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A New York City suburb's ban against public mask wearing was challenged in federal court on Thursday, alleging the law violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and needlessly opens health compromised individuals for ridicule. Nassau County, the bedroom community just east of New York City with nearly 1.4 million residents, last week officially banned wearing face coverings in public in what's believed to be the nation's first such prohibition. "The mask ban law in Nassau County causes G.B. S.S. is a frequent shopper at T.J. Maxx and the Roosevelt Field Shopping Center and has regular medical appointments around Nassau County. The lawsuit names Nassau County and County Executive Bruce Blakeman as defendants.

Persons: what's, G.B, Roosevelt, Bruce Blakeman, Blakeman Organizations: United, Constitution, New York, Rehabilitation, Maxx, Shopping, County, NBC, Local Locations: York City, Nassau County, New York City, Nassau

☆ Convicted Assassin Is a Russian Security Agent, Kremlin Acknowledges
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-02 | by ( Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The convicted assassin who was the linchpin of the biggest prisoner swap in decades is a member of the most powerful security agency in Russia, the Kremlin acknowledged on Friday, and had served in a special unit with some agents who now guard President Vladimir V. Putin. The ties help explain Mr. Putin’s determination to free the assassin, Vadim Krasikov, from the German prison where he was serving time for murder. The effort culminated on Thursday when Mr. Krasikov and seven other former prisoners returned to Moscow after an exchange with Western nations that involved 24 adults and seven countries. Mr. Putin has not hid his admiration for Mr. Krasikov, who had been jailed in Germany since 2019 for the murder of a Chechen former separatist fighter in Berlin. In an interview in February, Mr. Putin referred to Mr. Krasikov as “a patriot” who was doing his duty by eliminating an enemy of the Russian state.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin, Vadim Krasikov, Krasikov, Dmitri S, Mr, ” Organizations: Kremlin, Federal Security Service, Mr Locations: Russia, Moscow, Russian, Soviet, Germany, Chechen, Berlin

☆ Opinion | Reflections About the Prisoner Swap
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-02 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Re “Journalists and Dissidents Freed From Russia in Swap of 24 Inmates” (front page, Aug. 2):As a former U.S. journalist in Moscow, I am naturally delighted that Evan Gershkovich is back at home after 16 months of wrongful detention in Russia. But it is galling to see him and other innocent Americans being exchanged in a Cold War-style spy swap for a trained assassin and long-term sleeper agents. Engaging in hostage diplomacy only encourages hostile governments to seize more Americans as hostages whenever they want to recover one of their own killers or spies. Even at the height of the Cold War, American journalists in Moscow never feared arbitrary detention in a K.G.B. It seems that the only language that authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin understand is reciprocity.

Persons: Freed, Evan Gershkovich, Vladimir Putin, ” Organizations: “ Journalists Locations: Russia, U.S, Moscow, American, Russian

☆ 4 Key Takeaways From The Times’s Reporting on Spending at GLAAD
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-01 | by ( Emily Steel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The New York Times reviewed dozens of expense reports and receipts from January 2022 through June 2023, as well as employment agreements, tax filings, audit reports and other financial documents to detail a pattern of lavish spending at the nonprofit organization GLAAD, one of the country’s leading L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy groups. Such perks, luxurious business travel and large pay packages might be commonplace at a for-profit company. But legal experts said they were inappropriate for a nonprofit organization with about 60 employees that, in exchange for being exempt from federal and state taxes, must ensure that executive pay is reasonable and aligned with the charity’s mission and the intent of donors. The spending, much of it by GLAADs chief executive Sarah Kate Ellis, may have violated the organization’s own policies as well as Internal Revenue Service rules, the Times reporting shows.

