Former Vice President Joe Biden will headline the Democratic National Committee's ( DNC's ) annual LGBT Gala in New York next month, according to DNC.org . DNC Chair Tom Perez said the former vice president will receive the inaugural LGBT hero award at the June 21 dinner. LGBTs represent a key voting group that supported former President Barack Obama's two campaigns. Biden spoke out in favor of same-sex marriage in 2012, three days before Obama declared his support for it.
Texas lawmakers took aim at transgender Texans, vulnerable children and LGBTQ families May 21 ( Sunday night ) by advancing HB 3859 ( which allows adoption agencies to turn away LGBTQ couples ) and SB 2078 ( which includes an anti-transgender amendment that bars students from using the restroom that matches their gender identity ), LGBT Weekly reported. In a last minute move, Texas lawmakers in the House added an anti-transgender "bathroom" floor amendment to Senate Bill 2078, a bill originally focused on school districts' safety and emergency operation protocols. This amendment specifically singles out transgender K-12 students by barring them from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity.
In North Carolina, trans woman Sherrell Faulkner died from injuries received in an attack in November, Mic.com reported. After the assault, Faulkner was found behind a dumpster and taken to the hospital for treatment. "Our hearts are heavy with the news of the death of Sherrell Faulkner," Ames Simmons, director of transgender policy at Equality NC, wrote on the group's website. "We are facing a national epidemic of violence with eleven trans people, many of them transgender people of color, murdered in 2017."
Victory Fund—the only national organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ leaders to public office—has endorsed nine candidates in state and local races ( including five in New York City ), a press release noted. Jenny Durkan, running to be mayor of Seattle, received a spotlight endorsement; if elected, she would become the first lesbian mayor of Seattle and just the second woman. Spotlight endorsements are given to candidates especially well-positioned to breakdown barriers and drive equality forward.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs ( NCAVP ) has learned of the possible hate-violence homicide of Imer Eliu Alvarado, 34, on May 16 in Fresno, California, a press release noted. According to media reports, Alvarado was fatally shot multiple times, following a dispute with a suspect whom police are currently seeking. YourCentralValley.com noted that friends of the victim said Alvarado identified himself as a gay man. However, Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said the victim appeared to be a transgender woman; if correct, this would be Fresno's second transgender murder in two years.
The Human Rights Campaign ( HRC ) filed a "friend of the court" brief signed by 59 major U.S. companies supporting transgender student Gavin Grimm in G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, an organizational press release noted. Grimm, a transgender boy, filed suit against the school board alleging it violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 by denying him use of the boy's restroom. Just a few of the corporate signatories include Williams-Sonoma, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, Airbnb, LinkedIn Corporation and Yahoo! Inc.
An Amtrak engineer who operated the train that derailed outside Philadelphia in 2015—killing eight people and injuring more than 200 others—was charged May 12 with involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and risking a catastrophe, The Washington Blade noted. The Pennsylvania attorney general filed the charges against Brandon Bostian, 34, who's gay, after a Philadelphia Municipal Court judge overruled a decision by a local Philadelphia prosecutor not to file charges against Bostian on grounds that there was insufficient evidence of criminal intent.
Lambda Legal received word that client Rowan Feldhaus passed away after complications from surgery, according to an organizational press release. Lambda Legal represented Rowan in his appeal to legally change his name to reflect his gender identity. Lambda Legal Counsel Beth Littrell said, "An Army reservist and a student, Rowan's grace, quiet dignity, strength and self-assurance were an inspiration to me and many others who heard his story."
President Donald Trump's approval rating has hit a new low—and that was BEFORE claims that he disclosed sensitive information to Russian officials in the Oval Office and tried to shut down an FBI investigation into now-former national security adviser Michael Flynn, Politico noted. A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, conducted after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey but before the two latest blockbuster revelations, shows Trump's approval rating at 42 percent, with half of registered voters disapproving of the job Trump is doing as president.
GLAAD issued a press release warning about controversial Milwaukee County ( Wis. ) Sheriff David Clarke possibly heading the Department of Homeland Security. The organization said that, from saying transgender Americans "suffered from mental disorders" to calling on people to "rage, then revolt" following the U.S. Supreme Court's marriage-equality ruling in 2015, David Clarke's anti-LGBTQ history runs deep.
Jim Obergefell, Mandy Carter and San Diego Human Rights Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez are confirmed as grand marshals of the 2017 Capital Pride Parade in Washington, D.C., presented by Marriott International, a press release noted. The parade is set for Saturday, June 10, beginning in the Dupont and Logan Circle neighborhoods. They are also scheduled to attend the "Crack of Noon" Pride brunch earlier that day. They join previously announced Grand Marshal Edie Windsor.
More than 50 graduates of Notre Dame University walked out in protest during Vice President and former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's commencement address on May 21, according to LGBT Weekly. Among other things, the students cited his history of anti-LGBTQ actions, including passage of Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act ( RFRA ) in 2015, which legalized discrimination against LGBTQ people and families.
Jury selection has begun in Bill Cosby's trial regarding the alleged drugging and assault of lesbian Andrea Constand 13 years ago, LGBTQ Nation noted. Constand told investigators in 2005 she sought Cosby's career advice, but that he drugged her and violated her by putting his hands down her pants at his mansion in suburban Philadelphia. Cosby has pled not guilty and remains free on $1 million bail.
WNBA star Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury has married former teammate Penny Taylor, Outsports reported. Taurasi, 34, is a basketball superstar with three WNBA championships and four Olympic gold medals. Taylor, 36, has three Olympic silver medals and three WNBA championships with the Mercury.
The Toronto Blue Jays suspended outfielder Kevin Pillar for two games after he used an anti-gay slur toward Atlanta Braves pitcher Jason Motte, USA Today noted. Pillar's salary for the two games will be donated, with the club working out those specifics. Atkins said the discipline came in conjunction with Major League Baseball and the players' association. It marks the second time the Blue Jays themselves moved to suspend a player for homophobic behavior; in 2012, the club suspended shortstop Yunel Escobar for three games.
The estate of legendary playwright Edward Albee has denied the Portland, Oregon-based Shoe Box Theater's rights to perform Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? because the producers wanted to cast a Black actor in a leading role, Mic.com noted. "I am furious and dumbfounded," producer Michael Streeter wrote on Facebook. "The Edward Albee Estate needs to join the 21st Century. I cast a black actor in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The Albee Estate called and said I need to fire the black actor and replace him with a white one. I refused, of course. They have withdrawn the rights."
