REST IN 'PEACE'

A.B. Yehoshua, Israeli author and peace activist, dies at 85


Yesterday 

JERUSALEM (AP) — A.B. Yehoshua, a prominent Israeli author celebrated for his mastery of the Hebrew language and a leading peace activist, died on Tuesday. He was 85.

His death was confirmed by a Tel Aviv hospital, which said the cause death was cancer.

Abraham B. Yehoshua was born in Jerusalem in 1936. His work was widely translated and adapted to film and stage. His first book, “The Death of the Old Man," was published in 1962, and his most recent work, a novella entitled “The Third Temple” was published earlier this year. His other works include “The Lover," “A Late Divorce" and “Mr. Mani."

His writing won numerous literary awards including the Israel Prize in Literature in 1995.

Beyond his oeuvre, Yehoshua was a leading voice of the Israeli peace camp, joining fellow authors Amoz Oz and David Grossman in calling for a negotiated solution to the conflict with the Palestinians that would lead to the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that Yehoshua was “one of the great writers and storytellers of the state of Israel” whose “unforgettable creations will continue to accompany us for generations.”

Tamar Zandberg, a government minister with the dovish Meretz party, wrote on Twitter that Yehoshua “also took upon himself the significant moral role of championing peace and justice.”

Yehoshua will be laid to rest on Wednesday at a kibbutz in northern Israel.

The Associated Press

PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY

'War is good for business' as drive to arm Ukraine looms over French expo

By John Irish and Lucien Libert

June 13,2022

VILLEPINTE, France (Reuters) - Next to Ukraine's stand at the world's largest arms fair for ground forces on Monday, U.S. manufacturer Lockheed Martin proudly displays its anti-tank Javelin missile like a big brother protecting its younger sibling.


© Reuters/BENOIT TESSIEREurosatory international defence and security exhibition in Villepinte

The weapon has been key to Kyiv's defence against Moscow's invasion, and as France hosted the annual Eurosatory arms bazaar, the symbolism was not lost on some of the thousands of people who make, buy and use advanced weapons.


© Reuters/BENOIT TESSIEREurosatory international defence and security exhibition in Villepinte

"This year is all about Ukraine. War is good for business, but it's not something I am happy about," one eastern European manufacturer said speaking on condition of anonymity.

Returning after a COVID-19 pandemic hiatus, the exhibition bristles with weaponry from about 60 countries, including tanks, armoured vehicles, riot gear and display cases crammed with guns and ammunition.

This year, the world's second largest arms exporter is absent: three Russian manufacturers were set to come but pulled out. Meanwhile, among the 1,700 exhibitors, the numbers of stands from some Baltic and eastern European countries have doubled or tripled.


Many in attendance spoke of a massive surge in demand as countries ramp up production, both to send munitions to Ukraine and to beef up their own arsenals.


© Reuters/BENOIT TESSIEREurosatory international defense and security trade fair in Villepinte

"France has entered a war economy," President Emmanuel Macron said at the opening of the arms show, calling for European powers to learn from their past mistakes and develop the defence industry amongst themselves.

"We have to go much further, much more quickly and more strongly because geopolitics dictates."

Several manufacturers told Reuters there was a shortage of capacity, notably in Europe, which has for years depended on imported - especially American - arms. Some providers said they would not be able to catch up to the demand to arm Ukraine until 2024-2025.


© Reuters/BENOIT TESSIEREurosatory international defence and security exhibition in Villepinte

Elie Tenenbaum, Director of the Security Studies Centre at the Paris-based Institute of International relations, said Ukraine's armed forces were now using more ammunition in a day than Europe's arms industry could produce in a month.

"We now have a European defence industry which is unfit for the warfare we see in Ukraine," he said.

A lack of production capacity both for Ukraine and Russia could eventually slow the pace of the conflict, he added.


© Reuters/BENOIT TESSIEREurosatory international defence and security exhibition in Villepinte

Highlighting that urgency, Le Monde newspaper reported on Monday that French authorities were considering legislation to requisition civilian factories to increase the capacity to make weapons.


© Reuters/BENOIT TESSIEREurosatory international defense and security trade fair in Villepinte

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Peter Graff)

Latino activism leads in grassroot efforts on climate change

Sunday, June 12, 2022

PHOENIX (AP) — Students at a largely Hispanic elementary school in Phoenix have long lined up for morning classes on a dusty patch of dirt under a broiling sun.

