Infectious disease experts say more needs to be done to address rising STI rates in older people. The call to action will be presented next month at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease in Barcelona, Spain.
In a press statement in advance of the conference, they explained what was happening… and suggested some reasons.
For example, STIs in Americans aged 55 to 64 years have more than doubled over the past decade. It’s even worse for gonorrhea, rising from 15 cases per 100,000 people in 2015 to 57 per 100,000 in 2019.
In England, the number of over 45s diagnosed with gonorrhea and syphilis doubled between 2015 and 2019. The majority of that rise has been in gay men.
Professor Justyna Kowalska from the Medical University of Warsaw, who leads the research offers some reasons. These include the rise of dating apps, and erectile dysfunction medication such as Viagra. An increasing number of people are having sex at a later stage in life.
“Rising divorce rates, forgoing condoms as there is no risk of pregnancy, the availability of drugs for sexual dysfunction, the large number of older adults living together in retirement communities, and the increased use of dating apps are likely to have contributed to the growing incidence of STIs in the over 50s”, says Professor Kowalska.
It’s known that some men are foregoing condoms due to advances in HIV treatment and prevention.
“These data likely underestimate the true extent of the problem as limited access to sexual health services for the over 50s, and trying to avoid the stigma and embarrassment both on the part of older people and healthcare professionals, is leading to this age group not seeking help for STIs,” continued Kowalska.
“People do not become asexual with age”
She says assumptions that people stop having sex as they age need to be challenged. For many people, sex remains an important part of their life into old age.
In a study in England, 50% of men aged 70 and over reported being sexually active. In a Swedish study, 10% of those aged 90 and over said they still had sex.
“People do not become asexual with age,” says Kowalska. “In fact, with preventive medicine and improved lifestyles people are enjoying a healthy life and sex life for longer.”
“Older people often find greater satisfaction in their sex lives due to experience and known expectations. We need more role models like Samantha Jones in the TV show Sex and the City to challenge stereotypes around older sexuality.”
Kowalska says health professionals need to talk more to older people about sexual health.
“Sexual health campaigns are focused on young people and overlook the needs and experiences of those aged 50 and older,” she says.
“Health promotion messages give the impression that condoms and concerns about STIs only apply to young people. But the dangers of undiagnosed and untreated STIs such as HPV-related cancers and onwards transmission are very real, particularly in this age group who are more likely to have underlying conditions such as heart disease and stroke.”
Although the rates of STIs in older people are lower than those in younger age groups, health awareness material aimed at elders remains rare.
Amsterdam
Queerty recently reported on how Amsterdam in the Netherlands had dramatically reduced its HIV transmission rates. It recorded just nine new cases in 2022. Part of the approach was a multi-pronged awareness campaign that included older people. The film below is about a man who grew up during the AIDS epidemic having a hook-up with a younger guy. They discuss safer sex methods.
After a record year for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation at the state level and in a year that threatens to outdo it, LGBTQ+ Americans are seeing a negative impact on their mental health and quality of life, according to a new survey from Data for Progress.
In 2023, more than 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in state legislatures across the U.S., and more than 80 became law, by the Human Rights Campaign’s count. The number of bills introduced this year is approaching 500. Many of last year’s bills were specifically anti-transgender, and that is the case in 2024 as well. To gauge the effect of this environment, Data for Progress surveyed 873 LGBTQ+ adults, including an oversample of trans adults, from March 8 to 14.
Fifty-three percent of LGBTQ+ adults said recent anti-LGBTQ+ policies and rhetoric have negatively affected their mental health — including 79 percent of transgender adults and 65 percent of LGBTQ+ adults ages 18 to 24.
More than 60 percent of trans respondents were concerned they would suffer discrimination or harassment when going to a new health care provider, using a public restroom, going to non-LGBTQ+ bars or nightclubs, or engaging in public displays of affection with their significant other. Among all LGBTQ+ respondents, 47 percent were concerned about discrimination or harassment resulting from public displays of affection.
Thirty-seven percent of LGBTQ+ adults, including nearly 65 percent of trans adults, said quality of life has gotten worse for LGBTQ+ Americans in the past year.
Forty-two percent of LGBTQ+ adults reported hearing anti-LGBTQ+ remarks from a family member, friend, coworker, or neighbor; one in four had experienced online bullying or harassment; 23 percent said they had been subject to discrimination; 19 percent had experienced in-person bullying or harassment in person or had stopped speaking to a friend or family member because of homophobia or transphobia.
The situation was even worse for transgender respondents. Forty-six percent reported cyberbullying or online harassment; 45 percent had experienced discrimination; 38 percent reported in-person bullying or harassment; and 39 percent stopped speaking to a friend or family member who was not accepting.
The onslaught of homophobic and transphobic legislation has led many to consider moving to another city or state. Forty-four percent of trans respondents said they had considered moving or had already done so, along with a somewhat lesser proportion of all LGBTQ+ respondents.
