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Published by AFP The giant sequoias of California are some of the biggest trees in the world, and a popular draw for tourists Los Angeles (AFP) – The world’s biggest trees were being wrapped in fire-proof blankets Thursday in an effort to protect them from huge blazes tearing through the drought-stricken western United States. A grove of ancient sequoias, including the 275-foot (83-meter) General Sherman Tree — the largest in the world — were getting aluminum cladding to fend off the flames. Firefighters were also clearing brush and pre-positioning engines among the 2,000 ancient trees in California’s Sequoia National Park, incident commanders said. “They are taking extraordinary measures to protect these trees,” said park resource manager Christy Brigham, according to The Mercury News. “We just really want to do everything we can to protect these 2,000- and 3,000-year-old trees.” Millions of acres (hundreds of thousands of hectares) of California’s forests have burned in this year’s ferocious fire season. Scientists say man-made global warming is behind the yearslong drought and rising temperatures that have left the region highly vulnerable to wildfires. On Thursday, two fires were looming down on the park’s Giant Forest, home to five of the world’s largest trees, including the General Sherman. Around 500 personnel were engaged in battling the Paradise Fire and the Colony Fire, which together have already consumed 9,365 acres of woodland since they erupted from lightning strikes on September 10. The enormous trees of the Giant Forest are a huge tourist draw, with visitors travelling from all over the world to marvel at their imposing height and extraordinary girth. While not the tallest trees — California redwoods can grow to more than 300 feet — the giant sequoias are the largest by volume. Smaller fires generally do not harm the sequoias, which are protected by a thick bark, and actually help them to reproduce; the heat they generate opens cones to release seeds. But the larger, hotter blazes that are laying waste to the western United States are dangerous to them because they climb higher up the trunks and into the canopy. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Margaryta Chornokondratenko KYIV (Reuters) – Viktor Pylypenko has become a role model for dozens of LGBT+ Ukrainian war veterans and their supporters since he organised their participation two years ago in Kyiv’s largest ever gay pride march. Pylypenko, 34, spent almost two years from 2014 to 2016 on the frontline fighting with Kyiv’s forces against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in a conflict that has claimed at least 14,000 lives. He came out as gay in 2018. “(LGBT activism) became a continuation of my personal war against the enslavement of a human being’s freedom,” Pylypenko told Reuters ahead of Kyiv’s annual pride march on Sunday. And he makes a direct link between his sexual orientation and the cause for which he says he was fighting – a free and sovereign Ukraine in which all enjoy equal rights. “I volunteered to go to the frontline because I understood that they (the separatists) want to deprive us of freedom, they want to deprive the whole country of freedom. As a gay man, I was very sensitive to this,” he said. Pylypenko, who has set up a non-governmental organisation to support LGBT+ people in the military, said he received support from other members of his batallion, adding that they were more interested in his military record and commitment than in his sexual orientation. CHANGING ATTITUDES He believes having more LGBT+ people serving in the military, a respected institution in Ukraine, can help overcome prejudice towards sexual minorities in the ex-Soviet republic. “The military can change society’s attitudes, they have the reputation, they have trust, they have defended peace in Ukraine,” said Pylypenko, who comes from a military family that he says has accepted his sexuality. Ukraine’s Western-backed government has increased support for LGBT+ rights in recent years. Parliament outlawed workplace discrimination in 2015, though homophobic attitudes remain fairly widespread. Gay pride marches regularly attract counter-protests by far-right and religious activists. After Kyiv’s 2015 pride march was disrupted by violent attacks, city authorities deploy a large police presence to maintain order and protect participants. Pylypenko said his dream was for armed forces divisions to take part in gay pride marches “as allies and to enjoy the fact that they live in a developed country with human rights equality where they are not ashamed of the topic of homosexuality but support it and openly raise rainbow flags”. (Editing by Gareth Jones) View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – Colorado Governor Jared Polis, the nation’s first openly gay man to be elected governor, has tied the knot with his partner of 18 years Marlon Reis in a traditional Jewish ceremony attended by close family and friends. The marriage between Polis, a Democrat, and first gentleman Reis, a writer and animal advocate, marks the first same-sex wedding of a sitting governor. “The greatest lesson we have learned over the past 18 months is that life as we know it can change in an instant,” Polis wrote in a Twitter post. “We are thankful for the opportunity to celebrate our life together as a married couple.” Polis and Reis both contracted COVID-19 last year and Reis was briefly hospitalized https://www.colorado.gov/governor/news/3706-update-first-gentleman-marlon-reis