LGBTQ Nation

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Newsom slam DeSantis over Don’t Say Gay, compares it to infamous, failed Briggs Initiative

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) took the opportunity at an awards ceremony Wednesday to slam his anti-LGBTQ Florida counterpart Ron DeSantis (R) in their continuing stealth bids for president in 2024.

Newsom was in Washington, D.C. accepting the 2022 Frank Newman Award for State Innovation from the Education Commission of the States.

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The governor compared Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law – also known as the Don’t Say Gay law – to California’s failed Briggs Initiative in 1978, which would have banned LGBTQ teachers from public school classrooms.

“Teachers were under assault, because, God forbid, teachers were homosexual,” Newsom recounted.

The so-called Briggs Initiative, a statewide ballot referendum sponsored by conservative Orange County state Sen. John Briggs (R), provided that public school teachers and staff be fired if an employee was found to have engaged in either “public homosexual activity” or “public homosexual conduct,” defined as “the advocating, soliciting, imposing, encouraging or promoting of private or public homosexual activity directed at, or likely to come to the attention of, schoolchildren and/or other employees.”

“Somehow, people were presupposing they were ‘grooming’ our kids. That was in the 1970s,” Newsom said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signing the Don't Say Gay bill
Gov. Ron DeSantis signing the Don’t Say Gay bill Screenshot/Facebook

Calling out DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw, Newsom said, “Press secretary for the governor of one of our largest states” referred to those who oppose the Don’t Say Gay law “in Florida as ‘groomers.’ I think she was promoted, not fired.”

“Ronald Reagan himself in 1978 wrote an op-ed saying something that needs to be said today,” Newsom continued. “‘You can’t get gay,’ he said. He used the word homosexual. ‘You can’t catch gay like you can the measles.’”

“I don’t want to sugarcoat it,” Newsom warned. “Education is under assault in the United States of America. And we have an obligation, a moral and ethical obligation, to call out what is going on as it relates to the suppression of free speech.”

“We’re going to share the future whether we like it or not. But we can’t ‘other’ our differences. We can’t create false separateness that doesn’t exist. And we have to call out those who have a zest for demonization.”

“Forgive me in advance,” Newsom said as he accepted the award on stage. “You brought up a politician.”

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Applebee’s franchise must pay $100K in racist & homophobic employee harassment settlement

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The owners of an Applebee’s franchise restaurant in Plant City, Florida must pay $100,000 to settle claims that it allowed racist and homophobic discrimination against a gay Black employee.

Shortly after Jebriel Teague, a gay Black man, began working as a line cook for the Applebee’s franchise in March 2019, two of his co-workers — Cody Curby and Bobby Hogge — made inappropriate jokes about his sexual orientation, directing comments to him about dildos and anal beads on a near daily basis, and frequently using the n-word as well as slurs like “f**,” “f****t,” and “bi**h,” the complaint states.

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Hogge also wore a Confederate flag hat all the time at work, a flag which has since been banned from all U.S. military installations as an emblem of white supremacy.

When Teague told his supervisors about his co-workers’ behavior, his supervisors told him that the men were just joking and that he should ignore it. The harassment continued. Even though Teague’s manager said he would investigate the harassment, no notes on the investigation exist.

When Teague continued to complain about his mistreatment, nearly half of his hours were cut. The lack of hours and continued mistreatment effectively forced him to quit in June 2019, barely three months after he was first employed.

Teague filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC determined that the business’ practices violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.

The EEOC then contacted Neighborhood Restaurant Partners Florida, LLC (NRP), the company that owns the franchise, to correct the discriminatory practices and provide relief to Teague. Eventually, the EEOC sued NRP on Teague’s behalf, filing a suit in Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

In addition to paying $100,000, NRP must also provide the EEOC with reports of what it has done to resolve any reports of harassment.

Evangeline Hawthorne, the EEOC’s Tampa field office director, said that while the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia was a huge step forward — ruling that employees can’t be discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation of gender identity because of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act — LGBTQ employees still face discrimination in the workplace.

“No employee should have to endure homophobic and racist harassment by co-workers,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Robert E. Weisberg. “Failing to take corrective action to correct a work environment permeated with racial and homophobic slurs, and, even worse, punishing an employee for reporting harassment, will not be tolerated.”

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Mob of conservative mothers demand library burn Pride display books

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In the Connecticut hometown of Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale, a group of mothers including a “Christian taxpayer” is up in arms over the town library’s Pride book display and are demanding the offending materials be burned.

Booth & Dimock Memorial Library Director Margaret Khan said the incident happened June 22, when one of the mothers removed the books from the display and the group carried them to the front desk to complain.

