National
Florida organization advocates for transgender women with HIV, immigrants
Arianna Lint founded Arianna’s Center in 2015
The founder of a South Florida organization that serves transgender women says her goal remains to change her clients’ lives “in a good way.”
Arianna’s Center CEO Arianna Lint during an interview with the Washington Blade last month at the National LGBTQ Task Force’s annual Creating Change conference in Dallas said her organization is “the first resource for transgender” people in Florida who are in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and once they are released.
Lint said a combination of grants and private donations allows Arianna’s Center to purchase bus tickets to Florida for trans women after ICE releases them from their custody. Arianna’s Center also provides them with housing, monthly bus passes and access to free health care and English classes so “they can continue their lives.”
“We have to provide everything,” said Lint. “We don’t pay them, but we give them transportation … we put them in school. We try to find them stable housing. We find them a free doctor.”
Lint moved to U.S. to complete transition
Lint, 47, was a lawyer in her native Peru before she moved to the U.S. in order to complete her transition. Lint opened an escort service when she was living in New York.
“It gave me the financial life to continue my life, pay my bills,” Lint told the Blade.
Lint moved to Florida after Sept. 11 and opened a construction company in Orlando. Lint told the Blade she “had a relationship and everything, and then” she tested HIV positive.
“It was a very big shock for me,” she said. “I left my own business and everything.”
Lint was a volunteer at an Orlando HIV clinic before she became a full-time employee. Lint worked for the Florida Department of Health before Sunserve, a Fort Lauderdale-based LGBTQ organization, in 2013 hired her as its trans director.
Lint founded Arianna’s Center in 2015.
“I decided to step out and open my organization because I saw in South Florida there were no trans-led agencies,” Lint told the Blade.
Arianna’s Center, which is based in Wilton Manors, offers a variety of programs to its trans clients. These include home testing and linkage to care for those who test positive.
Lint told the Blade her group conducts needs assessment, and encourages clients who are negative to go on PrEP. Lint also said many of Arianna’s Center’s clients are homeless, sex workers and survivors of domestic violence.
“They don’t go to the office,” she said. “We go to where they are.”
Arianna’s Center partnered with Human Rights Watch on its report about trans women of color who live in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties. Arianna’s Center also worked with the Transgender Law Center on a Florida and national survey about trans issues.
Lint is a board member of the Trans Latin@ Coalition, a California-based group that advocates for trans immigrants and other groups around the country.
Arianna’s Center opened Puerto Rico office in 2019
Puerto Ricans with HIV are among the vulnerable groups that Hurricane Maria left even more at-risk after it devastated the U.S. commonwealth in September 2017. Arianna’s Center began to work in Puerto Rico a few months later.
Lint told the Blade many Puerto Ricans with HIV come to Florida to receive treatments that are not available on the island. AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Borealis, Gilead Sciences, AIDS United, the Elton John Foundation, the Southern HIV Impact Fund and Miami Dolphins: Football Unites are among the organizations that have given Arianna’s Center funds to expand its work.
Arianna’s Center is working with the University of Puerto Rico to conduct the first needs assessment for people with HIV on the island. Arianna’s Center opened an office in Puerto Rico in 2019.
“They tell us what’s happened in Puerto Rico, so that was of interest for us to go to Puerto Rico and start working over here,” said Lint, referring to Puerto Ricans with HIV with whom Arianna’s Center works.
Arianna’s Center’s staff now includes COO Tony Lima. Lint herself only began to receive a salary late last year.
Casa Ruby CEO Ruby Corado is among those who Lint considers a “mentor.”
Corado in a statement to the Blade said Lint’s “hard work and perseverance has evolved in building a center that is the life-saving key for many Florida and Caribbean trans people.”
“Her work is priceless,” said Corado.
Trans Latin@ Coalition President Bamby Salcedo echoed Corado.
“Arianna Lint is an example of possibility in the trans community,” Salcedo told the Blade. “Through hard work and determination, Arianna has been able to build a great center and be one of the leaders of the trans community in Florida and across the nation.”
Lima said Lint “inspires me on a daily basis.”
“She is the consummate advocate, who goes above and beyond to ensure that trans women of color are represented, included, protected and empowered to fight the discrimination they face daily,” Lima told the Blade. “She leads with passion, dedication and love and for this reason she is not only respected throughout Florida but also across the country.”
Arizona
Shooting outside gay bar in Ariz. leaves three dead
Tucson police investigating double murder-suicide as a hate crime
Three people were fatally shot outside a gay bar in Tucson, Ariz., early Monday morning, about a mile from the city’s nightlife district.
Police have said the shooting, which took place in the parking lot of Venture-N bar at 1239 N. 6th Ave., was likely a hate crime and a double murder-suicide following a verbal altercation.
The suspect, Ousman Ceesay, allegedly shot Vincent Anthony Siqueiros and Cameron Davis Capara while they were outside the club around 12:30 a.m. Monday.
Reports show Capara and Siqueiros were pronounced dead at the scene. Ceesay died after being taken to a local hospital with gunshot wounds.
Police have also said that Ceesay was carrying a list of LGBTQ businesses at the time of the shooting.
