Los Angeles Blade, Volume 07, Issue 16, April 21, 2023

(Photo by Harrison J. Bahe)

Life on the streets: LGBTQ youth kicked out with nowhere to go

A terrifying reality of discrimination, isolation, and violence

By SIMHA HADDAD

With homophobia, bullying, harassment, and extremist hate on the rise, both from the government and civilians alike, queer youth of today are facing a torrent of obstacles leading to a devastating increase in mental health crises.

Even more devastating is the number of queer youth who are facing these challenges while homeless. Kicked out of their homes and living on park benches and truck stops, these kids face a terrifying reality of discrimination, isolation, and violence.

The Rainbow Youth Project a nonprofit based out of Indiana serves as a godsend for many of these LGBTQ+ youth. The organization provides mental health, financial, housing, services and counseling assistance to homeless LGBTQ+ youth under the age of eighteen across the nation.

Seventeen-year-old Rainbow Youth Project clients, KV from Monrovia, California, and Mayra from just outside Houston, Texas, shared their stories of living on the streets after their families kicked them out for being queer.

Mayra

“I really thought my mom would accept me,” Mayra told the Blade.

Mayra’s mother, a devout Catholic, had always preached love and forgiveness to her two daughters, even electing to love and forgive her brother, who was convicted of murder.

“I thought if she could love her brother after murdering somebody, then she could love me too,” said Mayra. “But she told me I had a week to get out. In her mind, there was nothing he could do to change the fact that he murdered someone, but I could change the fact that I am a lesbian, and I was choosing not to do that. I don’t know why she made this about herself.”

Mayra was outed to her mother by a group of classmates, who conspired against her in a cruel ploy to get her to admit that she was a lesbian. They elected one female classmate to pretend to befriend Mayra. The girl falsely claimed to Mayra that she was a lesbian and encouraged Mayra to open up about her own sexuality. After a few weeks of this false courting, Mayra felt comfortable enough to admit to the girl that she was indeed a lesbian too. The group of students behind the ploy then took to social media to out Mayra in a post that would change her life forever.

Mayra’s mother, boyfriend, grandmother, and extended family in the Harris County area all told her that they would continue to deny her any living accommodation or support unless she committed to regularly seeing a priest.

“It was basically conversion therapy,” Mayra said. “The priest actually came to the house and told me that I was living in sin and that my family could not love me because they could not love sin. He said I needed to come to him whenever I was having these thoughts to keep me from going to hell. He told me I was an embarrassment to my family.

“That night, I was up all night. I couldn’t sleep. I thought, You know what? She told me to get out, so I will get out.”

KV, who was living with his parents in Monrovia, Calif., at the time, was similarly outed against his will by a cousin who caught him “hanging out” with a crowd of gay youths at a pizzeria in West Hollywood.

“My cousin drove by and saw me sitting there at a table outside on the sidewalk. He got out of his car. He approached me at the table and asked me what I was doing there with all the ‘faggots.’ I had a rainbow bracelet on, and he asked me if I was a ‘faggot. It was embarrassing, so I walked away. He followed me, screaming and yelling at me that I was a ‘faggot,’ and that he was going to tell my dad and I was going to get my ass beat when I got home. Then he put me in the car and drove me home to my dad.

“He told my dad where he found me, and my dad asked me if this was true, and if this is where I was going in the afternoons and if this is where I’ve been hanging out on the weekends, with all the ‘fairies.’ I said yes, and he said, ‘So you’re a ‘faggot now?’ I said, ‘No, not now. I always have been.

“I looked at my mom, and my mom just kind of looked away. I don’t really blame her anymore. My dad was really abusive with my mom, so it would’ve been bad for her if she had defended me. So instead of standing up for me, she just looked away and walked out of the room.

“My dad picked me up by the neck of my shirt and dragged me to my room and handed me a little duffel bag, and told me I could only take what I could fit in the duffel bag. I told him I had nowhere to go. He told me he didn’t give a fuck where I went because I was not staying there. He was not going to have ‘fag’ living in his house.”

Life on the streets

After Mayra’s last sleepless night at her mom’s house, she left with nothing but a bag of personal items and $116 in her pocket from her part-time job.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” Mayra told the Blade. “I couldn’t call any of my friends because everybody was making fun of me and threatening to beat me up. I just kind of hung out in the park for a couple of days. After a few days, I realized that was still my best option. I just fell into staying on the streets.”

Mayra took to sleeping in the bathrooms of truck travel stops, sporadically getting handouts of leftover food from restaurants such as Subway and Cinnabon.

“I stumbled into some other kids who were homeless,” said Mayra, “and they were telling me they had other options, not really shelters, but it was better than sleeping in the bathroom. Then they stole everything that I had, so I only had the clothes that I had on. I needed fresh clothes. I had to barter whatever I had to do to get what I had to have.”

After the altercation with his abusive father, KV left with his duffle back and caught a bus to West Hollywood.

“That was the only place I knew where to go,” KV told The

Blade. “At least I felt safe there. From November 2021 until June 2022, I basically lived on Santa Monica Blvd.”

“The first thing I had to learn was safety,” said KV. “There are some pretty bad people out there. I got beat up a couple of times because I was in somebody’s space. It’s almost like a game. You have to learn the rules of the game like this is Joe’s space over here. Even if his stuff isn’t here, you can’t be in that area, or he is going to get mad. People don’t understand even if you are were living in a park, your space is like your house, and you can’t go into somebody else’s house. Learning that was kind of hard. I had heard about tent cities and all of that, but I was never really a part of it before.”

Going from housed to homeless in less than 24 hours, KV and Mayra quickly learned to navigate the new, dangerous environments. Like so many homeless youth, both Mayra and KV turned to prostitution as a means of survival.

“It was a tough thing, and I’m not proud of what I had to do to get the things I needed,” KV told The Blade. “But I think the thing that shocked me about it more than even me having to do this was how many kids were doing it and how many people were looking for it. I mean, people every day, every 15 minutes to 30 minutes, would come up to me looking for kids for sex. I’d be walking down Santa Monica or just sitting at a bus stop, and somebody would pull over and say, ‘What do you do for 50? What do you do for 20? That happens all the time.”

“One man asked if I lived in the park,” said Mayra. “I said, ‘kind of.’ He asked me what I would be willing to do to not live in the park anymore. I realized I was going to have to learn how to survive.”

At the truck stops along the freeways near Houston, Mayra often traded sex with the drivers for food, money, and shower tokens.

A Beacon of Hope

“Rainbow Youth Project saved my life,” KV told the Blade, who found out about RYP through a friend. “My goal was to get off the streets. I had had enough. Even after a week, I knew I had to do something. I called Rainbow Youth Project. I wasn’t expecting too much. I spoke to Brandon. Brandon asked me where I was, and I said LA. He said, ‘What if I told you we have a counselor we work with at UCLA that might be able to help you.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I ain’t got no way out to UCLA. No insurance, none of that stuff. He said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ve got you.’ The next day, he sent an Uber for me that took me up to see the counselor at UCLA. They already had an overnight package that

LGBTQ youth ‘DANTE’

(Photo by gay indigenous filmmaker Harrison J. Bahe, Phoenix)

had blankets and socks and underwear stuff that I didn’t have and a phone. And I’ve been in touch with them ever since. That was in June.”

Mayra’s counselor ew to her and gave her a phone, gift cards for food, clothing, and numbers for various volunteers at RYP whom she could call for whatever she needed.

“I told her I didn’t have money to pay for this,” recounted Mayra, “and she said, ‘You never have to pay me for anything. This is not a barter.’ When she said the word ‘barter,’ that’s when I knew she really understood.”

KV, who just finished his GED, plans to continue treatment for his trauma-related ashbacks, which are triggered by smells like certain colognes and often interfere with his productivity. Mayra, who says she feels her happiest when volunteering with animals, is currently training to be a veterinary assistant. Her studies are currently being funded by RYP.

Both Mayra and KV are now in stable housing thanks to Rainbow Youth Project and the nonprofit’s volunteers.

Eventually, KV ac uired a guardian ad litem, although his parents did sign a legal guardianship over to his cousin in Riverside. Mayra was emancipated by the Harris County District Court.