Persons: Sarah Kate Ellis Organizations: New York Times, GLAAD, Revenue Service

☆ A Pattern of Lavish Spending at a Leading L.G.B.T.Q. Nonprofit
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-01 | by ( Emily Steel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A light rain fell at the Zurich airport one Sunday morning in January 2023 as Sarah Kate Ellis made her way from a seat in Delta’s most exclusive cabin to a waiting Mercedes. It was there to chauffeur her to the Swiss Alps, where she and her colleagues would stay at the Tivoli Lodge, a seven-bedroom chalet that cost nearly half a million dollars to rent for the week. Ms. Ellis, who was en route to the World Economic Forum in Davos, doesn’t run a Wall Street bank or a high-flying tech start-up. She is the chief executive of the nonprofit organization GLAAD, one of the country’s leading L.G.B.T.Q. The trip was part of a pattern of lavish spending at GLAAD, much of it by Ms. Ellis, that may have violated the organization’s own policies as well as Internal Revenue Service rules.

Persons: Sarah Kate Ellis, Mercedes, Ellis, doesn’t Organizations: Economic, GLAAD, The New York Times, Revenue Service Locations: Zurich, Delta’s, Swiss, Davos

☆ Are Queer People Born This Way? - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-31 | by ( Charles M. Blow | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Don’t Tell My Friends, But… is a seriesin which we asked Times columnistswhateveryone else is wrong about. When Lady Gaga released “Born This Way,” the 2011 song on an album of the same name, it was an instant hit and an instant L.G.B.T.Q. “Born this way” may, unfortunately, have been an oversimplification. Just last year, Rolling Stone crowned “Born This Way” the most inspirational L.G.B.T.Q. “Born this way,” as both a scientific concept and a political ideology, was easy to understand, accept and digest.

Persons: Lady Gaga, Elton John, Queerness, Barack Obama, ” Obama, Gaga, Jamey Rodemeyer, Obama, Don’t, ”, “, It’s, Rolling, Lisa Diamond, Joanna Wuest Organizations: Human, University of Utah, TED, Stony Brook University Locations: California

☆ Opinion | The Joyful Release of Evan Gershkovich Came at a High Price
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-30 | by ( Serge Schmemann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

That more than a dozen people unjustly incarcerated in Russia have been released is obviously great news. As a journalist who spent a decade reporting from Moscow, I am particularly elated to know that Evan Gershkovich, a fine reporter for The Wall Street Journal, does not have to spend another day in Russian detention. Any independent information, especially critical information, is considered an attack on their authoritarian rule. Putin came to power after the domestic and foreign press had thrown off the muzzles of the Soviet era, and he proceeded, especially since the invasion of Ukraine, to deliberately crush it. Many foreign journalists now try to report from outside Russia; Gershkovich tried valiantly to report from within and paid a heavy price.

Persons: Evan Gershkovich, Vladimir Putin’s, Gershkovich, Putin Organizations: Wall Street, Kremlin Locations: Russia, Moscow, American, Ukraine

☆ How the Kids Online Safety Act Was Dragged Into a Political War
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-30 | by ( Cecilia Kang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union sent 300 high school students to Capitol Hill to lobby against the Kids Online Safety Act, a bill meant to protect children online. The teenagers told the staffs of 85 lawmakers that the legislation could censor important conversations, particularly among marginalized groups like L.G.B.T.Q. “Regardless of your political perspective, this looks like a censorship bill.”The effort was one of many escalations in recent months by those who oppose the bill. In June, a progressive nonprofit, Fight for the Future, organized students to write hundreds of letters to urge lawmakers to scrap it. Conservative groups like Patriot Voices, founded by the former Republican senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, are also protesting with an online petition.

