Leigh Finke has won Tuesday’s Democratic primary election for Minnesota’s state House district 66A. The journalist, advocate, and filmmaker will now advance to November’s general election, where she will face off against Republican nominee Trace Johnson.
A win in November would make Finke the first out transgender state legislator ever elected in Minnesota.
On Tuesday morning, Finke posted a photo of herself and her team on Twitter, along with a simple celebratory message: “We did it. We won.”
Endorsed by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, Finke was named one of the organization’s “Spotlight Candidates.”
“From safeguarding abortion rights to addressing economic inequality to expanding protections for trans people, Leigh has a persuasive and critically important agenda that voters are clearly enthusiastic about,” Victory Fund president and CEO Mayor Annise Parker said in a statement Tuesday. “We are confident Leigh’s win tonight is a clear sign to our community—and LGBTQ kids in particular—that hate will not triumph. Leaders like Leigh prove over and over again that our community is strong, united and ready to lead our nation into a kinder and more accepting future. Backing down has never been in our DNA, especially when our freedoms are on the ballot.”
Last year, Finke spoke at a rally for former Hastings, Minnesota, school board chair Kelsey Waits, who faced harassment after her daughter Kit was outed as transgender.
“Kit’s trans identity was turned against their mother,” Finke said. “This is a despicable, vile act that must be condemned.”
“Take a look around,” she said. “This is what happens when trans kids are attacked. We show up. We show up and that’s not going to stop.”
Becca Balint, Vermont’s state Senate president, has won the Democratic nomination for the state’s at-large congressional seat, NBC News projects.
The victory makes her likely to become the first woman to represent the heavily Democratic state in Congress. Vermont is the only state that has never had a female member of its congressional delegation.
Balint, a state senator since 2014 who rose to Senate president two years ago, would also be the first openly gay lawmaker to represent the state on Capitol Hill should she win in November.
Balint, 54, a progressive Democrat backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and the Vermont icons Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, defeated Lt. Gov. Molly Gray.
The more centrist Gray had the backing of fellow Democrats like former Vermont Govs. Madeline Kunin and Howard Dean, while retiring Sen. Pat Leahy had donated $5,000 to her campaign.
Leahy’s retirement announcement set the race for the House seat in motion. Democratic Rep. Peter Welch is running for the seat he is vacating.
Leahy, a Democrat, was elected to the Senate in 1974. Sanders, an independent and a former at-large representative, was elected to the Senate in 2006, the same year Welch was elected to the House.
The state has only three representatives in Congress — its two senators and an at-large House member.
“Though I do view Mr. Straka’s criminal conduct as very serious, it’s been mitigated somewhat by his early plea and by his willingness to assist the government by providing complete and truthful information,” District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich said in January.
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At the time, the 43-year-old had said he felt “deeply sorry and shameful” for his actions.
But in the weeks since records detailing his cooperation with federal investigators were inadvertently unsealed and reported in the media, Straka has been downplaying his cooperation and contradicting some of what he told investigators.
“To me, making the choice to sit down and answer questions was a no-brainer – nobody I know committed any crimes and I have no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing from anybody,” he wrote in an open letter. “There is NOTHING WRONG with talking to the DOJ and telling them your friends are innocent.”
The court records showed that Straka provided valuable information that could help prosecute over a dozen other rioters, including anti-vaccine advocate Simone Gold. Prosecutors said that Straka gave them voicemail messages that she left him that were “valuable in the government’s prosecution.”
On social media, though, Straka mentioned Gold as someone he “barely knew” so he couldn’t have helped prosecutors in her case.
“One of the names of the list was Simone Gold (now a friend of mine), and Simone was arrested and charged BEFORE I was. At the time of January 6th we barely knew each other,” he wrote in his Gettr open letter.
Straka had previously posted about his plea deal on Twitter. “I’ve been asked, ‘Why would you take a plea deal?’ Many who know me well feel certain I didn’t do things I was accused of,” he wrote on March 8.
In his plea, Straka admitted to encouraging the January 6 mob to take a police officer’s riot shield. But in March, he posted that “I signed a plea deal, written by the government, that says I did that,” adding that it was “completely contrary to who I am and what I would do in any given situation.”
“Do you believe that every person who takes a plea deal did the things they’re accused of?” Straka posted on May 3. He was sentences to two months in jail as part of the plea agreement.
“It’s been brought to my attention that Mr. Straka has been making questionable comments about the truth of his plea and the nature of his cooperation,” Friedrich said at a hearing earlier this week. “I want to know, should I be expecting a motion to withdraw his plea? Because I would gladly hold a hearing.”
