Glencore said to prepare sweetened Teck bid

Thomas Biesheuvel, Dinesh Nair and Jacob Lorinc, Bloomberg News

Glencore Plc is getting closer to increasing its offer for Teck Resources Ltd., in a move aimed at ending weeks of limbo in the battle over the Canadian miner’s future.

The Switzerland-based commodities giant is working on a potential improvement to its bid that could be announced as soon as the coming weeks, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. By raising its offer and ratcheting up shareholder pressure, Glencore is seeking to force Teck to the negotiating table, the people said.

The bitter fight that transfixed the mining world moved behind the scenes since late April, when Teck’s board was forced into an embarrassing reversal after failing to win enough investor support for a plan to split the company. Teck at the time reiterated its opposition to Glencore’s US$23 billion bid, and Glencore repeated that it was willing to go higher, but there has been little public movement since then.

Teck’s Class B shares rose 0.3 per cent to C$51.93 at 9:53 a.m. in Toronto.

The situation remains fluid, and Glencore’s plans could still change, the people said. Even if it can deliver a big enough increase to win over Teck’s shareholders, management and investors, there is still a potentially larger hurdle to face: Norman Keevil, the Canadian mining patriarch whose family’s “supervoting” shares give him a veto on any big decisions, has come out strongly against a Glencore takeover.

Still, an increased bid would add pressure on Teck’s board, which has been forced back to square one on its strategy to split out its coal business after April’s failed vote. While Glencore has been reluctant to boost its offer without some sort of engagement, some Teck shareholders have told the Swiss miner and trader they want to see a higher bid before they will be willing to exert more pressure in its favor, some of the people said.

There have been no recent discussions between the two sides, the people said, as Teck refuses to negotiate about a deal it has consistently called a “non-starter.”

Instead, the two companies have been travelling the globe to pitch investors on their competing visions for Teck’s future, the people said, with Teck Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Price meeting with top shareholder China Investment Corp., while Glencore executives jetted to Ottawa to make their case to Canadian officials.

Spokespeople for Glencore and Teck declined to comment. Calls to CIC’s office weren’t answered outside regular business hours.

The fight over Teck’s future reflects a revived appetite for dealmaking across the mining world, as well as the difficult questions facing companies with large coal operations.

An increased bid by Glencore would be the latest escalation in the battle that went public in early April after Teck’s board and controlling shareholder publicly rejected its earlier proposal. The Swiss commodities giant offered to buy Teck and then create two new companies combining their respective metals and coal businesses.

For Glencore, the deal would be company defining, allowing it to create one of the world’s biggest miners of metals while jettisoning its increasingly unpopular — but highly profitable — coal business in the process.

For its part, Teck has spent years considering options for its own coal operations before announcing a complicated plan to spin off a coal company that would continue funneling profits back to the metals business for several years following the split. Teck has one of the best copper growth pipelines among all the big miners, but has been depending on profits from its coal business to fund it.

The Canadian miner says it still sees a split as the best option, but now faces a race against time to come up with a new and simpler plan that won’t leave the metals business exposed. It has said it’s “working around the clock,” including engaging with counterparties interested in buying its coal assets.

One interested buyer is Canadian mining financier Pierre Lassonde, who has expressed interest in acquiring the coal assets with a consortium of investors. Teck is also engaging other coal producers, as well as considering options including a stake sale or possible listing.

Any takeover of Teck would face scrutiny from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, which has considerable latitude to block foreign acquisitions and has recently clamped down on foreign investment in Canada’s critical minerals industry. Trudeau and top government officials have been careful not to take a definitive stance on Glencore’s proposal but have indicated tacit support for the Vancouver-based company.

Equinor postponing Bay du Nord oil project off Newfoundland for up to three years

Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press

Eldar Saetre, CEO of Equinor, speaking as he gives the company quarterly capital market update in London, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. Equinor is pausing its plans to develop the Bay du Nord oil project, which would open a fifth oilfield off the coast of Newfoundland. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Alastair Grant)

Equinor is pausing its plans to develop a controversial $16-billion oil project off Newfoundland’s east coast.

