In Hanover Township in New Jersey, the Board of Education passed a policy Tuesday requiring school staff to notify parents of their children’s sexual orientation, classifying it along with substance and alcohol use, firearms, and “unlawful activity” as a threat to students’ well-being.
New Jersey’s attorney general is suing.
The kindergarten through eighth-grade district serves about 1,300 students in Whippany and Cedar Knolls in Morris County.
“Enacting a policy that has teachers policing their schools to out LGBTQ+ students is a disconcerting return to tactics used to criminalize sexual orientation and gender identity,” Jeanne LoCicero, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, told NJ.com. “It targets students based on their LGBTQ+ status and cannot stand.”
“We will always stand up for the LGBTQ+ community here in New Jersey and look forward to presenting our arguments in court in this matter,” AG Matthew J. Platkin said in a statement. He joined Sundeep Iyer, Director of the Division on Civil Rights, to file an emergency motion in Superior Court to enjoin the new policy.
“We are extremely proud of the contributions LGBTQ+ students make to our classrooms and our communities,” Platkin added, “and we remain committed to protecting them from discrimination in our schools.”
Platkin’s complaint argues the board’s policy violates the state’s Law Against Discrimination because it requires parental notification for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer students but not for their peers.
The attorney general’s office quotes from the new policy requiring all school staff to “immediately, fully and accurately inform a student’s parent(s) whenever such staff member is made aware of, directly or indirectly, any facts or circumstances that may have a material impact on the student’s physical and/or mental health, safety and/or social/emotional well-being,” including a student’s “sexuality,” “sexual orientation,” “transitioning,” and “gender identity or expression.”
In a statement, the Hanover Township board claimed the requirement doesn’t target students based on a protected status. Under the Law Against Discrimination, sexual orientation and gender identity or expression are protected statuses.
The attorney general’s complaint also argues that the policy would put students’ safety and mental health put at risk, and that it goes against guidance from the New Jersey Department of Education, which protects students’ confidentiality and privacy.
“The purpose of this policy is to involve the parents in the lives of their children,” the board’s attorney, Matthew Giacobbe, told the Daily Record. “They’re participating and not having people other than themselves make judgment calls on their child.”
The board’s statement added: “The Hanover Township Board of Education believes that parents need to be fully informed of all material issues that could impact their children so that they – as parents – can provide the proper care and support for their children.”
A Democratic organization has censured a Texas state Democrat who voted in favor of two anti-LGBTQ+ bills.
Texas State Rep. Shawn Thierry (D) recently voted in support of HB 900, a bill to ban LGBTQ+-themed books from schools. She was also one of four state Democrats to vote in favor of SB 14, a bill to ban trans youth from accessing gender-affirming healthcare.
The new rules could be selectively enforced against trans and nonbinary employees, some fear.
SB 14 would ban trans youth from accessing gender-affirming care including puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The bill would require trans teens who are currently undergoing treatment to de-transition, and it would punish doctors who provide such care by revoking their medical licenses.
Thierry was one of four Democratic representatives to vote in favor of SB 14. The other three were Reps. Harold Dutton, Tracy King, and Abel Herrero.
In a three-page statement explaining her vote, she claimed that no studies have shown the long-term effects of puberty blockers and HRT on young people, even though these reversible medications have been used on non-trans children to treat rare cancers for decades.
Her statement also highlighted the potential side effects of such medications and claimed that unnamed studies from “European countries” have shown that trans minors’ rates of suicide and depression aren’t improved by hormonal treatment.
Her position is in opposition to the findings of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Endocrine Society, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Psychiatric Association, who have all found that age-appropriate gender-affirming care is safe, evidence-based, and medically necessary to the well-being of trans youth.
“While many of my constituents encouraged me to vote in favor of this legislation, hostile activists have made nasty political threats to influence my vote against the bill. These personal even racist attacks on me as an African American woman are neither productive or persuasive,” Thierry wrote.
Responding to Thierry’s votes, the Meyerland Area Democrats Club of Houston, Texas, an organization that promotes Democratic candidates and policies, voted to censure her in a 13-7 vote on May 15.
“Rep. Thierry campaigned on being an ally to the LGBTQ+ community,” the club wrote in a statement about its censure. “Yet she has supported legislation which will harm this community and doesn’t ally with democratic principles.”
