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Published by BANG Showbiz English Vladimir Putin “loves” Sir Elton John’s music. The warmongering Russian president, 70, sends his best wishes to the ‘Rocket Man’ singer, 76, on his birthday on WhatsApp, despite his nation’s persecution of the LGBTQ+ community. Sir Elton’s husband David Furnish, 60, told The Guardian about Putin’s messages: “Every March 25, I get a WhatsApp message from the Russian health minister saying: ‘I just want to wish Elton happy birthday and we wish him all the best and love his music so much.’ “So, it is this strange paradox. “There’s nothing in it for them to send me a WhatsApp on Elton’s birthday. “They’ve done it a couple of birthdays in a row.” David, who has children Zachary, 13, and Elijah, 10, with Elton, also joked: “I always make sure if there’s an attachment, I never open it.” And referencing the hacking of the Amazon founder’s phone courtesy of a WhatsApp from the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, he added: “I don’t want to end up like Jeff Bezos.” David also told how Putin once rang their home landline to apologise to the singer after a pair of pranksters had called pretending to be the Russian leader in 2015. He said: “Putin himself was so appalled by this that he wanted to ring up personally to say, ‘I’m sorry this happened.’ “I remember the call coming in – the whole house froze. Vladimir Putin’s phoning the landline in your house. Perfect English. “He just said, ‘I’m sorry that someone phoned you up and pretended to be me because you don’t deserve to be, you know, pranked or treated like that. And I hear you would like to sit down and meet and talk with me one day. I would welcome that, I would love to talk to you.’” Elton has attacked Putin over his 2019 claim Russia had “no problem” with LGBTQ+ people, hitting out in a series of tweets that said: “Dear President Putin, I was deeply upset when I read your recent interview in the Financial Times. “I strongly disagree with your view that pursuing policies that embrace multicultural and sexual diversity are obsolete in our societies. “I find duplicity in your comment that you want LGBT people to ‘be happy’ and that ‘we have no problem in that’. “Yet Russian distributors chose to heavily censor my film ‘Rocketman’ by removing all references to my finding true happiness through my 25-year relationship with David and the raising of my two beautiful sons. “This feels like hypocrisy to me. I am proud to live in a part of the world where our governments have evolved to recognise the universal human right to love whoever we want. “And I’m truly grateful for the advancement in government policies that have allowed and legally supported my marriage to David. “This has brought us both tremendous comfort and happiness.” View the full article

Published by The Spun By Andrew Holleran Former United States president Donald Trump, who is set on running again in 2024, has weighed in on the debate surrounding transgender athletes. Trump has vowed to be stricter on transgender athlete participation in sports if he’s made president again. “I will keep men out of women’s sports,” Trump told supporters at the North Carolina Republican Party’s convention, according to Fox News. “Some women are being badly injured by the windburn that’s caused by the man going so much faster. The wind is blowing. It’s just terrible. It’s so unfair.” Transgender athlete participatio… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Christina Anagnostopoulos (Reuters) – Millions of LGBTQ Americans are taking part in this year’s Pride celebrations against a backdrop of increasing attacks, both online and offline. The rising demonstrations, legal efforts to restrict LGBTQ rights and political rhetoric inflaming national conversations around issues like drag shows and transgender healthcare may be fueling each other, two researchers told Reuters. Jay Ulfelder, a political and data scientist at Harvard University, has been tracking anti-LGBTQ demonstrations since 2017. The data shows a clear increase in events beginning in 2022, about 30-fold compared to 2017. Right wing protests were almost four times as likely in the last year and half to include anti-LGBTQ narratives than when counting began. Jen Kuhn of Kaleidoscope, a queer youth organization in Columbus, Ohio, said it felt “surreal” when neo-Nazis showed up at an April fundraiser waving swastikas and a sign reading, “there will be blood.” She said the subsequent support from the local community makes her even more committed to celebrating Pride, albeit with a heightened sense of caution and new security protocols. LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD has already recorded eight instances of 2023 Pride events that had to modify their plans due to threats of violence by June 1, said spokesperson Angela Dallara. Half of them are in Florida, where event organizers have increased security this year. At least three people were arrested on Tuesday when violence broke out outside a school district meeting discussing LGBTQ inclusivity in Glendale, California. Asked about the threat level during Pride month, an FBI spokesperson said the agency urged people to be aware of their surroundings and report suspicious activity. Legal moves to restrict LGBTQ rights are also on the rise. The ACLU has tracked 491 anti-LGBTQ bills in the 2023 state legislatures, a record high for the last century. There has been a Republican-led effort to limit drag in at least 15 states in recent months. And in Florida this year, education officials extended Gov. Ron DeSantis’s 2022 initiative limiting LGBTQ discussion in school through the third grade, also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, to now cover all public school grades. The 2024 presidential candidate has put culture war issues front and center, exemplified by this bill. Proponents of the bill argue that only parents should decide when to discuss subjects like sexuality or gender identity with children, while critics say it will further marginalize, endanger and silence LGBTQ students. Online, slurs like “groomer” – a trope that LGBTQ people are “child groomers” or pedophiles – have traveled from the fringe into mainstream discourse. A report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) and Human Rights Campaign last year found a 406% surge in “grooming” tweets in the month after the “Don’t Say Gay” bill passed in March 2022. CCDH data covering May 2021 to May 2023 seen by Reuters shows the narrative was rare prior to the bill’s passage. Ilan Meyer, a UCLA scholar who is a leading expert on LGBTQ mental health stressors, said it’s frightening to see a resurgence of old, false narratives, like gay people harming children. “If you tell people that a group is going to hurt your children, that gives them a license to be violent.” Proving causality between the online and offline attacks is difficult, cautioned Joel Day, research director at a Princeton University initiative that tracks political violence nationally, but the online and offline do mutually reinforce each other. “An event, like the ‘Don’t Say Gay bill,’ can increase the online chatter. And the