Between August 2 and August 6, Pence was at a conference organised by conservative blogger Erick Erickson, a roundtable with Donald Trump’s religious freedom ambassador Sam Brownback and a “fireside chat” with Mike Farris, CEO of anti-abortion Christian lawyers the Alliance Defending Freedom.
The Human Rights Campaign said that Pence is on an “anti-LGBTQ crusade.”
On August 2, Pence appeared on stage at The Resurgent Gathering conference in Atlanta with Erick Erickson, a conservative evangelical American blogger and radio host who organised the conference.
Erickson, in a blog post on the same day, lashed out at Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg for not “repenting” his sexuality.
Erickson, a former Fox News pundit who hosts a right-wing radio show, took aim at Buttigieg on his blog, The Resurgent.
“Pete Buttigieg is a practising homosexual who wilfully refuses to recognise Holy Scripture identifies that as a sin,” Erickson wrote.
Sam Brownback has repeatedly been homophobic and transphobic
On August 5, Pence met with Sam Brownback, Trump’s new ambassador for religious freedom – who has a history of attacking LGBT+ people, often justifying his actions through religious freedom.
Pence and Brownback were part of an International Religious Freedom roundtable, at which Pence “reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to stand with people of every faith in every country around the world.”
Brownback, who gained Pence’s tie-breaking vote to be confirmed in the Senate, repeatedly promoted homophobic and transphobic policies in his seven years as Governor of Kansas.
Alliance Defending Freedom is anti-LGBT, anti-abortion
On Tuesday (August 6), Pence then went to an event run by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), an evangelical Christian group that lobbies against reproductive rights in the US.
The ADF is currently involved several anti-trans lawsuits, including in Connecticut where it has filed a federal discrimination complaint challenging the state’s policy of letting trans students compete on sports teams according to their gender identity.
A Northern California city has denied a request to hold a so-called Straight Pride rally at a park. Modesto city officials on Friday denied an application by the National Straight Pride Coalition for an Aug. 24 event at Graceada Park.
Organizer Don Grundmann had estimated 500 people would attend. The group says it supports heterosexuality, Christianity and white contributions to Western civilization. Opponents argued the rally would promote hatred of LGBTQ people and minorities.
City spokesman Thomas Reeves says the permit request was denied over safety concerns, because the group lost its liability insurance and the parks department determined the event wasn’t consistent with park use.
The other Straight Pride event in Boston is still on.
Kansas’ child welfare agency has drafted guidelines urging foster parents to allow LGBTQ kids in their care to “express themselves as they see themselves,” riling conservatives a little more than a year after the state granted legal protections to faith-based adoption agencies that do not place children in LGBTQ homes.
The Department for Children and Families issued draft “guidance” for “prudent parenting” in mid-July, six months after Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly took office. It said foster homes should recognize LGBTQ children “by their preferred identity if it differs from their sex assigned at birth.”
Conservatives read the document as a policy directive for reshaping foster families’ lives and an attempt to skirt a 2018 law that Kelly doesn’t like for protecting faith-based adoption agencies. It’s a sharp break in tone with that law, which prevents the state from barring agencies from providing services if they refuse to place children in homes violating their religious beliefs.
The department’s move drives home the difference Kelly’s election last year made on hot-button social issues. Her administration followed eight years of conservative Republican control in a state that still has a GOP-dominated Legislature and a Republican Party with a platform declaring, “We believe God created two genders, male and female.”
“It’s going to continue pushing this envelope,” said Kansas House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins, a conservative Wichita Republican, who worried in a recent newsletter about the department pursuing a “social experiment.”
The department presented the first draft of its guidelines during a quarterly meeting with private agencies that place abused and neglected children in foster and adoptive homes.
State officials said a final version could be ready later this month and won’t be formal policy or regulations, just principles for placement agencies and foster families. As such, they wouldn’t be subject to outside review — though Hawkins and other conservatives are considering legislative hearings.
Department officials said their first draft was a response to questions that private agencies passed along from foster parents who want to support LGBTQ youth. They said they’re picking up on best practices from other states and national groups.
