Over the last six years, blood center employee Dylan Smith was often asked how frequently he gave blood himself. His answer was always the same: As a gay man, he couldn’t.
That changed this month.
Thanks to new federal guidelines finalized in May, gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships can now donate at many blood centers around the country without abstaining from sex.
Bloodworks Northwest, where Smith works as a donor services supervisor, adopted the change on Dec. 6. He and his partner gave blood for the first time the next day.
“It’s been really emotionally difficult just to explain every single time the reason why,” said Smith, 28. “To be able to finally step up and support the mission that I really have just believed in since I started here just makes my heart feel so happy.”
The new U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines are the latest step in a yearslong effort to reverse restrictions that were designed to protect the blood supply from HIV, but which were increasingly criticized as discriminatory following scientific advances that allowed better detection of the virus.
In 2015, the FDA dropped the lifetime ban on donations from men who have sex with men and replaced it with a one-year abstinence requirement. The agency shortened the abstinence period to three months in 2020 after donations plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The American Red Cross, which accounts for about 40% of blood and blood component donations in the U.S., began implementing the new guidance in August.
Posey, whose own life was saved by a transfusion when he fell down a set of stairs and broken glass sliced an artery, welcomed the new guidance, saying hospitals and patients need access to a new pool of donors. Manuel Valdes / AP
About half of the 16 independent blood bank organizations that are members of the Alliance for Community Transfusion Services have rolled out the new guidelines, with more expected next year, the organization said.
“It is going to take time,” said Benjamin Prijatel, president of Shepeard Community Blood Center in Augusta, Georgia. “Blood centers and health professionals are going to have to put forth the effort to engage and educate this community in order to overcome years of distrust. That’s the only way this rule change will translate into additional donations.”
The change puts the emphasis on sexual activity rather than on sexual orientation. All potential donors are screened with a new questionnaire evaluating their HIV risk based on sexual behavior, partners and other factors that can contribute to the spread of blood-borne infections, such as intravenous drug use or recent tattoos or piercings.
Potential donors who report having anal sex with new partners in the last three months are barred from giving until a later date, and anyone who has ever tested positive for HIV will continue to be ineligible. Those taking pills to prevent HIV through sexual contact are still barred until three months after their last dose; the medications, known as PrEP, can delay the detection of the virus, the FDA said.
Donated blood is then tested for HIV, hepatitis C, syphilis and other infectious diseases.
Bloodworks Northwest, which supplies blood to more than 90 hospitals in the region, isn’t keeping track of how many newly eligible donors are coming in, said Dr. Kirsten Alcorn, the nonprofit’s co-chief medical officer. But workers have heard plenty of stories from people excited to give.
“It feels very meaningful to many of them to now be able to contribute to somebody’s survival,” Alcorn said.
Bloodworks executive Aaron Posey, whose own life was saved by a transfusion when he fell down a set of stairs and broken glass sliced an artery, welcomed the new guidance. He said hospitals and patients need access to a new pool of donors.
“Having always witnessed a shortage in the blood supply, it has at times been very frustrating,” said Posey, who first donated blood during the pandemic when the abstinence period was cut to three months.
Smith learned of the restrictions on gay men giving blood when he was screened while trying to donate his freshman year of college in 2013. The rules blindsided him, he said. It was a long time to wait before he could finally donate with his partner and other friends.
“Just being able to see them donating next to me, smiling next to me … meant so much,” Smith said.
Teachers who become aware that a child intends to transition will be expected to tell their parents, the UK government’s long-awaited guidance on the topic is expected to say.
After months of speculation, the government is expected to issue guidance this week on how schools should respond if a child says they plan to socially transition.
According to The Guardian, teachers in England will not have to “out” children to their families if they are simply asking questions about gender identity – the Tories’ right-wing faction apparently pushed to make this a feature of the guidance.
In the end, the government seemingly decided that children asking questions about gender at school was fine – but the guidance will draw the line at transition plans.
“Children can be very confused about these things and just want to have a conversation about it and what it all means with a trusted adult,” a government insider told The Guardian.
“That shouldn’t necessarily mean it is automatically flagged to parents.”
Tories initially wanted to ban social transition at school
The guidance is set to be issued after months of delays, leaks and backlash from both those in favour of improving trans rights and those opposed.
The government’s schools guidance first made headlines months ago when it was reported that ministers wanted to ban social transition in schools entirely.
Social transition generally refers to changing a name, pronouns or presentation – a young person who does so may dress differently, but social transition varies from person to person.
However, after months of internal wrangling – and warnings that doing so could be unlawful – ministers apparently realised that they would have to introduce new legislation to ban social transition in schools.
A Tory insider told The Guardian that women and equalities minister Kemi Badenoch “was not planning any change” to equalities legislation but that she “would generally like to go further” on the guidance.
However, they said she is not currently planning on amending legislation.
“If you open up the equalities act then lots of other groups would want to make changes and you’re also likely to have people pushing for stronger protections on trans issues than we already have,” an insider said.
In addition, the government’s guidance is expected to advise schools that they should have separate toilets and changing facilities for boys and girls.
However, another part of the guidance has been dropped – the government reportedly wanted the guidance to say that children who want to socially transition should have to see a doctor before doing so. That will no longer be a part of the guidance after the NHS said it didn’t have capacity.
“I can feel it around me. Energy. So many different types of energy,” DC Comics’ Jules Jourdain notices as yellow, orange, and pink vibrations envelop him on a street corner, only visible thanks to their special powers.
“I still look the same on the outside,” Jules considers. Even though he’s gaining a reputation as the new superhero Circuit Breaker, the trans and nonbinary character (he/they) doesn’t yet know how to control the overwhelming power coursing through his body — it mostly just makes him feel isolated, scared, and dangerous.
Luckily, another well-known DC Comics superhero, The Flash, arrives and helps Circuit Breaker use his powers to control time and space. This isn’t the mainstream version of The Flash that most people know from old comics, TV, and film. They’re Jess Chambers, a non-binary variant of the well-known hero, just one of the many queer superhero variants that exist in the DC Comics multiverse.
Jourdain explains their trouble to The Flash: “Life or death… change or stasis… control or submission… man or woman. Thinking in binaries always feels limiting to me,” he says. The Flash encourages him not to overthink it, but to trust his intuition and let his power lead him from the inside.
Finally, having mastered his powers, The Flash takes him to a dance club. There, Circuit Breaker dances shirtless alongside his leather-clad friends — happy for the first time since coming out as a superhero. There, Jourdain realizes, “With the death of the old comes a chance at the new.”
