Previously, the first results shown when googling the word were videos and images which sexualised lesbian women’s bodies.
This unnecessary sexualisation of lesbians has been cited as one of reasons behind the homophobic abuse many lesbian women experience — including the recent attack on a couple on a London bus.
The search engine’s algorithm has now been changed thanks to a campaign led by the Twitter account @SEO_lesbienne and French news site Num.
They noted that only the word ‘lesbian’ linked to sexualised pages, whereas searching for ‘gay’ or ‘trans’ displayed Wikipedia pages, articles and specialised blogs.
After a few days the banner stopped appearing for lesbian-related search terms, and Google reportedly would not provide an explanation for its disappearance.
When questioned at a later date, Pandu Nayak, Google’s vice president of search engine quality, said: “I find that these [search] results are terrible, there is no doubt about it.
“We are aware that there are problems like this, in many languages and different researches. We have developed algorithms to improve this research, one after the other.”
He noted Google’s prior issues with the words ‘girl’ and ‘teen,’ which also linked to porn sites before algorithm changes were made.
“We have taken measures in cases where, when there is a reason for the word to be interpreted in a non-pornographic way, that interpretation is put forward,” he explained, adding that such structural changes “take time.”
Google has since taken action and as of July 19, the top search results for the term ‘lesbian’ are news articles and the lesbian Wikipedia page. These results will appear even if Safe Search is not active.
Kiki Fantroy was reportedly shot on a street corner near an abandoned home after an argument that turned violent. She was taken to a nearby hospital where she died of her injuries.
Fantroy is mourned by her mother, Rhonda Comer, who remembered her as having “a heart of gold” and being “a very loving person.”
She told the Miami Herald: “This feeling is indescribable. The pain. The void. You know that feeling after losing a child and you losing a child for no apparent reason. Because she’s gay.
“And my understanding, you know, my understanding was she was killed because of her desire to be a woman.”
Fantroy came out as transgender ten years ago while in school. She is said to have loved photography, “slaying” her hair and listening to music.
21-year-old Kiki Fantroy is mourned by her family (Dallas Voice)
Police say they are “making progress” with the investigation but are not treating the murder as a hate crime. Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers is offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to the killer’s arrest and conviction.
“My baby ain’t hurt nobody. My baby, my baby. Please help bring justice to my baby,” Fantroy’s mother begged.
Ongoing “epidemic of violence” against black trans women
“It is clear that fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of colour, and that the intersections of racism, transphobia, sexism, biphobia and homophobia conspire to deprive them of necessities to live and thrive,” said The Human Rights Campaign.
“This epidemic of violence that disproportionately targets transgender people of colour — particularly black transgender women — must cease.”
Actress, model and transgender activist Laverne Cox (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty)
The actress, model and fellow black transgender woman Laverne Cox has discussed the reasons behind this violence.
In an interview on the Buzzfeed News talkshow AM2DM, she said: “Your attraction to me is not a reason to kill me.”
She explained: “There’s this whole myth that trans women are out there tricking people and deserve to be murdered, and that’s not the case.
“There’s been a market for trans women in the realms of dating and sex work for a very long time, we don’t have to trick anyone.”
She also touched on the systemic problems like homelessness, unemployment and lack of access to healthcare which make trans people more susceptible to violence.
After mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that together killed at least 30 people over the weekend, a lawmaker in Ohio blamed the massacres on “homosexual marriage,” “drag queen advocates” and “snowflakes, who can’t accept a duly-elected President,” among other things.
Ohio State Representative Candice Keller.Ohio House of Representatives
Candice Keller is a Republican state representative from Middletown, a small city 30 miles south of Dayton, where a gunman killed at least nine people and wounded 27 others early Sunday. In a now-deleted Facebook post, she wrote: “After every mass shooting, the liberals start the blame game. Why not place the blame where it belongs?”
The post listed reasons Keller thought the United States is grappling with mass shootings, including “the breakdown of the traditional American family,” “homosexual marriage,” “fatherlessness,” “the ignoring of violent video games,” “professional athletes who hate our flag and the National Anthem,” “the relaxing of laws against criminals,” “recreational marijuana,” “Obama” and Democratic members of Congress, among others.
