GLAAD held its ninth annual Bytes & Bylines—the only LGBTQ+-focused annual gathering of technology, media and political leaders on the eve of the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) Dinner weekend, a press release announced. The event was co-hosted by entrepreneurs, media figures and politicos Susanna Quinn, Eric Kuhn, Stephanie Cutler, GLAAD President/CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, Adrienne Elrod, Karen Finney and Adam Rathe, with the Ambassador of Ireland, H.E. Geraldine Byrne Nason. Just a few of the 500 attendees at the invitation-only reception included Jeffrey Katzenberg, actor/activist Wilson Cruz, ABC News' Alok Patel, independent transgender journalist Erin Reed, White House Director of Legislative Affairs Shuwanza Goff, WNBA Legend Alana Beard, NBC's Kristen Welker and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
In Oregon, the Opal Apartments—a 54-unit complex serving LGBTQ+ seniors located in Cedar Mill, west of Portland—opened to the public and will soon be filled with residents, OPB reported. At the opening ceremony, dozens of people from local governments, nonprofits and across the LGBTQ+ community gathered to get a peek at the new buildings. There are multiple one- and two-bedroom units, and multiple community rooms on the ground floor for different events. The new apartments, on the site of two single-family homes, are owned by Christ United Methodist Church.
Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said his state "will not comply" with recently unveiled trans-related changes to Title IX by the Biden administration, The Hill noted. "We are not gonna let Joe Biden try to inject men into women's activities," DeSantis said in a video posted to X/Twitter. The Biden administration unveiled a final set of changes to Title IX that added protections for transgender students to the federal civil rights law on sex-based discrimination. The changes will take effect in August.
Five Republican-majority states are suing the Biden administration over recent Title IX expansions that protect transgender people, PinkNews noted. In lawsuits, officials in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho all vowed to reject the expansion to the anti-discrimination law, which was announced April 19. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the five states are believed to have filed at least 100 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in 2023 alone—several of which have passed into law.
In Rhode Island, E. Corry Kole—the diversity, equity and inclusion staffer at Providence College who recently resigned after more than three years in the position—filed a discrimination charge against the school, The Providence Journal noted. Kole, who is nonbinary, filed with the state Commission for Human Rights, alleging "they experienced direct, repeated, patterned and systemic discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity." The filing claimed they were told, "You are too liberal for this college. You cannot identify as queer," and was discouraged from using they/them pronouns in public.
Beginning May 20, parents and caregivers of trans and gender-diverse children who had found support through the nonprofit Gender Spectrum can once again connect in community through PFLAG National, a press release noted. This new partnership comes on the heels of Gender Spectrum's announcement in September 2023 of its imminent closure. PFLAG National's Gender Spectrum Parent Community is the most recent addition to the PFLAG Connects: Communities program, launched in 2021, which hosts monthly virtual support meetings for Asian American/Pacific Islander, Black and African American, Latino and military families.
The Democratic-controlled Maine legislature gave final approval to a bill that would protect healthcare workers who provide abortion and gender-affirming care from legal action brought in other states, PBS noted. Maine would join more than a dozen states that shield medical providers and others from out-of-state investigations regarding abortions. Republicans were firmly against the bill to shield against out-of-state lawsuits.
Following wins in the April 23 primary election, Malcolm Kenyatta and Andre D. Carroll—two young, Black, gay men from Philadelphia—will represent Democrats in the upcoming election, Philadelphia Gay News noted. Kenyatta, currently a state representative, will get a chance to become auditor general; Carroll will likely become the next state representative for a district in North Philadelphia. In 2023, President Joe Biden appointed Kenyatta to be the chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans.
Several LGBTQ+ groups are pressing California Gov. Gavin Newsom to appoint bisexual attorney Jodi Cleesattle to the San Diego Superior Court after she lost her race on the March 5 primary ballot for a seat on the Southern California bench, The Bay Area Reporter noted. "Jodi Cleesattle's exemplary legal achievements and her profound dedication to justice mark her as the ideal candidate for a judgeship on the San Diego Superior Court," stated LPAC Executive Director Janelle Perez. Joining Perez in signing the letter were National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Imani Rupert Gordon, LGBTQ+ Victory Institute President and CEO Annise Parker, and Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang.
The Alabama House passed a bill restricting conversations of gender identity and sexual orientation for grades K-8 in the state, the Montgomery Advertiser noted. Passed by a vote of 74-25, the measure expands upon the state's 2022 "don't say gay" law—similar to that of Florida's legislation of the same nickname, which bans teachers from speaking about gender identity and sexual orientation in grade K-5 classrooms. Authored by state Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, the original language restricted the topic from being restricted up to grade 12; however, an amendment from Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, moved it down to eighth grade.
