~Dolly Parton Joins Miley Cyrus, Pentatonix In ‘Jolene’ Cover~
On Tuesday night’s, Novermber 29, star-studded episode of “The Voice,” country music legend Dolly Parton joined Miley Cyrus and band Pentatonix on stage for an a-capella performance of Parton’s 1973 song “Jolene”.
Clad in black and silver, Parton took center stage as she stood next to goddaughter Cyrus on the arced stage. Both have previously performed the song together, most notably at the 25th anniversary of Dollywood in 2010.
Pentatonix released a recording of the song in September, with Parton herself featured on the record. The band also performed the song with singer-songwriter Jennifer Nettles at the 2016 Country Music Awards earlier this month, as a tribute to the famed singer.
Freeheld is a 2015 American drama film directed by Peter Sollett and written by Ron Nyswaner.
The film stars Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, Steve Carell, Luke Grimes, and Michael Shannon, and began filming in October 2014 in New York.
It is based on the 2007 documentary short film of the same name about police Officer Laurel Hester’s fight against the Ocean County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders to allow her pension benefits to be transferred to her domestic partner after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The film also includes a song called “Hands of Love” by Miley Cyrus.
The film is based on the true story of Laurel Hester (Moore), a police officer in Ocean County, New Jersey. The story narrates the difficulties faced by a lesbian police detective and her domestic partner, Stacie Andree (Page).
Following her diagnosis with terminal lung cancer in 2005, Hester repeatedly appealed to the county’s board of chosen freeholders in an attempt to ensure her pension benefits could be passed on to her domestic partner.
Detective Lieutenant Laurel Hester spent 25 years investigating tough cases in Ocean County, New Jersey, protecting the rights of victims and putting her life on the line. She had no reason to expect that in the last year of her life, after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, that her final battle for justice would be for the woman she loved.
The documentary film “Freeheld” chronicles Laurel’s struggle to transfer her earned pension to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree. With less than six months to live, Laurel refuses to back down when her elected officials – the Ocean County Freeholders -deny her request to leave her pension to Stacie, an automatic option for heterosexual married couples. The film is structured chronologically, following both the escalation of Laurel’s battle with the Freeholders and the decline of her health as cancer spreads to her brain.
As Laurel’s plight intensifies, it spurs a media frenzy and a passionate advocacy campaign. At the same time, “Freeheld” captures a quieter, personal story: that of the deep love between Laurel and Stacie as they face the reality of losing each other. Alternating from packed public demonstrations at the county courthouse to quiet, tender moments of Laurel and Stacie at home, “Freeheld” combines tension-filled political drama with personal detail, creating a nuanced study of a grassroots fight for justice.
It seems that I can’t get this topic off my mind. It’s been circulating in many major news outlets. There has been a huge outcry about this action taken by the Governor of Indiana, Mike Pence. It has become the law of their state.
This is poised to affect the rights of the LGBTQ community living in the state.
One wonders where it will all stop. Who will be the next minority affected: Jews, Latinos, African American?
Arkansas is preparing to take action and also make this the law of their state.
Where will it stop?
After much progress has been attained where 37 states have declared acceptance of marriage equality and 13 states are left to have nationwide marriage equality, Indiana is the first state to make it legal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, Pub. L. No. 103-141, 107 Stat. 1488 (November 16, 1993), codified at 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb through 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-4 (also known as RFRA), is a 1993 United States federal law aimed at preventing laws that substantially burden a person’s free exercise of religion.
The bill was introduced by Congressman Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on March 11, 1993 and passed by a unanimous U.S. House and a near unanimous U.S. Senate with three dissenting votes and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
On Thursday, March 26, 2015, Indiana governor Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) into law, and some celebrities, politicians, and journalists — including Miley Cyrus, Ashton Kutcher, and Hillary Clinton, just to name a few — are absolutely outraged. They say the law is a license to discriminate against gay people.
Meanwhile, activists are calling for a boycott. The CEO of SalesForce, a company that does business in China, is pulling out of Indiana. The NCAA has expressed concern about holding events there in the future. And the city of San Francisco is banning taxpayer-funded travel to the state.
This law has the distinction of making Indiana the first state to move overtly, wholesale, on purpose to legalize and say the state approves of businesses refusing to service people on the basis of sexual orientation …. or anything else your religion encourages you to discriminate on the basis of.
~~GRAPHIC SOURCE~~ 
It Is What It Is 