Afghanistan: LGBTQ people fear for their lives under Taliban rule

Less than a month after they returned to power, the Taliban have begun going after LGBTQ people in Afghanistan. Members of this group reflect on their fears and the brief moments of freedom they used to have.



The LGBTQ community in Afghanistan has always lived a secret life because homosexuality is considered immoral and un-Islamic in the country

On the afternoon of August 26, 20-year-old college student Rabia Balhki (name changed to protect her identity) was pushing her way through the crowd outside the Kabul airport. Nearby, Taliban fighters occasionally fired warning shots into the air while beating people with sticks.

In panic, people fled in all directions, making it even more difficult for Rabia to access the airport. But she remained undeterred. Rabia told DW that she was desperate to flee Afghanistan as she was a woman and also a lesbian.

For the Islamic fundamentalist group, the LGBTQ community's presence is not acceptable.

After overcoming all the difficulties, Rabia finally reached the airport entrance, but the Taliban officer who was guarding the gate refused to let her through. She had no choice but to turn back and leave. An hour later, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive in the crowd and one of Rabia's relatives died on the spot.

Rabia is glad to have escaped the attack, but she doesn't know if she will survive the Taliban's hunt for LGBTQ people. "The Taliban think we are like the waste in society," she said. "They want to eliminate us."

No space for the LGBTQ community

The LGBTQ community in Afghanistan has always lived a secret life, since homosexuality is considered immoral and un-Islamic in the country.   

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If convicted of engaging in gay or lesbian sex, a person can be imprisoned for life under the nation's 2017 penal code, and under Sharia — Islamic law — even the death penalty is technically allowed.

According to the LGBTQ advocacy group ILGA-World, successive Afghan governments have not enforced the death penalty for gay sex since 2001, but the Taliban might deal with the issue differently.

In the new Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, there is little to no space left for LGBTQ people.

In an interview with the German newspaper Bild in July, Gul Rahim, a Taliban judge in a province in central Afghanistan, said: "For homosexuals, there can only be two punishments: either stoning, or he must stand behind a wall that will fall down on him. The wall must be 2.5 to 3 meters (8 to 10 feet) high."

LGBTQ people face life threats

A few days after the Taliban entered Kabul, a 25-year-old gay man, Faraz (name changed to protect the identity), learned about the death of a gay friend. He isn't sure which penalty his friend received. All he knows is that the Taliban are serious about going after gay people and he might face the same fate.

"He was caught by the Taliban through complaints filed by others. The Taliban took him somewhere, killed him, and then brought his body back to his family," Faraz told DW.

"There is a specific group within the Taliban that searches for gay people," Faraz said. "They go from street to street, and when they find out who is gay, they don't hesitate to kill them."

Afghan-American LGBTQ activist Nemat Sadat told DW that in the first two weeks after the Taliban takeover, he received 357 messages from members of the Afghan LGBTQ community, but only one of them had managed to leave the country. She was able to leave for Spain.

Sadat compiled a list of LGBTQ individuals and submitted it to the US State Department, but since the US had ended its evacuation mission on August 31, the plan to evacuate LGBTQ people has become more difficult to execute. "It's going to be a long fight," Sadat said. "It's going to be a multi-year project."

But Sadat is not sure how much time his fellow Afghan LGBTQ brothers and sisters still have.

"The Taliban said they can grant amnesty to journalists and people who have helped Western governments and allow women to continue their education. People are still suspicious of them, but at least they gave a promise," Sadat said. "But for the LGBTQ community, the Taliban didn't even bother to pretend to give a promise."
Raising awareness about homosexuality

Born in Afghanistan in 1979, Sadat moved overseas with his family when he was 8 months old and eventually settled in the US. In 2012, he returned to Afghanistan to teach at an American school as an assistant professor and began raising awareness about LGBTQ issues.

"There was hardly any LGBTQ-related discussion at the time. I arranged debates in class, asking students to speak for and against the LGBTQ community," Sadat said.

Sometimes he would work with international organizations and do presentations on LGBTQ topics.

"We were careful not to leave any document," Sadat said. But even so, he still received a backlash from the then-Afghan government, leading to his dismissal from the job and his return to the US in the summer of 2013.

At the time, he was forced to come out publicly, making him one of Afghanistan's first openly gay activists.

After that, Sadat began to receive letters from LGBTQ people in Afghanistan. This way he discovered that even though the local LGBTQ community was repressed, it still played a key role in driving social progress on various fronts.

Low-key LGBTQ scene in Kabul

Over the past two decades, Afghanistan made some progress in accepting LGBTQ people, say rights activists. They managed to enter professions in mass media, helped produce talk shows and arranged youth education programs dedicated to sensitive topics, among other things.

"People say Afghanistan didn't change, but I disagree with that," Sadat said. "These LGBTQ people have put efforts into changing Afghan society."

For Faraz, the previous Afghan government was oppressive toward the LGBTQ community, but if they were caught by the police, they were at best jailed or fined. This resulted in creating some space for a low-key LGBTQ scene in Kabul.

"There are still some places for gay men to meet in the city, and I also use dating apps to meet people," Faraz told DW.

But he says he is wary of using those apps now, because he's afraid that the Taliban will use different tricks to lure gay men in. He pointed to instances when the Taliban had approached gay people through social media by posing as journalists.

Isolated and depressed at home

Faraz also said that many gay people have now turned off their cell phone location, fearing that the Taliban could track them through their mobile phones. LGBTQ people have also stopped meeting others who know about their sexual identity.

"I don't have much connection with others. I don't have people to complain with," Faraz said.

Rabia, the lesbian woman, has left her house only twice in the past three weeks: one time to the airport and the other time to the bank to withdraw money.

She's afraid of running into members of the Taliban on the street. She's also scared that if they learn about her sexual identity, they'll come after her.

"It's so boring at home. I tried to read some books so that I don't feel depressed," Rabia said.

AFGHANI LGBTQ  DREAM

LGBTQ representation in U$ government hits fresh high

 

Story by Brooke Migdon • June 8,2023

Provided by The Hill

LGBTQ representation in government has made leaps and bounds over the past year, but there’s still a long way to go before equitable representation is achieved, according to numbers released Thursday by the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute.

The number of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people elected to public office between June 2022 and May 2023 increased 13.6 percent, according to the organization’s annual overview of elected officials in the U.S. At least 1,185 are currently serving, the most on record and more than double what representation was in 2017, when the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute first measured it.

Compared with elected officials overall, LGBTQ officials are significantly more racially and ethnically diverse, according to Thursday’s report, but remain less diverse than the total U.S. population.

The number of openly LGBTQ elected officials of color rose roughly 23 percent this year, with Latinx and Hispanic officeholders leading the way. The number of Black LGBTQ officials increased by 18 to 125 in 2023, according to the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute, and the number of Asian American and Pacific Islander LGBTQ elected officials rose to 37 this year, up 19 percent over 2022.

The majority of openly LGBTQ officials, at 783, are white, and more than 91 percent are cisgender, according to Thursday’s report, although transgender and nonbinary representation saw a notable bump this year.

Openly transgender and nonbinary officials now account for 8.1 percent of all LGBTQ elected officials, up from 6.9 percent last year. There are currently zero known intersex elected officials.

When elected officials are grouped by their sexual orientation, pansexuals and bisexuals saw the greatest gains over the past year, increasing 65 percent and 34 percent, respectively. As in prior years, growth in lesbian officials nearly stalled, up less than 1 percent over 2022.

