God bless Curtis Ingraham, Laura Ingraham‘s gay older brother.
After the Fox News propagandist did a segment on her show in which she cited a Breitbart article that accused schools of grooming preschoolers to be LGBTQ, Curtis took to Twitter to slam his baby sister for being a “Putin-loving monster.”
“This is rich coming from my Putin-loving sister who seems okay with children being killed in Ukraine,” he tweeted this morning, along with a clip from the segment, which aired last week. “Looks like she has a new trope in hand to further rile and anger her followers. What a monster!”
This isn’t the first time Curtis has put his homophobic sibling on blast. Last month, he took to Twitter to criticize a segment she did about Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, during which she claimed schools wanted to “sexually brainwash” other people’s children.
“My sister has the credibility of a tabloid,” he tweeted. “Spins like this reveal her deep-seated anger, desperation and complete ignorance of what is actually going on in education today.”
In the past, Curtis has also called Laura “nauseating” and suggested she is soulless. Speaking to the Daily Beast in 2018, he said, “She’s very smart, she’s well-spoken, but her emotional heart is just kind of dead.”
Weeks before The Walt Disney Co. took a stand against Florida’s contentious “Parental Rights in Education” law — which has been called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by its critics — the theme park operator and entertainment conglomerate donated $190,000 to support Florida Republicans.
The company gave $125,000 to the Republican Party of Florida and $65,000 to a committee that helps elect GOP state senators, led by incoming state Senate President Kathleen Passidomo. All the donations, which were disclosed in new campaign filings Monday, arrived as the state legislative session was getting underway in January.
Disney last month announced it would pause making campaign donations in Florida amid a backlash over its jumbled response to the legislation.
The Human Rights Campaign’s TikTok account was suspended for two days after it posted in support of another TikTok user’s pro-LGBTQ+ video.
On Monday, the LGBTQ+ rights group wrote on Twitter explaining it had been suspended for a couple of days last week after it commented on a video protesting Florida’s “don’t say gay” law. The video in question showed a teenager driving past a sign welcoming people to the state while they yelled “gay!”
On Monday, the LGBTQ+ rights group wrote on Twitter explaining it had been suspended for a couple of days last week after it commented on a video protesting Florida’s “don’t say gay” law. The video in question showed a teenager driving past a sign welcoming people to the state while they yelled “gay!”
HRC posted “GAY” with hearts in yellow and blue, the organization’s colors. The comment received 2000 likes before it was taken down and reported by other TikTok users, according to HRC. The group’s account was suspended on April 3 and the group was notified on April 4. HRC had initially been told that its account would be suspended until April 10, however, they were able to appeal.
“What message does it send to young people when we comment or post LGBTQ+ content and it’s deemed inappropriate and a violation of community guidelines?,” Ty Cobb, senior director of strategic initiatives at HRC, told The Advocate in a statement. “We’re fighting a battle for our lives. Elected officials are trying to censor our speech and restrict our access to healthcare and equal opportunity. Our need to communicate to our community and allies is more important than ever right now. Having our TikTok account suspended for two days means our ability to post educational, affirming content was restricted, which is nothing short of devastating.”
TikTok has a history of blocking LGBTQ+ content. In 2020, the company even apologized for censoring it. The apology followed a report released by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute indicating that terms like “gay,” “lesbian,” and “transgender” were restricted in several languages for global users wherever they were.
In an email to The Advocate, a TikTok spokesperson explained the company took action immediately after it knew of the issue with HRC.
“We restored the comment as soon as we were made aware of this error and will continue to provide ongoing training to help our moderators make consistent and accurate decisions,” the spokesperson for the company said. “We are proud that LGBTQ+ community members choose to create and share on TikTok, and our policies seek to protect and empower these voices on our platform.”
The organizers and board of Seattle Pride has cut sponsorship ties with internet retail behemoth Amazon citing more than $450,000 to lawmakers who voted against the Equality Act and a demand by the Seattle-based company for naming rights to the annual LGBTQ+ Pride parade.
Seattle Pride Executive Director Krystal Marx told local media that donations to anti-LGBTQ+ Washington state politicians and the participation of anti-LGBTQ+ organizations in the company’s AmazonSmile program also factored into the decision.
