Hoadley bid aims to make history as Michigan’s first gay congressman  The Detroit News

“gay” – Google News

Chris Evans addresses ‘kissing’ Graham Norton the first time they met ‘He’s a bit sharp’  Express

“gay tv” – Google News

The Walking Dead: World Beyond’s Nico Tortorella Explains Why They Chose To Play Felix Carlucci  CBR – Comic Book Resources

“gay tv” – Google News

Timothy Ray Brown, the first known person to be cured of HIV, has died of cancer. He was 54

On Top Magazine Headlines

Deborra-Lee Furness, the wife of actor Hugh Jackman, has responded to persistent tabloid rumors that he’s gay

On Top Magazine Headlines

California governor signs corporate boardroom diversity law  KGBT-TV

“gay tv” – Google News

A wedding photographer and a group of several Christian institutions filed two different lawsuits against Virginia officials Monday over a new law that bans discrimination against the LGBTQ community. 

The lawyers representing the plaintiffs argue that the law violates their First Amendment rights and forces them to “abandon and adjust their convictions or pay crippling fines.” 

The law, titled the Virginia Values Act, went into effect on July 1 and prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in housing, public and private employment, public accommodations and access to credit. It was the first Southern state to adopt these types of protections for the LGBTQ community. Violations could be met with fines of up to $50,000.

In one lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Loudoun County wedding photographer Bob Updegrove argues that the law forces him to photograph same-sex weddings, even though he is opposed to same-sex marriage because of his faith. 

Jonathan Scruggs, a lawyer with Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBTQ legal organization representing the plaintiffs in both cases, claims the new policy places the photographer in an impossible position between promoting “views against their faith” and violating the law.

“The government cannot demand that artists create content that violates their deepest convictions,” Scruggs said in a statement posted to the Alliance Defending Freedom’s website. 

In a separate suit filed in Loudoun County Circuit Court, two churches, a religious school and a pregnancy center network claim the law will force them to hire employees who don’t share their beliefs about sexual orientation and gender identity. 

The U.S. Supreme Court has previously ruled that no religious organization can be required to hire someone outside their faith and they must be allowed to dismiss or hire their leaders without government interference. 

“Virginia’s new law forces these ministries to abandon and adjust their convictions or pay crippling fines,” Denise Harle, another Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer, said in a statement. “Such government hostility toward people of faith has no place in a free society.”

Charlotte Gomer, a spokesperson for Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, said he was still reviewing the lawsuits and would respond in court.

“Attorney General Herring believes that every Virginian has the right to be safe and free from discrimination no matter what they look like, where they come from, or who they love,” she said in a statement. “LGBT Virginians are finally protected from housing and employment discrimination under Virginia law and Attorney General Herring looks forward to defending the Virginia Values Act in court against these attacks.”

Equality Virginia heavily advocated for the Virginia Values Act. In a statement, Executive Director Vee Lamneck pointed to the support the law garnered from a coalition of more than 140 religious leaders in 2019. 

“Protecting LGBTQ Virginians from discrimination does not threaten [religious] freedom,” Lamneck said in their statement. “That’s why people of faith across the state advocated with us in support of the Virginia Values Act—because of their deep faith—not in spite of it.”

The post Two lawsuits challenge new Va. LGBTQ rights law appeared first on Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights.

Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights

Hugh Jackman’s Wife Responds To Persistent Tabloid Rumors That He’s Gay  Cinema Blend

“gay tv” – Google News

Gay-straight pair can be conjugal couple | World  The Times

“gay” – Google News

Iowa State professor explains the ins and outs of queerbaiting  Iowa State Daily

“gay tv” – Google News

Gavin Newsom signs law requiring California companies to name minority or LGBTQ leaders  Sacramento Bee

“gay” – Google News

Pompeo takes anti-gay campaign to UN  Bay Area Reporter, America’s highest circulation LGBT newspaper

“gay” – Google News

LGBTQ History Month: Gay raid in Waco mostly lost from LGBTQ history  Bay Area Reporter, America’s highest circulation LGBT newspaper

“gay” – Google News

LGBTQ History Month: Press A, be gay: LGBTQ representation in video games  Bay Area Reporter, America’s highest circulation LGBT newspaper

“gay” – Google News

An open letter from 50 ambassadors and human rights advocates cited a need to work for “non-discrimination, tolerance and mutual acceptance.”

Queer Voices – LGBTQ News, Opinion and Conversations

Halloween is weird this year. That said, it provides the perfect excuse to get creative with a facemask!

Queerty

The Anoka-Hennepin School District student, who was on the boys’ swimming team, had previously been forced to use a segregated locker room.

Queer Voices – LGBTQ News, Opinion and Conversations

A new international report includes the U.S. as a country where transgender rights are stagnating – similar to Guatemala, Hungary, and Mongolia.

LGBTQ Nation

Comedian Michael Henry has just dropped his latest comedy video, a mediation on power play, and the paradoxes it often proposes.

The new sketch finds Henry joined by his buds Kornbread and Todd discussing dom-sub activity during sex. Todd admits to loving being a dominant bottom, while Kornbread loves being a submissive top…and a submissive bottom…and a dom top…and just about everything else too.

Related: WATCH: Michael Henry has a WAP problem

Michael, predictably, hates it all, not wanting to get yelled and wanting a bit more genuine personality from his partners. “I don’t want to go to dinner and drinks with a florist and then jump into bed with the executioner,” he grunts.

Somehow, we’re skeptical. Have a look and judge for yourself.

Queerty

Kee Sam (pictured) and Mia Green are the latest known transgender homicide victims in the U.S.

Advocate.com