In the real world, conservatives tell queer youth like Jourdain that they’re mentally ill and that books about their experiences “sexualize” and “indoctrinate”other kids just by existing.
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Censors have long accused comic books of corrupting young people. American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham’s 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent, which blamed comic books for causing juvenile delinquency, resulted in a moral panic that compelled publishers to establish the self-censoring Comics Code Authority (CCA). The CCA forbade comics from any negative depictions of government as well as depictions of “gore,” “nudity,” “profanity,” or “sex perversion.”
Individuals who seldom encounter LGBTQ+ people or queer stories may interpret inclusive comics as indoctrination, finding it hard to “embrace what they don’t see,” gay comic book and young adult writer Rex Ogle told LGBTQ Nation. “[These people] lash out. And books are an easy target.”
If young readers and free-speech advocates are holding out for a hero, DC Comics, one of the United States’ oldest and largest comic book publishers, might just be the streetwise Hercules they need. In the past year, the powerhouse publisher behind such iconic heroes as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman has quietly stood behind and even increased its LGBTQ+ content.
Over the past several years, DC Comics has used its deep multiverse to introduce queer and gender-swapped variants of longtime characters like Superman (Jon Kent), Green Lantern (Sojourner Mullein), Aquaman (Jackson Hyde), and the Flash (Jess Chambers), as well as introducing new LGBTQ+ characters like Galaxy, Xanthe Zhou, and Circuit Breaker. Additionally, DC Comics’ multiverse sometimes results in different individuals assuming the same superhero identities on different timelines or universes, such as when Damien Wayne and Tim Drake both fight crime as Batman’s sidekick, Robin.
In June 2023, the company released a slew of new and re-issued material as part of its Pride Month offerings, including DC Pride 2023, its third annual Pride-themed anthology of new material. Two other releases – DC Pride: The New Generation and DC Pride: Through The Years – contain landmark queer-themed work with most of the writing and artwork by LGBTQ+ creators. The diversity of voices and visual styles make a strong case for the form – with its marriage of words and images – as a riveting place to discover contemporary queer storytelling.
“DC Pride: The New Generation.” Image courtesy of DC Comics.“DC Pride 2023.” Image courtesy of DC Comics.
DC Comics’ continued production of queer content feels especially important in an era when several large corporations have reconsidered (or outright scaled back) their outward commitments to LGBTQ+ communities in response to conservative boycotts and media pressure seeking to make LGBTQ+-allyship “toxic” to companies’ brands.
DC Comics’ releases provide a powerful reminder that comic book characters reflect more than just corporate trademarks. Superheroes can serve as symbols to help readers understand abstract concepts like justice, empathy, dignity, and diversity. And who doesn’t want to see themselves – or someone like them – as the hero of the story? For most of these narratives, representation is just the start. Some contain LGBTQ+ characters fighting bigotry, while others show queer heroes finding community in a classic team-up. For many younger characters, coming to terms with their powers draws a relatable parallel to the exploration of sexual and gender identity.
Young queer people often find agency and comfort in these dynamic and colorful stories, especially since they don’t always feel supported in their homes, schools, offline, and online communities. According to Dr. Jonah DeChants, a research scientist at The Trevor Project, “Recent political attacks aimed at transgender and nonbinary youth have not only threatened their access to health care, support systems, and affirming spaces at school, they’ve also negatively impacted their mental health.”
In addition to inspiring young people, some of DC Comics’’ recent LGBTQ+ stories also have a broader cultural impact. Some right past wrongs by giving killed, neglected, and forgotten characters a second chance. Others feature tributes to recently deceased LGBTQ+ pioneers of superhero storytelling, like gay actor Kevin Conway and transgender author and activist Rachel Pollack.
These themes explore what it means to be queer in a quarrelsome world and how real-life super-queeroes can survive, thrive, and cultivate their unique abilities and identities to become heroes in their stories.
Redefining ‘Justice for All’
DC Comics As Robin sulks during a Pride parade, the bisexual caped crusader Superman (Jon Kent) kisses his gay journalist boyfriend Jay Nakamura.
In addition to the 500+ anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced at state and local levels during the 2023 legislative session, reported hate crimes based on gender and sexual sexuality have steadily increased since 2014, rising by 70% between 2020-2021.
Phil Jimenez, one of the first out gay comic book writers and artists at DC Comics, in his introduction to DC Pride 2023, questions how to position anti-LGBTQ+ narratives in Superman or Wonder Woman’s universe. How would established queer heroes, anti-heroes, and villains respond to such attacks? Would pursuing “justice for all” seem like activism in that world or “just the right thing to do”?
Several writers in the DC Pride releases tackle this question by telling stories about the symbolic importance of having publicly out LGBTQ+ superheroes.
In “Super Pride (originally published in 2022), Jon Kent (Superman’s son) and Robin (Damien Wayne, Batman’s son) attend their first Pride march.
Robin prepares for the parade by bringing smoke bombs, electrified netting, and electromagnetic pulse generators because a community under political attack is “vulnerable to literal attack,” he argues.
On the other hand, Jon attends the parade in his Superman outfit but with a cape of different Pride flags. He says the iconic “S” shield symbolizes the hope and the possibility of making the world a better place. But for today, he tells his boyfriend, “I want [Pride] to mean that I see you. That I am you. That there’s no wrong way to be yourself.”
With that encouragement, Jon flies above the Pride-going crowd and creates a rainbow. Nick Robles’ artwork and Triona Tree Farrell’s vibrant color palette make the moment pop with joy.
Though endearing, the interaction almost feels like it comes from another era. In its annual crime report for 2022, the FBI noted a 19% increase in anti-LGBTQ+ incidents compared to 2021. Anti-transgender bias crimes increased by 35% overall. It’s no wonder that the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans during Pride Month last June.
Maybe Damien Wayne’s fears weren’t too far off the mark.
Compared to “Anniversary,” Josh Trijullo’s story published in DC Pride 2023, one gets a sense of how superheroic advocay has shifted over recent years.
DC Comics Apollo warns Midnighter as he faces off against anti-LGBTQ+ protesters in Josh Trijullo’s “Anniversary,” illustrated by Don Aguillo. Image courtesy of DC Comics.
“Anniversary” features married gay superhero couple Midnighter and Apollo considering their visibility as LGBTQ+ role models during their wedding anniversary. Don Aguillo’s expressive, painted artwork follows the duo as they mentor a group of drag queen vigilantes, visit the iconic Stonewall Inn, and step into the middle of a tense LGBTQ+ rights protest and counter-protest on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.
