This year marks 100 years since British Airways started flying. To celebrate its centenary, the airline has just released its 100th anniversary campaign advert, with best of British talent front and centre. The advert, called #BA100, is designed to be a “love letter to Britain”.
Famous faces onboard the special #BA100 flight include actors Gary Oldman, Olivia Colman and Riz Ahmed; sporting stars Anthony Joshua, Ellie Simmonds, Nicola Adams, Chris Robshaw, Harriet Millar-Mills and Anthony Watson; musician Paloma Faith and artist Grayson Perry. The first Briton in space, Helen Sharman, is also onboard.
Morgan Fairchild is returning to television and is set to star in the upcoming gay drama series, Mélange.
The half-hour series will center on the fight over the ownership of an historic New York City gay bar, Mélange, after its proprietor has suddenly and mysteriously died.
Robert Newman (best known for his role as Joshua Lewis on The Guiding Light) plays Syd Winchester, the deceased owner of Mélange. Scott Evans stars as Ryann Parker, the young man who fights to keep Mélange out of the claws of Syd’s wife, Vivian who will be played by Fairchild.
Rounding out the l cast are, Anne Ramsay, Darnell Williams, Alex Newell, Diana DeGarmo, Mark Indelicato, Kristen Alderson, Laith Ashley, Ilene Kristen, Maya Days, Pamela Winslow Kashani, Omar Sharif Jr, and David A. Gregory.
Shooting for will take place in Manhattan. “Mélange” was created and is being executive produced by award winning theatrical producer and political activist Tom D’Angora and will be directed by Emmy Award winner Gary Donatelli and Tony Award winning producer Tim Kashani.
No network is currently attached but it is predicted if is picked up it will be on a basic or subscription cable network.
His termination comes months after he suggested a 4-H LGBT inclusion policy, which drew rebukes from conservative groups and resulted in hundreds of complaints submitted to Iowa 4-H.
“Through my life and through my career I have always tried to foster inclusive environments that welcome diversity for all youth and all people,” Chaisson-Cárdenas said. “That’s what I believe my career was built upon.”
In the termination letter, John Lawrence, Chaisson-Cárdenas’ boss and Iowa State University’s vice president of extension and outreach, wrote that he “decided to make a change in the leadership of the 4-H Youth Development Program.”
“Your letter of intent states that your position serves at the pleasure of the administration,” Lawrence wrote. “At this time, I have decided to exercise that provision and terminate your employment … effective immediately.”
Chaisson-Cárdenas’ departure comes after Iowa 4-H’s decision not to adopt his proposed LGBT inclusion regulations that gay rights advocates saw as a step forward for all-inclusive student rights.
After the inclusion proposal in mid-April, the Liberty Counsel, a law and policy firm that promotes “Christian” values and a nationally recognized LGBT hate group, sent Iowa State a six-page letter requesting the rejection of Chaisson-Cárdenas suggested guidelines.
4-H employees, parents and students concerned the proposed policy didn’t align with their religious beliefs contacted the counsel, Mary McAlister, lead attorney on the case, said previously.
“The guidance is discriminatory, unconstitutional and without legal authority,” McAlister wrote in the letter. “It misstates the law regarding protected classes, and falsely adds ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity or expression’ … (elevating) them above statutorily protected classes of biological ‘sex’ and ‘religion.’ ”
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, administers the greater 4-H organization. However, local councils are supported more directly through the extension services of a network of public universities, in this case Iowa State and doesn’t fall neatly into one set of nondiscrimination policies.
Federally, being “gay and “gender identity” are not protected under the law..
A new ad for GOOGLE HOME titled Carpool was released on Wednesday that featured two gay dads and their kids in which they rush to get their day started at breakfast. The ad features the new feature that will allow link up to six Google accounts simultaneously, and tailor responses based on the voice profile of the person who asked the question.
This commercial shows a deeply perverted lifestyle unacceptable to decent Americans.
It was shocking to learn that we don’t kiss though.