chatter can increase the likelihood of such bills.” The harmful effects of online and offline assaults can’t be disentangled, said Kimberly Balsam, a psychology professor and LGBTQ-focused researcher at Palo Alto University. Brigitte Bandit, a full-time drag performer in Austin, Texas, said she’s never experienced as much online hostility toward drag as in the last year. Bandit says the clothing she uses at events for children is different to 21-and-over shows, but her social media feed is filled with accounts sharing risqué photos of her alongside claims that she’s dangerous to children. “They’re struggling to find anything on me, so they manipulate my image to post about this and make it seem like I’m somebody I’m not,” said Bandit, who has tweeted photos of herself in age-appropriate clothing at family events in response to the posts targeting her. For Bandit, the current atmosphere feels like “we’re getting down to ‘Pride at its roots,” noting that Pride began as a yearly commemoration of the Stonewall riots that broke out in New York City after police stormed a gay bar in June 1969. “We need to realize we make Pride for ourselves,” Bandit said. (Reporting by Christina Anagnostopoulos; editing by Claudia Parsons) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Elliot Page literally hid in the closet to avoid his “most closeted” relationship being exposed. The 36-year-old ‘Juno’ actor – formerly known as Ellen Page and who came out as homosexual in February 2014 before his gender transition in December 2020 – said he had to jump in a cupboard in a hotel when room service was delivered to an actress he said had not revealed to the world they were gay. A profile interview with Elliot in The Guardian said: “Page’s most closeted relationship was with an actor he refers to as Ryan. “He met her while making a film, and they were together for almost two years. By then Page was in his mid-20s and, he says, most people in the industry assumed he was gay. “But Ryan passed as straight and was terrified of being outed. The degree of secrecy sounds painfully dysfunctional. “Page literally hid in a closet once when room service was delivered to Ryan’s hotel room.” The article adds the secret couple ignored each other at parties and said Elliot “couldn’t cope with the shame and lies”. When asked in the chat if Ryan was still “closeted”, Elliot said: “No, I wouldn’t call it that. I gave (‘Pageboy’) to Ryan to read, and it was another example of getting to talk about things in a real way for the first time, and now we’re buddies again.” Elliot added when asked if Ryan worries people will be trying to guess who she is: “I don’t know how she feels about that deep down. I understand people will be curious. “She can’t care too much, because people do figure things out.” Elliot said in his ‘Pageboy’ memoir about the relationship: “My partner was more closeted than me for a change. “She was radiant – her dress, her smile, how she pushed her hair from her face … we discussed books, activism, our collective consciousness, and the deep intelligence of nature.” Elliot added they first met in a coffee shop in Los Angeles when he was 26 and only a handful of people knew about the relationship. He said: “Her parents did not know. I was the friend that came for Christmas… we never touched outside, we barely went to dinner. She was in my phone under the name ‘Ryan’.” Elliot recalled their “discreet but adventurous sex” which he said happed “on rocks, just below the Pacific Coast Highway, hidden in boulders in Joshua Tree National Park” and “on an airplane”. He said even though ‘Ryan’ once wrote him one of the “most beautiful letters I have ever received” it was not a “sustainable relationship” as it was characterised by “lying”, “anxiety” and “disgust” over keeping it quit and the fact ‘Ryan’ hadn’t publicly come out. Elliot said his lover could not bear the “shame” of being seen as “queer” and broke up with him, which the actor said left his heart “shattered”. Elliot also tells in his autobiography how he had an alleged romance with Kate Mara, 40, while the actress was dating Max Minghella, 37. Kate and Max split in 2014 after four years of dating and she is now married to actor Jamie Bell, 37, with whom she shares two children. View the full article

Published by AFP LGBTQ organizers say they are facing higher security and insurance bills for pride events as rhetoric against the community heats up Washington (AFP) – A spike in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and threats has taken a heavy toll on pride celebrations in the United States this year, organizers say — especially in states where politicians want to curtail rights. This month’s celebrations in Houston, the largest pride event in conservative Texas, have been scaled back due to rising insurance and security costs, as well as concerns over soaring temperatures and capacity. “We made the decision to cancel the festival this year,” said Kendra Walker, president of Pride Houston 365, downgrading the plans to a parade. The change was first announced in January as Texas lawmakers prepared bills restricting gender-affirming health care and drag performances. Now, pride planners across the US and Canada say they are facing higher bills because of anti-LGBTQ disinformation and hate. “It only takes a few (people) that can’t decipher reality from fantasy, and that’s when the danger comes in,” Walker said, calling it “a formidable threat” and pointing to white supremacists who planned to riot at a pride event in Idaho last year. ‘A real shake-up’ Florida has become a hotspot, with Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican running for president, signing bills this spring banning youngsters from drag shows and restricting how they learn about the LGBTQ community. “I didn’t realize there was going to be that much of a real shake-up,” said Carrie West, president of Tampa Pride, which in May canceled an outdoor festival after some sponsors said they were worried about running afoul of the new laws. The legislation, replicated in several other US states, also comes amid a torrent of anti-LGBTQ disinformation online. False claims linking the community to pedophilia and Satanism have amassed across social media platforms, boosted in part by conservative commentators and advocacy groups. Similar allegations and misinformation went viral in late May about Target’s pride apparel collection. “We don’t live in a time where we can just kind of separate what happens online from what happens in the real world,” said Ari Drennen, LGBTQ program director at Media Matters for America, a liberal media watchdog. ‘Going back to the 1960s’ – Not all pride celebrations have been affected. Long-running events retain a certain resilience against the hate that has targeted the community for decades, even as equality laws have improved rights in recent years. “There are broad threats, and it’s definitely coming from the anti-woke crowd and their encouragement of their followers to disrupt events,” said David Clarke, spokesperson for NYC Pride, the largest such group in North America. “(But) we have very robust security plans and we have for years. So it’s kind of