Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Bodycount – Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

‘After being out of print for years, a grindhouse-style classic returns—better than ever. Inspired by the magazine Heavy Metal and the films of John Woo, creators Kevin Eastman and Simon Bisley present a much darker take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, spinning a pulse-pounding yarn of over-the-top action and more than a bit of the old ultraviolence. In gritty 1990s New York, our boys Raphael and Casey are swept up into an international murder/revenge/assassination plot, complete with gangsters, thugs, cops, cyborgs, machine guns, and (of course) hockey sticks. Don’t miss what might just be the longest-running gunfight in comic book history!’

I grew up watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon as a kid (Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles for those like me, watching it in the UK) and fell in love with the gang of green heroes. As I got older, I found out that the show was based upon comics and that the books were much more adult and darker in tone than the children’s series.

I’ve now read quite a bit of these comics and have experienced this ‘darker’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but even the early comics didn’t quite prepare me for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Bodycount.

Originally published as a mini-series in 1996, the story tells the bloody and gruesome tale of Hong Kong gangster Midnight, who has travelled to New York City on the run from her former colleagues who are now hunter her for apparently betraying them. Running into Casey Jones, then Raphael, the two of them end up helping Midnight as she travels across the country seeking Sanctuary, a place where she can be safe.

Whilst this doesn’t sound too far removed from a fairly standard TMNT plot, the execution (and I’ve chosen that word intentionally) is something very different. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Bodycount, as the name suggests, wracks up a huge amount of kills. Johnny Woo Woo, the cyborg assassin sent after Midnight, cares nothing for collateral damage and as such mows down anyone that’s between him and his target.

The majority of the book is one long gun fight with dozens killed. They are not quick, clean kills either; people have arms and legs blown off, their guts blasted out, and are even decapitated by bullets. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Bodycount isn’t helped in its ultra-violence by the artwork of Simon Bisley.

An artist that I’ve always considered ‘messy’, Bisley’s scraggy and misshapen people look gross at the best of times, but are downright disgusting when being shot to pieces. It makes the death and violence more visceral than it otherwise would be. Whilst the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has never shied away from violence, it has never been gratuitous or disgusting; but this book seems to revel in it, appealing most to people who love gore and torture porn.

Bisley’s art also adds horror to the book whenever he draws Raphael, making the heroic turtle look like like a hideous monster. His limbs are misshapen and uneven, covered in veins and bulges, his mouth looks like The Joker and the Cheshire Cat had a nightmare baby; he’s ugly and looks like a demon.

The worst of the artwork has to be Midnight in the final battle against Johnny Woo Woo. Wearing what can only be described as a thong and strips of skintight cloth, Midnight’s over the top breasts are barely held in place as she participates in a knife fight, every panel focusing on either her arse or pointed nipples. She’s made into a violent sexual fantasy designed to arouse as she performs violence.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Bodycount has been described as encapsulating the ‘grim and gritty’ sensibilities of the 90s and turned it to the extreme. This is completely true, but it takes everything that was awful with 90s comics and dials it up to 11. The violence is over the top and full of gore. Women are sexualised objects with breasts bigger than their heads and costumes that could barely clothe a cat, and even the heroes are pushed into ‘ultra-dark’ as Eastman makes Raphael murder dozens of people with guns and grenades.

The book might be written by Kevin Eastman, one of the creators of the Turtles, but it feels like he’s failed to capture the essence of the characters or the series at all. Gory and violent for the sake of it, filled with awful language and even has Raphael using disgusting slurs such as ‘retarded’; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Bodycount is the goriest, most violent and vulgar TMNT comic I’ve ever read. Absolutely awful.


Buy Amy A Coffee
Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Dark Souls: Age of Fire #3 – Comic Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

‘His armour charred black by the flames of Izalith, Silver Knight Arkon now marches to Anor Londo in search of the brother knights who abandoned him. Meanwhile, in the Lower Ward, the undead curse begins to spread, with no care for rank or status. But who is to blame for this accursed outbreak?’

