New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted on Tuesday to designate Julius’ Bar in the Village as an individual landmark.
In the 1960s, the state liquor authority did not allow people to be served alcohol if they were openly gay. “In 1966, we had something called the sip-in,” Julius’ Bar manager Nick Gabriellini said.
“Where the state liquor authority didn’t allow homosexuals to be served alcohol if they were openly gay. So, they staged the sip-in here, and there was a lawsuit.” The sip-in and lawsuit, even before the Stonewall uprising around the corner, would help change New York law.
Advocates had long since hoped to see the bar on West 10th Street become a landmark, citing its pre-Stonewall significance to the city’s LGBTQ rights movement.
“As the country seems to be grappling with going backward in terms of acceptance and inclusion, I just want to say, bravo, New York, for bringing this one to the forefront,” Commissioner Michael Devonshire said.
The Arts and Crafts-style building that houses Julius’ was originally built in the early 1800s, as three separate buildings that were eventually combined, LPC Director of Research Kate Lemos McHale said at a public hearing in September. Julius’ bar itself opened years later, in 1930.
“The ‘Sip-In’ at Julius’ was a pivotal moment in our city and our nation’s LGBTQ+ history, and this designation today marks not only that moment but also Julius’ half-century as a home for New York City’s LGBTQ+ community,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.
“Honoring a location where New Yorkers were once denied service solely on account of their sexuality reinforces something that should already be clear: LGBTQ+ New Yorkers are welcome anywhere in our city.
“Let this designation serve as an important reminder to everyone that LGBTQ+ history is New York City history and that, like Julius’, the City of New York will always serve as a safe haven for LGBTQ+ people to be safe and feel safe.”
From the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project:
On April 21, 1966, members of the Mattachine Society, an early gay rights group, organized what became known as the “Sip-In.”
Their intent was to challenge New York State Liquor Authority (SLA) regulations that were promulgated so that bars could not serve drinks to known or suspected gay men or lesbians, since their presence was considered de facto disorderly.
Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell, and John Timmons, accompanied by several reporters, went to a number of bars, announced that they were “homosexuals,” and asked to be served a drink.
At their first stop, the Ukrainian-American Village Restaurant, the bar had closed, while at their next two attempts, at a Howard Johnson’s and at the Hawaiian-themed Waikiki, they had been served.
They then moved on to Julius’ and were joined by Randy Wicker. However, at Julius’, which had recently been raided, the bartender refused their request. This refusal received publicity in the New York Times and the Village Voice.
The reaction by the State Liquor Authority and the newly-empowered New York City Commission on Human Rights resulted in a change in policy and the birth of a more open gay bar culture.
Scholars of gay history consider the Sip-In at Julius’ a key event leading to the growth of legitimate gay bars and the development of the bar as the central social space for urban gay men and lesbians.
The iconic photo of the bartender putting his hand over the cocktail hangs over the bar at Julius’ and was recreated during a 2016 event marking the bar’s 50th anniversary and its addition to the National Registry of Historic Places. The new NYC landmark status gives the physical building protection from developers.
After Russia voted to extend its LGBTQ+ propaganda law to adults, artist and activist Yulia Tsvetkova has been forced to flee.
Tsvetkova was acquitted of distributing pornography and so-called LGBTQ+ “propaganda” by the Komsomolsk-on-Amur court in July, in a rare win for the queer community in Russia.
Tsvetkova was arrested and charged with distributing pornography in 2019 after she posted drawings of vaginas on social media in a bid to combat societal body norms. She was also charged over the same drawings in 2020 after Russian officials claimed she violated the country’s LGBTQ+ “propaganda” law.
After the acquittal, prosecutors attempted to relaunch proceedings against Tsvetkova, but on 22 November a court decided to uphold the decision.
On Friday (25 November), Tsvetkova’s mother, Ann Khodyreva, said the artist and activist left Russia days after the court’s most recent ruling.
She added it was “obvious” the family had left Russia in the wake of political leaders updating and extending an anti-LGBTQ+ law, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
“Why they left, I think it’s obvious,” Khodyreva said. “Yulia is [regarded as] a ‘foreign agent’, with a new law [criminalising “LGBT propaganda”] – it’s easier to die than to live in Russia.”
In June, Tsvetkova was declared a “foreign agent” by the Kremlin – joining a constantly growing list of activists, journalists, LGBTQ+ advocates and non-governmental organisations deemed hostile by the Russian state.
