RadioRob

Published by New York Daily News NEW YORK — Three people destroyed gay pride rainbow flags flying in a park outside the Stonewall Inn, the Greenwich Village bar where an NYPD raid in 1969 sparked the gay rights movement. The vandalism happened at 3:10 a.m. on Sunday as the three men were walking past the Stonewall National Monument in Christopher Park on Christopher St. They broke a number of flags displayed on a fence, then took off, heading east on Waverly Place. The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident, which comes as the city celebrates Pride Month. The Stonewall is considered the birthplace of the ga… Read More View the full article

Published by Fort Worth Star-Telegram FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill Monday that prohibits “sexually explicit material” in public school libraries, but said more work is needed from lawmakers on education-related legislation. In the past couple years, debates have played out in Texas districts over whether certain books are appropriate for school libraries and the role parents should play in monitoring reading material. The new Texas law requires the Texas State Library and Archives Commissionto create mandatory standards for school libraries, that includes a ban on material that is “sexually explicit.” “… Read More View the full article

Published by Orlando Sentinel ORLANDO, Fla. — Silence swept the Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando on Monday night as attendees bowed their heads to remember the 49 lives lost on June 12, 2016 — a date ingrained in history as one of the nation’s worst mass shootings. In observance of the passage of seven years since the Pulse killings, hundreds gathered to pay their respects. At the start of the ceremony, the Orlando Gay Chorus and Adrian Toca performed the song “Rise Up” in honor of the victims and all who survived, as well as the first responders, community organizers an… Read More View the full article

Published by DPA Nikola Eterovic, Apostolic Nuncio in Germany, comes to the annual reception of the Federation of Expellees (BdV) in the Catholic Academy. Queer Catholics have criticized the Vatican's ambassador to Germany for remarks he made during a pilgrimage to the western city of Aachen. Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa Queer Catholics have criticized the Vatican’s ambassador to Germany for remarks he made during a pilgrimage to the western city of Aachen. “The Catholic LGBT+ Committee is appalled that the Catholic Church is once again getting dangerously close to right-wing populist forces that construct gender diversity as an attack on the family instead of recognizing different ways of life and relationships,” Markus Gutfleisch, co-spokesman of the Catholic LGBT+ Committee, said on Tuesday. LGBT+ is an abbreviation for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and wider queer community. Apostolic Nuncio Nikola Eterović, the diplomatic representative of the Holy See in Berlin, quoted Pope Francis in a sermon at the Aachen pilgrimage last Sunday as saying that human beings have a nature “that they cannot manipulate at will.” He went on to quote the pope as saying, “Precisely for this reason, the attitude of one who claims to erase the difference between the sexes is not healthy.” Eterović himself stressed that “the Catholic Church has always proclaimed this doctrine in fidelity to the Lord and has withstood old and new attacks on the family, which is the original cell of Church and society.” Gutfleisch said that Pope Francis had also made very different, appreciative statements. Eterović, however, deliberately singled out heterosexual marriage as the only permissible form of relationship, he said. Moreover, he said, the nuncio had made no recognizable reference to the pilgrimage. View the full article

Published by Raw Story Two Canadian moms say their 9-year-old daughter was competing in a shot-put final at a track and field event when the grandfather of one of the other participants started yelling at her, Castanet reported. “She went to step up to compete for the grade four shot-put final, and right before she went to throw, a grandfather of a student said, ‘Hey, this is supposed to be a girls’ event, and why are you letting boys compete.’ My daughter is cisgender, born female, uses she/her pronouns. She has a pixie haircut,” said mom Heidi Star. “He stopped the entire event. He also pointed at another girl who… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Idina Menzel “wouldn’t be where she is” had it not been for her gay fans. The 52-year-old actress won a Tony Award for originating the role of misunderstood green girl Elphaba in the smash-hit Broadway musical ‘Wicked’ in 2003 and achieved even wider fame when she voiced the role of Elsa in 2013 Disney movie ‘Frozen’ and explained that she can resonate with her gay fans upon the release of her disco-inspired track ‘Move’. She told Billboard: “I think it might be something people didn’t expect of me but once they hear it I think they’ll think that it’s a pretty organic transition. Big voices, great disco grooves. My life is synonymous with all queer-inspired stories. “It’s about having to find my self-esteem and empower myself to get up every day and believe in who I am and live my life authentically, that’s honestly what I learned from all my friends in the gay community and I probably wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t learned to conduct myself in this world if it wasn’t for them. “ The ‘Enchanted’ star went on to add that she is “flattered” when drag queens take on her famous songs such as ‘Let It Go’ # and finds herself “sad and angry” at the prejudice surrounding certain communities as she noted that her fanbase is like “one big family”. She added: “I’m always so flattered, especially when someone is doing one of my characters. I’m just so inspired by the creativity, the artistry. I’m really sad and angry about everything that’s going on and all the legislation. “I don’t mean to pat myself on the back but I’ve had one really cool job every decade; I’ve grown up with my fans and their kids now watch ‘Frozen’ or Wicked’ and there’s something about that that just feels like we’re all one big family. It’s important for me to originate roles in the theatre so I always feel that a lot of people in the theatre should feel that way to. What makes them special is that unique thing and you can’t always emulate or copy other people, you just have to wait and keep being yourself and trust in that, then the right job will find you. Meanwhile, Idina even teased that a return to The Great White Way could be on the cards. She said: “Of course, I’d go back to Broadway, it’s where I got my start! I’m working on some things!” View the full article

