In Colombia, armed groups are targeting transgender women along with other so-called undesirables in a violent campaign of “social cleansing” across the country.
Paramilitaries in Colombia—still operating despite a peace agreement with the country’s largest rebel group, the Farc, in 2016—killed more than 40 transgender women last year, according to reporting in The Guardian.
Eight more died between February and April this year, activists say, in an effort by armed groups to create a “parallel state” where trans women and others seen as damaging to society are punished or killed.
In Caquetá, a sparsely populated department in southern Colombia and a rebel stronghold, flyers began appearing on the streets and circulating through WhatsApp warning of “social cleansing” of “fa***ts, lesbians and men and women who destroy homes,” all of whom would be considered legitimate military targets.
One was Tatiana Cespedes, 51, a trans hairdresser who was working in her home salon when three armed men burst in and warned her she had a week to leave town or she would be killed. After hiding for several days, she packed a small bag and fled with her dog in the night.
Cespedes said she’s lived through similar periods of rebel conflict and endured the sexual violence that accompanies it.
“All I did was bear their desires because every time they got drunk I had to pay the price,” she said. “At times three, four, and up to five men would knock on my door and I was forced to open it. If I refused, they would assault me.”
Another trans woman from Caquetá, Yesenia Rodríguez, said she and other trans women in Colombia are limited in their ability to make a living because of discrimination and forced into sex work because of a lack of opportunities.
“When I started my transition, I used to work at night. At that time we would receive flyers announcing social cleansing of drug addicts, prostitutes, and fa***ts. Luckily, nothing happened to me, but a friend of mine was killed,” she said.
“As a young woman, I didn’t have any other option but to sell my body to survive. But now that time has passed it is difficult for me to work even in this.”
The 2016 peace agreement between the Farc and the Colombian government was supposed to end decades of conflict and included a formal recognition that LGBTQ+ people were victims of the conflict, along with a guarantee of political participation. That promise has fallen away with the armed groups’ resurgence and renewed threats to the LGBTQ+ community.
National LGBTQ+ advocacy groups are celebrating Vice President Kamala Harris’s selection of Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate for the 2024 presidential election. They emphasize Walz’s extensive record of supporting LGBTQ+ rights, bodily autonomy, and equality.
The Human Rights Campaign, Equality PAC, and GLAAD have all issued statements lauding Harris’s choice, highlighting Walz’s longstanding dedication to the LGBTQ+ community.
“There’s no doubt — Kamala Harris has electrified the nation and breathed new hope into the race. Her pick of Governor Walz sends a message that a Harris-Walz Administration will be committed to advancing equality and justice for all,” said HRC president Kelley Robinson. Her statement highlighted Walz’s history of advocacy, noting his efforts as a high school teacher to support the creation of a gay-straight alliance and his legislative work in Congress to repeal discriminatory laws such as the Defense of Marriage Act and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
As governor, Walz signed an executive order banning the practice of so-called “conversion therapy” for minors, making Minnesota one of the first states to take such action against the harmful practice through executive order. He also supported legislation to protect LGBTQ+ youth in foster care and has been a vocal advocate for comprehensive non-discrimination protections. In 2023, he signed an executive order protecting access to healthcare for transgenderpeople, ensuring that Minnesota remains a refuge for those seeking gender-affirming care. He has also legalized recreational cannabis use and protected abortion rights.
Equality PAC Co-Chairs, California U.S. Rep. Mark Takano and New York U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, who are both gay, praised Walz’s commitment to standing up for what is right, even when it is unpopular.
“At a time when LGBTQ Americans have come under attack from MAGA extremists, we need strong allies now more than ever before,” they said in a statement. They recounted Walz’s early support for LGBTQ+ students and his legislative efforts to protect LGBTQ+ service members and expand hate crime prevention.
GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis also welcomed Harris’s decision. “Vice President Harris’s choice of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz underscores a longstanding commitment to the equality, prosperity, and safety of all Americans, including and especially for LGBTQ people. Gov. Walz has a proven record of including and protecting LGBTQ people and the fundamental freedoms all Americans treasure,” Ellis said.
She highlighted several key accomplishments from Walz’s tenure as governor, including signing a statewide ban on conversion therapy, passing a “trans refuge” bill to protect transgender people and their families from legal repercussions for seeking care in Minnesota, and consistently speaking out against discriminatory legislation in other states.
