The Stonewall National Education Program is celebrating it’s tenth year bringing LGBTQ+ history to United States communities.
Robert Kesten, executive director of the Stonewall National Museum & Archives, recently told Tracy E. Gilchrist of Advocate Today how queer organizations within the country continue to fight back as LGBTQ+ rights remain under attack.
“I think that it’s important to recognize that what we do is we not only collect the history and the culture, but we present it,” he says.
The main mission of SNEP is to spread LGBTQ+ history, which is often left out of state teachings and textbooks. Kesten says that the program “looks at what makes it safe for an LGBTQ+ child to be in school.”
“One of the things that we have rightfully discovered is that learning history, real history, makes a huge difference,” Kesten explains. “Because when you see the interplay between people from our community in the history of the United States, in the history of the world, it becomes so clear how integrated we all are. When you not understand that, when you learn that in school, when it’s not limited and prohibited, you start to see that people want the same things.”
“That people have the same goals, that there really is very little difference between a boy who likes boys and a boy who likes girls, or a girl who likes girls, and a girl who likes boys or people who like both or people who are not sure,” he continues. “The differences are minor compared to the things that we share in common and the shared history that we have when we’re willing to learn history in its totality and not just biography of a select few.”
The Stonewall National Museums Archive is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a gala in Fort Lauderdale on February 25. They also have a march planned in Tallahassee on January 21, to protest Governor Ron DeSantis’ re-inauguration.
“Tallahassee has made itself ground zero in terms of fighting for LGBTQ rights. And there will be people going there,” Kesten explains, adding, “Our focus is making sure that the history is recorded, that it is documented, that it is saved, that it is preserved, and that it is shared by as many people as humanly possible. So that total history is learned and known. And this is the battle right now on what human rights looks like.”
Meet with other teens to discuss books centering LGBTQ+ voices! Meetings are in person, at the Northwest Library (the one by Coddingtown Mall), every 4th Tuesday of the month, from 4:30pm-5:30pm. Print copies of that month’s book are available for checkout at Northwest a month before discussion. Snacks will be provided!
No registration required, and drop-ins are welcome! If you didn’t have time to read or finish the month’s book, you are still welcome to hang out with the group! This is a safe and inclusive space, and all teens 7th-12th grade are welcome (including allies)! 🏳️🌈
January 24 – We Are Okay
February 28 – The Passing Playbook
March 28 – Iron Widow
April 25 – Darius the Great is Not Okay
May 23- The Prince & the Dressmaker
June 27 – The House on the Cerulean Sea
July 25 – The Hidden Witch
August 22 – Aristotle and Dante
September 26 – GenderQueer
October 24 – I’ll Give You the Sun
Join librarians online to discuss books centering on LGBTQIA+ voices. The Queer Book Clubmeets virtually the second Wednesday of every month at 6:00 pm.
In response to the flood of anti-trans legislation and anti-LGBTQ+ hatred in the U.S., a transgender woman has founded TRANSport, an organization helping trans people flee the country.
Rynn Azerial Willgohs, a 50-year-old transgender woman, began researching ways to leave the country after two events took place.
First, in March 2021, a man nearly strangled her to death in a public restroom while she was traveling across the state for work — she hasn’t felt safe in public ever since. “There’s like 30 states right now I wouldn’t even drive through,” Willgohs, a North Dakota resident, told VICE News.
Then, in June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to legal abortion. In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that the court should possibly overturn its past decisions legalizing same-sex marriage, guaranteeing contraception access, and invalidating anti-sodomy laws.
When associates of hers began asking about the likelihood of LGBTQ+ rights being rolled back in the U.S., Willgohs started researching the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Refugees’ guidelines on refugee status based on sexual and gender orientation. She has since begun researching LGBTQ+ organizations in Europe to better understand options for queer relocation.
In 2022, Republicans nationwide introduced over 170 anti-trans bills and over 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in state legislatures. In 2023, nine states are already planning to introduce legislation to block transgender youth from seeking gender-affirming care, The Hill reports.If that legislation becomes law, gender-affirming healthcare for young people will be inaccessible in nearly one-fifth of all states.
