Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-51), 68, grew up in a rural farming community
surrounded by animals and land in Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico — ultimately becoming the first person in his rural community to attend an Ivy League university. 

Since then, he has continued to build his reputation as an advocate and as a
political leader in environmental justice and LGBTQ rights. 

Most recently, Zbur introduced Assembly Bill 309, which would support
California’s strategy to prevent the spread of HIV and viral hepatitis by preserving existing laws that increase access to sterile syringes at no added cost to the state. 

“Extensive research and data collection has repeatedly proven that increased access to sterile syringes significantly lowers rates of transmission and saves lives
without increasing rates of drug use,” said Zbur when presenting AB 309. 

He added that the average estimated cost for lifetime medical costs related to HIV treatment for one person is $326,500. “Syringe access not only saves lives, but it also saves individuals and the state from the steep cost of treatment,” he continued. 

As a gay man in the peak of the AIDS crisis, Zbur saw some of his own close friends become ill, motivating him to become an AIDS activist at a time when the federal government was failing to provide resources to the community that needed them the most. 

“Since I’ve been in the Assembly, I’ve always had a number of bills every year that focus on uplifting the LGBTQ community, as well as getting to zero, in terms of HIV — zero transmissions, zero deaths, zero stigma.”

Prior to this bill and a few others, Zbur also introduced AB 5, which he says was a culmination of eight years worth of work, from the time he started working for Equality California (EQCA), the state’s largest nonprofit organization dedicated toward advocating for LGBTQ civil rights.

AB 5, which was passed and is now known as the Safe and Supportive Schools
Act, is meant to improve the conditions for LGBTQ students in schools. 

“I think this bill has the most impact for LGBTQ youth and it’s the one I’m proudest of because it requires that every teacher in California schools has LGBTQ cultural competency training, to make sure that our schools are safe and supportive.”  Zbur, a longtime advocate for the LGBTQ community, has a long history of activism. 

In the early 1980s, Zbur campaigned for the fight against HIV/AIDS, helped found the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation and alongside the Los Angeles LGBT Center, organized fundraisers for Bill Clinton while he was governor of Arkansas, and Barbara Boxer, who was then running for U.S. Senate. 

“I think part of me coming out more publicly was due to the HIV epidemic and
the fact that I had friends that were getting sick,” he said. “I had a long-term boyfriend
back then and we started to get politically active, really trying to make sure that the
government was doing something about the HIV epidemic.”

He says that this is when he decided he was going to get Barbara Boxer elected, because she was the only Senate candidate during that time who was even mentioning the LGBTQ community. 

In 1996, Zbur ran for the United States House of Representatives in California’s 38th congressional district against Republican incumbent Steve Horn. He became the first openly gay non-incumbent congressional primary candidate to win an election when he won the Democratic primary election on March 26, 1996. 

During many years following that win, Zbur jumped into another pool of justice
fighting for environmental issues and then in 2014, joined Equality California as
executive director. Under his leadership, EQCA quadrupled in size, passed groundbreaking legislation to advance LGBTQ equality measures and sued the Trump-Pence administration twice, blocking attacks against the transgender community of California. 

In 2022, Zbur was elected to the California State Assembly to represent the 51st
Assembly District, a position he currently serves. He was appointed in July 2023 by
Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas to serve as the Democratic Caucus Chair of the California Assembly, one of the Speaker’s key leadership positions. During that time, he also led the advancement in civil rights and social justice for the many other marginalized communities within the LGBTQ umbrella, such as communities of color, communities of faith, immigrants women and people living with HIV. 

Zbur says that his work is never over. 

“We’re facing greater risks that are greater than I think we’ve faced in recent
years coming out of the [first] Trump administration. The targeting of transgender and
gender non-conforming people is an even greater part of his hostility toward our
community,” he said. “It’s very real, and we see that it’s not just rhetoric. He’s taking real
steps to try to shut down the healthcare that LGBTQ people and transgender people
need.”

Zbur says that he and the other members of the LGBTQ Caucus in Sacramento
are constantly thinking of those decisions and their repercussions. 

