The Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ), in a press release, welcomed Secretary Hillary Clinton's announcement detailing the plan she would embark on as president to end the HIV and AIDS epidemic nationally and globally. Her blueprint includes enhancing the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, convening working groups to develop aggressive actions to combat the spread of HIV, and launching a campaign to combat stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV. HRC endorsed Hillary Clinton in January.
Orlando, Florida, Mayor Buddy Dyer wants to eternalize Pulse Nightclub, the site of June's mass shooting that killed 49, People noted. In an interview with local radio station WMFE, Dyer revealed that he thinks the city should buy the site in order to "make some determination, with a lot of input, on what a permanent memorial might look like." The OnePulse Foundation, a non-profit set up by the club's owner, was set up after the June 12 shooting, and has intentions to "contribute to the creation of a permanent memorial" at the site.
Following the cancellation of northeast Ohio's largest annual LGBT parade and festival, several organizations have banded together to promote other LGBT-friendly events in the area, Ohio.com reported. The Cleveland Pride eventswhich have drawn 30,000 or more to Cleveland in recent yearwere scheduled for Aug. 13. However, Todd Saporito, president and CEO of Cleveland Pride Inc., announced Thursday that the event was canceled due to a "changing social climate" toward the LGBT community. A list of other events in the Cleveland area, spanning Aug. 4 to 20, can be found at LGBTCleveland.org/pride-2016-events.
The Seattle City Council unanimously voted to ban conversion therapy for queer youth, becoming the third U.S. city to independently outlaw the practice, The Huffington Post reported. Councilmember Lorena Gonzalez introduced the bill in July, calling conversion therapy a "harmful practice that needs to end." Five states and the District of Columbia have banned conversion therapy in recent years, as have Miami and Cincinnati.
The mayor of Fairfax City, Virginia, was arrested after police say he tried to give methamphetamine to undercover detectives in exchange for sex, NBC News reported. Mayor Richard "Scott" Silverthorne, 50, was nabbed in the parking lot of a Crowne Plaza Hotel as part of a sting operation. The operation began in late July, when the department's Organized Crime and Narcotics Division received a tip about a meth distributor. The suspectlater identified as Silverthornewas allegedly distributing meth through a website used to arrange casual sex between men, Fairfax County Capt. Jack Hardin said at a news conference. Two other men were arrested in connection with the case as alleged suppliers: Juan Jose Fernandez, 34, and Caustin Lee McLaughlin, 21, both of Maryland. Silversthorne has since announced his resignation; he was serving his third term as mayor.
The National LGBT Bar Association hosted the 28th annual Lavender Law Conference & Career Fair in Washington, D.C., a press release stated. The 2016 conference featured a keynote address from Stuart Delery who, until recently, served as the acting associate attorney general and was the highest-ever openly LGBT person at the Justice Department. Also, this year's Dan Bradley Award was presented to Kevin Cathcart, while Equality Florida CEO Nadine Smith received the Frank Kameny Award.
Donald Trump's official national campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson has responded to hateful comments she made about the gay community in 2012, calling them "humorous and sarcastic banter," NewNowNext.com reported. In 2012, Pierson apparently engaged a gay Texan who pressed her for her views on same-sex marriage. "Gay is not normalaccept that," she wrote in response. Asked for her response to the anti-gay comments, especially given Trump's recent self-identification as "a friend of the LGBT community," Pierson dismissed her comments as "banter."
The newly formed non-profit Pride Foundation of Maryland announced the launch of an LGBT Safe Spaces Project, which consists of a map that displays which Maryland businesses agree to honor the LGBTQ community and uphold key standards, The Washington Blade reported. For a business to participate, the owner or general manager simply completes a "Commitment to be an LGBT Safe Space," providing the location and other relevant information about the business.
A Vanderbilt University study found ( perhaps unsurprisingly ) that LGBTQ students attending high schools with gay-straight alliances ( GSAs ) reported significantly fewer incidences of bullying based on sexual orientation or gender expression and had a greater sense of personal safety compared to students in schools without GSAs, the school reported. The new report is a meta-analysis of 15 independent studies surveying nearly 63,000 high school students. It was conducted by Robert Marx and Heather Hensman Kettrey at Vanderbilt's Peabody Research Institute, and published by Journal of Youth and Adolescence.
There's no known medical reason why meningitis, which is transmitted through saliva, would spread more among gay and bisexual menyet New York, Chicago and now Southern California have experienced outbreaks disproportionately affecting that population, according to the L.A. Times. Experts are baffled, with Dr. Rachel Civen, a medical epidemiologist at L.A. County's Department of Public Health, saying the increase in cases "is perplexing." Dr. Jay Gladstein, an internal medicine doctor in downtown L.A. who mostly treats gay and bisexual men, thinks the cases are likely among men who have multiple sexual partners, engage in anonymous sex and use drugs that make them more susceptible.
Transgender performer Valentine Steaphon has said she was kicked out of the New York City gay bar Boots and Saddle in the West Village after using the women's restroom, Gay Star News reported. Steaphan wrote on Facebook that she was confronted on Aug. 5 by a woman who told a security guard that Steaphon's presence in the restroom made her uncomfortable. Boots and Saddle owners dispute Steaphon's version of events.