Harsh reality of LGBTQ youth homelessness

LGBT youth are overrepresented among young people experiencing homelessness and housing instability in the United States. This elevated risk of homelessness and housing instability has detrimental effects on LGBT youths’ mental health.

A research report released in February 2022 by the Trevor Project revealed that 2 of LGBT youth reported experiencing homelessness or housing instability at some point in their lives and those who did had two to four times the odds of reporting depression, anxiety, self-harm, considering suicide, and attempting suicide compared to those with stable housing.

Key findings included

• Overall, 28% of LGBTQ youth reported experiencing homelessness or housing instability at some point in their lives.

• Nearly half (44%) of Native/Indigenous LGBTQ youth have experienced homelessness or housing instability at some point in their life, compared to 16% of sian meri an Pa ifi slander youth, o hite B youth, o atinx B youth, o Black LGBTQ youth, and 36% of multiracial LGBTQ youth.

• Homelessness and housing instability were reported at higher rates among transgender and nonbinary youth, including 38% of transgender girls/women, 39% of transgender boys/men, and 35% of nonbinary youth, compared to 23% of cisgender LGBQ youth.

• 16% of LGBTQ youth reported that they had slept away from parents or caregivers because they ran away from home, with more than half (55%) reporting that they ran away from home because of mistreatment or fear of mistreatment due to their LGBTQ identity.

• 14% of LGBTQ youth reported that they had slept away from parents or caregivers because they were kicked out or abandoned, with 40% reporting that they were kicked out or abandoned due to their LGBTQ identity.

• LGBTQ youth who experienced homelessness or

housing instability reported higher rates of mental health challenges, compared to their stably housed LGBTQ peers.

• LGBTQ youth who reported housing instability or homelessness had nearly two to four times the odds of reporting depression, anxiety, self-harm, considering suicide, and attempting suicide compared to those who did not report any housing instability.

• 69% of youth who reported past housing instability and 68% of youth who were currently homeless reported that they had engaged in self-harm in the last year – compared to 49% of youth who had not experienced housing instability,

• 58% of youth who reported past housing instability and 62% of youth who were currently homeless reported having seriously considered suicide in the last year – compared to 35% of youth who had not experienced housing instability,

• 28% of youth who reported past housing instability and 35% of youth who were currently homeless reported a suicide attempt in the last year – compared to 10% of youth who had not experienced housing instability,

• LGBTQ youth who reported experiencing homelessness or housing instability had higher rates of victimization, being in foster care, and food insecurity, compared to their stably housed LGBTQ peers

• LGBTQ youth who reported past housing instability or current homelessness had more than three times greater odds of ever being physically threatened or abused due to their sexual orientation or, among transgender and nonbinary identity, gender identity.

• LGBTQ youth who reported past housing instability or current homelessness had nearly six times greater odds of reporting that they had been in foster care at any point in their life.

• LGBTQ youth who reported past housing instability or current homelessness had more than three times greater odds of reporting food insecurity in the last month.

The Trevor Project report made several pragmatic recommendations that were echoed by RYP and others in the field who work with LGBT youth. In Los Angeles, Lisa Phillips, Director of Youth Services at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, said, “The Los Angeles LGBT Center has always had a high demand for youth-oriented services, including emergency, transitional, and permanent housing and we have not seen that demand falter. Unfortunately, as political attacks on our community escalate throughout all corners of the United States, we also don’t expect to see that demand go down anytime soon.

“We understand that, like any other issue affecting the LGBT community, a holistic approach that caters to the

dignity of the individual is urgent and necessary. That’s why the Center doesn’t just offer a place to sleep but also provides health and mental health care, substance use and recovery efforts, legal services, housing and job navigation, and, most importantly, community. We do not take our responsibility to LGBT youth lightly, and we are always proud to be leaders in the fight for a more e uitable world for ueer and trans people.”

The Trevor Project report outlined steps that could be taken

• Preventing LGBTQ Youth Homelessness. Strong anti-discrimination policies in the workplace and strong anti-bully and harassment policies in schools an be e e ti e in hel ing B youth stay connected to school and employment, increasing their skills and future earnings, and making it easier for them to maintain stable housing. Additionally, sin e amily on i t around youths’ LGBTQ identities is a driving factor in LGBTQ youth homelessness, developing family counseling or mediation programs may be e e ti e at de reasing on i t and kee ing LGBTQ youth in their homes and connected to their families. Special attention should also be paid to preventing housing instability among LGBTQ youth in foster care through case management and exit planning for youth exiting care.

• Increased Funding for Low-Barrier Housing Programs. More funding should be allocated for safe, low-barrier housing programs which can have an immediate positive impact on LGBTQ youth experiencing housing instability.

• Reimagining Shelter Services. One immediate action that housing providers can take to support LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness is to make sure that all shelter and housing facilities provide culturally competent services to LGBTQ youth.

• Improved Data Collection on LGBTQ Youth Homelessness. Better data is needed to understand the full scope and impact of LGBTQ youth homelessness in the United States. Questions about both LGBTQ identity and housing status should be added to population surveys of youth and young adults, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).

• Anti-Poverty Economic Policies. LGBTQ youth are impacted by their families’ and communities’ economic stability. Policies that combat poverty at the societal level will have a positive impact on LGBTQ youths’ access to safe and secure housing. Economic upheavals, such as what we are seeing with the COVID-19 pandemic, increase economic pressure on low-income households and make it even more urgent for legislators to tackle root causes of poverty in the nited tates to the benefit o B youth, their families, and their communities.

LGBTQ Youth ‘ALISHIA MARIE’

(Photo by gay indigenous filmmaker Harrison J. Bahe, Phoenix)

Harris joins abortion pill rights rally in DTLA

As hundreds of Angelenos gathered in a rally Saturday at City Hall in downtown Los Angeles to protest a recent ruling by a federal judge in Texas that would ban the abortion medication mifepristone, those in attendance were joined by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The vice president, who was in town for the event, spoke for six minutes telling the crowd, “Around our country, supposed so-called extremist leaders, who would dare to silence the voice of the people, a United States Supreme Court, the highest court in our land, that took a constitutional right that had been recognized from the people of America we have seen attacks on voting rights, attacks on fundamental rights to love and to marry the people that you love, attacks on the ability of people to be themselves and be proud of the people who they are. And so this is a moment that history will show re uired each of us, based on our collective love of our country to stand up for, and fight for, to protect our ideals. That’s what this moment is.”

Gloria Allred, a civil rights lawyer known for fighting to protect women’s rights, spoke with KABC ’s Amy Powell on the importance of maintaining mifepristone, the abortion drug in trouble of being removed from the American market, as an option for women.

“We want scientific judgment to prevail and not to have any justice substitute their religious ideology, or their beliefs that are not scientific,” said Allred. “We don’t want

Van Nuys Budweiser brewery receives bomb threat over trans ad

The fallout over a controversial sponsorship deal between Anheuser-Busch and transgender in uencer Dylan Mulvaney led to a bomb threat at Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser Van Nuys plant on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department has confirmed that units from the LAPD’s Van Nuys Station, the LAPD bomb s uad and other units from the department’s Valley Division responded to the sprawling Anheuser-Busch facility located at 250 Woodley Ave in Van Nuys.

According to the LAPD, an emailed bomb threat was received at approximately a.m. and after clearing the perimeter then searching the facility, the location was cleared.

According to CBS, there were multiple nationwide bomb threats allegedly made to other Budweiser factories this week tied to the beer giant’s refusal to cut ties with Mulvaney. It was reported Thursday, that a Missouri based Budweiser distributor canceled all planned appearances of the iconic Clydesdale horses, citing threats to its employees. The Clydesdales have long been featured in Budweiser commercials

Anheuser-Busch has faced massive backlash for the advertising partnership with Mulvaney from conservatives and far right extremists. Fox News Channel and Fox has denounced the beer company for its decision to have Mulvaney make a promotional video for Bud Light.

Fox News and the rest of right-wing media have stoked

many anti-LGBT panics over the years, and the fanatical obsession with Mulvaney is part of a broader campaign to eliminate transgender people from public life altogether that conservative Republicans and the far right are engaged in.

In a statement released Friday by Brendan Whitworth, the CEO of Anheuser-Busch addressing the continuing controversy, Whitworth didn’t mention Mulvaney nor did it include a specific example of the company causing division.

