Happy haunted holigays!

The post The Autostraddle Insider Issue 99: December 2022 appeared first on Autostraddle.

Welcome to the holiday weekend, reader. Time to celebrate New Year’s Day with some old queer faves.

It’s been a long year of wins and losses, struggles and strides. We lost figures we thought would never go and made friends we couldn’t live without. And through it all, we did our best to live our truths and help one another do the same.

But the past is officially past. In the spirit of reminiscence, let’s take a look back at some LGBTQ-beloved New Year’s tracks that should really get your ball dropping.

From a green screen mess to the Swede team’s best, here’s your New Year’s bop rewind!

“It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve” by Barry Manilow (1977)

Though this song was put together in just a few days, Manilow’s songwriting talent manages to shine through on this underappreciated holiday classic. The song is touching, reflective, and deserved to be popularly covered like any number of winter standards have been.

“Happy New Year” by ABBA (1980)

While Manilow has the listener thinking back to the year gone by, ABBA is still thinking about the party they had last night. Even as a celebratory track, the band can’t help but mourn the passage of time. Somehow, it sounds sweet coming from them.

“Auld Lang Syne (The New Year’s Anthem, Fireworks Version)” performed by Mariah Carey (2010)

If you’re tired of remembering the last twelve months and just want to get as messy as possible, Mariah has you covered! And no, we’re not mentioning that one live performance. Instead, we have to make sure to raise awareness for her Auld Lang Syne cover, subtitled “The New Year’s Anthem, Fireworks Version”. Between the stark green screen, the repetition of only the refrain, and the mid-track admission of “Does anybody really know the words?”, this feels like a Jenna Maroney bit from 30 Rock made real. Five stars.

“This Is The New Year” by A Great Big World (2013)

Glee did a lot of things wrong — trans characters, the handling of Lea Michele, “Run, Joey, Run” — but what they absolutely got right was covering this New Year’s song, effectively platforming the band A Great Big World. The subsequent success of their ultra-sad song “Say Something” led them down a more ballad-heavy track, but early songs like “This Is the New Year” and “Everyone Is Gay” were the effervescence that made us love them.

“New Year’s Eve” by Mal Blum (2017)

Even while touring with queer faves like Boygenius’ Lucy Dacus and “Same Love” vocalist Mary Lambert, Mal Blum has pretty solidly maintained indie status. He does, however, have the market cornered on LGBTQ+ songs featuring making guacamole for New Year’s. This track in particularly is a fave of The Youths, with one excerpt from it being used as a sound in over 200,000 different TikToks (so far). It’s not his fault he’s relatable!

Join us here in 2023 for yet another bop after bop!

Federal and local prosecutors are investigating fabrications by the gay Republican congressman-elect over his finances.

We’ve got a new clip of Sophie’s big musical number in Episode 306 and tons of pics from Episode 307 that are full of Fletcher, Tom, Dre, Finley + Carrie going bowling and also a new cat for Alice.

The post L Word Generation Q Season 3: Episode 308 Pics Show Thanksgiving, Finley’s Mom, Group Hugs, Turkey Trot appeared first on Autostraddle.

Controversial YouTuber Jeffree Star has claimed he “escaped the illuminati” and that Hollywood tried to ruin his career.

In a series of tweets, Star suggested the “Hollywood elite” circulated lies about him – and he claimed Britney Spears and Kanye West are victims of the same system.

“What a crazy f**king year,” Star tweeted.

“I escaped the illuminati in 2021 and they still haven’t killed me. Every day I wake up grateful.”

He continued: “In 2020 I was going to expose everything… In a matter of days, The Hollywood elite tried to ruin my entire career, villainise me and flooded the news with lies to discredit me,” he wrote.

“If you guys only knew the truth about what they are doing to Britney & Kanye.

“Anyone who challenges the system gets eliminated.”

Hours later, he added: “I still have a soul. Can’t say that about a lot of these demons I used to surround myself with.”

Jeffree Star has been accused of racism and sexual abuse

Star’s comments come after a turbulent few years for the one-time YouTube star and beauty mogul.

In 2020, Star found himself in hot water when images and an archive of his old website Lipstick Nazi resurfaced. The website featured pictures of swastikas.

In October of that year, Insider published an exposé in which people claimed he physically and sexually abused others while at the height of his MySpace fame.

Five people told the publication that he used a taser on a homeless teen in 2009 after the man rejected his advances.

That same teenager claimed Star sexually assaulted him.

Star has denied all the allegations, with his lawyers branding them “false and defamatory”.

The YouTuber – who recently relocated to Wyoming – has also faced condemnation for his past racist remarks. In 2017, he apologised, branding the comments “disgusting, vile, nasty and embarrassing”.

PinkNews has contacted representatives for Jeffree Star for comment.

The post Jeffree Star claims he ‘escaped the Illuminati’, says Hollywood elite tried to ‘ruin his career’ appeared first on PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news.

The final crossword of 2022!

The post A+ Crossword Is Still Choosing a Word for 2023 appeared first on Autostraddle.

Welcome to the holiday weekend, reader. Time to celebrate New Year’s Day with some old queer faves.

It’s been a long year of wins and losses, struggles and strides. We lost figures we thought would never go and made friends we couldn’t live without. And through it all, we did our best to live our truths and help one another do the same.