“The fact of wanting children we’re caring for to feel safe and welcome in their foster homes just shouldn’t be a controversial issue to anybody,” Laura Howard, the department’s top administrator, said in a recent interview.
But Kelly’s views on LGBTQ rights already had conservatives on edge. Kansas said in June that it would allow transgender people to change their birth certificates to reflect their gender identities. Under Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, the state had some of the nation’s toughest rules for making such changes.
Kelly also said before taking office that she would try to avoid enforcing last year’s adoption law if she could. Conservatives link that stance and the department’s new guidance, though its officials say there is none.
“It looks like an end-run around the adoption-protection act,” said Chuck Weber, director of the Kansas Catholic Conference.
The department’s guidance says foster children have the right to wear clothing and hairstyles “that suit their gender identity” and that refusing to use their preferred pronouns “can endanger their physical and emotional well-being.”
Within days, the conservative Family Policy Alliance of Kansas criticized the guidance publicly as imposing an “invasive sexual agenda.” The first draft of the guidance included a “Q&A” discussion about transgender foster youth sharing rooms with other children and having sleepovers.
State Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, a conservative Kansas City-area Republican, said the guidelines endanger safety. For example, she said, the first draft tells foster parents that if space in their home is limited, a “biological boy” teenager can share a bedroom with a teenage girl.
Pilcher-Cook said both the foster parents and a child’s birth parents — who still might have parental rights — might object to the guidelines.
“It’s a problem when government takes such a heavy hand to coerce people to live out beliefs that they don’t embrace,” Pilcher-Cook said.
A later draft of the department’s guidance on its official letterhead dropped the Q&A section because, Howard said, “it’s really difficult to sort of script any particular situation.” Both drafts said case workers should ensure all children in a foster home are comfortable with the living arrangements.
The guidelines’ defenders said the state and placement agencies don’t require foster parents to take particular children and that the agencies work through issues before a placement. If issues arise after a placement, the agencies would attempt to work through them with families individually, rather than apply the guidelines as rules, they said.
And, they said, the goal always is to find foster homes that best fit children already traumatized by abuse or neglect.
“What it really boils down to is, we’re not going to be putting these kids in a hostile environment,” said Tom Witt, executive director of the LGBTQ-rights group Equality Kansas.
Caring for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBTQ+) Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities
Become empowered, supported and informed about the unique needs of LGBT+ older adults and adults with disabilities.
Understand how the caregiver’s approach affects the client’s care.
Learn about LGBT+ identity and caregiving.
Improve awareness and communications with and about LGBT+ people.
Earn a Certificate of Completion and $25, if you: 1) register by one week before the training, 2) arrive at the training on time and 3) complete the four-hour class.
Sign up online for the training that fits your schedule:
July 25, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m., Vintage House, 264 First St. East, Sonoma. Register: lgbt0725.eventbrite.com
September 26, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Person Senior Center/Finley Center, 2060 W. College Ave., Santa Rosa. Register: lgbt0926.eventbrite.com
October 9, 12:30 – 4:30 p.m., Windsor Senior Center, 9231 Foxwood Dr., Windsor. Register: lgbt1010.eventbrite.com
Space is limited, so make your free online reservation today! Call us with your questions: (707) 565-5700.
Training provided by: LGBTQ Connection, SAGECare and the Sonoma County Human Services Department Adult & Aging Division
Training funded and sponsored by: County of Sonoma, the Sonoma County Area Agency on Aging, In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority and the LBTQI Giving Circle Sonoma County
Barnegat Mayor Alfonso Cirulli launched a campaign Tuesday to fight a New Jersey law that brings an LGBT curriculum into schools and urged residents to join his fight. During the Tuesday morning meeting of the Township Committee, Cirulli, a 60-year-old former assistant principal, said it was his duty to protect residents and called the LGBT political movement “an affront to almighty God.”
During his opening remarks, he urged residents to pressure Gov. Phil Murphy and the state Legislature to reverse a measure signed into law on Jan. 31. The law requires middle and high school curriculums include instruction on the political, economic and social contributions of people with disabilities or who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. The law would apply to the 2020-2021 school year.
