Will Colorado elect an openly gay man to the US Senate in 2020? That’s a distinct possibility as Dan Baer has thrown his hat into the ring for the Democratic nomination.
The 42-year-old Baer was the ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe under President Barack Obama, serving from August 2013 to January 2017.
A former economics and business ethics professor at Georgetown University, Baer also served as an assistant secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Most recently, he was head of Colorado’s Department of Higher Education.
If Baer gets the Democratic nomination, he would be running against the Republican incumbent, attorney Cory Gardner.
Gardner is considered one of the most vulnerable US Senators up for re-election in 2020. Although elected as a moderate in 2014, Gardner has grown increasingly conservative, voting in favor of many of President Donald Trump’s policies.
Crowded Democratic field
However, getting the Democratic nomination may prove difficult for Dan Baer. Hisopponents have greater name recognition in the state than he does.
Those Democratic opponents include former state senator Mike Johnston, former state speaker of the house Andrew Romanoff and former US attorney John Walsh.
If Baer wins, he would be the first openly gay man to ever serve in the US Senate.
There are LGBTI women in the Senate, but no openly gay men. In 2018, Arizona voters sent openly bisexual Kyrsten Sinema to the US Senate while Wisconsin voters re-elected openly lesbian Tammy Baldwin, who has been in the Senate since 2013.
Last year, Colorado voters elected an openly gay man, Jared Polis, to be the state’s governor. So, it’s not a far fetched notion to think the state could elect a gay man to the US.Senate.
Yet, Baer has never won elected office before. He was in the Democratic primary for Colorado’s 7th Congressional District in 2018, but ended his campaign when US Rep. Ed Perlmutter decided to seek another term.
Married to his longtime partner, Brian Walsh, since August 2014, Baer drives part time for the Lyft ride service, saying in a campaign ad that it’s a way to connect with voters and hear their issues.
He told the Denver Post his time in Vienna as ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe makes him strong on foreign affairs. Baer reports foreign affairs are increasingly relevant to voters thanks to Trump’s trade wars and tariffs.
In his campaign ad, he says he wants to create policies that support the middle class, saying that America needs a hard reset.
America’s ‘first’ homeless shelter for trans young people has opened in San Francisco.
The three-bedroom house has room for six people between the ages of 18 to 24. It opened quietly nearly two months ago, according to reports from the San Francisco Chronicle.
Five trans young people currently live in the refuge, which will allow its residents to stay for two years, offering them a safe haven from transphobia and abuse.
Christopher Rodriguez, a manager at the house, explained that trans youth have more complex needs than the rest of the LGBT+ community.
“Transgender youths have more medical needs, and they have a whole added extra layer of trauma,” said Rodriguez. “Many need hormone therapy, surgeries, preparation for surgeries,” he told the SF Chronicle.
Transphobia rife in homeless shelters
Rodriguez added: “They’re outed more easily than others — a gay man can pass as not gay if he wants to, but generally not someone who’s trans. So they get more attention, and not the good kind. And more violence. That takes a lot of careful work to heal.”
One of the residents spoke to the SF Chronicle about their past experiences of homeless shelters.
22-year-old Bobby Perez, whose parents are homeless, was staying in a Larkin Street shelter when she was told about the trans house. At one of her previous shelters, someone left tampons on her bed to taunt her.
“Now that I’m stable in a safe place, it’s about, ‘Who am I?’” Perez told the SF Chronicle. “I want to see where I can go. I just have to find a passion now.”
Larkin Street Youth Services, which is the leading homeless-youth agency in the city, is renting the house and running the trans program.
90% of homeless trans youths rejected by their families
Lewis’s organisation, True Colors United, ran two surveys in 2012 and in 2015, which showed that 75% of LGB homeless youth are rejected by their families, and the figure is 90% for trans youths.
About 40% of the 1.6 million homeless youths are LGBT, and 3% are trans, according to True Colors United.
Iowa governor Kim Reynolds signed a law that will limit public funds for trans and intersex healthcare.
Iowa Republicans introduced a last-minute amendment to the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) budget bill on April 26 in an effort to carve a broad exemption into non-discrimination healthcare laws.
