NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Conservative lawmakers nationwide introduced a flurry of anti-LGBTQ bills this year, but no state’s political leaders have gone further than Tennessee in enacting new laws targeting transgender people.
Lawmakers passed and Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed five new bills into law, consistently dismissing concerns that they discriminate against an already vulnerable population, that some of the laws are unworkable and that they could damage the state’s reputation.
Supporters defend the laws policy by policy, arguing that one protects parental rights, others protect girls and women and one even improves equality. Opponents reject those claims.
Colin Goodbred, a 22-year-old transgender student raised in the Nashville suburbs who attends college in New Hampshire, says the bevy of new laws could keep him from ever calling Tennessee home again.
“I think that these sorts of bills are part of what is pushing me away from identifying Tennessee as my own state, even though I spent the vast majority of my childhood, I grew up, in Tennessee,” said Goodbred, a Dartmouth College senior. “I don’t feel like I want to return there. I’m already going to college out of state. I’m wanting to work out of state. And they’ve made it abundantly clear that they do not want trans people in the state.”
Tennessee’s emergence as an anti-LGBTQ leader grows out of a rightward political shift in a state Republicans already firmly controlled. Lee’s Republican predecessor tapped the brakes on some socially conservative legislation, but emphatic GOP election wins fueled by strong support for former President Donald Trump have emboldened lawmakers since then. That’s the political landscape in which Lee is launching his 2022 reelection bid.
Legislatures in 30 other states, most of them Republican-controlled, have considered banning trans youth from sports teams that align with their gender identity. Twenty have weighed bans on gender-confirming medical care for transgender minors. The Human Rights Campaign has called 2021 the worst year for anti-LGBTQ legislation in recent history.
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Tennessee this year banned transgender athletes from playing girls public high school or middle school sports. The state is poised to become the first to require government buildings and businesses that are open to the public to post signs if they let trans people use multi-person bathrooms and other facilities associated with their gender identity.
Public schools, meanwhile, will soon risk losing lawsuits if they let transgender students or employees use multi-person bathrooms or locker rooms that do not reflect their sex at birth. Lee also signed legislation to require school districts to alert parents 30 days before students are taught about sexual orientation or gender identity, letting them opt out of the lesson.
“Tennessee is taking the crown for the state of hate,” said Sasha Buchert, a Lambda Legal senior attorney.
The governor recently defended the school-bathroom rule. “That bill provides equal access to every student,” he said.
Neighboring Arkansas is the only other state to ban gender-confirming care for minors, one of three new anti-transgender laws there. Montana has two new legal restrictions for transgender people. Sports bans have also passed in a handful of other states, including Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia.
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The decadeslong culture war over LGBTQ rights has focused on transgender Americans in recent years and has increasingly been a topic of discussion on conservative-leaning news outlets.
The recent wave of bills has had support from conservative groups including the Heritage Foundation and the Alliance Defending Freedom, with the latter offering model legislation for transgender athletics bills. The push in statehouses follows Democratic President Joe Biden’s executive order prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity.
A survey by The Trevor Project showed 94% of LGBTQ youth said recent political debates over the issue had negatively affected their mental health. A separate question found more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year.
The Trevor Project has been contacted by Tennessee youths in crisis 2,400 times over the past year, according to Executive Director Amit Paley.
“Our son asks regularly, ‘When can we move, or can you send me to boarding school?’” said Amy Allen, whose 8th grade transgender son is dreading changing from private to public school next fall.
Nashville’s mayor warned that the business signage requirement for bathrooms and other facilities could be particularly detrimental for his growing, progressive-leaning city, which is often at odds with social policies coming from the GOP-dominated Capitol downtown.
“This law is part of an anti-LGBT political platform of hate and division,” said Mayor John Cooper, a Democrat. “One of the risks for Nashville is that the hostility inherent to these signs can be the equivalent of hanging up another sign: a ‘Do not come here’ sign. We are an inclusive city, and that won’t change.”
Some of Tennessee’s new laws face practical challenges.
The signage bill’s sponsor said people could file lawsuits or district attorneys could ask a judge to force businesses to comply. But Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference President Amy Weirich says the bill “doesn’t speak to anything having to do with enforcement,” so her group remained neutral on the bill.
“The way it’s written, I don’t see anything that allows or provides me the responsibility or right to go to civil court and ask a judge to enforce it,” said Weirich, Shelby County’s district attorney.
Regarding the medical treatment ban, advocates say no doctor in Tennessee currently provides youth hormone therapy before puberty.
Supporters of sports-team bans have largely been unable to cite local cases — in Tennessee or nationwide — where trans athletes were seen to have a competitive advantage. They argue that the rules will ensure a level playing field.
The new laws send a bad signal, said Aly Chapman, mother of a transgender son and advocate.
“I don’t know how to see it any other way than it’s about oppression, control and power and telling people, ‘You do not exist,’” she said.
Advocates say the next few years will be critical. Many fear the barrage of legislation may continue.
“The signaling is, ’Hey, look at what we’ve been able to do. Here’s the road map,’” Chapman said. “They’re not done.”
BLOOMINGTON – The annual Indiana University Writers’ Conference will be held virtually for the first time in its 81-year history. The four-day event will also feature English professor Ross Gay, who recently won the 2021 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award for his book “Be Holding: A Poem.”
In 2020, conference organizers were ready to celebrate 80 years of continual operation since the event’s founding by Herman B Wells in 1940, but the COVID-19 pandemic cut those plans short. This year, conference director and senior lecturer in English Bob Bledsoe and associate director and third-year MFA candidate L. Renée plan to pick up the celebration where it left off and have made the event more accessible.
L. Renée. Photo courtesy of L. Renée
“In some ways the pandemic has allowed us to broaden the reach of the conference,” Renée said. “We are registering writers from all over the country who are trying to make art and find meaning during this time, and they will be able to join in a community with people who are doing the same.”
Rates for workshops and classes, which will take place June 3 to 6, is reduced for the virtual conference, and the number of scholarships available has increased this year.
The conference will feature poetry, fiction and memoir workshops, as well as writing craft classes and evening readings online in live/synchronous gatherings. Award-winning conference workshop faculty for the event include ZZ Packer (fiction), Maggie Smith (poetry) and Jaquira Díaz (memoir). Classes will be taught by Joseph Cassara (fiction), Tiana Clark (poetry), Hannah Bae (creative nonfiction), Brando Skyhorse (publishing) and Shawna Ayoub (writing through trauma).
Ross Gay. Photo by Adewale Agboola
In honor of the 81st anniversary of the conference, Gay will lead a special class for conference participants on lyric archiving, which will feature writing experiments, drawing, and collage.
“A successful class for me would be that care happened, listening happened, laughter happened, and probably something that you wouldn’t have made otherwise happened,” he said. Every time he works with writers, Gay said, “I witness people make things that are more beautiful than anything I could ever imagine, and that I could never have coached someone up on making.”
Gay will also be leading a special evening event to read some of his own work and answer questions from attendees. All evening readings are free and open to the public, not just to those enrolled in conference classes or workshops.
The selection of these diverse, award-winning workshop faculty reflects the diversity of the participants in the nation’s second-oldest, continually operating writers conference, Renée said.
“Our conference is open to writers at every part of their journey,” she said. “It allows emerging writers, K-12 teachers and parents, as well as Ph.D. and MFA students and professional writers, to meet with different types of people.”
The conference also provides workshop participants with valuable feedback from faculty and their workshop colleagues, since they submit manuscripts in advance of the conference for review.
“We’re excited for the opportunity to celebrate the history of bringing creative people from all over the world together for this conference and to make these renowned professional writers available to such a wide range of participants,” Bledsoe said.
We may have had to wait an extra year to watch Marvel’s new epic superhero film Eternals, but judging by this first trailer it’s going to be well worth the wait.
Directed by Academy Award-winning director Chloé Zhao, Eternals takes place in thousands of year as it follows a group of immortal beings who have shaped the fate of humanity and civilization.
For more than 7,000 years they’ve quietly existed in the background, but following the events of Avengers: Endgame they reunite to protect humanity from their threatening counterparts the Deviants.
Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan, Kit Harrington, Kumail Nanjiani, Barry Keoghan, Lauren Ridloff, and Ma Dong-seok make up an incredible ensemble cast.
Brian Tyree Henry stars as Phastos who will be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first openly gay male superhero. He will be joined by Haaz Sleiman who will play his on-screen husband.
Fox News host Will Cain suggested a new LGBT-themed Lego set “could have been designed” by former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke.
Cain railed against the Lego “Everyone Is Awesome” set, which features 11 purposefully “ambiguous”, non-gendered figurines in the colours of the trans and POC-inclusive Progress Pride flag, in a Fox News segment titled “The Left’s Push for Racial Division”.