Russian lawmakers unanimously approved a bill banning all forms of so-called LGBTQ “propaganda” in a final reading on Thursday (24 November). The bill now needs the approval of the upper house of the Duma and anti-LGBTQ+ president Vladimir Putin before officially becoming law.
The legislation expands on a 2013 law banning the dissemination of information about LGBTQ+ people in the media, literature, advertising, online and other forms of media aimed at minors. The new law will forbid the “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations” for all ages.
The Russian state has increasingly targeted queer activists and allies amid a crackdown on so-called ‘LGBTQ+ propaganda’. (Getty)
She detailed how the artist’s first attempted “departure” in July “ended with the arrest of 10 people” and other bids to escape “stopped before starting”.
Khodyreva added a “new criminal case” against Yulia Tsvetkova had begun, making it impossible for the artist to remain in Russia. She confirmed Tsvetkova was not in France, where she, her mother, had been visiting for a time.
“The repressive architecture built by Vladimir Putin’s administration over the last two decades aims to stage absurd trials based on spurious accusations – it’s rare that anyone escapes the clutches of this system,” Zviagina said.
Zviagina described how Tsvetkova faced “house arrest, travel restrictions, fines and reprisals simply for exercising her right to freedom of expression” over the past three years.
About 710,000 (59.2%) of the same-sex couple households were married, and about 500,000 (41.7%) were unmarried.
The number of married same-sex households started to outnumber unmarried same-sex households in 2016, following the Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 Obergefell vs. Hodges ruling, which effectively legalized gay marriage across the U.S.
The release of this new data coincides with the advancement of landmark legislation that codifies federal protection for marriages of same-sex couples. The Respect for Marriage Act was approved 61-36 in the Senate and now returns to the House for a final vote before it can go to President Joe Biden, who has said he looks forward to enacting it.
Hawaii has the highest percentage of same-sex couple households of any state, at 1.4%, followed by Oregon and Delaware, both at 1.3%, the Census Bureau data reveals. The District of Columbia, however, blows them all out of the water at 2.5%.
South Dakota has the lowest percentage of same-sex couple households of any state, at 0.4%, followed by Kansas, Mississippi, Idaho, North Dakota and Montana, which are all at 0.5%.
There were some notable differences between same-sex and opposite-sex households.
Same-sex households, for example, are significantly more likely than opposite-sex households to be interracial: In 2021, 31.6% of married same-sex couples were interracial, compared to 18.4% of married opposite-sex couples.
Opposite-sex households, however, were much more likely to have children under 18. In 2021, 38.2% of married opposite-sex couples and 18% of married same-sex couples had children under 18 in their household.
There were also some notable differences between female-female and male-male households, which comprised 52% and 48% of total same-sex households, respectively.
For example, the median household income in male same-sex couple households ($116,800) was 26% higher than in female same-sex couple households ($92,470).
The 32-year-old was sentenced in August to nine years in a Russian penal colony after pleading guilty to drug charges. She was reportedly found at an airport with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil.
At her sentencing, Griner told the court she had made “an honest mistake” and she “never meant to break any laws”.
In early November, Griner was moved from a detention centre to the IK-2 penal colony in Yavas, Mordovia – some 480 kilometres southeast of Moscow.
University of Helsinki sociologist Olga Zeveleva told The Guardian prisons in the area “are notoriously terrible, even by Russian standards”.
“It is a place any prisoner wants to avoid”.
University of Oxford professor Judith Pallot, who specialises in the human geography of Russia and has visited IK-2, also told The Guardian it is “very sterile and sad”.
“The Russian prison system isn’t interested in rehabilitation, it is based on retribution and punishment. It is a system underpinned by violence.”
According to The Nation, IK-2 is a penal colony notorious for racism and homophobia, with locals expressing shock someone as famous as Brittney Griner would be held there.
Nadya Tolokonnikova, a member of Russian activist band Pussy Riot, spent two years in a Mordovia prison.
She told MSNBC Reports she was terrified for Griner, with IK-2 is “literally the harshest colony in the whole Russian prison system”.
People could be left working up to 17 hours a day and punished – “that includes torture” – if they don’t meet quotas, Tolokonnikova said.
Similarly, the head of Rus Sidyashchaya (Russia Behind Bars), an organisation defending the rights of inmates in Russia, Olga Romanova, told The Moscow Times some detainees at IK-2 have reported labour conditions being “not far from slavery”.
Romanova said Brittney Griner being “lesbian, American, and Black” could make her a prime target for harassment.
“It’s a good thing she doesn’t speak Russian, she won’t be able to understand what people say to her.”
