RICHMOND, Va. – A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled a group of Montgomery County parents cannot “opt out” their children from classes in which lessons or books on LGBTQ-related topics are taught.

The parents filed their lawsuit in May 2023.

An American Civil Liberties Union press release notes the lawsuit challenges Montgomery County Public Schools’ policy that “mandates the inclusion of literature with LGBTQ+ characters as part of the ELA (English and Language Arts) curriculum, aiming to promote understanding and acceptance among students.” 

“Although the district originally allowed parents to opt their children out of some ELA lessons, it rescinded the opt-out policy because the number of requests grew too difficult to manage, student absenteeism soared, and it created a stigmatizing environment for students who are LGBTQ or have LGBTQ family members, undermining the purpose of the inclusivity requirement,” said the ACLU.

U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ruled against the parents. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., upheld the decision.

“We’re talking about books like ‘Pride Puppy,’ which is light-hearted and affirming,” said ACLU of Maryland Legal Director Deborah Jeon in a press release. “During a time of intensifying calls to ban books and limit access to information about LGBTQ+ people and identities, this ruling in support of inclusion in education matters.”

By Piper Hutchinson | BATON ROUGUE, La. – Two anti-LGBTQ+ bills advanced Wednesday from the Louisiana Senate Committee on Education, putting them one step away from final legislative approval. 

The committee advanced House Bill 121 by Rep. Raymond Crews, R-Bossier City, which prohibits the use of transgender and nonbinary youth’s chosen names and pronouns in public K-12 schools without parental permission. 

House Bill 122 by Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haugton, which limits discussion of gender and sexuality in public K-12 schools, was also approved. 

Both bills were advanced without objection. Sen. Katrina Jackson-Andrews, D-Monroe, was the only Democrat present. 

The Legislature approved both bills last year. Then-Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, vetoed them, and Republicans were unable to overturn his action. Lance Maxwell, a legislative liaison for Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, attended the committee meeting in support of Crews’ and Horton’s bills. 

Wednesday’s emotional hearing marked the latest step for an advancing culture-war agenda, once held back under a Democratic governor. With the support of an ultra-conservative in the governor’s mansion, a slew of anti-LGBTQ+ proposals are rapidly advancing toward enactment. 

“I don’t know how y’all continue to hear things from us about our pain and our trauma, and just still pass bills,” Peyton Rose Michelle, executive director of Louisiana Trans Advocates, said. “I don’t know how y’all sit through these things, and you don’t break down.” 

Crews’ bill would require teachers and other school personnel to use a student’s given name and pronouns that align with their birth sex unless a student has permission from their parents to use their chosen name. The proposal has been promoted as a “parental rights” bill. 

“This bill is a grave violation of parental rights by prioritizing the moral objections of others over the fundamental rights of transgender students to be recognized by their chosen names, pronouns and identities,” SarahJane Guidry, executive director of LGBTQ+ rights group Forum For Equality said. “This legislation sets a dangerous and discriminatory precedent.” 

“This relentless focus on legislating the lives of a small, vulnerable population diverts precious time, money and energy away from addressing real educational issues,” Guidry added. 

Under Crews’ bill, teachers would be allowed to disregard a parent’s choice to respect their transgender or nonbinary child’s name and pronouns if they have religious opposition to doing so.

In an interview, Crews said that while his bill supports parental rights, parents should not be able to eclipse somebody else’s religious rights. 

His bill does not have an exception for those who have a religious opposition to deadnaming or misgendering students. Deadnaming is when someone uses a transgender or nonbinary person’s birth name or “dead name” against their wishes. Misgendering occurs when someone refers to an individual as a gender that they do not identify. 

While the bill would allow parents to request a classroom change if a teacher disregards their permission for their transgender or nonbinary child to use their name or pronouns, it does not require this change to take place. Advocates have argued such classroom changes may not be feasible in smaller schools. 

Jacob Newsom, an Ascension Parish public school teacher, said disregarding students’ names and pronouns would make them uncomfortable, which he believes would hamper the learning environment.

“How am I going to reach this child? How am I going to effectively teach this child?” Newsom said. 

“There is an undeniable correlation between feeling safe and secure and being able to learn,” Megan Sheehan-Dean, a child learning expert, later added. 

At the core of Crews’ proposal is his belief that parents have the right to know whether their children are transgender. Advocates for the LGBTQ+ community say the bill would force transgender youth to out themselves to their parents or else be deadnamed and misgendered at school. They have raised concerns about what happens when parents find out — and don’t approve.

A survey from the Trevor Project found 38% of transgender women, 39% of transgender men and 35% of nonbinary youth have experienced homelessness as a result of parental rejection. 

Horton’s bill is similar to a Florida law referred to by critics as a “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Her proposal is much broader and would apply to K-12 grades, whereas Florida’s law applies only to early grade students. 

