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Megachurch Pastor Buses In Hundreds For Service By James Strickland Gay Fathers Face Stigma As Parents By Kate Bennett
FDA Loosens The Gay Blood Ban In Response To Coronavirus Pandemic By Jennifer Davis
Remembering Drag Star Nashom Wooden By Chris Massengill
LGBT Travel Index Puts Sweden Top By Melvin Sappington
6 Lessons Learned in Isolation That Are Keeping A Queen Sane(ish) By David Vandygriff Last Chick-Fil-A In The UK Just Closed For Good By Michelle Jenson Hero’s Collection Is Our Medical Workers By Daniel Andrews
Gay Candidate Faces New Challenge After COVID-19 Diagnosis By David Vandygriff
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Megachurch Pastor Buses In Hundreds For Service By James Strickland
A pastor who was arrested last week for holding church services – despite a state Stay-at-Home order that banned groups of over 10 people from congregating – bused in hundreds of congregants to hold a service on Sunday where he told people they had “nothing to fear but fear itself.” Pastor Tony Spell of the Life Tabernacle Church near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was arrested last week for holding church services in defiance of Louisiana Gov. Jon Bel Edwards’s (D) Stay-at-Home order, which did not contain a religious exemption. Spell faces six misdemeanor charges in connection to his continued church services. Police Chief Roger Corcoran issued a statement calling his actions “reckless and irresponsible decisions that endangered the health of his congregation and our community.”
suffering from depression and anxiety at home. “Could it be that it is worse than the people who have already contracted this virus and died?” he asked, implying that staying at home for a couple of weeks is literally worse than death.
Earlier, Spell was on CNN, where he said that he expected 1800 people to attend the service. “We bring people in to the house of God, feed them both natural food and spiritual food and then we go back into our respective places,” he said, adding that while he believes “the science of this,” his church has a “command from God.” Spell’s lawyer said that the Stay-at-Home order is unconstitutional. “We believe the governor is wrong,” said attorney Joe Long. “And we look forward to proving our case in court.” But Spell was not deterred. His As of Sunday morning, church sent 26 buses to pick Louisiana has had 13,000 up congregants, saying that cases of coronavirus and 477 people in his church “would deaths from the disease. rather come to church and worship like free people than One congregant explained that live like prisoners in their he’s “not scared of this virus.” homes.” “When it’s my time, it’s my He said that people are time,” he told Reuters. 06 www.cityxtramagazine.com
But Bobbye McInnis, a neighbor of the church, called the services “utterly ridiculous.” “They’re just afraid there’s not going to be enough money in the collection plate,” McInnis said. “You take all these buses and go to another parish and bringing in people, well they could be bringing in people who have the virus.” Spell, though, believes that the church has been appropriately cautious. He said that congregants kept a distance of six feet from one another, except for immediate family. Tampa, Florida pastor Rodney Howard-Browne was also arrested last week for holding church services in defiance of that state’s Stay-at-Home order. Howard-Browne said that his congregants kept a distance of six-feet apart, even though video of the church service showed people standing much closer together than that. Florida’s governor included a religious exemption in the state’s new Stay-at-Home order by declaring church services an “essential” function.
