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.”
State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced legislation to improve access to PrEP for HIV prevention in California and improve previous legislation that allows pharmacies to offer PrEP without a prescription.
The new legislation will extend the length of time pharmacies may furnish PrEP without a prescription. It will also require health plans to cover the costs of pharmacists’ time to prepare PrEP.
PrEP has shown to reduce the risk of contracting HIV through sexual contact by more than 99%, which makes it more effective than condoms or any other preventative.
“PrEP freed millions of people from the fear of contracting HIV, a miracle of science that once seemed impossible,” Wiener said in a statement.
Despite some significant progress, HIV remains a major public challenge throughout California. “Each year around 4,000 Californians — disproportionally LGBTQ and people of color — contract HIV because of barriers to access,” said Wiener.
SB 339 will follow up on the first-of-the-nation Senate Bill 159 signed into law by Governor Newsom in 2019. SB 159 authorized pharmacies to furnish up to a 60-day supply of PrEP without a prescription and banned health plans from imposing step therapy and prior authorization on PrEP.
Surveys showed that previously, pharmacies struggled to uphold the law furnishing the 60-day window because health plans did not cover the cost of labor and the time period is too short to ensure referral to a primary-care physician.
“SB 339 will address the issues with implementing our groundbreaking legislation SB 159, allowing people to access PrEP without seeing a doctor,” said Wiener.
California joins states like Colorado, Nevada, and Utah in implementing pharmacy-provided PrEP programs. SB 339 requires health plans to cover up to a 90-day supply of PrEP as prescribed by a pharmacists, with ongoing supply contingent upon proper testing and follow-up.
President Joe Biden will address the nation soon when he gives the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress. The ceremonial speech will outline the president’s priorities and the country’s challenges. But what about the LGBTQ+ nation?
LGBTQ Nation spoke with six of the nation’s best and brightest to find out what they saw as the difficulties — and solutions — for the queer community and our struggle for equal rights. In a time of unprecedented challenges, these individuals can shine light in the darkness and show us a way out.
Mondaire Jones knows the best defense queer people have is the ballot
Mondiare Jones. Photos by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, Olivier Doulierty/AFP via Getty Images. Illustration by Kyle Neal for LGBTQ Nation
Former Congressman Mondaire Jones (D-NY) was first elected in 2020 and is one of the two first-out LGBTQ+ Black members of Congress; he lost his seat in 2022. He co-introduced the Respect for Marriage Act in Congress to ensure same-sex couples continue to have the rights associated with marriage should the Supreme Court overturn the marriage equality case Obergefell v. Hodges.
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Jones helped get former President Donald Trump impeached for a second time after his supporters rioted in the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. He pushed for even tougher democratic reforms, including automatic voter registration, public financing of elections, and an end to partisan gerrymandering.
“The crisis of our democracy is the biggest existential threat,” Jones told LGBTQ Nation. “If we do not have a truly representative government, if we do not have a pro-equality majority in both chambers of Congress and the White House, then we are going to continue to see this Supreme Court whittle away at our rights.”
So it’s no surprise that Congressman Jones’s message now is that getting better people elected is the key to moving Congress toward equality.
“We have to continue to build and renew the movement for liberation through organizing at the grassroots level and defeating those who are hostile to the humanity of our community,” Jones said. “My project will be to ensure that Democrats take back the branches of government in 2024.”
How V Spehar is keeping tabs on America from under a desk
V Spehar. Photo provided by V Spehar. Additional photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images. Illustration by Kyle Neal for LGBTQ Nation
Self-described citizen journalist V Spehar says being in the room where it happens reveals the true colors of elected officials and how their personal and political agendas may impact our country’s future.
Spehar, 40, spent the early part of their career in the hospitality industry in New York City, Tampa, and eventually as an event planner with one of Washington D.C.’s most prominent caterers. “People speak so honestly in front of you when they don’t think you’re ‘that’ kind of smart — when they think you’re just a waiter, a bartender, or whatever,” Spehar told LGBTQ Nation. “And so I got to see these people, not just for the policies that they wrote, but for the people that they are, and understanding that who they ate dinner with changed how the world was going to be.”
