A village in the Philippines which has survived typhoons, poverty and isolation will rise together to host its first Pride.
The LGBTI community in San Julian in Eastern Samar is working hard despite a limited budget to put on Rampa Este.
‘Rampa’ is Filipino gay slang which means ‘sashay’ or walk with pride or happiness. ‘Este’ means east in the local Waray language.
Rampa Este is a jam packed multi-day festival. Organizers launched with painting a rainbow crossing in the middle of towns.
Festival founder, Roel Andag, said the rainbow crossing sent a message. That message was not only to people in town but to other LGBTI people in the region. They want other LGBTI people to know San Julian is a safe place for them.
‘We painted the rainbow crossing to let other rural organizations know that they can also organize just like San Julian Pride,’ Andag told Gay Star News.
‘We make our intersectionality (LGBT+ identity, rural, poverty and proneness to natural disasters such as Haiyan in 2013) our unique identity and strength.
Rampa Este Pride
San Julian is often at the center of natural disasters which exacerbate its poverty and isolation. In 2013, the deadly Haiyan typhoon ripped through the Philippines, killing more than 6,300 people.
Even though people in town are supportive of the Pride organizers are still struggling to cover costs.
‘Locals are very supportive because they see that San Julian Pride is a credible and active organization,’ Andag said.
‘We also, at every opportunity, make it known that San Julian has a municipal anti-discrimination ordinance which passage we actively lobbied with the local government.’
Exhibition OpeningChosen Familias: Bay Area LGBTQ Latinx Stories
Friday, June 77:00–9:00 p.m.The GLBT Historical Society Museum4127 18th St., San Francisco$5.00 | Free for members A new exhibition at the GLBT Historical Society Museum brings together photos, ephemera and text to center biological and chosen Latinx LGBTQ families as sources of hope and resilience. By queering the traditional family photo album, the show reframes historical documentation of mothers, daughters, fathers, children, siblings, aunts and uncles. “Chosen Familias” also features video interviews and footage of Bay Area LGBTQ Latinx activists and artists of the past four decades. Curated by Tina Valentin Aguirre, chair of the society’s board of directors, the exhibition expands the definition of LGBTQ family to encompass not just biological relatives, but also mentors, coalition members and the networks of people that have supported Latinx LGBTA people in the Bay Area. Light refreshments will be served. Tickets are available online here.
Walking TourOUT of Site: SoMa — Produced by Eye Zen Presents
Saturday, June 8: 12:00–2:00, 3:00–5:00 p.m.Sunday, June 9: 1:00–3:00 p.m.Saturday, June 15: 12:00–2:00, 3:00–5:00 p.m.Sunday, June 16: 1:00–3:00 p.m.Howard Langton Community Garden10 Langton St., San Francisco$25 | $10 for studentsFrom the original Native American inhabitants, to the tent villages of gold miners, to the SROs housing factory workers, to the formation of an LGBTQ and leather community in the 1960s, to its current tech-fueled redevelopment, San Francisco’s SoMa District has been ever-changing. “OUT of Site: SoMa” is an immersive walking tour cosponsored by the GLBT Historical Society that offers a panoramic view of the transformation of this neighborhood. The walk lasts approximately two hours and covers about one mile. The tours are a project of Eye Zen Presents, a San Francisco-based theater company committed to honoring the stories of queer ancestors, histories and sites through performances and community-building events. More information is available here. Tickets are available online here.
Book LaunchRainbow Warrior: The Memoirs of Gilbert Baker
Tuesday, June 115:30–7:30 p.m.San Francisco Main LibraryKoret Auditorium100 Larkin St., San FranciscoFree San Francisco artist and activist Gilbert Baker (1951–2017) created the globally adopted rainbow flag as a symbol of the LGBTQ community in 1978. Baker’s life and work will be explored, illuminated and celebrated in this unique event organized for the posthumous release of his memoirs, Rainbow Warrior: My Life in Color (Chicago Review Press, 2019). Cosponsored by the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center at the San Francisco Public Library, the program will feature a short film about Baker’s life, selected readings from the memoirs and a discussion with social justice activists. The evening will begin with a reception and end with a book signing. More information is available here.
