If falling for an email phishing scam is on your list of embarrassments as a tech user, you can now feel a little better, as two titans in the industry have been confirmed to have recently fallen for the same type of security mishap: none other than Facebook and Google. Last month it was reported that the US Department of … Continue reading
The New York Times just hired Bret Stephens, a conservative writer who identifies as a “climate agnostic” ― infuriating many readers who say the paper is going against its mission to cover climate change.
Now, scientists are rallying people against the Times and its new hire.
Climate scientist Michael E. Mann launched the hashtag #ShowYourCancellation this week after the paper’s public editor defended the decision to hire the former Wall Street Journal columnist, dismissing its so-called “left-leaning critics” who they claimed were leading a “fiery revolt.”
Mann called for people to prove to the Times that they were actually ending their subscriptions to the paper over Stephens, who published his first column on being skeptical about the effects of climate change on Friday.
The Times’ decision to hire Stephens, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, was part of the paper’s efforts to expand its range of political views. But for many, Stephens’ hire was a backward step for a paper that had previously declared climate change to be one of the most pressing modern topics.
And Mann wasn’t the only scientist to denounce the paper’s decision. Ken Caldeira, a Stanford climate researcher, and physics professor Stefan Rahmstorf, an ocean science fellow with the American Geophysical Union, both wrote letters to Times editors alerting them of their canceled subscriptions.
“I will support your newspaper no more,” Rahmstorf wrote to the Times in his letter, which he shared on Twitter Thursday. “Instead, I will give the money to ClimateFeedback.org, a worldwide network of scientists sorting fact from fiction in climate change media coverage. It is much better invested there.”
Thanks to Mann, many others are following suit.
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Shannen Doherty has some great news to share.
The actress, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, revealed Friday that her cancer is in remission.
“Moments. They happen. Today was and is a moment,” the former “Beverly Hills, 90210” star wrote on Instagram. “What does remission mean? I heard that word and have no idea how to react. Good news? YES. Overwhelming. YES. Now more waiting.”
Doherty, though, remained cautious as she decides on further treatment and what challenges could lie ahead.
“As every single one of my fellow cancer family knows, the next five years is crucial,” she added. “Reoccurrences happen all the time. Many of you have shared that very story with me. So with a heart that is certainly lighter, I wait. In the meantime, decisions. Reconstruction which is several surgeries. Decision on taking a pill for the next five years that comes with its own set of problems and side effects. I am blessed, I know that. But for now…. remission. I’m going to just breathe.”
Doherty, 46, has chronicled her cancer treatments and progress on social media. In November, she posted a photo on Instagram from her first day of radiation treatment. “Radiation is frightening to me,” she wrote below the image. “Something about not being able to see the laser, see the treatment and having this machine moving around you just scares me.”
Just this past week, she shared a picture showing how her hair has started to grow back following cancer treatment. “Live life to the fullest,” she said. “Cherish every second. Love fiercely. And thank God for every second. I’ll keep you all posted and thank you for your positive energy and prayers. and yes…. that is a puff ball on top of my head. Just happy it’s growing!!”
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You Want Better Beer?
Good. Here’s a Better
Barley Genome
Adam Rogers,
Wired
The beer industry certainly isn’t hurting for money these days, but a group of scientists are trying to figure out how to make the beverage even better. They’re doing so…
This week, nearing the end of four years of service as an Obama Presidential appointee to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), I felt compelled to issue a public dissent to USCIRF’s 2017 Annual Report.
While the larger part of my dissent dealt with the way the Commission does its work (which I will discuss in a future column), what moved me to go public was the glaring refusal of some Commissioners to allow even a consideration of religious freedom in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
I did not bring this matter before the Commission. It was brought to our attention by two letters urging us to consider Israel’s discriminatory behavior toward Palestinian Christians and Muslims, and non-Orthodox Jews. The first of these was signed by leaders representing 11 major U.S. religious communities and 34 Christian groups from the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem.
