MANHATTAN – Far-right extremists clashed with LGBTQ+ activists and supporters outside outside the LGBTQ Community Center on W. 13th St. in Greenwich Village Sunday, as inside New York State Attorney General Letitia James hosted a Drag Queen Story Hour event.

Approximately 200 attendees enjoyed the read-a-thon, led by the Drag Kings, Queens and Royalty of Drag Story Hour NYC at the center, a resource hub for New York City’s LGBTQ+ community.

As families arrived with excited smiles, a group of protesters assembled across the street — many of them brandishing Trump signs and wearing garb supporting White Supremacist groups like the Proud Boys, AM New York reported.

Protestors were separated by barricades on either side of West 13th along with a heavy New York Police Department presence with dozens of uniform and plainclothes officers to maintain calm.

Independent freelance videographer and photojournalist Oliya Scootercaster captured the protests as one member of the Proud Boys was led away with blood and scrapes on his face by another Proud Boy after an apparent altercation.

Another far-right protestor, who had covered his face and head with a golden Guy Fawkes mask and USA flag headscarf, was seen being arrested by NYPD officers after he confronted protesters and members of the press, knocking things out of their hands.

Proud Boys Bloody Fight at Protest of Attorney Generals Drag Story Hour in Manhattan via FNTV Freedomnews.tv videographer Oliya Scootercaster:

ANNAPOLIS – The Maryland House of Delegates on Saturday approved a bill that would require the state’s Medicaid program to cover gender-affirming treatment for transgender people.

House Bill 283, or the Trans Health Equity Act, passed by a 93-37 vote margin. The measure now goes before the Maryland Senate.

“Proud that the MD House of Delegates passed the Trans Health Equity Act with such a strong majority,” tweeted state Del. Anne Kaiser (D-Montgomery County), who introduced HB 283.

Proud that the MD House of Delegates passed the Trans Health Equity Act with such a strong majority. #TransHumanity pic.twitter.com/1E8MoDFQex

— Anne R. Kaiser (@DelegateKaiser) March 18, 2023

ROCKVILLE, Md. – About 30,000 children age out of foster care each year and 70 percent of those children wind up homeless. The majority of the homeless population under the age of 18 are LGBTQ youth, often who can’t find an inclusive home and enter group homes where more prevalent mental, sexual, and psychological abuse turns them to the streets.

When an LGBTQ child enters the foster care system, the pot of eligible homes becomes smaller, said Rob Scheer, the founder of Comfort Cases, a non-profit that supplies personal care items to youth entering the foster care system. 

“The first thing we think of as kids in our system when we realize that we are part of the LGBTQ+ family, is why am I damaged?” said Scheer, a gay man who experienced the foster care system as a child. “Why am I not given that open space to be free and be who I am?”

The average child in foster care moves from three to four homes before finding a long-term placement. This is often due to foster care agencies’ neglect to inform foster parents that a child is a part of the LGBTQ community. However, when foster parents are informed of the child’s identity, less movement occurs.

Even when children come out as being LGBTQ and the foster parents allow them to stay, some homes do so in order to receive a monthly stipend from the government or private foster agency, Scheer said. This puts children at risk of both direct and indirect mental abuse.

Indirect heterosexism that sends micro-messages of shame is extremely harmful to kids, according to Chloe Perez, the CEO of Hearts and Homes for Youth, a non-profit working with children with higher levels of need, such as therapy appointments for a mental health diagnosis. 

“We have had parents who have talked about, ‘Oh, you know, his frilly, girly, feminine ways,” said Perez. “Maybe they’re not saying I hate gay people…but it’s that subliminal messaging all the time that is equally detrimental.”

It’s common for LGBTQ children to either stay quiet about their sexuality or identity or act out to disrupt a placement before they risk rejection from the family.  

By age five or six, many children already experience rejection and the resulting trauma from multiple placements, Perez added. However, when foster parents know how to manage disruptive behaviors, there’s less risk of additional placement disruption.

But this requires specific vetting and training procedures for potential foster parents. 

