September, 2016 News (62 Articles with 233,158 total views)
Articles from
the September, 2016 issue.
The print edition for this issue has 12 pages.
On the cover of the print edition
for September, 2016 MEETING WITH SEN CASEY: Tammie Johnson, Rev. Dr. Rich McCarty, Caitlyn Strohmeyer, Ciah Koehler, Senator Casey, Mike Mahler, Tyler Joseph Titus, Kyle Hannon, Will Koehler, Finu Joe Lukose, Paul Lukach, and Kim Conti.
Photo by Sen. Casey staffmember.
This began publication in December 2002 after a hiatus
Category for this issue
Calendar & Upcoming
Events
Local and Regional News
For the next print edition of
Erie Gay News (issue # 251, cover dated for October, 2016), please send in calendar events, news items, and other info for late September 2016 and beyond by
Monday, September 12. We expect that the next print edition will come out on
Tuesday, September 20.
On Friday, July 22, 2016, members of the Erie County HIV Task Force gathered to prepare packets of safer sex supplies and info to be distributed at various locations around the county. Check us out on
our Facebook page or on Twitter at
@ErieCountyHIVTF
On August 17,
U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and his Regional Manager for Northwest Pennsylvania Kyle Hannon, met with members and allies of the LGBT community to talk about legislation, issues, and concerns. Attending the meeting were Tammie Johnson (
SafeNet,
ACLU NW PA), Rich McCarty (
Greater Erie Alliance for Equality) Caitlyn Strohmeyer
(TransFamily of NW PA), Tyler J Titus (
GEAE.
TransFamily of NW PA), Michael Mahler
(Erie Gay News,
NW PA Pride Alliance), Will Koehler (
Greater Erie Alliance for Equality), Ciah Koehler (daughter of Will Koehler), Finu Lukose (
NW PA Pride Alliance), Paul Lukach (
Crime Victim Center of Erie County) and Kim Conti (
LBT Women of Erie).
TransFamily of NW PA Transgender Support Group's Erie chapter now meets at Crime Victim Center of Erie County, 125 W 18th St, Erie, PA. The meeting time remains the same: 2 - 5 PM. The next meeting is Saturday September 24.
On Saturday, August 6 through Sunday, August 7, members of
NW PA Pride Alliance,
LBT Women,
TransFamily of NW PA,
Erie Sisters and Brothers Transgender Support Group,
Erie Gay News, as well as individuals staffed an LGBTQ info table at the
Erie Art Museum's Blues and Jazz Fest in Frontier Park at W 8th St and Bayfront Highway in Erie PA. The purpose was to help infrm the general community about LGBTQ resources anmd events and part of NW PA Pride Alliance's mission to increase visibility and awareness. People stoppig by the table were friendly and this was a great opportunity to engage with people on a direct, personal level. There has been an LGBTQ table for several years now. Photos are by Andrea Shaffer. The Erie Art Museum has been kind enough to allow us to have a table at the event for several years now.
On Friday, July 22,
Greater Erie Alliance for Equality and
the Bourbon Barrel jointly held a Love for Orlando Benefit for the victims of the Orlando Pulse shooting. The fundraiser was held at Bourbon Barrel, 1213, State St., Erie PA. Over 200 people attended and over $2,500 was raised that night.
Entertainment and Travel
We are excited to announce
Dreams of Hope is accepting
applications for our cornerstone program:
theatriQ, a performing arts group of queer, trans, and allied youth (ages 13-21) in the Pittsburgh region.
August 26, 2016, Erie, Pennsylvania – The Erie Art Museum is pleased to present a new Holstein Gallery exhibition,
Mood Swing Review: A solo exhibition by Ron Bayuzick
. The show will run from September 23 to February 11, 2017.
August 23, 2016, Erie, PA—
The Erie Art Museum is organizing the next Gallery Night, scheduled for Friday, September 23 from 7 until 10 p.m. A city-wide art gallery crawl through local, independent galleries and the Museum, participating Gallery Night venues will open their doors after-hours for visitors to get up close and personal with art and artists in a unique way. Each gallery offers a different experience, from artist meet and greets to wine samplings to live music, and visual art, featuring local, regional, and national artists. Admission is free to the public.
NEW YORK, NY – August 25, 2016 – Logo today announced that its brand new reality dating competition series,
"Finding Prince Charming, " will premiere on
Thursday, September 8th at 9:00 PM ET/PT with a special 90-minute episode immediately following an all-new episode of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars " and will simulcast on VH1.
On Thursday morning, The Daily Beast published an article titled "I Got Three Grindr Dates in an Hour in the Olympic Village," which can only be surmised as a gay witch-hunt that harms LGBT individuals.
