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Biden recognizes LGBTQ Pride Month Chris Johnson of The Washington Blade, Courtesy of the National LGBT Media Association
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ASHINGTON | President Joe Biden issued the first formal proclamation of his administration recognizing Pride Month June 1, telling LGBTQ people both at home and abroad they should “accept nothing less than full equality.” Biden’s proclamation kicks off Pride Month by remembering the 1969 riots at Stonewall Inn that started the modern LGBTQ movement, which he said was a “call
to action that continues to inspire us to live up to our nation’s promise of equality, liberty and justice for all.” Biden issued a Pride Month proclamation after the practice was abandoned under President Donald Trump, who largely ignored the occasion except for a solitary tweet in 2019. In contrast, former President Barack Obama issued a Pride proclamation each of his eight years in office. Obama also had a practice of holding an annual reception at the White House with LGBTQ leaders to commemorate Pride Month. The Biden White House, at a time when the nation is reemerging after the coronavirus pandemic, hasn’t said one way or the other whether it will hold a reception.
Estimating nearly 14% of the 1,500 agency appointees in the Biden administration identity as LGBTQ, Biden writes the LGBTQ community is now represented “in nearly every level of public office — in city halls and state capitals, governors’ mansions and the halls of the Congress, and throughout my administration.” Among his LGBTQ appointees are Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Rachel Levine, assistant secretary of health. Concluding his proclamation, Biden says Pride Month is a time to recognize “the resilience and determination of the many individuals who are fighting to live freely and authentically.”
parties in exotic places, including Puerto Vallarta, Las Vegas and Miami although his trademark extravaganza, White Party Palm Springs, had evolved into the nation’s largest gay dance music festival, attracting more than 30,000 attendees from every corner of the globe. Sanker moved to Los Angeles in 1987. His innovative technique of using landmark venues for trend-setting themed events was credited for breathing new life into the Los Angeles gay entertainment night scene. In addition to hosting superstar entertainment events, which included Lady Gaga, and other celebrities over
the years, Sanker is credited with launching the careers of many new up-and-coming performers. According to his biography, Sanker’s events featured high-caliber DJs/producers, including Dave Aude, the late Peter Rauhofer, Junior Vasquez, Victor Calderone, Freemasons, Manny Lehman, Rosabel and Tony Moran. Sanker also staged and produced fundraising events on behalf of numerous charities and community organizations, including Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing (GLEH), The Trevor Project, and Desert AIDS Project.
circuit party impresario Jeffrey Sanker dies at 65 Staff Reports of The Los Angeles Blade, Courtesy of the National LGBT Media Association
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OS ANGELES | Gay circuit party impresario Jeffrey Sanker, owner of the Los Angeles-based White Party Entertainment company, died May 28 at Cedars-Sinai Hospital with family members in attendance after a long battle with liver cancer. The 65-year-old West Hollywood resident had built his company and reputation on hosting large scale
Jewish museum, gay bar tagged with swastikas Wire Report
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NCHORAGE, Alaska | A tall, thin man wearing a hood and a mask was caught on a security camera plastering Nazi stickers on a Jewish museum in Alaska’s largest city early May 25. He drove a scooter to the Alaska Jewish Museum, placed one sticker on the door and jumped to place three more symbols of hate on windows before driving off, Rabbi Yosef Greenberg, the president of
the museum’s board of directors, said of what their video cameras showed happening. About 45 minutes later, another sticker was placed on the main entrance door to Mad Myrna’s, a gay bar in downtown Anchorage. Each white sticker was emblazoned with a black swastika, the symbol of the Nazi party, and targeted two groups associated with Holocaust victims. Written above and below the swastika are the words, “WE ARE EVERYWHERE.”
watermark Your LGBTQ life.
“What that sticker symbolizes is hate,” Anchorage police spokesperson MJ Thim told The Associated Press. “And we’re not going to stand for it.” Spokesperson Chloe Martin said the Anchorage FBI office is in regular contact with Anchorage police. “If, in the course of the local investigation, information comes to light of a potential federal civil rights violation, the FBI is prepared to investigate,” she said. Thim said to his knowledge, these were the first reports of such stickers showing up in Anchorage.
in other news Google donates $2 million to LGBTQ org Google donated $2 million to a fund that OutRight Action International created to support LGBTQ rights organizations around the world during the pandemic. A press release issued June 1 notes the LGBTQ organization “will be able to support at least an additional 100 LGBTIQ organizations in over 60 countries, reaching tens of thousands of people” because of Google.org’s, which manages Google’s charitable work, donation to its Covid-19 Global LGBTIQ Emergency Fund. OutRight Action International also notes Google.org will give it $1 million through Google Ad Grants to support its work. OutRight Action International launched the fund in April 2020.
Texas man pleads guilty to crimes against gay men A Dallas man pleaded guilty to federal hate crime charges stemming from a string of kidnappings and robberies that targeted gay men using a dating app, prosecutors announced June 3. Daniel Jenkins, 22, was the last of four men to plead guilty to charges arising from the 2017 scheme that used Grindr to lure men to an apartment where they were then robbed and assaulted. He pleaded guilty to five counts including hate crime and hate crime conspiracy. In 2019, Michael Atkinson, Daryl Henry and Pablo Ceniceros-Deleon pleaded guilty to a variety of charges in the case. They are set to be sentenced this month while Jenkins’ sentencing is scheduled for October.
In-person AIDS conference to take place in Montreal The International AIDS Society announced the 2022 International AIDS Conference will take place in-person in Montreal. The conference, which will also feature virtual events, is scheduled to take place from July 29-Aug. 2, 2022. “AIDS 2022, the world’s largest conference on HIV and AIDS, will convene leading scientists, policy makers and grassroots activists,” reads the International AIDS Society’s announcement. The 2020 International AIDS Conference was to have taken place in San Francisco and Oakland, California, but it took place virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Uganda police arrest 44 people at LGBTQ shelter Police in Uganda arrested 44 people May 31 at an LGBTQ shelter outside the country’s capital of Kampala. Frank Mugisha, executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, a Ugandan LGBTQ advocacy group, told the Washington Blade in an email the arrests took place in Nansana, a municipality in the Wakiso District. Mugisha in a tweet said prosecutors have charged 42 of the 44 people who were arrested with “negligent act likely to spread infection of disease.” Mugisha added authorities subjected them to so-called anal tests to determine whether they are gay. Mugisha said a bail hearing for 39 of the 44 people who were arrested took place June 2. Mugisha said three of those who were arrested have been released on bail.
June 10 - 2 3, 2021 // Issue 28 .12 wat e r m a r konline .com
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