San Francisco Pride is reimagining what Pride itself means to our communities. While nothing could ever — ever! — cancel Pride in the queerest, most inclusive city in America, we know it has been a long time since we all gathered along Market Street and at Civic Center. As we prepare for our return to a “traditional” San Francisco Pride, we are examining every element of Pride Weekend to ensure that 2022’s experience is our best yet. From community stage programming to partnerships, we’re working hard to make you feel represented, valued, and seen.
SF Pride 2022 and Public Health We know that our communities are concerned about the spread of the omicron variant. We also know that people are mourning the passing of LGBTQ+ icons like Betty White and Andre Leon Talley, losses that hit us harder than usual after two years of nonstop loss, false starts, and disappointments. The safety and wellbeing of our communities — LGBTQ+ people of the Bay Area residents, visitors to San Francisco, allies, everyone — have guided our actions since Day One. We are focused on making #SFPride2022 the safest and most welcoming event in our history.
Help Us Make Pride 2022 the Best It Can Be Now that New Year’s is behind is, we’re actively looking for sponsors to support the work of SF Pride. These corporate partnerships allow us to build the extensive infrastructure of our large event, and help us share funds with nonprofits that directly serve our communities, via our Community Affiliates Program. To get your organization involved in Pride 2022 — or simply to see our criteria for who we choose to work with and why — go to sfpride.org/partners.
Thank You to Everyone Who Submitted Nominations for Community Grand Marshals! We have to play coy on the names just yet (sorry not sorry) but we’re aiming to release the public ballot in early February — and then members of the general public will have your chance to select who we bestow this honor to. Later, in March, SF Pride members in good standing will conduct a separate vote to make their choice, and then our Board of Directors will make one final selection of its own. The full slate of 2022 Community Grand Marshals will be announced at our membership meeting on Wednesday, April 13, at 7 p.m.
A new California law requires public colleges to update diplomas and records for transgender students who have changed their names.
The new law, which took effect on Jan. 1, requires the state’s public colleges to update records for students who have legally changed their names. It also allows graduates to request an updated copy of their diploma at no cost to them.
Then, starting with the 2023-24 class, it will require institutions to allow students to self-identify their names on diplomas, even without legal documentation of a name change. (The legislation does not specifically require colleges to let students self-identify their names on educational records besides diplomas without legally changing their name. It also does not affect how people are identified on legal documents used for tax, immigration status and other purposes.)
California is the first state to enact such a law. A previous version failed in the Legislature in 2020.
The right to self-identify one’s name on a college diploma helps protect transgender and gender non-conforming students, advocates say. Research shows that transgender people are at higher risk of discrimination and violence.
More than one in four trans people has experienced a “bias-driven assault”, with rates even higher for trans women and trans people of color, according to the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Academic records listing a student’s name and gender as assigned at birth could potentially “out” that student’s identity, which can put them at a significant disadvantage when seeking housing and employment, said David Chiu, who authored the bill while representing San Francisco in the state Assembly. Chiu, now the San Francisco city attorney, said he was asked by Equality California and other transgender activist groups to draft the bill.
A “shocking and offensive” report from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has shown that Metropolitan Police officers engaged horrific bullying and harassment, including calling each other “f**king gay” and threatening to “hate f**k” each other.
In 2018, the IOPC investigation initially “focused on teams formed to tackle crime and disorder in the Westminster area”, but was expanded when further officers came forward. It eventually expanded to nine investigations, linked to become Operation Hotton.
Investigators “reviewed thousands of messages exchanged by officers, including many which were highly sexualised, discriminatory or referred to violence”, and which were “generally described as banter by officers”.
An Operation Hotton learning report, published Tuesday (1 February), has revealed the extent of the discrimination, misogyny, homophobia and racism that officers took part in.
IOPC regional director Sal Naseem said: “The learning report we are publishing today is shocking and contains language which is offensive – and some may find it upsetting.
“However, we felt it was important to provide the context for the public, the Met and other forces, for why such hard hitting recommendations are necessary.”
Metropolitan Police officers dismissed homophobic, racist, misogynist and violent comments as ‘banter’
The investigation found “pervasive evidence” of bullying and harassment within the Metropolitan Police Force (MPS), “involving officers predominantly working in teams based at Charing Cross Police Station”.
