A man has been arrested in connection with the death of a Florida queer venue employee who was shot dead in a hotel room.
Police were called to Parliament House Resort on April 1 after guests reported hearing shots fired.
They discovered the body of Ricardo Filmore, a 37-year-old employee, in a hotel room. He was pronounced dead at the scene, the Orlando Sentinelreports.
Investigators have since arrested 28-year-old Courtney Lamar Williams in connection with Filmore’s death, and he now reportedly faces a charge of first degree murder.
Florida’s Parliament House led tributes to Ricardo Filmore.
Filmore’s death was mourned by staff at Parliament House. In a Facebook post, the historic gay venue said he had become involved in “a domestic dispute” and “lost his life”.
“We are completely devastated by the loss of Ricardo,” they wrote.
“He was an incredible part of our family. We appreciate all of your messages of support at this time.
“Rest in Peace, Ricky.”
We are completely devastated by the loss of Ricardo.
Tributes poured in for the murdered staff member from regulars at the venue.
“My condolences. Saw him many times keeping us safe,” one Parliament House customer commented.
Another wrote: “Parliament House and his family have our deepest condolences.”
“So sad he was such a nice guy, Rest In Peace Ricky,” another regular wrote.
More than 2,000 people die from gun violence in Florida every year.
People who knew Ricardo personally expressed their shock at his death, and urged anybody with information on his killing to come forward.
According to Everytown Research, 2,568 people on average die every year in Florida from gun violence. The state has the 26th highest rate of gun deaths in the United States.
Parliament House was founded in 1975 and has become a staple for the local LGBT+ community since then. The resort is home to a number of gay bars and regularly hosts drag shows.
Various high-profile drag queens have performed at the venue over the years, including RuPaul, Shangela, Latrice Royale and Sharon Needles.
The NYC Pride March has been canceled for the first time in its half-century history, along with all in-person events leading up to the annual June event, which draws millions of participants and revelers every year.
Heritage of Pride, the organization that runs the march, made the announcement Monday, shortly after New York Mayor Bill De Blasio announced the cancellation of permits for all large events for the month of June.
“This probably will not surprise you,” De Blasio said at a coronavirus briefing before announcing the cancellation of June’s Celebrate Israel, Puerto Rican Day and LGBTQ pride parades. The mayor promised these events would go on in some format “when it’s the right time.”
“This year is the 50th anniversary of the pride parade, and it’s a very, very big deal,” De Blasio said in Monday’s briefing. “That march is such an important part of life in this city, but this year in particular it was going to be something that was a historic moment.”
The first pride march, in June 1970, honored the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising the year before, which helped sparked the modern LGBTQ rights movement. Last year’s NYC Pride March on the 50th anniversary of the rebellion, #Stonewall50, drew an estimated 5 million people.
Instead of an in-person pride march this year, Heritage of Pride endorsed an effort led by InterPride, an international organization comprised of local, regional and national pride planning organizations, to hold a 24-hour virtual “Global Pride” event on June 27, to be broadcast around the world.
Ron deHarte, co-president of the United States Association of Prides and a member of the InterPride organizing committee, said “the plan is to have this 24-hour program that will be a worldwide celebration of pride.”
“It will peak in time zones around the world, and in each of those time zones, those regional pride organizations and those local pride organizations will be directly involved in that programming component,” deHarte said.
Cathy Renna, a representative of Heritage of Pride, suggested this year’s events might resemble something like televised New Year’s Eve celebrations, which cascade around the world’s time zones.
Prior to New York City’s announcement on Monday, a number of other major cities across the U.S. had already announced they were canceling or postponing their pride events: Los Angeles postponed, San Francisco canceled and Seattle said it would “go virtual.” The European Pride Organisers Association has been maintaining an open source online count of pride events around the world that have either been canceled or postponed due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
Restrictions on movement introduced to combat the spread of the coronavirus have already greatly affected the day-to-day lives of hundreds of millions of people across the globe. But for victims of domestic abuse, or intimate partner violence, lockdown measures can present serious safety risks.
“During this time of social distancing and for some quarantine, more than ever survivors are isolated,” said Sabrina Santiago, co-executive director of the Network/La Red, a survivor-led social justice organization based in Boston that works to end domestic abuse in LGBTQ communities.
“Being confined with their abuser will lead to escalations of abuse and removes tools of survival such as being able to leave the house to escape or de-escalate abuse,” Santiago added.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres recently appealed for governments to address the “horrifying global surge in domestic violence,” as a result of pandemic-related lockdowns. In France, reports of domestic abuse have increased 32 percent, and in many American cities there has been a sharp rise in the number of domestic violence calls made to law enforcement agencies.
