New York's highest court has designated Associate Judge Anthony Cannataro to serve as acting chief judge after Janet DiFiore steps down, Gay City News reported. Cannataro, the former administrative judge of New York City's civil court, has been a member of the state's Court of Appeals since June 2021. As acting chief judge, Cannataro will have a dual role: leading the seven-member high court and overseeing the operation of the entire state court system. He will remain in charge in an interim capacity until a new chief judge is nominated by Gov. Kathy Hochul and confirmed by the state Senate. Cannataro, who lives with his husband in Westchester County, has served on several court and bar association committees.
In New Mexico, a fundraiser organized by a Farmington LGBTQ+ organization that was scheduled to be held at an Aztec brewery was canceled after the owners of the business reportedly received threats, the Farmington Daily Times reported. Nicole Hall—board president of Identity Inc., the Farmington-based nonprofit that was organizing the fundraiser—said she received a call from one of the owners of the 550 Brewing Taproom explaining that the business had received several threats from people apparently upset about the all-ages event including a drag show. The Back to School Bash planned by Identity Inc. at the brewery was intended to raise cash and draw donations of school supplies for children and teachers, according to a flyer for the event posted on the organization's Facebook page.
LGBTQ Victory Fund—the only national organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ+ leaders to public office—endorsed 46 more out candidates, a press release noted. Victory Fund has now endorsed 381 candidates running in the 2022 midterms, including Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride, who, in 2020, became the first trans state senator in U.S. history. Candidates given Spotlight status include Celia Israel, who is running for mayor of Austin, Texas; Ally Layman, who is running for the West Virginia House of Delegates; Mary Moriarty, who is running for Hennepin County attorney; and Omar Torres, who is running for San Jose City Council (District 3).
The Victory Fund also commented on the Aug. 23 Democratic primary loss of out LGBTQ U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones. (Jones—who was in a new area due to redistricting—lost to former impeachment lawyer Dan Goldman, Axios noted.) LGBTQ Victory Fund President & CEO Mayor Annise Parker said, "The result in Mondaire's race is deeply sad for the LGBTQ community. We've lost a fierce advocate and LGBTQ pioneer in Congress who used every ounce of his political power to fight for a more equitable and fair America." In 2020, Jones and Ritchie Torres made history as the first out Black LGBTQ+ members of Congress ever elected.
The National AIDS Memorial is bringing sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to communities throughout the South to highlight and honor Black and Brown lives lost to HIV/AIDS as part of "Change the Pattern," a new initiative to reimagine the response to the epidemic in the region, a press release noted. Partnering with the Southern AIDS Coalition, the multi-city initiative will address opportunities to take action and support communities in the fight to end the epidemic in the region. More details and information can be found at www.changethepattern.org .
The personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on 2022's Best & Worst States for Women's Equality, as well as accompanying videos and expert commentary, per a press release. New Mexico was rated number one, with Nevada, California, New York and Vermont completing the top five; the worst was Utah, followed by Georgia, Idaho, Oklahoma and South Carolina. Another result found that in every state, women earn less than men. Visit wallethub.com/edu/best-and-worst-states-for-women-equality/5835 for more info.
In July in Virginia, a Fairfax County police officer shot and killed a transgender man who family members say was having a mental health crisis inside the family home where he lived, The Washington Blade reported. The shooting happened after the man, identified as Jasper Aaron Lynch, 26, lunged at three officers while wielding a wine bottle as a weapon and refused the officers' commands to drop the bottle, according to a police statement. Lynch's parents released their own statement saying the use of deadly force was unnecessary and that the officers should have handled the incident "far differently."
Florida Medicaid is ending coverage of gender-dysphoria treatment, leaving Floridians in limbo about how they'll afford treatment on their own, the Palm Beach Post reported. "It's targeting the poorest folks in our state who have the least access to resources," said Simone Chriss, director of the Transgender Rights Initiative at Southern Legal Counsel, a nonprofit public interest law firm. "It's incredibly insidious." A spokesman for the Agency for Health Care Administration, which oversees Florida's Medicaid program, said the agency is "prepared to defend the integrity of our well-established rule-making process."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom's veto of Senate Bill 57 sparked anger from supporters of the legislation that would have created safe consumption sites on a pilot basis in San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles, according to The Bay Area Reporter. Gay state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) has been trying for years to get the legislation signed. Safe consumption sites allow people to enter a facility and use their own drugs under the supervision of staff, thus helping prevent overdose deaths. Harm-reduction advocates praise the programs as helping to stem transmission of HIV as well as hepatitis B and C because the sites provide sterile needles.
The erosion of abortion access in the United States accelerated with four more state trigger laws taking effect in Idaho, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas, POLITICO noted. While three of those states had significant restrictions on the procedure already in place, the new laws carry narrower exemptions and harsher criminal penalties. In Texas, which has banned all abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy for nearly a year, abortion providers now risk a life sentence for performing an abortion at any time during pregnancy, unless the pregnant person's life is in danger. On Aug. 25, a U.S. district court granted a Biden Administration request by temporarily blocking Idaho's ban on abortion in situations where the ban conflicts with federal standards for emergency care, CNN reported.
