LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV experience alarming rates of abuse in the criminal legal system, says a new report from Lambda Legal in partnership with Black and Pink National.
The report, “Protected and Served? 2022,” is based on a survey of more than 2,500 people who had interacted with police, courts, jails, prisons, and other governmental institutions, and it includes quantitative data as well.
It “provides an unprecedented glimpse into the widespread harm caused to LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV through their interactions with these institutions,” says a Lambda Legal press release.
The report is a follow-up to one released in 2012. The new one includes, for the first time, input from community members who were detained in jails and prisons across the U.S. People in detention accounted for 16.5 percent of participants. An additional report, “Spotlight Report: Detained Participants,” goes into more detail about their experiences.
Among the findings of “Protected and Served? 2022”:
• About 18 percent of survey participants said they had “exchanged sex or sexual performance for money or other things of value” in the past five years, and half experienced some form of police misconduct when engaging in sex work. This misconduct included police confiscating their money or demanding sex in exchange for not arresting them.
• Abuse in detention is the norm, not the exception. An overwhelming majority (94.3 percent) of detained participants reported experiencing abuse in prisons and jails, including verbal assault, physical assault, sexual harassment, sexual assault, other sexual contact, being referred to by the wrong name or pronoun, and being accused of an offense they did not commit.
• Nearly two-thirds of those in detention experienced a two-week or longer interruption of their medication routine, including hormone replacement therapy, antiretrovirals, heart medications, and psychotropic medications.
• In the courts, transgender participants of color were more likely to have their transgender status inappropriately revealed than white trans participants — 38 percent versus 22 percent.
• Participants who had face-to-face encounters with police in the past five years (57 percent) were less likely to trust the police than those who did not.
The report offers recommendations to help address these issues, such as supporting trans, gender-nonconforming, and nonbinary-led movements; supporting court reform efforts; decriminalizing sex work and HIV; eliminating barriers to legal recourse for people in detention; working to keep LGBTQ+ young people safe in schools; and banning profiling and other discriminatory law enforcement practices.
“Everyone who interacts with the criminal legal system, including LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV, must be treated fairly and have legal rights that must be protected,” Richard Saenz, Lambda Legal senior attorney and “Protected and Served?” project manager, said in the press release. “It is urgent and imperative that we address the root causes and devastating consequences of the obscene levels of abuse, discrimination, and misconduct reported throughout the criminal legal system – and hold those responsible accountable. We hope this report is an additional resource for community members, policy makers, and advocates.”
“The ‘Protected and Served?’ report is a critical tool for understanding the pervasive harms and injustices faced by incarcerated LGBTQ+ people,” added Black and Pink National Executive Director Dr. Tatyana Moaton. “We can shift the narrative and demand systemic change by amplifying the voices and experiences of those directly impacted. Our collective responsibility is to ensure that all individuals, regardless of their incarceration status or identity, are protected and served with dignity and humanity.”
Strength in Numbers Consulting Group, an LGBTQ-led research, evaluation, and philanthropic strategy firm, facilitated the survey and coauthored the report.
Join the Sonoma County Library for eventsthroughout the month of May, from live Afro-Cuban music to anime workshops for teens. All events are free and you don’t need a library card to attend; registration is required for select events. See some of our May events below!
Kids & Families
Children and families are invited to a special interactive story reading of I Am Latinxwith local children’s author Maria Alondra Jasso! Join us at two library locations: Healdsburg and Rincon Valley. For grades K-3.
Join local instructor Elsa Tapia for Bilingual Family Craft Time! Children will paint empty cantaritos while parents make paper flowers. At two library locations: Rincon Valley and Roseland. For grades K-12.
Tweens & Teens
Love looking at the stars? Come to the Windsor Library on Tuesday, May 23, at 6:00 pmfor the Young Astronomers Club! Club members will study the night sky, learn how to use telescopes, and meet other kids who are interested in space. For grades 4-9.
Calling all teen anime fans! Join us for Anime Clubs & Workshops that are all about this Japanese art. At seven library locations: Windsor, Rincon Valley, Central Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Northwest Santa Rosa, Sonoma Valley, and Roseland. For grades 7-12.
All Ages
Join Carlitos Medrano and the Afro-Cuban trio band Sabor De Mi Cuba at the Petaluma Library on Saturday, May 6, at 2:00 pm. You won’t want to miss this performance of traditional Cuban and current Latin music!
Adults
Paint your own stylized picture frame with Oaxacan artist Irma Rodriguez! Frame Painting Workshops are available at four library locations: Guerneville, Rohnert Park-Cotati, Cloverdale, and Roseland. These events are in Spanish with an English interpreter.