Cirulli’s Facebook page is full of the usual anti-Obama, anti-Hillary, anti-LGBT propaganda. He is also part of a New Jersey campaign against recreational pot.
A planned “Straight Pride” event in Modesto, California, is facing vocal opposition — including from the estranged gay son of one of the event’s organizers.
Matthew Mason, 28, of Turlock, California, is scheduled to address the Modesto City Council on Wednesday to oppose the National Straight Pride Coalition’s application for a permit to host a Straight Pride event on Aug. 24 at the Mancini Bowl in Modesto’s Graceada Park. The event would celebrate “heterosexuality,” “masculinity,” “femininity” and “babies, born and unborn.”
While Modesto City Council members don’t actually approve or deny such permits, according to The Modesto Bee — that’s the job of city staff — Mason, who is gay, is hoping that his perspective as the adopted son of one of the event’s organizers will still make an impression with the city.
Mason’s adoptive mother, Mylinda Mason, is one of the event’s organizers. The two are estranged because he is gay.
In an interview with NBC News, Matthew Mason said he was home-schooled by Mylinda Mason from kindergarten to 12th grade and was “raised to toe her party line.”
“Any sort of ideological deviation from her philosophy was grounds for punishment, so I quickly learned that I had to say what she wanted me to say and do what she wanted me to do — until I became an adult and I was free and then I lived in my own truth, so that’s what I’m doing,” Matthew Mason said.
Today, Matthew Mason is studying for his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and hopes to pursue a career as a nurse practitioner. When he was young, he said his mother would bring him to anti-LGBTQ protests outside the annual LGBTQ prom in Hayward, California.
“I am in a unique place to call her out for where she’s coming from, which is white supremacy, and I did not feel like I had the right to stay silent,” Matthew Mason said.
“Mylinda constantly talks about revisionist history, but really her style of history is the one that’s revisionist,” Matthew Mason said. “The genocide of the indigenous population of North America was not ever covered in our home-schooling. I learned about ‘the white men that built the world,’ to quote Mylinda, but as I got older and I got a little more aware of history, I realized that these white men who built the world built it on the backs of people of color, of slaves, and through genocide.” Matthew said that he was taught that America was a “God-blessed nation” but that his lessons also completely ignored “the genocide, slavery, and white nationalism that built it.”
In an interview, Mylinda Mason confirmed that she has been involved in anti-LGBTQ advocacy for three decades.
“I had experienced watching in the media and the educational system and America declining, I watched the dumbing down, if you will, of my nation, and as a young Christian I was concerned what was going on in our society. So I decided that someone should be involved in these issues, and one day it appeared to me that I’m someone,” Mylinda Mason said. “I might not be able to take it all on, but i can certainly do a part.”
She acknowledged that she brought Matthew to protest LGBTQ people — while he struggled with being gay. “I could see the struggle on my son’s face at the very last prom,” she said. And yet she said that her son’s homosexuality was to blame for their poor relationship, not her political opinions.
“Homosexuals in general pull away from family and friends at some point,” she said, calling it “very typical.”
“All I can say about my son is that I have read a lot of the word ‘hate’ out there and I do not hate my son, I do not like my son, I do not love my son, I adore my son — and I want my son in heaven ultimately with me one day. And so I will remain firm on standing what I believe are biblical family values.”
As for Matthew’s claim that she taught him a history of white supremacy, Mylinda Mason said, “Let’s get the quote correct — it’s Western civilization that was built by European males that came here to establish the greatest nation on earth.”
Mylinda Mason denied that she was a white supremacist. “We are the only nation in the world that has had the black man and the white man stand side by side to free their brothers from slavery,” she said. “It’s a beautiful testimony to the liberty under union.”
“Like I told the media in the past, to sensationalize it is good for selling newspapers, but it’s going to be much like a church service,” whose purpose, she said, was to celebrate “life.”
“That is, to celebrate all of life,” Mason said, “Under the order of our creator, begins with heterosexuality, masculinity, femininity, babies born and unborn, Western civilization, our wonderful country, and Christianity — really all of life — it’s a celebration of all of life.” She then quoted Psalms 44:8 — “In God we make our boast all day long, and we will praise your name forever.”