In Nebraska, the new gender-identity policies for Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Omaha are being met by resistance in some schools, where they're being criticized as "anti-Catholic" and "closed-minded, the Omaha World-Herald reported. However, some Nebraskans are cheering the archdiocese for telling its 70 schools to conform to church teaching on gender identity. The policies cover the use of pronouns, dress codes and participation in sports, saying those should be determined by biological sex at birth. They also ban "gender-affirming psychotherapy," use of hormone medications or surgery that runs counter to Catholic tenets on human sexuality.
Also in Nebraska, administrators at a Grand Island school shuttered its award-winning student newspaper just days after a last edition that included articles and editorials on LGBTQ+ issues, leading advocates of press freedom to call the move an act of censorship, the L.A. Times noted. The staff of Northwest Public Schools' 54-year-old Saga newspaper was informed May 19 of the paper's elimination, the Grand Island Independent reported. Three days earlier, the newspaper had printed its June edition, which included an article titled, "Pride and prejudice: LGBTQIA+" on the origins of Pride Month and the history of homophobia. Officials overseeing the district, based in Grand Island, have not commented on the decision to eliminate the student paper.
The LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance unveiled its second-annual LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance Top Producers list that honors 325 individual member agents and teams—an increase of 20% over the last year's inaugural list, per a press release. RealTrends created the report in concert with The Alliance as the real-estate industry's only recognition of top producing LGBTQA+ agents. Shirley Gary of Engel & Volkers Buckhead Atlanta again led all Alliance individual agent members with 574.4 transaction sides in 2021. The EZ Sales Team with Keller Williams Citywide in Westlake, Ohio, headed by Michael Zinicola, led all Alliance teams with $382.6 million in sales volume and 1,438.4 transaction sides in 2021 (topping both categories). For more, visit realestatealliance.org/ .
The statewide coalition working to advance LGBTQ health equity announced a new California LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network director after previous director Amanda McAllister-Wallner stepped down on July 31, The Pride LA noted. Dannie Cesena, the former transgender health equity manager, has taken on the new role. During McAllister-Wallner's six-year tenure, she supported several efforts, including the establishment of the Gender Health Equity Unit at the California Department of Public Health, the collection of sexual orientation and gender identity data during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the prioritization of funding for LGBTQ communities impacted by the war on drugs.
New York City has seen a significant decline in its daily monkeypox case count in recent weeks, but health officials said vaccination disparities remain a cause for concern, Spectrum News reported. More than 29,000 white New Yorkers had received monkeypox vaccines as of Aug. 18, compared to 14,769 Hispanic New Yorkers, 7,574 Black New Yorkers and 6,472 Asian or Pacific Islanders, data show. The United States still has a limited supply of Jynneos vaccine doses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website says. New York City, for its part, has "more than double the number of any jurisdiction, in terms of the number of people vaccinated," NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan noted.
NLGJA: The Association of LBTQ Journalists announced that The New York Times journalist Jane Coaston is the recipient of the 2022 Jeanne Cordova Award, per a press release. Coaston is the host of The New York Times podcast "The Argument." Previously, she was the senior politics reporter at Vox, with a focus on conservatism and the GOP. The award is named for Cordova, a journalist and the editor and publisher of Lesbian Tide, which chronicled the 1970s lesbian feminist movement.
Also, NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists announced that The 19th Editor at Large and co-founding member Errin Haines is the recipient of the 2022 NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists Leadership Award. The award recognizes individuals who have made a positive impact on their newsrooms by increasing diversity and improving news coverage of the LGBTQ+ community.
The National LGBTQ Task Force announced that Rae Leiner (they/them) is joining the organization as its new field director while Elijah Nichols (they/them) is the new field organizer in the Advocacy and Action Department, per a press release. A Black-identified multiracial non-binary queer organizer, activist and parent, Leiner brings 15+ years of professional leadership to areas of social justice and racial equity; Nichols was previously the policy and advocacy director for Not My Generation.
Michael J. Cohen—the powerful New York City gay nightlife promoter and owner of NYC gay bar Motel 23—has been accused by nine men of sexual misconduct ranging from groping to assault, Queerty noted. He's also been accused of discriminatory business practices, including racist door policies. The flood of accusations began after an anonymous Instagram account called @mymotel23reality was created last month. Cohen denies all charges. (While Cohen is the majority owner of Motel 23, he opened it with financial help from director Bryan Singer, who has faced his own allegations of sexual misconduct for years.)
Hulu has set Nov. 1 as the premiere date for its next big doc: the Adam McKay and Billy Corben-produced Jerry Falwell Jr. project, God Forbid: The Sex Scandal That Brought Down a Dynasty, Variety noted. God Forbid tells the sensational story of evangelical leader and former Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr., wife Becki Falwell and Giancarlo Granada, the Miami pool boy who had an affair with Becki and claims that Jerry was aware of and involved in the relationship. The streamer says Granada is closely involved with the doc and his point of view is largely the focus of the movie.
A normally quiet corner of Harlem erupted in drumrolls and song as it was rechristened in honor of tennis player Althea Gibson, tennis.com noted. Gibson (who died in 2003) was the first Black woman to play in what is now called the U.S. Open; the first to win one of the Grand Slam tournaments, in 1956; and the first to be ranked number one in the world. Not only was she Black, but she was a woman who had neither a team of players to back her up nor a personality that always charmed.
A federal jury in Grand Rapids, Michigan convicted two men charged with plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer out of anger over her handling of the pandemic, USA Today noted. The jury deliberated for about eight hours before delivering the guilty verdicts against Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., who were convicted on all counts and face up to life in prison when they are sentenced at a later date.