The Norwegian energy giant announced Wednesday that it was postponing its plans for the Bay du Nord oil project for up to three years. The project has seen significant cost increases in recent months, mostly due to volatile market conditions, the company said in a news release.

Trond Bokn, Equinor's senior vice-president of project development, said the company will reassess the project to see if "further optimizations" can be made.

“Bay du Nord is an important project for Equinor," he said in a news release.

The Bay du Nord comprises five different discovery areas that are said to hold a total of 979 million barrels of recoverable oil, according to estimates in February from Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore oil regulator. The development would open the province's fifth offshore oilfield and be its first deep-water oil project.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s latest provincial budget factored in economic gains from the Bay du Nord project beginning in 2025.

The federal government gave the project environmental approval last April, drawing sharp criticism from environmentalists. Equinor and the Newfoundland and Labrador government have said the project will produce far fewer greenhouse gas emissions while extracting oil than any other project in Canada. But environmentalists and climate scientists counter that the bulk of the greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels are produced when they are burned as fuel.

In March, a lawyer representing environment and Indigenous groups argued in Federal Court that the federal approval of the project was flawed because it did not consider these “downstream” emissions.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said in January that approving Bay du Nord was the “most difficult decision” he’s had to make since assuming the portfolio in 2021.

At the time, Equinor had not yet confirmed it would make the full investment necessary to carry the project through to development. The company’s website says that before the delay, the Bay du Nord project was forecast to produce its first oil by the end of the decade.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on May 31, 2023.

How happy are Canadians in the workplace? Satisfaction is on the rise

Ben Cousins, BNN Bloomberg

May 31, 2023

A woman in an office is seen in this file image. (Pexels)

A new report found nearly half of Canadian workers feel satisfied in their current working life with happiness climbing in most demographics.

According to ADP Canada’s Happiness@Work Index for May, the National Work Happiness Score reached 6.7 out of 10, representing an increase 0.1 points from April.

ADP says the May Index means about 44 per cent of Canadian workers feel satiated with their role and responsibilities. Increases were also reported in the categories of compensation and benefits, recognition and support and career advancement options.

Haslam, ADP Canada’s vice-president of marketing, told BNNBloomberg.ca the latest trend is “very good news” for the workplace.

“It is really important that working Canadians have healthy relationships at work, and that Canadian employers are actually focused on the happiness of their team in order to get the best out of them,” she said.

Work happiness climbed or remained the same in every geographic location with the exception of Alberta, which fell 0.4 points to 6.5.

Haslam said that while the report doesn’t examine factors behind the happiness levels, she can speculate as to what might be behind the decline.

“My guess would be that things like fires in Alberta impact people's home lives and what we know about people is we're whole people, what it is that's impacting our personal life … certainly does bleed into the workplace,” she said.

When it comes to age demographics, work happiness among those aged 56 to 75 declined by 0.1 points, while the other demographics either climbed marginally or remained the same.

For the coming months, Haslam calls herself an “optimist” and hopes for the happiness trend to continue through the summer.

“I love patio season in Canada and so I'll admit to you that I believe that it will continue to go up,” she said. “I think one of the key elements that we need to be looking at is really what it is that's driving it, which is why I'm very interested in both the regional as well as the generational differences that we find on the Happiness@Work Index.”

Methodology

The Happiness@Work Index is measured monthly through a survey fielded by Maru Public Opinion on behalf of ADP Canada and is undertaken by the sample and data collection experts at Maru/Blue. The survey is run in the first week of each reported month for consistency purposes and asks over 1,200 randomly selected employed Canadian adults (including both employees and self-employed individuals) who are Maru Voice Canada online panelists to rate workplace factors on a scale from 1 to 10. Discrepancies in or between totals when compared to the data tables are due to rounding. 