On top of that, right-wing conservatives have increasingly demonized LGBTQ+ people, allies, and drag performers for “grooming” children for sexual abuse, claiming they subject kids to “gender confusion” and “genital mutilation” (even though gender-affirming surgeries aren’t conducted on minors). The hate speech has led to an increase in hate-motivated attacks, including the recent deadly shooting at the LGBTQ+ bar Club Q in Colorado Springs.
In 2021, there were 1,132 hate crimes based on sexual orientation and 266 based on gender identity, according to FBI data. The latter number represented a 40 percent increase since 2019. Trans people, especially non-white trans people, are more likely than cisgender individuals to face physical and sexual violence, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
“All you need to do is look at the news and see how bad it’s going to get in the country,” Willgohs told VICE. “We’re accused of being pedophiles and of grooming children. We’re being accused of being a social contagion that makes every child think they are in the queer community. That’s the farthest from the truth.”
She started TRANSport as a Facebook group, but the group received non-profit status in November 2022, allowing it to accept donations. TRANSport has since been contacted by at least 30 individuals looking for assistance. Willgohs says the organization’s application process probably won’t open until near the end of February, and even then, it’ll primarily serve trans people in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. But she hopes other organizations like hers will emerge in other states.
Willgohs herself is considering relocating to Iceland, a country she’s visited where she felt her trans identity was a “non-issue.” However, it’s unclear to her if other countries’ laws even allow U.S. citizens to claim asylum for anti-trans persecution.
The UN guidelines on LGBTQ+ asylum state that persecution “can be considered to involve serious human rights violations, including a threat to life or freedom as well as other kinds of serious harm” including physical, psychological, and sexual violence. To qualify for asylum, a person doesn’t need to prove that they’ve already been harmed by anti-LGBTQ+ violence.
But European Union statistics on LGBTQ+ refugees are spotty, making it difficult to know whether other UN-member countries are actually accepting queer asylum seekers as required by UN guidelines.
“European cases, when it comes to trans cases, are generally very strict… asylum is really a high-bar process,” human rights researcher Nora Noralla told VICE. “It’s not hard for [Americans] to come to Europe… If any trans Americans want to come they have a lot of options. They don’t need to apply for asylum.”
“It’s still a first world country and strongest economy in the world. You still have rule of law, you still have human rights mechanisms,” Noralla continued.
“To apply for asylum you need to prove that the entire country isn’t safe for you. You need to prove this is a federal policy.”
In the meantime, Willgohs said she hopes her organization can help support some people through their transitions by teaching them how to legally change their names and gender markers on official government IDs. Other state organizations also provide such assistance to trans people, but the associated costs and paperwork can prevent many trans people from ever officially changing their documents, something that can leave them subject to harassment and discrimination.
Saturday February 18 @ 7:30 pm. The Billie Holiday Project at Occidental Center for the Arts. Don’t miss the return of this spectacular tribute to the one and only Billie Holiday! Super songstress Stella Heath and her band, featuring some of the Bay Area’s finest jazz musicians, skillfully evoke the electric and intimate feeling of seeing the legendary Lady Day live in a 1930’s jazz club. You won’t want to miss this Valentine’s Day tribute at our acoustic sweet spot on Bohemian Highway. Get your tickets early – this show will sell out! $32 General/ $25 for OCA members at www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org ; or at the door. Fine refreshments available for sale, art gallery open. Following current Sonoma County Public Health guidelines. Accessible to patrons in wheelchairs. 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465. 707-874-9392. Become an OCA Member for discounted admission to all events.
For LGBTQ folks looking for a supportive community in Palm Springs, Living Out is now accepting reservations for leasing and scheduled to open this year.
Studies show that up to a third of LGBTQ seniors fear having to “re-closet” as they age, according to Lavender Magazine, and that’s why Living Out is so important.
