LGBTQI+ individuals are more likely than their counterparts to exhibit suicidal behavior. According to data reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2019, nearly half of students identifying as gay, lesbian or bisexual reported seriously considered suicide. These students experienced a near fourfold increase in suicide attempts compared with heterosexual students. LGBTQI+ adults are also at greater risk of suicide. According to the Substance Use and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 15.9 percent of LGB respondents ages 26 to 49 reported serious suicidal thoughts within the past year, and 2.1 percent reported a suicide attempt.
The experiences of stigmatization, rejection, trauma, victimization, microaggressions, homophobia and transphobia all contribute to this elevated risk. Conversely, support and connection between LGBTQI+ youth and their family or caregiver, peers, school and community, can promote better mental health, fewer negative outcomes and stronger resilience. The federal government, along with public and private sector partners, plays an important role toward building this affirming support and connection.
On July 16, SAMHSA led the nationwide transition to 988 as the easy-to-remember number to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — an important step forward to strengthen and transform crisis care in our country.
Historically there have been notable gaps in accessing needed care for suicidal, mental health and substance use concerns with marginalized groups often facing additional barriers and inequitable outcomes.
SAMHSA is committed to enhancing access to crisis services for LGBTQI+ youth, including through the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and has outlined a number of critical activities. These include enhanced training, service linkage to specialized care and creation and testing of direct chat portals and interactive voice response menu options.
In addition, research shows the training and expertise of the counselors who respond to crisis contacts matters. A recent survey of 12- to 25-year-old callers conducted by the Trevor Project revealed that nearly half indicated they called specifically because of LGBT-affirming counselors.
Recent federal appropriations direct $7.2 million to provide specialized services for LGBTQ youth within the 988 Lifeline. SAMHSA has been working closely with its partners to do so. Given both youth preferences for digital tools like text and chat and the particular needs of LGBTQI+ youth, such enhancements in access are critically important strategies to promote engagement.
The implementation of 988 and expanding access to affirming support for struggling LGBTQI+ youth is a critical first step in saving lives, decreasing stigma and linking those in need to compassionate and effective care. If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org
For most of the six decades that monkeypox has been known to affect people, it was not known as a disease that spreads through sex. Now that has changed.
The current outbreak is by far the biggest involving the virus, and it’s been designated a global emergency. So far, officials say, all evidence indicates that the disease has spread mainly through networks of men who have sex with men.
“It clearly is spreading as an STI (sexually transmitted infection) at this point,” said Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
To protect the people at highest risk while trying to contain the spread, public health agencies are focusing their attention on those men — and attacking the virus based on how it’s behaving now.
On Wednesday, the head of the World Health Organization advised men at risk for monkeypox to consider reducing their sexual partners “for the moment.”
But this is a complicated outbreak that may shift in how it spreads and which population groups are most affected. There is also debate about whether monkeypox should be called a sexually transmitted disease, with some critics complaining that the term creates a stigma and could be used to vilify gay and bisexual men.
Monkeypox can spread in nonsexual ways too, and it’s not enough to use condoms or other typical measures for stopping STDs, Inglesby and other experts say.
Here’s what we know.
What makes something an STD?
A sexually transmitted disease is commonly defined as one that mainly spreads through sexual contact. But some STDs can be spread in other ways, too. HIV can spread through shared needles. Syphilis can spread through kissing. A common, parasite-caused sexual infection called trichomoniasis has been found to spread through the sharing of damp, moist objects like sponges or towels.
Monkeypox has not usually spread easily among people, and experts are still trying to understand exactly how it moves from person to person. In Africa, where small outbreaks have been common for years, people have been infected through bites from rodents or small animals.
But in May, cases began emerging in Europe, the United States and elsewhere that showed a clear pattern of infection through intimate contact with an infected person, like many other sexually transmitted diseases.
The public health workers who respond to outbreaks play a large role how they are framed. Much of the work on monkeypox has been done by professionals who operate sexual health clinics or specialize in STDs.
Indeed, the U.S. government’s response needs to be led by people with that expertise, said David C. Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors.
