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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

Published by Raw Story By Tom Boggioni Appearing on an MSNBC panel on “The Sunday Show,” former Republican Party campaign adviser Tara Setmayer claimed the last thing the GOP needs right now is for Donald Trump to derail their midterm election plans by announcing he will run for president in 2024. Speaking with host Jonathan Capehart, the longtime conservative who left the fold due to the former president claimed that the GOP leadership is practically begging Trump to hold off until after November. With host Capehart prompting, “Tara, if he gets into the race, the conversation is totally going to shift to Donald Tru… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters PARIS (Reuters) – More than 100 French public figures have signed an open letter denouncing what they said were homophobic remarks by a recently appointed government minister. Caroline Cayeux, appointed minister for territorial cohesion as part of France’s new government formed on July 4, was asked by the Senate on Tuesday whether she maintained her opposition to the law for same-sex marriage and adoption in 2013. At the time, she called the reform a “caprice” and “plan that goes against nature”. Cayeux initially stood by what she said, adding: “I have a lot of friends among those people.” Two days later she apologised for her remarks. The open letter, to be published in the Journal du Dimanche newspaper on Sunday, took issue with the choice of words and called into question whether she should keep her post. “How can we accept that a member of government … calls French citizens ‘those people’? How can we avoid that, in her mind, they do not belong to the same category of citizens?” The letter was signed by members of parliament, mayors, former members of government including former Prime Minister Manuel Valls, as well as journalists, lawyers and members of civil society. On Friday, Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne said that Cayeux had made “shocking” remarks in the past and had explained herself awkwardly but that she would continue working and remain “concentrated on her mission” in government. (Reporting by Layli Foroudi; Editing by Nick Macfie) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Brad Brooks (Reuters) – A federal judge in Tennessee has temporarily blocked Biden administration directives allowing transgender workers and students to use bathrooms and locker rooms and join sports teams that correspond with their gender identity. Judge Charles Atchley Jr. of the Eastern District of Tennessee ruled on Friday that the administration’s directives would make it impossible for some states to enforce their own laws on transgender athletes’ participation in girls’ sports and access to bathrooms. A coalition of 20 Republican attorneys general brought a lawsuit last year against the federal government, noting that they stood to lose significant federal funding as the Biden directives were in conflict with their own state laws. Atchley agreed with that, writing in his order that the states “cannot continue regulating pursuant to their state laws while simultaneously complying with Defendants’ guidance.” Oklahoma Attorney General John O’Connor, one of the plaintiffs, said in a written statement on Saturday that Atchley’s order “is a major victory for women’s sports and for the privacy and safety of girls and women in their school bathrooms and locker rooms.” The Justice Department, the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are named as defendants in the lawsuit. None immediately replied to requests for comment on Saturday. The three had earlier requested that Atchley dismiss the states’ lawsuit, a motion the judge denied in his Friday ruling. The coalition of Republican states argued the Biden administration directives improperly expanded on a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that extended anti-discrimination protections to transgender workers. The top court in Bostock v. Clayton County said employers cannot terminate workers because of their gender identity or sexuality. The justices expressly declined to decide if the ruling applied to sex-segregated bathrooms and locker rooms. The Supreme Court in Bostock held that the bar on workplace sex discrimination in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extended to bias based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Department of Education in its guidance issued last year concluded that because Title IX, which bars sex bias in federally funded educational programs, borrowed language from Title VII, Bostock also applied to schools. The department said, for example, that preventing a transgender high school girl from using the girls’ restroom or trying out for the girls’ cheerleading team would violate Title IX. Atchley on Friday agreed with the states, writing in his ruling that the Supreme Court in Bostock “explicitly refused to decide whether ‘sex-segregated bathrooms, locker rooms, and dress codes’ violate Title VII.” (Reporting by Brad Brooks in Lubbock, Texas; Editing by Daniel Wallis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Adele is reportedly set to announce rescheduled dates for her Las Vegas residency. The 34-year-old singer – who recently performed in London’s Hyde Park – cancelled her comeback shows in January, but she’s now planning to perform in Vegas at the end of the year. A source told The Sun on Sunday newspaper: “Adele loved performing in London and it gave her the drive to push forward with her Vegas residency. An announcement is coming in the next few weeks. Management have asked for a celebration to promote her return.” Adele originally planned to perform at Caesars Palace in Vegas, but her shows could now take place at Planet