Some of the Patriots went to the White House... Some

This tweet tells it all

Patriots' turnout for President Obama in 2015 vs. Patriots' turnout for President Trump today: https://t.co/OxMEOqZonI pic.twitter.com/pLmJWhOw1j

— NYT Sports (@NYTSports) April 19, 2017

Lord! The White House blocks Multiple Press Outlets from attending the news conference

Wow!!!!!!!!

The streets are telling me that the White House has reportedly locked out are CNN, the New York Times, Politico, Buzzfeed, Time, AP and La Times. So far, the White House has hasn't offered any explanation for why.

At CPAC, trump doubled down on his “fake news” foolishness, claiming they're “the enemy of the people.”

More to come

READ the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice Release Joint Guidance to Help Schools Ensure the Civil Rights of Transgender Students

Yes! Early today, the Obama administration today released guidance to all public school districts on allowing transgender students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity,

Read below

The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice released joint guidance today to help provide educators the information they need to ensure that all students, including transgender students, can attend school in an environment free from discrimination based on sex.


Recently, questions have arisen from school districts, colleges and universities, and others about transgender students and how to best ensure these students, and non-transgender students, can all enjoy a safe and discrimination-free environment.


Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 schools receiving federal money may not discriminate based on a student's sex, including a student's transgender status. The guidance makes clear that both federal agencies treat a student's gender identity as the student's sex for purposes of enforcing Title IX.


"No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus," said U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. "This guidance further clarifies what we've said repeatedly - that gender identity is protected under Title IX. Educators want to do the right thing for students, and many have reached out to us for guidance on how to follow the law. We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence."


"There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex," said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. "This guidance gives administrators, teachers, and parents the tools they need to protect transgender students from peer harassment and to identify and address unjust school policies. I look forward to continuing our work with the Department of Education - and with schools across the country - to create classroom environments that are safe, nurturing, and inclusive for all of our young people."

Read the rest after the jump

US Capitol and White House Locked Down Due to Potential Threat UPDATE

UPDATE on the shooter. Larry Dawson a white man from Antioch, Tennessee. He was shouting he was a "prophet of God" from the balcony of the House of Representatives. He was shot by an US Capitol officer... and Larry's alive BTW.
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The U.S. Capitol and White House are locked down because of a" potential security threat," according to U.S. Capitol Police.

No one is allowed to enter or exit any of the buildings. Anyone outside is advised to seek cover immediately.

More to come



source

Trans Woman named White House's Top Liaison to the LGBT community

Congrats to Raffi Freedman-Gurspan. The White House just named her the executive branch’s top liaison to the LGBT community! She is also trans, making history in this role.

As a top liaison, Raffi will be working with all of the major LGBT groups, connecting them to the White House. Hell, I want to do that. It's sounds sublime.

Good luck, Raffi

The White House will screen Black LGBT Documentary

As a part of Black History Month, the White House will screen the documentary "Holler If You Hear Me: Black and Gay in the Church"

The engaging doc is written and directed by Clay Cane. He created this doc to continue the conversations about being Black and Gay in our community.

Holler If You Hear Me explores the issues besetting our Blackness, sexuality and our religious backgrounds. To see and hear the struggles these Black LGBT people reminds me of the drama I experienced down in Tennessee and Kentucky. This doc really gets to the heart of matter and if you haven't seen it... Poof, watch it here

Mat Staver Says The Rainbow White House Was A 'Solar Plexus Punch' To The Rest Of The World

White House says Equality Act under review - WATCH

The Equality Act would be a broad sweep of equality for us. However, there's a lot of pieces that keeps this act at bay. During a press conference, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest spoke about the Equality Act.

Washington Blade reports:

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the Equality Act, which would amend existing areas of civil rights law to include gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, is still under review by the administration. Earnest made the remarks during a routine news briefing when the Washington Blade asked if he’s ready to announce President Obama endorses the Equality Act after positive comments from Clinton, the leading Democratic presidential candidate, and Biden, who’s considering a presidential bid. “I’m not prepared to say that yet,” Earnest said. “This is a piece of legislation that the White House does continue to review. There’s significant consequences to this bill going into effect. It has an impact on housing law and a variety of other policies in the federal government, so it’s something that’s still being carefully reviewed by the administration.”

Watch

Tony Perkins: 'May God Have Mercy On America' For White House Rainbow

The White House covered in a Rainbow

So good... So good

READ the Fact Sheet of Advancing The Human Rights Of LGBT Persons Globally

From the White House:

Yesterday, the White House hosted the first Global Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Human Rights Forum, bringing together the faith community, private sector, philanthropy, HIV and other health advocates, LGBT activists from around the world, and the broader human rights community to discuss how to work together with the U.S. government and others to promote respect for the human rights of LGBT individuals around the world.  

