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NATIONAL Matthew Shepard, recall falls short, Out & Equal, Scotty Bowers dies
The parents of slain gay Wyoming man Matthew Shepard blasted U.S. Attorney General William Barr for failing to stand up for LGBT civil rights in a statement read at a Justice Department ceremony marking the 10-year ...
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SHOWBIZ George Michael, Billy Porter, Michael Hutchence, LGBTQ-history film
The holiday romantic comedy Last Christmas (starring Emilia Clarke, Emma Thompson and Henry Golding) won't just feature the music of George Michael—it will also include a previously unreleased song by the late queer pop legend, Out.com ...
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One in five LGBT people in the US live in poverty
A new study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that 21.6% of LGBT people in the U.S. experience poverty, compared to 15.7% of cisgender straight people. Among LGBT people, poverty rates differ ...
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Companies with LGBT-supportive policies outperform competition
Research by Shaun Pichler, chair and professor of management at Cal State Fullerton, has shown that companies with LGBT-supportive policies tend to outperform their competitors over time, and if those policies are rescinded, firm value, productivity, ...
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Congress warned about mental health challenges experienced by Black queer youth
WASHINGTON— The National Black Justice Coalition ( NBJC ) yesterday, joined Susan Taylor, former Essence magazine editor-in-chief, and the National CARES Mentoring Movement to support a youth delegation offering testimony about the experiences of Black youth ...
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On 10th anniversary of law, Matthew Shepard's parents Challenge Barr, DOJ
Washington DC — On Wednesday, October 16th at the Department of Justice commemorative event to mark the historic 10-year anniversary of the signing of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the ...
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Billy Masters
"There is no right or wrong way to be gay, to be queer, to be trans, and I hope that our community, even as we struggle to define what our identity means, defines it in a ...
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Angry Black Hoemo talks race, LGBTQs and sex positivity
Some queer people who have spent time on Twitter have probably discovered the name "Angry Black Hoemo" on their timelines. Angry Black Hoemo, also known as Marq, has been living in Chicago for five years. Originally ...
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Supreme Court analysis: Probabilities in the Title VII rulings
U.S. Supreme Court observers are more reluctant than usual to try and predict how the court might come down on the always hot-button issue of rights for LGBT people. There is a newly minted conservative majority ...
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The woman who beat HIV
Leading HIV researchers have come to believe that at least one person has found a way to naturally rid their body of the virus. While they believe they understand a part of how that was accomplished, ...
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NATIONAL Hillary and Chelsea disagree, coming-out study, Julian Castro
Hillary and Chelsea Clinton seemingly had a recent disagreement about transgender identity, The New York Post noted. In an interview with the Sunday Times of London, the mother-daughter duo were asked if someone with a beard ...
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SHOWBIZ 'Transparent,' Tyler Perry, 'Drag Race,' singer Halsey
The soundtrack to Amazon Prime Video's The Transparent Musicale Finale—the movie musical fantasia of Jill Soloway's series Transparent—is available for streaming and digital purchase in conjunction with the finale premiere on Amazon Prime Video, a press ...
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Public poster series promotes healthy futures for LGBTQ and gender diverse youth
San Francisco, CA, October 11, 2019 — High levels of risk for LGBTQ adolescents for suicide, substance abuse, depression and victimization call for evidence-based approaches that increase support and connectedness at individual and institutional levels, starting ...
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Presidential candidates unveil LGBTQ+ platforms
A few of the Democratic presidential candidates—U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, as well as openly gay South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg—released their LGBTQ+ platforms, coinciding with the LGBTQ+-focused CNN town hall that took ...
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Gay Fox anchor steps away from network
In a sudden move on Oct. 11, Shepard Smith said that after more than two decades at Fox News, he was stepping down as chief news anchor and leaving the network, CNN reported. "This is my ...
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CNN LGBT-specific Town Hall filled with unexpected drama
The bar had been set pretty high for CNN's Oct. 10 town hall on LGBT issues for Democratic presidential candidates. It was the first national television broadcast by a major media outlet of an LGBT-specific discussion ...
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Buttigieg announces plan to secure equality for LGBTQs
SOUTH BEND, IN — Today, Pete Buttigieg released his plan 'Becoming Whole: A New Era for LGBTQ+ Americans,' a comprehensive policy that brings Americans together to break down the walls of exclusion and secure full equality ...
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Victory Fund: Buttigieg's LGBTQ policy "comprehensive, inclusive, ambitious"
Washington, DC — Today LGBTQ Victory Fund — the only national organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ leaders to public office — praised Democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg's LGBTQ policy plan, which was released this morning. ...
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New report details network of organizations working against LGBT rights
( Washington, DC ) Today, Accountable for Equality released a new report that outlines the vast and broad network of state and national organizations working to eradicate equal rights for LGBT Americans. The report, titled Blocking ...
