News

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Call to Action: The Board of Supervisors will vote on Tuesday 12/10 on a resolution to halt any future investments in Wells Fargo or BNP Paribas

We are on the verge of a historic moment:  The Board of Supervisors will vote on Tuesday 12/10 on a resolution to halt any future investments in Wells Fargo or BNP Paribas, naming them as primary funders of the private corporporations responsible for detaining immigrant children separated from their families. Please come out on Tuesday 12/10 at 8:30.  The item will be considered 8:45, after a presentation by the Treasurer Erick Roeser.  As in 1985, when the Board considered a resolution to divest from South African Apartheid, the county treasurer is feigning ignorance of the options to invest wisely and ethically.  (See […]

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Man Sentenced to Death for Killing Transgender Cellmate

A California inmate was sentenced to death Thursday for the 2013 killing of his transgender cellmate in a shocking case that shined a light on the dangers of sexual assault and violence trans people face when they are not housed according to their gender identity. Miguel Crespo, 48, was housed with Carmen Guerrero, a trans woman, at Kern Valley State Prison for just eight hours in October 2013. During that time, Crespo bound, gagged, tortured and murdered Guerrero in their shared cell. A California jury last month found Crespo guilty of first degree murder and assault. At his sentencing, Crespo […]

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Miss Myanmar is the First Openly Lesbian Contestant in Miss Universe History

This year’s Miss Universe pageant will include the first openly gay contestant in the competition’s 67-year history, who bravely came out despite homosexuality being illegal in her home country. Swe Zin Htet is the reigning Miss Myanmar and she came out publicly on a beauty blog just a week before she is due to take part in the final of the pageant on Sunday (December 8). LGBT+ people face violence and persecution in Myanmar, also known as Burma, which has no anti-discrimination laws of queer people and criminalises same-sex relations with a sentence of up to life in prison. The 21-year-old, who […]

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More Daters are Identifying their Gender as other than ‘Man’ or ‘Woman’, Study Finds

Research by Tinder has shown that more daters than ever are this year identifying with a gender other than “man” or “woman” on the app. The dating app’s annual “Year in Swipe” showed that use of its “more genders” function was up 30 percent compared to last year. The research also showed that during LGBT+ Pride month, otherwise known as June, more users matched with each other than during any other month. Use of the rainbow emoji in Tinder bios also increased by 15 percent from 2018 to 2019 all over the world. The “more genders” feature was introduced in […]

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The Little-known Story of the Nationwide Queer Protest 3 Years before the Stonewall

The Stonewall riots of 1969 are often cited as the moment that gave rise to the modern LGBT+ rights movement. It was a seminal moment for LGBT+ people in the United States – but it wasn’t the first time gay people had protested against mistreatment. Three years before the Stonewall riots kicked off, gay people in cities across the United States gathered to protest against their exclusion from the armed forces. The protests had been a long time coming. The US armed forces introduced a policy during World War II which excluded gay people from serving. They were often discharged by doctors […]

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One of Chicago’s Oldest Churches Will Now become an LGBT Homeless Youth Center

One of Chicago’s oldest churches will soon be transformed into one of the only holistic, queer-friendly centres for the LGBT homeless at-risk youth in the city. The Black Methodist for Church Renewal has stood in the heart of Chicago’s South Side since 1926. The 12,000-square-foot space remained empty for years after the congregation moved to a new venue, with the site’s owners refusing to sell it until they found a worthy buyer. It’s now home to the LYTE Collective, a social organisation dedicated to helping the more than 16,000 homeless youth in the city. Around 30 percent of Chicagoans aged between 15 and 24 […]

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California Utility Settles Wildfires Claims For $13.5B

NPR reports: Utility giant Pacific Gas and Electric announced a $13.5 billion settlement agreement to resolve all claims associated with several Northern California wildfires that killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of businesses and homes. The wildfires have been tied to the company’s equipment. “We want to help our customers, our neighbors and our friends in those impacted areas recover and rebuild after these tragic wildfires,” said PG&E Corp. CEO and President Bill Johnson in a statement released late Friday. The settlement fund, if accepted by a bankruptcy judge, will go to victims who lost loved ones and/or property, as […]

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California One of Top States in Equality CA’s Legislative Scorecard

California earned top marks in Equality California’s recently released annual state legislative scorecard for 2019 Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization, demonstrating support in the California Legislature for LGBTQ civil rights and social justice. Sixty-one of the 80 members — including two Republicans — received perfect scores in the Assembly. Twenty-six out of 40 senators earned perfect marks, too. Scores were based on six floor votes and a committee vote in the Assembly, and eleven floor votes in the Senate. Governor Gavin Newsom also scored 100 percent in his first year in office. He signed all five bills […]

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Self-described ‘Snarky Bisexual’ Lawyer Shined at Impeachment Hearing

Pamela Karlan, a Stanford Law School professor and self-described “snarky bisexual”, stole the show at Donald Trump’s impeachment hearing with her scathing and quick-witted put-downs. Karlan specialises in constitutional law, once served as US deputy assistant attorney general for voting rights, and lives with her partner, writer Viola Canales.ADVERTISING At Wednesday’s (December 4) hearing, she was part of a panel of legal experts debating whether the president should be impeached, and in her opening statement referred to Trump putting pressure on Ukraine for political favours. She told the House Judiciary Committee: “Based on the evidentiary record before you, what has happened in […]

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Kenyan Police Beat and teargas at Queer Refugees Protesting the Camp’s Horrific Conditions

Kenyan police brutally battered LGBT+ refugees and lobbed teargas bombs in an attack that led to four in a coma today, activists on the ground have claimed.Moreover, the organisation said that “five persons have returned to the reception centre to access these registration services.”ADVERTISING For days, rainbow refugees staying at the Kakuma camp un-rolled mats outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to peacefully protest the “unclean” conditions of the camp and ask to be allowed to “live quietly in Nairobi just like other urban refugees”. But activists reported that camp law enforcement descended upon them, described as “death […]

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