California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has vetoed a bill that would have helped low-income LGBTQ people gain easier access to treatment and prevention services for sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Newsom said he supported the STI Prevention & Treatment Fairness Act, but that there simply wasn’t enough funding to accomplish what it sought to do.
The bill, which was sponsored by Equality California, would have expanded access to STI health services to low-income people with confidentiality concerns (including LGBTQ people) through California’s Family Planning, Access, Care, and Treatment (PACT) program.
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But Newsom explained that the bill would expand the definition of “family planning” beyond the federal definition, “thereby creating a state-only program that creates significant ongoing General Fund cost pressure not accounted for in the budget.”
“With our state facing lower-than-expected revenues over the first few months of this fiscal year, it is important to remain disciplined when it comes to spending, particularly spending that is ongoing,” Newsom also noted in his veto message, adding that “Bills with significant fiscal impact, such as this measure, should be considered and accounted for as part of the annual budget process.”
Craig E. Thompson, CEO of the LGBTQ Health nonprofit APLA Health expressed disappointment in Newsom’s veto.
“As the latest data from the CDC makes clear, the STD epidemic is only growing worse in California and across the U.S. — with syphilis rates up nearly 28% in the last year alone,” Thompson told the Bay Area Reporter. “APLA Health will continue advocating for forward-thinking policy and funding initiatives to address this crisis, including ensuring that all LGBTQ+ Californians have access to convenient, low-cost sexual health services regardless of ability to pay.”
A historic number of LGBTQ candidates will appear on ballots across the country in November. At least 1,095 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people have run or are still running for office at all levels this year, up from 1,006 in 2020, according to data from the LGBTQ Victory Fund.
In New York, two gay candidates — Democrat Robert Zimmerman and Republican George Santos — are running to fill the seat vacated by Democrat Tom Suozzi in New York’s 3rd Congressional District. This will be the first time in U.S. history that two out LGBTQ congressional candidates are going head to head in a general election.
Though this race guaranteed to result in a win for a gay candidate, the outcome of the election will help determine whether Democrats hang on to their slim majority in the House.
‘It was going to happen sooner of later’
The odds of a faceoff between two gay candidates have gone up in recent years, because there’s been an increase in LGBTQ candidates at all levels of government.
“It was going to happen sooner or later,” said Donald Haider-Markel, a political science professor at the University of Kansas and the author of “Out and Running: Gay and Lesbian Candidates, Elections and Policy Representation.” “The question was always finding an LGBTQ Republican who can get support in a primary.”
Historically, there have been relatively few Republican LGBTQ candidates, though he said that Republican organizations like the Log Cabin Republicans have existed for a long time.
There are currently 11 openly LGBTQ people in Congress — two in the Senate and nine in the House — and they are all Democrats.
George Santos.George Santos for New York
Santos, who is hoping to flip the district red for his party, secured his party’s nomination in August for the second time. He ran against Suozzi in 2020 but lost in a general election.
Santos is the only openly LGBTQ Republican running for Congress this fall, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund. If elected, he would be the first openly LGBTQ nonincumbent Republican elected to Congress. Two former GOP members of the House — Steve Gunderson of Wisconsin and Jim Kolbe of Arizona — won re-election as incumbents after coming out (or, in Gunderson’s case, being outed).
Santos said the historic nature of the race is “pretty incredible.”
“I think it shows that our country continues to be the bastion of progress and building equity for everybody,” he told NBC News.
Zimmerman said it would be “profoundly meaningful” to be the first LGBTQ member of Congress from Long Island and Queens.
“When I was a kid, you’d have never imagined a member of the LGBTQ community as a member of Congress,” he said. “I never dreamed that would be possible.”
‘We are very different’
While Santos and Zimmerman agree that their election is historic, that’s about all the two men agree on.
“Although we might share a sexual orientation … we are very different,” Santos said. “Robert Zimmerman aligns himself with the party that brought about the crisis of inflation.”
Santos emphasized the climbing costs of energy for some of his constituents. He also said he is also running to fight against “one party control in New York” that does not allow for “diverging opinions” on how to address the rising cost of living in his district, though he said he is prepared to work with his Democratic colleagues to find solutions.