Political, corporate, and media support was important to those surveyed. Eighty-two percent of all respondents said they would prefer to live in cities or states that have pro-LGBTQ+ policies and nondiscrimination protections; 86 percent wanted to work at a company that has stated policies protecting its LGBTQ+ employees; and 76 percent preferred to buy from brands that have publicly supported the LGBTQ+ community.
Majorities of transgender adults (68 percent), LGBTQ+ adults ages 18 to 24 (57 percent), Latino LGBTQ+ adults (51 percent), and Black LGBTQ+ adults (51 percent) said that LGBTQ+ representation in media was important to the process of discovering their LGBTQ+ identity. The vast majority agreed that LGBTQ+ youth need access to safe spaces online.
While trans people reported many negative experiences, they also reported finding joy in their community and in inspiring younger people. The comments about how they found joy included “Living my life on my terms proudly and unapologetically so that the younger queer generation feels empowered to do the same” and “Getting to see others find themselves and grow as people.”
“This report highlights many of the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ adults across the country, especially as a result of recent anti-LGBTQ+ policies and rhetoric,” Data for Progress concludes. “It also underscores the disparities in reported negative experiences between transgender adults and LGBQ+ adults who do not identify as transgender. Furthermore, this report emphasizes the importance of LGBTQ+-affirming communities, policies, representation in media, and online spaces and resources for LGBTQ+ people.”
A group called Love Lives in Seekonk (LLIS) sought to educate their small Massachusetts town about LGBTQ+ issues while building support for queer youth in schools. But soon after the group formed, another resident established a similarly named group to mock them. That resident has since accused LLIS and its supporters of being pedophiles and suggested that violence awaits them if they continue their advocacy.
Some residents of Seekonk, Massachusetts (population 15,700), were angered in late March 2023 when Mildred H. Aitken Elementary School advertised its annual Boy’s Choice mother-son dance with an ad welcoming all boys, students who identify as boys, and non-binary students.
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After right-wingers shared the ad’s wording on social media accounts, the school district received phone calls and online messages threatening protests and violence. One post featured a picture of a bullet and the caption “PEDOCILLIN,” a combination of the word pedophilia and the medication penicillin. The district canceled the $1,500 event hours before it was about to begin and canceled its scheduled Girl’s Choice dance that following April since its flier used similar wording about trans and non-binary students.
Upset by the cancellation, local parent Joe Novinson spoke passionately at a school board meeting, calling out the violence directed against children and the right of queer families to exist without being shot. After hearing his speech, a group of LGBTQ+ supportive parents, called Love Lives in Seekonk (LLIS), recruited Novinson to join their board. He did.
The group, started by local parent Kris Lyons and Pam Godsoe, decided to help raise the $1,500 that the school’s parent-teacher organization (PTO) lost by canceling the dance. So they began selling yard signs and bumper stickers colored like the progress Pride flag with the group’s name printed on them. The group raised nearly the full amount by April 11, 2023 and presented the amount to the PTO in an oversized check.
As the group’s membership grew, it pledged to hold community and educational events for LGBTQ+ youth and their families. LLIS held a September event to paint rocks for the local library’s Kindness Rock Garden, a November Lovesgiving fundraiser, and a February 2024 trivia night. The group, which became a non-profit in August 2023, donated $300 to Seekonk High School’s gay-straight alliance. LLIS also uses its Facebook page to educate residents about LGBTQ+ issues like pronouns, banned books, trans athletes, anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, coming out, queer crisis hotlines, and other topics.
“[The events were] really just about bringing the community together,” Novinson told LGBTQ Nation. “There was a lot of pushback initially to our group and people accused us of being online only, that we didn’t have much more than a digital footprint. So we wanted to counter that by holding events in real life. And we’re making our presence here felt, and we’re telling [those who disapproved of us that] we’re not going anywhere.”
image provided by Joe Novinson Joe Novinson (at left) and other members of Love Lives in Seekonk
Around fall 2023, the group also began publishing letters to the editor in the monthly local news magazine, The Seekonk Reporter. Since the magazine often reprints long letters to the editor and gets delivered to each local resident’s mailbox, LLIS thought it’d be a good way to reach older populations who didn’t engage with the group’s Facebook or Instagram pages.
In October 2023, the Reporter published Lyons’ letter introducing LLIS to the community. In November 2023, the news magazine published a letter written by Joe Novinson’s husband and fellow LLIS member Michael about how visible attempts at LGBTQ+ inclusivity aren’t a form of discrimination against Christians or Republicans.
“Just because something makes you as a parent uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s discriminatory in nature,” Michael Novinson’s letter said. “Schools should be opening children’s minds to the world outside of our own family, not building protective bubbles around children to keep new ideas and people you consider undesirable out.”
That’s when the trouble started. A local resident named Kanessa Lynn sent a letter to the Reporter claiming to represent a similarly named group called Luv Lives in Seekonk.