It’s hard to read Dark Souls: Age of Fire without being shocked by how beautiful the artwork is. Even three issues into the title Anton Kokarev is still able to push the bar further and further, and the very first scene is a testament to this. A meeting between the now cursed Silver Knight Arkon, transformed into a black knight, comes face to face with Artorias, the Wolf Knight, in a forest in the middle of a rain storm.

The effects look beautiful, dark and gloomy skies, streaks of rain filling each panel, as the two warriors enter into combat. There is very little dialogue in the scene, instead each panel tells a very clear story; the warriors watching each other, swinging their swords through the rain, clashing and blocking, circling each other. It’s like watching a samurai movie play out in comic form; and it’s absolutely gorgeous.

Following this brief but brilliant action sequence, the rest of the issue focuses on the undead curse that is sweeping through the Lower Ward and the machinations of Seath the Scaleless, the albino dragon. This is where the story really delves into the lore of Dark Souls and explores the backstory only hinted at within the games.

The undead curse is played as truly frightening and some of the depictions of them are truly terrifying. In one panel, Kokarev depicts them as mindless, withered, shambling victims, yet in the next panel they’re screaming, banshee like monsters.

Elsewhere Channeler Liste is seen in his manipulations of the public, whilst simultaneously assisting Seath the Scaleless with his experiments – experiments that have caused the undead curse that is sweeping through the population, a duplicity that comes back to bite him when Seath turns on him.

Despite these moments of story and lore exploration, the book doesn’t go into great depth. The book touches on important events, yet doesn’t give them the time they need. I don’t feel like this is something that writer Ryan O’Sullivan has done intentionally, as his characterisation is very good, but comes across as an editorial decision to try and maintain enough mystique around these big moments that they can be explored in future comics, novels, or games, depending on the company’s decision. Thankfully, O’Sullivan is weaving enough personal elements into the story through the cast of characters, but it is a little disappointing that we don’t get a little more detail.

Dark Souls: Age of Fire continues to be entertaining and visually stunning, and offers readers artwork that stands out amongst other competition as something really special. Hopefully future issues will dedicate more time to story without having to sacrifice character.


Buy Amy A Coffee
Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

TV Rewind… Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1X08 – The Well

Originally published on Set The Tape

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode ‘The Well’ is definitely much better on subsequent watches rather than the first time it aired on television. Billed as a direct tie-in/follow-up to Thor: The Dark World, many fans were understandably annoyed when the episode only spent the first three minutes in a post-Thor London, before moving on to another, vaguely connected story. Marvel spent a lot of time advertising it as a big follow-up to the film – and as that it totally fails, but seen separately from that advertisement, as an episode on its own? ‘The Well’ is actually quite good.

Ignoring the opening scene, which is just the S.H.I.E.L.D. team playing clean-up after the climactic fight from Thor: The Dark World, the episode centres on a ‘Norse Pagan hate group’, who have managed to track down an ancient Asgardian artefact, one that gives the wielder super-human strength and uncontrollable rage.

It turns out that the artefact is one of three pieces of a Berserker Staff, a weapon used by a member of the Asgardian army, a Berserker Warrior. With the hate group searching for the other pieces, and spreading chaos in their wake, Coulson (Clark Gregg) and the team have to try and find the other pieces first.

It’s a pretty fun little story that takes our team of heroes around the globe, but what makes it something special is the inclusion of the Berserker Warrior himself, who has been hiding on Earth for a thousand years. Not only does this give the series its most powerful character to date, but the Warrior is played by Emmy Award winning Peter MacNicol, who many film fans will remember from his comedic roles in Bean, The Adams Family Values, and Ghostbusters II.

