A book launch for “Butch Lesbians of the Twenties, Thirties & Forties” will be held on Oct. 19 at The GLBT History Museum in San Francisco, Calif.
info: glbthistory.org.
Dr. John Fryer, whose testimony led to the declassification of homosexuality as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association, was honored by for his accomplishments at the dedication of a historical marker in Philadelphia, Pa. on Oct. 3. Additionally, another marker was dedicated for the AIDS Library of Philadelphia on Oct. 3, the Equality Forum announced. The library was the nation’s first library to provide HIV/AIDS information and to help combat society’s fears about the epidemic. The forum also celebrated its 25th anniversary on Oct. 1 with an awards banquet held in Philadelphia, Pa. where it bestowed its Role Model Award to U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and the Frank Kameny Award to Peter Staley, AIDS pioneer and founder of Treatment Action Group.
info: equalityforum.com.
Brian Sawyer now owns Peach ATL Media, LLC, Goliath Media LLC and Fenuxe magazine, The Georgia Voice reported.
info: thegavoice.com.
Rev. Wanda Floyd has joined the Metropolitan Community Churches staff as an emerging church specialist. Floyd begins her tenure thereafter serving as the transitional pastor at MCC Charlotte in Charlotte, N.C. She was also a founder of Imani MCC in Durham, N.C.
info: mccchurch.net.
The National LGBTQ Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey issued a statement on the reversal of the U.S. Census Bureau’s decision to exclude a question on sexual orientation from the Census Barriers, Attitudes and Motivators Study. It said: “Make no mistake — public pressure on the Trump Administration works. It was messages from the members of the National LGBTQ Task Force and our partner organizations that compelled the Census Bureau to reverse their appalling decision to stop counting us. Thanks to the efforts of people across the country, the Census will continue collecting data about sexual orientation. We also will continue to push them to collect data about gender identity. Data about the LGBTQ community is absolutely crucial to ensuring that we are distributed the resources we need, that we are represented, and that the most vulnerable in our community are protected.”
info: thetaskforce.org.
Hornet announced the launch of Hornet Version 4.0, which will bring native editorial content into the Hornet app. Hornet will rebrand two editorial websites, Unicorn Booty and Vespa, and fold them into the newly-redesigned Hornet experience. The content will be found natively within the app under the “Hornet Stories” and “Hornet Places” tabs. The redesigned app combines “the consumer appetite for breaking news and pop culture with the pursuit of meaningful connections,” the company said. In other news, veteran LGBTQ advertising and sales expert Matthew Smith will join the brand’s growing executive team as senior vice president of global sales.
info: gethornet.com.
On Sept. 27, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein launched a set of global standards to support the business community in tackling discrimination against LGBTQI individuals.
info: prnewswire.com.
In two peer-reviewed papers, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have found that transgender adolescents are twice as likely to have suicidal thoughts as the general population, and they are up to four times as likely to engage in substance use. Depression and school-based victimization factored heavily into the disparities in both cases. The papers are the first set of studies using representative, population-based data to examine whether bias against transgender youths is associated with higher levels of suicidal thoughts and greater alcohol, cigarette and drug use.
info: utexas.edu.
The Advocate and Out company has been sold to the owner of High Times, PressPass Q reported. Also included in the sale are Pride, Plus, Out Traveler, LGBT.com and other intellectual property. They will now be collectively known as Pride Media Inc.
info: presspassq.blogspot.com.
Outfest announced that it will honor the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award winner Rita Moreno at the 2017 Legacy Awards on Oct. 22. Outfest will also honor SAG award-winning, Emmy-nominated actress and equal rights advocate Laverne Cox, as well as 22-time Academy Award winner, The Weinstein Company.
info: outfest.org.
Arizona Virtual Academy, Insight Academy of Arizona and partner organization one-n-ten celebrated the grand opening of the new home of the Phoenix Blended Learning Center and one-n-ten Youth Center in downtown Phoenix.
info: azva.k12.com. az.insightschools.net.