“You’re not going to get somebody to stop believing their sole mission is to be a protector,” Spehar said, “but you can get them to understand who actually needs protection.”
What does ‘activist-elected official’ Park Cannon foresee in the future for queer rights?
Park Cannon. Photos by Derek White/Getty Images, Paras Griffin/Getty Images. Illustration by Kyle Neal for LGBTQ Nation
In 2016, Park Cannon was Georgia’s youngest elected official in the state legislature at 24 years old. Seven years later, she continues to exhibit an insatiable energy for fighting for equity and standing up for marginalized groups.
In 2021, Cannon became a national name after she was arrested for standing up to S.B. 202, a law that significantly rolled back voting rights for Georgians. Cannon, who is Black, was arrested by a white state trooper for knocking on Gov. Brian Kemp’s (R) office door as he signed the bill in a closed-door ceremony. Charges against Cannon were ultimately dropped.
“We will not live in fear and we will not be controlled,” she wrote on Twitter after her arrest. “We have a right to our future and right to our freedom. We will come together and continue fighting white supremacy in all its forms.”
“I know the feeling of coming out in the South and expecting that there would be hate. And there was, but there was also a lot of fun and exploration and resistance that teaches people more than they could ever imagine,” Cannon told LGBTQ Nation. “I’m hopeful that we’ll continue to look at LGBTQ culture as groundbreaking and inclusive and not look at it as anything but that.”
Activist Matt Foreman questions whether we have the leadership and resources needed for full equality
Matt Foreman image provided. Additional photo by Roey Thorpe. Illustration by Kyle Neal for LGBTQ Nation
Matt Foreman has seen it all from the forefront of the struggle for equality. The veteran politico led multiple queer organizations, including the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (now the National LGBTQ Task Force). As someone who has had to do the hard and inglorious work of both soliciting donations and funding campaigns, it’s no surprise he has a decidedly pragmatic view of how the movement can move forward during a challenging time.
“What is urgently and desperately needed is a coordinated, multifaceted campaign to push back against all this horrific legislation that has come down the road and will be coming down the road this year at the state level,” Foreman told LGBTQ Nation.“It’s the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills, the anti-trans bills, the curriculum attacks, book bans, it’s all of that, and right now, our movement at the state level is strapped for resources.”
“I think the number one priority is fighting back in the states and grinding the other side down over time by showing their true nature, which is not about protecting kids, just about hate and demonizing good people. And so because that kind of rhetoric is out there, it becomes accepted wisdom,” Foreman said. “It has an impact on the way people treat queer people. And we’re seeing this rise in the rhetoric now, which isn’t just rhetoric once it influences people to attack us physically, financially, or emotionally. The only way we’re gonna get around that is to take it on, fight back, and expose them for what they are.”
Kelley Robinson is head of the largest LGBTQ+ organization — and she knows our Achilles’ heel
Kelley Robinson. Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images, Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Supermajority. Illustration by Kyle Neal for LGBTQ Nation
In November 2022, Kelley Robinson was elected the ninth president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), becoming the first Black queer woman to hold the position in the civil rights group’s 40-year existence. Now she aspires to be the first Black queer woman to spearhead the HRC infundamentally changing the country and its systems of power.
“I come to this work as a Black woman, as a queer person, as a wife, and as a mom,” Robinson told LGBTQ Nation. “And there are so many issues that matter to people in the community because we hold all of these identities, right? You can’t get to liberation without racial justice; you can’t get there without disability rights, immigration justice, climate change, and climate reform.”
When asked about how to prioritize the country’s most urgent issues, Robinson said, “The biggest thing to understand is that we cannot be single-issue. You have to talk about the violence happening in Black trans communities, particularly against Black trans women. At the same time, be able to talk about how it is a disgrace that we are still living with the HIV epidemic in this country. At the same time, also be able to talk about the issues facing folks related to discrimination across this country because of the loopholes created under the guise of ‘religious freedoms.’”
But shifts in voter demographics offer signs of hope. HRC polling estimates that queer voters will make up increasingly large parts of the electorate as Gen Z ages into adulthood. “To take advantage of the demographic shifts, we’ve got to make sure that we’re giving people a meaningful way to engage and fixing the system,” Robinson said, “so that they know that when they vote, it will actually make a difference.”