The post ended by saying: “Did I forget anybody? This list is long. And the fury will continue.”
Screenshots of the post were circulated on social media.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, also a Republican, responded to Keller in a tweet Sunday: “No, m’am. The blame belongs to the evil man who killed those people.”
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones, who oversees law enforcement across Keller’s district, is among those calling for her to resign. “Candice Keller should resign at once. Shame shame,” Jones tweeted.
Randy Phillips, president of the Greater Dayton LGBT Center, said Keller’s remarks were hurtful.
“After the tragedy that took place in the city of Dayton, this hurts the community as a whole,” Phillips told NBC News Monday. “But if lawmaker Candice Keller blames gay marriage and the rest of the LGBT community for this issue is misdirecting. It’s embarrassing. If anything, she is more of the problem, not us, the LGBT community.”
Butler County sits just southwest of Dayton. Brian Hester, who serves as chair of Butler’s Democratic Party, described Keller’s comments as symptomatic of larger trends.
“As offensive as Keller’s remarks were, they are nothing more than the ‘worst hits’ of things President Trump has said time and time again,” Hester told NBC News. “If Republicans believe such words shouldn’t be spoken by someone in the Statehouse, why have they been tolerated by one in the White House?”
Keller could not immediately be reached for comment Monday. The voicemail box for a number listed in her name was full.
On Sunday Keller told The Dayton Daily News she posted something to her private, personal Facebook page. When a reporter from the newspaper read the entire statement to her, Keller said it sounded like part of her posting and that she was unsure if it had been altered.
It’s been a busy couple of months for us at Face to Face! First, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Sara Brewer and I am the new Executive Director of Face to Face. Our beloved Rick Dean retired in May after 32 years with the organization. I was fortunate to work alongside Rick and the team in my previous role as the HIV Program Manager at Santa Rosa Community Health, and am so excited for the opportunity to join the team. I am a Petaluma-native, returning home to Sonoma County after 18 years away. My academic background is in Medical Anthropology and International Development, which I studied at the University of Amsterdam and where I stayed to work internationally for several years. This included research and advocacy for affordable HIV and other medications in developing countries, as well as a consultant on supply chain management for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. I am so excited and grateful for the opportunity to work with this incredible team at Face to Face and to return home to contribute to ending HIV in Sonoma County! Even with all the transition, it’s been a smooth couple of months. We have been busy with events, completing another successful Beerfest in June, and preparing for a very special Art for Life in September. We’ll be honoring Rick at this year’s event, and hope you’ll join us in our celebration. We also want to thank the Sonoma Stompers for a fun time and supporting us at their Pride Night, and to the Russian River Sisters for supporting us at July’s Bingo. This year’s support at Gay Wine Weekend’s Sunday Brunch auction was absolutely incredible, with special thanks to our Development Director, Gary Saperstein, for continuing to support Face to Face for so many years through his event. I look forward to meeting you at Art For Life, if not before here in our offices in Santa Rosa. Sara
ART FOR LIFEOur Largest Fundraiser of the Year!Become a Sponsor Today!
Join Face to Face for this very special Art for Life, the longest-running Art Auction to end HIV as we bid farewell to our retiring director Rick Dean, while introducing you to our new Executive Director, Sara Brewer. Join us as we celebrate these two exceptional leaders. Please consider becoming asponsor for Art For Life as this is how we are able to put on this fabulous event and raise the much needed funds to do the work we do on a daily basis. Sponsor details and to sign up are right here.
Are you an Artist here in Sonoma County? We are always looking for new artists to join us at Art For Life. Donate a piece of your work and know that your art is helping people living with HIV in Sonoma County. For details and registration visit the Art For Life Website.
PROGRAM SERVICES UPDATEOnthe cutting edgewith theMAT program,as we continue to anticipate trends and gaps in services, and proactively evolve to meet the needs and demographics of our community.
Sonoma County is facing a public health crisis as the opioid and methamphetamine epidemics fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis, not only through the spread of injecting drugs, but also through risky sexual behaviors associated with drug use. In 2015, we began our Syringe Exchange Program, providing a space where people feel comfortable, without judgement. In addition to providing sterile equipment, we train individuals in overdose prevention, and distribute Naloxone for opioid overdose reversal, saving lives in our community.
