On the heels of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Masterpiece Cakeshop, the high court vacated and remanded the Washington state Supreme Court's decision in Arlene's Flowers v. Washington, a case involving a same-sex couple turned away from a flower shop because they are LGBT, an ACLU press release announced. In 2017, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled in favor of American Civil Liberties Union clients Curt Freed and Robert Ingersoll, who were denied service by a flower shop in 2013 while planning their wedding. See https://www.aclu.org/cases/ingersoll-v-arlenes-flowers.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a proclamation recognizing June 20 as Edie Windsor Day, in honor of her birthday, NewNowNext.com noted. Windsor, who passed away in 2017, was an activist and icon who fought for marriage equality. She was the lead plantiff for the U.S. Supreme Court case United States v. Windsor, which struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and laid the foundation for the 2015 case Obergefell v. Hodges, which led to marriage equality throughout the country.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert thanked a man who's being credited with fending off an anti-gay mob during the Utah Pride Festival, a KUTV.com item noted. Police say two gay men leaving the Utah Pride Festival were chased by a mob and ran into the shop where Terrance Mannery was working. Police say Mannery blocked the mob from entering and was involved in a scuffle to keep them out of the shop.
Coffee giant Starbucks announced a new health care package for its transgender employees, LGBTQ Nation noted. While Starbucks' employee-insurance plans have offered coverage for gender surgeries since 2012, their announcement expands this further, adding coverage for even more transgender care procedures. The newly covered items include breast reduction or augmentation, facial feminization, hair transplants and other transgender-specific needs.
Lambda Legal was among the many groups issuing statements criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn an appellate court decision and rule in favor of the Trump administration's ban on immigrants and refugees from seven countries—five of them predominantly Muslim—traveling to the United States. Lambda Legal CEO Rachel B. Tiven said, "This is a dark day for the United States, as shameful as the internment of Japanese-Americans and the doors slammed shut to Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. President Trump's Muslim ban has already done immense harm to thousands of people, some trying to flee violence, others cruelly separated from their families, and it's heartbreaking that the Supreme Court did not put an end to this injustice."
An Iowa judge determined that the state's ban on Medicaid coverage for medically necessary surgical care for transgender residents is unconstitutional, Metro Weekly reported. Chief District Judge Arthur E. Gamble of the Des Moines-based Fifth Judicial District of Iowa found that the Iowa Department of Human Services' ( DHS's ) ban on surgical coverage violates both the Iowa Civil Rights Act and the state's constitution. Gamble ordered DHS to immediately approve the women's request for pre-approval of coverage under Medicaid.
The local transgender community says it's growing worried for its safety as the third transgender woman has been shot and killed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2018, Action News Jax reported. The third victim was found dead at a hotel in Baymeadows on June 24. Antash'a English and Celine Walker have already been killed this year.
Lambda Legal and the Southern Poverty Law Center ( SPLC ) filed a Freedom of Information Act ( FOIA ) request with the Federal Bureau of Prisons ( BOP ) seeking all documents and communications connected to its decision to alter the Transgender Offender Manual, including communications with outside advocacy groups, a Lambda Legal press release noted. The grups say the changes weaken protections for transgender people who are incarcerated—who are already 10 times more likely to be targeted for violence—and undercut compliance with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act.
Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims, who's openly gay, welcomed Vice President Mike Pence to his fundraiser—with his middle finger, LGBTQ Nation noted. The outspoken legislator lashed out at the vice president on Pence's visit to Sims' home district. On Twitter ( beneath a photo of him flipping the bird ), Sims captioned, "@MikePenceVP let me be the first to officially welcome you to the City of Brotherly Love and to my District! We're a City of soaring diversity. We believe in the power of all people: Black, Brown, Queer, Trans, Atheist, & Immigrant. So...get bent, then get out!"
A teenager from Arlington this year became the Virginia Senate's first openly transgender page, The Washington Blade reported. Sean Bender-Prouty, 14, told the Blade on April 14 during an interview before attending Equality Virginia's annual Commonwealth Dinner with their father, Bob Prouty, that they and the other pages with whom they worked ran errands for the senators and passed messages "back and forth" to them. Bender-Prouty—who was an eighth grader at the Nysmith School for the Gifted in Herndon when they spoke with the Blade—was one of 35 pages who were chosen to work in the state Senate during the 2018 legislative session that began Jan. 10 and ended March 10.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has vowed to veto a Republican-sponsored bill pending in the state legislature that could nullify numerous LGBT-inclusive ordinances, Philadelphia Gay News reported. H.B. 861—pending in the state House of Representatives Labor & Industry Committee—seeks to prevent local municipalities from enacting ordinances that regulate terms and conditions of employment within businesses located in their respective areas. The current legislative session ends June 30; sources said H.B. 861 is not expected to be released from committee before then.
A CBS News reporter who has received widespread praise for his extensive coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico has come out publicly, The Washington Blade noted. David Begnaud tweeted a picture of him at a dinner with his partner, Jeremy, and wrote, "reporting the truth includes my own." The tweet also includes the hashtag "happy Pride." Begnaud was in Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, 2017, when Maria made landfall on the island's southeast coast with winds of 155 mph; while there, he, among other things, interviewed Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo RossellÃ", San Juan Mayor Carmen YulÃn Cruz and other officials in the U.S. commonwealth about Maria, its impact and the status of the relief effort.
A teenager seen on video assaulting a gay man in Muskegon Heights, Michigan, last November will be going to prison, WZZM13.com reported. Trevon Godbolt, 18, entered a "no contest" plea to unarmed robbery and unlawful imprisonment. A video of Godbolt assaulting another teen was posted on a social-media site; Godbolt ( who will be sentenced Aug. 3 ) is seen forcing the victim to strip before stealing his phone and clothes. Prosecutors said they believe the victim was targeted because he's gay.
Sen. Orrin Hatch took an unusual step for a Republican from Utah and recognized June as Pride month, invoking the occasion to draw attention to LGBT youth suicide, The Washington Blade reported. In remarks on the Senate floor, Hatch maintained suicide affects all corners of society, but is "particularly acute" among LGBT youth, whom the senator said "experience bullying and discrimination at every turn." The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found 40 percent of respondents had attempted suicide in their lifetime—nearly nine times the attempted suicide rate in the U.S. population at large.
Hundreds of protesters at Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square chanted their disapproval of Vice President Pence, who was attending a nearby fundraiser, Philly.com reported. One form of protest consisted of rows of children's shoes set on the sidewalk as a silent shout against the Trump administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the county's southern border. Pence was appearing at the Rittenhouse Hotel with Scott Wagner, the GOP nominee for Pennsylvania governor, during a fundraiser for the Republican Governors Association.
Michigan's school social-studies standards could eliminate references to Roe v. Wade, LGBT rights and climate change while also cutting down on references to the NAACP, The Hill noted, citing The Detroit Free Press. The newspaper reported that the changes were influenced by Republican state Sen. Patrick Colbeck and have led to notable scrutiny. The Free Press noted that Democrats on the state education board are pledging to push back against the proposed changes.
Emmy Award-winning digital documentary series ABC News Features released Prejudice and Pride ahead of the 45th anniversary of the attack at LGBT bar UpStairs Lounge in New Orleans, a press release noted. Until 2016's Pulse Nightclub massacre, the deadliest attack on LGBT citizens was a fire intentionally set upon a gay bar in New Orleans in 1973, killing 32 people. Prejudice and Pride is available on ABCNews.com/Features, the ABC News iOS and Android apps, Hulu and streaming media players including Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.
LGBT Latinx artists are expressing their diversity and creativity in an exhibit that's traveling across Texas, The Dallas News reported. Through pieces of art and photography, artists in the exhibit "MariconX" are seeking to promote understanding of their community. "We thought about doing a show all over Texas, particularly in South Texas, where there's a budding gay movement," program director Alejandro Trevino said. ( These artists are embracing the word "maricon," which is traditionally an anti-gay slur. ) The exhibit will be at Dallas' Latino Cultural Center until July 27.
For the first time ever, Wake County, North Carolina, leaders issued a proclamation declaring June as LGBT Pride Month, HeraldSun.com noted. The proclamation was read by Greg Ford, one of only two openly gay elected leaders within Wake County and one of only 12 openly gay elected officials in the state. James Miller, executive director of the LGBT Center of Raleigh, joined Ford at the podium to read the proclamation.
Florida's Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County has opened the area's first LGBT+ Visitor Center to showcase attractions of interest to LGBT+ visitors, a press release stated. The new center will be co-located with the Greater Fort Lauderdale LGBT Chamber of Commerce in the heart of Wilton Manors, Broward County's gay-centric district with the destination's largest concentration of gay residents and businesses.