“As the CEO of a company founded in America’s heartland more than 1 5 years ago, I am responsible for ensuring every consumer feels proud of the beer we brew,” Whitworth wrote. “I care deeply about this country, this company, our brands and our partners.”

“We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people,” he said. “We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”

Whitworth said he was “focused on building and protecting our remarkable history and heritage.”

“Moving forward, I will continue to work tirelessly to bring great beers to consumers across our nation,” he said.

Anheuser-Busch did not respond to re uests for comments regarding the series of violent threats.

Mulvaney, a University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music alumna, partnered with Bud Light for a promotional contest it ran last month. The transgender

these courts to limit access to women.”

KABC also reported the reproductive rights march featured women and some men marching through the streets, chanting and holding signs, before ending at the rally in front of City Hall.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday temporarily suspended orders from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that would have restricted the nationwide sale and distribution of the abortion medication mifepristone.

The move by conservative Justice Samuel Alito will give the High Court until Wednesday April 1 to decide whether those restrictions will be kept in place pending the outcome of litigation over the case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is now on appeal before the 5th Circuit.

Last week, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a stay of the FDA’s approval of mifepristone 23 years ago, effectively barring its sale and distribution nationwide.

actor recently celebrated the 3 5th day of her “Days of Girlhood” series and said Bud Light sent her a personalized beer can to mark the milestone, the Cincinnati En uirer reported.

The musical theater grad, who addressed general criticism while appearing on Tuesday’s episode of Rosie O’Donnell’s “Onward” podcast, also partnered with Nike last week for sponsored social media posts. Her partnerships have received positive and negative responses from various celebrities, including Kid Rock, Travis Tritt, Caitlyn Jenner, Paris Hilton and more.

Mulvaney did not specifically address the Bud Light backlash while on O’Donnell’s podcast the En uirer added.

Musician Kid Rock had published a video showing him shooting two cases of Bud Light with an assault ri e and then turning to face the camera saying “Fuck Bud Light.”

BRODY LEVESQUE

Vice President KAMALA HARRIS speaks at a rally protesting potential abortion drug ban. (Screenshot/KABC 7)

Budweiser’s Van Nuys plant (Photo courtesy Anheuser-Busch)

Facing calls to resign, Feinstein vows return with caveat

California’s octogenarian Democratic U.S. Senator, Dianne Feinstein, said in a statement released last week that she plans to return to her duties in the Senate.

The oldest serving member of the Senate revealed on March 2 that she was hospitalized for shingles treatment after being diagnosed with an infection in February. She was released from a San Francisco hospital on March , but has yet to return to Washington.

Feinstein, however, called on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer D-N.Y. , to appoint a temporary replacement for her on the Senate Judiciary Committee, a move Republicans have vowed to thwart.

“When I was first diagnosed with shingles, I expected to return by the end of the March work period. Unfortunately, my return to Washington has been delayed due to continued complications related to my diagnosis,” Feinstein said in her Wednesday night statement.

“I intend to return as soon as possible once my medical team advises that it’s safe for me to travel. In the meantime, I remain committed to the job and will continue to work from home in San Francisco,” Feinstein continued.

“I understand that my absence could delay the important work of the Judiciary Committee, so I’ve asked Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to ask the Senate to allow another Dem-

ocratic senator to temporarily serve until I’m able to resume my committee work,” she added.

A spokesperson for Schumer said that he would abide by Feinstein’s re uest. “Per Sen. Feinstein’s wishes, the Majority Leader will ask the Senate next week to allow another Democratic Senator to temporarily serve on the Judiciary Committee.”

The -year-old has missed 0 of the 2 votes taken in the

Senate so far in 2023, having been sidelined with a case of the shingles which has prevented her return to Washington. There has been increasing calls by prominent Democrats for Feinstein to resign, including Jonathan Lovett, a co-founder of Crooked Media, and a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama, Reps. Ro Khanna D-Calif. and Dean Phillips D-Minn. who tweeted their demand she step aside.

“It’s time for Feinstein to resign,” fellow California Democrat Khanna wrote in a tweet on Wednesday, becoming the first member of Congress to publicly demand that the senior senator step down.

“We need to put the country ahead of personal loyalty. While she has had a lifetime of public service, it is obvious she can no longer fulfill her duties. Not speaking out undermines our credibility as elected representatives of the people,” he added.

Her absence has presented the Democratic majority Senate with obstacles in passing votes on key presidential nominations for the federal judiciary. Democrats hold an 11-10 advantage on the Judiciary Committee, making Feinstein’s absence even more acute than usual the Hill noted.

Feinstein had announced on Valentine’s Day that she would not seek reelection.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

Calif. man sentenced for threatening anti-LGBTQ violence

A California man was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Springfield, Mass. for making threats to commit anti-LGBT violence against Springfield-based dictionary company Merriam-Webster, Inc. and others.

Jeremy David Hanson, 34, of Rossmoor, Calif., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni to one year and one day in prison and three years of supervised release. In September 2022, Hanson pleaded guilty to one count of interstate communication of threatening communications to commit violence against the employees of Merriam-Webster, and to another count charging the same offense, initially filed in the Eastern District of Texas, targeting the President of the University of North Texas.

As part of his plea agreement, Hanson also admitted to sending threatening communications to various corporations, politicians, and others, including the Walt Disney Co., the Governor of California, the Mayor of New York City, a New York rabbi and professors at Loyola Marymount University. Many of these threatening communications specified the race, gender, gender identity and or sexual orientation of various persons. Hanson persisted in his communications in spite of repeated interactions with law enforcement o cers.

“Hate has no place in Massachusetts. Every person has a right to live their life authentically and without fear. I hope today’s sentence will demonstrate to members of the LGBT community that this o ce will hold those who engage in threatening, hateful acts accountable. Mr. Hanson made numerous, anonymous hate-fueled threats of violence to intimidate and instill fear. Hateful and bigoted acts, even if only spoken like those committed by Mr. Hanson, terrorize communities and are destructive to our society,” said United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins. “Hate motivated acts of any kind will never be tolerated in our Commonwealth and perpetrators including those who think they can hide be-

hind a keyboard need to know we will find you and prosecute you. Members of the public are strongly encouraged to call the 1- 3-END-H -NOW 1- 33- 34- line if they have information about concerning or troubling incidents of hate, potential hate crimes or threats.”

“Despite repeated interactions with law enforcement directing Jeremy Hanson to stop his hateful tirades threatening violence, he continued to make them. In doing so, his bias against the LGBT community instilled real fear and safety concerns, causing Merriam-Webster to close its o ces in Springfield and New York City for almost five days,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division. “Today’s sentence cannot undo the damage Hanson did, but it can provide some comfort in knowing that threats to life are not protected free speech but criminal acts, and the FBI and our partners will vigorously pursue those who commit them. If you are a victim or witness to similar conduct, we’d ask you to report it to us by calling 1- 00-CALL-FBI or submitting a tip online at tips.fbi. gov.”

Between Oct. 2 and Oct. , 2021, Springfield-based Merriam-Webster, Inc. received various threatening messages and comments demonstrating bias against specific gender identities submitted through its website’s “Contact Us” page and in the comments section on its webpages that corresponded to the word entries for “Girl” and “Woman.” Authorities later identified the user as Hanson.

Specifically, on Oct. 2, 2021, Hanson used the handle “ anonYmous” to post the following comment on the dictionary’s website definition of “female.” “It is absolutely sickening that Merriam-Webster now tells blatant lies and promotes anti-science propaganda. There is no such thing as ‘gender identity.’ The imbecile who wrote this entry should be hunted down and shot.” That same day, Hanson also sent threaten-

ing messages via the website’s “Contact Us” page.

On Oct. , 2021, Hanson posted another threatening comment on the dictionary’s website and a threatening message via the “Contact Us” page that read “I am going to shoot up and bomb your o ces for lying and creating fake definitions in order to pander to the tranny mafia. Boys aren’t girls, and girls aren’t boys. The only good Marxist is a dead Marxist. I will assassinate your top editor. You sickening, vile tranny freaks.” As a result of the threats, Merriam-Webster temporarily closed its o ces in Springfield, Mass. and New York City.

