has impeded the monkeypox response and diverted scarce resources needed to curb rising rates of other sexually transmitted diseases (STD), sexual health experts in the UK and the United States told Reuters. This lack of resources could result in further spread of monkeypox, they said. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the outbreak has reached 63 countries. “This is a gap and a weakness in our public health system that monkeypox has exposed,” Dr. Meg Doherty, director of the WHO’s Global HIV, Hepatitis and STIs Programmes, said in an email. “Even among high income countries, funding for sexual health globally is decreasing or remains unfunded,” she said. Although monkeypox is being transmitted through sexual contact, the virus can infect anyone who comes in contact with pus-filled sores, body fluids, respiratory droplets or contaminated linens. Clinic staff must take extra time cleaning exam rooms and buy additional protective gear. When added to chronic low staffing, a problem exacerbated by the COVID pandemic, appointments can be hard to come by. Testing equipment in the United States is also in short supply. Monkeypox has been endemic in parts of Africa for years, but since early May, the virus has been spreading rapidly in other countries mainly among gay and bisexual men, who often present with rashes in the genital and anal area that doctors may confuse with herpes or syphilis. Out of 11,500 confirmed cases globally, 1,469 are in the United States and 1,856 are in the UK, according to a Reuters tally. In Spain, with 2,447 cases – the most in the world – patients are being seen in hospitals and health clinics. Local health authorities said they added extra testing capacity early in the outbreak and the health system was not under pressure. FUNDING CUTS Data from a UK charity called the Health Foundation show England’s sexual health services’ budget was cut by 14% over a six-year period ending in fiscal 2022. UK clinics have yet to receive any new funding to meet the additional monkeypox demand. In the United States, funding for sexual healthcare and research likewise has dwindled, said David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors (NCSD). “Monkeypox has shone a glaring light on this fact. Broadly speaking, the STD field has been vastly underfunded for 20 to 30 years,” said Harvey, whose group has requested $100 million in funding to address the monkeypox outbreak. Federal funding for STD programs has remained relatively flat in the past two decades – $168.5 million in 2003 vs $152.5 million in 2022 – a 40% drop when accounting for inflation, according to the NCSD. State and local investments also have fallen, even as STD rates reached all-time highs, according to a 2021 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report. A survey of NCSD’s membership released on June 12 found that 42.7% of U.S.-based sexual health clinics have access to appropriate testing swabs, and less than 20% have appropriate tubes for collecting monkeypox specimens for transport to clinical labs. With limited providers and appointment slots, clinics must triage patients, prioritizing those with pain or rash or suspected monkeypox. That has left asymptomatic patients and those in need of other services without care. Harun Tulunay, 35, a sexual health advocate who is HIV positive and was recently hospitalized with monkeypox in London, knows of friends whose sexual health appointments were delayed or unobtainable “because they (clinics) are too busy dealing with monkeypox.” He is not surprised, as he experienced the time-consuming decontamination efforts when he was diagnosed. “We see it overwhelming clinics,” he said. “If we suddenly have 5,000 cases, what will happen?” Last week, a coalition of sexual health/HIV organizations in the UK called for urgent funding support, seeking £51 million ($60 million) for sexual health services to “contain and eliminate monkeypox” as some clinics reported drastic drops in essential services. Part of the issue is that funding for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections is largely separate, especially in the United States. “There’s been a lot of money put into HIV, which is appropriate, however, STI has been a pauper,” said Dr. Matt Golden, director of the HIV/STD clinic serving Seattle and Washington state’s King County. His clinic has diagnosed half of the area’s monkeypox cases as well as provided vaccines and treatment guidance. Experts in both countries agreed that monkeypox was a wake-up call for more investment in sexual health. “It is time we do something,” said NCSD’s Harvey. (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen and Jennifer Rigby; Additional reporting by Christina Thykjaer in Madrid; Editing by Caroline Humer, Bill Berkrot and Daniel Wallis) View the full article

Published by The Spun By Andrew Holleran The sports world is praising Charles Barkley for what he said about LGBTQ over the weekend. Barkley, a former NBA star turned outspoken analyst, made his opinion on the LGBTQ community extremely clear. “If you are gay or transgender, I love you. And if anybody gives you sh*t, you tell em Charles says ‘f**k you!’” he said. Barkley is getting praised on social media. “Common Barkley W,” one fan tweeted. “Im proud of the growth. Cuz 15+ years ago, this Charles didnt exist,” another fan admitted. “My man I said “I Love You” and Mfs triggered as hell like he did something controv… Read More View the full article

