National
Melissa Etheridge: I would go to Sochi ‘with bells on’
Singer recently co-launched campaign for LGBT Russians
(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Melissa Etheridge told the Washington Blade during an interview on Dec. 13 that she would travel to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in spite of the country’s ongoing LGBT rights crackdown.
“I would be there with bells on,” she said. “I would love to go offer support, offer visibility, stand there just as a known gay person.”
Etheridge, a two-time Grammy winning singer and songwriter, spoke with the Blade four days after she joined “Milk” producer Bruce Cohen and Anastasia Smirnova of the Russian LGBT Network at the formal launch of the “Uprising of Love” campaign during a Russia Freedom Fund fundraiser in New York. Dustin Lance Black — the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Milk” and “8” — co-founded this effort with Etheridge and her partner, Linda Wallem, and entertainment executive Greg Propper as a way to further support Russian LGBT rights advocates.
Etheridge, who debuted her song “Uprising of Love” during the New York fundraiser, noted to the Blade the American LGBT rights movement in 2013 reached what she described as a “tipping point” on marriage rights for same-sex couples and other issues. She also attended a United Nations panel on homophobia and transphobia in sports on Dec. 10 that featured retired tennis champion Martina Navratilova, former Washington Wizards center Jason Collins, South African activist Thandeka “Tumi” Mkhuma, intersex advocate Huda Viloria, U.S. Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic and Smirnova and gay MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts who moderated it.
“You kind of look abroad afterwards and I did,” said Etheridge, referencing civil rights activists who began to campaign against Apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s.
Etheridge spoke to the Blade hours after retired Olympic diver Greg Louganis said during a separate interview with the Blade after he took part in a Capitol Hill briefing organized by Human Rights First that Roberts shouldn’t have hosted last month’s Miss Universe 2013 pageant in Moscow. Louganis, who opposes a boycott of the Sochi games over Russia’s LGBT rights record, also questioned gay singer Elton John’s decision to perform in the Russian capital.
“Of course this touches Greg deeply,” said Etheridge, once again noting she would travel to Sochi if she were invited to take part in the games. “He was an Olympic athlete and it’s completely understandable where he’s coming from and each of us have different paths and there is no one right way to do this. If each of us acts and behaves with our conscience we can move this forward.”
Mizeur’s chances of becoming next Md. guv ‘very great’
Etheridge remains friends with Maryland state Del. Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery County) whom she met during the 2008 presidential campaign when she was courting Democratic superdelegates for then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)
She declined to tell the Blade how much money she has raised for Mizeur’s gubernatorial campaign, but stressed she has “donated time.”
“Her chances of becoming the next governor of Maryland are very great,” said Etheridge. “Her whole life has been about public service and being who she is. She’s one of the smartest people; most motivated, forward people. I love everything she’s doing there.”
Etheridge told the Blade she would support former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton if she were to run for president in 2016, in part, because she has “come a long way” on LGBT-specific issues since she ran against Obama in 2008.
“The way the Clinton administration did us in the 90s was very painful,” said Etheridge, referring to then-President Clinton signing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act into law in 1993 and 1996 respectively. “I think now with her experience that she has and everything I would absolutely support her.”
Etheridge also said she is not surprised her comment during a separate Blade interview in June that actress Angelina Jolie’s decision to undergo a double mastectomy after discovering she carries a genetic mutation that increases her chances of developing breast cancer was not “the brave choice” sparked controversy.
“There was an untended meanness that might have come,” said Etheridge. “People might have thought I was being very cruel in what I was saying. Some of it was lost in where I was trying to come from.”
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Congratulations to Gil Pontes III on his recent appointment to the Financial Advisory Board for the City of Wilton Manors, Fla. Upon being appointed he said, “I’m honored to join the Financial Advisory Board for the City of Wilton Manors at such an important moment for our community. In my role as Executive Director of the NextGen Chamber of Commerce, I spend much of my time focused on economic growth, fiscal sustainability, and the long-term competitiveness of emerging business leaders. I look forward to bringing that perspective to Wilton Manors — helping ensure responsible stewardship of public resources while supporting a vibrant, inclusive local economy.”
Pontes is a nonprofit executive with years of development, operations, budget, management, and strategic planning experience in 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), and political organizations. Pontes is currently executive director of NextGen, Chamber of Commerce. NextGen Chamber’s mission is to “empower emerging business leaders by generating insights, encouraging engagement, and nurturing leadership development to shape the future economy.” Prior to that he served as managing director of The Nora Project, and director of development also at The Nora Project. He has held a number of other positions including Major Gifts Officer, Thundermist Health Center, and has worked in both real estate and banking including as Business Solutions Adviser, Ironwood Financial. For three years he was a Selectman, Town of Berkley, Mass. In that role, he managed HR and general governance for town government. There were 200+ staff and 6,500 constituents. He balanced a $20,000,000 budget annually, established an Economic Development Committee, and hired the first town administrator.