Once potential foster parents complete all of the state’s criteria, Hearts and Homes for Youth provide an additional, extensive training program. Since some kids come into the non-profit’s care after 14 or 15 placements, this process includes trauma-response training that informs parents of a child’s possible emotional reactions.

If any foster parent says they don’t want to foster LGBTQ or BIPOC kids, Perez said they try to understand where the parents’ concern stems from to resolve the issue.

“[Whether it’s] cultural, age or based around religion…we have seen that sometimes just really having that in-depth conversation can help them shift,” said Perez. “If they’re not willing to do that, then that’s a no-go.”

Parents are often more direct when it comes to saying they won’t take an LGBTQ child as opposed to a child of color, Perez added, because people are more comfortable openly expressing their opinions about sexual orientation or identity than race, which is more commonly condemned.

If problems arise once a child is in a foster home, an agent conducts an at-home check-in to assess whether the foster parent needs to redo training. However, most issues after the placement are centered around parents’ discipline practices, such as smacking a child, rather than discrimination.

In the case that a foster home isn’t suitable, Hearts and Homes for Youth also offers five group homes and an independent living program for pregnant and parenting teen moms. 

However, the high rate of suicide among LGBTQ children in foster care continues to reflect the conditions for most LGBTQ kids beyond their care.

“What we need to do in society is step up our social responsibility and make sure that we are giving these kids everything that I give to my five children,” said Scheer. “Guidance, unconditional support, and unconditional love.”

For information on how to become a foster parent in D.C., visit cfsa.dc.gov/service/become-foster-or-adoptive-parent.

FRANKFORT, KY. – In a maneuver LGBTQ+ activists and Democrats called deceitful, Kentucky’s Republican-led legislature rushed through Senate Bill 150 Thursday, an anti-transgender measure first in an unannounced House Education Committee meeting in a 16-5 vote and then to the House floor where it again passed along party lines 75-22 and limited debate before moving the legislation to the Senate where it passed 30-7 on a nearly party line vote.

The initial legislation, HB 470 had been effectively tabled Wednesday night as the result of discord among the Republicans. In Thursday’s limited debate on the House floor, Rep. Keturah Herron, a Black LGBTQ lawmaker decried the fact that there was no notifications which made it appear as though Republicans were jamming the bill through without the Democrats present.

Journalist and columnist Erin Reed noted that the bill itself contains several provisions and combines many anti-trans bills into a single, all-encompassing piece of legislation that targets many aspects of the lives of trans youth.

One provision states that schools cannot adopt policies that “keep information confidential from parents,” a policy which will be used to forcibly out transgender students. Another states that school districts can’t require students to use any pronouns for trans students that do not conform to that student’s “biological sex.”

The bill contains teaching bans on LGBTQ+ topics similar to Don’t Say Gay bills, would force schools to turn over student’s answers to private questionnaires and surveys, bans students from bathrooms not matching their gender identities, calls trans students in locker rooms “unsafe,” and bans gender affirming care for trans youth.

The Louisville Courier-Journal reported that schools would not be allowed to discuss sexual orientation or gender identity with students of any age – a key provision of “Don’t Say Gay” bills across the country. Schools would not be allowed to talk about sexually transmitted diseases or human sexuality before sixth grade and would need to require parental consent in sixth grade and up.

Another provision requires school districts to craft bathroom policies that, “at a minimum,” will not allow trans kids to use the bathroom tied to their gender identities.

The Courier-Journal also noted that

SB 150’s initial provisions, including one allowing teachers to misgender their students, remain intact. A new section added a ban on gender-affirming medical care for trans youths, despite medical experts and their professional associations saying such care is safe and effective treatment for children with gender dysphoria.

Doctors would be required to set a timeline to detransition children already taking puberty blockers or undergoing hormone therapy. They would be allowed to continue offering care as they taper a child’s treatments, if immediately taking them off the treatment could harm the child, the bill says.