The report found evidence of “demeaning and intimidating actions” towards new officers still on probation “such as beckoning them with a bell, and threats to cut their hair and belongings”, as well as other “officers being shouted at by supervisors, and women being sexually harassed or treated as a ‘weary female’ when speaking out about the behaviours of male colleagues”.
“Malicious comments were a frequent part of the bullying,” the report found, but discriminatory, sexualised or violent comments were often dismissed as “laddish banter”.
Examples of “banter” highlighted in the report included officers sending homophobic comments to each other such as “you f**king gay” and “f**k you bender”, as well as a male officer threatening to “rape”, “chloroform” and “hate f**k” a female officer.
In a WhatsApp group involving 17 police officers, messages were sent “about police officers attending a festival dressed as known sex offenders and a molested child”, as well as further comments about “rape” and “raping” each other.
Other messages included referring to Somalian people as “rats”, Black people as “robbers” and disabled people as “spastics” and “retards”.
One message from a Metropolitan Police officer read: “My dad kidnapped some African children and used them to make dog food.”
Multiple messages were discovered that bragged about domestic violence, with one officer writing: “You ever slapped your missus? It makes them love you more.
“Seriously since I did that she won’t leave me alone. Now I know why these daft c**ts are getting murdered by their spastic boyfriends.
“Knock a bird about and she will love you. Human nature. They are biologically programmed to like that s**t.”
According to the IOPC, during the investigation two officers were dismissed for gross misconduct and barred from future employment with the police, four officers attended misconduct meetings and a fifth would have done the same had they not resigned first, two officers received management action and another officer received practice requiring improvement.
The incidents described in the report are ‘not isolated or historic’, said the IOPC
IOPC Regional Director Sal Naseem said: “The behaviour we uncovered was disgraceful and fell well below the standards expected of the officers involved.
“While these officers predominantly worked in teams in Westminster, which have since been disbanded, we know from other recent cases that these issues are not isolated or historic.
While Naseem said he “welcomed” steps taken by the Met to address the issues of discrimination within the force, for example its its Rebuilding Trust plan that focussed on standards, culture and women’s safety, he insisted that “more is required”.
The report sent out 15 recommendations to “tackle underlying cultural issues by preventing environments from developing in which unprofessional and inappropriate behaviour can thrive and go unchallenged”.
The recommendations include for the Metropolitan Police Service to “publicly commit to being an anti-racist organisation with a zero-tolerance policy towards sexism, misogyny, bullying and harassment”.
Naseem added: “Our recommendations focus on the identified cultural issues and aim to ensure that those who work for the force feel safe with their colleagues, and that communities feel safe with those whose job is to protect them.
“The MPS has to enjoy the trust and confidence of its own officers from diverse communities before it can hope to bridge the gap in trust and confidence with the communities it serves.”
Social Security Opens to Survivors of Same-Sex Couples Who Could Not Marry The Social Security Administration now allows lesbians and gay men to receive survivor’s benefits if we can show that we were in a committed relationship and would have married had that been possible. This could be a huge benefit to many LGBTQ seniors! Starting at age 60 — or 50 for those who are disabled — a survivor can either apply for a deceased spouse’s Social Security benefits (if these are higher than the survivor’s, or if the survivor does not have the work history to qualify) or apply for them temporarily and delay claiming their own (allowing their benefit to increase until they reach full retirement age or beyond). More information here.
Coronavirus Updates You can order your free at-home covid tests from the USPS by filling in the form here. Additionally, the Spahr Center has acquired more coronavirus rapid home test kits and they are available for free in the office – 150 Nellen Avenue, Suite 100, Corte Madera 94925; 415/457-2487. The office is open 10 am – 3 pm weekdays. Only vaccinated people may come to the office and masks must be worn inside the building. Any staff person can direct you to the kits. In order to keep track of new infections, the County asks that we report self-test resultshere. To see Marin County’s latest pandemic information, click here. The mask recommendations of the Mask Nerd– an aerosol scientist who studies mask effectiveness – are featured in this article and highly informative video. May we all be safe and well!
