The Sonoma County Library programing includes: Drag Story Hours, LGBTQI Teen Groups and activities, Here + Queer the Sonoma County LGBTQI Archives.
At Wednesday’s library commission meeting, more than a dozen vocal detractors made public comments, displayed signs, and stated that they intend to protest at our libraries, on story days and at other times. Here is a link to the recording of that meeting.
U.S. Mail – Written comments may be submitted via U.S. mail to ATTN: Commission Comments, 6135 State Farm Drive, Rohnert Park, CA 94928. It is advised you consider normal delays in mail delivery when sending your written comment via U.S. mail.
Orally, Live – Oral comments may be given during their monthly meeting.
A group called “Sonoma County Parents Stand Up for Kids” plans to “peacefully protest” at the Petaluma Regional Library this Saturday (June 10) at 10 am.
The Library has requested that “If you want to take part in a peaceful, thoughtful and non-violent response to this group, that you model respectful civil behavior and discourse. Disruptive or violent behavior is unacceptable, and we appreciate your commitment to this value.”
An upcoming government report on homophobia in the U.K. armed forces will show a climate of blatant homophobia, incidents of blackmail and sexual assaults, and a campaign of drugs and electric shock treatment to “cure” LGBTQ+ service members of their homosexuality.
The report, which covers 1967 to 2000, when the country’s ban on LGBTQ+ service members ended, is set for release next month and an advance copy was seen by Bloomberg. Commissioned last year by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the report contains over a thousand anonymous submissions from individuals who served in the U.K. military between 1967 to 2000. Terence Etherton, the independent or crossbench member of the House of Lords who led the investigation, said many service members were left “severely traumatized” by their experienced.
The accounts from former service members “paint a vivid picture of overt homophobia at all levels of the armed forces…and of the bullying that inevitability reflected it,” Etherton said.
Many veterans said they were told they had to take medication and undergo psychiatric treatment to remain in the military. One person said his treatment took place while he was seated on a toilet and the medical staff questioning him were drinking beer. Another said they had electrodes placed on their head and received electric shocks when shown naked pictures.
“I had some type of bruising/burn marks where they put the electrodes,” the unnamed person revealed in the report.
Other accounts reportedly detail how LGBTQ+ service members were singled out for abuse. One female veteran said she was assaulted by two male service members, then placed in a psychiatric ward and later discharged when she complained. Another said her superior threatened to have her discharged for being gay if she reported his attempt at raping her. Others reported being followed by military police, having military police show up at local gay bars.
A bookstore in Vermont is fighting back against calls to limit LGBTQ+ literature for young readers by hosting its first-ever Pride Readathon to raise funds for a summer camp for LGBTQ+ kids.
Bear Pond Books in Montpelier will be hosting a Pride Readathon the entire month of June where participants will raise funds for every LGBTQ+ book they read. Bear Pond Books has a goal of raising $40,000 to support Outright Vermont’s Camp Outright, a summer camp that lets LGBTQ+ kids be themselves while taking part in a typical group camp experience. A private donor has offered to match the funds raised up to $20,000 in the Pride Readathon. It’s also possible to simply donate in lieu of participating in the event.
Jess Turner of Bear Pond Books told local NBC affiliate WPTZ that readers will be able to create their own online public profile showing the books on their reading list as well as tracking their reading progress and the donations they’ve raised to date. So far, the bookstore has raised $1,580 of its $40,000 goal.
Turner said another goal of the Pride Readathon is to get folks to read books by LGBTQ+ authors or that include LGBTQ+ characters or themes.
“There’s no rule, you pick whatever number of books you want to read and you read whatever you want, as long as it celebrates an LGBTQ+ author’s voice,” Turner said. “So, graphic novels, memoirs, novels, fiction, nonfiction, fantasy, all the genres within that, anything goes.”
Books have been targeted across the country for having queer or racial elements to them.
Camp Outright bills itself as a camp with a twist, providing a safe and affirming traditional summer camp environment for LGBTQ+ youth. Outright Vermont and the Common Ground Center are teaming up to offer two six-day, five-night residential camps for queer, trans, questioning, and allied youth between the ages of 13 and 17. Straight allies are welcome to attend as well.
“Probably the most positive experience I’ve had in my life was being at Camp,” one former camper was quoted on the Camp Outright website. “It was easy to just be there and exist, which we often can’t do at home or school. You can just go to camp and be gay and make friends, and that’s very nice.”
You can learn more about the Pride Readathon through the month of June at the Bear Bond Bookstore, including how to participate or donate, on their website (www.bearpondbook.com) or Outright Vermont (outrighttvt.com).
A federal judge temporarily blocked portions of a new Florida law that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, ruling Tuesday that the state has no rational basis for denying patients treatment.
“The elephant in the room should be noted at the outset. Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear,” Hinkle said, adding that even a witness for the state agreed.
Transgender medical treatment for minors is increasingly under attack in many states and has been subject to restrictions or outright bans. But it has been available in the United States for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations.
Hinkle’s ruling was narrowly focused on the three children whose parents brought the suit.
Hinkle said people who mistakenly believe gender identity is a choice also “tend to disapprove all things transgender and so oppose medical care that supports a person’s transgender existence.”
Research suggests that transgender youth and adults are prone to stress, depression and suicidal thoughts, and the evidence is mixed on whether treatment with hormones or surgery resolves those issues.
Even ahead of contemplating medical treatment, experts agree, allowing children to express their gender in a way that matches their identity is beneficial, such as letting children assigned male at birth wear clothing or hairstyles usually associated with girls, if that is their wish.
“There are risks attendant to not using these treatments, including the risk — in some instances, the near certainty — of anxiety and depression and even suicidal ideation. The challenged statute ignores the benefits that many patients realize from these treatments and the substantial risk posed by foregoing the treatments,” Hinkle said.
He also noted that hormone treatments and puberty blockers are often used to treat non-transgender children for other conditions, so the law makes their use legal for some, but not for others.
The three children in the lawsuit will “suffer irreparable harm” if they cannot begin puberty blockers, Hinkle said.
“The treatment will affect the patients themselves, nobody else, and will cause the defendants no harm,” Hinkle said.
The governor’s office didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
Seminole County Public Schools is offering to reprint this year’s Lyman High School yearbook and remove two pages for parents upset about LGBTQ+ content, prompting criticism that the district isn’t standing up to bigotry. The pages highlight the school’s LGBTQ+ community and provide definitions of terms such as genderfluid and pansexual. A few parents and students found those pages “inappropriate,” and now the district is offering refunds or reprinted yearbooks with the pages in question removed.
Jessica Tillmann, chapter chair of the Seminole County Moms for Liberty, said she is concerned about the definitions in the yearbook because she thinks they are teaching children about sex outside the state-approved standards that parents can choose to opt their children out of. “They shouldn’t have any sexual definitions in a yearbook,” she said. “This is a yearbook that goes to every student as young as 14.”
Sharmon Craft [screenshot above] was among the parents who believe the page is inappropriate. “This gender ideology crap has parents in an uproar because it’s disgusting and wrong for an adult to sexualize a minor,” Craft said on Facebook.
“The district superintendent is ordering the school to give full refunds or have the books reprinted without the glossary of perverse sexual attractions and pronouns.” District officials said they have received four complaints from parents so far.
Danielle Pomeranz, the high school’s former yearbook advisor, argued against the decision. “We think that it’s important that our book remains inclusive and represents all of the students at Lyman High School,” Pomeranz said.
Windsor Pride festival will take place Saturday, June 10, 2 – 8 PM at Windsor Town Green.
The Music Festival will feature: School of Rock House Band of Santa Ros, Fleetwood Macramé, DJ LadyChar
…and the We Are Family Dragstravaganza featuring: Elsa Touché, Cocoa Buttah, Linda Summers
Street Fair – Where your favorite carnival meets Sonoma County’s best artisans, food trucks, and a sprinkling of the Love Wins in Windsor fairy dust, get ready for the Windsor Pride Festival STREET FAIR!
Limited-Edition T-shirts, Tanks, Totes + Hats. Locally-Made Jewelry, Soaps + Crafts Sonoma Community Nonprofits Love Wins Winegarten (a local premium tasting flight experience)
Also: Love Recommitment Ceremonies with Pastor Mary; Affirmation Station; Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Grove Information
Elsa Touche spoke with GaySonoma about her upcoming performance.
Gary Carnivele: Can you remember seeing your first drag performance and the impact it made on you?
Elsa Touche: I can’t really remember my first ever. I can say that I was a kid in the 1980s and that was such a great era of gender-bending and androgyny, as far as musical performers. Boy George, Annie Lennox, Prince … all the makeup bands from England, like Duran Duran. From where I was back then, you know, growing up queer in the sticks, these performers were really a beacon for me. MTV gave me proof that somewhere in the world there was a place for me!
And I can remember my early days in San Francisco and how entranced I was with that kind of punk rock drag expression that was fostered at T-Shack (RIP Heklina). Always unexpected and bold and thrilling. Really changing the definition of what drag could be.
