LGBT

Braunwyn Windham-Burke is beyond happy in her new relationship -- and totally down for major PDA -- after becoming the first real housewife to come out as lesbian.

Sources close to Braunwyn tell TMZ ... the 'Real Housewives of Orange County' star met her girlfriend, Kris, on a dating app back in September and instantly hit it off, and they have been seeing each other romantically ever since.

We got pics of Braunwyn and Kris on a date last month, before Cali went back into lockdown, and they were all over each other during a lunch date at Conservatory in West Hollywood.

Hot and heavy as they are ... our sources say you won't see the relationship covered in season 15 of 'RHOC,' because Kris came into the picture after they were done filming.

As you know ... Braunwyn came out this week, telling GLAAD she's finally feeling comfortable with her truth.

Braunwyn's still married to her husband, Sean Burke, and says they have no plans to divorce after 20 years of marriage. They have 7 children together, including 20-year-old Bella, 18-year-old Rowan, 15-year-old Jacob, 7-year-old twins Caden and Curran, 4-year-old Koa and 2-year-old Hazel.

Our sources say Braunwyn's younger kids don't really understand she's dating Kris, and think she's just Mom's friend -- but the older kids know the deal.

A male high school student in Texas got punished for wearing nail polish on campus -- breaking the dress code -- which he's now calling discriminatory.

17-year-old Trevor Wilkinson started a Change.org petition this week after he received an in-school suspension Monday from officials at Clyde High School in West Texas. The reason ... he had painted his nails black and other colors.

When asked to remove the nail polish by the principal and vice-principal, Wilkinson refused ... and got his punishment, which he says he'll continue opting for as a form of protest.

Trevor, who is gay, said, "Imagine your school not allowing boys to paint their nails and giving boys [in school suspension] ... and the whole administration being ok with it, homophobic and sexist? Welcome to West Texas."

As for the school, their district -- Clyde Consolidated Independent School District -- spoke on its behalf with a blanket statement about the dress code policy ... without touching on Wilkinson specifically. BTW, CHS is a public school ... for what it's worth.

Anyway, CCISD says it conducts a thorough review of its dress code each year and make all students and parents well aware of it before the school year gets underway.

WWE legend Pat Patterson -- the man who created the "Royal Rumble" -- has died, the organization confirmed. He was 79.

"WWE extends its condolences to Patterson’s family and friends," the company said Wednesday in a statement.

Patterson -- who considered himself wrestling's "first gay superstar" -- was a key part of WWE for decades, widely known as Vince McMahon's right-hand man.

He began wrestling in the 1950s -- and finally joined up with WWE in the late '70s, where he famously engaged in a series of awesome matches with Sgt. Slaughter. Pat became the company's first Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion in 1979.

Patterson later became a color commentator for WWE -- and continued to work in the ring and in the booth until he retired in 1984.

At that point, Patterson joined McMahon as a WWE exec -- and in 1988, he pitched the idea for the Royal Rumble.

In his book -- "Accepted: How the First Gay Superstar Changed WWE" -- Patterson explained how the Rumble came to be.

"The first Royal Rumble was on January 24, 1988, in Hamilton, Ontario. The difference between WWE’s Royal Rumble and a traditional over-the-top rope battle royal is that the participants come into the match at two-minute intervals -- not all at the same time at the beginning of the match. I wanted to create something special."

Pat famously came out as gay during a 2014 episode of "WWE Legends House" ... opening up in front of guys like Roddy Piper and Jimmy Hart. It was a powerful moment.

Patterson was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1996.

RIP

The tributes are already pouring in ...

Vince McMahon -- "Pat Patterson was more than the first Intercontinental Champion & father of the Royal Rumble Match. He helped lay the foundation for WWE as we know it. His mentorship shaped careers, his creativity sparked innovation and his friendship lifted spirits. Love you, Pat. We miss you."

The Rock -- "Rough phone calls to get this morning to tell me, our dear family member, Pat Patterson who was my pro wrestling mentor and father figure has passed away."

