Washington:
Former Congressman, Dave Reichert is running Washington governor, asserted that marriage is only between a man and a woman during a campaign event. He made the remarks during a meeting with the Pierce County GOP on Feb. 21. The former congressman went on to say that he does not support transgender students participating in athletics. Reichert’s remarks were reported by The Stranger on April 16 and quickly drew sharp criticism from Democratic candidate Attorney General Bob Ferguson on social media. “Behind closed doors Congressman Reichert reveals his prejudice. I’m proud that I have a long record of protecting the civil rights of all Washingtonians, including transgender individuals,” Ferguson said.
A three-year-long clinical trial of an HIV vaccine in South Africa, funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and managed by a consortium headquartered at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has been put on hold because the vaccine was judged ineffective. AIDS Info-NIHreports: Despite advances in HIV treatment, an estimated 1.7 million people worldwide become newly infected each year with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. “An HIV vaccine is essential to end the global pandemic, and we hoped this vaccine candidate would work,” NIAID Director Anthony Fauci said in news release. “Regrettably, it does not.” Although they’ll be no more vaccinations in this trial, researchers are continuing follow-up studies — and the Hutch-led network is continuing trials of other methods for heading off HIV.
Remember when the American flag actually meant something? A patriotic Olympia-area based line dancing troupe were left aghast when they were warned against wearing their stars and stripes themed shirts during the area’s ‘premier LGBTQ+ Country and Western Line Dance event,’the Emerald City hoedown, The warning led to the Borderline Dance Team packing up and leaving the hoe down. The group says that they would have been heckled and abused had they gone on with their planned routine. ‘Unfortunately, what our team was met with upon arrival was that our flag tops were offensive to some of the convention goers. There was a small group that felt “triggered and unsafe,”‘ a post on Boderline’s Facebook page read.
Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe are partners in love and partners in business. Now they’ll be taking their business and telling the story of two soccer women in love in “Cleat Cute.” Outsports reports. That’s the news from their production company, A Touch More. They’ve announced a production partnership with Future Shack Entertainment to develop “Cleat Cute,” a best-selling novel from author Meryl Wilsner.
The Cornish College of the Arts is selling its last building in the Capitol Hill Neighborhood. Kerry Hall, the three-story studio and performance hall at E Roy and Broadway where Nellie Cornish called home at the time of the school’s 1914 founding and part of the school for more than 100 years, is now for sale. “This is an exciting moment for Cornish College of the Arts,” Emily Parkhurst, chair of the board of trustees, said in a statement. “The decision to sell Kerry Hall completes the Board’s plan to unify the campus in South Lake Union, first outlined in 2007.”CHS reported here in 2021 on preparations for the property sale as Cornish sought to solidify its growing presence in South Lake Union. At press time, students have organized sit-ins to stop the sale.
Living Legend, Jinkx Monsoon was off-broadway for a few weeks in April playing ‘Audrey’ in Little Shop of Horrors. Back in Seattle years ago Jinkx went by their chosen name of Jerick Hoffer, since then Hoffer has became more binary and has announced a change in name according to a new interview in Cosmopolitan. “Hera Hoffer is my chosen name. But make no mistake, I’ll always be billed as Jinkx Monsoon.” All our best, Hera!
Oregon:
Aimee Kotek Wilson, the wife of Gov. Tina Kotek, said Tuesday she lives with mental illness and is in recovery from alcohol use disorder. “I share this information about myself now, and have in the past, in the hopes it will make a difference and reduce stigma,” said Kotek Wilson in a statement issued by Kotek’s spokesperson. The Oregonian Reported, The governor has brought on a state-funded adviser to explore the possibility of forming an Office of the First Spouse and announced this week that she had ordered the Oregon State Police to provide her wife with a security detail while attending events on her behalf. The state-funded adviser, Meliah Masiba, will be paid $72,000 during the six-month rotation, the same rate that she has earned at the Department of Administrative Services. The governor’s office did not say how much the upgraded security protection will cost, but said the money would come out of the governor’s existing budget.
According to KOIN, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed a billed that will once again make it a crime to be in possession of small amounts of illicit drugs — and only years after a measure decriminalizing such offenses was passed by voters in the state. House Bill 4002 effectively reverses Measure 110, which has received mixed feedback since it was approved by voters in 2020.
A woman who was barred from owning pets as part of a plea deal that convicted her of mistreating the animals at a dingy and sometimes deadly pet adoption center in Portland has been sentenced to 2 years in jail for flouting the terms of her probation. Former Woofin Palooza owner Samantha Miller promised to stay away from pets for 15 years as part of her 2023 deal with prosecutors, who in turn dismissed most of the 270-count indictment filed against her and agreed to let her stay out of jail. Now, The Oregonian has reported that after a surprise visit to her home in Tillamook County in March found seven dogs locked in a trailer and a litter box, cat toys, and cat food in her home, according to court records and the prosecutor in the case. “Ms. Miller has never taken full responsibility for the harm that she inflicted on animals and humans,” said Jacob Kamins, the state’s special prosecutor for animal abuse crimes, during a probation hearing last week in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
After years of development, the Opal Apartments — a 54-unit complex serving LGBTQ+ seniors located in Cedar Mill, west of Portland — opened to the public and will soon be filled with residents. The brand new apartments, on the site of two single-family homes, are owned by Christ United Methodist Church, who owns the land and will be neighbors to the Opal’s residents. OPB Reports, At the opening ceremony, dozens of people from local governments, nonprofits and across the LGBTQ+ community gathered to get a peek at the new buildings. There are multiple one- or two-bedroom units, and multiple community rooms on the ground floor for different events.