Related: Connecticut official bans RuPaul biography from library after one dad complains

Khan said the women responded with “hateful language” and told her the books in the display should be burned.

According to Khan, the library’s collection is evaluated based on specific criteria, including relevance and representation, and materials are evaluated by respected sources, including Library Journal and The New York Times Book Review, according to the Journal Inquirer.

Khan told the group they needed to follow library procedure and file a formal “request for reconsideration,” explaining their concerns in writing.

While library privacy guidelines proscribe naming the complainants, Khan did reveal the woman who filled out the request identified herself on the form only as a “Christian taxpayer.” It was unclear if the patron is a resident of Coventry.

In a statement, Town Council Chairwoman Lisa Thomas said, “I stand by our library and their mission to serve each individual in our community.”

“The hostile incident at our public library is part of a disturbing trend across the country. If an adult does not want their child to have access to certain reading materials or other resources, it is up to that adult to guide their child’s choices. Our library is a critical resource to our community to provide information, programming, and other supports. Public libraries embrace the needs of all people in the community.”

While police were not called during the incident, Town Manager John Elsesser said if  something similar happens again, library staff should do so.

The uproar in Coventry occurred a week before a similar incident in nearby Colchester, Connecticut when a resident demanded the book Who is RuPaul? be removed from the library’s collection because it contained a “sexually provocative” image. A town selectman agreed the book should be deemed inappropriate for the children’s section.

Coventry’s hometown hero Hale, who spied for the Americans and was executed by the British, was the grandson of Puritan pastor John Hale, a prominent figure in the Salem witch trials.

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GOP Congressman tries to win over LGBTQ voters now that his district includes Palm Springs

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After spending 30 years opposing LGBTQ rights, Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) is now trying to win over LGBTQ voters.

The Republican congressman representing California’s 42nd district, says his views on LGBTQ issues have changed, and his very recent change in views comes just as his district was redrawn to include the very LGBTQ city of Palm Sprints.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Calvert, who is facing an out gay challenger in Democrat Will Rollins, now believes that the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodgesshould not be overturned.

“It wasn’t always my position,” Calvert told the paper. “It’s a different country than it was 30 years ago.”

Calvert is running against Rollins in the newly created Riverside County district which includes Palm Springs, one of the largest concentrations of LGBTQ voters in America. The district Calvert currently represents is solidly Republican.

Calvert’s anti-LGBTQ history goes all the way back to 1994 when his allies outed then-rival Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) and the congressman used Takano’s sexuality as a campaign issue.

“I don’t bear this burning grudge about what happened in 1994, but what I do think is it will be an irony, a real twist, if an LGBT former prosecutor defeats congressman Calvert this November,” said Takano, who was elected to Congress in 2012 and now represents California’s 41st district. Takano is now running for a seat in the state’s 39th following re-districting following redistricting.

Calvert, who has been endorsed by former president Donald Trump, also voted for the Defense of Marriage Act – which banned the federal government from recognizing marriage equality – and against the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” which didn’t allow gay and bisexual people to serve openly in the military.

The Human Rights Campaign gave him a 0 on its Congressional Scorecard in the recent the 2019/2020 session, and in 2021, Calvert voted against the Equality Act, which would have amended federal civil rights legislation to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

So while he claims his conversion to supporting LGBTQ rights is sincere, it appears to have happened within the last 12 months.

“I’ve never had any animosity to the gay community,” Calvert says now. “I come out of the restaurant business, for goodness’ sake. A lot of people who worked with me were gay.”

For what it’s worth, John Falcone of the Log Cabin Republicans of Coachella Valley, is convinced.

“We talked about gay issues and his past record, and he was very, very open and very accepting,” he says of a recent meeting with Calvert. “I give him credit for reaching out and I found him authentic. Going in, I was skeptical, but coming out, I thought, OK, he’ll be fine.”

Rollins, who won the Democratic primary on June 7, reportedly stands a good chance in the November race. He served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the past five year, and recently he helped prosecute some of the insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.

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Iraq’s government proposes law to ban homosexuality

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The Iraqi government has drafted a plan to criminalize homosexuality, according to a member of the country’s Parliamentary Legal Committee.

“It was agreed within the parliament to collect signatures after returning to session to legislate a law prohibiting homosexuality in Iraq,” Aref al-Hamami, an MP with the State of Law coalition said on Friday. “[The] legislation of such a law will be reinforced by legal provisions that prevent homosexuality and the perversions associated with it.”

Amir Ashour, head of the LGBTQ group IraQueer, said that the proposed law would “allow the Iraqi government to legally get away with murder.”

