Pinot on the River! Festival at Old Courthouse Square in downtown Santa Rosa featuring a day of tastings from some of the west coast’s best Pinot producers! Small-production artisanal wineries join with guest artisan food vendors from 11-3p. on Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, to celebrate all things Pinot Noir. Meet the winemakers and other Pinot-loving consumers.
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The Spahr Center announces the forthcoming departure of its executive director, Adrian Shanker, who has been appointed by the Biden-Harris Administration to serve in the role of Senior Advisor on LGBTQI+ Health Equity in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Shanker joined The Spahr Center in April 2022 and in this short time has led an organizational rebranding with a new logo and website, an expansion of programs for LGBTQI+ families, and the launch of the organization’s Training Institute. He has also been a critical advocate for MPOX vaccine access in Marin County.
Shanker has been serving in a voluntary capacity in the Biden-Harris administration as a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS since 2021. He joined The Spahr Center after founding and leading Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania for more than seven years.
Executive Director of The Spahr Center, Adrian Shanker comments:
“It has been a tremendous joy to work with the team at The Spahr Center to enhance and expand programs and services for LGBTQI+ and HIV+ community members in Marin. When I started at The Spahr Center, I did not anticipate a short tenure, however I am confident that the organization is in a strong position to continue its positive momentum in service to Marin’s LGBTQI+ and HIV+ communities. I am deeply humbled by the invitation to join the Biden-Harris Administration in this role and I look forward to supporting the administration’s efforts to advance health equity for the LGBTQI+ community.”
Chair of The Spahr Center’s Board of Directors, Denny David, comments:
“When we hired Adrian we knew we were bringing someone in with tremendous expertise in LGBTQI+ health. It turns out that The Biden Administration agrees. For decades, the LGBTQI+ community has fought for a seat at the table and we have seen the devastating consequences of being ignored. While we are sad to lose Adrian, that sadness is tempered by a tremendous amount of community pride. We are glad to have a champion for the health of our community heading to Washington to advise the administration, and at The Spahr Center, we will continue to seamlessly offer the services and programs our community needs.”
The Board of Directors is committed to leadership for the agency through the transition. Today, the Board announces the appointment of Cindy L. Myers, Ph.D., as interim executive director. Dr. Myers brings 30 years of executive leadership experience in the behavioral health and human services fields to The Spahr Center. She has served as an interim Chief Executive, Chief Operating and Chief Clinical Officer for a diverse range of businesses and organizations, including the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).
Iceland has published its action plan on LGBTQ+ issues for the years 2022 to 2025, which includes an end to discrimination for queer blood donors, training in LGBTQ+ issues for police, “appropriate and unbiased” healthcare for trans people, and more.
The country’s parliament is also pledging 40 million Icelandic Króna (around £250,000) to support ministries’ LGBTQ+ projects within that time period.
The UK used to have an LGBTQ+ action plan, established in 2018 under Theresa May’s Conservative government, which included meaningful reform of the Gender Recognition Act and the banning of conversion therapy in all its forms.
Iceland, which already has strong LGBTQ+ protections in place, and in 2017 was found to be the least homophobic country in the list of members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), pushed forward the 21 progressive measures in June.
A statement about the programme says it is the “first one that focuses solely on LGBTI matters”.
“The purpose of the action should be to abolish the discrimination which blood donors have been subject to on account of their sexual orientation,” the plan reads.
Particular focus was made on wellbeing in the action plan, with steps to help ensure the health and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ youth, elderly people, and disabled people, as well as tackling LGBTQ+ domestic violence.
The plan states: “The well-being and situation of this group [LGBTI disabled people and LGBTI elders] in society should be considered in terms of isolation and expression.”
It added that it would also study the “well-being of LGBTI people in regions outside the capital area… should be given special consideration, where people are in proximity to a great extent and economic life tends to be undiversified.”
‘All of our people are accepted’
Ahead of a visit from the UN’s independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity on 26 September, Ambassador Bergdís Ellertsdóttir said: “Human rights are a key priority in Iceland’s foreign policy, and LGBTQ+ rights are a particular focus at home where, as a society, we ensure that all of our people are accepted and enjoy full rights.”
