Four months of abstinence
These blood donation rules are becoming increasingly insulting.
Happy Friday Eve! I just tried the FaceApp aging thing and I was very surprised by the results!
(I figured this dumb joke would be a nice distraction from all the racist gaslighting that has defined the news cycle today. I made myself laugh at least. Also, maybe don’t actually try FaceApp!)
Onto the LGBTQ news:
Another state bucks the trans military ban
Massachusetts has become the sixth state to officially declare that its National Guard will not comply with Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military. What’s particularly compelling is that the decision was made by Gov. Charlie Baker, who is a Republican. His administration, he promised, “will continue to support transgender soldiers and airmen in serving our Commonwealth with dignity and respect.”
Companies defend their '“zeroes”
The new campaign “Zero for Zeroes” is calling on LGBTQ-friendly companies to stop making political donations to lawmakers with very anti-LGBTQ records. My colleagues Josh Israel and Casey Quinlan tried to get these businesses on the record, reaching out to each of the 27 companies the campaign has targeted so far.
Of those that responded, not a single one apologized for helping to undermine the values they espouse, let alone make any commitment to change their future giving. Instead, they mostly defended their LGBTQ records and insisted that their donations do not reflect support for everything those candidates stand for.
It strikes me as an important opportunity to call the question on what being LGBTQ-friendly really means for these companies. If they’re willing to throw queer people under the bus to support candidates that will help increase their profits, are they really allies?
Another dent in conversion therapy
It’s not always as visible, but a lot of important change for LGBTQ equality has happened at the local level across the country. This week, Racine became the fifth city in Wisconsin to protect LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy. The state does not yet have such protections, but this sends a signal to the families in that community that it’s important to affirm their children for who they are.
Russia wants to lock someone up for a gay adoption
Russia is very particular about adoption. As readers may recall, when news broke of the Trump Tower meeting, “adoption” was the code word for discussing the Magnitsky Act sanctions against Russian oligarchs, because Russia had retaliated by banning people in the United States from adopting Russian children.
Apparently, back in 2010, some social workers in Russia allowed a same-sex couple there to adopt a pair of boys. The federal government’s Investigative Committee caught wind and has now opened a criminal investigation in the adoption, meaning the officials who allowed it could be locked up on charges of criminal negligence. Meanwhile, the family is now panicking, because the boys are now teenagers, and after nearly a decade together, the adoption could be annulled and the family separated.
Four months of abstinence is still discriminatory
Many countries, including the U.S., currently have arbitrary policies requiring gay and bi men to go a full year without having sex before they can donate blood. France has announced that next year it will be lowering the limit to four months — but that’s still totally stigmatizing and unnecessary. The country’s health ministry claims it’s a “first step” toward ending the inequitable treatment by 2022. Why that’s necessary is unclear.
Last month, a coalition of LGBTQ groups filed a complaint with the European Commission, challenging France’s one-year deferral period as being discriminatory.
Same-sex marriages are officially underway in Ecuador
Meet Alexandra Chávez, 41, and Michelle Avilés, 23, the first same-sex couple to legally marry in Ecuador.
Brian Brown chomping at the bit
The National Organization for Marriage failed to block marriage equality (and seems to have finally given up on begging for money about two months ago). But the group’s head Brian Brown is super excited about the State Department’s new “Commission on Unalienable Rights” because his International Organization for the Family sees an “extraordinary opening” to reject LGBTQ equality abroad.
Don’t forget, Brown is also head of the World Congress of Families, which is responsible for spreading U.S. evangelicals’ anti-LGBTQ sentiment around the world.
Of all the sad lies to tell
A Democratic Florida House candidate has ended her campaign after being outed for having lied that she was a cardiologist who treated victims from the Pulse nightclub shooting. Elizabeth McCarthy admitted to the lie, claiming, “I wanted to be somebody in the community.” But she also apparently lied about being a doctor, about working for Florida Heart Group of Orlando, about getting a medical degree from the University of Central Florida, and about getting a bachelor’s degree from Florida State.
We need to stop describing things as “AIDS”
Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of Dave Daubenmire. He’s built a career as an evangelist after previously being a high school football coach who forced his players to pray with him. He’s still out there spewing intolerance, which is why RightWingWatch keeps an eye on him, but for today I’m just using him as an example.
In his latest screed against allowing Muslims to serve in office — yes, really — he declares that “multiculturalism is cultural AIDS.”
Daubenmire’s comments are extreme enough so as to not require analysis, but what did stand out to me was his colloquial use of “AIDS.” I actually see this increasingly frequently in gaming communities, where the term “aids” is often used to describe things that are unnecessarily challenging or frustratingly broken. Reflecting this colloquial appropriation, Urban Dictionary lists several adjective entries for AIDS to describe such usage.
Just do me a favor and keep an ear out for this. I personally hear something inherently homophobic when it’s tossed around in such a way — not unlike the still-too-common “that’s gay.” With so many other forms of intolerance on the rise, it’d be great if we could nip this one in the bud before it becomes more common. There’s so much potential for actually ending the HIV epidemic in our lifetimes, but this kind of stigma will definitely get in the way.
Wake from your slumber or 45 will pull us under
Tituss Burgess (best known for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) doesn’t want you to give up hope in the age of Trump. In his new single “45,” featuring Daniel J. Watts, he assures, “I don’t fear because I know we’re the cure.”
“Our country is in a crisis,” he told Billboard. “This song is a call to wake up and realize that this state we’re in can be changed and must be changed, as we the people are the hope and future of America.” Take a listen:
Until next time, stay platinum!