White Hate American Summer
If you care about LGBTQ people, you need to care about white nationalists!
Happy Friday Eve! It’s night 2 of the first Democratic primary debates! I have a recap of the LGBTQ mentions from last night’s debate down toward the bottom if you’re into that kind of thing.
It’s also National HIV Testing Day! Do you know your status? If not, go get tested right now! Karamo says so. It might be too late in the day by the time you read this, but Walgreens is offering free testing today too, which is pretty cool.
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Yet another great series!
As part of its Pride coverage, Slate has published several interviews with LGBTQ old people! I used to do some organizing to support this community, which has its own set of unique struggles we really should be doing more to address. They also have a ton of wisdom to dispense! Read about Barbara Satin, who only came out publicly as trans at age 60, Jeremiah Newton, who was at Stonewall, and Melita Figueroa, who used to be a nun!
And add one more open tab to your to-read list. Over at Rewire, Jasmine Burnett surveys the “legacy of black lesbian feminist leadership.” It’s an important look at the role black lesbians have played throughout the history of queer activism!
The Barr is low
Attorney General William Barr, best known for lying about what’s in the Mueller report, reportedly held a closed-door meeting earlier this month with LGBTQ employees in the Justice Department. The staff pointed out that there’s been a lot of anti-LGBTQ hostility and a resulting exodus of LGBTQ workers.
Barr apparently read a statement declaring that discrimination against LGBTQ people is “anathema” and “simply wrong,” which contradicts the position the Trump administration has taken in several federal cases. He also issued a public statement recognizing Pride Month and declaring “zero tolerance” for anti-LGBTQ violence. I’ll leave it to the Chrises to highlight the hypocrisy:
They say the neon lights are trans on Broadway
When millions flock to NYC this weekend for World Pride, they’ll see in Times Square two new video billboards from the Transgender Law Center, an organization that fights to protect the civil rights of transgender Americans. It’s an incredible display of trans advocacy at the “crossroads of the world.” Make sure to check out and support TLC’s vital work for the community!
Too many days to recognize LGBTQ people?
Jonathon Clay de Hale of the Illinois Family Institute (an anti-LGBTQ hate group) is pissed because, by his count, there are at least 163 days on the calendar dedicated to recognizing LGBTQ people. He scoured the net to count every single observation he could find, like International Drag Day, Celebrate Bisexuality Day, and Asexuality Awareness Week. He didn’t seem to notice that many of these observations recognize mutually exclusive groups, let alone the fact many of them aren’t celebrated widely at all. He even counted days like “International Stand Up To Bullying Day,” not-so-subtly implying that rejecting LGBTQ people shouldn’t even count as bullying.
Conversely, he believes there are only 12 Christian days of observance. Apparently he’s not trying hard enough! Have you ever looked at a Catholic calendar? Every other day is some saint’s feast or some memorial day of solemnity. Maybe if he better dedicated himself to honoring his faith he wouldn’t have as much time to waste obsessing over what we queer people are up to.
I wish he’d published the full list of 163 he found; I’d try to observe them all just to spite him!
Let’s add another date to the calendar
The white supremacist extremists have finalized a date for their “Straight Pride” event in Boston: August 31. After years of hearing anti-gay Christians blasting Pride parades with Bible verses through a megaphone, I’ve joked about going to “Straight Pride” and doing the same thing but reading tweets from Gay Twitter™ instead. Joking aside, I really might go check it out though.
But two months is enough time to figure out a 164th celebration to counter that nonsense, right?
White nationalism and transphobia go hand-in-hand
It’s no coincidence that the group organizing “Straight Pride” is full of racial extremists. According to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, white nationalists are increasingly turning their hatred on transgender people. What’s one of their frequent targets? Drag queen story time. I’m really not kidding that drag queens reading books to kids is really fomenting a lot of hate in the world. (Drag queens usually aren’t trans, by the way, but these bigots don’t understand that — or care.)
Jordan Peterson gets a shoutout too for helping foment transphobia among conservatives. It’s a tough time to be a straight, cis, white guy, isn’t it?
And it’s not just in the U.S.
New stats show that it’s not just in the United States where violence against the trans community is escalating. Across the United Kingdom, hate crimes against transgender people have increased by 81% over the past financial year!
In the U.S., reporting on hate crimes is very inconsistent and often nonexistent, so it’s been challenging to assess whether increased reports of anti-trans violence each year (including reports today of another black transgender woman murdered) are the result of more violence or just better reporting of violence that accurately identifies transgender victims.
But such a jump in the U.K. seems to be much more emblematic of how mainstream transphobic views have become in British media. There is a very loud coalition of TERFs who are constantly attacking the protections granted by the Gender Recognition Act, and transgender people’s safety has massively deteriorated as a result.
More disconcerting numbers back home
Another new poll shows that back here in the U.S., support for discrimination is on the rise. According to PRRI’s latest survey, Americans are increasingly okay with small businesses discriminating against LGB people because of their religious beliefs. In 2014, only 16% approved of such discrimination, but five years later, it’s almost doubled to 30%.
Support has grown the most among — shocker — older Americans, white people, men, and white Protestants. The numbers were similar on the question of discriminating against transgender people.
We are genuinely backsliding, folks.
No, ex-gay is not an orientation
Blogger David Cary Hart noticed that a California anti-gay organization called Church United — which is by all accounts not a church — is suing Vimeo for blocking its videos supporting conversion therapy. They claim it’s a violation of their free speech (which it isn’t because Vimeo is private company) and also unlawful discrimination under California state law. They actually argue that they’re being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation.
Conversion therapy is a form of torture and hating yourself is not an orientation. Sorry, y’all.
