News

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US judge resigns after being recorded making racist and anti-LGBTQ+ remarks

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A Michigan judge, Kathleen Ryan, has voluntarily resigned after an investigation uncovered recordings of her feelings about the LGBTQ+ community and Black people.  Judge Kathleen Ryan, a self-proclaimed “new racist”, has departed from her Oakland County bench following the investigation.  As reported by WXYZ Detroit, in one recording from September 2024, Ryan shared offensive viewpoints about both demographics and said she isn’t “systemically racist” but a “new racist”.  The recordings were sent to public officials, including Oakland County executive Dave Coulter, who is gay. Some of Ryan’s slurs about the community were directed at him, according to Detroit Free Press.  Ryan, who has […]

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CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH ANNOUNCES: FACE TO FACE ACCOUNTS FOR 66% OF SONOMA COUNTY’S REPORTED OVERDOSE REVERSALS

Every month, Sonoma County loses an average of twelve people to accidental overdoses. It is the third-highest overdose death rate among Bay Area counties, driven by the spread of fentanyl in opioids and other drugs.  Face to Face Sonoma County is proving that community-based prevention can turn those numbers around.  According to data from the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) that was analyzed by the California Department of Public Health, Office of AIDS, in 2024 Face to Face distributed 44% of the naloxone obtained from DHCS’ Naloxone Distribution Program in Sonoma County yet accounted for 66% of the overdose reversals reported.  This extraordinary return reflects the […]

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The Pride Flag Returns to Sonoma Valley High School After Protest and Community Outcry

The Pride Flag was raised again on Tuesday January 20th. About 50 community members, teachers, administrators and students joined the SVHS GSA on the front lawn of the school to do a flag planting but we know many more were with us in spirit. It was a moment of solidarity and community that really felt like an out and proud moment among community members, and the students truly shone in this moment and told us how supported they felt. This is what Student leadership looks like!!! After reviewing President Bells public statement which can be seen here A Message from SVUSD […]

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GOP lawmaker said trans people “harm” children. Now he’s going to prison for child porn.

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South Carolina state Rep. RJ May (R) — an anti-LGBTQ+ politician who has accused drag queens and transgender people of harming kids — was sentenced to 17.5 years in federal prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to five counts of distributing child sex abuse material (CSAM).  May — who was honored by the anti-LGBTQ+ “parents’ rights” group Moms for Liberty in 2023 as its Legislator of the Year — first denied the charges after investigators found evidence that he had shared hundreds of images of kids, including pictures of adults raping seven-year-olds. Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, who sentenced May, said the CSAM he shared was “more […]

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Same-sex sexual behavior observed in dozens of primate species, suggesting evolutionary origin

Humans are far from the only primates engaging in same-sex sexual activity. A new study found instances in which 59 nonhuman primate species, including bonobos, chimpanzees and macaques, have taken part in same-sex behaviors. Researchers observed repeated occurrences of the behavior in 23 species. The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, is the most comprehensive review of same-sex behavior in primates to date (though humans are not included). The findings challenge some common assumptions about the purpose of sex in the animal world, suggesting it plays a broader social role. The authors posit that same-sex behavior developed […]

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Brutal Police Raid on LGBT-friendly Venue in Azerbaijan

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Last month, Azerbaijani police raided a venue in the capital Baku, known as a safe space for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, and detained over 100 people. According to witnesses and independent media, those detained were abused by police who made it seem like the operation was to target sexual and gender minorities rather than routine law-enforcement. According to a witness Human Rights Watch spoke with, police arrived shortly after midnight, confiscated patrons’ mobile phones, demanded passwords and searched through private photos and videos without warrants. Officers took at least 106 people to the Nasimi District Police Department, then forced […]

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‘Legendary activist’ and ‘powerhouse for the LGBTQ+ community’ Rick Garcia dies aged 69

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Chicago LGBTQ+ activist Rick Garcia has died at the age of 69.  Garcia, who was a leader in the Illinois city’s civil rights movement, died on 12 January. His advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community dates back decades. In 1996, the Chicago Reader reported that he kept his sexual orientation a secret throughout high school and into college. In 1976, he attended a speech by theology professor Father Louis Hanlon, who spoke about the “sin” of homosexuality. Garcia had none of it and spoke out against Hanlon, telling him: “Gay people are entitled to friendship, love, and justice, according to the American Catholic bishops. […]

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As LGBTQ+ people go back into the closet under Trump, the Human Rights Campaign reveals plan to fight back

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In Washington, D.C., just blocks from the White House, where President Donald Trump is directing what civil rights advocates describe as an accelerating authoritarian overhaul of federal power, the Human Rights Campaign on Thursday released a new political playbook and a stark assessment of what the first year of Trump’s second term has meant for LGBTQ+ Americans. The organization’s twin reports, One Year Out: LGBTQ+ Messaging Playbook for the Midterms and One Year In: LGBTQ+ Americans Under the Trump Administration, sketch both a campaign strategy and a warning flare. Together, they argue that LGBTQ+ Americans are becoming less visible, less safe, and less secure as federal protections shrink and culture war policies […]

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Landmark commission unanimously approves church’s rainbow steps: “This is religious expression”

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Oak Lawn United Methodist Church in Dallas received formal approval from the city’s Landmark Commission last week after officials, members, and volunteers painted the Late Gothic Revival building’s staircase the colors of the rainbow in October. The building has local landmark status, and it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The dramatic gesture reimagining the church steps was executed as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) carried out the Trump administration’s order to tear up rainbow crosswalks across the state, including one in front of the church’s historic building, home to a large and welcoming Methodist congregation. The city of Arlington, […]

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LGBTQ+ Americans are going back in the closet under Donald Trump: report

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LGBTQ+ people are going back into the closet during Donald Trump‘s second term as queer visibility decreases across the board, new research has found.  Nearly half of LGBTQ+ adults (47.5 percent) report being less out somewhere in their lives over the last 12 months, according to the Annual LGBTQ+ Community Survey from the Human Rights Campaign, including workplaces (26.5 percent), healthcare (25.4 percent), and public spaces (28.3 percent).  Over half of LGBTQ+ workers (57.4 percent) with employers that ended or scaled back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) reported experiencing stigma and bias at work. This stigma appears to be increasing in all areas, as 51.1 percent […]

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