News
National news in brief: November 18
Mass. passes law barring gender identity employment discrimination, Catholic Charities ceases providing foster services in Ill., Mich. poised to pass anti-bullying bill
The L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center celebrated 40 years this week in a star-studded event. (Photo courtesy Minnaert via Wikimedia)
L.A. LGBT Center celebrates 40 years
LOS ANGELES — Saturday, one of the nation’s oldest LGBT institutions celebrated its 40th anniversary at the Westin Boneventure Hotel, honoring Chaz Bono, gay actor Neil Patrick Harris and his partner, celebrity chef David Burtka.
According to Karen Ocamb of Frontiers L.A., the ceremony was hosted by comedian Leslie Jordan and included presentations by Center Board member and Queer As Folk actor Peter Paige, “Glee” star and board member Jane Lynch and actor David Arquette, whose sister is trans actress Alexis Arquette, presenting an award to fellow “Dancing With The Stars” contestant, Chaz Bono.
“Today we are living in an increasingly uncivil society. Gone are the optimistic aspirations for a New Frontier or a Great Society that would conquer the problems of ignorance and prejudice and eliminate injustice,” said Center CEO Lorri Jean. “The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center stands in stark contrast to all of that.”
Mass. legislature passes trans rights bill
BOSTON — After passing in the lower house Tuesday 95-58, and passing by voice vote in the Senate Wed., a bill that would bar employment and housing discrimination — but leaves out public accommodation discrimination — for transgender residents of Massachusetts passed the Senate in a voice vote on Wednesday. Gov. Deval Patrick (D) has said he would sign it.
It’s a bittersweet victory for some Massachusetts trans rights activists, who have criticized the lack of public accommodations language in the bill.
“We want complete protections for transgender people – including in public accommodations – but also know that in order to get there, we cannot walk away from the legislature’s first step toward achieving those full protections,” GLAD Transgender Rights Project director Jennifer Levi said in a statement.
Calif. FAIR Education law takes effect Jan. 1
SACRAMENTO — The law that mandates schools include in the curriculum important figures from the LGBT community and disabled community will take effect in seven weeks.
Opponents of the FAIR Education Act, known as SB 48, attempted to derail the legislation by collecting signatures toward a “people’s veto” ballot measure. That effort failed, and schools are now gearing up to comply with the mandate.
“Our history is more complete when we recognize the contributions of people from all backgrounds and walks of life,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson said after the legislation was signed into law in July.
Supporters of the law say it will improve the self-esteem of LGBT young people and possibly curb bullying.
Ill. Catholic Charities ends foster care services
CHICAGO — Catholic Charities of Illinois has announced that it will no longer provide foster care services in Illinois as three Catholic dioceses dropped lawsuits against the state seeking to skirt state law mandating same-sex couples in civil unions be allowed in the foster care system.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the dioceses of Joliet, Springfield and Belleville sued the state in an attempt to avoid recognizing same-sex couples. However, after the state forced 2,000 foster cases to transition to non-religious agencies, and judges refused to halt the process before the Nov. 30 deadline, the dioceses agreed to the state’s terms and end adoption and foster care placement services in Illinois.
Secular agencies in the regions serviced by the dioceses have already agreed to assist in the transition.
‘Religious exemption’ in Michigan bullying bill dropped
LANSING, Mich. — Controversial language in a Michigan anti-bullying bill that would exempt from punishment those expressing “sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction,” will be stricken from the Senate bill after outrage from LGBT and Muslim groups.
ALSO IN THE BLADE: GAY SAUDI DIPLOMAT DENIED ASYLUM IN PRELIMINARY DECISION
Paving the way to make the bill easier to pass, State Senator Rick Jones agreed last week to drop the language in Matt’s Law, a bill named for a young Michigan man who committed suicide in 2002 after severe bullying and harassment. Matt’s father, Kevin Epling joined with leaders from Equality Michigan and the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in denouncing the bill.
“That one paragraph, though, negates most of the things that we tried to put in,” Epling told ABCNews in regard to the religious exemption.
Michigan is one of only three states without an anti-bullying law.
District of Columbia
Billy Porter, Keke Palmer, Ava Max to perform at Capital Pride
Concert to be held at annual festival on June 9
The Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced this week the lineup of performers for the Sunday, June 9, Capital Pride Concert to be held during the Capital Pride Festival on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. near the U.S. Capitol.
Among the performers will be nationally acclaimed singers and recording artists Billy Porter and Keke Palmer, who will also serve as grand marshals for the Capital Pride Parade set to take place one day earlier on Saturday, June 8.
The Capital Price announcement says the other lead performers will be Ava Max, Sapphira Cristal, and the pop female trio Exposé.
“The beloved pop icons will captivate audiences with upbeat performances coupled with their fierce advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights, echoing the vibrant spirit of this year’s theme, ‘Totally Radical,’” according to a statement released by Capital Pride Alliance.
“With Billy Porter and Keke Palmer leading the parade as Grand Marshals, we’re not only honoring their incredible contributions to the LGBTQ+ community but also amplifying their voices as fierce advocates for equality and acceptance,” Capital Pride Alliance Executive Director Ryan Bos said in the statement.
“The concert and festival serve as a platform to showcase the diverse array of LGBTQ+ talent, from the chart-topping hits of Ava Max to the iconic sounds of Exposé and the electrifying performances of Sapphira Cristal,” Bos said in the statement. “Capital Pride 2024 promises to be a celebration like no other.”
The concert will take place from 12-10 p.m. on the main stage and other stages across the four-block long festival site on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The White House
Jane Rigby awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom
Sitting among a diverse and venerable group of Americans from every walk of life on the dais in the East Room of the White House on May 3 was lesbian and NASA astrophysicist Jane Rigby, awaiting her turn to be honored by President Joe Biden who would bestow the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, on her.
