Coachella’s Owner Replies To Anti-Gay “Fake News”

The other day I posted about the fact that the owner of the Coachella Music Festival has allegedly donated to anti-gay causes. He was quick with a very strong response.

Recent claims published in the media that I am anti-LGBTQ are nothing more than fake news — it is all garbage. I unequivocally support the rights of all people without regard to sexual orientation. We are fortunate to employ a wealth of diverse individuals throughout our family of companies, all of whom are important to us — the only criteria on which they are judged is the quality of their job performance; we do not tolerate discrimination in any form.

“Both The Anschutz Foundation and I contribute to numerous organizations that pursue a wide range of causes. Neither I nor the Foundation fund any organization with the purpose or expectation that it would finance anti-LGBTQ initiatives, and when it has come to my attention or the attention of The Anschutz Foundation that certain organizations either the Foundation or I have funded have been supporting such causes, we have immediately ceased all contributions to such groups.

There’s more here. Sometimes I wonder if we’re a little too quick to judge sometimes. I think he sounds sincere, and I don’t think he is anti-gay.

Milo Yiannopoulos and Gofundme

I can’t tell you how much I hate trying to spell this guy’s name. But this is news, and I think the reactions are interesting. This article alleges that MY is spreading “hate” on college campuses. When the truth is that MY is nothing more than a slick pundit with a clever act.

MY has, however, gained his popularity through going after people who tend to get offended too easily, too quickly. He’s the opposite of politically correct and his followers support him and his lectures through the crowdfunding web site, Gofundme. And this article is claiming that what he’s doing is against the TOS regulations of Gofundme.

According to Gofundme’s terms of service, you can’t use the crowdfunding platform for “the promotion of hate, violence, harassment, discrimination, terrorism, or intolerance of any kind relating to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender or gender identity, or serious disabilities or diseases.”

There’s more here. They go on to mention how much money is raised to hear MY speak. Frankly, I really don’t like pundits of any kind. But he’s obviously resonating with certain people, and there’s free speech to consider. And the best thing about free speech is even though the government can’t arrest anyone for what they say, you don’t have to listen to it.

Urban Outfitters and Trans Inclusive Ads

This is something I think we’re going to see more often. Urban Outfitters just launched an ad campaign that celebrates diversity in various forms. From all kinds of body types to a trans model.

At any rate, Urban Outfitters even included a trans model, which is delightful and also becoming increasingly commonplace for ready-to-wear brands. UO’s model is Hari Nef, who is 24 and recently appeared in a Blue Velvet-themed shoot for Love magazine. (Speaking of things that millennials won’t recognize.)

In addition, Diesel just launched a campaign that puts trans people front and center in their advertising material. Their names are Benjamin Melzer and Loiza Lamers, and they are just about as chic as they come.

You can check that out here. There are photos, too. And there is a twist to this story that you can read about in the comments. But some of the comments tend to be misleading, so here’s a link to an article in Snopes with more about the owner of Urban Outfitters, Richard Hayne. 

It’s interesting to note that the Chief Executive of Business for Urban Outfitters, Glen Senk, is an openly gay man. I don’t want to get into all that because my focus here is only on the fact that UO included a trans person in this new ad campaign, and I don’t want to ruin that. However, I do highly suggest reading the article at Snopes, in full, before you start to judge anything from the comment section.