News

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Advocacy groups urge Biden to develop plan to protect LGBTQ Afghans

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A group of six advocacy groups on Thursday urged the Biden administration to develop a 10-point plan to protect LGBTQ Afghans after the Taliban regained control of their country. The Council for Global Equality; the Human Rights Campaign; Immigration Equality; the International Refugee Assistance Project; the Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration and Rainbow Railroad in a letter they sent to President Biden called for his administration to “prioritize the evacuation and resettlement of vulnerable refugee populations, including LGBTQI people, and ensure that any transitory stay in a third country is indeed temporary by expediting refugee processing.” The nine other suggestions are […]

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California poised to become the first state to outlaw ‘stealthing’

California could soon become the first state to outlaw “stealthing”, the vile practice of removing a condom during sex without verbal consent. State lawmakers sent a bill to governor Gavin Newsom’s desk on Tuesday (7 September) that would add the act to California’s civil definition of sexual battery, the Associated Press reported. The proposed bill, AB 453, would allow victims to sue perpetrators who removed a condom without verbal consent for damages, including punitive damages. However, according to the Washington Post, the California bill stops short of classifying nonconsensual condom removal as a crime that could result in jail time. Similar bills on stealthing […]

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What the international community can do to support LGBTQ Ugandans

Less than 24 hours after an LGBTQIA+ sexual freedom solidarity delegation I was honored to be part of finished in Kampala this spring, the homophobic heat intensified. The “Sexual Offenses Bill” that criminalizes consensual same sex acts, was approved by the Ugandan Parliament on May 3, 2021.  Now the dust has settled, what can the international community do? Decolonize Uganda’s homophobic laws are near duplicates of British colonial legislation; one of the British empire’s most notorious exports. The “Public Nuisance Act”, the “Rogue and Vagabond Act”, the “Anti Pornography Act” and the “Anti Miniskirt Act” are all inspired by Thatcher’s deadly Section 28 law that prohibited “the promotion of […]

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‘Saint of 9/11’ and ‘Hero of Flight 93’: They lived very different lives but share a legacy in death

Twenty years ago, on one of America’s darkest days, two planes flew into the twin towers, another into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania. But even during the tragic early morning hours of Sept. 11, 2001, there were heroes. People like Mark Bingham, who was aboard United Airlines Flight 93 when it went down near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. And the Rev. Mychal Judge, who was tending to victims in the World Trade Center’s north tower when debris from the collapsing south tower killed him and many others. On the face of it, the two men couldn’t […]

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Feminist icon Judith Butler compares ‘gender critics’ to fascists

Philosopher and feminist icon Judith Butler has explained why “rethinking the category of ‘woman’” to include trans women is vital in “securing greater freedoms for women”. Butler’s 1990 book Gender Trouble is a text that proved foundational to the development of queer theory. In an interview with The Guardian, Butler reflected on the book 31 years later, and explained that “it was meant to be a critique of heterosexual assumptions within feminism, but it turned out to be more about gender categories”. Before the book’s publication, and since, “what it means to be a woman does not remain the same from decade to […]

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Register for SoCo Library’s Emergency Preparedness Series

Get Prepared for Emergencies  Are you ready if disaster strikes? Learn how to prepare yourself and your loved ones in case of an emergency with virtual events through the Emergency Preparedness: Sonoma Ready Series! Advanced registration is required. See a selection of events below. Some events offered with simultaneous Spanish interpretation.  Listen to experts review different brands/types of products for your Go Bag at the Go Bag Product Review event on Saturday, September 18, at 11:00 am. Register here. How to Home Harden on Saturday, September 25, at 11:00 am, will teach you how to “harden” buildings and create good defensible space so your […]

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Lawyer who won equal marriage for the US is ‘optimistic’ trans rights will prevail

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The lawyer who fought for – and won – equal marriage for gay, lesbian and bisexual people says she is “optimistic” about the future of trans rights in the US. Mary L. Bonauto, an LGBT+ civil rights lawyer, represented the gay plaintiffs in the momentous Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, which paved the way for same-sex marriage in the US in 2015. She had been fighting for marriage equality since the 1990s – and led on the Goodridge v. Department of Public Health case which saw Massachusetts become the first state where same-sex couples could legally marry in 2004. In an op-ed for USA Today, […]

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Five shot in attack near Atlanta Black Gay Pride event

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At least five people sustained gunshot wounds in a shooting near an Atlanta nightclub hosting a black gay Pride event. Shots rang out around 6 am Monday (September 6) near The Marquette Lounge, a venue hosting a Lil Kim concert as part of black gay Pride. Officers responded to reports of gunshots at the scene and discovered the five aforementioned victims. All received treatment at a nearby hospital and fortunately did not sustain any life-threatening injuries. The identities of the victims have not been made public. 11Alive reports that an investigation suggested that a fight broke out among concert patrons. Several […]

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Help NorCal’s Oasis Assist Queer Afghan Youth

Oasis’s legal team and pro bono attorneys are rushing to file urgent petitions for a group of nineteen LGBTQ+ youth and immediate family members hiding in Kabul. On Monday, Oasis learned about a group of LGBTQ+ youth desperately seeking legal advocates to help them file humanitarian parole applications to enter the United States so that they can seek asylum. Oasis staff, interns and pro bono attorneys are working around the clock to complete the nineteen applications by the end of the week. Once the humanitarian parole applications are filed, each person is assigned a unique case confirmation number by the […]

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