Sen. Otoniel “Tony” Navarrete of Arizona was arrested Thursday night and faces seven felony charges related to alleged sexual encounters with one boy and another attempted sexual encounter with another underage male.
Navarrete, a Democrat, is one of a handful of openly gay legislators in Arizona and serves as a member of the legislature’s LGBTQ Caucus. Members of the caucus, like Rep. Daniel Hernandez, have called on Navarrete to resign, and all 48 Democratic state legislators have done the same. “Abuse of this kind is intolerable and our hearts go out to the victims,” Arizona Senate Democrats said in a statement.
Police closed in on Navarrete, 35, after listening in on a phone call between him and a 16-year-old accuser. On the call, Navarrete allegedly admitted to touching the boy’s penis and performing oral sex on him. The child previously lived with Navarrete and the abuse allegedly began when the boy was 13. Navarrete expressed regret and said he was not well when the abuse allegedly occurred; the boy says he now suffers anxiety and depression as a result of the alleged abuse.
Police are aware of a separate alleged encounter between Navarrete and another boy, where the lawmaker reportedly put his hand under the child’s shorts and tried to touch his thigh. The minor allegedly rejected the advances.
The judge set a $50,000 bond and placed numerous restrictions on Navarrete if he bonds himself out of prison before his trial. A preliminary hearing on the case is scheduled for August 16.
Navarrete announced on social media this week that he tested positive for COVID-19.
Navarrete was elected to Arizona’s House of Representatives in 2016, elected to the state Senate two years later, and reelected in 2020. The politician represents District 30 in the northwest Phoenix suburbs.
In April 2013, Joe Bell left his home in La Grande, a small town in the northeast corner of Oregon, to walk across the country in honor of his 15-year-old son, Jadin, who had died in February a few weeks after attempting suicide.
Bell and his wife, Lola Lathrop, told local and national news outlets at the time that Jadin was bullied for being gay, both online and at school. After his son’s death in a hospital in Portland, Oregon, Bell and family friends started Faces for Change, an anti-bullying organization. He planned to walk across the country to New York City — where Jadin had talked about living — and speak to students, school administrators and others about the effects of bullying.
Six months into his planned two-year journey by foot, however, Bell was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on U.S. 40, a two-lane highway in eastern Colorado.
The family’s tragic story inspired “Joe Bell,” a movie debuting Friday starring Mark Wahlberg as Bell, Connie Britton as Lathrop and Reid Miller as Jadin.
The true story behind the film is complicated, and “Joe Bell” attempts to portray the real-life nuances. Miller, 21, said that while Bell accepted his son, he didn’t really understand him, and he struggled to support him.
Bell told the outlet Salon after Jadin’s death that he felt somewhat responsible for not doing more to support his son and noted that he had yelled at Jadin for smoking the night before he tried to kill himself.
The grieving father’s walk, and one of the major themes of the movie, is about redemption, Miller said.
“I think Joe learned a lot about himself, and I feel like his legacy is that anyone can change … and that through love and through understanding, everyone can be given a second chance,” he said. The film “is about redemption and about coming back from a place that is not an easy place to be in, but it’s a place that you can still come out of nonetheless with love and the right people around you.”
‘A very special human being’
Jadin stood out in his small town of about 13,000. He was the only out gay student at La Grande High School. He told his father that he wanted to move to New York City one day to study fashion or photography, according to The New York Times.
Jadin’s older brother, Dustin, told NBC News that he was “a very special human being.”
“I feel like no matter where he was or what room he walked into, he just lit it up,” Dustin said. “He was just very outgoing and just very much himself.”
Dustin, 32, says one memory he has of Jadin is from February 2008, the day before the older sibling shipped out to the military. The Bell family had a Super Bowl party to watch the New York Giants play the New England Patriots, who were heavily favored to win.
“My brother used to love teasing me,” Dustin said. “He’s very antagonistic, and because he was the younger child, he always got his way.”
During the fourth quarter, Jadin was playing with the remote, “and I kept telling him to ‘set down the remote, set down the remote,’ and he never did,” he recalled.
Then, Jadin dropped the remote. The TV turned off, and the batteries fell out of the remote. By the time they turned it back on, Dustin said, they missed the last minute and a half of the game, during which the Giants came back and won in what is considered one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
Jadin looked shocked and quickly ran away, he added.
Then, in February 2013, on the day Jadin died, Dustin said his favorite team, the San Francisco 49ers, were playing in the Super Bowl. During that game, the lights in New Orleans’ Mercedes-Benz Superdome went out a few minutes after the Baltimore Ravens took the lead.