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Gay Fathers Face Stigma As Parents By Kate Bennett
Even as parenting by same-sex couples becomes more common in the U.S., many gay men and their families still experience discrimination and are stigmatized by relatives, neighbors, salespeople and other members of their communities, a study suggests. Creating families has gotten easier over the years for gay men. Medical advances have made it possible for them to father children through surrogacy, and more adoption and foster agencies have encouraged them to become parents to non-biological children. And the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide in 2015, advancing legal parenting rights for same-sex couples with children. But almost two-thirds of gay fathers experience stigma based on their status as homosexual dads, and half of them avoid situations out of fear of mistreatment or discrimination, the current study found. Their children experience stigma, too. One-third of gay fathers said their kids were stigmatized by other children, 08 www.cityxtramagazine.com
and one in five dads said their children had avoided forming friendships out of fear of mistreatment or discrimination. “Legal protections today are much more expansive than they were a decade ago, which in turn means that the stigma faced by gay fathers - and, by extension, lesbian mothers should be less than in the past,” said Brian Powell, a sociology researcher at Indiana University in Bloomington who wasn’t involved in the study. “But these protections are not universally provided across all states,” Powell said by email. For the study, researchers surveyed 732 gay fathers with 1,316 children in 47 states. Researchers ranked states based on how many legal protections they offered to gay parents that covered things like marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships, adoption, child custody and anti-bullying policies. Not surprisingly, gay fathers were more likely to report stigma affecting their lives in states with fewer legal
protections. They also reported more active discrimination in states with fewer legal protections, particularly from family members and in religious settings. Overall, about 35 percent of the families in the study were formed through adoption or foster care, 15 percent with the assistance of a pregnancy carrier or surrogate, and 39 percent through a heterosexual relationship. Families in states with more legal protections for gay parents were more likely to be formed by surrogacy, while men in states with few legal protections were more likely to become fathers through heterosexual relationships, the study found. Many fathers reported barriers to becoming parents. About 41 percent had difficulties with adoption and one-third encountered problems arranging custody of children born in heterosexual relationships. The study can’t prove whether parenting status or sexual
orientation directly impacts discrimination, and it wasn’t nationally representative. Most participants were white, and it’s also possible that gay fathers from other racial or ethnic groups might report different experiences, Dr. Ellen Perrin of Tufts Medical Center in Boston and colleagues write in Pediatrics. Even so, the results underscore that legalizing gay marriage in the U.S. hasn’t eliminated discrimination and stigma experienced by same-sex parents, said Julia Raifman, a researcher at the Boston University School of Public Health who wasn’t involved in the study. “These findings suggest that stigma persists for gay fathers, who reported experiencing the most stigma in religious institutions, in restaurants, and from neighbors,” Raifman said by email. “In states with less equal rights, gay men who wish to become fathers may be less likely to be able to become a parent and those who do become parents are more likely to experience stigma directed toward them.”
FDA Loosens The Gay Blood Ban In Response To Coronavirus Pandemic By Jennifer Davis
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued new guidelines that will allow more gay and bi men to donate blood as blood donations drop due to the global pandemic. In a statement posted to its website, the FDA announced that men who have sex with men can donate blood three months after the last time they had sex, reducing the deferral period from 12 months. Women who have had sex with men who have sex with men can also donate three months after sex instead of 12 months. “The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges to the U.S. blood supply,” the FDA said in its policy statement. “Donor centers have experienced a dramatic reduction in donations due to the implementation of social distancing and the cancellation of blood drives.”
asking the agency to revise the policy, citing the lack of blood donations due to pandemic, with over 4000 blood drives that have been canceled in the U.S. and an estimated 130,000 blood donations that have not been made. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), in their letter to the FDA, said that easing restrictions on gay and bi men who want to donate blood could provide an additional 615,000 pints of blood each year. The new policy follows the U.K. and Canada, which also have three-month deferral periods for men who have sex with men, and is similar to France and Denmark, which have four-month deferral periods.
Some countries, like Argentina, Italy, and Spain, don’t ban men who have sex with men from In the past few months, almost donating blood at all. The 50 members of Congress have countries moved to a system of sent multiple letters to the FDA individualized risk assessment
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as early as the year 2000; instead of turning away potential donors because of the gender of their partners, they screen by sexual practices. Argentine Health Minister Daniel Gollán said in 2015 that their policy was “scientifically and technically accurate” because it replaced the old concept of defining risk by demographic groups instead of behavior. The FDA also reduced the deferral period after tattoos and piercings and travel to countries with high rates of malaria from 12 months to three months in its new policy yesterday. The American Red Cross interpreted the previous ban as preventing transgender men who have sex with men from donating blood but not transgender women who have sex with men.
