News

/

Graton Resort Casino Welcomed as Annual Title Sponsor and Host of the Sonoma County Pride

Sonoma County Pride (SCP) is pleased to welcome back Graton Resort & Casino as Annual Title Sponsor of this year’s Pride celebrations and host of this year’s unique re-imagined “Beyond the Rainbow Drive-Through Parade” on Saturday, June 5. A keystone of this year’s month-long celebration, the design of this parade event acknowledges and respects the need for COVID-19 safety and social distancing by re-imagining the event as a drive-through experience. Organizations and individual contingents will occupy defined spaces for their stationary displays (floats) and celebrants, allowing attendees to drive along the parade route and experience the excitement and community of […]

/ /

Biden administration to let embassies fly the Pride flag on the same pole as the US flag

The Biden-Harris administration has given blanket approval for US embassies to fly the LGBT+ Pride flag on the same flagpole as the US flag. Secretary of state Antony Blinken has made good on his vow to authorise US diplomatic outposts across the world to fly both flags with, well, pride from the same halyard. n doing so, Blinken overturned a Trump-era ban that paves the way for envoys to fly them before 17 May, which is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, and Pride Month in June. According to a confidential cable reviewed by Foreign Policy, while the directive removes both the ban […]

/ /

Cameroon: Wave of Arrests, Abuse Against LGBT People

Cameroonian security forces have arbitrarily arrested, beaten, or threatened at least 24 people, including a 17-year-old boy, for alleged consensual same-sex conduct or gender nonconformity, since February 2021, Human Rights Watch said today. At least one of them was forced to undergo an HIV test and anal examination. Based on Human Rights Watch’s monitoring and discussions with Cameroonian nongovernmental organizations, the recent accounts of abuse documented here seem to be part of an overall uptick in police action against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Cameroon. Sexual relations between people of the same sex are criminalized in Cameroon and punished with up […]

/

All SoCo Residents eligible for Coronavirus standby list

Sonoma County recently has launched a standby list for coronavirus vaccination appointments. Residents who register for the list will be notified when vaccination appointments at local clinics become available because of extra doses or unfilled appointments, said Matt Brown, a county spokesman. Individuals will be called in the order that they registered, Brown said, and should be “ready to go” once they are notified. The calls may come from a blocked number. To register, visit https://form.jotform.com/211016242241134. Residents will be asked to provide their name, date of birth, address, contact information and preferred language. Insurance is not required to receive a vaccine.

/ /

Survivor of Pulse nightclub massacre is tired of gun violence being ‘normalized’

,

Brandon Wolf, a survivor of the Pulse nightclub shooting, has insisted that it “isn’t impossible to solve” gun violence. Since the the June 2016 shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, which saw 49 mostly Latinx LGBT+ people killed, there have been at least 50 mass shootings in the US, according to GLAAD. Wolf was one of the survivors of the atrocity and a lead gun reform advocate. Speaking with the podcast LGBTQ&A, produced by The Advocatemagazine in partnership with GLAAD, Wolf said: “It’s sad that we’ve almost allowed ourselves to feel like violence is inevitable, especially against young people. “The reality is not that […]

/ /

Montana Gov Signs Anti-LGBT “Religious Freedom” Bill

The Montana Standard reports: Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte on Thursday signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, bolstering religious beliefs as a claim or defense in court. Democrats and other opponents have decried the new law, arguing it would empower people to freely discriminate against LGBTQ people with beliefs that they are immune in the courts. Democratic lawmakers in both chambers who are LGBTQ shared soul-bearing testimony in floor sessions about the message the bill’s passage would send to communities who already suffer discrimination. The legislation spurred opponents to rally outside the Capitol, while more than 250 companies co-signed a letter opposing SB […]

/ /

Vermont to become 13th US state to ban ‘senseless’ gay and trans panic defences

,

Vermont is on track to become the 13th US state to ban the outdated and abhorrent gay and trans panic defences. The Vermont Senate unanimously voted Wednesday (21 April) to sign a state measure that will stop defendants from citing a victim’s sexuality or gender, perceived or otherwise, to justify the killing of queer people. The decades-old legal strategy, long used to chillingly win a jury’s sympathy, lessen charges or shorten a sentence, says that people kill or become violent in a state of temporary insanity because the victim is LGBT+. While the defence has never been used in the […]

/ /

City of Scottsdale passes anti-discrimination ordinance

The city of Scottsdale has voted to approve a non-discrimination ordinance, becoming the eighth city in Arizona to provide protections to members of the LGBTQ community and other groups. The Scottsdale City Council unanimously passed the ordinance on Tuesday protecting residents from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, public places and housing. The ordinance will take effect on May 20 and apply to all elected and appointed city officials, employees and volunteers and all contractors, vendors and consultants of the city.  “The ordinance represents the city of Scottsdale’s commitment to anti-discrimination and fair treatment of residents, […]

/ /

Teen suspended for painting his nails wins fight against school’s dress code

,

Gay teenager Trevor Wilkinson, who was suspended for wearing nail polish, has won his fight against his Texas school board. The Clyde High School senior, 17, received an indefinite in-school suspension in November last year for breaking the school’s “homophobic and sexist” dress code that prohibited nail polish for male students only. Highlighting the school’s “double standard”, he asked board members at the time: “Why is it against dress code for a man to be comfortable with his masculinity and defy the gender norms society has imposed on us? “Why is it harmful for me to wear nail polish? If it’s not […]

«‹ 341 342 343 344›»