“The STD field has a wealth of knowledge and expertise in these areas developed over decades fighting various outbreaks and diseases affecting the very communities … we’re seeing monkeypox taking a toll on today,” Harvey said in a statement.
Who is getting monkeypox?
WHO officials said last week that 99% of all the monkeypox cases beyond Africa were in men and that of those, 98% involved men who have sex with men. Experts suspect that monkeypox outbreaks in Europe and North America were ignited by sex at two raves in Belgium and Spain.
The statistics are the same for cases reported in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As in Europe, cases have emerged in other groups too, including at least 13 people who were female at birth and at least two children.
Last week, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study of hundreds of monkeypox infections in 16 countries. It found that the suspected means of transmission in 95% of the cases was sexual close contact, as reported by doctors. The researchers noted that it was impossible to confirm sexual transmission.
That idea seemed to be further supported by the finding that most of the men had lesions in the genital or anal areas or in the mouth — areas of sexual contact, the researchers said.
Why is there a debate about calling it an STD?
While there is broad agreement among health officials that monkeypox is being transmitted during sexual encounters, some experts debate whether it should be called an STD. They worry that the term unfairly stigmatizes and that it could undermine efforts to identify infections and tame the outbreak.
When a disease is defined as a sexually transmitted infection that mainly affects men who have sex with men, many people may begin to think of it as “a gay disease” that poses no risk to them, said Jason Farley, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.
That’s what happened in the early days of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, which contributed to the spread of HIV to other groups. Farley said.
“We learn nothing from our history,” said Farley, who is gay.
The WHO recommendation that at-risk men limit their sexual partners is sensible public health advice, he said. But it also amplifies “the message that this is a gay disease,” he said.
“This is the fine line between having a public health approach that focuses on the epidemiology of now, compared to the likelihood of the continued emergence of new cases in” the general community, he said.
“Monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted infection,” he said. “It is an infection that can be transmitted with sexual contact.”
What is known about transmission?
Some researchers have found evidence of the monkeypox virus in semen. A study in Spain found monkeypox virus DNA in the semen of some infected men, as well as in saliva and other body fluids. But the study didn’t answer whether the virus actually has spread through semen.
Sorting that out could affect the understanding of not only how men spread the infection, but also how long they might be contagious. Evidence of some other viruses — like Ebola and Zika — has been found in the semen of some men months after they were thought to be fully recovered.
Meanwhile, scientists believe the primary route of transmission during the current outbreak has been skin-to-skin contact during sexual encounters with someone who has symptoms. In that respect, it’s similar to herpes, some experts noted.
The virus also may spread through saliva and respiratory droplets during prolonged, face-to-face contact, such as during kissing and cuddling — a kind of spread that can occur outside of sex.
Researchers are exploring how often, and in what situations, that kind of spread might happen, said Christopher Mores, a professor of global health at George Washington University.
“We would do ourselves a disservice to try and exclude anything from the realm of possibility at this point,” he said.
Officials also say people can catch monkeypox from touching items that previously touched an infected person’s rash or body fluids, such as towels or bedsheets. That is thought to explain the infections of the U.S. children.
Why are these details important?
It’s important to understand exactly how monkeypox spreads in order to give people the information they need to protect themselves, health officials say.
That said, health officials believe those who are currently at the highest risk are gay or bisexual men who have sex with multiple partners. That understanding has shaped much of the work to contain the outbreak, including prioritization of the supply of vaccines and treatments.
The government has been shipping a monkeypox vaccine, but the supply is limited. So far it’s only been recommended as a post-exposure treatment or for people who have had multiple sex partners in the past two weeks in a place where monkeypox cases have been reported.
The vaccine is new, and officials are trying to gather data on exactly how well it works.
A school librarian in Louisiana is suing two conservative activists for defamation after they falsely accused her of putting “pornographic” material in local libraries.
“I’ve had enough for everybody,” Amanda Jones, a librarian at a middle school in Denham Springs, Louisiana and president of the Louisiana Association of School Librarians, told NBC News. “Nobody stands up to these people. They just say what they want and there are no repercussions and they ruin people’s reputations and there’s no consequences.”
