National
Gay N.J. activist: Sandy left behind ‘massive destruction’
Superstorm brought widespread devastation to both New Jersey and New York
The head of New Jerseyās statewide LGBT advocacy organization on Wednesday said Superstorm Sandy devastated his state.
āHurricane Sandy has left massive destruction in her aftermath,ā said Garden State Equality Chair Steven Goldstein in a YouTube video shot on a street in Teaneck in Bergen County with down trees and power lines in the background.
Goldstein urged his organizationās members and supporters to keep in regular contact with the elderly, young people and those with disabilities directly impacted by the storm who may need someone to pick up their prescriptions or buy them other basic supplies.
āOn behalf of our entire Board of Directors, I extend to you our love, our prayers and most profound gratitude for being there for one another during this time of need.ā
Sandyās storm surge inundated large swaths of the New Jersey coastline, New York City, the South Shore of Long Island and Fire Island as it made landfall near Atlantic City, N.J., on Monday night. The storm killed at least 90 people in the United States and dozens of others in the Caribbean.
Villas, N.J., residents Vince Grimm and Will Kratz, whom the Washington Blade interviewed in August shortly after they celebrated their 51st anniversary, rode out Sandy in their bay front home north of Cape May. The couple lost power and water during the storm, but Grimm told friends in an e-mail he and Kratz have been able to run a generator and their gas-powered fireplace.
The storm did not damage the coupleās home and property.
āOur beach is a disaster and we lost our sand fences, but the dune is intact considering we got hit [during] a high tide with a full moon,ā said Grimm. āActually our street, 11 blocks long, has virtually no damage considering we are sitting on a sand dune along the bay.ā
Sandyās winds āunlike anything Iāve heardā
The storm killed at least 37 people in New York City, while a fast-moving fire destroyed more than 100 homes in the flooded Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens late on Monday.
A record storm surge that nearly topped 14 feet in lower Manhattan inundated large swaths of the five boroughs, subway tunnels under the East and Hudson Rivers and the Queens-Midtown and High L. Carey Tunnels that link Manhattan with Queens and Brooklyn respectively.
A limited number of subway and commuter train lines are once again running in portions of the city and metropolitan area, but bus service below 23rd Street in Manhattan remains suspended at night because the lack of electricity has created dangerous driving conditions. More than a quarter of a million customers in Manhattan remained in the dark as of 4:30 a.m. on Thursday.
āItās been a crazy, crazy few days here,ā gay New York City Council candidate Corey Johnson told the Blade on Wednesday. His apartment on West 15th Street in Manhattanās Chelsea neighborhood is close to the Eighth Avenue building that lost its facade during the height of the storm. āAll I could hear was howling winds. It was unlike anything Iāve heard in my 12 years in New York.ā
Cindi Creager, the former communications director of the LGBT Community Center in Greenwich Village, was inside her West Village apartment with her wife during the storm. The couple is currently staying with a friend who lives on Manhattanās Upper West Side, but Creager told the Blade she feels fortunate she and her wife escaped the storm unscathed.
āThe wind was howling and whipping [outside] the window. And it was scary,ā she said. āWe had power and we didnāt and it was total darkness outside the window. And thatās when it felt very scary. You just start to realize how fleeting life can be. We did very well considering.ā
Cathy Renna of Renna Communications rode out Sandy in her centuries old farmhouse on Shelter Island between Long Islandās North and South Forks. She told the Blade local utility crews restored the electricity to her home roughly 24 hours after the worst of the storm had passed.
Sandy brought several large trees down across Shelter Island, but Renna stressed she feels she and her family āwere really lucky.ā
āI grew up on Long Island,ā she said, noting her sisterās friend who lives in Lindenhurst along the Great South Bay in southwestern Suffolk County lost everything to the storm. āI have never, ever seen winds like that. It was terrifying, but it was only for a few hours.ā
Storm devastates Fire Island, forces LGBT groups to close
Sandy caused widespread flooding and severe beach erosion throughout Fire Island. Dozens of oceanfront homes in Fire Island Pines sustained damage from the storm surge. The high tides also damaged bulkheads and bay front board walks in the hamlet and neighboring Cherry Grove.
The storm also forced the Empire State Pride Agenda, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and other LGBT advocacy groups to close their lower Manhattan offices because of the power outage and in some cases flooding.