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Remembering Drag Star Nashom Wooden By Chris Massengill
With the passing of Nashom Wooden, the New York City drag and queer nightlife community saw its first major casualty of COVID-19. When his best friend, designer Geoffrey Mac, announced the news yesterday in a teary Facebook video, we all cried along with him. Nashom, who performed as Mona Foot, was a longtime treasure who flexed muscles as a drag version of Wonder Woman, acted with RuPaul, worked at Patricia Field’s boutique, hosted the very first Glam Awards (for NYC queer nightlife), appeared in the movie Flawless, and put down his heels as a bartender-slash-door guy at the Cock, Manhattan’s legendary sex-positive gay club. “For many in this community,” I wrote on Facebook upon hearing the news, “this shit is now officially real. No more nervous jokes. No more ’artists’ whining that they had to postpone their gigs. RIP, Nashom. What a gem.” In 2017, Nashom gave me an in-depth interview for Paper magazine about his life and career, and we got to reconnect over our shared experiences through the years. I remember him lip-synching to 14 www.cityxtramagazine.com
Aretha Franklin at the East Village drag boîte Boy Bar, where impresario Matthew Kasten singled Nashom out for plucking-and-tucking stardom. Nashom named himself after Katherine Helmond’s Mona character from Who’s the Boss? (whom he loved), and Kasten wackily added the “Foot” for good measure. Nashom truly was the boss. As Mona, he was quick-witted and zingy, only clocking people when they deserved it. Best of all, his lip sync was utterly flawless. Beyond Boy Bar, Nashom/ Mona became slicker and even more experienced, co-starring with an up-and-coming RuPaul in an Off Broadway play called My Pet Homo in the early ’90s. “It was a play about two alien women who capture a homosexual human on their planet, and they worship Sylvester,” Nashom explained to me with a giggle. On the bright side, Ru taught him how to do drag makeup, which he’d been sketchy on. “Ru taught me a few things,” he said. As Mona, he also hosted Star Search at the dance club Crobar and Faggoty Feud, a
gay take on Family Feud, at the Chelsea bar Barracuda. The Golden Girls’ Rue McClanahan did some guest hosting, about which Nashom quipped to me, “I don’t remember her being funnier than me. She definitely had a draw.” When the game show popped up at another bar, XL, I saw the room erupt into jeers when Mona joked that “From certain angles, Maria Shriver’s look is almost AIDS-y.” Ever the pro, Mona deftly managed to talk her way out of that one! Meanwhile, Nashom was getting tired of doing drag because of the severe physical pain involved, and was drinking to ease it. He also said he felt no need to escape into a fantasy character because he was quite popular as a male his whole life. In 1999, he agreed to appear as a character named Amazing Grace in the movie Flawless, which starred Philip Seymour Hoffman as a drag queen who gives speech therapy to a cop who had a stroke (Robert De Niro), but Nashom got to be both in and out of drag. He also co-wrote the lyrics, with Paul Alexander, of what he hoped would be the
title song. As the dance-pop trio the Ones, he, Alexander, and JoJo Americo recorded the track and performed it in clubs with a sort of sci-fi hero look that opened a whole new chapter for Nashom. The song didn’t make it into the movie, but in 2002 a remix was used for a Revlon commercial and helped push “Flawless” into the top 10 on the British singles chart—the Ones even appeared on the popular Top of the Pops. “We’d given up on the song,” Nashom told me, thrilled at its second life. In 2004, George Michael sampled it and had his own hit, “Flawless (Go to the City),” which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Songs chart. One of the last times we talked, Nashom was working on a documentary, pitching a sitcom, and getting called for TV auditions. He would occasionally message me for advice, and I was always willing to comply in hopes of giving him a boost back towards the spotlight. In a
ddition to looming career opportunities, Nashom—who felt unapproachable in bars— was suddenly getting lots of action thanks to hookup apps. “I am tripping over dick!” he told me, triumphantly. But one thing that irked Nashom was that a lot of people still called him Mona when he wanted to be referred to by his rightful name, not by the cartoon character he had pretty much retired. Whenever I ran into him, I’d slip and say, “Hi, Mona”—because Mona was that real to me—but he totally understood and forgave me. Beneath the tough veneer was a real softie. On Facebook, fellow drag personality Linda Simpson wrote, “Mona! I thought you were indestructible. I will miss you terribly, my friend.” Wrote Michael Formika Jones, also known as drag star Misstress Formika: “My tears haven’t stopped since I heard the news about a kind and longtime friend Nashom, who even during my darkest time offered his help to bail me out. You will
be greatly missed and you will always be a superstar to me.” Dwayne Cooper, a.k.a. Milan, posted that he’d staged a show for the Ones and that “Mona was PIVOTAL in helping me break out into the drag scene in NY.” The virus must have taken Nashom very quickly because a mutual friend ran into him on the street not that long ago and he seemed fine. But I heard from a source that Nashom had experienced a respiratory infection around the New Year’s holiday, and that had to have been a factor in his later demise. A false rumor was spread that when Nashom recently started feeling sick, he was turned away from a New York City hospital because his symptoms weren’t bad enough. More credible sources report that Nashom had been sick and self-quarantined but that he’d actually been feeling better. (He obviously had a relapse later.) As I said, this shit is real—and Nashom Wooden was a gem.
