The top national and world news since last issue you should know

BY CRAIG OGAN

Gay and lesbian farmers lose ally

Tractor Supply Co., a 2,200-location, Tennessee-based animal feed and farm retailer, has put its gay and lesbian customers off their feed. The company has reversed long-practiced diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. This includes sponsorship of all nonbusiness-related activities like Pride Month and rainbow displays in retail locations. TSC is also through with the Human Rights Campaign and is no longer sending DEI data for the HRC Corporate Equality Index. The company has scored 95 out of 100 on the HRC CEI. There are more than 20 Tractor Supply stores in Utah. The co-founder of Squirrelwood Equine Sanctuary in New York has suspended the 92-acre, 70-animal sanctuary’s $65,000 annual purchases from Tractor Supply. She took to X, formerly Twitter, to say, “We couldn’t support a company that didn’t support us.” Her online protest has been shared thousands of times, and she estimates it has had 5 million views. John Deere is now under the same pressure to drop DEI policies and activities.

Resignation dike breaks

One of the first U.S. House of Representatives members to call for the current president to bow out of the race is Angie Craig of Minnesota. She is the first member of the House LBGTQ+ caucus to make this announcement. She has been joined by another ten members, mostly Democrats who have tight races in Republican-leaning districts. The President has lost support among many groups as his age-related infirmities became apparent in debates and other public appearances. The latest blow comes from mega-star and mega-doner George Clooney, who, just a month ago, put on a gala fundraiser in Hollywood. He opined in an article in the New York Times that the President should quit the campaign. Rep. Craig announced, “Given what I saw and heard from the President during last week’s debate in Atlanta, coupled with the lack of a forceful response from the President himself following that debate, I do not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win.”

She has been joined by California’s Mark Takano, another LGBTQ+ caucus member, in calling for the president’s withdrawal. So far, the President has said he won’t get out of the race and an overwhelming majority of Congressional Democrats back his staying.

More convenient PrEP passes test

The pharmaceutical company Gilead has announced that a new pre-exposure prophylactic (PrEP) injectable medication has passed a Phase III clinical trial. The twice-yearly shot, lenacapavir, worked in all patients during the trials. The test group was composed of straight women in South Africa, one of the groups most susceptible to HIV infection due to cultural conditions. The next step will be tests on other populations, including men who have sex with men, before it can be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. If testing continues to go as planned, it is expected that lenacapavir will hit the market in late 2025.

Daddyland does Dallas, gets dumped

The popular Daddyland circuit party was in full swing at a Dallas hotel when the members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority showed up for their own convention. One of the AKA alums and this year’s keynote speaker is the current U.S. Vice President and maybe Demo presidential candidate. Here’s the rub, according to rumor. The Daddyland boys got rowdy and mostly naked the first night when the AKA were checking in. The action from the “Daddyland Boom, Boom Room,” a dark room for naughtiness, spilled out into the hallway. Complaints from AKA were made to hotel management and, yada, yada, yada, the Daddyland partiers were given two hours to vacate the hotel and take the party elsewhere. Daddyland attendees claimed they had a great convo with the sisters of AKA about their respective party attire. The hotel management said, “No homophobia here; the men were supposed to be wearing clothes, and they weren’t,” which breached the contract. The hotel has hosted Daddyland in the past with no problems but said, “Things went to hell” during the Friday night kick-off.

School board members recalled in Pride flag flap

Two members of a school board in Alameda County near San Francisco have lost board seats in a recall election. They were two of three board members who voted to approve a policy that banned any flags but official government flags, including the Progressive Pride flags, from flying at schools. The vote turnout was small with just a little over 800 voters from a pool of 8,900 in the Sunon Glen School district. Both lost the election by less than 40 votes, respectively. The vacant seats will be filled temporarily, with a new election scheduled for November.

France’s Out President is In, Out, In

Confused by U.S. politics? Try France’s on for size. The political right won big in European Union delegate elections, which means very little in France. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, panicked and called for an election for the French Parliament, which means a whole lot in France, where he has a slim majority. There are two rounds of Parliamentary elections in France. The political right wins the first round, big. Macron regroups. In the second round, the leftist New Popular Front won 182 seats, Macron’s party won 168, and the rightest National Rally won 143. A party needs 289 seats to be the National Assembly majority. So, no party has a majority and no party likes another party enough to create a coalition. Hence, government deadlock. Why is this of interest to the reader of a gay and lesbian publication? Because the president of France chooses the Prime Minister, who is generally from the majority party. When he had a majority, Macron chose a young, cute gay man as Prime Minister — Gabriel Attal. Attal is an OUT gay man, IN as PM, then he resigns; so he OUT as PM; the crypto-gay Macron invites him to remain PM, so Attal is sort of IN, again, if he can get 100 votes from the left or the right-wing parties. That’s a lot of blowjobs.

Smashing icons

A collective cheer went up from gays and lesbians in 1997 when Ellen DeGeneres declared “I’m a lesbian” to Oprah Winfrey, who was playing a therapist on Ellen’s eponymous ABC network TV show. It was a brave moment for her as she was the first big TV star to “come out” on TV. Her career then took off with Oscar hosting gigs, movie roles, sold-out concert dates, and having a very successful daytime talk show. Then came Covid, and people got cranky. Disgruntled staff accused her of creating a toxic work environment. She apologized, paid the cranks some money, and continued “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” until 2022. She is currently on a 27-stop concert tour and announced she will retire after she finishes a Netflix streaming special. “This is the last time you’re going to see me. After my Netflix special, I’m done,” she said at a July 3 appearance. Asked about reprising Dory in “Finding Nemo,” she said, “No, I’m going bye-bye, remember.” Though cleared by an official network investigation, it was clear the accusations took a toll. A celebrity with a famous “nice person” persona, Ellen, said during the concert, “Oh yeah, and I got kicked out of show business for being mean.” Some icons shouldn’t be smashed, she will be missed.

Survey: What do you want to see?

A recent online survey asked the question, “When it comes to gay male characters in the media, what would you like to see more of?” The answers that got the most “likes” were:

“More positive black gay male relationships. True ones. Not thugs, or overly fem guys.”

“Guys with physical disabilities having a nice healthy relationship.”

“A gay autistic character.”

”Guys not defined by their gayness, whose personality isn’t just being gay.”

“Close friendships between a gay man and a straight man.”

“Stories about gay men in normal-sized cities (e.g., not NY) who make an average income.”

“Give me a 25-year-old gay guy from Buffalo who works at Starbucks, has funny friends, and is trying to figure out the big questions.”

“Masculine guys, doing something thought of as straight (like working construction).”

“Heroes, like a gay James Bond or other action-hero type of offering.”

“Bears, fat and hairy gay guys.”

“Historical, real-life LGBTQ+ figures in biopic treatments” The most liked comment is not about a type of person, but, well, butts. “Specifically, gay male characters with well-defined behinds.” Some would say that’s stereotypically shallow, others call it discerning.