āOur New York-based staff members are safe and working from home with limited resources,ā said GLAAD spokesperson Seth Adam on the organizationās website on Tuesday. āToday, our thoughts are with all those families affected by Hurricane Sandy, as well as first responders working to keep us safe.ā
Officials cancelled the cityās annual Halloween parade in Greenwich Village. The storm also derailed Splash Bar and other lower Manhattan gay bars and clubsā holiday festivities because of the blackout. Restaurants and other businesses in the Hellās Kitchen neighborhood west of Times Square that did not lose electricity during Sandy remain open.
āDay 3 of no power,ā said Gym Sports Bar, which is on Eighth Avenue in Chelsea, in a message to patrons. āOur thoughts are with you out there. As soon as our lights are back on we will be back on the field. Stay safe out there Gym peeps.ā
Restoring power and full subway service remain New York City officialsā top priorities.
āThe subway lines are really the veins, arteries and lifeblood of the city,ā said Johnson. āPeople are basically stuck unless theyāre going to work or are able to get on a bus.ā
Lesbian New York City Council candidate Yetta Kurland, who said her building has run out of the water because of the lack of electricity, said the closure of New York University Langone Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital because of flooding has left lower Manhattan residents more vulnerable. Kurland also pointed out people with disabilities and others who are unable to leave their apartments are unable to obtain food, water and ice at Union Square and other distribution points.
āThereās a large relief effort,ā she said. āThe cityās doing a great job at this point, but there are a lot of homebound people who cannot get to Union Square.ā
Gay City Councilmember Daniel Dromm said the situation in his Queens district that includes the neighborhoods of Jackson Heights and Elmhurst āis pretty much okayā outside of downed trees. Overcrowded subway stations and gas shortages have become a problem, but Dromm said the gay bars and other businesses along bustling Roosevelt Avenue that were closed during the storm have since re-opened.
āEverything is back up and operational in Jackson Heights itself,ā said Dromm. āWe were very lucky.ā
Gay New Yorkers persevere in spite of Sandy
Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, which is the countryās largest LGBT synagogue, will hold its weekly Shabbat service by candlelight at a Manhattan church later on Friday. Its group for older congregants will meet at a nearby diner beforehand for dinner.
Elmo, a restaurant on Seventh Avenue in Chelsea, on Wednesday served drinks in spite of the lack of electricity.
Even as New Yorkers try to return to some sense of normalcy, they continue to reflect upon the storm that devastated their city.
āYou go from this thriving city uptown to just a ghost town downtown, which is really scary,ā said Creager, who briefly returned to her apartment on Wednesday to pick up more clothes and other belongings. āThere was a lot of traffic yesterday going up and down the West Side Highway because thereās no subway. Thereās that feeling in the air, even on the Upper West Side like something major has happened.ā
Dromm, who taught in the cityās public schools for 25 years until his 2009 election to the City Council, said he has ānever seen anything likeā Sandy āin my life in Queens.ā He also applauded New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for raising the issue of climate change during the storm’s aftermath.
āItās a very important question,ā said Dromm. āItās really scary when you think about lower Manhattanāareas of lower Manhattan being flooded out like that. Government wasnāt even able to really operate in this storm. Itās very, very scary.ā
Federal Government
US Census Bureau testing survey on LGBTQ households
Agency proposing questions about sexual orientation and gender identity
The U.S. Census BureauĀ is seeking public comment on a proposed test of sexual orientation and gender identity questions on the American Community Survey. The test would begin this summer and continue into next year.
The Census Bureau published the request as a Federal Register notice. In its press release the agency noted that the ACS is an ongoing survey that collects detailed housing and socioeconomic data. It allows the Census Bureau to provide timely and relevant housing and socioeconomic statistics, even for low levels of geography.
As part of the process for adding new questions to the ACS, the Census Bureau tests potential questions to evaluate the quality of the data collected.
The Census Bureau proposes testing questions about sexual orientation and gender identity to meet the needs of other federal agencies that have expressed interest in or have identified legal uses for the information, such as enforcing civil rights and equal employment measures.
The test would follow the protocols of the actual ACS ā with one person asked to respond to the survey on behalf of the entire household. These particular questions are asked about people 15 years of age or older. Households are invited to respond to the survey online, by paper questionnaire or by phone.
