The FBI has joined the investigation of violent threats against three LGBTQ+ bars in the Grove neighborhood of St. Louis, and a fourth threat against a children’s play space in the city that was scheduled to host a drag queen story hour. NBC affiliate KMOV reported the addition of federal law enforcement to the probe.
Saturday afternoon, around 4 pm, at least two gay bars in the Grove entertainment district in the city received calls from an individual threatening violence at the establishments. Three bars in the area, Prism STL, Just John, and Rehab, all received calls threatening violence that night.
“The caller off the bat started talking about how they were the Joker, and they were going to blow up the bar, send bombs and shoot up everybody,” Prism bartender Jordan Cox told the Riverfront Times. Cox said it sounded like at least two other people were on the line with the caller.
Just John bar owner John Arnold said he received a voice mail about the same time.
“It said they were going to come in at 3 o’clock in the morning and shoot the place up,” Arnold says. “And that they were tired of us ‘faggots.’”
The same voicemail mentioned a Just John staffer by name, whom the caller said he liked. “They told us to make sure he wasn’t there,” said Arnold.
KMOV reported the FBI is also investigating threats against a children’s play space in the South City area called Urban Fort. The owner said they’ve received violent threats and have been forced to increase security and change the date, time, and location of a scheduled story time hour featuring a drag performer.
“Apparently, the federal government is involved at this point, as well,” Prism owner Sean Abernathy told the Riverfront Times. He says that around midnight on Saturday, St. Louis police showed up with members of law enforcement who looked like they worked for agencies other than St. Louis police.
Since September, the FBI has been on heightened alert for violence directed at LGBTQ+ plus establishments, groups, and events. A threat assessment distributed in the weeks before the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs in November warned that hate crime perpetrators and violent domestic extremists may increase threats against the LGBTQ+ community “due to their reactions to legislative or socio-political changes related to LGBTQ+ topics, and conspiracy theories involving the LGBTQ+ community.”
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement, “The investigations remain ongoing.”
“It’s frustrating,” Prism owner Abernathy told KMOV, “because we’re just people trying to be ourselves, trying to enjoy our lives. We’re not out to hurt anybody, but it feels like it’s a lot of people out to hurt us.”
lYou are invited to participate in the 15th Annual Sonoma County Student Film Festival. There are many ways to get involved. Choose one or all three!
Submit a film by March 1st. Films submitted must have been made within the last two years, be less than 15 minutes in length and have a Sonoma County student involved in the production. Anyone in the production may submit the film (not just the director) and both fiction and non-fiction works are eligible. The window for submission for the Sonoma County Student Film Festival closes on March 1st, 2023. Film submission will be made via Film Freeway: filmfreeway.com/SCSFF
Volunteer for the Selection and Planning Committee. The committee will meet on March 2nd via Zoom to brainstorm on event planning and receive an orientation to screening the films. Afterward, committee members will have one week to view all the views before meeting again to discuss and select the films for the festival. We also need event volunteers before and during the event. Email us at petalumawelcome@santarosa.edu to volunteer.
Attend the festival. Friday, March 31st, 2023, at 6:00 pm. Select films will be shown to the public and will be followed by a Q & A. General admission to the festival is a suggested $5 donation, but filmmakers and their crew in attendance get in for free.
The Sonoma County Student Film Festival was initiated 15 years ago by the Student Government President, Amanda Swan, and launched at SRJC Petaluma. The Sonoma County Film Festival (SCSFF) encourages students to build academic and professional connections with their peers and community. The goal of the event is to connect and introduce student filmmakers within the community to our own Film Studies and Digital Filmmaking programs here at SRJC. Featured filmmakers receive passes to attend the Film Fest Petaluma, Sonoma County’s Premiere international short films festival. This program is the result of collaboration between the SRJC Student Life and Communication Studies departments.
Few people have left as remarkable an impact on modern American culture as the Black lesbian activist, scholar, political prisoner and public intellectual Angela Davis. A new exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California, Angela Davis: Seize the Time, opening a half-century after her 1972 trial and acquittal, provides a unique narrative of Davis’s journey through the junctures of race, gender, and economic and political policy. Delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the exhibition was first mounted at Rutgers University’s Zimmerli Art Museum from September 2021 to June 2022 and will be on view in Oakland through June 2023.
The exhibition draws heavily on the archival collection of archivist, collector, and longtime GLBT Historical Society volunteer and supporter Lisbet Tellefsen, who is probably the world’s foremost archivist working with materials connected to Angela Davis. Tellefsen previously co-curated a special exhibition at the GLBT Historical Society Museum in 2018, Angela Davis: OUTspoken, now available as an online exhibition. To celebrate the exhibition, we sat down for a conversation with Tellefsen about her Angela Davis archives.