Arizona Public Media has said police are investigating the case as a hate crime because the suspect was carrying a note containing the names of multiple LGBTQ-associated businesses.
“I am deeply saddened that another senseless loss of life has happened in our community,” Tucson Police Chief Monica Prieto said in a statement. “Bias-based crimes are especially heinous and have no place in our community.”
According to Prieto, there is no imminent threat to the community, and the Tucson Police Department is working to provide extra protection to various LGBTQ businesses across town.
Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva, who represents the area, issued a statement condemning the act of violence, which appears to have been at least in part motivated by homophobia.
“I am disgusted and deeply saddened to learn of a targeted act of hate and the cold-blooded murder of two members of our LGBTQIA+ community, Vincent Siqueiros and Cameron Capara, at the Venture-N bar in Tucson last night. This horrific attack is a painful reminder that even in welcoming communities like Tucson, hate and violence against the LGBTQIA+ community still exist.”
“When that hate is combined with easy access to firearms, the consequences can be deadly. I am sick and tired of Congress refusing to lift a finger to protect our communities while, every day, dozens of people are shot and killed across the country. It does not have to be this way. The House of Representatives is returning to session this week, and our first action should be passing common-sense gun safety reforms that we know can save lives.”
Other federal lawmakers also condemned the shooting.
The Congressional Equality Caucus, which is made up of federal legislators advancing LGBTQ interests, issued a statement after news broke.
“Our hearts are with the friends and loved ones of the victims of this devastating attack outside a Tucson gay bar and with the Tucson LGBTQI+ community,” it said on X. “No one should fear violence because of who they are — and we’re going to continue fighting to build a world where no one does.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ organization in the country, released a statement following the shooting.
“We are heartbroken by the loss of Vincent Anthony Siqueiros and Cameron Davis Capara and our hearts are with their families, loved ones, and the entire Tucson LGBTQ+ community. Once again, we are reminded that gun violence robs people of their lives, destroys families, and devastates communities.”
A candlelight vigil honoring the victims is planned for Sept. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Catalina Park in North Tucson.
Congress
HRC president campaigns for Chris Pappas in NH
Gay congressman running to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson on Sunday campaigned for U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) in New Hampshire.
Robinson traveled to Manchester, the state’s largest city, nine days before the Sept. 8 primary that will determine who will vie for retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)’s seat.
We’re hitting the pavement across New Hampshire to fight for a freer, fairer future for everyone.
Glad to have Human Rights Campaign President @KelleyJRobinson join us for a canvass launch in Manchester today. pic.twitter.com/XWCEaQxy4o
— Chris Pappas (@ChrisPappasNH) August 30, 2026
Former U.S. Sen. John E. Sununu, who represented New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate from 2003-2009, will face off against former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, who represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate from 2010-2013, in the Republican primary.
Karishma Manzur is among the Democrats challenging Pappas.
A poll the University of New Hampshire Survey Center released on Aug. 26 shows Sununu is ahead of Brown. The same survey shows Pappas ahead of Manzur and his other Democratic challengers.
The UNH Survey Center poll shows Sununu ahead of Pappas by a 45-43 percent margin if they were to face off in the general election. The margin of error is +/-2.1 percent.
Pappas would become the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate if he were to win in November.
National
Milo Yiannopoulos deported to UK
ICE arrested far-right provocateur in New Orleans on Thursday
Editor’s note: The Department of Homeland Security on Saturday said Milo Yiannopoulos has been deported to the U.K.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Thursday arrested far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.
A DHS spokesperson in a statement sent to the Washington Blade said ICE arrested Yiannopoulos, who they described as “an illegal alien from the United Kingdom,” at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
The DHS spokesperson said Yiannopoulos “legally entered the country” in New York on May 14, 2019.
“He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” said the spokesperson.
The DHS spokesperson said an immigration judge on July 22 “issued a final order of removal” for Yiannopoulos “after failing to show up for his immigration hearing.” The Times-Picayune newspaper in New Orleans on Friday reported Yiannopoulos is being held at an ICE detention center in Alexandria, La., which is about 200 miles northwest of the Crescent City.
“He will remain in ICE custody pending removal,” said the DHS spokesperson.
Yiannopoulos has, among other things, repeatedly targeted transgender people and Muslims.
The American Conservative Union, which organizes the annual Conversative Political Action Conference, in 2017 disinvited Yiannopoulos from speaking at that year’s CPAC after a video in which he appeared to condone sex between adults and underage boys emerged. Yiannopoulos subsequently resigned from Breitbart News, a far-right news website, where he had been a senior editor.
Yiannopoulos later that year married his boyfriend in Hawaii. The far-right provocateur in 2021 claimed he was an “ex-gay.”
The Australian government in 2019 banned Yiannopoulos from entering the country “on character grounds.” Yiannopoulos was also banned from Facebook, Twitter (now X), and other social media platforms.
The Times-Picayune reported Yiannopoulos “most recently worked for” Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
The controversial rapper is scheduled to perform in New Orleans on Friday.
Laura Loomer, a far-right conspiracy theorist who is close to President Donald Trump, has called for Yiannopoulos’s deportation. Loomer on Friday wrote on X that she “reported him to ICE and the FBI” after he “called for me to be assassinated.”
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