The Spectrum: Weekly

Hey guys, I am back with another weekly newsletter type thing.

I finally decided on a name and as you can see this newsletter will be called ‘The Spectrum: Weekly’. I hope you guys like the name as much as I like it, I was so proud of myself when I thought of it a few days ago. This week there is A LOT of events good and bad to get through so this is going to be an extra long post. I realise that some of you aren’t necessarily interested in every story so would you guys like it if I put a contents page, let me know. Anyway let’s get to the interesting part of the post shall we.

Jussie Smollett Hospitalised After Racist And Homophobic Attack

In the early hours of Tuesday (29 January) in Chicago, Empire star Jussie Smollett was attacked in a possible hate crime by 2 men. Smollett who plays Jamal Lyon, a high profile gay musician on Empire was hospitalised after reportedly being beaten up, branded a ‘faggot Empire nigger’, chemical substances being poured on him and having a noose tied around his neck.

There are rumours of Smollett being sent a threatening letter days before the attack reading ‘You will die black fag’. The envelope is suspected to have featured the acronym MAGA which was Trump’s slogan standing for ‘Make America Great Again’ during his campaign.

The official statement given by Chicago Police states that, “ 2 unknown offenders approached Smollett and gained his attention by yelling out racial and homophobic slurs towards him. The offenders began to batter the victim with their hands about the face and poured an unknown chemical substance on the victim. At some point during the incident, the offenders wrapped a rope around the victim’s neck and fled the scene.”

Detectives are working on collecting security camera footage to try and identify some witnesses and establish and investigative timeline. Smollett is fully cooperating and the investigators ask anyone with any information to Area Central Detectives at 312-747-8382 or anonymously to www.dtip.com.

No video of the attack has yet been found, and no arrests have been made.

The Chicago police have confirmed that the FBI will be assisting in the investigation of the the brutal attack after many influencers such as Zendaya and Ariana Grande have openly spoken to the issue.

An attack against Jussie is an attack against all black queer people.

There have also been an increase in hate crimes against LGBTQ+ recently with another man being attacked in Philadelphia, a man being publicly executed in Kazeroon (Southern Iran) and 5 people jumped out of a car a brutally beating a man standing outside a gay bar and all of this has happened in a span of 7 days.

From now on I urge every single one of you to be safe and to always be aware of your surroundings. This is our reality and unfortunately we have to find ways to protect ourselves. Stay safe please.

Latin America’s First Transgender School

Chile has officially opened its first ever transgender school trying to create a safe space for people who identify as transgender to be away from certain toxic environments that can sometimes manifest in schools.

Classes include the basics: math, english, history, sciences and workshops on art and photography. There are now currently more than 20 children enrolled and are separated into 2 classes based on age. Enrollment and attendance is steadily increasing and the teachers at school are currently working for free however by March every student will be required to pay 7$ per child.

Majority of the students coming here are usually running away from traditional schools and their discrimination and lack of tolerance among staff and children. The problem with most of these schools is that they don’t accommodate to transgender needs and accomodate to the majority so with issues like bathrooms and pronouns.

Angela, one of the students expresses how she was physically and verbally abused when she was in elementary school and immediately entered a dark place. She even went as far as to consider suicide but now at her new school everything is so much better and her environment in general has changed for the better.

Personal Opinion

I’m not really sure how I feel about this because yes its good that these children finally have a space and I can sympathise with the fact that they must have struggled so much at traditional schools and I get that but is opening transgender schools really the solution or should schools ever even be gendered? Girls schools, boy schools or any other gendered schools are always problematic one way or another. I fully the transgender school and I believe that they deserve to be in a school where they feel safe BUT what happens when you grow up and go work. We should be teaching tolerance and for me this is like ‘we can’t get tolerance so let’s just separate everyone.’ Maybe I’m misunderstanding this I don’t know, let me know what you think in the comments.

One Million Moms(Organisation) Goes Ballistic Over Parents Magazine’s Cover of Gay Parents

One Million Moms went crazy after seeing the Parents Magazine cover of a gay couple with their two children and it was also the first ever cover to feature a same-sex couple ever since the company started 93 years ago. People are complaining that Parents Magazine is being used to promote the ‘gay lifestyle’ and glorifying same-sex relationships. They even go as far as to say that the ‘gay lifestyle’ is considered unhealthy by the medical community and we all know that’s not true.

