June - 2021

International News: Vatican Expresses Deep Reservations Over Gay Rights Bill

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 23, 2021
4 min

International News: Vatican Expresses Deep Reservations Over Gay Rights Bill

June 23, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News The Vatican has issued statements for years about LGBTQ issues. But on June 22 it was revealed the Vatican has inserted itself in a national debate over an LGBT+ rights bill in the Italian parliament. The action is causing an uproar in Italy. The Vatican confirms that the Holy See’s foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, hand delivered a letter at a Vatican event last week to the Italian ambassador to the Holy See expressing

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 23, 2021
4 min

The Case for Free Speech

June 23, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News As cries of “cancel culture” regularly resound from various quarters, the importance of free speech — actual legally protected speech — has become ever more critical. On June 23, in the first student free speech case the Court has taken since 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favor of Pennsylvania cheerleader Brandi Levy. Justice Clarence Thomas was the sole dissent, arguing that members of extracurricular programs must meet a highe

DOJ and ACLU to Argue Anti-trans Laws are Unconstitutional

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 23, 2021
4 min

DOJ and ACLU to Argue Anti-trans Laws are Unconstitutional

June 23, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News As the U.S. Supreme Court was releasing its questionable ruling in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia on June 17, the U.S. Department of Justice was quietly filing court documents to support two pro-trans lawsuits against the states of West Virginia and Arkansas. The action by the DOJ was in tandem with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU’s briefs argue that recently passed anti-trans laws in both states violate the Equal Protec

U.S. Supreme Court rules against Philadelphia in foster parents case

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 17, 2021
2 min

U.S. Supreme Court rules against Philadelphia in foster parents case

June 17, 2021 Special to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star (First appeared in the Philadelphia Gay News June 17, 2021) The decision was unanimous. In a 9-0 ruling bound to have a long-ranging impact, the U.S. Supreme Court found the City of Philadelphia violated the First Amendment rights to religious freedom of Catholic Social Services (CSS) in the case of Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. The court determined that Philadelphia’s refusal to contract with Catholic Social Services

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 16, 2021
5 min

Telling the Stories of Our Lives

June 16, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News On June 12, the ceremony for the Society of Professional Journalists 2020 Sigma Delta Chi Awards was held. It was virtual again this year due to COVID, and COVID was the topic addressed by many of the award-winners. Another major issue of 2020, the racial justice protests engendered by the brutal torture murder of George Floyd, also garnered awards for both print and electronic media. PGN won two of these very prestigious awards. The Public

Justice Department to defend religious schools’ exemption from anti-LGBTQ discrimination laws

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 16, 2021
4 min

Justice Department to defend religious schools’ exemption from anti-LGBTQ discrimination laws

June 16, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News The Biden administration’s Department of Justice has issued a series of controversial intentions in recent weeks of cases it will defend in court. All of these cases support actions of the previous administration that are, at the very least, at odds with the politics of the current administration. These decisions have some Democrats, advocates and activists for various causes calling into question Attorney General Merrick Garland’s strict a

New report finds that corporations are rainbow-washing Pride

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 16, 2021
4 min

New report finds that corporations are rainbow-washing Pride

June 16, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News A new report from Popular Information, a publication dedicated to accountability journalism, has suggested that corporations are sending mixed messages on LGBTQ support — particularly during Pride. Rainbow-washing, often referred to as pink-washing, has become a widely used term in the U.S. to refer to corporations using Pride month to distract from negative behavior or practices. Some call it rainbow capitalism — the idea that some compan

Pride Programs: The Lavender Tube on TV news, Chat Shows and Documentaries

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 15, 2021
5 min

Pride Programs: The Lavender Tube on TV news, Chat Shows and Documentaries

June 15, 2021 Bay Area Reporter Ed Wolf in the 2011 documentary 'We Were Here,' which airs June 25 on Documentary Plus June is such an exciting month on TV. Everybody remember that LGBTQ people exist. Ad campaigns include us. Networks have cute little Pride spots with rainbow flags (we'll pay closer attention when you have a rainbow flag and a trans flag side by side). There is LGBTQ programming everywhere. Like Cinderella at the ball, we are seen, until June 30, at midnight,

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 10, 2021
5 min

What Killed Mikayla Miller?