GC: What did it mean to you to be named “Favorite Drag Queen” by SF Weekly in 2020?
ET: That was a real surprise and I’m not sure how I got that honor, at all. I’m not even my own favorite drag queen, and there are a lot of performers in SF who I’d think would earn that distinction before I would! But this was during the pandemic, and I was doing a lot of online shows then, and making online content in the form of my “Stir Crazy” parody cooking show. I was also grateful to be involved in the Oasis Nightclub’s “Meals on Heels” drag food delivery service — a drag queen would bring your food order and do a mini-show on the sidewalk in front of your house. So I was very visible during this time; maybe that’s why.
Anyway, it was an honor, for sure. And if I’m anyone’s favorite anything, I’m grateful. I’m just happy to have the opportunity to pursue my passion for drag!
GC: Tell us all about “The Monster Show.”
ET: The Monster Show is the Castro District’s longest-running drag show — 19 years strong. It was founded by the legendary San Francisco drag queen Cookie Dough, who passed away several years ago. Thanks to subsequent show hosts and our show producer, Otter, we’ve kepe her legacy alive: We’re proud to be San Francisco’s “most ridiculous” drag show, every Thursday night at the Edge Bar in San Francisco! We’re proud to be a show that embraces all flavors of drag and encourages experimentation, and a place where newer performers are welcome. I got my own start at the Monster Show … and I’ve been one of the co-hosts for about five years now, and I’m very proud to be part of this San Francisco drag tradition.
GC: Your Drag-Theatrical Productions are legendary. Which were your favorites?
ET: On my own and as a member of Fraudway Productions, I’ve produced and co-produced a few shows I love. One of my favorite productions was “Without You I’m Nothing” — a tribute to the movie of the same name and its creator Sandra Bernhard. Kind of a niche production, but I loved it! Fraudway’s “Harriet Poofter” series has proved very popular as well. I feel like this show is important because it takes the Harry Potter characters that many queer people grew up loving … and puts them in a queer context that celebrates trans people and “claps back” at the series’ creator’s transphobic rhetoric. All of the shows I work on are highly collaborative, and everyone is involved in making the final product — I love working with drag performers because they’re so creative, and just in the process of making the show everyone contributes so many good ideas.
GC: Are you working on something now?
ET: I’m thinking of a new show for 2024 — it’s not something I can talk about yet. But I’m very excited about it!
GC: Where was the toughest crowd you ever encountered and how did you worm your way into their hearts?
ET: Several years ago I was booked for a show at a bar that was also showing a World Series game that the Giants were in, on the TV, and most people were definitely there to watch the game, not to see a drag show. I don’t know that I successfully wormed my way into their hearts! I remember this as a very difficult show because people literally had their backs to me because they were trying to watch TV. But whenever I perform, I’m aware that not everyone will enjoy what I’m doing. I’m performing for those who are willing to join me in this act of creation. In this case, I found the couple of people that were engaged and gave them my all.
GC: What’s your super-secret make-up magic trick?
ET: My makeup tricks, such as they are, don’t carry into the real world, because a lot of what I use is sort of industrial-strength theater makeup, not meant for everyday use — and I’m going for “clown” more than “beauty” really. My super-secret drag makeup trick is three layers of foundation … and if you mess something up, put some glitter on it.
GC: What do you have planned appearance at Windsor Pride?
ET: I’m really looking forward to a great weekend! Along with my fabulous colleagues Coco Buttah and Linda Summers, we have drag shows on Saturday and Sunday, plus games and other events! It’s been such fun planning these shows and I can’t wait to see everyone in Sonoma! I love Sonoma County!
GC: It’s been a tough year for the LGBTQI+ Community, especially Trans Folks and Drag Performers. WFT??
ET: nAll these attempts to prohibit drag shows are just a part of the massive effort we’re seeing to criminalize ‘transness — trans and gender nonconforming people are so under attack right now in our country, and they should be the focus of our efforts at protection and support right now. And there are many organizations we can support, like the National Center for Transgender Equality and Transgender Law Center. ‘
I agree: WTF, indeed! But, yes, it looks like a calculated effort on the part of many politicians to prey on and endanger this very vulnerable segment of society in order to rouse the ugly feelings — hate and fear — in a small subset of Americans. It’s a campaign of bigotry and misinformation. It’s dangerous. It’s deadly. And we mustn’t sit quietly by.
GC: Drag Performers are always political – that’s what we love about them and their art. How do you keep it real and clever?