The Lesbian Health Fund has its next grant funding cycle planned for this fall. In honor of the victims of the Orlando shooting, “this cycle will give preference to funding research focused on societal and domestic violence affecting sexual minority women or girls,” the fund said. Applications for proposals for research are being accepted through Nov. 1.
info: glma.org.
The National LGBTQ Task Force announced that Kierra Johnson has been named the organization’s next deputy executive director. Currently the executive director of Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity, Johnson will join the Task Force staff on Jan. 1, 2018.
info: thetaskforce.org.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois and veteran LGBTQ rights activist Jim Bennett will be honored at the 2018 Equality Illinois Gala.
info: eqil.org.
Chronicle, a new collaborative visual storytelling platform, has launched an initiative to crowdsource stories from LGBTQ individuals and organizations, creating a chronicle to tell the bigger story and visual history of the community. People and organizations add photographs with descriptive details directly to the LGBTQ chronicle (currently 1948-present) timeline to help build and be part of the story. LGBTQ advocates, organizations, journalists and individuals are invited to add their noteworthy photos to the LGBTQ chronicle to be a part of the collaborative visual narrative. The chronicle can be accessed at onechronicle.com/chronicles/lgbtq.
info: onechronicle.com.
Richmond, Va.’s Donnie “Dirtwoman” Corker has died.
info: gayrva.com.
LGBT HealthLink welcomed four new members to their Community Advisory Council: Anthony Crisci, executive director, Triangle Community Center; Dr. Earl Benjamin, disparities population lead, Tobacco-Free Living; Gustavo Torrez, director of youth advocacy, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids; and Mandi Pratt-Chapman, associate center director, GW Cancer Center.
info: mylgbthealthlink.org.
Deceased Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was an early proponent and advocate for LGBTQ rights and said it was part of the sexual revolution.
info: washingtonpost.com.
NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday” host Scott Simon was announced as the recipient of the 2017 Randy Shilts Award for LGBTQ Coverage from NLGJA, the Association of LGBTQ Journalists, PressPass Q reported.
info: presspassq.blogspot.com.
Soulforce has announced the addition of Casimiro Peña of Chicago, Ill. as its newest board member. Board application are still being accepted until Oct. 13.
info: soulforce.org.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, successfully fought to include an amendment to the FY 2018 State Department appropriations legislation to prevent the elimination of two critical offices for ensuring LGBTQ rights are a U.S. foreign policy priority. The bipartisan legislation passed the Senate Appropriations Committee and now awaits a vote before the full Senate.
info: baldwin.senate.gov.
On Sept. 29, the California Department of Education’s Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) voted to approve 10 history-social science K-8 textbooks which were inclusive of the LGBTQ content mandated by the state’s 2016 History-Social Science Framework. Most were approved conditionally upon edits provided by the FAIR Education Act Implementation Coalition, a group of LGBTQ advocacy and educational organizations formed to ensure implementation of the state’s 2012 FAIR Education Act, which requires the inclusion of the political, economic, and social contributions of LGBTQ people and people with disabilities in California textbooks. The IQC also voted to reject the two textbooks that did not include the content, and whose corrective edits represented such a substantial portion of the text as to be considered a re-write of content, impermissible at this stage of the review process.
info: eqca.org. ourfamily.org.
The TransNation Film Festival, presented by St. John’s Well Child and Family Center announced its 2017 lineup of narrative and documentary features, experimental films and shorts for its second annual festival running from Oct. 13-15 in West Hollywood, Calif.
info: transnationfestival.org.
The National Center for Lesbian Rights won the Arizona Supreme Court case, McLaughlin v. McLaughlin, which ruled that a woman was the legal parent of the child she and her same-sex spouse conceived through assisted reproduction during their marriage.
info: nclrights.org.
