LGBTQ+ refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya face the threat of deportation if proposed anti-homosexuality laws are passed in parliament.
Homosexuality is already illegal in Kenya, but the the Family Protection Bill 2023 would expand upon these laws, meaning LGBTQ+ people would face life sentences for simply identifying as themselves.
If passed, the bill would impose a jail term of no less than five years on people found guilty of assembling, picketing, promoting or supporting LGBTQ-specific activities.
This would be dire not only for Kenyans, but refugees as well. The proposed bill would also allow for “the expulsion of refugees and asylum seekers” who identify as LGBTQ+.
Kenya is home to half a million refugees in camps across the country from Kakuma and Dadaab, according to Washington Blade. Refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya are mainly from Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, countries that have endured war, famine and economic instability.
Prior to this bill, Kenya was the only country in the region accepting refugee and asylum seekers without asking about their sexuality.
Recently, however, there have been increased attacks against LGBTQ+ people in the camps, especially in Kakuma, Kenya’s largest camp.
A report conducted by the Organisation for Refuge, Asylum and Migration (ORAM) found that 83 per cent of LGBTQ+ refugees at Kakuma experienced physical violence due to their sexual orientation, with 26 per cent reporting sexual assault.
The report includes the horrific experience of a trans refugee living in the camps, who shared that they were forced to have sex with a woman.
“They forced me to have sex with the lady. They then lectured me on the need to get married and have children of my own. They left me traumatized. Two days later they asked the lady to come and stay with me as my wife.
“That is when I escaped from the block and moved to live with a friend in an area far from my allocated shelter. I did not report the incident since I was afraid the police would equally stigmatise me for who I am.”
There are currently 300 LGBTQ+ refugees in Kakuma who have started an online petition, pleading with the Kenyan government to stamp out discrimination and address the mistreatment they’ve been dealing with in the camps.
The petition reads: “As refugees who have sought safety and refuge from conflict and persecution, we should not have to endure further suffering and discrimination within the confines of the camp. Yet, this is the reality for many of us.
“We are subjected to brutal attacks and physical violence from fellow refugees who hold homophobic views, leaving us with deep wounds and scars that often result in physical disability. Some of our community members have even lost their lives in these attacks.”
The proposed bill will only worsen their lives and leave them with nowhere to go.
President of Kenya William Ruto, however, slammed this ruling and said: “It is not possible for our country Kenya to allow same-sex marriages … It will happen in other countries but not in Kenya.”
Anti-homosexuality laws have increased across the African continent as more countries introduce oppressive laws that target LGBTQ+ people.
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, an extreme right-winger who has called LGBTQ+ people “filth,” is seeking the 2024 Republican nomination for governor.
Robinson announced his candidacy Saturday. In North Carolina, the governor and lieutenant governor run separately, not as a slate. Robinson will face North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell in the Republican primary, while the likely Democratic nominee is Josh Stein, currently the state’s attorney general. Current Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, cannot run again due to term limits.
Robinson held a rally at Ace Speedway and also released a video, in which he said, “I don’t care about the zip code you live in, the size of your paycheck, whether you’re Black, white, straight, or gay.” However, his record belies that statement.
Speaking at a North Carolina church in June 2021, he said, “There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth.”
He added, “And yes, I called it filth, and if you don’t like that I called it filth, come see me and I’ll explain it to you.”
In November of that year, in another church appearance, he said straight couples are superior to same-sex ones because they can potentially reproduce sexually. He equated LGBTQ+ people with “what the cows leave behind” as well as “maggots” and “flies.”
Just last month, he told a church congregation, “Makes me sick every time I see it, when I pass a church that flies that rainbow flag, which is a direct, a direct spit in the face of God almighty,” The American Independentreports. He also said, “God formed me because he knew there was going to be a time when God’s learning was going to be intolerable to the wicked, when children were going to be dragged down to go see the drag show, when pornography was going to be presented to our children in schools.”
His anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric goes back years. In January 2017, he posted on Facebook calling Michelle Obama “he” and “an anti-American, abortion and gay marriage supporting, liberal leftist elitist and I’ll be glad when he takes his boyfriend and leaves the White House.”
He also has made many anti-choice, anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, and pro-gun comments, and he has put down his fellow Black Americans. He has said a woman’s body ceases to be her own when she is pregnant. He has called survivors of the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., “silly little immature media prosti-tots” for their activism on behalf of gun control.
On Facebook, he said of the movie Black Panther, “It is absolutely AMAZING to me that people who know so little about their true history and REFUSE to acknowledge the pure sorry state of their current condition can get so excited about a fictional ‘hero’ created by an agnostic Jew [Stan Lee] and put to film by satanic marxist. How can this trash, that was only created to pull the shekels out of your Schvartze pockets, invoke any pride?”
About reparations for slavery, he said in 2021, “Nobody owes you anything for slavery. If you want to tell the truth about it, it is you who owes. Why do you owe? Because somebody in those fields took strikes for you! … Somebody had to walk through Jim Crow for you! Somebody fought wars and died for you!”
