Happy Thanksgiving

Have a great day, posting will resume tomorrow.

Glee's Chris Colfer on 'Ab Fab: The Movie' & Co-star Kim Kardashian

Glee actor and New York Times Bestselling author Chris Colfer sits down with Larry King on Emmy nominated series “Larry King Now” to talk about his new role in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, his co-star Kim Kardashian, and his successful children's book series “The Land Of Stories.” Chris also reminisces about playing Kurt Hummel on the hit TV show Glee and who he’s voting for in the upcoming 2016 election. Hint: It’s not the same person his family is voting for.

Plus, Chris Colfer talks Ab Fab; from the British sitcom, “It’s genius. It’s like the bible,” to his character in the new movie version, “I’m playing Jennifer Saunders hairdresser-slash-social media consultant and I’m very excited about that because Jennifer Saunders is one of my heros. I can't believe she wrote the part for me.” Get the scoop on the cameo appearance by Kim Kardashian from Chris himself in the clips below!

The Arvada Center Announces Auditions for Death Takes A Holiday

The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities will hold auditions for Death Takes A Holiday at the Arvada Center, 6901 Wadsworth Blvd., on January 7 and 8, 2016 and in New York City, on January 18, 2016. Denver callbacks are scheduled for January 21, 2016. The production will be directed by Arvada Center Artistic Producer Rod A. Lansberry with musical direction by David Nehls, choreography by Kitty Skillman Hilsabeck.

Breckenridge Opens Additional Terrain in Time for Thanksgiving

With near perfect conditions and snow in the forecast, skiers and riders have a lot to be thankful for this week at Breckenridge Ski Resort. Two additional lifts will open on Peak 9 in time for Thanksgiving skiing and riding; the Beaver Run SuperChair on Wednesday morning and the Mercury SuperChair on Thursday.

Breck will open additional terrain this week as well, including Peak 9’s Bonanza and Cashier runs tomorrow. With 59 inches of snowfall-to-date this season(15 inches of snow in the past seven days), and more snow moving into the area Wednesday night, guests can look for additional terrain openings this week and all season long on Facebook or visit Breckenridge.com.

Denver Limo – The Hottest Limousines in Denver!

Denver Limousine offers the hottest stretch limousines in Denver Colorado! Whatever the occasion, Denver Limousine’s team of professional drivers and top-of-the-line fleet of vehicles is waiting to serve you.

Stonewall Fitness: By, For, and About Denver’s Gay Community!

David Smith, the owner of Stonewall Fitness, holds a degree in exercise science from Metropolitan State University of Denver, several fitness certifications including ACSM Personal Trainer and Group Fitness.

Smith specializes in exercise, nutrition and wellness programs for the GLBT community and leads a variety of different programs, including group fitness classes, personal training, athletic conditioning programs, educational seminars and workshops.

His passion lies in promoting the physical, mental and social benefits of exercise and healthy diet to the community by breaking down the barriers often associated with a healthy lifestyle to make it accessible for everybody.

In Advance of Black Friday, HRC Releases 2016 Buyer’s Guide to Businesses Supporting LGBT Workplace Inclusion

Just in time for Black Friday and the holiday shopping season, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, has released its popular consumer guide to hundreds of American companies rated on their LGBT-inclusive policies and practices.

The Buying for Workplace Equality guide, first issued more than a decade ago, provides invaluable consumer information based on company scores reported in HRC’s annual Corporate Equality Index (CEI), as well as HRC-researched data on additional well-known companies and their brands.

Through the CEI, the HRC Foundation proactively rates Fortune 500 companies and top law firms on LGBT-inclusive workplace policies and practices, and urges smaller companies to also participate. This year, new CEI criteria required that all participating companies extend explicit LGBT non-discrimination protections to their employees worldwide.

“Our annual Buying for Workplace Equality guide provides quick, user-friendly help in selecting everything from groceries to cars with LGBT equality in mind,” said Deena Fidas, Director of HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program. “With the LGBT community’s buying power in the U.S. edging close to $900 billion, it just makes good business sense to embrace LGBT workplace inclusion. Every year we hear from members of the LGBT community and many other fair-minded consumers who want to choose brands that align with their priorities of workplace fairness. They check the buyer’s guide to ensure that their dollars go to businesses that support equality.”

