In the aftermath of the tragic shooting at an LGBTQ bar in Colorado Springs that left five people dead and 18 injured, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said MAGA Republicans are to blame for anti-trans violence.
“Whether spouting dangerous rhetoric from cable news desks or openly bullying schoolchildren from the halls of power, MAGA Republicans are cruelly undermining the safety and well-being of our transgender community,” Pelosi said in a statement released on Sunday to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
She also touted House Democrats’ work enacting “fully-inclusive federal hate crimes protections with the historic Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.”
She concluded, “Heartbroken for so many beautiful souls murdered by hate and guided by relentless activists across the country, let us renew our resolve to build the future that our children deserve. Together, we will forge a safer, more just America – one where all of its people can freely and proudly exercise their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
In a separate statement focused on the Club Q shooting, Pelosi called the attack “despicable.”
“Our hearts break at the senseless slaughter of… five beautiful souls and the many more injured or forever traumatized, at what was a sanctuary of safety and solidarity.”
Pelosi said the attack contributed to “further shattering the sense of safety of LGBTQ Americans across the country.”
“While Democrats have taken important steps to combat gun violence this Congress, this deadly attack is a challenge to our conscience and a reminder that we must keep fighting to do more.”
“Thank you to the heroic individuals who stopped the gunman and to the brave first responders at the scene. May it be a comfort to the loved ones of those murdered and the Colorado Springs community that all of America mourns with them during this devastating time.”
Pelosi is far from the only one who has been calling out the dangerous anti-LGBTQ rhetoric the Republican party has been spreading.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also criticized the GOP’s “anti-LGBTQ campaign” from this past year in connection to the shooting.
“After Trump elevated anti-immigrant & anti-Latino rhetoric, we had the deadliest anti-Latino shooting in modern history,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Sunday. “After anti-Asian hate w/COVID, Atlanta. Tree of life. Emanuel AME. Buffalo.”
“And now after an anti-LGBT+ campaign, Colorado Springs. Connect the dots, GOP.”
Ocasio-Cortez also attacked Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who has been one of the most anti-LGBTQ members of Congress this past session and is also a staunch opponent of gun control legislation. Boebert has spent her first term in Congress attacking LGBTQ people and portraying them as a danger to children. She has opposed all gun control legislation and even rose to fame from the gun-themed restaurant she owned where the waiters carried guns.
“The news out of Colorado Springs is absolutely awful,” Boebert wrote over the weekend. “This morning the victims & their families are in my prayers. This lawless violence needs to end and end quickly.”
“Lauren Boebert, you have played a major role in elevating anti-LGBT+ hate rhetoric and anti-trans lies while spending your time in Congress blocking even the most common sense gun safety laws,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “You don’t get to ‘thoughts and prayers’ your way out of this. Look inward and change.”
In a separate tweet, Buttigieg explained his position more: “Republicans continue to run on and spread anti-LGBTQ ideology and hatred while refusing to lift a finger on gun violence. This is preventable, but only if they start seeing LGBTQ people as equals, and themselves as leaders.”
“You encourage this type of hatred,” he responded. “Get off Twitter and start looking inward.”
The Navy has confirmed that a sailor was among the 18 injured in the Colorado nightclub shooting on Nov. 19 that also left five dead. Local officials and police said the sailor played a key role in stopping the shooting.
Information Systems Technician Petty Officer Second Class Thomas James was among those injured, the Navy said in a statement released Tuesday but added that “James is currently in stable condition and we remain hopeful he will make a full recovery.”
News of James’ injuries comes as many have begun to praise the heroic actions of another member of the crowd who served in the military — Armyveteran Richard Fierro — who has been credited with heroically rushing the shooter, causing him to drop the AR-style rifle he was holding.
The Denver Post reported that, after Fierro had the shooter on the ground, he took the man’s handgun from him and proceeded to beat the shooter with it. Meanwhile, James kicked the shooter in the head.
James enlisted in the Navy in 2011, according to records released by the service, and served aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard, as well as at posts in England and Naval Air Station Lemoore, California, before being stationed in Colorado Springs.
James was qualified as an enlisted aviation warfare specialist and enlisted surface warfare specialist. James’ service included being awarded the Joint Service Achievement Medal twice, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and a Good Conduct Medal, in addition to several other awards.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that President Joe Biden called Fierro and his wife at a press briefing Tuesday and offered his condolences as well as his thanks “for his bravery and … for his just instinct to act … saving maybe dozens of lives.”