Democrats reacted swiftly to Robinson’s announcement. “Mark Robinson is an extremist who has built a legacy of division by spewing hate toward the LGBTQ community, disrespecting women, putting culture wars ahead of classrooms, and pushing to ban abortion with no exceptions,” said a statement from Anderson Clayton, the North Carolina Democratic Party chair, broadcaster WRAL reports. “We need a Governor who will expand opportunities for working families and uphold our fundamental rights — not a dangerous politician whose reckless policies would kill jobs and threaten North Carolinians’ future.”
Republican activist Jonathan Felts predicted Robinson would win the primary over Folwell, who is also an opponent of LGBTQ+ rights and abortion rights. “The short answer is that Robinson’s going to win the primary,” Felts told WRAL. “The longer answer is Dale Folwell’s a great public servant, but I just don’t see a pathway for him to be able to get his message out there.”
GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, is updating findings to the first comprehensive count and analysis of increased threats, protests and violent action against drag events nationwide. An additional 25 incidents were documented in 2023 as of April 25, according to data gathered by GLAAD in partnership with the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism.
Findings
GLAAD found 166 incidents of anti-LGBTQ protests and threats targeting drag events since early 2022, with a sharp uptick beginning in Pride season 2022 and continuing through the midterm election cycle. False rhetoric was deployed against performers in campaign ads for the 2022 midterm elections, and rhetoric escalated to violence including the firebombing of a Tulsa donut shop that had hosted a drag event in October 2022. Equality Texasdocumented additional targeted events throughout the year, including an armed demonstration and confrontation in San Antonio.
Participation in anti-drag incidents in 2023 has included the Proud Boys, white supremacists, and religious extremists. ADL has tracked at least seven events where members of known extremist groups showed up.
2023 Incidents
04/08/23—Cottonwood, AZ—At least 10 members of the Proud Boys, some in tactical vests and face masks, protested a sold-out Arizona Pride Tour drag event. LINK
04/05/23—Pasco, WA—Extremists protest an all-ages Disney-themed drag show. LINK
04/01/23—Chardon, OH—White nationalist organization the Patriot Front among protesters at a drag brunch at a bar. LINK
04/01/23—Chesterland, OH—White nationalist organization the Patriot Front among protesters at a Drag Queen Story Hour at a church. LINK
03/31/23—Chardon, OH—Drag-friendly church firebombed by neo-Nazi. LINK
03/26/23—Indianapolis, IN—Indy Reads bookstore temporarily closed following a bomb threat targeted the store’s monthly Drag Story Hour. LINK
03/26/23—Louisville, KY—Protestors and a bomb threat targeting a Drag Queen Story Time show forced the evacuation of a building. The same event faced online threats from a neo-Nazi group. LINK
03/24/23—Chesterland, OH—The Community Church of Chesterland, which plans to host a Drag Story Hour next Saturday, said its sign and building were vandalized by molotov cocktails Friday night, and that Proud Boys were sending online notices encouraging protests. LINK
03/22/23—Prestonburg, KY—An all-ages drag show was canceled after organizers and supporters said they faced online threats of armed protest. LINK
03/22/23—Tuscon, AZ—Bookmans Northwest location postponed its Drag Story Hour after a campaign by The Bridge Christian Church to get the event canceled; the Proud Boys offered the church “extra security.” LINK
03/11/23—Wadsworth, OH—Protest at “Rock-n-Roll Humanist Drag Queen Story Hour” in Memorial Park. Two people were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after melees involving pepper spray, the violent use of a flag pole as a weapon, and a protester who pointed an object that looks like a gun at a crowd. LINK.
03/09/23—New York City—Anti-drag panel discussion at a New York Young Republican Club event featuring Roger Stone and Red Scare podcast hosts Dasha Nekrasova and Anna Khachiyan. LINK
03/08/23—Royal Oak, MI—A small protest over Drag Queen Story Hour being held at the lesbian-owned Sidetrack Bookshop was met with a significantly larger group of pro-equality counter protesters. LINK
02/25/23—Lakewood, TX—Anti-LGBTQ protesters gathered outside a drag queen brunch at BuzzBrews. The groups held signs reading “stop grooming children,” “defend traditional values,” and “drag the queens out of town.” LINK.
02/24/23—New York, NY—Anti-LGBTQ protesters showed up at Jackson Heights Library to disrupt a Drag Story Hour event. LINK.
02/22/23—New York, NY—Anti-LGBTQ protesters assembled outside of the Queens Public Library to disrupt a Drag Story Hour event. LINK.
