Two boys were arrested on suspicion of making homophobic comments during the Manchester City v Burnley football game on Saturday (16 October).
As well as the two teenagers, a third man in his 20s was apprehended by police at Etihad Stadium during the Premier League match. Greater Manchester Police said this arrest was a ‘separate incident’, on suspicion of a breach of the peace and police assault.
No further details were given about the precise ages of each boy or which team they support.
All three were held in custody for questioning over Saturday night and could now face possible football banning orders as well as criminal charges.
Match commander for the event, chief inspector Jamie Collins, emphasised that “the majority of fans attending [last Saturday’s] match behaved in an exemplary manner,” adding that he “thanked” those people.
He continued: “We work closely with Manchester City Football Club to promote good behaviour at matches and to identify anyone who commits a criminal offence.
“GMP officers will take positive action against those using homophobic or racist language and that is what my officers have done at today’s fixture.”
He emphasised that the “strongest action” will be taken towards anyone who engages in this kind of abusive or discriminatory behaviour at games, “including banning those fans from attending future football matches”.
“Our top priority is the safety and well-being of the fans, staff and players,” Collins continued. “We want fans to be able to enjoy matches without the experience being ruined by a small number of people.”
City won the game 2-0, with goals from Bernado Silva and Kevin De Bruyne.
Homophobic and racist abuse is a recurring issue within football, with London’s Met Police forced to increase their numbers at Wembley City last Tuesday (12 October) due to concerns over possible racist abuse during the England v Hungary game.
More recently a gay Premier League footballer revealed he is in therapy over crippling fears that football fans on opposing teams will “crucify” him for being gay should he come out.
Dr. Rachel Levine, the nation’s most senior transgender official, made history again Tuesday by becoming the first openly transgender four-star officer across any of the country’s eight uniformed services.
Levine, the assistant secretary of health, was sworn in Tuesday as an admiral, the highest-ranking official of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, whose 6,000 uniformed officers are entrusted with protecting the nation’s public health. Levine’s appointment also made her the organization’s first female four-star officer.
Dr. Rachel L. Levine was sworn in as an admiral Tuesday in U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.hhs.gov
“This is a momentous occasion, and I am honored to take this role for the impact I can make and for the historic nature of what it symbolizes,” Levine said in a speech at her swearing-in ceremony. “I stand on the shoulders of those LGBTQ+ individuals who came before me, both those known and unknown. May this appointment today be the first of many more to come, as we create a diverse and more inclusive future.”
Levine, a pediatrician who previously served as Pennsylvania’s health secretary, has spearheaded numerous efforts to combat public health issues, including the opioid epidemic, maternal mortality and childhood immunization. A graduate of Harvard College and Tulane Medical School, she has also written on medical marijuana and pediatric medicine. https://iframe.nbcnews.com/Hnx98sa?app=1
In heading the health corps, Levine will be in charge of deploying the country’s public health workers to respond to crises ranging from the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 725,000 Americans, to natural disasters such as flooding.
Levine said she was proud to follow in the footsteps of her father, who served in the Air Force during World War II, and other members of her family who are veterans.
“Just as they stepped up to defend our rights to freedom and liberty, I now follow in their storied tradition of service as I step up to defend the health of our nation,” she said.
Out of the eight uniformed services in the United States, including the Army, Navy and Air Force, the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps distinctly focuses on medical issues.
Levine made history in March when she became the first openly transgender federal official to be confirmed by the Senate. She was narrowly confirmed by a vote of 52-48, primarily along party lines.
Senior health officials lauded the historic nature of Levine’s appointment to the public health corps for the LGBTQ community, noting its particular significance during LGBTQ History Month, which is celebrated in October.
“Admiral Levine’s historic appointment as the first openly transgender four-star officer is a giant step forward towards equality as a nation,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.
As the nation’s top transgender official, Levine has previously told NBC News that she will work to support the LGBTQ community, particularly transgender youth, saying “we have to protect those most vulnerable in our community.”
“The time is now for our country to continue to move the bar forward for diversity,” Levine said Tuesday. “And I am proud to wear this uniform and answer that call.”
