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2024 Report Reveals Top LGBTQ+ Party Destinations

Emisil.com conducted research to find out the best LGBTQ+ party destinations for 2024. The study analyzed data such as safety scores, LGBTQ+ friendliness, average drink price, average closing time, and the number of gay clubs and bars in each city. Data was sourced from Numbeo, Equaldex.com, TripAdvisor, and Yelp. These metrics were then integrated into a composite score to highlight the best cities where the LGBTQ+ community can enjoy the night out.

Findings summed up:

CityCountrySafety IndexSafety LevelWorld Equality Index (LGBTQ+ friendliness)Average drink priceNumber of Gay Bars and Clubs Listed on YelpAverage Closing TimeComposite Score
MadridSpain72.87High81$3.80736:00 AM91.3
CopenhagenDenmark74.15High85$8.72295:00 AM84.4
New YorkUnited States49.24Moderate73$8.004404:00 AM83.3
AmsterdamNetherlands71.68High80$7.05525:00 AM81.2
BerlinGermany55.45Moderate80$4.881055:00 AM78.5
ViennaAustria69.80High77$4.88314:00 AM74.7
LisbonPortugal70.19High75$3.25214:00 AM71.9
TaipeiTaiwan84.55Very High66$2.48224:00 AM70.1
HelsinkiFinland75.43High78$8.6894:00 AM69.0
TorontoCanada56.75Moderate81$5.86713:00 AM68.2

First up on the list of LGBTQ+ party destinations is Madrid, Spain, with a composite score of 91. The city is highly gay-friendly, with a World Equality Index score of 81. It has 73 gay bars and clubs, where the parties go on until 6 AM in the morning. The average drink price is one of the lowest at just $3.80.

Second on the list is Copenhagen, Denmark, scoring 84 out of 100. The city has a World Equality index of 85, which is the highest on the list. Copenhagen offers more than 20 gay party spots open until 5 AM, with an average drink price of $8.72.

The third LGBTQ+ party destination is New York, United States, with a composite score of 83. When it comes to LGBTQ+ nightlife, New York is unmatched, with over 400 bars and clubs staying open until 4:00 AM.

Amsterdam, Netherlands, is the fourth destination for LGBTQ+ partygoers, scoring 81.  The city is highly LGBTQ+ friendly, with a score of 80 on the World Equality Index and a safety index of 71.68.  Parties go on until 4 AM, with the average drink costing $8.

With a composite score of 79, Berlin, Germany, is the next destination for queer nights. The city offers more than 100 gay bars and clubs, with an average drink price of $4.88, which is among the lowest compared with most European cities on the list. 

Vienna, Austria, is the sixth destination for LGBTQ+ nightlife, with a composite score of 75. The city has a high safety index of 69.8. In terms of the average drink price, it mirrors Germany.

Lisbon, Portugal, ranks seventh on the list of LGBTQ+ party destinations, scoring 72. The city has a high LGBTQ+ friendliness score of 75. Like Vienna, parties last until 4 AM, but Lisbon has a slightly lower number of gay bars and clubs, with 21 venues overall.

Taipei, Taiwan, is the ninth-best city for gay parties, with a composite score of  70. Regarding the safety of walking home at night, the city has the highest score on the entire list, at 84.55. There are more than 20 gay bars and clubs, where the average drink price is the most affordable, costing only $2.48.

Ninth-ranked Helsinki, Finland, has a composite score of 69. In its 9 gay-friendly clubs and bars, the party goes on until 4 AM, with drinks costing on average higher at $8.68. Compared to Taipei, Helsinki has a higher World Equality Index score of 78.

Toronto, Canada, closes the list of LGBTQ+ party destinations with a composite score of 68.2. The city has the same World Equality Index as Spain, but it has slightly fewer gay bars and clubs overall, with 71 venues partying till 4 AM.