“I have another bill that is focused on helping transgender people get the
government documents they need, so they can protect themselves from the Trump
administration and so that they can travel easily to get medical care.” 

Zbur says that his own coming out story was positive, but he grew up in a time
where he did not know anyone who was out about their identity. He went through many
trials and tribulations to end up in a space where he was finally accepted. 

“For me, coming to terms with the fact that I was LGBTQ, was something that
took a number of years,” said Zbur. “The world was just a very different place back then
and the risks were high, coming out.” 

When he started his career as a lawyer, he became a partner in a law firm called
Latham and Walkins, where there was not a single person who was out. 

“I eventually came out when I was a fourth or fifth year associate and I became
the first out lawyer in the firm’s history, though there were other gay lawyers at the firm.”
Now, at 68, Zbur says that his only regret is that he lived in the closet for too long.

“When I look back at the things I regret, it’s that I lived in the closet for as long as
I did,” he said. “That is a very limiting thing that I think doesn’t allow your soul or your
spirit to flourish.”

One of the cardinals who is reportedly in the running to succeed Pope Francis has described homosexuality as an “abomination.”

Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, the archbishop of Kinshasa in Congo, made the comment in a Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar statement in response to Francis’s 2023 decision to allow priests to bless same-sex couples.

“Within the church family of God in Africa, this declaration has caused a shockwave, it has sown misconceptions and unrest in the minds of many lay faithful, consecrated persons, and even pastors and has aroused strong reactions,” wrote Ambongo in the Jan. 11, 2024, statement he signed. “The African Bishops’ Conferences emphasize that people with a homosexual tendency must be treated with respect and dignity, while reminding them that unions of persons of the same sex are contrary to the will of God and therefore cannot receive the blessing of the church.”

The statement notes several Biblical passages that “condemn homosexuality, notably Lv. 18:22-23 where homosexuality is explicitly prohibited and considered an abomination.”

“In addition to these biblical reasons, the cultural context in Africa, deeply rooted in the values of the natural law regarding marriage and family, further complicates the acceptance of unions of persons of the same sex, as they are seen as contradictory to cultural norms and intrinsically corrupt,” it reads.

Ambongo, who is president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, in 2024 said homosexuality “does not exist” in Africa outside of “a few isolated cases.” La Croix, a French Catholic newspaper, reported he made the comment during a rally that took place outside of Kinshasa.

Actualité, an online Congolese newspaper, reported Ambongo reiterated his opposition to homosexuality and same-sex unions in his 2023 Christmas message.

“Same-sex unions are not accepted in our church,” he said. “Although homosexuals should be treated with respect, compassion, and sensitivity, homosexuality remains a moral disorder contrary to natural law and our African culture.”

Jérémie Safari, executive director of Rainbow Sunrise Mapambazuko, a Congolese LGBTQ+ rights group, criticized Ambongo when he spoke with the Los Angeles Blade.

“This cardinal is very homophobic; very, very homophobic,” said Safari.

Francis died on April 21.

The Vatican’s tone on LGBTQ+ and intersex issues softened under the Argentine-born pope’s papacy, even though church teachings on homosexuality did not change.

Francis, among other things, described laws that criminalize consensual same-sex sexual relations as “unjust” and supported civil unions for gays and lesbians.

Francis last August met with two African activists — Clare Byarugaba of Chapter Four Uganda and Rightify Ghana Director Ebenezer Peegah — at the Vatican last August. Francis in 2023 visited Congo and South Sudan.

Juan Carlos Cruz, a GLAAD board member who survived clerical sex abuse in Chile, is among the hundreds of thousands of people who attended Francis’s funeral that took place at the Vatican on April 26. Transgender people were among those who greeted Francis’s coffin at Rome’s St. Mary Major Basilica before his burial.

The conclave to select Francis’s successor will begin on May 7.

The Associated Press notes Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin; Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the former archbishop of Manila in the Philippines; Archbishop of Bologna (Italy) Cardinal Matteo Zuppi; and Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest (Hungary) Cardinal Peter Erdo are among those who are considered potential Francis successors.

