A political cartoonist whose cartoons are syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group published his most recent cartooon, and it’s drawing criticism for being transphobic.
Mike Lester is a conservative illustrator and his drawings appear on The Washington Post’s website. His most recent political cartoon is about the newly completed Mueller Report.
Robert Mueller conducted an investigation looking into possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential election. He recently published the report of his findings.
In the cartoon, a group of men sit at a table celebrating in front of a large, three-tiered cake. The cake reads ‘The Mueller Report’ in red frosting and a woman in a bikini bursts out of it.
Behind the table are two waiters. One of them states: ‘Wait till they find out that’s a dude…’
The cartoon, which can be see on the Post’s website and in tweets below, suggests the Mueller report, like trans women, are deceptive.
This isn’t the first time a political cartoon has come under fire for discrimination.
Last July, a New York Times cartoon about Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was widely criticized as homophobic.
What is syndication?
The Washington Post Writers Group is a division of The Washington Post News Service & Syndicate.
A press syndicate is an agency that offers content such as columns, cartoons, articles, and more to newspapers and magazines. It grants the newspapers and magazines the right to republish.
The Washington Post operates their own syndicate.
When reached for comment by GSN, a Washington Post spokesperson clarified the cartoon ‘did not appear’ in the paper, but was syndicated.
‘We give cartoonists wide latitude in what they present,’ they further explained. ‘While we may not agree with some perspectives, cartoons serve a role in generating conversation and debate.’
The Post’s embedded audience editor Gene Park also responded to criticism of this cartoon on Reddit.
‘Thanks to everyone for sounding off on this offensive piece,’ he wrote. ‘Mike Lester is not technically an employee of ours, although we do run and administer The Washington Post Writers Group, a group of syndicated outside (and inside) columnists and editorial cartoonists.’
Park reiterated that Lester’s cartoons do not appear in the paper itself. He also confirmed the Post only employs two full-time cartoonists, Ann Telnaes and Tom Toles.
In another comment, he said he is ‘not at all acquainted with how the syndication side of the business operates’.
‘I’m trying to navigate what to do and I intend to speak up. Thanks all for your patience in light of this,’ he concluded.
US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos refused to directly answer a question about whether she opposed LGBT discrimination in schools at a House hearing on Tuesday (26 March).
Representative Mark Pocan asked notoriously anti-LGBTI DeVos: ‘Do you think it’s all right for a school to discriminate based on someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity?’
‘We have laws that cover … discriminatory efforts and our office for civil rights has continued to be very diligent in investigating any allegation of discrimination and will continue to do so’ DeVos replied.
When pushed for a ‘yes or no answer’ by Pocan, DeVos finally said ‘we follow the law’.
He asked whether schools that receive funding from the federal government would be punished if they allowed discrimination against LGBT students to occur.
‘Schools that receive federal funds must follow federal law,’ DeVos said.
DeVos’ family also has a long-standing history of supporting anti-LGBTI causes.
Through family foundations, they funded anti-LGBTI campaigns and organizations.
The benefactors include Focus On the Family. The organization’s website states ‘homosexual strugglers can and do change their sexual behavior and identity’.
They received a $10 million (€9.34 million, £7.98 million) donation from the DeVos family.
A school suspended two teachers after they mocked a 14-year-old boy by implying he is gay.
The child’s mother, Jean Mott, claims the teachers, from Shiloh Middle School in Snellville, Georgia, made inappropriate comments about the student’s sexuality in front of his entire class.
Speaking to WSB-TV, Mott says her son came home in tears in December 2018 because his teachers made comments that made him appear to be gay. His classmates have teased him ever since.
One teacher implied another child was the boy’s ‘boyfriend’ and made fun of him after he was absent from school for a few days.
Homophobic bullying from the teachers
Mott told the news channel: ‘The teacher said to my son, “Your boyfriend was cheating on you while you were away. Oh, you two make a really good couple”‘.
She also says one of the teachers accused her son of chasing boys around the school. This was after another classmate pushed him.
Mott continued: ‘Help me understand why, as an adult, you would do this to a child? Why would you bully my child, or any child?
‘I cannot allow these teachers to go out and do this to anybody else’s child. They initiated the bullying. As a result, my son has been bullied by his peers and it’s something he’ll never live down.’
