A gay man who worked as a flight attendant for Hawaiian Airlines is being mourned by his loved ones after he tragically died of coronavirus.
Jeff Kurtzman, 60, was one of 17 people to test positive after attending an employee training session in Honolulu in late June. He was admitted to hospital after returning home to Los Angeles, and died of complications relating to coronavirus just a few weeks later on July 21.
“I am heartbroken,” John Duran, council member and former mayor of West Hollywood, told The Advocate.
“We sang together in the gay men’s chorus and he was a sobriety brother of mine. He was a sweet and gentle giant. He gave away more to others than he received. He was an inspiration and a joyful presence in my life — and hundreds of others.”
Other West Hollywood locals have shared their grief on social media, describing Kurtzman as a “one-of-a-kind, gentle soul” and “a loving, generous, and kind man” with an “amazing sense of humour”.
Kurtzman had worked for Hawaiian Airlines for 34 years. Confirming his death in an email to staff, CEO Peter Ingram paid tribute to “his passion for discovering new places, people and cultures; his terrific sense of humour and knack for easy conversation; and his caring heart.”
“He embodied the values of aloha and malama that we hold dear,” he added in the email, seen by NBC.
According to the Hawaii Department of Health, social distancing at the Hawaiian Airlines training session was non-existent and masks were optional.
Kurzman told a close friend he met after the session that some people “got a little lax on the second day”, but added: “I kept my mask on. I don’t want to get sick.”
Of the at least 16 employees that were infected, some went on to expose eight household members. It is believed that one infected person from the training program is also responsible for 20 additional cases at two Hawaiian gyms.
Hawaiian Airlines has now resumed its training with stricter rules on the use of face masks and social distancing.
“All of our instructors have been tested, and the approximately 60 employees who have been through recent training were asked to self-quarantine and monitor their health,” a statement read.
The airline is offering support to Kurtzman’s family and is monitoring those who are recovering from COVID-19.
Mike Feuer, Los Angeles City Attorney, announced charges against a man in connection with a “heated altercation” at Las Perlas bar in downtown Los Angeles that ended with transgender women and gay men being dragged out of the bar.
Eduardo Gonzalez has been charged with one count of making a criminal threat and a second count alleging the criminal threat constituted a hate crime.
The incident happened almost a year ago on the night of August 23 last year.
On that night, several transgender women and gay men met at Las Perlas bar for drinks following the DTLA Proud Festival.
During that time Gonzalez and his girlfriend sat at a table with the group and allegedly “made multiple transphobic and misgendering slurs toward the transgender women, leading to an argument with the group,” officials said.
Eventually a security guard at the bar forcibly removed everyone involved but while being kicked out, Gonzalez allegedly shouted threats that he would return with a gun.
Video of the altercation went viral over the weekend, the footage shows one person being carried out of Las Perlas. It then pans to a woman, identified as Jennifer Bianchi, shouting, “Don’t touch me like that,” before she is shoved into a wall. Bianchi shoves back and says she needs her shoe before she’s carried out as well.
A third woman is put into a chokehold before being forced out.
The group was made up of staff and volunteers from Bienestar Human Services, a non-profit social services organization for Latino and LGBTQ groups. They said in a statement later that they were treated unfairly because of their identity.
After the incident, a protest was started at Las Perlas the following day, as well as support by Mayor Eric Garcetti, who vowed that a thorough investigation will be done.
In a tweet after the incident occurred Mayor Garcetti wrote “Los Angeles is a place where hate against any person, regardless of gender identity, is not tolerated. My office is in communication with @LAPDHQ about the incident at Las Perlas, and will ensure a proper investigation is completed.”
Feuer echoed the sentiment in announcing the charges against Gonzalez and he is scheduled to be arraigned on August 7th.
Las Perlas bar also issued an apology on their Facebook account stating a new security staff — one that has received sensitivity training — is being hired.
They went on to say “Our first and primary concern, and has been from day one, is to operate a safe place for all people,” the bar posted. “Period, no exceptions. We regret that didn’t happen Friday night, and want to apologize to all of our guests, including the Transgender community, a community who has come to our bar as well as works there.”
Before Edafe Okporo founded New York City’s first and only shelter for asylum-seekers and refugees, he was wandering the streets of Elizabeth, New Jersey, a refugee with nowhere to go. Although he was homeless, Okporo was happy to be in the United States.
“Everything just changed when I stepped my feet into this country,” said Okporo, 30, an LGBTQ activist who fled his homeland, Nigeria, in 2016, “because there is an opportunity to dream of a better future, to have a path here as a gay man.”
