News

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Right-Wing Group Targets LGBTQ+ Existence In Michigan Schools

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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 […]

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New BBC doc reveals how Egyptian police hunt LGBTQ+ people on dating apps

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 […]

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Gay Rep. Garcia Vows to Check Boebert & Greene on Oversight Committee

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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 […]

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PrEP May Soon Be Even Easier to Access in California

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, […]

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What is the queer state of the union? 6 experts get real about 2023

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 […]

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Teachers are being told to dismantle their classroom libraries

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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 […]

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Congolese rebel group displaces transgender people

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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 […]

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Outwatch Film Festival Presents 6 Films at Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival March 16 – 19

ART AND PEP 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. Click to order tickets: Fri, Mar 17th, 7:00 PM @ Rialto Cinemas® #9 DONNA 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 […]

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Mondaire Jones knows the best defense queer people have is the ballot

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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 […]

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If elected Stephanie Wade will be the first transgender person elected to office in Orange County

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 […]

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