Non-profit organization Human Rights Watch yesterday released a report on a crackdown against the LGBTQ community in Tanzania.

Although same-sex sexual relations are outlawed in the East African country, locals say the situation took a turn for the worse in 2016 following the election of President John Magufuli.

Since then, not only has there been an increase in the harassment of suspected gay people in the country, but the government has acted to deny them access to full healthcare.

Related: Gay people flee Tanzania as police break into their homes & make arrests

The country’s Health Ministry has closed HIV-testing drop-in centers and banned the distribution of lubricant by organizations specifically serving vulnerable communities.

The government says citizens can only obtain lubricant from public hospitals, but many LGBTQ people are afraid to ask for lube at such places in case they face discrimination or personal questions.

Lubricant is regarded as an essential tool in the fight against HIV as condoms can easily rip without it.

Police have also raided meetings held by LGBTQ rights activists and health campaigners.

Suspected gay and bisexual men arrested under the country’s colonial-era law prohibiting “carnal knowledge against the order of nature,” are often forced to undergo “anal examinations” to find evidence they have broken the law. Such practices have no basis in science and have been criticized as “cruel, inhuman, and degrading.”

Human Rights Watch’s 112-page report included anonymous interviews with 35 people who identified as LGBTQ. One, “Kim”, a gender non-conforming person, gave a graphic description of being forced to undergo an anal exam.

“These doctors did the procedure of anal tests. It was by force. The police officers were there with guns, so many of them.… We went to the maternal ward where the women go and give birth. They took this metal instrument and they stick it – they penetrate it in our [anus], and it was very, very painful.

“And then they say ‘Cough, try to cough’ while the steel is inside our [anus], and when I coughed, they were pressing the metal into me. It was very brutal and painful. They were pressing the testicles, the penis. Everything about that testing was very brutal.”

“Medard,” a 38-year-old gay man, talked about the closure of LGBTQ-friendly drop-in centers.

“Whenever I had a health problem, I could go to those centers for help or to be connected to a healthcare provider that did not discriminate, that treated me like everyone else. These days, even if I have a health problem, I don’t have a place to go where I can describe my problem, so I just keep quiet.… I would like the government of Tanzania to allow kuchus [LGBT people] access to health services. If we don’t get services, we will die.”

Neela Ghoshal, senior LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said, “The Tanzanian authorities have orchestrated a systematic attack on the rights of LGBT people, including their right to health.

“Manufactured threats around the so-called ‘promotion of homosexuality’ have displaced best practices and evidence-based approaches in guiding HIV policy in Tanzania.

“The Tanzanian authorities should ensure that not one more Tanzanian is arrested for being gay or trans – or for attending an HIV education session. Concrete steps forward should also include banning forced anal examinations and reforming health policies so that they are based on evidence, not prejudice.”

According to the report, the government’s crackdown on LGBTQ people began in June 2016. A local TV show interviewed a trans person, prompting a government official to accuse the program of “glorifying gayism” and forcing the TV channel to issue an apology.

Since then, other government officials have spoken out against gay people. In July 2016, Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu said, “We don’t agree with the promotion of homosexuality and homosexual acts. We should do these HIV/AIDS interventions, but my goodness, to distribute lubricants for men who have sex with other men in the United Republic of Tanzania…. In fact, I ban it in the entire country.”

Related: Tanzania lost almost $10 million in foreign aid because of recent anti-gay comments

One of the most notorious local politicians is Dar es Salaam’s regional commissioner, Paul Makonda, who gave a 2016 speech threatening to arrest all the gay people in the country and ban any organization that “promotes homosexuality.”

Coincidentally, last Friday – just a couple of days before the HRW report was published – Makonda was slapped with a travel ban to the US.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted it was due to Makonda’s involvement with “gross violations of human rights.”

A US state department statement said the ban came about because “[Mr Makonda has] also been implicated in oppression of the political opposition, crackdowns on freedom of expression and association, and the targeting of marginalized individuals.”

He also heralded his big win on Twitter, tweeting: “Iowa, you have shocked the nation. By all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious. #IowaCaucuses”

Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh announced on his show this week that he’s been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.

The 69-year-old, cigar-smoking hothead said he’s been receiving treatment for the cancer since January 20, though he did not provide many additional details. “There are going to be days that I’m not going to be able to be here,” he told listeners.

Related: Rush Limbaugh Rewrites History, Says Matthew Shepard’s Murder Was Not That “Hate Crime Crap”

In the past, Limbaugh has said he deserves “a medal for smoking cigars” and has frequently downplayed the dangers of smoking.