"He was also responsible for calling Vince McMahon when I was training to become a pro wrestler (my $7 bucks days) and said, 'Vince you gotta see this kid work in the ring.'"

"Vince flew me to RAW a few weeks later and I had my first match EVER in Corpus Christie, Texas. The rest is history and years later, here I am writing this post."

Triple H -- "No words can describe what he gave to us. His body as an in-ring performer, his mind as a storyteller, and his spirit as a beloved member of our large WWE family. I will miss him for so many reasons ... it’s never goodbye, it’s see ya down the road. Love you, Pat. Abooze."

Shane McMahon -- "I can not express how crushed I feel right now with the loss of Pat Patterson. A true member of my family, mentor and dear friend. I love you Pat. God speed."

Jim Ross -- Just heard of the passing this morning if the great, Pat Patterson. True legend of the pro wrestling business.  A wonderful mentor who taught me so much. RIP old friend."

Gina Bisignano -- the latest "Karen" to let hate speech fly -- received major business backlash for her bigotry on Yelp ... where people loaded her page with negative reviews until postings got temporarily shut down.

Bisignano owns a beauty biz in Beverly Hills called Gina's Eyelashes and Skincare, so after seeing video of her spewing homophobic comments at an L.A. protest of COVID lockdowns ... it seems several outraged Internet users took it out on her shop's Yelp page.

It got flooded with bad reviews, and got so bad so quickly Yelp decided to temporarily suspend the option to leave a review.

If a person tries, they get this message instead -- "This business recently received increased public attention in the news, which often means people come to this page to post their views on the news rather than a first-hand consumer experience."

Here's a sample of some of the reviews that were left beforehand though ...

-- "Owner of this salon is a blatant racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, conspiracy theorist, tar faced loser."

-- "If you want tarantula lashes and a corpse complexion, please call this bigot for your next KKK gathering."

-- "This place is great. They help create the illusion of beauty on the outside, so I can hide all my hateful, Q conspiracies, and homophobia on the inside."

Yelp says it's working to investigate whether this batch of new reviews "reflects actual consumer experiences rather than the recent events."

"Juno" and "Umbrella Academy" star Elliot Page is coming out as trans ... he shared his truth Tuesday morning, saying he's finally loving himself enough to pursue his "authentic self."

Elliot says folks in the trans community inspired him to come out, and he's pledging to support them and try and make our society more loving and equal.

While Elliot, formerly known as Ellen, says he's happy to come out as trans, he says he's also scared ... because of the invasiveness, hate, jokes and violence that too often happen to the trans community.

Elliot addresses the threats facing the trans community head-on, saying he will do everything he can to take on the "harassment, self-loathing, abuse and threat of violence every day." He takes a pointed shot at "political leaders" who've attacked the trans community. Although Elliot doesn't name names ... in the past, he's been vocally critical of Vice President Mike Pence.

Here's Exhibit A of lockdown fatigue meeting plain old bigotry -- and the end result is, you guessed it ... a hate-spewing "Karen."

This woman, not wearing a mask, went on a homophobic rant while protesting outside the home of L.A. County Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. The video starts with the woman firing off a homophobic slur at the person recording her. She added Nazi and brainwashing accusations too ... just for good measure.

There were about 50 people marching Sunday, most of whom seemed to merely be protesting the economic impact of California's latest round of coronavirus restrictions -- but this woman's hate speech made her stand out from the crowd. In the worst way possible.

Believe it or not, the video got even worse when the woman made an outlandish accusation about abortions. Also worth noting is her wardrobe choice for the occasion.

Unfortunately, she comes off like a big ball of 2020.

Dwyane Wade definitely saw that clip of Mike Tyson grilling Boosie Badazz over offensive comments the rapper made about Wade's transgender daughter ... and D-Wade loved it!!!

Remember ... it was back in October, "Iron" Mike pressed Boosie HARD over the transphobic public comments he made about D-Wade's 13-year-old child Zaya.

