More than half (51 percent) of trans male teenagers have attempted suicide in the past year, according to new research.
The new study by researchers at the University of Arizona also found that more than four in 10 (42 percent) of non-binary adolescents and 30 percent of trans female teens had attempted suicide.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among teenagers and young adults aged between 10 and 34 in the US.
The latest data revealed that transgender and non-binary teens—aged between 11 and 19—are at a significantly greater risk of attempting suicide than their peers who are cisgender, meaning
Nearly two in 10 (18 percent) of cis female teens, and 10 percent of cis male adolescents, had tried to end their lives, according to the study.
Russ Toomey, an associate professor at the University of Arizona, who led the research, based his findings on an analysis of data from the Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors survey—a national survey of 120,617 adolescents in the US.
The survey, carried out between 2012 and 2015, included data from 202 transgender teenagers, 70 per cent of which were trans male adolescents.
Commenting on his research, Toomey said: “Transmasculine youth and non-binary youth are the two populations that often are the least focused on in the transgender community.
“So really reorganising our efforts to focus in and try to really understand and learn about the experiences of these youth is critical.”
Past research has shown that a shocking proportion of transgender people have attempted suicide.
In 2016, a study by the NationalCentre for Transgender Equality found that 40 percent of transgender people had tried to end their lives.
Other studies have also revealed that lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) young people are more likely to attempt suicide than their straight counterparts.
A 2016 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) young people are almost three times as likely to seriously contemplate suicide than heterosexual youths.
It also found that LGB youth were five times more likely to have attempted suicide than heterosexual young people.
If you are in the US and are having suicidal thoughts, suffering from anxiety or depression, or just want to talk, call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255. If you are in the UK, you can contact the Samaritans on 116 123.
A group of House lawmakers is calling on the Department of Veterans to incorporate gender reassignment surgery as part of its coverage for U.S. veterans, calling denial of the procedure for transgender people “unconscionable.”In the Sept. 7 letter, the lawmakers respond to a request for comment on coverage for gender reassignment surgery.
“Simply put, the VA has an obligation to provide the necessary care that is prescribed to enrolled veterans by their health care practitioners,” the letter says. “It is unconscionable to deny veterans the same access to health care services that civilians receive in the private sector, and that is available to Medicare beneficiaries and federal workers, simply because of outdated and unscientific prejudice against their gender identity.”
The VA has request comment on gender reassignment surgery as a consequence of ongoing litigation against the department seeking coverage for the procedure. The case is currently pending before the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Given the anti-LGBT policies of the Trump administration, including the attempt to ban transgender people from the U.S. military, it’s hard to see how the solicitation for comment could result in a proposed rule change. In fact, the administration could use comments against coverage as justification for current policy.
Brownley, top Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Health Subcommittee, said in a statement the estimated 160,000 transgender veterans in the United States are deserving of coverage and “have put their lives on the line in order to protect our constitutionally protected freedoms.”
“It is simply unacceptable that we would ask our veterans to risk their lives to protect our rights but we would refuse to defend theirs in return,” Brownley said. “The VA must put an end to this discriminatory and outdated ban on treatments for gender dysphoria and ensure that all our nation’s veterans have access to the healthcare they have earned.”
The lawmakers’ letter to the VA has a blemish of bipartisanship. Among the 83 House members who signed the missive was Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who has a transgender son and is slated to retire from Congress at the end of this year.
Charlotte Clymer, a transgender veteran and spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement the exclusion of gender reassignment surgery from VA coverage is harmful.
“The Department of Veterans Affairs’ exclusion of many forms of transition-related health care flies in the face of every major medical authority and undermines the health and wellbeing of transgender patriots who have laid their lives on the line for this country and their families,” Clymer said.
Indeed, the letter says studies have shown transition-related care, including gender reassignment surgery, can reduce the rate of suicide among transgender people as well as mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression.
“This broad medical consensus on the treatment of gender dysphoria is based on decades of peer-reviewed studies and clinical observation — including studies of veterans — that demonstrate its efficacy and substantial health benefits,” the letter says.
The Department of Veterans Affairs during the Obama administration had floated the idea of covering gender reassignment surgery, but the planned was scrapped after the election of President Trump — but before his inauguration — under the pretext of concerns about cost.