“I think that the word ‘pride’ has been stolen, if you will, or hijacked by the evil one, and I want to say that we are taking pride in our God almighty, in our creator, and in his order.”
When LGBT activist Yelena Grigoryeva found her name on a hit list of a “gay-hunting” group, she did not appear to take the threat seriously.
The group called itself “Pila”, meaning “saw”, after the series of Hollywood horror films of the same name, in which a serial killer plays games with his victims.
Pila promised “very dangerous and cruel little gifts” to a number of Russia’s gay activists.
“That’s just a threat,” Grigoryeva wrote on Facebook early last month, posting a screen grab of the group’s website on her page.
“This is not how crimes are committed.”
On July 21, her body was found in bushes close to her home in Saint Petersburg, with at least eight stab wounds to her face and back. She was 41.
The murder has horrified Russia’s LGBT community, even though there seems to be no firm evidence linking Pila directly to Grigoryeva’s fatal stabbing.
“I do not know who these people are, but it’s significant that people who think this way live among us,” said activist Mikhail Tumasov, who has also received threats from Pila.
“Many people would like to do in reality what Pila is threatening us with. The idea has emerged that killing people over their sexual orientation is not just normal, but noble,” he told AFP.
Russia’s gays and lesbians are no strangers to violence, hate crimes and even homophobic murders.
But a vigilante group seeking to turn violence against LGBT people into a game and encouraging Russians to hunt them down for sport plumbs new lows, campaigners say.
Activists said the Pila website had been around for about a year, posting names and pictures of their targets and promising “awards” for attacks on them.
– ‘Start protecting citizens’ –
Prominent activist Igor Kochetkov accused authorities of doing little to stop it as he urged police to probe the website and the death threats against Grigoryeva.
AFP / OLGA MALTSEVARussia’s LGBT community is no stranger to violence, hate crimes and even murders
“Dear police and other law enforcement agencies. It’s time to get to work!” Kochetkov, whose name was also on the hit list, said in a recent video address.
“Start protecting all citizens! And if you believe that people like us should not be protected find yourselves a different job.”
Pila’s website has only recently been blocked, as have its channels on the popular encrypted messaging app Telegram.
They say Pila may not be made up of cold-bloodied killers, but that its main goal was to further terrorise Russia’s beleaguered gay community.
AFP/File / Olga MALTSEVARussian riot police detained gay rights activists during World Day Against Homophobia and Transophobia in Saint Petersburg in May
“Pila is dangerous because it sows hatred. It inspires people to commit real crimes,” said Alla Chikinda, spokeswoman for an LGBT support centre in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
The centre, too, has received threats from Pila, which called for it to be shut down.
After mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that together killed at least 30 people over the weekend, a lawmaker in Ohio blamed the massacres on “homosexual marriage,” “drag queen advocates” and “snowflakes, who can’t accept a duly-elected President,” among other things.
Ohio State Representative Candice Keller.Ohio House of Representatives
Candice Keller is a Republican state representative from Middletown, a small city 30 miles south of Dayton, where a gunman killed at least nine people and wounded 27 others early Sunday. In a now-deleted Facebook post, she wrote: “After every mass shooting, the liberals start the blame game. Why not place the blame where it belongs?”
The post listed reasons Keller thought the United States is grappling with mass shootings, including “the breakdown of the traditional American family,” “homosexual marriage,” “fatherlessness,” “the ignoring of violent video games,” “professional athletes who hate our flag and the National Anthem,” “the relaxing of laws against criminals,” “recreational marijuana,” “Obama” and Democratic members of Congress, among others.
The post ended by saying: “Did I forget anybody? This list is long. And the fury will continue.”
Screenshots of the post were circulated on social media.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, also a Republican, responded to Keller in a tweet Sunday: “No, m’am. The blame belongs to the evil man who killed those people.”
Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones, who oversees law enforcement across Keller’s district, is among those calling for her to resign. “Candice Keller should resign at once. Shame shame,” Jones tweeted.
Randy Phillips, president of the Greater Dayton LGBT Center, said Keller’s remarks were hurtful.