The amendment to the law signed by Governor Reynolds on Friday (May 3) stipulate that civil rights measures “shall not require any state or local government unit or tax-supported district to provide for sex reassignment surgery or any other cosmetic, reconstructive, or plastic surgery procedure related to transsexualism, hermaphroditism, gender identity disorder, or body dysmorphic disorder.”
As such, those procedures will no longer be funded under public programs such as Medicaid. The amendment directly undermines a March ruling by Iowa’s Supreme Court, which stated that the state’s Civil Rights Act protects transgender Iowans from discrimination based on gender identity, including in the provision of services via Medicaid.SPONSORED CONTENTOne Vegetable That Destroys You From The InsideSponsored by United Naturals
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“By signing this cruel legislation into law, Gov. Reynolds has told every transgender Iowan that they are second-hand citizens and unwelcome in our state.”
— One Iowa
The law comes into effect the moment the governor signs it. LGBT+ campaigners have condemned the legislation and Governor Reynolds’ decision to sign it.
“It’s deeply disappointing that Gov. Kim Reynolds is caving to the pressure from some radical lawmakers in the Iowa Senate, instead of protecting the rights and dignity of transgender Iowans,” said JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president of policy and political affairs at the Human Rights Campaign.
Winterhof added: “Gov. Reynolds had the option to line-item veto this provision and leave the rest of the funding bill intact, but she did not. This sends a strong message that she is not working for all of her constituents and a craven desire to please Iowa’s most extreme lawmakers. As a native Iowan, Iowa deserves better—and different—leaders.”
U.S. President Donald Trump listens as Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds speaks during a campaign rally at the Mid-America Center on October 9, 2018 in Council Bluffs. (Scott Olson/Getty)
LGBT+ rights group One Iowa also condemned the governor’s decisions in a statement on Friday.
“We are deeply disappointed that Gov. Reynolds has ignored medical experts, Iowa business leaders, cost analysis data, and the many transgender Iowans and allies who shared their stories with her to sign this bill into law,” the statement read.
It added: “By signing this cruel legislation into law, Gov. Reynolds has told every transgender Iowan that they are second-hand citizens and unwelcome in our state. Make no mistake, this law threatens people’s lives. Today is a shameful day to be an Iowan.”
An intersex woman in Russia said her landlord evicted her after police allegedly harassed her.
Olga Moskvitina lives in Makhachkala a city on the western shore of the Caspian Sea.
She said a plain clothed police officer forced his way into her apartment. This happened after her identity documents which showed she had a male name were published on social media.
People on social media left hateful comments including, ‘people like that should be killed’.
According to a report on news site Lenta, the policeman allegedly made Moskvitina strip naked and examined her genitals. He also interrogated her about her genitals and threatened to out her to locals so the could kill her.
Moskvitina tried to explain that she is in fact intersex, but cannot update her identity documents to reflect her intersex status. As a result she is forced to identify as trans.
After the incident at her apartment, Moskvitina’s landlord then evicted citing ‘such affairs’ as a reason.
While it not illegal to be trans in Russia, the LGBTI community faces high levels of discrimination, intimidation and violence. In 2013, Russian president Vladimir Putin introduced the ‘gay propaganda’ law. It prevented the positive portrayal of the LGBTI community in mass media.
Transgender adults may be more likely to have unhealthy habits and medical issues that negatively impact their quality of life than people whose gender identity matches what it says on their birth certificates, a U.S. study suggests.
Researchers examined survey data from 3,075 transgender adults as well as 719,567 adults who are cisgender, meaning their gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth.
Compared to cisgender Americans, transgender individuals were more likely to be sedentary, current smokers, and uninsured, researchers report in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Transgender people were also 30 percent more likely to report being in “fair” or “poor” health over the past month than cisgender adults, as well as 66 percent more likely to report experiencing severe mental distress.
“The U.S. has made a lot of progress over the last several years toward acceptance and celebration of natural human diversity in gender identity and expression,” study author Kellan Baker said by email. But between 2014 and 2017 – the period when the survey was done – attitudes shifted and treatment of transgender often got worse, said Baker, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
“This study shows that being a transgender person in the U.S. today – being transgender in a society that you know doesn’t fully accept you – is hard,” Baker added. “It affects your health in negative ways, and that’s why issues such as nondiscrimination protections for transgender people are public health issues.”