MacNicol is so unlike any other Asgardian we’ve seen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe before. This isn’t just because he’s been living on Earth for hundreds of years, but because he’s a common man. Thor, Loki, and even the Warriors Three, are all members of the Asgardian court. They’re royalty, or spend all their time around royalty. MacNicol is just an ordinary man who joined the military, got disillusioned with his life as a warrior, and chose to settle on Earth. He’s relatable where Thor and the others feel alien.

‘The Well’ isn’t all about Asgardians, however, as it also gives us more of an insight into the pasts of Agents Ward (Brett Dalton) and Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) when they fall under the influence of the Berserker Staff. Bringing out their fear and anger through their darkest memories, the staff causes Ward to have to face a trauma from his childhood.

Whilst it’s good that we are finally learning more about the character it doesn’t quite feel like enough. We see his younger brother trapped down a well as he’s trying to help him, but we don’t get full context as to what’s happening and why. This would have been the perfect opportunity to give us more details, to flesh him out more; but the series seems to be holding back on much of this information so that it can stretch out the ‘mystery’ of Wards past.

This is something that happens here with May as well. Like Ward, she comes under the staff affects, but is able to control herself. Claiming that this is because she lives with her trauma every day rather than burying it. But, we don’t find out what this is, leaving even more mysteries hanging over the audience. I understand that this is episodic television that’s going to be unfolding over twenty episodes, but it feels like the writers are making the mistake of giving too many characters a ‘mystery past’; the only ones who don’t seem to at the moment are Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge).

Overall the episode was quite fun, and had some interesting ideas, but is beginning to make its characters run the risk of becoming boring. The most interesting character development in the episode happened right towards the end when Ward and May hooked up, but other than that the inclusion of more mysterious pasts is beginning to grate a little.


Buy Amy A Coffee
Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Dungeons and Dragons: Evil At Baldur’s Gate #3 – Comic Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

The Baldur’s Gate heroes return to the city at last, but their time adventuring in Ravenloft and the frozen northern reaches of the Realms have changed them. Each of them must face great trials ahead before they’ll be ready to embrace their destiny. Delina searches for something to cure her wild magic, but the solution she seeks plunges her into danger unlike anything she’s faced before.

Writer Jim Zub continues to explore the universe of Dungeons and Dragons and the Baldur’s Gate Heroes, with a much more personal story as the series once again gives its readers something new and interesting.

With the first two issues having a more action-oriented approach, issue three shifts the focus to a character-orientated story as we follow the sorceress Delina as she searched for a way to bring her wild magics under control.

Having sought help from the Baldur’s Gate wizard-librarian Matrikay, Delina finds herself transported across the multiverse, sending her to a ‘place of absolute order’ so that she can learn to control her chaotic magics. Unfortunately, Delina is sent to the realm of Mechanus, a place made from cogs and gears, inhabited by part biological, part mechanical creatures.

The inhabitants of Mechanus are a wonderfully varied bunch, with some brilliantly unique designs and looks, sometimes with half a dozen different designs in the same panel. Some of the deigns are so strange and unusual that it’s not hard to believe that the artist had a lot of fun designing and drawing them.

True to Matrikay’s words, Mechanus is a land of pure order; however, this means that Delina doesn’t fit into their ordered society and she is forced to go on the run. Whilst the book could have very easily turned into a fugitive story, with Delina on the run getting into fights, it makes the bold decision to turn the story inwards, to make it a journey of self discovery and learning for Delina.

After almost being converted into a mechanical being herself, then put on trial for breaking multiple Mechanus laws, Delina comes to the realisation that whilst she might not like the chaotic nature of her magic abilities, sometimes order isn’t a good thing. Order is rigid, order is strict, order doesn’t allow for nuance or individuality.

The latest issue of Dungeons and Dragons: Evil at Baldur’s Gate is a big departure from the first two issues, but is certainly making the most of focusing on smaller scale stories centred around the members of the hero team. Whilst this may not have been the most exciting issue to date in terms of action, it might be one of the best for its look into character, giving some very real growth and development for Delina, and for its great designs.