business as usual, I think.” However, in Republican-controlled states where laws limiting LGBTQ rights have already been passed, small-town activists are contending with hate speech. In April, the advocacy group Equality Florida issued an advisory warning for LGBTQ people traveling to the state. Pride organizers in St. Cloud, outside Orlando, later canceled this year’s event due to a “climate of fear.” Kristina Bozanich, a photographer who spearheads the celebration, told AFP the drag performers “didn’t feel safe” after DeSantis signed the Protection of Children Act, which prohibits admitting children into “adult live performances.” Soon after the pride event in St. Cloud was cancelled, a ‘Kill all gays’ sign went up in the nearby city of Lake Nona, Bozanich said. “It was really shocking that what is known as a more progressive area had a hate sign like that,” she said. After news of the cancellation got out, the intimidation got worse. “We received a lot of hate comments. I received hate mail,” Bozanich said. Further south in Port St. Lucie, where an annual pride parade was canceled in April over legal concerns, there has been blowback for others who promote events. “I did post on one of the Port St. Lucie regular pages on Facebook about our pride party, and people just started making remarks about grooming kids,” said PJ Ashley, president of the nonprofit Sanctuary of the Treasure Coast. Pedophilia conspiracy theories have “a long history of being used against many marginalized groups to justify discrimination and violence,” according to RG Cravens, senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a legal advocacy group. Polls show acceptance has grown since the dawn of the LGBTQ rights movement, but Ashley said some older members within the community “feel like time just went back to that.” “They feel like they’re afraid to come out now and say anything. So it’s really like you’re going back to the 1960s,” Ashley said. “Everything that they fought for is kind of like what we’re losing.” View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – Court documents made public on Friday detailed 37 criminal counts against former U.S. President Donald Trump, including charges of unauthorized retention of classified documents and conspiracy to obstruct justice after he left the White House in 2021. Following are some reactions to the news: * Jack Smith, special counsel in the case: “Our laws that protect national defense information are critical to the safety and security of the United States and must be enforced. Violation of those laws put our country at risk.” *Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as reported by Fox News on Twitter: The charges are “going to disrupt this nation because it goes to the core of equal justice for all, which is not being seen today. And we’re not going to stand for it,” *President Joe Biden Asked if he had spoken to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland soon after the indictment against Trump was unsealed, Biden said: “I have not spoken to him at all and I’m not going to.” *Ron DeSantis, Florida governor and Republican presidential hopeful “I think there needs to be one standard of justice in this country,” DeSantis said in remarks on Friday night, not mentioning Trump by name. “Hillary had the emails,” DeSantis said. “Is there a different standard for a Democrat secretary of state versus a former Republican president?” *Chris Christie, former New Jersey governor and Republican presidential hopeful “The facts that are laid out here are damning in terms of Donald Trump’s conduct, and that’s what I think we as a party should be looking at. Do we really believe that someone who engaged in this type of conduct is going to be the best person to put up against Joe Biden?” *Sarah Matthews, former White House deputy press secretary under Trump “All the 2024 GOP candidates and Republicans who rushed to defend Trump before the indictment was unsealed seem to have a lot of egg on their faces now. This indictment is highly detailed and troubling.” *Daniel Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School and former federal prosecutor “The indictment stitched together considerable evidence of conscious and sustained wrongdoing and utter contempt for normal government processes. … Critical details are the references to top secret materials and the litany of Trump comments about classification regimes — the need for others to respect them but willful disregard of them on his own part.” *Senator John Barrasso, chairman of the Senate Republican Conference “This indictment certainly looks like an unequal application of justice. … Large amounts of classified materials were found in President Biden’s garage in Delaware. No indictment. Hillary Clinton had a computer server in her house with classified documents. No indictment. … You can’t help but ask why this is happening. It feels political, and it’s rotten.” *Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow “He stored highly classified documents in his bathroom!? Talk about a sh*tshow.” *Georgetown University law professor Todd Huntley “Between surveillance video footage, text messages and this audio recording, they have very strong evidence of the willful and intentional retention of those documents.” *Republican U.S. Representative Andy Briggs “We have now reached a war phase. Eye for an eye.” *Matt Bennett, co-founder of center-left think tank Third Way “It’s impossible to bet against Trump’s staying power with the Republican base. … If I had to bet, I’d pick Trump to win the nomination. But this conduct charged in this indictment is even worse than we expected – that might break through.” *Former Republican Representative Denver Riggleman “For someone who has taken a oath to this country as an enlisted troop, commissioned intel officer and Congressman — and held the highest clearance levels — reading the Trump indictment is akin to setting my American soul on fire. Any elected official who defends Trump is unserious and worthy of contempt.” (Compiled by Reuters; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA (Reuters) – Four children from an Indigenous community in Colombia were found alive in the country’s south on Friday more than five weeks after the plane they were traveling in crashed in thick jungle, Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said. The siblings were rescued by the military near the border between Colombia’s Caqueta and Guaviare provinces, close to where the small plane had crashed. The plane – a Cessna 206 – was carrying seven people on a route between Araracuara airport, in Caqueta province, and San Jose del Guaviare, a city in Guaviare province, when it issued a mayday alert due to engine failure in the early hours of May 1. Three adults, including the pilot and the children’s mother Magdalena Mucutuy, died as a result of the crash and their bodies were found inside the plane. The four siblings, aged 13, 9, 4, as well as a now 12-month-old baby, survived the impact. Narcizo Mucutuy, the grandfather of the three girls and one boy, told reporters he was delighted at the news of their rescue. “As the grandfather to my grandchildren who disappeared