The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund also issued a statement touting Harris’s choice.
“Governor Tim Walz is a strong ally for our community and a staunch supporter of LGBTQ+ equality,” said LGBTQ+ Victory Fund president and CEO Annise Parker. “As governor, Walz worked with LGBTQ+ legislators to transform Minnesota into a refuge for LGBTQ+ families, a state where equality is the law of the land. A Harris-Walz ticket will certainly push the movement for equality forward, and we expect a Harris-Walz administration will continue the historic levels of LGBTQ+ representation among presidential appointments.”
Harris has also been a stalwart ally of the LGBTQ+ community throughout her career. As San Francisco district attorney in 2004, she performed some of the country’s first same-sex marriages. Harris’s White House staff and campaign staff include numerous LGBTQ+ individuals, including her press secretary, Ernesto Apreza, a gay man. She has made history as the first sitting vice president to march in a Pride parade, the first to host a drag queen at her home, and the first to host annual Pride Month celebrations at the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. The Biden-Harris administration has been described as the most pro-equality in American history.
Harris and Walz will appear at their first joint campaign rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening. The Harris-Walz ticket will now embark on a multi-city tour of battleground states crucial to the election outcome.
As a young ballet dancer, Adriana Pierce lived with two separate selves: the dancer at rehearsal and then, outside the studio, the queer woman exploring her identity. She did not think it possible for both selves to meet.
“I regret how I felt in ballet spaces during that time, because I had to leave so much of the best parts of me outside. I don’t think ballet got the best parts of me, and that’s a shame,” said Pierce, the founder and artistic director of Queer the Ballet, an organization promoting LGBTQ representation and visibility in professional ballet.
As Pierce spoke, a troupe of queer dancers rehearsed in the next studio, preparing for a performance of “Dream of a Common Language,” a new ballet directed by Pierce and inspired by the 1970s poetry of lesbian writer Adrienne Rich. Both the ballet, which opens Friday, and Rich’s collection grapple with a search for community.
The performance is part of Pierce’s ongoing mission to create opportunities for queer women, transgender people and nonbinary professional dancers to meet and perform together, something made more difficult, she said, by the traditional nature of the ballet world, with its strict gender roles and narrow definition of femininity.
Adriana Pierce founded Queer the Ballet in 2020 to help promote LGBTQ representation and visibility in professional ballet. Domenick Fini / NBC News
“Ballet likes to put people in boxes, and gender is a very specific box that ballet likes to define. And it’s women and it’s men, and the women look a certain way, dance a certain way, behave a certain way,” Pierce said.
There is little data on LGBTQ dancers in ballet. The Dance Data Project, an organization promoting gender equity in the dance industry, found that less than 1% of artistic directors globally are gender-expansive. It’s much the same for choreographers, and there are no current reliable numbers on dancers.
“In ballet, I wish there was more space for gender expansiveness, because I feel like I have to separate the two parts of myself,” said Ayla O’Day, a nonbinary lesbian soloist from Carolina Ballet and a dancer in Queer the Ballet’s coming show. “I have to be a dancer, which is a very specific version of myself, and I have to be a queer person, which is a very specific version of myself.”
Ayla O’Day, a nonbinary lesbian soloist from Carolina Ballet who will perform in “Dream of a Common Language,” said they wish there was “more space for gender expansiveness” in ballet. Domenick Fini / NBC News
At Queer the Ballet, O’Day said, “they see you as a queer person first and then a dancer second.”
Pierce offers LGBTQ artists of all identities opportunities to choreograph. At the coming New York performance, a section will be choreographed by Lenai Alexis Wilkerson, a choreographer who was most recently a corps de ballet dancer with Cincinnati Ballet.
“Being someone that has not always been embraced in balletic environments, this has been an amazing opportunity to really showcase who I am — who I am as a dancer, who I am as a Black woman, who I am as a queer person,” she said.
Lenai Alexis Wilkerson will choreograph a section of “Dream of a Common Language” that she describes as a “very Hollywood” exploration of first love and newly discovered queer identity. Domenick Fini / NBC News
While both Wilkerson and Pierce use classical dance positions in their work, they challenge and play with gender norms, particularly when it comes to partnering, in which traditionally there is a male and a female dancer, with the male dancer in a flat shoe while the female dancer is in a pointe shoe as she is manipulated and lifted.
