In response to the nation's worst mass shooting in history and stalled efforts in Congress to implement gun reform, members of the LGBTQ community announced the formation of the Pride Fund to End Gun Violence ( Pride Fund ), a press release stated. This political action committee ( PAC ) will support federal candidates who will act on sensible gun policy reforms and champion LGBTQ equality. In the first few days of fundraising, the organization has raised nearly $20,000. Pride Fund plans to have a strong impact in November and is well on its way to raising its initial goal of $500,000 for this election cycle. See PrideFund.org .
Fair Michigan—a Michigan non-profit corporation seeking to end discrimination against persons based on sex, sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity—has launched the Fair Michigan Justice Project ( FMJP ), a program to assist Michigan law enforcement officers and prosecutors in solving serious crimes against LGBT persons, a press release stated. FMJP will investigate and prosecute new and cold cases of serious criminal conduct, including homicide, criminal sexual conduct, carjacking, armed robbery, assault with intent to murder, and others involving LGBTQ victims targeted based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. One of FMJP's first cases involves the murder of Amber Monroe, a well-known LGBTQ activist who was shot and killed Aug. 8, 2015, in Detroit.
A groundbreaking ad depicting the challenges faced by transgender people in accessing public restrooms—and highlighting the lack of state and federal nondiscrimination protections for transgender people—is slated to have its national television debut on Fox News Channel next Thursday, July 21, during the final night of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, a press release stated. The ad will air nationwide again on MSNBC during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia one week later. The ad was funded by Fairness USA—a partnership led by the Freedom for All Americans Education Fund, the Movement Advancement Project, the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Equality Ohio Education Fund, with support from the Equality Federation Institute, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
A California court ruled that dating site Christian Mingle has to allow subscribers to search for matches of the same sex, Out.com noted. The 2013 case brought by two gay men in California argued that the website, which has 15 million subscribers, does not allow for same-sex dating and violated the state's equal-protection laws. This ruling also applies to the other dating sites owned by Spark Networks, including Adventist Singles Connection and Black Singles, Fortune noted.
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill into law that broadens Massachusetts laws banning discrimination in public accommodations to include gender identity, On Top Magazine noted. Baker signed the bill a day after the Democrat-controlled House and Senate approved a final version of the legislation. When the law takes effect Oct. 1, Massachusetts will become the 18th state to ensure full protections for transgender people.
In a legal brief filed in federal court, the U.S. Department of Justice ( DoJ ) denied allegations by a gay-rights group that it has violated the Freedom of Information Act by refusing to release hundreds, if not thousands, of documents linked to an anti-gay executive order issued by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954, The Washington Blade reported. The DoJ was responding to a lawsuit filed against it in April by the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, calls for the release of all documents linked to what it says was a massive purge of gay and lesbian employees of the federal government in the 1950s and 1960s as a result of Executive Order 10450.
American Unity Fund—a conservative 501( c )( 4 ) non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the cause of freedom for LGBT people—will host a brunch on Wed., July 20, under the Big Tent at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, a press release stated. Among the people slated to attend are Caitlyn Jenner as well as LGBT ally and former talk-show host Montel Williams. Event co-hosts include Equality Ohio, the Log Cabin Republicans, the College Republican National Committee, the Ohio College Republican Federation, the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland and SAGE.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has joined a lawsuit filed by a group of states seeking to overturn recent federal guidelines for schools on protecting the rights of transgender students, The Detroit Free Press noted. The U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice, in May, issued guidance to school districts—including one that urges schools to allow transgender students to use the restrooms and locker rooms that align with the students' gender identity. Schuette, in a statement, said he joined the lawsuit because it seeks to protect the "dignity and privacy" of all Michigan students.
Bob the Drag Queen, the most recent winner of RuPaul's Drag Race, released an educational video about the daily treatment pre-exposure prophylaxis ( PrEP ), Plus noted. If taken daily, PrEP is up to 99-percent effective in preventing HIV transmission; Truvada is the only drug approved so far for PrEP. The day Bob released the video also marked the 35th anniversary of the reports of the first cases of AIDS.
The NYPD and the LGBT community are at odds once again following the arrest of a man at Jacob Riis Beach in Queens July 4, Out reported. Photographer Krys Fox told The Daily Dot he was taking pictures at Jacob Riis Park, which includes a historically gay-friendly section of beach. He said that when a towel of his became undone ( as he was drying his shorts in the sun ), police tackled him and dragged him away, naked. ( He was released hours later, reportedly only wearing the towel. ) The NYPD has been criticized for its increased presence at the beach over the last few years and for its aggressive policing of a beach that has traditionally drawn many LGBT people of color.
Florida's Department of Children and Families ( DCF ) announced that it will propose adding explicit protections prohibiting discrimination and mistreatment of LGBTQ youth in state care who are placed in group homes, according to a Lambda Legal press release. This change follows DCF's removal of LGBTQ-inclusive language from the rules that govern group homes in April, a move that Lambda Legal and state child welfare experts and advocates condemned.
New Ways Ministry—a national Catholic ministry of justice and reconciliation for LGBT Catholics and the wider church community—issued a response to Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput's order. Chaput has instructed pastoral ministers in his archdiocese not to distribute communion to divorced/remarried and cohabitating couples, and not to allow individuals involved in same-sex relationships to occupy leadership or ministerial roles in parish life. New Ways Ministry Executive Director Francis DeBernardo said, in part, "Chaput's directives are distinctly at odds with the tone and recommendations of Amoris Laetitia [an apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis]. ... Chaput's instructions should be, and most likely will be, ignored by pastoral ministers in his archdiocese."
