Top Stories
LGBTQ+ middle schoolers took a conservative Virginia school board to court to protect their rights — and won
For nearly a year, LGBTQ+ students in one rural Virginia county watched the adults overseeing their education move the goalposts. Students at King George Middle School followed the rules to establish a Gay-Straight Alliance. The principal approved it. Seventeen students expressed interest. Then conservative backlash erupted on Facebook, the club was suspended, and the King George County School Board changed its policy so middle school students could no longer form noncurricular organizations. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. Now, after being sued in federal court, the board has changed […]
63 detained after gay bars and LGBTQ+ groups raided in Turkey
Turkish authorities have detained at least 63 people in a nationwide crackdown targeting LGBTQ+ organisations, activists and businesses across some of the country’s biggest cities. Police raided gay bars, organisation offices and activists’ homes in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Mersin on Sunday (13 September). Current and former members of LGBTQ+ rights and HIV awareness groups were among those targeted. Several organisations had their websites blocked in the days leading up to the raids, Al Jazeera reports. Turkey’s Justice Minister Akin Gürlek said in a social media post on Sunday that prosecutors were investigating 162 suspects, nine associations and 13 businesses as part […]
BOYCOTT: Lilly Wachowski says ‘If you support Harry Potter, you’re supporting trans genocide’
Lilly Wachowski, acclaimed co-director of films including The Matrix, Bound, andV For Vendetta, said in a new interview that supporting the Harry Potter franchise is akin to supporting genocide against transgender people. In an interview with Variety published today, Wachowski was asked about her thoughts on the controversy surrounding HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series set to premiere in December. The project has been met with significant LGBTQ+ backlash, especially given author J.K. Rowling’s involvement as executive producer and the author’s long history of anti-trans organizing. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. “She is funding trans genocide. J.K. […]
Local News
Free Online LGBTQI+ History Class Will Focus on Local Queer Counter Culture of the 1960s
LGBTQI History: A Sonoma County Timeline 1947-2000. Mondays 6-7:30pm. Online via Zoom. Join us on Monday, 9/21 for a segment on the 1960s Counterculture and early LGBT back to the land communities. Contact me to enroll and receive a Zoom link: cdungan@santarosa.edu
Wake Up Sonoma Reports on Sonoma School Board Meeting About the Pride Flag at Sonoma Valley High School
On Thursday night, September 10 there was a school board meeting which continued to illuminate the ways in which we have the wrong people sitting on our school board, and points to it’s ineffectiveness. Who are the adults in the room? Three of the Board members showed their inability to understand basic concepts of inclusion, bias, and compassion. There were moments of shock, disbelief and outrage from the audience in ways they can’t .. or won’t, comprehend these ideas, but then continue to re-process and state their same listless, inaccurate arguments. The disrespect shown to the students, as well as […]
Arts & Entertainment
Friday/Saturday September 18 & 19: Occidental Jazz Festival! at Occidental Center for the Arts.
Friday/Saturday September 18 & 19: Occidental Jazz Festival! at Occidental Center for the Arts. OCA offers audiences an opportunity to experience jazz in an intimate setting , where musicians and listeners truly connect. Greg Johnson, leader of Glass Brick Boulevard curated the lineup, as well as directing the Junior-Jazz All Stars youth band. This year’s festival continues OCA’s commitment to presenting exceptional regional artists while creating opportunities for audiences to discover new music and new voices. Featuring Jose Neto and Netoband, Glass Brick Boulevard, Paul Hanson, Michael Manring and Scott Amendola, Jaycie Grady 4 Tet, Ken Cook Trio and the Junior […]
September 12 @ 8 pm at Occidental Center for the Arts Fall Into Funk Dance Party with Ariel Marin & James Earley Band
Saturday September 12 @ 8 pm at Occidental Center for the Arts. Fall Into Funk Dance Party with Ariel Marin & James Earley Band!Join us for a fun night of your favorite funky tunes performed live by one of the Bay Area’s hottest bands! Songstress Ariel Marin, James Earley and talented friends return for an evening of funky grooves, groovy funk and everything you need to get your dance on! Tickets are $25, $10 for OCA members at www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org; or at the door. Limited seating. Dance floor. Wheelchair accessible. Fine refreshments, Art Gallery open at intermission. 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. […]
State News
Newsom Signs New Restrictions On Social Media
The New York Times reports: California’s governor on Thursday signed into law restrictions on addictive social media technology and interactions with harmful artificial intelligence chatbots, ushering in some of the strongest online protections for young users in the United States. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed a bill that prohibits social media platforms from providing addictive features to users under the age of 16, the first law of its kind in the nation. He also signed a new law mandating that A.I. companies disclose to young users whenever they engage with a chatbot, not a human, and restrict dangerous content on topics […]
San Diego repeals bathhouse ordinance passed during HIV/AIDS crisis
San Diego has officially removed a decades-old ordinance that targeted LGBTQ+ people from its books. The San Diego City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday (1 September) to repeal a bathhouse ordinance originally passed in 1988 and amended in 1991, during the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis. The law explicitly sought to regulate bathhouses in an effort to prevent gay and bisexual men from having sex and transmitting HIV, as reported by KPBS. The ordinance had effectively been sitting unused for years. Council President Joe LaCava’s office brought the repeal forward after a staffer stumbled across it while searching the city’s municipal code. LaCava said the law […]