Protect your personal information and securely dispose of unwanted documents with Becoming Independent’s Secured Document Shredding Truck! Limit of three boxes per person. Catch the truck at three libraries: Windsor, Healdsburg, and Guerneville.
Thank you for being a member of the Sonoma County Library community. Visit us online or in person at one of our branches. Be sure to check out open jobs at Sonoma County Library here. Questions? Please call your local library branch or click here to send us a message. Eventos de mayo Únete a la Biblioteca del Condado de Sonoma para los eventosofrecidos durante el mes de mayo. Presentamos eventos como música afro-cubano en vivo hasta talleres de anime para jóvenes. Todos los eventos son gratuitos y no necesita una tarjeta de la biblioteca para asistir; sí es necesario registrarse para algunos eventos. ¡Vea una selección de los eventos de mayo a continuación!
Niños y familias
Niños y familias están invitados a una narración de cuento especial e interactiva con la autora local de literatura infantil, Maria Alondra Jasso! Ofrecido en dos bibliotecas: Healdsburg y Rincon Valley.Para los grados K-3.
Únete a la instructora local Elsa Tapia para una clase bilingüe de manualidades familiares. ¡Los niños pintarán cantaritos mientras que los padres harán flores de papel! Ofrecido en dos bibliotecas: Rincon Valley y Roseland. Para los grados K-12.
Jóvenes y jovencitos
¿Te gusta mirar las estrellas? ¡Ven a la biblioteca de Windsor el martes 23 de mayo a las 6 de la tarde para el Club de Jóvenes Astrónomos! Los miembros del club estudiarán el cielo nocturno, aprenderán como usar telescopios, y conocerán a otros niños que están interesados en el espacio. Para los grados 4-9.
¡Llamando a todos los fans adolescentes del anime! Acompáñanos para los clubs y talleres del anime que son todos sobre el arte japonés. Ofrecido en siete bibliotecas: Windsor, Rincon Valley, Central Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Northwest Santa Rosa, Sonoma Valley, y Roseland. Para los grados 7-12.
Todas las edades
Únete con Carlitos Medrano y el trío afrocubano Sabor De Mi Cuba en la biblioteca de Petaluma el sábado 6 de mayo a las 2 de la tarde. ¡No querrás perderte este concierto de música cubana tradicional y música latina de hoy en día!
Adultos
¡Pinta tu propio marco estilizado con la artista oaxaqueña Irma Rodríguez! Talleres de pintar marcosestán disponibles en cuatro ubicaciones de la biblioteca: Guerneville, Rohnert Park-Cotati, Cloverdale y Roseland. Estos eventos son en español con un intérprete de inglés.
¡Protege tu información personal y destruye de forma segura los documentos no deseados con el camión de trituración segura de documentos de Becoming Independent! Límite de tres cajas por persona. Visita el camión en tres bibliotecas: Healdsburg, Windsor, y Guerneville.
Cheryl King hosts this extravaganza of burlesque, song and dance, sketches, comedy, and more. Also appearing: Velvet Thorn, Martin Gilbertson, Shannon DeJong, Alia Beeton, Serena Elize Flores, Noah Sternhill and Blue. PLUS another Dirty Limericks Contest! Bring your own original limerick. The audience votes on the best one. Top three win a prize! (Prizes graciously donated by Secrets Boutique in Santa Rosa).
Adult-oriented material, for those 18+. Parental guidance is suggested.
Montana became the latest state to ban or restrict gender-affirming medical care for transgender kids Friday when its Republican governor signed legislation that exiled transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr told fellow lawmakers would leave “blood” on their hands.
Montana is one of at least 15 states with laws to ban such care despite protests from the families of transgender youth that the care is essential.
Debate over Montana’s bill drew national attention after Republicans punished Zephyr for her remarks, saying her words were personally offensive. House Speaker Matt Regier refused to let Zephyr speak on the House floor until she apologized. She has not.
Zephyr decried the bill’s signing, saying “it is unconscionable to deprive Montanans of the care that we need.”
“I know that this is an unconstitutional bill. It is as cruel as it is unconstitutional. And it will go down in the courts,” Zephyr said. To trans youth she added: “There’s an understandable inclination towards despair in these moments, but know that we are going to win and until then, lean on community, because we will have one another’s backs.”
On Monday, Zephyr had stood defiantly on the House floor with her microphone raised as protesters shouted “Let her speak,” disrupting House proceedings for at least 30 minutes. Zephyr was then banned from the House and its gallery and voted on bills from a bench in the hallway outside the House on Thursday and Friday.
Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Montana have said they would file a court challenge against the ban, which is set to take effect on Oct. 1, starting a five-month clock in which Montana youth can try to find a way to work around the ban or to transition off of hormone treatment.
“This bill is an overly broad blanket ban that takes decisions that should be made by families and physicians and puts them in the hands of politicians,” the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics has said.
Gov. Greg Gianforte signaled his willingness to sign the bill on April 17 when he offered some amendments to make it clear that public funds could not be used to pay for hormone blockers, cross-sex hormones or surgical procedures.
The bill “protects Montana children from permanent, life-altering medical procedures until they are adults, mature enough to make such serious decisions,” Gianforte wrote in his letter accompanying the amendments.
Debate over the amendments led Zephyr to admonish supporters the following day. House Majority Leader Sue Vinton said Zephyr’s language was “entirely inappropriate, disrespectful and uncalled for.”
The Montana Freedom Caucus deliberately misgendered Zephyr, using male pronouns in a letter saying she should be censured. After Monday’s protest, the caucus said she should be further disciplined.
Under the new law, health professionals who provide care banned by the measure could have their medical licenses suspended for at least a year. They could also be sued in the 25 years following a banned procedure if a patient suffers physical, psychological, emotional or physiological harm. Physicians could not hold malpractice insurance against such lawsuits. The law also prohibits public property and employees from being involved in gender-affirming treatment.
During hours of emotional committee hearings, opponents testified that hormone treatments, and in some cases, surgery, are evidence-based care, supported by numerous medical associations and can be life-saving for someone with gender dysphoria — the clinically significant distress or impairment caused by feeling that one’s gender identity does not match one’s biological sex.
Parents of transgender children testified that the bill infringed on their parental rights to seek medical care for their children.
Opponents also noted that treatments such as puberty-blockers and breast-reduction surgery would still be legal for minors who are not suffering from gender dysphoria, a difference they argue is unconstitutional.
In the letter to legislative leaders accompanying his proposed amendments, Gianforte said he met with transgender residents, understands that their struggles are real and said Montanans who struggle with gender identity deserve love, compassion and respect.
“That’s not what trans Montanans need from you,” Zephyr said as the House considered his amendments. “We need access to the medical care that saves our lives.”
This was the second legislative session in which Sen. John Fuller brought the bill to ban gender-affirming care for transgender children. In 2021, when he was a member of the House, he brought a bill to ban surgical and hormone treatments for transgender children, which was voted down. He brought a second bill to ban surgical treatments which was also rejected. He was successful in 2021 in passing a bill to ban transgender females from participating in girls and women’s sports. The part of the bill that applied to colleges was ruled unconstitutional.
LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya face the threat of deportation if proposed anti-homosexuality laws are passed in parliament.
Homosexuality is already illegal in Kenya, but the the Family Protection Bill 2023 would expand upon these laws, meaning LGBTQ+ people would face life sentences for simply identifying as themselves.
If passed, the bill would impose a jail term of no less than five years on people found guilty of assembling, picketing, promoting or supporting LGBTQ-specific activities.
This would be dire not only for Kenyans, but refugees as well. The proposed bill would also allow for “the expulsion of refugees and asylum seekers” who identify as LGBTQ+.
Kenya is home to half a million refugees in camps across the country from Kakuma and Dadaab, according to Washington Blade. Refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya are mainly from Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, countries that have endured war, famine and economic instability.
Prior to this bill, Kenya was the only country in the region accepting refugee and asylum seekers without asking about their sexuality.
Recently, however, there have been increased attacks against LGBTQ+ people in the camps, especially in Kakuma, Kenya’s largest camp.
A report conducted by the Organisation for Refuge, Asylum and Migration (ORAM) found that 83 per cent of LGBTQ+ refugees at Kakuma experienced physical violence due to their sexual orientation, with 26 per cent reporting sexual assault.
The report includes the horrific experience of a trans refugee living in the camps, who shared that they were forced to have sex with a woman.
“They forced me to have sex with the lady. They then lectured me on the need to get married and have children of my own. They left me traumatized. Two days later they asked the lady to come and stay with me as my wife.
“That is when I escaped from the block and moved to live with a friend in an area far from my allocated shelter. I did not report the incident since I was afraid the police would equally stigmatise me for who I am.”
There are currently 300 LGBTQ+ refugees in Kakuma who have started an online petition, pleading with the Kenyan government to stamp out discrimination and address the mistreatment they’ve been dealing with in the camps.