Forbidden Kiss LIVE – Carnival Happens Saturday, January 6 at the California in Santa Rosa

The Jan 6 show features new comedy routines from Cheryl King, your emcee, with exciting new burlesque from Velvet Thorn, dance numbers from Blue, plus Martin Gilbertson as Rudolpho, Stage Hypnotist. We welcome back the Forbidden magician Vixen, plus crowd-pleasers Natasha Nightmare and Jonni Machado, plus the California Theatre debut of Indiana Bones. Come dressed as your favorite carnival attraction. Prizes for Audience Favorites from Secrets Boutique. Adult-oriented material, for those 18+. Parental guidance is suggested. Tickets $20 in advance, $25 at the door.

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LGBTQ fears grow in Malaysia as Islamists shatter reform hopes

Artist Carmen Rose used to perform regularly in Malaysia, until a police raid last year put an end to the veteran drag queen’s act and fueled the fears of the LGBTQ community at a time when Islamists are rapidly gaining political clout.

Since the raid, during which several party-goers were arrested, Rose has stopped doing shows, and rarely ventures out in public in costume.

“It’s always a risk going out in drag. If there was a raid, who do we call? Do we bring our boy clothes just in case?” said Rose, who declined to disclose her non-drag identity due to fears of reprisal. “They see us as sexual deviants or sinners.”

Queer Malaysians and rights groups told Reuters that LGBTQ communities face increasing scrutiny and discrimination under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government, despite the longtime opposition leader’s reputation as a progressive reformer.

Analysts say Anwar, who took office after a November general election, is under pressure to bolster his Islamic credentials among the Muslim majority in the face of an increasingly popular ultra-conservative opposition that has steadily gained more political ground since the vote.

Malaysia’s opposition bloc includes Islamist party PAS, which promotes a strict interpretation of sharia law and opposes LGBTQ rights. The party holds the most number of seats in parliament for the first time ever, and its gains in state elections this month reinforced its political influence.

A PAS lawmaker recently said LGBTQ people should be classified as “mentally ill.” Another PAS leader urged the government to cancel a concert by Coldplay because the band supports queer rights.

“Anwar doesn’t feel politically stable, so he has to be more Islamic than the other side,” said James Chin, a political analyst at the University of Tasmania in Australia.

Sodomy is a crime in Malaysia, which also has Islamic sharia laws banning same-sex acts and cross-dressing. The multi-ethnic, multi-faith country has a dual-track legal system with Islamic laws for Muslims running alongside civil laws.

Carmen Rose in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Carmen Rose in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, on July 25, 2023.Hasnoor Hussain / Reuters

While Anwar has never expressed support for the LGBTQ community, activists say they expected him to show more tolerance as he advocated for an inclusive society during his 25 years in the opposition.

“There was some hope when Anwar came to power that the reform agenda would seep in to some extent,” said Dhia Rezki Rohaizad, deputy president of JEJAKA, an organization that supports gay, bisexual and queer men.

“It’s disappointing that it has not happened. At the very least, we had hoped that they would just leave us alone, not be actively persecuting us.”

Discrimination and threats 

Anwar vowed this year that Malaysia would never recognize LGBTQ rights.

His government has banned books for “promoting the LGBT lifestyle”, detained demonstrators expressing support for queer rights and confiscated Pride-themed watches made by Swiss watchmaker Swatch.

Last month, authorities halted a music festival, after the frontman of British pop band The 1975 kissed a male bandmate onstage and criticized Malaysia’s anti-LGBTQ laws.

Asked about the government’s position on LGBTQ rights, government spokesperson and communications minister Fahmi Fadzil told Reuters: “Whatever the prime minister has said is the position.”

Some analysts say Anwar’s uncompromising stance on LGBTQ rights stems from a desire to wipe out doubts about his own sexuality which surfaced after he was jailed for nearly a decade for sodomy. Anwar has repeatedly said the charges were fabricated and politically motivated, but some political opponents still question his Islamic values.

Activists say online harassment and death threats against queer Malaysians are rampant on social media, while undercover police often attend LGBTQ-friendly events. Many groups now ensure there are lawyers at these events in case of a raid.

Thilaga Sulathireh, founder of LGBTQ advocacy group Justice for Sisters, said the government’s rejection of queer Malaysians was tantamount to a human rights violation.

