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Gay ambassador in the spotlight amid Ukraine crisis

Baer a ‘strong voice for human rights’ at OSCE as Russia invades

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Daniel Baer, United States Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, gay news, Washington Blade

Gay U.S. ambassador Daniel Baer is representing U.S. interests during the Ukraine crisis at the Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A gay U.S. ambassador is taking center stage in the crisis over Russia’s military incursion into Ukraine by representing American interests at the Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe.

Daniel Baer, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in August to his seat at the Vienna-based international conference, has his work cut out for him in one of the most daunting foreign policy challenges faced by the Obama administration.

As widely reported, after turmoil in Ukraine leading to the ouster of the pro-RussianĀ PresidentĀ Viktor Yanukovych, Russian military forces under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin occupied buildings, airports and other assets in Crimea for what he’s said is ensuring the safety of ethnic Russians living on the peninsula. Both the United States and the Ukraine government have deemed the incursionĀ an act of invasion and occupation by Russian forces.

From his Twitter account, Baer has posted updates about efforts to mitigate the crisis, which include attending emergency meetings to deliver the U.S. call to send anĀ international observer mission to Ukraine.

The OSCE was set up during the Cold War as a forum where the United States could raise human rights and security issues with countries aligned with the Soviet Union. After the Cold War, the OSCE has served as a pan-Atlantic forum now comprising 57 European, Asian and North American countries for conversations on conflict management and human rights, although the most recent crisis in Ukraine recalls the original purpose of the organization.

In his prepared remarks for an initial emergency meeting on Sunday, Baer said Putin is breaking various international agreements by intervening in Crimea, such as its 1994 Budapest Summit commitments that enabled the de-nuclearization of Ukraine.

“The effects on relations between the Russian Federation and every single participating state around this table, to which the Russian Federation has pledged its commitment to abide by principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, will be profound,” Baer said.

Baer also lists the times Russian diplomats were critical of military incursions in the Middle East, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sri Lanka, saying Russia can’t selectively apply this principle to its foreign policy.

In response, the Russian government insists it has undertaken the incursion into Crimea out of concern for the Russian ethnic minority. But Baer asserts an international monitoring team would be an appropriate way to handle the situation.

“Now just a moment ago we heard from the delegate of the Russian Federation a repeat of their concerns about the protection of Russian citizens, the treatment of minorities, and the security of Russian military installations and personnel in Crimea,” Baer said. “An international monitoring mission is the right way to address these concerns.”

Following the meeting, Baer was photographed speaking with the media as he spoke about the U.S. call for an OSCE-led monitoring mission to Ukraine. According to Reuters, Baer told reporters the United states has won tentative support for a many members for a monitoring mission, including “openness” from the Russian delegation. Moscow has veto power on the OSCE.

 

Recently via Twitter, Baer saidĀ he’s hearing “worrying” multiple reports that paramilitaries are going house to house in Crimea and issuing threats if residents don’t attend pro-Russia rallies.

It should be noted that Baer is taking a lead role during the Ukraine crisis, but isn’t the top U.S. diplomat handling the situation. Victoria Nuland, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs, was also set to participate in the OSCE meetings along with Baer.

An initial emergency ambassadorial meeting of the 57 OSCE participating states called by the Swiss chairman took place Sunday. Following a special meeting Monday in which Nuland spoke for the United States, Baer said via Twitter yet another meeting was set for Wednesday “in response to Ukraine’s activation of Vienna Document Ch III mechanisms.”

Prior to his assignment as U.S. ambassador to OSCE, Baer was the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor, where he took a lead role in shaping policy for international LGBT affairs. In his new post, Baer has moved to Vienna with his partner Brian Walsh.

Mark Bromley, chair of the Council for Global Equality, said Baer was “a strong and vibrant voice for human rights” at the bureau, so his role in mitigating the Ukraine crisis is reassuring.

“The OSCE was originally created to engage the former Soviet Union on human rights issues, and so itā€™s fitting that Dan is representing our country there now as we come ā€“ once again ā€“ to a confrontation with Russia over human rights with a leader who looks increasingly like a Soviet-era dictator,” Bromley said.

Recalling the anti-gay laws ā€” including a controversial law banning anti-gay propaganda to minors ā€” already put in place under Putin’s regime, Bromley said Putin has shown his targets for persecution aren’t limited to his own LGBT citizens.