In a statement Ashour went on to say that “The Iraqi government is using their hatred for LGBT+ people to distract the public from their failure to form a government, provide basic services, and hold perpetrators accountable for different human rights violations.”

Ashour went on to challenge the international community to put pressure on Iraqi to make sure the law is not passed. “The lives of LGBT+ people and the future of the queer movement is on the line.”

Although homosexuality was legalized after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, LGBTQ Iraqi’s have continued to be persecuted under the country’s laws punishing “immodest acts.” Human Rights Watch reports that 11 LGBTQ individuals were arrested in June 2021 for “public indecency.”

In 2020, political and religious leaders in Iraq condemned several embassies and international organizations for flying the rainbow flag in honor of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia.

In 2018, a harrowing video circulated on Iraqi social media showing a popular 14-year-old Instagram influencer being brutally murdered for being perceived as gay.

In a lengthy Twitter thread, Ashour detailed the gravity of the situation for Iraq’s LGBTQ citizens.

“Local legal ‘experts’ [in Iraq] mistakenly compare queer identities to ‘shameful acts’; which in their opinion include ‘prostitution’ claiming that these ‘crimes’ are punished by the death penalty,” Ashour tweeted last week.

He asserts that the country “is currently being led by a group of fundamentalist terrorists who are leading armed groups and spreading fear and violence instead of protecting the human rights of Iraqis and building a country for all citizens, including #LGBT+ citizens.”

“While #LGBT+ Iraqis have been the target of systematic killing campaigns and things are as bad as it gets, this law will allow the government to ‘legally’ get away with murder putting #LGBT+ citizens and those advocating for us in greater danger.”

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All the notable LGBTQ nominations for 2022 Emmy Awards

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Today, the Television Academy announced the nominations for the 74th annual Emmy Awards, and there were many LGBTQ and LGBTQ-adjacent shows, specials, and performers represented in the list.

It should probably surprise no one that Emmy favorites RuPaul’s Drag Race and Queer Eyewere nominated in many of the reality TV categories. Drag Race is in the running for Outstanding Competition Program once again, while both shows are up for Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Reality or Competition Series and Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program.

RuPaul himself is nominated for Host for a Reality or Competition Program along with all five members of the Queer Eye crew.

Meanwhile, YouTube’s The Randy Rainbow Show scored a nomination for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama or Variety Series.

Among the major acting categories announced live today by J.B. Smoove and Melissa Fumero, Sarah Paulson was the only out nominee, with her nod for Lead Actress in a Limited Series for her role as Linda Tripp in FX’s Impeachment: American Crime Story.

But she’s far from the only out talent nominated this year. Bowen Yang is nominated once again in the Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series category for his work on Saturday Night Live, and Murray Bartlett got a nom for Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series for his role in The White Lotus. Hacks’ Hannah Einbinder and SNL’s Kate McKinnon are both up for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

Nathan Lane and Jane Lynch are both up for guest acting nominations for their roles in Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building. Jerrod Carmichael picked up a nomination for hosting SNL as well as one for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for his special Rothaniel.

Last summer’s surprise hit The White Lotus is also up for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series, and openly bisexual creator Mike White is nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.

Plenty of actors who don’t necessarily identify as LGBTQ were also nominated for their performances as queer characters. Colin Firth got a nod for Lead Actor in a Limited Series for his role as bisexual Michael Peterson in HBO’s The Staircase. Both Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh were recognized in the Lead Actress in Drama Series category for their final turns as dueling assassins/on-again-off-again lovers in Killing Eve, while Alex Borstein was nominated for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Susie Myerson in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. And both John Turturo and Christopher Walken received nominations for their roles in Severance.

LGBTQ characters, creators, and performers are all over TV. Outstanding Comedy and Drama Series nominees Abbott Elementary, What We Do in the Shadows, Barry, Euphoria, and Yellowjackets all feature prominent queer characters and, in a couple cases (Abbott, Euphoria), actual LGBTQ actors.

Finally, and depressingly, Emmy voters were apparently more than willing to ignore Dave Chappelle’s unapologetic transphobia, giving the comedian’s special The Closernominations for both Outstanding Pre-Recorded Variety Special and Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special.

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Trans woman sues Chick-fil-A after an employee sexually harassed & threatened to beat her up

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A transgender woman is suing a franchise of the notoriously anti-LGBTQ fast-food chain Chick-fil-a for harassment and wrongful termination after she was allegedly subjected to homophobic comments and sexual harassment.

Aaron White had barely started her first day of training to become director of operations at a Chick-fil-a location in Decatur, Georgia when a co-worker allegedly sexually harassed her by saying, “I would eat your a*s and p***y” and “On God, I will f**k the s**t out of you.”