The results are weighted by education, age, gender and region (and in Québec, language) to match the population, according to Census data. This is to ensure the sample is representative of the entire adult population of Canada. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size has an estimated margin of error (which measures sampling variability) of +/-2.8%, 19 times out of 20. 

Trans Mountain pipeline gets extra government support as costs balloon

Robert Tuttle, Bloomberg News

The Trans Mountain pipeline received additional support from the Canadian government after the cost to expand the controversial Alberta-to-British Columbia oil conduit jumped 44 per cent in March.

The government, which guaranteed loans last year that allowed the project to secure $10 billion (US$7.4 billion) of private financing, has since provided an additional $2.5 to $3 billion for the Trans Mountain expansion in two separate backstops, according to information posted on the Export Development Canada website. 

One guarantee was issued in March and the other in May. Last year’s loan guarantees were extended after the costs of the project increased 70 per cent and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said that no additional public money would be invested in Trans Mountain.

Trans Mountain has faced repeated cost increases and regulatory delays since the expansion project was first proposed a decade ago. In March, the company announced that the cost of expanding the pipeline system’s capacity to 890,000 barrels a day rose to $30.9 billion — the latest of a series of increases over recent years — because of factors including inflation, supply chain challenges, floods in British Columbia, unexpected archaeological discoveries and challenging terrain.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decided to nationalize the system in 2018, paying Kinder Morgan Inc. $4.5 billion after the midstream company threatened to cancel the expansion amid fierce local opposition and rising costs. 

Last June, Canada’s budget watchdog said the line would be a “net loss” for taxpayers. The expansion project has incurred $21.5 billion in construction capital spending costs plus $2.8 billion in financial carrying costs since project inception, the company said in its first-quarter financial statement. 

“To meet obligations as they become due, TMC will require additional funding through external financing,” the company said. External financing is expected to be obtained in “timely manner” and on satisfactory terms, but “there is no assurance that external financing will be obtained.”

BAD BOSS

Shopify faces class action over severance offered to recently laid off staff

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

A class-action lawsuit alleges Shopify Inc. reneged on a deal it offered some employees who were laid off in a recent round of cuts.

The class action alleges some of the Ottawa software business' employees laid off at the start of May were presented with departure packages outlining hefty severance sums they would be entitled to should they sign the agreement within a few days.

However, once workers signed the agreements and before the deadline passed, Shopify allegedly told departing staff they would instead be given substantially smaller sums than were initially offered.

"The individuals did the reasonable thing, which is to accept, only to be told even though we made you reasonable offers, even though you accepted that reasonable offer, we're just not going to do it and you have to sign a brand new agreement for a much lesser amount,” said Lior Samfiru, a lawyer pursuing the case.

“It just doesn’t work like that. I review severance packages every day and have 21 years of doing this and I have never seen any employer ever do anything like that.”

The class action's plaintiff Iain Russell, who worked for Shopify for seven years, says he was initially offered more than $88,000, which he accepted. Then, Shopify allegedly put forward a roughly $44,000 agreement. If he did not accept the $44,000 offer, he was told he would receive about $36,000.

When their severance offers were revised, Samfiru said workers were sent a “vague statement about miscalculating.”

"For many people...the difference is significant," Samfiru said.

"We've seen anywhere from a $10,000 to $50,000 and $60,000 difference between what individuals accepted and what Shopify now says they're not going to get. We are not talking about anything minor here."

Samfiru alleges Shopify's actions constitute a breach of contract and is seeking $80 million in damages and $50 million in punitive, aggravated and exemplary damages.

Those amounts could change based on how many workers were presented with shifting offers, he said.

Shopify did not respond to a request for comment.

The company reduced its head count by 20 per cent at the start of the month and by 10 per cent last year.

The company refused to give the number of staff that would be departing the company during the May cut, but it reported in a regulatory filing that it had 11,600 employees at the end of 2022. Twenty per cent of that amounts to about 2,300 people.