“That’s one of my favorite stories,” Dustin said. “I was like, ‘it’s just my brother messing with me again.’”
Both Dustin and Miller said Jadin was never shy about being himself. In addition to being the only out gay student at his school, he was also the only boy on the cheerleading squad, and Bell told Salon in 2013 that he was bullied for it.
Miller said he could relate to Jadin and his story, because he was also bullied growing up in Texas. He was an artist “living in a place where it was either sports — football — or nothing,” and he was smaller than most people his age.
“It really resonated with me because, as someone who grew up in a small town who felt very misunderstood and … unheard by friends and people outside of my family, [it] felt very isolating and very alienating,” he said.
Reid Miller in a scene from “Joe Bell.”Quantrell D. Colbert / Roadside Attractions
In order to prepare for the role, Miller said he listened to Jadin’s iPod and spoke to his family and friends. He met Jadin’s mother while he was wearing her son’s clothing.
“Even though he was in this amount of pain and he felt so alone, he was so strong in what he believed in and who he was, and that had such an impact on everyone around him and to everyone that I’ve talked to,” Miller said.
Dustin said he thought Miller did an incredible job capturing the essence of his brother in “Joe Bell.” He said the grieving process for his family is “continual,” and he hopes that the movie reaches an audience that might not usually think about these issues.
“I just hope that it influences people to be more open minded and not judgmental and more accepting of people from different walks of life,” he said.
Lathrop released a statement to the La Grande School District ahead of the film, writing that “not everything on the screen occurred in real life.”
“But that misses the important message,” she said in the statement. “I hope that the message this movie sends will make us all more vigilant, and inclined to safeguard the well-being of young people who deserve the opportunity to thrive.”
‘I know that you’re with me on this walk’
Bell told Salon in 2013 that he and Jadin went to the school about the bullying, but he said that the school didn’t suspend one of the main bullies until three weeks after Jadin’s death, and only after the student started bullying someone else.
The La Grande School District has not responded to a request for comment regarding that incident, but in response to the movie’s upcoming release, the district issued an in-depth statement about the resources it offers to students who are in crisis and LGBTQ students seeking support, such as counseling.
“Our district’s commitment is to ensure we have a positive and inclusive school experience in which all students can thrive academically within an affirming school community,” part of the district’s statement read. “Furthermore, it is our responsibility as professionals to provide a safe and caring setting for every student.”
In addition, a La Grande senior started the school’s first club for LGBTQ students in the spring of 2013, just a few months after Jadin’s death.
Jadin’s death was one of multiple suicides among LGBTQ young people that made national news around that time. On Sept. 19, 2010, Seth Walsh, a gay 13-year-old living in Southern California, died by suicide after being bullied. Three days later, Tyler Clementi, a gay student at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, killed himself after being recorded on a webcam kissing another man. Two more teens, 14-year-old Kenneth Weishuhn and 17-year old Josh Pacheco also died by suicide in similar circumstances.
Bell resigned from his job and began his walk in April 2013. He documented his journey on Facebook, where he wrote in May 2013, “I miss my son Jadin with all my heart and soul … I know that you’re with me on this walk.”
After Bell died, people took up his cause for him, sharing photos of themselves on Facebook on walks in his honor and to share his message.
Since then, more schools have adopted anti-bullying policies and better support systems for LGBTQ students, with some states codifying the protections in law. At least 21 states have laws that prohibit bullying on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit LGBTQ think tank. The remaining states prohibit bullying on the basis of sexual orientation only, have district-specific policies or have no law at all.
Bell also wanted schools to provide suicide prevention training for all counselors. As of 2021, about half of the states mandate annual suicide prevention training for school personnel, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Anthony Ramos, head of talent at GLAAD, an LGBTQ advocacy group, said the Bells’ story is an important one for people to see and understand.
“Given that the film is lead by such a high-profile, big budget movie star and that it is now available to people in theatres, there is a real potential for many to have their eyes opened to the disproportionate amount of bullying and harassment that so many LGBTQ youth endure and to also witness a parent’s road to acceptance for their own child, and deep regret for not doing so sooner,” Ramos said in an emailed statement to NBC News.
Nearly 70 percent of students have reported experiencing verbal harassment at school based on their sexual orientation, and more than half said they experienced this type of harassment based on their gender expression (57 percent) or gender identity (54 percent), according to GLSEN, which advocates for LGBTQ students. Almost half of students also reported experiencing electronic harassment in 2019 via text messages or postings on Facebook, also known as cyberbullying.
