In New York, several LGBTQ+ lawmakers in the New York City Council and state legislature called on Mayor Eric Adams to resign after he was hit with a five-count federal indictment on charges of bribery, fraud, and seeking foreign campaign donations going back to his time as Brooklyn borough president and continuing through his mayoral tenure, Gay City News reported. Queens Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, who co-chairs the council’s LGBTQIA+ Caucus, said on Sept. 16 that the mayor “leads with corruption and mismanagement” and was “unfit to govern.” In addition, queer Brooklyn Councilmember Chi Ossé told the mayor to step down in a social media video posted on X on Sept. 25, just hours after the news first broke: “This city of nine million people [needs] someone steering this ship, and now it’s clear it cannot be corrupt cop Eric Adams.” Out Councilmember Lynn Schulman issued a statement about Adams’ indictment but did not call on him to resign.
At the launch of LGBT History Month in Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Congressman Mark Pocan presented Equality Forum with a letter. In it, President Joe Biden recognizes LGBT History Month, praises the many contributions of the LGBTQ+ community, and commends everyone who celebrates and shares our history, according to Equality Forum. During the ceremony, Pocan received the International Role Model Award (from The American LGBTQ+ Museum Executive Director Ben Garcia) while the Philadelphia LGBTQ Bar Association received the Frank Kameny Award (from Philadelphia City Councilmember-at-Large Rue Landau).
In commemoration of National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (Sept. 27)—an annual effort to raise awareness about stopping HIV stigma while encouraging testing, prevention and treatment—National Black Justice Collective (NBJC) CEO and Executive Director Dr. David J. Johns issued a statement. In part, he said, “As we commemorate National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, NBJC reaffirms our commitment to raising awareness about the ongoing impact of HIV/AIDS in Black same-gender loving and bisexual communities. … The importance of fostering stigma-free conversations about HIV/AIDS, sexual health, and wellness cannot be overstated. We must encourage open dialogue about holistic approaches to health, including regular HIV testing, access to preventative measures like PrEP, and consistent treatment for those living with HIV. In Black Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer+/Same-Gender Loving (GBTQ+/SGL) communities, breaking down the walls of stigma will lead to healthier outcomes, better access to resources, and a more substantial commitment to ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic.”
Denver’s only lesbian bar is closing, The Advocate noted. Blush & Blu on Colfax Avenue will have its last night of business on Oct. 5, owner Jody Bouffard recently announced on social media. “When I moved to Denver in 1996, there were over 200 lesbian bars across the country, each a beacon of refuge, though not always safe,” Bouffard wrote. “Many of us entered through the side door, our hearts guarded and steps careful. Now, 28 years later, only 20 remain. The world has shifted and so have we.” During the COVID pandemic, she stated, “If we were to have a third shutdown, I wouldn’t make it. During the shutdowns and prior, we never were given aid to small businesses. The city of Denver has been silent.”
Also in Denver, a parent’s lawsuit that would have forced educators to display the “straight pride” flag has been dismissed, per The Advocate. Nathan Feldman filed the suit against Denver Public Schools (DPS), claiming he and his two children were discriminated against and that their First Amendment rights were violated when DPS rejected his demand to add the heterosexual banner next to LGBTQ+ flags in classrooms. U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak recommended that Feldman’s case be dismissed in August, saying that Feldman “ultimately [failed] to allege any injury except exposure to a flag that they do not feel represented by.” U.S. District Court Judge Regina M. Rodriguez recently affirmed the recommendation.
Former Republican U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, who represented Kansas during 1978-97, is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, stating the election “presents a stark choice that is not easy for any of us,” per The Hill. Kassebaum announced her backing of the Democratic nominee in a statement alongside two other GOP officials: former Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger and retired federal circuit judge Deanell Reece Tacha. Kassebaum has backed Democratic candidates before, endorsing current Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly during her gubernatorial run. In 2014, Kassebaum was among a group of Republicans who backed marriage equality.
The city council of Kansas City recommended that Rebecca Reynolds receive a $1.3 million settlement in response to more than two decades of mistreatment and abuse from her male co-workers and superiors, The Advocate noted. Reynolds claimed in two lawsuits that she endured decades of abuse from her male co-workers, who often targeted her for being a lesbian and for her age. Reynolds, who graduated from the fire academy at age 40, claimed that the demeaning comments even sometimes occurred in front of patients. Reynolds agreed to drop the two pending lawsuits, and has also agreed not to file a third case against the department over an incident in which another firefighter reportedly urinated in her office while she was on extended medical leave.
President Joe Biden announced this summer he was issuing pardons to gay veterans who were forced out of the military because of their sexual orientation “and have carried the burden of this great injustice for decades”—but, three months later, only eight people have applied, according to Military.com. Of the eight gay veterans, six have been from the Air Force and two from the Army—with none from the Coast Guard, Navy or Marines. Steve Marose—an Air Force veteran who lives in Seattle, and is among the eight who’ve applied—said he was shocked by the response and wondered if the pardons’ limitations have discouraged other veterans. Marose was convicted in 1990 of two counts of conduct unbecoming an officer in addition to three counts of consensual sodomy; he is worried he may not receive a full pardon but decided to submit an application, anyway.
In a move that surprised some, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a plan to have various medical boards in California expedite the medical licensure of out-of-state doctors who provide gender-affirming care, according to The Bay Area Reporter. Gay state Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Hollywood) authored Assembly Bill 2442, the Increasing Access to Gender-Affirming Care bill. However, Newsom was concerned about the “aggregate effect” of allowing for the expedited issuance of medical licenses by California regulatory agencies to doctors from other states, writing, “additionally, the increase in staff needed to ensure expedited applications may lead to licensing-fee increases.”
Also, Newsom vetoed a bill that would have enacted the nation’s most far-reaching regulations on the booming artificial intelligence (AI) industry, NPR noted. The measure would have made tech companies legally liable for harms caused by AI models; also, the bill would have required tech companies to enable a “kill switch” for AI technology if the systems were misused or went rogue. Gay state Sen. Scott Wiener, a co-author of the bill, criticized Newsom’s move, saying the veto is a setback regarding AI accountability. According to Deadline, the measure was opposed by major companies like OpenAI as well as from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi; however, celebrities such as Jane Fonda, Shonda Rhimes, Jessica Chastain, Janelle Monae and Pedro Pascal were among 125 industry professionals to sign Artists 4 Safe AI’s open letter urging Newsom to pass the measure. Newsom previously signed two AI bills giving performers greater protections.
GLAAD revealed its fifth annual 20 Under 20 list, spotlighting 20 young LGBTQ people, ages 20 and younger, who are accelerating acceptance of LGBTQ+ people through their work in entertainment, politics, sports, social media and beyond, a press release announced. Full profiles of the 20 Under 20 honorees can be found at TeenVogue.com. Some of the honorees include Anna Hill, 15, editor-in-chief and board member of AAPI Youth Rising; Nadya Lopez, 20, star of GLAAD’s transgender advocacy video campaign “Here We Are”; Dilinna Ugochukwu, 20, who was named 2023 California Youth Poet Laureate; Evy Leibfarth, 20, bisexual Olympic bronze medalist and the first U.S. woman to compete in three canoe/kayak events in the Olympics; and Q Licht, 19, a transgender advocate and Girl Scout Gold Awardee who founded the positive LGBTQ+ representation initiative the Purple Sticker Project.” Past honorees include actor Josie Totah, JoJo Siwa, actor Noah Schnapp and trans advocate Jazz Jennings.
The National Black Justice Collective (NBJC) hosted the 4th annual James Baldwin Legacy Awards on Oct. 1, per a press release. The awards show—which premiered live on NBJC’s website, YouTube and social media platforms—honors iBlack GBTQ+/SGL men who have blazed trails across many fields and careers. This year’s honorees included interfaith minister Rev. Yunus Coldman; Afro-Panamanian activist, essayist and architect Gil Gerald; social-justice leader Edward Jones; California Newsreel co-director/emeritus Cornelius Moore; Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Roland Stringfellow; former Palm Springs Mayor Ron Oden; and Brothers of the Desert President/co-founder Tim Vincent.
