Three gay Democrats will jointly deliver the Democratic National Convention keynote address on Tuesday (August 18) — becoming the first LGBT+ people ever to do so.
The trio of rising stars are Pennsylvania representative Malcolm Kenyatta, Georgia rep. Sam Park, and Long Beach, California mayor Robert Garcia.
Usually the keynote speech is delivered by a single individual, but this year Kenyatta, Park, and Garcia will be among 17 Democratic trailblazers to share the address, offering “a diversity of different ideas and perspectives on how to move America forward”, a DNC spokesperson said.
By speaking in one of the most prestigious slots at the convention the three LGBT+ members will break new ground for queer representation in politics, but they already boast several historic firsts between them.
Park is the sole LGBT+ Asian-American lawmaker in the Georgia General Assembly. He regularly braves open homophobia as he works to pass progressive legislation in the Conservative stronghold state, including a bill to bring healthcare access to low-income households.
“It’s important for us to introduce and work on passing legislation we think would benefit the state to at least demonstrate to those we represent what exactly it is that we are fighting for,” he told NBC News.
“Being in the minority, it’s difficult to pass legislation, but that still doesn’t mean you can’t do it.”
Democratic National Convention 2020 keynote to also platform queer Latino and Black politicians.
Garcia, who is Latino, is the youngest mayor in Long Beach history as well as the first LGBT+ person ever to hold the position. Over the past few months he’s been leading the fight against coronavirus in his city, even as he lost his mother and stepfather to the deadly virus.
And Kenyatta is the first gay Black man to be seated in the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
“As somebody who inhabits all of these intersections, growing up in an incredibly poor neighbourhood to a working poor family, as one of only two openly LGBTQ members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the only one that’s a person of colour, I see all the different ways that frankly our systems are broken,” he told LGBTQ Nation earlier this year.
Kenyatta predicted the conference is going to be a “huge historic moment across the board”.
“Being a young person, a Black person, and a queer person — all those different intersections bring a certain perspective,” he told the Pennsylvania Capital Star.
“And I think it’s important because this president has tried very hard to divide folks up along race, class, gender and economic status. He is actively working to make life more difficult for the people he has sworn to serve. So all of the intersections that embody us are people Trump has gone after.”
GLAAD and Georgia Equality, the state’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization, are condemning GOP primary winner Marjorie Taylor Greene for racist and anti-LGBTQ views, as well as her embrace of dangerous conspiracies.
Greene defeated John Cowan in the Republican primary runoff on Tuesday, after moving to the district following a previous failed run for Congress.
Georgia Equality and the Southern Poverty Law Center have been tracking Greene’s anti-LGBTQ and racist history since she launched her political career in 2019.
Here’s some of what they and others found to help inform your coverage of Greene’s general election campaign:
Posting on Facebook about a Drag Queen Story Time event at an Alpharetta library: “Trans does not mean gender change, it just means a gender refusal and gender pretending. Truth is truth, it is not a choice!!!”
Recording a 90-minute video at the story time event, where Greene staged a confrontation with library staff and called the event “an attack on our children” while calling the host, who performs as Miss Terra Cotta Sugarbaker, an “abomination”
Recording and posting multiple Facebook videos about an “Islamic invasion” after two Muslims won office and describing Black Americans as “slaves” to the Democratic party, comparing Black Lives Matter activists to neo-Nazis and denying there are racial disparities in the U.S.: “Guess what? Slavery is over,” Greene says in a video. “Black people have equal rights.”
Theorizing that the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history in Las Vegas in 2017 was a plot against the Second Amendment and calling a Parkland school shooting survivor “Little Hitler”
Greene has also embraced the far-right beliefs of “QAnon,” the pro-Trump conspiracy theory movement identified by the FBI as a potential domestic terrorism threat. Its followers are tied to two murders, a kidnapping, vandalism of a church and a heavily armed standoff near the Hoover Dam.
Of QAnon and the sprawling, unproven and unbalanced online conspiracies promoted by the anonymous “Q,” Greene said, “Q is a patriot” and that she hoped the chatter was educating Pres. Trump. “There’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles out, and I think we have the president to do it,” Greene said in a YouTube video.