The Buying for Workplace Equality guide sorts businesses by sectors, assigning them a score ranging from zero to 100 based on LGBT workplace equality, as measured by the CEI and HRC-researched data. Those include: 

Apparel & Accessories
Banking & Finance
Food & Beverage
Home & Garden
Restaurants
Technology

Businesses and their products are divided based on their CEI rating into red, yellow and green categories so that consumers can easily determine which brands support LGBT workplace equality: 

• Green (80-100): Businesses/brands with the highest workplace equality scores.
• Yellow (46-79): Businesses/brands that have taken steps toward a fair-minded workplace and receive a moderate workplace equality score.
• Red (0-45): Businesses/brands that receive our lowest workplace equality scores

The new guide includes more than 570 companies--449 of those are rated in the CEI, and an additional 121 have been independently researched by the HRC Foundation. A total of 5,496 affiliated businesses and brands are featured in this year’s report. Companies independently researched have declined invitations to actively participate in the CEI; their scores are based on publicly-verifiable information.

Note: Companies with scores listed in italics have not responded to the survey despite repeated invitations. They have been assigned an unofficial, estimated score based on publicly-available information that HRC has collected.

HRC welcomes new relationships with businesses that have not responded to attempts to gather information on LGBT workplace policies and programs.

For more information on the Buying for Workplace Equality guide and to search by company category, go online to www.hrc.org/buyersguide.

The Danish Girl's Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander and Tom Hooper sit down with Raymond Braun

Leading up to Friday’s premiere of Focus Features’ The Danish Girl, Academy Award winning actor Eddie Redmayne, Ex Machina’s  Alicia Vikander and Academy Award winning director Tom Hooper sit down with YouTube content creator Raymond Braun in their first ever YouTube collaboration to discuss the highly-anticipated film.

Redmayne talks about playing Lili Elbe, one of the first known people to undergo gender confirmation surgery in 1930, and how he prepared for the role.    Vikander, who plays Lili’s wife Gerda, talks about the remarkable love story at the center of the film and how Lili and Gerda’s marriage and artistry evolve as they navigate Lili's journey.

HIV & PrEP: Denver Brings It Up

Let's talk. No, let's really talk. About HIV. While we have come far, gay and bisexual men continue to bear the greatest burden of this disease in Colorado. Nearly four of out of every five individuals newly diagnosed with HIV identifies as a gay or bisexual man. We still have more work to do to get that number to zero. Let's work together to change the future of HIV/AIDS by talking about testing, PrEP and staying in care.

Since talking about HIV in the heat of the moment can be a buzz kill, why not bring it up before you get it up? By bringing it up, everyone wins.

Jazz Jennings to Receive Youth Innovator Award

The Trevor Project is proud to announce Jazz Jennings as this year’s Youth Innovator Award recipient at TrevorLIVE LA. Presented by HBO, Walt Disney Company, and Wells Fargo, this irreverent evening of comedy and music will take place on December 6th at the Hollywood Palladium.

“Jazz has proven herself a role model and a leader in the LGBTQ community,” said Abbe Land, Executive Director and CEO of The Trevor Project. “She consistently displays strength, courage, and resiliency in her continued efforts to raise awareness, advocate for equal rights, and shape a brighter future for LGBTQ youth.”

Jazz Jennings brings LGBTQ issues to the forefront with her organization TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation, founded with her parents in 2007 to assist transgender youth and educate schools about transgender experiences. She was instrumental in changing the United States Soccer Federation policies regarding transgender children and continues her advocacy efforts through her position as a Human Rights Campaign Youth Ambassador. Her hit TLC show I Am Jazz sheds personal light on the challenges that come with growing up as a transgender girl amidst the usual teen angst.

Performers Brenna Whitaker, Cheyenne Jackson, Eli Lieb, Jeremy Jordan, Conrad Ricamora, Sarah Silverman and Tituss Burgess will join Jennings onstage to entertain guests. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Aja Naomi King, Alex Borstein, Alfred Enoch, Guillermo Diaz, Jack Falahee, Karla Souza, Niecy Nash, Brad Goreski, Rachel Bloom and Suzanne Cryer will present awards. Todrick Hall and Shira Lazar will host the livestream of the red carpet, produced by streaming partner WhatsTrending.