ET: These days, just being a drag queen is a political act. And expressing queer joy and making queer art are both inherently political as well. Keeping it real and clever is, for me, about keeping it current and personal.
GC: What are your tips for having an EPIC Pride?
ET: Drink lots of water. Bring sunscreen. Dance. Wear something that makes a statement. Smile at strangers.
Wednesday, June 14 6:00–9:00 p.m. PDT The Academy 2166 Market St. San Francisco $40 | Sliding Scale
Drag Story Hour comes to The Academy, in partnership with the GLBT Historical Society! This fabulous fundraiser and cocktail reception supports these two incredible organizations. Join us, and stand up to help protect LGBTQ+ rights, and our community’s shared history.
Complimentary donated appetizers will be available and cocktails, beer and wine will be available for sale (cash or card accepted). The Academy venue has an accessible entrance and restroom facilities.
A library in Montana has canceled a transgender Cheyenne woman guest speaker, saying that her appearance at the library could violate the state’s new drag ban.
Adria Jawort – who made headlines last year when she won a lawsuit against a conservative, straight, white male pastor who called her mentally ill – was set to speak at the Butte Public Library last Friday as part of the library’s Pride Month programming. She was going to speak about “Montana History of Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ Peoples.”
But the library canceled her appearance on Thursday afternoon. A librarian emailed her and said that the county “decided that it is too much of a legal risk to have a transgendered person in the library. I really regret this.”
Butte-Silver Bow city-county Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher cited the state’s new law, H.B. 359, which is intended to ban drag story hours. The law bans both drag queens and kings from reading in front of children. It also defines both as “a male or female performer who adopts a flamboyant or parodic” male or feminine persona “with glamorous or exaggerated costumes and makeup.”
Gallagher still proclaimed June Pride Month at the Butte-Silver Bow Courthouse that same day.
Gallagher said that he would have let the performance happen if not for the state law. “But we would be in violation of state law if we allowed this person to give her presentation,” he said. According to Jawort’s Substack, Gallagher was reportedly getting legal advice from County Attorney Eileen Joyce.
Jawort said that she testified in the state legislature against the drag ban.
“I did so by explicitly doing a little dance (it was the beginning of the dance by that robot girl in the M3GAN) and saying that this bill’s broad definition targets trans people, what I had just done would be illegal under it,” she wrote. “Then I explained First Amendment Law to them – which seemed to be beyond their comprehension.”
Jawort said that there was already going to be a police presence at her lecture on Friday because the library “had been receiving harassing calls” about it.
“Now, what we have here is like a version of 21st Century ‘masquerade laws’ used to target trans people with back in the 1950s and 60s with [SIC] to arrest them for wearing articles of clothing of the opposite ‘biological’ gender,” she wrote.
In 2021, pastor J.D. Hall, a former darling of the far-right wing in Montana, called Jawort a “Gothic Transvestite,” called her “mannish,” and said she was mentally ill because she is trans. He also said that she threatened state officials.
She sued him for libel and they reached a settlement involving Hall paying Jawort $250,000, retracting the libelous article from his website, and publicly apologizing to Jawort.
“I apologize to Adrian Jawort,” Hall’s public apology in 2022 said. “The information I published about Adrian was false. Adrian did not threaten or harass Senator Butch Gillespie. I regret the error and sincerely apologize to Adrian for publishing it.”
Day after day we see Republicans trying to outdo each other in how vile and frightening they can be. From the fight over the debt ceiling, to their presidential primary, they continue to try to take the nation backwards.
In the debt ceiling fight, they clearly say, “We will protect the wealthy in our country at all costs, and instead will cut, or eliminate, programs to help the poor.” The far-right wing crazies like Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Chip Roy (R-Texas), and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), are threatening their own speaker, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), with the loss of his job if he doesn’t go along with what they want. Now that a deal has been cut, we will see how they, and left-leaning Democrats who have been putting pressure on President Biden to reject all Republican demands, will vote. These are facts of life in our nation today. Any person with a shred of decency should be embarrassed. I don’t envy President Biden for what he has to do to keep the nation from defaulting on its debts. The political reality is that he had to give in on some issues. Democrats should not fault him, but rather blame Republicans.
It is scary when you see what Republicans are doing around the nation with regard to abortion rights, civil rights, and LGBTQ rights. One recent example being Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proudly signing the bill making abortion only legal until six weeks. There are women who don’t even know by then they are pregnant. Also, it’s time men start understanding how this impacts them. Women need to remind the fathers what their responsibility will be if they both aren’t ready for a child but are forced to have one.
