A new annual report from Wisconsin's Office of Children's Mental Health shows that the state's minors—especially girls, children of color and LGBTQ+ youth—continue to struggle with anxiety, depression and thoughts of suicide, Wisconsin Public Radio noted. The report stated that key stressors for youth are academic pressures and societal issues unique to their generation (such as widespread gun violence, climate change and deep political divisiveness). "Political divisiveness over LGBTQ issues can negatively impact all youth but especially LGBTQ kids, as it contributes to rising rates of anxiety, depression, and suicidality," the report concluded. The full report is at children.wi.gov/Documents/ResearchData/OCMH%202023%20Annual%20Report.pdf .
Diagnoses of gender dysphoria—a form of psychological distress felt by people who believe their assigned sex fails to match their gender identity—in California rose 102% between 2018 and 2022, according to a new Definitive Healthcare analysis, Axios reported. Not all transgender people experience or are diagnosed with gender dysphoria. However, such a diagnosis is often a first step when seeking gender-related mental health care or gender-affirming care in order to access treatment and activate insurance coverage. Ini recent years, conservative leaders and lawmakers nationwide have been seeking to restrict gender-affirming care.
Researchers at the University of Virginia (UVA) have found a previously unknown factor in the transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that could lead to new ways to prevent the disease's spread, WRIC reported. The scientists believe successful transmission is influenced by a protein the virus makes and by how that protein interacts with the virus' RNA, which carries genetic information and creates proteins. More than 1 million people around the world are infected with HIV every year, a university spokesperson said.
The first "Stonewall New York Experience" is launching in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at Stonewall-Museum.org on June 1, 2024, per a press release. From floor to ceiling, Stonewall National Museum, Archives and Library will be transformed into the gritty, historic Stonewall Inn in New York City; every day at this interactive experience will be June 28, 1969 in the hours before the historic Stonewall Riots—the galvanizing force sparking the LGBTQIA+ human rights movement across the globe. Also, naming opportunities are available, as donors' names or the name of a loved one or business can be scratched into the wood at the iconic Stonewall Inn bar or displayed in another prominent place; people can email Robert@stonewall-museum.org or call 954-763-8565 ext. 1106, for more info.
Openly gay Apple CEO Tim Cook received a pay cut in the technology company's latest fiscal year following a "recommendation" from the executive himself, per The Hollywood Reporter. Cook's annual compensation package hit $63.2 million after rising to $99.4 million during the 2022 fiscal year, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company also said that former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who has been on its board since 2003, would retire after the upcoming shareholder meeting; another Apple director, James Bell, is also retiring. The company named Wanda Austin, the former CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, as a new board member.
Another out gay CEO, OpenAI's Sam Altman, married his partner, Oliver Mulherin, in a seaside ceremony, per NBC News. (Altman confirmed the news in a text to NBC News after photos of the wedding began circulating on social media.) Mulherin is an Australian software engineer who, with Altman, splits his time between San Francisco and a ranch in Napa, California, according to The New York Times.Last year, Altman and Mulherin attended a state dinner at the White House that President Joe Biden hosted for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Last year, trans woman Thomasine "Tamzin" Caroline Selvi spent $10,000 of her own money to buy the web domain transgender.org, which was not used due to the death of its previou
s owner—and it has a nonprofit arm, the Transgender Foundation, per The Bay Area Reporter. To separate the informational from the political, the nonprofit also created TransgenderAction.org to focus on the onslaught of anti-trans bills at both the state and federal levels. That site enables it to highlight its efforts to pass bills supportive of the transgender community.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to weigh in on the issue of bathroom access for transgender students by rejecting an Indiana school district's appeal, per NBC News. The court left in place an appeals court ruling that required John R. Wooden Middle School in Martinsville, Indiana, to allow a transgender boy to use the bathroom that corresponds with his gender identity. The student, identified in court papers as A.C., is now in high school, where he is able to use his preferred bathroom.
The U.S. Federal District Court for the District of New Hampshire heard arguments in the lawsuit challenging New Hampshire's classroom censorship law, according to a joint press release from ACLU of New Hampshire, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), NEA-NH and AFT-NH. The law discourages public school instructors from teaching and talking about race, gender, sexual orientation, disability and gender identity in the classroom. "New Hampshire's public school teachers work hard every day to ensure students develop the knowledge and critical thinking skills they need to be successful and contribute to their communities," said GLAD attorney Chris Erchull. "Teachers can't do that effectively when they are subject to this vague law, with no guidance, that forces them to limit class discussions and avoid certain important topics altogether. LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and students with disabilities are being especially harmed, but the chilling effect of this law does a severe disservice to all students because their teachers can't provide them with the complete and factual understanding of history and the people and world around them.