In one letter, Lynn wrote, “Luv Lives in Seekonk had its first ever LuvsGiving fundraiser on November 8th…. All proceeds are going to myself.” She claimed her group sold yard signs and bumper stickers and held a rock painting event, claims that others in the town doubted, considering her letter made it sound like she was just writing a satirical article mocking Love Lives in Seekonk. “I seen how gullible people are,” her letter continued, “and I’m excited to come up with more merchandise to scam, I mean sell to the community!”
Lynn reposted the article in Seekonk Residents, a right-wing Facebook group that reposts screenshots from anti-LGBTQ+ activist Chaya Raichik’s Libs of TikTok X account, the transphobic right-wing group Gays Against Groomers, and videos of far-right activist Charlie Kirk. The group also features various posts opposing transgender athletes, immigrants, DEI efforts, “the war on whites,” and the “COVID vaccine hoax.”
After complaints about Lynn’s letters, The Seekonk Reporter removed LLIS’ and Lynn’s letters from their website.
On October 26, 2023, Michael Novinson said he had a phone conversation with Barbara Georgia, co-owner of The Reporter. According to him, Georgia said the publication reprinted Lynn’s letters so that it wouldn’t be seen as “taking sides.” Georgia also reportedly said that the Reporter didn’t fact-check Lynn’s claims because “Those are her words, not ours” and that the publication had the right to refuse any submissions.
“We have given space to both groups in the past and due to the fact that it has escalated so much in nature we have decided to remain neutral and no longer print either side,” Georgia wrote to Michael Novinson in a January 4, 2024 text message exchange.
Novinson explained to Georgia that, unlike Lynn, his group was created to improve the lives of local queer kids, not “to get in a tit-for-tat with” Lynn or her sham group. “Silencing our voice will only serve to hurt LGBTQ+ youth,” Novinson wrote. Georgia and her husband have previously made donations to Republican candidates and the 2020 re-election campaign of President Donald Trump, according to data from the Federal Election Campaign.
Lynn cheered Georgia’s decision in a January 18 Facebook post in the Seekonk Residents Facebook group, writing, “To them it was a setback, but for all of us in Seekonk it was a victory!!! Now we don’t have to read their useless articles filled with lies.”
In other posts in the same group, she arranged four progressive Pride rainbow flags in the shape of a swastika, misgendered reposted screenshots of the full names of all the members of the LLIS Facebook group, and posted images of her car with two signs on it: one reading, “Love Lives in Seekonk are GROOMERS,” and another reading, “LEAVE THE KIDS ALONE!”
Facebook screenshot A post from Kanessa Lynn in the “Seekonk Residents” Facebook group
At the January 8 meeting of the Seekonk School Committee, Lynn said the LLIS’s members and supporters are “groomers.” She referenced the community upset at the aforementioned “PEDOCILLIN” social media post, saying that it meant that “pedophiles should get a bullet.”
“If you’re not a pedophile or a group that grooms children,” she continued, “then the meme shouldn’t even have affected you.” She then asked if the library or school board if either would be able to handle a neo-Nazi protest if either organization ever held a community drag event at LLIS’s request.
“You might wanna take that to Rehoboth or Attleboro because it’s not going to happen in Seekonk,” she said. “We’re not going to have grown, mentally ill men dressed as women coming to read to little kids in Seekonk — it’s not going to happen, I promise you that…. Leave the kids alone, leave the schools alone… You have a sick obsession with children.”
As proof of LLIS’s obsession, she noted an LLIS Facebook post in which Michael Novinson opposed a proposal to make the school district’s sex education classes opt-in and to let parents opt their child out of any curriculum that contradicts their religious beliefs. In his post, Novinson worried that the policy would reduce the number of students learning about human sexuality and “lead to more STIs and unwanted pregnancies for teenagers in town.”
Beyond the censorship, accusations, and threats, Seekonk is gearing up for the upcoming April 1 townwide elections. Lynn and other town residents are supporting conservative school board candidates who could push school policies banning LGBTQ+ books, curriculum, and trans-inclusive policies. Meanwhile, LLIS’s members continue to speak out at board meetings and inform its Facebook followers members about why LGBTQ+ kids need community support.
“Folks running from the right are making things like gender ideology and critical race theory central components of their campaign,” Michael Novinson said. “In that way, Seekonk mirrors national patterns and a push on the right to make this a culture war.”
Lyons, one of the straight co-founders of LLIS, said she wants to encourage more residents in her town and in neighboring towns to “feel more emboldened to step up and be loud” in support of LGBTQ+ people.
“Two straight moms from Seekonk got together with a bunch of people to take a stand, and you can too.”
As the use of solitary confinement in immigration detention centers increases under the Biden administration, according to the federal data, some Democratic-aligned lawmakers are demanding an end to the practice — or at least the creation of rules that would limit it — accusing the federal government in a letter of being “in clear violation of international norms.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “has isolated individuals in its facilities for months and even years, used solitary as punishment for minor infractions, and placed in solitary vulnerable individuals, including those with mental health conditions,” Massachusetts Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, and Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin wrote in a letter Friday to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and ICE acting Deputy Director Patrick Lechleitner.