In an open letter announcing the layoff, Shopify founder and chief executive Tobi Lütke promised departing staff at least 16 weeks of severance plus a week for every year of tenure at Shopify. Medical benefits and an employee assistance program will cover departing staff over the same period.

Those leaving will also be able to keep their office furniture and though they'll have turn in their company laptops, Lütke said Shopify promised to help pay for new ones.

He positioned the layoff, which came at the time as Shopify sold its logistics business, as an effort to reduce distracting “side quests” that divert attention away from the company’s main goals.

“I recognize the crushing impact this decision has on some of you, and did not make this decision lightly,” Lütke wrote.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2023

INSTITUTIONAL WHITE SUPREMACY

Nurses report frequent experiences of racism in new survey
Story by Cara Tabachnick • Yesterday 

Public sector nurses rally in New York City© Selcuk Acar/ via Getty Images

Nurses report seeing or hearing racism and experiencing discrimination from almost 80% of their patients, according to a survey released on Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Asian, Black and Latino nurses are significantly more likely to experience racist microaggressions than their White peers, and they told researchers that patients frequently use racial slurs or question their credentials.

Six in 10 nurses also reported they face discrimination from their colleagues as well, according to the survey. Of the nurses who have experienced racism or discrimination, 9 in 10 said it has affected their well-being and mental health.

And even though an overwhelming majority of nurses faced some form of racism, few reported the incidents. Just 1 in 4 nurses reported the discrimination they saw or experienced to management, the survey said.

Nurses said that increasing diversity in management would help address the issues, as well as more training on diversity, equity and inclusion. Eight in 10 nurses said "zero-tolerance workplace discrimination policies, clear consequences, and reporting anonymity" would improve the ability to retain racially and ethnically diverse nurses.

"We as nurses must hold ourselves accountable for our own behavior and work to change the systems that perpetuate racism and other forms of discrimination," Beth Toner, a registered nurse and director of program communications at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said in a news statement

Researchers surveyed 980 nurses in March and April 2022 to gather their experiences and perceptions of racism. These latest findings follow a 2022 survey of 5,600 nurses released last year by the National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing in which half the nurses agreed there is "a lot" of racism in nursing.

There are about 4.2 million registered nurses in the United States, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, comprising the largest component of the healthcare profession.

Why 4 dead California sea otters have scientists so alarmed

Story by Melanie Haiken • Yesterday 

National Geographic

A southern sea otter, an endangered subspecies, feeds on a clam in California's Monterey Bay.

Photograph By Suzi Eszterhas, Nature Picture Library

This spring, wildlife officials in California did something unusually dramatic—they sounded a public alarm over the deaths of four wild sea otters infected with an extremely rare parasite.

This strain of Toxoplasma gondii, the single-celled parasite that causes the disease toxoplasmosis, has never been recorded before in the U.S. It's also unusually virulent and could pose a threat to other mammals—including people.

The otters, found dead on California’s central coast between 2020 and 2022, had “astronomically high levels of parasites and massive numbers in the fat, which was severely inflamed,” says Melissa Miller, a wildlife veterinary specialist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. That’s a notable contrast to other types of toxoplasmosis, which typically affect an animal’s brain and central nervous system.

“These otters looked sicker and died faster than otters infected with other strains. We’re talking weeks rather than months or years,” says Miller, a co-author of a new study published in Frontiers in Marine Science. (Learn how this common parasite manipulates the minds of its hosts.)

Infecting at least a third of the world’s human population at any given time, Toxoplasma can only reproduce in the intestines of domestic or wild cats, which is the reason pregnant women are warned not to clean cat litter boxes. Though usually mild, the parasite is widespread in nature, affecting all warm-blooded mammals; 60 percent of adult southern sea otters have active infections, Miller says. The southern sea otter, a subspecies, is endangered in California, with only 300 animals remaining.

“These findings completely shocked us,” says Karen Shapiro, an associate professor with the University of California, Davis’ School of Veterinary Medicine.