So when Tony Mada learned of plans to plant 75 young trees at Borman Elementary School, the 30-year-old and his daughter Lilyth, 10, joined scores of volunteers to increase shade on campus.

Desert willows, oaks and mesquites just a few feet tall were among trees planted at the event organized by the local nonprofit Trees Matter and the environmental organization The Nature Conservancy, which is expanding its focus beyond the wildlands to urban areas impacted by climate-fueled heat.

“I’ll do anything to cool things down for my kids in this hot neighborhood,” Mada said one Saturday this spring as he and Lilyth, a student at the school, freed an acacia tree from the wooden box holding its roots.

After experiencing global warming's firsthand effects, U.S. Latinos are leading the way in activism around climate change, often drawing on traditions from their ancestral homelands.

“There has been a real national uprising in Latino activism in environmentalism in recent years,” said Juan Roberto Madrid, an environmental science and public health specialist based in Colorado for the national nonprofit GreenLatinos. “Climate change may be impacting everyone, but it is impacting Latinos more."

U.S. Latinos often live in ignored, lower income neighborhoods that are degrees hotter than nearby areas because they have a higher population density and limited tree canopy. Hispanics are also disproportionately affected by chronic health conditions aggravated by extreme heat, like diabetes and heart and kidney disease.

Latino activists are now sounding the alarm about the risks of global warming for their neighborhoods and the world. They include a teen who protested every Friday for weeks outside U.N. headquarters in New York, a Southern California academic who wants more grassroots efforts included in global climate organizing and a Mexico-born advocate in Phoenix who teaches young Hispanics the importance of protecting Earth for future generations.

“Many members of the Latinx community have Indigenous roots," said Masavi Perea, organizing director for Chispa Arizona, a program of the League of Conservation Voters. “A lot of us grew up on ranches, so many of us already have a relationship with nature.”

Walking through rows of kale, corn and squash at Chispa's plot in a south Phoenix garden, the 47-year-old said he works to increase the group’s base and educate young members about environmental issues like climate change.

Perea, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Mexico, said Chispa members include Central Americans he calls “climate refugees” who fled countries battered by hurricanes and droughts.


Recent research shows most Latinos in the U.S. consider climate change an important concern.

A Pew Research Center study released last fall showed about seven in 10 Latinos say climate change affects their communities at least some, while only 54% of non-Latinos said it affects their neighborhoods. The self-administered web survey of 13,749 respondents had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.

Colorado College's Conservation in the West Poll published this year showed notably higher percentages of Latino, Black and Indigenous voters in eight western states concerned about climate change, pollution and the impact of fossil fuels.

Latino and other communities of color are disproportionately affected by climate change, such as more frequent, intense and longer heat waves in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Palm Springs and other arid western communities.

A study by researchers from the University of California, Davis and the American University of Beirut concluded last year that poor and Latino neighborhoods in 20 metro regions around the Southwest endure temperatures several degrees higher on the hottest days, creating greater risks for heat-related illness.

Phoenix, the hottest big city in the U.S., in recent years has seen some of its hottest summers, with a heat wave a year ago pushing temperatures up to 118 degrees (48 Celsius).

The city earlier this year worked with the conservation nonprofit American Forests to create the first of 100 “cool corridors” by planting shade trees for pedestrians and cyclists alongside a south Phoenix park named for the late Latino activist Cesar Chavez.

“It's much hotter here now than when I first moved here,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, who lives nearby, said as he toured the 259 newly planted drought resistant elm, ash, sissoo and Chinese pistachio trees.

Gallego, who was born in Chicago and raised there by his Colombian mother, said segregation in Phoenix once forced Blacks and Latino residents to live in the city's south, which meant fewer trees and other investments there.

He has teamed up with fellow Democrat U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, of New Jersey, on a bill to create $30 million in federal grants annually for several years to ease the effects of urban heat, especially in low-income communities of color.

While many Latino activists focus their climate advocacy on their own neighborhoods, teenager Alexandria Villaseñor takes activism to the world stage.

Inspired by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, Villaseñor spent many Fridays outside United Nations headquarters in New York in 2019, protesting global inaction on climate change.

Now 17, she is a co-founder of Earth Uprising, a climate change education group.

Climate policy scholar Michael Méndez, author of the book “Climate Change from the Streets,“ said grassroots organizing is equally important.