TrevorLIVE LA celebrates 17 years of The Trevor Project’s life-saving, life-affirming work to prevent suicide among LGBTQ youth. As previously announced, actor/comedian Joel McHale will host the high-profile evening of music, comedy and entertainment. In addition to the Youth Innovator Award, The Trevor Project will present the Trevor Hero Award to HBO’s President of Programming Michael Lombardo and the Trevor 20/20 Visionary Award to The Walt Disney Company, which will be accepted by Chairman of Walt Disney International, Andy Bird. Trevor board member Adam Shankman will celebrate his sixth consecutive year as guest director of the event.

One Colorado's 2016 Transgender Health Insurance Buyer's Guide

By Daniel Ramos

It’s important to know that from now until January 31st, 2016, Coloradans can shop for health insurance on our state’s own marketplace, Connect for Health Colorado.

Still, if you’re a transgender Coloradan, finding coverage that meets all your health care needs can be complicated. That’s why today, One Colorado is releasing our Transgender Health Insurance Buyer’s Guide — so that transgender people across our state can see which insurance companies provide complete coverage for transgender Coloradans.

We’ve developed this helpful guide for transgender Coloradans so that their shopping experience for health coverage is less confusing and burdensome. The insurance companies under the green smiley face provide complete coverage for transgender Coloradans; the companies under the yellow neutral face have partial coverage; and the companies under the red frowny face have inadequate coverage.

It’s also important to know how accessible Colorado insurance companies make information regarding services provided for transgender consumers, so we’ve rated that as well. The insurance companies under the green smiley make information easily accessible; the companies under the red frowny face do not.

Our buyer’s guide is meant to be a useful step in making sure transgender Coloradans can access the care they need, but we can’t promise that everything will be covered by any insurance plan. Make sure you check with your provider before changing plans.

If you are denied care, you may still have to appeal that decision with any insurance company on this list — but the One Colorado team can assist you there, too! If you think you’ve been denied coverage because you’re transgender, contact our Deputy Director, Daniel Ramos, by emailing danielr@one-colorado.org.

Click here for the 2016 Transgender Health Insurance Buyer’s Guide.

Who Is Fancy - Boys Like You

WHO IS FANCY’s new single, “Boys Like You” [feat. Ariana Grande & Meghan Trainor], arrives at all digital retailers today. Get it HERE.

The critically acclaimed pop singer and songwriter also debuted the vibrant animated official music video for the track on VEVO.

Celebrating the arrival of “Boys Like You,” WHO IS FANCY, ARIANA GRANDE, and MEGHAN TRAINOR will perform the song together live for the first time at tonight’s season finale episode of Dancing With The Stars on ABC. Be sure to tune in at 9pm local time. It’s bound to be nothing short of epic.

Pet Portraits By Maurice Becnel

Immortalize your furry friends with a pet portrait by Maurice Becnel. Clients admire Becnel's ability to capture the essence of a pet's personality in his work.

Says Becnel, "Painting animal portraits, for me, is more fun than it is work. I began painting them several years ago. The first one I did was for a friend on her birthday. Because it was a gift it never dawned on me that other people would commission me to do more. Word got out and before I knew it more and more of the emails I was receiving from my website were going to the dogs! And cats!"

HRC Slams Martin Shkreli's Ridiculous Announcement that Turing Pharmaceuticals will "Roll Back" Price on Daraprim

Yesterday, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, slammed Turing Pharmaceuticals for announcing they will continue their outrageous price hike on Daraprim – a crucial and often lifesaving treatment for people living with HIV. Public outrage followed Shkreli's reckless decision to raise the price of Daraprim by 5,000 percent overnight back in September. According to news reports overnight, Shkreli's Turing Pharmaceuticals now plans to drop the cost of the lifesaving drug by "as much as 50 percent" which is still more than $375 – far above the drug's original $13.50 price.

