The senate in Romania has passed a bill that, if signed by the president, will make it illegal to discuss gender identity in every school and university in the country.
Passed on June 16 by the senate, the bill will forbid any discussion or “promotion” of “gender identity theory” – defined as “activities to spread the theory or opinion of gender identity, understood as the theory or opinion that gender is a different concept from biological sex and that the two are not always the same”.
The bill will now go to Romanian president Klaus Iohannis for approval.
It has been condemned by human-rights organisations and LGBT+ groups in Romania, which describe the potential law as “erasing” transgender people and a “major blow” to the trans community.
Vlad Alexandrescu, a senator for Romania’s third-largest political party, USR, says that the law will force children into outdated gender stereotypes, making girls play with dolls and boys with cars.
“At a time when rapists are burning their victims in Romania after raping them, when domestic violence reaches paroxysmal levels, when sexual exploitation and child trafficking for sexual exploitation came to the attention of all international forums, the Senate, Parliamentary decision-making chamber, adopted today…
“… a law initiated by two PMP parliamentarians, introduced on the agenda half an hour before the start of the meeting schools, universities and all spaces for education and training, any reference to gender identity,” he wrote on Facebook.
Major universities in Romania are also protesting the bill, saying it represents an infringement on freedom of speech and the right to an education, and could lead to future moves to ban the teaching of gender or women’s studies in Romania.
“I feel angry, I feel erased, the Romanian state is telling me, a transgender Roma woman that I do not exist!” said Antonella Lerca Duda, a board member of LGBT+ rights organisation MozaiQ and president of SWC, the first and only organisation fighting for sex workers’ rights in the country.
“No, politicians do not have the right to decide about my identity,” Duda added.
The law in Romania was drafted by two senators from Romania’s right-wing Popular Movement Party
The bill puts Romania on a similar path to its neighbours Poland and Hungary.
Hungary’s far-right president Viktor Orbán passed a law in April that legally erases trans people, taking away the right for citizens to change their legal name or gender.
Poland has also taken steps to restrict trans rights and suppress public discussions of gender, with president Andrzej Duda vowing to ban equal marriage, gay adoption and LGBT+ education in schools on June 11.
Police in Spain made the mayor of a small town take down a Pride flag because it was “illegal” – but locals were having none of it.
Juan Civico, mayor of the Andalusian village of Villanueva de Algaidas near Malaga, thought erecting a Pride flag at the council building would be a kind gesture to the local LGBT+ community.
But that simple act, Civico later discovered, was actually illegal – the Supreme Court recently ruled that government buildings must only fly official flags of Spain, its regions or of the European Union, according to the Jakarta Post.
Three local residents seized on that law and complained to authorities – and, under the law, police told Civico he would have to pull the flag down.
A shop owner handed out 400 Pride flags to residents of the town in Spain.
“After the complaints, we studied what we had to do,” Civico said.
“We saw that under the law we had to remove the flag. But the people can put what they like on their balconies.”
When Antonio Carlos Alcántara heard about what had happened, he decided to help.
We saw that under the law we had to remove the flag. But the people can put what they like on their balconies.
Alcántara runs a shop around 60 kilometres from the town, and one of the things he stocks is Pride flags.
But due to the coronavirus, he hasn’t been selling many lately – so he decided to post on the council’s Facebook page asking if anyone would like a flag.
The village is covered in rainbow colours, despite complaints from three residents.
He quickly amassed more than 100 requests from villagers, so he decided to drive over and hand them out.
In total, he has handed 400 Pride flags to local residents, and the village is now awash with the Pride colours hanging from windows and balconies.
The city council expressed their sadness at being ordered to take the flag down in a Facebook post last week.
They said the flag was intended to show that their village is an “open, diverse, plural, inclusive” place – but said the gesture had lasted “a short time”.
However, they said the council will always stand for tolerance, equality and respect for LGBT+ people – even if they’re not allowed to fly the Pride flag.
Montenegro has just voted to legalise same-sex civil partnerships, becoming the first European country outside of Western Europe and the European Union to do so.