You have been collecting posters and archival materials about Angela Davis for decades. What is it like to be a part of this exhibition, to see much of your collection on display?
LT: While I proposed this exhibition and supplied most of the material, I was not the curator for either incarnation, and ultimately it’s the curator’s prerogative to choose the approach. But as an archivist, what excites me most about this exhibit is that rarely, if ever, would you see this much Angela Davis material assembled and displayed in this way. Archives—old documents—typically live in boxes in the basement of a university library. Normally if you’re interested in Davis, you’d find out where her papers are, read the finding aid and look through the posters in dozens of folders. You don’t usually see them all in one place, hung on the wall. So literally to have dozens of posters from around the world displayed with trial sketches, photographs, and documents, makes it a once in a lifetime opportunity to get immersed in this history. As an archivist, that’s interesting to me.
When the show was at Zimmerli, I used to wander through the galleries and if I saw a younger person, I’d occasionally sidle up to them and ask what they thought. One time, when I asked that of a twentysomething young African American woman, she said, “I’m really struck that this was before the internet; how did a young Black woman from America generate this much material around the world!” And I’d never really thought about that! Davis is not the President, she’s not a Kardashian, but a young Black girl from Birmingham, Alabama. To capture the public imagination globally in the late 1960s and 1970s—and generate this much ink—was pretty extraordinary.
So this exhibition is a culmination of your archiving work on Angela Davis?
LT: Yes. As a backstory, I had worked with my godfather’s papers, and for decades I pondered the question of how to use archival materials to reconstruct a long, rich life. And as I gathered Angela Davis materials, I stumbled across a methodology. If I digitized and assembled materials chronologically, I start to put the pieces of Angela’s life together like a 10,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. And fate handed me some remarkable gifts. Print media started to liquidate their photo morgues and archives, and their staff photographers had documented every single day of Davis’ trial. I snapped up over 1,000 newswire photographs related to her trial, the Black Panther party, the Black Power movement, and trust me, when you put 1,000 photographs of Davis together in chronological order, very few of us have our lives documented that extensively and in that kind of detail. It was a remarkable exercise in the potentials of archival material.
You’ve been a collector—an archivist—all your life. What have you learned, looking back from the vantage point of 2023?
LT: I’m currently teaching as a Fellow at the Department of African American Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, and I thought about this while preparing a talk there. A distinction I felt was important to make was that in the realm of archives, there are many different roles. Collectors and community archivists have a very important role in the preservation of history. Community archivists, as distinct from institutional archivists, may not be formally trained, but they have a passion for a particular history, they’re more on point for their passions. The zone I inhabit is really as a liaison between the street—the folks creating this history—and people or institutions. In addition to Angela Davis, I’ve worked with my partner on a Black Panthers archive, and because of my history as a Black queer publisher and organizer back in the day, I also maintain a Black queer archive.
In a historic vote, the Utah House of Representatives unanimously passed HB 228 – legislation that would prohibit therapists from subjecting youth to conversion therapy, a dangerous practice that seeks to change a young person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The Utah Senate passed the bill earlier this month, which means it is now on its way to Utah Governor Spencer Cox, who has pledged to sign it.
Today’s vote marks the first time that a state legislative body has voted unanimously in favor of a bill prohibiting conversion therapy for minors.
In 2020, the Utah Division of Professional Licensing adopted a policy barring conversion therapy for minors. The Utah Legislature has now taken action to codify that prohibition in state law, as twenty other states have also done.
“Utah’s legislature has confirmed that protecting LGBT youth from conversion therapy is a bipartisan issue,” said Mathew Shurka, co-founder of Born Perfect. “This is a historic day for survivors like myself and the many family members who have lost loved ones due to the devastation caused by this deadly practice. Every LGBT child deserves the dignity of being protected under the law.”
Conversion therapy has been rejected as unnecessary, ineffective, and harmful by every major medical and mental health organization in the country, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
“We are thrilled to see Utah take this historic step to ensure that youth and their families are protected from this unethical practice,” said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “Once again, Utah has shown that legislators can come together to do the right thing even in this polarized era.”
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Born Perfect is a survivor-led program created by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) in 2014 to end conversion therapy by passing laws across the country that protect LGBTQ children and young people, fighting in courtrooms to ensure their safety, and raising awareness about the serious harms caused by these dangerous practices. https://bornperfect.org.
Park Cannon was first elected as a Georgia lawmaker in 2016 at only 24 years old.
The youngest elected official in the state legislature, she demonstrated early on that she had an insatiable energy for fighting for equity and standing up for marginalized groups.