Midnighter wants to bust skulls, while Apollo worries that the violence will spread. They’re joined by Alan Scott, the WWII-era Green Lantern, who advocates a more measured response, lecturing them on the history of LGBTQ+ civil rights. He encourages the couple to think of themselves as “more than costumed mystery men.”
Agreeing that visibility and pride are ways to start fighting back, the couple goes one step further, adopting a hacktivist approach. They remarry on the spot, broadcasting the ceremony to every conservative news network and social media channel they can jam in the DC universe.
One important thing hasn’t changed in the year between these stories’ publications: the underlying faith that comic book superheroes function best as symbols. But maybe it’s not enough just to be a symbol anymore.
In his book Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud notes that comic books reinvent new symbols regularly in response to a changing society. Maybe some of these new superheroic symbols just give older ones new purpose and direction.
DC Comics’ take on chosen family
DC Comics Nonbinary spirit envoy Xanthe Zhou talks to lesbian superheroine Batwoman about healing familial wounds in Jeremy Holt’s “Lost & Found,” illustrated by Andrew Drilon. Image courtesy of DC Comics.
Not only has the increase in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislation negatively affected 66% of LGBTQ+ teens and young adults’ mental health, but only 38% consider their homes as LGBTQ+-affirming spaces.
To fill the gaps of mutual support and love, many queer people cobble together a chosen family of non-biological kinship as a vital way to thrive. This search for a chosen community forms a key part of several of the DC Pride team-up stories, a convention in which two characters who typically appear independently take on a challenge together. In fact, some of the more interesting team-up stories gently subvert the conventions of this classic comic book staple in surprisingly queer ways.
The 2021 story arc of Robin (Tim Drake) acknowledging his bisexuality made national headlines. But writer Nadia Shammas’ “Hey, Stranger” picks up on Drake’s journey, flipping the traditional superhero team-up story to show that you never really stop coming out, even to those closest to you.
“Hey, Stranger” marks the first official meeting of Tim and Connor Hawke — a young asexual, BIPOC martial artist who calls himself Green Arrow — since each first discovered their individual queer identities.
This team-up is unusual in that it happens after Tim finishes battling some thugs. Bruka Jones’ artwork depicts a series of quiet but intense moments as the two characters test (and ultimately reaffirm) the value of their friendships, while Tamra Bonvillain’s dawn-tinged palette underscores the story’s emotional weight.
Another team-up story that plays with finding community appears in Jeremy Holt’s “Lost & Found,” featuring the new character Xanthe Zhou. As a nonbinary Chinese-American “spirit envoy” trapped in the realm of the living, they literally exist between several worlds and are unable to find their place. A magician and trickster, they conjure useful spirit world objects by burning small pieces of folded joss paper.
Like the team-up in “Hey, Stranger,” the fighting becomes secondary to the bigger story. Xanthe encounters Batwoman (Kate Kane) in a Gotham City graveyard, defending the Kane family mausoleum from would-be thieves. After trying to help, they listen to Kate mourn her mother’s death that occurred during her childhood.
Smitten, Xanthe gives Kate a folded joss paper tree to burn and shares their insight about the cycles of life and death, healing and rebirth. Leaving Kate in thought, Xanthe realizes they may have a place in the world after all.
In some stories, fighting villains becomes a metaphor for desire. Since depictions of healthy queer intimacy remain rare in visual media, it’s important to recognize that some queer heroes can be lovers as well as fighters.
Queer writer Stephanie Williams’ “Confessions” presents a sly and sultry take on this dynamic. In it, Nubia, Queen of the Amazons, recounts a “forgotten” team-up as pillow talk with Io, her beloved consort. The fight — in this case, a tag-team charity wrestling match for a women’s shelter — includes the aptly named Justice League giantess Big Barda as her teammate.
DC Comics Ghost-Maker stands back-to-back with his lover and colleague Catman while battling baddies on a rooftop in Rex Ogle’s “The Dance,” drawn by Stephen Sadowski.
Rex Ogle’s “The Dance,” drawn by Stephen Sadowski, also provides erotic subtext and a steamy twist on the superheroic team-up with a queer homage to every Batman/Catwoman rooftop tangle since the pair first met way back in 1940. The story features anti-hero Catman (Thomas Blake) and Ghost-Maker (Khoa Khan, from Batman Inc.) fighting baddies together on a Gotham City rooftop.
Sadowski’s fight sequences, full of kinetic pencil work and thicker inks, seem well choreographed. The push-and-pull dynamic between Khoa and Blake makes the pair’s familiarity with one another’s bodies exceedingly clear — and it’s just as clear where they’ll head after the fight.
“I wanted the conflict to marry the sensuality of the body,” Ogle explained to LGBTQ Nation. “We’ve seen the tension between Batman and Catwoman forever, so I wanted to show another coupling.”
In one final glorious splash page, the erotic subtext of the superhero team-up gets revealed at last in all its naked queer glory as Catman and Ghost-Maker embrace in bed.
When a growing sense of queer identity & superpowers converge
DC Comics Aquaman talks to his boyfriend about his closeted childhood and unaccepting mother in Alyssa Wong’s “A World Kept Just For Me,” illustrated by W. Scott Forbes. Image courtesy of DC Comics.
For many LGBTQ+ people, the closet remains a lonely and fearful place. Within superhero stories, the isolation that comes from having superpowers is an experience that has often functioned as a metaphor for the isolation of closeted life.
Marvel’s X-Men may have started as five white prep school kids from suburban New York, but, as comics critic Sara Century notes, queer readers could easy to see mutants through the lens of LGBTQ+ civil rights. Their powers make them different, which, in turn, makes them the targets of hate and bigotry. Some could pass as common humans; others couldn’t. But until a decade or so ago, few of the X-Men had actually come out. The X-Man Northstar came out in 2002, and the better-known Iceman made national headlines when he came out in 2015.
Comparatively, some of the most interesting Pride-themed releases from DC Comics move beyond easy metaphors by focusing on how the closet and the coming out process shape the ways in which heroes use their wondrous abilities.
Greg Lockard’s “Public Display of Electromagnetism” suggests that the closet can provide a place where queer kids begin to develop self-reliance. For a younger hero like The Ray (Ray Terrell), the closet’s isolation felt both figurative and literal. The character still wrestles with the trauma of his parents literally confining him in a dark room, away from others, so that his light-based powers won’t manifest.