Marx noted that while Amazon offered a $100,000 sponsorship buy in, which was significantly higher than past donations the company has made in previous years, there were strings attached that included a request to call the annual celebration “Seattle Pride Parade Presented by Amazon.” It felt as if Amazon was trying to buy the event and the nonprofit itself, Marx told media outlet The Seattle Times.
“It was important for us to really take a hard look at how do these values align with us,” she said. “This Pride Parade is for our community to celebrate, to remember Stonewall in 1969, to continue the fight for our rights, and we don’t feel it was possible to accept this money.”
Seattle Pride also cited $11,000 in contributions Amazon made to Washington legislators who sponsored anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-transgender bills during the 2022 session, NBC News affiliate KING-TV 5 reported.
“We simply cannot partner with any organization actively harming our community through the support of discriminatory laws and politics,” Seattle Pride said in a statement.
An Amazon spokesperson told KING 5 that the company works with lawmakers on a broad array of topics that impact their business, but that did not mean they agreed with “any individual or political organization 100 percent of the time on every issue.”
“This includes legislation that discriminates or encourages discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community,” a spokesperson said.
The company went on to cite their support for Seattle Pride and LGBTQ+ issues on a national scale.
“Amazon has long supported Seattle Pride because we believe that the rights of LGBTQ+ people must be protected. We stand together with the LGBTQ+ community, were early and strong supporters of marriage equality, and are working at the U.S. federal and state level on legislation, including supporting passage of the Equality Act,” a spokesperson said. “We also work hard to offer an inclusive environment for employees and for five consecutive years we’ve received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Corporate Equality Index.”
Seattle Pride said organizers are also “deeply concerned” about the company’s AmazonSmile program, which allows customers to donate to charities as they shop. Seattle Pride cited an investigation revealing more than 40 anti-LGBTQ+ organizations were signed up to receive funds through the program.
Amazon said an organization’s participation in the AmazonSmile program does not mean the company endorses their views.
“It’s critical Amazon and other corporate partners of Seattle Pride – and for other Pride events nationally – do not allow their platforms to be used by organizations which are actively working against the rights of LGBTQIA+ people,” Seattle Pride said in their statement.
When evaluating corporate sponsors, Marx says the group started from the top, with the companies that offered the largest donations and stood to benefit the most from exposure and involvement with the parade, she told the Seattle Times.
“Amazon has been a sponsor for the parade on and off since 2009. It has donated roughly $42,000 since then,” Marx said.
“We simply cannot partner with any organization actively harming our community through the support of discriminatory laws and politics. Making the decision to cut Amazon as a sponsor wasn’t an easy one,” Marx said, and it will affect the nonprofit’s finances.
Former staffers of animation studio Blue Sky have claimed they were pressured by Disney into censoring an LGBT+ scene from the movie adaptation of Nimona.
Nimona was originally published as a webcomic by ND Stevenson – the trans writer, cartoonist and animation producer behind acclaimed projects like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and Lumberjanes.
The fantasy comic about a shape-shifter named Nimona was eventually published as a graphic novel by HarperCollins and won an Eisner award in 2016. Nimona was picked up by Disney-acquired Blue Sky and was set to become a film before Disney closed the animation studio in 2021.
Three ex-Blue Sky workers told Business Insiderthat Disney didn’t fully approve of the film because it contained LGBT+ characters and themes.
The anonymous staffers said Disney executives particularly pushed back against one queer scene featuring a same-sex kiss in the movie during a meeting in mid-2020 between leadership teams.
The same-sex kiss in the movie would have been between villain Lord Ballister Blackheart and the supposedly heroic Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin, who have a romantic relationship in the comic.
Blue Sky’s leadership apparently “felt enough pressure” on them to remove the kiss from further pitch presentations to Disney, according to the workers.
But the sources told Insider that the animation studio apparently hoped to ultimately include the kiss in the final film.
Disney did not respond to Business Insider‘s request for comment on the allegations. PinkNews has also contacted Disney for comment.
The news comes after a group of LGBT+ Pixar staff accused Disney of cutting “nearly every moment of overtly gay affection” from their projects. The accusation, which was released in an open letter, claimed that animators were “being barred from creating” LGBT+ content by Disney despite fierce protests from “both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar”.
The letter called out the Disney’s delayed response to Florida’s reviled ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which would ban classroom discussion about LGBT+ identities in the state’s primary schools.
The three ex-Blue Sky members said that Nimona experience similar pressure from Disney’s top leaders and ultimately caused a rift in the formerly “tight-knit” workplace.
