+
upworthy
More

Hillary Clinton weighed in on America's openly gay Olympians.

Hillary Clinton isn't quite ready to sit still on the sidelines in U.S. politics — but she's more than happy to watch the Winter Olympics from there.

"I have to tell you, I shut my eyes [watching] the luge or the skeleton; that's too scary," Clinton said to laughs at the Makers Conference — a summit focused on women's issues — on Feb. 7 in New York City. "But I will open [my eyes] to see who's won."

After giving a rousing speech encouraging women to speak up and hit the voting booths in the 2018 midterms, Clinton was asked by Makers founder Dylan McGee what she was most looking forward to about the Pyeongchang Olympic Games in South Korea, which start Feb. 9.

The former secretary of state didn't hesitate to weigh in on a couple of athletes who have recently made waves in the political realm.





"I love the athleticism and the stories of our athletes," Clinton said. "I'm excited that Adam Rippon and Gus Kenworthy will be the first openly gay Olympians for the American team."

Photo by Lisa Lake/Getty Images for Geisinger Symposium.


The conference crowd roared in approval of the history-making Americans.

Rippon, a 28-year-old figure skater, will represent Team USA on the ice.

Photo by Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images.

And Kenworthy, a 26-year-old skier, will rock the red, white, and blue on the slopes.

Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images.

Clinton's embrace of America's first openly gay male Olympians at the Winter Games comes amid a contentious back and forth between Rippon and Vice President Mike Pence.

Pence was picked by the White House to lead the U.S. Olympic delegation in South Korea. And Rippon wasn't on board with the decision.

"You mean Mike Pence, the same Mike Pence that funded gay conversion therapy?" Rippon told USA Today, citing the vice president's cozy past with the harmful and homophobic practice. "I’m not buying it."

Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images.

Pence's team responded to Rippon's accusation that the vice president once supported conversion therapy by claiming Rippon's remarks were "totally false and has no basis in fact." On Feb. 7, Pence himself tweeted that "one reporter [is] trying to distort [an] 18-year-old non-story to sow seeds of division."

Pence's position on the issue in 2000, however, contradicts that defense.

"Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior," his congressional campaign website had read. It's difficult to read that as anything but his support of gay conversion therapy.

Rippon's comments had concerned the vice president so much, Pence took the extraordinary step of reaching out to the athlete to arrange a meeting, according to USA Today.

Much to the delight of many LGBTQ advocates online, however, the figure skater rejected Pence's offer. In a tweet on Jan. 20, Rippon suggested he may be open to speaking to the vice president after the competition in South Korea, but for now, he "personally [has] nothing to say to Mike Pence."

Kenworthy also took offense with the White House's decision to deem Pence the Olympic delegation leader. Sitting down with Ellen DeGeneres earlier in February, the skiier called the vice president "a bad fit" to lead Team USA: "I feel like the Olympics is all about inclusion and people coming together, and it seems like [Pence is] not really doing that."

He makes a great point.

Why should anyone feel pressured to respect a political leader who's railed against their rights for decades on end?

Clinton's admiration for the athletes — on and off the ice — struck quite a different chord.

"I'm going to be there cheering [Rippon and Kenworthy] on," she said to applause at the Makers summit. "Whether it's skating or skiing or anything else."

Education

A school assignment asked for 3 benefits of slavery. This kid gave the only good answer.

The school assignment was intended to spark debate and discussion — but isn't that part of the problem?

A school assignment asked for 3 "good" reasons for slavery.



It's not uncommon for parents to puzzle over their kids' homework.

Sometimes, it's just been too long since they've done long division for them to be of any help. Or teaching methods have just changed too dramatically since they were in school.

And other times, kids bring home something truly inexplicable.
Keep ReadingShow less

Delivery guy finds baby turtle and his joy is contagious

Even as adults there are some things that make us so giddy with joy that you briefly feel like a kid again. It can be finding a four leaf clover on a walk, a tiny baby kitten or even warm cookies right out of the oven. Anything can give that inner child a chance to show itself but one delivery driver's inner child was captured on doorbell camera.

A FedEx driver had just delivered a package but when he's walking back to his truck he abruptly stops. The man spots something moving in the grass before picking it up to investigate it further. Turns out it was a baby turtle. Not just any baby turtle but one of the tiniest baby turtles you've ever seen and the delivery driver is immediately filled with excitement.

It was truly one of those moments where someone else needs to see what you see to release so of the joy into the atmosphere but there was no one around.

Keep ReadingShow less

Taylor Swift at 2022 Toronto International Film Festival Red Carpet Day 2.

The wordsmiths over at Merriam-Webster have announced their official “Word of the Year for 2023,” they say it’s something we are “thinking about, writing about, aspiring to, and judging more” than ever.

The word is authentic.

According to the dictionary, the most common definitions of authentic are “not false or imitation,” “being true to one's own personality, spirit, or character,” and “worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact.”

Merriam-Webster says the word saw a “substantial increase” in lookups this year. That’s probably because we now live in a world where artificial intelligence, deepfake technology and questionable memes challenge our basic notions of reality.

Keep ReadingShow less
Family

Couple takes their daughter on an 'only child moon' before she becomes a sister

The sweet and thoughtful idea has other parents taking note.

@sportsdrmorgan/TikTok

Couple takes their daughter on a "only child moon"

Babymoons have become a very popular activity for expecting parents. It’s a celebratory vacation for parents to bask in quiet, relaxing one-on-one time before the baby comes. Think of it as one last hurrah before parenthood.

However, one couple has turned the idea on its head—focusing not on themselves, but their first-born daughter who would soon become a sister. A video of their lovely “only child moon,” as they dubbed it, is currently making the rounds on TikTok and leaving people just a wee bit teary eyed.

Keep ReadingShow less

Woman has comically tragic adventure trying to renew passport

Envision preparing for months to celebrate your mom's birthday abroad in Dubai only to get to the airport to watch your entire family board the plane without you. One woman doesn't have to imagine because it happened to her, taking the stranded woman on multiple unwelcome adventures.

Nneoma and several members of her family planned a trip to Dubai for her mom's birthday but when it was time to board the flight, the woman was denied. She thought she had everything in order not knowing that if your passport is expiring within six months of leaving the country–you can't leave. The devastation she must've felt hearing she couldn't join her family.

But Nneoma had a plan. She would simply go to a same day passport place and renew her unexpired passport then catch a flight the next day to join the festivities. The woman planned and the universe laughed. It was not that easy.

Keep ReadingShow less

The grandmother was suspicious.

A grandmother always felt her middle granddaughter Lindsay, 15, looked slightly different from the rest of the family because she had blonde, curly hair, while the rest of her siblings’ hair was dark “I thought genetics was being weird and I love her,” she wrote on Reddit’s AITA forum.

But things became serious after Linday’s parents “banned” her from taking things a step further and getting a DNA test. If the family was sure their daughter was theirs, why would they forbid her from seeking clarity in the situation? After the parents laid down the law, the situation started to seem a little suspicious.

“I told my son and [daughter-in-law] that there was something fishy around her birth she needed to know. They denied it and told me to leave it alone,” the grandma wrote.

Keep ReadingShow less