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Planned Parenthood Votes launches electoral program for reproductive freedom
Washington, DC — Today, Planned Parenthood Votes announced the launch of its largest-ever program to help elect reproductive rights champions up and down the ballot in 2020. Planned Parenthood advocacy and political organizations will make a ...
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Nearly 9 million LGBT adults registered to vote in 2020 general election
Nearly nine million LGBT adults are registered to vote, according to a new analysis by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Half of registered LGBT voters ( 50% ) are Democrats, 15% are Republicans, ...
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Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in Historic LGBTQ Employment Cases
"…LGBTQ employees have been punished simply for not conforming to the employers' sex-based stereotypes about how they should behave or who they should be attracted to. The Court has the opportunity to set the record straight ...
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SUPREME COURT ARGUMENT There is optimism
WASHINGTON, DC—It was the second day of the court's 2019-20 session, and the two hours of arguments Tuesday, October 8, were split between cases involving discrimination based on sexual orientation and discrimination based on transgender status. ...
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SHOWBIZ Queer comic, 'Star Wars,' Nick Jonas, Rachel Maddow
Ian Aber—the queer award-winning, Atlanta based comedian known as a national finalist on the hit reality competition series StandUp NBC—released his first-ever studio album, Night Sugar, through RadLand Records, a press release noted. In the album ...
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NATIONAL Marriage advocate divorcing, Black gay couple, trans death
A Utah state lawmaker who filed a lawsuit that successfully overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage is separating from his husband, U.S. News & World Report noted. State Sen. Derek Kitchen announced in an Instagram ...
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Vandersloot named All-WNBA First Team
CHICAGO — Chicago Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot has been named to the All-WNBA First Team and guard Diamond DeShields has earned All-WNBA Second Team honors, the league announced today. It marks the first time Vandersloot has ...
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Lambda Legal names Kevin Jennings CEO
Lambda Legal's board of directors announced it has named Kevin Jennings, the founder of Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), as the organization's new CEO. "Kevin's deep roots in the LGBT movement, his expertise with ...
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Study says revealing sexual orientation at work improves well-being
HOUSTON — ( Oct. 7, 2019 ) — Being open about your sexual orientation in the workplace is beneficial to your overall well-being, according to new research from Rice University. "Opening up about your sexuality at ...
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Descovy approved for PrEP usage
Pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences announced Oct. 3 that it had received FDA approval for its medication Descovy to be used as a pre-exposure prophylaxis ( PrEP ) intervention to reduce the chances of HIV transmission. The ...
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Infographic shows trends in LGBTQ+ representation in video games
Green Man Gaming today released a new infographic that explores the representation of the LGBTQ+ community in video games to coincide with the forthcoming launch of its brand new Pride Run game. The infographic, which uses ...
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LGBT HISTORY MONTH For celebrities, an off-screen journey to on-screen equality
By Steve Rothaus
ABC News correspondent Gio Benitez said that as a young reporter in Miami, he was inspired by the greats of television journalism: Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, Barbara Walters and Katie Couric. He didn't seek out gay ...
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New York State veterans' services trained in LGBTQ cultural competency
WASHINGTON — Today, the Modern Military Association of America ( MMAA ) — the nation's largest non-profit organization for the LGBTQ military and veteran community — announced that it will provide LGBTQ and HIV+ competency training ...
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Billy Masters
"I spent the first 23 years of my life playing a straight man."—Gus Kenworthy's response to criticism about him playing Emma Roberts' boyfriend on American Horror Story: 1984. He added, "A gay actor playing straight is ...
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SHOWBIZ Trans actor, 'Judy,' 'Concert for America,' Dolly Parton
Trans actor Brian Michael Smith was one of three casting announcements made ahead of Fox's 9-1-1 spinoff, Lone Star, which debuts in January, Out.com noted. This next installment in Ryan Murphy's burgeoning franchise will take place ...
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NATIONAL Hospital lawsuit, LGBTs in Root 100, censure postponed
A California appeals court approved a lawsuit filed by a transgender man who claims staff at a Catholic hospital violated his civil rights by refusing to allow him to undergo a medical procedure as part of ...
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BOOK REVIEW The Island of No Secrets and Other Stories
By Lou Dellaguzzo. $13; Lethe Press; 243 pages Island of No Secrets and Other Stories is a book of short stories that aim to portray what it meant to be queer in the United States ...
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HRC supports formal impeachment inquiry of Trump
WASHINGTON — Today, the Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ), the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer ( LGBTQ ) civil rights organization, announced support for a formal inquiry into Donald Trump and an ...
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Black community called to recognize Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Washington, D.C.— In recognition of the 2019 National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day ( NGMHAAD ) and to call public attention to the disproportionate impact of the AIDS epidemic on gay men, bisexual men, same gender ...
