Top Stories
FDA Approves Generic Injectable HIV Preventive Med
STAT News reports: After months of anticipation, the Food and Drug Administration gave tentative approval to Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories to make a generic version of a groundbreaking HIV prevention medicine, a key step in widening access for dozens of low- and middle-income countries. The company, one of the world’s largest generic drugmakers, plans to start shipping the medicine next month as part of an effort propelled, in part, by several global health organizations to ensure the drug becomes available in lower-income countries as quickly as possible. The annual cost per person will be $40, comparable to daily tablets. Known as lenacapavir, […]
Spanish prosecutors seek prison for police officers accused of torturing gay Arab man
Two police officers from Catalonia, an autonomous region in northeast Spain, face possible prison sentences for allegedly detaining and torturing a gay Arab man in November 2021. Spain’s Fiscalía de Odio, which prosecutes hate crimes, seeks nearly eight years of incarceration and 20,000 Euros in damages from the two men, whose names have not been released publicly, according to the Spanish newspaper El País. Fiscalía de Odio is a branch of Spain’s Ministerio Fiscal, which is similar to the Justice Department in the United States. The officers allegedly detained the man after he got into an argument at a Barcelona nightclub, El País reported, […]
LGBTQ+ people are everywhere. Trump is cutting the data that shows it
A new Human Rights Campaign report estimates that 12 percent of U.S. adults are LGBTQ+, a higher share than several widely cited estimates. But the federal government is removing the questions the HRC report and similar research relied on. The consequences extend beyond knowing how many LGBTQ+ people there are. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. Andrew Flores, a distinguished visiting scholar at UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute, has used federal data to document that transgender people experience higher rates of crime victimization than cisgender people. Without questions […]
Local News
Transgender History Presentation at Finding History Day Happens Saturday in Santa Rosa
There will ba a discussion of a chapter of transgender history in Sonoma County from 1947–48 this coming Saturday at Finding History Day, held at the Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Building (details below). The presentation highlights the marriage of a transgender man and a cisgender woman, David and Thelma Warren. In 1947, they obtained a marriage license in Sonoma County and were married in San Francisco. Later that year, David’s sex assigned at birth was discovered, and the couple was reported to the District Attorney’s office. On Thanksgiving Day, as Thelma and David were preparing to host their neighbors for […]
Voting Assistance for Seniors in Sonoma Valley
Free voter assistance for seniors in Sonoma County The Sonoma County Democratic Party is offering free assistance to help senior voters return their ballots and participate in the November 3, 2026 General Election. Free Services for Seniors Speak with a live volunteer during these times: Outside those hours, leave a message for Bill. IMPORTANT BALLOT RETURN REMINDER The program recommends that voters not depend on U.S. mail for on-time ballot delivery after October 17, 2026. If you need help returning your ballot, call to ask about rides to official drop boxes or authorized ballot return. This is a public service for […]
Arts & Entertainment
Electric Tumbleweed at Occidental Center for the Arts Friday November 6
Friday, November 6 @ 8 pm: Electric Tumbleweed at Occidental Center for the Arts. One of Sonoma County’s finest bands returns for our listening and dancing pleasure. Electric Tumbleweed is a psychedelic outlaw country group based in Sonoma County, California. Founded in 2019 by members rooted in bluegrass, country, and psychedelic rock, the music is a hard driving mixture of twangy guitar and psychedelic noise, held together by a steady rhythm section with the cry of pedal steel layered in between it all. Tickets are $20/$15 for OCA members @ www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org; or at the door. Doors open at 7:30 PM. […]
Historians straightwashed a 1600s poet. A new book captures the true legacy of “the Welsh Sappho.”
When the Welsh government in 2021 embarked on what Deputy Minister of Social Partnership Hannah Blythyn described as a project to make Wales “the most LGBTQ+ friendly nation in Europe,” Welsh scholar Norena Shopland was commissioned to help train librarians, museum staff, and archivists on the inclusion of LGBTQ+ history. In 2022, Shopland served as founding researcher in an inspiring and beautifully done countrywide effort to write a local LGBTQ+ open-access online history for each of the twenty-two counties of Wales, providing, she wrote, “a means by which local people, allies and events can be celebrated instead of replicating mainstream narratives and […]
State News
Who Can Vote in California
You must register before you can vote in California. You are eligible to vote in California if you meet all of the following requirements: You cannot register to vote in California if: Voter Registration Requirements To register to vote: If you don’t provide any of these numbers or the state can’t match the number you provide to official records, you will have to show an accepted form of ID the first time you vote. You can use any unexpired photo ID or a non-photo document with your name and address. Common examples include: Same Day Registration California allows voter registration […]
Polyamorous relationships in West Hollywood now offered extra protections
People in “multi-partner domestic relationships” in West Hollywood have just been granted extra protections. The move, which has been in the works for months, was officially adopted at a 2 November, 2026 City Council meeting, after a 5-0 vote. It will go into effect 30 days after it was adopted. West Hollywood, which is in itself an independent city and can enact local legislation, will now recognise and protects the rights of people in polyamorousrelationships with an official register. A “multi-partner domestic relationship” is officially defined as having all individuals involved: being 18 or older; not being related by blood that would bar marriage in […]
