Join Sonoma County Pride as we fundraise to update downtown Santa Rosa’s rainbow flags to be more inclusive! Sonoma County Pride is looking for community support to update the county’s largest rainbow flag that we raise every year on top of the Rosenberg Building in downtown Santa Rosa to officially kick off pride month for Sonoma County.
Since 2018 we’ve been raising a 10ft by 6th 6 strips classic LGBT Pride flag. This year we ask for your help for us to update this flag as well as all the street flags in downtown Santa Rosa.
The new design is not widely made at the moment and Sonoma County Pride would like your help to commission a flag manufacturer (based in San Diego California & which is LGBT owned) to make a 10ft by 6th marine nylon and hand-sewn. Hence why we need your help, the new flag is going to cost approximately $800.00 – We thank you in advance for your support!
NOTE: at the time we started this GoFundMe we were also going to ask for your help to also update all the street pole banners in downtown Santa Rosa. However, our friends and annual sponsor FastSigns of Sonoma County has committed to updating all the pole flags as part of their 2023 Sponsorship! THANK YOU FASTSIGNS! – Please remember them when you need your banners and decorations for your parade float!!
About the new Intersex Inclusive Progress Pride Flag – The new design builds on Daniel Quasar’s instantly iconic 2018 Progress Pride flag, which added a five-striped chevron to the left side of the flag representing LGBTQ+ people of color and the trans community. (Quasar’s design, in turn, was an update to the city of Philadelphia’s 2017 Pride flag, which added black and brown stripes above the six rainbow stripes.)
Intersex columnist and media personality Valentino Vecchietti designed a new rendition of the rainbow Pride flag in 2021. The flag was officially unveiled by the advocacy group Intersex Equality Rights UK in late May 2021 but has since spread virally on social media.
In Vecchietti’s rendition, a purple circle superimposed over a yellow triangle has been added to the chevron on the left half of Quasar’s design — an homage to the popular 2013 intersex flag designed by Australian bioethicist and researcher Morgan Carpenter.
On March 16, the GLBT Historical Society marks 38 years since our founding. To celebrate the occasion, we are thrilled to provide an interview with Greg Pennington, a founding member of the Society. To learn more about our history, visit glbthistory.org/timeline.
Was there a specific event that spurred you and the other founders to organize in 1985?
I moved to San Francisco in March 1977 as part of the wave of gay men that came here in the late 70’s. I heard about the election of Harvey Milk and George Moscone and wanted to live somewhere where I could truly be myself.
Just two months after I arrived, Anita Bryant helped overturn the gay rights ordinance in Miami and the San Francisco LGBTQ community reacted very strongly. The headline in the SF Chronicle was “5,000 angry gays march through San Francisco.” The marches went on for 5 nights and although I did not go to the first one, on the second night I heard the marchers going through my neighborhood on lower Nob Hill and I joined them for the next four nights.
This event was a catalyst for me, and I began collecting gay periodicals from all over the country. I was collecting as much information as I could about everything that was going on in the gay community. I wanted to preserve our history.
I met with Harvey Milk in his City Hall Office in July 1978, about creating an archive for our community. He was very supportive of young people like me fulfilling their dreams. He told me that he would help me make it happen. He issued a press release for a community meeting that would be held on August 28, 1978. Unfortunately, Jack Lira, Harvey’s lover at the time, hanged himself near the time of the meeting and it never happened.
In 1983 I met Bill Camilo, through a mutual friend and Bill invited me to a party at Scott Smith’s house (Harvey Milk’s lover at the time of his assassination) for a gathering with the people that wanted to form a gay library. At that meeting I met Willie Walker. Walker, Camilo, and I later met and formed the S.F. Gay and Lesbian Periodical Archives. Walker and I merged our substantial collections and kept them at his house. Camilo would later drop out of our project. We included the word lesbian in our title because Walker was beginning to amass numerous lesbian publications, such as The Ladder.
