Former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader Sarah Jones , a.k.a. the female Sandusky, is firing back at her at critics and the rumors about her personal life despite a request by prosecutors for a gag order in her sexual assault case. Once the captain of the Cincinnati Ben-Gals (get it?!) and a former high school teacher, Sarah Jones is accused of sexually abusing a student and unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor to engage in sexual activity. “I read on a blog that I was the female Jerry Sandusky . To read those things and not be able to comment, not be able to stick up for myself is not fair,” said the Kenton County, Ky., resident in an interview with ABC News. “There’s blogs and postings out there that I have slept with numerous people. I married my high school sweetheart,” said Jones. “People don’t know the real me. I just asked the general public to maybe hold their judgment a little bit longer until the truth comes out.” Prosecutors asked a judge for a gag order on Monday to stop Jones from talking after she went on her lawyer’s radio show earlier this month. She went on the show to refute the charges against her . Jones’ lawyer, Eric Deters, filed a motion to dismiss all charges due to lack of evidence. “They have no evidence that sexual relations of any type took place in any of the 50 United States of America,” Deters told ABC station WCPO. The judge said she would review the motions. Prosecutors, for their part, say they will be proceeding with their case against Jones as planned. “We won’t be sending out motions, we won’t be going on radio shows. You will be hearing our arguments about evidence in court,” said a spokesman. Last fall, the then-26-year-old Sarah was teaching at Dixie Heights High School and accused of having sex with a 17-year-old student. Jones’ mother, Cheryl Jones – a middle school principal in the same school district – is accused of tampering with evidence in the case. Sarah Jones resigned from her position in November 2011. Both mother and daughter pleaded not guilty in April at their arraignment. Both Sarah and Cheryl Jones were joined by dozens of supporters. Including the family of the alleged victim, no less. The victim’s name has not been released due to his age. “The hardest thing has been having not only me go through it, but to have my mom go through it with me,” said Sarah Jones. “It’s almost kind of a guilty feeling that she is even involved in this because what has happened to her is not fair. My goal is for her charges to be dismissed.” Jones’ lawyer is also demanding the prosecution be sanctioned for saying in court that Jones allegedly sent a text to the victim saying “deny everything.” The prosecution described other texts with the victim as “steamy.” “I think people are taking this whole student-teacher thing… Yes, he was a student but he was not my student,” said Jones. “He was a family friend and I am very close to his parents. Had it not been for their support it would be very difficult to get through this without them.”
Days after he was given the boot from Big Brother for attacking a fellow house guest, Willie Hantz was arrested yesterday for operating a vehicle while intoxicated. The event took place around 2 a.m. in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana and law enforcement officials tell TMZ Hanz made a run for it when officers approached his Camaro. He reportedly refused a refused a breathalyze test and was taken into custody. HOWEVER, Hantz tells a very different story. And he tells it over Twitter. “I wasn’t driving. I was sitting in the driver’s seat with the car running. I know stupid,” he wrote after being released on bail, adding: “I didn’t run from anyone. I was just moving my car like the cops asked me to. Then they came up and arrested me. “If I would have ran then I would have been resisting arrest. I don’t know where that came from.” In conclusion, the brother of Survivor villain Russell Hantz – who has been arrested himself, for assault – told followers: “I mean all I can do is laugh it off. Learn from it. Maybe.”
You know what they say, a team that covers “Call Me Maybe” together wins together. At least that what the United States Olympic Swim Team is hoping. That group – led by Gold Medal hopefuls Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin – joined the chorus of those who have lip synched to the Carly Rae Jepsen single this week, releasing a fun video that shows folks getting into the act on a bus, on a plane and even in the pool… underwater style! It’s a fun version of the track. And, yes ladies, Lochte gets shirtless around the one-minute mark. Watch now!
The epically awkward, debauched Danish sitcom Klovn , wich is soon coming to the United States as the epically awkward, debauched Danish feature-length comedy Klown , currently has restored an episode online written by the epically awkward , debauched Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. What could go wrong? So much , actually. Have a look and find out. Revived from the series’ second season by the movie’s US distributor Drafthouse Films, the episode (titled “It’s a Jungle Down There”) finds the notorious Frank and Casper “taking interest in a masturbation class and their persistent infiltration of these very private sessions.” It seems safe enough for work, I guess, unless everyone at your work speaks Danish, in which case rally them ’round and kick off early! What the hell, we’re technically passed the midweek point by now. It might as well be Friday. Klown debuts July 27 in limited theatrical release as well as on VOD and digitally.
