For the past week, protesters have taken to the streets in major cities across America in a wave of indignation to condemn police brutality and anti-black violence.

It began on May 25th when George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota by a police officer. The officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on Floyd’s neck for over 8 minutes while he was pinned to the ground. After footage of the death gained attention on social media, protests erupted in Minneapolis demanding justice for Floyd.

The Minneapolis protests started peacefully but escalated when police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protestors.

In the days that have followed, many more have gathered to protest in Los Angeles, New York, and other major cities to demand justice for George Floyd and an end to anti-black violence.  As protests expand across the rest of the country, the police have continued to provoke and escalate the situation.

In light of this, BLOOP has put together a number of ways to take action in support of justice for Floyd and the efforts of protestors, as well as materials to educate yourself on racial justice and how to be actively anti-racist.

1. Donate

Along with one-time payments in response to the protests, please consider a monthly donation that you can invest into long term.

1. George Floyd’s Family Fundraiser:
2. This fund will be used to help the Floyd family with funeral/memorial costs and to help the family continue to seek justice for George.
3. Ahmaud Arbery’s Family Fundraiser:
4. This fund will be used to help the Arbery family with funeral/memorial costs and to help the family continue to seek justice for Ahmaud.
5. The National Bail Fund Network:
6. Help protesters make bail using this list of bail funds for protesters across the country.  
7. Black Visions Collective:
8. A Black, Trans, & Queer-led organization that is committed to dismantling systems of oppression, as well as shifting the public narrative to support long-term change.
9. Black Lives Matter:
10. Join the movement to fight for freedom, liberation, and justice.
11. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund:
12. America’s premier legal organization fighting for racial injustice.
13. The Marsha P. Johnson Institute:
14. Protects and defends the right of Black Trans people.

2. Sign petitions

Much like the right to protest, petitioning is part of your First Amendment rights. A massive petition shows that people care about an issue and helps put pressure on the government to take action.

1. Justice for George Floyd: A petition to have the DA charge the cops involved in Floyd’s death.‍
2. Justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor: Color Of Change has two active petitions to charge the police officers involved in the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. ‍
3. Defund The Police: A BLM petition for the national defunding of police.

3. Social media Activism

This is an easy way to take action. Be intentional about posting authenticated news articles, petitions, websites, and more that help bring exposure to police brutality and anti-black violence. Here are a few tips.

1. Don’t be silent on social media. Speak up. Use your platform to seek justice for George Floyd. If you are uncomfortable writing something yourself then repost someone else’s words.
2. When you donate, share the link on your social channels to inspire followers.
3. Resharing photos or videos of protestors could get them in trouble with the law. Think carefully before reposting any video where law enforcement could I.D. someone.

4. Educate yourself

If you aren’t Black consider it an imperative to educate yourself on how to be actively anti-racist. Here are a few readings that will help you gain more knowledge on these issues:

The End of Policing: Alex Vitale
A book that shows how the police create problems they were founded to solve. A vital book that dissects the usefulness of policing itself.

White Fragility: Robin DiAngelo, phD
White fragility is described in this book as, “a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, triggering a range of defensive moves.” This book details the mechanics of white fragility, and points to ways for white people to engage in racial justice.

How To Be An Anti-Racist: Ibram X. Kendi
A powerful book for anyone who wants to delve beyond peripheral awareness of racism in society to contributing towards the formation of an equal society.

White Rage: Carol Anderson
Documents the violent reaction of white society to every single one of Black people’s gains. A staggering account of racist history in the United States.

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It seems like there isn’t much to laugh about these days: Covid-19, climate change, RuPaul fracking (okay maybe the last one)—everywhere you turn there’s more bad news. But one shining light in all the darkness has been the hilarious and refreshing Instagram posts of Leslie Jordan.  

The actor, known for shows like Will and Grace and films like The Help, has run up 3.8 million followers in a month from his Instagram videos, reminding us all that sometimes you gotta take sour apples and make pie. The catch phrase, “Well Shit...what are y’all doing?” followed by his gut-busting stories have given us all something to enjoy while we try to stay sane during self-isolation.

From anecdotes about Burger King to his thoughts on Tiger King, Jordan has used his wit and southern charm to win over a massive following. The real tea behind what makes the 65-year old star such a joy during these times aren’t just his Hollywood stories, but the interactions he has with his family while adjusting to his place of self-isolation in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

While Jordan says that he never planned to spend his time locked down in Chattanooga, it seems that he’s doing everything in his power to make the best out of it. In the last few months he’d been going between Los Angeles (in an apartment that he believed he shared with Tupac Shakur) and Tennessee to visit his family. But after learning that he was going to have to shelter in place, Jordan decided that it would be better if he spent the time in an Airbnb closer to his mother and twin sister. “I love my family dearly,” he noted in another video, “but if I hunkered down with them, we might kill each other!”

