Following an explosion of outrage from the LGBTQ community, Mayor Eric Adams backtracked from an apparent plan to hire anti-LGBTQ former Bronx Councilmember Fernando Cabrera to lead the Mayor's Office of Community Mental Health, according to Gay City News. "While we don't typically comment on the appointments process before an official announcement, we want to be clear—the administration is not considering appointing Fernando Cabrera to this critical position," a spokesperson for the mayor told Gay City News in a written statement. Cabrera (who was term-limited out of office last year after more than a decade in the City Council) gained notoriety in 2014 when he went to Uganda after the passage of a "Kill the Gays" bill and was caught on video praising that nation's government for standing up against what he falsely described as threats from the United States to pull funding due to homophobia.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) delivered an impassioned speech at Manhattan's LGBT Community Center as he sought to reignite momentum behind the Equality Act, with a pledge to pass a federal LGBTQ non-discrimination bill, Gay City News reported. "I am committing to passing federal legislation to update the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections for all LGBTQ+ Americans," said Schumer. When asked by Gay City News about where things stand with U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (the lone Democratic holdout on the Equality Act in the upper chamber) and the Equality Act, Schumer would only say he's "talking to all the senators right now."
The LGBT Cancer Network issued a statement regarding President Joe Biden's Cancer Moonshot Initiative. Dr. NFN Scout said, in part, "The National LGBT Cancer Network is extremely pleased to see that this Cancer Moonshot initiative prioritizes both health disparities and community input. Often, people think that eliminating cancer is just about biomedical advances. However, those of us working to meet the needs of LGBTQ+ people on their cancer journey know all too well the gains that can be made with proper screening and care." According to The Hill, Biden will issue an official call to action on cancer screening and early detection, which will involve working to ensure equitable access through at-home screening, mobile screening in communities, and community health networks like those built during the COVID-19 pandemic.
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow plans to take a hiatus lasting "several weeks" in order to focus on other projects she is working on as part of a broader content deal with NBCUniversal, Variety reported. Maddow struck a deal with NBCUniversal last year that calls for her to put more of her attention on to a mix of new media projects and other content.
The LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance announced Jonathan Lovitz has become the 13th member of its board of directors, per a press release. Lovitz spent nearly seven years as the senior vice president for the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) prior to recently stepping down to run for a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (District 182). The organization also named Tiffany Wu as vice president of justice, equity, diversity & inclusion (JEDI) and Alex Cruz as director of education and member services.
In Missouri, librarians, parents and booksellers spoke out against the censorship of a book banned in the Wentzville School District, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. However, area booksellers reported increased orders for Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, a 51-year-old title by one of just three U.S. women to win the Nobel Prize for Literature—and the book the school board removed. The Guardian recently published a story saying U.S. conservatives were backed by wealthy donors to wage campaigns "often focused on works that address race, LGBTQ issues or marginalized communities."
U.S. District Judge Lisa Wood rejected plea agreements reached between federal prosecutors and two of the three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia—saying she was not willing to be bound to the 30-year federal prison sentence set in the agreement, per Reuters. Wood's decision came after Travis McMichael—one of the three attackers due to face trial on federal hate-crime charges—admitted for the first time he had pursued the 25-year-old Black man because of his race. In rejecting the federal agreement, the judge acknowledged emotional testimony by Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, and other relatives who begged the judge not to accept the deal.
Inspired by David Blight's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom and executive-produced by scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the HBO documentary Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches, debuting Feb. 23, brings to life the words of our country's most famous anti-slavery activist, a press release noted. Actors Nicole Beharie, Colman Domingo, Jonathan Majors, Denzel Whitaker and Jeffrey Wright draw from five of Douglass' legendary speeches to represent a different moment in the tumultuous history of 19th-century America as well as a different stage of Douglass' life. Famed scholars Gates, David Blight and others provide context for the speeches.
The Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York, revealed a pair of gay penguins have become the proud foster parents of a penguin chick, per out.com . Elmer and Lima formed a pair bond for the current breeding season and were given a real egg to hatch after they had built a nest together and successfully defended it from encroachment by other members of the penguin colony. However, Deborah DeLorenzo, penguin keeper at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo, told Syracuse.com that at around two months, even the best of parents like Elmer and Lima "reach a stage where they no longer want to feed or care for their chicks"; that's when the staff intervenes.
U.S. former President Donald Trump said if he were to run for president and win in 2024, he would pardon people charged with criminal offenses in connection with the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, assault by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol, Yahoo! News noted. Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol last year—the worst assault on Congress since the War of 1812. Fueled by Trump's false claims that his November 2020 election defeat was the result of fraud, the attackers sought to stop Congress from certifying Biden's victory.
Former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores is suing the NFL and teams he said have engaged in racist practices against Black coaches, NBC Sports noted. Flores named the league, the Dolphins, the Giants and the Broncos, as well as "John Doe teams 1-29" as defendants in the lawsuit, which is structured as a class-action complaint, suggesting Flores expects others to join him as plaintiffs in the suit.
Robin Herman—a gender barrier-breaking reporter for The New York Times who was the first female journalist to interview players in the locker room after an NHL game—has died at age 70 of ovarian cancer, per ESPN. Herman was a hockey reporter covering the New York Islanders when she and another female reporter were allowed to interview players in the locker room—as their male counterparts were commonly permitted to do—following the 1975 All-Star Game in Montreal. "Robin was a Swiss Army Knife reporter. She covered fires and AIDS, gold madness in the Diamond District and Iran hostages, homelessness and hippie communal living," tweeted former Times editor Paul Horvitz, who was also Herman's husband.
Attorney Michael Avenatti was convicted of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing from now-former client Stormy Daniels, CNN noted. Prosecutors alleged that Avenatti—who helped negotiate the $800,000 advance for Daniels' October 2018 book Full Disclosure—defrauded his former client by instructing her literary agent to send two of the installments of the advance totaling nearly $300,000 to an account controlled by him, rather than directly to Daniels, without her knowledge. Avenatti is scheduled to be sentenced May 24.
CNN President Jeff Zucker resigned for failing to disclose a romantic relationship with a high-ranking colleague who once served as communications director to ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, CNBC reported. Zucker, 56, told staff in a memo that he should have admitted to a relationship with CNN executive Allison Gollust when he was asked about it during a recent probe by the network of Chris Cuomo, who was a host of a prime-time show there at the time. Gollust—not identified by name in Zucker's statement—is keeping her job as CNN executive vice president and chief marketing officer.