“It makes me question every statement he made to me at the time of sentencing. Every single one. He’s losing more credibility by the moment,” she said of Straka’s comments. “What he needs to appreciate is he is potentially incriminating himself.”
“He faces exposure for making false statements to federal law enforcement officers,” Friedrich told Straka’s lawyer. “So I suggest you advise him to show the discretion that he did not show before January 6.”
Straka gained notoriety for creating the #WalkAway movement that encouraged groups that usually vote for Democrats – like LGBTQ people – to “walk away” from the Democratic Party and vote for Republicans. He was not only present at the Capitol on January 6, but he spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally the day before, encouraged thousands of people on social media to continue storming the Capitol the day of, and proudly bragged about it after.
On January 6, Straka was present near the Capitol the day of and wrote on Twitter to his half a million followers that day, “Patriots at the Capitol – HOLD. THE. LINE!!!!” while rioters were breaking into and roaming inside the building. Still, he maintains he did not enter the Capitol building.
Multiple people also caught Straka on video – which the FBI obtained after videos were posted to YouTube – that allegedly showed him outside the Capitol, shouting “We’re going in!” and “Go! Go!”
Another video allegedly showed shows Straka urging other rioters to attack a Capitol Police officer and rip away his protective gear. According to charging documents, Straka shouted: “Take it away from him.” Other people in the crowd then yelled, “Take the shield!”
A 74-year-old man who owned multiple firearms and ammunition has been sentenced to 30 months in jail after sending bomb threat letters to pro-LGBTQ+ campaigners.
Robert Fehring was sentenced on Wednesday (3 August) after pleading guilty in February to one count of mailing threatening communications, according to Buzzfeed News.
The retired USA high school teacher had reportedly been arrested in December 2021 after sending at least 60 anonymous threats to Pride Month organisers, government officials, and other pro-LGBTQ+ individuals over the course of eight years.
He began his campaign of hatred in 2013 when he targeted New York’s Long Island and Manhattan institutions and advocates. He made various worrying warnings, including threatening to bomb a Pride parade in Long Island town of Huntington and plant explosives on a ferry taking people to Fire Island.
“ALL OF YOU SHOULD BE SHOT, HUNG, EXTERMINATED,” he wrote in a particularly disgusting letter to the owners of New York City’s pro-LGBTQ+ bar the Stonewall Inn. “WE WILL BLOW UP/BURN YOUR ESTABLISHMENTS DOWN.”
“WE WILL SHOOT THOSE WHO FREQUENT YOUR DENS OF FILTH, S**T, SCUM AND PERVERSION,” the letter continued before asking the owners to catch HIV and “JUST F***ING DIE!!”
Fehring also used doctored newspapers to send threatening letters, including one in 2021 addressed to the LGBTQ+ CEO of Newsday that contained photographs of a local Pride event, with a caption below reading “ONLY 350 UNNATURAL PERVERTS LESBOS & F****TS SHOW UP!!”
One of the six victims to speak at the sentencing was gay activist David Kilmnick, who said being sent targeted threats for who you are “changes you”.
“You have no luxury of safety – even doing the most mundane daily chores,” he continued. “From the first time I received one of his ‘anonymous’ letters [threatening] my life due to being an LGBT advocate and fighting for the rights and safety of our community, I no longer felt safe going to get the mail, taking out the garbage and even starting my car each day.”
After a search warrant was made in November 2021, FBI agents found several stolen Pride flags, two loaded shotguns along with nearly 400 rounds of ammunition, two stun guns, and a stamped envelope containing a dead bird that he had reportedly planned to send to a pro-LGBTQ+ attorney.
And cops found several photos taken by Robert Fehring, including those of a Pride parade in New York City, as part of a plot “to further terrify victims”.
It is highly likely Robert Fehring went to several New York Pride parades during his campaign of threats. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty)
He was eventually arrested after a criminal complaint was filed in federal court, revealing the disturbing contents of his letters. In a statement after Fehring’s arrest, NYC Pride executive director Sandra Pérez thanked the Justice Department for investigating the situation, adding: “We are cooperating in any way we can, and we remain committed to the safety and well-being of the LGBTQIA+ community.”
According to Fehring himself, he marked each letter’s envelope with a “confidential stamp” to ensure the letters were taken seriously by recipients.
“The fact that the defendant sent his threats and then appears at the above-described locations while he was the owner of multiple firearms and ammunition is particularly serious,” the prosecution said in a sentencing memo. “The defendant has a First Amendment right to hold bigoted beliefs; he does not have a right to threaten people based on his bigoted beliefs,” the prosecution added.
While prosecutors initially aimed for Robert Fehring to serve a total of 51 months, this was cut on appeal after attorneys argued his history of physical and mental health issues would make incarceration particularly difficult for him at his age. He is required to surrender to prison by 2 September.
“Today’s sentence makes clear that threats to kill and commit acts of violence against the LGBTQ+ community will be met with significant punishment,” said attorney Breon Peace.
British health authorities said Friday the monkeypox outbreak across the country may be peaking and that the epidemic’s growth rate has slowed.
The U.K.’s Health Security Agency said in a statement there were “early signs that the outbreak is plateauing,” with 2,859 cases detected since May. No deaths have been reported. Last month, authorities estimated the outbreak was doubling in size about every two weeks, but the number of new infections has dropped in recent weeks.
“While the most recent data suggest the growth of the outbreak has slowed, we cannot be complacent,” said Dr. Meera Chand, Director of Clinical and Emerging Infections at the Health Security Agency. She said anyone who thought they might have monkeypox should skip meeting friends, social gatherings and avoid sexual contact.
The Health Security Agency said its most recent analysis of the outbreak “shows that monkeypox continues to be transmitted primarily in interconnected sexual networks of gay, bisexual, or men who have sex with other men.” More than 70% of the U.K.’s cases are in London.
British officials noted a small number of infections among women, but said there was not enough evidence to suggest there was sustained spread of monkeypox beyond gay and bisexual men; 99% of all cases in the U.K. are in men.
Scientists who analyzed monkeypox viruses in the U.K. noted a number of mutations compared to viruses circulating in Africa, but said there was no evidence those genetic changes made monkeypox any more transmissible.
The World Health Organization said this week that 92% of monkeypox cases beyond Africa were likely infected through sex and its Director-General recently appealed to vulnerable gay and bisexual men to consider reducing their sexual partners “for the moment.”
To date, more than 26,000 monkeypox cases have been reported in nearly 90 countries, with a 19% increase in the last week.
In June, British authorities expanded their vaccination strategy, offering vaccines not only to health workers treating monkeypox patients and high-risk contacts of patients, but to some men who are gay or bisexual and at high risk of catching the virus, including those with multiple sexual partners or who participate in group sex.
Last month, the U.K. downgraded its assessment of the monkeypox outbreak and dropped a recommendation for the contacts of monkeypox cases to isolate for three weeks unless they have symptoms. The change was prompted by data showing that only a small number of contacts are ultimately sickened by monkeypox and a lack of evidence that the disease spreads without close, intimate or sexual contact.
Monkeypox spreads when people have close, physical contact with an infected person’s lesions, their clothing or bedsheets. Most people recover without needing treatment, but the lesions can be extremely painful and more severe cases can result in complications including encephalitis and death.
We are facing a public health emergency. On August 1, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency to combat the spread of monkeypox. Three days later, the administration of President Joe Biden declared a public health emergency at the federal level as well. The emergency declarations will help ensure we obtain the critical resources needed to combat the spread of this virus. While this outbreak is very different from the coronavirus pandemic, we have learned many lessons over the past two years to help us battle the spread of infectious diseases.
To date, we have learned of 17 cases of confirmed monkeypox among Sonoma County residents. This represents an increase from the county’s numbers last week and is suggestive of accelerating spread. Despite this jump, monkeypox continues to pose a low risk to the vast majority of Sonoma County residents.
Although it is a viral infection, monkeypox does not behave or transmit like COVID-19. Monkeypox is less contagious than COVID-19 and is largely spread by intimate contact, including kissing, hugging and sexual activity, between an infected or contagious individual and another person.
We want to reiterate that monkeypox can affect anyone. Currently, the vast majority of cases are in the social network of self-identified men who have sex with men, and they need the most support.
Public health officials at all levels are working to distribute the Jynneos vaccine to limit the spread from infectious individuals to others. Unfortunately, manufacturers have not produced vaccine supplies sufficient to meet the demand.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, California Department of Public Health, and Sonoma County Department of Health Services are distributing existing supplies and prioritizing distribution to those who have been exposed to someone with monkeypox or have a higher risk of being exposed to the virus. Again, most individuals in the general population are at low risk of exposure and infection.
To date, Sonoma County has received 820 doses of the vaccine. The doses have been distributed to all of the major health systems and the Federally Qualified Health Centers as well as Santa Rosa Junior College, Sonoma County Indian Health Services Program and the Lazy Bear event in Guerneville. Since supplies of the vaccine remain insufficient to meet the needs of the County, we also need to focus on preventing and reducing the risk of acquiring and transmitting the virus. Combining both prevention, vaccination and treatment will give us the best chance of slowing the spread of the illness.
