Mayoral candidate Satya Rhodes-Conway has achieved victory in her bid to become mayor of Madison, Wisconsin. In doing so, she becomes the first openly gay mayor of the US city, and only the second woman.
Democrat Rhodes-Conway, 47, a former three-term Madison City Council member, ousts incumbent Paul Soglin.
Soglin, 73, served as mayor from 1973-1979, 1989-1997, and from 2011 until now. He was Madison’s longest-serving mayor and it was his 22nd year in the office.
Rhodes-Conway’s victory was called around 9.25pm local time Tuesday. She had 62% of the vote with 92% of precincts counted (47,915 votes to Soglin ‘s 29,1500).
New Madison mayor: ‘Full of hope for our city’
Rhodes-Conway campaigned on a platform of developing affordable housing, improving Madison transportation with rapid transit, tackling systematic racial inequities and addressing climate change.
In her victory speech at Prism Dance Club, Rhodes-Conway paid tribute to Harvey Milk as an inspiration. She also said, ‘I am full of hope for our city!’
Her victory comes on the same night as another LGBTI candidate made history in Chicago. Lori Lightfoot became the first black, lesbian to be elected mayor of the Illinois city. Lightfoot becomes the highest-ranking LGBTI mayor in American history.
Other LGBTI candidates to achieve success in local elections yesterday included Democrat Jolie Justus in Kansas City. She secured the top spot in the run-off for Mayor. The mayoral election will take place there on June 18.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tweeted on Tuesday (2 April) for the releaseof whistleblower and activist Chelsea Manning.
A federal judge jailed Manning in March for refusing to testify in a federal investigation. While details of the investigation remain under seal, Manning confirmed authorities asked her about WikiLeaks.
‘These secret proceedings tend to favor the government,’ she told reporters outside the courthouse before the hearing. ‘I’m always willing to explain things publicly. I’ve given voluminous testimony; I’ve given voluminous information.’
In her tweet, Ocasio-Cortez wrote authorities ‘trapped’ Manning in solitary confinement and described it as ‘torture’. She also wrote the authorities should release Manning on bail.
Solitary confinement as ‘torture’
According to Chelsea Resists, a support committee for Manning, she has been held in solitary confinement for 16 days as of 23 March.
They provided a screenshot of a statement describing ‘Administrative Segregation’, in which inmates are in their cells ‘for a maximum of 22 hours a day’.
The committee also states Manning can make phone calls and move outside of her cell during the hours between 1 and 3 am.
Further in the statement, they quote Juan Mendez, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and a professor on human rights at American University.
‘I have defined prolonged solitary confinement as any period in excess of 15 days,’ he wrote.
In his research, he has come to define solitary confinement as a form of punishment that can constitute torture.
He continued, describing the negative effects of solitary confinement: ‘This definition reflects the fact that most of the scientific literature shows that, after 15 days, certain changes in brain functions occur and the harmful psychological effects of isolation can become irreversible. Prolonged solitary confinement must be absolutely prohibited, because it always amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and may even constitute torture.’
The statement concludes with various health problems Manning has faced while in confinement.
Disputes from the sheriff
Dana Lawhorne, the sheriff of Alexandria, Virginia, where Manning is being held, disputed these claims to CNN. She claimed the reports were ‘not accurate or fair’.
‘Our facility does not have “solitary confinement” and inmates housed in administrative segregation for safety and security reasons still have access to social visits, books, recreation, and break time outside their cells,’ she said.
Lawthorne also added ‘(the) federal government has never suggested to us how to treat any inmate and it is unfair to imply that there is a “conspiracy” of any kind’.
In 2013, the government convicted Manning in a court-martial trial for violations of the Espionage Act when she was an analyst in the United States Army. She disclosed over 700,000 military and diplomatic documents, both classified and unclassified, to WikiLeaks.
Initiated in 2006, WikiLeaks operates in publishing news leaks and secret information from anonymous sources.
Manning received a 35-year prison sentence before President Obama commuted her sentence in 2017.
Authorities also charged WikiLeaks’ founder, Julia Assange, in a separate case that remains under seal. He currently has asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
Azerbaijan police randomly began detaining LGBTI people on Monday (1 April) night.