We are the most available syringe exchange program in Sonoma County, open 32 hours per week, providing over 350,000 syringes per year free of cost, with free disposal of used syringes. Last year alone, we provided services for over 3,000 people, with more than 2,000 visits to our office. We are uniquely positioned in Sonoma County to provide daily syringe exchange services alongside HIV testing and linkages to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a pill that when taking daily, prevents the transmission of HIV. The demand for these services has grown exponentially, and, in 2017 so did our physical space with the conversion of a former, and largely unused computer lab into a new client meeting and supplies storage room. We have developed trusting relationships with our participants, where they enter a space they are familiar with, are respected, without the requirement that they stop using drugs as a precondition of support. However, we are here to provide support when a person is ready to seek treatment.
Thanks to a 14-month grant from the Sierra Health Foundation in June, we began strengthening our linkage services to medicated assisted treatment (MAT) for people who use opioids, like heroin, fentanyl, and prescription pain relievers thatcontain opiates. MAT is the use of medications like buprenorphine, naltrexone, and methadone, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a whole-person approach to the treatment of opioid use disorders. Research shows that a combination of medication and therapy can successfully treat these disorders, and for some people struggling with substance use, MAT can help sustain recovery.
Participants are supported by a treatment navigator at Face to Face, who provides linkage to care, care coordination, advocacy, and support such as reminders and scheduling. Participants will be able to access a variety of treatment information on a dedicated computer. We will collect valuable data from these services that will allow us to continually improve the quality of our services.Together, we are reducing the spread of HIV in people who use drugs, and ending HIV in Sonoma County.
This summer we’ve been lucky to host a new crop of enthusiastic volunteers to help with our organic garden in Forestville.
“We love having new volunteers, such as the great crew from Medtronic who joined us recently,” said Sorrel Allen, Food For Thought’s Garden Manager. “It’s a joy to see fresh faces tend to the plants and tell us how grounding and fun it is to work with their hands in the dirt!”
We also LOVE our incredible team of existing volunteers. These dedicated gardeners are generous with their time and always helpful in bringing new folks up to speed. Thank you!
“The garden is a beautiful sight to behold right now,” said Sorrel. “It’s a wonderland of rare and beautiful and enormous plants in full bloom!” She explained this year’s abundance is partly due to the heavy spring rains but also to the nearly 20 years of prior garden management that created such happy, healthy soil.
“The garden is also going strong because so many kind people come out and care for it,” Sorrel explained. “It’s really lovely to see our homegrown, healthy ingredients in the soups and salads we serve at our weekly lunch program,” said Sorrel. “We simply couldn’t provide the same amount of food and love without the help of our wonderful volunteers.” Sorrel Allen Garden Manager
With this year’s organic goodness literally tumbling out of the beds, Sorrel welcomes volunteers to help harvest the bounty of cut flowers, culinary herbs, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes (30+ varieties!), summer and winter squash, chard, tomatillos, basil, kale, various other greens, strawberries, rhubarb, peaches, plums, pears, melons, and more! If you would like to volunteer in our garden, contact our Volunteer Coordinator Liv at LivC@FFTfoodbank.org (707) 887-1647 x125.
Board of Directors Officers Elected At its July meeting, Food For Thought’s Board of Directors elected the following officers: 2019-2020 OfficersFood For Thought Board of DirectorsRodney DiMartini PresidentRic GiardinaVice PresidentShan Magnuson Secretary Mark Short Treasurer We also welcome our newest board member, Betty Mullen, HR Director & Accounting Manager at Artizen Staffing. Read more about Food For Thought’s Board of Directors.
Great Deals Await You at Antique Store Closing SaleLast day of business: Sept. 14. Come find delightful discounts and plunging prices at the antique store’s “Closing Forever Sale.” We’re making deals so you can find that just-right treasure for your house or yard. Food For Thought Antiques 2701 Gravenstein Hwy. S., Sebastopol(707) 823-3101 Open daily 11am – 5pm See updates on our Facebook page.