Political, Activism and Legal
Washington, DC - September 1, 2016 – Today Victory Institute and partner organizations convened Colombia's major political parties to discuss implementation of LGBTI inclusion clauses in the historic peace agreement between the government and FARC guerilla movement. Advocates shared the continued challenges to LGBTI political participation in the country, and provided party representatives with detailed recommendations for ensuring the agreement's inclusion goals are realized.
Sacramento - August 31, 2016 –The California Legislature has approved a bill, authored by Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and sponsored by Equality California, that would require private universities to publicly disclose if they discriminate against students and staff based on their gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. Senate Bill 1146 would require universities that are granted a Title IX exemption to notify the California Student Aid Commission and disseminate the information to students and staff.
Sacramento - August 30, 2016 --The California Assembly today approved a bill that would require the adoption of comprehensive suicide prevention plans by local California school districts for students attending grades 7-12.
Assembly Bill (AB) 2246 was authored by Assemblymember Patrick O'Donnell (D-Long Beach) and sponsored by
Equality California and
The Trevor Project.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - August 29, 2016 – LGBT rights groups challenging North Carolina's House Bill 2, the state law that bans many transgender people from restrooms that match their gender, today announced they will appeal part of a Friday district court ruling in order to seek broader relief for all transgender people in North Carolina before the case heads to a full trial.
Charlotte, NC….August 29, 2016,…..
Campus Pride today releases its 2016 "
Shame List," highlighting for the first time a national list of "The Absolute Worst Campuses for LGBTQ Youth." The national listing includes 102 campuses that openly discriminate against LGBTQ youth in policies, programs and practices as documented on the site listing. Find the detailed list online at CampusPride.org/ShameList
RALEIGH, N.C. - August 26, 2016 - A federal court today granted a request to stop the University of North Carolina from enforcing H.B. 2, the state law that bans many transgender people from restrooms that match their gender identity, against three transgender individuals who are challenging the law in court. In granting the preliminary injunction, the court found that the challengers are likely to succeed in their argument that the law violates Title IX.
Sacramento - August 24, 2016 --The California Legislature has passed AJR 45, a resolution authored by Asm. David Chiu (D-San Francisco) and sponsored by Equality California, calling on Congress to pass the federal Equality Act. The Equality Act updates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, federal funding, credit, and the jury system. With bipartisan support, the resolution was approved in the Senate yesterday and approved in the Assembly today on concurrence. AJR 45 is now adopted.
WASHINGTON – Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement in response to the ruling in Texas v. United States, in which a U.S. district judge issued an extraordinary preliminary injunction against federal guidance regarding the civil rights of transgender students in schools nationwide. The same judge will also be considering a challenge to the regulations implementing the anti-discrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in certain health programs or activities.
Sacramento - August 23, 2016 – The California Legislature today passed AB 1887, a bill authored by Assemblymember Evan Low and sponsored by
Equality California, that would ban state-funded travel to states that discriminate against LGBT people. The bill also is sponsored by the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
August 23, 2016 -
GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) today applauded the New Hampshire Supreme Court's
ruling that a premarital period of interdependent cohabitation may be considered in the division of property when a couple, whether same-sex or opposite sex, is divorcing.
August 23, 2016 - The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (
NCAVP) has learned of an intimate partner violence (IPV) homicide of Bernardo Almonte in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx, New York, which occurred on Friday, August 19th, 2016.
According to media reports, Bernardo was found dead with head trauma in his apartment, and his boyfriend, Marcus Bellamy, has been arrested and charged with murder.
Sacramento- August 22, 2016 -The California Legislature passed a bill today that would establish the nation's most inclusive restroom access law. Assembly Bill (AB) 1732 was authored by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) and sponsored by
Equality California, the Transgender Law Center and California National Organization of Women (NOW). If signed into law, the bill would require single-occupancy restrooms in California businesses, government buildings, and places of public accommodation to be universally accessible to all genders starting March 1, 2017. It cleared the Assembly this afternoon by a bipartisan vote of 55-15 after clearing the Senate on August 18.
NEW YORK (August 22, 2016) –
GLSEN's Director of Public Policy, Nathan Smith, expressed disappointment with Judge Reed O'Connor of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas's ruling that the U.S. Department of Education could not enforce its interpretation of Title IX to protect transgender and gender nonconforming students from discrimination in schools. The Department of Education, with the U.S. Department of Justice, issued guidance to school districts on how to accommodate transgender and gender nonconforming students in May, prompting two separate lawsuits by more than 20 states opposing the guidance.