Florida recently settled a lawsuit over the law filed by civil rights activists. As part of the agreement, students and teachers are permitted to discuss gender and sexuality as long as it is not part of classroom instruction. 

Horton said she didn’t believe teachers should discuss their “lifestyle choices” with students. 

“Having sexualized personal discussions between educators and students in our classrooms are not appropriate, and they can rob our children of their innocence while imposing suggested influence over their developing young minds,” Horton said. 

Horton’s bill would not just apply to classroom instruction. It also prohibits “covering the topics of sexual orientation or gender identity” during any extracurricular and athletics events, meaning it could potentially hinder student chapters of the Gay-Straight Alliance and other LGBTQ+ student organizations. 

When asked by committee Chair Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Central, Horton agreed that heterosexuality falls under “sexual orientation” and is also not appropriate for classroom discussion. 

The bills will next be discussed in the Senate.

******************************************************************************************

Piper Hutchinson is a reporter for the Louisiana Illuminator. She has covered the Legislature and state government extensively for the LSU Manship News Service and The Reveille, where she was named editor in chief for summer 2022.

******************************************************************************************

The preceding piece was previously published by the Louisiana Illuminator and is republished by permission.

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence.

Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and Twitter.

LOS ANGELES – Actor George Takei, wrestler Cassandro El Exotico and LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley will serve as grand marshals of the 2024 LA Pride Parade, LA Pride has announced.

The 2024 LA Pride Parade and block party is slated for Sunday, June 9, in Hollywood, and ABC7 is returning as the official broadcast and streaming partner.

According to KABC 7 the parade will have three grand marshals. Takei is designated the “Icon Grand Marshal.” As an actor he was most known for playing Hikaru Sulu in the original “Star Trek” series and films. But he is also an accomplished activist for social justice and LGBTQ+ causes.

“To be recognized in this way by the LGBTQ+ community, an extraordinary group of individuals who have fought tirelessly for equality, is truly overwhelming. As someone who has witnessed the struggles and triumphs of our community over the years, I am filled with gratitude for the progress we have made and inspired to continue the fight for full acceptance and equality for all,” Takei said in a statement.

Cassandro El Exotico is designated the “Legacy Grand Marshal.” Born Saul Armendariz, he is known as a Mexican professional wrestler known for breaking barriers in the world of lucha libre by embracing his openly gay identity in the ring. The film “Cassandro” about his life starring Gael Garcia Bernal was released last year.

Crowley will serve as the “Community Grand Marshal.” She was named Los Angeles Fire Department chief in March 2022, becoming the first woman and first openly gay person to hold the position.

ABC7 will broadcast the 54th annual LA Pride Parade on June 9 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The coverage will be hosted by Ellen Leyva and “Good Morning America” weekend co-anchor Gio Benitez, with David Gonzalez, Sophie Flay and Karl Schmid reporting from the parade route.

The parade route begins at Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue heading north, then east onto Hollywood Boulevard, then south onto Cahuenga Boulevard, ending at Sunset and Cahuenga boulevards.

After the parade, the LA Pride Block Party starts at 12 p.m. on Hollywood Boulevard.

Latin superstar Ricky Martin was previously announced as the headliner for the Pride in the Park festival the night before the parade, Saturday, June 8.

By Sam Stockard  | NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A challenge of Tennessee’s law dealing with the use of public school restrooms and locker rooms by transgender students remains alive after a federal judge declined to dismiss all claims against the state education department and Williamson County Schools.

U.S. District Court Judge William Campbell denied the state’s request in to dismiss the child’s claim of a violation of rights under the Equal Protection Clause. 

The judge, however, granted a request to dismiss the child’s claim that her Title IX rights were violated. The ruling notes that because the federal law allows schools to maintain separate restrooms for “the different sexes,” requiring the child to use the restroom based on her biological sex doesn’t violate Title IX.

The judge also dismissed the child’s request to correct all records to reflect her female gender.

Tennessee lawmakers have taken steps in recent years to prevent transgender athletes from playing sports based on their sexual identity. The Legislature enacted restrictions in 2023 on transgender medical treatment and this year adopted a bill preventing adults other than parents and guardians from taking children outside the state for transgender care.

The case against the Tennessee Department of Education and Williamson County Schools involves a 9-year-old transgender child who was male at birth but identifies as female, according to court filings. The child uses “she/her” pronouns and lives socially as a girl by wearing her hair long and dressing in a manner usually associated with girls. 

The complaint was brought by a friend and the child’s parents when the child was 8, claiming the Williamson County elementary school she attends requires her to use a single-occupancy restroom, not the multi-use girls’ restroom.