Wilkerson’s section is an exploration of first love that she describes as a “very Hollywood” combination of “Singin’ in the Rain” and “West Side Story” centered on “someone who’s just discovering that they’re queer.”
Wilkerson is directing two dancers in her section: Mia Domini, a soloist from Carolina Ballet, and Annia Hidalgo, a principal dancer at Milwaukee Ballet.
Annia Hidalgo, a principal dancer at Milwaukee Ballet, and Mia Domini, a soloist from Carolina Ballet, will be directed by choreographer Lenai Alexis Wilkerson in “Dream of a Common Language.”Domenick Fini / NBC News
Domini heard about Queer the Ballet late last year. “At the time, I wasn’t out to many people, only a few, and I really wanted to be a part of it because it was going to be a steppingstone in my coming out process, and it created a safe pathway for me to really, like, accept my queerness and be open about it,” she said.
Hidalgo said she feels free in this show and will be removing her pointe shoes and doing some of the steps typically reserved for male dancers. “This is who I am. I can be everything,” she said. “But I have never been able to show this other side.”
Pointe work as a skill — as opposed to a gender marker — opens up more possibilities in the choreography, along with giving dancers more of an opportunity to grow, Pierce said.
A dancer puts on pointe shoes during practice for Queer the Ballet’s “Dream of a Common Language” at Baruch College in New York on June 12.Domenick Fini / NBC News
“Most people who wear pointe shoes in a ballet studio are not socialized to be strong. They’re taught to be light and to be held and to allow themselves to be taken into the movement,” she said. “It takes a bit of unlearning to be like, ‘No, you can also be strong, and that’s OK.’”
Challenging expectations in ballet has been hard-won for queer dancers, who have reported feeling isolated and unsure before they came out, fearing their identities would put roles or promotions at risk. In response, LGBTQ dancers have been building their own communities outside traditional ballet over the last several years, mostly online and through their own organizations. In addition to Queer the Ballet, which was founded in 2020, there is Ballez, an organization for “all the queers that ballet has left out,” which genderqueer lesbian choreographer Katy Pyle founded in 2011.
Queer the Ballet had its own origin in a Zoom call over the pandemic. On the call were a number of performers, including Lauren Flower, a dancer with the Oregon Ballet Theatre and the founder of the Instagram account @queerwomendancers, which began as a blog in 2020. Flower is also part of the Adrienne Rich-inspired New York performance.
Lauren Flower is a dancer with the Oregon Ballet Theatre and the founder of the Instagram account @queerwomendancers, which began as a blog in 2020.Domenick Fini / NBC News
Flower said she began blogging out of a feeling of loneliness. “I noticed that a lot of the queer men had such a community,” she said. “I just felt like, ‘Oh gosh, I wish I could also have that. I wish I could just go to my group of queer women.’” Once Flower began posting, private messages from dancers around the world came flooding in, many of them with similar stories of isolation and some sharing that they had never met another lesbian in the ballet world.
Back at the studio in New York, Pierce is directing the dancers through the opening scene “Dream of a Common Language,” an interpretation of Rich’s poem “Phantasia for Elvira Shatayev,” a wrenching work describing the courage, love and friendship of an all-women’s climbing team who perished together in a storm in 1974. There is a line in the poem that stuck out to Pierce when she read it: “the women I love lightly flung against the mountain.”
Mia Domini, right, seen dancing here with Annia Hidalgo, said Queer the Ballet helped create a safe pathway for her to accept her queerness.Domenick Fini / NBC News
“That, to me, is this piece. The idea of these women doing a sport, with the highest stakes,” she said. “But then in the end, the thing that you love the most and the thing that makes you feel most like yourself is that thing that hurts you the most. … In ballet, as a queer person, sometimes it feels that way.”
In the opening scene, the dancers begin as one solid group and then lift one another. Pierce said it felt like the perfect way to begin: with the dancers holding one another up, physically relying on one another “and emotionally embarking on this journey where they are — climbing higher and further than they ever have before.”