While Greene’s views are extreme, divisive and uninformed, party leaders and other candidates for office are lining up to support her:
Pres. Trump praised Greene as a “future Republican star”
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and House Freedom Caucus leader Rep. Jim Jordan have backed Greene and other Freedom Caucus members maintained their endorsement after the racist videos were revealed
Georgia Republican Senate candidates Kelly Loeffler and Doug Collins both called to congratulate Greene, offering no criticism of her racist language and beliefs
Republican TV analyst Amanda Carpenter suggested party leaders should not seat Greene in Congress if she wins the general election. While that may not be possible, GOP leaders say there’s no plan to limit her visibility or power. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy’soffice says Greene would be welcomed into the GOP conference and given seats on congressional committees.
About Georgia Equality: Celebrating its 25th year, Georgia Equality is the state’s largest advocacy organization working to advance fairness, safety and opportunity for Georgia’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender communities and our allies. For more information, please visit www.GeorgiaEquality.org or connect with Georgia Equality on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
With election season in high gear, Democrats are preparing an unprecedented convention next week that includes a mixture of live and virtual events, including components seeking to highlight the party’s commitment to the LGBTQ community.
The lineup leading up to Joe Biden’s speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination includes visibility for high-profile LGBTQ Democrats, including Pete Buttigieg and Danica Roem, as well as ratification of a national platform that includes the words “transgender women of color,” “non-binary,” “non-conforming” and “confirmation surgery” for the first time.
Those LGBTQ components will be integrated into the convention, which during the time of the coronavirus has been downsized to a largely virtual event, although operations will remain based in the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wis.
Buttigieg, who performed well in the primaries, was given a primetime slot for a speech Tuesday night. That’s a high honor in a convention where many participants — with the exception of Biden and his newly selected running mate Kamala Harris — will be given short times to speak as opposed to time for a major address.
Meanwhile, Virginia State Del. Danica Roem (D-Prince William), is set to have a role at the Democratic convention, although the exact nature of her presence is at this time unclear, Democratic officials told the Blade.
Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement choosing Roem to have a role at the convention “was an inspired decision.”
“In 2017, Roem made history beating Virginia’s self-described ‘chief homophobe,’” David said, referring to former State Del. Bob Marshall. “Alongside [Minneapolis City Council member] Andrea Jenkins, she began a revolution for increasing LGBTQ representation in government inspiring a community hungry for a seat at the table.”
Roem won’t be the first openly transgender person to address a major party convention. That distinction belongs to Sarah McBride, a transgender advocate for the Human Rights Campaign now running for a seat in the Delaware State Senate, who addressed the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Joe Solmonese, CEO of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, told the Blade the integration of LGBTQ rising stars in the event underscores Biden’s commitment to the community.
“Vice President Biden very clearly sees that LGBT people are part of the fabric, and they will be part of the fabric of the convention,” Solmonese said. “We’re asking lots of people to participate in all sorts of different ways.”
Also during the convention, Democrats are expected to ratify the quadrennial party platform, which includes many planks in support of LGBTQ rights, including a commitment to transgender health and support for the Equality Act, which would comprehensively ban anti-LGBTQ discrimination as a form of sex discrimination under the Civil Rights Act 1964.
Delegates are currently voting on the platform and voting closes Saturday night, a Democratic National Committee spokesperson said. Among them is language making the document the first to recognize transgender women of color, gender non-conforming people and the non-binary community.
Meghan Stabler, a Houston-based transgender advocate and member of the Democratic platform committee, introduced 26 amendments that were adopted as part of the draft platform to make the additions happen.
In an interview with the Blade, Stabler said it was important to create a progressive platform that was “as fully inclusive as possible,” which she said means recognizing different components of the LGBTQ community as well as intersectional issues, such as criminal justice reform.
“It isn’t about one particular issue,” Stabler said. “For trans people in society, we come up against everything from health care discrimination to criminal justice discrimination, and I don’t just mean by law enforcement, but also consider prosecutors, judges and even those that are in the jail system.”