While he’s out to his Justice League teammates, Ray still melts down when his boyfriend kisses him in front of them. He overcompensates during a subsequent fight with the villain Shadow Thief, who easily overwhelms him with a wave of darkness, snuffing out Ray’s powerful photon charges. Although Ray finds himself reliving the trauma of his closeted youth, he digs into the root causes of his inner darkness to find the inner spark that allows him to harness his powers, shatter the Shadow Thief’s trap, and save the day — after all, Ray still needs to return his boyfriend’s kiss.
Aquaman (Jackson Hyde) also faces a history of negotiating the caped closet in Alyssa Wong’s “A World Kept Just For Me.” In this melancholy story, Jackson shows his boyfriend the small desert town in New Mexico where he grew up. Like Ray’s parents, Jackson’s single mother kept him far away from anything that would trigger his water-bending abilities.
Jackson’s story illustrates queer resilience. His powers developed in tandem with his growing sense of queer identity. He’d practice them in the shower to avoid unwanted attention while publicly struggling to become what he felt his mother wanted: “Normal, Unassuming. Human. Straight.”
Yet, as Jackson shares the pain of his closeted life with his boyfriend, he realizes that those experiences shaped the sense of morality and justice that makes him a hero.
DC Comics Trans male hero Circuit Breaker begins to understand and accept his superpowers in “Subspace Transmission,” written and illustrated by A.L. Kaplan.
Compared to other characters, Circuit Breaker (Jules Jordain) is the new kid on the multiversal block. Hailing from the playas of rural Nevada, the ability to sense and absorb kinetic energy from the world around them paints a decidedly queer picture.
Jules’ second comic book appearance in “Subspace Transmission” (DC Pride 23) functions as a kind of queer superhero origin story, with writer and artist A.L. Kaplan wisely focusing on the best part: the hero discovering who they are and what they value in relation to their new abilities.
Strange and overwhelming at first, Jule’s powers are a conduit for entropy, the ability to sense and steal kinetic energy and reduce the world to stillness. As they struggle for control over their powers, Jules recalls the fears faced when coming to terms with their gender identity and body while transitioning.
“Bodies are mutable,” Jules realizes after another failed attempt to harness their abilities. “Life or death. Stasis or change. Control or submission. Man or woman. Thinking in binaries always felt limiting to me.” And with that insight, they come to peace with the strangeness of their new abilities.
It is in these moments that Kaplan’s artwork shines. As they explore their powers, the waves of energy swirling Jules evoke psychedelic posters and 1970s rock album art.
For decades, LGBTQ+ comic book fans could only see themselves as metaphors rather than well-rounded queer characters. Being queer may not be a superpower in itself, but it provides LGBTQ+ characters in the multiverse with unique perspectives on their extraordinary abilities. It also provides affirms that our lived experiences matter — maybe that awareness itself is the real superpower.
Dismantling old tropes
Comic books haven’t always been kind to queer characters. Consider Extraño, DC’s first openly gay superhero. First appearing in 1987, when industry standards prohibited writers from using words like “gay” and “homosexual,” Extraño became a pastiche of stereotypes.
Early stories depicted Extraño as a sassy Peruvian sorcerer whose architectural hair, flowing purple robe, and pirate boots made him look like Liberace cosplaying Doctor Strange. The character all but vanished a year or so later, but only after contracting HIV from an “AIDS vampire” called the Hemo-goblin. No, really.
Extraño’s fate became a textbook case of “bury your gays,” a storytelling trope that remains alive and well in current pop culture (just watch It: Chapter Two and cringe at the gay-bashing scene). But now, queer writers are digging those bodies back up and giving them new life.
In a terse Substack post from May 2022, nonbinary writer Grant Morrison took aim at writers who use alternate versions of major characters as cannon fodder. For them, burying queer characters “for no defensible reason” deprives them of their storytelling potential.
DC Comics The long-lost Red Racer kisses his partner Flashlight in “Love’s Lightning Heart,” written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Hayden Sherman.
One of the architects of the DC Comics multiverse, Morrison has created several LGBTQ+ and gender-swapped versions of major heroes in recent years. One of them, Red Racer (an alternate version of The Flash), was revealed to be happily married to his universe’s Green Lantern equivalent. Morrison had established the character as a founding member of a multiversal Justice League. However, Red Racer died in a Superman comic book, sacrificing his life to save the title hero.
In “Love’s Lightning Heart” (the lead story in DC Pride 2023), Morrison sets out to rectify this loss. The result provides a trippy, high-concept story of love overcoming death. It follows Flashlight, Red Racer’s grieving husband, on a mad, universe-breaking quest to return his beloved to the living. The story takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of an Art Deco-infused parallel universe and suggests that Red Racer’s return may herald the start of a new story arc brimming with possibilities.
Other LGBTQ+ writers strive towards the same goal as Morrison by reviving queer characters who have been buried, depowered, disfigured, or just plain forgotten. In Christopher Cantwell’s “My Best Bet” (DC Pride 2023), the wily magician and conman John Constantine plays a long game with Superman (Jon Kent) to rescue the soul of Oliver, a former boyfriend who had been dragged to Hell in the final issue of Constantine’s 2015 solo series and ignored … until now.
Queer villains get dug up and dusted off, too. Cannon and Saber — the antagonists in Rex Ogle’s story “The Dance” — have been depicted as an openly gay couple since their first appearance in 1984, but they last appeared over 30 years ago — welcome back, boys!
Even Extraño has returned from the comic book dead. Writer Steve Orlando reintroduced the character in his 2017 GLAAD Media Award-nominated series Midnighter and Apollo. Since then, Extraño has become a mentor for younger queer characters and the founder of a network of LGBTQ+ superheroes called Justice League Queer.
But don’t call him Extraño. Nobody has done that in years. “I’ve since buried that name,” he tells Midnighter, seeming to hint that he does the same to anyone who uses it. Now Gregorio de la Vega, he’s reclaimed his proud place as the first out queer superhero in the DC multiverse.
Grappling with justice & legacies reimagined
DC Comics For nearly two decades, Rachel Pollack’s Coagula was DC Comics’ only transgender superheroine. Apparently, the Justice League couldn’t handle her.
In an interview with Lambda Legal, queer poet and essayist Kay Ulanday Barrett argues that stories by and for LGBTQ+ people “honor our grief” as well as “help us remember our glory and community triumphs.” Recent book bans and content challenges seek to erase those histories. The DC Pride releases counter that threat by honoring the legacies of two recently deceased groundbreaking queer elders.
