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School responds in worst possible way after defecate on teacher’s Pride flag

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When students at a California school stole their teachers Pride flag, defecated on it and posted a video on TikTok, the school responded with a ban.

According to the San Luis Obispo Tribune, last month, two boys at Paso Robles High School in California posted a TikTok video in which they defecated on their science teacher’s large classroom Pride flag, before trying to flush it down the toilet.

Although the school claims it took “disciplinary action” against the boys after it was alerted to the incident by other students, it then responded by banning similar Pride flags.

On 1 October, teachers received a letter about a new policy to make sure classrooms weren’t “politicised”. It told teaching staff to remove any flags that were “alterations of the American flag”, and limited any other flags to two feet by two feet, a significantly smaller size that the flag that was stolen.

Paso Robles Joint Unified School District superintendent Curt Dubost, who sent the letter, told the publication: “We don’t want to turn it into a politicised issue where a student enters a classroom and looks up, ‘Oh, there’s a rainbow flag here, or there’s a blue lives matter flag here — that determines what the partisanship is of my teacher.’

“We think that that’s a real slippery slope. And so we continue to believe that this is a very reasonable compromise solution that allows rainbows, but within reason.”

But sophomore Eve Barajas, president of the high schools equity club, said: “It’s obviously just banning the Pride flag altogether unless you want those little mini ones. It’s a way of subtly just getting rid of it.

“Their defense was that the Pride flag may be a trigger for certain students. But if I had said that the American flag was a trigger to me, I would be treated like a terrorist.”

Queer students say the school ‘has allowed the haters to win’ with Pride flag ban

LGBT+ students and their allies at Paso Robles High School have been protesting the flag ban by drawing tiny Pride flags, which fall within the guidelines, and putting them up around the school.

In a joint op-ed for the San Luis Obispo Tribune, they wrote: “What message does this send to students?

“The flag ban means the school has allowed the haters to win, while LGBT+ students feel punished for wanting to be seen and supported.

“When you are a high school student in the LGBT+ community, you walk into every classroom and school bathroom not knowing if you’ve entered a safe space.

“You endure angry stares, hurtful comments, and relentless assaults of microaggressions that erode our mental health and self confidence. It is exhausting. It is oppressive. It is unacceptable. And so we’re coming out against hate.”

The students have organised a forum, titled “Coming Out Against Hate”, to be held at the school on 20 October.

For the first time, pupils will have an opportunity to “share their experiences and visions for a more welcoming, inclusive educational environment.”

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Activists aren’t finished with Bisexual AZ senator

Grassroots activists and union groups are preparing to launch a flurry of protests later on Wednesday against Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz) — who they worry could single-handedly sink President Biden’s agenda. 

“We’re committed to birddogging Kyrsten Sinema with her constituents until the very end,” Our Revolution Executive Director Joseph Geevarghese said in an interview. “What we want to show is that her constituents are very serious about wanting policies and activism and we’re going to make her life unpleasant or uncomfortable until that happens.”

Our Revolution, the Bernie Sanders-inspired grassroots group, is joining Arizona union leaders, educators and other grassroots activists for a series of demonstrations outside of her Phoenix and Tucson offices over the next several days, according to a strategy outline first shared with POLITICO. https://e4c8813589ae02d166c72e5a82167489.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

The planned demonstrations mark the next phase of an aggressive approach activists have taken to turn up the heat on Sinema, who has been a hold-out on the massive domestic spending plan that’s at the heart of Biden’s economic agenda.

Last week, the in-your-face tactic came to head when protesters followed Sinema into a bathroom and filmed her. On Monday, they followed her to Boston where she was to compete in the marathon before a foot injury kept her from participating.

Currently, activists on the ground in Arizona describe Sinema’s constituents bubbling over with frustration.

“They want somebody to listen and the fact that that’s not happening is infuriating,” said Yolanda Bejarano, national legislative and field director for Communications Workers of America. “The folks are not strangers to her. They helped get her elected.”

During the protests, the groups are heading a petition drive in an ongoing attempt to persuade Sinema to sign onto legislation that would strengthen unions and the right to organize.

In it, the senator said she supported the freedom of expression but was distressed over the position it put her students in, some of whom she said were also filmed inside the bathroom. Sinema also noted that she and her office had previously met with LUCHA Arizona, the immigration activists involved in the bathroom ambush. 

