Fox has unveiled plans to make Rent into its next live musical.
Producer Marc Platt has announced that Rent, one of the 90’s most enduring LGBT musicals is to get the Live TV experience. The show was written by Jonathan Larson who died in 1996 the morning of the first preview performance of Rent Off Broadway. His estate and the Mr Platt will produce the show together.
Rent is a modern take on the Puccini opera La Bohème and is a story of young impoverished artists overcoming adversity and gentrification to save their creative space. In Rent, the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 80s and 90s replaces tuberculosis from La Bohème’s era. The musical has won numerous awards including Tonys, a Pulitzer Prize and a Drama Desk Award.
The Supreme Court in West Virginia has ruled that homophobic assault or anti-gay attacks are not hate crimes.
Anti-gay or homophobic attacks will not be tried as hate crimes in West Virginia.
A vote by the West Virginia Supreme court found that hate crimes only applied to “race, colour, religion, ancestry, national origin, political affiliation or sex”
This goes against Federal laws enacted by President Obama in 2009.
The ruling was made when the court was hearing an appeal made for Steward Butler, a running back with the Marshall University football team, who allegedly committed an attack on a gay couple, Casey Williams and Zachery Johnso after he saw them kissing. The prosecutors allege that Butler hurled homophobic abuse at the couple before punching them to the ground. He faced two counts of battery and two counts of hate crime.
However the state’s justices have ruled that Butler will not face hate crime charges because the state’s definition of hate crime applies only to: “race, colour, religion, ancestry, national origin, political affiliation or sex”.
The prosecutors were aiming to have Butler tried with two counts of a hate crime as well as two misdemeanour counts of battery, however the West Virginia Supreme Court ruled by a three-two votes that anti-gay attacks do not constitute a hate crime. They rejected the argument that homophobic crimes could be tried as sex-based hate crimes.
The justices insisted on a strict interpretation of the law, writing: “The word ‘sex’ in West Virginia [law] is unambiguous and clearly imparts being male or female, and does not include ‘sexual orientation’.”
This decision is in direct conflict with the federal laws which were enacted by Barack Obama in 2009 when he signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The law added protections for crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
The trial will continue will now continue with Butler facing the misdemeanour charges.
There are plenty of locations around the world that are looking to celebrate everything that is wonderful about being gay, without the onslaught of rainbows, banners, political undertone, and crowds so large that you’re about as likely to get to the bar as you are to score a wristie from Russell Tovey (ps if anyone knows how to do the latter, please get in touch IMMEDIATELY!).
So if you’re thinking about a gay vacay but don’t fancy packing your rainbow flag, here are a few fabulous festivals that you can book right now.
1. Pink Week Festival, Slovenia – 24th to 28th May
Slovenia is probably not one of the first places you’d think about when you consider gay festivals, and while Mykonos and Tel Aviv have plenty of obvious draw, Slovenia definitely has its own appeal. Slovenia boasts being one of the greenest countries in Europe, with breathtaking backdrops and lush green countrysides that put ours to shame. And while it’s a relatively small country, that could, in fact, be a big part of its appeal.
Now in its 4th year, Pink Week is an event that aims to combine cultural, culinary, and outdoor experiences with a healthy mix of events and parties for both visiting and local LGBT communities.
Pink Week, organised by local couple Matej and Mattej (matching names, totes adorbs), offers a variety of different packages that you can buy in advance, depending on the type of gay holiday you’re looking for. Have a browse and pick from highlights such as guided tours of the capital Ljubljana, gourmet dinners, a visit to Tiffany GAY Club, an afternoon of luxury at Lake Bled, and a champagne boat ride on river Ljubljanica.
Head on over to pinkweek.eu to find out more!
2. Pink Lake Festival, Austria – 24th to 27th August
Another Pink-themed gay festival in Europe, hopefully featuring this guy wandering around handing out drinks … or weird pink hovering balls.
Set, as the name suggests, around a lake in the Wörthersee Region of Austria, Pink Lake is an LGBT celebration that revels in its small town charm. With so many big-scale LGBT events across Europe, Pink Lake’s appeal is it’s “off the beaten track” nature. No big city backdrop, no parades, no international celebrities, Pink Lake is more of an international get-together for all LGBT travellers. All taking place in a beautiful town in a magical countryside that’s straight out of a gay fairytale.