“We’ve been characterizing other types of toxoplasmosis in sea otters for 20 years, but this was a complete doozy—a strain linked to a really severe form of disease we’ve never seen before. We needed to let people know,” says Shapiro, also a study co-author.

Genetic analysis revealed another surprise: The parasite strain was a match with samples taken from two Canadian mountain lions nearly 30 years ago. That strain, dubbed COUG for its origin, was detected and identified after residents of Victoria, British Columbia, contracted toxoplasmosis from contaminated drinking water.

People can also be exposed through their cats, or from some foods, such as undercooked meat and raw shellfish. Symptoms, if there are any, include mild fever and muscle aches—but some people, especially those who are immunocompromised, can develop severe illnesses, with damage to the brain and other organs. (Read how toxoplasmosis can impact human brains.)

At least five additional suspected COUG cases in otters are currently in various stages of testing, Shapiro adds.

“The more cases we find and the more we learn, the more we need to figure out how to protect animals and people."

Trickster parasite

After Toxoplasma enters the ocean through stormwater runoff, the parasite is picked up and concentrated by shellfish and crabs, which are favorite foods of southern sea otters. Researchers recently linked another group of T. gondii variants known as type X with cats from nearby watersheds, cementing the land-sea connection.

T. gondii can survive in seawater for as long as two years. The parasite can also go dormant for years, hiding out in cells, then reactivating if a host’s immune system weakens.

“Theyʻre considered one of the most widely successful parasites globally because they have so many tricks up their sleeves to move themselves around and hide in hosts,” Miller says.

And they may be getting a boost from increased precipitation in the West.

California's recent intense rains, flooding, and high tides, expected to intensify due to climate change, could increase the amount of Toxoplasma-infected cat fecal matter flowing into the ocean. However, Shapiro cautions more long-term studies are needed to draw solid conclusions. (Read how heavier rainfall will increase water pollution.)

To connect the dots, scientists are studying a host of different parasites and pathways by which they’re making their way through the environment. Shapiro’s research has found more Toxoplasma in mussels collected during the wet season than during the dry season, while another study linked increased levels of the parasite in the ocean with increased precipitation.

Another fatal disease

Scientists have confirmed a land-sea-rainfall connection with another parasite, Sarcocystis neuroma, which receives less attention because it isn’t a human pathogen. Hosted in possums rather than cats, sarco, as it’s called, is easier to track because the disease develops more rapidly. In one such event, 40 sea otters died on one 12-mile stretch of coastline. (Read how toxoplasmosis is harming endangered seals in Hawaii.)

“We do see a pretty close trend where usually if thereʻs a big storm that comes through, several weeks later we get an uptick in sarco cases,” says Devinn Marie Sinnott, a veterinary pathologist and Ph.D. student at UC Davis who is studying the phenomenon.

Sinnott spent the past rainy winter worried about the arrival of every new storm. “Part of me knew we needed the rain, but part of me feels dread because I know we’re going to see a lot of sick otters soon. It’s a little heartbreaking.”

The bigger picture

Meanwhile, the researchers hope that the public’s love for sea otters and other marine life will focus attention on the ways land use and development is affecting the sea environment.

“It’s not only climate change that we’re responsible for, it’s also the ways we have altered coastal environments so that there is profoundly more pollution entering the sea,” says Shapiro.

“The fact that we’ve filled in all these wetlands and paved all these parking lots and driveways means there is nowhere for the water to go other than downstream, and the water is entering the sea with much more force, carrying the parasites with it.”

What’s more, sea otters have nowhere else to go, Sinnott says. The southern sea otter’s range is limited by the rise in great white shark populations to the north and south. (Read how some sea otters are rebounding in western North America.)

“Sea otters are already under a lot of pressure from habitat loss, contact with oil spills, shark bites, and other diseases, and their population numbers are still trying to recover from their historic low,” Sinnott says.

“If we want to preserve and conserve this keystone species, we really do need to consider this land-sea connection and how climate change is affecting their population health.”