Taylor Brorby knows anti-queer red America. Here’s his prescription for changing it.
Taylor Brorby. Author photo provided by Taylor Brorby. Additional photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images. Illustration by Kyle Neal for LGBTQ Nation
“It’s a time to be nervous. Being nervous is different than being afraid,” Brorby told LGBTQ Nation. “We live in a country that allows the targeting of vulnerable people whose rights aren’t fully enshrined in our governmental documents.”
Brorby suggests that dismantling the rural-urban divide may be one solution to uniting the country despite its geographic differences. “We have to start the conversation by reminding ourselves we’re actually dependent on each other,” Brorby said. “City people value rural people, too. Growing up in North Dakota, we knew rural America enriched everyone’s life, and the goal now shouldn’t be to get everyone to an urban center. It should be possible to have a good life wherever you live. We do not hear each other’s stories. We need ambassadors.”
Teachers at a school district in Florida have been instructed to “cover or store” books in their classroom libraries pending reviews.
In an internal training video, Duval County Public Schools superintendent Diana Greene announced the launch of a formal review of classroom libraries, which generally consist of books either donated or purchased by teachers themselves, to ensure that they are in compliance with Florida legislation passed last summer.
Florida’s House Bill 1467 passed last July and requires books made available through school libraries and classroom libraries to be selected by a certified media specialist.
Under the new law, books must not contain instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in books available to grades K–3; “pornography,” which the district defines using the Merriam Webster dictionary as “the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement; or discrimination in such a way that implies “an individual, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin is inherently racist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.”
The law also requires all schools to publish a searchable list of all books in school and classroom libraries, making it easier for parents to challenge books.
“Books not on the district-approved list or not approved by certificated media specialists need to be covered or stored and paused for student use,” Duval’s Chief Academic Officer Paula Renfro says in the video.
According to a Duval County Public Schools release, “The Florida Department of Education has trained all Florida school districts to ‘err on the side of caution’ in determining if a book is developmentally appropriate for student use.”
As WJCT News notes, Duval Schools has already rejected 47 book titles that were ordered in 2021, with an additional 26 titles from the same collection still under review. Jax Todayreports that the books, which included multiple titles with LGBTQ+ characters and families as well as books about Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, are described by the distributor as featuring “diverse, inclusive” stories.
Across the country, recently instituted school and public library book bans have disproportionately targeted books by non-white authors and those featuring LGBTQ+ characters and stories.
Duval County Schools has previously made headlines for the district’s efforts to comply with Florida’s recently enacted anti-LGBTQ+ laws, including the Parental Rights in Education Act, commonly referred to as “Don’t Say Gay.”
M23 rebels in Congo’s North Kivu province have displaced a number of transgender people and left them even more vulnerable to persecution.
M23 rebels last November approached Goma, the province’s capital city, and forced around 180,000 people to leave their homes. Jérémie Safari, coordinator of Rainbow Sunrise Mapambazuko, a Congolese LGBTQ and intersex rights group, told the Washington Blade that residents of the Kibumba camp where displaced people have settled have refused to assist trans people and have accused them of being sorcerers.
“Trans people went (through) war like everyone else,” said Safari. “In the Kibumba camp where the displaced have settled, the local community there has refused trans people access, accusing them of being sorcerers, bad luck charms and of being the origin of the war following their evil practice.”
Safari said other displaced people who did not want trans women in the camp have attacked them. Safari said these trans women currently sleep in the street in Kibumba without food.
Safari, in addition, said the government has done little to help these displaced trans people, even though consensual same-sex sexual relations are not criminalized in the country.
“The displaced people received help but not the trans people since they do not live in the camp and also the government is still extremely hostile towards LGBTIQA+ organizations in the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo). No LGBTQA+ organization can be legally recognized by the Congolese State,” said Safari.
Safari saidRainbow Sunrise Mapambazuko currently needs funds to provide housing, food and medicine to the displaced trans people.
“If we could have $7,000 (U.S. dollars) firstly for their survival, since we are afraid of their life and their health which is in danger, that would be of immense help,” said Safari.