So, to pass the time, Jordan thought it would be fun to post videos to Instagram from his Airbnb. That’s when something magical happened. The mix of a well-lived Hollywood doll and southern “tell it like it is” diva was born, giving us all the content we were craving.

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Earlier this month the star made fun of his new found viral moment, donning a suit and sunglasses while sitting with his hands in his lap. “You may be wondering why I’ve got sunglasses and a little suit on,” he said confidently to the camera. “Because that’s the way people dress who have one million Instagram followers.”

Each of the “categories” that he does in his videos adds to the flare of following him. “I’ve got categories I do,” he told The Washington Post, offering a little bit of insight into his world. “In one I might talk about George Clooney. In the other, I talk about my exercise regime where I use a back scratcher, because I have so many friends—especially in the gay community—who have rock hard abs and exercise videos. I said, ‘Well, I’ll do my own.’”

One of the joys of Leslie’s anecdotes is the insider information we get on stars he’s worked with. In what he calls “Pillow Talk,” he tells us about a time he got the chance to work with Ms. Faye Dunaway. “You remind me of my friend Tennessee Williams,” she once told him because of his amazing ability to tell stories. While he says that it was an honor to work with her, he ended the video by noting that she was, in fact, “Bat shit crazy.”

For most, what makes following Jordan such a treat is his down home humor and the stories he tells about what it’s like to be different. In one video, you get a story about what it was like to grow up gay, while in another he shares sentiments about how exhausting this quarantine is. No matter what Jordan shares, somehow, we all can relate.

“I’m not gonna tell you to wash your hands or wear a mask,” he says in one of his earlier videos. “My gift is to be funny”. When Jordan isn’t being funny or yelling at his momma, he’s showing us a more softer and tender side, reminding us that the only way we are all going to get through this is by being kind. “We’ve got to be kind,” he reminds us. “That’s just the way it’s gonna end, is that we’re gonna figure out we've got to all help one another.”

They say you’ve gotta laugh to keep from crying and we are so thankful to have Jordan’s Instagram stories to help us do just that.

Whenever I bump into someone I vaguely know at a gay bar, I know exactly which classic movie line to pull out the bag: “Deidre Chambers, what a coincidence!”

In P.J. Hogan’s 1995 movie Muriel’s Wedding, it’s used by the title character’s father, dodgy politician Bill Heslop, to greet his aggressively groomed mistress, Ms. Chambers, whenever she just happens to show up at a family gathering. If the person knows the line I’m quoting, I feel the unmistakable static charge of a shared cultural reference passing between queers.

Gennie Nevinson, the actress who so fabulously played Deidre Chambers, said a few years ago that “there’s obviously a cult of Muriel’s Wedding fans” and they’re “often gay guys.” This doesn’t surprise me at all.

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When I first watched Muriel’s Wedding on TV in the late 90s, I was a closeted gay teenager who hadn’t yet summoned courage to rent a recent LGBTQ+ film like Beautiful Thing or The Birdcage. The stingingly poignant story of Muriel Heslop (Toni Collette), a socially awkward young woman shunned by her sleeker peers in suburban Australia, really hit home. Like me, Muriel was an outsider whose taste in music deviated from the norm—she listened to ABBA instead of Nirvana, a preference I still endorse today.

When sister Joanie (Gabby Millgate) reproaches her with the iconic line “you’re terrible, Muriel,” I felt a kind of vicarious illicit thrill. Unlike Muriel, I hadn’t ripped off my family by using a blank cheque handed to me in good faith to pay for a fancy island vacation, but I had run up the internet bill by gabbing about Madonna in chat rooms for hours on end. We’re all rebel hearts in our own way, I suppose.

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\And unlike Muriel, my ultimate dream wasn’t to get married—for a gay kid growing up in the UK in the late 90s, marriage wasn’t even an option. But I could definitely relate to the way she equated getting a boyfriend with a sense of achievement, and how the ostentatious celebration of a wedding became a way of proving to people who looked down on her that she’d made it. Though Muriel is straight, not queer, she’s still different—and like all of us, she doesn’t want to feel “less than” because of it.

Muriel is also a liar, a scammer, and a thief, but she isn’t deluded: she knows full well that her marriage to handsome South African swimmer David Van Arkle (Daniel Lapaine) is a sham to allow him to compete for Australia in the upcoming Olympics. Even so, she approaches their lavish Sydney wedding with a sincerity that's both deeply touching and quintessentially camp. She even walks down the aisle to an ABBA song, helping to kickstart the Swedish band’s pop culture rehabilitation several years before Mamma Mia! came along.

In a way, Muriel’s great tragedy is failing to realize she’d actually made it before she got “engaged.” Reinventing herself as the less dowdy-sounding Mariel, she leaves her humdrum hometown, Porpoise Spit, and relocates to Sydney with her more adventurous best friend Rhonda (Rachel Griffiths). In the city, she gets a job, starts dating and begins to feel something close to happiness—it’s a journey towards becoming your best authentic self that any LGBTQ+ kid (or “Smalltown Boy,” as Bronski Beat once put it) will recognize.