Their letter noted that the Commission had “never reported on religious freedom in Israel and the occupied territories” calling it a “conspicuous gap.” They argued that Israel has established “the dominant privileged position of Jewish Israelis in a manner that discriminated against the Christian and Muslim Palestinian population in Israel and the occupied territories…[while] also negatively affecting non-Orthodox and secular Jews.” They cited “discriminatory laws that impact the freedom to marry, family unification, discrimination in housing and land ownership, the freedom of movement, and the right to worship and to main holy site.”
The letter closed by urging USCIRF to conduct “a comprehensive review of religious freedom in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, consistent with the principles it has established with respect to other states.”
The Commission also received a letter from the Chair and President of Hiddush, “an organization of Israeli and North American Jewish leaders…who work to promote religious freedom and diversity in Israel.” Their letter cited a broad range of concerns, including the “freedom to worship (such as…women’s worship rights in the Western Wall plaza…), discrimination in State funding for religious services,…prohibition of public transport on the Sabbath, obstacles to non-religious and non-Orthodox burials” and “the excessive power of the Orthodox religious parties over the rights and dignity of the population as a whole.”
The Hiddush letter closed by requesting that USCIRF “ conduct a serious review of religious freedom issues in Israel… [and] that the standards and principles used to monitor religious freedom issues throughout the world be used as you study and review these issues in Israel.”
While I was troubled that a slim majority of Commissioners voted against both requests, more disturbing was the way the debate took place. The level of vehemence was so great that it was clear that there could be no rational discussion of this issue. Some Commissioners expressed concern that if we were to conduct a review of Israeli policy it would consume the Commission in endless rancorous debate, paralyzing us for the rest of the year. The upshot was that these appeals were dismissed and the Commission was, in effect, bullied into silence.
This was not the first time during my tenure that the Commission rejected an appeal of this sort. In 2014, we were visited by the Latin Patriarch—the Roman Catholic Bishop of Jerusalem. He raised four concerns, asking for our help: the impact of the Wall which Israel was building to separate its settlements from Palestinians, citing, in particular, its impact on a Catholic convent and monastery—threatening irreparable damage to the operations of both; the hardships imposed on Palestinians as a result of Israel’s refusal to allow family unification in East Jerusalem; restrictions on the freedom of movement of clergy; and Israel’s efforts to create a “Christian ID” that would divide the Palestinian citizens of Israel by religion.
The Patriarch was treated so harshly by some Commissioners that he left the meeting shaken by the hostility he had encountered. When I raised the Patriarch’s concerns at a later meeting, I was asked why I was singling Israel out for criticism. In response I noted that I wasn’t singling Israel out for criticism, I just couldn’t accept that Israel be singled out as the one country that could not be criticized.
My concern in all of this is threefold. By refusing to examine Israeli behavior, the Commission is not only insulting the major faith leaders who wrote to us, it is also saying to Palestinian Christians and Muslims, and non-Orthodox or secular Jews in Israel that their freedoms and rights do not matter. In addition, USCIRF’s silence contributes to Israel’s sense of impunity and exposes it to the charge of having a double standard—that it will criticize every other country, but never Israel. In fact, many of the behaviors we cite in our criticisms of other countries (for example, Turkey in Cyprus or Russia in Crimea) are replicated by Israel in the occupied territories.
In this context, it is important to consider the findings of the annual Pew Study of religious freedom in countries around the world. In its most recent study, Pew gives Israel the world’s fifth worst score on its “Social Hostilities Index”. On Pew’s “Government Restriction Index”, Israel’s score is worse than many of the countries the Commission examines in its annual report.
The charge that USCIRF has a double standard particularly undermines its ability to effectively advocate for religious freedom in other countries, the leaders of which can ignore the substance of USCIRF’s critique of their record and instead dismiss the Commission as hypocritical.
Given this, I decided to make my dissent public because I value religious freedom and cannot turn a blind eye to any victim community and because I know that the Commission’s refusal to be balanced in its assessment of religious freedom concerns reduces its stature and calls into question its credibility.
Follow @jjz1600 for more.
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Co-authored by Linda Benesch, Communications Director, Social Security Works
Donald Trump ran for President as a different kind of Republican. During the primary, he stood out from the crowd by promising to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. He went on to make that promise a centerpiece of his general election campaign.