June 10, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News Mikayla Miller didn’t live to see Pride. The 16-year-old gender nonconforming Black lesbian was found on April 18 tied to a tree in the woods near her home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, a suburban town outside Boston, with a belt around her neck. The medical examiner found that Miller died of asphyxia by hanging, and ruled her death a suicide, according to a copy of her death certificate released May 19. But was it suicide, or was that concl

A passionate history of AIDS activism offers lessons for today

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 9, 2021
6 min

A passionate history of AIDS activism offers lessons for today

June 9, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993,” by Sarah Schulman. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021) The history of AIDS in the U.S. is a largely untold story. Sarah Schulman’s extraordinary new book, “Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993,” deconstructs what a community of people desperate to save their community coalesced to do. As ACT UP member Jim Eigo says in the book, “It was t

Pride In Politics: How a Curve Columnist Carried Forward 30 Years of Herstory

Merryn Jones

Jun 6, 2021
4 min

Pride In Politics: How a Curve Columnist Carried Forward 30 Years of Herstory

June 6, 2021 Merryn Jones, Editor in Chief, Curve Updated Archive, Volume 27 #2 & 3 June & April/May 2017 For many women, lesbian identity is inherently political. Women loving women strikes a blow against misogyny and is one way of challenging the compulsory heterosexuality of the patriarchy. “Lesbian” is a minority identity, and it often intersects with other marginal identities. Curve’s long-time columnist Victoria A. Brownworth was deeply influenced to cover the politics

Sarah Schulman on ACT UP and AIDS activism

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 4, 2021
7 min

Sarah Schulman on ACT UP and AIDS activism

June 4, 2021 QueerForty.com Sarah Schulman’s new book Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 is an epic retelling of the largely untold history of AIDS. Someone said to me recently that they didn’t want to read any more Pride stories. I said that after 18 months of pandemic isolation, an insurrection, Republican lawmakers’ efforts to control the bodies of women and queer and trans people, and the seemingly endless killings of Black, brown and d

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 3, 2021
4 min

Stop the Assault on LGBTQ Kids

June 3, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News During Pride many of us post our coming out stories on social media. Mine is different than most. At 16, I was expelled from my all girls high school — Philadelphia High School for Girls — for being a lesbian. My father and I sat across from the school’s principal, Dr. Klein, as she explained that I was a “bad moral influence” on the other girls. Enrollment at that time hovered near 3,000. As we were leaving, I asked Dr. Klein why I was bein

Eyes on the Prides: The Lavender Tube on Pride Month shows

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 2, 2021
5 min

Eyes on the Prides: The Lavender Tube on Pride Month shows

June 2, 2021 Bay Area Reporter Cast members of 'Married at First Sight: Unmatchables' It's Pride! Last week Demi Lovato came out as non-binary with a new short haircut and a video on Twitter. Kehlani came out as lesbian: "everyone knew but me." Singer-songwriter Angel Olsen came out on Instagram: "I'm gay!" and introduced her girlfriend, Adele Thibodeaux, a writer on HBO's "High Maintenance." Disney actress Dov Cameron came out as "super queer." Adorable hottie, California na

International News: History made at the state department; Spain’s botched stamps

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 2, 2021
4 min

International News: History made at the state department; Spain’s botched stamps

June 3, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News Ambassador Rufus Gifford Openly gay state department nominee President Biden is making history again — this time by expanding a new ambassador position and putting a gay man in it. Axios and Politico report that the White House is planning to announce that gay former ambassador to Denmark under President Obama, Rufus Gifford, 46, will be the State Department’s Chief of Protocol. The position holds an ambassadorial rank and marks Biden’s firs

Obamacare, voting rights, LGBTQ rights mark Supreme Court’s final month

Victoria A. Brownworth

Jun 1, 2021
5 min

Obamacare, voting rights, LGBTQ rights mark Supreme Court’s final month

June 1, 2021 Philadelphia Gay News The Supreme Court. (Photo: Scott Drake) June marks the final month of the U.S. Supreme Court calendar. This is when all the most momentous and far-reaching cases are decided and often cataclysmic laws revealed. This term was delineated by the pandemic and a rushed confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett just days before Donald Trump was voted out of office. Several cases with monumental impact on civil liberties and civil rights were argued earlie

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