Gary Carnivele

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Picketers to Protest US Rep. Scott Peters for Sponsoring Bill to Gut Drug Discounts

A group of 25 to 35 HIV/AIDS and drug pricing advocates, including many from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), will stage a protest and picket line in front of the district office (4350 Executive Drive, Suite 105 in San Diego) of San Diego Congressman Scott Peters (D-CA, 52nd District) today Dec. 28 at 1:45 p.m. to denounce and protest his recent introduction of federal legislation that would severely curtail nonprofit hospitals’ participation in a federally-administered drug discount program that costs the government and taxpayers nothing, and which was specifically created to extend the lifeline of care and services that safety net hospitals and providers are able to deliver. Peters, a San Diego Democrat, co-sponsored the bill with Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN).

Peters, who has served in Congress since 2013, has taken more than $100,000 in contributions from the drug industry and biotech companies during his tenure. He introduced the bill, (H.R. 4710) which stops additional hospitals from participating in the 340B drug pricing discount program, on the Friday before Christmas with little public notice or input.

“Congressman Peters has taken well over $100,000 from pharma and biotech companies during his tenure in Congress, placing drug company profits over the health and wellbeing of his own constituents,” said Tracy Jones, National Director of Advocacy Campaigns for AHF. “His bill will make it much harder for nonprofit hospitals to participate in a program that provides more care—and costs the federal government nothing—in order to make his pharma donors and friends richer. Peters’ bill strangles hospitals with useless red tape, which will undoubtedly mean they will use the program less. Peters all but introduced this bill under cover of darkness on the Friday right before the Christmas holiday. He’s the Grinch who gave America a lump of coal, and drug companies even more money on top of their fat tax cut.”

Notably, there is also no mention or press release about H.R. 4710 on the congressman’s official website.

“Normally, when Members of Congress introduce bills, they trumpet the accomplishment in order to grab headlines and demonstrate to the public and their constituents that they are getting things done. Congressman Peters’ webpage features a lot of that,” said Tom Myers, General Counsel and Chief of Public Affairs for AHF. “However, there is nothing anywhere on his website for this bill, which suggests he is not proud of it. He likely knows it is bad policy and will not be popular, and that people will recognize that he is doing the bidding of pharma.”

 

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2017 Gay Travel Award Winners Revealed

GayTravel.com today announced the winners of the 2017 Gay Travel Awards.

The mission of the Gay Travel Awards is to recognize and promote select LGBTQ welcoming properties, events, destinations and travel-related companies around the globe. These distinguished organizations lead by example and help to inspire other companies and brands around the world to follow their spirit of inclusiveness and acceptance.

This year, the 23 winners were selected from over 100 nominees. The Gay Travel Awards support and promote LGBTQ travel and tourism by identifying and rewarding select organizations which exemplify a spirit of inclusiveness, acceptance, exemplary customer service and hospitality excellence.

Stephen Prisco, Vice President, GayTravel.com

“The Gay Travel Awards support and promote LGBTQ travel and tourism by identifying and rewarding select organizations which exemplify a spirit of inclusiveness, acceptance, exemplary customer service and hospitality excellence,” said Stephen Prisco, Vice President of this year’s sponsor, GayTravel.com.

A complete list of this year’s categories and winners are listed alphabetically below:

Bed & Breakfast of the Year – Worthington Guesthouse – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Car Rental – Advantage Rent A Car
Casino Resort – Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, FL
Destination Domestic – Orlando, FL
Destination International – Vienna
Fan Favorite Hotel – Nikki Beach Resort Koh Samui
Gay Bar of the Year – Palace Bar – Miami Beach, FL
Gay Pride of the Year – New York City
Hotel Collection of the Year – Starwood Hawaii
Hotel Luxury, Europe – St. James’ Court, London
Hotel Luxury, Mexico – The St. Regis Mexico City
Hotel Luxury, US – Rancho Valencia – Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Hotel, Wedding Resort – Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island
LGBT Cruise Operator – Atlantis
LGBT Tour Operator – Toto Tours
LGBT Travel Agency – Cruising with Pride
Ocean Cruise Line – Royal Caribbean International
Romantic Hotel or Resort – Castlehotel Schönburg
Spa of the Year – Meadowood Napa Valley
Summer Event – Gay Wine Weekend
Travel App – Hopper
Value Hotel – Doubletree by Hilton Orlando Downtown
Winter Event – Whistler Pride

GayTravel connects the LGBTQ community with gay-friendly destinations, hotels, cruises, tours, events, entertainment, attractions, clubs and restaurants throughout the world. Their mission is to provide the community with safe, welcoming and unique recommendations to ensure that every vacation is both pleasurable and memorable.

