Their activism is a love unlike any other. Art and Pep are the owners of Chicago’s iconic bar, Sidetrack. As civil rights leaders who have been fighting for LGBTQ+ equality for decades, their activism is the focus of their struggle to live and love freely.Filmmakers Attending for post-screening Q&A.
Donna Personna first hit the stage with the legendary Cockettes. Ecstatic lip-synching in San Francisco’s downtown bars was a far cry from Donna’s Baptist upbringing in San Jose. Her story proves: it’s never too late to find your métier and truly blossom. Filmmaker Attending, Post-Screening Q&A.
Set in Sebastopol, Bonnie and Jai own Hope Acre Farm where they grow organic tomatoes and beans. With a flock of animals and a new baby, they bring on more hands with the help of volunteers. Filmmakers Attending, Post-Screening Q&A.
From Black Power in late-60s Boston, to AIDS activism in mid-80s New York, to Marriage Equality in early-10s San Francisco, this profile shines a hope-filled spotlight on Lambda Award-winning novelist, activist and philanthropist Jewelle Gomez. Filmmaker Attending, Post-Screening Q&A.
Enter The Beauty Bubble Salon & Museum, a pastel dreamland of 3,000 vintage beauty artifacts in the desert community of Joshua Tree, California and meet its owner, proprietor, and “America’s hairstorian” Jeff Hafler. Filmmakers Attending, Post-Screening Q&A for live event.
Theirs is the unlikely love story between two women who fell in love on Christmas Eve, 1944, in the Ravensbruck concentration camp, a German camp exclusively for women. Despite being separated in the last months of the war, they manage to reunite and spend the rest of their life together.
Retired food-service worker, Ruth Brinker, became a pioneer of HIV care in her community and would become a legend among San Franciscans. Along with her team of volunteers, Ruth founded Project Open Hand, the largest provider of nutrition to the HIV/AIDS community. Filmmakers Attending, Post-Screening Q&A for live event.
In the last three decades, some of the most egregious attacks on equality — the Defense of Marriage Act, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, not to mention the infamous 1950 “Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in Government” report — came from Congress. Some of the most significant advances – passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009 and the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in 2010 – also came from Congress.
And while the Supreme Court found in 2015 that some federal jobs protections against discrimination based on sex also protect LGBTQ+ people, the community is still fighting for the Equality Act, which would enshrine legal protections in civil rights law.
But Congress is unlikely to provide much help in 2023 now that Republicans have taken a narrow majority in the House of Representatives. Not only has the GOP historically opposed equality legislation, but many of the Republicans who won their midterm elections did so by weaponizing antipathy towards LGBTQ+ people, advocating for laws banning transgender people access to gender-affirming care, demagoguing equal treatment of transgender students in schools, slurring LGBTQ+ teachers and doctors as “groomers.”
And elections have consequences.
Former Congressman Mondaire Jones (D-NY) sat down with LGBTQ Nation to discuss the possibilities for change in Congress in the coming two years. Jones was first elected in 2020 and is one of the two first-out LGBTQ+ Black members of Congress; he lost his seat in 2022. He co-introduced the Respect for Marriage Act in Congress to ensure same-sex couples continue to have the rights associated with marriage should the Supreme Court overturn the marriage equality case Obergefell v. Hodges.
Jones helped get former President Donald Trump impeached for a second time after his supporters rioted in the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. During his time in Congress, he supported the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. He pushed for even tougher democratic reforms, including automatic voter registration, public financing of elections, and an end to partisan gerrymandering.
So it’s no surprise that Congressman Jones’s message now is that getting better people elected is the key to moving Congress toward equality.
LGBTQ NATION: As the president prepares to address the nation, what are the most vexing problems facing the LGBTQ+ community?
Mondaire Jones: The Supreme Court of the United States — specifically, the far right, six-three supermajority on the Court — continues to pose the greatest obstacle to the lives and livelihoods of community members.