in December. The couple, who got engaged late last year, are parents to two children age 7 and 9, according to a statement from Polis’ office. A 2015 landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. While LGBTQ people remain “severely” underrepresented, the number of openly LGBTQ elected officials in the United States has increased by 17% between June 2020 and June 2021, according to a report https://victoryinstitute.org/out-for-america-2021 by the LGBTQ Victory Institute. Earlier this year, Pete Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana and presidential candidate, became the first openly gay https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biden-transportation/pete-buttigieg-becomes-first-openly-gay-cabinet-secretary-confirmed-by-u-s-senate-idUSKBN2A22IQ U.S. Cabinet secretary confirmed by lawmakers. (Reporting by Maria Caspani, Editing by Mark Porter) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Prince Andrew reportedly wants to remarry his ex-wife Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson even though he is in the middle of a sex abuse scandal. According to The Post, the divorced couple reportedly renewed their relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic and even began living with each other again. MEGA “It has rekindled something, and I can see a second wedding happening if it all goes Andrew’s way,” a source reportedly told media outlets. This latest development between Andrew and Fergie comes amid a sex abuse lawsuit against the prince brought on by Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Giuffre alleges she was forced against her will to have sex with Andrew three times, and the earliest incident allegedly occurred when she was only 17 years old. After the accusations first came out, Andrew was relieved of his royal duties. Although Andrew is in the middle of this royal scandal, Ferguson has reportedly continued to defend her ex-husband against the allegations. Andrew also adamantly denies the alleged incidents ever took place. “I keep my commitment, no matter what,” Andrew’s ex-wife reportedly said. The couple divorced in 1996 after ten years of marriage together. MEGA This news regarding Andrew and Ferguson reportedly getting back together comes only days after Radar reported how the Duke of York has hired the high-profile and celebrity lawyer Blair Berk in an attempt to get the sex abuse lawsuit by Giuffre tossed out of court. Berk is known for representing other high-profile celebrities and figures such as Mel Gibson, Harvey Weinstein, Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan. “The Prince’s United Kingdom team has slowly but surely been putting together a team of highly-skilled, big-name lawyers to fight on his behalf in the United States,” a source has reportedly claimed. “People will be surprised by the names of those who will be defending him. It’s a dream team of some of the sharpest minds in the business. There is a great deal of confidence among everyone. Andrew included, that the civil suit will be thrown out before it ever comes to court.” If Prince Andrew and his ex-wife do get remarried, it is unclear whether they will wait until the lawsuit against him is either thrown out of court or until the trial comes to a definitive end. MEGA View the full article

Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton are quite a duo even if one were not the others Godparent. Published by BANG Showbiz English Miley Cyrus idolises Dolly Parton because of her “steadfast morals and values”. The ‘Wrecking Ball’ hitmaker has praised her godmother for both her “incomparable career” and her humanitarian work and insisted it’s easy to understand why she is a role model for so many people. Writing in praise of Dolly for Time magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people, she said: “Have you ever met anyone who doesn’t love Dolly Parton? I never have. “Dolly is not only my idol because of her incomparable career—she’s also my role model because of her steadfast morals and values. At her core, she is the definition of a humanitarian. She’s also the world’s most impeccably purposeful walking contradiction, having developed her iconic look after being inspired by the town tramp. Now she’s known as a saintly, even godlike, figure… “But though she created an identity that she downplays as being built on wigs, lots of gingham and silicone, the foundation for this empire is actually her honesty, truth and her faith. People look to Dolly for guidance, and she knows that. “She wears that responsibility with the same grace and pride she rocks a two-piece Nudie suit. She recognizes how impactful her choices will be as one of the most iconic and powerful voices in country music, and she leaves no one behind. Dolly has diligently celebrated the queer community and her Imagination Library provides millions of books for kids. (The only thing Dolly loves more than glitter is children.)” The 28-year-old singer went on to praise the ‘9 to 5’ hitmaker’s donation to coronavirus vaccine research and how important that has been for the music industry. She wrote: “Last year, she donated $1 million to COVID-19 vaccine research, which helped in critical early stages. There’s a multitude of reasons why vaccination is important to protect other people. But it’s also to get the show back on the road and bring live music to our audiences again.” And Miley admitted she wished everyone was able to meet her “fairy godmother”. She concluded: “There’s a theory that you shouldn’t meet your heroes, but I wish everyone had the chance to meet Dolly Parton, because she’s even better than your sparkliest dreams. She may be my fairy godmother, but I think she’s that to everyone else too. I am happy to share her with the world.” Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton on Towleroad Pregnant man among new emojis More White House plans new system for international travel, contact tracing rules More Simone Biles condemns U.S. Olympic Committee, FBI for sex-abuse crisis More U.S. court upholds dismissal of lawsuit against NSA on ‘state secrets’ grounds More What Does “Peg the Patriarchy” Even Mean? More Lil Nas X feared he’d die More Ed Sheeran Gifts Another Monumental (6-foot) Marble D to Sam Smith– Very Much Like One He Sent to Elton More Fashion Statements: The AOC Met Gala Dress Recalls 5 Times Fashion Helped Make Change. ‘I Really DO Care Don’t You?’ More Dan Levy Brings Met Gala 2021 Queer Love, in An Inspired Loewe, @cartier and Wojnarovicz Collab For the Fashion Benefit More New York begins work on LGBTQ museum set for 2024 opening More Many Relationships Won’t Make It Through The Pandemic Conflicts? Couples Boil Over OR Reconnect More Load More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English A pregnant man is among the new emojis released by the Unicode Consortium. The draft list of the newest emojis was unveiled earlier this year by the non-profit company and aims to promote more diversity in gender. Another new emoji is a handshake featuring two different skin tones in response to a year of action surrounding racial inequality. More new emojis include hands making a heart shape and somebody biting their lip, as well as faces melting, saluting, holding back tears and peeking out between their fingers. The list contains 37 new emojis and takes the total amount up to 3,633. The new additions will be rolled out on devices over the coming months. A large majority of the new emojis will be presented as a man, a woman and gender-neutral – for example, a crown emoji has now been added alongside the prince and princess emoji. The Unicode Consortium revealed last year that it was releasing a new batch of emojis in 2021 to reflect on the crazy events of 2020, such as the coronavirus pandemic. The new additions include a heart with a bandage wrapped around it, a heart on fire, a face exhaling, a face in the clouds, and a shocked face with spiral eyes. A small number of new emojis were released last year after being hit by a delay due to COVID-19. Unicode tweeted: “With #Unicode14 delayed due to COVID-19, this is a minor #emoji release. It is also a bit of a change from recent years where announcements have been made between January and March, and landing on platforms by September/October.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is developing a “new system for international travel” that will include contact tracing for when it eventually lifts travel restrictions that bar much of the world’s population from entering the country, a senior White House official said on Wednesday. White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients told the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board the administration does not plan to immediately relax any travel restrictions citing COVID-19 Delta variant cases in the United States and around the world. Reuters first reported early in August that the White House was developing vaccine entry requirements that could cover nearly all foreign visitors. The White House previously confirmed it was considering mandating vaccines for foreign international visitors. “The American people need to trust that the new system for international travel is safer even as we – I mean at that point – we’ll be letting in more travelers,” Zients said on Wednesday, adding it will eventually replace existing restrictions. “We are exploring considering vaccination requirements for foreign nationals traveling to the United States,” Zients said. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said at the same meeting that the spike in COVID-19 cases is preventing lifting international travel restrictions. “We want to move to a metrics-based system,” Raimondo said. “Before we can do that, we have to get a better handle on the domestic situation, which requires us to get everyone vaccinated.” Zients said the new plan would replace the current restrictions and would be “safer, stronger and sustainable.” He did not lay out specific metrics for when the administration might relax restrictions. “Vaccination rates matter here at home and other countries,” Zients said, urging travel companies like airlines to quickly mandate employee vaccines. Some industry officials fear the Biden administration may not lift travel restrictions for months or potentially until 2022. The extraordinary U.S. travel restrictions were first imposed on China in January 2020 to address the spread of COVID-19. Numerous other countries have been added, most recently India, in May. The administration wanted to lift travel restrictions “as soon as we can,” Zients said. CONTACT TRACING Zients said the new system will include collecting contact tracing data from passengers traveling into the United States to enable the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to contact travelers if exposed to COVID-19. The Trump administration in 2020 blocked an effort to require airlines to collect contact tracing information from U.S.