“ICE has failed to follow its own guidelines that limit both the punitive use of solitary confinement and the imposition of additional forms of punishment in solitary confinement,” added the lawmakers, who were joined by eight other Democratic senators and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
ICE statistics show the agency detains more than 38,000 people each day, an increase of about 15,000 since President Joe Biden took office in 2021.
The senators cited a study released last month that found 1,106 uses of “segregation” — informally known as solitary confinement — in the third quarter of 2023, up 61% from a year prior. Researchers at Harvard University and the nonprofit group Physicians for Human Rights based the analysis on ICE’s own data, and also established the agency placed people in solitary confinement over 14,000 times in the past five years with an average duration of 27 days — “well exceeding the 15-day threshold that United Nations human rights experts have found constitutes torture.”
Philip Torrey, an assistant clinical professor at Harvard Law School and researcher on the study, said that given the findings, they would like to see ICE “end the use of segregation and at the very least begin a phase out process to discontinue its use.”
The Democratic lawmakers agreed, writing in their letter that “at a minimum, DHS and ICE must issue binding rules limiting its use of solitary confinement and follow them.”
The senators said they are especially concerned about detainees in the most vulnerable populations, including LGBTQ people and those with mental health and chronic medical conditions.
Medical and mental health remain the largest reasons why immigration detainees are placed in segregation, according to ICE data on its website, followed by disciplinary and protective custody issues.
Markey said he felt obligated to urge DHS and ICE to “phase out” solitary confinement after reports of its use on detainees for even minor infractions or as retaliation for conducting a hunger strike.
“Solitary confinement is unfair and cruel, and it’s time for our government to stop using it,” Markey told NBC News.
The senators asked Mayorkas and Lechleitner for answers to several questions, including what steps have been taken to limit solitary confinement, what is the breakdown of time spent in it and by vulnerable population, and what is the agency doing to respond to recommendations from government accountability and oversight offices to ensure clear and consistent policies for segregation.
DHS and ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the senators’ letter or the study they cited.
In 2013, ICE issued a directive that the use of segregated housing must be carefully weighed.
“Placement in segregation should occur only when necessary and in compliance with applicable detention standards,” the agency said at the time. “In particular, placement in administrative segregation due to a special vulnerability should be used only as a last resort and when no other viable housing options exist.”
The agency also agreed to protect transgender people in a 2015 memorandum.
Immigration advocacy groups remain dismayed over the use of solitary confinement and say the issue is taking greater importance ahead of an upcoming election that is on course to see a rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump.
In 2019, an NBC News investigation in partnership with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other news organizations found a widespread use of solitary confinement for immigrant detainees in ICE custody under both the Obama and Trump administrations.
Concerns continue in detention centers under the Biden administration, with detainees in Louisiana last year telling NBC News about the threat and use of solitary confinement as punishment. The president has been criticized during his tenure about the increased use of so-called restrictive housing in federal prisons as well, despite a campaign pledge to end solitary confinement except for “very limited” reasons. Bills were introduced last year in the U.S. Senate and the House by Democrats to largely ban the practice on federal inmates and detainees.
Jesse Franzblau, a senior policy analyst at the National Immigrant Justice Center, which offers legal representation for detainees, said he believes what has been happening in federal facilities must change because it is “arbitrary.”
“There’s already weak standards in terms of human rights and basic humanity, and there’s not a lot of oversight and accountability from staff just throwing people into solitary and them not having the opportunity to get out,” Franzblau said. “This is how it plays out on the ground when members of Congress say the government is violating its own policies.”
In the pivotal Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump, Deputy District Attorney Will Wooten, who joined the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office in January 2021, has been central in addressing complex legal issues.
Wooten, notable not only for his prosecutorial skills but also for his identity as an out gay man and his advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights, focused on key aspects of the case Thursday morning, specifically jurisdictional issues and the involvement of fake electors.
Who is Will Wooten?
Wooten worked both as a prosecutor and a public defender, according to his bio on the Fulton County website. The attorney previously served as a prosecutor in the Clayton County District Attorney’s Office and the Gwinnett County Solicitor-General’s Office. While at Clayton County, Wooten prosecuted major felony offenses including murder, rape, child molestation, and drug trafficking. During his time in Knoxville, Tenn., Wooten was a public defender for several years. He also has taught at the Emory University School of Law.
Wooten earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Miami and a law degree from Emory.
“In each of his roles, Will has helped coordinate training for new attorneys and interns; introducing them to the criminal justice system and helping them develop courtroom skills,” the website states. “In his spare time, he enjoys Miami Hurricanes football and hiking Georgia’s beautiful mountains and trails,”
How has he been involved in the case against Trump?