LGBTI rights organization Minority Azerbaijan broke the news yesterday (2 April) morning, revealing shocking details of authorities ‘hunting’ transgender people, then handcuffing them and detaining them.
Now they confirm authorities detained at least 14 people and they can identify five.
Authorities fined two of them under Article 510 of the Code on Administrative Offenses – Minor Hooliganism.
While three detainees had official charges under section 535.1 (wilfully not obeying lawful orders of the police officer who engaged protecting of public order) of the Code of Administrative Offences.
Protest in Germany. | Photo: Ghvinotsdaati
Yesterday, the Binagadi District Court in Baku sentenced two detainees with 10 days and another one with 15 days of administrative detention.
Authorities are keeping the detainees in police custody at the Temporary Detention Centers of Police Departments (TDC).
Local sources explain TDCs should only hold people for 48 or 96 hours of detention.
‘Therefore, it is wrong to keep persons who [have been] punished with more than 10 days of administrative detention in the TDC,’ an anonymous source told Gay Star News. ‘From this point of view, the conditions of the victims are inadequate in that place.’
Breaking the law
The source then explained how authorities were illegally detaining LGBTI people.
‘In general, the detainees are considered to be held administratively,’ the local source explained. ‘The law does not specify the compulsory examination of persons held in an administrative if it’s not a criminal case.’
Authorities are also breaking the law in another way, with forced medical examinations of people living with HIV.
The source continued: ‘The law… states that medical examinations to persons living with HIV cannot be accomplished by physical, psychological or moral pressure.
‘But, when an HIV [positive] person posing a threat of infecting others or their legal representative does not agree to a medical examination, the medical examination for HIV-infected person is compulsory by court order in the manner prescribed by law,’ the source explained.
According to eyewitness testimony, detainees did not receive any official request or signed paper before they had to undergo medical examinations.
‘There was no court decision that justifies the examinations,’ the source said. ‘Therefore, under current conditions forced medical examination is not lawful.’
What’s going on in Azerbaijan?
One report claims police are trying to ‘hunt’ transgender people via the internet. Police allegedly deceived a transgender sex worker, inviting them to a hotel to provide sex services.
Upon the trans person’s arrival to the meeting place, ‘they pulled out handcuffs’ and took the trans person to the police station, according to local activists.
Brutality of Azerbaijan police in September 2017. | Photo: Aziz Karimov / supplied
Similar reports of authorities in Azerbaijan randomly detaining LGBTI people emerged in September 2017.
Eyewitness reports at the time claimed authorities detained LGBTI people, beat, verbally abused and forced medical examinations on transgender people. Some reports even suggest authorities shaved the hair of transgender women.
One gay man told how authorities beat, electrocuted and detained him for nine days.
The man – known only as Xeyal – said authorities beat with a baton on the head, knees, and arms. They also administered electric shocks to his head and body more than 30 times.
Police also tortured Xeyal into revealing names of former sexual partners. They then forced him to sign documents without reading them.
Azerbaijan is actually getting worse when it comes to LGBTI rights.
Although same-sex sexual activity is technically legal, Azerbaijan lags behind in anti-discrimination laws, parenting rights for same-sex couples, transgender rights and same-sex marriage.
Two lawmakers on Monday reintroduced legislation that would ensure U.S. foreign policy promotes LGBTI rights.
The International Human Rights Defense Act — which U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) introduced in their respective chambers of Congress — would also codify into law the position of special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTI rights abroad. A Human Rights Campaign press release notes Markey and Lowenthal have previously introduced the measure.
“To promote our fundamental values of equality, equity, and diversity, we cannot go half way at home and we certainly cannot halt the extension of these values at our border,” said Lowenthal in the HRC press release. “Our nation has what I see as a major role in defending the innate rights of all human beings across the globe — including the LGBT community — to live, love and prosper.”
Then-President Obama in 2011 directed agencies that implement U.S. foreign policy to promote LGBTI rights abroad.
Then-Secretary of State John Kerry in early 2015 announced the creation of the special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTI rights abroad within the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
The State Department’s website currently notes Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Scott Busby oversees “LGBTI rights” and other issues. Busby’s biography does not specifically say whether he is the special envoy.