Miller said he also hopes all parents teach their children that words are powerful.
“Whether they’re said or whether they’re typed, words can be devastating, or they can be lifesaving,” he said. “People need to understand that words have weight and are really powerful and can profoundly damage someone beyond repair.”
A 2019 survey from the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth suicide prevention nonprofit group, found that youth who have at least one accepting adult in their life were 40 percent less likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year.
LGBTQ youth who are facing battles similar to Jadin’s, Miller said, should know that “there are people who love and fight every day for them.”
“The fight is always still on and there will always be support, and hopefully one day we get to a place where we don’t have to fight that fight anymore, where everyone can feel free to be whoever, whatever they want,” he said.
Nashville Predators prospect Luke Prokop on Monday became the first active player under NHL contract to come out as gay.
Prokop, 19, made the announcement in an Instagram post.
“It has been quite the journey to get to this point in my life, but I could not be happier with my decision to come out,” Prokop wrote. “From a young age I have dreamed of being an NHL player, and I believe that living my authentic life will allow me to bring my whole self to the rink and improve my chances of fulfilling my dreams.”
No NHL player, active or retired, has come out publicly.
Prokop, a 6-foot-4 right-handed defenseman from Edmonton, Alberta, was selected in the third round by the Predators in the 2020 NHL draft. He signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Predators in December and played last season for the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League, where he was an alternate captain.
He told ESPN that he struggled last season and wanted to come out publicly because he believed it would help ease his mind and allow him to play his best hockey.
Prokop said he made his decision to come out in April when he returned from Calgary after his season ended because of COVID-19.
“I was lying in bed one night, had just deleted a dating app for the fourth or fifth time, and I was extremely frustrated because I couldn’t be my true authentic self,” Prokop told ESPN. “In that moment I said, ‘Enough is enough. I’m accepting who I am. I want to live the way I want to, and I want to accept myself as a gay man.'”
Prokop began coming out to some family members and teammates this past year and told Predators management he was gay in June. He said the Predators have been extremely supportive of him, including the first person he talked to from the team: assistant general manager Brian Poile.
“He in that moment showed me a lot of support and told me the Predators are behind me 1,000% and want what’s best for me and that they’re proud of me during this,” Prokop told ESPN. “I remember getting off that phone call and tears just started coming from my eyes, I was so excited. And in that moment, I thought, this is what it’s going to feel like for the rest of my life. For them to show that support that they did in that moment, it felt like I can rule the world.”
The Predators also released statements of support for Prokop on Monday.
“The Nashville Predators organization is proud of Luke for the courage he is displaying in coming out today and we will support him unequivocally in the days, weeks, and years to come as he continues to develop as a prospect,” Predators president and CEO Sean Henry said. “A long-stated goal in our organization is equality for all, including the LGBTQ community, and it is important that Luke feels comfortable and part of an inclusive environment as he moves forward in his career.”
Prokop said his decision to come out was made independently of Carl Nassib’s announcement in June, though Prokop found Nassib’s words, and the reaction to his announcement, inspiring. Nassib, a defensive end for the Las Vegas Raiders, became the first active NFL player to come out as gay.
One fear for Prokop was that people would assume he is making his announcement for attention. However, one of the biggest reasons he wanted to come out was to live authentically. Last season, he often had to hide his phone from teammates at the rink.
In his statement, Prokop thanked his “amazing family, friends and agents — who have known this about me and met me with love and support every step of the way.”
“I hope that in sharing who I am I can help other people see that gay people are welcome in the hockey community, as we work to make sure that hockey is truly for everyone,” Prokop wrote. “I may be new to the community, but I am eager to learn about the strong and resilient people who came before me and paved the way so I could be more comfortable today.”
The NHL has worked to be an ally for the LGBTQ+ community for more than a decade. Players from all 31 teams have wrapped their sticks in rainbow tape for Pride Night events. Several players, including Calgary Flames captain Mark Giordano and Vancouver Canucks goalie Braden Holtby, and executives such as Pittsburgh Penguins president of hockey operations Brian Burke and Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas, have marched in local Pride parades.
In 2013, the NHL and NHL Players’ Association partnered with You Can Play, an organization that “works to ensure the safety and inclusion of all in sports — including LGBTQ+ athletes, coaches, and fans.”
