At least 70 members of the caravan had arrived at the Mexican border town of Tijuana on Tuesday (12 November), Newsweek reported.
They are the first of a group of thousands of migrants making its way from South and Central America to seek asylum in the US. Importantly, many of this initial group identified as LGBTI.
The US saw a spike in anti-immigrant rhetoric from many conservatives during the lead up to the midterm elections.
Local journalist Jorge Nieto reported the LGBTI group had clashed with residents. They checked in to an Airbnb with funds from US lawyers.
Members of the group, some of whom identified as LGBTI, said they had faced discrimination from the caravan.
Individuals told NBC they had not suffered physical violence from the caravan.
But, migrants said, they were victims of verbal violence.
‘Even to bathe was a big problem, and when we wanted to shower there was no water…same with food,’ the group’s leader, César MejíaMejía, told NBC San Diego.
He said they planned to stay in Tijuana a week.
On Sunday (11 November) officials in the central Mexican city, Queretaro, said 6,531 people traveling with the caravan were on their way to Tijuana.
A five-judge panel on the Caribbean Court of Justice on Tuesday unanimously struck down a Guyana law that criminalizes cross-dressing.Authorities in the South American country in 2009 arrested four transgender women and charged them with violating a colonial-era law that took effect in 1893 when Guyana was a British colony.
A press release that three Guyanese advocacy groups — Guyana Trans United, UWI Rights Advocacy Project and the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination — issued on Tuesday says the four trans women were held at a police station for three days “after their arrest for the minor crime.”
The groups note a judge told the four trans women “they were confused about their sexuality, that they were men and not women and urged them to go to church.” The four trans women ultimately pleaded guilty to the charges and they each paid a fine of $7,500 Guyana dollars ($35.97).
The four trans women and the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination in 2010 filed a lawsuit that challenged the law’s constitutionality and the statements the judge made against them.
The Guyana High Court and the country’s Court of Appeal both ruled against the four trans women and the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination. They brought their case to the Caribbean Court of Justice, a Trinidad and Tobago-based court that has authority over Guyana.
“The whole trans community in Guyana is very happy today,” said Gulliver McEwan, co-founder of Guyana Trans United who is one of the plaintiffs in the case, after Tuesday’s ruling. “I have always said that we should know what the law expects of us before we act and I am pleased that the court agreed that this law is vague.”
Guyana’s first Pride parade took place earlier this year. A five-judge panel on the Caribbean Court of Justice on Nov. 13, 2018, ruled the country’s colonial-era law that criminalizes cross-dressing is unconstitutional. (Photo by Paul Persaud of the Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination)
Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination Managing Director Joel Simpson welcomed the ruling as “a clarion call to engage state actors on how the law engenders social and economic exclusion of disadvantaged groups.”
“Trans persons remain vulnerable to arrests for small crimes like loitering in Guyana’s colonial-era vagrancy laws which are still on the statute books,” he said.
Simpson in his statement also said the ruling, which says his organization has legal standing to bring legal challenges on behalf of LGBTI Guyanese “will allow civil society groups to take legal action when rights of its members are violated.”
“This is a victory for human rights and justice in the Caribbean,” he said.
Guyana is a predominantly English-speaking country that borders Venezuela, Brazil and Suriname.
Consensual same-sex relations remain criminalized in the country, but LGBTI rights advocates in recent years have become more organized and increasingly visible.
The Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination in June organized Guyana’s first-ever Pride parade that took place in Georgetown, the country’s capital. Activists in the country and across the region in April celebrated a ruling that struck down Trinidad and Tobago’s sodomy law that had been in effect since the country was a British colony.
The India Supreme Court in September issued a landmark ruling that decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations in the country.
British Prime Minister Theresa May in April said she “deeply” regrets anti-sodomy laws the U.K. introduced in Commonwealth countries. British Ambassador to the U.S. Kim Darroch in June told the Washington Blade before he spoke at his annual Pride month reception at the British Embassy in D.C. that all Commonwealth countries should repeal their anti-sodomy statutes.
“We just urge all of our friends and partners in other countries around the world to move on as we have done to make their societies more open, more liberal, to embrace anti-discrimination in relation to the LGBT community as we have,” said Darroch. “It just makes your society a better place.”