The cover features fitness coach, Shaun T and his husband Scott Blokker holding their one year old sons. It explains the struggles they had to go through but of course One Million Moms doesn’t care about that and only care about how the cover  results to “children being indoctrinated to perceive same-sex couples as normal.”

After all of this it is no surprise that The Southern Poverty Law Centre classifies One Million Moms as a hate group because of the misleading information it spreads about LGBTQ+ people.

Disneyland Paris Officially Celebrating Pride for the First Time

After a long history of unofficial Prides being held at Disney, this year Disneyland Paris is officially celebrating Pride for the first time ever.  The event is described to be magical and promises to celebrate the joy of diversity on the 1st of June with a brand new parade named ‘The Magical March of Diversity Parade.’

Although Disney still refuses to add LGBTQ+ characters as lead roles in movies, we are still making progress with shows like Andy Mack and now a Disneyland Pride. Disney is slowly but surely changing and hopefully for the better.

If you live in Paris and would like to go to this iconic event, tickets cost 78 pounds and I hope you enjoy it!!!

Kevin Hart Gets Backlash Over Tweet

Recently, Kevin Hart has not had a good relationship with the LGBTQ+ community because he refused to apologise for his homophobic jokes he made in the past. When Hart sent a message/tweet of regarding the attack of Jussie Smollett mentioned above, the world of twitter was quick to remind and condemn Hart for his anti-gay jokes in the past which he refused to apologise for.

Hart originally wrote: “Sending prayers your way @jussiesmollett ....This is unbelievably sad. Why are we going backwards....this is disgusting. We as people have to do better. WTF is going on the world???? Why are we falling in love with hate???? God damn it people....Choose love...I repeat...Choose love. I will forever choose love and I will continue to teach my kids how to do the same. Stand strong brother”

To which gay writer Ira Madison responded on Twitter: “This is why someone’s jokes about beating their gay son were never funny” and continued to call Hart’s message of to Smollett the funniest joke.

Just in case you’re confused, Madison was referencing the jokes Hart previously made on social media about assaulting his young son for playing with dolls.

Hart tried to defend himself by using the same story he used for the Oscars, that he already apologized and has changed.

He wrote on twitter: “I stand with a man in his time of hurt and need by giving him heart felt and u take the time to harp on my 10yr past that I have apologised about and moved on from by being a better person. Do you want change? If so I am an example of what u want people to do...CHANGE!”

While others criticized Hart some defended him explaining how we should stay on topic and how everyone makes mistakes and deserves a second chance without being reminded every step of the way about their past mistakes.

Personal Opinion

I understand our opinions will differ, please don’t destroy me in the comments but Kevin Hart should have just apologised when the whole Oscar Scandal started. If you really feel bad about something, why is apologising more than once such a big deal. He let his pride and ego get in the way and now he has to live with the fact that he will always be called out for it. He should have just apologised like the Queer community asked.

Manchester Pride Under Fire After Ticket Prices Double

Manchester Pride organisers are experiencing a bucket load of criticism after more than doubling the ticket prices for Manchester Pride. The four day event is usually priced at 28 pounds but this year it  has increased to 71 pounds.

The organisers are trying to defend themselves by expressing how the 153% increase in just one year will give the full Manchester Pride Festival experience featuring a line-up of international entertainment which is rumored to include Ariana Grande.

Olivia Malone, a student in Manchester, has complained that she and her friends won’t be able to afford this years Manchester Pride.

Let’s also not forget the Pride was already expensive with transport costs and food on top of ticket prices. Manchester Pride tickets are more than all the other Pride events in the UK which are between 37 and 50 pounds.

Other Headlines This Week

1. Japan Supreme Court Rules Transgenders Must Be Sterilized

2. Anti-Transgender activists deface Cilla Black Statue

3. Cuomo Signs Bill Banning Conversion Therapy

4. Federal Court Found a First Amendment Right to Force Kids into Conversion Therapy

5. International Building Code Is Changing To Recommend Gender Neutral Bathrooms

6. ‘The L Word’ Is Officially Coming Back

7. Delta Refused To Let Deaf LGBTQ+ Couple Board Flight

8. Kim Davis To Pay  $225k For Denying Gay Couple Marriage License

9. Angola Decriminalizes Gay Sex

10. Nafeesa Williams Becomes The First Black Lesbian To Play A Superhero

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Hope you guys enjoyed this weeks post and let me know about any other stories that I missed and let me know what your opinion is on everything in the comments, Im actually really curious

See you again next week around Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

#CuratorReview