Jean-Pierre noted that “this attack also comes amid a rise in violent rhetoric and threats against the LGBTQI+ people across the country.”
Colorado Springs is home to several military facilities and has a strong Army and Air Force presence. A spokeswoman told Military.com the Department of the Air Force is unaware at this time of any airmen or Guardians injured in the shooting.
The Navy said that it is asking everyone to “respect [James’] privacy as he continues his recovery.”
One night, someone called 911 to ask police in Malvern, Pennsylvania to conduct a mental wellness check on Maddie Hofmann, a 47-year-old transgender woman.
The caller said that Maddie had sent an email that sounded like a suicide letter. When police checked on Hofmann, they ended up shooting her three times inside her own home. She died from the injuries.
Her death left behind her wife, Rebecca Hoffman, and their two children, ages 9 and 4. Her wife and family are still searching for answers and accountability.
“[My wife] belonged on medication, not on a shelf,” Rebecca told The Philadelphia Inquirer, referring to a box of Hofmann’s ashes.
Maddie struggled with anxiety and depression and spent years going on and off medication. Weeks before the shooting occurred, Maddie had shared several concerning tweets, including one of her holding a firearm.
Maddie’s sister, Emily Flynn, said that both she and her sister were Korean adoptees raised by white parents. This resulted in some mental distress, Flynn said. Maddie had just begun finding healing and a voice for the painful isolation she felt in a predominantly white community.
Because Maddie was her family’s main income earner, Rebecca had to ask her mother for funds to cover her wife’s funeral and other living expenses. After what the Inquirer described as a “months-long back-and-forth” with Social Security, Rebecca finally received a check for her deceased spouse’s benefits.
But Rebecca hasn’t been able to read the police incident report or access body-camera footage, leaving her to rely on police accounts when explaining to her young children what happened.
“[My older child] wants to know if [police] didn’t do the right thing because they didn’t know what to do and maybe if someone told them, then they would know what to do next time,” said Rebecca. “But then he also is asking, Did they know the right thing but they just didn’t want to help his [parent] because his [parent] was different?”
In response to the shooting, the Chester County District Attorney’s Office said that Maddie had aimed a Glock 19 9mm handgun at police during the wellness check. As a result, no officers were charged in her slaying.
Malvern Mayor Zeyn Uzman said police officers in the local department took a three-hour course in 2021 that covered recognizing and responding to people with mental health issues and other special needs.
“Given the factual circumstances of the event and the incident lasted only 57 seconds, any additional training or policy changes would not have prevented this tragic occurrence,” Uzman told the Inquirer.
After her sister’s death, Flynn launched a GoFundMe campaign to provide for the well-being of Maddie’s children and to raise awareness to prevent similar incidents. Additional funds “will be used to start a foundation or scholarship fund for trans youth in the foster care system in Maddie’s name,” the campaign states.
The shooting is not only an example of trans people’s higher rates of negative encounters with law enforcement and judicial officials; it’s also a grim reminder that people in mental health crises make up about 25 percent of fatal police shooting victims in recent years, a Washington Post investigation noted. Many of these people died after police conducted wellness checks over fears of a possible suicide attempt.
Editor’s note: This article mentions suicide. If you need to talk to someone now, call the Trans Lifeline at 1-877-565-8860. It’s staffed by trans people, for trans people. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for LGBTQ youth at 1-866-488-7386. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
The Senate voted Wednesday to open debate on a bill that would codify federal protections for same-sex marriage, signaling that the legislation has sufficient Republican support to pass.
Lawmakers advanced the legislation in a 62-37 vote days after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., vowed to proceed on an updated version of the measure released by a bipartisan group of senators.
A dozen Republicans voted with Democrats to advance the legislation: Sens. Roy Blunt, of Missouri; Richard Burr, of North Carolina; Shelley Moore Capito, of West Virginia; Joni Ernst, of Iowa; Cynthia Lummis, of Wyoming; Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska; Rob Portman, of Ohio; Dan Sullivan, of Alaska; Mitt Romney, of Utah; Thom Tillis, of North Carolina; and Todd Young, of Indiana.
Blunt, Burr and Portman are retiring from Congress at the end of this year.
The bipartisan group that crafted the bill, led by Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., signaled this week that the bill would have the 10 GOP votes needed to pass in the upper chamber during the lame-duck session.
