If you didn’t ‘gram it, did it even happen? We know that those of us who can’t help documenting our every moment on social media already took a great picture (or 10). Now all you need is a quote to elevate your post with a caption that will have everyone hitting “like” faster than RuPaul can say, “You better work.” This year, the LGBTQ+ community is celebrating Pride Month even louder and prouder than ever, after a year of living our truths in isolation.
Whether you want to post about it on Instagram, send out the perfect tweet to express your feelings about equality or mail cards to mark the occasion with your partner or your ride-or-die crew, you need a sentiment that captures the moment. We’ve got you covered, with our favorite Pride Month quotes from celebrities, LGBTQ+ movies, LGBTQ+ books and pop culture moments. From poignant reflections on how far we’ve come and the path we still have to travel, to empowering messages that will pump you up, to silly or funny sayings that help you share the joy that comes with being part of the rainbow family, there’s a saying out there for every kind of Pride.
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1Harvey Milk
2President Barack Obama
When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free.
3Tim Cook
So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.
4Chaz Bono
I’ve been embraced by a new community. That’s what happens when you’re finally honest about who you are; you find others like you.
5Anderson Cooper
I think being gay is a blessing, and it’s something I am thankful for every single day.
6Rachel Maddow
The single best thing about coming out of the closet is that nobody can insult you by telling you what you’ve just told them.
7Brittney Griner
I am a strong, black, lesbian woman. Every single time I say it, I feel so much better.
8Elliot Page
This world would be a whole lot better if we just made an effort to be less horrible to one another.
9Jason Collins
I want to do the right thing and not hide anymore. I want to march for tolerance, acceptance and understanding. I want to take a stand and say, “Me, too.”
10George Takei
We should indeed keep calm in the face of difference, and live our lives in a state of inclusion and wonder at the diversity of humanity.
11Chris Colfer
There’s nothing wrong with you. There’s a lot wrong with the world you live in.
12Gertrude Stein
You look ridiculous if you dance. You look ridiculous if you don’t dance. So you might as well dance.
13Michael Cunningham
I was not ladylike, nor was I manly. I was something else altogether. There were so many different ways to be beautiful.
14Alice Walker
No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow.
15Audre Lorde
We are powerful because we have survived.
16Zanele Muholi
If I wait for someone else to validate my existence, it will mean that I’m shortchanging myself.
17Hillary Clinton
Gay rights are human rights.
18Megan Rapinoe
The more I’ve been able to learn about gay rights and equal pay and gender equity and racial inequality, the more that it all intersects. You can’t really pick it apart. It’s all intertwined.
19Laverne Cox
We are not what other people say we are. We are who we know ourselves to be, and we are what we love. That’s okay.
20Dalai Lama
Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.
21Taylor Swift
Why are you mad? When you could be GLAAD?
22Brené Brown
Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do.
23Lena Waithe
To be yourself is truly a revolutionary act, and I think more and more people should try it, because it’s gotten me a pretty cool life.
24Harry Winston
People will stare. Make it worth their while.
25Zachary Quinto
Our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizen of this country.
26Dolly Parton
I am not gay, but if I were, I would be the first one running out of the closet.
27River Phoenix
It still strikes me as strange that anyone could have any moral objection to someone else’s sexuality. It’s like telling someone else how to clean their house.
28Lady Gaga
Baby, I was born this way.
29Shrek
After a while, you learn to ignore the names people call you and just trust who you are.
30Dr. Seuss
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those matter don’t mind.
31Lizzo
From the playboys to the gay boys, go and slay, boys.
32What a Girl Wants
Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?
33Jason Collins
Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it’s a good place to start.
34Halsey
I’m a young, bisexual woman, and I’ve spent a large part of my life trying to validate myself — to my friends, to my family, to myself — trying to prove that who I love and how I feel is not a phase.
35Amanda Stenberg
Gender and sexuality are so fluid. It’s OK to change your mind a million times and figure out what works for you. It’s OK to take your time.
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Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activists in Japan and their allies have for years been pressing the Diet, the national parliament, to introduce legislation that protects sexual orientation and gender identity as grounds for nondiscrimination. One proposed law – the Equality Act – is currently under intense negotiation among Japan’s political parties. In April, the ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) announced it would pass an LGBT law during the current Diet session, set to end in June.
But for weeks the LDP has been trying to water down the law, offering instead their own weaker bill that, instead of protecting against discrimination, promises to only “promote understanding of LGBT people.”
It is not only the bill’s language that has been fraught. The negotiations have exposed deep anti-LGBT sentiments within the ranks of the LDP.