“In the 19 years I have been teaching at ASU, I have been committed to creating a safe and intellectually challenging environment for my students. Yesterday, that environment was breached,” Sinema said in the statement. “My students were unfairly and unlawfully victimized. This is wholly inappropriate.”

In interviews, several of the activist groups said they could not see their members employing such tactics. But, they also didn’t apologize for the behavior, portraying it as an act of desperation by voters who cannot reach a public official. 

“She ignores them and dismisses them,” Bejarano said. “When you dehumanize somebody like that, that’s intolerable.”

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Cuban president meets with LGBT+ activists

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Friday met with more than a dozen LGBTQ activists.

Tremenda Nota, the Washington Blade’s media partner in Cuba, reported the meeting took place at Havana’s Palace of the Revolution. Francisco Rodríguez Cruz, a gay man living with HIV who writes under the pen name Paquito el de Cuba, and Malú Cano, coordinator of Transcuba, a transgender organization that is affiliated with the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX), are among those who participated.

“I see it as a political will to advance the recognition of the rights of LGBTIQ+ people, an outstanding debt that the revolution has always had with us,” Cano told Tremenda Nota.

The Cuban government tweeted pictures of of the meeting. Rodríguez in a blog post notesCENESEX Director Mariela Castro, the daughter of former President Raúl Castro, was sitting next to Díaz-Canel.

Former President Fidel Castro, who was Mariela Castro’s uncle, in the years after the 1959 revolution that brought him to power sent gay men and others to work camps known by the Spanish acronym UMAP. The Cuban government until 1993 forcibly quarantined people with AIDS in state-run sanitaria.

Mariela Castro and Díaz-Canel both publicly support marriage rights for same-sex couples. Friday’s meeting took place less than a month after Cuba’s Justice Ministry released a draft of a proposed new family code that would allow gays and lesbians to tie the knot.

Yoan de la Cruz, a gay man from San Antonio de los Baños in Artemisa province who live-streamed the first of a series of anti-government protests that took place across Cuba on July 11, and hundreds of others who participated in the demonstrations remain in custody.

14ymedio, an independent website founded by Yoani Sánchez, a prominent critic of the Cuban government, earlier this week reported the country’s attorney general is seeking an 8-year prison sentence for De La Cruz. 14ymedio also notes Cuban authorities continue to hold De La Cruz “somewhat incommunicado” in a prison east of Havana.

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SoCo to face PG&E power shut offs due to high winds Thursday – Sunday

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is considering a second intentional power shut-off this week in parts of 19 California counties, including portions of the North Bay, the utility said.

The shut-off would start Thursday morning, when dry, windy conditions are again expected to ramp up wildfire danger, the utility said. It would include 1,481 homes and businesses in Sonoma County, 1,774 in Lake County and 3,750 in Napa County.

High elevations may experience gusts of 40 mph, but overall conditions won’t be as bad or widespread as earlier this week, according to the National Weather Service.

“It’s not enough to put us in the threshold for a red flag warning or wind advisory, but I can see why (PG&E’s) exercising caution,“ said meteorologist Brayden Murdock.

To check if your address is included, visit pge.com/pspsupdates.

This latest warning of another possible shut-off came as PG&E began restoring power in some areas affected by an intentional blackout that began early Monday.

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Trailblazing astronaut Sally Ride will be first out LGBT+ person on a US coin

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Astronaut Sally Ride will become the first out LGBT+ person to appear on US currency, as part of the new American Women Quarters Program.

According to United States Mint, the first five limited edition coins in the American Women Quarters Program will launch next year.

The coins honour Ride as well as Maya Angelou, Asian American actor Anna May Wong, Cherokee Nation leader Wilma Mankiller, and suffragette Nina Otero-Warren.

Ride, an engineer and a physicist as well as an astronaut, was the first American woman to travel to space.

She married fellow NASA astronaut Steve Hawley in 1982, but they divorced five years later, and she later entered into a 27-year relationship with science writer and professor emerita of school psychology at San Diego State University, Tam O’Shaughnessy.

Although Ride was open about her sexuality with those around her, it was not widely known about until after her death in 2012. She stayed with O’Shaughnessy until she passed away.

The year after her death, Ride was awarded a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.

Otero-Warren, who was born in 1881 and will also be the first Hispanic American to appear on US currency, was also LGBT+ but was not out in her lifetime.