The child claims the school’s “insistence” that she use a separate restroom “isolates her and distinguishes her from her classmates and exacerbates the stress and anxiety she experiences while trying to fit in and avoid being stigmatized on the basis of her sex and gender identity.” The child also claims the restroom designated for her has problems with distance from her class, safety and cleanliness.

The Tennessee Legislature passed the Tennessee Accommodations for All Children Act in May 2021, requiring public schools to provide a “reasonable accommodation” to students, teachers and employees who want “greater privacy when using a multi-occupancy restroom or changing facility designated for [their] sex and located within a public school building.” 

“Reasonable accommodations” include single-occupancy restrooms or changing facilities or use of an employee restroom or changing facility.

The “reasonable accommodations” don’t include restrooms or changing areas designated for use by members of the opposite sex while the opposite sex is present or could be present. They also don’t require remodeling or structurally changing a school facility, or limiting access to a restroom or changing room designated for use by members of the opposite sex if that creates a violation or state or local building codes.

The new state law defines sex as “a person’s immutable biological sex as determined by anatomy and genetics existing at the time of birth.” It also provides students, parents, guardians, teachers and employees the right to sue public school systems for “psychological, emotional, and physical harm,” including monetary damages, legal fees and costs if they “encounter a member of the opposite sex in a multi-occupancy restroom or changing facility located in a public school building … [and] the public school intentionally allowed a member of the opposite sex [defined as sex at birth] to enter the multi-occupancy restroom or changing facility while other persons were present.”

Campbell denied the child’s request for an injunction against the school district to stop it from enforcing the state law.

Yet the judge opted not to dismiss the child’s claims under the Equal Protection Clause, which prohibits a state from “denying to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” and prevents government discrimination that “either burdens a fundamental right, targets a suspect class or intentionally treats one differently than others similarly situated without any rational basis for the difference.”

The judge’s ruling points out that classifications by the government based on sex are recognized as “a quasi-suspect classification subject to intermediate scrutiny.”

******************************************************************************************

Sam Stockard is a veteran Tennessee reporter and editor, having written for the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, where he served as lead editor when the paper won an award for being the state’s best Sunday newspaper two years in a row. He has led the Capitol Hill bureau for The Daily Memphian. His awards include Best Single Editorial and Best Single Feature from the Tennessee Press Association.

******************************************************************************************

The preceding article was previously published by the Tennessee Lookout and is republished with permission.

Now more than ever, tough and fair journalism is important. The Tennessee Lookout is your watchdog, telling the stories of politics and policy that affect the people of the Volunteer State.

We’re part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

DOWNEY, Calif. – After a tense back and forth between city council members during Tuesday night’s regular meeting, notably between the city’s Out LGBTQ+ Mayor and Councilmember Claudia Frometa, the council voted 3-2 to implement a ‘neutral’ flag policy agenda item brought forward for a vote by Mayor Pro Tem Hector Sosa.

During the discussion, Mayor Mario Trujillo noted that the proposed agenda item had been lobbied for by a select few residents at the behest of a California chapter of Boston, Massachusetts-based anti-LGBTQ+ group MassResistance. The mayor in his remarks prior to the council’s vote framed the agenda item as an attack on the LGBTQ+ community.

The group is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for lies and propaganda and according to the SPLC, one of the most active chapters has been in California, run by perpetual right-wing activist Arthur Schaper, a columnist for TownHall.com and freelance writer based in Torrance, California.

Years long effort to ban the flag

In July of 2021, The LA Wave media outlet reported that Sandi Padilla, the Downey chapter leader of MassResistance said her chapter planned protests on the Pride flag and possibly other LGBTQ+ related issues at future City Council meetings. In June of 2021, the city council had voted to fly the LGBTQ+ Pride flag every June.

“We will definitely continue,” Padilla told LA Wave reporter Arnold Adler. “We won’t stop now. We elected the council members. We are their constituents. They should listen to our voices.”

Padilla said she has lived in Downey for eight years. Members of her chapter say City Council members went against the will of the majority of city residents when they approved flying the Gay Pride flag at the June 22. 2021 City Council meeting. The vote in favor of flying the flag was 4-1 vote, with then-Mayor Claudia Frometa dissenting.

The Downey City Clerk’s office told the LA Wave eight of 14 speakers opposed the Pride flag at the June 22, 2021 meeting and eight emails on the subject were all in opposition to the flag.

The Downey Patriot Newspaper reported on April 11, 2024 Mayor Pro Tempore Sosa asked city staff to “agendize a conversation” on the subject of a neutral flag policy, and what litigation the city could potentially expose itself to in the absence of adopting one. A neutral flag policy would ban the flying of nongovernmental flags on city buildings.

Currently the city of flies four flags – the American, California, city and MIA-POW flags – year-round.