At a meeting a few weeks ago, Koji Shigeuchi, adviser to the LDP’s committee to study sexual orientation and gender identity, expressed falsehoods and prejudices about transgender people. In a speech titled “The LGBT issue is getting out of control,” he told his audience of policymakers that protecting LGBT people from discrimination and recognizing gender identity would mean people could say they were “a man today, and a woman tomorrow.” He falsely said that trans women posed a threat to cisgender women and directly told a trans woman elected official in the audience: “There is no need for you to have your hormone therapy covered by insurance because you are healthy. You should live with the body you were born with.”
Now media reports this week indicate that LDP members oppose the bill, saying that “LGBT goes against the preservation of the human race.”
Japanese officials insultingLGBT people is not new, but it is increasingly out of touch with Japanese public opinion and the government’s place on the world stage. In two months, Japan hosts the Summer Olympics, which will likely feature the first openly transgender athlete to compete at the Games. The Olympic Charter prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
LDP legislators are out of line. Other LDP leaders should override their ugly rhetoric and pass the Equality Act immediately.
Syrian convicted over fatal attack on gay couple in Germany
BERLIN — A Syrian man was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison Friday for stabbing a gay couple in the German city of Dresden, killing one man and seriously wounding his partner in an attack last year that prosecutors said was motivated by Islamic beliefs.
The state court in Dresden convicted the 21-year-old, who has been identified only as Abdullah A.H.H. in line with German privacy rules, of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm, news agency dpa reported. Judges ruled that he bears particularly severe guilt, which effectively means he won’t be released after 15 years as is common in Germany.
The attack took place on Oct. 4 as the two men in their 50s were visiting Dresden.
The court found that the defendant attacked the couple from behind because he believed homosexuality to be a “grave sin.”
The presiding judge, Hans Schlueter-Staats, said the defendant had confessed not out of remorse but to reveal his motives, and the court said it considers him still dangerous.
“It was a crime committed out of religious delusion,” Schlueter-Staats said. The judge said the two men’s injuries showed “with what force and absolute intention to kill he stabbed them,” and one of them survived only by luck.
The defendant, a native of Aleppo who came to Germany as a refugee in 2015, had been released from prison a month before the attack after serving a three-year juvenile sentence for promoting the extremist Islamic State group and subsequently attacking a prison guard.
He was arrested almost three weeks after stabbing the couple in Dresden.
Maximilian Klefens, a lawyer for the surviving victim, said the sentence was “a just punishment.”
“My client can now find peace,” he said.
The defendant listened to the verdict without showing any obvious emotion.
His lawyer, Peter Hollstein, said it was not yet clear whether he would appeal.
“I can’t say whether he will accept it,” he said.
The defense had argued for him to be tried under juvenile law.
Josh Barnett and his boyfriend Nathan were called “dirty homos” in Wimbledon. (Provided)
A gay man was left “shocked and incredibly angry” when he and his boyfriend were spat at and called “dirty homos” for the simple act of holding hands in public.
The heartbreaking homophobic incident occurred on Tuesday, 11 May shortly after Josh Barnett, 24, met his boyfriend Nathan, 21, outside the Centre Court Shopping Centre in Wimbledon, London.
Shortly afterwards, while walking along the street hand in hand, Barnett noticed somebody was walking “incredibly close” behind them. He thought the man’s behaviour seemed strange, but he didn’t think too much of it – until he heard “spit hit the floor”.
“We turned around to be faced with a man who, after spitting at us, proceeded to call us ‘dirty homos’,” Barnett told PinkNews. “I then confronted the man, as I was understandably both shocked and incredibly angry, and filmed him as he swore at us, to try and get footage I could give to the police.”
The man fled the scene as soon as Barnett started filming him, but the incident left both Barnett and his boyfriend shaken. They had never experienced homophobic harassment on the streets before, and neither expected to be targeted for being gay while walking hand-in-hand in broad daylight.
“I was absolutely furious at what had happened. I just could not believe it. I have been fortunate not to have suffered any anti-social behaviour like this towards me before, so it came as a real shock,” he said.
Gay couple ‘overwhelmed’ by support from LGBT+ community over homophobic incident
Later that day, Barnett – still upset and angry at the treatment he and his boyfriend had endured – posted his recording of the incident on Twitter. Since sharing the footage, he has been flooded with reams of supportive messages from queer people – many of whom said they have experienced similar incidents.
“The support from the LGBTQ+ community has been overwhelming,” Barnett said. “There came a point where I had to stop trying to reply to every kind comment of support on Twitter as it gained so much attention.
