Violent threats against the LGBTQ community are rising and intensifying according to data from a document by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that was shared with law enforcement and government agencies on May 11.
“These issues include actions linked to drag-themed events, gender-affirming care, and LGBTQIA+ curricula in schools,” the agency said.
DHS also warned of the potential that these threats may lead to a rise in attacks against LGBTQ public spaces and healthcare sites, just as Pride celebrations across the country are slated to begin in June.
According to the agency, data from the FBI’s hate crime statistics indicates that 20 percent of those committed in 2021 were motivated by bias linked to sexual orientation and gender.
The Williams Institute of the UCLA School of Law reported in 2022 that “LGBT people [are] nine times more likely than non-LGBT people to be victims of violent hate crimes.”
The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a group that describes itself as “a disaggregated data collection, analysis, and crisis mapping project,” found that anti-LGBTQ incidents including “demonstrations, acts of political violence, and the distribution of offline propaganda — have more than tripled from 64 events in 2021 to 193 events in 2022 as of mid-November.”
Orlando police said they’re investigating and confirming a homophobic threat that was posted on a digital traffic sign in Lake Nona that read “Kill all gays.” Police say the threat was posted on a sign at Lake Nona Blvd. and Nemours Pkwy. around 3:45 a.m. on Wednesday and that the sign appeared to have been tampered with.
News 6 is asking Orlando police if this kind of incident would fall under a new bill the governor signed into law last month that makes it a more punishable crime if someone projects hateful messages onto private property without permission. Police said the investigation is ongoing.
Wednesday commemorated the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia around the world. But in the city where a gunman killed 49 people inside a popular gay bar in 2016, the day began with the hateful message. Hours later, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed into law four bills targeting transgender rights.
The bill package — dubbed “Let Kids Be Kids” — imposes restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors and adults; expands the ban on gender identity and sexual orientation instruction in classrooms; makes it a crime to admit minors to drag performances; and bans trans people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity.
A Democratic organization has censured a Texas state Democrat who voted in favor of two anti-LGBTQ+ bills.
Texas State Rep. Shawn Thierry (D) recently voted in support of HB 900, a bill to ban LGBTQ+-themed books from schools. She was also one of four state Democrats to vote in favor of SB 14, a bill to ban trans youth from accessing gender-affirming healthcare.
The new rules could be selectively enforced against trans and nonbinary employees, some fear.
SB 14 would ban trans youth from accessing gender-affirming care including puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The bill would require trans teens who are currently undergoing treatment to de-transition, and it would punish doctors who provide such care by revoking their medical licenses.
Thierry was one of four Democratic representatives to vote in favor of SB 14. The other three were Reps. Harold Dutton, Tracy King, and Abel Herrero.
In a three-page statement explaining her vote, she claimed that no studies have shown the long-term effects of puberty blockers and HRT on young people, even though these reversible medications have been used on non-trans children to treat rare cancers for decades.
Her statement also highlighted the potential side effects of such medications and claimed that unnamed studies from “European countries” have shown that trans minors’ rates of suicide and depression aren’t improved by hormonal treatment.
Her position is in opposition to the findings of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Endocrine Society, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychiatric Association, who have all found that age-appropriate gender-affirming care is safe, evidence-based, and medically necessary to the well-being of trans youth.
“While many of my constituents encouraged me to vote in favor of this legislation, hostile activists have made nasty political threats to influence my vote against the bill. These personal even racist attacks on me as an African American woman are neither productive or persuasive,” Thierry wrote.
Responding to Thierry’s votes, the Meyerland Area Democrats Club of Houston, Texas, an organization that promotes Democratic candidates and policies, voted to censure her in a 13-7 vote on May 15.
“Rep. Thierry campaigned on being an ally to the LGBTQ+ community,” the club wrote in a statement about its censure. “Yet she has supported legislation which will harm this community and doesn’t ally with democratic principles.”
The club said that HB 900 would ban books under “a vague and constitutionally dubious rating system that will create layers of bureaucracy, cost, and red tape” and will disproportionately target LGBTQ+, indigenous, and non-white authors for censorship, marginalizing queer kids and educators in the process.
Mentioning SB 14, the club wrote, “Not only will her vote for this dangerous legislation hurt her constituents, but she has already harmed transgender Texans by spreading misinformation that is not backed by science.”
