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NEWSWORTHY

Karine Jean-Pierre Condemns Anti-LGBTQ Moves in Florida and Uganda
Joe Biden Calls Out Laws Targeting Trans Youth: Terrible and Sinful

Lily Tomlin Calls Rash of Anti-LGBTQ Bills Insane and a Travesty
White House Blasts Attacks on LGBTQ Community: Shameful, Hateful, Dangerous

BenDeLaCreme Condemns GOP's Anti-LGBTQ Laws
Advocates Rally Nationwide for LGBTQ Rights: We Have Had Enough
Karine Jean-Pierre on Tennessee Drag Law: Unacceptable and Unfortunate
Meet the Parasol Patrol: Volunteer Group Protecting LGBTQ Events
Two Teens Charged in Death of Transgender TikTok Personality Brianna Ghey

Republicans Target Transgender Youth Health Care in Legislative Push


 

Uganda's LGBTQ Community In Shock Over New Measure, Gay Activist Says
Dylan Mulvaney on The Drew Barrymore Show

Overwhelming Majority of Brits Reject Cruel US-Style Drag Bans

White House Criticizes Pence for Homophobic Joke about Pete Buttigieg
Michigan Lawmakers OK LGBTQ Rights Bill: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to Sign
Tennessee May Allow Clerks to Refuse Marriage Licenses to Same-Sex Couples
LGBTQ Venues and Events Continue to be Targeted by the Far-Right
South Dakota and Tennessee: Trans Youth Health Care Ban
Out US Rep. Chris Pappas Marries His Boyfriend

Laverne Cox: Trans People Are Exhausted by Anti-Trans Legislation

Queer Youth Negatively Affected by Anti-LGBTQ Laws and Debates

With Over 100 Anti-LGBTQ Bills Before State Legislatures, Activists Say They're Fired Up
 

Top LGBTQ News Sources

Disney World Hosts Massive LGBTQ Rights Summit, Defying Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

The event will promote LGBTQ rights in the workplace following Gov Ron DeSantis' refusal for inclusivity training

In September 2023, the Walt Disney Corporation is saying gay as they are set to host a massive summit promoting LGBTQ rights. The conference will take place in Central Florida and will bring together executives and other professionals from around the world. Per the Tampa Bay Times, the summit is meant to push back against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has himself defied and campaigned against diversity and inclusion training in the workplace. The conference will take place at The Walt Disney World Resort on September 11-14.
 

The timing not only coincides with DeSantis' anti-diversity training but also with the increasing number of anti-LGBTQ, more specifically anti-trans, bills at risk of and currently being passed across the country, including in Florida. One such bill includes the state's Parental Rights in Education legislation—or as it's colloquially known, the "Don't Say Gay" bill. Following the bill, Disney and DeSantis entered a dispute, as the former opposed the bill.

Along with DeSantis' anti-inclusivity views in professional workplaces, he also opposed DEI training in colleges and universities, accusing them and corporations of trying to "advance woke ideology through its employee ranks — and virtue signal in the process." He had also previously appointed a five-member board to Disney, hoping the legislature would "reevaluate — and even eliminate — Disney’s special deal." Ironically, the board held no significant authority over Disney's content.

[Source: Julia Humphries, Collider, March 2023]

Disney World to Host Massive LGBTQ Rights Summit, Defying Florida Gov Ron DeSantis
Disney Announces Huge LGBTQ Conference Just Weeks After Ron DeSantis Said He’s Their Sheriff
DeSantis Moves to Ban LGBTQ Classroom Discussions Through 12th Grade
Daily Show: Biden Slams Florida Anti-LGBTQ Legislation
White House Blasts Attacks on LGBTQ Community: Shameful, Hateful, Dangerous
Video: White House Blasts Attacks on LGBTQ Community
Sad Day for Education: Miami Teachers React to Passing of Don’t-Say-Gay Bill
How Will Florida’s Don’t-Say-Gay Bill Play Out in Classrooms?

Teachers Fear Chilling Effect of Florida's Don't-Say-Gay Law
Memo Circulated To Florida Teachers Lays Out Clever Sabotage Of Don't-Say-Gay Law
Florida Governor Signs Controversial Don't-Say-Gay Bill Into Law

Enabling Hate: Fla. Gov. DeSantis Signs Historic Don't-Say-Gay Bill

ABC News: What is the Don't-Say-Gay Law?

Lesbian Mayor of Tampa Wins Reelection By Landslide

Jane Castor, Mayor of Tampa and an out LGBTQ woman, easily won reelection in March 2023 with 80% of the vote. But there’s one caveat.  She didn’t have an opponent except for a blank line where voters could fill in whomever they wanted. According to the Tampa Bay Times, some of those write-ins went to Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady; Tampa’s strip club king Joe Redner; Mickey Mouse; Santa Claus; and Spongebob Squarepants.

“It is clear the Tampa community is all-in for Jane across all party lines. She has ushered in a new level of prosperity and equity for the city by delivering real results and passing smart policies for the community she loves,” said Annise Parker, President of Victory Fund, in a press release. “While today’s result is a victory for all Tampa residents, it is also a meaningful victory for Florida’s LGBTQ community. With anti-LGBTQ hate spreading like wildfire in Florida, Jane has consistently fought back. We are confident Jane will continue making Tampa a bastion for LGBTQ rights and equality in the state.”  Castor is a Democrat and former Tampa police chief.

[Source: South Florida Gay News, March 2023]

Daily Show: Biden Slams Florida Anti-LGBTQ Legislation
White House Blasts Attacks on LGBTQ Community: Shameful, Hateful, Dangerous
Video: White House Blasts Attacks on LGBTQ Community
More States are Proposing Bills Targeting LGBTQ Rights and It’s Only Getting Worse
Advocates Rally Nationwide for LGBTQ Rights: We Have Had Enough
Karine Jean-Pierre on Tennessee Drag Law: Unacceptable and Unfortunate

Minnesota Governor Signs Order Protecting Gender-Affirming Health Care
In Some States, Versions of ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bills Have Been Around for Awhile
Republicans Target Transgender Youth Health Care in Legislative Push

White House Blasts Attacks on LGBTQ Community: Shameful, Hateful, Dangerous

The White House in March 2023 condemned what it called “shameful, hateful and dangerous” attacks on the LGBTQ community, and transgender people in particular, pointing to comments from a speaker at a major conservative conference last week and a barrage of bills introduced in GOP-led state legislatures.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre spoke about the rhetoric and legislation targeting transgender people, pointing to a speech given at the Conservative Political Action Conference by Michael Knowles in which he said “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life.”
 

“It started with a speaker at a conservative conference calling for the eradication of transgender people, language that not a single national Republican leader has condemned,” Jean-Pierre said.

She highlighted that Republicans in Iowa and Tennessee have called for legislation attacking gay marriage, while in Florida GOP lawmakers have introduced a slew of bills to roll back the rights of LGBTQ communities. Those bills are part of a larger trend, with Jean-Pierre noting more than 450 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced at the state level in the first 70 days of the year.

“The same leaders that tout freedom apparently don’t extend their love for freedom if they disagree with who you are, who you love, or how you parent,” Jean-Pierre said. “It’s government overreach at its worst, taking away rights from the vulnerable all to distract from a deeply unpopular agenda that caters to the ultra-rich.”

Jean-Pierre vowed the Biden administration would continue to support members of the LGBTQ community. President Biden last year signed a sweeping executive order aimed at protecting LGBTQ youth from a raft of conservative state laws and addressing barriers they face to health care and housing.

In his State of the Union address in February 2023, Biden called on Congress to pass the Equality Act to “ensure LGBTQ Americans, especially transgender young people, can live with safety and dignity.”

[Source: Brett Samuels, The Hill, March 2023]

Michigan Lawmakers OK LGBTQ Rights Bill: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to Sign
LGBTQ Venues and Events Continue to be Targeted by the Far-Right
South Dakota and Tennessee: Trans Youth Health Care Ban
Laverne Cox: Trans People Are Exhausted by Anti-Trans Legislation

Queer Youth Negatively Affected by Anti-LGBTQ Laws and Debates

With Over 100 Anti-LGBTQ Bills Before State Legislatures, Activists Say They're Fired Up

Celebrities Who Are Standing Against Anti-Drag and Anti-Trans Bills
 

Current LGBTQ News

George Santos and Marjorie Taylor Greene Sign on to LGBTQ Book Ban Bill
How This Year’s Grammys Celebrated LGBTQ Artists and Allies

Kim Petras Makes Transgender History With Grammy Win

Virginia Democrats Kill Six Proposed Anti-Trans Bills

All the Celebrities Who Came Out As LGBTQ in 2023 (So Far)
Overwhelming Majority of Anti-LGBTQ Bills Failed in 2022
More Than 100 Anti-LGBTQ Bills Have Already Been Proposed This Year

Hakeem Jeffries Speech Upon the Election of the Speaker of the House
Robin Roberts Says She Will Marry Her Partner of 18 Years

Under Fire: War on LGBTQ People in America

Anti-LGBTQ Groups Have Ties to International Religious Freedom Summit
Senate Confirms Biden Nominee as Puerto Rico's First LGBTQ Federal Judge
LGBTQ Pop Culture Moments And Newsworthy Events That Happened In 2022

LGBTQ Holocaust Victims Remembered for the First Time by German Parliament
GOP Sen. Cynthia Lummis Gives Moving Speech In Support Of Same-Sex Marriage Protections

Trans TikTok Personality Brianna Ghey is Murdered

Two school children charged with murder of trans teen Brianna Ghey

Brianna Ghey, who was described by her family as a "larger than life character," died in February 2023. Two schoolchildren have been charged with murder following the death of the 16-year-old transgender girl in an English village.

A boy and a girl, both aged 15, have been charged with the murder of Brianna Ghey, who was found dead in a park in Warrington in the country’s northwest. Members of the public contacted the emergency services after Ghey’s body was found on a path in Linear Park, in the village of Culcheth, police said. She was found with fatal stab wounds, police said.

Police and forensic scientists initially said there was no evidence to suggest the circumstances surrounding Ghey’s death was hate related, before later adding that all lines of inquiry were being explored, “including whether this was a hate crime.” 

Trial Date Set for Accused Killers of Trans Teen Brianna Ghey
Brianna Ghey: Two School Children Charged With Murder of Trans Teen in English Park
15-Year-Old Boy and Girl Charged with Murder of Transgender Teen Brianna Ghey in UK
Two Teens Charged in Death of Transgender TikTok Personality Brianna Ghey

Brianna's family said: “Brianna was a much loved daughter, granddaughter, and baby sister. She was a larger than life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her. Brianna was beautiful, witty and hilarious. Brianna was strong, fearless and one of a kind. The loss of her young life has left a massive hole in our family, and we know that the teachers and her friends who were involved in her life will feel the same. We would like to thank everyone for their kind words and support during this extremely difficult time. We would like to thank the police for their support, and witnesses for helping with the investigation.”

Almost £90,000 ($109,000) has been raised so far for Ghey’s family by an online crowdfunding campaign. Those behind it say the funds raised will help pay for a funeral, which they hope to make “pink and colorful to match her personality.”

The charges come a day after candlelit vigils were held for Ghey in the cities of Liverpool and Bristol, with more due to be held across the country in the coming days.  Some of the events have been organized by trans rights and LGBTQ campaigners, including ones planned for London, Manchester and the coastal city of Brighton.
 

[Source: Lianne Kolirin, CNN, February 2023]

Biggest LGBTQ News Stories of 2022

Top 10 National LGBTQ News Stories of 2022

2022: President Joe Biden's LGBTQ-History-Making Year
2021 Was Supposed to Be the Worst Year for LGBTQ Rights... Then Came 2022

President Biden Signs Respect for Marriage Act into Law

2022: Violent Year for LGBTQ People

After a Grueling 2022, Anti-Trans Legislation Is Set to Get Worse in 2023
Kevin McCarthy, LGBTQ Rights Opponent, Elected House Speaker
118th Congress Breaks Record for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Representation

Hakeem Jeffries A-Z Speech on Democracy

Gay Congressman Robert Garcia: Swearing His Oath

LGBTQ Words Added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2022

The Year Ahead: What to Expect From LGBTQ Rights in 2023
Arizona’s New Governor Katie Hobbs Issued LGBTQ Protections on Her First Day in Office

Trans Singer Kim Petras Makes Grammy Award History

LGBTQ artists were among the winners...  Best Album - Harry Styles...  Best Pop Duo Performance - Sam Smith and Kim Petras...  Best Rock Song - Brandi Carlile...  Best Americana Album - Brandi Carlile
 

Pop star Kim Petras made trans history in February 2023 with her Grammy Award win with Sam Smith for their song "Unholy."  The two won the award for best pop or group performance. Petras is the first trans woman to win the award.

Smith, who is nonbinary, won their first Grammy in 2015. They've won four Grammys so far. In October, Sam Smith and Kim Petras' hit song reached the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. As reported by Billboard, Smith and Petras are "the first publicly nonbinary and transgender soloists, respectively, to top the Hot 100."

After the two were announced as winners at the Grammy ceremony, Petras gave a speech thanking trans women in music who paved the way for her win as well as for Smith's support.  “I just wanted to thank all the incredible transgender legends before me who kicked these doors open for me so I could be here tonight,” Petras said.  The singer also honored the late Grammy-nominated producer Sophie who died in 2021. “SOPHIE, especially. My friend who passed away two years ago, who told me this would happen and always believed in me. Thank you so much for your inspiration, Sophie. I adore you and your inspiration will forever be in my music.”

She gave a shout out to LGBTQ icon Madonna. “I don’t think I could be here without Madonna,” Petras said, referring to the pop legend's outspoken activism for queer rights and art.

Petras also thanked her mother for supporting her through her career. “I grew up next to a highway in nowhere Germany, and my mother believed me that I was a girl and I wouldn’t be here without her and her support and everyone who believed in me to this point.”

Producer and creative DJ Honey Dijon, who is also a trans woman, was nominated this year for a Grammy for Beyoncé’s celebrated album "Renaissance."  Beyonce remarked, "Thank you to the Queer community for inventing this music genre."

[Source Alex Cooper, Advocates, Feb 2023]
 

Kim Petras Makes Transgender History With Grammy Win

Kim Petras and Sam Smith: Acceptance Speech
Kim Petras Makes Grammy History and Fans are Elated
Unholy by Kim Petras and Sam Smith: Music Video
Kim Petras Gives Moving Speech at Grammy Awards
Madonna Hails Troublemakers And Rebels As She Pays Tribute To Sam Smith And Kim Petras
Beyonce Gives Heartfelt Tribute to Queer Community
Sam Smith And Kim Petras Make LGBTQ History With Major Grammy Win
Sam Smith & Kim Petras' Historic Grammy Performance
Sam Smith And Kim Petras: Fiery Performance Of 'Unholy'
 

Overwhelming Majority of Anti-LGBTQ Bills Failed in 2022

Majority of the anti-LGBTQ bills in 2022 fell flat despite the record number proposed last year...

Comparatively, 24 pro-equality bills were passed into law in 2022...

Statistics reported by the Human Rights Campaign in January 2023 found that less than 1 in 10 anti-LGBTQ bills proposed last year became law. At least 315 laws, that discriminated against LGBTQ people in some capacity, were found by the nonprofit organization, with 29 passing. The shocking number came as part of its 2022 State Equality Index, an annual review into the state of LGBTQ equality across the US.

It wrote that several of the proposed bills deployed “vintage discriminatory tropes” that have plagued LGBTQ groups for years. Many others attempted to use the wave of anti-trans hysteria to push attempts at banning gender-affirming care or further stifling the rights of trans youth.

A shocking 149 US bills were found to have targeted the transgender community in 2022, many of which were directed at under-18s. Comparatively, 24 pro-equality bills were passed into law in 2022 – from progressive legislation making it easier for trans people to change their name, to the Respect for Marriage Act.

In a statement, the Human Rights Campaign senior vice president of political affairs JoDee Winterhof said: “The 2022 State Equality Index outlines how states across the country fought back against yet another record year of anti-LGBTQ legislative attacks. “These bills are terrible public policy, and we are also deeply cognizant of how every harmful anti-LGBTQ bill that is signed into law has a devastating impact on the lives and well-being of LGBTQ people.”

One of the more significant trends in 2022 was the resurgence of anti-LGBTQ bills targeting curriculum in schools, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bills. The first of its kind was passed and signed by Florida governor Ron DeSantis in the latter half of March. The blow to LGBTQ rights in the region (which saw LGBTQ topics completely banned from classroom discussion) prompted several copycat laws to pop up in states like Pennsylvania and Indiana.

During that time, the use of the homophobic slur “groomer” exploded on social media platforms, hitting 9,219 tweets the day after the bill was signed – about once every nine seconds.

Fears that 2023 could be even worse for LGBTQ people have sparked up following a massive surge in anti-LGBTQ bills in January alone. More than 100 anti-LGBTQ bills have been proposed in 2023 already, from “Don’t Say Gay” copycats to bills attempting to define drag performances as “adult entertainment.”