Sexuality-based control
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey in 2010 found that “sexual minority respondents reported levels of intimate partner violence at rates equal to or higher than those of heterosexuals.” Bisexual women were shown to be at a particular risk of facing intimate partner violence, with 61 percent having experienced physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner.
While many of the same methods of control used by heterosexual domestic abusers are also used by LGBTQ abusers, those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer face unique forms of manipulation related to their sexual orientation or gender identity. For example, by threatening to “out” the victim of intimate partner violence to their family or employer if they attempt to reveal abuse, the abusive partner can make reporting violence to social services far more difficult.
Acute economic hardship and rising unemployment can contribute to instances of domestic violence in every community, but during the current public health crisis LGBTQ people may be among the most at risk of an upturn in intimate partner violence, or IPV. Recent research from LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign found that LGBTQ people are more likely to be employed in highly affected industries and are therefore more exposed to economic insecurity as a result of the pandemic.
“This added stressor could contribute to IPV in the LGBTQ community,” Ellen Kahn, senior director of programs and partnerships at the Human Rights Campaign, told NBC News. “A partner who is prone to committing physical, verbal or emotional abuse is very likely more agitated than usual while confined at home, and that puts the victimized partner at greater risk of more frequent, or perhaps more extreme violence.”
Support networks
Weak family ties as a result of homophobic or transphobic relatives or not being out can make it harder for LGBTQ victims to seek familial support when leaving their abuser.
Mary Case, manager of the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Legal Advocacy Project for Survivors, has seen how the lack of a strong family support network can cause patterns of abuse to continue.
“I worked with a gay man who, after fleeing his highly lethal relationship, went to his parents for support,” Case recalled. “His parents actually called his violent partner to come get their son and told my client: ‘You decided to become gay. This is your fault, and you need to deal with it.’”
Amid the new difficulties facing domestic abuse victims amid the pandemic, LGBTQ community centers and health clinics are working to help those victims who are most vulnerable and feel increasingly isolated since lockdown measures were introduced. While in-person support is increasingly difficult to provide, digital resources and telephone helplines are still accessible.
“The Los Angeles LGBT Centre’s Legal Advocacy Project for Survivors provides remote access to trauma-informed holistic support services to folks experiencing IPV and all other forms of crime victimization,” Case said.
Reaching out for support does not always immediately result in a relationship separation or the start of legal actions but can allow victims to get help by creating safety plans or planning moves to refuges that continue to operate for those most in need.
The LGBT National Help Center operates a range of hotlines that provide peer-support and access to local resources. New York’s Anti-Violence Project serves LGBTQ people who are experiencing violence by offering a 24/7 bilingual (English/Spanish) crisis intervention hotline. A list of additional resources have been compiled by the Human Rights Campaign.
Barriers to access
Persisting stereotypes that domestic violence is an act carried out by men against women can contribute to LGBTQ victims feeling concerned they will not be understood or believed when disclosing abuse. This can be especially challenging for victims in male same-sex relationships, as there may be a perception that because both partners are physically equal, either abuse isn’t possible in this dynamic or the victim should be able to defend himself.
Even when LGBTQ victims report abuse to social services, they can still face additional barriers to getting the necessary support to leave an abusive relationship or environment. Relatively few LGBTQ-focused domestic violence services exist, and mainstream support providers are often not equipped or trained to help nonheterosexual clients, according to Kahn.
“For example, shelters for ‘women’ experiencing domestic violence at the hands of their male partners may not be an option for a gay man, a trans person, a lesbian or bisexual person in a relationship with a woman or other folks in the LGBTQ community that do not see their reality reflected in the messaging or in the programs of these service providers,” Kahn said.
When the impact of the pandemic on accessing domestic violence support services is combined with concerns victims may have about facing prejudice when reaching out for help, LGBTQ people experiencing abuse can be hesitant in taking the first step to seek support, Santiago said.
She pointed to LGBTQ victims being concerned that their issues won’t be taken seriously or fear they might be outed, especially when they may have had negative experiences dealing with government agencies or social support services because of their sexuality or gender identity.
“All of these barriers exist whether real or perceived,” Santiago added. “Not all services will treat LGBTQ survivors this way. There are exceptions. Taking that risk to call the police, go to court or talking to the Department of Children and Families becomes a risk that some are not willing to take.”
A lesbian judge in Texas is appealing after she was handed a formal warning for flying a rainbow flag in her courtroom.
Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez made history in the state in 2018 when she was elected to the county court bench in Bexar County, Texas.
However, she is now facing a battle with the the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct over her decision to fly a rainbow flag in her courtroom.
The judicial conduct body said that the flag denotes a breach of impartiality rules — even though other judges, such as those with mixed heritage, have been permitted to display another country’s flag in their courtroom.
Speedlin Gonzalez told Texas Lawyer: “Everyone is welcome into this courtroom. That was the symbolism behind that flag.”
