A 'Schindler's List' for anti-gay bakers?
Yes, someone actually compared LGBTQ protections to the Holocaust.
Greetings from sunny Philadelphia, where I’ll be spending the next few days engaging in progressive organizing at Netroots Nation. I can’t promise a newsletter every day, but I’ll do my best to keep you informed on the latest LGBTQ news.
About that “Unalienable Rights” commission
I mentioned yesterday that the State Department’s new commission to “reexamine” human rights around the world was code for anti-LGBTQ advocacy. Well, GLAAD looked into who’s sitting on the commission and found anti-LGBTQ records for seven of its ten members. There’s a lot of bigotry to go around!
You don’t want to be on this “Schindler’s” list
North Carolina State Sen. Dan Bishop (R) is running in a special election to be the state’s next member of Congress — after last year’s election had to be tossed out because of Republican election fraud. Bishop infamously helped engineer HB2, the broad law mandating discrimination against transgender people across the state.
Newly discovered emails reveal how Bishop worked with conservative organizations like the anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) to try to undermine the repeal of HB2. He proposed a “conscience rule” that would still allow people to discriminate against LGBTQ people if creativity was involved (i.e. wedding bakers, florists, etc.). When ADF’s Kellie Fiedorek asked who they were trying to save, suggesting his exemption for “creative professionals” was too narrow, Bishop responded, “As Oscar Schindler said, as many as we can.”
Schindler famously saved the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust. That means Bishop believes that legally requiring Christian business owners to serve LGBTQ customers equally is comparable to subjecting them to mass extermination.
A reprieve from HIV criminalization
Michael Johnson has been released from prison, having previously been sentenced in 2015 to 30 years under Missouri’s law criminalizing the exposure of HIV.
Multiple studies have shown that these archaic laws actually contradict efforts to stem the epidemic by discouraging testing, encouraging riskier behavior, and reinforcing anti-HIV stigma. They create a mindset that if you don’t know you’re HIV-positive, you can’t be held accountable for not disclosing it, but you can simultaneously expect that a partner will disclose it without you having to ask. When transmission or even just exposure occurs, the law treats people living with HIV as would-be criminals — implying that their own desire to have sexual contact is a weapon, regardless of their actual risk of transmission (which with modern treatment and prevention methods could easily be zero). #UequalsU
Johnson’s story was a particularly tragic one, plagued by a racist prosecution and a sentencing more severe than murder in the second degree. The racist portrayal was in part fueled by the nickname Johnson had given himself as a college wrestler, “Tiger Mandingo.” Thanks to the specifics of the plea deal that helped reduce his sentence on appeal, he will not have to register as a sex offender.
Conservatives demand queer kids be bullied
California has often led the way in terms of legislation protecting LGBTQ people, especially LGBTQ kids. The state’s latest proposal would require teachers to be trained to recognize and interrupt bullying and harassment against LGBTQ students. This, as Alvin McEwen highlights, has the folks at the Family Research Council (another anti-LGBTQ hate group) in hysterics.
Teachers will be “brainwashed!” Students will be “indoctrinated!” Affirming transgender kids is “child abuse!”
Their clear motive is to “protect” teachers with anti-LGBTQ attitudes from any accountability. But LGBTQ kids deserve safe and inclusive learning environments and should never be subject to the misfortune of a rejecting teacher.
Here comes Sarah!!
I’m so excited that my friend and former colleague Sarah McBride announced today that she’s running for the Delaware state Senate! Sarah made history as the first openly trans person to address a major political convention. Watch her announcement:
Intersex people don’t need to be “fixed”
New York City’s health and human rights commissioners are trying to raise awareness to end “corrective surgeries” on intersex infants. When babies are born with ambiguous genitalia, they are still frequently mutilated by doctors trying to “correct” their genitalia. It’s still legal in most places for doctors to provide such treatment, but the commissioners are hoping to change that.
The kind of shame Pride is meant to reject
Many cities proclaim their own recognition of Pride month and engage in local celebrations and displays. But Donna Schmitt, mayor of Columbia Heights, Minnesota, refused to sign a proclamation recognizing gay pride. When the community objected to her refusal, Schmitt responded angrily. “You don't need a piece of paper from me!” she insisted at a heated meeting.
