Opinions
Thank you, Mr. President
Executive order is latest pro-LGBT move by Obama
President Obama on Monday signed the executive order barring anti-gay bias by federal contractors that many of us have written about and asked him for since 2008 when he first promised to do it. We need to thank him for keeping his promise and taking another step toward securing full civil and human rights for the LGBT community. We have come a long way during his presidency.
This executive order is not a new initiative. What the president has done is to add sexual orientation and gender identity to a list of protected categories that were applied to federal contractors in an executive order first approved by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. As reported in the New York Times, āHe is also adding gender identity as a protected category to a 1969 directive by President Richard M. Nixon that applies to federal employees, which was later amended by President Bill Clinton to include sexual orientation.ā
This is a great step forward but it appears that while this EO applies to federal contracts it does not apply to federal grants whose criteria are usually left to each individual agency. The LGBT community takes heart that we have been heard and the EO does not carve out any new religious exemptions that donāt already exist for other protected categories. It is estimated this executive order applies to 24,000 companies that are designated as federal contractors and whose 28 million workers make up about a fifth of the American workforce.
Mondayās signing was done against a backdrop of the fight for legislation including ENDA ongoing for many years. That fight and the issue of exemptions for religious organizations have been impacted by the recent Supreme Court decision in the Hobby Lobby case. The first comprehensive legislation to ban discrimination against the LGBT community was introduced by Bella S. Abzug (D-N.Y.) in 1974. That legislation didnāt pass and there has ensued a long and sometimes bitter battle to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which first passed the House of Representatives in 2007 but didnāt get through the Senate. This past year, it passed the Senate but looks like it will fail in the House so we will be back to square one in the next Congress.
President Obama ran in 2008 and made a number of promises to the LGBT community including repealing āDonāt Ask, Donāt Tellā and signing this executive order to get support in the election and it clearly worked. The problem many in the community have had is that every move forward on his part including making these issues a priority once he was in office seemed to coincide with a difficult election, either the mid-term congressional or his own reelection. Forward momentum seemed designed politically to recharge and energize the LGBT community to vote in and raise more money for a coming election. That strategy has worked and includes his well-timed decision to evolve, or as some suggested revolve, as he once before did support it, on the issue of marriage equality.
As someone deeply involved in the political process for more than 40 years I find this strategy understandable. As an activist it is my hope as we move beyond the Obama presidency we will move LGBT issues away from being just a political football and that they will be as ingrained in the continuing fight for civil and human rights as are the fights for the civil rights of African Americans and womenās rights. We also need to move the fight for immigration reform away from the politics of the moment to the politics of full inclusion.
President Obama will always be seen as a hero to the LGBT community for how far we have come during his presidency. He is by nature a decent man. But let us hope that his elections will be the last in which the issues of full civil and human rights for the LGBT community are even debated in the Democratic Party. Unfortunately at this time we canāt say the same for the Republican Party but we can always hope for a better future even there.
We know as we have seen the arc of history with regard to civil rights and womenās rights that we will always have to be vigilant to maintain any forward momentum. But that will be a different fight thanks to this president.
Opinions
Ozempic: Is it worth the risk?
Semaglutides have innumerable benefits, but should be taken properly
When my partners and I opened ProMD Health, an aesthetic medicine clinic in City Center, I anticipated my “glow up” would include less wrinkles, more volume, and smoother, healthier skin. What I did not expect was to lose 37 lbs. in just five months. Offering injectables such as botox, sculptra, and filler, along with IV therapy, body contouring, and various spa treatments ā I was eager to try all of our treatments except one: Semaglutide. I too was one who believed the things I heard, from upset stomach to hollowness in the face. It wasn’t until I was left without a choice that I embarked on the journey.
What is semaglutide?