Hollywood’s Zappos Theatre, which has a larger capacity. Earlier this year, a source claimed Adele “will do everything she can” to reschedule her Las Vegas residency as soon as possible. The singer was forced to postpone her shows at Caesars Palace after COVID hit her backstage team – but Adele is determined to reschedule the shows as quickly as possible, according to the insider. The source said in January: “There are two slots in this year’s calendar, from the end of February to the start of May, and from the middle of June to the middle of September. But if they can’t work then it could be 2023 by the time they’re rescheduled. “The rest of the weekend dates in the year are taken up by other acts including Sting and Rod Stewart.” Adele has a jam-packed work schedule, but she’s determined to take to the stage in Las Vegas. The insider added: “Adele’s schedule is mammoth and it makes rescheduling a challenge but she is devoted to her fans and will do everything she can to get them back in the diary quickly.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Tom Daley wants to be a “designer for life” once he’s done with diving. The 28-year-old diver is an avid knitter and launched his own Made With Love clothing range earlier this year, and while he’s still hoping to compete at the 2024 Olympics, he’s achieved all his goals in the sport so is now thinking ahead to the future beyond the pool. Confirming he wants to dive in the next Olympics, told Grazia magazine: “But if you’re asking me this right now, I mean, I’ve achieved everything that I want to achieve in diving. “Once I finish diving I want to be a designer for life.” Tom – who has four-year-old son Robbie with husband Dustin Lance Black – thinks too much pressure is put on young sports stars and they should have something else to focus on. He said: “What I’ve learned as I’ve got older as an athlete is the more time you take off, the more you get out of the sport when you’re actually doing it.” The Olympic gold winner admitted he has “wanted to walk away” from the sport “more often than you’d think” and it was “really in the last year” while training for the Tokyo games that he “figured out how to have a good relationship with his body”, after being branded “fat” by a coach when he was 15 led to him battling bulimia. He added: “So then all of a sudden I’m on the diving board thinking, ‘Oh gosh, everybody thinks I’m fat.’ And that really, really messed with my head. “It gave me all kinds of body image issues that I still have to this day. I had a real struggle with bulimia for a while.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online mega R. Kelly told a doctor that he only had sexual interests in women months after a male accuser came forward in court, Radar has learned. RadarOnline.com has obtained the shocking psychiatric evaluation submitted by Kelly’s lawyer ahead of his sentencing last month. The report was dated June 13, 2022. Kelly hoped the report — which laid out his childhood abuse and detailed his background — would convince the judge he wasn’t a monster who deserved decades behind bars. The judge wasn’t swayed and ordered Kelly to serve 30 years in prison. The report contained several bombshells including Kelly’s claim a 15-year-old Aaliyah was the one who wanted to get married back in 1994. The singer was 27 at the time and allegedly paid off a state official to obtain a fake ID. mega Kelly also claimed that he was the victim of sexual abuse as a child and struggled to fit in as a kid. The doctor also questioned Kelly about his sexuality. The report said, “Mr. Kelly identified his adult sexual interest as heterosexual.” He said, “Kelly rated himself a one on the Kinsey Scale. A score of one is defined, by Kinsey, as the overwhelming majority of sexual attraction, desire, fantasy or activity is with members of the opposite sex (heterosexual); homosexual experiences are infrequent and largely experimental.” The answer is interesting given Kelly’s male accuser Louis’ testimony in court during his 2021 trial. He told the jury that Kelly approached him while he was working the drive-thru at a local McDonald’s. mega Louis said when he was 17 Kelly slipped him his phone number and invited him back to the recording studio. The accuser said Kelly asked him what he was willing to do to make it in the music industry. He said Kelly then asked him if he had “fantasies” about other men before the singer proceeded to perform oral sex on him. Louis told the jury, “He just told me we had to keep it between me and him.” He said Kelly forced him to call him “daddy” and filmed their sexual encounters. During one of their hangouts, Louis said he brought his 16-year-old male friend which Kelly liked. The singer reportedly told Louis to keep bringing that friend with him. Kelly allegedly formed a relationship with Louis’ friend and had sex with him. mega Despite the claims, Kelly stood by his claim that he wasn’t attracted to men when questioned by the doctor. As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Kelly was recently transported from New York to Chicago where he will have to deal with a second criminal trial over separate charges. View the full article

Published by AlterNet By Brandon Gage United States Senator Ted Cruz on Saturday lamented the Supreme Court’s 2015 legalization of same-sex marriage, arguing that the ruling in Obergefell versus Hodges stripped states of their legislative sovereignty. On his Cloakroom Verdict podcast, Cruz complained to co-host Liz Wheeler that “in Obergefell” – which he mispronounced as “Obergerfell” – “the Court said ‘no, we no better than you guys do and now every state must, uh, must sanction and permit gay marriage. I think that decision was clearly wrong when it was decided. It was the Court overreaching.” This is the same pr… Read More View the full article