“It is appalling to see Kentucky lawmakers work so hastily on dangerous legislation that will only put young LGBTQ Kentuckians in harm’s way. In the last year, nearly half of LGBTQ youth in Kentucky seriously considered suicide — alarmingly, nearly 1 in 4 transgender and nonbinary youth in the state made a suicide attempt. Our leaders are pushing political wedge issues and sidestepping the real challenges like addressing the youth mental health crisis,” said Troy Stevenson, Director of State Advocacy Campaigns for The Trevor Project.

“The Kentucky Legislature should not be inserting itself into critical decisions best left to parents and doctors by imposing a blanket ban on best-practice medical care. They should be working to increase access to essential care and creating safer, more affirming spaces for LGBTQ Kentuckians — not further stigmatizing or endangering an already marginalized group of young people. We urge the Governor to reject this harmful legislation and send a message to the young LGBTQ Kentuckians watching these debates that they belong in this state.”

Local media reported that the moment the SB150 officially cleared the Senate, spectators in the gallery opposed to the anti-LGBTQ measure screamed and shouted expletives at the lawmakers on the floor below.

The bill now heads to Democratic Governor Andy Beshear, who has ten days to either veto or sign the measure into law. The governor is widely expected to veto the bill.

The Republican-led legislature, however, will be able to override his veto when it returns for the final two days of the legislative session on March 29 and 30.

The ACLU of Kentucky called the bill “unconstitutional,” vowing legal action should it become law.

MIAMI – The editorial board of the Miami Herald on Thursday wrote a scathing critique of the policies of Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. The board comparing the governor’s anti-LGBTQ+ and so-called anti-WOKE campaign and legislative agenda to the 1977 anti-gay movement founded by singer Anita Bryant.

Know what’s a real drag? The ‘free’ state of Florida’s tired old tropes to attack LGBTQ community | Opinion https://t.co/1OV4ZjjkYb

— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) March 16, 2023

“They carried signs saying “Protect our children” and “Don’t legislate immorality.” Their leader said she spoke as a mother and a Christian, her “Save our children” campaign proclaiming to save Florida’s youth from the influence of gay people,” the board wrote.

“It was 1977, and singer Anita Bryant, known for her Florida orange juice commercials, became the face of an effort to repeal a Dade County ordinance that prohibited discrimination against gay men and lesbians.

“Like Bryant in 1977, they say they are acting in the name of “Protection of Children” — to name a bill targeting drag shows. It’s under that premise that the DeSantis administration has threatened essentially to shut down drag-show venues that allow minors. The state is going after their liquor licenses.

In the free state of Florida, parental rights reign unless a parent’s choice doesn’t align with state bureaucrats. Whose job is it anyway to parent children? If Florida’s real issue is with exposing minors to sexually explicit content, then they should also vet every artist who performs at big concert venues.”

Read the full editorial (Link)

NEW YORK — New York Congressman Ritchie Torres has spoken out about his struggle with depression and the importance of mental health in the wake of U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.)’s recent hospitalization for clinical depression. 

Torres, a Democrat who is the first openly gay Afro-Latino member of Congress, told “GMA3” hosts DeMarco Morgan and Eva Pilgrim on Tuesday that he had “an obligation to tell” his “story in the hopes of breaking the shame and silence, and stigma that too often surrounds the subject of mental health.”

Torres views his coming to terms with his mental health issues — while also being open about it — as a form of “public service” to the American people. 

“We live in a society that historically has shamed people for experiencing mental illness, that has framed mental illness as a failure of character or a failure of willpower. And I’m here to send a message that mental illness is nothing of which to be ashamed, that there are millions of Americans who struggle with depression and anxiety,” Torres explained. 

Even before being elected to Congress, Torres, 34, spoke freely about his past experiences concerning mental health issues and how they affected him. While campaigning, one of his opponents tried to use his depression as a counterpoint to prove that he was not worthy of being in public office. 

From then on, Torres vowed to “never again would I allow my mental health to be weaponized,” he told Time magazine. 

He emphasized the importance of psychotherapy and medication as a means of controlling his depressive episodes and going through his day by day as a congressman.

He noted, however, that “there are people who have trouble accessing mental health care.” 