“This is a senior community in Palm Springs that’s intentionally designed to provide a safe, joyful living environment for LGBTQ seniors to continue to live and love out and proud,” the magazine published.
Built on nine acres in central Palm Springs, Living Out comprises 122 apartments in four-unit configurations ranging from a one bedroom, one and a half baths and a den, to a two bedroom with two and a half baths and a den.
Units are sized between 1,100 square feet to 1,700 square feet and has a large usable balcony or patio.
Living Out has dramatic landscaping and desert mountain views, an upscale, full-service restaurant and bar operated by LGBTQ+ chefs and restaurateurs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken.
The development also features a movie theatre with reclining seats, a game room and card room, and an arts and crafts studio, a fitness center, massage rooms, a hair salon with manicure and pedicure facilities, and a lounge.
Outdoors, there’s covered surface parking for all residents including guest and retail parking, an event lawn, BBQ and entertainment areas, a resort-style swimming pool and jacuzzi. Bocce ball, a putting green, orchards, rose garden and walking paths also fill the space.
A federal judge has ruled that a Catholic hospital discriminated against a transgender man when it refused to perform a gender-affirming procedure.
Jesse Hammons sued the University of Maryland Medical System, which owns St. Joseph Medical Center, after the facility canceled a hysterectomy in January 2020. Hammons’s doctor, Steven Adashek, had approved the procedure to treat his gender dysphoria. But St. Joseph’s chief medical officer, Dr. Gail Cunningham, later informed Adashek that the procedure could not be performed at the hospital because it conflicted with the facility’s religious directives.
“We cannot do transgender surgery at St. [Joseph],” Cunningham told Adashek, according to court records.
Hammons received a hysterectomy at another hospital months later after undergoing an additional round of preoperative tests.
On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Deborah K. Chasanow ruled that St. Joseph’s had discriminated against Hammons on the basis of sex under the Affordable Care Act. The ACA prohibits providers receiving federal funding from discriminating on the “basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex” and includes provisions for “pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.”
St. Joseph’s, which is owned by a state institution—the University of Maryland—subject to constitutional non-discrimination requirements, receives federal Medicaid and Medicare funding. The hospital performs hysterectomies for cisgender women as prescribed treatment for medical conditions, and thus discriminated against Hammons on the basis of sex when it refused to perform the procedure, which was prescribed to treat his gender dysphoria.
As Gay City News notes, numerous federal courts have concluded that gender dysphoria is a serious medical condition.
According to court documents, Cunningham testified that “the fact that it was a gender transition treatment… was enough to deny [permission to perform the surgery].”
“This court has determined that undisputed facts establish that, as a matter of law, Defendants discriminated against Plaintiff on the basis of his sex,” Chasanow wrote.
“We’re thankful the court saw through a transparently discriminatory and harmful action by UMMS,” Joshua Block, senior staff attorney for the ACLU which represented Hammons, wrote in a news release. “The government has no business operating a religious hospital, much less do they have the right to deny transgender patients care they routinely provide to cisgender patients.”
“This is a great win for myself and all transgender people denied equal treatment because of who they are,” said Hammons. “All I wanted was for UMMS to treat my health care like anyone else’s, and I’m glad the court recognized how unfair it was to turn me away. I’m hopeful UMMS can change this harmful policy and help more transgender people access the care they need.”
Following the ruling, Michael Schwartzberg, senior director of media relations at the University of Maryland Medical System, released a statement saying that UM and St. Joseph’s were reviewing Chasanow’s decision.
“We dispute many of the conclusions that were reached in this decision and may be in a position to comment further after additional analysis of the ruling,” the statement read. “Legal disagreements aside, we sincerely wish the very best for Mr. Hammons and we support his efforts to seek the highest quality healthcare. We may disagree on certain technical, legal points but compassion for the patients we serve remains foundational to our work.”
“This legal claim stems directly from, and is traceable to, a surgeon mistakenly scheduling a procedure that could not be performed at UM SJMC,” it continued. “Although our offer to perform gender-affirming surgery at a different location was declined by Mr. Hammons, the University of Maryland Medical System remains committed to meeting the unique medical needs of transgender individuals and patients who are routinely scheduled by physicians for appointments and procedures at UMMS member organizations.”
The Biden administration’s expansion of the the use of “expedited removal” of Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans who enter the U.S. from Mexico without legal authorization has sparked widespread criticism from advocacy groups that specifically work with LGBTQ and intersex asylum seekers and migrants.
The Department of Homeland Security will create a humanitarian parole program for Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans that combines “safe, orderly and lawful pathways to the United States, including authorization to work, with significant consequences for those who fail to use those pathways.”
Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans through a U.S. Customs and Border Protection app “can seek advance authorization to travel to the United States and be considered, on a case-by-case basis, for a temporary grant of parole for up to two years, including employment authorization, provided that they: Pass righrous biometric and biographic national security and public safety screening and vetting; have a supporter in the United States who commits to providing financial and other support and complete vaccinations and other public health requirements.”
“Individuals do not need to be at the border to schedule an appointment; expanded access to the app in Central Mexico is designed to discourage noncitizens from congregating near the border in unsafe conditions,” notes DHS. “Initially, this new scheduling function will allow noncitizens to schedule a time and place to come to a port of entry to seek an exception from the Title 42 public health order for humanitarian reasons based on an individualized assessment of vulnerability. This will replace the current process for individuals seeking exceptions from the Title 42 public health order, which requires noncitizens to submit requests through third party organizations located near the border.”
President Joe Biden on Thursday said from the White House as Vice President Kamala Harris stood beside him that Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans “account for most of the people traveling into Mexico to start a new life by getting … to the American border and trying to cross.”
DHS said U.S. Border Patrol “saw” a 90 percent decrease in the number of Venezuelans “encountered at the border” after a similar humanitarian parole progam began for them last October. Uniting for Ukraine, a humanitarian parole program for Ukrainians who fled after Russia launched its war against their country, started in April 2022.
Up to 30,000 “qualifying nationals” from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela will be allowed “to reside legally in the United States for up to two years and to receive permission to work here during that period.”
DHS notes Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans “who do not avail themselves of this procress, attempt to enter the United States without authorization, and cannot establish a legal basis to remain will be removed or returned to Mexico, which will accept returns of 30,000 individuals per month who fail to use these new pathways.”
“The expansion of the Venezuela process to Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua is contingent on the government of Mexico’s willingness to accept the return or removal of nationals from those countries,” said DHS. “It also is responsive to a request from the government of Mexico to provide additional legal pathways for migrants, and it advances both countries’ interests in addressing the effects throughout the hemisphere of deteriorated conditions in these countries.”
The administration’s announcement also notes “individuals who enter the United States, Mexico or Panama without authorization following today’s announcement will generally be ineligible for these (humanitarian parole) processes.”
“My message is this: If you’re trying to leave Cuba, Nicaragua, or Haiti, you have … or have agreed to begin a journey to America, do not — do not just show up at the border. Stay where you are and apply legally from there,” said Biden “Starting today, if you don’t apply through the legal process, you will not be eligible for this new parole program. Let me reiterate: You need a lawful sponsor in the United States of America, number one. And you need to undergo a rigorous background check, number two. If your application is approved and you show up at — at a U.S. airport or when and where directed … you have access, but if your application is denied or you attempt to cross into the United States unlawfully, you will not be allowed to enter.”
Title 42 is ‘the law now’
The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 27 ruled Title 42, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rule that closed the Southern border to most asylum seekers and migrants because of the pandemic, must remain in place.
The Biden administration has sought to end Title 42 but Arizona and 18 other states that include Texas filed a lawsuit. The Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments in the case next month.
Biden is scheduled to travel to El Paso, Texas, which is across the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on Sunday before he travels to Mexico City to attend the North American Leaders’ Summit with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“I don’t like Title 42 at all, but it is the law now,” said Biden, who predicted the pandemic-era policy will end this year. “I wanted to make sure there was a rational way to begin this now.”