“We need to work with the people who disagree with us,” Santos said. “I will represent the people who didn’t vote for me as much as the people who did.”
Robert Zimmerman at The Doubles Club in New York City on Dec. 13, 2018. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images file
Zimmerman slammed Santos for his support of former President Donald Trump, who he said advocated a “homophobic, bigoted,” agenda.
“I’m not running against any Republican. I’m running against a Republican that is part of the radical fringe. He is a MAGA candidate,” Zimmerman said, using the acronym for Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
Zimmerman said Santos’ support for Trump extends to participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C.
“He defended the insurrectionists,” Zimmerman said.
In a February 2021 interview with Lara Trump, Santos said, “I was at the Ellipse on Jan. 6. That was the most amazing crowd, and the president was at his full awesomeness that day. It was a front-row spectacle for me.” The Ellipse, a 52-acre park south of the White House, was the location of the rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol building.
Santos denied participating in any insurrectionist activities.
“I was never on Capitol grounds on Jan 6. That is a lie,” he said. “Icame out very early to say it was a dark, dark day in our country and we needed a lot of healing after that.”
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When asked if he continues to support the former president, Santos said, “Donald Trump is not on the ballot.” He then criticized Zimmerman for focusing on the former president.
“I’m making this race about New York District 3 and the residents of New York, while Zimmerman is making this about Trump,” Santos said.
Bringing up Trump and Jan. 6 may be a good move for Zimmerman, as it may help increase turnout among Democratic voters: According to a recent NBC News poll, “threats to democracy” now beats cost of living as the top issue facing the country among voters.
“I think voters get it. I think people underestimate just how concerned voters are about having a democracy going forward,” Zimmerman said.
He also harshly criticized the Republican-sponsored anti-LGBTQ bills in the statehouses.
“I’ve been approached by so many parents of gay kids,” Zimmerman said. “The ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills have a chilling effect well beyond the borders of Florida,” he added, referring to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law, which limits classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity. That measure is one of more than 340 anti-LGBTQ bills Republican legislators have introduced this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group.
Many of these bills specifically target transgender people, limiting trans people’s ability to play sports, use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity and receive gender-affirming health care.
“The Republican Party has made attacking LGBTQ people, especially trans kids, a part of their platform this year,” said Albert Fujii, press secretary for the LGBTQ Victory Fund. “It is central to their philosophy on governing. That’s too bad.”
The LGBTQ Victory Fund, which is dedicated to supporting and electing LGBTQ people to public office, has endorsed Zimmerman in the race.
Santos said he sees no contradiction between his identity and his party’s politics.
“As a lifelong Republican, I have never experienced discrimination in the Republican Party,” he said. “I am an openly gay candidate. I am not shy.”
Abortion is another issue Zimmerman is pushing ahead of November. Zimmerman, who supports abortion rights, said the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is a major issue for voters in his district.
“I saw in my primary — and it really was triggered by the reversal of Roe — an energy and activism and engagement that wasn’t there before,” he said. “It was a call to action for Democrats.”
According to last month’s NBC News poll, 58% of voters disapproved of the Supreme Court’s decision, versus 38% who approved.
This week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., unveiled federal legislation that, if passed, would ban abortion after 15 weeks. It’s unclearwhether Graham will find much party support because the issue is likely to hurt them in competitive districts like New York’s 3rd.
In a September 2020 interview with The Island Now, a New York news website, Santos said, “I will vote to support the ban of abortion in the United States.” However, he told NBC News that he would “never advocate for a full ban.”
“There is not a scenario on earth where I would advocate for a full ban. The women in New York District 3 should not worry,” he said.
The decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, also contained a memo by Justice Clarence Thomas arguing the Supreme Court should reconsider its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
“The Dobbs decision was a direct message to the LGBTQ community that ‘you are next up,’ and they are coming for us,” Zimmerman said.
As a result, House Democrats introduced the Respect for Marriage Act that seeks to codify same-sex marriage in federal legislation. The bill passed the Democrat-controlled House, but it faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where it needs at least 10 Republican votes to pass.
This week, Senate leaders decided to delay a vote on the bill until after the midterm elections.
Santos, who is married, said he supports codifying same-sex marriage in law but would not support a bill that forced religious institutions to contravene their beliefs.