Tyson didn't hold back -- and asked Boosie if the hateful comments stemmed from his own insecurities with his sexuality and gender identity. The video was powerful.

Now, Wade is opening up about the incident in a new interview with "Central Ave" ... explaining why he appreciates Mike's support.

"I actually talked to Mike about that earlier in the pandemic -- we had a conversation and I appreciated it."

"He's one of those people ... he's so smart, he's so educated and knowledgeable about life and for him to drop that nugget on the world … to me, it was great to hear him say that."

Wade also implied he doesn't harbor any ill-will toward Boosie.

"I understand that everyone has their own path, their own journey toward accepting things."

"I've never came out and said anything to anybody that feels a certain way about me or someone else in my family, my loved ones -- because they don't know us, they don't know our heart and they definitely don't know Zaya."

"All I do is what my momma say ... just pray for 'em."

As we previously reported, Mike credited his own daughter for convincing him to speak up about the comments when Boosie appeared on his podcast -- and he's glad he did.

AEW + Director X = 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

TMZ Sports has obtained AEW's explosive new trailer -- featuring Nyla Rose using a sledgehammer to smash the living hell out of a Jaguar ... and it's AWESOME!

The trailer was put together by legendary music video and movie director, Director X -- who's worked with every major artist you've ever heard of from Jay-Z to Rihanna to Kanye, Bieber to Drake ... even Ariana Grande, One Direction and Korn!

Director X tells TMZ Sports the goal is to show how AEW is "smashing the status quo" -- and what better way to than to give Nyla Rose a sledgehammer and let her tee off!

FYI, Rose is the first transgender wrestler signed to a major wrestling promotion -- and Director X tells us he was so moved by her story, it became an obvious decision to open the video with Nyla's glass-shattering scene.

"I mean it just felt right," Director X tells us ... "It's by far the most dramatic scene. She has one of the most dramatic stories you know what I'm saying? Like it's a big, big deal."

Director X says empowering women like Nyla says a lot about AEW and how they're taking pro wrestling to the next level.

The trailer also features Cody and Brandi Rhodes, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and more ... explaining how they launched a brand new successful wrestling promotion against all odds. The ultimate underdog story.

The video also celebrates the 1 year anniversary of "AEW Dynamite" -- the #1 wrestling show on Wednesday nights on TNT.

"We're boundless in our ability to grow," Cody says ... "We're boundless in our talent."

One of the most famous houseguests in "Big Brother" history says CBS committing to casting more people of color on reality shows is coming way too late, but adds ... it doesn't have to be too little.

Marcellas Reynolds was the first Black gay man on 'BB' way back in its third season in 2002, and he tells us he's shocked it took the network this long to address what he calls inherent biases on so many of its hit shows ... including "Survivor" and "Amazing Race."

Reynolds says CBS is on the right track now, but a pledge to have unscripted show casts that are 50 percent Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) isn't good enough.

The reality show alum says more focus needs to be put on making sure there's proper representation behind the camera. He says until this happens, those biases will remain ... and true diversity won't be achieved in the stories being told.

The good news -- CBS did touch on this subject as part of its diversity pledge, vowing to also commit at least 25 percent of its unscripted budget to projects created by minorities ... and set a target of 40 percent BIPOC representation in writers' rooms.

Imagine opening up Hinge, Tinder or Grindr and the other person's opening line being ... who ya voting for? That's exactly what's happening ... especially in battleground states.

Tons of people are reportedly flooding to those datings apps to get users to the polls -- and that's not a euphemism. Specifically, Hinge users/poll pushers are changing their geolocations to battleground states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas and Arizona.

Once there, users set up their profile and do what they can to attract a match ... going as far as posting tons of pictures with furry animals, for example. Once they match, they talk voting and ask if they've settled on a presidential candidate yet. According to CNN ... users reportedly try to persuade undecided voters to Joe Biden but they also respect those who have settled on President Trump.