Related video: LGBTQ+ rights organization declares state of emergency after new Florida laws signed (WESH Orlando)   Duration 2:29  View on Watch

All told, 0.23 percent of U.S. elected officials are LGBTQ, according to Thursday’s report, meaning more than 36,000 openly LGBTQ state, local and federal officials need to be elected to achieve equitable representation. More than 7 percent of the nation’s voting-age population identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, according to a February Gallup poll.

To achieve equitable representation in Congress, for instance, voters must elect 25 more openly LGBTQ members – 20 in the House and five in the Senate – for a total of 37, according to Thursday’s report. Twelve openly LGBTQ people are serving in the current Congress, with 10 in the House and two in the Senate.

Voters in all 50 states, territories and the District of Columbia likewise need to elect an additional 319 openly LGBTQ state lawmakers for equitable representation, according to Thursday’s report. Representation in state legislatures hit an all-time high of 226 this year, an increase of 18 percent over 2022.

Still, several states are lacking in adequate representation, and four states – Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia – don’t have a single out LGBTQ person serving in the legislature at all.

Annise Parker, the president and chief executive of the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute, on Thursday said electing more LGBTQ people to public office is the community’s best defense against rampant anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and a recent tidal wave of legislation that threatens to substantially roll back the rights of LGBTQ people in the U.S.

“LGBTQ+ leaders are our best firewall against the homophobia and transphobia sweeping our communities,” Parker, a former mayor of Houston and the first openly LGBTQ person elected to lead a major city, said.

“As LGBTQ+ elected officials stand up and speak out on behalf of all of us, they are also inspiring countless LGBTQ+ leaders to consider running for office themselves,” Parker said. “This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for the LGBTQ+ community and our allies: we must double down on our efforts to inspire, train and support future LGBTQ+ candidates – our rights will depend on it.”

At least 491 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced this year in state legislatures nationwide, and a record-shattering 63 have become law, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. A recent analysis of proposed state-level legislation by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights group, found that roughly half of anti-LGBTQ bills filed this year explicitly targeted the transgender community.

Earlier this week, for the first time in its 40-year history, HRC declared a national state of emergency for LGBTQ people, citing the passage of recent laws.

 The Hill.

WHEN RAINBOWS ARE NOT ENOUGH 

Poll shows slight dip in US support for LGBTQ rights across religious groups

A strong majority of Americans, and majorities of many religious groups, still broadly support LGBTQ rights.
(Photo by Brett Sayles/Pexels/Creative Commons)

March 12, 2024

By Kathryn Post


(RNS) — While most Americans continue to broadly support LGBTQ rights, that support may be waning, including among religious Americans, according to a new poll from PRRI. The report, based on interviews with more than 22,000 U.S. adults in 2023, found that Americans are slightly less likely to support same-sex marriage and LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections and less likely to oppose allowing business owners to refuse to serve LGBTQ people for faith reasons, compared with the year before.

“I think the big story is that most Americans of faith are broadly supportive of LGBTQ rights,” said Melissa Deckman, CEO of PRRI. “However, we do see slight declines in three of the questions we tracked when it comes to Americans’ attitudes on LGBTQ rights. …That was somewhat surprising to us.”

Deckman said that for groups who advocate for LGBTQ rights, this data is akin to “a canary in the coal mine.”

Seventy-six percent of American adults reported supporting LGBTQ nondiscrimination policies in public accommodations, housing and employment, the survey found, down from 80% the year before. The majority of respondents from most faith groups also embrace LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws, though many religious groups saw slight drops in support from 2022. Among Muslims, for example, PRRI reports a drop from 70% support in 2022 to 56% in 2023; white evangelical Protestants saw a drop from 62% to 56%, and Hispanic Catholics from 86% to 78%.

A majority of Americans (67%) also continue to support same-sex marriage, though that number was down 2 percentage points from the previous year. While majorities of all but a handful of religious groups favor legal recognition of same-sex marriage (most Jehovah’s Witnesses, white evangelical Protestants, Muslims, Hispanic Protestants and Latter-day Saints are in opposition), many groups also saw dips in support. The biggest drops in support were among Hispanic Catholics, with a decline of 7 percentage points from 2022, and Muslims, which dropped 13 percentage points.

Since PRRI began tracking the issue in 2015, a majority of Americans have opposed allowing a small-business owner to refuse services to LGBTQ people for religious reasons. As in the other categories, that majority still stands, but fell from last year — in 2023, 60% of Americans said they were opposed, compared with 65% in 2022. Dips were also seen in nearly every religious group.

Across all three policy categories, Unitarian Universalists, the religiously unaffiliated, Jewish Americans and non-Hispanic Catholics of color consistently showed the highest support for LGBTQ rights, while Jehovah’s Witnesses, white evangelical Protestants and Hispanic Protestants showed the least support.
RELATED: LGBTQ+ Americans are more religious than our Supreme Court battles let on

Deckman partially attributed the declines in support to political polarization, and specifically to the divisiveness around LGBTQ policies, including bathroom policies and laws impacting gender affirming care.

“Republicans have very strategically, I think, used that as a wedge issue,” said Deckman. “What might be happening, though it’s hard really to tell from this one cross section … is that continuing to talk about LGBTQ identity and emphasizing the division among Americans in terms of transgender issues is having a larger impact on Americans’ attitudes about LGBT rights more broadly.”

These observations are reflected in the findings, which showed that while Democrats’ support for LGBTQ rights remained steady across all three measures, there was a drop in support among Republicans compared with last year. Political ideology also seems to be a factor. PRRI found that support for Christian nationalism — which Deckman defined as the idea that America was founded as a Christian nation, and should remain so — is negatively correlated with support for LGBTQ rights across all 50 states; as states scored higher on PRRI’s Christian nationalism scale, support for same-sex marriage, support for LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws and support for opposing religious refusals to LGBTQ customers decline.

“We often assume in public opinion, when it comes to LGBTQ issues, that Americans are destined to become far more embracing of the rights to LGBTQ Americans,” said Deckman. “But this data shows you that that assumption of more progressive and accepting attitudes toward LGBT Americans shouldn’t necessarily be taken for granted.”

RELATED: Report: LGBTQ Americans tend to be younger and have no religion

LGBTQ candidates make history in US midterm election

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2022 
AUTHOR: AFP


LGBTQ candidates are running in all 50 US states and the capital Washington for the first time in this year's midterm election, as the community becomes an increasingly powerful voting constituency.. Among a host of other firsts that the LGBTQ community is eyeing on election night, Vermont House candidate Becca Balint would be the only lesbian ever sent by the state to Congress.

LGBTQ candidates are running in all 50 US states and the capital Washington for the first time in this year's midterm election, as the community becomes an increasingly powerful voting constituency.

The milestone comes amid a surge in gay and transgender voters that analysts expect to redraw the electoral landscape over the next generation, nudging the conservative US heartland in a more liberal direction.

A new report from the LGBTQ Victory Fund found that of the 1,065 LGBTQ hopefuls who ran primary campaigns for November's midterms, a historic 678 made it onto the ballot -- an 18 percent increase over 2020.

"Voters are sick and tired of the relentless attacks lobbed against the LGBTQ community this year," said Annise Parker, a former Houston mayor who heads the LGBTQ Victory Fund.

"Bigots want us to stay home and stay quiet, but their attacks are backfiring and instead have motivated a new wave of LGBTQ leaders to run for office."