The first redband trailer for #AtomicBlonde just dropped, and this movie nobody knew about last week has suddenly become must-see viewing for millions everywhere.
Theron as a resident bad-ass lesbian on a mission to find out who is killing some top secret agents in Berlin. The film is based on a graphic novel caleld The Coldest City, which was set during the Cold War era.
Lorraine Broughton, a top-level spy for MI6, is dispatched to Berlin to take down a ruthless espionage ring that has just killed an undercover agent for reasons unknown. She is ordered to cooperate with Berlin station chief David Percival, (McAvoy) and the two form an uneasy alliance, unleashing their full arsenal of skills in pursuing a threat that jeopardizes the West’s entire intelligence operation.
The red-band trailer for the upcoming movie sports some gnarly fight choreography and James McAvoy in excellent retro fashion. Atomic Blondewill be out this summer.
A homemade bomb exploded in the women’s bathroom at a Target store in Evanston on Wednesday night , with officials investigating whether it’s connected to “Christian” protestors who have been harassing the company’s new policy allowing transgender people to use the bathroom and changing rooms of their choice.
Commander Joe Dugan says no one was inside the bathroom when the small explosion happened a little after 4 o’clock. It caused minor damage and no one was injured. Early indications are that a plastic bottle was used but no projectiles like nails or tacks were inside it. Investigators are gathering evidence including examining store security camera video.
Target has been under attack recently for its stand on allowing people in the LGBT community to choose whichever bathroom they identify mostly with, either male or female, stating the company welcomes, “transgendered team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity.”
Supposedly 700,000 people signed an online petition promising to boycott Target, shareholders meeting have been crashed by extremist religious leaders, and “Christian” protestors (aka Street Screechers) have protested individual stores using bullhorns denouncing Target and LGBT community in the name of God.
Nintendo is apologizing and pledging to be more LGBT inclusive after being criticized for not recognizing same-sex relationships in English editions of a life-simulator video game. “Tomodachi Life.” Nintendo said that while it was too late to change the current game, it was committed to building virtual equality into future versions.
“We apologize for disappointing many people by failing to include same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life,” Nintendo said in a statement released Friday. “Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to change this game’s design, and such a significant development change can’t be accomplished with a post-ship patch.” Earlier in the week Nintendo tried to cover itself by stating that. “The relationship options in the game represent a playful alternate world rather than a real-life simulation.” adding that they “never intended to make any form of social commentary”.
The game was originally released in Japan last year and features a cast of Mii characters — Nintendo’s personalized avatars of real players — living on a virtual island. Gamers can do things like shop, play games, go on dates, get married and encounter celebrities like Christina Aguilera and Shaquille O’Neal.
“Tomodachi Life” is set for release June 6 in North America and Europe.
The title is harsh but it is an honest question. Too often I feel that the LGBT community is nowhere near as united as it used to be or like it should be now. When we talk about the various issues within a community I feel that the problem starts with the most visible. The ones that are given a platform to be the voice of us and our concerns. In this case that would be both GLAAD and HRC. Still with all the issues I have with these organizations I know that they are successfully doing more than selling really cool shirts.
I’ll start off by saying that I feel these organizations are about more than selling shirts and having lavish parties with celebs. I love a great party just like the next gay. And they have done some great work with suicide prevention and made great efforts to end bullying. That work does help save lives and I am always thankful for any measure that saves live and look forward to seeing their techniques advance for the next generation of LGBT people.
But all my praise for these organizations stops there. Any other problems that affect our community are either met with endless delays, fall by the wayside or completely forgotten. Efforts only become about parties and advancing the rights of some members of this community instead of all members. This train of thought entered my mind again tonight as I was about to do a quick summary about GLAAD teaming up with American Apparel and how this is a great step in giving this community visibility but I’m not too sure I feel that way about it now. I love the simplicity in the shirts and applaud the efforts made by American Apparel but GLAAD’s association with this leaves me with more questions than answers.