Walker and I met in my living room in the summer of 1984 and discussed his plan to create a historical society. I went with him to a meeting of the SF Lesbian & Gay History Project on September 5, 1984, to propose the idea and get their support and help to create the organization. They unanimously agreed to join us.
Walker, Eric Garber, and I were among about 10 people that met several times in the fall of 1984 to form the organization. We made some initial decisions about things until we realized we would have to start over because we needed to have future members of the organization involved in the decisions. Then we changed our focus to preparing what decisions would need to be made at a public meeting to create a Historical Society. We organized the public meeting that was held on March 16th, 1985, at the S.F. Public Library.
What was the atmosphere like at the first meeting?
There was excitement in the air as a very broad spectrum of community members answered the call to create an organization. The meeting was very well attended by over 50 people. Many of us were meeting each other for the first time. Walker’s letter to invite members of more than 160 community organizations and more than 100 individuals was wildly successful.
I think we did a good job of organizing the meeting presentations, topics of discussion and decision points. The issue that took the longest to resolve was the name. After at least a half hour on that subject we chose the San Francisco Bay Area Gay and Lesbian Historical Society. Fortunately, years later we made improvements to the name as it was just too long. We did fit that name on our early banner, buttons, and t-shirts though.
Tell us about the other founders: what were their specific interests?
Willie Walker was a labor archivist in Butte, Montana before he moved to San Francisco in 1981. He was a nurse and served on the AIDS ward at San Francisco General Hospital. Walker, like me was a collector of periodicals and ephemera. He would go through community businesses collecting every free piece of paper he could get his hands on. His apartment, like mine was full of ephemera and printed matter. His apartment served as the first archives for the organization after we were founded.
Walker was always focused on doing things the right way to create a professional organization. He was our first archivist, and he got his master’s degree in library science in 1988 from U.C. Berkeley. Walker passed away from liver cancer in 2004 at age 55. It is very sad to me that he never got to see what the organization has become.
Eric Garber was one of our founding members, first Board members and served as our first newsletter editor. Eric was involved, like Walker, in the S.F. Lesbian and Gay History Project. Eric was interested in gay sci-fi and co-authored Uranian Worlds. Eric did research on all the gay bars, names, and locations in San Francisco. His research is in the collection of the archives. Unfortunately, AIDS took Eric before he could publish his bar research. Eric was once a roommate of Cleve Jones and a friend of Harvey Milk.
Were there any specific initiatives or areas of focus that the founders felt that the organization should prioritize in its infancy?
Walker and I both wanted to create an archive, but we realized that we would need a broadly focused organization to create interest and bring in the people and support we would need. The Society would create an archive but would also do historical programming, publish a newsletter, create a museum, and other activities to promote LGBTQ history. We had monthly programs in our first few years on a broad variety of topics of interest to the diverse elements of our community. We published the first issue of our newsletter very quickly after our formation.
The organization formed at the height of the AIDS holocaust in San Francisco when more than 20,000 LGBTQ people died. Walker and I were very concerned when families came to San Francisco for their gay sons that had passed away and threw away all of their stuff. We felt an urgent need to get as much of it as possible. We were losing a great number of people and a lot of our history.
We were also very keenly aware of what had happened under the Nazis in Berlin to the Magnus Hirschfield collection. At the time it was one of the finest collections of gay manuscripts and materials in the world. The Nazis destroyed all of it. Because of that we decided our collections must be under community control and not controlled by any government agency. We did not ever want to lose our collections because of a shift of political winds. We also did not want the government to censor, suppress, ban, or destroy our sexually explicit materials. Our sexuality is an important part of our history.
As the society approaches its 40th anniversary and we reflect on its impact, what are one or two things you are particularly proud of from this legacy?