This majority is on a rampage against our rights. We see that in a case that will undermine the ability of same-sex couples not to be discriminated against in the marketplace [he was referring to 303 Creative v. Elanis], where the First Amendment is being weaponized to allow people to be bigoted.
We know that the Court is going to come for marriage equality. As proud as I am of having introduced legislation with Jerry Nadler that passed last year called the Respect for Marriage Act, it’s not lost on me that the Respect for Marriage Act still would not ensure marriage equality in every state in the union for same-sex couples.
More than protecting members of the LGBTQ+ community against discrimination, we’ve got to have our eyes set on creating equity, whether that is in the healthcare context, the housing context, or the student debt context, where members of the community disproportionately experience hardship. That was my project when I wrote a letter to CMS and the CDC asking them to require both public and private insurers to cover an injectable form of PrEP called Apretude at no cost-sharing to the patient.
LGBTQ NATION: What do you see as fighting for queer rights and 2023? What does that mean, and what does that entail?
MJ: Because of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives and too few Democrats in the United States Senate willing to get rid of the filibuster, we have to turn to state-level progress in beating back renewed assault on the LGBTQ+ community, such as these so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bills in Florida and elsewhere.
We also have to call on the Biden administration to use its executive authority to make discrimination less prevalent and to create equity.
LGBTQ NATION: So you brought up state-level legislation where things aren’t looking that good for us over the past few years. At least a hundred bills have been introduced to curtail rights. What can we do to stop that?
MJ: The good news is that we have won public opinion over the past decade when it comes to the community’s entitlement to the same rights and liberties that our cisgender, heterosexual counterparts enjoy.
However, because of an electoral system plagued by voter suppression, voter disenfranchisement, and unlimited spending by corporate special interests, the people we see in power often do not reflect the country’s mood.
We have to continue to build and renew the movement for liberation through organizing at the grassroots level and defeating those who are hostile to the humanity of our community.
While also making sure we take back the House and keep the Senate and the White House in the 2024 elections because only the Democratic majority in this country can be trusted to protect the LGBTQ+ community.
“We have to continue to build and renew the movement for liberation through organizing at the grassroots level and defeating those who are hostile to the humanity of our community.“Mondaire Jones
LGBTQ NATION: So you’re saying it comes down to who’s elected, but what does the community do once we have a group of people in Congress? You were in Congress. What did you see LGBTQ+ activists doing that maybe could have been more effective?
MJ: Well, I appreciate this question.
Several high-profile LGBTQ+-focused organizations spend more time patting themselves on the back for the work that they do and dining with their major donors than they are focused on electing champions to office and pressuring elected officials to enact the bold reforms that we urgently need.
Consider how long it took for certain organizations to come out for the filibuster reform, as we initially needed to pass the Equality Act and the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Consider how few organizations have supported my legislation with [Rep.] Jerry Nadler and [Rep.] Hank Johnson to expand the Supreme Court.
On a member level, I experienced very little outreach from some of the biggest LGBTQ+ rights organizations. And I was one of only nine openly gay members of the House. So we’ve got work to do.
LGBTQ NATION: You brought up democracy issues. You worked on the second impeachment of Donald Trump, which followed the January 6 Insurrection. How do you see the vitality of our democracy affecting LGBTQ+ issues in the coming years?
MJ: The crisis of our democracy is the biggest existential threat. If we do not have a truly representative government, if we do not have a pro-equality majority in both chambers of Congress and the White House, then we are going to continue to see this Supreme Court whittle away at our rights, including rights that were just gained over the past decade. And we’ll have no recourse because we won’t be able to pass legislation.
So we have to end partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts so that extremists like [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and [Rep.] Jim Jordan (R-OH) cannot coast to victory simply because they prevailed in the Republican primaries, despite their abuse being outside the mainstream. We have to get big money out of politics by enacting a system of public financing of congressional elections, which is what H.R. 1, which became known as the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, would do.