A gay Tennessee man claimed an Uber driver confronted him with anti-gay and threatening language before trying to run him over after he requested a ride, The Huffington Post reported. Ray Rico was leaving Dru's Place, a popular Memphis gay bar, July 30 at the time of the confrontation, WREG-TV reported. An Uber spokeswoman told HuffPost, "The reported conduct has no place on the Uber platform and we're reviewing both parties involvement in the matter."
Chris Mosier, the first transgender athlete to make a U.S. national team, is the star of Nike's latest 30-second spot, AdWeek.com noted. The effortfrom Wieden + Kennedy in Portlandis part of the company's "Unlimited" series, which is timed to the Olympics and highlights "everyday athletes and the champion athletes who regularly push their limits." The ad, which breaks the fourth wall and features a conversation between the narrator and Mosier that directly addresses the fact that Mosier is trans, showcases Mosier in all of his triathlon events. It premiered on NBC Aug. 8.
In Manhattan, a 28-year-old gay man was stabbed repeatedly in Morningside Heights on Aug. 6, PIX11.com reported. The victim was on a northbound 1-train with his sister and girlfriend when a man yelled anti-gay slurs at him as the train pulled into the 110th Street station, police sources said. The suspect punched and stabbed the victim, and then ran up to the street, but the victim chased after him; the victim was later taken to Moutn Sinai St. Lukes Hospital.
GLAAD released "Southern Stories: A Guide for Reporting on LGBT People in Texas" in collaboration with Equality Texas, according to a press release. This media guide comes after GLAAD's Accelerating Acceptance report showed that Southerners feel significantly more discomfort about their LGBT family, friends and neighbors than is found in other regions of the country. The report is at http://www.glaad.org/publications/southern-stories-guide-reporting-lgbt-people-texas.
The National LGBTQ Task Force is calling for a full investigation into the Baltimore County Police killing of Korryn Gaines and the wounding of her child. Deputy Executive Director Russell Roybal said, in part, "Far too often, police practices are applied unevenlya situation involving a white person brandishing a gun is de-escalated without gunfire, but if the person is Black, there is almost always, a much different and deadlier outcome." According to the Task Force, Grimes is the 647th Black person to be killed by law enforcement across the nation this year.
The organizers of South Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade have filed new legal papers claiming Mayor Marty Walsh "strong-armed" them into inviting an LGBT group to march in the parade for the first time in 2015, Irish Central reported. The suit claims Walsh had threatened to withhold necessary permits that could have stopped the parade in its entirety. The gay military veterans service group OutVets and gay rights group Boston Pride made history in 2015 when they joined the dual celebration of military veterans and Irish heritage at the invitation of the sponsoring South Boston Allied War Veterans Council.
Some customers at New York Grilled Cheese Co. in Wilton Manors, Florida, have been leaving negative reviews on the restaurant's websitenot because of the food but because one of the servers is a trans woman and because the eatery has adopted a trans-friendly bathroom policy, NewNowNext.com noted. In response, owner Leor Barak posted on Facebook that "the company culture at New York Grilled Cheese Co. is and always will be one of acceptance, equality, and support of our transgendered community and any other walk of life."
In Jersey City, New Jersey, someone appears to have set fire to a rainbow flag that the owner of Montgomery Street salon The Hair Room has had hanging from a flower box outside her front door since the place opened in late June, NJ.com reported. Salon owner Anatalie David told The Jersey Journal she was away and found the burned flag upon her return. The incident happened about a month before the 16th annual LGBT pride festival, an all-day street fair scheduled for Aug. 27 at Newark Avenue and Grove Street.
In Pennsylvania, 22-year-old Wilkes-Barre Councilwoman Beth Gilbert has proposed an antidiscrimination ordinance for LGBT people, according to PaHomePage.com . ( Gilbert's proposed ordinance would also protect veterans, older citizens and even service animals from discrimination. ) Currently, Pennsylvania provides no anti-discrimination protection for LGBT individuals from being fired from their jobs, from being denied housing or from being denied services.
Retiring Rep. Richard Hanna ( R-N.Y. ) said he will vote for Hillary Clinton in November because Donald Trump is "unfit to serve our party and cannot lead this country," The Huffington Post noted. The three-term congressman, who represents New York's 22nd Congressional District, is the first Republican member of Congress to announce he will vote for the former secretary of state. He previously said he could never support the GOP nominee, putting him among several conservative and establishment holdouts known as the #NeverTrump movement.
In Illinois, the Des Plaines City Council approved a policy July 5 permitting only the flags of the United States, state of Illinois, the city of Des Plaines and the POW-MIA flag to be flown over municipal sites, DailyHerald.com reported; any other flags require the council's approval. The resolution was prompted by the flying of a rainbow flag outside the Des Plaines Public Library following the June 12 mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. On Aug. 1, the police and firefighter memorial flags have been added to the list of flags that can be flown on city of Des Plaines-owned properties.
Feminist secret society GRLCVLT NYC "F*CK RAPE CULTURE" event was a huge success, with a sold-out crowd and more than $2,500 raised for the Campaign to Recall Judge Aaron Persky, a press release stated. Actors Rose McGowan and Amber Tamblyn spoke at the event, and there were musical performances from The Skins, Edith Pop, Madame Gandhi and The New Tarot. Also, NBC News reported that activists submitted 1.2 million signatures calling for the ouster of Persky over a controversial jail sentence he gave former Stanford student Brock Turner for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.