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"When I lived in Porpoise Spit, I used to sit in my room for hours and listen to ABBA songs," she tells Rhonda. "But since I've met you and moved to Sydney, I haven't listened to one ABBA song. That's because my life is as good as an ABBA song. It's as good as ‘Dancing Queen.’"

Although spinal cancer cruelly confines Rhonda to a wheelchair, Muriel still ditches her for David, forcing her friend to return to Porpoise Spit. Muriel’s redemption comes when she calls time on her marriage of convenience—after an unanticipated night of passion with her hunky husband that I’m definitely not judging her for. Reinstating her original name as a kind of mea culpa for everything she’s done wrong, she returns to Porpoise Spit with some of the money she owes her family, and a tacitly apologetic offer for Rhonda: Come back to Sydney with me.

The film’s exhilarating final scene sees Muriel and Rhonda shout “Goodbye, Porpoise Spit!” from a cab window as they head to the airport and the promise of Sydney. It’s a moment that any queer young kid who shakes off the shackles of heteronormativity in pursuit of something bigger, truer, and more exciting will still find rousing today, 25 years after the film opened.

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If you’ve never seen Muriel’s Wedding before and think Cher belting out “Fernando” in Mamma Mia! 2 is the last ABBA tribute you’ll ever need to see, I’d urge you to think again— Muriel and Rhonda deliver a storming performance of “Waterloo.” Muriel’s painfully messy but ultimately successful journey towards self-acceptance is what makes this film an enduring queer classic that’s definitely worth seeking out; “Deidre Chambers, what a coincidence!” is just one expression of its glorious campy poignancy.

Check out the trailer below.

Remy Duran has been so omnipresent in the queer consicousness over the past few years that it feels like he’s always been there. From running Ty Sunderland’s infamous Love Prism parties, to being a contestant on MTV’s Are You The One?, to holding the dubious honor of being the most catfished man on Grindr, was there even a time before Remy was guiding us through the warehouse into the darkroom?

Being a queer NYC party personality is a full-time job—New York City nightlife is an artform all it’s own, and its history and heritage is well worth digging into. Recently, a new wave of party influencers like Remy, Ty, Aquaria, and others have added their own unique point of view to the NYC queer party scene. But with Coronavirus keeping everyone in self-isolation—the bars closed, the warehouses just warehouses, and the masses huddling in front of Zoom screens instead of Ty’s DJ booth—what does a nightlife star do when there’s no nightlife?

We're three weeks into official self-isolation, how are you holding up?

Being a nightlife person, I'm kind of losing my mind. I'm out of work, because nightlife...and I don't know when nightlife is going to come back, because that's the last thing that anyone's really going to care about. Everyone's going to be like, "Shut the fuck up, nightlife people. That's not the priority." And I miss hanging out with my friends, or just being low-key. I don't need a club, but I'm someone who's never in the house.

Are you self-isolating with anyone?

Luckily I am with my girlfriend right now, we're quarantining together. Before quarantine I was using Grindr as a place to find hot bi guys, or open gay guys, that was sort of my thing. It’s not easy to find bi guys...you would think guys would be up to have a guy, guy, girl threesome. No, it's the hardest fucking thing in the world.

That's not a tribe on Grindr.

No, I know. You guys should think about adding bi to your filters.

I will let them know your suggestion.

Much appreciated.

So, you consider yourself bisexual?

Have you dated more women than men?

Yes. I've only had one really serious boyfriend. I've casually dated boys here and there, but I've had multiple serious relationships with women.

When did you enter the gay nightlife scene?

I first got into the gay nightlife scene at 20. I was dating Andreja Pejić, but I was still, in my mind, thinking I’m a straight boy, she's a girl. I was just like, "Oh, my girlfriend's in the gay scene, because she's trans, cool.” It wasn't until after we broke up three years later that I realized you can send dick pics to gay men and then just go have sex. And that was pretty much that for me. That's when Grindr was newer, and I was recognizable from being out in the scene. Not in the gay scene, but just in the Brooklyn warehouse scene, and people would be like, "Oh, Remy?" And I would be like, "Oh, block, got to delete this." So I had to go on things like Adam For Adam, and dudesnude, because those, they're more--

You poor thing.

(laughing)

Yeah. Those are more down low, so I had to go there. And then when I finally came out, when I was like, "Okay, if I'm going to be out and really explore this, let me just jump all the way out..." I was on Grindr. And then I realized, I had never taken dick pics before, because I never needed to. As a dude who dated women, they didn’t wanna see that. And then I realized, guys need that. Especially as a top. So I started taking dick pics, and that's when everything started flourishing.

You’re known for your impressive member, can you give us a few tips on how to take a good dick pic?