Hundreds of Florida residents rallied in the state Capitol to condemn Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislators for a slate of more than 20 new anti-LGBTQ+ bills, per an Equality Florida press release. Sponsored by Equality Florida, Pride At the Capitol happened a day after DeSantis' distantly second-place finish in the Iowa caucus. According to the release, "Two of the most egregious bills introduced, Don't Say Gay or Trans at Work (HB 599/SB 1382) and the Trans Erasure Bill (HB 1233 & HB 1639), are fueled by a sinister belief that transgender people do not exist and that government should be weaponized to exclude them from public life." The release added that "Senator Shevrin Jones and Representative Anna V. Eskamani filed the 'Health Care Freedom Act' (Senate Bill 1404, House Bill 1283), and Senator Tracie Davis and Representative Michele Rayner filed the 'Freedom to Learn Act' (Senate Bill 1414, House Bill 1355) to undo the many harms DeSantis inflicted upon Floridians."
Also in Florida, Jason DeShazo—known as Momma Ashley Rose in the drag community—is trying to create an LGBTQ+ center for young people, according to The Advocate. At the heart of the Rose Dynasty Foundation's mission is a commitment to creating a "safe space for all ages," DeShazo said. (DeShazo started the foundation.) The increasing number of anti-LGBTQ+ laws has made it challenging to secure a location for the youth center.
A North Carolina law designed to expand information available to parents of public school students is now in effect, WXII reported. Interpretations of the law—Senate Bill 49, nicknamed the Parents' Bill of Rights—by schools and educators across the state have frustrated supporters and opponents of the law since it requires schools to disclose students' requests to go by a different name or pronoun. One of the most contentious sections of the statute requires schools to notify parents if their child asks school personnel to refer to them using a different name or pronoun. Also, there's a section that bans instruction on gender identity, sexual activity or sexuality to students in kindergarten through fourth grade.
An investigative report published by The Advocate and The 19th says that many people have been drugged at the LGBTQ+ West Hollywood spot The Abbey. For example, on Aug. 3, 2021, comedian Haely White posted on her Instagram that she had gone there, ordered a drink and then blacked out. "Friday morning I woke up with a busted nose, lip, black eye and felt like I was dying," White wrote. In her since-deleted post, she referenced Yelp, Tripadvisor and Reddit comments from other patrons claiming that bartenders had drugged them and old news articles about Yvette Lopez's $10-million lawsuit against the venue; that was settled in 2015. (Another anonymous woman and her husband sued The Abbey for the same amount.) In a written statement to The 19th, The Abbey said it would not discuss specific lawsuits, but "settling a lawsuit does not necessarily indicate any wrongdoing."
HIV/AIDS-advocacy organization ACT UP NYC participated in a rally calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, reviving some of its historic slogans in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian people, according to The Advocate. "We refuse to stand by idly as a mass genocide is being committed with our tax dollars, tax dollars that could be spent on HIV/AIDS research, treatment and prevention," ACT UP wrote in a post to its Instagram. Among other things, organizers used the group's iconic "SILENCE=DEATH" logo, invented by Gran Fury in 1987 around the time ACT UP was founded.
Boston LGBTQ+-rights advocate Orlando Del Valle passed away Dec. 30, 2023, according to Legacy.com . He passed away in his sleep at Belmont Manor Nursing Home following an extended battle with Alzheimer's disease. According to a letter on The Boston Globe's website, Del Valle was a former executive director of the Latino Health Network/Institute, liaison to the Latino community and founder of Club Antorcha, a social club for Latino gay men.
Rabbi Jane Litman—who was responsible for Jewish programming at one of the first Protestant seminaries in the United States to focus on pan-denominational issues and social justice—has claimed she was fired from her job because of religious and political intolerance, Haaretz reported. Litman, the first openly LGBTQ+ person to be admitted to a rabbinical seminary, was notified that her employment at the Pacific School of Religion (PSR) in Berkeley, California, had been terminated following various complaints she had filed with the administration. In a request for comment, the school said that Litman had been fired because of an "employer-employee disagreement, and not a religious or political one." For the past seven years, Litman ran the Jewish Roundtable of the Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies at PSR, which is the oldest Protestant seminary west of the Mississippi River.
In D.C., longtime local trans-rights advocate Earline Budd said she was surprised and "greatly appreciative" when local councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) came to her house in the city's Trinidad neighborhood and shoveled the snow from her sidewalk, per The Washington Blade. Budd continues to recuperate from a respiratory infection that landed her in the hospital for close to three weeks last month and required follow-up treatment at a rehab center in Maryland.
U.S. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff took his advocacy against antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of hate to the World Economic Forum being held in Davos, Switzerland, The Times of Israel noted. Emhoff—the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris—will make his first-ever appearance at the event to talk about combating religion-based and other forms of hate and promoting gender equity and women's rights, the White House said. Emhoff was scheduled to arrive in Switzerland on Jan. 18; his agenda included a roundtable discussion with CEOs on combating hate that was hosted by Bank of America's Brian Moynihan.
Anti-LGBTQ+ Republican Vivek Ramaswamy ended his 2024 presidential campaign, endorsing former President Donald Trump in the process, a Yahoo! News item noted. During the campaign, Ramaswamy criticized most of his opponents but praised Trump as "the best president of the 21st century." According to GLAAD, in the past, Ramaswamy has called acceptance of transgender people a "cult" and has claimed that LGBTQ+ people are interfering with "our kids."
