All posts tagged: Gays

Mark Pocan launches inquiry into secretive Christian group linked to Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” law

Mark Pocan launches inquiry into secretive Christian group linked to Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” law

Published by skeptic

Rep. Mark Pocan, (D-WI), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, demanded answers Tuesday night from the secretive Christian group that paid for a member of Congress to travel to Uganda and urge defiance of international pressure against that nation’s anti-LGBTQ+ death penalty. Pocan’s letter effectively asks the Fellowship Foundation, also known as The Family, to reveal the nature and extent of its operations around the world, including but not limited to its spinoffs of the National Prayer Breakfast, which The Family started in the U.S. in 1953. Pocan also asks about continuing ties with the new National Prayer Breakfast, which is being held Thursday. The letter is addressed to Katherine Crane, who heads The Family’s board. It was Crane who signed off on The Family’s payment to fly Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) to the Ugandan National Prayer Breakfast in October. That’s when he told attendees, including Uganda’s president, to “stand firm” against the Biden administration, the UN, the World Bank, and the World Health Organization. All have condemned the 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act, and U.S. sanctions threaten to …

Plagiarism probe finds some problems with former Harvard president Claudine Gay’s work

Plagiarism probe finds some problems with former Harvard president Claudine Gay’s work

Published by skeptic

BOSTON (AP) — Harvard University has shed fresh light on the ongoing investigation into plagiarism accusations against former president Claudine Gay, including that an independent body recommended a broader review after substantiating some of the complaints. In a letter Friday to a congressional committee, Harvard said it learned of the plagiarism allegations against its first Black female president on Oct. 24 from a New York Post reporter. The school reached out to several authors whom Gay is accused of plagiarizing and none objected to her language, it said. Harvard then appointed the independent body, which focused on two of Gay’s articles published in 2012 and 2017. It concluded they “are both sophisticated and original,” and found “virtually no evidence of intentional claiming of findings” that were not her own. The panel, however, concluded that nine of 25 allegations found by the Post were “of principal concern” and featured “paraphrased or reproduced the language of others without quotation marks and without sufficient and clear crediting of sources.” It also found one instance where “fragments of duplicative …

Jennifer Coolidge Thanks ‘All The Evil Gays’ At The Emmys

Jennifer Coolidge Thanks ‘All The Evil Gays’ At The Emmys

Published by skeptic

Jennifer Coolidge’s acceptance speech at Monday night’s Emmys ceremony was short, sweet and, of course, completely iconic. During this year’s awards show, which took place months later than usual due to last year’s Hollywood strikes, Jennifer picked up her second Emmy for her performance in the most recent season of The White Lotus. And while the comedy actor may not have been given much time to say her thank yous, she certainly made the most of it all the sale. Jen began by thanking The White Lotus creator Mike White “for giving me this opportunity to play this incredible character”. “And he says I’m definitely dead, so I’m going along with it,” she joked, referring to her character’s fate in the season two finale of The White Lotus. The Legally Blonde star then turned her attention to the show’s producers, at which point she spotted that time was “running out”, so she swiftly said, in reference to one of Tanya McQuoid’s most iconic lines: “I want thank all the evil gays.” “Especially Paolo, Francesco and …

White Lotus MVP Jennifer Coolidge Triumphs at Emmys 2024, Thanks “All the Evil Gays”

White Lotus MVP Jennifer Coolidge Triumphs at Emmys 2024, Thanks “All the Evil Gays”

Published by skeptic

It’s been a year since Jennifer Coolidge’s White Lotus character, Tanya, fatally bit it while fleeing a yacht of murdersome gays, and during Monday’s 2024 Emmy ceremony, the character was toasted one final time in Hollywood. “I want to thank all the evil gays,” Coolidge said after collecting her second Emmy. She thanked White Lotus creator Mike White for casting her on the series and closed out her stage time—watched closely by the ceremony’s designated bouncer, host Anthony Anderson’s mom—by saying, “I had a little dream in my little town” that came true. “Don’t give up on your dreams.” The actor beat out several White Lotus costars for the title: Meghann Fahy, Sabrina Impacciatore, Aubrey Plaza, and Simona Tabasco, as well as J. Smith-Cameron from Succession, Elizabeth Debicki from The Crown, and Rhea Seehorn from Better Call Saul.  In 2022, Coolidge won the Emmy for supporting actor in a limited series for her turn as Tanya in White Lotus’s Hawaiian-set first season. When the show returned for a second go, it moved into the drama …