-bound international passengers after some senior administration officials cited privacy concerns. Zients said they want the new system to be “ready to press go on” when it is safe to lift restrictions. “We get the importance of this,” Zients said. The United States currently bars most non-U.S. citizens who within the last 14 days have been in the United Kingdom, the 26 Schengen countries in Europe without border controls, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil. The United States separately bars non-essential travel by most non-U.S. citizens at U.S. land borders with Mexico and Canada. Critics say restrictions no longer make sense because some countries with high rates of COVID-19 infections are not on the restricted list while some countries on the list have the pandemic under control. (This story refiles to correct spelling error in the headline) (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Bernadette Baum and Aurora Ellis) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Olympic gymnast Simone Biles held back tears on Wednesday, as she told lawmakers how the FBI and U.S. gymnastic and Olympic officials failed to stop the sexual abuse that she and hundreds of other athletes suffered from former doctor Larry Nassar. “To be clear, I blame Larry Nassar and I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse,” she said before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee alongside fellow gymnasts McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman and Maggie Nichols. Biles added that USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee failed to act while the FBI “turned a blind eye.” The emotional hearing painted a damning picture of FBI, which botched the Nassar investigation so badly that he was able to continue abusing more victims for over a year before he was finally arrested. FBI Director Chris Wray made no excuses and said the bureau had fired one of the agents who had falsified the details of Maroney’s 2015 interview about the abuse. “On no planet is what happened in this case acceptable,” he said, later adding that the conduct of the agents who botched the case “was beyond the pale.” With anger in her voice, Maroney recalled how in 2015 she spent three hours on the phone telling the FBI the details of her story that her own mother had not even heard, including accounts of sexual abuse she endured during the Olympic games in London by Nassar, whom she described as “more of a pedophile than he was a doctor.” Nassar, who is also a former employee of Michigan State University, has been found guilty in three separate cases, with one of the prison sentences running up to 175 years. It was not until July of this year, however, that she said the Justice Department inspector general revealed in a scathing report https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/21-093.pdf what the FBI actually did with the information she provided. It failed to document it for a year and a half, and misrepresented what she told them about her experiences. “Not only did the FBI not report my abuse, but when they eventually documented my report 17 months later, they made entirely false claims about what I said,” Maroney said. Wednesday’s hearing comes after the Justice Department’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz in July issued a scathing report https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/21-093.pdf which blasted the FBI for botching its investigation https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-justice-watchdog-release-report-into-fbi-probe-ex-usa-gymnastics-doctor-2021-07-14 in a series of errors that allowed the abuse to continue for months. Several of the gymnasts said they were furious that the FBI failed to immediately interview them about the abuse after they had reported it. Once the FBI finally did contact them, they said the agents tried to downplay the severity of the abuse. “I remember sitting with the FBI agent and him trying to convince me that it wasn’t that bad,” Raisman said. “It’s taken me years of therapy to realize that my abuse was bad, that it does matter.” Horowitz, who also testified, said that the now-fired agent who falsified Maroney’s statement “could have actually jeopardized the criminal investigation by providing false information that could have bolstered Nassar’s defense.” The FBI declined to name the fired agent, but Senator Richard Blumenthal identified him as Michael Langeman. Langeman served as a supervisory special agent in Indianapolis, where he led a task force that investigated child sexual exploitation, according to an interview he gave to a local podcast in 2018. Reuters could not immediately reach Langeman for comment. The FBI’s investigation into Nassar started in July 2015, after USA Gymnastics President and CEO Stephen Penny reported the allegations to the FBI’s Indianapolis field office. That office, then led by Special Agent in Charge W. Jay Abbott, did not formally open an investigation. The FBI only interviewed one witness – Maroney – several months later, in September 2015. It failed to formally document that interview in an official report known as a “302” until February 2017 – well after the FBI had arrested Nassar on charges of possessing sexually explicit images of children in December 2016. Abbott, who retired from the FBI in 2018, also violated the FBI’s conflict of interest policy by discussing a possible job with the U.S. Olympic Committee while he was involved with the Nassar investigation. As the FBI delayed its probe, Nassar went on to abuse more victims. At one point in Wednesday’s