Chick-fil-A said Monday that it no longer plans to open a restaurant in the San Antonio airport, even though the Texas city relented after more than a year of legal wrangling that began when some city leaders opposed the fast-food chain getting a spot, citing donations made by company owners to anti-LGBTQ causes.
“We are always evaluating potential new locations in the hopes of serving existing and new customers great food with remarkable service.” Chick-fil-A said in a statement. “While we are not pursuing a location in the San Antonio airport at this time, we are grateful for the opportunity to serve San Antonians in our 32 existing restaurants.”
In May last year, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to look into whether the city had broken federal law or transportation department regulations. He said the fast-food chain’s exclusion from the airport amounted to discrimination “due to the expression of the owner’s religious beliefs.” The complaint prompted an FAA investigation that ended July 24 with an informal resolution for San Antonio to allow Chick-fil-A to seek a lease in the city-owned airport.
Some Texas leaders broadly supported the company. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill in 2019 in defense of Chick-fil-A and religious freedom. And on Monday, Paxton, also a Republican, heralded the agreement between San Antonio and Chick-fil-A.
“This is a win for religious liberty in Texas and I strongly commend the FAA and the City of San Antonio for reaching this resolution,” Paxton said in a statement. “To exclude a respected vendor based on religious beliefs is the opposite of tolerance and is inconsistent with the Constitution, Texas law, and Texas values.”
The FAA did not immediately returns calls seeking comment.
“The city itself offered to resolve the FAA investigation informally following Chick-fil-A’s publicly stated change-of-position on its charitable giving policy,” a city spokesman told San Antonio TV station KSAT. “The city maintains that at no point did it discriminate against Chick-fil-A.”
Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A has faced opposition elsewhere over its donations worth millions of dollars to groups that oppose same-sex marriage.
Steven King, a popular content creator on the social media platform TikTok, said he stumbled across the video-sharing app by accident early last year.
“I saw an advertisement for what I thought was an app that could put your selfies into motion” he said. “I downloaded it, and two days later I was posting my first video.”
King, 47, started by sharing videos about his day, his relationship with his husband and what clothes he wanted to wear. They must have resonated because his following started to grow — all the way to 3 million as of this week.
As Steven King’s TikTok account started to grow, he needed to be photo-ready every time he left his house, he said. Courtesy Steven King
“The amount of people that are seeing my face, that are engaging with these videos I’m creating,” he said, “really put me in awe.”
King, now a verified creator on the platform, said he knew he was onto something when the comment sections on his page started to fill up with questions about coming out, LGBTQ relationships and confidence in one’s own identity.
“When I joined TikTok, there was definitely the sense that it was a young-adult app,” he said, and “I knew right away that these were teenagers asking, and I had a responsibility.”
So in February 2019, King, who lives in Arizona, began doing livestreams where he would answer questions from his followers — many of them LGBTQ youth and young adults — and creating videos to share his advice and aspects of his life story, from his 24-year relationship to his sobriety.
“The traumas that we suffer from as we grow have a huge impact on who we are as adults,” King said. “To be able to empathize and put myself back in the position that these teenagers are in, knowing where I came from and how I made it through, I just had to give back that information.”
With the help of the algorithm on its “For You” page, which feeds users curated content based on their previous interactions and “likes,” TikTok has helped LGBTQ content creators and audiences find one another on the platform. But some fear the queer community they helped foster on the social network may be in danger amid the face-off between TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and the Trump administration.
Collins Onosike, a verified TikTok content creator, has amassed 4.4 million followers since joining the platform several years ago.
Collins Onosike started making videos in 2016. Now, as a college student, he balances school and life as an influencer.Slash MGMT
“My ‘For You’ page is full of queer people — I love it,” he said. “I’ve met a lot of friends on here; it’s really a happy place”
Onosike, who has built both his career and social group around TikTok, is among those who has been on edge amid the back and forth between the president and ByteDance.
“The thought of just losing it, just losing all of it is quite scary — for myself and other influencers,” he said.