The American Military Partner Association responded to testimony from Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Francis Dunford Jr. indicating he opposed Donald Trump’s transgender military ban. Dunford told the Senate Armed Services Committee that anyone who “meets the physical and mental standards … should be afforded the opportunity to continue to serve,” Military Times reported. The association recently joined a lawsuit challenging Trump’s transgender military ban in court. Karnoski v. Trump was brought by Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN on behalf of several transgender individuals, the association, the Human Rights Campaign and Gender Justice League.
info: militarypartners.org.
In DeKalb County, Georgia, burglars killed Theodore Moore, a gay man, during a home invasion on Sept. 25, The Georgia Voice reported. They also locked Moore’s husband in a closet during the event and stoled their televisions and automobile.
info: thegavoice.com.
The Equality Act now has 104 major corporate co-sponsors, South Florida Gay News reported.
info: southfloridagaynews.com.
An early-stage digital health company, etectRx, has announced that its ID-Cap system for medication adherence monitoring has been selected for a new study aimed at improving medication adherence in men who have sex with men with a history of substance abuse. The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health will oversee participant recruitment and all associated procedures. The study is funded by a grant from Harvard University’s Center for AIDS Research.
info: findsomewinmore.com.
On Sept. 11, Hayley Anthony was one of the first transgender women in the U.S. to receive a new type of gender affirmation surgery, in which tissue from the peritoneum is harvested to subsequently construct a vagina, Wired reported.
info: wired.com.
The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau has launched a new destination brand initiative to serve as a warm welcome and visitor invitation to the international travel community. The campaign, which includes a new brand video and comprehensive digital marketing strategy, launches on United Nation’s World Tourism Day. The #greatertogether video expresses Greater Fort Lauderdale’s “open-door/open heart” philosophy for visitors in times of travel bans and safety concerns to all people across the world “regardless of the color of their skin, whom they choose to love or what religion they believe in.” In other news, the bureau held its inaugural Global LGBTQ Think Tank on Sept. 17 with 14 in attendance.
info: sunny.org/greatertogether.
Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal will receive the Benjamin Franklin Award from the Pennsylvania News-Media Association at its convention on Nov. 2.
info: presspassq.blogspot.com.
“Saw” movie posters for its eighth installment, “Jigsaw,” protest restrictions for LGBTQ blood donors, Out reported.
info: out.com.
The Human Rights Campaign announced that Birmingham, Ala. has become the first in the state to pass a LGBTQ-inclusive non-discrimination ordinance. Mayor William Bell stated that he was committed to signing the ordinance into law immediately, Equality Alabama added. The vote as 7-0 with two council members absent.
info: hrc.org.
The Groundswell Fund won the first-ever Smashing Silos Award from the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy 2017 IMPACT Awards.
info: groundswellfund.org.
The University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine second-year medical students Phil Williams, Jun Jeon, and Naveen Jain have developed an app, SpectrumScores, that gives LGBTQ individuals easy access to information on welcoming healthcare providers across the U.S.
info: thehuffingtonpost.com.
“Project Runway Junior” alumni Matt Sarafa has debuted his Roleplay line during Paris Fashion Week.
info: mattsarafa.com.
A national ad challenging adoption discrimination laws was rejected by FOX News as “too powerful.” The Movement Advancement Project unveiled a national ad and policy report underscoring the potential dangers that adoption-related religious exemption laws pose to children. The “Kids Pay the Price” ad, released in partnership with the Child Welfare League of America and the National Association of Social Workers, was targeted to debut on FOX News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, but was rejected by the network. The 30-second spot was released online and can be viewed at KidsPayThePrice.org. “Politicians are passing these laws, so it’s important for the public to understand how these laws can hurt kids,” said Ineke Mushovic, executive director of the Movement Advancement Project.
info: lgbtmap.org.
Equality Florida has announced via Facebook the partnership of Equality Florida and Hispanic Federation that spotlights pro-LGBTQ businesses through a mobile-friendly directory called Open Doors (Puertas Abiertas).
info: equalityflorida.org. hispanicfederation.org. opendoorsflorida.org.