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was born in Cuba, on Thursday told reporters that Title 42 “increases” the number of attempts to cross the border without legal authorization. Mayorkas, like Biden, stressed the administration is “required, given the different court orders, to employ Title 42.”
“We will continue to exercise that authority, consistent with the court orders,” said Mayorkas.
Both Mayorkas and Biden said the U.S. will expel foreign nationals who enter the U.S. without legal authorization under Title 8 once Title 42 ends. They also urged Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
“We are here because our immigration system is broken, outdated and in desperate need of reform,” said Mayorkas. “The laws we enforce have not been updated in decades.”
“Many Republicans agree we should do something, but it’s time to stop listening to their inflammatory talk, and it’s time to look at their record,” stressed Biden. “I’ll sit down with anyone who, in good faith, wants to fix our broken immigration system. And it’s hard. It’s hard on the best of circumstances. But if the most extreme Republicans continue to demagogue this issue and reject solutions, I’m left with only one choice: To act on my own, do as much as I can on my own to try to change the atmosphere. Immigration reform used to be a bipartisan issue. We can make it that way again. It’s not only the right thing to do, it’s economically a smart thing to do.”
Layla Razavi, interim executive director of Freedom for Immigrants, in a statement said their organization is “deeplydisappointed at Biden’s shameful expansion of Trump’s Title 42 policy, which further cements his predecessor’s anti-immigrant legacy.”
“The Biden administration should be working to restore and strengthen our asylum system, not eroding what has been a vital lifeline for so many in our communities,” said Razavi. “True to Title 42’s original motives, this policy will continue to disproportionately harm Black and brown migrants seeking asylum.”
Roth in a text message to the Blade described the administration’s announcement as “sad and frustrating.”
“It’s unlawful and will limit access to the asylum system for the vast majority of asylum seekers at the border, including LGBTIQ people,” he said.
Immigration Equality Executive Director Aaron C. Morris in a press release said “every LGBTQ and HIV-positive refugee has the right to apply for asylum in the United States.”
“Requiring our community to file for asylum in unsafe third countries will have mortal consequences for many of us,” he said. “Immigration Equality strongly condemns any proposal by the Biden administration to restrict asylum to LGBTQ and HIV-positive refugees. The United States has a great capacity to protect and support asylum seekers and refugees, maybe more than any other nation. President Biden must stop creating barriers to protection, and instead do everything in his power to facilitate the safe relocation of all LGBTQ and HIV-positive people fleeing persecution.”
San Diego Pride Executive Director Fernando Z. López, like Morris, said “asylum is a human right and an LGBTQ issue,” noting consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized in 68 countries and “people can be put to death simply for being themselves” in 10 of them.
Harris is among the U.S. officials who have publicly acknowledged violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity is one of the “root causes” of migration from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
“The United States, California and San Diego have been seen as international safe havens for LGBTQ immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers and their families seeking refuge from war, political violence, climate disaster and targeted anti-LGBTQ attacks,” López told the Blade. “The longer any administration prevents those seeking refuge from the ability to live safely and freely in this country, as is their internationally recognized right, our LGBTQ community will continue to have to spend time and resources triaging the crisis at our border.”
“San Diego Pride, as an organization supporting the LGBTQ community at the U.S.-Mexico border, knows our LGBTQ community needs and deserves real immigration and asylum reform, so we can fully invest in the binational and international capacity-building work we need to truly thrive,” added López. “Today’s announcement only further delays that life-saving, movement-building work.”
U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Goodwin for the Southern District of West Virginia ruled last Friday that the ban on transgender athletes competing in female school sports that Republican Gov. Jim Justice signed into law in 2021 is constitutional.
“I recognize that being transgender is natural and is not a choice,” Goodwin wrote in his decision. “But one’s sex is also natural, and it dictates physical characteristics that are relevant to athletics.”