UPCOMING EVENTS(more info below) February 8 Birthday Celebration* February 10Who & What Do You Love? February 15 Valentine Social/Game/Conversation* February 17 Death Cafe
Living Room Mondays7 to 8 pm *Social Committee event, registration requiredby emailing them at socialcommittee@comcast.net
To join the Spahr Senior Groupon ZoomMondays, 7 to 8 pm, &Thursdays, 12:30 to 2 pm,click the purple button below the Butterfly Heart or here:
New participants are warmly welcomed!If you’re zoom-challenged, let me know and I’ll work with you!
Topical Thursdays12:30 to 2 pm February 3 The People’s ChoiceWe’ll decide in the moment what’s in our hearts & minds. February 10Who & What Do You Love?Let’s break out of the Valentine’s Day expectation of there being that special someone who answers all our hopes & needs and talk about the many ways love exists in our lives. February 17 Death CafeJoin Patricia Stamm in discussing a topic we may well all have in the back of our minds yet seldom talk about. See flyer and link to more information below.
Living Room Mondays7 to 8 pm We share with each other about how we’re doing and have unstructured conversations focused on listening from our hearts and deepening community.
Community Notices Marin Center for Independent Living recently partnered with a regional home modifications company to provide grab bars for the bathroom, small home repairs and more. This program will help to address the critical health issue of falls prevention among older adults and adults with disabilities. This program is free if your household income is less than $119,680. For more information about this Dignity at Home program or for any other questions, call Tonique McNair at 415/754-3923 or click here.
Are you an LGBTQ senior living in San Anselmo? The Marin County Commission on Aging is seeking a representative from San Anselmo and would welcome a member of our community. The Commission acts as an advocacy group for the interests and needs of the County’s older population and serves as an advisory council to the County Board of Supervisors. The 21 member Commission is comprised of representatives from Marin’s cities, towns, and unincorporated areas. The Commission meets on the second Thursday of the month from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. To apply, please click here.
The Spahr Center’s Food Pantryis open to seniors who need support in meeting their nutrition needs. We want to help! Items such as fresh meats, eggs and dairy, prepared meals, pasta, sauces, and canned goods are delivered weekly to people who sign up. Contact The Spahr Center for more information: info@thespahrcenter.org or 415/457-2487
The Social Committee has been consistently offering fun events to offset the boredom of the pandemic. They want to help celebrate your birthday if you’ll let them know when it is. Everyone born in any month will be celebrated on the second Tuesday of that month – including your birthday if you’ll let them know when it rolls around! February’s events are back on zoom. The Birthday Celebration takes place at 4 pm on February 8 and the Valentine’s Day Social/Game/Conversation is at 4 pm on February 15. They will resume in-person events as soon as the pandemic allows. To sign up for their emails or register for events, clickhere.
Vivalon Resources for Seniors Whistlestop, now renamed Vivalon, offers many resources for us seniors, now listed in this easy-to-print one-page guide. Access to rides, food, classes, activities, resources, referrals, and more. Membership not required for most classes and services during the pandemic. Some in-person events are being planned. To get Vivalon’s listings, click here. They also provide access to resources including rides for older adults. Please note: there is a 3-week registration process for the ride program so register now if you think you may need rides in the future. Click here for their website.
Building Community in the Midst of Sheltering-in-PlaceSee old friends and make new ones! Join us!The Spahr Center’s LGBT Senior Discussion Groupscontinue everyMonday, 7 to 8 pm& Thursday, 12:30 to 2 pm on zoom
To Join Group by Video using Computer, Smart Phone or TabletJust click this button at the start time, 6:55 pm Mondays / 12:25 pm Thursdays:Join GroupAlways the same link! Try it, it’s easy!
To Join Group by Phone CallIf you don’t have internet connections or prefer joining by phone,call the following number at the start time,6:55 pm Mondays / 12:25 pm Thursdays:1-669-900-6833The Meeting id is 820 7368 6606#(no participant id required)The password, if requested, is 135296# If you want to be called into the group by phone, notify Bill Blackburn at 415/450-5339
California Department of Aging ResourcesThe CDA has a website that is packed with information and resources relevant to the lives of seniors in our state. From Covid-19 updates to more general care for age-related health issues, access to legal assistance to getting home-delivered meals to help with housing, you may well find answers to your questions by clicking: here.