02/19/23—Tempe, AZ—A coffee shop closed down after receiving a bomb threat during their Drag Queen Story Hour. LGBTQ-owned Brick Road Coffee was the target of heavy online harassment after the event caught the attention of the Proud Boys. The bomb threat was sent over the internet. Police confirmed Proud Boys were “in the area” at the time of the event. LINK
02/18/23—Silver Spring, MD—A drag queen story hour at Loyalty Books was targeted by members of the far-right group the Proud Boys. Protesters reportedly used anti-LGBTQ slurs, including false allegations of grooming, and “graphic accusations.” LINK
02/03/23—Orlando, FL— Florida Gov. DeSantis’s administration filed a complaint against the Orlando Philharmonic Plaza Foundation over a showing of Nina West’s “A Drag Queen Christmas” in December 2022. The complaint alleges that the show violated state law for allowing a person to “commit lewd or lascivious exhibition” in the presence of a minor and seeks to revoke the foundation’s liquor license. LINK
01/31/23—St. Louis, MO—Urban Fort, a play place for children with a cafe for adults has rescheduled and relocated its book reading event for kids with Drag performers due to death threats. LINK
01/28/23—Princeton, TX—Texas Family Project protests drag show at Deffibaugh Community Center. LINK
01/21/23—Cokeville, TN—Extremists in white masks stood across from Hix Farm Brewery, held a Nazi flag, and chanted homophobic slurs. They carried signs, reading “Why do they want an audience of children?”—despite the event being open only to those 18 years of age or older. LINK.
01/20/23—Salt Lake City, UT—Proud Boy members protest an all-ages drag show outside Tea Zaanti, a local wine and tea shop. LINK
01/14/23—Taunton, MA—People in masks protested outside and inside the Taunton Public Library at a Drag Queen Story Hour. LINK
01/14/23—Dallas, TX—Protect Texas Kids (PTK) protested outside a BuzzBrews Kitchen’s Lakewood location drag show. LINK
Anti-Drag Legislation 2023
GLAAD is tracking legislative proposals in 14 states (as of April 2023) that aim to restrict or ban drag, including Tennessee’s SB0003 which has been signed into law (it’s currently under a temporary restraining order by a U.S. federal judge). In many cases, extremist politicians pointed to local drag events as the motivation for new legislation that would ban public drag performances such as those that take place at Pride festivals, ban minors from observing drag performers, including library events such as Drag Story Hour, or reclassify venues that host drag performances as “adult” or “adult cabaret” venues.
ARIZONA
SB1026—Would restrict the “use of state monies prohibited for drag shows targeting minors.”
SB1028— Would not allow drag performances in public spaces.
SB1030—Would define establishments that host drag shows as “adult-oriented businesses”
IDAHO
H0231—Would not allow drag performances in public spaces.
H0265—Would not allow drag performances in public spaces.
KANSAS
SB201—Would ban the expenditure of state moneys for the production or performance of drag shows for which minors are the primary audience.
KENTUCKY
SB115—Would reclassify any establishment that hosts drag shows as an “adult-oriented business,” and would ban them within a thousand feet of schools, parks, or homes.
MISSOURI
SB429—Would criminalize drag shows where minors are present
HB498—Would criminalize drag shows where minors are present
HB494—Creates the offense of engaging in an adult cabaret performance, including drag
MONTANA
HB359—Would prohibit minors from attending drag shows
MINNESOTA
HF1903—Would classify drag performances a “adult entertainment”
SG933— Would classify drag performances a “adult entertainment”
NEBRASKA
KB371—Would prohibit an individual under nineteen years of age or under twenty-one years of age from being present at a drag show as prescribed
TENNESSEE
HB0009/SB0003—Criminalizes drag performances in public. Passed into law but is under a temporary restraining order issued by a U.S. District Court judge
SB0841—Would classify all drag performances as “adult cabaret”
HB708— Would classify venues that host drag performances as “sexually-oriented” businesses
HB643—Would classify venues that host drag performances as “sexually-oriented” businesses
WEST VIRGINIA
HB3176—Would prohibit drag shows from being performed in front of minors and to prohibit people from dressing in drag when reading aloud during story time in schools.
The 2022 analysis found here included states with the highest number of drag events targeted by protests and threats:
Texas (20)
North Carolina (10)
Illinois (8)
Tennessee (6)
California (6)
Georgia (5)
While many of the incidents were reported in smaller cities and towns in the South and Midwest, a number also took place in areas with higher LGBTQ populations and LGBTQ-inclusive communities.
A number of the drag events targeted by threats and protests in person were first targeted by right-wing media outlets like Fox News and the Daily Wire, and social media accounts like LibsOfTikTok. The outlets and accounts often misrepresented what would occur at upcoming drag events, spinning them as harmful to children, and protests or threats would follow. A Media Matters report from June 2022 found that Fox News had devoted more hours to targeting drag queens and transgender people than to coverage of the January 6 insurrection hearings.
A Media Matters analysis in November found that disturbing misinformation about drag had ramped up on Fox News and the Daily Wire in the weeks before the Tulsa firebombing, with Tucker Carlson falsely claiming that drag queens “want to sexualize children,” and the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh calling on police to “break down the doors” of LGBTQ clubs and arrest drag queens. Sometimes the targeting came full-circle, with right-wing media hyping up negative attention ahead of an event and continuing afterward. In June 2022, LibsOfTikTok targeted the Couer D’Alene, Idaho “Pride In The Park” (where 31 anti-LGBTQ protesters were arrested, see tweet below) ahead of the event, saying that a “family friendly drag dance party” was being promoted by the Idaho Satanic Temple. Afterward, the account shared a doctored video of a drag performer that spread misinformation and falsely alleged indecent exposure during the performance, which led the drag performer to file a lawsuit in September. The LibsOfTikTok account was briefly suspended by Twitter in September after news reports connected its posts to bomb threats made against children’s hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to transgender youth, but the account was reinstated.
