LGBTQI History: A Sonoma County Timeline 1947-2000. Wednesdays 1:30-3pm. Online via Zoom. On Wed, Feb 23 Magi Fedorka will be presenting on Forward Together, a major activist organization in the 1980s-90s. Please contact me to enroll in this FREE class and receive a Zoom invite: cdungan@santarosa.edu
The Rev. Richard Weinberg, an Episcopalian rector in Washington, D.C., was surprised to find that his diocese didn’t have a policy for paid parental leave when he began preparing to adopt a child with his partner last year. The church allowed three months of specifically paid maternal leave, four weeks more than D.C. law mandates. But unlike some of the district’s provisions, the church’s policy didn’t address people, including LGBTQ couples, who seek to have children through adoption, surrogacy or other means. After he and another priest petitioned the diocese for a policy that included all methods of starting a […]
Two local organizations are partnering to distribute free copies of controversial books in response to the recent increase in attempts to remove titles from school libraries. In Purpose Educational Services and the St. Louis bookstore EyeSeeMe will deliver free copies of “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morisson to Missourians who request it. The organizations raised more than $3,000 in the first few hours after launching the book program, said Heather Fleming, founder of In Purpose Educational Services. “If you look at most of the books that they are trying to ban, they are the stories of people from historically marginalized […]
We are a month into the New Year and we are just getting started on what promises to be an exciting year for Face to Face and the clients we serve in Sonoma County. To all who have supported our work through the years we are grateful for your continued support. Hard to believe but we are now in our 39th year of helping people with HIV/AIDS in Sonoma County. What began as a grassroots effort to help those who were dying of AIDS has grown into an organization that provides best-practice, evidence-based prevention and care services, all the while supporting […]
Parents in Georgia have reported that an elementary school administrator took down a young child’s Pride artwork and compared it to a Nazi flag. The artwork featured a rainbow Pride flag, an umbrella, and the words “Gay is OK”, and was drawn by a student at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School, in Athens, Georgia, which teaches children aged five to 11. The child’s teacher proudly displayed the drawing in their classroom, but according to local TV station WXIA-TV, was told to remove it by school administrators. When the teacher questioned why they should take it down, an administrator reportedly compared the adorable Pride […]
A trans woman has shared her heartbreaking experience of conversion therapy to warn how the barbaric practice can at first come across like “kindness”. Warning: Discusses mental health, suicidal thoughts, sexual assault and conversion therapy. In a Twitter thread that has gone viral, Meghan explained that she attended Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute between 2009 and 2012. While there, she claimed, she underwent horrific conversion therapy. Megan said that she knew that she was a girl from the age of four. “When I first learned about trans people I asked a parent about them,” she wrote. “They told me, ‘Transsexuals are deeply […]
For the first time in history, California’s Legislative LGBTQ Caucus could grow to comprise 10% of the state legislature in 2022. Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, announced endorsements of three openly LGBTQ+ candidates on Wednesday: former San Diego City Council President Georgette Gómez in Assembly District 80; Palm Springs City Councilmember and former Mayor Christy Holstege in Assembly District 47; and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Joseph C. Rocha in Senate District 40. Equality California previously announced early endorsements of Rick Chavez Zbur for Assembly District 51 and Chula Vista City Councilmember Steve Padilla for Senate District 18. There are currently eight openly LGBTQ+ Californians serving in the Legislature, including four in […]
The human rights and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan threatens everyone there, but lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, and other sexual and gender minorities, face an acute threat of violence and even death from the Taliban authorities. These people find hope in Rainbow Railroad, a nongovernmental organization that helps LGBT people flee across borders to safety. Rainbow Railroad provided invaluable support and advice to Human Rights Watch and OutRight Action International for our new report, “Even If You Go to the Skies, We’ll Find You”: LGBT People in Afghanistan After the Taliban Takeover. Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch, interviewed […]
Lydia Caradonna says there’s “no way to work safely” as a sex worker as long as the coronavirus pandemic is ongoing. COVID-19 has upended so many industries and it has resulted in countless people losing their jobs. Sex workers have been among the worst affected. The Omicron wave has made the outlook even worse. Once again, sex workers have found themselves unable to meet clients safely, always working in fear that they could contract or pass on COVID-19. High case numbers have also impacted on client numbers. Countless sex workers have found themselves struggling to make ends meet – and they no longer have […]
Young LGBT+ people who have experienced sexual assault have reported being afraid to seek help because of prejudice. A survey released Monday (7 February) by the NHS asked 4,000 people in England about their experiences of sexual assault. Two in five people said they did not know where to get help after being sexually assaulted, while 56 per cent of sexual assault survivors sought no help from support services following the attack. The NHS offers support for people who have experienced sexual assault including through specialised sexual assault referral centres, or SARCs. However, 72 per cent were unaware the NHS even offered such help. […]