“This has emboldened the conservatives and the right wing, it allows discrimination and violence to take place against LGBT people with impunity,” said Sulathireh, who uses they/them pronouns.

Justice for Sisters is receiving more queries from LGBTQ Malaysians seeking asylum in other countries, they said, adding that the community is also increasingly adopting self-censorship to stay under the radar.

Drag queen Carmen Rose said she canceled a show this year, fearing another crackdown. She occasionally performs in neighboring Singapore, and is now considering leaving Malaysia.

“This is not me running away. I’m just tired and I have to also think about myself and my own happiness,” she said.

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Black LGBTQ+ Students to Suffer After SCOTUS Strikes Down Affirmative Action

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As the U.S. Supreme Court continues to save its most controversial rulings that reshape American society for the end of its session like a cliffhanger at the end of a television season, it once again issued a ruling that upends decades of precedent. With the ultraconservative court’s ruling that ends affirmative action in college admissions in the U.S., experts and advocates warn that the unintended consequences of the ruling will be detrimental to many, including Black and brown queer college students.

One of the most concerning outcomes of the ruling is the effect that it will have on historically Black colleges and universities, they say.

Human Rights Campaign HBCU program director Leslie Hall says that it’s imperative to highlight that the effects of this ruling will result in fewer queer Black students accessing higher education while also adding strain to historically Black colleges and universities as students seek refuge in environments where their abilities are valued.

“The University of California did this a couple of years ago, even without this case,” Hall tells The Advocate. “They said they’d no longer use race as a checkbox on the admission criteria. And what happened is what everybody knew was going to happen. The BIPOC numbers in the UC system have gone down precipitously.”

He says that to understand how the court got to this point, one needs to know why HBCUs exist.

“It’s because Black folks in particular were unable, were not allowed by practice or by law to go to the predominant national public institutions, and even when the Civil Rights Act was passed, they were still putting very Jim Crow-esque things in place to continue to keep [Black students] out. And so that prevented qualified Black folks, African Americans, from being accepted into some of the elite institutions.”

He notes that innate human biases are entrenched in admissions policies and with the admissions counselors themselves.

“So this affirmative action decision is now basically asking, What would happen if y’all do it on your own because it’s just morally the right thing to do?”

He points to the hypocrisy of the Supreme Court’s conservative justices, who recently ruled that Alabama Republicans needed to redraw their congressional districts because of racism that disadvantaged Black communities in the state.

“The court is saying it needs to step in there because racism exists, but in the affirmative action ruling, the court is saying racism doesn’t exist or, better yet, that if left to their own devices, people would do the right thing,” he says.

He adds that the promise of America is that “all men are created equal,” which, as defined at the time the Constitution was written, excluded women, brown and Black people.

“Wo here we are in a situation the enrollment of HBCUs has been steadily climbing because of all the racial things that are happening, but when we look at some of the national public institutions, it really boils down to access,” Hall says.

“Will a valedictorian of an all-Black high school even feel empowered to apply for admission to some of these places?” he asks. “When has this country ever been color-blind?”

He says it has never been.

“So when you try to appeal to the best conscience of America, that is a noble ideal, but no, when have we demonstrated that?”

Hall notes that there might be a silver lining in that HBCUs may get additional talented students who otherwise would have applied at a non-HBCU but who chose to forgo that option.

“HBCUs don’t exist for the lowest quartile of Black folks who apply. Howard is considered a selective institution, but you’ve talked to students; they’re almost like 80 percent Pell Grant eligible, given the economic backgrounds that some of these students have,” he says. Pell Grants come from a federal program that helps students who have extreme financial need.

He adds, “So first, schools will have to lean more into their scholarship offerings to get some of these students in. But two, I think students will be able to see the real benefit of going to a historically Black college or university.”

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Drag Doesn’t Kill People — Guns Do

August 9, 2002 was the first day I went out in drag. I had just moved to Nashville for college and had touched nearly every theatrical production I possibly could but had yet to venture into the world of drag. The second I did, Nashville welcomed me with open arms and I quickly realized with the help of other queens, that this would allow me to celebrate my creativity in a whole new way. 

