LGBTQ Breaking News Service

Ivo Šegota, a molecular biologist, and Mladen Kožić, a sociologist, became the first-ever same-sex foster parents in Croatia last year. (Facebook/ Ivo Šegota)

All-volunteer organization, Safe Schools Desert Cities has been empowering local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex youth (LGBTQI+), their allies and GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) advisors since 2012. The organization works to create opportunities that foster individual growth as well as create community. These goals are achieved by providing education, guidance, advocacy, resources, recreational activities and opportunities for self-expression.

While the organization has been mostly dark during distance learning, Safe School plans to resume all its normal operations when school reopens. This will include events like the Pride Prom, the Rainbow Youth Summit and connecting with GSA advisors.

The organization provides one liaison to each school district, periodically meeting with the schools’ GSA advisors, learning about the needs of the schools and providing a calendar of events. Safe Schools also provides financial support for T-shirts, backpacks and other items for GSA members.

The opportunities that Safe Schools Desert Cities creates has a tremendous impact on some of the students it has assisted. In 2015, Carly Jacobs was introduced to the organization while a sophomore at Yucca Valley High School.

“I attended Palm Springs Pride that November, where I had a blast and was accepted as my authentic self for the first time,” Jacobs said. “Since my first coming out experience was horrible, being in a supportive environment changed how I felt about being alive.”

Jacobs became active with the organization, attending educational panels with discussions on coming out, activism, drag fashion, sexual health and scholarships. She also attended Pride Prom, which she felt catered to her experience, enjoyment and safety. After participating in leadership camp, she became a counselor.

Jacobs attended California State University, San Bernardino, where she received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in gender and sexuality studies. Safe Schools awarded her several scholarships and emergency financial support to help with her journey. Jacobs says the organization saved her life.

“It gave me hope in a future where I would be supported and acknowledged and provided a reason for becoming an activist,” Jacobs said.

This last year, the organization has been using its time for strategic planning, working on securing more funding and better serving students and advisors. All Safe Schools events had to be canceled and that included fundraising events.

Despite this, the organization awarded $23,000 through its Pride Award and Financial Assistance Awards to 26 students. Since its inception, Safe Schools has awarded more than $150,000 in scholarships.

Recently, Safe Schools Desert Cities received a grant through the Inland Empire Community Foundation. Individuals wishing to support their work can donate through their website or attend the organization’s upcoming virtual fundraiser.

On May 15 from 2 to 4 p.m. Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert will be hosting “Mama Gloria: The Story of Legendary Trans Activist Gloria Allen.“ The documentary will be viewed online followed by a discussion led by Luchina Fisher and Mama Gloria.

The organization’s president, Eric Ornelas encourages more of the community to visit the organization’s website, discover more about their work and sign up for their upcoming newsletter.

Ornelas said the future is looking bright for when school resumes in the fall. Safe Schools Desert Cities plans to resume working with more than 30 schools in the Coachella Valley schools districts and Morongo unified school district.

“When you’re an LGBT kid, not all parents know how to help,” Ornelas said. “We work directly with the schools so that these kids know that they don’t have to walk this road alone. There are supportive adults who will offer support and welcome them as they are.”

For more information, call (760) 459-2700 or visit safeschoolsdc.org.

The Inland Empire Community Foundation’s mission is to strengthen Inland Southern California through philanthropy. Learn more about them at iegives.org.

A consistent level of parental support, even if it’s negative, leads to better mental health outcomes for lesbians and gay men, according to a small new study.

The report, released this week at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, found that individuals whose parents were initially unsupportive of their sexual orientation but became more accepting with time were most likely to report symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Researchers at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology surveyed 175 cisgender gay men and lesbians about the initial and current levels of parental support they received regarding their sexuality.

Based on their responses, the subjects were divided into three groups: Those whose parents’ reaction was consistently positive, those whose parents’ reaction was consistently negative and those whose parents’ reaction shifted from negative to positive. (A fourth group, individuals whose parents were initially positive but shifted to negative, was excluded because it was too small to analyze.) 

The groups were then given two assessments frequently used to determine mental health: the general anxiety disorder-7 questionnaire and a patient health questionnaire. The first questionnaire found those with consistently positive support and those with consistently negative support had “mild anxiety,” while those whose parents evolved from negative to positive had “moderate anxiety.” The latter questionnaire, which rates symptoms of depression, found those with static parental reactions exhibited “mild depression,” while those whose parents shifted their support had what is considered “moderate depression.”

Lead author Matthew Verdun, a doctoral candidate in applied clinical psychology at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and a licensed family therapist, said many factors could be at play, including that family rejection can lead gays and lesbians to find new, healthier support systems. 

“In coming out, we learn how to cultivate meaningful relationships and navigate across social context,” he said. “Who are safe people to come out to? How do I identify the people who are going to accept all of me, including my orientation?” 

Re-establishing the bond with a previously unaccepting parent could mean ending therapy or abandoning a chosen family, he said. And just because a parent is more accepting doesn’t mean the environment is a positive one.

“If a parent goes from being unsupportive to supportive, are they abandoning some of their relationships that may still be unhealthy?” Verdun said. “Are they part of a faith tradition that rejects their child or says they’re an abomination? If the parent comes around but doesn’t shift out of that belief system, that’s going to affect their child.” 

Previous research has generally linked negative responses from family to a higher probability of LGBTQ mental health issues: According to a 2010 study by the Family Acceptance Project, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young adults who reported low levels of family acceptance in adolescence were over three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts and to report suicide attempts, compared to those with high levels of family acceptance.

But those studies, Verdun noted, look at the dynamic at one point in time, usually when the individual has just come out or is still living at home. “I wanted to know what happens over time,” he said.

The findings can be useful for mental health providers, he said, but they shouldn’t be interpreted as meaning that rejecting your gay or lesbian child is a healthy response.

“If I was talking to parents, I’d say supporting your child is key,” Verdun said.

Psychiatrist Jack Drescher, author of “Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man” and a former editor of the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health, called the findings “rather surprising.”

“It’s not the result we expect, based on clinical evidence,” Drescher, who was not involved in the study, said. “But when we don’t know the answer, the answer is always to do more study. I’d love to see qualitative research — get narratives of the people involved and see what themes emerge among those who had the experience of having negative and later positive responses.”

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Trans author Ian Thomas Malone and Black author Liara Tamani. (Instragam/ ianthomasmalone and Instagram/
liaratamani)

DC Comics is giving us a little preview of their upcoming giant sized DC Pride #1 anthology, and we cannot wait to see all of our favorite queer superheroes and villains!

With Pride month fast approaching, DC Comics has given us a preview of their upcoming anthology of LGBTQ+ characters from throughout the multiverse. Not only does the issue feature stories about queer characters, but the writers and artists are queer as well.

The issue features everyone from Aqualad, to Apollo and Midnighter, to Harley and Ivy, Batwoman, and John Constantine. While many of the queer characters are featured in short stories, some of them — John Constantine, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, Catman, Aqualad, and Scandal Savage — also feature in pinups by LGBTQ+ artists.

The book will also feature full-page profiles of DCTV’s LGBTQ+ characters paired with Q&A’s from the actors who play them. This includes Javicia Leslie (Batwoman), Matt Ryan (John Constantine), Nicole Maines (Dreamer), Matt Bomer (Negative Man), and Nafessa Williams (Thunder).

DC Pride #1 will be available June 8 wherever comics are sold.

Raccoons get called many things: nuisance animals, bandits, trash pandas.

But one raccoon in University Heights, Ohio made it clear that what they want to be called is “Fabulous.”

But without a way to communicate this desire to the neighborhood using language, and without disposable income, Fabulous resorted to stealing a Pride flag, carrying it up a tree, and making a super gay nest.

Charlie Olivo noticed that the flag was missing from the home he shares with his husband and their dog Daisy upon returning from work, according to 19 News. Concerned, he reached out to the neighborhood via Facebook, asking if anyone else had a flag missing. But no one else did.

And that’s when Fabulous was outed by Daisy who started barking at something high up in a tree. Lo and behold, it turns out that their Pride flag wasn’t swiped in an act of anti-LGBTQ vandalism. It was swiped by a Chonky Raccoon Qween who just wanted to spruce things up a bit with some colorful home decor.

And while some might chide Daisy for not letting Fabulous come out on their own terms, in her defense, Daisy is a dog.

An unlikely bandit takes a couple’s Pride🌈 flag from their University Heights home in broad daylight.

Can you imagine? @cleveland19news: https://t.co/3YCxjcFQEg @LGBTCleveland #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA pic.twitter.com/a6yEdJeZCW

— Sia Nyorkor🌟🎥🎞🎙📺 (@TVNewsLady) May 3, 2021

19 News interviewed a neighbor who, in solidarity with Olivo and his husband, bought 11 Pride flags and gave them out to neighbors. So now there are 12 Pride flags flying on the street, counting the one that now belongs to Fabulous.

In other words, it turns out that LGBTQ Pride, like rabies, is contagious and can be spread by raccoons. Only one of them is deadly, however. The other one has us LIVING, HONEY.

As for Fabulous, the only statement made available for the press was, “It’s almost Pride month, so please leave cat food in a little dish on your porch ok thx bye.”

There was no fairy-tale ending for Henry Frömmichen after his chance encounter with Prince Charming.

Last autumn the 21-year-old German seminarian was hurrying across Munich’s Odeonsplatz when he spotted Alexander Schäfer, the lead in a popular gay reality show.

“Everyone in the seminary watched it, just not me, but I knew him from Instagram,” said Frömmichen. “I introduced myself as a seminarian and it was a great conversation.”

The problems began when he posted a selfie with Prince Charming to his Instagram account – with a church in the background.

Unwittingly, he had exposed the gap between Catholic teaching, and discretionary practice, over admission of homosexual men to the priesthood. He paid a heavy price: expulsion from the seminary last November.

Frömmichen insists he was ready to lead a celibate life as required of all Catholic priests. During seminary admission interviews he remembers being asked in a general way about his sexuality and whether he had any relationships.

“I said I had given up a relationship for this step because it was a greater source of excitement for me to enter the priesthood,” he told German radio. “When I tell people this they think, ‘he’s not quite the full shilling’.”

Catholic teaching states that homosexuals “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity” but that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered”.

‘Deep-seated homosexual tendencies’

The additional hurdle Frömmichen faced is a rule introduced by Pope Benedict XVI that men with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies” or who support a “gay culture” may not become priests. The document from November 2005, the German pontiff’s first priority, says that only men who have “overcome” a homosexuality that was “transitory” and who have remained celibate for three years before joining the seminary are eligible for the priesthood.

Munich seminary director Wolfgang Lehners says he sees no reason why men with healthy relationships to men and women should not become priests.

“But when the rainbow is in the background of everything he does then it will be very difficult for someone to represent the Catholic church as a priest,” said Fr Lehners to Deutschlandfunk radio.

Six months after he was thrown out, Frömmichen went public about his shattered dream after the Holy See’s insistence in March that the church cannot bless gay couples. “There’s such a dishonesty and double standard,” he said. “As long as it’s not discussed, it’s fine . . . that’s what was insinuated to me.”