Jones’s suit, filed last week, argues that Facebook pages run by Michael Lunsford and Ryan Thames falsely labeled her a pedophile after she spoke against censorship at a July 19 Livingston Parish Library Board of Control meeting. She has also filed criminal complaints with the Livingston Parish Sheriff’s Office against Lunsford and Thames.
During public comment at the July 19 board meeting, Jones voiced her concern that a motion under consideration to evaluate the content of certain sex education books available at the public library would lead to the banning of books containing LGBTQ content.
“‘While book challenges are often done with the best intentions, and in the name of age appropriateness, they often target marginalized communities such as BIPOC and the LBGTQ community,” Jones said at the meeting according to the lawsuit.
“The citizens of our parish consist of taxpayers who are white, Black, brown, gay, straight, Christian, non-Christian, people from all backgrounds and walks of life, and no one portion of the community should dictate what the rest of the citizens have access to. Just because you don’t want to read it or see it, it doesn’t give you the right to deny others or demand its relocation.”
“If we remove or relocate books with LBGTQ or sexual health content, what message is that sending to our community members? Why is your belief system any more important than others’?”
Lunsford, who runs conservative group Citizens for a New Louisiana, attended the meeting and spoke in favor of restricting books with sexual content. In the weeks following the meeting, Citizens for a New Louisiana’s Facebook page posted numerous posts about Jones.
“Why is she fighting so hard to keep sexually erotic and pornographic materials in the kid’s section?” one post, which featured Jones’s picture, read.
Thames’s “Bayou State of Mind” Facebook page also posted a meme depicting Jones and accused her of “advocating teaching anal sex to 11-year-olds.”
Jones said she has not left her house in two weeks due to comments on some posts encouraging violence against her. At the same time, she has raised $20,000 to fund her lawsuit against Lunsford and Thames via a GoFundMe campaign.
“If this takes four or five years, I’m going to fight these people on this,” she said. “Even if I lose, I could say I stood up to them.”
Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court on June 24. Six conservative justices chose to remove a person’s right to an abortion. The decision uprooted much of America and caused women to feel like their bodies were an unsafe place to live in. Regulation of women’s bodies by a conservative cohort of mostly white men is wrong.
Recently, the Biden administration issued an executive order that will reverse the fateful Supreme Court decision so that women may still have access to abortion services. I hope these efforts succeed.
Despite the potential reversal, it needs to be made clear that abortion, and all reproductive rights, are an intersectional issue. Countless Instagram posts, memes, captions, and news articles are talking about how women will suffer. Women will most definitely suffer from a reversal of Roe v. Wade, but transgender men and other nonbinary people will suffer too.
Transgender men are fully capable of having pregnancies. It is imperative that people remember our right to an abortion as well. Many transgender men either forego going on testosterone therapy for a while to have a baby or choose to become pregnant before starting hormone therapy. This is fine and a perfectly normal process to opt into.
Transgender men also deserve legal and affordable access to Plan B pills, just like all women should. Much of our body still works in the same way that a biological female’s would, despite doses of testosterone.
Tangentially, trans men also partake in the medical conversation about contraceptives and other medicines that prevent STI infection. Trans men who choose to have sex with men need affordable access to condoms and birth control.
They also need safe and affordable access to PrEP, which prevents HIV transmission. Recent federal guidance will make PrEP free, or borderline free, which is a step in the right direction. Gender nonconforming patients should also ask doctors about any differences in PrEP’s effects on bodies assigned female at birth versus those assigned male at birth.
All sorts of people — women and others — are threatened by the Supreme Court right now. The conservative cohort of justices sitting in D.C. is simply ruining America’s future.
The treatment for ectopic pregnancies and septic uteruses is an abortion. People have already been dying because they can’t access these safe and legal abortions. The cruelty being inflicted on these bodies is unrivaled.
But it’s time we include all sorts of genders in the conversation on abortion.
Isaac Amend (he/him/his) is a transgender man and young professional in the D.C. area. He was featured on National Geographic’s ‘Gender Revolution’ in 2017 as a student at Yale University. Amend is also on the board of the LGBT Democrats of Virginia. Find him on Instagram @isaacamend.