Okporo grew up in Warri, a city in southern Nigeria. Not only was he poor growing up, but he also struggled with his sexuality. When high school classmates discovered that Okporo was interested in boys, he said, they outed him to his parents, who made him undergo conversion therapy.
Guest lay in beds provided at the shelter.Zac Hacmon
Later, while attending college in Enugu, Nigeria, he arranged a meeting with a man he had met through a dating website. What he thought was a date, he said, turned out to be a “siege.” Once he was inside the man’s apartment, he said, a group of men jumped out of a closet and held him hostage while they stole money from his bank account.
“That was the first time I realized that it’s not just that my parents were trying to prevent me from being gay,” he said, “but they were trying to protect me from such kind of persecution.”
Many such laws are thought to be rooted in the British Empire: According to a report published in the Cambridge Review of External Affairs in 2014, former British colonies are “much more likely” to criminalize same-sex acts than other countries. Since 1999, however, some parts of northern Nigeria that are governed by Sharia law punish homosexual activity with “caning, imprisonment or death by stoning,” according to Human Rights Watch.
Traumatized by the attack, Okporo spent the rest of college forcing himself to date women. He joined a church and even became a pastor. But after he graduated in 2014 — the same year Nigeria made same-sex relationships punishable by up to 10 years in prison — he decided he could no longer live a lie. He moved to the Nigerian capital, Abuja, where he helped found the International Centre for Advocacy on Right to Health, an LGBTQ rights organization and HIV clinic.
But Okporo’s activism made him a target. One night in 2016, alone in his apartment, he was startled awake by a loud noise. A mob, he said, was ramming down his door. They rushed in, dragged him into the street and beat him unconscious. Some good Samaritans found him, saw his ID card and carried him to the clinic where he worked.
“When I woke up in the clinic, I knew I had to leave Nigeria for me to be safe,” he said.
After fleeing to Dubai and then returning to Nigeria, he obtained a visa to attend the International LGBTQ Leaders Conference, organized by the Victory Institute, in Washington D.C. — a chance to seek asylum in the U.S., where same-sex marriage had recently been legalized and which he pictured as “a very accepting place.”
Clothes at the RDJ Refugee Shelter thrift store.Zac Hacmon
That image, he said, turned out to be different from the reality. Okporo approached an admission officer at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport and explained that he was seeking asylum. He said the officer took him to an airport jail cell, where he was forced to sign deportation papers.
“The officer came and he put handcuffs on me,” Okporo said, “and drove me to the detention center in New Jersey.”
Okporo would spend five harrowing months in a detention center in Elizabeth. Immigration Equality, a group that advocates on behalf of LGBTQ and HIV-positive immigrants, connected him with a lawyer who helped him fight deportation in court. After winning his case, he was released from detention, but he had nowhere to go.
His only resource was a phone number advertised on a flyer tacked to the wall of the detention center. The number belonged to First Friends of New Jersey and New York, an organization that supports detained immigrants and asylum-seekers.
A volunteer picked Okporo up and drove him to a YMCA shelter in Newark, New Jersey. He used a computer at the public library to connect with a former colleague from the International Centre for Advocacy on Right to Health, who was living in Queens, New York. She agreed to let him stay with her for three months while he found work, first at a New Jersey-based catering company and then at a nearby HIV clinic.
But Okporo wanted to do more to help asylum-seekers and refugees like himself. He persuaded the leaders of the RDJ Refugee Shelter in Harlem — named after homeless advocate Robert Daniel Jones — to turn the shelter into a full-time transitional refuge for migrants fleeing violence and persecution abroad.
Housed in a former church, the shelter is New York City’s only full-time refuge for asylum-seekers and refugees. The 10-bed shelter has provided temporary housing for more than 80 migrants, said Okporo, the shelter’s director. The shelter also provides legal counseling and job assistance.
The number of refugees in the U.S. is the lowest since 1980, according to the Pew Research Center. The Trump administration last year capped the number of refugees permitted into the U.S. at 18,000, down from 30,000. The administration also enacted a rulelast year that prevented immigrants from claiming asylum in the U.S. if they did not first try to claim it in a country they passed through on their way to the U.S. border.
Late last month, a federal judge ruled that the restriction was illegal. However, a newly proposed rule would allow the Trump administration to deny asylum to immigrants who are considered public health risks because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under those restrictions, Okporo said, asylum-seekers would face more barriers coming to the U.S. than ever before.