In 2015, he denied second-hand smoke posed any threat.

The news of Limbaugh’s diagnosis has drawn a wide reaction on Twitter…

If you need support in quitting smoking, including free quit coaching, a free quit plan, free educational materials, and referrals to local resources, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669).

Related: Elton John Reveals The Reason For His Controversial Relationship With Rush Limbaugh

A retired pastor from Australia who used to run the country’s most popular gay conversion clinic has just been charged with sexually assaulting an underage boy.

Former Rev. Ron Charles Brookman appeared in court this week to address accusations that he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy between September and October 1989.

At the time of the alleged assault, Brookman was a senior pastor at Newtown Mission Church, where he worked from 1984 to 1998. He later went on to be the director of Living Waters Australia, an antigay organization that aimed to “cure” people of homosexuality, from 1999 to 2014.

In addition to that, Brookman worked as the director of a sex addicts support group and has been involved in leading several groups to “support men wanting freedom from internet addictions and other forms of broken sexuality,” according to his LinkedIn profile.

In 2008, he opened up about his own struggles with his sexuality, telling an interviewer that he joined the Presbyterian Church at the age of 17 and that it caused his homosexuality to be “driven inward, but it was always just under the surface.”

“When I was 26 I discovered homosexual pornography,” Brookman continued. “I got married when I was 29 for all the wrong reasons. I wanted to keep up appearances as a happily married minister but it was a very sad and dysfunctional marriage.”

It wasn’t until 1990 when he claims he was finally able to rid himself of his homosexual demons, thanks to Christian psychiatrist John White.

As the nation eagerly awaits last night’s results out of Iowa, one woman has become a viral laughing stock after voting for Pete Buttigieg and then trying to retract her vote after learning he’s gay.

The clip made its way around Twitter and Reddit early this morning. It opens with the unidentified woman–who, it should be noted, is wearing Amy Klobuchar buttons–shrieking “Are you saying that he has the same-sex partner? Pete?!”

Nikki van den Heever, a caucus precinct captain, does her best to stifle her own laughter as she answers yes.

“Are you kidding?” the woman asks in shock. “Then I don’t want anybody like that in the White House. So can I have my card back?”

van den Heever giggles as she says she would have to ask about giving the card back. She also tries to point out that Mayor Pete is just a human being, and that his sexuality shouldn’t be an issue.

“He better read the Bible,” the woman grumbles. “Why does it say in the Bible that a man should marry a woman then?” van den Heever and the woman exchange a few more remarks before the voter yells, “How come this is never been brought out before?!”

Mayor Pete Buttigieg is the first openly-gay candidate to seek the Democratic nomination for president. Throughout his campaign, he has acknowledged his sexuality, as well as his husband, Chasten.

Maybe this woman is just trying to gaslight us all?

Related: Pete Buttigieg declares victory in Iowa… but the jury’s still out

After six years of marriage, a woman says she wanted to spice up her sex life, so she suggested to her husband that they have a threesome with another man. But things didn’t go quite like she hoped, so now she’s seeking help from advice guru Dear Sanders.

“He was excited by the idea but we agreed he would not actually have sex with the other guy,” the 33-year-old woman explains. “He said it would be a real buzz, though, to see me with another man and getting off on it.”

After finding a candidate online, a 28-year-old bisexual man, they invited him over to their house for a threesome. It was awesome, so they invited him back about half a dozen more times.

“It was really great and we all seemed to find it very exciting,” the woman says. “But then we didn’t hear from him for several months–or at least my husband said we had not.”

Then she stated noticing her husband growing more distant.

“I just assumed it was the pressure of work but I was taking some clothes to the dry cleaner’s one day and found a used condom wrapper when I turned out my husband’s coat pockets,” she says.

After snooping through his phone, she uncovered a video of their third performing oral sex on her husband.

“You can’t see my husband’s face, of course, but I recognized his voice,” she says. “I was so shocked.”

She hasn’t said anything to him about it yet, but now she wonders: What is going on? Is she in an open relationship? Can she really be upset when it was she who originally welcomed the third into their bedroom? Should she confront him about it?

In her response, Deidre tells the woman that, yeah, she kinda made her bed, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she needs to lie in.

“If ever there was a time for the saying ‘Be careful what you wish for’, this is it,” she says. “As you have discovered, involving other people in your sex life all too easily leads to misery for one or all of you.”