I only have a few hard dick pics. Because the way my dick is, the curvature, it's not the most photogenic when it's the hardest. My trick is that you get it hard, and then on its way down, that's when it's perfect. Right when it's five-sevenths hard. But on the way down, not on the way up. That's the golden hour selfie. I have a good solid 10 that I've used throughout the years. And full-body ones with dick pic I'll update. But some that are just of my dick I haven't changed. I had a full-grown dick at 23, it's going to be the same at 28.

Classic dick.

Yeah. It's Remy's dick, it's recognizable.

What do you look for on someone’s Grindr profile? What’s that process like?

I go through Grindr profiles and I can pretty much gauge what people are looking for based on what they've written, what they put on a profile—whether they're looking for right now, or just sort of how sexually charged their profile is. And then I'll just send nudes and be like, "Hey, what's up?" And if they're interested, they respond. If they're not, they don't respond. And if they say, "Hey, I didn't ask for nudes," I'm like, "Oh, my bad. I apologize," and I say sorry and I block them.

Anything you don’t like on a profile?

The thing I hate on a profile is when people put what they don't like. It's just so negative. Just tell me what you're into. You don't have to tell me what you hate. You know what I mean? That's just like, "Dude..." And it's like, with Taps? You don't even have to click in the Taps tab!

(laughing)

We’re on such a fun topic but I haven’t even asked my second question yet.

I know, we just went on tangent after tangent.

What's your normal nightlife schedule look like when there’s not a pandemic happening?

Normal schedule is, I work six parties around the city. I work mostly GBU. I used to work NYJP a lot more, not so much anymore. But I worked GBU in Brooklyn, and that was every second and fourth Saturday.

What does that entail?

Oh, it's just naked clothes check. Just like a coat check would do, but I'm naked.

And then there's a dark room and dance floor?

The whole thing is a dark room. The first party of the month is underwear optional, and the second party of the month is naked only. You have to be naked to go in. It's a social party, there's a DJ, there's a bar, there's snacks, there's a room where it's definitely more speaking-oriented, getting to know people, and that's fine. It's not like, "Oh, dude, why are you talking, this is sex only." And then the rest of it is just a play area, a dark room. So, that's what I do, that's a good chunk of coin. Because I also get paid as a promoter for it.

Truly fascinating, do go on.

And then the other part of it is I work for Ladyfag sometimes, I've worked some of Susanne Bartsch's parties, but mostly I work for Ty Sunderland. Ty's my best friend. I'm the person who—not to say my friend group has somewhat of an ego—but we all sort of have our own stardom. I have the smallest ego, I'd say, as far as I'm willing to, if Ty needs someone to check stamps or wristbands at the door, I don't think I'm too much of a nightlife superstar to sit at the door and be like, "Oh, show me your stamp, blah blah blah." Because if I can help Ty's machine, if I can be the oil in Ty's gears going forward, then I'll do that.

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Make it flow.

Yeah, yeah. And someone he can trust and rely on, and someone that will always be there. No "last-minute cancellations," you know what I mean?

Yes, that makes sense.

So, that's what I do. And now, it's just quarantining with my girlfriend.

At least you're not by yourself.

Yeah, honestly if I wasn't with her...we're in an open relationship. I don't know, I’m worried I would break quarantine and go see her, which I shouldn't be doing, or break quarantine and go get my dick sucked. But also, it's tough, because the clinics aren’t open, and I ran out of my extra Z packs. I mean, I don't know how other horny people are managing right now.

Would you say you have a pretty high libido?

I guess. I don't know, quarantine has made me extra horny for some reason. I'm not normally that horny of a person. I like to have sex because I like hot people, and I like having sex with hot people. But I'm not someone who has to bust a nut every day. I'm just like, "If you're hot, all right, whatever." And it’s the uncertainty of how long this will last, so you just have this sort of pent up tension.

Nightlife is how you support yourself, correct?

Yeah. But the good thing is, quarantine has been really great for my nudes business. Which I started on the side casually, because somebody wanted to buy nudes from me on Twitter. That's the one thing that’s good. Now that everyone's pent-up and horny and stuff, I've been posting a little bit more raunchier pictures, like bulge pics to entice them to buy content.

Where are you selling these?

On Twitter. I'll post certain things on Twitter, and I'll be like, "DM me for rates." I don't like posting prices on the timeline. I just sell it directly through DMs. And it's been great. People have been super horny, and I've been making sure I'm making a certain amount a day to keep everything afloat. I'm the only person that—my mom, she couldn't even work before, so she definitely can't work now. I'm the main supporter of the household. I'm the only person paying the rent, the lights, the food, everything for both of us. So I'm just making sure that I'm making content. And having said that, I am officially doing an OnlyFans at the end of the month.

You’re a renowned top, yes?

Most considerate top?

Top legend.

Do you get sick of this branding, or has it been good to you?