In addition, on March 3, 2022, Hanson sent a threatening email to the President of the University of North Texas. The title of the email read “You ought to be shot in the head and have your o ces set on fire for supporting child genital mutilation and transgenderism.” The body of the email read “YOU LEFTIST FREAKS are the intolerant ones. Trannies are disgusting PERVERTS. Every single tranny freak should be gassed, along with their supporters. I will personally go to your university and start executing tyrannical leftist students and faculty who oppress conservatives. The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.”

In August 2022, U.S. Attorney Rollins announced the creation of the “End Hate Now” hotline 1- 3-END-H -NOW 1- 33- 34- for reporting hate-based incidents or potential criminal activity. Massachusetts residents and visitors are encouraged to call the hotline to report concerning or troubling incidents of hate, potential hate crimes, or concerns regarding individuals believed to be espousing the hate-filled views or actions we learn of far too often in the wake of mass shootings and or acts of hate-based violent extremism. Callers are encouraged to leave their contact information but may remain anonymous. At this time, the hotline is available in English, Spanish, Cantonese and French.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

Vice President KAMALA HARRIS and Sen. DIANE FEINSTEIN ( ial hite House hoto)

NOTICE

INVITING SUBMITTALS FOR AS-NEEDED HAZARDOUS WASTE REMOVAL SERVICES

he os ngeles ounty e artment o Bea hes and Harbors is seeking ualified firms or one or more ontra ts to ro ide as needed ha ardous aste remo al ser i es ithin os ngeles ounty.

endors submitting a bid must be able to demonstrate a minimum o fi e years ontinuous ex erien e in remo al o ha ardous materials or ubli and or ri ate se tor entities.

he ounty may re uire additional minimum ualifi ations. he deadline or submitting bids ill be 5:00 p.m., May 16, 2023.

urther in ormation regarding the n itation or Bids ( B) is a ailable at https://doingbusiness.lacounty.gov/.

o ie and rint a o y o the B, lease isit http://beaches.lacounty.gov/request-for-proposals/ and click the ``Request for Proposals`` link.

he ounty reser es the right to an el the B and to modi y any and all terms and onditions o the B, in luding minimum ualifi ations. or urther in ormation, email ngeli a i ente at AVicente@bh.lacounty.gov.

Polis signs abortion, trans healthcare protections

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed a trio of healthcare bills into law Friday that will protect the reproductive rights of women and preserve gender-a rming care in the state as Republicans in surrounding states have taken action to severely limit those rights.

The three pieces of legislation signed by the governor SB23-1 Protections for Accessing Reproductive Health Care SB23-1 Increasing Access to Reproductive Health Care SB23-1 0 Deceptive Trade Practice Pregnancy-Re-

lated Service, are all structured to ensure people in surrounding states and beyond can go to Colorado to have an abortion, begin puberty blockers or receive gender-a rming surgery without fear of prosecution.

Colorado now joins its neighboring state to the South, New Mexico, in protecting abortion care and gender-a rming care. However the bordering states of Wyoming and Oklahoma have passed abortion bans, while Utah has severely restricted transgender care for minors.

In January, labeling Senate Bill 1 “a nuanced and thoughtful approach to a terribly divisive issue” Utah’s Republican Governor Spencer Cox signed the bill into law. SB1 will take affect in May that will ban most gender-a rming health care for transgender youth.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham on March 1 , signed into law House Bill , the Reproductive and Gender-A rming Health Care Act, which prohibits public bodies,

including local municipalities, from denying, restricting, or discriminating against an individual’s right to use or refuse reproductive health care or health care related to gender.

In signing the trio of bills on Friday, Governor Polis said “Here in Colorado, we value individual freedoms, and we stand up to protect them. Last year we took an important step to protect the right to choose how and when to start a family. Today, we are building on those protections by Codifying the Executive Order I issued last year ensuring healthcare professionals are safe to provide legal healthcare services Expanding access to reproductive healthcare services in both commercial insurance and Medicaid; And protecting consumers from harmful practices and false advertising by organizations and providers regarding reproductive health services. I’m proud to sign these bills today to further Colorado’s reputation as a beacon of freedom and choice.”

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday temporarily suspended orders from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that would have restricted the nationwide sale and distribution of the abortion medication mifepristone.

The move by conservative Justice Samuel Alito will give the High Court until Wednesday April 19 to decide whether those restrictions will be kept in place pending the outcome of litigation over the case, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which is now on appeal before the 5th Circuit.

Last week, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a stay of the

FDA’s approval of mifepristone 23 years ago, effectively barring its sale and distribution nationwide.

On appeal, the 5th Circuit ruled late Wednesday night that access to the drug would be restricted, though not banned entirely, pending the outcome of the case.

But for the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday, which effectively preserves the status quo until next Wednesday, access to mifepristone would have required multiple doctors visits while telehealth consultations and mail order prescriptions would have been excluded.

Medication abortions account for more than half of all abortions performed each year in the United States. Mifepristone was first approved by the FDA in 2000, and the drug

Supreme Court temporarily halts abortion pill restrictions issouri rule restri ts gender a rming health are

Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued an “emergency rule” last week that severely restricts access to guideline-directed gender-a rming healthcare for minors as well as adults in the state.

The rule was made under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act and is slated to take effect on April 2 after paperwork is filed with the Missouri Secretary of State’s o ce.

The state’s American Civil Liberties Union chapter and Lambda Legal promised to take “any necessary legal action” in a joint statement released hours after the rule was made public.

“The attorney general’s so-called emergency rule is based on distorted, misleading and debunked claims and ignores the overwhelming body of scientific and medical evidence supporting this care as well as the medical experts and doctors who work with transgender people every day,” the groups wrote.

Bailey’s restrictions go further than most anti-transgender policies that have been implemented in other conservative states, for example by requiring patients of all ages to complete 15 hourly sessions with a mental health professional over the course of 1 -months and have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria for three “most recent, consecutive years” before treatment with puberty blockers, hormones or gender-transition surgery.

Trans Missourians with autism would be barred from ac-

cessing gender-a rming care, while those diagnosed with anxiety or depression would have to resolve those conditions beforehand. Patients who receive care would be required to complete 15 years of follow-ups.

As activist and legislative researcher Erin Reed pointed out in her newsletter on the rule, “Many transgender people suffer from depression or anxiety before transitioning and gender-a rming care is the most effective treatment.”

Additionally, “To delay gender a rming care for three years for transgender adults is exceptionally cruel,” Reed wrote. “Most gender a rming care in America is done according to WPATH standards via informed consent and no forced waiting period.”

Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, urged his followers to call Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to demand a rescission of the attorney general’s order.

Full statement by national LGBTQ Legal Groups condemning Missouri action barring healthcare for transgender people

“Today, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey issued an Emergency Rule regarding the medical treatment of transgender people. Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and GLBTQ Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) issued the following statement.

“As national legal groups who represent LGBT people and

has since been proven safe and effective over more than two decades.

The Biden-Harris administration joined many legal observers in objecting to Kacsmaryk’s ruling, which these stakeholders considered an unlawful circumvention of the FDA’s Congressionally ordained power to evaluate the safety and e cacy of medications.

Kacsmaryk does not have formal training in science or medicine. Shortly after his ruling, 200 pharmaceutical industry executives issued an open letter arguing the move had cast such uncertainty around the drug approvals process that pipelines for new drug discovery would be threatened.

CHRISTOPHER KANE

their families in every state across this country, we condemn the lawless action of Missouri’s Attorney General in purporting to bar essential medical care for both transgender adolescents and adults.

“This action by Missouri’s Attorney General crosses a red line that should strike fear in the heart of every person who values individual liberty and believes that individuals, not government o cials, should make health care decisions for their children and themselves.

“This is a dangerous and unprecedented escalation in the assault on evidence-based health care for transgender people. Cutting off treatment for those who need it will create predictable, unnecessary, and serious harm. It is also a blatant attempt to strip transgender people of equal protection under the law and to subject them to intrusive government surveillance and control.

“We wish to make une uivocally clear that we will challenge this and any similar attempt to interfere with the fundamental freedom of transgender people to obtain medically necessary care and to be treated as equal, respected, and participating members of our democracy.

