Dan Avery

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James Hormel, first openly gay U.S. ambassador, dies at 88

 James Hormel, the first openly gay U.S. ambassador and a philanthropist who funded organizations to fight AIDS and promote human rights, has died. He was 88. Hormel died Friday at a San Francisco hospital with his husband, Michael, at his side and while listening to his favorite Beethoven concerto, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, praised Hormel as a civil rights pioneer who lived “an extraordinary life.” “I will miss his kind heart and generous spirit. It’s those qualities that made him such an inspirational figure and beloved part of our city,” she said. In 1997, then-President […]

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‘I was so lucky’: A gay son honors his dads lost to AIDS

Sometimes, Noel Arce has trouble remembering his dads.   Not his biological parents — he never met them: His birth mother gave him up as an infant, and he never knew who his birth father was. But in 1988, he and his brother, Joey, were taken in by Louis Arce and Steven Koceja, a gay couple from Manhattan. Louis was a social worker, and Joey, 2, and Noel, about 10 months old, were in the foster care system.  The boys had been surrendered at New York City’s Metropolitan Hospital. “Our mother and dad were heroin addicts, and they couldn’t really care […]

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100 years of LGBTQ firsts: Breakthroughs from the tennis court to the Supreme Court

From the first U.S. Supreme Court ruling to address homosexuality to the first bisexual “Bachelorette,” here are 10 historic LGBTQ milestones from around the world. Kathy Kozachenko First out gay person elected to office in the U.S. Three years before Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, out lesbian Kathy Kozachenko was voted onto the Ann Arbor City Council in Michigan on April 2, 1974. Kozachenko was just 21 and a student at the University of Michigan, a hotbed of anti-war protests and activism supporting racial justice, women’s rights and other causes. Her sexual orientation didn’t […]

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Transgender teen’s crypto art series fetches $2.16 million at Christie’s

A transgender teen’s physical artwork and non-fungible tokens netted $2.16 million at auction at Christie’s on Wednesday. “Hello, i’m Victor (FEWOCiOUS) and This Is My Life” included five lots by 18-year-old Victor Langlois, aka FEWOCiOUS, a rising star in the increasingly popular — and lucrative — world of NFT art. An NFT is a blockchain-powered unit of data that authenticates ownership of digital objects — images, videos, songs, even tweets.   Each lot represents a year of Langlois’ life between the ages of 14 and 18, as he began to understand his gender identity, transitioned and moved from Las Vegas to […]

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Nevada pageant winner to become 1st transgender Miss USA contestant

Kataluna Enriquez, who was crowned Miss Nevada USA on Sunday, will become the first openly transgender woman to compete in the Miss USA pageant. With a platform centered on transgender awareness and mental health, Enriquez, 27, beat out 21 other contestants at the South Point Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. https://iframe.nbcnews.com/xImrqkG?app=1 “I didn’t have the easiest journey in life,” she said, according to KVVU-TV. “I struggled with physical and sexual abuse. I struggled with mental health. I didn’t have much growing up. I didn’t have support. But I’m still able to thrive, and I’m still able to survive and become a trailblazer […]

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They fought for gay marriage. A decade later, advocates reflect on the ‘herculean feat.’

Today, 70 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage. But on June 24, 2011, when the New York Legislature passed the state’s marriage equality measure, only 46 percent did, barely surpassing the 45 percent who opposed the right of gay couples to wed.  Five years earlier, in 2006, the New York Court of Appeals had determined the state constitution did not guarantee same-sex couples the right to marry. That left advocates with only a legislative remedy.  Failed attempts to pass marriage equality measures in 2007 and 2009, however, left supporters deflated.  Christine Quinn, an out lesbian who served as speaker of the New York […]

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15 brands that are giving back for Pride Month 2021

After a year when Pride celebrations had to go virtual, members of the LGBTQ community and their allies are eager to shine bright in 2021. And as in years past, numerous brands have launched special Pride products and capsule collections that celebrate love, diversity and inclusion. However, advocates say that authentic support means more than just a rainbow stripe on a T-shirt. “Brands need to approach Pride not as a marketing moment to sell products and profit from LGBTQ people, but [as] a time to loudly use their reach and influence to affirm our community and support advocacy organizations in […]

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‘More than a handout’: N.Y.C. to launch largest work program for LGBTQ youth

This summer, New York City will launch the nation’s largest and most comprehensive workforce development program for at-risk LGBTQ youth. NYC Unity Works, a $2.6 million initiative that will reach 90 participants over the next four years, is targeted at young adults ages 16 to 24 who are homeless or at risk of experiencing homelessness. Along with job training, it will provide educational opportunities, mental health services, paid internships and job placement, all with the goal of establishing long-term employment and a secure financial future.  The program is an offshoot of the NYC Unity Project, a citywide effort to help […]

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Nearly 1 in 10 teens identify as gender-diverse in Pittsburgh study

The number of young people who are gender-diverse — including transgender, nonbinary and genderqueer — may be significantly higher than previously thought, according to a new study. Researchers in Pittsburgh found that nearly 1 in 10 students in over a dozen public high schools identified as gender-diverse — five times the current national estimates. Gender diversity refers to people whose gender identities or gender expressions differ from the sexes they were assigned at birth, according to the American Psychological Association. In a report published this week in the journal Pediatrics, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Children’s […]

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Consistent response from parents is key to gay and lesbian mental health, small study finds

A consistent level of parental support, even if it’s negative, leads to better mental health outcomes for lesbians and gay men, according to a small new study. The report, released this week at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, found that individuals whose parents were initially unsupportive of their sexual orientation but became more accepting with time were most likely to report symptoms of anxiety and depression. Researchers at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology surveyed 175 cisgender gay men and lesbians about the initial and current levels of parental support they received regarding their sexuality.  Based on their responses, the […]

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