The owner of Houston’s only lesbian bar says her business is in jeopardy after it was denied insurance coverage, and she’s putting the blame, in part, on an anti-drag bill moving through the Texas Legislature.
“They outright denied us, the underwriters, because we host drag shows,” Julie Mabry, the owner of Pearl Bar, said in an interview with NBC affiliate KPRC of Houston.
Pearl Bar owner Julie Mabry.KPRC
Mabry has insurance through December, but she decided to switch agents a few months ago and shop around for a new policy, she told KPRC. It was during that process that her agent received the denial email, which the agent then sent to Mabry.
“This is the first time I’ve ever gotten an email like that. I cried about this for about a week,” said Mabry, who told KPRC that drag shows were the first thing mentioned in the email, which outlined why the underwriter did not want to take on the risk of insuring her bar.
Mabry did not share additional details about the underwriter or the email, and she did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
Mabry, who opened Pearl Bar in 2013, said the current political climate fueled the situation she’s in, and she encouraged followers of the Pearl Bar Instagram account to contact their legislators about anti-LGBTQ bills in the state, including one that would restrict drag shows on public property, on the premises of a commercial enterprise or in the presence of a child.
The bill, Senate Bill 12, passed in the Texas Senate last month by a vote of 20-11, and it was set to be considered by a House committee Thursday. If the measure is signed into law, violators could be subjected to civil penalties of up to $10,000.
“Pearl needs everyone to speak up for us so that we can stay open and HOST DRAG SHOWS! It’s THAT serious,” a post on the Pearl Bar Instagram account said. “We are in the final stretch of session and every voice counts in pushing back on this and the other anti-LGBTQ legislation. We need you to step up, be loud, and tell your legislators NO to any anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Our state should be open to all, period.”
State Sen. Bryan Hughes, the bill’s author, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Brad Pritchett, a Houston resident and the field director for LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas, noted that drag shows are still legal in Texas and said Pearl Bar’s situation is a result of the “fear and panic that lawmakers have stirred up” around the centuries-old art form.
“This situation highlights one of the most insidious consequences of all the anti-LGBTQ+ bills in the legislature this session—most people don’t know what’s going on,” he said in an email. “It’s ludicrous to think that lawmakers can shut down an entire industry without even changing the law. Texans, we need you to show up to the capitol, to email your legislators, and to make a lot of noise about what is happening in Texas.”
Texas is one of at least 16 states where legislators have proposed bills this year seeking to restrict the audiences for drag performances and where they can take place. Tennessee is the only state to have enacted such a law, which a federal judge temporarily blocked from taking effect.
Bills seeking to restrict drag shows are part of a larger trend of Republican-led bills targeting LGBTQ people in the U.S. So far this year, more than 470 such bills have been proposed in legislatures across the U.S., according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Pearl Bar is one of about two dozen lesbian bars left in the U.S. and one of only two in Texas, the other being Sue Ellen’s in Dallas. Mabry hopes Texas will not be left with just a lone lesbian bar.
“This situation is real,” she wrote on Instagram. “I’ve tried to be as careful as I can to keep my patrons, performers, and staff safe, but if we stay quiet, we aren’t helping.”
Beer drinkers visiting Chicago gay bars may have a difficult time finding popular brands like Bud Light, Stella Artois and Michelob Ultra. That’s because at least five LGBTQ venues in the city are boycotting the brewing company Anheuser-Busch and its products after the company distanced itself from transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Mulvaney, best known for her “Days of Girlhood” TikTok series, partnered with the company during the NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament. The partnership, which consisted of a sponsored post on her Instagram account promoting Bud Light, spawned a right-wing backlash. The company’s response to that backlash led to accusations that it was abandoning Mulvaney, 25, which in turn ignited a response from the LGBTQ community.
“We have simply removed their products,” Mark Robertson, the co-owner of Chicago-based 2Bears Tavern Group, told NBC News on Tuesday. “Our position is that we expect the products we sell to align their values with our values or not trample on the right of our customers. That’s where we believe Anheuser-Busch crossed the line.”
Mark Robertson, left, and Mike Sullivan are the owners of Chicago-based 2Bears Tavern Group.Courtesy Mark Robertson and Mike Sullivan
Robertson, whose company owns four LGBTQ bars in Chicago, said the final straw came after Anheuser-Busch InBev’s quarterly earnings call on Thursday when, he said, company leadership further tried “to distance themselves from this whole situation.”
When asked by an analyst about the Mulvaney partnership and how a seemingly small partnership turned into “something a whole lot bigger than that,” Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michael Doukeris said, in part: “We will need to continue to clarify the fact that this was one can, one influencer, one post, and not a campaign, and repeat this message for some time.”
Robertson said, “They have chosen to side with a group of people who are being very hateful, who do not value, you know, the human rights or the lives of the LGBTQ community.”
The right-wing backlash to the Mulvaney-Bud Light partnership was swift, especially across social media. Countless videos were shared online showing consumers dumping their Bud Light products in trash bins and down sinks — and even violently destroying cans of the beer. One particularly jarring response came in an Instagram video posted by the singer-songwriter Kid Rock, who can be seen shooting at cases of Bud Light with what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle.
The SoFo Tap in Chicago.