Persons: ”, Anjali Verma, Rick Santorum Organizations: American Civil Liberties Union, Capitol, Kids, Bucks, Conservative, Republican, Pennsylvania Locations: Bucks County, Pa

☆ Kremlin Uses Olympic Ban as Another Arrow to Shoot at the West
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-25 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

More than 10,500 athletes from some 200 countries will participate in the Olympic Games in Paris, but only 15 of them will be from Russia. Back in Russia, the competition will not be shown on television for the first time since 1984. And media commentators expressed disgust that a drag queen carried the Olympic torch — which is antithetical to Russia’s increasing emphasis on what it calls “traditional values” and its crackdown on L.G.B.T.Q. It’s quite a comedown for Russia, a traditional Olympic powerhouse that for years used the competition as a way to project power and foster national pride, and often finished first in the final medal count. And it represents the price the country is paying for its invasion of Ukraine two years ago and the daily mayhem it inflicts there.

Organizations: Olympic Games Locations: Paris, Russia, Ukraine

☆ New Hampshire Bans Gender-Transition Surgery for Minors
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-19 | by ( Adeel Hassan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The NewsNew Hampshire will ban gender-transition surgeries for minors after Gov. Chris Sununu signed a bill on Friday that bars health professionals from performing the procedures. The new law also threatens disciplinary action for doctors who refer minors to other providers for such services. About two dozen other states have passed laws that bar transgender minors from receiving gender-transition care. Before Friday, Mr. Sununu had taken a relatively mixed stance on gender-identity issues and L.G.B.T.Q.

Persons: Chris Sununu, Mr, Sununu, ” Mr, “, Courtney Tanner Organizations: New, Gov, Republican, Republican Party, Dartmouth Health Locations: New Hampshire

☆ A Pioneering New York Rabbi Says Goodbye to Her L.G.B.T.Q. Congregation
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-13 | by ( James Estrin | Photographs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A New York rabbi had asked permission for her congregation to march in the city’s annual Salute to Israel Parade up Fifth Avenue. But the rabbi was Sharon Kleinbaum, the new leader of a predominantly gay synagogue. Officials from various Orthodox Jewish organizations were threatening to boycott the event, and the rabbi was getting hate mail. It was not until 2012 that the congregation was allowed to march. “I never let it upset me,” Rabbi Kleinbaum said.

Persons: Sharon Kleinbaum, “, Rabbi Kleinbaum, ” Organizations: New, Israel Parade Locations: New York, Israel

☆ For L.G.B.T.Q. People, Moving to Friendlier States Comes With a Cost
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-11 | by ( Lydia Depillis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Stefanie Newell decided to move to Denver last year, the choice was about acceptance. Feeling comfortable as a transgender woman didn’t seem possible in San Antonio, her hometown, in the midst of a flood of Texas legislation targeting the L.G.B.T.Q. In San Antonio, she lived with her mother, and the cost of living was generally low. Just driving her stuff two states north wiped out her savings. “I thought I was well prepared, and when I arrived I was flat broke,” said Ms. Newell, 25.

Persons: Stefanie Newell, ”, Newell, “ It’s Organizations: Denver Locations: San Antonio, Texas, Denver, United States

☆ How Biden Can Win the Latino Vote in the 2024 Election - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-05 | by ( Jean Guerrero | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The possibility that Donald Trump could attract a significant share of Latino voters and shave down his margins against President Biden is one of the open questions of this election. But conservative Latino voters have taken up outsize space in the national imagination. The Biden campaign should worry less about a mass defection of Latinos to the MAGA camp than about motivating young Latinos to go to the polls. It is these youths who will determine the fate of the Latino vote. As of the 2020 Census, the median Hispanic in the United States was 30 years old.

Persons: Donald Trump, Biden, MAGA, They’re Locations: United, Arizona, Nevada, United States

☆ How Tom Hanks’s Son Spawned a Hateful Meme Online
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-02 | by ( Steven Lee Myers | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the spring of 2021, Chet Hanks, the singer, actor and son of Tom, posted a series of statements and a music video with a refrain that caused confusion, not to mention a fair bit of cringing. Thousands of posts using the slogan “white boy summer” have appeared on the Telegram app this year. It’s been used by far-right groups to recruit new followers, organize protests and encourage violence, especially against immigrants and L.G.B.T.Q. people, the report said. For many of those who use it now, the phrase represents an unapologetic embrace of white heterosexual masculinity, often at the expense of women and people of color.