The politician from New Mexico was initially married to a man, but struck up a relationship with a woman named Mamie Meadors in the 1920s.

They lived on the same homestead, but in different houses, and were known as “Los Dos”, or “The Pair”.

United States Mint acting director Alison L Doone said in a statement: “These inspiring coin designs tell the stories of five extraordinary women whose contributions are indelibly etched in American culture.

“Generations to come will look at coins bearing these designs and be reminded of what can be accomplished with vision, determination and a desire to improve opportunities for all.”

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Samantha Power meets with Dominican LGBTQ activists

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U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power on Oct. 7 met with LGBTQ activists in the Dominican Republic.

Diversidad Dominicana Executive Director Rosanna Marzán, Amigos Siempre Amigos Director Leonardo Sánchez, Sirana Dolis of Movimiento de Mujeres Dominico Haitianas (MUDHA) and Bridget Wooding of the Caribbean Migration and Development Observatory (OBMICA) are among those who met with Power in Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital. Power in a tweet said she also met with human rights activists who are working to “restore legal documentation” for the more than 100,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent who live in the country.

The Dominican Republic borders Haiti on Hispaniola.

The Dominican House of Representatives in June approved a bill that would remove sexual orientation from the country’s Penal Code. The Dominican Senate has yet to consider the measure that has sparked outrage among the country’s LGBTQ activists.

Power traveled to the Dominican Republic two months after Haitian President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination.

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake on Aug. 14 left scores of people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands of others in Haiti’s Tiburon Peninsula. Immigration Equality is among the groups that criticized the Biden administration last month over the deportation of Haitian migrants and asylum seekers from Texas. 

James “Wally” Brewster was the U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic from 2013-2017. He is one of six openly gay men who represented the U.S. abroad during the Obama administration.

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U.S. must resettle LGBT refugees

At the end of August, the last U.S. passenger plane disappeared from Afghanistan’s horizons. The Taliban had finally taken control of the entire country after several days of battles and fire within the capital city. The leaders of the Taliban declared a new state of rule from the presidential palace formerly occupied by President Ashraf Ghani. 

Soon after the Taliban’s taking of Kabul, Afghan men and women panicked in troves to the airport to flee oppressive rule. Getting a ticket onto an American bound plane was like winning the lottery for many Afghans. 

Canada declared it would help resettle 20,000 Afghans, purposefully including LGBT Afghans among that mix. Canada made its intention to resettle those who would suffer tremendously under Taliban rule: Gay and trans folk, and any other kind of queer person, among a few other marginalized groups. 

In early August of 2021, when the Afghan crisis was unfolding, a group of Democratic senators urged Biden to prioritize LGBT refugees. This group of senators, including Amy Klobuchar, wrote a letter to the State Department asking them to explain in greater detail a statement that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made regarding LGBT asylum seekers. 

In February of 2021, President Biden signed a memorandum that instructed U.S. agencies to ensure the rights of LGBT persons around the world. After that memorandum was signed, the State Department under Sec. Blinken said that it would make an enhanced effort to protect LGBT asylum seekers. 

But the group of senators, in their letter, are still asking what has specifically been done to protect LGBT asylum seekers. What new steps has the Biden administration taken? And specifically, what steps has it taken to protect these LGBT refugees in Afghanistan? 

It’s time that the United States not only resettle Afghan refugees, but purposefully make it part of its mission statement to resettle LGBT people. Although, since 1994, the U.S. has acknowledged asylum claims based on homosexuality, during the latest Afghan crisis, the Biden administration never made any intentional effort to prioritize LGBT folk as refugees. Biden never came out and aggressively prioritized LGBT Afghans. 

Under Taliban rule, gay people are killed and thrown off buildings. Under the former Afghan administration, being gay was a punishable crime and LGBT folk who were outed were sent to jail. 

Taliban rule also spells disaster for trans people: Being trans is not even an option in Afghanistan, where the Taliban would surely kill trans people as well as those who are gay. 

Article 130 of the Afghan constitution implements Sharia law, which bans homosexuality. In these cases, men who have sex with men or women who have sex with women can be put to death. Moreover, Sections 645 and 646 of the constitution punish intimacy between two women with jail time. 

Some recent victims of Taliban rule describe how the Taliban is asking LGBT folk to identify others in the LGBT community within the country. They are promising a safe rite of passage to those who identify members of the queer community. Such targeting is inordinately cruel—asking members of the LGBT community to turn on each other. 