August 22, 2016 - In response to preliminary injunction granted today by a federal judge in Texas v. U.S., blocking the May 2016 guidance by the Obama administration interpreting Title IX to protect transgender students, the following statement is by David Dinielli, deputy legal director,
Southern Poverty Law Center. "Today's order is an attack on transgender people. This case reflects an overreaction by many states to federal guidance about transgender schoolchildren. We are disappointed that this particular court has failed to understand what it means to be transgender. But we are confident that, over time, our courts will recognize that transgender children, like all children, feel safe and thrive when they are given equal opportunity to succeed. We are committed to this fight and will not stop until all of our kids enjoy safety and dignity in their schools and communities. "
FORT WORTH, Texas - August 22, 2016 – A U.S. District Court judge today issued a preliminary injunction against the federal government's guidance to public school districts regarding their legal responsibility to allow transgender students to use the same restrooms as other students. The ruling came in the multi-state lawsuit,
Texas v. United States.
Under Pennsylvania's new policy, which is similar to the process for updating gender markers on US passports, proof of sex reassignment surgery is no longer a requirement in changing one's gender on their birth certificate. Individuals with a Pennsylvania birth certificate can update the gender by having their physician submit a letter stating that they have had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition. Information about specific treatment is not required, but it can include counseling related to gender identity or living in accordance with their gender identity. For those that are not yet 18 years of age, a parent can request a correction to the gender field on their child's birth certificate.
(Springfield, IL, August 18, 2016)- Today, in a 5-2 decision with a strong dissent, the Illinois Supreme Court held that unmarried couples are barred from bringing common law claims to divide their property when they break up. The decision affirms the discriminatory policy established in 1979 by the Illinois Supreme Court in
Hewitt v. Hewitt, 77 Ill.2d 49, at a time when Illinois still criminalized intimate relationships outside of marriage.
Hewitt barred the state's courthouse doors to unmarried couples, holding that permitting unmarried partners to bring property claims would condone "meretricious" relationships and "weaken marriage."
Sacramento, Calif. - August 17, 2016 –
The Harvey Milk Foundation announced today that US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus officially named the first US Navy ship after a LGBT and civil rights leader and LGBT Navy veteran, Harvey Milk, at a ship-naming ceremony held yesterday, August 16, at The Great Lawn on Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay Area. The USNS Harvey Milk is the second ship of the next generation of fleet replenishment oilers, all of which will be named after important civil rights leaders.
Los Angeles - August 16, 2016 – Equality California announced today that it has endorsed Proposition 63, the "Safety for All" ballot initiative backed by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. Following the shootings in June at an Orlando LGBT nightclub, a spike in homicides of LGBT people and an ongoing worldwide epidemic of murders of transgender women, Equality California has made enacting gun safety measures a key part of its program and advocacy work.
August 15, 2016- Sixteen-year-old transgender high school student Ashton (Ash) Whitaker, represented by
Transgender Law Center and Relman, Dane & Colfax PLLC, filed a motion in federal court today for a preliminary injunction ordering his school to cease its discriminatory treatment of him before he returns to school for his senior year. Ash is currently suing his school district after having been denied access to male-designated restrooms at his high school, subjected to daily surveillance, and threatened with disciplinary action if he continued using the boys' restrooms.
(FORT WORTH, Texas - August 12, 2016) – Five leading national civil and LGBT rights organizations urged the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to reject an effort to block the Obama administration's interpretations of several federal laws pending trial in
Texas v. United States, including federal guidance advising public school districts across the country that the federal Departments of Justice and Education believe that transgender students should be allowed to use restrooms that correspond with their gender identity. Texas and 12 other states or governors or agencies of those states argued in court today for a preliminary injunction enjoining these federal agencies' interpretations from having any effect while the lawsuit proceeds.
August 12, 2016 - The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (
NCAVP) has learned of the homicide of Rae'Lynn Thomas, a Black transgender woman, in Columbus, Ohio.
According to media reports, Rae'Lynn, was shot and killed by her mother's ex-boyfriend, James Allen Byrd, who was living with her family at the time of the homicide. According to Rae'Lynn's family members, Byrd was transphobic, and referred to Rae'Lynn as "the devil" before killing her. Rae'Lynn's family is asking police to investigate this as a hate crime, and Shannon Thomas, Rae'Lynn's aunt, told reporters: "He took a light away from all of us that we can't get back." An additional media report in the Columbus Dispatch, which misnames and misgenders Rae'Lynn, reports that the homicide occurred on Wednesday, August 10th, 2016.