Persons: Chet Hanks, Tom, It’s Organizations: Global

☆ Can Japan’s First Same-Sex Dating Reality Show Change Hearts and Minds?
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-30 | by ( Motoko Rich | Kiuko Notoya | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Japan is the only country among the world’s wealthiest democracies that has not legalized same-sex unions. Few celebrities are openly gay. But now, Netflix is introducing the country’s first same-sex dating reality series. In Japan, the handful of openly gay and transgender performers who regularly appear on television are typically flamboyant, effeminate comic foils who are shoehorned into exaggerated stereotypes. With “The Boyfriend,” Dai Ota, the executive producer, said he wanted to “portray same-sex relationships as they really are.”

Persons: Dai Ota, ” Organizations: Netflix Locations: Japan, Tokyo, Terrace

☆ Why I Won’t Be Marching in the N.Y.C. Pride Parade - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-30 | by ( Amichai Lau-Lavie | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

I’ve been marching in Pride parades since 1995, but I won’t be marching this year in New York, where I live. Pride Month has always been about a political and progressive embrace of our rainbow of choices. Long before Oct. 7, 2023, Jewish progressives like me protested the Israeli occupation and preached a just two-state solution. I have helped to pioneer faith-led Pride programs that are grounded in Jewish values, fighting for freedom and liberation for all. So it’s painful to admit that I don’t feel welcome as my full self in many queer public places that once felt like home.

Persons: I’ve, I’m, Long Locations: New York, Israel, Gaza, American

☆ A Wave of Pride Lights Up New York City
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-30 | by ( Lola Fadulu | Gaya Gupta | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tens of thousands of people wrapped themselves in L.G.B.T.Q. Pride flags and wore their brightest rainbow gear to celebrate the New York City Pride March on Sunday. The march commemorates the 1969 Stonewall uprising, the catalyst for the modern L.G.B.T.Q. The New York march is the largest of its kind in the United States, with organizers this year expecting around 25,000 marchers and around two and a half million spectators. Luccy Griman, 52, of Waterbury, Conn., was among the paraders on Sunday, marching for the 20th time.

Persons: Luccy Griman, ”, “ Organizations: New York Locations: L.G.B.T.Q, New York City, York, United States, Waterbury, Conn

☆ At the Pride March, Finding Belonging on the Sidelines - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-29 | by ( Jackson Davidow | Bruce Cratsley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The annual conversations around Pride marches, both in New York City and across the country, often focus on who should — or shouldn’t — be included. While these are crucial debates, they often mean that, paradoxically, what gets lost is a discussion of belonging in a broader sense. Pride retains its importance precisely because it gives the L.G.B.T.Q. A trove of photographs that elegantly capture Pride in all its inclusive intimacy, focusing not only on the marchers but on the crowds reveling from the sidelines, illuminates how powerful that element can be. “From the beginning,” Mr. Cratsley wrote, “I was excited by the parade’s exotic, somewhat chaotic sexiness and joy.

Persons: Bruce Cratsley, ” Mr, Cratsley, “ Organizations: Pride, Chevron, West 29th Street Locations: New York City, San Francisco, Israel, Houston, Manhattan

☆ Mikhail Baryshnikov on Leaving Everything Behind
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-28 | by ( Javier C. Hernández | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

On the night of June 29, 1974, after a performance with a touring Bolshoi Ballet troupe in downtown Toronto, Mikhail Baryshnikov made his way out a stage door, past a throng of fans and began to run. Baryshnikov, then 26 and already one of ballet’s brightest stars, had made the momentous decision to defect from the Soviet Union and build a career in the West. agents — and audience members seeking autographs — as he rushed to meet a group of Canadian and American friends waiting in a car a few blocks away. “That car took me to the free world,” Baryshnikov, 76, recalled in a recent interview. “Soviet Dancer in Canada Defects on Bolshoi Tour,” The New York Times declared on its front page.