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Rachel Pollack, who passed away from non-Hodgkin lymphoma last April, is best known for her beautiful, strange, and spiritual run on Doom Patrol in the early 1990s, in which she introduced Kate Godwin, a trans lesbian superhero who went by the name of Coagula. Kate was the first — and for nearly two decades — the only transgender superhero published by DC Comics.
A former sex worker, Kate gained the ability to turn liquids into solids (and vice versa) after she spent a night with multi-gendered energy being Rebis. She initially tried to join the Justice League, but they rejected her. “I suspect they liked my powers,” she tells a friend, “but couldn’t handle me.”
Kate soon found her chosen family with the Doom Patrol, a collection of wounded heroes and superpowered outsiders whose adventures bordered on the surreal.
Pollack had been invited to contribute new material to DC Pride 2023, but the sudden progression of her illness prevented this. Instead, the anthology features tributes to her legacy from industry giants like Neil Gaiman and upcoming talents like transgender writer Jadzia Axelrod.
Gaiman reveals that Pollack created Kate Godwin as a response to Wanda Mann, a sympathetic but doomed transgender character in his Sandman story arc “A Game of You.” (Wanda will likely appear in the second season of Netflix’s adaptation, The Sandman.)
For Axelrod, reading that first comic with Kate Godwin in 1993 felt “like a lightning bolt from heaven.” Not only had DC Comics published a story featuring an out trans lesbian, but this smart, funny, kind person became the point of view character for the reader. The comic inspired Axelrod to create a trans-alien superhero named Galaxy, who currently appears in the Hawkgirl comics.
Kate Godwin seldom appeared after Pollack’s run on Doom Patrol ended. Another writer seemingly killed her off-panel a decade later.
However, Coagula may soon return. A trans woman named “Kate” (drawn in Godwin’s signature black tank top and jeans) appears briefly at the start of Axelrod’s 2022 story “Up At Bat” (reprinted in DC Pride: The New Generation). There, Kate runs a wellness group in Gotham City, and serves a friend and mentor to Alysia Yeoh, a trans urban vigilante and Batgirl ally.
What better way to honor Pollack’s legacy than reviving Kate Godwin, recognizing the achievements of these two pioneering women? Maybe the Justice League will finally accept her for her full, authentic self.
And anyone who grew up watching cartoons like Batman: The Animated Seriesor Justice League Unlimited, can instantly recognize Kevin Conroy’s rumbling, husky voice as Batman. Conroy passed away in November 2022 from intestinal cancer.
Before his death, Conroy collaborated with illustrator J. Bone on the autobiographical graphic story “Finding Batman.” First published in 2022, the story receivedwide fan acclaim and subsequently won the 2023 Eisner Award for Best Short Story. It also appears in DC Pride: The New Generation.
Conroy writes movingly about the need to maintain a public mask while struggling against homophobia within the entertainment industry while watching his family members succumb to mental illness and substance abuse. In his audition for Batman: The Animated Series, he used these experiences to channel the torment that Bruce Wayne faced as a child, the ones that led him to become a masked vigilante.
Conroy developed a voice from his own traumas that became one of the definitive takes on the character. J. Bone’s artwork – sharp, thick pencils and blue washes – provides a compelling screen for Conroy’s experiences.
“It is nearly impossible to write and draw heroes,” writer Jimenez says, “and not grapple with the very concept of justice and what it means to act heroically.” Although Conroy did not create heroes in the conventional sense, “Finding Batman” suggests that his celebrated portrayal of Batman came from a life of grappling with those same struggles.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate and extremist groups, has unveiled a new report exposing the intricate network of far-right entities propagating anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience.
The comprehensive study, “Combating Anti-LGBTQ+ Pseudoscience Through Accessible Informative Narratives,” or Project CAPTAIN, revealed during a press conference on Tuesday, details the concerted efforts of these groups to undermine LGBTQ+ rights through the manipulation of scientific realities, particularly when it comes to gender-affirming care and the health care needs for transgender people.
R.G. Cravens, lead editor and author of the report, highlighted the alarming trend of using pseudoscience to target these groups.
“The gender-affirming care model… represents a global medical consensus. But the attempts to undermine it that we detail in this report are manufactured,” Cravens explained. “If the pseudoscience goes unchallenged… it has real life and often life-threatening consequences for trans and nonbinary people.”
The report identifies over 60 groups, including familiar names like the Alliance Defending Freedom and lesser-known entities such as the Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine. It uncovers the connections between these groups and their strategies to influence public policy and opinion.
“This report is pretty groundbreaking in how we’re able to look at these connections and help expose all of the groups that are at the center of this moral panic that we’re seeing,” Emerson Hodges, a research analyst at SPLC, said. “This report was ultimately designed to help provide details on pseudoscience and has become a tool to help us map out the far-right and their attempts to manipulate public opinion and advance anti-LGBT policies.”
One notable group, the Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine, emerged as a significant player, according to the report. Formed in 2020, SEGM has become a central hub, connecting preexisting researchers and newer online entities. Their influence extends to various legislative efforts across states, underlining their strategic role in shaping anti-trans policies.
Another critical organization highlighted in the report is the American College of Pediatricians. Despite its official-sounding name, ACPeds is recognized as a fringe group that stands in stark contrast to mainstream medical opinion. Their tactics, as detailed in the report, include masquerading under the guise of medical legitimacy to propagate anti-LGBTQ+ narratives. This deceptive approach underscores these groups’ sophisticated methods to influence public opinion and policy. Major medical associations in the U.S. actually support gender-affirming care.
The involvement of organizations like the Alliance Defending Freedom in high-profile legal cases, including efforts that led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, demonstrates the far-reaching impact of these organizations. Rachel Carroll Rivas, deputy director of research reporting and analysis at SPLC’s Intelligence Project, underscored the importance of understanding the legal dynamics at play.
“The legal machine behind this is very real, and it’s very much impacting policy, and it’s up the courts, and it’s causing real harm,” Carroll Rivas said.
The report raises concerns about the future implications of these movements as well, particularly with initiatives like Project 2025. Spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, this project aims for a potential far-right shift in political power in 2025. The SPLC researchers warn that the success of such initiatives could lead to the entrenchment of anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience in federal policy, posing a significant threat to LGBTQ+ rights and freedoms in the coming years. It calls for a comprehensive approach to combat those possibilities and that misinformation. As emphasized by Carroll Rivas, “Prevention in part means education.”
The SPLC’s report comes at a critical juncture as anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and policies gain traction in various states. Multiple organizations have reported on the hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have been introduced by Republican-led legislatures, mostly targeting transgender youth.
“There’s still some out there that we have the opportunity to challenge, and we have the opportunity to intervene before the harm can be caused,” Cravens said.
Sonoma County queer musician Anne Carol Mitchell, also known by the artist name Brightdarkdawn, is producing a two-hour immersive music concert that uses songs, video, audience participation, and storytelling to raise awareness about the preservation of Sonoma County night skies in an age of artificial light. I’ll Show You the Night ispresented by the Arlene Francis Center for Spirit, Art, and Politics in Santa Rosa on Saturday, January 27 at 6:30pm. The concert is a celebration of the natural darkness, queer identities at the intersection of art and ecology, and a new album by Brightdarkdawn. The concert brings into focus questions of collective belonging to the natural world through the lenses of music, audience-participatory poetry, and actual telescopes courtesy of the Robert Ferguson Observatory (RFO). RFO will also provide opportunities for the audience to further engage with the Sonoma County night skies by taking classes or attending star parties. The event comes at an important moment in Sonoma County conservation work where the voices of artists are needed to make the emotional connections in engaging people when data and statistics fall short.
“This concert is a collaboration with local and Bay Area based queer artists/allies and Robert Ferguson Observatory exploring our belonging to and relationship with the night,” said Mitchell. “We look at the concert as a gift to the community–a space to feel our relatedness to the cosmos and an intimacy with the cycles of nature. As an artist who engages in both music and ecological work, this concert is a moment when the environmental and artistic circles I work in can inform and inspire one another.”
Mitchell has been writing music about the natural world as an inquiry into connection to nature since 2014 with polished lyrics and well-crafted acoustic guitar work in the vein of Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell. Anne Carol Mitchell brings a nature-based storytelling approach to her songwriting and occupies a space on the fringes as a queer artist giving voice to the more-than-human world as a call for justice. In I’ll Show You the Night, Mitchell is celebrating the release of her fourth solo album of original music (the first under the name Brightdarkdawn).
Music artists Sindhu Natarajan, a South Indian classically trained singer from Livermore, and Maya McNeil, Scottish-American singer and songwriter who works in both Scottish Gaelic music and original folk songwriting, will share music and stories about the night and darkness from their traditions and perspectives offering striking lenses through which to view the night sky. The event hosts, SJ Cook and Jason Wyman, will invite and engage the audience into poetic-play, queering, blurring and reveling in the spaces where the lines between darkness and light commune.
Sindhu Natarajan is an accomplished vocalist, composer, and Bharatanatyam dancer. She began her Carnatic vocal training under her aunt, Smt. Vasanthi Kannan, and grandfather, the late Sri P.V. Natarajan. She is currently under the guidance of her other aunt, Smt. Raji Gopalakrishnan. Sindhu has given many Carnatic concerts, as well as provided vocal support for numerous South Asian dance performances across the United States. In addition to performing, Sindhu is a passionate composer who creates music that blends her Carnatic roots with other genres. She has also studied Bharatanatyam under Smt. Mythili Kumar, Artistic Director of Abhinaya Dance Company in San Jose.
I am Jason Michael Wyman, also known as Queerly Complex, born upon the Land of 10,000 Lakes on what I am coming to know as Turtle Island, who has settled on Yelamu, which is also called San Francisco. My name means healer, or so I’ve been told since a young child, and I did not believe it until my father and I mended ourselves and one other as he died of mantle cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma across a screen and a country over all of 2020. What I’ve come to understand as the significance of my name is that healer does not mean healed or (even) healing. Rather, it is a positionality within the cosmos that allows one’s self to change and be changed by all that unfolds. It is to be curious and listen and then create.
Maya McNeil’s music echo locates story and melody from the ethers round the heart.McNeil performs original and traditional (Gaelic) songs from a well of times past and writes songs for the shape of the future. They are a recording artist and healing arts practitioner currently orbiting through life, work, and curious mischief around the San Francisco Bay Area.
SJ Cook aka Frankie Velvet they /them/she /her: Frankie is an artist, writer, holistic practitioner, and lover of life among other things. They tell stories and channel feelings through movement, music, and poetry. Their art is one of bending, blending, and expanding gender through evoking sensuality, passion, play, ceremony, connection and fun. They also foster events for other lgbtqia folx to come forward in their brilliance and shine, be heard and seen, such as annual autumn variety shows and is an organizer of Petaluma’s annual Pride festival.
Brightdarkdawn is a project of songwriter/composer Anne Carol Mitchell, a queer woman living in Sebastopol, California, cultivating food and community with her partner and ornery orange tuxedo tabby. Anne is a graduate of the UC Climate Stewards certification course and is currently enrolled in the California Naturalist program at Pepperwood Preserve.
Anne Carol Mitchell is a composer and songwriter who crafts music with the aim of awakening care and healing for the living earth. Her music is reminiscent of folk traditions in the vein of Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, and Buffy Sainte-Marie. Anne’s songwriting reveals and celebrates the storied existence of the Earth in all its beauty, vulnerability, resiliency, and ferocity. Anne has toured throughout the western states and shared the stage and studio with notable artists including Ani DiFranco, Jimmy Horn (Mr. December), Judy Grahn (a woman is talking to death), Peter Jaques (Brass Menažeri), as well as others. https://brightdarkdawn.com/
Events in recent months have raised fear among Ghana’s human rights activists, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and allies.
In October, police stopped a 30-year-old who was carrying sex toys at a checkpoint, detained and threatened them with jailtime. The police demanded a bribe of 500 cedis (40 USD) for the person to be released, an unlawful and cruel expense, particularly in a context of severe economic hardship.
In September, school authorities dismissed a 17-year-old student over allegations that he was gay from a boys’ boarding school in Accra, activists told Human Rights Watch. According to one activist, their investigations revealed other forms of homophobic acts against the child, including a death threat, because he appeared effeminate. A petition organized by local activists was sent to the district and regional education offices, and the student was allowed to return to register for the senior school certificate examination.
A bill before parliament proposes heavier criminal penalties for same sex activities, increasing the maximum penalty from three years in prison to five and expanding criminalization for anyone who identifies as LGBT, or as queer, as pansexual, an ally, or any other non-conventional gender identity. It would also punish anyone providing support or funding or publicly advocating for sexual and gender minorities rights.
In my former capacity as a lecturer in political science, I used to cite Ghana as a stable country in West Africa where the rule of law prevailed. However, challenges such as the current discrimination against LGBT people, alongside other obstacles including the underrepresentation of women in politics and the shrinking of civic space, are compromising Ghana’s success story. Today, there is a deepened trepidation among human rights defenders and civil societyorganizations working on social justice and sexual and gender diversity.
In February 2021, police raided and closed down an LGBT resource center which, among other things, provided community-based interventions services and information about HIV/AIDS. It has since been increasingly difficult to provide health services to marginalized groups disproportionately affected by HIV and related infections. As Nasser, a community leader, told Human Rights Watch,“Even spaces that were opened before are now closing doors for us because of what is happening. It is extremely difficult to operate properly.”
Since the bill was presented in June 2021, Rightify Ghana, an organization that advocates for sexual ad gender minorities in Ghana has documented multiple accounts of people who have been arbitrarily evicted from their homes. According to activists, landlords say that they are protecting themselves and their families or use the bill as a pretext to unfairly raise LGBT people’s rent.
Some parliament members have been actively provoking anti–LGBT sentiment and practices. Sam George, who presents himself as a “charismatic Christian,” and eight other Members of Parliament from the National Democratic Congress party and the New Patriotic Party are pushing to get the anti-LGBT bill passed before the year’s end. Statements, by George and allies, claiming that sexual and gender equality are incompatible with African culture attract the support of religious and traditional leaders, and many Ghanaians.
But they conveniently ignore Ghana’s secular status and African principles such as ubuntu, dignity, equality, non-discrimination, empathy, protection from violence and care for each other. These African principles have shaped Ghana’s independence struggles and continue to contribute to the consolidation of a democratic state.
These same principles have led other African countries like Mozambique (2015), Botswana (2019), Angola (2021), Gabon and Mauritius (2022) to overturn colonial-era laws criminalizing same-sex relations. Some countries go further to imbed human rights standards and not only adopt anti-discrimination laws, but recognize same sex marriage, like South Africa in 2006.
Ghana’s parliament should consider the disastrous social, political, and economic consequences that the anti-LGBT bill will have on journalists, human rights defenders, women, families, and on other minorities in the country. If passed into law, the bill will not only imperil fundamental human rights enshrined in Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, but also violate regional and international human rights obligations, such as the principles of nondiscrimination and equality enshrined in the African Charter of Human and People’s Rights.
There are also serious economic risks. If the bill is passed, it could represent a risk to Ghana’s negotiating power in debt restructuring negotiations for example, lending ability from international investment institutions like the World Bank or IMF, and trade and circulation, a not insignificant concern given the country’s economic challenges.
Parliament should immediately withdraw the bill. Not only is it inconsistent with the Ghana’s human rights obligations, including in the constitution, and incites fear, hatred, and violence against fellow Ghanaian citizens, but its passage would be an anti-democratic and authoritarian turn for Ghana.
As the Sarasota County School Board convened for the final time this year on Tuesday, Bridget Ziegler entered the board chambers facing a rift largely driven by agenda item No. 1: a colleague’s resolution calling for her resignation.
Zander Moricz, who was the class president at Pine View School in Osprey and now attends Harvard, said Bridget Ziegler deserved to lose her job, but not because of her private sex life.
“That defeats the lesson we’ve been trying to teach you, which is that a politician’s job is to serve their community, not to police personal lives,” Moricz said. “So, to be extra clear Bridget, you deserve to be fired from your job because you are terrible at your job.”
Read the full article. The clip below has gone wildly viral with millions of views on TikTok, where I came across it a dozen times last night. Watch every second.
When marginalized groups face discrimination in the health care system, the results can be far-reaching and drastic. Across LGBTQ+ communities, this experience is all too well known. For years, activists have pointed out that health care for LGBTQ+ Americans is “under attack,” and bias is thriving. People frequently face gaps in health services, treatment, and outcomes.
There’s another aspect of this problem that needs to be addressed. It’s one that has a direct, immediate impact on the health and wellness of millions of people: an information gap. In many cases, LGBTQ+ Americans have learned not to trust traditional sources of health information. Many also have had trouble receiving the information they need from these sources when they ask for it. As a studyfound, “There is breadth of evidence documenting LGBTQ+ individuals’ experiences of heterosexism, homophobia, overt discrimination and pathologization in the health care setting, which has proven to be a barrier for LGBTQ+ individuals seeking health information from doctors.”
This problem doesn’t just apply to doctor’s offices. It also applies to other entities such as government health agencies, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. We explored this in our new survey.
We found that LGBTQ+ Americans are substantially more likely to get sick due to a lack of information. Twenty-seven percent of LGBTQ+ respondents told us that they have gotten sick in the last 12 to 18 months because they did not have the information they needed to make decisions about their health. (Eighteen percent of non-LGBTQ+ respondents said the same.)
To be clear, LGBTQ+ Americans are active in seeking out health information. But the sources they’re turning to don’t always have all the accurate, relevant, inclusive information that they need.
We looked at where LGBTQ+ Americans are going when they need health information. Much like Black Americans, LGBTQ+ Americans have curated sources they trust. We call these “chosen circles.” Two findings in particular were striking.
Forty-one percent of LGBTQ+ respondents in our survey said they get health information from TikTok — a figure about twice as high as the 21% of non-LGBTQ+ respondents who said the same.
News reports have discussed the role of TikTok in reaching members of LGBTQ+ communities, particularly younger people. The San Francisco Chronicle podcast Fifth & Mission called the social media platform “a lifeline for LGBTQ youth.” Mashable reported that, according to the Trevor Project, TikTok is where LGBTQ+ youth of color feel safest and most comfortable online.
The fact that LGBTQ+ communities are specifically seeking health information on TikTok presents an opportunity for health agencies and organizations. They should build up their efforts on this platform. It’s up to them to make sure that videos are available, providing accurate, helpful information about a wide range of health topics.
They should also work with popular influencers on the platform to reach LGBTQ+ Americans with important health information. More than a third (36%) of LGBTQ+ respondents in our survey said that online influencers they follow are an important source of health information. And they share information as well. More than a third said they have shared their own health information, or reposted health information from other sources, on social media. So these platforms can be especially helpful in improving health outcomes.
In our survey, more than a quarter (28%) of LGBTQ+ respondents said they turn to mental health therapists and counselors for emotional support in making health decisions. Again, this figure is lower among non-LGBTQ+ Americans.
This offers another opportunity for health-focused agencies and organizations. By working with people who provide therapy and counseling to LGBTQ+ communities and getting them the latest, most useful information on all sorts of health problems, these agencies and organizations can reach people in need.