Lawmakers in the small Balkan country reached the decision on Wednesday (July 1) after the law received 42 votes in the 81-seat parliament.
Montenegro’s prime minister Duško Marković called it “a great step in the right direction for Montenegrin society, its democratic maturity, and integration processes”.
President Milo Đukanović also welcomed the move, declaring on Twitter that Montenegro is now “one step closer to joining the most developed world democracies”.
“[It is] a confirmation that our society is maturing, accepting and living the differences,” he added. “Born free and equal in dignity and rights!”
Unfortunately, that’s not strictly true: although Montenegrin same-sex couples are granted almost all the same rights as heterosexuals, they are still unable to adopt or foster children.
Lesbian couples are not able to undergo IVF in the country and surrogacy is banned for all couples, regardless of sexual orientation.
Nevertheless, the important move towards equality is being celebrated by the Montenegrin LGBT+ community .
The advocacy group LGBT Forum Progres, Montenegro’s first and oldest LGBT+ organisation, described the passage of the bill as “an immense step forward for Montenegrin society”.
Facebook reportedly refused to take action on posts that called for the murder of LGBT+ people, according to activists.
LGBT+ activists across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) have called on Facebook to tackle hate speech, including posts that call for the murder of queer people.
But, the platform reportedly found that they did not “contradict community standards”.
Activists and rights groups wrote an open letter to Facebook in the wake of the death of Sara Hegazy, an Egyptian LGBT+ activist who was jailed and tortured for raising a Pride flag at a concert, and then tragically died by suicide.
The letter said: “Although the MENA LGBTQI+ community has been reporting thousands of Arabic hate speech posts … most of these reports were declined because the content ‘did not contradict the Facebook community standards’.
“This is due to the lax implementation of effective anti-hate speech policies to manage the platform in our region, which makes the platform unsafe for sexual minorities.
“While the right to equal treatment and non-discrimination is a fundamental right enshrined in international treaties and covenants, it should be ensured that a mechanism exists to ensure that complaints from victims of hate speech in the region are examined without violating freedom of expression.”
If you think it’s your right to act on homosexuality, then it’s my right to throw you off the roof.
Activists provided Gay Star News with examples of posts that were reported to Facebook, including one which, when translated from Arabic, read: “If you think it’s your right to act on sodomy/homosexuality, then it’s my right to throw you off the roof.”
Another profile had a photo of a white stick figure kicking a rainbow stick figure in the stomach, with a cover photo of a burning Pride flag.
Adam Muhammed, executive director of the LGBT+ rights group ATYAF Collective in Morocco, told Reuters: “In the US and Europe, there is no room to spread hate speech against any sexual orientation, race, religion, sect or any other social group.
“We addressed a letter to Facebook asking its management to implement the same policy here as it uses in other countries.”
In response, Facebook said that it removed hate speech in more than 50 languages, including Arabic, and that 90 per cent of it was blocked before users reported it.
It added: “We know we have more work to do here and we’ll continue to work closely with members of the LGBTQI+ community in the Middle East and North Africa to develop our tools, technology and policies.”
Calls for Facebook to remove hate speech and disinformation go global.
Facebook is facing increasing pressure around the world to address hate speech and the spread of disinformation.
On June 17, civil rights groups Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, Free Press, and Color of Change began a campaign called Stop Hate for Profitwhich urged companies to pause their advertising on Facebook and Instagram in an attempt to force them to reconsider their policies.
Stop Hate for Profit said: “What would you do with $70 billion? We know what Facebook did.
“They allowed incitement to violence against protesters fighting for racial justice in America in the wake of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks and so many others.
“They named Breitbart News a ‘trusted news source’ and made The Daily Callera ‘fact checker’ despite both publications having records of working with known white nationalists.
“They turned a blind eye to blatant voter suppression on their platform.
“Could they protect and support Black users? Could they call out Holocaust denial as hate? Could they help get out the vote?
“They absolutely could. But they are actively choosing not to do so.”