The petition reads: “As refugees who have sought safety and refuge from conflict and persecution, we should not have to endure further suffering and discrimination within the confines of the camp. Yet, this is the reality for many of us.
“We are subjected to brutal attacks and physical violence from fellow refugees who hold homophobic views, leaving us with deep wounds and scars that often result in physical disability. Some of our community members have even lost their lives in these attacks.”
The proposed bill will only worsen their lives and leave them with nowhere to go.
President of Kenya William Ruto, however, slammed this ruling and said: “It is not possible for our country Kenya to allow same-sex marriages … It will happen in other countries but not in Kenya.”
Anti-homosexuality laws have increased across the African continent as more countries introduce oppressive laws that target LGBTQ+ people.
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, an extreme right-winger who has called LGBTQ+ people “filth,” is seeking the 2024 Republican nomination for governor.
Robinson announced his candidacy Saturday. In North Carolina, the governor and lieutenant governor run separately, not as a slate. Robinson will face North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell in the Republican primary, while the likely Democratic nominee is Josh Stein, currently the state’s attorney general. Current Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, cannot run again due to term limits.
Robinson held a rally at Ace Speedway and also released a video, in which he said, “I don’t care about the zip code you live in, the size of your paycheck, whether you’re Black, white, straight, or gay.” However, his record belies that statement.
Speaking at a North Carolina church in June 2021, he said, “There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth.”
He added, “And yes, I called it filth, and if you don’t like that I called it filth, come see me and I’ll explain it to you.”
In November of that year, in another church appearance, he said straight couples are superior to same-sex ones because they can potentially reproduce sexually. He equated LGBTQ+ people with “what the cows leave behind” as well as “maggots” and “flies.”
Just last month, he told a church congregation, “Makes me sick every time I see it, when I pass a church that flies that rainbow flag, which is a direct, a direct spit in the face of God almighty,” The American Independentreports. He also said, “God formed me because he knew there was going to be a time when God’s learning was going to be intolerable to the wicked, when children were going to be dragged down to go see the drag show, when pornography was going to be presented to our children in schools.”
His anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric goes back years. In January 2017, he posted on Facebook calling Michelle Obama “he” and “an anti-American, abortion and gay marriage supporting, liberal leftist elitist and I’ll be glad when he takes his boyfriend and leaves the White House.”
He also has made many anti-choice, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and pro-gun comments, and he has put down his fellow Black Americans. He has said a woman’s body ceases to be her own when she is pregnant. He has called survivors of the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., “silly little immature media prosti-tots” for their activism on behalf of gun control.
On Facebook, he said of the movie Black Panther, “It is absolutely AMAZING to me that people who know so little about their true history and REFUSE to acknowledge the pure sorry state of their current condition can get so excited about a fictional ‘hero’ created by an agnostic Jew [Stan Lee] and put to film by satanic marxist. How can this trash, that was only created to pull the shekels out of your Schvartze pockets, invoke any pride?”
About reparations for slavery, he said in 2021, “Nobody owes you anything for slavery. If you want to tell the truth about it, it is you who owes. Why do you owe? Because somebody in those fields took strikes for you! … Somebody had to walk through Jim Crow for you! Somebody fought wars and died for you!”
Democrats reacted swiftly to Robinson’s announcement. “Mark Robinson is an extremist who has built a legacy of division by spewing hate toward the LGBTQ community, disrespecting women, putting culture wars ahead of classrooms, and pushing to ban abortion with no exceptions,” said a statement from Anderson Clayton, the North Carolina Democratic Party chair, broadcaster WRAL reports. “We need a Governor who will expand opportunities for working families and uphold our fundamental rights — not a dangerous politician whose reckless policies would kill jobs and threaten North Carolinians’ future.”
Republican activist Jonathan Felts predicted Robinson would win the primary over Folwell, who is also an opponent of LGBTQ+ rights and abortion rights. “The short answer is that Robinson’s going to win the primary,” Felts told WRAL. “The longer answer is Dale Folwell’s a great public servant, but I just don’t see a pathway for him to be able to get his message out there.”
GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, is updating findings to the first comprehensive count and analysis of increased threats, protests and violent action against drag events nationwide. An additional 25 incidents were documented in 2023 as of April 25, according to data gathered by GLAAD in partnership with the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.
Findings
GLAAD found 166 incidents of anti-LGBTQ protests and threats targeting drag events since early 2022, with a sharp uptick beginning in Pride season 2022 and continuing through the midterm election cycle. False rhetoric was deployed against performers in campaign ads for the 2022 midterm elections, and rhetoric escalated to violence including the firebombing of a Tulsa donut shop that had hosted a drag event in October 2022. Equality Texasdocumented additional targeted events throughout the year, including an armed demonstration and confrontation in San Antonio.
Participation in anti-drag incidents in 2023 has included the Proud Boys, white supremacists, and religious extremists. ADL has tracked at least seven events where members of known extremist groups showed up.
2023 Incidents
04/08/23—Cottonwood, AZ—At least 10 members of the Proud Boys, some in tactical vests and face masks, protested a sold-out Arizona Pride Tour drag event. LINK
04/05/23—Pasco, WA—Extremists protest an all-ages Disney-themed drag show. LINK
04/01/23—Chardon, OH—White nationalist organization the Patriot Front among protesters at a drag brunch at a bar. LINK
04/01/23—Chesterland, OH—White nationalist organization the Patriot Front among protesters at a Drag Queen Story Hour at a church. LINK
03/31/23—Chardon, OH—Drag-friendly church firebombed by neo-Nazi. LINK
03/26/23—Indianapolis, IN—Indy Reads bookstore temporarily closed following a bomb threat targeted the store’s monthly Drag Story Hour. LINK
03/26/23—Louisville, KY—Protestors and a bomb threat targeting a Drag Queen Story Time show forced the evacuation of a building. The same event faced online threats from a neo-Nazi group. LINK
03/24/23—Chesterland, OH—The Community Church of Chesterland, which plans to host a Drag Story Hour next Saturday, said its sign and building were vandalized by molotov cocktails Friday night, and that Proud Boys were sending online notices encouraging protests. LINK
03/22/23—Prestonburg, KY—An all-ages drag show was canceled after organizers and supporters said they faced online threats of armed protest. LINK
03/22/23—Tuscon, AZ—Bookmans Northwest location postponed its Drag Story Hour after a campaign by The Bridge Christian Church to get the event canceled; the Proud Boys offered the church “extra security.” LINK
03/11/23—Wadsworth, OH—Protest at “Rock-n-Roll Humanist Drag Queen Story Hour” in Memorial Park. Two people were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after melees involving pepper spray, the violent use of a flag pole as a weapon, and a protester who pointed an object that looks like a gun at a crowd. LINK.
03/09/23—New York City—Anti-drag panel discussion at a New York Young Republican Club event featuring Roger Stone and Red Scare podcast hosts Dasha Nekrasova and Anna Khachiyan. LINK
03/08/23—Royal Oak, MI—A small protest over Drag Queen Story Hour being held at the lesbian-owned Sidetrack Bookshop was met with a significantly larger group of pro-equality counter protesters. LINK
02/25/23—Lakewood, TX—Anti-LGBTQ protesters gathered outside a drag queen brunch at BuzzBrews. The groups held signs reading “stop grooming children,” “defend traditional values,” and “drag the queens out of town.” LINK.
02/24/23—New York, NY—Anti-LGBTQ protesters showed up at Jackson Heights Library to disrupt a Drag Story Hour event. LINK.
02/22/23—New York, NY—Anti-LGBTQ protesters assembled outside of the Queens Public Library to disrupt a Drag Story Hour event. LINK.
02/19/23—Tempe, AZ—A coffee shop closed down after receiving a bomb threat during their Drag Queen Story Hour. LGBTQ-owned Brick Road Coffee was the target of heavy online harassment after the event caught the attention of the Proud Boys. The bomb threat was sent over the internet. Police confirmed Proud Boys were “in the area” at the time of the event. LINK
02/18/23—Silver Spring, MD—A drag queen story hour at Loyalty Books was targeted by members of the far-right group the Proud Boys. Protesters reportedly used anti-LGBTQ slurs, including false allegations of grooming, and “graphic accusations.” LINK
02/03/23—Orlando, FL— Florida Gov. DeSantis’s administration filed a complaint against the Orlando Philharmonic Plaza Foundation over a showing of Nina West’s “A Drag Queen Christmas” in December 2022. The complaint alleges that the show violated state law for allowing a person to “commit lewd or lascivious exhibition” in the presence of a minor and seeks to revoke the foundation’s liquor license. LINK
01/31/23—St. Louis, MO—Urban Fort, a play place for children with a cafe for adults has rescheduled and relocated its book reading event for kids with Drag performers due to death threats. LINK
01/28/23—Princeton, TX—Texas Family Project protests drag show at Deffibaugh Community Center. LINK
01/21/23—Cokeville, TN—Extremists in white masks stood across from Hix Farm Brewery, held a Nazi flag, and chanted homophobic slurs. They carried signs, reading “Why do they want an audience of children?”—despite the event being open only to those 18 years of age or older. LINK.