Adult and Aging Service’s Information and Assistance Line, providing information and referrals to the full range of services available to older adults, adults with disabilities and their family caregivers, has a new phone number and email address: 415/473-INFO (4636) 8:30 am to 4:30 pm weekdays473INFO@marincounty.org
Questions? Assistance? We have resources and volunteers for:grocery deliveryfood assistancehelp with technology issues such as using zoomproviding weekly comfort calls to check in on youplus more!
The percentage of Americans who say they are satisfied with the acceptance of gay and lesbian people in the country has reached a new peak at 62%, according to a poll released Wednesday. Gallup’s annual Mood of the Nation poll asks people about their satisfaction with aspects of U.S. life and policy areas, ranging from the overall quality of life to the nation’s military strength and environmental issues.
In 2022, 62% of survey respondents said they are very or somewhat satisfied with the acceptance of gays and lesbians in the nation, up from 55% in 2021 and 56% in 2020. Jeff Jones, a senior editor at Gallup, told USA TODAY that the question shows whether gay and lesbian people are “being considered not an outsider group but a normal, mainstream group of people in the U.S.”
Read the full article. Perhaps notably, Gallup’s wording of the question specifies “gays and lesbians” – and not the more inclusive LGBTQs.
Stephen Balch, a former professor who also has opposed the 2015 Supreme Court ruling overturning state bans on same-sex marriage, is a content adviser for the revision of the standards that will guide social studies courses from kindergarten through 12th grade.
The Texas Freedom Network, a liberal group promoting religious freedom and education, is calling on the State Board of Education to withdraw Balch’s appointment, citing his writings calling the 2020 election a “literal coup,” among other things.
The group also pointed to Balch’s support of a letter urging officials to disregard the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling against bans on same-sex marriage as an example of another “attack on our constitutional system of government”.
The national LGBTQ advocacy group GLSEN has appointed Melanie Willingham-Jaggers as its executive director — the first Black and nonbinary person to lead the organization.
GLSEN was founded by a group of teachers in 1990 with the goal of making schools safer for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer K-12 students. It has 38 chapters in more than half the states, and it has registered thousands of gender-sexuality alliances, or GSAs (formerly known as gay-straight alliances).
Melanie Willingham-Jaggers.Courtesy GLSEN
Willingham-Jaggers, 39, who joined the group as deputy executive director in 2019, is taking on the new position at a time when LGBTQ students have become part of a larger culture war taking place at school board meetings and in classrooms around the country. More than 30 statesconsidered bills last year that would ban transgender students in middle schools, high schools and colleges from playing on the sports teams of their gender identities. Ten states — nine in the last year — enacted such measures.
More than half of all the statesalso considered legislation that targets curricula, by either limiting how schools can teach race or barring LGBTQ topics from classroom discussion. Some school districts have also banned books that discuss race or LGBTQ topics.
The fights are continuing this year. But rather than focus on or respond to those efforts, Willingham-Jaggers, who uses both “she” and “they” pronouns, is excited about supporting young people in schools across the country so they have the power to make their schools safer.
“LGBTQ+ young people in schools and their student groups, like GSAs, have always been the hub, kind of the breeding ground, the soil from which these sparks of activism come up,” they said. “What we understand is that young people — period — are going to help us understand the vision forward and the way forward to the future.”
She noted that the group was founded to stop harassment, discrimination and bullying of LGBTQ youths. In the 1990s, she said, LGBTQ young people were often told that bullying is just a “part of life” and that they simply shouldn’t be gay. Over the last 30 years, the group has shifted the narrative so bullying LGBTQ kids is no longer culturally accepted, she said.
Since 1999, the group has also conducted extensive research and released its National School Climate Survey, a national survey of LGBTQ middle school and high school students’ experiences with harassment, bullying and discrimination. It uses the findings to suggest school policy solutions.
More recently, the group has changed its approach from “getting rid of the bad stuff” to “building safety,” Willingham-Jaggers said. The organization plans to do that by centering its three new pillars, which it created in a strategic refresh in 2020. They are advancing racial, gender and disability justice outcomes and education; building digital connections to extend reach; and unifying the organization and its 38 chapters to ensure that its grassroots work is effective.