Companies including Adidas, Puma, Vans, Ben & Jerry’s, Levi’s, Verizon and Unilever have all vowed to pull advertising from Facebook during July.
In response to the mass boycott, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said the company would put “warning labels” on posts, but would not stop the content being posted.
According to Out, Zuckerberg said Facebook users should be free to condemn content as “this is an important part of how we discuss what’s acceptable in our society”.
Police in Russia have detained over 30 people for protesting the arrest of Yulia Tsvetkova, an LGBT+ and feminist activist charged with spreading ‘gay propaganda’.
Yulia Tsvetkova, 27, faces a six year sentence for running a social media page called Vagina Monologues, which encouraged people to share artistic depictions of vaginas to “remove the taboo”.
She was charged with the distribution of “criminal pornography” under Russia’s gay propaganda law, which prohibits the positive depiction of LGBT+ people.
On Saturday (June 27) more than 30 people, mostly women, gathered in in central Moscow to stage separate one-person protests against Tsvetkova’s charges.
Participants stood in line to picket one at a time, with one holding a placard that read: “Today they send [us] to prison for pictures, tomorrow they will send [us] to prison for letters? Freedom for Yulia Tsvetkova!”
According to the OVD-Info group that monitors political arrests in Russia, at least 38 people were detained and taken to a police station. It was not clear if they would be charged.
Russian law usually permits single pickets to be held without permission, but in recent weeks there have been numerous cases of police arresting protesters on the grounds that they violated the ban on mass gatherings imposed during the pandemic.
Police declined to comment on the arrests when questioned by The Guardianon Saturday.
Russia is currently in the midst of a referendum a package of constitutional amendments that will take Russia’s opposition to homosexuality a step further by enshrining traditional “family values” as part of the constitution.
Among the amendments proposed by Putin is one that would legally define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Russian LGBT+ activists fear that, if passed, it would permanently block same-sex marriage or adoption from ever being legalised in the country.
The referendum has been accompanied by a wave of homophobic rhetoric and viral campaign ads denouncing the LGBT+ community.
A Lyft passenger launched into a racist and homophobic verbal tirade against his driver simply because he was asked to wear a face mask.
A May 28 ride in Reno, Nevada, saw a passenger identified as Richard board driver Edgar’s vehicle. Edgar wore a mask while Richard, according to the dash-came footage seen by TMZ, did not.
When the driver politely asked the passenger to strap on a mask – a crucial tool in the fight to contain the coronavirus pandemic – he exploded into a racist and homophobic rant.
“You believe in that shit?” Richard asked the driver.
“Yes, I do because I have family who are sick from that [coronavirus],” Edgar replied.
Footage then shows Richard griping about the government, saying he doesn’t “trust” officials and that “it’s not the government – it’s the people who are getting sick”.
“It’s because we are really close right here in the car,” he said, before criticising Edgar for following the route to his destination as instructed by the Lyft driver app.
Eventually driver Edgar pulled over to ask his passenger to exit the vehicle. Richard refused, saying he had “a contract”.
“You represent Lyft, you little candy-ass faggot in your white glasses,” video shows him shouting.
“I should just f**king crush your f**king skull right now.”
He then mocked Edgar’s accent, calling him a “f***ing wetback [a slur used against people from Central or Latin America]” and claiming: “I’m an American, motherf***er. I fought three times in a goddamn war.
“Why are you [charging] me for a full-ride when you only gave me 100 yards of ride? How is that considered to be fair? Is that considered fair in your country?”
“Yes, because this is my country, too,” Edgar responded, before Richard finally exited the vehicle.
A representative from Lyft said of the alarming video: “The behaviour shown by the rider in this video is despicable and has no place on the Lyft platform.
“Lyft is committed to maintaining an inclusive and welcoming community, and discrimination is not tolerated.”
The necessity that comes with wearing a mask has emerged as a high water point for small pockets of Americans, roiled by state officials ordering people to wear face coverings which they see as an open challenge against the freedom and liberty they have long associated with America.
