My Guilty Pleasure

A few months back, I was lamenting with some friends about the lack of long term gay story lines on TV when a Brit friend suggested I watch a UK soap opera called Emmerdale.

He advised me to start with episodes dating back to 2010, in which a young character was just coming to grips with his homosexuality.

Somewhere along the way, I became completely addicted to this show, not just for the gay characters, but just about everyone in this little village.

As of this weekend, I'm officially caught up and now I HATE this Brit friend, because now I'm like some junky jonzing for his next fix.

Mike Pence: Even Worse than Trump

George Takei On The "The Very Real And Terrible Consequences" Of A Trump Presidency

George Takei is using his family’s personal story and his fluency in Spanish to warn Hispanic voters about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his views on immigration.

The Star Trek icon shared his concerns in a Facebook video that is closing in on 12 million views as of Thursday (28 July).

Takei says he made the video to give some personal and historical perspective on how Trump’s words and plans ‘can have very real and terrible consequences.’

Takei reminds people that in 1942, anti-Japanese hysteria led to the forced relocation of 120,000 Japanese-Americans from the West Coast including his family.

‘When I was a little boy, politicians used fear and racism against people of Japanese descent in this country,’ Takei says.

‘We were targets simply because we happened to look like the people who happened to bomb Pearl Harbor. They said we were all spies and saboteurs, that none of use could be trusted.

‘When Trump today says Mexicans are rapists and drug dealers, it is his way of similarly dehumanizing whole groups, so that he can set his plans in motion.

‘I still remember the day armed guards marched up our driveway with bayonets ordering us out of our home. I remember my mother’s tears as we took with us only what we could carry. And we lost all that we had worked so hard for.’

For the next four years, Takei’s family was kept in a camp behind barbed wire fences with armed guards – held prisoner in their own country.

Takei says Trump wants to ‘forcibly round up 100 times the number interned in 1942.’

He points out that Trump hasn’t yet explained “who can stay and who must go ‘ and that ‘back then, they simply said, “A Jap is a Jap.”‘

Takei says today Trump tells his supporters that a ‘Mexican is a Mexican.'”

He points to as proof Trump’s accusing the judge in the ongoing Trump University trial of being biased against him simply because the judge is of Hispanic descent even though the judge was born in Indiana.

‘He is playing on the same fears and ignorance that once led this country to intern my family.’

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Give 'Em An Inch...

Florida Senator Marco Rubio next month, will speak at an event alongside numerous anti-LGBT activists.

After dropping out of the GOP nomination race, Rubio cited the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando in reversing course on whether he would seek a second term in the Senate. Rubio said that the attack had raised questions about the “service to your country and where you can be most useful to your country.”

Earlier this month, LGBT rights activists protested outside Rubio's office as he held a press conference to discuss the economic impact of the shooting. When confronted by one of the protesters, Rubio reiterated his opposition to marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.

Next month's two-day event, to be held in Orlando, is sponsored by The Florida Renewal Project and is part of the conservative group's “Rediscovering God” campaign.

In addition to Rubio, speakers at the conference include Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, David Lane of the American Renewal Project, self-described historian David Barton, Pastor Ken Graves and Religious Right activist Bill Federer, all of whom strongly oppose LGBT rights.

Staver and his group are best known for representing Kentucky clerk Kim Davis in her legal attempt to block her office from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples after the Supreme Court's 2015 ruling that ushered in nationwide marriage equality.

I look forward to the day that this asshat gets outed, you just know that it's gonna happen, sooner or later.

Yikes!

"Goddamn Dizzy Kids"

"CRUZ TALKS TRUMP"

Military Bois

UK will boost trade in previously banned North Carolina

Britain’s International Trade Secretary is opening an office in North Carolina, despite the state’s anti-trans bathroom laws.

Liam Fox MP hopes to boost UK trade after the country voted to leave the European Union by opening a new office in North Carolina’s capital, Raleigh.

North Carolina was the first US state to pass a law insisting people use only public bathrooms that match the gender on their birth certificate.

The anti-trans HB2 law has been widely criticized by business.

It has led to boycotts or scaling down of investment by Pepsi, Deutsche Bank, PayPal, Hyatt, HP, Levis. The NBA may even pull their All Star 2017 game.

It’s not clear if Fox didn’t realize or has chosen to ignore the controversy.

Fox will tell a business audience in Chicago today:

‘I am pleased to announce today that the UK government plans to open three new offices right here in the United States, in Minneapolis, Raleigh and San Diego.

‘Our ambitious vision for an open and outward-looking UK economy includes growing our footprint in the most important markets around the world and these three cities offer exciting opportunities to boost trade and investment.’

Fox was a leading campaigner in the UK’s bid to leave the European Union.

New UK Prime Minister Theresa May created the job of International Trade Secretary to find new opportunities for the country after the Brexit vote.

Fox’s record on LGBT rights in the UK is poor. He voted against equal marriage, an equal age of consent and access to adoption.

Oops!

Conner Curnick wasn’t planning on coming out to his fellow sailors in April 2015.

But a photo on his very active Instagram account had pretty much taken that step for him.

Curnick had posted a photo of himself and another guy on the same motorcycle and his buddies at the US Naval Base in Pensacola, Florida, wanted answers.

‘Explain this,’ said one message on Instagram. Another was even more to the point: “Curnick, are you gay? Don’t lie to us.’