A bathroom at the shelter.Zac Hacmon
“The pandemic has given the administration an opportunity to really close the door for a lot of the refugees and asylum-seekers who usually expect America to be that place of safety when they think about fleeing their countries,” he said.
Not everyone fleeing homophobic and transphobic violence abroad is from a country that criminalizes homosexuality, he said, noting that a majority of those housed in the RDJ Refugee Shelter who have received asylum are from Honduras and Jamaica. While sex between men is outlawed in Jamaica, same-sex activity is legal in Honduras. Still, LGBTQ migrants, particularly those who are transgender, face widespread persecution in both countries, Okporo said. Many non-LGBTQ migrants, he added, are fleeing war-torn regions.
All too often, LGBTQ asylum-seekers who make the journey across the border end up homeless, he said, because family and friends with permanent residence in the U.S. will not open their doors to them.
“Most of them face a kind of rejection even from their community in New York,” Okporo said. “The shelter provides them that space to be themselves even in New York City.”
Okporo, who has a degree in food science, considers himself lucky. Many asylum-seekers do not have the education or proper documentation to qualify for jobs or shelter, he said. Transgender asylum-seekers and refugees in the process of transitioning are especially vulnerable, he said, because they often lack documentation and frequently experience discrimination and violence in shelters.
“Knowing that New York is one of the most liberal places in the world and people are still subjected to such kind of persecution just makes me wonder where else in the world can LGBTQ migrants be safe,” he said.
Edafe Okporo and Juan, a guest at the shelter for asylum seekers in New York City.Zac Hacmon
Okporo is a finalist for the David Prize, an initiative of the Walentas Family Foundation that awards grants to New Yorkers who are making a difference. Okporo said that if he is selected, he will use the money to expand the RDJ Refugee Shelter, which subsists largely on grants and donations. He would also train faith leaders around New York City to use their churches, mosques and temples as places of refuge for migrants fleeing violence and persecution.
Okporo no longer feels the need to hide who he is.
“I have wanted to be open about my sexuality all my life,” said Okporo, who is unashamed to hold hands with his boyfriend, Nicolas, when they walk the streets together. “There is no way I’m going to hide it.”
In June, for the second year in a row, Okporo shared his story during NYC Pride’s annual LGBTQ celebrations, which this year were virtual. He has also written a book, “Compassion is Worth More: Using Your Civil Power to Create Change.” He said it is important for people to listen to the struggles of LGBTQ migrants, who are unable to vote, and to understand that the fight for civil rights did not end with marriage equality.
“When I came to the U.S., I discovered that some states, they have laws that permit conversion therapy. I was shocked. … In the U.S., I thought that gay marriage had eliminated such kind of struggles,” he said.
“A lot of gay people in America after gay marriage think that it is over,” Okporo added. “It’s not over.”
CORRECTION (July 26, 2020, 11:30 p.m. ET): An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Okporo’s hometown of Warri. It is a city of more than 500,000 people in southern Nigeria; it is not a village.
Japan’s government should pass the Equality Act ahead of next year’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, Human Rights Watch, Athlete Ally, and Japan Alliance for LGBT Legislation (J-ALL) said today. The groups will launch #EqualityActJapan on July 23, 2020 in support of the proposed law, which would protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The groups involved in the campaign worked with Japanese and international athletes to highlight the need for the Equality Act and an end to discrimination in sport.
“LGBT people in Japan are entitled to equal protection under the law,” said Yuri Igarashi, co-representative director of J-ALL, an umbrella organization of 100 LGBT organizations in Japan. “Postponing the Olympic Games to 2021 has given the government time to introduce and pass historic protections to benefit everyone in Japan.”
Everyone, not just athletes, can take part in the campaign, which will featurea series of online and in-person opportunities for action throughout 2020 and 2021 to demonstrate the widespread support for the Equality Act and protection from sexual orientation and gender identity-based discrimination in Japan.
Tokyo was slated to host the 2020 Olympics this summer, but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Japanese government postponed the games for a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The postponed games are scheduled to begin on July 23, 2021.
The Olympic Charter bans “discrimination of any kind,” including on the grounds of sexual orientation.
IOC President Thomas Bach has met with LGBT rights advocates and led reforms to the Olympic Charter and as part of Olympic Agenda 2020. “The IOC is an organization firmly opposed to all forms of discrimination in sport,” he wrote to Human Rights Watch in 2015.
In line with the IOC’s commitment, the Tokyo metropolitan government in October 2018 adopted a landmark ordinance that protects LGBT people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, in line with the Olympic Charter. In doing so, the city not only demonstrated its commitment to equal rights for all, but also to making the Tokyo Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games a springboard for human rights in Japan and beyond.