Lockdown measures have inflamed deep-seated tensions in the US. (KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Recent weeks have brought with them footage of aggrieved supermarket tellers and security hurrying enraged customers refusing to wear masks out of stores. But with state officials and local authorities hastily loosening lockdown rules, the need to wear a mask is greater than ever before, health experts stress.
Over 3,500 people have backed a petition to replace a New Jersey city’s Christopher Columbus statue with one of Black trans activist Marsha P Johnson.
The Christopher Columbus statue has stood in Marsha P Johnson’s home town of Elizabeth, New Jersey since 1971, but petitioners say a tribute to her would be far more fitting in light of the explorer’s problematic history.
Johnson left the town in her late teens with nothing but a bag of clothes and a few dollars to her name. She moved to New York where she became one of the central figures of the LGBT+ rights movement, and many locals feel it’s time her achievements were recognised.
“I’ve always said that Marsha was more recognised in New York City and around the world than she is in her own hometown,” her nephew, Al Michaels, told CNN.
The petition was created by 19-year-old Celine Da Silva, who also grew up in Elizabeth.
“We should commemorate Marsha P Johnson for the incredible things she did in her lifetime and for the inspiration she is to members of the LGBT+ community worldwide, especially Black trans women,” she wrote on Change.org.
“It tells me that times are changing. People are becoming more accepting to people who identify as LGBT+,” she said. “It tells me that people are realising how whitewashed our history is and how some figures that we learn about, we don’t learn everything about them.”
The nearby New Jersey towns of Camden and West Orange both moved to take down memorials to Christopher Columbus earlier this month, with the mayor of Camden saying the statue had “long pained the residents of the community.”
Both communities are still working out what should be erected as a replacement. Da Silva says local minority heroes like Marsha P Johnson are the perfect choice, and plans to bring her request to the city council.
“Obviously we’re not asking the city council to consider putting up a statue. This is a demand,” said Da Silva’s boyfriend Daniel Cano, who helped form the petition.
“Ultimately, a statue is going to come up no matter what. And we’re going to honour Marsha in the way that she deserves to be honoured.”
When Jun Young came out at the age of 45, he thought back to his childhood.
He was raised in a Catholic household in the Philippines, where he was taught early on that being gay was against God’s will. So when he realized around the age of 12 that he was attracted to other boys, he kept it locked away for more than three decades.
“I felt like I didn’t really have a choice,” Young told NBC Asian America. “I couldn’t really come out or accept that I was gay or even explore what that meant without giving up my faith. And my faith was so important to me and continues to be important to me.”
Jun Young is the founder of Beloved Arise, a Christian group that celebrates LGBTQ+ youth of faith. The group is hosting the first Queer Youth of Faith Day on Tuesday.Zoey Vong
Today, he sees that many LGBTQ Christian youth in the U.S. still feel reluctant to come out because of their faith — and that there are few resources to help them.
“That’s when I decided I want to help my younger self,” said Young, 47, who is based in Seattle. “What would I have wanted growing up as a teenager?”
Young this year launched Beloved Arise, a Christian group that celebrates and empowers LGBTQ youth of faith. Through online events, regular meetings, publications and social media, Beloved Arise encourages youth to be proud of being LGBTQ and to see themselves as part of “God’s creation” and worthy of celebration, the organization says.
To mark Pride Month, the group is hosting a Queer Youth of Faith Day on Tuesday to celebrate LGBTQ youth from all faiths. Along with several cosponsors, Beloved Arise will use the event to affirm youth and let them know they are loved for exactly who they are, Young said. There will also be a virtual gathering for queer youth to share their stories and to announce the winners of an essay contest held this year.
Young said he hopes the event will allow people to initiate conversations about LGBTQ acceptance with their faith communities.
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Research from a cosponsor of the event, The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ crisis intervention and suicide prevention organization, found that 1 in 4 LGBTQ+ youth report that religion is important or very important to them. But those who hear their parents’ using religion to say negative things about being LGBTQ face a higher risk of attempting suicide.