Onosike, 20, joined TikTok in its early days when the app was still called Musical.ly. At first, he focused on dance and lip-sync videos, but he then pivoted to comedy skits where he often incorporates drag into his performances.
“I get a lot of comments saying, ‘Seeing the way you express yourself has given me the courage to be myself as well.’ It’s so cool to see the amount of power a video can give to someone else.”
‘Freaking out’
For Sarah Schauer, the prospect of TikTok shutting down was like “having deja vu.”
“I was like, ‘Are you f—— kidding me? I’ve done this before,” said Schauer, who started her social media career on the now-defunct video-sharing platform Vine and lost 848,000 followers in one day when it shut down in 2017.
“I understand why everyone else was freaking out, but it was like ‘I had practiced for this,'” she said. “This time I would lose 1.2 million [followers].”
Sarah Schauer said it felt good to get recognized on TikTok after her time on the now-defunct video-sharing platform Vine.Slash MGMT
Schauer, who lives in Los Angeles, started posting on TikTok last year after hearing success stories of other creator accounts growing rapidly on the platform. She said she has found a supportive fan base on the app, where she shares point-of-view-style comedy videos.
“I didn’t do queer content when I was on Vine, because I came out later, but I’ve started to integrate it into my content now,” said Schauer, who is bisexual and estimates that her followers are about half queer and half straight.
Schauer, who said the platform’s large queer community is commonly referred to as “gay TikTok,” said the app’s algorithm is about discoverability — and goes far beyond LGBTQ-related content.
“I’ve seen so much Native American and native Hawaiian content. The disabled community can create videos about their situations,” she explained. “I’ve never seen their videos as much as I have now.”
‘We’ll find a way to do it again’
For Chris Olsen and Ian Paget, a gay couple who split their time between New York and Los Angeles, TikTok started as a place to watch videos and stay entertained amid the pandemic. But then in April, the duo started posting their own videos to the platform.
Ian Paget, left, and Chris Olsen wear apparel they made after seeing the success of their pages on TikTok.Courtesy Chris Olsen
The multinational investment bank Citigroup is being sued by a gay man who claims he was demoted and discriminated against because of his sexual orientation.
The allegations by gay banker Thomas Krauss appear to counter Citigroup’s proud ranking as the most LGBT-inclusive financial services employer in the Stonewall Top 100.
Krauss joined the firm in 2010 and until recently led the firm’s capital introduction group for the Americas, Bloomberg reported.
He says he was targeted when he uncovered complaints of sexual harassment made against a new hire on his team, Deutsche Bank veteran Joseph Genovese.
Concerned that Genovese’s hiring could put Citigroup at risk of creating a “hostile and offensive work environment,” the suit says Krauss disclosed what he learned to senior Citigroup managers, who later withdrew the offer made to Genovese.
Although Krauss made the disclosure in confidence, he claims that several executives pushed to find out who “blew the whistle” on Genovese.
Once they learned it was Krauss, they allegedly began a campaign to punish him which eventually resulted in him being demoted.
Sadly the retaliation didn’t end there: despite receiving consistently positive evaluations, Krauss’s 2019 year-end review reflected a decrease in his leadership rating, which led to a pay reduction and “effectively destroyed his Citi career,” according to the complaint.
Krauss also alleges that he was denied a promotion to managing director because of his sexual orientation and for extra work he did on behalf of the company’s LGBT+ initiatives.
“It is easy to say you are not tolerant of discrimination but action, as is true with Citi, speaks louder than empty words,” said Krauss’s lawyer Daniel Kaiser in a statement Monday (3 August).
Instagram is taking a hard line on conversion therapy, announcing that it will block all posts promoting the abhorrent practise.
Attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity have been rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health organisation for decades and are linked to higher risks of depression, suicide, and drug addiction.
Instagram’s public policy director Tara Hopkins acknowledged the harm it causes as she explained how the company is changing the way it handles conversion therapy content.
“We don’t allow attacks against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity and are updating our policies to ban the promotion of conversion therapy services,” she said, speaking exclusively to the BBC.