During the public comment, Ari Ruiz, District Director for Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco, a former mayor of Downey delivered a message from Assemblymember Pacheco:

“Good evening Mayor Trujillo, Mayor Pro Tem Sosa, and Councilmembers Frometa, Pemberton, and Ortiz.

Due to the legislative calendar, I am unable to attend tonight’s Downey City Council meeting, where you will be voting to adopt a new Flag Policy. Therefore, I have asked my District Director to deliver brief remarks on my behalf and communicate my opposition to the proposed Neutral Flag Policy, which does not allow for freedom of expression. 

A pre-existing policy addresses this matter, affirming that if the City Council approves the display of the PRIDE flag or any other flag designated as a ‘commemorative flag,’ the flag  is recognized as an official form of government speech, which is permitted. For instance, if the City Council authorizes the display of the PRIDE flag, the display can be no longer than 30 days.

The U.S. Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” However, for some people, equality is not so evident, particularly when concerning who we love. 

During my tenure as a public servant, which has included serving the people of Downey as their Mayor and Councilmember, and now as their Assemblywoman, my goal always has been to ensure that all constituents are treated with respect and dignity. I believe that the current policy champions equality and inclusivity, mirroring the diverse community of Downey and extending a warm welcome to the LGBTQ+ community.

Thank you,  Assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco”

On Wednesday in a statement after Tuesday’s vote, Assemblymember Pacheco told the Blade:

“As someone who has always believed in the importance of inclusion and representation, it’s disheartening to see the Downey City Council adopt a neutral flag policy. When I served as mayor pro tem, we took a step forward in recognizing and celebrating the diversity of our community by flying the pride flag. While I respect differing opinions, I believe that embracing diversity strengthens our community and fosters a sense of belonging for all residents. I remain committed to promoting equality and acceptance in Downey and elsewhere.”

In a heated rebuke of the mayor’s remarks saying that the vote to ban the Pride flag was an attack on LGBTQ+ Downey residents, Councilmember Fromenta disagreed strongly saying that this was an issue of not showing favoritism or political endorsement of a group of people versus maintaining a neutral and appropriate acknowledgment of the nation, the state and city’s unity based on the whole of the city’s residents.

The Los Angeles County LGBTQ+ Elected Officials (LACLEO) association, in response to the City Council of Downey’s vote to ban the LGBTQ+ Pride flag, expressed its “profound disappointment,” in the decision.

LACLEO President and Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang told the Blade in a statement: “This is a flag that symbolizes hope, freedom and unity. As an association representing over 50 LGBTQ+ elected officials, we are deeply disappointed but also incredibly surprised. Downey hosted the first pride celebration of any city in southeast Los Angeles County, flying the Pride flag proudly.”

The council vote was even more surprising given the fact that Mayor Mario Trujillo and Councilmember Horacio Ortiz are out-LGBTQ+ officials and who both voted against the measure LACLEO told the Blade.

“It just doesn’t make any sense for the leaders of a community that has been supportive of their LGBTQ+ constituents in the past to now adopt what appears to be a mean-spirited measure. At a time when we need to come together as a society more than ever, this can only serve to create division and discord where there was none,” Prang added.

LACLEO member, City of Downey Mayor Trujillo reiterating a portion of his remarks from Tuesday’s council meeting prior to the vote noted: “The flag has particular poignance for LGBTQ+ youth – it sends a message that this is a safe space and that you are welcome. Suicide is at epidemic levels and we should be doing all we can to be welcoming.”

 “We must work to discover solutions that expand inclusivity and that acknowledge the diversity that enriches the places we all call home”, said LACLEO Vice President Ed Reece, who also serves as LA County LGBTQ+ Commissioner and Claremont City Councilmember.

By Rachel Mipro | TOPEKA, Kan. —  Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announced Tuesday he has sued President Joe Biden’s administration over the rewrite of federal rules to protect LGBTQ+ students.

Alaska, Utah and Wyoming partnered with Kansas on the lawsuit, which follows the U.S. Department of Education’s release in April of new guidelines to prohibit discrimination at federally funded schools.

Set to go into effect Aug. 1, the revised Title IX rules explicitly ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Under the revision, LGBTQ+ students who face discrimination will be entitled to a response from their school and can seek action from the federal government.

Kobach said the change would violate the First Amendment rights of teachers and school employees whose religious beliefs would prevent them from complying with the rule.

“It’s insanity,” Kobach said. “Biden’s Title IX rule is unconscionable. It’s dangerous to girls and women, and it’s against federal law.”

Explaining the 85-page lawsuit in a news conference Tuesday, Kobach focused on his assertion that transgender athletes shouldn’t participate in women’s sports. In 2023, Kansas lawmakers passed a ban prohibiting transgender student athletes from participating in girls and women’s sports. The state law could conflict with the new federal rules, although the federal revision doesn’t explicitly address transgender athletes.

