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Published by Radar Online Mega Wendy Williams came out of hiding for a night on the town over the weekend and was allegedly eager to drink despite going to rehab months ago, RadarOnline.com has learned. The 58-year-old formertalk show star was spotted drinking by herself on Friday evening at Fresco by Scotto in New York City, where she was allegedly not hiding her boozing. Mega Naughty But Nice podcast host Rob Shuter recalled seeing Wendy looking “lonely” at a table by herself, adding she “lit up like a Christmas tree to see someone she knew.” Shuter said it didn’t take long for the ex-television personality to invite him and his pals to her table. Another source told Page Six that Wendy allegedly said she “wanted to get drunk.” Mega “We had a bite, we had some drinks, but then when we were getting ready to say goodbye, Wendy didn’t really want us to leave,” the podcast host said on Monday. “She kept saying she wanted to get drunk tonight,” another patron claimed. “She wasn’t hiding [her drinking].” She was open about her future plans, with the insider alleging she told everyone she was moving to Los Angeles in three weeks and was looking for love. “She told this table that she was looking for love — and like in ‘Sex and the City,’ she’s willing to f—,” the source revealed. The party was so fun that Wendy reportedly didn’t want it to end and suggested the gang barhop to The Townhouse. She allegedly asked the doorman at the gay cocktail bar, “Do you watch ‘The Wendy Williams Show?’ I’m Wendy Willams.” The party-goer called the former host’s behavior “odd,” scoffing that “obviously people know who she is.” Never miss a story — sign up for the RadarOnline.com newsletter to get your daily dose of dope. Daily. Breaking. Celebrity news. All free. Mega Once inside, Wendy “posed for a lot of pictures with all these gay men,” with the source dishing she was a “hit” at the hotspot. Her big night out comes months after she allegedly sought help for “extreme alcohol abuse.” Wendy’s brother had already expressed concern over her behavior post-rehab. RadarOnline.com has reached out to Wendy’s rep for comment. View the full article

Published by Miami Herald TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Republican lawmakers say Florida school employees should not be allowed to call students by pronouns that differ from those given to them at birth — even in cases when a parent is OK with it. The idea is moving forward in proposed legislation that would also require every public K-12 school to have a policy that says it is “false” to ascribe to a person a pronoun that does not correspond to their assigned sex, which under the law would be defined as an “immutable, or unchanging, biological trait.” It is the latest salvo in the state’s ongoing battle over transgender rights … Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English JoJo Siwa “realised [she] was gay at Disney World”. The 19-year-old star loves visiting the Florida resort, and she’s revealed that some of the most important moments in her life have taken place at Disney World. JoJo told PEOPLE: “I have a lot of really fun memories here. I have a lot of really hard memories here, but I have grown a lot at Disney. “I fell in love for the first time at Disney World. I realised I was gay at Disney World. I went through stages of heartbreak at Disney World. There’s been a lot in my personal life that Disney World has really attributed to.” JoJo came out as gay in 2021, shortly before she went public with her romance with Kylie Prew. The dancer – who split from Kylie in 2022 – recalled: “I was here for 14 days with a girl that was my really good friend and I realised that, ‘Oh, I like her.’ And having all those feelings while just being in the most magical place in the world and the happiest place on Earth was so cool. We’re not together anymore, but we did have some really fun, happy memories here.” In 2022, meanwhile, JoJo explained that her “gay awakening” started with Demi Lovato’s 2015 hit ‘Cool for the Summer’ – when she was 12. The former ‘Dance Moms’ star discovered she was a lesbian when she heard the song about same-sex experimentation. She said on TikTok: “I really, really liked it and listened to it all the time. “I did not know what it meant back then but now that I’m much older and I understand, I know what it means.” View the full article

Published by AFP Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, US President Joe Biden is trying to find the center in a polarized country Washington (AFP) – When President Joe Biden motorcades from the White House to an environmental protection event on Tuesday he will hear grumbling on the left and grumbling on the right. And the 80-year-old Washington veteran will be perfectly happy. The country is still waiting for Biden to announce officially that he will seek a second term next year. But already the Democrat has made clear what path he intends to use to get there: down the center. In an era of intense blacks and whites, Biden wants gray. So when he addresses the environment forum at the Department of the Interior, he will highlight what his press office calls the administration’s “historic investments to advance conservation, restoration, and stewardship.” He may mention that he oversaw Congress’ passing of the biggest green energy spending bill in history, the IRA. Or his raft