“Itā€™s important that we have a strong ambassador at the OSCE, and one who, as a gay American, understands that persecution of just one small minority in a country rarely ends with that one group, but, as history has shown repeatedly, almost always ends with a more aggressive assault on the rights of a broader group of people,” Bromley said.

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District of Columbia

D.C. Mayorā€™s Office of LGBTQ Affairs moving to new location

LGBTQ community center also set to leave Reeves Center

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There are plans to demolish the Reeves Center and replace it with a redevelopment project. (Washington Blade photo by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.)

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowserā€™s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, which is currently located at the cityā€™s Reeves Center municipal building at 14th and U Street, N.W., was scheduled to move during the week of Dec. 9 to a new location at 899 North Capitol St., N.E., according to Japer Bowles, the officeā€™s director.

Bowles said the LGBTQ Affairs office will be located on the seventh floor of the privately owned office building in which the city has rented space for several other city agencies, including the D.C. Department of Health.

The move comes about amid longstanding plans to demolish the Reeves Center and replace it with a redevelopment project that will include a mix of housing, office space, a hotel, and retail stores along with a public plaza and a 200-seat amphitheater.

The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center, which has been located in the Reeves Center for about 10 years, also expects to be moving out of the building in the spring of 2025, said Kimberley Bush, the LGBTQ centerā€™s executive director.

Bush said the LGBTQ center looks forward to moving into its new, larger space in a building at 1827 Wiltberger St., N.W. in the cityā€™s Shaw neighborhood, which is located one block away from the Shaw-Howard University Metro station.

The LGBTQ center entered a joint lease to rent space in the Wiltberger Street building with the Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes most of D.C.ā€™s LGBTQ Pride events, including the upcoming World Pride 2025 events set to take place in D.C. May 17-June 8.

In response to a request by Bowser, the D.C. Council earlier this year approved $1 million in funding for fiscal year 2025 to support the build-out and construction of the LGBTQ Centerā€™s space in the Wiltberger Streetā€™s converted warehouse building.

But shortly after the Council approved that funding, the D.C. Center and Capital Pride Alliance announced the launch of a fundraising campaign called ā€œWelcome Home ā€“ Building Together, Thriving Togetherā€ to raise an additional $1.5 million needed to complete the renovation of the new building.

ā€œThis endeavor is more than just the construction of a building; it represents a commitment to carve out a generous 7,000 square feet of space devoted to nurturing unity, empowerment, and support across the LGBTQ+ spectrum,ā€ a statement announcing the fundraising campaign says.

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Congress

Protests against anti-trans bathroom policy lead to more than a dozen arrests

Demonstrations were staged outside House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) office

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Protest outside House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) office in the Cannon House Office Building (Washington Blade photo by Christopher Kane)

About 15 protestors affiliated with the Gender Liberation Movement were arrested on Thursday for protesting the anti-trans bathroom policy that was introduced by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and enacted last month by U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

Whistleblower Chelsea Manning and social justice advocates Raquel Willis and Renee Bracey Sherman were among those who were arrested in the women’s bathroom and the hallway outside Johnson’s office in the Cannon House Office Building.

Demonstrators held banners reading ā€œFLUSH BATHROOM BIGOTRYā€ and ā€œCONGRESS: STOP PISSING ON OUR RIGHTS!ā€ They chanted, ā€œSPEAKER JOHNSON, NANCY MACE, OUR GENDERS ARE NO DEBATE!ā€ and “WHEN TRANS FOLKS ARE UNDER ATTACK WHAT DO WE DO? ACT UP, FIGHT BACK!”

Protests began around 12:10 p.m. ET. Within 30 minutes, Capitol Police arrived on the scene, began making arrests, and cleared the area. A spokesperson told Axios the demonstration was an illegal violation of the D.C. code against crowding, obstructing or incommoding.

Mace and her flame-throwing House GOP allies have said the bathroom policy was meant to target Sarah McBride, the Delaware state senator who will become the first transgender member of Congress after she is seated in January.

LGBTQ groups, elected Democrats, and others have denounced the move as a bigoted effort to bully and intimidate a new colleague, with many asking how the policy’s proponents would enforce the measure.

Outside her office in the Longworth House Office Building, the Washington Blade requested comment from Mace about the protests and arrests.