The M23 since last May has demonstrated increased firepower and defensive capabilities that have enabled the group to overrun U.N.-backed Congolese troops and hold territory.
The U.N. says the fighting between Congolese troops and M23 rebels has forced nearly 200,000 people to flee their homes.
Human Rights Watch has called upon the U.N., the African Union and governments to publicly denounce M23 abuses found to have been committed by other combatants, maintaining sanctions against senior M23 commanders and expanding them to those newly found responsible for serious abuses and senior officials from across the region complicit in them. Human Rights Watch also said any political settlement should not include amnesty for those responsible for human rights abuses and prevent responsible M23 commanders to integrate into the Congolese armed forces.
“The government’s failure to hold M23 commanders accountable for war crimes committed years ago is enabling them and their new recruits to commit abuses today. Civilians in eastern Congo should not have to endure new atrocities by the M23,” said Thomas Fessy, a senior DRC researcher at Human Rights Watch.
M23 sprung from elements within the Congolese army in 2012.
The rebel group claims it is defending the rights of Congolese Tutsi and originally comprised of soldiers who participated in a mutiny from the Congolese army in April-May 2012. They claimed their mutiny was to protest the Congolese government’s failure to fully implement the March 23, 2009, peace agreement — M23 derives from this date — that had integrated them into the Congolese army.
The Congolese army and the U.N. Force Intervention Brigade defeated M23 in November 2013, and its members fled to Rwanda and Uganda. The group re-emerged in November 2021.
Their activism is a love unlike any other. Art and Pep are the owners of Chicago’s iconic bar, Sidetrack. As civil rights leaders who have been fighting for LGBTQ+ equality for decades, their activism is the focus of their struggle to live and love freely.Filmmakers Attending for post-screening Q&A.
Donna Personna first hit the stage with the legendary Cockettes. Ecstatic lip-synching in San Francisco’s downtown bars was a far cry from Donna’s Baptist upbringing in San Jose. Her story proves: it’s never too late to find your métier and truly blossom. Filmmaker Attending, Post-Screening Q&A.
Set in Sebastopol, Bonnie and Jai own Hope Acre Farm where they grow organic tomatoes and beans. With a flock of animals and a new baby, they bring on more hands with the help of volunteers. Filmmakers Attending, Post-Screening Q&A.
From Black Power in late-60s Boston, to AIDS activism in mid-80s New York, to Marriage Equality in early-10s San Francisco, this profile shines a hope-filled spotlight on Lambda Award-winning novelist, activist and philanthropist Jewelle Gomez. Filmmaker Attending, Post-Screening Q&A.
Enter The Beauty Bubble Salon & Museum, a pastel dreamland of 3,000 vintage beauty artifacts in the desert community of Joshua Tree, California and meet its owner, proprietor, and “America’s hairstorian” Jeff Hafler. Filmmakers Attending, Post-Screening Q&A for live event.
Theirs is the unlikely love story between two women who fell in love on Christmas Eve, 1944, in the Ravensbruck concentration camp, a German camp exclusively for women. Despite being separated in the last months of the war, they manage to reunite and spend the rest of their life together.
Retired food-service worker, Ruth Brinker, became a pioneer of HIV care in her community and would become a legend among San Franciscans. Along with her team of volunteers, Ruth founded Project Open Hand, the largest provider of nutrition to the HIV/AIDS community. Filmmakers Attending, Post-Screening Q&A for live event.
In the last three decades, some of the most egregious attacks on equality — the Defense of Marriage Act, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, not to mention the infamous 1950 “Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts in Government” report — came from Congress. Some of the most significant advances – passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009 and the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in 2010 – also came from Congress.
And while the Supreme Court found in 2015 that some federal jobs protections against discrimination based on sex also protect LGBTQ+ people, the community is still fighting for the Equality Act, which would enshrine legal protections in civil rights law.
But Congress is unlikely to provide much help in 2023 now that Republicans have taken a narrow majority in the House of Representatives. Not only has the GOP historically opposed equality legislation, but many of the Republicans who won their midterm elections did so by weaponizing antipathy towards LGBTQ+ people, advocating for laws banning transgender people access to gender-affirming care, demagoguing equal treatment of transgender students in schools, slurring LGBTQ+ teachers and doctors as “groomers.”