of orders giving national monument protection to wild areas that Donald Trump — whom he beat in 2020 and could face again in 2024 — tried to open to development. But Biden will also be speaking a week after approving a huge ConocoPhillips oil drilling project in the Alaskan wilderness that is projected to release the pollution equivalent of two million cars. Biden has similarly baffled friends and wrong-footed enemies on his approach to the chaotic southern border with Mexico. Last year, a constant flow of undocumented migrants and asylum-seekers left his administration looking near helpless. This year, strict new measures discouraging them from even trying have resulted in dramatic reductions. Biden is even reportedly considering authorizing a revival of one of the most fiercely criticized policies under Trump — detaining whole families if they cross the border illegally. “The Biden administration has really turned a corner,” said Bilala Askaryar, an activist in the group Welcome With Dignity, demonstrating outside the White House. ‘Common sense’ Biden’s calculation seems to be that he can afford to annoy some of his most passionate supporters. In a presidential election that could well see Trump or fellow right-wing populist Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as the Republican candidate, the left will have nowhere else to go. And in the meantime, Biden hopes to build a consensus that the country’s often ignored centrists can embrace. To some extent, the shift has been forced on Biden. In the first two years of his presidency Democrats held narrow majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives, and managed to pass a surprising amount of legislation — including big ticket items beloved on the left. But since last November’s midterms, Biden has faced the cold reality of a Republican-led House. “Now that they’ve lost the House,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican, on NBC News, Biden is “just following common sense.” Biden still takes stands — but he chooses his battles carefully. While DeSantis and other Republicans get ever more upset about “woke” Democrats, drag show queens and transgender rights, Biden went on the late night Daily Show this month with an impassioned defense. Restrictions being enacted on transgender youths in DeSantis’ Florida, he said, are “close to sinful.” He’s also building an economic platform emphasizing fierce pushback against Republican pressure to slash social spending. As the country lurches towards 2024, it seems for now that Biden’s succeeding in walking that tightrope. On the right, it’s harder and harder to paint Biden as an out-of-control socialist. As the conservative National Review wrote, the current White House and Biden’s new chief of staff Jeff Zients are clearly “either less instinctively liberal or less interested in fulfilling the progressive wish list in Biden’s third or fourth year in office.” And on the left, Biden simply has lots of political capital to burn. “I still believe that in the vast majority of areas that he has been terrific,” Pramila Jayapal, chair of the leftist Congressional Progressive Caucus in the House of Representatives, said on NBC. Or as a longtime leftist Democratic pillar, Senator Elizabeth Warren, put it: “We don’t agree on everything, but, boy, I’m glad he’s president.” View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega Cher’s list of romantic conquests is nothing short of mind-boggling — from Hollywood royalty to rock gods and a “bagel boy” — but there are only two men who she truly loved! “I had just the greatest lovers ever! Not a long list. It’s just a good list,” she gushed. “I love having boyfriends. A girl can wait for the right man to come along — but in the meantime, that doesn’t mean she can’t have a wonderful time with all the wrong ones.” That list started with a one-night stand with Warren Beatty when she was 16 and he was 25. “I did it because my girlfriends were crazy about him and so was my mother. I saw Warren, he picked me up, and I did it. And what a disappointment!” she recalled. “Not that he wasn’t technically good, or could be good, but I didn’t feel anything.” Cher met Sonny Bono when she was 16 and he was 27, sepa-ated from his wife and trying to become a singer. “I swear to God, the moment I saw Sonny, everyone else in the room disappeared,” Cher said. “He was the coolest guy ever.” The two began singing together, wed in 1964, and welcomed daughter Chastity — now Chaz — in 1969. They split in 1974, but after an ugly divorce, eventually forged a friendship. “You know, [Sonny and I] had such a strange relationship,” Cher shared. “The day we got our divorce, he grabbed me, bent me backwards and kissed me, and we were hysterical. I couldn’t keep angry with him for some reason. I had a lot of anger, but I couldn’t stay angry.” Cher gave the eulogy at Sonny’s funeral after he died in a skiing accident in January 1998. Next up for Cher was record producer David Geffen, who helped her get out of contracts that enabled Sonny to control her career. “I was the first person to share his bed and to share his life,” Cher said of the openly gay Geffen. “People don’t believe that, or they don’t want to believe it, or they don’t understand how it could be. But we were really crazy about each other.” mega That fizzled, and in June 1975, just five days after her divorce from Sonny was final, the 29-year-old “Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves” singer wed rocker Gregg Allman, 27. Nine days later, Cher filed for divorce, mostly because of Gregg’s problems with drugs and alcohol. But the love was too strong, and within a matter of weeks the pair were reconciled. “Gregory was a Southern gentleman who also happened to be a heroin addict,” she said. “And he tried hard to get off them [drugs].” Then their son Elijah Blue was born, and “a year later I left Gregory for good. As crazy as I was about him, I wasn’t going to let him be around my kids.” Sofia Vergara Gets Hilariously Starstruck Over Cher At Carol Burnett Event — See The Silly Photos Cher Is An ‘Amazing’ Stepmother To Amber Rose’s Son As Alexander Edwards Engagement Rumors Swirl Cher’s Costar Alan Cumming Reacts To Singer’s Startling Age Gap With Boyfriend Alexander Edwards: ‘I’m All For Her Getting Some Action’ The couple split for good in 1977. Cher met KISS rocker Gene Simmons after her daughter Chastity asked her to get his autograph at a party. But he later fell for Diana Ross when the two went Christmas shopping — to find a present for Cher! Six-years-younger guitarist Les Dudek came next, after forming a rock band, Black Rose, with Cher. Their 1980 album was a dud, and by 1982, she’d moved on. Cher won the heart of New York Rangers playboy Ron Duguay — known as the Romeo of the Rink — briefly in 1982. Cher — 11 years his senior — said in an interview, “There is something beautiful inside him.” In 1984, she dated Val Kilmerbefore he played beach volleyball in Top Gun. “Val is terrific but sometimes it’s just too intense and hot,” Cher said, adding: “He is a great kisser. My rule of thumb, and it’s never failed me, is if a man’s a good kisser, he’s a great f***.” After they broke up, Cher and Val developed a lifelong friendship. She stood loyally by Kilmer’s side during his battle with throat cancer, offering him help and a place to stay. “He’s like nobody I’ve ever known,” she said. “He is exasperating and hysterical. Thrilling and fun- ny, and doesn’t do what anyone else does. I don’t know how we stayed friends, we just did. We didn’t try. We just were.” Kilmer’s Top Gun costarTom Cruise, at 23, was 39-year-old Cher’s next paramour for a few months in late 1985. mega “He was shy,” she said, adding: “It could have been a great big romance because I was crazy for him.” After a fling with Kilmer’s agent Josh Donen, Cher fell hard for 18-years-younger Rob Camilletti. He earned his “Bagel Boy” nickname because of his day job while trying to make it as an actor. They stayed together for nearly three years. “He was like a rock,” said Cher. “There was never a problem. Never a worry. I’m temperamental. Not like a star, but I’m mercurial, and if I was like, having some sort of tizzy, he’d say, ‘I’m going to get cigarettes and I’ll bring you a black and white cookie.’ It’s no denying I miss those days.” Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for! Camilletti moved in with Cher in 1987. He was her date to the Oscars when she won for Moonstruck, but the pair broke up in 1989. Cher also hooked up with rock guitarists Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi and Eric Clapton. In 2008, she dated Hells Angel-turned-mountain-climber Tim Medvetz. Looking back, Cher revealed that out of the many men who stole her heart, there were only two true loves. When asked to name them, Cher admitted, “Well, I think Robert [Camilletti] and Gregory Allman.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Muvija M and Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) – London’s Metropolitan Police is institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic and unable to police itself, an independent review said on Tuesday, heaping pressure on the Met’s new chief to reform Britain’s biggest police force. The review was commissioned by then-head of the Met, Cressida Dick, in 2021 after a serving officer was sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a young woman, Sarah Everard, a shocking case that put a spotlight on the force’s broader culture. Louise Casey, a member of parliament’s upper house who led the review, said “radical” reform was needed after severe failings were found across the Met, which employs more than 43,000 officers and staff. “We have found widespread bullying, discrimination, institutional homophobia, misogyny and racism,” the report said, adding “women and children do not get the protection and support they deserve”. Women in the force were reluctant to speak out for fear of ramifications for their career, the report said, with misogynistic comments often passed off as “banter”. In one example a gay, female officer was discouraged from making a formal complaint after a male colleague told her his “balls were cold” and requested she “warm them up”. Other instances cited included a Sikh officer having his beard cut because an officer thought it was funny, and bacon being left inside the boots of a Muslim officer. ‘SCATHING’ REPORT The report, which interior minister Suella Braverman described as “scathing”, comes more than two decades after a 1999 inquiry into the murder of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence identified institutional racism within the force. The review said the biggest barrier was the Met’s culture of defensiveness and denial about the scale of its problems. Met Commissioner Mark Rowley, Britain’s most senior police officer, told reporters: “We’ve let Londoners down and we’ve let our own frontline down … I’m deeply sorry.” “(The report) generates a whole series of emotions: anger, frustration, embarrassment … But most of all, it generates resolve,” he added, saying the force’s professional standards department had been “stepped up.” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said trust in the police had been “hugely damaged”. Braverman told parliament “some of the huge challenges for the organisation may take years to fully address.” The 360-page report listed strong leadership, a women’s protection service, and a new children’s strategy as some of its recommendations. (Reporting by Muvija M, Michael Holden and Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien, Christina Fincher and Bernadette Baum) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Rosie O’Donnell feels as if she is in the “third chapter” of her life. The stand-up comedienne – who was previously married to Kelli Carpenter and the late Michelle Rounds – turned 61 on Tuesday (21.03.23) and decided upon celebrating her milestone birthday last year that her life was in three sets of 30 years so has decided to put the “past in the past” with the launch of her new politically-charged podcast ‘Onward.’ She told PEOPLE: “When I turned 60, I felt as though life is like a three chapter book, zero to 30, 30 to 60, 60 onward. I’m in the third chapter of the book. So let’s put all the past in the past, and let’s just focus on being where we are right now, and onward to another day. And that’s kind of the place that I’m at in my life and careers. And that’s the place that we arrive at the podcast.” According to reports, the former talk show host has lined up a host of guests for the podcast including the likes of Sharon Gless, Jenifer Lewis, Natasha Lyonne, Margaret Cho, Lisa Ann Walter, Camryn Manheim, Ricki Lake, Kathy Griffin, Rory Kennedy and transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney about various rights. She added: “We’re going to be talking about that, about trans rights, about non-binary, about how to understand it and how to have conversations about it. We’re going to be talking about the horrors of women’s rights and the anti-abortion folk, and what that’s doing to our country and national standing in the world, and what it does to women’s lives, and how horrible this swing to the right really is. There’s a wide variety of topics that interest me — and guests. It won’t be a purely celebrity-driven podcast. The celebrity part was almost the least interesting part of it to me. Getting to talk to people that are my friends and have a conversation without necessarily promoting something that they’re doing, just to have a real honest conversation with people that I have been lucky enough to get to know, and love, and admire.” ‘Onward’ is available to stream on Spotify now. View the full article

Published by AlterNet Last year, the Minnesota House Preventative Health Policy Division approved a bill that bans conversion therapy in the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes. The practice has long been decried as torture and is prohibited in nearly half the country. “Mental health professionals would be prohibited from providing conversion therapy to vulnerable adults and clients under age 18,” Minnesota Public Radio reported on March 2nd, 2022. The full measure passed the Minnesota House of Representatives in February 2023. Democratic Governor Tim Walz noted that he intends to sign it if it clears the Republican-dominat… Read More View the full article

Published by Orlando Sentinel ORLANDO, Fla. — The DeSantis administration next month could effectively bar all public school teachers from providing classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity, a move that would expand Florida’s controversial 2022 law and go even further than the legislation Republican lawmakers are pushing in Tallahassee this spring. A proposed State Board of Education rule, scheduled for a vote next month, says teachers in grades 4 to 12 “shall not intentionally provide classroom instruction” on either topic, expanding the prohibition in last year’s law that critics dubbed “don’t say g… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jennifer Rigby LONDON (Reuters) – Some of the world’s leading makers of flu vaccines say they could make hundreds of millions of bird flu shots for humans within months if a new strain of avian influenza ever jumps across the species divide. One current outbreak of avian flu known as H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b has killed record numbers of birds and infected mammals. Human cases, however, remain very rare, and global health officials have said the risk of transmission between humans is still low. Executives at three vaccine manufacturers – GSK Plc Moderna Inc and CSL Seqirus, owned by CSL Ltd – told Reuters they are already developing or about to test sample human vaccines that better match the circulating subtype, as a precautionary measure against a future pandemic. Others, like Sanofi, said they “stand ready” to begin production if needed, with existing H5N1 vaccine strains in stock. There has also been a push among companies to develop a bird flu vaccine for poultry, a market potentially far larger than that for humans. Less reassuring, however, is that most of the potential human