She continues, “You were acting with the approval of your husband when you went ahead with the threesomes, but he has gone behind your back. Maybe your husband discovered he has gay feelings he had never stirred up before, but this is cheating.”

Deidre includes by telling the woman she needs to confront her husband about it.

“He may well feel very confused about his sexuality and ashamed of deceiving you,” she advises, “but the two of you must get help to sort this one way or another.”

What do you think this woman should do? Sound off in the comments section below…

Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears made a splash on UK television last night when he revealed that he’s been participating in the country’s version of The Masked Singer as the “fruity unicorn.”

The fruity unicorn has impressed judges over the course of the season, crooning out covers of Lizzo, Kate Bush and even ZZ Top. Judge Kelly Osbourne finally guessed Shears’ identity when he dropped the hint that she’d seen him naked. (Who hasn’t?)

Related:  It’s big, it’s bushy, and Jake Shears just shared a video of it

“It’s right up my alley,” Shears said of his participation. “It was a no brainer for me. I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life,” he later told talk show host Lorraine Kelly. “It was so weird, and I loved every minute of it.”

He also added that the unicorn costume made it very difficult to perform. “It was borderline impossible,” he said. “It was really, really hard.”

Somehow, it makes perfect sense that Jake Shears would be dressed as a unicorn with a mane that looks conspicuously similar to the Pride Flag. Maybe he’ll wear it on his next tour.

A straight dude from the U.K. who bought a billboard in hopes it of finding a date says he’s “flattered” by the flood of inquiries from men, but that’s not really what he was aiming for when he placed the ad.

30-year-old Mark Rofe paid £425 (roughly $550 U.S.) to put up the roadside ad on Fairfield Street in Manchester. It reads: “Date Mark. This could be the sign you’ve been waiting for” and directs people to visit www.DatingMark.co.uk to learn more about him.

“I’ve had more than 100 people get in touch,” he tells the BBC. “Unfortunately, half are men, but I’m still very flattered.”

Rofe, who has been single for a year, says the idea came to him while he was at the pub.

“I was talking to my mate saying how I was struggling on all these dating apps and I joked that I should put my face on a big billboard,” he explains.

“We laughed about it but then actually I thought what a good idea. I tried to make it funny,” he adds.

“Hopefully, I don’t come across as a desperate loser.”

According to www.DatingMark.co.uk, over 1,500 people have now applied to date Rofe. Here’s hoping he finds a match!

Related: Straight dude makes out with best friend while high, wonders if he’s suddenly gay

Living legend and gay icon Liza Minnelli has scored yet another comeback of sorts, this time with a major interview in the trade paper Variety. One thing Liza refuses to discuss: the biopic of her mom, Judy.

Minnelli’s refusal to discuss the film has a certain weight, given that the Academy Awards ceremony will take place in just a few days.

Judy nabbed two Oscar nominations, one for Best Hair & Makeup, and another for Best Actress. Renee Zellweger is the odds-on favorite to take home the golden statuette for her performance in the title role.

Liza, however, does not want to discuss the project. “I hope she had a good time making it,” Liza says of Zellweger then refuses to discuss it any further.

Though she remains mum on the movie about, well, her mum, Liza had no problem opening up about her family life, her own career as a Tony and Oscar winner, and her close friendships with other showbiz luminaries like Bob Fosse. She also dishes on her own loving, if competitive, relationship with her mother.

“I remember Mama saying, ‘Now don’t get upset because of the way they may compare you to me because you’re an entertainer too.’ I said, ‘Oh, I won’t.’ And then she reads something where they compared me to her. She said, ‘How dare they? You’re your own woman. Dammit! Can’t they see?’ And she’d throw it down in the trash.”

“She was wonderful and so overprotective. She tried saving us from any of the stuff that other people said, except the great stuff.”

In the past, Minnelli has said she has no interest in ever seeing Judy, as neither Zellweger nor any other creative minds behind the film consulted with her about how her mother should be portrayed.

Related: Liza Minnelli Bids Adieu To New York, New York; The World Stops Spinning

An antigay lawmaker from Montana is refusing calls from his own party to resign after he falsely claimed the U.S. Constitution demands that socialists be murdered in cold blood.

Rep. Rodney Garcia made the inflammatory remarks at a Republican party organizing meeting last Friday. The 66-year-old warned his fellow GOPers that socialists were “everywhere,” calling them “enemies of the free state” and saying the founding fathers wanted them all killed.

“So actually in the Constitution of the United States (if) they are found guilty of being a socialist member you either go to prison or are shot,” he claimed.

