A federal judge on Tuesday struck down a Texas law that LGBTQ advocates feared would ban drag shows in the state and imprison performers.
The law, which Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed in June, expanded existing state law to prevent children from exposure to sexually explicit performances. While the legislation, Senate Bill 12, does not cite drag specifically, drag performers feared that it was passed with the intention of criminalizing the art form, which has deep ties to the LGBTQ community, and that it would repress their freedom of expression.
The bill’s statement of intent leads with and repeatedly cites drag shows as a threat to children. And on the day Abbott signed the bill into law, he shared an article about it and wrote, “Texas Governor Signs Law Banning Drag Performances in Public. That’s right.”
U.S. District Judge David Hittner, who was nominated by Republican President Ronald Reagan, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, writing that the law “impermissibly infringes on the First Amendment and chills free speech.”
“Not all people will like or condone certain performances,” Hittner wrote. “This is no different than a person’s opinion on certain comedy or genres of music, but that alone does not strip First Amendment protection.”
Hittner — who temporarily blocked the law from taking effect last month — added that the “chilling effect S.B. 12 will have on speech in general outweighs any hardship on the State of Texas.”
LGBTQ advocates and drag performers celebrated the ruling.
“LGBTQIA+ Texans, venue owners, performers, and our allies all came together to uphold free expression in our state — and we won,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “This work isn’t done but for now we celebrate. Long live Texas drag!”
Texas drag performer Brigitte Bandit, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement to NBC affiliate KXAN of Austin that she was “relieved and grateful for the court’s ruling.”
“My livelihood and community has seen enough hatred and harm from our elected officials,” Bandit said. “This decision is a much needed reminder that queer Texans belong and we deserve to be heard by our lawmakers.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, also suggested after the ruling that legislators will again try to restrict drag performances in the state.
“#SB12, which restricts children from being exposed to drag queen performances, is about protecting young children and families,” Patrick wrote on X. “This story is not over.”
Republican legislators in more than a dozen states are trying to restrict drag performances, particularly in the presence of minors.
Montana and Tennessee have passed laws that explicitly limit drag performances in some capacity, and four other states — Arkansas, Florida, North Dakota and Texas — passed laws this year that regulate “adult” performances and could be used to target or restrict drag, according to the LGBTQ policy think tank Movement Advancement Project. Tennessee’s drag law was similarly ruledunconstitutional this year, and the laws in Arkansas and Florida are not enforceable pending ongoing lawsuits.
Florida “effectively banned” Advanced Placement Psychology classes in the state due to the course’s content on sexual orientation and gender identity, the College Board said Thursday.
The state’s Department of Education informed the College Board that its AP Psychology class is in violation of state law, the higher education nonprofit said in a statement. Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, or what critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law, restricts the instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in the state’s classrooms.
“The state’s ban of this content removes choice from parents and students,” the College Board said in a statement. “Coming just days from the start of school, it derails the college readiness and affordability plans of tens of thousands of Florida students currently registered for AP Psychology, one of the most popular AP classes in the state.“
The state’s move to restrict the AP Psychology course comes several months after its decision to block AP African American Studies courses was widely condemned by academics and civil rights activists.
The College Board added that Florida will allow superintendents to offer the college-level psychology class for high schoolers if they exclude LGBTQ topics.
However, the College Board argued that excluding the lessons — which it describes as teachings on “how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development” — “would censor college-level standards.”
It added that lessons regarding sexual orientation and gender identity have been included in AP Psychology since the course was created 30 years ago.
The group said that more than 28,000 Florida students took AP Psychology in the prior academic year.
When asked to confirm that the department effectively banned the course, Cassie Palelis, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education, or FDOE, said the nonprofit was “attempting to force school districts to prevent students from taking the AP Psychology.”
“The Department didn’t ‘ban’ the course. The course remains listed in Florida’s Course Code Directory for the 2023-24 school year. We encourage the College Board to stop playing games with Florida students and continue to offer the course and allow teachers to operate accordingly,” Palelis said in an email. “The other advanced course providers (including the International Baccalaureate program) had no issue providing the college credit psychology course.”
When asked by a reporter on the presidential campaign trail on Friday if AP Psychology was banned in the state over the inclusion of sexuality and gender topics, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said “that’s wrong.”