“We know that our young people are not little rainbow-colored stick figures,” they said. “They are Black and brown and Indigenous and white. They are cis and gender expansive. They are kids living with disabilities and folks who are not. We know that they come from families and communities that have immigrant experience, that experience violence from various systems.”
She said that most of the group’s chapters are in the South and the Midwest and that the network is disproportionately white but that that’s where she sees beauty in the work.
“Now, imagine a Southern and Midwestern, largely suburban, largely white network that is deeply connected to making sure that education advances racial, gender and disability justice outcomes,” she said. “That is beautiful to me. That is exciting. That is deeply powerful.”
Intersectionality has always been central to Willingham-Jaggers’ work. She said she identifies as both a Black woman and a nonbinary person, in part because she was raised and socialized as a girl and because Black women are her “political North Star.”
She noted that GLSEN was founded by a white man who is cisgender — a word that describes people who identify with their assigned sexes at birth — and that he was succeeded by a cis white lesbian.
“And then here I come, and it’s not by accident, and it’s not inevitable,” she said. “So I just want to honor the journey that this organization has taken and the on-purpose choice that it took to hire a person of my identity and of my life experience.”
Eliza Byard, the group’s former executive director, said Willingham-Jaggers’ experience as an organizer and “deep connections across movements” are invaluable to its future work.
“The world of K-12 schools has been turned completely upside down over the past few years, and Melanie’s vision and experience will provide the essential ingredients of new strategies for a new time,” she said.
Willingham-Jaggers has been working with LGBTQ youths unofficially since they were a camp counselor in Southern California when they were 17 years old. But officially, they began the work in 2009 when they moved to New York City from Cincinnati to work for an organization that supported runaway and homeless youths whose family and caregivers had rejected them because they identified as queer or transgender.
Their experience in that job continues to inform their work today, they said. After a year on the job, Mosey Diaz, a young person whom they were close to, died by suicide, during a time when an increasing number of LGBTQ youths were dying by suicide — many in connection to harassment.
“It was really kind of a formative moment for me to understand that, yeah, I was working with runaway and homeless kids, but this is part of a larger LGBTQ+ movement to really change the world so that these young people know that the world is worth sticking around in,” they said.
Willingham-Jaggers said Diaz also helped her understand that people who work in service of other people have to come with more than their “good intentions.”
“We can’t just come with a pocket full of hope,” she said. “We have to be good at our work, because the stakes are incredibly high.”
A teacher at a Christian K-12 school has resigned and pulled her own son out of the school after the administration asked parents to sign a contract condemning homosexuality and comparing it to bestiality and pedophilia.
“Not only could I not sign that as a parent, I couldn’t agree to be a teacher in a school that had that vocabulary and language around some of the most vulnerable kids that we interact with,” Helen Clapham Burns, who worked at the Citipointe Christian College in Brisbane, Australia, said on the news program The Project, while close to tears.
Burns also expressed devastation that she had to pull her son from school and away from his friends.
“We have been in trauma and stress this weekend as I am having to blow my son’s world apart, because he’s not going to get to do year 11 and 12 with his mates. I have to find him a new school,” she said.
The contract says that “any form of sexual immorality (including but not limiting to adultery, fornication, homosexual acts, bisexual acts, bestiality, incest, pedophilia and pornography) is sinful and offensive to God and is destructive to human relationships and society,” and says the school has the right to “exclude” any student from the school who doesn’t agree with these principles.
The contract also includes a refusal to acknowledge students’ gender identities other than the sex they were assigned at birth.pedophilia%2F&sessionId=df86bf620bd25003d0dae8b1a52d02400722bd6b&siteScreenName=lgbtqnation&theme=light&widgetsVersion=75b3351%3A1642573356397&width=500px
But Burns isn’t the only angry one.
Over 80,000 people have signed a petition demanding that the school amend the enrollment contract.
“Citipointe is using their religious beliefs to openly discriminate against queer and trans students,” the petition states, “as well as threatening to take away their education. Sign the petition to show Citipointe that we will not stand for such blatant transphobia and homophobia.”
The school’s principal pastor, Brian Mulheran, defended the contract in a statement, saying that Citipointe has “always held these Christian beliefs and we have tried to be fair and transparent to everyone in our community by making them clear in the enrollment contract.”