Several hundred students and supporters gathered inside the Russell Union student center at Georgia Southern University (GSU) on April 29 to protest the suspension of an LGBTQ+ inclusion training program, Safe Space, to the relocation of health care resource listings from a GSU public website, per Watermark Online, citing The Los Angeles Blade. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Ellen Murphy, a grad student, organized the demonstration along with a handful of others, including members of Georgia Southern's LGBTQ+ student organization, the Gay-Straight Alliance. Georgia Southern administrator Dominique A. Quarles told the Journal-Constitution that the Safe Space training was paused because a compliance review found the program violated recent policy revisions.
In North Carolina, a Monroe restaurant issued a counterclaim to a lawsuit against them, saying protesters for the business's all-ages drag shows have defamed it and cost it business, per Queen City News. The claim came after protestors filed suit against East Frank Superette and Kitchen over the use of altered photos of them; in one photo, promotional restaurant material showed images of the protestors with altered signs. The group's lawsuit claims the restaurant of Wrongful Appropriation of Personal Image and of violating North Carolina's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. In the counterclaim, the restaurant said the protestors "routinely and regularly accused East Frank—a restaurant that, from time to time, hosts drag performances—of child abuse, child sexual exploitation and child grooming."
A gay actor's speech that was canceled over his "lifestyle" is back on at a Pennsylvania school after residents spoke out, per CBS News. The Cumberland Valley School District's board voted five to four to allow children's book author Maulik Pancholy, who is gay, to speak against bullying during a May 22 assembly at Mountain View Middle School. On April 15, the board canceled Pancholy's talk after a board member cited concerns about what he described as the actor's activism and "lifestyle."
At NYU's Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimo, until May 31, is "1982-2002: A Chronology for Italian Queer Movements"—a groundbreaking exhibition revisiting 20 years of Italian LGBTQ+ activism and organizing, Gay City News noted. The show is presented as "an open archive," according to co-curators Michele Bertolino and Giulia Sbaffi, displaying hundreds of reproductions of photographs, documents and memorabilia. The items are affixed to the walls of the venue's first floor in a continuous loop.
The NYC cultural institution The Kitchen will honor philanthropic couple Bernard I. Lumpkin and Carmine D. Boccuzzi; trailblazing jazz musician Max Roach (1924-2007); and filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson during its May 22 spring gala, per a press release. Lumpkin and Boccuzzi will be honored for "their unwavering dedication to championing the voices and artworks of established and emerging contemporary artists of African descent. Together, [they] founded the highly regarded Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection, which, with the help of co-curators Antwaun Sargent and Matt Wycoff, evolved into the traveling exhibition Young, Gifted and Black: The Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection of Contemporary Art," the release stated.
Shira Frank is the new executive director of the Jewish LGBTQ Donor Network, according to Washington Jewish Week. "What we hope the Network can do is really till the soil and enable the garden to really grow," said Frank. "We can evolve this landscape [Jewish LGBTQ spaces]. We can fund and fuel a lot more projects." The network is the largest singular mission to funnel fundraising and innovation into Jewish and LGBTQ spaces in the world.
Salvator "Sal" Seeley—who was an official with the Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, CAMP Rehoboth LGBTQ+ community center for 20 years—was sentenced by a Sussex County Superior Court judge to nine months in prison and to pay $176,000 in restitution to the organization, The Washington Blade reported. The sentencing took place weeks after Seeley pleaded guilty to a charge of theft in excess of $50,000 for allegedly embezzling funds from CAMP Rehoboth. At the time of Seeley's indictment in February, CAMP Rehoboth released a statement saying it first discovered "financial irregularities" within the organization on Sept. 7, 2021, "and took immediate action and notified state authorities."
Former gay-porn star Jordan Joplin, 38, was found guilty by Judge Michael Wolverton of first-degree murder and first-degree theft in relation to the murder of Dr. Eric Garcia (who had been his romantic partner for six years) in 2017, Instinct Magazine noted. Joplin will now serve 99 years (aka life) in prison. On March 17, 2017, courts decided that Joplin gave Garcia a lethal cocktail of morphine, methadone, lorazepam and diazepam. According to a story by Pink News, Joplin also filmed Garcia's death in a reported video showing the victim "unconscious and struggling to breathe." Joplin worked for companies including Sean Cody, http://Men.com, Bromo and Randy Blue.
California state legislators passed Assembly Bill 1013, which requires liquor establishments with a type 48 license to offer drink tests by mid-summer 2024 that can detect common date-rape drugs, NBC San Diego noted. Bar and nightclub owners who don't comply could face penalties that could impact their licenses.
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