A number of 2022 incidents involved violence or weapons. Extremist groups like the Proud Boys, Patriot Front, and local white supremacist chapters were involved in several incidents.
In Tulsa, OK, this October, security video captured a person smashing the windows of a donut shop before lighting a Molotov cocktail and firebombing the storefront.
A bomb threat was emailed to a local news station in South Carolina, claiming several bombs were planted at a restaurant hosting drag brunch and threatening to kill performers and attendees.
About 50 members of the Proud Boys extremist group armed with long guns and in helmets, full face masks and flak jackets protested Drag Story Hour at a church in Ohio.
Neo-Nazis with swastikas and transphobic signs at a Pflugerville, TX, restaurant hosting a drag brunch.
Armed protestors, raising hands in Nazi salutes, disrupt a drag bingo fundraiser in Katy, TX.
Alleged Proud Boys disrupt multiple LGBTQ-inclusive events in Arlington, TX, blocking the sidewalk, falsely claiming attendees were “pedophiles.” Extremist protesters with a history of recording and photographing children without consent protest drag performances at a restaurant in Houston.
San Antonio concert venue cancels upcoming drag shows for the year, citing threats against performers and staff. In Eugene, OR, this October, protesters carried semiautomatic rifles and threw rocks and smoke bombs.
In the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, IL, in September, a public library canceled a drag bingo event after receiving a threatening letter that included a bullet and the phrase “more to come.”
In Memphis, Tennessee, in September, local leaders said Proud Boys were among thearmed protesters that showed up to a drag event at the Museum of Science and Industry, forcing the event’s last-minute cancellation.
In Sparks, NV, in June, children at the town library ran for safety from a Proud Boysprotester carrying a gun.
In Couer d’Alene, ID, in June, police arrested 31 Patriot Front members who had traveled from ten different states armed with riot gear and smoke grenades to protest a Pride event that had been targeted by LibsOfTikTok online.
During the LGBTQ Victory Fund’s National Champagne Brunch Sunday morning in Washington, D.C., the Washington Blade spoke with Fabian Nelson, a Black and gay Democratic candidate who could become the first out LGBTQ lawmaker ever to serve in the Mississippi Legislature.
Nelson will square off against two opponents from his party in the Aug. 8 primary. If successful, he would face a general election on Nov. 7, an easier gambit provided the seat to represent Mississippi’s 66th House District is solidly Democratic, Nelson said.
Notwithstanding his electoral prospects, Nelson acknowledged the challenges with racism and homophobia that he has continued to contend with as a candidate, along with the hostile political environment in which he would serve if elected. Still, he is optimistic about the trajectory of his campaign and for the potential to move Mississippi in a better direction.
“I come from a family of a lot of ‘firsts,’” Nelson said. His grandfather opened a bank in the early 1900s for Black residents of his hometown, while his grandmother was the first Black nurse to integrate the hospital in Yazoo City and his father was the first Black graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s dental school.
“They keep raising the bar, so I have to raise it a little bit higher,” he said.
Mississippi has a Republican trifecta as well as a Republican triplex, which means the party exerts tremendous political power with control over both chambers of the state’s legislature and the governorship, along with the offices of the secretary of state and attorney general.
If elected, Nelson would represent residents of Mississippi’s majority-Black state capital, Jackson – which has long suffered with issues like high poverty rates and rising crime, including gun violence.
Years of poor governance have exacerbated these problems, while the state’s conservative legislators have used the city’s condition as a pretext to strip residents of the right to choose their elected leaders.
Nelson has an expansive range of policy areas that he said will be major priorities should he win the House seat, from expanding Mississippi’s Medicaid program to fighting back against the conservatives’ disenfranchisement of his constituents in Jackson and their harmful anti-LGBTQ legislative proposals.
Anti-LGBTQ legislative bigotry coupled with homophobic personal attacks
During Mississippi’s first legislative session of 2023, lawmakers considered 31 anti-LGBTQ bills, more than were introduced anywhere else in the country.
Nelson, who was involved in advocacy against these legislative proposals as a member of the Human Rights Campaign, noted the importance of mobilizing the public’s opposition to anti-equality bills in helping to defeat 30 of those 31 proposals that failed to pass in the last session.
Unfortunately, Nelson said, the lone bill that survived was perhaps the most harmful of those under consideration in the chamber – a measure barring access to guideline directed gender affirming health care interventions for youth in Mississippi with gender dysphoria, which the governor signed into law in late February.
It was a major blow, Nelson acknowledged. At the same time, he said, pushing back more effectively against Republican messaging on the healthcare ban, such as by framing its proponents as politicians who are trying to “play doctor,” may have yielded a different outcome.
Nelson is not just encountering anti-LGBTQ bigotry in the legislative context, but also that which has been directed at him personally as a gay candidate for public office in a deep-red state in the Deep South. Especially in Mississippi and among older folks in the state, homophobia can come from voters and elected officials even from his own party, Nelson said.