The on-duty shift leader reportedly told White to share what happened with the franchise owner, Joe Engert. Engert allegedly replied by telling White that “it should be an honor… [as] a transgender woman that someone liked her enough to hit on her,” White’s lawsuit states.

After Engert spoke with the accused employee, the employee allegedly began making violent, racist, and homophobic threats referencing White, including statements such as, “On God, I’m not with that gay s**t,” and “Hell nah, I’ll beat that gay [n-word] a*s.” White said the employee was never reprimanded, and that Engert said he would have to investigate White’s behavior if she continued reporting claims of harassment.

As word of White’s trans identity began to spread, other employees began to misgender her and direct homophobic comments at her, White alleges. Some employees claimed that the bad scent coming from a broken pipe in the restaurant had actually come from White’s hormone replacement therapy.

Engert later fired White for tardiness and for abruptly leaving her shift. But White says Engert didn’t fire other employees at her same level who had also been tardy. She also said she had received approval to leave her shift early, alleging that Engert only fired her for her LGBTQ identity.

“Defendant [Engert] did not take reasonable steps to correct the situation or prevent the harassment from recurring after being notified by Plaintiff [White] on numerous occasions,” White’s court filing states.

White now seeks damages for emotional pain and suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, lost wages, and other non-financial losses. She filed her lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Though Chick-fil-A franchises are individually owned, the fast-food chain has been synonymous with anti-LGBTQ ideology since 2012 when it was caught making donations to anti-LGBTQ organizations that oppose marriage equality and support conversion therapy. When asked about the company’s donations, then-CEO Dan Cathy said that the company was “guilty as charged” because they want to promote “the biblical definition of the family unit.”

Chick-fil-A later said they would stop funding organizations with “political agendas.” But years later, they were caught donating to anti-LGBTQ groups yet again. In June 2021, Cathy was caught using the profits gained from the company to fund hate groups that helped pass anti-transgender bills all over the country as well as a campaign to stop the Equality Act from becoming law.

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Three Nigerian men sentenced to death by stoning for homosexuality

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Three Nigerian men convicted of engaging in homosexuality have been sentenced to death by stoning by an Islamic sharia court in the country’s northern state of Bauchi.

The three men, including a 70-year-old, were arrested on June 14 and have allegedly confessed to the crime, according to the head of the religious police in Bauchi. They were sentenced late last week but can appeal within 30 days.

Related: Anti-gay GOP Congressman indicted for lying to FBI about campaign donation from wealthy Nigerian

Nigeria’s Same-Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act, which was signed into law by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014, makes same-sex relationships punishable by up to 14 years in prison. But in the predominantly Muslim areas of northern Nigeria, sharia courts are used to punish crimes like adultery and blasphemy, though death penalties passed by sharia courts must be approved by the state governor.

Activists are speaking out on the wake of the sentencing. YouTuber Victor Emmanueltweeted about the sentencing over the weekend, expressing his frustration that it wasn’t sparking more outrage.

“I remember when that girl was burned to death by religious extremists and the whole Twitter was on fire,” he wrote. “Now three men have been sentenced to death by stoning for homosexuality in Bauchi and y’all are quiet?????”

And on Monday, Nollywood actor Uche Maduagwu came out as gay in response to the sentencing.

Maduagwu posted an image on Instagram with the text: “I was born GAY I am still Gay And will forever remain GAY [sic]” The message went on to decry “erroneous” and “undemocratic” sharia laws in northern Nigeria.

Maduagwu, who had previously denied being gay, also called on President Joe Biden to sanction Nigeria for “ignoring the fundamental human rights” of its LGBTQ citizens.

“Dear President Joe Biden, we need the US government to sanction President Buhari and his top advisers over ignoring the Fundamental Human rights of #LGBT in Nigeria,” he wrote in the post’s caption.

“just few days ago, a Sharia court sentence #Gay men to be STONED, is this our country a #Democracy or #Banana Republic? Yet, our President and his CORRUPT ministers kept quiet, he keeps traveling to different developed countries like KUNU Mosquito, yet he never borrow wisdom from these countries RESPECT for Human Right.”

“The same set of people who gives judgement for Gay people to be STONED are the same that takes laws into their hands all in the name of Christian blasphemy on Mohammed, when will this madness stop?”