And elections have consequences.
Former Congressman Mondaire Jones (D-NY) sat down with LGBTQ Nation to discuss the possibilities for change in Congress in the coming two years. Jones was first elected in 2020 and is one of the two first-out LGBTQ+ Black members of Congress; he lost his seat in 2022. He co-introduced the Respect for Marriage Act in Congress to ensure same-sex couples continue to have the rights associated with marriage should the Supreme Court overturn the marriage equality case Obergefell v. Hodges.
Jones helped get former President Donald Trump impeached for a second time after his supporters rioted in the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. During his time in Congress, he supported the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. He pushed for even tougher democratic reforms, including automatic voter registration, public financing of elections, and an end to partisan gerrymandering.
So it’s no surprise that Congressman Jones’s message now is that getting better people elected is the key to moving Congress toward equality.
LGBTQ NATION: As the president prepares to address the nation, what are the most vexing problems facing the LGBTQ+ community?
Mondaire Jones: The Supreme Court of the United States — specifically, the far right, six-three supermajority on the Court — continues to pose the greatest obstacle to the lives and livelihoods of community members.
Justices of the US Supreme Court pose for their official photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on October 7, 2022. (Seated from left) Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, Associate Justice Samuel Alito and Associate Justice Elena Kagan, (Standing behind from left) Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Photo by Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images.
This majority is on a rampage against our rights. We see that in a case that will undermine the ability of same-sex couples not to be discriminated against in the marketplace [he was referring to 303 Creative v. Elanis], where the First Amendment is being weaponized to allow people to be bigoted.
We know that the Court is going to come for marriage equality. As proud as I am of having introduced legislation with Jerry Nadler that passed last year called the Respect for Marriage Act, it’s not lost on me that the Respect for Marriage Act still would not ensure marriage equality in every state in the union for same-sex couples.
More than protecting members of the LGBTQ+ community against discrimination, we’ve got to have our eyes set on creating equity, whether that is in the healthcare context, the housing context, or the student debt context, where members of the community disproportionately experience hardship. That was my project when I wrote a letter to CMS and the CDC asking them to require both public and private insurers to cover an injectable form of PrEP called Apretude at no cost-sharing to the patient.
LGBTQ NATION: What do you see as fighting for queer rights and 2023? What does that mean, and what does that entail?
MJ: Because of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives and too few Democrats in the United States Senate willing to get rid of the filibuster, we have to turn to state-level progress in beating back renewed assault on the LGBTQ+ community, such as these so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bills in Florida and elsewhere.
We also have to call on the Biden administration to use its executive authority to make discrimination less prevalent and to create equity.
LGBTQ NATION: So you brought up state-level legislation where things aren’t looking that good for us over the past few years. At least a hundred bills have been introduced to curtail rights. What can we do to stop that?
MJ: The good news is that we have won public opinion over the past decade when it comes to the community’s entitlement to the same rights and liberties that our cisgender, heterosexual counterparts enjoy.
However, because of an electoral system plagued by voter suppression, voter disenfranchisement, and unlimited spending by corporate special interests, the people we see in power often do not reflect the country’s mood.
We have to continue to build and renew the movement for liberation through organizing at the grassroots level and defeating those who are hostile to the humanity of our community.
While also making sure we take back the House and keep the Senate and the White House in the 2024 elections because only the Democratic majority in this country can be trusted to protect the LGBTQ+ community.
“We have to continue to build and renew the movement for liberation through organizing at the grassroots level and defeating those who are hostile to the humanity of our community.“Mondaire Jones
LGBTQ NATION: So you’re saying it comes down to who’s elected, but what does the community do once we have a group of people in Congress? You were in Congress. What did you see LGBTQ+ activists doing that maybe could have been more effective?
MJ: Well, I appreciate this question.
Several high-profile LGBTQ+-focused organizations spend more time patting themselves on the back for the work that they do and dining with their major donors than they are focused on electing champions to office and pressuring elected officials to enact the bold reforms that we urgently need.
Consider how long it took for certain organizations to come out for the filibuster reform, as we initially needed to pass the Equality Act and the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Consider how few organizations have supported my legislation with [Rep.] Jerry Nadler and [Rep.] Hank Johnson to expand the Supreme Court.