I am very proud to have been part of the creation of this successful organization for the protection, preservation, and promotion of LGBTQ history. Any creator wants to be able to step out of the way and allow his idea and creation to flourish. I greatly appreciate the incredible volunteers, Board Members and staff that have continued our dream.
I am proud that we achieved our original goal of creating an archive that is a major research center for movie makers, authors, researchers, and community members. It is so important for younger generations to be able to learn about the history of our communities.
I am most proud of the diversity we have achieved in the organization. We still have further to go as there is always room for improvement. In the beginning we were mostly white cis men and we later had good parity of men and women but our consistent long-term focus on the importance of diversity paid off in the long run. Over time we reflected more of the racial and ethnic diversity and fortunately, we also expanded to include the transgender community. The LGBTQ community is the most diverse community on Earth, and we must reflect that.
What are your hopes for the society in the future?
I want to see a vibrant internationally acclaimed LGBTQ history museum in San Francisco that is a model for the world, and a tourist attraction that keeps LGBTQ people visiting San Francisco. It needs to be big enough to have space for us to reflect the vast diversity of the LGBTQ communities. I hope that our world-renowned archive collections can be co-located with the museum. I hope that younger generations will be excited to learn about our history and about all of the diverse elements of our communities.
Greg Pennington was a founder of the GLBT Historical Society. Originally from Wichita, KS, Greg moved to San Francisco from Los Angeles in 1977 at age 20. Greg retired after a 30 year career with the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 2014. Greg served as the first LGBT Program Manager in the nation in the EPA San Francisco regional office starting in 1998. Greg spent 20% of his work time on issues of concern to the LGBT employees. LGBTQ history has always been one of Greg’s most important hobbies.
LGBTQI History: A Sonoma County Timeline 1947-2000. Wednesdays 1:30-3pm. Online via Zoom. On March 15, we will be discussing several historical efforts at creating
LGBTQI Community Centers in Sonoma County. Looking
forward to seeing you there! Please contact me to enroll
When Gad Yola hit the red carpet on December 20th, 2022, the 34-year-old Peruvian drag queen wanted to make a statement. Nearly 6,000 miles away from her home, Yola was far from the political crisis unfolding across Peru. So on her white dress, she bedazzled the words “25 Peruvians killed by the state”—a reference to the number of people who had died since protests erupted across the Andean nation.
Her dress quickly went viral on Twitter, and she received both messages of support and hate from Peruvians around the globe. Her artistic gesture is just one example of how LGBTQ+ Peruvians are making their voices heard in a political crisis that has persisted for nearly two months.
On December 7, 2022, former President Pedro Castillo rocked Peru’s democracy. Facing a vote for his impeachment, Castillo attempted a “self-coup”—a complete power grab by someone already in power. With trembling hands, the embattled president announced to the nation that he was unilaterally dissolving Congress and would rule the country by decree.
For Peruvians, this announcement was shocking, but it was not unprecedented. More than 20 years ago, former President Alberto Fujimori successfully pulled off this political machination and remained in power for another eight years. Fujimori, though, had the backing of the National Police of Peru and the Peruvian Armed Forces before he made this risky move; neither institution backed Castillo.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/nXyFgvCfyHI?feature=oembedPedro Castillo reads a statement announcing his decision to dissolve Congress and rule by decree.
Shortly after the announcement, ministers in his cabinet resigned, members of his political party, Peru Libre, denounced him, and his Vice President, Dina Boluarte, condemned the move. A couple of hours later, Congress successfully voted to impeach Castillo. Castillo was arrested and brought to a detention facility when he tried to seek asylum in the Mexican embassy; he currently remains in pre-trial detention.
Later that day, Boluarte was sworn in as President, and many members of Congress celebrated the ouster of an opponent they sparred with for the entire duration of his presidency.
Their celebration was short-lived.
On December 8th, just one day after Castillo’s arrest, protests began to sprout around the country.