Activist Erin Reed (who has been detailing each anti-trans bill to have been proposed so far) said the wave of bills has “terrorized the transgender and drag communities,” while blaming the wave of anti-trans panic sparking up in the US.

Additionally, Equality Federation Institute Fran Hutchins said: “It’s more important than ever to focus our attention on protecting LGBTQ people in the states, where the work is hard, but the impact is great.”

[Source: Amelia Hansford, Pink News, Jan 2023]
 

Overwhelming Majority of Anti-LGBTQ Bills Failed in 2022
Virginia Democrats Kill Six Proposed Anti-Trans Bills

More Than 100 Anti-LGBTQ Bills Have Already Been Proposed This Year
Queer Youth Negatively Affected by Anti-LGBTQ Laws and Debates

With Over 100 Anti-LGBTQ Bills Before State Legislatures, Activists Say They're Fired Up

LGBTQ Parents Consider Leaving Florida Due to 'Don't Say Gay' Law
 

Queer Youth Negatively Affected by Anti-LGBTQ Laws and Recent Debates

From attacks on LGBTQ spaces to threats to drag shows, LGBTQ youth are watching

and are being affected by current events in the US

Debates over LGBTQ rights are having a negative effect on the lives of young people in the community, according to a new poll.

“An overwhelming majority of LGBTQ youth have been negatively impacted by recent debates and laws around anti-LGBTQ policies and that many have also experienced victimization as a result,” says a press release on the poll, conducted by the Trevor Project  and released in January 2023.

The poll included 716 LGBTQ youth ages 13–24 around the US. It assessed emotional responses to anti-LGBTQ policies as well as which other social issues often give LGBTQ youth stress and anxiety. It came in a year in which more than 220 anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced around the nation, most of them targeting transgender youth; many more are being introduced in 2023 -- 150 across 23 states in the first two weeks of the year, the Trevor Project reports.

Queer Youth Negatively Affected by Anti-LGBTQ Laws and Debates

Among the key findings: Eighty-six percent of transgender and nonbinary youth say recent debates about state laws restricting the rights of transgender people have negatively impacted their mental health. A majority of those trans youth (55 percent) said it impacted their mental health “very negatively.” Seventy-one percent of LGBTQ youth overall say state laws restricting the rights of LGBTQ young people have negatively impacted their mental health.

Seventy-one percent of LGBTQ youth (including 82 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth) say that threats of violence against LGBTQ spaces, such as community centers, Pride events, drag shows, or medical providers that serve transgender people, often give them stress or anxiety. Nearly half (48 percent) of those LGBTQ youth say it gives them stress or anxiety “very often.”

As a result of anti-LGBTQ policies and debates in the last year, trans and nonbinary youth say they have had a range of harmful experiences, including cyberbullying or online harassment (45 percent); stopping speaking to a family member (42 percent); not feeling safe going to the doctor or hospital (29 percent); having a friend stop speaking to them (29 percent); bullying at school (24 percent); their school removing Pride flags or other LGBTQ-friendly symbols (15 percent); and physical assault (10 percent).

Among all LGBTQ youth, one in three report cyberbullying or online harassment, one in four say they stopped speaking to a family member or relative, and one in five say they experienced bullying.

Queer Youth Negatively Affected by Anti-LGBTQ Laws and Debates

Regarding policies that will bar doctors from providing gender-affirming medical care to trans and nonbinary youth, 74 percent of these young people say they feel angry, 59 percent feel stressed, 56 percent feel sad, 48 percent feel hopeless, 47 percent feel scared, 46 percent feel helpless, and 45 percent feel nervous.

Policies that prevent trans youth from playing on the sports teams aligned with their gender identity make 64 percent of trans and nonbinary youth feel angry, 44 percent feel sad, 39 percent feel stressed, and 30 percent feel hopeless, according to the poll.

There were also bad reactions to anti-LGBTQ school policies, given debates around respecting students’ identities and pronouns, censoring LGBTQ-inclusive curricula, and banning books. New policies that require schools to tell a student’s parent or guardian if they request to use a different name/pronoun or if they identify as LGBTQ at school make 67 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth feel angry, 54 percent feel stressed, 51 percent feel scared, 46 percent feel nervous, and 43 percent feel sad.

Fifty-eight percent of LGBTQ youth, including 71 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth, feel angry about new policies that bar teachers from discussing LGBTQ topics in the classroom. Among trans youth, 59 percent feel sad and 41 percent feel stressed.

Sixty-six percent of LGBTQ youth, including 80 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth, feel angry about policies that will ban LGBTQ-inclusive books from school libraries. Nearly half of LGBTQ youth, including 54 percent of trans youth, also felt sad about these book bans.

Black LGBTQ youth sampled reported disproportionately higher rates of racism, police brutality, doing poorly in school, and gun violence giving them stress or anxiety “very often” compared to white LGBTQ youth. Trans and nonbinary youth polled reported disproportionately higher rates of transphobia, losing their health care, anti-LGBTQ hate crimes, and threats of violence in LGBTQ spaces giving them stress or anxiety “very often” compared to cisgender queeryouth.

“Right now, we are witnessing the highest number on record of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced this early in any legislative session. We must consider the negative toll of these ugly public debates on youth mental health and well-being. LGBTQ young people are watching, and internalizing the anti-LGBTQ messages they see in the media and from their elected officials. And so are those that would do our community harm,” Kasey Suffredini, vice president of advocacy and government affairs at the Trevor Project, said in the release.

Suffredini added: “The Trevor Project is proud to see that more than two-thirds of LGBTQ youth, including 81 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth, have seen, read, or heard about our work to fight back against anti-LGBTQ bills. We are prepared for the fight ahead and will not stop advocating for a safer, more accepting world for all.”

[Source: Trudy Ring, Advocate, Jan 2023]
 

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These Recently Elected Trans Lawmakers Say Anti-LGBTQ Bills Inspired Them to Run
DHS Warns of Domestic Terror Threats to LGBTQ, Jewish and Migrant Communities

Amber McLaughlin, First Openly Transgender Person Executed in US, Dies by Lethal Injection
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s Administration Targets Holiday Drag Shows
18 Attorneys General Challenge 'Don't Say Gay' Law in Amicus Brief

In a Violent Year for LGBTQ People, These Are the Ways We Coped and Fought Back
Biden Invited a Drag Artist to the White House: Now They're Getting Death Threats
Pete Buttigieg is Laying Groundwork to Run for… Something
Vermont's First Trans State Lawmaker Gets Engaged at White House
John Fetterman, Senator-Elect: LGBTQ Rights and the Next Congress
Same-Sex Households in the US Surpass 1 Million for the First Time

Robin Roberts and Amber Laign Get Married

Robin Roberts is walking into 2023 saying ‘yes’ to marriage.

The Good Morning America host sat down with motivational speaker and author Gabby Bernstein in January 2023 and shared her hopes to wed her longtime girlfriend, Amber Laign, later this year.  In a video shared on Instagram, Bernstein is seen asking Roberts about her intentions for 2023. The GMA host replies, “I’m hesitating because I haven’t said it out loud yet. I’m saying ‘yes’ to marriage. We’re getting married this year.”

Bernstein encouraged Roberts to create a vision board for the wedding, meditate on it, and trust in the process. Roberts responded, “I’m meditating on the marriage, not the wedding.”

“All right, there you go, even better,” Bernstein added. “Thank you for teaching me now. Yes, meditate on the feeling of what it is that you want to cultivate not just on that day but in that union, and really bringing forth all that positive energy to that marriage.”

The couple has been together since 2005, which is when mutual friends set them up on a blind date. Even though this has been in talks for a while, wedding plans have been on pause while Laign battles with breast cancer. The couple announced the battle at the beginning of 2022. By July, Roberts announced that Laign had successfully undergone radiation and thanked supporters for their prayers and well wishes.

Roberts herself experienced breast cancer in 2007 and also battled a rare blood and bone marrow disease called myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). The latter resulted in a bone marrow transplant in 2012. On Laign’s radiation, Roberts said, “I went through it twice, barely shed a tear. I’m in a puddle every time I think about what Amber is going through. But she is being so courageous and is handling it extremely well.”

[Source: Andrew Stillman, Out Magazine, January 2023]
 

Robin Roberts Reveals That She And Amber Laign Are Planning To Marry
Robin Roberts Says She Will Marry Her Partner of 18 Years
Robin Roberts and Amber Laign Get Married

2022: Violent Year for LGBTQ People

Conspiracies Kill
 

It’s been six years since the Pizzagate conspiracy prompted a man to take his online hate offline, intending to kill patrons and staff of a queer-friendly pizza restaurant in Washington, DC. Pizzagate would largely fuel the subsequent QAnon theory, and the effects of the Q movement’s anti-queer and anti-trans fear-mongering continue, just like its 1980s predecessor, the Satanic Panic. History repeats itself as a new iteration of gay and trans panic leads to violence against queer and trans people today.