Consistent with World Health Organization guidance, we recommend individuals who face the greatest risk consider limiting their number of intimate, skin to skin contacts, reconsider the risks of intimate contact with a new partner, and exchange contact details with any new partners to allow follow up if needed for the time being. These individual steps will lower their risk of infection and reduce the spread until sufficient vaccine supply is available to receive a dose of the Orthopox vaccine.
It is critical that public health officials, members of the health care provider community and others in our broader community support members of the LGBTQ community and recognize that they are facing the greatest risks of this disease at this time. While men who have sex with men currently face the greatest risk, a person’s sexuality and sexual orientation is not the route of transmission. Anyone who has direct contact, especially skin to skin contact, with an infected person can contract the disease.
Using the same care and compassion that Sonoma County residents displayed for populations disproportionately affected during the COVID pandemic, we will work together to combat the monkeypox outbreak and continue to have a healthy, safe and vibrant community.
Sincerely,
Tina Rivera, Director Department of Health Services Gabriel Kaplan, Director Public Health Division Dr. Sundari Mase, Health Officer Dr. Kismet Baldwin, Deputy Public Health Officer
How to protect yourself from monkeypox:
Avoid close contact with anyone who has symptoms
Avoid share bedding, towels or clothing with others who have symptoms
Before having close, physical contact with others, talk to your partners about their health and any recent rashes or sores
Consider limiting the number of intimate skin-to-skin encounters or events with large numbers of people where close skin to skin contact can occur
Stay aware if traveling to countries where there are outbreaks
How to protect others:
If you have symptoms particularly a rash consistent with monkeypox, or if you have been in contact with someone who has been diagnosed with monkeypox:
Stay home if you are feeling sick
Contact a health care provider as soon as possible for an evaluation
Avoid skin-to-skin, or close contact with others, including sexual contact, until a medical evaluation has been completed
To the best of your ability, know how to contact your intimate partners so they can receive post exposure prophylaxis
Inform sex partners about any symptoms you are experiencing
Cover the rash with clean, dry, loose-fitting clothing
Wear a well-fitted mask
If you are contacted by public health officials, answer their confidential questions to help protect others who may have been exposed
How to get help:
If you do not have a provider, or have difficulty scheduling an appointment, you can be seen at a community clinic in Sonoma County.
More information about monkeypox can be found here:
The Australian government is to import 450,000 monkeypox vaccine doses to help tackle a rise in cases.
Health minister Mark Butler told reporters on Thursday (4 August) the government had negotiated at least 450,000 doses of the third-generation Bavarian-Nordic vaccine to be prioritised for specific at-risk groups including gay and bisexual men.
The government began negotiating vaccine distribution on 20 May, according to Butler, just one day after the first confirmed case in Australia.
At the current time of reporting, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that at least 53 cases of the disease have been reported in Australia
While cases may seem low right now, Butler assured the public numbers had “increased quite quickly” around the world, with countries like the US currently seeing cases reach more than 6,000, and more than 4,000 in Spain.
While Australia has secured 450,000 doses, other countries are struggling to roll out the vaccine. The EU has purchased just 163,000 vaccines through its central Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA). France has purchased 250,000, with the UK having purchased just over 100,000.
Australia declared monkeypox a “communicable disease incident of national significance” on 28 July, just days after the World Health Organisation declared it a global health emergency.
Butler said that the first 100,000 doses are expected to reach Australia over the remaining months of 2022, with 22,000 arriving this and next week. The remaining 350,000 will be distributed in 2023.
He said the vaccine was “by far the most effective and user-friendly for patients with compromised immunity” and could also be administered in vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, children, and those with pre-existing conditions.
“I’m very pleased with the work the chief medical officer and the department have been able to do in a short period of time, particularly to secure the supply of vaccines in a highly contested global market,” he continued.
Patient receives a dose of the monkeypox vaccine at a pop-up vaccination clinic. (Mario Tama/Getty)He also warned against “stigma and discrimination” after several misinformed pundits had suggested monkeypox was a “gay disease” and is only sexually transmitted. The CDC reports researchers arestill determining whether the disease can transmit sexually and have not referred to it as an STI.
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) epidemiologist Mateo Prochazka toldPinkNews in May that the “discourse around this infection is going to become more prevalent and intersect with discourses that are homophobic”.
“Gay and bisexual men usually have larger numbers of sex partners and are more likely to have anonymous sexual partners as well,” he said, “and this can lead to direct contact that may not be seen in other sexual networks with the same frequency”.