Daniel Jenkins, 22, of Dallas was sentenced today for committing violent crimes as part of a conspiracy to target users of the dating app Grindr. Jenkins was sentenced to a federal prison term of 280 months for his involvement in the scheme to target gay men for violent crimes. He is the last of four defendants to be sentenced in this case.
According to documents filed in connection with this case, the defendant admitted that he conspired to and then targeted nine men in and around Dallas for violent crimes, including kidnapping, carjacking and hate crimes, because of his perception of the victims’ sexual orientation, that is, because he believed the victims were gay men.
Beginning on or around Dec. 6, 2017, members of the conspiracy used Grindr, a social media dating platform used primarily by gay men, to lure men to an apartment complex in Dallas. When the men arrived, the conspirators held the men at gunpoint and forced them to drive to local ATMs to withdraw cash from their accounts.
With his guilty plea on June 2, Jenkins admitted to joining the conspiracy to target gay men for violent crimes. Starting in December of 2017, Jenkins and a coconspirator created user profiles on Grindr and used the profiles to lure men they perceived to be gay to a location to rob them.
Jenkins further admitted that on Dec. 11, 2017, he and others lured multiple victims to the apartment complex, pointed a handgun at them, took their personal property and assaulted them, causing at least one victim physical injury.
Jenkins admitted that he knew that members of the conspiracy used gay slurs and taunted the victims, and that at least one member of the conspiracy attempted to sexually assault a victim. Jenkins also admitted to participating in the carjacking of at least one victim.
Jenkins was the last of four defendants to plead guilty in this case. Jenkins pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit hate crimes, kidnapping, and carjacking; one hate crime count; and one count of use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
Jenkins’ coconspirators: Michael Atkinson, Pablo Ceniceros-Deleon and Daryl Henry, had previously pleaded guilty. Atkinson was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison, Ceniceros-Deleon was sentenced to 22 years in prison and Henry was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
India’s National Medical Commission has ordered publishers and medical schools to edit their textbooks and curricula to exclude discriminatory and unscientific portrayals of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people.
The order from the country’s highest medical regulator follows a June 2021 Madras High Court rulinginstructing institutions across the country to roll back prejudicial and inaccurate portrayals of sexual and gender minorities. In the judgment, Judge Anand Venkatesh said, “Ignorance is no justification for normalizing any form of discrimination.” His language echoes previous court rulings and commission reports in India.
In 2018, when the Supreme Court unanimously struck down India’s colonial-era criminal prohibition on same-sex relations, Justice Indu Malhotra stated that, “an apology [is owed] to members of the LGBT community … for the ostracization and persecution they faced because of society’s ignorance.” In the case’s early stages, the Indian Medical Association made clear: “We are seriously concerned that homosexuality is looked upon as a disorder and in our joint petition appealed to the Supreme Court that it was not an illness.”
In January 2021, the Delhi Child Rights Commission recommended a ban on medically unnecessary “normalizing” surgeries on children born with intersex variations. This follows the southern state of Tamil Nadu banning such operations in 2019 after a court upheld the informed consent rights for intersex children. The commission’s recommendation received support from the Delhi Medical Council, which wrote that, “[s]urgical interventions … that are not deemed medically necessary should be delayed until the patient can provide meaningful informed consent.”
Welcoming the medical commission’s advisory this week, Dr. L. Ramakrishnan, vice president of SAATHII, an LGBT advocacy group, said: “The issue is not only one of misrepresentation but also one of absence. For instance, standard Indian textbooks in Pediatrics do not mention same-gender attraction or transgender identity in a non-pathologizing manner while addressing child and adolescent development.”
The National Medical Commission’s announcement further indicates the widespread support for reform among Indian legal and medical experts. It is a good precedent for what is needed across the education sector – a comprehensive update of outdated curricula.
Police in Palo Alto, California have arrested a man in connection with a brutal attack on a woman and a gay man as well as a police dog in a crime apparently motivated by hate.
Alexander Joseph Furrier, 26, faces charges of felony battery, felony hate crime, felony assault on a police dog, and resisting arrest, reports CBS News.