Missing the point entirely, Cain said of the rainbow set: “This separation into colour-coding, living up to every stereotype from hairstyle to skin colour, looks like it could have been designed by [former KKK leader, antisemite and neo-Nazi] David Duke”.
“This is the opposite of Martin Luther King’s dream for America, or the American constitutional ideal that every man is created equal.”
Cain made the remarks as part of a rant against programs that prioritise people of colour, suggesting liberal forces were attempting to “resegregate America”.
Alongside the Lego set, he also referenced a school in Wellesley, Massachusetts which invited students of colour to a safe space to grieve anti-Asian hate crimes.
He argues: “This kind of creep, this kind of racial segregation is infiltrating every aspect of our culture.”
The Lego set, called ‘Everyone is Awesome’, was released last week (20 May) for Pride month. The toymaker has previously worked with a number of LGBT+ charities including Workplace Pride, Stonewall, Open for Business and Diversity Role Models.
Lego designer Matthew Ashton said of the set’s release: “I wanted to create a model that symbolises inclusivity and celebrates everyone, no matter how they identify or who they love.
“Everyone is unique, and with a little more love, acceptance and understanding in the world, we can all feel more free to be our true AWESOME selves! This model shows that we care, and that we truly believe ‘Everyone is awesome’!”
NEW YORK (WABC) — NYC Pride announced its grand marshals slated to lead the NYC Pride March on Sunday, June 27.
Wilson Cruz, Ceyenne Doroshow, Menaka Guruswamy, Arundhati Katju, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis and Aaron Philip will head this year’s celebration.
Wilson Cruz stars as Dr. Hugh Culber on the Paramount+ series “Star Trek: Discovery,” which won a GLAAD award last year.
He appeared on the Netflix series “13 Reasons Why” and in Hulu’s GLAAD Award-Winning series The Bravest Knight. He is also the Executive Producer of Visible: Out on Television airing on Apple TV+. Wilson became the first openly gay actor playing an openly gay role on series television for his role as Rickie Vasquez on the ABC series “My So Called Life,” a role for which he received the Emery S. Hetrick Award from the Hetrick-Martin Institute for Outstanding Contributions to LGBTQ Youth.
Ceyenne Doroshow is a compassionate powerhouse performer, activist, organizer, community-based researcher and public figure in the trans and sex worker rights’ movements. As the founder and executive director of G.L.I.T.S., she works to provide holistic care to LGBTQ sex workers while serving on the boards of SWOP Behind Bars, Caribbean Equality Project, SOAR Institute, SWP, TGJIP of San Francisco, and NYTAG. Her presentations include Harm Reduction Coalition, the International AIDS Conferences, and now PRIDE on FX.
Menaka Guruswamy is a senior advocate at the Supreme Court of India who has defended government legislation that mandates that all private schools admit disadvantaged children, and overturned section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalized same-sex relations.
Arundhati Katju is a lawyer practicing in Indian trial and appellate courts who successfully represented the lead petitioners in Navtej Singh Johar and others versus Union of India, where the court struck down India’s 157-year-old sodomy law. In 2019, Katju and Guruswamy were among TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of the Year for their work on the Johar case.
Dr. Demetre Daskalakis is recognized internationally as an expert in HIV prevention and has focused much of his career on the prevention and treatment of HIV and other STIs as an activist physician with a focus on LGBTQIA+ communities.
He is also dedicated to improving the health of underserved communities and is passionate about addressing health equity. He works to address stigma in HIV by promoting status neutral service delivery and programming and by improving overall health and well-being of people with or at risk for HIV by addressing key social determinants of health. He serves as the director of the Center for Disease Control’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.
Aaron Rose Philip hails from the Bronx by way of the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda. Philip was discovered through her social media where she took notice of the lack of representation of trans women of color within the fashion industry, let alone anyone with a disability.
Represented by Community New York, she has emerged as a trailblazer, determined to represent her communities as a model. She’s actively worked towards an inclusive industry via her editorial features in i-D, Dazed, Vogue, Allure, and W magazines, in addition to campaign features in Moschino, Sephora, Marc Jacob, and Calvin Klein.
The NYC Pride March broadcast special will return for its fifth consecutive year. Featuring live performances, on-air interviews, and exciting street-side marching activity, the broadcast will air on ABC7 from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 27 as well on ABC7NY.com and ABC7 New York’s streaming apps on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku.
All in-person elements will be produced in accordance with the most current guidelines for public events in the city. Following the broadcast, a virtual experience of the March will begin online across streaming platforms.
The virtual program will feature groups and organizations that would typically take to the streets for the annual NYC Pride March.
Each segment will highlight one of this year’s five Grand Marshals. The show will stream on NYC Pride’s Facebook and Youtube on Sunday, June 27 beginning at 3:00 p.m.
Rounding out programming for this year’s NYC Pride March is the March Pop-Ups. As local businesses open up to indoor activities, NYC Pride will reimagine the typical Pride March Float experience by utilizing the outdoor seating areas of locally owned businesses in Manhattan.
These unique Pop-Ups will help boost visibility for local business owners, provide a canvas for out-of-work designers and artists, and bring an added vibrancy back to the streets in June. An interactive map will allow attendees to find their favorite activations, and learn more about organizations that are participating.
Billy Porter is an actor and singer who enjoyed a successful career on Broadway before transitioning to roles in television and film projects. An openly gay man, Porter has broken barriers for many LGBTQ people and is widely regarded as not only a style icon but a champion for human rights causes.
Still, a recent announcement from Porter might just be his most groundbreaking one yet, sharing a long-held diagnosis with the public that could help cement his status as one of the bravest performers in the entertainment industry.
Porter was born in Pennsylvania in 1969. Growing up in a strictly religious family, Porter turned to the performing arts as a means of self-expression and went on to graduate from the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama.
Throughout the ’80s, Porter performed with several entertainment groups in and around his hometown/ In 1992, the young man appeared on the TV program Star Search. He won $100,000 and used his experience on the show as a springboard to other career opportunities.
Beginning in the early 2000s, Porter began a stint on Broadway, acting and singing in productions like Jesus Christ Superstar, Dreamgirls, Songs for a New World, and Angels in America.
In 2013, Porter originated the role of “Lola” in the cult-classic production Kinky Boots, going on to win multiple awards for his work in the stage play. Around the same time, Porter began acting in movies, frequently taking on comedic roles that showcased his brilliant sense of timing.
What is Billy Porter best known for?
Billy Porter attends the 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards at STAPLES Center on January 26, 2020 in Los Angeles, California | Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
In 2018, Porter began appearing in the hit TV series Pose, a show that details New York City’s drag ball culture scene in the ’80s. Porter received critical praise for his work in the series from the start.
Over the years since, he has won multiple awards for his role in Pose — including, in 2019, the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.
These days, Porter is still actively appearing in Pose, as well as working on multiple other projects in the entertainment space. Porter has also become a tireless advocate for human rights causes, primarily those relating to LBGTQ+ issues.
An openly gay man, Porter has never shied away from being who he is, and he clearly receives joy out of helping others to become their most authentic selves, as well.
Why did Billy Porter go public with his HIV diagnosis?
In May 2021, Porter shocked the world when he opened up about being diagnosed with HIV in 2007. Porter revealed that after he was first diagnosed, he decided to keep it a secret, telling only select friends and family, but purposely not telling his mother about the diagnosis.
“For a long time, everybody who needed to know, knew — except for my mother. I was trying to have a life and a career, and I wasn’t certain I could if the wrong people knew,” Porter admitted, as reported by US Weekly. “I didn’t want to put her through that. I was embarrassed. I was ashamed. I was the statistic that everybody said I would be. So I’d made a pact with myself that I would let her die before I told her.”
Still, Porter eventually decided that he wanted to fully live in his truth, and recently decided to not only tell his mother about his HIV diagnosis, but to let the world in on it as well.
“The truth is the healing. And I hope this frees me,” Porter stated.
With so many major projects in the works and so many accolades to his name, Porter is one of the few high-profile men to have gone public with an HIV diagnosis, paving the way for so many others to live in and embrace their stories.
AuthorMeg Ten Eyck is a white, cisgender, queer woman based in the USA. She is an award-winning LGBTQ travel content creator, CEO of EveryQueer, and has been a professional LGBTQ+ activist and subject matter expert since 2005. She has also been a featured speaker at LGBTQ+ conferences around the world, has visited over 60 countries, and recently published her first book, Slacktivist: Using Digital Media to Create Change.
Pride has a deep, important history in the LGBTQ+ community, and it’s much more than just an event. It is a reunion, a time of remembrance and the best party of the year. It’s an opportunity for allies to show their support. We are all able to drop our guard and celebrate openly at events created for us, by us. These activities also allow the LGBTQ+ community to advance local queer culture in other ways, such as through cinema, art, music and sports.