Published by Relaxnews By MICHELE SPATARI / AFP Deep in South Africa’s semi-desert Karoo region, a glittery drag show in an old hilltop hotel brings a burst of weekly excitement to a sleepy conservative town. Deep in South Africa’s semi-desert Karoo region, a glittery drag show in an old hilltop hotel brings a burst of weekly excitement to a sleepy conservative town. Every Saturday night, Mark Hinds and Jacques Rabie, the owners of the Karoo Theatrical Hotel, amaze their guests with a night-long cabaret and drag show in the small town of Steytlerville in the Eastern Cape. The show, called “The Steytlerville Follies”… Read More View the full article

Published by Chicago Tribune CHICAGO — After spending six hours handing out merch at the new Malibu Barbie Cafe pop-up in the West Loop, 18-year-old Keni Adekeye stood among the sea of hot-pink clad fans, wrapping up her first shift. A decade ago, Adekeye burned through Barbie movies at a rapid pace as a Nigerian daughter of a DVD seller. As a kid, she had no idea how far the character’s reach extended — only that she loved her adventures and can-do attitude. Now, on a warm June evening, she stood in the midst of a Barbie Dream House come to life. “This place does not feel real,” Adekeye said. “I’m coming off the Red Line… Read More View the full article

Published by DPA Elliot Page, the Hollywood star who came out as transgender in 2020 after becoming world-famous in films like "Juno" and "Inception", is sharing his emotional journey in his first book. Kevin Sullivan/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa On the cover of his autobiography “Pageboy,” Elliot Page is shown wearing a fine-ribbed undershirt, jeans and a necklace. His hair is short; he looks self-confidently straight into the camera. The Canadian actor’s first book went on sale in early June. In 29 chapters and more than 300 pages, Page movingly tells his life story, a story of shame, trauma and self-discovery. Page, now 36, first achieved fame with the dramatic comedy “Juno” in 2007, playing a pregnant teenage schoolgirl. The film gained him an Oscar nomination for best actress in a leading role. Afterwards, his career took off in Hollywood, with roles in “Inception,” “To Rome with Love,” “X-Men: The Last Stand,” and “The Umbrella Academy.” But increasingly in the Hollywood spotlight, Page had to conceal his sexuality and his rejection of his own body – that of a woman – with feelings accompanied by depression, panic attacks and eating disorders. At the age of four, he knew he was not a girl Page writes that he often had had the idea of writing a book, but it is only now, after his top surgery – the procedure to remove breast tissue to achieve a more masculine shape – does he feel right in his own body and able to manage the task. His story is one that is all the more urgent, given how transgender persons are increasingly victims of physical violence and hostility. By telling it, Page hopes to contribute towards “clearing up persistent misinformation about queer and trans life.” It was already at the age of four that he instinctively knew that he was not a girl. One of his earliest childhood memories as Ellen is that of trying to urinate standing up, like a boy. “I would press on my vagina, holding it, pinching and squeezing it, hoping I could aim,” he wrote. “Can I be a boy?” he would ask his mother. He fought to keep his hair short. He felt terrible wearing a dress. The battle against his own body Page describes growing up in the port city of Halifax. At an early age, his parents divorced. He got crushes on girls in school, where classmates bullied him, calling him a lesbian. Following the success of “Juno” when he had just turned 20, newspapers began to speculate about his sexual orientation. Then there was the pressure from Hollywood to conceal his queer side for the sake of his career. In emotional terms Page describes the trauma of battling against his own body, scarcely eating and cutting himself with knives. Then, in 2014, Page outed himself at a youth conference of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest organisation representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the United States. He said he no longer wished to hide and lie about himself. In “Pageboy” the actor said his move was one of the “most important and healing moments” of his life. He was “not quite at the end of my road yet, but quite a few steps further.” Page is unsparing in lurid and painful details of his experiences along that road. In a chapter titled “Famous Asshole at Party,” he tells of an incident in 2014 shortly after coming out as lesbian, when a famous A-list actor told him: “You aren’t gay. That doesn’t exist. You are just afraid of men.” And then the threat: “I’m going to fuck you to make you realize you aren’t gay.” Page did not identify the actor, but the incident was witnessed by others at the party. A few days later, he ran into the actor, who claimed he didn’t “have a problem” with gays. To which Page replied: “I think you might.” For Page, such incidents show the battles that transgender people have to face. “The world tells us that we aren’t trans but mentally ill,” he writes. “That I’m too ashamed to be a lesbian, that I mutilated my body, that I will always be a woman, comparing my body to Nazi experiments. It is not trans people who suffer from a sickness, but the society that fosters such hate.” The result of a “damn long journey” Page writes about love and his marriage to the dancer Emma Portner, and the end of the marriage three years later, shortly after his coming out as the transgender man Elliot. That was in December 2020 when he told social media that he wanted to be addressed in the masculine pronouns “he” and the gender-neutral “they.” Embracing his trans-identity had been the result of a “damn long journey” in which “I made the decision to love myself.” Page doesn’t leave out any details in the book: from the gender reassignment breast surgery, the tubes in his body afterwards, testosterone injections, the joy he felt seeing the first photo of himself only in red swimming trunks. “You can’t grin wider,” he writes, while describing the snapshot with the scars still visible on his upper body. Posting the photo in May 2021 on Instagram he wrote: “Trans bb’s first swim trunks” – adding the hashtags #transjoy and #transisbeautiful. Summing up his own account of embracing his transgender identity, Page wrote: “This is the story of someone who finds himself – amidst obstacles, shame, hopelessness, and pain. Who emerges from it and blossoms in ways he never thought possible.” View the full article