She continued: “We are always reviewing our policies and will continue to consult with experts and people with personal experiences to inform our approach.”
Earlier this year Instagram banned the promotion of conversion therapy in ads. From Friday (July 10), any content linked to the practise will be banned across all posts on the platform.
The company stresses that it will take time to update all of its policies to reflect this blanket ban, so while some content that users flag may not immediately be removed, over time that should change.
But conversion therapy is still legal in the UK, despite the government promising to eradicate it two years ago in its July 2018 LGBT+ Action Plan.
Campaigners are now urging the government to make good on its promise, with Elton John, Stephen Fry, Munroe Bergdorf and Dua Lipa joining over influential public figures in calling for a ban.
“Theresa May, as prime minister, vowed to eradicate this “abhorrent” practice in 2018 and since then the British public has been waiting expectantly, not least the LGBTQ+ community,” they write.
“The government has said recently that conversion therapy is complex, which it undoubtedly is, and although we acknowledge this issue is nuanced we strongly believe that effective legislation, supported by a programme of work to help tackle these practices in all their forms, is possible.
“Any form of counselling or persuading someone to change their sexual orientation or behaviour so as to conform with a heteronormative lifestyle, or their gender identity should be illegal, no matter the reason, religious or otherwise — whatever the person’s age.”
Facebook reportedly refused to take action on posts that called for the murder of LGBT+ people, according to activists.
LGBT+ activists across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have called on Facebook to tackle hate speech, including posts that call for the murder of queer people.
But, the platform reportedly found that they did not “contradict community standards”.
Activists and rights groups wrote an open letter to Facebook in the wake of the death of Sara Hegazy, an Egyptian LGBT+ activist who was jailed and tortured for raising a Pride flag at a concert, and then tragically died by suicide.
The letter said: “Although the MENA LGBTQI+ community has been reporting thousands of Arabic hate speech posts … most of these reports were declined because the content ‘did not contradict the Facebook community standards’.
“This is due to the lax implementation of effective anti-hate speech policies to manage the platform in our region, which makes the platform unsafe for sexual minorities.
“While the right to equal treatment and non-discrimination is a fundamental right enshrined in international treaties and covenants, it should be ensured that a mechanism exists to ensure that complaints from victims of hate speech in the region are examined without violating freedom of expression.”
If you think it’s your right to act on homosexuality, then it’s my right to throw you off the roof.
Activists provided Gay Star News with examples of posts that were reported to Facebook, including one which, when translated from Arabic, read: “If you think it’s your right to act on sodomy/homosexuality, then it’s my right to throw you off the roof.”
Another profile had a photo of a white stick figure kicking a rainbow stick figure in the stomach, with a cover photo of a burning Pride flag.
Adam Muhammed, executive director of the LGBT+ rights group ATYAF Collective in Morocco, told Reuters: “In the US and Europe, there is no room to spread hate speech against any sexual orientation, race, religion, sect or any other social group.
“We addressed a letter to Facebook asking its management to implement the same policy here as it uses in other countries.”
In response, Facebook said that it removed hate speech in more than 50 languages, including Arabic, and that 90 per cent of it was blocked before users reported it.
It added: “We know we have more work to do here and we’ll continue to work closely with members of the LGBTQI+ community in the Middle East and North Africa to develop our tools, technology and policies.”
Calls for Facebook to remove hate speech and disinformation go global.
Facebook is facing increasing pressure around the world to address hate speech and the spread of disinformation.
On June 17, civil rights groups Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, Free Press, and Color of Change began a campaign called Stop Hate for Profitwhich urged companies to pause their advertising on Facebook and Instagram in an attempt to force them to reconsider their policies.
Stop Hate for Profit said: “What would you do with $70 billion? We know what Facebook did.
“They allowed incitement to violence against protesters fighting for racial justice in America in the wake of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks and so many others.
“They named Breitbart News a ‘trusted news source’ and made The Daily Callera ‘fact checker’ despite both publications having records of working with known white nationalists.
“They turned a blind eye to blatant voter suppression on their platform.
“Could they protect and support Black users? Could they call out Holocaust denial as hate? Could they help get out the vote?