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HRC Announces New Staff for 2018 HRC Rising Effort

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has announced key national and in-state staff to lead HRC Rising, a bold, proactive grassroots campaign to accelerate progress in states from coast-to-coast, resist the politics of hate, fight anti-LGBTQ legislation, and fuel pro-equality candidates and initiatives in 2018, 2020 and beyond.

HRC has begun recruiting at least 45 full-time political, field, grassroots organizing, volunteer engagement, communications, and digital staff for this earliest, largest grassroots deployment in its 37-year history. Today, HRC announced the first 12 staff, who will join more than two dozen existing staff working on the HRC Rising initiative. They will immediately begin working with HRC’s 32 existing, volunteer-led, local steering committees to expand local partnerships, recruit volunteers, mobilize constituents, register voters and grow the organization’s grassroots army to flex political muscle in legislatures and at the ballot box.

In Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, HRC is making an especially strong, early push to organize against the Trump-Pence agenda and support pro-equality candidates in coming elections. Newly hired State Managers will manage state staff and volunteers, and work with state and local organizations and partners in coalition to bolster efforts to advance equality, defend the LGBTQ community against attacks, and deliver wins for pro-equality candidates in order to lay the groundwork for future legislative victories. As part of HRC Rising, HRC will also expand its public education and programmatic initiatives to raise awareness about the scope and consequences of inequality and engage a broader swath of the public in our efforts to empower and improve the lives of LGBTQ people everywhere.  This will include education about the lack of federal non-discrimination protections that leave LGBTQ people in 31 states at risk of being fired, denied housing, and denied services for who they are or whom they love.

The launch of HRC Rising comes after a year in which HRC significantly expanded its grassroots engagement and proved that the ten million LGBTQ voters in America — five percent of all voters — are one of the most important and effective voting blocs in the nation. Over the last year, HRC has refined its digital outreach, organizing and targeting, including the development of an “Equality Support” model. HRC can now target with a high degree of accuracy not only LGBTQ voters but allies — “equality voters” — who are likely to oppose candidates who attack the civil rights of LGBTQ people.

“The defeat of Pat McCrory in North Carolina and Roy Moore in Alabama show anti-equality politicians everywhere that ‘Equality Voters’ are a powerful voting bloc that can determine elections,” said JoDee Winterhof, HRC Senior Vice President of Policy and Political Affairs. “With so much at stake in 2018, it was more important than ever for us to make this crucial investment in on-the-ground staff a year before the election. Their work mobilizing, activating and harnessing the energy of our grassroots army of more than three million members will truly make the difference come November, and we’re excited for them to join the team as we enter the next stage in the fight for full LGBTQ equality.”

Geoff Wetrosky, former National Campaign Manager for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), has been named Campaign Director for HRC Rising. Wetrosky has a decade’s worth of on-the-ground experience working on Democratic presidential, gubernatorial, US Senate, US House, and municipal-level campaigns in 11 different states. Long-time HRC Senior Regional Field Director Lynne Bowman, who has overseen HRC’s field efforts in the midwest and northeast since 2012, and Jonathan Shields, who helped lead HRC’s election efforts in North Carolina and across the country in 2016, have joined Wetrosky as Deputy Campaign Directors. Wes Schrock, who most recently built and executed the Democratic Party’s national volunteer program for Virginia’s 2017 elections, is serving as Campaign Coordinator.

HRC also announced four State Managers: Pennsylvania State Manager Allison VanKuiken, Ohio State Manager Shawn Copeland, Wisconsin State Manager Wendy Strout, and Nevada State Manager Briana Escamilla. HRC is also hiring state managers in Arizona and Michigan, who will be on board early next year.

VanKuiken, the former deputy field director for Pennsylvania Competes, joins the team after serving as Equality California’s program director and brings extensive campaign experience in state races in Michigan. Copeland comes to HRC after years leading field campaigns in Ohio for organizations including the Progressive Turnout PAC, NextGen Climate Ohio and Equality Ohio. Strout has deep experience in Wisconsin’s nonprofit advocacy world, building Emerge America’s statewide program in Wisconsin, and most recently leading field work for the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. Escamilla joins HRC from the League of Conservation Voters, where she was Nevada field director, and has also worked for the Nevada State Assembly and the State Democratic Party.

The state managers will manage incoming regional organizing leads, oversee statewide recruitment, cultivate and train volunteer leaders, and mobilize  “Equality Voters” ahead of crucial 2018 elections in their states.