Persons: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Baryshnikov, —, ” Baryshnikov Organizations: Bolshoi Ballet, Tour, The New York Times Locations: Toronto, Soviet Union, West, Soviet, Canada

☆ Why Can’t New York Make a Proper Monument to Gay History?
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-28 | by ( Holland Cotter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

News has come that a local subway station will be rechristened in its honor (new name: Christopher Street-Stonewall National Monument Station), and a brand-new cultural space called Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center opens today in the neighborhood. You know the Stonewall story. people in a Greenwich Village dance bar called the Stonewall Inn went ballistic. So they hit back, shouting, breaking things, throwing things, giving the cops a taste of what it felt like to be hounded and treated like dirt. It was a big, deeply furious “No” to a history of repression and persecution.

Persons: Christopher Street, They’d, “ Organizations: Stonewall, Monument Visitor Center Locations: Stonewall, Greenwich

And they were everywhere, although, naturally, New York City was a magnet, as it has always been for L.G.B.T.Q.+ people looking for a place in which they can be themselves. New York City was where you lost your soul, and we wanted to be closer to the earth. I wore an eight-and-a-half-foot-tall Statue of Liberty costume to the Easter Parade in New York City, and Kirsten came along with me. By the time I turned 30, I’d been telling people I was older for years, because I’m not the type to bemoan the loss of my youth. Going to New York felt like this moment of emerging to a wider audience, and then I started to travel a lot.