Castillo was Peru’s 5th president in five years. He was also the first president to be of a peasant and indigenous background. His ouster, and Boluarte’s subsequent rightward shift, was taken as a sign by the historically marginalized groups of Peru that the country’s democracy is not an institution that works for them. Many believe Castillo was a victim of a conservative Congress hellbent on preventing an indigenous person from ruling effectively.
So they took to the streets.
In cities and towns all over Peru, aggrieved protesters began marching to demand political change. Their demands included the following: President Boluarte’s resignation, a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution, earlier elections, and for some, the liberation of Castillo.
From Cusco to Lima, protesters have been demonstrating their dissatisfaction with the state of their country. They have set up roadblocks and taken over airports. And in one case, a politician’s home was set on fire. Meanwhile, police have killed 46 people, some of whom were medics and bystanders, and injured dozens of others. One police officer was also killed due to the unrest, and at least ten people died in ambulances after being unable to reach hospitals due to blockades.
In addition to the anti-establishment protests, there have also been marches billed as “Marcha Por La Paz” or “March for the Peace.” These peace marches are right-wing and pro-police. And due to the march’s collaboration with the police, they have often inflamed tensions between the two sides.
Despite the assumption that LGBTQ+ rights are a left-wing cause, supporters and queer Peruvians are spread across the political spectrum. The political crisis has divided members of the queer community about how to resolve an increasingly intractable conflict.
Shortly after Boluarte was sworn-in, several LGBTQ+ activists and organizations condemned the violence at protests calling for her resignation.
Promsex, one of Peru’s most prominent LGBTQ+ and intersex rights groups, addressed the new president in a statement on Twitter.
“We demand that the Executive Branch guarantee the safety of all people, including that of law enforcement personnel, and that there be no more deaths in the democratic and legitimate exercise of the right to protest,” the organization tweeted.
However, since that statement was released, the violence has escalated, and so has the intensity of statements from left-wing LGBTQ+ groups. On January 21st, the Lima Pride March Collective released a statement calling for one of the primary demands of the anti-Boluarte protestors—new elections.
“As LGBTI people, we demand a prompt democratic exit [from this crisis] through the advancement of elections in the shortest term possible,” the statement said.
The Collective changed their name on Twitter to #NuevasEleccionesYa (new elections now), accompanied by the Peruvian and pride flags.
Jorge Apolaya, a spokesperson for the group, spoke to LGBTQ Nation about why he supports the marches.
“[LGBTQ+] organizers have the responsibility to speak out and denounce what is contrary to democracy and therefore to the rights of LGBT people,” he told LGBTQ Nation. “The government of the current president Dina Boluarte has become repressive and violent in the face of legitimate protests in the country. We cannot allow more deaths, and that is why there is a social consensus in the request for the resignation of the current president.”
Jorge (right) at the protests at Plaza San Martin in Lima.
The consensus does not extend to all LGBTQ+ Peruvians. La Liga Libertad, a classically liberal group founded by LGBTQ+ people, has called the protesters’ demands, including the demand for Boluarte to resign, “anti-democratic.” They have described protesters’ attempts to take over national airports as “terrorism,” echoing Boluarte’s characterization of the ongoing unrest.
La Liga Libertad did not respond to LGBTQ Nation’s request for comment.
It is not only left-wing LGBTQ+ groups who favor Boluarte’s resignation. Popular Action (Acción Popular) is a centrist political party. One of its members, queer activist Manuel Siccha, spoke with LGBTQ Nation.
“Currently, the position [of the Party] is to request the resignation of President Dina Boluarte based on her lack of legitimacy to govern,” Siccha said. “You cannot govern without social legitimacy and she alone has been losing legitimacy little by little with the decisions she has made from actions which are dehumanizing and authoritarian.”
Siccha also told LGBTQ Nation that he believes the Boluarte administration does not have the capacity to respond to the urgent political needs and the agendas of vulnerable populations, including LGBTQ+ populations.