hearing, Senator Richard Blumenthal asked all four athletes whether they knew of victims who were abused after the July 2015 disclosure to the FBI. “Yes,” all four of them said. Neither Abbott nor Langeman were prosecuted. Wray said the case was presented twice for possible prosecution and declined, but he deferred to federal prosecutors to explain their reasoning. “We have been failed and we deserve answers,” Biles said. Raisman, meanwhile, expressed frustrations that more has not been done to investigate USA Gymnastics or the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee for covering up Nassar’s abuse for years. “Why did none of these organizations warn anyone? USAG and USOPC have a long history of enabling abuse by turning a blind eye. Both organizations knew of Nassar’s abuse, long before it became public,” she said. In a statement, the USOPC said it remains “completely dedicated to the safety and well-being” of its athletes, and it has implemented reforms after hiring a law firm to conduct an independent investigation. USA Gymnastics did not immediately reply to requests for comment. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; additional reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Scott Malone and Lisa Shumaker) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Kanishka Singh (Reuters) -A U.S. federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit by the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, that challenged the National Security Agency’s mass interception and searching of Americans’ international internet communications. In a divided ruling on Wednesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that the lawsuit must be dismissed after the government invoked the “state secrets privilege”, which meant that a full exploration of the issue in a court would damage national security. The Wikimedia Foundation had said in its lawsuit that the NSA’s “Upstream” surveillance program captures some of its international communications and is a violation of the U.S. constitution’s First Amendment free-speech rights and its Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. “Although the district court erred in granting summary judgment to the government as to Wikimedia’s standing, we agree that the state secrets privilege requires the termination of this suit,” Judge Albert Diaz wrote in a majority opinion by the court. Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, who dissented in the court ruling, warned that the majority opinion “stands for a sweeping proposition: A suit may be dismissed under the state secrets doctrine, after minimal judicial review, even when the government premises its only defenses on far-fetched hypotheticals.” Upstream’s existence was revealed in leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 and the lawsuit was filed in the aftermath of those revelations. The Wikimedia Foundation said it disagreed with the ruling on Wednesday and is considering options for further review in the courts. “In the face of extensive public evidence about NSA surveillance, the court’s reasoning elevates extreme claims of secrecy over the rights of Internet users,” said James Buatti, senior legal manager at the Wikimedia Foundation https://bit.ly/2XwK14n. The lawsuit was first dismissed in 2015 after a U.S. District judge found lack of evidence that the NSA was conducting surveillance “at full throttle.” But the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived the case in 2017 https://reut.rs/2XuMRXx and sent it back to the lower court, which again dismissed it in 2019 https://bit.ly/3hVOepp. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sam Holmes) View the full article

Published by InsideHook By Kayla Kibbe The Met Gala has always been a place for celebrities to compete for headlines in head-turning, often bizarre outfits usually representing questionable interpretations of the ever-elusive Met Gala theme. This year, however, the A-listers in attendance at Monday night’s event used their gala getups to make very literal, if arguably hypocritical, statements. While AOC’s controversial “Tax the Rich” gown stole the show, model and actress Cara Delevingne was making a sartorial statement of her own. That statement, emblazoned in red block letters across a white bulletproof vest: “Peg … Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Lil Nas X was convinced he was “going to die” when he got famous. The 22-year-old star went though a period of anxiety when he first started making music, which escalated when his single ‘Old Town Road’ became a global hit, but he credits his career for ultimately providing a distraction to allow his worst thoughts to subside. Speaking to Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1, he said: “The entire time I was making music, I thought soon I was going to die for some reason. Worst anxiety period. “You know, I lost my grandmother and was the first person that was close to me that I had ever lost. I was like, ‘Oh my God, everything’s building up.’ And then especially when ‘Old Town Road blew up’. I was like, ‘Oh, I’m definitely dying soon.’ All of these artists that were coming into, or starting to pop into the music industry were passing away, I was like, ‘What the f*** is happening?’ “I guess I tried to ignore it until it went away. And then that’s when I found belief in the universe, for sure. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m really not alone in this.’ “That’s another thing music was for me though. It was something I love, but it was also a distraction from those thoughts. It’s like, oh, those thoughts, here’s the song guys.” Nas came out as gay publicly in June 2019 and he admitted he expected some people to be “shocked” by the admission. He said: “I knew some people would be shocked. Because a lot of people, when they hear a song, they maybe look up the artist and don’t think much don’t, don’t get too involved into your life or what they’re talking about, or their captions or what they’re posting on their story or whatnot. So then it’s just like, ‘Wait, what the.’ “Because there’s a lot of songs I like right now and I’ve seen the artist’s face, but I have no idea about them outside of that. So that’s how it was for… It was like, ‘Oh, this cowboy country? Wait, huh? How’s that possible?'” The ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ hitmaker feels a sense of “responsibility” and wants to put in “even more effort” to push boundaries because of his sexuality. He added: “I feel responsibility. I don’t know if I want to say a lot, but it’s certain things that I see in the world that fuel me to go harder or put even more effort, or to make sure I’m getting across. “Because I feel like, I said this before in the past, when people come out as gay or whatnot, it becomes like, ‘OK, let’s sanitise the hell out of this. Let’s make sure it’s appropriate and super safe.” “And it’s like where they don’t do anything that’s considered too far, even the things that we see other artists doing. And even to defend ourselves… I feel like we still haven’t reached a place where I can do something right now that no straight person has done that’s considered too far. Because then, it’s really too far because no straight person has done it yet. You know what I’m saying?” Watch the interview in full on Apple Music at apple.co/_MONTEROInterview. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Ed Sheeran is planning to give Sam Smith a 6ft-tall marble penis. The ‘Bad Habits’ hitmaker has revealed he’s having the life-size phallic model made for the 29-year-old singer after the ‘Dancing With A Stranger’ saw the unusual decorative piece in the flame-haired hunk’s pub at his home in Suffolk, England, recently. Speaking to Zoe Ball on BBC’s Radio 2, the 30-year-old singer said: “I’m having a life-size one made for Sam Smith as well because Sam saw one of them in my pub at home and said, ‘Oh my God, I’d love one of them’. So I’m having one the size of them.” This isn’t the first time Ed has gifted a marble penis to a friend, as he also gave Elton John one for his birthday in March. Elton, 74, said previously: “For my birthday this year, he [Ed] gave me a giant marble penis. “I don’t know if that’s because I’ve always been a p***k or what. It’s really big, it’s beautifully made.” The iconic musician admitted his husband David Furnish wouldn’t let him put the X-rated statue in their garden because of their sons Zachary, 10, and eight-year-old Elijah. He laughed: “It’s hidden in an area in the house where they wouldn’t see it!” When it comes to raunchy gifts, Ed has a history after Courteney Cox previously revealed he’d sent her a “leather gimp mask”. Ed – who is close friends with the 57-year-old actress – revealed how he thought up an X-rated prank when she told him she could buy anything she wanted from her Alexa device. He explained: “So, she walks out the room, and I go, ‘Alexa, order me a leather gimp mask’. “Unbeknownst to me, Courteney’s assistant opened the post, and she finds this mask and instantly goes, ‘Oh, I don’t think I was meant to see that,’ and leaves it on Courteney’s bed.” The ‘Lego House’ hitmaker revealed the ‘Friends’ star found out about his joke, and he’s kept it up by ordering more and hiding them in unusual places. He added: “Anyway, she found out the story, and now every time I go back there, I order her another gimp mask. “And she has maybe 12, and I hide them in people’s bedrooms. So they’ll go in a drawer, and they’ll just find this leather S&M mask.” Marble on Towleroad Fashion Statements: The AOC Met Gala Dress Recalls 5 Times Fashion Helped Make Change. ‘I Really DO Care Don’t You?’ More Dan Levy Brings Met Gala 2021 Queer Love, in An Inspired Loewe, @cartier and Wojnarovicz Collab For the Fashion Benefit More New York begins work on LGBTQ+ museum set for 2024 opening More Many Relationships Won’t Make It Through The Pandemic Conflicts? Couples Boil Over OR Reconnect More U.S. Senate Democrats to seek quick passage of revised election reform plan More Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo clean up at MTV Video Music Awards More Pop princess Britney Spears engaged to boyfriend Sam Asghari; Good Sign the Conservatorship Horror Gets Better More Spectacular Suit-Dress Steals Show; Lil Nas X Turns Head, Wins the VH1 Red Carpet More Madonna wows MTV Video Music Awards with surprise performance More Lance Bass twin babies to arrive ‘any day now’; N’sync + Backstreet Boys Project Called ‘TRL: Total Relief Live’ Is Jan 2022 More Jodie Foster Says ‘Taxi Driver’ Transformed Cinema…I Was Very Proud’; Say ‘Bad Choices’ Gave Her Depth, Made Her Happy More Load More View the full article