Almost 90 percent of the LGBTQ candidates who entered this year's primary races are Democrats like Maura Healey and Tina Kotek, who are vying to become the nation's first lesbian governors in Massachusetts and Oregon.

- 'Relentless attacks' -

Healey is comfortably ahead in her race, but Kotek finds herself just behind in a contest regarded as a toss-up.

Among a host of other firsts that the LGBTQ community is eyeing on election night, Vermont House candidate Becca Balint would be the only lesbian ever sent by the state to Congress.

Mary Louise Adams, an award-winning author and academic who specializes in LGBTQ issues, welcomed progress in the drive to ensure that members of the community "not just present but visible and vocal" in public life.

"As a voter, I would still be more interested in knowing what the candidates' overall platforms are and what strategies they propose to strengthen and support marginalized communities of all kinds," the professor at Queen's University in Canada told AFP.

The candidate statistics were hailed as significant progress during a year in which state lawmakers have proposed a record 340-plus anti-LGBTQ bills, according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) -- the country's largest gay rights group.

Much of the legislation seeks to ban transgender children from playing sports in categories that correspond with their stated gender or allowing performances in schools involving drag acts.

"The most anti-transgender state legislative package in history was passed this year in Alabama and the increased focus on attacking youth is truly alarming," said Cathryn Oakley, HRC's state legislative director.

"It also speaks to our opponents' desperation. Public opinion has moved so far in the direction of equality that they are forced to try to make people afraid of children."


- 'A singular moment' -

The legislative crackdown has extended from grassroots politics to the US Congress, where House Republicans are proposing their own bans on public discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation.

Florida's controversial "Don't Say Gay" law outlaws lessons on the topics in kindergarten through third grade.

But the federal bill goes further, curbing such discussion at events and in literature in any government building.

LGBTQ Americans are set to become one of the fastest growing voting blocs, according to HRC, growing at a "scale, scope and speed that will fundamentally reshape the American electoral landscape."

The community accounts for an estimated one in 10 voters but that figure is expected to rise to one in seven by the end of the decade, the lobby group said in a report released in October with Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

"Historic moments like these can be a sign that people have become more comfortable with LGBTQ leaders in political office who are making decisions on behalf of the public," said Julia Himberg, author of "The New Gay for Pay: The Sexual Politics of American Television Production."

"Moments like these can even contribute to broader social and institutional change."

The professor, who teaches film and media studies at Arizona State University, warned against drawing broad conclusions from one election, however.

"Systemic change takes time and intention. So we need to be cautious about big proclamations," she told AFP.

"This election cycle is pivotal but it is also a singular moment that in fact may not go beyond this moment."

ft/sw/st

© Agence France-Presse

These 10 LGBTQ candidates could make political history in November


Matt Lavietes
October 23, 2022

More than 600 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer candidates will be on the ballot Nov. 8 — up from the 432 candidates in the previous midterm elections in 2018 — according to the political action committee LGBTQ Victory Fund.

Dozens of these political hopefuls, including the 10 highlighted below, will have the opportunity to make history.

Becca Balint

Vermont state Sen. Becca Balint, who is seeking the Democratic Party nomination to run for Vermont's vacant U.S. House seat, speaks to voters in Colchester on July 24, 2022. (Wilson Ring / AP file)

Running for: U.S. House of Representatives, Vermont's At-Large Congressional District

If elected, would be the first: Woman and LGBTQ person elected to Congress from Vermont

Becca Balint, a former middle school teacher, is no stranger to political firsts for Vermont's women and for the LGBTQ community. In 2020, Balint became the first woman and first openly LGBTQ person to serve as the Vermont Senate president.

But even as an LGBTQ political leader, Balint, who is a lesbian, has faced pushback for her sexuality. In a campaign video, Balint said that when she and her now-wife first moved into their house in Brattleboro, their neighbor had an anti-gay sign.

"I get out of the car, and I'm pregnant, and at that moment, I felt like 'How are we going to make this work?'" she said. "From a wave to a conversation to a borrowed lawn mower, things changed and the sign came down, and we felt the relief that comes when we stop turning away from each other and start meeting each other face to face."

Balint, 54, won her Democratic primary against Lt. Gov. Molly Gray with the backing of progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Vermont icons Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

She is heavily favored to win against her Republican opponent, Iraq War veteran Liam Madden, in November. Vermont has not sent a Republican to Congress since the re-election of former U.S. Sen. Jim Jeffords in 2000.

Currently, Vermont is the only state in the country to have never sent a woman to Congress. That could, of course, change if Balint wins.

Robert Garcia

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia in Long Beach, Calif., on Sept. 13, 2021.

 (Brian Feinzimer / Sipa USA via AP file)

Running for: U.S. House of Representatives, California's 42nd Congressional District

If elected, would be the first: LGBTQ immigrant elected to Congress

Robert Garcia is an example of how intersectionality can translate into political success. At 36-years-old, Garcia was elected mayor of Long Beach, California, in 2014, becoming the city's youngest, first LGBTQ and first Latino person to assume the office he stills holds today.

Garcia, a Democrat, has also had various political identities over his lifetime. While attending college at California State University, Long Beach, Garcia served as the president of his school's Long Beach Young Republicans club.

He previously told NBC News that his Republican political affiliation was a result of his family's affection for former President Ronald Reagan. Garcia's family members, who are originally from Peru, were among the millions of immigrants who applied for citizenship after Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

“My worldview and politics haven’t changed much. But with immigrants rights and the war, and me being gay, we all realized that we were more progressive,” Garcia said, adding that his family has since switched parties.
Jamie McLeod-Skinner

Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner speaks at a debate with Republican Lori Chavez DeRemer for Oregon's 5th Congressional District in Lake Oswego, Ore., on Oct. 17, 2022. (Steve Dipaola / AP)

Running for: U.S. House of Representatives, Oregon's 5th Congressional District

If elected, would be the first: LGBTQ person elected to Congress from Oregon

In a political upset, Democrat Jamie McLeod-Skinner, a small-business owner who had unsuccessfully run for Congress in 2018, defeated seven-term Rep. Kurt Schrader in this year's Democratic primary.

"For far too long, Oregon’s LGBTQ community has not had a voice in Congress," Annise Parker, president of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, said in a statement following McLeod-Skinner's primary win. "With anti-LGBTQ attacks spreading like wildfire and lawmakers in Congress bent on outlawing abortion and reproductive health care, her election could not come at a more critical moment in our nation’s history.”

In her primary, McLeod-Skinner ran mainly as a progressive alternative to Schrader. Schrader voted against the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill and helped topple a drug pricing plan in President Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill. Schrader also referred to former President Donald Trump's second impeachment as a "lynching," which he later apologized for.

In the general election, however, McLeod-Skinner's shift to the left may play to her opponent's advantage. Oregon's 5th Congressional District has not elected a Republican since 1994. The Cook Political Report rates the race a “Toss Up."

Eric Sorensen

Democrat Eric Sorensen. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune via Getty Images file)

Running for: U.S. House of Representatives, Illinois' 17th Congressional District

If elected, would be the first: LGBTQ person elected to Congress from Illinois

Before entering the political arena this year, Eric Sorensen spent 22 years as a weather forecaster in Illinois. His victory would make him the first meteorologist elected to Congress in more than 50 years, at a time when federal lawmakers are increasingly challenged with helping the nation avert the worst effects of climate change.

"There is not a single climate communicator in Congress who matches the communication and climate science backgrounds of Eric," Sorensen's campaign website reads.

