Emma Powys Maurice

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LA Pride Reverses Cancellation to Hold Black Lives Matter Solidarity March

Nearly two months after it was cancelled due to coronavirus, LA Pride will be revived as a Black Lives Matter march to honour the legacy of the Stonewall Riots.

The parade was due to take place on June 14 to commemorate LA Pride’s 50th anniversary. Now this date will instead see a solidarity protest march in response to racial injustice, systemic racism, and all forms of oppression.

In a statement on Wednesday the parade organisers Christopher Street West said the march will hark back to Pride’s roots as a protest for social justice.

“Fifty years ago Christopher Street West took to the streets of Hollywood Blvd in order to peacefully protest against police brutality and oppression,” said Estevan Montemayor, the organisation’s president.

“It is our moral imperative to honour the legacy of Marsha P Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, who bravely led the Stonewall uprising, by standing in solidarity with the Black community against systemic racism and joining the fight for meaningful and long-lasting reform.”

In accordance with advice from the California Department of Public Health, participants will be expected to wear masks or other face coverings and take other appropriate social distancing measures.

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“We have been told that it is safer at home – and that is absolutely true; it is safer at home during this health pandemic – and that unless it is absolutely necessary you should not leave your home,” Montemayor told the 

“But as we reflect on what is occurring, I think it is very fair to say that it is absolutely necessary that we leave our homes and speak loudly and clearly about this injustice and peacefully protest.”

She added that Marsha Johnson’s struggle, strength and courage were part of what led the Christopher Street West board to the unanimous decision to hold this protest.

“As a trans person, as a Black woman, as a member of this community, she had to deal with oppression on many fronts,” she said. “I think it is our imperative to continue to fight the injustice and the oppression that we are currently witnessing.”

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Thousands Gather at the Stonewall Inn Demanding an End to the Murder of Black Trans People

New York’s Stonewall Inn became a place of protest once more as thousands gathered to demand justice for the deaths of Tony McDade and Nina Pop.

Tony McDade was shot and killed by a white police officer in Florida on May 27. Nina Pop was found stabbed to death in her apartment in Missouri on May 3. Both were victims of the shocking “epidemic of violence” that disproportionately targets trans people of color in the US.

As the LGBT+ community joins in solidarity against police brutality, activists have called for Black transgender people to be honoured as part of the Black Lives Matter movement sweeping across America and the world.

Standing on a bench near the Stonewall Inn on Monday (June 1), Black trans femme Ianne Fields addressed a gathering crowd: “Black trans women have given y’all culture! Have given y’all style! Have given y’all seasoning in your damn chicken!

“And for too long, we’re not here. You say you honour us. You say you uplift us. Then where the f**k are we?”

The city heard her calls, and the following day thousands of allies assembled outside the historic spot to take a stand for the Black transgender community.

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Thousands out in front of Stonewall Inn, the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ movement, demanding justice for Tony McDade and Nina Pop. Black lives matter. Black queer lives matter. Black trans lives matter.

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Alongside the now-familiar chorus of “No justice, no peace,” protestors led the call-and-response chant: “Say his name — Tony McDade. Say her name — Nina Pop.”

This was followed by the call: “When Black folks are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back! When trans lives are under attack what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

The demonstration was one of six organised in New York City that day, but it was perhaps the most poignant given that the Stonewall Inn was the site of protests against police violence in 1969 led by Black trans women and lesbians.

The Stonewall Uprising began when a police raid on the bar turned sour after officers accosted bar-goers, and the ensuing protests are commonly credited as the birth of the modern LGBT+ rights movement.

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Judge Tells Idaho its Transphobic Birth Certificate Law is a Constitutional Violation

An Idaho federal judge has upheld a critical ruling that a proposed bill denying trans people the right to change their birth certificates is a constitutional violation.

The bill, HB 509, would specifically prohibit changes to gender markers, claiming that “biological distinctions between male and female are a matter of scientific fact, and biological sex is an objectively defined category that has obvious, immutable, and distinguishable characteristics”.

It also claims that changing someone’s biological sex on their birth certificate “impacts the health and safety of all individuals.”