The club said that HB 900 would ban books under “a vague and constitutionally dubious rating system that will create layers of bureaucracy, cost, and red tape” and will disproportionately target LGBTQ+, indigenous, and non-white authors for censorship, marginalizing queer kids and educators in the process.
Mentioning SB 14, the club wrote, “Not only will her vote for this dangerous legislation hurt her constituents, but she has already harmed transgender Texans by spreading misinformation that is not backed by science.”
Progressive state groups like the Texas Freedom Network and the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have signaled that they’re prepared to file lawsuits if the two above bills become law. The two are among the 141 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in Texas during its 2023 legislative session.
Editor’s note: This article mentions suicide. If you need to talk to someone now, call the Trans Lifeline at 1-877-565-8860. It’s staffed by trans people, for trans people. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for LGBTQ youth at 1-866-488-7386. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
Two men have been arrested in connection with the cold-blooded murder of a Black gay teenager who was shot and left burning on freight train tracks in Brooklyn, New York in February.
Isiah Baez, 19, was taken into custody by the New York Police Department (NYPD) on Thursday (11 May) and charged with murder, criminal possession of a weapon and tampering with physical evidence in the murder of 19-year-old DeAndre Matthews.
Baez is the second person to be arrested for the killing of Matthews. His accomplice Remy McPrecia, 24, was arrested on 4 May and charged with concealing a corpse and evidence tampering.
Following news of the arrest, Matthews’ mother, Danielle Matthews, told News 12 the Bronx that Baez “deserves any and everything that he gets”.
“He deserves every day to rot in that jail,” she said.
DeAndre studied criminal justice at SUNY Broome Community College and he was paying his way through school by working at Buggy Service Center, where pushchairs are repaired and cleaned. His mother described him as a “beautiful soul”.
“He was just a beautiful soul. He was a great kid. Never had police contact. First in my family to go to college. He was amazing.”
Matthews was last seen on 6 February. On the day of his disappearance, he left work and went home to borrow his mother’s car to go out.
His mother’s Jeep Cherokee was found burned the next day, leading to the discovery of his body.
Police found him dead from a gunshot wound to the head, with “significant burn wounds throughout his body”, lying on train tracks close to Brooklyn College. Matthews also showed signs of smoke inhalation, police said.
The police are yet to establish a motive for the murder of Matthews, although they found evidence that Baez and DeAndre had been communicating for a year and pictures of the two of them were on Matthews’ phone.
His mother told Daily News that she believes her son was killed because Baez was “hiding his true identity”.
Matthews’ sister, Dajanae Gillespie, told NBC New York that his murder was likely due to his sexuality.
“He was gay. And I feel as if this could’ve been a hate crime. I want to know why [the killer] did it. What was the reason?
“DeAndre wasn’t a violent person. This wasn’t for retaliation. He wasn’t in the streets,” she said.
Anyone who has witnessed or experienced a hate crime is urged to call the police on 101, Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or visit theTrue Vision website. In an emergency, always dial 999.
In a historic ruling, the Supreme Court of Namibia has ruled that the government is required to recognize same-sex marriages performed legally in other nations between citizens and foreign nationals.
In a 4-1 vote, the judges overturned a previous ruling from the country’s High Court that said these marriages could not be acknowledged.
The litigants spoke with LGBTQ Nation about their fight for equal rights.
“This Court accordingly found that the approach of the Ministry to exclude spouses, including the appellants, in a validly concluded same-sex marriage… infringes both the interrelated rights to dignity and equality of the appellants,” stated the ruling.
The lawsuit was brought by a Namibian woman who married a German woman, as well as a Namibian man who married a South African man (South Africa is the only African country where same-sex marriage is legal). The non-Namibian spouses could not obtain resident rights in the country, so the couples sued.
Homosexuality remains illegal in the Christian-majority nation, though according to Africa News, the 1927 sodomy law is almost never enforced.
“Today’s verdict and outcome clearly indicates that Namibia is moving towards recognizing diversity in this country irrespective of people’s political or social positioning,” LGBTQ+ rights activist Linda Baumann told Reuters.
“Today after a six-year battle, we finally won, and the court has ruled that the Ministry of Home Affairs has to recognize these marriages by foreign spouses to Namibian spouses,” Carli Schickerling, a lawyer who represented the couples, told VOA.
