National
Uganda president attends ‘thanksgiving service’ for anti-gay law
Yoweri Museveni described LGBT organizations as ‘criminals’ and ‘mercenaries’
Uganda President Yoweri Museveni in February signed into law a bill that imposes harsh sentences on LGBT Ugandans. (Photo by the U.K. Department for International Development; courtesy Wikimedia Commons).
The Associated Press reported a coalition of Ugandan religious leaders and government officials organized the event that took place in Kampala, the country’s capital, to thank Museveni for signing the so-called Anti-Homosexuality Bill. Chimpreports.com, a Ugandan website, reported nearly 10,000 people attended a march before the prayer service.
Pastor Martin Ssempa is among those who took part in the march. Chimpreports.com posted pictures on its website that shows other participants holding signs thanking Parliamentarian David Bahati – who introduced the so-called Anti-Homosexuality Bill in 2009 after Scott Lively and two other prominent American evangelicals attended a summit the anti-gay Coalition for Advancement of Moral Values (CAMOVA) organized.
The measure once contained a provision that sought to impose the death penalty upon anyone found guilty of repeated same-sex sexual acts.
“We have fundamental disagreements with the west on homosexuality,” said Museveni during the Kampala prayer service as Chimpreports.com reported. “Homosexuality is not sex.”
The website also reported that Museveni described pro-LGBT organizations as “criminals” and “mercenaries.”
“No one should attack African culture which is the foundation of its survival,” said the Ugandan president. “Africa is origin of man and pioneer of civilization. All those Europeans and Chinese were former Africans.”
The White House announced after Museveni signed the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law in February that it had begun a review of its relationship with the Ugandan government.
The Obama administration earlier this month announced it will divert $6.4 million originally earmarked for the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda – which backs the Anti-Homosexuality Bill – to other organizations. BuzzFeed reported the group organized the prayer service and march that preceded it.
The U.S. has suspended a study to identify groups at risk for HIV/AIDS that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had planned to conduct with a Ugandan university. A CDC agreement that fully or partially funded the salaries of 87 employees of the Ugandan Ministry of Health who support the East African country’s response to the epidemic expired on Feb. 28.
The White House also will redirect roughly $3 million that had been earmarked to promote tourism and biodiversity to non-governmental organizations that work on the issue. The Pentagon has suspended or cancelled “near-term invitational travel” for Ugandan officials and plans to relocate upcoming events that had been scheduled to take place in the East African country.
Uganda receives nearly $300 million each year through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to fight the epidemic in the East African country. The Ugandan government in 2013 received more than $485 million in aid from the U.S.
“Europeans continue to threaten us with aid cuts because we are lazy,” said Museveni during the Kampala prayer service as Chimpreports.com reported. “Let’s produce wealth. We don’t need their aid.”
Those who took part in the rally also held signs that read “Obama, we want trade not homosexuality” as BuzzFeed reported.
New York
Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade
One of the victims remains in critical condition
On Sunday night, following the annual NYC Pride March, two girls were shot in Sheridan Square, feet away from the historic Stonewall Inn.
According to an NYPD report, the two girls, aged 16 and 17, were shot around 10:15 p.m. as Pride festivities began to wind down. The 16-year-old was struck in the head and, according to police sources, is said to be in critical condition, while the 17-year-old was said to be in stable condition.
The Washington Blade confirmed with the NYPD the details from the police reports and learned no arrests had been made as of noon Monday.
The shooting took place in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, mere feet away from the most famous gay bar in the city — if not the world — the Stonewall Inn. Earlier that day, hundreds of thousands of people marched down Christopher Street to celebrate 55 years of LGBTQ people standing up for their rights.
In June 1969, after police raided the Stonewall Inn, members of the LGBTQ community pushed back, sparking what became known as the Stonewall riots. Over the course of two days, LGBTQ New Yorkers protested the discriminatory policing of queer spaces across the city and mobilized to speak out — and throw bottles if need be — at officers attempting to suppress their existence.
The following year, LGBTQ people returned to the Stonewall Inn and marched through the same streets where queer New Yorkers had been arrested, marking the first “Gay Pride March” in history and declaring that LGBTQ people were not going anywhere.
New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, whose district includes Greenwich Village, took to social media to comment on the shooting.
“After decades of peaceful Pride celebrations — this year gun fire and two people shot near the Stonewall Inn is a reminder that gun violence is everywhere,” the lesbian lawmaker said on X. “Guns are a problem despite the NRA BS.”
New York
Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade
Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform
Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for mayor of New York City who pulled a surprise victory in the primary contest last week, walked in the city’s Pride parade on Sunday.
The Democratic Socialist and New York State Assembly member published photos on social media with New York Attorney General Letitia James, telling followers it was “a joy to march in NYC Pride with the people’s champ” and to “see so many friends on this gorgeous day.”
“Happy Pride NYC,” he wrote, adding a rainbow emoji.
Mamdani’s platform includes a detailed plan for LGBTQ people who “across the United States are facing an increasingly hostile political environment.”
His campaign website explains: “New York City must be a refuge for LGBTQIA+ people, but private institutions in our own city have already started capitulating to Trump’s assault on trans rights.
“Meanwhile, the cost of living crisis confronting working class people across the city hits the LGBTQIA+ community particularly hard, with higher rates of unemployment and homelessness than the rest of the city.”
“The Mamdani administration will protect LGBTQIA+ New Yorkers by expanding and protecting gender-affirming care citywide, making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary city, and creating the Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs.”
U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free
Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a portion of the Affordable Care Act requiring private health insurers to cover the cost of preventative care including PrEP, which significantly reduces the risk of transmitting HIV.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh authored the majority opinion in the case, Kennedy v. Braidwood Management. He was joined by two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with the three liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown-Jackson.
The court’s decision rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s reliance on the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force to “unilaterally” determine which types of care and services must be covered by payors without cost-sharing.
An independent all-volunteer panel of nationally recognized experts in prevention and primary care, the 16 task force members are selected by the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve four-year terms.
They are responsible for evaluating the efficacy of counseling, screenings for diseases like cancer and diabetes, and preventative medicines — like Truvada for PrEP, drugs to reduce heart disease and strokes, and eye ointment for newborns to prevent infections.
Parties bringing the challenge objected especially to the mandatory coverage of PrEP, with some arguing the drugs would “encourage and facilitate homosexual behavior” against their religious beliefs.
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U.S. Supreme Court4 days agoSupreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free
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