“I am not for the state overstepping the church,” he said.
Forty-seven Republicans voted for the Respect for Marriage Act in the House, and Santos said “that shows that the Republican party is far from homophobic.”
With so many contentious issues at play, neither candidate expects sexual identity to be a deciding factor in November.
“The issue is not that both of us are gay,” Zimmerman said. “It’s what’s at stake nationally.”
On Saturday morning, members of the Pride Community Center in Gainesville received a call from a real estate office in the same complex about their building being vandalized.
“She told me that she was just informed by somebody that came to her office that the pride center had been vandalized and that the windows were all smashed,” said board member Debbie Lewis. “The reason it’s being investigated as a hate crime is because of the notes that were left.”
Members didn’t want to share the messages due to the ongoing investigation and the community joined in helping board up the windows.
The attack came just weeks before the highly anticipated return of the Gainesville Pride Festival on Oct. 22, which was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. Those who showed up at the center helped clean the mess left behind, sweeping up glass and rocks.
“Later I will be angry about this vicious hate crime but right now I’m incredibly sad for every vulnerable person in my community,” County Commission candidate Mary Alford said, adding that she faults some elected Republicans who have shared anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
The 25-year-old translator by day and trans drag performer by night felt overwhelming panic and anxiety when several thousand demonstrators gathered and marched Sunday in Turkey to demand a ban on what they consider gay propaganda and to outlaw LGBTQ organizations.
The Big Family Gathering march in the conservative heart of Istanbul attracted parents with children, nationalists, hard-line Islamists and conspiracy theorists. Turkey’s media watchdog gave the event the government’s blessing by including a promotional video that called LGBTQ people a “virus” in its list of public service announcements for broadcasters.
“We need to make all our defense against this LGBT. We need to get rid of it,” said construction worker Mehmet Yalcin, 21, who attended the event wearing a black headband printed with Islam’s testimony of faith. “We are sick of and truly uncomfortable that our children are being encouraged and pulled to this.”
Seeing images from the gathering terrified Willie Ray, the drag performer who is nonbinary, and Willie Ray’s mother, who was in tears after talking to her child. The fear wasn’t misplaced. The Europe branch of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association ranked Turkey second to last, ahead of only Azerbaijan, in its most recent 49-country legal equality index, saying LGBTQ people endured “countless hate crimes.”
“I feel like I can be publicly lynched,” Willie Ray said, describing the daily sense of dread that comes with living in Istanbul. The performer recalls leaving a nightclub still in makeup on New Year’s Eve and hurrying to get to a taxi as strangers on the street called out slurs and “tried to hunt me, basically.”
Sunday’s march was the biggest anti-LGBTQ demonstration of its kind in Turkey, where civil rights for a community more commonly referred to here as LGBTI+ — lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and other gender identities and sexual orientations — have been under assault in the years since an estimated 100,000 people celebrated Pride in Istanbul in 2014.
Turkish demonstrators holding Turkish flags attend an anti-LGBTQ+ protest in Istanbul on Sept. 18, 2022.Khalil Hamra / AP
In a visible sign of the shift, the anti-LGBTQ march went ahead without any police interference. Conversely, LGBTQ groups have had their freedom to assemble severely curtailed since 2015, with officials citing both security and morality grounds.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s views also have grown more stridently anti-LGBTQ over time. Before the 2002 election that brought the Justice and Development Party (AKP) he co-founded to power, a younger Erdogan said at a televised campaign event that he found mistreatment of gay people inhumane and legal protections for them in Turkey a “must.”
“And now, 20 years into this, you have an entirely different president that seems to be mobilizing based on these dehumanizing, criminal approaches to the LGBTQ movement itself,” said Mine Eder, a political science professor at Bogazici University in Istanbul.
The country could become more unwelcoming for the LGBTQ community. The Unity in Ideas and Struggle Platform, the organizer of Sunday’s event, said it plans to push for a law that would ban the alleged LGBTQ “propaganda” that the group maintains is pervasive on Netflix and social media, as well as in arts and sports.
The platform’s website states it also favors a ban on LGBTQ organizations.
