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Food for Thought Yoga Benefit Series is back
| Our Yoga Benefit Series is back for a third year, and better than ever! Join us for the first of four classes, raising money and awareness for Food For Thought to keep bringing healthy food and love to thousands of people living with serious medical conditions and food insecurity in Sonoma County. The first 75 minute Hatha/Vinyasa yoga class will be taught by our resident yoga teacher, Elana, taking place at River Road Family Vineyards & Winery in Sebastopol on Tuesday, March 26 at 5:30 PM. This year will feature an amazing exclusive raffle, sponsored by Bliss Organic Day Spa. Just choose the “Supporter” pass at registration to be entered to win. 100% of all proceeds support the cause. This event is a great way to introduce your loved ones to Food For Thought in a fun, enjoyable way while giving back at the same time! |
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Over a dozen LGBTQ nonprofits among recipients of billionaire MacKenzie Scott’s latest donations
MacKenzie Scott, a billionaire philanthropist and the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is giving $640 million to hundreds of nonprofit groups, including dozens of organizations that support LGBTQ people.
Scott announced Tuesday that the 361 community-led nonprofit groups were selected from a pool of more than 6,000 applications received since last year, when she announced that her organization, Yield Giving, was launching an “open call” for nonprofit groups it could fund. The $640 million is more than double the $250 million Scott pledged to fund at the start of the open call.
The nonprofit groups, many of which Scott said “have met with discrimination and other systemic obstacles,” were chosen through a peer review process and an evaluation panel “for their outstanding work advancing the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of meager or modest means,” she said in a statement Tuesday.
Scott described the recipients as “vital agents of change.”
Among the chosen groups are dozens that support LGBTQ people and at least 14 LGBTQ-focused nonprofit organizations, including EDGE New Jersey and Carolinas CARE Partnership, which support people living with or at risk of HIV; Gender Justice, a Minnesota-based LGBTQ legal and policy advocacy group; and LGBTQ community centers in Cleveland and the California cities of Sacramento and Long Beach.
Kat Rohn, executive director of OutFront Minnesota, an LGBTQ advocacy group founded in 1987, said the $2 million it was awarded is larger than its entire annual budget.
“This has been over a year in the making, and we are just tremendously excited to be one of the recipients and one of a handful of Minnesota groups to be in the recipient pool,” Rohn said.
Rohn added that the organization plans to use some of the funds to support outreach to more rural communities in the state and to its anti-violence program, which provides crisis intervention services, confidential crisis counseling and other advocacy services for LGBTQ victims and survivors of violence and harassment.
“We’ve been increasingly doing more outreach to Greater Minnesota and to rural communities outside of the Twin Cities metro area, and so being able to really fund travel to those areas, engagement with local organizing groups, and support for services and connections in those spaces is a really important part of how we broaden the message of inclusion and really make sure that folks all across our state are experiencing equity and support wherever they are,” Rohn said.
Yield Giving also awarded $1 million to GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, or GLAD, a national LGBTQ legal advocacy group. Carole Allen-Scannell, GLAD’s director of development, said the funding will help the organization better address the hundreds of bills filed in recent years that target LGBTQ people, particularly transgender youths, by restricting their access to transition-related health care and barring them from playing school sports on the teams that align with their gender identities.
She also said it will also help the group advocate for positive legislation, such as a recently passed bill in Michigan awaiting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s signature that would ensure children born to LGBTQ parents will have a legal tie to their parents, if, for example, they were conceived through IVF.
“It’s something that’s going to really empower us to show up where we’re needed and when we’re needed,” Allen-Scannell said of the award.
In latest move, Russia adds ‘LGBT movement’ to official list of extremists and terrorists
Russia has added what it calls the “LGBT movement” to a list of extremist and terrorist organizations, state media said on Friday.
The move was in line with a ruling by Russia’s Supreme Court last November that LGBTQ activists should be designated as extremists, a move that representatives of gay and transgender people said they feared would lead to arrests and prosecutions.
The list is maintained by an agency called Rosfinmonitoring that has powers to freeze the bank accounts of the more than 14,000 people and entities designated as extremists and terrorists. They range from Al Qaeda to U.S. tech giant Meta and associates of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The new listing refers to the “international LGBT social movement and its structural units,” state news agency RIA said.