When asked to point to the specific part of the Constitution where it says that, Garcia refused, instead saying, “I agree with my Constitution. That’s what makes us free. We’re not a democracy, we’re a Republic Constitution.”

Then, borrowing a play from Donald Trump’s book, Garcia rejected calls for his resignation from Republican leaders, saying the “only way I would give my resignation is if God asked me to.”

The 66-year-old is up for reelection in November 2020. On Friday, he filed to run in Senate District 26.

“They can ask me to step down, but, no, I don’t think so,” he told The Associated Press over the weekend. “I’m going to run for the Senate, and I’m going to win. People are going to have to eat their words.”

He continued, “I’m getting my head so big from people saying, ‘Thank you, Rodney, for bringing this up.'”

As for people who don’t like what he said, Garcia had only this to say: “They can’t come up to me and talk to me, but they want to shoot me. That’s fine, but if you miss, I won’t.”

In a blow to hopes for an HIV vaccine, a major trial has been abandoned because the vaccine being tested offered no effective protection. An interim, independent study found more people who had taken the vaccine went on to acquire HIV than those being administered a placebo.

The so-called HVTN 702 study was being led by the US’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

Launched in 2016, it was the first HIV vaccine to enter this phase of testing in seven years. It recruited over 5,400 HIV-negative individuals aged 18-35 across 15 sites in South Africa.

The country has one of the highest incidences of HIV transmission in the world, with more than 50% of women aged 18-25 living with the virus.

Related: Scientists ‘optimistic’ about HIV vaccine – possibly even by 2021 

The vaccine moved on to this phase of testing after showing modest levels of protection in an earlier trial in Thailand. Researchers believed that although it only offered modest protection, this was better than no vaccine whatsoever, and therefore worth proceeding to the next stage of trials.

For this phase, the vaccine was modified slightly to target those strains of HIV most common in South Africa.

The trial has now been halted. An independent data and safety monitoring board (DSMB) followed up participants at least 18 months after they’d been enrolled. It found that there had been 252 HIV infections — 129 among vaccine recipients and 123 among placebo recipients. The DSMB did not express any concern regarding participant safety.

“An HIV vaccine is essential to end the global pandemic, and we hoped this vaccine candidate would work. Regrettably, it does not,” NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, MD, said in a press statement.

“The people of South Africa have made history by answering this important scientific question. Sadly, we wish the answer was different,” HVTN 702 Protocol Chair Glenda Gray, MBBCH, FCPaed, said in the statement.

“We will continue to explore promising avenues for preventing HIV with other vaccines and tools, both in South Africa and around the world.”

In early December, Fauci was one of two leading HIV experts to express the hope that an HIV vaccine was in the pipeline. Besides the HVTN 702 study, two other vaccines are currently being trialed in humans: Imbokodo and Mosaico.

Related: Human trials for new HIV vaccine will start next year

Trials of Imbokodo began in South Africa began in 2017. Mosaico, which is a similar form of product to Imbokodo, began last November.

Both use a ‘mosaic’ of immunogens to provoke an immune response to a variety of different strains of HIV. They require six injections over four separate sessions.

While both are being trialed in South Africa, Mosaico will also be trialed in 3,800 gay men and trans people at 57 sites in the US, Latin America, and Europe.

Authorities in Chicago have charged a man with three robberies that have taken place in or near hotels in the area.

In each of the incidents, men were lured to the crime scenes via messages on the dating app, Grindr. Once they arrived, instead of the expected Grindr date, they were confronted by a man demanding their money and other valuables.

In one of the charged incidents, the suspect is alleged to have pulled out a Taser stun gun.

Related: Details emerge of ‘sophisticated’ new Grindr scam called “DiCaprio” 

Issuing a warning last week, cops said they knew of at least four incidents that had taken place since late last year. They were unsure if they were seeking one or more men in connection with the crimes.

In two of the incidents that police publicized last week, victims refused to hand over money and were Tasered.

Issuing an alert, police department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Grindr was cooperating fully with his department’s investigation and they were following up several leads.

Following that police call out for information, on Monday, Davion Johnson, 20, from Souk Village, was arrested and charged for three robberies, according to Chicago Sun-Times.

Related: Man charged over Grindr Christmas Eve murder and mutilation case 

This included a January, 23, robbery at the W Hotel on North Lake Shore Drive. The 42-year-old victim told police he was in town on a layover.

He arranged to meet Johnson in the hotel lobby. From there, they went to Johnson’s hotel room, where Johnson is alleged to have pulled out the Taser, before stealing money, credit cards and the man’s phone.