HRC President Chad Griffin said:

“Martin Shkreli is not pulling the wool over anyone's eyes. After increasing the price of Daraprim by 5,000 percent, he now proposes to gouge critically ill people upwards of $375 for a drug that used to cost just a few dollars. His desire to turn a profit at any cost and brazen disregard for the well-being of the most vulnerable patients – including people with HIV and pregnant women – is appalling and contemptible. We continue to call on Congress, the Administration and the New York Attorney General to hold Turing Pharmaceuticals to account and do what is necessary to restore this life-saving treatment to its original price.”

Turing Pharmaceuticals came under intense scrutiny after the outrageous price hike made headlines. HRC joined 151 other organizations from across the nation in signing an open letter to Turing Pharmaceuticals urging company CEO Martin Shkreli to act. Prior to that, at HRC’s urging, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman began investigating whether Turing Pharmaceuticals may have violated antitrust laws by limiting distribution of a drug that is essential to the lives of medically vulnerable people.

HRC also sent letters to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Chair of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), Chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce; and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, seeking an investigation into the unconscionable action of Turing Pharmaceuticals.

The letters also called for an inquiry into Turing’s acquisition of Daraprim, the pricing strategy for the drug, investments made to bring the drug to market, the impact of that strategy on patient access, and the increased cost to federally-funded health programs. And they requested a hearing on formulary and tiering structure for prescription medications offered through health exchanges.

Nice to See StevieB: The Time I Watched Ice Fishing

 By StevieB

It had been too long. Way to long. The excuses in my head played like a broken record. Over and over I gave the lame reasons of why I couldn’t go. Until I stopped the excuses and just went. To the Doctor. I had put off the visit due to a strange fear… The fear of the test.

When I had just turned twenty, my family went to our cabin high in the Rocky Mountains. It was on the shores of Grand Lake, Colorado. It was February, so the lake was frozen over. As I sat on the sunny back deck, I watched the ice fishermen drive their 4X4s across the solid surface of the lake. Bound for their recently drilled holes through the ice in hopes to catch some fish. I wondered what would happen if the ice cracked. The lake swallowing the truck whole. I shuttered from the thought and turned back to my book. My new book I picked up before leaving town as a way to waste away the afternoons. My family was all inside watching some-sort of football game on the battered television set. I can’t remember which book in the Tails of the City series it I was reading; but, Michael Tolliver just started his journey as a survivor of the HIV epidemic. Every paragraph dripped with fear of AIDS, of HIV. But, our protagonist was strong. The epidemic was spreading. The strength to survive was there. In the pages, as I turned them one-by-one. With every page I turned, I realized I had made a huge mistake. And, I had to get through the longest week of my life.

A couple of days before bumming a ride with one of my sisters on the way up the mountain to the cabin, I took my first HIV test. Now, I was on the frozen shores of a mountain lake awaiting the results. Unable to speak to anyone about it. It was just me and Michael Tolliver. Every instance of where I put myself at risk played through my mind. I was playing lose and easy, messing around as a twenty-year-old does. I sat around the fireplace, my mind a thousand miles away. My large extended family at times angered at my aloofness. My detachment. My only thoughts were on the clinics opening hours the next Monday morning. Only a fictional character in a far off land understood.

Flash-forward twenty-three years. I have had countless tests for HIV, but this one way different. I had blocked it out of my mind, really thought much of it, at the office.Then when the needle entered my bloodstream and the phlebotomist filled his cylinder, I was twenty again. I had waited too long. Was it the nine years in a serodiscordant relationship? Or, was it the playing lose and easy, messing around as a forty -year-old does? I thought of the promise I made to myself on that grey February morning. Play safely and test often. Somehow I had forgotten that promise. The one I made to me. It’s funny how time lets us disconnect from our selves. 

The Doctor entered the room. All fear of the test was gone. Now it was time… I debated if the doctor was alive when I received the results of my very first HIV test. He read all by results like a grocery list. As he explained about good and bad cholesterol, healthy choices I only saw the ice fishermen, driving their trucks upon the ice. Wondering what would happen if the ice cracked and they fell through the ice. “…you’re undetectable for HIV…” I came back to the room. “that means I’m negative?” He calmly stated that yes. I was. Negative. 

This post originally appeared on Steven Bennet's website Nice to See StevieB. Republished with permission.