We must enact automatic and same-day voter registration and do away with the voter suppression we’ve seen in places like Georgia, Florida, Texas, and Arizona. All these things will help us build a truly multiracial democracy in which we will have pro-equality majorities in state houses and Congress.
LGBTQ Nation: Yes, it seems like something like the Equality Act is off the table for at least the next two years because of Republican control of the House, even though- I mean, I wish I had looked this up before now, the Equality Act polls pretty well. [A 2021 HRC poll found that 70% of American voters support the Equality Act.]
MJ: Of course it does! Look, just consider what happened last night. A Republican majority in the House of Representatives voted to gut the IRS by 87,000 agents. That is not economic populism, which is what that party says it ran on in 2022. That is a thinly veiled attempt to help billionaire tax cheats evade accountability.
That is something that, in a normal political environment, would be toxic and devastating for a party at the voting booth. However, because our democracy is so rigged in favor of corporate special interests and the super-wealthy, it is something that Republicans can get away with.
We have people in government who are not actually responsive to what their constituents want. Still, because of redistricting and specifically partisan gerrymandering, because of just the outsized role that wealthy people have in our system of campaign finance, aided in part by Citizen United, we see this.
“My project will be to ensure that Democrats take back the branches of government in 2024.”Mondaire Jones
LGBTQ NATION: A lot of the blame, then, for the lack of progress to be expected goes to Republicans, but is there something the Democratic Party should have been doing to get a majority that it hasn’t been doing?
MJ: Absolutely. We had majorities in both chambers of Congress, and [Sen.] Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and [Sen.] Joe Manchin (D-WV) thought it was robbery to make an exception to the filibuster to pass democracy reforms, voting rights legislation, and the Equality Act. That was an abdication of their responsibility as legislators.
That is not to excuse the unanimous opposition by Republicans. It is to say that we’ve got some Democrats who are not where they need to be when it comes to the bold changes necessary to actually improve the lives of the American people.
The president only came out for an exception to the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation in December 2021.
LGBTQ NATION: You know what it’s like for LGBTQ+ people in Congress. Over the past few years, we’ve seen that most of the attacks have fallen on transgender people’s shoulders, specifically transgender minors. How good are your former colleagues at being familiar with essential issues for transgender people? Is there a good sense of understanding in Congress about their lives?
MJ: No, not particularly. My experience is that even the LGBTQ+ members in Congress, including myself, are continuing to learn about these issues. It would be awesome to have some trans people in Congress to bring that perspective.
And, of course, we’ve seen tremendous progress on these issues within the Democratic Party over the past several years. We see that in the inclusion of language specific to the trans community in the Equality Act and other legislation that we have passed. I’m very proud of having helped lead that.
But I know that the trans experience is not fully understood in Congress.
LGBTQ NATION: What can LGBTQ+ people realistically expect on progress on our equality from Congress in the next two years?
MJ: I’m sad to say that because of the loss of the House to Republicans in November 2022, we cannot expect that Congress will pass the Equality Act to prohibit discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community in all facets of our society.
We will see the trans community vilified by House Republicans and Senate Republicans, even in the minority. We will continue to see LGBTQ+ individuals referred to, horrifically, as groomers and a Congress that will not respond meaningfully to the inevitable future violence against the community, especially gun violence.
That is the consequence of not having enough good people in the United States Congress.
So my project will be to ensure that Democrats take back the branches of government in 2024.