The State Department has continued to support LGBTI rights abroad since President Trump took office, even through activists in the U.S. and around the world remain highly critical of the White House’s record.
A State Department spokesperson last week told the Washington Blade the U.S. “is concerned” with the Bruneian government’s decision to implement provisions of a new penal code that would impose the death penalty upon anyone found guilty of engaging in consensual same-sex sexual relations. The Trump administration last month announced an initiative led by openly gay U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell that encourages countries to decriminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations.
A State Department spokesperson in September 2018 told the Blade the U.S. “welcomes”the India Supreme Court decision that struck down the country’s colonial-era sodomy law. The U.S. Embassy in Cuba earlier in the year tied a rainbow flag to its fence in commemoration of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — who was grilled over his previous anti-LGBTI statements during his 2018 confirmation hearing — has issued statements that acknowledged IDAHOBiT and Pride month. HRC, along with other advocacy groups and members of Congress, continue to urge Pompeo and Trump to publicly condemn the ongoing anti-LGBTI crackdown in Chechnya.
State Department deputy spokesperson Robert Palladino on Tuesday in a statement said Brunei’s decision to implement its new penal code “runs counter to its international human rights obligations.” HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy in his organization’s press release notes “the silence once again from this White House” over this issue.
“With the awful news recently from Brunei and the silence once again from this White House, we are once again grateful that human rights champions in Congress are stepping up to demonstrate that our nation should be better than this,” said Stacy. “With so many countries trying to punish LGBTQ people just for being who they are, it is crucial that we step up, not back, in defending their human rights and dignity.”
Lori Lightfoot won a resounding victory Tuesday night to become both the first African-American woman and openly gay person elected mayor of Chicago, dealing a stinging defeat to a political establishment that has reigned over City Hall for decades.
After waging a campaign focused on upending the vaunted Chicago political machine, Lightfoot dismantled one of its major cogs by dispatching Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, whose candidacy had been hobbled in part by an anti-incumbent mood among voters and an ongoing federal corruption investigation at City Hall.
Lightfoot’s campaign, which started last May as a long-shot bid to replace the city’s clouted politics with inclusive change, took the former federal prosecutor and first-time candidate from toiling in relative political obscurity to toppling the head of the Cook County Democratic Party.
From DNC Chairman Tom Perez:
“Congratulations to Chicago Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot on her historic victory tonight. In 2018, trailblazing candidates made history, and broke records across the nation. With Lori’s election, that trend shows no signs of stopping.
“As the first openly LGBTQ woman of color to be elected mayor in any of America’s 100 largest cities and the first black woman to serve as Mayor of Chicago, Lightfoot is an inspiration to thousands of LGBTQ people of color who have a new role model in elected office.
“This historic win reaffirms that our diversity is our greatest strength, and that our elected leaders should reflect the diversity of the communities they represent. I look forward to working with Mayor-elect Lightfoot as she fights to build a brighter future for all. The people of Chicago will be well served with her leadership.”
A majority of Americans say they are comfortable with or enthusiastic about a gay presidential candidate, according to a survey.
A poll by NBC and the Wall Street Journal, published in March, found 68 percent are either enthusiastic (14 percent) or comfortable (54 percent) with a candidate who is gay or lesbian.
Seventy-five percent of American voters under 35 now say they would be enthusiastic or comfortable with a gay presidential candidate, according to the poll.
According to the poll, 56 percent of voters above the age of 65 are now either enthusiastic about or comfortable with the possibility.
A previous survey conducted in 2006 shows Americans’ attitudes towards a gay presidential candidate have changed drastically over the last decade.
More than 50 percent of Americans either had “reservations” about or were “very uncomfortable” with a gay person running for president.
Only 47 percent of those under 35 said they were comfortable with or enthusiastic about a gay presidential candidate in the 2006 survey. Thirty-one percent of voters above 65 said the same.
Gay mayor Pete Buttigieg announced his candidacy for US president earlier this year and in March, jumped to third place in polls in the key primary state of Iowa.
An Emerson poll released on Sunday (March 24) shows Buttigieg polling at 11 percent in the crucial state of Iowa, behind only former Vice President Joe Biden on 25 percent and Senator Bernie Sanders on 24 percent.