“That’s part of our course catalogue,” he said. “I bet it’ll end up being offered.”
He appeared to imply that similar college-level classes could be offered through nonprofit organizations other than the College Board, including International Baccalaureate.
In a statement shared with NBC News on Friday, the Florida Association of District School Superintendents said it is working “diligently with FDOE and school superintendents who want to continue to offer AP Psychology.”
“Superintendents are openly communicating with parents their district’s plans for this course or an alternative college level course as we prepare for the start of the school year,” the statement, sent by association spokesperson Diana Shelton Oropallo, said. “AP Psychology continues to be listed in Florida’s Course Code Directory and we hope that College Board will keep the best interests of students at the forefront and award college credit to all Florida students who successfully complete the AP Psychology exam.”
The governor’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
The American Psychological Association, the nation’s largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists, argued against stripping AP Psychology of LGBTQ topics earlier this year, after the state requested that the College Board review sexuality and gender identity topics in all advanced placement courses.
“Understanding human sexuality is fundamental to psychology, and an advanced placement course that excludes the decades of science studying sexual orientation and gender identity would deprive students of knowledge they will need to succeed in their studies, in high school and beyond,” the association’s CEO, Arthur C. Evans Jr., said in a statement in June. “We applaud the College Board for standing up to the state of Florida and its unconscionable demand to censor an educational curriculum and test that were designed by college faculty and experienced AP teachers who ensure that the course and exam reflect the state of the science and college-level expectations.”
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second largest teachers union, said the decision to restrict AP Psychology in the state is “part of the DeSantis playbook of eroding rights” and “censoring those he disagrees with.”
LGBTQ advocates also condemned the state’s AP Psychology restriction on Thursday.
“Psychology is centered around people – all people,” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, said in a statement. “Erasing us from the curriculum ignores our existence, sets back Florida students who want to pursue psychology in higher education and disrupts pathways for future mental health professionals to provide comprehensive, culturally competent mental healthcare for the LGBTQ+ community.”
DeSantis, a Republican who is running for president, signed the so-called Don’t Say Gay law last year.
The law was widely condemned by LGBTQ activists and prompted an ongoing feud between the governor and The Walt Disney Co., Florida’s largest employer.
The measure initially prohibited “classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity” in kindergarten through third grade “or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards” in public and charter schools.
But earlier this year, DeSantis doubled down, signing a measure into law expanding the restrictions to explicitly include students through the eighth grade. The newer version of the law also restricts reproductive health education in sixth through 12th grade.
In addition to enacting the “Don’t Say Gay” law, the governor recently signed into law a measure that bars transgender people from using public restrooms that align with their gender identities and another that restricts drag performances in front of minors. A judge subsequently blocked the drag law.
On the final day of LGBTQ Pride Month in June, DeSantis’ presidential campaign released a video portraying the governor as a champion of anti-gay and anti-trans policies.
The video garnered widespread attention for its pairing of DeSantis’ anti-LGBTQ policy accomplishments alongside images of shirtless bodybuilders, in what appeared to be an attempt to portray the Florida governor as strong. It was condemned by both Republicans and Democrats, with some calling it “homophobic.”
A group of neo-Nazis disrupted a drag story hour in New Hampshire over the weekend, another in an escalating series of threats and attacks against the LGBTQ community in recent months.
The drag story hour, at which drag queens read children’s books to kids, took place at an LGBTQ-owned coffee shop in Concord, the state’s capital, on Sunday.
In video that has attracted over 6.5 million views on Twitter, more than a dozen men wearing masks, sunglasses, baseball caps and matching shirts and pants can been seen chanting, raising their right arms in unison and banging on the coffee shop’s windows.
State officials said NSC-131, a neo-Nazi group based in New England, had claimed responsibility for the protest. NSC stands for the Nationalist Social Club.
The protesters chanted “131” and homophobic slurs, including “faggots,” according to Juicy Garland, a drag performer who was at the event and posted the video on social media.
“This isn’t something strange and unique onto itself,” Garland, 37, said. “Fascism and dangerous extremity on the right are something that has been here for a long time.”
Garland added that once the protest began, the store manager called the police and moved the event to the second floor of the shop, called Teatotaller, away from the demonstrators.