Democrats need 10 Republicans to support the bill in order for it to overcome the 60-vote procedural hurdle before a final floor vote can take place.
Key senators involved in the negotiations previously delayed a vote on the legislation until after the midterm elections to give Republicans more time to review an amendment aimed at attracting more GOP votes to overcome a filibuster.
In a statement, the bipartisan group said the amendment was crafted to “confirm that this legislation fully respects and protects Americans’ religious liberties and diverse beliefs, while leaving intact the core mission of the legislation to protect marriage equality.”
The House passed a version of the bill in July, with 47 Republicans joining all Democrats in voting for the legislation. The lower chamber passed the bill, titled the Respect for Marriage Act, after Democratic leaders expressed concern that the Supreme Court could follow its June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade with a ruling rescinding the right of same-sex couples to marry.
The House will need to take up the Senate’s version of the bill before sending it to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
“Love is love, and Americans should have the right to marry the person they love. Today’s bipartisan vote brings the United States one step closer to protecting that right in law,” Biden said in a statement Wednesday after lawmakers advanced the mesure.
The legislation would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, enshrine legal same-sex marriage for the purposes of federal law, and add legal protections for married couples of the same sex.
Same-sex marriage remains the law of the land under the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015. But Democrats cited Justice Clarence Thomas’concurring opinion in the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe in which he called on the now-more-conservative court to reverse the ruling as well as another landmark decision legalizing contraception.
The cases were weeks apart and eerily similar: Two young men at popular New York City gay bars. They each left with at least one mysterious person. They were both found dead. Both of their bank accounts were drained.
And they may not be the only ones.
More gay New Yorkers are coming forward for the first time with accounts that share notable similarities to the unexplained deaths this spring of Julio Ramirez, 25, a social worker, and John Umberger, 33, a political consultant.
The biggest difference so far: They survived.
NBC News spoke to two people who described harrowing experiences that seem to broadly fit the pattern of what happened to Ramirez and Umberger.
“It sounded so eerily similar to what happened to me,” Tyler Burt, 27, said about Ramirez’s death. “I was like, ‘I’m lucky to be alive.’”
Burt and a student at New York University believe they fell victim to a larger string of robberies and assaults that police are investigating. Their stories also mirror a troubling detail that Ramirez’s and Umberger’s families have only suspected — that they felt like they were drugged before they were robbed.
The New York City Police Department said that the city’s medical examiner is still determining the official causes of Ramirez’s and Umberger’s deaths. There have been no arrests. Police would not confirm whether Burt’s or the student’s cases were a part of their ongoing investigation.
John Umberger was found dead in New York City in May and his bank accounts were drained.Linda Clary
The NYPD provided a statement on Friday reiterating that police and the district attorney’s office are investigating “several incidents where individuals have been victims to either robberies or assault,” in which some but not all are members of the LGBTQ community. NBC News could not verify that the men’s experiences were connected to the string of robberies and assaults.
Meanwhile, the gay community in the country’s largest LGBTQ city awaits answers.
John Pederson, 55, says he was robbed in similar circumstances in 2018 and, combined with the recent reports, the experience has left him shaken.
“Part of it’s like, am I crazy?” Pederson said. “Women are so aware of this as a thing that happens. I don’t think gay men would ever suspect that this could be done to them.”
No memories and emptied bank accounts
In December, Burt — who reached out to NBC News on social media after recent reports regarding the two deaths — was walking home from a night out with friends when he stopped at The Boiler Room, a popular gay bar in Manhattan’s East Village, for one last drink by himself. Sitting alone at the bar was the last thing Burt says he remembers before waking up the next morning in his apartment confused.
Burt said he woke up lying on top of his bed with all of his clothes and shoes on and his phone missing. He then noticed that his personal laptop, iPad, headphones and wallet were also missing. Using his work laptop, he discovered that was just the beginning of what would amount to roughly $15,000 of stolen belongings and funds. The person or people who robbed him accessed his checking account, overdrafting it to pay off his credit cards and then using them to buy three new iPhones that morning.
Burt, who reported the incident to the police the day after the encounter, said he believes an assailant used his unconscious face to unlock his iPhone and bank accounts using the Face ID feature. He said he believes that the person or people who robbed him also slipped him some sort of drug, knocking him unconscious and causing him to black out.
Tyler Burt said he was robbed of $15,000 worth of belongings and funds after he blacked out.
