Skittles Gives Its Rainbow to London Pride Goers

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Skittles, the candy famous for inviting us to “taste the rainbow”, has temporarily lost its color. This weekend, the brand is handing out black and white packages of its formerly Technicolor candy. In a clever online commercial, the company says, “You have the rainbow … we have the rainbow … and usually that’s just hunky-dory. But this Pride, only one rainbow deserves to be the centre of attention – yours. And we’re not going to be the ones to steal your rainbow thunder, no siree. That’s why this weekend, we’re giving up our rainbow.” In the spirit of letting Pride’s rainbow shine, a colourless Skittles float will “join in the Pride in London parade on Saturday and Skittles will be giving out monochrome packets along the route,” according to Creative Review. “Ads will also be displayed on outdoor sites along the parade route and a social media campaign will run online using the hashtag #onerainbow, with an animated version of the ad created for Facebook and Twitter.”

What a delicious and inventive way for a brand to celebrate Pride!

 

WATCH: Short Film Golden Embraces Growing Up Gay

Here’s a little something to put a smile on your face. Golden, beautiful short film by German director Kai Stänicke, debuted this week on YouTube. After months of winning short film competitions around the globe, the heartwarming tale finally came to the internet. And just in time! Stänicke posted the film online in response to the Pulse massacre. Festival audiences have responded to the film’s literal depiction of growing up different, finding yourself and finding your people. Take a few minutes and celebrate the beauty in being different with Golden.

WATCH: Netflix Brazil Celebrates Pride With Amazing Video

Netflix Brazil is going all out to celebrate Pride month. Over the weekend, the stars of the network’s  Sense8 were spotted at Sao Paulo’s gay pride parade, which is currently filming in the country. And Netflix Brazil has also released a stunning video which spotlights LGBT characters on its hit shows and how real-life Brazilians have responded to those characters. Per NewNowNext:

The video features individuals and couples posing in front of a screen upon which scenes from their favorite Netflix shows are playing. As shots from LGBT-inclusive shows like Sense8, Orange is the New Black and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt flicker by, the participants discuss the importance of seeing people like themselves represented on TV.

“When you have a complete character who happens to be trans or happens to be gay, it reminds everyone that these people are human beings,” reflects Gabi, a Brazilian trans woman.

The positive message of the video is one Brazil can certainly use. The country is “still home to 44% of the entire globe’s anti-LGBT violence.” Watch the incredible video here!

 

VIDEO: Watch Loretta Lynch’s Historic Speech in Favor Transgender Rights

This week transgender activists, the LGBT community and fans of basic civil rights everywhere applauded the speech by Attorney General Loretta Lynch given in response to North Carolina’s “bathroom bill.” Lynch took to the podium in a press conference to denounce the bill, saying it violated civil federal rights. According to Lynch:

 The North Carolina General Assembly passed House Bill 2 in special session on March 23 of this year. The bill sought to strike down an anti-discrimination provision in a recently-passed Charlotte, North Carolina, ordinance, as well as to require transgender people in public agencies to use the bathrooms consistent with their sex as noted at birth, rather than the bathrooms that fit their gender identity. The bill was signed into law that same day. In so doing, the legislature and the governor placed North Carolina in direct opposition to federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex and gender identity. More to the point, they created state-sponsored discrimination against transgender individuals, who simply seek to engage in the most private of functions in a place of safety and security – a right taken for granted by most of us.

Last week, our Civil Rights Division notified state officials that House Bill 2 violates federal civil rights laws. We asked that they certify by the end of the day today that they would not comply with or implement House Bill 2’s restriction on restroom access. An extension was requested by North Carolina and was under active consideration. But instead of replying to our offer or providing a certification, this morning, the state of North Carolina and its governor chose to respond by suing the Department of Justice. As a result of their decisions, we are now moving forward.

Today, we are filing a federal civil rights lawsuit against the state of North Carolina, Governor Pat McCrory, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the University of North Carolina. We are seeking a court order declaring House Bill 2’s restroom restriction impermissibly discriminatory, as well as a statewide bar on its enforcement. While the lawsuit currently seeks declaratory relief, I want to note that we retain the option of curtailing federal funding to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the University of North Carolina as this case proceeds.

In a career that thus far has been quietly off the radar, Loretta Lynch’s words have been heralded as a turning point in the current discrimination battle brewing in the south. Watch the entire speech here! 

Openly Gay Wrestler Wins Championship Titles and Does it In Drag

cassandro_london_school_of_lucha_libre_resistance_gallery_2Viva individualidad!