And thus, Veronika Electronika was born. 

I have used drag in a myriad of ways in the past 20-plus years: to cultivate community, call for political action, and educate those across the state on inclusion. That’s the beauty of drag — you can contour the art form to become whoever you want. 

Drag has given new meaning to my life and a flourishing diverse community of which I am grateful to be a part. But this freedom and my community are under attack. All year, lawmakers around the country have been working to make life more dangerous for transgender people, queer people, and drag queens, advancing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation while systematically dismantling gun safety laws. 

In March, Tennessee became the first state to explicitly ban drag performances in public spaces,punishing first-time offenders with misdemeanors and possible prison sentences of up to six years for repeat offenders. (The law has now been ruled unconstitutional.) This legislation and bills like it target drag queens, taking particular aim at our right to peacefully coexist. Let’s call these what they are: discriminatory policies grounded in prejudice and fear — fear of us harmlessly expressing ourselves. Empowered by the hateful rhetoric of our so-called leaders, armed Nazis and white supremacists have targeted our community — swarming LGBTQ+ drag events across the country. 

Meanwhile, lawmakers ignore the real threat to public safety: gun violence. 

Guns are a threat to safety in this country. Drag queens are not. Guns kill more than 120 people every day and are the number 1 killer of children and teens in America. Set against the backdrop of our country’s raging gun violence epidemic and a concerted movement to loosen existing firearm laws, this exponentially growing hatred of drag queens, trans people, and queer people is a recipe for hate-motivated gun violence against LGBTQ+ people. There is an already clear disproportionate effect of gun violence on queer communities. We saw the deadly intersection of guns and anti-LGBTQ+ hate when a shooter walked into a sacred queer space in Colorado Springs and killed five people. 

In an average year, more than 25,000 hate crimes in the U.S. involve a firearm — 69 a day. Across different LGBTQ+ populations, the risk for violence is higher than in straight and cisgender populations. Lesbian and gay people are more than twice as likely to experience violent victimization as straight people. Transgender people are 2.5 times as likely to be victims of violence as cisgender people. Bisexual people are seven times as likely to experience violent victimization as straight people.

This year alone, at least 12 trans people have been killed in the U.S., the vast majority with a gun. Between 2017 and 2022, there were 222 homicides of transgender or gender-nonconforming people. During this period, 74 percent of the trans people killed were killed with a gun. 

Now more than ever, states desperately need to pass common-sense gun safety laws, but instead, legislators across the country, backed by a gun lobby that is driven by profits over public safety, are systematically working to weaken our gun laws and remove fundamental public safety laws. 

The Tennessee legislature recently passed permitless carry and continues to introduce other harmful legislation, such as guns on campus and expansions to the state’s Shoot First law, also known as Stand Your Ground. In August, legislators will convene a special session, and we’ll be calling on them to pass a lifesaving extreme risk law — a law that could have prevented the shooting at the Covenant School. 

We shouldn’t have to live in a world where members of the LGBTQ+ community and drag queens have to live in fear every single day. It’s exhausting to endure these tragedies over and over again.

As we commemorate Pride Month this June, we must remember that Pride and what it has become started as a protest. In 1969, the Stonewall riots in New York City served as a pivotal moment for the modern LGBTQ+ movement, and we will carry the power of those who came before us to say enough is enough. Enough hate. Enough violence. We don’t have to live this way, and I don’t want to die this way. 

Drag queens have the right to exist in peace. Drag queens have the right to be safe in their communities. Drag queens and queer people have the right to express themselves and to live free from the fear of gun violence. We won’t stop working to make our communities safe — for everyone. 

Veronika Electronika is a Tennessee-based drag queen.

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School that refused to play team with trans player is barred from tournaments

A Vermont religious school that withdrew its girls’ basketball team from a playoff game because a transgender student was playing on the opposing team won’t be able to participate in future tournaments, the Vermont Principals’ Association announced Monday.

Mid Vermont Christian School, in White River Junction, forfeited the Feb. 21 game, saying that it believed that the transgender player “jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players.”