“They absolutely could. But they are actively choosing not to do so.”
Companies including Adidas, Puma, Vans, Ben & Jerry’s, Levi’s, Verizon and Unilever have all vowed to pull advertising from Facebook during July.
In response to the mass boycott, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said the company would put “warning labels” on posts, but would not stop the content being posted.
According to Out, Zuckerberg said Facebook users should be free to condemn content as “this is an important part of how we discuss what’s acceptable in our society”.
Amazon has suspended a paid-for advertising campaign for a book suggesting that being trans is “a contagion among teen girls” written by renowned anti-trans journalist Abigail Shrier.
The tech giant reportedly refused to host advertising for Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughter because it “claims to diagnose, treat, or question sexual orientation”.
Its author is notoriously anti-trans Wall Street Journal writer Abigail Shrier, who wrote on Twitter that her book is about: “The idea that trans-identification has become a peer contagion among teen girls.”
Shrier is known for writing obsessively about the debunked 2018 phrase “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria”, which posits that “social and peer contagion” is responsible for young people identifying as trans, as opposed to growing acceptance and understanding.
Amazon refusal to promote anti-trans book ‘a significant hit’, says publisher.
The book is from conservative publishing house Regnery Publishing and is due to be released at the end of this month.
Regnery toldFox News that Amazon’s decision not to host paid ads for Shrier’s book was a “significant hit to our promotional efforts”.
“Amazon is one of our most important ad platforms,” it added.
According to leaked emails, Amazon’s Advertising Support service defended its decision to suspend Regnery Publishing’s campaign – because of its offensive content on sexual orientatin.
“It contains elements that may not be appropriate for all audiences, which may include ad copy/book content that infers or claims to diagnose, treat, or question sexual orientation,” the email from Amazon read.
“Hence, this campaign will not be allowed to be advertised.”
The book is still available to buy on Amazon.
Shrier bemoaned Amazon’s decision in an op-ed. She elleged that if you write a book “celebrating troubled teenage girls suddenly coming out as ‘transgender’” then Amazon is happy to back it, but if you write about “the risks of this gender journey” then Amazon “wants nothing to do with you”.
Wearing a binder – like changing other clothing, hairstyles and pronouns – is a form of social transition repeatedly shown to improve the short and long-term mental health of trans people.
When the COVID-19 crisis began, the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce said that it has never been more imperative to commit ourselves to shop local, shop LGBT, give back what we can to our community organizations, and support all those around us. The virus hit our communities hard and indiscriminately, especially in the most vulnerable, intersectional communities among us. And businesses large and small stepped up to support them. We were reminded from the beginning that we truly are in this together.
That sense of togetherness is amplified exponentially as we have arrived at both Pride season and this unprecedented moment of awakening for racial and economic justice throughout our country. While small business powers America, diversity powers our movement — and always has.
As we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first ‘official’ Pride celebrations in this country, it is a stunning reminder that history doesn’t always repeat itself, but it definitely rhymes. Once again the movement for long-overdue social change in America is being led by communities of color. And the LGBT business community — all 1.4 million of our fellow entrepreneurs, their teams, and their allies — stands in solidarity with them.
In fact, the unity among diverse communities and business groups has never been more apparent than this moment. As NGLCC and the partners we brought together to form the National Business Inclusion Consortium (NBIC) shared in our coalition statement:
“The time is now for us to stand as one unified community to demand action and declare together that discrimination and bigotry against any fellow human being is wrong and will not be tolerated. That in fact #BlackLivesMatter.”
The NGLCC and our partners are guided by one fundamental principle: equality is good for business. And this year’s Pride and actions for racial justice carry a similar theme. Too many lives are being lost. Too many families are being devastated. The negative impact on our cities and towns is not and should not be sustainable. Our local, state, and national economies have been stretched to the max already. The time for action is now. We have to shed light on institutional racism and we must work to find solid equity for all. Our country deserves better, our people deserve justice, families of color deserve respect, journalism merits the exercise of reporting and free speech, and businesses deserve to thrive in a safe economy.