Maura Healey

Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Maura Healey faces Geoff Diehl at their final debate in Needham on Oct. 20, 2022. (Carlin Stiehl / The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

Running for: Governor of Massachusetts

If elected, would be the first: Lesbian governor in the U.S.

Maura Healey has a long history of shattering glass ceilings for the country’s LGBTQ community.

In 2009, Healey, who is now the Massachusetts attorney general, led the nation’s first successful challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriages. And in 2014, she broke barriers again, becoming the nation’s first out lesbian to be elected state attorney general.

“If I can be someone who represents and also gives others the belief that they can be anything they want to be and do anything they want to do, regardless of race, gender, identity, religion, that’s where I want to be,” Healy, 51, recently told NBC News. “That’s something I take seriously, and I think that’s what other LGBTQ+ leaders do as well — recognizing that we’re not just in a vacuum.”

If Healy wins as expected against her Republican opponent, former state representative Geoff Diehl, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, she’ll also become her state’s first elected female governor.

Tina Kotek

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tina Kotek holds a rally on Oct. 22, 2022, in Portland, Ore. (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland / Getty Images)

Running for: Governor of Oregon

If elected, would be the first: Lesbian governor in the U.S.

Tina Kotek, like Healey, has also been a breaker of glass ceilings. In 2013, Kotek became the country’s first out lesbian speaker of a state House of Representatives. She made history again by becoming Oregon’s longest-serving House speaker, before stepping down in January to run for governor.

For Kotek, a Democrat, the odds of success in November are less promising than Healey’s. Kotek not only faces Republican Christine Drazan, the former minority leader of the Oregon House, but also a third-party candidate, Betsy Johnson, who recent polling suggests is dividing Democratic voters.

Erick Russell

Running for: Connecticut Treasurer

If elected, would be the first: Black LGBTQ statewide elected official in the U.S.

Erick Russell was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut, where he currently resides with his husband, Chris. Russell earned both his bachelor's and law degrees in the state, receiving his undergraduate degree in criminal justice from the University of New Haven and his J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law.

He is currently a partner at a Connecticut law firm, where, according to his campaign website, his practice focuses on "representing municipalities, state agencies and the state in financing critical infrastructure projects, such as schools, affordable housing, child care facilities, and transportation infrastructure, managing debt and restructuring pension obligations."

Celia Israel

State Rep. Celia Israel, D-Austin, listens to fellow lawmakers in the House Chamber in Austin on May 6, 2021. (Eric Gay / AP file)

Running for: Mayor of Austin, Texas

If elected, would be the first: LGBTQ mayor of Austin and the first Latina mayor of a major U.S. city

Celia Israel currently represents District 50 in the Texas House of Representatives. Throughout her roughly eight years as a state representative, Israel, who is a lesbian, helped found the Texas House LGBTQ Caucus, was named a "Champion of Equality" by Equality Texas and was inducted into the Austin Women’s Hall of Fame.
Jennie Armstrong


Running for: Alaska House of Representatives, District 16

Andrew Gray

Posted by Andrew Gray for State House on Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Running for: Alaska House of Representatives, District 20

If elected would be the first: LGBTQ state lawmaker(s) in Alaskan history.

Alaska is one of four states with zero out LGBTQ state lawmakers, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund.

“For far too long, Alaska’s LGBTQ community has lacked representation in the state legislature — and they have the wounds to show for it,” Parker of the LGBTQ Victory Fund said in a statement after endorsing Armstrong and Gray. “It is critical the LGBTQ community and our allies unite behind exceptional LGBTQ leaders like Jennifer and Andrew who have the grit and experience to fight for and defend our freedoms.”

Armstrong, a small business owner who is pansexual, and Gray, a former member of the Alaska National Guard who is gay, are both political newcomers and parents.

U.S. medical schools boost LGBTQ students, doctor training


1 of 3

In this Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019 photo Harvard Medical School student Aliya Feroe, of Minneapolis, Minn., poses for a photograph on the school's campus, in Boston. Feroe recalls a flustered OB-GYN who referred her to another physician after learning she identified as queer. Medical schools are beefing up education on LBGTQ health issues. And some schools are making a big push to recruit LGBTQ medical students, backed by research showing that patients often get better care when treated by doctors who are more like them. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)


2 of 3

In this Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019 photo Harvard Medical School student Aliya Feroe, of Minneapolis, Minn., displays a button resembling a Harvard School of Medicine coat of arms lion, in rainbow colors that symbolize LGBTQ pride, left, and a button featuring pronouns, center, on the lapel of her lab coat on the school's campus, in Boston. The pronoun button is meant to show support for preferred gender pronouns. Some medical schools are making a big push to recruit LGBTQ medical students, backed by research showing that patients often get better care when treated by doctors who are more like them. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)


3/3

In this Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019 photo Harvard Medical School student Aliya Feroe, of Minneapolis, Minn., poses for a photograph on the school's campus, in Boston. Feroe recalls a flustered OB-GYN who referred her to another physician after learning she identified as queer. Medical schools are beefing up education on LBGTQ health issues. And some schools are making a big push to recruit LGBTQ medical students, backed by research showing that patients often get better care when treated by doctors who are more like them. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Aliya Feroe recalls the flustered OB-GYN who referred her to another physician after learning she identified as queer. For Rhi Ledgerwood, who was designated female at birth, identifies as trans and doesn’t have sex with men, it was a doctor advising about condoms and pregnancy prevention. For Tim Keyes, who came out as gay at age 17, it’s when doctors automatically assumed he sleeps with women.

Ask any LGBTQ patient about awkward doctor visits and chances are they’ll have a story to tell.

When being heterosexual is presumed even in doctors’ offices, those who identify otherwise can feel marginalized and less likely to seek medical care, contributing to health problems that include high rates of depression, suicidal behavior, alcohol and drug use and inadequate health screenings, LGBTQ advocates say.

Now, moves are afoot to remedy that. The American Medical Association vowed in November to push for a federal ban on gay conversion therapy. Medical schools are beefing up education on LBGTQ health issues. And some schools are making a major push to recruit LGBTQ medical students, backed by research showing that patients often get better care when treated by doctors more like them.

Feroe, Keyes and Ledgerwood — all pursuing medical careers — are part of the trend.

“LGBTQ physicians deserve an equal standing in the medical community and LGBTQ patients deserve the same quality of care awarded to anyone else,” said Feroe, a third-year Harvard medical student.

Increasing LGBTQ enrollment and training in LGBTQ health issues in medical schools can help achieve those goals, advocates say.

Exact numbers of LGBTQ medical students and doctors are unknown. In 2018, the AMA added sexual orientation and gender identity as an option for members to include in demographic profiles the group compiles. Of the 15,000 doctors and students who have volunteered that information so far, about 4% identify as LGBTQ. That’s similar to Gallup estimates for the general U.S. population, although LGBTQ advocates believe the numbers are higher and rising as more people are willing to “out” themselves.

This past fall, Harvard’s entering class of medical students was 15% LGBTQ, a milestone that is no accident.

The Association of American Medical Colleges’ primary application used by U.S. schools began offering prospective students the option of specifying gender identity and preferred pronouns in 2018. Harvard’s school-specific application allows applicants to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. A response is not required, but the option “sends a message that you’re wanted,” said Jessica Halem, the medical school’s LGBTQ outreach director.

“We know that doctors need to look like and be a part of the communities they serve,” Halem said.

“We have gay Muslim students. Lesbians from China. Students who are survivors of conversion therapy,” she said. “They are now out and very proud gay people and they are healing those wounds.”

Feroe had intended to present herself as straight in medical school, fearing doing otherwise would be off-putting for patients and make her feel like an anomaly among her peers.

But Harvard has an active LGBTQ student group on campus, faculty members who ask students if they prefer being called her, him or they, and coursework addressing LGBTQ medical care. Halem said that includes what screening tests are needed for women who have sex with transgender men, the hormone treatments to prescribe for transgender patients, and what it means when someone identifies as pansexual.

Feroe said she was “blown away” during a recent surgery rotation at one of Harvard’s affiliated hospitals, where a few patients were accompanied by same-sex partners. The doctors she was training with “smoothly asked about people’s lives” and were completely comfortable “when learning patients were queer,” she said, important steps toward offering non-judgmental “patient-centered” care.

A 2017-18 Association of American Medical Colleges report found that while most schools include some LGBTQ coursework, half reported three or fewer lectures, group discussions or other learning activities.

And a study of medical residents published last March found a widespread lack of knowledge on LGBTQ health issues. Dr. Carl Streed, the lead author and an associate professor at Boston University’s medical school, is among advocates pushing for a standardized, mandatory LGBTQ curriculum to fill the gaps.

Streed said a harrowing doctor’s visit nearly 15 years ago when he had symptoms of a cold and swollen lymph nodes motivated him to pursue a medical career.

“When I explained I was a gay man, the physician became very brusque, suggested HIV testing, left the room and never came back,” recalled Streed, who was an undergraduate at the time.

Testing elsewhere showed Streed did not have HIV, but no one suggested tests for illnesses more common among college students, including mononucleosis, and he never received a diagnosis.

Physicians’ personal beliefs should not “determine the quality of care and compassion that is delivered to patients,” he said.

Rhi Ledgerwood entered the University of Louisville medical school in 2014, the year it became the pilot site for coursework and training in LGBTQ health issues based on guidelines from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

At Louisville, LGBTQ health care topics are woven into the curriculum in classes that explore issues such as gender-affirming hormone therapy, taught along with more traditional coursework.

Ledgerwood, now a medical resident in pediatrics, remembers feedback from classmates “who felt it didn’t apply to them or their future practices. It went against their beliefs and they didn’t feel like they should be wasting their time on this subject.”

They were politely told the curriculum was here to stay, and Louisville now serves as a model for other medical schools.

When Tim Keyes enrolled in Stanford University’s medical school in 2015, he was surprised to learn he was one of only two gay students in the first-year class who were “out.”

“Because we’re here in the California Bay area, I was expecting the community to be a little bit different,” Keyes said.

LGBT health issues were crammed into one elective class that attracted relatively few students, but now a broader focus is part of the mandatory curriculum.

Two years ago, Keyes was among six students at four universities who created the Medical Student Pride Alliance. The group has 31 chapters on U.S. campuses and works to promote recruitment of LGBTQ students in medical schools, more enlightened coursework and improvements in LGBTQ medical care.

A lecture he heard at Stanford in which a professor mentioned that nearly 1 in 2 teens under age 18 who identify as transgender will attempt suicide shows why the group’s work is so important, Keyes said.

The professor went on to note that studies have shown “the risk becomes much closer to zero,” Keyes recalled, “if a physician simply counsels them and offers affirmative care.”

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

In blue and red states, milestone wins for LGBTQ candidates

NEW YORK — Across the nation, LGBTQ candidates achieved milestone victories in Tuesday’s election, including the first transgender person elected to a state Senate, and the first openly gay Black men to win seats in Congress.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

NOV 5, 2020

The landmark wins came not in only blue but also red states such as Tennessee, where Republican Eddie Mannis, who is gay, and Democrat Torrey Harris, who identifies as bisexual, won seats in the state House to become the first openly LGBTQ members of that legislature.

According to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which recruits and supports LGBTQ candidates, that leaves only Alaska, Louisiana and Mississippi as states that have never elected an LGBTQ legislator.

“Torrey and Eddie sent a clear message that LGBTQ candidates can win in a deep red state while being their authentic selves,” said the Victory Fund’s president, former Houston Mayor Annise Parker. “Their presence in the state legislature can dilute the most toxic anti-LGBTQ voices and lead to more inclusive legislation.”

In New York, attorney Mondaire Jones won in a district of New York City suburbs and Ritchie Torres, a member of the New York City Council, won in the Bronx to make history as the first gay Black men elected to the U.S. House. Both are Democrats; Torres identifies as Afro Latino.

The two “will bring unique perspectives based on lived experiences never before represented in the U.S. Congress,” Parker said.

With the addition of Jones and Torres, there will be nine openly LGBTQ members of the House as of January. The seven incumbents all won their races.

In Delaware, Democrat Sarah McBride won her state Senate race with more than 70% of the vote and will become the first openly transgender state senator in the country.

“It is my hope that a young LGBTQ kid here in Delaware or really anywhere in this country can look at the results and know that our democracy is big enough for them, too,” McBride said as her victory was confirmed Tuesday night.

McBride interned at the White House under President Barack Obama and in 2016 became the first openly transgender person to give a speech at a major party convention.

Two other Democrats became the first openly transgender people to win seats in their states’ Houses: Taylor Small in Vermont and Stephanie Byers in Kansas.

Byers, a retired high school band teacher, expressed hope that her victory would encourage other transgender people in conservative Kansas.

“It helps those people who are transgender to reinforce that they are people who matter, they are people who are important and they’re people who can be successful in their lives,” she told The Wichita Eagle.

Before Tuesday’s election, there were four other transgender lawmakers in state legislatures nationwide, according to the Victory Fund.

In Georgia, Democrat Kim Jackson, a lesbian social justice advocate, became the first LGBTQ person to win a seat in the state Senate. Shevrin Jones, a gay former state representative, accomplished that same feat in Florida's Senate. And in New York, Jabari Brisport, a gay math teacher, became the first openly LGBTQ person of colour elected to the legislature.

In Oklahoma, Mauree Turner, a Democrat who is Black, Muslim and identifies as non-binary, won a seat in the state House.

“I have continuously lived a life where folks doubt my voice or the power that I have,” Turner said. “I wouldn’t have gotten far if I’d let something like that debilitate me.”

There also were some notable losses for LGBTQ candidates.

In Texas, Gina Ortiz Jones, a Democratic former Air Force intelligence officer who is lesbian, had been seen as having a strong chance of winning in a sprawling, 800-mile congressional district that runs from San Antonio to El Paso. The seat had been held by Rep. Will Hurd, the House’s only Black Republican, who opted not to seek re-election and endorsed Tony Gonzales, the GOP candidate who prevailed on Tuesday.

And in southwestern Michigan’s 6th District, Jon Hoadley, seeking to become the state’s first openly gay congressman, lost to 17-term GOP Rep. Fred Upton.

___

Associated Press writers Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Margaret Stafford in Across the nation, LGBTQ candidates achieved milestone victories in Tuesday’s election, including the first transgender person elected to a state Senate, and the first openly gay Black men to win seats in Congress.

The landmark wins came not in only blue but also red states such as Tennessee, where Republican Eddie Mannis, who is gay, and Democrat Torrey Harris, who identifies as biusexual, won seats in the state House to become the first openly LGBTQ members of that legislature.

According to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which recruits and supports LGBTQ candidates, that leaves only Alaska, Louisiana and Mississippi as states that have never elected an LGBTQ legislator.