“I don’t think I was drinking nearly enough to have zero recollection. Also, that’s never happened to me before,” Burt said, adding that he had a total of three to four drinks over the course of four hours. “I’ll go out and I’ll get home and be like, ‘Oh, gosh, I don’t remember getting home,’ or, ‘I don’t remember leaving,’ or something like that because I drank a lot, but I don’t remember anything. I don’t remember a single thing after I had that drink, which has just never happened to me in my life before.”
The father of a New York University student, who spoke to NBC News on the condition that his name not be published out of fear of putting his son in danger, said that his 21-year-old son also believes he was targeted by men with similar motives on April 8, less than two weeks before Ramirez’s death.
He said that his son, who also requested that his name not be published, told him he was leaving The Q bar in Hell’s Kitchen, the same bar Umberger was last seen at, with three men he had just met that night. The four of them, he said, had planned to go back to his son’s apartment to meet a friend who was already there. The man — who connected with NBC News through Linda Clary, Umberger’s mother — said his son and his son’s friend believe they were drugged at some point after returning to the apartment with the three unidentified men. The father said that his son and his son’s friend believe they were drugged because of the sudden nature of their blackouts and loss of memory coupled with the robbery.
When the two gained consciousness, the father said, his son’s phone was missing, his bank accounts were emptied using cash apps and his credit cards were maxed out. In total, the man said, about $5,000 worth of cash and items were stolen from his son. Similarly to Burt, the college student’s father said his son believes the assailants used his unconscious face to unlock his iPhone and bank accounts using Face ID. His son’s friend, he said, had her wallet stolen. The father of the college student said that his son filed a police report and that his case is still being investigated. NBC News was not able to independently verify the son’s account.
Pederson, a freelance computer consultant who reached out to NBC News on social media after recent reports regarding the two deaths, said that on Nov. 16, 2018, he also had a similar encounter. Pederson said he was heading home from Tribeca after attending a large private party, where he had three to four drinks over several hours. While alone and hailing a cab, he said he suddenly and uncharacteristically blacked out on the street corner and was robbed.
He regained consciousness momentarily, waking up to a man shaking him violently in the back seat of an unfamiliar car, yelling, “What’s the PIN number? What’s the PIN number? If you just give us the PIN number, we’ll take you home,” he said. The next thing he remembers is being dropped off in front of his apartment building before waking up the next morning with a bloodied face and his bank account wiped out.
Pederson said that he was not feeling heavily intoxicated before abruptly blacking out, nor did he have a hangover the next morning, which he said is common for him on the rare occasions he drinks too much alcohol.
‘You would not want to wish this on anyone’
Although traumatized, Burt, the father of the NYU student and Pederson said they look back on the incidents today with gratitude that they weren’t fatal.
It took Burt about a month after the encounter before he felt comfortable sleeping in his apartment again, he said, adding that the incident prompted him to go to therapy.
“It took me a while to really process what had happened to me and how terrifying it was,” Burt said. “And then seeing stuff that’s come out — like that kid who died in May — that really could have been me. It was just one small move away from that happening to me.”
“There’s a lot of ‘what ifs,’ that I’ve gone through in my head, which is, you know, not fun to think about,” he added.
Less than two weeks after the college student’s alleged encounter in early April, Ramirez was found dead in the back of a taxi. His body was discovered an hour after he was seen leaving the Ritz Bar and Lounge with three unidentified men, according to the NYPD. His family previously told NBC News that approximately $20,000 had been drained from his bank accounts.
Linda Clary is pressing the NYPD to further investigate the death of her son, John Umberger.Linda Clary
Roughly a month later, Umberger was found dead after he and two unidentified men left another popular Hell’s Kitchen gay bar, The Q. The unidentified men transferred about $20,000 out of Umberger’s bank accounts and maxed out his credit cards, according to Clary, Umberger’s mother.
“The pain and sorrow and horror is like nothing else,” Clary said. “You would not want to wish this on anyone.”
Burt, Pederson, Clary and the college student’s father all said they felt the NYPD did not initially take their cases as seriously as they had hoped and were, at times, unresponsive.
“It seemed like he was being reluctant to do anything that required a little bit of extra work,” Burt said of the detective on his case. “It just felt like it was not a priority at all and I was the one following up, bugging this guy, time and time again and I was just getting nowhere.”