Complaint insisted rainbow flag has ‘no place in the courtroom’.
The sanction came after a complaint from lawyer Flavio Hernandez, who described the rainbow flag as a “symbol of sexuality” that has “no place in the courtroom”.
Speedlin Gonzalez says she was also ordered to stop using a colourful pen and remove a trim from her robes — which weren’t even in the colours of the rainbow flag.
Texas Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez received an ethics warning (Photo: Facebook)
She said: “The pen and the strip on my robe did not even follow the sequence of the rainbow. It was just colourful. We feel they overreached.”
The judge has said she will appeal the sanction against her, which has not yet been made public by the conduct body.
Her attorney Deanna Whitley said: “Elected officials, including judges, have a First Amendment right, which they do not forfeit upon election. If the commission is going to enforce these issues, it should not be limited to an LGBTQ judge. It should be across the board.”
Another Texas judge is seeking the right to be homophobic in public.
While Speedlin Gonzalez is fighting for the right to celebrate her own identity, another judge in the state wants the right to make clear his “disapproval” of “homosexual conduct”.
Texas judge Brian Keith Umphress last month filed a lawsuit against the State Commission on Judicial Conduct — arguing that it violates the civil rights of judges to punish them for statements about gay people.
The lawsuit contends that it “violates the constitutional rights of judges” to in any way hold anti-gay beliefs against him — comparing such views to a dislike for paedophiles.
A 37-year-old non-binary person who passed away from coronavirus this week kept a heartbreaking online journal of their experience.
PJ McClelland from Florida, who died on April 11, had gained hundreds of followers as they shared their experience of having COVID-19 through daily Facebook posts.
They were originally screened for coronavirus on March 23 and sent to be tested the next day. A few days later they found out they had a positive test result. They had no underlying health conditions other than a recent diagnosis of sleep apnea.
Their update that day read: “I’m getting sicker by the day. It feels like I have a migraine, bronchitis, and the flu all at once… Don’t worry about me. I’m relatively young and healthy.
“Worry about the people I’ve been around who are EXTREMELY high risk. It breaks my heart to think I may have given this to them.”
PJ McClelland was sent home after being rushed to hospital.
They later began to develop severe chest pain and were taken to hospital by ambulance, then admitted in isolation.
McClelland wrote: “I was their first confirmed case, and I am REALLY f**king worried. NO ONE had proper PPE. They had zero N95 masks.”
However, after their oxygen levels increased to 94 per cent, they were sent home with an inhaler.
By day 10, their symptoms were still worsening, and they wrote: “I’m only sharing this because I think people need to know that not everyone has ‘minor cold symptoms for a few days’.
This is, by far, the sickest I’ve ever been. I’m writing this through tears.
On day 16, McClelland’s symptoms took an even scarier turn. They wrote: “For the last three days I’ve been coughing ridiculously often… but s**t got REAL early this morning.
“For what seemed like an eternity, but was actually a couple of hours, I coughed non-stop. Literally. I couldn’t breathe. Like barely at all. Just a gasp between coughing here and there. I was having a panic attack the entire time.
“My hands were tingling and I lost my peripheral vision. I know you’re wondering why the f**k I didn’t call 911. Idk if it was the lack of oxygen, the fever, exhaustion, or something else, but I was extremely confused/ disoriented.
“I can’t quite articulate how absolutely terrifying this ordeal was. I just wanted to breathe, and I couldn’t. It was, without a doubt, the scariest thing that has ever happened to me.”
Non-binary COVID-19 victim shared final update two days before their death.
On April 9, in what would be their final update, they said: “I can safely say this has been the longest, and some of the worst, three weeks of my life… I know I’ve said this, but it bears repeating: I’m one of the lucky ones. I’m NOT saying I’m out of the woods yet.
“I’ve seen far too many cases of people who were on the mend in the morning and died that night.”
They said they would be getting more blood tests and another chest x-ray that day, and promised to update later.
But the update never came, and McClelland passed away from coronavirus at home two days later.
Their close friend Tim Ross told Fox News: “As a close friend for many years, it was difficult to read. But I feel it was important.
“Everybody who met PJ became a friend, and it’s been evident in the outpouring of support since their passing.
A mother is suing a school district which she claims did nothing to stop the relentless homophobic bullying that drove her son to attempt suicide.
Traci Matuschek has launched a federal lawsuit against Warren Consolidated Schools over an alleged campaign of abuse at Sterling Heights High School in Michigan.
Her 15-year-old son came out as bisexual to his football teammates in August 2018, believing they’d support him as “he thought they were his friends, like family”.
Unfortunately his peers weren’t as supportive as he’d hoped and he was subjected to vicious homophobic bullying, with some of his teammates at the centre of it.
