Joe.My.God. LGBT News

All week Rachel Maddow has been piecing together the labyrinthian connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. Last night’s update was especially revealing. Via Raw Story: Maddow described a Politico report, released Wednesday, that revealed authorities investigated Konstantin Kilimnik, an associate of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, over Kilimnik’s suspected ties Russian intelligence. Maddow explained that authorities are “looking …

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump will nominate Richard Grenell to be his ambassador to NATO, according to a White House official, a selection that would make the longtime loyalist and former U.S. spokesman at the United Nations the highest-ranking openly gay person to serve in the administration. Reached by phone on Wednesday, Grenell, 50, declined to comment. The White House …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn wrote an op-ed on Election Day calling for the U.S. to kick out an anti-government Turkish cleric without disclosing he was being paid by a firm linked to the Turkish government, according to documents newly filed with the Justice Department. POLITICO reported in November that Flynn’s consulting firm, Flynn …

Little Rock’s CBS affiliate reports: A bill has been proposed to make marriage only between a man and a woman. Twenty Representatives and one Senator introduced House Bill 2098. Representative Stephen Meeks [photo] is the lead sponsor of the bill. HB2098 would not recognize marriages between two people of the same sex, even if the marriage happened in a different …

The Associated Press reports: The organizers of Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade have scheduled an emergency meeting to reconsider their vote to bar a gay veterans group from participating. The vote Tuesday to bar OutVets drew immediate condemnation from high-profile politicians. Ed Flynn, a member of the South Boston Allied War Veterans Council, which organizes the parade scheduled for March …

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos today met with three LGBT rights groups to discuss the Trump administration’s revocation of Obama’s guidelines on transgender student protections. Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: Stephanie White, executive director of Equality Michigan, said her organization sought out the meeting to convey the “profound negative consequences” of the withdrawal of the guidance protecting transgender students. …

The Texas Tribune reports: After 13-plus hours of emotional testimony, largely in opposition, the Senate State Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to advance the so-called Texas “bathroom bill” to the full chamber. The vote was 7-1; Sen. Judith Zaffirini voted against, and Sen. Charles Schwertner was not present at the meeting but asked to be shown as voting yes. The vote …

Politico reports: Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman has been offered the job of U.S. ambassador to Russia and is in the process of submitting paperwork to accept the position, two administration sources have confirmed. Huntsman, who served as ambassador to Singapore under President George H.W. Bush and then to China under President Barack Obama, was an outspoken critic of President …

The New York Daily News reports: Start brainstorming alternative nicknames to “TrumpCare.” Top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway on Wednesday suggested the real-estate mogul turned President wasn’t slapping his name on the GOP’s proposed Obamacare replacement — demurring when asked during a Fox News interview if it were to be branded “TrumpCare.” “Well, it’s the American Health Care Act and I …

Brian Tashman reports at Right Wing Watch: This week on The Jim Bakker Show, televangelist Jim Bakker discussed the 2016 presidential election with End Times preacher Jonathan Cahn, who described Donald Trump’s victory as a divine “miracle.” Cahn said that God used Trump to save America from a Hillary Clinton presidency and a liberal majority on the Supreme Court, which …