A VA spokesperson said in response to the letter the department “appreciates the lawmakers’ views and will respond to them directly.”
“VA will consider the comments received and determine the appropriate response,” the spokesperson added. “Although there is no specific timeframe required for this type of consideration, VA will announce any action it takes in the Federal Register.”
The National LGBT Cancer Network is the newest recipient of a $2.5 million five year award from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to expand resources for their grantees serving LGBTQ people at risk for tobacco-related cancers.
“The LGBTQ communities smoke at rates significantly higher than other populations. That alone increases our cancer risks dramatically,” said Liz Margolies, the Executive Director of the National LGBT Cancer Network.
The Cancer Network’s new award will expand their NYC presence to Providence, RI, the base for their Principal Investigator, Dr. Scout. For more than a decade, Dr. Scout has led this CDC health priority at other agencies. He emphasizes that the next five years will bring a new vision for this work: “We are really looking to expand the online knowledgebase and toolbox for LGBTQ community members at risk for cancer, living with cancer, and policymakers serving us. Watch our website at www.cancer-network.org; each month we will be adding new resources, building a robust library of information and tools everyone can access.”
The CDC award leverages a trusted network of organizational members who specialize in tobacco-related cancers and/or serving LGBTQ people. The Cancer Network reports early membership commitments from a wide range of LGBTQ serving national organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign, the National LGBTQ Task Force, the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association, the Equality Federation, and more. Likewise, many states health departments and national health organizations have already signed on as members: American Cancer Society, The Truth Initiative, Association of State and Territorial Health Officers, and more. “The American Cancer Society has a longstanding commitment to addressing cancer in the LGBTQ communities. We are very excited about this new award and look forward to helping further reduce the cancer impact for this population,” said Tawana Thomas-Johnson, Vice President, Diversity and Inclusion at ACS.
Ms. Margolies added, “We are particularly excited to have members work with the state health departments, who collectively are the second largest health funder in the United States.”
The National LGBT Cancer Network works to improve the lives of LGBT cancer survivors and those at risk, through education, training, and advocacy. They recently created the most comprehensive LGBTQ cultural competency training program available, which has been used to train thousands people across the country to date. Learn more at www.cancer-network.org.
A black trans women shot dead in Philadelphia on Wednesday morning has become the 19th reported case of a trans person being killed in the US so far this year.
Shantee Tucker, who had celebrated her 30th birthday on Sunday (September 2), was found suffering from a gunshot wound by police at about 1am on a highway in the Hunting Park area of the city, according to local media reports.
She was taken to Temple University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.Police are reportedly looking for a suspect in connection with the murder.
According to local magazinePhiladelphia, a police report state that Tucker had been arguing with an unidentified person or persons in a black Ford truck, who then started shooting at Tucker.
Philadelphia Police Department are appealing for any witnesses to contact the Homicide Unit on 215-686-3334.
Friends have paid tribute to Tucker on social media.
One friend, Samantha Jo Dato, wrote on Facebook: “R.I.P Shantee Tucker I was just on your live checking in on your birthday. May you forever live in our hearts and justice be swift and ruthless.
“This is so close to home Philly Stay Strong and wrap one another in love.”
Another friend, Tameer Harris, posted on Facebook: “Omg I can’t believe the news I just got R.I.P Shante !! you was really like another big sister to me!”
Harris added: “I really can’t even believe this phone call I got ❤️❤️❤️ this morning I woke up to a confirmation that I can’t even stomach to believe 😔 May you Rest In Peace baby 💋 I Love You So Much!”
Sarah McBride, national press secretary of the Human Rights Campaign, told PinkNews: “There is a growing epidemic of violence targeting transgender people, particularly Black transgender women.
“This is an urgent crisis that is a by-product of the toxic and violent combination of transphobia, misogyny, and racism. As a society, our policymakers and lawmakers must do more to combat this violence.
“Our hearts go out to the family—both blood and chosen—of Shantee Tucker, and we must never forget that behind the headlines was a real person whose life of love, hopes and dreams was tragically cut short.”