During a court hearing before Judge Scott McAfee this week, Wooten tackled several aspects of the defense’s motions to dismiss charges, arguing that the question of whether the governor’s office and the Georgia secretary of state’s office had jurisdiction over matters associated with presidential electors was indeed an issue of fact. Wooten emphasized the need for evidence and testimony to clarify the duties, authority, and actions of various entities involved in the election process, thereby establishing their relevance and jurisdiction concerning the allegations against Trump.
Furthermore, Wooten addressed the actions allegedly undertaken by Trump and his associates, including submitting false elector certificates. The prosecution argued against the defense’s other assertion that many of the actions charged as crimes were protected political speech.
Wooten is an out and proud queer lawyer
Wooten spearheaded the creation of the department’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee at the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, the Georgia Voicereported. This initiative started in 2022. It aims to address and improve the legal system’s approach to cases involving LGBTQ+ people. The committee’s establishment was a landmark effort to ensure that hate crimes and other legal issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community in Fulton County are handled with the sensitivity and recognition they require.
He is a member of the Stonewall Bar Association, which is a group of legal workers supporting LGBTQ+ rights.
In June 2021, Wooten took a prominent stand for LGBTQ+ rights and recognition with a speech delivered at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, marking the celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride. In his address, Wooten highlighted the significant contributions of the drag community to the LGBTQ+ rights movement, acknowledging their pivotal role in the fight for equality. Reflecting on his journey and the broader struggle for LGBTQ+ rights, Wooten shared his experiences of having to conceal his sexual orientation in previous work environments and expressed gratitude for the progress that has allowed him to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights today openly under Fulton County DA Fani Willis.
A federal lawsuit has been filed in Wisconsin against the Milwaukee Board of School Directors and Kasongo Kalumbula, a principal in the Milwaukee Public Schools system, over claims of verbal and physical abuse targeted at a student because his parents are gay.
The legal action, brought forth last Thursday by parents on behalf of their minor child, identified only as G.L., alleges a distressing pattern of discrimination that spans several years, starting when G.L. was in first grade.
According to the complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Kalumbula, who served as an assistant principal at the time, is accused of using homophobic slurs, locking the child in a dark room, and threatening his life if he disclosed the punishments. The lawsuit details an incident where Kalumbula allegedly told G.L. that his parents would “burn in hell” and referred to them using derogatory terms.
According to his parents, the impact of these actions has been profound on G.L., necessitating ongoing psychiatric treatment for trauma and anxiety, the lawsuit claims. The parents’ repeated attempts to seek intervention from the school and district officials reportedly led to no substantive action. Instead, the lawsuit accuses MPS of promoting Kalumbula despite being aware of the complaints.
Seeking compensatory and punitive damages, the lawsuit stresses violations of the constitutional rights of G.L. and his parents, including their right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment and protection against retaliatory actions for their complaints under the First Amendment. The case also raises allegations of excessive force and unreasonable seizure against G.L., pointing to a disturbing misuse of authority by Kalumbula.
The lawsuit implicates MPS policies, alleging that the district’s failure to address and prevent discriminatory behavior by its staff contributed to the environment that allowed the alleged abuse to occur.
Milwaukee Public Schools has not commented on the ongoing litigation, citing policies against discussing individual student and personnel matters, CBS affiliate WDJT reports. Attempts by the outlet to reach Kalumbula for comment have been unsuccessful.
Best Buy offered to screen donations from its employee resource groups going to LGBTQ causes following pressure from a conservative think tank that holds shares in the company, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing made public this week.
The SEC filing contains a monthslong email exchange between the National Center for Public Policy Research, which describes itself as a “nonpartisan, free-market conservative think tank,” and Best Buy. The dialogue, which hasn’t been previously reported, shows how the center said it would make “a splash” unless the consumer electronics giant moved in favor of its demands.
In some of the last correspondence in the filing, Best Buy noted that it allows its employee resource groups “some discretion to directly support organizations of their choosing” but added that “any such contributions would be screened to ensure they do not advocate or support the causes or agendas you have identified as concerning.” One of the causes the NCPPR cited was transgender care for minors, which the group falsely described as an attempt to “mutilate the reproductive organs of children.”
When asked for a request for comment regarding the filing, Carly Charlson, a spokesperson for Best Buy, stated in an email: “At Best Buy, we strongly believe in an inclusive work environment with a culture of belonging where everyone feels valued and has the opportunity to thrive. This commitment is evident through our longstanding and continuing support of organizations like HRC, which has recognized us as one of the best places to work for the LGBTQIA+ community for the past 18 years.”
She then sent a followup email adding, “Nothing has changed in the ways we give to LGBTQIA+ organizations.”
In HRC, Charlson was referring to the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ-rights group.
“The news of this SEC filing is very concerning, and we are working in partnership with Best Buy to understand more,” Eric Bloem, HRC’s vice president of programs and corporate advocacy, said in a statement Friday afternoon. “Any company that uses their Corporate Equality Index distinction as cover while working with fringe groups and bad actors does not reflect true LGBTQ+ allyship in the corporate space.”
