The board of directors of the Black AIDS Institute (BAI) announced the appointments of Toni Newman as its interim chief executive officer and Dr. Kemal M. Atkins as managing director, a press release noted. In addition, BAI has engaged Pat Bass and Chris Bates—two internationally recognized experts who pioneered HIV/AIDS prevention, education, and treatment programs—to assess BAI's current capabilities and mission. Newman is currently the interim executive director at LYRIC—a non-profit in San Francisco that focuses on advancing the community and creating social change for LGBTQQ youth through education, career training and health advocacy; she is also board chair at TransCanWork and is a distinguished faculty member at the Transgender Strategy Center, in Los Angeles.
Non-binary freelance ecologist Juniper Simonis said they survived a gang assault of about 30 perpetrators in Gresham, Oregon, The Washington Blade reported. Simonis encountered the group for only minutes but suffered a concussion, sprained jaw, extensive car damage and verbal assaults, they said. Simonis said they turned into a parking lot to pick up lunch and stumbled upon a rally that included several members of the Proud Boys—a far-right, ultra-nationalist organization known for its anti-LGBTQ, anti-feminism and neo-fascist ideologies. Simonis took pictures and yelled "F—k you, fascists. Go home!" from inside their car; then, things quickly escalated.
Rachel Maddow dropped a bombshell on air when she played audio recordings from the day of the MAGA riot on air shortly before Rep. Jaime Raskin (D-Maryland), a member of the select committee investigating the riot, joined the show, according to LGBTQ Nation. "These are recordings that, among other things, show that as the National Park Police, that police force, was overwhelmed, they at one point had a number of their officers backed up inside of the Washington Monument for their own protection and that sort of extreme pressure on those police officers happened as early as 9:30 in the morning on the day of the Capitol attack," Maddow reported. When Raskin joined Maddow on air, he told her that he hadn't previously heard the recordings and pledged that the committee would investigate further.
In Tennessee, members of the Williamson County community attended the school board meeting to show support for LGBTQ students after a Pride float was featured in a homecoming parade for Independence High School, WKRN.com reported. The group Moms for Liberty Williamson County took issue with the float, and claimed Pride club students were handing out Bisexual Week flyers and that two girls kissed on the float in front of children. Members of the Pride club said school is the only place some students feel supported.
A 17-year-old transgender girl in Orlando, Florida, made history when students at Olympia High School selected her as their homecoming queen, according to out.com, citing WESH. Evan Bialosuknia is the first transgender homecoming queen in the school's history, and possibly the first in the state. "It made me feel like I actually belonged," Bialosuknia told WESH of the significance of her selection. "Not just like a joke. Cause that was one of my fears, I was in bed one night like, 'What if they were just doing this to laugh at me?'"
The University of Michigan marching band celebrated the school's LGBTQ+ students, staff and supporters recently with a homecoming halftime show dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the university's Spectrum Center—a space at the school that supports, advocates and educates around LGBTQ+ topics, The Advocate noted. Music from the performance included hits from Diana Ross, Lady Gaga, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Kim Petras, Andrew Gold, Sister Sledge and Cyndi Lauper.
NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists urged the New York Times to change its archives to reflect trans name changes. In a tweet, the organization stated that it would like the newspaper "to amend the bylines of all previously reported articles to reflect the reporters' correct names and to work quickly with the New York Times Guild to address any relevant concerns regarding this change. The Times would set an example for all media by doing so. Words matter. Using correct names matters. Correcting past bylines is fair and accurate, and protects and respects trans journalists."
A senior manager on Google's global security team crudely joked about a company security guard in text messages—and that was part of a pattern of workplace harassment against the gay, Black employee, according to a lawsuit filed by the employee, Reuters reported. David Brown, who is reportedly jointly employed by the Google unit and security company Allied Universal, is seeking unspecified monetary damages for alleged physical and emotional harassment at Google's Los Angeles offices based on his sexual orientation and race, which it says took place between 2014 and last year. Brown's supervisor allegedly accounted for much of the alleged problematic behavior, including "grabbing him on the buttocks, kicking him in the groin, throwing him through a window head first and brutally grabbing his nipples."