Dejanay L. Stanton, a 24-year-old woman, was found on a street in Chicago on Thursday morning with a gunshot wound to the head, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The other woman, 18-year-old Vontashia Bell, was also found in a street in Shreveport, Louisiana, with gunshot wounds to the chest and wrist.
Born on May 21, 1923, the pastor marched at early gay rights protests, years before the Stonewall Riots in 1969.Wood reportedly came out as gay to the public when his article titled “Spiritual Exercises” was published in a gay magazine, showing him photographed in a clerical collar.
He published his groundbreaking book Christ and the Homosexual in 1960, which called for church-approved equal marriage and for Christian clergy to welcome gay people.
Wood wrote that the “saving message of Christ and the freely flowing grace of God are as much for the homosexual as the heterosexual,” adding that “the church must minister equally to both; that the demands of Christ apply to both; that both are capable of being moral, as well as immoral and amoral.”
In 1960, Wood was honoured with an Award of Merit from The Mattachine Society, an early gay rights group.
Wood was also known to have carried out same-sex marriage ceremonies many years before it was enshrined in law across the entirety of the US in 2015.
In his younger years, Wood studied as an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, and went on to be enlisted as a soldier during World War II.
He was injured during the invasion of Italy and honourably discharged for his efforts.
In 1962, Wood met his long-term partner, Hugh M. Coulter, an artist and cowboy, who was also a World War II veteran.
The pair met in a gay leather bar in Manhattan.
Wood and Coulter were also present at the country’s first gay picket line in 1965, reportedly protesting outside the Civil Service Building after it had been revealed that the head of the Civil Service Department said it would not employee gay people.
The couple spent 27 years together until Coulter’s death in 1989 and each wore a gold wedding ring.
In 2001, Wood was honoured as a gay pioneer by the Christian Association at the University of Pennsylvania.
And, in 2004, the United Church of Christ Coalition of LGBT Concern gave him its pioneer award.
A gay couple has claimed that they were denied early boarding with their daughter—only to see straight parents walk through with children.
Jeff Cobb and his husband were flying with Taiwanese airline EVA Air from San Francisco to Thailand on Saturday (September 1) when they were reportedly separated on the false basis that only one parent could accompany a child onto the plane.
Cobb described on Twitter how “my husband and I were told only one of us could join our 19-month-old in the family boarding group of EVA Air 27 from SFO on 9/1/18.
“I explained we were both the fathers of the child, and they said it was their policy that only one parent can board and the other has to wait in the normal line.
“Not having flown EVA before, I accepted it and let my husband and child go while I boarded later.”
But Cobb said he was in for a surprise when he was finally reunited with his husband and daughter.
“When I met him on the plane, he said there were many other (straight) families all boarding together,” he wrote.
“I’m very disappointed that the EVA ground staff at SFO thinks it’s ok to separate same-sex families during boarding.
“I will definitely not be flying this airline again after this incident.”
When they got their connection in Thailand with EVA Air, the two dads were allowed to walk through early boarding with their daughter, according to Attitude.
An EVA Air spokesperson said: “EVA Air and most especially our San Francisco International Airport team sincerely apologise to all the passengers affected by this incident.
“It is our policy that passengers travelling with infants can have priority boarding. The policy does not limit the number of accompanying adults or specify the relationship to the infant.
“This unfortunate incident was due to misunderstanding. Our San Francisco ground-handling agent understood that only one parent could board with an infant.
“We have apologised to our passengers and reminded our airport staff and agents about our priority boarding policy so that we can prevent this kind of incident from happening again.”
Last year, Grant Morse and husband Sam said Southwest denied them priority boarding to a flight because the airline didn’t consider them and their three children to be a family.
Activist David Hogg is among those participating in the U.S. Conference on AIDS. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The annual 2018 United States Conference on AIDS, one of the nation’s largest gatherings of experts involved in HIV prevention and treatment efforts, is expected to draw more than 3,000 participants on Sept. 6-9 to the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Orlando, Fla.
The D.C.-based national HIV/AIDS advocacy organization NMAC, which organizes the annual conference, says the 2018 conference will cover a wide range of HIV-related topics, including a session on activism.
“Our opening plenary is focused on the importance of activism,” said NMAC Executive Director Paul Kawata in a statement. “Activism in the fight against HIV intersects many communities: youth, LGBTQ, elders, and communities of color,” he said. “We want to show how different activist movements can intersect with the fight against HIV and strengthen our forces for change.”