Tokyo’s action was important, but several Olympic competitions, including the marathon, golf, fencing, race walking, and surfing, have since been announced to take place outside of Tokyo, in Hokkaido, Saitama, Chiba, Shizuoka, Kanagawa, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures. LGBT fans, athletes, and visitors in these prefectures will not be protected under Tokyo’s anti-discrimination ordinance.
Japan has also ratified core international human rights treaties that obligate the government to protect its citizens against discrimination, including the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.
The Tokyo Olympics are advertised as celebrating “unity in diversity” and “passing on a legacy for the future.” In March 2015, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe publicly proclaimed Japan’sintention to “stamp out discrimination and respect human rights” andmade clear at the National Diet that “discrimination or prejudice against sexual minorities is not allowed in any aspect of society.”
“The Olympics is an important moment for athletes and fans to speak out for what they believe in,” said Hudson Taylor, founder and executive director of Athlete Ally. “Now is the time for the global sporting community to stand in solidarity with the LGBT community in Japan and urge the passage of the Equality Act.”
Japan has increasinglytaken a leadership role at the United Nations by voting for both the 2011 and 2014 Human Rights Council resolutions calling for an end to violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. But LGBT people in Japan continue to face intense social pressure and fewer legal protections than other Japanese.
“Japan has an opportunity to be a true global LGBT rights leader by protecting against discrimination at home,” said Kanae Doi, Japan director at Human Rights Watch. “The Tokyo metropolitan government has shown solidarity with the LGBT community by passing its historic Olympic LGBT nondiscrimination law, and the national government should urgently follow suit.”
Manal was driving home from a New Year’s party on the first day of 2019, dressed to the nines in her laced blue dress, when she got into a minor traffic accident. When police arrived, they arrested Manal, harassed her based on her gender expression, then exposed her identity by posting photos of her and a copy of her ID online, in violation of Moroccan privacy laws.
In AfroQueer Podcast’s latest episode, “One Night in Marrakech,” Manal describes the persecution she faced as a transgender woman in Morocco, where legal obstacles prohibit her from possessing ID that reflects her gender identity and her chosen name. She speaks from France, where she sought asylum after the unlawful disclosure of her private information and the online bullying, harassment, and threats she faced.
Manal links her experience to the recent “outing” campaign against gay men and trans people in Morocco. People created fake accounts on same-sex dating apps and endangered users by posting their private information on social media, sparking bullying and hate speech. Morocco criminalizes same-sex relations, and those “outed” are exposed to the risk of eviction, loss of employment, and social ostracization.
Manal, who had worked tirelessly to keep her job as a medical assistant and a roof over her head, lost everything when the police “outed” her. Her story encapsulates the vulnerability of many trans people in Morocco, forced to practice self-censorship to navigate their daily lives.
Manal also exposes the different experiences of trans people in Morocco. She says, “economic power and fame determine which trans woman is abused and which is protected. Trans identities are accepted in Morocco as long as they serve as entertainment on stage, but not in ordinary life.”
“Where is the justice?” Manal asks from Paris, where she remains unemployed and worries about her parents aging while she is forced to be far from them. This should never be the cost trans people have to pay to live their truth.
The Directorate General of the Moroccan police reportedly issued an order to punish the officers who harassed Manal, but the government failed to protect her and will continue to compromise others unless it repeals discriminatory laws and protects queer and trans people from violence and harassment.
This dispatch is the second of a six-part collaboration between Human Rights Watch and AfroQueer Podcast, seeking to amplify the voices of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Africans.
LGBTQI History: A Sonoma County Timeline 1960s – 1990sNext Wednesday, 7/29, 1:30 – 3pm we will be talking with Maddy Hirshfield about Project 10 which provided LGBTQ youth support in SoCo schools 1992-2002.We are online this summer via Zoom!Please contact me to enroll in this FREE class and receivea Zoom invite: cdungan@santarosa.edu
The Republican Party in North Dakota has been condemned by a raft of party officials after it published vile and offensive remarks about the LGBT+ community.
In the party’s extended policy platform, they claimed that LGBT+ people “recruit children” and “prey” on women.
The policy document refers to bills that would advance LGBT+ rights as “SOGI bills”, meaning “sexual orientation and gender identity” bills.
It also argues that advancements in LGBT+ rights would impact adversely on the rights of straight and cisgender people – an argument queer people hear far too often — and goes on to make wildly offensive statements about the queer community without citing any evidence to back up their claims.