In a 2020 interview with LGBTQ Nation, Cannon described herself as an “activist elected official” who will settle for nothing less than sweeping change.
Cannon was instrumental in passing 2019 legislation that created a three-year Georgia pilot program to provide PrEP to those at high risk for HIV. According to Cannon, the program will be expanded this year.
A doula and preschool teacher, Cannon serves on the Board of Directors for the Reproductive Justice organization SisterSong, the lead plaintiff in the 2019 case challenging Georgia’s restrictive law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, although the case ultimately did not stop the law from taking effect.
State Representative for Georgia House District 58, Park Cannon speaks at the March On For Voting Rights at The King Center on August 28, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo by Derek White/Getty Images.
On her own, Cannon has also spoken out repeatedly for reproductive rights. In 2019, she opened up about her own abortion during a powerful speech on the House floor.
“I stand here today confident in my decision to terminate my pregnancy when I was sexually assaulted in 2010,” she said. “As a member of the LGBTQ community, there are many people who believe they can ‘rape us straight.’ I do not deserve to live in a world or a state where people believe that I should be ashamed because of my sexual orientation.”
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. The bill increased voter ID requirements for absentee ballots, allowed state officials to take over local elections, limited the use of ballot drop boxes, and even made it a crime to give water to people standing in line to vote.
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.”
Cannon spoke with LGBTQ Nation about the state of the queer movement in 2023 and what must be done to advance equality. The conversation occurred on December 13, 2022, mere minutes after President Biden signed the Respect For Marriage Act, which requires the federal government to recognize same-sex marriage.
LGBTQ NATION: Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act. How are you feeling?
PARK CANNON: This is courage. This is breaking news. The last time I felt this way was when, in the state of Georgia, we passed the anti-hate crime bill [in 2020], and it was decades-long work of queer activists, Black politicos, and faith-based coalitions coming together.
This feels very similar to some of the pro-equality work we’ve done here in Georgia, and it reminds us all that as we head back into the legislative session in January, Georgia will need to add some additional state-based protections.
US President Joe Biden signs the Respect for Marriage Act on the South Law of the White House in Washington, DC, on December 13, 2022. Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images.
LGBTQ NATION: As the President prepares to address the nation for the State of the Union address, what do you see as the most vexing problems currently facing the queer equality movement?
PC: It’s difficult to break down into less than a handful, but I’ll go with two categories.
The first category is health — understanding breast cancer in a lesbian relationship, understanding uterine fibroids, or a trans person trying to have a successful pregnancy, and understanding hormones and affirmation surgeries for youth. In Georgia, these are all areas that need more support.
The other category, of course, is basic protections, equal rights protections. So, the ability to own a home with someone who you love who is of the same gender; the ability to purchase life insurance for someone for whom you’ve cared for multiple years; the ability to not be discriminated against and fired because of your identities, whether those are identities that relate to your sexual orientation or your gender identity or gender presentation.
It’s imperative that the newly elected members around the United States listen to their constituents about amending [policies] that do not support healthy families or healthy lives.
LGBTQ NATION: What is the next big rights issue Congress should focus on? What else can legislators accomplish if they give it the same attention they did the Respect for Marriage Act?
PC: The economy affects everyone, and so we need to [ensure that we] don’t isolate LGBTQ families from the safety net and support systems that are coming.
I know that there has been some … money that came out of the American Rescue Plan for schools. I know Georgia will be having a series of dialogues … and they’re actually granting money to school systems to focus on safety.
I am hopeful that that doesn’t necessarily mean more police and stricter dress codes and intensity around bathrooms. I’m hoping that safety includes mental health professionals at schools.
Participants march in the 2022 Long Beach Pride Parade on July 10, 2022, in Long Beach, California. Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images.
LGBTQ NATION: What does it mean to you in 2023 to fight for queer rights? How do we best do that?
PK: It’s about coalitional understanding.
I remember when the White House reached out to one of the nonprofits that I serve on the board of, SisterSong, to ask, what is reproductive justice? For southern queer activists, who have been on the front lines without financial support and without political titles, that phone call was the door opening towards justice.
So we, as members of the queer community, are looking for more doors to open.
LGBTQ NATION: What do you mean by coalitional understanding? What action items do lawmakers need to take to reach it?
PK: The Georgia House of Representatives has never had an LGBTQ caucus.
Under the previous [Republican] speakership, we were not granted a caucus because we were told it would be divisive. Now there’s a new speaker [Republican Jon Burns], so it’s kind of like a new day.
I have requested a meeting with the speaker to ask if we would be able to create a rainbow caucus. Members of the LGBTQ community who are elected could enlist other allies who are in the house to look at measures that affect the community but are not always LGBTQ-specific.