“It might be that the pathogen has now entered those networks and is being spread that way. It does not mean that gay or bisexual men are doing anything inherently wrong, or that the virus has changed or that it’s sexually transmitted, it just means that this behaviour facilitates transmission in these networks.”
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Amid growing concerns over the potential threat of monkeypox, executives from Moderna said Wednesday they have initiated a research program to consider whether the company could create a monkeypox vaccine with mRNA technology. “We’re obviously very aware of the monkeypox concern and obviously very sensitive to recent announcements,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge said during an investor call.
“Our platform is pretty well established and our ability to rapidly scale has been demonstrated. If we were to go after a monkeypox clinical development program, it would be to very quickly progress toward an approvable set of endpoints in a clinical study,” he explained. As seen with the rollout for the COVID-19 vaccines, any new vaccine would still need to go through the regulatory authorization process, which can take weeks to months, even in special circumstances.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters on a call Thursday that gay and bisexual men who are HIV positive or who are taking medicines, called PREP, to reduce their chance of contracting HIV face the greatest health risk from monkeypox.
“That’s the population we have been most focused on in terms of vaccination,” Walensky said.
The U.S. has secured 1.1 million doses of the two-dose vaccine Jynneos so far, according to the Health and Human Services Department. The federal government has delivered more than 600,000 doses of the vaccine since May, according to HHS.
The right-leaning group Parents Defending Education (PDE) has sued the Linn-Mar Community School District of Iowa because its policies protect transgender students from transphobic parents and students. PDE supports banning LGBTQ books and curricula about institutional racism from schools. The organization has also previously partnered with the anti-LGBTQ group Moms for Liberty.
The Linn-Mar Community School District allows students (grades seven and up) to create a “gender support plan.” The plan requires school staff, students, and school documents (including ID cards and yearbooks) to address students by their self-assigned name and gender identity. The policy also allows these students to enter the locker room, bathroom facilities, and sports teams matching their gender identities.
PDE’s lawsuit takes particular issue with part of the policy that withholds details of a student’s gender support plan from a student’s parents, even if they specifically request it. The lawsuit also says that because parents are notified by the school about “lesser matters” like “schoolyard tussles, missing homework, and social events,” the school should notify parents about a kid’s gender identity, otherwise parents won’t be able to properly support their kid.
The lawsuit omits the fact that nearly 50 percent of trans people in the U.S. experienced familial rejection for coming out as trans, something which dramatically increases their likelihood of attempting suicide, becoming addicted to drugs, or experiencing homelessness, according to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey.
“Parents are completely and purposefully left in the dark. The Policy plainly violates parents’ rights under the Fourteenth Amendment,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also claims that the district’s policies against transphobic speech – like deadnaming and misgendering – are a violation of students’ First Amendment free speech protections because the policies punish them for “expressing their sincerely held beliefs about biological sex.” The lawsuit omits the fact that misgendering is a form of anti-trans harassment banned by most social media platforms.
“Nearly a century of Supreme Court precedent makes two things clear: parents have a constitutional liberty interest in the care, custody, and control of their children, and students do not abandon their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit’s true biases become apparent, however, in a section describing the complaining parents being represented by PDE.
One of the parents has a middle-school-aged child on the autism spectrum and worries that their kid’s “difficulty distinguishing between male and female characteristics” will get them placed on a gender support plan, pressuring them to identify as trans or nonbinary even though the child may not have a firm grasp of what these identities entail.
Another parent mentioned in the lawsuit worries that their “extremely impressionable” daughter will follow the lead of LGBTQ-affirming teachers and queer classmates and start identifying as trans or nonbinary.
“Some of Parent B’s daughter’s special-needs classes are held in a classroom that also functions as the meeting location for the LGBT student club,” the lawsuit says. “The teacher in that classroom is the faculty advisor for the club. Thus, the classroom walls contain several posters with information about various gender identities, gender ‘social transitions,’ and ‘referred pronouns.’ Parent B’s daughter is extremely impressionable and often follows the lead of other students.”
The lawsuit mentions “research” showing that more teens are identifying as trans due to peer pressure, but it doesn’t actually mention which research it’s referring to. A recent study suggested that worries like this are completely unfounded.
Two other parents represented by PDE say they basically want their kids to be able to misgender and openly disagree with the gender identities of trans kids without facing any consequences. Yet another parent said they didn’t want their kid to be exposed to the acknowledgment of trans people because it will cause the parent “emotional and psychological suffering.”
The lawsuit seeks to block the district’s Gender Support Plan from going into effect, essentially eliminating the district’s support of trans youth, something that will worsen mental health outcomes for trans students in the name of “free speech” and constitutional freedoms.