The Biden administration, armed with a liberal agenda, should create an LGBT refugee resettlement initiative. Some details about this kind of initiative have to be ironed out—take, for instance, the issue of metrics. How would the U.S. accurately assess someone’s LGBT status? If you were to argue that this initiative already exists, then I must ask—where is it? Where are these concrete steps that Biden has taken to make the lives of LGBT Afghans safer? Has he given a speech on this topic? 

Perhaps the administration can start by reaching out to LGBT nonprofits in these uncertain regions—Rainbow Railroad, is, for instance, an organization that helps LGBT people in the Middle East find better lives in safe countries. Other groups in countries such as Jordan help smuggle trans people to safer countries, such as Turkey. Preexisting LGBT citizens who seek help from these nonprofits can be identified by the Biden administration to come to the United States, seeking a safe rite of passage. 

Afghanistan serves as an example to help LGBT people who suffer in crisis. It’s high time that the U.S. government not only acknowledge LGBT asylum seekers, but place them on a pedestal, along with other groups who are immune to abuse. 

Isaac Amend (he/him/his) is a transgender man and young professional in the D.C. area. He was featured on National Geographic’s ‘Gender Revolution’ in 2017 as a student at Yale University. Isaac is also on the board of the LGBT Democrats of Virginia. Find him on Instagram @isaacamend.

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Uganda’s LGBTQ community remains a target

Despite the annulment of the 2014 Anti-Homosexuality Act that was meant to criminalize the act of same-sex relations by life imprisonment and even capital punishment in Uganda, members of the LGBTQ community continue to face unwarranted reproof.

Several bills have been proposed in Parliament, such as the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, the revised Anti-Homosexuality Bill and just recently bills that would criminalize sex work and gay sex. However, none of these bills saw the light of day thanks to the rigorous fight put down by LGBTQ activists against the government through the Constitutional Court and protests.

Who could forget the horrific and traumatic experience that was faced by 44 LGBTQ people at the end of May of this year when police raided a private function that was being held in Kampala that saw the 44 being arrested, assaulted and humiliated by the police, who even went an extra mile of posting their faces on social media and national television.

That petrifying moment is still being relived not only by the 44, but other LGBTQ community members as Iga Isma, executive director of Happy Family Youth Uganda, aptly states.

“In May, police raided a private function that had 44 LGBTQI+ personnel and they were arrested for conducting a gay wedding which was not the case as they were just having a party and since their arrest although they have now been released, they have been receiving a lot of stigma because after they were incarcerated their photos were paraded on social media, national television and it is now difficult for them to move, to get a job or do anything because when they get on the streets people intimidate, harass and assault them so they are facing a lot of challenges. They cannot talk in the community, they cannot buy anything, some of them when they were released from prison actually came back to burned down houses. Their houses were set on fire by some members of the community and others were chased away by their families,” said Isma.

In addition, Isma cited that many members of the LGBTQ community now do not have a sense of belonging as they have been rejected and sidelined by those they deem to be their loved ones.

“In Uganda today, hundreds of LGBTQI+ personnel have no place to call home as they are kicked out by their homophobic and transphobic, conservative communities as well as family members due to stigma and a lot of LGBTQI+ personnel continue to live in the shadows and do not come out due to fear of rejection from their families, colleagues and members of their communities.

However, we as LGBTQI+ organizations are trying to educate members of the community, government and all stakeholders about the LGBTQI+ community because that is the only way we can do away with the repugnant attitude towards the LGBTQI+ community. Though it is difficult due to the homophobic and transphobic communities within our midst, we are trying to change the narrative,” said Isma.

It is now yet to be seen whether or not the new administration, which formed earlier in January under President Yoweri Museveni, who has governed the East African country for the past 35 years, will lift the cumbersome tribulations and aspersions that are continuously being faced by members of the LGBTQ community.

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California coronavirus death count tops 70,000 as cases fall

California’s coronavirus death toll reached another once-unfathomable milestone — 70,000 people — on Monday as the state emerges from the latest infection surge with the lowest rate of new cases among all states. 

Last year at this time, cases in the state started ticking up and by January California was in the throes of the worst spike of the pandemic and was the nation’s epicenter for the virus. Daily deaths approached 700.

The latest surge started in summer and was driven by the delta variant that primarily targeted the unvaccinated. At its worst during this spike, California’s average daily death count was in the low 100s.