Published by DPA Czech tennis player Katerina Siniakova in action against Russia's Daria Kasatkina during thier women's singles round of 32 of Hamburg European Open. Frank Molter/dpa Russian tennis player Daria Kasatkina has announced she is gay and has a partner. In a video interview with a blogger, she also criticized the fact there are so many “taboo topics” in Russia. “For young people facing problems in public, it is very important when athletes or other well-known personalities talk about it,” she said. Same-sex relationship are generally frowned upon in Russia. Kasatkina praised Russian footballer Nadezhda Karpova for opening the door after becoming the first female Russian sportswoman to come out in June. There had been movement toward more openness at the 2018 football World Cup in Russia, Kasatkina said, but no longer as Russia closes ranks following the invasion of Ukraine. “The way was closed. Road works,” Kasatkina said. The 25-year-old is ranked number 12 in the world and has won four WTA titles. View the full article

The Sims 4Sexual Orientation Feature Life-simulator video game “The Sims 4” took another step toward properly representing LGBTQ identities with its new feature for Sims Sexual Orientation. Players will be able to customize their Sims’ sexual orientation, including sexual and romantic attraction. Developer Maxis announced the new feature will be part of a larger base game update when the game’s latest expansion, “High School Years,” launches later this month. The change comes as the team behind “The Sims 4” has continued its work to make the game more authentic in its representation of LGBTQ individuals. The team launched an update earlier this year that lets players choose gender-diverse pronouns for their Sims. The game has many LGBTQ fans and modders have built tools that forwarded LGBTQ representation in the game for years, and now Maxis is working to make those changes in the official game. “Mechanically, nonbinary Sims don’t yet exist in ‘The Sims 4.'” Croft said. “‘The Sims 4’ is eight years old at this point, and reliant on systems that were originally architected with a gender binary in mind. In the intervening years, we’ve taken important steps … It’s a journey still in progress, with many more steps to go. Proper mechanical systems to fully support nonbinary Sims is another step in that journey.” “We hope that we’ve shown our commitment to improving representation of gender identities with features such as Gender Customization,” Croft continued. “We look at the pronouns update as another important step toward better representation of nonbinary genders, but we also acknowledge that pronouns are not the same thing as gender identities.” The Sexual Orientation feature will launch on July 28. Sims Sexual Orientation: Previously on Towleroad Image via Electronic Arts View the full article

Published by Al-Araby Nour never felt entirely safe as a queer person in Lebanon. But in the past few years, the 25-year-old pharmacist had begun letting his guard down, meeting with friends in LGBTQ-friendly spaces in Beirut and even performing in drag shows. He now opts to stay at home, fearing for his safety more than ever after a wave of anti-LGBTQ hate speech that followed last month’s decision by the Lebanese Interior Ministry to shut down any events aimed at promoting “sexual perversion”. The setback is part of a broader clampdown on marginalised groups and freedoms that activists say aims to distract the pu… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Rosie O’Donnell made her red carpet debut with her girlfriend Aimee Hauer over the weekend. The 60-year-old comedian – who has been married twice before to Kelli Carpenter and Michelle Rounds – and her partner attended the Stand Up for Friendly House benefit at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on Saturday (16.07.22). The pair were seen embracing in red carpet snaps from the fundraising event for the non-profit’s women’s addiction treatment services. The couple confirmed their relationship in an Instagram post to celebrate Pride Month in June. Rosie – who came out as gay in 2002 – shared Aimee’s selfie of the pair on her Instagram Story and captioned it: “Happy PRIDE!!” In February, Rosie became a grandmother for the third time. The ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ star was delighted that her daughter Chelsea and her boyfriend Jacob Bourassa welcomed daughter Avery Lynn – a sibling for Skylar and Riley – into the world earlier this year. She said in a video shared on TikTok: “Okay, big news. Congratulations to my daughter, Chelsea, who had her third daughter this morning. Three girls under three, oh my gosh! “The baby’s name is Avery Lynn. And Chelsea and Jake and Skylar and Riley and baby Avery are all doing fine. Just call me ‘Nana 3’ – three grandkids. I’m a nana. I love it.(sic)” Rosie – who adopted 24-year-old Chelsea with Kelli – also shared a photo of the new arrival on Instagram. She captioned the picture: “avery lynn – look! we have the same tummy #grandbabies.(sic)” Rosie previously opened up about how “beautiful” becoming a grandparent had been. Speaking in 2019 after Skylar, her first grandchild, was born, she said: “It was something really beautiful. It’s very trite, but it’s what everyone says — when you’re a grandparent, it’s like [having] a baby times a million. And that’s what it felt like.” Rosie and Chelsea were previously estranged but their relationship has grown much stronger in recent years. She previously reflected: “I think with my relationship with my daughter, Chelsea, it really has because we went through some really public troubled times. “She’s doing better now and we’re both communicating with each other. “When somebody does something unforgivable to you and you can forgive them and they can forgive you, there’s a kind of grace that descends upon the both of you, within that.” Rosie is also mother to Parker, 27, Blake, 22, Vivienne, 19, with Kelli and nine-year-old Dakota with second wife Michelle. View the full article