“I can certainly tell you that if any of my girls are competing in sports against boys, that is going to make me very unhappy,” Kobach said.

The issue is whether cisgender and transgender girls should play together. When asked about his use of the term “boys” to describe transgender girls and women, and if he respected the transgender identity, Kobach said people had a right to change their appearance and presentation, but “the bottom line is that they can’t change the structure and other advantages that males gain.”

“Anyone who observes sports and observes the competition by these biological males in female sports has seen the obvious unfairness of it,” Kobach said. “The idea that someone should be punished or should be canceled by simply speaking what they have observed is really disturbing. It’s Orwellian if someone is canceled or punished simply for saying what they believe.”

Melissa Stiehler, advocacy director at Loud Light, a Kansas-based organization focused on LGBTQ+ rights and social issues, questioned Kobach’s motives.

“During his career, Mr. Kobach’s actions and legal theories have yet to show that he has the best interest of women and our legal protections at heart,” Stiehler said. “In fact, Kobach has actively sought to take away constitutional rights from Kansas women. With the experience of facing adversity as a woman, I fully encourage the AG to accept that transgender kids deserve protection from sex-based discrimination just as I received as a girl going through public school.  Protection for trans kids doesn’t nullify any gains women and girls have made in our strides towards realizing equity.”

Kobach is part of a wave of attorney generals in red states that have scrambled to challenge the ruling since the publication of the revised guidelines. Legal counsel from Alliance Defending Freedom joined Kobach in the news conference. ADF is known for promoting anti-LGBTQ+ policies.

Civil rights advocates oppose the legal challenges to anti-discrimination rules.

“Kobach is claiming that he is standing up for girls and women,” said Micah Kubic, executive director of the Kansas branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. “But what he is really doing is continuing his decades-long crusade against our shared values and fundamental rights, using his misleading legal interpretations to try to transform the law into a tool that persecutes Kansans instead of protecting them.”

Reporters asked Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly about Kobach’s lawsuit after an unrelated news conference Tuesday.

“I wish that we would focus on issues that really make a difference in Kansans’ lives,” Kelly said. “I would suggest that that makes a difference in very few people’s lives, and not in a good way.”

Kobach’s lawsuit marks the latest stand in a series of anti-trans movements. Lawmakers passed a law in 2023 that bans gender marker changes on drivers’ licenses and birth certificates.

In this legislative session, lawmakers revived an effort to block teenagers from receiving gender-affirming care, such as hormones and puberty blockers. Senate Bill 233 also would have banned state employees from supporting “social transitioning,” which was defined to include the use of preferred pronouns. A Republican-driven effort to override Kelly’s veto narrowly failed in the House.

******************************************************************************************

A graduate of Louisiana State University, Rachel Mipro has covered state government in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. She and her fellow team of journalists were 2022 Goldsmith Prize Semi-Finalists for their work featuring the rise of the KKK in northern Louisiana, following racially-motivated shootings in 1960. With her move to the Midwest, Rachel is now turning her focus toward issues within Kansas public policies.

******************************************************************************************

The preceding article was previously published by the Kansas Reflector and is republished with permission.

Kansas Reflector is a nonprofit news operation providing in-depth reporting, diverse opinions and daily coverage of state government and politics. This public service is free to readers and other news outlets.

We’re part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers was on assignment in Berlin from April 12-15.

BERLIN — A gay Ukrainian man with HIV who fled his war-torn country more than two years ago remains in Berlin.

Dmytro Shapoval first spoke with the Washington Blade in July 2022.

He was working at an IT company’s call center and studying web and UX design in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, when Russia launched its war against his country on Feb. 24, 2022. Shapoval less than a month later swam across a river with his cat Peach and entered Poland.

He arrived in the German capital on March 19, 2022.

“I feel very secure here,” said Shapoval when he first spoke with the Blade on July 22, 2022, during a reception that took place at the end of a two-day meeting with European activists the Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration organized.

Shapoval again spoke with the Blade on April 15 while he was at ORAM’s offices near Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz.

He said he was sleeping on a mattress on the kitchen floor of a Ukrainian friend’s apartment in Berlin’s Wedding neighborhood, while looking for a more permanent place to live. 

Shapoval had just finished an IT course at a private university, but told the Blade he “was not in that headspace to study” because of the depression from which he said he suffers. Shapoval also told the Blade the German government has postponed his residency permit for a year.

“It’s challenging,” he said.

Germany has granted temporary protection to nearly 1 million Ukrainians

The German government has granted temporary protection to more than 900,000 Ukrainians since the war began. (The U.N. Refugee Agency says there are 2.2 million refugees in Germany.)