Janani Ramachandran, 30, says she’s always lived at the intersection of two isolations.
As an openly gay South Asian woman growing up post-9/11, she felt that few people could understand her specific experience — and that representation was nonexistent.
“I think it definitely is difficult for LGBTQ South Asians to feel their full selves in different spaces,” she told NBC Asian America. “I can feel uncomfortable in predominantly LGBTQ spaces, because I see very few people that look like me. In predominantly South Asian spaces, I also sometimes feel uncomfortable in not being reflected.”
Running for Oakland City Council this year, Ramachandran hopes to change that. If she’s successful, she’ll be the city’s first South Asian councilmember and the only LGBTQ woman councilmember in the state.
Her run is reflective of what experts say is a demographic shift in the country’s politics. Since 2018, the number of LGBTQ Asians running for office has more than doubled. This year, that group is bigger than ever.
“We’re navigating a very challenging last couple of years with anti-Asian hate combined with anti-LGBTQ hate,” said Albert Fujii, press secretary of Victory Fund, an organization that supports LGBTQ people in politics. “It really says something about these candidates that they’re willing to be very visible.”
Two years into the Stop Asian Hate movement, Fujii says the changing climate for Asians has caused a dramatic increase in community members getting political.
“I think that for so many folks who are interested in public service, sometimes it takes an event or a rough couple of years to be the catalyst for getting to that moment where enough is enough,” he said.
In 2018, only 20 candidates nationwide identified as both Asian and LGBTQ. In 2020, that number only marginally increased, with 23 Asian LGBTQ names on the ballot. This year, there are 41, according to Victory Fund.
“Obviously, we have a long way to go in terms of addressing that representation gap,” Fujii said. “But we’ve come a long way.”
Sam Park, 36, a Korean American and the first openly gay man ever elected to Georgia’s state Legislature, says being the only Asian person at his Atlanta elementary school was surprisingly good practice.
“I was terrified of running as an openly gay candidate, especially with my experience of growing up as a gay Asian in the South,” said Park, who is a Democrat and was elected in 2016. “As a son of immigrants who came from humble beginnings, politics seemed inaccessible.”
He watched laws pass over the years codifying discrimination in Georgia and demonizing the LGBTQ community. Even in his own home, he said, he battled layers of conservatism.
“One was just being in the South and being in a conservative culture,” he said. “That was reinforced by growing up in a Korean house, which leans more conservative. … And then, I grew up a Southern Baptist. So I heard growing up that if you’re gay you’re an abomination. You go to hell.”
He spent his youth and early 20s reconciling being Korean American and being gay, he said, and as a community leader, both now feed seamlessly into his work. Much of his time in office is spent combating anti-Asian hate, whether that be granular incidents of violence or organized rhetoric from political machines.
“The blatant xenophobia and racism that we’ve seen from Trump and Republicans in trying to scapegoat Asian Americans for the worst public health crisis in this country’s history,” he said. “I think it’s really made us [Asian Americans] understand why political participation is so important.”
Running for reelection, he sees an entirely different landscape for Asian representation than when he first started.
“When it comes to Asian American political power and participation, we’ve seen a marked increase over the past five to six years, but really highlighted during the 2020 election,” he said. “In 2016, I was the only Asian American serving in the state Legislature. Now, I think there’s five or six, and each of them have made history in their own right.”
Having lived in both the U.S. and India, Ramachandran says she can draw parallels.
“Bangalore shows a lot of the same problems that Oakland does when it comes to gentrification, affordable housing, pollution, infrastructure and, of course, corruption,” she said.
She’s grown up watching her mom fear dealing with police, and she’s experienced firsthand the misogyny that comes with trying to succeed as a woman. When she ran for the California state Assembly last year, she recalls many people in her life urging her not to.
But her campaign was more successful than she could have imagined, she said. After making it to the runoff, she ultimately lost to Mia Bonta.
The race ahead feels distinct, she said. There’s a potential for it to culminate in many “firsts” for her, but overall, Ramachandran says it represents a much broader cultural shift in who gets to run for office.