Published by DPA Journalist, podcaster and activist Kevin Mwachiro of Kenya says there is still the role of famly, of culture, the professional status that does not allow people to come out – but there are others who live the best of their live out there. “We are able to challenge Western concepts. We are of this soil. We are declaring our Kenyaness together with our queerness.” Privat/Kevin Mwachiro/dpa Parades, flags and celebrations are all important to queer communities in Africa as they seek greater visibility and acceptance, despite the threats faced by many throughout the continent. Many people have now decided to stop hiding, even though how far lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people can live openly and safely differs significantly from one country to the next. There has been visible progress, however, as 22 of Africa’s 54 countries have decriminalized homosexuality, including Angola, Botswana, Cape Verde, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, the Seychelles and South Africa. The trend is heading in the right direction, according to LGBT Marriage News, a US organization. Homosexuality is gradually being accepted and there is more and more hope, the group says. South Africa is the forerunner when it comes to LGBT rights on the continent. The country’s 1994 constitution was the first worldwide to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. South Africa was also the fifth country globally – and the first in Africa – to legalize same-sex marriage. Meanwhile, last year, South African Louw Breytenbach was crowned Mr Gay World, winning an annual international competition for gay men. South Africa is definitely an example for the continent, says Kaye Ally, who founded Pride of Africa, an organization that runs numerous events for the LGBTQI community every year. Cape Town is now considered Africa’s gay capital, drawing thousands of queer tourists from all over the world. It’s home to a number of LGTB events and celebrations, including the annual Pride Festival held in February and March, the Mother City Queer Project in December and the Out in Africa Film Festival in September and October. Annual pride parades are also held in Pretoria, Johannesburg and in neighbouring Botswana, Eswatini and Namibia. Most artists performing at Johannesburg’s Rock the City LGBTI Festival, now in its third year, are also part of the queer community. Organizer Tschepiso Leeu calls the festival a place of freedom which creates a sense of belonging that many do not have at home, at work or school. Kenya is among the countries where homosexuality is still a punishable offence. But a lot is changing here too, says journalist, podcaster and activist Kevin Mwachiro, author of a book about the country’s queer community called “Invisible.” “We have seen more organizations, more individuals who come out, more visibility. There are more Kenyan faces expressing themselves and even the media are slowly recognizing that there is a queer community,” he says. Mwachiro is co-founder of the Out film festival, the first in the region showing films by and about LGBT people. There have also been defeats, he says, recalling a 2019 court ruling when several queer organizations tried to force the decriminalization of same-sex relationships – in vain. But such moments, he says, can also strengthen the community. “I went into court and the room was full of journalists, full of activists, full of community, allies,” he says. It was powerful to show that “we are Kenyans, we are using our constitution, our rights as Kenyans to demand equal access.” Another example is former BBC reporter Chris Makena Njeri who was outed against her will and later founded the BOLD Network Africa to give a platform to queer narratives in Africa. The organization’s name sums up its vision: “Brave, Odd, Loud, Different!” Acceptance of queer people is growing, Mwachiro believes – even though teenagers who come out as gay, lesbian or trans are still often thrown out by their families. More and more places are opening their doors, like a Methodist Church in Nairobi which offers a safe space to queer worshippers. Even in Kenya’s conservative coastal region, Mwachiro has seen special fast-breaking events for queer Muslims during Ramadan. Cape Verde, Mauritius and the Seychelles are also very queer-friendly – though tourists are often welcomed with more tolerance than those raised in the islands. Guinea-Bissau has also become a safe haven for the queer community since the Western African nation decriminalized homosexuality in 1993. LGBT people from neighbouring Senegal, Gambia and Guinea in particular – where homosexuality is still punished