Even before the election, there was good reason to be extremely skeptical of Trump’s promise. After all, prior to running, he had called Social Security a Ponzi scheme, said that “privatization would be good for all of us,” and, in true elitist fashion, called for raising the retirement age to age 70, because “how many times will you really want to take that trailer to the Grand Canyon?” Moreover, he selected Mike Pence as his vice president. Pence has a long record of attacking Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Indeed, Pence criticized Bush’s Social Security privatization proposal for not going far enough, fast enough!
It is clear that Trump understands how popular these programs are. Social Security has famously been called the third rail of politics – go after it and your political career is dead. In a 2011 interview with Sean Hannity, Trump said he was on board with plans to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — but that Republicans should be very careful “not to fall into the Democratic trap” by doing it in the open, without bipartisan cover, or they would pay the price politically.
So, did Trump mean what he said during the campaign? Or, did he say what he needed to in order to get elected, knowing all along he would break his campaign promise? Unfortunately, It looks like the latter. After only 100 days in office, he has already jeopardized his promise to the American people in at least five ways:
1. Championing a “health care” bill that would raid Medicare and gut Medicaid
The American Health Care Act, AKA Trumpcare, would be very destructive to both Medicare and Medicaid. Trumpcare raids $117 billion dollars from Medicare, depriving the program of essential funding and giving Congressional Republicans the perfect excuse to call for cuts a few years down the road. It cuts nearly a trillion dollars from Medicaid, which would be a disaster for, among others, millions of seniors, who rely on Medicaid to pay for long term care costs, both at home and in nursing homes.
Trumpcare would also be a disaster for Social Security beneficiaries in their early 60s who aren’t yet eligible for Medicare. The bill would allow insurance companies to charge older customers far more, which the CBO estimates could lead to a massive 750% increase in their premiums. Not only has he not opposed these campaign-breaking promises, he is “disappointed,” he says, that House Republicans haven’t yet rammed this harmful legislation through.
2. Appointing Anti-Social Security Mick Mulvaney as Budget Director
If Trump truly intended to keep his promise to protect Social Security and Medicare, he would be surrounding himself with people who support that goal. He has done exactly the opposite. For the key position of Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Trump appointed Mick Mulvaney, a member of the House Freedom Caucus well known for his fervent support of Social Security and Medicare cuts.
Mulvaney has enormous influence over the budgets of the agencies responsible for administering Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. If that weren’t bad enough, he promised both GOP lawmakers and right-wing media personalities that he will push Trump to cut Social Security. On recent television appearances, including Face the Nation, Mulvaney has outrageously asserted that Social Security Disability Insurance isn’t “real” Social Security.
Obviously, Social Security’s insurance against the loss of wages in the event of disability, as well as old age and death, are all essential parts of working families’ earned Social Security benefits. But, it is not hard to see the method in Mulvaney’s madness. By Mulvaney’s Orwellian illogic, Trump could cut Social Security, but claim he did not!
3. Appointing Anti-Medicare Tom Price as Health and Human Services Secretary
Tom Price, Trump’s choice to head the cabinet department that runs Medicare and Medicaid, is just as dangerous as Mulvaney. Moreover, by virtue of his position, Price is a trustee of Social Security and Medicare. Talk about a fox in the henhouse: Price has said “nothing has had a greater negative effect on the delivery of health care than the federal government’s intrusion into medicine through Medicare.” and “We will not rest until we make certain that government-run health care [e.g., Medicare] is ended.” Trump has now put him in the perfect position to carry out that threat.
On top of his abhorrent policy views, Price also faces very serious accusations of insider trading, working with pharmaceutical corporations to block regulations they opposed and lining his own pockets in the process, but that’s an aside. Even if he were above reproach, his long history of wanting to dismantle Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is a breach of faith with those who believed Trump on the campaign trail when he said he would protect these vital programs.
4. Instituting a Months-Long Hiring Freeze That Hurt Social Security Beneficiaries
Social Security doesn’t add a penny to the deficit. Indeed, it has dedicated revenue and an accumulated surplus of $2.8 trillion, out of which is paid not only benefits but the associated administrative costs. Nevertheless, only days after taking office, President Trump instituted a federal hiring freeze that included the Social Security Administration, which is already in a weakened state due to years of budget cuts imposed by Congressional Republicans. The hiring freeze forced SSA to turn away beneficiaries who came to their field offices for assistance.