“He was getting gay-bashed in school,” Matuschek told the Macomb Daily. “He quit something he loved. He played football since he was in the seventh grade.”
15-year-old was called a ‘fag’ and physically assaulted.
Students reportedly called him a “fag,” a “faggot,” and asked if he looked at other players’ genitalia in the locker room or got aroused while playing.
By October the bullying had escalated to physical violence, and on one occasion a football player allegedly stamped on his head until he got a concussion.
According to the suit, the school didn’t provide Matuschek’s son with any medical attention or discipline the student who stomped on him. A complaint filed with police also failed to bring any charges against the student.
“As a direct result of the severe harassment, [the boy] became socially withdrawn, became frightened of the school environment, suffered academically and fell into deep depression,” the lawsuit says.
Teenager attempted suicide after homophobic bullying.
His mother said school officials were fully aware of the bullying but failed to take action, effectively ignoring it until it was too late and the boy attempted suicide.
Fortunately his parents were able to intervene, but the incident has left him with severe emotional trauma.
“He’s afraid to go to the park or anywhere because he’s constantly looking over his shoulder,” Matuschek said, noting that several of the bullies live in the local area.
She alleges the school district violated her son’s civil rights based on sexual orientation and sex, as well as violated the 14th Amendment, equal protection and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender.
The lawsuit is seeking more than $75,000 in damages for emotional distress and “loss of educational opportunities,” along with attorney fees.
The school district has refused to comment on the lawsuit.
The Samaritans are the UK’s suicide reduction charity and their free helpline number is 116 123.
After the Food and Drug Administration changed the rules for blood donations from gay and bisexual men earlier this month, coronavirus survivor Lukus Estok saw an opportunity to help other patients recover from the disease.
For years, the FDA has restricted men who have had sex with men in the preceding year from donating blood, but loosened its rules on April 2 as a way to address a sharp drop in donors during the coronavirus outbreak.
Within days, Estok tried to donate blood plasma for a test program in New York City that treats severely ill COVID-19 patients with plasma from patients who have developed antibodies and recovered from the disease. He said he was turned away after revealing he was gay.
“I was shocked,” said Estok, 36. “I’ve been through a month of hell with this virus. I’m finally recovered. I’ve been through a screening process that tells me I’m a potential candidate to help somebody else and now I’m being told I can’t.”
NBC News found that despite the rule change hundreds of the nation’s blood centers are still unable to accept blood from gay men, even though there’s a desperate need for blood at U.S. hospitals and a desire to get plasma with antibodies from COVID-19 survivors. Both the Red Cross and America’s Blood Centers, which together represent 800 banks nationwide, told NBC News they haven’t been able to accept donations.
Estok and other gay men who have tried to give blood since April 2 have been unable to do so because many blood donation centers have not yet trained staffers or updated their computer systems to accommodate the new rule. It’s also because a trade group to which nearly all U.S. blood banks belong has not yet gotten approval for an important document from the FDA.
A person stands in front of the New York Blood Center on 67th Street in New York on March 22, 2020.Cindy Ord / Getty Images file
In 1985, as a way to block the transmission of HIV, the FDA blockedall men who had had sex with other men after 1977 from donating blood. The rule was changed to sex within the past 12 months in 2015, and then to sex within the past three months on April 2.
Gay and bisexual men began showing up at blood banks to donate immediately, only to be turned away.
Estok was trying to donate his blood plasma as a part of the Mount Sinai hospital system’s blood plasma therapy program. He found out about the program through friends and knew he wanted to donate his plasma to help others who were sick.
“Having gone through a bit of a horrific experience with the virus and feeling pretty grateful to have come out the other side, I reached out to Mount Sinai,” said Estok.
After multiple screenings, Estok said Mount Sinai called him and said his blood had sufficiently high levels of the needed antibodies and that New York Blood Center would be in touch to schedule an appointment. But once he arrived at New York Blood Center, Estok was told he would be unable to donate.
“I was not expecting the reaction I got,” said Estok on when he told the staff he was gay. “It was like I was radioactive.”
In an exchange that Estok recorded on his phone, the NYBC staff explained to him that they had not yet implemented the FDA’s new guidelines and that the process was “complicated.” Estok was forced to go home without donating plasma.
“I was so upset,” said Estok. “I genuinely want to be able to contribute to help somebody and right now they’re basically putting out messages that they need blood that there’s shortage of blood. But at the end of it, they sent me home.”
An NYBC staffer denied that a potential donor would be asked if he were gay, saying the donor would instead be asked about sexual activity with another man during the past 12 months.
Brandon Gunther, 24, of Sacramento, California, had a similar experience. He attempted to donate at a local blood bank, believing he was eligible under the new guidelines, but was turned away after revealing his sexual history.