“As NHL players, we all strive to contribute toward helping our teams achieve success on the ice. Any player who can help in those efforts should be welcomed as a teammate,” defenseman Ron Hainsey, then an NHLPA executive board member, said at the time. “This partnership solidifies the message that the hockey community believes in fairness and equality for everyone.”
Since Prokop came out to Predators management, he said he has received support behind the scenes from the NHL. He said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman called him recently and told him to reach out anytime.
“I share his hope that these announcements can become more common in the hockey community,” Bettman said in a statement. “LGBTQ players, coaches, and staff can only perform at their absolute best if they live their lives as their full and true selves. We do not take the meaning and importance of this announcement lightly.”
Bettman added that the NHL wants to give Prokop a “welcoming and affirmative” experience and that the league will support any other players who would follow “in his trailblazing footsteps.”
Prokop said, “It’s hard to put into words,” what it will mean to skate in a game next season, knowing his truth is out there.
“I’m going to lace up my skates the same. I’m going to put my jersey on the same, strap up my helmet, put on my gloves,” Prokop said. “But I’m finally going to be able to breathe and exhale and show the world the real me. And I’m so excited to see where that can take me, not only as a hockey player but as a person as well.”
The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus is not backing down from a controversial song in the wake of what they claim is a wave of death threats coming their way.
Here’s the deal … the SFGMC recently posted a song across social media where they satirically sing, “We’ll convert your children,” but they say it’s being taken out of context and they’re getting lots of hateful backlash, including violent threats.
The Chorus is laying the blame on “far-right conservative media” … claiming the song’s tongue-in-cheek humor is being lost on folks and instead used to “support a narrative that suits their intolerant and hateful needs.”
Their intent with the “convert” line is a double-entendre — when you hear the full song, they’re singing they’ll convert children “not to hate.”
The SFGMC claims the death threats are coming their way in emails and social media comments, and the group says it won’t be threatened and will not back down in the face of violence. The Chorus says it’s working with national and local law enforcement to address the alleged threats.
The Chorus is sticking by the song, but they say they’re making the video private so it’s not easily copied and taken out of context on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and other websites.
Sometimes, Noel Arce has trouble remembering his dads.
Not his biological parents — he never met them: His birth mother gave him up as an infant, and he never knew who his birth father was.
But in 1988, he and his brother, Joey, were taken in by Louis Arce and Steven Koceja, a gay couple from Manhattan. Louis was a social worker, and Joey, 2, and Noel, about 10 months old, were in the foster care system.
The boys had been surrendered at New York City’s Metropolitan Hospital. “Our mother and dad were heroin addicts, and they couldn’t really care for us,” Noel said.
During the week, the brothers and Angel, an HIV-positive 3-year-old, lived with Louis and Steven in their Manhattan apartment, and on weekends, they went to the couple’s house in the scenic town of Rosendale, New York, about two hours north.
“It felt very normal, my childhood,” Noel said. “Like the world operated with moms and dads, and two dads and two moms.”
Noel was always free to be himself growing up — to play with Barbie dolls and dress up in frilly costumes. His dads loved to make home movies; in one, Joey and Angel are playing with Tonka trucks and Noel is picking flowers.
“I was very feminine. I’d always participate in girly things, and my dads embraced that in me,” he said. “That really helped me in my development as a child,”
As he got older, Noel realized that was a unique experience.
“I hear people’s stories of coming out and being rejected, being thrown out. That experience for most gay men is a very hard one,” he said. “I’m very blessed to not have had that.”
Louis Arce with his children Joey, Angel and Noel.Courtesy Noel Arce
The time they had together was special, but it was all too brief. Joey and Noel’s adoptions were finalized in 1993. On June 18, 1994, Steven, 32, died of AIDS-related complications. Five days later, Louis, 47, succumbed to the disease.
Noel was just 7 at the time.
Now 33, he says some of the memories of his time with Louis and Steven are fuzzy. He compares them to a train leaving the station, getting smaller and smaller as it pulls away.
Some moments, though, are crystal clear.
“When I look at some of the photos I have, I can remember the day the picture was taken,” he said. “When I see the bedroom, I can remember being there, I remember certain smells — what was cooking that day. And I remember all the Barbies I had.”
One memory in particular stands out: Noel had just turned 6, and, as usual, the family was making a video. “It was like a horror movie, but, you know, silly,” he said. “I dressed up as a witch, and my brother was, like, a devil. And my dad was videoing it, and we were all having so much fun.”
As an adult, he says, he’s better at holding onto the memories. “But I don’t remember the end. I don’t remember them being sick. I don’t remember visiting them in the hospital.”