“He [Erdo] has been reluctant to take positions on several of the government’s policies that divided society in Hungary, such as public campaigns that villainized migrants and refugees and laws that eroded the rights of LGBTQ+ communities,” said the AP.

New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based LGBTQ+ Catholic organization, in an April 21 statement said it hopes “our loving God, who is a God of justice and equality, will continue to bless us by extending Francis’ welcoming and inclusive message in the next papacy.”

Anti-LGBTQ+ Catholic figures offered a far different view.

Doug Mainwaring — described as a “marriage, family, and children’s rights activist” — on Monday described Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah as “the only conclave participant to counter LGBT ambiguity and lies of Francis pontificate” in a post that LifeSiteNews, an anti-LGBTQ+ Canadian Catholic website, published.

“There is just one cardinal about to enter the conclave who is crystal clear, fearless, and uncompromising with the truth when it comes to pastoring those of us who experience same-sex attraction and gender confusion: Cardinal Robert Sarah,” wrote Mainwaring. 

Mainwaring also highlighted anti-LGBTQ+ comments that Sarah made in his 2019 book.

“I think that the first victims of the LGBT ideology are the persons who experience a homosexual orientation. They are led by its militants to reduce their whole identity to their sexual behavior,” Sarah wrote, according to Mainwaring. “I beg Catholics who are tempted by homosexuality not to let themselves be shut away in this prison of LGBT ideology. You are a child of God by baptism! Your place is in the church, like all Christians. And if sometimes the spiritual combat becomes too hard, fraternal charity will support you.”

Catholic League President Bill Donohue on April 22 urged the cardinals to consider an African counterpart to succeed Francis.

“If the cardinals decide to choose someone who is a traditionalist, they can do no better than to look to Africa. It is home to the most brilliant orthodox clergy in the world,” said Donohue. “If the cardinals want to choose someone more like Francis, they will look to Europe.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed support for LGBTQ suicide hotline measures for K-12 students in direct response to recent reports that Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s., plans to cut funding for the national nonprofit that provides the resource to LGBTQ people.

“Cutting off kids’ access to help is indefensible. While the Trump administration walks away from its responsibility, California will continue to expand access to life-saving resources, because the life of every child — straight, gay, trans — is worth fighting for,” said Gov. Newsom. 

Assembly Bill 727, introduced by Assemblymember Mark González, would aim to facilitate pupil and student safety by requiring schools and institutions to have the telephone number and text line for a specified LGBTQ suicide hotline provided by The Trevor Project, that is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. 

Existing law that will be enforced July 1, 2025, requires a public or private school that serves pupils in any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, and that issues pupil identification cards to have printed on the identification cards the number for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. 

This bill would additionally require the list of K-12 public schools and institutions to provide support to youth and their families who have been subjected to school-based discrimination, harassment, intimidation or bullying on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation or gender expression. 

Conservative organizations like the California Family Council are pushing back on this bill, stating that this bill is “forcing LGBTQ advocacy on every student ID — no exemptions for religious schools,” and saying it “undermines families.” 

A national 2024 survey by The Trevor Project on mental health of LGBTQ young people, reports that 1 in 10 young LGBTQ-indetifying people in the United States attempted suicide in 2023. Over a third of LGBTQ young people seriously considered suicide within the past year and that figure was even higher for trans and nonbinary-identifying youth, with that figure being  46%. 

The survey also found that half of LGBTQ youth who wanted mental health resources and care could not get them. Over 50% of survey respondents answered “a lot” when asked about how often recent politics negatively impact their well-being. 

The Trevor Project is one of the nonprofit organizations that is currently at high-risk for losing their funding under Trump’s budget cuts. 

The phone number to call for help is 1-866-488-7386 and the number to text for help is 678-678, or you can send them a message at the site link.

Jessica Wagstaff is the founder of Homology L.A. and most recently partnered up with The Queer 26, a nonprofit platform for QTBIPOC creatives, to produce Lez Brunch. The brunch will be hosted on May 17, from noon to 4p.m., at Sorry Not Sorry. The 4,000 sq-ft event space is a well-respected wine-forward, cocktail bar in Los Angeles that also hosts lots of other LGBTQ events, drag shows and more, throughout the year. 

Wagstaff believes it is important to not only host this event, but also to make it as safe and inclusive as possible. They have also incorporated a community outreach aspect to this event by giving back to their community by donating proceeds to non-profit and mutual aid organizations.

Everything down to the ticketing site, is queer and inclusive. 

“The ticketing website allows attendees to enter in their name which may differ from their legal name, which I think is a really important aspect right off the top of the bat, they know we care about who they are right at the start of their experience with us,” said Wagstaff. “In fact the ticketing website is the only platform that is queer owned and operated in the world, it’s called Sickening Events. So we know that it’s also benefiting our community.”

The performers are also part of the LGBTQ+ community and Wagstaff believes that by having a line-up of performers and entertainers who mirror and represent the community, it allows people to feel safe, heard and seen. 

“I’ve always been very passionate about having a lineup that directly mirrors our community from BIPOC, trans, queer, non-binary, etc,” said Wagstaff. 

Wagstaff is also a licensed security guard who says safety and security is on the top of their priorities when it comes to hosting these events. 

“I will have a code of conduct signage and training at the front door which will be promoted by wait staff, restaurant management, plus all Lez Brunch talent and staff,” said Wagstaff. 

The event will be hosted by Ruthie Alcaide who is a TV personality who has been a contestant on The Real World: Hawaii, a finalist on Battle of the Sexes and All Stars 1, and she also competed on Battle of the Sexes 2, The Gauntlet 2, and The Duel II.

Wagstaff is also working in collaboration with Camille Ora-Nicole, founder of The Queer 26 and multi-hyphenated creative. 

Ora-Nicole has been hosting events and collaborating with queer and trans BIPOC creatives across Los Angeles to bring more visibility to those marginalized communities. Her and Wagstaff agree that queer joy is the biggest form of resistance and that hosting these events during this politically polarizing time is much needed for survival and for the people in these communities to have the space to heal, gather, celebrate and network. 

To learn more about The Queer 26, visit their website.

The Los Angeles Blade kicked off its “Free Community Series” in partnership with Roar
Resistance, for a rousing discussion panel titled “Time To Get Informed, Time To
Resist” at The Abbey in West Hollywood last Saturday.

The event featured a panel of notable figures in the city’s government and queer
activism circles who spoke about how to organize and protect queer rights in the current
political climate.

The panel was moderated by Roar Resistance’s Michael Ferrera, and included West
Hollywood Mayor Chelsea Byers, former WeHo Mayor and queer activist Abbe Land,
Equality California Communications Director Jorge Reyes Salinas, Political Vice
President of the Stonewall Democratic Club, Nico Brancolini and NAACP LGBTQ
Committee Chair Chris Baldwin.

The discussion kicked off with a call by Abbe Land for participants to stay focused on
the issues that matter, despite the flood of new developments constantly coming from
the White House.

“I do think it was designed that way to keep us crazed, to keep us unfocused, to keep us
in a state of panic and fear,” said Land. “We have to look at what is happening and
where is our lane and where are we going to focus our energies and have trust that
there are other people that are focusing in other areas that need focus.”

Each of the panelists then described how the first few months of the current
administration has impacted the work they’re doing in the community and the dangers
they see on the horizon.

“I have been deeply disturbed by the elite capitulation that occurred this time around,”
Brancolini said, noting the big law firms and media corporations that have acceded to
“unconstitutional orders” and rushed to make settlements with Trump and his family.

“Frankly, I’ve been disappointed by a lot of the national Democratic leadership. I think
they treated a 1.5% plurality victory on Trump’s behalf as if it was a huge blowout, and I
think that’s a big mistake,” said Land.

Reyes Salinas pointed out that a one of the most vulnerable communities right now is
trans youth.

“The target is on their backs and the backs of their families and providers,” he said.
“Here in California, we have laws that protect them and we keep improving those, but
there’s still so much fear, and it’s important for everyone to be able understand that
these are children’s lives at stake here.”

But while there was agreement that there is much at risk at the current moment, Chris
Baldwin said this was a time to build stronger coalitions.