LGBT+ people in Ukraine are afraid of what’s to come as tensions escalate between their country and Russia.
Ukraine and Russia have been at war with each other since 2014, but there are fears that conflict could spill over after Russia deployed tens of thousands of troops to its border with Ukraine in recent days.
Since then, the United States has put 8,500 of its own troops on alert to send to Ukraine if the war worsens, and NATO announced that it was sending ships and fighter jets to eastern Europe in preparation for a potential conflict.
A Russian attack, or potential invasion, would spell disaster for Ukraine’s LGBT+ community. Queer activists are worried about what could happen if the war escalates and if Russia was to ultimately seize additional Ukrainian territories. They fear that progress on LGBT+ rights would grind to a halt and that, in the event of a Russian invasion, they could see their freedoms restricted and rolled back.
Many are ready and willing to fight if they need to – they feel a patriotic sense of duty to their country – but they’re also painfully aware that the fight for LGBT+ rights could end up on the back burner.
Lenny Ensom, director of Kiev Pride, tells PinkNews that LGBT+ people, and wider Ukrainian society, is prepared to “step forward against the aggression” if the need arises.
“On this point we are united,” Ensom says. “It doesn’t matter what your gender identity is, your sexual orientation – all together, we are stepping forward.”
The effects of the conflict are far-reaching for queer people, Ensom says. Fear and aggression “accumulate” in society in times of war, and people inevitably look to minority groups to scapegoat. He is worried that LGBT+ people could end up bearing the brunt of aggression, and their movement for equal rights could ultimately be set back.
“On one hand the Ukrainian LGBT+ movement is very successful. We have a very successful Pride march, 7,000 people marched with us in September last year. We have Pride marches in a few other cities in Ukraine. We have over 30 LGBT+ organisations working in different regions of Ukraine. But the community is really threatened, and what we see now is that all members of the community are currently under threat, every day.”
LGBT+ people are already dealing with discrimination in Ukraine’s army
Edwards Reese, another LGBT+ rights activist working with Kiev Pride, says that queer Ukrainians are “ready to fight” if the war escalates – however, they’re also concerned about the potential for discrimination.
“There are a lot of LGBTQ people in the army right now, and also there is a problem that if the war gets bigger, then there will be more discrimination to LGBTQ people in the army, because there is discrimination – we know about it, but if there is a massive call to the army, there will be more queer people in the army and more discrimination,” they point out.
The Mayor of a Mississippi city is accused of withholding $110,000 from a public library because they carry LGBTQ+ books, according to the Executive Director for the Madison County Library System.
Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee reportedly said that he had received complaints from citizens about three children’s books and one adult book at the Ridgeland Public Library, according to NBC affiliate WLBT of Jackson.
The executive director of the Madison County Library System, says Ridgeland, Miss., Mayor Gene McGee is withholding $110,000 from his city’s library because LGBTQ genre books similar to these, are on the shelves of the city’s library.Rogelio V. Solis / AP
The books either had titles referencing the LGBTQ+ community or depicted them in the book, executive director Tonya Johnson said, according to the news station.
NBC News could not immediately reach McGee for comment on Friday, but the mayor told WLBT that his decision in withholding the funds was because of complaints he received from Ridgeland residents. He did not say if the complaints were about LGBTQ+ books.
Madison County Library System, which oversees the library, released a statement on its website saying that its mission is “to provide library resources and services necessary to meet the evolving informational, recreational, and cultural needs of the public, thus enhancing individual and community life.”
“Madison County Library System has earned a strong reputation for award-winning, best in the state library service because of the outstanding services, programming, and collection of library materials it provides for all the residents of Madison County,” the library system said. “As such, we remain committed to excellence in all aspects of public service, which means that everyone can depend on us for their informational needs. All members of our community are represented and welcome in our libraries.”
The library system went on to say that the library’s collection of books “is for people of all ages, races, gender identities/expressions, and orientations.”
“Our books are not only a mirror to reflect our community but a window into different worlds and different experiences that enable us to learn. Our materials are available for all. Censorship has no place here in Madison County Library System. Our library is for everyone,” the statement said.