The bill was opposed by the LGBT+ advocacy group Lambda Legal, which filed a lawsuit against the state. They argued that the law had already been ruled unconstitutional two years ago when Idaho tried to implement a similar policy against transgender people.

This policy was found to have violated the Equal Protection Clause as it endangered transgender people, who were opened up to threats and discrimination when forced to show inaccurate IDs. It led to a permanent injunction which prohibits anti-transgender discrimination by the state.

In proposing HB 509, the state of Idaho was attempting to “pretend the previous lawsuit never happened” by passing a new law and simply giving it a different bill number, the court was told.

Deputy attorney general Steven Olsen insisted that his bill was different, and suggested that the legislation needed to go into effect before any harm to transgender people could be proven.

Fortunately judge Candy Dale, who passed the first ruling two years ago, did not agree with him.

Idaho attempting to ‘turn back the clock on trans equality’.

“The plain language and objective of the order and judgment entered in this case permanently enjoin [the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare] from infringing on the constitutional rights of transgender individuals,” judge Dale wrote in the order on Monday.

She also warned state officials for their “experimentation with disobedience of the law” in flouting the permanent injunction issued in 2018.

The court made clear that if officials attempted to reinstate the ban on changing birth certificates, even if directed by state law, they would be in violation of the federal injunction.

“Like obeying speed limits and paying your taxes, Idaho state officials are not exempt from the duty to follow a court order,” said Peter Renn, an attorney for Lambda Legal.

“Here, the court’s 2018 order plainly instructed state officials not to block transgender people from accessing accurate identity documents. The court has now confirmed that what was discriminatory in 2018 remains discriminatory today.”

Lambda Legal staff attorney Kara Ingelhart added it was “remarkable” that the state had attempted to bring the issue back into court in the first place.

“[It is] a direct result of efforts by the Idaho legislature and governor Little to turn back the clock on equality,” she said. “To force this law through, even as the country grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic, is even more inexcusable.”

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There’s a big Difference in the Way the New York Times Reported 100,000 Coronavirus Deaths and 100,000 AIDS Deaths

The New York Times made an impact with a front page dominated by the “incalculable loss” of 100,000 people who have tragically died of coronavirus in the US.

The grim milestone puts the US far behind every other country in the world in dealing with the pandemic, and the death toll continues to rise day by day.

“They were not simply names on a list. They were us,” the paper read on Monday (May 25). “Numbers alone cannot possibly measure the impact of the coronavirus on America.”

So instead, the entire page was filled top to bottom with death notices of victims from across the country. Names, ages, hobbies, professions, personalities and favourite sports teams were among the personal details included to convey the sheer size of the tragedy.

It was a far cry from how the same paper reported the same number of deaths 29 years ago — the only difference being that this epidemic was HIV, not coronavirus.

The New York Times did not devote a front page to the first 100,000 people who died of AIDS.

On January 25, 1991, the death toll for AIDS in the US reached the same staggering number of 100,000. But because the bulk of those deaths were gay men, their plight didn’t warrant a front page headline.

Nor was it found on the second page, or the the third. The story was shunted back to page 18, hidden below the halfway fold of the paper. No pictures, and no names.

It apparently deserved less prominence than an article about the US Postal Service’s newest stamp.

“US reports AIDS deaths now exceeds 100,000,” the tiny headline read. Below it was a story written by the Associated Press — the New York Times hadn’t bothered to write their own — its cold language characteristic of the way “the gay plague” was viewed at the time.

“The death toll from AIDS in the United States has climbed to more than 100,000, with nearly a third of the deaths occurring last year, federal health officials said today,” the article began.

“The [Federal Centre for Disease Control] said the death toll is climbing and its researchers projected that in the next three years up to 215,000 more Americans will die of AIDS.”

Reagan

AIDS was second only to injuries as the leading cause of death among young men.

In contrast to the “incalculable loss” caused by coronavirus, the deaths of 100,000 AIDS patients were framed as mere “statistics” which “point to a growing crisis” — as if a crisis wasn’t already underway.

At the time, AIDS was the second leading cause of death among men 25 to 44 years old, second only to injuries. But the stigma surrounding the disease was so great that it took years before president Reagan even uttered the word “AIDS” in public.