Ukrainians are able to enter Germany without a visa.

The German government offers those who have registered for residency a “basic income” that helps them pay for housing, food and other basic needs. Ukrainian refugees can also access health care, language classes, job training programs and childcare. 

Shapoval and other single Ukrainian refugees receive €563 ($609.30) a month through the program.

Shapoval told the Blade it is difficult for him to find a job because his legal status remains uncertain. He also complained about German bureaucracy, which he described as “such a hell here.”

Shapoval’s mother remains in Dnipro, a city on the Dnipro River that is roughly 300 miles southeast of Kyiv.

He said the first year of the war was “pretty quiet” in Dnipro because it is not as big as Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa and other Ukrainian cities. Shapoval said the situation in Dnipro changed last fall.

Shapoval told the Blade a Russian missile hit a nine-story civilian building in the city.

“I had the worst day of my life because I knew that my mom was going to Dnipro,” he said.

Shapoval said the building the missile hit struck was close to his grandmother’s home.

“I was so horrified,” he told the Blade. “I was trying to call her to get in touch. She was not answering at all.”

Shapoval said his grandmother called him several hours after the attack. She told him the missile strike damaged the city’s communications infrastructure.

“It’s pretty horrible,” said Shapoval.

Shapoval spoke with the Blade hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a controversial conscription law that seeks to replenish the country’s military. Zelensky last month also enacted a statute that lowers the minimum draft age from 27 to 25.

Shapoval said he does not want to go into the military, and has thoughts that he would die in the war. Shapoval also told the Blade he does not watch news reports about Ukraine because they exacerbate his depression.

“Just seeing these buildings destroyed and sometimes (at night when) people are sleeping there, or also (seeing) news about kids being stolen into Russia and then brainwashed there in these camps … is really bad,” he said.

‘You’re a white refugee, so everything’s fine’

Shapoval noted support for Ukrainian refugees in Germany has begun to wane.

He recalled a conversation he had at a queer bookstore in Berlin’s Kreuzberg neighborhood during which someone who he described as German asked him what its like to be a refugee.

“Without even letting me answer without any space, he’s like, ‘Oh, but you’re a white refugee, so everything’s fine,'” recalled Shapoval.

Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, launched a surprise attack against Israel. 

Shapoval said the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip has pushed the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and the plight of Ukrainian refugees out of the headlines. He also recalled an exchange he had with a Syrian woman with whom he had become friends in Berlin after Oct. 7.

Shapoval said she wrote in an Instagram post that “one or two years of war in Ukraine, this amount of kids died and two months of war in Palestine, this amount of kids died.”

“I’m like, what the fuck is that?” he recalled. “It’s not a competition of dead babies.”

“The fact you put two in comparison already makes one side less valuable and one side more valuable, but it’s also different pain,” added Shapoval. “I know that it is also horrible there … it seems like people are not understanding that.”

Shapoval said he reached out to her and tried to explain his perspective.

“It’s a bit hard right now,” he told the Blade.  

LONG BEACH, Calif. – The city of Long Beach kicked off its Pride week and month activities Tuesday with a ceremonial flag raising in the Civic Center Plaza in downtown. With City Manager Tom Modica, Fifth District Councilwoman Megan Kerr, Parks and Recreation Director Brent Dennis and Ninth District Councilwoman Dr. Joni Ricks-Oddie looking on, Mayor Rex Richardson hoisted a Progress Pride flag on a city-owned flag pole.

“Long Beach is a city of acceptance, and we proudly celebrate diversity and inclusivity across our entire community,” said Mayor Richardson. “It is our duty to take a moment of pause to celebrate the raising of the Progress Pride flag to reflect the visibility, contributions, and resilience Long Beach’s vibrant LGBTQ+ community.

In June 2023, the Long Beach City Council adopted a resolution recognizing the week of Long Beach’s annual Pride Festival and Pride Parade, taking place this year over the weekend of May 18-19, as Long Beach LGBTQ+ Pride Week and directing to annually raise the LGBTQ+ Progress Pride Flag at Long Beach Civic Center Plaza and light City assets during that time. The resolution additionally recognizes May 22 annually as “Harvey Milk Day” in honor of his birthday and recognizes the month of June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month. The recommendation to adopt a resolution was brought forward by Fifth District Councilwoman Megan Kerr and approved by the City Council.

“This symbolic gesture demonstrates the City’s commitment to supporting and uplifting the LGBTQ+ community now and into the future,” said Fifth District Councilwoman Megan Kerr. “I commend our City Council, City leadership and City staff for their dedication to equality and diversity.”

