Behavioral scientist Gleb Tsipursky, author of “The Truth-Seeker’s Handbook: A Science-Based Guide” and co-founder of the Pro-Truth Pledge, has weighed in on the under-the-radar transgender military ban move by the Trump administration, saying it was no coincidence it was handled in the way it was, with the March for Life activities acting as a distraction.
info: glebtsipursky.com.
Openly gay Log Republican Richard Grenell was confirmed as ambassador to Germany by the U.S. Senate. He is said to be the highest-ranking gay official ever in any Republican administration, the Inquisitr reported.
info: bit.ly/2r81lsl.
Mobile banking company Varo Money, Inc. has announced the results of their #SwitchYourBank survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults age 18 and older, and determined that San Francisco was best in the LGBTQ dating scene, farmer’s markets and dog parks in the U.S. New York was best at most other things, such as cultural activities, public transportation, live music, restaurants, bars, heterosexual dating and public parks. Other cities in the survey were Los Angeles, Calif., Chicago, Ill. and Philadelphia, Pa.
info: varomoney.com.
The National Center for Transgender Equality announced this year’s awardees for the 2018 Trans Equality Now Awards which included Sarah McBride, Andy Cray Award; Obama Administration, Ally Award (accepted by Valerie Jarrett); and Andrea Marra, Julie Johnson Award. The presentation will be made at the May 17 ceremony in Washington, D.C.
info: transequality.org.
Gay Tribal Elder Don Kilhefner has shared Clara Seebach’s “Being A Gay American: A Documentary” Vimeo link with his readers. The piece was created as a response to Donald Trump’s impact on LGBTQ individuals in the U.S. since he took office.
info: bit.ly/2HA2xLR.
The New York Times’ LGBTQ staff members Jeremy W. Peters, Natalie Kitroeff, John Koblin, Wesley Morris, Adam Nagourney and Denny Lee reflected and reported on what the newspaper got right and wrong during the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s and gay culture in general. An excerpt from the piece said, “It wasn’t easy to be gay at The Times when Meislin started in 1975 as a copy editor. Many employees felt that A.M. ‘Abe’ Rosenthal, the paper’s editor, was homophobic. And the publisher at the time, Arthur ‘Punch’ Sulzberger, had his own blind spots, according to his son. ‘Abe was part of the challenge. It was one of the issues my father struggled with as well,’ said Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the publisher since 1992, who recently handed over the reins to his son, A.G. ‘The way [gay people] were being treated by being forced to be hidden was antithetical to the values of the company and the values of journalism.”
info: nyti.ms/2HybqKa.
On April 24, HealthHIV and the National Coalition for LGBT Health awarded gun violence prevention activist and Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg with the inaugural “Syncing Health Advocate of Year” Award at the 5th Annual SYNChronicity National Conference on HIV, HCV, and LGBT Health in Arlington, Va.
info: healthhiv.org/synchronicity.
Lambda Literary will hold their Lammys award event on June 4 honoring Edmund White and Roxane Gay. Kate Clinton will serve as host.
info: lambdaliterary.org.
Some LGBTQ couples and individuals from around the world are traveling to Portland, Ore. to start their families. Fertility clinic Oregon Reproductive Medicine is one of the key facilities that is assisting those who wish to have children with logistical help in the form of donor eggs, sperm and or a gestational surrogate. Oregon is helpful in establishing legal parenthood for LGBTQ parents, signifying the recognition of the new family unit by the courts.
info: oregonreproductivemedicine.com/lgbtq.
Southerners on New Ground will hold their Gaycation 2018 from June 28-July 1 at Pickett CCC Memorial State Park in Jamestown, Tenn. Space is limited and applications are due on May 15.
info: bit.ly/2JChv4u.
The redesigned and rebranded lesbian magazine Curve will now be published on a quarterly basis instead of monthly.
info: presspassq.blogspot.com.
The National LGBT Task Force, Equality Federation, Alaskans Together for Equality and Fair Anchorage celebrated the defeat of anti-transgender Proposition 1 in Anchorage, Alaska. Anchorage is now the first municipality in the country to uphold transgender protections on a standalone ballot measure.
info: equalityfederation.org. thetaskforce.org.