I think it's fun. I definitely made a name for myself. Back in... 2015, 16, 17 sort of was the prime of my...let’s say that I had the highest score on Grindr.

You beat the game.

I was definitely on the scoreboard. And I made a name for myself. I mean, I don't see myself as a sexy person. I think I'm handsome, I think I'm cute, I think I'm charming, but other people see it, and other people put that on me.  But, I think mostly it's fun. It's camp to me. I mean, honestly Grindr is my favorite app. And I'm always looking.  But I am that annoying guy on Grindr that's not looking for “right now” anymore. I had my first wave of discovering my sexuality, and my gayness, and hooking up with all these guys. And now I'm more selective. I definitely still am much more gay than I am straight, but I'm at a point in my life right now where it's much more quality over quantity. Whereas before it was just, "I want it all."

How are you practicing self-care during the quarantine?

I'm changing my diet! I was eating whatever before, but now I really have time to plan out my meals, and evaluate things. And Zoey, my girlfriend, is definitely helping. She's the juice queen, so we buy lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. I wake up, and instead of getting something unhealthy, we'll start with juice and a smoothie, and then get a substantial lunch. The first three weeks, I was sort of a couch potato. And I still somewhat am. But now I'm like, "Okay, it's been two weeks. I can't just do this, because then time is really going to feel like it's taking forever." We're going to do a whole cleanse.

What's the first thing you're going to do when you get out of self-isolation?

What do you miss most about New York City nightlife?

I just wish this shit happened when winter was starting. This is the worst time. Summer in New York City is when the city comes alive. That's when the city is most vibrant, and it’s own creature. Now I feel like we're going to miss all of it. We'll probably get out of this by September, realistically. And it's just like, "Okay..." And that's just the first wave, because I know this thing is going to come in waves. We're going to have to self-isolate again probably come December. You know what I mean?

Yes, I think we’re all dreading that anticipated second wave.

That's the one thing I’m scared to miss, that moment when summer starts and we all come out of our caves. That first day in the park, that first trip to Fire Island, all those firsts.

No coat check.

No coat check, absolutely. Yes.

What do you think about the attempts to bring nightlife experiences online during isolation? Have you heard of Club Quarantine?

Ty Sunderland's been doing a bunch. He did Love Prism. I get really bored with lives. I'm not someone who goes live often. I think it's cool that people are really engaging with it, and it's really helping them. You know it's funny, you would think that gays are the ones who are really wildin’ out and going crazy and getting naked. But it's the straight people, and all these celebrities' Instagrams, like Tory Lanez, they're having Club Rona on the weekend. Everyone's in there watching these girls twerk and do crazy shit, it’s really nuts. Gays just want to dance. We just want to listen to pop music. It's the straights that are going crazy.

We just want to dance to the new Dua Lipa.

Yeah, the new Troye Sivan too.

Do you think that Corona is going to affect NYC nightlife in the long term?

I don't even know what people are going to do. Obviously nightlife is affected, because how are these clubs going to pay rent, you know what I mean? I’m hoping they freeze rent in April. I get it, March, you shut it down mid-month, so we all had half a month to whatever. But in April, none of us really have been able to make money in a legal way. You have to freeze the rent. And, what is $1200 going to do? Not even just for single-payer renters, but what are bar owners going to do with $1200? They're paying tens of thousands of dollars for rent. What are they going to do with that? That's the thing people aren’t thinking about, but it’s a huge part of our culture. Bars are important places to let loose, socialize, interact, be human.

Are you working on anything right now besides your nudes?

Besides my naked body?

Besides working out the body for the people. The masses.

I've been writing a comic book for the past few years. It was on the back-burner because I’d been going through so much—people in my life passing, and a stressful relationship that I got out of, and then another friend passing—I needed to focus on being happy again, and I couldn't write because I couldn't be in the house. I needed to get out and be around friends. And being at home... it's different. Some people find solace in being home. I don't, because when you've been somewhere for almost 30 years, it feels like, "I need to get out of here. I've been here since the beginning of time." You know what I mean? But now I can sit down and take time out of my day and have a schedule. I'm not going out and getting paid to party and drink. I have some structure to sit down and write for at least an hour.  And also maybe get back into designing too. So, that's what I'm going to work on.

Do you have any thoughts about people still going to hook up during the pandemic?

I was on Grindr just this morning. I woke up early, and I was just checking it out, seeing what the situation was like. And someone was like, "Oh, well I already got it, and I'm recovered, so you can come over." I'm like, "No. No, hell no." I get it, everyone has needs, and some people are hornier than others, but just because you got sick, or you feel like you got it or didn't get it, it's really about taking care of other people. It's about not being in transit, and not exposing more vulnerable people. Because New York is crazy right now. At least wait until the last week of April before you break.

Baby steps.