“It really showed both Nathan and I just how much love and care there is out there within our community, and certainly made us feel like we weren’t alone in what had happened, which is unfortunately still a sad reality of being LGBTQ+.”
Normally wouldn’t do this, but Nathan and I were walking through Wimbledon holding hands, when this guy spat on the floor just behind us and proceeded to call us “dirty homos” & swear. It’s disgusting. We continued holding hands and are proud, but come on…in 2021? Be kind ✌🏼🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/I8K6xUfCwO
After sharing the video on Twitter, the Metropolitan Police reached out and urged Barnett to file an official complaint about the incident.
“I went to Wimbledon Police Station the following day, where I was treated with complete care and consideration for what had happened,” Barnett said.
“An officer took an official statement from me, and over the following days, I was kept up to date with what they were doing via both email and phone calls. I sent them the video I had of the man, which they have now circulated on their system as an open case, in the hope that somebody might recognise him.
“He hasn’t yet been tracked down, however, the case is ongoing,” Barnett explained.
While he believes the only way to stamp out LGBT+ hate is to call it out, Barnett urged gay people to be cautious in the way they respond to incidents like these. He felt safe confronting and filming the man because they were on “a busy high street in the middle of the day surrounded by people and CCTV, and only a stone’s throw away from the police station”.
“I wanted to stand up to him and film him as calling out and exposing this sort of behaviour is the only way people like him learn they cannot do that to someone, and it also shows others that it is still happening,” Barnett said.
“The more people are aware, the more allies we gain, the greater support we have to fight this behaviour that has never, does not, and will never, have a place in our society.”
A gay man was left “shocked and incredibly angry” when he and his boyfriend were spat at and called “dirty homos” for the simple act of holding hands in public.
The heartbreaking homophobic incident occurred on Tuesday, 11 May shortly after Josh Barnett, 24, met his boyfriend Nathan, 21, outside the Centre Court Shopping Centre in Wimbledon, London.
Shortly afterwards, while walking along the street hand in hand, Barnett noticed somebody was walking “incredibly close” behind them. He thought the man’s behaviour seemed strange, but he didn’t think too much of it – until he heard “spit hit the floor”.
“We turned around to be faced with a man who, after spitting at us, proceeded to call us ‘dirty homos’,” Barnett told PinkNews. “I then confronted the man, as I was understandably both shocked and incredibly angry, and filmed him as he swore at us, to try and get footage I could give to the police.”
The man fled the scene as soon as Barnett started filming him, but the incident left both Barnett and his boyfriend shaken. They had never experienced homophobic harassment on the streets before, and neither expected to be targeted for being gay while walking hand-in-hand in broad daylight.
“I was absolutely furious at what had happened. I just could not believe it. I have been fortunate not to have suffered any anti-social behaviour like this towards me before, so it came as a real shock,” he said.
Gay couple ‘overwhelmed’ by support from LGBT+ community over homophobic incident
Later that day, Barnett – still upset and angry at the treatment he and his boyfriend had endured – posted his recording of the incident on Twitter. Since sharing the footage, he has been flooded with reams of supportive messages from queer people – many of whom said they have experienced similar incidents.
“The support from the LGBTQ+ community has been overwhelming,” Barnett said. “There came a point where I had to stop trying to reply to every kind comment of support on Twitter as it gained so much attention.
“It really showed both Nathan and I just how much love and care there is out there within our community, and certainly made us feel like we weren’t alone in what had happened, which is unfortunately still a sad reality of being LGBTQ+.”
After sharing the video on Twitter, the Metropolitan Police reached out and urged Barnett to file an official complaint about the incident.
“I went to Wimbledon Police Station the following day, where I was treated with complete care and consideration for what had happened,” Barnett said.
“An officer took an official statement from me, and over the following days, I was kept up to date with what they were doing via both email and phone calls. I sent them the video I had of the man, which they have now circulated on their system as an open case, in the hope that somebody might recognise him.
“He hasn’t yet been tracked down, however, the case is ongoing,” Barnett explained.
While he believes the only way to stamp out LGBT+ hate is to call it out, Barnett urged gay people to be cautious in the way they respond to incidents like these. He felt safe confronting and filming the man because they were on “a busy high street in the middle of the day surrounded by people and CCTV, and only a stone’s throw away from the police station”.
“I wanted to stand up to him and film him as calling out and exposing this sort of behaviour is the only way people like him learn they cannot do that to someone, and it also shows others that it is still happening,” Barnett said.
“The more people are aware, the more allies we gain, the greater support we have to fight this behaviour that has never, does not, and will never, have a place in our society.”