LGBT Travel Index Puts Sweden Top By Melvin Sappington
Sweden has been named the most LGBT-friendly country in the world for travelers according to new research into gay rights in 150 countries.
The couple acknowledge that some of the indicators they looked at, such as worker protections and The LGBTQ+ Danger Index was created by ranking the 150 adoption recognition, do not affect travelers directly, but most-visited countries using point out that rights enshrined eight factors, including in law are a good overall legalized same-sex marriage, worker protection and whether, indication of a country’s based on Gallup poll findings, it attitudes. Fergusson said she and her husband were inspired is a good place to live. to compile the list to help the Canada ranked second-safest, LGBT community and raise followed by Norway, Portugal awareness of the often horrific and Belgium. The UK is sixth treatment of LGBT people in safest on the list, but the US many parts of the world. They does not make the top 20. The have also included tips from researchers, American couple gay, lesbian and trans Asher and Lyric Fergusson, bloggers. who blog about staying safe Same-sex relationships are while travelling, said one illegal in 38 of the countries on reason the US is only at the list and punishable by number 24 is because gay rights vary from state to state. death in five (Nigeria, Qatar, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Iran). Lyric Fergusson said: “There Some of the countries where it are no constitutional or broad is illegal to be gay are also protections for LGBTQ+ rights popular tourist destinations under federal law in the US. such as Jamaica, where in a Also, in some states, LGBTQ+ 2013 survey of 71 LGBT youth do not have access to people conducted by Human helpful information, because of Rights Watch, more than half so-called ‘no-promo homo said they had been victims of laws’. The US may have come homophobic violence. The far, but it has a long way to go study says: “Those looking for in terms of LGBTQ+ rights, trans- and gay-travel-safe especially for young countries should reconsider transgender people.” popular vacation destinations like Malaysia, Singapore, 16 www.cityxtramagazine.com
Morocco, Myanmar and Egypt, as well as beach destinations in the Caribbean such as Saint Lucia and Barbados.” They also pointed out that in some countries where homosexuality is not actually illegal, treatment of LGBT people is so bad that caution or complete avoidance is advised. These countries include: China, where certain groups and events have been banned, and censorship laws have frequently been used to remove online LGBT content; Russia, where activists have died or gone missing, and individuals who followed Russian gay marriage laws to the letter have been forced to flee the country; and Indonesia, where LGBT rights are increasingly considered a “moral threat” and homosexuality can result in public humiliation and arrests. The couple acknowledge that even in some of the 70 countries in the world where same-sex relationships are illegal, certain cities, tourist areas and resorts can be LGBT -friendly. “In all cases, do your research, check official
government data for up-to-date news and if you feel apprehensive, consider travelling to a more LGBTQ+ friendly country.”
It said: “The most accepting countries have experienced increased levels of acceptance; Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Canada and Spain are Earlier this year, a report from estimated to have the highest the California-based Williams levels of acceptance between Institute analyzed attitudes 2014-2017 and all have towards LGBT people in 174 increased in their levels of countries to produce the Global acceptance.” Acceptance Index (GAI), However, of countries ranking countries from least to historically the least accepting, most accepting based on 16 were seen as having historical survey data. It increasingly negative attitudes showed an overall positive to LGBT people: “The countries trend towards greater that were the least accepting in acceptance in 131 of the 174 2014-2017 were Ethiopia, countries over a 36-year Azerbaijan, Senegal, Tajikistan period.
and Somaliland, and they each became less accepting since 2000.” Travel website Gay Cities recently ranked Brazil as the top place LGBT travelers should avoid travelling to, based on violence against LGBT people in the country – a factor not included in the LGBTQ+ danger index, in which Brazil was ranked 28th safest. In 2018, 445 LGBT people were reported to have died in anti-LGBT hate crimes in Brazil, and in 2018, 167 trans people were murdered there.