The coffee shop’s owner, Emmett Soldati, said that the shop has hosted drag story hour events for the last decade. While there have been demonstrations before, they have increased in size and severity over the last 12 months, Soldati said.
“This kind of response is very new,” Soldati said. “There appears to tactically be a shift, even if six years ago people did have a problem with what we did.”
A previous drag story hour at Teatotaller in Concord, N.H.Courtesy Emmett Soldati
The neo-Nazi protest coincides with a surge in similar anti-LGBTQ demonstrations across the nation within the last year.
Since June 2022, there has been an average of 39 anti-LGBTQ protests nationwide each month, according to a recent report by the Crowd Counting Consortium, a research group that tracks the size of political protests. In comparison, the group recorded just three protests per month from January 2017 through May 2022.
Anti-LGBTQ demonstrations have occurred even in liberal enclaves, such as New York City. Dozens of Pride flags were damaged and ripped down at the Stonewall National Monument — the site of a June 1969 uprising that is widely considered to be the birthplace of the modern queer rights movement — at least three times this month.
“The reason why we’re seeing this here in this way in Concord and in other places around the U.S. is because these people feel like they have permission to be violent and aggressive and loud,” Garland said, citing a recent legislative campaign to limit some drag performances.
Republican lawmakers in at least 19 states have proposed measures this year to restrict some drag performances, mostly with the aim of banning children from seeing the events. Only three states — Florida, Montana and Tennessee — have enacted the measures, but a federal judge ruled that Tennessee’s law was unconstitutional this month.
The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office is investigating the incident Sunday in coordination with local authorities, according to the office’s director of communications, Michael Garrity.
Garrity also said in a statement that the NSC-131 had taken credit for the demonstration on its social media channels, and he urged anyone with information on the identities of the protestors to contact state officials.
A group of three men allegedly damaged multiple rainbow Pride flags on display at New York City’s Stonewall National Monument over the weekend, in what police are investigating as a possible hate crime.
The New York City Police Department confirmed Monday that it is investigating the incident. It also tweeted surveillance footage of the three men walking near the monument, which is located in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, and asked for the public’s assistance to identify them.
New York City Councilmember Erik Bottcher, who is gay and whose district includes Greenwich Village, also confirmed the vandalism, posting images of the broken rainbow flags on Twitter on Saturday.
“Someone vandalized the rainbow flag display on the Stonewall National Monument on Christopher Street, snapping the flag sticks and throwing them on the ground,” Bottcher wrote on Twitter. “If anyone thinks this is going to intimidate us or weaken our resolve, they’re mistaken.”
The Stonewall National Monument, where the vandalism took place, is across the street from the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar that was the site of a June 1969 uprising that’s widely considered to be a turning point in the modern gay rights movement. The bar and the nearby Christopher Park became a national monument and the first LGBTQ space to hold landmark status in New York City in 2016.
The vandalism comes amid Pride Month, a worldwide annual commemoration of the 1969 protests and celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people during the month of June.
It also coincides with a surge in similar anti-LGBTQ demonstrations across the nation throughout the last year.
A recent report by the Crowd Counting Consortium, a research group that tracks the size of political protests, found that there have been an average of 39 anti-LGBTQ protests nationwide each month since June 2022, compared with just three per month from January 2017 through May 2022.
Last week, a Pride flag was taken down and burned outside a City Hall building in Tempe, Arizona, a city of 186,000 people that’s about 10 miles east of Phoenix. A Pride flag was similarly set ablazeoutside a Manhattan restaurant in February.
As the nation’s culture wars rage on in classrooms and libraries, attempts to ban books have reached a record high, and titles with LGBTQ themes remain top targets.
In its annual book censorship report, the American Library Association documented 1,269 challenges to more than 2,500 books in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since the association began tracking such efforts in 2001. It was a 75% jump from 2021, which held the previous record.
Of the 13 books that made the ALA’s list of “Most Challenged Books” last year, seven titles — including three of the top four — were challenged for having LGBTQ content, the association found.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said the LGBTQ-heavy list “sends a message of exclusion.”