Our survey also finds that no matter where they’re getting information, LGBTQ+ Americans understandably want to see people like them front and center. They want information specifically designed to reach them, addressing their experiences and unique challenges. And in all communications, they want health information providers to show that they understand the broad diversity of LGBTQ+ communities, spanning different races, religions, gender identities and more.
The need for change is urgent. By listening to, learning from, and partnering with members of LGBTQ+ communities, health agencies and organizations can create real transformation, empowering people with information to live healthier lives.
Tayla Mahmud is the executive vice president of health equity and multicultural strategy with M Booth Healthm a health consultancy and communications agency. Peter Matheson Gay is its chief impact officer.
In Spring 2024, we continue our Left Edge season with a captivating exploration of human connection and the quest for meaning. Everybody by Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins takes audiences on a humorous journey through life’s complexities, enhanced by an innovative on-stage lottery. The Last Quiz Night on Earth by Alison Carr offers a unique, immersive experience as the world faces an asteroid collision, blending humor and heart in a real-life pub quiz setting. Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons by Sam Steiner delves into the power and limitations of language in a witty portrayal of a couple navigating communication constraints. Together, these plays promise a season that balances laughter, introspection, and the beauty of human expression.
FEB 9 – 24Everybody by Brandon Jacobs-JenkinsDirected by Skylar Evans A fascinating and funny riff on the traditional morality play Everyman, Everybody charts one person’s quest to understand the meaning of life. Along the way, they encounter Friendship, Kinship, Stuff, Mind, Five Senses, Understanding and Love, before finally facing one last character, Death. Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’ highly inventive script includes an on-stage lottery at the start of each performance to determine which actor plays which role. Symbolizing the randomness of death, this last-minute twist requires the actors to memorize every role and brings an exciting edge of unpredictability to every show. The critically acclaimed Everybody earned playwright Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins (Gloria, An Octoroon) his second nomination for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (2018). “Provocative and involving… Wildly funny” – Huffington Post “Fills the heart in a new and unexpected way” —The New Yorker
MAR 29 – APR 13The Last Quiz Night on Earth by Alison CarrDirected by Argo Thompson and Jenny HollingworthAn asteroid is heading straight for the earth, tonight. There’s nothing anyone can do– but who wants to stay home for their last night ever? And what better way to take your mind off impending doom than Quiz Night at the Four Horsemen pub with your friendly hosts Kathy and Rav? The Last Quiz Night on Earth takes place in The California Theatre bar, where audiences can buy drinks, form teams, and compete in a real-life pub quiz. Meanwhile, Kathy and Rav play the music, ask the questions, handle a few unexpected personal dramas, and settle some old scores, all just in time before the world ends. “The Last Quiz Night on Earth is a fantastic night down the pub and at the theatre” – North West End “A fun, entertaining night out” – Opening Night
May 24 – June 8Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons by Sam SteinerDirector TBA What if the number of words you could speak was limited to 140 a day? That’s the premise of Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, Lemons, in which a young couple must choose their words carefully to navigate both their relationship and the outside world. A hilarious, thought-provoking look at how we use – and waste – language to express love, protest, fear, sorrow, and the everyday ups and downs of life. “A beautiful play about the beauty and preciousness of language”– Time Out “Timely and tart” – The Stage
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A gay man has expressed his horror and hopelessness after learning that he will be deported back to Uganda after living in Canada for five years.
The 25-year-old man, who came to Canada in 2018 as an international student, and has since worked in Edmonton, Alberta as a nurse, ran out of options this year when his work visa expired and his application for refugee status was rejected.
Uganda has become one of the most dangerous countries for LGBTQ+ people this year, with the introduction of its harsh Anti-Homosexuality Act.
A gay man is set to be deported to Uganda after failing to obtain refugee status in Canada because he cannot definitively prove his sexual orientation. (Getty)
Despite the inherent danger that awaits him at home, the man, who remained anonymous when speaking to Canada’s Global News to protect his identity, has had his refugee application and all subsequent appeals rejected.
The man, who is identified by the news outlet as “Sue”, explained that his refugee application was rejected because they couldn’t prove his sexual orientation.
“I don’t know how to prove… How am I supposed to prove that I’m a gay man? I just told you I am a gay man,” he said.
Lawyer Michael Battista, who also spoke to the publication, said that Sue had done his best to verify his sexual identity, providing evidence of his participation in the LGBTQ+ community in Edmonton, and an affidavit from a well-known Ugandan LGBTQ+ activist to verify that he is gay. But so far, this hasn’t made a difference in Sue’s case.
“I have nowhere to go,” Sue said. “I’m stranded and even the place I thought would comfort me is forcing me out.
“It’s hard to explain the feeling, but right now I feel like I have nowhere to go.”
Sue admitted that he had presumed that in Canada he would be “comfortable” and “fine as I am”.
He continued: “The fact that I have to prove my sexuality beyond reasonable doubt is quite ridiculous to me.
“This whole thing is a horror. I feel like I’m in a nightmare and I really want to wake up, but I cannot. I’m just praying and hoping that the government can intervene.”
If nothing changes, Sue, who began his application process back in April 2022, will be deported on Tuesday (19 December).
Battista noted that he couldn’t understand why Canada hadn’t put a moratorium on the deportation, which he said could be done for people who would be returning to communities where they’d be put in danger.
“Given the deterioration of the human rights situation in [Uganda], it would be, I think, a very good policy move on the part of the government of Canada,” he said.
While he waits in limbo for the next few days, it’s hard for Sue not to think about what might await him in Uganda.
“My whole family abandoned me so even if I reach the airport, I don’t know where I’m going to stay. I don’t know where I’m going to go. I’ve run out of options.”
“There is a very high chance that I’ll be arrested and tortured, just for identifying as a gay man. This is really something very, very disheartening that a fellow human being can treat someone harshly.”
Sue has also written to Alberta MP Randy Boissoneault about his case, the office of whom told Global News that they were aware of his situation and working with immigration officials.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for CBSA (Canada Border Services Agency) told the outlet that the “decision to remove someone from Canada is not taken lightly” and “all individuals who ae subject to removal have access to due process and procedural fairness.”
Their statement read: “Canada is monitoring the situation in Uganda and remains committed to offer refugee protection to those who need it, including individuals who have been persecuted on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, and sex characteristics.”
Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill has sparked an enormous outcry from LGBTQ+ rights and human rights groups around the world, with the US going as far as to revise travel guidance to the country and imposing sanctions against Ugandan officials.
Still, the country has insisted that it won’t sway, and has accused the US of pushing “the LGBT agenda in Africa.”