“I think [my] being LGBTQ may pose a problem with some of the Democratic lawmakers” in the chamber, he said.
Nelson told the Blade one of his supporters, an 80-year-old Jackson resident whom he affectionately calls “Miss Emma,” was approached by a Democratic opponent who asked her, “How do you feel about [Nelson] being gay with his [LGBTQ] agenda?”
“All these years, I’ve voted for straight people,” Nelson said she told him. “None of them came and picked my garbage up or cleaned my flowerbed out.”
Following the city government’s shutdown of trash hauling services earlier this month, Nelson said he had personally been picking up and disposing of garbage for Miss Emma along with Jackson’s other elderly or disabled residents.
Nelson said effectuating real change is possible when pro-equality candidates run for office, fight for their constituents, establish relationships with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and communicate effectively with the public about what is (and is not) happening in the Capitol building to encourage more active civic engagement and strengthen political organizing efforts.
Entrenched issues of racial justice
Nelson’s campaign comes amid the scandal over the GOP-led Tennessee House of Representatives’ expulsion of two Black Democratic lawmakers from the chamber, which was widely denounced as racially motivated.
Meanwhile, over the Mississippi border into Alabama, the state’s Republican Gov. Kay Ivey last week ousted the Black director of early childhood education, Barbara Cooper, for including teaching on concepts like inclusion and structural racism.
Asked how he expects to contend with racism in the chamber if elected, Nelson said conflict can be minimized and discussions made more productive in many cases by practicing active listening so those with different views feel heard.
“You don’t have to be the loudest one in the room to make an impact” he said, so long as you are “standing your ground when it comes to bad legislation and, you know, standing my ground and fighting for what I believe in, not backing down.”
Engaging members of the public and bringing them into the fold is another crucial tool, Nelson said. He pointed to the public outcry in Tennessee and across the country that led voters to return state Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones to their democratically elected seats in the legislature.
Residents in Jackson were not only deprived by their government of garbage collection services, but also suffered the near collapse of the city’s water system, prompting the U.S. Department of Justice to step in with a lawsuit last year on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Civil Rights.
Meanwhile, rising crime in Jackson and calls for an increased police presence created the pretext for Mississippi’s Republican lawmakers to pass H.B. 1020, legislation that will allow conservative state officials to appoint, rather than allowing constituents to elect, judges and prosecutors in the city’s sprawling Capitol Complex Improvement District.
They will serve alongside a Capitol Police force whose jurisdiction was expanded despite the department’s officers having shot four citizens since last August with little explanation or accountability.
News that the governor signed H.B. 1020 into law last week had instigated protests, by which point Nelson said it was already too late. He said the time to rally opposition among voters, which would have first required effectively reaching them with information about how the law would strip them of political power and autonomy to pick their elected officials, was immediately after Republican lawmakers had introduced it.
“If you have the citizens, the people, in your corner,” he said, “you cannot lose when you start exposing this bad stuff that’s happening.”
“And one more thing,” Nelson said, pointing to a pin on the lapel of his jacket, “this is our new state flag.”
Four years ago, amid considerable pressure from the public, the GOP-controlled legislature made the extraordinary decision to replace Mississippi’s state flag that had flown since 1894, which depicted the Confederate battle flag in its upper left canton.
The new banner features a white magnolia blossom befitting of the state’s official nickname.
OUTwatch – Wine Country’s LGBTQI Film Festival will happen Friday, June 9 through Sunday, June 11 as part of Sonoma County Pride’s Calendar of Events. After a three-year pandemic pause, OUTwatch returns to showcase three entertaining narrative films and two thought-provoking documentaries. Rialto Cinemas in Sebastopol will again play host to the festival.
The schedule is: Friday, June 9, 7 p.m. Maybe Someday During a cross-country trip, Jay, a 40-something photographer, ponders her life after her separation from her wife but a stop in her hometown sees the return of her high school crush and her gay bestie who keeps her laughing. Saturday, June 10, 4 p.m. Wildhood When Link discovers his Mi’kmaw mother may still be alive, he leaves his toxic home life with his brother and on the way they meet Pasmay, a Two Spirited, pow wow dancer with whom Link finds love and community. Saturday, June 10, 7 p.m. Commitment to Life The true story of the fight against HIV/AIDS in early 1980s Los Angeles when an intrepid group of people living with HIV/AIDS, doctors, movie stars, studio moguls and activists changed the course of the epidemic and saved lives. Sunday, June 11, 4 p.m. UnsettledThis documentary reveals the untold stories of LGBT refugees and asylum seekers from Africa and the Middle East who have fled intense persecution from their home countries and who are resettling in the United States. Sunday, June 11, 7 p.m. Big Boys In this utterly charming coming-of-age comedy, a teenage boy experiences a sexual awakening when he falls for his cousin’s straight, bearish boyfriend while on a camping trip and the two find themselves lost in the woods.
OUTwatch believes the very act of inviting an audience to watch a film builds community and inhibits the isolation too many of us experience. Since 2016, OUTwatch has brought together LGBTQI businesses, non-profits, social groups, and artists to highlight our collective consciousness as well as our diversity. It is important for all of us who are part of the LGBTQI Community, as well as the community at large, to both see positive images of ourselves and explore the myriad of challenges we still face.