‘Their messages wanted to know the truth. I realized my biggest fear had come to fruition,’ Curnick writes in a column for Outsports.

Curnick, a Petty Officer Third Class, was alone at the time and in tears. He decided to come clean and told them: ‘Yes, I’m gay.’

‘The reactions started coming in and, to my relief and surprise, they were overwhelmingly positive,’ he writes.

‘While I did lose a few friends, the ones closest to me became even closer, because I no longer had to lie about who I was and for the first time they knew what was really going on in my life.’

But not everyone in the military has been supportive since Curnick began to live openly more than a year ago.

‘This past spring, in combat training before my deployment to Afghanistan, someone found out I was gay, walked up to me and said, “I’m glad I’m not deploying with you, I wouldn’t trust a fag with my life.” This despite the fact I was one of the better marksmen and performers in my class.’

Curnick refused to let it get him down: ‘I use comments like that to fuel my fire to succeed in everything that I do.’

Curnick is currently working with fellow LGBTI sailors to start an organization at their base promote understanding and ensure equality in the workplace..

He has been to the Middle East twice and been awarded accolades for his achievements including letters of accommodation from leaders at Combatant Commands. He has also won Sailor of the Quarter at his command of 2,300 Sailors.’

‘Since coming out, I have become a much happier, productive and successful person.’

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Hillary's Choice For VP

From Pink News:
Senator Tim Kaine, who was named as the former Secretary of State’s running mate, has been a vocal supporter of LGBT rights across his time as Governor of Virginia and in the Senate.
One of Kaine’s first actions as Governor in 2006 was to sign an executive order adding sexual orientation protections to the non-discrimination policy for state workers.
Kaine came out in favor of equal marriage before President Obama did in 2013, signed a Supreme Court brief calling for nationwide marriage equality, and is a sponsor of the Equality Act – proposed legislation that would introduce LGBT anti-discrimination protections across all 50 states.
His views contrast with Donald Trump’s VP pick Mike Pence, a diehard opponent of LGBT rights who previously signed a ‘religious freedom’ law permitting anti-LGBT discrimination.

Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur said: “With her selection of Sen. Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton has highlighted the stark differences between her ticket and her opponent’s. In contrast to the extremes of racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and homo- and transphobia on display this week at the Republican National Convention, Kaine presents an alternative: a pragmatist who works across ideologies and across the aisle to get things done.
 “As governor of Virginia, Kaine partnered with the state’s Republican legislators and attorney general to strengthen background checks on gun purchases. Vice President Joe Biden hailed the legislation as a potential model for a federal bill.
“After exhibiting the same ‘evolution’ on LGBT issues as the nation as a whole, Kaine is now solidly pro-LGBT equality. As governor, he issued an executive order banning discrimination against lesbian and gay state employees and campaigned against a ballot measure barring same-sex couples from marrying. He has spoken out strongly in favor of marriage equality and adoption by same-sex couples, receiving a 90 percent rating from the Human Rights Campaign.
“Donald Trump’s feigned concern in his speech for the perils LGBT people face abroad ignores the very real danger presented by his own party here at home. The virulently anti-LGBT Republican platform, Trump’s choice of arch-homophobe Mike Pence as his running mate, and a campaign based on fear, bias and hatred clearly foreshadow what LGBT people can expect from a Trump administration. It is imperative that the LGBT community do all it can to ensure that Hillary Clinton is the next president of the United States.”
Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said: “While Donald Trump doubled down on discrimination by picking Mike Pence, Hillary Clinton has bolstered her campaign’s historic commitment to LGBTQ equality by choosing Tim Kaine.
“Having proven time and time again that they have the experience, determination, and leadership needed to move equality forward for all Americans, we are confident Clinton and Kaine will tear down the walls of discrimination that hold all of us back.
“The stakes for LGBTQ people in this election couldn’t be higher, and the choice for pro-equality voters couldn’t be clearer.”                                                                                   

It's Sunday...Time To Worship

Liberal Redneck: Donald Trump and the Republican National Convention

Deluded Gay Republican Shill Still Thinks The GOP Is Gay Inclusive

Rachel Hoff, the first out person to be part of the Republican National Convention’s platform committee, sees a brighter future for her party when it comes to LGBT rights. Last week, during the GOP convention, she pushed back against fellow delegates insisting on including the following in the platform: support of conversion therapy, a call to repeal marriage equality, and anti-transgender planks.

While her pleas for inclusion and tolerance were ignored, Hoff has hope for the GOP.

‘Outside of the platform committee, our party is ready to move on,’ Hoff said in an interview with Think Progress.

Hoff, a member of the Washington, DC delegation, noted how multiple party members came up to her last week to thank her for trying to move the party on LGBT rights.

‘A huge number of people have come up and thanked me for being their voice in the room,’ Hoff said to Think Progress. ‘It’s especially touching when it’s fellow LGBT Republicans. Most of the people are just people who want to see our party either fully support pro-LGBT policies or move on from anti-LGBT policies.’

There is evidence to support Hoff’s idea Republicans are prepared to ‘move on.’ Donald Trump is the first Republican presidential nominee to offer support to the LGBTI community in an acceptance speech.

‘As your President, I will do everything in my power to protect our LGBTQ citizens from foreign terrorist,’ the nominee said.

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