Buttigieg, who would become the first openly gay man to hold the office of US President if elected, started as a long-shot candidate in the Democratic primaries, but the Indiana mayor has built support in recent weeks.
The Emerson poll places Buttigieg ahead of many of the more established candidates in the race, with Senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker on 10 percent, 9 percent and 6 percent respectively.
He came out in 2015 in a column in the South Bend Tribune during his second re-election campaign, writing: “Today it remains legal in most parts of Indiana (though not South Bend) to fire someone simply for being gay, and bullying still contributes to tragically high suicide rates among LGBT teens.”
He added: “Putting something this personal on the pages of a newspaper does not come easy. We Midwesterners are instinctively private to begin with, and I’m not used to viewing this as anyone else’s business.
“But it’s clear to me that at a moment like this, being more open about it could do some good. For a local student struggling with her sexuality, it might be helpful for an openly gay mayor to send the message that her community will always have a place for her.
“And for a conservative resident from a different generation, whose unease with social change is partly rooted in the impression that he doesn’t know anyone gay, perhaps a familiar face can be a reminder that we’re all in this together as a community.”
After previously withholding full support of the Equality Act, civil rights groups have now come out in favor of the legislation to ban anti-LGBT discrimination as the House prepares to consider the bill.
Civil groups groups were among those promoting the Equality Act at a news conference Monday on Capitol Hill one day before the first congressional hearing on the legislation.
Among those civil rights advocates was Kristine Lucius, executive vice president for policy for the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights, who said her organization is “proud to be here fighting for the Equality Act.”
“This transformative legislation would ensure that LGBTQ people across the country have clear and consistent protections in the public sphere,” Lucius said. “And the bill would clarify our civil rights laws to strengthen protections for all people, including religious groups and people of color. When our society is more equal, we are all better for it.”
Introduced by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) in the House and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) in the Senate, the Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act to ban anti-LGBT discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, jury service, education, federal programs and credit.
Representing the NAACP at the news conference was Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP Washington Bureau and senior vice president for policy and advocacy at the organization.
“For 110 years, we have struggled for the equality of all Americans, regardless of who they are or what they look like,” Shelton said. “As such, we strong[ly] support and urge swift passage of the Equality Act and urge its immediate enactment.”
That’s different from what those organizations have said before on the Equality Act. Previously, those groups said they support the goals of the Equality Act, but stopped short of fully endorsing the legislation.
At issue was the attempt to prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination by amending the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Civil rights groups had expressed concern that opening up the law to amendments on the floors of Congress could water-down existing protections in the historic law, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
“Some are concerned about opening up arguably the most important statute Congress has ever enacted for the issue of racial discrimination,” Henderson was quoted as saying.
LGBT rights groups have always insisted they’d drop support for the Equality Act if it were amended in such a way to lessen existing protections under the Civil Rights Act. Nonetheless, civil rights groups hadn’t come out for the legislation until its introduction in this Congress — the third iteration of the Equality Act.
So what’s changed? Among other things, the Equality Act has for the first time been introduced with Democrats in control of at least one chamber of Congress. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said a floor vote on the legislation would be a personal priority for her.
After the news conference, Shelton told the Washington Blade the NAACP was “always supportive of every single provision in the bill and the protections it expands,” but had questioned whether the Equality Act was the right vehicle.
“We were trying to find the best vehicle, whether that should be an amendment, whether it should be free-standing, those kinds of things,” Shelton said. “As it was done with so many pieces of civil rights, voting rights and other kinds of legislation, we’re convinced with our conversations, sitting together with our coalition of different folks, backgrounds and experiences that this is the best bill and now’s the time to go.”
Lucius said in response to an email inquiry on the Leadership Conference’s new support for the Equality Act the legislation expands LGBT rights without jeopardizing existing protections.
“The Leadership Conference has long supported legislative efforts to ensure equal opportunity and dignity for all LGBTQ individuals in America,” Lucius said. “We are proud to support the Equality Act, which provides clarity to existing federal civil rights statutes but does not reduce existing protections in any way.”
The new support from civil rights leaders for the Equality Act has also translated to new support among lawmakers in Congress.
Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) had previously declined to support the Equality Act based on concerns expressed by civil rights groups. That stance was used against her when she flirted with a run against Pelosi for the speakership in the 116th Congress.
Fudge is now not only among the 230 co-sponsors of the legislation in the House, but an original co-sponsor of the Equality Act upon its introduction this year.
Fudge’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on why she is now a co-sponsor of the legislation.
In addition to amending the Civil Rights Act to bar anti-LGBT discrimination, the Equality Act would expand the definition of public accommodations to bar discrimination in retail stores, banks, transportation services and health care services.
According to supporters of the Equality Act, that means people of color who believe they’re facing harassment in shopping malls from retail store clerks or mall police would have recourse to sue if the Equality Act became law.
Moreover, the bill would make “sex” a prohibited category of discrimination in public accommodations, which bill supporters say would make charging women extra money for services such as dry cleaning or car purchases illegal under federal law.
As supporters of the Equality Act have promoted the legislation, they have highlighted the protections the Equality Act affords not only LGBT people, but women and people of color.
Sabrina Joy Stevens, senior manager of campaign and digital strategies for the National Women’s Law Center, articulated this point during the news conference Monday.
“It means that if a little lady gets overcharged while paying for a car or getting repairs, she’ll have federal law on her side,” Stevens said. “It means if a pharmacist tries to force their beliefs on a woman seeking contraception, she’ll have federal law on her side. It means if store employees harass black and brown teens when they visit the mall, they’ll have federal law on their side. It means if a federally funded police department takes gender-based violence less seriously than other crimes, survivors would have federal law on their side.”
Providing personal stories of anti-LGBT discrimination as the Equality Act moves forward are LGBT people of color who say the legislation is needed to address discrimination they face because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.
Data has shown LGBT people of color face disproportionate discrimination even among their peers. In the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, 20 percent of black transgender people reported being unemployed, which at the time was twice the rate among the general U.S. black population.
That disparity was worse for transgender Latinos. Twenty-one percent of transgender Latinos reported being unemployed, which at the time was three times the rate of the general Latino population.
Among these LGBT people of color with a personal story of discrimination is Carter Brown, who founded Black Transmen, Inc. and spoke at the news conference about the discrimination — and outing — he faced on the job in Texas for being transgender.
“The American Dream had been realized until the day that I arrived in my workplace and was confronted with questions from colleagues about rumors that I was a transgender man,” Brown said. “This was followed by personal and offensive questions and comments, office gossip and a series of discriminatory and harassing interactions from co-workers, managerial staff and even the human resources department. Being outed as transgender at work caused the loss of friendships from long-time colleagues, loss of respect I earned from my impeccable work ethic, and ultimately, loss of my job.”
Rev. Dennis Wiley, who’s black and pastor at the Covenant Baptist United Church of Christ, represented both people of color and people of faith in support of the Equality Act at the news conference.
“We’re still trying to make sure that everybody in the so-called land of the free and home of the brave is safe and has the ability to become all that God has created them to become,” Wiley said. “It is so unfortunate also that the religious community finds itself, in far too many instances, holding up the other side of the argument. And it seems as though the state often has to lead the way while the church comes kicking and screaming way behind the movement.”
Both Brown and Wiley were set to testify Tuesday during a congressional hearing on the Equality Act before the House Judiciary Committee — the first-ever hearing on the legislation.
The chief justice of the Cayman Islands Grand Court on March 29 ruled same-sex couples can legally marry in the British territory.
Chief Justice Anthony Smellie issued his ruling in the case of Chantelle Day and Vicky Bodden, a lesbian couple who tried to apply for a marriage license in 2018.
Local media reports indicate Day and Bodden have been together for seven years and are raising their adopted daughter. Day and Bodden were among those who were in the courtroom when Smellie issued his ruling.
The Cayman Islands are located in the western Caribbean Sea between Jamaica and Cuba.
The British territory’s government in 1998 refused to allow a gay cruise ship with 900 passengers to dock. Religious officials in the Cayman Islands in 2010 pressured authorities to prohibit an Atlantic Events vessel from visiting the territory.
Bermuda’s top court last November ruled a law that rescinded marriage rights for same-sex couples in the British island territory is unconstitutional.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week again defended the treatment of its detainees amid allegations that a dozen gay men and transgender women suffered abuse while they were being held at an ICE detention center in New Mexico.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, the Santa Fe Dreamers Project and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in a March 25 letter to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security said the gay and trans detainees suffered “rampant sexual harassment, discrimination and abuse” at the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, N.M.
Otero is located roughly 30 miles north of El Paso, Texas, which is on the U.S.-Mexico border. Management and Training Corporation, a Utah-based company that operates two dozen private prisons across the country, operates Otero.
“People detained at Otero report that guards bark transphobic commands like, ‘Walk like a man! You better sit like a man!’,” reads the letter, which was also sent to Otero Warden Dora Orozco. “They force transgender women to bathe and sleep in units with men who sexually harass and threaten them. Some of the men even intrude on women while they are bathing in the shower, leering at them and offering to ‘help’ them bathe. Other men ask women for sex while they try to sleep.”
The letter notes guards “subject the gay men and transgender women to frequent pat-down searches.” It also says the dozen gay and trans detainees “cannot eat in the cafeteria or walk through the detention center without enduring homophobic and transphobic slurs from other detained people, which the guards do not address.”
The letter notes medical staff do not provide the detainees with “necessary medical care,” noting trans women have been told that ICE “won’t give you hormones.” The letter also notes guards have placed the inmates into solidary confinement after they complained about the conditions.
“Moreover, about two weeks ago, the guards separated all of the transgender women and gay men and reassigned them to housing units with cisgender, heterosexual men,” reads the letter, which says the facility may not be in compliance with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.
“PREA requires Otero to consider several factors when assessing risk and making housing decisions,” says the letter. “After ICE reassigned her to an all-cisgender, heterosexual male barracks, one woman told us, ‘I am afraid to be with them [the men] because I feel like all their eyes are on me.’”
A 20-year-old gay man from Honduras who was detained for three months at Otero said in a press release the ACLU of New Mexico, the Santa Fe Dreamers Project and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center released on March 22 that he “was repeatedly groped while I slept, asked to perform sexual favors in exchange for food, and verbally insulted by other detainees.”
“When I complained, I was thrown into solitary confinement for five days and threatened with further punishment if I complained again,” said the man. “Now that I am released from custody, I am free to speak up because I do not fear retaliation.”
ACLU of New Mexico Staff Attorney Kristin Greer Love in the press release said the detainees “fled persecution and violence in their home countries only to be met with humiliating and degrading treatment by guards and medical staff at Otero.”
“This kind of treatment is an affront to their dignity and a danger to their safety and well-being,” she added.
The ACLU of New Mexico, the Santa Fe Dreamers Project and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center have requested a meeting with Orozco and ICE officials. The groups are also calling upon the Department of Homeland Security’s Offices of Inspector General and Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the ICE Prevention of Sexual Assault Coordinator to investigate the allegations.
ICE spokesperson Leticia Zamarripa on Thursday did not comment on the Otero detainees’ specific allegations when she spoke with the Washington Blade.
“Comprehensive medical care is provided from the moment detainees arrive until they leave ICE custody,” said Zamarripa. “All ICE detainees receive medical, dental and mental health intake screening within 12 hours of arriving at each detention facility, a full health assessment within 14 days of entering ICE custody or arrival at a facility, and access to daily sick call and 24-hour emergency care.”
Zamarripa said ICE spends more than $250 million a year “on the spectrum of healthcare services provided to detainees. She also pointed the Blade to a 2015 directive that requires personnel to, among other things, provide trans detainees with access to hormone therapy and other trans-specific health care.
“ICE is committed to ensuring that those in our custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments and under appropriate conditions of confinement,” Zamarripa.
Activists have long criticized ICE over the treatment of LGBT detainees at its facilities.
An autopsy for which the Transgender Law Center asked indicates Roxsana Hernández, a trans woman with HIV from Honduras, was beaten before she passed away in ICE custody in New Mexico on May 25, 2018.
Many of the nine LGBTI migrants from El Salvador and Honduras with whom the Blade spoke at Casa Ruby in D.C. earlier this week said they spent a week in cold holding cells, known as “hieleras,” which is the Spanish word for “freezers,” after they crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico and were taken into custody in Texas. U.S. Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) told the Blade last June after he visited South Texas the Trump administration did not have a policy in place that specifically addressed the needs of LGBTI migrants who had been separated from their parents once they entered the U.S.