“And even if you do, the process of experimenting with psychiatric medications can be draining and debilitating, because there’s no one size fits all,” he added. 

Torres said he hopes that Congress can pave the way for more mental health care for the millions of Americans who need it.

“Our healthcare system is fundamentally broken and Congress is no closer to fixing it,” he argued. 

I was once hospitalized because of severe depression. I thought of taking my own life because I felt the world around me had collapsed.

I would not be alive, let alone in Congress, were it not for mental health care.

My Story:pic.twitter.com/5v9pXCN33E

— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) March 15, 2023

LANSING – Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act on Thursday, which expands basic protections for the LGBTQ community.

The measure, Senate Bill 4 was sponsored by Out State Senator Jeremy Moss who less than a year previously had been shot down by the Republican majority as he attempted to have a non-binding resolution to recognize “Pride Month” adopted by the Senate.

In her signing remarks, Whitmer noted: “In the words of Detroit native Lizzo, it’s about damn time! Bigotry is bad for business. Come to Michigan, you will be respected and protected under the law.”

Sen @JeremyAllenMoss, the state’s highest-ranking openly gay lawmaker, opening the bill signing event. He shepherded the legislation through passage.

Nearly this time last year, Moss wasn’t able to get the support of a Leg leader to simply pass a resolution honoring Pride Month.

— Rachel Louise Just (@RLJnews) March 16, 2023

“As Equality Michigan celebrates this historic step forward, we are standing on the shoulders of giants. Generations of activists have inspired us to fight for justice and equality for all LGBTQ+ Michiganders, and our community has been working to update our state’s civil rights law to explicitly include sexual orientation, gender identity and expression in every single legislative session since Elliott-Larsen was first adopted,” Erin Knott, Executive Director of Equality Michigan said in a statement.”

“We applaud Governor Whitmer for signing this bill into law, and are humbled by this pro-equality legislature that made amending ELCRA a top priority. Senator Jeremy Moss and Representative Jason Hoskins introduced this legislation and championed it all the way through to the finish line. 

The victory we have today in Michigan is a great one, but it’s also one we don’t take lightly at this moment. Let it not be lost on us that this privilege, however hard-earned, is a unique one that exists amid a nationwide political assault on LGBTQ+ people, especially trans and non-binary youth, and their families. There are over 400 anti-trans bills moving across state legislatures in the US, twice the amount introduced last year.”

“This bill being signed into law is a beacon of hope and sends a powerful message of acceptance to LGBTQ people across the nation. At The Trevor Project, we work every day to protect the lives of LGBTQ youth, and days like today prove that in generations to come, both their legal and lived equality will no longer be fodder for political debate,” said Troy Stevenson, Director of State Advocacy Campaigns for The Trevor Project.

“Our research shows that having at least one accepting adult can reduce the risk of a suicide attempt among LGBTQ young people by 40 percent. We applaud the elected leaders, advocates and Gov. Whitmer for making this a reality, and affirming the dignity and rights of LGBTQ Michiganders by codifying these protections into law.”

WASHINGTON – In a speech delivered Thursday at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial (WIMSA), located at the main entrance to Arlington National Cemetery in suburban Virginia, VA Secretary Denis McDonough announced the Department of Veterans Affairs has issued an updated version of its 1959 mission statement.

The new mission statement is: “To fulfill President Lincoln’s promise to care for those who have served in our nation’s military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors.”

As the VA Secretary commenced his remarks, he honored several notable women in the audience including Brenda S. “Sue” Fulton, the assistant secretary of veterans affairs for public and intergovernmental affairs.

Fulton, is a 1980 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Ny., which was the Academy’s first class to admit women. She is an Out Lesbian and served as a founding board member of Knights Out, the organization of LGBT West Point graduates, and later worked with OutServe, the association of actively-serving LGBT military members and SPARTA, an LGBT military group advocating for transgender military service.

“Whenever any Veteran, family member, caregiver, or survivor walks by a VA facility, we want them to see themselves in the mission statement on the outside of the building,” said Secretary McDonough. “We are here to serve all  Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors — and now, our mission statement reflects exactly that.”

