The Advocate

The New Hampshire win offers lessons for coming legislative battles, writes Kasey Suffredini of Freedom for All Americans.“Any day now, Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire will sign into law landmark legislation extending nondiscrimination...

The New Hampshire win offers lessons for coming legislative battles, writes Kasey Suffredini of Freedom for All Americans.

Any day now, Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire will sign into law landmark legislation extending nondiscrimination protections in employment, housing, and public spaces to transgender Granite Staters. This is a big victory for our community — and it was far from a foregone conclusion.
Last year, the New Hampshire House effectively killed this bill. One year later, some of the very lawmakers who were once opposed — most of them Republicans — became staunch allies, propelling House Bill 1319 through the House and the Senate with strong bipartisan support. The campaign fended off efforts to delay the bill again or gut it with unacceptable carve-outs that would have left transgender people vulnerable to discrimination. In the end, we passed a clean bill with comprehensive protections, and within an hour of the final vote, the governor announced his intent to sign it into law.

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Officials decided that rather than allow kids to read George, about a 10-year-old trans girl, it would bar its elementary students from a statewide reading competition. “A pair of Oregon school districts has barred its third, fourth, and fifth...

Officials decided that rather than allow kids to read George, about a 10-year-old trans girl, it would bar its elementary students from a statewide reading competition.

A pair of Oregon school districts has barred its third, fourth, and fifth graders from participating in the Oregon Battle of the Books because the list includes a book about a transgender child that the districts’ leaders have found “inappropriate,“ according to The Oregonian.
The statewide voluntary competition encourages students to read from a vetted list of books and answer questions in a quiz-style showdown based on what they’ve learned. The kids who participate in the reading contest are not required to read every title on the list that was pre-determined by the Battle of the Books executive committee. But the Hermiston and Cascade School Districts determined that the 2015 book George (by Alex Gino), about a 10-year-old trans girl, was not “appropriate,” and opted out of the competition rather than allowing parents to choose what was right for their children.

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“Dear White People’s out creator Justin Simien on Tr*mp, the undying relevance of history, and queering up the writer’s room. (x)
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Dear White People’s out creator Justin Simien on Tr*mp, the undying relevance of history, and queering up the writer’s room. (x)

The historically black college is set to begin admitting trans students.“Someone at Spelman College is writing hateful messages and slipping them under doors in the dorms, and the university president is speaking out strongly against whoever it...

The historically black college is set to begin admitting trans students.

Someone at Spelman College is writing hateful messages and slipping them under doors in the dorms, and the university president is speaking out strongly against whoever it is.
“Keep your tran out of our bathrooms,” reads one note, signed only “Thanks!” Spelman is a historically black college for women in Atlanta, and it announced last year that transgender women will be admitted beginning with the fall 2019 semester.
All the notes claim to speak for a large group of people, according to reports by CNN and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ”We don’t want you … freaks! No queers!“ Perhaps the most threatening of all: ”#DIE … We don’t want you here.”
Spelman president Mary Schmidt Campbell wrote an open letter Tuesday in which she addressed “the perpetrator.”
“Here’s a message for the perpetrator: You are not Spelman College,” wrote Campbell.

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See an exclusive preview of the documentary covering 40 years of LGBT comic history.“A new documentary film looks at LGBT comics and demonstrates, as cartoonist Justin Hall says, that they “have provided a remarkable function for queer communities...

See an exclusive preview of the documentary covering 40 years of LGBT comic history.

A new documentary film looks at LGBT comics and demonstrates, as cartoonist Justin Hall says, that they “have provided a remarkable function for queer communities for the last several decades; they represent an underground and uncensored window into queer hopes, fears, and fantasies.”
Hall’s 2012 anthology No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics was a Lambda Literary Award-winning and Eisner Award-nominated collection on the history of LGBT comics since the 1970s. He calls the book “my attempt to catalogue the contributions of a huge number of LGBTQ cartoonists and put their work into a historical and cultural context.”

Watch the preview.

“Blair St. Clair has broken through new barriers on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The 22-year-old drag performer and Indiana native came out as a survivor of sexual assault on the main stage of the VH1 reality competition last Thursday, after being critiqued...

Blair St. Clair has broken through new barriers on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The 22-year-old drag performer and Indiana native came out as a survivor of sexual assault on the main stage of the VH1 reality competition last Thursday, after being critiqued as too “sweet” in appearance by the judges.
“I’m urged to find the daintiness, because I feel dirty at times,” St. Clair confessed. “My first sexual experience — I was raped at a college party, and from that I’ve looked to find pretty things. It’s something I need to get over, but I’ve tried to turn positive the best I can.”
In response, RuPaul, echoing the outpouring of love from viewers, declared, “We love you, Blair, we are family, and I’m actually very proud of you for being so vulnerable.”
St. Clair sashayed away after speaking her truth — and sparking a much-needed conversation.

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No one disputes that the killer stabbed a gay man twice in the back. But, they say, it was self-defense.“It’s been five years since the American Bar Association called on every state to end the use of the “gay panic” defense. It’s been 20 years since...

No one disputes that the killer stabbed a gay man twice in the back. But, they say, it was self-defense.

It’s been five years since the American Bar Association called on every state to end the use of the “gay panic” defense. It’s been 20 years since the death of Matthew Shepard, and since his killers argued a “gay panic” defense in court, claiming Shepard had made a pass and driven them to murder.
But so far only two states have banned the defense from the courtroom. And in Texas last week, it knotched another win for a murderer.

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What was James Baldwin’s life in France like?