“Lambda Legal and the ACLU of Missouri are prepared to fight back in court and have announced their intention to take legal action against this order.

BRODY LEVESQUE

Gov. JARED POLIS speaks before signing a trio of healthcare bills on April 14 surrounded by lawmakers, advocates, and health care providers.

(Photo ourtesy e o the o ernor a ebook)

GLAAD holds second protest outside New York Times

The billboard truck is back. Hired by GLAAD, the vehicle blasting neon messages criticizing the New York Times for its coverage of the transgender community returned to the newspaper’s Manhattan headquarters Monday.

The LGBTQ media advocacy organization leads a coalition of more than 100 advocacy groups, trans journalists and allies demanding the paper’s editors and leadership “stop printing biased, anti-trans stories,” meet with members and leaders in the trans community, and hire at least four trans writers and editors as full-time members of its staff.

Although the Washington Blade received a response from Charlie Stadtlander, the director of external communications for the Times, following the first protest on Feb. 15, GLAAD’s president and CEO says the newspaper has yet to respond to an open letter released on that date, or to its demands.

“It is outrageous and disrespectful that New York Times leadership continues to ignore the voices of trans community leaders, who have been sounding the alarm about the newspaper’s irresponsible, inaccurate coverage for over a year,” said Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement to the Blade. “Trans people deserve to be respected and have their voices heard. Mainstream media publications, including the Times, have a responsibility to their readers to cover trans people and issues in a fair, accurate and inclusive way.

“Our coalition of more than a hundred organizations and leaders asked that the Times meet with trans community leaders within two months. Two months have come and gone without a word from the Times. What are they afraid

of?” said Ellis. “It is beyond unacceptable for the Times to use sensational, inaccurate stories about trans people for clicks, yet refuse to speak with leaders in the trans community.”

GLAAD’s coalition letter was released the same day as another letter co-authored by contributors to the newspaper. ”Some of us are trans, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming, and we resent the fact that our work, but not our person, is good enough for the paper of record. Some of us are cis, and we have seen those we love discover and fight for their true selves, often swimming upstream against currents of bigotry and pseudoscience fomented by the kind of coverage we here protest.”

“I am forever inspired by how generous and courageous NYT contributors and employees involved with the letter have given of their time, energy, heart and belief of potential that our media landscape can serve as a catalyst for change,” said one of the signatories, writer and activist Raquel Willis. “I am also grateful for the numerous organizations that have bolstered the efforts of our journalists in a time when not just facts, but empathy continues to be left on the cutting room oor.”

“I have tracked 430 bills targeting the trans community this year, and I have seen New York Times articles referenced in numerous hearings,” said journalist and researcher Erin Reed. Just last week, Missouri’s attorney general cited a Times article in banning gender a rming care for all transgender people, including adults.

“Accurate and sensitive coverage from the New York Times is of paramount importance,” said Reed. “They need to hire more trans staff, allow trans people to cover the biggest stories that relate to our care, and take responsibil-

ity for ensuring their coverage is respectful and accurately portrays the scientific consensus around gender a rming care. I hope to see a real commitment to engaging with the community in the coming days.”

“Their reporting on the transgender community has been anything but accurate and fair,” said Jay Brown, HRC’s senior vice president for programs, research and training. “Gender a rming medical care is widely supported by every major medical association — representing more than 1.3 million doctors — but they’re platforming anti-trans extremists whose only goal is to push us all back into the closet. They aren’t experts and shouldn’t be treated as such. This isn’t a matter of giving equal time to two sides of an issue. It’s about giving radicals a platform that has been used by politicians to harm transgender people — and trans youth in particular. The Times must do better and they should listen to those of us who are transgender when we are telling them their reporting is dangerous.”

In his Feb. 15 statement emailed to the Blade, Stadtlander had this to say in response to the coalition, the open letter and the protest:

“We received the open letter delivered by GLAAD and welcome their feedback. We understand how GLAAD and the co-signers of the letter see our coverage. But at the same time, we recognize that GLAAD’s advocacy mission and the Times’s journalistic mission are different.

“As a news organization, we pursue independent reporting on transgender issues that include profiling groundbreakers in the movement, challenges and prejudice faced by the community and how society is grappling with debates about care.

“The very news stories criticized in their letter reported deeply and empathetically on issues of care and well-being for trans teens and adults. Our journalism strives to explore, interrogate and re ect the experiences, ideas and debates in society — to help readers understand them. Our reporting did exactly that and we’re proud of it.”

Miami Beach holds Pride, despite travel advisory

More than 170,000 people attended the annual Miami Beach Pride parade that took place on the city’s Ocean Drive last Sunday.

The parade took place against the backdrop of the Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis-backed expansion of the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law and banning gender-a rming care for transgender children in the state.

The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature is also considering a bill that would prevent children from attending drag shows.

Equality Florida and the Florida Immigrant Coalition last week issued a travel warning for the state.

“As an organization that has spent

decades working to improve Florida’s reputation as a welcoming and inclusive place to live work and visit, it is with great sadness that we must respond to those asking if it is safe to travel to Florida or remain in the state as the laws strip away basic rights and freedoms,” said E uality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith.

State Rep. Fabián Basabe (R-Miami Beach) is among those who participated in the Miami Beach Pride parade. Protesters confronted the Miami Beach Republican over his support of anti-LGBTQ bills in the Florida House of Representatives.

YARIEL VALDÉS GONZÁLEZ

DAWN ENNIS

GLAAD billboard truck back outside the New York Times building on April 17 (Photo courtesy of GLAAD/Twitter)

The annual Miami Beach Pride parade took place in Miami Beach on April 16. (Screenshot from video courtesy of Yariel Valdés González)

B a ti ists meet ith . . o ials during . . isit

A group of LGBTQ and intersex activists from Uganda traveled to D.C. last week.

Sexual Minorities Uganda Executive Director Frank Mugisha, GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders Senior Manager of Organizational Culture and Community Partnerships Quin Mbabazi and Chapter Four Uganda Executive Director Nicholas Opiyo on Monday spoke about the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in D.C. Maria Burnett, senior associate of CSIS’ Africa Program, moderated the panel discussion in which Jessica Stern, the special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights rights, also participated.

Mugisha, Mbabazi, Opiyo and Jacqueline Kasha Nabagesara while in D.C. met o cials from the White House, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development and representatives from the Council for Global Equality. The activists also briefed the Congressional Equality Caucus.

Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine, a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service who is the first openly transgender person confirmed by the U.S. Senate, on Thursday tweeted a picture of her with Mugisha.

“It was such an honor to meet (Frank Mugisha.) His courage gives me strength, but no one should have to be brave just to be their authentic self,” tweeted Levine. “Progress is not real unless it means progress for all.”

The activists came to D.C. less than a month after Ugandan MPs passed the Anti-Homosexuality Act.

Opiyo notes the measure would impose a “mandatory” death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and “anybody who is convicted of being engaged in same-sex relations” would face life in prison.

The bill would also punish the “promotion, recruitment and funding” of LGBT -specific activities in Uganda with up to 10 years in prison. Any “person who ‘holds out as a lesbian, gay,

transgender, a queer or any other sexual or gender identity that is contrary to the binary categories of male and female’” would also face up to 10 years in prison. Opiyo also noted the measure’s provision that would re uire Ugandans to report LGBT -specific activities to authorities would create “a moral police force.”

Uganda is among the dozens of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations are criminalized.

President Yoweri Museveni in 2014 signed that year’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, which imposed a life sentence upon anyone found guilty of repeated same-sex sexual acts. The law was known as the “Kill the Gays” bill because it previously contained a death penalty provision.

The U.S. subsequently cut aid to Uganda and imposed a travel ban against o cials who carried out human rights abuses. Uganda’s Constitutional Court later struck down the 2014 Anti-Homosexuality Act on a technicality.

Museveni has said he supports the current bill for which MPs with close ties to anti-LGBTQ American evangelical groups have championed.

“Anti-gay groups and anti-gender groups (are) radicalizing the Ugandan society against the LGBTQ community,” said Mugisha during the CSIS panel. “We’re seeing a lot of hatred. We’re seeing a lot of fear of LGBTQ persons.”