The teachers apologized to the mother in a meeting. The school suspended them for two days.
School officials released a statement: ‘Both investigations found that the teachers comments were inappropriate. As a result, disciplinary action was taken against both teachers.’
The Georgia Professional Standards Commission are investigating. They will decide whether the teacher’s keep their education certificates.
A man will be charged for allegedly sending out nearly 50 threatening letters to people, including an LGBTI center.
Federal officials took Darnell Ray Owens, 32 from Sacramento, into custody on Friday (22 March).
Officials claim he mailed dozens of letters, some containing white powder, to police, churches and an LGBTI center.
Sacramento LGBTQ Community Center received two letters on 19 March 2018. Along with hate speech directed at the LGBTI community, he also threatened to ‘murder every fag or queer, lesbian, transsexuals, transgenders in Sacramento.’
He also sent fake threats to the center in June 2018 from a number of individuals. They all have family or other connections to Owens.
Owens could face up to five years in prison for each count in the complaint.
36-page complaint
After Owens was arrested in Oklahoma, officials filed a 36-page criminal complaint charging him with conducting a hoax involving biological weapons and interstate threats.
Officials say he wanted the recipients to think the white powder was a biological weapon. He also sent threatening messages to ‘white people’ to try to incite a race war, according to the letters themselves.
The last letter sent was to the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office. It contained a threat to kill the district attorney, Anne Marie Schubert.
According to the affidavit attached to the complaint, Owens wrote: ‘You have failed this city and the people.
‘So I am making a threat on your Life, I will assassinate you with a bullet to your head, you will not survive I will watch your body shake as the life in you leaves.’
The complaint says Federal officials tied Owens to the threats using DNA evidence, including evidence he used computers to send hoax threats from other people.
Staff at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center in New Mexico allegedly subjected gay and trans people to ‘rampant’ abuse.
Advocates and lawyers claimed in a letter yesterday (25 March) that 12 queer migrants at the Otero County Processing Center were threatened and subjected to solitary confinement after complaining about conditions. Or punished for simply sharing coffee.
Staff allegedly reassigned the trans women to barracks with heterosexual men – some of whom previously sexually harassed them – as a form of retaliation.
What happened?
The letter documents the experiences of 12 LGBTI asylum seekers who fled persecution in their home countries.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico sent the letter to immigration authorities and the warden of Otero County Processing Center.
Moreover, it demanded a response by 29 March.
NBC reported a news release accompanying the letter detailed a man repeatedly groped. Guards asked him to perform sexual favors in exchange for food.
‘When I complained, I was thrown into solitary confinement for five days and threatened with further punishment if I complained again,’ he said, according to the release.
‘Rampant sexual harassment’
Guards allegedly interrupted showers and offered to help trans women bathe. Medical staff refused to provide hormones for three trans women.
Furthermore, guards subjected the people to ‘rampant sexual harassment, discrimination, and abuse,’ according to the letter.
It said the guards barked ‘transphobic commands like “Walk like a man! You better sit like a man!”
‘They force transgender women to bathe and sleep in units with men who sexually harass and threaten them.’
In addition, the guards do not ‘address’ the homophobic and transphobic ‘slurs from other detained people.’
Gay Star News contacted the ICE for comment.
‘Not aware’
However, a spokerperson for Management & Training Corporation, the private company that operates Otero, told NBC they are ‘not aware’ of these incidents.
‘Any implication that management was aware of any harassment or discrimination against transgender individuals or any other individuals is not true.
‘We have no evidence of rampant sexual harassment, discrimination, abuse, denying proper medical care to transgender detainees.
There is, ‘no evidence of retaliation and improper use of solitary confinement.’
The 1,000 bed facility 30 miles north of the border city is the only remaining immigration detention center in New Mexico.
While there used to be a detention facility in Albuquerque, it is no longer in use of the ICE.
In honor of International Transgender Day of Visibility, the premiere of the award-winning, Sundance-backed documentary series America in Transition (AIT), a Revry Original that explores the community, family, and social issues of trans people of color across in the United States, will happen March 29 on Revry, the first queer global streaming network, available in over 50 million homes in over 100 countries.