6 Lessons Learned in Isolation That Are Keeping A Queen Sane(ish) By David Vandygriff
I used to look around my house wondering how long I could stay sane if stuck there for awhile. How would I occupy myself? With all the various entertainment options, not to mention all that time to work on myself, how hard could it really be? Sure, living alone would make it difficult, but I had always been pretty good at being alone. Perhaps a forced period of isolation was even what I needed, I decided. Now the coronavirus pandemic has called my bluff, and it has been…a lot to process, to say the least. And while all this time alone in my apartment has been harder than my fantasies led me to believe, because of course it has, it has been also full of lessons learned, or in many cases relearned. Here are some that are keeping me sane(ish) in these unprecedented times. Caution Is Useful, Worry Is Useless Even during “normal” times, I wrestle with an overly anxious mind. The catastrophic thinking so many have been newly experiencing is familiar to me, and my denial took little time to progress to panic, before 18 www.cityxtramagazine.com
calming down to, mostly, acceptance. While I have to stay more tied to the news than the average person as a result of what I do for a living, I am making a point to not obsess over it. I remind myself that I’m staying informed and doing the best I can to not get sick and contribute to the spread of the virus, which is more or less all anyone not on the front lines can do right now. Don’t Take Your Own Thoughts as Gospel When you suffer from more anxiety than is adaptive, you’re forced to learn the necessary coping technique of talking yourself down. As difficult as it is in times of stress and heightened emotions, you have to learn to put space between your thoughts and actions, and to lawyer those thoughts, so to speak. It is important to determine if you have enough evidence to draw the negative conclusions your hyperactive brain is considering to be somewhere in the range of very likely to happen to absolutely guaranteed, if not already secretly occurring. Meditation has proven to be a useful tool, not only for
lowering stress but also for paying attention to how your thought process works, without judgment, so as to become more familiar with your brain’s patterns and biases. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, has also been shown in studies to be effective in calming anxiety, working through traumatic experiences, and treating some addiction issues. That too could be a useful practice for those struggling to move toward acceptance during this upsetting time. Schedules Help Bring Order to the Chaos During the first week or two of practicing social distancing it became clear I needed to start following a schedule, and even more so that I had no interest in following a schedule. In fact, following a schedule seemed futile, arbitrary, and somehow authoritarian. After all, weren’t we all going through enough without also being tied to the clock?! But eventually the inevitable happened: All that flexible thinking, increasingly letting my mood take more control of the day’s plans, while they slowly
blurred into one another, began making me feel even more trapped. I felt more out of control, and therefore more controlled by the situation. Truthfully, this is still something of a struggle. But when I do manage to stay true to a schedule I have noticeably better days. When I fall short, I try to have empathy for myself.
alone with your thoughts the guilt of speaking out of negative emotions, and of assuming the worst in others, is going to be harder to chase away. Strengthen the Social Bonds That Count and Let Others Go While there’s no substitute for being in person with someone, technology allows us to Patience and Kindness Are connect and communicate in Necessary Strengths ways that can lessen our Patience and kindness take a feelings of loneliness. certain type of strength that In some ways I’ve become seems to make us more social as a result of the uncomfortable at times. I have coronavirus pandemic. I’ve seen both read as been reaching out to more weaknesses, not only in the friends with greater regularity, heteronormative and including some I hadn’t talked masculine world I grew up in, to in a year or more, have but also in the quick-to-readrediscovered FaceTime and for-filth, hot-take-dispensing Zoom, and have started world I have often found asking people how they’re myself inhabiting during doing not as a pleasantry or adulthood. I have been guilty conversation starter but of participating in that harsh because I truly want to know. way of looking at and This is also a great time to responding to others at times, focus on helping others, which and it never feels good or will also help your own mental strengthening. state. Whether that’s buying The truth is, life is always full groceries for elderly of enough suffering and neighbors, giving to those adversity that defaulting to suffering financial hardships empathy, as difficult as it can due to lost income, or just often be, is always the right offering a sympathetic ear, move. It’s an even more there are countless ways to important way to live now, as turn towards service. we all struggle to adapt to a Meanwhile, the clarity that more uncertain future, and at isolation brings has allowed times all too tragic present. It me to move on from some is equally important to have relationships that weren’t patience for yourself, which working for me. This is a time will in turn make you more of change, after all, so might patient with others. as well embrace it. Not to mention, when you’re Reflect and Then Allow forced to spend this much time
Yourself to Change As social animals who evolved in tribes, being kept away from your fellow humans is going to hurt. Extended periods of isolation is not a natural way to live, and some discomfort and suffering as a result is actually a positive sign. Acceptance of the inevitable suffering you’re feeling as a result of the circumstances is an essential component to tolerating it. But all this alone time can become truly unbearable when your own company is a curse. If you can’t stand to be alone, even for short periods, chances are it’s because you can’t tolerate your own thoughts and emotions over past actions and behavioral trends that are likely to continue if you don’t commit to necessary reflecting, followed by taking appropriate actions to move forward as a better version of yourself. Even just working towards that goal can help shift your mindset from one of regret and guilt to one of hope and progress. Online therapy is available for those with the resources to access it, with many mental health professionals offering a sliding scale based on one’s ability to pay. The magnitude of this global event will inevitably change us all, but it doesn’t have to break us. If we’re lucky, and we put in the work, it could even reshape us in some fundamental ways for the better instead of the worse.