In Georgia, Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney struck down the state’s six-week abortion ban, allowing the procedure to resume and making it legal up to 22 weeks of pregnancy, NBC News reported. McBurney wrote in his ruling that a review of “of our higher courts’ interpretations of ‘liberty’ demonstrates that liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices.” The case stemmed from a lawsuit filed by SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective and other plaintiffs in 2019 soon after Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed it into law.
And speaking of abortion, former First Lady Melania Trump stunned the political world by coming out as a staunch supporter of abortion rights—publicly breaking with her husband on a crucial campaign issue just a month before Election Day, per The Hill. She emphatically defends abortion rights in her forthcoming memoir Melania—even though her husband led the charge to dismantle federal abortion protections and frequently touts it as one of the signature achievements of his time in the White House. “It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government,” she says in the book.
Florida families challenging the state’s ban on medical care for transgender youth urged the Eleventh Circuit to strike down the ban, according to a joint press release from several organizations, including GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD). In June, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Hinkle issued an order declaring that Florida’s ban on medical care for transgender youth and its unprecedented restrictions of care for transgender adults are unconstitutional and may not be enforced. Following Hinkle’s order, the State of Florida appealed his decision to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which will decide whether to affirm or reverse his decision. The families and adults challenging Florida’s restrictions are represented by GLAD, Human Rights Campaign Foundation ), National Center for Lesbian Rights, Southern Legal Counsel and Lowenstein Sandler LLP.
In Iowa, a parent at Linn-Mar Community School and the school itself claimed that someone threw an open box cutter at LGBTQ+ students when they walked in the homecoming parade, per The Idaho Statesman. Jennifer Pitkin, the mother of one of the students, opened up about what she called a “hate crime” against her 15-year-old daughter in a Sept. 25 post on Facebook; the daughter and 14 of her peers were from Linn-Mar Community Schools’ Spectrum group—the high school’s gay-straight alliance. Photos show the box cutter as well as the Pride-inspired outfit Pitkin’s daughter wore during the parade; Piktin said the box cutter almost hit her child. The school district stated, “We were saddened to learn that an otherwise spectacular Homecoming parade last evening was disrupted by a few individuals who elected to harass, ridicule, and throw objects at some of our students in the Linn-Mar Spectrum parade entry. This behavior is unacceptable and does not reflect the values of our district.” The statement also said that staffers reached out to the students and have partnered with law enforcement to investigate.
The Out & Equal Workplace Summit will take place in Orlando, Florida, Oct. 8-10, with a 2024 Summit Leadership Lab Day (formerly Pre-Con Day) on Oct. 7, per the organization’s website. Alongside panels, the 2024 Outie Awards will be handed out. Categories include Workplace Excellence & Belonging; Employee Resource Group (ERG) of the Year; New ERG of the Year; LGBTQ+ Corporate Advocate; and Ally Changemaker.
Performer/author Justin Vivian Bond is among the 22 newest MacArthur Fellows, per the MacArthur Foundation’s announcement. The release stated that Bond “is an artist and performer working in the cabaret tradition weaving history, cultural critique, and an ethic of care into performances and artworks animated by wit, whimsy, and calls to action. Bond uses cabaret to explore the political and cultural ethos of the moment and tie it back to history to address contemporary challenges, in particular those facing queer communities.” In addition, “Bond has inspired a younger generation of transgender artists and performers, and they have generously used their platform to uplift future voices.”
In DeKalb County, Georgia, local United Methodist Churches are moving forward with allowing same-sex weddings following changes made by the denomination’s highest legislative body this year, Decaturish noted. LGBTQ+ individuals can now be ordained as pastors in the United Methodist Church. Same-sex weddings and LGBTQ+ people becoming ordained pastors have been controversial topics for decades. The Book of Discipline—which outlines the church law and doctrine—had previously said that “the practice of homosexuality… is incompatible with Christian teaching.” It also defined marriage as between a man and a woman. In the last five years, more than 330 churches in northern Georgia have left the United Methodist Church.