According to law enforcement, Furrier attended a house party with a female friend on Saturday night (October 9). The woman later left the party with two gay men, prompting Furrier to follow them while shouting homophobic slurs. The two men eventually parted company with the woman, which Furrier continued to pursue. When one of the men returned, the encounter turned violent.
The male victim confronted Furrier over his harassment, prompting Furrier to punch him several times while yelling homophobic epithets. The women then tried to intervene, at which point Furrier grabbed her and threw her to the ground.
The male victim–described as being in his 60s–lost consciousness and suffered cuts and bruises in the attack. The woman did not sustain serious injuries.
When police arrived on the scene, Furrier fled on foot, eventually hiding in a stairwell. Officers first tried to negotiate for Furrier to turn himself in before releasing a police dog on him. Furrier kicked and beat the animal, as well as choked it with his bare hands. The dog bit Furrier on the leg, finally getting him to relent. The dog later saw a veterinarian for a cut above its eyes and an injured paw, while Furrier’s male victim received treatment at a nearby hospital.
At the time of this writing, authorities are holding Furrier at Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas without bail.
A 25-year-old Black trans man called Mel Groves died of multiple gunshot wounds in Mississippi on Monday (11 October).
Groves is at least the 39th trans or gender non-conforming person to be violently killed in the US in 2021, according to the Human Rights Campaign(HRC), which tracks anti-trans violence in the US.
He was a student at Alcorn State University, a historically Black university in Lorman, Mississippi, where he began studying plant science in August 2021.
Police in Jackson, Mississippi, confirmed that Groves died after driving himself to hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.
Groves collapsed while getting out of the vehicle at Merit Health Hospital and was transferred to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, where he died on Monday afternoon (11 October), Jackson Police Department (JPD) spokesperson Sam Brown told local news.
Brown added that JPD are trying to determine the location of the shooting, as well as potential suspects and motives.
roves’ death is the 115th homicide in Jackson this year. The state capital recorded 130 murders last year, the highest number in its history.
Murdered Black trans man misgendered by media outlets
According to the Human Rights Campaign, Groves was an active member of The Knights & Orchids Society (TKO), “a southern centered grassroots startup founded and led by Black, queer, transgender, and gender non-conforming people supporting gender justice and LGBTQ visibility”.
On Facebook, TKO said: “He was murdered. The news outlets are already misgendering Mel and using his old name.
“The motive is unknown, but we know the violence that happens to trans people in our communities. Mel had even shared that he feared for his life because he was trans in Jackson.”
The organisation added that it is “trying to find real answers” and offered a reward for “any leads and information”. TKO also asked its community to contact Mississippi media outlets and demand they stop misgendering Groves.https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FTKOSociety%2Fposts%2F1787350028134229&show_text=false&width=500
Tori Cooper, HRC’s director of community engagement for the Transgender Justice Initiative, said: “Mel Groves had an incredibly bright future, but it was stolen from him well before his time. The loss of such a life is a tragedy for our community and for the world.
“We must work to create a society where trans people, especially Black trans people, no longer have to live in fear.”
At least 39 trans people have been violently killed in the US this year. The real number is likely to be higher, as many such killings go unreported, or the victim misgendered and deadnamed.
Mel Groves’ death follows that of Kiér Laprií Karter, who was shot dead on 30 September in Arlington, Texas. She was 21 years old.
In 2020, 44 trans and gender non-conforming people were violently killed in the US – more than in any other year since HRC began tracking such deaths in 2013.
The State of Texas has just been busted for deleting the existence of LGBTQ people from its official website.
The New York Timesreports that the state scrubbed a resources page for LGBTQ youth from its site after one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Republican primary challengers called it “offensive” and not in line with good ol’ fashioned “Texas values.”
Candidate Don Huffines voiced his outrage over the page in a homophobic video posted to Twitter on August 31.
“They are promoting transgender sexual policies to Texas youth!” he raged. “I mean, really?! This is Texas! These are not Texas values. These are not Republican Party values. But these are obviously Greg Abbott’s values.”
Hours after Huffines posted the video, the page vanished.
To add insult to injury, the page, which provided information for LGBTQ youth who were feeling depressed, bullied, or suicidal, was removed at the start of Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month.
Patrick Crimmins, spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, claims it was taken down “as part of a review,” but leaked internal emails suggest officials took it down in response to Huffines’s comments.
“FYI. This is starting to blow up on Twitter,” department official, Marissa Gonzales, wrote shortly after the homophobic video went live.
A follow up email sent from Crimmins reads, “Please note we may need to take that page down, or somehow revise content.” One day later, an email was sent to the webmaster explaining that “the Texas Youth Connection (TYC) website has been temporarily disabled for a comprehensive review of its content.”
“This is being done to ensure that its information, resources and referrals are current,” it claimed.
Six weeks later, the “comprehensive review” still is not complete and Gov. Abbott’s office is refusing to comment on the matter.
In a statement, Ricardo Martinez, chief executive of Equality Texas, blasted the state for removing the page.
“State agencies know that LGBTQ+ kids are overrepresented in foster care and they know they face truly staggering discrimination and abuse,” Martinez said. “The state is responsible for these kids’ lives, yet it actively took away a resource for them when they are in crisis.”
As for Huffines, he appears to have moved on from attacking LGBTQ youth and is now on a crusade against mask mandates as the state continues to report some of the highest COVID-19 death rates in the nation.
Edgar García and his partner, Dannys Torres, on Oct. 3, 2018, used a canoe to cross the Arauca River that marks the Venezuela-Colombia border.
García was a member of the board of directors of Alianza Lambda de Venezuela, a Venezuelan LGBTQ rights group, before he fled Venezuela. Torres worked as a hairdresser in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.
The couple now lives in Rafael Uribe Uribe, a working-class neighborhood in Bogotá, the Colombian capital.
Torres continues to work as a hairdresser. García most recently worked for a telecommunications company.
“We are settled here in Bogotá,” García told the Washington Blade on Sept. 21 during an interview with him and Torres that took place at a shopping mall near their home. “You have your life here.”
From left: Dannys Torres and his partner, Edgar García, at a shopping mall in Bogotá, Colombia, on Sept. 21, 2021. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
García and Torres are two of the more than 5.4 million Venezuelans who the Coordination Platform for Migrants and Refugees from Venezuela say have left their country as of November 2020 because of its ongoing economic and political crises.
Statistics from the Colombian government indicate there are currently more than 1.7 million Venezuelans in the country. More than 50 percent of them live in Bogotá and the departments of Norte de Santander, Atlántico and Antioquia.
Colombian President Iván Duque in February announced the country would legally recognize Venezuelan migrants who are registered with the government.
Sources in Colombia with whom the Blade has spoken say there are likely many more Venezuelan migrants in the country than official statistics indicate. Venezuelan migrants who are LGBTQ and/or living with HIV remain disproportionately vulnerable to discrimination and violence and often lack access to health care and formal employment.
A report the Red de Movilidad Humana LGBTI+—a network of advocacy groups in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala and Mexico—published with the support of the U.N. Refugee Agency notes sex trafficking and even death are among the myriad threats that LGBTQ migrants from Venezuela face once they enter Colombia. The report indicates they also face discrimination in shelters because of their sexual orientation and gender identity, sexual violence and a lack of access to the Colombian judicial system.
Trans woman left Venezuela ‘in search of a better quality of life’
Vanesa, a 25-year-old transgender woman from the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo, came to Colombia eight years ago “in search of a better quality of life.”
She told the Blade on Sept. 14 during an interview at Fundación de Atención Inclusiva, Social y Humana (FUVADIS)—an organization in Barranquilla, a city in Atlántico department that is near the mouth of the Magdalena River in northern Colombia, that serves Venezuelan migrants—she entered Colombia near Maicao, a city in La Guajira department via an informal border crossing known as a “trocha.” Vanesa said she was nearly kidnapped.
“The people who were standing on the sides (of the “trocha”) who ask you for money were supposedly security,” she said. “There was no security. They left me there because I was trans. They said a lot of ugly things. They assaulted me, including one (man) who was not going to let me go. They wanted me to kidnap me or have me there to do whatever they wanted to me.”