Iceland remains high up on Europe’s “Rainbow Map” of LGBTQ+ friendly countries in 2022, however it was beaten to the top spot by Malta and Denmark, with ILGA Europe noting that Denmark is “taking the lead in filling in anti-discrimination gaps in current legislation”.
New York City’s eviction court – the venue of a landmark same-sex relationship decision long before Obergefell v Hodges – is now the source of a legal opinion that comes down clearly on the side of polyamorous unions.
The decision came in the case of West 49th St., LLC v. O’Neill, decided by New York Civil Court Judge Karen May Bacdayan, concluded that polyamorous relationships are entitled to the same sort of legal protection given to two-person relationships.
The case revolves around three individuals. Scott Anderson and Markyus O’Neill lived together in a New York City apartment. Anderson held the lease, but was married to another man, Robert Romano, who lived at another address. After Anderson died, the building’s owner contended O’Neill had no right to renew the lease since he was just a “roommate” of Anderson’s and not “a non-traditional family member.”
The court concluded that there needed to be a hearing about whether Anderson, Romano and O’Neill were in a polyamorous relationship.
Before gay marriage was legalized in any state, Braschi v. Stahl Assocs. Co. was decided in 1989 and made the New York State Court of Appeals the first American appellate court to recognize that a two-person, same-sex relationship is entitled to legal recognition.
“Braschi is widely regarded as a catalyst for the legal challenges and changes that ensued,” Bacdayan wrote in her opinion. “By the end of 2014, gay marriage was legal in 35 states through either legislation or state court action. Obergefell v Hodges (2015), the seminal Supreme Court decision that established same-sex marriage as a constitutional right was also heralded as groundbreaking.”
“However,” wrote Bacdayan, “Braschi and its progeny and Obergefell limit their holdings to two-person relationships.” This case, Bacdayan wrote, “presents the distinct and complex issue of significant multi-person relationships.”
The judge cited legislation enacted since the advent of federally recognized same sex unions. “In February 2020, the Utah legislature passed a so-called Bigamy Bill, decriminalizing the offense by downgrading it from a felony to a misdemeanor. In June [2020], Somerville, Massachusetts, passed an ordinance allowing groups of three or more people who ‘consider themselves to be a family’ to be recognized as domestic partners. The neighboring town of Cambridge followed suit, passing a broader ordinance recognizing multi-partner relationships. The law has proceeded even more rapidly in recognizing that it is possible for a child to have more than two legal parents.”
“Why then,” posited the judge, “except for the very real possibility of implicit majoritarian animus, is the limitation of two persons inserted into the definition of a family-like relationship for the purposes of receiving the same protections from eviction accorded to legally formalized or blood relationships? Is ‘two’ a ‘code word’ for monogamy? Why does a person have to be committed to one other person in only certain prescribed ways in order to enjoy stability in housing after the departure of a loved one?”
The attorney for the property owner characterized defendant O’Neill’s affidavit, claiming himself as a non-traditional family member, as a “fairytale.”
The case returns to court after further investigation of the three individuals’ relationship.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Thursday that aims to legally protect transgender youths and their parents if they flee conservative states that have restricted access to gender-affirming care.
The bill seeks to “offer refuge” to trans minors and their families “if they’re being criminalized in their home states,” state Sen. Scott Wiener, who introduced the bill, said on Twitter after Newsom signed it.
Wiener said states like Texas and Alabama “are seeking to tear these families apart,” referring to efforts in both states to bar parents from providing their trans children with medical care like puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
In February, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called on the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services to “conduct a prompt and thorough investigation” of any reported instances of minors undergoing “elective procedures for gender transitioning.” He also encouraged anyone who works with children in the state and regular citizens to report parents providing such care.
In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill that makes it a felony for medical professionals to provide gender-affirming medical care to people under 19.
“We should especially protect our children from these radical, life-altering drugs and surgeries when they are at such a vulnerable stage in life,” Ivey said in a statement at the time.
The bill Newsom signed is intended to protect families and children like those from prosecution in their home states if they travel to California for gender-affirming care or if they move to California after already receiving transition-related care elsewhere.
“We believe that no one should be prosecuted or persecuted for getting the care they need — including gender-affirming care,” Newsom said in a statement after signing the measure. “With the signing of this bill, California will ensure that these kids and their families can seek and obtain the medical and mental health care that they need.”