As part of a shift under President Vladimir Putin towards what he portrays as family values that contrast with decadent Western attitudes, Russia has tightened restrictions over the past decade on expressions of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Among other steps, it has passed laws outlawing the promotion of “non-traditional” sexual relations and banned legal or medical changes of gender.
Christian actress spent 5 years in court defending her right to make anti-LGBTQ+ comments. She just lost.
Actress Seyi Omooba has been ordered to pay £300,000 ($381,767) in legal costs after losing the religious discrimination case she brought against her former agents and a theater in Leicester, England after being fired from a production of The Color Purple for an anti-LGBTQ+ statement she made on social media.
Omooba was cast to play the lead role of Celie in the Curve Theatre’s 2019 production of the musical based on out author Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel. As in Walker’s novel, Celie’s same-sex romance with blues singer Shug Avery is prominently featured in the musical adaptation. Their romance gradually empowers Celie to stand up to her abusive husband.
Related:
Soon after Omooba was cast in the role however, a 2014 Facebook post in which Omooba wrote that homosexuality goes against “the word of God” resurfaced online.
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“I do not believe you can be born gay, and I do not believe homosexuality is right, though the law of this land has made it legal doesn’t mean it’s right,” Omooba wrote in the post. “I do believe that everyone sins and falls into temptation but it’s by the asking of forgiveness, repentance and the grace of God that we overcome and live how God ordained us to, which is that a man should leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh.”
Omooba, who has claimed that she is not homophobic, later said that she was urged by Curve Theatre to publicly disavow the old post, but she refused, saying, “I did not want to lie just to keep a job.” Omooba was dropped from the production of The Color Purple, and she sued the theater and her former agents, who also dropped her, for religious discrimination. “I want to make sure no other Christian has to go through something like this,” she said in 2019.
After hearing testimony in 2021 that Omooba had previously told her agents that she refused to play gay roles and had not bothered to read the script for the musical version of The Color Purple before accepting the role, an employment tribunal dismissed the actor’s religious discrimination claim, The Telegraphreported. The tribunal agreed with Curve Theatre that Omooba had not been fired for her Christian beliefs, but rather because her anti-LGBTQ+ statements would have likely led to “catastrophic” backlash for the theater if she had appeared in the queer role.
Omooba, represented by the Christian Legal Centre and anti-LGBTQ+ organization Christian Concern, appealed the decision.
Earlier this month, an employment appeal tribunal again ruled against Omooba, ordering her to pay £300,000 in legal costs. Justice Jennifer Eady agreed with the previous ruling that the actor had not been dismissed for her Christian beliefs, Leicestershire Live reported.
“Moreover, as the claimant knew she would not play a lesbian character, but had not raised this with the theatre, or sought to inform herself as to the requirements of the role, she was in repudiatory breach of her express obligations and of the implied term of trust and confidence,” Eady said.
“I have long forgiven all those who have sought to ruin my theatre career,” Omooba said in a statement following the ruling, “but the theatre world needs to be told, loud and clear, that canceling people for their Christian beliefs is illegal and wrong.”
According to the BBC, Omooba’s lawyers said they intend to appeal Eady’s decision.
Help Positive Images Create A Sonoma County Where all LGBTQIA+ People Thrive
Belong and Thrive
For 33 years, Positive Images has been a key resource for serving the diverse needs of LGBTQIA+ individuals. We have seen firsthand the unique needs and barriers (as well as joy and strengths) that comes with identifying as Queer and/or Trans. Because of this, we are disheartened by lack of LGBTQIA+ data in Sonoma County data collection efforts, such as the Portrait of Sonoma County, and inspired to create a needs assessment that represents our community. Although we praise the work of the Portrait, the report as it stands overlooks the nuanced challenges faced by LGBTQIA+ individuals when it comes to systemic issues such as education, income, housing, health and more. In order for us to be seen and taken into consideration by decision-makers, it is important to account for LGBTQIA+ representation as an intersection of identity in reports like these.