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A recurring roundup of news tidbits related to LGBTQ people and issues in sports.
Curt Miller suspended and fined:
May 25, 2021: The WNBA fined and suspended Connecticut Sun head coach Curt Miller for making a disparaging remark about an opposing player’s weight. During the Suns’ game Sunday against the Las Vegas Aces, center Liz Cambage says Miller tried to appeal to the officials to call a foul by referring to her as “300 pounds.” The WNBA fined Miller, who is gay, $10,000 and suspended him for Tuesday’s contest against the Seattle Storm. On a Zoom press conference Monday, Miller issued an apology: “It was inappropriate. It wasn’t directed at Liz, but it makes no difference. I’m disappointed in myself and truly sorry, remorseful.”
Cabbage publicized the incident in an incendiary Instagram video, in which she mocked Miller’s height. “Little sir man, I do not know your name,” she said. “It may seem like 300 pounds to your little eyes, but I’m 235, baby.”
Top women’s soccer goalie marries her partner
May 24, 2021: Chilean national team goalkeeper Christiane Endler, also known as Tiane Endler, came out publicly by marrying her partner Sofía Orozco in France last week. Endler this month was also voted the best goalie in the French first division while playing for Paris Saint-Germain. The wedding photos, which you can see here, were posted by Endler’s PSG teammate Arianna Criscione, who wrote, “Love doesn’t make the world go ‘round. Love is what makes the love worthwhile. Thanks for letting me be part of your special day.”
May 20, 2021: Israel Folau is planning his return to Australia’s rugby league. Folau was released from his last club for his history of homophobia, including saying gays will go to hell if they don’t repent.
Rapinoe a cover model
May 19, 2021: Soccer star Megan Rapinoe is the cover model for the June-July issue of Harper’s Bazaar. You can catch a glimpse here. Rapinoe identifies as gay.
Trans athlete doc to debut
May 18, 2021:“Changing the Game,” a documentary following three transgender high school athletes, will debut on Hulu on June 1.
A recurring roundup of news tidbits related to LGBTQ people and issues in sports.
Top women’s soccer goalie marries her partner
May 24, 2021: Chilean national team goalkeeper Christiane Endler, also known as Tiane Endler, came out publicly by marrying her partner Sofía Orozco in France last week. Endler this month was also voted the best goalie in the French first division while playing for Paris Saint-Germain. The wedding photos, which you can see here, were posted by Endler’s PSG teammate Arianna Criscione, who wrote, “Love doesn’t make the world go ‘round. Love is what makes the love worthwhile. Thanks for letting me be part of your special day.”
May 20, 2021: Israel Folau is planning his return to Australia’s rugby league. Folau was released from his last club for his history of homophobia, including saying gays will go to hell if they don’t repent.
Rapinoe a cover model
May 19, 2021: Soccer star Megan Rapinoe is the cover model for the June-July issue of Harper’s Bazaar. You can catch a glimpse here. Rapinoe identifies as gay.
Trans athlete doc to debut
May 18, 2021:“Changing the Game,” a documentary following three transgender high school athletes, will debut on Hulu on June 1.
May 20, 2021: Israel Folau is planning his return to Australia’s rugby league. Folau was released from his last club for his history of homophobia, including saying gays will go to hell if they don’t repent.
Rapinoe a cover model
May 19, 2021: Soccer star Megan Rapinoe is the cover model for the June-July issue of Harper’s Bazaar. You can catch a glimpse here. Rapinoe identifies as gay.
Trans athlete doc to debut
May 18, 2021:“Changing the Game,” a documentary following three transgender high school athletes, will debut on Hulu on June 1.
CBS Bret LaBelle on ‘Survivor: Millennials vs Gen X’
On “Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X,” castaway Bret LaBelle came out publicly as gay for the very first time. Find out how it affected him and how he was received after the episode aired, plus what he’s been up to since appearing on “Survivor” — it might be the best post-“Survivor” life we have heard of so far.
LaBelle Said Coming Out Is His Proudest ‘Survivor’ Moment
In a recent interview with “Entertainment Weekly,” LaBelle said that coming out to Zeke Smith on “Millennials vs. Gen X” was such a proud moment for him and that it lifted such a weight off his shoulders.
“[Coming out] was a long time coming. I had an internal struggle with myself with coming out and being gay for years,” said LaBelle. “When I mentioned it on the show, it was like a huge weight off my shoulders, and I found that it really helped me in my personal life going forward. The support I received from family, friends, and co-workers was amazing. I wish I had come out sooner.”
