Positive and serving
HIV-positive service members fight to stay in the military.
I already sent you a bonus issue today! What, you still want a round-up of other LGBTQ news stories too? FINE!
But like, I really hope you’ll take the time to read today’s “DIVE” because it’s about a really important court case coming down the road and the fate of everybody’s nondiscrimination protections.
Here are other stories from today!
HIV-positive service members fight for right to serve
Most folks are familiar with the trans military ban, but less attention has been paid to the way the Trump administration has tried to drum out service members who are HIV-positive. Trump instituted a “deploy or get out” standard and used some antiquated understandings of HIV to kick out perfectly capable service members.
A group of those service members sued, and a judge actually ruled in their favor in February, ordering the Trump administration to suspend its practice of discharging personnel with HIV. The administration appealed, however, and today the service members had their day in court at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Richard Roe (pseudonym), a plaintiff in one of the cases, penned an op-ed today explaining what they’re fighting for:
At trial, my attorneys will prove that these discriminatory, outdated and stigmatizing policies against HIV-positive servicemembers are unconstitutional and must be ended. Today, however, we simply need the Fourth Circuit to recognize that the Air Force is violating its own regulations by discharging me and other Airmen living with HIV—and to allow us to remain in the Air Force, along with hundreds of others living with HIV, until the case has been decided at trial.
We shouldn’t have to fight so hard to fight for our country — but this is just one more battle from which I don’t intend to back down.
There’s no shortage of ways this administration will try to screw over people who are already vulnerable to discrimination.
California punishes Iowa for backsliding on trans rights
It might sound strange, but Iowa has actually tended to be ahead of the pack on LGBTQ rights. When I moved there for grad school in 2007, they had just passed an LGBTQ-inclusive anti-bullying law, and two years later their state Supreme Court approved marriage equality.
But like much of the country, Iowa has swung back in a conservative direction, and earlier this year, lawmakers there passed a law prohibiting transgender people from using Medicaid funding for transition-related procedures. It was a direct rebuff of a recent state Supreme Court decision guaranteeing trans citizens access to affirming care.
Well, the new law caught California’s eye, and it added Iowa to its list of places that state employees can not use public funding to travel to. It’s the 11th state to make the list.
Ed Buck finally arrested third man overdoses in his home
How many young men of color had to overdose on meth in Ed Buck’s home before he was finally arrested? It turns out the answer was three, and fortunately the third man actually survived. The Democratic donor has been charged with battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine, and maintaining a drug house.
I’ll let Jasmyne Cannick, who has never stopped pushing for Buck’s arrest, take the much deserved victory lap. Click through to read her full thread:
SNL hired a bigot to appeal to conservatives
I’m definitely tired of writing about this little Shane Gillis saga, but here’s one more important update. According to a report in Variety, the whole reason Saturday Night Live tried to hire this racist, homophobic comedian was because they felt they needed to do more to appeal to conservative viewers. Apparently mocking the Trump administration has given it too liberal a veneer?
If your comedy is based on holding truth to power, as SNL’s has long been, then that’s what you do. And when the current people in power are as wicked and inept as this administration, that’s what you call out. The joke’s on SNL for ending up being associated with a comedian who’s just as intolerant as the people the show often mocks.
Quick Hits
I already sent a lot your way today, so let’s just jump into some quick hits.
Betsy DeVos’ back-to-school tour includes a Catholic school with a strict anti-trans policy, because of course it does.
A new report confirms that since Trump was elected, mainstream media’s coverage of LGBTQ issues has all but vanished.
Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill (R) has blocked a rule that would have allowed people to more easily change the gender marker on their driver’s licenses.
The Mormon Church is still very anti-gay, as its president reminded students at Brigham Young University this week.
Employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are very concerned that one of its top administrators used to be an Alliance Defending Freedom attorney and is working to undermine LGBTQ equality.
Apple likes to talk about how LGBTQ-friendly it is, but why don’t its ads appear in many LGBTQ publications?
This Toronto Star op-ed objecting to Chick-fil-A’s anti-LGBTQ donations has really triggered the snowflake conservatives across the web (note the ratio, with close to 6,000 replies as I post this):
In his latest anti-LGBTQ move, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is now trying to censor “gender ideology” from public schools.
You’ll now be able to read the diaries of Lou Sullvian, the first gay trans man diagnosed with AIDS. He died in 1991.
You can also meet “Miguel,” the oldest living (known) HIV patient, who turned 100 this spring.
After dozens of seasons, the Bachelor franchise finally featured its first queer contestant and — SPOILER — she got engaged!
Okay, please go read today’s bonus issue! I think you’ll find it informative and interesting!
Until next time, stay platinum!
(U.S. airmen photo credit: Flickr/DVIDSHUB/Staff Sgt. Vernon Young Jr.)