This is where your support becomes transformational. Your organization can join us in supporting this work in several ways:
1. Share the link to our online bilingual survey with your networks and/or on your social platforms from now until August. Please see attached graphics for social media posts. http://tinyurl.com/LGBTQIAneeds
2. Help us facilitate connections with professionals who identify as LGBTQIA+ and/or who work directly with the LGBTQIA+ community so that we may conduct key-informant interviews.
Your partnership in this initiative is not only an investment to create a more inclusive Sonoma County but also a powerful statement affirming the diverse voices within the LGBTQIA+ community!
Anti-LGBTQ+ Senate candidate linked to gay profile on adult hook-up site
Ahead of next Tuesday’s Ohio primary, a top anti-LGBTQ+ Republican Senate candidate is facing questions about a profile on an adult hook-up site linked to his email address.
On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that in late 2008, a profile seeking “1-on-1” sexual encounters with “young guys” was set up on the Adult Friend Finder website using a work email belonging to Ohio Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno.
The profile, listed under the username “nardo19672,” reportedly includes a caption reading, “Hi, looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling.” The username appears to reference Moreno’s full first name, Bernardo, and the month and year of his birth. The profile also lists his full date of birth but does not include a photo. According to the AP, geolocation data also shows that the profile was set up by someone in a part of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where Moreno’s parents owned a home in 2008. The profile has not been accessed since about six hours after it was created over 15 years ago.
The AP’s report is based in part on records made public in the adult site’s massive 2016 data breach, as well as other publicly available information.
Republican party officials have reportedly known about the profile for at least a month and had already linked it to Moreno’s email prior to the AP’s report.
On Thursday, Moreno’s lawyer, Charles Harder, claimed that Dan Ricci, who was an intern at Moreno’s company in late 2008, was responsible for creating the Adult Friend Finder profile.
“I am thoroughly embarrassed by an aborted prank I pulled on my friend and former boss, Bernie Moreno, nearly two decades ago,” Ricci said in a statement provided by Harder. According to the AP, Ricci donated $6,599 to Moreno’s Senate campaign in 2023.
In another statement provided by Moreno’s lawyer, former Bernie Moreno Companies vice president Helder Rosa confirmed that Ricci was an intern at the company in November 2008 and would have likely had access to Moreno’s email. Rosa has also donated to Moreno’s campaign, the AP reported.
Prior to his first Senate run in 2021, Moreno, who has said his eldest son is gay, was a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ rights. But according to the AP, during his current campaign, he has accused advocates for LGBTQ+ rights of pushing a “radical” agenda of “indoctrination” and described opponents Frank LaRose, Ohio’s Secretary of State, and state Sen. Matt Dolan as supporting a “radical trans agenda.” He has been endorsed by anti-LGBTQ+ group Ohio Values Voters.
But it was an endorsement from former president and current presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump endorsement that made Moreno a frontrunner for Ohio’s hotly contested Senate seat this year. Now, sources told the AP, GOP officials in both Washington and Ohio are worried that questions around the Adult Friend Finder profile could jeopardize the party’s chances of winning Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown’s Senate seat — and control of the chamber — if Moreno becomes their nominee.
Trump and Moreno are scheduled to appear together at a rally in Ohio on Saturday.
‘Free Mom Hugs’ volunteer labeled ‘groomer’ by hate group. Here’s how she responded.
A volunteer from Free Mom Hugs recently found herself at the center of a controversy stirred by Tiffany Justice, co-founder of the anti-government extremist group Moms for Liberty.
On March 7, Justice took to X (formerly Twitter) to attack the volunteer with a post that insinuated supporters of Free Mom Hugs might be “groomers” for offering “free Mom hugs” to children not their own. Right-wing extremists have used the term to falsely accuse LGBTQ+ individuals and people who support them of grooming children for sexual exploitation.
“If you are offering kids ‘free Mom hugs’ but you aren’t their Mom, you might be a Groomer,” Justice wrote. Her post was accompanied by a vibrant photograph of the volunteer, dressed in a kaleidoscope of rainbow colors and a Free Mom Hugs t-shirt at Atlanta’s 2023 Pride Parade.