In 2022, mainstream news outlets and social media have magnified the manufactured specter of public school teachers “grooming” students. The manufactured fear of widespread grooming has only intensified since the Club Q massacre in November in Colorado Springs. Mainstream media decontexualized the shooting, carried out by a shooter whose past aggressions were documented but ignored by the FBI. The shooter’s father (a former UFC fighter) and grandfather (a California state legislator), espoused both anti-gay and anti-feminist views.

Anti-trans/queer hate is also a potential motive for attacks on power stations in several states, which started in November. The largest disruption, in early December, resulted in a weeklong power outage for 40,000 residents, and an early end to the Southern Pines, North Carolina, Downtown Divas drag show that had been the target of hate. The event’s organizers pointed to a local church that had directed its members to try to stop the drag show.

In Ohio that same week, several dozen white nationalists with Patriot Front and White Lives Matter successfully preempted a drag queen story hour at a Unitarian Church, performing Hitler salutes and holding a “Groomers Not Welcome” banner.

Popular with the right wing, social media accounts like LibsOfTikTok doxxed queer people and events, resulting in self-proclaimed neo-Nazis showing up with guns in (at least 141) attempts to shut down drag queen story hours that have become tradition at many libraries across the country.

Public libraries themselves are under attack by people who seek to eliminate queer and trans people from existence by scrubbing any mention of them from literature. Along with the defunding of libraries for offering queer-themed media, the American Library Association’s most-banned book list continues to be topped by “titles containing LGBTQ content.”

Biggest LGBTQ News Stories of 2022

Top 10 National LGBTQ News Stories of 2022

2022: President Joe Biden's LGBTQ-History-Making Year
2021 Was Supposed to Be the Worst Year for LGBTQ Rights... Then Came 2022

18 Attorneys General Challenge 'Don't Say Gay' Law in Amicus Brief

In a Violent Year for LGBTQ People, These Are the Ways We Coped and Fought Back

Pie By Any Means Necessary
 

Replacing glitterbombs as the weapon of choice against anti-trans liberals: the humble pie, a throwback to the multiple pie-ings of infamous 1970s anti-gay crusader Anita Bryant.

Counterprotesters at anti-trans events in several cities (such as Oakland and Portland) used levity and dessert to make their serious point: Trans-Exclusionary “Radical Feminists” (TERFs) are following in the footsteps of the religious right, whether they know it or not, by promoting violence against trans people.

TERFs themselves prefer the descriptor “gender critical,” which serves to soften their underlying messages of hate toward trans people. It seems our society is built on fear, loathing, murder and marginalization of trans people. TERFs persist in upholding these principles.

There Is No Justice, Just Us

Politicians continued to deny the basic humanity of trans people for their own political gains. In February, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has a decade of skirting bribery and conspiracy charges under his belt, issued a state directive declaring gender affirming health care for transgender youth as “child abuse.” Now, the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services is harassing families, who are supportive of their trans kids, via “investigations” while ordering state employees to keep a database of people who are potentially trans.

Several states such as Arkansas and Florida banned health care access for trans kids. Even crueler is the new law upheld in Alabama, under which doctors face a felony charge carrying up to 10 years in prison for disobeying the state’s law against trans youth health care.

The hate experienced both online and off by families with trans loved ones is creating another border crisis, causing those who can afford it to seek medical help and, in some cases, pick up and move out-of-state. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, trans abortion doulas like Ash Williams are funding abortions and fighting like hell to provide access to medical services and support (across state lines when necessary) while training others to do the same. As TERFs, Proud Boys and politicians work to separate our movements, we know solidarity is our only way through.

Biggest LGBTQ News Stories of 2022

Top 10 National LGBTQ News Stories of 2022

2022: President Joe Biden's LGBTQ-History-Making Year
2021 Was Supposed to Be the Worst Year for LGBTQ Rights... Then Came 2022

18 Attorneys General Challenge 'Don't Say Gay' Law in Amicus Brief

In a Violent Year for LGBTQ People, These Are the Ways We Coped and Fought Back

Youth Liberation Is Queer Revolution

As teachers face the threat of losing their jobs over the mere mention of gay people’s existence, youth are not staying silent. In March, thousands of Florida students left high school classrooms chanting “We say gay,” in protest against the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, a government directive to wipe the existence of LGBTQ people from curriculum, which has already led to firings of teachers for discussing queer-related topics like the history of the gay pride flag and pansexuality. In September, students at almost 100 schools in Virginia coordinated walkouts in response to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed guidelines for the state Department of Education, including one that would punish trans students for using gendered bathrooms. Thousands of students at hundreds of U.S. schools across the country organized similar protests against anti-trans policies.

Doing It Together

All-volunteer mutual aid projects continue to keep us going, and old and new DIY cultural events were in-person and offline. The Providence Queer & Trans Zinefest, Madison, Wisconsin’s LGBTQ Books to Prisoners and Gay Shame San Francisco’s “Queers 4 Tents / Tents 4 Queers” tent giveaway for houseless people connected us, even as the COVID-19 pandemic raged on.

In addition to agitating for action from the federal government, which stalled for weeks before cracking open its stockpile of the monkeypox vaccine, Philadelphia’s ACT UP chapter, a queer direct action organization, worked to shield houseless people (queer or not) from brutal police sweeps of their encampments. As housing continues to be the biggest financial burden for most people living in the US, the group brought attention to the facts: Trans and queer youth of color end up on the street in droves; there are more vacant houses in the U.S. than there are homeless people and low-income housing is being wiped out under new regimes of urban renewal. While not exclusively queer, Save the UC Townhomes continues to organize to keep people in their homes in Philly.

Queers Pull Out of the Cop March

After the 2020 uprisings against the police killings of Black people including George Floyd, Tony McDade and Breonna Taylor, the SF Pride board, under community pressure, finally dis-invited local police from marching in the 2022 parade in uniform, which means they would receive no overtime pay for participating.

Yet the victory did not last long. In May, openly heterosexual San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced she would boycott Pride unless cops were allowed to march in uniform. A meeting between the president of the partly city-funded SF Pride, Carolyn Wysinger, and a police spokesperson ended what the mayor called a “policy of exclusion” targeting police officers. SF Pride re-invited the cops.

However, everyone was not on board with the reversal. Nicki Jizz, the host of the Black drag show “Reparations,” pulled out of a Transgender Cultural District event for Juneteenth when the district announced a last-minute surprise guest: San Francisco’s mayor. The performer cited Mayor London Breed’s pet projects: increasing the police budget and homeless sweeps. Police department budgets and public relations are expanding, and “protecting LGBTQ people” is an increasingly common justification for this expansion.

Biggest LGBTQ News Stories of 2022

Top 10 National LGBTQ News Stories of 2022

2022: President Joe Biden's LGBTQ-History-Making Year
2021 Was Supposed to Be the Worst Year for LGBTQ Rights... Then Came 2022

18 Attorneys General Challenge 'Don't Say Gay' Law in Amicus Brief

In a Violent Year for LGBTQ People, These Are the Ways We Coped and Fought Back

The Revolution Will Not Be Union-Busted

Nationally, the success of Starbucks unions, led in major part by trans and queer service workers, was met with dirty tactics from higher-ups who threatened to cut trans health care benefits despite the corporation’s $22 billion in annual profits.

In Omaha, the staff of Black & Pink National became the first queer abolitionist nonprofit to officially unionize, with blueprints for a non-hierarchical organization. Black & Pink National is best known for its letter-writing circles — specifically supporting trans and queer incarcerated people — that meet up regularly in eight US states.

Free Them All

One of the most obscured parts of the prison-industrial complex is the massive system of civil commitment, or the indefinite imprisonment of people who have already served prison sentences, many of whom are queer. As many as 20,000 people are trapped in maximum security “hospitals” in Washington, DC, and more than 20 states. These are not places to go to get well, as evidenced in the Chicago chapter of Black & Pink’s new report, Treatment Behind Razor Wire, for which several hundred Illinois civil commitment “patients” were surveyed about the Rushville Treatment and Detention Facility, where “over 8% of the US’s civilly committed population” is detained. The survey found that Rushville doles out “punishment, not treatment,” disproportionately harming people from marginalized groups, particularly LGBTQ, Black, multiracial and Indigenous people.