The legislation includes a variety of provisions that are meant to help protect families and trans kids. It prohibits California health care providers from releasing medical information in relation to other states’ laws prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors. It also prohibits the enforcement of a court order “based on another state’s law authorizing a child to be removed from their parent or guardian based on that parent or guardian allowing their child to receive gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care.”
The bill also authorizes a California court to take temporary emergency jurisdiction when a child hasn’t been able to receive gender-affirming health care elsewhere, which some on social media interpreted to mean that California courts will be able to take custody of children if they flee their home states because their parents don’t want to provide them with gender-affirming care.
But that isn’t accurate, according to Asaf Orr, a senior staff attorney and Transgender Youth Project director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Orr said that portion of the bill is related to a court’sjurisdiction in custody matters.
“State courts around the country have the authority to consider whether to retain jurisdiction over a custody matter involving a child who recently came into the state,” Orr told Reuters. “This typically occurs in instances of domestic violence or other crisis situations. This law simply clarifies that courts should retain jurisdiction in situations where a parent brings their child to California so that they can obtain medical treatment for gender dysphoria.” Gender dysphoria is a medical condition that involves a conflict between an individual’s sex assigned at birth and their gender identity.
Last Thursday activists, residents and students protested Columbia University’s aggressive expansion into Harlem in Manhattan, New York outside the university steps. The neighborhood is integral to the Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ culture we honor today. The protest, organized by The United Front Against Displacement (UFAD), a tenant organization fighting gentrification throughout US cities, criticized the university’s partnership with the city to continue the privatization of the New York Housing Authority (NYCHA) and the national war on housing in general.
NYC’s reality is common among the country’s 50 largest cities, which the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development’s latest Annual Homeless Assessment Report states, make up more than half of all people experiencing sheltered homelessness in 2021.
Housing prices and rent increases disproportionately affect BIPOC and LGBTQ people as they’re four times more likely to be in public housing. Housing access is related to deliberate policy choices and underfunding that’s persisted for decades, but has worsened since the Great Recession.
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UFAD protesters didn’t deliberately go into who is affected by homelessness, but they did set a list of demands for those partially responsible. Compliance with these demands, in particular inflation-matched pay for university employees, is a small step toward restoring these “gross injustices”, said the UFAD in an Instagram post.
Ryan Costello, UFAD organizer Lana Leonard
Ryan Costello, an organizer for UFAD, says that Harlem apartments are filled with asbestos, human feces, and broken elevators. Columbia University brags about how much money they’ve made, while they, along with NYCHA, neglect public housing, says Costello. The university raked in nearly $25 billion in net assets in 2021, exceding 2020’s profits by about 15%, despite a global pandemic and rising poverty rates.
“In the long term, my hope really is that we can do something collectively to amend this whole system of injustice. We have a whole series of injustice all together because the elite who are running this country—whether it be Republican or Democrat—have an agenda that is pretty similar in the sense of enriching the few at the expense of the many perpetuating various systems of oppression,” Costello said to LGBTQ Nation.
Nevertheless, Harlem reminds America of what resilience against adversity, homelessness, and injustice looks like. The 70s and 80s gave rise to the Ballroom scene as a new world for homeless trans and queer children to thrive in. The shared homes of royal house mothers and fathers informed culture, joy, and quality of life for all people despite the illegality of balls, drag, and living openly as an LGBTQ person in general.
Today, LGBTQ youth is estimated to be 40% of NYC’s homeless youth. For West Harlem City Councilwoman Kristin Richardson Jordan, an out lesbian, the housing crisis in Harlem threatens the safety of LGBTQ youth seeking homeless shelters as well as hundreds of multi-generational Black and Brown families that have lived in Harlem for decades.
“Developers are entering our community with no accountability for the existing surrounding areas or their socioeconomic impact,” the socialist democrat told LGBTQ Nation.
She adds that developers are doing the bare minimum of affordable units based on Area Median Income (AMI). AMI affects communities throughout the country by skewing the reality of income for most families once high incomes are integrated into the median income adjustment.
For example, when assessed, Harlem’s AMI is $93,400 per year. However, a majority of Harlem families actually make about $37,000 to $57,000, says Jordan. New Jersey uses a similar system. Yet, the state is one of the most expensive states to rent in.