In a statement released last week, NMAC announced that prominent entertainers and veterans as well as younger activists of various progressive movements would be participating in the opening plenary session as well as in later sessions.
Among them is legendary disco diva Thelma Houston, who will give a special performance in honor of disco great Sylvester. Also scheduled to perform is the Kinsey Sicks, who are billed as “America’s Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet,” according the NMAC statement.
The activists participating in the opening session include Parkland shooting survivor and gun control activist David Hogg; Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza; Abigail Echo-Hawk, director of the Urban Indian Health Institute; Richard Zaldivar of The Wall Las Memorias Project; and Naina Khanna, executive director of the Positive Women’s Network USA.
Also scheduled to appear and speak on video is Larry Kramer, the internationally acclaimed playwright and co-founder in the early 1980s of New York’s Gay Men’s Health Crisis and the AIDS protest group ACT UP.
Chip Lewis, NMAC’s communications director, said the names of participants in more than 150 individual conference workshops would be announced on Friday.
Titles of the workshops, which will take place over three days in nine concurrent workshop sessions, are listed on the conference’s website. Several of them address the nation’s opioid crisis and how it impacts people under treatment for HIV.
A number of the workshops address issues affecting men who have sex with men of color, one of the population groups that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says has the highest rate of HIV infection in the nation.
Further information about the conference and the workshop speakers scheduled to be announced on Aug. 31can be accessed at 2018usca.org.
We don’t talk much about chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis, in part because it can seem like they’re not big health issues anymore. But it turns out more and more Americans may be quietly suffering from these once nearly eliminated STDs.
According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were nearly 2.3 million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis reported in the United States in 2017 — the highest cumulative number ever recorded, and one that surpassed a 2016 record high.
The leap in cases over the last few years are truly eye-popping. Between 2013 and 2017, the rate of:
Gonorrhea increased by 67 percent to 555,608 cases
Syphilis increased by 76 percent to 30,644 cases
Chlamydia increased by 22 percent to 1.7 million cases
To appreciate just how astonishing the trends are, consider that as recently as a decade ago, these STDs were at historic lows or near elimination, with more and better screening and diagnostics to help identify cases and get people into treatment.
Syphilis can show up on the body in sores and rashes. Gonorrhea and chlamydia can lurk with no symptoms. They’re all generally easy to cure with a timely antibiotics prescription, but when left untreated, they can lead to infertility or life-threatening health complications. That’s what makes screening and access to health care so important.
The increase in cases between across all three diseases was significant, and represents changing disease dynamics.“We are sliding backward,” said Jonathan Mermin, director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, in a statement. “It is evident the systems that identify, treat, and ultimately prevent STDs are strained to near-breaking point.”
African Americans and men who have sex with men have traditionally been the populations most plagued by gonorrhea and syphilis (and they’re still disproportionately affected). But other groups are now catching up too, especially women and babies in contracting syphilis.
So what’s behind the spread of these diseases here? There’s no single explanation. Like most health trends, it’s complicated. But here are a few ideas, according to experts:
1) There’s been a rise in condomless sex among men who have sex with men: Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men are generally more at risk for STDs than women and men who have sex with women only. (The majority of new syphilis and gonorrhea cases occurred among men, and in particular, men who have sex with men.) And there’s been some concern about a shift toward riskier sexual behaviors in this group — like not wearing condoms — that may be contributing to the rise in STDs.
The reason for this shift has been explained by everything from the success in treating HIV (and therefore making sex less scary) to the advent of PrEP (pills that can prevent HIV). A systematic review published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases found that some PrEP users are having more risky sex — and are being diagnosed with more sexually transmitted infections.
HIV and syphilis are also interlinked: Some half of men diagnosed with a new syphilis infection also have HIV. And as these diseases spread in particular populations, like men who have sex with men, there’s a greater risk of them moving even further.
“The fear, which I share, is that we won’t contain syphilis among men who have sex with men,” Matthew Golden, director of the Public Health for the Seattle and King County HIV/STD control program, told Vox in 2017. “And if the epidemic in men who have sex with men gets big enough, which is what is happening, there are enough people who have sex with both men and women that it won’t be possible to contain it.”