I first visited that house, known locally as “Chez Baldwin,” in the Provençal village of St. Paul-de-Vence in June 2000. I was fascinated with the writer’s international peregrinations and admired his cosmopolitan, decades-ahead-of-our-time approach to how one’s composite self, inflected by race, gender, sexuality, and class, was key to understanding one’s national identity within and without one’s home country. I also wanted to get a sense of the domestic environment in which he wrote his later works, and where he thrived as a black queer American artist, who was reviled both by U.S. black nationalists and white liberals at the time.

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“The rugby kiss that crushed homophobia (x)
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The rugby kiss that crushed homophobia (x)

Though he was bullied for his sexuality, Jeremy Sanchez was a pillar of California’s South El Monte High School. Now his best friend and alleged ex is accused of his murder.“A 16-year-old boy has been arrested for the murder of 17-year-old...

Though he was bullied for his sexuality, Jeremy Sanchez was a pillar of California’s South El Monte High School. Now his best friend and alleged ex is accused of his murder.

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested for the murder of 17-year-old high-schooler Jeremy Sanchez, with reports indicating the two were in a relationship that Sanchez recently ended.
The stabbing death of Sanchez, whose body was discovered near the San Gabriel River east of Los Angeles, made headlines across Southern California. Sanchez was a popular athlete who played on the football, baseball, and wrestling teams, but still reportedly endured bullying for his sexual orientation, which his friends described as bisexual. The community was shocked further when his friend and alleged ex-boyfriend was arrested Thursday for the murder.

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Inside the World’s Only All-Trans Bodybuilding Competition

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A new documentary entitled Man Made, which features a group of transgender men as they set to compete in the world’s first trans bodybuilding competition at Atlanta’s TransFitCon, is set to premiere on April 22, Entertainment Weekly reports.
Directed by novelist T Cooper and executive-produced by actress Téa Leoni, the film follows four transgender men from various backgrounds and transitional stages as they prepare for the inclusive competition, which, according to the site, is open to everyone: “Whether you’re on hormone replacement therapy or not, or pre-op or not, all weight classes will be judged equally.”
Cooper, who is transgender and lives in Atlanta, heard about the competition a few years ago and wanted to cover it, but it was his friend Leoni that encouraged him to take a stab at directing the film. “I knew the film had to be made and I knew he had to make it,” she told Entertainment Weekly.
But how did the new director gain trust in these bodybuilders to tell their stories? “I think that being trans myself was very important to the subjects. There was an instant rapport with them. There was just this mutual trust and respect that I was going to tell these stories with so much care as though it was my own, because it is my own,” Cooper explained.
Watch the trailer for Man Made below, and check out the upcoming screenings here. You can also read the full exclusive story, including the interview from the director and producer over at Entertainment Weekly.

“After coming out in October, Michael Hill, a drama and art teacher at Seneca, Kan.’s Nemaha Central High School, began receiving anonymous threats. Several hateful letters warned him that his community would not tolerate him being out. The letters...

After coming out in October, Michael Hill, a drama and art teacher at Seneca, Kan.’s Nemaha Central High School, began receiving anonymous threats. Several hateful letters warned him that his community would not tolerate him being out. The letters also included vile threats like “Queers will burn and so will you” and “We don’t want fags in our schools.”
A photo taken of Hill dining with a male friend was circulated on Snapchat and became kindling for cyberbullying. He was harassed in the classroom and felt he lost respect at work.
“Homosexuals should not be teaching our kids,” one of the letters read. “In fact, I don’t believe they should be teachers at all. They are perverts and predators. They are not acceptable role models for our kids.” Others repeatedly said he should be fired for his identity.

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The 15 Queerest Video Games, Ranked

Protestors have called for the fraternity to be expelled from the University of Delaware.“Fraternity members at the University of Delaware attacked a gay man at an off-campus party, calling him a slur and breaking his leg.
Rancel Valdez told NBC10 he...

Protestors have called for the fraternity to be expelled from the University of Delaware.

Fraternity members at the University of Delaware attacked a gay man at an off-campus party, calling him a slur and breaking his leg.
Rancel Valdez told NBC10 he was at the party with a friend on Friday when he was swarmed by attackers. A fraternity brother had allegedly ordered him to leave and the confrontation turned violent. The subsequent beating was caught on video.
The Review, the student newspaper for University of Delaware, reports that a protest was held on campus this week in response, with speakers calling for the expulsion of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

Watch the NBC10 interview with Valdez here.

Commentary: Attorney Kyle Duncan terrorized a same-sex couple and their son — now he may be a judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.“After being together for a number of years, my partner and I decided to start a family. We adopted our son, who...

Commentary: Attorney Kyle Duncan terrorized a same-sex couple and their son — now he may be a judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

After being together for a number of years, my partner and I decided to start a family. We adopted our son, who was born in the state of Louisiana, and obtained an adoption decree in the state of New York where we reside.
After the adoption proceedings, it became apparent that we needed to amend our son’s birth certificate. He was experiencing health issues, as he was born pre-maturely, and we needed his birth certificate to list us as legal parents in order to add him to our health insurance plan.
We contacted the Louisiana state registrar and sent them a copy of our adoption decree, asking them to amend the birth certificate to list us as his parents. They responded stating that they would put only one of us on the certificate, later refusing to update it for us at all. When we objected, the Louisiana registrar contacted the Louisiana Attorney General’s office about the issue and that’s when Kyle Duncan got involved.
It quickly became clear that Mr. Duncan was not simply a lawyer defending a client, but rather that he was an ideologue committed to denying legal recognition to same-sex couples. Rather than process a simple amendment that would have enabled us to take the best care possible of our child, Mr. Duncan commandeered tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars money into a campaign to deny the legal recognition of our family.

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