Those who travel for Pride are able to connect with new communities and support the local economies around the world that host our events. Peter Jordan, a celebrated researcher and the thought leader behind the UNWTO Global Report on LGBTQ Tourism, explains the trends he’s seen unfolding.
“In recent years, Pride has become a major motivator to travel,” Jordan explained. “As people seek to discover how Pride is celebrated in different parts of the world, they use it as a springboard to visit other local destinations, too. In my 2018 ETC survey of LGBTQ individuals from the US, China, Brazil and Russia, attending a Pride event was voted the top reason for flying long-haul to Europe. This spreads Pride’s economic impact beyond the local businesses where Pride is celebrated, stretching across whole cities and regions.”
Jordan went on to explain that, beyond the obvious economic gains for communities celebrating Pride, the significance of these events is important in the advancement of LGBTQ+ culture. “Visibility is key to acceptance, so the simple effect of seeing hundreds, thousands or even more than a million people pour into the streets to show their pride can be enormously powerful in showing a global shift of perceptions about LGBTQ acceptance.”
Pride events in 2021 around the world
The kick-off to Pride as we know it happened in 1969 when a group of LGBTQ+ people at the Stonewall Inn in New York City fought for their rights and refused to stay silent. That same energy is here for Pride 2021, but this time with a resilient and adaptable view of what Pride is and how it should be observed.
In 2020, we saw Pride event after event cancelled across the world. Today, as vaccination rates improve regionally, we are starting to see the rainbow forming after the storm. Many countries are easing back into near-normal life and have announced plans to host either in-person, hybrid or fully digital Pride events. Although it won’t quite feel like pre-COVID days, the feeling of excitement around these gatherings is bubbling across the community. If you’re eager to participate, have a look to see which cities near you are hosting events, or transport yourself across the world (either literally or digitally) and join other communities as they celebrate Pride this year!
Here are some of the many creative ways Pride will be celebrated across the globe in 2021.
A digital discussion on what it’s like to travel as a trans or non-binary person
After the success of last year’s Pride webinar series, we’re excited to announce that we’ll be shining the spotlight on trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming travel this year. We’ll be chatting with some exceptional people from the LGBTQ+ community about what it’s like to explore the world as a trans or non-binary traveler, as well as what allies and the travel industry can do to support them on their journeys. Join our Pride panel conversation and see our line-up here!
Here you’ll find some of the top Pride events around Europe. This isn’t a comprehensive list, so if you see some countries or cities missing, that doesn’t mean Pride is cancelled!
Pride 2021 in the UK
Right here in the UK, dozens of Pride 2021 celebrations will be across the nation. As tight lockdown measures have loosened, several Pride celebrations have marked the calendar with save-the-dates. Many of the headliners and smaller events are yet to be announced, but several late summer and early autumn Prides will be taking over the UK. Pride in London, the UK’s biggest and most diverse Pride celebration, kicks off on 11 September. Birmingham Pride will be 25-26 September, with a combination of in-person and online events. Manchester Pride Festival will take place from 27-30 August.
Pride 2021 in Denmark
WorldPride 2021 and the LGBTQ+ sporting event EuroGames will take place in the Danish capital city of Copenhagen from 12-22 August. City Hall Square will serve as a village for the LGBTQ+ community. Many of the events will also be live-streamed for those wanting to participate from home. There will be parades both in Copenhagen and in Malmö, which is located across the Öresund Bridge in Sweden.
Editor’s note: Denmark is currently on the UK’s amber list for travel, meaning that the government advises against leisure travel there for now and there’s a 10-day quarantine period on arrival back in the UK. However, the list is reviewed every three weeks, and Denmark could be added to the quarantine-free green list in time for WorldPride. Keep an eye on our travel news page for updates.
Pride 2021 in Germany
Berlin’s Pride, known as Christopher Street Day (CSD), is usually kicked off with The Lesbisch-Schwule Stadtfest and typically takes place in June. This year, CSD-Pride Week is planned for 26-29 June, with small events taking place around the city. The Lesbisch-Schwule Stadtfest is currently scheduled for October 2021 in the heart of Berlin’s LGBTQ+ district, Schӧneberg. Christopher Street Day marches will take place on 26 June, with several small demonstrations at different districts marching toward Alexanderplatz, with the possibility of a larger event in September 2021.
In honor of the LGBTQ+ community, Berlin’s tourism board has created the Pink Pillow Berlin Collection, whichis a collection of LGBTQ+ friendly hotels that will also be providing resources to visiting LGBTQ+ people exploring Berlin.
Editor’s note: Germany has currently instated a travel ban on the UK and the country is also on the UK’s amber list for travel, meaning that the government advises against leisure travel there for now and there’s a 10-day quarantine period on arrival back in the UK. However, the list is reviewed every three weeks. Keep an eye on our travel news page for updates.
Pride 2021 in Malta
Pride in Malta will take place from 10-19 September. While the exact schedule of events is still pending due to COVID-19 regulations, they have announced that the Pride March, Pride Concert and After Pride Party are scheduled to take place on 18 September. The events will require an RSVP for crowd control, but reservations are free via its website.
Editor’s note: Malta is currently on the UK’s amber list for travel, meaning that the government advises against leisure travel there for now and there’s a 10-day quarantine period on arrival back in the UK. However, the list is reviewed every three weeks and Malta is expected to be added to the green list in the coming weeks or months. Keep an eye on our travel news page for updates.
Pride 2021 in Norway
Oslo Pride is Norway’s largest celebration of queer love and diversity. It will be a 10-day festival spanning from 18-27 June, where everyone can be exactly who they are. This year, guests will celebrate with a hybrid of physical events in the capital and digitally on the Oslo Pride 2021 website. Some of the in-person events will be held at Pride Park. The festival area consists of several stages, food service and bars, the Pride shop and many stands.
From 19-25 June, Pride House will put queer culture and politics on the agenda through debates, lectures, workshops and various cultural expressions. This year, Pride House is taking place at Youngs and Kulturhuset at Youngstorget. It’s free and open to everyone and, of course, will adhere to current infection-control guidelines for indoor events. Both Youngs and Kulturhuset meet requirements for universal design and have good accessibility on all premises.
Editor’s note: Norway is currently on the UK’s amber list for travel, meaning that the government advises against leisure travel there for now and there’s a 10-day quarantine period on arrival back in the UK. However, the list is reviewed every three weeks. Keep an eye on our travel news page for updates.
Pride 2021 in Sweden
Stockholm Pride will take place from 2-8 August in Södermalm and be in line with COVID restrictions and limitations. The theatre stage at Södra Teatern will host the Pride stage, and Pride House will be held at Clarion Stockholm. Both will be recorded and streamed digitally.
Malmö, Sweden, will be hosting the second half of WorldPride 2021. This year, Malmö Pride, together with Copenhagen, hosts WorldPride and EuroGames. This is the first time WorldPride and EuroGames have been combined, and they promise a rainbow-coloured party like no other. The event, which is held in both Malmö and Copenhagen from 12-22 August, offers an incomparable and spectacular program with two Pride parades, parties, musical performances, youth Pride, art and culture, a giant WorldPride House and much more.
Editor’s note: Sweden is currently on the UK’s amber list for travel, meaning that the government advises against leisure travel there for now and there’s a 10-day quarantine period on arrival back in the UK. However, the list is reviewed every three weeks. Keep an eye on our travel news page for updates.
Pride 2021 in Switzerland
Since 1994, Christopher Street Day has been regularly held in Zurich to fight against discrimination and for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. This year, from 18-19 June, the festival site on the Sechseläutenplatz and next to Bürkliplatz will be transformed into a party hotspot. Arosa Switzerland has always been an LGBTQ+ friendly destination and home to Arosa Gay Ski Week since 2005.
Editor’s note: Switzerland is currently on the UK’s amber list for travel, meaning that the government advises against leisure travel there for now and there’s a 10-day quarantine period on arrival back in the UK. However, the list is reviewed every three weeks. Keep an eye on our travel news page for updates.
Pride 2021 in North America
As you might suspect, there are a lot of Pride events around North America, especially in the United States. We wish we could’ve included them all! The following is a sampling of Pride events, but not a comprehensive list.
Editor’s note: The US is on the UK’s amber list for travel, meaning that leisure travel there is advised against and there’s a 10-day self-isolation period for every arrival back to the UK. However, travel experts are predicting that the US could be added to the UK’s green list for travel later on in the summer, hopefully opening the door to Pride events in 2021.
Pride 2021 in the United States
Arizona
This year, Phoenix is celebrating its 40th anniversary of the annual Phoenix Pride Festival which will take place on 6-7 November at Steele Indian School Park. Phoenix Pride will be a two-day, in-person celebration designed to bring LGBTQ+ and allied communities together for a weekend of camaraderie. Pride celebrates the past, present and future of the LGBTQ+ community while also raising funds for the Phoenix Pride Community Programs. This year’s Phoenix Pride will be packed with 150 entertainment performances and 300 exhibitors showcasing a variety of delectable food, infinite shopping and community resources. This extravagant festival also brings an art expo, KidSpace, dance pavilion, Erotic World and performance stages. The Circle K Main Stage lineup features artists like Neon Trees, Melanie Fiona, Jody Watley and Deborah Cox.