Stabler, who said she expects delegates to the Democratic convention to ratify the platform, said she hopes the 2020 convention will serve as a model on which to base further progress in the 2024 platform.
“A fully functional America is one that is inclusive of everybody, right?” Stabler said. “Whether or not you are transgender, gender non-conforming, non-binary, it is the values that we hold true as Democrats that all Americans should be treated fairly and equally.”
Kamala Harris’ chief of staff has been named as Karine Jean-Pierre, a proud Black lesbian and political heavyweight.
Jean-Pierre is a Haitian-American political campaigner, activist and lecturer who has worked on presidential campaigns for John Edwards, Martin O’Malley and former US president Barack Obama.
The political powerhouse was announced as the chief of staff to the vice presidential candidate yesterday (August 11) just hours before it was announced that Harris was officially on the ticket. She becomes the first Black person to serve as chief of staff to a vice presidential candidate.
Confirming the news on Twitter, Jean-Pierre said she was “incredibly proud” to be working to elect Biden and Harris.
“Let’s go!” she added.
Kamala Harris’ chief of staff Karine Jean-Pierre is a powerful LGBT+ advocate.
Karine Jean-Pierre has long been a vocal advocate for LGBT+ rights and equality.ADVERTISING
She is well-known as a political pundit thanks to appearances on NBC News and MSNBC.
Jean-Pierre served as national public affairs officer for progressive policy advocacy group MoveOn, and briefly went viral in June 2019 when, during a campaign event, she protected Kamala Harris from a stage invader.
In 2011 she spoke about her experiences working in politics as an openly gay woman.
Shortly after she left her position in the Obama administration, she told The Advocate: “What’s been wonderful is that I was not the only; I was one of many.
“President Obama didn’t hire LGBT staffers, he hired experienced individuals who happen to be LGBT.
“Serving and working for president Obama where you can be openly gay has been an amazing honour.
“It felt incredible to be a part of an administration that priorities LGBT issues,” she added.
My daughter is going to ask me, ‘What were you doing?’
Jean-Pierre shares a daughter, Soleil, with her partner, CNN’s Suzanne Malveaux. She has credited Soleil with keeping her in politics after the disappointment of Donald Trump’s 2016 election win.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do after Hilary lost,” she told Shondaland.
“At that time, my daughter was two and the only president she knew was Obama, she’s even met him a few times. But when she’s 12, or whenever she learns about the president and wonders how this man got elected, she’s going to ask me, ‘What were you doing at the time?’
“And I want her to know that I fought and worked for an organisation that mobilised hundreds and thousands of people to do calls to actions and to get involved. I want her to know that I didn’t say silent.”
Harris ‘honoured’ to join Biden’s ticket as the vice-presidential candidate.
Harris was confirmed as Biden’s running mate yesterday following months of speculation about who would round out the Democratic ticket.
The decision makes Harris the first Black woman and the first Asian-American to run on a major party’s presidential ticket, despite the fact that she and Biden were briefly fierce rivals for the Democratic nomination.
“I have the great honour to announce that I’ve picked Kamala Harris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate,” Biden tweeted Tuesday (August 11).
He went on to note that Harris had worked closely with his late son, Beau, during her stint as California’s attorney general.
“I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse,” he continued.
“I was proud then, and I’m proud now to have her as my partner in this campaign.”
Harris tweeted: “Joe Biden can unify the American people because he’s spent his life fighting for us. And as president, he’ll build an America that lives up to our ideals.
“I’m honoured to join him as our party’s nominee for vice president, and do what it takes to make him our commander-in-chief.”
The Human Rights Campaign was one of many groups to congratulate Harris, tweeting: “This fall, we have the opportunity to vote for the most historic, pro-equality ticket in history.”
D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton released a letter last week calling on Michael R. Sherwin, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia who serves as the city’s top prosecutor, to step up prosecutions of hate crimes targeting the LGBTQ community.
Norton’s office said her letter follows several public meetings Norton has held to address the issue of prosecuting hate crimes.
“This letter is the latest in my longstanding work to ensure every member of our community is safe from attack and harassment,” Norton said in an Aug. 5 statement. “We must work to protect our LGBTQ community,” she said.