“I don’t live my life in fear. I am a Black woman born in the 60s, at a time when my father
when we traveled to Alabama had to step across the street to let a white man pass,”
she said. “We will get through this. Black people have lived through much worse.
Welcome to the civil rights movement. We are going to experience setbacks but we will
keep pushing forward.”

Later, Baldwin invited attendees to join the NAACP, noting that it is an interracial
organization whose membership is open to all. Chelsea Byers echoed that sentiment, noting that this moment presents an opportunity for a new generation of leaders to imagine new ways to solve society’s big problems.

“We know that people are under-resourced. We need to make education accessible to
people bring them on board, help them understand these processes and meet them
where they’re at,” she said. “We need to bring people on board. We can’t go back to
what was, because it wasn’t working. We need to activate our political imaginations in
the biggest way possible.”

When the discussion turned to what people can do to protect our rights, the panelists
focused on practical things anyone can do to help build a successful coalition for
change.

“Every day, do something. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. It might be just calling
someone to check in on them, it might be writing a letter, or calling your congressman. It
might be a passive thing,” said Land. “That moment when you think, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe this,’ that’s when you do something, anything and it’ll propel you for the next
day.”

The panel also addressed concerns from the audience that we have to ensure that our
activism is inclusive and intersectional.

“Feminism without intersectionality is just white supremacy,” Baldwin said. “Going
forward with your coalitions, I encourage you to be intentional with your intersectionality,
not just tokenism.”

“There are some common needs that we all care about and it doesn’t matter who you
are, and that’s where we have to be. But when we’re fighting for those things, we have
to recognize there are some people who have different ideas of what that looks like, and
we have to be open to that,” said Land. Reyes Salinas added that it’s an important priority for Equality California to use its platform to lift the voices of diverse parts of the community.

“We can elevate your coalitions, your storytelling, whatever’s happening, my team can
make sure that that’s elevated to ensure that other people see you as a trusted source,”
he said.

Reyes Salinas added that Equality California offers leadership training programs for
people who want to get experience in politics and running for office.

The Los Angeles Blade is planning more community forums to discuss hot-button
issues as they arise.

An award-winning documentary filmmaker and a news producer make up the dynamic duo who now run the Los Angeles chapter of the NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists. 

NLGJA is a nationally recognized affinity group meant to unite journalists from dozens of different industries, who identify as members of the LGBTQ community. 

The national chapter recognizes the work and contributions of LGBTQ journalists who work to further the narratives by queer, trans and gender non-conforming people. 

Hansen Bursic, 27, pisces, is one half of the dynamic duo who now run the L.A chapter. 

Katie Karl, 30, gemini, forms the other half. 

Last year, Bursic and Karl took over as interim co-presidents and have been able to grow the local chapter to include a diverse and wide range of voices on the Board of Directors and on the membership list. 

The chapter has hosted a long list of events that include collaborations with other local and national organizations with roots in Los Angeles, such as GALECA: Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics and the Asian American Journalists Association. 

It became the first time in the Los Angeles chapter’s history that there was such a shift in leadership, with two people taking over the leading role. 

“It was just too big of a job for one of us to do, especially in rebuilding. So we decided to get together and come on as co-president’s, which was recommended by the national president, Ken Miguel,” said Karl. 

When it comes to the chapter’s mission, Bursic says it’s a two-fold goal. 

“We want to build a sense of community for queer and trans journalists in Southern California and we also want to advocate for those journalists any chance we get by building the spaces where journalists can meet each other, breaking down barriers and trying to reduce gatekeeping of opportunities for our members so they can thrive and find a place in Southern California newsrooms,” he said. 

Many of the events that are hosted by the NLGJA LA Chapter are free and open to the general public through RSVP. One of the common misconceptions the affinity group faces, is that many people feel as though their work may not directly correspond to the work pursued by current members of the group. However, that is not the case. 

“Together, we really want to make sure that everyone feels included,” said Karl. “I’m in broadcast and Hansen is in documentary and together we really push to make sure that no matter what kind of journalist you are, you know there is a space for you and you feel welcomed.” 