Our community is holding its breath for the Supreme Court to possibly decide this month if LGBTQ people — especially our black and brown brothers and sisters — have even the most basic rights to work and live in this country. If you don’t think racial justice is an LGBT fight too, you don’t get it. The unique threads of diversity that weave together forming our LGBT community highlight that our causes are forever linked. LGBT people are black and brown, Asian and Native American, abled and disabled, and so much more. But we all fight, march, and commit ourselves to one goal: a nation that sees us, respects us, treats each of us as equals.
It wouldn’t be a Pride reflection from the world’s largest LGBT business organization without a reminder and a call to action. This is the time to remind your favorite brands, TV networks, and magazines that inclusivity has never been more important. Just because we aren’t waving at your Pride float in person doesn’t mean we aren’t watching how you engage with our community and our allies in the black community.
As the economy regains its footing in the months ahead, leading with a commitment to diversity — as a business owner or consumer — can help supercharge our economy and our community back to where we should be with our $917 billion LGBT purchasing power.
Now is the time to double down on supporting inclusive businesses so that all our communities feel seen, supported, and empowered throughout — and long after this moment. Every dollar spent with the LGBT Business Community, especially our LGBT brothers and sisters of color, helps all of us come out of this moment stronger — and that is something that should give us all pride.
Justin Nelson and Chance Mitchell are cofounders of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, the business voice of the LGBT community.
Goldman Sachs has reached a settlement with a former vice president who says he was fired after being told he “sounded too gay”.
William Littleton was fired in 2019 after eight years of positive performance reviews at the banking giant. He filed a lawsuit claiming that he had been discriminated against on the basis of his sexual orientation and subjected to homophobic retaliation.
The court papers alleged numerous examples of discrimination, including a time when he was excluded from a client call because his voice “sounded too gay”.
In another incident, Littleton said he was asked by a supervisor: “What’s wrong with you? Do you act this way because you’re gay?”
When he complained about his colleagues’ repeated discrimination, he was fired.
The complaint, filed in New York state court, claims that “despite years of ‘outstanding’ performance reviews filled with near-endless praise regarding Mr Littleton’s bright future at the Bank, he was abruptly fired by those who he complained engaged in discriminatory conduct.”
Goldman Sachs argued Littleton was fired because of his job performance, not his orientation. The bank said he Littleton held a “relatively junior position” and had become uninterested in the work.
This, they said, made him the subject of complaints from other employees, including allegations that he berated a subordinate.
Goldman Sachs earned a perfect score on the Equality Index
U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan on Monday said the parties had agreed to a settlement in principle and dismissed the case. Terms were not disclosed.
According to Littleton’s attorney, David Gottlieb, his client’s termination from Goldman is not an isolated incident at the bank or on Wall Street more broadly.
“Wall Street continues to struggle to create an environment that is inclusive and accepting of LGBTQ+ employees,” Gottlieb said in a statement.
Despite this, Goldman Sachs recently scored a perfect 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, which measures a company’s overall support of LGBT+ staff.
Grindr said it will remove the racial and ethnic filter from its popular gay dating and social-networking app, citing user feedback and a commitment to the Black Lives Matter movement.
“We will not be silent, and we will not be inactive,” the company said in posts on social media Monday. “We will continue to fight racism on Grindr, both through dialogue with our community and a zero-tolerance policy for racism and hate speech on our platform. As part of this commitment, and based on your feedback, we have decided to remove the ethnicity filter from our next release.”
Grindr’s response came after several days of violent protests across the U.S., sparked by the murder of George Floyd, who died May 25 while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
Currently, the Grindr app allows paying users to set preferences for “ethnicity,” among other criteria specifying the kinds of people they want to connect with.
On Monday, Grindr said it is making donations to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute and Black Lives Matter, and it urged others “to do the same if you can.”