GLAAD announced that Gloria Carter, out mother of Jay-Z, will accept the Special Recognition Award for “Smile” at the 29th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York, N.Y. on May 5. She will speak about the impact coming out has had on her family and countless others around the globe. Filmmaker, director and screenwriter Ava DuVernay will receive the Excellence in Media Award at the event for her intersectional advocacy. And, Samira Wiley will receive the Vito Russo Award during the ceremony for her work to bring “heartfelt and moving” LGBTQ portrayals to the screen.
info: glaad.org.
Soulforce has opened its store offering limited edition Pride Boxes, posters, toolkits, support literature and more. Pre-orders will be shipped on May 10.
info: soulforce-store.myshopify.com.
As Craigslist closed their personals section and Backpage was seized by the FBI after the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act passed by Congress in March, the former users of those sites have been looking for alternative sites. The transgender community is also a very large part of this group. As a result, Transdr, a Tinder-like app for transgender individuals, was launched across the globe. This app has grown to more than 6,200 users. Last month, a transgender woman sued Tinder for rejecting transgender users without any reason, despite the fact that Tinder had added gender options for transgender individuals.
info: transdrapp.com.
TLC’s new documentary series, “Lost in Transition,” will premiere on May 20 and chronicles the lives of four couples who are dealing with gender identity issues and adjusting to a new normal in their lives.
info: tlc.com. discovery.com.
LGBTQ artist and philanthropist Jumper Maybach will unveil a new series of works, The Pride Collection: INTROSPECTION, celebrating Houston, Texas’ Pride 2018. It will be on exhibition and available for acquisition at several fine art galleries throughout the U.S. beginning June 1. Works were created to show Maybach’s love and support for the LGBTQ community, in addition to all those taking part in the #MeToo movement.
info: jumpermaybach.com.
The “After Forever” series is now available on Amazon and tells the story of “Brian and Jason, a 50-ish New York City gay couple that have it all — until they don’t.” It stars Kevin Spirtas, Mitchell Anderson, Cady Huffman, Michael Urie, Anita Gilette, David Dean Bottrell, Jim Hewman, Finn doubles, Robert Emmeet Lunny and Colleen Zenk.
info: afterforevertheseries.com. amazon.com.
Christian conservatives are up in arms about a bill they claim bans the Bible, GayRVA reported. A.B. 2943, which passed the California House on April 22 by a 50-13 vote, expands an existing law that bans the practice of “conversion therapy” or “reparative therapy” on minors.
info: bit.ly/2FqzV5V.
Social Smarts LLC’s gay cruising site Guyhop is exploring options to employ Blockchain technology for an improved customer experience. “The ability to encrypt data, which is distributed in a decentralized way, makes the technology a perfect fit for protecting data transfers necessary in apps like Guyhop without leaving open doors for hackers,” said CEO Rob West.
info: guyhop.com.
NMAC has announced that HIV activist and writer Larry Kramer will speak at the United States Conference on AIDS on Sept. 7 in Orlando, Fla.
info: nmac.org.
The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity event was held on May 1 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York, N.Y. Executives from more than 122 companies, including 22 CEOs and 24 CHROs from 28 industries were in attendance. Special honors were presented to Randall L. Stephenson, chairman, CEO and president of AT&T, and Alex Gorsky, board chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, for their “exemplary leadership and commitment to making diversity and inclusion a top priority in their respective corporations,” organizers said.
info: diversityinc.com.
The Gentlemen’s Foundation has released its 2017 Annual Report.
info: thegentlemensfoundation.org.
The LGBT Bar has announced its the 40 recipients of this year’s Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 Awards. They will be recognized at the 30th Annual Lavender Law Conference and Career Fair being held from Aug. 8-10 in New York, N.Y.
info: lgbtbar.org.