“When ICE officials drafted their own policies, they recognized that transgender and gay immigrants are among the most vulnerable people in their custody,” said Santa Fe Dreamers Project Staff Attorney Hector Ruiz in the press release. “But the way staff are treating these people shows a complete disregard for their humanity.”
Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd is seeking to sell Grindr LLC, the popular gay dating app it has owned since 2016, after a U.S. government national security panel raised concerns about its ownership, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has informed Kunlun that its ownership of West Hollywood, California-based Grindr constitutes a national security risk, the two sources said.
CFIUS’ specific concerns and whether any attempt was made to mitigate them could not be learned. The United States has been increasingly scrutinizing app developers over the safety of personal data they handle, especially if some of it involves U.S. military or intelligence personnel.
Kunlun had said last August it was preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) of Grindr. As a result of CFIUS’ intervention, Kunlun has now shifted its focus to an auction process to sell Grindr outright, given that the IPO would have kept Grindr under Kunlun’s control for a longer period of time, the sources said.
Grindr has hired investment bank Cowen Inc to handle the sale process, and is soliciting acquisition interest from U.S. investment firms, as well as Grindr’s competitors, according to the sources.
The development represents a rare, high-profile example of CFIUS undoing an acquisition that has already been completed. Kunlun took over Grindr through two separate deals between 2016 and 2018 without submitting the acquisition for CFIUS review, according to the sources, making it vulnerable to such an intervention.
The sources asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential.
Kunlun representatives did not respond to requests for comment. Grindr and Cowen declined to comment. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which chairs CFIUS, said the panel does not comment publicly on individual cases.
Grindr, which describes itself as the world’s largest social networking app for gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, had 27 million users as of 2017. The company collects personal information submitted by its users, including a person’s location, messages, and in some cases even someone’s HIV status, according to its privacy policy.
CFIUS’ intervention in the Grindr deal underscores its focus on the safety of personal data, after it blocked the acquisitions of U.S. money transfer company MoneyGram International Inc and mobile marketing firm AppLovin by Chinese bidders in the last two years.
CFIUS does not always reveal the reasons it chooses to block a deal to the companies involved, as doing so could potentially reveal classified conclusions by U.S. agencies, said Jason Waite, a partner at law firm Alston & Bird LLP focusing on the regulatory aspects of international trade and investment.
“Personal data has emerged as a mainstream concern of CFIUS,” Waite said.
The unraveling of the Grindr deal also highlights the pitfalls facing Chinese acquirers of U.S. companies seeking to bypass the CFIUS review system, which is based mostly on voluntary deal submissions.
Previous examples of the U.S. ordering the divestment of a company after the acquirer did not file for CFIUS review include China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation’s acquisition of Seattle-based aircraft component maker Mamco in 1990, Ralls Corporation’s divestment of four wind farms in Oregon in 2012, and Ironshore Inc’s sale of Wright & Co, a provider of professional liability coverage to U.S. government employees such as law enforcement personnel and national security officials, to Starr Companies in 2016.
PRIVACY CONCERNS
Kunlun acquired a majority stake in Grindr in 2016 for $93 million. It bought out the remainder of the company in 2018.
Grindr’s founder and chief executive officer, Joel Simkhai, stepped down in 2018 after Kunlun bought the remaining stake in the company.
Kunlun’s control of Grindr has fueled concerns among privacy advocates in the United States. U.S. senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Grindr last year demanding answers with regards to how the app would protect users’ privacy under its Chinese owner. FILE PHOTO: An unidentified man using a smart phone walks through London’s Canary Wharf financial district in the evening light in London, Britain, September 28, 2018. REUTERS/Russell Boyce/File Photo
Kunlun is one of China’s largest mobile gaming companies. It was part of a buyout consortium that acquired Norwegian internet browser business Opera Ltd for $600 million in 2016.
Founded in 2008 by Tsinghua University graduate Zhou Yahui, Kunlun also owns Qudian Inc, a Chinese consumer credit provider, and Xianlai Huyu, a Chinese mobile gaming company.