NOVA SCOTIA

Rolling like a freight train:’ How province’s other major wildfire keeps getting bigger

Story by Mitchell Bailey • Yesterday


The wildfire that began at Barrington Lake, Shelburne Co. Nova Scotia, has since grown to 17,186 hectares and caused over 5,000 people to evacuate from their homes. It's now been documented as the largest wildfire in Nova Scotia history. 

Credit: Communications Nova Scotia

As more than 16,400 residents have evacuated their homes due to an 867-hectare wildfire in the Halifax area, an even larger fire is continuing to rage on in southwestern Nova Scotia.

The fire occupying an enormous wooded region in Shelburne County isn't just slightly larger; on Wednesday, it was reported at 17,602 hectares, making one of the largest wildfires in Nova Scotia history.

On Wednesday evening, additional mandatory evacuations were ordered for the area.

An emergency alert issued by the province at around 6:15 p.m. said the fire was travelling from the Municipality of Barrington in a northeast direction, and had crossed into the Municipality of Shelburne.

Some civic addresses are under a mandatory evacuation. Shelburne County East Emergency Management also posted some addresses that are "recommended" for evacuation. Both Facebook posts are as follows:

The blaze, reported on Saturday, is believed to have started near Barrington Lake and has since spread throughout the Shelburne County area.

David Rockwood, public information officer for Shelburne, said the fire is still out-of-control and noted a substantial increase in the number of homes lost.

"We are confident that we've lost about 50 residences in the area," he said during Wednesday's provincial update on the fires.

"We're concerned about it, it's still very active, it's very fast-moving. We're at those crucial hours of the day right now, wind is up, temperature is up, and the relative humidity is down, and this is where the fire can definitely take off on us," said Rockwood, referring to the persistent dry, warm weather in the province.

"This thing has been getting up and rolling like a freight train."

Related video: Wildfires burn through Nova Scotia (The Washington Post)

Duration 0:54  View on Watch

In the same press conference, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston confirmed that eight water bombers have arrived from New Brunswick and are currently fighting the blaze in the Shelburne area.

"The Shelburne fire is a breathtaking fire for sure," he said.

"Unprecedented resources are being used because these fires are unprecedented but the effort going into the response is significant," said Houston as he reiterated measures taken by the province to reduce the potential of additional wildfires, such as the current ban on all travel into wooded areas and a province-wide burn ban.

In addition, Houston thanked the federal government for supplying coast guard support to Shelburne.

"The Prime Minister has told me time and time again that he will be there, the federal government will be there for Nova Scotians; we need them to be there for Nova Scotians, we have made the ask," he said, adding that the province has applied for support under the disaster financial assistance program.

Nolan Young, MLA for Shelburne, referred to the wildfire as being "unlike anything I've ever seen" during an interview with Global News on Wednesday morning.

"There have been some houses that have been lost due to the conditions and the smoke and the intensity of this fire, at one point there were 300-foot flames in the air."

"We're not turning things away at this point," he said while expressing gratitude for firefighters and other front-line workers, acknowledging that all the responding firefighters stepping forward from the Shelburne County area are volunteers.

"We're trying to secure some more water bombers to come to the area ... we need more air support ... I know we have some more volunteers that'll be coming from across the province, we're working with other provinces, we're working with the federal government to secure as much support as we can," said Young.

In addition to the eight airplanes from New Brunswick, the province announced on Wednesday afternoon that there are currently two water bombers from Newfoundland and one helicopter on the scene to fight the fire.

Seventy DNRR firefighters, 40 volunteer firefighters and four helicopters remain on the scene while battling the blaze.

As of Wednesday afternoon, 2,350 homes and 5,000 people have been evacuated in response to the ongoing fire, with all schools in Shelburne County being closed on Wednesday.

Despite being tasked with one of the biggest challenges in the area's history, Young said the community has been great in standing together and supporting each other.