LGBT advocacy groups have sharply criticized President Trump over his executive order that prevents migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they enter the country illegally from Mexico. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
LGBT advocacy groups have sharply criticized President Trump over his executive order that prevents migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they enter the country illegally from Mexico.National Center for Lesbian Rights Policy Counsel Tyrone Hanley said the policy is “not only cruel, but will be a death sentence for many in our community.”
“President Trump’s plan would not only unlawfully limit asylum but would rewrite the character of our nation,” said Hanley. “For generations, America has been a refuge for those fleeing persecution in their home countries.”
“For many, asylum is a life and death matter,” added Hanley, noting the National Center for Lesbian Rights has worked with hundreds of asylum seekers who have faced violence in their countries of origin because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
“President Trump in effect ordered violence and a possible death sentence against thousands of people seeking safety in the U.S.,” said Transgender Law Center Executive Director Kris Hayashi in a statement. “This unconscionable rule severely limits the opportunity for people, no matter their circumstances, to apply for asylum, meaning that LGBT people and other communities who fear persecution and violence — groups that our own courts have already identified as eligible for asylum — will no longer have the opportunity to apply solely based on where and how they enter.”
The Human Rights Campaign on Friday said in a Tweet the Trump administration’s “cruelty towards individuals seeking refuge through legal channels is a retreat of our nation’s most fundamental values.”
“The humanitarian consequences will be severe,” it added.
Trump signed the executive order three days after the midterm elections.
Thousands of migrants who are trying to reach the U.S. left the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula on Oct. 14. Trump in the weeks leading up to the midterms stoked fear over the caravan among his supporters, even though the migrants were hundreds of miles south of the U.S. border.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights on Friday filed a lawsuit against Trump’s executive order in federal court in San Francisco.
“President Trump’s new asylum ban is illegal,” said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “Neither the president nor his cabinet secretaries can override the clear commands of U.S. law, but that’s exactly what they’re trying to do. This action undermines the rule of law and is a great moral failure because it tries to take away protections from individuals facing persecution — it’s the opposite of what America should stand for.”
In an historic night for openly LGBTQ and pro-equality candidates across the country, Californians elected longtime LGBTQ ally Gavin Newsom to be the Golden State’s next governor and Equality California-endorsed candidate Eleni Kounalakis as the state’s next lieutenant governor, while re-electing U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. Additionally, openly gay California Senator Ricardo Lara currently leads Republican-turned-independent Steve Poizner in the race for Insurance Commissioner by more than 105,000 votes, as of Wednesday morning. If elected, Lara will make history as the state’s first openly LGBTQ statewide official.
“With millions of ballots left to be counted across the state, it is already clear that Californians sent a clear message to Washington, rejecting the politics of fear and division, and electing leaders who will work to unite us and fight for full equality,” said Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur. “The LGBTQ community has much to celebrate this morning — with openly LGBTQ and pro-equality candidates making history across the country last night, a new pro-equality majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and a historic number of women elected to the House, too. We congratulate and look forward to working with Governor-elect Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor-elect Eleni Kounalakis and pro-equality leaders in the Legislature and new Congress to continue making progress toward a world that is healthy, just and fully equal for all LGBTQ people.”
Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization, ran a robust $650,000 voter engagement and get-out-the vote program in 2018. The robust effort included a direct mail campaign reaching approximately 740,000 voters — including targeted mail supporting Senator Lara, Assemblymember Tony Thurmond’s campaign for Superintendent of Public Instruction and eight pro-equality candidates for the California Legislature — and robocalls to approximately 520,000 voters supporting Lara, nine pro-equality Congressional candidates, 14 pro-equality state legislative candidates and 12 openly LGBTQ local candidates.
California appears likely to play a role in delivering the first pro-equality majority in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2010, as Equality California-endorsed candidates Katie Hill (CA-25), Harley Rouda (CA-48) and Mike Levin (CA-49) all lead their anti-LGBTQ opponents by slim margins, with the races still too close to call. Pro-equality Congressional candidates Josh Harder (CA-10), Gil Cisneros (CA-39) and Katie Porter (CA-45) are currently trailing their opponents, but with thousands of vote-by-mail and provisional ballots left to be counted in each race, it could be weeks before any of the races are called.
In partnership with NextGen America and the California Labor Federation, Equality California also supported the campaigns of Congressional candidates Katie Hill (CA-25), Gil Cisneros (CA-39), Katie Porter (CA-45) and Harley Rouda (CA-48) by targeting pro-equality voters in four swing districts — knocking on 7,200 doors and contacting more than 123,000 voters through live phone calls and peer-to-peer text messaging.
Other priority races for Equality California included the contest to become California’s next Superintendent of Public Instruction and the effort to reelect Legislative LGBT Caucus Member Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes. Equality California-endorsed candidate Assemblymember Tony Thurmond currently trails Marshall Tuck by a slim margin in the Superintendent’s race, while Cervantes leads her challenger Bill Essayli by three votes. Equality California also strongly supported openly LGBTQ legislative candidates Joy Silver (SD-28), Jovanka Beckles (AD-15) and Sunday Gover (AD-77), who ran strong races and are currently trailing their opponents in races too close to call.
Kyrsten Sinema has won a landmark victory to represent Arizona in the US Senate, becoming the first ever openly bisexual senator.
The Democratic congresswoman, who has already served three terms in the US House of Representatives as the only openly bisexual member of Congress, narrowly defeated Republican candidate Martha McSally to replace Jeff Flake, a Republican senator who retired ahead of the midterm elections.
With her nail-biting victory, the margin of which currently stands at just 38,000 votes, she became the country’s second out LGBT+ senator alongside Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin, who was re-elected last week in a double-digit landslide.
US’s first bisexual Senator calls for unity
Sinema, who was also the first ever openly bisexual senate candidate for a major party, reacted to the win by writing on Twitter: “As long as I’ve served Arizona, I’ve worked to help others see our common humanity & find common ground.
“That’s the same approach I’ll take to representing our great state in the Senate, where I’ll be an independent voice for all Arizonans.”
Speaking to ecstatic supporters in the state capital of Phoenix, Sinema took aim at Republican tactics which have seen McSally accuse her of “treason” and “protesting us in a pink tutu” during a fractious election campaign.
Sinema said: “Arizona rejected what has become far too common in our country: name-calling, petty, personal attacks and doing and saying whatever it takes just to get elected.
“We can embrace difference while seeking common ground.”
— Kyrsten Sinema
“It’s dangerous, and it lessens who we are as a country. But Arizona proved that there is a better way forward.”
In a call for unity and acceptance, Sinema continued: “We can work with people who are different than us. We can be friends with people who are different than us.
“We can love and care about people who are different than us. We can keep people who different than us safe. We can be good people who care deeply about each other even when we disagree.”
The 42 year old, who was first elected to her state’s House of Representatives when she was 28, added: “We can embrace difference while seeking common ground.”
Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez congratulated Sinema on a “stunning victory,” adding that “Arizonans went to the polls last Tuesday looking for bold new leadership, and that’s exactly what they’re going to get with their first-ever female senator and our nation’s second openly LGBTQ senator.”
“Unlike her predecessor, Senator-elect Sinema is ready to fight on day one for quality health care, a VA system that works the way it should for our veterans, comprehensive immigration reform, good-paying jobs, and an economy that works for all Arizonans.”
Annise Parker, CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, said: “An LGBTQ woman winning a U.S. Senate seat in a state that voted for Trump is a game-changer, both for the LGBTQ community and the Democratic party.
“Kyrsten’s victory makes clear that an LGBTQ candidate who listens to voters and prioritises their issues can win elected office anywhere—blue state or red state.
“It also signals to the Democratic party that nominating more LGBTQ candidates for high-level positions should be a strategic priority, because their openness and authenticity resonate with independent voters.”
She added that “by doubling our influence with two passionate and tough LGBTQ women… the U.S. Senate will certainly find our community more difficult to ignore.”
It is the first time a Democrat has held a Senate seat in Arizona since 1995, and ensures the Democrats will fill at least 47 of the Senate’s 100 seats, with Florida’s race going to a recount and Mississippi awaiting the results of a run-off later this month.
Kyrsten Sinema has a pro-LGBT record—unlike her opponent
During her nearly six years in Congress, Sinema—who won her Democratic primary with an overwhelming 80.5 percent of the vote—has repeatedly taken a stand for LGBT+ rights.
