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Republican Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill into law that would ban transgender people from using bathrooms that correspond with their gender identities in the state’s public schools, NBC News reported. The Securing Areas for Females Effectively and Responsibly (SAFER) Act states that the state’s schools have single-sex restrooms, changing rooms and dormitories. It defines someone’s sex as “‘determined solely by a birth,’ without regard to the fluidity of how someone acts or feels.” Rob Hill, the Mississippi state director for the Human Rights Campaign, called the new law an attempt to “strip basic rights from LGBTQ+ people in our state.”
In an interview with The New York Times, Dr. Hilary Cass—who published a report in the UK that said that the evidence supporting the use of puberty-blocking drugs and other hormonal medications in adolescents was “remarkably weak”—said that U.S. doctors are out of date. In part, she told the Times, “[A] big takeaway for me is that we have to stop just seeing these young people through the lens of their gender and see them as whole people.” She also said that “both of our main parties [in the UK] have been supportive of the report, which has been great” and that “medicine should never be politically driven. It should be driven by evidence and ethics and shared decision-making with patients and listening to patients’ voices. Once it becomes politicized, then that’s seriously concerning, as you know well from the abortion situation in the United States.”
The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) honored Black LBTQ+/SGL women elders and their contributions to the country, the Black community and the LBTQ+ liberation movement by bestowing honorees with Audre Lorde Wisdom Awards, per a press release. The honorees included director Angela Harvey, HIV-rights advocate DeeDee Ngozi Chamblee, activist Rev. Dr. Renee McCoy, former NBJC Executive Director and CEO Sharon Lettman-Hicks, and Freedom Center for Social Justice Executive Director Bishop Tonyia Rawls. More about the ceremony is at https://nbjc.org/audre-lorde-wisdom-awards-2024/.
Also, NBJC has launched the Teach the Babies podcast, hosted by CEO and Executive Director Dr. David J. Johns, per a press release. The first season of Teach the Babies will examine the impact of one of the most consequential Supreme Court cases: Brown v. The Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas. “As we surpass 70 years since the first Brown decision, we’re still grappling with questions about the effects and impact on our education system and equity in learning spaces for students of all races, sexual orientations, and gender identities,” said Johns. “As our ancestor bell hooks reminds us: Living in a democratic society is our birthright.” The intro is at this link.
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A California surf competition was told it must allow a transgender woman to compete in the women’s division or risk violating state law, the BBC noted. The California Coastal Commission said surf competitions could Surfing wave. Photo by Emiliano Arano for Pexels”not discriminate based on gender.” Contest organizer Todd Messick had announced that Sasha Jane Lowerson would not be allowed to compete in the Huntington Beach Longboard Pro; she said rules set by the International Surfing Association (ISA) allow transgender women to compete if they meet certain criteria around testosterone levels. Messick told the BBC he was “surprised by the amount of anger” that the decision generated but added, “What I found, too, is that there was a lot of people very appreciative of me speaking up.” Lowerson, an Australian, said she had encountered mostly positive attitudes in the world of competitive surfing when she began living as a woman.
New York Judge Francis Ricigliano struck down a Long Island county’s order barring female transgender athletes after a local women’s roller-derby league challenged the ban, ABC News noted. He ruled that Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman didn’t have the authority to issue his February executive order, which denies park permits to any women’s and girl’s teams, leagues or organizations that permit female trans athletes to participate. “This Court finds the County Executive acted beyond the scope of his authority as the Chief Executive Officer of Nassau County,” Ricigliano wrote. Amanda Urena—president of the Long Island Roller Rebels, which challenged the order—said the decision sends a “strong message” against discrimination.
According to Gay City News, federal agencies have warned that foreign terrorist organizations or their supporters might target LGBTQ+-related events and venues during Pride Month. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued the announcement to raise awareness of “foreign terrorist organizations (FTOS) or their supporters potential targeting of LGBTQIA+-related events and venues,” although said sites were not specified. The release noted that June 12 marks the eighth anniversary of the attack on the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that left 49 people dead and 53 others injured.
The Justice Department announced that Shelby County, Tennessee, District Attorney Steve Mulroy agreed to stop the prosecution of individuals living with HIV under Tennessee’s aggravated prostitution law, per a statement. Said statement added, “This agreement resolves the Justice Department’s finding that the Shelby County DA violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by enforcing Tennessee’s aggravated prostitution law, which imposed enhanced criminal penalties based on a person’s HIV status. The prosecutions were carried out without consideration of risk of transmitting HIV, and the harsher penalties included being charged with a felony (as opposed to a misdemeanor) and being required to register for life as a sex offender.”