Along with the premier on Revry for Trans Day of Visibility, America in Transition will be partnering with more than 20 institutions around the country to build community, amplify trans people of color’s voices, and activate accomplices. M
“A America in Transition (AIT) is the award-winning, Sundance-backed documentary series that explores the community, family, and social issues of trans people of color across the United States – capturing real life for a veteran turned activist, an immigrant seeking home, a woman living with HIV healing from trauma, and a model navigating family life. Transgender Filmmaker, educator and community Organizer, André Pérez, founded the Trans Oral History Project in 2008 motivated by the isolation he felt growing up in a military family in Virginia. Perez journeyed across the country to document the subjects of the series. Each of the four episodes explores one person’s story in depth, tackling intersectional issues such as HIV criminalization, living as trans in the South, family acceptance, trans exclusion from the military, and immigrant detention. DIRECTOR’S COMMENTS
America In Transition (AIT) was initially inspired by my own experience coming of age in North Carolina and starting my transition as a youth in rural Vermont. I had questions about everything from health care access to navigating relationships, but I had no one to ask. Without role models or institutional support, I felt like I had to come to the city to find myself. I went on to found the Trans Oral History Project. Over the past seven years, I’ve interviewed trans folks across the country who express parallel stories of being told trans didn’t fit with other aspects of our personhood. How can you be trans and Muslim or black or Mexican or Southern? We found ways to reconcile the seemingly disparate parts of who we are.
2015 was heralded as the “transgender tipping point,” but 2016 has brought some of the most regressive civil rights legislation in modern US history. Trans people have become the targets of radical social conservatives who are leveraging fear and ignorance to create a social climate of increasing and unrelenting hostility. We are caught in a culture war, as Southern lawmakers fight the federal government in order to protect the supposed “right” for businesses (MS and NC), schools (TX), and even health professionals (TN and TX) to discriminate against transgender people. AIT uses character-driven storytelling in order to highlight issues of importance to trans people in marginalized communities.At its heart, AIT is about how environments shape who we are. It will complicate notions of social change in underrepresented communities. This is a crucial moment to help people understand how trans realities differ based on identity, geography, and social context. The world is changing for the white, upper-middle class people we see on mainstream television, but trans people of color, immigrants, and working class families face a different world. AIT focuses on relationships as it explores where, when, and how change happens in a complex individual, a diverse community, and a divided nation.
DIRECTOR’S BIO
André Pérez is a Puerto Rican transgender filmmaker, educator, and community organizer. He founded the Transgender Oral History Project in 2008, and created traveling multimedia historical exhibit about transgender activism in 2009. Since then, he has presented workshops about storytelling and the transgender community numerous universities and conferences including Creating Change, Allied Media Conference, and MIT. After experiencing housing instability as a youth, Andre went on to help launch El Rescate and co-found Project Fierce Chicago, both grassroots transitional housing programs for LGBTQ youth.
In 2012, André served as Director and Senior Producer for I Live for Trans Education, a grassroots multimedia curriculum. He worked with a team of 20 transgender community members at varying skill levels to create four documentary shorts and accompanying interactive activities. I Live has reached over 15,000 people through online views, installations, live community events, and train-the-trainer sessions at conferences.
Between 2012-2015, André recorded over 500 interviews as part of StoryCorps, broadcasting 50 segments on NPR and WBEZ. He sat on the Board of Out at the Chicago History Museum and the Community Advisory Board of the Civil Rights Agenda. His work has been honored by the Trans 100, the Museum of Transgender History and Art, the Association of Independent Radio, and the International Independent Film Awards.André continues to pursue his passion for sharing stories from communities whose voices have been shut out of traditional media. Summer of 2016, Pérez premiered Been T/Here on the inaugural cycle of OTV. After helping its founders launch Trans Lifeline into the national spotlight, André set out to make America in Transition, a sundance-backed documentary series explores community, family, and social issues with trans people of color across the United States. André is a sought-after public speaker and Social Impact Consultant who recently relocated to the Bay Area so that he can spend more of his off-time hiking and snuggling.
About Revry
Revry is the first queer global streaming network, available in over 50 million homes in over 100 countries, with a uniquely curated selection of LGBTQ+ film, series, and originals along with the world’s largest queer libraries of groundbreaking podcasts, albums and music videos. Revry is available worldwide. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Revry is led by an inclusive team of queer, multi-ethnic and allied partners who bring decades of experience in the fields of tech, digital media, and LGBTQ+ advocacy. Follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @REVRYTV. Go Online to: https://revry.tv.
Human Rights Campaign launched its new campaign “Americans for the Equality Act,” a video series which features celebrities who support the Equality Act, on Monday. The proposed bill would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The video series, filmed by award-winning directors Dustin Lance Black and Paris Barclay, kicked off with actress and LGBTQ advocate Sally Field and her gay son, Sam Greisman, as they have a video conference conversation on why the Equality Act is instrumental in ensuring that the LGBTQ community has equal rights across state lines.
Other celebrities who will give their input in upcoming videos include Black, Barclay and his husband Christopher, Adam Rippon, Shea Diamond, Alexandra Billings, Blossom Brown, Charlie and Max Carver, Gloria Calderon Kellett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Lynch, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Justin Mikita, Justina Machado, Karamo Brown, Marcia Gay Harden and Nyle DiMarco. The series will continue as the legislation is under review in Congress.
“This is an exceptionally important effort, and I’m so proud to have had the opportunity to both direct this series and participate with my family,” Barclay praised the campaign in a statement. “So much of the progress of the LGBTQ movement has hinged on our ability to tell our stories and move people — and that’s the same spirit with which we’ve approached this compelling project. I was moved by the stories from the talented people participated in this campaign. We join them in working to make history again by passing the Equality Act.”
Black added: “Every American deserves a fair shot at a job to support themselves and their family, and the security of a roof over their head. These are key ingredients in what we’ve long cherished as our ‘American Dream.’ But until the Equality Act is signed into law, this dream may not be a reality for far too many Americans in many areas of our wild and wonderful country. I believe we must all share our personal stories and struggles with our fellow Americans in order to help this great dream become a reality for more of our loved ones, coworkers, and neighbors.”
50 percent of LGBTQ Americans currently live in one of the 30 states that do not provide statewide legal non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people in the areas of employment, housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally-funded programs or jury service.
In a recent survey by PRRI, poll findings determined that seven out of 10 Americans support laws that prohibit LGBTQ discrimination. This includes the majority of every state’s population and the majority of Republicans, Independents and Democrats.
“The advocates and artists featured in HRC’s ‘Americans for the Equality Act’ video series amplify the chorus of voices urging Congress to pass the Equality Act,” HRC President Chad Griffin said in a statement. “The harsh reality is that LGBTQ Americans still face real and persistent discrimination in their everyday lives, and Congress must pass the Equality Act to protect them.
Watch the first video in the “Americans for the Equality Act” campaign below.
Actor Jussie Smollett was summoned to an emergency court appearance this morning in Chicago to be told all criminal charges against him are being dropped by Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx.
Smollett had been charged with felony disorderly conduct for filing a false report. In total, he faced 16 felony charges.
In a statement released after his appearance, his attorneys – Tina Glandian and Patricia Brown Holmes – said:
‘Today, all criminal charges against Jussie Smollett were dropped and his record has been wiped clean of the filing of this tragic complaint against him.
‘Jussie was attacked by two people he was unable to identify on January 29th. He was a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator as a result of false and inappropriate remarks made to the public causing an inappropriate rush to judgement.
‘Jussie and many others were hurt by these unfair and unwarranted actions. This entire situation is a reminder that there should never be an attempt to prove a case in the court of public opinion. That is wrong.
‘It is a reminder that a victim, in this case Jussie, deserves dignity and respect. Dismissal of charges against the victim in this case was the only just result.
‘Jussie is relieved to have this situation behind him and is very much looking forward to getting back to focusing on his family, friends and career.’
Shortly after his attorneys issued a statement, Cook County prosecutors issued their own.
‘After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.’
January incident in Chicago
Smollett, 36, reported being attacked on in the early hours of 29 January in Chicago. The gay actor and singer said he’d gone out for food when two men attacked him. He said they threw an unidentified liquid at him and put a noose around his neck.
He took himself to hospital and notified police.
Police later arrested two men in connection with the attack. However, after questioning the men and carrying out investigations, they arrested Smollett.