“We, as members of the queer community, are looking for more doors to open.”Park Cannon
As much as HIV impacts same-gender loving people, so are Caucasian women, according to our Department of Public Health’s most recent pilot program that it just completed. The pilot program just finished its third year and is now actually going to be expanded. We found out the Department of Public Health is asking for more money.
There are opportunities to work on public health and public safety with an LGBTQ caucus, even if you’re not LGBTQ.
Secondly, there is an understanding that LGBTQ children have been a hot topic, and I really think that there’s misunderstanding and a lack of empathy that needs to be addressed through education committees.
Phoenix May, left, 15, mother Danielle May, and brother Hunter Ray, 12, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in 2021. Phoenix identifies as transgender and helped launch the Equality Crew, which provides resources and hosts events for queer kids throughout northwest Arkansas. Photo by Lauren Rae.
I’m hopeful that there will be some leadership from the federal government that helps State Departments of Education to really look at the social-emotional learning outcomes and needs of transgender children and their families so that the policymakers who are making decisions on sports or on bathrooms get a better understanding of the emotional impact of these policies. Because most of them do have a soft spot for children, and it’s just very unfair to trans children and queer children that they’re not afforded those same [considerations].
Lastly, as far as the coalitional building conversations, there are numerous nonprofits that have boards of directors that do not include LGBTQ people, and I really think it would be great if we saw larger corporations, larger nonprofits, have clear our leadership in the forefront as they move into 2023.
LGBTQ NATION:This year’s anti-trans bills focus heavily on medical bans targeting both trans kids and adults. As these bills keep coming, do we need a new strategy to fight them?
PK: It definitely goes back to empathy and understanding that bias around sexual orientation and gender identity is harmful.
We recently passed an anti-hate crime bill in Georgia, but other states still don’t have one, and federally, LGBTQ families have to become more comfortable reporting these instances as issues of bias and hate. Not everyone is economically ready or emotionally ready to file a lawsuit about a traumatizing medical experience that they’ve had, but I do think that the legal routes that we need to take are going to increase and they should talk more about these as issues of bias and hate.
LGBTQ NATION: Across the country, the 2022 midterms were accompanied by an extreme rise in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, yet at the same time, we saw a record number of queer candidates win their elections. What do you make of these two things happening at the same time?
PK: There’s a powerful synergy in being rejected, and I believe that there were so many constituents in Georgia who, due to what they felt were antiquated voting laws, oppressive reproductive health sanctions, and a lack of economic opportunity really became self-mobilized in a way that I’ve not seen before.
When we were calling voters to remind them about election day and texting them to give them their precinct information, overwhelmingly, we received responses that people were on it. Interestingly, I believe that some of the GOP’s reliance on personal responsibility actually benefited marginalized people to meet that expectation of personal responsibility with twofold action.
[Personal responsibility is the idea that we are all responsible for our actions and was a core GOP message for decades, though many say today’s GOP has completely lost sight of it.]
These are the most diverse staff, team members, volunteers I’ve ever seen on elections in Georgia. These were the most bubbly types of events that I’ve ever seen.
“It’s not just about representation; it’s about the legislation that can come from an intergenerational and intersectional perspective.”Park Cannon
LGBTQ NATION:You’ve been a tireless advocate for reproductive justice. What will the next few years look like in a post-Roe world?
PK: I am really proud that last year, I got over 49 legislators to sign a resolution expressing their support for Roe v. Wade on the 49th anniversary, and it was written in a somber tone because we were concerned that it would be the last time being able to celebrate that as people in the South who support people who have had abortions or who need to access abortion.
But at the end of the day, it’s about employment, as well. Many people have built their careers around being abortion doulas, being nurse practitioners who are non-judgmental, by studying the science of the latest techniques and opportunities for reproductive technology. So I care deeply about ensuring that the workforce of reproductive justice advocates can find places of employment that are gainful, dignified, and respectful.
Cannon says that she cares “deeply about ensuring that the workforce of reproductive justice advocates can find places of employment that are gainful, dignified, and respectful.”
LGBTQ NATION: Since you were first elected in 2016, do you feel like the conversations you’re having about rights have changed?
PK: I remember when I ran in 2016 and made it clear that I would run openly queer, specifically. I was met with disbelief. I was met with concern, people saying, “Why can’t you just say you’re a lesbian? How are you going to express that in the Bible Belt?”
I had to remind people that authenticity on the election trail can secure trust, confidence and votes. So to now see that the Georgia House of Representatives has a queer representative, has a lesbian, has a gay man – the first gay Asian man we’ve ever had, and now we have two – to see that the Georgia Senate has an openly queer female pastor, that we recently elected another lesbian, a Black lesbian to the house, it’s magical.