“I remember so clearly everyone telling me not to do it just over a year ago,” she said. “I want to show people that this is changing. Voters are ready for things that are new. And if we’re going to say we support LGBTQ leadership, API, women leadership, our own communities have to step up.”
Leigh Finke has won Tuesday’s Democratic primary election for Minnesota’s state House district 66A. The journalist, advocate, and filmmaker will now advance to November’s general election, where she will face off against Republican nominee Trace Johnson.
A win in November would make Finke the first out transgender state legislator ever elected in Minnesota.
On Tuesday morning, Finke posted a photo of herself and her team on Twitter, along with a simple celebratory message: “We did it. We won.”
Endorsed by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, Finke was named one of the organization’s “Spotlight Candidates.”
“From safeguarding abortion rights to addressing economic inequality to expanding protections for trans people, Leigh has a persuasive and critically important agenda that voters are clearly enthusiastic about,” Victory Fund president and CEO Mayor Annise Parker said in a statement Tuesday. “We are confident Leigh’s win tonight is a clear sign to our community—and LGBTQ kids in particular—that hate will not triumph. Leaders like Leigh prove over and over again that our community is strong, united and ready to lead our nation into a kinder and more accepting future. Backing down has never been in our DNA, especially when our freedoms are on the ballot.”
Last year, Finke spoke at a rally for former Hastings, Minnesota, school board chair Kelsey Waits, who faced harassment after her daughter Kit was outed as transgender.
“Kit’s trans identity was turned against their mother,” Finke said. “This is a despicable, vile act that must be condemned.”
“Take a look around,” she said. “This is what happens when trans kids are attacked. We show up. We show up and that’s not going to stop.”
Becca Balint, Vermont’s state Senate president, has won the Democratic nomination for the state’s at-large congressional seat, NBC News projects.
The victory makes her likely to become the first woman to represent the heavily Democratic state in Congress. Vermont is the only state that has never had a female member of its congressional delegation.
Balint, a state senator since 2014 who rose to Senate president two years ago, would also be the first openly gay lawmaker to represent the state on Capitol Hill should she win in November.
Balint, 54, a progressive Democrat backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and the Vermont icons Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, defeated Lt. Gov. Molly Gray.
The more centrist Gray had the backing of fellow Democrats like former Vermont Govs. Madeline Kunin and Howard Dean, while retiring Sen. Pat Leahy had donated $5,000 to her campaign.
Leahy’s retirement announcement set the race for the House seat in motion. Democratic Rep. Peter Welch is running for the seat he is vacating.
Leahy, a Democrat, was elected to the Senate in 1974. Sanders, an independent and a former at-large representative, was elected to the Senate in 2006, the same year Welch was elected to the House.
The state has only three representatives in Congress — its two senators and an at-large House member.
“Though I do view Mr. Straka’s criminal conduct as very serious, it’s been mitigated somewhat by his early plea and by his willingness to assist the government by providing complete and truthful information,” District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich said in January.
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At the time, the 43-year-old had said he felt “deeply sorry and shameful” for his actions.
But in the weeks since records detailing his cooperation with federal investigators were inadvertently unsealed and reported in the media, Straka has been downplaying his cooperation and contradicting some of what he told investigators.
“To me, making the choice to sit down and answer questions was a no-brainer – nobody I know committed any crimes and I have no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing from anybody,” he wrote in an open letter. “There is NOTHING WRONG with talking to the DOJ and telling them your friends are innocent.”
The court records showed that Straka provided valuable information that could help prosecute over a dozen other rioters, including anti-vaccine advocate Simone Gold. Prosecutors said that Straka gave them voicemail messages that she left him that were “valuable in the government’s prosecution.”
On social media, though, Straka mentioned Gold as someone he “barely knew” so he couldn’t have helped prosecutors in her case.
“One of the names of the list was Simone Gold (now a friend of mine), and Simone was arrested and charged BEFORE I was. At the time of January 6th we barely knew each other,” he wrote in his Gettr open letter.