“The U.S. Attorney for D.C., who is not elected by D.C. residents or appointed by D.C. officials, is responsible for prosecuting almost all local crimes in D.C.,” Norton said. “I have continuously pressed the last several U.S. Attorneys for D.C. to prosecute hate crimes and will continue to do so. The office must work to ensure everybody can live in a safe environment.”
D.C. police records show that as of June 30, 2020, in the first half of 2020, there were 15 reported hate crimes targeting the victim because of their sexual orientation and 12 reported hate crimes targeting the victims because of their gender identity. It couldn’t immediately be determined from police records how many of those cases resulted in an arrest and whether the U.S. Attorney’s Office has prosecuted any of the cases.
Norton noted she has introduced legislation in the House of Representatives calling for giving D.C. the authority to prosecute all local crimes. The legislation was not expected to be approved by Congress under the current Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.
A spokesperson for the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Norton’s letter to Sherwin.
A former D.C. politico has crossed a major hurdle in his effort to become Michigan’s first openly gay member of Congress after cinching the Democratic nomination in the primary for the state’s 6th congressional district.
State Rep. Jon Hoadley (D-Kalamazoo), who served as president for the now closed National Stonewall Democrats, won the contested primary by claiming 53.3 percent of the vote in comparison to teacher Jen Richardson, who had 47.7 percent.
The Associated Press declared Hoadley the winner the day after the primary on Wednesday. According to MLive.com, election results slowed in Kalamazoo with increased absentee voting amid the coronavirus pandemic, which resulted in delays in declaring the winners.
Hoadley will advance to the general election, where he’ll face Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), who has a reputation as a moderate in the solidly Republican district.
Amritha Venkataraman, Michigan state director for the Human Rights Campaign, commended Hoadley in a statement and said Upton “should be running scared.”
“After decades of failed anti-equality leadership from Upton, Michigan’s 6th is ready for fresh, bold new leadership,” Venkataraman said. “While Upton claims to oppose discrimination against the LGBTQ community, he has regularly voted against legislation to protect LGBTQ people including essential non-discrimination measures like the Equality Act that would make real change.”
Recognizing the distinction Hoadley could have as Michigan’s first openly gay member of Congress, Venkataraman added the candidate would “give a voice to the over 300,000 LGBTQ people across the state of Michigan.”
“Hoadley is the only candidate who will fight for working families over special interests, pass the Equality Act and ensure people with pre-existing conditions have access to health care,” Venkataraman said. “Over the next 90 days, HRC will continue to digitally barnstorm the state and help make sure Michigan sends Jon Hoadley to Congress.”
LGBTQ-related election news also came out last night in Kansas, where Stephanie Byers won her primary for a state House seat and is headed toward becoming the first openly transgender person ever elected to public office in Kansas. Only four out trans people have been elected and seated to serve in state legislatures who still hold their seats.
Annise Parker, president of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, said in a statement Byers “shattered a long-standing political barrier in Kansas.”
“At a time when trans people are targeted with hateful policies and legislation by the Trump administration and in so many state legislatures, Stephanie’s race is a powerful reminder of where our country is headed,” Parker said. “Stephanie’s victory, like every victory for a trans candidate, will inspire more trans leaders to run for office in their communities and that will be transformative.”
Also in Kansas, Republicans granted the nomination to U.S. Rep. Roger Marshall to run for U.S. Senate, as opposed to the more right-wing, Peter Thiel-backed Kris Kobach. All the Republicans in the primary, however, have anti-LGBTQ records. Marshall berated another primary candidate, Bob Hamilton, a business owner for being LGBTQ-friendly, for his company’s membership in the Mid-America LGBT Chamber of Commerce.
Lindsey Clark, associate regional campaign director for the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement Marshall “has attacked, demeaned, and dehumanized transgender people” and called on Kansas residents to reject him on Election Day.
“He and his fellow Republican candidates waged one of the most anti-LGBTQ primaries this cycle, engaging in a race to the bottom by releasing ad after ad attacking transgender kids and LGBTQ people,” Clark said. “Marshall’s brand of anti-LGBTQ extremism may have won a primary, but it won’t win the battle ahead.”