Why do we believe, or need to believe, in the possibilities that lie beyond the laws of physics and known science — the unlikely, irrational hope that suggest something more exists in the universe, be it spiritual or simply supernatural? Actor Cillian Murphy explores these Big Questions in Rodrigo Cortes’ Red Lights as Tom Buckley, a paranormal debunker who goes head-to-head with a powerful pop psychic (Robert De Niro) whose self-proclaimed powers to bend spoons and read minds may be mere parlour tricks compared to what he’s really capable of. In researching the role of a paranormal investigator for the twisty thriller (Cortes’ follow up to Buried ), Murphy found himself studying real-life mentalists, magicians, and self-proclaimed seers. But while the self-described “boringly rational” skeptic may not believe in the existence of the supernatural, one encounter gave him an understanding of how these magnetic personalities inspire whole-hearted devotion in legions of hope-seekers. Murphy only met the magician David Copperfield for a few brief moments backstage in Vegas, but their exchange made an impact. “The man’s got an aura for sure,” he marveled, though De Niro’s Simon Silver combines the charisma of Copperfield with the mysticism of Uri Geller to create a much more intimidating onscreen adversary. Movieline spoke further with Murphy about what drew him to the storytelling and themes of Red Lights , acting opposite film legends Weaver and De Niro, and rumors that he’ll pop up in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming The Dark Knight Rises . What was your initial reaction to the concept of Red Lights ? Part of what’s intriguing about the script is how it plays with viewer expectation — what hooked you? Every script that you get, you always have to judge it on the word on the page and that’s always been my sort of mantra. A lot of the time when you read scripts you can kind of predict where they’re going to go pretty quickly, and with this one I couldn’t. And that’s no fun, when you can guess at a story’s secrets. No! But that tends to be the majority of scripts. You kind of know what’s going to happen and what the character is like. This one took turns that I was pleasantly surprised by. And I’d also seen Rodrigo’s two other films, and you could see he was the real deal — he was a real director. And obviously you throw in a couple of legends, and the whole package was very, very appealing to me. By legends, you mean Sigourney Weaver and Robert De Niro. Of course, but unless the part and the director and the script is any use, that’s immaterial. But the fact that they were already signed on to do those parts … that was definitely appealing. Rodrigo has said that he wrote Sigourney’s character with her in mind, which is great — those interesting kinds of female characters don’t come along that frequently. Did her character and De Niro’s character leap off the page as much for you early on? It was really well written, and it was very smart; it didn’t pander to an audience. And the twists and turns were surprising to me, and as you say that’s a great strong female part — where her character goes, you don’t expect. I enjoy the way in the TV debate equal credence is given to both camps, and it wasn’t about ridiculing or pointing fingers — it was about rigorously looking for the truth. I like scripts that presuppose a level of intelligence in the audience, and again they’re sort of rare. When it comes to the themes in the film — faith, skepticism, these huge ideas — how much did the chance to play with those ideas factor in for you? I think they’re obviously big questions in the film, but for me I focused on the character, and for me the character the two driving forces are obsession and self-acceptance, or the lack of self-acceptance. Those were the two things for me that drove Tom Buckley’s character and I focused in on those, because those are quite universal. The broader picture about skepticism and belief and blind faith and science and all those things, I would personally be very much in the skeptic camp. I’d be very much about proof and logic and reason, that’s always been my boringly rational approach to life, but I’m fascinated by why people needed to believe in these things. The need to believe was the thing that really struck me — the need to believe, rather than to understand. To many people that’s a need to have something to believe in, in order to get through. To get through — and that’s absolutely fine and valid, but where it becomes darker is where that is preyed upon. If people are ill, or people have lost loved ones, and then people are willing to set aside logic and reason and rational thought and