HRC is also expanding its digital and communications operations, with staff dedicated to strategic work supporting these in-state teams. Ianthe Metzger, who previously worked at HRC, is leading communications for the six priority states. Prior to rejoining the team she worked at the PR firm BerlinRosen where her clients included Planned Parenthood, the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Democratic Attorneys General Association. Senior Manager of Online Strategy Jacob Shlomo and social organizers Curtis Clinch and Charles Girard will be expanding HRC’s digital communication with members in the six priority states. Shlomo most recently worked at digital strategy firm Mothership Strategies, Girard comes from the HRC Foundation’s Welcoming School program, and Clinch has an extensive background in public relations and marketing for nonprofits.

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Teens Exposed to Drug Use, Mental Distress, Violence at Risk for HIV in Adulthood

The psychological and social risks that adolescents experience can have a lasting impact on adulthood.
When those risks include drug use, mental distress and exposure to violence, they may engage in unsafe sexual behavior that increases their chance of HIV infection, according to a new longitudinal study by the University of Michigan.
“Our findings support the notion that the increasing frequency of psychosocial risk factors experienced during adolescence may have effects on HIV risk behaviors decades later,” said study lead author David Cordova, U-M assistant professor of social work.
Cordova and colleagues conducted the study from September 1994 to May 2013 in Flint, Mich. The participants involved 850 students, mainly African-American, who were asked about their sexual behaviors, mental health, being a victim or witness of violence, and social conditions (family, peer and community factors) beginning at age 14. They were assessed six times during the study until age 32.
One out of four respondents who had a relatively higher frequency of co-occurring psychological and social risk as adolescents were more likely to report unprotected sex with recent partners, as well as sexual intercourse with someone they just met in adulthood.
In addition, they were more likely to use illegal drugs prior to sex, and had at least four sexual partners. This segment was more vulnerable to HIV risk than those who were part of the low frequency of risk group, which had fewer instances of drug use, violence and mental distress during adolescence.
Since the study mainly involved African-American respondents, the findings may not be generalized to all adolescent populations, Cordova said.
The paper’s other authors are U-M researchers Justin Heinze, Hsing-Fang Hsieh, Ritesh Mistry and Marc Zimmerman; Christopher Salas-Wright of Boston University; and Stephanie Cook of New York University.
The findings appear in the journal AIDS.

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AT&T wireless Agreement Extends Gender Identity Protections to Tens of Thousands of Workers

Over 21,000 AT&T wireless workers have reached a precedent-setting tentative agreement that, in addition to curbing outsourcing and raising pay, wins the widest-reaching protections for transgender employees of any telecom industry contract. The tentative agreement, secured by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), provides the first-ever enforceable protections against discrimination based on gender identity in 16 states where no statewide non-discrimination law covering this category exists—proving the power of union bargaining in addressing workplace discrimination in all forms.

The tentative agreement – which also includes the first-ever commitment that AT&T will send a guaranteed percentage of customer service calls to union-represented call centers, rather than contractors – is enforceable across the 36 states covered by CWA’s bargaining unit. Many of these states have laws in place allowing companies to terminate employees for their gender identity or expression. In a bold step to address this inequity, the agreement’s language establishes full LBTGQ protections that provides a vital supplement to anti-discrimination laws by outlining a clear process for redressing discrimination through the union grievance and arbitration process.

“We stand in solidarity and unity with LGBTQ members of the CWA family. Their fight for equality and a workplace free of discrimination and harassment is our fight too and we are proud to carry the torch on their behalf,” said Dennis G. Trainor, Vice President of CWA District One. “This contract shines a light on the union power to drive progress—proving that no problem is too daunting to go unchallenged. Let this be a signal to opponents of LGBTQ equality, who are nearly always opponents of workers’ rights too: we stand strong together and will tear down all obstacles to full equality.”

According to the U.S. Transgender Survey conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality, the unemployment rate for transgender people is three times the national average and nearly 1 in 3 transgender people who had worked in the previous year reported mistreatment on the job that was directly related to their gender identity or expression. Unions play a key role in reversing this trend in states and among companies lacking comprehensive non-discrimination policies.

CWA has historically stood up for LGBTQ people in the workplace by pushing massive corporations to adopt more progressive and inclusive workplace policies. In 2013, CWA endorsed public and private trans-inclusive health insurance coverage. In 2015, CWA broadly endorsed a resolution to support comprehensive civil rights legislation to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in employment, housing, credit, education, government-funded activities and public accommodations and resolved “to be active in the struggle for equality inside and outside the workplace until all barriers to full participation in society are removed.”