An estimated 0.55 percent of the people in the survey identified as transgender, which suggests there may be about 1.27 million transgender adults in the U.S.
Survey participants were asked if they considered themselves transgender and were given four options to categorize their identities: trans male (people who identify as male but were assigned female at birth); trans female (individuals who identify as female but were assigned male at birth); gender non-conforming; or not transgender.
Overall, about 19 percent of transgender respondents were current smokers, compared with roughly 16 percent of cisgender people.
About 35 percent of transgender individuals were inactive, compared with nearly 26 percent of cisgender adults.
And, almost 80 percent of transgender participants had health insurance, compared with 85 percent of other people in the study.
Transgender adults also reported more days in the previous month when they felt physically and mentally unhealthy or felt unable to do all of their usual daily activities.
The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how gender identity might directly impact health. Another limitation is that researchers lacked data on how differences within the transgender population such as gender, race and sexual orientation might influence the results.
“I think the take-home message for transgender adults here is clear, which is that transgender adults face additional mental and physical health disparities when compared to cisgender individuals,” said Xiang Cai, a researcher at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City who wasn’t involved in the study.
Cai attributes the higher risks for poor health in trans people to “multiple levels of transgender-specific stigmas.”
“However, I think it is important to note that adults in the transgender community are capable and resilient,” Cai said by email.
The study also didn’t look at whether transgender individuals had gender-affirming surgery or were able to make their outward appearance match their gender identity, Cai said.
“Gender-affirmation treatments may be associated with higher levels of quality of life among those who desire them regardless of age,” Cai noted.
In Equality California’s 20th anniversary year, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization has introduced its most aggressive, robust package of pro-equality legislation yet. The organization’s priorities include a number of first-in-the-nation bills and are primarily focused on supporting LGBTQ youth and families, increasing access to HIV prevention medication and protecting the civil rights of transgender and intersex Californians.
Equality California is sponsoring the following 2019 bills and resolutions in the California Legislature and has experts available for comment or background briefings:
Safe and Supportive Schools Act – AB 493 by Assemblymember Todd Gloria and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony ThurmondAB 493 will give teachers and school staff the tools and training they need — and want — to support LGBTQ students who may be facing harassment or lack of acceptance at school, rejection at home or discrimination in the broader community. Public school teachers and staff are on the front lines of providing a safety net against the effects of discrimination and lack of acceptance for the LGBTQ community, which can result in higher dropout rates, lower economic success and a number of other disparities in health and well-being that LGBTQ people continue to face. If LGBTQ students have support in school, their likelihood of overcoming these disparities and succeeding in school and life increases significantly. Equality California is cosponsoring AB 493 with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
Status: Passed by the Assembly Education Committee 5-0. Referred to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.
LGBTQ Young People Nondiscrimination – SB 145 by Senator Scott Wiener and LA County District Attorney Jackie LaceySB 145 will address the state’s discriminatory practice of treating LGBTQ young people differently than their non-LGBTQ peers when engaging in voluntary sexual activity. Currently, for example, if an 18-year-old boy has voluntary sex with his 17-year-old girlfriend, he isn’t required to register as a sex offender. But if an 18-year-old boy has voluntary sex with his 17-year-old boyfriend or an 18-year-old girl has voluntary sex with her 17-year-old girlfriend, they’re automatically required to register as sex offenders, no matter the circumstances and without any opportunity for a judge to provide discretionary relief from the requirement. SB 145 only applies when a teenager age 14 or older has consensual sex with a partner who is within 10 years of age. The bill will simply allow the older partner to request — and a judge to grant — relief from the registration requirement. Equality California is cosponsoring SB 145 along with Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey.
Status: Referred to the Senate Public Safety Committee. Scheduled for hearing on Tuesday, April 9.