Regardless, those that have maintained their homes in Harlem plan to keep them.
Activists protest outside Columbia University over the school’s planned expansion into Harlem Lana Leonard
Veronica Hickman, a multi-generational West Harlem resident and UFAD organizer, sat on the university steps looking out onto the protest. She said she needed to rest after singing “We Shall Overcome” to protesters. She comes when she can because Costello comes out for Harlem.
“I feel like he’s supporting us, and you know what, if the money isn’t supporting you, you need to do your part. Even if it’s just showing up and doing a song or something, you know, that’s what I need to do,” she said.
The Harlem gentrification project is almost 20 years old. Renzo Piano, a famous Italian architect, announced his plans to former Columbia University President Lee Bollinger in 2003 to “revitalize” West Harlem with what is called The Manhattanville Project: a 17-acre expansion of the university’s business school overlooking the Hudson River. The ivy-league school owned 65% of the neighborhood at this time.
But Columbia University is one of many corporations buying American neighborhoods today. Thirty-three percent of all homes in America were purchased by investors by 2022, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting. This leaves BIPOC and LGBTQ communities to compete against investors with a wage gap ranging 10-70% lower than the average non-LGBTQ worker, reported the Human Rights Campaign earlier this year.
Moving forward, Councilwoman Jordan has hope for Harlem and the wider world.
“I want to see the upcoming generation that has been raised here, like myself, given fair opportunities to obtain property and invest in the community they have grown up in,” said Jordan. “I aim to use my time in office to advocate for our neighbors; standing up for all the constituents in my district who have consistently been left behind by people who only seek to fill their pockets.”
The triumph of a right-wing alliance in Italy’s election has raised concern among LGBTQ advocates, who fear nationalist leader Giorgia Meloni could adopt anti-gay policies as prime minister and set back their efforts to boost equality.
Meloni, who is set to become Italy’s first woman premier at the head of its most right-wing government since World War Two, fiercely denounced what she calls “gender ideology” and “the LGBT lobby” just months before Sunday’s vote.
But she has also played down her party’s post-fascist roots and portrays it as a mainstream group like Britain’s Conservatives.
So what would her leadership of Italy’s new government mean for the LGBTQ community?
What is Meloni’s stance on LGBTQ rights?
Meloni, a Christian, has sprinkled speeches with anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and conservative statements on family-related issues.
“Yes to natural families, no to the LGBT lobby, yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology, yes to the culture of life, no to the abyss of death,” she said as she addressed supporters of Spain’s rightist Vox party in the southern Spanish city of Marbella in June.
But in the past few weeks, Meloni has repeatedly denied suggestions she might roll back legislation on abortion or LGBTQ rights, while reaffirming her opposition to adoptions and surrogacy for same-sex couples.
Days before the election, however, a senior member of her Brothers of Italy (FdI) group suggested same-sex parenting was not normal.
Federico Mollicone, culture spokesman for the FdI, reiterated his criticism of an episode of the children’s cartoon “Peppa Pig” that featured a polar bear with two mothers.
He said further that “in Italy homosexual couples are not legal, are not allowed” — despite the country having legalized same-sex civil unions in 2016, a reform the FdI opposed in parliament.
FdI does not mention LGBTQ rights specifically in its election manifesto, but calls for “support for childbearing and the family.”
In a Facebook message to an LGBTQ activist who confronted her earlier this month, Meloni said: “I believe a child has the right to grow up with a father and a mother.”
What is the state of LGBTQ rights in Italy?
Italy ranks 23rd in the 27-member European Union when it comes to legal protections for LGBTQ people, according to advocacy group ILGA-Europe.
It is the only major country in Western Europe that has not legalized same-sex marriage, though some microstates such as Monaco and San Marino have also not done so.
Italy has legalized same-sex civil unions, but these do not grant gay couples the same rights as married heterosexual couples, particularly when it comes to parenting. Joint adoption is not available for same-sex couples.
“Even if she doesn’t introduce any anti-LGBT laws, she will not speed up what we’re trying to do to improve the current situation,” Roberto Muzzetta, a board member at Italy’s biggest gay LGBTQ group Arcigay, said from Milan.
“In fact, she will slow it down, or do nothing about it, even though we’re already lagging behind our neighbors.”