Shortly after Thursday’s earnings call, Robertson announced on social media that “All 2Bears Tavern Group bars are discontinuing Anheuser-Busch InBev products as a result of the brewer’s anti-transgender actions and statements.” The group owns four LGBTQ bars in Chicago: 2Bears Tavern, Jackhammer, Meeting House Tavern and The SoFo Tap.
When asked about the Chicago LGBTQ bars that are no longer selling the company’s products, a spokesperson for Anheuser-Busch InBev said in an emailed statement: “We remain committed to the programs and partnerships we have forged over decades with organizations to drive economic prosperity across a number of communities, including those in the LGBTQ+ community.”
Robertson said he doesn’t anticipate selling Anheuser-Busch products at any of his bars again.
“This is not about economic prosperity; this is about human rights,” he said. “You can’t, on the one hand, say we’re going to continue to put rainbows on our cans, and we’re going to continue to sponsor parades, while on the other hand, basically bending over to what is a lot of hate and vitriol.”
HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, downgraded Anheuser-Busch InBev’s stock from a “buy” to a “hold” as the company deals with its “Bud Light crisis,” CNBC reported Wednesday.
The world’s most popular gay dating app, Grindr, is participating in a nationwide effort to distribute free at-home HIV testing kits to populations most affected by the virus.
“If you’ve got a way that you are testing, and it’s really working for you, then that’s great, and you should stick with that,” Jack Harrison-Quintana, director of the app’s social justice division, Grindr for Equality, told NBC News. “If you don’t, this is an additional way for you to get tested in a way that’s just about as easy as doing an at-home Covid test.”
Grindr, which reports 12 million monthly active users worldwide, is partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Emory University and several other public health organizations and corporations on the Together TakeMeHome campaign, which launched Tuesday. Supported by a $41 million grant from the CDC, the program will provide up to 1 million HIV self-tests over five years, at no cost for individuals
The program, according to a statement released by Emory, was initiated in response to a decline in the number of HIV testsadministered nationwide during the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Grindr’s primary role in the effort is to allow users in the U.S. and Puerto Rico to easily order an at-home HIV test directly from the app. Starting Tuesday afternoon, Grindr users will see a “Free HIV Home Test” button in the app’s main menu. Those who click will be redirected out of the app to the Together TakeMeHome site, where an at-home HIV test can be ordered.
The test kit consists of an FDA-approved OraQuick device that uses mouth swabs and takes 20 minutes to provide a result. The app will also allow users to set “Testing Reminders” where they can set up a three- or six-month reminder for HIV testing.
Dr. Robyn Neblett, the acting director of the CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention, said these at-home tests give people “the power to test on their own terms.”
“Removing barriers to testing like stigma, discrimination, and access to physical services improves health, advances health equity, and moves our nation closer to ending the HIV epidemic,” Neblett said in a statement.
The CDC recommends those ages 13 to 64 get tested for HIV at least once as part of routine health care. Those with certain risk factors — including men who have sex with men — should get tested at least once a year.
The Together TakeMeHome program is available to anyone in the U.S. and Puerto Rico over the age of 17, and each individual can order up to two kits every 90 days. The focus of the program, however, will be on U.S. populations disproportionately affected by HIV, including cisgender men who have sex with men, transgender people and Black cisgender women.
Men who have sex with men account for 70% of new cases of HIV in the U.S., according to the CDC. Whites in this demographiccomprised 15% of the 34,800 HIV transmissions in 2019, while the much smaller populations of their Black and Latino peers comprised a respective 26% and 23% of new cases.
According to an investigation published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine in 2019, the distribution of HIV self-tests provides “a worthwhile mechanism to increase awareness of HIV infection” and prevents transmission among men who have sex with men.
From the halls of Congress to popular films and TV shows, Indigenous queer people have long made historic contributions to politics, art and advocacy — and they continue to do so.
November marks Native American Heritage Month, and the following 10 LGBTQ+ Indigenous trailblazers are bringing important representation to TV, challenging traditional gender expectations at powwows and elevating issues affecting Indigenous people, such as the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Sharice Davids
Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan., at the Capitol on June 23.Tom Williams / CQ Roll Call via AP file
Rep. Sharice Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk nation, became the first LGBTQ Native American elected to Congress and one of the first Native American women to serve in Congress after winning her race for Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District in 2018. Raised by a single mom who served over two decades in the Army, Davids was also the first person in her family to attend college, according to her House biography. After graduating from Cornell Law School, Davids worked in economic and community development on Native American reservations, which led her to apply for the White House Fellows program, where she served in the Department of Transportation under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
Davids won re-election in her district earlier this month.
Sean Snyder and Adrian Stevens
Sean Snyder, left, and Adrian Stevens.Courtesy Adrian Stevens and Sean Snyder
Sean Snyder, who is of Navajo and Southern Ute, and Adrian Matthias Stevens, who is of Northern Ute, Shoshone-Bannock and San Carlos Apache, are a two-spirit dancing couple who challenge traditional boundaries at powwows across the country. Two-spirit people have “both a male and female spirit within them and are blessed by their Creator to see life through the eyes of both genders,” according to Indian Country Today.
In 2017, the couple made headlines after being disqualified for competing together in a couples category at a powwow in San Bernardino, California. While same-sex partners are not regularly recognized at powwows, Stevens and Snyder quickly created their own narrative and have evolved into a vessel of advocacy for the Indigenous 2SLGBTQ+ community, an acronym that includes two-spirit people. In June, the couple was featured in Nike’s Be True Campaign, and in August they recreated OUT magazine’s December 2000 “Queer as Folk” cover.