“It’s a way of telling young gay and transgender persons that they don’t belong in school, that they don’t belong to the community,” she said. “It sends a message to the LGBTQ community as a whole that they’re not considered full citizens with full rights to participate in community institutions like the library.”
The ALA reported that, prior to 2020, the “vast majority” of challenges against books were made by individuals who sought to restrict access to a single book their child was reading. But the group found that 90% of last year’s challenges were directed at multiple books and nearly a fifth of them were made by “political/religious groups.”
The association cited this finding as “evidence of a growing, well-organized, conservative political movement, the goals of which include removing books about race, history, gender identity, sexuality, and reproductive health from America’s public and school libraries that do not meet their approval.”
A display of banned books at a Barnes & Noble book in Pittsford, New York, in 2022.Ted Shaffrey / AP
Just last week, the Florida Board of Education approved Gov. Ron DeSantis’ request to expand the state’s so-called Don’t Say Gay law — which restricts the instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in the state’s public schools — to all grades. Previously, the law only explicitly applied to children in kindergarten through third grade.
Last year’s most challenged book was the award-winning memoir “Gender Queer,” which also topped the ALA’s 2021 list of most banned books.
The illustrated memoir — which chronicles nonbinary author Maia Kobabe’s journey of self-identity — has faced unparalleled pushbackfrom school boards and conservative activists around the country in recent years.
A representative for Kobabe did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
In a previous interview with NBC News, Kobabe acknowledged that parts of their memoir may not be appropriate for elementary school children. However, the author said the book’s straightforward accounts could be used to show readers an experience growing up outside of cisgender and heterosexual norms.
“It’s very hard to hear people say, ‘This book is not appropriate to young people,’ when it’s like, I was a young person for whom this book would have been not only appropriate, but so, so necessary,” Kobabe said. “There are a lot of people who are questioning their gender, questioning their sexuality and having a real hard time finding honest accounts of somebody else on the same journey. There are people for whom this is vital and for whom this could maybe even be lifesaving.”
Other titles at the top of the 2022 list include George M. Johnson’s “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” Mike Curato’s “Flamer,” John Green’s “Looking for Alaska” and Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”
Caldwell-Stone said that the group of books — as with all books — should remain on shelves without “fear or favor.”
“Everyone is entitled to find books that reflect their interests, their experiences, their backgrounds, their identities on the shelves of a publicly funded library that’s there to serve everyone,” she said.
A second suspect was arrested and charged with murder in connection with a string of drug-facilitated robberies of men who visited gay bars in New York City that included two deaths, two senior law enforcement officials told NBC News on Monday.
Robert Demaio, 34, was charged with murder, robbery, grand larceny, identity theft and conspiracy in connection with the death of John Umberger, a 33-year-old political consultant, and in a separate incident in which an unidentified victim did not die, the officials said.
Umberger and Julio Ramirez, a 25-year-old social worker, were both found dead after visiting gay bars in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood last spring. Both had left the bars with at least one unknown person before their bank accounts were drained of thousands of dollars using facial recognition access on their phones, according to their family members.
Last month, the medical examiner’s office ruled their deaths as homicides caused by a “drug-facilitated theft.” Multiple drugs were found in their systems, including fentanyl, lidocaine and cocaine.
John Umberger and Julio Ramirez were drugged and killed in separate incidents following visits to New York City gay bars.Linda Clary; Family photo
The two law enforcement officials said that police obtained security video showing Demaio and Jayqwan Hamilton — one of three suspects police have named in connection to the homicides of Umberger and Ramirez — entering and leaving Umberger’s temporary residence in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Through a search warrant, police also recovered two videos from Demaio’s phone that showed Demaio at the site of Umberger’s death, the officials added. In one of the videos, according to the two officials, Umberger appears to be unconscious, lying face up on a bed at his temporary New York City residence.
“It speaks volumes of the heartlessness of these people,” Umberger’s mother, Linda Clary, said of the videos. “That’s what I find very troubling and why I don’t think these people should be allowed to be amongst us.”
Demaio’s detention follows the arrest of Jacob Barroso on Saturday. Barroso, 30, was charged with murder, robbery, grand larceny and conspiracy in connection with Ramirez’s death and in a separate incident where the victim survived, police said Sunday.