Last Chick-Fil-A In The UK Just Closed For Good By Micelle Jenson
The last Chick-fil-A restaurant in the U.K. definitively closed its doors this past month. Last year, a Chick-fil-A restaurant opened at the Oracle shopping center in Reading, England. This led to protests in October because of the fast food chain’s years of donations to anti-LGBTQ causes. Because of the protests, Oracle said that it would not renew Chick-fil-A’s lease after its initial six-month period was up. On March 20, the restaurant closed for good. In a statement, Reading Pride Executive Director Martin Copper said that they opposed the Chick-fil-A because of it was “funding organizations that advocate anti-LGBT+ activities.” He said the group “engaged with the Oracle general
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manager,” which agreed not renew the restaurant’s lease.
that the company was “guilty as “The subsequent protest was to charged” when it comes to supporting “the biblical inform the consumers about definition of the family unit.” what we discovered,” Copper said. “We had done this Copper said that Chick-fil-A peacefully.” wouldn’t even respond to Reading Pride. “The outcome is correct.” The protests were called “Get Instead, the corporation released a statement that said: the Chick Out” and drew “We hope our guests in the UK attention to Chick-fil-A’s will see that Chick-fil-A is a donations to the ex-gay restaurant company focused on organization Exodus serving great food and International and the SPLC designated hate group Family hospitality, and does not have a social or political agenda.” Research Council, as well as more recent donations to the “This was not about [Chick-filSalvation Army and the A’s or its founder’s] beliefs, Fellowship of Christian we’re not that thin skinned,” Athletes, both of which promote Copper added. “It was about discrimination against LGBTQ their reported actions, that’s people. where we drew the line and In 2012, CEO Dan Cathy said decided to act.”
Tallahassee. When asked where she got the idea of a tuk-tuk tour company, Dale said she initially started in the tourism business as a travel agent – a service which she still offers under the title Cruise Planners – Stephanie J. Dale & Associates. An avid traveler herself, she said her favorite part about seeing new places are tours, and during one trip she noticed tuk-tuks being used in Costa Rica. “I just thought it was such a fun idea and that we could use it,” Dale said. “Then we went on a quest to find these – it took me multiple years – and we finally bought them, and we love it.”
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Hero’s Collection Is Our Medical Workers By Daniel Andrews
Most big sports events in the US now feature a "Salute to the Troops" moment, when fans stand to honor a returned service-member. It's a tradition that seeks to salve wounds lingering from the Vietnam War, when fierce social divides saw many conscripts spurned when they came home. But when the coronavirus pandemic is over and stadiums eventually re-open, troops may have to step aside for new heroes: the doctors and nurses on the frontlines of a new kind of war. Americans are just beginning to appreciate the courage and sacrifice of medical professionals -- a lesson the people of China, Italy and France have already learned. Hours of prolonged exposure to the sick leaves medical
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professionals sitting ducks to a virus that has no vaccine, and to which humans have no immunity. At least 23 physicians treating virus patients have died in Italy. A number of doctors have also given their lives in France, and the young Chinese whistleblower, Dr. Li Wenliang, succumbed to Covid-19 after alerting the world to its danger. Medical workers also face their own version of shell shock from the psychological strain of seeing so many patients die. They are contemplating the awful choice of who will live and who will perish when vital equipment runs out. Amid shortages of surgical masks, gloves and protective gowns, medical workers are
appearing on television and social media to confess their fear of being infected. But they head on into the battle anyway. Most people only encounter the skill, empathy and dedication of nurses, doctors, cleaners and other hospital staff when they or a family member fall ill. It can be a revelation. As most Americans retreat into quarantine, the people hurrying into the ICU every day may turn out to be 2020's equivalent of the firefighters and police who rushed into the burning towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Illness Severity