From left, Mia Domini, Lenai Alexis Wilkerson, Annia Hidalgo, Minnie Lane and Lauren Flower during dance practice for Queer the Ballet’s “Dream of a Common Language” at Baruch College in New York on June 12.Domenick Fini / NBC News
Sonoma County Pride (SCP) would like to address concerns raised in a circulating petition regarding violence and discrimination faced by Black, Brown, and Indigenous individuals at the hands of law enforcement. We appreciate the valid concerns expressed about the inclusion of Law Enforcement Departments at our Pride Parade and Festival.
At SCP, we prioritize the safety, well-being, and inclusion of all LGBTQ+ community members. We honor the legacy of Stonewall and Marsha P. Johnson, a trans woman of color who led the 1969 riots against police harassment and brutality. It is crucial to continue uplifting their courage while recognizing the ongoing struggle for justice and equality. In response to the petition calling for the exclusion of law enforcement from our events, we want to emphasize that we are actively listening to our community. Through open dialogue, education, and collaboration, we aim to create Pride events that are safe, inclusive, and empowering for all. SCP has engaged in workshops and valuable conversations addressing this issue, including at the 2021 Consolidated Association of Pride, Inc. (CAPI) conference, and with other Pride committees and community members.
Leading up to our 2024 Parade and Festival, SCP engaged in meaningful discussions with community members, advocacy groups, and individuals, including petition signers. We have also been engaging with law enforcement and community leaders about their role in Pride events. SCP initiated conversations with law enforcement prior to the Parade / Festival to address community concerns and explore potential changes to their presence at our events.
Since 2018, SCP has experienced a positive relationship with the Santa Rosa Police Department, working collaboratively to promote a safe and inclusive environment at our events. We believe that improvements come from respectful discourse, collaboration, and commitment. We will hold community meetings before and after the 2025 Pride event to discuss topics such as police presence, diversity, and equity, and to plan for the involvement of Law Enforcement in our future Pride events.
Historically, SCP has donated a minimum of 25% of our net proceeds each year to local nonprofits supporting the LGBTQI+ community, totaling over $19,000 last year. This year, we are allocating these funds towards hosting community conversations, in order to cover costs for rental spaces, mediators, trainers, workshops, scholarships, and related activities. We are developing guidelines to address the concerns raised about police presence at our events. Our goal is to create safe spaces for all LGBTQ+ community members, particularly those historically marginalized and disproportionately targeted by systemic violence and discrimination.
We will keep you informed about developments and planned activities, and we encourage you to continue sharing your thoughts, ideas, and experiences with us as we work towards a more inclusive and uplifting Pride celebration.
Thank you for your continued support and for being a vital part of the Sonoma County Pride community. With love and solidarity, The Board of Directors Sonoma County Pride
Sonoma County Pride is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to promoting equality for all. Our mission is to support the non-profit community and educate about the rich LGBTQ+ history of Sonoma County.
An out gay man said he was the victim of a frightening homophobic assault while campaigning for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Trevor Chandler said he was about to canvass a street in his Mission District neighborhood on Sunday, July 23, when a man started yelling homophobic slurs at him.
He said he crossed the street to avoid a confrontation, but the man followed Chandler. The man then lifted what prosecutors described as a “four-foot A-frame sign” and hurled it at him.
It was at this point Chandler understood the seriousness of the situation.
“I realized it was more than just some random one-off situation,” Chandler told local NBC affiliate KNTV. “It was something much more serious and scary.”
Chandler used his cell phone to call the police while the man followed him. He was able to seek safety in the apartment of strangers. The man fled the scene on foot but returned while police were taking Chandler’s statement. He was immediately detained by the police.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins on Thursday identified the man as Jeffrey Landon, 58, in a press release. He has been charged with one count of assault with a deadly weapon and an additional hate crime count.
“Hate crimes have no place in San Francisco and will be prosecuted,” Jenkins said in a statement. “We are proud of our diversity and will do everything we can to protect the safety of all our people. Hate crimes deeply impact individual victims and the larger community by sowing hate, mistrust, and division. We will not allow hate to flourish in San Francisco and stand for justice.”
Chandler, who was endorsed last week as the top pick of the San Francisco Democratic Party in the race for the District 9 Supervisor seat, told the Bay Area Reporter the attack was “pretty scary” and left him “shaken” despite his “fairly stoic” disposition.