Vanesa said a woman helped her escape.
“The experience was horrible,” she said.
Vanesa traveled to Cartagena, a popular tourist destination that is less than two hours southwest of Barranquilla, and began to work at her friend’s hair salon. Vanesa told the Blade that her friend’s mother “never liked me because … she is a Christian.”
Vanesa now lives in Barranquilla and supports herself through video chats. Vanesa also competes in local beauty pageants and is able to send money to her mother in Venezuela.
“I work here,” she said. “I am relatively well off.”
Vanesa, a 25-year-old transgender woman from Venezuela, at the offices of Fundación de Atención Inclusiva, Social y Humana (FUVADIS) in Barranquilla, Colombia, on Sept. 14, 2021. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
Andy, a trans man from Venezuela’s Maracay state, left Venezuela four years ago with his partner and their daughter. Andy, like Vanesa, entered Colombia via a “trocha” near Maicao.
“I migrated because the situation was becoming worse and worse each day,” Andy told the Blade on Sept. 14 as he attended a workshop that Caribe Afirmativo, an LGBTQ group in northern Colombia, organized at a Barranquilla hotel.
Caribe Afirmativo has opened three “Casas Afirmativos” in Barranquilla, Maicao and Medellín that provide access to health care and other services to Venezuelan migrants who are LGBTQ and/or living with HIV/AIDS. Caribe Afirmativo also operates several “Casas de Paz” throughout northern Colombia that support the implementation of an LGBTQ-inclusive peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that came into force in 2016.
Andy said his work in Venezuela allowed him to learn how “to sell whatever product,” but he told the Blade he struggled to find a job once he arrived in Colombia.
Andy told the Blade that he, his partner and their daughter now have stable housing in Barranquilla. Andy said he also has received a job offer in Medellín, the country’s second-largest city that is the capital of Antioquia department.
Andy, a transgender man from Venezuela, at a Caribe Afirmativo workshop in Barranquilla, Colombia, on Sept. 14, 2021. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
Jesús Gómez is a 33-year-old gay man from Venezuela’s Trujillo state in the Venezuelan Andes that are close to the country’s border with Colombia.
He previously worked with Venezuela Diversa, a Venezuelan LGBTQ advocacy group, and accepted a position with the municipality of Chacao that is part of Caracas. Gómez, whose mother was born in Colombia, also joined a student protest movement against the government.
Gómez fled to Colombia and is pursuing his asylum case with the help of UNHCR.
“I feel bad emotionally, but I am well-off compared to other people,” he told the Blade on Sept. 16 during an interview at a hotel in Cúcuta, a city in Norte de Santander department that is a few miles from the country’s border with Venezuela. “I am working to help other people who are in the same situation.”
Gómez in December is scheduled to graduate from nursing school. He also works with Fundación Censurados, a Cúcuta-based HIV/AIDS service organization that works with Venezuelan migrants, and has supported other organizations in the area that serve them.
Jesús Gómez in Cúcuta, Colombia, on Sept. 16, 2021. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
FUVADIS Executive Director Luis Meneses, like Gómez, was an LGBTQ activist in Venezuela.
Meneses, who is from Venezuela’s Zulia state, in 2010 unsuccessfully ran for Venezuela’s National Assembly. Meneses in February 2018 fled to Colombia because of the “political persecution” he said he suffered.
“Discrimination and prejudice against me began when I came out to defend LGBTI rights,” Meneses told the Blade on Sept. 14 during an interview at his office.
Meneses in August 2018 launched FUVADIS, which receives support from groups that includes UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration. FUVADIS provides health care, antiretroviral drugs and a host of other services to Venezuelan migrants with HIV/AIDS and other populations that include sex workers. Vanessa and nearly 900 other FUVADIS clients are LGBTQ.
“We cannot work for the migrant population by only giving them humanitarian assistance,” said Meneses. “It’s also about guaranteeing access to their rights.”