The Sports Bra, a now-iconic Portland destination that made history as the first women’s sports bar in the world, has announced plans to franchise and expand into other cities. According to the Oregonian, Investment from Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian — the husband of tennis legend Serena Williams — will fund the effort in partnership with Ohanian’s 776 Foundation. All returns from the investment will be invested back into girls’ and women’s sports via the foundation, the Sports Bra wrote in a post on Instagram.
Montana:
Two transgender people have sued Montana challenging a state policy that bars residents from changing the sex designations on their birth certificates unless they meet certain criteria. Jessica Kalarchik and an individual identified only as “Jane Doe” are listed as plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging a state policy that, they argue, makes it “impossible” for transgender people born in Montana to change their birth certificates. The Daily Signal reports. The lawsuit filed challenges that Montana policy, along with another practice by the Motor Vehicle Division that does not allow sex-designation changes to driver’s licenses. “Forcing anyone to carry documents that contradict their identity violates their right to privacy and is unjust discrimination and unconstitutionally compelled speech,” Malita Picasso, staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, said in a news release.
Idaho:
Transgender people in Idaho will no longer be able to use Medicaid and other publicly funded programs to help cover the cost of gender-affirming medical care under a new state law set to take effect in July. The Hill Reports. Republican Gov. Brad Little quietly signed the measure , a day after receiving it from Idaho’s GOP-controlled Legislature. Little’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Idaho lawmakers have passed a series of bills targeting LGBTQ+ residents this year, including two that prevent public employees from being required to use someone’s preferred pronouns and redefine gender as being synonymous with sex. According to the AP, The legislation in Idaho was among at least nine bills directly targeting LGBTQ+ rights that have been proposed in the state so far this year, Rebecca De León, spokesperson for the ACLU of Idaho, told the Idaho Statesman. In response to the slew of actions, protesters sent more than 48,000 colorful paper hearts raining down from the fourth floor of the Statehouse to the first-floor rotunda on Tuesday, KTVB-TV reported.
In yet another instance where citizens are turning on a previously beloved institution — the public library — a librarian in Idaho has resigned from her position, citing an “atmosphere of extremism” over LGBTQ-related books. The Boundary County Library has been hammered by conservative Christians complaining for months about books they don’t want on the shelves. Many of those books have LGBTQ+ characters or describe sexual situations. However, the library does not carry any of them, so library board members said it’s an effort to control future acquisitions, The Spokesman-Review reports. Kimber Glidden, the library director for Boundary County, recently announced her resignation on Facebook and criticized the growing extremism and threats. She admitted she had considered leaving the area because of the hostility she had faced. “Nothing in my background could have prepared me for the political atmosphere of extremism, militant Christian fundamentalism, intimidation tactics, and threatening behavior currently being employed in the community,” Glidden wrote in her announcement.
California:
A 60-year-old Oakland man is now facing hate-crime charges for criminal threats and vulgar statements he made to a gay couple who are his neighbors, and there is video showing him threatening to kill them if they didn’t move within two weeks. Oakland police arrested Kevin Bryan Davis on misdemeanor hate-crime charges, stemming from a recent tirade that was caught on video, delivered from the street outside his home. As can be heard in the video below, Davis was screaming “Are you home you f***ing f*****s” and “I need you to move.” He added, “If you don’t move in two weeks I’m going to kill your ass.” As KTVU reports, Davis has since made bail, and it’s unclear if any further charges will be filed. One of the victims tells KTVU, “There should be knowledge built around all these hate crimes, to point out the amount of people that are affected by it. It’s something that should be shown.”
Seven years after the San Jose Unified School District promised to make accommodations for transgender and nonbinary students at all of its campuses, outraged students, parents and teachers called out San Jose High’s principal and administration at a meeting for failing to follow through on that promise. SJ Mercury News Reports. The high school did add a gender-neutral bathroom after the district’s pledge in 2017, but the school community says the bathroom is locked and inaccessible, and students are not provided with an alternative that feels safe. As a result, some students say they won’t use a bathroom all day. Public schools across California will be required to have gender-neutral bathrooms as early as July 2026, thanks to Senate Bill 760, which passed in September. But the problems at San Jose High demonstrate that, despite good intentions, trans and nonbinary students continue to struggle to feel welcome and have their own safe spaces on school campuses.