Romanova thought “that could solve some of her problems”.
However, she said Griner “will be in danger” if negotiations for a possible prisoner swap between the United States and Russia ended.
On Monday (28 November), Reuters published the US chargée d’affaires in Moscow, Elizabeth Rood, as telling Russia’s state-owned RIA news agency that the US “has not received a serious response” to “a significant proposal”.
Ten days prior, Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said he was hopeful of a prisoner swap.
Zooey Zephyr, the first out transgender woman elected to the Montana Legislature, was inspired to run after her state passed three pieces of legislation targeting the LGBTQ community.
“My goal has always been to be in the room where my voice can do the most good,” the Democrat told NBC News after her win this month.
Zephyr said she had been working with the city of Missoula to draft human rights legislation but came to the conclusion that real change would have to be made at the state level.
“It became clear that is where the bulk of the attacks and damage was happening, and that was the most valuable room to be in,” she said.
Zooey Zephyr of Montana.Courtesy Victory Fund
So far this year, at least 340 anti-LGBTQ bills have been proposed in state legislatures across the United States, with more than 140 targeting transgender rights specifically, according to Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group.
Gabriele Magni, an assistant professor of political science at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and the founding director of the university’s LGBTQ+ Politics Research Initiative, said this wave of bills inspired an increasing number of queer candidates to run “to protect LGBTQ rights.”
“If you have so many more candidates, some of them are going to be strong candidates,” he added.
The historic number of bills targeting LGBTQ rights coincided with a record number of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer political candidates: At least 1,065 LGBTQ people ran for office this year, with an estimated 416 running for seats in state legislatures, according to an October report from the LGBTQ Victory Fund, an organization that supports queer people running for office. Of these 416 candidates, 281 made it to the general election, and 185 won — an Election Day win rate of 66%, its post-election analysis found.
The success of these candidates means that more openly LGBTQ people, including more transgender and nonbinary people, will hold office in state legislatures than ever before. Once all of the newly elected officials are seated, there will be nine transgender state legislators (up from eight this year) and nine nonbinary state legislators across the U.S., according to the LGBTQ Victory Institute, the group’s research arm.
The 26-year-old said he decided to run for office due, in part, to the wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation introduced in states across the country, including in New Hampshire.
“Especially as a trans person, seeing all of the new political action happening towards my community really kind of inspired me to be a voice for trans people to be visible and help be a concrete part of making these decisions,” he said.
Roesener’s platform included expanding nondiscrimination laws in health care, affordable housing, raising the state minimum wage to at least $15 per hour and legalizing marijuana.
“I think that people do care about others,” he said. “I think people are all concerned about really basically the same thing. It’s like, are we going to have enough food to eat? Do we have a roof over our heads? Am I going to have time with my family off of work? These are very unifying issues.”
James Roesener of New Hampshire is the first transgender man elected to a state legislature.Courtesy James Roesener
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Another new state legislator will be Leigh Finke, who earlier this month became the first transgender person elected to the Minnesota state Legislature. She told the Minnesota Reformer in June that her decision to run was “largely in response to the building anti-trans movement and seeing bills introduced and laws starting to pass last year” in her home state and beyond.
“It suddenly became an absolute top-level priority for state-level Republicans to attack trans communities and not just to make it a talking point, but to actively take away rights from trans people and trans youth,” she said.
Finke specifically mentioned a bill proposed in Minnesota last year that, if it had passed, would have made participation in girls’ athletics or accessing a women’s locker room a misdemeanor for trans girls. The bill failed, but she told the Minnesota Reformer that it “really shook me and made me realize that someone has to be in the room.” StartingJan. 3, she will be that someone.
‘Real, tangible effects on trans people’
State legislatures have increasingly become battlegrounds over LGBTQ rights. Republicans began introducing legislation targeting queer rights at an increased clip in the wake of the 2015 Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell vs. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationally.
This year, at least 340 such bills have been introduced in 23 states, with at least 25 bills becoming law in 13 states so far,according to the Human Rights Campaign.
More than 40% of these proposed bills specifically target transgender people, limiting trans people’s ability to play sports, use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity and receive gender-affirming health care. At least 17 of these bills have become law, the Human Rights Campaign said.
“The legislation has real, tangible effects on trans people and their families that love them and their communities that care for them,” Zephyr said. “I lost friends who fled the state, and I lost friends who ended their lives.”
A strategy that ‘probably backfired’
Whether or not bills targeting the LGBTQ community — particularly transgender people — pass, they act as a “wedge issue” to motivate right-wing voters in advance of an election, Magni said.