New anti-homeless laws that force unsheltered people into medical jails, also known as conservatorship facilities, went into effect in California and New York City. Brutal street sweeps by police, city maintenance departments and private contractors such as Urban Alchemy mean more arrests and trauma for poor and marginalized people, who often face an indefinite sentence in an asylum-style atmosphere with next to no self-determination. Trans/queer and/or disabled youth are especially overrepresented on the street. Neighborhood residents who don’t want to see the result of their own wealth hoarding are often behind the push to lock them up.

Ashley Diamond, whose advocacy on behalf of herself and other trans prisoners while incarcerated led to cruel retribution by those in charge, was finally released from a Georgia prison in August after years of fighting abusive conditions. After Diamond won her case against the state’s Department of Corrections in 2016, she was retaliated against via temporary reimprisonment over a technicality. Supporters are now raising funds to support Ashley’s life and activism on the outside.

[Source: By Toshio Meronek & Eric A. Stanley, TruthOut, December 2022]
 

Biggest LGBTQ News Stories of 2022

Top 10 National LGBTQ News Stories of 2022

2022: President Joe Biden's LGBTQ-History-Making Year
2021 Was Supposed to Be the Worst Year for LGBTQ Rights... Then Came 2022

18 Attorneys General Challenge 'Don't Say Gay' Law in Amicus Brief

In a Violent Year for LGBTQ People, These Are the Ways We Coped and Fought Back

Respect for Marriage Act is Now Federal Law

"Love is love. Right is right. Justice is justice."

-President Joe Biden

Seven-Time WNBA Basketball All-Star and Two-Time Gold Medal Winning Olympic Champion
 

WNBA Star Brittney Griner Released From Russian Detention
Brittney Griner Rrrives in US Following Her Release by Russia
WNBA Star Brittney Griner Released From Russian Custody
Brittney Griner Freed From Russian Custody

Respect for Marriage Act Approved by House and Senate

Codifying federal protections for same-sex and inter-racial marriage

The House voted to pass legislation Dec 2022 to protect same-sex and interracial marriage, the last step before the measure goes to President Joe Biden for his signature and becomes law.

The House vote was 258 to 169 with 39 Republicans joining the Democrats voting in favor. Loud applause broke out in the chamber when the vote was gaveled to a close.

While the bill would not set a national requirement that all states must legalize same-sex marriage, it would require individual states to recognize another state’s legal marriage.

The push for a vote on federal legislation protecting same-sex marriage rapidly gained momentum after the Supreme Court in June overturned its landmark Roe v. Wade decision.

The bill, called the Respect for Marriage Act, passed the Senate with a vote of 61 to 36. The bill was supported by all members of the Senate Democratic caucus and 12 Republicans.

In the event the Supreme Court might overturn its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision that legalized same-sex marriage, a state could still pass a law to ban same-sex marriage, but that state would also be required to recognize a same-sex marriage from another state

Remarks from President Joe Biden

Gunman Kills 5 at Gay Nightclub

Daniel Aston... Derrick Rump... Kelly Loving... Raymond Vance... Ashley Paugh

Club Q Shooting: Egregious Attack on Sacred Queer Space
Injured Club Q Survivors Share Details of Attack and Their Paths Toward Recovery
Club Q Owner Says Politicians Have Pushed LGBTQ Hate To New Level
Orlando Club Shooting Survivor Brandon Wolf  Blames Right Wing
AOC Tells Republicans to Connect the Dots After CO Springs LGBTQ Bar Shooting
 

A shooting targeting the LGBTQ community is not a random aberration that Republicans are trying to make sense of.

It is more like a GOP campaign promise fulfilled; their hateful rhetoric and repeated verbal attacks coming to life.
When you continually label queer people as predators,
when you repeatedly accuse teachers of being groomers,
when you declare drag shows and gay clubs as societal threats,
when you intentionally target transgender children and their parents,
when you perpetually traffic in irresponsible and dangerous rhetoric designed to generate irrational fear of LGBTQ people—hate crimes like the one in Colorado are the logical progression.

-John Pavlovitz | When Republicans Lament the Hate Crimes They Help Create
 

The shooting brought back memories of the 2016 massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people. And it occurred in a state that has experienced several notorious mass killings, including at Columbine High School in 1999, a movie theater in suburban Denver in 2012 and at a Boulder supermarket last year. It was the sixth mass killing this month and came in a year when the nation was shaken by the deaths of 21 in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Club Q is a gay and lesbian nightclub that features a “Drag Diva Drag Show” on Saturdays. Drag events have become a focus of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and protests in recent months as opponents, including politicians, have proposed banning children from such events and falsely claim they’re being used to “groom” children.

"These are the people we need to center. These are the people we need to keep in our hearts. These are the people whose families need us.  These are the people we need to remember.  And remember: Until we call out the anti-trans rhetoric, the anti-LGBTQ legislation, the book bans and the so-called “don’t say gay” laws, the misinformation and disinformation, and the badly covered stories in the media, this violence will continue."
-PFLAG National

Attorney General Merrick Garland was briefed on the shooting, Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley said. The FBI said it was assisting but said the police department was leading the investigation.

President Joe Biden said that while the motive for the shootings was not yet clear, “we know that the LGBTQ community has been subjected to horrific hate violence in recent years. Places that are supposed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence. Yet it happens far too often,” he said. “We must drive out the inequities that contribute to violence against LGBTQ people. We cannot and must not tolerate hate.”  Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who became the first openly gay man in the United States to be elected governor in 2018, called the shooting “sickening.”

A makeshift memorial sprang up Sunday near the club, with flowers, a stuffed animal and candles in front of cardboard sign with the message, “Love over hate” next to a rainbow-colored heart.

Dan Savage on Why the Colorado Club Shooting is an Attack on All LGBTQ People

Dan Savage shares "we will fight until we're safe everywhere.”

American writer and LGBTQ community activist Dan Savage has shared his thoughts on the evolution of safe spaces in the wake of the mass shooting at Colorado Springs LGBTQ bar Club Q, which left five dead and 25 injured over the weekend.  In a tweet thread on November 20, Savage shared his thoughts on the history behind LGBTQ safe spaces, where queerness is kept private behind closed doors, and how he believes we must come out of the bars and onto the streets to fight to be safe anywhere and everywhere.

“It’s not just that gay bars are supposed to be a safe space,” Savage, author of Savage Love, began.  “People who hate queer people want us to keep it private. Behind closed doors. Someplace they don’t have to see it. And the doors of a gay bar are doors we keep it behind.”

The locations are a place “we can go and be together and not bother them with the fact of our existence.” Here, queerness exists separate from hateful glances and “we can forget they exist. Not straight people. There are straight people in gay bars and clubs. Our friends. But behind those doors we can forget (we can suspend our disbelief) and pretend the haters don’t exist.”

The 58-year-old writer referenced the Colorado Springs shooting, writing: “An attack like this says “not even here.” Behind closed doors isn’t good enough for them. It’s not that they want us to exist out of sight. They don’t want us to exist at all.”  Savage goes on to state that if even LGBTQ places are not safe for all LGBTQ people “we have no choice but to fight to make it safe everywhere, for all LGBTQ people.”  He quotes, a chant heard during the Stonewall Riots: “Out of the bars and into the streets!”

“The raid on the Stonewall Inn was state-sponsored violence. The attack on Club Q in Colorado Springs last night… well, we’re waiting on the full details. But it looks like GOP-sponsored violence. Not just the logical result of the groomer blood libel, but the goal.”  Here, Savage seems to reference Colorado republican representatives, Dave Williams and Mark Baisley, who targeted Highlands Ranch’s first drag show saying they were concerned about “groomers” at the event (even though tickets were restricted to adults 21 and older).

This was just one of many examples where republican voices have villainized the trans community in the US.  The Colorado mass shooting occurred a day before Club Q was set to host a Transgender Day of Remembrance brunch.  “Behind closed doors was never enough,” Savage continued. “They knocked down those doors and arrested us in bedrooms and evicted us from our apartments and fired us from our jobs and made something that’s already hard to do (loving another human being) almost impossible.”

“We fought back then. We fought back last night,” he adds.  “And we’re going to keep fighting. Because if we’re not safe behind the closed doors of a gay bar (if they can’t let us have even that) then we’re not safe anywhere.”  He concludes: “So we will fight until we’re safe everywhere.”

[Source: Emily Maskell, Attitude, Nov 2022]

But in my heart? I will never actually understand.

I will never understand how queer people are seen as unholy and unnatural when the immense love I feel for my partner is the holiest and most natural thing I've ever felt in my entire life and regularly brings me to my knees.

I will never understand how drag performers are smeared as being unsafe and obscene when I have witnessed entire rooms lit up in unabashed joy and awe in their presence because they are one of the closest things we have to real-life magic.

I will never understand how trans and non-binary people are so deeply misunderstood and maligned when the light they emanate from within when they're able to live as their true selves is warmer and more lovely than any blanket I've ever wrapped around me or cup of tea I've sipped.

I will never understand how people are intent on destroying our community gathering spaces when their disgust and distaste for seeing us out in the open are the reason we had to build them apart from everyone else in the first place.

I refuse to understand because it is beyond comprehension that we as a community should ever be targeted for how we choose to live and love.

It is beyond comprehension that Daniel Aston... Derrick Rump... Kelly Loving... Raymond Vance... and Ashley Paugh will not get to live the long, full, beautiful lives they deserved.

For as much as these kinds of tragedies in the LGBTQ community "make sense," the truth is, they make no fucking sense at all.

[Source: Shohreh Davoodi, Nov 2022]
 

Out Democratic candidate Maura Healey has been elected the first out lesbian governor in the US, as well as the first woman to lead Massachusetts.  Followed closely by Tina Kotek who was elected in Oregon.

Democrat Maura Healey scored a decisive and historic victory in the 2022 midterm elections, becoming the first elected female governor in Massachusetts and the nation's first openly lesbian governor.

Healey, the state's Attorney General since 2014, overwhelmed her Republican opponent, former state Rep. Geoff Diehl, and put the governorship firmly back in Democratic hands after Republican Gov. Charlie Baker declined to seek a third term. Diehl was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, who remains deeply unpopular in Massachusetts.

 

Healey never trailed in the polls and held huge advantages in fundraising and name recognition. She campaigned on a long list of Democratic priorities, including expanding affordable housing, promoting green jobs, and improving public transportation.

"Let's put money back in people's pockets by cutting the costs of housing, energy and health care," Healey said last June, when she accepted her party's nomination.

As the state's attorney general, Healey initiated or joined dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration – from challenging his Muslim travel ban to protecting immigrant rights to suing the EPA for delaying or rolling back environmental regulations.

Healey's historic victory burnishes her profile as a leader in the LGBTQ community. "I'm proud of who I am," Healey said. She said she is especially moved when young people from that community tell her they feel comforted by her success.  "Kids need to understand and believe that they are loved, they are seen and that they can be whoever they are."

Addressing her supporters at a victory rally in Boston, Healey dedicated her win to "every little girl and every young LGBTQ person out there."  "I hope tonight shows you that you can be whatever, whoever you want to be," she said to a roaring crowd. "And nothing and no one can ever get in your way except your own imagination, and that's not going to happen."

Annise Parker, the president and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which helps queer candidates get elected to public office, said Healey’s historic win will help send a message that “LGBTQ people have a place in American society and can become respected public leaders. We are confident that under Maura’s leadership, Massachusetts will reach new heights as one of the most inclusive states in the country."

Healey will follow two other out LGBTQ Democrats who have been elected to lead their states: Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, who is bisexual, became the first openly LGBTQ person to be elected governor in 2015, and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis became the first openly gay man to be elected governor in 2018. (Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey was not out when he was elected to office in 2001; he came out as gay in his 2004 resignation speech.)

Healey is joined by Tina Kotek who was elected Governor in Oregon.  Both candidates made history during the 2022 midterm elections.

Kotek previously broke barriers as the country’s first out lesbian speaker of a state House of Representatives, in 2013, and holding on to that role to become the state chamber's longest-serving speaker.

Democrat Tina Kotek narrowly defeated Republican Christine Drazan. In winning the 2022 race, Kotek overcame a multitude of factors working against Democrats in the state, including divisions within the party, a competitive third-party candidate siphoning voter from her, and a barrage of political attacks launched by the GOP candidate and aligned groups over rising crime and homelessness in the state.

In the days leading up to the election, polling had shown a dead heat between Kotek and Drazan, with independent Betsy Johnson polling in the mid-teens — peeling off what surveys showed was a large chunk of potential voters from Kotek. (Johnson was a Democratic state lawmaker for two decades.)

The close race sparked GOP hopes that voters in the reliably blue state (one that President Joe Biden won by 16 percentage points just two years ago) would elect its first Republican governor in 40 years.

[Source: Anthony Brooks, NPR News, Nov 2022]

Maura Healey and Tina Kotek Make History: Winning Elections to be First Openly Lesbian US Governors

Historic Number of LGBTQ Candidates Ran for Elected Office This Year: Here’s Who Won
Maura Healey Becomes First Lesbian Elected Governor in US
Rainbow Wave Spreads across US as Hundreds of LGBTQ Candidates Win Elections
Out Lesbian Maura Healey Claims Historic Victory: Elected First Woman Governor in Massachusetts
Lesbians Score Big Political Gains in Midterm Elections' Rainbow Wave
Democrat Tina Kotek Wins Oregon Governor's Race
Maura Healey Wins Massachusetts Governor's Race: First Lesbian Elected to Lead a State
History Making LGBTQ Candidates Elected to State Legislatures Across the Country

Maura Healey Shatters Lavender Ceiling to Become Nation’s First Lesbian Governor
 

Two Miss Universe Contestants Marry In Secret

Leslie Jordan: Actor and Comedian Dies in Car Crash

"I am stunned at the death of Leslie Jordan, who delighted us with his many roles on television and film. The cause of death was a car crash after he suffered a medical emergency. Leslie, we are heartbroken at your loss and will miss your mirth and your inimitable spirit."
-George Takei

But Jordan's fame grew exponentially on social media over the past couple of years, as he posted warm-hearted jokes and updates over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. His posts were a source of comfort and encouragement. On his Instagram account, he amassed more than 5 million followers.

Jordan grew up in Tennessee, where he was raised in the Southern Baptist Church. As he grew older and realized he was gay, he eventually fell out with the church.  "It's hard to embrace something that doesn't embrace you," he told NPR in 2021.  He eventually found his way back to the church, and in 2021 released a gospel album.

"My heart is broken. Leslie Jordan was one of the funniest people I ever had the pleasure of working with. Everyone who ever met him, loved him. There will never be anyone like him. A unique talent with an enormous, caring heart. You will be missed, my dear friend."
-Sean Hayes

Karine Jean-Pierre: White House Press Secretary is a Gay Black Woman

Just in Time for National Coming Out Day

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Oct 11 2022 shared her own story of coming out in recognition of National Coming Out Day, urging other Americans not to feel discouraged.

“Like so many in the LGBTQ community, coming out wasn’t an easy thing to do. My family was traditional and conservative. Being gay in my family wasn’t something that you mentioned out loud or celebrated,” Jean-Pierre said at the start of the White House press briefing.

“But my family, like many families, grew to accept who I was. Who I loved didn’t change who I was as a person. It didn’t change the things I liked to do, and it didn’t change the goals I had for my life,” she continued. “The beauty of America is its freedom and the promise that you can do anything you want regardless of your race, sex, country of origin, sexual orientation or gender identity.”  Jean-Pierre expressed her appreciation for President Biden and first lady Jill Biden for being supportive of the LGBTQ community.

Jean-Pierre is the first openly gay woman and the first Black woman to serve as White House press secretary. She took over the role in May for Jen Psaki.

Oct 11 marked National Coming Out Day, which was started more than 30 years ago in support of members of the LGBTQ community who have come out about their sexual orientation or who are struggling with the process of coming out.  “I celebrate our LGBTQ community this National Coming Out Day. Never doubt that you are loved and appreciated for being exactly who you are,” Vice President Harris tweeted.

[Brett Samuels, the Hill, Oct 2022]

Karine Jean-Pierre: White House Press Secretary is a Gay Black Woman

Cubans Vote to Legalize Same Sex Marriage

Cuba Approves Same-Sex Marriage in Historic Referendum

In September 2022, Cubans have approved a sweeping “family law” code that would allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt as well as redefining rights for children and grandparents. The measure (which contains more than 400 articles) was approved by 66.9% to 33.1%.  The reforms had met unusually strong open resistance from the growing evangelical movement in Cuba (and many other Cubans) despite an extensive government campaign in favor of the measure, including thousands of informative meetings across the country and extensive media coverage backing it. The code would allow surrogate pregnancies, broader rights for grandparents in regard to grandchildren, protection of the elderly and measures against gender violence.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who has promoted the law, acknowledged questions about the measure. “Most of our people will vote in favor of the code, but it still has issues that our society as a whole does not understand,” he said. The measure had been approved by Cuba’s Parliament, the National Assembly, after years of debate about such reforms.  A major supporter of the measure was Mariela Castro, director of the National Center for Sex Education, a promoter of rights for same-sex couples, daughter of former President Raul Castro and niece of his brother Fidel.