Today we held our flag 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ raising ceremony to celebrate the start of #LongBeachPride! Learn more about our flag raising ceremony here 🔗 https://t.co/PwRUntFJQI pic.twitter.com/G6Vx1LzUd4

— City of Long Beach (@LongBeachCity) May 14, 2024

We are LIVE at our flag raising ceremony to celebrate the start of #LongBeachPride! https://t.co/MR7gkxA3YY

— City of Long Beach (@LongBeachCity) May 14, 2024

Long Beach Pride is kicking off Pride season this weekend, May 18-19, 2024

The 41st Annual Long Beach Pride Parade is kicking off on Sunday, at 10 a.m. Audiences can tune-in to special coverage on parade day on nbcla.com, telemundo52.com, on the free NBCLA and Telemundo 52 mobile apps and on the stations’ free 24/7 local news streaming channels NBC Los Angeles News, Telemundo Noticias California.

Led by an esteemed lineup of grand marshals, the 2024 Long Beach Pride Parade will feature over 130 participating organizations, businesses and stakeholder groups showcasing a variety of vibrant and engaging floats and displays. The parade will commence at Ocean Boulevard and Lindero Avenue then travel along iconic stretches of Ocean Boulevard to Alamitos Avenue in Downtown.

IVY Queen, the Queen of Reggaeton, will headline the Sunday lineup of the 41st annual Long Beach Pride Festival, scheduled for May 19th, 2024.

Tickets Now Available: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/41st-annual-long-beach-pride-festival-tickets-816143115027

General tickets for the Long Beach Pride Festival are now on sale, starting at $40. These tickets grant festival-goers access to a weekend of exuberant celebration, stellar performances, and a welcoming community environment.

Earlier this year, the City of Long Beach announced it will serve as the official host and funder for the 2024 Long Beach Pride Parade while Long Beach Pride, the nonprofit that traditionally produces the parade, restructures its organization. This year’s parade will coincide with the Long Beach Pride Festival, taking place Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19 along the Downtown waterfront. The festival is a separate event organized by the Long Beach Pride organization. More information about the festival will be available at longbeachpride.com/festival.

More information about the 2024 Long Beach Pride Parade is available at longbeach.gov/prideparade.

The City of Long Beach

Long Beach is nestled along the Southern California coast and home to approximately 466,000 people. As an award-winning full-service charter city, Long Beach offers the amenities of a metropolitan city while maintaining a strong sense of individual and diverse neighborhoods, culture and community. With a bustling downtown and over six miles of scenic beaches, Long Beach is a renowned tourist and business destination and home to the iconic Queen Mary, nationally recognized Aquarium of the Pacific and Long Beach Airport, award-winning Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center and world-class Port of Long Beach.

By Jemma Stephenson  | MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A bill that would have expanded Alabama’s “Don’t Say Gay” law died on the final day of the 2024 regular session.

HB 130, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would have extended Alabama’s prohibition on discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten to fifth grade to kindergarten to eighth grade. It also would have banned  flags or other insignia indicating gender identity or sexual orientation.

Butler said in a Friday phone interview that he didn’t know what the issues were in the final days of the session but said there was a filibuster in the Senate “which is not uncommon.” 

The legislation was the latest in a years-long attempt by Alabama Republicans to push LGBTQ+ Alabamians out of public life and in some cases restrict their health care. In 2021, the Legislature passed a ban on transgender students playing high school sports and the original “Don’t Say Gay” law, tacked into a bill restricting bathroom use by transgender youth.  

The following year, the Legislature banned puberty blockers and hormones for use in gender-affirming care for transgender youth. The Legislature last year expanded the transgender sports ban to college athletics. 

Katie Glenn, a policy associate with Southern Poverty Law Center, which opposed the bill, said in a phone interview Friday that it could have had a chilling effect which, she said, was emerging in some areas of the state.

“That chilling effect is absolutely what is intended by bills like HB 130,” she said. “it’s not actually to punish people, although it can be used to do that. It’s to scare people, to scare administrators, staff, teachers and students into hiding who they are while they’re at school.”

Butler also said he was not sure why the bill began moving again near the end of the session but said that bills “deemed a little controversial” are sometimes pushed back due to the amount they can take to pass.

“They shut down the House and the Senate,” he said.

But Butler said he would bring the bill back next year. He said that he has not met any parents who want the topics discussed in schools and claimed that “there is a move across this nation to sexualize our children.”

“Our schools in Alabama aren’t performing well enough to be going away from academics,” he said.

Legislative questions

The bill passed the House in late April and was in position for a final vote in the Senate. But Democrats repeatedly criticized the measure, and even some conservative Republicans had questions about its scope.

As originally filed, the bill would have extended the ban up to 12th grade. Butler described it in a House committee meeting as a measure to “purify” public schools, a statement he walked back after criticism from Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile. Drummond later amended the bill on the House floor to limit the grades to eighth grade.