The workers told Insider that omitting the same-sex kiss caused “confusion” within the studio, which they described as akin to a “family”. One staffer said it “caused a weird atmosphere” at Blue Sky, especially among LGBT+ workers, that was completely different from his experience at the company.
Another worker said the group had come forward to not only highlight the need for “more queer stories” but to also “call out how nefarious it is when you don’t tell queer stories”.
“When the biggest entertainment company in the world creates content for children and systematically censors queer content, they are pushing queer children to dark places,” the worker said.
The third former worker called Nimona a film that they truly “believed in” and “loved”, and they “thought people needed to see” the movie.
Nimona was planned to be released in January 2022. Several Blue Sky employees told BuzzFeed Newslast year that the film was about 75 per cent complete – with only a couple more months of work left to finish the movie – when the studios were closed.
One of the former workers said they “personally didn’t see the support from Disney” while they worked on Nimona. They added that they didn’t think Disney had a “great track record of making queer-inclusive media”.
Twitter has refused to take down Texas attorney general Ken Paxton’s hateful tweet deliberately misgendering Dr Rachel Levine as it’s within the ‘public interest’.
On Thursday, the Texas attorney general decided to continue his anti-trans campaign by intentionally misgendering the nation’s only openly trans four-star admiral in a cruel statement on Twitter.
Despite immense backlash on social media, Twitter decided to let the tweet remain up despite it breaking the social media platform’s rules about hateful conduct and misgendering trans individuals.
Twitter posted an update on Ken Paxton’s tweet, acknowledging that it violates the website’s rules but would remain accessible because it “may be in the public’s interest”.
“As is standard with this notice, engagements with the tweet will be limited,” a spokesperson told PinkNews. “People will be able to quote the tweet, but will not be able to like, reply or retweet it.”
According to Twitter, an exception for having a tweet removed does require the account to be verified; have more than 100,000 followers; violate one or more rules; and represent a “current or potential member” of a legislative body.
The website states that it is “more likely to remove” a tweet if it includes a “declarative call to action that could harm a specific individual or group”. It will also remove tweets that “shares information or engages in behaviour that could directly interfere with an individual’s exercise of their fundamental rights”.
The outlet named the top Biden official as one of its “Women of the Year” for her trailblazing work and role during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of her interview for the accolade, the US assistant secretary for health sent a beautiful message of acceptance to trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming Americans.
“I think you have to be true to yourself, and I think that you have to be who you are,” Dr Levine said.
“You have tremendous worth just for who you are, no matter who you love, no matter who you are, no matter what your gender identity, sexual orientation or anything else, and to be, be true to that. And then everything else will follow.”
Walt Disney Co. employees at corporate locations across the U.S. plan to get up from their desks and head to the exits Tuesday to protest CEO Bob Chapek’s response to Florida legislation that LGBTQ advocates have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
LGBTQ workers and allies are expected to participate in a general walkout at office locations in California, Florida and elsewhere, a group of employees announced last week on a website that calls out Chapek by name.
In recent weeks, Chapek has come under intense internal criticism and public scrutiny for not having taken a more forceful stand against HB 1557, a bill that would prohibit instruction about “sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through the third grade in Florida.
Chapek drew pointed criticism for saying in a companywide memoMarch 7 that the corporation can make the “biggest impact” by “creating a more inclusive world through the inspiring content we produce.”
The corporation’s position on the bill appeared to be especially galling to some of the tens of thousands of Disney employees in Florida, home to the sprawling Walt Disney World theme park and resort in Orlando.
Chapek, who ascended to the throne of the Magic Kingdom in 2020, apologized directly to employees in a letter released March 11.
“It is clear that this is not just an issue about a bill in Florida, but instead yet another challenge to basic human rights. You needed me to be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights and I let you down,” Chapek said in the letter. “I am sorry.”
He also announced that the company would pause all donations to elected officials in Florida.
But the letter did not end the outcry.
LGBTQ employees started making plans for a series of protests during breaks, culminating in a general walkout Tuesday. They announced their plans on a website (whereischapek.com) and an Instagram account called disney_walkout.https://iframe.nbcnews.com/nFbqpav?_showcaption=true&app=1
“The recent statements and lack of action by TWDC [The Walt Disney Co.] leadership regarding the ‘Don’t Say Gay or Trans’ bill have utterly failed to match the magnitude of the threat to LGBTQIA+ safety represented by this legislation,” the employees said.