Venezuelans with HIV/AIDS die because of lack of medications
The New York-based Aid for AIDS International estimates more than 10,000 Venezuelans with HIV have left the country in recent years. Activists and health care service providers in Venezuela with whom the Blade has spoken in recent years have said people with HIV/AIDS in the country have died because of a lack of antiretroviral drugs.
The Venezuelan government has also targeted HIV/AIDS service organizations.
Members of Venezuela’s General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence in January raided the offices of Azul Positivo, an HIV/AIDS service organization and arrested President Johan León Reyes and five other staff members. Venezuelan police on Feb. 15, 2019, raided the offices of Fundación Mavid, another HIV/AIDS service organization in Valencia, a city in Carabobo state, and arrested three staffers after they confiscated donated infant formula and medications for people with HIV/AIDS
Deyvi Galvis Vásquez, a doctor who is the manager of prevention and testing for AIDS Healthcare Foundation Colombia on Sept. 17 during an interview at AHF’s Cúcuta clinic showed the Blade pictures of Venezuelans with HIV/AIDS in Colombia who had cases of Kaposi’s sarcoma.
“The conditions are of extreme vulnerability,” said Galvis.
People wait in the waiting room at an HIV/STI clinic in Caracas, Venezuela, on Feb. 13. 2019. Venezuelan HIV/AIDS service providers tell the Washington Blade that people with HIV/AIDS have died because of an acute shortage of available antiretroviral drugs in the country. (Photo courtesy of Alianza Lambda de Venezuela)
Andrés Cardona, director of Fundación Ancla, a Medellín-based group that works with migrants and other vulnerable groups, during a Sept. 13 interview with the Blade in his office echoed Galvis. Cardona added stigma specifically against Venezuelans with HIV/AIDS is one of the myriad issues he and his colleagues confront.
“The issue of the elimination of HIV also implies not only an issue of communication and prevention, but also an issue of effective attention,” said Cardona. “We have our conservative culture, an idea that the Venezuelans who are coming are going to give us HIV.”
“This is totally discriminatory,” he added.
Cardona, like those inside Venezuela with whom the Blade has spoken, said there are no services in the country for people with HIV/AIDS.
“There are many Venezuelan migrants with HIV who enter Colombia, because they are going to die if they don’t,” he said.
AHF operates clinics throughout Colombia
AHF operates other facilities in Bogotá and in the cities of Bucaramanga, Yopal, Valledupar and Ríohacha. The organization, along with the Colombian Red Cross and the government of Santander department, in March began to distribute condoms, food and water and offer rapid HIV tests to Venezuelan migrants who travel through Páramo de Berlín, a high plateau in the Colombian Andes through which a highway between Cúcuta and Bucaramanga passes.
AHF, among other things, offers migrants rapid HIV and syphilis tests and counseling for people who test positive. AHF also provides lab tests, formula for children of mothers with HIV and health care with an “interdisciplinary health care team.”
AHF Colombia Country Program Manager Liliana Andrade Forero and AHF Colombia Data Manager Sandra Avila Mira on Sept. 20 noted to the Blade during an interview at AHF’s Bogotá clinic that upwards of 2,000 migrants currently receive care from the organization. They also pointed out that 1,952 of them are taking antiretroviral drugs the Brazilian government donates.
Galvis noted to the Blade that many of AHF’s patients also have access to mental health care and social workers.
“AHF’s policy is to reach out to everyone,” he said.https://www.youtube.com/embed/yJBrbPEkilw?feature=oembed
Pandemic has made migrants even more vulnerable
Galvis, Fundación Censurados Director Juan Carlos Archila and other Colombian HIV/AIDS service providers with whom the Blade spoke say the pandemic has made Venezuelan migrants with HIV/AIDS in the country even more vulnerable.
Lockdowns prevented sex workers and others who work in the informal economy from earning money. A “pico y género” rule implemented by Bogotá Mayor Claudia López that allowed women to leave their homes on even days and men to leave their homes on odd days sparked criticism among trans activists.
Archila, who is a nurse, on Sept. 16 told the Blade during an interview at a Cúcuta hotel the pandemic has also left Censurados in a precarious situation.
“We endured practically two years with the doors closed, with expenses increasing,” he said. “The need of people who come to us for the issue of HIV remains, and yet we are all trying to cope with the situation.”
Andrade noted AHF’s Bogotá was closed for several months at the beginning of the pandemic because of the city’s strict lockdown.
The pandemic also forced FUVADIS to close its offices in March 2020, but Meneses told the Blade the organization was able to see a handful of patients at a time. He said “basic humanitarian assistance” that included hygiene kits and food were among the things that FUVADIS was able to provide its patients during the pandemic.
“Understanding how the situation for the LGBTI community, people with HIV, the migrant population and the refugee population is, we could not allow (our services) to shut down,” Meneses told the Blade.
Invisible: Gay Women in Country MusicT hursday October 21, 7 pm
“Invisible:..” is the story of a group of lesbians and one Transgender man who have written #1 hits for some of Country Music’s greatest stars. Some share how they kept quiet about their sexual identities for fear of how their opportunities or careers could be impacted. Others came out regardless and in some cases did faced negative consequences. How did each of the featured individuals write, produce and survive behind the scenes of Country Music in Nashville.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation Wednesday authored by Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco) and co-sponsored by Equality California and Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis to give students at California public colleges — especially transgender and nonbinary students — the ability to have the names that reflect their gender identities printed on their diplomas. Assembly Bill 245 will ensure diplomas do not “deadname” or call the graduate by the name they were assigned at birth rather than the name they use.
“A diploma represents years of hard work,” said Assemblymember Chiu. “Students should be able to celebrate their academic achievements without fear of being deadnamed. Deadnaming a student on a diploma can put up barriers to future employment and out a person in an unsafe situation. I’m grateful the Governor signed this bill to ensure we are protecting and lifting up all of our students in California.”
Transgender and nonbinary Californians often face discrimination, violence, and barriers to employment. These existing barriers can be exacerbated by student records that do not reflect their name and gender.
“Thank you, Governor Newsom, for signing AB 245 and demonstrating that California values and affirms its trans and gender nonconforming students,” said Lieutenant Governor Kounalakis. “Thanks to Assemblymember Chiu’s leadership, California is taking an important step towards protecting and supporting trans and gender nonconforming students in California’s public higher education institutions by ensuring that every student receives a diploma that accurately reflects their chosen name.”
If a person’s name does not match the name on a transcript or diploma, that can present real challenges when applying for graduate school or employment opportunities. It can also “out” individuals who may not wish to be outed as transgender or may not feel safe in their current situation to openly identify as transgender or nonbinary.
“Trans and nonbinary students already face tremendous challenges — being deadnamed on college documents should not be one of them,” said Equality California Legislative Director Tami A. Martin. “We are grateful to Governor Newsom for signing AB 245 and empowering transgender and gender nonconforming people to have their name and gender accurately reflected on their college records. With this victory, California continues to lead the way in affirming our trans and gender nonconforming community.”
Many California colleges have taken steps to give students the opportunity to designate their affirmed name and gender in a variety of areas like student identification cards and school email accounts. However, those opportunities are not always extended to diplomas, and colleges across the state have vastly different processes for updating student records after graduation.
AB 245 will require public colleges to provide graduating students the option to have their chosen name printed on their college diploma. The law will also standardize the process for updating records after a student graduates, clarifying which forms of legal identification are sufficient to update student records. In order to update records after graduation, a student will need one form of legal identification, including, but not limited to, a driver’s license, state identification card, birth certificate, passport, social security card, or court order indicating a name or gender change.
AB 245 builds off of AB 711, also authored by Assemblymember Chiu and sponsored by Equality California, which was signed into law in 2019 by Governor Newsom. AB 711 required schools districts to update the diplomas and transcripts of former K-12 students, particularly for transgender and nonbinary students, to reflect their accurate names and gender markers.
AB 245 will take effect on January 1, 2022.
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Equality California is the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization. We bring the voices of LGBTQ people and allies to institutions of power in California and across the United States, striving to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all LGBTQ people. We advance civil rights and social justice by inspiring, advocating and mobilizing through an inclusive movement that works tirelessly on behalf of those we serve. www.eqca.org