But Chandler also said he remains undaunted, that the attacks underscore his focus on crime and safety issues, and that he will not stop canvassing streets.
“This is sadly too common,” he told the Reporter. “Too many folks in San Francisco are experiencing incidents like this, and it reinforces why I’m so serious about safety in my campaign and I’m grateful for the SFPD and the DA, Brooke Jenkins, very quickly acting on this, and I’m going to keep going door-to-door. Nothing’s going to stop me from going out to talk to voters.”
Landon pleaded not guilty to all charges. He is being held without bail. He is due next in court on August 6 for a preliminary hearing.
GLAAD has documented the anti-LGBTQ history of Donald Trump, including anti-Black policies and efforts to restrict Black progress in America decades before and during his presidency. Trump’s full anti-LGBTQ record is available on GLAAD’s Trump Accountability Tracker. Racial equality is a a top issue for LGBTQ voters according to GLAAD’s Voter Poll, and an ongoing concern for Black voters, Black LGBTQ voters, allies, and all people of color and faiths. Trump’s record on race includes the below.
Post-presidency:
2024—Trump claimed that Black people like him because he has faced discrimination in the legal system, which is something they can relate to. Trump said Black Americans showcased their support for him through their embrace of merchandise emblazoned with his mug shot.
2024—If re-elected, Trump has promised to fuel mass incarceration, encourage law enforcement to engage in unconstitutional policing practices, and expand the death penalty. These expected policies will have an outsized impact on marginalized communities, especially the Black community, which is far more likely to experience police abuse.
2023—Trump has repeatedly said undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” language echoing the rhetoric of white supremacists and Adolf Hitler. The phrase “poisoning the blood of our country” has a deep racist and antisemitic history, and the comments come as some Republicans have openly endorsed the once-fringe and racist “white replacement theory.”
Presidency (2017–2021)
2020—Thousands of protestors demanding justice for George Floyd and against racism and police brutality are cleared by coordinated militarized crackdown in the park in front of the White House. President Trump uses law enforcement officers from multiple agencies to secure his walk to St. John’s Church to hold up a Bible (pictured), surrounded by five white advisers, for a campaign photo op. Religious leaders describe the actions as hypocritical and obscene.
2020—In unguarded moments with senior aides, President Trump has maintained that Black Americans have mainly themselves to blame in their struggle for equality, hindered more by lack of initiative than societal impediments, according to current and former U.S. officials.
2020—After phone calls with Jewish lawmakers, Trump has muttered that Jews “are only in it for themselves” and “stick together” in an ethnic allegiance that exceeds other loyalties, officials said.
2020—Trump has condemned Black Lives Matter as a “symbol of hate” while defending armed White militants who entered the Michigan Capitol, right-wing activists who waved weapons from pickup trucks in Portland, and a White teen who shot and killed two protesters in Wisconsin.
2020—Georgia election worker ‘terrorized’ by threats after 2020 election– a mob gathered at the home of former Georgia election worker Ruby Freeman, a Black woman after allies of the then-Republican president falsely accused her of helping to steal the 2020 election and referred to her by name as a “professional vote scammer.”
2020—Trump revived his birtherism saying that Kamala Harris, who’s Black and of South Asian descent, “doesn’t meet the requirements” to be vice president and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s running mate.
2020—Trump called the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus the “Chinese virus” and “kung flu.” The World Health Organization advises against linking a virus to any particular region, which can lead to stigma.
2019— Trump complained about the impeachment inquiry and compared it to a lynching, infuriating many Blacks and Democrats.
2018—In the week after white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump repeatedly said that “many sides” and “both sides” were to blame for the violence and chaos that ensued — suggesting that the white supremacist protesters were morally equivalent to counter-protesters who stood against racism. He also said that there were “some very fine people” among the white supremacists.
2018—Speaking about immigration in a bipartisan meeting, Trump reportedly asked, in reference to Haiti and African countries, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” He then reportedly suggested that the U.S. should take more people from countries like Norway.
2017—Trump tweeted that several Black and brown members of Congress — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) — are “from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe” and that they should “go back” to those countries. Three of the four members of Congress whom Trump targeted were born in the U.S.
2017—Trump repeatedly referred to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) as “Pocahontas,” using her controversial—and later walked-back—claims to Native American heritage as a punchline.
