More rights are always better
Unless you're the U.S. Secretary of State.
Who knew getting laid off would result in a nice little spike in subscriptions? Welcome to all the new readers of Fording the River Styx!
Just to let you all know, I’m doing just fine. I had an amazing birthday celebration this weekend, and I actually feel pretty relaxed. We’d suspected for months that ThinkProgress’ end was coming soon, and while I’m still very concerned about my own career and my colleagues, there is nevertheless a sense of relief after all that existential dread.
Plus, I was really unhappy having to closely monitor Trump every day. It’s not that it’s not important, but I woke up today and didn’t have to immediately check his Twitter feed and that feeling was amazing.
[I typed this intro before today’s developments, which delayed me sending out today’s newsletter as it is. I’ll wait until tomorrow to address those.]
I have a couple irons in the fire, and in the meantime I’m glad I already have this newsletter set up so I can continue to help keep you all informed about what’s happening in the world of LGBTQ politics. So let’s get to it!
The Rise of G
A massive new investigation from BuzzFeed and the UK’s Channel 4 documentary show Dispatches examines the massive impact that the drug often known just as “G” (GHB or GBL) has had on gay and bi men. It’s played a significant role in many men being sexually assaulted and has caused many health issues — including death. G is far more ubiquitous and harmful than people realize, and it’s worth wading through the five-part series to see just what an impact it’s having and why it’s so prevalent.
Trump lied to justify health care discrimination
Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced a new rule that would let health care providers deny service to patients on the basis of their religious beliefs — fairly obviously opening the door to anti-LGBTQ discrimination. Several states and cities sued to challenge the rule, and in new evidence presented to the court this week, they revealed that the Trump administration, in order to justify this rule, invented false claims of health-care providers being forced to violate their beliefs.
Secretary of State: More rights is not better
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has a long history of anti-LGBTQ viewpoints, and he recently started a commission on “unalienable rights” full of anti-LGBTQ bigots. For those not convinced that commission’s work will hurt the LGBTQ community, just look at the comments he made on Friday. He claimed that some politicians disguise “pet causes” as “fights for rights,” and that “the thirteenth ice cream cone isn’t as good as the first one was.”
If that metaphor makes as little sense to you as it does to me, he clarified it in his next sentence. “And with respect to unalienable rights, more, per se, is not always better,” he said. Pompeo actually thinks that protecting more people in more ways is bad — or, given his ice cream cone metaphor, less appetizing. I personally see no evidence to suggest such a thing has ever been true, and I look forward to proving him wrong.
The Democratic candidates on HIV
HIV Plus magazine has a new feature profiling how some of the Democratic presidential candidates plan to address HIV if elected, including Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Beto O’Rourke, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren.
A lot of their plans were similar and mirror broader positions they’ve already taken on health care and LGBTQ rights. I was glad to see Buttigieg, Harris, O’Rourke, Sanders, and Warren specifically address HIV criminalization laws. These laws punish exposure to HIV but are based on archaic science. They serve only to stigmatize people living with HIV and worsen the epidemic, because they discourage testing.
Fewer talked as much about immigration, but as a separate story on Plus explains, HIV is a serious barrier for refugees.
Candidates shy away from LGBTQ forums
There are a couple of names missing from that HIV survey, and but far more are missing from the upcoming LGBTQ issue candidate forums. GLAAD is hosting one in Iowa with The Gazette, The Advocate, and One Iowa, while HRC is partnering with CNN for another one in California.
So far, only Joe Biden, Buttigieg, Julián Castro, Amy Klobuchar, and Warren have committed to participating in both.
Justice for Straight Pride’s counterprotesters
On Friday, I noted in an update to my Straight Pride coverage that some rogue judge in Boston was insisting upon prosecuting the nonviolent counterprotesters who were arrested — even though the district attorney, Rachael Rollins, sought to drop charges. Well, she appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled today that the judge was out of line and ensured that Rollins’ decision to drop the charges stands.
There had been a rally over the weekend defending the counterprotesters and calling for the charges to be dropped. They also demanded that the police officer seen in many videos needlessly pepper spraying nonviolent counterprotesters resign:
Anti-LGBTQ group pretends not to know its reputation
Last week, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees took heat for making a video with Focus on the Family. Now, Focus on the Family is trying to figure out why everybody’s so upset! They’re using the ol’ “just because we disagree with you doesn’t mean that we hate you,” line, even though they have long promoted very harmful rejections of LGBTQ identities and civil rights.
Uber fires driver who kicked same-sex couple out of car
Over the weekend, an Uber driver in Camden County, NJ kicked a same-sex couple out of her car after the women shared a kiss. One of the women, Kristin Michele, captured the experience on video, with the driver openly admitting she was kicking them out for being gay.
Uber has confirmed that it has fired the driver for discriminating.
Village threatens same-sex couple not to marry there
The English village of Norton Malreward is home to 246 people, including same-sex couple Callum Hodge and Ashley Jenkins. But when they announced their engagement, they received a threatening letter warning them that it was the “consensus of the village” that they should hold their reception elsewhere. The letter also told Hodge that he “should be ashamed of himself for putting his grandparents through this.”
The wedding went off without a hitch, but the letter is now being investigated as hate mail.
U.S. ambassador joins first-ever Bosnia Pride
This weekend, the country of Bosnia hosted its first-ever Pride parade in Sarajevo. U.S. Ambassador Eric Nelson, who is gay, was among the thousands who participated.
Rio newspaper challenges anti-gay censorship
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro is an evangelical Christian by the name of Marcelo Crivela. Last week, he demanded that organizers of a big book fair hide the cover to the Avengers: The Children's Crusade, then even ordered it be banned from the fair entirely. When the fair organizers didn’t comply, he ordered a raid on the fair to seize the comic because of it's “sexual content for minors” — but it had already sold out.
That content? A same-sex kiss. And not only did Brazil’s Supreme Court overturn Crivela’s decision to censor the book, but one of the country’s biggest newspapers responded by printing the same-sex kiss on its front page.
Boxer not deterred by Saudia Arabia’s anti-gay laws
Boxer Anthony Joshua is participating in a world championship fight in Saudi Arabia later this year. Asked whether he was concerned about agreeing to go to a country that punishes homosexuality with the death penalty, Joshua said he might as well go because he’s “damned if I do and damned if I don’t.” He feels like he’s young and can try to make change when he’s older and more seasoned.
Don’t call Andrew Scott “openly gay”
You may know Andrew Scott from Sherlock (Moriarty) or Fleabag (The (hot) Priest), but he’s a wonderful actor who has never hidden his identity. In a new GQ interview, though, he objects to being described as “openly gay,” noting that many other identities don’t require the qualifier, even if they may be hidden. He also takes umbrage to the suggestion that being out as gay undermines his ability to play straight roles, noting that playing the role well is part of the job.
Trans man wins over Australia’s hearts
If you’ve never heard of Gogglebox, it’s a television show that films families and groups of friends as they react to other shows they’re watching. On the Australian version, they featured viewers watching the show This Time Next Year, which interviewed a trans man before and after his transition. The reactions are heartwarming and insightful. Give it a watch.
Until next time, stay platinum!
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(Mike Pompeo photo credit: Flickr/Gage Skidmore.)