Persons: André De Shields, Lady Bunny, Michael R, Jackson, Juliana Huxtable, Wong, J.D, Samson, Pat Oleszko, it’s, —, John Rechy, ”, Danez Smith, Trump, he’d, “, Jenna Lyons, Avram Finkelstein, Joe Mantello, …, Catherine Opie, you’re, Willie Norris, “ I’d, It’s, you’ve, ” — Mark Harris Read, De Shields, Justin French, Chuck Ashley, Anthony Cotsifas, William F, Robert O’Hara’s, Hermes, — Max Berlinger Jenna Lyons, Antonio Lopez, Jenna Lyons’s, Grace Jones ”, Juan Ramos, Antonio Lopez’s, Grace Jones, Tina Chow, Marisa Berenson, Pam Anderson, That’s, — Jason Chen Jayne County, Jayne County, Gus Stewart, Billy Idol, Wayne County, — M.B, Bill T, Jones, Arnie, Arnie Zane, Zane, Keith Haring, Lois Greenfield, Jack Mitchell, Peggy Jarrell Kaplan, Gertrude Stein, Alice B, we’d, Bill, Arnie ”, I’m, — Juan, Norris, Yael Malka, Tomas Abad, West, Black, I’d, — Colleen Hamilton B.D, New York’s Eugene, . Wong, David Henry Hwang’s, Richie, wasn’t, Wayne Barker, — John Wogan Edmund White, Edmund White, Horatio, Leonard Fink’s “, Barbara Confino, Leonard Fink, Joseph Rodriguez, Bleecker, You’d, Gosh, Michael Snyder Pat Oleszko, Chichi, Kirsten, who’d, she’d, — C.H, Brian Michael Smith, Gay, Smith, Kiki Ball, Josue Infante, Skyler Cruz, Jamison, — J.A.R, Agnes Denes’s “, Don Yowell, Finkelstein, Agnes Denes, Leslie Tonkonow, Don, Agnes Denes’s, JD Samson, Sia, Mark Hunter, Anthony Cotsifas I’d, Johanna Fateman, Tigre, Michael O’Neill, Obama, might’ve, — Kate Guadagnino Kristen Kish, Kish, Suzanne Kreiter, David Moir, Bravo, isn’t, — J.W, Stephen Spinella, Mantello, Joan Marcus, Photofest, Tony Kushner’s, Louis Ironson, Milton Glaser, he’s, David, Marshall Grant, Joe Pitt, Walter, Awards, Stephen, ” —, Freedia, Devon Hurst, Sissy Nobby, Barack Obama’s, Lyle Ashton Harris, Big, Bounce, ” — M.B, Thom Browne, Browne, Los Angeles’s Chateau Marmont, Malcolm Venville, Paul Fortune, Michèle Lamy —, — J.C, Catherine Opie’s “, Opie, Ian, Lehmann Maupin, Eileen Myles, Jenny Shimizu, I’ve, Nicole Acheampong Danez Smith, Juan Cordero, ” Womp, They’d, hookups, Who’s, We’ve, You’re, J.A.R, Linda Simpson, India, Little Louie Vega, who’s, — K.G, Alexander Chee, Alexander Chee’s, Marguerite Duras’s “, Jeongneung, King Jungjong, Eric McNatt, Chris Chee, — M.S, Sam Jay, Jay, Jonah, Kumail ”, hadn’t, K.G, Phillip Lim, Lim, Tourmaline, Sylvia Rivera, Luce Capco Lincoln, York’s, We’d, Marsha P, John Cameron Mitchell, Larry Kramer, Mitchell’s, Mitchell, Martha Swope, Billy Rose, Mark Tusk, ” Kramer’s, Larry, Ned Weeks, Ned, “ Hedwig, J.W, Joerg Lohse, Reena, there’s, Matt Bomer, Bomer, Simon Halls, Neal Caffrey, Tony Kushner, Terrence McNally —, — I’d, Hollywood, Wu Tsang, Neil Rasmus, Wildness, ’, Wildness ”, Roxane Gay, Mueller, Brandon Williams, Donna Gottschalk, Donna Gottschalk’s “, Duchess, Galerie Marcelle Alix, goddamn, Coco Romack Michael R, Aaron Kinney, Nova, “ I’m, Bob Damron’s, Sgt, Shirley, Waldorf, Harold’s, Jean ] Genet, Marcel, Proust Organizations: Pride, Stonewall, West, America’s, ACT UP, San, Playwrights Horizons, Odeon, New York’s TriBeCa, Electric, Getty, Police, Billy, New York Live Arts, Keith Haring Foundation, BAM Hamm, Liberation, Brooklyn Liberation, Brooklyn Museum, Fort, New York’s, New York’s Eugene O’Neill Theatre, Broadway, Equity, LGBT Community Center, Fulbright, Mudd, New, Bisexual, Transgender Community, Center, Transgender Community Center, “, Maxwell, Museum School, Farmers, Seattle, Boston Globe, Travel, New York Times, Rancho Mirage, Gay, Caesar’s, FEMA, Yale, York’s Webster Hall, Masters, Records, Pyramid, Work, ACT, Carpenters, Seymour, Edinburgh, Atlanta —, Ninja, Huntington, New York, Lesbian, Equal, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library, The New York Times, USA, Children’s Hospital of Los, MoMA, Whitney Biennial, University of Nebraska, Alamy, HarperCollins, of Engineering, Google, Division, Astor, Tilden Foundations, Pershing, University of Southern, Pershing Square Locations: New York, Berlin, “, America, San Francisco, Baltimore, New York’s, New York City, California, Atlanta, Europe, Wayne County, Dortmund, Germany, London, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Rockland County, N.Y, ’, I’m, Brooklyn, West Dakota, Fort Greene, New, Leonard Fink’s “ Bars, Street, Rome, —, Aspen, Colo, Copenhagen, Danish, Peru, Los Angeles, Agnes Denes’s “ Wheatfield, Downtown Manhattan, North Moore, TriBeCa, Hoboken, N.J, Lower Manhattan, Manhattan, Boston, Williamsburg , Brooklyn, Vinnie’s, Bedford, Austin , Texas, Copley, Menton, Asian American, York, New Orleans, Houston, Los Angeles’s, L.A, Hong Kong, Seoul, Casa, Koreatown, Minneapolis, Grindr, East, India, Wigstock, Tompkins, Vershire, Chee, Iowa, Huntington Beach, Chelsea, Barneys, Madison, Miami, New York State, Washington, The, LA, Silver Lake, Missouri, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Zurich, Central, American, Westlake, Los Angeles and New York, Lincoln, Alphabet City , New York, Lenox, United States, University of Southern California, Downtown Los Angeles