2) STDs are spreading more broadly and into populations that weren’t traditionally affected — like babies: A 2017 CDC report on STDs in America showed that more women are getting syphilis these days, and they’re passing it to their babies. When an expectant mother is infected with the disease, and goes undiagnosed and untreated, the bacteria can get into her bloodstream and move through her placenta to her baby. Congenital syphilis is associated with serious health consequences, like stillbirths and neonatal deaths.
In 2016, there were 628 cases of congenital syphilis, an increase of 27.6 percent from 2015 — and that number includes 41 related deaths. According to the CDC, much of the rise was driven by increases in cases in the Western US. Between 2012 and 2016, Western states saw an astounding 366 percent rise in congenital syphilis.
The large increase has to do, in part, with the fact that many Western states have recently had few syphilis cases in women. “We were starting from almost nothing [in Washington],” said Golden. But that’s changing, and with more women getting the disease, their babies are at risk too.
3) With the rise of dating apps, sex is more readily available and more anonymous — and that makes it harder for health investigators to track outbreaks: Health experts increasingly view apps and sites such as Tinder, Grindr, and OkCupid as enablers of high-risk sex, helping people meet and hook up more efficiently than ever before. The impact of these sites is so profound they are also transforming the way health officials track and prevent outbreaks.
“We used to think about what we can do with bathhouses and sex clubs to make sure people’s risk was reduced,” said Dan Wohlfeiler, director of Building Healthy Online Communities, a public health group that works with apps to support STI prevention, told Vox in 2017. These places, after all, had become important meeting points for men who have sex with men — the group most affected by the HIV epidemic.
Today, the public health focus has shifted to “digital bathhouses.” Wohlfeiler said, “Now that dating sites and apps have become so common, we know we need to work with them.”
But many of the major dating networks don’t want to be involved in STD prevention, nor have they acknowledged the impact they’re having on public health, health experts told Vox.
4) The numbers may be higher because we may be better at detecting cases in some groups: The rise in chlamydia — which overwhelmingly causes no symptoms but can lead to infertility in women — may be an artifact of better detection and screening. The CDC keeps finding that rates of chlamydia are highest among young women, the group that’s been targeted for routine chlamydia screening. So an increase could just mean more testing.
5) Cuts to public health funding mean fewer STD clinics: Public health in the US — which includes operating STD clinics where people can get tested and into treatment — is historically underfunded. (As of 2012, only 3 percent of the health budget went to public health measures; the rest went mostly to personal health care.) And since the global financial crisis, public health funding has really taken a battering. There are 50,000 fewer public health jobs since 2008, and many STD clinics have had to reduce their hours or shut down.
STD clinics were a traditional safety net for people with these diseases. If those clinics continue to be harder to reach or vanish, finding and treating STDs will become even more difficult — and the diseases will continue to spread.
So in some ways, the STD increases across the country may have less to do with a changing sexual landscape, and more to do with more limited access to sexual health care. With Trump’s proposed public health budget cuts, the problem may be poised to get worse.
“It’s not a coincidence STDs are skyrocketing — state and local STD programs are working with effectively half the budget they had in the early 2000s,” said David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, in a statement today. “If our representatives are serious about protecting American lives, they will provide adequate funding to address this crisis. Right now, our STD prevention engine is running on fumes.”
Messages had come to light in a Facebook group for parents of students, where several people had vented about Maddie being allowed to use the female bathroom.
They referred to the 12-year-old girl as “it,” “this thing,” “half baked maggot” and “the transgender,” and threatened to use a “good sharp knife” to slice her genitals. Another suggested: “Just tell the kids to kick [her] ass in the bathroom and it won’t want to come back!”
The girl has now spoken out in an interview with HBO’s Vice News, publicly identified for the first time as Maddison Kleeman Rose.
Her mother Brandy Jay Rose explained that Maddie had been living as female with no issue until the school pulled up old records that identified her as male.
She said: “Around the time that they found out that she is transgender, they called us and said that she’s no longer going to be allowed to use the girl’s bathroom, that she’s going to have to use a staff bathroom.”
However, rumours quickly spread throughout the town about Maddie after the intervention – including an incident where Maddie was confronted about her gender by a “fully grown man” at a Daddy-Daughter dance.