Schmitt claims that the local LGBTQ groups didn’t follow proper procedures when applying for such a proclamation. But those procedures were conspicuously developed the very same week that they submitted their requests.
Discrimination against a trans camper
A nine-year-old transgender boy living in foster care won a $400 scholarship from Arizona Friends of Foster Care to attend a summer sleep-away camp called Tonto Creek Camp. But the camp responded that they could not accommodate the boy this year. Their excuse? They still need to train their employees on transgender issues. Not wanting to discriminate is a pretty bad excuse for discriminating.
Tbilisi Pride perseverance
I mentioned a while back that political uprisings and threats from violent right-wing extremists in the nation of Georgia were interfering with LGBTQ activists’ attempts to hold a first-ever Pride parade in capital city Tbilisi. After a second plan fell through, a small group of about 40 organizers still held their own protest, including flying a pride flag by drone. They promise they’ll try to create a bigger event next year.
Refuge from “refuge”
A transgender woman seeking refuge in the Netherlands was tossed out on the street after being horrible abused at a shelter. Her identity was rejected, she was refused hormone treatment, and she was eventually left out on the street with no resources to care for herself. She had attempted suicide twice while in the shelter, prompting a shelter officer to reportedly urge her to “cut deeper.”
Marriage equality for Northern Ireland?
The British Parliament voted today to extend both same-sex marriage and abortion rights to Northern Ireland, which currently has different laws from the rest of the UK. The changes will hypothetically take effect in three months.
Marriage equality in Ecuador is official!
Same-sex couples in Ecuador can officially marry! The journey to this recognition included a ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights as well as follow-up decisions from Ecuadorian courts. Ecuador is officially the 28th country with marriage equality, and the third to have that right take effect this year.
Popular trans TV host murdered in Honduras
Santiago Carvajal, a popular television host in Honduras who openly identified as transgender, was shot to death by a group of strangers. Carvajal frequently criticized public officials, and she is the latest in a spate of media-related murders in the country.
Piers Morgan coming around on trans rights?
British talk show host Piers Morgan has long pilloried the transgender community and in particular those who identify as genderqueer and non-binary. But it seems like maybe he’s learning a thing or two about these issues. In an interview with President Donald Trump last month, Morgan asked some very critical questions about Trump’s transgender military ban.
Then, in an interview this week with an anti-trans doctor, Morgan staunchly defended transgender people’s experiences and openly called his guest a bigot.
Folks on social media were a bit surprised at how well Morgan stood up for trans people.
Nicki Minaj demonstrates how to be an ally
Trump promised to decriminalize homosexuality abroad, but he’s spent much of this week honoring and brokering trade deals with the Emir of Qatar, one of those countries that still has a sodomy law. Nicki Minaj is demonstrating how to actually stand up to those countries, announcing today that she’s cancelling her performance at the Jeddah World Fest in Saudi Arabia.
“While I want nothing more than to bring my show to fans in Saudi Arabia,” she said, “after better educating myself on the issues, I believe it is important for me to make clear my support for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community and freedom of expression.”
Anti-gay Trump fans rush to judgment over USNWT “heroes”
When the U.S. National Women’s Team won the World Cup and were celebrating on the pitch, an American flag touched the ground and Allie Long and Megan Rapinoe accidentally stepped on it. Conservatives have (stupidly) excoriated the pair this week — including lots of homophobia for Rapinoe — while praising Kelly O’Hara for picking the flag up. What they didn’t notice is that O’Hara then went and kissed her girlfriend, essentially coming out publicly for the first time and becoming the 42nd openly gay or bi player in the World Cup.
Teen flees anti-gay parents
Kent Mendez, a 19-year-old from New York, has had to escape his parents because of the way they rejected him for being gay. Read the heartbreaking note he left explaining the anguish their rejection was causing him. “I’m leaving because I refuse to become another statistic,” he wrote:
Queer Eye season 4!
Get excited — and teary-eyed — for another moving season of Queer Eye!
Until next time, stay platinum!
(Dan Bishop photo credit: YouTube.)