Sign Up for RoundUp App Today!Did you know you can help feed seriously ill people in Sonoma County by simply donating your spare change to our programs? RoundUp App is a great new tool that lets you round up your credit card and debit card purchases to the next whole dollar and donate the extra change to Food For Thought. The app makes it simple to contribute small amounts over time. A dozen Food For Thought staff and Board of Directors members have started using RoundUp App, and they give it a solid thumbs up, telling us it’s easy to sign up for and use. To put your small change to work for our programs and clients, learn more and sign up on our RoundUp App page. Thank you!
I first discovered the work of writer and poet Gil Cuadros at an exhibit on Laura Aguilar at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. Aguilar is a lesbian Chicana artist known for her gorgeous photography that explores identity, the queer body, and the natural world. The exhibit featured an altar Aguilar had constructed honoring Cuadros’ life. Cuadros was a close friend of Aguilar’s until his death in 1996 from AIDS. Aguilar appears in his poem “Bordertowns” about a visit to Tijuana: Laura’s arms are crossed/to sleep, her body/ vibrates from the road. I love the way the poem concerns itself with borders literal and figurative, while also invoking a queer intimacy beyond sexuality: We hardly speak to each other/ but I turn back to see she’s there./ The vendors think we are married/ the way she snaps at me. “Bordertowns” appears in Cuadros’ book, City of God, which is split into short stories and poetry. Although it is his only full-length work, City of God remains an underrated masterpiece of gay Chicano literature.
In City of God, Cuadros fuses past, present, and future to give us his dark vision of what it’s like to be a gay Chicano man in America. Though Cuadros’ importance has been discussed by writers from Justin Torres to Sarah Schulman, he remains widely unread outside academic settings and anthologies of LGBTQ writing from the 1980s. Those who are familiar with his work love it almost to the point of obsession, or as Wanda Coleman wrote, people “accuse him of heart-bashing.” This is why Cuadros is owed a renaissance; his words are simply too beautiful to languish in obscurity. He strips language down to the bone, refusing to protect us from the truth. In doing so he gives readers a rare gift: an unfiltered window into an artist’s mind.
The brevity of Cuadros’ life, and the knowledge that he would soon die, adds a fierce urgency to City of God. He is in the company of visionaries such as David Wojnarowicz, who did not have the luxury of euphemisms or endless time.Here is a man who will not go quietly, who will not forget, who must leave a stain behind. Cuadros’ writing is infected with justified anger; he has watched numerous friends and lovers die, the world around him is apathetic to his pain, and he is haunted by ghosts everywhere he looks. City of God is his attempt to tell his story and bear witness before everything is lost.
Cuadros’ short stories are rooted in his Chicano heritage, drawing on Mexican folklore and mythology. He references Aztlan, the mythical homeland of Aztecs along with other archetypes of indigenous mythology. His writing attempts to reconcile mythology with reality and create a space for queer masculinity in Chicano culture. Reflecting this tension, his stories alternate between realistic and surreal: two young boys smearing strawberries over their naked bodies, a Chicano man acknowledging the racism of his white lover, a ghost that leaves golden coins, a young girl dealing with rape. In his poetry, the surreal is replaced by a bold and explicit physicality of expression. The defiance in these poems is their greatest strength. By refusing to shield the reader, Cuadros manages to capture truth where flowery language cannot:
I am just like any other queer, I’ve sucked down enough come to know that I’m infected. The doctor thumbs my folder looks like my father behind those glasses, and I hold back my tears. He runs his hands down my neck like a lover, checking for swollen glands and even for this he wears gloves.
In this short passage Cuadros includes so much: the failure of the body, intimacy, the pain of stigma, guilt, and self-blame, the family, and beauty even in the worst of moments. Cuadros’ work is filled with passages like these that hold space for a complex mixture of emotions.