More than two million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were reported in the U.S. in 2016, the highest number ever, according to the annual Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Maintaining and strengthening core STD prevention systems is essential to mounting an effective national response, the department said. It added that the STD epidemic is accelerating among many groups, including women, infants and gay and bisexual men. While chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea can be cured with antibiotics, if left undiagnosed and untreated they can have severe consequences including infertility, stillbirth, increased HIV risk and chronic pain.
info: cdc.gov.
Lesbian-owned film production company tello Films received news that “Maybelle” has been nominated for an International Academy of Web Television Award. The film received a nomination for Best Writing (Bridget McManus) for a drama and Best Original Song (Karman Kregloe). After the death of her mother, 35-year old Maybelle Garris must learn to live for herself, as a gay women in the south, who is still in love with her best friend from high school.
info: tellofilms.com.
The U.S. Census Bureau has decided to remove a planned sexual orientation question from the Attitudes and Motivators Survey. This has been met with resistance. “Who and how the Census counts has enormous consequences for resource distribution, representation and LGBTQ protections,” said Rea Carey, National LGBTQ Task Force executive director. “We shouldn’t have to keep telling this administration that we count. In case we weren’t clear: we count. Our experiences matter. Our needs matter, so count us.”
info: thetaskforce.org.
Filmmakers are crowdfunding in an effort to bring their “Handbag – the untold story of the fag hag” to the screen. “Our life-affirming and powerful documentary is so critical to us because we believe women are able to make positive changes in our communities, particularly at a time when our culture seems to perpetuate narratives of hate,” the production team shared.
info: handbagthemovie.com.
Erica Lea has become the first openly LGBTQ lead pastor of the Mennonite Church USA with her call to the Albuquerque Mennonite Church.
info: sojo.net.
Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice welcomes new leadership staff to its organization: Cara Page, director of programs; Sarah Gunther, director of philanthropic partnerships; Barbara-Jean Davis, director of development; and Kristin Gardner, associate director of major gifts.
info: astraeafoundation.org.
On Oct. 3 FilmRise will release Julie Sokolow’s newest feature documentary “Woman on Fire,” an intimate look at Brooke Guinan, the first openly transgender firefighter in New York City.
info: goldsteinpr.com.
A fundraiser was held on Sept. 23 to help in efforts to bring Connecticut’s first historical site dedicated primarily to LGBTQ history, the Hartford Courant reported. The house, bequeathed to Connecticut Landmarks, was owned by architect Frederic Palmer and his partner Howard Metzger.
info: courant.com.
The Root reported that a study found that LGBTQ youth and youth with disabilities suffer more while in solitary confinement.
info: theroot.com.
StartOut has announced the winners of its 2017 Top LGBTQ Business Leaders and Innovators awards. They are Arlan Hamilton, Meg Columbia-Walsh, Natalie Oberti Noguera and Intel Capital.
info: startout.org.
The Rocklin Academy Charter Schools released recommendations to its board of directors on its literature selection policy and discrimination prevention. The recommendations respond to complaints raised by parents at Rocklin Academy’s Gateway campus regarding a kindergarten teacher reading a book at the request of a student on gender identity. The recommendations were formally presented to the board at its Sept. 18 meeting in Rocklin, Calif.
info: rocklinacademy.com.
The “Battle of the Sexes” debuted on Sept. 29 and tells the story of the matchup between tennis stars Bobby Riggs and lesbian sports pioneer Billie Jean King. It stars Steve Carrell and Emma Stone.
info: qsyndicate.com.
Brigham Young University LGBTQ alumni hosted its first reunion with participants spanning decades.
info: heraldextra.com.
Not a single Philippines representative voted against LGBTQ discrimination.
info: mashable.com.
Southern LGBTQ youth have gotten the opportunity to spend time in Provincetown, Mass. in a Summer of Sass program where they spent time in an environment that is welcoming and supportive. Now, the directors are seeking more funding to help keep the effort alive in years to come. They are selling a “resistance coloring book” which features area-based artists with interpretations of resistance.
info: vice.com. summerofsass.com.