… AOC Met Gala Fashion Statement NDZ/STAR MAX/IPx Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has ignited both controversy and celebration after wearing a gown to the Met Gala emblazoned in red graffiti text with the statement “Tax the Rich”. Appearing as a guest of the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the annual fund raiser, (for which tickets cost tens of thousand dollars), the left-wing politician wore a custom gown by fashion brand Brother Vellies, bringing with her the label’s founder, the young Black designer and activist Aurora James. Using fashion as a tool to address wider social concerns has, in fact, long been a strategy for people seeking to make change — including wearing these clothes in spaces of influence. From 19th century Suffragettes who pounded the streets in heels, ultra-feminine dress and large “picture” hats to refute claims that they were unwomanly, to patriot textiles in the second world war, to Indigenous Australian street clothes and accessories by a brand such as Dizzy Couture today, dress has historically conveyed political messages, creating “looks” for generations of change agents. Here are 5 clothing acts as provocations that changed history. 1. George Washington’s suit Houdon’s sculpture of Washington. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY The founders of the American Revolution wished to break with the old codes of European aristocracy. Much of the world still had “sumptuary laws”: legal edicts that regulated the types, materials and amounts of cloth, colours, jewellery and accessories permitted to various social groups. In North America, the formal clothing codes of the old regime were actively resisted: men were not expected to wear the expensive and colourful embroidered silks typically worn to European courts. Their imported fabrics were considered bad for local economies, and their elite air at odds with the idea that all men might now be (relatively) equal. President elect George Washington was sculpted by Houdon in the late 18th century with a button missing from his waistcoat. This was a deliberate gesture to show his actions were more important than his appearance. He also wore plain, home-spun American woollen cloth for his inauguration instead of the expected silk or velvet. This was a firm demonstration of North American independence and perhaps the first American “business casual”. 2. The Abolitionist handbag Abolitionist bag full of anti-slavery pamphlets. ©Victoria and Albert Museum, London, CC BY-NC Since the late 18th century, a range of objects from jewellery to printed dishes were produced to critique the Slave Trade. British Quakers had advocated for Abolition in 1783. The Female Society for Birmingham (originally the Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves, the first such group) mobilised their anti-slavery followers with handbags printed with images and slogans designed to gain support for the Abolitionist movement. The silk drawstring bags, made by women in sewing circles, were presented to prominent figures such as George IV and Princess Victoria. The bags contained newspaper articles and tracts supportive of Abolition. The Slavery Abolition Act, which provided for the immediate abolition of slavery in most of the British Empire was passed ten years later, in 1833. A similar Act was ratified in the USA only in 1865. 3. No feather hats Feather fan circa 1902. Te Papa, CC BY-NC-ND The ostrich and exotic bird industry was massive in the 19th century: as well as plumes, women wore whole bodies of birds as accessories, such as hummingbird earrings. The ostrich plume “double fluff” industry was centred on South Africa, where the feathers were worth more than gold. They were exported to rooms in London and New York where exhausted young girls finished and dyed them for retail. In 1914 a massive “feather crash” saw the raw material become close to worthless. Young women interested in the growing national park and conservation movements objected to the trade on ecological grounds. They simply stopped wearing the fashion, starting a global “anti-plumage” movement. The women involved with the Massachusetts Audubon Society were so successful that their lobbying led to the first US federal conservation legislation, The Lacey Act (1900). Taxidermied birds, feather boas and birds as earrings became largely unfashionable and were rarely seen again in women’s fashion. 4. The ACT UP T-shirt “Act Up Oral History Project”, CC BY-NC-SA The AIDS crisis of the 1980s-90s saw the mobilisation of a unique blend of activism born from the women’s, Hispanic, Black power and 1970s gay movements. ACT UP New York determined that only anger and civil disobedience would focus the attention of government and big pharma on the plight of mainly gay men’s health. A series of extraordinary “zaps” or site-specific protests, often theatrical, was engineered. ACT UP’s membership included skilled figures from advertising and design who created unified and stylish T-shirts, posters and banners. The designs were clean, slick and looked just like good advertising. As Sarah Schulman recently demonstrated in her 20 year history of ACT UP, the bold T-shirt designs both created optimum impact for ACT UP’s protests on the TV news and a new pro-gay identity. Worn with Doc Marten shoes, leather jackets, clean and tight jeans or denim shorts, ACT UP established the look of gay urban men for a generation. Government bodies and large drug companies were shamed by the public protests into adopting better and more rational health messaging, conducting better funded and more equitable drug trials and selling cheaper retrovirals. 