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Claiming space for LGBTQ community in cannabis movement

We must create inclusive conversations around health care

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Cannabis Festival, gay news, Washington Blade, cannabis legalization
The cannabis legalization movement was driven by the efforts of diverse communities.

The cannabis legalization movement was driven by the efforts of diverse communities, yet cannabis industry, advocacy and media do not reflect that diversity, including a lack of representation of the LGBTQIA community. Both cannabis and LGBTQIA community have lived on the fringes of society for decades, navigating a country where their acceptance was, and often still is, hard to attain. Many compare the “rapid” change in opinion on gay marriage with the shift in public support for cannabis legalization, and while those parallels may feel valid, to say experiences of cannabis consumers and being LGBTQIA are the same rejects the nuance of being queer in today’s society. It’s high time to create a cannabis community that more accurately reflects its users and supporters, and to put an end to the trend of a male-dominated, white, cis-gender, cannabis industry.

D.C. and 33 states permit medical cannabis use, 10 states plus D.C. have adult use programs, and 66% of people in the U.S. support cannabis legalization. Long before cannabis legalization was fathomable, the LGBTQIA community strongly supported legalization for healthcare and recreational pursuits. According to the 2010 General Social Survey, 65% of gay and lesbian respondents supported cannabis legalization, with that number growing to 80% in 2016. Support is even greater among those who identified as bisexual, at 73% in 2010 and 91% in 2016. In comparison, heterosexual individuals supported legalization at a much lower rate of 44% in 2010, and 58% in 2016, yet the LGBTQIA audience remains a secondary priority to marketers and companies in the cannabis industry.

Despite the widespread support for cannabis legalization in the LGBTQIA community, there is little discussion of where we fit into the industry. A familiar phrase in cannabis media is “coming out of the cannabis closet.” If you Google “coming out of the cannabis closet,” you will find myriad articles and videos walking you through how to do so with suggestions on how to tell your personal story or promising health care savings, but you’ll have a hard time finding any content directed at or covering topics impacting the LGBTQIA community. The conversation of coming out within the LGBTQIA community is controversial as it is. For example, coming out as a latinx trans person in a poor community is completely different experience than coming out as a gay cis man in upper-class suburbia. For a phrase charged with such heavy emotion and consequence for so many individuals to be co-opted by an industry that has yet to invite those individuals in, just feels wrong. 

There is already a growing movement within the cannabis industry to ensure equal representation of women and people of color. It’s time for the LGBTQIA community to be included in our conversations about diversity and inclusion, and for the cannabis industry and media to take serious steps to create inclusive conferences, industry meet-ups, articles and conversations around health care.   

Laila Makled and Caroline Phillips are with the National Cannabis Festival, which is being held Saturday at RFK Stadium.

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New York

Two teens shot steps from Stonewall Inn after NYC Pride parade

One of the victims remains in critical condition

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The Stonewall National Memorial in New York on June 19, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

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.”

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New York

Zohran Mamdani participates in NYC Pride parade

Mayoral candidate has detailed LGBTQ rights platform

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NYC mayoral candidate and New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani (Screen capture: NBC News/YouTube)

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.”

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U.S. Supreme Court

Supreme Court upholds ACA rule that makes PrEP, other preventative care free

Liberal justices joined three conservatives in majority opinion

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The U.S. Supreme Court as composed June 30, 2022, to present. Front row, left to right: Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Back row, left to right: Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Photo Credit: Fred Schilling, the U.S. Supreme Court)

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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