In addition to the new AT&T wireless agreement, CWA has negotiated gender identity protections in other AT&T contracts covering wireline workers in the Southeast and in a legacy national contract.

“This contract shows a real commitment to the dignity and respect of working people, specifically transgender working people—a community that has long fought for equality in the workplace,” said Jerame Davis, executive director of Pride@Work, a nonprofit organization that represents LGBTQ union members and their allies. “CWA is a strong ally in the fight for LGBTQ equality and has demonstrated that by negotiating this provision that makes it possible for thousands of AT&T workers to go to work knowing they have affirmative protection against discrimination or retribution—many for the very first time. Unions have long fought for economic, social and workplace equality and, CWA has always been a leader among union in the fight for LGBTQ equality.”

CWA’s tentative agreement with AT&T provides 10.1% in raises over the course of the contract and shifts $2,500 from commission to base pay for retail workers. Under the new agreement, AT&T wireless retail workers would be paid an average $19.20 per hour by the end of the four-year contract, about 74% more than the national average pay for retail workers. This comes as a recent report by the Center for Popular Democracy finds that only 8% of U.S. retail workers are paid at least $15/hour, have paid leave and full-time hours.

For the first time at any wireless company in the country, workers have won guaranteed customer service work at U.S. call centers, representing an 80% increase in the share of total call volume over the current levels. AT&T wireless workers have also won first-time job security protections that require AT&T to find them a new job if their call center or retail store closes. Combined with better, more stable pay and reduced intrusive surveillance at work, the proposed agreement dramatically improves the quality of workers’ lives on the job.

Over the last 11 months, workers mobilized in 36 states and DC – holding rallies and picket lines and demanding AT&T invest in its workforce, protect the basic promise of high-quality customer service, and reverse offshoring and outsourcing with a fair contract. In May, AT&T wireless workers escalated their fight and walked off the job in a 3-day strike, forcing AT&T to close hundreds of retail stores across the country.

All 21,000 AT&T wireless workers will be voting on the proposed agreement by January 12.

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Check out the LGBTQ-inclusive films and docs coming to Sundance 2018

Photo Credit: Sundance / A Kid Like Jake

The 2018 Sundance Film Festival lineup of features was announced today, with announcements on short films and other arts coming soon. The festival will take place January 18-28, 2018 in Park City, Utah, and tickets are on sale now.

Sundance has long been a stand out as one of the most LGBTQ-inclusive of the mainstream film festivals. Previous years have included the premieres or screenings of great films and documentaries including Call Me By Your Name, Pariah, Keep the Lights On, Dope, Other People, Bayard & Me, God’s Own Country, Kiki, Spa Night, and many more.

Below, check out the LGBTQ-inclusive films and documentaries coming to Sundance this year. These are listed in alphabetical order, and synopses are taken directly from the Sundance program. We will update this post as further announcements are made.

Believer / U.S.A. (Director: Don Argott, Producers: Heather Parry, Sheena M. Joyce, Robert Reynolds) — Imagine Dragons’ Mormon frontman Dan Reynolds is taking on a new mission to explore how the church treats its LGBTQ members. With the rising suicide rate amongst teens in the state of Utah, his concern with the church’s policies sends him on an unexpected path for acceptance and change. World Premiere

The Catcher Was a Spy/ U.S.A. (Director: Ben Lewin, Screenwriter: Robert Rodat, Producers: Kevin Frakes, Tatiana Kelly, Buddy Patrick, Jim Young) — The true story of Moe Berg – professional baseball player, Ivy League graduate, attorney who spoke nine languages – and a top-secret spy for the OSS who helped the U.S. win the race against Germany to build the atomic bomb. Cast: Paul Rudd, Mark Strong, Sienna Miller, Jeff Daniels, Guy Pearce, Paul Giamatti. World Premiere

Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot / U.S.A. (Director: Gus Van Sant, Screenwriters: Gus Van Sant (screenplay), John Callahan (biography), Producers: Charles-Marie Anthonioz, Mourad Belkeddar, Steve Golin, Nicolas Lhermitte) — John Callahan has a talent for off-color jokes…and a drinking problem. When a bender ends in a car accident, Callahan wakes permanently confined to a wheelchair. In his journey back from rock bottom, Callahan finds beauty and comedy in the absurdity of human experience. Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, Jack Black. World Premiere