In crafting the new mission statement, VA surveyed roughly 30,000 Veterans. Among Veterans surveyed, the new version of VA’s mission statement was chosen over the current version by every age group; by men and by women; by LGBTQ+ Veterans; and by white, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian and American Indian/Alaska Native Veterans.

In addition to two rounds of surveys, VA conducted dozens of small-group engagements with Veterans to understand what was most important to them in a VA mission statement, then incorporated that feedback into quantitative research. The new mission statement reflects that VA serves all of the heroes who have served our country, regardless of their race, gender, background, sexual orientation, religion, zip code or identity.

The previous mission statement was: “To fulfill President Lincoln’s promise ‘to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan’ by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s veterans.” The previous mission statement is posted in roughly 50% of VA’s facilities. Over the coming months, VA’s new mission statement will replace the previous version.

VA Announces New Mission Statement, Recognizing Sacred Commitment to Serve All Who Served:

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate voted 52-42 on Wednesday to confirm former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s nomination by President Joe Biden to serve as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of India.

Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), and Mark Kelly (Ariz.) voted “nay,” while Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.), Susan Collins (Maine), Steve Daines (Mont.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), Roger Marshall (Kan.), and Todd Young (Ind.) voted “yea.”

Garcetti’s appointment has been languishing in the Senate for nearly two years, threatened most recently by Democratic defectors who objected to unresolved allegations that the former mayor knew — or should have known — about sexual harassment by a former top aide, Rick Jacobs.

Hirono, who earlier this week had pledged to support Garcetti’s nomination, said Wednesday that she changed her mind after learning new information, but declined to offer specifics.

Throwing additional uncertainty into Wednesday’s vote was the absence of six senators including Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who is recovering from shingles and announced plans last month to retire at the end of her term, and Jon Fetterman (D-Pa.), who recently checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for treatment of clinical depression.

The White House and Garcetti nevertheless pushed for the vote, which had been delayed by the split control of the Senate until the new Congress was seated in January. The period between Garcetti’s nomination and confirmation marked the longest stretch without a sitting U.S. ambassador to India since formal diplomatic relations were first established with the country.

WASHINGTON – Whether on matters concerning climate change or LGBTQ rights, members of Congress ought to focus on making progress for the benefit of the next generation, U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.) told the Washington Blade.

“It’s making that decision today to talk about what’s in our future, not what’s in our past, and to say, ‘let’s just do what’s best for our kids,’” Sorensen said during an exclusive interview with the Blade from his office last week.

The congressman, who became the first openly gay member to represent the state of Illinois in either chamber with his election in 2022, has plenty of experience reaching folks with this message.

A meteorologist by trade, Sorensen began his television career at the ABC affiliate KTRE in Lufkin, Texas in 1999 before becoming chief meteorologist for WREX, Rockford, Illinois’s NBC affiliate, and then senior meteorologist at the ABC affiliate WQAD serving the Quad Cities area.

“You know, I was the one talking about climate change to farmers,” Sorensen said.

“Whenever I talk about climate change, I don’t fault anyone for being in a different place in the past,” he said, which helps to avoid positioning conservatives and climate skeptics in a defensive posture.

“We don’t ever have to agree on who’s causing climate change, or what 1.5 degrees celsius or two degrees celsius means,” Sorensen said. “Let’s just say that we’re going to do better today for the next generation, okay? And the same thing with LGBTQ issues, right?”

As it turned out, discussing climate change “wasn’t this third rail that we thought it was,” he said. Likewise, “it was the same thing as when I had my trans friends on television on Good Morning Quad Cities” for National Coming Out Day.

The move was important, Sorensen said, “so that my community could see these are real people…my friend Paula and my friend Chase are real people.” The congressman added, “we talked about how we came out, and we didn’t get any backlash [from the audience], because, you know what? I don’t live in a hateful community.”

Sorensen said the network looked at audience engagement metrics for segments featuring his trans friends, and for segments in which he addressed climate change, and the data repeatedly indicated that viewers were able to easily countenance both.