2017—Trump signs an executive order banning Syrian refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries (Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen) for 90 days. The ban went into effect immediately on a Friday afternoon, leading to chaos and confusion at airports across the nation and leaving many people detained. Large protests were held at dozens of prominent international airports in the U.S.
2017—Trump repeatedly attacked NFL players who, by kneeling or otherwise silently protesting during the national anthem, demonstrated against systemic racism in America.
2017—Trump reportedly said that people who came to the U.S. from Haiti “all have AIDS,” and he lamented that people who came to the U.S. from Nigeria would never “go back to their huts” once they saw America. The White House denied that Trump ever made these comments.
Pre-presidency:
2016—Trump appointed Steve Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News — a media website responsible for spreading anti-Muslim content — as CEO of the Trump campaign. He also appointed General Mike Flynn, who has deep ties to the organized anti-Muslim hate movement and once claimed that Islam is a “cancer,” as his (first) National Security Advisor.
2016—Trump argued that Judge Gonzalo Curiel—who was overseeing the Trump University lawsuit—should recuse himself from the case because of his Mexican heritage and membership in a Latino lawyers association. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who endorsed Trump, later called such comments “the textbook definition of a racist comment.”
2016—Trying to play up his support among African Americans, he pointed to a black supporter in the crowd and said, “Oh, look at my African American over here. Look at him.”
2015—Trump launched his presidential campaign by referring to Mexican immigrants as “rapists and murderers.” “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
2015—In between campaign town halls in Newton, Iowa, candidate Trump said he would “certainly implement” a database system to track Muslims.
2015—At a campaign rally in Birmingham, Alabama, Trump called for the “surveillance of certain mosques,” claiming that he had watched “thousands and thousands of people” cheering on 9/11 as the World Trade Centers came down.
2015—At a campaign rally in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Trump announced that he has issued a statement calling for the “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”
2015—Trump argued that maybe Obama wasn’t a good enough student to have gotten into Columbia or Harvard Law School and demanded Obama release his university transcripts. Trump claimed, “I heard he was a terrible student. Terrible. How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?” Trump has never released his own academic records and has taken significant measures to ensure they are not released.
2015—In an interview on Fox News, Trump is asked if all Muslims should be banned from the United States. He responds, “There’s a sickness. They’re sick people. There’s a sickness going on. There’s a group of people that is very sick. And we have to figure out the answer. And the Muslims can help us figure out the answer.”
2015—Trump pitched his candidacy to African-American voters by presenting them with a stark question: “What the hell do you have to lose?” “You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58% of your youth is unemployed – what the hell do you have to lose?”
2012—Trump tweeted his support of the surveillance of Muslims in the U.S. “NYC’s top cop acted wisely and legally to monitor activities of some in the Muslim community. Vigilance keeps us safe.”
2011—Trump created the Birtherism movement in response to Barack Obama’s historic presidency. In a speech at a conservative conference, Trump falsely claimed: “Our current president came out of nowhere. Came out of nowhere. In fact, I’ll go a step further: the people that went to school with him, they never saw him, they don’t know who he is. It’s crazy.” In 2016, Trump conceded that Pres. Obama was born in the U.S.
2010—During an interview with Late Night host David Letterman, Trump discussed the Park51 Islamic Community Center in Manhattan and suggests the U.S. is at war with Muslims. Letterman asks, “Does this, in fact, suggest that we are officially at war with Muslims?” to which Trump responds, “Well, somebody knocked down the World Trade Center… somebody’s blowing us up. Somebody’s blowing up buildings, and somebody’s doing lots of bad stuff.”
2005—Trump proposed the idea of a “race war” on his then-popular reality show “The Apprentice” that would feature two teams of successful Black contestants versus a team of successful white contestants in a matchup for the title before a barrage of criticism derailed the idea.
2000—In opposition to a casino proposed by the St. Regis Mohawk tribe, which he saw as a financial threat to his casinos in Atlantic City, Trump secretly ran a series of ads suggesting the tribe had a “record of criminal activity [that] is well documented.”
1991—A book by John O’Donnell, former president of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, quoted Trump’s criticism of a Black accountant: “Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day. I think that the guy is lazy. And it’s probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is; I believe that. It’s not anything they can control.” Trump later said in a 1997 Playboy interview that “the stuff O’Donnell wrote about me is probably true.”