bankrupt themselves because some charlatan is promising them relief. Rodrigo did a fair amount of research into real world healers and the like; did you do much of the same, and how did what you learned affect your perspective? I did a lot of reading about it, a great deal in fact. I also went to Vegas to see the more showbizzy aspect of it. Like a Criss Angel show? Criss Angel, David Copperfield — that stuff is good, harmless fun. It’s like showbiz. But De Niro’s character is more an amalgam of the televangelists, the psychics, Uri Geller and all these sorts of guys who claim something beyond what the Copperfield and Criss Angel do, which is pure entertainment and great fun. But you can see there how they use their aura, or their personality — which is large anyway — and then magnify that on stage. I do think there’s a power of personality that’s important in this, that we haven’t talked about that much. I met David Copperfield afterwards very briefly backstage in Vegas, and the man’s got an aura for sure. You put that up on stage and magnify it and that’s what De Niro’s character Simon Silver plays on. That’s why it’s great casting to put someone like De Niro in there because the man’s presence is immense, it’s just massive — so you put a camera on that and it’s magnified tenfold. Certain people do have that sort of charisma that’s palpable in the air, in a room, on a screen — but it’s interesting to hear this from you, being an actor. Some might say the same about you, given the nature of your work. Well, I don’t know if they would or not! Obviously when you’re playing a part, there’s a part of your personality in it, but you try and sort of project different sides of it. You use whatever aspects of the personality that work. I don’t have a clue — its’ very hard for me to talk about acting, or the process of acting. What was David Copperfield like? Well, that was a really brief thing, and for whatever reason we were backstage and it was really dark. It was like in a little corridor and he came out, and — yeah, he definitely had an effect. You felt it. Yeah. And I’ve seen that, people walk into a room and they change the energy. And it’s not anything paranormal or extra-sensory, it’s just that they have, like you say, this charisma. Red Lights is interesting in that it’s a genre movie that doesn’t act like a genre movie. No, it doesn’t — and I’ve been in plenty of so-called genre movies and never for a moment thought they were science fiction or a zombie movie or whatever, I just thought they were about character and story. It’s easier for people to slot them into genres because they can sell them easier that way. What was your impression of Rodrigo as a director? Rodrigo is ferociously intelligent, very clear in his vision, very clear in his aesthetic, and luckily, our sensibilities were kind of the same. I think that when someone has that clear a vision, you feel safe, then — safe to experiment, to sort of improvise because you know that within that structure he knows what every frame of that film is going to be like. And I like working with writer-directors because they’ve lived with the character, they’ve lived with the story, so they have a deeper sense of it. They might not have all the answers, but you can really knock it around with them and you can ask them, “Why?” or “What does this mean?” We really got on; he’s got a great sense of humor, too, and shooting in Spain we shot very, very fast. It was very intense. It was something like ten weeks… Yes — it was eight in Spain and then some in Toronto. I like the immersive experience of acting, I like just completely disappearing into a character, into an environment, into a role — that’s always appealed to me, and this was very much like that. Are you an actor who takes this disappearing into character off-set as well? I don’t know. I’m not sure. I’m probably not that easy to live with when I’m working on something very intensely, but you know, you’re working 16-17 hours a day, so you just come home and go to bed. And then you get up and go to set. I love that. It’s pure concentration, and they say happiness is concentration. I love that. Seems like it might be something like an extended adrenaline rush. It kind of is! And we were working, we did a crazy amount of set-ups a day, it was very fast. It’s exciting. You said part of what drew you in was the opportunity to work with Sigourney and Robert — what was that like for you when you finally got to shoot with them? Amazing. You’ve got to just observe and learn, don’t you? And they were beautiful and warm and generous, and ultimately you really have to put aside the legend thing as best you can when the camera turns over and