Mid Vermont Christian School
Mid Vermont Christian School.Google Maps

The executive council of the principals’ association, which is the governing body for Vermont school sports and activities for member schools, ruled that the school had violated policies and is ineligible to participate in future tournaments that it sanctions. The move applies to all sports.

“The VPA again reiterates its ongoing support of transgender student-athletes as not only a part of building an inclusive community for each student to grow and thrive, but also as a clear expectation by Vermont state law(s) in the Agency of Education Best Practices, and in VPA Policy regarding transgender student athletes,” the association said in a statement.

It sent a letter to the school saying that Mid Vermont did not meet the association’s policies on race, gender and disability awareness.

The school did not respond to an email requesting comment.

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Queer Youth Negatively Affected by Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws, Debates: Trevor Project Poll

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Debates over LGBTQ+ rights are having a negative effect on the lives of young people in the community, according to a new poll.

“An overwhelming majority of LGBTQ youth have been negatively impacted by recent debates and laws around anti-LGBTQ policies and that many have also experienced victimization as a result,” says a press release on the poll, conducted for the Trevor Project by Morning Consult between October 23 and November 2 and released this week.

The poll included 716 LGBTQ+ youth ages 13–24 around the U.S. It assessed emotional responses to anti-LGBTQ+ policies as well as which other social issues often give LGBTQ youth stress and anxiety. It came in a year in which more than 220 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced around the nation, most of them targeting transgender youth; many more are being introduced in 2023 — 150 across 23 states in the first two weeks of the year, the Trevor Project reports.

Among the key findings: Eighty-six percent of transgender and nonbinary youth say recent debates about state laws restricting the rights of transgender people have negatively impacted their mental health. A majority of those trans youth (55 percent) said it impacted their mental health “very negatively.” Seventy-one percent of LGBTQ+ youth overall say state laws restricting the rights of LGBTQ+ young people have negatively impacted their mental health.

Seventy-one percent of LGBTQ+ youth — including 82 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth — say that threats of violence against LGBTQ+ spaces, such as community centers, Pride events, drag shows, or medical providers that serve transgender people, often give them stress or anxiety. Nearly half (48 percent) of those LGBTQ+ youth say it gives them stress or anxiety “very often.”

As a result of anti-LGBTQ+ policies and debates in the last year, trans and nonbinary youth say they have had a range of harmful experiences, including cyberbullying or online harassment (45 percent); stopping speaking to a family member (42 percent); not feeling safe going to the doctor or hospital (29 percent); having a friend stop speaking to them (29 percent); bullying at school (24 percent); their school removing Pride flags or other LGBTQ-friendly symbols (15 percent); and physical assault (10 percent).

Among all LGBTQ+ youth, one in three report cyberbullying or online harassment, one in four say they stopped speaking to a family member or relative, and one in five say they experienced bullying.

Regarding policies that will bar doctors from providing gender-affirming medical care to trans and nonbinary youth, 74 percent of these young people say they feel angry, 59 percent feel stressed, 56 percent feel sad, 48 percent feel hopeless, 47 percent feel scared, 46 percent feel helpless, and 45 percent feel nervous.

Policies that prevent trans youth from playing on the sports teams aligned with their gender identity make 64 percent of trans and nonbinary youth feel angry, 44 percent feel sad, 39 percent feel stressed, and 30 percent feel hopeless, according to the poll.

There were also bad reactions to anti-LGBTQ+ school policies, given debates around respecting students’ identities and pronouns, censoring LGBTQ-inclusive curricula, and banning books. New policies that require schools to tell a student’s parent or guardian if they request to use a different name/pronoun or if they identify as LGBTQ+ at school make 67 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth feel angry, 54 percent feel stressed, 51 percent feel scared, 46 percent feel nervous, and 43 percent feel sad.

Fifty-eight percent of LGBTQ+ youth, including 71 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth, feel angry about new policies that bar teachers from discussing LGBTQ+ topics in the classroom. Among trans youth, 59 percent feel sad and 41 percent feel stressed.