He said this strategy worked in the primaries by helping conservative candidates raise money and motivate their base to show up at the polls.
“But then in the general election, when you have a broader electorate, it didn’t really work. It didn’t convince moderate voters,” Magni said. “As an electoral strategy, it probably backfired.”
In addition to inspiring people such as Zephyr, Roesener and Finke to run for office, he said, this strategy may have also helped pro-LGBTQ candidates fundraise and may have motivated supporters to head to the polls.
Given the Democrats’ better-than-expected performance in the midterms, Republicans could change course with their legislation, though Magni and Zephyr said they expect to continue to see anti-LGBTQ bills for the time being.
“We are seeing pre-filed legislation in Tennessee, in Montana, in states across the country,” Zephyr said. However, she believes bills targeting LGBTQ rights are ultimately a losing strategy.
“My feeling is, the more the right pushes this, the more they will lose. People are standing up for us,” she added.
In a terrorism advisory bulletin, the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday raised concerns about potential threats to the LGBTQ, Jewish and migrant communities from violent extremists inside the United States.
Americans motivated by violent ideologies pose a “persistent and lethal threat,” a senior DHS official told reporters in a briefing on the bulletin. Intelligence officials across the federal government have consistently highlighted the growing threat of American extremistsin recent years, while explaining that foreign threats such as the Islamic State terrorist group and Al Qaeda are no longer as persistent as they once were.
The bulletin was the latest summary of national terrorism threats, a document that has been updated about every six months since the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Some extremists have been inspired by recent attacks, including the shooting at the LGBTQ bar in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the bulletin said.
The report also highlighted an “enduring threat” to the Jewish community
Asked if recent antisemitic remarks by Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, contributed to increased threats to Jewish people, a senior DHS official said any high-profile official or celebrity trafficking in conspiracy theories only serves to ignite violence among extremists.
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“Certainly the Jewish community seems particularly targeted in recent days by that kind of activity in our discourse,” the official said.
The bulletin also said “potential changes in border enforcement policy, an increase in noncitizens attempting to enter the U.S. or other immigration-related developments” may heighten calls for violence.
In compliance with a court order, the DHS is preparing to lift Covid restrictions known as Title 42 on Dec. 21, which will allow many more migrants into the U.S. to claim asylum.
The previous National Terrorism Advisory System bulletin issued by the DHS in June raised concerns about potential violence surrounding the November midterm elections.
Wednesday’s advisory said such violence was “isolated.” But it said the DHS did “observe general calls for violence targeting elected officials, candidates and drop box locations,” specifically mentioning the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband.
Singapore’s parliament on Tuesday decriminalized sex between men, but, in a blow to the LGBTQ community, also amended the constitution to prevent court challenges that in other countries have led to the legalization of same-sex marriage.
The moves come as other parts of Asia, including Taiwan, Thailand and India are recognizing more rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and queer community.
Activists cheered the repeal, but said the amendment to the constitution is disappointing because it means citizens will not be able to mount legal challenges to issues like the definition of marriage, family, and related policies since these will only be decided by the executive and legislature.
The government has defended amending the constitution saying decisions on such issues should not be led by the courts. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his successor have ruled out any changes to the current legal definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman.
“We will try and maintain a balance…to uphold a stable society with traditional, heterosexual family values, but with space for homosexuals to live their lives and contribute to society,” Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said in parliament this week.
Both the repeal and the constitutional amendment were passed with an overwhelming majority, thanks to the ruling People’s Action Party’s dominance in parliament. There is no timeline yet for when the new laws take effect.
The changes do, however, leave room for a future parliament to expand the definition of marriage to include same-sex relationships.
Bryan Choong, chair of LGBTQ advocacy group Oogachaga, said it was a historical moment for activists who have been campaigning for a repeal of the law known as Section 377A for 15 years. But he added that LGBTQ couples and families also “have the right to be recognized and protected”.
In Singapore, attitudes towards LGBTQ issues have shifted toward a more liberal stance in recent years especially among the young, though conservative attitudes remain among religious groups. Of those aged 18-25, about 42% accepted same-sex marriage in 2018, up from 17% just five years prior, according to a survey by the Institute of Policy Studies.
One man who has frequented Club Q for decades was just opening up a tab at the bar when he was shot in the back. Another man was about to leave the club with his group when he heard a “pop, pop, pop” and took a bullet to his arm — then watched his boyfriend and sister fall to the floor.