The communication in the SEC filing began on Dec. 11, when the NCPPR sent Best Buy a shareholder proposal asking the retailer to produce by June — and distribute at Best Buy’s annual shareholder meeting that month — a report for investors analyzing how its partnerships with LGBTQ nonprofits are benefitting the company’s business.
“Best Buy has partnerships with and contributes to organizations and activists that promote the practice of gender transition surgeries on minors and evangelize gender theory to minors. Why are Best Buy shareholders funding the proliferation of an ideology seeking to mutilate the reproductive organs of children before they finish puberty?” the proposal, signed by Ethan Peck, an associate at the NCPPR’s Free Enterprise Institute, states. “This contentious and vast disagreement between radical gender theory activists and the general public has nothing to do with Best Buy selling electronics.”
In an email dated Jan. 17, Peck told Best Buy’s attorneys that his organization “will withdraw its proposal if Best Buy were to end its partnerships with and contributions to” eight different LGBTQ nonprofits and initiatives, which he refers to as “predatory butchers” in his email. These groups include The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization; SAGE, which advocates on behalf of LGBTQ elders; and GLAAD, an LGBTQ media advocacy group.
Peck did, however, leave the Human Rights Campaign off this list, stating in his email that “we understand that it’s unrealistic for Best Buy to leave HRC in the near future because of their political clout.”
“We hope you take this off-ramp for the sake of shareholders,” Peck wrote in the Jan. 17 email. “Were Best Buy to agree to such a compromise with us, we will not make a splash about it.”
In a Feb. 5 email, Marina Rizzo, a Best Buy attorney, told Peck that the company had reviewed his organization’s concerns and informed him that the company hadn’t donated in several years to two of the LGBTQ causes mentioned in the Jan. 17 email — the Trevor Project and Our Gay History in 50 States — and has never donated to the other six. She then says the company would screen certain donations the NCPPR may find concerning.
“As discussed during our call, we do allow our individual employee organizations, including our Military ERG, Conservative employee interest group, and our PRIDE group, among many other groups, some discretion to directly support organizations of their choosing,” Rizzo wrote. “That said, any such contributions would be screened to ensure they do not advocate or support the causes or agendas you have identified as concerning. We hope this addresses the concerns.”(In a letter included in the SEC filing, Best Buy notes that its employee resource groups “are provided with their own funding and have the capability to identify sponsorships to receive that funding, subject to internal guidelines and Company oversight.”)
Later that day, Peck thanked Rizzo in an email “for looking into this” and added, “we’re definitely delighted to hear all that.” He then raised several follow-up questions, including why a page on the Best Buy website still indicates the company supports the Trevor Project and a book titled “Our Gay History in 50 States.”
“We’re going to need some kind of proof that that funding has ended,” Peck wrote.
In an email on Feb. 9, Rizzo informed Peck that Best Buy would submit a letter to the SEC that afternoon asking that the regulator not take any action against the company for omitting NCPPR’s proposal from shareholder materials. She also told him that the letter is a “standard part of the proposal process, and we intend to continue our dialogue.” She ended the email by writing, “We remain ready to reach an understanding in conjunction with the withdrawal agreement you initially outlined.”
No additional email correspondence is included in the SEC filing after Feb. 9, and it’s unclear whether an agreement between Best Buy and NCPPR was ever reached. On March 22, NCPPR withdrew its Dec. 11 shareholder proposal. Then, on Tuesday of this week, Best Buy pulled its Feb. 9 “no action” requestfrom the SEC, and the agency sent a letter on Wednesday confirming the matter was moot. This, in turn, ensures NCPPR’s shareholder proposal regarding LGBTQ donations will not be presented at Best Buy’s annual shareholder meeting in June.
In response to NBC News’ request for comment, Peck declined to share any specifics regarding his communication with Best Buy, stating, “We don’t discuss confidential discussions.” He did, however, confirm that his organization has sent similar proposals to other public companies, though he did not name them.
When asked why he chose the eight LGBTQ causes mentioned in the Best Buy SEC filing, he wrote, “We used those groups as examples of groups that have adopted radical and divisive positions on LGBTQ issues, but we recognize that many more such groups exist.”
The exchange between Best Buy and the NCPPR comes as many large companies face renewed pressure from conservatives to curb their public support for the LGBTQ community.
Major consumer brands, includingBud Light and Target, have faced heated criticism from conservative activists, prompting a rollback of LGBTQ-focused marketing campaigns and products as well as calls for boycotts. In Bud Light’s case, sales declined and shares of its parent company, Anheuser-Busch Inbev, tumbled in the months following the beer brand’s partnership with transgender influencerDylan Mulvaney on April 1 of last year, though the stock has since rebounded.
In an email on Friday, GLAAD, one of the LGBTQ nonprofits mentioned in the SEC filing, expressed its displeasure with Best Buy.