Semaglutide, a GLP-1 known as the brand name Ozempic, has become a global phenomenon that can help individuals lose up to 10 pounds a month with consistent diet and exercise. It works by sending signals to our hypothalamus (the part of the brain that controls hunger and sex drive) to be satiated with less food, regulating our cravings and urges. The drug is currently being studied for addiction therapy as patients with existing substance abuse have also noticed a reduction in their inclinations.Ā
Why I joined the celebrity craze
In January 2023, I had learned from my primary physician that I was pre-diabetic, with a BMI of 30, and had alarming triglyceride, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels. At only 33 years old, I felt defeated. On one end, I was a young entrepreneur celebrating the opening of a new business, where on the other, we were discussing medication to help me lower my blood pressure and analyzing my diet (which consisted mostly of nachos, red wine, and chocolate ice cream.) The stress of life was consuming me, where each time I craved something unhealthy ā I rationalized that it was deserved for all the many things I was doing.
My mental and physical health was in a bad place, where the more I’d work out ā the hungrier I would get, where ice cream was my reward for stepping on the treadmill. Due to my inability to regulate my cravings and intake, I decided to finally start semaglutide, as a change was needed to happen or illness diagnosis would follow.Ā
The journey
The first week was horrendous. I was puking endlessly. I had completely ignored our provider’s advice, continuing to eat what I normally did which semaglutide rejected. I realized then that me eating in the way I did was not only based on hunger, it was emotional. Food was my boyfriend, my comfort, and gift to myself. The puking was like a self-induced hazing process, because after that ā I no longer craved foods that were not compatible with the drug. Essentially ā fatty foods, highly processed meals, and foods high in sugar will leave you sick.
The nausea and sickness went away after a week (probably would have never come had I made the diet change on day one) and I started to have to force myself to eat as the hunger signals I relied on were no longer there. After eating half of what I would normally consume, I would feel satiated and full.
As my body got used to the drug, we would go up in dose ā where I started to have to force myself to eat. The well balanced diet of protein, vegetables, and carbs gave me the nutrients needed to sustain my day of meetings and post-work gym sessions.Ā
In just one month, my clothes are slipping off and my face had became noticeably slimmer. I started receiving levels of attention I hadn’t since my early 20s, and my confidence and belief in myselfĀ skyrocketed.Ā
Getting to my goal weight month four, we decided to lower the dosage and taper off while incorporating more whole foods in my diet to supplement my workouts. With the weight off, my current focus is muscle growth.
With social media misinforming viewers on a daily basis ā I have put together a list of myths, do’s, and don’ts from my experience.
Myths:
– Ozempic Face: The drug does not make your face cave in. When folks lose a lot of weight in a short period of time (with or without GLP-1), they will experience volume loss. One of the few aesthetic benefits of being overweight is fullness in the face, where our wrinkles and signs of aging are less noticeable. Eating too much sugar and having a high fat intake can also cause acne ā so it is a double edged sword. Our providers usually recommend slowly increasing the dosage where treatments such as mid-face filler can address new concerns around visible aging.
– You will need to be on it forever.
– Your GI will be ruined.
Do’s:
– Take a probiotic daily.
– Drink a lot of water to help with your digestion and to flush your system.
– Take an anti-nausea prescription, nauzene, or fresh ginger in the first two weeks.
– Make sure you are eating a well-balanced diet of protein, carbs, and vegetables. Even if you have to force yourself to eat it ā without the nutrients, you will have no energy for the gym and could experience hair loss or malnutrition symptoms.
– Eat fruit: Although the cravings will decrease, if a sweet tooth has its requests ā eat fresh fruit. It is somehow way more refreshing and satisfying while on semaglutide and will aid in digestion.
Don’ts:
– Get semaglutide from an inexpensive online retailer ā the price you pay will match the dosage and quality of product.
– Eat foods high in sugar. You will pay for it.
– Eat oily foods.
– Binge drink.
– Be inconsistent.
– Stop abruptly. It takes time but worth the journey!
Opinions
Trump administration is set to abandon LGBTQ Africans
Ugandan officials have applauded incoming U.S. president
As the results of the U.S. presidential election came in on Nov. 5, showing that former President Donald Trump had won a second term, homophobic political leaders celebrated 7,000 miles away, in Ugandaās capital of Kampala.
