A nonbinary former employee of the U.S. Social Security Administration, identified as "J. Doe," filed suit against the agency, claiming workplace misgendering forced them to resign, Philadelphia Gay News reported. Doe claims that constant misgendering at a Social Security office in Maryland between July 2022 to March 2023 resulted in a hostile work environment. During that time period, Doe worked as a "technical expert" and a "supervisory social insurance specialist" at the agency. Among other things, co-workers allegedly called Doe a "little girl," told Doe to "stay in your lane" and said Doe's gender pronouns weren't grammatically correct. Doe is seeking more than $500,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, among other things.
The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) announced 29 2023 Benevolence Grants supporting Black LGBTQ+ youth, per a press release. Some of the recipients include the Ruth Ellis Center, The Okra Project, True Colors United, the trans group BTAC, Justice for Black Girls, Sisters PGH, TruEvolution and YWCA Madison. NBJC Executive Director Dr. David Johns said, "This announcement is a testament to our dedication and a celebration of the next generation's resilience, strength, and aspirations. With these grants, we are sowing the seeds of change and reaffirming our commitment to a world where every voice is heard, and every individual can live authentically."
Social-media platform Discord has expanded its Hateful Conduct Policy to explicitly include bans against misgendering and deadnaming in a policy update, The Advocate noted. "For example you may not post, share or engage in: Repeatedly using slurs to degrade and demean individuals or groups. This includes deadnaming or misgendering a transgender person," the company stated. GLAAD welcomed Discord's policy update against misgendering and deadnaming.
Out gay OpenAI head Sam Altman was named Time Magazine's CEO of the Year, the publication revealed. On Nov. 17, OpenAI's nonprofit board of directors abruptly fired Altman and he was seemingly set to relocate to Microsoft. At one point, OpenAI's whole staff threatened to quit if the board didn't resign and reinstall Altman within a few hours, three people involved in the standoff told Time. In the end, Altman won back his job and the board was overhauled.
Trans woman Amiri Jean Reid and gender-nonconforming man Kejuan Richardson—both 21 and Black—were fatally shot while driving around their home city of Toledo, Ohio, in November, The Advocate reported, citing WTOL. Suspect Jorenzo Phillips, 19, was identified in their killings; however, he was later found dead in Cincinnati of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. With Reid's and Richardson's deaths, at least 32 trans, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming people have died by violence in the country this year.
The Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to a Washington state law banning conversion therapy for minors, from which justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh dissented, LGBTQ Nation noted. The challenge to the Washington law known as S.B. 5722 was filed by Brian Tingley, a licensed family counselor who practices conversion therapy. A U.S. district court in Washington dismissed Tingley's case in 2021, and a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the law last year. In January 2023, the full appeals court refused to rehear the case.
New details were revealed regarding the murder of Bernardo Pantaleon—a gay Phoenix man whose family believes the attack was a hate crime, AZ Family noted. According to court documents, Pantaleon was shot multiple times, then his body was mutilated. The crime has eerie similarities to a high-profile unsolved murder of another gay man from Phoenix: Benjamin Anderson, whose body was found burning in the desert. There is concern that two members of the Phoenix LGBTQ+ community were tortured and killed in less than two years.
Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) adolescents and young adult cancer survivors in the U.S. are more likely to report experiencing chronic health conditions than their heterosexual peers with a history of cancer, as well as their LGB peers without a past cancer diagnosis, Medical Express noted, citing an article in the online publication Cancer. Previous studies have shown that minority sexual-orientation and gender-identity populations have higher prevalence rates of many chronic conditions—including heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, lung disease and kidney disease—than heterosexual populations.
Research by William Toledo, assistant professor of secondary education at Cal State Fullerton, revealed several ways K-12 classrooms can lack inclusion and how LGBTQ+ teachers can add support for students' well-being in the classroom, a press release noted. One of the report's key messages is that LGBTQ+ students need to have teachers who are like them, and schools need a diverse teaching force, to serve all students. About one in four high school students identifies as LGBTQ+, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report using data from 2021.