OUTwatch is appreciative of the support of our Film Festival Sponsors: Sonoma County Pride and Abacus. Also, our Film Sponsors:Fastsigns;Queer Asylum Accompaniment; Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival; Kinna Crock Law.
The federal government is seeking to invalidate the statute because “no person should be denied access to necessary medical care just because of their transgender status,” Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement. The DOJ said the law violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause by discriminating on the basis of both sex and transgender status.
“The right to consider your health and medically-approved treatment options with your family and doctors is a right that everyone should have, including transgender children, who are especially vulnerable to serious risks of depression, anxiety and suicide,” Clarke added.
The federal lawsuit comes after Clarke sent a letter to all state attorneys general last month warning them that federal law protects transgender youth against discrimination. The Justice Department also intervened last year in a lawsuit challenging a similar ban on transgender medical care for young people. That lawsuit is ongoing.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed off on prohibiting gender-affirming care for minors earlier this year. The bill was the first proposal filed in this year’s legislative session. Republican leaders did so in response to video surfacing on social media last year of a Nashville doctor touting that gender-affirming procedures are “huge money makers” for hospitals. That hospital has since paused its transgender services for young people.
Republican lawmakers also advanced legislation designed to severely limit where drag shows can take place, making Tennessee the first state to do so. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the statute from being implemented.
Nationally, Republican lawmakers have proposed hundreds of laws aimed at transgender people, with at least 14 states restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors.
Under Tennessee’s law — set to take effect July 1 — doctors will be prohibited from prescribing puberty blockers or hormones, or providing other gender-affirming care to anyone under 18. The law spells out a handful exceptions, including allowing doctors to perform such medical services if the patient’s care begins before the law goes into effect. In those cases, care must end by March 31, 2024.
Health care providers who violate the ban would be subject to regulatory discipline and could be sued by the state attorney general or private parties. Violations carry a $25,000 penalty.
A spokesperson for the Tennessee Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond for comment.
The Justice Department’s lawsuit is the second complaint challenging the new Tennessee law. Last week, three transgender children and their parents sued the state, claiming the law violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause because it excludes treatment for gender dysphoria while allowing the same treatments to be used for other conditions.
Even those of us in media serving the LGBTQ+ community were pleasantly surprised by the results from a recent Gallup study finding 1 in 5 of the rising Gen Z adults (ages 20-26) identifying as LGBTQ+. That means of the 82 million Gen Z Americans, an estimated 17 million identify as LGBTQ+. Never in the history of polling for LGBTQ+ identity have we seen such a staggering statistic from a single generation. When you compare the Gen Z queer identifiers at more than 20 percent for this rising group of new adults versus the older Gen X at identifying at only 4 percent, you can tell that we are in a massive generational shift and a renaissance around openness, authenticity, and living the happiest life possible to love who you love.
With such a massive embrace of alternative orientation taking place, why, then, are we seeing the rise of so much anti-LGBTQ+ legislation? Maybe the simple answer lies no farther than the parents of these queer Gen Zers for the rise of hate and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Here’s how it could be the driving force. And, furthermore, what we can do about it.
Let’s start with simple math and statistics of recent credible polls on LGBTQ+ people. By just focusing on the youngest of LGBTQ+ folks in the Gen Z sector or approximately 17 million, you can estimate each has 1.7 on average living parents, stepparents, and guardians in their lives — or about 30 million parental figures. We then apply voting statistics and other polling data starting with Pew Research in November 2022 that found 61 percent of American voters believe same-sex marriage is good for society. Multiplying 61 percent x 30 million parents, we can safely defend and probably generously state that 18.3 million of these parents are accepting, nurturing, and lovingly proud of their out and happy children.
On the other hand, Pew found that 37 percent of Americans believe same-sex marriage is negative for society. If applied to our 30 million estimated parental number, this leaves nearly 12 million parents whose beliefs and values run counter to their child(ren) identifying as LGBTQ+. There is little doubt that these people also vote and support anti-LGBTQ+ agendas of the GOP, their elected party representatives, and their propaganda machine, Fox News. If these 12 million parental supporters of hateful legislation are like the Republican party leadership and faced with self-perceived and conservative-media-reinforced failure as parents, they take no responsibility, seek someone to blame for making their child being queer and take out their fury in the anonymity of the voting booth by supporting anti-LGBTQ+ candidates (if not denying them appropriate medical treatment or throwing them out of their houses for just wanting to love who they want — or worse).
And even if just a fraction of my math approximating 12 million voting for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is all you’ll accept, a mere fraction is enough to sway local, state, and federal races in purple states like Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, and Ohio. And if we multiply the 12 million x 10 percent, which is roughly how many Florida residents make up the percentage of U.S. population, we get about 1.2 million parents in Florida, which is almost exactly the amount Governor DeSantis won by in his last election. And this is just factoring in the parents of LGBTQ+ kids voting against the rights of their own children, not the many more who also follow the governor’s misguided hate.