They are some of the 17 people wounded by gunfire Saturday when a 22-year-old man went on a shooting rampage at Club Q, a well-known club for the LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs. On Tuesday, they shared the horror of seeing their loved ones shot down in front of them, as well as the hope they felt as people helped each other in the chaos.
Ed Sanders, 63, said he had been waiting in line at the bar, had made his way up to the front and given the bartender his credit card when he was hit in the back — right between the shoulder blades. Surprised, he turned to look at the gunman, only to be hit again in the thigh as another volley of shots were fired.
“I fell. And everybody fell,” Sanders said in video statements released Tuesday by UCHealth Memorial Hospital Center. “It was very traumatic. I shielded another woman with my coat … there was a lot of chaos.”
James Slaugh said he, his boyfriend and his sister were getting ready to leave the club when, “all of a sudden we just hear, ‘pop, pop, pop.’ As I turn, I took a bullet in my arm from the back.”
Slaugh, who spoke to The Associated Press from his hospital bed, said he watched others around him fall — including his boyfriend, who was shot in the leg, and his sister, who had bullet wounds in 13 places. He quickly called the police, heard several more shots, then nothing. The scariest part of the shooting, he said, was not knowing whether the gunman would fire again.
Five people were killed in the shooting, which stopped after the gunman was disarmed by patrons.
The motive for the attack is still being investigated and the man has not been formally charged. Police say he was armed with multiple firearms, including an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle, and possible hate crimes are being considered.
“I want to be resilient. I’m a survivor,” Sanders said. “I’m not going to be taken out by some sick person.”
Sanders has been a patron of Club Q for 20 years and even went to the club’s opening night decades ago. He wore a hospital gown and had an oxygen tube in his nose in the video recorded by the hospital.
He said that after the 2016 Pulse gay nightclub shooting in Florida, which killed 49 people, Sanders thought about what he would do if something similar happened at Club Q — but he never dreamed it would become reality.
“I’m smiling now because I am happy to be alive,” Sanders said. “I dodged a major event in my life and came through it, and that’s part of who I am as a survivor.”
Sanders knew many of the victims, including the “door lady” and two bartenders who died. Sanders said that after the shooting, people who weren’t hit were helping each other “just like a family would do.”
Sanders said the shot to his back missed vital organs but broke a rib. He said he now has a concave wound in his back and will need skin grafts. Sanders was also shot in the thigh, and said “that was the most blood.”
“I think this incident underlines the fact that LGBT people need to be loved,” Sanders said.
For Slaugh, Club Q was a place where he felt safe after coming out as gay at age 24. It was where he met his partner, Jancarlos Del Valle, eight months ago, and it was where they took his sister, Charlene, on Saturday night to cheer her up from a recent breakup, as well as the death of their mother from COVID-19 a year ago.
Slaugh said that after the gunman was subdued, the club instantly became a community again. Patrons grabbed paper towels to try to stop bleeding wounds. One man told Slaugh he would be OK and kissed him on the forehead.
“That was such a reassurance to me,” he said. “That hope stayed there.”
Del Valle and James were rushed to one hospital and Charlene, who had more extensive injuries, was taken to another. James said he did not find out what happened to his sister until the next day. A community of support has formed around the Slaughs, including a GoFundMe campaign to pay for medical bills. Messages have poured in from around the world.
“Being shot, being a victim of this whole thing — it left me with a sense of more hope than anything else, especially with everyone coming together,” he said. “This is not a time to be afraid. This is not a time to let in one awful person. This is a time to come together.”
Throughout his campaign for Virginia governor, Glenn Youngkin embraced the rhetoric of “parental rights,” allowing it to guide his campaign’s position on key issues, including mask mandates and diversity efforts in our K-12 system.
To be clear, there is a dire need to ensure that parents have a voice in our education. The disregarded mental health concerns, failure to appropriately implement accommodations for disabled students, and lackluster equity responses during the COVID-19 pandemic made clear the school systems were largely ill-equipped to handle community concerns. As students, we are acutely aware of the difficulty in engaging with education leaders: We constantly raise concerns that fall onto deaf ears. We can only imagine the similar frustrations of parents and teachers.
Nonetheless, the failure of education leaders to address the needs of community members is not partisan but institutional. It is abundantly clear that the convoluted processes of school boards are not suited for widespread stakeholder engagement. But Gov. Youngkin’s embrace of parental rights is not centered on improving community relationships. Instead, he exploits the language of parental rights to attack marginalized students, with the goal of advancing his political prospects.