LGBT+ ‘practices’ are ‘unhealthy and dangerous’, according to the Republican Party in North Dakota.
“The Republican Party of North Dakota recognises that arbitrary discrimination is best sorted out in the free market which is invariably unforgiving in instances of unwarranted discrimination,” the platform says.
It then claims that LGBT+ identities – or “compulsions”, as they’re described – are “developed” rather than being genetic.
“SOGI laws empower those practicing LGBT behaviours to assume positions of mentorships of minors often over objection to parents influencing their emotions and thereby recruiting for their lifestyles,” it adds.
It goes on to say that legislative advancements in LGBT+ rights will be used to “attack religious freedom, free speech and livelihood of others”.
“Many LGBT practices are unhealthy and dangerous, sometimes endangering or shortening life and sometimes infecting society at large,” it adds.
“Therefore, be it resolved: The Republican Party of North Dakota opposes the passage of legislation which adds sexual orientation and gender identity to our century code as protected classes.”
Many LGBT practices are unhealthy and dangerous, sometimes endangering or shortening life and sometimes infecting society at large.
The document has been condemned by both Republican and Democrat lawmakers, as well as Republican governor of North Dakota Doug Burgum.
“As I’ve long said, all North Dakotans deserve to be treated equally and live free of discrimination,” he wrote on Twitter Thursday (July 23).
“There’s no place for the hurtful and divisive rhetoric in the NDGOP resolutions. We can respect one another’s freedoms without disrespecting or discriminating against the LGBT members of our state and our party, whom we support.”
North Dakota GOP regrets causing ‘any offence’ – but falls short of apologising.
Corby Kemmer, the executive director of the North Dakota GOP, said in a statement that they regret causing offence.
“We regret any offence this may have caused, and we will be reconsidering this resolution at a future meeting to bring it more in line with what delegates were attempting to communicate,” he said.
Democrat Josh Boschee, a gay man, told InForumsaid the arguments put forward in the resolution are harmful and give the state a bad name.
“Statements like this by the majority party don’t help when it comes to workforce recruitment or retaining the students we educate for 12 to 16 years,” he said.
“We see a lot of people leave the state because of bigotry like that.”
Meanwhile, Republican representative Thomas Beadle, who is running for state treasurer, lashed out at the anti-LGBT+ language on Twitter.
He said the party should be “welcoming to others, not discriminatory against people for how god made them”.
Republican senators Ray Holmberg, Curt Kreun and Scott Meyer said in a letter on Wednesday (July 22) that they stand with the LGBT+ community and would try to change the party.
US representative Kelly Armstrong said the party needs to do “a lot better”and must wipe out “hateful and divisive rhetoric”.
In the latest case of indefinitely-shuttered bars getting a helping hand from restaurants so they can reopen, Castro’s historic Twin Peaks Tavern has joined up with neighboring diner Orphan Andy’s. The iconic gay bar was able to reopen for outdoor dining and drinking this Saturday, thanks to newfound access to Orphan Andy’s full menu, according to Hoodline.
Other bars and breweries have recently announced new collaborations as well, such as Modern Times’ Oakland taproom partnering with alaMar Kitchen & Bar, or San Francisco burger spot Popsons joining forces with Teeth bar in the Mission.
Twin Peaks Tavern, one of the only bars in SF to receive historical landmark designation, has been completely closed since the beginning of San Francisco’s shutdown. While sitting on the sidewalk, bar customers must order food from Orphan Andy’s to get a cocktail and only sit with people from their household, a Twin Peaks bartender told Hoodline.
Meanwhile, Orphan Andy’s recently got a modern, pandemic-era makeover with clear plastic barriers and clear shower curtains to divide seated customers, as well as an electrostatic mister to decontaminate the space nightly.
Twin Peaks is now open Wednesday through Sunday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Davie Police Chief Dale Engle told town officials last week that he plans to retire on Sept. 3, the South Florida SunSentinel reported. He has been on paid leave for three months and will continue to be paid until he retires.
Engle was accused of saying Broward Sheriff’s school resource officer Shannon Bennett died because of his lifestyle. On Monday night, Engle told the SunSentinel he didn’t make the remark.
“I maintain my innocence,” he said.
Engle was placed on leave shortly after the state’s Fraternal Order of Police filed a complaint against him.
He said Davie officials didn’t pressure him to retire. Engle said he is leaving on his own with no pressure from the city. His decision to retire was fueled by a toxic backlash his teenage children received on social media after the allegations surfaced, he told the newspaper.
We are thrilled to be able to offer you this new way to shop in our 3 Monkeys Thrift Store.
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