PrEP and PEP Access Expansion – SB 159 by Senator Scott Wiener and Assemblymember Todd GloriaSB 159 will reduce barriers to accessing HIV preventative medications. This legislation will authorize pharmacists to furnish pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to patients without a prescription. Pharmacists are already authorized to furnish birth control pills without a prescription. The legislation will also prohibit insurance companies from requiring patients to obtain prior authorization before using their insurance benefits to obtain PrEP or PEP. Equality California is cosponsoring SB 159 along with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the Los Angeles LGBT Center and California Pharmacists Association.
Status: Referred to the Senate Committee on Business, Professions, and Economic Development.
Intersex Autonomy – SB 201 by Senator Scott WienerSB 201 will protect the rights of intersex Californians — “intersex” being a term used for people born with variations in their sex characteristics — by ensuring they can provide informed consent before medically unnecessary, often irreversible and potentially harmful procedures are performed on them. SB 201, at its core, is about giving people born with variations in their sex characteristics autonomy over their own bodies. The bill does not prohibit treatment or surgery when it is medically necessary; it will simply delay elective surgeries that often performed on babies in an attempt to “normalize” their bodies until they have the ability to make their own informed decision. Equality California is cosponsoring SB 201 along with interACT and the ACLU of California.
Status: Testimony heard by Senate Committee on Business, Professions, and Economic Development on Monday, April 1. Scheduled for vote on Monday, April 8.
Homeless Youth Grant Program – AB 307 by Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes and Senator Scott WienerAB 307 will require the development and administration of a grant program that would, primarily, support nonprofit organizations or continuum of care administrative entities in serving youth experiencing homelessness. Funding will go toward an array of supportive services, including rental assistance, drug abuse prevention, health care and employment assistance. All programs funded under AB 307 will be required to have the cultural competence to serve youth who identify as LGBTQ. Equality California is cosponsoring AB 307 along with the California Coalition for Youth, Tipping Point Community, John Burton Advocates for Youth, Housing CA and Corporation for Supportive Housing.
Status: Passed by the Assembly Human Services Committee 8-0. Referred to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.
Affirming Records – SB 741 by Senator Cathleen GalgianiSB 741 will update the law to allow transgender Californians to update their marriage certificates and the birth certificates of their children to accurately reflect their legal name and gender, while still protecting their privacy. Current state law allows transgender people to petition courts to change their legal name and gender to conform with their gender identity. The law then allows such a person’s old birth certificate to be sealed and a new one issued as an original to protect the person’s privacy and respect their identity. This legislation would simply align the process for updating transgender people’s marriage certificates and the birth certificates of their children with the process for updating their own birth certificate. This will help to prevent discrimination when a transgender person enrolls their child in school, applies for a loan or seeks to make medical decisions on behalf of an incapacitated spouse.
Status: Referred to Senate Rules Committee.
Bias-Free Child Custody Determinations – SB 495 by Senator Maria Elena Durazo
SB 495 will add language to the California Family Code to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity of a parent, legal guardian or relative when granting custody of a child. While there are examples of California case law to the effect that “sexual preference” should not affect child custody determinations, this language is outdated, unclear, and has not been codified within the California Family Code. This lack of clear and comprehensive policy allows local Family Court mediators, investigators, and judges to make recommendations and rulings based on their own biases about how sexuality and gender may impact the “well-being of the child.” All parents deserve the right to be considered in matters of custody without their sexual orientation or gender identity being used against them. Equality California is cosponsoring SB 495 with the Women’s Policy Institute and the Long Beach Bar Association. Status: Passed by Senate Judiciary Committee.
Updating Transgender Students’ Academic Records – AB 711 by Assemblymember David ChiuAB 711 will ensure that local educational agencies in California update the records of former students who identify as transgender, making certain that their legal name and gender are accurately reflected on critical documents like high school diplomas and school transcripts. This includes reissuing high school diplomas and high school equivalency certificates, as needed. This bill seeks to close a gap in current law to ensure that all transgender people who have attended California educational institutions have the same rights and protections. Equality California is cosponsoring AB 711 with Transgender Law Center.