Progressive state groups like the Texas Freedom Network and the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have signaled that they’re prepared to file lawsuits if the two above bills become law. The two are among the 141 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in Texas during its 2023 legislative session.
Editor’s note: This article mentions suicide. If you need to talk to someone now, call the Trans Lifeline at 1-877-565-8860. It’s staffed by trans people, for trans people. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for LGBTQ youth at 1-866-488-7386. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Monday a bill restricting how race and gender can be taught in Florida’s public higher education institutions and banning them from using state or federal funding for diversity programs.
At a ceremony at the New College of Florida in Sarasota, DeSantis signed three bills that he said would give students foundational skills and prevent people from imposing orthodoxies at public universities. It marked an escalation of a broader conservative effort to limit the ways schools can teach about issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Referring to the initialism for “diversity, equity and inclusion,” DeSantis said: “If you look at the way this has actually been implemented across the country, DEI is better viewed as standing for ‘discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination,’ and that has no place in our public institutions. This bill says the whole experiment with DEI is coming to an end in the state of Florida.”
Critics, however, say the measures, particularly Senate Bill 266, censor teachers and will make it harder to attract and support diverse populations at Florida’s schools. Andrew Gothard, the president of United Faculty of Florida, a union of faculty at Florida’s public universities, called the bill “authoritarian censorship” in a statement sent to NBC News.
“We believe in the free exchange of all ideas, and we reject efforts to control what students get to learn and what professors have the right to teach,” Gothard said.
A spokesperson for DeSantis referred a request for comment to the governor’s news conference.
Senate Bill 266, which passed the Legislature this month, will prohibit state colleges and universities from using state or federal funds for programs that promote activism or advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion.
The bill also augments the study of Western civilization, directing universities, whenever applicable, to provide instruction about the history and philosophy of Western civilization, particularly the nation’s founding documents. It requires that humanities courses include selections from the Western canon.
The bill bans general education core courses that “distort” historical events or teach “identity politics.” It requires the Board of Governors, the strong majority of whose members DeSantis appoints, to review every institution’s mission and make updates or revisions as it deems necessary. The board must include in its review a directive on university programs that are “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.”
Brandon Wolf, the press secretary for Equality Florida, an anti-discrimination organization, said the bill represented a “war on academic freedom.”
“From the podium today, he encouraged students that value academic freedom to look for educational opportunities elsewhere, cementing him as a governor who would rather drive away good talent than miss an opportunity to generate content for his right-wing acolytes,” Wolf said of DeSantis.
DeSantis also signed House Bill 931, which will prevent universities from requiring prospective students or faculty members to pledge loyalty to any “ideology or movement,” including to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Taken together, the three bills devote millions of dollars to civic and workforce education efforts. The laws will go into effect July 1. Protesters chanted in opposition to DeSantis as he signed the bills, according to local news reports.
New College, where DeSantis signed the measures, had been considered a progressive institution before he installed conservative allies on the board of trustees.
Drag queens and other performers who work up and down Wilton Drive, filed into the city commission chamber at Wilton Manors City Hall.
They, along with other citizens, stood up and spoke out, urging commissioners to stand with them against the tyranny of Tallahassee.
In the end, the panel sympathized, empathized, and voted against them.
The issue was amending the permit for Stonewall Pride Inc. to force compliance of a new law that expands the definition of “live adult entertainment” to include drag entertainment. The new permit language reads: “Organization responsibilities to Include language regarding a possible new state law pursuant to SB 1438 and HB 1423 (Florida 2023). These bills, which are anticipated to become law, prohibit performances in violation of section 827.11. Florida Statutes.”
The law is still being analyzed, but it likely means no public performances by drag queens.
Queens play an integral part in Stonewall and most prides throughout the world. They host parades and stages as well as perform. It appears that will not be the case at next month’s event.
“We may be constrained by the narrowest interpretation of the law today but that does not dissuade us from our long-term fight against injustice against our community,” Jeff Stirling, CEO of Stonewall Pride Inc., told SFGN exclusively.
‘Our Community Is Not Safe’
Before the vote, more than a dozen people got up to speak against the law and the city’s acquiescence.
“The laws are just unjust,” said one speaker representing Georgie’s Alibi Monkey Bar. “We are entertainers. We are emcees. We are comedians in our culture, not criminals.”
Coco Lords sat near the front in full regalia representing the drag community.