When Louis and Steven knew their time was running out, they recorded special videos for the boys.
Steven J. Koceja.Courtesy Noel Arce
“There’s a video of them talking to us — explaining how much they loved us,” Noel said. “And there’s videos Louis made for each of us individually. In the video for me, he says, ‘Noel, I know you’re gay.’ And he gives me his thoughts and advice about facing life. I’m so lucky to have that.”
He watched that video for the first time a year after his dads died and, unsurprisingly, didn’t really understand it. About two years ago, he watched it again.
“It was the first time I had an emotional reaction — where I cried,” he said of watching the video.
After Louis and Steven died, Louis’ brother Robert and his wife, Tina, took in the three boys.
When Louis and Steven started to get sick, they had asked Robert and Tina to become the boys’ guardians and started transitioning care.
“Sometimes we’d come over for longer visits,” Tina said. “Other times it would just be the kids and us. We talked to them about what was going to happen, but how do you prepare a child for that?”
She and Louis had known each other since they were kids themselves. “He always, always wanted children,” she said. But, he was an HIV-positive man at a time when treatment options were minimal to nonexistent.
“I said to him, ‘Why would you do this to these kids — taking them in, knowing you have a death sentence, that you’ll disappear on them?” And he said, “Who would know better than me what they’ll face?”
Bringing the boys into the family “changed our whole dynamic forever,” she said. “I was done raising kids by that point, and then there I am, taking these” children in.
But she got much out of the experience, too, she’s quick to add, “maybe even more than the kids.”
“I became involved in AIDS care. I traveled. I met people I never thought I would. I fought for them,” she said. “The man upstairs knew what he was doing bringing us together. It was amazing how my life turned around. If it wasn’t for our family, I don’t know what I’d do.”
Noel, who lives with Robert and Tina in Suffolk County, New York, said he and Joey, who lives nearby, are still very close. Sadly, he doesn’t know what became of Angel, whom he said developed serious emotional problems in adolescence and had to be taken out of the family.
“I don’t know if he’s alive,” he said. “Back then, AIDS was a death sentence. But with the way medication is today, I hope he’s OK — and that he’s happy.”
Noel’s mother was HIV-positive when she was pregnant, and he tested positive for the virus at birth. Eventually, though, he developed his own antibodies and was determined to be HIV-negative.
In April, Noel shared a photo of Joey, Angel, Louis, Steven and himself on the AIDS Memorial Instagram, a page dedicated to sharing stories of those lost to the pandemic.
“We weren’t with Louis and Steven very long before they passed,” he wrote in the accompanying caption. “They never got a chance to see the men we are today but they cared for us very much and gave us a life that we wouldn’t have known otherwise. It’s incredible even now, after all these years, I can still feel what it felt like to be loved that much.”
The black and white image included in the Instagram post was from an early ‘90s photo shoot for “Living Proof: Courage in the Face of AIDS”, a collection of portraits published in 1996 by photographer Carolyn Jones of people from all walks of life living with HIV/AIDS.
“I remember the family well,” Jones said of the shoot. “There were not that many families photographed for “Living Proof,” so they are easy to remember. Those three little boys were priceless together. It felt as though they had all somehow miraculously found one another, and there was a lot of love wrapped up in that photo.”
Noel’s post has received hundreds of comments and more than 15,000 likes.
He doesn’t remember how he first came across the AIDS Memorial Instagram account, which NBC News reported on in December for World AIDS Day.
“I think a friend of mine followed that account, and it got recommended to me,” he said. “But when I saw it, I was like, ‘Wow, all these people are telling their stories.’ And I just kind of felt compelled to tell my story, too.”
The response was tremendous, Noel said, adding that it has been particularly meaningful to see comments from people who hadn’t been directly affected by the AIDS devastation of the 1980s and ‘90s.
“I guess I thought that AIDS was a conversation people weren’t having anymore. That no one cared,” he said. “With young people today, they think, ‘Oh, we have medications, we have Truvada, and [HIV] isn’t something to really worry about, right?’ My fear is that it’ll completely be forgotten. But the page keeps it alive. It makes people remember our history and the people who fought for what we have now … And who even died in the process.”
Noel doesn’t know much about how Louis and Steven were able to take in HIV-positive boys in the late ‘80s. “I do know that they fought for us quite a bit,” he said. “I can only imagine how hard it was at that time.”