Sydney Freeland
Director Sydney Freeland at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.Taylor Jewell / Invision/AP file
A triple threat in the film world, Emmy-nominated filmmaker, director and writer Sydney Freeland of the Navajo Nation is shining a light on Indigenous life and stories. Freeland, who is transgender, recently broke new ground in Indigenous on-screen representation with the FX drama “Reservation Dogs.” Freeland is currently working on NBC’s “Sovereign” — the first drama on network television about a Native American family — which she will write and executive produce alongside Ava DuVernay and Bird Runningwater. Also on her list of upcoming projects is the Netflix film “Rez Ball,” a coming-of-age drama about Native American basketball.
Kairyn Potts
Kairyn Potts.Claudia Jurt
Kairyn Potts of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation is a two-spirit social media advocate who hopes to save lives through representation online. He has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok, Twitch and Instagram with content centered around Indigenous and two-spirit visibility. Potts also co-hosts the Snapchat series “Reclaim(ed),” the first Canadian Snapchat series that explores Indigenous culture through a Gen-Z perspective.
“I don’t make content for everybody. I make content for people like me, and I make content for the 12-year-old version of me who would have really needed somebody like me, growing up,” Potts said “That’s why I think it’s important.”
Ky Victor, who is widely known as drag artist and community activist Lady Shug, is using her drag to spotlight the Indigenous community and the difficult topics that affect it. Shug’s dazzling performances are interlaced with educational information about suicide prevention meant to spark conversation. One topic in particular featured in Shug’s performances is suicide prevention.
The Native youth suicide rate is 2.5 times higher than the overall national average, data from the Trevor Project, a national LGBTQ youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization, shows. It is the highest across all ethnic and racial groups, according to the National Indian Council on Aging.
Lady Shug is also featured in Seasons One and Two of the HBO series “We’re Here,” a reality television show that follows drag queens Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara and Shangela across small-town America, inspiring their “drag daughters” to express their genuine selves in front of their families, friends and communities.
Get the Morning Rundown
Get a head start on the morning’s top stories.SIGN UPTHIS SITE IS PROTECTED BY RECAPTCHA PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS OF SERVICE
“I’m trying to find a way with my voice and my platform to give back,” Shug said. “I always say I hate to be called an activist. I like to call myself a community activist because my activism work is not for me, it’s for my community.”
Charlie Amáyá Scott
Navajo Nation citizen Charlie Amáyá Scott, 27, is a transgender social media influencer, scholar and advocate. Scott, of Aurora, Colorado, who uses she and they pronouns, leverages her platform to highlight issues affecting the queer Indigenous community. She is a doctoral candidate at the University of Denver focusing on higher education and settler colonialism.
Charlie Amáyá ScottTimmy Jeng
“Native Heritage Month is more than just a month of awareness,” she said. “This a time of celebration, a time of remembrance, and for us, as Queer Indigenous Peoples, a moment to dream and demand a world better than what we have. We are more than what this world thinks of us, and together, we will change narratives about us and write our own.”
Scott Wabano
Scott Wabano, who is Cree from Eeyou Istchee and Mushkegowuk, fell in love with fashion at a young age, designing his own traditional regalia for powwows and traditional ceremonies. Wabano, who is two-spirit, said the lack of Indigenous representation in fashion magazines pushed him to create a space for his community.
Scott Wabano.Bliss Thompson
In May 2021, Wabano launched his genderless clothing label, Wabano, inspired by two-spirit surroundings and traditional culture. His talent and drive landed him two major lead roles with Sephora and Lululemon for their National Indigenous History Month campaigns. In 2022, Wabano was featured on The Globe and Mail’s annual Canada’s Best Dressed List, which highlights eco-friendly fashion trendsetters.
“My goal is to eventually be the first Indigenous creative director of a major fashion house,” Wabano said. “I just want to flood the industry with Indigenous people, Indigenous models, Indigenous stories, and Indigenous designers.”
Kali Reis, who is Seaconke Wampanaak and Cape Verdean, is a trailblazing Indigenous two-spirit athlete who wears many hats. She is a world champion boxer, actor and advocate. In February, she made her acting debut in the award-winning IFC Films thriller “Catch the Fair One.” In addition to starring in the film, Reis co-wrote the screenplay, which is in part about the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women — a topic she actively advocates for on her social media.
Kali Reis in Santa Monica, Calif., on March 6.Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images file
On Monday, Reis was honored for her performance in the film at the 27th Red Nations International Film Festival, the largest Native film festival in the country, with the Misty Upham Award.
Devery Jacobs
Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs, known professionally as Devery Jacobs, is an award-winning Indigenous actor and filmmaker born and raised in Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, a reservation in Quebec, Canada.
Devery Jacobs in Zlin, Czech Republic, in 2017.Dalibor Gluck / AP file
Jacobs, 28, is best known for her starring role as Elora in the FX series “Reservation Dogs.” Her short film “Rae” was an official selection of the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, and it won best youth work at the 2017 imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival.
“Indigenous people are the original caretakers and storytellers of this land,” she said. “We come from diverse communities and cultures who have persevered and survived genocide, who deserve to be cherished and celebrated. Native American Heritage Month invites non-Native folks in joining us in recognizing our histories and celebrating our communities. Representation in film does meaningful work in bringing our stories to the forefront — where we’ve been historically excluded.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
California high school senior Landon Jones, 18, said he’s been bullied by his classmates since the fifth grade. But Jones, who is openly gay, said he’s no longer looking the other way.