Digital agency One North announced the relaunch of the website for Baker McKenzie’s “Homeless Youth Handbook,” a pro bono project led by the law firm to help homeless youth better understand their legal rights. The website-based guide is designed to empower children and teens experiencing homelessness with state-specific guidance in a youth-friendly, easy to understand layout. The guide is also meant to be used by volunteer lawyers and other professionals who provide assistance to homeless youth. The handbook’s logo uses the Gilbert font which was designed last year upon LGBTQ rights activist and rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker.
info: onenorth.com. homelessyouth.org. bakermckenzie.com.
A new report, “Gender Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Business/Higher Education Perspectives,” by The Conference Board of Canada examines the status of gender equity, diversity and inclusion in Canadian higher education and business.
info: conferenceboard.ca.
The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with its partners in the National Business Inclusion Consortium, has named the third annual Best-of-the-Best list of corporations in America committed to diversity and inclusion across all communities. Among those named are Carolinas-based Bank of America, Food Lion and GlaxoSmithKline. Bank of America returned for the third consecutive year as the evening’s presenting sponsor.
info: nglcc.org.
Reconciling United Methodist’s Southeastern Jurisdiction Organizer Helen Ryde spent the last half of April touring the South meeting the denomination’s members.
info: rmnetwork.org.
An amfAR-funded European research consortium is searching for answers to the question: “Can ‘the Berlin patient’s’ cure be replicated?” amfAR brought together a team of researchers to intensively study the blood and tissues of Timothy Brown, the Berlin patient, who has been “remarkably” generous with his body and his time in the service of science, as well as brought together another team of researchers to compare every available assay that could quantify low levels of “persistent viral reservoir.”
info: amfar.org.
The Williams Institute, as part of the LGBTI Global Development Partnership, has released three new research reports detailing the average levels of acceptance for LGBTQ individuals around the world, the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice shared. The findings reveal that LGBTQ rights have increased globally since 1980, though acceptance has become more polarized — increasing in the most accepting countries and decreasing in the least. The reports are: The Global Acceptance Index, which ranked 141 countries on their relative level of social acceptance of LGBTQ individuals and rights; Examining the Relationship between Social Acceptance of LGBT People and Legal Inclusion of Sexual Minorities, which found that democracies with a commitment to a free press and the rule of law had the strongest relationship, however, the relationship between acceptance and legal inclusion becomes weaker in shrinking civic spaces, such as autocracies and anocracies; and Links between Economic Development and New Measures of LGBT Inclusion, which affirmed previous findings that the inclusion of LGBTQ individuals is linked to a country’s economic performance.
info: astraeafoundation.org. williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu.
Adam & Eve in Hillsborough, N.C. has released the results from its annual sex survey in which it asked over 1,000 adults how they felt about schools allowing gay and lesbian teachers. While 6 percent of the respondents (5 percent of the women and 8 percent of the men) admitted they were not sure how they felt, and 6 percent (4 percent of the women and 9 percent of the men) said they did not think gays and lesbians should be allowed to teach, an overwhelming 87 percent (91 percent of the women and 83 percent of the men) believe that gay and lesbian teachers should be allowed to teach in schools. “The purpose of Adam & Eve’s annual sex survey is to gauge changing sexual attitudes and values with American adults,” said Director of Marketing Chad Davis.
info: adameve.com.
According to a 2017 report by the D.C. Department of Health HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD and TB Administration, 12,964 people residing in Washington D. C. live with HIV. The administration launched a “Pledge to be PrEPared” campaign during April to education the Latin transgender community living in Washington D. C. about the importance of taking PrEP.
info: dc.gov.
African-American and lesbian Dot Reid’s Refuge for Men barbershop offers a sanctuary from a bad haircut chain near the Virginia Commonwealth University campus, GayRVA reported. The Richmond native has a degree in nursing, specializing in neurosurgery, and an associate’s in business management and marketing. Getting into the hair business was natural for her, as her mother was a fashion designer and seamstress and her grandmother was a florist. She learned how to shape eyebrows with a straight razor when she was eight from her mother and how to use shears from her grandmother.
info: bit.ly/2HFSXr6.