In Virginia, a Fairfax County Circuit Court jury found a 31-year-old man guilty of second-degree murder for the June 2023 stabbing death of a man after the victim propositioned him for sex, The Washington Blade reported. Aaron Robertson had been charged with killing Luis Barahona Reyes in an apparent act of revenge after the two men got off a bus in Fairfax City and Barahona Reyes asked Robertson if he would like to have sex. Robertson is scheduled to be sentenced on July 26; he could receive up to 40 years in prison for the murder conviction.
In NYC, officials are warning that the number of mpox cases is increasing, two years after an outbreak infected thousands of residents—mostly men who have sex with men, Gay City News reported. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene advised doctors about a “substantial increase” in cases since October 2023 and urged physicians to encourage those at risk of mpox to get fully vaccinated, including those who never completed the two-shot JYNNEOS vaccine series two years ago. The city reported 256 cases between October and April—mostly among Black or Hispanic men who have sex with men between the ages of 25-44; notably, 73% of cases were seen among individuals who were either not vaccinated or only received one shot.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed a district-court decision and ruled that a Roman Catholic high school in Charlotte, North Carolina, did not violate federal civil rights law by firing a gay teacher after he announced that he would marry his same-sex partner, NBC News noted. Lonnie Billard, a longtime teacher at Charlotte Catholic High School, shared a post on Facebook in 2014 (shortly after the state legalized same-sex marriage), saying that he and his partner were engaged; he was fired several weeks later. Billard then sued the school for sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
The Stanford Graduate School of Business will welcome its newest class for the Stanford LGBTQ Leadership Program 2024. Eligible candidates can learn more and apply online by June 7. According to a press release, “The Stanford program was not only first-of-its-kind from a leading business school but is also recognized today as the longest-running specialized LGBTQ+ leadership program.” More information is at this link.
In their new memoir The Klansman’s Son: My Journey from White Nationalism to Antiracism, R. Derek Black, once known as a figurehead of U.S. white nationalism, has come out as transgender, according to The Advocate, citing The New York Post. The memoir, which traces Black’s journey away from the extremist ideologies of their family, also delves into their personal experiences with gender identity. Black discusses how they were often mistaken for a girl in childhood while involved in activities for their father’s KKK chapter, which subtly affirmed their gender identity. It wasn’t until they attended the progressive school New College of Florida that Black began to explore and accept their gender identity openly. Also, Black has renounced the white nationalist views propagated by their family, including their father, Don Black, and godfather, former KKK leader David Duke.
A federal appeals court upheld the contempt-of-Congress conviction of Steve Bannon, the ex-adviser to former President Donald Trump who was found guilty after failing to comply with a subpoena from the House January 6 committee, CNN noted. The U.S. D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected several challenges Bannon made to the case, including his claim that the trial court excluded evidence he should have been allowed to put before the jury in his defense.
Newsweek published a list of what it says are the 32 lesbian bars left in the entire country. They include the Massachusetts spot Femme, which is the only one currently serving New England. Lesbian bars have been on the decline since the 1980s, when they numbered around 200. However, since The Lesbian Bar Project first launched in 2020, a handful of new lesbian bars have popped up, including Femme, The Lady’s Room, in Largo, Florida; Mother, in San Francisco; The Ruby Fruit, in Los Angeles; and The Sports Bra, in Portland.
In Florida, Samantha Luque has a new docuseries, Beyond Borders, that explores the impact of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the state through the personal stories of queer and transgender Tampa Bay area residents, WFSU noted. The five-part weekly documentary includes interviews with transgender activists, drag queens and other members of the LGBTQ+ community as they navigate their identities in a state that has passed several anti-queer laws in the past couple years, including the infamous “Don’t Say Gay” statute. Beyond Borders can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/@beyondbordersseries.
According to TMZ, Kanye West (or Ye) has parted ways with chief of staff Milo Yiannopoulos as well as many of Yeezy’s employees. Yiannopoulos confirmed the split from Ye’s enterprise to TMZ, telling the outlet, “I wish Ye every success in the future. I have some concerns about his new team, and hope he proceeds with caution.” Milo provided TMZ a copy of his resignation letter, which mentioned issues over the formation of “Yeezy Porn.” In it, Yiannopoulos said he just can’t be involved in producing/distributing pornographic material for moral and religious reasons, and because it can be, “an imminent danger to my life as a recovering addict and an unacceptable risk to my spiritual and physical health as a former homosexual.” However, he said if West ditches the porn venture, he’d be open to returning to the company.
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The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled a limited-edition Donkey Bobblehead to commemorate the 2024 Democratic National Convention that’s being held in Chicago in August, per a press release. Standing on a base reading “CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – 2024” with a backing of the Chicago skyline, the smiling donkey bobblehead is colored red, white and blue, with four white stars across his side. The bobbleheads, which are individually numbered to 2,024, are only available through the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum’s online store.
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