Everyone is at an understanding that we're all stopped. And it's peaceful knowing that we're all in the same predicament, where we don't have to compare what we're doing to other people, and it's like, "Oh, this person is doing all this." Now we're all doing nothing. You know what I mean? There’s solace in that. It’s like, "Okay, I don't have to compare myself to others anymore. We're all struggling in this." So that's sort of the only sense of peace that I’ve had. Everybody's sort of on the same page, and we’ve all stopped focusing on ourselves and are focusing on what we can do for each other. That's kind of nice.

When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) took the floor on Wednesday, March 25th to address the Senate in the midst of discussing the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, he said something that caught the attention of many queer ears, certainly mine:

“Our nation obviously is going through a kind of crisis that is totally unprecedented in living memory.”

Unprecedented in living memory?

In all understanding, there is truth that I, a millennial living and writing in New York City, have never experienced a pandemic such as COVID-19 in my lifetime. I can validate the statement to that degree. But to the millions of gay men and queer folk who fought, died, or currently battle with HIV/AIDS, to say there is no one in living memory who hasn’t known the hardship of what we’re facing today is an insult.

When COVID-19 first started to appear in New York City, I was at once reminded of terrible times past: perhaps most importantly for me as a gay man, the AIDS crisis of the 1980s.                                                                            

Robert Bryan, a Stonewall Veteran and former Men’s Fashion Director of The New York Times confided, “Indeed, there are many similarities with AIDS then and what’s happening now.”

"Our lives were at risk [during the AIDS crisis],” agreed Arnold Mungioli, who identifies as a Survivor. “We stayed informed. We took in and shared as much information as possible. We had no help from the White House. We were dependent upon ourselves and friends of our Community.”

Senator McConnell’s unconsidered observation instinctively reminds me of Vito Russo who participated in the ACT UP Demonstrations in Albany, NY (May 1988) and at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington D.C. (Oct 1988):

“If I’m dying from anything, I’m dying from the fact that not enough rich, white heterosexual men have gotten AIDS for anybody to give a shit.”

Or, as another Survivor said to me: “Maybe now straight people will know how we felt.”

Well, now that we find ourselves face to face with a virus that indeed threatens everyone, let’s break it down:

This virus is novel. This “crisis” is not.

On March 13th, President Trump declared COVID-19 a U.S. national emergency, which effectively opened up $50 billion in federal funding. For context, this action was taken only 52 days after the first confirmed case of the virus in the U.S.; 43 days after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared “a public health emergency of international concern” for only the 6th time in world history; 16 days after the first confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the U.S.; and 2 days after WHO declared the virus a “pandemic.”

In a timeline comparison, AIDS cases began appearing in the U.S. in 1979. However, the epidemic wasn’t acknowledged as such until 1981; didn’t receive its name – Acquired Immunodeficiency Virus – until 1982; and HIV wasn’t discovered as the cause of AIDS until 1983.

That’s 4 years against Trump’s 52 days.

And on March 25th, the same day Senator McConnell addressed the floor with his “unprecedented” statement, the Senate passed The CARES Act, the largest economic rescue package in U.S. history, set at $2.2 trillion. The bill then went on to be approved two days later by the House of Representatives and President Trump.

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So where was this bipartisan and financial support for those fighting an epidemic in the 80’s? Randy Shilts, an American journalist and AIDS victim, gave us an answer in 1987:

“The Reagan Administration, eager to cut the size of the Federal budget and reluctant to champion the needs of homosexuals or addicts, repeatedly resisted taking the lead against the epidemic. … The bitter truth was that AIDS did not just happen to America - it was allowed to happen by an array of institutions, all of which failed to perform their appropriate tasks to safeguard the public health.”

It is, by all means, a modern marvel that we are fighting COVID-19 as fast as we are. Much credit is due to those putting themselves on the frontline saving lives and working to find a cure. But the hypocrisy, and frankly privilege, of deeming which epidemic is worthy of attention in living memory is a hard, unprecedented pill to swallow.

Unfortunately, worth mentioning, there are two things that have remained the same between AIDS and COVID-19: fear and stigmatization.

Just as fear of transmission took hold in the 80’s, so did it with the social distancing of major cities on both coasts of the U.S. The toxic mix of ignorance and paranoia as to how COVID-19 could be contracted (though the CDC was quick to clarify) held the doors wide open for fear to become stigmatization.

As Marti Gould Cummings, drag queen and NYC Council Candidate for District 7, explains it:

During the AIDS crisis, our community was pushed to the side, ignored, and that virus was labeled a ‘Gay Cancer.’            

Prior to its formal naming in 1982, that epidemic suffered its own labels. “Gay Cancer,” “Gay Plague,” or “GRID” (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency). It wasn’t until September 1985 that President Reagan even addressed it by its name, well into his term.