criteria of a pandemic. As community spread is detected Both MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV have been known in more and more countries, the world moves closer toward to cause severe illness in meeting the third criteria, people. The complete clinical picture with regard to COVID- worldwide spread of the new virus. 19 is not fully understood. Reported illnesses have Reported community spread of ranged from mild to severe, COVID-19 in parts of the including illness resulting in United States raises the level death. While information so far of concern about the suggests that most COVID-19 immediate threat for COVID-19 illness is mild, a reportexternal for those communities. The icon out of China suggests potential public health threat serious illness occurs in 16% of posed by COVID-19 is very cases. Older people and high, to the United States and people with certain underlying globally. health conditions like heart At this time, however, most disease, lung disease and people in the United States will diabetes, for example, seem to have little immediate risk of be at greater risk of serious exposure to this virus. This illness. virus is NOT currently There are ongoing spreading widely in the United investigations to learn more. States. However, it is important This is a rapidly evolving to note that current global situation and information will be circumstances suggest it is updated as it becomes likely that this virus will cause a available. pandemic. This is a rapidly evolving situation and the risk Risk Assessment assessment will be updated as Outbreaks of novel virus needed. infections among people are Current risk assessment: always of public health concern. The risk from these For most of the American outbreaks depends on public, who are unlikely to be characteristics of the virus, exposed to this virus at this including how well it spreads time, the immediate health risk between people, the severity of from COVID-19 is considered resulting illness, and the low. medical or other measures People in communities where available to control the impact ongoing community spread of the virus (for example, with the virus that causes vaccine or treatment COVID-19 has been reported medications). The fact that this are at elevated, though still disease has caused illness, relatively low risk of exposure. including illness resulting in Healthcare workers caring for death, and sustained person-to patients with COVID-19 are at -person spread is concerning. elevated risk of exposure. These factors meet two of the
Close contacts of persons with COVID-19 also are at elevated risk of exposure. Travelers returning from affected international locations where community spread is occurring also are at elevated risk of exposure. CDC has developed guidance to help in the risk assessment and management of people with potential exposures to COVID-19. What May Happen More cases of COVID-19 are likely to be identified in the coming days, including more cases in the United States. It’s also likely that person-toperson spread will continue to occur, including in communities in the United States. It’s likely that at some point, widespread transmission of COVID-19 in the United States will occur. Widespread transmission of COVID-19 would translate into large numbers of people needing medical care at the same time. Schools, childcare centers, workplaces, and other places for mass gatherings may experience more absenteeism. Public health and healthcare systems may become overloaded, with elevated rates of hospitalizations and deaths. Other critical infrastructure, such as law enforcement, emergency medical services, and transportation industry may also be affected. Health care providers and hospitals may be overwhelmed. At this time, there is no vaccine to protect against COVID-19 and
Gay Candidate Faces New Challenge After COVID-19 Diagnosis By David Vandygriff
Congressional candidate and New York City Council Member Ritchie Torres, the first out LGBTQ elected official from the Bronx, announced on Twitter last week that he tested positive for COVID-19. After quarantining and directing members of his staff to do the same, Torres has spent his time in isolation speaking to news outlets and posting on social media to communicate a crucial message: Sick or not, stay home. “Social distancing has become the highest moral and civic duty of every American,” he told LGBTQ Nation, “especially in New York, which has become the epicenter of this outbreak.” No matter your age, no matter how you feel, and whether or not you are immunocompromised, Torres stipulated, just stay home. “You could be carrying and spreading the virus without even knowing it,” he emphasized. This crisis, he said, is an “economic and social catastrophe of our own making,” one that could have been prevented with swifter 24 www.cityxtramagazine.com
action. He hopes in the future we will be more prepared, but for now, he has a clear and blunt message for his city and the nation: “We’re confronting a simple, stark choice: either act aggressively to slow the spread of the virus or else the sheer number of coronavirus cases will crush the health care system,” he said. “Every hospital is struggling with a shortage of critical medical supplies, especially ventilators. So the city is making the best of what is a catastrophic crisis, but here’s the problem as I see it: the United States did too little too late.” “South Korea has 51 million people. It’s nearly 6-7 times larger a population than New York City, but it has had far fewer deaths. By contrast, the US did too little too late. We delayed testing until it was too late. We delayed social distancing until it was too late. And the lesson learned is the longer you wait, the longer you delay social distancing, the longer you delay mass testing, the less effective and the more destructive your actions will become.”