āThe sanctions are gone,ā Anita Among, the countryās parliamentary speaker, told members of parliament, referring to the fact that she had been barred from entering the U.S.Ā by the Biden administration on June 16, 2023, after Uganda passed what was known as the āKill The Gaysā act on May 28, 2023.Ā Ā
The act, officially called the Anti-Homosexuality Act, was signed into law by President Yoweri Museveni on May 28, 2023. The new Ugandan law imposes life imprisonment for same-sex acts, up to 20 years in prison for ārecruitment, promotion, and fundingā of same-sex āactivities,ā and anyone convicted of āattempted aggravated homosexualityā faces the death penalty.Ā Ā Ā Ā
On May 8, Among proclaimed that the enactment of the law demonstrated that āthe Western world will not come and rule Uganda.ā And on May 9 Among tweeted: āThe president ā¦ has assented to the Anti-Homosexuality Act. As the parliament of Uganda, we have answered the cries of our people. We have legislated to protect the sanctity of [the] family. We have stood strong to defend our culture and [the] aspirations of our people,ā she said, thanking Museveni for his āsteadfast action in the interest of Uganda.āĀ Ā
Among said in his tweet that Ugandan MPs had withstood pressure from ābullies and doomsday conspiracy theoristsā and called for the countryās courts to begin enforcing the new law. The passage of the bill and that fact that Among and other African homophobes celebrated Trumpās re-election tells us what the next four years are going to be like for Africaās LGBTQ+ people.
African political leaders and religious zealots (both Christian and Muslim) have used homophobia as a tool for political and religious power for many years. They say that same-sex relations and gay rights are imports from the West. They have used homophobia to portray themselves as nationalists and defenders of African and religious values. They have used homophobia to frighten and divide people to mobilize popular support and votes.
But it is homophobia, as others have said before me, that is the real import from the West. And the whole panoply of weapons employed by the homophobes in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa are themselves colonial imports, ranging from sodomy laws that were a legacy of colonial rule to the parliaments that pass these laws.
And homophobia is growing stronger in Africa.
In mid-March 2023, Museveni was quoted by the Monitor newspaper website as saying that the āWestern countries should stop wasting the time of humanity by imposing their social practices on us.ā And Kenyan President William Ruto declared the same month that āour culture and religion does not allow same-sex marriages.āĀ Ā
On April 2, 2023, Museveni called upon African leaders to reject āthe promotion of homosexualityā and said homosexuality was āa big threat and danger to the procreation of human race.ā According to Museveni, āAfrica should provide the lead to save the world from this degeneration and decadence, which is really very dangerous for humanity. If people of opposite sex stop appreciating one another then how will the human race be propagated.ā
On Dec. 29, 2023, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, speaking at an event in the countryās eastern Cankuzo province, where he answered questions from journalists and members of the public, defiantly proclaimed that powerful nations āshould keepā their aid if it comes with an obligation to give rights to LGBTQ+ persons.Ā āI think,ā Ndayishimiye declared, āthat if we find these people in Burundi they should be taken to stadiums and stoned, and doing so would not be a crime.ā
In Ghana, legislators have been debating the Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill since it was introduced in August 2021. Same-sex relations are already punished by up to three years in jail under current law in Ghana, but this new bill will impose punishment for even identifying as LGBTQ+. It will also criminalize being transgender and includes jail sentences of up to 10 years for advocating for LGBTQ+ rights. It also imposes a legal obligation on all persons and entities to report any people perceived to be LGBTQ+ or any homosexual activity to the police or community leaders.
The bill was passed by the Ghanaian parliament on Feb. 28. President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has not yet announced whether he will sign it, saying he will await the results of two Supreme Court cases challenging its constitutionality. And on July 17, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that delayed judgement on the bill until all related legal issues have been resolved.