Baumann also spoke with VOA and cautioned that there are so many more rights to fight for.
“It is important to understand the status of this case; it’s couples that are coming back to this country to claim their right to equality, their right to dignity and their right to family. To answer that question about same-sex marriages, I believe that a lot of LGBTQ people in this country, we experience a number of inequalities in service, in benefits, in having the right to say something over your partner.”
She hopes this ruling will lead to other rights for same-sex couples as well.
Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld is a U.S. Navy combat veteran who will be inaugurated as the American Medical Association’s (AMA) first out gay president on June 13 – and he says the organization “simply will not stand” for legislation targeting abortion and gender-affirming care. He has pledged to use “every avenue available” to oppose such laws.
“We see the attack on reproductive care, reproductive access, and transgender healthcare as a continuum of government overreach into patient-physician decision making,” Ehrenfeld told The Washington Blade. The AMA, whose mission is to advocate “the art and science of medicine [for] the betterment of public health,” represents at least 271,660 members, including physicians and medical students.
“If there is a secret to raising healthy children, it is to accept and focus on what they are, instead of what they’re not.”
“We simply will not stand for the government coming in to interfere with the doctor-patient relationship [by passing bills that] outlaw what we know to be appropriate, evidence-based clinical guidelines-based care,” Ehrenfeld said.
But Ehrenfeld said his inauguration marks an “important moment” in the AMA’s history as it signals increased LGBTQ+ visibility in a field that wasn’t always open to queer professionals or queer patients’ needs. Ehrenfeld and his husband will be marching with an AMA group in Chicago’s Pride parade, a first for the group that seems particularly significant considering the wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation being introduced nationwide.
“We have a lot of backseat drivers trying to tell doctors what to do,” Ehrenfeld said of bans on gender-affirming care for minors that have been passed in 18 states and introduced in 13 other states. He said these “backseat drivers” include “insurance companies who put up barriers around prior authorization for getting approval for care and services.”
The AMA has said that gender-affirming care is safe and essential to the overall well-being of trans youth. However, laws that criminalize gender-affirming care — charging doctors with felonies and revoking their medical licenses for rendering such care — cause “moral injury” to physicians, Ehrenfeld added, putting medical professionals in “an untenable choice: provide the care that they know is in the patient’s best interests, or break the law and [potentially] go to jail.”
“That stress is real,” Ehrenfeld said. “There’s not a week that goes by that I don’t hear from a colleague who says I can’t take it anymore.”
Additionally, Ehrenfeld said that the AMA has noticed a drop in healthcare workers applying for jobs in states passing such legislation. The lack of workers could eventually risk the lives of every potential patient in those states, regardless of their feelings on trans care for minors.
Ehrenfeld noted that a lot of his professional work has included improving healthcare access for LGBTQ+ people. He pledged that the AMA will use “every avenue available” to oppose such legislation, including encouraging the National Governors Association to file lawsuits and amicus briefs against bans on gender-affirming care as well as working with other stakeholders to influence state and federal policies in governmental and private sectors.
Ehrenfeld directs a philanthropic organization called Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment and has previously taught at Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine. He has also worked as a consultant for the World Health Organization’s Digital Health Technical Advisory Group and as a special adviser to President Donald Trump’s (R) U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams.
While serving as Adams’ adviser in 2019, he testified to the U.S. House Armed Services Committee against Trump’s ban on trans military members. Ehrenfeld told the committee that he found “no medically valid reason — including a diagnosis of gender dysphoria — to exclude transgender individuals from military service.”
A Russian court has fined Google partly for refusing to remove LGBTQ+ YouTube videos. The tech company has been ordered to pay three million rubles, or about $38,570.
Prosecutors in Russia accused Google of spreading “LGBT propaganda” in violation of its ban on LGBTQ+ content. The fine was also levied against Google for spreading “false information” about Russia’s unprovoted invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports.
A Russian politician mocked the theatre’s decision to change its festival name…but also showed that he knows nothing about the LGBTQ+ flag.
Russia’s ban on LGBTQ+ propaganda – or the law “for the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating a Denial of Traditional Family Values” – was passed in 2013 and was expanded in 2022. It originally just banned discussing homosexuality and same-sex relationships in front of children but was extended to any such discussion in front of other people of any age group.