He was accused of treating the crisis as “a great joke”, and many believe his apathy caused thousands to get infected and die, in part because it delayed research critical to understanding and treating the virus.

The number of AIDS deaths in the US would eventually exceed 700,000, each one just as much as tragedy as those lost to coronavirus, even if the world refused to acknowledge the scale of the tragedy at the time.

As the New York Times says of the coronavirus victims, “none of them were numbers”. They were friends, lovers, children, siblings, parents, every bit as human as the COVID-19 dead. And they deserved just as much respect.

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Queer refuges Face Starvation while being Overlooked by COVID-19 State Aid Programs

LGBT+ refugees and asylum seekers are being excluded from crucial coronavirus relief packages offered by the South African government, multiple human rights groups have warned.

South Africa is a common destination for those fleeing countries that persecute sexual minorities, as 33 out of the 70 countries that criminalise homosexuality are in Africa.

But queer people arriving in the country have little access to basic amenities and are now facing starvation amid the ongoing lockdown.

The pandemic has cut them off from working in the informal trades that previously sustained them, including restaurants, bars, or sex work, and they are not eligible to receive government social grants or food parcels, as these are are distributed only to those with South African identity cards and Social Security cards.

Human Rights Watch is appealing to the country’s government to take urgent steps to help these migrants, who were already living on the economic margins before the pandemic began.

“The Ramaphosa administration should either ensure access to food for thousands of refugees and asylum seekers, or say that it can’t meet the need and seek donors to step in and provide assistance,” said Dewa Mavhinga, southern Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

“The government is ignoring the plight of refugees and asylum seekers currently confined in their homes and unable to work to provide for themselves.”

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After hearing desperate pleas from refugees and asylum seekers, Human Rights Watch raised the issue with the South African Human Rights Commission.

The Commission confirmed receiving similar reports and pressed the authorities to extend support for these marginalised people during the coronavirus lockdown.

Their calls of alarm were joined by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The ACHPR delivered an urgent appeal to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, expressing concern at the lack of protection for vulnerable groups, which includes LGBT+ migrants.

“South Africa should make special efforts to protect the most vulnerable in the country and ensure that refugees and asylum seekers are not overlooked or forgotten,” Mavhinga said.

“The authorities should act and seek donor support to avert an imminent humanitarian catastrophe.”

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Chechen Tyrant, who Led the Brutal Gay Purges, ‘Hospitalized with Severe Coronavirus’

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen tyrant who orchestrated the region’s brutal gay purges, has reportedly been hospitalised with severe coronavirus symptoms.

Kadyrov is president of the Chechen republic in Russia, where LGBT+ people have been imprisoned, beaten, tortured and killed in gay concentration camps.

Despite countless refugee reports detailing the violent abuses they have suffered, Kadyrov has forcefully denied that the crackdown ever happened.

“This is nonsense,” he previously said when asked about the allegations. “We don’t have those kinds of people here. We don’t have any gays. If there are any, take them to Canada.

“Praise be to God. Take them far from us so we don’t have them at home. To purify our blood, if there are any here, take them.”

In what will no doubt be a fortunate twist of fate for the region’s remaining LGBT+ population, Kadyrov now appears to have earned the title of the first Russian official to fall seriously ill in the coronavirus pandemic.

According two Russian state news agencies, RIA Novosti and Tass, Kadyrov was flown to a clinic in Moscow as his symptoms rapidly deteriorated.

“Ramzan Kadyrov has been brought to Moscow by plane with suspected coronavirus. He is currently under medical observation,” Tass said, citing “a source in medical circles”.

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Although Chechen officials have not yet confirmed the news, the digital news outlet Baza also reported that there had been damage to Kadyrov’s lungs.

The reports were contested by Akhmed Dudayev, the head of Chechnya’s state-run TV channel, who wrote on Instagram that Kadyrov “is personally in control of the situation and taking all necessary measures. The work of his headquarters is under his personal control.”

After being appointed by Putin in 2017, Kadyrov has since turned the region into a personal fiefdom, developing a powerful national guard and a cult of personality. He has no clear successor.