Sixty-six percent of LGBTQ+ youth, including 80 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth, feel angry about policies that will ban LGBTQ-inclusive books from school libraries. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ youth, including 54 percent of trans youth, also felt sad about these book bans.

Black LGBTQ+ youth sampled reported disproportionately higher rates of racism, police brutality, doing poorly in school, and gun violence giving them stress or anxiety “very often” compared to white LGBTQ+ youth. Trans and nonbinary youth polled reported disproportionately higher rates of transphobia, losing their health care, anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes, and threats of violence in LGBTQ+ spaces giving them stress or anxiety “very often” compared to cisgender LGBQ+ youth.

“Right now, we are witnessing the highest number on record of anti-LGBTQ bills introduced this early in any legislative session. We must consider the negative toll of these ugly public debates on youth mental health and well-being. LGBTQ young people are watching, and internalizing the anti-LGBTQ messages they see in the media and from their elected officials. And so are those that would do our community harm,” Kasey Suffredini, vice president of advocacy and government affairs at the Trevor Project, said in the release.

Suffredini added: “The Trevor Project is proud to see that more than two-thirds of LGBTQ youth, including 81 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth, have seen, read, or heard about our work to fight back against anti-LGBTQ bills. We are prepared for the fight ahead and will not stop advocating for a safer, more accepting world for all.”

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InterPride’s bad decision to abandon Taiwan

As many in the LGBTQ community in Washington, D.C. discovered recently, our city will now host WorldPride in 2025. Many of the initial reactions I saw from those in my immediate network were a mix of excitement and skepticism – does D.C. have the “gay infrastructure” to support hosting a global Pride event? According to InterPride, the U.S.-based non-profit organization that owns the licensing rights for WorldPride, the answer is yes.  However, what seemed to get lost in the conversation was why D.C. was newly awarded as the host for this event after publicly losing its bid to host WorldPride back in 2021 to Taiwan.

In August of this year, the WorldPride 2025 Taiwan Preparation Committee announced that it was withdrawing from hosting the global celebration after a dispute with InterPride over the name of the event. The host committee insisted on calling it “WorldPride Taiwan 2025” while InterPride insisted that the event be called “WorldPride Kaohsiung” in tradition with using the name of the host city and not that of the host country. The committee did not accept this name change and Taiwan will no longer host the event, as revealed in an announcement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan.

There is much he-said-she-said in competing press releases and subsequent interviews of how InterPride and the committee arrived at this point. It is certain that not all of the behind-the-scenes negotiations are fully available to the public and it appears that the fallout ultimately comes down to the disagreement over the name of the event. 

InterPride’s decision that this event would no longer take place in Taiwan is ultimately harmful for the LGBTQ community in Taiwan and East Asia as a whole.  InterPride is squarely to blame and fails to stand up for the rights of our community by failing to engage in the public demonstration of Pride that has made the LGBTQ rights movement successful over the better part of the last century.

InterPride’s decision to dictate the name of the event shows a Western-minded lack of regard for the local and regional politics of East Asia and continues the imperialist trend of dictating terms to the Global South. By awarding this event, InterPride should have allowed the committee to choose its own name for the event. Mind you, the name that they initially bid and submitted all of the paperwork with throughout the bidding process and ultimately published for the announcement of the award was “WorldPride 2025 Taiwan.”

InterPride co-president Linda DeMarco has insisted that the reason for the name change was not motivated by geo-political tensions. It is disheartening that InterPride tried to distance itself from politics when the movement they support has its foundational roots in politics. It also seems highly implausible that InterPride did not consider the geo-political tensions in which Taiwan is currently ensnared. InterPride should take a stance in supporting Taiwan and allowing them to choose the name for this global event. In shying away, InterPride is failing to align itself with the country with the best record of LGBTQ rights in East Asia.

