National
Gay journalists to face union picket line
NLGJA declines to move annual convention
The National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association has declined a request to withdraw its annual convention from San Franciscoās Hyatt Regency Hotel this weekend in connection with a labor union boycott of the hotel.
In a statement posted on its website, NLGJA officials said a cancellation of its contract with the hotel, which was signed three years ago, would result in a $150,000 penalty that could bankrupt the group.
The San Francisco chapter of Pride at Work, an LGBT labor group affiliated with the AFL-CIO, joined the cityās hotel workers union, Unite Here! Local 2, in calling on NLGJA to honor the union-initiated boycott of the Hyatt in an effort to win a long-delayed union contract for hotel employees.
āAlthough NLGJA understands the importance of collective bargaining and recognizes that worker actions are not to be blithely ignored, it is simply impossible at this late date for us to move this yearās convention to another hotel,ā NLGJA President David Steinberg said in a statement.
āNLGJA was contacted by organizers from Unite Here! Local 2 in June, and we have had conversations with them for more than a month,ā the statement says.
About 225 people were expected to attend the NLGJA convention, which was scheduled to take place at the Hyatt Regency in San Franciscoās Embarcadero waterfront district Sept. 2-5, according to NLGJA executive director Michael Tune.
Tune said the group knows of about 10 people who were scheduled to attend or speak at the convention and cancelled their attendance due to the union boycott.
āItās been very positive,ā he said. āI think most folks have understood itās not an issue against NLGJA. This is something, of course, going on with the Hyatt. We happened to be having our convention here.ā
NLGJA describes itself as the leading professional organization for LGBT journalists and an advocate for fair and accurate reporting on LGBT issues in the U.S. and abroad. Members of the organization include editors and reporters from some of the nationās largest and most prominent news organizations, including the New York Times and broadcast news outlets as well as LGBT news organizations.
Although the hotel union has not called a strike against the San Francisco Hyatt, more than a month ago it scheduled a national, one-day protest against Hyatt hotels, including the San Francisco Hyatt, for Sept. 2. At the San Francisco Hyatt, union members and supporters were scheduled to form a picket line for the Sept. 2 action in support of the workersā efforts to secure a union contract.
The picketing was set to take place on the opening day of the NLGJA convention, when the group was to hold its 7th Annual LGBT Media Summit for the gay press.
Gabriel Haaland, an official with the San Francisco chapter of Pride at Work, said representatives of the LGBT community were expected to participate in the picket and would urge people not to cross the picket line.
Haaland noted that a large number of LGBT groups and political leaders in San Francisco are supporting union boycotts of the Hyatt and other local hotels. Among them are gay city supervisors Tom Ammiano and Bevan Duffy and gay California State Senator Mark Leno. The cityās two leading LGBT political groups, the Harvey Milk Democratic Club and the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club, are also supporting the boycott, according to literature released by the union.
According to Haaland, other organizations have cancelled contracts for conventions and meetings with San Francisco hotels targeted for union boycotts and have not been charged penalty fees such as the one NLGJA says it would face.
āIāve seen groups break contracts with these hotels over boycotts before and they have never been charged a dime,ā Haaland said. āMore than one group has gone to the discomfort of moving their meetings because some of these folks are some of the lowest wage workers and, honestly, many of them are gay.ā
Israel Alvaran, community outreach organizer for Unite Here! Local 2 and a member of Pride at Work said NLGJA would likely be faced with some added expenses for moving its convention to another hotel. But he said the union would have intervened to help NLGJA challenge a penalty fee from the Hyatt on grounds that the hotel most likely did not inform NLGJA of labor disputes and the possibility of a hotel boycott at the time the gay journalists group signed its contract with the hotel.
He noted that hotel labor disputes have been taking place in San Francisco for the past four years or longer.
āWeāre disappointed that it never got to that point,ā Alvaran said. āThey never took the first step to look into moving the meeting.ā
Although NLGAās Steinberg and other members of the groupās board said they could not move the convention to another hotel, they urged attendees to consider reporting on the unionās grievances in their role as journalists.