A grandfather who came out as gay at 90 has told other older people who are in the closet that it’s “never too late” to be their authentic selves.
Kenneth Felts kept his sexuality hidden all his life, but that changed when memories of his first love flooded back as he sat down to write a memoir earlier this year.
He went on to come out to his lesbian daughter before revealing his sexuality to the world.
Now, he is urging other older LGBT+ people to consider coming out of the closet.
“I know I’m in an unusual position and I just came out just like that,” Felts told USA Today.
“I hadn’t even planned on it or no, nothing, but I would think that if a person is contemplating coming out, they first need to check on what support systems are available to them.”
Gay grandfather Kenneth Felts discovered the LGBT+ community is full of love.
He said he has been heartened by the wave of love and support he was met with when he came out as gay, and told other older queer people that they should expect the same.
“It’s amazing how much love there is out in the community,” he said.
“And they’re going to share it with you. They’re going to pour it on you by the bucket full.
“And so I think other people will kind of have the same experience that they might be surprised just how many people support them.”
He concluded: “It’s never too late to come out.”
I got memo after memo telling me how they are supporting me and they love me.
Kenneth Felts also opened up about the moment he and his old flame Phillip “hit it off real good” when they were working together.
The pair started “going out for coffee” and then stated dating, before they moved in together.
The couple lived in bliss for nine or 10 months, but the relationship crumbled one Sunday morning when they visited a church.
Felts’ “Christian values” came back to him and he began to wonder if what he was doing was really OK.
Their relationship lasted just one more month, before Felts decided to live as a straight man.
“And I left and have actually been kind of looking for Phillip ever since then.”
His first love Phillip had already passed away by the time Kenneth tracked him down.
Heartbreakingly, Felts’ search for Phillip ended in tragedy last month when he finally tracked him down, only to discover that he had already passed away.
He told Newsweek in July that a woman who lived on the East Coast contacted him in an effort to track down his first love.
“But she discovered a week or so ago that he had passed away around two years ago. So it’s very difficult and very painful,” Felts said at the time.
“To me, he died less than two weeks ago. I posted what I felt was an obituary for him online and people have been overwhelmingly supportive, saying how sorry they are that I missed seeing him.
“But it still hurts.”
The heartbroken 90-year-old added: “In all the relationships I’ve had since Phillip, nothing has ever measured up to him, and I don’t anticipate that anything ever will.”
He said he is “more concerned” with the “quiet aspects of a relationship” such as holding hands and “being close”.
“I’d like to have a boyfriend; companionship and somebody there when the days get longer,” he wrote.
A person with HIV who is in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody says they are afraid the coronavirus will kill him.
“With my condition, God forbid, if I get coronavirus, I don’t know if I will make it,” the ICE detainee told the Washington Blade on July 29 during an interview.
The detainee has been in ICE custody at a privately run detention center in the Southeast since last October. The detainee is originally from a country in Africa with laws that criminalize people with HIV and members of the LGBTQ community.
The detainee asked the Blade not to identify them by name to protect their privacy. They also requested the Blade not identify the country from which they originate and the facility in which they remain in ICE custody because of fear of retaliation and any potential impact their decision to speak publicly could have on their asylum case.
“It would be a death sentence if I were sent back home,” said the detainee.
The detainee told the Blade there have been coronavirus cases in their detention center, including a man from India who tested positive before his scheduled deportation.
“They were taking him out to deport him,” said the detainee. “They closed our unit down for a month.”
The detainee said there are 96 detainees in his unit. They told the Blade that ICE quarantined them after another detainee tested positive for the coronavirus.
“We were not able to leave the unit,” they said.
They told the Blade that staff brought food to the unit when it was locked down. The detainee said they are now able to access the yard for an hour a day.
‘It’s not safe’
ICE on its website notes as of Monday there were 908 detainees with confirmed coronavirus cases.
There were 21,888 people in ICE custody as of July 31. Statistics on ICE’s website note 21,085 detainees have been tested as of July 31.
Immigration Equality and Lambda Legal are among the advocacy groups that have demanded ICE release detainees with HIV because of the pandemic.