Ohio is now the 18th state covered by California's travel-ban restriction due to enacting anti-LGBTQ legislation, The Gay Area Reporter noted. The prohibition on taxpayer-funded travel to the Buckeye State took effect Sept. 30. It is due to provisions of new legislation, House Bill 110, becoming law that allow for medical providers in the Midwest state to deny care to LGBTQ+ Americans, including Californians traveling in Ohio.
In Florida, Orlando will welcome visitors from all over the world in support and celebration of LGBTQ+ pride for the 17th annual Come Out with Pride Festival in October, a Visit Orlando press release announced. Events will include the revue The Gay '90s Musical, the 4th Annual Drag Race 5K, a Pride Shabbat service, "Honoring Trans & Gender-Expansive Singers" and more. See VisitOrlando.com .
In North Carolina, for the second consecutive year, Charlotte Pride canceled its parade, Pop-Up Pride Festival and concert amid concerns over the highly contagious COVID-19 delta variant, WCNC.com reported. Charlotte Pride originally postponed the parade and Uptown celebrations from August to Oct. 24 earlier this year as vaccinations started to become widely available. At the time, organizers wanted to give time for more people to get vaccinated.
However, in neighboring South Carolina, Charleston Pride week started Sept. 25, even though the annual Charleston Pride Festival, slated for Oct. 3 was postponed due to COVID-19 concerns, Charleston City Paper noted. Among other things, Closet Case Thrift Store hosted the inaugural Rainbow Market, a day-long event full of treasure-hunting, tasty bites and thrifty finds; "Let's Get Trivial" was held; and The Real Rainbow Row Tour took place, highlighting the city's LGBTQ+ history.
Caitlyn Jenner, a candidate in California's recent gubernatorial recall election, said on The View that she would run for office again, advocating for greater inclusivity among "old school" Republicans who are hurting the party, ABC News noted. Jenner, a transgender woman, had defended former President Donald Trump while he was in office, but later she said she could no longer support him after he "relentlessly attacked" the trans community. She said on the show (that she co-hosted for a day) that she thinks the media doesn't give Republicans a "fair break."
On TikTok, some lesbians have complained about the number of straight women in LGBTQ clubs, Newsweek noted. For example, Sophia Mastroieni, known on the app as Sophiamastt, said in a video, "Last night I asked 5 different girls if they were gay at a GAY CLUB, and every one of them were straight AT A GAY CLUB. I give up." Captioning her video the TikToker wrote: "They took our style and now they are taking our clubs... anyways I went home alone lol #fyp #lgbt #wlw #lesbian." Another TikTok user, Alexis Scudder, wrote: "I think it all comes down to respect and understanding that those are queer spaces and to realize that this place is inherently not for you."
A nonprofit organization that documents the history of LGBTQ people in the South was awarded a $600,000 grant for work in the Florida Panhandle, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The Birmingham, Alabama-based Invisible Histories Project, established in 2016, said it received the funding through The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The money will help the organization expand its collections, do more work in the community and increase access and diversity, the group said in a statement.
A small-town minister has been arrested by Oklahoma City Police—but not before he was confronted and physically detained by an adult who accused him of touching a child inappropriately at a school bus stop, according to USA Today. According to Oklahoma City Police, an adult man allegedly saw and videotaped Michael Eric Coghill, 33, touching a 9-year-old child inappropriately on the morning of Sept. 22 as the child and other youths waited at a school bus stop in southwest Oklahoma City. Coghill was identified as the discipleship minister at Lakehoma Church of Christ in Mustang, Oklahoma (a congregation PinkNews denoted as "anti-LGBT+"); after the arrest, the church released a statement on its Facebook page saying he was no longer on staff there.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh tested positive for COVID-19—the first publicly known case of coronavirus among the high court's justices, CNN.com noted. Kavanaugh is fully vaccinated; his immediate family tested negative and he had no symptoms.