Barroso was arraigned Monday in Manhattan Criminal Court on murder and robbery charges. He pleaded not guilty ,and the judge set bail at $3 million.
“We intend to fight this case vigorously,” his attorney, David Krauss, said.
Several family members and friends of the defendants crowded into the courtroom Monday afternoon. Outside the courtroom, one of Barroso’s supporters said he was “not a murderer. You guys got this backwards. We will prove his innocence.”
Several family members and friends of Ramirez were in the courtroom for the proceeding, and the victim’s mother was seen crying.
On Friday, police said they believe Demaio, Barroso and Hamilton are among those responsible for a broader “citywide robbery pattern” that includes at least 17 victims. The incidents — which include Ramirez’s and Umberger’s robberies and deaths — occurred from Sept. 19, 2021, to Aug. 28, the spokesperson said.
An additional suspect was arraigned Monday afternoon on robbery, grand larceny and identity theft charges in connection with the string of robberies. Andre Butts, 28, was captured on security video buying sneakers with Ramirez’s credit card, according to prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Butts, who was arrested Friday and pleaded not guilty, is being held on $100,000 bail after he tried to flee during his arrest, prosecutors said.
An indictment naming Hoskins, 31, and four other unidentified co-conspirators outlined a pattern where victims were “incapacitated to the extent that their ability to perceive events became diminished,” so that the suspects could then steal their victims’ cellphones and credit cards and use the physical cards and information stored on the victims’ phones to transfer money to themselves and make purchases.
The New York City Police Department previously confirmed to NBC News that there are multiple groups of criminals committing these types of crimes against men visiting the city’s gay bars. Police also said that comparable crimes were being committed against patrons of bars without any LGBTQ affiliation.
One separate group is suspected of committing similar crimes on 26 victims, two law enforcement officials told NBC News last week. Fashion designer Kathryn Marie Gallagher, whose death in July was ruled a drug-facilitated homicide by the medical examiner’s office, was one of the subsequent group’s victims, the officials said.
Last week, the New York City medical examiner’s office also confirmed that it is investigating “several additional deaths in similar circumstances” to those of Ramirez and Umberger. It is unclear, however, if they were found dead after visiting gay bars or whether they were connected with Demaio, Barroso and Hamilton.
A spokesperson for the medical examiner’s office said they “could not comment further due to the ongoing criminal investigations.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed two bills into law Wednesday that affect transgender minors in the state.
One bill, Senate File 538, prevents doctors from administering gender-affirming care to those under 18. The other, Senate File 482, prevents trans students from entering school bathrooms or changing rooms that correspond with their gender identities.
The new laws are part of a broader effort among conservative lawmakers throughout the country to restrict the rights of LGBTQ Americans, especially transgender people. So far this year, more than 400 such proposals have been filed in state legislatures, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Supporters of the new Iowa laws say they are necessary to protect children’s safety while using school restrooms and to prevent minors from making medical decisions they may later regret. Critics and LGBTQ advocates argue that the bills will have “devastating consequences” for trans youths and their families.
“This is not the first time that a government has abused its power at the expense of a small group of people,” Mark Stringer, executive director of the ACLU of Iowa, said in a statement. “But in this case the target is children. That is shameful and cruel.”
Reynolds, a Republican who notably gave this year’s GOP response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment. But speaking at a press conference Tuesday, she voiced her support for the bill limiting gender-affirming care, arguing that more long-term research on the treatments is needed.
“We need to just pause; we need to understand what these emerging therapies actually may potentially do to our kids,” Reynolds said. “My heart goes out to them. I’m a parent, I’m a grandmother, I know how difficult this is. This is an extremely uncomfortable position for me to be in. I don’t like it. But I have to do what I believe right now is in the best interest of the kids.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. Charlie Neibergall / AP file
Care that is prohibited for minors under the new Iowa law includes puberty blockers, hormone therapy and transition-related surgeries.
Iowa’s transition-related health care law took effect immediately following the governor’s signature, making it the ninth state — joining Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Mississippi and Florida — to enact such restrictions.
Health care providers in the state who are already administering gender-affirming care to patients will have a 180-day grace period before they have to cease treatment.