The titular “City of God” is Los Angeles, and much like in Samuel Delany’sTimes Square Red, Times Square Blue, the reader gets a rare view of a city through its queer underbelly. The final poem in City of God uses the demise of the Egyptian movie theater, a popular cruising spot, as a metaphor for the decay of the human body. Cuadros captures the excitement of meeting a stranger on the street and having sex in the bathroom of the nearly empty theater, but even in this there are hints of tragedy to come. There’s a nihilism to the poem in the limit of human experience, the futility of being “nameless creatures fucking in plain sight.” Cuadros was one of many artists at the time to note how the destruction of buildings and cultural landmarks in cities paralleled the loss of creative communities due to HIV/AIDS and displacement. “I look like the city. only bare bones of what I used to be,” he writes. In this last poem (entitled “Conquering Immortality”), he includes research on the funeral rites of the Egyptians such as embalming and mummification. These are the grim preoccupations of a man who realizes his morality is imminent. Yet through City of God, he manages to achieve a kind of immorality in his writing. Although he was unfairly robbed of a full life, as a writer Cuadros ensured that his words would survive for generations—bloody, fresh, and demanding to be heard.
The Department of Home Affairs uses Qantas, Australia’s largest airline, to transport asylum seekers between detention centres and for involuntary deportations, often to countries where it is dangerous to be LGBT+.
Rilen Taylor matched with someone on a dating site, but the experience went sour when the match insisted Taylor identify as only one gender, either as a man or as a woman.
“If we were to date, I needed to be a girl,” recalled Taylor, who identifies as both male and female and responds to male pronouns. “I think he misunderstood and thought I was a tomboy.”
Rilen TaylorCourtesy Alexander August
This is just one of many uncomfortable experiences that Taylor — a freckle-faced, off-Broadway actor in New York — has faced as a nonbinary person trying to date in a binary world.
Taylor said most people who contacted him on dating platforms assumed he was a cisgender (non-transgender) woman, even though he described himself as “gender fluid” on his dating profile.
On the primary dating site Taylor used, he had to choose between identifying as either “male” or “female” — something that he said felt limiting and uncomfortable. Hovering over the two options, he ultimately clicked on “female,” the sex he was assigned at birth, but he made it a point to clearly disclose his nonbinary gender identity within his dating profile.
“Along with writing that I enjoy ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ and that my favorite movie is ‘Scream,’ ‘Oh, by the way, here’s some trans 101 on what gender fluid is,’” he said.
Not having a nonbinary gender option on the drop-down menu “didn’t allow me to be upfront,” he said. “I was going to lose either way.”
Despite disclosing his gender identity within his profile, Taylor said “99.9 percent of the time, I was getting messages from men thinking I’m a cisgender woman. Occasionally, I got messages from women who thought I was a lesbian.”
These types of interactions were distressing, defeating and exhausting, Taylor said. One user asked if he had a vagina; another asked if he could have babies; and one, after realizing Taylor is nonbinary, simply wrote “sorry” and then blocked him on the dating site. Thinking back on his online-dating history, Taylor recalled how common it was for people he met online to lose interest as soon as they discovered he is not cisgender.
“If they had an option for me, then I could get it out of the way,” Taylor said.
In fact, a study published last month in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships found more than 87 percent of people would not consider dating a transgender person at all.
“I thought I was going to have to be alone for the rest of my life or settle for mediocrity.”
RILEN TAYLOR
Researchers at Towson University’s Gender and Sexuality Lab interviewed nearly 400 nonbinary people, who were either currently in a romantic relationship or had been in one within the past five years. All of the respondents reported being subjected to experiences within their relationship that attempted to invalidate their gender identity, with some reporting they were only viewed as their sex assigned at birth, as opposed to the gender with which they identify, by their romantic partner.
“By the time you’re in a relationship, you’re there to get a different type of support,” study author and psychologist M. Paz Galupo said. “When you’re used to not being seen as valid and facing discrimination outside of your relationships, relationships can hold so much power and have a potential for healing, because it’s one place where you are truly seen.”
Not being seen as “valid” by a romantic partner can lead to a host of negative effects, including increased symptoms of depression and anxiety, according to the study.
Nearly 15 percent of those surveyed reported their partners would attempt to block forms of social transition, like wearing clothing to express their gender identity, using a new name or getting gender-affirming health care, including hormone replacement therapy to more closely align their body with their gender.
“This is a romantic relationship, and this is where you go to build trust in others,” Galupo said. “If you feel like you can’t communicate or be fully yourself, then you might not feel like you can in your friendships — it’s harder to disclose or navigate outside that relationship.”