Trump claims he wants to run government like a business. Any business that had a product as successful and profitable as Social Security would be increasing customer service, not restricting it. Making it harder for Americans to access their earned Social Security benefits – access they have already paid for – is terrible policy and a violation of Trump’s promise.
5. Staying Silent in the Face of Attacks on Social Security and Medicare From His Own Administration and Party Leadership
During the election, Trump had no problem attacking leaders in his own party for supporting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid cuts. He went so far as to say “they want to really cut [Social Security], and they want to cut it very substantially, the Republicans, and I’m not going to do that” and even called out Paul Ryan by name. He, also, has not lost his flair for tweeting.
But since the election, Trump has been completely silent in the face of attacks on Social Security and Medicare from GOP leaders. Not one comment. Not one tweet.
Just days after the election, Ryan made it clear that he plans to make 2017 the year that he finally accomplishes his decades long goal of destroying Medicare via privatization. Trump said nothing. In December, the Republican Chair of the House Social Security Subcommittee introduced a bill to gut Social Security. Trump said nothing. This silence even extends to his own administration. Mulvaney is all over television attacking Social Security and saying that Trump’s promise isn’t binding, and the President has declined to reprimand him.
A few weeks ago, reports emerged that the White House was considering, as part of its tax plan, the idea of weakening Social Security, perhaps fatally, by raiding a substantial part of its dedicated revenue. Though that proposal has not yet emerged, the tax proposals that have been released have encouraged right-wing ideologues to argue, in the Wall Street Journal’s opinion page and elsewhere, that the proposed tax cuts for corporations and billionaires are great but would be even better if they were paid for by cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Still, Trump has said nothing.
As Trump acknowledged during the primaries, Republican politicians are hostile to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Even though Trump’s first 100 days have shown no fidelity to his campaign promise, it is not too late for him to prove he really is different from the Republican establishment.
He can repudiate that part of Trumpcare that undermines his promise. He can make clear that Mulvaney and Price are not running the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid show. He can propose and push for the adequate funding of SSA and the part of HHS responsible for the administration of Medicare and Medicaid. And most important, he can attack those in his party who propose dismantling these essential programs and tweet his continued commitment to them.
If he was not just conning the public when he promised to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, he should do all of those things. The first 100 days should not make any of us hold our breath in anticipation, though.
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BRUSSELS, April 29 (Reuters) – European Union leaders promised on Saturday to embrace the British province of Northern Ireland into the EU if a referendum unites it with the Republic of Ireland.
At a summit called to agree the EU’s plan for negotiating with Britain at it leaves the bloc, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny asked fellow members to acknowledge that Northern Ireland would, like East Germany in 1990, automatically enter the EU in the event of unification with existing member state.
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement to end violence in Northern Ireland foresees the holding of referendums on both sides of the border on uniting the island if London and Dublin see public support for that.
EU leaders gave their political endorsement to what Irish and EU legal experts say is the position in international law of such territorial changes.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
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As one of America’s star directors, Quentin Tarantino has become a larger-than-life personality. He seems relentlessly cocksure today, but there was once a time when Tarantino had to prove to himself that he was capable of this whole filmmaking thing.
Given how trying it can be to forge a movie career, Tarantino had a relatively auspicious start. His first project, “Reservoir Dogs,” made him an instant up-and-comer amid the 1990s’ independent-film boom. Celebrating the crime thriller’s 25th anniversary, Tarantino reunited with Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Michael Madsen and Tim Roth on Friday night for a screening and panel discussion at the Tribeca Film Festival. There, he spoke of his signature memory from the film, which doubles as the “happiest moment” of his life.
It came at the end of a two-week rehearsal period, during which the actors bonded in Los Angeles. Keitel hosted a cast dinner at the house he was renting in Malibu. Tarantino was staying with his mother in Glendale, about 40 miles away. That night, perched around Keitel’s table, he realized the dream he’d maintained since his Tennessee days as a teenage video-store clerk had real potential. Thanks to the “Reservoir Dogs” cast’s harmony, Tarantino’s career was born.