The division among the queer community is also visible among Peru’s two out members of Congress. Although both voted for Castillo’s impeachment in December, they diverge significantly in how they approach the conflict.
Susel Paredes is the first out lesbian to win a congressional election in Peru. A progressive member of Congress, she voted against giving Boluarte’s cabinet a vote of confidence two weeks ago due to the more than 50 deaths which have occurred since protests first broke out.
Alejandro Cavero, a conservative congressman from the Avanza Pais political party, has said he is “LGBT and proudly of the right.” While Cavero said he understands the “frustration and indignation of the South,” he also praised police reactions to the violent protests.
A Twitter interaction between Members of Peruvian Congress Paredes and Cavero shows the two arguing about an incident that occurred at San Marcos University on January 21, 2023.
Other LGBTQ+ Peruvians who spoke with LGBTQ Nation expressed a similar sentiment to Cavero.
“It’s definitely a midway support,” said Vero Mourou when asked if she supports the protests. Mourou is a drag artist from Iquitos, the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon. Like Cavero, she is sympathetic to the plight of the poor and indigenous Peruvians protesting. However, she blames the “communist left” for taking advantage of the situation.
“[The left] has caused innocent people to die like a cannonball for their own political interests, such as the constituent assembly. They use their pain and suffering for political purposes. I am against any act of violence disguised as protest…we cannot allow anarchy in Peru.”
As Peruvians inside the country express varying opinions on this conflict, many Peruvians abroad are also speaking out, including Yola. Based in Madrid, Yola spoke with LGBTQ Nation about why she supports the protests.
“Dina Boluarte has committed crimes against humanity, has murdered in the name of a false democracy that does not represent the inhabitants of the country, both in the provinces and in the capital,” she said.
Yola acknowledges that some on the left are homophobic and transphobic, including the former president. However, she believes that certain struggles must come before LGBTQ+ rights.
“Many gay people…do not see beyond the privileged reality of Lima, because they do not see that before being gay or lesbian, they are brown, descendants of indigenous people, of black people, that the agenda against the fight against poverty in the regions is, honestly, more relevant than same-sex marriage.”
Gad Yola wears a dress that says: “25 Peruvians killed by the state.”
One of the most conservative countries in South America, Peru does not have a stellar record on LGBTQ+ rights. Regardless of the outcome of this political crisis, the situation for queer and trans Peruvians is unlikely to change dramatically. However, as the nation struggles through nearly two months of unrest, LGBTQ+ Peruvians continue to make their voices heard and fight for their future.
LGBTQ Victory Fund, the only national organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ leaders to public office, named Nick Hellyar and Mario Castillo 2023 LGBTQ ‘Spotlight’ candidates, a designation given to candidates with exceptional potential to be national leaders of the LGBTQ equality movement. Hellyar is running for Houston City Council, At-Large, Position 2 and Castillo is running for Houston City Council, District H.
Robert Gallegos is currently the only out LGBTQ elected official in Houston, according to LGBTQ Victory Institute. Since Council Member Gallegos is not running for reelection, the city is now at risk of losing LGBTQ representation in city government for the first time since 1998.
“Nick and Mario represent the best of Houston. They firmly believe that government works best when it reflects the diversity and strength of its people. Their fresh, exciting vision for the future is rooted in years of public service and community organizing, which is why voters are so enthusiastic about their campaigns. With anti-LGBTQ hate continuing to sweep across the state, strengthening LGBTQ representation in local government could not be more important. Nick and Mario are exceptional leaders and I am confident that under their leadership, all Houstonians will thrive,” said Mayor Annise Parker, President & CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund.
“Houston has had an LGBTQ member on City Council since Annise Parker’s historic victory. Now, Houston is at risk of being the largest city in the country without LGBTQ representation. This is unacceptable. I am excited to work with LGBTQ Victory Fund to ensure our community’s voice continues to be heard at City Council and throughout Houston,” said Hellyar.