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Proud Boys flashmob library’s family Pride event as terrorized staff frantically cancels event

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Members of the Proud Boys disrupted yet another Pride-themed children’s program at a public library earlier this week. On Monday, seven men wearing the violent far-right group’s signature black and yellow polo shirts and other Proud Boys paraphernalia entered the St. Joseph County Public Library’s Virginia M. Tutt Branch in South Bend, IN where the Rainbow Family Storytime and arts and crafts event was scheduled to take place.

Photos posted on social media also show the men flashing white supremacist hand signs while smiling for the camera.

Members of the extremist group, whose leaders were indicted earlier this month on charges of seditious conspiracy for their alleged roles in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, entered the library before the event was scheduled to begin. Local police were called, but the disruption forced the library to cancel the event.

“This definitely came as a shock,” library system communications manager Marissa Gebhard told WVPE News. “We were not anticipating any problems.”

She added that the library plans to reschedule the event in the coming months and is determining whether additional security measures are necessary going forward.

“The bottom line is that the library will continue to offer inclusive programming,” Gebhard said. “A library is a place of belonging, and it’s a place for everyone.”

This is the fourth reported incident this month of Proud Boys members disrupting children’s events at libraries. Over the weekend, pro-LGBTQ counter-protesters created a human shield to block a group protesting an event at a library in Texas, while in Nevada a Proud Boys member reportedly armed with a gun disrupted a Drag Queen Story Hour event. Earlier this month, members of the hate group, which has been designated a terrorist organization in Canada and New Zealand, stormed a Drag Queen Story Hour at the San Lorenzo Library in California and another Pride Story Time event in Wilmington, North Carolina, reportedly with the support of local police.

Far-right groups like the Proud Boys have been targeting family-friendly Pride events all month, instigated in part by anti-LGBTQ social media disinformation, right-wing media, and rhetoric from Republican lawmakers accusing the LGBTQ community and its allies of “grooming” children for abuse.

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Democrats introduce Transgender Bill of Rights to fight Republican anti-LGBTQ attacks

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As Republican attacks on transgender people continue nationwide, five Democratic House representatives have introduced a Transgender Bill of Rights that would protect trans and non-binary people.

The bill would ban discrimination against gender identity and expression in public accommodations, employment, housing, and credit. The bill would also ensure access to gender-affirming medical care — including abortion and contraception — and would ban forced surgery on intersex children and infants. Intersex individuals are often subject to unnecessary genital surgeries before they can provide informed consent.

The bill would ban so-called “conversion therapy,” the pseudoscientific form of mental torture that purports to turn trans and non-binary people cisgender. The bill would also invest in community services to prevent anti-trans and anti-nonbinary violence as well as mental health services to assist survivors of violence and other community members.

Last, the bill would require the U.S. attorney general to designate a liaison within the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to enforce the civil rights of transgender people.

The bill was introduced by Democratic Representatives Pramila Jayapal (WA), David Cicilline (RI), Marie Newman (IL), Mark Takano (CA), and Ritchie Torres (NY). Cicilline, Takano, and Torres are out as gay. Newman, who just lost her primary election to a moderate, has a transgender daughter, and Jayapal has a non-binary child. The bill has 83 co-sponsors.

Between January and May of 2022, Republicans in state legislatures across the country introduced more than 300 anti-LGBTQ bills, most of them targeting transgender youth, Takano said. Many of the anti-trans bills try to block youth access to sports, school sports and gender-affirming care — all of which can increase mental distress and suicidal ideation among trans people.

The bill’s introduction also comes shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and signaled its willingness to overturn LGBTQ civil rights.

“Our transgender and non-binary siblings are hurting,” said Cicilline, Chair of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus. “Across the country, radical right-wing Republicans have introduced hundreds of bills attacking the LGBTQ+ community — particularly transgender and nonbinary youth — to score political points…. As Members of Congress we need to not just condemn these efforts but also put forward a vision of what equality truly looks like.”

Newman said, “The ability for trans folks to live free from discrimination is quite literally a life-and-death issue. This legislation is especially crucial right now, as right-wing extremists have grown increasingly vicious and targeted in their harassment of transgender Americans, both through the legislative process and outside of it.”

The bill also has the support of 26 LGBTQ and allied organizations including the Human Rights Campaign, the Movement Advancement Project, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Center for Transgender Equality, the National Immigrant Justice Center, and PFLAG National.

While the bill is unlikely to find the 10 Republican senators necessary to bypass the chamber’s filibuster, it still provides a roadmap for other states, cities, and organizations looking to protect trans and non-binary people’s civil rights.

Last week, the Biden Administration introduced proposed changes to Title IX’s federal anti-discrimination protections that could help fight Republican legislation against trans youth. Attorneys general in 18 Republican-led states opposed the proposed changes, saying that they would  “destroy women’s sports.”

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