In a post on Instagram, Grindr said it was planning to announce its #PridePerseveres initiative today, “but in light of the ongoing violence and injustices against our POC family, that no longer feels appropriate. How can we launch a month of celebration when so many of us are hurting? How can we celebrate Pride without acknowledging that we wouldn’t even HAVE a Pride month if it weren’t for the brave black, brown, trans, and queer folks whose uprising against the police at Stonewall gave birth to the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement?”
The company added: “It is our responsibility to speak out against the hate and violence that such a vital part of our community continue to face.”
Grindr said it will announce its plans to celebrate Pride Month on Tuesday, “but in a different light. Yes, we can still come together in the spirit of Pride, but Pride this year has an added responsibility, a shifted tone, and a new priority that will be reflected in our programming — support and solidarity for queer people of color and the #BlackLivesMatter movement.”
In March, Beijing Kunlun Tech Co., a Chinese gaming company, announced that it was selling Grindr — in which it had first acquired majority stake in 2016 — for $608.5 million — a move prompted by the U.S. government’s concerns about the privacy of the app’s users. Grindr’s new owner is San Vicente Acquisition, a group of entrepreneurs and investors in tech, media and telecommunications sectors, Reuters reported.
Grindr, first launched in 2009, says it is today “the largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people.” The app uses geolocation features of mobile devices to let users connect with others in their area, similar to Tinder.
Movies, television shows and ads can help change attitudes about and erase prejudices towards the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community.
That’s the big takeaway from a new study conducted by advocacy group GLAAD and Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest advertiser. It found that 48 percent of non-LGBTQ people became more accepting of gay and lesbian people over the past few years because of their representation in media, significantly higher than reported for those who did not see LGBTQ people in the media. Seventy six percent said they were comfortable seeing LGBTQ characters in films like “Love, Simon” and shows like “Pose.”
Moreover, 80 percent of those surveyed said they had become more supportive of equal rights for LGBTQ people after being exposed to them on television or at the movies, while only 70 percent of those not exposed to LGBTQ people in the media felt this way. The survey was conducted online between Nov. 20 to Dec. 3, 2019, and polled more than 2,000 non-LGBTQ American adults.
“The findings of this study send a strong message to brands and media outlets that including LGBTQ people in ads, films, and TV is good for business and good for the world,” said GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, when media consumption is up and when media outlets serve as lifelines for LGBTQ people in isolation, companies should recognize that now is the right time to grow the quality and quantity of LGBTQ people in advertising.”
The poll also found that 45 percent of respondents who had been exposed to LGBTQ people in the media say they are more accepting of bisexual people over the past few years, while 41 percent are more accepting of nonbinary people. Some 72 percent of respondents were more likely to be comfortable learning that a family member is LGBTQ compared to the 66 percent of respondents who had not been exposed. That shift in attitudes comes as more people report having LGBTQ people in their social circles. Eighty six percent of non-LGBTQ people say that they know someone who is LGBTQ.
That move towards broader acceptance is manifested in other ways. Seventy nine percent of respondents who had been exposed to LGBTQ people in the media are comfortable having a new LGBTQ family with children move into their neighborhood, while roughly 70 percent of respondents are comfortable starting a conversation with a person whose gender is unclear, and 81 percent are comfortable chatting with a person whose sexual orientation is different than their own.
Non-LGBTQ people have been far more exposed to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people on film and television than in advertising. Within the past three months, 70 percent were exposed to members of the LGBTQ community in movies and on the small screen, whereas 52 percent saw LGBTQ people in advertisements.
The Hallmark Channel may have made waves last year for pulling TV ads featuring same sex couples (it later re-instated them under public pressure). Despite the controversy, people looked favorably upon companies who included LGBTQ people in their advertisements. Some 86% of respondents believe it reflects the company’s support of LGBTQ rights, while 85 percent of respondents believe it illustrates the company’s commitment to offering products to all types of customers. Some 75 percent of people were comfortable with ads that showed LGBTQ people and 70 percent were comfortable with seeing commercials with LGBTQ families with children.
On a conference call with media on Wednesday, Ellis said that the results should embolden marketers and companies to highlight LGBTQ consumers.
“This is a permission slip for brands to go out and embrace the LGBTQ community,” said Ellis.