“Executives at Best Buy ought to be ashamed of how they turned their backs on their LGBTQ and ally employees and consumers,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said. “They know what they did was wrong, or they would not have tried to hide this cowardly, toxic corporate takeover inside an ordinary SEC filing.”
They zip around the rink, armed with helmets, pads and mouthguards. They push, bump and occasionally crash out as they jostle for position on the hardwood floor.
But for the women of the Long Island Roller Rebels, their biggest battle is taking place outside the suburban strip-mall roller rink where they’re girding for the upcoming roller derby season.
The nearly 20-year-old amateur league is suing a county leader over an executive order meant to prevent women’s and girl’s leagues and teams with transgender players from using county-run parks and fields. The league’s legal effort, backed by the New York Civil Liberties Union, has thrust it into the national discussion over the rights of transgender athletes.
Amanda Urena, the league’s vice president, said there was never any question the group would take a stand.
“The whole point of derby has been to be this thing where people feel welcome,” said the 32-year-old Long Island native, who competes as “Curly Fry” and identifies as queer, at a recent practice at United Skates of America in Seaford. “We want trans women to know that we want you to come play with us, and we’ll do our very best to keep fighting and making sure that this is a safe space for you to play.”
Amanda “Curly Fry” Urena at United Skates of America in Seaford, N.Y., on March 19, 2023. Jeenah Moon / AP
Sports leagues and teams seeking permits to play or practice in county-run parks must disclose whether they have or allow transgender women or girls. Any organization that allows them to play will be denied a permit, though men’s leagues and teams aren’t affected.
Bills restricting trans youths’ ability to participate in sports have already passed in some 24 states as part of an explosion of anti-trans legislation on many subjects in recent years. The largest school district in Manhattan is among localities also weighing a ban, following a school board vote last week.
The Roller Rebels sought a county permit this month in hopes of hosting practices and games in county-owned rinks in the upcoming season, as they have in prior years. But they expect to be denied, since the organization is open to anyone who identifies as a woman and has one transgender player already on the roster.
The ban will also make it hard for the league, which has two teams and about 25 players, to recruit and will hurt its ability to host competitions with other leagues, Urena said.
State Attorney General Letitia James has demanded the county rescind the ban, saying it violates state anti-discrimination laws, while Blakeman has asked a federal judge to uphold it.
That a roller derby league has become the face of opposition isn’t surprising: the sport has long been a haven for queer and transgender women, said Margot Atwell, who played in a women’s league in New York City and wrote “Derby Life,” a book about roller derby.
The sport, which dates at least to the 1930s and enjoyed its heyday in the 1970s, involves two teams racing around a track as their designated “jammer” attempts to score points by lapping the other skaters, who are allowed to use their hips, chests and shoulders to slow them down.
The latest revival started in the early 2000s and has been sustained by LGBTQ+ people, with leagues frequently taking part in Pride parades and holding fundraising matches, Atwell said.
“You come in here and you say, ‘I’m a trans woman. I’m a nonbinary person. I’m genderqueer.’ OK? We accept you,” said Caitlin Carroll, a Roller Rebel who competes as “Catastrophic Danger.” “The world is scary enough. You should have a safe place to be.”
Blakeman has said he wants to ensure female athletes can compete safely and fairly. He held a news conference last week with Caitlyn Jenner, who won Olympic gold in the men’s decathlon in 1976 and later underwent a gender transition. Jenner, a Republican who’s frequently at political odds with the greater transgender community, has endorsed the ban.
Blakeman, a Republican who was elected in 2021, has said constituents asked his office to act. But many critics dismiss the ban as political posturing, noting he has acknowledged there have been no local complaints involving transgender players on women’s teams.
“This is a solution in search of a problem,” said Emily Santosus, a 48-year old transgender woman on Long Island who hopes to join a women’s softball team. “We’re not bullies. We’re the ones that get bullied.”
The ones who will suffer most aren’t elite athletes, but children still trying to navigate their gender identities, added Grace McKenzie, a transgender woman who plays for the New York Rugby Club’s women’s team.
Members of the Long Island Roller Rebels during practice at United Skates of America in Seaford, N.Y., on March 19, 2023.Jeenah Moon / AP
“Cruel is the only word that I can use to describe it,” the 30-year-old Brooklyn resident said. “Kids are using sports at that age to build relationships, make friendships, develop teamwork skills, leadership skills and, frankly, just help shield them from all the hate they face as transgender kids already.”
In the larger discussion about trans women in sports, each side points to limited research to support their opinion. And bans often do not distinguish between girls and women who took puberty blockers as part of their transition — stunting the development of a male-typical physique — and those who didn’t, something one New York advocate pointed out.
The order in Nassau County puts some younger trans girls at greater risk by potentially pitting them against boys instead, said Juli Grey-Owens, leader of Gender Equality New York.
“They are not hitting puberty, so they’re not growing, they’re not getting that body strength, the endurance, the agility, the big feet, the large legs,” Grey-Owens said.