Mugisha noted there has been an increase in violence against LGBTQ and intersex Ugandans over the last year.

Uganda’s National Bureau for Non-Government Organizations last August forced Sexual Minorities Uganda to shut down.

“We’re seeing a very systematic, targeted, group that is targeting the LGBTQ community and we’ve seen that Ugandans have sort of been prepared for this legislation,” said Mugisha.

Stern during the CSIS panel reiterated the Biden-Harris administration’s criticisms of the Anti-Homosexuality Act.

“The U.S. has significant concerns about the Anti-Homosexuality Act that the Parliament of Uganda passed on March 21,”

said Stern. “If the Anti-Homosexuality Act is signed into law and enacted, it would threaten the human rights of Ugandan citizens, jeopardize progress in the fight against HIV AIDS, deter tourism and investment in Uganda and damage Uganda’s international reputation.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during her March 22 press briefing reiterated many of the same points that Stern did. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby that day also noted the U.S. provides substantial aid to Uganda through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and other programs.

“If this bill passes as it is now, the work that PEPFAR currently funds would be criminalized,” said Burnett. “We’re talking about people who are implementing U.S.-funded programs who could not do their jobs without potentially running afoul of the law and losing their liberty.”

Stern said the U.S. “continues to raise issues around the Anti-Homosexuality Act with the government of Uganda at all levels” and is “coordinating with diplomatic partners, with the private sector and with human rights organizations directly.” Stern also noted she and her colleagues are in “daily communication” with Mugisha and the other activists who were on the CSIS panel.

“We’re in constant contact with the community because they know how severe this issue is, how high the stakes are, how to push, what messages to use and what consequences the threat of the bill is already having on the community,” said Stern. “LGBTQI human rights defenders and human rights defenders of all stripes in Uganda are some of our greatest partners in this work. We are working with partners to engage at the multilateral level to address this issue.”

Stern also warned the U.S. would reconsider foreign assistance to Uganda if Museveni signs the Anti-Homosexuality Act.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

India Supreme Court begins to consider marriage equality

The Indian Supreme Court on Tuesday began to hear arguments on whether to extend marriage rights to samesex couples.

The Supreme Court in 2018 struck down the country’s colonial-era law that criminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations.

Ankush Kumar, a Washington Blade contributor in India, reported Mukul Rohatgi, an LGBTQ and intersex ac-

tivist, said the “LGBTQ community possess (the) same human rights as (a) heterosexual person.”

“So they have right to marry and can not be left alone,” said Rohatgi. “So we request this court to grant us relief.”

The Blade previously reported the government opposes legal recognition of same-sex marriage and has told the highest court that same-sex couples living together as partners and having a sexual relationship with the same

sex individual is not comparable with Indian family unit — a husband, a wife and a child born out of the union. The government also told the Supreme Court that samesex marriage is not compatible with the Indian ethos and morality.

Kumar reported the Supreme Court said the “notion of a biological man or woman is not absolute.”

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Hungarian parliament passes ‘snitch on your gay neighbor’ law

The National Assembly of Hungary last week approved legislation that included a provision for citizens to anonymously report on same-sex couples who are raising children.

The wording of the provision specifies that Hungarians may report those who contest the “constitutionally recognized role of marriage and the family” and those who contest children’s rights “to an identity appropriate to their sex at birth.” The latter wording specifically aimed at acknowledging transgender youth.

The country’s constitution states that the institution of marriage is “between one man and one woman,” and notes that “the mother is a woman, the father a man.”

This law’s passage comes after the country’s Constitutional Court issued a ruling in February that will continue to

block new applications from trans people for legal gender recognition. The judgment effectively creates two categories of trans people in Hungary: Those who applied early enough to pursue gender recognition and those who did not.

Earlier this month according to a spokesperson for the German government, Germany and France joined with other EU member states in the European Commission lawsuit over a Hungarian law which discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

The 14 EU member states that have joined the lawsuit’s proceedings are Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Malta, Austria, Sweden, Slovenia, Finland and now France and Germany.

Nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has publicly proclaimed he is a “defender of traditional family Catholic values.” Orban has been criticized by international human rights groups as discriminating against LGBTQ people with this law which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called a “disgrace.”

On June 15, 2021, the Hungarian Law purportedly aiming at taking stricter action against pedophile offenders and amending certain laws to protect children was adopted. Some of the new provisions target and limit the access of minors to content and advertisements that “promotes or portrays” the so-called “divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality.”

BRODY LEVESQUE

On April 7, the two youngest Black state representatives serving in the Tennessee Legislature, Justin Jones, 27, and Justin Pearson, 28, were expelled from the body. Their “crime”? Breaking a house rule disrupting regular proceedings to stage a protest with a third colleague Gloria Johnson – who was spared expulsion against gun violence.

This move was a blatant attempt to silence their voices and intimidate others from speaking out. Let alone an unprecedented attack that exceeded the mark for any disciplinary action in modern times. It spoke volumes for the inaction of the GOP-controlled legislature to do anything about gun violence that the only step they could take was to remove the voices of those who dared to point out that same inaction.

This follows protests by multitudes of people at the legislature since the recent school shooting in Nashville by a shooter who killed three children, a teacher, and two staff at Covenant School. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 123 shootings that took place across the country – more than the days that have passed so far in the year alone.

The U.S. is the only industrialized country with this problem. The proliferation of guns, lack of background checks, and the latest proposals passed by Republicans would no longer require a permit. These policies risk leading to the deaths of more innocent people and turning our country into the Wild West.

There is no doubt that public safety is essential. Last year, the Los Angeles Police Department recorded 2,780 robberies involving a gun. That is an increase of nearly 400 from 2021. I was a victim of a mugging at gunpoint last year. I was fortunately unharmed but my biggest shock was that it was young teenagers who should have been in school.

Even as a veteran who served in Iraq, I never had anyone try to use their weapon on me, so one can imagine the irony of having someone using one on me on the very block where I live in Hollywood. And as we look across the nation and see mass shooting after mass shooting of innocent, unarmed people being killed just for showing up at work or school or during simple tra c stops enough is enough. We have the right to be safe.

That means reimagining public safety to get at the roots of what contributes to crime (this includes joblessness), banning assault weapons, including expanded background checks, and ensuring we hold those who provide public safety accountable.

Since the ban on assault weapons was lifted, we have seen an

exponential increase in mass shootings with those weapons. We need to reinstate it immediately. We also need to decrease the footprint of law enforcement for routine tra c stops and mental health emergencies. Those encounters that lead to a loss of life need to be investigated by a third party and, as necessary, held accountable.

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Ending gun violence. That is what Justin Jones and Justin Pearson and so many advocates nationwide were fighting for. Speaking with prophetic fire, these bold leaders represent a new generation that will not accept business as usual.

The anti-democratic designs of the GOP-controlled Tennessee legislature have back-fired. Mr. Jones and Pearson are now national leaders with a bigger platform to advocate for a new vision for America that the new generation will lead us from the neighborhoods in which we live to the Halls of Congress.

To paraphrase President John F. Kennedy, “ Let the word go forth from this time and place to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans” And the new generation, despite whatever those on the wrong side of history and against democracy will not be silenced.

All material in the Los Angeles Blade is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the Los Angeles Blade. e sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, writers and cartoonists published herein is neither inferred nor implied. e appearance of names or pictorial representation does not necessarily indicate the sexual orientation of that person or persons. Although the Los Angeles Blade is supported by many ne advertisers, we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers. Unsolicited editorial material is accepted by the Los Angeles Blade, but the paper cannot take responsibility for its return. e editors reserve the right to accept, reject or edit any submission. A single copy of the Los Angeles Blade is available from authorized distribution points, to any individual within a 50-mile radius of Los Angeles, CA. Multiple copies are available from the Los Angeles Blade o ce only. Call for rates. If you are unable to get to a convenient free distribution point, you may receive a 26-week mailed subscription for $195 per year or $5.00 per single issue. Checks or credit card orders can be sent to Phil Rockstroh at prockstroh@washblade.com. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Los Angeles Blade, PO BOX 53352 Washington, DC 20009. e Los Angeles Blade is published bi-weekly, on Friday, by Los Angeles Blade, LLC. Rates for businesses/institutions are $450 per year. Periodical postage paid at Los Angeles, CA., and additional mailing o ces. Editorial positions of the Los Angeles Blade are expressed in editorials and in editors’ notes as determined by the paper’s editors. Other opinions are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Los Angeles Blade or its sta To submit a letter or commentary: Letters should be fewer than 400 words; commentaries should be fewer than 750 words. Submissions may be edited for content and length, and must include a name, address and phone number for veri cation. Send submissions by e-mail to tmasters@losangelesblade.com.