Panel DiscussionPreserving San Francisco’s Queer Historic Places
Thursday, June 136:00–7:30 p.m.San Francisco Main LibraryKoret Auditorium100 Larkin St., San FranciscoFree San Francisco’s queer culture is deeply intertwined in urban life, and it has not been immune to the changes in our city. Carving space in the urban landscape has been essential for queer survival, for building community and obtaining political and cultural power, and, quite simply, for finding each other. Some of those essential queer heritage institutions, sites and even whole neighborhoods now are being erased by hypergentrification. A panel including academics and community leaders will join GLBT Historical Society Executive Director Terry Beswick and senior public history advisor Gerard Koskovich to reflect on the status of San Francisco’s queer historic places and living cultural heritage and to consider what may lie ahead for them. The program is cosponsored by the James C. Hormel LGBTQIA Center at the San Francisco Public Library, More information is available here.
Living History DiscussionThrill Spot: The Raid on Tommy’s Place
Thursday, June 137:00–9:00 p.m.The GLBT Historical Society Museum4127 18th St., San Francisco$5.00 | Free for members The 1954 police raid on Tommy’s Place, a lesbian bar in San Francisco’s North Beach, is the stuff of legend. Lurid headlines describing the seduction of teenage girls in a “vice academy” were followed by sensational stories teeming with swaggering butches, police graft and political intrigue. Lambda Award–winning author and visual artist Katie Gilmartin shares her research about this event, as well as excerpts from the draft of the fictional account inspired by the raid that she is currently writing. She’ll also offer reflections on how archives and oral histories serve as the basis for historical fiction imagining the lives of LGBTQ ancestors. The program is offered in collaboration with Openhouse and is made possibly by grants from the Queer Cultural Center and the Creative Work Fund. Tickets are available online here.
Film ScreeningStarman: Freddie Burretti, the Man Who Sewed the World
Monday, June 177:00 p.m.The Roxie Theater3117 16th St., San Francisco$13 Join us at San Francisco’s Roxie Theater for a special benefit screening of Lee Scriven’s 2018 documentary Starman, which details the fascinating story of Freddie Burretti, a close friend of David Bowie and his key Ziggy Stardust costume collaborator and stylist. By creating a sensational and inspiring onstage and offstage wardrobe, Burretti helped Bowie challenge British culture, fashion, homophobia and a skeptical rock music industry. All proceeds from the screening go the GLBT Historical Society. Tickets are available here.
Book LaunchThe Routledge History of Queer America
Tuesday, June 187:00–9:00 p.m.The GLBT Historical Society Museum4127 18th St., San Francisco$5.00 | Free for members The Routledge History of Queer America (2018), the first comprehensive overview of the field of United States LGBTQ history, is a landmark work. Edited by Don Romesburg, professor of women and gender studies at Sonoma State University and former cochair of the GLBT Historical Society Board of Directors, the anthology features more than 20 authors and nearly 30 chapters on essential themes in queer history from colonial times to the present. In this roundtable organized in celebration of the release of the new paperback edition, Romesburg will be joined by a panel of historians who will evaluate the state of the field of queer American history. Tickets are available here.
Performance¡Aplauso! Live Storytelling & Performances
Friday, June 217:00–9:00 p.m.The GLBT Historical Society Museum4127 18th St., San Francisco$5.00 | Free for members An impressive group of Latinx queer artists and performance artists will stage dances, enact theater scenes, read poetry and show short films celebrating the culture and diversity of the queer Latinx community. Performers include transgender artist Donna Personna; artist, oral historian and activist Mason J.; drag queen Foxxy Blue Orchid; performance artist Xandra Ibarra; Chicana writer Natalia M. Vigil; activist, filmmaker and dancer Dulce; and writer and historian Juliana Delgado Lopera. This event is being held in conjunction with the exhibition “Chosen Familias: Bay Area LGBTQ Latinx Histories,” opening at the GLBT Historical Society Museum on June 7. Tickets are available online here.