it’s “Action!” you’ve got to serve the scene and the character, but they were all about that. I think they must be aware of the effect of their legacy on an actor of my generation, but they were never anything other than people there to do the work. But it was fascinating getting to watch actors that good. You’ve got to learn from that. Was it fun shouting at De Niro? Hey, he shouts at me, too! [Laughs] Lastly, folks have been wondering if you’ve been working with Chris Nolan again on The Dark Knight Rises . I love working with Chris. I’ve been lucky to work with him a few times, and any time, I’ll be there. But listen, it comes out [soon]. So let’s try and be patient! People are so impatient these days! Let’s wait and see. I do believe there were reports of you being spotted on the set… [Smiling] Look, I’m not going to add to any speculation. I just think that it’s going to be a phenomenal film, and the best way to watch a film — surely — is by going in there hugely excited and not knowing anything about it. I suppose in a way that brings us full circle with Red Lights and the idea of the filmmaker as a sort of magician, keeping tricks up their sleeve. Yeah, I do think this is a film sort of about filmmaking. Rodrigo talks about distracting here, and showing something there, and it is all smoke and mirrors. But I wouldn’t get too into that metaphor, because I didn’t make the movie. Red Lights is in limited release this week. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The Locarno Film Festival is one of the world’s oldest. The Swiss lake-side summer event regularly attract thousands including U.S. filmmakers during its ten-day run. The fest has raised its profile in recent years and this year the event will feature 19 films screening as international or world premieres competing for the event’s top “Pardo d’oro” grand prize. U.S. entries include Jack and Diane , Compliance , Museum Hours , Somebody Up There Likes Me and Museum Hours . The festival will open with the world premiere of Nick Love’s The Sweeney August 1st The festival also has a nightly out of competition “Piazza Grande” lineup of films, which are screened outside on the (you guessed it…) Piazza Grande against the backdrop of the city’s picturesque lake. The competition and Piazza Grande lineups follow. The lineup in the festival’s other sections can be found on their website (http://www.pardolive.ch/en/Pardo-Live/today-at-the-festival.html;jsessionid=A6B115468942A214FBD6F7D199332475). Locarno runs August 1 – 11. Competition – A jury will choose one of the 19 competing fiction or documentary features, which are screening as world or international premieres, to win the festival’s top prize: the Pardo d’oro. A Última Vez Que Vi Macao (The Last Time I Saw Macao) by João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata Portugal/France – 2012 – 85 min with João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata, Cindy Crash World Premiere Berberian Sound Studio by Peter Strickland United Kingdom/Germany/Australia – 2012 – 89 min with Tobey Jones, Tonia Sotiropoulou, Susanna Cappellaro, Cosimo Fusco International Premiere Compliance by Craig Zobel United States – 2012 – 90 min with Ann Dowd, Matt Servito, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy, Phillipp Ettinger – International Premiere Der Glanz Des Tages (The Shine of Day) by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel Austria – 2012 – 90 min with Philipp Hochmair, Walter Saabel World Premiere Image Problem by Simon Baumann and Andreas Pfiffner Switzerland – 2012 – 92 min Documentary First Feature – World Premiere Jack and Diane by Bradley Rust Gray United States – 2011 – 106 min with Juno Temple, Riley Keough, Cara Seymour, Kylie Minougue – International Premiere La Fille De Nulle Part (The Girl from Nowhere) by Jean-Claude Brisseau France – 2012 – 91 min with Jean-Claude Brisseau, Virginie Legeay World Premiere Leviathan by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel United Kingdom/United States/France – 2012 – 83 min Documentary - World Premiere Los Mejores Temas (Greatest Hits) by Nicolás Pereda Mexico/Canada/Netherlands – 2012 – 102 min Production: Interior13 Cine – World Premiere Mobile Home by François Pirot Belgium/Luxembourg – 2012 – 95 min with Arthur Dupond, Guillaume Gouix, Jackie Berroyer, Jean-Paul Bonnair, Eugénie Anselin First Feature – World Premiere Museum Hours by Jem Cohen Austria/United States – 2012 – 107 min with Mary Margaret O’Hara, Bobby Sommer, Ela Piplits – World Premiere Padroni Di Casa (The Landlords) by Edoardo Gabbriellini Italy – 2012 – 90 min with Valerio Mastandrea, Elio Germano, Gianni Morandi, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi – World Premiere Playback by Sho Miyake Japan – 2012 – 113 min with Jun Murakami, Kiyohiko Shibukava, Masaki Miura, Makiko Watanabe First Feature – World Premiere Polvo by Julio Hernández Cordón Guatemala/Spain/Chile/Germany – 2012 – 80 min with Agustin Ortíz Pérez, Eduardo Spiegeler, Alejandra Estrada, María Telón Soc – World Premiere Somebody Up There Likes Me by Bob Byington United States – 2011 – 76 min with Keith Poulson, Nick Offerman, Jess Weixler, Stephanie Hunt, Marshall Bell – International Premiere Starlet by Sean Baker United States – 2012 – 104 min with Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Stella Maeve, James Ransone, Karren Karagulian – International Premiere The End of Time by Peter Mettler Switzerland/Canada – 2012 – 109 min Documentary – World Premiere Une Estonlenne a Paris by Ilmar Raag France/Estonia/Belgium – 2012 – 94 min with Jeanne Moreau, Ita Ever, Fabrice Colson, Laine Mägi – World Premiere Wo Hai You Hua Yao Shuo (When Night Falls) by Ying Liang South Korea – 2012 – 70 min with Nai An, Kate Wen, Sun Ming – International Premiere The Piazza Grande – which seats up to 8,000 viewers a night, is both the heart of the festival and its showcase. Bachelorette by Leslye Headland United States – 2011 – 91 min with Lizzy Caplan, Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, James Marsden – International Premiere Bonjour Tristesse by Otto Preminger United States – 1958 – 94 min with Deborah Kerr, David Niven, Jane Seberg, Mylène Demongeot, Geoffrey Horne Retrospettiva Otto Preminger Camille Redouble by Noémie Lvovsky France – 2012 – 115 min with Noémie Lvovsky, Samir Guesmi, Yolande Moreau, Michel Vuillermoz – International Premiere Das Missenmassaker (The Swiss Miss Massacre) by Michael Steiner Switzerland – 2012 – 95 min with Meryl Valerie, Lisa Maria Bärenbold, Patrick Rapold, Mike Müller, Martin Rapold, Nadine Vinzens – World Premiere Lore by Cate Shortland Germany/Australia/United Kingdom – 2012 – 110 min with Saskia Rosendahl, Kai Malina, Nele Trebs, Ursina Lardi – International Premiere Magic Mike by Steven Soderbergh United States – 2012 – 110 min with Channing Tatum, Matthew McConaughey, Olivia Munn, Alex Pettyfer More Than Honey by Markus Imhoof Switzerland/Germany/Austria – 2012 – 91 min Documentary – World Premiere – Closing Film Motorway by Soi Cheang Hong Kong – 2012 – 90 min with Anthony WONG, Shawn YUE, GUO Xiaodong European Premiere – Pardo alla carriera Johnnie To Nachtlarm (Lullaby Ride) by Christoph Schaub Switzerland/Germany – 2012 – 94 min with Alexandra Maria Lara, Sebastian Blomberg, Georg Friedrich – World Premiere No by Pablo Larraín Chile/United States/Mexico – 2012 – 110 min with Gael Garcia Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Antonia Zegerz, Luis Gnecco Quelques Heures de Printemps by Stéphane Brizé France – 2012 – 108 min with Vincent Lindon, Emmanuelle Seigner, Hélène Vincent – World Premiere Ruby Sparks by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris United States – 2012 – 104 min with Paul Dano, Zoe Kazan, Antonio Banderas, Annette Bening, Steve Coogan, Elliott Gould, Chris Messina International Premiere Sightseers by Ben Wheatley United Kingdom – 2012 – 89 min with Alice Lowe, Eileen Davis, Steve Oram, Monica Dolam The Black Balloon by Josh and Benny Safdie United States – 2012 – 21 min with Larry Sloman, Eleonore Hendricks, Mustafa Bekiroglu, Kennon Bltut, William Skinner – International Premiere The Sweeney by Nick Love United Kingdom – 2012 – 90 min with Damian Lewis, Hayley Atwell, Ray Winstone, Paul Anderson – World Premiere – Opening Film While We Were Here by Kat Coiro United States – 2012 – 83 min with Kate Bosworth, Iddo Goldberg, Jamie Blackley, Claire Bloom – International Premiere Wrong by Quentin Dupieux France – 2012 – 94 min with Jack Plotnick, Eric Judor, Alexis Dziena, Steve Little European Premiere
Justin Bieber – Believe [LYRICS] Justin Bieber – Believe Justin Bieber – Believe Justin Bieber – Believe Justin Bieber – Believe (Song Big Sean As Long as You Love Me Die In Your Arms Drake So Far Gone Right Here Thank Later The-Dream LOVE IV MMXII Diary Of Madman ROC Terius Nash Chris Brown (track And Field) Fortune (magazine) Magazine Sports United States Entertainment Extreme Action Americas Hollywood Combat Football New song 2012 Album Justin Bieber Believe Boyfriend now songs Team Breezy Bruno Mars Lil Wayne Leaked Adele Cover singing ivy beyonce jay-z one direction Rihanna Lady Gaga Jessie Tyga http://www.youtube.com/v/5rEpY0bFjo4?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata View post: Justin Bieber – Believe NEW [LYRICS] 2012