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Supreme Court preview: 'The stakes could not be higher'
Here's the blunt reality: The U.S. Supreme Court's rulings on three cases it will hear arguments about Tuesday, Oct. 8, could have the most profound consequences yet on LGBT people. The three cases ask whether an ...
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LGBTQ, civil rights, Immigration groups call for release of LGBTQ, PLWHIV prisonsors
Today, Transgender Law Center ( TLC ), Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project ( BLMP ), Center for American Progress, along with 11 other LGBTQ, civil rights and immigration justice organizations, submitted a complaint on behalf of current ...
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Queer Eye's Jonathan Van Ness calls for protection of access to STI testing
New York, NY — Yesterday, entertainer and author Jonathan Van Ness debuted a new video encouraging people to take charge of their sexual health by getting tested for sexually transmitted infections ( STIs ) and highlighting ...
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NATIONAL Donor arrested, trans worker fired, celebrities in pro-trans video
L.A. County prosecutors charged Democratic donor/LGBTQ activist Ed Buck with running a drug house and other crimes after a man overdosed on methamphetamine at Buck's apartment, NPR reported. The man survived, but two other men ( ...
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SHOWBIZ Ricky Martin, Tina Fey, Lee Daniels, Megan Fox
The Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) will honor singer and actor Ricky Martin with the HRC National Visibility Award at HRC's 23rd Annual National Dinner in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 28, a press release noted. ...
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Porter among those striking a pose at 2019 Emmys
Pose's Billy Porter made history the evening of Sept. 22 when he became the first openly gay Black actor to win the Emmy for the best lead actor in a dramatic series. Porter has rarely failed ...
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Girlpool dives into a tour around the world
Los Angeles band Girlpool is made up of only two members, Harmony Tividad and Cleo Tucker. Both sing vocals with Tucker playing guitar and Tividad playing bass. On their second album, Powerplant, Miles Wintner was added ...
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2020 ELECTIONS Presidential candidates make pleas during Iowa LGBT debate
Several Democratic candidates seemed to throw President Obama under the metaphorical bus Sept. 20, as they sought to illustrate how they didn't take as long as other Democrats to "evolve" on LGBT issues. Former Vice President ...
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Ben Carson makes transphobic remarks; LGBTQs react (UPDATE)
Housing and Urban Development ( HUD ) Secretary Ben Carson made dismissive comments in a recent internal meeting that multiple people present interpreted as an attack on transgender people, according to a CNN item that cites ...
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Billy Masters
"Also, it's just nice to have toasted nuts."—Sexy Great British Bake Off contestant, David, who is an international health adviser and dabbles in pottery. And he can cook, too. He also has a boyfriend, Nick, who ...
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Activists halt U.S. Conference on AIDS to protest CDC
Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) surely saw it coming. Protests are part of the DNA of the United States Conference on AIDS ( USCA ), ...
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Post debate analysis: Buttigieg has staying power
No LGBT-specific issues came up during the third national Democratic presidential debate Sept. 12. That, and the fact that LGBT issues have been barely mentioned in the previous two national Democratic debates, is likely to put ...
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Report shatters stereotypes of lives of LGBT people of color in rural areas
( September 19, 2019 ) Des Moines, IA—Media coverage often portrays rural America as singularly white, conservative and working-class. Yet at least 10 million people of color, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT ) ...
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Trump's Proposed Attack on LGBTQ Federal Contract Workers draws 10,000+ comments
WASHINGTON — Today, the Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ), the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer ( LGBTQ ) civil rights organization, announced that it submitted more than 10,000 public comments against the ...
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4th Circuit urged to to uphold crder preventing discharge of HIV-positive airmen
( Richmond, VA, September 18, 2019 ) — Today, lawyers for two active-duty Airmen who are living with HIV urged a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to uphold a ...
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BOOK REVIEW Taken by the Wind
By Ellen Hart, $25.99; Minotaur Books; 320 pages Your bag was packed. There wasn't much in it except for the necessities: your two favorite toys, a clean T-shirt, the stuffed animal you couldn't sleep without, and ...
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Michael Carroll's Stella Maris And Other Key West Stories vicious, slippery, fun
Cuban fisherman relied on the Key West lighthouse called Stella Maris, Star of the Sea, as their beacon. Now short story enthusiasts can rely on Michael Carroll's Stella Maris And Other Key West Stories as their ...
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NATIONAL Trans officer dies, James Baldwin, Edmund White, Trevor Project
Sgt. Tomi Finkle—who transitioned as a transgender woman after a 25-year career as a U.S. Capitol Police officer and, in retirement, served as a volunteer member of the D.C. Police Department's then Gay & Lesbian Liaison ...
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SHOWBIZ Brandi Carlile, Karamo Brown, campy classic films, Cara Delevingne
Out Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and performer Brandi Carlile won Artist of the Year at the Americana Music Association Honors & Awards, a press release noted. Carlile also performed "The Mother" at the awards ceremony, which will ...