“We are a Muslim country and we say no to this. Our statesmen and the other parties should all support this,” said Betul Colak, who attended Sunday’s gathering wearing a scarf with the Turkish flag.
Haunted by “the feeling that you can be attacked anytime,” Willie Ray thinks it would be a “total catastrophe” if a ban on the LGBTQ organizations that provide visibility, psychological support and safe spaces were enacted.
Eder, the professor, said it would be “simply illegal” to close down LGBTQ civil society based on ideological, Islamic and conservative norms — even if Turkey’s norms have indeed shifted to “using violent language, violent strategies and legalizing them.”
The Social Policy, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Studies Association, a nongovernmental LGBTQ advocacy and outreach organization in Istanbul commonly known as SPoD, is among the LGBTQ groups that stopped posting their addresses online after receiving threatening calls.
“It’s easy for a maniac to try and hurt us after all the hate speech from state officials,” said SPoD lobbyist Ogulcan Yediveren, 27. “But these security concerns, this atmosphere of fear, doesn’t stop us from work and instead reminds us every time how much we need to work.”
Ogulcan Yediveren in his office in Istanbul on Sept. 19, 2022.Khalil Hamra / AP
Gay activist Umut Rojda Yildirim, who works as SPoD’s lawyer, thinks the anti-LGBTQ sentiments on view Sunday aren’t dominant across Turkish society, but that the minority expressing them seem “louder when they have government funds, when they’re supported by the government watchdog.”
“You can just shut down an office, but I’m not going to disappear. My other colleagues aren’t going to disappear. We’ll be here no matter what,” Yildirim said.
Republican state lawmakers are rallying behind newly introduced anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that would ‘go further’ than Florida’s reviled ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law.
GOP politicians held a rally at the Pennsylvania state capitol Tuesday (20 September) to introduce House Bill 2813. The bill shares similarities with Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, which bans discussions of LGBTQ+ topics in classrooms between kindergarten and third grade.
Pennsylvania state representative Stephanie Borowicz, the bill’s primary sponsor, said HB 2813 is “patterned” on the Florida legislation but actually “goes further” than the other measure, according to PennLive.
The bill states that any public or charter school “may not offer instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity to a student in kindergarten through fifth grade”.
It would also require schools to notify parents of “health care services offered by the school entity” to students. The legislation would also allow parents to bring civil action against schools that they believe are violating the measure.
Borowicz added she believed the bill could be extended further in the future and wanted to ban classroom discussions on LGBTQ+ topics through high school.
“It really needs to be protected up through 12th grade, we need to go all the way,” she said.
However, the bill is unlikely to pass into law as Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf has already promised to veto HB 2813 and other ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills if they land on his desk.
Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf has promised to veto HB 2813 as he says it “denies humanity by reinforcing homophobic ideologies”. (Getty)
Wolf wanted lawmakers in the state to focus on the real issues facing Pennsylvanians rather than “engaging in discrimination and bullying”, WHTMreported.
“HB 2813 is an effort to scorch individuality and normalise unacceptance,” Wolf said. “This legislation denies humanity by reinforcing homophobic ideologies.”
Sharon Ward, senior policy advisor for the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, warned this bill – like other ‘Don’t Say Gay’ measures – could “really add to the existing targeting and bullying of LGBTQ kids in schools”.
“The intent of these bills seems to be to wipe out any discussion and pretend that [LGBTQ people] don’t exist,” Ward said.
Pennsylvania lawmakers in the state Senate passed a similar bill, Senate Bill 1278, in June and currently awaits consideration in the House.
SB 1278 would also ban classroom discussions of LGBTQ+ topics for pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students. Instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity would also be prohibited between sixth and twelfth grade unless it is done in an “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate” manner.
Campaigners have denounced the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills as they attempt to “wipe out any discussion and pretend that [LGBTQ people] don’t exist”. (Getty)
The Human Rights Campaign announced Tuesday that Kelley Robinson will serve as its ninth president — the first Black queer woman to lead the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization.
Robinson, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said she was honored to lead HRC and its 3 million member-advocates during “a pivotal moment in our movement for equality for LGBTQ+ people.”