It feels like the rainbow wave that I’ve wished for and that I’m also a part of. And I’m really proud that organizations who otherwise could have been edged out over the years for their stances and their supporters are now at the White House in positions of leadership and bringing the issues that matter to us along. It’s not just about representation; it’s about the legislation that can come from an intergenerational and intersectional perspective.
LGBTQ NATION:How do we deal with the relentless right-wing rhetoric leading to book bans, attacks on drag shows, and attacks on trans youth?
PK: The truth is that growing into a positive self-identity can be complicated, but it can also be really fun. 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.
So 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.
A gay man is suing Canada’s federal government, alleging that its restrictions on gay and bisexual male sperm donation are unconstitutional.
The man, identified only in the press as Aziz M., is suing Health Canada, the country’s national health department. He says the current policy is unconstitutional and renders him and other MSM as “second-class citizen[s].”
Health Canada’s current policies prohibit men who have sex with men (MSM) from donating to a sperm bank unless they’ve abstained from sex for three months or are donating sperm to someone they personally know, CTV News reported. The policy refers to sperm from MSM donors who don’t meet these criteria as “unsuitable,” even though all donors are screened before and after donation to ensure that they don’t have sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
“Why I decided to take this to court is because of that feeling of discrimination,” he said. “[It’s] like you’re undesirable because of your gayness as a donor… It feels like such an arbitrary rule.” His case is financially supported by Canada’s Court Challenges Program, an independent group that supports cases of national importance involving individual constitutional rights.
The aforementioned publication notes that the policy stops any sexually active MSM from donating, “even if they are in a long-term monogamous relationship.”
Aziz M’s lawsuit says the policy “perpetuates stereotypical attitudes and prejudices against gay and bisexual men, including false assumptions about their health, their sexual practices, and their worthiness to participate in child conception.”
Aziz M. said he donated sperm in the city of Toronto in 2014 and 2015 without any problems (resulting in the birth of a child whose life he’s now involved with). His claim is surprising considering that, before February 2020, Health Canada’s policies required a lifetime ban on MSM over concerns about possible HIV transmission.
Aziz M. said he felt embarrassed after telling other MSM to donate sperm, only to later learn that they were rejected for their sexual behavior.
The man’s lawyer, Gregory Ko, said, “It is not uncommon for a lot of gay and lesbian couples to rely on sperm donors within the community, and this directive explicitly puts a barrier, in addition to all the other barriers that exist for queer families, in having children.”
Ko said that, since sperm donations are handled through a government department — unlike blood donations, which are handled through a third-party non-governmental agency — that the federal health minister can easily change Health Canada’s donation policies.
Canadian Member of Parliament, Randall Garrison of the New Democratic Party, told CTV, “There’s never been any science behind the ban on gay men donating sperm, none whatsoever … People tell me they’re working on it, but they’ve been telling me they’ve been working on this for over five years.”
“It’s just disappointing at this day and age that the government doesn’t recognize their need to act,” he added.
However, Dr. Sony Sierra, President of the Canadian Fertility and Andrology Society, said that the policy remains in place to help prevent the “very small” risk of STI transmission that could occur with sperm donations from MSM.
“[The policy] can be taken as stigmatizing,” Sierra said. “It is, but we have to also understand that our concern also involves the intended recipient, and therefore that intended recipient needs to be cared for and counseled regarding all risk. And that’s our intention in practicing in accordance with these guidelines,” Sierra said.
Sierra said that he hopes future guidelines will “become even more inclusive” as improved science helps determine actual and not theoretical risks.
“We sincerely believe that the courts will agree that this is a clear breach of the right to equality and is an indefensible based on the state of the science,” Ko said.
LGBTQ Victory Fund, the only national organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ leaders to public office, endorsed 26 more out LGBTQ candidates running in 2023. Victory Fund has now endorsed 56 candidates running in the 2023 cycle.
Mayor Annise Parker, President & CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund, released the following statement:
“For the LGBTQ community, there is no such thing as an ‘off’ year. With more than 100 anti-LGBTQ bills already introduced in 2023, there is more urgency than ever to elect pro-equality leaders to office. From school boards to city councils to state legislatures, we need LGBTQ voices in rooms of power to change hearts and minds and stand up for our rights and freedoms. There is too much at stake to sit on the sidelines or be complacent.”