The Happy Prince / Germany, Belgium, Italy (Director and screenwriter: Rupert Everett) — The last days of Oscar Wilde—and the ghosts haunting them—are brought to vivid life. His body ailing, Wilde lives in exile, surviving on the flamboyant irony and brilliant wit that defined him as the transience of lust is laid bare and the true riches of love are revealed. Cast: Colin Firth, Emily Watson, Colin Morgan, Edwin Thomas, Rupert Everett. World Premiere

Hearts Beat Loud /U.S.A. (Director: Brett Haley, Screenwriters: Brett Haley, Marc Basch, Producers: Houston King, Sam Bisbee, Sam Slater) — In Red Hook, Brooklyn, a father and daughter become an unlikely songwriting duo in the last summer before she leaves for college. Cast:Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons, Ted Danson, Sasha Lane, Blythe Danner, Toni Collette. World Premiere

A Kid Like Jake / U.S.A. (Director: Silas Howard, Screenwriter: Daniel Pearle, Producers: Jim Parsons, Todd Spiewak, Eric Norsoph, Paul Bernon, Rachel Song) — As married couple Alex and Greg navigate their roles as parents to a young son who prefers Cinderella to G.I. Joe, a rift grows between them, one that forces them to confront their own concerns about what’s best for their child, and each other. Cast: Claire Danes, Jim Parsons, Octavia Spencer, Priyanka Chopra, Ann Dowd, Amy Landecker. World Premiere

Lizzie / U.S.A. (Director: Craig William Macneill, Screenwriter: Bryce Kass, Producers: Naomi Despres, Liz Destro) — Based on the 1892 murder of Lizzie Borden’s family in Fall River, MA, this tense psychological thriller lays bare the legend of Lizzie Borden to reveal the much more complex, poignant and truly terrifying woman within — and her intimate bond with the family’s young Irish housemaid, Bridget Sullivan. Cast: Chloë Sevigny, Kristen Stewart, Jamey Sheridan, Fiona Shaw, Kim Dickens, Denis O’Hare. World Premiere

The Miseducation of Cameron Post / U.S.A. (Director: Desiree Akhavan, Screenwriters: Desiree Akhavan, Cecilia Frugiuele, Producers: Cecilia Frugiuele, Jonathan Montepare, Michael B. Clark, Alex Turtletaub) — 1993: after being caught having sex with the prom queen, a girl is forced into a gay conversion therapy center. Based on Emily Danforth’s acclaimed and controversial coming-of-age novel. Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Sasha Lane, Forrest Goodluck, John Gallagher Jr., Jennifer Ehle. World Premiere

Quiet Heroes/ U.S.A. (Director: Jenny Mackenzie, Co-Directors: Jared Ruga, Amanda Stoddard, Producers: Jenny Mackenzie, Jared Ruga, Amanda Stoddard) — In Salt Lake City, Utah, the socially conservative religious monoculture complicated the AIDS crisis, where patients in the entire state and intermountain region relied on only one doctor. This is the story of her fight to save a maligned population everyone else seemed willing to just let die. World Premiere

Skate Kitchen / U.S.A. (Director: Crystal Moselle, Screenwriters: Crystal Moselle, Ashlihan Unaldi, Producers: Lizzie Nastro, Izabella Tzenkova, Julia Nottingham, Matthew Perniciaro, Michael Sherman, Rodrigo Teixeira) — Camille’s life as a lonely suburban teenager changes dramatically when she befriends a group of girl skateboarders. As she journeys deeper into this raw New York City subculture, she begins to understand the true meaning of friendship as well as her inner self. Cast: Rachelle Vinberg, Dede Lovelace, Jaden Smith, Nina Moran, Ajani Russell, Kabrina Adams. World Premiere

STUDIO 54 / U.S.A. (Director: Matt Tyrnauer, Producers: Matt Tyrnauer, John Battsek, Corey Reeser) — Studio 54 was the pulsating epicenter of 1970s hedonism: a disco hothouse of beautiful people, drugs, and sex. The journeys of Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell — two best friends from Brooklyn who conquered New York City — frame this history of the “greatest club of all time.” World Premiere

White Rabbit / U.S.A. (Director: Daryl Wein, Screenwriters: Daryl Wein, Vivian Bang, Producers: Daryl Wein, Vivian Bang) —A dramatic comedy following a Korean American performance artist who struggles to be authentically heard and seen through her multiple identities in modern Los Angeles. Cast: Vivian Bang, Nana Ghana, Nico Evers-Swindel, Tracy Hazas, Elizabeth Sung, Michelle Sui. World Premiere

The 2018 Sundance Film Festival will take place in Park City, Utah from January 18-28. Find out more and keep up to date with announcements on Twitter at @SundanceFest.