ICE in April released four men with HIV who had been detained at privately run detention centers in Louisiana and Arizona. ICE in the same month also released Iván and Ramón, two Cuban men with HIV represented by Immigration Equality and Lambda Legal, from a privately run detention center in Texas.
“We are relieved that Iván and Ramón don’t have to spend one more day in the dangerous conditions of ICE detention, terrified of contracting COVID-19,” said Immigration Equality Legal Director Bridget Crawford after their release.
A federal judge in California has ordered ICE “to identify and track all ICE detainees with risk factors” and consider whether they should be released.
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf in April said ICE would consider the release of detainees who are at increased risk for the coronavirus on a “case-by-case basis.” An ICE spokesperson a few weeks after Wolf’s comments said their agency had released upwards of 700 detainees “after evaluating their immigration history, criminal record, potential threat to public safety, flight risk and national security concerns.”
ICE in March suspended in-person visitation at its detention centers. ICE in previous statements says it continues to provide detainees with soap for showering and handwashing, sanitizer and masks.
“The health, welfare and safety of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees is one of the agency’s highest priorities,” says ICE on its website. “Since the onset of reports of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), ICE epidemiologists have been tracking the outbreak, regularly updating infection prevention and control protocols, and issuing guidance to ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC) staff for the screening and management of potential exposure among detainees.”
“ICE continues to incorporate CDC’s COVID-19 guidance, which is built upon the already established infectious disease monitoring and management protocols currently in use by the agency,” adds ICE. “In addition, ICE is actively working with state and local health partners to determine if any detainee requires additional testing or monitoring to combat the spread of the virus.”
Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley in June told the Blade that ICE is “ignoring” social distancing guidelines from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and not providing “protective gear or hygiene products” to detainees. The detainee with whom the Blade spoke last week also said there is no socially distancing at the detention center where they are in ICE custody.
“There’s no such thing right now as socially distancing,” they said.
Denied medical attention, misgendered, jumped and aggressively handcuffed. These are the abuses that Juniper Simonis, a genderqueer nonbinary pansexual person, suffered after federal authorities took them into custody last month during a protest in the city.
Simonis was drawing property lines with surveying chalk in front of the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building in downtown Portland on July 10. Simonis three days earlier attended a vigil at the same location to honor Summer Taylor, a Seattle protester who was hit and killed by a car in early July.
Federal authorities violently disrupted the vigil.
In the days between the vigil and Simonis’ arrest, they traced the property lines of the federal building in chalk to help protestors avoid trespassing. Simonis also frequently shouted from a distance at agents, asking why the vigil had been disrupted.
Simonis, a 35-year-old quantitative ecologist, has been involved in the protests in Portland since they began in late May. Simonis has marched, provided medical attention and put out fires at the demonstrations — often helping to keep the peace.
“(We) are there to put our bodies, and our lives, and our money and energy towards protecting those who are standing up for their rights right now,” they said.
Simonis believes federal agents targeted them because of the information they have been collecting and sharing on social media. This information included the property lines of federal buildings, photos of agents with their badge numbers, and details about federal police funding.
Simonis also said they feel they were targeted because they are “visibly queer and trans,” and visibly disabled because of their use of a service dog.
“I am a marginalized sitting duck in some respects,” they said.
While Simonis said what happened to them was traumatizing, they do not want their experience to detract from the Black Lives Matter movement. Simonis also believes they survived their detention because they are white.
“We can’t have everybody focusing on the white people getting kidnapped when Black people are still getting killed day-to-day,” they said.
Flashbang grenade thrown at Simonis during previous protest
Federal agents during the July 7 vigil stormed the area. Simonis suspects federal officers were targeting a specific protestor in the crowd for arrest, but to their knowledge, no arrests were made. Simonis described the vigil as peaceful and said there was no provocation for the agents to disperse it.
Amid the disruption, while federal officers were moving back towards the building’s entrance, they threw a flashbang grenade at Simonis and their service dog, Wallace. The agents who conducted the raid were unknown to Simonis, and they couldn’t determine what organization or bureau they represented.
“I was super pissed,” said Simonis. “I spent the next 36 hours trying to figure out who these guys were.”