The new law restricting transgender people’s bathroom use, which also took effect immediately, applies to multiperson restrooms and locker rooms at public and private elementary and secondary schools. Trans students who want to use single-person restrooms must obtain written consent from their legal guardians before receiving permission to do so.
The restroom law comes nearly seven years after the national controversy surrounding a similar bill in North Carolina. The North Carolina law, House Bill 2, was repealed in 2017 after sparking a massive political and financial fallout and prompting an NCAA boycott of the state.
So-called bathroom bills have seen a resurgence in recent months, according to a group of researchers who are tracking the flow of legislation targeting LGBTQ people. The group found that at least 14 states, including Iowa, weighed the measures so far this year. On Tuesday, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a similar bill into law.
Mike Beranek, president of the Iowa State Education Association, Iowa’s largest union association, denounced the new restroom measure.
“The Iowa Legislature has repeatedly targeted the most vulnerable students with rhetoric and legislation designed to suppress, out, target, ban, and censor Iowa’s LGBTQ+ student communities,” Beranek said in a statement Monday. “Despite these shameful attacks, the ISEA continues to stand with and fight for all our students.”
Iowa’s Senate also passed a bill Wednesday that mirrors Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay law and was introduced by Reynolds earlier this year.
Following a string of incidents at New York City gay bars where incapacitated men had money stolen from their bank accounts with the help of facial recognition technology, safety experts are recommending a multi-pronged approach for those seeking a fun and safe night out.
Calls for vigilance were reignitedlast week when the New York City Police Department confirmed that three men who had visited The Eagle NYC, a gay leather bar, in the fall were incapacitated and then had thousands of dollars stolen from their online financial accounts by criminals who accessed the victims’ smartphones using facial recognition technology. These incidents were similar to the circumstances surrounding the deaths of two men in the spring, Julio Ramirez and John Umberger, who were last seen at gay bars in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood on the evenings they died.
In the wake of these incidents, public safety experts have advised patrons of the city’s LGBTQ nightlife spaces to avoid using facial recognition technology on their smartphones and to take several other steps to ensure a fun night out doesn’t result in a dangerous situation, especially incapacitation.
Brian Downey, an NYPD detective and the president of the Gay Officers Action League, or GOAL, said the ideal solution “is not getting in that position to begin with.”
Gay bars and nightclubs have long served as de facto community centers for queer people, especially in New York, which has the nation’s largest population of LGBTQ people. This rich history, and the long-held idea of gay bars as safe spaces, has led many patrons of these venues to believe in the inherent good nature of those around them, Downey said. However, he cautioned that queer New Yorkers must avoid letting their guards down and maintain situational awareness, even within these historically safe spaces.
“Our community should be aware at all times that no matter what community you’re going to be a part of, no matter what age cohort you’re in, there are always going to be people who absolutely do not have good intentions,” Downey said. “There are people who perceive our community as weak, our community as folks who can be preyed upon, and they will use that to their advantage.”
In addition to these incidents, the NYPD has confirmed that it is investigating similar crimes that have victimized bar patronswho do not identify as LGBTQ or were visiting venues that are not queer-affiliated. Authorities have also not publicly commented on whether the victims were drugged on the evenings they were victimized. However, three victims of such crimes, including one of The Eagle NYC victims, and family members of three other victims, including Ramirez and Umberger, previously told NBC News they strongly suspect druggings occurred before the thefts.
To avoid being drugged or consuming unsafe substances that can lead to illness or incapacitation, experts shared some prevention methods that officials have been advising for decades: Watch your drink being prepared, do not leave your drink unattended and do not accept drinks or drugs from strangers.
Joseph Palamar, an epidemiologist and associate professor of population health at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, has spent decades studying drug use in New York City’s nightlife scene. He warned that drinks left unattended can easily be spiked with powdered opioids or gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), which can be difficult to detect or taste.
Even if equipped with fentanyl test strips, which are small strips of paper that can detect the presence of the deadly opioid in other substances, Palamar acknowledged that most people are probably not testing their drinks or drugs while they’re out partying. He said it would be more advisable to simply refrain from accepting drinks and drugs from strangers.
“It would be a little awkward testing the person’s drugs in front of them, and I think it would ruin the intimacy of the moment,” Palamar said. “I mean picture it: You’re trying to kiss somebody in a stall and, ‘Oh, hold on! Let me test this bump before you give it to me.’ It’ll be insulting, and there goes the hookup.”