“After the tragedy that took place in the city of Dayton, this hurts the community as a whole,” Phillips told NBC News Monday. “But if lawmaker Candice Keller blames gay marriage and the rest of the LGBT community for this issue is misdirecting. It’s embarrassing. If anything, she is more of the problem, not us, the LGBT community.”
Butler County sits just southwest of Dayton. Brian Hester, who serves as chair of Butler’s Democratic Party, described Keller’s comments as symptomatic of larger trends.
“As offensive as Keller’s remarks were, they are nothing more than the ‘worst hits’ of things President Trump has said time and time again,” Hester told NBC News. “If Republicans believe such words shouldn’t be spoken by someone in the Statehouse, why have they been tolerated by one in the White House?”
Keller could not immediately be reached for comment Monday. The voicemail box for a number listed in her name was full.
On Sunday Keller told The Dayton Daily News she posted something to her private, personal Facebook page. When a reporter from the newspaper read the entire statement to her, Keller said it sounded like part of her posting and that she was unsure if it had been altered.
It’s been a busy couple of months for us at Face to Face! First, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Sara Brewer and I am the new Executive Director of Face to Face. Our beloved Rick Dean retired in May after 32 years with the organization. I was fortunate to work alongside Rick and the team in my previous role as the HIV Program Manager at Santa Rosa Community Health, and am so excited for the opportunity to join the team. I am a Petaluma-native, returning home to Sonoma County after 18 years away. My academic background is in Medical Anthropology and International Development, which I studied at the University of Amsterdam and where I stayed to work internationally for several years. This included research and advocacy for affordable HIV and other medications in developing countries, as well as a consultant on supply chain management for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. I am so excited and grateful for the opportunity to work with this incredible team at Face to Face and to return home to contribute to ending HIV in Sonoma County! Even with all the transition, it’s been a smooth couple of months. We have been busy with events, completing another successful Beerfest in June, and preparing for a very special Art for Life in September. We’ll be honoring Rick at this year’s event, and hope you’ll join us in our celebration. We also want to thank the Sonoma Stompers for a fun time and supporting us at their Pride Night, and to the Russian River Sisters for supporting us at July’s Bingo. This year’s support at Gay Wine Weekend’s Sunday Brunch auction was absolutely incredible, with special thanks to our Development Director, Gary Saperstein, for continuing to support Face to Face for so many years through his event. I look forward to meeting you at Art For Life, if not before here in our offices in Santa Rosa. Sara
ART FOR LIFEOur Largest Fundraiser of the Year!Become a Sponsor Today!
Join Face to Face for this very special Art for Life, the longest-running Art Auction to end HIV as we bid farewell to our retiring director Rick Dean, while introducing you to our new Executive Director, Sara Brewer. Join us as we celebrate these two exceptional leaders. Please consider becoming asponsor for Art For Life as this is how we are able to put on this fabulous event and raise the much needed funds to do the work we do on a daily basis. Sponsor details and to sign up are right here.
Are you an Artist here in Sonoma County? We are always looking for new artists to join us at Art For Life. Donate a piece of your work and know that your art is helping people living with HIV in Sonoma County. For details and registration visit the Art For Life Website.
PROGRAM SERVICES UPDATEOnthe cutting edgewith theMAT program,as we continue to anticipate trends and gaps in services, and proactively evolve to meet the needs and demographics of our community.
Sonoma County is facing a public health crisis as the opioid and methamphetamine epidemics fuel the spread of HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis, not only through the spread of injecting drugs, but also through risky sexual behaviors associated with drug use. In 2015, we began our Syringe Exchange Program, providing a space where people feel comfortable, without judgement. In addition to providing sterile equipment, we train individuals in overdose prevention, and distribute Naloxone for opioid overdose reversal, saving lives in our community.
We are the most available syringe exchange program in Sonoma County, open 32 hours per week, providing over 350,000 syringes per year free of cost, with free disposal of used syringes. Last year alone, we provided services for over 3,000 people, with more than 2,000 visits to our office. We are uniquely positioned in Sonoma County to provide daily syringe exchange services alongside HIV testing and linkages to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a pill that when taking daily, prevents the transmission of HIV. The demand for these services has grown exponentially, and, in 2017 so did our physical space with the conversion of a former, and largely unused computer lab into a new client meeting and supplies storage room. We have developed trusting relationships with our participants, where they enter a space they are familiar with, are respected, without the requirement that they stop using drugs as a precondition of support. However, we are here to provide support when a person is ready to seek treatment.