But there is a strong strain of social conservatism in Cuba and several religious leaders have expressed concern or opposition to the law, worrying it could weaken nuclear families.  While Cuba was officially (and often militantly) non-religious for decades after the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro (Raul’s brother) it has become more tolerant of religions over the past quarter century. That has meant a greater opening for not only the once-dominant Roman Catholic Church, but also to Afro-Cuban religions, Protestants and Muslims. Some of those churches took advantage of the opening in 2018 and 2019 to campaign against a re-write of the constitution to allow gay marriage. Opposition was strong enough that the government at that time backed away.

[Source: Associated Press, September 2022]
 

NBC: Cuba Approves Same-Sex Marriage in Unusual Referendum
Washington Post: Cuba Approves Same-Sex Marriage in Historic Turnabout
CNN: Cuba Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage in Historic Referendum
BBC: Cuba Votes to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage

Biden Touts Importance of LGBTQ Rights in UN Speech

President Biden imagines a future where the LGBTQ community individuals live and love freely without being targeted with violence

In a speech before the UN General Assembly in Sept 2022, President Biden championed the importance of LGBTQ rights abroad. He declared, “The future will be won by those countries that unleash the full potential of their populations, where women and girls can exercise equal rights, including basic reproductive rights, and contribute fully to building stronger economies and more resilient societies; where religious and ethnic minorities can live their lives without harassment and contribute to the fabric of their communities; where the LGBTQ community individuals live and love freely without being targeted with violence; where citizens can question and criticize their leaders without fear of reprisal.”

In February 2021, Biden issued a presidential memorandum to protect the rights of LGBTQ people worldwide. The memorandum established the administration’s commitment to “ensure that United States diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBTQ persons.”

Among other actions, he directed agencies to combat the criminalization of LGBTQ identities, protect LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers, and provide foreign assistance to advance nondiscrimination efforts around the world.

A large part of Biden’s speech to the UN focused on condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia has shamelessly violated the core tenets of the United Nations Charter — no more important than the clear prohibition against countries taking the territory of their neighbor by force,” he said. Biden also emphasized the US “vision of a free, open, secure, and prosperous world” where “individuals have the chance to live in dignity and develop their talents.”

[Source: Molly Sprayregen, LGBTQ Nation, September 2022]
 

Two-Thirds of Swing State Voters Support Marriage Equality

“Marriage equality has been nothing but positive, both for the LGBTQ community and for our society as a whole."

Continued Battle for the Soul of the Nation

"As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault."

LGBTQ Equality Not Within Reach in US Says UN Official

“Despite five decades of progress, equality is not within reach, and often not even within sight."

Senator Rubio Criticizes Same-Sex Marriage Bill

 Tammy Baldwin and Pete Buttigieg clap back at their Senate colleague after he called the Respect for Marriage Act a “stupid waste of time.”

Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, the first out member of the US Senate, confronted Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) after he called the Respect for Marriage Act a “stupid waste of time.”  Baldwin said, "The recent Supreme Court decision eroded a constitutional right to privacy. There’s a whole bunch of cases that have been decided based on a constitutional right to privacy that are in jeopardy. And I don't think the Respect for Marriage Act is stupid."

The Respect for Marriage Act would write marriage equality into US law, a safeguard in case the Supreme Court overturns Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 ruling that established equal marriage rights nationwide.

The Respect for Marriage Act was passed by the US House in July 2022 and is now pending in the Senate. It would assure that the federal government recognizes all valid marriages, no matter the gender or race of the spouses, and repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which remains on the books although unenforceable due to a 2013 Supreme Court decision. DOMA denied federal recognition to same-sex marriages and allowed states to deny recognition to marriages performed in other states.

Baldwin, a lesbian, introduced the bill in the Senate along with a fellow Democrat, Dianne Feinstein of California, and a Republican colleague, Susan Collins of Maine. The legislation passed the House with bipartisan support, 47 Republicans joining all Democrats, but it may have a harder time in the Senate.

Out Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg was asked about how the majority of House Republicans opposed the Respect for Marriage Act (RMA) bill and about Sen. Rubio’s claim that the bill was a “stupid waste of time.”

“If Rubio’s got time to fight against Disney, I don’t know why he wouldn’t have time to help safeguard marriages like mine. Look, this is really, really important to a lot of people. It’s certainly important to me,” Buttigieg said. Buttigieg was referring to how Rubio attacked Disney in April for issuing a statement opposing Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law.

Buttigieg went on to talk about his weekend, saying that he “tried to give his husband Chasten a little bit of a break” by feeding their twin babies at breakfast. “That’s no small thing, as every parent of small kids knows,” he joked, adding that it wasn’t particularly easy that morning. “That half-hour of my morning had me thinking about how much I depend on and count on my spouse every day, and our marriage deserves to be treated equally,” he said. “I don’t’ know why this would be hard,” he added, referring to the RMA vote.

“I just don’t understand how such a majority of House Republicans voted ‘no’ on our marriage,” he continued, “hours after I was in a room with a lot of them talking about transportation policy, having what I thought were perfectly normal conversations with many of them on that subject, only for them to go around the corner and say that my marriage doesn’t deserve to continue.”

“If they don’t want to spend a lot of time on this, they can vote ‘yes,’ and move on, and that would be really reassuring for a lot of families around America, including mine,” he concluded.
 

Senator Ted Cruz Says Supreme Court Was Wrong In Same-Sex Marriage Ruling

The dumbass Republican Senator from Texas says the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, which legalized same-sex marriage across the country, was clearly wrong and overreaching.

Ted Cruz was speaking about the differences between that case and the Supreme Court’s recent decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, which had previously protected abortion rights nationwide. He criticized the court for preventing individual states from deciding for themselves whether same-sex marriage should be allowed.

“Obergefell, like Roe v. Wade, ignored two centuries of our nation’s history. Marriage was always an issue that was left to the states,” he said. “In Obergefell, the court said no, we know better than you guys do, and now every state must sanction and permit gay marriage. I think that decision was clearly wrong when it was decided. It was the court overreaching.”

Cruz added that he personally doesn’t expect the court to reverse its decision, however, reasoning that “it would be more than a little chaotic” based on the number of same-sex marriages that have already legally taken place.

Cruz has previously advocated for allowing individual states to outlaw same-sex marriage. For many, his desire appears closer to a reality due to last month’s Supreme Court ruling on abortion rights in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ignited concerns that the court might overturn other decisions.
 

Justice Clarence Thomas amplified that concern, stating in a solo concurring opinion that any decision made by the Supreme Court that was stated to be supported by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, such as Roe v. Wade was, should be reconsidered.

“Any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous,’” he said last month, adding that “we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents.”

Other rulings citing the due process clause include Griswold v. Connecticut, which established the right for married couples to use contraception; Lawrence v. Texas, which prohibits states from banning sexual relations between people of the same sex; and Loving v. Virginia, which protects interracial marriage.

Thomas mentioned the Obergefell, Griswold and Lawrence cases in his opinion but not did mention the Loving case, which, if overturned, could threaten his own interracial marriage.

[Source: Nina Golgowski, Huffongton Post, July 2022]
 

President Joe Biden awarded the American soccer star Megan Rapinoe the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Rapinoe was one of the 17 recipients in July 2022 who were recognized by Biden.  Other recipients included gymnast and fellow Olympian Simone Biles, the Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington and Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who died in 2018. Rapinoe is the first soccer player to receive the award and one of just six female athletes or coaches.

"Beyond the World Cup title to Olympic medals, Megan is a champion for essential American truth that everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect," Biden said at the award ceremony at the White House. "She helped lead the change for perhaps the most important victory for anyone on our soccer team or any soccer team: equal pay for women."

Rapinoe has been a member of the US Women's National Team since 2006 and has helped the team win two Olympic medals and two World Cup championships. Off the field, she has made a name for herself for her contribution to LGBTQ equality and equality in women's sports.

In 2016, Rapinoe and four other US Women’s National Team players filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the US Soccer Federation, alleging gender discrimination. Then in 2019, 28 members of the team, including Rapinoe, filed a similar lawsuit, citing years of gender discrimination in pay, medical treatment and overall workload.

The group of five players reached a settlement with the US Soccer Federation in February 2022, receiving $24 million and securing an agreement from the federation to pay men and women equally in all exhibition games, or friendlies, and tournaments.

“For us, this is just a huge win in ensuring that we not only right the wrongs of the past, but set the next generation up for something we only dreamed of,” Rapinoe said after the settlement was reached.

In May 2022, US Soccer announced a collective bargaining agreement with the women's and men's national teams to close the gender pay gap.

Rapinoe is the latest openly LGBTQ American to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, following comedian Ellen DeGeneres, gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, and playwright Tennessee Williams.