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Catholic Bishops Tell Parents to Reject Their Transgender Kids

Catholic Bishops in the US are behind a new campaign encouraging parents to reject their transgender children.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a letter this week that brands transgender people “deeply troubling” and claims that changing gender is a “false idea”.

There is nothing in the Bible about transgender people or changing gender, but the Bishops have called for parents to refuse to allow kids to transition.

Studies have shown that an unaccepting or stifling environment drastically increases the likelihood that transgender youths will attempt suicide.

The letter says: “Children especially are harmed when they are told that they can ‘change’ their sex or, further, given hormones that will affect their development and possibly render them infertile as adults.

“Parents deserve better guidance on these important decisions, and we urge our medical institutions to honor the basic medical principle of ‘first, do no harm’.

“Gender ideology harms individuals and societies by sowing confusion and self-doubt.

“The state itself has a compelling interest, therefore, in maintaining policies that uphold the scientific fact of human biology and supporting the social institutions and norms that surround it. “

The letter adds: “The movement today to enforce the false idea—that a man can be or become a woman or vice versa—is deeply troubling.

“It compels people to either go against reason—that is, to agree with something that is not true—or face ridicule, marginalization, and other forms of retaliation.

“We desire the health and happiness of all men, women, and children. Therefore, we call for policies that uphold the truth of a person’s sexual identity as male or female, and the privacy and safety of all.

“We hope for renewed appreciation of the beauty of sexual difference in our culture and for authentic support of those who experience conflict with their God-given sexual identity.”

It also says: “We also believe that God created each person male or female; therefore, sexual difference is not an accident or a flaw—it is a gift from God that helps draw us closer to each other and to God. What God has created is good.

“God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

The advice is particularly harmful to families with transgender children, and represents a giant leap by the USCCB to a position that does not appear to be based on any scripture or pre-existing Catholic teaching.

Earlier this year a number of Catholic organisations were accused of censoring a priest who has called for the church to reach out to LGBT people.

Rev. James Martin, a highly-respected Jesuit priest, is the author of recently-published book Building a Bridge, which sets out a framework for the Catholic Church to begin to engage with the LGBT community with “respect, compassion and sensitivity”.

In the book, the priest draws on the Christian ideals of “respect, compassion, and sensitivity” as a model for how the Catholic Church should relate to the LGBT community, igniting anger from the anti-LGBT lobby which is dominant within the church.

In the wake of the book’s publication, hardline opponents of LGBT equality within the Church began a campaign targeting Rev. Martin – successfully convincing a string of global Catholic organisations to cancel planned events where he had been due to speak about unrelated subjects.

The Theological College in Washington DC, where the priest was due to give a lecture about the Bible, abruptly cancelled the event last week, after conservatives raised issues with Rev. Martin’s beliefs on LGBT issues.

The Order of the Holy Sepulchre in New York also cancelled a lecture by Rev. Martin, confirming that his invite “was in fact rescinded”.

Rev. Martin had also been set to travel to London to deliver the 2017 lecture for Cafod, the overseas aid agency of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.

After the backlash the event was shelved entirely, with Martin confirming that “cancellation of the 2017 Cafod lecture, scheduled for October, was out of fears of the backlash to my book”.

In a statement to PinkNews Cafod claimed that the 2017 lecture was actually just ‘postponed’ until next year for scheduling reasons and that an invitation “still stands” for Rev. Martin to speak in future.

This is somewhat incongruous given Cafod supplied a completely different statement to the Catholic Herald that confirmed it had been “considering” the future of the event due to “strength of feeling [Martin’s book] generated in some quarters”.

In a statement, Rev. Martin said: “I want to say that I bear no ill will whatsoever to Cafod, the Order of the Holy Sepulchre or Theological College. All of them are fine Catholic institutions that serve, in their different ways, the People of God.”

He added: “One of the many sad ironies of this episode has been that in each case the local ordinary was perfectly fine with my speaking – in London, New York and DC.

“Yet those who decided on the cancellations were ultimately influenced more by fear of protests and negative publicity than by the opinions of their ordinaries, in each case a cardinal.

“The situations were so terrifically fraught with fear for these organizations: fear of protests, fear of violence, fear of bad publicity, fear of angry donors, fear of lost donations, fear of offending, and on and on.

“When two of the organizers called me, I could hear the anguish in their voices.”

Addressing the anti-LGBT activists who had waged a campaign against him, he added: “So what do we do?