The Arizona-born politician, who spoke at the Human Rights Campaign gala this year, co-sponsored the Equality Act, which would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to also ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Sinema also sponsored HR4041, a bill currently in committee which, if it were passed, would ensure that transgender people were able to serve in the US military, despite President Donald Trump’s attempts to institute a ban.
In contrast, McSally voted for an amendment which would have made it impossible for the military to pay for gender surgeries for its trans service people, and stood against using Title IX to protect the right of trans students to use the bathroom which matches their gender, an issue which has been mainly used by Republicans as a way of fighting against trans equality.
A photo showing a group of Baraboo High School boys from the class of 2019 giving a stiff-armed Nazi salute prior to this past spring’s prom is generating outrage online and has prompted an investigation by the district and police.
The photo taken on the Sauk County Courthouse steps includes about 50 students, though not all are holding their arms outstretched. One of those students is senior Jordan Blue. The 18-year-old can be seen in the top right of the photo with his arms at his sides and a neutral expression while most of his classmates are pictured laughing.
“It was very upsetting to me,” he said. “It was very disrespectful to what my beliefs are, and it was a very bad representation of the senior class and the Baraboo School District, because by all means, the Baraboo School District does not support that kind of actions and it is a district that provides many opportunities for the students.”
In the photo, almost all of the 63 boys appear to make the Sieg Heil salute before their junior prom in the spring at Baraboo High School. One student also seems to be flashing a white power sign with his hand. The controversial picture is reported to have been taken by a local motorcycle photographer.
One student, Jordan Blue, who was in the photo but did not make any racist gesture, is distancing himself from the controversy. Blue said making the salute was the photographer’s idea, and it happened so fast he couldn’t get out of the group picture. “I knew what my morals were and it was not to salute something I firmly didn’t believe in,” he said.
The number of hate crime incidents reported in the United States jumped by 17 percent last year, the largest increase since 2001 when the terrorist attacks of 9/11 fueled a surge in attacks on Americans of Muslim and Arab ancestry.
U.S. law enforcement agencies reported a total of 7,175 hate crimes in 2017, up from 6,121 in 2016 and the third consecutive annual increase, the FBI said in its annual hate crime report released on Tuesday. About 5,000 of the incidents were listed as crimes against persons such as assault and intimidation.
The report showed a doubling of anti-Arab hate crimes and double-digit increase in anti-Semitic incidents.
Recently-installed Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker called the report “a call to action” and vowed that “we will heed that call.”
“I am particularly troubled by the increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes, which were already the most common religious hate crimes in the United States, that is well documented in this report,” Whitaker said in a statement.“The American people can be assured that this Department has already taken significant and aggressive actions against these crimes and that we will vigorously and effectively defend their rights.”
The FBI defines hate crime as a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.”
The vast majority of hate crimes are prosecuted in state courts, with federal prosecutors typically charging between one and two dozen defendants for hate crimes under various federal hate crime statutes.In 2018, the Justice Department filed 22 hate crime cases, according to a spokeswoman.
The surge in hate crime in 2017 was largely driven by racial and religious bias.
Race remained the largest driver of hate crimes in 2017, with 4,832 incidents motivated by race, ethnicity or ancestry.Nearly half of all racially-motivated incidents involved African Americans.Anti-Hispanic or anti-Latino bias accounted for nearly 11 percent of the race based incidents. Anti-Arab hate crimes, though accounting for a fraction of all race-based hate crimes, doubled to 102 incidents.
Religion was the second biggest motivator of hate crimes, with 1,679 incidents reported by law enforcement agencies. At more than 900 incidents, anti-Semitic hate crimes accounted for 58 percent of all religious-motivated hate crimes.
The number of anti-Muslim hate crimes fell to 273 incidents from 314 incidents in 2016 but the level remained well above historic averages.In 2015 and 2016, anti-Muslim hate crimes increased by nearly 90 percent, fueled by a backlash to terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States and anti-Muslim political rhetoric.
“The scourge of hate crime continues to harm communities in cities and states across the country,”said Maya Berry, the executive director of the Arab American Institute.“The FBI data confirms the reality we all know: hate is increasing in America.”