“Torrey and Eddie sent a clear message that LGBTQ candidates can win in a deep red state while being their authentic selves,” said the Victory Fund’s president, former Houston Mayor Annise Parker. “Their presence in the state legislature can dilute the most toxic anti-LGBTQ voices and lead to more inclusive legislation.”

In New York, attorney Mondaire Jones won in a district of New York City suburbs and Ritchie Torres, a member of the New York City Council, won in the Bronx to make history as the first gay Black men elected to the U.S. House. Both are Democrats; Torres identifies as Afro Latino.

The two “will bring unique perspectives based on lived experiences never before represented in the U.S. Congress,” Parker said.

With the addition of Jones and Torres, there will be nine openly LGBTQ members of the House as of January, The seven incumbents all won their races.

In Delaware, Democrat Sarah McBride won her state Senate race with more than 70% of the vote and will become the first openly transgender state senator in the country.

“It is my hope that a young LGBTQ kid here in Delaware or really anywhere in this country can look at the results and know that our democracy is big enough for them, too,” McBride said as her victory was confirmed Tuesday night.

McBride interned at the White House under President Barack Obama and in 2016 became the first openly transgender person to give a speech at a major party convention.

Two other Democrats became the first openly transgender people to win seats in their states’ Houses: Taylor Small in Vermont and Stephanie Byers in Kansas.

Byers, a retired high school band teacher, expressed hope that her victory would encourage other transgender people in conservative Kansas.

“It helps those people who are transgender to reinforce that they are people who matter, they are people who are important and they’re people who can be successful in their lives,” she told The Wichita Eagle.

Before Tuesday’s election, there were four other transgender lawmakers in state legislatures nationwide, according to the Victory Fund.

In Georgia, Democrat Kim Jackson, a lesbian social justice advocate, became the first LGBTQ person to win a seat in the state Senate. Shevrin Jones, a gay former state representative, accomplished that same feat in Florida’s Senate. And in New York, Jabari Brisport, a gay math teacher, became the first openly LGBTQ person of colour elected to the legislature.

In Oklahoma, Mauree Turner, a Democrat who is Black, Muslim and identifies as non-binary, won a seat in the state House.

“I have continuously lived a life where folks doubt my voice or the power that I have,” Turner said. “I wouldn’t have gotten far if I’d let something like that debilitate me.”

There also were some notable losses for LGBTQ candidates.

In Texas, Gina Ortiz Jones, a Democratic former Air Force intelligence officer who is lesbian, had been seen as having a strong chance of winning in a sprawling, 800-mile congressional district that runs from San Antonio to El Paso. The seat had been held by Rep. Will Hurd, the House’s only Black Republican, who opted not to seek re-election and endorsed Tony Gonzales, the GOP candidate who prevailed on Tuesday.

And in southwestern Michigan’s 6th District, Jon Hoadley, seeking to become the state’s first openly gay congressman, lost to 17-term GOP Rep. Fred Upton.

___

Associated Press writers Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Margaret Stafford in Liberty, Missouri, and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

David Crary, The Associated Press


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After 50-year stalemate, it's time to pass federal LGBTQ nondiscrimination law

BY CLIFFORD ROSKY AND TROY WILLIAMS, OPINION CONTRIBUTORS — 03/24/21
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

© Getty Images


A growing number of states have introduced legislation targeting transgender youth and their access to school sports and gender-affirming health care. Since January alone, more than two dozen states have introduced bills that would ban transgender girls and women from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. In 2020, legislation was considered in 18 states. Outside observers may be surprised to learn that these kinds of bills have been blocked in Utah, a state with one of the most conservative legislative bodies in America, thanks in large measure to a veto threat from our Republican governor.

Anyone who knows Utah well wasn’t surprised. For the last six years, our state has consistently sought to advance protections for the LGBTQ community, while also defeating frequent attempts at discrimination. Utah is an example for the nation and the U.S. Congress that religious freedom and LGBTQ rights can coexist. This lesson should also continue to inform the ongoing national debate around federal nondiscrimination protections for all LGBTQ Americans.

In 2015, Utah became the first state with a Republican majority to pass LGBTQ employment and housing nondiscrimination protections through the state legislature. The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan margins and support from a broad array of religious organizations, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In what has become a rarity in U.S. politics, we transcended partisan divisions and came together to underscore what we know to be true: Protecting the dignity and respect of LGBTQ people is not a progressive or a conservative value, it’s an American value.

The Equality Act was first introduced into Congress in 1973. Following the bill’s passage in the U.S. House with a bipartisan majority and the recent Senate Judiciary hearing, this seminal legislation is now closer than ever to becoming law. Republican in the House have also introduced their own version of a nondiscrimination bill, the Fairness for All Act, which also represents a major step forward in recognizing the harms that LGBTQ people endure due to the current lack of nondiscrimination protections at the federal level.

As we’ve listened to critics and defenders of both bills spar about why their bill is better than the other, we are concerned the two sides will remain at loggerheads, carrying on a bitter stalemate until the window of opportunity is closed. And if that were to happen, everyone involved loses – most of all, the LGBTQ people who so desperately need protections in employment, housing, healthcare and public spaces.

After nearly 50 years, a solution is long overdue. It’s now time for Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, to come together to pass the most robust protections possible.

Utahns have seen from experience what can happen when everyone comes to the table ready to reach an understanding. We got buy-in from all sides, implemented reasonable considerations to preserve religious freedom without violating LGBTQ liberty, and protected people from discrimination. This approach has also helped change the hearts and minds of Utahns. In 2019, a Public Religion Research Institute poll revealed that 77 percent of Utahns support LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws. We ranked the second highest level of support in the nation, just behind New Hampshire, and well ahead of California and New York.

 And there’s more.

The passage of this historic law laid the groundwork for more steps forward for the LGBTQ community. In 2017, we repealed the so-called “No Promo Homo” law that prohibited teachers from discussing LGBTQ issues in our public schools. In 2018, we worked with the State Board of Education to strengthen anti-bullying protections for LGBTQ students. In 2019, we passed an LGBTQ inclusive hate crimes law. In 2020, we became the 19th state in the nation to ban the harmful practice of conversion therapy upon minors. Gov. Spencer Cox (R) made national headlines last month by speaking movingly about the need to listen to and protect transgender youth. He also oversaw the drafting and funding of a statewide LGBTQ Suicide Prevention Plan.

As a country, we have to find a middle ground and stop pretending that protections for LGBTQ people and freedom for religious people are fundamentally and eternally at odds. There are ways to protect the LGBTQ community and ensure religious people can live out their faith freely. There is a way to respect religious voices without oppressing LGBTQ people. We can and must do both. We have been protecting both of these values in all of our nation’s anti-discrimination laws since the 1960s.

If we don’t act now, we will delay critical protections for years, possibly even decades.

Working together is the only path forward. It's what's possible in the current Congress when all of us come together to tackle the very real problem of LGBTQ discrimination. Codifying nondiscrimination protections into federal law will strengthen our country and make this a safer place for all LGBTQ people and the people who love us. It’s time.

Clifford Rosky is a professor of law at the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law.

Troy Williams is the executive director of Equality Utah.