Data collected by Johns Hopkins University showed the state with 70,132 deaths by midday Monday. It’s the most in the nation, surpassing Texas by about 3,000 and Florida by 13,000, although California’s per capita fatality rate of 177 per 100,000 people ranks in the bottom third for the U.S. 

”Take a moment of silence and reflection on what that’s meant for Californians,” he said. “Families that have lost more than one family member, key breadwinners, people who couldn’t protect themselves.”

The most populous state is in a much better situation as it enters the colder months this year. It has been a national leader in vaccinations while others who survived the virus acquired a natural immunity that also helps prevent severe illness and death.

Even if there is a new surge, “the level of life-altering behaviors may be different this time around than we saw last winter,” Ghaly told The Associated Press. 

He does not expect California to lock down as it did last year with business closures, social distancing requirements and capacity restrictions.

“That is not what we’re talking about,” he said. “I think vaccines plus masks in certain (indoor) settings is going to be a significant support of us getting through anything that COVID throws at us in the future.” 

A year ago, “there were all these debates, should we have Halloween vs. no Halloween,” said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco. “I think this winter is going to be a lot better than last winter, especially in California.” 

More than 70% of Californians are now fully vaccinated and another 8% partially so, she noted. That compares to about one-third who had antibodies against the coronavirus in February, before the rollout of vaccines and as California was recovering from a surge that strained hospitals to the breaking point.

Marm Kilpatrick, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, Santa Cruz, projects that the current level of immunity is still too low to avert another surge, particularly because people are tired of safety precautions.

Still, “it will primarily be those people who have not been infected before and those who are not vaccinated that will suffer the highest consequences,” Kilpatrick said.

California was the first to impose a statewide stay-at-home order, in March 2020, and that aggressive action by Gov. Gavin Newsom was credited by many with sparing the state from the kind of surge that devastated New York City early in the pandemic.

But later Newsom faced criticism that he was too slow to remove restrictions on businesses and activities. He ultimately faced a recall election last month and voters overwhelmingly chose to keep him in office. 

Even as cases fell, Newsom recently announced the nation’s first plan to require all eligible schoolchildren to be vaccinated. The state also requires masks in school. 

But the state’s local governments have been imposing and lifting requirements on their own, creating a confusing patchwork of regulations. 

In Los Angeles County, a vaccine requirement just took effect for customers at indoor bars, wineries and a small group of other businesses. But in the city of Los Angeles, a far more aggressive vaccine mandate that applies to virtually all indoor businesses is set to take effect next month. No counties around Los Angeles County have such mandates.

In Northern California, San Francisco and several nearby counties announced plans to begin easing masking requirements as conditions improve. On Friday, Newsom called that “an encouraging sign,” while also offering caution about moving too quickly. 

“This time last year we were experiencing not dissimilar optimism, only to experience that winter surge,” he said.

California has the lowest per capita rate of new coronavirus cases in the country. It is one of only two states that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rates as having a “substantial” rate of transmission, which is a step below the “high” rate that all other states have. 

California recorded 67 cases per 100,000 people in the last week; the nation’s average is 195. And the state’s positivity rate in the last seven days was 2.5% while the country averaged 6.1%

The rate at which each infected person spreads the disease, known as the R-effective, has been dropping steadily in California since mid-July and now is at 0.78 statewide. Anything below 1 means the number of infected persons will decrease.

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Online event with author Anne Lamont benefits LGBT+ asylum seekers

I hope you will join me and my dear friend, author Anne Lamott, on Oct. 16 at 7pm PT for Love Amidst It All—a special online benefit. 

We will explore together how we can love amidst the beauty and the pain of the world. With humor and heart, compassion and encouragement, Anne and I will share stories, teachings, practices, lessons, meanderings, ancient wisdom and modern kindness.
Our benefit supports LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and Oasis Legal Services, a nonprofit started by my daughter Caroline and other dedicated young lawyers to secure safety and asylum for many whose lives are in danger.

By participating in this event and donating even a modest amount, you can help a group of LGBTQ+ refugees from all over the world who have, because of homophobia and transphobia, been targeted, beaten, raped, and betrayed. Rejected by those closest to them who should have protected them. Your help can make a difference. 

If you can’t attend but would like access to a recording, you must register by 6pm PT on Oct. 16. You will have 30 days from the original program date to view the recording of this event.
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