John Dramani Mahama, the former president of Ghana and a leading presidential candidate in the countryās upcoming elections, standing for the National Democratic Congress, said during a meeting with members of the clergy in eastern Ghana that gay marriage and being transgender were against his Christian beliefs. āThe faith I have will not allow me to accept a man marrying a man, and a woman marrying a woman,ā Mahama said while responding to a church leaderās call against LBGTQ+ people. āI donāt believe that anyone can get up and say I feel like a man although I was born a woman and so I will change and become a man,ā he added. Mahama did not say whether or not he would sign the anti-LGBTQI+ bill should he win the presidential election in December 2024.
In Kenya, opposition parliamentarian Peter Kaluma introduced the Family Protection Bill in February 2023. The bill mirrors many aspects of the Ugandan law and would punish gay sex with prison for up to ten years or even death in some cases. The new bill is ācut from the same clothā as the Ugandan legislation, said Kevin Muiruri, a Nairobi-based lawyer. The bill is being vetted by a parliamentary committee, which is expected to refer it to the full chamber for a vote. And President William Ruto, an evangelical Christian, has already endorsed the legal repression of LGBTQI+ rights.Ā Ā
āWe cannot travel down the road of women marrying their fellow women and men marrying their fellow men,ā he declared in March 2023.
More recently, the National Transitional Council of Mali, which has effectively served as the countryās legislature since the military seized power in 2020, voted on Oct. 31 to approve a penal code that criminalizes same-sex relations by 132 votes to one. The media was not able to obtain a copy of the new penal code and the penalties imposed for same-sex acts are unknown. But, according to the Malian Justice and Human Rights Minister Mamadou Kasogue, āanyone who indulges in this practice, or promotes or condones it, will be prosecuted.ā The bill still requires the signature of the countryās military junta, which is led by General of the Army Assimi Goita.
Trumpās foreign policy advisors have already drawn up an explicitly anti-LGBTQ+ rights foreign policy agenda for his second term in office. The Project 2025 report (prepared under the leadership of the Heritage Foundation, so the new administration can start implementing this agenda as soon as it comes into office in January 2025) states that the U.S. should āstop promoting policies birthed in the American culture warsā and stop pressing African governments to respect the rule of law, human rights/LGBT+ rights, political and civil rights, democracy, and womenās rights, especially abortion rights.
āAfrican nations are particularly (and reasonably) non-receptive to the US social policies such as abortion and pro-LGBT initiatives being imposed on them,ā by the U.S., the report declares. Therefore, āthe United States should focus on core security, economic, and human rights engagement with African partners and reject the promotion of divisive policies that hurt the deepening of shared goals between the U.S. and its African partners.ā
The principal responsibility for implementing this policy reversal on LGBTQ+ rights in Africa will fall on Trumpās nominee for Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and whoever Trump chooses as his Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. It will be up to them to direct the activities and programs that Trump wants in order to endorse, encourage, promote, and fund homophobic groups and organizations in Africa, and there is no doubt that they will implement this agenda energetically and zealously.
African homophobes say they are standing up to the West and saving the continent and the world from homosexuality, but they are just serving their own selfish interests and the interests of right-wing Christian nationalists in the West. Gay communities in Africa and the West share a common interest in fighting back, and civil society groups and all genuine supporters of human rights are increasingly active. As Eric Gilari, an LGBTQ+ activist in Kenya said, āone day we shall defeat these assaults on our human rights and triumph in equality and inclusion for LGBTQ persons within African countries. This ideal must be our guiding light in this moment of darkness and tears.ā
Daniel Volman is the director of the African Security Research Project in Washington, D.C. and a specialist on U.S. national security policy toward Africa and African security issues.
Opinions
Christian Nationalism: a āpropā to achieving power?