If you are offering kids \u201cfree Mom hugs\u201d but you aren\u2019t their Mom, you might be a Groomer.— (@)
The volunteer, whose identity The Advocate is withholding to protect her from potential harassment, responded with a mix of humor and heartfelt reflection.
“Me, a groomer? I don’t even bathe my own dogs at home,” she wrote in a statement shared with The Advocate.
She shared that she changed her own conservative views about LGBTQ+ people after her queer daughter attempted suicide. This turning point led her from a life filled with fear and judgment, shaped by her conservative upbringing and religious background, to one of love, acceptance, and advocacy.
“I stopped being afraid of the unknown in 2016 when my queer daughter tried to take her own life to escape the pain that was caused by not being accepted for who she was,” she said. “Thankfully, she was unsuccessful. Thankfully, I let go of everything I held onto prior to that day, except for my kids.”
She added, “Most thankfully, that fear has now been replaced with the deepest and sweetest joy anyone can imagine.”
Justice’s smear and false “groomer” attack is not isolated but reflects broader societal debates around LGBTQ+ rights and acceptance amid right-wing attacks against marginalized communities. Free Mom Hugs, the Oklahoma-based organization at the heart of this controversy, is a nonprofit founded on unconditional love, support, and acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community.
Sara Cunningham, the organization’s founder, shared her thoughts on the importance of their work and the impact of such baseless accusations in an interview with The Advocate.
“We were all taken aback,” Cunningham said, “especially my executive director, program director, and certainly our volunteer.” She explained that, despite the initial alarm, the incident “kind of worked in our favor” as the community rallied in support, affirming the group’s mission and values.
Cunningham herself has been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, spurred by her own experiences as a conservative Christian mother who came to accept and celebrate her son’s homosexuality. In June 2015, during the Oklahoma City Pride Festival, Cunningham’s simple act of wearing a homemade “Free Mom Hugs” button and offering embraces to those who looked her way marked the inception of what would soon evolve into a nationwide crusade.
That pivotal day, the movement of Free Mom Hugs was born, sparked by the heart-wrenching interaction with a young woman who disclosed, “It’s been four years since I got a hug from my mom because I’m a lesbian.”
The momentum of this compassionate initiative surged in 2018 when Cunningham’s Facebook post went viral. It said: “PSA: If you need a mom to attend your same-sex wedding because your biological mom won’t, call me. I’m there. I’ll be your biggest fan. I’ll even bring the bubbles.”
Free Mom Hugs operates nationally, offering support, resources, and, most notably, hugs at Pride events, schools, and community gatherings. Their mission is to empower the world to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community through visibility, education, and conversation, she said. Cunningham emphasized the critical role of allies across various sectors of society.
The volunteer targeted by Moms for Liberty is trying to stay focused on the positive.
“After I let my immediate family know about the post with my photo, I texted a few close friends who are active on social media, just to give them a heads up,” the volunteer said about Justice’s post, which she said she hadn’t seen and wouldn’t look at. “My high school boyfriend was one of them. Joey is now married to Mark,” she said. “Joey texted back, ‘You groomed me! As soon as you hugged me, I turned gay.’”
She continued, “I laughed, and I savored the fact that even when someone sends you hate, the people around you can turn it into love before it even arrives.”
Southern states push forward with bills ending legal recognition for trans people
The pace of anti-transgender legislation has slowed in recent weeks, with several states, known for previously targeting transgender individuals, failing to pass any such laws. However, a different dynamic is emerging across the Gulf South, where three states are advancing bills that would cease the legal recognition of transgender individuals, potentially having significant repercussions for their trans residents. Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are introducing bills to define sex in a manner that excludes transgender individuals, potentially affecting birth certificates, driver’s licenses, bathroom access, and more.
The bills, dubbed the “Women’s Bills of Rights” by their supporters, fall far short of actually protecting women’s rights. They fail to protect access to birth control or abortion, do not ensure equitable pay, neither allocate funds for nor promote women’s athletics, and lack any provisions designed to curb violence against women. Instead, they categorize sex based on reproductive capabilities and ends legal recognition of transgender individuals’ gender identities.