“I have been called ‘faggot’ countless times at school, and it literally doesn’t bother me at all,” Jones said in a TikTok video he shared Oct. 1 that has gone viral. “The fact that they came to my house does.”
The video, which has 1.3 million views, appears to show two separate instances of Jones’ being subjected to anti-gay bullying. In the more recent incident, which occurred Sept. 29 and was caught on a home surveillance camera, a young man walks up to Jones’ home and starts to knock before Jones’ father opens the door.
“Does Landon live here?” the young man can be heard saying.
His dad responds, “Yes, why?”
“Someone said to come up here,” the young man mumbles before loudly yelling, “because he’s a faggot!” and running off the property.
Jones’ dad said the young man ran off and got in on the passenger side of a black Lincoln Navigator, which drove off.
“I remember being up in my room, hearing it, and I heard what he said. I immediately jumped out of bed and walked outside to see what was happening,” said Jones, who came out as gay in 2020. “I had no sleep that night. I was honestly really upset. I was crying.”
Jones recorded the other incident in his viral TikTok video in August. It shows a group of young men surrounding Jones’ car as he and his sister sit in a Starbucks parking lot. One of the men looks inside Jones’ car and says, “This f—— faggot.”
Jones said he decided to share both incidents on TikTok, where he has nearly 700,000 followers, because “I’m sick of being silent about it,” adding, “So I finally spoke up.”
Jones said the young man who’s visible in the Starbucks video and the person who was driving the black Lincoln Navigator both attend his high school, El Toro High School in Lake Forest, which is part of the Saddleback Valley Unified School District. He said he had heard from others that the young man who came up to his front door attends a nearby high school, although he doesn’t know which one and couldn’t confirm the accuracy of that information.
A spokesperson for the school district said the “unconscionable acts committed against Landon Jones do not reflect the feelings or values of Saddleback Valley Unified School District (SVUSD) and El Toro High School (ETHS).”
“ETHS and SVUSD administration, together with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD), immediately launched a comprehensive investigation to uncover the facts of the incidents,” Wendie Hauschild, the school district’s director of communications and administrative services, said in an email. “We can confirm that the person seen in the surveillance video of the incident that took place at a private home is not a student in SVUSD. Due to the confidentiality that we are required by law to uphold for our students, as well as other minors, SVUSD is unable to share further information regarding the results of the investigation. SVUSD remains steadfast in its commitment to create inclusive, supportive, and safe environments for all students on our campuses.”
Asked about the Sept. 29 incident, an Orange County sheriff’s spokesperson said a school resource officer at El Toro High School was able to speak to “individuals that may or may not have been involved in this incident” or “possibly have knowledge of the incident.” The officer said the person who walked up to the Jones home hasn’t been identified, adding that the “investigation remains ongoing.”
While Jones still attends El Toro High School, he transitioned to virtual schooling at the start of the school year because of “bullying and a rough experience with the school,” he said.
Landon Jones and his father, Nathan Jones. Desiree Keoshian
In a joint statement sent by email, Landon Jones’ parents, Lauren and Nathan Jones, said their son has been “called names and made fun of” since elementary school because of his appearance and because his interests never aligned with those of his peers.
“Kids and even adults can be so cruel to people that are different from them,” they said.
After the incident outside their home, Lauren and Nathan Jones said, they are determined to see the people bullying their son face consequences.
“Actions have consequences and we will keep pursuing this until those consequences are paid,” the couple said. “This behavior will not be tolerated and we will never turn a blind eye to injustices like these. We have a family to protect and that is our number one focus right now.”
The Jones family said they reached out to El Toro High School and told administrators that the driver of the Lincoln Navigator was a student at the school. They said no action has yet been taken that they are aware of.
Since Jones shared the video, over 11,000 people have shared comments, most of them supportive.
Former “American Idol” contestant David Archuleta, who came out publicly last year, was among the commenters: “Oh gosh… sorry you’re dealing with that there’s no justification for what they’re doing to you and so shallow of them.”
LGBTQ TikTok personality Josh Helfgott also commented, saying: “If there’s one thing I got from this video, it’s how STRONG you are & how weak they are. I’m so sorry this is happening. Keep shining, Landon.”
Landon Jones and his mother, Lauren Jones.Desiree Keoshian
Jones said, “One of the last things that I had expected was the amount of support from the community that I would have gotten.”
Lauren and Nathan Jones said they hope their son’s story will give more people voices and show “that no one should ever have to go through this alone.”
Jones isn’t alone when it comes to anti-gay bullying: A report published last year by The Trevor Project, a nonprofit LGBTQ youth crisis intervention and suicide prevention group, found the majority of LGBTQ youths (52%) enrolled in middle or high school reported having been bullied either in person or electronically in the year before they participated in the survey. LGBTQ middle school students reported higher instances of bullying (65%) than those in high school (49%).
Residents of a small town in western Michigan helped raise almost $100,000 for their local library after it was defunded over the inclusion of LGBTQ books.
Primary voters in Jamestown Township, a community 20 miles east of Lake Michigan, rejected a proposal last week to renew tax funds to support the Patmos Library in nearby Hudsonville that serves Jamestown and the surrounding area. The rejection, which passed with nearly two-thirds voter approval, eliminates 84% of the public library’s annual budget, or $245,000.