Some people have called this operation #DateSaveAmerica ... and while some users told CNN they've lucked out and had meaningful conversations about the election, others have said they were turned off when the convo turned to politics.

It's not the first time dating apps have turned political. Back in 2018, the Washington Post reported Tinder users had a similar plan for the midterm elections.

"I was Boosie at one time."

That's Mike Tyson explaining why he felt compelled to confront rapper Boosie Badazz over his history of homophobic comments ... saying he knows what it's like to go from ignorant to enlightened.

Tyson got right to the point with Boosie during a recent taping of his podcast, "Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson" ... condemning Boosie's offensive comments about Dwyane Wade's child Zaya, who recently came out as a transgender girl.

During the podcast, Tyson pressed Boosie on where his hate was stemming from -- wondering if Boosie's aggression comes from his own insecurities about his sexuality.

It was a powerful moment that seemed to have resonated with Boosie ... and Tyson has been cheered for the way he handled it.

But, Tyson tells "TMZ Live" the conversation probably wouldn't have happened if it weren't for his daughter -- who passionately told the boxing legend why Boosie needed to be set straight.

"My daughter," Tyson said ... "She flew all the way from New York City to Los Angeles, California where I'm at just to be there because she thought Boosie was so disrespectful she had to confront him."

Yeah, you read that right -- Tyson's daughter wanted to be the one to go after Boosie, but Mike wouldn't allow it.

Instead, Mike listened to what his daughter had to say and ultimately believed she made some solid points.

Mike said his daughter argued that Boosie's comments have been "disrespectful to the community" -- and she was so passionate about confronting him, Mike was concerned things would go off the rails.

"But, he conducted himself like a gentleman," Tyson said about Boosie ... "It went okay. It didn't go like I anticipated it to go. My daughter has a lot of courage and stuff."

Now, Tyson says he's rooting for Boosie to grow from their conversation and "win the fight over those demons."

There's more ... Tyson also explained to Harvey and Charles why he decided to make a boxing comeback and why he predicts "PAIN" for his upcoming opponent Roy Jones Jr. when they clash at Staples Center on Nov. 28.

Carole Baskin's not only had 3 husbands, but also a wife ... but she says there's been one big difference between her male and female partners.

The 'Tiger King' star, who just this week came out as bisexual, tells TMZ ... she's had lovers from both sexes, and even had a "nonsexual wife" back in the day. Carole's said she could just as easily have married the woman in her life as she did Don Lewis, and then Howard Baskin.

However, we know Carole often sees things differently than most ... and marriage is no exception. First off, she says her "wife" was heterosexual, and that boundary was always respected.

So, with sex off the table ... Carole says they loved each other in a platonic way, and her partner did all the cooking, took care of their home and was even a secretary for Carole's real estate biz. BTW, she doesn't want to reveal the woman's identity to protect her from the media, but it seems they were together sometime in the mid to late '80s ... when same sex marriage was illegal, anyway.

As for Carole's rules of attraction -- she says for her it's more about who you are on the inside, and she doesn't have a preference for physical characteristics ... male or female. Of course, she takes it even deeper ... telling us human connection isn't about sex, gender, race or nationality because humans are ALL of those things.

Carole's also clearing up some statements about her sexuality ... telling us she doesn't identify as a transgender male despite telling PinkNews she feels she was born in the wrong body.

The Big Cat Rescue owner, who clearly believes in reincarnation, says you won't know why you were born as you were ... until you are between lives.

Carole Baskin has a bombshell for all the cool cats and kittens ... she's sexually attracted to men and women.

The 'Tiger King' and 'DWTS' star just came out as bisexual ... Carole tells PinkNews she discovered her truth back during the AIDS crisis in the 80s when she was spending lots of time with the LGBT+ community.

While it's a surprise to some folks, Carole says she's always considered herself bisexual and feels she might have been born in the wrong body because growing up she was a tomboy.