On February 11th, in a conscious effort to avoid naming the virus after a geographical location, animal, or group of people, WHO announced the formal name COVID-19 – (Co)rona (Vi)rus (D)isease 20(19). WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus went on to add, “We need to fight in unison. And stigma, to be honest, is more dangerous than the virus itself. And let’s really underline that: Stigma is the most dangerous enemy.”

That, of course, did not stop President Trump from taking to Twitter with a total of seven tweets – still active on his account at the time this article was written – wrongly using the name “Chinese Virus.” Nor did it stop Secretary of State Michael Pompeo from using the name “Wuhan Virus” at a press briefing, to the dismay of G-7 European Officials who were present.

It did however result in the FBI needing to put out a statement on March 27th: "The FBI assesses hate crime incidents against Asian Americans likely will surge across the U.S. … based on the assumption that a portion of the U.S. public will associate COVID-19 with China and Asian American populations."

The point stands, through false names and a proven history of epidemics in this country, this “crisis” we’re experience is nothing new. It’s just claiming new victims this time, and those in control continue to look for scapegoats.

Nevertheless, regardless of number or cause of death, the impact of any single death still remains a significant loss to us all. Each valued no less than the rest. Notably to the LGBTQ community during this time, Tony-award winning playwright Terrence McNally who championed gay stories and chronicled the AIDS epidemic through his work so that generations to come, including myself, would have a voice to speak on topics such as this.

As Marc Acito, playwright and novelist, posed the questions to me:

Will we look back on this pandemic as the literal last gasp of the patriarchy? Will this crisis enable the power of love to overcome the love of power?                                                                        

Come this November, when we’re hopefully free from social distancing and we take our rightful place at the voting polls, perhaps the outcome of the election will provide us an answer.

Let your frustrations, wherever they may lie in this tumultuous time, help shape this country. A country that deserves health while paying respects to its past. A country selflessly mobilized by love and community. A country that deserves a leadership as effective, as empathetic, and as proud as the people who define it, gay or straight.

There’s a lot of information out in the world right now about COVID-19. So much so that it can be pretty overwhelming—how do we decipher what’s fact and what’s fiction? While navigating the influx of daily updates can be difficult, especially if you are a person who keeps up with every press conference and news article, there’s a doctor in Los Angeles who’s made it his mission to ensure that the LGBTQ+ community has the vital information they need to stay informed, stay safe, and stay hopeful.

For Dr. Leo Moore, Medical Director for Clinic Services at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, this hope means using his degree for the good of the community—something that he says he learned from his family. “I was raised in a family of nurses,” Moore laughs, saying that care for the greater good was something that he always centered in all of his work.

“I always knew I wanted to be a doctor,” Moore notes, expressing that for him the dream started at the age of five. “I’ve always been interested in helping people and I knew that I could do that by going into medicine.”

After medical school at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta and a residency at Yale’s Primary Care department of internal medicine, his focus on ending the HIV epidemic in the Black and Brown community is where he first noticed that so many people lacked access to someone in medicine who could advocate for their wellbeing.

Now, Dr. Moore is using both his knowledge and his platform during this COVID-19 pandemic to do something that’s essential for the LGBTQ+ community: provide well researched and practical information. Through his series “The Practical MD”, Dr. Moore is helping the LGBTQ+ community get answers to the questions that cause them concern during this time.

“You know, when I heard about COVID-19, my first thoughts were that not only did this escalate quickly, but how hard it would be for some folks to get access to the accurate information,” Dr. Moore notes. “I was also worried about how folks were going to get access to proper testing if they got sick and proper access to quality care.”

It’s not just concern over the spread of the virus that’s driving him to step up, but also the spread of misinformation. “I am always worried about how information is getting back to marginalized people,” Dr. Moore shares, “but more, how this was going to affect queer/trans people of color, the homeless, and the undocumented.” For Dr. Moore, it’s knowing how marginalized groups are usually hit the hardest when these types of events happen.

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“I knew that this pandemic was going to have a greater reaching effect and implications on LGBTQ+ people,” Dr. Moore says, noting that this pandemic shouldn’t be taken lightly by the community. “Queer people and queer people of color could be severely affected by this because many—particularly queer people of color—are often on the margins and don’t have the support and resources they deserve.”

And Dr. Moore is right, considering the statistics that were just announced by the Human Rights Campaign—17% of LGBTQ people lack health coverage and one in five LGBTQ+ people have not seen a doctor when they need to because they couldn’t afford it.

“It’s important for me, as a provider and a physician, to help people make good decisions for themselves,” he says, highlighting how even in a short amount of time COVID-19 has done a number on the community. “COVID-19 has already devastated the livelihood of a lot of people and I anticipate that we will have a lot to consider in the next few months. While the government is talking about it and seemingly working to ease the tension, there are still a lot of people with a ton of questions.”

What’s important for Dr. Moore is knowing that he is in a position to help end the mass confusion and fear that everyone has around this virus. “Hysteria is rooted in misinformation,” Dr. Moore shares, stating that he hopes to use his platform to change the rhetoric around COVID-19. Knowing and understanding the tumultuous relationship that LGBTQ+ people have had with the healthcare industry, Dr. Moore wants to be the link in mending ties.  