The complete list of candidate endorsements announced today is below:
Spotlight Candidates
Mario Castillo (he/him) Houston City Council, District H, TX General: 11/7/2023
Nick Hellyar (he/him) Houston City Council, At-Large 2, TX General: 11/7/2023
Leslie Herod (she/her) Mayor of Denver, CO Primary: 4/4/2023
Rue Landau (she/her) Philadelphia City Council At-Large, PA Primary: 05/16/2023 General: 11/07/2023
Danica Roem (she/her) Virginia State Senate, District 30, VA Primary: 6/20/2023 General: 11/7/2023
General Candidates
Erik Clarke (he/him) Denver City Auditor, CO Primary: 4/4/2023
Jonathan Dromgoole (he/him) Arlington County Board, At-Large, VA Primary: 06/20/2023 General: 11/07/2023
Jessica Fuentes (she/they) Chicago City Council, Ward 26, IL General: 02/28/2023 Runoff: 4/4/2023
Gregg Kravitz (he/him) Philadelphia City Controller, PA Primary: 05/16/2023 General: 11/07/2023
Megan Mathias (she/her) Chicago City Council, Ward 45, IL General: 02/28/2023 Runoff: 4/4/2023
Aja Owens (she/her) Mayor of Jennings, MO General: 04/04/2023
Abigail Salisbury (she/her) Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 34, PA General: 02/07/2023
Incumbents
Zach Adamson (he/him) Indianapolis City Council, District 13, IN Primary: 5/02/2023 General: 11/07/2023
Emily Benedict (she/her) Nashville Metro Council, District 7, TN General: 08/03/2023
Eli Bohnert (he/him) West Scioto Area Commissioner, OH General: 4/01/2023
Erik Bottcher (he/him) New York City Council, District 3, NY Primary: 06/27/2023 General: 11/07/2023
Tiffany Cabán (she/her) New York City Council, District 22, NY Primary: 06/27/2023 General: 11/07/2023
Peter Criswell (he/him) Ulster County Legislator, District 7, NY Primary: 06/27/2023 General: 11/07/2023
Karl Frisch (he/him) Fairfax County School Board, Providence District, VA General: 11/07/2023
Crystal Hudson (she/her) New York City Council, District 35, NY Primary: 06/27/2023 General: 11/07/2023
Kristin Richardson Jordan (she/her) New York City Council, District 9, NY Primary: 06/27/2023 General: 11/07/2023
David Ledonne (he/him) Wakefield Board of Assessors, MA General: 04/25/2023
Jimmy Monto (he/him) Syracuse Common Council, District 5, NY Primary: 06/27/2023 General: 11/07/2023
Omar Narvaez (he/him) Dallas City Council, District 6, TX General: 05/06/2023
Chi Osse (he/him) New York City Council, District 36, NY Primary: 06/27/2023 General: 11/07/2023
Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (he/him) Chicago City Council Alderperson, Ward 35, IL General: 02/28/2023 Runoff: 4/4/2023
Lynn Schulman (she/her) New York City Council, District 29, NY Primary: 06/27/2023 General: 11/07/2023
Marsha Silverman (she/her) Glen Cove City Council, NY General: 11/7/2023
Michael Verveer (he/him) Madison Common Council, District 4, WI Primary: 02/21/23 General: 04/04/23
Zach Young (he/him) Nashville Metro Council, District 10, TN General: 08/03/2023
LGBTQI History: A Sonoma County Timeline 1947-2000. Wednesdays 1:30-3pm. Online via Zoom. On February 15, we will be continuing the history of the AIDS epidemic focusing on Lesbian Caregivers. Look forward to seeing you there! Please contact me to enroll in this FREE class and receive a Zoom invite: cdungan@santarosa.edu
Kelley Robinson was leading Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s political arm when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
She was sitting in a room full of abortion providers at the time.
Before they could internalize what the news meant for the future of reproductive rights, every staff member had to get on the phone and call pregnant women across the nation to tell them that the appointments they had planned that week, or that day, could not move forward.
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Robinson knows what it’s like to show up and do the work no matter what, even when you’re holding back tears because you’re forced to explain to women they lost autonomy over their bodies.
In November 2022, she 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.
Before accepting the position, Robinson, who resides in Washington DC with her wife and children, thought about what the job would mean for their safety in a time of unprecedented threats against prominent queer people and others.
She sits at the head of the most prominent LGBTQ+ advocacy group in the United States. With that responsibility comes the reality that there are bigots who would do anything to try and stop the organization’s mission for equality.
LGBTQ Nation chatted with Robinson at a pivotal moment in political history with queer equality under attack everywhere from red states all the way up to the conservative majority Supreme Court.
Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund Kelley Robinson holds her son as she speaks during a Mothers Day rally in support of Abortion rights on May 08, 2022, in Washington, DC. Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Supermajority.