Johnson has also been charged with robberies at a hotel and apartment block on November 5 and 6, 2019. On each occasion, older men were targeted via Grindr.

Johnson has been charged with a felony count each of armed robbery and robbery, and a misdemeanor count of theft.

Police have not revealed whether they are still seeking any other suspects. Similar incidents took place at the Embassy Suites Hotel on December 22, 2019, and then the Loop’s Cambria Hotel on January 6, 2020. On the latter occasion, cops arrested a man. However, they had to let him go when the 60-year-old victim decided he didn’t want to press charges.

Johnson was released yesterday on bail and will return to court February, 10.

When asked why she ripped up Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech after he had finished speaking before the House chamber last night, Nancy Pelosi told reporters, “Because it was the courteous thing to do considering the alternatives.”

A little while later, the Speaker released a statement further explaining her motivations. It read, in part: “The manifesto of mistruths presented in page after page of the address tonight should be a call to action for everyone who expects truth from the President and policies worthy of his office and the American people.”

Meanwhile, at the White House, they had a different take on things:

And now, the memes…

Related: Nancy Pelosi’s “f*ck you” clap to Donald Trump has been immortalized in memes for posterity

Civil Rights icon Bayard Rustin, the right-hand advisor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the organizer of the Montgomery Bus Boycott will receive an official pardon for a gay sex conviction more than 70 years after the fact.

California Governor Gavin Newsom issued the pardon as part of a larger executive order aimed at granting clemency to citizens convicted of wrongdoing for consensual sexual encounters.

“In California and across the country, many laws have been used as legal tools of oppression, and to stigmatize and punish LGBTQ people and communities and warn others what harm could await them for living authentically,” Newsom said in a statement.

“Rustin was a great American who was both gay and black at a time when the sheer fact of being either or both could land you in jail,” said Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, in a statement. “This pardon assures his place in history.”

Gay Sen. Scott Wiener echoed Weber’s sentiments. “Generations of LGBT people — including countless gay men — were branded criminals and sex offenders simply because they had consensual sex,” he said. He called the pardon of Rustin “a huge step forward.”

Police arrested Bayard Rustin in Pasadena in 1953 for having gay sex in a parked car and served 60 days in jail for “sex perversion.” The conviction would follow him throughout his career, often forcing him into informal, advisory positions while working with Dr. King.

Throughout his career, Rustin argued to strengthen labor unions and closely align the Civil Rights movement with the Democratic Party. Late in life, he also became an outspoken advocate of LGBTQ rights, often comparing the struggles of queer people in the 1980s with those of people of color in the 1960s.

In short, it’s about damn time.

Related: Bayard Rustin: The Gay Dreamer Behind Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” Speech

The results of the Iowa caucuses are still trickling in. So far, only 71 percent of the vote has been announced. As of right now, Pete Buttigieg is leading with 27%, followed by Bernie Sanders at 25%, and Elizabeth Warren at 18%, though those numbers could easily change as more data is released.

Despite the jury still being out, Buttigieg declared victory in Iowa on Monday night, telling supporters in Des Moines: “We are going on to New Hampshire victorious!”

When the 2020 hopeful received pushback the next day for declaring himself the victor before the Iowa Democratic Party had issued any results, he explained that his campaign’s internal data is what led him to make the declaration.

Then yesterday evening, Buttigieg’s husband, Chasten, tweeted: “It gets better.” Along with an image of himself and Pete embracing on stage in Des Moines shortly after Pete had declared victory.

Regardless of how you feel about Buttigieg or his campaign, if that doesn’t make you just a little weepy, you might want to check to see if you have a pulse.

The tweet has received over 26,000 likes, 2,000 retweets, and hundreds of comments.

CHASTEN. Thank you. You and Pete. For everything. Thank you.

— Tyler Garrett (@tylergarret2) February 4, 2020

Why do you and Pete keep making me cry? I usually never cry! You are giving us all hope for a better future and a sense of belonging that cannot be put into words. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

— Italians4Pete (@Italians4Pete) February 4, 2020

You make me proud.

— RuralVoter4Pete (@RuralVoter4Pete) February 4, 2020

This 59-year-old gay man shed tears of joy in his office today as the results started coming in. Pete and you are making this world better and safer for younger LGBTQ folk. I love you both for taking us on this journey. I’ve never been prouder or more inspired by a campaign.