Straka had previously posted about his plea deal on Twitter. “I’ve been asked, ‘Why would you take a plea deal?’ Many who know me well feel certain I didn’t do things I was accused of,” he wrote on March 8.
In his plea, Straka admitted to encouraging the January 6 mob to take a police officer’s riot shield. But in March, he posted that “I signed a plea deal, written by the government, that says I did that,” adding that it was “completely contrary to who I am and what I would do in any given situation.”
“Do you believe that every person who takes a plea deal did the things they’re accused of?” Straka posted on May 3. He was sentences to two months in jail as part of the plea agreement.
“It’s been brought to my attention that Mr. Straka has been making questionable comments about the truth of his plea and the nature of his cooperation,” Friedrich said at a hearing earlier this week. “I want to know, should I be expecting a motion to withdraw his plea? Because I would gladly hold a hearing.”
“It makes me question every statement he made to me at the time of sentencing. Every single one. He’s losing more credibility by the moment,” she said of Straka’s comments. “What he needs to appreciate is he is potentially incriminating himself.”
“He faces exposure for making false statements to federal law enforcement officers,” Friedrich told Straka’s lawyer. “So I suggest you advise him to show the discretion that he did not show before January 6.”
Straka gained notoriety for creating the #WalkAway movement that encouraged groups that usually vote for Democrats – like LGBTQ people – to “walk away” from the Democratic Party and vote for Republicans. He was not only present at the Capitol on January 6, but he spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally the day before, encouraged thousands of people on social media to continue storming the Capitol the day of, and proudly bragged about it after.
On January 6, Straka was present near the Capitol the day of and wrote on Twitter to his half a million followers that day, “Patriots at the Capitol – HOLD. THE. LINE!!!!” while rioters were breaking into and roaming inside the building. Still, he maintains he did not enter the Capitol building.
Multiple people also caught Straka on video – which the FBI obtained after videos were posted to YouTube – that allegedly showed him outside the Capitol, shouting “We’re going in!” and “Go! Go!”
Another video allegedly showed shows Straka urging other rioters to attack a Capitol Police officer and rip away his protective gear. According to charging documents, Straka shouted: “Take it away from him.” Other people in the crowd then yelled, “Take the shield!”
A 74-year-old man who owned multiple firearms and ammunition has been sentenced to 30 months in jail after sending bomb threat letters to pro-LGBTQ+ campaigners.
Robert Fehring was sentenced on Wednesday (3 August) after pleading guilty in February to one count of mailing threatening communications, according to Buzzfeed News.
The retired USA high school teacher had reportedly been arrested in December 2021 after sending at least 60 anonymous threats to Pride Month organisers, government officials, and other pro-LGBTQ+ individuals over the course of eight years.
He began his campaign of hatred in 2013 when he targeted New York’s Long Island and Manhattan institutions and advocates. He made various worrying warnings, including threatening to bomb a Pride parade in Long Island town of Huntington and plant explosives on a ferry taking people to Fire Island.
“ALL OF YOU SHOULD BE SHOT, HUNG, EXTERMINATED,” he wrote in a particularly disgusting letter to the owners of New York City’s pro-LGBTQ+ bar the Stonewall Inn. “WE WILL BLOW UP/BURN YOUR ESTABLISHMENTS DOWN.”
“WE WILL SHOOT THOSE WHO FREQUENT YOUR DENS OF FILTH, S**T, SCUM AND PERVERSION,” the letter continued before asking the owners to catch HIV and “JUST F***ING DIE!!”
Fehring also used doctored newspapers to send threatening letters, including one in 2021 addressed to the LGBTQ+ CEO of Newsday that contained photographs of a local Pride event, with a caption below reading “ONLY 350 UNNATURAL PERVERTS LESBOS & F****TS SHOW UP!!”
One of the six victims to speak at the sentencing was gay activist David Kilmnick, who said being sent targeted threats for who you are “changes you”.
“You have no luxury of safety – even doing the most mundane daily chores,” he continued. “From the first time I received one of his ‘anonymous’ letters [threatening] my life due to being an LGBT advocate and fighting for the rights and safety of our community, I no longer felt safe going to get the mail, taking out the garbage and even starting my car each day.”