On a member level, I experienced very little outreach from some of the biggest LGBTQ+ rights organizations. And I was one of only nine openly gay members of the House. So we’ve got work to do.
LGBTQ NATION: You brought up democracy issues. You worked on the second impeachment of Donald Trump, which followed the January 6 Insurrection. How do you see the vitality of our democracy affecting LGBTQ+ issues in the coming years?
MJ: The crisis of our democracy is the biggest existential threat. If we do not have a truly representative government, if we do not have a pro-equality majority in both chambers of Congress and the White House, then we are going to continue to see this Supreme Court whittle away at our rights, including rights that were just gained over the past decade. And we’ll have no recourse because we won’t be able to pass legislation.
So we have to end partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts so that extremists like [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and [Rep.] Jim Jordan (R-OH) cannot coast to victory simply because they prevailed in the Republican primaries, despite their abuse being outside the mainstream. We have to get big money out of politics by enacting a system of public financing of congressional elections, which is what H.R. 1, which became known as the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, would do.
We must enact automatic and same-day voter registration and do away with the voter suppression we’ve seen in places like Georgia, Florida, Texas, and Arizona. All these things will help us build a truly multiracial democracy in which we will have pro-equality majorities in state houses and Congress.
Volunteers hand out information about candidates while people stand in line to vote in Raleigh, North Carolina, on November 5, 2022.
LGBTQ Nation: Yes, it seems like something like the Equality Act is off the table for at least the next two years because of Republican control of the House, even though- I mean, I wish I had looked this up before now, the Equality Act polls pretty well. [A 2021 HRC poll found that 70% of American voters support the Equality Act.]
MJ: Of course it does! Look, just consider what happened last night. A Republican majority in the House of Representatives voted to gut the IRS by 87,000 agents. That is not economic populism, which is what that party says it ran on in 2022. That is a thinly veiled attempt to help billionaire tax cheats evade accountability.
That is something that, in a normal political environment, would be toxic and devastating for a party at the voting booth. However, because our democracy is so rigged in favor of corporate special interests and the super-wealthy, it is something that Republicans can get away with.
We have people in government who are not actually responsive to what their constituents want. Still, because of redistricting and specifically partisan gerrymandering, because of just the outsized role that wealthy people have in our system of campaign finance, aided in part by Citizen United, we see this.
“My project will be to ensure that Democrats take back the branches of government in 2024.”Mondaire Jones
LGBTQ NATION: A lot of the blame, then, for the lack of progress to be expected goes to Republicans, but is there something the Democratic Party should have been doing to get a majority that it hasn’t been doing?
MJ: Absolutely. We had majorities in both chambers of Congress, and [Sen.] Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and [Sen.] Joe Manchin (D-WV) thought it was robbery to make an exception to the filibuster to pass democracy reforms, voting rights legislation, and the Equality Act. That was an abdication of their responsibility as legislators.
That is not to excuse the unanimous opposition by Republicans. It is to say that we’ve got some Democrats who are not where they need to be when it comes to the bold changes necessary to actually improve the lives of the American people.
The president only came out for an exception to the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation in December 2021.
LGBTQ NATION: You know what it’s like for LGBTQ+ people in Congress. Over the past few years, we’ve seen that most of the attacks have fallen on transgender people’s shoulders, specifically transgender minors. How good are your former colleagues at being familiar with essential issues for transgender people? Is there a good sense of understanding in Congress about their lives?
MJ: No, not particularly. My experience is that even the LGBTQ+ members in Congress, including myself, are continuing to learn about these issues. It would be awesome to have some trans people in Congress to bring that perspective.
And, of course, we’ve seen tremendous progress on these issues within the Democratic Party over the past several years. We see that in the inclusion of language specific to the trans community in the Equality Act and other legislation that we have passed. I’m very proud of having helped lead that.
But I know that the trans experience is not fully understood in Congress.
A transgender rights rally in Philadelphia.
LGBTQ NATION: What can LGBTQ+ people realistically expect on progress on our equality from Congress in the next two years?