Awarding Taiwan with the 2025 event was monumental and invaluable for raising the profile of LGBTQ rights in East Asia, which are tenuous and not widespread.  InterPride distancing itself from this stance is a disservice to the LGBTQ community in Taiwan and East Asia as a whole. Dictating that the committee step down from using the name “Taiwan” disregards the complex history and identity of the Taiwanese people and the LGBTQ community there. InterPride’s failure to stand up for Taiwan by allowing them to use their chosen name for the event is symbolic of the Western imperialism mindset that is still pervasive in the LGBTQ community and Western-based international organizations. The committee has every right to make the event in their image. InterPride has taken away agency from the committee and the LGBTQ community in Taiwan from deciding the name of their own event in a way that is hard not to read as imperialist.

We can all agree that Pride is an inherently political event. When forced to take a stance on allowing the committee to use Taiwan in the name for the event, InterPride balked and claimed to not be political. It betrays the history of the LGBTQ movement to not take a political stance and instead disengage with the committee and Taiwan as a whole. To co-president Hadi Damien who is on record saying that traditionally the name of the event is based on the city that the event is held and not the country, it should be asked why InterPride feels they need to cling to this nonsensical and baseless tradition? 

While the final preparations for WorldPride 2023 Sydney are underway, D.C. begins to prepare to host its event, and Amsterdam celebrates their announcement of hosting WorldPride in 2026, it is critical that we as a community examine where we sit in the broader context of the global LGBTQ movement. InterPride’s inflexibility and decision to move the event away from Taiwan should be a reminder that we have a duty to support our community both at home and abroad. In America we certainly have a very tough and long road ahead of us in terms of achieving full equality for our community.  But that does not excuse us from not exercising our privilege in the global community from seeking to lift fellow community members around the world and support their fight for rights.

I hope that we as a community will keep this in mind and start holding organizations like InterPride accountable to the community at large. I call on InterPride to announce a WorldPride event in a city outside of the Global North. Until then, I will look forward to WorldPride in Washington, D.C. in 2025 and elevating our city to the global stage.

Parker Griffin is gay D.C.-based professional who has worked in international development and is an advocate for LGBTQ rights.

Anti-Black, gay, Asian bias fuel California hate crime surge

Hate crimes driven by homophobia and racism resulted in a 33% surge in reported incidents in California last year, following a similar spike in hate-driven attacks the year prior and confirming what officials have been hearing anecdotally since the pandemic began, the state’s attorney general said Tuesday.

Attorney General Rob Bonta said that crimes against Black people were again the most prevalent in 2021, climbing 13% from 2020 to 513 reported incidents. Hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation bias increased nearly 50% to 303 incidents while crimes against Asian Americans were up 178% to 247 incidents.

“One hard truth in our state, just as we see across the nation, is that the epidemic of hate we saw spurred on during the pandemic remains a clear and present threat,” said Bonta, a Democrat, at a news conference. “Each of these incidents represents an attack on a person, a neighbor, a family member, a fellow Californian.”

The 1,763 hate crimes reported in 2021 was the sixth highest tally since the department began collecting and reporting data statewide in 1995. It is also the highest since 2001, when 2,261 hate crimes fueled by the 9/11 terrorist attacks were reported in California.

Last year’s annual report showed a similarly high increase — 31% — with anti-Black bias making up the bulk of incidents in a state where African Americans are 6% of the population. The 2020 report also showed a startling increase in bias crimes against Asian Americans following the emergence of the coronavirus in China.

Video of assaults on Asian Americans, particularly seniors, went viral last year with San Francisco police in January reporting an astonishing 567% increase in reported crimes from the previous year. The initial count showed 60 victims in 2021, up from nine in 2020. Half of last year’s victims were allegedly targeted by one man.

Still, not all criminal attacks carry a hate crime charge since prosecutors need to prove the suspect was motivated by bias. In San Francisco, for example, the 2021 death of an 84-year-old Thai grandfather is headed to trial although the district attorney’s office has not filed hate crime charges in that case.

Officials say reported hate crime statistics may be far lower than actual numbers, but add they’ve taken steps to encourage reporting by victims. Nationally, hate crimes rose to the highest level in more than a decade in 2019, according to an FBI report.

Community leaders who joined Bonta at Tuesday’s press conference urged people to report crimes and to seek resources such as mental health services. Cirian Villavicencio, commissioner with the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs, said hateful attacks against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community are not new.

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