Before he even assumed office, Youngkin supported efforts to censor books, attackingBeloved, the acclaimed Toni Morrison novel. Ignoring that Beloved can be a powerful tool for students to confront difficult truths around racism, Youngkin instead sought to allow some to censor the book in our classrooms. More recently, the governor has championed Senate Bill 656, which would allow parents to opt students out of classroom instruction deemed “sexually explicit.” SB 656 includes “homosexuality” in its definition of sexually explicit and mandates an onerousapproval process for any instruction that meets this standards, chilling the already limited queer representation in our classroom. After all, why would teachers, already overworked, go through the process of getting approval for texts that include LGBTQIA+ people when they can simply opt for content without us?
More recently, Youngkin’s Department of Education released draft changes to Virginia’s model transgender policies. The original guidelines required school districts to implement evidence-based protections for queer students, including prohibitions against the forced disclosure of a student’s LGBTQIA+ identity and upholding the right of queer students to be addressed by their correct pronouns and name.
As students, we experienced the power of the original guidelines. The fear of outing, for example, hangs over the head of every queer student from an unsupportive household. We once worked with a student who was denied water after their parents found out they were gay, and we’ve worked with other students whose parents have threatened them with conversion therapy. The original affirming guidelines, while not perfect, removed some of this fear.
WIthout the constant worry that teachers would out our friends to hostile parents, we were finally able to be ourselves. We saw our transgender classmates finally walk through the halls without having to justify their existence at every moment. We saw our friends sit up taller in class, knowing that their identities were protected.
But the revised guidelines revoke that progress. With forced outing provisions, a refusal to acknowledge a student’s transition without both parental consent and legal documentation, and a bathroom ban, the new draft revisions to the model transgender policies erase our community’s existence. They effectively take away the one place where we could be ourselves and will only heighten abuse, harassment, depression, and suicide.
The draft guidelines have already seen massive opposition. We helped organize walkouts of more than 12,000 students at schools across Virginia, and well over 50,000 comments, most opposed, have been left on the DOE’s public comments website. But Glenn Youngkin seems to be ignoring Virginian voices, instead using these policies as a change to address national conservative audiences as he gears up for a potential 2024 presidential run.
Lost in all the governor’s politicking is the real harm done to students. We have had to talk friends out of taking their lives, and we rarely meet a queer student who isn’t struggling with their mental health. Our experiences aren’t unique: Research consistently suggests that the majority of LGBTQIA+ students are vulnerable to depression and suicide. Yet our governor is hell-bent on removing the solace and affirmation found in inclusive books, classroom instruction, and school regulations for his own political future, rather than address the real crises in our schools.
Our schools are in crisis. We hope our leaders stop focusing so much on polling boosts and fundraising hauls and instead, address the depression, abuse, and harassment that ravages our schools.
Natasha Sanghvi, Ranger Balleisen, Casey Calabia, Juno Teller, and Rivka Vizcardo-Lichter are students in Virginia who helped organize a massive school walkout this month in protest of Youngkin’s reversal of protections for trans students in schools.
Views expressed in The Advocate’s opinion articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, Equal Pride.
The Taliban have flogged a group of people in a crowded football stadium for “moral crimes” including gay sex.
Twelve people, including three women, were lashed in front of thousands of onlookers in the eastern Logar province, a Taliban official has informed theBBC.
According to the source they were punished for “sins” including “adultery, robbery, and gay sex”.
The people flogged received between 21 and 39 lashes each, with the maximum a person can receive being 39, another Taliban official shared.
It comes a week after the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, announced the group would be “implementing sharia law” in full force across the country.
The islamic law enforces punishments such as public executions, stoning, floggings and the amputation of limbs for thieves.
Under Sharia law same-sex sexual activity is prohibited and can be punished by the death penalty.
The recent floggings resemble the group’s previous rule from 1996 to 2001, when it was condemned for carrying out public executions, stoning and floggings at the national stadium in Kabul.
The flogging in Logar province follows 19 people being flogged in a similar way in the Takhar province in northern Afghanistan just last week.
It also comes after the Taliban promised a “softer” version of its regime, but since the group’s return to rule last year reports of public floggings have been rife.
Since the group’s rule it has continued to destroy women’s freedoms by banning them from entering parks, funfairs, gyms and public baths, with women saying they were beaten for standing up of their rights.
A 22-year-old gay man was previously shot dead by the Taliban in Afghanistan because of his sexuality.
Hamed Sabouri, from Kabul, was killed in August, local activists told PinkNews.
He was reportedly kidnapped by the Taliban and a video showing his murder sent to his family days later.