Logically, we know that this population of parents can’t make up 100 percent of DeSantis’s margin, but even a fraction of that could have added to his lead, influenced others and many in the state, making the GOP stronger in their hold on all Florida branches of government, with an almost endless supply of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation at their fingertips. Adding insult to injury, many states are following Florida step for step in banning books, discussions in classrooms, and drag shows. All the while, ocean tides increasingly rise around Florida visible to every resident. All the while, the state ranks among the worst for crime and gun deaths. All the while, rents in Dade County and many other Florida counties have skyrocketed 60 percent or more in the last two years. All the while, the state performs poorly on health care, mental health, and economic diversity, all while trans youth and drag queens are scapegoated as a real problem.
So how do we combat this possible and unexpected phenomenon of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation?
Perhaps, we need to start with those of us who are identifying as LGBTQ+ to work to convince our parents and loved ones that a vote against LGBTQ+ rights is a vote against their own loved ones. We should patiently and lovingly remind our anti-LGBTQ+ voting parents that they love us and only want for our happiness. And what would help give them even more love and happiness is voting for politicians who support LGBTQ+ rights. It will not be accomplished with one conversation; it will take many. It will not be accomplished with yelling or shutting them out. It will take love, gentle persuading, and keeping them part of your lives. Over time, I have watched my own father’s resolve soften to one of support.
Next, we may need to consider greatly enhancing phone line and local support for parents of LGBTQ+ people so they get education, compassion, and support in their local areas, local resources to help themselves and their children and support by way of groups and FB pages of other parents grappling with how to support their LGBTQ+ children. Otherwise, these shocked, confused and ignorant individuals fall prey to the steady drum beat of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric on outlets like Fox News and politicians from school boards to state houses and Capitol Hill putting forward or enacting hateful anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
Consider running for office or give just an hour a week to a candidate who supports LGBTQ+ rights. From school boards to the highest seats in the land, please consider running for office or more practically for many, supporting just one candidate in a pivotal race on your ballot with just one hour a week of volunteer time during the election cycle. Imagine if all of us gave just one hour a week to pro-LGBTQ+ candidates; we could turn the tide and make this a country one we can all take pride in.
Together, we can overcome this wave of hate by starting in our own families. Let’s bring a surge of love to douse the flames of hate.
Michael Kelley is chairman of equalpride, parent company of The Advocate.
Fox News taking Tucker Carlson off the air means that one of the loudest anti-trans voices in US media falls silent – for now. But his anti-LGBTQ+ legacy will continue to reverberate.
Carlson was Fox News’ top-rated and most-watched host, and he’s been credited with setting the agenda for US conservatives from coast to coast.
Night after night, millions tuned in to watch Carlson rant and paint a dystopian picture of a US where conservatives are under attack from the encroaching ‘woke’ left.
Over the years his eponymous show aired, he raged against the LGBTQ+ community, embraced racist conspiracy theories and pushed an increasingly far-right agenda on his viewers.
His departure from the network came as a shock to many. In a terse statement released Monday (24 April), Fox News said it and Carlson agreed to “part ways” effective immediately. It’s been reported that the decision was made by Fox chair Rupert Murdoch.
It means that Carlson made his final appearance, apparently unknowingly, on Friday, bringing to a quiet close an era of right-wing hate and ‘radicalisation’.
It said he “worked to radicalise the Republican party in the direction of its most dangerous, authoritarian elements”.
“Carlson has been the face of the network since at least the 2020 election, with executives counting on his personal connection to viewers to keep them coming back as former president Donald Trump receded from the national stage,” Media Matters added.
“He used that opportunity to focus the network (and through it, the GOP) on his own particular obsessions, like the ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory, anti-trans invective and support for authoritarian regimes in Russia and Hungary.”
Tucker Carlson was at the forefront of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and attacks on trans rights
Among Carlson’s most vehemently pursued talking points was the idea that white, cisgender, heterosexual people are under attack in the US. It’s a common bigoted topic pushed by the right-wing to abuse anyone who deviates from their perceived norm.
Fast forward to 2020, he took to the air to call the Black Lives Matter protests an “insidious” attempt to “challenge Western civilisation itself”. He also called workplace anti-bias training “poison” and reverse racism.
Tucker Carlson has also been at the forefront of the modern attack on gender-affirming healthcare by the right-wing.
Over the years he appeared on Fox News, Carlson hosted a lengthy list of anti-trans guests, who espoused hateful talking points. He’s also devoted hearty chunks of his on-air career to personally attacking the lives of trans people.
In 2021, he hosted a guest who falsely suggested gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth allows people to “basically molest and abuse children”. Carlson agreed before falsely characterising such medical treatment as “genital mutilation”.
He depicted healthcare officials providing gender-affirming care as “criminals” and said Boston Children’s Hospital was “playing the victim” after it received bomb threats over such care.
Tucker Carlson used mass shootings to attack drag queens and trans people
Amid right-wing attacks against drag, Tucker Carlson said on Fox News that kid-friendly drag events were attempts to “indoctrinate and sexualise children”. In another segment, he claimed it’s “not that unfair” to accuse drag queens of “being creepy with kids”.