Mexican wrestler Cassandro El Exotico is reinventing Mexico’s idea of a professional lucha libre wrestler. This must-see video from Great Big Story profiles a showman and athlete turning a beloved a national pastime on its ear. The twist? Mexico loves it! From sparkly capes to fake eyelashes, Cassandro bends genders while making jaws drop on his way to the ring. Inside the ring however, he kicks ass. Cassandro is a championship title holder and has been in sport for over 20 years. Of himself and other gay lucha wrestlers (referred to as “exoticos”) Cassandro told the Guardian, “Nowadays a lot of the fans that really know about lucha libre, they know that some of us – not all of us – have really dignified, with our skills and talent, our gender, the exoticos. Yeah, we are gay, but we do know how to wrestle.” Watch Cassandro’s  incredible story here!

Bullied Teen Ballet Dancer Gets Moment in the Spotlight

The fight to be yourself and follow your dream isn’t always easy. But every so often that fight proves to be a worthwhile one.  Take 14-year-old dancer Jack Higgins, for example. A ballet dancer from Liverpool, England Higgins wowed the judges and viewers across the globe with his performance on Britain’s Got Talent over the weekend. Higgins said other kids his age bullied him for being a dancer. “When I started, I was called names,” Higgins said. “They said it was just for girls and I should be doing football.” Despite what his peers said, Higgins kept dancing. With the support of his family, he now attends an arts high school and by the looks of it, the education has really paid off. Higgins’ dance to “Say Something” by A Great Big World earned him a standing ovation, a trip to the next round of the competition and words of praise by notoriously cranky judge Simon Cowell. “You know the one thing bullies don’t like? They don’t like it when you do well. I can see how hard you’ve worked and I congratulate you,”Cowell said.

Watch the incredible performance here!

Teen in Northern Ireland Releases Touching Video Asking For His Mom’s Right To Marry

A 15 year-old from Northern Ireland made headlines this week with a video taking a local politician to task for voting against marriage equality. Darragh Tibbs wrote a letter to local assembly leader Gordon Dunne about a month ago asking why the official voted against same-sex marriage. After receiving no response, Tibbs made this video wherein he reads his letter to Dunne.“I am 15 years old and a constituent of yours,” the letter opens, “and I live just around the corner from your office. You voted no in the Marriage Equality vote last year—I want to know why. I’m the child of a same-sex relationship, and I can see absolutely no reason why my brother and I should be denied a secure family set-up. To me it seems perfectly reasonable that a democratic government should give all of its citizens the same legal protections. What gives you the right to take from my brother and me the right for legal protection for our family?” Tibbs goes on to say that the rest of the U.K. has voted for marriage equality and he wonders why Northern Ireland hasn’t done the same. “Gordon Dunne is a straight man, so when the legislation goes through, it won’t actually make any difference to his life. The only conclusion we’re left is that Gordon Dunne doesn’t support equality. He doesn’t truly believe that absolutely everyone is equal, just those who he approves of,” Tibbs says. According to NewNowNext, “a spokesperson for the Democratic Unionist Party commented, ‘The party supports the traditional definition of marriage of one man and one woman…we don’t believe marriage should be redefined.’” Dunne has yet to comment on Tibbs video or letter.

VIDEO: Jillian Micheals Proposes to Longtime Girlfriend

Made famous for her tough as nails training style on shows like The Biggest Loser, Jillian Michaels proved this week she’s a big old romantic just like the rest of us. Michaels, on the series finale of her docu-series Just Jillian, proposed to longtime girlfriend Heidi Rhodes. Forgoing the usual proposal, the celebrity fitness guru showed Rhodes an adorable video montage of the couple and their two children and followed it up by a tear-eyed proposal. Watch it here!

Honey Maid Celebrates Love Day With Touching Video

Graham cracker brand Honey Maid wanted love to be celebrated but not just between couples. So this year the company chose Love Day over Valentine’s Day. “This Valentine’s Day, let’s think of love differently,”a new ad begins. In the heartfelt video that follows, love of all kinds- between adopted brothers, a parent and trans child, a lesbian and her grandmother and a gay son and his mom- is celebrated. It’s a powerful video that you’ll want to watch and share. Just make sure there’s a tissue nearby!

As part of Honey Maid’s ongoing “This is Wholesome” campaign, the ad boldly celebrates non-traditional love between families. In 2014, the brand made headlines for featuring a gay couple in a primetime commercial.

Every day should be Love Day! Celebrate the person you love with one of our unique cards!

WATCH: Sweethearts Candy Celebrates Couples Like Jack & George

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After 55 years as a couple, 2016 marks the first Valentine’s Day that Texas sweethearts Jack and George can celebrate as a legally married couple!  Necco’s Sweethearts candy, those kitschy little conversation hearts gobbled up by millions at this time of year, captured their love story. Necco CEO Michael McGee told AdWeek, “We spent the day with them in their home and got to know them. We just kind of rolled the camera and let them tell their story. When you see how they interact with each other—their strength, their genuineness, their commitment to each other—they are just so endearing.” Watch their sweet story here.

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