“In some cases, that affirming adult can be a faith leader, whether that’s somebody who’s in their church, a minister, imam, rabbi,” said Casey Pick, senior fellow for advocacy and government affairs at The Trevor Project. “Having places that are explicitly LGBTQ-plus-affirming goes a long way toward healing some of the deep wounds that too many LGBTQ-plus people have associated with religion and faith.”
Maliha Khan, director of the Washington, D.C., chapter of Muslims for Progressive Values, another cosponsor, said LGBTQ people are a big part of the community her group serves, and she welcomed the opportunity to collaborate.
“We’ve seen a lot of people of faith move away from traditional spaces of worship, and oftentimes that’s because their values don’t align with what’s being taught at those spaces,” she said.
When Young decided to come out about a year and a half ago, he was a father of two children and had ended a 20-year marriage to a woman a few years earlier. While his family was accepting, he was soon removed as board president at a Christian nonprofit organization.
Young, who is now Protestant Christian, credits his decision to come out to LGBTQ-affirming theology, which he had spent some time exploring a few years ago.
The Bible is full of discussions of love and justice and standing with the oppressed and the marginalized, but he noted that only a few verses directly address same-sex acts.
“Why would I focus on that if I can lead with Jesus’ command, which is to love each other? It surprises me how we miss that so much,” he said.
When the Supreme Court ruled this month that job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or transgender status is illegal, it was a meaningful for Young, who has experienced that type of discrimination.
“It gives me hope that LGBTQ-plus youth will enter workplaces that are safe and inclusive to all people, including sexual minorities,” he said.
Now four months old, Young’s organization has about three dozen LGBTQ youth and allies from Hawaii to Mississippi regularly attend its weekly virtual gatherings. He estimates that 20 percent are Asian Americans and that a third are people of color.
The meetings, which typically run about two hours, offer youth a space to play games, worship and discuss topics like what it means to be LGBTQ as a Christian, said Lucy Roedel, one of the young people involved in the group.
Lucy Roedel, 18, is one of the youth involved with Beloved Arise.Studio B Portraits
Roedel, 18, said having a community of LGBTQ youth and allies through Beloved Arise has become an important part of her life. Her family had always been supportive of her sexuality since she came out, she said, but she didn’t feel the same way about her faith community.
Roedel, who was raised in a Christian household in Seattle, was an active volunteer at her church until late last year, when, she said, she was required to formally agree to teach that marriage is between one man and one woman.
That led her to make the difficult decision to leave the church she had attended for her entire life, she said.
“It was very hard for me, because I had always supported my senior pastor and really liked him and liked hearing him preach,” she said. “It was earth-shattering to go from listening to him every week to not even going to church, just knowing that the church didn’t agree with who I was at all.”
Although Beloved Arise is a Christian group, Young said he someday hopes to expand it to become a multifaith organization.
“Faith is something that for a lot of people adds value to their life,” he said. “And that should never be taken away just because someone has a point of view that is not compatible with your faith.”
If LGBTQ nonprofit organizations disappeared for even a single day, hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ people — especially the most vulnerable — would be cut off from health care, shelter, food, safety, and community. Today, in the midst of COVID-19 and economic collapse, our community’s nonprofits are truly and profoundly more important than ever before.
These organizations need our help. This Pride Month, we can all step up and support these organizations for Give OUT Day, the only national day of giving for the LGBTQ community. This year, over 475 LGBTQ nonprofits are participating, spanning nearly every state, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and working in every facet of queer life, from advocacy groups to community centers to performance troupes.
In the face of an unprecedented public health and economic crisis, we see these organizations working relentlessly to keep LGBTQ people healthy, delivering food to at-risk seniors and retooling their mental health services — in a matter of days — for our new world of physical distancing. We see them providing critical services, granting stipends to those who’ve suddenly lost income and finding housing for youth who are sheltered in place in abusive homes.