The group discussed how to counter legislation that attacks the rights of LGBT folks (UGANDA) and how to support them as well.

Another piece included The Forum, which is the U.S. government’s ongoing efforts to use diplomacy and assistance to promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons around the world. There is a longer and more detailed description of this after the jump

Want to Watch a Comedy? Watch the Livestream of Operation American Spring

Live streaming video by Ustream

New IRS Video Helps Same-Sex Couples - WATCH

The White House (I love that I get press releases from the WH) release a video to help same-sex couples file their taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service released a new YouTube video designed to provide useful tax tips to married same-sex couples.

The video is the latest addition to an online library featuring short IRS instructional videos covering more than 100 topics ranging from tips for victims of identity theft to taking advantage of the new simplified home office deduction. These videos have been viewed more than seven million times.

The new video, less than two minutes long, is available in English, Spanish and American Sign Language and can be accessed via IRS.gov. It joins an array of online products, including answers to frequently-asked questions, designed to help same-sex couples file their federal income tax returns.

Following last summer’s Supreme Court decision invalidating a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act, the IRS ruled that same-sex couples, legally married in jurisdictions that recognize their marriages, are now treated as married for federal tax purposes. The ruling applies to all federal tax provisions where marriage is a factor, including filing status, claiming personal and dependency exemptions, taking the standard deduction, employee benefits, contributing to an IRA and claiming the earned income tax credit or child tax credit.

The White House celebrates Jason Collins' coming out

April Fools' Message from The White House

The White House got jokes

Watch after the jump

White House will host LGBT conferences across country

I learn about this at Creating Change from some in the Obama Administration. They are hosting a series conferences to discuss LGBT issues.

Washington Blade has the story:
In a statement, the White House identified the White House LGBT Conference on Health — which will be held in Philadelphia on Feb. 16 — as the inaugural event for the initiative. The conference is set to feature remarks from Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.


The statement says the events — which will take place from February to June 2012 — will be a collaboration between the White House Office of Public Engagement and other departments and agencies. Expected attendees include grassroots leaders, community organizers, advocates, students and others.

Future White House LGBT conferences after the initial event will be held in other places throughout the country. Topics are set to include housing and homelessness, safe schools and communities as well as HIV/AIDS prevention. According to the White House, more details will be made public later.

Fred Sainz, vice president of communications at the Human Rights Campaign, said the conferences are ”a good sign that the administration is attentive to the needs of our community.”

Some are concerned that marriage isn't listed. However, we are learning that other issues are taking center stage. I have to say at the Obama Administration session, activists talked more about homelessness and the economy. Seems like priorities are shifting.

The White House Responds to Rick Perry 's Anti-Gay Ad - VIDEO

The White House condemns the North Carolina Marriage Amendment

Since the hateful marriage amendment will be on the ballot in North Carolina, the White House issued a statement:

“The President has long believed that gay and lesbian couples deserve the same rights and legal protections as straight couples. That’s why he has called for repeal of the so-called ‘Defense of Marriage Act’ and determined that his Administration would no longer defend the constitutionality of DOMA in the courts. He has also said that the states should determine for themselves how best to uphold the rights of their own citizens.

While the President does not weigh in on every single action taken by legislative bodies in our country, the record is clear that the President has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same sex couples. The President believes strongly in stopping laws designed to take rights away.”

The good thing is the majority of the people of NC oppose this amendment.

source

The White House will meet with Transgender Activists Today

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality

The White House makes huge strides by actively reaching out to Transgender leaders today. The meeting will discuss policy matters and basic issues that continue to beset the Trans community.

Washington Blade has the scoop:

Shin Inouye, a White House spokesperson, said the meeting, which is set to take place Friday at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, will include transgender leaders who work on federal policy.

“OPE routinely holds meetings with various stakeholders to discuss various policy issues,” Inouye said. “Friday’s meeting, like most OPE meetings, will be closed press and off the record.”

Additionally, Inouye said the meeting will be the first ever for the Office of Public Engagement where transgender issues are the sole focus of discussion.

“While transgender issues have been covered in previous OPE meetings, and transgender leaders have been included in other OPE meetings, this would be the first time OPE has held a meeting solely focused on transgender issues,” Inouye said.

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said she plans to attend the meeting.

“This is the first president who has allowed trans people — really allowed LGBT people — to bring forward problems and then advocate for them,” Keisling said. “In the Bush administration, we couldn’t even do that. They wouldn’t even listen to us. They didn’t care what our problems were. In fact, they were making most of our problems.”

I am glad this is happening, however I hope that the attendees are representing a diverse group of Transgender leaders. There are many voices that need to be heard.

WATCH The White House Bullying Conference