The drive toward an authoritarian theocracy
āLadies and Gentlemen, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.ā I clearly remember this call from a pulpit decades ago because it seemed so odd to hear such a thing in church. Rev. D. James Kennedy, a ballroom dancing instructor in the 1950s who became senior pastor of Coral Ridge Ministries in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., grandly announced: āThe Pledge of Allegiance to the Bible!ā
Down from the rafters, hanging on wires above the pulpit descended a huge Bible seemingly ablaze. Accompanied by old time miracle-riffs on an organ, Kennedyās congregants stood with hand over heart to recite a chilling pledge of allegiance to The Word: āI pledge allegiance to the Bibleā¦.ā. I went to Coral Ridge to see for myself how Kennedy preached about āthe infamous men of Sodom who have moved into our churches.ā I was one of those men. In the 1980s, when visiting my hometown Dallas, I attended what is still considered the largest LGBTQ church in the world, the Cathedral of Hope. I had helped this church raise money for a chapel to be designed by gay architect Philip Johnson (1906-2005). I had not experienced Christian Nationalists warning about the āmen of Sodom moving into our churchesā until I saw that giant hanging Bible in Fort Lauderdale.
A pledge of allegiance to a flying Bible seems quaint compared to todayās Christian Nationalist movement, now a pillar of the new Trump presidency, which evangelical leaders liken to a āRed Sea moment in America.ā One leader recently compared Donald Trump to Moses parting the Red Sea allowing his people safe passage into a new Promised Land. Amanda Tyler, the lead organizer of the Christians Against Christian Nationalism Campaign of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C., warns in her new book the U.S. is now at āa high tide of Christian Nationalism.ā
Tyler, a devout Baptist from Austin, is direct about the threat Christian Nationalism poses to religious freedom in the U.S. āChristian Nationalism is a political ideology that seeks to fuse American and religious identitiesā¦.into one set of political beliefsā¦..It is pernicious and insidious,ā she explains in her book, āHow to End Christian Nationalism.ā Besides being written by a Christian from Texas who asks hard questions, what makes this āhow toā book such a good read is Tylerās rejection of the despondency of the moment. She has no time for that. āWe all have a role to play in ending Christian Nationalism,ā she explains, by organizing in our communities, churches and with our legislative allies nationwide. This, she emphasizes, includes all who are impacted by Christian nationalism in unequal ways including āpeople of color, people who are not Christian, LGBTQIA+ people and people who belong to more than one of those identity groups.ā
Tyler lays it out: Christian Nationalism exists in a multiverse beyond the old-school haters we once knew and loved. How can one forget āGod Hates Fagsā Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church? When my friend the conservative Republican Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming said he favored same-sex marriage, Phelps called him a āSenile Old Fag Loverā (2003). Today, Tyler writes, Christian Nationalists have smoothed those rough edges āusing Christianity as a prop to achieving powerā in their drive toward an authoritarian theocracy. She explains with cool precision how they evolved into a āwell-funded and highly organized politicalā movement that āpoints not to Jesus of Nazareth but to the nationā¦.as the object of allegiance.ā
A Texan to her Baptist core, Tyler draws from her unique experience working at āground zero of the culture wars,ā the Texas Legislature. Following a proposal to post the Ten Commandments in every classroom in the Texas public school system (which passed in Louisiana) came legislation to replace licensed counselors in the public schools with religious chaplains. Using her āhow toā logic she tells the story of Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin), a committed Christian and seminarian, who successfully opposed the school chaplain bill. Talarico told Tyler that his years as a public school teacher and his Christian faith meant he couldnāt stay silent āin the face of the Christian Nationalist agenda.ā Tyler asks, āWhat would happen if a broad-based coalition of people of faith joined state Rep. James Talarico in saying we donāt want religious instruction happening in our public schools?ā Tyler puts this to readers as a basis for action to be carried from the lawmaking trenches of Austin to Washington itself. Tylerās how-to book rises beyond anger, despondency and āhopiumā into concrete ideas for organizing and action among believers and non-believers alike.
Maybe Amanda Tylerās campaign will take root in states like Oklahoma where the Superintendent of Schools issued a request for vendors to supply 55,000 Bibles (for $59.99 each) that sounded a lot like Donald Trumpās āGod Bless the USAā Bible printed in China for $3. The Bibles were to be used for classroom instruction in history, supporters claimed. After a storm of derision, the superintendentās request was revoked without explanation.
Charles Francis is president of the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., and author of āArchive Activism: Memoir of a āUniquely Nastyā Journey.ā