“Yeah, I went to the Capitol Police station where they were being processed, so I’ll be posting what I said shortly,” the congresswoman said.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) (Washington Blade photo by Christopher Kane)

Using an anti-trans slur, Mace posted a video to her X account in which she says, “alright, so some tranny protestors showed up at the Capitol today to protest my bathroom bill, but they got arrested ā€” poor things.”

“So I have a message for the protestors who got arrested,” the congresswoman continued, and then spoke into a megaphone as she read the Miranda warning. “If you cannot afford an attorney ā€” I doubt many of you can ā€” one will be provided to you at the government’s expense,” she said.

ā€œEveryone deserves to use the restroom without fear of discrimination or violence. Trans folks are no different. We deserve dignity and respect and we will fight until we get it,ā€ Gender Liberation Movement co-founder Raquel Willis said in a press release.

ā€œIn the 2024 election, trans folks were left to fend for ourselves after nearly $200 million of attack ads were disseminated across the United States,” she said. “Now, as Republican politicians, try to remove us from public life, Democratic leaders are silent as hell.”

Willis continued, “But we canā€™t transform bigotry and hate with inaction. We must confront it head on. Democrats must rise up, filibuster, and block this bill.ā€

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South Africa

WorldPride 2028 to take place in Cape Town

South Africa is first African country to host event

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(Photo courtesy of Michael Gladwin)

Cape Town last month secured enough votes to host WorldPride in 2028.

The bidding process, which started in late October, took place in MedellĆ­n, Colombia, where the Guadalajara (Mexico) Pride and WorldPride Cape Town bidding teams contended for the rights to host WorldPride. InterPride, which organizes the event, on Nov. 8 officially declared Cape Town the host of WorldPride 2028.

It will be the first time WorldPride will take place in an African country.

South Africa is the only country on the continent that constitutionally recognizes LGBTQ rights. South Africa, as a result, in recent years has seen a surge in the number of LGBTQ asylum seekers from Africa and around the world.

Reacting to the historical precedence, Cape Town Pride said it was now time for Africa to shine and acknowledged the WorldPride Cape Town bidding team and the city of Cape Town for their role in the bidding process.

“This is a first for the whole continent of Africa,ā€ said Cape Town Pride CEO Tommy Patterson. ā€œA few weeks ago, in MedellĆ­n, Cape Town Pride, the city of Cape Town, and the bidding team presented our bid. The team did a wonderful job and we all forged great friendships and allies from Pride groups all over the globe.ā€

ā€œCape Town Pride is thrilled by the news and support shown by the global LGBTI+ family,” added Patterson.

Michael Gladwin of the WorldPride Cape Town bidding team echoed Pattersonā€™s excitement.

“This will mark the first time WorldPride is held on the African continent, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome the global LGBTQ+ community to our beautiful city,ā€ said Gladwin. ā€œA heartfelt thank you goes out to all our incredible partners who supported this journey. Together, we will showcase Cape Town as a beacon of inclusivity and diversity.”

Gladwin also congratulated Guadalajara Pride for their bid.

“Their commitment in promoting LGBTQ+ rights is inspiring, and we look forward to collaborating in the future,” said Gladwin.

Cape Townā€™s LGBTQ community is celebrating the successful bid, while others in the city have criticized it.

Rev. Oscar Bougardt, founder and lead pastor of the Calvary Hope Baptist Church, described WorldPride as ā€œgarbageā€ and ā€œfilthā€ that should be condemned.

“I am happy to say I am amongst the pastors in Cape Town who are in opposition and are outraged at this garbage planned for 2028,ā€ said Bougardt. ā€œThe city of Cape Town and LGBTQ+ organizations planned this event without consulting rate payers, this bid was done in secret and taxpayers’ money will be used to fund this filth.”

ā€œJust as the LGBTQ + organizations have the right to host WorldPride 2028, we have the right to say we donā€™t want it in Cape Town,ā€ he added. ā€œI pray more church leaders will stand up against the planned WorldPride 2028. To church leaders and parents, this is the time to unite and tell the city of Cape Town and LGBTQ+ organizations that we are disgusted at the planned event. Untied we stand and divided we will fall!”

Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 2022 won the bid to host WorldPride 2025, but the local planning committee withdrew it amid a dispute with InterPride. WorldPride 2025 will take place in D.C. from May 17-June 8, 2025.

The 2024 ILGA World Conference took place last month in Cape Town.

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