The US Navy vessel named in honor of gay rights icon Harvey Milk, is San Francisco for the very first time. The USNS Harvey Milk passed under the Golden Gate Bridge. The 800-foot ship is a replenishment oiler – delivering fuel, water and food to Navy vessels at sea. ABC7 Reports. The late San Francisco Supervisor and LGBTQ activist served as a Navy dive instructor in San Diego in the 1950s.
The naming of the USNS Harvey Milk is just one sign of a very different U.S. military than what many LGBTQ veterans experienced, including one Bay Area army veteran, who reflected on his painful exit from service and how things have changed.Mementos from a major part of Michael Higgins‘ life sit inside a box atop a shelf in his home. Photos bring back memories from high school, when he attended a military academy, and then memories from his time serving his country. But that chapter of his life came to an abrupt halt after about a year and a half in the service. He received a general discharge under honorable conditions and was sent home. Higgins told CBS News Bay Area. The reason, according to his DD 214 paperwork: “admission of homosexuality/bisexuality.” The change of tides has allowed him to rewrite a part of his personal history, too. In 2022, Higgins received new discharge papers, inked with the word ‘honorable.’
One of San Francisco’s oldest LGBTQ bars, the Stud re-opened it’s doors for the first time in four years at a new location. CBS News Bay Area Reports.The Stud closed early in the pandemic, but the co-owner Nate Allbee says they always planned to re-open. The bar has been raising money to do that since they announced plans to shut down in 2020. Allbee says over the last four years, they’ve been hosting events and selling t-shirts, all in hopes of collecting enough money to re-open a new location. They were able to buy the space at 1123 Folsom Street that used to be a sports bar. The Folsom Street space is double the size of the Stud’s old location.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco is set to establish its first-ever school exclusively dedicated to the art of drag. The Stud Collective, known for the upcoming reopening of the Stud LGBTQ bar, is collaborating with the performing arts organization CounterPulse to launch a school focused on drag performance essentials and the rich history of San Francisco’s gender-punk drag tradition.
According to Bustle, The Lies of OJ Simpson, a book written by George Carpozi Jr, included an account from an unnamed source to support the claim that Jimmy Lee Simpson was gay. The source claimed that: “Mama Simpson, as he was known to me, used to hang around the hotel where I lived and was frequently dressed in drag. Everyone knew he was OJ Simpson’s dad.” Another book, The Run of His Life, by Jeffrey Toobin, also alleged that Jimmy was gay and an active member of San Francisco’s drag community. Simpson was reportedly not close with his father, Jimmy Lee. In a 1977 interview with Parents magazine, as reported by The New York Times, OJ said: “I resented his absence, especially when I became a teenager and was trying to find out who I was… I really needed a man around then for guidance.” OJ died on April 10th at age 76 from prostate cancer.
Rumi Missabu, a member of San Francisco’s legendary 1970s drag troupe the Cockettes, has died, reports the SF Chronicle. His death on April 2 at his home in Oakland was confirmed by his longtime caretaker, Griffin Cloudwalker. Missabu was 76 and had dealt with chronic respiratory disease.
Alaska
House Bill 183 is one of five bills currently under consideration by lawmakers that would limit the rights of transgender youth in Alaska. They are part of a broader national trend. In the last five years, the number of bills that would limit the rights of transgender people in the United States has surged — from a few dozen per year to hundreds. According the Alaska Beacon, House Republicans and Gov. Mike Dunleavy have led that effort in Alaska, which has focused on the rights of trans youth in the state’s schools. So far none of the legislation has become law.
Rep. Andrew Gray, who won his seat with the help of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, distinguished himself with a question to Rep. Jamie Allard, sponsor of House Bill 183, which seeks to protect girl athletes from having their competitive sports taken over by boys identifying as girls. Gray used the gender slug “cis-gender” to refer to biological girls, when he asked for proof, during the House Judiciary Committee hearing on the bill. Allard said there was plenty of proof, but she referred to Riley Gaines, the swimmer who was forced to compete against a male swimmer known by his transgender name as Lia Thomas, during her collegiate swimming career. Gray wrote of his thinking: “Yesterday in house judiciary I attempted to table Rep. Jamie Allard’s dangerous HB 183 which could require genital exams on our children before they can play sports. Unfortunately, I was ruled out of order, but I will not back down.”
A Washington man was sentenced to 99 years in prison for the poisoning murder of a prominent gay surgeon in Alaska on April 9, according to a statement from the State of Alaska Department of Law. Jordan Joplin, 38, was found guilty last year of first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in the case of his lover Dr. Eric Garcia at the surgeon’s home in Ketchikan on or around March 17, 2017. He worked as an adult film star. He was known as Zack on Sean Cody, Logan Cruise on Men.com and Bromo, and Rob Stonebridge on Randy Blue. An autopsy showed Garcia, 58, died from a lethal dose of morphine, methadone, diazepam, and lorazepam. Also on March 17, Joplin took delivery of three shipping containers at the surgeon’s home, which he filled with over two tons of Garcia’s items and shipped to his own residence in Washington.
