Answering Facebook Questions

by Mark Segal of Philadelphia Gay News

I asked, you answered.

Every so often I ask my Facebook and Twitter friends (about 30,000) to suggest subjects for me to address in this column. Here are some recent suggestions:

Conversion therapy: It's torture and imprisonment, mostly of LGBT youth.

How Trump's travel ban affects the LGBT community. Think of all those oppressed LGBT people in those six countries where travel has been restricted who are attempting to escape. It just became a little more difficult to justify this policy.

TrumpCare and PrEP. PrEP is covered by ObamaCare, but under Trump it's a crap shoot at best. Chances are that if you are not on a corporate plan, you most likely will have a hefty payment out of pocket.

Recent attacks against our community centers and individuals, mostly trans communities. When you compare these incidents with similar ones targeting Muslim, Indian and Jewish communities, it's a systematic form of hate, emboldened by hate speech from the Trump campaign and administration. This backlash can further translate into anti-LGBT legislation.

The ongoing delay on the federal Equality Act. That is our community's fault. We have not fought back against the Republicans who control the House and Senate. It is our job to be creative and make our opposition hurt them, with nonviolent civil disobedience that captures the American public. Fight back! Don't sit back. We have a lack of national LGBT leadership. Are you listening, HRC?

Finally, Sue Kerr asked to mention a program in Western Pennsylvania called The Amplify LGBTQ Project. There are few lesbian correspondents in our community and it's always an honor to support their efforts.

Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the nation's most-award-winning commentator in LGBT media. His recently published best selling memoir, "And Then I Danced," is was recently named NLGJA's Book of the year.