“Don’t give into them. To me, that’s an important lesson of the past few days. Don’t let them cow you.

“They’re like schoolyard bullies that keep taunting you? Well, you’re not 12 any longer. They can’t hurt you.

“And why let fear run your organization? It’s a sure way to disaster. And the PR from cancelling something is always worse. Don’t let them run things in your organization.”

He added: “If they are angry people, their anger comes from somewhere, which is ultimately sadder for them than for you. If they have a visceral hatred for LGBT people, it probably comes from a discomfort with their own complex sexuality, which is also sadder for them. ‘Hurt people hurt people’, as the saying goes.

“Often these sites or groups or individuals feel that they are being prophetic: i.e.,pointing out your supposed sins, completely contrary to Jesus’s command not to judge.

“Even more often, that prophecy morphs into pure hatred and obvious contempt and endless name calling. It’s called spite. But that doesn’t mean you yourself have to move towards hatred. That would be giving into the Evil Spirit.”

Others have been less forgiving.

Writing in America Magazine, San Diego Bishop Robert W. McElroy lashed out at those who had sought to censor Rev. Martin.

He wrote: “There has arisen both in Catholic journals and on social media a campaign to vilify Father Martin, to distort his work, to label him heterodox, to assassinate his personal character and to annihilate both the ideas and the dialogue that he has initiated.

“This campaign of distortion must be challenged and exposed for what it is—not primarily for Father Martin’s sake but because this cancer of vilification is seeping into the institutional life of the church.

“Already, several major institutions have canceled Father Martin as a speaker. Faced with intense external pressures, these institutions have bought peace, but in doing so they have acceded to and reinforced a tactic and objectives that are deeply injurious to Catholic culture in the United States and to the church’s pastoral care for members of the L.G.B.T. communities.”

Surprisingly, the active censorship of Rev. Martin has not aroused protests from any of the ‘free speech’ campaigners who have sprung up to defend far-right speakers on college campuses.

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The Spahr Center Marin Shares It’s 2017 Fundraising Highlights & More

AIDS Walk
July was AIDS Walk time for all of us at The Spahr Center. Thanks to the efforts of our board and staff, we raised over $20,000 to support HIV prevention and education in schools and the community. Many thanks to everyone who donated to make this fundraising event a huge success!
Academy of Friends Gala
The Spahr Center participated in The Academy of Friends Gala in February and we received a $10,000 grant at their awards ceremony.
New Grants
Innovation Grant
We received a $50,000 Innovations grant from the Marin County’s Behavioral Health Department in November to support LGBTQ youth and young adults in building community. This is the first grant The Spahr Center, or our predecessors, have received from the Behavioral Health Department. The funds will be renewed next July and extend to June 2019.
We also received our first grant from The Horizons Foundation in November for $5000 to support working with LGBT seniors.
Our new website!!
We hope everyone has had a chance to check out our new website. If not, we hope you will visit it soon – www.thespahrcenter.org. You can find the link for the calendar of events at the top on the right. Please let Bri know about events to be posted. She can be reached at 415-457-2487 x115 or email her at bsilva@thespahrcenter.org. 
LGBT Senior Notes and News
 
The LGBT Senior Steering Committee formed as the outgrowth of our Senior Needs Assessment Lunch in October 2016. The committee divided in two, one group focusing on LBGT social activities and the other on program and service needs and fundraising.
Four LGBT senior luncheons were held at The Marin Yacht Club. The new LGBT Social Committee expanded the format to include music, dancing and a raffle. Committee members are now welcoming new people to be sure everyone feels included.
Nancy Flaxman conducted two cultural competence trainings, one in the spring for Marin County’s Older Adults Department and one in the fall at WhistleStop. Buz Hermes also did a training for an Older Adults conference in June. We also contracted with Buz to lead an eight week workshop on Aging Gayfully.
We are now offering a Senior LGBT exercise group here at The Spahr Center!  Group meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays.  Check it out on our calendar here
June PRIDE Picnic
We held a Marin Pride Picnic in June, co-sponsored by The Microsoft Store at The Village Mall in Corte Madera and The Kaiser Community Benefit Fund. The picnic was attended by by over 100 LGBTQ community members and allies.  U.S. Representative Jared Huffman, Supervisor Damon Connolly and Bob Harmon of ACLU’s Marin Chapter, Janie Spahr and Floyd Tompkins spoke.
Board Notes
The board held a day-long retreat in September to outline goals for the next several years. Their primary focus is on increasing funding for LGBTQ programs and the costs of general administration including rent, operating costs and administrative staff.
Thank you to our Supporters for helping make this Holiday season inclusive for all our clients
At Thanksgiving, we provided Holiday bags with a turkey and trimmings for over 40 of our HIV+ clients and their families.