5. When Katharine met Maggie In 1984, designer Katharine Hamnett wore a t-shirt that read, “58% DONT WANT PERSHING” (a reference to nuclear missiles) to a high profile fashion evening attended by conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Hamnett made her T-shirt the night before, recognising the opportunity she had, and hid it under her coat upon entry. Its graphic format owes a debt to both 1970s Punk and ACT UP. She later recalled of the widely photographed encounter with Thatcher: She looked down and said, “You seem to be wearing a rather strong message on your T-shirt”, then she bent down to read it and let out a squawk, like a chicken. Social change needs its visual forms. Fashion is one of them. Fashion is a brilliant communicator of new ideas. That we are reading about AOC’s clothing “controversy” shows she fully understands fashion’s power. Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. AOC Met Gala on Towleroad Dan Levy Brings Met Gala 2021 Queer Love, in An Inspired Loewe, @cartier and Wojnarovicz Collab For the Fashion Benefit More New York begins work on LGBTQ+ museum set for 2024 opening More Many Relationships Won’t Make It Through The Pandemic Conflicts? 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Published by BANG Showbiz English Dan Levy’s Met Gala 2021 ensemble celebrated “queer love and visibility”. The ‘Schitt’s Creek’ star wore a Loewe costume depicting two men kissing inspired by the late LGBTQIA+ activist and multimedia artist David Wojnarovicz’s art based on a homophobic cartoon at the fashion fundraiser at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday night (13.09.21). The 38-year-old actor, who was accessorised by Cartier, also revealed that Loewe made a donation to the charity Visual AIDS. Sharing the meaning behind the bold look, Dan explained on Instagram: “A big heartfelt thank you to @cartier for so generously welcoming and accessorizing me tonight. What I’ve so long admired about the Costume Institute is its commitment to educate and inspire people through fashion. “I was fortunate enough to also get to work with @jonathan.anderson and the incredible team of designers and craftspeople at @loewe on a look that meant something to all of us. With support from the estate of American multimedia artist and LGBTQIA+ activist, David Wojnarovicz (1954-1992), Jonathan and the design team built upon an image of two men kissing from Wojnarovicz’s work, F*** You F-t F*****, named after a homophobic cartoon the artist had come across. But rather than feed on the message of hate, we wanted to celebrate queer love and visibility – acknowledging how hard artists like Wojnarovicz had to fight, while also presenting the imagery in a way that offered a hopeful message. Tonight, we’re celebrating the resilience, the love, and the joy of the community while honoring a crucial American voice that was taken from us too soon. “To mark the collaboration, Loewe has made a donation to Visual AIDS, an organization Wojnorovicz supported, that continues to promote AIDS awareness and education (sic)” Dan came out as gay to his parents – actor Eugene Levy and screenwriter Deborah Divine – when he was 18. Met Gala 2021 on Towleroad New York begins work on LGBTQ+ museum set for 2024 opening More Many Relationships Won’t Make It Through The Pandemic Conflicts? Couples Boil Over OR Reconnect More U.S. Senate Democrats to seek quick passage of revised election reform plan More Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo clean up at MTV Video Music Awards More Pop princess Britney Spears engaged to boyfriend Sam Asghari; Good Sign the Conservatorship Horror Gets Better More Spectacular Suit-Dress Steals Show; Lil Nas X Turns Head, Wins the VH1 Red Carpet More Madonna wows MTV Video Music Awards with surprise performance More Lance Bass twin babies to arrive ‘any day now’; N’sync + Backstreet Boys Project Called ‘TRL: Total Relief Live’ Is Jan 2022 More Jodie Foster Says ‘Taxi Driver’ Transformed Cinema…I Was Very Proud’; Say ‘Bad Choices’ Gave Her Depth, Made Her Happy More Prince Andrew served with papers in US sexual assault lawsuit More Jessica Chastain Acquired ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye’ After Documentary Went Beyond SNL’s Crying, Crook Cartoon Image More Load More View the full article

Published by DPA Former tennis player Billie Jean King speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony for the LGBTQ+ Museum, scheduled to open in 2024. Christina Horsten/dpa Museum founders in New York have broken ground on a site set to become an LGBTQ+ museum opening in 2024. The museum is an expansion of the New-York Historical Society and will tell the stories of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, as well as others who feel they belong to this group. Founded in the early 19th century, the Historical Society is primarily dedicated to the history of metropolitan New York. “We are so happy that the museum has found a home,” former professional tennis player and activist Billie Jean King said at the Tuesday groundbreaking event. “It’s our time, for our American LGBTQ+ community, to tell our stories.” The whole world will take notice of this museum, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “People will come from literally every corner of the world to learn, to be educated, to be inspired, to remember that, yes, a change can come, and it did here in New York City.” The 1969 “Stonewall” riots in New York, when revellers resisted a police raid at the popular gay bar the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, are widely considered the birth of the movement. Every year, parades around the world celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and their resistance to discrimination. View the full article