In Louisiana, House Bill 608 was introduced with a staggering 63 Republican co-sponsors, signaling a strong opposition to any efforts to lobby against the bill. While its primary focus seems to be on restricting bathroom access in schools, prisons, and shelters, a particular section of the bill indicates that “any provision of law enacted by the legislature or any rule adopted by a state agency or other entity subject to the Administrative Procedures Act when applicable to an individual’s sex shall apply those definitions provided in R.S. 9:58.” This provision could lead to the banning of changes to birth certificates and driver’s licenses, effectively ending all legal recognition for transgender individuals. The bill has not yet been scheduled for a hearing, but given the substantial support it has garnered, its progression through the legislative process is anticipated to be swift once it begins.
In Mississippi, Senate Bill 2753 and House Bill 1607 have successfully passed their respective chambers. House Bill 1607 defines sex based on reproductive capacity, and puzzlingly states that for transgender individuals, “equal” does not mean “same” or “identical.” Notably, the bill does not provide a definition for “equal,” a term also left undefined in similar legislation in other states. This ambiguity sparked debate over a comparable bill in Iowa, which is currently stalled in the legislature there in part because of disagreements over that line. As for Senate Bill 2753, it would ban bathroom access for transgender individuals in publicly owned facilities, such as rest stops and the Jackson airport.
In Alabama, House Bills 111 and 130 similarly target transgender individuals. House Bill 111 specifies sex based on reproductive capacity for all vital statistics purposes. Meanwhile, HB 130, although not directly defining sex, will reportedly be amended to add language that extends “Don’t Say Gay” legislation to Space Camp. This addition comes after conservative media expressed outrage over a transgender individual being employed at the state’s renowned Space Camp and could be used to target transgender employees in state facilities.
So far, only five states have passed similar legislation: Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah. In Kansas, a judge has recently ruled in favor of Attorney General Kris Kobach that drivers licenses and birth certificates must contain transgender people’s old assigned sex at birth, citing the law there. Meanwhile, although such a law does not exist in Florida, rule changes have resulted in a lack of ability for transgender people to change their drivers licenses; reportedly, Florida residents are unable to change their birth certificates as well. Additionally, Oklahoma and Nebraska have executive orders defining sex similarly.
You can see a map of states from the Movement Advancement Project with such legislation here:
Movement Advancement Project. “Equality Maps: Defining ‘Sex’ to Allow Discrimination.”. Accessed 3/18/2024.
Should these bills become law, an increasing number of states will not legally recognize transgender individuals. The implications of such legislation are profound: individuals who have long since updated their identity documents may face the reversion of those documents back to their assigned sex at birth. These state-issued identification documents could then be employed to enforce additional anti-transgender laws, including bathroom bans. Moreover, these restrictions are bound to create complications for transgender individuals who have legally updated their federal documents to align with their gender identity, as these documents would conflict with their state-issued ones.
There have been calls for a federal legal response to bills that outlaw gender markers and refuse legal recognition to transgender people. For instance, in Florida, the entire Democratic congressional delegation asked the Biden Administration to use the Real ID act, which mandates “gender” be listed on drivers licenses. There has been no response to that request as of Monday.
Multiple lawsuits are underway trying to reverse the laws in court where they have passed, but the legal outcomes are currently pending.
Lisa Middleton Advances to November Election; Could Become First Out Transgender Legislator in California
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund candidate Lisa Middleton advanced in Tuesday’s primary election in California Senate District 28, putting her on track to become the first out transgender state legislator in California history. Middleton was elected to the Palm Springs City Council in 2017 and served as mayor pro tempore in 2021. Middleton was the first out transgender person to win a non-judicial election in the state of California.
Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, President & CEO of LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, released the following statement:
“Transgender Californians are one step closer to having a voice in their state government. Lisa Middleton was able to achieve this milestone because of her passion for improving the quality of life of her neighbors. I’m always amazed by the solutions-oriented optimism Lisa brings to challenges big and small – from filling potholes to combatting climate change. I look forward to doing everything I can to get Lisa elected this November.”
About LGBTQ+ Victory Fund
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund works to achieve and sustain equality by increasing the number of out LGBTQ+ elected officials at all levels of government while ensuring they reflect the diversity of those they serve. Since 1991, Victory Fund has helped thousands of LGBTQ+ candidates win local, state and federal elections.