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Melissa Etheridge: I would go to Sochi ‘with bells on’

Singer recently co-launched campaign for LGBT Russians

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Melissa Etheridge, United States Department of Justice, gay news, Washington Blade, LGBT Pride

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Melissa Etheridge told the Washington Blade during an interview on Dec. 13 that she would travel to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in spite of the country’s ongoing LGBT rights crackdown.

ā€œI would be there with bells on,ā€ she said. ā€œI would love to go offer support, offer visibility, stand there just as a known gay person.ā€

Etheridge, a two-time Grammy winning singer and songwriter, spoke with the Blade four days after she joined ā€œMilkā€ producer Bruce Cohen and Anastasia Smirnova of the Russian LGBT Network at the formal launch of the ā€œUprising of Loveā€ campaign during a Russia Freedom Fund fundraiser in New York. Dustin Lance Black — the Oscar-winning screenwriter of ā€œMilkā€ and ā€œ8ā€ — co-founded this effort with Etheridge and her partner, Linda Wallem, and entertainment executive Greg Propper as a way to further support Russian LGBT rights advocates.

Etheridge, who debuted her song ā€œUprising of Loveā€ during the New York fundraiser, noted to the Blade the American LGBT rights movement in 2013 reached what she described as a ā€œtipping pointā€ on marriage rights for same-sex couples and other issues. She also attended a United Nations panel on homophobia and transphobia in sports on Dec. 10 that featured retired tennis champion Martina Navratilova, former Washington Wizards center Jason Collins, South African activist Thandeka ā€œTumiā€ Mkhuma, intersex advocate Huda Viloria, U.S. Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic and Smirnova and gay MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts who moderated it.

ā€œYou kind of look abroad afterwards and I did,ā€ said Etheridge, referencing civil rights activists who began to campaign against Apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s.

Etheridge spoke to the Blade hours after retired Olympic diver Greg Louganis said during a separate interview with the Blade after he took part in a Capitol Hill briefing organized by Human Rights First that Roberts shouldn’t have hosted last month’s Miss Universe 2013 pageant in Moscow. Louganis, who opposes a boycott of the Sochi games over Russia’s LGBT rights record, also questioned gay singer Elton John’s decision to perform in the Russian capital.

ā€œOf course this touches Greg deeply,ā€ said Etheridge, once again noting she would travel to Sochi if she were invited to take part in the games. ā€œHe was an Olympic athlete and it’s completely understandable where he’s coming from and each of us have different paths and there is no one right way to do this. If each of us acts and behaves with our conscience we can move this forward.ā€

Mizeur’s chances of becoming next Md. guv ā€˜very great’

Etheridge remains friends with Maryland state Del. Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery County) whom she met during the 2008 presidential campaign when she was courting Democratic superdelegates for then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)

She declined to tell the Blade how much money she has raised for Mizeur’s gubernatorial campaign, but stressed she has ā€œdonated time.ā€

ā€œHer chances of becoming the next governor of Maryland are very great,ā€ said Etheridge. ā€œHer whole life has been about public service and being who she is. She’s one of the smartest people; most motivated, forward people. I love everything she’s doing there.ā€

Etheridge told the Blade she would support former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton if she were to run for president in 2016, in part, because she has ā€œcome a long wayā€ on LGBT-specific issues since she ran against Obama in 2008.

ā€œThe way the Clinton administration did us in the 90s was very painful,ā€ said Etheridge, referring to then-President Clinton signing ā€œDon’t Ask, Don’t Tellā€ and the Defense of Marriage Act into law in 1993 and 1996 respectively. ā€œI think now with her experience that she has and everything I would absolutely support her.ā€

Etheridge also said she is not surprised her comment during a separate Blade interview in June that actress Angelina Jolie’s decision to undergo a double mastectomy after discovering she carries a genetic mutation that increases her chances of developing breast cancer was not ā€œthe brave choiceā€ sparked controversy.