— George Biagi (@hoyageorge) February 5, 2020

pic.twitter.com/thLLFjGSBP

— (@book_lover_kell) February 4, 2020

*big girl sniff* oh heck. ::passes tissues:: love is love is love is love, and it’s going to win! thank you for everything you do.

— (((bj))) (@chipotlepepper) February 4, 2020

Aw man. You are Pete are gonna be a big part of the reason WHY it gets better.

— RomanceWritersForPete (@RomancePete) February 4, 2020

One of the (many!) things I miss most about @BarackObama & @MichelleObama is seeing a mutually respectful, loving marriage at top level of politics. Thank you both for restoring my faith in that possibility. It’s important.

— Kathy Van Every (@KathyAgnew) February 4, 2020

It does. I am gay and I don’t love your husband’s entire message. So let’s not be political here. On just an #LGBT plane. Yes. Oh goodness. It gets better. We are all human.

— CodeMonkey (@CodeMonkeyB) February 5, 2020

I’m not crying really

— Stephen aka Rev. Zeal ; (@StephenBright) February 5, 2020

DNC chairman Tom Perez announced yesterday that DNC staffers were “assisting” the Iowa Democratic Party in getting the official Iowa caucus results released as soon as possible.

Related: Pete Buttigieg declares victory in Iowa… but the jury’s still out

Arkansas state Sen. Jason Rapert has announced he wants to pull the plug on PBS after learning that Billy Porter has filmed an appearance on Sesame Street.

Porter appeared on the set of the show last week. Photos posted to social media show the actor wearing his infamous tuxedo dress that he wore to the Academy Awards last year. Neither Porter nor the producers of Sesame Street have released further details about the actor’s appearance.

Nevertheless, the idea that a gay man in a dress would appear on the iconic children’s show is apparently too much for Rapert, who has announced he wants to “pass a bill to cutoff all funding for the rebroadcast of PBS programming through [Alabama’s PBS affiliate] AETN and also stop all funding for AETN altogether if necessary.”

On Facebook, Rapert also posted the question: “Do you approve of your taxpayer dollars being used to promote the radical LGBTQ agenda?” alongside a picture of Porter.

At the time of this writing, neither Sesame Street nor Porter has commented on Rapert’s proposed actions. We have to wonder if Rapert even realizes the show already features gay characters: the famed puppet duo Bert & Ernie.

Related: Billy Porter wows red carpet with meme-perfect, motorized hat

Taylor Swift fans get to see the political side of the pop star in the new Netflix documentary Miss Americana.

The 85-minute film shows the Grammy-winning singer realizing her potential influence in the 2018 midterms, regretting not speaking out against Trump before the 2016 election, and calling now-U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn “Trump in a wig.”

Oooh, gurl!

Related: Fox News goes after Taylor Swift over endorsement of LGBTQ protections

In a now-famous October 2018 Instagram post, the “Lover” singer endorsed Democratic Tennessee U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen over Republican incumbent Marsha Blackburn. Miss Americana shows her firing off the post, and later, reacting to the news of Blackburn’s victory.

“She gets to be the first female senator in Tennessee, and she’s Trump in a wig,” Swift says. “She represents no female interests. She won by being a female applying to the kind of female males want us to be in a horrendous 1950s world.”

Tell us how you really feel, Taylor!

In the doc, an emotional Swift also criticizes Blackburn for her 2013 vote against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and her opposition to same-sex marriage.

“It’s really basic human rights, and it’s right and wrong at this point, and I can’t see another commercial and see her disguising these policies behind the words ‘Tennessee Christian values,’” she says. “Those aren’t Tennessee Christian values. I live in Tennessee. I am Christian. That’s not what we stand for.”

Related: Taylor Swift donated $113,000 to fight 5 anti-LGBTQ bills in Tennessee

Swift won commendations for her midterms endorsement. She wrote, in part:

I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent. I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love. Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values.

More and more guys are getting in on the #HotBoysForBernie action by exercising their rights to post thirst traps.

It all started when Twitter user “Hot Girls For Bernie” started the hashtag, proclaiming all Sanders supporters to be “hot” and encouraging guys to share selfies to support Sanders.

Of course, if there’s one thing politically-minded young people love, it’s any reason to take a sexy selfie a call to action.

Pretty soon, #HotBoysForBernie was trending, with men from all corners of the nation posting sexy pictures of themselves.

We’ve already done one round up of our favorites, but we thought it was time for a sequel.

So without any further ado…

Related: PHOTOS: #HotBoysForBernie are exercising their right to post thirst traps