LGBTQI History: A Sonoma County Timeline 1947-2000. Wednesdays 1:30-3pm. Online via Zoom. Next Wed. 8/25, We will be reviewing Pre-Stonewall San Francisco with Shad Reinstein. Looking forward to seeing you there! Please contact me to enroll in this FREE class and receive a Zoom invite: cdungan@santarosa.edu
James Hormel, the first openly gay U.S. ambassador and a philanthropist who funded organizations to fight AIDS and promote human rights, has died. He was 88. Hormel died Friday at a San Francisco hospital with his husband, Michael, at his side and while listening to his favorite Beethoven concerto, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, praised Hormel as a civil rights pioneer who lived “an extraordinary life.” “I will miss his kind heart and generous spirit. It’s those qualities that made him such an inspirational figure and beloved part of our city,” she said. In 1997, then-President […]
Two newlywed women were found fatally shot at their southeastern Utah campsite, officials said, days after telling friends they were worried about a “creepy guy” who had been lurking nearby. The bodies of Crystal Michelle Turner, 38, and wife Kylen Carrol Schulte, 24, were discovered Wednesday off La Sal Loop Road in Moab, Utah, about 260 miles southeast of Salt Lake City, according to a statement from the Grand County sheriff. “At this time the Grand County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an on-going homicide investigation,” the statement said. “We are currently following up with any and all leads that come to our attention […]
Chinese tech giant Tencent’s WeChat social media platform has deleted dozens of LGBTQ accounts run by university students, saying some had broken rules on information on the internet, sparking fear of a crackdown on gay content online. Members of several LGBTQ groups told Reuters that access to their accounts was blocked late on Tuesday and they later discovered that all of their content had been deleted. “Many of us suffered at the same time,” said the account manager of one group who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue. “They censored us without any warning. All […]
Last September, Marie Pinkney beat incumbent Delaware state Sen. David McBride in the Democratic primary by a solid margin, before going on to a decisive victory in the general election. Upon winning, Pinkney became not only the first openly queer woman to be elected to the Delaware Senate but one of dozens of LGBTQ female candidates who won their elections in the last cycle. Pinkney, a social worker, said she was inspired to run because of her work with victims of gun violence and a lack of political will to pass effective gun control legislation. “I didn’t know if I […]
A New Jersey appeal court has upheld a massive $3.5 million fine against a conversion therapy practice, which was shut down after former patients alleged widespread abuse. On Tuesday (6 July), the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey upheld a previous judgement against Jewish Institute for Global Awareness (JIFGA) – formerly known as Jews Offering New Alternatives (JONAH). JONAH was a nonprofit that claimed to be able to cure patients of same-sex attractions. Former clients and practitioners have been locked in a heated legal battle for years. The Southern Poverty Law Center, who brought the initial lawsuit on […]
Karen Holden, LGBT+ lawyer and founder of A City Law Firm, writes for PinkNews about the legal leaps and bounds the UK has made in the last three decades. It has been almost 54 years since the decriminalisation of homosexualitystarted, sparking the decades-long fight for LGBT+ equality under British law. t all kicked off on 21 July 1967 with the Sexual Offences Act (the law that started to recognise LGBT+ rights). Since this monumental move, we have made some phenomenal steps forward. In light of this upcoming anniversary, let’s celebrate some of the most game-changing laws that have transformed the lives of the community […]
Russia discriminated against a trans woman and violated her right to family life by denying her any contact with her children, Europe’s leading human rights court has ruled. In a landmark judgement released on Tuesday (6 July), the European Court of Human Rights unanimously ruled in favour of a divorced trans woman who was blocked by Russian domestic courts from seeing her two young children back in 2017. It marks the first time the court has found a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights’ prohibition of discrimination (Article 14) on the basis of a person’s gender identity. Russia ratified the convention […]
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has claimed that his cruel law banning the “promotion” of LGBT+ lives to minors is “not about homosexuality”. In June, Orbán and his ruling party passed legislation restricting the portrayal of LGBT+ people on media, school materials and advertisements aimed at minors. It was quickly compared to Russia’s “gay propaganda bill” and Britain’s Section 28. But faced with backlash from EU leaders, Orbán simply sidestepped their concerns with an astonishing claim at a European Council summit last week. “It’s not about homosexuality,” he said, according to the Independent. “It’s about the kids and the parents. “I am defending the rights […]
In recent years, LGBTQ rights have made significant advancements in the United States, but there remain areas of growing legislative hurdles and challenges. In a country that is divided on a long list of cultural and societal issues, the acceptance of gay marriage stands out as a remarkable exception. Once a divisive issue, it now has the support of 7 in 10 Americans, according to a recent poll from Gallup. But perhaps even more impressive, gay marriage now has majority support across a long list of voter groups. It’s probably not a big surprise that 83 percent of Democrats say […]