News Round-Up: March 30, 2018

(image via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• #TGIF!  Israeli fitness model Shalom Bar (h/t Towleroad)

• 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Justice Stephen Reinhardt, who authored the majority ruling that struck down Prop 8 in California in 2012, has passed away at the age of 87.

• This gay couple is living a Kafkaesque nightmare in trying to stay together thanks to Donald Trump's travel ban.

• The ACLU has filed suit in Ohio for not allowing transgender people to update their birth certificates. The policy is the inconsistent with other state policies that allow transgender Ohioans to update their gender markers on their driver’s licenses and state identification cards. Ohio, Tennessee, and Kansas are the only states that don't allow trans people to change their birth certificates.

• Country music star Kacey Musgraves told Billboard she regrets that once she laughed as a "gay guy" was bullied.

• Indie singer/songwriter Lauv dropped his latest single, "Chasing Fire" just in time for the weekend. And me like :)

Lauv, who Rolling Stone calls "Pop's up-and-coming heartbreak king," seems to find mucho inspiration in the relationships that don't work out.

Lauv said of the single: “’Chasing Fire’ is about fighting for something that’s already over. It’s the beginning of the end. It’s desperation. It’s grand. But it’s hopeless.”

Hit play below and take a listen. I definitely hear some Coldplay/Maroon 5 influences even as Lauv stakes out his own territory.

Happy Friday, kids!