The ban could even lead to cisgender female athletes who are strong and muscular being falsely labeled transgender and disqualified, as has happened elsewhere, said Shane Diamond, a transgender man who plays recreational LGBTQ+ ice hockey in New York City.
“It creates a system where any young woman who doesn’t fit the stereotypical idea of femininity and womanhood is at risk of having her gender questioned or gender policed,” Diamond said.
A 2022 Washington Post-University of Maryland Poll found that 55% of Americans were opposed to allowing trans women and girls to compete with other women and girls in high school sports, and 58% opposed it for college and pro sports.
Two cisgender female athletes said after listening to Jenner that men are stronger than women, so it will never be fair if transgender women and girls are allowed to compete.
“There is a chance I would get hurt in those situations,” said Trinity Reed, 21, who plays lacrosse at Nassau County’s Hofstra University.
Mia Babino, 18, plays field hockey at the State University of New York at Cortland and plans to transfer to Nassau County’s Molloy University.
“We’ve worked very hard to get to where we are and to play at a college level,” she said.
But that attitude runs against everything athletic competition stands for, and it sells women and their potential short, countered Urena, of the Roller Rebels.
“If people gave up playing sports because they thought they were going to lose, we wouldn’t have a sports industry,” they said. “I love playing against people that are faster and stronger because that’s how I get better.”
A Texas appeals court on Friday upheld a lower court’s injunction blocking the state from investigating parents who provide their transgender children with gender-affirming medical treatments, which Gov. Greg Abbott has called abusive.
Abbott, a Republican, had ordered the state Department of Family Protective Services to carry out child abuse investigations into families whose children were receiving puberty-blocking treatments in February 2022.
A month later, a district court judge imposed a statewide temporary injunction on such investigations, saying the probes endangered children and their families.
The appeals court in Austin upheld the district court judge’s injunction in a pair of rulings on Friday, delivering a victory to LGBTQ groups, medical professionals and civil liberties advocates opposing moves by conservative politicians in dozens of states to criminalize the provision of gender-affirming treatments for trans youth.
“This is a much-needed victory for trans youth and those who love and support them,” the American Civil Liberties Union said on X on Friday.
Representatives for Abbott and the DFPS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ACLU and Lambda Legal challenged Abbott’s order on behalf of the family of a 16-year-old transgender girl targeted for investigation.
The child had taken puberty-delaying medications and hormone therapy. Her mother was a DFPS employee and was put on paid administrative leave after asking what Abbott’s directive would mean for her family.
In 2022, the district court judge said the governor’s order could cause “irreparable injury” to families, given the stigma attached to being targets of a child abuse investigation, as well as the loss of livelihood.
Texas restricted gender-affirming care for youth in 2023, making it one of more than a dozen states that currently bars young transgender people from receiving certain puberty-blockers and hormone therapies, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
While “Don’t Say Gay” laws continue to prevent LGBTQ+-inclusive education, these 7 states are actively ensuring that their schools stay queer-friendly.
In 2022, Florida became the first state to sign into effect a HB 1557, commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. The law, signed by Gov. Ron De Santis, prohibits instruction around sexual orientation and gender identity by school personnel or third parties. However, due to the vagueness of the law, it became pervasive, causing harm to LGBTQ+ students and their families. In addition to book bans across the the U.S., more “Don’t Say Gay” laws popped up around the country.
Now, 7 states are fighting back.
California, New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, Illinois, and Washington state have implemented legislation mandating the incorporation of LGBTQ+-inclusive curricula within the public schools, as reported by the Movement Advancement Project (MAP). Washington is the most recent to move forward with this legislation, where Senate Bill 5462 was signed into effect Gov. Jay Inslee, mandating Washington school districts adopts of curricula that’s “culturally and experientially diverse as possible” by the 2025-26 school year. This mandate will strive not only provide LGBTQ+ education, but will focus on the histories of people of color and people with disabilities.
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“I’ve seen firsthand how important an inclusive curriculum can be and how life-changing it can be to help a student see themselves in the curriculum instead of some old dead white guys from the 1700s,” Kristie Bennett, a Washington state high school and leader of her school’s gender-sexuality alliance organization.
While these 7 states have implemented protections for LGBTQ+-inclusive curricula, according to MAP, 7 others states (Iowa, North Carolina, Florida, Arkansas, Kentucky, Indiana, and Alabama) have enacted laws to restrict education around gender and sexuality. Additionally, MAP reported that 5 states (Arizona, Montana, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Florida) required “advance parental notification of any LGBTQ-related curricula and allows parents to opt their children out (or requires opt-in)” and 4 other states (Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi) restricted “how schools can discuss ‘homosexuality’ in specific curricula.”
And that doesn’t include the 28 states, 5 territories, and Washington, D.C., of which do not have an LGBTQ+ curricular protections. Still, these 7 states are blazing the trail for LGBTQ+-inclusive education within the U.S.