30,000 in Budapest, Hungary, celebrate Pride, protest anti-LGBTQ law


An estimated 30,000 people took to the streets of Budapest, Hungary, on Saturday,

 July 24, 2021, to celebrate Pride and protest against the Hungarian government's

 new anti-LGBTQ law. Photo by Zoltan Balough/HUNGARY OUT/EPA-EFE

July 24 (UPI) -- An estimated 30,000 people took to the streets of Budapest, Hungary, to celebrate the capital's annual Pride event and protest the country's recent passing of an anti-LGBTQ law.

Participants and speakers at the Pride event, which had been held virtually in 2020, spoke out against the Prime Minister Viktor Orban-backed law, which bars schools from discussing LGBTQ issues or teaching books with LGBTQ representation or themes.

The law also prohibits TV stations from showing programs with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer representation in the daytime or early evening hours.

Speakers at the event included Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony, who called on Hungarians to show solidarity with LGBTQ citizens, Roma groups and other minorities.

The Pride parade was met with about 80 counterprotesters, who were kept behind a cordon. The group was heard shouting homophobic and pro-Nazi statements. Observers said there were no violent incidents between the groups.

Orban previously responded to international criticism of the new law, including from the European Union, which counts Hungary as a member, by proposing a five-question referendum on whether the public supports the "promotion" of LGBTQ content to children

The referendum suggestion was criticized by some at Saturday's march who said it was made up of leading questions.

RELATEDHungary PM Viktor Orban orders 5-question referendum on LGBTQ ban

"Even if you support LGBT rights, you wouldn't automatically say yes to these questions," LGBTQ activist Akos Modolo, 26, told CNN. "The government is using this as a political tool."

Modolo said the government's strategy is to "always look for an enemy to blame" so it can "appeal to the anger of the voters."

"It's important to have a discussion," Modolo said. "But this is not a discussion -- it's a hate campaign."

Record Budapest Pride stands up to anti-LGBTQ laws

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has threatened to refuse EU coronavirus aid after the bloc moved against his laws. LGBTQ people expressed fear at the direction the country was going.



Thousands of people took part in a gay pride parade in Budapest, Hungary

Record numbers of Hungarians took part in the annual Budapest Pride Saturday to protest against right-wing government attacks on LGBTQ rights that have drawn outrage from the European Union.

Organizers of the Pride march told protestors to stand up to the hatred of "power-hungry politicians" that were "using laws to make members of the LGBTQ community outcasts in their own country."

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has even threatened to turn down EU coronavirus aid if it is dependent on him backtracking over his proposed laws against the LGBTQ community. Hungary is due to receive €7.2 billion ($8.4 billion) from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility

Watch video04:32 Hungary's LGTBQ community feels intimidated: DW's Fanny Facsar reports

What was the message from Budapest Pride?

The thousands of people who turned out for Budapest Pride were keen to show they would not be intimidated by the government's rhetoric and laws.

"The recent past has been very demanding, distressing and frightening for the LGBTQ community," its organizers said in a statement.

Budapest Pride spokesperson Jojo Majercsik told the Associated Press News agency that lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people are "afraid" of Orbanꞌs policies.

LGBTQ marchers have slammed Victor Orban for his latest laws

"A lot of LGBTQ people don't feel like they have a place or a future in this country anymore," he added.

Mira Nagy, 16, told Associated Press said that as a member of the LGBTQ community her situation was "pretty bad" and "if things get worse, I will leave Hungary."
What has the international community said?

Earlier this week, over 40 foreign cultural institutions and embassies including the United States, Britain and Germany published a joint statement in support of the Budapest Pride Festival.

"Concerned by recent developments that threaten the principle of non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity, we encourage steps in every country to ensure the equality and dignity of all human beings," they said.


This year's Pride march had record attendance

Last week,the European Commission launched legal action against Hungary for what it sees as discriminatory laws.

The new bill put limits on young people's access to information on LGBTQ rights and gender identities other than those assigned at birth. Orban has pledged a referendum on the law to get feedback from the public before elections next year.

jc/dj (AP, Reuters, dpa)

 https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2021/07/hungarys-lgbtq-community-we-are-afraid.html

Elton John denounces anti-LGBTQ laws: ‘We seem to be going backwards’



Judy Kurtz
Tue, June 20, 2023

Elton John is denouncing anti-LGBTQ legislation being introduced across the United States, saying there’s a “growing well of anger and homophobia that’s around America.”

“I don’t like it at all,” the “Rocket Man” singer said in an interview with Radio Times published this week and cited by multiple outlets.

“It’s all going pear-shaped in America,” the 76-year-old performer and longtime LGBTQ rights advocate said, calling “laws enacted” in Florida “disgraceful.”

“We seem to be going backwards,” said John, who received the National Humanities Medal from President Biden last year. “And that spreads. It’s like a virus that the LGBTQ+ movement is suffering.”

More than 490 bills targeting LGBTQ Americans have been introduced in at least 45 states this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Fifty-seven of those bills have become law, the ACLU said.

Last month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed four LGBTQ-related bills, including legislation that bans gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths and expands a state education law that limits classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Italian prosecutor demands cancellation of birth certificates for lesbian couples


: Annual LGBTQ+ Pride parade in Rome


Tue, June 20, 2023 
By Crispian Balmer and Francesca Piscioneri

ROME (Reuters) - A state prosecutor in northern Italy has demanded the cancellation of 33 birth certificates of children born to lesbian couples dating back to 2017, saying the name of the non-biological mother should be removed.

The move by the prosecutor of Padua, which came to light late on Monday, highlighted the legal morass facing gay families in Italy. It came months after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government ordered city councils to stop registering same-sex parents' children.

Italy legalised same-sex civil unions in 2016 under a centre-left government, but stopped short of giving couples full adoption rights, fearing that it would encourage surrogate pregnancies, which remain illegal.

In the absence of clear legislation on the issue some courts have ruled in favour of allowing such couples to adopt each others' children, and mayors of some cities, including Padua, have registered births to both partners from same-sex unions.

However, the prosecutor of Padua, Valeria Sanzari, opened a legal case this month, saying that 33 birth certificates signed by the city mayor since 2017 should be changed, with the name of the non-biological mother removed.

A court will rule on her requests later this year.

The prosecutor's initiative outraged Italy's LGBTQ+ community.

"These children are being orphaned by decree," said centre-left parliamentarian Alessandro Zan, who has pushed for gay rights in Italy. "This is a cruel, inhumane decision," he added.

Removing the name of a parent from a birth certificate creates both bureaucratic hurdles and emotional strains.

The mother whose name is eliminated will no longer be able to fulfil a series of tasks, including picking up her child from school without the written permission of her partner. If the legally recognised parent dies, the children could be taken from the family home and become a ward of the state.

To regain her parenting rights, the non-biological mother has to go through a lengthy and expensive special adoption procedure.

The government defended the prosecutor's decision.

"In Italy, marriage is only between a man and a woman, and therefore only the biological parent is the parent whose surname can be registered," Luca Ciriani, the minister for parliamentary relations, told RTL radio on Tuesday.

Italy's lower house is currently debating a law that would make it a crime, punishable by up to two years in jail, for couples who go abroad to have a surrogate baby, even in places where it is legal, such as the United States or Canada.

Meloni, a self-declared enemy of what she calls "gender ideology" and "the LGBT lobby", faces increasing scrutiny from abroad over her highly conservative agenda for families.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Meloni publicly at a summit of Group of Seven leaders in Japan last month that Canada was "concerned" about some of the positions that Italy was taking in terms of LGBTQ+ rights.