Clubgoers and bar patrons who engage in one-on-one activities with strangers are most vulnerable, he added.
“When you’re off dancing with somebody or kissing somebody or you go to the bathroom with someone to do a bump or to have sex or to do whatever, that is when the risk is much higher to be drugged,” Palamar said. “You can do your thing and run around and hook up, but you need a friend around to notice if you begin acting out of the ordinary.”
Palamar also acknowledged that some clubgoers might go out by themselves, sometimes with the intention of meeting strangers to hook up with. In those scenarios, he and other experts advised making friends or family members aware of your whereabouts before going out.
For those going out solo, Darlene Torres, the director of client services at LGBTQ advocacy group NYC Anti-Violence Project, recommended sharing their phone’s location data — a feature available on most smartphones — with friends or family members. She also recommended they set up check-ins throughout the evening with their loved ones and create a plan should their loved ones not hear from them on evenings they’re going out alone.
“We can’t control people,” Torres said. “We can only really try to give as many tools and safety plans — plan A, plan B, plan C — and to make sure folks have those plans laid out for them before they go out for the night.”
The NYPD has not made any arrests in connection with the incidents at The Eagle NYC or in the cases of Ramirez and Umberger, though the department confirmed all of these incidents are still being investigated. But Downey cautioned that even when those responsible for these victimizations are brought to justice, LGBTQ New Yorkers must continue to be vigilant and practice common nightlife safety measures.
“I would never say, ‘Don’t go out,’ because if we don’t go out, we’re sending a message to people that we’re afraid of them and that we’re not strong enough to come together against these bad actors,” Downey said. “Instead of hiding, what needs to just be increased is our level of situational awareness — and it’s not a time to be complacent.”
Many in the transgender community are mourning the death of British teenager Brianna Ghey, a trans girl who was stabbed to death Sunday.
Ghey, 16, was found dead in a park in Warrington, England — roughly 16 miles west of Manchester, England — with visible stab wounds, British authorities said. Police said they have arrested two teenagers, both 15 years old, on suspicion of the murder.
Ghey’s family released a statement through local authorities, saying Ghey was “a much loved” and “larger than life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her.”
“The loss of her young life has left a massive hole in our family, and we know that the teachers and her friends who were involved in her life will feel the same,” Ghey’s family wrote.
According to authorities, at this time there is no evidence to suggest Ghey’s murder was “hate-related.” This did little to quell discontent among trans activists regarding larger transphobic sentiments they say permeate throughout the U.K.
In a tweet that has accrued over 872,000 views as of Monday afternoon, a user slammed trans-exclusionary radical feminists, or TERFs, in the name of Ghey’s death.
The climate in the U.K. has grown increasingly hostile for trans people over the last few years. For example, J.K. Rowling, the author and creator of the Harry Potter saga, has become an outspoken critic of trans rights. In a nearly 4,000-word blog post in 2020, the bestselling author said that allowing trans women to use women’s bathrooms and changing rooms would make cisgender women “less safe” — an anti-trans talking point that has been debunked by research.
Simultaneously, in recent years trans activists have accused the British press of stoking or abating anti-trans sentiments.
Notably, the BBC was slammed by LGBTQ activists last year after publishing an article that many critics said painted all transgender women as sexual predators. The British broadcaster defended its piece — titled “We’re being pressured into sex by some trans women” — arguing that it went through a “rigorous editorial process.”
The outcry against the media grew louder among trans activists on Monday, after British newspaper The Times “deadnamed” Ghey, that is, it published the name Ghey went by prior to her transition.
“I will be writing to @thetimes and @IpsoNews regarding this,” British MP Charlotte Nichols wrote on Twitter on Monday, referring to The Times and British media regulator Independent Press Standards Organisation.
The Times did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment. A spokesperson for IPSO declined to comment.
Following Ghey’s death on Sunday, some trans activists also chided the government for a lack of a nationwide law that would allow trans people in the U.K. to change their gender without a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, which is the distress caused by a sense of conflict between an individual’s sex assigned at birth and their gender identity. Last month, the British government blocked a similar “self-identify” law from being implemented in Scotland.