He has shared other family photos of his dads, his brothers and himself on social media. It’s comforting, he said, but it also churns up immense feelings of loss.
“God really handed me the courage to look at those pictures again,” Noel said. “It had been years — there’s a lot of pain attached to them. But it was a great childhood, it was. I look back now, and I’m like, ‘Wow, I was so lucky.’”
For the past 13 years, Noel has worked in drag, as Violet Storm, playing clubs in Manhattan and out on Long Island. The pandemic put a pause on gigs, but more recently he’s been able to perform again.
Noel Arce during a drag performance as Violet Storm.Courtesy Noel Arce
Knowing his dads were gay, Noel often wonders what they would think of his drag. “Not whether they’d approve of it, because of course they would,” he said. “But, would they think I’m funny? That I’m pretty? Would they like my show?”
He has a lot of questions about his dads that can’t really be answered.
“Like, how did they meet? I want to know the whole love story — I want to hear about those crazy feelings you have when you first meet someone,” he said. “What bars did they go to? Did they have a favorite drag queen? What kind of homophobia did they face back then?”
Tina has been a fount of information about his dads, “but this isn’t really stuff she can tell me.”
He recalled doing a show at the historic Stonewall Inn and wondering if Louis and Steven had gone there back in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
“Every time I do a show, I think, ‘Were my dads here? Did they like this bar? Who did they see perform?’ Sometimes I cry when I think about it,” Noel said. “But they give me a lot of courage, too. Before I go on, I get really, really nervous. And there’s a moment where I have to go on, and I think, ‘I’m just going to back out. I’ll leave. I just can’t do this.’ My heart is racing, I’m so nervous, and then I think of my dads, and I’m like, ‘Just do it. Just let it happen.’”
Noel Arce.Courtesy Noel Arce
While Noel still has a lot of unanswered questions about his dads, he has learned a bit more because of the AIDS Memorial Instagram: Writer and artist Timothy Dean Lee, who follows the page and frequently comments on posts, knew Louis and Steven back in the day.
“When I read Noel’s tribute it was overwhelming,” Lee told NBC News via email. “It gave me answers to what had happened to Louis and Steven — and to the boys. I couldn’t stop crying.”
Lee had met Louis in the 1980s as a graduate student at New York University, where he was studying art therapy and child psychology. He’d often find himself in New York Family Court, where Louis was working as a social worker.
He’d also see Louis at meetings of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT UP, and protests — and, on occasion, bump into Steven and Louis at the Paradise Garage “dancing the night away.”
“I remember when Louis told me that they were going through the process of adopting the boys,” Lee said. “I knew that adopting for a straight couple was challenging enough, but for a gay couple the challenges were all-consuming. But that certainly didn’t stop Louis and Steven.”
Being a social worker, Lee said, Louis knew the “ins and outs” of the system.
“He was driven. He knew the three boys needed a stable home and love, and he and Steven were more than willing to embrace them as part of their family.”
The last time Lee remembered seeing Louis was about 1990 on the street in the West Village.
“I asked him if he and Steven ever were able to adopt the boys,” he said. “He explained they were still officially foster parents, but they were determined to adopt all three.”
“Louis pulled out his wallet and showed a picture of the kids, saying ‘Yep, Tim, that’s my family.’”
In a video shared on Twitter on Monday, the National Football League declared, “Football is gay.”
In white letters on a black background, the word “gay” was then replaced with words including “lesbian,” “beautiful,” “queer,” “transgender,” “power” and “life.”
The video’s final declaration: “Football is for everyone.”
The NFL released the video in response to Las Vegas Raiders player Carl Nassib coming out last week, league spokesperson Samantha Roth told Outsports. Nassib is the first active NFL player to come out as gay.
In a video shared on Instagram June 21, Nassib said he finally felt comfortable enough to get the announcement “off my chest.”
“I actually hope that one day videos like this and the whole coming out process are just not necessary, but until then, I am going to do my best and do my part to cultivate a culture that is accepting, that is compassionate,” Nassib said, adding that he would donate $100,000 to The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization.
The NFL tweeted support for Nassib after he came out and announced that it would match his donation to The Trevor Project.
The NFL has previously supported The Trevor Project as part of its Pride at NFL campaign, which is a public-facing commitment to better support LGBTQ employees, fans and players. The nonprofit organization’s logo is featured on the Pride at NFL website. The NFL also worked with The Trevor Project for a National Coming Out Day PSA in the fall.