As the pandemic forces many of us physically apart, these organizations are offering — virtually — a sense of community, holding online spaces for healing, performance, and connection, more important now than ever.
And as protests over police brutality and systemic racism continue to grow, we see these organizations elevating Black LGBTQ voices, taking to the streets in allyship, and loudly joining calls for racial justice.
We also see how much these organizations need your help. In fact, in a survey of nonprofits by Charity Navigator and Reuters News, 83% of respondents reported that they are suffering financially due to the pandemic.
That’s where Give OUT Day comes in — and just when it’s needed most.During all of Pride Month, until 11:59 p.m. EDT on Give OUT Day (June 30), all donations to participating nonprofits on giveoutday.org help these organizations do this critical work. But Give OUT Day donations go even further: The organizations that earn the most individual donors win additional prize grants that boost their impact.
Participating in Give OUT Day is a simple way to show your pride and make a difference. Here’s how you can take part:
Right now, visit giveoutday.org/search to select which organizations you want to support. Click “donate,” and use the shopping cart to support multiple nonprofits in a single transaction.
Go a step further and click “fundraise.” Launch a fundraiser for a favorite organization by using this toolkit, and maximize your impact by reaching out to your network.
Whether or not you have the ability to donate, share giveoutday.org on social media to encourage your friends to give, especially on Give OUT Day, June 30.
Remember, though it looks different this year, Pride isn’t canceled. Show your pride by making a gift, starting a fundraiser, and sharing about Give OUT Day. You’ll support the LGBTQ community at a time of profound need — and unprecedented action.
Roger Doughty is the President of Horizons Foundation, the organizer of Give OUT Day. Celebrating its 40th anniversary, Horizons is the world’s first community foundation of, by, and for LGBTQ people.
On her wedding day, Nicole Castillo knew that she was making a mistake. She was 20 years old, and both she and her husband knew that she was not straight.
“But at the time, it didn’t feel like it was an option to not be married, and to come out,” she said. “I was concerned about harming my family, and I stayed in that marriage for some time.”
Nicole Castillo, right with her partner Katherine Rocchio.Courtesy Nicole Castillo
It took Castillo, now 36, until her mid-20s to understand her sexual orientation. “I was from a generation with almost no LGBT visibility. I didn’t know of any gay or queer women.”
As Pride Month winds down, Latinx LGBTQ people report a mixture of optimism and concern for their communities, on issues ranging from the Black Lives Matter movement to violence against transgender people.
Latinx LGBTQ people say that they see significant progress in the struggle for equality, yet stress that the fight for their rights is far from over.
Castillo, from Colorado, said she doesn’t mind that in-person Pride celebrations have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The Pride events are great, but they have become very mainstream, and it sometimes seems like the important issues can get lost.”
In contrast, she noted, “the Black Lives Matter protests are the most immediate, the most raw. That feels in a way more authentic that what Pride has become.”
From Stonewall to increased visibility
The Latino LGBTQ community has a rich heritage of activism. The first openly gay candidate for public office in the U.S. was Jose Julio Sarria, who ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1961. In New York, one of the people credited with starting the 1969 Stonewall Riots — which helped inspire the beginning of the LGBT rights movement — was Sylvia Rivera, a transgender Puerto Rican woman.
In Los Angeles, Robbie Rodriguez, 38, program director for Equality California, said that the last several years have been challenging for Latinx LGBTQ people.
“We have dealt with the very hostile Trump/Pence administration, which has not made me feel great as a Latinx gay man,” Rodriguez said. “Almost every day, the president incites fear and emboldens bigots to be open with racism, homophobia and transphobia.”
Robbie Rodriguez, of Los Angeles, works for Equality California.Courtesy Robbie Rodriguez
But Rodriguez is feeling optimistic because of two recent Supreme Court rulings, one that makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, and the other temporarily preserving DACA, the program that has granted deportation relief to young immigrants. “And we should look at the sense of solidarity that has developed in the community as a result of police brutality against African Americans,” he said. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the LGBTQ+ community showing up and showing allyship to the Black community, and lifting up their experiences.”