A millennial, based in Los Angeles, STEVE DUNWOODY is a veteran, college educator, and community advocate.

easefire (Photo ia the obert ood Johnson oundation)

n gun iolen e, the ne generation ill not be silen ed

Last year, the LAPD reported 2, 0 robberies involving a firearm

PETER ROSENSTEIN

is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.

Defeating every Republican should be the goal in 2024

Years ago, in what now seems a distant past, there was a Republican Party still in some ways rational. Although I never agreed with its philosophy, or platform, conversation was possible. Ronald Reagan was a terrible president in so many ways. He was responsible for many deaths because of his refusal to recognize the AIDS crisis. Yet he was able to work out a deal with Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neill, to extend Social Security in 1 3. I didn’t vote for him, and would never today, but it was possible to talk. That is no longer the case and it is sad.

We are seeing Republican governors in states like Florida and Texas, with legislatures in Republican hands, pass legislation attacking women, the LGBT community, the African-American community, and other minorities. We just saw the Tennessee Legislature vote out two Black legislators who stood up for gun control. We saw a Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, in Amarillo, Texas, rule to stop women across the nation from getting mifepristone. That drug, when followed by misoprostol, is used to terminate a pregnancy within the first 10 weeks. That method accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions.

We are seeing MAGA Republicans in Congress attempt to hold the nation hostage to their whims by threatening to not approve an increase in the debt ceiling. They have said they have no issue with bringing down the nation’s economy to get their way. I still have some Republican friends, they are not MAGA Republicans, and one of them recently asked if I would vote for a moderate Republican. My response was, “that is not a uestion that should be directed at me. Rather it should be directed at Republican primary voters.” A moderate, even a semi-rational Republican, can’t win a Republican primary. So, asking me the uestion is a moot point. I suggested he go to those Republicans voting in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district in Georgia and ask them how they can vote for a total

moron. Greene, who has now gone on twitter “to defend Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, who was arrested Thursday over his alleged role in leaking Pentagon files. She said “Jake Teixeira is white, male, Christian, and antiwar. That makes him an enemy to the Biden regime.” Remember, she won her district by 31 .

There are Democrats who some consider crazy. But the ‘crazies’ in the Democratic Party don’t control it. They have a say and can try to in uence it, but they don’t control the Democratic Party like the crazies in the Republican Party control their party. There are conservative Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin D-W.Va. and left-wing ones like congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez D-N.Y. . But when it comes down to it, they both vote for their party leadership. House Democrats don’t need 15 ballots to elect a speaker. They fight over bills, but when it comes to cultural issues, they tend to speak out in favor of legislation to benefit women, the LGBT and African-American communities, and other minorities. At least they don’t try to move them back into the Stone Age.

So the time has come for Democrats and clear-thinking independents, to get together and focus on defeating every Republican running for o ce at the federal level and in states so they no longer control a state legislature or governor’s mansion. While calling for this I am smart enough to understand it won’t happen to the degree I want. Redistricting has made some changes impossible.

But if the Democratic Party finds moderate candidates to run in moderate districts, and the general electorate is moderate, we might be able to defeat enough Republicans to make a difference. One example is supporting Adam Frisch against Lauren Boebert R-Colo. . He came within 500 votes of defeating her in 2022 and is running again in 2024. He can win and we can win in other close Districts, with the right candidates and unified support for them.

We need the right candidates and unified support

Remembering lassi film a ter death o an unsung ueer ioneer

Murray Melvin’s queer performance in ‘Taste of Honey’ proved groundbreaking

By JOHN PAUL KING

Last week, with the April 14 passing of English actor, director, and theater archivist Murray Melvin at the age of 90, the world lost a queer cinema icon.

If you feel bad for wondering, “Who’s that?”, don’t worry. Although the film with which he made his name “A Taste of Honey,” directed by British New Wave filmmaker Tony Richardson was an acclaimed and popular award-winner when it was released in 1961, it’s likely only familiar to the most ardent cinema buffs today, especially among younger generations and though Melvin remained a familiar fixture of the London theater world and made several significant further film and television appearances, his fame outside the UK was limited so you’re easily pardoned for not knowing who he was.

Yet while popular memory may have moved on from the era in which “A Taste of Honey” made waves on both sides of the Atlantic, its historical importance not just as a milestone of queer inclusion on the screen, but as a seminal work in a major art-and-cultural movement still looms large.

Based on a 1958 play by Shelagh Delaney, it was part of an aesthetic wave in Britain known as “Kitchen Sink Realism” or alternatively, the “Angry Young Man” movement, though in this case both the writer and the lead character were female), which focused on the gritty lives and hardships of the working class to explore the social ills and ine uities of British society. It centers on Jo, a 17-year-old schoolgirl who lives with her alcoholic single mother after a brief romance with an itinerant Black sailor, she discovers she is pregnant, and moves out on her own with Geoffrey, an ac uaintance who has been kicked out of his at for being homosexual. For a time, they build a household together, taking care of each other as they face the uncertain realities of their grim working-class existence.

Delaney’s play had been a success in London perhaps as much because of the controversy it stirred as despite it before transferring to America for a Broadway production featuring Angela Lansbury and a very young Billy Dee Williams. Both stagings had been mounted by director Tony Richardson, who by 1 1 had established himself as a filmmaker and become a driving force in the rapidly evolving British cinema. He wanted to bring the play to the screen with the same candid and unsentimental attitude that had defined the stage version and thanks to his status as Britain’s hottest young filmmaker, he was given free reign do it. He collaborated with Delaney on a screenplay adaptation that left the original work

intact, complete with all its controversial elements, and underscored its slice-of-life realism by filming it entirely on location the first British film to do so in Salford, the rundown industrial district of Manchester where the story takes place.

To further distance his movie from any semblance of show biz artificiality, Richardson relied on the casting of Dora Bryan whose popularity on British screens in “loose woman” roles through the 1950s made her an ideal choice to play Jo’s neglectful mother as a bankable “name” and chose to cast mostly unknowns as his leading players. For the central role of Jo, he auditioned thousands of hopefuls before choosing Rita Tushingham who said in a 201 interview that her only previous acting experience had been as “the back legs of a horse” at a small playhouse in Liverpool and settled on a student actor named Paul Danquah to play Jimmy, the other participant in his movie’s “shocking” interracial kiss.

None of these performers had been part of the play’s original cast, but when it came to one crucial role, Richardson turned to the actor who had originated it Murray Melvin, who had won the part of Geoffrey while still a edgling member of Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop, where the play had first been staged. Seen today, it’s a remarkable performance, as fully authentic and unapologetically queer as one would expect from any modern actor, yet given in a time and place when to be “out” was to be shunned, stigmatized, and open to criminal prosecution as well. Hailed by a contemporary critic as “a miracle of tact and sincerity”, Melvin’s Geoff was an instant touchstone for countless gay audience members who never saw themselves represented on the screen, and the fact the almost that he was presented in a positive light without stereotype, clich , or judgment must have felt like nothing short of a miracle.

The film’s other performances are e ually strong, of course. Tushingham won many accolades, including Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival although, likely thanks to the film’s refusal to dilute its taboo subject matter, she was snubbed for recognition at the American Academy Awards), and went on to become something of an “It” girl in trans-Atlantic ‘60s cine-

ma Dan uah is engaging and eminently likable as Jimmy, in a performance that is remarkably free of the racist trappings of the era and goes against the generic tropes that might otherwise cause audiences to view him with moral disdain thanks to the chemistry he enjoys with Tushingham not to mention the open-hearted treatment with which Richardson bestows upon their relationship), their interaction is never anything other than sweet and genuine, far from the exploitative or predatory nature with which it might have been endowed in other, more sensationalistic films of the day. As Helen, Jo’s boozy mom, Bryan makes a potentially hateful figure into someone we can understand, even if we can’t quite sympathize with her priorities or get behind her life choices.