āWe can invite you to bring your notebooks, your recorders and your cameras to San Francisco and cover their action, along with the hotelās response,ā Steinberg said in a message posted on the NLGJA website.
Florida
Miami hotel liquor license may be revoked over a drag show
Stateās Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco targets business

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is in the process of revoking the Hyatt Regency Miamiās alcohol license after the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation determined that the hotelās affiliated James L. Knight Center had hosted āA Drag Queen Christmasā performed Dec. 27Ā with minors present in the audience.
The Knight Center is a major South Florida venue and has previously hosted the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants. The venueās main room can seat 4,600 people.
This is the third time the stateās Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, which operates under the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, has targeted a business that hosted a drag show.
A popular restaurant and pub in Miamiās Wynwood neighborhood is also under threat of losing its liquor license. The R House identifies itself on its Facebook page as āthe proud home of South Floridaās most popular weekend drag brunches.ā
The July 2022 complaint filed by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation asks for a final order that the R House restaurant is a declared a public nuisance and has its liquor license revoked.
According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the complaint was issued after a video of a recent performance at the barās drag brunch went viral. A topless drag queen wearing lingerie stuffed with money can be seen in the video attempting to dance with a young girl, who the DPBR estimates is ābetween three and five years old.ā Twitter account āLibs of Tik Tokā originally found the footage on Tik Tok, posted by a user who wrote, āChildren belong at drag shows!!!! Children deserve to see fun and expression & freedom.ā
In late December āA Drag Queen Christmasā was hosted by the Orlando non-profit Orlando Philharmonic Plaza Foundation on Dec. 28, filing a complaint alleging that children under age 18 were allowed to attend.
The complaint against the Orlando Philharmonic alleged the foundation violated Florida law in allowing for a person to ācommit lewd or lascivious exhibitionā in the presence of an individual who is less than 16 years old.
In this latest targeting of the show, which is a holiday-themed drag show that tours in 36 different cities and features stars from the reality show āRuPaulās Drag Race,ā Insider webzine journalist Kimberly Leonard reported that the DeSantis administration officials accused the Knight Center of several violations, including a prohibition of ālascivious exhibitionā before people younger than 16, mirroring the December complaint against the Orlando Philharmonic.
The departmentās complaint said performers engaged in āacts of simulated sexual activity, and lewd, vulgar, and indecent displaysā that included:
- Performers forcibly penetrating or rubbing exposed prosthetic female breasts against faces of audience members
- Intentionally exposing performersā prosthetic female breasts and genitalia to the audience
- Intentionally exposing performersā buttocks to the audience
- Simulating masturbation through performersā digitally penetrating prosthetic female genital
- Graphic depictions of childbirth and/or abortion
Hyatt Regency Miami is allowed to keep selling alcohol until the department makes a final decision. The business has 21 days to request a hearing, Beth Pannell, spokeswoman for the department, told Insider.
Regulators had warned the facility to change how it marketed the show before it went live, according to a copy of the letter included in the complaint. The letter accused the marketers of putting on a performance that constitutes āpublic nuisances, lewd activity, and disorderly conductā when minors are present.
News of this latest action was first reported by far-right conservative internet based outlet Floridaās Voice.
As more and more Republican states target drag shows, in just the past few weeks, Tennessee became the first to ban adult performances, including drag, from public spaces such as parks and schools.
U.S. Military/Pentagon
New VA mission statement recognizes commitment to all veterans
‘To fulfill [Lincolnās] promise to care for those who have served in our nationās military & for their families, caregivers, & survivors’

In a speech delivered Thursday at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial (WIMSA), located at the main entrance to Arlington National Cemetery in suburban Virginia, VA Secretary Denis McDonough announced the Department of Veterans Affairs has issued an updated version of its 1959 mission statement.
The new mission statement is: āTo fulfill President Lincolnās promise to care for those who have served in our nationās military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors.ā
As the VA secretary commenced his remarks, he honored several notable women in the audience including Brenda S. āSueā Fulton, the assistant secretary of veterans affairs for public and intergovernmental affairs.