Living History DiscussionLGBTQ Art, Film, Poetry & Dance in San FranciscoSaturday, June 222:00–3:30 p.m.De Young MuseumPiazzoni Murals Room50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr., San FranciscoFree for San Francisco residentsOrganized by the GLBT Historical Society in collaboration with San Francisco’s De Young Museum, a group of artists and culture makers will engage in an intergenerational discussion on LGBTQ people in the arts in San Francisco from the 1960s to the present.
The Trump administration, in another move against the LGBTI community, is rejecting US embassies’ request to fly rainbow flags for Pride month.
This comes only days after Donald Trump acknowledged Pride Month for the first time ever in his presidency.
Three American diplomats confirmed the reports from the embassies to NBC News. They said requests from Israel, Germany, Brazil and Latvia have all been denied request to fly rainbow flags outside their buildings.
While the embassies are allowed to display the rainbow flag elsewhere, including inside the buildings, they are not allowed to fly it on the main flagpole.
According to NBC’s reporting, Brian Bulatao, the State Department’s undersecretary for management is the one issuing the denials.
This is also another reversal of policy during Barack Obama’s presidency. His administration allowed embassies to fly the Pride flag.
‘Gives me pride… to fly the gay pride flag’
Richard Grenell, the most senior openly gay person in the Trump administration, is the ambassador to Germany. He is also the person leading the Trump administration’s apparent plan to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide.
In a statement to NBC, he still expresses a willingness to fly the Pride flag, despite these denials.
‘The President’s recognition of Pride Month and his tweet encouraging our decriminalization campaign gives me even more pride to once again march in the Berlin Pride parade, hang a huge banner on the side of the Embassy recognizing our pride, host multiple events at the Embassy and the residence, and fly the gay pride flag,’ he said.
German embassy spokesman Joseph Giordono-Scholz, when asked if the rainbow flag would fly on the main flagpole, responded: ‘The pride flag will be on as many places as it can at the Embassy.’
A powerful statement denied
This move will likely be widely supported by Republicans, who introduced a bill last year relating to this matter.
The bill banned any flag or emblem from flying at US embassies other than the American flag. Though the bill didn’t pass, it was introduced again in January.
The late Gilbert Baker created the rainbow flag as a symbol for the LGBTI community.
As Baker wrote in his upcoming memoir, before the rainbow flag, the symbol of the community was the pink triangle. This image, however, had a dark history in its association with World War II and the Holocaust. Nazis made gay men in concentration camps wear pink triangles to label them.
‘I thought of the American flag with its thirteen stripes and thirteen stars, the colonies breaking away from England to form the United States,’ he wrote.
‘I thought of the vertical red, white, and blue tricolor from the French Revolution and how both flags owed their beginnings to a riot, a rebellion, or revolution,’ before continuing, ‘I thought a gay nation should have a flag too, to proclaim its own idea of power.’
A new analysis has found that three-quarters of lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans believe in God, but many don’t identify as part of an organised religion.
The finding comes from a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the 2014 Religious Landscape Study.
According to the survey data, 77 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual adults in America say that they believe in God, compared to 89 percent to straight adults.
But despite three-quarters of gay adults believing in God, only 59 percent of LGB respondents identify as a Christian or another non-Christian faith, compared to 78 percent for heterosexuals.
Most LGB Americans believe in God, but only one in six attends church every week (Stock photo)
Although lesbian, gay and bisexual people are twice as likely to identify as atheist or agnostic, the most popular religious identify among LGBT adults is ‘nothing in particular’.
Just 16 percent of gay and lesbian adults adults attend a weekly church service, compared to 36 percent of straight respondents.
LGB adults are also less likely to pray or believe religion is “very important.”
Transgender people are excluded from the analysis as the original 2014 survey did not collect data about gender identity.
LGB people less likely to embrace organised religion
Of course, there are many reasons why LGB people, even those who believe in God, may feel uncomfortable as part of an organised religion.
Few of the largest Christian denominations in the US permit same-sex unions, though some groups including the Episcopal Church have embraced equal marriage
Attempts to push forward reforms in other groups have been divisive, with anger earlier this year when United Methodist Church members voted against allowing congregations to conduct same-sex weddings and hire openly LGBT+ clergy.
He said: “I plead with our religious leaders across the world to stand up for equality together. True equality – not empty words of love – but statements and actions that show our LGBTQ youth that they are ‘sinless’ and perfect just as they are.
“Until these changes are made within the doctrines of orthodox faith, we will continue to see increased rates of suicidality and depression/anxiety amongst our LGBTQ youth.”
Reynolds added: “Until the leaders of all orthodox faiths denounce conversion therapy and accept our LGBTQ youth into full fellowship I believe we will continue to see a great exodus from all orthodox faith.
“We are not a generation that will stand for intolerance, homophobia or racism.
“And to those that say the simple answer is for our youth to just leave religion – it isn’t that simple.
“Many of these LGBTQ youth will be kicked out of the home and put into a more dangerous situation if they denounce the faith of their family.
“Also many find peace in their faith. they love it. it brings them comfort in a sad and oftentimes scary world.”
Escalating the fight over Chick-fil-A’s religious rights, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued San Antonio on Monday as part of his investigation into the city’s decision to reject the chicken chain as an airport vendor.
The lawsuit, filed in state district court in Travis County, seeks a court order requiring San Antonio to turn over emails and other internal communications in which council members and city employees discussed the Chick-fil-A contract with each other and outsiders.
On Monday, Paxton repeated allegations that San Antonio politicians had engaged in religious discrimination, adding that Chick-fil-A’s leaders are “well-known for their personal belief in the Christian faith and traditional understanding of marriage.”
Last month both chambers of the Texas legislature passed the so-called “Save Chick-Fil-A” bill which would ban local governments from taking “any adverse action” against businesses based on their support for a religious group. Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign the bill. Also last month the Trump administration’s FAA opened its own probe.
Jamey Christoph has illustrated many children’s books in his 15-year career as an illustrator, but it is perhaps his most recent work illustrating a new children’s book on the history of the Stonewall Inn that has become his most personal.
“As a gay artist and as someone who had my own struggles coming to terms with my identity, and valuing these type of stories that show adversity but give hope, it was personal,” Christoph said. “I really gave it my all.”
“Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution,” written by Rob Sanders and illustrated by Jamey Christoph.Penguin Random House
Starting with the building’s beginnings as a horse stable in New York City’s Greenwich Village neighborhood in the 1840s, the picture book covers the history of the famed landmark as it became a bakery and then a restaurant and then finally a gay bar named the Stonewall Inn.
The book goes on to describe the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, when a riot broke out at the Stonewall Inn between bar patrons and police officers in response to one of the police raids that had become a common occurrence at the then-illegal establishment.
The Stonewall uprising, as it is widely known today, and the series of protests that followed helped galvanize the LGBTQ community and resulted in the very first pride march, then called Christopher Street Liberation Day, that occurred in New York City one year later, on June 28, 1970.
The book’s release is timed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the uprising, and it comes nearly three years after Stonewall was designated a national monument by former President Barack Obama.
“If there was something that kids needed to know about in LGBTQ history, it would be Stonewall, and there was nothing out there in the world of picture books,” Sanders said of his desire to write the book.
“And so I set out with the intention of finding a way to write the story so kids aged five to 10 could read it and understand more about the history of our community,” he said.
Wanting to ensure the story was as accurate as possible, Sanders’ research involved receiving first hand accounts from people who were at the uprising as well as relying on newspaper reports and documentaries.
The challenge then came in trying to decide how to best tell the story while taking in all the different perspectives that had resulted from the event.
“I found that there were so many different stories and different accounts about how Stonewall started, that it became a real process trying to decide how to tell the story,” Sanders said.
That’s when Sanders decided to tell the story from the perspective of the building itself.
“The thought came to me that these buildings have stood here for over 150 years, if only these walls could talk,” he said. “And the thought rang in my head, ‘that may be the way to tell the story.’ To let the buildings talk about how they have watched history through all these years until the night they became a part of history.”
“Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution,” written by Rob Sanders and illustrated by Jamey Christoph.Penguin Random House
When Christoph was asked to join the project as the book’s illustrator he immediately knew it was something he wanted to be a part of.
He said it has been an honor to be a part of the growing canon of children’s books helping to tell the stories of notable LGBTQ individuals and events that have made a mark throughout history — but have often been ignored by the history books.
“I think learning LGBT history is important — to be able to give that reverence and dignity to this story in the same way we do to early American history and civil rights and suffrage,” Christoph said.
Having grown up gay in what he describes as a “small Southern town,” Christoph understands there may be some individuals who are not so receptive to his latest book project. But he stressed it is still important that these types of stories be told.
“There may not be much support or enthusiasm for books like Stonewall back home, but they are needed in these parts of the country most,” Christoph said. “The thought of creating a safe place, an affirming resource, a picture book that tells this important story to kids for the first time, it gave me such hope as I was drawing.”
Howard Williams, who helped to coordinate a reading and lecture of “Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution” at New York City’s LGBT Community Center last month, said with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising occurring this summer, parents could expect children to have more questions about Stonewall and its place in history due to the increased exposure.
“A simple, straightforward answer is the best,” Williams said. “And after an answer, it sometimes might be helpful to listen, ask them if they understand, and ask them what they’re thinking.”
Asked about the importance of a book like the one Christoph and Sanders have produced, Glennda Testone, executive director of the LGBT Community Center, said that understanding history is what “provides the perspective and inspiration needed to keep making progress.”
“In order to preserve the rights that we do have and to continue moving forward toward true equity and equality, it’s imperative to be aware of the immense effort that so many people have made throughout history to get us to where we are today,” she added.
For the second year in a row, uniformed police officers will not be able to participate in Sacramento, California, Pride at the request of organizers.
The Sacremento LGBT Community Center asked city officers to participate in the parade without wearing their standard uniform.
The group argue that their presence while uniformed would make others feel uncomfortable.
What happened?
The center organizes Sacremento Pride as an annual festival. This year, it’s scheduled for 8-9 June.
But in a statement on their Facebook page posted 1 June, the center asked that police officers who wish to attend during pride do not wear their uniforms.
‘To honor the pain and marginalization of community members who have been harmed by police violence,’ the statement read, ‘we have asked Sacramento Police not to participate in uniform for the 50th anniversary of Stonewall.’
The post then clarified that officers will be on duty during the parade march. Which begins on the corner of 8th and T street, just off Southside Park.
Moreover, the post then added that there will be ‘private security and identifiable community safety monitors’ throughout the march.
Officers react: ‘Disappointed’
In a statement sent to local newspaper, The Sacramento Bee, the police department said it was disappointed that the center ‘does not want our officers attending upcoming public community events while in uniform.’
‘We support our LGBTQ officers who proudly serve our community on a daily basis,’ it added.
‘Sad that inclusion doesn’t really mean everybody,’ Captain Norm Leong of the Sacramento Police Department wrote in a Facebook post.
‘Worse part is to hear how much this hurt our LGBTQI officers who looked forward to participating.’
‘A step in the journey toward better inclusion’
Moreover, the center went onto add an amendment to their original post on 2 June. The group clarified they collaborated with authorities on the decision.
‘They didn’t participate last year at all, welcoming them to participate as members of the community, out of uniform, this year was a compromise.
‘Rejection of the compromise fails to acknowledge the pain and historical abuses police institutions have inflicted on the most marginalized in our community.
‘This is not the end. This is a step in the journey toward better inclusion, affirmation and safety for all LGBTQ+ people here and beyond.’
On Wednesday (5 June), the Trump Administration implemented a new policy ending research done by government scientists using fetal tissue. This severely limits research done on HIV.
According to the Washington Post, the Administration also canceled a university’s multi-million dollar laboratory contract. The university used fetal tissue in testing new HIV treatments.
‘Promoting the dignity of human life from conception to natural death is one of the very top priorities of President Trump’s administration,’ the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a statement.