“I hadn’t had sex in the past three months so figured I was good to go,” said Gunther. “But the computer rejected my eligibility to donate and I was told ‘you have to remain abstinent from male to male sex for at least one year to be eligible to donate.'”
Gunther says the experience felt discriminatory and jarring.
Blood bank representatives told NBC News the experience has also been frustrating for them, especially since they have been pushing for relaxation of the rules for years. The blood centers can’t just flick a switch and change their rules for donation, they say — making such changes can take months.
Vials of blood from a recovered COVID-19 patient drawn at a laboratory in New York on March 30, 2020.Diana Berrent / AFP – Getty Images file
Linda Goelzer, a spokesperson for Carter BloodCare in Dallas, said “tons” of people showed up at their facilities the day after the FDA guidelines were announced, believing they were now eligible to donate. The staff were forced to turn them away.
“They were so angry with us,” said Goelzer. “People were calling and saying ‘You lied to us, you’re not following the FDA,’ and it’s so unfair. Every blood center in the country has been advocating for these changes, but we have to go through some very rigorous protocols to make these changes so that we can still keep safety in the blood supply and in the process.”
“When the FDA says the word ‘immediately’ that means something totally different in our world,” said Goelzer. “It takes about three months to implement this stuff but [the FDA] is relying on us to communicate that to the public.”
Kate Fry, CEO of America’s Blood Centers, said that the language in the FDA’s guidance was intended to mean that blood centers should immediately begin the process of implementation, recognizing that it would take some time.
“The struggle is in the public perception that it’s actually blood centers who are stalling the effort,” said Fry. “And that is just not the case at all. They are 100 percent working on it. It just takes time.”
According to Fry and confirmed by the FDA, the phrase “immediate implementation” as used in the FDA’s April 2 press release did not necessarily mean that blood centers could immediately begin collecting blood and plasma from newly eligible donors.
In a statement, an FDA spokesperson said that the agency understands that blood centers will have to undergo a lengthy implementation process and that they are willing to help blood centers if needed.
“We are hopeful that blood collectors will work expeditiously to make the changes needed to implement the modified recommendations so that they may begin collecting blood and blood products under these recommendations as quickly as possible,” said Michael Felberbaum, an FDA spokesperson. “The FDA is available and willing to work with them as appropriate to assist them.”
The question of a questionnaire
The spokesperson for the New York Blood Center, where Estok tried to donate plasma, told NBC News that the delay in implementation involved the time needed to train staff, but also involved receiving an updated Donor History Questionnaire from AABB, a industry group formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks. AABB’s has more than 1,400 institutional members, accredits “virtually all” the blood centers in the U.S., according to a spokesperson, and collects the majority of the blood donated in the U.S.
In fact, representatives from all blood centers NBC News contacted said they’re currently waiting on AABB’s updated donor history questionnaire to first be approved by the FDA and then released by the industry group, before they can begin the implementation.
The AABB said it submitted its primary documents, including the donor history questionnaire, to the FDA on April 3 – just one day after the FDA announced new donor guidelines. AABB said it has since sent several documents to the FDA. An AABB spokesperson said that as of Monday it had submitted all of the needed documentation to the FDA, and is in touch with the agency, answering any questions it may have.
The FDA says it is reviewing all COVID-19 related items as quickly as possible, but also noted that the AABB’s member organizations don’t actually have to wait for approval of the AABB questionnaire to move forward. If they submit their own questionnaire to the FDA, they can begin accepting donors immediately.
“As noted in the guidance, while licensed blood establishments may wait to use the revised donor questionnaire and accompanying materials provided by industry associations and found acceptable to the FDA, they may also revise or create their own materials to implement these changes immediately upon receipt of this information by the FDA,” said Felberbaum.
Blood centers say that when they do receive an FDA-approved updated questionnaire from AABB, they will still need to update their computer systems and train their staff on new protocols. A spokesperson for Carter BloodCare said that the staff training would take at least 30 days. The NYBC spokesperson said it hopes to be able to receive newly eligible donors by mid-May.
The Red Cross said it anticipates being able to accept newly eligible donors in June. Kate Fry of America’s Blood Centers said she anticipates her network’s centers will be able to accept newly eligible donors in June or July.
‘The policy remains discriminatory in nature’
Gunther and Estok share in outrage from the LGBT community over what they call a discriminatory experience.
“Not only is it imperative that gay and bisexual men who are now able to donate blood be allowed to do so without delay, the FDA must also lift the 3 month deferral in its entirety,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO of GLAAD, a LGBTQ advocacy organization. “The policy remains discriminatory in nature, unaligned with science, and continues to prevent LGBTQ Americans from saving lives.”
But those who are deferred under the old guidelines will still have to wait. Gunther said he wants to encourage others like him to keep trying to donate and not be discouraged if they are turned away.