An Iowa church claimed in a legal complaint that the government has no right to require a church to allow biological men to use the women's showers in its building—even if that takes place during one of its peripheral ministries, according to Life Site. The Fort Des Moines Church of Christ challenged the Iowa Civil Rights Commission's view that the church's First Amendment privileges end if the building is not engaged in a worship ceremony. The church is asking that the Iowa Civil Rights Act be declared unconstitutional.
Minneapolis is about to get its first LGBTQ sports bar, BizJournals.net reported. Mike LaGuire's Uptown Restaurant Group has purchased the Salsa a La Salsa building at 2841 Hennepin Ave. from Kaskaid Hospitality. The new venture is called Game Sports Bar Minneapolis. LaGuire said he wants to cater to the LGBTQ crowd, but also to the neighborhood.
The National Basketball Association ( NBA ) declared North Carolina's recent revisions to its transgender "bathroom bill" unacceptable, The Daily Caller reported. Because of North Carolina's bill and the debate surrounding it, the NBA threatened that it would not host its NBA All-Star Weekend in North Carolina. North Carolina state lawmakers announced that they would be making changes to HB2; in the new revisions, the bill's original stance on transgender individuals using the bathroom still stands. However, the new proposal allows transgender people to be recognized with "sex-re-assignment certificates."
In New York City, a gay Black man who was brutally beaten in 2013 by a group of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men blames the attack on the ongoing NYPD corruption scandal, The New York Post reported. Taj Patterson accuses the city and police officials in a lawsuit of being in bed with members of the Shomrim, saying the Satmar watchdog patrol group has for years been given "favorable and preferential treatment." Five patrolmen were ultimately arrested—but Patterson says in his suit that the investigation was bungled and prematurely closed after Shomrim members made calls to the 90th Precinct.
Controversy erupted in Midway, Kentucky, recently when a guest singer performed a song with anti-gay lyrics during the first in a series of outdoor summer concerts presented by a downtown revitalization group, Kentucky.com reported. The bluegrass band that allowed the impromptu performance has voluntarily returned its $500 pay and will not be returning for an August performance, Mayor Grayson Vandegrift said. The bluegrass band, Shades of Grass, has asked that the money go toward a LGBT cause, the mayor added.
Anti-gay ex-Congressman Allen West has said he's "delighted" the FBI won't prosecute Hillary Clinton over the email scandal—because, in his mind, a flawed Hillary Clinton is the easiest possible opponent for Republicans to defeat in November, The Daily Caller noted. West further argued that though the FBI recommended Clinton not be charged, the bureau's investigation brought to light serious character flaws in the presumptive Democratic nominee. In 2011, West stirred controversy with the LGBT community when he compared being gay to selecting ice cream, according to Advocate.com .
Pioneering AIDS- and LGBT-rights activist and author Cleve Jones will deliver the keynote address at the San Antonio AIDS Foundation ( SAAF )'s 30th anniversary fundraiser Aug. 7 at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort and Spa in San Antonio, Texas, Business Wire reported. The event, "First in Hope, First in Service," will include a brunch buffet, silent and live auctions, and commemorative presentations from elected officials and community leaders who support SAAF's work in southern Texas.
Mano a Mano—Cuba's first and only official gay men's chorus—is touring the United States, The Huffington Post reported. Mano a Mano describes its style as "unique" and "tropical-influenced," performing everything from classical choral numbers to a salsa rendition of Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon." The five members recently performed the latter on Hollywood Today Live in their first-ever television appearance. Other planned sites for the tour include Boston, Fort Lauderdale and Provincetown.
The parents of New Jersey teen Kinsey Ratzman had a unique reaction to her coming out: They threw her a surprise pride party, The New York Daily News reported. "My parents had asked me if I was in a relationship and when I said yes they proceeded to ask if it was with a girl," Ratzman said. "I think they had had suspicions for a while, which prompted that question." Ratzman posted the whole party online, complete with rainbow decorations, food and cake; relatives including Ratzman's brother, aunt, uncle, cousins and grandparents attended the event.
One of the nation's most celebrated gay bars may soon go out of business after a new landlord more than doubled the rent, the Associated Press reported. At 50 years old, The Stud is the longest continually running gay bar in San Francisco, and is known throughout the country as one of the bohemian, gender-bending, anything-goes institutions that made the city a gay mecca. In June the building was sold, and the bar's owner received a notice that the monthly rent for the 2,800-square-foot space would leap from $3,800 to $9,500 in September.
Yusaf Mack, the Philadelphia boxer who made headlines after it was discovered he filmed a gay-porn scene in December 2014, is readying his comeback, SouthFloridaGayNews.com reported. In an interview with Gawker, he said he's willing to make a gay-porn comeback, saying he's already filmed a scene for the gay porn company Reality Dudes via its "Reality Thugs" imprint. In his 2015 statement where he confessed he was lying about the incident, Mack came out as bisexual; he later told a Fox-affiliate he was gay.
Campus Pride has announced dates and locations for the upcoming National LGBTQ-Friendly College Fair Program 2016-2017 season, according to a press release. Sites include Charlotte, North Carolina; Boston; Atlanta; St. Louis; Los Angeles; Vancouver, Washington; and New York City. To RSVP, visit www.campuspride.org/collegefair/ .