The organization welcomes members and people to attend their public events, who work in industries that are adjacent to the work journalists do and those who might just be creatives with multi-hypenated titles. 

Bursic has a full-time day job in communications for a nonprofit, but his creative work extends far beyond his work in communications. His energy and passion lie in documentary filmmaking. Bursic recently directed and produced “Trans Heaven Pennsylvania” (2024). The 12-minute documentary is about the 2010s in Pennsylvania, where each year, a group of trans women would take over a small American town for a week-long party. The documentary was funded through the Creative Hope Initiative, an incubator for emerging LGBTQ filmmakers sponsored by Traverse32 and Outfest Film Festival. 

The film most recently screened internationally in London, at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. Its next screening will be at the Grandview Theater Drafthouse & Cinema in Columbus, Ohio on May 3rd. 

Bursic has a notable list of accomplishments, including making the 30 under 30 list at Temple University in 2023. He has also been named a DOC NYC Documentary New Leader, has had a spot in the Ford Foundation Rockwood Documentary Leadership Fellowship and Sundance Film Festival Press Fellowship.

Karl was born and raised in the Greater Los Angeles area, is a dedicated news producer with extensive experience in live news coverage and team coordination. Currently a freelance writer and producer at KABC, she brings years of experience from her work at stations like KPNX, KHQ and KEYT. 

Karl, says the experience of connecting with the members more, has been really rewarding. 

“Going forward, my goal is to grow the chapter in name and recognition,” said Karl. “I want our [reach to get] across other organizations in other areas of journalism and that’s why I joined the board in the first place.”

California Congressman Robert Garcia on Tuesday said the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador has agreed to ask the Salvadoran government about the well-being of a gay asylum seeker from Venezuela who remains incarcerated in the Central American country.

The Trump-Vance administration last month “forcibly removed” Andry Hernández Romero, a stylist who asked for asylum because of persecution he suffered because of his sexual orientation and political beliefs, and other Venezuelans from the U.S. and sent them to El Salvador.

The White House on Feb. 20 designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, as an “international terrorist organization.” President Donald Trump on March 15 invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which the Associated Press notes allows the U.S. to deport “noncitizens without any legal recourse.”

Garcia told the Los Angeles Blade that he and three other lawmakers — U.S. Reps. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), and Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) — met with U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador William Duncan and embassy staffers in San Salvador, the Salvadoran capital.

“His lawyers haven’t heard from him since he was abducted during his asylum process,” said Garcia.

The gay California Democrat noted the embassy agreed to ask the Salvadoran government to “see how he (Hernández) is doing and to make sure he’s alive.”

“That’s important,” said Garcia. “They’ve agreed to that … we’re hopeful that we get some word, and that will be very comforting to his family and of course to his legal team.”

Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari traveled to El Salvador days after House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) denied their request to use committee funds for their trip.

“We went anyways,” said Garcia. “We’re not going to be intimidated by that.”

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on April 14 met with Trump at the White House. U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) three days later sat down with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who the Trump-Vance administration wrongfully deported to El Salvador on March 15.

Abrego was sent to the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison known by the Spanish acronym CECOT. The Trump-Vance administration continues to defy a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ordered it to “facilitate” Abrego’s return to the U.S.

Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari in a letter they sent a letter to Duncan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday demanded “access to” Hernández, who they note “may be imprisoned at” CECOT. A State Department spokesperson referred the Blade to the Salvadoran government in response to questions about “detainees” in the country.

Garcia said the majority of those in CECOT who the White House deported to El Salvador do not have criminal records.

“They can say what they want, but if they’re not presenting evidence, if a judge isn’t sending people, and these people have their due process, I just don’t understand how we have a country without due process,” he told the Blade. “It’s just the bedrock of our democracy.”

Garcia said he and Frost, Dexter, and Ansari spoke with embassy staff, Salvadoran journalists and human rights activists and “anyone else who would listen” about Hernández. The California Democrat noted he and his colleagues also highlighted Abrego’s case.

“He (Hernández) was accepted for his asylum claim,” said Garcia. “He (Hernández) signed up for the asylum process on an app that we created for this very purpose, and then you get snatched up and taken to a foreign prison. It is unacceptable and inhumane and cruel and so it’s important that we elevate his story and his case.”