“I’m here to make sure we are heard and are seen,” she said. “To show that we are one community and we have to represent each other and stand up for each other.”
Michael Rajner, chair of Broward County’s Human Rights Board, said, “We are not safe in Florida, but we stay here. Some of us are going to stay here and fight. We hope we have enough Democrats that are registered that will vote and we can start stemming that tide.”
No Good Choices
The city had few choices and none of them were good. To take a principled stand and blatantly allow the law to be broken with the city’s permission could result in political upheaval in the city.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has the right to remove elected and appointed officials if he deems they are not enforcing state laws. It is possible the entire city commission and other positions could be filled with lackeys who would blindly do the governor’s bidding.
Before the vote, Mayor Scott Newton said people marginalized by the law are still welcome to be part of the event.
“We’re proud to have drag queens and the transgender community come and walk and ride in floats down Wilton Drive. And that’s not going to change, not on our watch.”
The permit language puts the onus on Stirling, who says decisions are still being made about who will be allowed in the parade. He is open to the idea of a float or delegation of drag entertainers, since that is not a performance. In the end he wants Stonewall and the city to live to fight another day.
“There are no good answers. We’re trying to get by and fight again.”
Stonewall Pride Parade & Street Festival is scheduled for June 17 from 3-11 p.m.
Human rights groups are criticizing President Joe Biden’s new policy on asylum-seekers, saying it’s as restrictive as the one enacted by Donald Trump or possibly more so.
The policy comes as the pandemic-related restriction known as Title 42 is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. Thursday. Under Title 42, put in place in 2020, immigration authorities could turn back migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and deny them the right to seek asylum, with the rationale being that it was a way to stop the spread of COVID-19. Previously, unauthorized migrants could cross the border and usually remain in the U.S. if they declared they were seeking asylum. Many of those who want asylum in the U.S. are LGBTQ+ people who have been persecuted in their home countries.
With the Biden administration’s new rule, published Wednesday and set to go into effect with the end of Title 42, it will be harder for migrants to apply for asylum. “Under the rule, migrants who cross the southern border without authorization will be presumed to be ineligible for asylum if they can’t prove they previously requested protection in a third country,” CBS Newsreports. “In practice, it will disqualify most non-Mexican migrants who enter the U.S. between ports of entry from asylum.” They are expected to be turned back.
There will be exemptions for those who make an appointment to enter the U.S. via a mobile app, for unaccompanied children, and for those who have what the policy calls “exceptionally compelling circumstances,” such as a medical emergency or being the subject of extreme threats. There will also be certain accommodations for families.
A similar policy established by Trump’s administration before Title 42 was struck down in court, and the new Biden policy may meet the same fate. “We will sue as we did under Trump,” Lee Gele
The Biden administration has argued that its policy isn’t like Trump’s because it offers more options to enter the U.S. legally, such as the phone app. Administration officials also say the policy will discourage migrants from endangering themselves by dealing with smugglers. But border crossings were expected to surge with the end of Title 42, something that would be denounced by the right, so the new policy reflects the political climate.
Among those objecting to the administration’s plan is Immigration Equality, an LGBTQ+ immigrants’ rights organization. The group notes that LGBTQ+ migrants from Central and South America often encounter persecution, including physical violence, in Mexico and other countries that pass through, and it calls the phone app “notoriously inaccessible.”
“We are astonished by the administration’s callous disregard of the dangers President Biden’s asylum ban imposes on LGBTQ refugees,” Immigration Equality Legal Director Bridget Crawford said in a press release. “In the final rule — scheduled to go into effect once the Title 42 policy is lifted — the administration doesn’t meaningfully address or fix problems with the ban we identified in the notice and comment process. Instead, using circular logic, the administration dismisses our concerns, and doubles down on the illegal implementation of the ban. This ban is a travesty that will cause LGBTQ refugees (and others) with strong, meritorious asylum claims to be sent back to countries where they will be persecuted or killed. By implementing this ban, instead of humane solutions that would effectively and compassionately manage the border, President Biden has broken his promise to protect LGBTQ asylum seekers and refugees.”
Officials in Missouri’s largest city approved a resolution Thursday to declare it a sanctuary for people seeking or providing gender-affirming care, defying state lawmakers who voted a day earlier to ban such care for minors and restrict it for some adults.