The FBI report is believed to undercount the true extent of hate crime in the United States.That is in part because the report is based on voluntary submissions made by law enforcement agencies, most of which usually don’t report hate incidents.Last year, more than 16,000 law enforcement agencies took part in the FBI data collection, but only 2,000 agencies actually reported hate crimes.
In a statement, the Arab American institute noted the report left out three of “the most horrific acts of bias-motivated violence” reported last year, including the August 12 killing of Heather Heyer at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia; the fatal stabbing of two men who tried to confront a man shouting racial slurs a hijab-wearing woman and her friend on a train in Portland; and the shooting of two Indian men in Olathe, Kansas.
“The FBI data, in what is missing from it, also demonstrates the hate crime reporting system we have in place is failing to respond adequately to hate crime, and thus inform fully the policy remedies we must make to improve our response to hate,” Berry said in a statement.
The report for 2017 came two weeks after a man killed 11 people and wounded six oth
No one does the holidays better than the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus!
Not only will the Chorus bring 150 dazzling men to this annual holiday tradition, it will be accompanied by a brass quintet and coloratura soprano, Marnie Breckenridge. That written, there is sure to be a lot of brass and sass…
This is the 28th year the Chorus will bring its merriment to Sonoma County in benefit of Face to Face. You don’t want to miss this show.
The SFGMC recently celebrated its 40th birthday with a sold-out tribute concert in San Francisco, plus the dedication of an Artist Circle in Golden Gate Park, in part to honor the 300 members the Chorus has lost to HIV/AIDS epidemic.
“Throughout history, a bell or chime or gong has been used in meditation and ceremonies. Our dream included an aural component, since the site is honoring many people who made music a huge part of their lives. The contrabass Emperor Chime is 8½ feet tall. It is cast from anodized aluminum and is characterized by a deep resonant tone that is heard and felt in its reverberation. It is rung with a mallet. It is our hope that when a person visits, they will ring the chime and speak a name of someone they lost. The sound will resonate into the park and beyond.” – Tim Seelig in Poz Magazine
Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, lost her bid for reelection in US mid-term elections on Tuesday.
Democrat Elwood Caudill Jr. beat Republican Davis 4,210 votes to 3,566 votes for the position of Rowan County clerk, according to local media.
Davis made headlines around the world in August 2015 when she was briefly jailed for refusing to issue a marriage license to a gay couple in Kentucky. Davis claimed to be acting on ‘God’s authority’.
Five same-sex couples sued her. A judge, therefore, ordered her to issue the licenses but she refused to comply.
In September 2015, a judge sentenced her to jail. But, she was released after five days. Importantly, as she holds an elected official position, she could not be fired and returned to work.
In 2014, Kentucky elected Davis as a Democratic nominee.
However, she claimed the Democratic party ‘abandoned’ her in the wake of her stance on same-sex marriage. She, therefore, switched to the Republican party.
WinningDemocrat Caudill said: ‘I believe that as a community we must continue to work together toward a more prosperous and cohesive Rowan County’, according to local reporter Will Wright.
The LGBTI community took to the internet to celebrate Davis’ defeat.
Democrat J.D. Ford pulled off a big upset Tuesday, unseating state Sen. Mike Delph, a Republican who has served the district since 2005. Ford is thought to be Indiana’s first openly gay state lawmaker. “Ladies and gentleman, we just made history and no one can take that from us,” Ford said. It was a rematch for Ford and Delph, one of the Legislature’s most socially conservative Republicans. Four years ago, Delph won with 54.3 percent of the vote to Ford’s 45.7 percent.
Delph is a teabagger renowned in Indiana for his rabid opposition to LGBT rights and for being the spokesman for the local movement against same-sex marriage.
From 2014:
Senate President Pro Tempore David Long has disciplined Sen. Mike Delph — taking away leadership roles and even moving his seat — for violating Senate protocol when he tweeted about the same-sex marriage amendment.
According to Long’s office, Delph used Twitter to report information, garnered from a GOP private caucus, on the fate of Senate action on House Joint Resolution 3.
Delph will be given a new seat in the Senate chamber, along side Democrats — in the minority in the House — and across the aisle from Republican leadership. On Friday, Delph’s seat already was moved to the back row, amid the Senate’s 13 Democrats.