Thanks to a 14-month grant from the Sierra Health Foundation in June, we began strengthening our linkage services to medicated assisted treatment (MAT) for people who use opioids, like heroin, fentanyl, and prescription pain relievers thatcontain opiates. MAT is the use of medications like buprenorphine, naltrexone, and methadone, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a whole-person approach to the treatment of opioid use disorders. Research shows that a combination of medication and therapy can successfully treat these disorders, and for some people struggling with substance use, MAT can help sustain recovery.
Participants are supported by a treatment navigator at Face to Face, who provides linkage to care, care coordination, advocacy, and support such as reminders and scheduling. Participants will be able to access a variety of treatment information on a dedicated computer. We will collect valuable data from these services that will allow us to continually improve the quality of our services.Together, we are reducing the spread of HIV in people who use drugs, and ending HIV in Sonoma County.
This summer we’ve been lucky to host a new crop of enthusiastic volunteers to help with our organic garden in Forestville.
“We love having new volunteers, such as the great crew from Medtronic who joined us recently,” said Sorrel Allen, Food For Thought’s Garden Manager. “It’s a joy to see fresh faces tend to the plants and tell us how grounding and fun it is to work with their hands in the dirt!”
We also LOVE our incredible team of existing volunteers. These dedicated gardeners are generous with their time and always helpful in bringing new folks up to speed. Thank you!
“The garden is a beautiful sight to behold right now,” said Sorrel. “It’s a wonderland of rare and beautiful and enormous plants in full bloom!” She explained this year’s abundance is partly due to the heavy spring rains but also to the nearly 20 years of prior garden management that created such happy, healthy soil.
“The garden is also going strong because so many kind people come out and care for it,” Sorrel explained. “It’s really lovely to see our homegrown, healthy ingredients in the soups and salads we serve at our weekly lunch program,” said Sorrel. “We simply couldn’t provide the same amount of food and love without the help of our wonderful volunteers.” Sorrel Allen Garden Manager
With this year’s organic goodness literally tumbling out of the beds, Sorrel welcomes volunteers to help harvest the bounty of cut flowers, culinary herbs, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes (30+ varieties!), summer and winter squash, chard, tomatillos, basil, kale, various other greens, strawberries, rhubarb, peaches, plums, pears, melons, and more! If you would like to volunteer in our garden, contact our Volunteer Coordinator Liv at LivC@FFTfoodbank.org (707) 887-1647 x125.
Board of Directors Officers Elected At its July meeting, Food For Thought’s Board of Directors elected the following officers: 2019-2020 OfficersFood For Thought Board of DirectorsRodney DiMartini PresidentRic GiardinaVice PresidentShan Magnuson Secretary Mark Short Treasurer We also welcome our newest board member, Betty Mullen, HR Director & Accounting Manager at Artizen Staffing. Read more about Food For Thought’s Board of Directors.
Great Deals Await You at Antique Store Closing SaleLast day of business: Sept. 14. Come find delightful discounts and plunging prices at the antique store’s “Closing Forever Sale.” We’re making deals so you can find that just-right treasure for your house or yard. Food For Thought Antiques 2701 Gravenstein Hwy. S., Sebastopol(707) 823-3101 Open daily 11am – 5pm See updates on our Facebook page.
Sign Up for RoundUp App Today!Did you know you can help feed seriously ill people in Sonoma County by simply donating your spare change to our programs? RoundUp App is a great new tool that lets you round up your credit card and debit card purchases to the next whole dollar and donate the extra change to Food For Thought. The app makes it simple to contribute small amounts over time. A dozen Food For Thought staff and Board of Directors members have started using RoundUp App, and they give it a solid thumbs up, telling us it’s easy to sign up for and use. To put your small change to work for our programs and clients, learn more and sign up on our RoundUp App page. Thank you!