Democratic Mayor Quinton Lucas praised the 12 to 1 vote, saying the city is committed to being a “welcoming, inclusive, and safe place for everyone, including our transgender and LGBTQ+ community.”
Kansas City’s new, sanctuary status sets it apart as a Democratic-leaning city in a state with a Republican governor and GOP-controlled Legislature. Similar actions have been taken in cities that oppose state actions to restrict rights for transgender people, as in Austin, Texas.
GOP Gov. Mike Parson is expected to sign into law the ban on gender-affirming care, joining at least 16 other states that have enacted similar laws restricting or banning such care for minors.
The resolution also comes as a judge considers a proposed emergency rule from Republican state Attorney General Andrew Bailey that would require adults and children to undergo more than a year of therapy — and fulfill other requirements before they could receive gender-affirming treatment.
A committee signed off Wednesday on the resolution, which says the city will not prosecute or fine any person or organization that seeks, provides, receives or helps someone to receive gender-affirming care such as as puberty blockers, hormones or surgery.
It also says that if the state passes a law or resolution that imposes criminal or civil punishments, fines, or professional sanctions in such cases, personnel in Missouri’s largest city will make enforcing those requirements “their lowest priority.”
Republican state lawmakers across the U.S. who’ve attacked gender-affirming care as part of a larger effort to roll back LGBTQ rights have argued that they’re protecting children from decisions they may later regret. But gender-affirming care for minors has been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations.
“This is an important first step in Kansas City’s commitment to trans and nonbinary people,” Merrique Jenson, founder of Transformations KC, said in a written statement after the vote. “I look forward to trans leaders and Kansas City working together to address the health disparities in our communities and ways we can have sustainable funding & programming reaching all trans people.”
Out Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is being held in federal custody, and the Department of Justice has unsealed a 13-count criminal complaint against him. The charges include seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, and one count of theft of public funds.
Santos was taken into custody in Melville on Long Island, CNN reports, before being taken to a courthouse in Central Islip. He is expected to appear in federal court later today. He skipped House votes yesterday as he went back to New York.
You’ll be surprised to learn that he denies the whole thing – and that no one believes him.
“This indictment seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace in a statement. “Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself.”
Santos’s attorney is not commenting.
Santos, the first out gay Republican elected to Congress, came under fire almost immediately after he was elected as multiple news reports found that he had fabricated large swaths of his life story, including his education, his work history, and his family history.
Many people also came forward with accusations related to theft and fraud, saying that Santos stole money from roommates, from people with sick pets, and even through an ATM scam. He faces several investigations for campaign finance misdeeds in the House.
Some of the charges come from an LLC that Santos controlled and that he encouraged donors to give money to. He allegedly used the money for personal expenses, including “luxury designer clothing,” according to the indictment. He allegedly told a consultant to tell donors that the money would be used for independent expenditures to support his candidacy and that the LLC was either a social welfare organization or an independent expenditure committee.
Some of the charges are related to Santos’s application for unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though he was employed at a Florida-based investment firm and earning a $120,000 salary. He allegedly received $24,744 in unemployment benefits during that time.
Last, there are charges related to his overstatement of one source of income while not disclosing his investment firm income on his 2020 campaign finance forms, as well as several other lies on his 2022 campaign finance disclosure forms.
Santos, who is usually active on social media, has not posted about his arrest. His last tweet was published yesterday, and he accused Nassau County, New York leaders of corruption.
“Nassau county’s corruption runs deep & it’s a big bipartisan uniparty!” he wrote. “I hold their joint hatred like a badge of honor!”
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows over one out of every four high school students in the United States identifies as LGBTQ.
Using data it collected in 2021, the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) found that 74.2% of American high school students identified as heterosexual. The CDC surveyed 17,508 students from 152 schools across the U.S.
According to results, 3.2% of students identified as either gay or lesbian, 5.2% identified as “questioning” and 12.2% identified as bisexual. About 3.9% of students answered the question by saying they were “other” and 1.8% claimed they didn’t understand the question.
The CDC says the number of students in the United States who identify as LGBTQ has increased from 11% in 2015 to 26% in 2021. That increase “might be a result of changes in question wording to include students identifying as questioning,” the report claims.
About 57% of those high school students in the CDC’s data said that they have not had any sexual contact in their lives, while 34.6% of those students said they had sexual contact with someone of the opposite sex.