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BOOK REVIEW Sage Sapien, From Karma to Dharma
By Johnson Chong, $24.95; Koehler Books; 172 pages It's never clear who exactly Sage Sapien: From Karma to Dharma is for. The book, written by yoga impresario Johnson Chong, leans toward a number of potential audiences—yoga ...
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WEBSERIES 'Kissing Walls' creators on Chicago, sex scenes, independent TV
Local webseries Kissing Walls has continued to challenge television's traditional boundaries in its second season with its upfront depiction of the lives of twentysomething gay men living on the North Side. Windy City Times sat down ...
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NUNN ON ONE Lance Bass, Baptists, Broadway and 'The Boy Band Con'
Popular performer Lance Bass wears many hats these days. After rising to fame in the boy band NSYNC, he moved into working in movies and television. Along the way, the Mississippi native even became certified to ...
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Arizona court allows studio to refuse LGBT customers
On Sept. 16, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that the owners of Phoenix's Brush & Nib Studio do not have to create invitations for same-sex marriages, 12News.com reported. The court ruled 4-3 in favor of Brush ...
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Arizona Supreme Court grants Phoenix stationary shop license to discriminate
(Phoenix, AZ, September 16, 2019) — The Arizona Supreme Court today issued a 4-3 decision reversing a lower court ruling that had denied a Phoenix business owners' request that they be exempt from the City of ...
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James Baldwin Residence added to National Register of Historic Places
NEW YORK, NY — September 12, 2019 — The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project is extremely pleased to share the news that the James Baldwin Residence, located at 137 West 71st Street, has been listed on ...
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Same-sex couple sues State Dept. for treating daughter as born out of wedlock
BALTIMORE, MD—Today, Immigration Equality, Lambda Legal, and pro bono counsel Morgan Lewis filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Maryland against the U.S. Department of State for refusing to recognize the citizenship of Kessem ...
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SHOWBIZ Designer dies, Kristen Stewart, Oprah, Freddie Mercury
Chris March—a costume designer who rose to fame after appearing on season four of Bravo's reality show Project Runway—died of a heart attack on at age 56, Deadline reported. A New York City resident, March was ...
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WORLD Kazakhstan first, HIV news, intersex items, Chick-fil-A
A controversial case that took a year and a half for Kazakhstan's court system to hear has turned out to be the first legal victory for LGBTIQ rights in Kazakhstan, ILGA-Europe.org reported. In January 2018, two ...
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NATIONAL Gay police captain, more trans deaths, Chasten Buttigieg
In New Jersey, Newark's police department swore in its first openly gay captain and promoted 43 other officers at a ceremony, Patch.com reported. The ceremony at St. Lucy's Church paid tribute to the efforts of 39 ...
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Study says bias experiences affect suicides in trans adults
New analysis of data from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS) found that more than half (51.2 percent) of respondents who had experienced four instances of anti-transgender discrimination and violence in the past year reported attempting ...
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Two of four presidential debates to address LGBT issues exclusively
LGBT voters: Mark your calendars. Over the next month, there will be four Democratic presidential candidate forums —two of them devoted exclusively to LGBT issues. And one of those LGBT forums will be the first-ever to ...
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National Black Justice Coalition calls for action on murders of transgender teens
WASHINGTON— Bailey Reeves, at 17-years-young, and Bee Love, at only 18, became the 17th and 18th trans people murdered in the United States this year. Bailey, a trans woman of color, was found dead in Baltimore, ...
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Billy Masters
"Maybe at a show you can have a moment of knowing that you're not alone. I'm aware that as a white male, I don't go through the same things as a lot of the people that ...
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NUNN ON ONE MOVIES Sam Harris: Out performer serves it up in 'Ham'
Sam Harris initially grabbed people's attention as the grand-champion singer of Star Search, winning with his version of the classic song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." This brought him a contract with Motown Records and his debut ...
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SHOWBIZ 'Judy,' Jill Soloway, John Cameron Mitchell, Octavia Spencer
Decca and Republic Records announced the release of two star-studded duet, to appear on the brand-new album Judy ( the soundtrack to the film of the same name ), a press release noted. The original soundtrack ...
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NATIONAL Presidential candidates, 'Art After Stonewall,' activist dies
GLAAD announced that it will join One Iowa, The Gazette, and The Advocate as national partners for the upcoming LGBTQ Presidential Forum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Sept. 20, a press release noted. The Forum will ...
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NUNN ON ONE COMEDY Rachel Dratch talks Biance del Rio, gay friends
Rachel Dratch is originally from Massachusetts; she moved to Chicago to further her comedy career by working with The Second City and ImprovOlympic. When asked what one thing she learned from her days in the Windy ...
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