Status: Referred to the Assembly Committee on Education
Strengthening California’s Equal Pay Act – AB 758 by Assemblymember Wendy CarrilloAB 758 will strengthen California’s equal pay laws by requiring that employees of all genders are paid equitably to their counterparts for substantially similar work. This bill will also address unjustified workplace pay differentials for employees who do not conform to the gender binary. California’s Equal Pay Act prohibits employers from paying an employee less than an employee of “the opposite sex” for substantially similar work. AB 758 will update the California Equal Pay Act’s outdated binary language to align with the Gender Recognition Act of 2017 (SB 179, Atkins), which enabled Californians to obtain state issued identity documents that reflect their gender identity by creating a third, nonbinary gender marker.
Status: Referred to Assembly Committee on Labor & Employment.
Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act – SB 132 by Senator Scott Wiener SB 132 addresses a very real problem facing incarcerated transgender individuals, namely, transgender people being housed according to their birth-assigned gender, not their gender identity or perception of safety, resulting in significant risk of violence. Transgender women housed in male facilities face particular risk of rape and assault. SB 132 will change state law to require incarcerated transgender people in the custody of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation be classified and housed based on their gender identity, unless the incarcerated person’s evaluation of their own safety is that another housing placement is safest. SB 132 also requires that the preferred first name, gender pronoun and honorific of the incarcerated individual be used by facility staff in all written and verbal communications. By housing incarcerated transgender people based on their gender identity or perception of health and safety, transgender people will be housed in institutions that decrease their likelihood of experiencing targeting and violence, and they will have access to the programming and work opportunities that will best promote and support their health and safety.
Status: Referred to Senate Committee on Public Safety. Scheduled for hearing on Tuesday, April 23.
Honoring Bayard Rustin – ACR 27 by Assemblymember Wendy CarrilloACR 27 honors the legacy of civil rights, labor and LGBTQ leader Bayard Rustin. Born on March 17, 1912 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Rustin dedicated his entire life to advancing justice and dignity for all. He was a close advisor to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., organized the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and promoted equity through nonviolent protests. An openly gay African American, Rustin understood the intricate intersections of marginalized identities and fought tirelessly for progress and opportunity.Status: Adopted by the Legislature on March 19, 2019.
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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
GLAAD celebrates the passage of Senate Bill 1346, which would eliminate the stigma of being LGBTQ in the state’s education curriculum – including courses covering HIV and AIDS. The bill overwhelmingly passed in both the state’s House and Senate chambers and was quickly signed into law today by Republican Governor Doug Ducey.
Before today’s vote, Arizona state law forbade any proactive and positive conversation on the LGBTQ community in classrooms. Arizona was one of seven states in the nation to have this anti-LGBTQ policy in state law – until today. Senate Bill 1346’s. passage now advances LGBTQ acceptance in the state, which currently has about 249,000 Arizonans identifying as LGBTQ.
“Arizona students should never be taught to hate a marginalized group, and LGBTQ youth should never be subject to harassment, discrimination, or erasure just because of who they are,” said Zeke Stokes, Chief Programs Officer for GLAAD. “We applaud today’s strong, bipartisan action that sends a message of love and acceptance to LGBTQ youth.”
Arizona Republican State Senator Kate Brophy McGee added, “It has been an honor to work alongside my good friend Daniel Hernandez on LGBTQ legislation for the past two years. This repeal is a huge step forward and could not have happened without Daniel’s resolute leadership. We worked together with so many others in a truly bipartisan manner to get this done. It is a joyful new day for Arizonans.”
Arizona Republican State Representative TJ Shope said, “I was proud to be a part of a positive effort to change Arizona law in order to make all students feel more welcomed in Arizona’s classrooms. In sponsoring the amendment to SB 1343 that repealed A.R.S. 15-716, we have not only moved our state forward, we have also saved our state’s taxpayers countless amounts of dollars defending the indefensible. I was proud to work on this with my friend, Rep. Daniel Hernandez, and I hope this leads us to more bipartisan efforts in all of the issues we face as a state.”
“The repeal of No Promo Homo is not a victory for one person or for one group. This is something that all of us share in because we were able to come together in a bipartisan way to ensure that Arizona students never have to feel like they stigmatized for who they are,” said Arizona State Representative Daniel Hernandez.
GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, today called on the American Museum of Natural History to immediately cancel an upcoming event featuring Brazilian President and notorious anti-LGBTQ activist Jair Bolsonaro that’s to be held on the museum grounds. According to The Gothamist, the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce plans to hold a gala event to name Bolsonaro its “Person of the Year” at the Museum.