LGBTQ NATION: What does fighting for queer rights mean to you in 2023?
KELLEY ROBINSON: I come to this work as a Black woman, as a queer person, as a wife, and as a mom. And there are so many issues that matter to people in the community because we hold all of these identities, right? But I think the powerful thing is that when we engage in fights, what we’re actually doing is opening up more rights and freedoms for everyone.
You can’t get to liberation without racial justice; you can’t get there without disability rights, immigration justice, climate change, and climate reform. All of these pieces are key to us actually getting free. So this moment for me is both about a crisis at hand and the fact that because of this unique crisis, we have unparalleled opportunities to advance change in a way that we have not seen happen in generations. And for that, I’m really hopeful for the fight.
“You can’t get to liberation without racial justice; you can’t get there without disability rights, immigration justice, climate change, and climate reform.“Kelley Robinson
LGBTQ NATION: It took 40 years for HRC to name their first Black queer woman president. Why do you think that is, and how does the weight of that honor feel?
KR: I am really clear that there’s a responsibility at hand. I think the task for HRC is to make sure that every LGBTQ+ person in this country knows that when we talk about fighting for equality, we are talking about them.
So to be honest with you, I don’t think that there was another moment in time where people were ready for the leadership of a Black woman of this organization until right now. And now that I’m here, hmmmppff! We’re bout’ to take them down, okay!
LGBTQ NATION: How do you prioritize the most urgent issues?
KR: 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, you know, “religious freedoms.”
AFP via Getty Images People attend a vigil for police shooting victims Daunte Wright and Dominique Lucious at Washington Square Park in New York City on April 14, 2021. Photo by Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images.
LGBTQ NATION: In politics, there’s often that saying, especially when it comes to voting, choosing the lesser of two evils.
KR: I don’t think that we actually have to stand for that anymore. We’re at a point where we’re thinking about transformational politics. Look at Pennsylvania as a great example. Nobody would have thought that we’d be standing here at the end of the 2022 cycle, where we’ve taken back both chambers in Pennsylvania, and the governorship is able to advance progress. You also have the first out Black lesbian elected to the legislature with La’Tasha D. Mayes coming out of Pittsburgh. That means there’s an opportunity for us to not deal with politics as usual but instead to think about who the champions are that we can elect on behalf of our people.
If I were to think about ways that we are really pushing the Democratic party to be accountable, it’s there. We’re not just voting against people anymore. We need people that we can vote for.
LGBTQ NATION: And speaking about accountability, what would you say is the liberal agenda’s Achilles heel, if there is one?
KR: Hahahaha, what a loaded question! The liberal agenda’s Achilles heel…
LGBTQ NATION: Oh my gosh, sorry, you’re right. I now hear that wording. But is there an urgent issue that we need to fix internally?
KR: Because there are problems in progressive politics doesn’t mean that we don’t still engage and operate.
I also want to say that our issue is beyond partisanship. Like, even if you look at the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act gun safety bill, we had an incredible amount of Republican support. They know we’ve created an issue you cannot be against because the people’s will is with it.
The Achilles heel is that we can’t take voters for granted. And I think that for too long progressive institutions have taken the support of people of color and queer folks for granted. We have to deliver on behalf of these communities to motivate and engage them in the fight and in the work.
LGBTQ NATION: We had at least 340 LGBTQ+ candidates win their elections across the nation, surpassing the previous record of 336 set in 2020.
KR: We saw a rainbow wave come through, not a red wave, which was huge. We need to ensure that we demystify the process of running for office because there’s no reason you shouldn’t be running for office.
AFP via Getty Images Maxwell Frost, Florida’s 10th Congressional district, participates in the Pride Parade in Orlando, Florida, on October 15, 2022. Frost has become the first member of Gen Z to serve in Congress. Photo by Giorgio VIERA/AFP via Getty Images.
LGBTQ NATION: Regarding voting, HRC polling estimates that queer voters will make up increasingly large parts of the electorate as Gen Z ages into adulthood. How do we wield this power?
KR: The biggest threat to progressivism is not our opposition. It’s actually people that are with us feeling disillusioned by the system. There are so many ways our opposition has rigged it. We don’t have a representative democracy right now because of the gerrymandering that’s taken place. And the way that the Senate is set up to not actually represent the will of the people.
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 so that they know that when they vote, it will actually make a difference. So some of the work we’re doing around voter reform and ensuring that we’re protecting things like the right to protest are key there.
LGBTQ NATION: You were executive director of Planned Parenthood for three years. And you worked with the organization for 12. What are the looming implications of Roe v. Wade being overturned?