Their definition of LGBTQ+ propaganda includes anything that “raises interest in” same-sex relationships, causes people to “form non-traditional sexual predispositions,” or says that LGBTQ+ relationships have as much value as heterosexual relationships.
Russian authorities had asked Google to remove several YouTube videos, including one about same-sex couples raising children, which Moscow said was made by a “foreign agent,” and another about LGBTQ+ people in St. Petersburg.
Earlier this year, a German teacher visiting the Russian city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky was convicted of violating the ban on LGBTQ+ propaganda when he invited a Russian man to have sex at his hotel room. He got deported.
In March, the same law was used to prosecute a young male bi-national couple who are popular content creators on the TikTok video-sharing platform. It’s unclear if the couple was prosecuted for publishing gay-related content online or for some other reason. After their arrest, the couple relocated outside of the country — leaving their homes, jobs, and possessions. The member of the couple, who is a Russian native, has a court date scheduled in Russia on May 11, according to the couple’s Telegram account.
Out Rep. George Santos (R-NY) is being held in federal custody, and the Department of Justice has unsealed a 13-count criminal complaint against him. The charges include seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, and one count of theft of public funds.
Santos was taken into custody in Melville on Long Island, CNN reports, before being taken to a courthouse in Central Islip. He is expected to appear in federal court later today. He skipped House votes yesterday as he went back to New York.
You’ll be surprised to learn that he denies the whole thing – and that no one believes him.
“This indictment seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace in a statement. “Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself.”
Santos’s attorney is not commenting.
Santos, the first out gay Republican elected to Congress, came under fire almost immediately after he was elected as multiple news reports found that he had fabricated large swaths of his life story, including his education, his work history, and his family history.
Many people also came forward with accusations related to theft and fraud, saying that Santos stole money from roommates, from people with sick pets, and even through an ATM scam. He faces several investigations for campaign finance misdeeds in the House.
Some of the charges come from an LLC that Santos controlled and that he encouraged donors to give money to. He allegedly used the money for personal expenses, including “luxury designer clothing,” according to the indictment. He allegedly told a consultant to tell donors that the money would be used for independent expenditures to support his candidacy and that the LLC was either a social welfare organization or an independent expenditure committee.
Some of the charges are related to Santos’s application for unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though he was employed at a Florida-based investment firm and earning a $120,000 salary. He allegedly received $24,744 in unemployment benefits during that time.
Last, there are charges related to his overstatement of one source of income while not disclosing his investment firm income on his 2020 campaign finance forms, as well as several other lies on his 2022 campaign finance disclosure forms.
Santos, who is usually active on social media, has not posted about his arrest. His last tweet was published yesterday, and he accused Nassau County, New York leaders of corruption.
“Nassau county’s corruption runs deep & it’s a big bipartisan uniparty!” he wrote. “I hold their joint hatred like a badge of honor!”
Jamie Alexander is the epitome of a supportive parent. Since his daughter Ruby came out as trans as a young child, he has done everything in his power to ensure she is loved and affirmed and can lead a happy life as her authentic self.
And that includes launching an entire company so that Ruby would have something to wear to the beach.
Tanius Posey said some negative comments have come from trans people who think he’s making them “look bad.”
Ruby had been having trouble finding a bikini that fit her well. For her own safety, her parents had insisted she wear board shorts to the beach. But Ruby eventually grew frustrated and just wanted to wear a bikini like her friends.
There wasn’t much on the market to meet Ruby’s needs, so Alexander decided to change that. Three years ago, he launched Rubies, which sells form-fitting bras, underwear, and swimwear for trans girls. It’s slogan: “Every girl deserves to shine.”
“One of the design points for Rubies was creating underwear and swimwear that feels the same as clothing cis people are wearing,” Alexander told LGBTQ Nation. “If you’re not physically comfortable, that gets in the way of you feeling comfortable overall.”
Over the past three years, Alexander has sent out more than 10,000 packages to trans girls in over 40 countries. He has spoken on panels, guided employee resource groups, and Zoomed directly with parents seeking advice on supporting their own trans children.
Alexander has also done several collaborations with LGBTQ+ groups, most recently partnering with Alexander Switzer’s Affirming Wardrobe, a program (through Switzer’s nonprofit Valid USA) that works with schools to supply gender-affirming clothing and undergarments to middle, high school, and college students.