Méndez grew up the son of Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles County’s Fernando Valley, where he saw Latino neighbors fight against air pollution and dumping of toxic waste.

“It's not an abstract idea for us,” said Méndez, who teaches at the University of California, Irvine. "For Latinos, climate change is about how to protect our families, our children.”

Anita Snow, The Associated Press

TORONTO NOT SO GOOD

Clarence Square encampment cleared out

Liz Braun -

 Sunday, June 12,2022

 Toronto Sun

Some of the homeless people who have occupied at tent encampment at Clarence Square Park -- a parkette at the east end of Spadina Ave. at Wellington St. W. -- mill about after residents there were evicted by city officials on Sunday, June 12, 2022.

About eight tents were removed from an encampment in a small park area near Spadina Ave. and Wellington St. W. on Sunday morning.

City workers, with police standing by, cleared out the area of Clarence Square at about 9 a.m. According to witnesses, four to six people were living in the park at the time.

One wood structure and one tent remained as of Sunday afternoon.

There is a bylaw in Toronto that prohibits sleeping or camping in city parks.

Eviction notices were issued earlier in June, as is the usual procedure. The notices advise people that they have three days to leave, and city staff offer rehousing spaces indoors at shelters and respite centres.

Some residents of the encampment in Clarence Square accepted spaces indoors.

However, as a street worker said Sunday afternoon, the spaces offered to people sleeping in our parks are often in shelter hotels or other spaces that feel neither safe nor permanent.

Many people facing homelessness have attested to the fact that tenting in a park is preferable to staying in one of the city’s shelters.

Theft, overcrowding and violence are cited as reasons the shelters can be undesirable places to sleep.

Toronto Sun photographer Jack Boland spoke to Devin, who did not give his last name; he is one of the residents of the park space in Clarence Square.

“People are staying in parks because it’s safer than the shelters,” Devin said.

He said he has been in shelters, parks, in jail and on a psych ward, and shelters are by far the more dangerous option.

As for Sunday’s clearance action, he said, “ The solution to homelessness isn’t policing. It’s housing.

“You don’t want people sleeping in a park? Give people housing.”

Wildlife Haven hosting fundraiser with goal of raising $20K by end of month

Winnipeg Sun - Sunday, June 12,2022


The Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre is hosting a fundraiser with the goal of raising $20,000 by June 30, it was announced last week.


© Provided by Winnipeg SunA veterinarian tends to one of Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre's injured patients.

Donations made this month will be matched up to $10,000 by Cypher Environmental.

From June 20 to 26, Wildlife Haven is inviting Manitobans to participate in the new Summer for Fun Wildlife online auction . Prizes include Winnipeg Blue Bomber game tickets, a top-of-the-line Yeti Cooler, a kayak, yard games, Wildlife Haven merchandise, Winnipeg attraction tickets and original art pieces by Wildlife Haven Ambassadors.

To receive auction notifications and updates, participants are encouraged to register at www.wildlifehaven.ca/summerauction .

The $20,000 goal will go towards providing medical care and hand-rearing for orphaned baby songbirds, owlets, fox kits, bunnies and more. Supporters can help raise critical funds by participating in this event or by donating directly on Wildlife Haven’s website at www.wildlifehaven.ca/donate , by sponsoring a patient or by purchasing an item from the Wildlife Haven online store .

Located in Île des Chênes, Man., Wildlife Haven is Manitoba’s largest wildlife rehabilitation center, and the only wildlife veterinary hospital in the province, providing medical treatment for sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife for their return to the wild. Wildlife Haven does not receive government funding for its operations and relies on the generous support of donors to rehabilitate wildlife and educate about the awareness, appreciation and peaceful coexistence with wildlife.

Cypher Environmental is a leading global environmental solution provider for dust control and road stabilization, with their head office located in Winnipeg.

Cats that are allowed to roam can spread diseases to humans and wildlife

Amy Wilson, Adjunct Professor, Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia

Scott Wilson, Adjunct Professor, Forest and Conservation Sciences, University of British Columbia -

THE CONVERSATION

 Sunday, June 12,2022

For decades, scientists have warned that ecologically destructive activities increase the risk of diseases spilling over between wildlife and human populations. Examples of these drivers include climate change, habitat loss, wildlife trafficking, environmental contamination, expansion of anthropocentric activities and invasive species introduction.