Torres continued, “So New York City is paying a heavy price because of a lack of pandemic preparedness at every level, but especially at the federal level.” Despite the isolation, Torres’ campaign to represent New York City’s 15th district must continue. The district encompasses the South Bronx and has long been considered the poorest district in the country – and Torres has simply had enough. “If I have the fortune of serving as a congressman in Washington DC,” he said, “I would commit myself wholeheartedly to breaking the cycle of poverty that has devastated the South Bronx.” Torres, 31, who grew up in public housing, is dedicated first and foremost to fighting for affordable housing. “Housing is not simply brick and mortar,” he said, “It’s the foundation on which you build a better life for you and your family. Think of the message from policymakers in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak— stay home. But the message implies you have a home.”
Torres, who is currently serving his second term on the New York City Council, spent his first term as Chair of the Council’s Committee on Public Housing, overseeing the New York City Housing Authority. He proved to be extremely effective. In 2014, for example, he successfully pressured the federal government to provide long-delayed funding for public housing developments that had been devastated by Hurricane Sandy.
places you might least expect it.”
Torres has long been considered a rising star in the Democratic Party. At 24, he Torres’ identity is especially significant because one of his became the youngest elected official in New York City when biggest opponents in the elected for his first City Council Democratic primary race, term. Ruben Diaz Sr., has a long history of homophobia. Torres His effectiveness and energy describes him as “a Trump have garnered national Republican masquerading as a attention, earning him Democrat.” recognition in The New Yorker, Newsweek, and more. Netflix Diaz Sr. serves on the city council with Torres and is also even did a documentary, Dirty Money, on Torres’ investigation a Pentecostal minister. In into the corrupt practices of 1994, he said the New York City-hosted Gay Games would Jared Kushner’s real estate After he held the first-ever City lead to the spread of AIDS. In company. According to his Council hearing inside a public 2011, he held a rally opposing 2015 Newsweek feature, some even believe he is headed housing development, he same-sex marriage and was secured over $100 million the only Democrat in the state toward the presidency. within months. A few years senate to vote against For now, though, Torres is later, FEMA granted $3 billion marriage equality. focused on fighting as hard as to fix all public housing he can for the South Bronx. In 2019, he said that the city developments in New York City council is “controlled by the “I’m a fighter,” he said. affected by Sandy. homosexual community.” He “Nothing has been handed to It is these kinds of tangible has also compared abortion to me on a silver platter…No one results that make Torres the Holocaust. is going to fight harder for the confident he is fit for Congress. A victory for Diaz Sr., Torres voters in the South Bronx because fighting is who I am. “I represent a rare combination said, would be disastrous not of change and experience,” he only for the district, but for the It’s what I do.” said. “I’m young enough, I’m country, and not only for the energetic enough to be an LGBTQ community, but for the agent for change, to represent Democratic Party. the next generation of “To have a right-wing leadership in the South Bronx, Republican in disguise but at the same time, I have representing the bluest district real experience governing.” in America would constitute a Torres also believes an out profound embarrassment. So LGBTQ representative from we all have a vested interest in the South Bronx would be defeating him.” historic. Torres is building a strong “It’s one thing to have a coalition to do just that. He has representative in the raised the most money (a gayborhoods of New York City million dollars as of December) and the United States. It’s and earned the most another thing to have an endorsements of any other LGBTQ representative in the candidate in the race.
Quentin Tarantino Says Shirtless Brad Pitt Is Like Gay Porn By William Snider
Remember when Brad Pitt took off his shirt in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood? Quentin Tarantino knows it was a gift.
ever filmed,” Tarantino recalled about shooting the scene. “This is very Joe Gage… very 1970s handyman The Oscar-winning filmmaker guy on a roof.” A Joe Gage gay was a guest this week on the porn reference?! We stan. latest episode of Amy Schumer’s 3 Girls, 1 Keith “It was funny because actually podcast, and it wasn’t long in public Brad is kind of shy before Schumer brought up the about things like that,” he said iconic scene in which Pitt’s Cliff about the 56-year-old Oscar Booth goes shirtless while winner. “At the same time, he repairing a roof antenna. knows exactly what time it is.” “I was like, wow, this is actually “I go, ‘Okay, so I’m thinking the closest to homoerotica I’ve maybe… you unbutton the
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Hawaiian shirt and you peel that off, and then peel off the Champion T-shirt,” Tarantino continued. “He was like, ’Really? You want me to go through all that button bullshit? I just take it off in one big go!'” “I’m like, okay, this guy knows exactly what time it is. I’ll shut the fuck up and let the master do his job!”
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