doses are earmarked for wealthy countries in long-standing preparedness contracts, global health experts and the companies said. Many countries’ pandemic plans say flu shots should go first to the most vulnerable while supply is limited. But during COVID-19, many vaccine-rich countries inoculated large proportions of their populations before considering sharing doses. “We could potentially have a much worse problem with vaccine hoarding and vaccine nationalism in a flu outbreak than we saw with COVID,” said Dr Richard Hatchett, chief executive of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which helps fund vaccine research. An international framework for pandemic flu allocates 10% of global supply for the World Health Organization to share with low- and middle-income countries. By contrast, the WHO is seeking guarantees of 20% global supply for other types of pandemic in the wake of COVID. The U.N. agency said it has signed legally binding agreements with 14 manufacturers for 10% of their pandemic flu vaccine “as it comes off the production line”, in a mix of donated doses and doses to be bought by the agency at an affordable price. The agreements include six of the largest seasonal flu manufacturers, such as GSK, Sanofi and CSL Seqirus, the WHO said. WHO did not comment on the potential for vaccine hoarding in a flu pandemic but said mechanisms were being developed “so that countries can work together – not in competition with each other” to respond to such a crisis. It said it was “fully confident” manufacturers and member states would meet their obligations. NEW APPROACHES In a pandemic, vaccine manufacturers would shift production of seasonal flu vaccines and instead make shots tailored to the new outbreak when needed. They already have the capacity to make hundreds of millions of doses. Many of the potential pandemic shots are pre-approved by regulators, based on data from human trials showing the vaccines are safe and prompt an immune response, a process already used with seasonal flu vaccines. This means they might not require further human trials, even if they have to be tweaked to better match whichever strain does jump to humans. Data on how well the vaccines actually protect against infection would be gathered in real-time. In all, the WHO said there are close to 20 licensed vaccines against the broader H5 strain of flu. Existing antiviral treatments for people already infected will also help mitigate the impact. At the same time, moving to large-scale production of a more targeted shot could take months, the manufacturers said. Some potential shots use a traditional method, growing the virus used in the vaccines in chicken eggs over four to six months. “Creating the first dose is the easiest,” said Raja Rajaram, head of global medical strategy at CSL Seqirus. “The hardest is manufacturing in large quantities.” Experts have long advocated for new approaches in developing vaccines, both for seasonal and pandemic flu. COVID proved the potential of mRNA technology to adapt more quickly to changing viruses because the vaccines use genetic information from the pathogen, rather than having to grow the virus itself. Moderna’s mRNA vaccine research actually began with pandemic flu, and was modified for COVID, said Raffael Nachbagauer, executive director of infectious diseases at Moderna. The company plans to launch a small human trial of an mRNA pandemic flu vaccine tailored to the new avian influenza subtype in the first half of 2023, he said, adding Moderna could respond “very quickly” in an outbreak scenario. The results will be closely watched, as the data on Moderna’s seasonal flu candidate was mixed. Nachbagauer said the company was mindful of the equity issue needing to be addressed but has no contracts yet. “It would be premature to sign anything or commit to anything that we can’t actually deliver on as of today,” he said. (Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Additional reporting by Sybille de la Hamaide; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Michele Gershberg) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Toni Collette has sent away intimacy coordinators because she doesn’t find them helpful. The 50-year-old actress insisted the experts – who are brought in to help choreograph sex scenes and to make sure the cast involved feel comfortable – only serve to make her feel “more anxious” so she’d rather not have them on set. She told The Times magazine: “I think it’s only been a couple of times where they’ve been brought in, and I have very much trusted and felt at ease with the people I was working with. It just felt like those people who were brought in to make me feel more at ease were actually making me feel more anxious. They weren’t helping, so I asked them to leave.” The ‘Power’ star ackowledged she’s been “very fortunate” to have worked with just “a few a********” during her long career. Asked if she’d have welcomed the intimacy experts earlier in her career, she said: ““It depends. Look, every job is different. Every single job is different. Because it’s a bunch of new people it’s a new energy; everyone brings their whole life with them, and it’s all thrown in the pot. “You never know what you’re going to get and it’s a miracle that a film ever comes together, let alone thrives. “I’ve been very fortunate in that I’ve only worked with a few a******** over the several decades that I’ve managed to keep this boat afloat.” Toni also hit out at the trend for cancel culture and how it has led to people feeling “stifled”. She said: “God, when [cancel culture] was first mentioned to me, a while back now, I didn’t quite understand what people meant… “I mean, we don’t want people who are offensive swinging their stuff around with freedom. But people who are authentic and have something within them to share in life, feeling stifled? Doesn’t feel so good, does it?” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Paris Hilton has credited Demi Lovato with inspiring her to write her tell-all book. The hotel heiress has lifted the lid on her life in ‘Paris: The Memoir’ which gives a brutally honest account of her early years and her career in the spotlight, and she’s now insisted Demi inspired her to put pen to paper after the pop star shared her own story in 2017 documentary ‘Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated’. In her book, Paris writes: “I was as stunned as the rest of the world by how real, vulnerable, and courageous she [Demi] was. In the doc, Demi shared a painful reckoning with a difficult past; in person, I saw her in the midst of an intense journey of self-acceptance and discovery. I envied that acceptance. I wanted that discovery for myself.” In Demi’s documentary, she opened up about her struggles with an eating disorder as well as her bipolar disorder diagnosis and her battle with addiction issues. She followed it up with another film in 2021 called ‘Dancing With The Devil’ in which she spoke about the 2018 overdose which almost claimed her life. Paris relived her own traumatic past in her book, detailing the alleged abuse she suffered at a boarding school for troubled teens, being raped as a teenager and the sex tape scandal which marred the early days of her career. During a recent appearance on ‘Good Morning America’, Paris explained writing the book felt like therapy for her past trauma. She said: “‘This book was like a diary. I put everything in there, so many really traumatic experiences that I endured, especially as a teenager, and so many just memories I didn’t want to remember – but also a lot of the good, exciting times. I’ve lived such an amazing life. “It was so cathartic and therapeutic letting go of so much because carried so much on me for so long and I’ve been through so many hard times. But just to put it all out there felt good.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Alvise Armellini ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s courts should stick to tradition and avoid the novelty of gender-neutral symbols in official documents, according to the institution that acts as the guardian of the Italian language. The Accademia della Crusca was asked to weigh in on the matter by the equal opportunities committee of the Corte di Cassazione, Italy’s top appeals body, illustrating the national debate over gender issues and political correctness. In Italian, as in other Latin-based tongues, nouns can take a feminine or masculine form, but the plural masculine form tends to take precedence. For example, the masculine form “tutti” is routinely used for “everyone”, rather than the feminine “tutte”. Some see this as an expression of male dominance and support the introduction of gender-neutral noun endings, such as asterisks or the so-called “schwa”, a symbol that looks like an inverted “e”. For example, an email or a letter to a man or a woman would no longer start with “caro” or “cara” (dear), but with the gender neutral “car*”, which would also replace the plural “cari”. But the Accademia della Crusca, in its response to the Cassazione, rejected these changes for legal documents, saying they would be artificial and supported only by minority groups, “however well-intentioned.” “Legal language is not the right place for minoritarian innovative experimentations,” the Accademia said in a six-page opinion that Reuters reviewed on Monday, after the Corriere della Sera newspaper first reported on it. The Accademia said the Italian masculine plural form remains “the best instrument” to collectively represent “all genders and orientations”, but also backed the wider use of the feminine form of professional titles. In October, Italy’s first woman prime minister, right-wing leader Giorgia Meloni, sparked controversy after saying the preferred her title of “Presidente del Consiglio” to be preceded by the masculine article “il”, rather than the feminine “la”. (Reporting by Alvise Armellini; Editing by Keith Weir) View the full article

Published by PsyPost New research sheds light on the cultural values that played a key role in shaping people’s attitude toward Donald Trump and their intentions to vote for the Republican candidate in 2016. The findings, published in New Political Science, indicate that beliefs related to hegemonic masculinity, race/ethnicity, and authorities on truth influenced the likelihood of adults developing an affinity for Trump. “As social scientists, we were particularly interested in the social forces that encouraged people to develop affinities for Donald Trump — who was such a controversial, divisive, and fascinating … Read More View the full article