In addition to running an Affirming Wardrobe in Tucson, Arizona at the University of Arizona Lutheran Campus Ministries, Alexander has largely worked with schools in Northern California, namely with the Oakland Unified School District.
He met Alexander when Rubies donated some merchandise to the organization, and the pair quickly knew they wanted to continue working together.
“I really liked what he was doing,” Alexander said, adding that working with Switzer has allowed Rubies products to reach a different cohort of young people – those without supportive parents that must seek out gender-affirming attire themselves.
Last month, in honor of the Transgender Day of Visibility, Alexander donated a slew of merchandise to Switzer.
“It’s a great opportunity for me to expand even further [and reach] older youth and be able to do some good, help these people in another critical time in their journey,” he said.
Both Switzer and Alexander praised the immensely positive effects their work has had on the kids they serve.
“A lot of kids have withdrawn from doing activities they love,” Alexander said. “And I don’t know about you, but for myself, you know, being able to go swimming at the beach, go to camp and feel comfortable, it’s kind of an essential part of growing up. So people say it’s life-changing for them and their kids.”
“Right away when a kid tries on their first bikini… They get that, you know, that twirl, like ‘Hey, I feel like myself.’”
Switzer, a trans man himself, told LGBTQ Nation that based on feedback he has received from the Oakland Unified School District, trans students who have access to the Affirming Wardrobe have had better attendance and even improved grades.
“They’re more interactive with their peers, they’re happier. They’re showing up for school every day. They’re showing up for club meetings, for events in the community… It’s really brought a lot of people, a lot of students, a lot of kids just so much joy.”
Both companies hope to continue expanding their reach as much as possible. Switzer is hoping to do so through college campus ministries.
“I grew up in the Christian church and was loved and welcomed, and then I was queer and I was a sin… So I strayed away from being with any kind of religious groups for 11 years and then [found] this very welcoming group of young people… They were super excited and welcoming of the idea of the Affirming Wardrobe. So with the partnership of the other church that we work with, they were able to give me space there.”
“Now we’re looking to connect with additional campus ministries at additional colleges to try to open space at their church or their college. I connected with my pastor, and we’re going to reach out to the over 100 different groups throughout the different universities.”
And now that Ruby is 15, Alexander has been expanding the company’s product line to grow with his daughter. He introduced a bra last year, for example, and he is working on creating other, more teen-centered undergarments as an increasing number of older kids also show interest in the brand.
“There’s always more to do,” he said. “Much more to grow Rubies into for sure.”
While both founders have experienced the inevitable backlash that accompanies supporting a marginalized group, they said they do their best to focus on the positive.
“The backlash, it just sort of falls off me,” said Alexander. “I knew going into this that there are some people that hate on the trans movement. They’re going to be there irrespective of what I’m doing. I really don’t focus on them at all. Rubies is really about celebrating these great people, the great community, the kids, it’s all positive…. What Rubies and I personally try to do is really just bring some joy to this community.”
“We don’t want you to be shocked,” Switzer added. “We want this to be normal. We’re just giving our kids what they need to succeed.”
He recalls a special Affirming Wardrobe program in San Francisco that paired 18 trans and gender nonconforming kids with 18 drag artists for a shopping spree at the LGBTQ+ thrift store, Out of the Closet.
“Just helping them shop and find what really makes them feel comfortable. We had a shy, shy youth come in that at first was very hesitant. And after, they had just the biggest smile on their face. They just broke out of their shell. And it was just… it drives the work.”
As someone who regularly witnesses the positive impact trans kids experience when their gender is affirmed, Switzer has a message for the GOP legislators seeking to limit trans kids’ freedom: “Just leave us be. Let us do what’s going to make us happy. We’re not hurting anybody. We are doing things within our lives to fulfill what we need to be to be happy.”
Out Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) could face an uphill battle if she runs for reelection in 2024.
A new Public Policy Polling poll found that a mere 27% of voters in the state of Arizona view Sinema favorably and want her to run for reelection. 50% of voters in the state view her unfavorably and 54% say she shouldn’t run again.
She began her career as a member of the Green Party. Now the party doesn’t matter. It’s just all about the green.