No blood donation for Frank Ocean ? The American Red Cross says power outages created by recent storms in the East and Midwest cut blood donations, which were already low this summer. In June there was a nationwide shortfall, with donations down more than 10% across the country. “We are asking people to please call 1-800-RED-CROSS or visit us at redcrossblood.org to find a way to donate if they can,” said Stephanie Millian, Red Cross director of biomedical communications. “We need people’s help.” One group that would like to help, but legally can’t, may be moving one step closer to eligibility. Since the 1980s, when the AIDS epidemic decimated their community, gay men — or MSMs (men who have sex with men) as they are called by federal agencies — have not been allowed to donate blood. In June, a group of 64 U.S. legislators led by Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Illinois, and Sen. John Kerry, D-Massachusetts, sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services encouraging it to move forward with a study that may lead to the end of the decades-old ban. “We remain concerned that a blanket deferral of MSM for any length of time both perpetuates the unwarranted discrimination against the bisexual and gay community and prevents healthy men from donating blood without a definitive finding of added benefit to the safety of the blood supply,” the letter said. “This is a matter of life and death and we are turning away over 50,000 healthy men who want to donate blood,” Quigley told CNN. “A straight person who has unsafe sex with multiple partners can give blood, and that creates a greater risk than a gay person in a monogamous relationship.” The policy started at a time when people didn’t know how the deadly virus that causes AIDS spread. At the time, there wasn’t a good test to detect whether HIV was present in donated blood, and HIV was getting into the nation’s blood supply. They knew this because hemophiliacs who were getting blood transfusions started showing symptoms of AIDS. What scientists also knew was that a disproportionate number of gay men were affected by the virus. To eliminate risk, the Food and Drug Administration added a screening question to the federal guidelines. Blood banks were instructed to ask male donors if they had had sex with a man, even once, since 1977. The FDA regards 1977 as the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the United States. If the potential donor responded “yes,” he would automatically be removed from the donor pool for life. No similar questions were asked to screen out donors who engaged in other potentially risky sexual behavior. Donors weren’t asked about the number of partners they had, nor were they asked if their sexual partners had engaged in unprotected sex with other HIV positive partners. “While the Red Cross is obligated by law to follow the FDA guidelines, we continue to work with the AABB (formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks) to push through policies that would be much more fair and consistent among donors who engage in similar risk activities,” Millian said. Scientists can now screen for most instances of HIV within days of infection, and the nation’s blood banks have called a lifetime ban “medically and scientifically unwarranted.” Men who have sex with men still are disproportionately affected by the virus and account for nearly half the approximately 1.2 million people living with HIV in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it is a person’s behavior, not their sexual orientation, that puts them at risk say health experts. While he is a gay man, Adam Denney thinks he would be the perfect candidate to donate blood. He doesn’t use IV drugs. He practices safer sex. He even educates people on how to prevent new HIV infections as a regular volunteer educator with AIDS Volunteers Inc. in Lexington, Kentucky. He thinks his exclusion is unfair. “Yes, gay men are still a high-risk community, but so are minority women, and there are no standards prohibiting them from donating. There would be rightful outrage against that kind of blanket population ban,” Denney said. “I am banned based on one reason only, my sexual orientation. It’s totally discriminatory.” When Denney went to donate at a blood drive on the Eastern Kentucky University Campus a few years ago, he said he knew what likely would happen when the nurses asked the sexual history question. “I did know what I was getting into, but I was shocked by how it felt to be rejected,” he said. “It was almost like they thought I wasn’t important enough to give blood, like because I was gay I didn’t count. It was a horrible feeling.” Nathan Schaefer with GMHC, an AIDS service organization, said Denney normally would be the