"I am humbled and truly honored to be chosen for this award by President Biden and feel as inspired and motivated as ever to continue this long history of fighting for the freedoms of all people," Rapinoe said in a statement after being named a medal recipient last month. "To quote Emma Lazarus, ‘Until we are all free, we are none of us free.’”

[Source: Matt Lavietes, NBC News, July 2022]

Megan Rapinoe Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
Lesbian Athlete Megan Rapinoe Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
Soccer Star Megan Rapinoe Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
 

 

At least one delegate, David Gebhart, tried to soften this language, saying, “We are the Republican Party of Texas, not the Westboro Baptist Church." Gebhart’s suggestion was met with laughter and boos. Other delegates made homophobic and sexually charged comments.

The platform addresses trans identity more explicitly than in the past. It calls gender dysphoria “a genuine and extremely rare mental health condition” and opposes any gender-affirming treatment for people under 21. This aligns with Gov. Greg. Abbott’s recent order that parents who allow their minor children to receive gender-affirming health care be investigated for child abuse (the order is temporarily blocked by court action). Texas legislators tried but failed to pass a law declaring such care to be child abuse.

Without recognizing any irony, though, the platform endorses “the fundamental right of parents to make all decisions regarding the upbringing and control of their children in all aspects.” Apparently allowing children access to gender-affirming care is not one of those aspects.

In response, Biden’s order advises states on how to take the opposite approach. It instructs the Department of Health and Human Services to release new sample policies for states on how to expand access to comprehensive health care for LGBTQ people, including gender-affirming care. Further, to address the high risk of suicide among LGBTQ youth, it directs HHS to expand young people’s access to suicide prevention resources and to issue new guidance through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on providing evidence-informed mental health care for this population.

In addition, it directs the Department of Education to address the impact of laws affecting students and to prepare a sample school policy how to achieve inclusive education. The DOE will set up a Working Group on LGBTQ Students and Families, “which will advance policies for states, school districts, and other educational institutions to promote safe and inclusive learning environments in which all students thrive,” according to a White House fact sheet.

On conversion therapy, Biden is directing HHS to explore issuing guidance that will clarify that federally funded programs cannot offer the discredited and harmful practice. “HHS will also increase public awareness about its harms, provide training and technical assistance to health care providers, and expand support for services to help survivors,” the fact sheet says.

The order deals with a variety of other youth and family issues as well. It directs HHS to strengthen nondiscrimination protections in the foster care system. It further will “charge HHS with launching a new initiative to partner with state child welfare agencies to improve outcomes for LGBTQ youth in care; increase training for child welfare personnel on best practices for supporting LGBTQ youth; promote placements of children into environments that will support their sexual orientation and gender identity; and study and address the disproportionate rates of child removals that LGBTQ parents face, especially women of color,” according to the White House.

Biden is also directing HHS to expand access to voluntary family counseling and support programs and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with researching the impacts of family rejection on the mental health and long-term well-being of LGBTQ people. Another HHS project will be studying how current eligibility standards for federal programs affect LGBTQ households and issuing recommendations for more inclusive standards.

HHS is tasked with establishing a bill of rights for older LGBTQ Americans, provide guidance on avoiding discrimination in long-term care settings, and consider making a new rule assuring that LGBTQ people are included in the definition of populations facing “greatest social need” under the Older Americans Act.

To address homelessness and housing instability among LGBTQ Americans, the order calls on the Department of Housing and Urban Development to establish a working group to explore barriers to housing, seek ways to address these barriers, and provide technical assistance to housing providers.

Biden is also directing the US attorney general to set up a new clearinghouse within the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to provide effective training, technical assistance, and other resources for jurisdictions to better serve LGBTQ youth in the juvenile justice system.

“What does God say is the answer, is the solution for the homosexual in 2022, here in the New Testament, here in the book of Romans? That they are worthy of death,” Awes said. “Every single homosexual in our country should be charged with a crime, the abomination of homosexuality that they have, they should be convicted in a lawful trial, they should be sentenced to death, they should be lined up against a wall and shot in the back of the head.”

Awes and the Stedfast Baptist Church are in the midst of an anti-Pride month where he visits various local churches and organizations celebrating Pride, and films himself calling these churches blasphemous and tools of satan.

Last month, another preacher at the church, Jonathan Shelley, made the news for his call to commit violence against LGBTQ people. At an Arlington City Council meeting in May, Shelley railed against Pride, saying the Bible teaches “we should hate pride, not celebrate it.”

“God’s already ruled that murder, adultery, witchcraft, rape, bestiality, and homosexuality are crimes worthy of capital punishment,” he said.

Stedfast Baptist Church’s website says the government should impose the death penalty for homosexuality, but “Christians should not take the law into their own hands.” Other things it lists as sins include abortion, birth control, in vitro fertilization, feminism, and ecumenicalism. It doesn’t say if these are worthy of capital punishment. It’s an independent church, not affiliated with any larger Baptist body.

 

 

As we roll, or tumble, into Pride Month, we’re on the heels of mass shootings again — children in Uvalde, Texas, and people of color in Buffalo, NY — plus a do-nothing Congress that will do nothing about guns; a forthcoming Supreme Court decision that will likely overturn Roe v. Wade, with gay marriage next up in the crosshairs; queer kids, queer parents, and queer teachers under assault in the classroom; trans kids and trans athletes being demonized; baby formula shortages (kids are really getting slammed this year); monkeypox taking aim at gay men; and high gas prices, out-of-control inflation, and the war in Ukraine.

We will have televised hearings of the January 6 committee this month that will surely shock and anger all Americans — some rightly infuriated and others wrongly enraged. Oh, and another COVID-19 surge is upon us with a new variant that will peak this month, and likely one or more peaks to come. And travel in June and this summer is predicted to be miserable. CNN says we will “hate” it.

When we need to get away from all that has gone away, we can’t even get away.

This disaster of a mess growing steady, fast, and furious, like Billy Joel’s hyperventilating 1989 song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” that included this rapid staccato: “birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again / moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock / Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline / Ayatollahs in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan.” This stanza from the song, at one time so serious, seems somewhat less important now.

America doesn’t need a malaise speech as much as it needs a discourse about high anxiety. The wheels on this country are coming off. Now that’s not to say that they’ll come off completely. We’ve been in dire straits before, and America has bounced back; however, we have never been this divided. At least in the days of Jimmy Carter, most Americans thought he was right.

 

In our community, we look forward to the annual arrival of June — at least most of us do. It is Pride Month for us, and an opportunity for us to exult about who we are, despite all of the arrows being flung at us by devious politicians desperate to reenact the homophobia of the 1980s and 1990s. These lizard-like legislators are using our community as a weapon, as a cultural dividing line, as an insidious punchline to bigoted stump speeches and ruinous legislation.

But we won’t be deterred. Or will we? To be sure, some of the Pride events around the country, namely those in San Francisco and New York, are just as divided as our country, pitting police against Pride. Both sides have their points, but it’s illustrative that even in the LGBTQ+ community, a division exists.

Now that I’ve brought your mood down to the depths of despair, let me try to reassure you that America and our community need a bright, billowing, beautiful Pride Month more than ever, with colorful rainbows on every street corner.

There probably has never been a better time to have cities and towns across the country adorn their doorways and windows with Pride rainbow flags and decorations. The eclectic mix of colors brightens the cloudiness that hovers over June 2022 in America.

And the parades, marches, events (whatever you want to call them) are a chance for one part of the population in this country to dance, sing, rejoice and celebrate. Most of the rest of the country doesn't get this opportunity, but everyone is certainly more than welcome to join our party. It might be good to have a little bit of fun with gay men, lesbians, trans folk, drag queens, and leather daddies.

 

Some Americans still look askance at our revelry, and that’s too bad, particularly this year, when they should be lapping it up — somewhat of a pun intended. Our citizens are being beaten and punched and kicked and scolded — some more than others. If you’re out there and you're hurting and you're worrying and you’re afraid, don’t be afraid of us. Join us to let off some steam.

Some people might say, “Oh, I don’t want a bunch of straight people at Pride,” but I beg to differ. We need them as much as they need us. We’re going to need as much help as we can get when all of the midterm fires start trying to burn our community down. We need straight people, like Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, to support us. I’m not afraid to admit we need all the help we can get.

And America needs us. It needs our community to be bold, to be proud, and most importantly to be fun this month, and there’s no doubt we won’t let anyone down. As a matter of fact, we’ll pick you up if you are down.

May the pageantry of Pride perk up a pensive and problematic nation in the dismal month of June 2022.

[Source: John Casey, Advocate Magazine, June 2022]
 

Will Pride Pageantry Perk Up a Pensive Nation?

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