On Dec. 12 in North Carolina, Youth OUTright, PFLAG Asheville and Campaign for Southern Equality filed a Title IX complaint against the Buncombe County Board of Education (BCBE), a press release announced. The complaint alleges that the policies passed by BCBE to comply with state law S.B. 49—the state's version of the "Don't Say LGBTQ+" law—create a hostile educational environment for LGBTQ+ students, families, staff and faculty. In October, the Campaign for Southern Equality published a legal memo about S.B. 49, analyzing how the statute reportedly violates Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which bars discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.
Federal prosecutors said they are "engaged in plea negotiations" with former U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-New York) to potentially resolve his pending criminal fraud case, CNBC noted. Santos in a Dec. 10 interview with CBS New York, said, "Look: In the essence of everything going on, a plea is not off the table, obviously, at this point." Santos is charged with multiple counts of wire fraud, identity theft and prevarication.
In Texas, the El Paso Museum of History recently held an opening ceremony for its new exhibit "The Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families," KVIA reported. This traveling exhibit seeks to explore gender identity and variance by sharing the stories of trans, non-binary, and genderfluid people through photographs and first-person accounts. The exhibit will run until Jan. 6, 2024 in the Juan & Linda Uribe Community Gallery Pop-up Exhibition room.
Pittsburgh's Andy Warhol Museum is currently showing "Unseen: Permanent Collection Works" through March 4, 2024, according to its website. The more than 60 works in "Unseen" have never been displayed since they entered the collection of the museum. The website added, "Some represent riffs on or experiments with well-known Warhol images. Others are previously unshown examples of larger series depicting images that were of importance to Warhol."
The Archdiocese of New Orleans dismissed the Rev. Anthony Odiong from St. Anthony of Padua Church in Luling and filed a report with a law-enforcement agency about the clergyman after his Nov. 26 Mass, during which he made anti-LGBTQ+ according to NOLA.com . However, the removal is seemingly related to allegations of abusive behavior: A woman who has known the priest since 2007 has accused him of years of controlling, manipulative and lewd behavior that included sexual and financial abuse. Odiong, originally from Nigeria, denies the allegations.
Former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez officially launched her re-election bid for 2024, The Dallas Voice noted. In 2004, Valdez became the first openly Latina lesbian elected as a county sheriff in Texas when she beat Republican incumbent Danny Chandler, and was also the first Democratic elected sheriff in Dallas County in more than two decades. Valdez was re-elected as sheriff in 2008, 2012 and in 2016, but stepped down from the office in 2017 to run for governor against incumbent Republican Greg Abbott.
In a fundraising email, Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he worries that too many high school students are identifying as LGBTQ+ and "America may be beyond redemption," The Hill reported. "[One] in 4 high school students identifies as something other than straight," stated the email, first obtained by Punchbowl News. "What are they being taught in school?" In a statement, Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson criticized Johnson's efforts to raise funds "off of his virulently anti-LGBTQ+ ideology."
In New Jersey, a $3 million gift from Rutgers University alumnus and board of governors member James F. Dougherty will fund the new Perry N. Halkitis Endowed Chair in LGBTQ+ Public Health—a new position for the university's School of Public Health, according to NJ Spotlight News. Halkitis is the dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health, Hunterdon professor of Public Health and Health Equity and is a distinguished professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology. "The plan is to ensure the School of Public Health is always addressing LGBTQ health issues," Halkitis said. "They are often forgotten in pubic health and healthcare." In addition to that gift, Rutgers Health Chancellor Brian L. Strom said the school is devoting $2 million to support the new chair.
Some California stores may soon face fines of $500 each for not implementing gender-neutral sections for children, Newsweek noted. In 2021, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill No. 1084, which will require some retail stores in the state to have a gender-neutral section for children "regardless of whether they have been traditionally marketed for either girls or for boys." The bill is set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, and states that stores failing to comply will be "liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $250 for a first violation or $500 for a subsequent violation, as provided."
NYC's LGBT Community Center announced that Carla Smith would become its next CEO, taking over from Glennda Testone, who served in the role for the past 14 years, Gay City News reported. Smith—an out lesbian and the first person of color to head The Center—is currently the deputy chief executive officer at Urban Resource Institute. Her first official day at The Center will be Feb. 12, 2024.