(Additional reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Frank Jack Daniel)

Most Americans oppose religious-based bias against LGBTQ people, defying growing wave of restrictions

Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY
Tue, June 20, 2023 

Most American adults – including two-thirds of those identifying as Catholics or Christians – disagree with religious-based denial of medical care, employment, or other services to LGBTQ individuals, a national poll has found.

The results reflect Americans’ increasing support of LGBTQ rights and protections, in sharp contrast to a growing wave of legislation and legal action nationwide chipping away at such rights and protections.

Chris Erchull, attorney for GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), said the findings show most Americans believe in treating each other fairly.

“This poll shows that the current campaign of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and efforts to weaken existing nondiscrimination protections is out of step with what the majority of Americans want," Erchull said. ".... Targeting one community with harmful legislation is not a winning political strategy long-term and runs contrary to core principles in our democracy.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by Christy Mallory, legal director for the Williams Institute and one of the study's authors.

“Recent efforts by some state legislatures to expand religious exemptions from LGBTQ-inclusive non-discrimination laws are largely out of alignment with the views of most Americans,” she said in a release accompanying the findings.

A record number of anti-LGBTQ bills

As of May 23, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights group, had tallied a record 520 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in legislatures this year, with more than 40% of those targeting transgender and nonbinary people. More than 125 bills would ban transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming care.

Additionally, a recent report found the number of LGBTQ-hostile states on the rise, reflecting the growing amount of legislation targeting gender-affirming care, reducing protections for transgender people, and limiting discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is expected to rule this year in the case of Colorado web designer Lorie Smith, who is asking the state not to compel her to create web pages for same-sex weddings, which she said conflict with her religious beliefs. LGBTQ advocates fear a decision in Smith's favor could have more far-reaching consequences.

Activists wave progress pride flags as they and hundreds of others march toward the Capitol in a Queer Capitol March on Saturday, April 15, 2023, in Austin. Activists gathered to protest recent anti-LGBTQ legislation in Texas.

The survey findings were gleaned from a national poll of 1,003 U.S. adults conducted in September 2022 and commissioned by nonpartisan research firm NORC at the University of Chicago in partnership with the Williams Institute, a think tank dedicated to gender identity and sexual orientation research at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law.

More than 8 in 10 respondents (84%) opposed allowing medical professionals to cite religious beliefs as a reason to deny care to LGBTQ people, while 74% said they were against letting employers deny jobs to LGBTQ individuals. About 7 in 10 (71%) said they objected to business owners citing religious beliefs as a reason for denying LGBTQ people service.

The majorities were consistent across political affiliations, religions, race, ethnicity and gender, the poll found. Women, people of color and Democrats were most likely to say they opposed discrimination against LGBTQ people on religious grounds, including more than 80% of Black respondents.

Democrats were far more likely (92%) than Republicans (71%) to oppose religious-based discrimination against LGBTQ individuals in terms of medical care, as well as business services (90% to 52%) and employment (89% to 54%).

In terms of gender differences, women were likelier (86%) than men (81%) to oppose religious-based discrimination by medical professionals, as well as by business owners (76% to 67%) and employers (79% to 69%).

Opposition to bias lowest among the most religious

When broken down by religious attendance, those regularly frequenting religious services were least likely to oppose religious-based denial of such services to LGBTQ people, though those who did still represented a majority of the group. Just 53% of that category opposed religious-based discrimination against LGBTQ people on the part of business owners, while 59% opposed such bias from employers and 71% from medical providers.

Opposition was highest among those who never attended services, with at least 8 in 10 among that group objecting to allowing religious-based discrimination by medical professionals (89%), employers (82%) and business owners (80%).

The findings, the study authors said, should give pause to policymakers, business owners and service providers given the growing pattern of restrictions against LGBTQ people.

While LGBTQ people are not explicitly protected from discrimination at the federal level, laws banning sex-based discrimination have been interpreted to extend to members of the LGBTQ community. Additionally, 33 states and the District of Columbia also provide discrimination protections in areas such as employment, housing and public accommodations.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Campaign issued its first "state of emergency" in its more than 40-year history after more than 75 anti-LGBTQ bills had been passed in state legislatures in 2023.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LGBTQ people: Americans largely oppose religious-based discrimination

Pride of place: The world has changed for the better

Bruce Anderson
Tue, June 20, 2023 

Ledger Columnist Bruce Anderson in Lakeland Fl Thursday December 22,2022.Ernst Peters/The Ledger

June is Pride Month - a celebration of the gay, lesbian, and transgender members of our community and their continuing struggle for acceptance. But it’s really more than that. It is a festival of recognition of the wonderful diversity of this great country, and the folks who make it up.

Few nations on earth have the amazingly varied population of the U.S. and each group has had to push and shove and demand acceptance. But people of wide-ranging sexual orientations and gender identities are everywhere. LGBTQ+ people make up about 10% of the earth’s population and when you add in folks that are not sure where they fit, but do not directly identify as one thing or another, that number goes up – perhaps way up.

As with every other group demanding equal treatment under the law, the LGBTQ+ community has had to struggle. For one thing, sexual orientation and gender identity is elusive. It only becomes real when someone is transparent - when someone comes out.

Hiding or being “in the closet” was, for centuries, the norm – people pretending to be someone they emphatically were not. Why? Often simply being yourself was illegal – you could literally do time for being gay. So, few were “out” that those few could be easily marginalized and ostracized from the wider society. The weird and unnatural phobia against the other could be easily reinforced against the few.

What turned the tide? Honesty. When the coming out movement evolutionarily spun a wider and wider circle, the LGBTQ+ community became undeniable. In a matter of a decade or two, everyone straight suddenly had brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, kids, longtime friends, and casual acquaintances who were not. Longtime LGBTQ+ antagonists had to confront the reality that being against it would mean being against people they knew and loved.

The political experience of the new century has been one where folks of all sorts were being assimilated into the mainstream, becoming part of the great experiment: diversity was celebrated for its contribution to the whole – marginalizing folks was no longer on. This does not mean that homophobia did not exist – of course it did – but it was massively reduced on both sides of the aisle and, for the stubborn bigots who still felt that way, falling rapidly out of fashion to display it.

But there has been an inexplicable reactionary backlash: it is now trendy to marginalize LGBTQ+ folks again, in some circles.

Proclamations of support for Pride events have come under fire, with some polities abandoning them altogether. Despite widespread acceptance, laws that threaten this community are being filed and passed across the red states, and the blundering bigotry of fringe groups – ever a threat to peace – are becoming more open, more violent, and more public.

Political appeals to the base of the GOP – primary voters, for the most part, in the upcoming election – have been geared to the apparent lowest common denominator. I write “apparent” because I suspect that any return to the gross homophobia of the past will force politicians onto a third rail. In addition to its inherent dreadfulness, this strategy won’t work. The political base of the GOP has interests quite different from those of Democrats, to be sure, but the general acceptance of LGBTQ+ people is something most people share, regardless of political party.

LGBTQ+ folks are out now more than ever and pushing this brand of crass ugliness about who people are is a likely loser in most primaries, and in the few places where it isn’t, it is a likely a death sentence in the general election.

The world has changed. And for the better.

Pride celebrations are community celebrations and celebrate the whole of the community. Let’s be sure the message is always clear that “our community” means everyone.

Bruce Anderson is the Dr. Sarah D. and L. Kirk McKay Jr. Endowed Chair in American History, Government, and Civics and Miller Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Florida Southern College. He is also a columnist for The Ledger.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Pride of place: The world has changed for the better