About Gary Carnivele

Posts by Gary Carnivele:

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Coronavirus Pandemic a Perfect Storm for LGBTQ Homeless Youth

Finding a secure place to live has not been easy for Nez Marquez, 23, who has experienced homelessness for the past five years. Born in Mexico and raised in New York, he left home at 18 because his family did not accept his gender identity and sexual orientation, he said. Marquez is staying at Sylvia’s Place, an emergency shelter for LGBTQ young adults on the bottom floor of a Manhattan church. He said shelters that specifically cater to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people are safer for him because he has been subjected to homophobic attacks at general-population shelters. […]

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Remembering Lorena Borjas, the Mother of a Trans Latinx Community

Lorena Borjas had a wheelie bag, and in the bag she had the world. The first time Lynly Egyes met her, Borjas pulled a birth certificate out of the bag. Egyes was then a lawyer with the Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center and had recently taken the case of a young immigrant transgender woman who was in jail, facing felony assault charges for defending herself against an attacker—an exceedingly common predicament. “Lorena came into my office and said, ‘I hear you need the birth certificate for one of the girls,’ ” Egyes told me on the phone. “I […]

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America’s First LGBT+ Elected Official Wants more Queer People to run for Office

Forty-one years ago yesterday, on April 2, 1974, out lesbian Kathy Kozachenko made history as the first openly gay person elected to political office in the US. Three years before Harvey Milk, the more well-known gay-rights advocate commonly given the accolade of “first elected openly gay elected official”, Kozachenko was elected to the Ann Arbor City Council in Michigan. Then a 21-year-old University of Michigan student, she was part of the now-defunct left-wing Human Rights Party, which consisted mostly of college students and recent graduates. “This is the first time in the history of the U.S. that someone has run openly as […]

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Virus Challenges Community’s Most Vulnerable Residents

Just as our fires brought to the surface the vast inequalities in Sonoma County, so too has the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than corporate bailouts and commitments to simply not evict families ‘‘for now,” we need a real community bailout. One in five Sonoma County residents are living in poverty1 and hundreds of thousands are now out of work. Members of our community need to know they will not lose work permanently, only to come out of this pandemic owing thousands of dollars to landlords and banks. A 2019 report found 40% of Americans would not be able to respond to a $400 unexpected expense without […]

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European Union MEPs Slam Hungary’s Attack Trans Community

European Union MEPs have slammed Viktor Orbán and Hungary after moves to strip away trans rights, calling it an “outrageous and deliberate” attack. On Tuesday, March 31, the Hungarian parliament agreed to extend the power of its far-right prime minister Viktor Orbán by granting him the right to rule by decree indefinitely, meaning he no longer needs to consult other lawmakers before making decisions. On the same day, which was also Transgender Day of Visibility, Orbán’s deputy prime minister Zsolt Semjén introduced a new bill which, if passed, would replace “gender” with “birth sex” in all legal documents issued in the country. This would mean […]

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Pandemic Check In: An Exclusive Interview with Chelsea Rose, Vice-Chair of Positive Images

www.gaysonoma.com’s Gary Carnivele recently interviewed through email Chelsea Rose who is Vice-Chair on the Board of Directors at Positive Images in an effort to check in with representatives of local LGBTQ+ non-profits, Queer Luminaries, business owners, and more. This is the first of a series of interviews that he will conduct each week during our Stay at Home order. Gary Carnivele: Talk a bit about your background, how you came to be involved with Positive Images, what your position there is, and what it entails. Chelsea Rose: I am currently the Vice-Chair on the Board of Directors at Positive Images (PI). […]

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The Risks of Restaurant Takeout and Delivery – and How to Minimize Them

An estimated 75 percent of Americans are now living under stay-at-home orders because of the coronavirus, which may be one big reason why we’re typing the following phrases into Google as fast as our malnourished fingers will allow it: “Is it safe to order food delivery?” And: “Is it safe to eat takeout during covid?” And countless variations of each. People clearly want answers. Let’s get you some before you’re forced to binge-watch “Schitt’s Creek” with a cold can of baked beans. Naturally, these queries can be answered from any number of perspectives: Are food delivery and takeout safe for […]

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Gender-affirming IDs Linked to lower Suicidal Thoughts, Study Finds

A report published in the medical journal The Lancet has found that access to identity documents that align with an individual’s gender identity correlate with lower rates of suicidal thoughts. The research highlights the significance of such gender-congruent IDs, even as Idaho enacts a first-of-its-kind law preventing transgender people from updating their birth certificates. Those who had the ability to change their name and gender marker on birth certificates, driver’s licenses or other forms of identification were 25 percent less likely to experience psychological distress or consider taking their own lives. The research, led by Drexel University’s Dr. Ayden Scheim and […]

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Documenting ICE Incidents During Coronavirus Pandemic

ICE is still arresting and detaining immigrants during this global pandemic. Homeraids have become even more of a risk now that agents know people are self quarantining and social distancing inside. But there are still actions we can take to keep ourselves and our neighbors safe. We teamed up with United We Dream to create a tipsheet on what to document if ICE shows up at your door, and how you can engage your neighbors for support. Knowing your rights and filming might not stop the enforcement in the moment, but it can help you fight your case down the line.  Check out our tipsheet below (available in […]

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Doctor Treating Coronavirus Patients Dies in his Husbands Arms

Two days ago, an emergency-room doctor called Frank Gabrin died in his husband’s arms due to complications from coronavirus – just a week after showing symptoms. Gabrin, 60, who worked at hospitals in New Jersey and New York, had been on the frontlines for two weeks as the number of COVID-19 cases rapidly increased. According to Gabrin’s husband, Arnold Vargas, shortages of personal protective equipment had meant he was forced to reuse face masks and hospital gowns between treating patients. “He was a person who just wanted to help people,” Vargas told Chris Cuomo, who also tested positive for COVID-19 […]

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