News

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Requiring CA to Collect Data on COVID-19’s Health Impacts on the LGTBQ Community

Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced legislation last week that would require California to collect data on the health impacts of COVID-19 on the LGBTQ community, including infection, hospitalization, ICU, recovery, and mortality rates. “We know that COVID-19 is harming the LGBTQ community, but because no data is being collected, we’re hamstrung in making the case to devote attention and resources. The history of the LGBTQ community is a history of fighting against invisibility. Without data, we quickly become an invisible community and risk being erased. California must lead and collect this critical health data,” Weiner said. The state currently […]

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Queer refuges Face Starvation while being Overlooked by COVID-19 State Aid Programs

LGBT+ refugees and asylum seekers are being excluded from crucial coronavirus relief packages offered by the South African government, multiple human rights groups have warned. South Africa is a common destination for those fleeing countries that persecute sexual minorities, as 33 out of the 70 countries that criminalise homosexuality are in Africa. But queer people arriving in the country have little access to basic amenities and are now facing starvation amid the ongoing lockdown. The pandemic has cut them off from working in the informal trades that previously sustained them, including restaurants, bars, or sex work, and they are not eligible to receive government social grants or […]

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Sonoma County Pride Mourns the Loss of their President, JD Donovan.

It is with deep sorrow that we announce the unexpected passing of our President, JD Donovan. She passed on Thursday evening May 21, 2020 at home peacefully surrounded by loved ones. Her death was unrelated to the current health emergency. Having fought a battle with a serious illness, it finally took her from us. When Sonoma County Pride (SCP) reorganized in 2014, she was a charter member along with Vice-President Brian Rogers, Directors Emeritus Vickie Nicholson, and Robbie Ernst. JD served as our President from then until her passing on Thursday. She was passionately committed to the mission of Sonoma […]

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Chechen Tyrant, who Led the Brutal Gay Purges, ‘Hospitalized with Severe Coronavirus’

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen tyrant who orchestrated the region’s brutal gay purges, has reportedly been hospitalised with severe coronavirus symptoms. Kadyrov is president of the Chechen republic in Russia, where LGBT+ people have been imprisoned, beaten, tortured and killed in gay concentration camps. Despite countless refugee reports detailing the violent abuses they have suffered, Kadyrov has forcefully denied that the crackdown ever happened. “This is nonsense,” he previously said when asked about the allegations. “We don’t have those kinds of people here. We don’t have any gays. If there are any, take them to Canada. “Praise be to God. Take them far from us so […]

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Over Half of LGBTQ Europeans are not Out about their Identities, Report Finds

Six in 10 gay and lesbian Europeans avoid holding hands with same-sex partners in public, and over half of LGBTQ people in Europe are almost never open about their sexual orientations or gender identities, according to a new survey. “The overarching finding was that not much has changed and there’s a long way to go,” Miltos Pavlou, the survey’s project manager, told NBC News. “Hate and inequality remain a major challenge in our society.” “Changing laws are incredibly important first steps, but really building meaningful acceptance takes years.” EVELYNE PARADIS, ILGA-EUROPE The report, “A long way to go for LGBTI […]

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Remembering the Lasting Legacy of Harvey Milk on his 90th Birthday

On what would have been his 90th birthday, there are many reasons to remember Harvey Milk. One of which is dog poop. Decades on since his death in 1978, and San Francisco residents each day peak out of their apartments to see the city’s tanned streets free from pet waste. They have Milk to thank for this, a city official who sponsored an ordinance that fined people for not clearing up after their dogs. But there’s more to Milk than a cosmetic improvement to the avenues and roads that criss-cross the city. A pioneer of the LGBT+ rights movement, Milk […]

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SR to Start $600,000 Assistance Program to Help Renters during Pandemic

Santa Rosa plans to start an emergency rental assistance program in June expected to help an estimated 50 city households that have lost income during the ongoing pandemic, since county health officials in mid-March ordered all but essential businesses to close. More than $600,000 in federal funds would help a group of qualified low- and middle-income renters through the end of the year, or until they get another job or resume working regular hours, city officials said. The money would be distributed based on renters’ needs. Recipients still would pay 30% of their current household income toward monthly rent and […]

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The Stud, the Oldest Gay Bar in San Francisco to Close

The Stud, San Francisco’s oldest gay bar, has announced that it will be closing its doors for good as the coronavirus pandemic has left it no longer able to pay rent. The legendary queer bar opened in 1966 on San Francisco’s Folsom street, and in 1987 moved to its current location on 9th Street Many queer icons have performed at or visited the stud over its 55-year history, including Sylvester, Etta James, Bjork, Lady Gaga, Ana Matronic, Justin Vivian Bond, Michael Stipe, Lady Miss Kier, RuPaul, and Charo. It has faced many difficulties, and in 2016 a massive rent increase […]

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Religious Exemptions are Gutting Civil Rights Protections, Advocacy Groups Warn

The Trump administration’s expansion of religious exemptions is undermining civil rights protections and codifying discrimination against marginalized groups — particularly LGBTQ people — according to a report released Monday by three research and advocacy groups. Using a combination of new rules, legal interventions and newly created divisions, the departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor and State have all taken steps to advance “religious liberty,” often at the expense of LGBTQ rights, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for American Progress and the Movement Advancement Project argue in their report. “When you connect the dots, you […]

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A Humanitarian Crisis because of the Governments’ Response to Coronavirus is Leaving LGBT+ People in Grave Danger

LGBT+ charities in 37 Commonwealth countries are urgently warning of an “unfolding humanitarian crisis” for LGBT+ people as a direct result of the pandemic. Coronavirus is having a disproportionate impact on marginalised communities, and governments’ responses to the crisis are heightening the levels of inequality, exclusion, discrimination and poverty that LGBT+ people already experience every day. A combination of job loss, housing and food insecurity, lack of physical and mental wellbeing and safety, lack of access to health services and life-saving medication are combining to create a rapidly deteriorating situation for the international LGBT+ community. For example in Pakistan, trans people have been excluded from government-organised relief […]

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