In Minnesota, conservative Texas—based law firm The First Liberty Institute—representing six Somali Muslim families—sent a letter to the St. Louis Park School Board and interim superintendent, saying they will "pursue legal recourse" if the district does not allow them to opt their children out of reading picture books with LGBTQ characters, per The Sahan Journal. The St. Louis Park letter is the latest incident in the growing pushback from some Muslim parents against inclusion efforts in Minnesota schools. Dozens of Muslim parents in Ham Lake and Burnsville have criticized efforts to protect transgender children or expand LGBTQ+ books in schools.
Reports released by the Amherst-Pelham School District (ARPS) confirm claims of bias against LGBTQ+ students at Massachusetts' Amherst-Pelham Regional Middle School (ARMS) by counselors Delinda Dykes, Hector Santos and Tania Cabrera, The Amherst Student reported. The reports also describe how former Assistant Superintendent of Diversity, Equity, and Human Resources Doreen Cunningham failed to take action in the face of the counselors' anti-LGBTQ+ behavior.
In Atlanta, Martin Luther King Jr.'s birth home—and the former site of the King Center—was spared from disaster when visiting tourists thwarted an arson attempt by a woman pouring gasoline on the property and was seen attempting to ignite a lighter, per a Chicago Defender item. The childhood home of the famed civil-rights leader, at 501 Auburn Ave., was nearly set aflame by a 26-year-old woman (identified as Laneisha Shantrice Henderson, NBC News noted) who was consequently wrestled to the ground and detained by out-of-state tourists including a couple from Utah and two off-duty NYPD police officers. Henderson was arrested and charged with criminal attempt to commit arson in the second degree and interference with government property.
Fashion designer Nanette Lepore has sent a letter to Ohio's Youngstown State University (YSU) Board of Trustees announcing that she is returning her honorary degree as well over the hiring of U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson as president, WKBN reported. Actor Ed O'Neill (Modern Family; Married with Children) has also returned his honorary degree, for the same reason. Five alumni who graduated from YSU between 2014 and 2017 previously wrote a letter opposing the selection of Johnson; the missive stated, in part, that Johnson was against same-sex marriage, supported a travel ban from majority-Muslim countries and questioned the validity of the 2020 presidential election.
The Abbey Food & Bar had its 14th Annual World AIDS Day Tree Lighting Ceremony on Dec. 1, WeHo Times noted. The event was hosted by Sutton Stracke of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, with special guests Tristan Schukraft (the new owner of The Abbey and The Chapel) and The Abbey Founder David Cooley. The annual event generated more than $10,000 for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation during a night filled with holiday songs courtesy of the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles.
After a fire in downtown Colorado Springs, the owners of local LGBTQ+ bar Icons announced the spot will remain closed for the rest of the year, KKTV (11 News) reported. "There's a lot of smoke damage," said co-owner Josh Franklin. "We 100% are more focused on our staff," added co-owner John Wolfe. "If people don't know, we are staffed with professional singers and they're amazing. But as artists, they rely heavily on tips. That's how they make their living." The owners are also looking into doing pop-up performances to maintain the bar's visibility and help the staff make it through the holidays.
A Philadelphia jury awarded $15 million to ex-Jefferson Health surgeon John Abraham, who accused his former employer of gender-based discrimination in its handling of a rape investigation against him, law.com reported. It appears to be the largest Title IX verdict for a male plaintiff since the law was created, the Beasley Firm's Lane Jubb Jr., who represented Abraham, stated. A Jefferson spokesperson said in a statement that the defendants are disappointed by the verdict and "continue to believe Jefferson treated both parties fairly and equitably in this matter between a faculty member and a resident physician learner."
One of the co-hosts of a fundraiser for President Joe Biden was removed from invitations to the Hollywood event after he was sued for $25 million in a sexual-misconduct lawsuit, Newsweek reported. Matthew Pritzker—whose relatives started the Hyatt hotel chain and whose cousin is Biden campaign co-chair and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker—was removed from the list of co-hosts for the Dec. 8 event, the president's first in Los Angeles since the end of the writer and actor strikes. The alleged incident occurred in Manhattan in May 2009.