The tissue used in such research comes from elective abortions. Many scientists and researchers say there are no other alternative approaches to the research at this time.
This is political, not scientific
The HHS’ decision is a political one. It stems from the lobbying of the anti-abortion bloc, who cite moral qualms with using fetal tissue in research.
Trump’s Administration first threatened this research last December.
It then suspended a study looking into a ‘cure’ for HIV because of its use of human fetal tissue.
‘This is a pro-life, pro-science administration,’ HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir told Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) at the time.
Currently, funding for nongovernmental research using fetal tissue will not be disturbed. Going forward, however, the HHS said applications for federal funding will face an ethics review.
The reason for the review is due to ‘the serious regulatory, moral, and ethical considerations involved’.
A continuing epidemic
Globally, 36.9 million people were living with HIV in 2017. That same year, 1.8 million people became newly infected and another 940,000 died from AIDS-related illnesses.
In the US, 1.1 million people currently live with HIV.
Since the peak of the epidemic in the mid-1990s, both new infections and related deaths have decreased. Still, it has taken the lives of over 35 million people worldwide since then and continues to be a worldwide health crisis.
Two Democrats, Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA)introduced the Gay and Trans Panic Defense Prohibition Act of 2019 on Wednesday (5 June).
This is the politician’s second attempt at banning the use of gay and transgender panic defenses in the court system.
They introduced the same bill last year, but it never received a vote in the Senate or House. Consequently, it never had a chance to become law.
Markey and Kennedy are trying again with the same bill to amend title 18 of the United States Code.
In a tweet, Markey wrote: ‘So-called “gay and trans panic” defenses can excuse violent crimes by blaming a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity for a defendant’s attack.’
The bill would ban the use of ‘these hateful defenses’ in federal courts nationwide.
Someone’s identity is not reason to attack them
As in the last iteration of this bill, the act states: ‘No nonviolent sexual advance or perception or belief, even if inaccurate, of the gender, gender identity or expression, or sexual orientation of an individual may be used to excuse or justify the conduct of an individual or mitigate the severity of an offense.’
In the language of the bill, such defenses characterize LGBTI people’s identities as ‘objectively reasonable excuses for loss of self-control’. They also ‘appeal to irrational fears and hatred of LGBT individuals’.
Finally, the bill also demands the Attorney General submit an annual report to Congress about court cases involving crimes against LGBTI people where the motivation seemed to be the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Panic defense is an outdated notion
Markey and Kennedy, with the reintroduction of this bill, seek to ‘end the antiquated notion that LGBT lives are worth less than others and to reflect modern understanding of LGBT individuals as equal citizens under law’.
One of the most well-known cases of the gay panic defense was the murder of Matthew Shepard in 1988.
More recently, an Ohio man used the defense to try and get off death row — but the Ohio Parole Board stayed his execution date of 18 July.
A Texas man, meanwhile, was found not guilty of manslaughter and murder after using the defense.
Only four states have outright banned the defense, including California, Illinois, Rhode Island, and most recently, Nevada. This bill, however, would ban it across the country.
‘Gay and trans ‘panic’ defenses have long stood as a symbol of dangerous and outdated thinking,’ said D’Arcy Kemnitz, Executive Director of the National LGBT Bar Association. ‘The Gay and Trans ‘Panic’ Defense Prohibition Act would protect LGBTQ+ lives and send a clear message that hate has no place in the federal courtroom.’
It’s been fifty years since police officers raided the Stonewall Inn — the legendary Christopher Street gay bar — and Corey Johnson thinks it’s about time that the NYPD apologize to the LGBTQ community for the raid, which gave birth to the modern-day LGBTQ rights movement. “The NYPD in the past has apologized for other incidents that have occurred, so I think the NYPD apologizing on this would be a very, very good thing, and it’s something they should do,” Johnson, who is openly gay, told 1010 WINS.
“I would love for it happen this month and I will bring it up to the police commissioner,” Johnson said. “I will have a conversation with the NYPD commissioner about it because I think it would be an important step toward further healing and reconciliation and recognizing what happened in that crucial moment, and not just in American history, but New York history in June of 1969.”