Domestic animals also contribute to the movement of diseases between species. Free-roaming domestic animals, like cats, can facilitate the spread and transfer of diseases, impacting both humans and wildlife.
Infectious parasites

Free-roaming cats — which include feral, stray and house cats — present a particularly compelling case because of their large population sizes and their central role in the life cycle of a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) that infects both wildlife and humans. Most people may have only heard of toxoplasmosis from their doctors during a pregnancy or in articles on “brain-altering” parasites.

However, T. gondii is one of the most common zoonotic parasites globally and is estimated to affect about 30 to 50 per cent of the global human population. T. gondii infections can have severe and life-threatening consequences; especially for immunocompromised people and infants infected during pregnancy.


© (Shutterstock)Pregnant women are often advised to avoid interacting

 with cat feces because of the risk posed to their unborn children.

Toxoplasma gondii forms a permanent resting tissue cyst in the muscle or nervous tissue of a host, so even healthy infected people are impacted. Chronic toxoplasma infections have been linked with illnesses including degenerative neurological diseases, schizophrenia and brain cancer.

Domestic cats or wild felids — like lions, jaguars or cougars — intermittently excrete millions of T. gondii eggs (called oocysts) into the environment through their feces. These oocysts persist under favourable conditions for years in water and soil, with the capacity for long-distance dispersal.

If any warm-blooded animal ingests an oocyst, it can become infected with T. gondii. This can happen if a person or animal ingests oocysts in contaminated water or food, or through eating another animal that has already become infected.
Spreading diseases

Although both wild felids and domestic cats are sources of toxoplasma, domestic cats outnumber wild felids by several orders of magnitude. We recently tested whether mammals living in environments with greater densities of domestic cats would show higher infection rates of T. gondii.

While there are no global data sets showing domestic cat densities, domestic cats are closely associated with humans, and therefore, measures of human population density can act as a surrogate for the density of free-roaming cats. Using data from over 200 studies, we demonstrated that indeed, wildlife living in areas of higher human density had higher infection rates of T. gondii.

We concluded that this higher infection rate occurred due to a combination of two phenomenon: high densities of free-roaming domestic cats producing infected feces, and the loss of natural habitats. Natural ecosystems have important roles in filtering, sequestering and removing T. gondii and other pathogens from human, livestock and wildlife exposure pathways. Breaking the lifecycle by preventing cats from hunting and landscape restoration are key preventative measures.

If wildlife have an increased risk of exposure to T. gondii in certain areas, then humans and livestock can also be unintended targets. Public health researchers have shown this repeatedly by sampling soil, vegetable gardens and playgrounds.
Rabies risk

Rabies is another disease whose risk is increased by free-roaming cats. In the United States, cats are the most common rabies positive domestic species, with cats posing two-and-a-half times the rabies exposure risk compared to bats in Pennsylvania. In Canada, we recently found similar public health concerns of free-roaming cats when we examined patterns of rabies submissions of bats in Canada.

In Canada, free-roaming cats were associated with 10 times more bats being submitted for rabies testing compared to indoor cats. In fact, in our dataset, there were five records of free-roaming cats bringing bats into the house that subsequently were found to be rabies positive. This hunting activity by cats is obviously dangerous for people in the household, and is a very simple explanation for cases of cryptic rabies infections (rabies cases without an identifiable source).


© (Jared Hobbs)

In areas with large numbers of free-roaming cats predating bats, the risk that a human will be exposed to rabies is expected to increase.

This risk is directly proportionate to the frequency of free-roaming cats killing bats, which is unfortunately common. Single cats have been known to kill a hundred bats in a week.

In our dataset, one free-roaming cat killed nine endangered little brown bats in one month, with another record of a cat killing 14 bats in a single evening. Many bat populations have undergone severe declines, especially due to an introduced fungal disease. Bats are long-lived with low reproduction, so this additional source of mortality can severely impact bat populations.

Since cats only bring home 20 per cent of what they kill, prey returns and rabies submissions only provide a tiny glimpse of the true cat predation rates. It is therefore apparent that although natural rabies prevalence in bats is low — less than one per cent — in areas with cats killing large numbers of bats, rabies exposure risks will increase.

Protecting health and wildlife

There is broad consensus among veterinarians, ecologists, public health experts and animal rights activists that free roaming by domestic cats is detrimental for feline welfare, wildlife welfare, conservation and human health. Wildlife have the same capacity for distress and pain as domestic animals, and perform irreplaceable ecosystem services with tangible economic benefits, making their predation unjustifiable from an ethical or economic perspective.