“We’re sitting there and we’re having a great time, and I really realized that, gosh, a lot of the pressure was off my shoulders cinematically,” Tarantino said. “These guys were so perfect in their parts, they were so vibing with each other, they so understood the material. By rehearsing two weeks, they knew the material. I was like, ‘Fuck, if I just keep this movie in focus, I’ve got a movie.’ Anything else I bring to it will just be frosting, but the cake is here — it’s these guys. I watched it at dinner that night. It was a really nice thing for Harvey to do. But I remember that night getting in my car and just taking that drive all the way from Malibu to Glendale, just on [Sunset Boulevard], never getting off Sunset, all the little, windy roads. And that was the happiest time of my life. That was the happiest moment of my life. This thing that I had thought about for so long — not just ‘Reservoir Dogs,’ just making movies in general — this might just work out.”
Of course, things did work out, despite projector problems and a power outage during the first “Reservoir Dogs” screening at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival. Tarantino saw it as a mark of achievement that people walked out during the scene were Mr. Blonde tortures the kidnapped police officer. The number of exits during a single screening peaked at 33, according to his count. Even Wes Craven walked out at Spain’s horror-focused Sitges Film Festival. “The guy who did ‘Last House on the Left’ walked out of my movie,” Tarantino roared. “I guess it was too tough for him.”
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WASHINGTON — With temperatures above 90 degrees threatening to set a new record, thousands of protesters descended on the National Mall Saturday to demand the Trump administration quit cozying up to fossil fuel companies and take action against climate change.
The unseasonal heat served as an exclamation point on the demonstration’s message: that America and the planet don’t have time for the antics of President Donald Trump, who has falsely called climate change “bullshit” and a “hoax.”
The People’s Climate March, which falls on Trump’s 100th day in office, includes a main event in Washington and more than 300 marches across the U.S. and around the world, including Boston and San Fransisco.
Neil Gundel, 57, of Hartford, Connecticut, came to the march because he felt it was important to stand up to the Trump administration on behalf of future generations. He described Trump’s first 100 days in office as “almost like a satire.”
“It’s looking like they are trying to accelerate climate change as fast as he can,” Gundel said. “I think it’s going to hit this generation more than they know.”
Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a co-sponsor of the event, said in a blog post Friday that Trump has launched the “worst assault in history” against commonsense environmental protections during his first 100 days.
“A hundred days of hazard and harm are a hundred days too many,” Suh wrote. “We won’t stand by and watch him surrender our children to the growing dangers of climate change.”
Trump has moved quickly to unravel Obama-era policies meant to reduce the United States’ carbon footprint and fight climate change. He has proposed deep budget cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency and other scientific agencies, and has signed executive orders that aim to increase fossil fuel production. He has also vowed to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, the landmark climate accord in which nearly 200 countries committed to slashing carbon emissions, although many in his inner circle have urged him not to do so.
Trump on Friday signed an executive order aimed at opening protected areas of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans to oil and gas development.
Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said Trump’s order would “only make our call louder on Saturday.”
Also on Friday, the EPA announced “website updates” that involved the removal of several pages, including those related to climate change. It said the changes “reflect the agency’s new direction under President Donald Trump and Administrator Scott Pruitt.” The changes went into effect Friday night.
The last People’s Climate March, in September 2014, drew more than 400,000 people to New York City in advance of the United Nations’ Climate Summit. The demonstration was hailed as the largest climate march in history.
Jamie Henn, co-founder of 350.org, one of several groups that organized the event, told HuffPost this week that online RSVPs had climbed to more than 140,000 nationwide, mostly for the D.C. march.
“This is a movement, not a moment, and the march is just the beginning,” Henn said in an email.
To mark his first 100 days in office, Trump will hold a rally late Saturday in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Breaking with precedent, he will not attend Saturday’s White House Correspondents Association dinner in Washington.
The record high for April 29 in Washington is 91 degrees, set in 1972. The National Weather Service forecast Saturday calls for a high of 93.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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WASHINGTON ― Saturday marks President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office. In case you haven’t read an analysis of his failures, his lies or what grades he deserves for his performance over the past three months, don’t worry: there are over 833,000 takes to choose from.