Last October, the Italian Senate voted to block debate over a bill that would make violence against women and LGBTQ people a hate crime, effectively killing off a proposal previously approved by the lower house of parliament.
The bill, championed by the center-left Democratic Party (PD), triggered fierce discussion in Italy, with the Vatican saying that it could restrict the religious freedom of the Roman Catholic Church.
Arcigay said it records more than 100 hate crime and discrimination cases a year.
Despite lagging most of its EU neighbors on LGBTQ rights, a 2020 study by the U.S.-based Pew Research Center found 75% of Italians think homosexuality should be accepted.
“Still, Meloni’s opponents were just not able … to make these issues more meaningful (and) promote a different, more progressive vision of society,” political analyst Martina Carone at Torino-based consultancy firm Agenzia Quorum said
What are ordinary LGBTQ Italians concerned about?
Some gay, bisexual and transgender people fear Meloni’s nationalist stance could increase discrimination against LGBTQ people in Italy.
“This morning, when I woke up, I had a feeling of strong discomfort. I felt a great uncertainty, as if I had become aware that things could change for me and my safety,” said Cristian Cristalli, a 34-year-old trans man based in the northern city of Bologna.
“I wondered if I didn’t deserve a future elsewhere, perhaps in a country worthy of our lives,” Cristalli added.
In the northern city of Verona, Stefano Ambrosini, a gay 28-year-old PhD student, said he feared Meloni’s election triumph could lead to an increase in homophobic violence.
“A lot of the people who voted for her are the ones who are already perpetuating violence and discrimination against the community,” he said.
“Now that she has won, these people will feel empowered and definitely safe in doing the terrible things that they want to do to our community.”
Activist Muzzetta said a clear majority in parliament could pave the way for the right-wing alliance to introduce anti-LGBTQ policies that have already been discussed in some regions or municipalities, such as LGBTQ-related books and events bans.
But both Cristalli and Ambrosini said they are determined to defend their rights.
“Let’s see how it goes. I’m ready to fight back,” Ambrosini said.
Cubans have approved a sweeping “family law” code that would allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt as well as redefining rights for children and grandparents, officials said Monday, though opposition in the national referendum was unusually strong on the Communist Party-governed island.
The measure — which contains more than 400 articles — was approved by 66.9% to 33.1%, the president of the National Electoral Council, Alina Balseiro Gutiérrez, told official news media, though returns from a few places remained to be counted.
The reforms had met unusually strong open resistance from the growing evangelical movement in Cuba — and many other Cubans — despite an extensive government campaign in favor of the measure, including thousands of informative meetings across the country and extensive media coverage backing it.
Cuban elections — in which no party other than the Communist is allowed — routinely produce victory margins of more than 90% — as did a referendum on a major constitutional reform in 2019.
The code would allow surrogate pregnancies, broader rights for grandparents in regard to grandchildren, protection of the elderly and measures against gender violence.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who has promoted the law acknowledged questions about the measure as he voted on Sunday.
“Most of our people will vote in favor of the code, but it still has issues that our society as a whole does not understand,” he said.
The measure had been approved by Cuba’s Parliament, the National Assembly, after years of debate about such reforms.
A major supporter of the measure was Mariela Castro, director of the National Center for Sex Education, a promoter of rights for same-sex couples, daughter of former President Raul Castro and niece of his brother Fidel.
But there is a strong strain of social conservatism in Cuba and several religious leaders have expressed concern or opposition to the law., worrying it could weaken nuclear families.
While Cuba was officially — and often militantly — atheist for decades after the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro — Raul’s brother — it has become more tolerant of religions over the past quarter century. That has meant a greater opening not only the once-dominant Roman Catholic Church, but also to Afro-Cuban religions, protestants and Muslims.
Some of those churches took advantage of the opening in 2018 and 2019 to campaign against another plebiscite which would have rewritten the constitution in a way to allow gay marriage.
Opposition was strong enough that the government at that time backed away.
The British government has committed to a 10-year strategy to end discrimination against “female same-sex couples” seeking fertility services.
The first ever Women’s Health Strategy For England, published by the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care, includes language supporting reproductive rights for lesbian, bisexual and queer (LBQ+) women. It commits the government’s health department to improving transparency and removing discriminatory policies to ensure “female same-sex couples are able to access [National Health Service] NHS-funded fertility services in a more equitable way.”