The father of the college student who was allegedly robbed said that police stopped returning his phone calls until recently, months after the deaths of Ramirez and Umberger.
New York City Council member Erik Bottcher, whose district includes Hell’s Kitchen, told NBC News in a phone call that his office has been in contact with the NYPD and the Manhattan district attorney’s office on a weekly basis since reports surfaced in May about Ramirez’s death. His office has sought to ensure that appropriate resources have been dedicated to the investigation, he added.
“It’s horrifying and infuriating that people are being preyed upon and victimized in New York City in this way,” Bottcher said. “Whoever’s doing this needs to be brought to justice.”
While the NYPD only confirmed it was looking into “several” other potentially related incidents, Clary said she was told there were at least a dozen other cases included in the investigation. She spoke highly of the current detective on her son’s investigation. But her message to the police and public officials was clear: “People, do your job.”
“Thank you for the work you do,” she added, but “I need you to work harder, and I need you to do more for the sake of your great city and for the sake of citizens that are counting on you.”
Hearts around Colorado and the country are hurting and mourning the loss of five lives in a mass shooting in a LGBTQ+ club in Colorado Springs.
Hundreds showed up outside All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Colorado Springs for a community vigil on Sunday morning. The church was standing-room only, so organizers held the vigil in waves to keep up with demand.
Gov. Jared Polis and his husband, Marlon Reis, spoke to the crowd via Zoom.
“My heart breaks,” said Polis, who recently tested positive for COVID-19. Polis spoke with the owners of Club Q this morning. He described the nightclub as a safe haven “in an area where it hasn’t always been easy” for people in the LGBTQ+ community.
Club Q owners Nic Grzecka and Matthew Haynes spoke at the vigil.
“Club Q doesn’t have customers,” Haynes said. “Club Q has family and community.”
At least five people were killed and another 25 injured in the attack at Club Q just before midnight, Saturday Nov. 19. Colorado Springs police say at least two people at the club stopped the gunman, who is now in custody at the hospital.
According to Club Q’s social media posts, the nightclub had planned on Sunday to celebrate Transgender Day of Remembrance, which takes place Nov. 20 each year to honor and the remember the lives of transgender people who died from violence.
“While the suspect was inside of the club, at least two heroic people inside the club confronted and fought with the suspect and were able to stop the suspect from continuing to kill and harm others,” said Colorado State Police Chief Adrian Vasquez at a news conference Sunday morning. “We owe them a great debt of thanks.”
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who in 2018 was the first openly gay male to be elected governor, said “brave individuals” stepped in during the “horrific, sickening and devastating” shooting that has killed at least five people and injured over two dozen.
“We are eternally grateful for the brave individuals who blocked the gunman likely saving lives in the process and for the first responders who responded swiftly to this horrific shooting,” he said in a statement issued Sunday morning. “Colorado stands with our LGTBQ community and everyone impacted by this tragedy as we mourn together.”
Heavy has confirmed that Aldrich is the grandson of outgoing Republican state Rep. Randy Voegel, the former mayor of Santee, California. There were calls to expel Voepel from the state Assembly after he made comments comparing the January 6 attacks to the Revolutionary War. Aldrich’s mother, Laura Voepel, has written posts praising Randy Voepel on Facebook and confirming he is her father.
“This is Lexington and Concord. First shots fired against tyranny,” Randy Voepel, who was defeated in a Republican primary in August 2022, said in a San Diego Union-Tribune article three days after January 6. “Tyranny will follow in the aftermath of the Biden swear-in on January 20th.” Authorities have not yet released a photo of Aldrich; the photos Heavy has found are a few years old, so he looks younger in them than he likely looks today.
Read the full article. Hit the link, there’s much more.
GLAAD calls Club Q shooting ‘horrific tragedy,’ says ‘vile rhetoric’ and anti-LGBTQ legislation responsible for the attack
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation released a statement on the Club Q mass shooting on Sunday, calling it a “horrific tragedy.”
“This unspeakable attack has robbed countless people of their friends and family and an entire community’s sense of safety,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and chief executive officer of GLAAD.
Ellis also said that false rhetoric and anti-LGBTQ legislation is responsible for attacks like this one on the community.
“You can draw a straight line from the false and vile rhetoric about LGBTQ people spread by extremists and amplified across social media, to the nearly 300 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced this year, to the dozens of attacks on our community like this one,” she said. “The media must stop spreading misinformation and elevate the truth that LGBTQ people exist, belong and want to live in peace and safety. Elected officials and corporate leaders must act immediately to prioritize this truth, and protect everyone’s safety.”