Enough. It’s time to expend brain power on something else. Nobody wants another think piece on the first 100 days. But the first 100 gays? Nobody has done this. Until now.
Here are the first 100 gay people in America, with some major caveats. 1) These are people who have been out and influential in some form. 2) I am going back in time as far as I can find people in Google searches on a Friday night, when I’m doing this instead of going out and enjoying whiskey with friends. 3) I will inevitably miss important people; do not give me crap. Instead, enjoy reading about something other than Trump and learn some new facts.
1. Frances Rummell (a.k.a Diana Frederics) published a 1939 autobiography called Diana: A Strange Autobiography. It was the first explicitly lesbian autobiography in which two women ended up happy together.
2. In 1950, Harry Hay founded the Los Angeles-based Mattachine Society, one of the first gay (men’s) rights organizations in the country. The FBI spent a few years investigating those homosexuals.
3. Marijane Meaker (aka Vin Packer) published Spring Fire in 1952, the first lesbian paperback novel. Her publisher made her change its ending from happy to tragic ― because lesbians in the 1950s couldn’t have nice things.
4. In 1955, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon founded Daughters of Bilitis, the first national lesbian political and social organization. They were also the first same-sex couple married in California when, in 2004, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered the city clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. They were 87 and 83. Aw.
5. José Sarria ran for San Francisco city-county supervisor in 1961, making him the first openly gay person to run for public office.
6. In 1966, Lilli Vincenz became the first lesbian to appear on the cover of a lesbian magazine, The Ladder, with her face showing. (Was there another magazine cover with a lesbian showing her arm?)
7. Craig Rodwell opened the New York City-based Oscar Wilde Bookshop in 1967. It was the first book store devoted to gay and lesbian authors. It closed in 2009.
8. Rev. James Lewis Stoll in 1969 became the first ordained minister of an established denomination to come out as gay. He led the effort that convinced the Unitarian Universalist Association to pass their first gay rights resolution.
9. In 1970, Del Whan taught the first LGBTQ class at the University of Southern California, titled “Social Movement: Gay Liberation.” It evolved into a student group, The Gay Liberation Forum, which was the first gay and lesbian campus group. USC finally recognized it in 1975.
10. Jim Morris became the first openly gay IFBB professional bodybuilder in 1971. (There’s a first for everything, right?)
11. At a 1971 University of California, Los Angeles conference called “The Homosexual in America, Betty Berzon came out as the first openly gay psychotherapist.
12. Political activist Jim Foster founded the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club in 1972, the country’s first gay Democratic political club.
13. In 1972, John Hospers became the first openly gay man to run for president of the United States. Wow.
14. Nancy Wechsler and Jerry DeGrieck, in 1972, became the first openly LGBT elected officials in America. They were graduate students at the University of Michigan, and both were elected to the Ann Arbor City Council.
15. In 1972, Bruce Wayne Campbell (aka Jobriath) was the first openly gay rock musician to sign to a major record label.
16. In 1973, Sally Miller Gearhart became the first open lesbian to get a tenure-track faculty position, when San Francisco State University hired her. She helped launch one of the first women and gender studies programs in the U.S.
17. In 1975, Air Force Sergeant Leonard Matlovich walked up to his commanding officer and told him he was gay, making him the first U.S. service member to purposely out himself to challenge the military’s ban on LGBT people. Matlovich was discharged and fought for years, unsuccessfully, to end the military ban, which remained in place until 2011.
18. Harvey Milk, in 1978, became the first openly gay candidate elected to political office in California. He was the seventh openly gay or lesbian elected official nationally. Sean Penn starred in a great movie about him, “Milk.”
19. Robin Tyler became the first out lesbian on national television in 1978, appearing on a Showtime comedy special that Phyllis Diller hosted.
20. In 1979, Stephen Lachs became the first openly gay judge in the country. He retired from the L.A. County Superior Court in 1999.
21. Tennis great Billie Jean King, in 1981, became the first prominent professional athlete to come out as a lesbian. Michael Jackson wrote a song about Billie Jean, though it was not about her.
22. In 1983, Gerry Studds became the first openly gay member of Congress. It wasn’t under the best of circumstances; he admitted he had been having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male congressional page.
