Top National News

Mayor Pete can’t help but make history

The most historic moment of the recent Democratic Presidential debate wasn’t Beto startling Joe Biden out of a nap by saying, “Hell yes,” when asked if he advocated confiscation of AR-15s. No, it was Mayor Pete’s coming-out story on the Democratic presidential debate stage which the Advocate opined, “proved to be a resonating and defining moment for the evening.”

Maybe so. He recounted how and why he did it. “I came back from the deployment (to Afghanistan) and realized that you only get to live one life. And I was not interested in not knowing what it was like to be in love any longer, so I just came out.” He feared it would end his political career, but, “I trusted voters to judge me based on the job that I did for them; they decided to trust me and reelected me with 80 percent of the vote.”

No gay genes

The authors of a study covering a half-million DNA profiles hope to bury the 1990s idea that there is a “gay gene” determining sexuality in the way eye color is defined. The study by MIT and the Broad Institute at Harvard and other research organizations announced, “It’s effectively impossible to predict an individual’s sexual behavior from their genome.” The study suggests there is a genetic component but no single gay gene, “Rather the contribution of many small genetic effects scattered across the genome.” Also are non-genomic factors that are described as nurture, family structure, life experiences, where a person is raised in childhood, where they live as an adult, and many other factors were identified as commonalities in the study.

Colorado race outs Baer

It didn’t take long to straight wash the 2020 Colorado Senate race. A very good gay candidate, Dan Baer, had hoped to become the first out, gay man elected to the U.S. Senate since Sen. Rufus King. He announced he is ending his campaign and endorsing former Gov. John Hickenlooper. Hickenlooper thought he was presidential timber in the forest which is the Democratic field for president but was felled by the liberal buzz saw. Hickenlooper is seen as the Democrat most likely to defeat the Republican incumbent Cory Gardner. Baer worked for the U.S. State Department and he helped craft Sec-State Hillary Clinton’s, “gay rights are human rights” speech, delivered before the United Nations in Geneva in December 2011. He worked for Hickenlooper as executive director of the Department of Higher Education.

Baldwin slept here

The National Register of Historic Places has added the New York apartment of author James Baldwin to its list of historical landmarks. Baldwin is the author of Notes on a Native Son and If Beale Street Could Talk and other major mid-20th century works and had an apartment on the Upper West Side for more than 20 years. Baldwin spoke candidly about being a gay African-American man and made membership in both communities the cornerstone of his activism and writing.

‘Time’ for Lil Nas X

Lil Nas X, the just self-outed gay country rapper, has made the cover of Time magazine’s August 26 issue. He joins LGBTQ notables who have been click- and newsstand-bait for the failing magazine, including Pete and Chasten Buttigieg and Laverne Cox. Lil Nas X said he feared fans wouldn’t respond well to a Black queer artist. He said “the universe” pushed him out, coincidentally during Pride Month. “Seeing Pride flags everywhere and seeing couples holding hands — little stuff like that,” was his motivation to make a successful marketing move.

Could you hate him any more? Yes

Harvey Weinstein has done enough to earn the general hatred coming his way but there’s one on good reason. Queer actress Cara Delevingne, currently with Orlando Bloom in a new Amazon series, was a model before acting in several films. Her looks, talent, and work led to meetings with Weinstein in 2016. According to Delevingne, “One of the first things Harvey Weinstein ever said to me was, ‘You will never make it in this industry as a gay woman — get a beard.” Then he turned to quiz her as with whom she had slept. She alleges he tried to touch her in a way she calls “inappropriate.” and asked her to make out with another actress in front of him.

What to make of SNL

The same day Saturday Night Live announced it hired a gay and Asian man named Bowen Yang as a cast member, it also announced hiring Shane Gillis, who has ridiculed minorities, including gay men and transgender people, on his podcasts. Gillis tried to scrub his podcast, Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, from the internet, but clips surfaced and an outraged mob has been howling ever since. In a 2018 episode, Gillis imitated Asian people, used anti-Asian slurs, called white women the least funny group of people (gay men are the second least funny) and called transgender people “ladyboys.” SNL has yet to respond.

NYC moves to repeal conversion therapy ban

In a bit of legal jujitsu, the New York City Council has started to repeal the city’s ban on conversion therapy. A federal lawsuit by the Alliance Defending Freedom could have greater implications for LGBTQ people if the ban isn’t lifted, according to city officials. Council Speaker Corey Johnson introduced the repeal in what he called “a painful decision.” The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a therapist in Brooklyn, saying it violated free speech between a therapist and client. The Alliance said it wasn’t “for” the therapy but thought the city’s law as too stringent as it related to therapeutic speech.

Something gay about ‘Downton Abbey’ movie

The new Downton Abbey movie has something for everyone and gay men are included. In the TV series, valet-turnedhead-butler, Burrows has a few episodes revealing his homosexuality and then trying to “cure” himself. The movie gives him the chance for a little romance and some polite groping. The feature film, which takes place in 1927 and revolves around a Royal Visit to the Abbey (How “gayer” does it have to get?) and Burrows gets a little vignette to explore some of his nature. According to Rob James-Collier, the actor playing Burrows, “You see Thomas discover a whole new world which also hammers home what it was like to be a gay man in those times.”

US ambassador to Germany to replace Bolton?

The US Ambassador to Germany, called the “highest-ranking gay person” in the current presidential administration, Richard Grenell, is being considered to replace, “You’re fired…you can’t fire me, I quit” former National Security Adviser John Bolton. Grenell and his partner have represented the US in Germany for about a year. Before that he was at the United Nations, served on the National Security Council in a previous administration, and was the national security adviser for several presidential campaigns. It was announced he would lead United States efforts to “decriminalize” homosexuality worldwide.