Free-roaming cats suffer from increased mortality through traumatic injury, disease, neglect and abandonment. This marginalization of cats needs to be replaced with progressive enrichment resources and responsible management that does not foster an inhumane and biased disregard for feline welfare standards, wildlife welfare, conservation and human health.

David Lapen, research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, co-authored this article.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:
Cats carry diseases that can be deadly to humans, and it’s costing Australia billion every year

How we found coronavirus in a cat

Amy Wilson has done research contract work for Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Scott Wilson works for and receives research funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada

KINSELLA: If Sandy Hook massacre failed to change U.S. attitude on guns, nothing will

Warren Kinsella - Saturday, June 11,2022
Toronto Sun

Dear America:

For starters, let me say this: I love Americans, and I love America.

Mostly. Sometimes.

There’s lots to love. Your people are open and gregarious and irrepressible. Your country is bountiful and diverse and full of promise.

And some of us Canadians become Americans, or have family and friends in your country. Personally, I lived there, in Dallas, Texas. Can still recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Can still remember my family’s Dallas phone number (FL1-6325). In no small measure, we are part of you, and you us.

For us Canadians, in the big drafty room above yours, we are immensely grateful that you shield us from the despots and monsters found in other places, with increasing regularity these days. You protect us. We know that.

But when it comes to protecting yourselves? You’re not so good at that.

And I don’t just mean the insurrection provoked by Donald Trump, now being documented at the House of Representatives’ House Select Committee investigation of the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Or the cleavage in your politics, wherein Left and Right are orbiting ever-further apart. Or your class wars, which are happening all the time, about everything.

Because we Canadians, if we are being honest with ourselves — and we often are not — have had violent attacks on our places of governance, too. We had one in 2014, when a madman killed Corporal Nathan Cirillo, and stormed Parliament, and shot the place up. And we have a cleavage in our politics, too — with a Liberal Prime Minister who has crafted a crypto-socialist Axis of Weasels deal on one side and, on the other side, a Conservative Party in a headlong rush to the outer reaches of the fringe Right, where conspiracy theories, anti-vaxxers and Pierre Poilievre congregate.

And class wars? We have those too. We fight about stupid, inconsequential stuff, too, and we miss out on the big picture. Guilty.

But in one thing, America, you have us beat. In one thing, you are the undisputed world champions. And that thing, of course, is ritual suicide by firearm. In that category, you are Number One — with a bullet, you might say.

Reciting the grim statistics to you is a waste of time. It hasn’t stopped or even slowed down your descent into the slaughterhouse. Appealing to your better nature hasn’t worked, either: forests have been felled in the United States, to print up well-meaning and heart-rending pleas for sanity.

And you keep doing what you do. Which is kill each other.

Ask Jesse Lewis.

Jesse Lewis had wanted to be in the army. He was tough, but with a gentle side. Whenever he could, he favoured ripped jeans and a T-shirt — nothing fancy. He was raised on a farm, after all, with horses, dogs, and chickens. He was brave, too.

When the shooting started, on Dec. 14, 2012, Jesse Lewis saw the killer pause to reload. He yelled at those around him — nine of them — to “run.” They did.

The killer saw, reloaded, and shot Jesse Lewis in the head, killing him.

Jesse Lewis’ name should be familiar to you — because Jesse Lewis was just six years old. He was a student at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Connecticut. On the day Jesse was murdered, 19 other first-graders were slaughtered. Six women, too.

Here’s the thing, America: you cannot claim to be the leader of the free world – you cannot claim to be “the land of the free, and the home of the brave” – when something like the Sandy Hook massacre happens, and you do precisely nothing about it. You can’t.

The rest of us mostly admire you and like you. We do. But if you didn’t change after Sandy Hook?

If you didn’t change after that — you never, ever will.

Yours sincerely,

Etc.

Bird flu outbreak continues to spread in UK, North America

By TZVI JOFFRE

The Jerusalem Post

 Saturday, June 11,2022

© (photo credit: EDUARD KORNIYENKO/REUTERS)

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is continuing to spread among birds in Europe and North America, with thousands of birds killed by both the virus and preventative measures.

Ducklings at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington were found to be infected with the bird flu, the National Park Service announced on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources announced that two foxes have been confirmed as having been infected with the bird flu. Both foxes were tested after being found dead in two cities in Utah.