01/20/23—Salt Lake City, UT—Proud Boy members protest an all-ages drag show outside Tea Zaanti, a local wine and tea shop. LINK
01/14/23—Taunton, MA—People in masks protested outside and inside the Taunton Public Library at a Drag Queen Story Hour. LINK
01/14/23—Dallas, TX—Protect Texas Kids (PTK) protested outside a BuzzBrews Kitchen’s Lakewood location drag show. LINK
Anti-Drag Legislation 2023
GLAAD is tracking legislative proposals in 14 states (as of April 2023) that aim to restrict or ban drag, including Tennessee’s SB0003 which has been signed into law (it’s currently under a temporary restraining order by a U.S. federal judge). In many cases, extremist politicians pointed to local drag events as the motivation for new legislation that would ban public drag performances such as those that take place at Pride festivals, ban minors from observing drag performers, including library events such as Drag Story Hour, or reclassify venues that host drag performances as “adult” or “adult cabaret” venues.
ARIZONA
SB1026—Would restrict the “use of state monies prohibited for drag shows targeting minors.”
SB1028— Would not allow drag performances in public spaces.
SB1030—Would define establishments that host drag shows as “adult-oriented businesses”
IDAHO
H0231—Would not allow drag performances in public spaces.
H0265—Would not allow drag performances in public spaces.
KANSAS
SB201—Would ban the expenditure of state moneys for the production or performance of drag shows for which minors are the primary audience.
KENTUCKY
SB115—Would reclassify any establishment that hosts drag shows as an “adult-oriented business,” and would ban them within a thousand feet of schools, parks, or homes.
MISSOURI
SB429—Would criminalize drag shows where minors are present
HB498—Would criminalize drag shows where minors are present
HB494—Creates the offense of engaging in an adult cabaret performance, including drag
MONTANA
HB359—Would prohibit minors from attending drag shows
MINNESOTA
HF1903—Would classify drag performances a “adult entertainment”
SG933— Would classify drag performances a “adult entertainment”
NEBRASKA
KB371—Would prohibit an individual under nineteen years of age or under twenty-one years of age from being present at a drag show as prescribed
TENNESSEE
HB0009/SB0003—Criminalizes drag performances in public. Passed into law but is under a temporary restraining order issued by a U.S. District Court judge
SB0841—Would classify all drag performances as “adult cabaret”
HB708— Would classify venues that host drag performances as “sexually-oriented” businesses
HB643—Would classify venues that host drag performances as “sexually-oriented” businesses
WEST VIRGINIA
HB3176—Would prohibit drag shows from being performed in front of minors and to prohibit people from dressing in drag when reading aloud during story time in schools.
The 2022 analysis found here included states with the highest number of drag events targeted by protests and threats:
Texas (20)
North Carolina (10)
Illinois (8)
Tennessee (6)
California (6)
Georgia (5)
While many of the incidents were reported in smaller cities and towns in the South and Midwest, a number also took place in areas with higher LGBTQ populations and LGBTQ-inclusive communities.
A number of the drag events targeted by threats and protests in person were first targeted by right-wing media outlets like Fox News and the Daily Wire, and social media accounts like LibsOfTikTok. The outlets and accounts often misrepresented what would occur at upcoming drag events, spinning them as harmful to children, and protests or threats would follow. A Media Matters report from June 2022 found that Fox News had devoted more hours to targeting drag queens and transgender people than to coverage of the January 6 insurrection hearings.
A Media Matters analysis in November found that disturbing misinformation about drag had ramped up on Fox News and the Daily Wire in the weeks before the Tulsa firebombing, with Tucker Carlson falsely claiming that drag queens “want to sexualize children,” and the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh calling on police to “break down the doors” of LGBTQ clubs and arrest drag queens. Sometimes the targeting came full-circle, with right-wing media hyping up negative attention ahead of an event and continuing afterward. In June 2022, LibsOfTikTok targeted the Couer D’Alene, Idaho “Pride In The Park” (where 31 anti-LGBTQ protesters were arrested, see tweet below) ahead of the event, saying that a “family friendly drag dance party” was being promoted by the Idaho Satanic Temple. Afterward, the account shared a doctored video of a drag performer that spread misinformation and falsely alleged indecent exposure during the performance, which led the drag performer to file a lawsuit in September. The LibsOfTikTok account was briefly suspended by Twitter in September after news reports connected its posts to bomb threats made against children’s hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to transgender youth, but the account was reinstated.