The video posted by the NFL on Monday included a statistic from The Trevor Project’s research: “LGBTQ+ youth with at least one accepting adult have 40% lower risk of attempting suicide,” the full-screen text reads.
NFL diversity director Sam Rapoport told Outsports that the league released the “Football is for everyone” ad to show more support for both Nassib and LGBTQ fans.
“I am proud of the clear message this spot sends to the NFL’s LGBTQ+ fans: This game is unquestionably for you,” Rapoport said. “I will be playing its first line over and over in my head all season.”
On the same day the video dropped, Amit Paley, CEO and executive director of The Trevor Project, wrote an op-ed for The New York Times calling for managers, coaches, trainers, schools and professional sports associations to “break the silence and stigma around being L.G.B.T.Q. in sports, by fostering a safe, inclusive and affirming climate.”
He wrote that LGBTQ youth “have reported avoiding sports out of fear, rather than lack of interest, citing experiences of locker room bullying and alienation from teammates.”
Paley also shared The Trevor Project statistic featured in the NFL’s video and added, “For many young people, coaches, managers and trainers can be that one adult.”
In response to the NFL’s ad, The Trevor Project wrote on Twitter, “Thank you for supporting LGBTQ youth.”
LGBTQ people responded to the ad in a variety of ways on social media.
Some said the announcement was a big step forward or brought tears to their eyes:
Others accused the NFL of trying to pander to LGBTQ people during Pride Month, and some called attention to the differences in the NFL’s responses to Nassib’s coming out and to Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the national anthem to protest police violence in 2016.
Tim Ellis, the NFL’s chief marketing officer, told Outsports the ad is about “the importance of inclusion” and celebrating Pride.
“It’s imperative that we use our voice and leverage the NFL platform to drive positive change, which includes supporting what our players care about and what they stand for,” he said.
Fischer is described as “the Captain America of the Railways — a fearless teen who stepped up to protect fellow runaways and the unhoused. Marvel Comics is proud to honor Pride Month with the rise of this new LGBTQ+ hero.”
The limited series is titled The United States of Captain America and follows “Steve Rogers teaming up with Captain Americas of the past — Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson and John Walker — on a road trip across America to find his stolen shield. Throughout the group’s journey, they’ll discover everyday people from all walks of life who’ve taken up the mantle of Captain America to defend their communities.” The series is written by Christopher Cantwell with art by Dale Eaglesham.
Here are a few more looks at the character:
“Aaron is inspired by heroes of the queer community: activists, leaders and everyday folks pushing for a better life,” said writer Joshua Trujillo, who pens the debut issue introducing Fischer. “He stands for the oppressed and the forgotten. I hope his debut story resonates with readers and helps inspire the next generation of heroes.”
“I want to thank Editor Alanna Smith and Joshua Trujillo very much for asking me to create Aaron,” added Jan Bazaldua, who draws the issue. “I really enjoyed designing him and as a transgender person, I am happy to be able to present an openly gay person who admires Captain America and fights against evil to help those who are almost invisible to society. While I was drawing him, I thought, well, Cap fights against super-powerful beings and saves the world almost always, but Aaron helps those who walk alone in the street with problems that they face every day. I hope people like the end result!”
The other new Captains will be introduced at a later date. The United States of Captain America hits stores June 2.
At a private meeting with Black corporate donors in October 2019, former President Barack Obama threw his support behind Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., while showing “tepid” support for his former Vice President Joe Biden, according to an excerpt from the new book, “Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency.”
The book excerpt, provided exclusively to The Hill, details how Obama made the case for Warren, while anticipating objections to her that “existed in the minds of his corporate and financial friends.”
Former President Barack Obama speaks at a rally to support Michigan democratic candidates at Detroit Cass Tech High School on October 26, 2018 in Detroit, Michigan. (Getty Images)
“So, what if she raises your taxes a little bit? Compare that to what we have now,” Obama reportedly said, referring to then-President Donald Trump.
Obama said he would support Warren if she won the nomination, and reportedly “stressed that he wanted Wall Street and corporate types to do the same.”
“’Everyone in this room needs to pull their weight,’ he said. Republicans, he continued, are winning cycle after cycle, up and down the ballot, because their donors care more than the Democrats’ donors.”
A donor who was in the room recalled that night being a “ninety percent Warren sermon.”
BIDEN WON WHITE HOUSE WITH ‘PUT YOUR DUMB UNCLE IN THE BASEMENT’ STRATEGY, NEW BOOK SAYS
At the time, the crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates was narrowing to Warren, Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Asked why Buttigieg couldn’t win the nomination Obama cited his youth, and the fact that he is “short” and “gay.”
On Harris, Obama merely acknowledged that he knew her, but offered “no further commentary.” When an executive in the audience reminded Obama he had forgotten his two-term vice president, the former commander-in-chief was “apprehensive,” according to the book.
“’His support for Biden was tepid at best,’ the person said. At that point, it didn’t matter what he said about Biden. His silence spoke for him.”
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“Lucky,” written by The Hill’s Amie Parnes and Jonathan Allen of NBC, was released last Tuesday by Crown.
Fox News has reached out to Buttigieg and the White House seeking comment.
The Muslim man in his 30s — whose name has been withheld by his lawyer to protect his privacy — filed the lawsuit after he was arrested in the central Selangor state in 2018 for attempting gay sex, which he denies.
Same-sex acts are illegal in Malaysia, although convictions are rare. The country, which has 13 states, has a dual-track legal system, with Islamic criminal and family laws applicable to Muslims running alongside civil laws.
LGBT+ advocates say Islamic laws have been increasingly used to target the Southeast Asian country’s gay community, with a rise in arrests and punishments ranging from caning to jailing.
In a unanimous decision, Malaysia’s top court ruled on Thursday that the Islamic provision used in Selangor was unconstitutional and authorities had no power to enact the law.
“This is historic. This is monumental for LGBT+ rights in Malaysia,” said Numan Afifi, the founder of LGBT+ rights group Pelangi Campaign, which was not involved in the lawsuit.
Numan hoped Selangor would immediately repeal the Islamic ban, with other states following suit.
Despite the ruling, gay Malaysian men still face up to 20 years in jail under a British colonial-era law that bans gay sex, known as Section 377.
“We want to live in dignity without fear of prosecution. Of course Section 377 is still there — it’s not the end but this is a beginning,” Numan told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
In Malaysia, a country of 32 million where 60% of the population is Muslim, many gay people are not open about their sexuality.
The man who launched the legal challenge argued that Selangor had no power to enforce an Islamic ban on “intercourse against the order of nature” when gay sex was already a crime under civil laws.
The court agreed, declaring that the state’s power to enact such offenses “is subject to a constitutional limit”, the chief justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat wrote in the ruling.
The Selangor Islamic Religious Council, a respondent in the suit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The man involved in the legal challenge was among 11 men arrested on suspicion of attempting gay sex during a raid at a private residence.
Five of the group pleaded guilty, and were sentenced to jail, caning and fines in 2019, sparking outrage among human rights activists who said it created an environment of fear for LGBT+ people.
Two women were caned for “attempting lesbian sex” under Islamic laws in the east coast state of Terengganu in 2018, the same year that saw a transgender woman attacked.
JoJo Siwa, the 17-year-old singer, dancer, actor and YouTube personality, has come out as gay, after alluding to it on social media in recent days.
Siwa first hinted at her coming out in a TikTok video posted to her over 31 million (and growing) followers on Thursday. In the video, she dances to “Born This Way,” the 2011 smash hit by Lady Gaga widely regarded as an LGBTQ anthem. The video has more than 4.5 million likes and 25 million views, by far Siwa’s most popular video on TikTok.
Out of the more than 260,000 comments on the video, several prominent YouTube influencers, such as James Charles, Colleen Ballinger, Nikkie de Jager, Bretman Rock and more, congratulated and praised her.
On Friday, Siwa posted a more definitive message, sharing a photo of herself wearing a shirt that reads “Best. Gay. Cousin. Ever.” and saying her cousin got it for her.
Praise and positive reactions poured in for Siwa on Twitter, making her a trending topic on Friday afternoon.
“if u spell ‘swag’ backwards, it’s ‘gay.’ coincidence??” wrote Lil Nas X, who publicly came out on Twitter in June 2019.
if u spell “swag” backwards, it’s “gay”. coincidence??
— nope (@LilNasX) January 22, 2021
Siwa also posted an Instagram photo of herself wearing a rainbow Gucci track jacket on Thursday, with thousands of comments from fans, including musician Luke Eisner, Paris Hilton and other celebrities, congratulating her.
As a dancer, Siwa first shot to fame on the Lifetime reality series “Dance Moms” and soon skyrocketed with her fashion, accessories and music aimed at a young audience. She signed with Nickelodeon in 2017 and appeared in the TV movie “Blurt,” “Lip Sync Battle Shorties” and is the youngest contestant ever on Fox’s “The Masked Singer.”