type of donor blood banks are hungry for. Studies show those who give blood when they are young become regular lifetime donors, something most blood banks are struggling to find these days. GMHC has been fighting to change the ban for years. In 2010 GMHC joined a coalition of other nonprofits to encourage Congress to send a letter to HHS to end the ban, which some members of congress did. In June of that year, HHS brought together an independent panel of experts. The Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability reviewed the policy and decided to keep it and concluded the ban was “suboptimal,” because it allows high-risk individuals to donate while keeping low-risk donors out. However, the expert committee also concluded “available scientific data are inadequate to support change to a specific alternate policy.” The panel suggested the policy not be changed and recommended further evaluation. HHS then promised to conduct feasibility studies to determine if there was a subset of the gay male population that would pose little or no threat to the blood supply. “We finally got them to stop defending the policy at the very least, which was pretty significant,” Schaefer said. The HHS is still determining the criteria for which part of the population to study. GMHC suggested the population to consider should include gay men who have had only one sex partner in the past six months. Spain and Italy, two countries with more progressive donor policies, hold everyone to that standard regardless of sexual orientation. Schaefer takes the point one step further. “A straight person could donate today after having unprotected sex with hundreds of partners, and in the United States they won’t ask about that behavior,” he said. He added that four out of five gay men are HIV negative, which he estimated means 2 million additional people could be blood donors. A 2010 study by the Williams Institute at the University of California-Los Angeles estimated that if gay men who had not had sexual contact for the past 12 months were allowed to donate blood, more than 53,000 additional men would likely make more than 89,000 blood donations. That number may seem small, but blood banks say it could help enormously, especially now, when blood supply shortages are common. After Denney was denied the chance to donate, he asked some of his friends to help him demonstrate outside the blood drive. They produced signs to raise awareness about the ban and distributed educational material. They also escorted people to the drive, because they wanted people to continue to donate. “A lot of people in the Bible Belt assume you have AIDS if you are a gay man,” he said. “We wanted them to understand that is not the case. We are banned based on an outdated policy. When people questioned us, I told them about how I always heard that people who donate blood are heroes. Gay men want to be heroes, too.” What do you think? Should this ban be lifted? Source
First, Anderson Cooper . Then, Frank Ocean . Now… Megan Rapinoe. In the latest issue of Out , the U.S. soccer star says she’s never hidden her sexuality, but she’s never made it official, either. Until now. Simply put, Rapinoe tells the publication : “For the record: I am gay.” A midfielder for the Seattle Sounders Women, Rapinoe is preparing for the Summer Olympics in London and makes it clear she understands her responsibility now as a role model. “I feel like sports in general are still homophobic, in the sense that not a lot of people are out. I feel everyone is really craving [for] people to come out. People want – they need – to see that there are people like me playing soccer for the good ol’ U.S. of A.” Rapinoe has been dating an Australian soccer player for about three years.
While two-piece swimwear had been around since the early 20th Century, the bikini was officially introduced July 5, 1946. The world? Never the same after that. We can all thank a Frenchman named Louis Reard, whose idea was to fashion a garment, using as little fabric as possible, that could still be legally worn in public. As our gallery of celebrity bikini photos shows, his dream lives on to this day. A French sunbather tries on the bikini in the mid-1940s . The rest, as they say, is history. Today, 66 years later, his invention is so indoctrinated into the very fabric of our culture that we even have the bikini onesie . Other July 5 birthdays: Megan Rapinoe (27), Eva Green (32), Huey Lewis (62) and Jersey Shore ‘s Pauly D (32), who surely appreciates sharing his with the bikini. Here are some classic bikinis through the years. Well, the last couple of years, because unlike the marvelous two-piece, THG is still in its relative infancy:
