A transgender woman was found shot to death in Maryland, marking the second known homicide of a transgender person in the United States this year, Advocate.com reported. Friends and family identified her as Ashanti Carmon, the Washington Blade revealed. Carmon, who lived in Alexandria, Virginia, occasionally visited a D.C. drop-in center run by LGBTQ support group HIPS. A vigil was slated to take place April 2 near the site of the attack, in Fairmount Heights, Maryland.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) again defended the treatment of its detainees amid allegations that a dozen gay men and transgender women suffered abuse while they were being held at the Otero County Processing Center in New Mexico, The Washington Blade reported. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, the Santa Fe Dreamers Project and Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center sent a letter March 25 to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security—and the letter says, among other things, that guards "subject the gay men and transgender women to frequent pat-down searches." ICE spokesperson Leticia Zamarripa said that, in general, "ICE is committed to ensuring that those in our custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments and under appropriate conditions of confinement."
In advance of the International Transgender Day of Visibility ( which took place March 31 ), National Black Justice Coalition ( NBJC ) Executive Director David Johns released a statement. He said, in part, "[T]his day is not just a day to acknowledge the struggles of transgender people. It is a day to recognize all of the amazing trans people who are overcoming struggle, fighting discrimination, and finding a way to thrive despite everything against them. ... This Transgender Day of Visibility, the National Black Justice Coalition will recognize the many Black transgender people that are leading the way forward in our communities. We will also support policies and practices to create a world where more and more transgender people can not just survive, but thrive."
A 61-year-old woman give birth to her own granddaughter so her son and his husband could be fathers, USA Today reported. Cecile Eledge said she was joking when she offered to be the gestational surrogate her son and his husband needed—but, to her surprise, she passed a battery of tests including heart, cholesterol and stress. Married dads Matthew Eledge and Elliot Dougherty said the birth of their daughter was possible thanks to the women in their life: Eledge's mother and Dougherty's sister ( who donated the eggs ).
Doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital were able to perform the first HIV-positive organ donation, transplanting an otherwise healthy kidney from a living patient into another, LGBTQ Nation noted. Nina Martinez, the kidney donor for the anonymous patient, was infected with the virus as an infant when she received a blood transfusion that contained HIV. People who test as HIV-positive have not been allowed to donate blood for many years.
In celebration of the 100th year anniversary of Women's Right to Vote in New York, The National Women's Hall of Fame will host a weekend celebrating the achievements of American Women in the birthplace of the Women's Rights movement in the U.S. in September—and will induct 10 women into the Hall, a press release noted. Some of the inductees include attorney Gloria Allred, activist Angela Davis, actress/activist Jane Fonda, retired Air Force Colonel Nicole Malachowski, scientist Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Gay presidential candidate and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has raised more than $7 million in just the first quarter of 2019, according to Out.com . "This is just a preliminary analysis, but our team's initial report shows we raised over $7 million dollars in Q1 of this year," Buttigieg tweeted April 1. "We ( you ) are out-performing expectations at every turn. I'll have a more complete analysis later, but until then: a big thank you to all our supporters."
The Los Angeles LGBT Center issued a statement regarding the passing of Dr. Virginia ( Gina ) Uribe, who founded Project 10—the nation's first program to address anti-LGBTQ harassment in public schools. Center CEO Lorri L. Jean said, in part, "As an educator, advocate, and activist, she devoted her life to helping nurture and protect LGBTQ youth. Believing every young person has the right to self-respect and dignity, Gina led the fight against anti-LGBTQ discrimination in our public schools for over half a century." GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard, Ph.D., issued a separate statement, calling Oribe "a school counselor and science teacher who simply realized that something had to be done, and went ahead and did it."
The Honorable Daniel J. Clifford is the first out gay judge in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, ChestnutHillLocal.com noted. Clifford—who presides in the Court of Common Pleas, Family Court Division—married Jonathan Weinhold, a certified registered nurse anesthetist, in 2014, after more than 20 years together. Clifford ran for office in 2011 as an "endorsed Republican" but became a Democrat in 2013: "[W]ithin a very short time period, the Democratic Party was very accepting and very encouraging of me to pursue a position on the bench."
A Mississippi woman is suing McDonald's and a local franchise owner, claiming that she was subjected to repeated discrimination because she's transgender, the Clarion Ledger reported. Court documents state that Joselyn Kelly was hired by McDonald's franchise owners Elizabeth and Andrew Smith to work as an area supervisor for multiple McDonald's restaurants. On Jan. 7, according to the suit, Kelly informed the Smiths that she is transgender. Shortly after she began working, the suit alleges, the Smiths, "either directly or through their other employees, began to discriminate against Joselyn."
It has been revealed that Timothy Dean was unresponsive in Democratic donor Ed Buck's West Hollywood home for at least 15 minutes before emergency services were called, according to an Advocate.com item that cited the L.A. Times. The coroner's report stated that Dean's death was caused by methamphetamine and alcohol toxicity—and that Dean's death was an accident. Dean, 55, died Jan. 7 and became the second Black man to die of a meth overdose in Buck's home.
In Arlington, Virginia, activists at AIDSWatch—the nation's largest annual constituent-based national HIV/AIDS advocacy conference—heckled CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield after he sidestepped questions about the exclusivity and cost of the HIV-prevention drug Truvada, The New York Daily News reported. Tensions escalated about 30 minutes into the speech, after an activist yelled out asking Redfield to "leave the Affordable Care Act in place." Activist/writer Mark S. King told the Daily News that the "the room erupted in pandemonium," and Redfield was unable to speak for the next few minutes.
In Washington, D.C., lesbian businesswoman Dionne Reeder announced on Facebook that her popular restaurant, Cheers @ The Big Chair, closed March 22 after her landlord refused to renew her lease, The Washington Blade noted. Reeder, who ran unsuccessfully last year for an at-large seat on the D.C. City Council, has operated the restaurant with her partner for the past four years. The company that owns the building, Curtis Investment Group, Inc., had not responded to multiple media request for comment.
Another airport is cancelling its order of Chick-fil-A, BizJournals.com noted. The revamped food court and concessions area within New York state's Buffalo Niagara International Airport will not have a Chick-Fil-A as one of its anchor restaurants. Also, state Assemblyman Sean Ryan—who questioned tentative plans for a Chick-Fil-A outlet at the airport—said that Delaware North has agreed not to bring the Atlanta-based chain into the Cheektowaga terminal. Ryan objected because Chick-Fil-A has "a long history of supporting and funding anti-LGBTQ organizations." The San Antonio City Council recently rejected plans by Chick-Fil-A to open an outlet at the San Antonio International Airport.
The AP Stylebook has been updated, with guidelines now advising journalists and editors to skip the use of terms such as "racially charged" and "racially motivated" when "racist" is really the most accurate and honest word, Essence.com noted. The announcement came during the national conference of ACES: The Society of Editing in Providence, Rhode Island, on March 29. The NAACP, the nation's oldest African-American civil rights organization, applauded the change as a "move in the right direction," spokesperson Malik Russell emailed NBC News.
YouTube makeup guru James Charles—who rose to fame in 2016 as the first male spokesperson for CoverGirl—stoked controversy on Twitter for raving about the phrase "the house" in a recent video … and mentioning neither the rest of the phrase nor its significance in ball culture and the drag community, Queerty noted. "This is by far my favorite thing to say right now," he said in a video. "I heard about it from another YouTuber named Rich Lux. Basically, any time something is very something else, you can say it is 'the house.'" One user responded, "The phrase is 'the haus down boots' and was coined by the late, great Erica Andrews. You're gay, and whether I like it or not, a fairly famous gay guy. As representation for the community, you're responsible for knowing your shit."