A number of 2022 incidents involved violence or weapons. Extremist groups like the Proud Boys, Patriot Front, and local white supremacist chapters were involved in several incidents.
In Tulsa, OK, this October, security video captured a person smashing the windows of a donut shop before lighting a Molotov cocktail and firebombing the storefront.
A bomb threat was emailed to a local news station in South Carolina, claiming several bombs were planted at a restaurant hosting drag brunch and threatening to kill performers and attendees.
About 50 members of the Proud Boys extremist group armed with long guns and in helmets, full face masks and flak jackets protested Drag Story Hour at a church in Ohio.
Neo-Nazis with swastikas and transphobic signs at a Pflugerville, TX, restaurant hosting a drag brunch.
Armed protestors, raising hands in Nazi salutes, disrupt a drag bingo fundraiser in Katy, TX.
Alleged Proud Boys disrupt multiple LGBTQ-inclusive events in Arlington, TX, blocking the sidewalk, falsely claiming attendees were “pedophiles.” Extremist protesters with a history of recording and photographing children without consent protest drag performances at a restaurant in Houston.
San Antonio concert venue cancels upcoming drag shows for the year, citing threats against performers and staff. In Eugene, OR, this October, protesters carried semiautomatic rifles and threw rocks and smoke bombs.
In the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, IL, in September, a public library canceled a drag bingo event after receiving a threatening letter that included a bullet and the phrase “more to come.”
In Memphis, Tennessee, in September, local leaders said Proud Boys were among thearmed protesters that showed up to a drag event at the Museum of Science and Industry, forcing the event’s last-minute cancellation.
In Sparks, NV, in June, children at the town library ran for safety from a Proud Boysprotester carrying a gun.
In Couer d’Alene, ID, in June, police arrested 31 Patriot Front members who had traveled from ten different states armed with riot gear and smoke grenades to protest a Pride event that had been targeted by LibsOfTikTok online.
Mendocino County Pride Celebration will be held in Hopland this year!
Saturday we will shut down Center Street between Hopland Tap & Thatcher Hotel. The Street Party begins at 1pm with music, food, art, beer & wine. This is a chance to connect with the LGBTQIA+ community and allies. This is a family-friendly event and all ages are welcome. A $5 donation will go towards the event and our beneficiary The Ford Street Project.
A drag show will follow at Hopland Tap from 6-8pm. There is no cover and the restaurant will also be open for dinner service.
Sunday join us for Drag Brunch at Thatcher Hotel. This will also be a family-friendly show and we will have a local drag competition with winners chosen by the audience. This is from 11-1pm.
We are so excited to get the community together and celebrate our queer community and the inclusivity of Mendocino County & Beyond!
During the LGBTQ Victory Fund’s National Champagne Brunch Sunday morning in Washington, D.C., the Washington Blade spoke with Fabian Nelson, a Black and gay Democratic candidate who could become the first out LGBTQ lawmaker ever to serve in the Mississippi Legislature.
Nelson will square off against two opponents from his party in the Aug. 8 primary. If successful, he would face a general election on Nov. 7, an easier gambit provided the seat to represent Mississippi’s 66th House District is solidly Democratic, Nelson said.
Notwithstanding his electoral prospects, Nelson acknowledged the challenges with racism and homophobia that he has continued to contend with as a candidate, along with the hostile political environment in which he would serve if elected. Still, he is optimistic about the trajectory of his campaign and for the potential to move Mississippi in a better direction.
“I come from a family of a lot of ‘firsts,’” Nelson said. His grandfather opened a bank in the early 1900s for Black residents of his hometown, while his grandmother was the first Black nurse to integrate the hospital in Yazoo City and his father was the first Black graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s dental school.
“They keep raising the bar, so I have to raise it a little bit higher,” he said.
Mississippi has a Republican trifecta as well as a Republican triplex, which means the party exerts tremendous political power with control over both chambers of the state’s legislature and the governorship, along with the offices of the secretary of state and attorney general.
If elected, Nelson would represent residents of Mississippi’s majority-Black state capital, Jackson – which has long suffered with issues like high poverty rates and rising crime, including gun violence.
Years of poor governance have exacerbated these problems, while the state’s conservative legislators have used the city’s condition as a pretext to strip residents of the right to choose their elected leaders.
Nelson has an expansive range of policy areas that he said will be major priorities should he win the House seat, from expanding Mississippi’s Medicaid program to fighting back against the conservatives’ disenfranchisement of his constituents in Jackson and their harmful anti-LGBTQ legislative proposals.