Harvey Tolibao excels here more than previous issues, managing to craft a visually stunning world in the form of Mechanus. The landscapes are filled with gears and cogs, with an entire clockwork city filling the background of the very first page. Wherever Delina goes in Mechanus it looks amazing, even with tiny clockwork motifs worked into clothing decoration. This issue would not have been quick to draw, but the end result is a believable and beautiful fantasy world.


Buy Amy A Coffee
Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Throwback 20: The Negotiator

Originally published on Set The Tape

I feel like I have to address the elephant in the room in regards to The Negotiator before I get too far into this Throwback. I really enjoy this film, I have ever since I first saw it, but this is the first time that I have re-watched it since the allegations about Kevin Spacey’s past have come to light. Yes, this has changed how I look at this film, as I’m sure it would any project involving Spacey. However, the story, the performances, and the supporting cast in The Negotiator are so good that I found that I was able to put this aside and still enjoy the film for what it is.

Starring Samuel L. Jackson, The Negotiator tells the story of Danny Roman (Jackson), a brilliant hostage negotiator for the Chicago Police Department who finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy to embezzle large amounts of money from the department’s disability fund. His partner, Nick Roenick (Paul Guilfoyle), tells him that he has evidence from an unnamed source, but when he’s killed Danny not only becomes the prime suspect in his murder but is also framed for the embezzlement. Left isolated from his former friends and co-workers, Danny takes hostages in order to clear his name.

The Negotiator begins as a fairly standard cop drama; it has the hero cop save the day at the beginning, they go for drinks to celebrate with their co-workers, they suddenly find themselves disgraced, then they have to hand in their gun and badge. It’s a set up that has been done before in many other films, one that you’ll be very familiar with. It’s what happens after this, though, that makes the film stand out.

The majority of the film has Jackson and his hostages in one office set, whilst his former colleagues attempt to defuse the situation. Because of the fact that Jackson’s character is trained in how to defuse a hostage situation, you’re not sure which cops are there to do their job and which ones are part of the conspiracy, and the central mystery of who is behind everything adds extra stakes to the whole thing.

The Negotiator is light on action and heavy on dialogue, but it’s the perfect film for it. Gun fights and punches would feel completely out of place here as the film tries to take a more real world approach to the police force and how they would act in a hostage situation.

Thanks to the film’s supporting cast you never feel bored, or that the film needs an action sequence to make things exciting. So many of the members of the police force are cast with great actors that a lot of film and television fans will instantly recognise. Ron Rifkin from Alias, John Spencer from The West Wing, David Morse from The Green Mile, Paul Giamatti from Billions, Bruce Beatty from Straight Outta Compton, and Michael Cudlitz from The Walking Dead, to name but a small few of the amazing cast of great character actors.

With a sharp and well paced story, a really clever script, and an amazing cast to populate the world, The Negotiator is one of the better examples of a police thriller, one that takes a different approach and puts the focus on the police, rather than the hunt for a villain, in a story that keeps you guessing as to who the real bad guys are right until the end.


Buy Amy A Coffee
Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Labour Councillor Quits Over Transgender Toilet Debate

Labour party member and Cambridge councillor Ann Sinnott has resigned her political position in protest over transgender rights.

Following the election of openly transgender Lib Dem councillor Sarah Brown, and her campaign to bring Cambridge Council into line with existing legislation and to change their guidelines to allow transgender people to use the correct bathroom facilities; Sinnott described the council of 'insidiously dismantling women's rights' and as being 'in dereliction of the law'.

Sinnott has said that she is 'not anti-trans', but 'pro-women', but objected to transgender people having fair and equal rights due to the risk of men identifying as women in order to access female spaces. She claimed that transgender people being able to use the toilet facilities that matched their gender would be a 'risk to women' in places where women 'expect privacy'.