Published by uInterview.com Actor Lukas Gage revealed that he feels pressured to label his sexuality. “An agent that dropped me was like, ‘Stop dyeing your hair, stop wearing weird clothes, and pick a lane: gay, bi, or straight. It’s too confusing,’” he told The New York Times. “I understand representation and voices that need to be heard, but I don’t want to do anything on anyone’s accord but my own.” 50 BEST CELEBRITY BIKINIS SLIDESHOW! “Let me do it when I’m ready. And it’s acting. I feel like everyone should get the opportunity to play whatever they want,” Gage continued. “I’m a pretty open book about most things in … Read More View the full article

Published by New York Daily News A masked protester was arrested during clashing demonstrations outside a Manhattan drag story hour hosted by state Attorney General Letitia James Sunday, cops said. The gold-masked man was taken into custody about 11:30 a.m. after an assault at the protest outside the LGBTQ Community Center on W. 13th St. in Greenwich Village. Video posted on Twitter shows a small group of protesters, including a man in a Proud Boys sweatshirt, across the street from the center while a much larger crowd of counter-protesters lined the sidewalk to show their support for the event. At one point, the gold-masked … Read More View the full article

Published by AlterNet Rep. Park Cannon (D-GA) is committed to helping her colleagues understand the dangers of banning gender-affirming care in Georgia. According to The Cullman Times, a Georgia GOP-backed bill could allow the banning of “sex reassignment surgeries or any other surgical procedures and hormone replacement therapies that are performed on anyone younger than age 18 for the purpose of altering primary or secondary sexual characteristics.” As Georgia House members gathered last week to vote on the legislation, Cannon, who is only queer, pleaded with her colleagues to protect transgender children. READ M… Read More View the full article

Published by AlterNet After the 2022 midterms gave Republicans a narrow single-digit majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, the reelected Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California) made a major announcement: She would be remaining in Congress but stepping down as Democratic House leader. Pelosi, now 82, was ready to pass the torch, and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) was chosen as House minority leader. Jeffries now finds himself frequently butting heads with conservative House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California). Journalist Nolan D. McCaskill takes a look at Pelosi’s post-speaker life in an article published by … Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By John Kruzel WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a traveling Christian evangelist’s free-speech challenge to a University of Alabama requirement that he obtain a permit before handing out religious pamphlets and preaching from a sidewalk adjacent to its campus. The justices turned away an appeal by preacher Rodney Keister of a lower court’s ruling rejecting his claim that the university’s permit requirement violated free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. Keister, founder of a Pennsylvania-based group called Evangelism Mission, regularly visits U.S. university campuses in hopes of spreading his Christian message to students, according to court filings. In 2016, Keister, along with a companion, preached using an amplifier and distributed Christian literature from a sidewalk adjacent to the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa, trying to engage passersby. School officials told Keister he needed a permit for a public-speaking event, prompting him and his companion to leave. The university’s policy at issue governed when, where and how a person unaffiliated with the school may engage in public speaking on campus including on sidewalks, other than “casual recreational or social activities.” It required a permit application 10 business days in advance – which has since been reduced to five business days – and sponsorship by a student organization or university academic department. Keister in 2017 filed a civil rights suit against University of Alabama officials, arguing that the sidewalk’s status under the First Amendment is that of a “traditional public forum,” affording speakers the most robust protections available under the Constitution. Following losses in lower courts, Keister’s appeal in 2018 was turned away by the U.S. Supreme Court, prompting him to file an amended civil rights suit against school officials the next year. A federal judge in 2020 ruled in favor of the school officials, finding that the sidewalk was a “limited public forum” – a status giving public universities and other government entities more leeway to regulate particular classes of speakers or kinds of speech. The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed last year. The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, in recent years has taken an expansive view of religious rights, though this case came to the justices as a free speech dispute. The high court is due to rule by the end of June in another free speech case involving religion. The court’s conservative justices during arguments in December appeared ready to rule that a Christian web design business owner named Lorie Smith has a right to refuse to provide services for same-sex marriages. Smith has said that under her Christian beliefs marriage should be limited to opposite-sex couples. (Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article