Fulton, is a 1980 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., which was the Academyās first class to admit women. She is an out lesbian and served as a founding board member of Knights Out, the organization of LGBTQ West Point graduates, and later worked with OutServe, the association of actively-serving LGBTQ military members and SPARTA, an LGBTQ military group advocating for transgender military service.
āWhenever any veteran, family member, caregiver, or survivor walks by a VA facility, we want them to see themselves in the mission statement on the outside of the building,ā said Secretary McDonough. āWe are here to serve all veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors ā and now, our mission statement reflects exactly that.ā
In crafting the new mission statement, VA surveyed roughly 30,000 Veterans. Among veterans surveyed, the new version of VAās mission statement was chosen over the current version by every age group; by men and by women; by LGBTQ+ veterans; and by white, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian and American Indian/Alaska Native Veterans.
In addition to two rounds of surveys, VA conducted dozens of small-group engagements with veterans to understand what was most important to them in a VA mission statement, then incorporated that feedback into quantitative research. The new mission statement reflects that VA serves all of the heroes who have served our country, regardless of their race, gender, background, sexual orientation, religion, zip code or identity.
The previous mission statement was: āTo fulfill President Lincolnās promise āto care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphanā by serving and honoring the men and women who are Americaās veterans.ā The previous mission statement is posted in roughly 50 percent of VAās facilities. Over the coming months, VAās new mission statement will replace the previous version.
VA announces new mission statement, recognizing sacred commitment to serve all who served:

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act on Thursday, which expands basic protections for the LGBTQ community.
The measure, Senate Bill 4, was sponsored by openly gay state Sen. Jeremy Moss who less than a year previously had been shot down by the Republican majority as he attempted to have a non-binding resolution to recognize āPride Monthā adopted by the Senate.
In her signing remarks, Whitmer noted: āIn the words of Detroit native Lizzo, itās about damn time! Bigotry is bad for business. Come to Michigan, you will be respected and protected under the law.ā
Sen @JeremyAllenMoss, the stateās highest-ranking openly gay lawmaker, opening the bill signing event. He shepherded the legislation through passage.
ā Rachel Louise Just (@RLJnews) March 16, 2023
Nearly this time last year, Moss wasnāt able to get the support of a Leg leader to simply pass a resolution honoring Pride Month.
“As Equality Michigan celebrates this historic step forward, we are standing on the shoulders of giants. Generations of activists have inspired us to fight for justice and equality for all LGBTQ+ Michiganders, and our community has been working to update our state’s civil rights law to explicitly include sexual orientation, gender identity and expression in every single legislative session since Elliott-Larsen was first adopted,” Equality Michigan Executive Director Erin Knott said in a statement. “We applaud Gov. Whitmer for signing this bill into law, and are humbled by this pro-equality legislature that made amending ELCRA a top priority. Senator Jeremy Moss and Rep. Jason Hoskins introduced this legislation and championed it all the way through to the finish line.”
“The victory we have today in Michigan is a great one, but it’s also one we don’t take lightly at this moment. Let it not be lost on us that this privilege, however hard-earned, is a unique one that exists amid a nationwide political assault on LGBTQ+ people, especially trans and non-binary youth, and their families,” added Knott. “There are over 400 anti-trans bills moving across state legislatures in the US, twice the amount introduced last year.”
āThis bill being signed into law is a beacon of hope and sends a powerful message of acceptance to LGBTQ people across the nation. At the Trevor Project, we work every day to protect the lives of LGBTQ youth, and days like today prove that in generations to come, both their legal and lived equality will no longer be fodder for political debate,ā said Troy Stevenson, director of state advocacy campaigns for the Trevor Project. āOur research shows that having at least one accepting adult can reduce the risk of a suicide attempt among LGBTQ young people by 40 percent. We applaud the elected leaders, advocates and Gov. Whitmer for making this a reality, and affirming the dignity and rights of LGBTQ Michiganders by codifying these protections into law.ā
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