Despite a number of UK press outlets linking transgender people being able to use the correct bathroom facilities to proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act, transgender people have been guaranteed access to toilet facilities under the law since the passing of the Equality Act of 2010. This appears to be a nuance that Sinnott is unaware of, as she only raised objection to trans people using public facilities in June this year.

Writing to The Times newspaper, Ann Sinnott said, 'Cambridge city council knowingly stands in dereliction of the law.I have no wish to be party to unlawfulness, nor will I collude in keeping this matter from Cambridge women, and other residents — they have the right to know.

'I do not want to be a member of a council that fails to recognise that female-only facilities are needed by women as a generality. Nor do I wish to be associated with a council that effectively treated Cambridge women with contempt, while it insidiously dismantled their rights.'

She has also said that, 'Any change the council makes has to have an impact assessment, and there was never an impact assessment carried out. Trans people are entitled to be protected along with everybody else and should not be discriminated against, but women are a protected group as well. Put any woman in a dark street at night and the overwhelming majority will say she is afraid.

'Women have the right to be protected and when you open up female-only spaces, you open them up to risk. If you are a female in public loos at night and there is a person who is clearly male, how does she know they are not a threat?'

Sinnott has conceded that making trans women use male facilities is not, however, the correct solution, but has instead proposed that specialised transgender facilities be made. 'People talk about having a third type of facility, maybe that is the way to go. They need to sort it out, but not at the expense of women and girls.'

When approached for comment by the press, Sinnott responded with an automated email replying, 'I resigned on Mon 30 July because the Council’s Equality Policy – by which female-only services in Cambridge Council owned facilities were abolished – is in breach of the Equality Act 2010.'


Buy Amy A Coffee
Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Sources:
Pink News BBC Cambridgeshire Live

TV Rewind… Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1×07 – ‘The Hub’

Originally published on Set The Tape

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is the first show to bridge the gap between television and the Marvel movies, and used these connections a lot during the first half a dozen episodes, featuring characters from the films such as Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Nick Fury (Samual L. Jackson), name dropping the Avengers, and referencing events from the films. One this that the series hadn’t done until now, however, was to start to expand using people from the comics in any significant way (I’m not counting the tiny appearance of Franklin Hall). ‘The Hub’ changes this, bringing a fan favourite S.H.I.E.L.D. member into the series.

When Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team pull an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent out of an enemy base, in an intro that’s got a lot of fun and action, the group returns to The Hub, a top secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility to receive their next mission.

This is the first time since the pilot episode that the series has actually felt like part of S.H.I.E.L.D., we’ve got a huge base full of operatives, a mission with air strikes, secret meetings, and clearance levels. Up until now Coulson and his team haven’t been acting like members of a real organisation, more a group of rogue agents operating however they want. Whilst this may make for a more relaxed viewing experience it doesn’t fit with the S.H.I.E.L.D. that we know from the films.

This episode seems to have set out to address these issues, actively highlighting the fact that the team aren’t like the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D., how Coulson is a very special case, and just how little Skye (Chloe Bennet) actually knows about the group. Skye’s reaction to being kept out of the loop because she doesn’t have the right clearance, and the rest of the team just accepting they’re not allowed to know certain things, is a harsh reminder that S.H.I.E.L.D. is a global security group, not a bunch of friends flying about in a jet having adventures.

The Hub itself is a great place to visit, reminding the auidence of the sheer scale of the organisation. Plus, it gives us two characters from the comics to further populate the show. First up is Jasper Sitwell (Maximiliano Hernandez), who eagle eyed viewers will recognise from Thor, Avengers, and a number of the Marvel One Shots from the DVD’s. Having another film character come back into the show, especially one that we know has a history with Coulson and have seen working with him before, is a good move.