California
Pride returns to San Francisco this year and will be celebrated throughout all of June. “All in This Together” is the theme for #SFPride51, and it’s quite fitting! As with many festivals, the Parade and Celebration won’t be taking place, but there are many new and fun events on the schedule.
California hosts dozens of pride celebrations each year. San Diego Pride is set to take place 10-18 July. The lineup includes She Fest, an annual women’s Pride festival; the spirit of Pride rally; and several smaller events around the city.
Los Angeles Pride will host a combination of in-person and virtual events throughout the month of June. Some of the free events include a streaming concert presented by TikTok and the Thrive with Pride Celebration one-hour special on ABC7.
Florida
Florida has dozens of LGBTQ+ Pride 2021 events happening this summer and fall. Celebrate Pride in a laid-back island destination for Key West Pride. This multi-day festival will be packed with events, from the Pride Street Fair to pool parties.
A parade stretching along Ocean Drive will kick off Miami Beach Pride in September. Throughout the multi-day festival, a variety of singers will perform, including Matthew Richardson, Nitty Scott and Teraj. Previous years have regularly received around 170,000 attendees, and this year’s festival will work to comply with CDC COVID protocols.
For two weeks in October, Orgullo’s Festival returns as a celebration of drag as an art form. Countless are expected to perform, and a variety of LGBTQ+ movies will be showcased. The festival will blend in-person and virtual events to ensure the safety of attendees and performers. Wynwood Pride will return this June in Miami’s most colourful neighborhood.
Set to be bigger than ever, the Tampa Pride Street Festival will accommodate more attendees across a larger space. Thousands will gather for the Diversity Parade that will wind its way through historic Ybor City. The Pride at Night concert will last until midnight and feature headliner Martha Walsh. Throughout the month of June, St. Petersburg will host a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community through St. Pete Pride. Across four themed weeks, from Arts & Music Week to the Taste of PrideFest Week, hundreds of St. Pete restaurants, cultural institutions and retail partners will participate to attract guests with events, discounts and Pride-friendly offerings.
And finally, each Memorial Day Weekend, Pensacola serves as home to one of the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ gatherings. The city will host its Pride Festival in the Park, a free gathering held in historic Seville Square and one of the main attractions over Pride weekend.
Georgia
Augusta Pride Festival will take place on 25-26 June at the Augusta Common. On the 25th, the popular “Beats on Broad: The Blue Party” will take place with a DJ and a live performance by former American Idol Top 8 contestant Ada Vox. On the 26th, Augusta Pride will host its regular free festival with a live performance by former “The Voice” contestants OneUp Duo. While Augusta Pride is putting a pause on having a parade this year, the association hopes that with mask encouragement and social distancing, the festival’s parade can return to offering an outlet for the LGBTQ+ community to gather safely in Augusta again.
James Mintz, president of Augusta Pride, said, “After cancelling last year’s event, we’re proud to return back to downtown Augusta to offer a chance to gather again safely together to promote Pride and visibility.”
Savannah’s popular Pride event will be held on 28-30 October. Kicking off with Masquerade, a drag and costume party, the three-day celebration will feature a parade, musical performances, parties, food and events for LGBTQ+ kids and families.
Indiana
While a Pride festival of sorts has existed in Indy for more than four decades, the Indy Pride Parade officially began in 2002 with one float, an antique truck, a few drag queens, some antique cars and several walking groups. It lasted a whole 15 minutes. By 2012, the Circle City IN Pride festival stretched further than three city blocks, with more than 300 vendors and over 80,000 LGBTQ+ people and allies in attendance. And the parade continues to grow to this day.
This year, the Indy Pride Festival is being held virtually on 12 June. Attendees can still have fun online by tuning into concerts on Twitch, exploring companies and organisations via the vendor village and engaging in virtual meetups with fellow attendees and supporters. A Guide to Virtual Pride will continue to be built out over the coming weeks. People who purchase t-shirts and swag from the United State of Indiana are directly supporting Indy Pride, as 100% of proceeds from its Pride collection go back to the organisation.
Kentucky
The Louisville Pride Festival is a street fest that takes place every September in the heart of the city’s eclectic Highlands neighbourhood. Additionally, for two days from 8-9 October, celebrate at the Kentuckiana Pride Festival. The organisation promotes advocacy for Kentucky’s sexual and gender minorities, and despite cancelling its 20th-anniversary festival in 2020 and postponing it this year, Kentuckiana Pride is ensuring an exciting venue on the Big Four Lawn in Downtown Louisville. Previous years have featured live performances with singers, dancers and drag queens. Following the celebration, it is worth exploring Louisville, which is consistently ranked among the Midwest’s most inclusive destinations, having been recognised by several publications for its welcoming and LGBTQ+ friendly atmosphere.
Missouri
Tower Grove Pride is returning once more to St. Louis on 25 September. While postponed from its original June date, the celebration will feature more than 100 booths, activities, entertainment and food. Two stages for performers are also set to be available at the festival. Even if Tower Grove Pride won’t happen until September, the Pride Care-A-Van is still set to roll down in June. Last year’s caravan parade consisted of more than 150 cars and served as a remedy for the lack of pride celebrations during the pandemic.
Nevada
From annual events to amazing entertainment, Las Vegas proudly celebrates the LGBTQ+ community and empowers travellers to embrace who they are year-round. The biggest LGBTQ+ event of the year, Las Vegas PRIDE is expected to return live on 8-9 October. The parade runs through Downtown Las Vegas on 8 October and the festival, on 9 October, will be bigger and more fabulous after 2020’s virtual at-home celebration.
The Inaugural Henderson Pride Festival set for 4-6 June will include a series of events focused on celebrating diversity, self-awareness, promoting family values and health and wellness in all its forms, kicking off the weekend before with Pride Night at Cowabunga Bay on 28 May.
From 17-19 September, the Nevada Gay Rodeo Association’sBigHorn Rodeo will once again ride into Las Vegas, bringing with it all the typical rodeo favourites and camp events. Spectators will be jumping in their boots as they enjoy a multitude of events, from bull riding and roping to barrel racing, during the annual three-day event held at Horseman’s Park.
New York
New York City Pride will be taking place throughout the month of June. The roster of events will be a combination of in-person and digital events. The NYC Pride March on 27 June will be presented in a virtual format as well as to-be-determined in-person elements, and The Rally on 25 June will feature a diverse array of speakers and activists in a virtual format. PrideFest and Pride Island will also return on 27 June.
Long Island Pride on the beach will take place this year on 13 June as a pre-ticketed event and will require all attendees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The event will have a 500-person capacity and will centre around surprise concert performances at Eisenhower Park.
Buffalo Pride 2021 will be taking place virtually this year. They will be putting on a “reverse parade” (Home Sweet Pride) from 1-6 June, where they’re asking homes and businesses to style their properties in the most colourful and jubilant Pride decorations to remind the community that Pride Week is taking place. They do have plans to add more events, including a “Speaking With Pride” session on 1 June.
Ohio
Columbus, Ohio has become a mecca for LGBTQ+ inclusivity and open-mindedness, with public figures like Nina West (known for her role on RuPaul’s Drag Race) putting the Midwest city on the map. While this year’s celebration may look different, Columbus is set to commemorate 40 years of Columbus PRIDE. Columbus’s first PRIDE March in 1981 attracted just 200 people, and now (pre-pandemic) the festivities bring upwards of 800,000 visitors to the area. Many of this year’s events will be virtual, but some like the Tea Dance are moving forward pending COVID regulations.
Oklahoma
The inaugural downtown OKC Pride Alliance Festival will be hosted at Oklahoma City’s all-new 40-acre downtown park, Scissortail Park, from 25-27 June. This historic event will encompass music, film and art in a way that Oklahoma has never seen before. Elements of the festival will also be presented in a virtual format for those who aren’t comfortable attending the in-person events this June. The OKC Pride Alliance’s Pride Parade will take place on 26 June, starting in Oklahoma City’s vibrant Arts District and ending back at Scissortail Park. Greyson Chance, who was born and raised in Oklahoma City, will headline the OKC Pride Alliance Festival with a free concert on 25 June in celebration of the LGBTQ+ community in Oklahoma City and beyond.
The long-running Tulsa Pride Festival will be held 6-7 June and commence with the Rainbow Run, a one-mile endeavor to benefit Tulsa Pride and Oklahomans for Equality. On the festival’s second day, the annual parade will kick off an evening filled with performances on the main stage.