He has made a limited number of public appearances recently, although he did feature in a heavily edited video of a government coronavirus briefing released on Sunday.

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A Humanitarian Crisis because of the Governments’ Response to Coronavirus is Leaving LGBT+ People in Grave Danger

LGBT+ charities in 37 Commonwealth countries are urgently warning of an “unfolding humanitarian crisis” for LGBT+ people as a direct result of the pandemic.

Coronavirus is having a disproportionate impact on marginalised communities, and governments’ responses to the crisis are heightening the levels of inequality, exclusion, discrimination and poverty that LGBT+ people already experience every day.

A combination of job loss, housing and food insecurity, lack of physical and mental wellbeing and safety, lack of access to health services and life-saving medication are combining to create a rapidly deteriorating situation for the international LGBT+ community.

For example in Pakistan, trans people have been excluded from government-organised relief efforts and left to fend for themselves as NGOs stop working.

And in Uganda, 19 LGBT+ people were arrested in a homeless shelter and charged under the pretext of committing “a negligent act likely to spread infection” of coronavirus.

Charities like these which cater to LGBT+ are few in many Commonwealth countries, and they say their very survival is now at stake.

Of a total of of 34 charities consulted by the Kaleidoscope Trust, 85 per cent were concerned for the wellbeing of their service users and doubted their organisation’s ability to deliver meaningful interventions during the coronavirus crisis.

Eighty-eight per cent said they were concerned for the wellbeing of their staff and volunteers, while a further 81 per cent were worried about their current and projected losses of income.

“We are witnessing an emerging humanitarian crisis for LGBT+ people as government responses to COVID-19 leave vulnerable LGBT+ communities at grave risk,” said Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, executive director of Kaleidoscope Trust.

“Commonwealth states must act now to prevent further deterioration of the situation domestically, and the UK has the opportunity to show international leadership in its role as Commonwealth Chair-in-Office.”

She warned the UK not to leave LGBT+ people behind in the pandemic, urging the government to “make good on its promise” to redress the wrongs inflicted upon the LGBT+ community as a result of British colonial-era laws.

“The structural vulnerabilities codified in laws and social attitudes in countries across the world are made worse during a crisis like COVID-19. The UK government has a responsibility to ensure LGBT+ human rights work is able to continue during the COVID-19 crisis.”

Kaleidoscope Trust is calling on Boris Johnson to allocate immediate relief funding for grassroots activists and organisations, with additional funding to allow longer-term projects to continue again after the pandemic ends.

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The woman who Brought the First trans Rights Case to the Supreme Court, has Died

Aimee Stephens, the woman who brought the first-ever transgender civil rights case to the Supreme Court, has tragically died.

Stephens, 58, had kidney disease and had been receiving hospice care at home in recent weeks.

She died at home this morning, according to her brother-in-law John Pedit.

Her case was one of a trio of LGBT+ cases the Supreme Court heard on October 8, which between them could determine whether millions of LGBT+ workers are protected under the US’s most powerful federal workplace anti-discrimination law, or whether it is legal to fire people on the basis of their identity.

In Stephens’ case, the Supreme Court looked at whether trans people are protected from employment discrimination, after she was fired from her funeral-home job two weeks after coming out as trans.

The Supreme Court is due to announce its verdict any day now – making her death all the more tragic.

According to a GoFundMe that was recently set up to financially support Stephens and her wife, she had become so unwell that she was unable to travel for her thrice-weekly “lifesaving” dialysis sessions.

According to the fundraising page, Stephens had also been “struggling” with diabetes and its complications for several years now.

The page said it would help her wife, Donna, pay for end-of-life care and funeral expenses.Here’s How You Can Save on Energy Bills During COVID-19Promoted by PG&E

Legal experts have said that her death won’t render the pending Supreme Court moot, as her estate could still recover the damages for the violation of her rights.

Aimee Stephens and Harris Funeral Homes.

Aimee Stephens, 58, worked for Harris Funeral Homes in Detroit, Michigan, for six years.

In July 2013, she informed her boss, Harris Funeral Homes owner Thomas Rost, that she was trans and intended to come to work dressed in clothing worn by women in the three funeral homes he owned.

