News Briefs

BY CRAIG OGAN

The “Blue Wave” knocked Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who made headlines after refusing to issue a marriage license to a gay couple in 2015, out of office. However, according to one of the couples she discriminated against, it swept a homophobic hypocrite into office. Democrat Elwood Caudill Jr. will be the new clerk. David Ermold, one of the gay men Davis initially denied a marriage license, lost the primary to Caudill. Ermold endorsed Davis saying she is out front about her bigotry but Caudill, who beat him, was a bigot as well as a liar.

For the first time, a Florida city elected an all-gay City Commission which includes the mayor and two commissioners. Wilton Manors is a gay mecca in South Florida and joins Palm Springs, Calif., as the only other U.S. city with an all-gay and or -lesbian elected city government. Ohio university professor cites ‘preferred pronouns’ a violation of freedom of speech A professor of religion and philosophy at Shawnee State University’s was disciplined by the school for “misgendering” a student. The professor is taking legal action against the Ohio-based university in the U.S. District Court citing violations of freedom of speech, religion, and due process. The transgender student requested the professor use the students preferred pronouns and was refused. Newspaper reports say the professor claimed the student shouted an unspecified “C word” at him (ed: cisman, creep, Christian?). The professor’s supervisor instructed him to use the preferred pronoun and made a disciplinary note in the personnel record when the professor added to the class syllabus that preferred pronouns will be used, “under compulsion.”

Between Imagine Dragons singer Dan Reynolds’ virtue signaling Twitter beef with Eminem and English pro soccer player Tassal “Tass” Rushan’s suspension from soccer for using “faggot” in a YouTube video, the word may never regain respectability. The out-straight Reynolds took issue with out-self loathing Eminem’s use of the word in a new song, saying, “There is never an OK time to say the word fa**ot. I don’t care who you are.”

Eminem often uses ”anti-gay” slurs in his songs, sometimes “apologizing” and other times saying the use furthers his “art.” The soccer star, Rushan, said he didn’t know it was a bad word. He says in his hometown of London, England, “faggot” is another word for unpleasant person analogous to “prick”. Turning to the Oxford English Dictionary, critics say they can’t find any reference to “faggot” meaning “prick” or “idiot” in the definitive dictionary for both the Queen’s English and British slang.

After what may have been an inter-galactic search, the National Log Cabin Republicans have found one of the four lesbians who identify as Republican to become the new executive director of the NLCR. Jerri Ann Henry, a communications strategist and GOP consultant, replaces Gregory Angelo. She is the first woman to lead the organization, though women were involved in the founding of NLCR and have served on the board.

A London man who posed as a woman online to lure straight men into having sex has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. Using a hook up app not owned by the ChiComs, he had oral and anal sex with the men on the condition they wear blindfolds. One of the “victims” pulled off the mask and slapped the bearded perp’s face while receiving oral sex. Another had 20 minutes of anal and 20 minutes of oral which he described in the complaint as, “Quite pleasant.” The charge of “causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent,” sounds a little sketchy as the victims were using hook up apps and drove to various parks in London for liaison.

Wyoming Equality Executive Director Sara Burlingame was elected to the Wyoming legislature. The Democrat won with 70 more votes than the Republican opponent. Burlingame, from Cheyenne, has been an activist and lobbyist involved in the legislature for Wyoming Equality’s issues.

Taiwan voters backed a referendum that contradicts a Supreme Court ruling favoring marriage equality. The court’s ruling came in 2017 and creates tension between the courts and the Taiwanese Legislature. Marriage equality activists worry the law will be written to give marriage-lite, domestic-partnership rights to gay and lesbian couples but confine the legal definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples. President Tsai Ing-wen, in a profile of courage, has backed away from a promise of marriage equality she made in the run-up to her election in 2016.

In Bermuda, the Supreme Court ruled that marriage inequality is unconstitutional in that British Colony.

As further evidence that many good candidates will be unable to run for office because of men’s need to “show our junk,” a city council member in Groves, Texas is suing after he was defeated in a recall election resulting when nude photos of him from Grindr were anonymously sent to city hall. Before the election, Cross Coburn welcomed his recall election because it would clear the air. His suit is based on what he calls “deficiencies, fraud and forgery” in the recall petition. He claims signatures on the petition were forged, duplicated or were spouses signing for married partners.

Not sure why he felt he had to, but the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby confirmed centuries old C of England and Roman Catholic doctrine that God is neither male nor female. He said the gendered language Christians have used for centuries to speak about God is “inadequate and to some degree metaphorical.” In a blow to non-Christian cults everywhere, he said, “God is not a father in exactly the same way as a human is a father.”

Even though Chick-fil-A topped the list of chain restaurants in a Rider University (Lawrenceville, N.J.) student survey, the university won’t consider the restaurant for its union building. “It was removed as one of the options based on the company’s record widely perceived to be in opposition to the LGBTQ+ community,” President Gregory G. Dell’ Omo and Vice President of Student Affairs Leanna Fenneberg wrote in a letter to students.

Giving logical cover to bigots everywhere, they wrote, “We understand that some may view the decision as being just another form of exclusion, but that’s not the spirit in which the decision was made.” Chick-fil-A ruffled feathers some years ago when the company’s founder contributed to anti-LGBTQ organizations, something he vowed to never do again, but has contributed to athletic organizations which exclude transgender athletes.

Daraka Larimore-Hall, vice chair of the California State Democratic Party is calling on Party Chair, Eric Bauman, to be removed because of allegations of sexual misconduct lodged by two other men. Larimore-Hall filed paperwork requesting removal after speaking with two victims, both of whom were party staff members, that Bauman allegedly abused. A witness claims the chair intimidated him to keep quiet. Larimore-Hall writes: “I believe the victims.”

Bauman, the first openly gay person to serve as chair, has called for, “A prompt, thorough and independent investigation of the allegations. I take seriously any allegation brought forward by anyone who believes they have been caused pain.” Q