He also blasted what he described as the “sexualisation” of children by teachers and urged parents to “fight back” against discussions of LGBTQ+ issues in schools.
The host falsely claimed on his Fox News show that the school shooting “happened because of a deranged and demonic ideology that is infesting this country with the encouragement of people like Joe Biden”.
He also labelled trans people as the “natural enemy” of Christianity as he alleged that the “trans movement is targeting Christians”.
What will happen to Tucker Carlson after his Fox News exit?
Once O’Reilly stepped away for good from the mic, his name, reputation and sway in the right-wing crowd faded into obscurity. Carlson may face a similar fate.
It also came just a short while after Fox settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5m. The lawsuit centred on Fox airing false claims that the presidential election was stolen after former president Donald Trump’s 2020 loss.
Filings in the case featured a lengthy list of messages from Carlson disparaging the media group’s news division and management, revealed his feelings about Trump and demonstrated his scepticism of the ‘stolen election’ conspiracy theory.
The commissioner for The Council of Europe’s Human Rights is urging politicians in Slovakia to vote against proposed legislation that would effectively prevent trans people from having their gender legally recognised.
The bill, set to have its second reading next month, proposes only allowing someone to change their gender marking if they can prove, via genetic testing, it had been incorrectly determined.
In a letter to the Slovakia parliament, dated 19 April but released publically on 25 April, commissioner Dunja Mijatović said she was concerned that the bill would “effectively” mean trans men and women’s genders would not be legally recognised and “lead to human rights regression”.
She said it was “in conflict” with the Slovak Republic’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
It “should have triggered a process of addressing long-standing concerns about intolerance towards LGBTI people”, she said.
“However, I am disappointed that no discernible progress has been made, and that the human rights of LGBTI people in the Slovak Republic appear to be more, rather than less, at risk.”
Mijatović also used the letter to highlight issues relating to the rights of same-sex couples and hate incidents towards queer people.
Rights for same-sex couples in the Slovak Republic fell short of European Court of Human Rights case law, she said, noting, specifically, that the current legal framework did not grant same-sex couples “adequate recognition and protection of their relationship”.
She went further and urged that human rights of queer people be protected.
“These include ensuring that gender identity and sex characteristics are explicitly recognised as protected characteristics in hate-crime legislation, and included as aggravating circumstances when offences are committed on those grounds.”
Mijatović also recommended raising societal awareness and acceptance of sexual orientation and gender identity, noting parliamentarians had downplayed links between hate crimes and the wider Slovakia society and political sphere.
The Slovak Republic is not the only European country facing condemnation for its laws in relation to LGBTQ+ people.
Residents have been left stunned after antisemitic and anti-trans flyers were recently distributed across multiple Atlanta neighborhoods.
According to Fox 5, the flyers appear to have come from a group called the Goyim Defense League, which the Anti-Defamation League describes as “a loose network of individuals connected by their virulent antisemitism” whose “goal is to cast aspersions on Jews and spread antisemitic myths and conspiracy theories.”
Doctors could get up to 10 years in prison under the new law.
One of the flyers said Jews are behind “the rise in transgenderism” and included photos of trans leaders superimposed with Jewish stars. The flyer also warned of a “4000% explosion in kids identifying as transgender” and said kids are being “forced to unlearn boy-girl differences.”
Other flyers declared “every single aspect of feminism is Jewish” and “every single aspect of the Jewish Talmud is Satanic.”
“We just need to be more open and kind,” one resident, Caroline Joe, told Atlanta News First. “It’s kind of cowardly actually to just come into a neighborhood and distribute information like that.”
“I think the best places for those messages are in the trash can,” said another resident, Brian Davis. “I think we need to start treating people better, and I encourage whoever did this to go out there and find a Jewish person or a Black person or a gay person and befriend them.”
The FBI told the news agency that while they are of the situation, the distributors of the flyers do not appear to have broken federal law and are exercising their first amendment rights.
The flyers were found in the district of City Councilmember Lilliana Bakhtiari, the first nonbinary official elected in Atlanta. Bakhtiari called the flyers “vile” and “repugnant” and said their office “has been in regular communication” with the Atlanta Police and leaders of the affected communities.
“I will continue to extend myself – and my platform – as a resource to any person targeted on the basis of exclusion,” they said.
A statement from the Atlanta Police Department said it is “not aware of any criminal acts related to the flyers. However, their distribution has led to a heightened level of awareness throughout our department, and we have increased patrols around where the flyers were found.”
Georgia state Rep. Saira Draper (D) told Rough Draft Atlanta she is “appalled and disgusted” and that “this is not an isolated incident of hate.”
“As a state legislator, I can’t help but view this incident and our legislative policy choices as related. During the 2023 legislative session, the Georgia General Assembly failed to pass proposed legislation to curb rising rates of antisemitism.”
“Concurrently, the General Assembly prioritized the passage of legislation that discriminates against and harms transgender children and their families. There is a direct line between these policy decisions and creating an environment that emboldens hate groups and normalizes discriminatory rhetoric. It’s not enough for leaders to say they don’t tolerate hate; our policy agenda must do the same.”
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens (D) also condemned the flyers, saying he is “deeply disturbed.”