Fred Fejes and Rick Karlin have writtenLast Call South Florida: A History of 1,001 LGBTQ-Friendly Taverns, Hang-Outs & Haunts, a press release noted. According to the release, the book covers “the investors and entrepreneurs to the entertainers, bartenders, go-go boys, drag performers, and ‘bar celebrities,’ to the customers who came to escape their everyday lives, be entertained, be among others like themselves and, along the way, became a community.” Rattling Good Yarns Press will hold a book-release party on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at Hunters Nightclub in Wilton Manors, Florida.
At Yale University, Alison Bechdel talked about how she “became a lesbian cartoonist” in a lecture, Yale Daily News noted. “[My father] was gay, and I was gay, and he killed himself, and I became a lesbian cartoonist,” she revealed. “It was so clear that his death was a direct result of the sexual shame and secrecy he had to live with.” In her comics, Bechdel portrays queer life and politics in her works, most notably in her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, which gave rise to the “Bechdel Test”—a gauge of female representation in films based on the criteria that two women must have a conversation about a topic other than men. This semester, Bechdel is teaching two classes at Yale as a 2024 Chubb Fellow.
A federal grand jury acquitted Norfolk, Virginia, resident Michael Thomas Pruden on all counts against him in connection to a series of attacks targeting gay men in D.C.’s Meridian Hill Park in 2021, WUSA reported. Pruden was indicted in July 2022 on multiple counts of assault and impersonating a federal officer, along with a hate crimes enhancement. At the time, federal investigators said that between April 2018 and March 2021, Pruden had attacked at least five different men with pepper spray in Meridian Hill Park, also known as Malcolm X Park. This verdict was the second time Pruden, a former Maryland elementary school teacher, has been acquitted of assaults in the D.C. area; in 2021, Pruden was charged in connection with an alleged assault at Daingerfield Island in Alexandria.
In Louisiana, John Raymond—the founder of Lakeside Christian Academy in St. Tammany Parish—was convicted of three felony counts of child abuse and a fourth for second-degree child cruelty, LGBTQ Nation noted. Raymond was accused of wrapping packing tape around the mouths and heads of three 13-year-old boys as punishment for talking in class; he also was convicted as well of placing his hand over the mouth of a four-year-old student until the child went limp. The Christian nationalist pastor, 60, is a twice-failed MAGA candidate for the Louisiana legislature, who ran on a platform supporting Donald Trump and advocating anti-LGBTQ+ legislation; likewise, his Christian academy bans homosexuality.
D.C. authorities arrested Nicholas Goldstein, 38, for allegedly vandalizing The Little Gay Pub, spray-painting over images of Vice President Kamala Harris, WAVY noted. “In D.C. this is like our sports. And obviously, the election’s coming up and it’s a way of us, you know, living authentically and letting our clientele know who we support, where their money goes,” said pub co-owner Dito Sevilla. It was the second time the man (who also defaced a bus shelter) vandalized the posters; he was caught on video committing the acts. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is investigating this as potentially being motivated by hate or bias.
In San Diego, authorities reached out to the public for help in identifying the suspect or suspects who fired a pellet gun at night spots in Hillcrest and North Park last spring, KPBS noted. The drive-by assaults occurred in the early-morning hours of May 18, mostly targeting gay bars, police stated. San Diego County Crime Stoppers, in partnership with the San Diego LGBTQ+ Historic Task Force and the Hate Crime Fund, is offering a $2,000 reward to anyone with information that leads to an arrest in the case; people are asked to contact Crime Stoppers—anonymously, if preferred—at 888-580-8477 or sdcrimestoppers.org.
It turned out that Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins—back when he led the Washington franchise—was asked about having a gay teammate. According to Outsports, Cousins said to MLive, “From a football standpoint, if the guy can help us win, come help us win. Now, there are a lot of teammates in my locker room right now who may not have a homosexual lifestyle, but they have sins, too. They’re not perfect. So I don’t say they can’t help us win. Nobody’s perfect. To that degree, we’d welcome him into our locker room and say come help us win, and hopefully I can love him like Jesus and hopefully show him what it means to follow Jesus.” Last year, Cousins appeared with the virulently anti-LGBTQ+ organization Focus on the Family.
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