The same man later posted the Facebook thread that led to the security incident.
Speaking to VICE News, Maddie put on a brave face.
The 12-year-old said: “I don’t care for it. I think it’s all stupid. The threats and that is stupid. Who would do that, to a 12-year-old?
“Everyone’s different. No-one’s the same. We’re all different and unique and special in our own way.
“Some of those adults out there do get it but don’t support it, and that’s their choice. They can be hateful and rude about it, but they ain’t dragging me down.”
Superintendent Rick Beene defended the school’s actions.
He said: “What do you say to a mother who says ‘I do not want my daughter in a restroom where somebody has… you know, is a different gender’?
“We have one side who says the transgender student is what they say they are, and that sounds good. You have another side, that is the majority, that says I do not want my child in a bathroom with someone of a different gender.”
The town’s mayor David Northcutt, who is openly gay, insisted that the community was changing and that “the day of running someone out of town is gone.” Addressing Maddie’s family leaving town, he said: “I was sad when I heard that.”
He added: “I can understand the want and need to be near her family, and I think that’s a goal that did nor originate in the last few weeks, and was a goal for some time. I hope that’s true.”
California Democratic Party Chair Eric Bauman is calling for a boycott of In-N-Out Burger after the fast-food chain donated $25,000 to the California GOP to boost party coffers ahead of the November election.
Bauman called for the boycott of the popular California-based chain via his Twitter account late Wednesday with the following: “Et tu In-N-Out? Tens of thousands of dollars donated to the California Republican Party… it’s time to #BoycottInNOut – let Trump and his cronies support these creeps… perhaps animal style!”
According to a public filing dated Aug. 28, In-N-Out Burger made a contribution for $25,000 to the California Republican Party on Monday. The document on the California secretary of state’s website also lists the GOP’s “late contribution” as going toward the Nov. 6 election.
This isn’t the first time the privately owned burger chain has donated to the California GOP. Public records show the chain donated $30,000 in August 2017 and another $30,000 in May 2016.
However, In-N-Out Burger also donated extensively to a moderate Democratic PAC known as “Californians for Jobs and a Strong Economy.” The pro-business PAC received $50,000 in contributions in May 2018 and $30,000 in both 2016 and 2017.
CNBC reached out to the California Democratic Party and Bauman for comment.
In a statement, In-N-Out Burger Executive Vice President Arnie Wensinger said the company “made equal contributions to both Democratic and Republican Political Action Committees in the state of California. For years, In-N-Out Burger has supported lawmakers who, regardless of political affiliation, promote policies that strengthen California and allow us to continue operating with the values of providing strong pay and great benefits for our Associates.”
Wensinger added, “We have been fortunate to do business in this great state for almost 70 years. While it is unfortunate that our contributions to support both political parties in California has caused concern with some groups, we believe that bipartisan support is a fair and consistent approach that best serves the interests of our company and all of our customers.”
In-N-Out operates more than 330 restaurants in six states, but most of the locations are in California. The chain, known for its “Double-Double” hamburgers and “animal style” burgers and fries, was founded in 1948 in Southern California and is majority owned by billionaire Lynsi Snyder.
Some social media users were unhappy to hear about the recent GOP donation and agreed with the call for a boycott. The hashtag #BoycottInNOut was trending Thursday on Twitter after Bauman used it in his tweet.
One user, @KatrinaHagen2, said the burger chain’s food has been “a staple” of their kids and friends but added that the boycott was “a no brainer.”
“They’ve lost me as a customer,” said user @makingtheater. “Pity, but I will find my animal style somewhere better.”
@PatClearySoCal tweeted: “Guess I ate my last InNOut burger last week. I will write them to let them know about my decision. Maybe we all should.”
Then again, the boycott inspired others to have lunch at the burger chain.
Another user, @ramincol, called the boycott “stupid” and asked whether “we have gone just crazy with boycotts. If a business wants to support either party why does it matter?”
California GOP gubernatorial candidate John Cox also weighed in on the controversy by making a point to have lunch at one of the restaurants. Cox also took a jab at his challenger, Gavin Newsom — a Democrat and the state’s current lieutenant governor.