Published by Raw Story Former President Donald Trump’s immediate challenge is to find a legal team willing to represent him on federal charges involving his stashing highly classified military documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort, conservative attorney George Conway told Molly Jong-Fast on the latest edition of the “Fast Politics” podcast. “So, I want to ask you, as we are now in this sort of — the indictment is out, people have read it, it’s 47 pages,” said Jong-Fast. “Tuesday, he will go into the courthouse in Miami.” “Arraigned,” said Conway. “He’ll plead not guilty.” “Arraigned,” echoed Jong-Fast. “He’ll go in wit… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Lil Nas X loves a ‘Euphoria’ beauty look. The ‘Montero’ hitmaker admitted he isn’t a “big makeup girl” but enjoys taking inspiration from the HBO teen drama – which stars Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Alexa Demie and Maude Apatow when it comes – to get a “glossy finish”. The 24-year-old rapper told Allure magazine: “I’m not a super huge makeup girl, but I like to put some shine or glitter around my eyes. I can’t think of a specific product right now, but that’s my go-to. It’s more of a smear with the finger, like a ‘Euphoria’ vibe. [I like] a glossy finish over the face, accentuating the lips.” Lil Nas – whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill -revealed that his “favourite feature” is his pout so loves to sport the YSL Beauty Candy Glaze Gloss. He said: “My favorite feature of my face is probably definitely my lips. They were the parts of my face that I hated the most growing up. And as I grew up into my teen years, I learned more and more to love them and how great it is to have them. I like to keep a shine on my lips. I like to keep them moisturized. Lately, I’ve been trying out the [YSL Beauty] Candy Glaze Lip Gloss.” The Grammy Award winner spilled about he felt “at the absolute peak” of his confidence at the moment. He said: “Absolutely. For one, I feel like I am at the absolute peak of my self love right now, in terms of loving how I am, accepting how I look, and also just seeing the beauty in myself. Growing up, I didn’t see many people like me being considered beautiful or handsome and whatnot, and able to be in certain spaces and places that I am now. I feel like being here has changed that for me. And hopefully, it’s changing it for a lot of young people that are watching me.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Jane Fonda is taking an 18-month acting break due to the 2024 presidential election. The 85-year-old actress is known for her political activism and she plans to make that her focus for the foreseeable future, concentrating specifically on trying to get people who support taking action against climate change into office. Jane made the admission during a 30-minute on-stage interview with Robin Roberts at the Tribeca Film Festival after being honoured with the Harry Belafonte Voices For Social Justice Award. She said: “Let’s get rid of the Joe Manchin’s. We need to try to light a fire under Biden and look, we have to vote for him, ok? We have got to get really mad at him and we have to try to demand that he earn our votes. But I mean, let’s be real because the alternative is the end of everything.” But the ‘Grace and Frankie’ star insisted she had never been interested in running for office herself. She said: “One thing about getting old is that you start to get a little smart about what your strong suits are. And that’s not one of them. I’m a cheerleader.” She jokingly added: “I don’t have any original ideas. I’m the one who takes your ideas and then I get credit for it.” The Oscar-winning star insisted it is “up to us” to make changes to tackle the climate crisis because it will be “too late” for the next generation. She said: “We are animals, let us not forget. We depend on the ocean and the forests for oxygen, for food. I mean, even dogs don’t s*** in their own kennel. And we’re in our kennel and taking a lot down with us in the process. We have to stop it. It’s all connected. “Those of us who are alive right now in this decade, it’s up to us (to make a change) because when we go it’ll be too late. We’re the ones who can make the difference. Let’s not, when history is written, be the ones that were staying at home and rearranging the china.