Arizona reported its first cases of avian influenza on Wednesday after three nestling neotropical cormorants were found to be infected with the H5N1 strain of the virus.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 1,400 wild birds and nearly 40 million domesticated birds have been confirmed as infected with HPAI.


A sign warns about the avian influenza in an area of Randers, Denmark November 17, 2020

 (credit: VIA REUTERS)

Other outbreaks

"[A] highly mutable and deadly new form of avian influenza, which originated in poultry, is killing our wild seabirds in large numbers."Dr. Paul Walton, head of species and habitats, RSPB Scotland

Thousands of birds have been dying on Quebec's Magdalen Islands due to the virus, according to The Canadian Press. "Nobody had to tell me that this was happening. It's obvious — we're talking about thousands of dead birds,'' said Magdalen Islands Mayor Jonathan Lapierre.

Over two million birds have been affected by the bird flu outbreak in Canada, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

In the United Kingdom, large numbers of seabirds have been dying due to the virus in Scotland in recent weeks.

Dr. Paul Walton, head of species and habitats for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland, told the BBC that "a highly mutable and deadly new form of avian influenza, which originated in poultry, is killing our wild seabirds in large numbers."

The RSPB called on the Scottish government to develop a response plan to the outbreak.

Two humans have been infected with the H5N1 virus amid the outbreak — one in the United Kingdom and another in the US. Both suffered only mild symptoms and fully recovered.


Related video: Bird flu is taking a toll on eagles, wild birds

US Census wants to know how to ask about sexuality and gender

Saturday, June 11,2022



ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The 2020 census questionnaire drove Scout crazy. With no direct questions about sexual orientation and gender identity, it made him feel left out of the U.S. head count.

Among LGBTQ people, the census only asked about same-sex couples living together, and Scout didn’t live with his partner. So to compensate, he hounded his gay, cohabiting neighbors in Providence, Rhode Island to respond and provide at least some visibility for the community.

“I was stalking them to fill out the census form because mine didn’t make a difference,” said Scout, a transgender man who uses one name. “There’s no question I’m absolutely made invisible by the census.”

This could change soon. Recognizing the difficulty of persuading people to reveal information many find sensitive, the U.S. Census Bureau is requesting millions of dollars to study how best to ask about sexual orientation and gender identity. The results could provide much better data about the LGBTQ population nationwide at a time when views about sexual orientation and gender identity are evolving.

“Change is in the air,” said Kerith Conron, research director at the UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute, which researches these issues. “It's exciting."

The Census Bureau's request comes as President Joe Biden declared June as LGBTQ “Pride Month," and as U.S. passports now offer an “X” in addition to “M” or “F”, for non-binary or intersex individuals. It is taking place as some Republican-dominated state legislatures restrict what can be discussed about sexual orientation and gender identity in schools and banned transgender girls from competing in girls' sports.

“We are seeing that numbers matter when politicians are demeaning and conducting culture wars against people,” said Gina Duncan, a transgender woman who advocates in Orlando with Equality Florida.

As the nation's largest statistical agency, the bureau sets an example for how other agencies and businesses ask these questions, she noted.

The most common terms used for sexual orientation are lesbian, gay, bisexual or straight. Gender norms are typically understood as male, female, both or neither.

The $10 million would be spent over several years to fund Census Bureau field tests of different wording and placement of questions that would appear on its annual American Community Survey.

The bureau is particularly interested in examining how answers are provided by “proxies” such as a parent, spouse or someone else in a household who isn't the person about whom the question is being asked.


Other federal agencies already ask about sexual orientation, primarily in health surveys conducted by trained interviewers with respondents answering for themselves. The much more widely circulated Census Bureau surveys tend to rely on proxies more.

Wording and design matter since they can affect accuracy.

A confusing layout on the 2010 census form led some census takers to misreport the genders of opposite-sex couples, falsely inflating the number of same-sex households. Studies also have shown that some transgender people are more likely to leave gender questions blank or check both “male" and “female."

Some respondents might not want to share such personal information, or may be unsure of how to answer. And some proxies might not know the sexual orientation and gender identity of everyone in their household. In places like New Zealand and the United Kingdom, surveys don't allow proxy reporting for sexual orientation questions because of concerns about accuracy and confidentiality.