The second new addition to the show, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole, is Victoria Hand (Saffron Burrows). Comic readers will remember Victoria Hand as the second in command of S.H.I.E.L.D. under Norman Osborne (then renamed H.A.M.M.E.R.) and secret ally to the Avengers. Here, she’s a level 8 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and commander of The Hub. Burrows is brilliantly cast as Hand, she makes the character likable, unlikable, hard, professional, and incredibly dedicated. She’s the kind of agent that you’d want to have on your side, but would never want to cross.

After sending Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Ward (Bret Dalton) on a mission deep into enemy territory in order to destroy a deadly weapon, without a plan of getting them back out, she becomes the perfect foil for Coulson. They’re both high level agents, both incredibly dedicated to the organisation, and both the best at what they do, but they come at things from very different places. The confrontation between the two of them is one of the best scenes in the episode, and both actors are on top form throughout.

The episode is also really good for Fitz and Ward, giving the two of them a chance to bond in ways that we’ve not seen before, cementing the friendship between the two of them. Despite bickering throughout their mission they prove invaluable to each other, with each of them saving the other more than once. Their mission moves with such a fast pace and with high stakes that the pressure always feels present, but the show somehow still manages to pack in a load of character development and even some humour.

‘The Hub’ reminds viewers that S.H.I.E.L.D. is more than Coulson and his team, it makes the world of the show feel a lot bigger than it has until now, and promises bigger things in the future. A great action packed episode with brilliant character development, new and exciting characters, and development in both the Coulson and Skye story lines; ‘The Hub’ is the best of the series so far by a large margin.


Buy Amy A Coffee
Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Super Baby Vegeta Revealed For Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2

Bandai Namco have released a brand new trailer for the next Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 character pack, focusing on the new fighter, Super Baby Vegeta.

The Dragon Ball GT villain who took possession of the hero Vegeta, the character was one of the first major threats in the third Dragon Ball series.

The upcoming DLC will also include Kefla, the fused form of the two new female Saiyan fighters that premiered in Dragon Ball Super. There is currently no confirmed release date.


Buy Amy A Coffee
Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Transgender Teen Win Legal Battle Against School

17-year-old transgender student Drew Adams has won his legal battle against his local school board in order to be granted access to the correct bathroom facilities.

A student at Allan D. Nease High School, Adams transitioned to his male gender during the eighth grade in 2015, and was using the male restroom facilities since then. However, in June 2017 he was pulled out of class and told by the school guidance counsellor that he would have to use either the girls bathroom, or a unisex restroom in the school office, following an anonymous complaint.

Adams said that he found the schools decision to be 'insulting', and said that if he were made to use the unisex facilities in the school office he would miss valuable education as the facility is far away from where he has his lessons.

Adams and his family decided to take legal action against the school district for what they felt was a discriminatory decision.

On Thursday July 26th, Judge Timothy J Corrigan of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled that the school board had engaged in unlawful discrimination. Corrigan said that, 'Everyone agrees that boys should use the boys’ restroom at Nease and that girls should use the girls’ restroom. The parties disagree over whether Drew Adams is a boy. I can only answer that question with the evidence given to me at trial.

'Drew Adams says he is a boy and has undergone extensive surgery to conform his body to his gender identity; medical science says he is a boy; the State of Florida says so; and the Florida High School Athletic Association says so. Other than at his school, Adams uses the mens’ bathroom wherever he goes, including in this federal courthouse during trial. Even the St. Johns County School Board regards Adams as a boy in every way, except for which bathroom he can use.

Nease High principal Lisa Kunze said at the trial when
asked if she considers Adams a boy, 'I do not'.

'When confronted with something affecting our children that is new, outside of our experience, and contrary to gender norms we thought we understood, it is natural that parents want to protect their children. But the evidence is that Drew Adams poses no threat to the privacy or safety of any of his fellow students.

'Rather, Drew Adams is just like every other student at Nease High School, a teenager coming of age in a complicated, uncertain and changing world. When it comes to his use of the bathroom, the law requires that he be treated like any other boy. As a boy, Adams must be permitted to use the boys’ restroom at school.'

Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, the attorney for the Adams family, said Thursday’s ruling sets the stage for other transgender cases. 'I think it will show to other school districts across Florida and across the country that they better watch out, and they can’t discriminate against transgender students. Otherwise they will be subject to lawsuits because they will be violating the Constitution and federal civil rights law.'

Erica Adams Kesper, Drew's mother said after the case, 'I am still heartbroken to know that the place my child spends more time than at home with me was discriminating against him for being transgender, but I am so relieved that the court has put a stop to this humiliating restroom policy. If there's something you don't know, do the research, look it up, learn the science. Learn what's going on in the world and be open-minded. I just trust Drew to be who he is, and it's the best support any parent can give.'

Adams, who is both an honour student who plans on attending medical school to become a psychologist, and a volunteer at the Mayo Centre, was also awarded $1,000 in compensation for damages caused by the school.

'I am so grateful that I can just focus on being a regular kid at school.' He told the press. 'I have so many other things on my mind, like getting into my top college choice, so I don’t want to have to worry about whether I can use the boys’ restroom. It was upsetting to think my school didn’t want me because I am transgender, and I hope no one else has to feel like that.'

According to court documents, when Allan D. Nease High School principal Lisa Kunze was asked whether she considered Adams to be a boy, she replied, ‘I do not.'


Buy Amy A Coffee
Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Sources:
CBS Action News News 4 Pink News

Alaska Airlines Makes Gay Couple Move For Straight Couple

Alaska Airlines has faced criticism after news emerged that it recently forced a gay couple to leave their flight so that a straight couple could sit together.

Well known American business man David Cooley, owner of both The Abbey Food & Bar restaurant and nightclub The Chapel, has revealed through his Facebook account that he and his partner were removed from an Alaska Airlines flight after refusing to move to allow a heterosexual couple to have their seats.

Cooley and his partner had been seated in their assigned seats on board flight #1407 from JFK to LAX when they were approached by a member of the flight crew, who told them that Cooley's partner would have to move so that a couple could sit together. Not only was he told that he had to give us his seat, but that he would be moved from his Premium seat to Coach.

Cooley told the flight attendant that they were a couple and wished to remain together, but was instructed that if they did not give up their seat for the straight couple they would have to leave the aircraft.

'I have never been so discriminated against while travelling before. I was removed from an Alaska Airlines flight # 1407 from John F. Kennedy International Airport to LAX to give preferential treatment to a straight couple. After my travelling companion and I had been seated in our assigned seats for a while, we were approached by the flight attendant and my companion was asked to move from his premium seat to coach, so a couple could sit together.' Cooley wrote on Facebook. 'I explained that we were a couple and wanted to sit together. He was given a choice to either give up the premium seat and move to coach or get off the plane. We could not bear the feeling of humiliation for an entire cross-country flight and left the plane.

'I cannot believe that an airline in this day and age would give a straight couple preferential treatment over a gay couple and go so far as to ask us to leave. We will never be flying Alaska Airlines or their recently purchased Virgin Airlines Group ever again. Thank you to Delta Air Lines for getting us home safe. If you are an #LGBT person, please spend your travel dollars with an LGBT friendly airline like Delta.'

When approached by Gay Star News for a statement, Alaska Airlines responded to confirm that the incident did indeed take place, and is currently under investigation.

'When boarding flight 1407 from JFK to LAX, a couple was mistakenly assigned the same seats as another couple in Premium Class. We reseated one of the guests from Premium Class in the Main Cabin.

‘We are deeply sorry for the situation, and are investigating the details while communicating directly with the guests involved to try and make this right. Alaska Airlines has a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination of any kind, and our employees value inclusion for our guests and each other.'



Buy Amy A Coffee
Go to Amy's Blog

Follow Amy on Twitter

Add Amy on Tumblr

Connect with Amy on LinkedIn

Sources:
Gay Star News Towleroad Weho Ville