The visibility of Latinx LGBTQ characters in the media is heartening to Rodriguez, who recalled watching “The Real World” on MTV when he was a kid. “I watched the show with my family, and I remember seeing Pedro Zamora, who was out and HIV-positive. That meant a lot to me.”
In recent years, there has been increased Latinx LGBTQ representation on television, on shows like “Pose,” “One Day at a Time,” and “Love, Victor.” A 2019 GLAAD report found that the percentage of Latinx LGBTQ characters had increased on broadcast and cable, though the percentages on streaming dropped.
Vico Ortiz has appeared on shows like “Vida” and “American Horror Story.”Courtesy These/Thems
Vico Ortiz, a performer in Los Angeles who has appeared on shows like “Vida” and “American Horror Story,” has seen a shift in the public views of LGBTQ people—and believes that the entertainment industry plays a major role. “Having shows with queer characters is important. People who might not know any queer people see these shows, and hopefully that opens up conversations from a place of empathy and compassion.”
Ortiz, a millennial who identifies as nonbinary, describes the last few weeks as a whirlwind. “The anti-discrimination ruling at the Supreme Court was amazing, but literally two days before that, the Trump administration announced that it was taking away health care for transgender people. It’s like whiplash on your heart; we make fantastic strides, and then other stuff happens. It is frustrating; I want future queer youth not to have to deal with any of these issues.”
Ortiz noted the absence of in-person Pride events this year, but said that the Black Lives Matter movement was, for now, more important. “We might be missing some glitter parties, but we wouldn’t have Pride without riots and protests.”
Ortiz felt a heaviness on June 12, the fourth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, that left 49 people dead. “I was also thinking of the queer people who may be isolating or quarantined with nonsupportive people.”
‘Fight harder, stronger and fiercer’
Like other Americans, Latinx LGBTQ people are facing the ongoing threat of the coronavirus. The pandemic has disproportionately affected Latinos, putting their health and economic well-being at risk.
For Dr. Rafael Campo, 55, the pandemic carries echoes of a previous health crisis that struck the Latinx LGBTQ community. Campo, who teaches and practices medicine at Harvard Medical School, graduated before drug treatments for HIV/AIDS had been developed.
“There is a sad resonance in the way that HIV/AIDS originally impacted the Latinx LGBTQ population, and what is happening with coronavirus now,” he said, pointing out parallels in the lack of government response, the lack of access to care, the stigma of infection and the health disparities. “How these two very different viruses impact communities of color is part of the symmetry.”
At times, Campo has felt beleaguered by the trials that the Latinx LGBTQ community seems to be facing. Some of his patients who survived the AIDS epidemic feel a sense of renewed trauma, because they are now at risk for COVID-19. “But there are reasons to be hopeful. The demonstrations and activism around racial justice show the strength of our communities. Adverse circumstances can really bring us together and help our communities to become stronger and better.“
“We carry pride within ourselves—and no one can take that away.”
In Puerto Rico, the human rights activist Pedro Julio Serrano, 45, is concerned with the ongoing violence against transgender people, which in his view is not getting the media attention it deserves. “All over the U.S., members of the transgender community are being killed, and this doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Trump’s bigotry and divisive language has contributed to this cycle of violence. “
Puerto Rico’s new civil code, which defines myriad aspects of everyday life, is another issue that is deeply troubling to Serrano. The update coded has been controversial because it potentially could be used to take away LGBTQ rights. “It makes us invisible,” Serrano said. “It no longer includes discrimination protections. Many legal experts say it is inconsistent and poorly written, a judicial mess.”
The Latino LGBTQ community remains committed to the struggle for full equality, Serrano said. “We are going to come back and fight harder, stronger and fiercer.”
Likewise, Serrano said that losing the in-person Pride events was just a temporary setback. “For sure, when you are with other people you feel empowered and you feel solidarity. But you cannot cancel true pride. It is the product of many victories and struggles. We carry pride within ourselves — and no one can take that away.”