The ruling came in the lawsuit challenging the ban filed by Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of West Virginia and Cooley LLP on behalf of then 11-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson, the plaintiff in the lawsuit.
When the suit was filed, Josh Block, senior staff attorney with the ACLU LGBTQ and HIV Project said: “Becky — like all students — should have the opportunity to try out for a sports team and play with her peers. We hope this also sends a message to other states to stop demonizing trans kids to score political points and to let these kids live their lives in peace.”
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey applauded the decision.
“This is not only about simple biology, but fairness for women’s sports, plain and simple,” the attorney general said. “Opportunities for girls and women on the field are precious and we must safeguard that future.”
NPR and the Associated Press reported the plaintiff’s lawsuit did not challenge whether schools should be allowed to have separate sports teams for males and females, and Goodwin was tasked with determining whether the Legislature’s definition of the terms “girl” and “woman” is constitutionally permissible. The Save Women’s Sports Bill signed by Justice says they mean anyone assigned the female gender at birth.
“The Legislature’s definition of ‘girl’ as being based on ‘biological sex’ is substantially related to the important government interest of providing equal athletic opportunities for females,” Goodwin determined.
The judge also rejected the plaintiff’s claim that the state law violated Title IX, the landmark gender equity legislation enacted in 1972.
D.C. police are seeking help from the public in identifying a suspect or suspects responsible for the stabbing death of a transgender woman whose body was found along the street on the 2000 block of Gallaudet Street, N.E. around 3 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 7.
A D.C. police incident report says Jasmine “Star” Mack, 36, was found lying in the street unconscious in front of 2005 Gallaudet St., N.E. by a citizen who flagged down a nearby police officer for help.
The officer “located the decedent in an unconscious and unresponsive state with an apparent stab wound to their right leg,” the police report says. The report says the officer called for an ambulance and someone with the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department, in consultation with a physician, pronounced Mack deceased at the scene at 3:10 a.m.
It says her remains were taken to the office of the city’s Chief Medical Examiner for an autopsy to determine the official cause and manner of death.
Andrew McArdle, a spokesperson for the medical examiner’s office, told the Washington Blade on Monday that the cause of death was a “stab wound of the right lower extremity” and the death has been classified as a homicide. McArdle said he didn’t have access to specific findings of an autopsy, but he said the medical examiner’s office has found that a severe stab wound to a person’s leg can lead to fatal bleeding.
A spokesperson said police have no further details to release at this time other than the incident was not listed as a suspected hate crime. The spokesperson, Alaina Gertz, told the Blade the case is under active investigation by the homicide unit and a decision on whether to classify the murder as a hate crime could change if new information is obtained.
Police are urging anyone with information about the incident to contact police at 202-727-9099. Anonymous information may also be submitted to the police TEXT TIP LINE by sending a text message to 50411, police said in a statement announcing the Mack homicide.
“The Metropolitan Police Department currently offers a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone that provides information which leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for each homicide committed in the District of Columbia,” the statement says.
Longtime D.C. transgender activist Earline Budd said she knew Mack, who Budd said preferred to go by the name Star. Budd said Mack was a client at the D.C. community services and sex worker advocacy group HIPS, where Budd works.
The narrow, one-block-long 2000 block of Gallaudet Street, N.E., where Mack’s body was found, is in a mixed warehouse and residential area that is two blocks from the section of Okie Street, N.E. where the popular nightclubs Ivy City Smoke House and City Winery are located. Both clubs have hosted LGBTQ events.
City Winery became the subject of recent news media stories when it announced plans to move to another location because of what it says have been serious crime problems in the Okie Street area impacting its customers. Ivy City Smokehouse responded by saying it disputes claims that the street where the two clubs are located has been riddled with crime.
It couldn’t immediately be determined why Mack was at the location on Gallaudet Street at the time she was attacked and fatally stabbed. The D.C. police statement announcing her murder says she had no fixed address at the time of her death. But the police incident report says her last known address was 828 Evarts St., N.E., which is located about a mile north of Gallaudet Street where she was found deceased.