After fruitless calls to the Portland Police Bureau and the Multnomah County Police Department to help identify the federal agents, Simonis decided to take matters into their own hands.
Knowing the federal agents in question often stood outside the building watching protestors, Simonis decided to research where the property lines of the building are. They wanted the agents to explain why they had disrupted a peaceful vigil, without risking being arrested for trespassing. On July 8 and 9, Simonis marked the divide between federal and public property with chalk to ensure their safety.
“I wanted to stand on the sidewalk and fucking yell at these people, and I wanted to know where I was legally allowed to do that,” Simonis said.
For two days, Simonis documented agents moving in and out of the federal building and eventually identified the officers as members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Service.
Simonis on July 9 said they saw multiple federal agents storm out of the building towards them when they were on the southeastern corner of it.
Simonis, who was aware of the arrest of other protestors throughout Portland, said they expected to be “snatched.” But, the agents retreated back into the building.
Simonis at 8:30 p.m. on July 10 returned to the federal building to touch up the chalk line and continue protesting.
As they were fixing the lines near the front entrance, Federal Protective Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents surrounded Simonis, threw them to the ground and handcuffed them.
“They do not say anything. They don’t say, ‘stop.’ They don’t say, ‘what are you doing?’ They don’t say ‘get off our property’ … they don’t say anything. They just streamed out of the front of this building and snatched me,” Simonis said.
Simonis provided the Washington Blade with a video of their arrest.
Simonis said officers used mace and separated them from their service dog.
“As someone who already has PTSD, who already has almost been killed multiple times, including by someone grabbing me from behind, what I instantly get shunted into is a fight or flight response,” they said.
Simonis was detained in handcuffs in the building foyer for an hour before being taken down to the basement. There, agents told them they were under arrest for spray painting federal property.
“Even though everything I had in my hands was chalk — it was clearly chalk — they just assumed I was doing something illegal, even though I knew I wasn’t, and I had all of the documentation to show them that I wasn’t,” Simonis said.
When Simonis was taken into the federal building foyer, an officer offered medical attention, but Simonis requested a trained medical professional flush their eyes and tend to their open wounds.
Two Portland Fire and Rescue members arrived an hour later, but Simonis said they only made matters worse.
According to Simonis, the medical team did not properly flush their eyes, mouth and nose with pressure. Rather they splashed saline solution from an IV bag into the affected areas. Simonis also said the medical team did not remove their contact lenses, even though they repeatedly asked them to do so.
During the hour before Simonis said federal officers insisted they lay on their side during the hour before they received medical treatment. They said this caused the mace to pool in their nasal passages, rather than drain away. The medical team also held Simonis on their side as they began treatment, which caused their nose to become full of water, which exacerbated their breathing issues caused by the mace and subsequent panic attacks.
“It was basically like my head was being shoved under a pool for a minute,” Simonis said. They described the act as “being water-boarded.”
Simonis asked repeatedly for additional medical attention, including treatment for open cuts on their body. They were denied additional help.
“It’s really sad — as the daughter, granddaughter and niece of firefighters — to be saying this, but I am horribly disappointed and appalled at the actions of Portland Fire and Rescue,” Simonis said.
Throughout the time Simonis was in federal custody, they said they were repeatedly misgendered. The agents exclusively referred to Simonis, who identifies as nonbinary and has two forms of identification legally identifying them as a woman, as “sir.” Simonis said they also repeatedly corrected the officers, who did not respect their gender identity.
Despite the fact Simonis’ driver’s license and passport both identify them as a woman, the medical services receipt also listed their gender as male. Simonis also believes their identification had been reviewed, as the contents of their bag had been shifted when their possessions were returned to them.
Simonis was then taken to the adjacent Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse after two hours in the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building, and was held in a cell without access to a lawyer, phone call, sanitizer or water.
Prior to being placed in the cell, a male U.S. Marshal patted them down. Simonis requested a female agent for the procedure, but was told by an agent, “they don’t do that here.”
Simonis was still separated from their service dog when they were at the courthouse, and did not have access to their medication. Simonis said agents threatened to take their dog to a shelter, telling them their dog “would not be there when you get out.”