Stephanie Wade is a former Marine Infantry officer, Surfrider Foundation activist and educator who left her public school teaching career in 2018 to work on the Cisneros for Congress Campaign. She followed Cisneros in to office and for two years served as his Veterans Liaison and Field Representative. As the only veteran working for a Navy veteran who served on the House Armed Services and Veterans Affairs Committees, she held a particularly prominent role in supporting the congressmember’s legislative work. She currently serves as District Director and Policy advisor to Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley where she manages a $1.3 mil. discretionary fund, $2 mil. events budget and an additional $1 mil. in federal COVID relief. She also leads the office’s Constituent Services Team and advises the Supervisor on issues including veterans homelessness and LGBT equity. In addition to her work as an aide to elected officials, Stephanie is a member of the board of advisors for the Equality of California Institute and the Vice Chair of the Orange County Veterans Advisory Council. She is the proud mom of a 11 year old girl and a 25 year old son, both of whom are staunch progressives, feminists and LGBT allies. She likes cats, surfing and equity!
In her first State of the State address, New York Governor Kathy Hochul made history with a commitment to direct state resources to help fund housing for older New Yorkers.
Hochul directed New York State’s Homes and Community Renewal agency (HCR) to provide funding specifically for affordable housing projects that are affirming for New Yorkers among the state’s 800,000+ older LGBTQ+ population.
Only two housing developments in New York serve the community: Stonewall House in Brooklyn and Crotona Pride House in the Bronx. Those projects were developed and funded by SAGE, the LGBTQ+ elders advocacy group, along with BFC Partners and HELP USA.
The two developments are models for reducing housing insecurity and providing community support, dramatically improving the lives of low-to-moderate income and formerly unhoused older New Yorkers.
The commitment by Hochul follows policy recommendations presented by SAGE and AARP in their 2021 report “Disrupting Disparities: Solutions for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers 50+.” The report illustrated that many older New Yorkers face structural disparities, including social isolation, higher rates of poverty, and challenges finding and affording housing.
While the demand for affirming housing is high — 90% of older LGBTQ+ Americans are extremely, very, or somewhat interested in obtaining it — supply is low: only 13 states and Washington, DC, have housing developments targeting older LGBTQ+ Americans.
By 2030, over 70 million people will be age 65+, with about 7 million of those part of the community. That subset already faces a higher poverty and homelessness rate even before housing insecurity is factored in.
Officials at SAGE see this as a good start.
“I am thrilled that Governor Hochul and her administration are committed to expanding equitable access to housing for New York’s LGBTQ+ elders,” said SAGE CEO Michael Adams. “LGBTQ+ elders of color, transgender and non-binary elders face the highest levels of financial insecurity, and we know first-hand that LGBTQ+ friendly elder housing is vital in improving their lives.”
“The communities created at Stonewall House and Crotona Pride House,” added Adams, “are proof that this kind of housing improves the quality of life of residents. With the critical support of the Governor, New York will be providing crucial resources to elders so they can age with the dignity and support they deserve.”
Among the affirming housing options across the U.S. are The John C. Anderson Apartments in Philadelphia, Town Square Apartments in Chicago, and Triangle Square in Los Angeles.
In Washington, a new communal residence called Mary’s House for Older Adults is scheduled to break ground in March, while a new project in Detroit, Raymond E. Shepherd House, just received some creative financing in the form of a brownfield grant from the Michigan Department of Environment.
And in California, a new complex in Sacramento is the latest addition to the state’s affirming housing projects. Lavender House, with 53 units in the midtown neighborhood of the state capital, was developed and is operated by the nonprofit Mutual Housing California. There were over 600 requests for applications, with tenants chosen by lottery.
New data from the census 2021 confirms that more and more young people feel safe enough to come out as LGBTQ+.
Having released census data which captured the size of England and Wales’ LGBTQ+ population for the first time, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has now shared a breakdown of the community by age and sex.
The statistics, published Wednesday (25 January), found that the 16-24 age group had the highest proportion of lesbian, gay and bisexual people.
Of the group, 6.91 per cent, 436,000, said they were lesbian gay or bi (the data did not consider gender identity).
This is more than twice the percentage (3.16 per cent) of the overall population.
Within the age bracket, four per cent identified as bisexual (252,000 people).
The new census data also reveals there are more queer women than men – 3.32 per cent of women (830,000) said they were LGB+ compared with 3 per cent of men (706,000).
Women were twice as likely as men to identify as bisexual (1.76 per cent vs 0.78 per cent), while men were more likely to identify as gay (1.95 per cent vs 1.15 er cent).
More males in England (3.02 per cent) identified as LGB+ than in Wales (2.65 per cent). Among women the percentages were almost identical – 3.32 per cent in England and 3.33 per cent in Wales.
The census data confirms that young people feel more comfortable identifying as queer, and that they are more likely to fall somewhere in the middle of the Kinsey scale.
Raquel, 21, is a bisexual cis woman and an ambassador for the LGBTQ+ young people’s charity Just Like Us.
She told PinkNews: “I think I feel so comfortable calling myself bisexual because we are all more informed and educated nowadays about different sexual orientations, so when I began to understand myself and who I am attracted to, it was very obvious to me that I was indeed bisexual.”
“Although I was not surprised to see that the younger populations identify more with LGBT+ labels, as there is less stigma and knowledge in the area, I think it should be equal throughout all age groups. I think the reason that older age groups do not identify as LGBT+ is because of a lack of education and negative stereotypes that unfortunately are difficult to unlearn. It is sad to think that there may be a lot of adults over 24 that may be LGBT+ but they don’t know or are too scared to come out.”
New census data is ‘a wake up call’ to politicians
LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall described the new cenus data as a “wake up call” to politicians, saying that the “Rainbow Generation” is the future.
“This data will allow national and local government to tailor their services, for example, we know that LGBTQ+ people can face discrimination in care settings – this will help in commissioning of care for older LGBTQ+ people,” Stonewall said.
“Soon these generations will be the biggest section of our workforce, the people who will be consuming our media, the talent pipeline for our sports, the audience for our cultural output, the people we want to nurture as our future voters.”
Nancy Kelley, chief executive of the charity, described the new data as another “historic” step forward after centuries of LGBTQ+ invisibility.
“This data is a reminder that our leaders, institutions and governments need to step up efforts to truly champion our communities rather than using our lives in a ‘culture war’ that does not resonate with the experiences and values of voters,” she added.
Dominic Arnall, chief executive of Just Like Us, said: “Sadly, we know that young LGBT+ people face disproportionate challenges, including being twice as likely to face bullying as their straight peers.
“The census data makes it clearer than ever that issues of bullying must be tackled and that inclusive education should be the norm across the UK, so that the increasing number of openly LGBT+ young people can thrive in schools which are happy, welcoming and safe environments.”
In January, census data revealed the size of the LGBTQ+ population in England and Wales for the first time.
Around 1.5 million people (3.2 per cent) identified themselves as LGB+, while 43.4 million people (89.4 per cent) identified as straight or heterosexual.
A total of 748,000 described themselves as gay or lesbian, 624,000 described themselves as bisexual, and 165,000 selected “other sexual orientation”.
More than 260,000 people identified themselves as trans.
Almost three months after Colorado Springs nightclub Club Q was the site of a deadly mass shooting, the venue has announced plans to reopen this year and restore its status as a beloved gathering place for LGBTQ residents.
“Our goal and intention has always been to return Club Q as a safe space for the Colorado Springs LGBTQIA+ community and (we) will continue to tirelessly work toward that effort,” a statement posted to the venue’s Instagram account Monday reads.
Club Q’s management expects to reopen by the fall with enhanced security measures and a permanent tribute to the five people who were fatally shot, the statement said. Their memories “will be carried forward and honored forever, while we work to make Club Q a forever home for our LGBTQIA+ community,” the nightclub’s statement read.
Police officials in London have warned people who use Grindr of an alarming string of robberies associated with the hookup app.
Between December 31 and January 9, four men were drugged and robbed by two men who Metropolitan Police officials say they met on Grindr.
The victims reported agreeing to meet up with individuals from the app but that they became unconscious during the encounter and woke up realizing they had been robbed of their belongings, according to a Metropolitan Police statement.
The drugs did not cause lasting damage to the victims, but the suspects were able to flee the country, police officials said.
Now London detectives are appealing to the public and asking anyone with information or who may have been a victim themselves to reach out.
“We believe other victims may have been targeted,” detective superintendent Dan O’Sullivan said.
“However, for personal reasons, [they] may not have wanted to report it. If you have been a victim, you can report in confidence to us or speak to an officer from the LGBTQ+ community.”
Before meeting up with people they met on Grindr, users are advised to consider their safety. Police officials recommend telling a trusted person about one’s arrangements, watching one’s drinks for signs of tampering, and removing valuables from sight.
One should also verify the identity of somebody one may meet up with by insisting on getting video or photo proof that the person is who their profile photo claims they are.
Other tips include using messaging apps instead of social media accounts to communicate for added security and using reverse image search tools to check on the authenticity of any photos a potential connection sends.
“Although the suspects have fled the country and the risk to the community is reduced, we are continuing to engage with our partners and those from LGBT independent advisory groups,” O’Sullivan said.
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted 51-47 to confirm President Joe Biden’s nomination of D.C. attorney Ana C. Reyes to become what D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton announced will be the first Latino woman and the first openly LGBTQ person to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Norton noted that Biden accepted her recommendation to nominate Reyes for the judgeship position in Norton’s role as D.C.’s congressional representative, similar to the role that presidents have historically given U.S. senators in recommending judicial nominees from their home states.
“Ana Reyes has the intelligence, temperament, and integrity to be an excellent federal judge,” Norton said in a Thursday statement. “She will also bring much-needed diversity to the federal bench. I look forward to her service.”
Fifteen years after the opening of Hollywood’s Triangle Square Apartments, the nation’s largest LGBTQ-affirming affordable housing complex for seniors, the Los Angeles LGBT Center has spearheaded a historic partnership with April Housing to transfer the building’s ownership to the Center. The transfer, which ensures that the building will be preserved as affordable housing for current and future residents, was commemorated with a reverse ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, Jan. 26.
“Today serves as an important reminder that the best way to combat homelessness is by providing the housing, services, and care that so many need,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath. “Together, the Los Angeles LGBT Center and April Housing have transformed a building into a community, and I look forward to a long and meaningful relationship, with more projects like this to come.”
The 104-unit building opened in 2007, becoming the first affordable housing complex in the nation to specifically address the needs of LGBTQ+ elderly adults, who often struggle to afford housing and are less likely to have children or grandchildren to support them. In addition to housing, Triangle Square residents have access to the full range of services and support provided by the Center, including case management; home-delivered meals; in-home care and benefits assistance; connection to health and mental health care; HIV support and wellness; counseling and support groups; and more than 75 monthly activities and events provided for free or at low-cost.
“Senior Services is one of the brightest jewels in the Center’s crown, and April Housing has made that jewel shine even brighter by agreeing to sell us this historic building that houses our elders,” said Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Joe Hollendoner. “This sale is going to greatly improve the Center’s ability to help our clients and to further prove to Los Angeles, the LGBTQ+ community, and the nation that we must stop leaving our elders behind.”
“April Housing is proud to transfer ownership of Triangle Square to the Los Angeles LGBT Center,” added Alice Carr, CEO of April Housing, ownership partner of Triangle Square Apartments. “This truly groundbreaking affordable community was created to be a safe, healthy and affordable environment friendly to LGBT seniors, where they can live, thrive and age with respect and dignity. April Housing is thrilled to support the Los Angeles LGBT Center and the important work they do.”
Ginger Beavers is back! See the Gingersnaps (Ginger, Cindy Brillhart-True & Bonnie Jean Shelton), plus Joey Favalora, Ezra Hernandez and Alanna Weatherby. Join us for a night of superb musical numbers from shows past and present. A Stage Left Studio production.