Larry Walton, the library’s board president, told local news site Bridge Michigan that he was not expecting the loss of funds and that the library would likely run out of money late next year without those tax dollars.
“The library is the center of the community,” he said. “For individuals to be short-sighted to close that down over opposing LGBTQ is very disappointing.”
Walton did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
Two days after the vote, Jesse Dillman, a Jamestown resident and father of two, launched an online fundraiser to help raise the $245,000 to keep the library open.
“I am very passionate about this, and I have people that are behind me to do this,” he said in an interview. “I think I have to do it now, because the iron is hot. If this is going to happen, it’s going to happen now.”
As of Thursday morning, approximately 1,800 people had contributed more than $90,000. While many of those donors are local, people from as far away as Australia have contributed, Dillman said.
One donor, Michigan librarian Beth Pierson, wrote on the fundraising page: “I’m saddened and scared by what I’m seeing across the country regarding the attempts to limit freedom of access to information. Thank you for stepping up to do the right thing for the Patmos Library!”
Another donor, Georgia resident Shereen Mendelson, wrote, “People who ban books are never written well in history. You have my support from Georgia!”
More support came from a second donation page created by Michelle Barrows, also a resident of Jamestown. As of Thursday morning, she had raised almost $5,000.
Efforts to discontinue funding for the library can also be found on social media. In May, a private Facebook group called Jamestown Conservatives was launched. The group, which as of Thursday morning had 158 members, states that it was “created to help others of the community to be aware of the pushed agenda of explicit sexual content that is being infiltrated into our local libraries aiming toward our children.” The page also states that it stands to “keep our children safe” and “keep the nuclear family intact as God designed.”
The page administrator, Lauren Elyse, did not respond to a request for comment.
The controversy in Jamestown is part of a larger national debate over access to LGBTQ books in public libraries and schools. This debate has accelerated over the past year, with the American Library Association issuing a statement in November warning of a “dramatic uptick in book challenges and outright removal of books from libraries.” The association said LGBTQ books and books by Black authors were being targeted in particular. In 2021, five of the 10 most challenged and banned books in the United States were flagged because of their LGBTQ content, according to the group’s annual Top 10 Most Challenged Books list.
During a two-hour-long Patmos Library board meeting Monday, residents spoke both in favor of and against funding the library, WOOD-TV reported that most of the speakers were in favor.
Among the speakers was a former library employee.
“The purpose of a public library is to serve the public,” she said. “That includes everyone of all backgrounds, beliefs and interests. That means having material available from all viewpoints and topics, not what just makes some people comfortable. If you don’t agree with something, don’t check it out. That’s the beauty of a library. You have the choice to come in by yourself or your family and make the selections that best fit you.”
At the conclusion of the meeting, the board voted unanimously to place the issue of funding on the town’s November ballot.
Following Monday’s meeting, Dillman said he’s optimistic that the library will be able to get its funding back. In addition to continuing his fundraising efforts, he said he signed up to be on an independent town committee to help secure tax dollars for the library.
Social worker Julio Ramirez, 25, met up with a friend on April 20 for a night out in Hell’s Kitchen, a Manhattan neighborhood near Times Square in New York known for its lively restaurant and bar scene. Their last stop was the Ritz Bar and Lounge, a popular, multilevel gay venue in the heart of the neighborhood’s Restaurant Row.
Surveillance footage from a nearby security camera shows Ramirez walking away from the venue with three unidentified men at 3:17 a.m., according to his brother, Carlos, who said he was briefed by investigators. The four men then entered a nearby taxi, a police source said, but Ramirez was alone in the backseat at 4:10 a.m. when the taxi driver approached a police officer 3 miles away in Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood to say his passenger was unresponsive.
Julio Ramirez.Family photo
Despite efforts to save his life by the officer and the Emergency Medical Services team, Ramirez was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital at 4:49 a.m. on April 21, a police source said, adding that the initial cause of death was listed as a “possible drug overdose.” Ramirez’s official “cause and manner of death are pending further study,” according to the medical examiner, who told NBC News in an email that this could take “at least a few weeks.” Ramirez was initially identified as “John Doe,” his brother said, because neither his wallet nor phone were with him when he died.
Now, more than a month later, Ramirez’s family and friends are left with more questions than answers as they try to piece together what happened in his final hours. Who were the men who entered the taxi with him? Was he drugged? Are investigators prioritizing his case? Where are his phone and wallet? Who drained his bank accounts in the days following his death?
A night out in Hell’s Kitchen
Ramirez’s friends described him as a “sweet” and “smart” young man, and, according to his brother, Ramirez “believed in serving underprivileged communities.” Originally from Long Island, New York, he had just moved to New York City last year after obtaining a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees from the University at Buffalo. He had been living and working in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood, where he was a bilingual mental health counselor.
On what would be his final night out in Hell’s Kitchen, Ramirez met up with his friend Carlos Camacho, a 24-year-old aspiring actor who lives in the neighborhood. Camacho said he and Ramirez met on April 20 at 7 p.m. and visited three venues all within a half-mile of each other: Rise Bar, a gay cocktail lounge; Mickey Spillane’s, a bar and restaurant; and, finally, Ritz Bar and Lounge.