After a search warrant was made in November 2021, FBI agents found several stolen Pride flags, two loaded shotguns along with nearly 400 rounds of ammunition, two stun guns, and a stamped envelope containing a dead bird that he had reportedly planned to send to a pro-LGBTQ+ attorney.
And cops found several photos taken by Robert Fehring, including those of a Pride parade in New York City, as part of a plot “to further terrify victims”.
It is highly likely Robert Fehring went to several New York Pride parades during his campaign of threats. (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty)
He was eventually arrested after a criminal complaint was filed in federal court, revealing the disturbing contents of his letters. In a statement after Fehring’s arrest, NYC Pride executive director Sandra Pérez thanked the Justice Department for investigating the situation, adding: “We are cooperating in any way we can, and we remain committed to the safety and well-being of the LGBTQIA+ community.”
According to Fehring himself, he marked each letter’s envelope with a “confidential stamp” to ensure the letters were taken seriously by recipients.
“The fact that the defendant sent his threats and then appears at the above-described locations while he was the owner of multiple firearms and ammunition is particularly serious,” the prosecution said in a sentencing memo. “The defendant has a First Amendment right to hold bigoted beliefs; he does not have a right to threaten people based on his bigoted beliefs,” the prosecution added.
While prosecutors initially aimed for Robert Fehring to serve a total of 51 months, this was cut on appeal after attorneys argued his history of physical and mental health issues would make incarceration particularly difficult for him at his age. He is required to surrender to prison by 2 September.
“Today’s sentence makes clear that threats to kill and commit acts of violence against the LGBTQ+ community will be met with significant punishment,” said attorney Breon Peace.
British health authorities said Friday the monkeypox outbreak across the country may be peaking and that the epidemic’s growth rate has slowed.
The U.K.’s Health Security Agency said in a statement there were “early signs that the outbreak is plateauing,” with 2,859 cases detected since May. No deaths have been reported. Last month, authorities estimated the outbreak was doubling in size about every two weeks, but the number of new infections has dropped in recent weeks.
“While the most recent data suggest the growth of the outbreak has slowed, we cannot be complacent,” said Dr. Meera Chand, Director of Clinical and Emerging Infections at the Health Security Agency. She said anyone who thought they might have monkeypox should skip meeting friends, social gatherings and avoid sexual contact.
The Health Security Agency said its most recent analysis of the outbreak “shows that monkeypox continues to be transmitted primarily in interconnected sexual networks of gay, bisexual, or men who have sex with other men.” More than 70% of the U.K.’s cases are in London.
British officials noted a small number of infections among women, but said there was not enough evidence to suggest there was sustained spread of monkeypox beyond gay and bisexual men; 99% of all cases in the U.K. are in men.
Scientists who analyzed monkeypox viruses in the U.K. noted a number of mutations compared to viruses circulating in Africa, but said there was no evidence those genetic changes made monkeypox any more transmissible.
The World Health Organization said this week that 92% of monkeypox cases beyond Africa were likely infected through sex and its Director-General recently appealed to vulnerable gay and bisexual men to consider reducing their sexual partners “for the moment.”
To date, more than 26,000 monkeypox cases have been reported in nearly 90 countries, with a 19% increase in the last week.
In June, British authorities expanded their vaccination strategy, offering vaccines not only to health workers treating monkeypox patients and high-risk contacts of patients, but to some men who are gay or bisexual and at high risk of catching the virus, including those with multiple sexual partners or who participate in group sex.
Last month, the U.K. downgraded its assessment of the monkeypox outbreak and dropped a recommendation for the contacts of monkeypox cases to isolate for three weeks unless they have symptoms. The change was prompted by data showing that only a small number of contacts are ultimately sickened by monkeypox and a lack of evidence that the disease spreads without close, intimate or sexual contact.
Monkeypox spreads when people have close, physical contact with an infected person’s lesions, their clothing or bedsheets. Most people recover without needing treatment, but the lesions can be extremely painful and more severe cases can result in complications including encephalitis and death.