(Louisville, KY - August 11, 2016) After six hours of deliberation, a jury has found Henry Richard Gleaves, II guilty of Second Degree Manslaughter in the shooting death of Papi Edwards, who presented as a transgender female the morning she was shot by Gleaves at the Fern Valley Hotel in Louisville January 9, 2015. The jury had the option to find Gleaves guilty of more serious offenses, including Intentional Murder, First Degree Manslaughter, and First Degree Manslaughter with the Intent to Injure. The jury also found Gleaves guilty of Tampering with Evidence for instructing his then-girlfriend to dispose of his cell phone from jail.
Sacramento - August 10, 2016 -The California Senate today passed a bipartisan resolution by California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley) calling for an end to federal blood donation policies that discriminate against men who have sex with men (MSM). Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 26 calls upon President Barack Obama to compel the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to repeal current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) blood donor policies that discriminate against LGBT people and instead direct the agency to develop science-based policies that utilize individual behavioral risk. SJR 26 is sponsored by
Equality California.
August 11, 2016 - The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (
NCAVP) has learned of the homicide of Erykah Tijerina, a Latinx transgender woman, in El Paso, Texas.
According to local media reports, Erykah was found dead inside the Rio Grande Apartments on Monday, August 8th, and police have said the scene showed signs of foul play. Local police and media originally misnamed and misgendered when reporting, but were quickly corrected by Erykah's family. Erykah's sisters spoke out, saying that Erykah was funny, giving and unapologetic about who she was. "She's the one that told me to stay strong and not care," Pearl Tijerina told reporters. The family has set up
a GoFundMe account to assist with Erykah's funeral costs.
August 10, 2016 - The Belize Supreme Court today made a historic ruling in favor of gay activist Caleb Orozco, and has struck down the country's anti-sodomy law. This is the first case launched in the Caribbean and the first case where the sodomy laws have been overturned.
(San Francisco, August 9, 2016)—Today, the widower of a former KRON4 employee sued Young Broadcasting of San Francisco and the KRON/IBEW Local 45 Pension Plan for refusing to provide him with a spousal pension benefit even though the couple were registered domestic partners.
(New York, NY, August 9, 2016)—Athlete Ally,
the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and more than 20 leading LGBT organizations submitted a letter to the Big 12 Conference and its member schools urging it not to consider Brigham Young University (BYU) as a potential new conference member because of the school's express policy of discriminating against same-sex couples and LGBTQ students.
Health
September 5, 2016 - Statement from Philip LoBue, M.D., Director, Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, CDC - Today the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (
USPSTF) issued a recommendation in the
Journal of the American Medical Association (
JAMA) encouraging providers to test for latent tuberculosis (TB) infection in populations at increased risk. This recommendation will increase efforts to find and treat people who have latent TB infection and is an important step forward in our national strategy for eliminating TB.
LOS ANGELES (Aug. 30, 2016) In an op-ed published today in a top legal newspaper, Los Angeles attorney Bradley W. Hertz demolished a half-dozen 'deceitful myths' that opponents have been circulating about Proposition 60, the
California Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act, the measure on the Nov. 8 ballot to strengthen the law requiring adult film performers to wear condoms during explicit sex scenes.
As an openly-gay mental health professional, I have long assumed that most LGBT folks are out to their health providers. Wrong! Recently, I was asked to present a talk to an LGBT group on the pros and cons of coming out to your doctor. I was a little perplexed: "What would be the cons?" I thought. So I went on-line and read about the topic. I also read about all these new books out about "Don't Trust Your Doctor" and similar blah-blah-blah. In this column, I would like to address the relationship that we – as LGBTers – have with our our health care professionals, how to be "out" with them and how to get them to give us what we really want (and need).
The first nationally representative study of U.S. lesbian, gay, and bisexual high school students finds that lesbian, gay, and bisexual students experience substantially higher levels of physical and sexual violence and bullying than other students.
Letters, Columnists and Opinion
This issue of
Erie Gay News is a personal milestone for a couple of reasons. In addition to being our 250th issue, it also happens to be coming out around the 25th anniversary of when I first became involved in the Erie LGBT community. A lot has changed over the years, and it is truly heartwarming to see all of the progress that we have made together!
Game of Throne is what my sweetheart calls the nightly battle between our cat and me over Big Blue.
Contests
Enter to win
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Phoenix Remixes EP from
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Enter to win a copy of
Pure & Simple from music legend
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History
"We're Here: Pioneering LGBT Rights in Pennsylvania" is on display at the State Museum of Pennsylvania, in Harrisburg PA. It focuses on the equality movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in the late 1960s and its progress in the Commonwealth during the 1970s.
Miscellaneous
When you walk into what turns out to be your dream home, you're blown away. It might be the color scheme or the vaulted ceilings or the massive fireplace that does it, but you're going to notice something right away that really wows you. Every room after that will make you more and more excited. You might be ready to make an offer after only seeing a few rooms! But wait!
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