Police alleged he had lied about the assault, suggesting he concocted the incident for publicity purposes.
News of the charges being dropped will inevitably raise questions about why charges were brought in the first place.
UPDATE: Smollett says ‘This has been an incredibly difficult time’
On leaving the court, Smollett gave his own statement to waiting reporters. He said: ‘I want to thank my family, my friends, the incredible people of Chicago and all over the country and the world who have prayed for me, who have supported me and who have showed me so much love.
‘No one will ever know how much that has meant to me and I will be forever grateful.
‘I want you to know that not for a moment was it in vain. I have been truthful and consistent on every level since day one.’
He continued, ‘I would not be my mother’s son if I was capable of one drop of what I’ve been accused of.
‘This has been an incredibly difficult time. Honestly one of the worst of my entire life. But I am a man of faith and I am a man that has knowledge of my history and I would not bring my family, our lives or the movement through a fire like this. I just wouldn’t.
‘Now I’d like nothing more than to get back to work and move on with my life. But make no mistakes, I will always continue to fight for the justice, equality and betterment of marginalized people everywhere.
‘So again thank you for all the support. Thank you for faith and thank you to God. Bless you. Thank you very much.’
A lesbian couple in Missouri were reportedly denied entry to a dance class. They are now alleging discrimination based on their sexual orientation.W
Michelle King and Amanda Shelton are engaged and went to Prestige Ballroom in Des Peres, Missouri to learn how to dance for their upcoming wedding.
According to ABC News 13, the couple were looking forward to their dance lessons, which they purchased on Groupon. That is, however, until dance instructor Dave Thompson said he would not accept their business because they are gay.
‘He was like we don’t have accommodations for same sex couples to dance. It would make everyone in the room awkward,’ King told ABC News.
When reporters went to Prestige to get Thompson’s side of the story, he said, ‘I can’t discuss it right now. I’ll have to get with my legal counsel and have them get back with you.’
The next day, the couple got a call from St. Louis Equality Dance, a group offering dance instruction to LGBTI people. The couple was informed that Thompson recommended them.
‘They said that David referred us to them,’ the couple told news sources. ‘Well, I didn’t pay for you. I paid for Prestige.’M
According to legal experts, it is legal in the state of Missouri to refuse business to someone based on religious belief. However, St. Louis County, where Des Peres is based, bans this type of discrimination.
Yet, when the couple asked Thompson is his refusal to accept their business was religiously motivated, he allegedly said no, ‘That has nothing to do with that.’
Upcoming biopic Rocketman will make Elton John look “quite ugly at times,” the film’s star Taron Egerton revealed today.
Egerton—who portrays Elton John in Rocketman—said the film begins with the pop-star going into rehab “in a real bad way” to get help for addiction.
He said that it will depict the pop star as “broken and damaged” and praised Elton John for allowing them to show him at his “most vulnerable.”
“I think it’s right at the heart of what makes Rocketman quite special,” Egerton said.
He continued: “It’s also a story about someone who was not well becoming well.”
Rocketman star Taron Egerton says there is no ‘perfect iteration’ of Elton John’s story
Egerton said that there is no such thing as a “perfect iteration” of a story, and said: “What exists is an interpretation. We’re the three guys sat in front of you, so what you see is by and large our shared interpretation.”
He continued: “Elton is our storyteller in the film and it’s his memory of those times, and sometimes that memory plays tricks on us, or we remember things in a particularly colourful or different way. That’s the idea that we’re playing with.”
Taron Egerton filmed a sex scene with Richard Madden for Rocketman
Madden plays John Reid, Elton John’s longtime manager, in the film. They also dated for five years.
“I really threw myself into it, I filmed my first sex scene for this film and it’s with quite a well known man,” Egerton said, without explicitly mentioning Madden.
He continued: “I do feel the movie we shot is absolutely a celebration of everything that Elton John is and part of that is his sexuality.
“I actually think the gay community will be quite surprised by quite how gay it feels. I’ve loved every second of it.
“I’m not someone who is remotely perturbed by male intimacy and I am quite proud of what we’ve done with it. We really went some places with it.”
Egerton clarified last year in an interview with Radio Times that he is not gay. Speculation spread after he posted a picture with his friend to Instagram with the caption: “Cutie. My boy.”