One ignorant parent in Florida complained, and according to politico was able to have “A Miami-Dade elementary school limit some access to Amanda Gorman’s presidential inauguration poem, ‘The Hill We Climb,’ complaining that it contained indirect “hate messages.” This is insanity and the clear result of Trump’s impact on the culture of the nation. He made it OK to once again have hatred spewed from the public square, frightening decent people.
Like the threats against Target. CNN reported the company was “removing some products that celebrate Pride month after the company and its employees became the focus of a “volatile” anti-LGBTQ campaign. The company told the Wall Street Journal that people have confronted workers in stores, knocked down Pride merchandise displays and put threatening posts on social media with video from inside stores. Some people have thrown Pride items on the floor, Target spokesperson Kayla Castaneda told Reuters. CNN went on to report “Prominent right-wing activists, Republican political leaders, and conservative media outlets, have focused their attention on a women’s swimsuit that was described as “tuck friendly” for its ability to conceal male genitalia. Misinformation spread on social media that it was marketed to children, which it was not.” Again, insanity, promoted by the right wing. The people doing this should be arrested and prosecuted.
It only gets worse as Republican candidates running for president try to outdo each other with anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, trying to improve their poll numbers. DeSantis can tout his “don’t say gay legislation.” Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), a Black man, who says the country is not racist, touts his opposition to marriage equality. Then there is Mike Pence who will quote the Bible to you, claiming it tells us how terrible it is to be gay.
The Daily News recently reported “Following last year’s more than 220 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced across the country, a poll by The Trevor Project found 71% of LGBTQ youth — and 86% trans and nonbinary youth — said they were negatively impacted by the flurry of proposals to restrict their rights.” They went on to report, “As of May 23, more than 520 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in statehouses across the country, according to the Human Rights Campaign. More than 220 of those specifically restrict the rights of transgender and nonbinary people. These are all Republican bills.
This will continue unabated if we don’t defeat Republicans everywhere. In sharp contrast, Democrats in the Maryland legislature, led by Delegates David Moon (D-Montgomery County) and Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore County) and State Senator Howard Lam (D-Baltimore and Howard Counties), managed to repeal the states sodomy law and pass gun-control measures.
Republicans will continue to carry out their agenda of hate across the nation unless we say with our votes, “We won’t take this anymore.” The United States is better than this and we will show the world we will not tolerate hate; we will fight it.
Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.
Lawmakers celebrated drag nun Sister Roma and declared June LGBTQ+ Pride Month at the California Capitol.
As part of an official resolution proclaiming it Pride month, the legislature’s LGBTQ Caucus invited Roma, a San Francisco Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence member. Additionally, out tennis legend Billie Jean King and out filmmaker and internet personality Eugene Lee Yang were among others honored.
Sister Roma was invited to the state capitol by San Francisco’s gay state Sen. Scott Wiener, The Sacramento Beereports.
Several Republican senators called on the Senate’s President pro Tempore, Toni Atkins, to revoke Roma’s invitation last Thursday.
On Monday afternoon, some Catholics and evangelical Christians protested at the Capitol’s west steps against the recognition of Roma. Republican members retired to the lounge behind the chamber as Roma approached the podium.
However, standing ovations filled the room as the rest of the members cheered, applauded, and clapped.
“Love you, Roma! ” cried fellow honoree Harry Lit, eliciting cheers from the gallery and floor. While outside the chamber, Roma was greeted by supporters giving her high fives, shaking her hand, and taking photos.
“I was very emotional,” she said after receiving her award.
“I came this close to crying,” she added, “and if this makeup runs, I’m done.”
Wiener stated before the event that he would be surprised if Republican colleagues disrupted the ceremony.
“I think my Republican colleagues are caricaturing her,” Wiener conveyed to The Bee, “and if they really took the time to get to know her, they’d understand why I nominated her for this honor.”
The Sisters describe themselves as “a leading-edge Order of queer and trans nuns” employing “humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency and guilt that chain the human spirit.”
In both the Assembly and Senate, the resolutions were approved without opposition.
The dispute over Roma’s invitation follows the L.A. Dodgers’ withdrawal of an invitation to the Los Angeles order of the Sisters last month, sparked by conservative complaints. Within a few days, the team re-invited the group after receiving backlash from protestors. Drag performances have been banned outright in several conservative-controlled states following a nationwide Republican campaign to restrict them.
Former vice president and 2024 presidential candidate Mike Pense criticized the Dodgers for acknowledging the Sisters.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, 491 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in GOP-controlled legislatures across the country — 63 of them have already become law.