“We have perfectly good blood to give, and we want to give it and help.”
Kate Fry advised that those who are newly eligible under the FDA guidelines should keep in touch with their local blood bank to check on when the facility expects to finalize implementation.
“We’re so excited to have these individuals become donors again,” said Fry. “We are absolutely working as fast as we can as an industry. Patience is what we ask for our guests during this time and we’ll get them into the fold as quickly as possible.”
Matthew, 30, keeps an emergency stockpile of his life-saving HIV medication at his home in Sacramento, California. He started building his stash shortly after he was diagnosed six years ago, on the recommendation of people he met through a forum for those living with HIV. Without his once-a-day pill, his viral load would increase and his general health would decline.
Now, over a month after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic, Matthew hasn’t broken into his stash. But, like many of the 1.1 million HIV-positive people in the United States, he has questions about how the ongoing crisis could affect his access to medication and his chances of contracting the coronavirus, and whether his chronic immune condition could put him at a higher risk of complications due to COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.
“Being positive, it puts it at the forefront of your mind,” Matthew, who requested that his last name not be used to protect his medical privacy, told NBC News. “You have to be present and aware.”
CDC’s recommendations for HIV and COVID-19
There is currently “no specific information” about the risk of COVID-19 in those living with HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, the CDC noted that HIV-positive people who are not receiving treatment (antiretroviral therapy) or still have a weakened immune system despite treatment are at greater risk of “getting very sick,” should they contract the coronavirus. According to a 2017 CDC report, approximately half of HIV-positive Americans do not have the virus under control and would fall into this higher-risk category.
To prevent sickness, the CDC recommends HIV-positive individuals avoid exposure to the virus by using everyday preventive measureslike social distancing and frequent hand washing; maintain a healthy lifestyle by eating right, getting at least eight hours of sleep and reducing stress; and continue HIV treatment.
In addition to what’s recommended for all Americans amid the coronavirus pandemic, the CDC advises those with HIV to have at least a 30-day supply of HIV medicine and any other supplies needed for managing HIV; make sure vaccinations are up-to-date; establish a remote clinical care plan; and maintain a remote social network to stay mentally healthy.
Impact of age, comorbidities and poverty
Dr. Robbie Goldstein, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and director of its Transgender Health Program, said the coronavirus is most likely to affect the HIV-positive population through secondary conditions, such as homelessness, incarceration, old age and underlying health problems.
“What I say to my patients is, if you’re taking your medications and your CD4 count is greater than 200, for right now, we believe that it is not your immune system that is going to increase your risk of acquiring COVID,” Goldstein said. “That said, many of my patients and many patients living with HIV have other issues that they’re facing that put them at really high risk.”
One of those issues, according to Goldstein, is age. The CDC has warned that older adults “seem to be at higher risk for developing more serious complications from coronavirus,” with 8 out of 10 people reported dying from COVID-19 complications in the U.S. being 65 and older.
Individuals living with HIV are disproportionately older than the general U.S. population, according to the CDC: While approximately 35 percent of the U.S. population is over 50, nearly half of HIV-positive people are.
Beyond the physical health risks, older people living with HIV are also more likely to experience negative psychological effects as a result of the pandemic, according to Goldstein, who sees HIV-positive patients at his clinic twice a week.
“These are people who watched as all of their young friends died around them” during the AIDS crisis, he said, “and they are once again watching as young people around this country die.”
“We also have to remember that these folks who are now in their 60s and 70s and in some cases in their 80s … are living a life with very few other people around them,” Goldstein said. “They don’t have the same family structure that many other people in their 70s and 80s have. They don’t have kids and friends and partners and parents who can help support them through this.”
People of any age who have “serious underlying medical conditions might be at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19,” according to the CDC. In its guidance, the CDC specifically mentions chronic lung disease, asthma, serious heart conditions, diabetes, liver disease and severe obesity, among other conditions.
While HIV-positive people who start their medication soon after contracting the virus have about the same life expectancy as the general U.S. population, people with long-lasting infection are still more likely to experience additional health problems later in life, according to Stephen Helmke, a geriatric cardiology researcher at Columbia University who has been living with HIV for 34 years.
For example, HIV-positive people are at least 1.5 times more at risk for heart disease and stroke than the general population, according to the American Heart Association. Helmke said this is often a result of the chronic inflammation HIV causes, specifically for people who began their treatment with less effective drugs. Additionally, those living with HIV are more likely to suffer from liver damage, often because of their medication, and are more at risk for additional infections, like hepatitis and tuberculosis.
After recovering from a mild case of COVID-19, Helmke, 56, said he now has a deeper awareness of how dangerous the virus can be for those who have serious underlying conditions, including untreated HIV.
“There are deaths that are directly able to be tied to lung function, and then there’s folks whose lungs are still at the level of functionality, but their heart is not able to deal with the loss of optimal oxygenation,” Helmke said.
Dr. Revery Barnes, a physician specializing in HIV for Los Angeles County, said her main focus for her HIV patients, many of whom are homeless or in poverty, has been ensuring they have access to their medication, as well as food and housing.
While HIV drugs have remained in stock in the United States thus far, Barnes said she is navigating other barriers, like the skyrocketingunemployment rate, that might prevent her patients from accessing and taking their medicine.
“Poverty has been a huge pandemic going on for a long time,” Barnes said. “When you actually get down to the barriers to people taking their medications, so much of it has to do with the fact that they’re spending all of their time trying to find money, or trying to find housing.”
HIV also disproportionately affects incarcerated populations, which have infection rates three to five times higher than the general population, according to a 2013 report from the National Minority AIDS Council. According to the report, “as many as half” of all HIV-positive inmates released from correctional facilities each year have no home to return to.
Goldstein, the physician from Massachusetts, added that factors like homelessness and incarceration have an inherent physical risk when it comes to suppressing a contagious disease like COVID-19.
“The thing that is unique about all of those people … is the fact that they live in high density settings,” Goldstein said. “It’s really easy to social distance when you live alone in an apartment in New York City. It’s very hard to social distance when you live in a shelter in Boston.”
Surviving a pandemic
Two federal assistance programs for people living with HIV — the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS — will see millions in additional funding from the$2 trillion stimulus package that was signed into law on March 27.
Jeremiah Johnson, the HIV project director for Treatment Action Group, an HIV/AIDS advocacy organization, called the funds, which total $155 million, “incredibly welcome,” but he said it is crucial for advocates to keep track of how that money is ultimately used and ensure that it’s enough to help those living with HIV weather this storm.
“I think it’s incumbent on us to really start to sit down and do the math as a community,” he said. “We have a lot of landscaping to do in order to understand if this is even close to what we need to take care of these very vulnerable communities.”
Amid this latest public health crisis, Johnson also stressed the importance of keeping focused on the “ultimate end goal of trying to reign in HIV as an epidemic.”
Echoing the CDC’s guidance, Goldstein said it’s important for those living with HIV to establish a strong virtual support network to combat loneliness as they self-isolate during the mitigation phase of the pandemic. Barnes stressed the importance of keeping up with one’s health status — in terms of HIV and beyond.
“Because you know, somebody who’s diabetic and doesn’t know it is also immune compromised,” Barnes said.
Johnson, a longtime HIV activist who has lived with the virus for over a decade, said he sees a silver lining for people living with HIV and other chronic conditions, who are accustomed to navigating health care obstacles.
“I’m incredibly resilient, and I think that that applies to many people living with HIV,” he said. “We’re actually better prepared than a lot of people to deal with this current reality.”
Gay bars have been shuttered by public-place closure orders during the coronavirus pandemic. In March, more than half of U.S. statesissued statewide closure orders for bars and restaurants, decimating the nightlife industry. This has left LGBT people without a place to gather in public and LGBT workers without employment.
But gay bars were already closing their doors before the virus hit. Their decline began sometime around 2002 and has since accelerated. My research shows that as many as 37% of the United States’ gay bars shut down from 2007 to 2019.
In this era of increasing LGBT acceptance, there’s growing competition from straight establishments. “I go wherever I want with my friends,” one former employee of a gay bar told Talking Points Memo in 2015. “Every bar is a gay bar.” In addition, the debut of geolocating smartphone dating and hookup apps like Grindr also heralded an era where cruising for sex – one of bars’ primary offerings – could be conducted anywhere, anytime.
The mainstreaming of LGBT people is a positive sign of progress, but something is lost when gay bars close.
They were once the only places where LGBT people could gather in public. Today, they are often the only place where they regularly do. Going to a gay bar is still a rite of passage for every LGBT person’s coming out.
Big cities have many gay bars and LGBT organizations, but most places only have one or two gay bars. In many smaller municipalities – from McAlester, Oklahoma, to Lima, Ohio, to Dothan, Alabama – the local gay bar is the only public place that caters to an LGBT crowd. When one of them closes, whether it’s due to the coronavirus or an owner’s retirement, entire regions are left without an LGBT community hub.
Grappling with an uncertain future
Some well-known establishments from big cities have responded to the coronavirus closures by moving their programming online.
Gay bars like Stud have moved events online for their housebound patrons. AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
These shows, however, represent a mere fraction of the bars’ regular weekly schedules, and virtual tip jars don’t bring in the same cash as the regular live shows did. Still, it’s something, and for LGBT people with disabilities, these online offerings are often more accessible than the physical places.
But shuttered gay bars outside of big cities don’t have the resources -— nor the national reach —- to move content online or raise money. Because these bars in smaller cities are often the only LGBTQ address for multi-county regions, their temporary closure leaves already-isolated LGBTQ people even more isolated than ever. As one gay bar owner told The Daily Beast, “The vast majority of bars don’t operate with margins to be able to sustain themselves for two weeks, four weeks or eight weeks without cash flow.”
If these temporary closure orders become permanent business failures, bars are unlikely to reopen quickly. Investors are required to open a bar in expensive, gentrified coastal cities. Savvy business owners may be able to declare bankruptcy and eventually reopen, but nearly all gay bars in America’s interior are mom-and-mom and pop-and-pop shops. These owners sometimes commingle personal finances with the professional, and lack the lines of credit to bounce back quickly.
The extent to which the stimulus package will help gay bars remains to be seen – all small businesses are in a state of limbo as they await relief funds. But the pathways for financial support for independent contractors and gig workers are even more cumbersome and convoluted in many states. These are the people not on the payroll who provide the sparkle to LGBT nightlife: the DJs, drag queens, dancers and security guards.
True, gay bars were never all things to all LGBT people. Caring about them means reckoning with their histories of exclusion of women, of transgender people, of people of color. Scholars once described them as the “primary social institution” of gay and lesbian life, but they haven’t been that for years. For many LGBT people they never were, even among the white gay men they primarily served. There are long histories of gay bars excluding those under 21, the undocumented, the disabled and those in addiction recovery.
But only a pessimist would condemn bars for these exclusionary sins, while only a willful optimist would celebrate the closure of what is often the only place for LGBT people to find like-minded others to celebrate in our queer ways.
Whether 37% fewer gay bars is a lot or a little depends on where you stand. True, there are fewer of them now than at any time in the last 40-plus years. There were more gay bars during the depths of the AIDS crisis, even. On the other hand, there are still over 800 across 46 states, with new ones appearing each year. Gay bars may be in trouble, but they’re not disappearing.
Nonetheless, the pandemic threatens the most vulnerable establishments – and their loss affects those of us in the LGBT community who have the least to lose.
A gay man has detailed his horrific experience of being beaten by police in his home country of Turkmenistan for the simple crime of having HIV.
The 23-year-old spoke anonymously about his ordeal to RadioFreeEurope. He has successfully claimed asylum in a European country, but he is still haunted by the anti-gay brutality he faced at home.
Maksat hid his sexuality when he was growing up in the central Asian country, and he fled to Russia to study business management when he was 18-years-old.
In 2019, Maksat was diagnosed with HIV. He was later deported under a Russian law that sends HIV-positive foreign nationals back to their home countries.
Back in Turkmenistan, Maksat retreated into the closet and kept his HIV-status hidden, knowing he would face discrimination and possible criminal charges if anyone found out.
Gay man taken in for questioning by police when he tried to access HIV treatment in Turkmenistan.
But he still needed to access treatment. Last December, Maksat went to a local HIV/AIDS centre in an attempt to access antiretroviral therapy. He took a blood test and was asked to return two days later.
When he went back to the HIV/AIDS centre, two police officers were waiting for him.
First they questioned me. Then began to beat me badly.
“The officers asked me how I got infected [and] I told them I didn’t know,” Maksat said. He knew not to disclose details of his sexuality because gay sex is illegal in Turkmenistan.
More than 24 hours later, three police officers turned up at Maksat’s apartment and hauled him in for questioning.
“First they questioned me. Then began to beat me badly. They told me: ‘We know where you got HIV. You’re gay.’ I told them that it’s not true. But they kept beating me.”
Police then forced Maksat to sign papers admitting that he was gay. When he initially refused, they said they would out him to his entire family if he did not comply.
Maksat was also terrified that he would be convicted of “knowingly” infecting others with HIV, an offence that carries a maximum of five years in prison in Turkmenistan.
He is now claiming asylum in an LGBT-friendly country.
He was told to report to his local police station in January as law enforcement authorities in the country close for several days at the end of December. Instead, Maksat took the opportunity to flee his home country.
Maksat first returned to Russia where a friend helped him contact an LGBT+ rights organisation, and he was subsequently able to claim asylum in an unnamed European country.
He now lives in an LGBT-friendly country, but he is still afraid to be completely open about his sexuality. He fears that he will never be able to return home and see his parents as he would likely face criminal charges if he did.
Maksat is terrified that his parents will find out he is gay, saying it would “bring shame” on them. He also worries that police could question his family in an effort to uncover his whereabouts.
Life in Turkmenistan can be extremely difficult for members of the LGBT+ community. Gay and bisexual men can face up to two years in prison for daring to love, and society is largely unaccepting of queer identities.