“LGBTQ leaders like former Mayor Annise Parker have transformed Houston for the better, and I will work hard every day to carry on that tradition. We all belong to many communities – I am a Houstonian, a cis gay man, a Latino, a nonprofit leader, and so much more. LGBTQ Victory Fund sees and helps elevate the intersectionality of all these communities. I am deeply honored to have earned their endorsement,” said Castillo.
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LGBTQ Victory Fund
LGBTQ Victory Fund works to achieve and sustain equality by increasing the number of openly 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 openly LGBTQ candidates win local, state and federal elections.
As the New Year dawns, Find Homeless People Inc., a California-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, continues to do its part in assisting unhoused people. The Los Angeles County Development Authority (LACDA) Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) effort has enabled Find Homeless People, Inc. to distribute 30 emergency housing vouchers to those who were in need and met eligibility criteria within the greater Los Angeles, CA area.
The recipients of these vouchers had access to LAHSA – approved homeless shelters such as LA Family Housing, Village Family Services, Single-room Occupancy Programs, Midnight Mission, Los Angeles LGBT Center and Home at Last. For an individual or household to be eligible for EHVs they must be fleeing domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking; be a survivor of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking; seeking an emergency transfer through the Interim LAHSA Emergency Transfer Plan under Violence Against Women Act (VAWA); generally homeless; a homeless military veteran; enrolled in time-limited subsidy programs that need a permanent housing resource; enrolled in interim housing whose sites are closing; long-term enrolled in interim housing with three months or longer; and/or enrolled in programs that offer navigation, case management and/or post lease up retention services such as Housing Navigation.
Find Homeless People Inc. encourages those who meet any of the aforementioned criteria and live in Los Angeles County to contact their office by calling 562-472-0222 or through their website contact page for assistance obtaining an emergency housing voucher and safe shelter.
Throughout her childhood, Rep. Herod’s parents, an Army veteran and a police officer, emphasized the importance of serving one’s community, and that helping others is always the right thing to do. The noble teachings of her parents inspired her to encourage many students of color, LGBTQ+ students, and first-generation students at her college, the University of Colorado-Boulder, to run for student government. While in college, she became the Student Body President, managing a $36 million budget. After serving the students at her college, Leslie made an impact on the 2012 presidential election as President Obama’s Deputy Political Director for Colorado, and later gained government experience as the Governor’s Senior Policy Advisor. Finally, Rep. Herod ran for state House to help the people in her district, becoming the first out LGBTQ+ Black person elected to the Colorado legislature.
An experienced lawmaker and social justice reform advocate Rep. Herod has served with the mission of improving the lives of all Coloradoans and passed over 150 pieces of legislation in her tenure. Working with community activists and police departments, Leslie championed a successful alternative policing program that deploys trained mental health workers and paramedics to respond to 911 calls involving mental health crises and substance misuse. As the Chair of the Appropriations Committee and Joint Budget Committee, she has delivered a $36B balanced budget for Colorado. Now Rep. Herod is ready to bring that same approach of putting results over politics to the Denver Mayor’s office.
A trailblazer Having broken barriers by becoming the first out LGBTQ+ Black person elected to the Colorado legislature, Leslie hopes to continue breaking barriers in the Centennial State. If elected Mayor of Denver, Leslie will be the first woman ever elected as Mayor of Denver. The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund is proud to endorse Rep. Leslie Herod at the Spotlight level as she faces a crowded field in this race.
Michigan right-wingers are working together to challenge LGBTQ+-inclusive education in public schools.
An organization called the Great Schools Initiative (GSI) is offering parents an opt-out form to prevent all discussions about gender identity and sexual orientation in schools.
Last week, the group began an initiative called “Operation Opt-Out,” which asks parents to submit an opt-out form authored by GSI to be added to their children’s school files, Michigan Advance reports.