“It’s dangerous for a respected attraction like the American Museum of Natural History to provide a national platform for a foreign leader who is known for targeting and attacking marginalized communities, especially LGBTQ people,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD. “Parents and current members of the Museum like me should not stand idly by while the Museum grants visibility to someone who supports the assault of young children just for potentially being LGBTQ. The Museum should re-examine serving as the home for Bolsonaro’s honor, and instead, send a message to LGBTQ Brazilians as well as its LGBTQ members by canceling the event.”
Brazilian President has a horrific and barbaric anti-LGBTQ record, and since his election last year, President Bolsonaro – like the Trump Administration – has systematically tried to eraseLGBTQ families from the fabric of Brazil. Just recently, President Bolsonaro even praised the anti-LGBTQ efforts made by President Trump and his administration since taking office in 2017 – a total of 103 attacks on LGBTQ Americans overall.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Anti-LGBTQ History of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro
Said he’d prefer his son die in an accident than be gay (Rough translation: “There are certain things that I say are as death. It would bring me disgust, would make me sad, and I even think that he, himself, would abandon me in that case. To me, it is death. And more: I’d rather he died in an accident than show up with some guy. To me, he really would have died.” Original interview, in Portuguese, can be found here: https://web.archive.org/web/20110709235317/http://playboy.abril.com.br/entretenimento/entrevista/jair-bolsonaro/
Reiterated his preference for a dead son over a gay son: “I prefer, rather, a son run over by a convoy to a homosexual son. If my son were “gay,” he would be dead to me.”
Supported a father who beat his 8-year-old son to death for showing effeminate traits, suggesting that beating the child would have prevented him from being gay.
Has bragged that “if I see two men kissing on the street, I’m going to hit them.”
Said: “If a gay couple came to live in my building, my property will lose value. If they walk around holding hands, kissing, it will lose value! No one says that out of fear of being pinned as homophobe.”
Claimed LGBT rights activists wants to recruit children for sex: “They want to reach our children in order to turn the children into gay adults to satisfy their sexuality in the future. So these are the fundamentalist homosexual groups that are trying to take over society.”
Referred to a rival political party as “a party of dicks and faggots”.
Implied that President Dilma Rousseff is a lesbian, demanding that she “admit your love with homosexuals”.
Called Eleonora Menicucci, the Minister for Women’s Policy, “a big dyke”.
Said he’d “rather have a son who is an addict than a son who is gay”.
Said he does not have a gay child because his children are well educated.
Insisted gay parents sexually abuse their children: “I make a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia because many of the children who will be adopted by “gay” couples will be abused by these homosexual couples.”
Marriott International, among many big corporations, has gone on record in support of the LGBTQ community. Its CEO, Arne Sorenson, has been one of the most vocal defenders of LGBTQ rights in recent years as corporations have been pulled more squarely into divisive social and legal battles related to LGBTQ discrimination.
But now Marriott is among the corporations facing backlash over an event that will honor Brazil’s new and controversial president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has a history of homophobic comments. He also has made incendiary comments about gender, indigenous groups and torture.
The Marriott Marquis in New York City will be hosting the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce 2019 Person of the Year Award Gala Dinner, honoring Bolsonaro. The event attracted major corporate sponsors, including Delta Air Lines, UnitedHealth Group, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America.
Additional sponsors include HSBC, Citigroup, JPMorgan, UBSand Bank of New York Mellon, Santander, BNP Paribas and Forbes’ local licensee Forbes Brasil, whose publisher said it has been a media sponsor of the event for five years and will continue to sponsor it to strengthen ties between Brazil and the U.S.
Bain & Co. pulled out of event sponsorship on Tuesday, as did the Financial Times. Delta told CNBC on Tuesday afternoon that it had pulled out of event sponsorship.
Bolsonaro is reportedly receiving the reward for his prioritizing of Christian values and family. He’s been president of Brazil since January and has been a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, homosexuality and abortion. According to the New York Times, which cataloged some of his controversial comments, Bolsonaro said he would “rather have a son who is an addict than a son who is gay” and that he was “proud to be homophobic.”