Not to be pessimistic but before reading the article my first thoughts were what exactly will GLAAD be doing with the proceeds? Are they donating it to a cause or is this purely for profit? Will they use transgendered men and women in their campaigns? Will all models be a size 28 with chiseled jaws and perfect abs? Kind of sad that those were the first questions that popped into my head when I read about GLAAD’s involvement. But it’s not like those thoughts and concerns aren’t coming from a history that has not been that favorable for them in terms of truly representing this community. Both organizations have done some questionable things in recent years.
I also began to think about how this upcoming week can be a huge week in advancing equality for our community and our society as a whole and if the Supreme Court rules in our favor we will be the closest to being truly recognized as citizens in this country in the eyes of the law. We are on the cusp of great change within our society, regardless of what the decision the Supreme Court makes this week but somehow it does not feel like a united, uniformed effort. The time is now to work on the issues going on within this community that you and other pompous leader’s parade around saying you know diversity when you clearly don’t. The reason we are stronger as a community is because people are speaking out and standing up no matter what.
Just this year GLAAD named Brett Ratner Ally of the Year for doing a modicum of work. This is was only a year after he was in hot water for using gay slurs during a rehearsal. Think someone was probably more deserving than someone that threw some of his celebrity friends in a video to promote equality. Don’t get me wrong the efforts he made since his comments were admirable as it helped bring more recognition to this community but still not enough for an award many were more deserving of at the time.
It took GLAAD until this year to add transgendered men and women to their official mission statement. My only question is why did it take so long to do this? What possible explanation is there that provides a real authentic answer and not a bunch of red tape and colorful jargon to deter us from recognizing this exclusion.
My point is that one of the biggest problems with organizations like GLAAD and HRC is in how they choose to represent this community. There is little to no diversity in terms of race/ethnicity. Even less lesbian and bisexual representation. And virtually no representation of transgendered at all (unless they are again accused of discriminating against them by not allowing transgendered members in LGBT rallies like they were accused of during the Supreme Court DOMA/Prop 8 hearings). We are tired GLAAD (and HRC as well) of you saying that you are going to do more to show how diverse we truly are but you keep agreeing to ads like this which is the same, nearly monotone aka safe advertising and it has to stop. Is it that hard to have a team of people within your organizations that are willing to do actual research into the real issues of this community or am I and the other concerned members of this community talking to thin air?
I often think about the time of Harvey Milk and how I wish we were seeing the same passionate multifaceted approach of his generation but we are anything other than the successors of this great man. He truly stood for the differences among all of us and it often feels that these organizations don’t. Let’s not forget that in 1995 HRC were perfectly willing to exclude transgender men and women in order to have ENDA passed. So yes this community has a history of struggling to be united when fighting for equal rights. Some may argue that it is the past, but the past sets precedent and when no mass collective effort has been shown to include all members, how else are the rest of us supposed to feel?
Why is it that you and HRC are not working on a more visible campaign for ENDA (Employee Non Discrimination Act)? Why is it barely mentioned and only given a few paragraphs and the only time that you may bring it up is when there is an LGBT member. Why aren’t these organizations using their grand platform to speak to the community to reach out to Senate Democrats who keep stalling out on progressing ENDA through Congress? How much longer will we have to wait before we ensure LGBT members of this country have federal protections against discrimination instead of endless parties, fundraisers where it isn’t made clear where the money is going, and awards to undeserving people? Both groups said virtually nothing during the Immigration Reform Bill as well that excluded LGBT members from receiving the same benefits.
My words are harsh and blunt, but it’s what you need to hear. Maybe I am being so forward because I am waiting with as much anticipation about what this week could mean for us a community and it has me thinking of what else needs to be done that has not been done yet. I know both organizations have done some great work in promoting change and fighting for equality. But we need to do just as much work, if not more within the community. We need to work on these issues now and that starts with talking about them openly and honestly.
If you continually make members of this community who are not gay Caucasian males not feel welcomed or a part of this community then it’s reasonable to be at the very least frustrated with how these organizations operate. Whatever the decision is next week know that we all have so much more to do. We have to do more. So let’s start now.