“We have been forced into an impossible and unsustainable position. We must now take action to convince TWDC to protect employees and their families in the face of such open and unapologetic bigotry.”
Chapek tried to rectify the situation in a virtual town hall Monday, according to The Wall Street Journal, telling employees that he and other top executives were “determined to use this moment as a catalyst for more meaningful and lasting change.”
The Journal, citing people who attended the event, reported that Chapek said he and other senior leaders would go on a global listening tour of employees.
Google Play Store has removed a conversion therapy app developed by the Malaysian government that claimed to help LGBT+ people “return to the right path”.
Google has now pulled the controversial conversion therapy app from its store for violations against the digital giant’s policies. Under Google’s guidelines, apps cannot “attempt to deceive users” or “enable dishonest behaviour including but not limited to apps which are determined to be functionally impossible”.
Google toldthe Guardian: “Whenever an app is flagged to us, we investigate against our Play Store policies and if violations are found we take appropriate action to maintain a trusted experience for all.”
Hijrah Diri Homoseksualiti claimed in its description on the Google app store that it would offer “suggestions, ideas, explanations and interpretations” to help users “overcome the problem of homosexuality”.
JAKIM said in a follow-up tweet that the app allegedly contains an “eBook that refers to the true experience of a gay man who migrated during Ramadan to abandon homosexual behaviour”.
Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Malaysia researcher for Amnesty International, told the Guardian that conversion therapy is a “deeply discriminatory” and “harmful practice” that cause cause “long-lasting damage to those who are subject to it”.
“It has been criminalised in many countries,” Chhoa-Howard said. “We call on the Malaysian authorities to immediately abandon its use of Hijrah Diri, and instead ensure respect and protect LGBTI rights in the country.”
The conversion therapy app was hugely concerning for human rights activists as LGBT+ people in Malaysia face execution, torture and decades in prison for living their truth.
Malaysia’s penal code criminalised sex between same-sex partners, which it described as “carnal intercourse against the order of nature”, with up to 20 years in prison and whipping.
According to Human Dignity Trust, there was a “serious crackdown” on the LGBT+ community after the new government came into power in 2018, resulting in a spike in arrests and assaults against LGBT+ people.
Human Rights Watch has denounced the Malaysian government for not acting on “discrimination against LGBT+ people”, adding it “remains pervasive and appears to be on the rise”.
The nonprofit warned that authorities have proposed a “range of changes to Sharia (Islamic law) regulations” that would harm the LGBT+ community including “harsher sentences for same-sex conduct and gender expression”.
Nur Sajat, a trans social media personality and businesswoman, made headlines after she fled Malaysia to escape persecution and charges of “insulting Islam”, which carries a prison sentence of up to three years.
Disney employees are staging a week of walkouts over CEO Bob Chapek’s response to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.
Disney has faced stiff criticism for its muddled response to the bill, which would ban the discussion of LGBT+ lives in classrooms. Disney initially refused to make a public statement and defended its political donations to Republicans who helped push the bill through before apologising and pausing donations.
Organising as the Disney Do Better group, LGBT+ people and allies working for the company are urging bosses to do more, including by ending all donations to lawmakers who supported the law indefinitely.
“By supporting the politicians who brought this legislation and not taking a public stand against it, Chapek and [The Walt Disney Compant] leadership have made it clear they are more than willing to sacrifice their employee’s health and wellness in service of the bottom line,” the group wrote in an open letter.
“We will stand for this anymore.”
From Tuesday (15 March) to Monday, employees will stage “break” walkouts from 3pm and 3:15pm, culminating in a full-day walkout next Tuesday.
Including more than 10,000 words worth of testimony from staff, organisers say they want to make it clear Disney has “utterly failed” in its response to the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, according to their website WhereIsChapek.com.
Organisers are demanding that Disney put pressure on Florida lawmakers by stopping all investment and construction in the state – where it employs more than 77,000 people – “until hateful legislation is repealed”.
It must also stop “any efforts to move employees to Florida office location” and guarantee that no employee will be fired as a result of denying relocation, the group demand.
Disney Do Better is also calling for the entertainment giant to improve LGBT+ representation in its content, with a dedicated brand to be created “focusing on LGBTQ+ creators and underrepresented voices”.