Pontes earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.
Kansas
ACLU sues Kansas over law invalidating trans residents’ IDs
A new Kansas bill requires transgender residents to have their driver’s licenses reflect their sex assigned at birth, invalidating current licenses.
Transgender people across Kansas received letters in the mail on Wednesday demanding the immediate surrender of their driver’s licenses following passage of one of the harshest transgender bathroom bans in the nation. Now the American Civil Liberties Union is filing a lawsuit to block the ban and protect transgender residents from what advocates describe as “sweeping” and “punitive” consequences.
Independent journalist Erin Reed broke the story Wednesday after lawmakers approved House Substitute for Senate Bill 244. In her reporting, Reed included a photo of the letter sent to transgender Kansans, requiring them to obtain a driver’s license that reflects their sex assigned at birth rather than the gender with which they identify.
According to the reporting, transgender Kansans must surrender their driver’s licenses and that their current credentials — regardless of expiration date — will be considered invalid upon the law’s publication. The move effectively nullifies previously issued identification documents, creating immediate uncertainty for those impacted.
House Substitute for Senate Bill 244 also stipulates that any transgender person caught driving without a valid license could face a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. That potential penalty adds a criminal dimension to what began as an administrative action. It also compounds the legal risks for transgender Kansans, as the state already requires county jails to house inmates according to sex assigned at birth — a policy that advocates say can place transgender detainees at heightened risk.
Beyond identification issues, SB 244 not only bans transgender people from using restrooms that match their gender identity in government buildings — including libraries, courthouses, state parks, hospitals, and interstate rest stops — with the possibility for criminal penalties, but also allows for what critics have described as a “bathroom bounty hunter” provision. The measure permits anyone who encounters a transgender person in a restroom — including potentially in private businesses — to sue them for large sums of money, dramatically expanding the scope of enforcement beyond government authorities.
The lawsuit challenging SB 244 was filed today in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of anonymous plaintiffs Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP. The complaint argues that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.
Additionally, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a temporary restraining order on behalf of the anonymous plaintiffs, arguing that the order — followed by a temporary injunction — is necessary to prevent the “irreparable harm” that would result from SB 244.
State Rep. Abi Boatman, a Wichita Democrat and the only transgender member of the Kansas Legislature, told the Kansas City Star on Wednesday that “persecution is the point.”
“This legislation is a direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansans,” said Monica Bennett, legal director of the ACLU of Kansas. “It undermines our state’s strong constitutional protections against government overreach and persecution.”
“SB 244 is a cruel and craven threat to public safety all in the name of fostering fear, division, and paranoia,” said Harper Seldin, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police. Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”
“SB 244 presents a state-sanctioned attack on transgender people aimed at silencing, dehumanizing, and alienating Kansans whose gender identity does not conform to the state legislature’s preferences,” said Heather St. Clair, a Ballard Spahr litigator working on the case. “Ballard Spahr is committed to standing with the ACLU and the plaintiffs in fighting on behalf of transgender Kansans for a remedy against the injustices presented by SB 244, and is dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights jeopardized by this new law.”
National
After layoffs at Advocate, parent company acquires ‘Them’ from Conde Nast
Top editorial staff let go last week
Former staff members at the Advocate and Out magazines revealed that parent company Equalpride laid off a number of employees late last week.
Those let go included Advocate editor-in-chief Alex Cooper, Pride.com editor-in-chief Rachel Shatto, brand partnerships manager Erin Manley, community editor Marie-Adélina de la Ferriére, and Out magazine staff writers Moises Mendez and Bernardo Sim, according to a report in Hollywood Reporter.
Cooper, who joined the company in 2021, posted to social media that, “Few people have had the privilege of leading this legendary LGBTQ+ news outlet, and I’m deeply honored to have been one of them. To my team: thank you for the last four years. You’ve been the best. For those also affected today, please let me know how I can support you.”
The Advocate’s PR firm when reached by the Blade said it no longer represents the company. Emails to the Advocate went unanswered.
Equalpride on Friday announced it acquired “Them,” a digital LGBTQ outlet founded in 2017 by Conde Nast.
“Equalpride exists to elevate, celebrate and protect LGBTQ+ storytelling at scale,” Equalpride CEO Mark Berryhill said according to Hollywood Reporter. “By combining the strengths of our brands with this respected digital platform, we’re creating a unified ecosystem that delivers even more impact for our audiences, advertisers, and community partners.”
It’s not clear if “Them” staff would take over editorial responsibilities for the Advocate and Out.
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