☆ Opinion | Opposing Visions of a New South
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-26 | by ( Charles M. Blow | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last week, Governor Wes Moore of Maryland, a Democrat, signed an executive order pardoning 175,000 marijuana convictions, saying, “Today, we take a big step forward toward ensuring equal justice for all.” But, he said, “this won’t be our last effort. We must continue to move in partnership to build a state and society that is more equitable, more just and leaves no one behind.”Meanwhile, Governor Jeff Landry of Louisiana, a Republican, has recently signed several bills that he says are intended to “expand faith in public schools.”One requires teachers and other school employees to address transgender students using the pronouns for the genders listed on their birth certificates — “God gives us our mark,” Landry said. The governor, The Advocate reported last year, “has an intensely anti-L.G.B.T.Q.+ record, having opposed anti-discrimination protections even though he has a gay brother” and, as Louisiana’s attorney general, he “pushed the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth.”Earlier this month, as nola.com reports, Landry also signed a bill to “block transgender people from using facilities in schools, prisons and domestic violence shelters that align with their gender identity.” In a statement, he said that the bill “protects women’s safety and reinforces the very definition of what it means to be a woman.”

Persons: Wes Moore, Jeff Landry of, —, ” Landry, “, ”, Landry Organizations: Republican Locations: Maryland, Jeff Landry of Louisiana

☆ Biden Expected to Pardon Veterans Convicted of Having Gay Sex
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-26 | by ( Katie Rogers | More About Katie Rogers | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden is expected on Wednesday to pardon American veterans who were convicted of engaging in gay sex under a military code that outlawed the behavior for more than 60 years. Mr. Biden’s proclamation would grant clemency to some 2,000 people who were charged between 1951 and 2013, addressing a “historic wrong,” as the president said in a statement the White House released ahead of the announcement. “Today, I am righting an historic wrong by using my clemency authority to pardon many former service members who were convicted simply for being themselves,” Mr. Biden said in the statement. “Despite their courage and great sacrifice, thousands of L.G.B.T.Q.I.+ service members were forced out of the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. In 2013, Congress voted to repeal the portion of the code that outlawed consensual sodomy.

Persons: Biden, Biden’s, ” Mr, “, ” Organizations: CNN, Military

☆ Opinion | Biden Restores Honor to Thousands of L.G.B.T.Q. Service Members
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-25 | by ( Anna Marks | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

President Biden’s decision on Wednesday to pardon thousands of L.G.B.T.Q. service members who had been unfairly punished, discharged or court-martialed for their sexual orientation or gender identity was long overdue. His proclamation will restore benefits and honor to 2,000 or so service members, just atonement for the U.S. military’s long, discriminatory history against L.G.B.T.Q. service members were outed upon returning home, which inevitably led to further discrimination. Their efforts culminated in the end of the notorious “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in 2011.

Persons: Biden’s, Allan Bérubé, Harry Truman, ”, Don’t Organizations: U.S, L.G.B.T.Q, Military

☆ Opinion | Gay Marriage Was a Big Missed Opportunity
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-24 | by ( Omar G. Encarnación | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It’s a strange time for gay rights in America. As the country nears the 10th anniversary of the legalization of gay marriage nationwide, support for same-sex unions has risen to 70 percent of the American public. Even Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage, is under attack. Clearly, marriage equality was not enough to bring full equality to L.G.B.T.Q. But the gay marriage campaign was a major missed opportunity to expand L.G.B.T.Q.

Persons: Anita Bryant’s, Hodges, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Roe, Wade Organizations: Republican, Congress Locations: America

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