Anti-LGBTQ legislative bigotry coupled with homophobic personal attacks
During Mississippi’s first legislative session of 2023, lawmakers considered 31 anti-LGBTQ bills, more than were introduced anywhere else in the country.
Nelson, who was involved in advocacy against these legislative proposals as a member of the Human Rights Campaign, noted the importance of mobilizing the public’s opposition to anti-equality bills in helping to defeat 30 of those 31 proposals that failed to pass in the last session.
Unfortunately, Nelson said, the lone bill that survived was perhaps the most harmful of those under consideration in the chamber – a measure barring access to guideline directed gender affirming health care interventions for youth in Mississippi with gender dysphoria, which the governor signed into law in late February.
It was a major blow, Nelson acknowledged. At the same time, he said, pushing back more effectively against Republican messaging on the healthcare ban, such as by framing its proponents as politicians who are trying to “play doctor,” may have yielded a different outcome.
Nelson is not just encountering anti-LGBTQ bigotry in the legislative context, but also that which has been directed at him personally as a gay candidate for public office in a deep-red state in the Deep South. Especially in Mississippi and among older folks in the state, homophobia can come from voters and elected officials even from his own party, Nelson said.
“I think [my] being LGBTQ may pose a problem with some of the Democratic lawmakers” in the chamber, he said.
Nelson told the Blade one of his supporters, an 80-year-old Jackson resident whom he affectionately calls “Miss Emma,” was approached by a Democratic opponent who asked her, “How do you feel about [Nelson] being gay with his [LGBTQ] agenda?”
“All these years, I’ve voted for straight people,” Nelson said she told him. “None of them came and picked my garbage up or cleaned my flowerbed out.”
Following the city government’s shutdown of trash hauling services earlier this month, Nelson said he had personally been picking up and disposing of garbage for Miss Emma along with Jackson’s other elderly or disabled residents.
Nelson said effectuating real change is possible when pro-equality candidates run for office, fight for their constituents, establish relationships with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and communicate effectively with the public about what is (and is not) happening in the Capitol building to encourage more active civic engagement and strengthen political organizing efforts.
Entrenched issues of racial justice
Nelson’s campaign comes amid the scandal over the GOP-led Tennessee House of Representatives’ expulsion of two Black Democratic lawmakers from the chamber, which was widely denounced as racially motivated.
Meanwhile, over the Mississippi border into Alabama, the state’s Republican Gov. Kay Ivey last week ousted the Black director of early childhood education, Barbara Cooper, for including teaching on concepts like inclusion and structural racism.
Asked how he expects to contend with racism in the chamber if elected, Nelson said conflict can be minimized and discussions made more productive in many cases by practicing active listening so those with different views feel heard.
“You don’t have to be the loudest one in the room to make an impact” he said, so long as you are “standing your ground when it comes to bad legislation and, you know, standing my ground and fighting for what I believe in, not backing down.”
Engaging members of the public and bringing them into the fold is another crucial tool, Nelson said. He pointed to the public outcry in Tennessee and across the country that led voters to return state Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones to their democratically elected seats in the legislature.
Residents in Jackson were not only deprived by their government of garbage collection services, but also suffered the near collapse of the city’s water system, prompting the U.S. Department of Justice to step in with a lawsuit last year on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Civil Rights.
Meanwhile, rising crime in Jackson and calls for an increased police presence created the pretext for Mississippi’s Republican lawmakers to pass H.B. 1020, legislation that will allow conservative state officials to appoint, rather than allowing constituents to elect, judges and prosecutors in the city’s sprawling Capitol Complex Improvement District.
They will serve alongside a Capitol Police force whose jurisdiction was expanded despite the department’s officers having shot four citizens since last August with little explanation or accountability.
News that the governor signed H.B. 1020 into law last week had instigated protests, by which point Nelson said it was already too late. He said the time to rally opposition among voters, which would have first required effectively reaching them with information about how the law would strip them of political power and autonomy to pick their elected officials, was immediately after Republican lawmakers had introduced it.
“If you have the citizens, the people, in your corner,” he said, “you cannot lose when you start exposing this bad stuff that’s happening.”
“And one more thing,” Nelson said, pointing to a pin on the lapel of his jacket, “this is our new state flag.”
Four years ago, amid considerable pressure from the public, the GOP-controlled legislature made the extraordinary decision to replace Mississippi’s state flag that had flown since 1894, which depicted the Confederate battle flag in its upper left canton.
The new banner features a white magnolia blossom befitting of the state’s official nickname.