in the jungles of the Yari, at this moment I am very happy,” he said. Photos shared by Colombia’s military showed a group of soldiers with the four children in the middle of the jungle. “A joy for the whole country! The four children who were lost … in the Colombian jungle appeared alive,” Petro said in a message via Twitter. Petro initially reported that children had been found on May 17 in a message on Twitter but later deleted the post, saying the information was unconfirmed. “They were together, they are weak, let’s let the doctors assess them. They found them, it makes me very happy,” Petro told journalists on Friday, adding the children had defended themselves alone in the middle of the jungle. Rescuers, supported by search dogs, had previously found discarded fruit the children ate to survive, as well as improvised shelters made with jungle vegetation. Airplanes and helicopters from Colombia’s army and air force participated in the rescue operations. (This story has been corrected to fix the location of the airport to Caqueta, from Amazonas, in paragraph 3) (Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Jamie Freed) View the full article

Published by AFP Former US president Donald Trump speaks at the Georgia Republican Party's 2023 State Convention in Columbus, Georgia on June 10, 2023 Columbus, (Georgia) (AFP) – Donald Trump addressed his supporters Saturday for the first time since his indictment on multiple federal charges propelled the 2024 presidential election race into uncharted and potentially destabilizing territory. The 37 counts of the indictment — released on Friday and focused on his alleged mishandling of classified materials — set the former president up for a far more severe legal reckoning than the charges of personal, political and commercial misconduct he has largely ridden out in the past. And it also sets the stage for a White House race like no other before it, with President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice pursuing the prosecution of the clear front-runner for the Republican nomination. Trump, who has already denounced what he insists is a politically-motivated witch hunt, is talking at two state Republican conventions in Georgia and then North Carolina, and was widely expected to use both platforms to attack the FBI and accuse federal prosecutors of unfairly targeting him. In Columbus, Georgia, Trump railed against Biden and the Department of Justice and what he called a “fake indictment,” telling the crowd he was being pursued in court because of his bid for a second term in the White House. “That’s why they’re doing it, if I wasn’t, there would be no witch hunt, there would be no indictment,” he told supporters. The two events come just days before Trump is due to appear in federal court in Miami to answer the explosive charges he put US national security “at risk” by willfully retaining classified defense information, conspiring to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing documents, and making false statements. The charges, brought by Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith, carry up to 20 years in prison each. Trump has already responded to the indictment with a string of posts on his Truth Social platform and a video statement, calling Smith “deranged” and a “Trump hater” and framing the prosecution as election interference orchestrated by Biden and his campaign. “They come after me because now we’re leading in the polls again by a lot against Biden,” he said. So far, the response of many Republicans –- including some of Trump’s party nomination rivals –- has been to rally behind the former president and amplify his sense of outrage. The Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, who has had a rollercoaster relationship with Trump, said the indictment marked a “dark day” for the United States. “I, and every American who believes in the rule of law, stand with President Trump,” McCarthy said. And Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, seen as Trump’s most viable challenger for the Republican nomination, echoed the claims of a “weaponized” Justice Department. View the full article

Published by Radar Online MEGA Lady Gaga is refusing to pay $500k to the person who returned her 2 French bulldogs that were stolen — claiming the woman had ties to the three suspects involved in the crime, RadarOnline.com has learned. According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, the Bad Romance singer has asked a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to throw out the lawsuit brought by Jennifer McBride. MEGA McBride was connected to the 2021 theft of Gaga’s French Bulldogs, Koji and Gustav. The pets were stolen from Gaga’s dogwalker, who was held at gunpoint and then shot. The dogs were returned to Gaga after she put up a $500k reward for her pooches. A couple of months later, three men, James Howard Jackson, Jaylin Keyshawn White, and Lafayette Shon Whaley, were arrested for attempted murder and various other charges. MEGA McBride was also charged with one count of accessory after the fact. Her lawyer claims his client “had absolutely no involvement in the theft of the dogs. She loves dogs and was glad to participate in their safe return. She is legally entitled to and deserves the reward.” Another Bad Romance: Lady Gaga & Michael Polansky ‘Hit A Wall’ After They Couldn’t Agree On Marriage & Babies Lady Gaga Crushing On ‘Joker’ Costar Joaquin Phoenix As They Portray Star-Crossed Lovers On Blockbuster Sequel Lady Gaga’s Home Ambushed By Cops After Obsessed Fan Tries Delivering Her Flowers MEGA The L.A. County District Attorney scoffed at the suggestion claiming McBride was well aware the dogs were stolen. They accuse her of dating the father of one of the men arrested in relation to the dog theft. In her lawsuit, McBride sued Gaga accusing her of failing to pay the $500k reward. The woman said the pop star promised “no questions asked.” MEGA In her response, the singer’s attorney argued, “that [McBride] knowingly received [Gaga’s] stolen dogs before purporting to “return” those same dogs, all while expressly disclaiming any intent to collect a reward she now alleges she is owed.” Gaga said her financial promise was thrown out the window when she learned the woman played a part in the scheme. She said McBride was, “convicted for her participation in the conspiracy to steal [Gaga’s] dogs, so she cannot now recover under a purported contract for the return of those same stolen dogs.” The entertainer said California law does not allow a person to commit a crime and then benefit from the commission of the crime. Further, Gaga said McBride did not suffer any damages by returning the dogs. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday hosted the largest Pride celebration in White House history on Saturday, calling for new measures to protect the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ people amid a spate of what he called “terrifying” attacks and legislation. Biden, a Democrat, urged Congress to pass the “Equality Act” which would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity for protection alongside race, religion, sex and national origin, and ban assault weapons. Thousands of guests picnicked on the South Lawn including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the first openly LGBTQ person to hold a Cabinet position, and Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Admiral Rachel Levine, the first openly transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate. Biden said the guests also included survivors of deadly shootings at the LGTBQ Club Q nightclub in Colorado Springs last November and Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in 2016. The attacks and a flurry of bills in Republican-led states targeting transgender youth, banning teachers of younger children from discussing gender or sexuality and proposed or passed laws restricting drag performances have created a threatening environment for LGTBQ people, Biden said. “When families across the country face excruciating decisions to relocate to a different state to protect their child from dangerous ant-LGTBQ laws, we have to act. We need to push back against the hundreds of callous and cynical bills introduced in states targeting transgender children, terrifying families and criminalizing doctors and nurses,” he said. “These bills and laws attack the most basic values and freedoms we have as Americans,” he said, drawing cheers and applause from the crowd, where many wore rainbow colors, shorts and sundresses, and some came dressed in drag. Many chanted “four more years” as he neared the end of his remarks. First lady Jill Biden said the celebration was meant to “find joy” and “celebrate the beauty and resilience” of the LGBTQ community in face of growing threats to their lives and rights. “Today, we say loud and clear – that you belong, that you are beautiful, that you are loved,” she said. “Let it remind you that you don’t have to face those battles alone. You are never alone.” The celebration was delayed from Thursday due to smoke from Canadian wildfires. Biden this week announced new measures intended to curb book bans and hate crimes, help transgender youth access better care and increased federal coordination to “better protect Pride celebrations, marches, community centers, healthcare providers and small businesses. Florida has been at the forefront of restrictions aimed at the LGBTQ community under Governor Ron DeSantis, who says the measures protect children, and recently entered the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination to challenge Biden. As president, Biden has overturned a ban on transgender individuals serving in the military, issued a new order to stop conversion therapy and signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which federally recognizes same-sex marriages, into law. American support for same-sex marriage has doubled since the late 1990s to more than 70%, Gallup polls show, and the percentage of people who identify as LGBTQ has doubled in the past decade to over 7%. More than 70 bills considered anti-LGBTQ by the Human Rights Campaign were passed in statehouses this legislative session, double last year’s previous record, and over 500 were introduced. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; additional reporting by Jeff Mason, editing by Deepa Babington) View the full article

Published by Knewz New research conducted by the University of Queensland has unveiled a startling revelation: viruses, including the notorious SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19 have the ability to fuse brain cells. COVID-19 has been known to impact neurological health and thinking abilities. Researchers at the University of Queensland have discovered that SARS-CoV-2 can cause neurons to undergo a cell fusion process, which can lead to long-term neurological effects. “We discovered COVID-19 causes neurons to undergo a cell fusion process, which has not been seen before,” says Professor Massimo Hilliard. “After ne… Read More View the full article

[This post contains video, click to play] Published by Socialite Life Sam Smith and Madonna have joined forces for a steamy collaboration titled “Vulgar,” released on Friday (Jun. 09, 2023). The track features both artists celebrating their sensuality through lyrics. With lines like “All black in stripper heels, move like Madonna” and “Let’s get into the groove, you know just what to do,” Smith and Madonna exchange verses, highlighting their confidence and allure. While maintaining the thematic connection to Madonna’s speech, “Vulgar” takes a new direction. Madonna’s self-referential lines add a touch of humor to the track. “If you f–k with Sam tonight / You’re … Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) – A mandate that U.S. health insurers cover preventive care like cancer screenings and HIV-preventing medication at no extra cost to patients could remain in place while the Biden administration appeals a court order striking it down, following a tentative agreement announced on Friday. The agreement between the administration and conservative businesses and individuals that sued to challenge the mandate is not yet final, according to a filing with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The deal would preserve the mandate nationwide while appeals play out, but allow the employer challenging the mandate, Texas-based Braidwood Management, to stop covering pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) against HIV and other preventive services without co-pays for its employees for now. The company, which operates an alternative health center, would be shielded from any retroactive enforcement if the mandate is restored on appeal. The preventive care mandate, part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) often referred to as Obamacare, covers services recommended by a federal task force. Braidwood and the other plaintiffs sued specifically over PrEP for HIV, which they said violated their religious beliefs by encouraging homosexuality and drug use. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas in March blocked the federal government from enforcing the mandate for a much wider range of services, finding that the task force’s role under the ACA violates the U.S. Constitution. If the task force’s recommendations automatically trigger coverage, he said, then it has enough power that its members must be appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The ruling does not apply to services the task force recommended before the ACA was enacted in 2010, including breast cancer screening. More than 150 million people were eligible for preventive care free of charge as of 2020 under the ACA, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. If O’Connor’s ruling is not overturned on appeal, insurers will be able to charge patients co-pays and deductibles for such services in new insurance plans, most of which will begin next calendar year. The Biden administration has said O’Connor’s ruling threatens public health. Major U.S. medical associations have also weighed in against the decision. O’Connor drew national notice in 2018 when he struck down the entire ACA, a decision that was later overturned. (Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot) View the full article