Rigby, an astronomer who grew up in Delaware, is the chief scientist of the world’s most powerful telescope who alongside her team operating NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, studies every phase in the history of the universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of the solar system.
A member of Penn State’s Class of 2000, Rigby graduated with a bachelor’s degrees in physics and astronomy. She also holds a master’s degree and a PhD in astronomy from at the University of Arizona. Her work as the senior project scientist for NASA’s Webb Telescope includes studies on how galaxies evolve over cosmic time and she has published more than 140 peer-reviewed scientific papers.
Rigby was named to Nature.com’s 2022 list of 10 individuals who shaped science and to the BBC’s list of 100 inspiring and influential women in the same year. Rigby had postdoctoral fellowships at Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, Calif., before landing her job at Goddard Space Flight Center. In 2013 Rigby was awarded the Robert H. Goddard Award for Exceptional Achievement for Science.
A founding member of the American Astronomical Society’s Working Group on LGBTQ Equality in January 2012, now called the Committee for Sexual Orientation and Gender Minorities in Astronomy, Rigby serves as its Board Liaison until her term expires this June.
The lesbian astrophysicist in an interview for SGMA’s website spoke about her experiences including coming out:
“I’ve been out since 2000. My story’s simple — I fell in love with a fellow grad student in the department. It was a close-knit department, so hiding would have been ludicrous. Nor did I want to hide the best thing in my life! So, we were out as grad students. I certainly heard people say awful homophobic things at work there. They weren’t directed at me, and they weren’t said by people with power over me. If I recall, I was much less afraid of homophobic discrimination at work, than I was afraid of the two-body problem, and the lack of support we would receive as a same-sex couple in astronomy. That fear turned out to be justified. I’ve seen numerous different-sex couples get a wide range of support in solving the two-body problem, which was never offered to us,” she told the interviewer.
She reflected on American astronaut and physicist Sally Ride, her childhood role model who had an impact on her career:
“One of my biggest role models when I was young was Dr. Sally Ride. A few years ago, on her deathbed, Dr. Ride chose to write in her obituary that her life partner had been a woman. Dr. Ride was the most influential woman scientist when I was growing up — the person that made me say, “I want to do THAT when I grow up.” It was because of her that I realized that astrophysics was a profession, that physics was a subject girls could study, that NASA needed astrophysicists. So I’m so … amused, I suppose, that Sally Ride was this influence on my life’s path, at a time when I was completely unaware that it was even possible to *be gay* — and at the same time, she was gay, in love, and deeply closeted to keep her job.”
The interviewer noted that “for some women being gay is a cause for concern at the work place. Some say they were unsure about how to turn their sexual orientation into a positive aspect of their work persona.” Then asked Rigby what is your view on this?
“My experience is that absolutely I am a *better* astronomer because I’m queer. For a few reasons. First, I see things different than my colleagues. On mission work, as we weigh a decision, my first thought is always the community impact: ‘If we do things this way, who benefits, and who gets left out in the cold?’ Will this policy create inclusion, or marginalization? I think about science in terms of community-building. What team do we need to tackle a given science problem, with skills that are different from mine? Absolutely I think that way because I’m an outsider, because I’ve been marginalized. And because community-building is central to LGBTQ culture,” she said.
Editor’s note: You can read Rigby’s complete SGMA interview here: (Link)
Married to Dr. Andrea Leistra, Rigby, her wife and their young child reside in Maryland not far from her workplace at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in suburban Washington and when not studying the universe is often found on the neighboring Chesapeake Bay wind boarding, a favored pastime.
Also honored in the ceremony Friday were a former U.S. vice president, a civil rights worker and martyr, two former Cabinet secretaries — one a former U.S. secretary of state, a speech writer for the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an Olympian and gold medalist, and one of the most powerful woman political leaders and the speaker emeritus of the U.S. House of Representatives, among others, and LGBTQ advocate Judy Shepard.
WATCH
Arts & Entertainment
Washington Blade’s Pride on the Pier and fireworks show returning June 8
The annual Pride on the Pier Fireworks Show presented by the Leonard-Litz Foundation will take place on Saturday, June 8 at 9 p.m.
The Washington Blade, in partnership with LURe DC and The Wharf, is excited to announce the 5th annual Pride on the Pier and fireworks show during D.C. Pride weekend on Saturday, June 8, 2024, from 2-10 p.m.
The event will include the annual Pride on the Pier Fireworks Show presented by the Leonard-Litz Foundation at 9 p.m.
Pride on the Pier extends the city’s annual celebration of LGBTQ visibility to the bustling Southwest waterfront with an exciting array of activities and entertainment for all ages. The District Pier will offer DJs, dancing, drag, and other entertainment. Alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase for those 21 and older. Local DJ’s Heat, Eletrox and Honey will perform throughout the event.
3 p.m. – Capital Pride Parade on the Big Screen
3:30 p.m. – Drag Show hosted by Cake Pop!
9 p.m. – Fireworks Show Presented by Leonard-Litz Foundation
The event is free and open to the public. The Dockmasters Building will be home to a VIP experience. To learn more and to purchase tickets go to www.prideonthepier.com/vip. VIP tickets are limited.
Event sponsors include Absolut, Buying Time, Capital Pride, DC Brau, DC Fray, Burney Wealth Management, Infinate Legacy, Leonard-Litz Foundation, Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, MISTR, NBC4, The Wharf. More information regarding activities will be released at www.PrideOnThePier.com
Billy Porter, Keke Palmer, Ava Max to perform at Capital Pride
Center for Black Equity announces leadership change
John Waters released from hospital after car accident
Jane Rigby awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom
