Top Stories
New Africa “charter” attempts to impose Christian nationalist ideology across the continent
In Ghana last week, participants from 20 African nations advanced the latest iteration of the African Inter-Parliamentary “Family, Sovereignty and Values” Charter, a document African rights activists say threatens to dismantle protections for women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people in service of a Christian nationalist worldview. Attendees at the annual conference have set an ambitious goal to realize the document’s illiberal agenda: ratification of the charter by the African Union General Assembly. Organizers hope to take it to the pan-African governmental body next February, where it would be put to a vote. “It is a license to oppose, regress on, or […]
Delaware strengthens legal protections for LGBTQ+ families as other states move the opposite way
As conservative lawmakers across the country target transgender rights and revisit long-settled questions about LGBTQ+ equality, Delaware moved in the opposite direction. On Tuesday, Gov. Matt Meyer, a Democrat, signed legislation modernizing the state’s parentage laws, expanding legal protections for children and families formed through assisted reproduction, surrogacy, donor conception, and other paths to parenthood commonly used by LGBTQ+ people. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. The updated Delaware Parentage Act may lack the political flash of debates over bathrooms, sports, or marriage equality — but for many LGBTQ+ families, advocates say, few laws […]
Police investigate killing of trans woman Marlow Trottie in Louisiana
Marlow Trottie’s murder is being investigated by Louisiana police (Image: Marlow Trottie/Facebook) Family, friends, and the LGBTQ+ community are mourning Marlow Trottie, a 35-year-old Black trans woman who was found dead in Alexandria, Louisiana, on 8 June. Police have confirmed in an Alexandria Police Department press release that her death is being investigated as a homicide, though authorities have not yet released details about how she was killed or whether any suspects have been identified. Marlow remembered by loved ones Friends, family members and former classmates have remembered Trottie as a kind-hearted person who could make anyone laugh. One classmate described her in […]
Local News
General Dynamics Protest June 24 in Windsor
The letter General Dynamics Out of Sonoma County sent to the landlord of General Dynamics, Foss Creek Partners, demanding they terminate their lease was ignored! Bob Fraser, Mark Davis, and Kelly McManus, the owners of Foss Creek Partners, are materially supporting a tenant who profits from weapons, genocide, and contracts with DHS / ICE right in our backyard. We won’t be ignored! On Wednesday June 24th at 12pm meet up at Windsor Town Green and we’ll march to the office of Foss Creek Partners and demand General Dynamics Out of Sonoma County!
Mombo’s Pizza: Dine and Donate to Positive Images
Looking for a delicious way to support LGBTQIA+ community this Pride Month?Join Positive Images and Mombo’s Pizza for a Dine & Donate Pizza Party in Santa Rosa on June 25th! When you show our event flyer at Mombo’s, 25% of your purchase will be donated directly to Positive Images, helping us continue providing life-saving support and advocacy for LGBTQIA+ community members. June 25th | 4:00–8:00 PM Mombo’s Pizza – Santa Rosa1880 Mendocino Ave., Suite B Your purchase counts whether you:• Dine in• Order takeout• Purchase merchandise, including T-shirts and gift certificatesBring your friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors—the more people who participate, the […]
Arts & Entertainment
Frameline50: Interview with Luchina Fisher, the director of “The Dads”
Inspired by the Emmy Award-winning short documentary of the same name (Netflix, 2023), The Dads chronicles fathers of trans and nonbinary children as they are forced to choose between country and family when a new right-wing administration and conservative Supreme Court take hold in the United States. Filmed over the course of a year spanning retreats in rural Maine and Minnesota, protests, family milestones, a pivotal U.S. Supreme Court decision, and the collapse of gender-affirming care for youth, The Dads captures this national reckoning with remarkable intimacy through vérité footage and interviews with the film’s main protagonists. This is fatherhood as an act of […]
Frameline50: Interview with Kai Stänicke, the Director of “Trial of Hein”
On a windswept remote island in the North Sea, Hein has returned from the mainland to his tiny village after 14 years’ absence. Why do so many of the villagers refuse to recognize him, or claim he is an impostor — even his own family members and the now-grown man who was his inseparable teenage friend? When the close-knit village decides to hold a community trial to prove if Hein is who he says he is, long-held secrets and memory itself will be put to the test. Winner of the Teddy Jury Award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, Trial of […]
State News
Frameline50: Interview with Brydie O’Connor the director of “Barbara Forever”
Pioneering lesbian filmmaker, former San Franciscan, and Frameline Award winner Barbara Hammer takes center stage in Brydie O’Connor’s Teddy Award-winning debut feature. When Hammer came out as a lesbian in the ‘70s she “took off on a motorcycle with a super-8 camera,” leading to groundbreaking queer and experimental works like Dyketactics (1974) — one of the first-ever lesbian films — and, later, her celebrated first feature, Nitrate Kisses (1992). Throughout her monumental career, Hammer made over 90 moving-image works that often centered on her own life, body, and lovers — a monumental decision when such life-affirming, honest depictions of sapphic people were scarce. Bolstered by exquisitely edited archival […]
Frameline50: Interview with the Directors and Star of “Mickey and Richard”
Meet Mickey Squires, legendary porn star and notorious alter ego to Richard Bernstein. Diving into the colorful history of gay adult cinema, this intimate documentary portrait from directing duo Ryan A. White and A.P. Pickle (Raw! Uncut! Video!, Frameline45; Big Sur Gay Porn, Frameline47) traces Richard’s evolution from a lanky high school drama nerd to fantasy dream daddy Mickey, charting the joys and tribulations along the way. As Bernstein was catapulted into porn stardom, he had to navigate the spotlight as well as the dark shadow it cast. Grappling with the harsh dichotomy of his personas, Bernstein was confronted with isolation, the death of his partner, drug […]