Tennessee
The OUTLOUD Music Festival will be held on 4-6 June. Created in 2017 to celebrate LGBTQ+ musicians and artists, the festival creates a fun, energetic and diverse lineup that celebrates equality. The Pride 2021 festival will host performances by Japanese Breakfast, Todrick Hall, Soccer Mommy, Tank and The Bangas, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Derrick Barry as Britney Spears and Coco Montrese and many more local and national artists.
In the fall, Nashville’s 33rd annual Pride Festival + Parade will take place on 18-19 September at Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. This event is usually held in June, but the organisers shifted the date to expand attendance and ensure the health and safety of all involved. After having to cancel last year’s celebration, there is a lot of excitement around what this year’s event will have in store.
Virginia
Virginia PrideFest is set for 25 September. The festival includes a parade, youth pride celebration, parties and panel discussions. This year’s celebrations will be in person with capacity restrictions to allow for COVID-19 social distancing. Richmond is also home to Black Pride RVA, which will be taking place on 16-18 July.
Roanoke is also hosting virtual Pride 2021 events in June for its History of Pride in Southwest Virginia. Two outstanding speakers will be featured to discuss the surprising history of Pride in Virginia’s southwestern corner: Chaplin Joe Cobb, the first openly gay member of Roanoke City Council, Roanoke City’s former vice mayor and a current member of Roanoke City Council; and Samantha Rosenthal, PhD, co-founder of the Southwest Virginia LGBTQ+ History Project and assistant professor at Roanoke College.
“Pride is a celebration of all that makes our city special,” Cobb said. “A place where visitors and residents who identify as LGBTQIA+ and allies know we are welcome; that who we are is celebrated; and that we can live, work, play and thrive in Roanoke.”
Pride 2021 in Canada
Vancouver, well-known for its amazing Pride celebrations, is unfortunately cancelling its typical events for the second year in a row. But Vancouver Pride Society still has some fun replacement activities planned for July and August. There are small, in-person events, like Pride Art Walk, VanPrideFest and a Decentralized Parade. For those wanting to join virtually, tune in for Drag Deliveries, Queer History Panel and Posh Ball.
Toronto’s Pride is turning 40 this year, and they are introducing the first-ever Phygital Pride Festival in June. There will be a virtual Pride parade, virtual street fair and physical-based programming like pop-ups, art exhibits and collaborations with local venues to ensure the health and safety of those in attendance. It’s going to be an innovative blend of physical and digital experiences that you won’t want to miss! Pride Toronto will even host two festival weekends, 18-20 and 25-27 June.
Editor’s note: Canada is on the UK’s amber list for travel, meaning that it’s not advised to travel there for leisure purposes and you’ll have to self-isolate for 10 days on your return to the UK. The list is reviewed every three weeks so Canada could be added to the quarantine-free green list in the coming weeks or months. If not, you can still tune into the virtual Pride events from home.
Pride 2021 in Mexico
Playa Del Carmen Pride will take place from 21-27 June. All across the city, they will be celebrating with parades, art galleries, dancing and celebrations. Join the fun at Canopy by Hilton Cancun La Isla’s Wander Rooftop every Thursday night, with Pride-themed rooftop parties hosted by local and international DJs and performers.
Vallarta Pride takes place on 24-31 May. The town’s entire LGBTQ+ community will come together to organise an event that celebrates the sexual diversity of Mexico in a five-day festival headlined by Rupaul’s Drag Race comedian Bianca Del Rio.
Mexico City Gay Pride – or Marcha del Orgullo LGBT de la Ciudad de México – takes place every June, morphing the destination into a rainbow-hued hotspot. While Mexico City continues to be an LGBTQ+ hub, the 2021 official Pride march has sadly been cancelled. However, smaller, locally organised events and virtual broadcasts are happening across the city.
Editor’s note: Mexico is on the UK’s amber list for travel, meaning that it’s not advised to travel there for leisure purposes and you’ll have to self-isolate for 10 days on your return to the UK. The list is reviewed every three weeks so Mexico could be added to the quarantine-free green list in the coming weeks or months.
Pride 2021 in Asia
If you’ve ever wanted to join Pride in Asia, you have the perfect opportunity this year with virtual events! Check out the Pride schedule in Taiwan and Tokyo, and note that this is not a comprehensive list for Asia.
Pride 2021 in Taiwan
Taiwan is one of the most LGBTQ+ friendly countries in Asia and the only country on the continent with marriage equality. The country is set to celebrate Taipei Gay Pride in October. Many of the events are still being planned for the autumn celebration, but each year, Taipei Pride attracts guests from all over Asia and the Middle East, where LGBTQ+ rights and social acceptance have not quite reached the same levels of joy and celebration as Taiwan.
Editor’s note: Until at least 18 June there is a travel ban in place for non-Taiwanese residents entering Taiwan, and it’s on the UK’s amber list. Keep an eye on the UK government’s advice to see if this will change in advance of Taipei Gay Pride.
Pride 2021 in Tokyo
Tokyo Rainbow Pride held a series of online virtual events in April this year. The theme was “one courageous voice can change the world,” which highlighted individual expression. The virtual events featured 16 special guests, as well as content to help people learn about current LGBTQ+ issues in Japanese culture.
For those destinations not listed
You may have noticed that some regions of the world are missing from this list. While we tried to cover as many destinations and events as we could, there are countless celebrations popping up all the time. We did our best to cover those we’ve deemed to be government-approved and taking proper COVID precautions, and did not feature events in countries currently on the UK government’s red list.
In the case of our friends in the Southern Hemisphere, Pride was celebrated during their warmer months of January through March. In other regions, the pandemic is still taking a toll on locals and their economy, and they have not planned Pride events this year. And elsewhere, unfortunately, being openly LGBTQ+ is illegal or socially unacceptable and, as such, Pride celebrations aren’t permitted.
How will you celebrate Pride in 2021?
For those who have been or will be celebrating in 2021, Pride will look different than in the past, but that doesn’t make the events any less important and impactful. If you plan to attend in-person events, follow mask-wearing guidelines and exercise social distancing. For those attending online events, consider sharing, liking and commenting, which are all free ways you can contribute. When possible, everyone should consider supporting local LGBTQ+ businesses, creatives and nonprofits.
And of course, don’t forgetto join Skyscanner’s upcoming panel conversation about trans and non-binary travel. As mentioned at the top of the article, we’ll be chatting with some exceptional guests from the LGBTQ+ community about what it’s like to travel as a trans or non-binary person, as well as what allies and the travel industry can do to support them on their journeys. Plus, you can email your questions to our panelists ahead of the event and hear them answered on-air. Save your spot now so you don’t miss out!
Regardless of where or how you celebrate Pride this year, remember that Pride is our opportunity to look back in reflection and forward in honour of our community. Have fun, and celebrate safely!
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Here’s a theory: It’s the memories you don’t see coming that you wind up remembering the most. The moments that drop out of nowhere, like they belong to somebody else. Because they’re not supposed to happen. They’re a bit of a shock, even to you.
Phil Mickelson on Sunday. Those four words alone: When was the last time anyone had thought about Phil Mickelson on a Sunday? And yet there he was, at age 50, triumphantly striding up the 18th fairway, Tiger Woods’s former foil, now the newly-crowned King of Kiawah, mobbed in the chaos of a khaki shorts Woodstock.
This was Pete and Alice Dye’s primo ocean course, waves crashing, sun primed to set, a laughably beautiful vision on an ordinary day, and now it’s a sunburned preppy madhouse. Golf seldom stirs like this, and to have it happen after a year like the past one, when protocoled players were asked to make these walks on near-empty tracks?
And to have it happen to Phil the Thrill? The scene felt like a rapturous release.
Phil! Phil! Phil!
“Slightly unnerving but exceptionally awesome,” Mickelson will say. He needed a wedge of police just to pry loose and walk onto the green.
Phil! Phil! Phil!
How could you ever dream of something like this?
“I just believed it was possible,” Mickelson says later, “but everything was saying it wasn’t.”
He thought he still had tricks in the bag. You don’t keep grinding like he did if you don’t. You don’t show up, a five-time major winner now outside the world’s top 100, if you don’t think it can happen, that somehow you will eventually summon the old sorcery and do it one more time. It’s too hard to bother otherwise. It’ll get embarrassing fast, if you don’t believe.
And yet pretty much everyone else had moved on. At least one sports book had Mickelson at 300-to-1 to win the 2021 PGA Championship. He’d been regularly missing cuts and entered this event ranked 115th in the world. He was a long shot’s long shot, a name brand still, but as bets go, a nostalgic lark.
He had his doubts, too.
“I know what my problem is,” he said in April, after missing another cut, at the Valspar Championship. “I’m not physically able to keep my focus. As I’ve gotten older, I have a hard time focusing.”
On Sunday, he kept focused, almost comically so. How many times did we watch Mickelson, clinging to a fragile lead, step to the ball and then take a sudden step back, closing his eyes and visualizing a positive outcome? This was a different trick in the bag. The situation was absurdly tense—an unexpected chance, true history on the line—but Mickelson maintained a wizard’s studied calm. He would not get unfocused and impulsive and blast himself into trouble.
Phil remained Phil, though. He took big shots and nearly suffered some very big misses, and the final round played out nervily. Mickelson was paired with the muscular comet Brooks Koepka, 31, who’s won four majors, including the PGA twice, and the two of them swerved around the front nine—three bogeys and three birdies for Phil, and a bogey, two birdies and a buzzard for Brooks. Mickelson vs. Koepka had been presented as a battle for the ages, but it was starting to look like a buddy movie gone awry.
The first inkling it might really be Phil’s day occurred on the par-3 fifth, when he holed a staggering bunker shot for a birdie. It was the sort of crafty, why-the-hell-not magic that Mickelson used to deliver all the time, back when he was packaged, fairly or not, as Woods’s closest rival, but now he was doing it as a half-centenarian who’d hadn’t won a major since 2013.
Ooooooooooohhhhh—yes! The crowd roared on the bluff. Mickelson shot his arms skyward. They’ll replay that shot always.
The back nine proved to be as edgy as the front—a little bit of magic, a little bit of uh-oh. It became riveting theater. It’s fascinating to watch a gifted player thrash a course, but championship golf is far more fun when it’s one step from disaster, because that’s a product that mortal hackers recognize. Mickelson couldn’t avoid trouble, but he avoided catastrophe, and Koepka, worn down by his surgically-repaired knee, failed to plunge a knife. Contenders elsewhere on the leaderboard (Louis Oosthuizen, Kevin Streelman) never made a big move. When Mickelson blasted a 366-yard tee shot on the 16th—the longest of the week, and not from a young gun, but a cool-headed elder—it felt like higher forces were in play. The tournament was Mickelson’s to win.
And then he won it, tapping in a two-putt, to finish out 70-69-70-73. It’s the sixth major of his career, the second at the PGA, and this time he did it with his brother, Tim, serving as caddie. Mickelson, who turns 51 on June 11, is now the oldest person to win a golf major, but what is old anymore, anyway? Tom Brady won a Super Bowl at age 43 and Roger Federer and Serena Williams will play Wimbledon this summer on the cusp of 40. The former benchmarks of sporting obsolescence are vapors. Over the weekend, France bid adieu to the 109-year-old cycling legend Robert Marchand, who set world records at age 100 and 105—that’s more than double a Mickelson.
In victory, Mickelson talked about the extra work he’d done, and the physical maintenance, and over the years, he’s become more disciplined with both his diet and regimen—don’t get him going on his coffee—but this championship felt like a surprise even to him. Maybe even a bit of a shock. Phil Mickelson had stood in this position before, more than a few times, but this is the one that he didn’t see coming. Nobody did. That’s why you saw that pandemonium on Sunday. Golf will remember it forever. So will he.
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What did you think of Phil Mickelson’s victory on Sunday?
Three of the country’s largest blood donation organizations have completed a study into whether individual risk assessments could replace the current three month waiting rule.
Health News Florida: Study Could Ease FDA Blood-Donation Restrictions For Gay Men A pilot study with three of the nation’s largest blood donation organizations could help the FDA change its blood-donation restrictions for men who have sex with men. Current FDA guidelines say that men who have sex with men must wait three months before they can donate blood. The study by OneBlood, the American Red Cross and Vitalant will determine whether the FDA should replace its three- month waiting period with an individual risk assessment. (Prieur, 5/21)
AP: On A Mission To Heal After Exposing Her Dad To Deadly Virus For a year, Michelle Pepe awoke every day, recited the Kaddish, the mourner’s prayer, and kissed a photo of her father. And coped with her guilt. “’Dad,” she says, “I’m so sorry that this happened.”“This” was COVID-19. … Hers is a common sorrow of the times. Around the world, countless people are struggling to shake off the burden of feeling responsible for the death of a loved one due to COVID-19. They regret a trip or feel anguish over everyday decisions that may have spread the disease — commuting to work, hugging parents, even picking up food. (Andres Henao and Wardaski, 5/24)
NPR: To Heal From Her Trauma, She Turned To Weight Lifting When personal trainer and former competitive weight lifter Laura Khoudari experienced a traumatic incident that left her with PTSD, her response was to get back to the gym and train as hard as possible. She was participating in three sports, sometimes going to two training sessions per day. “When I was living with trauma, I was using [training] as a coping skill but in a non-healthy way. I was training all the time like I was preparing for battle because I wanted to be invincible against an invisible threat,” Khoudari recalls. (Mertens, 5/21)
In other public health news —
CIDRAP: CDC Confirms 163 Salmonella Illnesses Linked To Backyard Poultry The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed 163 new Salmonella infections in 43 states that are linked to backyard poultry. A total of 34 people have been hospitalized, but no deaths have been recorded. Case-patients range in age from less than 1 to 87 years, with a median age of 24. But a third of the cases occurred in children under the age of 5 years, the CDC said. Of 92 patients interviewed, 81 (88%) reported contact with backyard poultry before falling ill. (5/21)
NBC News: Nearly 1 In 10 Teens Identify As Gender-Diverse In Pittsburgh Study The number of young people who are gender-diverse — including transgender, nonbinary and genderqueer — may be significantly higher than previously thought, according to a new study. Researchers in Pittsburgh found that nearly 1 in 10 students in over a dozen public high schools identified as gender-diverse — five times the current national estimates. Gender diversity refers to people whose gender identities or gender expressions differ from the sexes they were assigned at birth, according to the American Psychological Association. (Avery, 5/21)
NBC News: ‘Mind-Boggling’: Pedestrian Deaths Surged In 2020, Despite Fewer Cars On The Road Pedestrians deaths in 2020 increased by 21 percent from 2019 — the largest annual increase since such data collection began in the mid-1970s — according to a report released Thursday by the Governors Highway Safety Association. The figure is particularly striking because there were fewer drivers on the road for much of 2020, as Americans hunkered down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “All of the metrics indicate there were fewer people on the roads, and so you would expect to see fewer traffic deaths, but it’s the opposite,” said Richard Retting, a safety researcher the GHSA contracted to do the data analysis. “It’s kind of mind-boggling.” (Edwards, 5/21)
This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
Palestinian Solidarity protest May 23, Johannesburg) by Fatima Moosa
It’s almost comically paradoxical the way Israel positions itself as the only democracy in the Middle East. This while also carrying out settler colonialism and ethnic genocide against Palestinians. Needless to say, there’s a giant PR strategy backing it. Enter pinkwashing: a twist on greenwashing, where Israel weaponises LGBTQ rights to detract from its gross human rights violations.
Western, mainstream media is awash with the image of Israel as a “haven for the gay community” with a flourishing party scene and an annual gay pride. Tel Aviv is marketed one of the most “gay-friendly cities in the world”. This is despite that the conflation of Zionism with queer liberation has been criticised by queer activist groups worldwide, but especially Palestinian groups. Let’s break it downby SHAAZIA EBRAHIM.
What is pinkwashing?
Pinkwashing explains the way the Israeli government, agencies and LGBTQ groups uses its seemingly progressive stance on gay rights in Israel to detract from its persistent settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing in historic Palestine. The term pinkwashing comes from queer Palestinian groups and has been widely used since 2010.
Pinkwashing has been one of the most successful propaganda wins for Israel. It also exposed (quickly after I moved to Europe) the Islamophobia and racism rife on this continent. Pinkwashing tapped into it, weaponised it https://t.co/M4ubvjWDrp
Pinkwashing allows Israel to position itself as a democratic, liberal and gay friendly country supported by its relatively gay-friendly laws. On the other hand, pinkwashing paints a false, racist and Islamophobic picture of uniformly backward, barbaric and homophobic Arabs/Palestinians.
As a political strategy, pinkwashing is a form of identity politics which functions on a bedrock of anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia. Pinkwashing Israel functions on an Orientalist understanding that the East remains “backwards” in its stance on homosexuality/ or other expressions of queerness because it refuses to learn from Western progressivism. There is a wealth of research that we can draw from to further explain this but for the purposes of this article, let’s keep it concise.
It’s important to understand that racist understandings of sexuality are currently being weaponised to maintain contemporary imperialist and colonial political aims. The best theory which explains this is homo-nationalism. Homo-nationalism explains the way the right to, or quality of sovereignty is now evaluated by the way a state treats its homosexual subjects. For example, the US has positioned itself as a global defender of LGBTQ rights in its capacity as a world superpower despite its shoddy domestic treatment of queer rights. This is similar to the way the US positioned/ still positions itself as a saviour of Muslim women to further its own imperial aims in the Middle East.
This is all to say: don’t be fooled by the way western powers claim to care about the rights of oppressed groups while ignoring justice.
zionists love telling me, a gay palestinian, to “go to Gaza and see how I get treated there” and its like…. are you threatening me with the right to return?? yes baby lift the siege on gaza and buy my ticket!!! no questions asked!!!
What exactly does Israel hope to achieve with this campaign?
For starters, pinkwashing absolves Israel of its harmful military and colonial policies which have killed many Palestinians and continue to make life unbearable for Palestinians. Then there’s contextualising Israel in the Middle East and being judged by regional standards but also being treated as a cultural extension of Europe. (Hello Eurovision!)
How has Israel marketed its identity as a “gayhaven”?
Well, a handful of laws suggest that Israel has a relatively progressive stance on queer rights. Gay people are generally protected by anti-discrimination laws and can openly serve in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). Same-sex marriage isn’t legal in Israel, but its recognised if performed elsewhere. Israel’s religious authorities, who control marriages, don’t sanction civil marriages for both heterosexual and same-sex couples. Same sex couples also enjoy significant rights and recognitions and have adoption and same-sex inheritance rights. Trans people can, since 2015, change their legal gender without having to under sex reassignment surgery.
The laws are relatively progressive, but what is Israel really like for queer people?
Actually, Israel isn’t quite as queer-friendly as it’s marketed to be. Despite its relatively progressive laws, it’s still a pretty conservative society. Like many conservative countries in the world (we’re looking at you America), there is still homophobia and queerphobia in general among some sects of the countries’ leadership and hate crimes against queer people. For example, in 2015, an Israeli homophobe killed a teenager and wounded five others at a Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem. This is all if you’re Israeli and queer.
Queer Palestinians, like all Palestinians, are considered demographic threats to the Israeli state, and obstacles in the way of Zionist colonialism. Israel is by no means a safe space for them, as they are prevented from seeking asylum on account of being Palestinian. Palestinian queer activist groups have also said that gay people are often targeted by the Israeli security services and forced to collaborate with Israel or face being outed.
Okay but this doesn’t take away from the fact that Palestine is probably queerphobic right?
This is where it gets murky. How does the “largest open air prison in the world” which barely has electricity and potable water fare with gay clubs or access to Grindr as a measure of its success as a nation? Equating Israeli oppression of all Palestinians with Palestinian homophobia assumes that queerphobia is more threatening to queer Palestinians than colonialism, as if the two are not intrinsically linked.
In fact, a settler-colonial state could even sustain or create the conditions for social ills, including homophobia. Zionists have for years both negated and attacked Palestinian culture, rendering it nonexistent, threatening or insignificant. This means that Palestinian society has become zealous about what it perceives as culture and tradition. This allows Palestinian Authorities to take on the role of “morality police” to safeguard Palestinians from what it perceives as the ills of the West. Queer Palestinians therefore face the threat of Israel and Zionism to Palestinians and the perception of queerness as a Western phenomenon.
Where does pinkwashing leave queer Palestinians?
Through the lens of pinkwashing, Palestinians are either reduced to being victims of homophobia in their own communities in need of saving from Israel and/or the West or as perpetrators of homophobia against Palestinians and terrorism against Israelis. This allows Israel to exploit Palestinian queer identities to further its project of dispossession, ignoring how Zionist colonialism shapes the queerphobia Palestinians face in their own communities.
Palestinian Solidarity protest May 23, Johannesburg) by Fatima Moosa
How can I support queer people in Palestine?
There must be a commitment to ending all the intersecting oppression/s perpetrated against Palestinians.Queer Palestinian groups are calling for the support of Palestinian queer rights in a way that challenges the way Israeli organisations have appropriated and weaponised the cause. Instead they are calling for supporters to engage first and foremost with Palestinians, rather than perpetuating the erasure of Palestinians inherent to Zionism. Queer BDS activists have urged international queer groups to engage in solidarity actions with all Palestinians, and not confine their solidarity to Palestinian queers.
Check out these international and Palestinian queer organisations:
Emma Stone’s ‘Cruella’ features Disney’s “first” gay character—for at least the seventh time.
Disney
Disney’s upcoming Cruella, a live-action origin story for the iconic antagonist of 101 Dalmatians, is being praised for featuring Disney’s first gay character.
It’s a familiar milestone for the company, as Disney has pioneered their “first” gay character at least 7 times, give or take; Onward, Beauty and the Beast, Jungle Cruise, The Rise of Skywalker, Zootopia, Toy Story 4, and Avengers: Endgame all feature minor characters who make exceedingly subtle references hinting at same-sex attraction.
Conveniently, these minuscule slivers of LGBTQ representation are so brief, so utterly irrelevant to the plot of these films, that they can be easily edited out for socially conservative audiences, as was the case with the quick lesbian kiss from The Rise Of Skywalker.
Pro-LGBTQ press outlets, starved for representation, will either cheer Disney’s cautious baby steps towards inclusion, or criticize the company’s cynicism.
None of these queer background characters really stick around in collective memory long enough to make an impression, hence, each time Disney pulls the same trick, it is heralded as the “first.”
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Arguably, Disney has never made enough commitment to representation to even justify the word; even Cruella’s alleged LGBTQ representation appears to be more of a tease, rather than a commitment.
John McCrea at the 2018 Olivier Awards confirmed that his ‘Cruella’ character is gay.
Jeff Spicer/Getty Images
Actor John McCrea, who plays Cruella’s “fashion-obsessed” friend Artie, stated: “It depends on who you’re asking I suppose—but for me, yes, it’s official: he’s queer. But we don’t see him falling in love; there’s no social aspect to the character. It’s not beating you on the head with a stick.”
It seems odd that, in 2021, Disney is still attempting to have their cake and eat it when it comes to LGBTQ representation, especially when other animated children’s media, such as Steven Universe,Adventure Time, The Owl House and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, feature openly queer characters.
However, even Disney’s tepid attempts at representation have managed to spark fury in the heart of the intolerant, attracting boycotts and aggressive censorship. And Disney, like every other media institution, seeks to avoid controversy that threatens profit.
The question is, when will Disney feel confident enough to truly commit? The LGBT community can’t celebrate Disney’s “firsts” forever, and the half-hearted representation shown thus far is only fueling frustration.
Surely, another culture war is on the horizon, and Disney, the hulking behemoth of the entertainment world, is going to be viewed as an important battleground.
On the plus side, Kevin Feige has promised that The Eternals and Thor 4 will feature LGBTQ representation, so there are at least two more “firsts” to look forward to.
The Oregon House of Representatives passed SB 704 on May 13, a piece of legislation that bans the “LGBTQ panic defense” for murder. The bill now awaits a signature from Oregon Gov. Kate Brown before it goes into law.
The “LGBTQ panic defense” has historically been used as a legal defense for murder. Those using the justification claim that violence against a gay or trans individual was due to “extreme emotional disturbance” about the victim’s queer identity in order to lighten their sentence.
Basic Rights Oregon, a nonprofit LGBTQ advocacy group, requested the proposal of the bill. The group emphasizes the needs of People of Color, trans and nonbinary individuals, youth and people who live outside the Portland metro area.
Mikki Gillette, Basic Rights Oregon’s major gifts officer, said the bill was something that people, especially trans people, had asked about for the past couple years. She said the group tries to focus on a piece of legislation every other year that will impact Oregon’s LGBTQ communitiy as much as possible, and that community voices brought the “LGBTQ panic defense” to the front.
“Someone who had harmed or killed a trans person was allowed to say that they were somehow justified,” Gillette said, “or it was somehow the trans person’s fault for being who they were that caused the violence.”
Oregon was one of nine states to introduce a bill that would ban the “LGBTQ panic defense” during its 2021 legislative session. It’s already banned in 13 states and in the District of Columbia.
Zack Johnson is a second-year law student at the University of Oregon, as well as the vice president and treasurer of OUTLaws — an LGBTQ group at the UO law school. He said he sees the bill as a positive step, even if it was something that should’ve happened many years ago.
“To provide that defense allows for people who have committed the crime — and the court, for that matter — to treat queer and trans individuals as second class citizens,” he said. Johnson said allowing “gay panic” as a defense for murder implies that queer people’s identity and life is a crime.
Although the “LGBTQ panic defense” is largely tied to the past — it was most famously attempted in Matthew Shepard’s 1999 murder trial — Gillette said Basic Rights Oregon has heard anecdotes about people using the excuse during closed-door, pretrial bargaining stages. According to The LGBT Bar, the defense was most recently successfully used in April 2018, when Robert Miller claimed he had killed his neighbor Daniel Spencer as self-defense to Spencer’s alleged unwanted sexual advance.
Johnson said the way the bill plays out still remains to be seen. “In Oregon, where our roots are so tied to racism, my concern for this bill is that it’s not actually going to be particularly effective to the people who need it most,” he said.