“We, particularly our trans and BIPOC communities, are quite literally in the fight for our lives and facing unprecedented threats that seek to destroy us,” Robinson said in a statement Tuesday, using an acronym for Black and Indigenous people of color. “The overturning of Roe v. Wade reminds us we are just one Supreme Court decision away from losing fundamental freedoms including the freedom to marry, voting rights, and privacy.”
She continued, “We are facing a generational opportunity to rise to these challenges and create real, sustainable change. I believe that working together this change is possible right now. This next chapter of the Human Rights Campaign is about getting to freedom and liberation without any exceptions — and today I am making a promise and commitment to carry this work forward.”
Robinson began her career in 2008 as an organizer for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in Missouri, and she has worked in advocacy ever since, according to the HRC. Prior to becoming the executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the advocacy and political arm of the reproductive health care nonprofit group, she served as its national organizing director and as director for youth engagement.
Morgan Cox and Jodie Patterson, board chairs for the Human Rights Campaign and its foundation, said in a joint statement that Robinson was at the center of fights to stop the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and defund Planned Parenthood.
“These past months have reminded us why equality and liberation work is so important and we believe Kelley Robinson is the exact person to help us lead the fight for all LGBTQ+ people around the world,” Cox and Patterson said.
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A report released in August 2021 by the New York Attorney General’s Office alleged that David was involved in efforts to discredit a woman who accused then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment. David allegedly consulted with the governor’s office in December 2020, while president of HRC, the report said.
However, HRC conducted an internal investigation and found that David’s “conduct in assisting Governor Cuomo’s team, while president of HRC, was in violation of HRC’s conflict of interest policy and the mission of HRC,” the group said last year.
In February, David sued the organization in federal court, alleging that he was underpaid and then terminated “because he is Black.” He also claimed that there is a culture of racism in the organization.
Joni Madison, HRC’s interim president, said in a response that David’s complaint “is riddled with untruths” and described it as retaliation for his firing, which HRC said was the result of his own actions.
MONKEY POX VACCINATIONSAVAILABLE AT FACE TO FACE~~~TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27th. &WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28th.10:00am – 2:00pm
FIRST & SECOND DOSES AVAILABLE NO APPOINTMENT NECESSARY/WALK-IN’S WELCOMED
In partnership with Sonoma County Public Health Department we will be offering the Monkey Pox Vaccine in our office back parking lot area located at 873 Second Street in Santa Rosa nextTuesday & Wednesday, September 27th and 28th between the hours of 10am to 2pm. Monkey pox is caused by a virus that is closely related to the virus that causes smallpox. The vaccine will provide a good level of protection against monkey pox and is an important tool in preventing the spread of the disease.In the past few weeks numbers of Monkey pox have declined. To ensure that this continues it is important for people to get vaccinated. According to the deputy coordinator for the White House efforts to control the outbreak are entering a critical time, a “harder phase of the vaccination campaign,” referring to the need to reach underserved communities.For this reason we are pleased to offer this vaccine to our community here in Sonoma County. Please share this with your friends and people whom you think may be at the highest level of risk.
[Image Description: An image graphic with a purple background featuring a gradient purple, pink, orange, and yellow diamond shape, and white text listing the event details from the caption above. The logos of the four sponsoring organizations are included in a row along the bottom. Image 1 is in English, Image 2 is in Spanish.]
[Descripción de la imagen: un gráfico de imagen con un fondo morado que presenta una forma de diamante degradado de color morado, rosa, naranja y amarillo, y texto blanco que enumera los detalles del evento del pie de foto anterior. Los logotipos de las cuatro organizaciones patrocinadoras se incluyen en una fila en la parte inferior. La imagen 1 está en inglés, la imagen 2 está en español.]
The Russian River Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are proud to present a night of fun, fundraising and frivolity as only the Sisters know how. This is not like any other Bingo game you’ve ever played. Picture your Grandmother’s church hall bingo crossed with the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the Sisters in their best drag-nun attire.
You will be participating with all your fellow players to raise money for Russian River Sisters Grants Fund. The Russian River Sisters’ Grant Fund is managed by a committee of Sisters. Grant funding requests are accepted only via the application form on our website. Grant Fund applications are reviewed and evaluated by the Grants Committee. In evaluating an application, we consider the nature of the request and how relevant it is to the needs of our local community