The federal statistical system currently is unable to provide high-quality information about sexual and gender minorities without improving and expanding data gathering on this topic, the Census Bureau said in its 2023 budget submission.

“This research can help us measure the growing and diverse LGBTQ population in the United States," a Census Bureau statement said.

Next week, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform is discussing legislation that would require data on sexual orientation and gender identity to be collected voluntarily in federal surveys.

Federal data collection traditionally has treated sexual orientation and gender identity as binary — gay or straight, male or female — but this can mask greater complexities and wide-ranging identities, according to a report the National Academies of Sciences, Medicine and Engineering released this spring.

The once-a-decade census, the yearly American Community Survey and the annual Current Population Survey now allow same-sex couples a chance to answer if they are in a marriage or domestic partnership. But that omits LGBTQ people who are single or not living in the same household with their partner, and for the gender question, “male" and “female" are the only options.

Because the same-sex response is limited to individuals living together, it captures only a fifth of the nation's LGBTQ population, Conron said.

Only the bureau's online Household Pulse Survey, created at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, includes “transgender" and “none of these" alongside the “male" and “female" options. It also allows respondents to identify as gay, straight, bisexual, “something else” and “I don't know." However, the Household Pulse Survey is categorized as experimental and may not meet some of the bureau's statistical quality standards.

Other nations that already ask about sexual orientation in their data collection include Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the countries of the United Kingdom.

A report from a working group of U.S. agencies recommends that sexual orientation be asked separately from gender identity and that language used for older adults be tweaked when asking teens questions, since their preferred terminologies, like “queer,” may be different. Cultural, regional and language differences also must be considered. Some Native Americans may identify as “two-spirit” rather than gay or bisexual, and in Spanish, “heterosexual” was found to reduce confusion over “straight, that is, not gay” which doesn’t translate directly, the report said.

“Each new generation is more diverse in its sexuality and gender,” Duncan said. “The Census Bureau should stay up to date with that evolution.”

___

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP

Mike Schneider, The Associated Press

New Mexico residents sue for information on massive wildfire

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Dozens of residents in a small New Mexico community impacted by massive wildfires that merged in April are suing the U.S. Forest Service over what they called a failure to provide information about the government's role in starting the blazes.



The Forest Service has acknowledged that two prescribed burns it set to clear out brush and small trees that can serve as wildfire fuel sparked two blazes that came together as the largest in New Mexico's recorded history and the biggest burning in the U.S. right now.

The wildfire has charred 500 square miles (1,295 square kilometers) in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, which sits at the southern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Several hundred homes have been destroyed.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque on behalf of 50 Mora County residents, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

It asks the court to declare that the Forest Service improperly withheld planning documents for the burns, agreements or contracts with anyone who helped carry out the burns and information on the rules and regulations that govern the prescribed burns.

Without the information, the lawsuit alleges, the residents “cannot determine the Forest Service's responsibility — other than media accounts — for starting the fire."

The Forest Service told the Santa Fe New Mexican that it does not comment on pending litigation. The agency has said unexpected, erratic winds during one prescribed burn carried embers outside the targeted area. The other wildfire emerged from a burn set on a pile of dead vegetation in January that smoldered for weeks, even under snow.


The agency has put a hold on prescribed burns nationwide pending its own investigation.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit New Mexico on Saturday for a briefing about the wildfires and recovery efforts.

Another wildfire in southwestern New Mexico has burned 466 square miles (1,206 square kilometers), prompting New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to declare an emergency for Sierra County on Friday.

The declaration came as the fire grew to become the second largest wildfire in state history. The governor's office said it's now burning beyond the boundaries of the Gila National Forest, affecting communities and requiring evacuations.

Also Friday, crews of about 200 firefighters were scrambling to try and contain a small fire in northern New Mexico near El Rito that sent up a tall, dense plume of smoke. No structures were threatened, with the cause under investigation.

In northern New Mexico, Mora County residents said they requested documents from the Forest Service on May 4 about the fire in northern New Mexico, but that the agency failed to respond within 20 working days as required under the law. The lawsuit also seeks attorneys' fees.

Herman Lujan, 80, his brother and nephew are among the Mora County residents who are suing. Lujan's home was spared, but he said he has 30 hungry cattle that he might have to sell because they can't graze in a burned pasture his family has used for generations.

“Everything burned,” he said. “Timber, everything. I even had an old dozer up there to make ponds for the cows, and everything burned.”

The Associated Press