News Round-Up: May 21, 2018

(via Instagram)

Some news items you might have missed:

• Model Nick Sandell spent time at the beach; I was stuck in my office watching the sun go by. By the time I got done with work, the dang clouds had rolled in :(

• Andy Warhol's iconic Interview Magazine has shuttered. Employees were told today at an "all-hands meeting" that the magazine had folded.

• A proposal to include discussions on the topics of transgender, sexual orientation and sexual identity in Fort Worth, Texas, public schools has found it's protesters.

• As other states are trying to limit LGBTs ability to adopt or foster homeless children, Connecticut is actively trying to recruit members of the community to participate in adoption/fostering.

• Pope Francis told a gay man that God made him exactly as he is, and that God loves him just as he is.

• GLAAD and Bonnier Publishing USA have teamed up to release a children’s book series featuring LGBT stories (see below).

Fort Worth Pastor On Orlando Shooting Survivors: "I Pray That God Will Finish The Job"

I think a lot of people don't really believe these hateful folks exist.

But they do. Each one gets more and more scary.

And THIS one is from my own hometown.

Raw Story has the grim details:

Pastor Donnie Romero of Stedfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth told his flock he agrees “100 percent” with Baptist Pastor Roger Jimenez, who made news with his sermon advocating that the government should use a firing squad to “blow their brains out.”

“These 50 sodomites are all perverts and pedophiles, and they are the scum of the earth, and the earth is a little bit better place now,” Romero said in the Sunday sermon.

“And I’ll take it a step further, because I heard on the news today, that there are still several dozen of these queers in ICU and intensive care. And I will pray to God like I did this morning, I will do it tonight, I’ll pray that God will finish the job that that man started, and he will end their life, and by tomorrow morning they will all be burning in hell, just like the rest of them, so that they don’t get any more opportunity to go out and hurt little children.”

Romero’s church has been named by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-LGBT hate group.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram Publishes First Same-Sex Marriage Announcement

David Mack Henderson, president and co-founder of the LGBT advocacy group Fairness Fort Worth, shares the news that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram has published it's FIRST same-sex marriage announcement!

Congratulations to Joshua Rogers and David Hernandez!

I was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, and pleasantly surprised at the progress being made in my hometown.

After weeks of discussions with the Star-Telegram, Fairness Forth Worth shared that the paper would begin accepting same-sex announcements beginning March 8th.  “To qualify for publication in our Sunday Life section, under the Wedding heading, same-sex wedding ceremonies must be performed in states where same-sex marriages are legally recognized."

In related news out of Fort Worth, the county clerk there recently announced that should the 5th Circuit Court rule the ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional, the office will comply with the ruling and begin issuing marriage licenses should there not be a stay on the ruling.

Quite a different response from what's happening in Alabama, no?

Radio Shack Files For Bankruptcy

As the sun sets on the end of this busy week, I come across this news item about another "sunset" that makes me sad.


From Bloomberg:

In the agreement, the Radio Shack brand would continue as a store-within-a-store concept at locations acquired by Sprint, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.

The retailer now expects to sell 1,500 to 2,400 stores to Sprint and Standard General LP, its biggest shareholder, according to the person. The rest of the locations would be closed, the person said.

Merianne Roth, a spokeswoman for Fort Worth, Texas-based Radio Shack, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Radio Shack talks had been expected to lead to a filing as soon as Wednesday night, though the complexity of the negotiations have delayed the move, another person familiar with the discussions said.

Not only am I from Fort Worth, Texas, where Radio Shack has it's headquarters, but I grew up literally over the hill from the Tandy family that owned the company for decades. Their home was only a couple of blocks from my childhood home.

I remember when personal computers first hit the market, Radio Shack was there with their very popular TRS-80.

I think my entire life I've counted on the fact that certain items you might need around the house could always be found at Radio Shack.

One more little bit of childhood falls away. Color me melancholy.

Fort Worth To Recognize Same-Sex Marriages

Every now and then, I really love being surprised.