Disney is also being urged to reaffirm its committment to protecting and advocating for LGBT+ staff, and to “take responsibility for their inaction to protect the rights of LGBTQIA+ children and their families by making substantial contributions to The Trevor Project and other human rights advocacy groups”.
Employees taking part in the action work for Disney’s corporate offices, Lucasfilm, Pixar, Bento Box, Disney Television Animation the Disney Animation Studio, and more, according to Disney Do Better.
Disney demonstrators ‘ashamed’ to work as ‘hypocritical’ company
News that Disney had donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to lawmakers backing the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill was followed by silence, then clumsy statements that ignited outrage both within and outside of the company.
CEO Bob Chapek eventually apologised for the company’s response, saying he has temporarily paused all political donations and would donate $5 million to the Human Rights Campaign. The LGBT+ charity refused the donation until Disney takes “meaningful action” against the bill.
Chapek admitted that he “let [the company] down” in his response in a memo.
“I missed the mark in this case,” he wrote, “but am an ally you can count on.”
Previously, the CEO had suggested that telling “diverse stories” was far more impactful than a statement publicly denouncing the law. Corporate statements “do very little to change outcomes or minds”, he said.
Disney Do Better said this statement amounted to an attempt to “placate the LGBTQIA+ community with subpar representation”.
“You cannot fix this with educational seminars or token background characters — even organizations like [the Human Rights Campaign] refuse your money until action is taken.”
“Those statements have indicated that leadership still does not truly understand the impact this legislation is having not only on cast members in the state of Florida but on all members of the LGBTQIA+ community in the company and beyond”.
While it remains unclear exactly how many staff are taking part in the protests, the Disney Walkout Twitter has more than 1,200 followers.
Ahead of Tuesday’s first protest, the account shared statements from employees about why they are walking out.
“I am ashamed to work for a company that boasts about inclusivity and yet supports states and politicians that put lives, education, livelihoods and overall wellbeing of our LGBTQIA+ selves, siblings and families in jeopardy,” wrote one employee.
“Enough hypocrisy, it’s time for authenticity and transparency.”
Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill has been approved by both houses and is on the desk of governor Ron DeSantis, who has indicated his support.
Malaysia’s government has launched a conversion therapy app to help LGBT+ people “return to nature” – and it’s being platformed by Google.
The app, Hijrah Diri Homoseksualiti, was released by Malaysia’s Department of Islamic Development (JAKIM), and is currently available from the GooglePlay Store.
According to its description on Google’s app store, it includes “suggestions, ideas, explanations and interpretations” to help users “overcome the problem of homosexuality”.
The app also contains an e-book by an “ex-gay” Muslim man, in which he describes how he “is confronted with some of the things that provoke him to commit this sin, and how to bear the burden of having committed same-sex sins in the past”.
The Good Play Store rating for the app is “E”, which according to Google means the app is “suitable for all ages”.
LGBT+ people in Malaysia face execution, torture and decades in prison
Even more concerning is the level of data the government app collects from users, in a country where gay sex is punishable with up to 20 years in prison and mandatory caning, according to Human Rights Watch. Vigilante executions and torture of LGBT+ people are not uncommon.
Idris Ahmad, the minister responsible for the Department of Islamic Development (JAKIM) which launched the app, announced just last year that he had set up a “task force” to strengthen laws against LGBT+ people.
“We need to strengthen existing laws, as LGBT activists and icons are promoting a toxic lifestyle openly through social media,” he said in January, 2021.
“It must be done in an effort to prevent the normalisation of LGBT from becoming a culture in our society that can lead to the collapse of the family institution.”
So, it seems far from a coincidence that the department’s conversion therapy app, according to the Google Play Store, has access to users’ identity, contacts, location, photos and media filed, camera, microphone and wifi connection information.
Announcing the app on Twitter, JAKIM said it would “help the LGBT community return to nature”.
The app has received significant backlash in its Google Play reviews, but at the time of writing remains available for download.
One reviewer asked: “Why does an e-book need to access location, storage, camera, microphone? You guys trying to track gay people?”
“This app is a government sponsored LGBT religious conversion therapy tool,” wrote another.
“I believe bigoted and hateful software such as this app has no place in the Google Play Store, or anywhere online.”
PinkNews has approached Google for comment, but has not received a response at the time of writing.