The mass shooting that claimed the lives of at least five people and injured more than two dozen happened on the eve of the Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual observance that started in 1999 to honor the memory of transgender people killed in acts of anti-trans violence, according to GLAAD.
Greg Resha of Colorado Springs is a former employee of Club Q. The fundraiser organizer launched a GoFundMe to help the families of the victims, as well as those who were injured.
The results of this year’s midterm elections showed a tendency among American voters to rebuke extremism from the right, whether it took the form of denying the results of democratic elections or denying women’s reproductive freedoms.
For the LGBTQ community and its allies, it was also a repudiation of attacks from some far-right GOP candidates on trans people, particularly trans youth.
Virginia would not have reelected Democratic Reps. Jennifer Wexton and Abigail Spanberger “if transphobic attacks that are geared toward and about kids were an effective message and an effective persuasion message,” Virginia Delegate Danica Roem told the Washington Blade on Tuesday.
Transphobic campaigns led by the congresswomen’s Republican challengers cost them Virginia’s Prince William County, said Roem, who would become the second openly trans state senator in the country if she is elected in next year’s race to represent Virginia’s 30thSenate District.
Republicans in the state went as far as to weaponize a sexual assault case to attack trans students – by lying about the gender identity of the perpetrator, Roem said.
Last year, the mother of a boy who was charged with sexually assaulting a girl in a Loudoun County high school told The Daily Mail, “First of all, he is not transgender…And I think this is all doing an extreme disservice to those students who actually identify as transgender.”
It is not just in the DC-Maryland-Virginia region that voters rejected transphobic attacks during this election cycle, Roem said. GOP candidates tried this approach in Michigan and Wisconsin, leading to the reelection of Democratic Governors Tony Evers and Gretchen Whitmer, who will enjoy the state’s first Democratic trifecta in 40 years, Roem said.
“Across the country anti-equality opponents tried to win close races by persuading swing voters that trans kids were a danger – a group of people that needed to be bullied and attacked,” said Geoff Wetrosky, campaign director for the Human Rights Campaign, America’s largest LGBTQ organization.
“And it failed for them as a strategy, in places from Michigan to Kansas, where close races ended up going to the pro-equality candidates not despite these attacks but because of them,” Wetrosky told the Blade.
“Voters did not appreciate candidates singling out trans kids and speaking propaganda and stigma to rile up extreme members of their base,” he added.
Wetrosky recounted how parents in Arizona had received an anti-trans mailer that was disseminated by former Trump administration official Stephen Miller’s organization America First Legal and reacted by “showing up to the polls for their trans kid but also to show that communities of color could not be split from LGBTQ folks.”
It would be inaccurate to say that Republican gubernatorial candidates like Florida’s Ron DeSantis or South Dakota’s Kristi Noem were reelected because of their open hostility toward trans youth, Wetrosky contends, because we saw that strategy backfire elsewhere.
In terms of attacking trans candidates running for elected office over their gender identities, “the right still tries to use these tactics but it’s harder and harder to manufacture a boogeyman,” LGBTQ Victory Fund and LGBTQ Victory Institute President & CEO Annise Parker told the Blade by phone on Tuesday.
Parker agreed with Wetrosky’s position that much of the transphobia seen from Republican officeholders is meant to appeal to the most extreme elements of the base of the party, for the purpose of raising the profiles of those with national political ambitions.
Texas Republicans introduced several bills this week that target the transgender community, including at least two measures seeking to criminalize gender-affirming care for minors and one looking to prevent children from attending drag performances.
Although the Legislature doesn’t officially begin its next session until mid-January, Monday was legislators’ first chance to file their bills for the coming term, potentially foreshadowing the state’s political priorities for the coming year. GOP legislators are barreling ahead with an updated party platform, officially unveiled over the summer, that defines homosexuality as an “abnormal lifestyle choice” and is opposed to“all efforts to validate transgender identity.”
At least two bills introduced this week would designate gender-affirming care for minors as child abuse under state law, and another would revoke liability insurance for providers who offer it.
Gender-affirming care for some minors experiencing gender dysphoria, a medical condition that involves a conflict between people’s sex assigned at birth and their gender identities, is considered medically necessary by a number of major accredited organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association. For minors, such care typically includes puberty blockers, which are recommended to trans youths before the onset of puberty, or hormone therapy for teenagers. Adolescents under age 18 in the U.S. are unable to get gender-affirming surgery in most cases, according to the Endocrine Society.