ā€œThere was an untended meanness that might have come,ā€ said Etheridge. ā€œPeople might have thought I was being very cruel in what I was saying. Some of it was lost in where I was trying to come from.ā€

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Pennsylvania

Gay journalist murdered inside Philadelphia home

Josh Kruger’s death has left city ‘shocked and saddened’

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Josh Kruger with his cat Mason (Photo courtesy of Josh Kruger's Facebook page)

An openly gay journalist was shot to death in his Point Breeze neighborhood home in the 2300 block of Watkins Street in South Philadelphia early Monday morning.

According to Officer Shawn Ritchie, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Police Department, 39-year-old Josh Kruger was shot at about 1:30 a.m. and collapsed in the street after seeking help. Kruger was transported to Penn Presbyterian Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 2:13 a.m.

Police said that Kruger was shot seven times throughout the chest and abdomen and that no weapons were recovered nor have any arrests been made. Homicides investigators noted that there was no sign of forced entry and the motive remains unclear.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a statement:

“Josh Kruger lifted up the most vulnerable and stigmatized people in our communities — particularly unhoused people living with addiction. As an openly queer writer who wrote about his own journey surviving substance use disorder and homelessness, it was encouraging to see Josh join the Kenney administration as a spokesperson for the Office of Homeless Services.

Josh deserved to write the ending of his personal story. As with all homicides, we will be in close contact with the Philadelphia police as they work to identify the person or persons responsible so that they can be held to account in a court of law. I extend my deepest condolences to Josh’s loved ones and to all those mourning this loss.ā€

WHYY reported Kruger had written extensively with bylines in multiple publications, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Magazine, the Philadelphia Citizen, WHYY, and Billy Penn.

CBS News reported that Kruger overcame homelessness and addiction to work for five years in city government, handling Mayor Jim Kenney’s social media and serving as the communications director for the city’s Office of Homeless Services.

He left city government in 2021 to return to journalism, according to his website.

“He was more than just a journalist,” Kendall Stephens, who was a friend and neighbor of Kruger’s, told CBS News. “He was more than just a community member. He was somebody that fought that great fight so many of us are not able to fight that fight because we’re too busy sheltered in our own homes wondering if someone is going to knock down our doors and kill us the same way they killed him. The same way they tried to kill me. And we’re tired of it.”   

Kenney said in a statement that he is “shocked and saddened” by Kruger’s death.

“He cared deeply about our city and its residents, which was evident in his public service and writing. Our administration was fortunate to call him a colleague, and our prayers are with everyone who knew him.”

The District Attorney’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee issued the following statement:

ā€œMany of us knew Josh Kruger as a comrade who never stopped advocating for queer Philadelphians living on the margins of society. His struggles mirrored so many of ours — from community rejection, to homelessness, to addiction, to living with HIV, to poverty — and his recovery, survival, and successes showed what’s possible when politicians and elected leaders reject bigotry and work affirmatively to uplift all people. Even while Josh worked for the mayor, he never stopped speaking out against police violence, politicized attacks on trans and queer people, or the societal discarding of homeless and addicted Philadelphians.

We are devastated that Josh’s life was ended so violently. We urge anyone who has information that could lead to an arrest and prosecution for Josh’s murder to contact the Philadelphia Police or the DA’s Office directly. LGBTQ+ Philadelphians experience violence of all kinds every day; few people used their platforms to remind powerful people in government of that reality as effectively as Josh Kruger did. Josh and the communities he advocated for every day of his life deserve nothing less than justice and accountability for this outrageous crime.ā€

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U.S. Federal Courts

Lesbian mother from El Salvador released from ICE custody

Jessica Barahona-Martinez arrested on June 26, 2017

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(Bigstock photo)

A federal judge last week ordered the release of a lesbian mother from El Salvador who had been in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since June 2017.

Jessica Patricia Barahona-Martinez and her three children entered the U.S. on May 31, 2016. A court filing notes she fled “persecution she faced in El Salvador as a lesbian, and because the government had falsely identified her as a gang member.ā€

Barahona-Martinez lived with her sister and other relatives in Woodbridge, Va., until ICE arrested and detained her on June 26, 2017. She was housed at two ICE detention centers in Virginia until her transfer to the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center, a privately-run facility the GEO Group, a Florida-based company, operates in Basile, La., in October 2020. 