Some of this might be attributed to the good will he had built with this audience. After all, “I was the one they were turning to when the tornado was bearing down on their family’s home,” Sorensen said.

Regardless, “how do we expect people to understand if we don’t explain these things?”

‘Everyone should be speaking out’ against anti-trans extremism

Last week, Republicans on the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee passed legislation that would bar transgender women and girls from competing in school sports per Title IX.

The measure, part of a nationwide wave of anti-trans bills, is likely fated to languish in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

On the heels of a press conference to drum up opposition to the bill that was hosted by the Congressional Equality Caucus and its chair, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Sorensen said, “I’m disappointed because these are real people.”

“We have to understand that, you know, when we talk about the threat that transgender people face today, if you just look at what is being proposed, what the extreme Republicans are saying, is that there’s now a group of kids or a group of people that don’t deserve to learn what athletics is about,” said the congressman, who is also a co-chair of the Equality Caucus.

Sorensen said the message from Republican members backing this legislation is that “this group [of women and girls] doesn’t deserve to learn teamwork as a kid.”

“It’s terrible,” he said. “Everyone should be speaking out against this. What it just shows is that these Republicans, they’re just stoking fear and division and being extreme, instead of actually solving the problems of the people.”

“I think it’s a point of extreme Republicans to run on this platform instead of solving the problems that we do have in front of us,” Sorensen said.

He noted extremism doesn’t seem to have been a winning message for Republican candidates in the 2022 midterm elections, during which time the GOP’s focus was on issues like the economy and healthcare.

It is remarkable “how things have changed in such a short amount of time,” Sorensen said. “And that’s because the Republicans, these extreme Republicans, have decided that they’re going to to roll through this division and hate.”

“It’s insane,” he said, pointing to legislation like the bill proposed in the Iowa Legislature to ban same-sex marriage “when it’s already been set in stone.”

At the same time, the congressman said, there is ample reason for optimism. For example, “in the state of Illinois we rejected that hate because the state of Illinois elected its first LGBTQ member of Congress.”

And back in the Quad Cities, Sorensen had the chance to meet the next generation of out youth when volunteering at the area’s LGBTQ community center, Clock, Inc. “I just stood there in awe at these kids that were able to be themselves.”

Moving forward, Sorensen said Democrats should continue to prioritize issues that Americans actually care about.

“I don’t feel like we need to defend ourselves,” he said. “You know, if they want to put this wedge issue out there, we need to just be able to say, ‘I’m fighting for Americans. I’m fighting to lower the price of goods, connecting people to health care,’” which includes healthcare for trans folks as well as reproductive care including abortions.

“Sorensen said his identity as a gay man was not a central feature of his congressional campaign, but still, for many folks, “the only gay person that they knew was Eric Sorensen on channel eight.”

Overcoming homophobia

Growing up in the 1980s during the AIDS crisis, Sorensen said he asked himself, “Why should I even try?” He told the Blade, “I can see in my head the pictures of a hospital room, and I thought, ‘that’s how I’m gonna die,’” he said, so, “why would I even try, when they’re never going to allow me to be on television?”

Having relocated from Lufkin to Tyler, after a couple of years working as a meteorologist in the comparably larger northeast Texas metropolitan area, Sorensen said his sexual orientation became a problem for his employer in 2003.

“My boss told me, ‘Eric, I need you to go to the conference room after your show’s over,’” the congressman remembers.

Laid before Sorensen was his employment contract, a document he had not seen since he had signed it. “All of a sudden,” he said, “the members of management walk in, and I was told to have a seat while nobody across the table sat down – so they were looking down upon me.”

They had been alerted to Sorensen’s profile on Gay.com and offered him the choice to “be that person,” pointing to a printout of his profile, “or have a job.”

From there, he took a pay cut to return to Illinois where “I got to be out,” he said, “I got to be myself,” while every day at work, “I was telling my mom and dad what the weather was like.”

The congressman added, “If I would have given up in that space in Texas, where would I be? I wouldn’t be here today.”