State Attorney General Ken Paxton tried this year to classify transition-related care for minors as child abuse under state law. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott subsequently called on people to report parents of transgender minors to the state if they suspect the minors are receiving gender-affirming care. Several of those investigations, however, have been tied up in court.
Another bill filed Monday would classify any business that decides to host a drag show under the state’s statutory definition of “sexually oriented businesses.”
The bill defines a drag performer as anyone who “exhibits a gender identity that is different than the performer’s gender assigned at birth “by using “clothing, makeup, or other physical markers” and “sings, lip syncs, dances, or otherwise performs” in front of an audience.
The current definition of “sexually oriented businesses” includes any venue where two or more people perform nude and alcohol is served. Those businesses are bound by special limitations, including a misdemeanor charge on par with vehicle burglary for the business owner if anyone under age 18 is let in. Patrons must be charged entrance fees of at least $5 at such venues, according to Texas statutes, and sex offenders are barred from owning or operating such businesses.
Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic and a former staff attorney at the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, said the wording of the bill “defines drag as essentially any trans person performing at all.”
“A trans actor in a musical singing would suddenly make it ‘drag’ and thus result in the play venue being labeled a ‘sexually oriented business,’” Caraballo tweeted Tuesday.
She added, “This is one of the most radical bills I have ever seen that seeks to completely eliminate trans people out of public life.”
The first official day of the Texas legislative session is Jan. 23. Republicans control both the House and the Senate.
Looking for an activity that benefits others? Want to share your creativity? Send artwork and letters of encouragement to seniors with the Sonoma County Library’s Send Our Seniors Mail program! Send Our Seniors Mail offers kindness and support for elders in our community and is an easy—and fun!—way to spread cheer throughout the holiday season. Interested? Visit the Send Our Seniors Mail page for a list of participating senior living facilities.
Create cards, artwork, and letters for seniors who might need a little extra happiness during the holidays.
Pop your goods in the mail! Addresses of senior facilities will be added to the Send Our Seniors Mail webpage as they become available. If you know of a potential Send Our Seniors Mail facility, please email the library at sendourseniorsmail@sonomalibrary.org.
A Reminder from Your Library: Upcoming Holiday Closure
All library branches will be closed Thursday, November 24, and Friday, November 25, for Thanksgiving. We look forward to seeing you when we reopen on Saturday, November 26!
Thank you for being a member of the Sonoma County Library community. Visit us online or in person at one of our branches. Be sure to check out open jobs at Sonoma County Library here. Questions? Please call your local library branch or click here to send us a message. Sáquele jugo a su creatividad y conéctese con su comunidad ¿Busca una actividad que ayuda la comunidad? ¿Desea compartir su creatividad? ¡Puede enviar dibujos de arte y cartas de apoyo a los adultos mayores con el programa de Envíos de correos postales para adultos mayores! Este programa fomenta la simpatía y el apoyo para los adultos mayores de nuestra comunidad y es una fácil y divertida manera de repartir la alegría de las fiestas. ¿Le interesa? Solo tiene que:Visitar la página web de Envíos de correo postales para adultos mayores para una lista de facilidades de viviencia para adultos mayores que están participando.
Crear tarjetas, dibujos y cartas para adultos mayores que estarán encantados de recibir estas joyas de alegría.
¡Enviar sus creaciones a través del correo postal! Continuaremos a añadir nuevas direcciones en cuanto las recibamos. Si conoce de una posible dirección para esta iniciativa, por favor mándenos un mensaje en sendourseniorsmail@sonomalibrary.org. Reparta la alegría
Un aviso de su biblioteca: Cierre por feriado
Todas bibliotecas estarán cerradas el jueves 24 y el viernes 25 de noviembre para el Día de Acción de Gracias. ¡Nos complace verle de nuevo cuando reabrimos el sábado 26 de noviembre!
Gracias por ser miembro de la comunidad de Bibliotecas del Condado de Sonoma. Visítenos en línea o en persona en una de nuestras sucursales. Asegúrese de consultar los trabajos disponibles en la Biblioteca del Condado de Sonoma aquí. ¿Preguntas? Por favor llame a su biblioteca local o haga clic para mandar un mensaje.