And by that, I'm referring to my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, which announced recently that it will be extending spousal benefits to same-sex couples who are legally married in other states.

The city currently offers health insurance to same-sex partners; however,  by deciding to begin treating them as spouses, those married will now be eligible for other benefits, including pension plans. The change means the city will adhere to IRS rules issued in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Windsor v. United States.

From the city's employee newsletter:

The City of Fort Worth will be extending spousal benefits to same-sex couples beginning Feb. 1, 2015.

This change will allow the city to follow the IRS's definition of "spouse" as defined for federal income taxes in the granting of survivor benefits.

Since the city's retirement ordinance does not specifically define "spouse," surviving spouses in a same-sex marriage will be eligible for survivor benefits if the survivor can prove, through documentation, that they were legally married to the employee/retiree in a state where same-sex marriage is legally recognized.

(via Towleroad)

LGBT Recruiting - Forth Worth Police Department

Fort Worth police detective Chris Gorrie

In my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, the Fort Worth Police Department has begun a series a humorous four-minute videos to encourage recruitment.

The one posted below stars openly gay police detective Chris Gorrie.

“You may be asking yourself, ‘What does this 30-year-old white guy have to do with diversity?’” asks the eight-year veteran. “Well, the short answer is, I’m gay.”

Serious progress for my hometown that the PD can make this kind of video.

Bravo, Chris and the FWPD.

Fort Worth: Mother walks in on son having sex, beats him until he bleeds

My own hometown of Fort Worth has a bit of a scandal going on due to a mother walking in on her son having sex.

Apparently, the woman's cousin was performing oral sex on her son when she walked in.  But instead of beating the older man, she took an electrical cord and beat her son to the point that he bled and had bruises.

From CBS-DFW:

“My cousin at the time he was 18. My son he was 15 and I had walked in the room on [my cousin] giving oral sex to my son and I started whooping my son, and I’m the one who got in trouble as a result of me whooping him,” she said. “When I walked in I saw my son, it was just disgusting to me, the way he was looking and my cousin was looking, and my cousin immediately ran out the door. And I’m just like what the?!? You know, is you serious? So that was my reaction because it disgusted me.”

“The police department told me that it was consensual, but they was committing a homosexual act in my house and we are totally against that. So I whooped my son and about three or four months later they came and arrested me for abuse,” she recalled.

The boy's grandmother alerted the police to the incident.  But things get worse from there.  Apparently, the officer who showed up told the mother he would have done worse, and might have even shot the son.

Ah, my people.

Quick visit to Fort Worth - shiny happy people

My quick trip home not only gave me the chance to see the Carol Channing documentary "Carol Channing: Larger Than Life" at the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum, but share the film and a post cinema Tex-Mex meal with great friends.

I rarely get home, but these folks always make me feel like we just saw each other yesterday.

Here's to old friends - "friends you've known a long time."

My cell phone doesn't take the best pics, but the folks in the pics more than make up for any "camera deficiencies."  Check out the shiny happy people.  

Addester Williams and I

John Bell and I

Kate Moore and I

"Carol Channing: Larger Than Life" screening today at FW Modern Art Museum

In my hometown today for a screening of "Carol Channing: Larger Than Life" at the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum.

The Fort Worth Star Telegram gave the film 4 stars and ran a photo of me with Carol on Broadway at "Gypsy of the Year 2010."  Kinda cool for home-town boy.

I'll be attending the 2pm screening with "Hello, Dolly!" Broadway cast mates Halden Michaels, Ashley Stover and Matthew Sipress. The museum invited us to attend and perhaps do a little "talk back" with the audience about the experience of working with Carol on Broadway.

Plus my friends John and Leslie Bell, Addester Williams and Jaynette Dubrowski Holland will also be attending so this is probably the closest thing to a high school reunion I'll ever attend :)

Looking forward to it. The film is terrific and the audience will be too, so if you're in Fort Worth this afternoon come by the Modern and take in a little afternoon cinema.