But the past is officially past. In the spirit of reminiscence, let’s take a look back at some LGBTQ-beloved New Year’s tracks that should really get your ball dropping.

From a green screen mess to the Swede team’s best, here’s your New Year’s bop rewind!

“It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve” by Barry Manilow (1977)

Though this song was put together in just a few days, Manilow’s songwriting talent manages to shine through on this underappreciated holiday classic. The song is touching, reflective, and deserved to be popularly covered like any number of winter standards have been.

“Happy New Year” by ABBA (1980)

While Manilow has the listener thinking back to the year gone by, ABBA is still thinking about the party they had last night. Even as a celebratory track, the band can’t help but mourn the passage of time. Somehow, it sounds sweet coming from them.

“Auld Lang Syne (The New Year’s Anthem, Fireworks Version)” performed by Mariah Carey (2010)

If you’re tired of remembering the last twelve months and just want to get as messy as possible, Mariah has you covered! And no, we’re not mentioning that one live performance. Instead, we have to make sure to raise awareness for her Auld Lang Syne cover, subtitled “The New Year’s Anthem, Fireworks Version”. Between the stark green screen, the repetition of only the refrain, and the mid-track admission of “Does anybody really know the words?”, this feels like a Jenna Maroney bit from 30 Rock made real. Five stars.

“This Is The New Year” by A Great Big World (2013)

Glee did a lot of things wrong — trans characters, the handling of Lea Michele, “Run, Joey, Run” — but what they absolutely got right was covering this New Year’s song, effectively platforming the band A Great Big World. The subsequent success of their ultra-sad song “Say Something” led them down a more ballad-heavy track, but early songs like “This Is the New Year” and “Everyone Is Gay” were the effervescence that made us love them.

“New Year’s Eve” by Mal Blum (2017)

Even while touring with queer faves like Boygenius’ Lucy Dacus and “Same Love” vocalist Mary Lambert, Mal Blum has pretty solidly maintained indie status. He does, however, have the market cornered on LGBTQ+ songs featuring making guacamole for New Year’s. This track in particularly is a fave of The Youths, with one excerpt from it being used as a sound in over 200,000 different TikToks (so far). It’s not his fault he’s relatable!

Join us here in 2023 for yet another bop after bop!

Dolly Parton is readying her next children’s book with a very special main character. Dolly Parton’s Billy the Kid Makes It Big will feature her God-dog, Billy the Kid. It is set to hit store shelves net spring. “Guess what! My new book Billy the Kid Makes It Big featuring my god-dog @btkthefrenchie hits stores April 25, and you can pre-order it right now through the link in my story! I think it’s pretty cute,” Parton writes in announcing the book on social media, along with a dog paw print emoji. The book follows the French bulldog as he pursues his dreams of being a country music sensation i…

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A Trump-era “conscience” rule that would have allowed healthcare workers to refuse certain treatments will be rescinded.

Joe Biden’s administration has announced that it will strike down a rule introduced by the Trump’s government that allowed healthcare workers to refuse to take part in abortions, gender-affirming care for trans people, and other important procedures on religious or moral grounds.

The rule, which was originally blocked in 2019 by the courts, expanded on a 1973 law that allows physicians and other healthcare professionals to refuse participation in a medical procedure if it caused undue hardship on their employer. Trump’s law would have expanded this to include gender-affirming care, as well as abortion and sterilization.

Under Biden’s leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services is rescinding the majority of these proposals, leaving only a few complaint procedure changes in place.

In its proposal, the department said the Trump proposals would “undermine the balance Congress struck between safeguarding conscience rights and protecting access” to healthcare.

Its plan has been endorsed by the National Women’s Law Center, which said: “The administration’s action reaffirming that patient health must come first is crucial in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion and the resulting increase in refusals to provide care to patients across the country”.

The ACLU said: “Other people’s beliefs do not give them license to discriminate, to deny essential care, or to cause harm to others. Everybody deserves the ability to get the essential health care they need regardless of who they are or where they get care.”

The change is the latest move from the Biden administration to protect LGBTQ+ rights amid a wave of measures from Republican-controlled legislatures.

Earlier this month, Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act, which protects same-sex and interracial marriages, calling out anti-LGBTQ+ activists in the process.

“Today is a good day,” Biden said in an address after signing the act. “Today, America takes a vital step toward equality, liberty and justice. Not just for some, but for everyone.

He added that one of the most “profound decisions a person can make” is to marry the person they love, adding it was a shame that the US “had denied interracial couples and same-sex couples” vital legal protections.

“We failed to treat them with equal dignity and respect.”

Biden also hit out at the growing tide of transphobia and homophobia that has swept across the US, resulting in protests against LGBTQ+ events and extreme acts of violence.

“Racism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, they’re all connected,” he added.

“But the antidote to hate is love.”

The post Biden to repeal Trump rule that would let doctors refuse trans care and abortion appeared first on PinkNews | Latest lesbian, gay, bi and trans news | LGBTQ+ news.

In today’s Generation Q Episode 307 recap, we’ve got Fletcher’s album release party, Carrie adopting Finley and taking her bowling, Tom rescuing a kitten from a vent in Alice’s office, Dani and Dre getting their sexual tension on and so much more!

The post L Word Generation Q Episode 307 Recap: Little Boxes Made of Ticky Tacky appeared first on Autostraddle.