Julio Ramirez’ final message with Carlos Camacho.Courtesy Carlos Camacho
The two friends, who have known each other since June, got separated just before 3 a.m., according to their last text exchange, which Camacho shared with NBC News.
At 2:58 a.m., Camacho told Ramirez he was inside the Ritz, and a minute later, Ramirez responded saying he was outside the bar, according to the texts. At 3:10 a.m., Ramirez told his friend to come outside. After not receiving a response, Ramirez texted Camacho, who lives nearby, at 3:29 a.m. to ask if he went home. Camacho responded at 3:45 a.m. to confirm that he was home and asked his friend to come over. Ramirez never responded.
At 12:10 p.m. on April 21, Camacho sent a follow-up message to Ramirez asking him “what happened” the night before. An alert popped up notifying Camacho that his message to Ramirez had been “read,” though unbeknownst to Camacho at the time, his friend had been pronounced dead more than seven hours earlier.
Carlos Camacho
‘I knew something was up’
Earlier that evening, Ramirez had been texting with Shiva Campbell, a friend from Buffalo with whom he was in “constant contact,” according to Campbell. They were chatting about saving money and Adam Sandler movies before Ramirez stopped responding at 10:25 p.m. on April 20, according to their final text exchange, which Campbell shared with NBC News.
Julio Ramirez and Shiva Campbell.Courtesy Shiva Campbell
Campbell said she and Ramirez had remained close after meeting as college freshmen, and, like many young friends, they used the location sharing feature on their iPhones. They had done so for the past several years, so Campbell said she became concerned when at 3:46 a.m. on April 21 an alert popped up saying, “Julio Ramirez stopped sharing location with you.”
She continued to text Ramirez throughout the day on April 21 asking where he was and whether he was OK. Her concern turned to alarm when she noticed the color of the text messages she sent him turned from blue to green, which can indicate his phone had been turned off or had died.
“Julio never lets his phone die,” she said. “Even if he lost his phone, he would text me on his iPad, so I knew something was up.”
Campbell’s last text to Ramirez was on April 22 at 8:06 a.m.: “Ramirez, did something happen?” She would soon discover that he had been pronounced dead more than 24 hours earlier.
Get the Morning Rundown
Get a head start on the morning’s top stories.SIGN UPTHIS SITE IS PROTECTED BY RECAPTCHA PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS OF SERVICE
Shiva Campbell’s text thread with Julio Ramirez.Shiva Campbell
Theories and speculation
Carlos Ramirez, 32, said he called his younger brother in the afternoon on April 21 and found it strange that his phone appeared to be turned off. He had planned to call him later that evening but fell asleep before he had the chance, he said.
While he was at work on April 22, Carlos Ramirez received a call from his girlfriend around 11 a.m. telling him to immediately leave work and call his father. When he called, he discovered his parents had received a dreaded phone call 20 minutes earlier from Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital in Manhattan informing them that their son Julio had died the prior morning.
“My dad said, ‘This is really hard, but Julio is dead,’ and he just started crying,” he recalled. “I just lost it. Wow, I couldn’t believe it yet. That was just the worst day of my life.”
Julio Ramirez, left with his parents and brother.Family photo
Three days later, the Ramirez family went to Julio Ramirez’s apartment to collect some of his personal belongings. Eager for answers, Carlos Ramirez logged on to his brother’s laptop. He immediately noticed the Apple iCloud password had been changed, leaving him unable to access most of the applications on his brother’s computer. He was, however, able to access Julio Ramirez’s emails. He said that’s when he noticed unusual money transfers.
Between April 21, the day Julio Ramirez died, and April 25, his checking and savings accounts were depleted through purchases and third-party applications like Apple Pay and Zelle, Carlos Ramirez said.
“They had literally taken every dollar that he had, all his savings and all of his money,” Carlos Ramirez said, adding that approximately $20,000 was taken from his brother. He said he shared this information with investigators, though the NYPD would not confirm this detail to NBC News.
Given these details, and the information investigators shared with him based on surveillance footage, Carlos Ramirez said he believes his brother may have been drugged and robbed that night in a targeted attack.
Carlos Ramirez — who did not see the footage himself — said investigators told him the video shows his brother standing outside of the Ritz Bar and Lounge entrance by himself for 12 minutes shortly after 3 a.m. He is then seen walking away from the bar with two men, and as they turn the corner, a third man follows behind them.
“All three men end up in a cab with Julio,” Carlos Ramirez said investigators told him. He said the men have not been identified.
Based on the limited information they’ve pieced together, Carlos Ramirez and at least one of his brother’s friends, Karinina Quimpo, speculated that Julio Ramirez may have been slipped gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, or GHB, also known as the “date rape drug.” In liquid form, it is clear and colorless, and just a small amount can bring someone to unconsciousness; overdoses can lead to coma, respiratory arrest and even cause death.In recent years, health officials have seen a rise in GHB use among young Americans. Neither the police nor the medical examiner has indicated Julio Ramirez ingested GHB prior to his death.
‘Justice for Julio’
Julio Ramirez was buried at Pinelawn Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York, on April 30. Two weeks later, on May 14, his family and friends held a memorial service in Buffalo.
In the weeks following his mysterious death, his loved ones have been trying to raise awareness about his story as they wait for additional information from the NYPD and the city’s medical examiner.
In an Instagram post May 9, Quimpo shared some of the details surrounding his death and said his “story needs to be solved and heard.” She pleaded for “justice for Julio.”