This meant coming to work wearing a skirt suit or dress.

Two weeks later, Rost handed Stephens a letter that said “this is not going to work”, Stephens told the Associated Press.

Stephens complained to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which agreed to sue the funeral home.

A trial judge ruled against her but then a federal appeals court in Cincinnati sustained her complaint, saying that discrimination on the basis of trans status is sex discrimination.

That appeals court also separately found that she was fired because Rost had sex stereotypes about Stephens’ appearance and dress – in that, she didn’t conform to what he deemed to be female-presenting.

Rost had testified that Stephens coming to work in women’s clothes would be “a distraction that is not appropriate” for grieving families.

Rost appealed, and the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.

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After Coronavirus Forced Gay Bar to Close it is Stepping up to Feed Frontline Workers

Amazon is paying a gay bar $200,000 to make and deliver meals to first responders in Virginia during the coronavirus crisis.

The online retail giant recently moved its headquarters to Arlington in Virginia. In a bid to support the state through the pandemic, it has enlisted a local queer eatery, Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant, to provide 10,000 free meals for police, firefighters and frontline healthcare workers.

“During this unprecedented time, Amazon is working to not only support our frontline workers and first responders across the Arlington area, but also our most vulnerable neighbours in immediate need,” a spokesperson for Amazon in a statement.

“We are proud to work alongside Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant, a beloved local restaurant in our new neighbourhood, to ensure that we’re thanking our neighbours who are keeping us safe, and caring for our neighbours who need extra support right now with hearty meals throughout May.”

In the past week Freddie’s has already prepared and delivered over 400 of the meals to the county police department, sheriff’s office, and emergency communications centre.

Freddie’s owner Freddie Lutz told the Washington Blade he was “delighted” to accept Amazon’s offer to help first responders, whose sacrifice he and his staff greatly admire.

The support from Amazon has enabled the gay bar owner to bring back most of the employees he had to lay off when the state imposed a coronavirus lockdown. At his suggestion, Amazon also agreed to involve three other neighbouring venues in the project.

Gay bars across the country are in a fight to survive amid the coronavirus, with many already struggling before the pandemic hit.

As many as 37 per cent of America’s gay bars shut down from 2007 to 2019, leaving LGBT+ people without a place to gather in public and LGBT+ workers without employment.

Unfortunately this number is likely to increase before the pandemic ends – which is why alternative forms of income in the meantime can make all the difference.

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Police Lieutenant Says he Was Fired for Being Gay and HIV+

A former police lieutenant has filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles after he was allegedly fired for being gay and HIV positive after almost 25 years service.

Steven Prendergast was hired to the force in 1995 and was promoted regularly throughout his employment. He acted as the police department’s spokesman before he was fired in 2019.

The lawsuit claims his firing was a result of discrimination, as he was falsely accused of inappropriately touching two fellow officers during a trip to Washington DC for National Police Week.

Prendergast denies the allegations against him and points out that heterosexual officers who admitted to acts of battery against fellow officers were not terminated for their actions.

He also says he was regularly subjected to homophobic comments from some colleagues, and was denied access to the medical care of his choice because of his HIV diagnosis.

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Gay lieutenant forced to endure ‘farcical’ investigation.

The court documents filed on Friday claim sexual orientation discrimination, disability discrimination, medical discrimination and failure to prevent discrimination.

“Because Lt. Prendergast is homosexual and has been diagnosed with HIV, the City wrongfully terminated his employment,” reads the complaint, which has been seen by the Daily Breeze.

It adds that a subsequent internal investigation conducted by police chief Michael Saffell “was a farce that was intended solely to give the City the pretextual reason to terminate Lt. Prendergast”.

The city and police department has not yet been served with the lawsuit and said it was not their practice to comment at this stage.

“The City does however strictly enforce its equal employment guidelines, including prohibitions on workplace harassment, against and for the protection of all ranks of its employees, from entry level positions to top level managers,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

“The City will respond in court at the appropriate time.”

Prendergast is seeking unspecified damages, saying that the city’s failure to prevent discrimination has negatively impacted him physically and emotionally.

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