1989—Trump called for the reinstatement of the death penalty in full-page ads in four New York newspapers, including The New York Times, following a horrific rape case in which five Black and Latino teenagers, then known as the Central Park Five, were wrongly convicted. In 2002, the convictions were vacated, which made way for a new name—The Exonerated Five. Trump has refused to apologize.
1973—Donald Trump and his father, the late Fred Trump Sr., fought adiscrimination lawsuit brought by the Justice Department for their alleged refusal to rent apartments in predominantly white buildings to Black tenants. A settlement that ended the lawsuit did not require the Trumps to acknowledge that discrimination had occurred explicitly — but the government’s description of the settlement said Trump and his father had “failed and neglected” to comply with the Fair Housing Act.
LGBTQ registered voters are highly motivated as the presidential and key congressional campaigns approach, with 94% indicating they are definitely (83%) or probably (11%) voting this November.
72% experience negative impacts to their mental health and emotional well-being caused by the current state of political discourse in our country.
LGBTQ+ Americans are coming out younger than ever before, new research has revealed.
A probability-based Gallup Panel survey of gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans adults, along with those who identify as something other than non-heterosexual or cisgender, showed that among the youngest LGBTQ+ adults, aged 18 to 29, the median age they came out was 17.
Those between the ages of 30 and 49, and from 50 to 64, came out in their early twenties. Adults aged 65 and above came out at the median age of 26.
Of the 71 per cent of adults who reported having come out to others before they turned 30, 57 per cent did so by the age of 22.
The findings of the survey, which was conducted online for a fortnight from 1 May, show that young adults kept their identity secret – having realised they were queer – for three years, while senior citizens waited the longest, 10 years, to come out.
Gallup’s survey highlights how young LGBTQ+ Americans are now coming out much earlier than their seniors. (Gallup)
Most LGBTQ+ adults said they knew they were LGBTQ+ when they were young, including 48 per cent realising by the age of 14, and 72 per cent by the age of 18.
Adults aged 65 and older were most likely to have come out later in their twenties, while, in contrast, the three youngest age groups were most likely to have done so between the ages of 19 and 22.
Just five per cent of gay or lesbian Americans reported not having come out to anyone, while 23 per cent of bisexual adults remain “in the closet”. LGBTQ+ women were found to be twice as likely as men to report having come out by the age of 14.
The survey also revealed that one in five LGBTQ+ adults believe that society’s treatment of queer people has “gotten a lot” or “gotten a little” worse.
On average, just one in every 20 LGBTQ+ adults said they have received poor treatment or harassment “frequently” because of their sexual orientation in the past year but that figure jumps to 19 per cent for those harassed or poorly treated “occasionally”.
A famous London LGBTQ+ landmark is set to reopen after almost 10 years thanks to the efforts of campaigners.
The Black Cap on London’s Camden High Street was a haven for LGBTQ+ Londoners from the 1960s onwards, eventually becoming one the city’s premier stages for cabaret and drag acts as well as a place to drink.
Among those whose careers started there was Paul O’Grady’s much-loved Lily Savage, drag act Hinge and Bracket, and RuPaul’s Drag Race stars Bianca Del Rio, Adore Delano, BenDeLaCreme, Raja Gemini and Trixie Mattel.
The bar was forced to close in 2015 because of planning issues and determined campaigners have been pushing for it to reopen almost ever since.
Now, with the help of Camden Council, a company called Kicking Horse Three is set to open “The Cap’s” doors once again.
Kicking Horse Three’s Kirk Spencer, who also runs Newcastle LGBTQ+ venue Bobby’s, will oversee management of the venue, which will include food service, Alex Green of campaign group Black Cap Community told Attitude.
Green said the venue will offer a “cleaner and improved version of what was there before,” with the addition of four lettable bed-and-breakfast rooms on the upper floors, which will be aimed at artists and performers.
The ground floor will remain the bar area, while downstairs will provide performance space.
“Squatters moved in on New Year’s Eve and caused a lot of damage, which could have scuppered the whole project,” Green said. “They stole everything.”
Black Cap Community is conducting a survey to ensure the public have a say in the venue’s programming. You can give your views here.