‘OUR IDENTITY IS A REAL THING’
The Towson study’s findings don’t come as a surprise to Ericka Hart, an award-winning sexuality educator in New York.
“The world doesn’t value nonbinary and trans folks, and that violence can rear its ugly heads in our relationships,” said Hart, a self-identified “black queer femme activist” who uses both female and gender-neutral pronouns.
Simply put, Hart said the lack of understanding in personal relationships mirrors society’s lack of empathy toward nonbinary individuals.
The extra work and worry can lead to depression and anxiety, she said.
“There are all these precautions they’d have to take to date people, so they can feel safe in their relationships,” she explained. “You can feel like you can’t date or that you’re undesirable.”
She said it’s not unusual for a nonbinary, agender or gender-nonconforming person to ask themselves, “Can I only date other trans people as a trans person?”
Blyss BryantCourtesy Blyss Bryant
Blyss Bryant, 28, a nonbinary resident of Springfield, Missouri, uses gender-neutral pronouns. Because of past experiences, Bryant said they now exclusively date other transgender people.
“They understand that fear of not being accepted, feeling like you have to look a certain way to pass, and how scary it is to tell people about that part of you,” Bryant said.
Bryant said their previous cisgender partner of three months would constantly dismiss their chosen name and pronouns.
“I felt like he wanted to date a guy and not me. It’s invalidating,” they said. “It feels like they don’t see our identity as a real thing.”
‘WHO’S GOING TO LOVE ME?’
Constant rejection by others nearly made Taylor give up on finding a relationship on mainstream dating platforms.
“I felt like who’s going to love me for me with these binary dating sites? I thought I was going to have to be alone for the rest of my life or settle for mediocrity.”
Then, Taylor met his current partner online last year. Within weeks, the two hit it off and began a romantic relationship.
One day, as they sat in the living room of Taylor’s apartment, the two discussed the future of their relationship. Taylor recalled his partner, who is cisgender, turning to him and saying, “I don’t care if society believes we can’t be boyfriends.”
“My stomach dropped,” Taylor said. “It was an affirming and life-shattering moment. What I was to him was a guy, no big deal.”
“I never felt more seen in my life. I’m worthy to be who I am, and it shouldn’t be questioned,” he said. “For someone to affirm my male identity so freely is beautiful.”
The spiritualist self-help guru has made a splash with her left-field interventions during the first rounds of Democratic Presidential TV debates, but her real-life record is stirring controversy.
Williamson gained a following among gay men during the AIDS crisis, co-founding the Los Angeles Center for Living that focused on spiritualism and “non-medical services.”
In a 1992 Los Angeles Times profile about the center, Williamson had claimed: “The AIDS virus is not more powerful than God.”ADVERTISING
In the book, she claimed: “We’re not punished for our sins, but by our sins. Sickness is not a sign of God’s judgment on us, but of our judgment on ourselves… sickness is an illusion and does not actually exist.”
Williamson claimed that “miracles occur when people invoke the power of love in the midst of disease and grief,” adding: “Seeing sickness as our own love that needs to be reclaimed is a more positive approach to healing than is seeing the sickness as something hideous that we must get rid of.”
Marianne Williamson: Think of AIDS as Angels-In-Darth Vader-Suits
She also claimed that AIDS “can be thought of as ‘Angels-In-Darth Vader-Suits,” writing: “Here are some enlightened visualizations: Imagine the AIDS virus as Darth Vader, and then unzip his suit to allow an angel to emerge.
“See the cancer cell or AIDS virus in all its wounded horror, and then see a golden light, or angel, or Jesus, enveloping the cell and transforming it from darkness into light.
“A scream responds best to love. That is when it calms down. That is when it stops.”
Elsewhere in the book Williamson did urge patients to continue seeking medical treatment, adding: “Does that mean that it is a mistake to take medicine? Absolutely not… but the healing doesn’t come from the pill. It comes from our belief.”
However, The Daily Beast writer Jay Michaelson accused her of telling gay men “that they could cure themselves if only they would properly visualise themselves getting well.”
He added: “Williamson and her ilk said that they had the power to heal themselves, science be damned.