“We urge you to raise awareness on the death of Julio Cesar Ramirez, to give a voice to gay Latino men who are victims of the crime in this city and to seek justice for the loved ones he left behind,” she wrote. “Julio’s story needs to be heard.”
News centered on the trans community is often dominated by such trends, but across the country, grassroots nonprofit groups led by transgender people are creating spaces for their communities to find safety and joy.
Transgender Day of Visibility on Thursday is an annual awareness day dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of transgender people while still acknowledging the violence and discrimination they continue to face. Here are 11 grassroots groups that do just that by providing their communities with home-cooked meals, health care, space for creativity and other services.
bklyn boihood — Brooklyn, New York
Members of brooklyn boihood.MARS
bklyn boihood started as “a vision and space for masculine of center people of color to feel seen,” Van Bailey, a member of the group, said in an email. “Our mission is to create spaces where black, brown, queer and trans bois* can cultivate stories, dreams and creative work.”
The group has created spaces for safer gatherings and parties, storytelling, intergenerational connections, fashion, body movement work and reconnecting with nature. Bailey said the organization is excited to partner with groups like NYC Pridethis year to provide a social space for Pride season.
Youth Empowerment Performance Project — Chicago
A 2014 production of “Faces” featuring performers from the Youth Empowerment Performance Project.Sarah-Ji Rhee
Bonsai Bermúdez, the executive and artistic director of the Youth Empowerment Performance Project, said the group’s goal is to end LGBTQ youth homelessness in Chicago “and beyond!”
The project supports LGBTQ youths experiencing homelessness by connecting them with resources such as housing, employment, education, health care and other basic needs. It strives to create a “brave environment” that allows the youths “to explore their history, investigate new ways to address their struggles and to celebrate their strengths through personal, leadership and community development programming that incorporate different art-expression forms,” Bermúdez said in an email.
The Knights and Orchids Society — Selma, Alabama
Staff members of the Knights and Orchids Society.TC Caldwell
“Black trans gender non conforming people have been systematically denied access to the resources needed to survive and thrive so The Knights and Orchids Society strives to build the power of these individuals by providing a spectrum of health and wellness services to them across the South,” Christina Nicholson, the group’s communications director, said in an email.
She added that the organization is looking forward to expanding its food and nutrition program through its newly developed Black Sheep Farm and Innovation Center: “This program is dedicated to increasing our clients’ access to nutritious food by maintaining a community garden that teaches youth and other community members farming techniques that can be used in rural or urban settings and operating a food bank stocked with purchased food goods (including meat, milk, eggs, and perishable goods) and produce harvested from our community garden.”
Transgender Education Network of Texas — Austin, Texas
The Transgender Education Network of Texas at a protest last year.Gin Pham
The Transgender Education Network of Texas, or TENT, is the largest policy organization in the state led by trans people of color, said Gin Pham, the group’s communications and outreach manager. TENT provides gender-inclusive training for state leaders and engages in policy advocacy.
“This year, regardless of attacks on trans and gender expansive communities, we will continue to work to deepen our network and provide our communities with the relevant and accurate resources and information throughout the state of Texas,” Pham said in an emailed statement.
Transgender Day of Visibility, Pham added, “means different things to the different members of our community, as we all have our own personal relationships with being visible, but at the heart of it, it’s a celebration of one another.”
The Okra Project — Brooklyn, New York
The Okra Project is a mutual aid organization that provides home-cooked meals to Black trans people in New York City, Philadelphia and parts of New Jersey.
The Okra Project’s executive team.Alex Webster Photography
“There is a special place that The Okra Project sits in — the mission to invest in the manifestation of the most incredible life a Black Trans or Gender Expansive person can dream of,” Dominique Morgan, the group’s executive director, said in an email. “The approach can be diverse: eliminating food insecurity, naming and addressing health disparities, whole person health or maybe just a space to dance and feel free — it’s all about manifesting a life for Black Trans and Gender Expansive people filled with joy and radical liberation.”
Phoenix Transition Program — Atlanta
Lupa Brandt and her husband, Jamil-Jack Abreu, founded the Phoenix Transition Program in June 2020 to provide services and support to trans people across the country, although they focus primarily on supporting transmasculine people, who Brandt said are often overlooked.
The founders of Phoenix Transition Program.Jamil-Jack Abreu
The group provides free chest binders to transmasculine people nationwide and Thanksgiving meals to those who need them.
It also helps trans people start businesses by paying for their websites and state registrations, and it supports those who have recently been incarcerated.
Get the Morning Rundown
Get a head start on the morning’s top stories.SIGN UPTHIS SITE IS PROTECTED BY RECAPTCHA PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS OF SERVICE
“We’re just trying to adapt and continue to keep our community safe and free and housed and fed,” Brandt said.
Baltimore Safe Haven
Members of Baltimore Safe Haven hold the photos and names of trans people who were killed in 2020.Baltimore Safe Haven
Baltimore Safe Haven provides at-risk trans, lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, intersex and asexual people in Baltimore “with opportunities to transform their lives,” said Iya Dammons, the organization’s founder and executive director.
The Black trans-led LGBTQ organization provides low-barrier shelter to those experiencing homelessness, transitional housing, middle-age housing and senior housing. It also provides social services, such as HIV testing, access to food and clothing pantries and a drop-in center with daytime and nighttime outreach.