Published by New York Daily News Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has vetoed a bill that would ban public school students from using restrooms and changing rooms that align with their gender identity, calling it “yet another discriminatory act against LGBTQ+ youth passed by the majority at the state legislature.” Republican lawmakers, who have a slim majority in both legislative chambers, have advanced a slate of bills targeting the rights of LGBTQ people, which the Human Rights Campaign described as an effort to “assault the LGBTQ+ community and attack transgender children to appease their base.” Hobbs, who recently rejected a bill … Read More View the full article

Published by Al-Araby An eighteen-year-old Arab Druze was shot and killed on Friday near the village of Yarka, in a murder allegedly motivated by the teenager’s sexual orientation, sources told The New Arab. Sarit Ahmed was found lying in the street with multiple gunshot wounds to her upper body, according to Israeli emergency services. She was then rushed to the Galilee Medical Centre in Israel’s Northern District, where she was later pronounced dead. Ahmed, a resident of the nearby predominantly Druze village of Kisra-Sumei, had previously received death threats from her brothers allegedly due to her sexual orien… Read More View the full article

Published by The Street By Danni Button Each social media platform has developed its own method for filtering out hateful and abusive content. It’s a process that can involve human moderators sifting through gruesome material, AI filters using certain trigger words, and systems which let users report problematic posts and videos. Violating rules regarding hate speech can also get a creator demonetized, according to a recent move made by Alphabet’s (GOOG) – Get Free Report video platform YouTube. The creator-led content platform has been stripping monetization of some problematic videos. DON’T MISS: Why a Prolific Adu… Read More View the full article

Published by New York Daily News NEW YORK — It looks like this year’s Tony Awards will be a trifle tricky to predict. The annual celebration of Broadway’s best shows is set to be unscripted due to a writers strike, promising a song-and-dance-heavy ceremony that could go off the rails in all the right — or wrong — ways. Plus, it’s hard to say who will be taking home the trophies. Many fields, including the coveted best musical category, appeared to be up for grabs entering the weekend. But that’s not stopping us from making some calls on who will win the biggest awards, and who deserves them. Best Musical Will win: “ Kimberly … Read More View the full article

Published by Raw Story Country music star Garth Brooks is sticking by Bud Light amid the backlash over its LGBTQ-themed marketing, saying that his new Nashville bar will be serving the brand. “Yes, we’re going to serve every brand of beer,” Brooks told Billboard Magazine. “We just are. It’s not our decision to make. Our thing is this, if you [are let] into this house, love one another. If you’re an a–hole, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway.” Bud Light came under attack after it partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney earlier this year – with many conservatives vowing to boycott the beer… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters UK LONDON (Reuters) – The Archbishop of Canterbury has urged the Anglican Church of Uganda to reject the country’s new anti-LGBT law, saying there is no justification for Anglicans anywhere to support legislation that goes against the Christian teachings of the Gospel. Under the law, approved by President Yoweri Museveni in May, gay sex is punishable by life in prison while “aggravated homosexuality”, including transmitting HIV, attracts the death penalty. Justin Welby, leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, said he had written to Archbishop Stephen Kaziimba, the Primate of Uganda, to expres… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English ‘Sex and the City’ writer Candace Bushnell says there was a “piece missing” from the shows’ reboot without Kim Cattrall. The author, 64, shared her excitement Kim, 66, will be reprising her role of sex-crazed publicist Samantha Jones in the second season of ‘SATC’ follow-up series ‘And Just Like That’, with the actress announcing last week she will be coming back for a cameo in the upcoming season. Candace told Page Six: “When I heard the news I was happy and surprised. The fans love Kim and I think it will be great for the show. “There was a piece missing. She was a major part of that girlfriend circle.” Candace’s hit 1996 book ‘Sex and the City’ was the basis for HBO’s show of the same name in 1998, and the show marked its 25th anniversary on Tuesday. (06.06.23) Kim had previously said she wouldn’t come back to the show’s ‘AJLT’ spin-off, with her last appearance in the franchise in the second ‘SATC’ feature film in 2010. She is now set to appear in a cliff-hanger finale for the second season of ‘AJLT’. Variety has reported she shot only one scene for the episode and filmed it in one day in March. Kim starred as Samantha for six seasons on ‘SATC’ alongside Sarah Jessica Parker, 58, as Carrie Bradshaw, Cynthia Nixon, 57, as Miranda Hobbes and Kristin Davis, 58, as Charlotte York Goldenblatt. Samantha was seen settling down in season 4 of the original series with artist character Maria Reyes, played by Sonia Braga, 73, revealing to her on-screen friends over dinner: “Yes ladies, I’m a lesbian.” Her character was then written out of the show, but not killed off, ‘The Carrie Diaries’ writer Candace also said she believes the latest batch of episodes “will be a great season” after Kim’s return was announced. She added: “I’m happy that Kim is going to go on there. I think it’s probably the greatest thing for the show.” Evan Handler, 62, who plays Charlotte’s husband Harry Goldenblatt on the show, also called Kim’s comeback “great”. He told People: “Apparently (her cameo) was shot in the garage somewhere with no contact with anybody, so the only place I have to welcome her is into my living room when it airs on television.