In October, 2021, campaigners Megan and Whitney Bacon-Evanslaunched a legal case against their local NHS board, stating that its fertility policy discriminated against lesbians. In their postcode, same-sex female couples seeking one cycle of NHS-funded in vitro fertilization (IVF) are required to prove infertility by self-funding 12 rounds of artificial insemination, including 6 in a clinical setting, costing approximately £26,000. For heterosexual couples, the requirement to prove infertility is attestation of two years of unprotected sex.
The new strategy removes the requirement for self-funding, and states that female same-sex couples can expect NHS coverage to start with 6 cycles of artificial insemination.
Still, there is little clarity as to when the strategy will take effect. “Some queer couples told us this week they have already been put on fertility waiting lists for 2023, others were told they still don’t qualify,” Bacon-Evans told Human Rights Watch.
Also, the strategy is silent on “single women who want to start a family,” an issue highlighted by experts who submitted to the strategy process, which could potentially discriminate against both heterosexual and queer single women. As the strategy commits the department to administer care for women regardless of non-clinical factors, such as relationship status, single women should be covered.
The strategy also does not define “same-sex” or “couple.” It remains unclear if partners must be married or in a civil partnership, and if treatment will be available to LBQ+ couples in which one or both partners are transgender, non-binary, or gender non-conforming.
Authorities should extend non-discriminatory access to fertility treatment to single women and all LBQ+ couples, regardless of gender identity or expression. They should also be protected from non-clinical barriers to fertility services. One immediate opportunity comes as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence updates its fertility assessment and treatment guidelines.
A group of Proud Boys, fascists, and anti-LGBTQ+ protestors attempted to disrupt a Drag bingo fundraiser in a tense altercation.
A group of people reportedly affiliated with various far-right groups, including the Proud Boys, protested at the First Christian Church in Katy, Texas on Saturday (24 September), as a sponsored family drag bingo charity event was taking place.
The sold-out show aimed to raise money for LGBTQ+ nonprofit Transparent Closet, which aims to provide clothing for “trans and exploring teens, youth, and young adults” but was quickly overwhelmed by anti-LGBTQ+ protestors.
The protests were reportedly planned by self-described “Christian fascist”Kelly Neidert, who was working with a group dubbed “Protect Texas Kids” according to Axios on Friday (23 September).
It further reported that anti-fascist counter-protestors had planned to blockade the neo-Nazi disruptors, who were reportedly wearing Nazi regalia and far-right paraphernalia.
Anti-fascists blared music from the trailer of the upcoming Little Mermaid film, which has been attacked by racists and far-right pundits for casting Black actor Halle Bailey as Ariel.
Authorities from the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Harris County Sheriff’s Department responded to the rising tensions by attempting to separate the two groups.
A video from journalist Jay R. Jordan shows a brief altercation in which the two groups spray what appears to be pepper spray at each other while armed police attempt to keep them separated on either side of the road where the church is located.
Further pictures revealed the disgusting signs brought by the Proud Boys, with one claiming that “LGBT is Talmud Jew s**t” while another reads “homosexuality is an abomination to mankind.”
This isn’t the first time that the First Christian Church has experienced homophobic harassment. As an LGBTQ-inclusive space, the organisation has seen three separate incidents of theft and vandalism charges in 2022 alone.
Its Facebook page is filled with cruel and homophobic messages insulting its members, with one saying it is “another false church leading people to hell instead of heaven.”
“This congregation has always been a place where what they value most about the teachings of Christianity is an openness and willingness for all people and the idea that Jesus came to love all,” reverend Heather Tolleson said to the Houston Chronicle. “We’re a representation of that love.”
When asked about the threat of anti-LGBTQ+ protestors prior to the event’s proceedings, she said: “Our first and foremost line of concern is everyone’s safety. All we want is for a safe and peaceful night to happen.
“We value diversity, and we know not everyone agrees with us,” Tolleson continued. “With that at heart, we have done what we needed to do to take care of and provide a safe environment.”
Harris County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Thomas Gilliland said that “it really is sad to see this kind of thing happening in Katy.
“Katy is such a diverse and welcoming community, and there are a lot of churches here. To know that this is happening to one of them is upsetting.”