The Blade asked Garcia why the Trump-Vance administration is deporting people to El Salvador without due process.

“I honestly believe that he (Trump) is a master of dehumanizing people, and he wants to continue his horrendous campaign to dehumanize migrants and scare the American public and lie to the American public,” said Garcia.

The State Department spokesperson in response to the Blade’s request for comment referenced spokesperson Tammy Bruce’s comments about Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador.

“These Congressional representatives would be better off focused on their own districts,” said the spokesperson. “Instead, they are concerned about non-U.S. citizens.”

The 2025 Los Angeles Blade Best of LGBTQ LA Awards are here! You submitted your nominations—now it’s time to vote for the finalists. Voting is open through May 2, 2025.

Among some of your favorite categories are Best Drag Performer, Local Influencer of the Year, Best Happy Hour, Go-Go of the Year, Activist of the Year, Public Official of the Year, Best Musical Artist, Best Non-Profit, Best Bartender, Best DJ, Best Local Podcast, and so many more!

Winners will be revealed at the Best of LGBTQ LA celebration on Thursday, May 22 at The Abbey. Stay tuned for more party details coming soon!

Vote using the form below or by clicking HERE.

On Tuesday at 8 a.m., over 100 housing advocates from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), Housing Is A Human Right (HHR) and the Los Angeles office of the National Coalition for the Homeless, will join together for a national day of action to demand “Housing Now” for the homeless community nationwide.

Housing advocates will gather in front of City Hall to wrap the entire perimeter of City Hall in red tape. 

The ‘Stop the Red Tape Protest’ marks the first anniversary of when the Supreme Court of the United States ‘Grants Pass’ oral arguments. The Grants Pass decision in 2024 made it so that cities like Grants Pass and other ‘localities may impose criminal penalties for acts like public camping and public sleeping, without violating the Eighth Amendment — even if they lack sufficient available shelter space to accommodate their unhoused population.’

Since then, Grants Pass has been sued multiple times over ‘objectively unreasonable’ homeless ordinances that discriminate against people with disabilities. 

“Seven people die on the streets of Los Angeles every day. Delays in bringing permanent housing online immediately through adaptive reuse and new construction are unconscionable,” said Susie Shannon, Policy Director for Housing is a Human Right.  “The city response of breaking up encampments for the more than 45,000 people experiencing homelessness in the City of Los Angeles has led to individuals taking refuge in abandoned buildings and in places where services are scarce.”

A recent homeless count estimated that there around 45,000 homeless and unhoused Angelenos in the city. 

According to AHF, the city is far behind in approving building permits and the creation of new and affordable housing units. The red tape and other bureaucratic issues were further exacerbated by the recent fires that affected large swaths of the city.

Pope Francis died on Monday at his official residence at the Vatican. He was 88.

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the Vatican camerlengo, said Francis passed away at Casa Santa Marta at 7:35 a.m. local time (1:35 a.m. ET.)

“His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his church,” said Farrell. “He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the one and triune God.”

Francis, a Jesuit who was previously known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was born in Buenos Aires to Italian immigrant parents in 1936. He became archbishop of the Argentine capital in 1998.

Pope John Paul II in 2001 appointed him cardinal. The College of Cardinals in 2013 elected Francis to succeed Pope Benedict XVI after he resigned.

Francis vehemently opposed Argentina’s marriage equality law that then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed in 2010. Francis as pope backed civil unions for gays and lesbians and in 2023 said priests can bless same-sex couples.

Francis in 2023 said laws that criminalize homosexuality are “unjust.” He appointed Robert McElroy, an LGBTQ+-friendly cardinal from San Diego, as the new archbishop of Washington.

The pontiff in 2015 met with a group of gay, transgender, and HIV-positive prisoners in the Italian city of Naples. A Vatican charity in 2020 gave money to a group of trans sex workers in Italy who were struggling to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Francis last October met with a group of trans and intersex Catholics and LGBTQ+ allies at the Vatican. GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis and Juan Carlos Cruz, a gay Chilean man who is a clergy sex abuse survivor, are among those who also met with Francis during his papacy.