with life imprisonment – are often drawn to the country by the wish to lead a safe and normal life. Hate crimes due to sexual orientation remain a common occurrence in many African countries. And homosexuality is still punishable by death in Somalia, Mauritania and northern Nigeria, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA). Activists complain that legal protection of the LGBT community in Africa is inadequate, with homophobia remaining rife and in some cases being instrumentalized by lawmakers. More is needed, says Ally, calling for global partners such as the UN to put more pressure on African nations. Meanwhile Mwachiro says it is partly thanks to the internet that gay, lesbian, trans or non-binary people in Africa have access to information and get in touch with each other. “And that has helped people – you have to go online and find people, it helped people to see they are not alone. There are others who are African, who are brown-skinned, who are queer just like them – and that has given people the space to be themselves,” he says. “It gave them a chance to explore their sexuality, sexual identity or gender identity.” And the Covid-19 pandemic, which shifted many parts of public life online, has helped reinforce the trend. Mwachiro explains excitedly how a virtual Pride Afrique event enabled LGBT people from across the continent to come together and celebrate. “It was just exciting to see people from different parts of the continent enjoying an event that celebrates African queerness. At one time you’d hear people from Khartoum, from Mali, not just the usual suspects from bigger countries,” he says. “The internet has been a big factor to make people more self-aware.” He acknowledges more progress is needed but said some are living their best lives out there. “We are able to challenge Western concepts. We are of this soil. We are declaring our Kenyanness together with our queerness.” There are more and more events being held in Africa to celebrate the queer community although the situation differs greatly from one country to the next. Mongi Zulu/dpa View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Brad Reed Even though Maryland is a deep blue state, it does have a history of electing more moderate Republicans such as Gov. Larry Hogan. However, Vice News reports that a prospective GOP nominee for Maryland attorney general does not fit anything close to the Hogan mold. Specifically, the publication notes that Maryland AG hopeful Michael Peroutka is a former board member of the neo-Confederate League of the South who says he’s “still angry” that Maryland was not able to secede during the American Civil War. Additionally, Peroutka believes that LGBTQ marriage and abortion should be outla… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Lady Gaga is “more pain-free” than she has been in ages. The 36-year-old pop star suffers from fibromyalgia – a chronic condition that causes widespread pain and extreme tiredness – and took to social media to thank fans for their support as she prepared to kick off the ‘Chromatica Ball’ world tour in Germany. Speaking in a video posted to Twitter on Sunday (17.06.22), she said: “I want to really thank you for sticking it out with me, and loving me through all the different iterations of my artistry, as well as me as a person. I feel more clear today than I have in a long time, and more pain-free than I have in ages.” The ‘Poker Face’ hitmaker – whose real name is Stefani Germanotta – went on to explain that her latest tour will be a “healing” experience because she is finally able to dance and “tell the story” that she wanted to. She said: “Being free of pain on stage is a real healing experience because I’m able to dance and sing and enjoy the audience, enjoy the show…and really tell a story. I just want to thank you. I’m going to thank you in another way, and it’s through this performance. And it will be through every performance. I don’t know that I’ve been as speechless as I am today, knowing what we’re about to do.” Following its opening night in Dusseldorf on Sunday, the ‘Chromatica Ball’ tour – which is in support of her 2020 album ‘Chromatica’ – is set to visit Stockholm, Paris, London, and a slew of U.S states before wrapping in Miami, Florida in mid-September. Back in 2020, Gaga explained that as a result of the condition, her “whole body” was in pain but was receiving “mental health therapy” as a form of treatment. She said: “Fibromyalgia is essentially a chronic pain condition that makes your body hurt through your brain. Now, someone that might be watching this that has it might be saying, don’t tell me that my fibromyalgia is in my head because my whole body hurts. Even sitting here with you today, I’m in head-to-toe pain. But what’s interesting about it is that I’ve found through neuropsych research and my relationship with my doctors that fibromyalgia can be treated through mental health therapy. And mental health is a medical condition. It should be treated as a medical condition. It should not be ignored.