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump has become the most high-profile person to ever face criminal charges under the Espionage Act for the unlawful retention of sensitive national defense records. In all, Trump faces 37 criminal counts, 31 of which relate to secret or top secret classified documents. He is also charged with obstructing justice, conspiracy, concealment and false statements. WHAT IS THE ESPIONAGE ACT? The Espionage Act is an anti-spy law enacted by Congress shortly after the start of World War One. The statute criminalizes a broad array of conduct related to the mishandling of sensitive government records connected to the “national defense,” a term generally referring to military records that if disclosed could damage U.S. national security. Over the years, the law has been used as a legal tool by the Justice Department to prosecute people ranging from suspected Soviet spies to famous whistleblowers like Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, and Edward Snowden, a former intelligence consultant who leaked classified National Security Agency records to reveal the existence of a domestic surveillance program. During the Obama and Trump administrations, some of the Justice Department’s most high-profile Espionage Act prosecutions targeted government employees who leaked classified information to the press or to the website Wikileaks, such as former Army Private First Class intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning and former intelligence contractor Reality Winner. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison, though President Barack Obama later commuted her sentence, while Winner was sentenced to more than five years after she admitted to leaking a top secret report on Russian interference in U.S. elections to the media outlet The Intercept. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has also been charged under the Espionage Act, and is fighting extradition to the United States. HOW DOES THE ESPIONAGE ACT APPLY TO TRUMP? Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office filed charges against Trump after the FBI searched the Florida resort where he lives in August 2022 and located about 13,000 government records, about 100 of which were marked as secret or top secret — the highest classification level, reserved for the government’s most closely-held secrets. Altogether, prosecutors say he improperly retained 337 classified records. Trump has previously denied breaking the law, arguing that he declassified the records in question and that his broad presidential powers gave him the authority to disclose or declassify materials. However, the Espionage Act itself does not explicitly require prosecutors to prove that the records themselves were classified, and neither Trump nor his attorneys have provided any evidence to suggest they were ever declassified. Prosecutors have charged Trump with violating a section in the Espionage Act which applies to someone who has “unauthorized possession” of national defense information — the same crime to which Winner pleaded guilty. This section of the law makes it a crime to willfully retain the information and fail to deliver it back to the proper U.S. government official. WHAT WILL PROSECUTORS HAVE TO PROVE TO A JURY? To obtain a conviction against Trump, the government will need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he willfully retained the material and failed to turn it over to the government. Prosecutors do not need to show that Trump knew it was national defense information, but rather that a reasonable person should have known it was. Part of the government’s evidence will likely entail laying out all the steps it took to get the records returned. This includes a year-long effort by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, which repeatedly reached out to Trump through his attorneys to request that he return missing records. While Trump finally agreed to send the Archives 15 boxes of material a year after leaving the White House, some of those records were marked as classified, and the boxes did not include all of the records in his possession. Even after the Justice Department tried to retrieve the remaining records with a subpoena, Trump only handed over an additional 38 pages marked as classified. It took a court-approved search warrant before the FBI was able to retrieve the bulk of the records that remained. The government will also present evidence from Trump’s own attorney, who was compelled to testify to a grand jury about his communications with Trump. The indictment alleges Trump tried to get his own attorney to lie to the government about the existence of the records, even going so far as to ask the attorney to destroy or hide them. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone and Rosalba O’Brien) View the full article

Published by Socialite Life Hello, hello, hello! We are back with your weekly round-up of all things drag. This week, the season eight All Stars showcased their pipes and acting skills in the eagerly awaited Rusical challenge and delivered a fashionable tribute to a musical icon. We also meet the judges of the new Hulu series Drag Me to Dinner, which pits your favorite teams of queens against each other in a culinary and entertaining competition as well as the queens competing on the next season of Drag Race France. In addition, we get a little Pride history lesson from Willam, wig wizardry from Trixie, new music from Ma… Read More View the full article

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