Just 2.4% of students reported that they’ve had sexual contact with the same sex, and 6% said that they’ve had sexual contact with both sexes, according to the CDC.
Polling shows that younger people are increasingly identifying as LGBTQ. Research from the analytics firm Gallup says the number of Americans who identify as LGBTQ has doubled in the last decade.
Critics, including some from the LGBTQ community, say that an “agenda” pushed in U.S. schools had led to the increase.
Everyone’s like ‘No, no, no, no that’s not indoctrination. We’re just teaching inclusion, so it doesn’t count.’ I totally disagree with that,” former U.S. Marine and bisexual member of Gays Against Groomers, Samantha Viscount, told KMPH News in Fresno, California. “I think that if you teach children all this LGBT material way too early on of an age before they understand it, it’s absolutely indoctrination.”
The concern is that our children in the schools are being taught in regards to the transgenderism, the LGBTQ agenda,” Pastor Jesse Alvarez of Valley Life Community Church in Selma, told KMPH. “And that’s one side of the story that’s an opinion, a culture, a belief in our country.”
However, LGBTQ advocates call such concerns “ignorant.”
No, I don’t think that should be a concern at all or an issue to bring up because it sounds ignorant,” Equality California’s Jorge Reyes Salinas said. “We all read books about animals. We all read books about things that may be fantasy or whatever and we’re not saying that we’re going to be that character in a book or anything like that.”
Gallup polling shows that LGBTQ identification among adults in the U.S. “leveled off” in 2022 after reaching 7.1% in 2021.
A new report warns that hate crimes will likely increase during the 2024 presidential race for the White House as groups including neo-Nazis attempt to “wage war on democracy”.
The study, conducted by civil rights group The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCEF), analysed FBI hate crime data from the the last 15 years.
An “unmistakable pattern” has emerged during the last four presidential campaign cycles, showing that reported hate crimes increase during elections.
The report found that the current climate is “rife with opportunities for the trend of increased hate to continue” in the 2024 election.
LCEF’s chief executive Maya Wiley told Black Entertainment Television (BET) that this “shows an extremely disturbing and sadly not so surprising trend”.
In 2008, the historic election of Barack Obama, first Black president of the United States, sparked an increase in anti-Black hate crimes, the rise of an “anti-government militia movement” and increased organising of neo-Nazi groups, according to the report.
This only worsened when Donald Trump ran for president in 2016 as he “empowered white nationalists and provided them with a platform”.
The month Trump was elected, hate crimes in the US were the highest in more than a decade.
Michael Lieberman, senior policy counsel on hate and extremism at the Southern Poverty Law Center, and co-author of previous LCEF hate crime reports, told African American media network theGrio that Trump’s election elevated hate crimes in the United States.
“Only the perpetrator of a hate crime is responsible for reported crimes, but there’s absolutely no doubt that words matter and that Trump as a candidate, and then as president, was involved in anti-semitic, racist dog whistles [and] xenophobia,” Lieberman said.
Between 2020 and 2021, when Donald Trump and Joe Biden were both running for president, the highest number of hate crimes were reported since the FBI began publishing data in 1991, particularly against the LGBTQ+ community.
In that period, violence against LGBTQ+ groups increased by 54 per cent, anti-lesbian hate crimes increased by more than 80 per cent and anti-gay hate crimes increased by 40 per cent.
Reported hate crimes based on gender identity increased nearly 30 per cent from 2020 to 2021, with a 15 per cent increase in reported hate crimes targeting transgender individuals.
The LCEF report also highlights that a “small number of well-funded and well-organised proponents of bigotry and hate are having an outsized effect relative to their actual numbers” and have succeed in turning “hate into campaign platforms”.
Also speaking to theGrio, Wiley highlighted the impact of neo-Nazi groups in their attempt to “wage war on our democracy” by silencing marginalised groups through violence.
“In some cases, groups are trying to incite civil war and are actively looking for opportunities to both thwart people they hate from being able to participate and have a voice in deciding who leads us,” she said.
Wiley also stated that the compiled data should be used to “get ahead” of the incoming violence that is likely to occur during the 2024 presidential campaign.
“It would be wrong to not take this data and recognise that we have to assume it will increase again in this election cycle and that we have the opportunity to get out ahead of it, to prepare for it and to reduce it.”
Neo-nazi groups have been classified by the FBI as “the greatest domestic threat to the United States”.