HRC’s 2020 report included fatal violence against trans people in three of the states that had banned an “LGBTQ panic defense” in 2019 or earlier.
Aja Raquell Rhone-Spears, a Black trans woman who was fatally stabbed in Portland, is among those in HRC’s 2020 violence report. Gillette said Rhone-Spears’ sister testified in support of SB 704.
Johnson said eliminating an “LGBTQ panic defense” doesn’t necessarily give anyone additional resources or protection. While SB 704 serves as a statement of value — and is important through that lens — it’s not necessarily going to stop someone from murdering an LGBTQ person, he said.
But Johnson said he sees the bill being helpful for the families and loved ones of murdered LGBTQ people who are able to take the case to court. There’s value in “the feeling that the life of their loved one is valued at the same level as someone who wasn’t killed because they are straight or because they are cis,” he said.
Legislation like SB 704 can also serve as a springboard to create more active protections for queer and trans people, Johnson said. It’s something Gillette wants to do with Basic Rights Oregon going forward, with a focus on the most vulnerable LGBTQ Oregonians.
“I feel like a state saying there’s never an excuse for harming a trans person or killing a trans person because trans people are valued here, that’s powerful,” she said.
Emma Stone’s ‘Cruella’ features Disney’s “first” gay character—for at least the seventh time.
Disney
Disney’s upcoming Cruella, a live-action origin story for the iconic antagonist of 101 Dalmatians, is being praised for featuring Disney’s first gay character.
It’s a familiar milestone for the company, as Disney has pioneered their “first” gay character at least 7 times, give or take; Onward, Beauty and the Beast, Jungle Cruise, The Rise of Skywalker, Zootopia, Toy Story 4, and Avengers: Endgame all feature minor characters who make exceedingly subtle references hinting at same-sex attraction.
Conveniently, these minuscule slivers of LGBTQ representation are so brief, so utterly irrelevant to the plot of these films, that they can be easily edited out for socially conservative audiences, as was the case with the quick lesbian kiss from The Rise Of Skywalker.
Pro-LGBTQ press outlets, starved for representation, will either cheer Disney’s cautious baby steps towards inclusion, or criticize the company’s cynicism.
None of these queer background characters really stick around in collective memory long enough to make an impression, hence, each time Disney pulls the same trick, it is heralded as the “first.”
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Arguably, Disney has never made enough commitment to representation to even justify the word; even Cruella’s alleged LGBTQ representation appears to be more of a tease, rather than a commitment.
John McCrea at the 2018 Olivier Awards confirmed that his ‘Cruella’ character is gay.
Jeff Spicer/Getty Images
Actor John McCrea, who plays Cruella’s “fashion-obsessed” friend Artie, stated: “It depends on who you’re asking I suppose—but for me, yes, it’s official: he’s queer. But we don’t see him falling in love; there’s no social aspect to the character. It’s not beating you on the head with a stick.”
It seems odd that, in 2021, Disney is still attempting to have their cake and eat it when it comes to LGBTQ representation, especially when other animated children’s media, such as Steven Universe,Adventure Time, The Owl House and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, feature openly queer characters.
However, even Disney’s tepid attempts at representation have managed to spark fury in the heart of the intolerant, attracting boycotts and aggressive censorship. And Disney, like every other media institution, seeks to avoid controversy that threatens profit.
The question is, when will Disney feel confident enough to truly commit? The LGBT community can’t celebrate Disney’s “firsts” forever, and the half-hearted representation shown thus far is only fueling frustration.
Surely, another culture war is on the horizon, and Disney, the hulking behemoth of the entertainment world, is going to be viewed as an important battleground.
On the plus side, Kevin Feige has promised that The Eternals and Thor 4 will feature LGBTQ representation, so there are at least two more “firsts” to look forward to.
A young woman, who looks lost and adrift amidst a sea of half-naked canoodling men in a photo that has now become a viral sensation, has identified herself and said she does not mind becoming a meme.
Amruta Godbole shared yet another meme over the weekend and said: “I’m in this photo and I don’t like it. Jk (just kidding). I mean that is actually me in the photo. But I like it every time.”
The meme was captioned “Olivia Rodrigo with her fans,” referring to the teenage pop star who has earned a huge gay fanbase with her record-breaking debut single “Drivers License.”
Ms Godbole’s picture shows her standing in the middle of leather harness-clad gay men at a San Francisco street fair in 2017, looking seemingly lost and confused.
The picture clicked by her friend from above instantly gave fodder to the meme culture, wordlessly identifying her with the feeling of being out of place, invisible or single.
Ms Godbole, 35, who is a corporate lawyer, told BuzzFeed, she felt like a “fish out of water” during the event and it is amusing for her acquaintances to see her in the funny meme, given the seriousness of her profession.
“One of my main groups of friends in San Francisco is a group of gay men, so I have often found myself in situations where I’m the one woman amid all of these gay men,” she said.
She says the fact that she stood out in the picture so clear is because her height is 5’1, and “they’re all very tall and muscular.”
Ms Godbole said she often get these memes sent in her message box with her co-workers identifying her or asking if it is her in the picture.
“People send it to me and say ‘Is this you? What is happening here?” Ms Godbole said.
“When I was previously working at a big corporate law firm, that was very stodgy and old school, a colleague sent me a text exchange between him and a colleague asking if it was me,” she said.
“So it’s a funny thing for people who know me in the context of being a serious lawyer.”
STEVENS POINT – Organizers of the city’s LGBTQ Pride celebration are not short on ambition.
Stevens Point’s Pride festival returns from noon to 9 p.m. on June 12 at Pffifner Pioneer Park after a physical hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Organized by Point Pride, a group sponsored by CREATE Portage County, this year’s event will be double in length and size than the last celebration in 2019.
June is LGBTQ Pride month, which originated as protests led by Black transgender women, in response to a 1969 violent police raid of New York’s Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar.
Headlining the event are drag performers Sissy LaLa and Bryanna Banx$ as well musical performances from groups such as Falling Flat. Other performers include Croi Croga Aerial Arts. The event will feature alcohol, food trucks and a local vendor and artisan market.
Ryan Goszkowicz, event director for Point Pride, said they have tentative plans for an afterparty at Main Street Taps, which has frequently hosted drag shows in the area. He estimates the event will feature 20 to 30 queer performers from across the state and nearby Minnesota.
“To finally have the CDC say that things are finally lightening up a bit for people to come to our event is incredible,” he said. “I want to be outside. I want to talk to people. The response we’ve been getting on Facebook has been very cool. My phone is constantly is buzzing.”
Point Pride organizers last year held a small, prerecorded online event as the pandemic paused the group’s efforts to keep a Pride celebration going. The pandemic gave Goszkowicz and his group an extra year to plan the event.
“It was a blessing in disguise,” he said. “I think we were a little over our head the first time around.
Goszkowicz headlined 2019’s Pride event at Pfiffner as drag queen Sissy LaLa. When he found out the group, Central Wisconsin Equality, that put together that year’s festival folded, he knew he had to step up for his hometown.
“I thought ‘I’m not going to let this not happen’,” he said.
He, his brother Rob, Reggie Eaton and Martha Bawara came together last year to pick up where the previous group left off. They started by working with CREATE’s Greg Wright to secure a nonprofit status so they could solicit donations from businesses. He said he couldn’t be more proud of the group’s work.
The nonprofit status they acquired through CREATE was critical in being able to convince businesses to donate and sponsor the event, such as Agora Makers Market, Brody Designs, Rookies Sports Pub and Portesi.
Goszkowicz said part of the festival will include a drag show for first-time performers, judged by himself, Banx$, Mayor Mike Wiza and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point mascot Stevie Pointer.
“The entire feeling of the event is love and support and having it be your first time to perform is incredible,” Goszkowicz said. “It just gives them an outlet.”
The idea for a campy contest for first-time performers came from the overwhelming feedback he experienced after 2019’s drag show as well as media coverage, such as a story about the rise in drag queen shows at local bars in the region by USA TODAY-Network Wisconsin. As more bars, such as Main Street Taps, brought in drag queens that attracted full audiences, people told him they didn’t think it was possible to have that response to queer culture in the region.
Goszkowicz said he hopes this year’s event will help establish Stevens Point as a perennial hotspot for LGBTQ events in central Wisconsin.
But for fellow event organizer Eaton, Pride this year is about having survived 2020.
“For me personally, holding Pride after everything gives us a chance to feel positive after a year of vitriol. Specifically for the LGBTQ+ community and BIPOC community to be able to celebrate themselves and not be at a protest,” Eaton said. “It’s nice to have that positive event happening but also being able to express ourselves as the people we are without hate or backlash, hopefully.”
Contact reporter Alan Hovorka at 715-345-2252 or ahovorka@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ajhovorka.