23. Sally Ride was the first American woman in space, in 1983, and then when she died in 2012, she came out as a lesbian in her obituary. Boom! That makes her the first (and only) out LGBTQ astronaut.
24. Terry Sweeney, in 1985, became “Saturday Night Live’s” first openly gay cast member.
25. In 1986, Becky Smith and Annie Affleck became the first openly lesbian couple granted legal, joint adoption of a child.
26. Sherry Harris was elected to the Seattle city council in 1991, making her the first openly lesbian African-American elected official.
27. In 1993, Roberta Achtenberg became the first openly gay or lesbian person nominated to a federal government post and confirmed by the Senate. Then-President Bill Clinton nominated her to be his assistant secretary of fair housing and equal opportunity.
28. Lea DeLaria hosted Comedy Central’s “Out There” in 1993, the first all-gay stand-up comedy special. She’s on “Orange Is The New Black” now.
29. In 1994, Deborah Batts became the first openly gay or lesbian U.S. federal judge. She was on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
30. Rachel Maddow, in 1995, became the first openly gay or lesbian American to win the prestigious Rhodes scholarship. She later became the first out lesbian to host a prime time news show, which you may have heard of: “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
31. Steve Fong became the first openly gay speaker at a Republican National Convention in 1996.
32. In 1997, Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” and then her TV series character came out too. That made her the first openly lesbian actress to play an openly lesbian character on TV. This was a BFD to budding young lesbians.
33. Tammy Baldwin became the first open lesbian elected to Congress in 1998. She later became the first openly lesbian or gay U.S. senator.
34. James Hormel, in 1999, became the first openly gay U.S. ambassador. This was around the time then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) compared homosexuality to alcoholism, kleptomania and sex addiction. Good times.
35. In 2003, David Cicilline became the first openly gay mayor of a U.S. state capitol, Providence, Rhode Island. He’s in Congress now.
36. Marcia Hams and Sue Shepard, in 2004, became the first same-sex couple to marry in Massachusetts after it was legalized there.
37. James McGreevey became the first openly gay governor in 2004. He came out after getting in trouble for appointing his secret lover, Golan Cipel, as his homeland security advisor, even though he lacked qualifications. McGreevey resigned soon afterward.
38. In 2005, Bonnie Bleskachek became the first openly lesbian fire chief of a major city, Minneapolis. She was demoted two years later amid claims of harassment and discrimination.
39. Kate Brown became the nation’s first openly bisexual governor in 2008, when she became governor of Oregon.
40. In 2009, Annise Parker was elected mayor of Houston, making her the first LGBT mayor of a U.S. city with a population over 1 million.
41. Chai Feldblum, in 2010, became the first openly lesbian or gay person to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
42. Brenda Sue Fulton was named to the West Point Board of Visitors in 2011, making her the first openly gay or lesbian member of the board.
43. In 2011, Fred Karger announced his bid for president, making him the nation’s first openly gay Republican presidential candidate. He did not get far.
44. Katie Ricks, in 2012, became the first open lesbian ordained by the Presbyterian Church.
45. In 2012, Air Force Col. Ginger Wallace became the first openly lesbian or gay member of the U.S. military to have a same-sex partner participate in the pinning ceremony tradition that had been reserved for spouses and family members. Her partner of 10 years, Kathy Knopf, pinned her colonel wings.
46. Barney Frank got married in 2012. That made him the first sitting member of Congress to marry a same-sex spouse.
47. In 2012, Army Reserve officer Tammy Smith became the first openly gay U.S. general in American history.
48. Kyrsten Sinema was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012, making her the first openly bisexual member of Congress.
49. In 2012, Kate McKinnon became “Saturday Night Live’s” first openly lesbian cast member.
50. Basketball player Jason Collins came out in 2013, making him the first openly gay active male professional athlete in a major team sport.
51. In 2013, Robbie Rogers joined the Los Angeles Galaxy, making him the first openly gay male athlete to compete in Major League Soccer.
52. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, came out as gay in 2014. That made him the first openly gay chief executive on the Fortune 500 list.
53-100. Here’s a lot more!
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