"People really pull together, we have warming centers set up, we have shelters set up, we have people staying with friends and family ... people set up in campers with all kinds of food, so they're well supported when they get out," he said.

According to Young, 66 elderly residents and care staff from the Roseway Manor, a non-profit nursing home, were evacuated due to the building's proximity to the fire and have since been provided shelter at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S.

On Monday morning, the Municipality of the District of Shelburne declared a local state emergency that will remain in effect for the next seven days.

The Canadian Red Cross has since set up shelter centers for evacuees at the Sandy Wickens Memorial Arena in Shelburne and at the Barrington Municipal Arena in Barrington.

GOP Gov. Kristi Noem Demands Drag Show Ban While Touting 'Free Speech'

BY ANDREW STANTON 

NEWSWEEK

ON 5/27/23

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem called for a ban on drag performances at public universities in a memo that also touted efforts to protect "free speech" on college campuses.

Noem released a memo on Friday detailing new plans to improve higher education in South Dakota, which currently has a 6-year graduation rate below the national average. In the memo, Noem calls for a flurry of new policies aimed at making the state a model for "strong, conservative" higher education. Noem's plan, however, is also facing scrutiny for allegedly calling for restrictions on LGBTQ+ students' rights, including the removal of any mentions of "preferred pronouns" in school materials and a ban on drag shows.

Noem's higher education plans come amid an ongoing debate about how issues of sexual orientation and gender identity should be approached in a broad range of institutions, including colleges, which have long sought to strike a balance between safeguards for LGBTQ+ students and the free speech of those who oppose the expansion of rights for the LGBTQ+ community.

Republican-led states have emphasized efforts to protect those "free speech" rights while also rolling back protections for the LGBTQ+ community in schools, saying that educational institutions should not be engaged in "divisive" topics. Critics, meanwhile, have accused GOP lawmakers of targeting an already-marginalized group, calling for stronger protections against discrimination against LGBTQ+ students.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem speaks in Washington, D.C. on February 17. Noem released a new plan to improve higher education in her state on Friday that calls for a ban on drag performances on college campuses, despite also urging new protections for free speech.

ANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES

Noem, a social conservative who has been named as a potential future presidential candidate, expressed opposition to drag shows in her education plan while also calling on the removal of "any policies" that "prohibit" students from expressing their free speech rights.

"The Board of Regents should go further and remove any policies or procedures that prohibit students from exercising their right to free speech. Recently, Black Hills State University came under fire for one such policy that limited student speech – thankfully, the policy was removed. We must prepare our students to discuss and debate opposing ideas in a civil way," the memo reads.

In the next paragraph of the memo, however, Noem called for a ban on drag performances, saying that "divisive theories" surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity should not be "celebrated" using public funds.

"Next, the Board of Regents should prohibit drag shows from taking place on university campuses. Gender theories can and should be debated in college classrooms, but these divisive theories shouldn't be celebrated through public performances on taxpayer-owned property at taxpayer-funded schools," Noem wrote.

Ex-Trump official blasts anti-trans boycott

Newsweek reached out to Noem's office for comment via email.

While Republicans have pushed for protecting the free speech of conservatives who do not support LGBTQ+ rights, critics have accused them of disregarding the freedom of speech of drag performers through their support for banning these performances in public.

In March, a judge appointed by former President Donald Trump ruled against Tennessee's ban on drag performances, citing concerns that such a ban would violate the First Amendment rights of drag performers.

HOMOPHOBIA IS COLONIZATION
Anti-LGBTQ disinformation surges online in East Africa


Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has signed into law a controversial anti-gay bill - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP CHIP SOMODEVILLA

James OKONG'O
 AFP
Published May 31, 2023

Anti-LGBTQ bills in Kenya and Uganda have unleashed an unprecedented wave of online disinformation targeting the community, with experts accusing political leaders of spreading falsehoods that put lives at risk.

Social media platforms have been rife with false claims, including one alleging that Kenya’s president called for the killing of gay people and another that the United States ordered Uganda to legalise homosexuality.