Harvard and Claudine Gay’s total car crash has woken an old force in America

Harvard and Claudine Gay’s total car crash has woken an old force in America

Published by skeptic

The Trumpers rightly see Harvard as representing everything they despise — a scornful ruling class. For them to ultimately win, Harvard must lose, or be seriously discredited and reduced. The Left, however, has waged its own long-time grudge here against the elites, and done so with considerable success. The Harvard of the white male establishment, with its $40 billion endowment, and its alumni in the choicest corporate, finance, intellectual, government, and Hollywood jobs, has been converted over the last generation, along with other top colleges and universities, into a new world of the unforgiving Left’s proscribed and regulated speech, behaviour, and logic. It is an unrecognisable world to an older generation who came of age on America’s live-and-let-live campuses. Source link

Claudine Gay’s ousting reveals that the messenger is still an easier target than the message | Kenan Malik

Claudine Gay’s ousting reveals that the messenger is still an easier target than the message | Kenan Malik

Published by Sam

For some, she is the wretched epitome of the liberal elite; for others, the victim of a “racist mob”. She herself condemns her critics for having “recycled tired racial stereotypes”. As an illustration of the way that culture wars warp political judgment and push people into tribal corners, the case of Claudine Gay may be Exhibit 1. Gay, who became Harvard University’s first black president in July, was forced last week to resign, the culmination of a bitter controversy at the heart of which are tussles over some of the most polarising issues of the day: racism, antisemitism, plagiarism, free speech and diversity. The controversy began after the Hamas attack of 7 October. Harvard student groups, led by the university’s Palestine Solidarity Committee, published a statement holding Israel “entirely responsible for all unfolding violence”, provoking outrage and criticism of university authorities for not responding. Gay, and presidents of two other colleges, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Pennsylvania, were summoned to Washington to face a Congressional interrogation led by rightwing Republican Elise Stefanik. It turned …

‘A bully’: the billionaire who led calls for Claudine Gay’s Harvard exit | Harvard University

Published by skeptic

Chief among the campaigners celebrating the resignation of Claudine Gay as president of Harvard University was a man who arguably did the most to push Gay, Harvard’s first Black president, out the door: Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge-fund manager and Harvard alumnus. Ackman, who accused Gay of antisemitism and plagiarism, was a major player in what increasingly became a rightwing campaign against the Harvard president – who said many of the attacks against her were “fueled by racial animus”. In the past month alone, the 57-year-old has tweeted about Gay, Harvard, or both, more than 100 times to his 1 million followers. On Tuesday, he topped that with a rambling 4,000-word X post about “racism against white people”; universities’ efforts to increase diversity; and accusations that student groups were “supporting terrorism”. Ackman’s campaign came after “years of resentment”, the New York Times reported, in part because his donations to Harvard did not give him greater influence over the university. A previous donor to the Democratic party, Ackman has denied he has rightwing politics. But his …

Claudine Gay’s resignation was overdue

Claudine Gay’s resignation was overdue

Published by skeptic

This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Claudine Gay engaged in academic misconduct. Everything else about her case is irrelevant, including the silly claims of her right-wing opponents. First, here are three new stories from The Atlantic: When Truth Comes From Terrible People Claudine Gay is stepping down as the president of Harvard University. Her decision is right and even overdue. Despite the results of an investigation commissioned by the Harvard Corporation last month that found cases only of “inadequate” citation, new charges about her work include episodes of what most scholars would recognize as academic misconduct, including plagiarism. Experts consulted by CNN consider the recent excerpts to be plagiarism, and I agree: I was a professor for almost 35 years, at multiple institutions, including Harvard, where I taught courses for their continuing-education and summer programs for 18 years. I have referred students for varying punishments …