TheĀ current Federal Register noticeĀ gives the public a final opportunity to provide feedback before the Census Bureau submits its recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget for approval. The public may provide feedback through May 30Ā online.
The White House
Judy Shepard to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
Nancy Pelosi is also among this year’s honorees
Beloved LGBTQ advocate Judy Shepard is among the 19 honorees who will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S., the White House announced on Friday.
The mother of Matthew Shepard, who was killed in 1998 in the country’s most notorious anti-gay hate crime, she co-founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation with her husband Dennis to raise awareness about anti-LGBTQ violence.
The organization runs education, outreach, and advocacy programs, many focused on schools.
In a statement shared via the Human Rights Campaign, Shepard said, āThis unexpected honor has been very humbling for me, Dennis, and our family. What makes us proud is knowing our President and our nation share our lifelong commitment to making this world a safer, more loving, more respectful, and more peaceful place for everyone.
āI am grateful to everyone whose love and support for our work through the years has sustained me.
āIf I had the power to change one thing, I can only dream of the example that Mattās life and purpose would have shown, had he lived. This honor reminds the world that his life, and every life, is precious.”
Shepard was instrumental in working with then-President Barack Obama for passage of the landmark Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, which was led in the House by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who will also be honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom during the ceremony on Friday.
Also in 2009, Shepard published a memoir, “The Meaning of Matthew: My Son’s Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed,” and was honored with theĀ Black Tie Dinner Elizabeth Birch Equality Award.
“Judy Shepard has been a champion for equality and President Bidenās choice to honor her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom is a testament to what sheās done to be a force of good in the world,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.
“A mother who turned unspeakable grief over the loss of her son into a decades-long fight against anti-LGBTQ+ hatred and violence, Judy continues to make a lasting impact in the lives of the LGBTQ+ community,” she said. Ā
“It is because of her advocacy that the first federal hate crimes legislation became law and that countless life-saving trainings, resources and conversations about equality and acceptance are provided each year by the Matthew Shepard Foundation,” Robinson said. “We are honored that Judy is a member of the HRC family and know that her work to create a more inclusive and just world will only continue.”
Other awardees who will be honored by the White House this year are: Actor Michelle Yeoh, entrepreneur and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Jesuit Catholic priest Gregory Boyle, Assistant House Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), former Labor and Education Secretary and former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), journalist and former daytime talkshow host Phil Donahue, World War II veteran and civil rights activist Medgar Evers (posthumous), former Vice President Al Gore, civil rights activist and lawyer Clarence B. Jones, former Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), former U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) (posthumous), Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky, educator and activist Opal Lee, astronaut and former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center Ellen Ochoa, astronomer Jane Rigby, United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero, and Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe (posthumous).
National
United Methodist Church removes 40-year ban on gay clergy
Delegates also voted for other LGBTQ-inclusive measures
The United Methodist Church on Wednesday removed a ban on gay clergy that was in place for more than 40 years, voting to also allow LGBTQ weddings and end prohibitions on the use of United Methodist funds to āpromote acceptance of homosexuality.ā
Overturning the policy forbidding the church from ordaining āself-avowed practicing homosexualsā effectively formalized a practice that had caused an estimated quarter of U.S. congregations to leave the church.
The New York Times notes additional votes “affirming L.G.B.T.Q. inclusion in the church are expected before the meeting adjourns on Friday.” Wednesday’s measures were passed overwhelmingly and without debate. Delegates met in Charlotte, N.C.
According to the church’s General Council on Finance and Administration, there were 5,424,175 members in the U.S. in 2022 with an estimated global membership approaching 10 million.
The Times notes that other matters of business last week included a “regionalization” plan, which gave autonomy to different regions such that they can establish their own rules on matters including issues of sexuality ā about which international factions are likelier to have more conservative views.
Rev. Kipp Nelson of St. Johns’s on the Lake Methodist Church in Miami shared a statement praising the new developments:
āIt is a glorious day in the United Methodist Church. As a worldwide denomination, we have now publicly proclaimed the boundless love of God and finally slung open the doors of our church so that all people, no matter their identities or orientations, may pursue the calling of their hearts.
“Truly, all are loved and belong here among us. I am honored to serve as a pastor in the United Methodist Church for such a time as this, for our future is bright and filled with hope. Praise be, praise be.ā