The event has been a magnet for controversy — the Marriott Marquis is not its first choice of location. It was originally planned to take place at The American Museum of Natural History’s Hall of Ocean Life. Yet pressure from environmental and LGBTQ groups resulted in the museum’s withdrawal.
Marriott’s Sorenson was among the first CEO “activist” leaders when he took on Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer in 2014 over legislation perceived as discriminatory. Brewer vetoed the legislation. Sorenson also said at the time of the 2017 battle over the North Carolina bathroom bill perceived as discriminating against LGBTQ rights, “I have personally received hundreds of emails in the last week complaining about the position I have taken with respect to the law in North Carolina. I think the way the law was passed was trying to drive a wedge between people who think and believe different things, as opposed to building a bridge. We end up creating a polarized and exclusionary environment with laws like that,” he told CNBC.
When North Carolina’s bathroom bill became a focal point for corporate social activism, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America spoke out, with its CEO Brian Moynihan telling shareholders, “We’ve been steadfast in our commitment [against] discrimination. We have been a leader in LGBT practices since the [19]90s.”
Delta has spoken out against anti-LGBTQ legislation — often referred to by backers as “religious freedom” bills — in recent years, including bills introduced in its home state of Georgia. The airlines’ decision to end discounts to NRA members, another hot-button social issue for corporations, led the state legislature to even attempt to punish the airline by removing a tax break.
MARRIOTT, CREDIT SUISSE DEFEND DECISION
Marriott is sticking by its decision to host the event for Bolsonaro.
“Diversity and inclusion are part of the fabric of our hotel’s culture and operations. We have welcomed all for over 90 years and focused on putting people first. We are required by law to accept business even if it conflicts with our values,” said a Marriott spokesperson to CNBC. “Acceptance of business does not indicate support, or endorsement of any group or individual.”
Openly gay New York State Senator Brad Hoylman told the Daily News “The only award President Bolsonaro should be receiving is bigot of the year. [It is] incredibly offensive that a business in my Senate district, which has a large LGBTQ population, would host a man who once said he’d rather have a dead son than a gay man.”
“It’s imperative that the companies and organizations associated with this event first understand the egregious anti-LGBTQ record and rhetoric of the Brazilian President and then stand by LGBTQ people in Brazil and everywhere by withdrawing their support,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD to CNBC. “His brand of anti-LGBTQ activism is actively [hurting] LGBTQ Brazilians and companies that host or participate in this celebration of him need to take a stand.”
A spokesperson for Credit Suisse, one of the event sponsors, said the bank, “like other major banks who operate in Brazil, has taken a table at this year’s event, as we have for the past 15 years.”
Representatives for UnitedHealth, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan, UBS, Bank of New York Mellon and Forbes could not provide a comment by press time.
A gay man from Chechnya with HIV who asked the Washington Blade not to reveal his identity was leaving a gay bar in Moscow on May 13, 2018, when a group of six men approached him and attacked him. A video from a nearby surveillance camera that he saved to his cell phone shows one of the men punching him in the face.
“He hit me right in the eye,” the man told the Blade on April 23 during an emotional interview in Dupont Circle. “People were standing right here.”
The man, who spoke to the Blade through a gay Russian friend who acted as an interpreter, said during the interview that doctors at a hospital and at a private eye clinic to where he was brought refused to treat him because of his HIV status. The man told the Blade he eventually “bumped into” an Armenian plastic surgeon who placed a titanium mesh around his injured eye ball a month after the attack.
“He caught up with me in the corridors of the hospital and he said what I see tells me that you absolutely need surgery and I can do it for you,” said the man. “He did it.”
The man had been living in Moscow for more than a year when the men attacked him. He flew to Miami on Nov. 10, 2018, and has been living in New York since last December.
“For the longest time, I didn’t want to move to the U.S. because I thought back in Russia I could lay low and disappear from society’s life and somehow the threat to my persona would evaporate overtime,” said the man. “That is why I moved from Chechnya to Moscow and I started experiencing how difficult it is to live outside of your own society.”
Chechnya ‘not safe for gay people’
Chechnya is a predominantly Muslim, semi-autonomous Russian republic in the North Caucasus.
Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper, in 2017 reported Chechen authorities had arrested more than 100 men because of their sexual orientation. The Russian LGBT Network, a Russian advocacy group, in January said at least two people have been killed and upwards of 40 people have been detained in the latest anti-LGBTI crackdown in Chechnya that began shortly after the man with whom the Blade spoke arrived in the U.S.
A report the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a Vienna-based group of which the U.S. is a member, released late last year documents extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses against LGBTI Chechens. President Trump has not publicly condemned the crackdown, but the State Department in January described the reports over additional arrests and deaths as “deeply disturbing.”
The man with whom the Blade spoke said he “stopped going to Chechnya” two years ago because he had begun to receive death threats.
He said he closed his business in Grozny, the Chechen capital. The man added the rest of his family remains in Chechnya.
“It’s not safe for gay people,” he said. “In Chechen society, the topic of sex in general is a taboo. Therefore gay people in Chechen society are never accepted and completely rejected.”
“There are countries in this world where gay people are persecuted, but in these countries’ case the society admits the fact that they have gay people amongst them,” added the man. “Chechnya is the only place on earth that completely rejects the whole fact of the possible existence of gay people.”
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, a close Kremlin ally who is among the Chechen officials sanctioned by the U.S., in 2017 said during an interview with HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” his republic doesn’t “have any gays.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has either downplayed or dismissed the reports about the anti-LGBTI crackdown in Chechnya.
The Kremlin’s LGBTI rights record, which includes a 2013 law that bans so-called gay propaganda to minors, and Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, continue to spark criticism around the world. The man with whom the Blade spoke said he felt targeted in Moscow because he is gay and Chechen.
“The problem is the threat to life is not just inside Chechnya,” he said. “It travels all over the Russian Federation and beyond into other countries of the world where the Chechen diaspora exists.”
The man with whom the Blade spoke said he was afraid to report any threats he received to the police because it would be “like committing suicide for us.” He also said he was afraid to reach out to LGBTI activists in Moscow and elsewhere, in part, because he was worried other Chechens would learn about him.
“We Chechens are afraid of other Chechens the most,” the man said.
The gay man from Chechnya with HIV with whom the Washington Blade spoke in D.C. on April 23, 2019, currently lives in New York. (Photo by Daniel Schwen; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
The man said a man in New York who is associated with RUSA LGBT, a group of LGBTI Russian speakers and their supporters, began to send “uncontrolled threats” to him after he criticized him for an “offensive and racist” Facebook post that he also described as xenophobic.
He said RUSA LGBT banned him from their event at a gay bar in Manhattan and sent him a cease and desist letter, which he claims is not valid, on April 12 that he showed to the Blade. Yelena Goltzman, founder and co-president of RUSA LGBT, in a lengthy statement denied the man’s allegations.
“The cease and desist letter was, in fact, sent to one of the people in the conflict on the advice of the attorney and the police who were called to the scene after his fourth unprovoked and unwelcomed visit to the workplace of RUSA LGBT’s co-president and as a consequence of his unrelenting harassment on social media,” Goltzman told the Blade on Tuesday.
Goltzman said Facebook “took down his posts about RUSA LGBT and warned him of further consequences.”
“Despite this, he continues to slander and harass RUSA LGBT leaders,” she said. “Unfortunately, we see the information he provided to you may further advance his harassment and slander against our group.”
Goltzman on Wednesday in a follow-up text message to the Blade said the man who the asylum seeker has accused of harassing him “is not a volunteer or a leader of RUSA LGBT and does not represent RUSA LGBT in any way.” The man with whom the Blade spoke on April 23 continues to dispute RUSA LGBT’s claims against him.
In the meantime, his asylum interview took place on Monday in New York. The man told the Blade he hopes “to realize my dream of being free and equal among equals, a worthy citizen and partner” if he were to receive asylum in the U.S.
“I know that in this country I can do this,” he said. “I hope that in the United States law, order and society will not allow any discrimination or threats against me from anyone, regardless of their position in society.”
“I want to start a new life in which there will be no place for xenophobia, transphobia, HIV stigma, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism from anyone,” added the man.