“There is a lot of mistrust in the LGBTQ+ community when it comes to doctors,” Dr. Moore says. “And the government is often connected to medicine, right? We know the history—it goes back to the ‘80s and the start of the AIDS epidemic. There is a history of medical mistrust. But the only way to ease that concern is to get clear, concise, and well-informed information.”

The goal for Dr. Moore is simple: to provide practical information that is going to make people feel like they have someone in their corner, something so many people need during this time. Dr. Moore’s message and work is about giving people, specifically LGBTQ+ individuals, access to information from someone they can trust in a time where misinformation is prevalent.

So what does Dr. Moore hope to achieve with their new platform? “I want people to get information that isn’t just opinion, but evidence based,” he says. “I not only want to advocate for those who don’t have the answers, but I want to change the way we think about COVID-19. We need more stories highlighted in the media about the amount of people who are recovering and returning to their everyday lives. COVID-19 does not equal a death sentence. I just want people to know that. ”

Now that is some practical advice. You can find out more on Facebook and Instagram.

*Dr. Leo Moore is a public health advocate and all views and opinions expressed are his own and not a representation of the LA County department of health.

I’m proud to announce the launch of Grindr’s updated Privacy Policy today. To be fair, not much has changed from a content perspective, but we did significantly reformat our approach to improve readability, add a few details, and harmonize the privacy options for all users globally. We go to great lengths to be transparent with our users (and those who are curious), and this is an extension of our dedication to that philosophy. Above all, we want our users to understand what information we are collecting and how we may be using it in our quest to provide them the best service possible.  

If you were ever curious or a policy wonk like me, you’ve likely read a portion of a privacy policy here or there because you wanted to know how that company managed your information. Was it easy for you to find what you were looking for? Was it a quick read? Did you read it in its entirety? Did you learn how long they retained your data, what rights were provided to you with respect to your data, and who they may share your data with? In many cases, the answer is probably no. Our Privacy Policy update is intended to help make things easier for you—easier to read, easier to understand, and easier to learn more about topics of your particular interest.

We had several goals for this Privacy Policy revision:

• Reduce the main Privacy Policy to a more consumable size (5 pages!) yet still cover the full breadth of our data collection and use practices
• Globalize our approach to privacy by providing more helpful disclosures and privacy tools irrespective of the user’s jurisdiction
• Provide a new “layer” of detail on core privacy topics like our retention policy and what information we may share with partners

Why “layers”? We’ve embraced a two-layered approach to our Privacy Policy to give users a more consumable top layer—the core Privacy Policy itself, now at only five pages. Five pages is still a good amount, but it’s readable in about 5 mins. And for those who want more specifics on a particular topic, we include a more detailed second layer.

Most privacy policies in the world today take a legal jurisdiction approach to their disclosures and may limit what privacy choices or tools they make available to their customers in different regions of the world. Grindr is committed to the privacy rights of all our users, regardless of their location on the planet. We still make some call-outs for items that are required by law in the EU under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or in Cali under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), but all of our core disclosures and privacy options are provided to all of our users across the globe.

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What’s in a layer? I encourage you to give our updated Privacy Policy a test drive at privacy.grindr.com. Once you’re there you’ll see a list of topics. After you’ve read the full five pages of the core Privacy Policy, you can pick a topic to dive deeper on—for example, data retention. Were you aware that in many cases we only retain user data for seven days or less, and we only store chat history for 48 hours? I also encourage you to jump into our Third Party Partner page, where you’ll see that we give full visibility to all of our ad partners and other types of partners with links to their Privacy Policies. Of course, as Chief Privacy Officer I encourage you to read every topic in the list. But even if you only read the first layer, you’ll have a very good grasp on what happens with your data.

While we’re talking privacy, Apple iOS users should know that we also launched our Apple App Store Privacy Disclosure today. The disclosure lists the data types we collect, and while none of it should be surprising, casual users might lift an eyebrow when they see disclosures like the collection of Financial Information (in some of our user surveys we ask for annual salary range) or Health Information (our users are optionally able to provide their HIV status to other users). And to set the record straight, the only data type from Apple’s list that we share with ad partners for tracking purposes is the user’s Device ID—no information about the user’s Grindr account is shared, despite some in the media saying otherwise.

I hope our users see this new Privacy Policy as a step forward in making Grindr’s data collection and use practices easier to understand and continuing our dedication to providing transparency to what happens behind the scenes of our services.  

Stay tuned for more privacy related blogging to come in the near future, and please don’t be afraid to ask questions. We’re easy to get ahold of at [email protected] and will do our best to get answers back to you in a timely manner.

Happy Holidays,

Shane Wiley, Chief Privacy Officer | LinkedIn

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