He also praised CBS for waiting to reveal that he was gay until late in the season because it let everyone get to know him for himself first.
“I definitely loved that [the editors] waited to spring on everyone that I was gay till the end of the season,” said LaBelle. “It gave everyone time to judge me and make their own conclusions on who I was long before they knew my entire story. It’s a great old lesson that we should ALL learn again today: Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
Fellow “Survivor” castaway Smith has shared similar sentiments about being outed on the show — Smith didnt choose to come out as transgender, he was outed at Tribal Council by Jeff Varner. But he said on an episode of “For Real: The Story of Reality TV” that he was very happy with the way “Survivor” handled that episode.
“The day after I got voted out, I was on the phone with Jeff Probst and he made a handful of promises to me about how my outing was going to be handled,” said Smith. “He was like, ‘We’re not gonna promote it, we’re not gonna sensationalize it, I’m gonna go to bat for you.’ He kept every single one of those promises.”
LaBelle’s Post-‘Survivor’ Life is Kind of Amazing
LaBelle also revealed that after the “Millennials vs. Gen X” finale aired, he traveled to Australia and then Hawaii — and he never left.
“[Hawaii] tuned out to be my last stop as I have never left. I loved the beaches, the weather, and the ambiance of this beautiful place,” said LaBelle. But it probably doesn’t hurt that that is also where he met the love of life.
“It was here in Hanauma bay, while sipping on my fourth Mai Tai under my favorite mangrove tree, where I met the love of my life, Wolfgang Johan — a German surfer from Otterndorf, Germany who had recently relocated to Oahu. Our days were filled with beaches, food, surfing, and drinking. We made our home in an ancient Hawaiian hut called an Hale Noho. Life was good,” said LaBelle.
He competed on “The Amazing Race” with fellow “Survivor” castaway Chris Hammons, but other than that, he mostly just chills in Hawaii and does his podcast with his friend Larry called “In the Drunk Tank.”
LaBelle is also involved with charitable organization Hearts of Reality and through that, he has met a lot of other “Survivor” alums and other reality stars. He and fellow “Amazing Race” contestant Leo Temory recently attended the wedding of their “Amazing Race” castmates and “Big Brother” alums Nicole Franzel and Victor Arroyo in Florida.
“Survivor” is back in production now. If the pattern holds, it should be premiering its 41st season the third or fourth week of September 2021.
Crona and Suzy Byrne will speak about what it was like to grow up as the daughters of Ireland’s most famous broadcaster, Gay Byrne on the Late Late Show tonight.
They will reveal to Ryan Tubridy what their relationship with their dad was like and how they have all been coping since his death in November 2019.
Here’s all you need to know about the daughters of one of Ireland’s most loved broadcasters.
Who are Crona and Suzy Byrne?
Crona Byrne runs the Owl and Pussycat daycare and after-school in Killaloe, Co Clare with her husband Paul Carney.
Since the passing of her father in 2019, Crona has gone on to become an author, writing a crime novel that is dedicated to Gay.
Gay’s family have been by his side for his entire career: Wife Kathleen and daughters Suzy and Crona (Image: Collins)
The book, which has been in the works for the last four years, will be published this year.
Gay’s eldest daughter, Suzy, pulled at the nation’s heartstrings at her father’s funeral service paying an emotional tribute to the man.
She added: “Dad had no fear of death. But, he did have two wishes: To be in his beloved Howth and not to suffer.”
This picture from the 1970s shows Gay with his young family at home – wife Kathleen and daughters Suzy and Crona (Image: Collins)
Suzy paid an emotional tribute to her legendary father at his funeral mass in Dublin two years ago, thanking family, friends and staff at the Mater Hospital who looked after Gaybo over the years.
And during her eulogy, she thanked everyone for their kind words, and everyone who had turned out to honour the iconic Late Late Show presenter.
How is Kathleen Watkins? Wife of Gay for 55 years and mother to Crona and Suzy Byrne
Suzy Byrne, Kathleen Watkins, Gay Byrne & Crona Byrne at launch of Gay Byrne’s new book
Their mother Kathleen Watkins previously spoke about clearing out Gay Byrne’s old office in their home.
The couple were married for 55 years before Gay passed away on November 4 2019 after a long battle with cancer.
Kathleen has released a book of poetry and is currently working on a follow-up with publisher Gill Books.
Speaking to Ray D’Arcy on RTE Radio One last year, Kathleen said: “I’m doing my best in more ways than one.
Kathleen Watkins on the Late Late with Ryan Tubridy
“I’m alone, of course, but my daughter, Suzy, is filling my fridge regularly and my niece, Susan, is flying around looking after the three widowed Watkins sisters.
“I have been tidying up Gay’s office, where I’m speaking to you now from.
“After a lifetime of broadcasting, there’s a lot to be tidied up.
“I’m also putting together five lots of photographs for each of my five grandchildren, so they’ll each have a box.
Gay Byrne and his wife Kathleen Watkins (Image: Damien Eagers/PA Wire)
“And I’m exercising a little bit of every hour if I can.
“In the afternoon I have a snooze, and I’m sparkling after that.
“I’m not big into technology but because I’m forced to be here on my own, it’s amazing what you’re learning when you have to.”
Sexual orientation can and does impact a professional sports career. Athletes face fears and assumptions about homosexuality and gender roles.
For gay and lesbian athletes and coaches, being out of the sporting community may be an isolating and difficult process. Discrimination, abuse, intimidation, and brutality can be directed at gays and lesbians in athletics, as much as in other occupations. According to a recent survey by the Human Rights Campaign, seventy percent of LGBT people do not come out to their peers and coaches when participating in sports. According to the OutSport Survey, eighty-two percent of athletes have heard transphobic or homophobic words in their sport. On the brighter side, athletes who have boldly stuck up for who they and been embraced by their peers and supporters have existed throughout history.
How LGBT Athletes Can Deal with Loneliness
Like all LGBT people, athletes are prone to feelings of loneliness but more so because they have high pressure and high expectation job. A gay athlete may remain in the closet because he or she is afraid of rejection and, as a result, alienation from others. To prevent being shunned by the team or sport, such an individual conceals his or her sexual orientation. The closet is a lonely environment, which the closeted individual is unaware of. Society will welcome him or her as a celebrity, but they are unaware of who they are accepting. In any situation, the knowledge that those surrounding the gay person don’t even know him or her isolates the gay person. As a result, preventing isolation creates yet another type of isolation. Staying in the closet protects them from alienation and separation from others, but it still isolates them from those who would have welcomed them with open arms. A way out of this situation is to sign up on a dating site and engage in some meaningful gay or lesbian online chatting with another person with the same dilemma. Gay people and right-minded straight people welcome and love them when they are out and proud.
LGBT Discrimination and Impacts on Sport
Because of the special and influential role that sports play in our culture, it is important to counter homophobia in sports. Millions of people look up to professional, collegiate, and even high school athletes as role models. Moreover, the lives of these players on and off the field captivate millions of sports fans. As athletes share homophobic views, their unusual and influential positions cause them to pass on this homophobia to those who admire them, whether purposely or unintentionally. In addition, many children participate in sports such as Little League, pee-wee football, baseball, and softball. The homophobic views of their coaches affect these impressionable children. Homophobia and bigotry also harm both gay and lesbian players and coaches. These people shouldn’t have to worry about getting “figured out” and losing their careers, game time, or scholarships.
Famous LGBT Athletes
There is a long tradition of proudly LGBT individuals participating in professional athletics. Women athletes have generally been quicker to come out than males. The explanations for these trends are complicated and debatable, but these are strong signs of human bravery over the last few decades.
Martina Navratilova, a Czech-American tennis player, came out as bisexual in 1981. Navratilova, then a rising star, went on to win a record 167 singles tournaments and establish herself as perhaps the best female tennis player of all time. She claims that bigotry based on her sexual orientation cost her a lot at the time, but that didn’t deter her from speaking out on LGBT issues.
In 2004, LPGA star Rosie Jones came out as a lesbian while also announcing a sponsorship contract with Olivia. This company organizes lesbian-themed cruises and holidays, demonstrating that the financial consequences of outdoing do not have to be all bad.
The women’s US national soccer team won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019, but all eyes were on Megan Rapinoe, the star player and captain. As an openly gay woman, the athlete soon made a name for herself in a series of TV appearances, where she expressed her advocacy for women’s rights and LGBT rights.
Billie Jean King is one of the most well-known tennis players. She won 39 Gram Slam titles during her career, which spanned 1966 to 1975. King was outed as a lesbian in 1981, and her publicists advised her to refute the assertion. But she stood her ground and said that telling the truth was important to her.
Sheryl Swoopes is a three-time Olympic gold medalist and one of the first women to be drafted into the WNBA. She came out as a bisexual in 2005. She said it felt like she was able to exhale after seven or eight years.
More than 120 years after an infamous police raid rocked Mexican high society, Netflix has released “Dance of the Forty One,” a fictionalized retelling of a major political scandal that has had a lasting impact on the country’s culture and depictions of the LGBTQ community.
Directed by David Pablos and penned by Monika Revilla, the film — which premiered in Mexican theaters in November and is now streaming on Netflix — follows the double life of Ignacio de la Torre y Mier (Alfonso Herrera), a businessman, politician and son-in-law of President Porfirio Díaz (Fernando Becerril). As his wife, Amada (Mabel Cadena), begins to grow suspicious of his whereabouts, Ignacio begins to develop a fatal attraction to a man named Evaristo Rivas (Emiliano Zurita), whom he introduces to his clandestine club of homosexual men.
The film’s title — its original in Spanish is “El Baile de los 41” — refers to the night of Nov. 17, 1901, when police raided a private home in Mexico City. The official report was that they found 41 prominent men dancing together — half of whom were dressed as women. But a scandal ensued when initial reports placed a 42nd man in attendance, and the story spread that it was de la Torre, the president’s son-in-law, marking the first time homosexuality was openly discussed in the Mexican media.
Growing up in Mexico City, lead actor Alfonso Herrera said it was customary for the people around him to avoid the number 41, but it wasn’t until he was much older that he came to understand the negative “connotation and meaning that this number had for the Mexican society.”
Herrera, 37, who is best known internationally for his work in “The Exorcist” and “Sense8,” said he immediately jumped at the chance to work with Pablos, who directed the award-winning 2015 movie “Las Elegidas.”
“You need to go to the past in order to understand who you are as a person or who you are as a society,” Herrera told NBC News in an exclusive video interview last week. “What would have happened if Ignacio was not discovered as a gay man? He would have been one of the important Mexican figures from our history, but he was taken away from that because he was gay.”
Herrera said he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to return to a critical — but often ridiculed and caricatured — part of his home country’s history.
Before beginning production on the film in late 2019, the actor sought to learn as much as he could about the scandal, including delving into the enigmatic life of de la Torre.
“I was literally searching for bits and pieces here and there,” Herrera said. “There’s a book called ‘El Exilio,’ written by Carlos Tello Díaz, who was a family member from the lineage of Porfirio Díaz, and that specific book was very important — at least for me and David — to understand a little more about Ignacio.”
In the opening scene of the film, de la Torre arrives late to his own engagement party. That’s based, Herrera said, on a tense, real-life exchange between the young man and his future father-in-law, the Mexican president.
“Ignacio was an alcoholic and he was one of the first guys in Latin America who owned a motor car at that time. He arrived late to the house, all of the family was at the table waiting for him, and Porfirio Díaz said, ‘Ignacio, cars run with gasoline, not with cognac,’” Herrera said, adding he still has that scene “very present in my mind.”
‘He loved power’
As Herrera worked to better understand the mysterious man he would later embody, he found himself wondering the same thing on more than one occasion: Why didn’t Ignacio de la Torre use his economic power to leave Mexico and build a new life for himself? The answer, it seems, was quite simple.
Ignacio de la Torre y Mier sits by his wife, Amada, played by Mabel Cadena, at the dining room table.Netflix
“He loved power; he loved the position where he was. There’s a phrase in Mexico, ‘Más vale ser cabeza de ratón que cola de león,’ it’s better to be the head of a mouse than the tail of a lion,” Herrera said about de la Torre. “That was a very important answer for me to understand the character and to battle the scenes.”
Herrera said it was important to portray de la Torre as the important businessman he was but at the same time show this “need that he had, which is represented by Evaristo.”
In actor Emiliano Zurita, Herrera said he found a generous scene partner with whom he worked for nearly two months to build the intimate relationship the men share on screen.
“I admire Emiliano a lot because he’s 10 years younger than me, and he was very brave to accept this role, specifically in the society that we live in,” he said. “This bond we created is not just me knowing Emiliano; it’s literally understanding him, feeling comfortable and connected with him as a person.”
“We wanted to honor these men,” Herrera said, adding that some of the men at the party were sent to labor camps in Yucatán, where some of them died.
“We wanted to portray these men as men who wanted to be free, who wanted to be happy, and I think that David did this in a very accurate way — in a very safe way — where they could be themselves,” he said.
‘Society is the real villain here’
While this film underlines the historical mistreatment of the LGBTQ community, it also sheds light on the strict gender roles that left men like de la Torre feeling stifled in class-based and patriarchal societies, where women were also mistreated and “used as a form of currency.”
“I think the main villain is not a specific character, but it’s the lines and the regulations that society puts [on people]. Society is the real villain here,” Herrera said, citing the example of Díaz appointing de la Torre to Congress in exchange for making his daughter happy.