MJ: I’m sad to say that because of the loss of the House to Republicans in November 2022, we cannot expect that Congress will pass the Equality Act to prohibit discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community in all facets of our society.
We will see the trans community vilified by House Republicans and Senate Republicans, even in the minority. We will continue to see LGBTQ+ individuals referred to, horrifically, as groomers and a Congress that will not respond meaningfully to the inevitable future violence against the community, especially gun violence.
That is the consequence of not having enough good people in the United States Congress.
So my project will be to ensure that Democrats take back the branches of government in 2024.
Stephanie Wade is a former Marine Infantry officer, Surfrider Foundation activist and educator who left her public school teaching career in 2018 to work on the Cisneros for Congress Campaign. She followed Cisneros in to office and for two years served as his Veterans Liaison and Field Representative. As the only veteran working for a Navy veteran who served on the House Armed Services and Veterans Affairs Committees, she held a particularly prominent role in supporting the congressmember’s legislative work. She currently serves as District Director and Policy advisor to Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley where she manages a $1.3 mil. discretionary fund, $2 mil. events budget and an additional $1 mil. in federal COVID relief. She also leads the office’s Constituent Services Team and advises the Supervisor on issues including veterans homelessness and LGBT equity. In addition to her work as an aide to elected officials, Stephanie is a member of the board of advisors for the Equality of California Institute and the Vice Chair of the Orange County Veterans Advisory Council. She is the proud mom of a 11 year old girl and a 25 year old son, both of whom are staunch progressives, feminists and LGBT allies. She likes cats, surfing and equity!
In her first State of the State address, New York Governor Kathy Hochul made history with a commitment to direct state resources to help fund housing for older New Yorkers.
Hochul directed New York State’s Homes and Community Renewal agency (HCR) to provide funding specifically for affordable housing projects that are affirming for New Yorkers among the state’s 800,000+ older LGBTQ+ population.
Only two housing developments in New York serve the community: Stonewall House in Brooklyn and Crotona Pride House in the Bronx. Those projects were developed and funded by SAGE, the LGBTQ+ elders advocacy group, along with BFC Partners and HELP USA.
The two developments are models for reducing housing insecurity and providing community support, dramatically improving the lives of low-to-moderate income and formerly unhoused older New Yorkers.
The commitment by Hochul follows policy recommendations presented by SAGE and AARP in their 2021 report “Disrupting Disparities: Solutions for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers 50+.” The report illustrated that many older New Yorkers face structural disparities, including social isolation, higher rates of poverty, and challenges finding and affording housing.
While the demand for affirming housing is high — 90% of older LGBTQ+ Americans are extremely, very, or somewhat interested in obtaining it — supply is low: only 13 states and Washington, DC, have housing developments targeting older LGBTQ+ Americans.
By 2030, over 70 million people will be age 65+, with about 7 million of those part of the community. That subset already faces a higher poverty and homelessness rate even before housing insecurity is factored in.
Officials at SAGE see this as a good start.
“I am thrilled that Governor Hochul and her administration are committed to expanding equitable access to housing for New York’s LGBTQ+ elders,” said SAGE CEO Michael Adams. “LGBTQ+ elders of color, transgender and non-binary elders face the highest levels of financial insecurity, and we know first-hand that LGBTQ+ friendly elder housing is vital in improving their lives.”
“The communities created at Stonewall House and Crotona Pride House,” added Adams, “are proof that this kind of housing improves the quality of life of residents. With the critical support of the Governor, New York will be providing crucial resources to elders so they can age with the dignity and support they deserve.”
Among the affirming housing options across the U.S. are The John C. Anderson Apartments in Philadelphia, Town Square Apartments in Chicago, and Triangle Square in Los Angeles.
In Washington, a new communal residence called Mary’s House for Older Adults is scheduled to break ground in March, while a new project in Detroit, Raymond E. Shepherd House, just received some creative financing in the form of a brownfield grant from the Michigan Department of Environment.
And in California, a new complex in Sacramento is the latest addition to the state’s affirming housing projects. Lavender House, with 53 units in the midtown neighborhood of the state capital, was developed and is operated by the nonprofit Mutual Housing California. There were over 600 requests for applications, with tenants chosen by lottery.