Still, the performance of Murray Melvin is arguably the movie’s most significant legacy, and stands to this day as a testament to the power of cinema to speak truth to power or at least, to promote empathy in the face of senseless bigotry. It’s a singular performance, a unique outlier from a time when ueer experience was usually represented as deviant and dangerous when it wasn’t being ignored completely.

Like Tushingham, he won top acting honors at Cannes, but being named “Best Actor” was a short-lived triumph his openly queer persona rendered him un-castable in most mainstream films of the era, and he was denied the stardom he might have enjoyed in a more enlightened time. Nevertheless, he would go on to enjoy a long and respected career, taking on key roles in films by Ken Russell “The Devils”, “The Boy Friend” and Stanley Kubrick “Barry Lyndon” and making prolific contributions in British theater and television. He would even eventually serve on the board of the Theatre Royal, where he had once painted sets out of a passion for the art itself, and become renowned as an archivist for the Joan Littlewood Theatre Workshop, which had been his entry into a rich and vibrant career as a stage and cinema artist.

These accomplishments, surely, gave Murray Melvin a sense of fulfillment. For the rest of us, his trailblazing, thrillingly ueer presence in one of the most important films of the 1960s is more than enough cause to celebrate him.

he late MURRAY MELVIN ith RITA TUSHINGHAM in aste o Honey.

nfidelity be omes an art orm in o e, Honor, Betray

New book’s final act feels disrespectful to gay readers

By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Those are words you hear when someone is about to testify in a court of law. They put the “sworn” into sworn testimony, and you’ll also find the phrase in courtroom dramas, legal thrillers, and Perry Mason. You don’t hear those words in a marriage ceremony, but in the new book “Love, Honor, Betray” by Mary Monroe, maybe you should.

He could’ve looked all over Lexington, Ala., for the rest of his life and Hubert Wiggins wouldn’t have found a more fitting wife than his Maggie had been.

Before he met her, she’d been sexually assaulted and though she wanted to repeat her vows with someone special, she vowed that she’d never have relations again, which was fine with Hubert. He preferred to sleep with men anyhow, so their marriage was perfect.

Alas, Maggie died just over a year ago and Hubert needed a new wife.

Jessie, Maggie’s best friend, had her sights set on Hubert the day he put Maggie in the ground. In order to land him, she lied to him, said that he’d raped her when he was drunk and now she was pregnant, even though Hubert swore that he was traumatized by loss and couldn’t perform in bed because of it.

Jessie was sure she could cure Hubert’s problem. In the meantime, she wasn’t above having a ing when a fine man made it possible.

It was 1941, and sneaking around to see his boyfriend, Leroy, was a challenge for Hubert, especially when the police were doubly rough on a Black man in a nicer car at night. They didn’t care that Hubert was a respected businessman in Lexington’s Black community. They didn’t care that he was a funeral director, that his business had buried almost all the murder victims of a serial killer loose in the area. The police might have had something to say, though, if they knew that Hubert and Jessie had murdered a woman named Blondeen. Love a wild romp between the pages? Then you’ll be overjoyed with the opening two-thirds of “Love, Honor, Betray,” where infidelity becomes an art form.

It’s rowdy and fun, in fact, until the book’s pinnacle, at a point where author Mary Monroe might seem to be wrapping things up. But look: there’s a chunk of book left, and that’s where everything falls apart.

It’s as if someone took a hammer to the plot here and busted it to pieces. Characters act contrary to the personalities that were built up for them for 200 solid pages, and they do things that feel disrespectful to gay readers. This destroys the sense of fun that accompanied the everybody-sleeps-around chaos early in the book. Is it merciful or irritating, then, that the story doesn’t tie up loose threads, but it just ends?

Readers who are comfortable not finishing a book will enjoy this one, if they put it aside before it’s done. Go too far into “Love, Honor, Betray,” though, and you’ll be sorry you finished the whole thing.

Low-priced, high-value rides: Kia Sportage, Nissan Rogue

Finally, car buyers are paying less than the sticker price for a new car

By JOE PHILLIPS

Hallelujah For the first time in two years, car buyers are paying less than the sticker price on a new car. After a years-long economic rollercoaster driven by the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and a gaping shortage of microchips needed to produce cars and trucks vehicle inventory is finally up. And automaker incentives those much-touted discounts and cash-back offers are back, too.

But lest you think we’ve returned to the days of pre-COVID pricing, here’s a reality check The average price for a new vehicle in 201 was just shy of 3 ,000, while this year it is expected to top yikes 50,000.

That’s why the two compact crossovers reviewed here are so appealing. Both look sassy, handle sharply and are chock-full of standard gear. Best of all, sticker prices on these rides start below 30,000.

KIA SPORTAGE

$28,000

MPG: 25 city/32 highway

0 to 60 mph: 9.3 seconds

awake. There are also a dozen trim levels, with three priced below 30,000. This includes a fuel-friendly hybrid, with up to 44 miles per gallon on the highway. My test vehicle was the -Pro Prestige, which was fully decked out. My only complaint was the tepid engine, which is pokey compared with the hybrid and some other highly competitive crossovers. Luckily, I really enjoyed the capable handling and braking. And overall, it would be hard to resist the class-leading warranty and passenger room in the Sportage, as well as that tantalizing design.

NISSAN ROGUE

$28,000

MPG: 30 city/37 highway

0 to 60 mph: 8.4 seconds

Think of the Kia Sportage as Dorian Gray an alluring crossover that never gets old. The popular Sportage is the automaker’s longest-running nameplate in America, arriving here in the mid-1 0s. But this fifth-gen version completely redesigned for 2023 mirrors the edgy, come-hither look of a luxe-laden Lexus N . There’s a slightly obnoxious, wraparound grille, which caused more than a few raised eyebrows each time I zipped around town. And don’t ask me why, but the design of the hiked-up rear-end reminded me of a buff Tom of Finland character wearing spikey heels those would be Jimmy Choo or Christian Louboutin pumps, of course, not any of that clunky Naturalizer stuff. In other words, the Sportage could easily set tongues wagging at your next drag story-time event. Inside, the hedonism continues, with an obscenely wide digital monitor that stretches almost fully across the dashboard. This includes a 12.3-inch instrument panel and 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system. Even the base model gets heated seats, and the rear seats both slide and recline. Remote keyless entry, smartphone integration and Wi-Fi hotspot are standard. So are various safety features, such as forward-collision warning, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist and a driver-attention system that can sense if you are getting drowsy. But trust me, with all the sybaritic delights including heated steering wheel, premium stereo, panoramic sunroof, and satin chrome accents there is plenty here to keep you

ROGUE

The iconic Nissan Rogue was completely redesigned in 2021. As with the Kia Sportage, this means snazzier styling inside and out as well as improved handling and a uieter interior. But there also are some key differences. The Sportage aunts a more in-yourface exterior, has better towing capacity, and is available as a hybrid or plug-in hybrid. Kia also offers a better warranty, and its vehicles have higher reliability ratings. Yet while the Sportage has more rear-seat legroom, the Rogue boasts more front-seat legroom and headroom. The Rogue also has a larger fuel tank, so fewer stops at the gas station, as well as better horsepower and tor ue. And the Rogue is a bit narrower and has a smaller turning radius, which makes it somewhat easier to maneuver. I enjoyed testing the Sportage, as noted above. But the Rogue was just as delightful in its own way. While the exterior design may be more sedate on the Rogue, it is still beguiling. Yes, the interior is low-key, but it echoes the restrained cabin of a sporty BMW. This included a simple-yet-refined dashboard, upscale trim and pleasing soft-touch materials throughout. There is no ginormous, IMA -like digital display as in the Sportage, but the sleek easy-to-use infotainment touchscreen does sit prominently atop the dash. Acceleration, cornering and braking were all sure and capable, and standard safety features included automated emergency braking with pedestrian detection as well as blind-spot monitor with rear cross-tra c alert. Choosing either the Sportage or the Rogue is like choosing between, say, the sparkly RuPaul or the spellbinding actress Daniela Vega. Personally, it would be a thrill to drive anywhere with either one.

KIA SPORTAGE

NISSAN

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