Sinema announced in December that she was leaving the Democratic Party after spending years as a moderate foil to major Democratic initiatives. Her departure opened up the question of whether she would run again in 2024, with many wondering whether she could win as an independent against possibly both Democratic and Republican challengers or if she would serve as a spoiler, splitting Democratic votes in the purple state and helping a Republican candidate win.
The poll found that she would have very little chance of winning.
When people were asked who they would vote for – Sinema; Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), the likely Democratic nominee; or a Republican candidate – she did not do very well. For example, the poll asked about the scenario where failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is the GOP nominee in a three-way election against Gallego and Sinema, and only 14% of people said they would vote for Sinema (35% said Lake and 42% said Gallego). The results were about the same when other possible Republican nominees – like financier Jim Lamon and Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb – were substituted for Lake.
Sinema’s opposition to Democratic legislation, her unwillingness to consider filibuster reform – which doomed the pro-LGBTQ+ Equality Act – and her lack of support for downticket Democrats made her very unpopular among her party in Arizona, leading many to speculate that she went independent since she probably would have lost the Democratic primary for her Senate seat in 2024.
An AARP poll last September found that 37% of likely Arizona voters had a favorable view of her, showing a 10-point drop in the last seven months, which includes her announcement of going independent.
Gay Ugandans are fleeing the country as the government’s Anti-Homosexuality Act moves closer to becoming law.
“The government and the people of Uganda are against our existence,” said Mbajjwe Nimiro Wilson, a 24-year-old refugee now living in a shelter in neighboring Kenya.
Safehouses are expected to be closed with passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
Before escaping with just a backpack of belongings, Wilson was cornered by a hostile crowd on the street as he tried to buy groceries.
“They kept saying, ‘We will hunt you. You gays should be killed. We will slaughter you,’” he told The New York Times. “There was no option but to leave.”
Uganda’s latest Kill the Gays law is having its intended effect.
“It is good that you rejected the pressure from the imperials,” Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on Thursday, as he sent the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act back to Parliament for additional consideration before he signs it.
The Biden administration calls the latest “Kill the Gays” bill “one of the most extreme” anti-LGBTQ+ measures anywhere in the world. The proposal mandates life in prison for anyone convicted of engaging in homosexual sex, among other draconian provisions.
Museveni congratulated lawmakers who stood up to “international pressure and shielded Uganda’s moral fabric during the passing of the bill.”
The president had in mind liberal Western influences whom he and others in the East African nation have accused of promoting homosexuality in the country and throughout Africa.
But while anti-LGBTQ+ allies have rejected pressure from the U.S., the European Parliament, and those condemning their latest attempt to erase homosexuality from the country, they have welcomed it from another Western power center.
Since 2009, conservative evangelical groups from the U.S. have been instrumental in promoting an anti-LGBTQ+ agenda in Uganda and other African nations, which have been the targets of religious indoctrination since the colonial era.
In a region where harsh penalties for homosexuality have been on the books since the British imposed them in the 19th century, conservative Christian and Muslim populations have been ripe for anti-LGBTQ+ proselytizing.
Family Watch International is an Arizona-based organization committed to spreading anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion ideology around the world, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The group was instrumental in crafting the original “Kill the Gays” bill in Uganda in 2009.
After the Uganda Supreme Court overturned that law on a technicality in 2013, Family Watch returned to help write revised legislation that would withstand judicial scrutiny, with willing partners publicly denouncing liberal Western influences, despite accepting close to a billion dollars annually in development aid from the U.S alone.
Last month, following passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Act through Uganda’s unicameral Parliament, Family Watch sponsored a conference in the country that drew lawmakers from more than a dozen African nations, all committed to passing or introducing copycat legislation to combat “the sin of homosexuality.”
One Family Watch partner is Kenya, where the country’s Supreme Court sparked controversy recently when it allowed gay rights groups to legally register.
Kenya’s president and other anti-LGBTQ politicians have condemned the ruling, including Parliament member George Peter Kaluma, who introduced a bill to criminalize homosexuality in the country, ban Kenyans from identifying as LGBTQ+, and grant citizens the power to arrest anyone they suspect of being gay.
“These people are perverts and I promise I will legislate to take every right they think they have,” Kaluma told the Times.
His bill would also return gay refugees like Wilson, still sheltering in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, to their home countries.
Laws like his, predicted Kaluma, will soon cover the continent.