The supreme court of Ghana on July 24, 2024, upheld a colonial-era law that criminalizes adult consensual same-sex conduct, contrary to Ghana’s human rights obligations, Human Rights Watch said today. The judgment comes at a time when the country is engulfed in a debate over a dangerous anti-LGBT law which would take persecution of sexual and gender minorities and their allies even further.
“Ghana’s supreme court unfortunately upheld the British colonial legacy of criminalizing so-called ‘unnatural sex,’” said Rasha Younes, interim lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights director at Human Rights Watch. “The law had been challenged on the grounds that it violated the constitutionally protected rights to privacy and personal liberties, rights that everyone has under international law as well, and regardless of their sexual orientation.”
Prince Obiri-Korang, a law lecturer at the University of Ghana, initiated the suit to overturn the law. Under section 104(1)(b) of Ghana’s Criminal Offences Act 1960 (Act 29), inherited from the British colonial law, “whoever has unnatural carnal knowledge[…]of a person sixteen years or older, with his consent, is guilty of a misdemeanor.” Unnatural carnal knowledge is defined in section 104(1)(2) as “sexual intercourse with a person in an unnatural manner or with an animal.” According to the supreme court judges, “unnatural manner” also includes the use of sex toys.
With this ruling, the court has expanded the interpretation of Section 104(1)(b), apparently adopting language from the anti-LGBT Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2021, which specifically prohibits a person, in clause four, from engaging in any acts that undermine the proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values.
In 2017, while Human Rights Watch was researching the impact of this law, Jones Blantari, chief superintendent of Ghana’s police force, told Human Rights Watch, “the term unnatural carnal knowledge is vague, does not have any clear meaning in law, creates difficulties in consistent interpretation and its application is used to target LGBT people.”
The bill carries heavier criminal penalties for same-sex activities, increasing the maximum penalty from three years to five years in prison, and expands the possibility of extending criminal charges against anyone who identifies as LGBT, queer, pansexual, and any other non-conventional gender identity as well as allies to these communities. It would also punish anyone providing support, funding, or public advocacy for sexual and gender minorities rights.
Members of parliament introduced the bill in 2021. In addition to expanding the possibility of criminal charges against those advocating for LGBT rights, the bill allows for criminal charges against anyone who uses social media platforms to produce, publish, or disseminate content promoting activities prohibited by the bill.
Significant figures in Ghana publicly opposed the bill, including the Roman Catholic Cardinal of Ghana Peter Turkson, and a former member of parliament and major political party chair Samia Nkrumah.Nkrumah urged the president to veto the anti-LGBT bill, calling it “brutal, harsh, and unjust.” Nkrumah’s father, the late Kwame Nkrumah, is a key figure in African and Ghanaian history. In the 1950s and 1960s, he led the independence movement and served as the country’s first president and prime minister.
Ghana’s parliament passed the draconian bill in February 2024, and it remains with President Nana Akufo Addo, awaiting his signature.
“Ghana’s supreme court missed its opportunity to rid the country of its alien legacy of egregious colonial-era laws,” Younes said. “The court’s failure to uphold basic rights for LGBT people only further emphasizes why the president should veto the new bill.”
Pride flags and a banner outside of the First Congregational Church of Natick, less than 20 miles from Boston, were vandalized, the church’s reverend said Sunday.
The rainbow-colored flag, the pastel transgender flag and the green mental health flag were found “crumpled and thrown under bushes,” according to Rev. Cindy Worthington-Berry.
A Christian flag and banner that “declared ‘Jesus is King’” replaced the previous display, Worthington-Berry said, adding that copies of an anonymous letter were left behind, focusing on a “narrow interpretation of a few verses of scripture.”
“Not included in the letter were the many bible verses calling us to care for the stranger or love our neighbor,” Worthington-Berry wrote on social media.
The “unwelcome” message was removed after police in Natick, Massachusetts, were notified of the incident, Worthington-Berry said, and the Pride flags and banner were reinstalled.
“This church values discussion and reflection. We would be glad to have a conversation with anyone who has concerns or questions about our faith, our actions, our understanding of God and the world,” said Worthington-Berry. “We will not be anonymous in our declaration of our convictions, and we will not spread them around the community under the cover of night.”
