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☆ Fact Check-U.S. Rep. Katie Porter did not say pedophilia was an ‘identity’
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Comments by California Representative Katie Porter during a congressional hearing on anti-LGBTQ violence on Dec. 14 have been misrepresented online. A congressional hearing on Wednesday by the U.S. House Oversight Committee explored anti-LGBTQ violence following the deadly shooting at the Club Q nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, last month where five people were killed and another 22 wounded. Porter did not say that pedophilia is an identity.”VERDICTFalse. This video does not show Rep. Katie Porter saying that pedophilia is an identity. Full footage of her remarks at a congressional hearing on Dec. 14 shows she was condemning content online that labels members of the LGBTQ+ community as “groomers” or “pedophiles.”This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team.

☆ Club Q survivors blame 'hateful rhetoric' for Colorado Springs shooting
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Two survivors of the Nov. 19 attack on a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, told members of Congress on Wednesday that they believe the shooting was the result of escalating anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. The committee heard from Michael Anderson and James Slaugh, two survivors of the shooting at Club Q, which left five people dead and 17 others injured after a gunman entered the club and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle. Hate speech turns into hate action, and actions based on hate almost took my life from me at 25 years old. “The hateful rhetoric we’ve heard from elected leaders is the direct cause of the horrific shooting at Club Q,” he said. They are basic human rights.”The suspect accused of the Club Q shooting has since been charged with 305 criminal counts, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first- and second-degree assault and bias-motivated crimes.

TURTLENECKS HAVE A PR PROBLEM among men. Too many guys put them firmly in the “not for me” category, thinking them overly constricting, pretentious or artsy. The chin-grazing knit’s reputation suffered a further blow this fall, when French finance minister Bruno Le Maire seemingly declared a plan to reduce winter heating bills by wearing turtlenecks—and was widely mocked. “Let them wear cashmere!”Putting French politics aside, we’ve decided to assume the role of the turtleneck’s publicist. And turtlenecks have poked their heads into every fashion category this winter, from luxe (the Row) to sporty (Uniqlo Heattech).

A gay California lawmaker revealed Tuesday that he received a bomb threat laced with homophobic tropes and rhetoric, amid a simmering culture war that has sparked widespread anti-LGBTQ threats and attacks nationwide. California state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said an unnamed individual threatened to bomb his home and shoot up his office. Within the last two weeks, Greene called Wiener a “communist groomer” on Twitter, and Kirk accused Wiener of releasing “pedophiles” from jail without further explanation. In response to NBC News’ request for comment, Greene’s communications director, Nick Dyer, called Wiener “ridiculous” without expanding further. The latest threat against Wiener comes amid widespread bigoted rhetoric, threats and attacks directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people across the country.

☆ Elon Musk's 'amnesty' pledge brings back QAnon, far-right Twitter accounts
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Brandy-Zadrozny-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Brandy Zadrozny | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +12 min

A “general amnesty” has restored hundreds of accounts of right-wing activists and QAnon adherents, according to data reviewed by NBC News. The reinstatement of far-right accounts has coincided with a series of bans of left-wing accounts, leaving users unsure of how the company is now applying its rules. It’s a dangerous combination.”The reinstatements and bans come as researchers continue to monitor an uptick in hate speech, and high-profile users leave the platform. Among the spammers, copyright rule-breakers, adult-content creators and high-profile accounts, Twitter has reopened the door to a growing and emboldened community of trolls, white nationalists, conspiracy theorists and extreme right-wing activists. Those reinstatements also come after Twitter dramatically reduced its staff, including those dedicated to dealing with abuse and hate speech.

Some right-wing media figures and influencers have doubled down on the use of inflammatory rhetoric against the LGBTQ community in the wake of Saturday night’s shooting at a Colorado gay club that killed five. “We shouldn’t tolerate pedophiles grooming kids,” Pool tweeted. At least one Republican politician also targeted LGBTQ people on social media in the wake of the shooting. Ellis said leaders in the LGBTQ community have “seen a dramatic uptick” in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. “This is priming some very violent people to do shocking acts of violence, and this is all being pushed on social media and on Fox News, on Tucker Carlson.”

☆ Chimpanzees could share another behavior trait with humans
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Taylor Nicioli | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The closest cousin of humans, this species of great ape has effective ways of communicating what it needs. Show-and-tellFiona had been engaged in what researchers call “leaf grooming,” a common behavior in which a chimpanzee will stroke and manipulate a leaf. Slocombe and her team always maintain a 23-foot (7-meter) distance when observing the chimpanzees in the wild, so as to not disturb them. This standard practice rules out the possibility that the behavior was learned from humans. She hopes it will encourage those who work with chimpanzees, in the wild or in captivity, to look out for more examples.

☆ A gay Republican who said Trump was 'at his full awesomeness' on January 6 is headed to Congress
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

George Santos is set to become the only openly gay sitting Republican member of Congress. Santos will also be only the third openly gay Republican member of Congress, following former Reps. Jim Kolbe of Arizona and Steve Gunderson of Illinois. He is the first Republican to be openly gay at the time of his election. At the same time, Republicans have shown an increasing openness to same-sex marriage. Nonetheless, most members of the House Republican Conference voted against enshrining the right to same-sex marriage into law.

☆ Far-right figures appear to be testing Twitter's boundaries for anti-LGBTQ speech
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Matt Lavietes | Matt Lavietes Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Shields did not respond to NBC News' request for comment. The word “grooming” has long been associated with mischaracterizing LGBTQ people, particularly gay men and transgender women, as child sex abusers. The day before, within hours of Musk's Twitter acquisition, the far-right account Libs of TikTok — which has over 1.4 million Twitter followers and has largely built its following by mocking liberals — tweeted out a post with the word "groomer" written over a dozen times. The far-right celebration comes as homophobic and transphobic slurs and rhetoric have had a resurgence within Republican politics this year. Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment concerning several of the more high-profile tweets that included anti-LGBTQ slurs or sentiments.

☆ Use of N-word on Twitter jumped by almost 500% after Elon Musk's takeover as trolls test limits on free speech, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Joshua Zitser | Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk's Twitter takeover sparked a surge in the use of the N-word on the social media platform. A social media research group told The Washington Post the use of the slur increased by nearly 500%. "Almost immediately I noticed an increase in anti-trans harassment, it's very visible," said Erin Reed, a trans activist and queer legislative researcher, per The Washington Post. Alex Goldenberg, NCRI's lead intelligence analyst, told The Washington Post that "online trolls regularly test the limits of moderation." On the same day, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted that Musk's purchase of Twitter was "the most important development for Free Speech in decades."

☆ Trans Twitch streamer Keffals is ready to return home after Kiwi Farms
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Morgan Sung | Morgan Sung Is A Trends Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

The internet archive site Wayback Machine removed Kiwi Farms from its records, and Google delisted it from search results. After Cloudflare stopped servicing it, Kiwi Farms moved to Russian servers, where it was quickly shuttered again when web-hosting provider DDos-Guard also terminated services. It’s so important to be able to collaborate with other trans streamers of that size.”Sorrenti poses at Hasan Piker's TwitchCon booth. NBC NewsAnnie Roberts, a Twitch ambassador, noted the increase of the trans streamers on the platform in recent years. She became even closer to the creators who moderate her channel and make up her executive staff, because they too were doxxed by Kiwi Farms users for working with her.

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