Free me from “Freedom marches”
Speaking of ex-gays, apparently some of them held a “Freedom March” in St. Paul this past weekend. They claim they’ve been “healed” of their queer identities “by the grace and power of Jesus Christ.” And who showed up at the event? State Sen. Dan Hall (R), who helped narrowly defeat a ban on conversion therapy in the Minnesota state legislature last month. He’s got a litany of anti-LGBTQ comments, but his support for the march demonstrates that he actively supports trying to purge queer people of their identities. What a dangerous belief for someone in political office to hold.
A Real Houseson’s real struggle
Contrary to stereotype, I despise most reality television and know nothing and care little about most people on those shows. But today’s story from the world of the Real Housewives of New Jersey is truly heartbreaking. James Marchese, son of Jim Marchese from the show, is trying to crowdsource college funding after his father cut him off for being gay.
Apparently, it seems, James’ dad has been blackmailing him to try to make him act straight and “admit” that he chose to be gay. He won’t pay for college unless James lives with him and conforms to his dictated lifestyle.
Twitter has the receipts to show what a Jim, Sr. is.
I wish the kid well. No one deserves to experience that kind of rejection from their family.
Chipping away at sex work laws
Decriminalizing sex work is a vital aspect of LGBTQ advocacy, though not one widely recognized. For many trans people who have faced discrimination from their families and in employment and housing, sex work can be vital to their survival, but laws criminalizing it add yet an extra barrier to establishing their well-being.
Here in DC, we have an amazing organization called HIPS that promotes the health, rights, and dignity of those involved in sex work, sex trade, and drug use. In an op-ed in the Washington Blade, HIPS advocacy associate Tamika Spellman explains how the Sex Worker Advocates Coalition has been working to decriminalize consensual sex work here in the District:
Loss of income, discrimination, barriers to housing, and cycles of arrest increase desperation to meet basic needs, sometimes forcing people to unknown and potentially unsafe places and people, which can result in increases in violence. Something street-based sex workers know all too well.
Sex work decriminalization shifts this paradigm. Decriminalization is about my safety and access to resources. It’s about my liberty and freedom. It’s about my body and my autonomy. We should be fostering our community, focusing on our health, safety and the ability to thrive.
Removing criminal penalties for sex work reduces public violence and protects sex workers; reducing stigma and making resources and opportunities for growth readily available is a way better choice.
Click through to read more about her experiences and advocacy.
LGBTQ mentions in the first 2020 Democratic debate
I’m putting this in the bottom because I didn’t want you to have to scroll past it to read everything else. Here’s a quick rundown of the moments in which LGBTQ people were mentioned during the first 2020 Democratic Primary debate. Click through my tweets to see the video clips!
The very first reference to the LGBTQ community was subtle, but important. In the very first answer of the whole debate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) casually referred to the "Latinx” community. This term has been adapted in place of the gendered words “Latino/a” to be inclusive of people who are non-binary. Warren didn’t draw much attention to it, nor stumble over it; she just said it as if it’s part of her vernacular. Pretty cool.
The first explicit LGBTQ reference came from Julian Castro, who when discussing reproductive justice went out of his way to mention that trans people are impacted too! That’s true and important — except he said “trans female” when it’s actually trans men who need access to abortion. It was tempting to give him the benefit of the doubt that it was a slip of the tongue, but whoever was simultaneously tweeting for him didn’t seem to get it either. They got it slightly better in a follow-up tweet after the debate. E for Effort!
Castro formally apologized today for misspeaking and got it all-the-way right. Good save!
During an answer about gun control, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) discussed how she thinks attitudes are changing, dropping in a comparison to “gay marriage.” It was a cute try, but we haven’t really said “gay marriage” for a while now, so she really needs to update her talking points.
The biggest LGBTQ moment of the debate was when Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) was directly asked about her past history of having some pretty negative views. She gave a rather unconvincing stock answer, chewing on the letters “LGBTQ” in a grating way. As I wrote back in January when she did her big damage control campaign, her claim that she is now a big LGBTQ ally isn’t very convincing because she is still simultaneously undermining it. When Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) criticized a Trump judicial nominee for his support of the anti-LGBTQ Catholic organization the Knights of Columbus, Gabbard chastised them for “inciting bigotry based on religion.” It was the nominee who was the bigot, not Hirono and Harris, but Gabbard was still toeing the conservative line for “religious freedom.”
After Gabbard’s response, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) also jumped in and specifically called out the violence against trans women of color. “It’s not just enough to be on the Equality Act.” Right on! It was candid and it was legit. Booker gets the rainbow star for the night.
Last, and, well, least was Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), one of the many boring straight white men who definitely aren’t going to be president. Twice throughout the night, he listed off some of the diverse people who live in this country, including “gay and straight.” It was pretty facile inclusion, but it was there I guess!
I’ll try to do a similar round-up for the second debate tonight!
One Day at a Time SAVED!
This is the best news of the day in my opinion. The fabulous sitcom One Day at a Time, recently cancelled by Netflix, has been saved by Pop TV, which folks will likely know for Schitt’s Creek. ODAAT is a traditional three-camera sitcom, but it has all kinds of amazing LGBTQ, immigrant, racial, mental health, and veteran storylines; an incredible amount of heart; and RITA MORENO. #EGOT
If you haven’t seen it before, go back and watch it. It’ll definitely warm your spirits!
Some shameless but uplifting self-promotion
I realize today’s round-up is still overall pretty bleak, so I wanted to toss something more positive in at the end. Back on Mother’s Day, I published a piece over at Queerty about gay comedian Zach Zimmerman and his evolving relationship with his evangelical mom, Patty. It was really interesting getting to interview both of them and take a snapshot of the way they’re reconciling their relationship. Give it a read; it should give you some hope.
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Until next time, stay platinum!
(Photo Credit for Zach Zimmerman and his mom: Mindy Tucker.)