Nearly three pages of proscriptions against facts about reproductive health, family planning, contraception, LGBTQ+ issues, and social justice are contained in the document — which happens to contain numerous spelling errors.
The form mandates that schools shall not include a student in “any and all instruction on gender ideology, the physiological (including endocrinological), psychological and functions of reproductive health as it relates to human sexuality. This opt out includes, but is not limited to: gender identity, gender expression, gender assignment, sexual identities, sexual expression, sexual attraction, sexual orientarion, gender fluidity, transitioning, and expicit sexual activity or behavior.”
Currently, under existing state law, all Michigan public schools offer parents the ability to have their children skip some or all sexual education classes, according to Michigan Advance.
GSI goes further and excludes students from what they refer to as “rogue sex ed.”
Forbidden is a wide range of activities, such as school-affiliated student clubs that support LGBTQ+ students, displaying Pride flags, and educators asking students for their pronouns, among other restrictions.
Including LGBTQ+ students in groups and efforts provides them with social activities and support. Nevertheless, the right-wing activists behind the form claim that anything that promotes LGBTQ+ students should be considered sexual, and educators who affirm LGBTQ+ matters are falsely smeared as “groomers.”
Monica Yatooma, who unsuccessfully ran for Oakland County commissioner; Matthew Nelson, an attorney based in Grand Rapids; and Nathan Pawl, an entrepreneur based in Walled Lake, founded GSI in September. Each incorporator provided the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulation with the address of a Chicago law firm, the Thomas More Society, which promotes far-right conservative causes in the country, according to Michigan Advance.
According to Pawl, who spoke at a recent GSI meeting that was later posted on YouTube, if hundreds of parents handed in the forms, “this is going to change everything because it’ll be too much for them to handle.”
Pawl explained that his involvement in GSI was born out of outrage that his son’s school was required to wear masks during the ongoing global pandemic.
Last February, the Thomas More Society threatened to sue Walled Lake Schools and Oakland County if school officials did not reverse mask mandates.
“What every parent and member of the school community should know is that ‘don’t say gay’ policies and other so-called ‘parental rights’ efforts will harm people and put children’s health and safety at risk,” local resident and parent Brittnee Senecal told Michigan Advance. Senecal also is part of the group Michigan Parent Alliance for Safe Schools (MIPASS), which supports public schools in the state. “The efforts of these hate groups will also worsen a range of real-world challenges that affect young people and their families, including teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and other healthcare-related realities.”
Harrowing new BBC documentary Queer Egypt Under Attack uncovers how violent criminal gangs and corrupt Egyptian police officers use online dating sites to target the LGBTQ+ community.
Journalist and presenter Ahmed Shihab-Eldin undertook a two year long investigation for BBC News to uncover the tactics used to lure, and eventually prosecute, LGBTQ+ people in Egypt.
Although Egypt does not currently have specific legislation banning homosexuality, this has not stopped the queer community from being repeatedly targeted with abuse and exortion.
Shihab-Eldin, who grew up in Egypt, explained: “Friends there tell me that the atmosphere has recently become far more brutal, and the tactics for tracking down LGBT people more sophisticated.”
As Shihab-Eldin discovered, police initiate text conversations on dating apps such as WhosHere and Grindr, encouraging people to meet up with them. They then charge them under a “debauchery” law, often fabricating evidence against LGBTQ+ people who are simply looking for love and friendship.
Reporter, Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, spent his teenage years in Egypt. (BBC)
The law targets sex work and is a key way LGBTQ+ people are persecuted in Egypt, and the documentary meets real people who have fallen prey to these manipulation tactics, for which the punishment can be a hefty fine and even imprisonment.
Gangs are also targeting vulnerable people on dating apps by filming violent humiliation videos which they send to the victims’ friends and family.
In one clip, Shihab-Eldin meets with an anonymous victim who was featured in a viral video of this nature, and uncovered the chain of blackmail associated with this gang violence.