We held a Holiday Tea for LGBT seniors at WhistleStop on December 12th and a holiday party for HIV+ clients in The Spahr Center’s community room on December 20th.
Lastly
We close the year with a beginning. We’re forming a new, collaborative relationship with Marin Community Clinics as they begin providing HIV medical care for patients transferring from the county’s clinic which will close January 24th.

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Family Judge ‘Breached Ethics Rules’ by Refusing to Approve Adoptions by Gay Couples

A judge violated ethics rules by insisting he did not want to oversee same-sex adoptions, officials have concluded.

Judge Mitchell Nance, who presides over family court in Kentucky’s 43rd Judicial District, caused a storm earlier this year after he banned cases involving gay families from his courtroom.

Judge Nance’s order registered an “conscientious objection to the concept of adoption of a child by a practising homosexual”, seeking to recuse himself from such cases on the grounds of “matters of conscience”.

The judge claimed he cannot hear the cases because he believes there is no circumstance in which “the best interest of the child [would] be promoted by the adoption by a practicing homosexual”.

A probe into his conduct by the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission this week established that he had violated ethics rules.

The judge was handed a reprimand, having already confirmed that he will ‘voluntarily’ resign from the bench over the row.

The state judicial commission had pursued ethics charges against Nance, accusing him of violating the judicial code of conduct.

This bars judges from overtly “showing bias or prejudice based on race, sex, religion, national origin, disability, age, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status”.

He was also accused of failing to act in a way that “promotes public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary”.

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Responding to the charges previously, Nance’s lawyers confirmed that he would be resigning rather than face punishment.

His resignation was effective December 16, according to the Lexington Herald Leader.

The complaint against the judge was pursued by the Fairness Campaign, a Kentucky LGBT group. It was joined by Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kentucky and University of Louisville Law Professor Sam Marcosson.

Speaking to the Herald Leader, Chris Hartman of the Fairness Campaign said: “I think that we’ve got justice here

“Judge Nance has proven he cannot be entrusted with decisions that affect his diverse constituency and their families.

“I hope it sends a message that fairness and justice must be applied equally, and that judges whose conscience conflicts with their duties must resign the bench if they cannot deliver that basic fairness and justice.”

The judge had insisted previously that he had not discriminated against gay couples because the order was “preemptive”.

The judge explained he wanted to make clear in advance that he would not take such cases, adding: “It’s preemptive in nature… I wanted to preempt there from being any uncertainty if the situation arose.”

Judge Nance was backed by anti-LGBT groups.

The anti-LGBT Family Foundation of Kentucky said: “If we are going to let liberal judges write their personal biases and prejudices into law, as we have done on issues of marriage and sexuality, then, in the interest of fairness, we are going to have to allow judges with different views to at least recuse themselves from such cases.

“When adoption agencies abandon the idea that it is in the best interest of a child to grow up with both a mother and a father, people can’t expect judges who do believe that to be forced to bow the knee.”

The group insisted the judge was correct to “recuse himself if he believes his views might bias a cas.

It added: “We can’t imagine how the groups now trying to unseat him claim to be in favor of tolerance and diversity while at the same time trying to hound from office public officials who don’t agree with their politically correct ideology.”

“If the Judicial Ethics Commission rules against Nance, it will be the second time in recent months which it has ruled against a judge for doing what the law requires judges to do.”

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Appeals Court Blocks Trump Administration’s Attempt to Delay Enlistment of Transgender Service Members

A federal appeals court has denied the Trump administration’s request to further delay enlistment of new transgender service members in the armed forces. The ruling comes in the American Civil Liberties Union’s case, Stone v. Trump.

The trial court prohibited the government from implementing President Trump’s unconstitutional ban on transgender people serving in the military on November 21. Two other federal district courts have entered similar injunctions, and the government has filed motions to stay those injunctions before three federal courts of appeals. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is the first court of appeals to rule on the stay requests.

Josh Block, senior staff attorney with the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project, had this reaction:

“We are happy that the court saw through the government’s smokescreen and rejected its request to further delay the policy allowing transgender people to enlist. The military has already developed comprehensive guidance to prepare for a January 1 start date, and the government failed to offer any credible reason why transgender people should be barred from enlisting if they can meet the same rigorous standards that apply to everyone else.”

The order can be viewed in full here:
https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/stone-v-trump-order-denying-stay

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