An immigration judge in November 2019 granted Barahona-Martinez asylum for the second time. The government appealed the decision and the Board of Immigration Appeals, which the Justice Department oversees, ruled in their favor.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Louisiana last month filed a writ for habeas corpus petition in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana’s Lafayette Division that asked for Barahona-Martinez’s release. U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty on Sept. 27 ruled in her favor.  

“Petitioner (Barahona-Martinez) ultimately argues that her prolonged detention violates due process; she moves that this court issues a temporary restraining order, requests release, a bond hearing, an expedited hearing and costs and attorney fees,” wrote Doughty.

“This court finds that petitioner has plausibly alleged her prolonged detention violates due process,” added Doughty.

An ACLU spokesperson on Monday told the Blade that ICE has released Barahona-Martinez and she is once again in Virginia with her children and sister. 

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State Department

State Department hosts intersex activists from around the world

Group met with policy makers, health officials, NGOs

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The State Department last week hosted a group of intersex activists from around the world. (Courtesy photo)

The State Department last week hosted five intersex activists from around the world.

Kimberly Zieselman, a prominent intersex activist who advises Jessica Stern, the special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad, brought the activists to D.C.

• Morgan Carpenter, co-founder and executive director of Intersex Human Rights Australia

• Natasha JimĆ©nez, an intersex activist from Costa Rica who is the general coordinator of Mulabi, the Latin American Space for Sexualities and Rights

• Julius Kaggwa, founder of the Support Initiative for People with Atypical Sex Development Uganda

• Magda Rakita, co-founder and executive director of Fujdacja Interakcja in Poland and co-founder of Interconnected UK

• Esan Regmi, co-founder and executive director of the Campaign for Change in Nepal.

Special U.S. Envoy for Global Youth Issues Abby Finkenauer and Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine are among the officials with whom the activists met.

Zieselman told the Washington Blade on Sept. 21 the activists offered State Department officials an “intersex 101” overview during a virtual briefing.

More than 60 Save the Children staffers from around the world participated in another virtual briefing. Zieselman noted the activists also met with Stern, U.N. and Organization of American States officials, funders and NGO representatives while in D.C.

“The people we met were genuinely interested,” Rakita told the Blade.

Stern in an exclusive statement to the Blade said “the visiting intersex activists clearly had an impact here at State, sharing their expertise and lived experience highlighting the urgency to end human rights abuses, including those involving harmful medical practices against intersex persons globally.” Andrew Gleason, senior director for gender equality and social justice at Save the Children US, in a LinkedIn post he wrote after attending his organization’s meeting with the activists echoed Stern.

“There are many learnings to recount from today’s discussion, but one thing is clear, this is unequivocally a child rights issue, and one that demands attention and action at the intersection of LGBTQI+ rights, reproductive rights and justice, disability justice and more,” wrote Gleason. “Gratitude to the panelists for sharing such poignant testimonies and providing insights into what organizations like ours can do to contribute to the broader intersex movement; and thank you to Kimberly for your leadership and bringing this group together.”

The activists’ trip to D.C. coincided with efforts to end so-called sex “normalization” surgeries on intersex children.

Greek lawmakers in July passed a law that bans such procedures on children under 15 unless they offer their consent or a court allows them to happen. Doctors who violate the statute face fines and prison.

Germany Iceland, Malta, Portugal and Spain have also enacted laws that seek to protect intersex youth. 

A law that grants equal rights and legal recognition to intersex people in Kenya took effect in July 2022. Lawmakers in the Australian Capital Territory earlier this year passed the Variation in Sex Characteristics (Restricted Medical Treatment) Bill 2023.

Intersex Human Rights Australia notes the law implements “mechanisms to regulate non-urgent medical care to encourage child participation in medical decisions, establish groundbreaking oversight mechanisms and provide transparency on medical practices and decision making.” It further points out the statute “will criminalize some deferrable procedures that permanently alter the sex characteristics of children” and provides “funding for necessary psychosocial supports for families and children.”

“It’s amazing,” Carpenter told the Blade when discussing the law and resistance to it. “It’s not perfect. There was some big gaps, but physicians are resisting every step of the way.”

The State Department in April 2022 began to issue passports with an “X” gender marker.

Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as non-binary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an ā€œXā€ gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.

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