In the Senate committee, senators had questions about the extent of the bill and potential constitutional violations, especially around the flag and insignia. One speaker suggested the bill was broad enough that it would ban rainbow stickers in parking lots. Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, said he was “confused” after Butler said that parking lots were not part of school property. “The property is not the parking lot?” he asked.

“Well, we’re talking about the actual building,” said Butler.

The bill passed out of committee 5-2-2.

Butler said Friday that that concern is “ridiculous” and one of the committee members might have been having fun. He compared it to teachers being allowed to have political bumper stickers but not political signs in classrooms.

Glenn said the confusion could have contributed to the bill’s demise.

“There were lots of questions from legislators on both sides of the aisle,” she said.  

She said the vague language bill does make it unclear what the impact of the bill would ultimately be.

Glenn said the bill eventually suffered from organizing from people in the state, as well as the work of Democratic lawmakers, especially in filibustering.

Carmarion D. Anderson-Harvey, Human Rights Campaign’s Alabama state director, said in a statement Friday that Alabama lawmakers should spend their time on other issues, saying that LGBTQ+ Alabamians would continue fighting “despite years of dehumanizing rhetoric and relentless attacks on our community’s existence.”

“Most Americans, in addition to Alabamians, see these bills for what they really are – disgraceful, MAGA-led attempts to recycle false and outdated tropes about LGBTQ+ identities,” the statement said. “Alabama has real issues facing education, voting rights, and criminal justice reform, and now it’s time that lawmakers turn their attention to those issues instead of wasting taxpayers’ money to demonize an entire community.”

“Don’t Say Gay” laws had spread around conservative states, though they have also brought litigation Florida, which passed a version of the bill in 2022, settled a lawsuit over it in March, according to the Associated Press.

******************************************************************************************

Jemma Stephenson covers education as a reporter for the Alabama Reflector. She previously worked at the Montgomery Advertiser and graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

******************************************************************************************

The preceding article was previously published by the Alabama Reflector and is republished with permission.

The Alabama Reflector is an independent, nonprofit news outlet dedicated to covering state government and politics in the state of Alabama. Through daily coverage and investigative journalism, The Reflector covers decision makers in Montgomery; the issues affecting Alabamians, and potential ways to move our state forward.

We’re part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

By John Cole | HARRISBURG, Penn. – Later this month, Pennsylvania will mark 10 years since a judge struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. But lawmakers and advocates say there’s still work to be done, and that it’s time to codify marriage equality protections into law. 

“Too often we have seen long held rights and freedoms vanish in the blink of an eye,” state Sen. Carolyn Comitta (D-Chester) said at a press conference last Tuesday at the Capitol in Harrisburg, alongside fellow members of the Pennsylvania LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus. “The fact is, we cannot rely solely on the courts to fix the failings of our laws. There is just too much at stake.”

“We have the power to affirm this right,” she added. “And we must continue to advance equality for same sex couples, and all LGBTQ+ individuals in Pennsylvania.”

In May 2014, a federal judge ruled that Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. In June 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ended same-sex marriage bans nationwide.

Comitta and state Reps. Jessica Benham (D-Allegheny) and Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia) have legislation currently before the House Judiciary Committee that would update current laws to remove “outdated, unconstitutional, and unnecessary sections of law,” in regards to marriage equality. They argue that this language still  present in Pennsylvania’s laws would ban same-sex marriage if both the state and national court decisions were overturned.

Ryan Matthews, Pennsylvania State Director of the Human Rights Campaign, cited a Public Religion Research Institute poll that found 66% of Pennsylvanians support codifying marriage equality into law. He said it was time for Pennsylvania’s legislature to follow the lead of President Joe Biden, who signed the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022.

“So when our allies stand up and introduce important legislation like this, we are here to thank them, but we’re also here to say to all of the other legislators that ask why is this an important step, to show that it is because of basic respect for us and our community that we need to be recognized and protected in law,” Matthews said.

Benham, who was the first openly queer woman elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, said legislation needs to go further in protecting marriage equality rights. 

“But I do think it is important, too, when we talk about marriage equality being the law of the land to recognize that there is a group of people who still do not have full access to marriage rights,” Benham said. “Until individuals with disabilities can get married without losing their Social Security, disability or health care benefits, marriage equality is not a law of the land for all.”

******************************************************************************************

John Cole is a journalist based in Philadelphia. He’s worked for various outlets such as The Northeast Times, PoliticsPA, and PCN. In these previous roles, he covered a wide range of topics from local civic association meetings to races across the commonwealth. He earned a degree in journalism from Temple University.

******************************************************************************************

The preceding article was previously published by the Pennsylvania Capital-Star and is republished with permission.

The Pennsylvania Capital-Star is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site dedicated to honest and aggressive coverage of state government, politics and policy.

We’re part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.