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Alexandra Ulmer and Anna Tong SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – In one apparently altered image, former U.S. President Donald Trump is seen hugging his bête noire Dr. Anthony Fauci, who beams in response. In another, Trump is kissing Fauci on the nose. These images published by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ campaign this week demonstrate how the 2024 Republican White House contenders have elevated their war of words into the AI-driven social media arena, interspersing fact with fiction. The pictures form part of a video that DeSantis’ rapid response team shared on Twitter. It criticizes Trump for not firing Fauci, the former top U.S. infectious disease official whose push for COVID-19 restrictions turned him into a boogeyman for many conservatives. The video includes apparently real footage of Trump at press conferences and interviews. But at the 25-second mark, six images appear of Trump and Fauci — including three showing them hugging or kissing. Those three images are likely AI-generated, according to an analysis of traces left by synthetic image generators, said Matthew Stamm, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Drexel University. “Our results consistently output a decision that these images are fake,” he said. The video does not disclose any potential AI use and the DeSantis campaign did not respond to a question about whether the images were fake or whether AI was used to create them. But their appearance in the campaign of a leading candidate shows how the technology is turbocharging its way into the 2024 presidential race as a slew of new “generative AI” tools make it cheap and easy to create convincing deepfakes. “It was particularly sneaky to intermix the real and the fake images, as if the presence of the real image is giving more credibility to the other images,” said digital image forensics pioneer Hany Farid, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley. A person with knowledge of the DeSantis campaign operation said the Trump side had been “continuously posting fake images and false talking points to smear the governor.” Trump, who is currently the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, has indeed used altered images to attack DeSantis, his closest rival. However, he seems to have primarily shared obviously fake content, for instance an image of DeSantis riding a rhinoceros, a suggestion that the governor is a “Republican in Name Only” (RINO). The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A representative for Dr. Fauci did not immediately respond either. Drexel professor Stamm’s forensics analysis tool suggests the images were made using an AI model called a diffusion model, which underpin popular AI image generation products like DALL-E and Stability AI. So far, the only high-profile AI-generated political ad in the U.S. was one published by the Republican National Committee in late April. The 30-second ad, which the RNC disclosed as being entirely generated by AI, used fake images to suggest a cataclysmic scenario should Biden be reelected, with China invading Taiwan and San Francisco being shut down due to crime. No one is certain where the generative AI road leads or how to effectively guard against its power for mass misinformation, especially as AI improves in quality. “At some point the AI systems will be outputting images that have no differences from real images,” said James O’Brien, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. “At that point there will be nothing to detect.” (Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer and Anna Tong in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Seana Davis; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien) View the full article

Published by Reuters By John Kruzel WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday handed a major victory to Black voters who challenged a Republican-drawn electoral map in Alabama, finding the state violated a landmark law prohibiting racial discrimination in voting and paving the way for a second congressional district with a Black majority or close to it. The 5-4 ruling authored by Chief Justice John Roberts affirmed a lower court’s decision that the map diluted the voting power of Black Alabamians, running afoul of a bedrock federal civil rights law, the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Roberts was joined by fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the court’s three liberals, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. With Thursday’s ruling, the Supreme Court elected not to further roll back protections contained in the Voting Rights Act as it had done in two major rulings in the past decade. The decision centered upon Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a provision aimed at countering measures that result in racial bias in voting even absent racist intent. “We find Alabama’s new approach to (Section 2) compelling neither in theory nor in practice,” Roberts wrote. “We accordingly decline to recast our (Section 2) case law as Alabama requests.” At issue was the map approved in 2021 by the Republican-controlled state legislature setting the boundaries of Alabama’s seven U.S. House of Representatives districts. The map featured one majority-Black district, with six majority-white districts, even though Black people comprised 27% of Alabama’s population. The ruling on Thursday affirmed the lower court’s order that Alabama configure a second House district where Black voters could hold a “a voting-age majority or something quite close to it.” That marked a shift from an emergency 5-4 ruling the court issued last year that let Alabama use the disputed map for the 2022 U.S. congressional elections in which Republicans seized control of the House from Democrats. The new congressional map, expected to be in place for the 2024 elections, could boost Democratic efforts to regain a majority in the House, which Republicans now control by a narrow 222-212 margin. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland hailed the ruling, saying it “rejects efforts to further erode fundamental voting rights protections, and preserves the principle that in the United States, all eligible voters must be able to exercise their constitutional right to vote free from discrimination based on their race.” The Voting Rights Act was passed at a time when Southern states including Alabama enforced policies blocking Black people from casting ballots. Nearly six decades later, race remains a contentious issue in American politics and society more broadly. Conservative states and groups had previously succeeded in prodding the Supreme Court to limit the Voting Rights Act’s scope. Its 2013 ruling in another Alabama case struck down a key part that determined which states with histories of racial discrimination needed federal approval to change voting laws. In a 2021 ruling endorsing Republican-backed Arizona voting restrictions, the justices made it harder to prove violations under Section 2. ‘TEXTBOOK EXAMPLE’ Black voters and advocacy groups who sued Alabama argued that the state’s map reduced the influence of Black voters by concentrating their voting power in one district while distributing the rest of the Black population in other districts at levels too small to form a majority. A three-judge federal court panel last year sided with the challengers. Abha Khanna, who argued the case on behalf of one set of challengers, said, “Thankfully, the court today identified Alabama’s redistricting scheme as a textbook violation of the landmark civil rights law,” Khanna said. The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority and, based on the questioning during oral arguments in the case in October, had appeared to lean toward favoring Alabama. UCLA School of Law election law expert Rick Hasen said that “to have Roberts and Kavanaugh join the liberals in upholding the Voting Rights Act is a big surprise, and a good result for minority voters.” Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito wrote separate dissenting opinions. Thomas wrote that the question before the court was whether Section 2 required Alabama “to intentionally redraw its longstanding congressional districts so that black voters can control a number of seats roughly proportional to the black share of the state’s population.” Thomas wrote, “Section 2 demands no such thing, and, if it did, the Constitution would not permit it.” Alabama officials argued that drawing a second district to give Black voters a better chance at electing their preferred candidate would itself be racially discriminatory by favoring them at the expense of other voters. If the Voting Rights Act required the state to consider race in such a manner, according to Alabama, the statute would violate the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law. Electoral districts are redrawn each decade to reflect population changes as measured by a national census, last taken in 2020. In most states, such redistricting is done by the party in power, which can lead to map manipulation for partisan gain. (Reporting by John Kruzel in Washington; Additional reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by AFP Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, has died at the age of 93 Washington (AFP) – Pat Robertson, the soft-spoken televangelist who helped make America’s Christians a powerful political force while demonizing liberals, feminists and gays as sinners, died Thursday at the age of 93, his organization announced. The longtime host of “The 700 Club” on his huge Christian Broadcasting Network and one-time presidential candidate died at his home in Virginia Beach, according to a network statement. Robertson promoted “a worldview that believes in the inerrancy of the Bible,” CBN said. “Today, his influence and legacy crisscross interests and industries that have broken barriers for countless Christian leaders and laypeople.” Broadcasting “The 700 Club” daily since 1966, the avuncular Robertson promoted a literal belief in “end of times” prophecies of the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel that forecast the destruction of the world to become a Christian paradise. In practice, he advocated for an extremely conservative Christianity focused on “traditional” families and a country founded on the Bible, rejecting the longstanding US principle of separation of church and state. He defined the world as riven by an epochal fight between Islam and Christianity, and meanwhile spearheaded US Christian support for Israel as the land of the “chosen” Jewish people. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once called Robertson “a tremendous friend of Israel and a tremendous friend of mine.” But he also drew loathing from progressives with his condemnations of feminism and LQBTQ culture as destroying America. His powerful support in 2016 for Donald Trump — arguably helping seal Trump’s presidential victory — further widened the cultural chasm dividing the country. Marine, lawyer, minister Robertson was born on March 22, 1930 in Lexington, Virginia, son of a conservative Democratic member of the US House of Representatives and then the Senate for 34 years. After graduating from Virginia’s Washington and Lee University, in 1948 he joined the US Marines, serving in Korea. He then graduated from Yale Law School, was ordained a Baptist minister, and in short order launched in 1961 what became the massive CBN empire from a small television station in Tidewater Virginia. After CBN’s early financial struggles, he named “The 700 Club” for an early core of 70 supporters who pledged $10 each month. The program mixed news, spiritual and lifestyle stories along with interviews of public figures, and became a hit especially in rural communities across the country. That made it a mainstream stop for political candidates courting Christian voters: guests included Republican Ronald Reagan and Democrat Jimmy Carter. Robertson expanded into other media business, launching what became the popular, conservative “Family Channel” on cable television, and the influential Christian-based Regent University in Virginia Beach. Push into politics In 1987, he launched the Christian Coalition, seeking to bring together different Christian denominations as a force for the conservative values he espoused. Ever since, the organization has been at the forefront of the US culture wars, pressuring Congress and the White House on moral and religious issues such as abortion and the separation of church and state. In 1990, he launched the American Center for Law and Justice, a legal lobby to advance Christian religious rights against secularism in the courts. Robertson himself sought political office, running unsuccessfully in the Republican presidential primary in 1988. But what he built had a lasting impact: a conservative Christian voter bloc instrumental in bringing Trump to power and still exercising enormous influence over the Republican Party. “He shattered the stained glass window,” TD Jakes, a Dallas pastor said in CBN’s statement. “People of faith were taken seriously beyond the church house and into the White House.” Controversies But there were controversies along the way. He courted Democratic Republic of the Congo dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, hoping to convert their countries to Christian states where gay people were banned — while investing in diamond mining in a deal with Mobutu. In 2001, as America reeled from the September 11 attacks, Robertson endorsed the view that tolerance for lesbians, gays and doctors carrying out abortions had drawn God’s wrath on the country. In 2005, he called for the United States to assassinate then Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. “It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war,” he quipped on “The 700 Club.” And last year, he said Russian President Vladimir Putin was “compelled by God” to attack Ukraine, because it was predicted in the Book of Ezekiel as a step toward the end of times. Washington’s political establishment was remarkably quiet Thursday in response to Robertson’s death. Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, said Robertson “touched so many lives and changed so many hearts.” “He stood for America — and more importantly, for truth and faith,” she said. But on the left, there was little sympathy. “Robertson’s death doesn’t mean we must overlook his long record of extremist rhetoric,” wrote Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “Robertson spent most of his time spreading hate, conspiracy theories and lies,” he said. View the full article

Published by Global Voices Image of LGBTQ community protest in Uganda, on the Africanews YouTube Channel. May 2023 was a watershed period for Uganda’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community. On May 2, the Ugandan Parliament passed a bill that left this community under threat of imprisonment and capital punishment. On May 29, President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in office since 1986, enacted a law against homosexuality that human rights defenders and the international community consider extremely repressive. An official announcement was made on the presidential Twitter account. President @Ka… Read More View the full article