The United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity(IE SOGI) mandate was created through UN Human Rights Council resolution A/HRC/RES/32/2 in June of last year and was confirmed through six separate votes over the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in 2016. Despite this comprehensive process of approval, some UN Member States insist(…)
The Pulse Nightclub Memorial site will soon undergo temporary design improvements to create a more inviting and comfortable venue to reflect and remember the tragedy that occurred there on Sunday, June 12, 2016. After a detailed presentation about the design plans from club owner and onePULSE Foundation Executive Director Barbara Poma, Orlando’s city council on(…)
Sonoma County residents and workers impacted by recent fires may be eligible for Disaster CalFresh benefits to provide funds for food purchases under temporary regulations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (also known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP). Wednesday, October 25 through Wednesday, November 1, Disaster CalFresh applications will be taken at three(…)
Paraguay has passed a Russian style ‘gay propaganda’ ban in schools. The Ministry of Education has stopped public schools from using or spreading materials on ‘gender ideology’, in an effort to promote ‘traditional values’ and the ‘traditional family’. Like Russia’s ban on promoting ‘non-traditional relationships’, the ban on ‘gender ideology’ is a thinly-veiled attack on(…)
When a truckload of redneck teenagers repeatedly drove past Mateus Romualdo as the 11-year-old walked home from school, they unloaded a payload of racist slurs on his little head. The scared boy called his mother in tears, saying he was afraid the bullies would shoot him. After his mother, Heather, took to Facebook to decry(…)
The Washington Post reports: This week, a government journal in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan announced that the country’s interior ministry had compiled a registry of “proven” gays and lesbians. The list named 319 men and 48 women, whom Tajik federal prosecutors identified in operations they called “Morality” and “Purge.” A purge — likely(…)
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students enrolling in undergraduate or graduate programs for the 2018-2019 academic year are encouraged to apply online for a Point Foundation Scholarship. Point Foundation is the nation’s largest scholarship-granting organization for LGBTQ students of merit and currently is providing financial assistance and programmatic support to 98 students. Applications(…)
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), has responded to a report that Donald Trump “joked” about Mike Pence wanting to hang LGBTQ people. HRC President Chad Griffin said of the New Yorker anecdote, “It’s disturbing and sickening that Donald Trump would ‘joke’ about Mike Pence wanting to ‘hang them all’ in reference to LGBTQ people. Hate(…)
All LGBTQ seniors are welcome to attend the “Aging Gayfully” classes at Finley Senior Center in Santa Rosa (Wednesdays 10 am – noon) and Sebastopol Area Senior Center (Wednesdays 2:30-4:30 pm). While SRJC classes are officially cancelled this week, I am still meeting with those who feel the need to connect with their peers and(…)
With his signature on Sunday of Senate Bill (SB) 179, authored by Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) and Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), and SB 310 (Atkins), California Governor Jerry Brown has signed seven Equality California-sponsored bills, ending the 2017 legislative session and bringing the total number of resolutions and bills successfully sponsored by Equality(…)