“I think that this film talks about what happens if you really want to be yourself and perceptions of society,” he said. “This story talks about people wanting to be free, wanting to not feel attached or feel that they need to behave in a certain way in order to be accepted.”
More than a century later, Herrera feels that “some steps have been made” in different areas of the country, but, in his words, “many things are still the same, and that is not a secret for anyone.”
“I remember David and I were shooting a scene in the MUNAL to portray el Castillo de Chapultepec where Porfirio Díaz lived, and there were 200 extras,” the veteran actor recalled. “We stood and we watched the people there. We looked at each other and we said, ‘You know, our society hasn’t changed that much. If you change the art, if you change the clothes from the people, it’s exactly the same — how our society behaves, the norms that our societies have.’ And that’s why I say it’s important to go to the past to understand who we are.”
Netflix’s new film “El Baile de los 41” follows Ignacio de la Torre y Mier as he leads a double life and develops feelings for Evaristo Rivas.Netflix
As someone who is consistently in the process of “re-educating myself” — a value he and his wife, Diana Vázquez, would like to pass on to their young children — Herrera understands the potential controversy surrounding his decision to play a gay character. But in the complicated debate of which actors should be allowed to play which roles, he feels that directors should use their own discretion in the casting process because “they know the story that they want to tell.”
It is ultimately his hope that, with the increased reach of Mexican films on major streaming platforms like Netflix, there will be an increase in diverse and respectful representation of more LGBTQ stories — and Latino ones, as well.
“In order for us to have better societies with more compassion and empathy, we need to be respectful, and we need to respect minorities,” Herrera said.
“Talking about Latinos, it’s very complicated, and I hope we can have some more flexibility about who we are,” he said. “I hope that societies are going to be more curious about who we really are because when that happens, maybe the stories are going to change, maybe the roles are going to change and maybe we’re going to have a different perception.”
As Herrera begins production on the fourth and final season of Netflix’s “Ozark” — he’s one of the new characters — he’s eager to continue learning from industry professionals who work both behind and in front of the camera, while also continuing to challenge Latino perceptions and stereotypes like he did as a Mexican priest in “The Exorcist.”
“When I first open a script and I say, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to attack this,’ that’s my first yes. I really want to pull my sleeves up, and say, ‘OK, I’m going to dig in. This is going to be a hard one,’” he said. “I think being open to learning is what makes me feel hungry to tell more stories, to seek stories that can tell something, that can say something, and characters that are, in a certain way, complicated.”
May 21, 2021, 1:52 PM; Updated: May 21, 2021, 2:31 PM
A fired worker may be able to prove his supervisor with a North Carolina-based underwater repair and inspection company harassed him because he mistakenly perceived him to be gay, the Fourth Circuit ruled Friday in a case of first impression for the court.
The appeals court agreed with Chazz Roberts and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the three evidentiary routes laid out by the U.S. Supreme Court in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services Inc. aren’t the only ways to prove same-sex sexual harassment under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
BERLIN — A Syrian man was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison Friday for stabbing a gay couple in the German city of Dresden, killing one man and seriously wounding his partner in an attack last year that prosecutors said was motivated by Islamic extremist beliefs.
The state court in Dresden convicted the 21-year-old, who has been identified only as Abdullah A.H.H. in line with German privacy rules, of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm, news agency dpa reported. Judges ruled that he bears particularly severe guilt, which effectively means he won’t be released after 15 years as is common in Germany.
The attack took place on Oct. 4 as the two men in their 50s were visiting Dresden.
The court found that the defendant attacked the couple from behind because he believed homosexuality to be a “grave sin.”
The presiding judge, Hans Schlueter-Staats, said the defendant had confessed not out of remorse but to reveal his motives, and the court said it considers him still dangerous.
“It was a crime committed out of religious delusion,” Schlueter-Staats said. The judge said the two men’s injuries showed “with what force and absolute intention to kill he stabbed them,” and one of them survived only by luck.
The defendant, a native of Aleppo who came to Germany as a refugee in 2015, had been released from prison a month before the attack after serving a three-year juvenile sentence for promoting the extremist Islamic State group and subsequently attacking a prison guard.
He was arrested almost three weeks after stabbing the couple in Dresden.
Maximilian Klefens, a lawyer for the surviving victim, said the sentence was “a just punishment.”
“My client can now find peace,” he said.
The defendant listened to the verdict without showing any obvious emotion.
His lawyer, Peter Hollstein, said it was not yet clear whether he would appeal.
“I can’t say whether he will accept it,” he said.
The defense had argued for him to be tried under juvenile law.