Church teachings on homosexuality and gender identity, however, did not change under his papacy.

“From the early months of his papacy when he uttered the now-iconic ‘Who am I to judge?’ in response to a question about accepting gay priests, through numerous affirming pastoral messages to individual LGBTQ+ people, to his support for civil unions, and his condemnation of criminalization laws, Pope Francis has changed the church irreversibly by allowing people to see how their Catholic faith requires acceptance and equality,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Mount Rainier, Md., based LGBTQ+ Catholic advocacy organization, in a statement.

DignityUSA Executive Director Marianne Duddy-Burke met Francis in 2023.

The group in a statement acknowledged the pontiff’s “legacy on LGBTQ+ issues is complicated,” noting “even with the recognition of so many positive words and actions, church teachings and even some recent Vatican documents remain problematic.” DignityUSA President Meli Barber nevertheless praised Francis.

“We also recognize that Pope Francis has raised awareness of LGBTQ+ issues in our church in truly unprecedented ways,” said Barber. “He spoke about us using our own terms and made a point of being seen meeting with LGBTQ+ people frequently. This sent a message of recognition and inclusion we never experienced from the Vatican before.”

Pope’s legacy is ‘mixed’

Activists in Argentina and around the world also mourned Francis.

“We mourn his death and embrace the people who are suffering today because of his passing,” LGBT Federation of Argentina President María Rachid told the Washington Blade.

Dindi Tan, national president of LGBT Pilipinas in the Philippines, on her Facebook page wrote Francis “was unafraid to challenge age-old dogmas and to ‘rattle’ the cage.” Pedro Julio Serrano, president of the Puerto Rico LGBTQ+ Federation, said Francis was an “ally of equity, humanity and dignity of LGBTQ+ people, not only during his pontificate, but throughout his life.”

Peter Tatchell, a long-time LGBTQ+ activist from the U.K. who is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, in a statement acknowledged Francis’s “more compassionate tone towards sexual minorities” that includes blessings for same-sex couples. Tatchell, nevertheless, pointed out the Vatican under Francis’s papacy continued to oppose marriage equality and trans rights.

“The Catholic Church remains a force for discrimination and suffering,” said Tatchell. “Under his leadership, the Vatican continued to oppose same-sex marriage and trans rights. Catholic bishops lobbied against the decriminalization of homosexuality in many parts of the world. The Vatican still upholds the homophobic edicts of the Catechism, which denounces the sexual expression of same-sex love as a ‘grave depravity’ and ‘intrinsically disordered.’ Francis’s legacy is, therefore, a mixed one — offering some progress but leaving deep-rooted inequalities largely intact.”

Vance met with Francis on Easter Sunday

Francis earlier this year spent more than a month in a Rome hospital after he developed double pneumonia.

He met with Vice President JD Vance at the Vatican on Easter Sunday, hours before his death.

The pope had previously criticized the Trump-Vance administration over its immigration policies.

“I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis,” said Vance on X after the Vatican announced Francis’s death. “My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him.”

I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him.

I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill. But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days…

— JD Vance (@JDVance) April 21, 2025

Argentine President Javier Milei, who previously criticized Francis, mourned him in a statement he posted to X. Milei also announced Argentina will observe seven days of mourning.

“It is with profound sorrow that I learned this sad morning that Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, passed away today and is now resting in peace,” said Milei. “Despite differences that seem minor today, having been able to know him in his goodness and wisdom was a true honor for me.”

“As president, as an Argentine, and, fundamentally, as a man of faith, I bid farewell to the Holy Father and stand with all of us who meet today with this sad news,” he added.

ADIÓS
Con profundo dolor me entero esta triste mañana que el Papa Francisco, Jorge Bergoglio, falleció hoy y ya se encuentra descansando en paz. A pesar de diferencias que hoy resultan menores, haber podido conocerlo en su bondad y sabiduría fue un verdadero honor para mí.… pic.twitter.com/3dPPFoNWBr

— Javier Milei (@JMilei) April 21, 2025