Simonis was released on petty charges roughly six hours later. They are still awaiting a court date for failure to comply with a lawful order and assaulting, resisting or impeding officers.
Officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Protective Service and Department of Homeland Security did not respond to the Blade’s requests for a comment. Portland Fire Rescue and the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse have also not returned requests for comment.
Simonis has not proceeded formally with charges but plans to in the near future. They are planning to pursue a variety of legal actions, including individual and class action lawsuits.
“I have been getting all of my legal ducks in a row … while also trying to heal and support the movement,” they said.
Simonis said they are also experiencing a variety of physical and emotional injuries from the event, including nerve damage in both hands after being handcuffed for two hours in metal cuffs latched too tightly.
“I told them repeatedly that my hands were going numb, and they repeatedly ignored me,” they said.
After they were released from federal custody, Simonis was diagnosed with neuropathy in both hands. Simonis said they still have not regained full mobility or feeling in their hands and the injuries have made it difficult to complete day-to-day activities, including walking their dog and typing on their computer.
Simonis is also experiencing heightened PTSD symptoms. They also said they are currently dealing with insomnia, dissociation of different parts of the body, manic episodes, a lack of appetite and suicidal thoughts.
Simonis said they are also dealing with hyper-vigilance. Simonis said they are often afraid passing cars are unmarked and being used by federal officers.
“I am literally evaluating every car that drives by me. Hypervigilance is an understatement,” they said.
While they took a week off from participating in the protests, Simonis has been dropping off chalk in Portland for passersby to write messages on the sidewalk, because “that’s what I was arrested for doing.”
“I thought the best way to respond to the absurdity of being arrested for chalking on a city sidewalk by federal agents was to provide chalk for the rest of my community members to use, in a federally kidnappable way on our city sidewalk,” they said.
Iowa students are turning to Instagram to call out teachers and peers for the routine homophobia, racism, misogyny and sexual harassment they experience everyday at school.
Submitting their stories anonymously via three Instagram accounts – dedicated to exposing anti-LGBT+ hate, racism and misogyny respectively – students have painted a damning picture of what it’s like to be a minority in the Iowa City community school district.
Their accounts reveal racist and homophobic slurs being used with abandon, students being shunned for their sexuality and rampant anti-LGBT+ bullying going unchecked by school authorities.
“Everyday I walk into school feeling like an outcast,” one writes. “I just wish students and at least teachers would see me as a normal human… But no, I can’t get through at least one week without being called a faggot or queer.”
“I had to deal with a lot of violent, homophobic bullying at Northwest Junior High,” says another. “When I was there none of the administration seemed to do anything about that despite witnessing it happen to me and other students.
“[The principal] is completely incompetent when it comes to protecting the kids that are the most vulnerable.”
Another writes simply: “Once, I wore my flag to school, and was told to burn it to the ground. That hurt.”
Black students reported being shown images of lynchings, hearing the N-word and having to endure classmates using Blackface. Multiple girls reported being sexualised, sexually harassed and even raped.
City High freshman Rachel Johnson started the @lgbtaticcsd account after seeing the stories of racism and sexual harassment in the school district on @blackaticcsd and @girlsaticcsd.
Since the account opened on July 22, Johnson and her friends have posted more than 100 stories from LGBT+ students across the district.
The submissions identify a variety of discrimination and bullying LGBT+ students face, but two patterns in particular stood out to her.
“One was just how many people talked about constantly hearing the F-slur and hearing ‘gay’ used as an insult,” Johnson told the Daily Iowan. “Just so many people talked about that and how it was just a normalised thing.”
The other trend she noticed was the name of particular teachers that recurred in multiple stories.
The posts have now gained so much traction they’ve caught the attention of teachers and administrators.
“It just makes your heart hurt for students that have either experienced those things or witnessed those things in our school community,” interim superintendent Matt Degner said.
“That’s definitely not what we want to be about, or the type of or the time of experience and climate we want to have for our students … As a human being and as an educator, I just feel bad and feel that we have a lot of work to do, and we have a lot of improvements to make so that students don’t have that experience in our schools.”