KR: Man, they are huge. The big picture implication is that we’re now dealing with a Supreme Court that’s in the business of taking away rights. And if that’s our reality, that’s a very dangerous one when we think about what else could be rolled back.
The other piece of it is, I think when you look in the global context at ways that authoritarianism has moved in countries. Normally, the first thing they come after is gender, right? Trying to reduce people’s rights and powers based on gender, which we see with Roe, and we also see with the trans attacks. And the second thing they come after is education, which we also see with the “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bills that are moving in states and the threat to “Critical Race Theory.”
What we saw happened during Roe; that’s like the canary in the coal mine moment. We all have a responsibility to fight back here for the sake of our democracy.
LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the voting rights group Black Voters Matter, participates in the New York City Pride Parade on Fifth Avenue on June 26, 2022 in New York City. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images.
LGBTQ NATION: All these issues are important, but trans issues are one of the issues that voters haven’t rallied around. Less than 5% of voters that the HRC polled said they were motivated by trans issues. How do we get people to care about trans lives?
KR: A lot of it is about storytelling and visibility and representation. GLAAD has an interesting stat: More people believe they have seen a ghost than a trans person. Ain’t that something?
LGBTQ NATION: I’m waiting for the punchline for that one…
KR: Yeah! It’s kind of like, wow. When you hear it, the reality is quite dangerous. Because people don’t understand that trans folks – trans kids – are just our kids. We have to do a better job of storytelling and representation. Because if we don’t, the opposition is seeking to criminalize trans folks, dehumanize our trans family, or, at worst, create a world where they’re seen as dangerous – that cannot happen.
LGBTQ NATION: I hope you don’t mind if I get a little personal. Stacy Stevenson, the head of Family Equality, said she moved to DC from Texas because of safety concerns. Of course, having been the head of Planned Parenthood, you know about the dangers that exists in fighting for human rights. But now you are literally the face of what the radical right sees as the most threatening organization to their agenda. Did you have any fears or think about your safety when taking the position? Is this a conversation you’ve had with loved ones, and how did you navigate this?
KR: Before I took this role, my wife and I had a long conversation about what it would mean for us and our family. I’ve been an organizer and a movement activist for a long time. And I don’t know exactly when we started to believe that doing this work was safe. Because it’s not. We are fundamentally challenging the systems of power – we’re trying to change the country.
When we talk about leaders that have done it, like Martin Luther King, and John Lewis, they didn’t do it without risks. And I’m not saying that all of us should be putting ourselves in the line of danger. But what I am saying is that for us to get free, it’s going to take risks.
For some of us, that risk will be telling your story in a powerful way. For some, it’s going to be being brave enough to live as your full self when you go to school or go to work. And for others, the job is like mine, to step up every day and fight relentlessly for our people.
In an assault outside a popular San Francisco leather bar early Sunday morning, a gay man sustained severe internal and external injuries and suffered a heart attack.
As Barry Miles left the popular Folsom Street venue, Powerhouse, on the night of February 4, two men attacked him and stole his wallet.
On Instagram, he shared stunning photos showing his bloodied, bruised, battered, and swollen face, making it hard for him to be recognized.
“My face hit the sidewalk,” he wrote on Instagram. “[A]lso a front tooth was knocked out, and [I have] a small fracture in my neck.”
He added, “I’m pretty banged up.”
He also said that he also had a heart attack due to high cholesterol, for which he had to have two coronary stents placed.
A well-being check was conducted on nearby Langton Street just minutes after midnight on Sunday, February 5, according to the San Francisco Police Department, the San Francisco Standardreports.
“The victim was unable to provide details regarding what led up to his injuries,” police officials told the outlet. “Officers responded to a business on the 1300 block of Folsom Street, where the male stated he had come from, and during their initial investigation, officers were unable to determine that a crime had occurred at that location.”
A leader in the San Francisco Bay Area’s LGBTQ+ community set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for Miles. Gary Virginia wrote in the fundraiser’s description that Miles is self-employed and asked for any size donation to help Miles recover.
Barry’s Recovery Fund after an assault & robbery, organized by Gary Virginia
At the hospital, he is receiving treatment for injuries that are not life-threatening but will require extensive medical care. Miles’ return to work has not been determined since he runs a housekeeping business. The fund states it will be used to pay Miles’ living expenses and to cover the cost of an expensive front tooth implant.
“Barry is a community leader, titleholder, volunteer, and fundraiser for many organizations that have benefited numerous charities near and far,” the fundraiser says. He is involved in the Krewe de Kinque Mardi Gras club and appeared in a charity Bare Chest Calendar, among other activities.
As of publication, the fundraiser earned more than its original $10,000 goal.