“The results were predictable. Some people went off their medication, since taking medicine showed you didn’t really believe that you could cure yourself, and if you lack perfect faith, it’s not going to work. Some even died.”
Michaelson has described Williamson as a “dangerous wacko,” accusing her of promoting “quackery,” junk science and anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories.
The candidate has defended herself on Twitter.
She wrote: “If you ever read an article saying that I told people with AIDS they didn’t have to take their medicine because positive thinking would cure it; or that I ever told people who got sick that negative thinking caused it; please know both those things are complete and utter lies.”
Williamson added: “Let’s state it again. I’m pro medicine. I’m pro science. I’ve never told anyone not to take medicine.”
She added: “The machinery of mischaracterization is in high gear now. Gee, did I upset someone?”
A new campaign is condemning top technology companies, airlines and other major firms for donating to lawmakers with a poor record of supporting LGBT equality.
Sen. Ted Cruz, who has pushed legislation to protect businesses that refuse service to same-sex couples, is one of the top targets, along with other Texans in Congress.
The Zero for Zeros campaign launched ads Tuesday on social media aimed at pressuring Fort Worth-based American Airlines, Google and other companies whose PACs have donated to lawmakers the group deems “anti-gay.”
“These companies are some of the most well-known companies throughout the world and they support LGBT equality in many ways,” Lane Hudson, Zero for Zeros campaign manager, said in a statement. “Their political contributions to the most anti-gay members of Congress do not reflect the values they have expressed to their employees and the public.”
Cruz has received $18,500 from Google, $16,000 from American Airlines, $15,000 from Microsoft and $2,000 from Amazon since 2012, according to Federal Election Commission records. Corporations are allowed to make donations indirectly to federal candidates, through PACs.
All five of the companies received a score of 100 on the 2019 Human Rights Campaign Foundation Corporate Equality Index, which rates workplaces on LGBT equality. The Zero for Zeros campaign argues that given their high scores and apparent sensitivity to such issues, they should stop donating to lawmakers who don’t strongly support LGBT rights.
“American Airlines participates in the political and public policy process in a number of ways, including by making contributions from our political action committee. With respect to the contributions that we make, we don’t agree on every issue with the lawmakers to whom we make contributions, but we fundamentally believe that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect — and equally under the law,” American Airlines spokeswoman Shannon Gilson said in a statement.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down state-level bans on same-sex marriage in June 2015. During his 2016 presidential run, Cruz argued that states should regulate marriage, and he criticized the court’s majority for sweeping aside the bans.
He also showcased bakers and other business owners who faced legal trouble for trying to deny service to gay couples, arguing that their religious freedom had been violated. Following a Supreme Court ruling in favor of one such baker in June 2018, Cruz tweeted, “Today’s Supreme Court decision upholding a Colorado baker’s constitutional right to live according to his faith is a major victory for religious liberty.”ADVERTISING
Gay rights activists blasted Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn for recommending a lifetime federal judgeship for Matthew Kacsmaryk, who defended a bakery that turned away a same-sex couple and voiced opposition to Obergefell vs. Hodges, the landmark 2015 case that legalized same-sex marriage. The Senate confirmed him last month.
Despite his record on such controversies, Cruz also has used his platform to challenge foreign regimes that mistreat gays and lesbians. He has condemned a law in Brunei that punishes gay sex with death by stoning. “This is wrong. It is barbaric. America should condemn this immoral and inhumane law, and everyone should be united against it,” he tweeted in March.
Cruz’s office did not respond to request for comment about the Zero for Zeros campaign.
Other Texans the group is targeting include GOP Reps. Bill Flores, Pete Olson, Randy Weber, Brian Babin and Louie Gohmert. All have received donations from PACs for American, AT&T, Microsoft, Amazon or other major employers.
“It is indeed unfortunate that so many who say they are against hate have become so hateful and intolerant toward Christian beliefs. As a Christian, I believe the definition of marriage given by Moses and again verbatim by Jesus, while I also care about the individuals who believe otherwise,” Gohmert said in a statement.
Gohmert has received $10,500 from American Airlines, $32,000 from AT&T, $7,000 from Microsoft and $4,000 from UPS since 2005.
