AUGUST 03,
2018
VOLUME 49
ISSUE 31
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AMERICA’S LGBTQ NEWS SOURCE
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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM
LGBT groups ramp up efforts against Trump as elections near By CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@washblade.com With fewer than 100 days remaining before the 2018 congressional mid-term elections, LGBT groups are ramping up efforts to channel the “resist” movement into action and elect a new Congress able to place a check on President Trump. Chief among those efforts is the Human Rights Campaign’s #TurnOUT campaign, a $26 million effort that seeks to mobilize and get to the polls LGBT rights supporters are seeking to channel the energy of the resist movement into action in the midterm elections. PHOTO BY MARK DIXON; COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Parkland survivors touring country to combat gun violence By KAREN OCAMB
EMMA GONZÁLEZ is touring the country this summer with other Parkland shooting survivors. BLADE PHOTO BY KAREN OCAMB
LOS ANGELES — Emma González is famous now. She’d rather be enjoying the summer before college hanging out with friends. But the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., stole away that carefree freedom, morally forcing the survivors to take on the responsibility of doing something about the gun violence that has impacted more than 150,000 students in the two decades since the mass shooting at Columbine High School. The 18-year-old senior first caught America’s attention as the furious-faced warrior, fighting back tears, chastising politicians beholden to the National Rifle Association. “All these people should be home grieving. But instead we are up here standing together because if all our government and President can do is send thoughts and prayers, then it’s time for victims to
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be the change that we need to see,” González said at an angry rally at the Federal Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale three days after the shooting. “To every politician who is taking donations from the NRA, shame on you!” González let loose: “Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA, telling us nothing could have ever been done to prevent this: We call BS! They say that tougher gun laws do not decrease gun violence: We call BS! They say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun: We call BS!” A string of public appearances followed, helping generate funding for a national March For Our Lives tour to spread the message about gun violence prevention and nullifying the power of the NRA. “ On Feb. 26, Harpers Bazaar published an essay by González, with photos of her at a Valentine’s Day event one hour before the shooting and another (with hair) decked out for Pride week at school last year. CONTINUES ON PAGE 13