“Politicians (in Kenya and Uganda) have tapped into populist homophobia to keep themselves relevant to the masses,” said Nairobi-based political analyst and journalist Patrick Gathara.

“An anti-LGBTQ stance translates into one being accepted by voters.”

Homosexuality remains a taboo across much of Africa, where gay people are often forced to hide their sexual orientation out of fear for their safety.

Opinion polls show that many East Africans believe that the lifestyle of LGBTQ people threatens traditional values.

Uganda announced on Monday that President Yoweri Museveni had signed into law a draconian bill prescribing harsh measures including the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” in certain circumstances, although Uganda has not carried out capital punishment for many years.

Gay sex is also a crime under colonial-era legislation in neighbouring Kenya whose President William Ruto recently declared that homosexuality was a Western import incompatible with his nation’s “customs, traditions, Christianity and Islam”.

A proposal calling for the criminalisation of homosexuality is currently before parliament, spurring false claims that the bill had already been approved.

– ‘Constant lies’ –

The brutal murder in January of prominent Kenyan LGBTQ campaigner Edwin Chiloba sparked national and global outcry. While a man reported to be his lover was charged over the killing, the case put the spotlight on rising homophobia in the region.

In the aftermath of Chiloba’s death, several false reports began to circulate online, such as claims that Ruto called for the killing of people in same-sex relationships.

The claim was shared via a graphic made to look like it came from local news site Kenyans.co.ke, which rejected it as fake.

“We did not publish the graphic calling for the killing of gay people, that information is false,” the outlet told AFP.

In February, a ruling by Kenya’s Supreme Court further stoked anti-gay discourse.

The court ruled that the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission must be allowed to register as a non-governmental organisation — a decision which incensed conservatives.

In a rare show of agreement, Ruto and opposition leader Raila Odinga both ranks criticised the ruling, arguing that Kenya was a religious nation and that the court had overstepped its mandate.

Following the legal decision, a video emerged on social media in Kenya and Uganda purporting to show US President Joe Biden vilifying gay people.

AFP Fact Check’s investigation showed the clip was a deep fake.

Another conspiracy theory that surfaced after the Supreme Court announcement claimed that Kenya was struggling economically because of LGBTQ people.

Kevin Mwachiro, an openly gay LGBTQ rights activist from Kenya, said the ruling had been misinterpreted as meaning that homosexuality would be legalised.

Political and religious leaders “have used misinformation to twist the reality and this puts LGBTQ people’s lives at risk,” he told AFP.

“The constant lies make queer people misunderstood. They need to be supported, not persecuted.”

– Politics of homophobia –

The LGBTQ community also lacks critical legal protection in Uganda, where homosexuality was criminalised under colonial laws, although there has never been a conviction for consensual same-sex activity since independence from Britain in 1962.

Lawmakers in March approved a new bill criminalising anyone coming out as LGBTQ. It also introduced the death penalty in certain cases in what UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said was “probably among the worst of its kind in the world”, while the United States threatened economic repercussions.

In the face of international pressure, the legislation was revised to clarify that identifying as gay without engaging in sexual acts would not be outlawed.

But it nonetheless generated disinformation, including claims that a viral video showed a White House spokesman allegedly threatening to pull US aid unless Uganda legalised homosexuality.

In reality, the clip — which drew thousands of shares on platforms like TikTok and Facebook — was from 2014, when Washington briefly halted financial assistance in response to Uganda’s anti-gay bill.

But following Museveni’s approval of the revised legislation, Biden on Monday threatened to cut aid and investment in the East African country.

Experts warn that homophobic rhetoric is unlikely to abate on the continent.

“Many people in Kenya and Uganda have strict views on sexuality and an intolerance toward homosexuality because they have been conditioned to believe that homosexuality is un-African — they view sex through a different lens,” said Melody Njuki of the Kenyan Initiative for Equality and Non-Discrimination.