Another victim, Laith, described how he was simply meeting an acquaintance for a date when police seized him and threatened to fabricate evidence unless he agreed to be an informant.
After Laith refused to cooperate he was charged with “habitual debauchery”, which criminalises regular same-sex practices between men.
The documentary also explores how foreigners are also at risk, with one person, called Matt, lured by police via Grindr, arrested and eventually deported.
Although dating apps are cracking down on these tactics by issuing warnings about potential police presence, the LGBTQ+ community still remains under attack.
Republicans now in control of the House of Representatives and progressive lawmakers fear the GOP will use their slim majority to engage in frivolous investigations into the Biden administration.
With his appointment to the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee, California’sgay Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia says he will act as a safeguard against such moves by Republicans. The committee works to oversee the “efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the federal government and all its agencies,” according to its website.
The Democrat announced his appointment to the committee on Twitter yesterday while noting a certain excitement about his opportunity to be a thorn in the side of two outrageous far-right Republican members on the committee.
“I just got appointed to the House Oversight Committee. You can bet that I am going to take on and push back on Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert’s bullsh*t every single day. LFG,” Garcia wrote.
Garcia has not been shy in criticizing some of Congress’s most right-wing members.
The freshman lawmaker is the first out gay immigrant elected to Congress, and in the few weeks that he’s been on Capitol Hill, he’s already made his mark.
In December, he was elected by his peers to be the incoming class president for the Democratic Party — a position that is often a starting-off point for party leadership.
After new members’ swearing-in ceremonies were delayed because of historic dysfunction among Republicans who couldn’t decide on electing a new House speaker until the 15th round of votes, Garcia swore his oath on the Constitution, and photos of his parents, his U.S. citizenship certificate, and a rare first-edition Superman comic book that he loaned from the Library of Congress.
Representatives for the congressman did not immediately respond to an interview request for Garcia.
However, in November, Garcia toldThe Advocate that he was looking forward to joining Congress, particularly to challenge some of the worst anti-LGBTQ+ people elected to federal office.
“[“Marjorie Taylor Greene] is somebody that has zero interest in allowing gay people to live full lives, so I think she shouldn’t be in Congress,” Garcia said. “I think she represents exactly what’s wrong in our country.”
He also had a hunch: “I’m sure she’s not going to like me very much,” he said.
McCarthy appointed vocal conspiracy theorists and anti-LGBTQ+ lawmakers Greene and Boebert to the committee last week.
House Oversight Chair James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, is excited about Georgia’s Greene, Colorado’s Boebert, and Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona joining the committee, tellingAxios, “it’s probably the most exciting committee” in history.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mocked the unserious nature of the far right-wing lawmakers on a crucial committee like Oversight during a January 18 press briefing.
“It appears that House Republicans have handed over the keys to the most extreme MAGA members of the Republican caucus,” Jean-Pierre said. “These are members who have promoted violent rhetoric and dangerous conspiracy theories, including suggesting violence against political opponents, trafficking in antisemitic lies, and defending and downplaying a violent insurrection against our democracy.”
According to critics, the committee will spend much time on nonsense and political games, especially with people like Boebert, Gosar, and Greene. Republican leaders have announced several investigations: the laptop of Hunter Biden, the country’s pandemic response, and right-wing media complaints about Anthony Fauci.
In an appearance on Newsmax on Friday morning, Comer committed to taking action against DirecTV for removing the channel from its services.
“Congress didn’t hold hearings a year ago for [One America News] because it was OAN and not CNN, and Democrats were in charge in Congress. You’re in charge now. Are you gonna hold hearings for Newsmax?” the network’s anchor Rob Finnerty asked the Republican.
“Yes,” Comer replied. “There’s gonna be a committee that’s gonna hold hearings. We’re sitting, we’re gonna meet later today and try to discuss which committee’s gonna do what. That’s certainly on the agenda. I’m very concerned by this.”