Throughout her 30 years as a teacher, Patricia Nicolari said she faced repeated harassment from students due to her sexuality. Some left notes on her desk asking if she is a lesbian. Others called her a “dyke” under their breaths. And one day, students carved “Lez” into her car.
“At the time, I remember thinking, ‘I’m going through so much anxiety as a teacher. I can’t imagine what our students go through questioning themselves and how unsafe it is for them to come out,’” Nicolari said.
Years later, Nicolari is done imagining. Instead, she’s taking action.
In September, she plans to open a private school in Connecticut that’s designed to be an oasis for LGBTQ students. PROUD Academy, which stands for Proudly Respecting Our Unique Differences Academy, will prioritize what Nicolari saw lacking in the U.S. education system: a safe, affirming and bully-free academic environment for LGBTQ students.
The private school’s curriculum aims to includeeducational basics like math and science classes, rigorous courses at theAdvanced Placement and honors levels, and lessons that touch upon LGBTQ history and literature. In addition to fostering a queer-friendly environment, Nicolari said she wants to hire mental health counselors who can cater to the specific challenges of these youths.
When Nicolari first set out to launch PROUD Academy, she planned to only enroll students in grades seven through 12. But since word about the school has spread, Nicolari said, there’s been a strong demand from parents with younger children as well, and she now plans to accommodate these families.
The interest in PROUD Academy has even crossed state borders. At least two families from out of state — including one from Florida, where LGBTQ issues have become a political lightning rod — plan to relocate to the solidly Democratic Connecticut and send their kids to the school this fall.
“Some parents are just saying, ‘I just want my child to be happy again,’” Nicolari said. “And if we can offer that to a family? That’d be priceless.”
While the school doesn’t have a set location yet, Nicolari said it will be in or near the city of New Haven, where Yale University is, and she hopes to start the school from grade three.
Research has long shown that LGBTQ youths suffer from disproportionate rates of bullying and mental health issues.
Just over 83% of LGBTQ students said they experienced in-person harassment or assault at school, according to a 2021 survey by GLSEN, an advocacy group that aims to end LGBTQ discrimination in education. And nearly 1 in 3 respondents said they missed at least one day of school in preceding month as a result of feeling unsafe.
A survey released last year by LGBTQ youth suicide prevention group The Trevor Project found that nearly half of queer youths in the United States had “seriously considered” suicide within the 12 months prior to being surveyed. Respondents who were accepted for their LGBTQ identities at home or at school were less likely to have attempted suicide in the prior year, the survey also showed.
Melissa Combs’ transgender son currently attends a middle school in Farmington, Connecticut. Combs, who is working as a fundraiser for PROUD Academy, said her son is regularly bullied for his gender identity and was physically assaulted last year during Pride Month in June.She said sending her son to a school like PROUD Academy will be “life-changing.”
“This means that I won’t knowingly send my child into a hostile environment every day,” Combs said. “It means that my kid will get to be who he is 100% of the time.”
PROUD Academy will join a handful of other LGBTQ-centered schools — including Alabama’s Magic City Acceptance Academy and Ohio’s Albert Einstein Academy — that have opened within the last handful of years, as the nation’s culture wars over LGBTQ issues have intensified.
Within the last year alone, school officials in states across the country have banned books about gay and trans experiences, removed LGBTQ-affirming posters and flags, and disbanded Gay-Straight Alliance clubs. Simultaneously, conservative lawmakers have introduced hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills, with many seeking to limit the rights and representation of queer students in U.S. schools.
Of the more than 200 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced so far this year, about half restrict the rights of trans students in schools, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Among the large cohort of bills is legislation that would force teachers to disclose trans students’ gender identities to their parents, restrict bathroom access for trans and nonbinary kids, and ban trans children from playing on sports teams that correspond with their gender identities.
Nicolari reasoned that the recent legislation explains why the majority of the roughly 30 parents who have inquired about enrollment at PROUD Academy have trans or nonbinary children.
“The political climate absolutely accelerated the need for a PROUD Academy and a need for PROUD Academies across the United States,” Nicolari said. “Our kids matter. Their lives matter. Their education matters. Their mental health matters. And we can’t have our students and families be bullied into being less than they’re capable of being.”