Find out more about this at pinklake.at
3. Aspen Summer Holiday, USA – August 24-26
Hosted by men’s wedding magazine Men’s Vows, the Aspen Summer Holiday is the complement to its more established winter counterpart, Aspen Gay Ski Week. For its first year, Aspen Summer holiday has paired with notable charities such as the National LGBT Task Force and The Generation project to turn some well-earned fun into a good cause for the whole community.
I mean, check out the promo guy on their website. He looks like he’s having a nice time…:)
The event is focused on all the amazing activities you can do outdoors in Colorado, giving gay men the chance to meet other people and bond while hiking, horse riding and river rafting. There are fashion shows, pool parties and event CrossFit sessions planned, so it looks to be a community event with a difference.
If you favour the idea of fresh air, exercise, and outdoor activities that don’t include underwear parades and dogging, then visit www.aspensummerholiday.com
Donald Trump is “erasing” LGBT+ people from history as he removes sexuality from the 2020 census.
The US’s 2020 Census will not include a question which allows people to identify their sexuality or gender identity. This means that no or very little LGBT data will be collected about the community, effectively erasing them from the history books.
It could also have an impact on how the US government writes its laws and appropriately funds programmes which affect the LGBT community. The National LGBTQ Task Force has said, “We’ve Been Erased from the US Census and American Community Survey” and called it “another attack on LGBTQ people’s freedom, justice, and equity”.
Meghan Maury, Criminal and Economic Justice Project Director, National LGBTQ Task Force said,
“Today, the Trump Administration has taken yet another step to deny LGBTQ people freedom, justice, and equity, by choosing to exclude us from the 2020 Census and American Community Survey. LGBTQ people are not counted on the Census—no data is collected on sexual orientation or gender identity. Information from these surveys helps the government to enforce federal laws like the Violence Against Women Act and the Fair Housing Act and to determine how to allocate resources like housing supports and food stamps. If the government doesn’t know how many LGBTQ people live in a community, how can it do its job to ensure we’re getting fair and adequate access to the rights, protections and services we need?”
The National LGBTQ Task Force have started a petition demanding for the LGBT+ community to be counted and support the collection of sexual orientation and gender identity information in the Census, in the American Community Survey, in the National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants, and the Centers for Independent Living’s Annual Program Performance Report.
Fifty-two days on and President Donald Trump’s administration still hasn’t put forward a coherent LGBT policy after removing the LGBT section on the official White House website.
CREDIT: Whitehouse Photographer
Critics were dismayed when in January, the same day as Donald Trump’s inauguration the White House removed its LGBT policy page on the official White House website. The removal of key pages caused widespread concern about how America’s LGBT community would be treated by Donald Trump’s adminstration.
Fifty-two days on and the White House website still has no LGBT policy or information on its server. The administration has failed to put forward any coherent policies concerning the rights of LGBTs in the USA.
When users type in www.whitehouse.gov/lgbt they are greeted with a generic message thanking them for their “interest in this subject”. The page informs users to “stay tuned” as the website is updated.
The former site which was maintained during President Obama’s presidency outlined the administration’s position on equal rights, including ‘eliminating barriers to equality, fighting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and engaging LGBT communities across the country.”
The page also provided links to anti-bullying and sexual health resources.
The site is just in transition as Trump’s own team looks to update information and bring forth their own policies. As with each new administration, the official White House website, Twitter and other social media accounts are all archived for history.
So far the current administration has uploaded policies on energy, jobs and growth, making the military strong, standing up for law enforcement and trade deals.
Trump’s administration has reversed Obama’s bathroom guidelines which protected the rights of trans students.
The rights of trans Americans have been officially curtailed after President Donald Trump‘s administration rescinded the guidelines about trans people’s bathroom rights, which were put forward by Obama during his second term.
The guidelines allowed for trans students to use bathrooms and changing rooms which match their current gender identity rather than the biological sex written on their birth certificates.
The White House stated that the previous guidelines did not “contain extensive legal analysis or explain how the position is consistent with the express language of Title IX, nor did they undergo any formal public process.”
Schools and the Supreme Court were told by letter on Wednesday that the guidance was changing.
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary said that Donald Trump was “a firm believer in states’ rights and that certain issues like this are not best dealt with on the federal level.”
A spokesperson for the Campaign for Southern Equality condemned the action saying that “no child should be denied access to basic facilities or subjected to discriminatory treatment” and called the current Trump administration “reckless”
Despite the rollback, the letter will have no effect as the guidelines were blocked by the federal court after they were issued.
Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Executive Director of the Campaign for Southern Equality said,
“The reality is that the protections of Title IX are still in effect for transgender students. We will fight every day to ensure that these protections remain in place”.
This retro 1964 colouring book is slightly amazing.
In it, you’re invited to colour in scenes of a bathhouse orgy, a park cruising scene and the jolliest birthday party you’ve ever witnessed. Welcome to The Gay Coloring Book.
The flamboyant book, of which there are several in the series, were first published in 1964, cost $2.00 and contained 32 pages for your colouring in delight.
Back in the 60s you could mail order, My Trip Around The World described as a new devilishly witty where Danny, our hero gets to meet 35 of the “world’s most attractive men”.
Rapper Mykki Blanco has reported on Twitter that a passenger sitting in the next seat had the police called because Delta Airlines allowed “someone like me” on board.
By Imnotcmjames (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsMykki Blanco, real name Michael Quattlebaum Jr, was taking a flight on board a Delta Airlines flight from Toronto to Detroit when the man in the next seat had the police called. According to Mykki, the passenger said he was “not comfortable” and didn’t know how Delta allowed someone like Mykki to board the plane and sit next to him.
When questioned by the police, Mykki said a police officer told him that an FBI report would be made about the “interaction” between the entertainer and the other passenger. Mykki refutes that any interaction happened and insists ” I slept through the entire flight”
According to the entertainer’s own report, the police told Mykki that he would “go to jail” if he continued to ask why the police were giving preferential to the man who made the report.
Mykki has said that this was the most “bizarre” form of homophobia the artist has ever experienced.
A Delta customer service rep was quick to respond on Twitter saying, that they couldn’t believe their eyes and that they were “sorry” for the experience. They said that “discrimination of any kind” was not tolerated onboard their flights and that they “Love” all their passengers.
Sean Spicer just made a grievous error after calling Canada’s Prime Minister the wrong name.
Major, major awkwardness from the White House after Donald Trump’s press secretary, Sean Spicer managed to get the Canadian Prime Minister’s name wrong, despite him being a guest of the White House just days previous. What is more alarming is that Spicer seems to be reading the details off a piece of paper in front of him. Written, we presume in black and white. Didn’t he check names before speaking?
In a press conference, Sean managed to call the PM Joe Trudeau, rather than his real name, Justin Trudeau. Mr Trudeau is considered one of the world’s most progressive leaders when it comes to LGBT rights.
Oh boy. Spicer says Trump had a productive meeting with Canadian PM "Joe" Trudeau. pic.twitter.com/0SHj0yY1iY
Well, now a new controversy is about to hit the news headlines, exactly how much Donald Trump is costing the US taxpayer for his security.
His security is costing a small fortune and he is apparently the most expensive President the US has ever had.
New information has revealed that he is costing $500,000 a DAY.
Sources told CBS2 that the security bill to protect Donald Trump and his family is costing New York taxpayers half-a-mil a day to keep Trump Tower safe.
The security bill for New York reached $35 million the weeks prior to his inauguration. New York has now apparently asked the federal government to reimburse the costs with the NY mayor pledging to send the bill to the White House.
Because of the First Lady Melania Trump’s decision to stay in New York whilst the couple’s son, Barron Trump, taxpayers will be forced to pay for two lots of hugely expensive levels of security.
A full year of protection looks likely to top $180 million.
It does look as though Melania will be leaving New York after the current school year ends for Barron, after Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, the senior adviser to the First Lady told ABC News.
Transgender children who identify as male will now be able to join the Boy Scouts of America, thanks to a policy change, which does not require the child to have male registered on their birth certificates. The organisation, founded in 1910 only allowed children that had “male” written on their birth certificates to join the organisation. The new policy has an immediate start after the group found that the approach of determining the eligibility of entry via a person’s gender was “sufficient”.
In a statement The Boy Scouts of America said,
“For more than 100 years, the Boy Scouts of America, along with schools, youth sports and other youth organizations, have ultimately deferred to the information on an individual’s birth certificate to determine eligibility for our single-gender programs.
“However, that approach is no longer sufficient as communities and state laws are interpreting gender identity differently, and these laws vary widely from state to state.”
Children in the UK are not subject to a gender policy and are welcome to join the organisation regardless of their identity.