The Big Cat Rescue owner says everything she did as a child was male-oriented ... she didn't have any mothering instincts and never played with dolls, which led her to start thinking something about her was different.

Carole says she finally put her finger on it in the 80s when she was dating a psychologist who was immersed in the LGBT+ community. It was then Carole says she realized she had the same feelings for men and women.

Carole's on her second marriage -- she married Howard Baskin after Don Lewis' mysterious disappearance -- but she says she could have easily married a woman instead.

"Schitt's Creek" co-creator and star Dan Levy is pissed with Comedy Central ... claiming the network's execs in India censored a gay kiss to promote the show over there.

Levy blasted the network Tuesday but he did more than that -- he also brought receipts ... an edited video promoting season 5 in India that did NOT show the kiss that DID go down between his character and Dustin Mulligan's character.

Check out the video ... Dan posted a scene from season 5 that shows the cast playing spin the bottle. Mulligan's character goes to kiss Levy's character, but the kiss appears to be edited ... while a shot of 2 women kissing was left in the clip.

Dan ripped Comedy Central, tweeting ... "This is a show about the power of inclusivity. The censorship of gay intimacy is making a harmful statement against that message. #loveislove." This is deeply personal for Levy, who is gay in real life and plays one of the first openly pansexual characters depicted on TV.

We've reached out to Comedy Central for comment, so far no word back.

"Love Island" cast member Noah Purvis was suddenly no longer a resident, and it's because of some of his old racy videos and photos ... he confirms with TMZ.

The rumors began to swirl when viewers noticed Noah was absent from the villa a couple weeks back, and CBS later addressed it, claiming he "provided false information on his application ... which violates his contestant agreement."

Noah explains the situation in more detail though, telling us the producers informed him they learned about an alias he used in the past while shooting adult videos and photos ... and at that point, he knew he was screwed.

Noah says he'd forgotten about the porn and even told producers he was promised it would never surface, but it did ... and "Love Island" didn't love it and gave him the ax.

As for why he chose to dabble in porn ... Noah says it was mostly for the money, but he also hoped it would gain him some exposure with producers.

Ironically it did ... but not in the way he hoped.

Landon Donovan's pro soccer team straight-up walked off the field in protest Wednesday ... after a member of his squad claimed an opponent used a homophobic slur on the pitch.

Donovan's San Diego Loyal team was playing against Phoenix Rising FC in a USL game in San Diego ... when one of Landon's players said a verbal insult was hurled his way just before halftime.

The player, Collin Martin -- an openly gay man -- reportedly claimed Junior Flemmings called him a "batty boy" ... which is known in Jamaican dialect as an anti-gay slur.

Donovan, Martin and the whole Loyal team were livid over the alleged comment ... and demanded referees or Phoneix Rising FC's coach remove Flemmings from the game.

In video of the argument between Donovan, the refs, and the Phoenix coach ... the U.S. Men's National Team legend can be seen and heard animatedly explaining his team's outrage.

"We need to get this out of our game!" Donovan said. "We need to get this out of our game!"

Donovan continued, "It's homophobia!"

When Flemmings was not removed at the start of the 2nd half ... Donovan's Loyal team took a knee and then left the field -- forfeiting a game it was leading 3-1.

Afterward, Donovan explained that since one of his players had been racially abused in a game just a week ago ... they weren't going to stand for any kind of insensitive comments or actions on the field going forward.

"We went through a really hard incident last week in the L.A. match and we made a vow to ourselves, to our community, to our players, to the club, to USL, that we would not stand for bigotry, homophobic slurs -- things that don’t belong in our game."

The USL says it's investigating the incident, adding in a statement, "Foul and abusive language of any type has absolutely no place in our society and will not be tolerated in USL matches."

For Flemmings' part, he denies ever saying the comment ... writing in a post on social media, "At no point did I say a homophobic slur towards Collin Martin."

"I do not know Collin personally, but I respect all of my opponents equally, Collin included."