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck got married in Las Vegas. The 52-year-old pop star rekindled her relationship with Hollywood star Ben, 49, back in 2021 after a break of almost 20 years, and the couple got reportedly got a marriage license in Clark County, Nevada – which was taken out and processed on Saturday (16.07.22). A source told TM: “They did, indeed, get hitched … and the license is a signal they are now man and wife!” The outlet went on to explain that the ‘Jenny from the Block’ hitmaker – who was previously married to singer Marc Anthony and has twins Max and Emme, 14,with him while Ben has Violet, 16, Seraphina, 13, and Samuel, 10, with ex-wife Jennifer Garner – has even changed her name in light of the marriage and will now legally be known as Jennifer Affleck. A record on the Clark County Clerk’s Office system reads: “Party 1 Name: Affleck, Benjamin Geza, Party 2 New Name: Affleck,Jennifer.” The ‘Good Will Hunting’ star was initially engaged to J. Lo back in the early 2000s before they went their separate ways, but the pair struck up a relationship once more in April 2021 and announced their re-engagement exactly a year later, when Jennifer showed off her green-hued diamond engagement ring to fans in a video. She said: “I was taken totally off guard and just looked in his eyes smiling and crying at the same time trying hard to get my head around the fact that after 20 years this was happening all over again.” Following the news, an insider said: “J.Lo is ecstatic and can’t wait to be his wife. She believes it’s true love and was meant to be.” View the full article

Published by AFP People wait in line to receive the monkeypox vaccine outside a vaccination center in Brooklyn, New York New York (AFP) – On a hot Sunday afternoon in New York, the epicenter of the US monkeypox outbreak, a long line of men aged 20 to 40 wait for a vaccine to protect themselves and their loved ones against the virus. With its rows of tables and chairs and stacks of medical equipment, the vaccination center — a high school in Bushwick, Brooklyn — is reminiscent of a vaccine spot for Covid-19, a virus for which New York was also the US epicenter. Everyone who spoke to AFP while waiting in line said they felt lucky to have gotten an appointment, as New York lacks doses. On Friday, 9,200 time slots became available on the city’s dedicated website at 6:00 pm. They were all gone in seven minutes. Three days earlier, site traffic was so high that the page crashed. “It was frustrating, largely because especially with Covid, you’d think that we would have more of a structured process or vaccine rollout,” Aidan Baglivo, 23, told AFP. “There just wasn’t really anything.” ‘Shouldn’t be an issue’ The city of more than eight million people saw monkeypox infections climb last week, with 461 cases recorded Friday since the US outbreak began in May. That number is up from 223 cases on Monday. Baglivo, a data analyst, noted that people who are the most connected on social media have the highest chances of getting a vaccine appointment. Robert, who declined to give his last name, told AFP he sat at his computer refreshing the website “like a crazy person” until he got a slot. “This shouldn’t be an issue because there’s already a vaccine, and it (the rollout) should be… more efficient to prevent it from becoming more of an issue,” said the 28-year-old. Neither his partner nor his best friend have been able to get a vaccine. “Every additional day where there’s not more people being vaccinated is a bummer.” Anyone can catch monkeypox, which spreads through close physical contact, but the Jynneos vaccine is currently reserved for men who have sex with men, who make up the vast majority of cases. Many LGBTQ people, of which there is a large population in New York, worry their community will be further stigmatized because of the virus. ‘Important to be proactive’ Nathan Tylutki, a 42-year-old actor, wonders if “there would be a quicker response to developing more vaccines if it wasn’t affecting queer people.” In his opinion, there isn’t a lot of anti-vaccine sentiment in the LGBTQ community “because we’ve seen disease, we know what the AIDS epidemic” was like. “We know that it’s important to be proactive about these kinds of things,” he told AFP. Monkeypox is characterized by lesions on the skin — which can appear on the genitals or the mouth — and is often accompanied by fever, sore throat and pain in the lymph nodes. It usually clears up on its own but can be extremely painful. New York, on the US East Coast, has already either administered or scheduled 21,500 vaccines and hopes to speed up the process, promising more than 30,000 jabs for the whole state. But due to a lack of doses, the Bushwick site is not expected to reopen Monday. City health commissioner Ashwin Vasan said Sunday that New York needs tens of thousands more vaccines. In line at the Bushwick site, fitness instructor Leroy Jackson has another concern. “I am one of maybe two or three Black people on this line” out of more than 100, said the 27-year-old. Access to appointments for minorities and underprivileged groups is even more limited, he pointed out. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Brad Brooks and Nathan Layne (Reuters) -A Texas legislators’ probe of the Uvalde school shooting that left 21 dead blamed “systemic failures” and poor leadership for contributing to the death toll, a report released on Sunday found. The Texas House of Representatives committee investigation marked the most exhaustive attempt so far to determine why it took more than an hour for police and other officers to confront and kill the 18-year-old gunman at Robb Elementary School on May 24. The bottom line, the report found, is that “law enforcement responders failed to adhere to their active shooter training, and they failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety.” The 77-page report said 376 law enforcement officers rushed to the school in a chaotic scene marked by a lack of clear leadership and sufficient urgency. “Other than the attacker, the Committee did not find any ‘villains’ in the course of its investigation,” the report stated. “Instead, we found systemic failures and egregious poor decision making.” “The void of leadership could have contributed to the loss of life as injured victims waited over an hour for help, and the attacker continued to sporadically fire his weapon.” Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin said in an emailed statement that the city had placed Lieutenant Mariano Pargas, who was the acting city policy chief on the day of the shooting, on administrative leave. Pargas did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. McLaughlin also on Sunday released body camera footage from some of the city police officers who responded to the shooting, which showed the confusion and chaos of the scene. SHORTCOMINGS AND FAILURES The report found multiple failures at the school, noting the five-foot tall exterior fence around the school that could not impede the gunman. There was also a “regrettable culture of noncompliance by school personnel” when it came to leaving exterior and interior doors unlocked or propped open. The gunman easily entered the school through an unlocked door. The report also found that of the approximately 142 rounds the attacker fired inside the building, it was “almost certain” that around 100 of those shots were fired before any officer entered the school. The report described “shortcomings and failures of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District and of various agencies and officers of law enforcement” and “an overall lackadaisical approach” by the authorities. Part of that could be explained by communications failures. Children inside the classrooms where the killing took place called 911 and pleaded for help, but the report said that nobody ensured that responders making key decisions inside the building knew about those emergency calls or “received information that students and teachers had survived the initial burst of gunfire.” “Nobody in command analyzed this information to recognize that the attacker was preventing critically injured victims from obtaining medical care,” the report stated. CALLS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY The report also found there was a “relaxed vigilance” on the school campus because of the frequency security alerts were issued that resulted from nearby police confrontations with human traffickers carrying illegal immigrants. Video posted last week by the Austin American-Statesman newspaper showed police took cover in a hallway for 77 minutes before they stormed the two joined classrooms and exchanged fire with the gunman. Authorities said in May that frantic children inside the classrooms called 911 at least six times while officers waited in the hallway. Representative Dustin Burrows, a Republican who headed the committee, said at a Sunday news conference that the goal of the investigation was to provide a basis of facts so that lawmakers could make future policy changes to make schools more secure. Burrows said the scope of the lawmakers’ investigation did not drill down into exactly what individual officers on the scene knew and when – that would have to be left to the individual agencies to discover. “If somebody failed to exercise their training, if somebody knew there were victims in there being killed or dying and did not do more, I believe those agencies will have to find accountability for those officers,” Burrows said. (Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas, and Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Additional reporting by Tyler Clifford in New York and Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Diane Craft and Daniel Wallis) View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Tom Boggioni With jury selection expected to begin on Monday, the Washington Post reports that Steve Bannon is looking at a very brief trial followed by conviction based upon U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols’s rulings and comments to date that seems to suggest the former advisor to Donald Trump may want to work out a deal with prosecutors. As the Post’s Devlin Barrett and Spencer Hsu write, every legal maneuver Bannon and his attorneys have attempted has fallen apart as he has tried to get out from under contempt of Congress charges. In a telling exchange last week, exasperated Ban… Read More View the full article

Published by NJ.com The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning to four companies that produce honey after lab testing revealed that their products contained Viagra and Cialis. Both medications are used to treat erectile dysfunction in men and are meant to be taken under the guidance of a physician. The drugs can cause harm when mixed with other substances because it can cause dangerously low blood pressure levels, according to the FDA. The following companies received warnings from the FDA after the lab tests revealed the substances: US Royal HoneyMKS EnterpriseShopaax.com1am USA Incorporated db… Read More View the full article