“The accumulation of those allows us to see a broad amount of community members who are not just TLGBQ, but also everyone who crosses our threshold,” said Ja’Nae Tyler, the director of operations.
Alianza Translatinx — Orange County, California
Members of Alianza Translatinx.Alianza Translatinx
Alianza Translatinx, the first and only trans-led organization in Orange County, “has become a community cornerstone” for trans and gender-nonconforming people living in the largely conservative area, Khloe Rios-Wyatt, the group’s president and CEO, said in an email.
“Through education, community empowerment and social justice, Alianza Translatinx uplifts the TGNC community to eradicate stigma and hate against TGNC people, while at the same time fulfilling our mission to protect, defend and advocate for the needs and the rights of the TGNC community, especially people of color,” Rios-Wyatt said, using an initialism for transgender and gender-nonconforming people.
The TransLatin@ Coalition — Los Angeles
The TransLatina@ Coalition.Courtesy the TransLatina Coalition.
The TransLatin@ Coalition was founded in 2009 by a group of transgender, gender-nonconforming and intersex immigrant women in Los Angeles. The group provides legal services such as name and gender-marker changes, re-entry assistance for people in detention centers and jails, anti-violence response, HIV-prevention services, transitional and emergency housing, clothing and free daily lunches.
“The mission of The TransLatin@ Coalition (TLC) is to advocate for the specific needs of the Trans Latin@ community that resides in the U.S.A. and to plan strategies that improve our quality of life,” Steve Landaverde, one of the group’s directors, said in an email.
Intransitive — Little Rock, Arkansas
Supporters of Intransitive protest the death of Roxsana Hernandez, a transgender woman from Honduras who died in ICE custody in 2018.Rumba Yambú
Intransitive is a trans migrant-led organization in Arkansas that supports the trans community through advocacy, organizing, art, education and culture, said Rumba Yambú, the group’s director.
“At the end of last year we opened the first Trans Community Center in Arkansas, and this year we’ll spend it creating spaces for Trans joy, supporting Trans youth, and growing and building with Trans Arkansans,” Yambú said in an email.
The group was closely involved in advocating against anti-trans legislation in the state, which was the first to ban certain gender-affirming medical care procedures for minors last year. A judge blocked the law from taking effect in July.
Transinclusive Group — Wilton Manors, Florida
Tatiana Williams at a Black Trans Lives Matter rally honoring the memory of Tony McDade, who was shot and killed by a police officer in 2020.Nic Zantop
Transinclusive Group is a trans-led group with a special focus on racial justice, accessibility and ensuring that social, political and economic systems treat LGBTQ people equally.
“We envision a community where all Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer+ individuals can achieve their human potential equally and equitably through education, healthy lives, and financial stability, free of stigma and discrimination,” Tatiana Williams, the group’s co-founder and executive director, said in an email. “Our work in community is dedicated to ensuring that trans joy, wellness, and opportunity are not out of reach for any of our siblings.”
Transinclusive Group’s region of focus is South Florida, including Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
Billboards popping up in some of Florida’s largest cities are encouraging passersby to “say gay.”
The massive roadside messages are a response to the state’s controversial Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed by critics the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Monday. The measure prohibits “classroom instruction … on sexual orientation or gender identity” in “kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate.”
The billboards — now on display in Orlando, Tallahassee and Jacksonville — were spearheaded by the Southern Progress Political Action Committee, which, according to its website, seeks to “expose the extremist agenda of Republican politicians.”
‘Say Gay’ billboard in Orlando, Fla. WESH
“It’s OK to say gay. It’s more than OK. It’s encouraged,” Ally Sammarco, a volunteer for the PAC, told NBC affiliate WESH of Winter Park. “We want to make it very clear that it’s OK to talk about who you are and where you come from, and no one can stop you from doing that.”
Kai Shappley, an 11-year-old transgender girl from Texas, is in the spotlight once again after she was named a Time Kid of the Year finalist. Kai, an elementary school student, first made national headlines in April, when she testified about trans rights before the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs.
After she was named one of five Kid of the Year finalists, Kai and her mom, Kimberly Shappley, talked to NBC affiliate KXAN of Austin about the motivation behind Kai’s activism.
“I started my activism because I thought it was unfair how they were treating us,” Kai said. “We’ve seen a lot of what’s going on multiple times in history, and it’s just history repeating itself over and over. It’s terrible, so I started speaking out, because I wanted that to stop.”https://iframe.nbcnews.com/VFGHDEx?_showcaption=true&app=1
Texas is one of over 30 states that considered legislation targeting transgender youths last year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Texas alone considered over 50 such bills, according to the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas. It was one of those bills — a measure that sought to criminalize providing or assisting minors with gender-affirming health care — that led Kai to testify last spring.
“It makes me sad that some politicians use trans kids like me to get votes from people who hate me just because I exist,” she said at the time. “God made me, God loves me for who I am, and God does not make mistakes.”https://iframe.nbcnews.com/lVVrWXE?_showcaption=true
The Shappley family has moved three times in the past few years and now lives in Austin because “it’s the safest place” for Kai to be, Kimberly Shappley told KXAN.
The Shappleys anticipate that they will have to continue fighting bills that target transgender youths, and that’s fine by Kai.
“I’m a bold and strong, independent little lady,” Kai said, “and I will keep fighting for as long as I need to.”
